A poem on Intrinsic Motivation and Continuous Continuous ...

I stated playing with some of the Square Wheels cartoons and doing some short poems over the past week or so. I guess it is kind of like taking a break, but I am also playing with my creative thinking and the like. Doing these ?poems? has been fun, but will certainly not win me any awards!

One of the best of the cartoons in my series has always been one that I call, ?Intrinsic Motivation,? since it seems to capture so much about improvement and self-generated motivation to succeed. As I played with this in workshops and generated a lot of conversations and comments, what stands out is the reality that implementing your ideas generates a lot of the right stuff. Ideas and themes about intrinsic motivation might include:

• Making things work more smoothly, better or faster
• Taking Pride in one?s accomplishments
• Succeeding in the challenge of putting a round wheel on the wagon, probably not with a lot of support from the leadership
• Doing something good even though it may not get noticed by others
• Doing something for the right reason and for the Big Picture
• Simply feeling good about oneself when you succeed at something you challenged yourself to do
• Feeling positive about making an improvement that impacts others or that may lead to other impacts on people and an organization
• Using a new idea successfully

The list actually goes on and on, but the above tend to be the main frames for why implementing a Round Wheel in a world full of Square Wheels is simply a good thing to do. Questions are often along the lines of, ?Will that one wheel actually make any difference or be noticeable?? and my reactions have been along the lines of making any improvement is a positive action and while one wheel may make little overall impact, implementing the first one is a lot harder than implementing the second or the third.

One begins to change the culture, just a little, by having a success and feeling that you made a difference. Will the leadership know? Maybe not. Should they know? Of course. And they may figure out something has changed positively, eventually. Maybe it will simply take another person at the back of the wagon to do the same thing on the other side?

But making a difference IS making a difference. It has to start somewhere?

Thus, my little poem:

Innovation can occur anywhere, and implementing innovations is critical to long-term success for most organizations and workplaces. Improvements can be little things or big things, but building a culture willing to try to do something differently will have a variety of positive benefits. Consider the culture where any change or any improvement is not supported. Yeah, that can look something like this:

or this one:

If we want to motivate people, we need to ask for their ideas and generate their engagement and involvement in workplace innovation. Just bring in ?workers? to do the same constrained job, day after day, will get you what we seem to have already gotten in so many workplaces, the dis-engaged and the un-involved.

There are LOTS of ways to do things differently.

?

For the FUN of It!

Dr. Scott Simmerman is a designer of team building games and organization improvement tools. Managing Partner of Performance Management Company since 1984, he is an experienced presenter and consultant.
Connect with Scott on Google+ ? you can reach Scott at scott@squarewheels.com

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Source: http://performancemanagementcompanyblog.com/2012/12/24/a-poem-on-intrinsic-motivation-and-continuous-continuous-improvement/

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Household Enhancement Applications ? Have you been Outfitted ...

You can insert price to the house by undertaking comprehensive household enhancement initiatives which include things like acquiring your house re-painted, renovating bathrooms, revising layout of your kitchen area and development of terraces and balconies. Even right after completion of those tasks, you would need a selection of home advancement equipment to take care of the house.

From trivial repairs to big overhauling, a number of upkeep problems will arrive your way as a residence owner, however, if you?ve many of the gear inside the bag, you can afford to relax. If you are setting up to buy some home enhancement tools, you improved go through a quick description of what sort of equipment you could demand.

Cutting:

Cutting applications are supposed to minimize different types of products and want for being created with robust products. Chopping instruments sort a necessary aspect of your house improvement instruments package. A utility knife is perhaps by far the most common reducing tool due to the fact it can slice many resources just like paper, timber, plastic material and metals in 50 percent. The point that it truly is effortless to handle would make it an important resource for your home improvement assignments. A different great tool is a hacksaw, which can be helpful in slicing solid wood, bones and tricky products. It is made of a experienced with fragile still pretty sharp teeth as well as a blade framed in steel. A tile-cutter resource can also be of the utility should you have ideas of adjusting style and design of your respective bathrooms. This device assists condition ceramic applications in no matter what way you prefer which is a need in terms of bathroom improvement undertakings.

Backyard garden:

A property with a attractive lawn appears extremely eye-catching, however it normally requires a number of yard resources to maintain a lawn. Garden tools provide the purpose of planting, chopping grass along with other relevant agricultural is effective. You will find backyard garden applications in two sorts, particularly, handbook tools and power run methods. As part of your property improvement resources package, you should buy backyard garden tools like a garden mower, a spade, a back garden hoe, a backyard fork and also a rake.

Transferring:

Heading weighty objects about is frequently a difficult stage in residence improvement jobs. For the easy sailing all through this particular phase, you?d have to have heading tools which might be constructed to maneuver objects. Some prevalent going methods include things like a hammer, a screwdriver, pliers plus a wrench. A home furnishings dolly can be quite handy to maneuver major objects like packing containers and home furniture as you can area the item on its flat picket surface area and wheel the dolly to transport the object. Another incredibly useful tool is actually a stair-roller that can help transfer objects down or up the stairs.

Transforming:

Large-scale house improvements frequently call for the products and services of transforming applications. Popular reworking equipment incorporate blow-torch and chemical sprays with solvent houses. Although a blow-torch can be used to bend and shape metals by making intense warmth, chemical sprays transform objects as a result of chemical reactions.

Measurement:

Home enhancement undertakings include things like appropriate measurements which can be extremely hard to take unless you use measurement methods. Essentially the most well-liked measurement tool is tape measure that comes in various products for example fabric, optical fiber, plastic material and steel. With the help of this handy resource you may make sure that windows and doors have correct and equivalent dimensions. A few other measurement equipment that you could have an interest to incorporate in your home improvement equipment are rulers, calipers, squares, a theodolite and soul degree.

Shaping:

In terms of offering final touches to an object in the course of residence advancement, you might call for shaping equipment.These methods are utilized to present forms to things for example wooden together with other components. Chisels, trowels, moulds, sanders and jigs are a few frequent shaping tools that you may require within your software package.

Fastening:

As opposed to the slicing applications, fastening tools are used to affix objects. With the help of specialised methods for instance rivet guns, glue weapons, wire tackers and staple guns you?ll be able to join two objects, no matter no matter whether they can be created with the similar stuff or not.

Strength Applications:

Electrical power methods are power-driven with the aid of electric powered motors, air motors or combustion engines that are inwardly operative. House enhancement on a large-scale requires a number of performs to become performed with the aid of energy equipment. Widespread electrical power methods are drills, electrical sanders and lathe. You?ll find broadly two sorts of energy methods, particularly, static and cellular tools.

Just after getting out concerning the most often made use of residence enhancement resources, you will be inside of a much better situation to buy the ideal tools which can just take treatment of the household upkeep. A good way to go about procuring for house enhancement tools will probably be to go surfing.

DEWALT DCT410S1 12-Volt Max Inspection Camera Kit
DEWALT DW364K 7-1/4-Inch Circular Saw with Electric Brake
Cobra CPI 2575 2500 Watt 12 Volt DC to 120 Volt AC Power Inverter
DEWALT DCK265L 18-Volt Compact Lithium-Ion Drill/Impact Combo Kit
Makita 9903 8.8 Amp 3-Inch-by-21-Inch Variable Speed Belt Sander with Cloth Dust Bag
Lifetime 60058 Compost Tumbler, Black, 80-Gallon
NewAir AW281E 28 Bottle Thermoelectric Wine Cooler
SPT Countertop Dishwasher, White
2 Black Berkey Replacement Water Filters ? Big Berkey
Bosch MX30EK-33 Multi-X 3.0 Amp Oscillating Tool Kit with 33 Accessories

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Tags: DIY, Hand Tools, Home Improvement, Online Shopping, Power Tools, Tools

Source: http://www.watbansuan.com/household-enhancement-applications-have-you-been-outfitted-while-using-the-suitable-resources-to-deal-with-your-own-home.html

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Shot away from its companion, giant star makes waves: Spitzer captures infrared portrait

Dec. 18, 2012 ? Like a ship plowing through still waters, the giant star Zeta Ophiuchi is speeding through space, making waves in the dust ahead. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has captured a dramatic, infrared portrait of these glowing waves, also known as a bow shock.

Astronomers theorize that this star was once sitting pretty next to a companion star even heftier than itself. But when that star died in a fiery explosion, Zeta Ophiuchi was kicked away and sent flying. Zeta Ophiuchi, which is 20 times more massive and 80,000 times brighter than our sun, is racing along at about 54,000 mph (24 kilometers per second).

In this view, infrared light that we can't see with our eyes has been assigned visible colors. Zeta Ophiuchi appears as the bright blue star at center. As it charges through the dust, which appears green, fierce stellar winds push the material into waves. Where the waves are the most compressed, and the warmest, they appear red. This bow shock is analogous to the ripples that precede the bow of a ship as it moves through the water, or the pileup of air ahead of a supersonic airplane that results in a sonic boom.

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, released a similar picture of the same object in 2011. WISE sees infrared light as does Spitzer, but WISE was an all-sky survey designed to take snapshots of the entire sky. Spitzer, by contrast, observes less of the sky, but in more detail. The WISE image can be seen at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2011-026 .

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Spitzer Space Telescope mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Science operations are conducted at the Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Data are archived at the Infrared Science Archive housed at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at Caltech. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. For more information about Spitzer, visit: http://spitzer.caltech.edu and http://www.nasa.gov/spitzer .

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/LbbXgtsUlK8/121218153330.htm

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The Engadget Show 39: Holiday Spectacular with Jonathan Coulton, John Roderick and Ben Heck

It's the most wonderful time of year. There's stockings hung above the fireplace, overflowing hot cocoa on the table, a MakerBot Replicator 2 printing ornaments beneath the tree and a sampling of the year's most exciting gadgets strewn about. Yes, friends, it's time for the Engadget Holiday Spectacular!

We're kicking off this very special holiday episode with a visit to Ben Heck's private workshop in Madison, Wisconsin to watch the construction of his holiday creation, the Naughty or Nice Meter. Also on the docket is a trip to NORAD's headquarters on a base in Colorado Springs, to find out how the military will be hard at work tracking Santa Claus later this month. Of course, not even Saint Nick can deliver all of the presents this year, so we've paid a visit to UPS's massive 5.2 million square foot Worldport shipping facility in Louisville, Kentucky to get a behind the scenes look at its late night operations.

Speaking of gifts, we've got two huge presents in the form of songsters Jonathan Coulton and John Roderick, who will be playing a trio brand new holiday classics off their new record, One Christmas at a Time. We've also got a visit from Engadget founder Peter Rojas, who will be helping us make a twice-checked list of some of the year's top gadgets. And as if that weren't enough, we've got an appearence by a very familiar looking Santa Claus and a special holiday animation. So light a fire, get cozy and prepare for a very special -- and very spectacular -- episode of The Engadget Show.

Continue reading The Engadget Show 39: Holiday Spectacular with Jonathan Coulton, John Roderick and Ben Heck

Filed under: HD, Mobile

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/18/engadget-show/

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NFL notebook: Report: Brent banned from sidelines

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Source: http://forums.steelersfever.com/showthread.php?t=95096&goto=newpost

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Children Keep Active In Science - Reference and Education - rerre36

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Source: http://rerre36.blogspot.com/2012/12/children-keep-active-in-science.html

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Apple sold over two million iPhone 5s in China in first weekend

Even though there were no insanely long lines to rave about this time, Apple's now showing some big numbers merely three days after its iPhone 5 launch in China. According to the short press release fresh out of the oven, Cupertino's Chinese division has so far managed to sell over two million iPhone 5s through various channels (notably with online reservation for Apple's in-store purchases, as already implemented in Hong Kong), thus "setting a new record with the best first weekend sales ever in China," said CEO Tim Cook. To put that into context, the iPhone 5's original opening weekend sales topped five million in nine countries, which is again solid proof that "China is a very important market" for Apple. Or maybe the Mayan calendar really made an impression among Chinese consumers.

Continue reading Apple sold over two million iPhone 5s in China in first weekend

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/16/apple-iphone-5-china-opening-weekend/

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Bitcoin looks primed for money laundering - Fortune Finance: Hedge ...

By Cyrus Sanati

FORTUNE -- HSBC and Standard Chartered may have gotten out of the money laundering and sanction-skirting game just in time. Bitcoin, a virtual online "currency," seems to be gaining traction and legitimacy among those who need to transfer or launder their cash outside of the prying eyes of regulators.

Spend some time in the sketchy online marketplace for this currency and you'll find that Bitcoin users range from the common Iranian on the street, who is worried about inflation, to hit men and drug dealers, who prefer to be paid in an untraceable currency. If Bitcoin is able to stabilize its value on the international markets, it could eventually creep into the legitimate world of finance, threatening major profit centers for both the banks and payment operators like Visa and MasterCard.

The massive fines levied against British-based banks HSBC ($1.9 billion) and Standard Chartered ($327 million) last week were so big it was almost hard to comprehend. The two banks were accused of helping unscrupulous actors transfer and conduct business in violation of international law and UN sanctions. HSBC did a lot of work for the Mexican mafia while Standard Chartered enjoyed the comforts of Tehran by facilitating, as per the New York Attorney General's Office, some $250 billion worth of oil trades for the Iranian government.

But HSBC (HBC) and Standard Chartered are hardly alone in grabbing a piece of the financial underworld. Nearly every major financial institution from Credit Suisse (CS) to UBS (UBS) to JPMorgan (JPM) have been fined at some point for facilitating questionable transactions for governments or individuals they knew they shouldn't be dealing with. It is understandable why the banks participated in such business ? it is extremely profitable.

MORE:?Cerberus: We want out of gun biz

Nevertheless, it has become much harder for banks to conduct business with rogue nations and unsavory characters as governments, most notably the US, fight back. In its dealing with Iran, for example, the Obama administration has pressured the EU to lock Iran out of its banking system. Iran's banks were recently cut off from the international "SWIFT" club, making it virtually impossible to transfer money to Iran from a foreign bank. This profit center, at least for now, seems closed to the banks.

But criminals and rogue nations still need to move their cash. Enter Bitcoin, the online virtual currency. For those unfamiliar, Bitcoin functions as a storage of wealth and a medium of exchange for goods and services mostly available for purchase on the web. For now, Bitcoins are primarily accepted in the Internet underworld known as the "Deep Web," which is a sort of dark foil to the web brought to us by search engines and standard internet browsers.

Here in this internet netherworld you can buy and sell almost anything ? from drugs to guns ?? all from the comfort of your home computer. Money laundering can be conducted through one of the various bitcoin "mixers," like Bit Laundry, where bitcoins and cash are exchanged for "clean" ones. Like the banks, these mixers usually take a 1% transaction fee for the service.

Sending a Bitcoin payment is as easy as sending an email, you just need to access a Bitcoin "client," like BitcoinID, and send the payment to another person's Bitcoin "wallet." There are a bunch of legitimate, and not so legitimate, PayPal-like Bitcoin services and BitCoin "exchanges" that streamline the process.?Unlike sending money through traditional channels, Bitcoin transactions can be done completely anonymously, perfect for someone trying to skirt the law. Once a transaction is complete, it is easy to liquidate an account and open a new one at any time, allowing users to stay as incognito as possible.

MORE:?What about food inflation, Bernanke?

Passing money and making transactions outside of normal pay channels has serious repercussions for the financial industry. The Bitcoin network is free and can be used by anyone at any time to send and receive payments. That compares to other payment networks run by MasterCard (MA), Visa (V), American Express (AXP) and Discover, all of which charge merchants fees for using their network and leave paper trails. The big banks charge large fees to move large blocks of cash. As with credit card payments, bank transactions leave paper trails, which are closely monitored by government regulators, who are constantly on the lookout for any sort of monetary malfeasance, ranging from tax dodging to money laundering.

But just because the Bitcoin network is free to use doesn't mean it's the best way to move wealth. Indeed, it is by far the riskiest way to send money as it is only as good as its medium of exchange -- Bitcoins. Unlike currency backed by the full faith and credit of sovereign nations, Bitcoins are backed up by, well, nothing, leaving it open to wild swings on the international currency market. Since Bitcoins are still a virtual currency, buyers and sellers take on massive exchange rate risk moving money to and from their Bitcoin accounts. In the two years it's been around, the Bitcoin has been valued as high as $30 to as low as $2. A wild swing occurred last summer when security concerns cause people to dump their Bitcoin en masse. Casual observers wrote off Bitcoin and moved on, but it has slowly and steadily regained its value, last trading at around $14 per Bitcoin.

It is critical for Bitcoin to establish a relatively stable exchange rate if it is to survive as a currency and as a payment network. But for those living in nations with weak currencies, the Bitcoin has started to gain traction. In Iran, for instance, hyperinflation has caused some of the more technologically savvy Iranians to turn to Bitcoin to store their fleeting wealth. Before, Iranians used the US dollar, but those have become hard to find on the streets of Iran these days thanks to the tough international banking sanctions levied by the US and its allies.

MORE:?How risky is the Fed's major move?

It is here where Bitcoin may make a turn ? rising from the deep web into a legitimate alternative currency; one where someone in the US can transfer cash to his cousin in Shiraz in a blink of an eye, with no trace and no fees. As the Bitcoin market becomes more liquid and more valuable (there are currently just 10.5 million Bitcoins in circulation valued at $140 million), it could even eventually be used by the government of Iran to buy and sell weapons and oil.

Indeed, authorities in the US and Europe are already concerned that Bitcoins could soon grow in value and become a major problem. The FBI recommended in a report this spring that third-party exchanges of Bitcoins be forced to adhere to the same anti-money laundering that the banks (are supposed) to be following.

"The US government doesn't have much leverage over the exchanges," Nicholas Christian, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and an expert on cryptography and security, told Fortune. "It is not clear, yet, what status these exchanges have. Are they selling monetary products, are the selling financial products, or something else that doesn't exist?"

What we do know is that Bitcoins operate in some sort of legal grey area, which is for now allowing Bitcoin transactions to occur totally unregulated and outside the scope of both US and international banking laws. While this may be great for people who want to live in the shadows it is deterring everyday people and legitimate merchants in the US and Europe from embracing it. Indeed, part of the crash in BitCoin value last summer was due in part to a major heist at one of the major online exchanges by cyber bandits. Without that legitimacy and security, Bitcoins will probably remain a shadow currency, which will be vulnerable to wild swings in valuation.

MORE:?Post-financial crisis milestone: Banks beat market

But that may start to change, at least in Europe. Bit-Coin Central, one of the many online Bitcoin exchanges, announced earlier this month that it was teaming up with Aqoba, a local payment service provider in France, to keep funds on behalf of third-parties in payment accounts. While this doesn't make Bit-Coin Central a bank (as it cannot invest the Bitcoins it holds), it will bring some peace of mind for users when doing business in Bitcoins, as Aqoba works as an intermediary for Bitcoin transactions.

While BitCoin Central says it is not a bank, it is performing very "bank-like" functions. Eventually, Bitcoins could be used as a way to replace the euro in many everyday bank transactions. But it won't happen overnight for one simple reason: The Bitcoin system is far too complex for most people.

The catalyst for change could come out of places like Iran where crippling sanctions have made their currency collapse in value. If enough "legitimate" users in Iran start to use the system, then the Bitcoin genie could forever be out of the bottle, threatening not only just bank profits, but also the monetary authority of sovereign nations.

Source: http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/12/18/bitcoin-money-laundering/

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Scientists Develop the World's First Chemistree

Making a strong case for the Nobel Prize in Holiday Cheer, Redditor Breokz posted a photo of the Christmas 'Chemistree' at the Avans University of Applied Science laboratory. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ZZ-vAp-3ebE/scientists-develop-the-worlds-first-chemistree

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Danse Macabre: The Black Death, Part 2 ? Anna Raccoon

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Then, 15 days later George Viccars' neighbour on one side of his house died. The next day, the neighbour on the other side died. Then the Thorpe family in a house on the other side of the street began to die. To illustrate how ...

Source: http://www.annaraccoon.com/monks-ramblings/danse-macabre-the-black-death-part-2/

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UN buys 20,000 T Indian-origin wheat for Ethiopia

(Reuters) - The father of the man suspected of killing 26 people at a Connecticut elementary school said on Saturday he was in a "state of disbelief" and was fully cooperating with law enforcement officials investigating the massacre. Peter Lanza, father of 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who law enforcement officials have said burst into Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday and killed 20 children and six adults, said: "We are in a state of disbelief and trying to find whatever answers we can. We too are asking why. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/un-buys-20-000-t-indian-origin-wheat-151454444.html

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More similar than they think: Liberals and conservatives exaggerate perceived moral views

More similar than they think: Liberals and conservatives exaggerate perceived moral views

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Moral stereotypes about "typical" liberals and conservatives held by both groups are generally correct, but exaggerated both for their own group and the other, according to new research published December 12 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Jesse Graham at the University of Southern California and his colleagues at the University of Virginia and New York University.

The researchers asked 2,212 U.S participants to answer questions about moral beliefs either with their own views, or with their idea of a typical liberal or conservative person's answers. They found that liberals endorsed individualistic moral concerns of compassion and fairness more than conservatives, and conservatives endorsed group-focused concerns such as loyalty and respect for authority. Across the political spectrum, participants' responses correctly reflected the moral endorsements of "typical" liberals and conservatives, but increased the extremity of the views. The authors found that these perceived stereotypes exaggerated the moral ideologies of both the respondent's own group as well as that of the other group, and that liberals were least accurate about the views held by both groups.

Graham explains, "Rather than finding that liberals think conservatives are immoral, and conservatives think the same about liberals, we found that all three groups shared exaggerated moral stereotypes about partisans on either side. These moral stereotypes were basically that liberals don't care at all about loyalty, authority, and sanctity, and that conservatives don't care at all about compassion, fairness, and equality. The findings suggest that liberals and conservatives, while differing systematically in their moral worldviews, are actually more similar in their moral judgments than anyone thinks."

###

Graham J, Nosek BA, Haidt J (2012) The Moral Stereotypes of Liberals and Conservatives: Exaggeration of Differences across the Political Spectrum. PLoS ONE 7(12): e50092. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050092

Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org

Thanks to Public Library of Science for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125909/More_similar_than_they_think__Liberals_and_conservatives_exaggerate_perceived_moral_views

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Acer Iconia W700-6465

The Acer Iconia W700-6465 ($999.99 list) is a Windows 8 slate tablet, eschewing the traditional keyboard and clamshell design in favor of a screen-only form factor for enhanced mobility. Now, there have been Windows slate tablets in the past, like the Motion Computing M1400, and we've seen many tablets that failed to garner customer interest due to the mediocre Windows XP Tablet OS and subsequent follow-ups in Vista and Windows 7. The W700, one of the first Windows 8 slate tablets, shows some of the true potential of the Windows 8 interface. Though the W700 comes with a wireless Bluetooth keyboard, it's really meant to be used as a tablet for the person who has to do work around the house, a college campus, or on the job. It's certainly capable of all that, though you may make a couple of sacrifices in performance in return for that portability. It's one of the best arguments for a first-generation Windows 8 slate tablet, and as such it earns our first Editor's Choice for Windows 8 Slate Tablets.

Design and Features
The W700 measures about 0.5 by 11.75 by 7.75 inches (HWD), which is somewhat large for a tablet, but noticeably smaller than a thin ultrabook or a convertible tablet PC like the Sony VAIO Duo 11 or the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13. The W700 is a unibody slate tablet, with all the components built into a hollowed-out slab of aluminum. With its Gorilla Glass 2 screen, the W700 feels sturdy in the hand, with a decent weight of just over two pounds (2.02 pounds). Since the chassis has to accommodate an 11.6-inch, 16:9 widescreen, the W700 is a little wider than tablets like the Apple iPad. The W700 is easy to use two-handed, but hold it in one hand and it may feel a bit long and bulky when maneuvering around your home or office. It comes with a leatherette case with a screen cover that flips over to create a stand for watching videos or typing on the tablet screen. It's a nice bonus, though the case adds a whole pound to the system's travel weight.

The tablet comes with a lightweight docking cradle, which effectively turns the system into an 11-inch desktop PC. The docking cradle passes power through, so you don't have to plug the AC adapter into the tablet every time you recharge. The cradle also acts as a USB 3.0 hub, multiplying the tablet's single USB 3.0 port into three USB 3.0 ports on the side of the cradle.

While the system is in the cradle, the headset jack on the right had side of the tablet is still accessible. The back of the cradle has a removable stand, which can be reoriented so the tablet is either vertical (good for using the keyboard and group viewing) or horizontal (better for typing and tapping on the screen). You can also manhandle the cradle to a portrait mode, so you can view Web pages easier. The built-in accelerometer makes sure everything is right side up during use. The cradle has pass through vents for the W700's stereo speakers.

The W700 comes with a 1,920-by-1,080 resolution IPS panel, which makes it ideal for viewing online videos. It's also large and wide enough to keep several programs running at once for multitasking. Videos in 1080p HD look and sound great, whether they downloaded or streaming. We watched webisodes of Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome as well as the original BSG episodes on Netflix, and both looked great.

The built-in speakers with Dolby Home Theater v4 have enough oomph to fill a small room, which is certainly enough to keep a few people happy while watching a movie or while listening to music. The 1080p screen has a couple of drawbacks: unless you set the zoom setting higher than default, text can look tiny in both Internet Explorer as well as any program that you open in Window 8's desktop mode. It can also take a little practice to touch close boxes and other UI elements when they are only a few millimeters tall. That said, after a few hours with the unit you'll figure out how much pressure to use to tap on onscreen elements. You can use capacitive styli, but graphics artists and engineers won't be able to use the Wacom-style pressure-sensitive digitizer styli they use with their professional tablets.

The W700 comes with an Intel Core i5 processor, 4GB of DDR3 memory, Intel HD Graphics 4000, and a 128GB SSD. This is a more robust configuration than Windows RT tablets like the Microsoft Surface with Windows RT, which uses a power-saving ARM processor instead of an ultrabook-class Core i5. You'll be able to do tasks that you'd expect to do on a regular laptop, including photo editing and video transcoding (see performance below).

The system's solid-state drive (SSD) comes with a few pre-installed programs, including Netflix, eBay, Evernote, and Amazon Kindle, among others. While the extra programs look fine in the Windows 8 Start screen, their icons clutter up the desktop mode view somewhat. Thankfully these icons can be removed without too much trouble. If you wish, you can completely remove these programs to recover some of the space on the SSD. The Acer Explorer program is a place to get updates, view tutorials, and a place to find out about the pre-installed programs. The Windows store in the Start screen is a place to find more programs, but you can install most Windows compatible programs on the W700. The W700 comes with a one-year warranty.

Performance
The Iconia W700-6465 comes with a familiar Intel Core i5-3317U processor, found in many ultrabooks, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 4GB of memory, 128GB SSD, and 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. This makes the W700 competitive with ultrabooks and other convertible tablets on our benchmark tests. For example, the W700 is faster on PCMark 7 than ultrabooks like the HP Envy 4-1043cl and Lenovo IdeaPad U310, because the W700's SSD makes it faster overall than these hard drive-equipped ultrabooks. However, the tighter confines inside the chassis and more limited cooling of the slate form factor keep the W700 behind on our 3D and video encoding benchmark test. From the benchmark numbers, we surmise that the W700 reaches its limits a bit quicker than other, roomier laptops and ultrabooks. This isn't a deal breaker for the most part, since you're more likely to work on your full-sized desktop when you need to do serious photo or video editing.

The W700's battery life was very good, lasting over six and a half hours on our battery rundown test. It's not quite "full day," but you should be able to make the system last longer if you take breaks and let it go to sleep when you're not using it. The Dell XPS 12 (5:09) and the Sony VAIO 11 (3:09) weren't able to match the W700.

The Acer Iconia W700-6465 lies somewhere between slate tablets with mobile operating systems, like the iPad, and Windows 8 convertible ultrabooks, like the Dell XPS 12 or Sony VAIO Duo 11. The W700 is certainly more capable than less Windows RT tablets like the Microsoft Surface with Windows RT or the Asus Vivo Tab RT. The W700 is sure to appeal to businesses that already use Windows XP or Windows 7 tablets, like retail, healthcare, and information gathering organizations, but it will also appeal to end users who want a really portable PC that can do more work than the Android-based or iOS-based tablet they've been carting around. It's also an effective laptop replacement for people that retrieve information around the house or on the road. It's a great place to start and a benchmark to compare against, so the Acer Iconia W700-6465 is our first Editors' Choice winner in the category of Windows 8 slate tablets.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Acer Iconia W700-6465 with several other laptops side by side.

More laptop reviews:
??? Acer Iconia W700-6465
??? Acer C7 Chromebook (C710-2847)
??? Acer Aspire V5-571-6891
??? Acer Aspire S3-391-6046
??? Cyberpower Xplorer X6-9120
?? more

laptop

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/pM8stMRmJbg/0,2817,2413130,00.asp

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Smart building blocks let kids engineer tech creations with ease

3 hrs.

Devin Coldewey , NBC News

A new toy company is using Kickstarter to help fund a set of intelligent building blocks called Atoms Express Toys. They fit together like LEGO blocks, but also work as sensors, motors and wireless connectors, allowing a child to build a remote control car in a matter of minutes.

Seamless Toy Company is making Atoms, which is the brainchild of CEO and founder Michael Rosenblatt, a former MIT Media Lab member who worked at Apple.?On Wednesday,?Atoms Express Toys hit their $100,000 goal on Kickstarter.?NBC News talked with Rosenblatt about his new endeavor.?

This area of the toy world is largely dominated by LEGO's Mindstorms sets and a couple other smart-blocks products. Rosenblatt says that while what's out there is very cool and capable, it's both expensive and not really conducive to plain old play.

"There's a lot of steps when you get it out of the box???you have to install software, download stuff. It's hard for kids to pick up and run with," Rosenblatt said. "Our immediate plan for the kits was to?give kids something to do right out of the box."

Indeed, the process of creating something like a robot with wheels and headlights, controlled by a tilt-sensitive remote, is accomplished in minutes rather than hours. Construction acts as a tutorial as well: Plug the wires in differently and you'll reverse the way something spins, or make a lamp that turns on in the dark rather than the light.

That's an important part of the process, Rosenblatt said. Creation and experimentation are critical to making future scientists and engineers, which is why he decided to make Atoms in the first place. And he's not the only one who thinks so.

Mitchel Resnick, a former colleague of Rosenblatt's at MIT and creator of Scratch, a programming environment for kids, agrees that "the?most?important?thing that's needed is more opportunities for young people to design, create, and experiment," he told NBC News.

"We need people to grow up as creative thinkers. We should be developing high-tech toys that embody that same creative spirit of building blocks and modeling clay."

Instead, high-tech toys try to deliver entertainment, he said. And that doesn't just mean video games: "The key issue is not whether it's on or off the screen, it's whether the kids are in control of the experience." He cited "Minecraft" and his own Scratch project as toys or games that provided tools for creation rather than just a single experience.

Of course,?kids want to be entertained as well. To that end, the first Atoms kits include pieces that form basic projects like a rolling monster or remote-control propeller, but modules?can be combined with LEGO and other decorative pieces to extend their versatility. Every piece has Velcro for easy attachment, and little loops so they can be sewn onto clothing or stuffed animals. There's software available for iOS devices, and Android support is on the way.

Altogether there are 13 modules, from battery and Bluetooth blocks to motors and lights. The company?focused on kid-friendly modules?for the launch, but more advanced ones are on the way after the product gets out the door, likely in spring 2013.

Proximity and RFID sensors, stronger motors, fans, even a camera attachment are in the works. Building a robot you can log into from your iPad and roll around the house with could be done with a handful of blocks.

Rosenblatt says that projects like this last one, which could be enjoyed both?by kids and?their parents, are critical to making Atoms and Seamless Toy a success.

"There are people out there who think that starting a toy company in 2012 is like starting a record shop," he said. And indeed, from the proliferation of tablets and video games, it might seem that toys are a dwindling market. And it's true that the toy industry is shrinking ? but it's also changing.

"That's why it needs to be multi-generational," Rosenblatt said. In other words, it's important that this "toy" can be made into either a spinning magic wand... or a keyless ignition system for a car. The devices are simple and open enough that such things are possible, although naturally making a remote control door lock or email-activated cat feeder takes a bit more work.

But it's a toy first and foremost, and the team looks to children?for inspiration.?

"It's neat to see what they want to do," said Rosenblatt, "Because they're not thinking in terms of proximity sensors ? they're saying 'I want this to activate when the cat walks by.'?"

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC?News Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/smart-building-blocks-let-kids-engineer-tech-creations-ease-1C7501602

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Walmart in talks to buy stake in Turkish retailer: FT

DEAR ABBY: I have been married for 14 years to a man who had two failed marriages. I never felt insecure in my married life until I read his answers to a Yahoo Answers poll that asked, "Do you dream about the one that got away?" and, "Have you found the love of your life?"My husband responded that he thinks about her very often, especially on her birthday and Valentine's Day. To the other question he replied he had found the love of his life, but the relationship had ended in divorce, which he admitted was his fault.I know he was talking about his first wife. I feel so sad and insecure. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/walmart-talks-buy-stake-turkish-retailer-ft-012239667--sector.html

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Defining your terms- Part II: SEO dictionary | social media and web ...

We?ve all been there. That meeting where the proposal is discussed. Everyone?s giving it the full alpha business gorilla. The low hanging fruit?s been picked. The roadmap is drawn up, and the thought leadership is flowing thick and fast.? In these meetings everyone?s out-jargoning each other, but no one wants to be the one to admit they don?t understand what?s being said.

To help you through such difficult times, we?ve decided it?s time to clarify some of the sneaky terms that get bandied about when the talk turns to SEO.

Let us know if we?ve missed any terms you?ve had hurled at you and remember if you don?t understand the word being used???..ask the person using it to explain themselves. Or to paraphrase Obi-Wan,? ?Who?s more foolish? The fool, or the fool who swallows the unnecessary blather??

As in ?Dave, just remind me what our SEO strategy is??

Search Engine Optimisation. And what?s that when it?s at home? When someone types ?orang-utan trainer? into Google (other search engines are available), they get a list of search results. In fact they get pages and pages of them. Most of us don?t look beyond the first few pages of results. So search engine optimisation covers the many methods that can be used to try and get your orang-utan training business onto the first pages of the results, and get all the lovely traffic from the searches.

SERP

As in ?SERP clickthrough rates have made a great impact this month?

Search Engine Results Pages. ?The pages that you see as a result of a search, made on a search engine. Like a list of orang-utan training businesses.

Organic Search

As in ?what was the impact on revenue from the organic results??

Back to the orang-utan search. The results which appear are either organic or paid. On the SERPs you will see paid for ads at the very top of the page. They say ?ads related to orang-utans?. Underneath these you get ten organic links, where Google has algorithmically selected the most relevant sites to your search.? On the right hand side you have another selection of ads. Appearing in the organic results is exactly where you want to be, as it?s likely you?ll get lots of clicks, which will then turn into lots of business for you.

Backlink

As in 'could those backlinks have a negative effect?'

A backlink is a link coming into your site from another place on the internet. It could be from another site that you?ve done business with or an advert placed in an online magazine. It could be from a great article about you and your diversification into chimpanzee work. It could be from a blog, or a business directory listing or relevant forum. The number of backlinks to your site has played an important part in SEO campaigns, as Google looked upon them as a measure of your site?s relevance to any particular search. But things at Google have been changing, and the most important thing about backlinks to current SEO is that they come from quality sites which have genuine relevance to your market niche. Quality, not quantity, people. As in ?so Dave, is Pinterest totally nofollow then??

Nofollow links are not indexed by Google in the same way as ordinary (or dofollow) links. Some sites will have a nofollow warning, especially forums or communities. The idea of a forum is that like-minded people will discuss things, and add genuine value to the forum by participating in the community. Sadly, many forums have been hijacked by online marketers trying to get their backlinks wherever they can, without actually contributing more than ?great post, want free orang-utan training? Click here?, even though the forum is about the wedding hairstyles. So nofollow links are put in place on the site, in the hope that folks will use it for what it was actually intended. As in ?what was the keyword focus for this month??

A keyword or keyphrase is what someone might type into Google. So in our case, it might be ?orang-utan training?. Then problem is that what with the explosion in monkey presents this Christmas, that might be a very competitive phrase, with loads of trainers working it for organic traffic. So it might be useful to explore other related keyphrases, such as ?orang-utan training Croydon?, or ?orang-utan training services?, and do a little research into which ones could get you where you want to be in the SERPs. Keywords relevant to you should be in the copy and metadata on your website, describing the products and services you provide. This will help make sure that you get found for them. That?s the end of part two of our SEO dictionary. We?re bound to have missed a few things though, so do let us know in the comments. And if you think you could benefit from some SEO advice, then contact us at ArtDivision. Image courtesy of Stuart Miles and papaija2008 at www.freedigitalphotos.net

Source: http://www.missionimblogable.co.uk/2012/12/defining-your-terms-part-ii-seo.html

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GoBlog Holiday Gift Guide 2012: Black Diamond Magnetron GridLock Carabiner

Source: http://www.getoutdoors.com/goblog/index.php?/archives/4585-GoBlog-Holiday-Gift-Guide-2012-Black-Diamond-Magnetron-GridLock-Carabiner.html

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Modular Homes are the Perfect Choice for Retirement

With the large population of baby boomers, we are seeing more and more folks entering retirement. Their kids have grown up and moved on so many would like to relocate and scale down the size of their home without compromising on style or quality.

The?perfect solution is to build a modular home in your retirement location.? Here is a perfect example:
Mr. & Mrs. Hampton currently live in NY but they own land next to some family members in Independence, VA. The idea is to retire near family and build on the land that they own.

They contacted Joe Faraci at New Line Construction in Wytheville, VA, a modular home builder for HandCrafted Homes. ?Joe provided the Hamptons with a businesslike approach to building a modular home and answered all their questions. He suggested that the Hamptons attend the modular home factory tour. Every attendee who preregisters for the tour at handcraftedhomes.com/planttour_registration.php is entered into a drawing. The Hamptons won the monthly drawing for $1,000 in free options.

Mrs. Hampton chose the Warrenton modular home floor plan but made some custom design changes to accommodate her specific needs.

The new modular house sits on a beautiful tract of land with mountains, trees, and cows which they get to enjoy from the luxury of their new front porch. It?s a perfect setting for a couple who worked hard, built their dream retirement home, but didn?t break the bank doing it.

Joe Faraci had this to say about the experience:? ?They came and absolutely loved their house. ?They said it truly exceeded their expectations. ?It was the best showing of a home to a client I have ever had.?
For more information on building a new modular retirement home, contact HandCrafted Homes.

Source: http://wsiconsolidatedblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/modular-homes-are-perfect-choice-for.html

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This Is Very Effective In Treating Back Pain - Lying DC\&#39;s Health Blog

It can be quite frustrating to live with chronic back pain and it can truly prevent you from enjoying activities that you would love to participate in. I have found that by using a Massage Chair, I can get a lot of relief from my pain. I love the way that it completely relaxes my muscles and eases the pain as well. I look forward to using this device because I always know that it is going to make me feel much better.

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Source: http://www.lydc.org/health-and-fitness/this-is-very-effective-in-treating-back-pain/

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North Korea seen taking down part of rocket to fix glitch: media

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has started to dismantle a controversial long-range rocket on its launch pad in an apparent move to fix a technical problem but still looks likely to go ahead with the launch, South Korean news reports and experts said on Tuesday.

North Korea says the launch is to put a weather satellite in orbit but critics say it is aimed at nurturing the kind of technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.

When the first reports emerged that the rocket parts were being taken down, there was speculation the North might abandon the launch altogether, but experts said the construction of the rocket meant that it needed to be removed from its gantry.

"For North Korean rockets, it's the only way to repair them because they build the rocket stage by stage," said Kwon Se-jin, a rocket expert at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Daejeon, South Korea.

North Korea said on Monday that the launch window had been extended by a week due to technical problems.

"So as it had announced, if the North has a problem with the first-stage control module, it has to replace it and take down (the rocket) from the top," said Kwon.

The launch has been timed to coincide with the first anniversary of the death of former leader Kim Jong-il after a failed launch in April. It also comes as Japan and South Korea, long-time foes of the North, are holding elections.

North Korea is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests, and the United States, South Korea and Japan have condemned the current launch.

Even China, the one major diplomatic backer of isolated and impoverished North Korea, has expressed "deep concern" over the planned launch.

South Korean media reported on Tuesday that satellite images showed the rocket was being taken down.

"We have captured indications that a part of the rocket is being disassembled from the launch pad in Tongchang-ri," Yonhap news agency quoted a South Korean government source as saying.

The name refers to the North's new test site in its western region close to the border with China.

"There is no change to the North's will to fire the rocket," another source was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

Officials at South Korea's military and its foreign and defense ministries could not confirm the reports.

North Korea is assiduous in meeting its international obligations on reporting long-range rocket launches and notified international maritime and aviation bodies of its plans last week.

It was impossible to confirm the media reports in what is one of the most closed and secretive states on Earth.

(Reporting by Jack Kim and Ju-min Park; Editing by David Chance and Nick Macfie)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-seen-taking-down-part-rocket-fix-072512350.html

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Grover Norquist: Republicans Wobbly On Taxes Won't Face Opposition Yet

Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.)

Chambliss, a conservative Republican up for reelection in 2014, started the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/11/26/the-gops-read-my-lips-moment/" target="_hplink">media surge</a> of prominent GOP lawmakers breaking ranks with Norquist last week. He told a local news station on Nov. 21 that he thought the pledge itself was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/23/saxby-chambliss-grover-norquist_n_2177333.html" target="_hplink">outdated</a>. "I care too much about my country -- I care a lot more about it than I do about Grover Norquist," Chambliss said. "Norquist has no plan to pay this debt down. His plan says you continue to add to the debt, and I just have a fundamental disagreement about that and I'm willing to do the right thing and let the political consequences take care of themselves." As a member of the "Gang of Six" --lawmakers focused on a path towards deficit reduction -- Chambliss has proposed raising a significant amount of new revenues through tax reform.

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.)

King championed Chambliss' take on the ATR no-tax-increases pledge when speaking about deficit reduction on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "I agree entirely with Saxby Chambliss," King <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/11/25/lindsey-graham-peter-king-break-with-grover-norquist/" target="_hplink">said</a>. "A pledge you signed 20 years ago, 18 years ago, is for that Congress. ... The world has changed, and the economic situation is different...For instance, if I were in Congress in 1941, I would have signed a declaration of war against Japan. I'm not going to attack Japan today. The world has changed, and the economic situation is different."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)

The South Carolina senator took to the news shows on Sunday to push for a solution to the fiscal crisis, even if it requires that the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/12/lindsey-graham-grover-norquist-anti-tax-pledge_n_1590356.html" target="_hplink">GOP gives some ground on new revenues</a>. He told ABC's Jonathan Karl that he would be willing to break the pledge in order to ensure the fiscal solvency of the United States -- provided, of course, that Democrats would cede some serious structural reforms to entitlement programs. "When you're $16 trillion in debt, the only pledge we should be making to each other is to avoid becoming Greece, and Republicans -- Republicans should put revenue on the table," Graham <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/mccain-graham-norquist-chambliss/2012/11/25/id/465282#ixzz2DLTNhN8O" target="_hplink">said</a>. "I want to buy down debt and cut rates to create jobs, but I will violate the pledge, long story short, for the good of the country, only if Democrats will do entitlement reform." <em>Correction: An earlier version of this story contained a misspelling of Graham's first name.</em>

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.)

Corker became the third GOP senator to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/bob-corker-grover-norquist-pledge_n_2190985.html" target="_hplink">publicly disavow the pledge</a> promulgated by Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform in the last week. Speaking to CBS' Charlie Rose on Monday, the Tennessee Republican said that he was bound to serve his constituents first and foremost. "I?m not obligated on the pledge," he said. "I made Tennesseans aware, I was just elected, the only thing I?m honoring is the oath I take when I serve, when I?m sworn in this January."

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.)

Although Cantor has not come out and explicitly stated that he would violate the pledge -- in the manner of Graham -- he has said that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/26/eric-cantor-grover-norquist-pledge_n_2191375.html" target="_hplink">he is not concerned</a> with the pledge and wants to do what is best for his constituents. "When I go to the constituents that have reelected me, it is not about that pledge," Cantor said on MSNBC on Monday. "It really is about trying to solve problems." As a part of a supposed grand bargain, Cantor says that Republicans are willing to put some new revenues on the table, provided that they are raised from closing loopholes rather than from increasing the marginal rates. Under Norquist's pledge, neither option would be permissible.

Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.)

Rigell broke with Norquist and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/grover-norquist-tom-coburn_n_1676841.html" target="_hplink">revoked his signing</a> of the pledge in May on the grounds that it restricts any meaningful attempt at tax reform. "Averting bankruptcy requires us to grasp the severity of our fiscal condition and summon the courage to speak boldly about the difficult steps needed to increase revenues and sharply decrease spending," he <a href="http://www.democraticwhip.gov/content/washington-post-gop-shifting-taxes-norquist-pledge-losing-support" target="_hplink">wrote</a> in a two-page letter explaining his reversal to his constituents. He wasn't advocating for tax hikes to further increase government spending, but any substantive overhaul of the tax code could only be undertaken if everything was on the table, he said. At the time, Norquist questioned the salience of Rigell's position, saying that the sort of tax increases he was looking for would be as unlikely as <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76470_Page2.html#ixzz2DM2L4989" target="_hplink">catching a unicorn</a>. ?[I've] been in touch with the Republican Party in [Rigell?s] district, and they aren?t excited about it. This is not going to be a continuing problem,? Norquist told Politico in May.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)

Coburn has <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/grover-norquist-tom-coburn_n_1676841.html" target="_hplink">publicly criticized</a> the idea of a no-new-taxes pledge before. In July, he authored <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/16/opinion/a-greater-american-pledge.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper" target="_hplink">an editorial</a> for The New York Times in which he decried the hard-line approach taken by Norquist as counterproductive to substantive deficit reduction. "In a debt crisis, higher interest rates and the debasement of our currency would be additional tax hikes," Coburn wrote. "In that sense, no one is doing more to violate the spirit of the pledge than Mr. Norquist himself, who is asking Republicans to reject the very type of agreement that could prevent future tax increases." Coburn previously disagreed with Norquist's characterization of his bill to eliminate the ethanol tax credit as a "<a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56990.html" target="_hplink">tax increase</a>."

Senator-Elect Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.)

When running for his Arizona seat, Flake claimed that he had not signed the pledge when <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/10/jeff-flake-promises-tax-pledge_n_1956509.html" target="_hplink">in fact he had</a>. But the Republican did publicly distance himself from Norquist, saying in October that "the only pledge I'd sign is a pledge to sign no more pledges." "I believe in limited government, economic freedom, individual responsibility," Flake said during a debate against his Democratic and Libertarian opponents. "I don't want higher taxes. But no more pledges."

Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.)

Ribble, a freshman lawmaker from Wisconsin, decided that <a href="http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20111116/APC0602/111160402/Editorial-Read-Rep-Reid-Ribble-s-lips-No-new-pledges" target="_hplink">he wouldn't be signing any more pledges</a>, including a renewal of Norquist's anti-tax measure. In order to achieve deficit reduction, he wants to <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76470.html" target="_hplink">close corporate loopholes</a> and explore other options around tax reform. "Tax rates don't correlate much to what actual revenue is, but if we would remove some of the subsidies and tax giveaways, we would have the money to reduce rates and spur economic growth which would increase revenue," he told CNN.

Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.)

Andrews, one of two House Democrats to sign the anti-tax pledge, said that he thought the anti-tax promise only applied to the term in which he signed it rather than extending throughout his legislative career. "I honored that pledge -- <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/192529-house-gop-lawmakers-want-out-of-tax-pledge" target="_hplink">I never renewed it</a>," Andrews told The Hill back in 2011. "I never considered it to be like my marriage vows...I'm married to Camille Andrews, not Grover Norquist. I promised her to be faithful until death do us part, and I mean it. I did not promise him to oppose tax increases until death do us part."

Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.)

Terry also believed that the anti-tax pledge only applied to the two-year term in which he signed it. He and Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.) both indicated to The Hill in 2011 that they had signed the pledge <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/192529-house-gop-lawmakers-want-out-of-tax-pledge" target="_hplink">20 years ago</a> but had not agreed to uphold the pledge while serving in the present Congress.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.)

Fortenberry told his constituents in August that he found Norquist's anti-tax pledge to be "<a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/192529-house-gop-lawmakers-want-out-of-tax-pledge" target="_hplink">too constraining</a>" and did not want to be associated with it. He first broke ranks in 2011 and then <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/jeff-fortenberry-one-house-republican-whos-dared-to-defy-grover-norquist/2012/05/17/gIQA5Q0wVU_blog.html" target="_hplink">renewed his position</a> again in May 2012 when speaking to The American Conservative. "Simply looking at the status quo and suggesting that the tax code is sacrosanct and can never change, and that decisions made in the ?80s and ?90s can never change, is absurd," he said. "The tax code is weighted toward the ultra-wealthy and ultra-wealthy corporations, and has created an offshore aristocracy of people who can afford to hire an army of accountants and lawyers." "We need a simpler, fairer tax code. Removing special-interest loopholes could potentially increase revenues and allow for lower rates," he added.

Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio)

LaTourette, who announced in July that he will retire at the end of the year, hasn't signed the pledge since 1994. He was under the impression, like several other GOP lawmakers, that the anti-tax promise had a limited applicability and had to be renewed. "My driver?s license expires," LaTourette <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/192529-house-gop-lawmakers-want-out-of-tax-pledge" target="_hplink">told</a> The Hill. "The milk in my refrigerator expires. My gym membership expires, and I find the website to be a little deceptive." LaTourette and Sen. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) <a href="http://cooper.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=586&Itemid=73" target="_hplink">introduced</a> a version of the Bowles-Simpson deficit-reduction plan in March. Although it engendered very little public support at the time -- and drew fire from Norquist -- LaTourette told HuffPost that many lawmakers <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/steve-latourette-grover-norquist_n_1733712.html" target="_hplink">privately pledged to get behind the measure</a> after the November elections.

Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.)

DesJarlais <a href="http://www.tennessean.com/article/20121127/NEWS02/311260055/Sen.-Corker-backs-off-no-tax-hike-pledge?nclick_check=1" target="_hplink">walked back his commitment</a> when The Tennessean asked about his signature on the anti-tax pledge Monday. "The only pledge that matters is the one I made to my constituents to always represent their interests in Congress," the Tennessee congressman said in a statement. "I will judge any legislation put forth to avoid the fiscal cliff based solely upon the wishes and needs of the people of Tennessee?s Fourth Congressional District." In the past, DesJarlais has also appeared to waffle on conservative positions he has taken on both preventing abortion and supporting family values. HuffPost's Michael McAuliff <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/10/scott-desjarlais-abortion-pro-life_n_1953136.html" target="_hplink">reported</a> in October that he had an affair with one of his patients and appeared to push her to get an abortion on a recorded phone call.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)

Alexander first broke with the pledge last year, but he <a href="http://www.tennessean.com/article/20121127/NEWS02/311260055/Sen.-Corker-backs-off-no-tax-hike-pledge?nclick_check=1" target="_hplink">reaffirmed his sentiments</a> to The Tennessean yesterday. When speaking to Roll Call magazine last July, the senior GOP senator said that he wanted to get rid of some <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/issues/56_139/grover-norquist-ethanol-tax-206489-1.html" target="_hplink">unwarranted tax breaks</a> -- something Norquist's pledge would not allow. ?My only pledge is to the United States flag and to the United States Constitution, and I?ve forsworn all others,? Alexander <a href="http://www.tennessean.com/article/20121127/NEWS02/311260055/Sen.-Corker-backs-off-no-tax-hike-pledge?nclick_check=1" target="_hplink">told</a> Roll Call at the time.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/grover-norquist-republicans_n_2276091.html

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