Amanda Steinberg has always been good at making money ? she was making upward of $200,000 annually as a web developer while in her 20s ? but she also managed to spend all of it. Aware that she needed to learn about wealth building, she assumed other women also needed to understand money management and build net worth.
The result was DailyWorth, a daily e-mail newsletter and virtual community with advice for women on personal finance. Today, DailyWorth has more than half a million subscribers, and Steinberg is known as an expert on the topic of finance.
We asked Steinberg to offer a few pieces of advice on managing wealth:
What?s the biggest pitfall (or couple of pitfalls) women face when it comes to finance ? and how do we overcome the obstacle(s)?
Our biggest obstacle is seeing ourselves as financial stewards of our own destiny and engaging in our finances in general. Too often we get so overwhelmed by ?expert advice? ? save for retirement! Save six months into an emergency fund!? ? and, due to overwhelm, we run away.? Instead, spend regular time with your money and have patience with yourself. Money management is less about praying for a giant windfall (though that would be nice), and more about setting up systems and habits that distribute your money across savings, debt and spending.
Editor?s note: If you?re looking for a community to support you in setting up these systems and forming new habits, check out Money Clarity. The e-learning program launches on Feb. 4.
We hear over and over again that women undervalue their worth. How can we combat that tendency?
If you?re a woman, there?s a chance you don?t understand what your skills can really generate in the marketplace. Begin understanding your worth by TALKING about money with colleagues. Start a regular power breakfast or power lunch with other women who do what you do. Ask them how much they charge and how they negotiate those fees, and the terms on their contracts. Learn from friends and associates.
We can learn a lot when we talk about money and our businesses ? something too few of us do regularly.
Before you started DailyWorth, you made a good salary, but you spent it instead of saving it. What do you recommend women do to keep their money in hand and have it available for the future, when they?ll need it?
To keep money, the most important thing you can do is move money regularly and automatically out of your checking account into three types of accounts:
Curveball fund: Set up a separate savings account for any ?oops? ? like, oops, I broke my iPhone. Savings for short-term unexpected items can go a long way.
Emergency fund: Move what you can into it ? and DON?T TOUCH IT! There?s nothing like having a pile o? cash there when you need it.
Retirement fund: Don?t want to eat cat food when you?re 80? Neither do we.
FOUNDER NOTE: Like Amanda, we know first hand how easy it is to overspend ? we are trying to pay down a chunk of debt too. But like Amanda advises here ? and my friend Carlo told me 25+ years ago, even if it?s 5 bucks a week, save something religiously. Because no matter how small, your nest egg will grow. And better spending and savings habits will mean you?ll be able to deal with life?s little emergencies AND have a happier retired life too!
Want to share some of your savings tips or how-you-got-out-of-debt stories ? please do, we?d love to hear ?em!
TUSTIN, Calif. (AP) -- The massive blimp-like aircraft flies but just barely, hovering only a dozen feet off a military hangar floor during flight testing south of Los Angeles.
Still, the fact that the hulking Aeroscraft could fly for just a few minutes represents a step forward in aviation, according to the engineers who developed it. The Department of Defense and NASA have invested $35 million in the prototype because of its potential to one day carry more cargo than any other aircraft to disaster zones and forward military bases.
"I realized that I put a little dot in the line of aviation history. A little dot for something that has never been demonstrated before, now it's feasible," said flight control engineer Munir Jojo-Verge.
The airship is undergoing testing this month at Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin, and must go through several more rounds of flight testing before it could be used in a disaster zone or anywhere else. The first major flight test took place Jan. 3.
The biggest challenge for engineers is making sure the airship will be able to withstand high winds and other extreme weather conditions, Jojo-Verge said.
Worldwide Aeros, the company that developed the aircraft, said it also must secure more funding for the next round of flight testing, but is hopeful the Defense Department and others will step in again as investors.
The company says the cargo airship's potential to carry more cargo more efficiently than ever before would provide the U.S. military with an advantage on the battlefield and greater capacity to save more lives during natural disasters.
The lighter-than-air vehicle is not a blimp or a zeppelin because it has a rigid structure made out of ultra-light carbon fiber and aluminum underneath its high-tech Mylar skin. Inside, balloons hold the helium that give the vehicle lift.
The airship functions like a submarine, releasing air to rise and taking in air to descend, said Aeros mechanical engineer Tim Kenny. It can take off vertically, like a helicopter, then change its buoyancy to become heavier than air for landing and unloading.
"It allows the vehicle to set down on the ground. And then when we want to become lighter than air, we release that air and then the vehicle floats and we can allow it to take off," Kenny said.
The project has set abuzz the old hangars at the Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin. The structures were built to hold blimps during World War II. Now workers zip around in cherry-pickers, and the airship's silvery surface shines against the warm tones of the aging wood of the walls.
"You could take this vehicle and go to destinations that have been destroyed, where there's no ports, no runways, stuff like that. This vehicle could go in there, offload the cargo even if there's no infrastructure, no landing site for it to land on, this vehicle can unload its whole payload," said Kenny.
Next, Aeros wants to build a full-size 450-foot-long vehicle that can carry 66 tons of payload.
Today Dropbox launched the ability to instantly preview any file you've saved so you don't have to download it to know what it is. It also launched a photos tab for the web to make it easy to view and share photos you've uploaded. Product Manager?Chris Beckman explained "Both are related to a shift that we're seeing thats underway at Dropbox from thinking about things as files to thinking about things as users' content."
If you?re bothered by heartburn or occasional acid reflux, it?s far more effective and safe to make some lifestyle changes than to rely on medications?some of which don?t even work! Start with this to-do list from Are Your Prescriptions Killing You? by Armon B. Neel, Jr., PharmD, CGP and Bill Hogan.
If you smoke, quit.
If you?re overweight, shed some of your excess poundage.
Avoid spicy, fatty, or fried foods, along with garlic, onions, citrus fruits, and any other foods that seem to trigger heartburn, such as tomato-based products.
Avoid caffeine and chocolate.
Avoid carbonated drinks and citrus juices.
Limit your consumption of alcohol to no more than two ounces a day.
Eat small meals.
Eat more fiber.
Consume nonfat or low-fat yogurt or cultured buttermilk throughout the day, every day, and always at bedtime.
Chew sugar-free gum after meals. It increases peristalsis, the symmetrical contraction and relaxation of stomach muscles, and helps move acid through the gut.
Don?t wear tight belts or clothing that?s tight around the waist.
Don?t bend over or exercise immediately after eating.
Eat at least three hours before your bedtime, and eat even earlier if you can.
Elevate the head of your bed.
If these suggested changes seem too overwhelming, you may want to focus on the two interventions that studies show to be most effective: losing some weight and raising the head of your bed. If you still need relief, use one of the newer over-the-counter H2 blockers such as Zantac for relief?but only on an occasional basis and in a dose of no more than 75 milligrams a day.
Get fit. Find nutrition facts. Live a healthy lifestyle. Sign up for our newsletter!
TOPICS: acid reflux, antacids, Are Your Prescriptions Killing You?, Armon B. Neel Jr., Bill Hogan, GERD, heartburn, home remedies, how to get rid of heartburn, how to prevent acid reflux, over the counter medication, what causes acid reflux, Zantac
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - World powers have asked Iran to hold a new round of talks over its nuclear work in February, while expressing disappointment over Tehran's reluctance to schedule negotiations.
A spokesman for the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Monday Iran had not agreed to her proposal, issued on behalf the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany, to meet at the end of January.
"Iran did not accept our offer to go to Istanbul on January 28 and 29 and so we have offered new dates in February," Michael Mann told a news briefing in Brussels.
"We have continued to offer dates since December. We are disappointed the Iranians have not yet agreed," he said.
The next round of discussions had originally been slated for January but progress has been beset by wrangling between the two sides.
Iranian officials deny they are to blame for the delays and say Western countries are responsible for waiting until after the U.S. presidential election in November, which resulted in lost opportunities.
"We have always said that we are ready to negotiate until a result is reached and we have never broken off discussions," state news agency IRNA quoted Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying on Monday.
The six counties, known collectively as P5+1, met Iranian negotiators in three rounds of talks last year but made no breakthrough.
Iran has refused to halt all uranium enrichment and demanded relief from international economic sanctions before it takes any steps. But it has previously suggested it may be willing to halt higher-grade enrichment - a central concern - if its needs are met and its right to enrich is formally recognized.
Ashton is overseeing diplomatic contacts on behalf of the powers hoping to persuade Tehran to scale back its nuclear work. The six powers are concerned Iran is seeking to reach the capability to build nuclear weapons, but Tehran denies that.
Mann said, however, that Iranian negotiators have put up new conditions for resuming negotiations but that EU powers were concerned that might be a delaying tactic.
Salehi has suggested holding the next round of talks in Cairo but that the P5+1 wanted to meet elsewhere. He also said Sweden, Kazakhstan and Switzerland have offered to host the talks.
(Reporting by Justyna Pawlak and Adrian Croft; Additional reporting by Marcus George in Dubai; editing by Rex Merrifield)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of senators who have agreed on an immigration reform plan said on Monday they hope to move quickly with legislation giving 11 million illegal immigrants a chance to eventually become American citizens.
The four Democrats and four Republicans released the outline of a comprehensive immigration reform effort - one with plenty of details missing - that still must be turned into legislation.
At a news conference on the proposal, Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York, one of the eight working on the initiative, said he hoped it could be passed by the Senate in late spring or early summer.
In an attempt to build support among lawmakers, the Senate proposal would couple immigration reform with enhanced security efforts aimed at preventing illegal immigration and ensuring that those foreigners here temporarily return home when their visas expire.
A Republican member of the group, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said he hoped for an overwhelming vote of support in the Senate, which could enhance chances of a bill passing the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
But Graham also warned, "If for some reason we fail in our efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform, I do believe it will be many years before anyone is willing to try and solve this problem."
The plan, which faces an uncertain future in Congress, was unveiled a day before President Barack Obama was to give a policy speech on immigration in Nevada.
With Republicans regrouping after November elections in which they failed to garner significant support from Hispanic voters, there are other indications immigration reform could be on a fast track in the newly convened 113th Congress.
A bipartisan group in the House also is close to unveiling its own immigration proposals, according to the congressional source with knowledge of the reform efforts.
The source said the House group could detail its outline either later this week or next week.
No one expects an easy path for any of the proposals, which are still being developed and lack detail.
The last comprehensive revision of the nation's immigration law was in 1986. Numerous efforts since then have encountered stiff resistance, especially from the conservative wing of the Republican Party, which as recently as the Republican presidential primary races in 2012 opposed anything resembling an "amnesty" for undocumented immigrants.
"When you legalize those who are in the country illegally, it costs taxpayers millions of dollars, costs American workers thousands of jobs and encourages more illegal immigration," warned Republican Representative Lamar Smith, who is the former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
With the electoral power of Hispanic voters growing rapidly, however, leading Republicans have been urging conservatives to rethink both their positions and their rhetoric.
The Senate group included Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid expressed his support for the effort.
Under its proposal, undocumented immigrants would be allowed to register with the government, pay a fine, and then be given probationary legal status allowing them to work.
Ultimately, they would have to "go to the end of the line" and apply for permanent status.
The White House praised the group's efforts but warned that Obama would not be satisfied until there was meaningful reform. The president "will continue to urge Congress to act until that is achieved," a White House spokesman said.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason in Washington and Tim Gaynor in Arizona; Editing by Fred Barbash and Doina Chiacu)
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Good news for those trying to snuff out their smoking habit: in a new study, smokers who quit before turning 40 regained all of the years they would have presumably lost if they continued smoking.
Smoking cuts at least 10 years off a person?s lifespan, at least according to research. But a comprehensive analysis of health and death records in the US suggests that the damage isn?t permanent, as long as you quit.
?Quitting smoking before age 40, and preferably well before 40, gives back almost all of the decades of lost life from continued smoking,? says Dr. Prabhat Jha, head of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael?s Hospital and a professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
?That?s not to say, however, that it is safe to smoke until you are 40 and then stop,? Jha adds. ?Former smokers still have a greater risk of dying sooner than people who never smoked. But the risk is small compared to the huge risk for those who continue to smoke.?
By Janice WoodAssociate News Editor Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on January 26, 2013
New research has found that qigong, an ancient mind-body practice, has been found to reduce depression and improve the quality of life in women undergoing radiation for breast cancer.
The study examined qigong in patients receiving radiation therapy and included a follow-up period to assess its benefits over time, according to researchers.
?We were [...] particularly interested to see if qigong would benefit patients experiencing depressive symptoms at the start of treatment,? said Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., a professor in the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center?s Departments of General Oncology and Behavioral Science.
?It is important for cancer patients to manage stress because it can have a profoundly negative effect on biological systems and inflammatory profiles.?
For the study, Cohen and his colleagues recruited 96 women with stage 1-3 breast cancer from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center in Shanghai, China.
About half of the women ? 49 ? were randomly assigned to a qigong group consisting of five 40-minute classes each week during their five-to-six week course of radiation therapy. The remaining 47 women comprised a control group receiving standard care.
The program incorporated a modified version of Chinese medical qigong, which consisted of synchronizing one?s breath with various exercises, the researchers explained.
Participants in both groups completed assessments at the beginning, middle and end of radiation therapy and then one and three months later. Different aspects of quality of life were measured, including depressive symptoms, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and overall quality of life.
According to the researchers, patients in the qigong group reported a steady decline in depressive symptom scores beginning at the end of radiation therapy, with a mean score of 12.3, through the three month post-radiation follow-up with a score of 9.5. No changes were noted in the control group over time, the study found.
The study also found that qigong was especially helpful for women reporting high baseline depressive symptoms, Cohen said.
?We examined women?s depressive symptoms at the start of the study to see if women with higher levels would benefit more,? he said.
?In fact, women with low levels of depressive symptoms at the start of radiotherapy had good quality of life throughout treatment and three months later regardless of whether they were in the qigong or control group. However, women with high depressive symptoms in the control group reported the worst levels of depressive symptoms, fatigue, and overall quality of life that were significantly improved for the women in the qigong group.?
As the benefits of qigong were largely observed after treatment concluded, researchers suggest qigong may prevent a delayed symptom burden or expedite the recovery process, especially for women with elevated depressive symptoms at the start of radiation therapy. Cohen notes the delayed effect could be explained by the cumulative nature of the treatments, as the benefits often take time to be realized.
According to the researchers, the findings support other previously reported trials examining the benefits of qigong, but are too preliminary to offer clinical recommendations.
They note that additional research is needed to understand the possible biological mechanisms involved and further explore the use of qigong in ethnically diverse populations with different forms of cancer.
The study was published in the journal Cancer.
Source: University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
APA Reference Wood, J. (2013). Qigong Improves Quality of Life for Breast Cancer Patients. Psych Central. Retrieved on January 27, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/01/27/qigong-improves-quality-of-life-for-breast-cancer-patients/50826.html
Easy Life Changing Tips: Self Improvement & Motivation Tips & Advice: Curative Bodywork Kaia Petin, licensed massage therapist, discusses easy tips for making changes and improvements in your life. How can you change your life when you lack self discipline? Do you have a need to change but can?t seem to get motivated? How can you motivate yourself? Are there easy things that you can do to improve your diet, lifestyle, sleep, exercise habits, etc? Find out how simple and easy changes can make a big difference in your lifestyle. Visit Kaia Facebook page at; www.facebook.com This video was produced by Psychetruth www.youtube.com www.twitter.com www.facebook.com www.myspace.com Music by Scotty B ? Copyright 2011 Target Public Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. Life change tips ?self improvement? improvement motivation advice curative bodywork psychetruth holistic lifestyle self discipline diet sleep exercise
Johnson will concentrate his practice in the areas of entertainment and sports for the Miami, Florida based full-service itnernational law firm.
Miami, Florida (PRWEB) January 24, 2013
Diaz, Reus & Targ, LLP, has hired Associate Attorney Ahmand Johnson, announces Global Managing Partner Michael Diaz, Jr. Diaz, Reus & Targ, LLP is a full-service international law firm focusing on trade, customs, financial, commercial and corporate transactions, sports and entertainment, tax, immigration, business and corporate litigation, and arbitration matters.
Johnson focuses his practice in the areas of entertainment and sports. Prior to joining Diaz, Reus & Targ, he worked with a major Florida law firm handling business litigation, intellectual property and sports and entertainment matters. He gained significant entertainment industry experience at a Los Angeles-based entertainment law firm while attending UCLA School of Law. A National Football League Player Association (NFLPA) Certified Contract Advisor, Johnson co-founded a professional sports management company while in law school.
Johnson?s lecture for the Florida Bar Entertainment, Arts and Sports Section entitled ?Attorneys vs. Agents in the Representation of Professional Athletes? is featured as a Continuing Legal Education course. He received the 2009 Young Lawyer Award from the Broward County Legal Aid Service for his pro-bono work in collecting a record judgment on behalf of the organization. Johnson, a varsity football and track and field athlete at Brown University, was a member of 1999 Ivy League Football Championship team.
About Diaz Reus & Targ, LLP
Diaz Reus & Targ, LLP represents dealmakers around the world with a focus on emerging markets. With experienced lawyers in the U. S., Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, the firm is uniquely suited to handle a wide range of complex commercial, business, and financial transactions across international borders. Diaz Reus lawyers have experience in government relations, trade, compliance, customs, tax, and immigration, as well as internal and government investigations, complex litigation, and arbitration matters. Diaz Reus operates offices in Miami, Florida; Caracas, Venezuela; Shanghai, China; Dubai, U.A.E.; Iraq; Frankfurt, Germany; Bogota, Colombia; Panama, Republic of Panama; Mexico City, Mexico; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Santiago, Chile; and an affiliate office in Sao Paulo, Brazil. For more information, visit http://www.diazreus.com or http://www.jdsupra.com/profile/diazreus.
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Friday January 25, 2013, 7:08 pm (Image: FBI and SKYPE logos)
CNET learns the FBI is quietly pushing its plan to force surveillance backdoors on social networks, VoIP, and Web e-mail providers, and that the bureau is asking Internet companies not to oppose a law making those backdoors mandatory.
The FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance.
In meetings with industry representatives, the White House, and U.S. senators, senior FBI officials argue the dramatic shift in communication from the telephone system to the Internet has made it far more difficult for agents to wiretap Americans suspected of illegal activities, CNET has learned.
The FBI general counsel's office has drafted a proposed law that the bureau claims is the best solution: requiring that social-networking Web sites and providers of VoIP, instant messaging, and Web e-mail alter their code to ensure their products are wiretap-friendly.
"If you create a service, product, or app that allows a user to communicate, you get the privilege of adding that extra coding," an industry representative who has reviewed the FBI's draft legislation told CNET. The requirements apply only if a threshold of a certain number of users is exceeded, according to a second industry representative briefed on it.
The FBI's proposal would amend a 1994 law, called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA, that currently applies only to telecommunications providers, not Web companies. The Federal Communications Commission extended CALEA in 2004 to apply to broadband networks
FBI Director Robert Mueller is not asking companies to support the bureau's CALEA expansion, but instead is "asking what can go in it to minimize impacts," one participant in the discussions says. That included a scheduled trip this month to the West Coast -- which was subsequently postponed -- to meet with Internet companies' CEOs and top lawyers.
A further expansion of CALEA is unlikely to be applauded by tech companies, their customers, or privacy groups. Apple (which distributes iChat and FaceTime) is currently lobbying on the topic, according to disclosure documents filed with Congress two weeks ago. Microsoft (which owns Skype and Hotmail) says its lobbyists are following the topic because it's "an area of ongoing interest to us." Google, Yahoo, and Facebook declined to comment.
In February 2011, CNET was the first to report that then-FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni was planning to warn Congress of what the bureau calls its "Going Dark" problem, meaning that its surveillance capabilities may diminish as technology advances. Caproni singled out "Web-based e-mail, social-networking sites, and peer-to-peer communications" as problems that have left the FBI "increasingly unable" to conduct the same kind of wiretapping it could in the past.
In addition to the FBI's legislative proposal, there are indications that the Federal Communications Commission is considering reinterpreting CALEA to demand that products that allow video or voice chat over the Internet -- from Skype to Google Hangouts to Xbox Live -- include surveillance backdoors to help the FBI with its "Going Dark" program. CALEA applies to technologies that are a "substantial replacement" for the telephone system.
"We have noticed a massive uptick in the amount of FCC CALEA inquiries and enforcement proceedings within the last year, most of which are intended to address 'Going Dark' issues," says Christopher Canter, lead compliance counsel at the Marashlian and Donahue law firm, which specializes in CALEA. "This generally means that the FCC is laying the groundwork for regulatory action."
Subsentio, a Colorado-based company that sells CALEA compliance products and worked with the Justice Department when it asked the FCC to extend CALEA seven years ago, says the FBI's draft legislation was prepared with the compliance costs of Internet companies in mind.
In a statement to CNET, Subsentio President Steve Bock said that the measure provides a "safe harbor" for Internet companies as long as the interception techniques are "'good enough' solutions approved by the attorney general."
Another option that would be permitted, Bock said, is if companies "supply the government with proprietary information to decode information" obtained through a wiretap or other type of lawful interception, rather than "provide a complex system for converting the information into an industry standard format."
A representative for the FBI told CNET today that: "(There are) significant challenges posed to the FBI in the accomplishment of our diverse mission. These include those that result from the advent of rapidly changing technology. A growing gap exists between the statutory authority of law enforcement to intercept electronic communications pursuant to court order and our practical ability to intercept those communications. The FBI believes that if this gap continues to grow, there is a very real risk of the government 'going dark,' resulting in an increased risk to national security and public safety."
Next steps
The FBI's legislation, which has been approved by the Department of Justice, is one component of what the bureau has internally called the "National Electronic Surveillance Strategy." Documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation show that since 2006, Going Dark has been a worry inside the bureau, which employed 107 full-time equivalent people on the project as of 2009, commissioned a RAND study, and sought extensive technical input from the bureau's secretive Operational Technology Division in Quantico, Va. The division boasts of developing the "latest and greatest investigative technologies to catch terrorists and criminals."
But the White House, perhaps less inclined than the bureau to initiate what would likely be a bruising privacy battle, has not sent the FBI's CALEA amendments to Capitol Hill, even though they were expected last year. (A representative for Sen. Patrick Leahy, head of the Judiciary committee and original author of CALEA, said today that "we have not seen any proposals from the administration.")
Mueller said in December that the CALEA amendments will be "coordinated through the interagency process," meaning they would need to receive administration-wide approval.
Stewart Baker, a partner at Steptoe and Johnson who is the former assistant secretary for policy at Homeland Security, said the FBI has "faced difficulty getting its legislative proposals through an administration staffed in large part by people who lived through the CALEA and crypto fights of the Clinton administration, and who are jaundiced about law enforcement regulation of technology -- overly jaundiced, in my view."
On the other hand, as a senator in the 1990s, Vice President Joe Biden introduced a bill at the FBI's behest that echoes the bureau's proposal today. Biden's bill said companies should "ensure that communications systems permit the government to obtain the plain text contents of voice, data, and other communications when appropriately authorized by law." (Biden's legislation spurred the public release of PGP, one of the first easy-to-use encryption utilities.)
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. An FCC representative referred questions to the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, which declined to comment.
From the FBI's perspective, expanding CALEA to cover VoIP, Web e-mail, and social networks isn't expanding wiretapping law: If a court order is required today, one will be required tomorrow as well. Rather, it's making sure that a wiretap is guaranteed to produce results.
But that nuanced argument could prove radioactive among an Internet community already skeptical of government efforts in the wake of protests over the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, in January, and the CISPA data-sharing bill last month. And even if startups or hobbyist projects are exempted if they stay below the user threshold, it's hardly clear how open-source or free software projects such as Linphone, KPhone, and Zfone -- or Nicholas Merrill's proposal for a privacy-protective Internet provider -- will comply.
The FBI's CALEA amendments could be particularly troublesome for Zfone. Phil Zimmermann, the creator of PGP who became a privacy icon two decades ago after being threatened with criminal prosecution, announced Zfone in 2005 as a way to protect the privacy of VoIP users. Zfone scrambles the entire conversation from end to end.
"I worry about the government mandating backdoors into these kinds of communications," says Jennifer Lynch, an attorney at the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has obtained documents from the FBI relating to its proposed expansion of CALEA.
As CNET was the first to report in 2003, representatives of the FBI's Electronic Surveillance Technology Section in Chantilly, Va., began quietly lobbying the FCC to force broadband providers to provide more-efficient, standardized surveillance facilities. The FCC approved that requirement a year later, sweeping in Internet phone companies that tie into the existing telecommunications system. It was upheld in 2006 by a federal appeals court.
But the FCC never granted the FBI's request to rewrite CALEA to cover instant messaging and VoIP programs that are not "managed"--meaning peer-to-peer programs like Apple's Facetime, iChat/AIM, Gmail's video chat, and Xbox Live's in-game chat that do not use the public telephone network.
If there is going to be a CALEA rewrite, "industry would like to see any new legislation include some protections against disclosure of any trade secrets or other confidential information that might be shared with law enforcement, so that they are not released, for example, during open court proceedings," says Roszel Thomsen, a partner at Thomsen and Burke who represents technology companies and is a member of an FBI study group. He suggests that such language would make it "somewhat easier" for both industry and the police to respond to new technologies.
But industry groups aren't necessarily going to roll over without a fight. TechAmerica, a trade association that includes representatives of HP, eBay, IBM, Qualcomm, and other tech companies on its board of directors, has been lobbying against a CALEA expansion. Such a law would "represent a sea change in government surveillance law, imposing significant compliance costs on both traditional (think local exchange carriers) and nontraditional (think social media) communications companies," TechAmerica said in e-mail today.
Ross Schulman, public policy and regulatory counsel at the Computer and Communications Industry Association, adds: "New methods of communication should not be subject to a government green light before they can be used."
***numerous links within body of article at VISIT SITE***
By:
Declan McCullagh | CNET |
Declan McCullagh is the chief political correspondent for CNET. Declan previously was a reporter for Time and the Washington bureau chief for Wired and wrote the Taking Liberties section and Other People's Money column for CBS News' Web site.
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Buy on the merchant's online looking and read reviews. If you are attempting to find Arts & Crafts Busy Book : 365 Activities with special deals. This is the simplest deals for you. Where you may find these item is by online shopping stores? Read the review on Arts & Crafts Busy Book : 365 Activities Now, it's special deals. Therefore don't lose it.
Arts & Crafts Busy Book : 365 Activities Trish Kuffner (Author), Bruce Lansky (Editor) (17)
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Family Activities
365 FUN, CREATIVE ACTIVITIES TO STIMULATE YOUR CHILD EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR This book contains 365 creative and educational arts and crafts projects for children ages two to six that provide a great alternative to using TV as a babysitter. It shows parents and daycare providers how to: --Stimulate creativity and self-expression with activities that encourage a child to explore his or her place in the world. --Create experiments with paint, glue, playdough, paper, and markers that focus a child's energy constructively. --Encourage the development of a child's concentration and coordination, as well as organizational and manipulative skills, with well-chosen arts and crafts projects. --Save money by making arts and crafts supplies such as paints, playdough, and craft clay with ingredients that can be found around the home. Celebrate the holidays and other occasions with special projects and activities. The Arts and Crafts Busy Book is written with warmth and sprinkled with humor and insight. It should be required reading for anyone raising or teaching young children. iParenting Media Awards 2003?Greatest Holiday Winner: BookAn iParenting Media Award Winner!
Rank: #43756 in Books
Brand: Meadowbrook Press
Published on: 2003-06-01
Released on: 2003-06-01
Original language: English
Number of items: 1
Dimensions: 1.00" h x 5.40" w x 6.90" l, .80 pounds
Republicans and Democrats are setting out fiscal goals that are light-years apart, Gleckman writes. Here are five stumbling blocks to a budget deal:
By Howard Gleckman,?Guest blogger / January 24, 2013
The American flag flies over the Rayburn House Office Building, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington. It is hard to see how dueling measures will get us any closer to a long-term budget plan, Gleckman writes.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP/File
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If their leaders? public statements are to be believed, the fiscal chasm between the political parties is widening. And it is hard to see how it can be bridged. ??
Skip to next paragraph Howard Gleckman
Howard Gleckman is a resident fellow at The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, the author of Caring for Our Parents, and former senior correspondent in the Washington bureau of Business Week. (http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org)
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Congressional Democrats and Republicans have agreed to put off the next budget crisis for a month or so. This is a good thing, especially considering the alternative. And they?ll try to write a budget through the formal legislative process rather than starting with high-level negotiations with the White House. This is euphemistically known as regular order though it is hardly regular (it has not been used since the George W. Bush Administration) and there is nothing orderly about it.
The trouble is, Republicans and Democrats are setting out fiscal goals that are light-years apart. ?Maybe these are merely opening bids. But without huge concessions, budget talks will be futile. Here are five stumbling blocks to a deal: ??
The Next Crisis. While the House GOP agreed to delay the battle over the debt limit until summer, it will try to use two ?March deadlines?a package of automatic across-the-board spending cuts and a looming government shutdown? as leverage to slash government . ?Democrats prefer March?s automatic spending cuts to the even deeper reductions Republicans are aiming for.?
Employees using social networks such as Facebook and Google+ may not only waste a lot of their working time, but also spread viruses on their work computers. Due to this, some employers have implemented security systems designed to closely monitor or restrict, as needed, an employee?s access and use of social networks. The purpose of this article is to discuss the advantages (Section 2) and disadvantages (Section 3) of restricting social media access for employees. Finally, a conclusion is drawn (Section 4).
Advantages of restricting social media access for employees
The restriction of social media access for employees has four advantages; namely, it (1) increases employee productivity of , (2) decreases the risk of getting malicious software, (3) increases the availability of bandwidth, and (4) prevents identity theft. These four advantages are discussed below.
Increasing the productivity of employees
Surfing in social networks may waste a lot of an employee?s time. A Proskauer International Labor & Employment Group survey conducted in 2011 indicated that forty-three percent of businesses using social media have dealt with employees? misuse of social networks, and approximately a third of all businesses have taken disciplinary action against employees concerning this. It is also worth mentioning that, on the basis of an analysis of the web traffic of 1,636 companies, the firewall supplier Palo Alto found out that there was an increase in employees? use of Facebook to run web apps and games. The wasted time spent there can be otherwise used for completing tasks assigned by the employer or for educational purposes. This is why implementing security systems that restrict access to social media may improve the productivity of the employees.
It should be noted, however, that a study conducted at the University of Melbourne found out that employees with access to social networks were actually more productive than employees in companies that block access. Dr. Brent Coker, a researcher involved in the study, noted that employees who can reward themselves between the completion of one task and the start of another with a visit to their Facebook or MySpace page are more motivated than the workers who do not use social networks. The study found out that workers using social networks get 9 percent more accomplished than their blocked counterparts. Consequently, it is doubtful whether the restriction of social networks should be considered as an advantage.
It is important to note that the study of Dr. Coker should not be interpreted as stating that the use of social networks cannot decrease the productivity of the employees. Social networks may increase productivity only if they are used moderately. As Dr. Coker said, ?Short and unobtrusive breaks, such as a quick surf of the internet, enables the mind to rest itself, leading to a higher total net concentration for a days? work, and as a result, increased productivity.?
Decreasing the risk of malicious software
Often, social networks are a place where users can easily exchange files, some of which may contain viruses. In this regard, it should be noted that, after analyzing the web traffic of 5,500 PC users in 20 nations, firewall maker Barracuda Networks discovered that one of every 60 Facebook posts and one of every 100 Twitter tweets contained malicious code. The press regularly publishes reports noting the appearance of new types of Facebook viruses.
For example, a new computer virus labeled Steckt.Evl has been recently discovered by Trend Micro. This virus spreads via the chat window on Facebook. In particular, a message from a friend appears in the pop-up window that is used for person-to-person chat. The message contains a link to an innocent-looking website. If the victim installs the virus on his computer, it instantly disables and removes the existing anti-virus software. Then, it spreads itself by opening chat windows on the Facebook friends of the infected user.
Increasing the availability of bandwidth
Social media may generate a lot of internal traffic. This is because the use of social media websites is often accompanied by the use of video sharing websites, such as YouTube. In this connection, Patrick Wood, senior director of product management for Exinda, a provider of WAN optimization and application acceleration products based in the US, stated that, ?While it varies from organization to organization, we have seen instances where as much as 60 percent or more of network resources are being consumed with things like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.?
Preventing identity theft
Social networks can be used by criminals to steal identities. For instance, photo- and video-sharing websites like Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube may provide a lot of information about their users. Moreover, such social networks may contain information about the family and the friends of the users.
Disadvantages of restricting social media access for employees
There are seven main disadvantages of restricting social media access for employees; namely, the (1) decrease in morale of the employees, (2) missed opportunities for free advertising, (3) missed opportunities for team building, (4) missed opportunities for skill building, (5) missed opportunities for internal and external communication, (6) missed opportunities for networking, and (7) the attraction of new employees becomes more difficult.
Decreasing the morale of the employees
The main disadvantage of restricting social media access for employees is that the employees may feel oppressed by the employer. This may affect employee morale and satisfaction from their work. In this regard, Ann Cavoukian, a privacy commissioner for the Canadian province of Ontario, noted that blocking of social networks in the workplace is a mistake. She also said that ?It?s like waving the proverbial red flag in front of your staff ? it?s almost a challenge to them to find a way around it.?
Missed opportunities for free advertising
In most cases, employees add to their social network profile the name of the companies for which they work for. Thus, each of their friends can see the name of the company. Taking into account that, in 2012, the average number of Facebook friends of U.S users at 18-24 years of age was 429, an employer with 10 workers who restricts social network access will lose thousands of views of his/her company name and logo.
Missed opportunities for team building
Social networks allow employees to know more about each other. It may lead to a better cooperation between team members which, in turn, will improve the team?s performance. Social media also gives team members the opportunity to communicate on a personal level. This may bring them closer together. Moreover, social networks may be used for organizing team building events. For example, Facebook has a comprehensive system for event scheduling. The organizers of events in Facebook may not only post information, including audio and video content, about the event, but may also see the users who are going to attend the meeting or not.
Missed opportunities for skill building
In the past five years, there has been a steady increase in the users of social networks. As a result, effective skills in using social networks are a must for anyone willing to practice certain professions, such as PR and Marketing. Allowing the employees to use social networks may serve as a valuable training for them.
Missed opportunities for internal and external communication
Communication between employees, and between the company and its potential customers, is very important to the success of any business. Social networks provide excellent opportunities for internal and external communication because it is more interactive than traditional means of communication, such as email and phone.
Missed opportunities for networking
Business networking allows the employees of a company to know what other companies are doing and obtain information about recent developments in the company?s field of activity. A business network can be very well supplemented by an online social network. Through an online social network, the people who have met in person will be able to receive more information about each other. The most prominent business social network is LinkedIn.
Making the attraction of new employees more difficult
Many potential new employees may get to know that the company restricts social media access for employees. Some of them may not apply for a position at the company because they may consider the restriction of the access to social networks as a form of oppression.
Conclusion The restriction of social networks at the workplace has both advantages and disadvantages. The decrease in the productivity of employees seems to be an often cited disadvantage. However, a recent study has indicated that employees who have access to social networks may be more productive than employees in companies that block access. While it is debatable whether or not the restriction of social networks increases the productivity of a company, it is certain that the use of social networks may be a source of malicious code. Consequently, the restriction of the use of social networks at the workplace may be considered as a preventive information security measure. It should be added that doing so may not only limit the risk of getting viruses, but also protect the employees from identity theft. As many know, the results of an identity theft can be catastrophic for both individuals and companies.
The restriction of social networks has several disadvantages as well. One of the most important disadvantages is that some employees may feel oppressed as a result of the restriction of social networks. The decreased morale of the employees may then negatively affect their productivity. Besides, by not allowing employees to use social networks, the employer may deprive himself of free advertising that employees would otherwise make using social networks. Moreover, the employer will also miss opportunities for team building, training the staff in skills related to social networks, developing internal and external communication, and networking. Last but not the least, the restriction of social networks may have a negative impact on attracting new employees.
References
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Barlow, M., Thomas, D., ?The Executive?s Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy: How Social Networks Are Radically Transforming Your Business?, John Wiley & Sons, 2010.
Butterfield, J., ?Teamwork and Team Building: Soft Skills for a Digital Workplace?, 2010, Cengage Learning.
Cheng, J., ?Study: Surfing the Internet at work boosts productivity?, Arstechnica, 3 April 2009, http://arstechnica.com/business/2009/04/study-surfing-the-internet-at-work-boosts-productivity/ .
Constantin, L., ?Cross-browser worm spreads via Facebook, security experts warn?, InfoWorld, 22 May, 2012, http://www.infoworld.com/d/security/cross-browser-worm-spreads-facebook-security-experts-warn-193800 .
Daxton, S., ?Social Media and the Law: A Guidebook for Communication Students and Professionals?, Routledge, 2013.
Ingram, D., ?Ways to Use Social Media for Team Building?, Chron, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/ways-use-social-media-team-building-11125.html .
Itbusiness.ca, ?Banning Facebook, Twitter at work could backfire, says Ontario privacy commissioner?, 28 October 2009, http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=55040 .
Proskauer, ?Social Networks in the Workplace Around the World: Survey?, 2011, http://www.proskauer.com/files/News/a17db875-e569-47a8-b62a-9328b33f50b5/Presentation/NewsAttachment/b4048537-8865-4a95-9ec5-0b80a91daa2a/Survey-Social-Networks-in-the-Workplace-Around-the-World.pdf .
Ray, P., ?The Handbook of Online and Social Media Research: Tools and Techniques for Market Researchers?, John Wiley & Sons, 2010.
Solomon, L., ?Doing Social Media So it Matters: A Librarian?s Guide?, American Library Association, 2011.
Skinner, C., ?Twitter, Facebook can improve work productivity?, Techworld, 3 April 2009, http://www.techworld.com.au/article/297924/twitter_facebook_can_improve_work_productivity/ .
Statista, ?Average number of Facebook friends of U.S. users in 2012, by age group?, http://www.statista.com/statistics/232499/americans-who-use-social-networking-sites-several-times-per-day/ .
Wolfe, B. and Sparkman, C., ?Team-Building Activities for the Digital Age: Using Technology to Develop Effective Groups?, 2010, Human Kinetics.
Zimmermann, K., ?Is Social Media Jamming Your Network?, ITTechNewsDaily, http://www.ittechnewsdaily.com/85-social-media-jamming-network.html
FILE - This Jan. 15, 2013 file photo shows House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio walking on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republican leaders scramble for votes on a stopgap debt-limit measure that would let the government keep borrowing until at least mid-May, giving up for now on trying to win spending cuts from Democrats in return. But the respite would be only temporary, with major battles still to come between the GOP and President Barack Obama over taxes, spending and deficits. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - This Jan. 15, 2013 file photo shows House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio walking on Capitol Hill in Washington. Republican leaders scramble for votes on a stopgap debt-limit measure that would let the government keep borrowing until at least mid-May, giving up for now on trying to win spending cuts from Democrats in return. But the respite would be only temporary, with major battles still to come between the GOP and President Barack Obama over taxes, spending and deficits. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the deadly September attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, and the House GOP leadership speak to reporters after a closed-door meeting on avoiding a potential debt crisis, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. Joining Boehner, from left, are Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., chair of the Republican Conference, Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan., and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. House Republicans have said that they will not agree to a long-term debt ceiling increase unless the Senate works with them to pass a budget deal and have also threatened to withhold Congress?s paychecks if either chamber fails to adopt a budget by April 15. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Congress often gives itself more breathing room. In other words, it kicks the can down the road.
It's an overused term nearly everybody scoffs at or denounces. Yet lots of cans litter the road ahead.
The House on Wednesday voted to delay a looming showdown over the government's debt ceiling until May.
"It's not perfect. But perfect may not get passed in this House," said House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas.
Congress and President Barack Obama barely avoided a New Years' Day "fiscal cliff" of mandatory tax increases and spending cuts by scrapping most of the tax hikes and putting off a decision on the spending cuts until March.
The Senate is now weighing a Democratic proposal to put limits on the use of filibusters to delay votes or nominations. Republicans have used the potent tactic to block many Democratic measures ? as Democrats did themselves when they were in the minority
"Some have suggested that one's view of the filibuster depends on where one sits," says House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Not only Congress delays things.
Obama last January postponed until after the election acting on a Canada-U.S. oil pipeline opposed by environmentalists. A decision is still pending.
Sometimes there are valid reasons for delay.
On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave long-awaited testimony on Capitol Hill on the deadly Sept. 11, 2012, raid on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. She was to appear last month, but illness forced the postponement.
"We have to recognize we're in for a long-term struggle here," Clinton told senators, referring to that volatile part of the world.
The Senate hasn't passed an annual budget in four years.
So House Republicans have proposed withholding pay for either House or Senate members if their respective chamber fails to pass a budget plan.
They're attaching it to the legislation to delay the debt limit.
____
Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum
BOSTON (Reuters) - After spending the weekend reading blog posts claiming that he was seeking an "extremely adventurous female human" to bear a cloned Neanderthal baby - which was news to him - Harvard geneticist George Church said it may be time for society to give some thought to scientific literacy.
Church became the subject of dozens of posts and tabloid newspaper articles calling him a "mad scientist" after giving an interview to the German magazine Der Spiegel.
In the interview, Church discussed the technical challenges scientists would face if they tried to clone a Neanderthal, though neither he nor the Der Spiegel article, which was presented as a question and answer exchange, said he intended to do so.
"Harvard professor seeks mother for cloned cave baby," read one headline, on the website of London's Daily Mail.
But Church explained on Wednesday that he was simply theorizing.
Still, the readiness of bloggers, journalists and readers to believe he was preparing an attempt to clone a Neanderthal, a species closely related to modern humans that went extinct some 30,000 years ago, led Church to ponder scientific literacy.
"The public should be able to detect cases where things seem implausible," Church said in an interview at his office at Harvard Medical School in Boston. "Everybody's fib detector should have been going off. They should have said, ?What? Who would believe this?' ... This really indicates that we should have scientific literacy."
Despite the spate of articles comparing him to the character in the book and movie "Jurassic Park" who attempts to open a theme park filled with living dinosaurs, Church said he plans to continue speaking publicly about his research, which focuses on using genes to treat and prevent disease.
Given the number of policy debates driven by science - from how to address climate change, to space exploration, to public health concerns - scientists should not back away from talking to the media, Church said.
"We really should get the public of the entire world to be able to detect the difference between a fact and a complete fantasy that has been created by the Internet," he said.
In the Der Spiegel article, which Church said reported his words accurately, and his recent book "Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves," Church theorized that studying cloned Neanderthals could help scientists better understand how the human mind works. Scientists have already extracted DNA from Neanderthal bones.
But such experiments would pose a host of ethical concerns - including how many Neanderthals would be created and whether they would be treated as mere study subjects or as beings with their own rights, Church said.
"I do want to connect the public to science because there are so many decisions to be made if the way they learn it, if they learn it faster by talking about Neanderthals than they did by getting rote learning in high school, that's great," he said.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
Self help can be a hard passion at times. Just as you think you?re making progress you find yourself losing motivation and going backwards. In this video I talk about some techniques to help keep your motivation levels maxed out which includes making a vision board, thinking about who you want to become, and having an accountability buddy to make sure you achieve your self help goals. ?
Here is the original post: Motivation Tips ? Self Help ? 1 Year To Fame
Concrete is an essential part of our infrastructure.
And it?s all falling apart, as Robert Courland?s 2011 book Concrete Planet makes clear.
The Romans built concrete structures that lasted over 2 thousand years.? Ours will last a century ? at most.
Courland writes that the buildings and monuments we build may last less than a century, despite this, builders, architects, and engineers who know the shortcomings of steel and concrete continue to build structures that will deteriorate.
The problem isn?t the just the concrete; it?s the iron and steel rebar reinforcement inside.? Cracks can be fixed, but when air, moisture, and chemicals seep into reinforced concrete, the rebar rusts, expanding in diameter four or five-fold, which destroys the surrounding concrete, and ultimately destroys the building, road, bridge, dam, levee, home, airport runway, sewage and water pipes, school, canal, power plants, grain elevators, shipping piers, tunnels, and so on.
Courland says that engineers and architects have known about this problem a long time, yet either refuse to admit it or don?t think it matters.? The main theme of this book is that it does matter, as Courland explains in these three excerpts:
1)???? The lifespan of concrete is not only shorter than masonry, it ?is probably less than that of wood?We have built a disposable world using a short-lived material, the manufacture of which generates millions of tons of greenhouse gases.?? Cement is the third largest source of CO2 after autos and coal-fueled power plants.? The World Coal Association states that ?Coal is used as an energy source in cement production. Large amounts of energy are required to produce cement. Kilns usually burn coal in the form of powder and consume around 450g of coal for about 900g of cement produced?.
2)????? ??Even more troubling is that all this steel-reinforced concrete that we use for building our roads, buildings, bridges, sewer pipes, and sidewalks is ultimately expendable, so we will have to keep rebuilding them every couple of generations, adding more pollution and expense for our descendants to bear.? Most of the concrete structures built at the beginning of the 20th century have begun falling apart, and most will be, or already have been, demolished?.
3)????? The world we have built over the last century is decaying at an alarming rate. Our infrastructure is especially terrible:
1 in 4 bridges are either structurally deficient or structurally obsolete
The service life of most reinforced concrete highway bridges is 50 years, and their average age is 42 years?.
Besides our crumbling highway system, the reinforced concrete used for our water conduits, sewer pipes, water-treatment plants, and pumping stations is also disintegrating.? The chemicals and bacteria in sewage make it almost as corrosive as seawater, reducing the life span of the reinforced concrete used in these systems to 50 years of less.?
I?m sure the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) would agree. Below is their 2009 report card for America?s infrastructure (all of these use at least some, if not a lot, of concrete).
C+ Solid Waste
C Bridges
C- Public Parks and Recreation, Rail
D+ Energy
D Aviation, Dams, Hazardous Waste, Schools, Transit
Their 2013 report card will state we need over 3 trillion to fix this. But ASCE says nothing about the short life of concrete anywhere on their website, let alone demand that future projects be built to last.? The ASCE 2013 report card comes out March 19.? I?ll be watching to see if they even mention that we need to build millennia-long lasting concrete buildings, roads, bridges, dams, schools, drinking water pipes and facilities, and levees in the future.
We know there?s a problem, we know how to fix it (the last chapter explains how to make long-lasting concrete), and yet there?s no pressure to do it, because it?s cheaper to do it the wrong way, especially in a time of tight credit.?? To do it right, it costs a bit more up front, but the payback is tens of trillions of dollars in saved future costs. I predict Capitalism?s? short-term? focus will prevent long-lasting concrete projects from coming to fruition.
On top of that, there?s no demand from the public, journalists, engineers, or architects.? There has not been any outcry since this book was published to build with long-lasting concrete in the future that I can find.
Well, have only been two attempts to do something that I could find:
A bill that passed in the Senate (S.775) but failed in the House: The National Infrastructure Improvement Act, to establish a National Commission on the Infrastructure of the United States
The National Institute of Standards and Technology?s Engineering Laboratory has started to fund research to prevent concrete from cracking in a program called REACT: Reducing Early-Age Cracking Today.
Peak Energy and Concrete
It will take a tremendous amount of energy to replace and/or fix our concrete infrastructure, energy that will be less and less available.? Why waste our remaining energy and create vastly more greenhouse gas to make concrete, unless it will be built to last thousands of years like Roman Concrete?
Our descendants won?t be driving everywhere, in fact, they?ll probably wish they could convert the pavement to farmland, which will take centuries even after the cement is gone for the soil to recover ? why not start now?? Stop maintaining roads in the national forests, rural areas, and wherever else it makes sense ?let them return to gravel and eventually fade away.
Perhaps we should even consider DE-paving and DE-damming to restore streams, fisheries, wetlands, and ecosystems for future generations.
We should convert some roads to railways while we still have energy to spend, since trains are around seven times more efficient than trucks.
At this point it seems crazy to build projects with short-term concrete we KNOW will only last for decades.
Eventually buildings over 5 stories tall will be of little use ? why keep building skyscrapers?
Future generations won?t able to build, let alone repair and maintain what we construct.? Once we stop maintaining our concrete (and cement) structures, they will quickly fall apart.
We just won?t have the energy to build and maintain many concrete structures in a wood-based civilization.? Consider all the wood it used to take for a limestone kiln to make 1 cubic yard of lime: a dozen cords of wood (a cord is 4? x 4? x 8).
Another example Courland cites (page 139): Since the Mayans ?used 20 full-grown pine trees to create just 1 cubic meter of lime, the amount of deforestation caused by the need for farmland, plaster, and stucco probably tipped the environmental balance deep in the red?.
I wonder how many trees would be needed to build the 27.1 million cubic meter Three Gorges Dam in China?? ?I suspect even deforesting the earth wouldn?t be enough.
And those of you downstream from the Hoover and other large dams might be interested to know that these are still ?undergoing the curing process, thus forestalling corrosion. It will be interesting for our descendants to discover whether the tremendous weight of these dams will continue to put off the rebar?s corrosion expansion? (page 327).
Failing dams are a double tragedy, since electricity from hydro-power will be especially valuable as one of the few (reliable) energy sources in the future.
And what the hell are the people in the future going to do with all this concrete ? build sheep fences?
We hear over and over again that women undervalue their worth. How can we combat that tendency?
Today 
If you?re bothered by heartburn or occasional acid reflux, it?s far more effective and safe to make some lifestyle changes than to rely on medications?some of which don?t even work! Start with this to-do list from Are Your Prescriptions Killing You? by Armon B. Neel, Jr., PharmD, CGP and Bill Hogan.
New research has found that qigong, an ancient mind-body practice, has been found to reduce depression and improve the quality of life in women undergoing radiation for breast cancer.
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