Default Twitter call from template for social media contest not working

Your default 'Tweet this' script as appearing in your template for social media contests results in the following error, as per image.

"'Sorry something went wrong'
The client identifier was missing or unknown."

Perhaps Twitter have updated the api call with their 'new twitter' - could you clarify the issue and procide updated code? Everything else is working perfectly on the page (even the Facebook call), but the Twitter call fails every time, and I can't seem to pinpoint that script on the Twitter support site.

Thanks.

Source: http://getsatisfaction.com/unbounce/topics/default_twitter_call_from_template_for_social_media_contest_not_working

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Obama would trounce Romney, Perry among Latino voters, survey finds

At least two-thirds of Latino registered voters prefer President Obama over Mitt Romney or Rick Perry, a new survey shows. Both do worse than John McCain did in 2008, signaling GOP is not making hoped-for gains among Latinos.

Most Latinos in the United States disapprove of the rise in deportations of illegal immigrants under the Obama administration. But in hypothetical matchups with two Republican presidential candidates, President Obama wins handily, according to a new survey by the Pew Hispanic Center.

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Against former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Mr. Obama wins 68 percent to 23 percent among Latino registered voters. Obama also beats Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 69 percent to 23 percent. ?

The fast-growing Hispanic population represents a crucial voting bloc next November. Republicans acknowledge that their nominee must do better against Obama in 2012 than John McCain did in 2008, when Obama won 67 percent of the Hispanic vote, versus 31 percent for Senator McCain. In 2004, when President George W. Bush was reelected, he won 44 percent of the Hispanic vote.

The Pew Hispanic Center survey demonstrates how steep the challenge is for the eventual Republican nominee.

?Even among those who disapprove of the way Obama is handling the issue of deportations, a majority support his reelection over either of these two potential Republican challengers,? the Pew center reports. ?Obama would carry this group by 57 percent to 34 percent against Romney and 61 percent? to 31 percent against Perry.?

As for Newt Gingrich, a separate survey in early November by the Pew Research Center showed Obama beating the former House speaker among Hispanic voters, 61 percent to 36 percent.

Latinos disapprove of Obama?s immigration policy 57 percent to 27 percent, according to the new Pew Hispanic Center survey. Under Obama, deportations have risen to record levels. Since 2009, the annual average is near 400,000, 30 percent higher than the annual average of George W. Bush?s second term and about double the annual average of his first term. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that 81 percent of undocumented immigrants in the United States are of Hispanic origin. Among deportees in 2010, 97 percent were Hispanic, according to figures cited by Pew from the Department of Homeland Security.

Democrats have historically performed better than Republicans among Latinos, except for those of Cuban descent. In the survey, Latinos reported that jobs, education, and health care were the top issues in next year?s election. One-third of registered Latino voters said immigration was extremely important to them.

But the optics of the immigration debate have weighed heavily against the GOP. Republicans tend to favor a ?secure the border first? approach to immigration, while Democrats are more inclined toward comprehensive immigration reform, which would establish a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants while also addressing border security. Critics call the citizenship provision amnesty.

In addition, 90 percent of Latinos support the DREAM Act, legislation that provides legal status to young illegal immigrants who attend college or serve in the US military for two years. The Obama administration backs the DREAM Act, while Republicans tend to oppose it.

In 2012, several swing states have fast-growing Hispanic communities, including Florida, Nevada, and New Mexico. The Obama campaign and state Democratic parties already have extensive outreach programs in place, while the Republican Party is embroiled in its nomination process. Still, Republicans believe the struggling economy ? which has hit minorities harder than other Americans ? gives them an inroad into the Hispanic community. Republicans also argue that Hispanics? entrepreneurial culture and emphasis on family values make their party a natural home for Latinos.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/ZKZagCH58mM/Obama-would-trounce-Romney-Perry-among-Latino-voters-survey-finds

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Samoans drop Friday from the calendar

Rachel Maddow reports on a peculiar switch in the calendar for Samoa as they move to the other side of the International Date Line and lose a Friday in order to be better aligned with their trading partners.

By Alan Boyle

Just this once, Samoa is making Dec. 30 disappear.

It's the key step in the Pacific island nation's plan to move from the?eastern to the western side of the International Date Line and mesh its work week with two of its primary trading partners, New Zealand and Australia. The New Zealand territory of Tokelau is making the switch as well.

---

"In doing business with New Zealand and Australia, we're losing out on two working days a week," Stuff.co.nz quoted Samoan Prime Minister Tuila'epa Sailele as saying. "While it's Friday here, it's Saturday in New Zealand, and when we're at church Sunday, they're already conducting business in Sydney and Brisbane."

Samoa will go directly from 11:59 p.m. Thursday, through midnight to 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

"It hasn't been controversial," the editor of the Samoa Observer, Mata'afa Lesa, told me today. (Yes, definitely still today.) "People are realizing?when they sleep tomorrow night, they'll wake up on Saturday."

Hotel guests won't have to pay for an extra night, but employers will?be required?to pay workers for Friday. "For the business community, it's very difficult," Lesa said, "They'll be paying for a day that doesn't exist."

As for folks born on Dec. 30 ... well, this year they're in the same boat as Feb. 29 birthday babies.

MSNBC

Samoa is on the eastern side of the International Date Line ... until Thursday night.

American Samoa, 100 miles to the east,?will not be making the switch. All this means that Samoa and Tokelau will be?among the first places in the?world?to see each day's sunrise. (Stuff.co.nz says the "first light honors" will belong to Fakaofo?in Tokelau, although Kiribati and Antarctica also have claims on the title.) Meanwhile, American Samoa will become known as the last?place to see each day's sunset. And if you want to celebrate your birthday or anniversary (or New Year's Eve, for that matter) two days in a row, you can just make the hourlong flight from Samoa to American Samoa.

This isn't the first step taken by the Samoan government to bring itself more in line with its bigger Pacific neighbors. Two years ago, drivers were ordered to switch from right-side to left-side?driving ? to reduce the cost of converting cars brought in from Australia and New Zealand.

It's also not the first time Samoa has switched sides on the calendar: Back in 1892, Samoans gained an extra day when?they?went from the west side of the imaginary Date Line to the east side. The king made the switch to please U.S. traders ??and to celebrate, he gave his subjects a double dose of the Fourth of July that year.

NBC's Lester Holt reports on Samoa's date shift for "Nightly News."

Update for 10:45 p.m. ET: Some of the comments suggest there's been?a bit of confusion over how many Fridays will be dropped from the calendar because of Samoa's shift from one side of the International Date Line to the other. It's just one. I've rewritten the headline to make that clearer.

More calendar considerations:

---

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.?

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/28/9772352-samoa-drops-friday-from-calendar

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Microsoft Announces 50,000 Published Mark For Mobile Applications

Microsoft on Wednesday announced that their Marketplace for mobile smartphones now contains 50,000 published apps, a mark they call an ?important milestone?

Statistics were confirmed by?All About Windows Phone?which pointed to a critical acceleration since the platform launched earlier in the year with apps increasing from 20,000 in August and then jumping from 40,000 to 50,000 in just 40 days.

Breaking down the company?s most successful application categories the site found that entertainment accounts for 57% of the company?s third party mobile apps while ?books and reference? fall behind in second place followed by games in third place and ?tools and productivity? applications in fourth place.

The study also found that 58% of WP7 apps are free while 29% are paid and 14% offer free trials, numbers similar to those found in the Android Marketplace and iTunes App Store.

Based on current numbers the company is also adding 265 new apps to their catalog each day.

While Microsoft still has a long way to go Newsy pointed out that back in March?Microsoft?s Brandon Watson indicated?that?the company is not padding its stats either.

?We recognize the importance of getting great apps on our platform and not artificially inflating the number of actual apps available to customer by listing ?wallpapers? as a category? We also don?t believe in the practice of counting ?lite? apps as unique quality content? Finally, we don?t double and triple count apps which are submitted in multiple languages.?

Here?s a full report on the overall application counting process and important milestone set by Microsoft?s mobile division:

Have you taken to the new platform at this time or does Microsoft need to offer more applications and other features for you to jump ship over to WP7?

?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/google/yDYq/~3/u2TtL3AXdSM/

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STcom: 8 in 10 servicemen retiring from the SAF take an average of 6 months to find new jobs: Mindef http://t.co/AiqzkwvH

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8 in 10 servicemen retiring from the SAF take an average of 6 months to find new jobs: Mindef bit.ly/sbkWqd Il y a environ 2 heures via TweetDeck Retweeted by 7 people

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The Need For Speed: A Timeline of Notable Land Speed Records

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Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/vintage-speed/the-need-for-speed-a-timeline-of-notable-land-speed-records?src=rss

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Church Bombing Kills 39 In Nigeria

Terror attacks across Nigeria by a radical Muslim sect killed at least 39 people Sunday, with the majority dying on the steps of a Catholic church after celebrating Christmas Mass as blood pooled in dust from a massive explosion.

Authorities acknowledged they could not bring enough emergency medical personnel to care for the wounded outside St. Theresa Catholic Church in Madalla near Nigeria's capital. Elsewhere, a bomb exploded amid gunfire in the central Nigeria city of Jos and a suicide car bomber attacked the military in the nation's northeast as part of an apparently coordinated assault by the sect known as Boko Haram.

The Christmas Day violence, denounced by world leaders and the Vatican, shows the threat of the widening insurrection posed by Boko Haram against Nigeria's weak central government. Despite a recent paramilitary crackdown against the sect in the oil-rich nation, it appears that Africa's most populous nation remains unable to stop the threat.

The White House condemned what it called a "senseless" attack, offered its condolences to the Nigerian people and pledged to assist authorities in bringing those responsible to justice.

In a statement, Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said, "These are cowardly attacks on families gathered in peace and prayer to celebrate a day which symbolises harmony and goodwill towards others.".

The first explosion on Sunday struck St. Theresa Catholic Church just after 8 a.m. The attack killed 35 people and wounded another 52, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency.

Though billions of dollars of oil money flow into the nation's budget yearly, Luguard's agency could only send text messages to journalists asking for their help in getting more ambulances.

Those wounded filled the cement floors of a nearby government hospital, with television images showing them crying in pools of their own blood. Corpses lined an open-air morgue.

The bombing and the delayed response drew anger from those gathering around the church after the blast. The crowd initially blocked emergency workers from the blast site, only allowing them in after soldiers arrived.

"We're trying to calm the situation," Luguard said. "There are some angry people around trying to cause problems."

In Jos, a second explosion struck near the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church, state government spokesman Pam Ayuba said. Gunmen later opened fire on police guarding the area, killing one officer, he said. Two other locally made explosives were found in a nearby building and disarmed.

By noon Sunday, explosions echoed through the streets of Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state where fighting between security forces and the sect already had killed at least 61 people in recent days. The most serious attack on Sunday came when a suicide bomber detonated a car loaded with explosives at the state headquarters of Nigeria's secret police, the State Security Service.

The bomber killed three people in the blast, though the senior military commander apparently targeted survived the attack, the State Security Service said in a statement.

After the bombings, a Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in an interview with The Daily Trust, the newspaper of record across Nigeria's Muslim north. The sect has used the newspaper in the past to communicate with public.

Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for at least 504 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.

This Christmas attack comes a year after a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Jos claimed by the militants left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded. The group also claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria's capital Abuja that killed 24 people and wounded 116 others.

The sect came to national prominence in 2009, when its members rioted and burned police stations near its base of Maiduguri, a dusty northeastern city on the cusp of the Sahara Desert. Nigeria's military violently put down the attack, crushing the sect's mosque into shards as its leader was arrested and died in police custody. About 700 people died during the violence.

While initially targeting enemies via hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes after the 2009 riot, violence by Boko Haram now has a new sophistication and apparent planning that includes high-profile attacks with greater casualties. That has fueled speculation about the group's ties as it has splintered into at least three different factions, diplomats and security sources say. They say the more extreme wing of the sect maintains contact with terror groups in North Africa and Somalia.

Targeting the group has remained difficult, as sect members are scattered throughout northern Nigeria and nearby Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Analysts say political considerations also likely play a part in the country's thus-far muted response: President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south, may be hesitant to use force in the nation's predominantly Muslim north.

In a statement, Jonathan condemned the blasts as a "unwarranted affront on our collective safety and freedom."

"I want to reassure all Nigerians that government will not relent in its determination to bring to justice all the perpetrators of today's acts of violence and all others before now," Jonathan said.

However, Jonathan has made the same promises after a series of spiraling attacks by the group. His spokesman, Reuben Abati, defended the president by saying the country planned to spend more on security and had made arrests targeting the group.

"The administration is very determined to address this new threat of terrorism that seems to have slipped into our environment," Abati told the AP.

But anger continues to grow over the sect's apparent ability to strike at will - anger that could be seen at St. Theresa Catholic Church. After the blast, someone picked up a burnt piece of wood to scrawl: "Revolution now in the country" on its cement walls. (AP)

---

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Source: http://www.thechurchreport.com/index.cfm?objectID=145610

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Gingerbread Finally Reaches 50% Of Android Smartphones

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Source: networks.org --- Monday, December 26, 2011
(18:59 UTC) TECHWEB : Gingerbread Finally Reaches 50% Of Android Smartphones ...

Source: http://networks.org/?src=techweb:232200648

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famegamenews: [Los Angeles Times] 'Flowers of War's' Zhang Yimou: Censorship limits Chinese films: Mentions Zhang Yimou and Ch... http://t.co/KutpiBKt

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[Los Angeles Times] 'Flowers of War's' Zhang Yimou: Censorship limits Chinese films: Mentions Zhang Yimou and Ch... fga.me/tzOQFU Il y a environ 7 heures via twitterfeed

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AlfredEdmondJr: @truthinboots Ummm....because you don't need God's help to plan a wedding, the way you need Him sustain a marriage? 1 day vs. a lifetime.

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@truthinboots Ummm....because you don't need God's help to plan a wedding, the way you need Him sustain a marriage? 1 day vs. a lifetime. Il y a 10 minutes via Twitter for iPad en r?ponse ? truthinboots

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Boys Basketball: Influential club coach Mac Irvin dies at 74

Mac Irvin (left) with his son Mac Irvin Jr.

BY MICHAEL O'BRIEN AND CLYDE TRAVIS

December 24, 2011 6:32PM

Updated: December 24, 2011 8:18PM

McGlother "Mac" Irvin turned a small South Side basketball program, the Mac Irvin Fire, into a nationally recognized powerhouse. His influence and charisma earned him a nickname so well established that public-address announcers in gyms across Chicago would proclaim his entrance: "The Godfather is in the building."

Mr. Irvin, 74, died Saturday at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Irvin was a diabetic and had been suffering from various complications since July.

"We lost a giant here in the city of Chicago," said Sonny Parker, a former NBA player who played for and coached with Irvin. "He has touched all of us. We don't have a replacement for him."

Mr. Irvin played basketball at Tilden High School and was a longtime executive at Xerox. He started working in South Side basketball programs in the early 1970s and eventually built his club program into the most dominant in the city and one of the most well-known in the country. Irvin retired from Xerox in 1992 and was hired by Sonny Vaccaro and Adidas as a consultant. From then on, his influence and reputation grew.

"He was very positive, very uplifting," Parker said. "Everyone respected him in our community. I guess that's why they called him the godfather. He loved people. He was that type of person."

Irvin's influence on the Chicago basketball scene in the last 30 years was monumental. He mentored two generations of basketball players, dozens of whom went on to play professionally, including Antoine Walker, Melvin Ely and Juwan Howard.

"Mac Irvin has always been a prominent figure in the high school basketball community," said Chicago Public Schools sports director Calvin Davis. "He has coached some of the best talent in the country. We will miss him greatly."

Irvin is survived by his wife, Louise, seven children and eight grandchildren.

"There has never been a nicer and more influential person [than Mac Irvin] for the benefit of kids that I have ever met in my entire life," Sonny Vaccaro said. "What he was able to do for the people in Chicago, and kids across the country, is unparalleled. He helped everyone. There are so few people with the heart of a Mac Irvin, he was truly about the kids."

All of Irvin's children are involved with basketball or education in some way. His daughter Cindy works for the board of education; Lance is an assistant college basketball coach; Byron is an NBA agent; Nick is the coach at Morgan Park; Mac Jr. runs the Lady Fire; and Mike runs the Mac Irvin Fire and is a major presence in the city's social scene.

"He was everything to Chicago," Nick said. "He was our father, but he was a father figure to so many other kids in Chicago. Our house was open to one and all. My family and I will continue to try to carry on the legacy that he has set."

? 2011 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.

Source: http://yourseason.suntimes.com/home/9638310-401/boys-basketball-influential-club-coach-mac-irvin-dies-at-74.html

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Chinese boat captains arrested in Japan waters

TOKYO -- Japan's coast guard says it has arrested two Chinese boat skippers in separate cases of suspected illegal fishing in Japanese waters.

Officials say a 39-year-old skipper was arrested Tuesday for alleged coral poaching off the Goto islands near Kyushu.

They say the second skipper was arrested Wednesday near the Ogasawara islands, 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of Tokyo. They said Thursday that both allegedly ignored calls to stop for inspection, prompting a chase.

If convicted, the skippers could face up to six months in jail or a fine of up to 300,000 yen ($3,840).

The incidents aren't likely to spark disputes as they didn't occur in contested waters.

Officials say Chinese poaching in and around Japan is on the rise.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/22/2557337/chinese-boat-captains-arrested.html

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Protest against power plant in S.China escalates: papers (Reuters)

HONG KONG (Reuters) ? Protests in a small town in China appear to have escalated with residents smashing cars and hurling bricks even though officials sought to calm tempers by suspending a plan to build a power plant, Hong Kong newspapers reported on Thursday.

Angry crowds smashed and overturned police cars and riot police fired teargas in Haimen town in Shantou city on Wednesday, the second day of the unrest, newspapers reported.

The unrest escalated as a 10-day standoff between villagers and officials over a land dispute in the same province was resolved, and as China's domestic security chief told officials to focus on stability before the ruling Communist Party's leadership transition next year.

Residents of Haimen, furious with plans to build a coal-fired power plant, took to the streets on Tuesday, surrounding a government building and blocking an expressway.

Officials agreed to suspend the project by late Tuesday, but residents refused to back down, demanding the plan be scrapped.

Government officials, including those from the security arm, have been vague and appeared to play down the unrest. A Shantou official told Reuters by telephone on Wednesday that there had been injuries but no deaths.

On Thursday, an official at the Chaoyang Public Security Bureau denied any deaths or injuries although he said there was a "gathering" on Wednesday.

Haimen is under the jurisdiction of Chaoyang district in the booming southern province of Guangdong.

According to the Mingpao newspaper, more than 1,000 residents gathered at a toll gate to confront hundreds of riot police.

POLLUTION

Witnesses said police fired four rounds of teargas and beat up protesters, who do not want another power plant when existing power facilities there were already polluting air and seawater and had greatly reduced their catch at sea, Mingpao reported.

At least three protesters were hit and arrested.

Mingpao also quoted Zheng Guifang, 45, who was hit and injured by police when she said she was trying to find her daughter among the crowd of protesters.

"I found my daughter but there were too many people and she could not come out," said Zheng from her hospital bed.

People in China are increasingly unwilling to accept the relentless speed of urbanisation and industrialization and the impact on the environment and health.

"Look at how many villagers have died of cancer these past few years," a furious mother was quoted as saying by the South China Morning Post. "Do you know how many Haimen people are lying in hospital beds?"

Protests are also often held over corruption, wages and land seizures, that officials justify in the name of development.

Residents of Wukan village, also in Guangdong, agreed to end a 10-day standoff with authorities over a land dispute on Wednesday.

Chinese experts put the number of "mass incidents," as such protests are known, at about 90,000 a year in recent years.

On Thursday, China's main official newspapers published an account of a speech by Zhou Yongkang, chief of domestic security, who urged law-and-order cadres to ensure "a harmonious and stable social setting" ahead of the Communist Party's 18th Congress late next year.

At that congress, President Hu Jintao and his cohort will give way to a new generation of central leaders: a sensitive transition for the one-party government.

(Reporting by Sisi Tang, Alison Leung and Tan Ee Lyn, Chris Buckley in BEIJING; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Robert Birsel)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111222/wl_nm/us_china_protest_power

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Dauphin County commissioners approve nearly $800000 in gaming ...

A fire company, a small-town theater, a borough park and an historic cemetery will benefit from nearly $800,000 in gaming grants approved today by Dauphin County commissioners.

The largest grant, for $750,000, will cover the county redevelopment authority's share of a roughly $2 million project to renovate and reopen Millersburg's venerable Colonnade Theater.

Citizens Fire Company of Penbrook is to receive $33,000 for equipment purchases and Elizabethville will receive an $11,000 share for upgrades at the borough park.

Commissioners approved a $950 grant to help the Friends of Midland continue restoration of the historic Midland Cemetery at Steelton. Thousands of blacks are buried there, many in unmarked graves. The internees include Civil War veterans and a star baseball player in the Negro Leagues.

Money for the grants comes from the county's 2 percent cut of slot-machine revenue at Hollywood Casino in East Hanover Township.

Source: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/12/dauphin_county_commisioners_ap.html

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Paroled American Berenson leaves Peru (AP)

LIMA, Peru ? Paroled American Lori Berenson, who stirred international controversy after being convicted of aiding Peruvian guerrillas, was on her way back to the United States late Monday night for her first visit back home since Peruvian authorities arrested her in 1995.

The 42-year-old boarded a Continental Airlines flight at Lima's main airport under intense media scrutiny, as many in Peru wonder whether she will return to the country by the court-ordered deadline of Jan. 11.

Wearing a black turtleneck, black jeans and designer eyeglasses, Berenson told an Associated Press reporter while waiting for her flight that she intended to return to Peru. Berenson was accompanied by a U.S. Embassy employee.

"I just hope we don't get caught in a snow storm," she said, joking that such an occurrence in the U.S. would delay her return.

The AP reporter watched Berenson carry her 31-month-old son Salvador Apari to a seat in the back of the plane's economy section. The plane's doors were closed, and its wheels lifted off at 12:25 p.m. local time. It was scheduled to land at a New York area airport Tuesday morning.

Berenson's departure capped three days of confusion after Peruvian authorities had prevented her from boarding a flight to New York on Friday despite a court approval allowing her to leave.

The authorities said Berenson, who had served 15 years on an accomplice to terrorism conviction before her parole last year, lacked an additional document.

Peruvian migration officials finally gave Berenson another document Monday clearing her to leave the country with her son to spend the holidays with her family in New York City.

Her father, Mark Berenson, said Monday that he was anxious to see her return.

"I'm just glad that they finally resolved the thing," he told the AP by phone from New York.

Lori Berenson admitted helping the Tupac Amaru rebel group rent a safe house where authorities seized a cache of weapons after a shootout with the rebels. She insists she didn't know guns were stored there and says she never joined the group.

In 1996, a military court of hooded judges convicted Berenson of treason and sentenced her to life in prison. After U.S. pressure, she was retried by a civilian court.

Mark Berenson said he went to sleep Friday night expecting to pick up his daughter and 31-month-old grandson, Salvador, the following morning.

Instead, he was awakened by news that she had been blocked from returning and spent the rest of the night angry and unable to sleep.

Lori Berenson and Salvador, accompanied by two officials who appeared to be from the U.S. Embassy, spent Monday morning at Peru's main migration office in downtown Lima and left shortly after 1 p.m. in a dark SUV with diplomatic plates.

"What she was given was an exit order," the assistant to the office's director, Jose Luis Ubillus, told the AP.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy, Mary Drake, said consular officials were assisting Berenson "as they would to any citizen."

RPP radio quoted migration office director Edgard Reymundo as saying of Berenson: "I don't know why she threatened to file suit and complain when there was no persecution, but only the need to obtain an exit order."

It's not clear whether Berenson's delayed exit amounted to government harassment or whether she simply got caught between competing bureaucracies.

Political analyst Aldo Panfichi, a Catholic University professor, said he believed she was not the victim of a conspiracy.

"It is highly probable that this is a question of excess bureaucracy by mid-level functionaries or miscoordination and lack of clarity between state agencies," he said.

The court ruled that Berenson was not a flight risk. Her father told the AP that his daughter has every intention of returning to Peru.

By law, she must remain in Peru until her full sentence lapses unless President Ollanta Humala decides to commute it.

State anti-terrorism attorney Julio Galindo said he filed an appeal on Friday seeking to nullify the court ruling that approved Berenson's New York trip. He opposed Lori Berenson's parole from the start, and succeeded last year in having her returned to prison on a technicality for 2 1/2 months until a court ordered her freed in November.

Peru remains deeply scarred from its 1980-2000 conflict, which claimed some 70,000 lives.

Its gaping inequalities drew the young Berenson to Peru from El Salvador, where she had worked for the country's top rebel commander during negotiations that led to a 1992 peace accord.

Tupac Amaru was a lesser player in Peru's conflict and Berenson sought it out, she told the AP in an interview last year, because it was similar to other revolutionary movements in Latin America.

The group never set off car bombs or engaged in the merciless slaughter of thousands as Shining Path rebels did, but it did engage in kidnappings and selective killings.

In the 1980s, it was known for hijacking grocery trucks and distributing food to the poor.

The group most famously raided the Japanese embassy in Peru in 1996 during a party and held 72 hostages for more than four months. A government raid killed all the rebel hostage takers.

Berenson was arrested leaving Peru's Congress and accused of helping plan its armed takeover, which never happened.

She was initially unrepentant, but harsh prison life softened her. She was praised as a model prisoner in the report that supported her parole.

Some Peruvians still consider her a terrorist. She had been insulted in the street, and news media have repeatedly hounded and mobbed her.

___

Associated Press writer Martin Villena contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111220/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_peru_lori_berenson

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Video: The Real Deal on Dell: Stock Down 3 Percent

Discussing the current strategies for Dell, with Matthew Hoffman, Cowen senior research analyst.

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45755633/

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Canadiens fire coach Jacques Martin

FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2011 photo, Montreal Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin reacts during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks, in Montreal. Martin has been fired as coach of the last-place Montreal Canadiens. The team said Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011 that assistant Randy Cunneyworth will be the interim head coach for the rest of the season. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2011 photo, Montreal Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin reacts during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks, in Montreal. Martin has been fired as coach of the last-place Montreal Canadiens. The team said Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011 that assistant Randy Cunneyworth will be the interim head coach for the rest of the season. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

MONTREAL (AP) ? Sloppy play, blown leads, a poor record at home.

It proved all too much for the last-place Montreal Canadiens, who fired coach Jacques Martin on Saturday and put assistant Randy Cunneyworth in charge for the rest of the season.

"The primary reason is the team wasn't performing as well as it should be in our minds," general manager Pierre Gauthier said at a Bell Centre news conference.

Assistant GM Larry Carriere was appointed assistant coach, his first coaching job after a long career in scouting and administration.

Martin, who preaches defense, was in his third season with the Canadiens. He is also one of the winningest coaches in NHL history.

He now gives way to Cunneyworth, a Toronto native whose lack of French was quickly noted. He is team's first unilingual English-speaking coach since Al MacNeil in 1971. On a team that symbolizes French-Canadian pride, he faces a daunting task in his bid to remove the interim tag.

"I have the utmost respect for the language here and I am very aware of how important it is to try and learn the language," Cunneyworth said after running his first practice. "Obviously I know a few words, and not all the good ones."

Montreal, which hosts New Jersey on Saturday night, is at the bottom of the Northeast Division with a 13-12-7 record. However, they are just two points out of second place in a division led by Boston.

The 59-year-old Martin has also coached the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators. Gauthier hired Martin in Ottawa. In 1996 in Ottawa, Martin inherited Cunneyworth as his hardworking captain.

"I would hope that my coaching style was similar to the way I played," Cunneyworth said. "I felt for the most part that I competed very hard."

Cunneyworth joined his former coach's staff as an assistant this summer after spending the previous season as head coach of Montreal's AHL affiliate in Hamilton.

"I have mixed emotions this time around," said Cunneyworth, who began and ended his career with Buffalo and also played for Pittsburgh, Winnipeg, Hartford and Chicago. "There is still the excitement but my thoughts are with Jacques. ... I have the utmost respect for Jacques and everything he does, the wealth of experience that I have learned over my times with him."

Martin was in his 17th season in the NHL. He reached his 600th NHL career victory last April, making him the ninth winningest coach in league history.

The Canadiens have been hurt by mistakes this season. They are 5-6-6 at home, often squandering third-period leads.

"Especially in the last few weeks, we didn't really know what was coming out of the box every night," Gauthier said. "And the way we were losing the leads and the way we were coaching the games wasn't very consistent, and that's what we hope to change."

There were hints of tension between Martin and Gauthier. After a poor start, Martin's closest ally, assistant Perry Pearn, was fired just before a game Oct. 26.

"We were on the same wavelength right to the end, but that doesn't mean that the team's performances were acceptable," Gauthier said.

The players were told of the coaching changes when they arrived for their morning skate.

"When we are where we are and expect to be a better team than we've been, you definitely are aware there might be changes," forward Michael Cammalleri said. "For it to be Jacques was somewhat surprising."

"We're in 11th place, that's what went wrong," he added. "I think Jacques was still trying to work on thing and improve the team. I don't think there was anyone not listening to him."

In the 50-year-old Cunneyworth, the Canadiens get a more tech-savvy coach, although one who is not expected to make major changes.

"I think the message will be to get back doing the things that the players are potentially capable of," Cunneyworth said. "We obviously have to figure out ways to get more out of our individual players. It's a responsibility of the coaching staff, but it's also a responsibility of the players themselves."

Cunneyworth was promoted to the NHL club along with assistant Randy Ladouceur after coaching in Hamilton last season.

"What system is in place doesn't matter if everyone buys in and plays the right way," defenseman Josh Gorges said. "If you only have half the guys doing what's asked of them, everything is in disarray and I think that's where we got to."

"We weren't playing together and doing the things we need to do to win," he added. "And consequently we lost games we shouldn't have lost and changes needed to be made."

Martin joined the Canadiens in 2009-10 and took them on an improbable run to the Eastern Conference finals where they lost to Philadelphia. Montreal made the playoffs the following year but was eliminated in the first round.

Martin also won the NHL coach of the year in 1998-99 and was part of Canada's gold-medal triumph at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

"The bottom line is winning games," Canadiens defenseman Hal Gill said. "We weren't winning and changes happen. I don't think it was about losing the room or anything like that."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-17-HKN-Canadiens-Martin-Fired/id-0d71201ada89488f840c9d0c78022675

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Automatic Updates Coming To Internet Explorer (NewsFactor)

Microsoft intends to begin delivering automatic updates of its Internet Explorer browser beginning next year to ensure that as many machines as possible running Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 are protected from the latest malware schemes of cyber criminals.

"Automatic updates are a very good idea based on every piece of security research I've seen," said White Hat Security CTO Jeremiah Grossman. "Keeping software up to date -- particularly Web browsers -- is critical for online security."

The new service will be available initially to those Windows customers who have activated the automatic update feature in Windows. The plan is to introduce automatic IE upgrades gradually -- with the first Windows users to see the new offering located overseas and then scaling up delivery over time.

"This is an important step in helping to move the Web forward," noted Ryan Gavin, the general manager of Internet Explorer business and marketing at Microsoft.

"We will start in January for customers in Australia and Brazil who have turned on automatic updating via Windows Update," he wrote in a blog Thursday.

Increased Protection

According to Microsoft's latest security intelligence report, the biggest online threat that Windows users face comes from socially engineered malware targeting outdated Web browsers and other aging software. Making the move to the most current products and services helps PC users increase their protection against the most prevalent online threats, the software giant said.

One of the popular features of Google's Chrome Web browser has long been its seamless, out-of-sight upgrades under the hood. Earlier this year, Mozilla likewise indicated that it would emulate Google's browser upgrade strategy by early 2012 and now Microsoft intends to follow suit.

On desktop PCs, notebooks and netbooks, IE currently holds a 52.6 percent share of the global browser market -- down from 58.8 percent in December of 2010, according to Net Applications. By adding automatic updates, however, Microsoft stands a better chance of hanging on to the IE users it already had locked in.

"I do think it will affect the rates at which people change browsers -- mainly because I think people consider switching when they are going through an upgrade cycle," said Net Applications Executive Vice President Vincent Vizzaccaro. "If the upgrade cycle happens in the background, that will take away that reminder to consider switching browsers."

An Enterprise Opt-Out

Large corporations, educational institutions and other organizations which need time to evaluate and fully integrate the latest browser upgrades will have the ability to opt out of the automatic upgrade program and develop customized browser upgrade schedules that best fit their respective business requirements.

"The Internet Explorer 8 and Internet Explorer 9 Automatic Update Blocker toolkits prevent automatic upgrades of IE for Windows customers who do not want them," Gavin wrote.

Individual consumers with automatic updating via Windows Update switched on will retain the same personal home page, search provider and default browser settings after receiving each new browser upgrade. Additionally, consumers who have previously declined invitations to install IE8 or IE9 on their PCs will not be forced to do so.

"Future versions of IE [also] will provide an option in the product for consumers to opt out of automatic upgrading," Gavin said.

Individual IE users also will be able to uninstall any IE browser update and continue receiving support for the specific version of IE that they prefer to run on their machines. Still, Gavin noted that "the Web overall is better -- and safer -- when more people run the most up-to-date browser."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/software/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111216/tc_nf/81421

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United Rentals to buy RSC for $1.9B

NEW YORK (AP) ? United Rentals Inc. said Friday it has agreed to buy rival equipment rental company RSC Holdings Inc. for about $1.9 billion in cash and stock.

Shares of RSC surged nearly 57 percent in trading before the market opened Friday. United Rentals rose 6 percent.

United Rentals, based in Greenwich, Conn., said the deal is expected to accelerate its growth with industrial customers, lower costs and provide a less volatile revenue stream. It said it has already identified $200 million in potential cost savings.

The $18-per-share price is a 58 percent premium to RSC's closing price on Thursday. RSC shares climbed $6.47, or 57 percent, to $17.84 in premarket trading. United Rental shares rose $1.56, or 6 percent, to $27.60 in premarket trading.

The deal has been approved by both companies' boards and is expected to be completed in the first six months of 2012.

When the deal closes, each outstanding share of RSC common stock will be converted into the right to receive $10.80 in cash and 0.2783 of a share of United Rentals common stock. But the deal is subject to certain closing conditions, including regulatory approval and clearance of any antitrust hurdles.

To help finance it, United plans to buy back up to $200 million in stock within six to twelve months after the close.

United is the world's largest equipment rental company, with a network of 541 rental locations in 48 states and 10 Canadian provinces. The company has about 7,500 employees.

RSC Holdings, which is based in Scottsdale, Ariz., has a network of 452 branches across 42 states and three provinces in Western Canada. It has more than 4,600 employees.

RSC services the industrial, maintenance and non-residential construction markets while United serves construction and industrial customers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners and others.

The president and CEO of United Rentals, Michael Kneeland, and its chairman, Jenne Britell, will keep their positions at the combined company.

Including the assumption of debt, the deal is worth $4.2 billion.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-12-16-United%20Rentals-RSC%20Holdings-Acquisition/id-ef9ce9eafa38450bac731c1e35cb6e44

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Death toll in Philippine floods rises to 436 (AP)

MANILA, Philippines ? Pounding rain from a tropical storm swelled rivers and sent walls of water crushing into two southern Philippine cities in the thick of night, killing at least 436 people, many caught in their beds, officials said Saturday.

Philippine Red Cross Secretary General Gwen Pang told The Associated Press that the latest toll was based on a body count in funeral parlors. She said that 215 died in Cagayan de Oro and 144 in nearby Iligan, and the rest in several other southern and central provinces.

Most of the dead were asleep Friday night when raging floodwaters tore through their homes from swollen rivers and cascaded from mountain slopes following 12 hours of pounding rain in the southern Mindanao region. The region is unaccustomed to the typhoons that are common elsewhere in the archipelago nation.

Many of the bodies in parlors were unclaimed, indicating that entire families had perished, Pang said.

The number of missing was unclear Saturday night. Before the latest Red Cross figures, military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said about 250 people were still unaccounted for in Iligan.

Thousands of soldiers backed up by hundreds of local police, reservists, coast guard officers and civilian volunteers were mobilized for rescue efforts and to clean up after the massive deluge that left the two coastal cities strewn with debris, trash, overturned vehicles and toppled trees.

Many roads were cut off and there was no electricity, hampering relief efforts.

Some of the dead were swept out to sea from Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, which are intersected by rivers and flanked by mountains.

Chief of the government's Civil Defense Office Benito Ramos attributed the high casualties in Mindanao "partly to the complacency of people because they are not in the usual path of storms" despite four days of warnings by officials that one was approaching.

Ayi Hernandez, a former congressman, said he and his family were resting in their home late Friday when they heard a loud "swooshing sound" and water quickly rose ankle deep inside his home. He decided to evacuate to a neighbor's two-story house.

"It was a good thing because in less than an hour the water rose to about 11 feet (3.3 meters)," the height of the ceiling of his house, he said.

A man in Cagayan de Oro said he heard a cry for help around 10 p.m. while the floodwaters were still low.

"Suddenly, there was a very strong rush of water," the man, who was not identified, told a local TV station.

The floodwaters were waist-high in some neighborhoods that do not usually experience flooding. Scores of residents escaped the floods by climbing onto the roofs of their homes, Iligan Mayor Lawrence Cruz said.

Those missing included prominent radio broadcaster Enie Alsonado, who was swept away while trying to save his neighbors, Cruz said.

Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro said that about 20,000 residents of the city had been affected and that evacuees were packed in temporary shelters.

Television footage showed muddy water rushing in the streets, sweeping away all sorts of debris. Thick layers of mud coated streets where the waters had subsided. One car was shown to have been carried over a concrete fence.

Authorities recovered bodies from the mud after the water subsided. Parts of concrete walls and roofs, toppled vehicles and other debris littered the streets.

Rescuers in boats rushed offshore to save people swept out to sea. In Misamis Oriental province, 60 people were plucked from the ocean off El Salvador city, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) northwest of Cagayan de Oro, said disaster official Teddy Sabuga-a.

About 120 more were rescued off Opol township, closer to the city, he added.

Cruz said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off Iligan for survivors or bodies that may have been swept away.

Tropical Storm Washi dumped on Mindanao more than a month of average rains in just 12 hours.

It quickly cut across the region overnight and headed for Palawan province southwest of Manila on Saturday night.

Forecaster Leny Ruiz said that the records show that storms that follow Washi's track come only once in about 12 years.

Lucilo Bayron, vice mayor of Puerto Princesa in Palawan, said he already mobilized emergency crews but local officials have not ordered an evacuation yet because the weather was still fine.

___

Associated Press writer Hrvoje Hranjski contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111217/ap_on_re_as/as_philippines_storm

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Chuck Boss: Rebecca Romijn's Sexy-Scary Character Was Supposed to Be a Man (omg!)

Chuck is sending in Rebecca Romijn to do a man's job.

"We created a character originally that was just going to be a man, sort of an ominous, scary figure who has a penchant for torture, which he considers his art form," co-creator Chris Fedak says of the former supermodel's guest role on Friday's episode (8/7c, NBC), "Chuck Versus the Curse." "But then we started thinking about it, we were like, 'What if Rebecca Romijn was this guy? That would be scary and sexy.'"

From Chuck to Hawaii Five-0: TV's sexiest crime fighters

The reconceived spy, named Robyn Cunnings, will give Chuck (Zachary Levi) and Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) trouble as they're trying to eliminate a harmful computer virus. Romijn is no stranger to filling deadly roles (Mystique in X-Men) or even characters with a male past (the transgendered Alexis Meade on Ugly Betty).

"She was game for [the role] and also has got a wicked sense of humor," Fedak says.

Meanwhile, new parents Ellie (Sarah Lancaster) and Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) take some time for themselves with a date night, which naturally means that a babysitter for Clara is in order. Don't worry, fans ? it's not Jeffster! "Mom and Dad [Awesome] are babysitting," Fedak says. "We don't do a lot of baby in peril... yet."

The Year in Rewind: The worst of 2011

But this is Chuck, so no date night will remain romantic or calm for long. "Ryan McPartlin and Sarah Lancaster are getting drawn into the action," Fedak revealed. "They're very much the center of that episode. Watching Sarah Lancaster out in the field is great. She and Ryan are sexy, fun and exciting together."

Hmm, that sounds a bit like a Mr. & Mrs. Smith scenario, no? Lancaster has expressed interest in having Ellie pick up a gun. "Well, she doesn't blow anybody away," Fedak teases. "But I wonder if that might have changed after having a baby?"

Check out this preview of Ellie and Awesome's night of intrigue:

Chuck airs on Fridays at 8/7c on NBC.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_chuck_boss_rebecca_romijns_sexy_scary_character_supposed025100912/43922677/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/chuck-boss-rebecca-romijns-sexy-scary-character-supposed-025100912.html

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Michael Jackson's Hair Turned Into Roulette Ball By Online Gambling Casino

AOL Music:

It may be a big gamble, but an online casino has just paid $10,871 for strands of Michael Jackson's hair that were retrieved when he stayed at the Carlyle Hotel in New York before his death.

Now, OnlineGamblingPal.com wants to be starting somethding by turning the bits of curly black hair into a roulette ball.

No word on if the bizarre Jacko artifact will inspire fans to sing, "Bet it" instead of "Beat It," or change the title from "Black Or White" to "Black Or Red."

Read the whole story: AOL Music

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/14/michael-jacksons-hair-turned-into-roulette-ball_n_1147565.html

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Don't Do In Rome As The Romans Do In Customer Service - Exceed The Romans!

You just cannot succeed in today's business world by doing what everybody else is doing, you have to be completely different. My my one-time neighbor opened a restaurant years back and I was invited to attend the "launching." I noticed that within a mile radius of my neighbor's restaurant were not less than twenty other restaurants, fast foods and nightly eateries including Mr. BIGGS, Tantalizers, Sweet Sensation and Tastee Fried Chicken. My neighbor believed at the time her culinary prowess would enable her succeed and thrive but I doubted she would survive. I hinted at the time the odds of her surviving and thriving were one in ten or slimmer because what she was offering was not different from what all the other eateries around her were offering. Well, what I feared indeed came to pass and the restaurant went belly-up two years after.

Don't Do In Rome As The Romans Do In Customer Service - Exceed The Romans is about standing out from the crowd. What makes you distinctive? What have you done and continue to do day in and day out so that anytime the people that you consider as your target market want to do anything tangentially associated with the business which you have entered, they think about you first and no one else. This is called positioning as Al Ries & Jack Trout brilliantly captured in their best seller Positioning and further illustrated its application in The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. Have you positioned yourself so that you are the first in the customers mind at all times? Think about it. Why should I go to XYZ and not ABC? Because XYZ stays open till 12 midnight while ABC closes at 7.30 pm. That's why! Staying open as late as 12 midnight in a city that supposedly should never sleep while your competitor operates as an extension of a government ministry makes you a non Roman!

Carl Sewell, author (with Paul Brown) of Customers for Life, took his father's moribund car dealership to stratospheric success by refusing to do in Rome as the Romans do. Tom Peters and Nancy Austin graphically captured in Passion for Excellence what Carl Sewell did to turn Sewell Village Cadillac from an also ran to best-in- class. "When he took over the business, he asked, 'Who are the best car dealers in the country?'. He got their names and off he went. He visited, and visited some more. He listened, took notes." Carl Sewell didn't stop at visiting car dealerships. He visited restaurants, airlines, pizza stores, hotels, and just about any place he could get superior ideas to turn around his dealership.

The research aspects concluded, Carl Sewell went back and adapted what he learnt from pizza stores, airlines, restaurants, other car dealerships, until one day he became best in class. Carl Sewell never said what works in pizza stores cannot work in a car dealership. He did not say but car dealership is different from airlines. He did not say, this is the way things have always been done in the car dealership industry. He exceeded the Romans and this helped Sewell Village Cadillac to stand out a clear leader in an industry that is known for mediocrity and generally lacking in credibility. What will you start doing differently in your business tomorrow?

Paul Uduk is the Chief Executive Officer of Vision & Talent International, Nigeria's leading customer service learning and performance consultancy. He has published and consulted actively in the areas of service quality and design, and teaches in these areas locally and internationally, including for the UNDP. His best selling books include Bridges to the Customer's Heart (http://www.bridgestothecustomersheart.com) and The Gods of Quality Strike Back. Prior to setting up the Vision & Talent Group, he was a banker with one of Nigeria's top 10 banks. His current research interest is on forces that engender corporate enthusiasm, agility, and the will to prevail through service excellence. Reach Paul on visionandtalentltd@gmail.com or pauluduk@gmail.com.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/6755543

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Second-Guessing by Romney Supporters (WSJ)

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