Breast-pump mom 'humiliated' on American Airlines flight

Breast-pump mom 'humiliated': Know your travel rights, parents. A flight attendant refused to allow Dawnella Brahos to use her breast-pump, a violation of American Airlines policy. Similarly, a TSA agent hassled a mom with a breast pump in Hawaii.

By David Clark Scott,?Staff writer / April 27, 2013

A TSA officer signals an airline passenger forward at a security check-point at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. A mother in Hawaii with a breast-pump found getting her equipment through the check point was a challenge.

(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)

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Two recent cases of traveling breast-pumping moms resulted in their unnecessary humiliation. These cases also help illustrate the rights of breast-pumping moms in the face of ignorance or poor training.

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David Clark Scott leads a small team at CSMonitor.com that?s part Skunkworks, part tech-training, part journalism.

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On April 18, a flight attendant loudly and repeatedly refused to let Dawnella Brahos use her breast-pump on a flight from Minneapolis to Chicago.

The harassment came even though Mrs. Brahos had checked on breast-pumping when she made her flight reservations, and had been told her Medela pump was pre-approved. And the incident occurred after Brahos had flown on three other American flights and used the breast-pump with the full support of the flight attendants.

But on April 18, she told Fox Channel 32 in Chicago that she had been 'humiliated' and 'embarrassed' as the flight attendant told her upon boarding that breast-pumping - however discretely done - was not allowed. The flight attendant repeatedly checked on Brahos to make sure she wasn't using her breast pump.

The mother of three wasn't traveling with her 1-year-old son. She told The New York Daily News that she normally pumps every three and a half hours and began feeling painfully engorged during the normally short flight because it took off late and she'd spent the previous few hours checking out of a hotel, traveling to the airport, checking in with American and going through security.

American Airlines has issued a statement of apology: "We apologize for the experience Ms. Brahos had on a recent flight. Our in-flight personnel are trained to handle these situations with professionalism and discretion. American does not have a policy prohibiting the use of breast pumps in-flight. As with other devices that have an on/off switch, customers will be asked not to use them during takeoff and landing. Our procedures advise our crews to ensure that mothers who are breast feeding or using breast pumps have the privacy they need."

An American spokesman said Brahos needed no prior approval for using her Medela pump. A different brand of pump would have required prior approval, she said.

Another breast-pumping mom was embarrassed by a TSA agent at a security check point. On March 27, Amy Strand was stopped at Lihue Airport in Kauai as she carried her pump, a cooler pack, and empty milk bottles. She was told by the TSA agent that she couldn't bring the cooler pack unless there was milk in the bottles.

Ms. Strand, a mother of four and school principal, tried to explain that the ice pack was specially made for the cooler and wouldn't be easy to replace.? And, that she'd emptied the milk out before going through security to avoid carrying more than 3 ounces of liquid.

Strand said she only had two options: Leave part of the cooler behind or pump. There was no private place to pump so she went to the women's restroom. "I'm in a dress, in heels and I find myself in front of a sink and mirrors with travelers coming in and out of the bathroom," Amy Strand told ABCNews.com. "I'm standing at the sink with my breast hanging out, pumping. I wanted to cry. I was humiliated."

Like American Airlines, the TSA issued a statement apologizing for the ignorance of its agent. "The passenger has contacted us with her concerns and we accept responsibility for the apparent misunderstanding and any inconvenience or embarrassment this incident may have caused her," the statement said. "The officer in question is receiving remedial training."

In fact, the TSA website specifically addresses this situation and the current screening procedures."Parents flying with, and without, their child(ren) are permitted to bring breast milk in quantities greater than three ounces as long as it is presented for inspection at the security checkpoint. Additionally, empty bottles and ice packs are permitted under these conditions."

Moms and Dads, bookmark the TSA page, and carry it with you on your phone. Just in case.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/RG7Q7oJyQbw/Breast-pump-mom-humiliated-on-American-Airlines-flight

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Sunshine hormone, vitamin D, may offer hope for treating liver fibrosis

Apr. 25, 2013 ? Liver fibrosis results from an excessive accumulation of tough, fibrous scar tissue and occurs in most types of chronic liver diseases. In industrialized countries, the main causes of liver injury leading to fibrosis include chronic hepatitis virus infection, excess alcohol consumption and, increasingly, nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

Now, in a new study published in the journal Cell, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered that a synthetic form of vitamin D, calcipotriol (a drug already approved by the FDA for the treatment of psoriasis), deactivates the switch governing the fibrotic response in mouse liver cells, suggesting a potential new therapy for fibrotic diseases in humans.

"Because there are currently no effective drugs for liver fibrosis, we believe our findings would open a new door for treatment," says senior author Ronald M. Evans, a professor in Salk's Gene Expression Laboratory and lead researcher in the Institute's new Helmsley Center for Genomic Medicine.

The Salk study focused on a star-shaped "stellate" cell in the liver that serves as a beacon for damage. When called into action, stellate cells produce fibrotic proteins in an attempt to heal an injury. Under chronic stress, however, localized fibrosis expands, eventually leading to cirrhosis, increased risk of liver cancer, and the need for a liver transplant in advanced cases.

The Evans lab discovered a genetic switch through which vitamin D-related ligands such as calcitriol, a hormonally active form of the vitamin, can put the brakes on fibrosis. "Preclinical results suggest the 'vitamin D brake' is highly efficacious and led us to believe that the time is right to consider a trial in the context of chronic liver disease," says Evans, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and holder of the March of Dimes Chair in Molecular and Developmental Biology.

Previous studies have shown a physiologic role for vitamin D in liver function, but "it was our discovery of high levels of vitamin D receptor (VDR) in the stellate cell that led us to consider it as a possible off switch for liver fibrosis," says lead author Ning Ding, a research associate in the Gene Expression Laboratory.

"Current therapeutic approaches, which treat the symptoms of liver disease, don't stop liver fibrosis from progressing," says Michael Downes, a senior staff scientist in the Gene Expression Laboratory and co-corresponding author on the paper. "In liver diseases where the underlying cause cannot be cured, progression to cirrhosis is currently inevitable in some people. What we have discovered is that by acting on the genome, VDR can simultaneously defend against multiple fibrotic activators. This is important because many different pro-fibrotic signaling pathways converge on the genome to affect their fibrotic response."

The Salk discovery that calcipotriol counters the fibrotic response in stellate cells illuminates a potentially safer, more effective strategy capable of neutralizing multiple convergent fibrotic triggers.

The Salk scientists say that clinical trials of the vitamin D analog for the treatment of liver fibrosis are being planned. The synthetic vitamin D analog is better than natural vitamin D, they say, for a couple of reasons. First, natural vitamin D, which is found in small amounts in a few foods and produced in the body by exposure to sunlight, degrades quickly, while synthetic versions of vitamin D are less susceptible to breakdown. Second, too much natural vitamin D can cause hypercalcemia, or elevated calcium in the blood, which can lead to nausea and vomiting, frequent urination, muscle weakness and joint aches and pain. The synthetic vitamin D analog, on the other hand, produces a strong response without adding calcium to the blood.

In addition, the researchers say this new model for treating liver fibrosis may also be helpful in treating other diseases with a fibrotic component, including those of the lung, kidney and pancreas.

Other researchers on the study were Ruth T. Yu, Mara H. Sherman, Mathias Leblanc, Mingxiao He, Annette R. Atkins and Grant D. Barish, from the Salk Institute; Nanthakumar Subramaniam, Caroline Wilson, Renuka Rao, Sally Coulter and Christopher Liddle, of the University of Sydney (Australia); and Sue L. Lau , Christopher Scott and Jenny E. Gunton, of the Garvan Insitute for Medical Research (Australia).

The work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, the Genentech Foundation, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation, Stand Up to Cancer and Ipsen/Biomeasure.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/GZLOXi4a8Bo/130425160125.htm

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Bangladesh building tragedy down to West's cost squeeze: NGOs

LONDON (Reuters) - Major western clothing retailers squeezing Asian suppliers and a flawed approach to ensuring even basic working standards are fuelling conditions for tragedies like the latest factory collapse in Bangladesh, NGOs said on Thursday.

At least 260 people, mainly female workers, were killed and more than 1,000 were injured when the eight-storey Rana Plaza factory building in Savar, 30 km (20 miles) outside the capital Dhaka, collapsed on Wednesday.

"What we're saying is that bargain-basement (clothing) is automatically leading towards these types of disasters," John Hilary, executive director at British charity War on Want, told Reuters.

He said western clothing retailers' desire to undercut rivals has translated into increasing pressure on foreign suppliers to reduce costs.

"If you've got that, then it's absolutely clear that you're not going to be able to have the right kind of building regulations, health and safety, fire safety. Those things will become more and more impossible as the cost price goes down."

Hilary said the push for lower costs inevitably led to factories cutting corners. "As a result of that, we see the sort of disaster that happened yesterday," he said.

War on Want and its partner in Bangladesh, the National Garment Workers' Federation, called on major international buyers to be held to account.

"This negligence must stop. The deaths of these workers could have been avoided if multinational corporations, governments and factory owners took workers' protection seriously," NGWF president, Amirul Haque Amin, said in a statement.

Gareth Price-Jones, Bangladesh country director of British charity Oxfam, said western companies had not done enough.

"Western buyers could be doing much, much more, and they have a moral responsibility to do so," he told Reuters. "Western buyers really need to press for decent wages and safe working conditions."

He said Bangladeshi building regulations were not robust enough for construction in an earthquake zone and were, in any case, frequently ignored.

Around 4,500 Bangladeshi factories produce clothes for many of the world's major brands, employing 4 million workers and generating 80 percent of Bangladesh's $24 billion annual exports, making it the world's No. 2 apparel exporter behind China.

People watch as rescue workers continue their operations at the collapsed Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka April 25, 2013. Survivors from the garment factory that collapsed... more? People watch as rescue workers continue their operations at the collapsed Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka April 25, 2013. Survivors from the garment factory that collapsed in Bangladesh killing at least 228 people described on Thursday a deafening bang and tremors before the eight-floor building crashed down under them. REUTERS/Stringer (BANGLADESH - Tags: BUSINESS DISASTER TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY) less? But with wages as low as $37 a month for some workers toiling for 10-15 hours a day, and increasing publicity about unsanitary and unsafe working conditions, some retailers were getting worried about their reputation.

AUDITS QUESTIONED

A lot have introduced corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, where they carry out factory audits and inspections and talk to employees about worker conditions.

But War on Want says the CSR processes are often flawed.

"What happens is the workers are trained in what to say, the factories present favorable books and keep back the real books," Hilary said, noting that in countries like China there were courses to coach factories on how to pass an audit without telling the truth.

The Savar disaster came five months after Bangladesh's worst factory fire, which killed 112 people, and another incident at a factory in January in which seven died.

The Ethical Trading Initiative, an umbrella organization that brings NGOs, unions and brands together to try to improve working conditions, said the latest tragedy demonstrated the chronic widespread problems in the sector that affect the most basic of workers' rights.

"These incidents all serve as yet another call to action for the Bangladesh industry, government, retailers, worker representatives and NGOs to work together, to raise workplace safety standards across the country's garment sector," it said.

In Washington, the Asia advocate for the U.S. NGO Human Rights Watch said weak protection of labor rights contributed to the tragedy at Rana Plaza, where none of the factories are unionized.

"Had one or more of the Rana Plaza factories been unionized, its workers would have been in a position to refuse to enter the building on Wednesday morning," said John Sifton.

"The right to organize a union in Bangladesh is not just a matter of getting fair wages, it's a matter of saving lives," he said.

U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters that labor rights in Bangladesh, as well as work conditions, were "something that we've raised in the human rights report, we raised in our bilateral dialogue, certainly directly with the government from our embassy."

The State Department's annual human rights report for 2012, published on April 19, said trade unions in Bangladesh were able to conduct collective bargaining, "but government action made it nearly impossible to form new trade unions in many sectors, for example, in the ready-made garment and shrimp industries."

(Reporting by James Davey, Neil Maidment, and Paul Eckert in Washington; Editing by Will Waterman and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/death-toll-bangladesh-building-collapse-rises-147-015232779.html

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Italy president names center-left's Letta as new premier

By Barry Moody and Paolo Biondi

ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on Wednesday asked center-left politician Enrico Letta to form a new government, signaling the end of a damaging two-month stalemate since elections in the euro zone's third largest economy in February.

Letta, from the Democratic Party (PD), said he would start talks to form a broad-based coalition on Thursday. It is likely to go to parliament for a vote of confidence by early next week.

The prime minister designate is expected to select a group of ministers, likely to be a mixture of politicians and technocrats, under the guidance of Napolitano, whose own unprecedented re-election last weekend opened the way for an end to the crisis.

The new government will be backed primarily by Letta's center-left and the center-right People of Freedom party (PDL) led by Silvio Berlusconi, which had previously failed to reach a deal following inconclusive elections two months ago.

Rivalries between the parties as well as rifts within the PD, which fell short of a viable parliamentary majority in February's vote, could still block an accord. But formation of a government after such a long impasse would signal that Italy is finally ready to make a start on much-needed reforms.

Accepting his mandate, Letta said he would not form a government "at all costs", warning that the warring parties must make compromises or he would withdraw.

He said Italy faced an untenable situation and the government must provide answers on jobs, poverty and the crisis facing small businesses in a recession that now matches the longest since World War II.

European Union economic policies had been too focused on austerity instead of growth, he said, and Italy's parliamentary system must be reformed together with the widely criticized electoral law that has virtually guaranteed stalemate.

The bespectacled and balding Letta is an urbane moderate who speaks fluent English and at 46 would be one of Italy's youngest prime ministers, representing a generational change from the era of Berlusconi and outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti.

A staunch pro-European and a member of the now-defunct Christian Democrat party in his youth, he is likely to be welcomed by foreign governments and markets and can also work with the center-right.

He is the nephew of Berlusconi's longtime chief of staff, Gianni Letta, and has numerous political friends on all sides of parliament, which could help ease the fractious climate since the election.

MARKET RELIEF

As Letta met close aides, the names being circulated as likely future ministers suggested a government broadly in line with Monti's outgoing technocrat administration but including senior politicians such as PDL party secretary Angelino Alfano.

Bank of Italy director general Fabrizio Saccomanni was seen as a possible economy minister and Enrico Giovannini, head of statistics agency ISTAT, may take over the industry ministry. Monti himself could return as foreign minister, helping to maintain the international contacts he cultivated as premier.

Investors had already reacted with relief to the prospect of an end to the intractable crisis, with Italy's two-year borrowing costs on Wednesday tumbling to their lowest level since the start of European monetary union in 1999.

However, the country's problems are not over, with significant differences remaining between left and right over economic policy and the center-left in disarray after letting slip an election it had once seemed sure to win.

These difficulties were put into sharp focus even before Letta was chosen, when Renato Brunetta, a senior member of Berlusconi's PDL party, said they would only support a government committed to repealing, and refunding, a housing tax introduced by Monti.

The center-left agrees only to a partial reduction of the tax and many economists say cuts in the levy would leave a gaping hole in Italy's public accounts.

Letta will also have to make sure he has his own party behind him. Factional infighting forced Pier Luigi Bersani to resign as party leader last week and there is significant internal opposition to any accord with Berlusconi.

Matteo Renzi, the ambitious young mayor of Florence seen as a potential leader of the center-left, could also prove a difficult partner to integrate.

Berlusconi gave a firm promise to Napolitano that he would support a coalition government in which his party shared power with the PD but favorable opinion polls may tempt him at some point to seek new elections.

Napolitano, who reluctantly agreed to serve another term as president, has made clear, however, that he will not accept endless squabbling between the parties and has threatened to resign if they do not unite behind economic and constitutional reforms.

(Additional reporting by James Mackenzie and Steve Scherer; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-president-set-announce-choice-prime-minister-054722232.html

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PFT: GM calls 2013 NFL draft class 'historically bad'

Getty Images

As this year?s crop of incoming players, especially those taken in the first two rounds, celebrate their new circumstances, they need to keep one thing in mind.

Several months from now, there?s a chance they will think those circumstances stink.

Rams running back Isaiah Pead fell right into that category last season, despite being the 50th overall pick in the 2012 draft.? Presumed to be the heir apparent to Steven Jackson, Pead became largely forgotten last year, sliding behind seventh-rounder Daryl Richardson.

?Honestly, I would call it miserable,? Pead said of his rookie season, via the University of Cincinnati official website. ?Miserable life.? Miserable four-five months.?

When the season finally ended, Pead packed up and left.

?I took off and I didn?t come back until it was time to,? Pead said.? ?I just wanted to stay out of this area, I came back for a couple days to pack up then all the memories and walking back into my house by myself, had a couple days by myself, I just needed to get out of that area.?

Pead is partially responsible for his misery.? He didn?t deal well with being demoted behind a guy taken 202 spots later, showing up late for a pair of meetings.

?I was literally fed up with football,? Pead said.? ?Not a quitter, not quitting, I was just tired of football.? Tired of practice for the day and I would just lay there play video games and whatnot because it was so miserable, so stressful.?

With a fresh opportunity coming from the departure of Jackson, Pead is ready to turn the page.

?Whole new era, whole new attitude, whole new team, whole new Pead,? Pead said. ??I?m not going to sit and linger on something, but I am one to not forget about a situation.? I am moving on from last year, last year is last year, but I have not forgot about last year.? I wouldn?t call it revenge, but the chip that I put on my shoulder is just a little bigger.?

He needs to perform more than a little better to erase the head start that Richardson earned in 2012.? While Pead finished with 10 carries for 54 yards, Richardson had 98 carries for 475 yards.

Pead also needs to hope the Rams don?t use one of their high draft picks on a rookie who?ll get a chance to in 2013 that which Pead couldn?t in 2012.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/23/one-gm-says-this-draft-is-historically-bad/related/

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Taliban Capture 9 After Helicopter Makes Emergency Landing In Afghanistan

In this Wednesday, March 20, 2013 photo, Afghan villager Ghulam Rasool sits in the yard of his house where he and his family found refuge in the village of Khalis Family Village, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Rasool padlocked his front door, handed over the keys and his three cows to a neighbor and in the middle of the night left his mountain home to escape relentless air strikes. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

In this Wednesday, March 20, 2013 photo, the grandchildren of Afghan villager Ghulam Rasool, in the yard of the house where he and his family found refuge in the village of Khalis Family Village, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Ahmed's grandfather Rasool padlocked his front door, handed over the keys and his three cows to a neighbor and in the middle of the night left his mountain home with is family to escape relentless air strikes. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

In this Wednesday, March 20, 2013 photo, the grandson of Afghan villager Ghulam Rasool, 12 year old Ahmed Shah, center, recalled the attack on his village in the yard of his house where he and his family found refuge in the village of Khalis Family Village, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Ahmed's grandfather Rasool padlocked his front door, handed over the keys and his three cows to a neighbor and in the middle of the night left his mountain home with is family to escape relentless air strikes. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

FILE - In this Sept. 4, 2009 file photo, a KZO surveillance drone takes off from the German base in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Criticism of drones has mounted in recent months. At the United Nations an inquiry has been launched into the civilian impact and human rights implications of using drones. The first in a series of reports is expected in May. In the United States, lawmakers are demanding greater transparency questioning the legality of using the unmanned predators to target and kill American citizens overseas as well as the implications of using smaller surveillance drones in the U.S. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus, File)

In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 photo, Afghan boys study in a makeshift school in the village of Budyali, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. The village lost its former school building after Taliban militants attacked the district headquarters of Budyali in July 2011. The Afghan National Army requested help from coalition forces, who responded with drones, fighter jets and rockets, leaving the school destroyed, according to village elders. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 photo, an Afghan man sits among the debris of a destroyed school in the village of Budyali, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Taliban militants attacked the nearby district headquarters in July 2011, then took refuge in the school. The Afghan National Army requested help from coalition forces, who responded with drones, fighter jets and rockets, leaving the school destroyed, according to village elders. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 photo, Afghan men sit among the debris of their destroyed school in the village of Budyali, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Taliban militants attacked the nearby district headquarters in July 2011, then took refuge in the school. The Afghan National Army requested help from coalition forces, who responded with drones, fighter jets and rockets, leaving the school destroyed, according to village elders. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 photo, Hayat Gul, who was injured in a gun battle ahead of a 2011 air assault on the village school he guarded, tells his story in Budyali, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Taliban militants attacked the nearby district headquarters and then took refuge in the school. The Afghan National Army requested help from coalition forces, who responded with drones, fighter jets and rockets, leaving the school destroyed, according to village elders. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 photo, Afghan men peer through the former window of their destroyed school in the village of Budyali, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Taliban militants attacked the nearby district headquarters in July 2011, then took refuge in the school. The Afghan National Army requested help from coalition forces, who responded with drones, fighter jets and rockets, leaving the school destroyed, according to village elders. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 photo, Afghan men walk through the debris of their destroyed school in the village of Budyali, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. Taliban militants attacked the nearby district headquarters in July 2011, then took refuge in the school. The Afghan National Army requested help from coalition forces, who responded with drones, fighter jets and rockets, leaving the school destroyed, according to village elders. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

In this Tuesday, March 19, 2013 photo, papers of schoolbooks lie among the debris of a destroyed school in the village of Budyali, Nangarhar province, Afghanistan. The Taliban attacked the district headquarters of Budyali in July 2011 and coalition forces responded to the Afghan National Army request for help with drones, fighter jets and rockets, leaving the school destroyed, according to village elders. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/22/taliban-hostages-afghanistan_n_3129779.html

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Reese Witherspoon, husband arrested in Atlanta

By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor

Updated: 7:10 a.m. ET Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon was arrested and jailed for a short time in Atlanta early Friday morning, according to an incident report originally obtained by Variety.?Her husband, CAA agent James Toth, was also arrested and jailed.

Toth was spotted by an Atlanta police officer while driving in the wrong lane, and now faces one DUI charge, and a second for "failure to maintain lane," according to the report, which was also obtained by TODAY.com. Witherspoon faces a charge of disorderly conduct.?

The actress has since said in a statement that she is "deeply embarrassed" about the incident, in which "I clearly had one drink too many."

The pair were pulled over when Toth's failure to maintain his lane was cause for suspicion of driving while intoxicated, and Witherspoon found herself handcuffed after refusing to stay in the car while the officer administered a field sobriety test on her husband.

Atlanta Department of Correction

Reese Witherspoon and James Toth after their Atlanta arrest.

"Mrs. Witherspoon began to hang out the window (of her car) and say that she did not believe that I was a real police officer," Officer J. Pyland noted in his report. "I told Mrs. Witherspoon to sit on her butt and be quiet."

The back-and-forth between Witherspoon and Officer Pyland escalated until he arrested her and put her in the rear of his vehicle.

The report also quoted Witherspoon as asking, "Do you know my name?" The officer says he answered that he didn't need to know her name "right now," and she told him, "You're about to find out who I am," later adding, "You are going to be on national news."

The couple were released at around 3:30 a.m. on Friday morning. A court appearance is scheduled for 8 a.m. Monday morning in Atlanta Municipal Court, but Variety said their attorney is likely to request a postponement.?

"Out of respect for the ongoing legal situation, I cannot comment on everything that is being reported right now," said Witherspoon in a statement. "But I do want to say, I clearly had one drink too many and I am deeply embarrassed about the things I said. It was definitely a scary situation and ?I was frightened for my husband, but that is no excuse. I was disrespectful to the officer who was just doing his job. The words I used that night definitely do not reflect who I am. I have nothing but respect for the police and I'm very sorry for my behavior."?

Witherspoon has been in Atlanta recently filming an independent film, "The Good Lie." The pair have been married since 2011 and she gave birth to their son Tennessee James Toth last September.

Related content:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/04/21/17852106-reese-witherspoon-and-husband-arrested-in-atlanta?lite

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Hard Time Dealing With Ringing in the ears? Read These Pointers ...

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Attempt to lower needless anxiety out of your daily life, then find time and energy to chill out. Ringing in ears is really a disease however it is an issue that brings about disappointment and can have an effect on your way of life. There are a number of various primary brings about for ringing in ears. This doesn?t mean it cannot handle ringing in the ears. The following advice will help you handle your ringing in the ears better. Usually do not let ringing in the ears when you at home. If it is way too very much, spot a follower in your bedrooms, or some sort of white-noise equipment. When you have a nice noise in all of your current spaces, your ringing in the ears may only make an effort you while you are away from home and as well sidetracked being concerned. A sonic pillow was developed with the goal of tinnitus. This cushion was experimented with by troopers who injury up experiencing ringing in the ears through the war and got home with ears ringing. A mass production design may possibly soon by produced open to most people. A sonic pillow was created that can help decrease the indications of ringing in ears. This cushion was experimented with by troops who injury up struggling with tinnitus in the conflict and which returned home with ear buzzing. A volume generated design is near being offered to the general public. Find out more about the sounds you experience with the ringing in the ears. Read up on ringing in ears, and talk with medical professionals about it. Tension follows concern, so ease your self of these debilitating elements in order to job in the direction of a successful healing. Developing a history disturbance from fm radio or television set can help you give full attention to research or company tasks, however it is demonstrated to be of aid to ringing in ears victims. Ringing in the ears is often the outcome of a person?s ability to hear simply being exposed to machinery disturbances, such as aeroplanes, machines or high in volume development function. If this sort of publicity is an element of the every day career, spend money on some little earplugs to safeguard on your own. To assist you deal with ringing in the ears with an everyday time frame, tend not to go through on your own. As an example, assess your condition to having to know a awful sound, or the method that you can?t search for a definitely deafening live performance without ears plugs. This will help these people to recognize how they can support you while you deal with ringing in the ears, and assist all your family members know very well what it seems like to have with ringing in ears. Make an effort to remember whether you commenced any new prescription drugs about once your tinnitus symptoms started out. Numerous drugs could cause tinnitus, so you may have the opportunity change drugs and eliminate the ringing in your ear. If at all possible, with your physician?s care, attempt quitting every substance one after the other to get a full week to find out if your ability to hear problems also quit. If you wish to give yourself relief from tinnitus, you should consider taking out issues inside your surroundings that may be causing they signs and symptoms or causing them to be even worse. Some stimulating elements to take into account steering clear of are caffeinated drinks, caffeinated drinks, in addition to contra?inflammatory pain relievers. Be mindful that your everyday pressure can be a lot more compared to what they after were. Once you have lots of anxiety, the most small of manifestations might be exacerbated.You are going to feel good prepared to handle your ringing in ears when you aren?t so stressed out about other conditions. To cope with ringing in ears, be sure to have people close to who worry about you and also support you. For instance, evaluate your condition to owning to know a unpleasant audio, or the noisy noises of your get together when you find yourself looking to sleep. This will make it so that you won?t ought to suffer all by yourself, and you may truly feel much more hooked up. You might be able to get treatment for your personal ringing in the ears struggling. The same drugs that efficiently handle depression and nervousness have been shown to aid reduce ringing in the ears signs.Question your personal doctor if these medications can assist your position. You might like to consider incorporating medication with option treatments like biofeedback to maximize your outcomes. Take measures to make sure you will never get ringing in the ears. There are a few methods for you to take care of it, and a few methods for you to prevent it. So make use of the details using this article so that you can approach handling tinnitus when it is bugging you. Do you want for more information on how to cope with ringing in the ears instead? This can be something that holds true. Tinnitus typically isn?t linked to a pathological situations. Ringing in the ears isn?t fun, but there?s no requirement to enter into anxiety method. This directs sound to your ears to stop out any maybe you have recently been hearing from the inside.In the event you arrive the quantity also high in volume, your hearing are affected far more injury.

Source: http://www.peerhealthcurriculum.org/2013/04/20/hard-time-dealing-with-ringing-in-the-ears-read-these-pointers/

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Yahoo axing six more apps and services as part of streamlining effort

Get ready to say goodbye to another another batch of Yahoo products at the end of this month. As the company continues to streamline and focus its services, March 31st will be the last day of stand-alone existence for Upcoming, Yahoo Deals, Yahoo Kids, Yahoo SMS Alerts, Yahoo Mail and Messages for feature phones. Noting an aim to slim down to roughly 15 offerings from 75, as The Register points out, this follows a few weeks after the company nixed other services like its BlackBerry app. Additionally, if you've been hanging onto the old version of Yahoo! mail, you'll have no choice but to switch to the new version by June 3rd. Yahoo! There's not word on what we can expect next, although EVP of Platforms Jay Rossiter notes that cuts like these are needed so it can focus on the likes of its new Mail and Weather apps. You'll find the details for each cut at the source link.

Update: The total number of offerings being killed is six, not seven as initially reported.

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lern2play Resources and Information. This website is for sale!

By using our site, you consent to this privacy policy: This website allows third-party advertising companies for the purpose of reporting website traffic, statistics, advertisements, "click-throughs" and/or other activities to use Cookies and /or Web Beacons and other monitoring technologies to serve ads and to compile anonymous statistics about you when you visit this website. Cookies are small text files stored on your local internet browser cache. A Web Beacon is an often-transparent graphic image, usually no larger than 1 pixel x 1 pixel that is placed on a Web site. Both are created for the main purpose of helping your browser process the special features of websites that use Cookies or Web Beacons. The gathered information about your visits to this and other websites are used by these third party companies in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. The information do not include any personal data like your name, address, email address, or telephone number. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.

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Product Design Agency BERG To Become BERG Cloud, An Internet Of Things Startup

Globally-known London-based product and design consultancy Berg has become best known for its work with major tech companies such as Apple and Twitter, as well as it's now famous "Little Printer" design which captured the collective imagination of the tech world last year. The tiny device that could print out any kind of information you wanted from the web became a physical manifestation of how web services might interface with the 'real world'. But it turns out that the Little Printer set BERG's founders' minds racing towards a new strategy - the ultimate pivot from the agency/client model to becoming a product-based startup with a cloud platform. BERG London is poised to become Berg Cloud, described as a 'nervous system for connected products' built to run at scale'. As an example of this platform running, BERG has produced a "Twitter Clock", being presented in London today to advertising agencies that work with Twitter, which can be programmed to make three birds appear indicating Retweets of an account or other similar alerts.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/LTk9YcV1rY4/

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Pro- and anti-Islamist protesters clash in Egypt

CAIRO (AP) ? Clashes erupted Friday between several hundred opponents and supporters of Egypt's Islamist president during a rally by his allies calling on him to "cleanse the judiciary" of alleged supporters of the old regime.

Such violence has become an entrenched feature of Egypt's stormy politics. In recent weeks, several marches and rallies by the various camps in the deeply polarized nation have devolved into street battles, fueling the bitterness on all sides.

Thousands of supporters of President Mohammed Morsi ? mostly backers of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists ? held rallies outside the High Court building in Cairo and in the coastal city of Alexandria, demanding the "cleansing of the judiciary." The marches come as the Islamist-dominated legislature announced plans to begin debating a bill regulating the courts.

The bill's supporters present it as a way to ensure the judiciary's independence. But opponents fear the Islamists aim to purge judges and install new ones supportive of their agenda to consolidate their hold on power. A senior Brotherhood figure has suggested a new law would force as many as a quarter of Egypt's over 13,000 judges and prosecution officials into retirement.

As some Islamists at the rally moved toward Cairo's Tahrir Square, they were met by anti-Morsi youth a few blocks from the square, some of them in masks. It was not clear who started the clashes, but it led to both sides pelting each other with stones. One bus was seen set on fire. The sound of birdshot cracked through the air in the clashes, and tear gas was fired ? even though there were no police nearby.

Some of the masked youths and some Islamists were seen with homemade pistols. Others wielded iron bars and tree branches and broke up street pavements to throw the chunks of asphalt and concrete. At least 39 people were injured, according to the state news agency MENA.

Ahmed Hamdi, a Muslim Brotherhood supporter at the scene, blamed the anti-Morsi protesters for the violence, calling them "thugs" and saying they set the bus on fire.

"The whole story is they see that Islamists are now in power. They can't swallow this, that Islamists rule them. It's a battle with the old regime. The president must intervene to stop all this," he said.

Police later moved in trying to break up the clashes, but the fighting moved into side streets. The Interior Ministry appealed to "all political forces" to withdraw from the street.

Egypt has been deeply divided for months over Morsi's rule and the political dominance of his Islamist allies, leading to repeated violence even as the country's economy continues to deteriorate.

Morsi's opponents accuse the Islamists of monopolizing power, pushing through their own agenda, and allowing human rights abuses. The president, the Brotherhood and Islamist politicians say the opposition is using street violence to topple elected Islamists and destabilize the country.

The judiciary has been frequently dragged into the political confrontation.

Judges accuse Morsi of trampling on their authority, while the president's allies charge that the judiciary is controlled by supporters of ousted President Hosni Mubarak trying to undermine Morsi and derail Egypt's transition to democracy.

In November, Morsi infuriated many in the judiciary by issuing decrees that made his decisions immune from judicial challenge for a time, protected a constitutional assembly from being dissolved by the courts and unilaterally installed a new prosecutor.

The prosecutor remains in place despite a court order last month annulling his appointment.

The judiciary has dealt the Islamist camp several setbacks. Courts dissolved the Islamist-majority lower house of parliament last year, saying the law governing its election was invalid. This year, a court forced a delay in elections for a new parliament when it ruled that a new election law drafted by Islamists had to be reviewed by the Supreme Constitutional Court.

The election had been due to start this month but they have been put off with no new date set. In the meantime, the upper house of parliament ? the Shura Council, a normally powerless body elected by no more than 6 percent of voters and where Islamists hold an overwhelming majority ? is serving as the legislature.

The Muslim Brotherhood, from which Morsi hails, also criticized the courts over several recent acquittals of former officals from Mubarak's regime as well as a court order to release Mubarak himself, who is being re-tried over charges of killing protesters during the 2011 uprising that led to his ouster.

Mubarak remains in detention on other charges and is unlikely to be freed.

The courts are the sole branch of government not under the dominance of Morsi's Islamist allies, although he does have some backers among the judges.

Revolutionary groups have long called for reforming the judiciary, the Interior Ministry and other institutions to remove Mubarak holdovers. But they fear the Islamists will only purge the institution to install their own supporters.

Hamdeen Sabahi, an opposition leader, said Islamist claims about "cleansing" the courts are a prelude to "a new massacre of the judiciary."

"We will support the independence of the Egyptian judiciary against any attempts by the executive to encroach on it.," he wrote on his Twitter account.

On Friday, the head of the Brotherhood political party Saad el-Katatni denied the group was trying to monopolize power. The Brotherhood party "does not seek to govern alone, excluding other parties. Brotherhoodization of the state is a blatant lie."

Friday's rallies, which the Brotherhood backed, appeared aimed at showing popular support for Islamist moves to regulate the judiciary in the name of "the revolution."

The Brotherhood's secretary-general, Mahmoud Hussein, said earlier that the marches are pushing for implementation of "the demands of the revolution," including legislation on the judiciary and "revolutionary measures" to purge state institutions of corrupt officials.

"Go for it Morsi and we are behind you. Cleanse the judiciary," thousands of Morsi supporters chanted outside the High Court building in Cairo. "Hey, judge, who are you protecting, justice or the corrupt?"

In an interview with a Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida this month, Mahdi Akef, the former supreme leader of the Brotherhood, said the judiciary "was corrupt" and has been antagonizing his group and Morsi.

"This is a sick judiciary," he said in an audio recording that the paper put out from the interview. He said a new judiciary law "will toss out over 3,500 counselors and judges because they are over 60 years old."

One proposal for reforming the judiciary has been to lower the retirement age for judges to 60 from the current 70 as a way to introduce new blood.

Nasser Amin, the head of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary, said reforming the judiciary does not mean purging it. Egypt is not Iraq where being a member of Saddam Hussein's ruling party was a requirement for joining state institutions, so a purge is un necessary, he said.

"We all call for reforming the judiciary, not controlling it," he said. The aim of getting rid of so many judges at once would be "to control the whole system and use it against opponents."

Apparently after an angry response from judges over the proposal, Justice Ministry spokesman Ahmed Rushdi said the ministry position is that the age of retirement is up to the judges to decide.

"It shouldn't be used for political reasons, either by reducing it or increasing it."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pro-anti-islamist-protesters-clash-egypt-154837734.html

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The Trouble With Turning a Camera on Washington

By Warren Rojas Posted at 4:38 p.m. today

Toward the end of Wednesday night?s ?Sidecar Conversation Series? on the love/hate relationship between Hollywood and D.C. ? a discussion which was, at turns, self-congratulatory and hyper critical ? moderator Ron Brownstein asked the entertainment-savvy panelists to name the defining political flick.

Our own Neda Semnani originally blurted out ?The Candidate,? but then amended her choice to tout ?Inherit the Wind?:

?Chasing the Hill? creator and NBC alumnus Brent Roske kept it in the family, tossing his support behind ?The West Wing?:

Bono proxy Michael Elliott made a case for Robert Altman?s hippie, trippy ?Nashville?:

?House of Cards? Executive Producer Beau Willimon went big, giving Orson Welles mad props for ?Citizen Kane?:

Brownstein, meanwhile, sang the praises of ?The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance?:

While many of the aforementioned efforts attempt to expose the underbelly of politics via one trope or another, we would argue that the seminal Tinsel Town-Washington tryst never sizzled across the silver screen. No, the most honest moment between our seedy universes played out, as is so often the case on Capitol Hill, right under everyone?s noses:

As for the heated debate about the entertainment industry?s continuously dismissive treatment of female reporters, we?ll let ?Saturday Night Live? have the last word on that:

Source: http://hoh.rollcall.com/the-trouble-with-turning-a-camera-on-washington/

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Michael Bloomberg needs more thorough background check system for his ?Mayors Against Illegal Guns? (Michellemalkin)

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S. Korea: North Korea may be preparing to test missile

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? A top South Korean national security official said Sunday that North Korea may be setting the stage for a missile test or another provocative act with its warning that it soon will be unable to guarantee diplomats' safety in Pyongyang. But he added that the North's clearest objective is to extract concessions from Washington and Seoul.

North Korea's warning last week followed weeks of war threats and other efforts to punish South Korea and the U.S. for ongoing joint military drills, and for their support of U.N. sanctions over Pyongyang's Feb. 12 nuclear test. Many nations are deciding what to do about the notice, which said their diplomats' safety in Pyongyang cannot be guaranteed beginning this Wednesday.

Tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang led South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff to announce Sunday that its chairman had put off a visit to Washington. The U.S. military said its top commander in South Korea had also canceled a trip to Washington. The South Korean defense minister said Thursday that North Korea had moved a missile with "considerable range" to its east coast, possibly to conduct a test launch.

His description suggests that the missile could be the Musudan missile, capable of striking American bases in Guam with its estimated range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,490 miles).

Citing North Korea's suggestion that diplomats leave the country, South Korean President Park Geun-hye's national security director said Pyongyang may be planning a missile launch or another provocation around Wednesday, according to presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing.

During a meeting with other South Korean officials, the official, Kim Jang-Soo, also said the notice to diplomats and other recent North Korean actions are an attempt to stoke security concerns and to force South Korea and the U.S. to offer a dialogue. Washington and Seoul want North Korea to resume the six-party nuclear talks ? which also include China, Russia and Japan ? that it abandoned in 2009.

The roughly two dozen countries with embassies in North Korea had not yet announced whether they would evacuate their staffs.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague suggested that North Korea's comments about foreign diplomats are "consistent" with a regime that is using the prospect of an external threat to justify its militarization to its people.

"I haven't seen any immediate need to respond to that by moving our diplomats out of there," he told the BBC on Saturday. "We will keep this under close review with our allies, but we shouldn't respond and play to that rhetoric and that presentation of an external threat every time they come out with it."

Germany said its embassy in Pyongyang would stay open for at least the time being.

"The situation there is tense but calm," a German Foreign Office official, who declined to be named in line with department policy, said in an email. "The security and danger of the situation is constantly being evaluated. The different international embassies there are in close touch with each other."

Indonesia's foreign affairs ministry said it was considering a plan to evacuate its diplomats. A statement released by the ministry on Saturday said that its embassy in Pyongyang has been preparing a contingency plan to anticipate the worst-case scenario, and that the Indonesian foreign minister is communicating with the staff there to monitor the situation.

India also said it was monitoring events. "We have been informed about it," said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesman for India's external affairs ministry. "We are in constant touch with our embassy and are monitoring the situation. We will carefully consider all aspects and decide well in time."

Seoul and Washington, which lack diplomatic relations with the North, are taking the threats seriously, though they say they have seen no signs that Pyongyang is preparing for a large-scale attack.

Kim Jang-soo said the North would face "severalfold damages" for any hostilities. Since 2010, when attacks Seoul blames on North Korea killed 50 people, South Korea has vowed to aggressively respond to any future attack.

South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jung Seung-jo had planned to meet with his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Martin Dempsey, in Washington on April 16 for regular talks. But tensions on the Korean Peninsula are so high that Jung cannot take a long trip away from South Korea, so the meeting will be rescheduled, a South Korean Joint Chiefs officer said Sunday. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office policy.

The top U.S. military commander in South Korea, Gen. James Thurman, will not make a planned trip to Washington this week to testify before Congress because of tensions with North Korea. In an email Sunday to The Associated Press, Army Col. Amy Hannah said Thurman would remain in Seoul as "a prudent measure." He was scheduled to testify on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The U.S. Defense Department has delayed an intercontinental ballistic missile test that had been planned for this week because of concerns the launch could be misinterpreted and exacerbate the Korean crisis, a senior defense official told The Associated Press.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel decided to delay the test at an Air Force base in California until sometime next month, the official said Saturday. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the test delay and requested anonymity.

In recent weeks, the U.S. has followed provocations from North Korea with shows of force connected to the joint exercises with South Korea. It has sent nuclear capable B-2 and B-52 bombers and stealth F-22 fighters to participate in the drills.

In addition, the U.S. said last week that two of the Navy's missile-defense ships were moved closer to the Korean Peninsula, and a land-based missile-defense system is being deployed to the Pacific territory of Guam later this month. The Pentagon last month announced longer-term plans to strengthen its U.S.-based missile defenses.

The U.S. military also is considering deploying an intelligence drone at the Misawa Air Base in northern Japan to step up surveillance of North Korea, a Japanese Defense Ministry official said Sunday.

Three Global Hawk surveillance planes are deployed on Guam and one of them is being considered for deployment in Japan, the official said on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak about the issue.

North Korea successfully shot a satellite into space in December and conducted its third nuclear test in February. It has threatened to launch a nuclear attack on the United States, though many analysts say the North hasn't achieved the technology to manufacture a miniaturized nuclear warhead that could fit on a long-range missile capable of hitting the U.S.

North Korea also raised tensions Wednesday when it barred South Koreans and supply trucks from entering the Kaesong industrial complex, where South Korean companies have employed thousands of North Korean workers for the past decade.

North Korea is not forcing South Korean managers to leave the factory complex, and nearly 520 of them remained at Kaesong on Sunday. But the entry ban at the park, the last remaining inter-Korean rapprochement project, is posing a serious challenge to many of the more than 120 South Korean firms there because they are running out of raw materials and are short on replacement workers.

Nine more firms, including food and textile companies, have stopped operations at Kaesong, bringing to 13 the total number of companies that have done so, South Korea's Unification Ministry said in a statement Sunday.

North Korea briefly restricted the heavily fortified border crossing at Kaesong in 2009 ? also during South Korea-U.S. drills ? but manufacturers fear the current border shutdown could last longer.

___

AP writers Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Robert Burns in Bagram, Afghanistan, Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo, Louise Watt in Beijing, Cassandra Vinograd in London, Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/skorea-nkorea-may-preparing-test-missile-095436309.html

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Brits Shocked at Easy Availability of Knives (Powerlineblog)

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Customer Service Should Happen Before ?The Sale? | Dan Sfera

In my day to day activities as an entrepreneur I have noticed and continue to take mental notes of my customer service techniques and skills. In the hustle and bustle of regular business activity, it is very easy to lose focus of what I believe is one of the most critical determinants of a business? success: customer service. I am not talking about the typical ?customer is always right? bullshit because I do not necessarily believe in that, what I am talking about is something much simpler than that: acknowledging that your customer is above all else, first and foremost a human being. This applies to business to business sales by the way as well, so for those of you in that area of entrepreneurship, there is no excuse for ignoring this sacred concept either.

Businesses have become so accustomed to going for the ?close? that everything else, including basic human decency and manners go out the window, and I believe that these next few decades will be dominated by those who truly embrace the customer service model that I am about to discuss.

Thanks to social media, blogging, and your customers? ability to effortlessly communicate not only with you but with other businesses and fellow customers as well, many sales opportunities will be lost to individuals and organizations that understand that customer service does not begin after a sales transaction has occurred, but rather that it actually can begin at any time, before your customer is actually your customer. At this stage of the sales cycle, many refer to these potential customers as prospects, and that is fine, but I truly believe that the business or entrepreneur that will eventually have this customer as an actual customer, should be providing real value to these people way before a sale is ever even considered by this prospect.

The sales and marketing industry has gotten way too noisy, and consumers have a very large amount of options to consider when they want to actually purchase something. So how does a business improve it?s chances of landing these customers? Is it by constantly bombarding their brand into their potential customer?s minds? That is one very expensive strategy, and even if one can afford that, we still end up competing with distractions such as mobile phones, tablets, dvr?s, etc. I believe the strategy to use is to out-hustle your competition by providing something valuable for your sales prospects before they ever buy anything from you. This value may come from information that your competitors may deem ?trade secrets?, or something as simple as a having a blog where your customers can interact with you and have some sort of context with your brand. I understand that many businesses won?t have time to invest in this type of customer service. Some don?t even invest in their customer service for interactions that occur after the sale. Case in point, being placed on hold for 20 minutes when calling your service provider for issues. In either case, the businesses that understand this concept and execute on it will win, and the others will lose out on tons of opportunities. What do you think?

Source: http://dansfera.com/2013/04/customer-service-should-happen-before-the-sale/

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Hunter-Reay holds off Dixon to win at Barber

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) ? Andretti Autosport remained perfect on the year Sunday when defending IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay snapped Penske Racing's winning streak at Barber Motorsports Park.

The win came at one of Hunter-Reay's worst tracks, which just so happened to be where his Penske rivals dominated. Headed into the weekend, Helio Castroneves and Will Power had won every pole and all three races since IndyCar's 2010 debut on the picturesque permanent road course.

But Hunter-Reay proved to be a credible threat for the victory when he beat both Power and Castroneves for the pole, raced both hard for the lead during a middle portion of the race, then held off Scott Dixon to give Andretti and Chevrolet wins in the season's first two races.

"Several times in the offseason, I said our biggest weaknesses were the permanent road courses like Barber and Sonoma, and the big super speedways like Texas and Fontana," Hunter-Reay said. "The guys gave me a great car. I had more pressure than anything bringing a car home that I knew was capable of winning. That was the biggest pressure."

In delivering at a track where his previous best finish was 12th, Hunter-Reay showed last year's championship was no fluke. And he proved he can bounce back after a disappointing race: Mechanical problems in the season-opener at St. Pete caused him to finish 18th in a race teammate James Hinchcliffe won.

It was Hunter-Reay's 10th career victory, and he put the No. 1 car into Victory Lane at an IndyCar race for the first time since Sebastien Bourdais won at Mexico City in 2007. He also moved up 15 spots in the standings to third.

"It really shows that we're a threat every weekend ? that's what we need to be to win championships, is be a threat every weekend," Hunter-Reay said.

Hunter-Reay had to hold off Scott Dixon at the end, and Dixon settled for second for the fourth consecutive year at Barber.

"I'm going to go buy a bridesmaid's dress tonight and party pretty hard," joked Dixon, who had to charge through the field at St. Pete to finish fifth. "It's still good points. It's good at the minute, but you know, it would really be nice to win at this place sometime."

Castroneves was third and thrilled to take over the IndyCar points lead.

"You have to enjoy the moment, but work for it," he said. "Those points are very valuable if you are thinking about the long-term. Last year the championship was lost by, what, (four) points? So you got to take as it comes. We've got to keep putting ourselves in those opportunities and the win is going to come. With that, I'm going to add more points."

Charlie Kimball, Dixon's teammate at Chip Ganassi Racing, was a career-best fourth as Honda split the top four with Chevrolet one race after Chevy swept the podium.

"I think Chip said it best when he said it's my third season, it's time to start winning," said Kimball, who with three laps led Sunday is the only Ganassi driver to lead laps this season.

"Our expectation is to be consistently in the top five, qualify consistently in the top 10, and come away from the season with a podium and a race win or two."

Power, the two-time defending race winner, wound up a surprising fifth after failing to contend all weekend. His Penske team tried initially to complete the race on an alternate two-stop strategy, but never got the yellow flag needed to make it work.

"We couldn't get in the right slot and then committed to a different strategy," Power said. "We thought we had a good plan and just needed a yellow at any point after Lap 31. Unfortunately, it didn't come and we fought for the fifth-place finish. It isn't exactly what we wanted to get out of the weekend, but it is still a good points day and gets us closer to the top."

AJ Allmendinger ran seventh for most of his IndyCar debut but finished 19th after stalling his car during his final pit stop. But he was praised repeatedly by team owner Roger Penske, even after the mistake in the pits.

"Finish this and just learn, learn, learn. You are doing fine," Penske radioed Allmendinger.

Despite a showing that was praised by Penske and Castroneves, Allmendinger was frustrated with his finish in his first open-wheel race since 2006.

"I've got to improve on everything; 19th isn't good enough. I've just got to improve on everything," he said. "I've got to be a lot better than that; 19th isn't going to cut it, whether this is my first time or not."

Other frustrated drivers Sunday were St. Pete winner Hinchcliffe, who never got a chance to contend for a second consecutive victory, and four-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti.

A poor qualifying result put Hinchcliffe at the back of the field at the start, where he was stuck in heavy traffic when the green flag waved. As cars jockeyed for position on the first lap, Graham Rahal and Oriol Servia made contact that collected Hinchcliffe and damaged his car. It left him with what he believed to be a tire issue, but the caution period wasn't long enough for IndyCar officials to tow him back to pit lane.

So Hinchcliffe's disabled vehicle sat broken down on the course as the race went on around him. His Andretti Autosport team was powerless to do anything except wait for another caution flag to get Hinchcliffe towed back to them so they could attempt a repair.

They never got another yellow flag, and Hinchcliffe was stuck the entire race sitting inside his idling car. When it became clear his day was over with roughly 20 laps remaining, he stood up in the cockpit and did an exaggerated stretch that showed some humor in what was clearly a frustrating afternoon ? he ran just three laps and left Alabama with a last-place finish.

"It was frustrating to sit there for 75 laps, watching everybody else go around, when you can 't do anything," said Hinchcliffe, who joked if he'd followed NASCAR champion Brad Keselowski's lead and taken his cellphone in the car "I could have at least played Angry Birds or something. I stayed out there the last 15 laps with the safety crew, who are awesome by the way ? they were trying everything to get me back."

Dixon could understand Hinchcliffe's frustration and called on IndyCar to make a clear rule about towing cars back to pit lane. He was left on the track for most of last year's Long Beach race and said a fan had to bring him an umbrella for shade.

But in leaving the cars on the course, IndyCar is preventing teams from attempting to get back on track and collect points.

"The rules state, they will tow you back till the last 10 laps of the race, so I don't know what the deal is with that," Dixon said. "I know I was (mad) when that happened to me, and Hinch should be as well. There's a whole lot of the race to go. I thought they were going to tow him back, but we already had a yellow ... I think they get worried about these yellows being too long.

"It needs to be in the rule book or they need to tow you back."

IndyCar said Hinchcliffe had a broken wheel and series officials didn't want to risk further damaging his car by towing it back.

"At the same time, we were getting ready to go green as the track was clear, so Race Control made the decision to leave the No. 27 car, and try to bring it back during the next yellow, which never happened," IndyCar said in a statement.

Franchitti, meanwhile, had a second consecutive disastrous race. He went to pit lane 41 laps into the race with an electrical issue after driving from the back of the field into the top-10.

He wound up 25th and is last in the IndyCar Series standings. Through two races, Franchitti is easily off to the worst start of his career; he wrecked early in the season-opener to leave St. Pete last in points for the first time in IndyCar. Franchitti's previous worst start was 2005 when an engine failure in the opener at Homestead caused him to leave the race ranked 18th in the standings.

"We had a header problem and that led to some electrical issues that took out the clutch," Franchitti said. "The guys worked real hard to get the car back together. Tough day for us."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hunter-reay-holds-off-dixon-win-barber-214303815--spt.html

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