Falcons take 20-13 lead over Saints in 4th quarter

ATLANTA (AP) ? Drew Brees led two time-consuming field-goal drives before throwing his third interception to set up an Atlanta field goal that gave the Falcons a 20-13 lead early in the fourth quarter Thursday night.

The New Orleans' defense held Atlanta without a first down for five straight possessions in a span that began early in the second quarter and carried through most of the third quarter.

Garrett Hartley kicked field goals of 21 and 52 yards in the third quarter for New Orleans.

The Falcons looked dominant while building a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter. Brees, who threw two first-half interceptions, regained his touch as the Saints scored 13 straight points.

The first-down drought for Atlanta ended after William Moore intercepted Brees' pass late in the third quarter. Matt Ryan then completed an 18-yard pass to Tony Gonzalez and a 20-yard pass to Roddy White to set up Matt Bryant's 29-yard field goal, pushing the Falcons lead to sevens.

Michael Turner had a 3-yard scoring run in the first quarter, and Ryan threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Gonzalez early in the second quarter before the Falcons' offense stalled.

The Falcons, motivated by four straight losses in their NFC South rivalry with New Orleans, took a 17-7 halftime.

Brees has been sharp against the Falcons, averaging 302.8 yards passing as the Saints won 11 of the last 13 in the series, including a 31-27 win in New Orleans on Nov. 11.

Brees threw two interceptions before finally leading a touchdown drive late in the second quarter.

On third-and-9 from the Saints 21, Brees completed a 32-yard pass over the middle to Lance Moore. Falcons defensive end Kroy Biermann drew an offside penalty on a third-down play from the Atlanta 26 to keep the drive alive.

Officials initially ruled Pierre Thomas scored on a 10-yard run, but a video review showed his knee was down before he crossed the goal line. Mark Ingram scored from the 1.

Brees led the Saints on another drive but ran out of time. The half ended following Brees' fourth straight pass to running back Darren Sproles, this one inside the Falcons 5. With the Saints out of timeouts, Brees couldn't get his team back to the line before time ran out.

The Falcons made a strong statement on their first possession. Atlanta gained 71 yards on five straight running plays after opening the drive with a 9-yard pass from Ryan to Gonzalez. Turner started the spree with a 35-yard run. Jacquizz Rodgers had back-to-back 14-yard gains before Turner stormed in from the 3.

With his touchdown, Turner snapped a tie with former Falcons receiver Terance Mathis to set the franchise career record with 58 total touchdowns. Turner also has the team record with 57 rushing touchdowns. He caught his first career touchdown pass in Week 4 against Carolina.

Falcons safety Thomas DeCoud intercepted a pass from Brees intended for Marques Colston in the end zone to end the Saints' first possession.

In the second quarter, Falcons linebacker Sean Weatherspoon intercepted a pass off running back Chris Ivory's hands, setting up Bryant's 45-yard field goal. The pass from Brees was behind Ivory.

Atlanta cornerback Asante Samuel left the game after aggravating his right shoulder injury. Samuel had been listed as questionable with the injury, and he didn't make it through the Saints' opening drive.

Brees completed a 38-yard pass to Joseph Morgan on a third-down play. Samuel, who was covering Morgan, walked off the field with his right arm kept close to his chest.

The Falcons listed Samuel's status as questionable. Robert McClain and Chris Owens took over for Samuel at cornerback.

Atlanta receiver Harry Douglas returned after leaving the game with an ankle injury in the first quarter.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/falcons-20-13-lead-over-saints-4th-quarter-040507229--spt.html

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Apple begins selling unlocked iPhone 5 in the US, starting from $649

It's that special time of the year... that is, when Apple decides to unfetter the iPhone for US shoppers. The Cupertino crew has quietly started selling the iPhone 5 in an unlocked, off-contract form that will work on GSM, HSPA+ and (if you're in the right countries) LTE networks. There's few surprises versus what we've seen in years past, or in other regions: the unlocked iPhone 5 ships in the same capacities and colors as the carrier-bound model, and starts from $649. That's still expensive for those still used to buying on an agreement, and it won't represent as much bang-for-the-buck as a $350 Nexus 4. If you're yearning for the LTE the Nexus 4 lacks and don't mind living in an iOS universe, however, Apple is ready and waiting.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple

Comments

Via: AppleInsider

Source: Apple

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/vR1d3MdASr4/

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96% The House I Live In

All Critics (48) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (46) | Rotten (2)

The House I Live In is a work of journalism, not propaganda: Jarecki has done his research and leaves it to you to decide what to make of it.

If [it] takes a while to focus, it eventually becomes the conversation starter the subject desperately needs.

Jarecki takes a highly original approach to create a compelling, thought-provoking look at a highly relevant and controversial topic.

An absorbing, disturbing sit.

It's a film as profoundly sad as it is enraging and potentially galvanizing, and it's one of the most important pieces of nonfiction to hit the screen in years.

Jarecki's case is so compelling that, when he concludes by comparing the drug war to the Holocaust, the obvious charge of hyperbole doesn't quite stick.

Expertly researched, brilliantly argued and masterfully assembled, it is also easily the documentary of the year.

One of the finest documentaries of the year, this involving film is lucid, sharply well shot and edited, and ultimately so important that it's rather terrifying to watch.

A wide-ranging examination of the futile, self-defeating "war on drugs" ...

One of the best documentaries out this year, and a must-see for Senate and Congress in America.

An angry and personal attack on America's war on drugs contends it is a grotesquely wasteful public-works scheme.

Jarecki is a stickler for sticking to his subject, or sub-subject, until it squeals like a leech victim.

Jarecki offers 100 small conclusions rather than one big one for you to take away.

This urgent and formidably smart movie - perhaps the year's most important political documentary - has opened minds and changed laws already.

Tells a complex story with troubling ease.

Persuasively argues that punitive laws against users have historically involved disproportionately targeting poor, non-white communities.

Jarecki's parade of experts and eyewitnesses is impressive, as are his arguments that race and class prejudice enter into the policing efforts of America's drug warriors.

Jarecki's conclusion is powerfully plausible

There's no confusion about Jarecki's point of view in The House I Live In- he's out to make the case that America's drug laws cause far more damage, to individuals and communities, than drug use ever has

The film deserves credit for offering a unique perspective on a relevant social issue.

The House I Live In is depressing stuff, but it sparks the fires of anger, and from that anger, possible action.

This film could serve as a potent tool for those trying to change 40 years of public policy.

A thought-provoking, compelling documentary that encourages you to look at our national drug policy in a broader context.

No quotes approved yet for The House I Live In. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_house_i_live_in/

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Non-Profit Debt Options With Certified Credit Counselors ? Bnr.Co

At present, the average consumer has a credit card with a credit line of at least $4000 and about a quarter of Americans admit to maxing out at least a single credit card. Clearly, folks are in need of simple solutions to sooth the burdens of getting buried in debt. A non-profit debt consolidation system can extremely well be the answer most customers can look to and afford for debt relief.

The common consumer these days carries about three-5 credit cards, every with their personal outstanding balance, creditor terms and fees, due dates, and varied billing cycles. A non-profit debt consolidation organization negotiates these terms with every individual creditor to reduce interest prices, quit late, past due, over limit fees, and typically a decrease monthly payment. In acquiring the greatest prices for the account holders, the non-profit org consolidates all the accounts into a single month-to-month payment and the account holder then sends 1 payment each month to their consolidation agency.

This allows the consumer the following benefits:

1. Convenience of 1 monthly payment with a due date specified by the client.
2. A reduction in interest to a lower, fixed rate so that the debt can be paid back within a 5 year time frame, allotting the majority of the monthly payment each month to be applied to the principle balance versus the creditor fees.
3. Relief from harassing collection calls and creditor harassment.
4. Re-aging of accounts |specific creditors only |right after a specified quantity of time so the consumer can start to report present |if they were previous due | without paying the extra late charges.
5. Consecutive timely monthly payments to assist improve credit rating more than time.

A true non-profit organization begins their consultation with a free of charge price range counseling session outlining and assessing your debt to revenue ratio on a month-to-month basis and reviewing assets versus liabilities. Some creditors require this details for enrollment in a consolidation plan and other individuals even base the interest reduction on said info. A non-profit agency typically receives better rates with the creditors on behalf of their clients as creditors acknowledge the educational method of the consultation and appreciate the non-profit making certain a client not only understands their economic obligations, but guarantees the programs success with the budget evaluation, qualification process.

The mission of a great non-profit is not to charge you exorbitant fees for their services, but to get you out of debt and supply free educational information to ensure customers do not make the same blunders in the future. Remember that class in high school about how to manage credit card debt? Neither do we, simply because it didnt and nonetheless does not exist to this day. The American consumer is only partial to blame, so dont be also hard on your self. And remember, you definitely are not alone in this credit debt debacle.

Here are a couple of great ideas when buying for a debt consolidation service.

1. Check the organization out on the Far better Enterprise Bureau. You can usually search for a enterprise by zip then name of the organization.
   1. Are they listed with the BBB?
   2. What is their BBB rating?
   3. Do they have complaints?
2. What type of charges do they charge for their service?
   1. Does the first payment go out to the creditors? Each and every payment much less their nominal monthly fee should go out as received and cleared from client.
   2. How a lot is the month-to-month service fee? This truly ought to not exceed an typical maximum of $five per account enrolled.
   3. Are there any pre-payment penalties if you are able to pay the debt off early? The answer ought to be no.
   4. Are there cancellation charges? A accurate non-profit typically will not charge a fee for cancelling before completion but most creditors take it as an chance to reinstate your original prices, justifying it as a program default.

Debt consolidation is a fantastic remedy to obtaining out of debt and preserving a positive credit score. Nevertheless, consolidation is not for everybody. You have to be prepared to cease spending on your accounts credit cards are closed once they are enrolled in the program so spending on them is no longer an alternative. In addition, most creditors need that all accounts be enrolled into the plan much less a single significant credit card for emergencies. No, your Victoria Secret card can not be left out for emergencies, lol.

Excellent non-profits require their credit counselors to be certified and keep their certification for continuing education as creditor recommendations and state practice regulations change frequently. They are also usually affiliated with an organization like ISO or AADMO. A accurate non-profit will also supply free spending budget assist and a free debt consultation with out any customer commitment until they completely realize the program and recognize the possible financial savings to come with the enrollment.

Source: http://www.bnr.co/finance-2/credit-tips/non-profit-debt-options-with-certified-credit-counselors/

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Record-setting X-ray jet: X-rays from supermassive black hole 12.4 billion light years from Earth

ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2012) ? A jet of X-rays from a supermassive black hole 12.4 billion light years from Earth has been detected by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This is the most distant X-ray jet ever observed and gives astronomers a glimpse into the explosive activity associated with the growth of supermassive black holes in the early universe.

The jet was produced by a quasar named GB 1428+4217, or GB 1428 for short. Giant black holes at the centers of galaxies can pull in matter at a rapid rate producing the quasar phenomenon. The energy released as particles fall toward the black hole generates intense radiation and powerful beams of high-energy particles that blast away from the black hole at nearly the speed of light. These particle beams can interact with magnetic fields or ambient photons to produce jets of radiation.

"We're excited about this result not just because it's a record holder, but because very few X-ray jets are known in the early universe," said Teddy Cheung of the National Academy of Sciences, resident at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC, and lead author of the paper describing these results.

As the electrons in the jet fly away from the quasar, they move through a sea of background photons left behind after the Big Bang. When a fast-moving electron collides with one of these so-called cosmic microwave background photons, it can boost the photon's energy into the X-ray band.

"Since the brightness of the jet in X-rays depends, among other things, on how fast the electrons are moving away from the black hole, discoveries like the jet in GB 1428 tell us something about the environment around supermassive black holes and their host galaxies not that long after the Big Bang," said co-author Lukasz Stawarz from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in Kanagawa, Japan.

Because the quasar is seen when the universe is at an age of about 1.3 billion years, less than 10% of its current value, the cosmic background radiation is a thousand times more intense than it is now. This makes the jet much brighter, and compensates in part for the dimming due to distance.

"We're lucky that the universe gives us this natural amplifier and lets us detect this object with relatively short exposures," said co-author Aneta Siemiginowska, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA, "Otherwise we might miss important physical processes happening at very large distances from Earth and as far away as GB 1428."

While there is another possible source of X-rays for the jet -- radiation from electrons spiraling around magnetic field lines in the jet -- the authors favor the idea that the cosmic background radiation is being boosted because the jet is so bright.

Prior to the discovery of the jet in GB 1428, the most distant X-ray jet known was 12.2 billion light years away, and another is located at about 12 billion light years, both discovered by authors of the GB 1428 paper. A very similar shaped jet in GB 1428 was also detected in radio waves with the NSF's Very Large Array (VLA).

The particle beams that produce these three extremely distant X-ray jets appear to be moving slightly more slowly than jets from galaxies that are not as far away. This may be because the jets were less energetic when launched from the black hole or because they are slowed down more by their environment.

The researchers think the length of the jet in GB 1428 is at least 230,000 light years, or about twice the diameter of the entire Milky Way galaxy. This jet is only seen on one side of the quasar in the Chandra and VLA data. When combined with previously obtained evidence, this suggests the jet is pointed almost directly toward us. This configuration would boost the X-ray and radio signals for the observed jet and diminish those for a jet presumably pointed in the opposite direction.

Observations were also taken of GB 1428 with a set of radio telescopes at different locations around Earth that allows details to be resolved on exceptionally small scales. They revealed the presence of a much smaller jet, about 1,900 light years long, which points in a similar direction to the X-ray jet.

This result appeared in the September 1st, 2012 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Other co-authors of the paper are Doug Gobeille from University of South Florida in Tampa, FL; John Wardle from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA; and Dan Harris and Dan Schwartz from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Chandra X-ray Observatory.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. M. A. Guerrero, N. Ruiz, W.-R. Hamann, Y.-H. Chu, H. Todt, D. Schoenberner, L. Oskinova, R. A. Gruendl, M. Steffen, W. P. Blair, J. A. Toal. Rebirth of X-ray Emission from the Born-Again Planetary Nebula A 30. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, September 1st, 2012 [link]

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/uVK7pvqWqWM/121128121508.htm

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Patent Dispute May Halt BlackBerry Sales

A patent dispute between Nokia and RIM could ban BlackBerry sales.

[More from Mashable: Take a Look Inside the Nokia Lumia 920 Camera]

The dispute centers around a WLAN (wireless local area network) patent owned by Nokia which allows RIM devices to connect to Wi-Fi networks.

RIM licensed a number of standards-essential patents from Nokia in 2003, thinking the patent in question was included in the deal. Nokia, however, did not think the patent was included in the bargain and on Wednesday a Swedish court agreed, ordering RIM to cease manufacturing and selling any WLAN products until it reaches a royalty agreement with Nokia to do so.

[More from Mashable: Here?s How Nokia Creates Its Maps [VIDEO]]

Nokia released the following statement explaining the issue:

?Nokia and RIM agreed [on] a cross-license for standards essential cellular patents in 2003, which was amended in 2008. In 2011, RIM sought arbitration, arguing that the license extended beyond cellular essentials. In November, the arbitration tribunal ruled against RIM. It found that RIM was in breach of contract and is not entitled to manufacture or sell WLAN products without first agreeing royalties with Nokia. In order to enforce the Tribunal?s ruling, we have now filed actions in the U.S., UK and Canada with the aim of ending RIM?s breach of contract.?

SEE ALSO: RIM CEO: BlackBerry Has a 'Clear Shot' at Number Three

Regarding the issue, a RIM representative told Mashable, "Research In Motion has worked hard to develop its leading-edge BlackBerry technology and has built an industry-leading intellectual property portfolio of its own. RIM will respond to Nokia's petitions in due course."

With a manufacturing ban in place, RIM will likely expedite an agreement with Nokia to continue to use the patents. The company could also create a workaround for products that do not use Nokia?s WLAN patents, or choose to continue its court battle with the company.

Optimism for BlackBerry 10 -- the newest version of RIM's mobile operating system -- has sent the company's stock soaring over the past 30 days. BlackBerry 10 is expected to be released Jan. 30.

BlackBerry 10 Lock Screen

You unlock a BlackBerry 10 device by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.

Click here to view this gallery.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, serts

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/patent-dispute-may-halt-blackberry-sales-172609480.html

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Promises Kept, Promises Broken (The Note)

By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone ) and AMY WALTER ( @amyewalter )

NOTABLES:

THE ROAD TO COMPROMISE: With 35 days left to reach an agreement on the fiscal cliff negotiations, there is still no face-to-face meeting scheduled between President Obama and Congressional leaders. But ABC's Jonathan Karl reported on "Good Morning America," today that there are signs of progress. High-level talks with staff are intensifying and Republicans are expressing a newfound willingness to compromise on the long-standing Grover Norquist no-tax pledge. Norquist has consistently warned that lawmakers who violate the pledge are doomed and likely to face an intra-party primary challenge, but with the fiscal cliff just over a month away, and the newly re-elected President Obama insisting that tax increases must be part of any budget deal, key Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-.S.C. and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., are now talking about violating it, though they say they will only do so by closing loopholes, not by doing what the president wants - raising tax rates. WATCH: http://abcn.ws/114sFDy

CONSERVATIVE PRESSURE MOUNTS: Some conservative leaders are not about to let Republicans who signed the Norquist pledge off the hook. Take ForAmerica Chairman Brent Bozell, who today penned a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Republican Leader Eric Cantor, and Minority Whip John Cornyn. Here's an excerpt of Bozell's tough talk: "With the so-called 'fiscal cliff' rapidly approaching, both sides are making opening gambits and the talk so far is alarming. You led the Republican Party for two years claiming emphatically that the tax increase on 'the wealthy' that Barack Obama is determined to enact is really a devastating tax hike on small business owners that would kill jobs and decimate any kind of economic recovery. Now conservatives see daily stories asserting that the GOP agrees with the President that 'revenues are on the table' and GOP elite are all over the airwaves asking if the Tea Party will care if "a few multi-millionaires pay more in taxes.' ? Conservatives have one question to ask: If you now claim a tax increase on small business is the correct course of action, were you lying all along when you claimed this tax increase would decimate the economy? Because if you were not lying, you will now be willing participants in the destruction of American jobs in a time of economic crisis. This is the question you must answer, given the posturing of many Republicans in the immediate aftermath of the election." Read the full letter from ForAmerica: http://bit.ly/YmKMpp

CLIFF OR SLOPE? DEPENDS ON HOW YOU LOOK AT IT: Politico's Darren Samuelsohn has a note on the semantics of the deficit reduction fight: "If some Democrats had their way, the country wouldn't be facing the 'fiscal cliff' - but a 'fiscal slope,' 'fiscal curve' or even an 'austerity crisis.' Debating Republicans about how to solve the fiscal cliff is a fight on the wrong turf, they argue, since it doesn't explain the origins of the problem or what will actually happen - George W. Bush-era tax breaks expire and across-the-board spending cuts go into effect. ? Here's the thinking from the left for why what's coming up at the beginning of next year isn't really a cliff: President Barack Obama's fiscal problems were created by his predecessor, from the tattered economy to expensive tax cuts and more than $1 trillion spent on two wars. If there's no deal in the next six weeks, Obama still has authority to stall in implementing the big tax and spending changes. And despite some big dips already on Wall Street, some Democrats say the markets can easily recover if the stare down between the White House and House Republicans gets resolved early next year." http://abcn.ws/V1SAGX

SUSAN RICE HEADS TO THE HILL.U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Susan Rice will be on Capitol Hill this week to meet with individual members of Congress to discuss the Benghazi attacks, aides on Capitol Hill confirm. ABC's Sunlen Miller reports, Rice will come face-to-face with many Senators who have opposed her possible nomination to be the next Secretary of State. She is scheduled for a Tuesday morning meeting with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who, though he has backed off recently, has been perhaps most vocal in saying he would oppose Rice if nominated by President Obama to succeed Hillary Clinton. http://abcn.ws/XXFP7L

THE NOTE:

"When you got married, did your wife understand there was an expiration date on that promise?" Grover Norquist asked ABC's Jonathan Karl in an interview yesterday.

Although every day there are growing signs that Norquist's more than 200-member coalition of pledge signers are beginning to think twice as the fiscal cliff approaches, the long-time anti-tax crusader is sticking to his guns.

But so is President Obama, who today will jump-start his public campaign for a deficit reduction deal that extends only the Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class, ABC's Devin Dwyer notes.

Obama plans to host 15 small business owners at the White House for a private meeting and the National Economic Council will release a report on the impact of middle class tax cuts on small businesses. The push will continue Wednesday with a second meeting with business leaders and with the president playing host to Americans who wrote to the administration online about the importance of extending the tax cuts.

As the president steps up his sales job, Norquist will be working to keep the dam from breaking. And which Republicans might be most likely to break their no-tax promise?

As ABC News Political Director Amy Walter notes, there are 33 Republicans from the 112th Congress who signed the pledge and aren't coming back next year because they are either retiring or they lost re-election. How many of these lame ducks feel compelled to stick to Grover's pledge? And, will they be courted and arm-twisted "Lincoln" style by the White House?

However, there are still 218 Republicans who signed the pledge for the upcoming 113th Congress. Almost all of them sit in heavily Republican leaning districts. Just 20 signers had a competitive race in 2012.

The prospect of President Obama stumping against them doesn't scare them. What does worry them is a serious challenge from their right in a GOP primary.

Take, for example, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican who announced a challenge to Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller in 2014. Already the Senate Conservatives Fund, the PAC backed by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., announced that "it will not endorse" Capito because "her spending record in the House is too liberal."

In addition, the head of the conservative Club for Growth, Chris Chocola, issued a statement yesterday complaining that "Congresswoman Capito has a long record of support of bailouts, pork, and bigger government. She voted to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, for massive expansions of government-run health insurance, giveaways to big labor, and repeatedly voted to continue funding for wasteful earmarks like an Exploratorium in San Francisco and an Aquarium in South Carolina. That's not the formula for GOP success in U.S. Senate races."

It's hard to believe that she'll want to add a vote to raise taxes to further incite national conservative groups and encourage a challenge in the GOP primary.

NOTE IT!

ABC's RICK KLEIN: Don't forget the left. Sure, getting Republicans to the tax table will take more than saying they're willing to defy a pledge. Note that even that step is coming with a condition: entitlement reform. Resistance among Democrats to seriously address Medicare (which is approaching crisis stage) and Social Security (which is not nearly as urgent a budget priority) may be stronger than the GOP aversion to new revenues. Yes, President Obama won, but some of his allies are taking that victory as more of a mandate than even the president himself.

THE BUZZ:

with ABC's Elizabeth Hartfield ( @LizHartfield)

FISCAL TALKS TURN AS TAX PLEDGE QUESTIONED. The two-party tango that is negotiations over the "fiscal cliff" took a turn Monday as two more Republican lawmakers expressed willingness to break with a long-standing anti-tax pledge and the White House revealed that President Obama made fresh overtures to congressional leaders on both sides, reports ABC's Devin Dwyer, John Parkinson and Sunlen Miller. Republican Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska both indicated today that they feel no attachment to a pledge - drafted by Grover Norquist and the Americans for Tax Reform - to not raise tax revenue one cent. The pledge has long been viewed as a barrier to a "balanced" debt and deficit reduction deal? For all the buzz about the "fiscal cliff" talks - and optimism from both sides about reaching an agreement in the next 36 days - negotiations have not gone very far even as officials close to the process say it's not that hard to strike a deal. http://abcn.ws/XXHOJ0

VIOLATING THE NORQUIST PLEDGE COULD HURT POLITICIANS IN 2014. The most talked about name in the opening weeks of the fiscal cliff negotiations isn't Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. It's Grover Norquist. Norquist is not a publicly elected official or even a government appointee. The 56-year-old conservative leader is the founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform and promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge - better known as the Norquist Pledge. Violating the pledge all but ensures a primary challenge in two years from the Republican right. http://abcn.ws/UYYfx2

NOTED: THE NORQUIST PLEDGE EXPLAINED. ABC's Chris Good reports, as Congress wrangles over the fiscal cliff, one tiny document will loom large over the negotiations. Known in Republican circles simply as "The Pledge," the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) Taxpayer Protection Pledge has steered GOP tax policy for decades, applying pressure to any candidate, lawmaker, or president who would raise taxes. ? The pledge began in 1986 under the aegis of president Ronald Reagan. Grover Norquist, a Republican and former staffer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, had launched Americans for Tax Reform in 1985 to advocate for tax reforms Reagan was pushing in his second term. The group was financed largely by corporate sponsors such as Kraft, the Associated Press reported at the time. In the midterm campaign year of 1986, Norquist rolled out the Taxpayer Protection Pledge as a way to pressure candidates to support Reagan's tax agenda, and as a cudgel for Republicans to wield against Democrats on the campaign trail. "We intend to make tax reform permanent," Norquist explained that year. Reagan had already passed tax reforms in 1981-drawing the same Democratic criticism of GOP tax policies as today, namely that they favor the wealthy-and the second-term president eyed the 1986 bill as part two of his tax agenda. http://abcn.ws/10KkX2o

ROMNEY CAMPAIGN MERCHANDISE PRICED TO SELL. What's a retailer to do with merchandise branded to support a failed presidential candidate? Put it on clearance. ABC's Sarah Parnass reports, on the Internet, business owners are dropping prices to unload the Romney items. The "America!" store, which has a location in Union Station and Reagan National Airport among others, had a clearance section of its online shopping full of Romney/Ryan memorabilia Monday morning. Wal-Mart's website offered a 35 percent discount on both Romney's books. http://abcn.ws/WTN7rE

CHRIS CHRISTIE FILES FOR RE-ELECTION. It's official: New Jersey governor and rising GOP star Chris Christie will seek re-election in his state's gubernatorial race in 2013, an adviser to the governor told ABC News. Christie filed his papers with election officials on Monday. Although Republicans and Democrats in the state had expected Christie to seek re-election, the governor had been coy about his plans in recent weeks. It's not yet known who will challenge Christie. The presumed front-runner for the Democratic nomination, and the candidate who is seen by many in the party as the best chance to unseat Christie, is Newark Mayor Cory Booker. But Booker has not yet made an announcement about his plans. http://abcn.ws/SlXa5t

EFFORTS TO CURB SOCIAL SPENDING FACE RESISTANCE. The New York Times' Robert Pear reports: "President Obama's re-election and Democratic gains in Congress were supposed to make it easier for the party to strike a deal with Republicans to resolve the year-end fiscal crisis by providing new leverage. But they could also make it harder as empowered Democrats, including some elected on liberal platforms, resist significant changes in entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. As Congress returned Monday, the debate over those programs, which many Democrats see as the core of the party's identity, was shaping up as the Democratic version of the higher-profile struggle among Republicans over taxes." http://nyti.ms/QIvrhd

OBAMA MAY GET CHANCE TO END BENGHAZI PR DISASTER. The AP's Anne Flaherty reports: "The White House could finally have its chance to close the books on its Benghazi public relations disaster, as key Republicans signal they might not stand in the way of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to become the next secretary of state?The subtle shift in GOP tenor on Rice could be the result of internal grumblings on how far to take party opposition. Democrats picked up extra Senate seats in the election to maintain their narrow majority, making it that much harder for the remaining 45 Republicans to block the president's nominees." http://apne.ws/U7rzTo

U.S. SENDS TOP AFRICA DIPLOMAT TO CONGO FOR PEACE TALKS. White House and State Department officials confirmed that the Obama administration has dispatched the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Johnny Carson, to Central Africa this weekend to help negotiate an end the latest crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo reports ABC's Dana Hughes and Devin Dwyer?Actor Ben Affleck, who founded the Eastern Congo Initiative, a humanitarian organization working in Eastern Congo with local leaders for peaceful, long-term solutions to the country's problems, told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week, that the administration could be applying more pressure to all the parties involved to bring peace to the region. http://abcn.ws/RenaRT

WHITE HOUSE'S REQUEST FOR STORM AID COULD COMPLICATE BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS. Roll Call's Kerry Young reports: "Lawmakers are waiting for the White House to tell them as early as this week how much additional money it needs to aid communities damaged by Hurricane Sandy. The number is certain to be large, and it could make the current budget negotiations even more complicated? The growing possibility of an emergency supplemental appropriations bill adds a new challenge for Congress during a post-election session already expected to be dominated by fiscal battles. Amid talks over tax and spending issues, lawmakers will also have to consider multibillion-dollar aid requests from New York and New Jersey, the two states hardest hit by the storm." http://bit.ly/WtcSKr

INFLUENCE GAME: TAX THEM, NOT US, GROUPS SAYS. The AP's Charles Babington reports: "So much for the notion of shared sacrifice as Congress and the White House face a Dec. 31 deadline to craft a far-reaching deficit-reduction plan. If they fail, the government tips over the so-called fiscal cliff, at least for a time. Nearly everyone's taxes will rise, and federal programs will be whacked. Financial markets might quake, and a new recession could begin, economists say. In Washington, meanwhile, it's virtually every group for itself, scrambling to protect 100 percent of each tax break and government payout it now enjoys." http://apne.ws/To1lLH

Get more pure politics at ABCNews.com/Politics and a lighter take on the news at OTUSNews.com

WHO'S TWEETING?

@ColbertReport: . @JakeTapper talks about his book, "The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor." http://on.cc.com/Qn78E0

@Ari_Shapiro: Though it's not yet 9 AM, I'm willing to call this the best thing I'll read today, via @ZekeJMiller: http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/chinese-website-congratulates-kim-jong-un-on-being ?

@bethreinhard: Jeb on achievement gap btwn rich and poor kids: "Where is the outrage?"

@PounderFile: Democrats continue to debate themselves over the fiscal cliff and entitlements http://is.gd/2NqLUk

@SamChampion: Joined at the @GMA desk by the muppets! pic.twitter.com/XyPKHyud

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/promises-kept-promises-broken-note-141729889--abc-news-politics.html

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Giving Tuesday Offers Worthy Ways To Give

World Concern

World Concern is encouraging folks on #GivingTuesday to give gifts that change lives instead of buying more stuff with the Global Gift Guide. <a href="www.worldconcern.org">www.worldconcern.org</a>

ActionAid

After 40 years of progress in the fight the end poverty and injustice, ActionAid feels strong. We feel at peace. We have a sense of comfort, harmony and joy. We want you and loved ones to feel the same. That?s why we?re offering you the opportunity to spread the spirit by reducing global hunger, empowering women, protecting ourplanet, preventing violence against women and girls, building resilient communities, providing life-saving aid in times of disaster and offering a brighter future for children living in poverty. This year, rather than give your family and friends more sweaters or electronic gadgets, consider a gift that is both meaningful and life changing. Instead, give them something they will feel good about forever. <a href="www.actionaidusa.org/">www.actionaidusa.org/</a>

Plant With Purpose

Get to the root of poverty this season by giving alternative gifts through Plant With Purpose. These gifts will result in transformed lives through environmental restoration, economic empowerment, and spiritual renewal for the rural poor in 6 developing countries. See Scott Sabin's Huffington Post, Giving Tuesday blog or the Plant With Purpose website for more detail. <a href="www.plantwithpurpose.org/">www.plantwithpurpose.org/</a>

Counterpart International

We are participating in InterAction's #GivingTuesday partnership with the Huffington Post Impact blog. A story of ours will appear on HuffPost in early November. We will continue to work with InterAction throughout November to promote Giving Tuesday. We are also planning on raising awareness within our office - ensuring staff know about the day and promote it within their circles. <a href="www.counterpart.org/">www.counterpart.org/</a>

Handicap International

Thirty years ago, our founder saw Cambodian refugees fall victim to landmines, and then be left without basic prosthetics, crutches or any rehabilitation. With retraining, he assembled a team and began making prosthetics and orthotics. He helped victims regain their strength to stand tall again, and rejoin society. Today, Handicap International still supports landmine victims with comprehensive rehabilitation, but we also clear landmines (and other unexploded ordnance), and we work especially hard teaching children, women and men to avoid the leftover weapons that pollute their fields, paths to school, and playgrounds. Working in 60 countries, our work extends far beyond landmines. This year, on #GivingTuesday, we?re asking Americans to take a minute to get to know Kanha, a Cambodian girl who lost her leg to an explosive remnant of war in 2005. We hope Americans will see how a little action here, in the U.S., can make a profound difference to a young, promising girl in Cambodia. <a href="handicap-international.us/">handicap-international.us/</a>

WaterAid

WaterAid transforms lives by improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene in the world's poorest communities. You can support WaterAid on #GivingTuesday by buying a virtual gift from our SH2OP for life at www.wateraidamerica.org/shop <a href="www.wateraid.org/">www.wateraid.org/</a>

Population Action International

Population Action International advocates for women and families to have access to contraception in order to improve their health, reduce poverty and protect their environment. We're participating in the Huffington Post #GivingTuesday blog series, creating a visual series on Facebook, and promoting Giving Tuesday among our supporters. <a href="populationaction.org/">populationaction.org/</a>

International Medical Corps

We are creating a video campaign to raise awareness of #GivingTuesday, participating in social media, and contributing to the HuffingtonPost blog series. <a href="internationalmedicalcorps.org/">internationalmedicalcorps.org/</a>

Trickle Up

Trickle Up plans on bringing greater awareness and support to the #GivingTuesday initiative through social media, press coverage on online outlets with our other NGO partners at InterAction, and finally through our NYC-based volunteers. <a href="www.trickleup.org/">www.trickleup.org/</a>

Lutheran World Relief

Lutheran World Relief is thrilled to be a #GivingTuesday partner! Join us by "giving good" through LWR Gifts and help someone in need unwrap a better life. <a href="www.lwr.org/">www.lwr.org/</a>

Jesuit Refugee Service/USA

Jesuit Refugee Service/USA (http://jrsusa.org) is an international Catholic non-governmental organization whose mission is to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons. On #GivingTuesday, we'll highlight the plight of Urban Refugees through stories, videos and photographs on our website and elsewhere. <a href="jrsusa.org/">jrsusa.org/</a>

Shelterbox

ShelterBox USA is an international disaster relief organization whose mission is to deliver humanitarian relief in the form of equipment and materials that bring shelter, warmth and dignity to people made homeless by natural or other disasters worldwide. Follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook for updates about how you can join ShelterBox USA on #GivingTuesday. <a href="www.shelterboxusa.org/">www.shelterboxusa.org/</a>

Catholic Relief Services

CRS is honored to be part of #GivingTuesday! We are working on our new gift catalog that will allow you to choose a project that inspires you in order to help make it a reality and transform lives of our brothers and sisters overseas. More info to come.<a href="crs.org/"> crs.org/</a>

The Hunger Project

As a member of the InterAction coalition, The Hunger Project is promoting the #GivingTuesday campaign across all activist networks -- email, web, social -- to celebrate and advocate for the widespread recognition of this day of philanthropy. And on November 21, THP President and CEO Mary Ellen McNish will be featured on the Huffington Post's #GivingTuesday blog series discussing the importance of partnering with government to ensure sustainable development around the world. <a href="www.thp.org/">www.thp.org/</a>

Save the Children

Save the Children is the world's leading independent organization for children. At Save the Children, we are celebrating Giving Tuesday by sharing our gratitude for the girls and boys who have a brighter future thanks to the generosity of our donors. <a href="www.savethechildren.org/">www.savethechildren.org/</a>

CARE

A peer-to-peer fundraising contest in which people challenge their friends to raise money for CARE by #GivingTuesday. The person who raises the most earns a trip to see CARE?s poverty-fighting programs up close in one of the 84 countries where we work around the world. ? A Donor Appreciation Telethon whereby CARE employees will thank supporters for their gifts. A special phone bank will be set up at our Atlanta headquarters. Awards, called ?Givvies,? will be given to employees at the end of the day for things like making the most thank-you calls, etc. ? A #GivingTuesday video that will be posted on CARE?s website and shared through social media. ? A giving-themed Birthday Party for CARE at our Atlanta-based headquarters and regional offices around the country (Serendipitously, CARE was founded on Nov. 27, 1945 ? a Tuesday!). ? A #GivingTuesday landing page that will feature the video and a Twitter feed. ? On Giving Tuesday, CARE?s Washington, D.C. staff will donate CARE Packages of toiletries and bedding to SAFE, a local nonprofit that supports women who have experienced domestic violence. <a href="www.careusa.org/">www.careusa.org/</a>

ChildFund

ChildFund is honored to be a part of the inaugural #GivingTuesday. We will encourage our donors to give back through our Gifts of Love & Hope Catalog, Fund-a-Project or simply writing their sponsored child. <a href="www.childfund.org/">www.childfund.org/</a>

Heifer

Heifer International makes holiday shopping more meaningful with its gift catalog of animals that will provide nutrition and income to hungry families around the world. Heifer will provide a gorgeous honor card to the gift recipient. <a href="www.heifer.org/">www.heifer.org/</a>

Winrock

Winrock International is a nonprofit organization that works with people in the United States and around the world to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity, and sustain natural resources. Winrock will work in partnership with InterAction to share information about #GivingTuesday in the Huffington Post blog series. We will promote the campaign in our Innovations newsletter and through our social media channels. <a href="www.winrock.org/">www.winrock.org/</a>

U.S. Fund for UNICEF

For every dollar donated to UNICEF for a measles vaccine from now until #GivingTuesday, an anonymous donor through the U.S. Fund for UNICEF will match it $1-for-$1, up to a maximum of $15,000 ($5,000 for social media and $10,000 for email). Each year, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF offers holiday shoppers an array of holiday cards and gifts, as well as a lineup of exclusive products sold in partnership with top brands to benefit UNICEF?s lifesaving programs for children across the globe. For millions of children in developing countries, a gift purchased from UNICEF?s holiday collection means supporting programs that improve and protect lives. <a href="www.unicefusa.org/">www.unicefusa.org/</a>

InterAction

InterAction is spreading the word about #GivingTuesday through our social media networks and through our joint Huffington Post series with the UN Foundation, 92nd Street Y, and others, featuring blogs from InterAction members and others involved in #GivingTuesday. Throughout the month of November, we are hosting a food drive. On Tuesday, November 27 we will take the donated food over to the Martha?s Table, an local DC organization dedicated to fulfilling the needs of low-income and homeless children, families, and individuals. <a href="www.interaction.org/">www.interaction.org/</a>

UN Foundation

The United Nations Foundation is playing an integral role in #GivingTuesday's online communications and social media efforts. <a href="www.unfoundation.org/">www.unfoundation.org/</a>

Medical Teams International

We are helping raise awareness for #GivingTuesday through our 2012 Gift Catalog available at www.medicalteams.org/gifts. Supporters can also bring materials for Personal Care Kits that we distribute to local communities here in the U.S. We are also contributing to the Huffington Post blog series. <a href="www.medicalteams.org/">www.medicalteams.org/</a>

Concern Worldwide

Every six seconds, a child dies from hunger. This #GivingTuesday, you can save a life by doing something simple. Join our Concern for Hunger campaign and make hunger history by donating the price of your favorite holiday food to fighting hunger and malnutrition in the world?s poorest countries. A little goes a long way. For what it costs to make a batch of mashed potatoes ($11), you can help save a child?s life in Niger from malnutrition by providing a week?s supply of therapeutic food. Or, for the price of your favorite pie ($14), you can provide a three-day supply of emergency food like rice and cooking oil to a family of five in Afghanistan. The cost of a honey-based ham ($55) can provide a family of six in Somalia vouchers to get a months? worth of food. Every dollar raised will go to support Concern Worldwide?s programs that not only treat malnutrition, but prevent it through investments in agriculture, food production, and training and education. Please join us and help make hunger history <a href="http://www.concernusa.org/givingtuesday">here.</a> <a href="www.concernusa.org/">www.concernusa.org/</a>

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/27/giving-tuesday-ways-to-give_n_2198148.html

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Hang Up and Listen: The 138! Edition

Listen to "Hang Up and Listen" with Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:

Hang Up and Listen is brought to you by?Stamps.com.?Click on the radio microphone and enter HANGUP to get our $110 bonus offer.

Hang Up and Listen is also brought to you by Audible. Get a 30-day free trial by signing up at audiblepodcast.com/hangup. Our pick of the week is?Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era by Gary M. Pomerantz.

In this week?s episode of?Slate?s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca discuss the resurgence of Notre Dame football and how the Fighting Irish have stayed so popular in spite of decades of mediocrity. They also speak with Grinnell associate head coach Dave Arseneault Jr. about Jack Taylor?s NCAA record 138-point game and the Pioneers? fast-paced offensive system. Lastly, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey joins the show to talk about Jeremy Lin, James Harden, Royce White, and the state of advanced statistics in professional basketball.

You can read the transcript of the interview with Rockets GM Daryl Morey below.

Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:

• Notre Dame beat USC on Saturday night to finish the regular season 12-0.
• In August, ESPN?s Rick Reilly told the Fighting Irish to ?go back a grade.?
• In the New York Times, Greg Bishop writes about the power of the Notre Dame brand.
• Notre Dame?s undefeated season has been good for ratings and merchandise sales, writes Howard Bloom in Sports Business News.
• Notre Dame is joining the ACC, but not in football and hockey.
• Fighting Irish senior Manti Te?o wrote a letter to the parents of a dying 12-year-old girl.
• Notre Dame has been criticized for its handling of sexual assault allegations against football players.
• Radio announcer Allen Pinkett was suspended for saying that Notre Dame needs more criminals.
• Grinnell College guard Jack Taylor scored 138 points in a 179-104 win over Faith Baptist Bible.
• Associate head coach David Arseneault Jr. holds the NCAA single game assist record (34).
• Video of Taylor?s 138-point effort, with commentary by Grinnell students Rob Storrick and Daniel Nellis.
• Basketball Prospectus? Kevin Pelton breaks down the 138-point performance.
• CBS Sports? Gregg Doyel says running up the score was ?a bully move? and Deadspin?s Barry Petchesky calls the record ?empty and artificial.?
• Head coach David Arseneault?s system explained.
• An advanced statistical analysis of the system, by Thomas L. Moore, Benjamin Johannsen, and Eric Ohrn.
• Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is a founder and co-chair of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
• Michael Lewis? 2009 New York Times Magazine story on Morey, Shane Battier, and advanced metrics in the NBA.
• In the Economist, Morey wrote about Jeremy Lin and compared NBA teams to ?elephant mothers.?
• The Rockets signed Lin for $25 million this July after waiving him in December 2011.
• Stefan discussed Royce White?s anxiety disorder on NPR.
• Jonathan Hock documented White?s draft day experience on Grantland and discussed it on ?Hang Up and Listen.? (Fast-forward to the 47:45 mark.)

?Hang Up and Listen?s weekly Chekovs:

Podcast production and edit by Mike Vuolo. Our intern is Eric Goldwein.

You can e-mail us at hangup@slate.com.

Transcript of interview with Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.

JOSH: The Houston Rockets are, in my professional opinion, the most interesting team in the world. This offseason they signed Jeremy Lin to an offer sheet the Knicks didn?t dare to match. They traded for Oklahoma City guard James Harden when the Thunder couldn?t afford to pay him. And they drafted Royce White, who has struggled with an anxiety disorder and has yet to play this year. The man behind all those moves is Rockets general manager Daryl Morey. Daryl came into sports from a background in consulting and also worked for STATS, Inc. before moving to a career in the NBA. Now, in addition to running the Rockets, he?s the co-chair of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Daryl Morey, thanks for coming on the show.

DARYL MOREY: Thanks for having me on.

JOSH: Sure thing, and after buttering you up I?m going to reverse pivot here and note that you?re the guy who cut Jeremy Lin right before he went to the Knicks and Linsanity commenced. You noted on Twitter last February that you made a mistake, and that you didn?t know he was that good and that nobody else knew he was that good either. You then re-signed Lin this offseason, paying $25.1 million over three years to rectify that initial mistake. So can you walk us through each of these decisions and explain how Lin shows what analytics can and can?t tell us about basketball players.

DARYL MOREY: Yeah, Jeremy, obviously someone we were always very interested [in], we thought could be a good player just not nearly as good as he is. You know, Golden State actually should probably get the most credit at the NBA level. After all 30 teams had a chance to draft him and sign him, Golden State gave him the biggest commitment in terms of a guaranteed contract. They waived him, and when they did waive him we pounced on him last year. And after playing very well for us during our preseason and in our abbreviated camp last year, we waived him because we had two very good guards ahead of him in Lowry and Dragic, and we were bringing in the center Dalembert. All that said, if we had known he could be as good as he is, then we would have done some painful things and maneuvered to try and make sure we could keep him at that time.

STEFAN: And Daryl, putting Lin in a broader context, you made a point in a piece you wrote for the Economist?very impressive, the Economist?earlier this year in which you compared baseball to basketball. You said that baseball teams have freedom, the ability to select dozens and dozens of players and nurture them for several years, and have them come through their system, and then determine whether they are ready for the major-league level. In basketball, you said the NBA is more like ?elephant mothers,? who give birth to very few babies and have to gestate them for almost two years. How has analytics helped get beyond that reality and how does that reality figure into your day-to-day thinking about basketball talent?

DARYL MOREY: Well, I do think that is the reality. I?ll give an example of a baseball GM I was talking to. They do get to be like salmon, where they can, you know, spawn thousands and thousands of fish and wait for the ones that make it back. He was excited in telling me about a guy who was playing for like a junior college that no one maybe knew about and was doing these amazing things ? and he probably wouldn?t pan out, but we?re excited to take a shot at him. We got 60 rounds, why not use a pick on him. To your point, we don?t have that. We have 15 sort of precious spots where we have to take our bets on who is going to pan out. And what goes into that is a lot of things, which is not only what we see with our eyes but also, how do we compare them to players who have come before? And the reality is Jeremy is unlike really any player that has come before. Many, many players play at his level in college?which was extremely good?against poor competition. And it?s our job to sort of sift through those. But data is only useful when it applies to, you know, there?s someone currently in the NBA that has either succeeded or failed, that looks like that player in the past. And Jeremy is very unique, so data was helpful, but not extraordinarily helpful, in figuring out whether or not he was someone we should have invested all our resources into and put all our eggs into, you know, that one sort of baby elephant mother basket, as I wrote. And we initially cut him because we felt like there were better ones for us to look at, and obviously that turned out to be wrong.

MIKE: Sometimes the things you realize are about evaluating a player. But in the Lin case ? it seemed like you realized something about contract structure that no one else realized. I was critical of the media, saying, how come no one picked up on the fact that there was this poison pill that really would be so much harder for the Knicks to swallow than the Rockets? Were you sitting there at some point, saying, maybe to your cohorts in the Houston office, Guys, I don?t think that everyone else is realizing what we?re realizing about structuring this contract.

DARYL MOREY: Yeah, his contract structure came into play in both things. So in his release, the other thing we looked at was that he would be a free agent months from now and for us he wasn?t going to play. So, for us, it felt like we would be investing a spot in a guy who is going to be a free agent. Take the flip side, Chandler Parsons, someone we decided to invest in but we had a four-year deal for him. So if you?ve got a long runway, it?s better to choose an investment in something like that. On the other side, when you?re trying to create an edge in your sport, there?s a couple ways to do it. One is, you know hopefully forecasting which players are going to be good, better than your competition, or figuring out how they fit into your context better than the competition. But another way, yeah, is finding hopefully areas within the collective bargaining agreement where you can take advantage. And really all our moves this summer were about that latter one. Jeremy Lin and Omer Asik, both guys who we really believe in, both playing well to this point, they were to your point, a contract artifact where we could structure in such a way that for us, it was a flat eight-million contract, but for the team who held them it was a ballooned contract, and that was, that was something that made it harder for them to keep him than for us to sign them. And then Harden obviously, you know I don?t think Oklahoma City makes that trade unless the collective bargaining agreement was making it very tough for them to keep all their stars at the financial level that they were looking for.

JOSH: So, your strategy before any of these deals was to pursue kind of what the Celtics did before they got Kevin Garnett and kind of clear some room. You amnestied a great player for you, Luis Scola, and what the amnesty does is it allows you to release a player without having their usually large salary apply towards the cap. It seems like this worked out for you as well as it?s worked out for any NBA team. My question is, is this a good thing for the NBA that the Thunder kind of had to get rid of James Harden and that a team like yourself was able to kind of swoop in just due to the rules of the salary cap?

DARYL MOREY: I?ll get to that answer in a second but I would just say that, in general, what you?re on is our general strategy which is to try and take hopefully smart, fairly significant gambles. Not once, not twice, but as many times as possible. So, Omer Asik, the gamble was, how can he play into a bigger role? We thought that was a good gamble. Jeremy Lin, it was, can he play at that all-star level that he did for only a short amount of time. We felt like it was a good gamble at eight million a year because he doesn?t even have to play at an all-star level to live up to that. Harden was someone, you know, is he worth the gamble moving into the number one role from the number three role? Royce White, big gamble. And we feel like, you need to take these gambles. You?re not going to hit all the time because it?s a competition of 30. You?re really not trying to be above average. You?re trying to be the best of 30. So you need to be taking these gambles all the time. And whether or not it?s good for the league, that Oklahoma City felt like they had to move James Harden, you know frankly is not my really my concern. I?m just trying to do the best for the Rockets and wherever there?s opportunity, we?re going to chase it down and try to help our club.

STEFAN: You mentioned Royce White in your list of gambles and you deservedly got a lot of praise for the due diligence and the willingness to draft a player in the first round who had some very serious issues with his anxiety disorder in college, at Iowa State where they became manageable thanks to what was a very rigorous program and close monitoring of him, and he had trouble before that. What influenced you first to pick Royce, basketball and non-basketball, and if you?re willing to talk about the current state of the situation that would be great and sort of enlighten us about what the Rockets? thinking is long-term.

DARYL MOREY: Basketball is sort of an interesting sport that, you know, the top player on your team makes so much more of an impact than the top player in any other sport. Any other of the major team sports, I should say. There?s no other sport where LeBron James can have a team winning three out of four games or 60 games out of 80, and then when he leaves, that basically the same team wins 20 games out of 80. That kind of a swing just shows you the impact. You need these elite talents to win in this league. We think Royce is an elite talent?top five talent in this last draft, which was very deep. Obviously if we?re getting him at 16 in the draft, there?s going to be something wrong, or something that?s a gamble with the player, and really you?re just choosing the gamble. Maybe they?ve got an injury history. Maybe they?ve got a particular part of their game that could be an Achilles? heel that would make them fail. Maybe they?ve never gone against that level of competition. So there?s going to be something wrong, so you?re really just picking among things that are potentially going to derail that player and which ones you?re most comfortable with. Royce was someone who played every game at Iowa State, played it well. So even with his issues, he showed that he is very functional. We knew going in that potentially there could be issues and right now obviously things are bumpy at this point, I?d say, but you know it takes a little time for him to get going at the various stops he?s had in his career to this point. We?re trying to work things through with Royce, and hopeful that we can. That?s sort of the current state.

JOSH: So Daryl, you kind of first came to prominence in the national media in Michael Lewis? New York Times Magazine article about Shane Battier and about how you recognized him as a guy whose contribution to a team was not shown in conventional statistics. Do you think that Shane Battier was the reason that the Heat won the championship, their acquisition of him, did he make an outsized contribution that that we wouldn?t see in the numbers?

STEFAN: And therefore, do you get credit for the Heat?s championship?

DARYL MOREY: I do think Shane was a big part of their championship, and frankly even Shane would be the first to say the biggest parts of their championship were LeBron and Dwyane and Bosh. I mean, those were the three guys that everything hinges around and the other players need to fit around those guys and I think Shane?s a fantastic fit and I was really happy for him for the title. He was just here and showing us his ring. A better person you couldn?t find to win a title. And really his talents fit perfectly with a team like the Heat that?s really close to winning. And we didn?t want to move him but he really didn?t fit the phase we were in at the time and he understood that.

STEFAN: Daryl, the point of that article was largely that it?s difficult to measure the contribution that each individual player makes to such a team sport as basketball. Do you think in the three years since Michael Lewis wrote that piece and in which you stated that someone created the box score and he should be shot, do you think we?re closer at better understanding?do you feel like you?re closer at better untangling?what makes a successful basketball player?

DARYL MOREY: Yeah, I mean we obviously invest heavily in answering that question and really answering the question, what players will get us a higher probability of winning the title? And three years down the road I don?t feel like we have all the answers, but I do think the public domain information has gotten better. A lot of the public domain stuff has been stagnated by the fact that teams are hiring away a lot of the best people that were out there. So it?s sort of, it?s an interesting thing, the development of basketball analytics and the best work is going on within the teams I think. And not just us, there are other teams that are working hard on this as well. Whereas baseball, it?s very clear the history there that the best work is always done external to the teams until recently.

STEFAN: Well, can you give us one or two examples of how you think the thinking has evolved? What do we know now that we didn?t know five years ago?

DARYL MOREY: Great question?hard for me to answer sometimes without revealing too much. You know, I think things like the evolution of understanding the value of like, the corner three-point shot, has been something that?s become pretty public domain and into the coaching world that wasn?t there five years ago.

MIKE: By the way, the huge genius insight is: It?s closer.

DARYL MOREY: Yeah, isn?t that amazing? Honestly whenever you find these insights and apply them and you explain it to someone, they?ll be like, Well, OK, thanks. So it?s better if it?s closer. Or if you put it in the hoop more than the other guy. That?s your insight. Good Daryl, thanks. How much did you work on that? You work on so many things, you don?t know what?s going to pan out. When you find the one that pans out, at the end of the day, often it turns out to be fairly obvious, to your point.

MIKE: You?ve been self-critical saying your teams are good, pretty good, they make the playoffs, but they don?t go far in the playoffs and they?re never bad enough to get a top draft pick. It?s actually not optimal strategy as a way to run a basketball team. But I think there may be a secret there and, you?re right in terms of wins and losses, but the Rockets have been really, really profitable as you?ve pursued your strategy. That?s somewhat because of you but that?s also because of how many luxury suites and things like that are going on. But is that the unremarked upon secret that allows Daryl Morey to keep doing what he?s doing?

DARYL MOREY: Well, we really don?t feel like we?ve accomplished much yet. I mean, I would say if we can turn the corner and get back to being a championship contender, and we haven?t been since Yao [Ming] and Tracy [McGrady] both went down, if we can turn that corner without having to go through a season where we?re really bad, or you know, losing more games than we win?which we haven?t done?that will be the first time that?s done. Now I don?t know if anyone should hold a parade for us because, to your point, the way that it?s been done in the past is a team, either by design or by just because it happens when you lose a star, you know, dropping down and getting a top-five pick, which is really where all these talents that you need to win the title come. We were pursuing a strategy that frankly didn?t have a lot of history, which is, stay competitive and try to turn the corner at the same time. Definitely has a degree of difficulty but, you know, we feel like we?ve got a guy to build around now in James Harden. He did happen to go in the top five in the draft which is where most of these guys go. And, usually these guys don?t move when they?re age 23. So time will tell if we?re right, if James is the guy to build around. But we really think he is, and you know we?ve still got a lot of work to do. We?ve got to add at least one more top-level talent and then fill around that. That?s the overwhelming evidence if you look to the history of the NBA as what it takes to win.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=f989a374e34e27a4a598b714ed47ab01

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Troops debate risks, benefits of women in combat

SAN DIEGO (AP) ? A federal lawsuit filed by four service members Tuesday challenges the Pentagon's longstanding policy barring women from serving in direct combat positions. Here are the issues:

WHAT IS THE CURRENT POLICY REGARDING FEMALE TROOPS?

The 1994 combat exclusion policy bars women from being assigned to ground combat units, which are smaller and considered more dangerous since they are often in the thick of battle for longer periods of time than the other units.

WHAT ARE THE ARGUMENTS FOR LETTING WOMEN FIGHT ON THE FRONT LINES?

Supporters of lifting the ban say women are already being wounded or killed in war, and the policy keeps them from being recognized for their battleground experience, which could lead to promotions and higher pay. They also say the policy hurts the U.S. military by limiting the chances of qualified women to move into more senior leadership ranks.

WHAT DO OPPONENTS SAY?

Opponents include some female troops who question whether women are physically capable of handling the rigors of being assigned to ground combat units. The first two women to volunteer for the Marine Corps' grueling 13-week infantry training course at its base in Quantico, Va., were unable to complete it. The Corps will open the course again to female volunteers in January.

WHAT DOES THE MILITARY'S TOP BRASS SAY?

Military leaders say they want to make sure lifting gender-based barriers would not disrupt the cohesion of the smaller combat ground units and military operations. The Marine Corps' top leader, Gen. James Amos, ordered a survey of 53,000 troops to get their views, including whether they believe women in those units would distract male Marines from doing their jobs. The results have not been released yet.

HOW CLOSE DO WOMEN GET TO THE FRONT LINES?

The blurred front lines of modern warfare, with suicide bombs and sniper attacks, have put more and more women in combat situations. More than 144 female troops have been killed and more than 860 have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan since the wars began according to Pentagon statistics.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/troops-debate-risks-benefits-women-combat-194311921.html

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Turning The Page for Local Business ? A Customer Service Blog

I?ve been working with Turn The Page for about a year now and I?m always impressed by the things they do for their customers. All that free liquor and endless submarine sandwiches?I?m probably not supposed to mention that.

Beyond that and even beyond the expertise that the entire team brings to the table, what continually impresses me is their customer service. It?s not even the traditional give and take relationship; they go further to make partners of their clients. It?s a true investment in the success of those partners. Yeah, client success is TTPs success but they want the pleasure they get from being a part of that success. It?s what drives them to stay on top of what is a daily changing environment, the online marketing space, and it?s not easy.

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Each team member from top to bottom is in a constant learning marathon and as they hone their own crafts they contribute continually to the benefit of each partner.

Think about the diversity of their roster here. From landscaping to real estate, from medical technology to the legal space, heating and cooling, electronic cigarettes, automotive and fitness, the list is exhausting. So on top of the online marketing space they become experts at each customer?s business, each customer?s daily lives.

The entire staff of Turn The Page has to be social media experts, web developers, analytics wizards, email marketers, and knowers of all things SEO. They are continually in motion because personal visits are part of their customer service philosophy. If you don?t think that?s hard just look in their backseats to see the Sonic wrappers and Starbucks empties.

The investment each team member makes in their partner?s online progress is based on the extra mile and the extra time. It?s about education and patience, dedication and a lot of fun. The beatings are kept to a minimum because everybody just digs what their doing.

That?s what makes it work so well. And makes me write my cute little fingers off because I also go beyond just information for the clients that I write for. As a part of their team I want to ensure that anyone who visits a website comes away just a little smarter than when they got there. And may just prompt a phone call or a visit.

Because those submarine sandwiches don?t pay for themselves.

Filed under: Business Growth, Caffeine, Email Marketing, Local Business, Online Experts, Online Marketing, Turn The Page Staff by Lisa Correu

Source: http://www.turnthepage-onlinemarketing.com/blog/2012/a-customer-service-blog

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