Inside AdWords: Google TV Ads program targeting enhancements

As a designer, you use drawings to communicate much more than just the appearance of spaces or objects. Great drawings "set the tone"; they provide a window into the actual experience of your ideas. Drawings also help communicate the state of your design: Where are you in the process? What level of feedback from your clients is appropriate? Is it time to talk about the roof tile, or are you still working out the building massing? Good drawings lead to good conversations, and that leads to better design.

Style Builder lets you take hand-drawn lines (or any other lines you create) and apply them as edges in a SketchUp model. Now you can make your 3D models look like sketches, abstracting out the things you're not ready to discuss, and bringing forward the things you do. Styles you create in Style Builder are also totally unique; no one else will be able to make drawings that look like yours.

Check out this video to see how Style Builder works:



Posted by Bryce Stout, Product Manager

[NFGB] Link - from Official Google SketchUp Blog
Related From Google Blogs:
Got Questions? Try the new Google Mobile Help Forum
Eric Schmidt speaks about solutions for energy security
Google TV Ads program targeting enhancements
Some favorite Google Maps features now for iPhone

Inside AdWords: Google TV Ads program targeting enhancements

Inside AdWords: Display ad builder best practices

Last week, we posted about recent improvements we've made to the display ad builder. Now we'd like to share some best practices for using the tool. Hopefully these tips will help you get off to a running start with your new display campaigns:

Customize your ads to make them stand out. Here are some ways you can do that:

• Choose the color scheme of your ad, like the background and font color, to align it with your unique product and brand.

• Ensure text and images are a proper fit. Review all available ad sizes for each template to ensure that the text displays properly and images fit the ad slot. Upload images and logos that fit the recommended specifications we display as you create your ad.

• Try out different templates. You can see which one yields the best performance and optimize accordingly.

• Consider transparent PNG graphics. They can make your ads look more professional by matching the background of both the image and the ad.
  

Consider separating your display ads into their own ad group. This will allow you to:

• Set unique bids for your display ads. For example, you may want to bid more competitively for you display ad, since it has to rank high enough to place above the other ads competing for the same spot.

• Use unique keywords for your display ads, without impacting the performance of your text-only ad groups, especially those running on search as well as the Google content network.

Double-check your ads to ensure they meet the following criteria:

• Your display URL should be visible. If it's the same color as the ad's background color, it won't be visible to the user.

• Uploaded images should be less than 50KB. Otherwise your ad won't be eligible to run.

Now that you're armed with these tips on creating effective display ads, please try out the display ad builder and let us know how it's working for you. If you want to learn more about the tool, please visit the display ad builder site.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 1:25 PM

Inside AdWords: Display ad builder best practices

English Medium School Bus in India

Where there is a will, there is a way...

Pakistan in top 10 Failed States

According to foreignpolicy website Pakista is now ranked among first 10 failed states in the world, and just some points away from Afghanistan. This happens when you fight someone else's war. Our leaders should now realize that now they should make some important changes in the foreign policy. International aid would not help in improving this country's situation, instead they should build confidence among the poeple and try promoting our own values.

India to plot a new attack: Mumbai Attacks Nov 27 2008

November 27, 2008
The remains of a taxi near the Western Express Highway in Mumbai. Photograph: PTI

November 27, 2008
A person injured in the terror attack being rushed to a hospital in Mumbai. Photograph: PTI


November 27, 2008
The area near the BMC headquarters and the CST station, deserted after the attacks. Photograph: PTI


November 27, 2008
CST station, where many people were killed in the gunfight between terrorists and the police.

Indian navy 'sank Thai trawler'

The owner of a Thai fishing trawler has said the Indian navy sank it off Somalia's coast last week after wrongly assuming it was a pirate "mother ship".

Wicharn Sirichaiekawat said the Indian frigate had attacked the Ekawat Nava 5 while it was being hijacked by pirates.

He said one of the crew had been found alive after six days in the Gulf of Aden, but that another 14 were missing.

The Indian navy has insisted the vessel fired in self-defence at a pirate ship which had been stacked with explosives.

Almost 40 ships have been seized by Somali pirates so far this year.

Earlier, the authorities in Yemen confirmed pirates had captured a cargo ship carrying building material off the country's coast. They said the pirates were demanding a ransom of $2m (£1.3m).

The latest incident came days after the Saudi oil tanker, Sirius Star, was hijacked. It was earlier moved further north up the Somali coast.

'Self-defence'

Mr Wicharn told reporters in Bangkok that the Ekawat Nava 5 had been headed from Oman to Yemen last Tuesday to deliver fishing equipment when it was approached by Somali pirates in two speed boats in the Gulf of Aden.

We fired in self-defence and in response to firing upon our vessel Commodore Nirad Sinha Indian Navy spokesman

The pirates were in the process of boarding the vessel and seizing control when the Indian navy frigate, the INS Tabar, sailed into view and demanded it stop for investigation, he added.

"The sunken ship which the Indian navy claimed was a 'mother ship' of pirates was not the 'mother ship' at all," he said.

"The pirates wanted to take our ship to Somalia."

Mr Wicharn said he had learnt the fate of his trawler from a Cambodian crew member who had survived the INS Tabar's bombardment and had been rescued by a passing ship after six days adrift in the Indian Ocean.

The sailor was now recovering in a hospital in Yemen, he said.

Later, an Indian navy spokesman insisted that the Tabar had fired only upon a pirate "mother ship" which had threatened it.

"We fired in self-defence and in response to firing upon our vessel. It was a pirate vessel in the international waters and its stance was aggressive," Commodore Nirad Sinha told CNN.

Following last week's incident, the Indian navy said in a statement that the Tabar had spotted a pirate vessel while patrolling 285 nautical miles (530km) south-west of Salalah, Oman. It said those on board had been armed with guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

When it demanded the vessel stop for investigation, the pirate ship had responded by threatening to "blow up the naval warship if it closed on her", the statement said.

The pirates then fired on the Tabar, after which the Indians retaliated and there was an explosion on the pirate vessel, which then sank, it added.

India is one of several countries currently patrolling the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. France, India, South Korea, Russia, Spain, the US and Nato also have a presence in the region.

Inside AdSense: Optimisation Essentials (Part III)

So what can you do to ensure your ad units get noticed? Place your ads where users are likely to look.



We've also made a heatmap to show you where the best placements are on a typical page. Great positions include:


Inside AdSense: Optimisation Essentials (Part III): "Optimisation Essentials (Part III)
Position for performance - be noticed"

Inside AdSense: The forecast is clear in Google Ad Manager

If you're a publisher who sells advertising space directly to advertisers, you might have experienced times when you've been unsure about how much inventory is available for you to sell. Google Ad Manager can help you learn what you have available to sell by forecasting your future inventory and subtracting off what you've already sold.

A Helpful Analogy

To put this into context, pretend for a minute that instead of a website, you run a popular destination hotel. Instead of selling space to advertisers, your job is to book hotel stays for guests. You receive all kinds of requests to book hotel rooms: two rooms for a one-week family vacation, 100 rooms for a three-day conference, a suite for a weekend getaway. In order to book these reservations, you have to know both how many rooms your hotel has and how many rooms are already booked. For a hotel, this is fairly straightforward. You know exactly how many total rooms the hotel has, and you can subtract how many rooms are booked for each night.

For a publisher, it's not as straightforward. Since the amount of inventory you have to sell is directly tied to your site's traffic, it can vary day by day. It's also complicated because there's flexibility in how you meet your obligations. If an advertiser has booked advertising space on your Finance and Entertainment sections, for example, you can serve more ads on the Finance page and fewer on the Entertainment page. To compare to a hotel, it's like you have the flexibility to substitute two single rooms for one double room. Because of the variability of traffic and the flexibility in how you can satisfy your reservations, it's hard to kno


Inside AdSense: The forecast is clear in Google Ad Manager

‘Dancing With the Stars’ winner

After four consecutive male winners on “Dancing With the Stars,” it was finally ladies’ night.

Kristi Yamaguchi was named the new “Dancing” champ on the show’s season finale, becoming the first woman to win the ABC dance-off since its inaugural season. The figure skater came into the final contest Tuesday with a perfect score and bested fan favorites Jason Taylor and Cristian de la Fuente to claim the mirrorball trophy.

“This is definitely for all those women out there to continue to be strong,” she said after the show, hoisting the prize above her head.

The Olympic gold medalist was clearly the most talented dancer on this season’s competition, regularly landing atop the judges’ scoreboard. But viewer votes count just as much, and with the audience 75 percent female, men have had the edge. Last season ended with a shocker when race-car driver Helio Castroneves upset Spice Girl Melanie Brown.

“Obviously the fans are the deciding factor here,” Yamaguchi said, “and I can’t say enough to thank them.”

She also had plenty of fans among her fellow competitors, who said she deserved the title.

Taylor, the massive but graceful pro football star, called Yamaguchi “just perfect,” adding that he “grew up watching her compete for our country.” De la Fuente, who was eliminated early in the two-hour season finale, said “it was impossible to beat her.”

His professional partner, Cheryl Burke, agreed. “Kristi deserved it more than any other woman in any other season,” she said. “It’s about time that a woman wins.”

Yamaguchi’s athletic background helped make her a winner, said judge Carrie Ann Inaba, because athletes know how to channel criticism into competition.

“She was technically great and she was doing incredible choreography,” Inaba said, adding that Yamaguchi’s performance personality emerged throughout the season. “She was able to really develop her crowd-pleasing skills and that’s what set her over the top.”

The judge acknowledged on Monday’s show that men often fare better in the ballroom, saying “they have a natural tendency to be more crowd-pleasers.”

“When men get on the floor and you’re watching the male power, it’s unbeatable,” Inaba said after Tuesday’s show. “It generates this sort of excitement on the dance floor that’s really hard to touch.”

Winning the “Dancing” crown doesn’t quite compare to winning an Olympic gold medal, Yamaguchi said, but it’s still “a fun, amazing experience.”

“It’s not just this (trophy) but what it represents,” she said. “It’s all the hard work and the time spent together and the friendships made, challenging yourself and learning something new.”

Though Taylor and de la Fuente didn’t win, each was victorious in his own way. Besides forming a close friendship with each other, Taylor, an aspiring actor, has taken meetings with Hollywood heavyweights, and de la Fuente learned an important life lesson.

The actor ruptured a tendon in his biceps while dancing on April 28, but delayed the surgery necessary to repair it so he could continue in the contest.

“It’s about wanting something in life and going for it,” he said. “In this case it was a dance show, but it can be anything that you’re afraid of. Go for it. Do it. The reward that you get when you put your heart, your soul, everything you’ve got in something, it’s priceless.”

Three Closing Broadway Shows

Broadway theaters in New York will bid (or will have already bid) farewell to three long-running musicals by early June. Closed in December: The Drowsy Chaperone. Closed in January: The 25th Annual Putnam Country Spelling Bee. Closing in June: Rent.

After 12 Years, Rent is Due

“Rent” exploded on the New York theatrical scene off-Broadway in January 1996 and quickly moved to Broadway's Nederlander Theatre. Audiences and critics alike were taken with Jonathan Larson's portrayal of life in New York's East Village among artists who were struggling; friends who had sold out; and terminally-ill young people who were living for today. Based on the opera La Boheme, Larson's rock score drew a new generation of young theater goers to New York.

Not only was the show thematically and musically innovative - a resurrection of the musical genre for a new generation - even its location was a resurrection of sorts. Moving south of 42nd Street, “Rent” opened on Broadway in a previously derelict theater on 41st, the Nederlander. And there it has been, entertaining audiences for 12 years.

The show launched several careers, including: Idina Menzel, who went on to when a Tony Award as Elphaba in “Wicked;” Taye Diggs, a movie and television star (and now married to Menzel); Jesse L. Martin, of TV's “Law & Order.”

In addition to inspiring a recent film version, the Broadway “Rent” took home four Tony Awards, including Best Book and Best Score, for Larson and Best Musical. Additionally, Larson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for drama.

Larson died tragically and unexpectedly just before the off-Broadway run was to have begun, but his legacy has been more than to entertain and inspire through his musicals. Through the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation many aspiring musical theater composers, lyricists and writers have received financial support in pursuit of their passion.

Rent closes June 1. Tickets are available here.

Spelling Bee Hears the Bell

The final bell rang Jan. 20 at Circle in the Square Theatre for “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” In this hilarious, one-act show, several audience members were selected each performance to join a cast of middle-school misfits on stage and then to fight off elimination as they vied for a chance to advance to the National Spelling Bee. With adults playing the roles of young teenagers, “Spelling Bee” gave audience members always funny and often poignant insight into the mind of the typical terrified middle-schooler.

Another off-Broadway transfer, “Spelling Bee,” opened in January 1995 at Second Stage Theatre and moved to Circle in the Square in April of that year. Based on the Rebecca Felder play “C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E,” the show featured music and lyrics by Tony Award-winning composer William Finn and a book by Rachel Scheinkin. Sheinkin won the 1995 Tony for Best Book of a Musical.

Heidi and Spencer Married!

Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt are MARRIED! Reality TV’s most annoying couple is said to have walked down the aisle in a secret ceremony in Mexico on November 20th.

“They got married in Mexico,” a source close to the couple tells PerezHilton. Here's Spencer's wedding vows to Heidi!

Heidi, from the moment you came into my life, I knew my life would never be the same without you. You are the light in my life like the sun to the earth! Your loving warmth makes me want to be a better person. Being with you, I feel complete. I'm honored to even be able to call you my wife. You are the most amazing, loving and caring woman on this planet. I will love you forever and always.

The ceremony was held on Palmilla Resort, just outside Cabo San Lucas. There were no family members present for the ceremony, which lasted only 15 minutes!

Congrats, you crazy kids!

Stars arrive at Dubai’s Palm extravaganza

A light display is illuminated during the grand opening of Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai. The $1.5 billion mega resort with 1,539 rooms is the first resort to open on Dubai's man-made Palm Jumeirah island. Reuters/Jumana El Heloue

Australian singer Kylie Minogue speaks to the media before her performance at the opening event of the hotel. Reuters/Jumana El Heloueh

While the rest of the world is tightening its belt, Dubai threw a $20 million party on Thursday complete with Hollywood celebrities like Robert DeNiro and a fireworks show that organizers said would be visible from outer space. Reuters/Jumana El Heloueh

South African billionnaire Sol Kerzner, Chairman of Kerzner International, stands with his wife Heather Kerzner and Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Chairman of Emirati company Nakheel, the joint developers of the Atlantis Hotel, at the official grand opening party for the hotel. AFP/Karim Sahib

The $1.5 billion marine-themed resort has been built off the Gulf coast on an artificial island in the shape of a palm tree. Reuters/Jumana El Heloueh

The world may be tightening its belt but mere money woes failed to thwart the star-studded opening of the hotel. The hotel's signature suite costs $25,000 a night, well beyond the reach of ordinary holidaymakers. AFP/Karim Sahib

Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra poses at the red carpet event. Former Miss India World and later becoming Miss World 2000, Chopra made her acting debut in 2001. Reuters/Jumana El Heloueh

Members of the media look on as fireworks illuminate the resort. The firework display was seven times larger than the Olympic display in Beijing, according to the event organisers. Reuters/Jumana El Heloueh

Google Open Source Blog: WHOPR - A scalable whole program optimizer for GCC

Google Open Source Blog: WHOPR - A scalable whole program optimizer for GCC
Traditional compilation proceeds one file at a time. The compiler optimizes and generates code for each file in isolation and then the final executable is created by linking all the individual files together.

This model of compilation has the advantage that all the files can be compiled concurrently, which greatly reduces build time. This is particularly useful with current multiprocessor machines and applications consisting of hundreds and even thousands of files. However, this model presents a fairly significant barrier for optimization.

Consider this program:

foo.c:

foo()
{
  for (;;) {
    ...
    x += g (f (i, j), f (j, i));
    ...
  }
}

bar.c:

float f(float i, float j)
{
 return i * (i - j);
}

float g(float x, float y)
{
 return x - y;
}

From an optimization perspective, inlining f and g inside foo is likely going to provide significant performance improvements. However, the compiler never sees both files at the same time. When it is compiling foo.c it does not have access to the functions in bar.c and vice-versa. Therefore, inlining will never take place.

One could get around this problem by moving the bodies of f and g to a common header file and declaring them inline. But that is not always desirable or even possible. So, several optimizing compilers introduce a new feature called Link-Time Optimization (LTO) that allows these kinds of cross-file manipulations by the compiler.

The LTO model essentially splits code generation in two major phases

1. Generation of Intermediate Representation (IR). The original source code is parsed as usual and an intermediate representation (IR) for the program is generated. The IR is a succinct representation of the original program, symbols and types. This contains all the information that the compiler needs to generate final code, except that instead of using it to generate final code for each file, the compiler saves it to an intermediate file for later processing.

2. Once the IR has been emitted for all the source files, the intermediate files generated in the previous step are loaded in memory and the whole set is analyzed and optimized at once.

To visualize this process, imagine that you simply concatenated all the source files together and compiled the result. Since the compiler has visibility over every function in every compilation unit, decisions that would normally use conservative estimates can instead be based on data-flow information crossing file boundaries. Additionally, the compiler is able to perform cross-language optimizations that are not possible when the compilation scope is restricted to individual files.

The LTO model of compilation is useful but it has severe scalability issues. A basic implementation has the potential to incur massive memory consumption during compilation. Since every function body in every file may be needed in memory, only relatively small programs will be able to be compiled in whole program mode.

At Google, we deal with several massively large applications, so we are working on a scalable alternative to traditional LTO called WHOPR (WHOle Program optimizeR), which introduces parallelism and distribution to be able to handle arbitrarily large programs. The basic observation is that to do many whole program optimizations, the compiler rarely needs to have all the functions loaded in memory, and final code generation can be parallelized by partitioning the program into independent sets.

WHOPR then proceeds in 3 phases

1. Local Generation (LGEN). This is the same as traditional LTO. Every source file is parsed and its IR saved to disk. This phase is trivially parallelizable using make -j or distcc or any other similar technique.

Official Gmail Blog: Say hello to Gmail voice and video chat

Official Gmail Blog: Say hello to Gmail voice and video chat

Google merges Gmail with chat

Google on Monday was set to launch Gmail Chat, which will let users send instant messages with one click from their e-mail account, see when contacts are online and save the chat history like an e-mail message.

Video: Google's new version of Gmail
CNET News.com reporter Elinor Mills explains how to use some of its new features.

The application's Quick Contacts list is synchronized with a user's Google Talk friends list and automatically displays the people a user communicates with most frequently and shows their online status. Clicking on a contact listed as being online opens a chat window in the browsers.

The application lets users save their chat history for easy searching later and click an "off the record" option so that no conversation with that person going forward is saved by either party until they choose to go back on the record.

Gmail Chat is available on Internet Explorer 6.0 and higher and Firefox 1.0 and higher and in the U.S. English interface only.

While the chat functions of Google Talk are integrated into Gmail, users must download the Google Talk client application to make voice calls.

In the United States, Gmail is the fourth most popular Web-based e-mail program, and Google Talk is ranked seventh among instant messaging programs, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

Yahoo Mail indicates to users when their Yahoo Messenger contacts are online and allows them to launch a dialog with them instantly, as well as letting them make voice calls. It also allows users to check their voice mail and launch voice calling from Yahoo Mail. America Online's

See more at

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/say-hello-to-gmail-voice-and-video-chat.html

Gmail Themes

Following the footsteps of Google's personalized homepage, Gmail added themes. Once the new option is enabled in your account (as usually, Gmail's new features are slowly rolled out), you'll find a tab named "Themes" in the settings page and you'll be able to choose from 30 themes. "We wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd themes we're launching today, there's a shiny theme with chrome styling, another one that turns your inbox into a retro notepad, nature themes that change scenery over time, weather driven themes that can rain on your mailbox, and fun characters to keep you in good company," mentions Gmail's blog.

Unlike other webmail services, Gmail has never provided too many customization options and users had to rely on themes created for third-party extensions like Stylish, which usually slowed down Gmail and weren't resilient to code changes.


Gmail's help center provides an interesting tidbit about the new themes: "In some cases, you can also customize by location. Some themes change during the day, and we use the location information you provide to correctly time these changes with your local sunrise, sunset, and/or weather. If you select one of these themes, you'll see a Country/Region drop-down menu appear."


Gmail also adjusted the default theme, but you can always go back to the previous theme by selecting "Classic" in the settings page. I can't decide between Contrast Black, Cherry Blossom, Graffiti and Ninja. What's your favorite theme?


{ Thanks, Niranjan and Pascal . }

PepsiCo India plans BOP push

With the aim to make its products accessible to people at the bottom of the pyramid, PepsiCo India is set to introduce a range of low-priced fortified products to address micro-nutrient deficiency in India. The company will finalise the product by the first quarter of next year.

“It could be either a beverage or a snack-food product.” said Sanjeev Chaddha, chairman, PepsiCo India, refusing to share the investment for the initiative.

Keeping in mind affordability, the company is evaluating price points as low as Re 1 to Rs 5. “We are at present evaluating a sustainable model to achieve the same,” Chaddha added.

Apart from identifying micro-nutrient deficiencies that need immediate attention, the company is carrying out research on making the products tasty and fun. “The consumer does not only want nutritious products but also something tasty, affordable and fun to have,” Chaddha said.

The initiative will especially address the nutrient needs of adolescents and pregnant women. PepsiCo will also invest significantly in developing the market infrastructure for the launch.

Studies of absorption levels of various nutrients and how they can be added in snacks or beverages without affecting their shelf life are also being conducted.

The initiative is in line with PepsiCo’s aim to increase the share of healthy products in its portfolio to 50 per cent from the present level of 30 per cent. This was announced by PepsiCo Chairperson and CEO Indra Nooyi on her recent visit to India.

The company is also scouting for alliances to bring in technology to build a sustainable model for the proposed fortified range. “Besides working with the government for the project, we are looking at the private sector and NGOs to help us bring in the right technology and work out the specifics,” Chaddha said.

PepsiCo recently announced an investment of $500 million in its India operations over the next three years as part of an initiative to treble its revenue in the next five years.

The investment will be for manufacturing capacity, market infrastructure, environment sustainability initiatives, R&D and agriculture. The new investment will aim to generate 50,000 direct and indirect jobs in India. PepsiCo has invested $700 million since its entry into the country in 1989, employing 4,000 people directly and about 60,000 others indirectly

Obamas dish on '60 Minutes' interview

Enlarge	CBS via AP
In this Nov. 14, 2008 photo released by CBS, President-elect Barack Obama and Michelle Obama speak with CBS' 60 Minutes reporter Steve Kroft.

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By John Fritze, USA TODAY

President-elect Barack Obama said the $700 billion bailout plan has done little to improve the economy so far, but he credited the Bush administration Sunday for working to address the global financial crisis.

In an interview on CBS' 60 Minutes— his first since the election — Obama spoke about the economy, home foreclosures and whether his mother-in-law will join the first family when it moves into the White House.

ADMINISTRATION: Obama's talks with rivals precede Cabinet picks

"There's no doubt that we have not been able yet to reset the confidence in the financial markets and in the consumer markets and among businesses that allow the economy to move forward in a strong way," he said.

"And my job as president is going to be to make sure that we restore that confidence."

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Washington | George W. Bush | Congress | White House | Barack Obama | United States Senate | Hillary Rodham Clinton | CBS Corp. | Great Depression | Republican Sen. John McCain | President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Obama, a Democrat, vowed to quickly establish a program to help homeowners avoid foreclosure and said Congress and the Bush administration should find a compromise this week to provide financial aid to the auto industry.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, also offered a glimpse into their family. They will get a dog, they said, but not until later this winter, after they settle in. And the new president will leave it up to his mother-in-law to decide whether she will move into the White House.

"I don't tell my mother-in-law what to do," Obama said. "I'm not stupid. That's why I got elected president, man."

Michelle Obama teased her husband when he lamented he would no longer enjoy the "soothing" experience of dishwashing.

"Since when was it ever soothing for you to wash the dishes?" she asked. "You know," he responded, "when I had to do it. I'd make it into a soothing thing."

The future first lady said her first priority is ensuring their daughters adjust to the new way of life. After that, she wants to help military families and improve the public school system in Washington, D.C., she said.

"The thing we've learned … as we've watched this campaign is that people, women, are capable of doing more than one thing well at the same time," Michelle Obama said. "And I've, you know, had to juggle being mom in chief and having a career for a long time."

Obama officially resigned from the Senate on Sunday and has named key White House personnel in recent days. The interview aside, he has kept a low profile since beating Republican Sen. John McCain on Nov. 4.

Though he acknowledged meeting with his former rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., he would not say whether he will name her to a Cabinet position.

As he prepares to take on the economic crisis, Obama said he has been reading about the early days of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration during the Great Depression.

He said he hopes to emulate FDR's willingness to keep looking for solutions until something worked.

"That's what the American people expect," Obama said. "And, you know, that's the kind of common-sense approach that I want to take when I take office."

Font Resize Fire destroys 80 homes, injures 4 in Montecito

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—Firefighters were racing early Friday to push back a wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed about 80 homes and a college dormitory in the tony community of Montecito, injured four people and forced thousands to flee the longtime celebrity hideaway.

The fire broke out around 6 p.m. Thursday and quickly spread to about 2,000 acres—more than 3 square miles—destroying dozens of luxury homes and parts of a college campus in the foothills of Montecito, just southeast of Santa Barbara. About 5,400 of the community's 14,000 residents were evacuated and more could be forced to flee if the fire spreads, said Terri Nisich, a spokeswoman with the San Barbara County Executive Office.

At Westmont College, a Christian liberal arts college nestled amid wooded rolling hills, some 1,000 students were caught off-guard by the rapidly moving flames.

"It came pretty fast," said Tyler Rollema, a 19-year-old sophomore, who was eating dinner in the cafeteria when students were told to head to the gym. "We came out and it was just blazing."

Thousands of feet above the flames, footage shot from television helicopters showed what initially looked like a massive campfire with dozens of glowing embers. When cameras zoomed in, however, what appeared to be flaring coals were actually houses—many of them sprawling estates—gutted by flame. Palm trees were lit like burning matches.

First pregnant man, Thomas Beatie, pregnant again!

Thomas Beatie, the former Hawaiian beauty queen who became a man, caused a worldwide clamor when the transgendered male gave birth to his own daughter in June.

Now, he's announced he's pregnant with his second child, due on June 12.

In an upcoming interview with Barbara Walters in a special on ABC, Beatie says that after the birth of his daughter on June 24, he didn't resume male hormone treatment so he could get pregnant again. His wife is unable to conceive a child because she had a hysterectomy.

Beatie's story will air Friday. Walters highlighted the interview on her daytime chat show, "The View," today.

"I feel good," Beatie told Walters. "I had my checkups with my hormone level. ... And everything is right on track."

Amazing.

-- Elizabeth Snead

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Bird Flu Poses Serious Threats To Humans

Avian Bird Flu Poses Serious Threats To Humans by Niall Cinneide

The global health community has been in a state of alarm due to recent outbreaks of the avian influenza disease in many parts of the world, particularly in Asia. The disease has infected humans, prompting many to believe that a global pandemic will soon occur.

In the past decades, avian influenza has affected only birds and in some cases, pigs. Avian influenza does not normally affect humans but the first human case of avian influenza has been recently documented. Diseases previously known to only affect animals have crossed over to humans � avian influenza being one of these diseases. As a consequence, this crossing over has started many of the health pandemics that the world has suffered from for centuries.

Avian flu virus: constantly mutating

Avian influenza typically affects birds, specifically migratory birds, ducks and chickens.
Avian influenza is an infectious viral disease that is similar to human flu. Several subtypes of Type A flu viruses cause avian influenza. Avian influenza differs from human flu in terms of the proteins that reside on the surface areas of the avian influenza virus subtypes.

It is known that there are 16 different HA (hemagglutinin) subtypes and nine NA (neuraminidase) subtypes of the avian influenza virus. These subtypes can combine with each other, producing different subtypes of the disease. Because of these constant combinations of subtypes, producing vaccines becomes even more difficult. One can never know what subtype will emerge next, let alone what its impact will be.

In addition, viruses are known to be constantly evolving. Viruses are constantly �changing their spots.� Thus, scientists have to also evolve the medicines and vaccines that are being produced in order to keep up with the viruses� constant evolution.

H5N1: deadly avian flue subtype

So far, only a few subtypes of the avian influenza virus have managed to cross over from the bird species to human species. These subtypes are H9N2, H7N7, H7N3 and H5N1. Of these subtypes, H5N1 has created the biggest alarm within the international health community. Among the subtypes that have been reported to affect humans, the H5N1 subtype appears to be the worst. The H5N1 subtype has caused more than 50 deaths to date.

Bird flu symptoms in humans are dependent on the subtype that caused the infection. Some of the bird flu symptoms in humans are typical flu like symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat and muscle aches. Bird flu symptoms in humans also include eye infections, pneumonia, and severe respiratory diseases such as acute respiratory distress and other life-threatening complications.

Avian flu: human to human transmission may be possible

The avian influenza virus and its subtypes have the tendency to easily mutate. This may be one reason that the avian flu has managed to cross over from birds to human beings. This mutation may also be the reason that human to human transmission of the disease is a distinct possibility.

The World Health Organization has said that there are three ways for the virus to cross over and become a �human flu�, which means that the disease will not only be contracted from birds but also from humans. Humans may contract the virus and mutation occurs while the virus is within the body. The bird flu virus may also combine with ordinary human flu, thereby assimilating the characteristics of the disease, including its ability to infect humans. Mutation through combination with human flu can occur in the body of humans who contract the disease while being sick with human influenza or by being in contact (consumption, for example) with pigs, which serve as carrier of both kinds of flu.

Niall Cinneide publishes a news site, with reports and articles, about avian brd flu at http://www.bird-flu-alert.info This article may be reprinted in full so long as the resource box and the live links are included intact. All rights reserved. Copyright Bird-Flu-Alert.info

Gen. Kyani

Authenticity of this picture is not confirmed but it clearly gives a picture of aur leaders attitud towards others.

DHA Vally Installment plan

Method for installment of DHA Valley plots is as follows:

Special deposit slips are placed at all the branches of Askari Bank. Deposit the amount get the deposit slip and send that slip to any of the dha office.

Bangladesh warns of storm in Bay of Bengal

DHAKA, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Bangladesh advised ports to hoist warning signals and asked all vessels to stay in shelters or close to shore as a tropical storm in the Bay of Bengal moved towards its coasts, officials said on Sunday.

The storm has driven strong winds and rain over the country since Friday, and could last a few more days, the meteorological department said.

Two people were killed when a tree uprooted by the wind fell on them at a village in Chandpur district 170 km (106 miles) southeast of the capital Dhaka on Sunday.

The meteorological department said at 0600 GMT on Sunday, the storm was about 635 km (400 miles) southwest of Chittagong.

It was expected to intensify and move in a north or northeasterly direction to make landfall between Barishal and Khulna by Monday afternoon.

The storm was likely to sweep the coasts with a tidal surge of up to two metres above normal levels, the met office said.

Storms batter the poor south Asian country every year. Cyclone Sidr ravaged the coasts last November, killing nearly 3,500 people and displacing some two million.

Money exchange co. owners arrested

LAHORE: FIA has arrested the owners of a money exchange company, Munaf Kalia, Yusuf Kalia and their associates from Karachi and Lahore on the charge of illegally remitting from the country millions of dollars abroad.

Sources said that Munaf Kalia and his associates have been charged for illegally transferring from the country $10 billion abroad. Company’s partner, Anis Rajput, director, Javed Khanani and Saleem US were included among other arrested accused.

Munaf Kalia is being grilled in the FIA Headquarters. However, the administration was avoiding giving any details about this matter. On the other hand, Forex Market Association has called for an emergent meeting in the backdrop of these arrests.

Conspiracy against Pakistan

It is such a pity that we are dividing our country ourselves. NATO who is desperate to gain Afghanistan favor is creating disturbance in FATA, on the other hand Afghan official are trying hard to lure taliban onto discussion table. Meanwhile due to our military activities, FATA is nearly inaccessible to our people and we can clearly see what is happening in there behindthem.

Bhutan's new monarch

The tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan crowned its new king yesterday in a ceremony that saw thousands trek from snowy villages to the capital, Thimphu, to be greeted by elaborate displays of pageantry culminating in incensed-filled Buddhist rituals.

The crowning of Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck as the fifth king of Bhutan comes after a two-year wait for the precise moment deemed most auspicious for a successful reign.

It is also part of a plan by his revered father, who abdicated in 2006, to modernise his country of 635,000 people by ending more than a 100 years of absolute royal rule. The first parliamentary elections were held in March.

The investiture began to the sound of drums, cymbals and trumpets and saw the royal family, heads of government and the country's Buddhist chief abbot ascend to the Golden Throne room in the white-walled Tashichhodzong, which means "the fortress of the glorious religion".

When the clocks struck 8:31am local time, the former king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, 52, placed the Raven crown on the head of his eldest son, making the 28-year-old the druk gyalpo, or dragon king.

The new king then walked through an honour guard, past three four-storey high banners depicting the lives of Buddha and the gurus who brought the faith to Bhutan, to a temple on the other side of the Tashichhodzong.

Bhutan now goes into three days and nights of festivities, and has even shut down its mobile telephone network for the occasion.

King Khesar is known as a keen basketball player and his good looks have won hearts across north-east India and south-east Asia. Educated at Oxford University, he retains strong links with Britain.

Palin Africa:Palin Africa Continent,Palin Africa Country Story

Palin Africa:Palin Africa Continent,Palin Africa Country Story - Sarah Palin was unaware that Africa is a continent according to some of McCain aides who are talking,now that the election is over.Fox News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron said on the O’Reilly Factor earlier tonight:

There was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked “a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency,in part because she didn’t know which countries were in NAFTA, and she “didn’t understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself.”

Taylor Swift Pregnant!

Picture by John Kravitz. Associated Press.

Nashville- Teen country star Taylor Swift confirmed rumors Monday that she is pregnant. Her publicist issued this statement: “Yes, Miss Swift is three months pregnant. She is overjoyed and asks for privacy at this time.”

Swift is just one of the numerous Hollywood pregnancies. Teen star Jamie Lynn Spears, who at 16, announced her pregnancy adding fuel to her already tabloid-filled life. Other pregnant stars include Jessica Alba, Angelina Jolie, and Nicole Kidman. This will be the first child for the 18 year old.

Taylor is trying her best to keep this news private but many leaks have been made. A source close to the star claims “Taylor is really worried about the baby and wants to make sure everything is alright before making an official announcement.” The father is unknown at this time.

No statement has been made regarding her upcoming CD. Taylor Swift is most known for her 2007 hit “Tear Drops on my Guitar.”