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Source: Detroit Red Wings' Todd Bertuzzi won't face further league discipline for hit on Ryan Johnson of Chicago Blackhawks

Red Wings forward Todd Bertuzzi won't face any further league discipline after his elbowing penalty and game misconduct against Chicago Blackhawks forward Ryan Johnson, a source told ESPN.com Tuesday morning.

Surface Encounters

Brad Friedman and Desi Doyen: Green <b>News</b> Report: March 29, 2011 <b>...</b>

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): UN report: Cities ignore climate change at their peril; Study: Freshwater Content of Upper Arctic Ocean Increased since 1990; China 'to overtake US on science' in two years; ...

Surface Encounters

Murder Victim&#39;s Parents Sue Facebook Over Crime Scene - AOL <b>News</b>

The family of New York murder victim Caroline Wimmer has filed a civil suit against Facebook and others, including ex-EMT Mark Musarella, who posted a graphic picture of their daughter's body to the social networking website.

Surface Encounters

I read an interesting article this morning that suggested Apple would change its mind and put Adobe’s Flash technology on its iOS devices within a year. I don’t think that’s going to happen.

In an open letter to users, Apple CEO Steve Jobs gave several reasons why he didn’t want Flash on the iPad, iPhone or iPod touch. They are: Flash isn’t open; the full web; reliability, security and performance; battery life; and touch.

Adobe began shipping Flash Player 10.1 for Mobile last June, but even Laptop magazine admitted that “Steve Jobs was right,” and that “Adobe’s offering seems like it’s too little, too late.” Granted, that report was from six months ago, but it still doesn’t bode well for the technology.

There is no doubt that Adobe is making advances with Flash on mobile devices, but I don’t believe future changes will be enough to get Apple to adopt the technology.

Jobs has been very clear that Apple supports HTML5, an open technology that is controlled by a standards committee, not one company. By building support for that technology into Webkit, Apple is ensuring that mobile Web browsers will be able to access what we’ve come to know as the “full web.”

Webkit is used by Google, Palm, Nokia and RIM, so it has a pretty solid base.

One of the arguments often bantered about when the discussion of the “full Web” comes up is video. There is no doubt that Flash made huge strides over the years in having sites like YouTube encode their videos in Flash. But that’s for the desktop.

As Jobs points out, almost all of this video is also available in H.264 format (a format Flash also supports), so it’s viewable on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

“Add to this video from Vimeo, Netflix, Facebook, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, ESPN, NPR, Time, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Sports Illustrated, People, National Geographic, and many, many others. iPhone, iPod and iPad users aren’t missing much video,” wrote Jobs.

You may ask why other companies adopted Flash for their mobile devices when Apple won’t. That’s easy, they are looking for something they have that Apple doesn’t. Considering how hard it is for tablet makers to compete with Apple, any perceived advantage will work.

I’m not an Adobe hater—I know quite a few people that work at Adobe and I think they’ve done some amazing things over the years. Flash for mobile devices isn’t one of them.

Chris Dawson said he gives “Apple a year until they cave [and adopt Flash]. Android tablets will just be too cool and too useful for both entertainment and enterprise applications if they don’t.”

I have been using my iPhone for years and my iPad for one year. I honestly can’t remember the last time I went to a Web site that wouldn’t load because I didn’t have Flash installed. I can load videos from YouTube and a host of other sites too, no problem.

Apple has sold more than 160 million iOS devices and there are no screaming, angry hordes of users breaking down the doors at 1 Infinite Loop demanding Flash on their devices.

In order for Apple to change its mind and adopt Flash, the technology has to be proven to be indispensable and that it will benefit its users. Apple has proven just the opposite is true.

Editor’s Note: Jim Dalrymple has been writing about Apple for more than 15 years. You can follow him on Twitter @jdalrymple and on his Web site at The Loop.

Dirty Percent

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

It’s not hard to make the case that Apple’s new in-app subscription system offers numerous benefits to users, developers, and publishers. But whatever those benefits, they stem from the mere existence of these new subscription APIs. What’s controversial is the size of Apple’s cut: 30 percent.

No one is arguing that Apple shouldn’t get some cut of in-app purchases that go through iTunes. And, if Apple were taking a substantially smaller cut, there would be substantially fewer people objecting to Apple’s rules (that subscription-based publishing apps must use the system; that they can’t link to their external sign-up web page from within the app; and that they must offer in-app subscribers the same prices available outside the app).

The reasonable arguments against Apple’s policies seem to be:

• Apple should be taking less, perhaps far less, than 30 percent.




• Apple should not require subscription-based apps to use the in-app subscription APIs. If it’s a good deal for publishers, they’ll choose to use the system on their own.




• Apple should not require price-matching from subscription offers outside the app. Publishers should be allowed to charge iOS users more money to cover Apple’s cut.




• Apple should consider business models that simply can’t afford a 70/30 revenue split.

Let’s consider these in reverse order.

Apple Should Consider Business Models That Can’t Afford a 70/30 Revenue Split

Apple doesn’t give a damn about companies with business models that can’t afford a 70/30 split. Apple’s running a competitive business; competition is cold and hard. And who exactly can’t afford a 70/30 split? Middlemen. It’s not that Apple is opposed to middlemen — it’s that Apple wants to be the middleman. It’s difficult to expect them to be sympathetic to the plights of other middlemen.

Some of these apps and services that are left out might be ones that iOS users enjoy, though. This is the leading argument for how this new policy will in fact hurt users, and, as a result, Apple itself: it’ll drive good apps off the platform. Frequently mentioned examples: Netflix and Kindle. For all we know, though, Netflix may well be fine with this policy. Apple would only get a 30 percent cut of new subscriptions that go through the Netflix iOS app, and that might be a bounty Netflix can live with in exchange for more subscribers. Keep in mind, too, that Netflix and Apple seemingly get along well enough that Netflix is built into the Apple TV system software.

Kindle, and e-book platforms in general, are a different case. For one thing, Kindle doesn’t use subscriptions. Kindle offers purchases. Presumably, given Apple’s rejection of Sony’s e-book platform app last month, Apple is going to insist on the same rules for in-app purchases through apps like Kindle as they do for in-app subscriptions. If so, something’s got to give. The “agency model” through which e-books are sold requires the bookseller to give the publisher 70 percent of the sale price. So if the publisher gets 70 and Apple gets 30, that leaves a big fat nothing for Amazon, or Barnes & Noble, or Kobo, or anyone else selling books through native iOS apps — other than iBooks, of course.

But leaving aside the revenue split, there are technical limitations as well. The existing in-app purchasing system in iOS has a technical limit of 3,500 catalog items. I.e. any single app can offer no more than 3,500 items for in-app purchase. Amazon has hundreds of thousands of Kindle titles.

Something’s got to give here. I don’t know what, but there must be more news on this front coming soon. I don’t believe Apple wants to chase competing e-book platforms off the App Store.

Apple Should Not Require Price Matching

Why not allow developers and publishers to set their own prices for in-app subscriptions? One reason: Apple wants its customers to get the best price — and, to know that they’re getting the best price whenever they buy a subscription through an app. It’s a confidence in the brand thing: with Apple’s rules, users know they’re getting the best price, they know they’ll be able to unsubscribe easily, and they know their privacy is protected.

Credit card companies insist on similar rules: retailers pay a processing fee for every credit card transaction, but the credit card companies insist that these fees not be passed on to the customer. Customers pay the same price as they would if they used cash — which encourages them to use their credit card liberally. (Going further, many charge cards offer cash back on each purchase — they can do this because the cash-back percentage refunded to the customer is less than the transaction processing fee paid by the retailer.)

So the same-price rule is good for the user, and good for Apple. But Matt Drance argues that Apple could dissipate much of this subscription controversy by waiving this rule:

The requirement that IAP content be offered “at the same price
or less than it is offered outside the app,” combined with the
70/30 split, means developers must make less money off of iOS by
definition. They can’t price their IAP content higher to offset
the commission, nor can they price their own retail content lower.

If I am interpreting this correctly, I can’t bring myself to see
it as reasonable. […] I think a great deal of this drama could
go away if Apple dropped section 11.13 while keeping section
11.14: Your prices on your store are your business; just don’t
be a jerk and advertise the difference all over ours.

And I agree with him. Yes, the same-price rule is good for users and for Apple, but waiving this rule wouldn’t be particularly bad for users or for Apple, either — and it would give publishers some freedom to experiment.

I suspect one reason Apple won’t budge is that their competitors — like Amazon — insist on best-price matching.

Apple Should Not Require Apps to Offer In-App Subscriptions

I’m sympathetic to this argument, too. “If you don’t like our terms, don’t use our subscription system.” But it has occurred to me that this entire in-app subscription debate mirrors the debate surrounding the App Store itself back in 2008 — that 30 percent was too large a cut for Apple to take, that it shouldn’t be mandatory, etc. The same way many developers wanted (and still want) a way to sell native iOS apps on their own, outside the App Store, many publishers now want a way to sell subscriptions on their own, outside the App Store.

The fact is, the App Store is an all-or-nothing affair. You play by Apple’s rules or you stick to web apps through Mobile Safari. This alternative is no different for periodical publishers than it was (and remains) for app developers in general. A lot of these demands boil down to a desire for more autonomy for native iOS app developers. Apple has never shown any interest in that.

There’s one striking difference between the subscription controversy today and the App Store controversy in 2008: with subscriptions, Apple is taking away the ability to do something that they previously allowed. There was never a supported way to install native apps for iOS before the App Store. Subscriptions sold outside the App Store, on the other hand, were allowed until last month.

Apple Should Be Taking Less, Possibly Far Less, Than 30 Percent

Another difference between the App Store itself and in-app subscriptions is that with apps, Apple hosts and serves the downloads. Apple covers the bandwidth, even for gargantuan gigabyte-or-larger 99-cent games. The OS handles installation.

With in-app subscriptions (and purchases), however, the app developer is responsible for hosting the content, and for writing the code to download, store, and manage it. So — one reasonable argument goes — given that Apple is doing less for subscription content than it does for apps (or for music and movies purchased through iTunes), Apple should take less of the money.

Taken further, the argument boils down to this: that for in-app subscriptions and purchases, Apple is serving only as a payment processer — and thus, a reasonable fee for transactions would be in the small single digits — 3, 4, maybe 5 percent, say. More or less something along the lines of what PayPal charges.

Apple, I think it’s clear, doesn’t see it this way. Apple sees the entire App Store, along with all native iOS apps, as an upscale, premium software store: owned, controlled, and managed like a physical shopping mall. Brick and mortar retailers don’t settle for a single-digit cut of retail prices; neither does the App Store.

Seth Godin argues that Apple’s 30 percent cut is too big to allow publishers to profit:

Except Apple has announced that they want to tax each subscription
made via the iPad at 30%. Yes, it’s a tax, because what it does is
dramatically decrease the incremental revenue from each
subscriber. An intelligent publisher only has two choices: raise
the price (punishing the reader and further cutting down
readership) or make it free and hope for mass (see my point above
about the infinite newsstand). When you make it free, it’s all
about the ads, and if you don’t reach tens or hundreds of
thousands of subscribers, you’ll fail.

Godin’s logic strikes me as questionable. For one thing, he freely switches between a newsstand metaphor (arguing, perhaps accurately, that the App Store is too large for publishers to gain attention from potential readers in the first place — you won’t read what you never notice) and the economics of subscriptions. But subscribers are the opposite of newsstand readers. Newsstand readers are buying a single copy, often on impulse. Subscribers are readers who are already hooked, and who know what they want. Put another way, the size of Apple’s cut of subscription revenue — whether it were higher or lower — has no bearing on the “attention at the newsstand” problem.

Second, the problem facing traditional publishers today is that circulation is falling. Newsstand sales and subscriptions are falling, under pressure from free-of-charge websites and other forms of digital content. The idea with Apple’s 70-30 revenue split is that developers and publishers can make it up in volume — that people aren’t just somewhat more willing to pay for content through iTunes than other online content stores, they are far more willing. The idea is that Apple has cracked a nut no one else1 has — they’ve created an ecosystem where hundreds of millions of people are willing to pay for digital content. Thus, potentially, publishers won’t just make more money keeping only 70 percent of subscription fees generated through iOS apps than they are now with 96 percent (or whatever they’re left with after payment processing fees) of subscription fees they’re selling on their own — they stand to make a lot more money.

I’m not guaranteeing or even predicting that it’s going to work out that way. I’m just saying that’s Apple’s proposition.

Godin’s assumption is that iOS in-app subscriptions won’t significantly increase the number of subscribers. If he’s right about that, then he’s right that Apple’s 30 percent cut will prove too expensive for publishers. But Apple’s bet is that in-app subscriptions can dramatically increase the number of subscribers. Consider the app landscape. Apple’s 30 percent cut didn’t drive the price of paid apps up — the nature of the App Store drove prices down. It’s a volume game.

The App Store itself proves that Apple might be right. Like with app sales, in-app subscriptions won’t work for every publication. But it could work for many. It really is possible to make it up in volume.

And if a 70-30 split for in-app subscription revenue doesn’t work, the price will come down. That’s how capitalism works. You choose a price and see how it goes. I’ll admit — when the App Store launched in 2008, I thought Apple’s 70-30 split was skewed too heavily in Apple’s favor. Not that it was wrong in any moral sense, but that it was wrong in a purely economic sense: that it might be more than developers would be willing to bear. Apple, clearly, has a better sense about what prices the market will bear than I (and, likely, you) do.

Competition vs. Anti-Competition

One last argument I’ve seen regarding these in-app subscription rules is that it’s further evidence of anti-competitive behavior from Apple. That makes sense only if you consider iOS to be the entire field of play. Apple, though, is competing at a higher level. They’re competing between platforms: iOS vs. Kindle/Amazon vs. Android/Google vs. Microsoft, and in some ways, vs. the free web. Why should publishers make an app rather than just a mobile web site? For happier customers and more money.

Sony has a platform for e-books. Amazon has a platform for e-books. Barnes & Noble has a platform for e-books. Apple has a platform for e-books. But Apple is the only one which allows its competitors to have apps on its devices. And Apple is the anti-competitive one? I’m no lawyer, but if the iTunes Music store hasn’t yet been deemed a monopoly with Apple selling 70+ percent of digital music players, then I doubt the App Store will be deemed a monopoly for a market where Apple has never been — and, according to market share trends, may never be — the top-selling smartphone maker, let alone own a majority of the market, let alone own more than a single-digit sliver of the phone market as a whole. As for ruthless profiteering, consider that Amazon, with their e-book publishing, originally took the fat end of a 70-30 revenue split with authors.

One question I’ve been asked by several DF readers who object to Apple’s new in-app subscription and purchasing policies goes like this: What if Microsoft did this with Windows, and, say, tried to require Apple to pay them 30 percent for every purchase made through iTunes on Windows? To that, I say: good luck with that. Microsoft couldn’t make such a change by fiat. The whole premise of Windows (and other personal computer systems) is that it is open to third-party software. Apple couldn’t just flip a switch and make Mac OS X a controlled app console system like iOS — they had to introduce the Mac App Store as an alternative to traditional software installation. If Microsoft introduced something similar to the Mac App Store for Windows, Apple would simply eschew it. If Microsoft were to mandate an iOS App Store-like total control policy for all Windows software, they’d have a revolt in their user base that would make Vista look like a success.

iOS isn’t and never was an open computer system. It’s a closed, controlled console system — more akin to Playstation or Wii or Xbox than to Mac OS X or Windows. It is, in Apple’s view, a privilege to have a native iOS app.

This is what galls some: Apple is doing this because they can, and no other company is in a position to do it. This is not a fear that in-app subscriptions will fail because Apple’s 30 percent slice is too high, but rather that in-app subscriptions will succeed despite Apple’s (in their minds) egregious profiteering. I.e. that charging what the market will bear is somehow unscrupulous. To the charge that Apple Inc. is a for-profit corporation run by staunch capitalists, I say, “Duh”.

If it works, Apple’s 30-percent take of in-app subscriptions will prove as objectionable in the long run as the App Store itself: not very.

Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

What is your social media brand? Do you have one? Sure, many small business owners and entrepreneurs are coming around to the enormous importance of social media as a marketing, customer service, and, yes, even sales tool. But if you haven’t thought about how social media can define your brand, you are probably missing a HUGE part of what social media tools can do for your business. Here’s more…

Tools & Techniques

Creating a great brand with these blog tools. Tools that improve the look and functionality of your blog also improve your brand. A well-maintained small business blog is one of the most obvious and least expensive branding tools at the entrepreneur’s disposal even more so than social media channels like Facebook and Twitter because of how a blog can be customized to fit your needs and personality. This list of tools is a great way to start. EpicLaunch

What Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi can teach you about social media. One of the stars of the hit reality show “Jersey Shore”, “Snooki” is a perfect example of personal brand, but social media entrepreneurs could also learn much about building their own online presence from Snooki. Being yourself and using a simple, short tag to indelibly brand your identity are also great techniques in social media. One site is already trying to apply the starlets techniques in the social media space. Brand-Yourself

Tito Philips doesn’t want your comments on his blog! At least, not if they’re the wrong kind. And the wrong kind would be comments left for no other purpose than to get the blogger and his/her readers to visit your blog and perhaps comment on it in return. Why is comment trading bad? Don’t get Tito started! There are many ways to engage in social media marketing. Be sure you understand and respect some of the attitudes you may face. Blogging Bookshelf  

News & Trends

The best of the best. Want to get a look at arguably the 20 best Facebook fan pages for business on the planet? By now you should know the value of a Facebook fan page to your branding efforts. What’s also true, however, is that not all Facebook sites are created equal. If you want to take your social media marketing to the next level, have a look at this list of cream of the crop sites. Inc.com

Even churches use social media marketing! In this article on the growing market for tech services among religious organizations, we learn that many churches have also already entered into the social media space. As houses of worship, particularly huge mega-churches, expand and build congregations, it’s easy to see how social media can work as a marketing tool here as well. Is your religious organization using social media for branding? WSJ

Tips & Tricks

20 tips that will make you a Twitter star. Among the tools popular in the new digital space is Twitter. The microblogging platform can be used for business or non-business purposes and it can be the key to your small business’s success. Learn how to use Twitter like a pro and you may be surprised at the benefits your small business gains as a result. Global Copywriting

Valuable lessons in social media. Gary Vaynerchuk, author of The Thank You Economy and a successful social media entrepreneur in his own right, has many insights to share with small business leaders seeking a new way to define their brands in an age of social communications. Read some of the takeaways Vaynerchuk shares with those trying to define their businesses with social media. E-Marketing Associates

Success Stories

Doubt the power of FB to create brand for almost anyone? You won’t after you read the story of Princeton English Professor Jeff Nunokawa and “Jeffbook”, a collection of 3,221 brief literary essays on Facebook, that have created an incredible cult status for Nunokawa in the process. His motivation? Not too different from those of most marketers. Nunokawa simply started sharing where he knew his audience already spent lots of their time. The results speak for themselves. Fast Company

Increase exposure with niche social media. Blogger Mavis Nong talks about the importance of niche social media sites including social bookmarking sites as a key method of creating exposure for your online business. Mavis talks about her experience with our sister site BizSugar.com (thanks for the shout out! ) and explains how smaller more focused social sites can sometimes have a surprising impact even larger than the big guys. Attraction Marketing Online

Opportunities

Sponsors wanted for new SugarTone Sweet Business Blogging Contest. Put the power of social media to work for your brand. We’re looking for sponsors to help with a brand new blogging contest involving two of the fastest growing small business communities on the Web, BizSugar.com and Bloggertone.com. Learn more about the contest by reading the full announcement and get in touch today! BizSugar Blog

The major legislative item on the agenda in the Senate this week will be The Small Business Reauthorization Act (S. 493).  Republicans plan to use this bill as a platform to promote critical pieces of legislation through the process of non-germane amendments to the bill.  Here are some vital amendments that will be debated and voted on throughout the week:

• Senator Mitch McConnell is offering an amendment (S. AMDT 183) to prohibit the EPA from promulgating any regulations on greenhouse gas emissions.  There is perhaps no force that is more destructive to our prosperity, consumer freedom of choice, and job creation than onerous cap and trade schemes.  There are many red state Democrats who are up for reelection in 2012 and will be hard pressed to go on record as supporting policies that are an imprecation to the interests of their states.  Make sure to call Senators Claire McCaskill, Joe Manchin, Ben Nelson, Bill Nelson, and Jon Tester in particular.

• Senator David Vitter is offering an amendment (S.AMDT. 178) forcing the federal government to sell off unused and underused property.  This is a serious issue.  The federal government owns over half of the land in some western states and has been using it to stifle energy development.  Selling unused federal lands would also serve as a prudent means of generating revenue without raising taxes.

• Senator Rand Paul is using the SBA bill as a platform to offer his signature budget bill (S.AMDT 199) which would slash $200 billion in spending for fiscal 2011.  Paul’s plan slashes funding by 50% to the Departments of Energy, Education, and HUD.  This amendment represents real limited government and budget austerity and will separate the men among the boys in the ranks of the Republican Conference.

• Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is forcing a vote (S. AMDT 197) to delay the implementation of ObamaCare until a final resolution is reached in pending lawsuits.  Unlike other bills that are designed to merely ameliorate ObamaCare, this amendment would completely halt it during the ensuing legal battles.

• Senator Tom Coburn has filed an amendment (S.AMDT.184) to force federal agencies to compile comprehensive lists of all of their programs

Make sure that all of your Republican senators are on record supporting these amendments, especially Rand Paul’s budget proposal.  Also, let’s see which faux moderate Democrats will commit to supporting anyone of these commonsense initiatives.  Needless to say, I didn’t waste time calling my senators; Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin!

Surface Encounters

&#39;CBS Evening <b>News</b>&#39; Sinks To Record Lows, &#39;World <b>News</b>&#39; Only Show To <b>...</b>

With the drumbeat of rumors that she is heading for the door, Katie Couric was likely looking for better ratings news than what she got Tuesday. Instead, the ratings for the first quarter of 2011 showed that the "CBS Evening News" drew ...

Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

Surface Encounters

Small Business <b>News</b>: Social Media Brand

What is your social media brand? Do you have one? Sure, many small business owners and entreprene...

Surface Encounters

Making Easy Money

Meet Buddy Roemer, who hasn’t won an election since the 1980s and lost to America’s most famous neo-Nazi. McKay Coppins talks to the ex-Louisiana governor about his White House dreams.

Buddy Roemer is the kind of politician who likes to use your first name in conversation—a lot.

“That’s a good question, McKay!” he exclaims when I ask him why he decided to become a Republican halfway through his first and only term as governor of Louisiana. “You gotta stop asking these questions!”

Previous LA Gov. Buddy Roemer is considering running for President. Credit: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

Unfortunately for him, that will be one of the easier queries he faces in the coming months, as he tests the waters in a long-shot bid for the Republican nomination in 2012. Roemer hasn’t won an election since 1987. As governor, he became something of a state joke when he entrusted his emotional well-being to a new-age guru who instructed him and his staff to ward off negative thoughts by snapping a rubber band on their wrists and saying, “Cancel. Cancel.” And his only real claim to national fame is losing his bid for re-election to the statehouse in a primary to a veritable neo-Nazi. But today, none of that is preventing him from exploring a White House run.

“Thursday, I’m announcing an exploratory committee,” he says in a cheerful New Orleans accent, making him only the second Republican candidate so far to officially declare his intentions. (The other is pizza magnate Herman Cain.) “And then I will proceed to explore, to think through, to listen to people—I call them plain people—throughout America.”

It’s easy at first to dismiss Roemer as a kook—or, worse, a cynical opportunist looking to cash in a brief, buzzy presidential run for a future book deal or a cushy cable gig. But while his stated campaign strategy is hugely untenable—more on that below—he insists his intentions are sincere. And, well, maybe he’s telling the truth.

“Many will say that ‘he doesn’t have a chance,’ that ‘he’s not to be taken seriously,'” he says, pausing for emphasis and then lowering his voice. “Watch me, McKay.”

So far, Roemer’s platform is thin. He doesn’t have a lot to say about entitlement reforms or Middle East engagement. Instead, Roemer, who served seven years in the U.S. House, appears to be putting all his eggs in one basket, and betting that the message will resonate among populists in both parties. His target: something he calls “the money monster.”

“People are asking, ‘Why are you coming back?’ And I say it’s because there’s a need here. I am unimpressed and frightened by the money culture in Washington…

“Many Congressmen are auctioning themselves off for retirement. You have a health-care bill without any tort reform. I wonder how that happened. You have a financial-regulation bill that doesn’t require major banks to follow the same rules as every other company. Gee, I wonder how that happened.”

His bid to free Washington from the grips of the money monster will start with his own campaign. Roemer says he will refuse to accept donations from corporations, PACs, or special-interest groups, and that he will limit personal donations to $100 per individual. Slate’s Dave Weigel has already pointed out that such an approach to fundraising will make it all but impossible to raise enough cash to launch a credible campaign—but Roemer is ignoring the naysayers.

“I will declare my independence from the ‘all I want is access’ money,” he says proudly, insisting that this is more than just campaign window garnish. Indeed, he says, “I happen to think this is key to fixing most of the problems that are ailing America.” It’s a bold claim, and I press him to outline specific policy proposals that will solve the problem. At first he demurs—“That’s for future times,” he says—but then, as though the thought is just occurring to him, he offers, “When Congress sees the success I have with my own campaign, they will turn and say, ‘How did you do that?’ and ‘How does that work, and how does the Internet work?’ I’m not going to dictate to them.”

Robert Mann, a professor of mass communications at Louisiana State University, and a one-time reporter who covered Roemer when he was in Congress, says the politician has always relished being perceived as a "maverick." As a conservative Democrat, he was one of the first members of the House of Representatives to cross party lines and work with Ronald Reagan. And, later, as a governor hoping for re-election he switched parties because, Mann speculates, "he saw that the state's politics were trending conservative, and he thought it would be easier to be re-elected." (Roemer, on the other hand, insists he switched parties to add partisan variety to the Democrat-dominated state. He points to Gov. Bobby Jindal's election as a success made possible, in part, by his own political trailblazing.)

Of course, this independence comes with some baggage that may not smell so rosy to GOP primary voters. As governor, Roemer vetoed an anti-abortion bill because, he says, it "didn't do enough to protect the life of the mother." And he has a record of supporting environmental regulations that will surely be viewed with suspicion by the party's more adamant climate skeptics.

But while Roemer's maverick persona has a mixed track record of electoral success, Mann says he still has the intuition of a good candidate. "If there's a politician that could talk a bird out of a tree, it would be Buddy Roemer," says Mann. "There's a refreshing quality to his rhetoric, and a freedom that comes with not being beholden to any party."

There may or may not be more to Buddy Roemer than an entertaining 20-minute interview. But even if rhetoric's all he's got, he'll still have an important place in the 2012 primary. Namely: on the stage, drawing attention to every other candidate's dance with the "money monster."

McKay Coppins reports on politics and culture for Newsweek.

Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.

For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.

I vividly remember watching my father accept change from a cash transaction when I was a child, and trying to figure out exactly how it was fair that he had handed over a $10 bill and received two $1 bills (and our lunch) in exchange. I couldn’t have been more than four or five at the time, and although we were at the zoo, my attempts to understand how money worked is much more memorable to me than any of the animals we must have seen that day. That teachable moment was one of several unforgettable experiences in my childhood financial education.

Now that I am a parent, I am thinking more concretely about how to pass on that education. Money is not a subject taught in school. It’s considered taboo to talk about money, and often people will have a sense of shame about it. On top of that, we live in a “Gotta Have It NOW!” culture where credit is easy to come by. Parents absolutely must educate their children about sound finances, but many simply do not know how.

Teaching Your Children About Money

Teachable Moments

Unfortunately, a single discussion about money is not going to cut it when giving your children the financial life skills they will need as adults. The most effective way of teaching your children is by talking money all the time. Here are some common occasions for regular financial discussions:

At the Grocery Store

From weighing produce and determining what the cost will be, to keeping track of coupons, to comparing name vs. store brand, to keeping a running total throughout the trip, the grocery store provides you with a wonderful opportunity for your child to hone his math, money, and budgeting skills. Making a game of the grocery store with younger children by challenging them to find a cheaper alternative or add up prices quickly will make the financial education fun. For older kids and teenagers, allowing them to take the list to see if they can spend less than budgeted (without sacrificing any of the needs on the list) will inspire them to be savvy shoppers—particularly if you let them keep the difference between what they spent and what you budgeted.

When Paying Bills

The monthly bill-paying chore is hardly anything you would call fun. But when kids are small and want to do everything Mom and Dad do, it’s an ideal time to teach children about money. Allow children to see how much money you have and how much must go out to pay bills. Let them practice their addition and subtraction skills to help you balance your checkbook. If you still pay bills by check, put the kids in charge of double-checking that you have all the necessary information in the envelope before they seal it and stamp it and put it in the mailbox. Explain how the things your kids might take for granted—like heat and electricity and, of course, cable—cost money each month.

On Vacation

Even the most budget-averse family generally goes on vacation with only a certain amount of money they can spend. Involve your children in the decisions even before you’re on the boardwalk debating between the hot dog vendor or the pizza parlor. Saving for a vacation is a fun way to teach children about the power of savings goals. If children understand that giving up something now leads to something wonderful later, they will learn the valuable tool of delayed gratification. With only a certain amount to spend, including children on the planning process of your vacation will help them to learn how to budget and how to rank the importance of different options. Once you are enjoying yourselves on vacation, giving each child a certain amount to spend while away is an allowance lesson compressed into a week.

Lifelong Learning

It may seem strange or uncomfortable to include your children in your day-to-day money decisions, but the only alternative is leaving them unprepared for their financial future. By making money something you talk about openly and with fun and humor, you will ensure that your children have all the tools necessary to make good money decisions.

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SEO Services Vancouver For A Better Marketing Solution

 

When you start your personal website there are many ways you will have to sell it off and something of the best ways is to use Search engine optimization Vancouver if you happen to be in that area. The SEO or seo services will be the top way of getting good visitors to your site and for that reason making more sales.

 

Now, you should know that you won't use SEO service if you are not an online business - however, if you don't have an online presence if you are an offline business, then you'll not make it very far.

 

It is a popular proven fact that if you are going to really make it within the offline world you need to have an online business. This really is something which all people are learning hard way. Something that you should also know is that it's not as easy as just setting up the website and leaving it to do its things.

 

This can be done in most sorts of ways, however these companies usually take advantage of multiple methods to create an ideal marketing technique online. It is possible to employ them to write articles for you, post on forums and blogs, create meta data and meta descriptions, clean up the code, add alt tags towards the images and much more.

 

It is crucial that you do this because otherwise the organization you have worked so hard for could end up losing the money. If you have a website that you want to produce, then you will also use the services of an SEO company, which means search engine optimization company. What this company does is actually take the best parts of your website, look into the code, create keywords and write various articles and documents to ensure your website is placed close to the top of the list for the major search engines like google.

By doing this the Search engine optimization company can not only increase your traffic, but also ensure that your site is fully optimized for the internet search engine spiders that'll be brought to it. These spiders are utilized to analyze your website and place it in a few positions determined on certain keywords.

 

If you want to make use of the SEO services Vancouver then all you have to do is find the top companies. It is through these that the SEO gets done effectively and efficiently. Because of so many SEO companies to select from you have to be sure that the one you are going for is reliable. You ought to be in a position to ask for a breakdown of what you want, and the company should also be able to tell you know long they have been operating for. This will narrow down their email list to reveal the very best ones.

 

Search engine optimization Provided by Different Vancouver Web Companies

The Vancouver SEO company services are extremely beneficial for business growth because they provide quality services. If you're planning to produce a website for your online business, then you've arrived at right article when i is going to be explaining below how Web optimization Vancouver company services can increase your website ranking and make it popular.

Before that, you need to know what Search Engine Optimization is. It's not that complicated and I'm sure you're going to get a grasp from it after reading my article. The main goal of SEO is to have increased traffic to your website and target audience. It is a good decision to choose a Vancouver SEO company that specializes in this kind of work, which means that your website can be indexed by search engines.

There is no reason for you having a website with no website ranking whatsoever as you won't have any business and profits to outlive. It is a very tough atmosphere available because there are so many internet business people just like you, who want their share of pie. You must be familiar with the truth that nearly 85% of online traffic can be got from websites.

Whenever a user types inside a keyword or keywords for which he/she wants to know in different sites, these use crawlers to get websites using the relevant content and index them according to algorithms. It's not necessary to worry about the algorithms which these websites use as that is not important.

To look within the first page from the search result, you will need to hire professionals and pros who can perform the needful to keep your website one of the good books during these websites. These professionals can optimize your site content to ensure your site gets more traffic.

When the traffic gets high, it is a sign that you are obtaining a service which will get you more revenues. SEO Vancouver company do the next to make your site appear within the first page of search engine results.

Use keywords that are popularly used on search engines on your website content.
Possess a web design for the website which is simple because top sites are allergic to flash and weird designs.
Submit your site to directories.
Submit your site to directory websites.
Postings on blogs and forums with back links for your websites. This is regarded as a very effective method of getting increased traffic aimed at your website as many online users use blogs and forums.

SEO Vancouver company also perform site diagnostics that is an important part in online optimization as research and analysis on finding keywords is the way to start a SEO campaign. So, make sure you choose the best SEO Vancouver service company.

Are you looking for more information regarding SEO Vancouver? Visit http://www.seo4vancouver.com/seo-services.asp today!

 

What to anticipate When Hiring a Roofing Contractor

When it comes time to correct or substitute your homes roof, it's really a challenging task to find somebody that is competent to do the job. There are many roofing contractors available, but the types who'll perform a congrats for a sensible price aren't frequently easy to find. If you are in the market for the contractor, make use of the ideas below for meeting with and employing the right one.

Job interview and Discussion

The majority of roofing companies provide totally free consultation services. This is particularly important, because it gives them a chance to assess what your homes roof requirements, and it provides you with an opportunity to assess them. As with all businesses, trust your intuition concerning the individuals you let upward onto your roof. No matter how great the contractor's status or suggestion, he should begin by showing you having a business card. If a service provider occurs looking as well as speaking within an unprofessional manner, most likely the job he's going to do may also be less than professional. This isn't to express that you ought to anticipate companies to reach in fits. They is going to be climbing on your roofing, therefore the majority of is going to be dressed in jeans and function boots or athletic shoes. If the contractor seems to be more interested in talking on his mobile phone during your homes roof compared to he is within analyzing your roof's requirements, that may be another sign that he is not the main one for the job. For the lawful safety, be certain that the service provider offers adequate liability insurance.

Roofing Assessment

Anticipate the contractor will be rising in your roofing. Actually, any kind of service provider who not want to go up in your roofing to evaluate the issue ought to be immediately reduced. Those who are seriously interested in their work may either create a sketching of the roof's surface area as well as tag trouble spots on it as they go through their assessment, or even they'll take pictures or even video of the surface area while they're available online for. This is a very essential action, since it enables you to see just what the troubles are as well as know how they'll be set.

Estimate

The next step will be the created estimation. The service provider will take out his loan calculator and come track of an itemized estimate. Some contractors goes out to their own truck or even van and write up the proposal, while some may crisis the actual amounts to do the job in front of you. Once you're given the proposal, ensure that you comprehend exactly which products will be used, how long the job will take and if you will find any additional or even concealed costs that may occur throughout the repair from the roof. The contractor should be able to solution all of these questions effortlessly and forewarn a person associated with a extra expenses that could be sustained should the roof's integrity be damaged within.

After you have received a few created estimates from roofers, assess exactly what each company or contractor would like to offer you for the price. Do not always low cost the greatest bet, simply because occasionally the greatest bet will in reality function as the contractor who the job correctly. Additionally, be skeptical associated with bids that are significantly less than other people. They may be utilizing inferior items or perhaps be unethical about the possibility of concealed expenses. Above all, believe in intuition as well as opt for the service provider that enables you to feel most comfortable about handing over your hard earned money.

 

Seven Uyghurs Sentenced to Death

2011-03-23

Critics of the sentences say China has politicized the robberies as acts of terrorism.

 

AFP

A Uyghur man walks past armed Chinese security forces in Urumqi, July 17, 2009.

Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang have ordered the executions of seven ethnic minority Uyghur men convicted of "violent" crimes, official media said on Wednesday.

 

The death sentences were handed down by the Supreme People's Court in recent days, according to state media in the regional capital, Urumqi.

 

The men were accused in connection with three separate attacks late last year in the Silk Road city of Kashgar, according to the news website Urumqi Online.

 

According to another website, the Xinjiang-based Tianshan news site, Aimaiti Tuheti, Yiming Dawuti, and unnamed "others" killed a security guard at a pedestrian mall as part of a failed Aug. 7 robbery attempt.

 

In a separate incident on Oct. 12, it said, Nuermaimaiti Aobulikasimu and 11 others broke into a house, bound and killed the couple living in it, and took their possessions.

 

It said the group also broke into the homes of two brothers, robbed them, and killed six people in a Nov. 11 attack in Kashgar.

 

The report gave no information about the victims or the schedule for the executions.

 

Three of the men were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, a sentence that is normally commuted to life imprisonment in China's judicial system.

 

They were convicted of deliberate homicide and armed robbery by the Kashgar Intermediate People's Court in the first instance.

 

'Strike hard' campaign

 

A Han Chinese resident of Urumqi surnamed Yang said a reference to "terrorism" in official news reports on the case showed that it was being politicized by the authorities, who have launched a series of "strike hard" campaigns in Xinjiang following deadly ethnic violence in July 2009.

 

"There is an implied political meaning; that they were somehow engaged in separatist activities or ethnic divisions," said Yang.

 

Exile Uyghur groups said the trials had been conducted behind closed doors, with scant opportunity for public scrutiny.

 

"The entire process against these men, from the trial through to the judgment, was opaque," said Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress.

 

"There was also very little reasonable evidence to convict them on a legal basis, because all the evidence came from one side of the case," he said.

 

"We strongly condemn the Chinese government for continuing to pursue their policies of ethnic division," said Raxit.

 

"We are also strongly opposed to the death penalty in this case."

 

Earlier cases

 

Last month, the Supreme Court sentenced four Uyghurs to death for alleged involvement in an Aug. 19 bomb attack in Xinjiang’s western Aksu city.

 

The World Uyghur Congress pointed to concerns over lack of transparency in those cases too.

 

The Aksu blast left eight people dead, including two of the bombers, and 15 wounded after a man riding a three-wheeled vehicle threw explosives at a group of uniformed patrolmen. Four Uyghurs were arrested shortly after the attack.

 

State media characterized the cases as acts of terrorism and unrelated to longstanding ethnic tensions between Uyghurs and Han Chinese in the region.

 

Exiled Uyghur dissident Rebiya Kadeer has warned that attacks like those in Aksu will continue to occur until Beijing addresses the underlying source of tension in the region.

 

Millions of Uyghurs—a distinct, Turkic minority who are predominantly Muslim—populate Central Asia and Xinjiang.

 

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

 

Those frustrations erupted in July 2009 in deadly riots that left nearly 200 people dead, by the Chinese government's tally.

 

At least 26 people, mostly Uyghurs, were sentenced to death in the aftermath of the riots, many of whom have been executed, according to state media.

 

China is believed to execute more people each year than the rest of the world’s countries combined, although the government does not publish official figures.

 

Rights groups say Beijing may execute as many as several thousand prisoners annually.

 

Chinese authorities blame Uyghur separatists for a series of deadly attacks in recent years and accuse one group in particular of maintaining ties to the al-Qaeda terrorist network.

 

New training scheme

 

China on Wednesday also announced a training scheme which places ethnic minority graduates from Xinjiang in work elsewhere in China.

 

Governments of the destination cities will spend 450 million yuan (U.S.$ 69 million) for the program, while Xinjiang will spend 400 million yuan (U.S.$ 61 million), the official Xinhua news agency reported.

 

The program targets some 60,000 jobless college graduates in Xinjiang, around 80 percent of whom are from ethnic minorities, and 60 percent of whom are women.

 

However, some commentators see the move as an attempt to assimilate non-Han Chinese into mainstream Chinese culture.

 

"From the point of view of ethnic minorities, the graduate work scheme is really taking the cream of youth from the minorities and using them to 'further cultural development,'" wrote one ethnic minority user on a popular microblogging service.

 

"In fact, the culture that is being advanced is Han culture, and this group of young people will have been totally brainwashed," the microblog update said.

 

An Urumqi resident surnamed Li agreed.

 

"They have run senior high school schemes like this before during the past few years," he said.

 

"Whether it's high-schoolers or graduate training programs, these are measures that are aimed at thought control and brainwashing, and the 'Partification' of their education," he said.

 

Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Copyright © 1998-2011 Radio Free Asia. All rights reserved.

 

Wikileaks and the Uyghur

through henry on December 20, 2010
Henryk Szadziewski, Manager, Uyghur Human Rights Project

Whether it were ever in doubt, information obtained by the whistleblower web site, Wikileaks, offers confirmed Chinese language federal government worries more than it's ongoing charge of the region this calls Xinjiang, also is referred to as East Turkestan. The leaked out wires from Ough.Utes. diplomats demonstrate the actual degree that Chinese language government bodies make an effort to persuade governments globally to adopt its stance on problems impacting Uyghurs. The wires also show the U . s . States' issues and views concerning the ongoing repressive measures in the region.

Most lighting of Chinese language government pressure would be the cables directed to Chinese language frustration, or even the specter of Chinese ire, over the release of Uyghur detainees in Guantánamo to third countries. The December 29, 2008 cable relates how Chinese Helper Foreign Reverend Liu Jieyi met with the U.Utes. Ambassador in order to China to voice Beijing's strong opposition associated with launch in order to any kind of nation apart from China, which when the U.S. did indeed accede to this ask for it would "avoid injury to bilateral relations and to cooperation ‘in important areas'". In addition, a Feb '09 cable television explains the way the Chinese Ambassador in order to Kyrgyzstan, Zhang Yannian, regarded the actual possible release of Uyghur Guantánamo detainees because "an unfriendly behave towards us" and a "slap within the face". The U.S. government stood company within not liberating the actual detainees in order to The far east demonstrates the degree of the politicized character from the Chinese judicial system. Genuine issues more than terrorism tend to be easy to understand, but in the actual Ough.Utes. government's observe the detainees would most likely encounter do-it-yourself torture as well as delivery if they returned to China

Chinese government stress in regard to the actual Uyghur Guantánamo detainees was not just applied to the Ough.S. federal government, but additionally in order to New Zealand along with a handful of Western government authorities which were considering resettlement. Albania, Germany as well as Finland, as well as European Union member says all appear to have paid for the brunt associated with Chinese federal government disappointment. In the case of Indonesia, that was at first willing to think about 2 Uyghurs on purely humanitarian reasons, Uyghur Guantánamo cases had been less preferable to other detainees because of the unwanted effects accepting Uyghurs would have upon relations along with The far east. The May Eight, 2009 cable television relates exactly how "German Ambassador Erina Schaefer reported which Germany experienced knowledgeable China of the U.S. ask for to simply accept some Uighur detainees kept from Guantánamo coupled with been subsequently cautioned by The far east of ‘a heavy load upon bilateral relations' in the event that Indonesia had been to accept any kind of detainees".

The diplomatic wires additionally talk about the actual unrest within Urumchi, the actual regional funds, in This summer '09. A This summer 13, 2009 cable television talking about bulk occurrences in The far east says:

"Ethnic riots like those who work in Xinjiang This summer 5-7 as well as in Tibet within March associated with 08 differ substantially in origin and nature through mass incidents, XXXXXXXXXXXX stressed to PolOff [Political Officer] upon XXXXXXXXXXXX. Both existing severe trouble for the actual Celebration, XXXXXXXXXXXX said, but the Party leadership would not wait to spread out fire on Uighurs or even Tibetans if they deemed this necessary to restore order. Mass incidents present a different kind of risk, he explained, since the management is actually ‘afraid' to fireplace upon Han rioters for anxiety about causing huge public outrage that would change from the Party."

This can be a relaxing viewpoint, especially when 1 views evidence offered in two reviews released this year through the Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) and Amnesty International which fine detail eyewitness company accounts from the use of deadly live fireplace against Uyghur protestors in This summer 2009. Additionally, the actual observation which fireplace would not be deployed against Han Chinese language protestors has resonances for that various strategy used through Chinese protection forces within Urumchi to Han Chinese direct orders within September 2009. During individuals direct orders, after that Celebration Secretary, Wang Lequan, addressed demonstrators, that had demanded he inform them about federal government reactions to protection concerns. An identical request to meet with the Party Secretary through Uyghur protesters in July wasn't fulfilled.

The actual wider consequences from the unrest additionally saw a brief dialogue on the impact it might have on Iran-China relationships, as well as on relationships along with Sydney following Globe Uyghur Congress Leader, Microsoft. Rebiya Kadeer, talked at the Nationwide Push Membership within Canberra within July '09. Within the second option case, china government "privately warn[ed] a significant Australian bank that vendors the National Press Membership to use it's impact to bar the Kadeer talk there".

The United States' concerns about the scenario within the Uyghur area also come via within the wires. In a dialogue on plan direction in Tibet, Ough.Utes. authorities clarify that it'll end up being not possible for Chinese leaders to adopt a much softer line "if they appear like doing this under worldwide pressure". The actual cable dated 04 16, 08, one month after the episode of unrest in Tibetan areas, additionally relayed the declaration "that household balance continues to be leadership's top priority most of all, meaning there'll ‘almost surely' be no rest from the current hard collection on Tibet or perhaps in locations like Xinjiang." The information contained in the cable television additionally sheds gentle about the severe sensitivity that the Chinese government views territorial integrity, and the possible drip more than associated with unrest through Tibet.

The chance associated with solutions to tensions within Tibet and Xinjiang arising from civil society tend to be discussed in a Feb 24, 2008 cable. Whilst suggesting which China's financial achievement increases it's resistance to democratic reform, the cable also discusses exactly how Chinese frontrunners see the effectiveness of "a limited expansion associated with civil culture, including improvements in the rule of regulation along with a more powerful role for authorized religions, NGOs, charities and other stars in areas which contribute to social balance and don't challenge Communist Celebration rule." This can be a significant alternation in considering, which has seen Ough.S. officials market the idea that Chinese language economic improvement, and economic relationships with The far east will bring in regards to a steadily democratic society; nevertheless, much more faith appears to be placed in a grassroots motion than one which starts from the top quantity of a Chinese language government. Nonetheless, the actual cable concludes which "[i]n places such as Tibet and Xinjiang, driving a car associated with separatism leads to tighter limitations on the development of civil society." This method can be regarded as counter-productive by the official, who shows that the Ough.S. federal government "should continue to express...serious issues more than Beijing's individual privileges record and attract China's growing consciousness which higher respect with regard to individual rights, religious independence and also the rule associated with law will serve to promote the very development and social stability which China looks for as well as to enhance China's worldwide image." Such a strategy might take substantial diplomatic skills considering "China's paranoid concern that the United States privately promotes regime change as well as ‘separatists' in Taiwan, Tibet as well as Xinjiang".

The cables provide understanding of the actual daily business associated with diplomacy that is rarely owned by everyone, which is interesting to notice the amount of function carried out nowadays upon Uyghur issues. The importance of the role of the United States like a keep track of of Uyghur individual privileges problems in personal discussions is created clear, and contrasts using its sensible open public stance. The staff of the Uyghur Human Rights Project is actually well aware of the pressure china federal government exerts on Uyghur activists; nevertheless, the details of Chinese language government stress on it's alternatives is actually illustrative of the diploma which Chinese language officials make an effort to control contrary stories. With increased facts to come through Wikileaks, concerns more than Uyghurs may not grab the headlines, but the wires have shed new light on the paperwork associated with individual privileges conditions within the Uyghur area.

 

Search Engine Marketing And Marketing with articles Will Place You On Page 1

Seo and article promotion are a couple of the strongest strategies that can be used in promoting your website and get the revenue and success that you need for your web business. Both of these stuff has been around for any really long time already nevertheless they still still be really effective. Actually, these have helped lots of people free themselves from your traditional methods for money-generating options of society.

In this article, I will be showing the ways on what you can properly execute search engine optimization and article marketing for the betterment of one's business enterprise website. Furthermore, I will be also discussing the various points you need to look out for when you are using these two online marketing strategies to promote your website and obtain customers. Despite the fact that article promotion and Search engine optimization have been established for a long time already, you need to know that the trends and choices as to how they are done are continually changing, which explains why you have to remain up to date with these items through the help of Seo forum sites so that you can quickly adjust and discover ways to make your strategies more effective.

In the past article marketing to various web sites used to be so simple the effects they produce for web sites was powerful. However, everything has changed a lot today. Nowadays submitting exactly the same article to several websites is no longer advisable because search engines have now changed to some huge extent in how they rank pages. They no longer rank contents that are identical like they accustomed to in the past. This really is one of the best examples of changes that occur in web marketing trends. This change has given birth to wide plethora of methods that online marketers are using today. Most of online marketers now produce articles and submit them in really popular article directory sites and wait for targeted prospects arrive at their pages. Be thought of as that most reliable Search engine optimization strategy that you can use. Aside from being effective, this provides positive benefits frequently. The only problem with this particular strategy is how the caliber of traffic that you will get from this will not be so good if you don't do proper keyphrase research beforehand and use in-links. You first need for attending these two things prior to deciding to submit your posts so that you won't wind up losing considerable amounts of targeted traffic. This means that you must practice good levels of diligence if you'd like your advertising initiatives to be effective.

Other than articles, you may also use blogging, that is another really powerful type of online marketing strategy today since it is highly popular with the major search engines. On this technique, you can choose to produce a single blog site that specifically targets your chosen market or else you can give rise to other blogs that are labeled as experts in your niche.

Learn effective Vancouver search engine optimization techniques in the Vancouver SEO website.

Roofing Companies Vancouver Washington

There are many things to take into account when looking for any roofing contractor. Price tag, experience, along with referrals are a couple of the things you will likely be concerned about. Keep reading for even other great ideas.

• Finding a Roofing Contractors

Before searching for a roofing contractor, be sure you have a common idea of the job that you need to do. By no means is it necessary to be a professional. If you have a Roof Document, read it extensively to find the details about your existing roof. If you don't have a Roofing Certificate, make reference to documents agreed upon during shutting to locate your homes Inspection page. These documents should supply you with everything you need to find out about your roof. Before contacting the roofing contractor, you ought to have a list of requirements and requirements to help you choose exactly who works for your covering project. Be sure you write down every potential roof covering contractor's answers along with check these against each other. If you can find any differences, be sure to be aware this along with take this into consideration when creating a final determination. There are no uncomplicated ways to pick a roofing contractor, however , if you take pay attention to to the details provided, your odds of a successful covering project are greatly enhanced.

One of the best means of finding a roofers is by word of mouth. Try inquiring a friend or relative who has had covering work carried out, and ended up being satisfied with the task. Get the brand of the company and his or her contact details. If you have no word of jaws referrals, attempt first searching in the telephone book and online. A large advert or elegant website is just not necessarily an illustration of the top quality of work, but tend to be a great tool for measuring just how long and devotion they have put in their particular profession. Also, try discovering current worksites and appear at the roofer work that's done or in the process of becoming finished. In case you are visually impressed, ask the property manager for that name from the roofing contractor as well as their get in touch with information.

• Background Research

When looking for a new roofing contractors, it really is imperative to 1st do your own background research. While looking in the phonebook or on the Internet is a suitable place to find a company, finding important information on most of these businesses is going to be found in a number of other areas. Very first, check with spots like the Better Business Bureau, city, express, and region public records, as well as local licensing agencies. Inquire your roofing contractor if they are an affiliate of any roofer associations. These kinds of precautions will mitigate your risks. Furthermore ask them what sorts of roofing that they specialize in. Furthermore ask your roofing contractor regarding any extended warranties they offer on his or her installed rooftops. Find out what safety measures they choose to use avoid damage done to other areas of the home by workers. Products such as gutters, exterior siding, and fireplaces are near the coast proximity and thus susceptible to accidental damages.

Make sure all of this information is included in your written contract. Determine whether you need a roofer permit and/or agreement from your homeowners association in advance. These people will let you know that is responsible for getting these permits and authorizations. If it is the obligation of the roofer, also have that included inside your contract. If it's your accountability, get stated permits and permissions collated with the estimated roof covering project and also have it plainly posted as well as readily available.

• Certification and References

Roofing Companies are not needed to be accredited in all says. Contact local licensing businesses that oversee general design contractors for a list of requirements. Once you have attained the requirements, make a list of detailed questions to ask your potential roofing contractor. This simple list should right away help you to get rid of the competent from the unqualified roofing installers. Qualified installers should be able to effortlessly answer questions or even tell you that they must do additional research ahead of giving any definitive reply.

Even if the roofing contractor features all needed licensing, you should ask to find out pictures regarding completed covering jobs as well as speak to fulfilled clients. Use a list of inquiries handy must recent clientele, such as the dynamics of the career, timeliness, and general satisfaction. Be sure these are latest clients along with cross guide if possible. Regarding commercial roof covering, make sure that the actual roofing contractor is actually bonded. Looking at these recommendations is another added measure of protection to define the list associated with potential covering contractors.

Search engine optimization Through Article Writing

Content creation could be a very powerful way of Search engine optimization on your company websites. Quality written articles manage to improve your websites SERP and add quality for a company website. Writing informative keyword rich articles is essential in gaining new backlinks for a business website. Articles can and should be written on topics that are unique in your business or industry. The articles can discuss an array of issues and ideas in your industry. Articles that offer the reader having a resource will always be the most popular and a lot likely types of articles which will result in backlinks aimed at your website.

Focus your posts on your potential readers or customers. Search engine optimization articles should address real questions which are asked by current or past clients. Each article you are writing for you company includes detailed analysis and Seo keywords which will help associate your website using the content seen in the web site. Focus your posts on as much as 3 keywords , nor stray from them. Consistency is vital when writing Search engine optimization articles. In case you are currently talking about Vancouver Search engine optimization be sure your continue to reveal information strongly related the keyword.

Give all of your Search engine optimization Articles an engaging Title which will encourage people to read and bookmark your articles. Ideally, the articles you're writing find yourself as links from other websites which are much like yours. This will help boost the power of each link all of which will aid in increasing your SERP. Make sure to end each article having a keyword anchored link (see Easy Small Business Seo). This link will help to enhance your rankings on the internet and also other major search engines for that keyword attached to the link. Submit the articles with a free article directory and Voila! Before very long, your site may be for the first page of Google.

Many thanks for reading. Can't wait to visit your Seo articles!

Vancouver Seo Company Aims For Google Places With Total Good results

When people type in looking term hunting for a business within their local area, they are going to find that Google places and Google maps is showing listings of local businesses. It is extremely eminent to allow them to be optimized and from this first page whenever they desire to generate business. Vancouver SEO companies have to be educated in this field for their clients.

There will be a great deal of new Vancouver SEO companies starting, simply because the requirement is there. Finding an SEO firm which includes the client's welfare at heart might be tedious. The number of keywords do they optimize for? Do you know the keywords as well as the corresponding amount of searches? Do they understand how to optimize for Google places? And so forth. Seo is the business of landing at the pinnacle and Maxim Edge you can get there.

"My wife and that i started our Vancouver Search engine optimization company by accident. We've got learned with the school of hard knocks and experimentation how to utilize the web to showcase any business. We began while using website, then the competition, after which of course building quality back-links to push a website up inside rankings. It is not pushing a control button and watching what are the results type of business. It requires a lot of effort, plenty of research and plenty of commitment. We give your very best for our clients and now we are very happy with a high retention rate." Randy Neale says.

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Little about the Uyghur People

In the center of the desert landscapes of Taklamakan, in the north-west part of China, the land of Xinjiang is a very least populated land whereas it covers near to a sixth from the nation's territory. Getting resisted during centuries the Han Chinese domination, Xinjiang, or Old Eastern Turkistan, fell within the Chinese Han domination in 1949. From then, its population is primarily Uyghur People and Turkic - speaking System.

Muslim primarily, the Uyghurs have a solid religious identification that, in specific, permitted them to preserve a solid difference in opposition to the Chinese enemy. Without a doubt, the Uyghur Kingdom of Mongolia knew a great civilization, until its absorption by the Mongolian Empire in the XIIIth century.

While in their own historical past, the Uyghur People successively taken on Shamanism, Manicheism, Buddhism and the Nestorianism before lastly changing to Islam when the Arab conquerors beat the Chinese in year 751 BC., therefore starting the way to the Islamization of the entire Central Asia.

Under the influence of the beliefs which they taken on, Uyghur People used successively, and at times in a competing way, a great number of written forms (turco-runic, brahmi, tokharien, soghdien) before developing their own graphic system.

The coming of Islam was a great modification mainly because it was followed by the assimilation of the Uyghur areas in the immense Turkic and Muslim Empire. Thus, the descendants of Genghis Khan progressively replaced their writing by a Arabo-Persan alphabet, still used presently.

If their writing, their language and their religion mark a real big difference with the culture of Chinese Han, Uyghur People also are different from their aspect, so characteristic of Central Asia's people. A shiny skin, eyes representing a whole pallet of colors, from black to deep blue, features directing out to the Mongolian, Turkish or Uzbek roots of these men and these women.

For a few years, China has included the proper identity of these remote people, though they represent only 9 million people - a trifle for this particular immense country. Thus, the Uyghurs are now part of the fifty six ethnic minority groups having been well known in an official way by China.

This statute allows them a few rights in a country exactly where their big difference is very often repressed. Therefore, Uyghur people escape the "single child policy" and their language is accepted as the second official language in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The integration of the Uyghur people and their culture in the People's Republic of China, however, looks quite illusory. The presence of all natural resources in Xinjiang, and its proximity with countries acknowledged as very sensitive, clearly urged the government to increase the sinicization of this area. Million of Han thus came to settle in this new Chinese eldorado, monopolizing the more significant responsibility jobs.

In reaction to this true will to assimilate the Uyghurs into the Chinese culture, an independent party like East Turkistan Islamic Movement(ETIM) was born in the early 1990.

Saying more freedom, but mainly the acceptance of their true identity, this movement was severely repressed by the power authorities in place Xinjiang.

The situations of September 11, 2001, were the perfect occasion for the Chinese government to justify true reprisals: they declared the "Uyghur freedom fighters" as dangerous terrorists linked to Al Quaida because of their Muslim origins and their proximity with Pakistan and Afghanistan... However, the terrible repression which followed did not calm down the anger. The Uyghur population continues today to proudly maintain their identity and their tradition , even though they become a minority on their own land.

To get more detailed information about Uyghur people, you can visit a Uyghur website called Uyghur News at http://www.uyghurnews.com

ation|Web optimization|Website seo|Seo optimization|Seo optimisation} Expert Advice - Getting Ahead Using SEO

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Search engine optimization is important today

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Search engine ranking optimization training can be quite helpful

Through Seo training you will be able to learn several concepts and tips like placing keywords inside right devote the content of sites. Another topic that's often tackled by such courses is linking strategy since it will also allow you to rank higher. These Website seo trainings and courses may be taken either online or perhaps the traditional format in classrooms, based on your own serious amounts of preferences. It will be possible to help your site and enjoy better traffic and better profits while using concepts which are taught by these courses by an search engine optimisation expert wales.

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Ways of Making Money

I'm as entertained as anyone with the recent antics of Charlie Sheen, and if capturing the attention of the entire public was the goal, then Charlie is "winning."

Most of us are watching in a kind of awe-inspired horror. This would be great, we think to ourselves, if Charlie was actually in control, if his TV show was still in production and if his kids had not been carted away in the dead of night.

Charlie keeps saying he's tired of hiding who he is. He's tired of apologizing for his behavior and he doesn't see his choices as a problem. After all, he has tiger blood and Adonis DNA; he's special and he's tired of hiding it. This is where, in a free society, one has to ask, just how free are we, really?

Charlie has declared himself in defiance of social etiquette as a guy who does anything he wants to do whenever he wants to do it -- rules be damned. Society is now saying, "We can't stop you, but you won't be working for us, and you can't have custody of your kids".

For a lot of people in America, Charlie's antics are making him more of a role model than ever. They look at Charlie and say, "I want to party with you, man." These are the same people who say, "I love Jackass," and they go to shows where stunt men deliberately get into accidents. It's considered uniquely American to have the freedom to not care what society thinks, even if what you're doing is self destructive.

Most of us care about consequences; that's what keeps us in line. What other people think matters to us. We don't have our own definition of winning. We measure our success against a societal definition. As a result, most of us feel like failures, and as we watch a "free" man, we become frightened.

Charlie Sheen is fascinating, compelling, dangerous and exciting. We know it can't last. Eventually, Charlie will have to surrender and admit failure because too many people are watching. He'll either be reined in or become the societal definition. One way or the other, this will come to an end and we'll all say, "It was fun to watch while it lasted".

The funny thing is, there are lots of people living just like Charlie Sheen and no one is telling them to stop. Their children are not being removed and, if they don't work, many of them get money from the government or live completely outside the law. Charlie's problem is that he's experiencing too much of that societal definition of success and at the same time being too high profile. We all know you can't have it both ways.

In his New York Times column complaining about Huffington Post and the new economics of content competition, I think David Carr makes two understandable but fundamentally fallacious assumptions about news and media: that the value in journalism is in content and that making content must be work. Because that's the way it used to be.

In their op-ed the next day in the New York Times complaining about copyright losing its hardness, Scott Turow, Paul Aiken, and James Shapiro extend the error to entertainment, assuming that content is entertainment and content is what content makers make.

Not necessarily.

Pull back to view the true value of these things: information, knowledge, enlightenment, amusement, experience, engagement. Content can be and has been a vessel to deliver their worth. But it is not the only one. That is the lesson of the internet -- indeed, of Huffington Post itself. I have argued that the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, the BBC, and other media should have but never would have started the Huffington Post because they, like the gentlemen above, still see content as value in itself and further believe that content is their own franchise (granted by their control of the means of production and distribution). So the benefits of content cannot come from others -- bloggers, commenters, citizens, amateurs -- as new wine in new casks. They instead want to put their old wine in the new skins (witness The Daily).

That is why old media people are missing new opportunities. It's not about the content (stupid). It's about the value.

We can be informed now by many means: by our neighbors telling us what they know, enabled to do so by the net, at a marginal cost of zero, doing so not because it is work (and work must be paid) but because this is what neighbors do for each other. We can be entertained by many means: by clever people making songs and shows and telling stories because they love doing so and because they are compensated in attention rather than royalties (and that attention may well lead to money when they can finally detour around the gauntlet of old media's closed ways to find audiences on their own).

Why do people write on Huffington Post? Because they can. Because they give a shit. Because they like the attention and conversation. Because they couldn't before. Why do they sing their songs on YouTube? Same reasons.

Is there still a role for the journalist, the professional, the artist in this? Perhaps. I think so. That's why I am teaching journalism school. But I'm not necessarily teaching them to make content. That is now only one of many, many ways to meet the goals of adding value to information, time, and society. Some of my entrepreneurial journalism students are, for example, creating businesses that will use data to impart information; they will add value by gathering and analyzing it and making it possible for you to find the intersecting points that matter to you. Other of my students are creating platforms for you to get more value out of your own data. Others are creating platforms for people to connect around interests and make and find their own value. Others are finding new ways to sustain reporting and the making of content. They are all valid if they bring value.

If you concentrate on the value, not the form -- content -- then the possibilities explode.

Turow et al shut down the idea that opening up information can yield greater value that protecting it. Sharers are...

... abetted by a handful of law professors and other experts who have made careers of fashioning counterintuitive arguments holding that copyright impedes creativity and progress. Their theory is that if we severely weaken copyright protections, innovation will truly flourish. It's a seductive thought, but it ignores centuries of scientific and technological progress based on the principle that a creative person should have some assurance of being rewarded for his innovative work.

No, I'd say rather that there are more ways to open up value. If Wikipedia were copyrighted by a publisher, it never would have become Wikipedia because it would be owned, not shared. We now have a new means to collect value rather than merely to own content.

I remember at the DLD conference a few years ago when Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales defended himself from a ninja-knife-wielding Jason Calacanis over paying people to contribute to online resources. Calacanis, like Carr, called it work. Wales instead likened it to a pickup game of basketball. Viewed from a distance, basketball certainly looks like work; they sweat enough. So why don't we demand that they be paid? Why aren't we lamenting the loss of a marketplace for their value? Because that's not where the value is. It's in the fun.

Granted, what's done with that fun -- how it is exploited -- is relevant. If I start charging admission to watch you play basketball -- it is great content, after all -- or if I put sponsors' banners on the court -- you did draw an audience -- you might want a cut. If you can get it -- if you can show that there aren't a million competitors for court time in an open marketplace -- great! But what if the gate or the ads merely support my ability to provide free court time to you or free uniforms to your town-team kids? The economics are not necessarily sweat = work = product = pay. Neither is it any longer true that owning the expensive means of production and distribution assures a return on that investment. There are other expressions of value.

The truth is that Huffington Post recognizes the value of professionalism. I've lately recalled Arianna Huffington talking with Guardian editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger in London a few years ago when he -- with native irony, in front of his reporters -- asked why the hell she was hiring reporters, who are a pain in the ass to manage and expensive to boot. Because their stories get more traffic, she said. They add value. That's why she has editors and curators. They add value. That's why she has technologists who make the Huffington Post such a social experience. They enable value.

That's what I'm teaching my entrepreneurial students: add value. And be efficient: take advantage of the free exchange that is already happening -- the free and open platforms and the information that now easily passes on them. Then put your precious resources where you most add value. Do that before you even think of extracting value. There are the new economics of what we used to think of as content.

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