Obama sends Congress $3.77 trillion spending plan

President Barack Obama speaks during the ?In Performance at the White House? in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 9, 2013, a program for a celebration of Memphis Soul Music. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama speaks during the ?In Performance at the White House? in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 9, 2013, a program for a celebration of Memphis Soul Music. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is sending Congress a $3.77 trillion spending blueprint that seeks to achieve an elusive "grand bargain" to tame runaway deficits by raising taxes further on the wealthy and trimming popular benefit programs such as Social Security.

The president's proposal being unveiled Wednesday includes an additional $1.8 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade, bringing total deficit savings to $4.3 trillion, based on the administration's calculations.

It projects that the deficit for the 2014 budget year, which begins Oct. 1, would fall to $744 billion. That would be the lowest gap between spending and revenue since 2008.

But instead of moving Congress nearer a grand bargain, Obama's proposals so far have managed to anger both Republicans, who are upset by higher taxes, and Democrats upset with cuts to Social Security benefits.

The president's spending and tax plan is two months late. The administration blames the delay on the lengthy "fiscal cliff" negotiations at the end of December and then fights over the March 1 automatic spending cuts.

The president's plan tracks an offer he made to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, during December's budget negotiations, which Boehner ended up walking away from because of his opposition to higher taxes on the wealthy.

The Obama budget proposal will join competing budget outlines already approved by the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-run Senate.

Obama's plan is not all about budget cuts. It also includes an additional $50 billion to fund infrastructure investments, including $40 billion in a "Fix It First" effort to provide immediate investments to repair highways, bridges, transit systems and airports nationwide.

Obama's budget would also provide $1 billion to launch a network of 15 manufacturing innovation institutes across the country, and it earmarks funding to support high-speed rail projects.

The president also is proposing establishment of program to offer preschool to all 4-year-olds from low- and moderate-income families, with the money to support the effort coming from increased taxes on tobacco products.

The administration said its proposals to increase spending would not increase the deficit but rather are paid for either by increasing taxes or making deeper cuts to other programs.

Among the proposed cuts, the administration wants to trim defense spending by an additional $100 billion and domestic programs by an extra $100 billion over the next decade.

The budget proposes cutting $400 billion from Medicare and other health care programs over a decade. The cuts would come in a variety of ways, including negotiating better prescription drug prices and asking wealthy seniors to pay more.

It would obtain an additional $200 billion in savings by scaling back farm subsidies and trimming federal retiree programs.

The most sweeping proposal in Obama's budget is a switch in the way the government calculates the annual cost-of-living adjustments for the millions of recipients of Social Security and other government benefit programs. The current method of measuring increases in the consumer price index would be modified to track a process known as chained CPI.

The new method takes into account changes that occur when people substitute goods rising in price with less expensive products. It results in slightly lower annual reading for inflation.

The switch in the inflation formula would cut spending on government benefit programs by $130 billion over 10 years, although the administration said it planned to protect the most vulnerable, including the very elderly. The change would also raise about $100 billion in higher taxes because the current CPI formula is used to adjust tax brackets each year. A lower inflation measure would mean more money taxed at higher rates.

In the tax area, Obama would raise an additional $580 billion by restricting deductions for the top 2 percent of family incomes. The budget would also implement the "Buffett Rule" requiring that households with incomes of more than $1 million pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes. Charitable giving would be excluded.

Congress and the administration have already secured $2.5 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years through budget reductions and with the end-of-year tax increase on the rich. Obama's plan would bring that total to $4.3 trillion over 10 years.

It is unlikely that Congress will get down to serious budget negotiations until this summer, when the government once again will be confronted with the need to raise the government's borrowing limit or face the prospect of a first-ever default on U.S. debt.

As part of the administration's effort to win over Republicans, Obama will have a private dinner at the White House with about a dozen GOP senators Wednesday night. The budget is expected to be a primary topic, along with proposed legislation dealing with gun control and immigration.

Early indications are that the budget negotiations will be intense. Republicans have been adamant in their rejection of higher taxes, arguing that the $600 billion increase on top earners that was part of the late December agreement to prevent the government from going over the "fiscal cliff" were all the new revenue they will tolerate.

The administration maintains that Obama's proposal is balanced with the proper mix of spending cuts and tax increases.

Obama has presided over four straight years of annual deficits totaling more than $1 trillion, reflecting in part the lost revenue during a deep recession and the government's efforts to get the economy going again and stabilize the financial system.

The Obama budget's $1.8 trillion in new deficit cuts would take the place of the automatic $1.2 trillion in reductions required by a 2011 budget deal. That provision triggered $85 billion in automatic cuts for the current budget year, and those reductions, known as a "sequester," would not be affected by Obama's new budget.

The budget plan already passed by the GOP-controlled House would cut deficits by a total $4.6 trillion over 10 years on top of the $1.2 trillion called for in the 2011 deal. The budget outline approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate tracks more closely to the Obama proposal, although it does not include changes to the cost-of-living formula for Social Security.

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor, Jim Kuhnhenn and Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-10-US-Obama-Budget/id-b607220273004e79926f2b77e97adc8b

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VIDEO: Meet the Women of 'Defiance'

On an barely recognizable Earth in the not-too-distant future, survivors of a massive war between humans and several alien races struggle to coexist on the new Syfy series Defiance. They do so, relatively peaceably, in the titular frontier town (you might notice it’s built upon the ruins of St. Louis).

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/video-meet-women-defiance/1-a-532832?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Avideo-meet-women-defiance-532832

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'This Is The End' Cast Plays A Game Of 'Save, Eat, Screw'

Typically when MTV News gets a group of funny guys together (like we did for "The Hobbit"), we like to play a game called "F---, Marry, Kill," but since "This Is the End" is the first movie of the official lead-up to the 2013 MTV Movie Awards, a little something we call MTV Sneak Peek [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/04/09/this-is-the-end-save-eat-screw/

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How to Migrate to a Solid-State Drive Without Reinstalling Windows [UPDATED]

Installing a solid-state drive is one of the best upgrades you can make to your computer, but migrating your Windows installation to a small drive can be tricky, because your data won't necessarily all fit on the drive. Here's how to install an SSD without reinstalling Windows from scratch.

Look familiar? We've posted this before, but the method we used is now out of date. So, we've updated the guide with a newer, easier, and up to date method for migrating all your data. Enjoy!

We've shown you how to migrate from an old drive to a spacious new drive, but when migrating to an SSD, things get a little more complicated. Instead of upgrading to a bigger drive, you're usually migrating to a smaller drive, which means a lot of files?like music, movies, and games?might not all fit on the SSD. You could always do a clean install (without losing any of your data), but why start fresh when you can migrate everything over, just as it is now? Luckily, the migration is pretty easy to pull off, and you should be able to go through the whole process in an afternoon.

Here's the jist of the process: You'll back up your current drive, then delete all of your personal files, like your documents, movies and music. This will make your Windows installation small enough to fit on the SSD. Then, you'll clone your current drive onto the SSD, and completely erase your current drive. From there, you'll move all your user folders?like My Documents, My Music, and so on?back to the original hard drive, and restore all your personal files from the backup. You'll then be able to reap the benefits of an SSDs speed while keeping all your documents and files readily accessible on a second drive.

What You'll Need

There are a number of different ways to go about this, but we've found this to be the easiest and most reliable method. Here's what you'll need:

• Your current hard drive, with Windows installed. For simplicity's sake we'll call this drive?that is, the drive you're migrating from?your "current hard drive" throughout the tutorial.
• A solid-state drive. This is the drive you'll be migrating to. To get a rough idea of how big it should be, head to your current drive, navigate to C:\Users\ and right-click on your user folder. Hit Properties, and mark down how much space that folder takes up. Head to My Computer and note how much space Drive C: has filled up, and subtract your user folder's size from C:'s total. That's how big your SSD needs to be, though I'd give yourself a good deal of wiggle room for future updates and new programs. We'll assume, for the purposes of this guide, that you've already installed your new hard drive and are ready to migrate your data.
• A backup of all your data. Since you can't clone only part of a drive, you'll need to remove your music, movies, and other personal files from your current drive before migrating Windows to the SSD. That means you'll want to back up your data somewhere else?whether that be an external drive, a spare internal drive, or the cloud. Just make sure that data is safe and recoverable, since we'll be restoring it later on.
• EaseUS Todo Backup Free. This is the program we'll be using to migrate your installation. It's easy to use, free, and it can clone partitions from a big drive to a smaller drive, which is crucial for this process (since your SSD is probably smaller than your current hard drive).

A Note for Dual Booters

This guide assumes your main hard drive only has one partition on it, holding Windows and your documents. If you dual boot with Linux, OS X, or another version of Windows and it resides on the same drive, this whole process becomes a bit more complicated. Make extra sure you have a backup before continuing, and tweak the following two steps to the process:

1. In step three, you'll want to click on your Windows partition and clone only that to the SSD instead of cloning the entire disk. Cloning the entire disk would bring all your partitions over, which you won't likely have room for.
2. After step three, you probably won't be able to boot into Windows on your SSD. This is because the Windows bootloader resides on the MBR, not the partition itself. After you've migrated to the SSD, you'll need to insert your Windows installation CD and choose "Repair Your Computer" from the main screen. Choose Startup Repair from the menu, and your computer should reboot a few times and repair the bootloader.

Step One: Defrag and Back Up Your Data

Before you start, you probably want to defragment your disk. Click the Start menu and type in "defrag", hitting Disk Defragmenter when it comes up. Run one last defrag before you continue.

Next, you'll want to make sure everything is backed up in case something goes wrong. You should already be backing up your data regularly, whether to an external drive or with something like CrashPlan, but if you aren't, now's the time to start. Run one last backup before you start the migration process to make sure it's as up to date as possible.

Step Two: Slim Down Your Current Drive

The next thing you need to do is delete files from your main drive until it becomes small enough to fit on your SSD. That means if your SSD is 120GB and your current drive has 260GB of data on it, you'll need to delete 140GB (260GB - 120GB) worth of files before you can migrate. Usually, this can be accomplished by deleting all the music, movies, documents, and other files out of your "My Music", "My Videos", "My Documents", and other user folders. Don't delete the folders themselves, just delete everything inside them. We want to keep the folders intact for later. And remember, we'll be restoring your files later on, so don't worry about deleting stuff you still need. Don't uninstall any programs, unless you want them gone for good. We want to keep these on the SSD so they can benefit from the drive's speed.

Step Three: Migrate to the SSD

Open up EaseUS Todo backup and choose "Clone" from the left-hand sidebar. Click "Disk Clone." Choose your curent hard drive as the source disk, and choose your SSD as the target disk. Check the "Optimize for SSD" box (this is important for getting the best performance possible out of your SSD). Click Next.

EaseUS will begin copying your disk. Check the "Shut down the computer when the operation completed" box, and your computer will turn off when it's done.

If it tells you the source drive is too big, then you haven't deleted enough data. Remember that the size of the SSD?say, 120GB?is not the same as how much space will be available on the SSD after formatting. Once you've hooked up your SSD, check how much space is actually available and make sure your current drive is using less than that amount of space. Even if your source drive is bigger, EaseUS should automatically resize the partitions so they fit on the SSD, as long as your source drive isn't filled with too much data.

Remember, if you have more than one partition on your original drive, you wan to clone the partition, not the drive. That means instead of choosing "Disk Clone," you should choose "Partition Clone," clone your Windows partition to the SSD, and stick in the repair disc when you're done to repair the bootloader.

Step Four: Wipe Your Original Drive

Once the cloning process is complete, turn your computer back on and boot from the SSD (you should have an option to press F12 for a boot menu, or you can change your drives' boot order in your BIOS). Open up Windows Explorer and find your original Windows drive. Right-click on it and choose "Format". A Quick Format is fine here; we just need to clear off all that old data. Make sure you're wiping your original Windows drive and not your backup; if you're unsure, unplug your backup drive first. You don't want to lose any of your data.

Step Five: Move Your User Folders

Now that you've got Windows on your SSD, you need to get all your other files back on your system. You probably don't have enough room to fit it on your SSD, so we're going to store them on your old drive. And, since we can remap the locations of your My Documents, My Music, and other user folders, we can put them on a second drive without Windows even batting an eyelash.

First, head into your old drive (which should now be empty) and create a new folder to house all your user folders. I just called mine "Whitson." Head into C:\Users\[Your User Name] and you should see all your user folders there. Right-click on each one, hit Properties, and go to the Location tab. Click on the Move button, and choose your newly created user folder as the destination. When you're done, you might have a few miscellaneous settings folders left over (like .gtkrc-2.0 or .VirtualBox), which you can leave there. Your Contacts, Desktop, Downloads, Favorites, Links, Documents, Music, Pictures, Videos, Saved Games, and Searches folders should all be on your old drive.

Step Six: Restore Your Personal Files

Lastly, we just need to restore all your personal files. Open up your backup?wherever it may be?and drag your documents, music, pictures, videos, and other files back into your "My Documents", "My Music", "My Pictures", and other user folders that you just moved.

Now, your files will be accessible just as they always were. Even though they're on a new drive, Windows still sees them as your main "My Documents" or "My Music" folders, so you shouldn't have to change much else. You may have a few programs?the text-based todo.txt is a great example?that still use absolute paths (like C:\Users\Documents instead of just searching your "My Documents" folder), so you may have to tweak a few settings to get everything working properly. For the most part, though, everything should work as it did before, and you should have a much faster computer thanks to the SSD.

Proper SSD Maintenance

We've covered proper SSD maintenance before, so I won't go too deeply into it here. In order to have Windows optimize itself for your new SSD, you may need to re-run the Windows Experience Index. Hit the Start menu and type in "Windows Experience", and hit the "Check the Windows Experience Index" option. Click "Re-Run the Assessment" and it should turn off defragmentation and turn on TRIM.

To double check that it all went as expected, head to your Start menu and type "defrag" in the search box. Click on "Disk Defragmenter". Click on "Configure Schedule" and hit "Select Disks". If all went well, Windows will realize it's on an SSD and your SSD won't even be an option in this menu (if you're on Windows 8, it will show up in the list as an SSD instead, and defragmentation will be disabled).

Lastly, we'll want to make sure TRIM is turned on, which keeps your drive from slowing down over time. Open up a Command Prompt and type in:

fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify

It will either give you a 0 or a 1 as a result. If you get a zero, that means TRIM is enabled. If you get a 1, make sure you have a TRIM-compatible SSD?you may have to Google your SSD's model number to find out.

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The process seems very complicated, but if you follow the steps exactly, the whole migration should go off without a hitch. You'll have a super fast-booting machine, programs will launch almost instantaneously, and you'll still have all your personal files easily accessible on another drive.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/FsW6j9x4A0Q/how-to-migrate-to-a-solid+state-drive-without-reinstalling-windows

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The Unintended Consequences of Intended Consequences - John ...

As the worldwide federalization of everything from Cypriot banks accounts to morning after pills continues to sweep across the globe, I?m reminded of a conversation I had with a former general officer.

In 2007, as we talked about what went wrong in Iraq, he told me: ?We had a plan to invade Iraq. They didn?t use it. It was almost as if they purposefully screwed it up.?

His actual language was stronger, but so it went.

I?ve pondered that conversation since then, because the crises that are coming from both the Left and the Right all over the world seem purposeful to me.? They didn?t start with the Iraq War or end with the housing bubble. And they continue today in almost everything that government does from France to our own federal halls of ?justice?.

Whether its handguns or healthcare or housing, everything needs immediate, dire and direct action from the government say government activists- activists who are disguised as policy experts. It?s as if the world only existed because these government policy experts intervened in the Big Bang, creation and the evolution thereto.

Three years into the experiment in national healthcare, before the program is even implemented, Obamacare is already in crisis. Costs are going up, not down. Not everyone will be covered. Private insurance is on its way to extinction. But hey, you?ll still get to pick you own doctor.

Oh, wait: actually no, you won?t. He quit the medical field.

?Six in 10 physicians say that it is likely that many physicians will retire earlier than planned in the next one to three years,? says Deloitte?s 2013 survey of physicians. ?This perception is fairly uniform among all physicians, irrespective of age, gender, or medical specialty. ? ??

It?s almost as if the experts purposefully messed up nationalized healthcare- wink, wink, wonk.

The same is true with monetary policy. We have records amount of liquidity. What we don?t have is monetary velocity. According to the Federal Reserve, the velocity of money is making all-time lows just at time when confidence in our political betters in going lower too.

Coincidence?

Injecting more liquidity won?t make dollars travel through are economy at a more rapid rate. It won?t replace confidence in a political system that can?t get the right result.?? ????

We have an economic system that produces record corporate profits, record stock market returns, record oil prices, but can?t produce jobs or wages.

Source: http://townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2013/04/10/the-unintended-consequences-of-intended-consequences-n1562980

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AACR news: Rigosertib Phase 1 results lead to disease-focused Phase 2 development

Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Garth Sundem
garth.sundem@ucdenver.edu
805-559-2023
University of Colorado Denver

Promising Phase I clinical trial of Rogosertib leads to multi-institutional Phase II trial

Results of a phase 1 clinical trial reported at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual conference show that orally administered Rigosertib is well tolerated in patients with advanced solid tumors. This is the first trial in which orally administered Rigosertib, a dual kinase inhibitor, was studied in solid tumors. Intravenously rigosertib is already in phase 3 clinical trials for myelodysplastic syndrome and pancreatic cancer and oral rigosertib is being studied in a pair of Phase II trials in lower-risk transfusion dependent MDS patients. The drug candidate is being developed by Onconova Therapeutics, Inc., of Pennington, NJ.

Overall, 48 patients were included in the Phase I trial with oral rigosertib, and 7 remained on study for at least six months. Six head and neck cancer patients included in this study had failed platinum-based therapies, and 2 of these patients showed a response to Rigosertib one with the disappearance of lung metastasis and another with greater than 50 percent decrease of liver metastasis. These 2 patients have received oral rigosertib treatment for 98 and 48 weeks.

"The results from the head and neck cancer patients are interesting, revealing that the drug worked in a subset of patients," says Antonio Jimeno, MD, PhD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and director of the university's Head and Neck Cancer Medical Oncology Program. "To learn more about the relationship between response and genetic make-up of the tumor, we've been investigating molecular correlates in a surrogate Phase 2 trial in patient-derived animal models of head and neck cancer."

As highlighted in the AACR presentation, genetic analysis of tumor samples from the Phase 1 trial and continuing genetic analysis of animal models, performed at both the Colorado Molecular Correlates Laboratory (CMOCO) and Dr. Jimeno's research laboratory, detected several potential biomarkers, including the genes PIK3CA and PTEN, which are both members of the signaling pathway targeted by the drug. Whole-exome sequencing of patient samples also revealed what Jimeno calls, "a short list of core alterations in genes for further exploration as predictive biomarkers."

"These promising results from human trial combined with relevant animal models established in our laboratories are helping us learn more about this drug and its mechanism of action. Based on these studies, we are initiating an 80-patient, multi-institutional Phase 2 trial," says Jimeno. In this trial, tissue samples from patients will be analyzed by sequencing and using other genomic tools to fully explore the predictive capability of these candidate biomarkers.

"We have seen meaningful activity in a subset of patients in the Phase I trial and we confirmed this in the surrogate animal model," Jimeno says. "The hope is that broad genetic analysis will help identify biomarkers for accurately matching the drug with the right patients in the future."

"It's an exciting time for an exciting drug," Jimeno says.

###

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[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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

Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Garth Sundem
garth.sundem@ucdenver.edu
805-559-2023
University of Colorado Denver

Promising Phase I clinical trial of Rogosertib leads to multi-institutional Phase II trial

Results of a phase 1 clinical trial reported at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual conference show that orally administered Rigosertib is well tolerated in patients with advanced solid tumors. This is the first trial in which orally administered Rigosertib, a dual kinase inhibitor, was studied in solid tumors. Intravenously rigosertib is already in phase 3 clinical trials for myelodysplastic syndrome and pancreatic cancer and oral rigosertib is being studied in a pair of Phase II trials in lower-risk transfusion dependent MDS patients. The drug candidate is being developed by Onconova Therapeutics, Inc., of Pennington, NJ.

Overall, 48 patients were included in the Phase I trial with oral rigosertib, and 7 remained on study for at least six months. Six head and neck cancer patients included in this study had failed platinum-based therapies, and 2 of these patients showed a response to Rigosertib one with the disappearance of lung metastasis and another with greater than 50 percent decrease of liver metastasis. These 2 patients have received oral rigosertib treatment for 98 and 48 weeks.

"The results from the head and neck cancer patients are interesting, revealing that the drug worked in a subset of patients," says Antonio Jimeno, MD, PhD, investigator at the University of Colorado Cancer Center and director of the university's Head and Neck Cancer Medical Oncology Program. "To learn more about the relationship between response and genetic make-up of the tumor, we've been investigating molecular correlates in a surrogate Phase 2 trial in patient-derived animal models of head and neck cancer."

As highlighted in the AACR presentation, genetic analysis of tumor samples from the Phase 1 trial and continuing genetic analysis of animal models, performed at both the Colorado Molecular Correlates Laboratory (CMOCO) and Dr. Jimeno's research laboratory, detected several potential biomarkers, including the genes PIK3CA and PTEN, which are both members of the signaling pathway targeted by the drug. Whole-exome sequencing of patient samples also revealed what Jimeno calls, "a short list of core alterations in genes for further exploration as predictive biomarkers."

"These promising results from human trial combined with relevant animal models established in our laboratories are helping us learn more about this drug and its mechanism of action. Based on these studies, we are initiating an 80-patient, multi-institutional Phase 2 trial," says Jimeno. In this trial, tissue samples from patients will be analyzed by sequencing and using other genomic tools to fully explore the predictive capability of these candidate biomarkers.

"We have seen meaningful activity in a subset of patients in the Phase I trial and we confirmed this in the surrogate animal model," Jimeno says. "The hope is that broad genetic analysis will help identify biomarkers for accurately matching the drug with the right patients in the future."

"It's an exciting time for an exciting drug," Jimeno says.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/uocd-anr040613.php

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Obama's political organization targets senators on gun legislation (Washington Bureau)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/297589590?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Weekly Shout Outs: Tax Time Edition

April 15th is just seven days away! Have you filed your taxes yet? If you?re one of the many waiting until the last week, then you?re in luck. We?re sharing some last-minute tips to help you get the most out of your taxes this year.

Avoid These 12 Tax Scams this April! (Dough Roller)
Every year the IRS releases a list of tax scams avoid. Check out this blogpost for the 12 scams you might see this year and what to do about them.

The Four Most Common Tax Return Scams and How to Protect Yourself (Free From Broke)
You can never be too safe when it comes to your taxes. Here are the four most common scams that could happen, plus what to do to avoid them.

3 Main Ways to Save On Your Tax Bill (Bible Money Matters)
Whether you?re looking for tax deductions, credits, or more, don?t miss this blogpost. Here?s a list of everything you need to know to save on your tax bill.

Where is My Tax Refund? (Generation X Finance)
Waiting until the last minute to file can increase the amount of time it takes to receive a refund. Follow these steps to shorten the turnaround time.

What Not to Do with Your Tax Refund (My Dollar Plan)
Will you be getting a tax refund this year? Before you cash that check, look into a few things that are best not to do with your refund.

Your Tax Return is Not a Christmas Present (The Simple Dollar)
Now that you know what not to do with your refund, let?s talk about how you can use your refund to boost your financial plan. Great tips here!

Once you?ve finished doing your return, take a peek over at Credit.com for a special guest post about?The Sandwich Generation.

And finally, we?d like to give a big thank you to The Palm Beach Post and Step Away from the Mall for mentioning us this past week!

Image Credit: Tax Credits

This post was published by Shannon, Community and Customer Support Manager for ReadyForZero. ReadyForZero is a company that helps people get out of debt on their own with a simple and free online tool that can automate and track your debt paydown.

? Get ReadyForZero

Source: http://blog.readyforzero.com/weekly-shout-outs-tax-time-edition/

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Smoking may negatively impact kidney function among adolescents

Apr. 8, 2013 ? Exposure to tobacco smoke could negatively impact adolescent kidney function; this is according to a new study led by a team of researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. They examined the association between exposure to active smoking and kidney function among U.S. adolescents and found the effects of tobacco smoke on kidney function begin in childhood. The results are featured in the April 2013 issue of Pediatrics.

"Tobacco use and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke are major health problems for adolescents, resulting in short-term and long-term adverse health effects," said Ana Navas-Acien, MD, PhD, senior author of the study and an associate professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of Environmental Health Sciences. "In this nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents, exposure to tobacco, including secondhand smoke and active smoking, was associated with lower estimated glomerular filtration rates -- a common measure of how well the kidneys are working. In addition, we found a modest but positive association between serum cotinine concentrations, a biomarker of tobacco exposure, among first-morning albumin to creatinine ratio. These findings further support the conclusion that tobacco smoke may damage the kidneys."

Using a cross-sectional study of 7,516 adolescents ages 12 to 17, the authors assessed participant tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke through self-reported data from a home questionnaire and serum cotinine. Participants who reported having smoked "at least one day" in the last month or "at least one cigarette" in the last month, or those who had serum cotinine concentrations over 10 ng/ml were classified as active smokers. Secondhand smoke exposure was defined as non-active smokers who reported living with at least one person who smoked, or who had cotinine levels greater than or equal to 0.05 ng/ml, but less than or equal to 10 ng/ml even if they reported not living with a smoker. Participants with serum cotinine levels below 0.05 ng/ml, not living with a smoker and not smoking in the last month, were classified as unexposed to tobacco.

Earlier studies examining U.S. adolescent tobacco exposure have indicated more than 600,000 middle school students and 3 million high school students smoke cigarettes and 15 percent of non-smoking adolescents report exposure to secondhand smoke at home. Among adolescents, active smoking has been associated with increased asthma risk, reduced lung function and growth, early atherosclerotic lesions and increased cancer risk as well as premature mortality in adulthood. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking is also a risk factor for several autoimmune diseases, including Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

"Small changes in the distribution of estimated glomerular filtration rate levels in the population could have a substantial impact in kidney-related illness, as it is well known for changes in blood pressure levels and hypertension-related disease. Evaluating potential secondhand smoke exposure and providing recommendations to minimize exposure should continue to be incorporated as part of children's routine medical care," noted Jeffrey Fadrowski, MD, MHS, co-author of the study and an assistant professor in Pediatric Nephrology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

"Tobacco as a chronic kidney disease risk factor is of great concern given the high prevalence of use and the chronicity that most often accompanies this exposure. Protecting young people from active smoking is essential since nearly 80 percent of adults who smoke begin smoking by 18 years of age," said Navas-Acien.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Esther Garc?a-Esquinas, Lauren F. Loeffler, Virginia M. Weaver, Jeffrey J. Fadrowski, and Ana Navas-Acien. Kidney Function and Tobacco Smoke Exposure in US Adolescents. Pediatrics, 2013 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2012-3201d

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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/most_popular/~3/nW0pbiakyh8/130408152955.htm

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Keen On? Marketplace 3.0: Why The Future of E-Commerce Might Be Japanese [TCTV]

In his new book, Marketplace 3.0; Rewriting the Rules of Borderless Business, Mikitani lays out his vision for the future of online retailing. As he told me, buying products online will be marked by a shift away from what he calls "standardization" toward a more customized experience.

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

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Yugoslav wars left population heavily armed

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) ? The wars from 1991 to 1999 as Yugoslavia broke up took up to 200,000 lives, turned millions into refugees and left much of the region's people traumatized and heavily armed. It was the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.

The millions of weapons that remained in possession of civilians after the fighting have caused fatalities every week, as traumatized former soldiers either shoot family members or commit suicide or children find guns at home and die while playing with them.

All of the seven new countries that emerged have banned civilians from owning weapons with varying degrees of success.

SERBIA

Serbia has about three million weapons owned by civilians, according to the Small Arms Survey, a nongovernmental organization from Switzerland. It says Serbia has the fifth-highest number of weapons per capita in the world, with some 38 firearms for every 100 people.

In contrast, the U.S. has 88.8 weapons per 100 people and leads the list worldwide, with Yemen second at 54.8 arms per 100 people. England and Wales are low down on the list with 6.2 weapons per 100 people.

Serbian gun laws were tightened several years ago when authorities proposed an amnesty for all those with illegal weapons. Heavy weapons like mortar launchers that were handed over were impounded, but small arms were allowed, with owners required to get a license and pay taxes on them.

In recent years there have been several incidents where hand grenades were activated during minor arguments, including one last year when four people were killed when they were refused entry into a bar in northern Serbia.

On Tuesday, police said a 60-year-old veteran gunned down 13 people in a house-to-house rampage in a Serbian village. The motive for that was unknown.

MACEDONIA

Macedonia takes second place in the region, with approximately 24 weapons per 100 people, according to the Small Arms Survey. Authorities have introduced voluntary firearm surrender schemes and weapons seizures to reduce the number of illegal guns, collecting tens of thousands.

MONTENEGRO

Montenegrins have 23 guns for every 100 people, according to Small Arms Survey. Automatic and semi-automatic weapons are prohibited for civilians and handguns are only permitted with licenses. Authorities have confiscated weapons and held voluntary firearm surrender programs, collecting tens of thousands of illicit weapons.

CROATIA

Civilians are not allowed to possess any automatic or semi-automatic weapons, while handguns are only permitted with licenses. Still, according to the Small Arms Survey, there's almost 22 weapons for every 100 people. Additionally, Croatia, like Bosnia, has a severe land mine problem. The Croatian Mine Action Center says the country is contaminated with over 90,000 land mines. Clearing them has been slow and costly.

KOSOVO

Kosovo's government has banned civilians from owning weapons and introduced programs to encourage people to hand over guns voluntarily, but there's still 19.5 weapons for every 100 people, the Small Arms Survey says. The law foresees up to five years in prison if caught owning an illegal weapon but enforcement has been lax. Kosovo Police have held TV campaigns with NATO peacekeepers to encourage people to hand over their guns.

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

The 1992-95 Bosnian war was the bloodiest of all the conflicts that erupted after Yugoslavia's breakup. When it ended, most of Bosnia's citizens were armed but the government declared that all weapons owned by civilians were illegal and offered amnesty to those who surrendered them. A public awareness campaign also pointed out how dangerous weapons can be for children. Tens of thousands brought their weapons to police stations or handed them over to NATO peacekeepers every year.

The Small Arms Survey says the country has 17 weapons for every 100 people. A former soldier once shot his wife with a bazooka after a domestic dispute.

Bosnia is also the most landmine-contaminated nation in the region, with an estimated 120,000 still dotting the country.

SLOVENIA

Civilians are not allowed to possess automatic firearms since the country declared independence in 1991. Semi-automatic assault weapons and handguns are permitted only with special government authorization. According to the Small Arms Survey, Slovenia is the least armed nation from the former Yugoslavia, with 13 weapons per 100 people.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/yugoslav-wars-left-population-heavily-armed-181229601.html

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Highest Honors: Top US Design Schools | GDUSA

In our last edition, GDUSA ran its annual Students To Watch feature. The students were so interesting ? and so many readers have asked to learn more about the schools which have nurtured them ? that we have whipped up a roundup of the institutions represented ? as well as a handful of other favorites. The theme: education is more important than ever as the lines between the studio and the classroom, the office and the academy, continue to blur.

ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY, SAN FRANCISCO

With more than 18,000 students, Academy of Art University is the largest accredited private art and design university in the U.S. Founded in 1929, the school offers accredited AA, BA, BFA, MA, MFA and M.Arch degree programs in 21 areas of study, as well as continuing art education and pre-college programs for high school students. Flexible online degree programs are available in most areas of study, including the School of Graphic Design, which provides a world-class accredited curriculum. What makes Academy of Art University?s School of Graphic Design special is the emphasis on portfolio development. From the very first class, students are encouraged to create an exceptional portfolio that shows their skill in traditional drawing and painting as well as their well-rounded education in typography, print and editorial design, branding, information design, web design and packaging. When a graduate ventures into the highly competitive Graphic Design industry, they are not hoping to gain experience, but rather build upon the experience they have already accumulated at the school. Academy of Art University is an accredited member of WASC, NASAD, CIDA (BFA-IAD, MFA-IAD) and NAAB (M.Arch). www.academyart.edu, 800.544.2787(US) or 415.274.2200

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CARNEGIE MELLON SCHOOL OF DESIGN

At Carnegie Mellon?s School of Design, the approach is of a humanistic discipline that involves initiating, planning, and shaping products, communications, ideas, and services within continually changing social, environmental, and economic landscapes. The school looks to living systems to help fashion a responsible approach that values the quality of human life in balance with a healthy and sustainable planet. The aim is to prepare designers for a world that places high value on the quality of human interactions, and the design education focuses on learning by doing with a balance of theory and practice and the developing of a student?s individual voice when solving problems for people. Human-centered methods synthesize traditional approaches with technological innovations to meet human needs. Because The School of Design is part of a major research university, it draws upon the strengths of the liberal arts and the scientific and creative disciplines, helping students become trans-disciplinary, collaborative problem solvers. The School of Design offers undergraduate, master?s, and doctoral degrees, as well as a minor for undergraduates. www.design.cmu.edu, 412.268.2828

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DREXEL UNIVERSITY, ANTOINETTE WESTPHAL COLLEGE OF MEDIA ARTS & DESIGN

Drexel University?s Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design offers 16 undergraduate and five graduate programs in media, design and the performing arts. Programs are taught in small studio settings, featuring hands-on learning and an award-winning faculty of industry practitioners who emphasize the use of the latest technologies. Westphal College is home to the Mandell Theater, the Pearlstein Gallery, Drexel?s television (DUTV) and radio (WKDU 91.7 FM) stations, the Rudman Institute for Entertainment Industry Studies, MAD Dragon Records and Drexel?s Historic Costume Collection. Through a balance of traditional and technical artistic studies as well as foundation coursework in humanities and social sciences, Drexel?s Graphic Design program prepares students to inform, persuade and entertain through the creative use of word and image. Graphic design students learn to conceptualize, design and produce visual communication in many media. They then use this work to develop an expansive portfolio, which along with six month co-op experiences, prepares them for successful employment outcomes after graduation.? www.drexel.edu/westphal, 215.895.2000

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FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY

Full Sail University is an educational leader for those pursuing careers in the entertainment and media industries. Founded in 1979, it currently provides more than 40 degree programs for 18,000 students, and boasts 45,000 graduates. Full Sail has been recognized as one of the Top Five Game Degree Programs by Electronic Gaming Monthly and one of the Best Music Programs by Rolling Stone Magazine. It has been similarly recognized as among the best in the country for film, new media, and social media, and was recently named the ?School/College of the Year? by the Florida Association of Post?secondary Schools and Colleges. Full Sail offers on-campus and online Master?s, Bachelor?s, and Associate?s degree programs in areas related to animation, art, business, education, graphic design, film, marketing, web development, music, recording arts, sports, and video games. A program of particular interest to GDUSA readers is the Media Design MFA that can be earned online in 12 months. Full Sail graduate credits include work on OSCAR, Emmy, GRAMMY, ADDY, MTV Video Music Award, and Spike Video Game Award nominated and winning projects. www.fullsail.edu

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KANSAS CITY ART INSTITUTE

Founded in 1885, the Kansas City Art Institute is one of the oldest colleges of art and design in the United States. Today, KCAI is a premier private, fully accredited, four-year college of art and design. Students studying for the BFA degree can choose from 13 majors, including animation, art history, ceramics, creative writing, digital filmmaking, digital media, fiber, graphic design, illustration, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture. KCAI?s approximately 770 students represent 38 states and several foreign countries. Notable graduates include multimedia artist Robert Rauschenberg; ceramic artists Richard Notkin and Akio Takamori; graphic designer April Greiman; and sculptors Robert Morris, Kate Ericson and Mel Ziegler. Walt Disney took Saturday art classes at KCAI, his only formal training in art. Consistently recognized for its rigorous, diverse curriculum, the school?s academic programs are strengthened by first-rate support services, technology and practical learning opportunities. KCAI?s scenic 15-acre campus situates students between the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the college?s gallery, the H&R Block Artspace, is located about two blocks from main campus. www.kcai.edu, 800.522.5224

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MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ART

Founded in 1826, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is the oldest continuously degree-granting college of art and design in the nation. The College enrolls nearly 3,500 undergraduate, graduate and continuing studies students from 48 states and 54 countries in fine arts, design, electronic media, art education, liberal arts, and professional studies degrees and non-credit programs. Redefining art and design education, MICA is pioneering interdisciplinary approaches to innovation, research, and community and social engagement. Alumni and programming reach around the globe, even as MICA remains a cultural cornerstone in the Baltimore/Washington region, hosting hundreds of exhibitions and events annually by students, faculty and other established artists. All of the above have earned MICA top rankings by U.S. News & World Report, The Chronicle of Higher Education, ID magazine and others. www.mica.edu, 410.669.9200

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OTIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN

Established in 1918, Otis is the first independent professional school of art in Los Angeles. The City of Angels is a cultural capital and its 524 cultural institutions and more than 100 different languages evince its diversity, and make it a stimulating place to study art and design. When students graduate, they join the professional communities of entertainment, art, design and fashion. Alumni and faculty are leaders in these communities and support recent graduates. Graphic Design majors concentrate on research, formal application and experimentation, technological proficiency, and innovative outcomes. The goal is to develop critical thinking and visual communication tools for careers in a changing and competitive workplace. During senior year students explore conceptual, theoretical, and experimental projects through individual proposals. They meet in cross-disciplinary teams led by faculty advisors and guest critics. The research and production methodologies developed during this year integrate personal vision with professional goals. Graduates value structure, surface and form, but also consider the engagements and interactions of design with clients, audiences, and the culture at large. www.otis.edu, 800.527.OTIS

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PARSONS THE NEW SCHOOL FOR DESIGN

Based in New York but active around the world, this leading institution offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the full spectrum of design disciplines. Parsons offers two programs in graphic and communication design: a BFA in Communication Design and an AAS in Graphic Design. The BFA program encompasses typography, print, data mapping, motion, sound, and spatial and environmental graphics, as well as branding, packaging, and advertising. Majors examine the social and cultural ramifications of communication, learning the art of persuasion by creating compelling messages, narrating them in meaningful ways, and crafting strategies to broadcast them to the world. The AAS in Graphic Design is a rigorous program for those who want to launch or advance their career as a graphic designer. It goes beyond basic technical knowledge to provide a complete design education. Part of a suite of associates degree programs at Parsons designed for motivated students with no prior arts education, the AAS in Graphic Design can be completed on campus, online, or in combination. Parsons graduates are leaders in their respective fields, with a shared commitment to creatively addressing the complexities of life in the 21st century. www.newschool.edu/parsons, 212.229.8989

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PHILADELPHIA UNIVERSITY GRAPHIC DESIGN COMMUNICATION

The mission of the Graphic Design Communication program at Philadelphia University is to cultivate design strategists with an innovative spirit and superior critical thinking skills applicable to a diversity of human needs. Consistent with the University?s mission to provide professional training with a rigorous Liberal Arts and Business core, the Graphic Design Communication curriculum fosters an appreciation for design as a cultural craft with a relevant historical background and a rapidly evolving future across multiple disciplines. The Graphic Design curriculum culminates with a BS degree. The program is conceptually based on the premise that the designer?s highest value is to be able to generate ideas. The curriculum embraces design thinking and strategic planning as we view design as a powerful strategic tool to be used to help solve problems in society and business. The PhilaU Graphic Design curriculum features real-world assignments and the curriculum emphasizes traditional design skills and focuses on the ability to create and develop visual and verbal responses to complex visual communication problems across a variety of media. We develop students? ability to articulate these responses both orally and in writing; we encourage the creation of original image-making through illustrative and photographic means, as well as the importance of the narrative, illuminating information and telling stories that resonate with an audience. Student work has been recognized regularly by major design competitions, exhibitions and publications. www.philau.edu/graphicdesignblog, 215.951.2700

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PORTFOLIO CENTER

Portfolio Center is a graduate-level communication arts school whose mission is to prepare students for creative practice and inevitable leadership. Thanks to a small, intimate environment, the school is able to break the boundaries of traditional instruction. The education is hands-on and interactive; there are no lectures, and no one gets lost in the crowd. Believing in the importance of good design, design that is useful and beautiful, students learn to render content with real meaning and to create innovative solutions that actually contribute to the culture. And, says Director of Design Hank Richardson, ?because great communication begins with sound reasoning, we train students to think. As the first school of its kind, Portfolio Center has been around for more than 30 years. That?s 30 years of dynamic evolution, of staying ahead of an industry driven by changing media and technology. We?re proud of our history and even prouder of the ways our graduates, who are currently working on every continent, have touched and changed the world.? www.portfoliocenter.edu

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PRATT INSTITUTE

Globally recognized for its distinguished academic reputation, Pratt Institute is one of the world?s most prestigious independent colleges. Founded in 1887, Pratt offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs to 4,700 students from around the world in architecture, art and design, information and library science, and liberal arts and sciences. Pratt?s programs are consistently ranked among the best in the country, and its faculty and alumni include the most renowned artists, designers, and scholars in their fields who collectively have produced some of the most innovative and iconic works of our time. Pratt?s inspirational campuses in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn and in Manhattan on West 14th Street place it in one of the world?s cultural epicenters and provides its students with unparalleled training facilities. Pratt is currently in the midst of a celebration of its rich history of creativity. Pratt?s Undergraduate Communications Design department is the only program in the country to recognize and embody the convergence and integration of illustration, advertising and graphic design as the primary forces for the visual expression of ideas. And its Graduate Communications Design department has been educating graphic and package designers for over 40 years. www.pratt.edu/academics/art_design, 718.636.3600

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PRATTMWP MUNSON-WILLIAMS-PROCTER ARTS INSTITUTE

PrattMWP students spend the first two years of their BFA degree program in Central New York before completing their studies at Pratt?s main campus in Brooklyn. Focusing on foundations of art in an intimate creative community, PrattMWP offers majors in Fine Arts, Communications Design, Art Education, and Photography. It is the perfect choice for students who prefer to transition to the big city with advanced skills and a tight group of friends. Communications Design students have recently been recognized by GDUSA, Print, NOW, UNESCO, Creative Quarterly, Society of Children?s Book Writers and Illustrators, and the United States Mint. www.mwpai.edu, 800.755.8920

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RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN

Founded in 1877,?Rhode Island School of Design (or ?RIZ-dee? for the acronym RISD) is one of the oldest and best-known colleges of art and design in the U.S.?Each year approximately 2,300 students from around the world pursue a creative, studio-based education at RISD, which offers rigorous?bachelor?s and master?s degree programs in 19 architecture, design, fine arts?and?art education majors. The college is located in Providence RI, which offers its own vibrant art scene and is conveniently located between the major cultural centers of Boston and New York. www.risd.edu, 401.454.6100

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SCAD

SCAD: The University for Creative Careers is a comprehensive art and design university, offering more than 40 majors and more than 50 minors at locations in Savannah and Atlanta; in Lacoste, France; online through SCAD eLearning; and in Hong Kong. Founded as the Savannah College of Art and Design, this private, nonprofit, accredited institution confers both masters and bachelors degrees, offers more degree programs and specializations than any other art and design university, and is uniquely qualified to prepare talented students for professional, creative careers. The diverse student body of more than 10,000 comes from all 50 states and nearly 100 countries worldwide. The more than 720 professors emphasize learning through individual attention in an inspiring university environment. Within six months of graduation, the vast majority of alumni are employed in their fields or have been admitted to graduate school. www.scad.edu, 800.869.7223 (Savannah)

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SCHOOL OF ADVERTISING ART

The school of advertising art [saa] is a small college with one focus ? graphic design. Founded in 1983, saa offers highly personalized training to aspiring designers as they work toward an Associate degree. Courses include illustration, 3D animation, graphic design, web design, photography, video, marketing, advertising and art history. saa instructors are working professionals who teach what it takes to succeed in this highly competitive industry. With a tradition of innovation and commitment to excellence, saa provides hands-on training in the latest design software, and offers professional job placement assistance. The school is based in Kettering OH. www.saa.edu, 877.300.9866

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SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS

SVA is widely recognized as one of the finest art schools in the country for its innovative and experimental program philosophies, its participation in the cultural life of New York City, and the accessibility it offers to its unparalleled faculty of professional artists. Its basic mission is to educate students who aspire to become professional artists or to work in arts? many related fields. This includes undergraduate degree programs in art and design that prepare students for entry into an array of professional fields in or related to the visual arts, while also equipping students with the skills necessary to become productive and thoughtful members of society; rigorous and practice-based graduate programs in the visual arts and its allied fields; a continuing education program intended to meet the diverse needs of New York City?s professional art and design community and the larger community within which the College resides; and a commitment to serving the greater good through community service. www.sva.edu

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SESSIONS COLLEGE FOR PROFESSIONAL DESIGN

Founded in 1997, Sessions College for Professional Design is a fully online school offering degree and certificate programs in the visual arts. Its mission is to prepare art and design professionals for successful careers by providing the highest quality of online arts education. Students gain a thorough training in the technical, creative, and critical thinking skills that are required for a fast-changing industry. Programs include Associate Degree programs in Graphic Design, Web Design, and Digital Media, and Certificate programs ranging from Graphic Design and Web Design to Game Art and Fine Arts. Sessions College provides the rigorous programs, expert instructors, and one-to-one feedback. The Associate in Graphic Design program helps students develop proficiency in the traditional elements of art and design. Students acquire foundational design skills ? color, typography, composition, and gain experience in industry-standard imaging and illustration software. Graphic Design majors build a broad foundation and develop a professional design process as they explore a range of media. www.sessions.edu

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THE ART INSTITUTE OF TAMPA

Established in 2004 as a branch of Miami International University of Art & Design, The Art Institute of Tampa offers degree and diploma programs in the creative fields of design, media arts, fashion and culinary. Programs of study are designed to help develop creativity and to make each student marketable to employers after graduation. The curriculum is reviewed and influenced by industry leaders and prominent employers who determine what skills are needed in the workplace. Design programs focus on principles of good design and practical skills, and coursework ranges from drawing, illustration and principles of design to typography, image manipulation, layout and more. Students work in classrooms, computer labs and on real-world style projects, many with a community service focus. In addition to their academic credentials and dedication to teaching, many of the faculty are working in their respective fields outside of the classroom. www.artinstitutes.edu/tampa, 866.703.3277.

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THE COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE CENTER FOR ART AND DESIGN

The College of Saint Rose offers a BFA in Graphic Design, grounded in the fine arts and integrated within a liberal arts curriculum, which has been has been fully accredited by NASAD since 1995. The Albany NY-based school has been named one of the top design schools in the country by the Art Directors Club and has a proven track record. Outstanding portfolios enable the students to secure internships and job placement at nationally acclaimed design firms such as MTV, Abercrombie and Fitch, Anthropologie, Converse, Fox Studios, Nike, ESPN, and Hallmark, as well as with nationally renowned designers: Michael Beirut, Alexander Isley, April Greiman, Woody Pirtle, Walter Bernard and Milton Glaser. Almost 100% of the graduates achieve full employment in their field, within one year of graduation. Prospective employers are invited to campus to meet students and view portfolios, and the seniors attend national job fairs and portfolio reviews. Additionally, graduates have been accepted into graduate programs including Yale, Stanford, Tyler School of Art, School of Visual Arts, SCAD, RISD, VCU, RIT, Syracuse, Kent State, and Glasgow School of Art. www.strose.edu

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THE SHINTARO AKATSU SCHOOL OF DESIGN UNIVERSITY OF BRIDGEPORT

The Shintaro Akatsu School of Design, University of Bridgeport, offers programs built to emphasize the importance of practical, theoretical and professional activities in various design fields. Students learn the fundamental and details of design; their application to real-world use; design?s impact on the user population; and the various means and methods needed to take their designs from concept to reality. A four-year BFA Graphic Design program consists of an integrated, inter-disciplinary sequence that is designed to strengthen communication skills, promote teamwork and individuality, stimulate creativity, and provide both traditional and technological skills for the career-oriented student. An innovative Master of Professional Studies (MPS) degree in Design Management begins its second year with an international student body. Encompassing courses in design and business management, the program prepares design managers to lead creative teams in a variety of design industries. MPS-DM Chairman Alex W. White leads a team of outstanding faculty in developing disruptive thinking using design as the fulcrum for increasing customer delight. ?The MPS Design Management program extends our longstanding mission to provide students with highly practical training in the fields of industrial, interior, and graphic design,? said SASD Director Richard Yelle.? www1bpt.bridgeport.edu/art/mps

Source: http://blog.gdusa.com/highest-honors-top-us-design-schools/

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Time to Buy Gold and Silver? :: The Market Oracle :: Financial ...

Commodities / Gold and Silver 2013 Apr 08, 2013 - 10:59 AM GMT

By: Nadeem_Walayat

If one had gone along with the view of many gold bugs towards the end of 2013 then by now expectations would be for Gold to be trading well above $1,800, instead Gold has been trading at new lows for the year and Silver making multi-year lows with some commentators even suggesting that the Gold / Silver bull market may even be over.

My in-depth analysis and concluding trend forecast warned (amidst much criticism) to expect Gold to remain in a trading range for 2013 of between $1800 and $1500 with the immediate trend expected to target a trend towards $1500 as illustrated by the below forecast graph. (24 Dec 2012 - Gold Price Forecast 2013, Buying Opportunity?, is Silver Cheaper?)

Furthermore that there was a 40% risk that Gold would close down on the year, whilst net probability favoured Gold targeting $1760 by year end.

Therefore with gold having fallen to a low of $1540, and Silver $26.60, then this does appear as an opportunity to accumulate for at least the existing trading range, as expectations now should be for Gold to target the upper end of the range to $1800.

However whilst most eyes are on Gold, I concluded that more volatile Silver is likely to offer a better opportunity to accumulate towards a significantly larger trading range.

Silver offers the better long-term opportunity in terms of risk vs reward off of the lows due to expectations for a deeper discount and greater long-term potential.

Many commentators have written at length of the risk of Gold and to a lesser extent Silver being confiscated by the government, however the news of Cyprus having shocked the market that bank deposits can also be confiscated which at some point is going to obviously benefit commodities such as Gold and and Silver. Add to that Japan tripling QE money printing that in due course countries such as the UK and US will seek to emulate then that adds to the probability of Silver being at an opportunely priced moment at the low of a 3 year range.

Silver Technical Perspective

Elliot Wave Theory - Implies Silver has further to fall, i.e. that Silver is in Wave C of a larger ABC that seeks to correct the whole bull market to $48.

Trend Analysis - Whilst last Friday Silver strongly bounced off of multi-year lows of $26.60, however the price firmly remains in a down channel that currently has resistance at $30.

Support & Resistance - Silver is in a wide trading range of $26 to $35, having recently bounced off the lower end of the trading range.

Price Targets - Upside targets are $30, then $35 then $42. Downside $26, $22, $17.5

Conclusion

The bottom line is that Silver tends to be leveraged to Gold towards the later stages of its strong bull trends. Therefore Silver will continue to lag until there is a sustained bull run in Gold first as many precious metal investors will only awake to its relative cheapness after Gold has already moved. As things stand with forecast expectations for Gold to next target $1800, then Silver should eventually follow suite and out-perform on a percentage basis given the more volatile trading range, however at $27, Silver has given no clear sign of a trend change and therefore only indicates as a low trading range longer term investment accumulation opportunity rather than for a large shorter term investing exposure or in terms of position trading.

Trading Silver - SLV ETF

The SLV ETF shows that it tends to track silver quite closely even over the long-run with very little observed decay, unlike a number of other commodity ETF's such as UNG for natural gas which are designed to lose investors their money. So SLV can be used both for trading and longer term investing purposes.

SLV - GBP

For sterling investors in commodities such as Silver it is not just good enough to have a rough guide of what the technical picture is for a commodity in terms of dollars but importantly also in terms of ones domestic currency, in which respect the recent downtrend of sterling from ?/$1.63 towards ?/$1.49 has had the effect of lessening the fall in $SLV, hence why SLV has failed to make a new sterling low.

Equally, as Gold and Silver rise it can be expected that the US dollar will weaken which means a significantly weaker sterling SLV rally i.e. spot $ SILVER moving to $35, for a 30% gain translates into a sterling SLV gain of about 20%. Whilst a far more powerful up thrust to SILVER $42 or 55% would translate into GBP SLV gain of about 45%.

Whereas the risk is that Silver falls to $17.5 for a risk of 33%, / GBP SLV risk of also 33%.

So the potential for a Silver investment now is for about an 50% gain for a 33% risk.

In terms of trading silver with a stop at $25.5 for a limit of $42, so a risk of 5% for a 50% gain (10-1). The risk being one is stopped out before the target is reached.

What About Gold Stocks?

To complicate the picture lets throw Gold stocks into the the mix, which about a 1/3rd of the time are in synch with the gold price, 1/3rd with general stock market indices and 1/3rd just go on a random walk of their own as the following chart illustrates one of severe under performance of the HUI Gold Bugs index against the Gold price.

This explains the reason why Gold stock investors so often get it wong because they cannot detach themselves from what the gold price is doing instead as I often state what one needs to do is to focus on the actual market / stock that one is trading or investing rather than obsessing over an assumed inter-market relationship.

The bottom line is that Silver is currently under valued against Gold because Silver lags Gold as it tends to only outperform towards the final blow off stages during which time it catches up to and over takes the Gold price trend. Current price action is near the extreme of under performance against Gold which given the fact that Gold is still in bull market courtesy of the exponential Inflation Megatrend which means that despite lack of any buy signals for trading purposes, Silver is at a point in it's trading range that I personally will to start accumulate a long term position with the goal of ultimately banking profits on a breakout to a new all time high. However, I am not going to speculate on when that could happen because as this analysis illustrates it has far too many obstacles in its way at this point in time i.e. such an event could be 2 to 3 years away.

Your analyst accumulating Silver for a long-term Price Spike.

Source and Comments: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39849.html

Nadeem Walayat

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

Copyright ? 2005-2013 Marketoracle.co.uk (Market Oracle Ltd). All rights reserved.

Nadeem Walayat has over 25 years experience of trading derivatives, portfolio management and analysing the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem's forward looking analysis focuses on UK inflation, economy, interest rates and housing market. He is the author of four ebook's in the The Inflation Mega-Trend and Stocks Stealth Bull Market series.that can be downloaded for Free.

Nadeem is the Editor of The Market Oracle, a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication that presents in-depth analysis from over 600 experienced analysts on a range of views of the probable direction of the financial markets, thus enabling our readers to arrive at an informed opinion on future market direction. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any trading losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors before engaging in any trading activities.

? 2005-2013 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.

Source: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article39849.html

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