Green Real Estate: High Performance Homes ? GreenDream - The ...

Imagine you had some great products to sell. They were the best available in terms of value and longevity. They helped protect people?s health and improved their quality of life. They were so good that the people who actually found out about them agreed to buy as many as you could make for the price you were asking. Sounds like a great scenario right?

Now add one little twist. The sales could not go through without the agreement of a third party who, unfortunately, did not understand the value of your product. They had simply not been trained to value the features that made your products so desirable. Your customers went away frustrated. You lost sales ? perhaps even your business.

Green Home Market Needs Education

Unfortunately, this describes the market for green homes in the U.S. over the last several years. Some major builders have had a very difficult time closing on new, high-performance homes because of one thing: A lack of education about the true value of their products.

Customers had found these green homes, liked them and were ready to buy. The appraisal / lending process did not recognize the value of super-efficient building practices, solar power, healthy indoor air quality, high-efficiency lighting and appliances, and low energy bills. The end result was unfortunate for the builders, the potential homeowners and the greater community.

The issue goes even deeper. The entire industry has some catching-up to do. Smart, progressive builders need equally smart realtors, appraisers, underwriters and others in the financial process, because each plays a role in acknowledging the true value of a home. Only then will savvy home buyers have the choices they are demanding in ever-increasing numbers.

Enter Annette Bubak. She is the powerhouse at the helm of the Green Alliance and has done more to promote Energy Star homes in Southern Nevada than anyone I know. We have the highest market penetration of Energy Star homes in the country thanks in large part to her efforts. She believes that education is the key and fortunately for the rest of us, puts her belief into practice. Events like GREENFest and previous high-quality training events for realtors and appraisers would not have happened without her.

High Performance Home Symposium

The really good news is that Southern Nevada?s real estate professionals have another opportunity to take it to the next level on Wednesday, March 13, 2013 by attending the High Performance Home Symposium. This full day event will feature key speakers and presentations on topics such as: the value of being a GREEN Designated Realtor; the latest trends in high-performance homes along with financing tools and appraisal techniques; greening the Multiple Listing Service (MLS); marketing green homes; and the latest information on rebate and incentive programs.

This is a premier event for real estate professionals, appraisers and anyone else involved in building, selling or financing homes. Produced by the Green Alliance and the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR) Green Committee, the event is open to all. GLVAR members get a small discount but the full price for an entire day of valuable education is only $30 so there is no reason to miss it. NV Energy is even sponsoring the first 100 registrants. You can call Annette Bubak at 702-400-2428 to register or you can download the High Performance Home Symposium Flyer (PDF).

If you are simply a mere homeowner, I?ll bet you know at least one realtor, appraiser, lender or home builder who would love to know about this event. Help spread the word as we accelerate the market for green, healthy, efficient homes in Nevada.

Green Tech Festival at CSN

Also, I want to make sure you know about the 3^rd Annual Green Tech Festival at CSN (West Charleston campus) on Saturday, March 2^nd, 2013. The full day event will include speakers and vendors at the forefront of the green movement. Guest speakers include Rob Mrowka of the Center for Biological Diversity and Launce Rake, long-time environmental advocate and reporter extraordinaire. I will be part of the Greening Homes panel at 11 AM. Visit our Green Calendar for more information, including a link to register for a free lunch.

Green Tech Festival: CSN map (park in the southeast part of the lot near building K (PDF)

Source: http://greendream.biz/2013/02/green-real-estate-in-nevada/

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Indiana Mega-Church Faces New Foreclosure Lawsuit

One of the nation?s largest mega-churches is facing another foreclosure challenge.

NWTimes.com reports that the Munster, Ind.-based Family Christian Center, the state's largest mega-church and one of the nation's 20 largest Christian denominations, is the subject of a mortgage foreclosure case filed in Lake Superior Court by the First National Bank of Illinois. The bank's lawsuit targets the church, Senior Pastor Steve Munsey, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Sutton Place Condominiums relating to four condos in Munster - the IRS and the condominiums were included because they both filed liens against the Family Christian Center.

In its lawsuit, the bank charges that the Family Christian Center owes $604,447.02, which includes late charges and fees. Furthermore, court records show that the church owes Sutton Place $5,700 in unpaid association dues, while the IRS has two outstanding federal tax liens against the church totaling $53,790.34.

The new foreclosure lawsuit is the latest against the church, which was sued in 2011 by the California-based Evangelical Christian Credit Union after the church defaulted on the mortgage for its worship center; that case still is pending. Munsey, who is also a regular on the internationally broadcast "This is Your Day" television show, only informed his congregation of the 2011 lawsuit in the summer of 2012, explaining that he did not speak up earlier because he "really didn't know what to do but trust God."

(Editor's note: for more insight on the unique mortgage problems involving faith-based organizations, please read our article "When Churches Face Foreclosure.")

Source: http://www.mortgageorb.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.13357

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Kanye West to Kim Kardashian: Keep Me Off Reality TV!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/kanye-west-to-kim-kardashian-keep-me-off-reality-tv/

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Surgery shows promise in treating persistent heartburn

Ring-shaped device around esophagus prevents acid reflux in most patients

By Nathan Seppa

Web edition: February 20, 2013

A small ring of magnets cinched around the bottom of the esophagus can prevent acid reflux in many people. Eighty-six of 100 patients with persistent reflux who had the device surgically implanted no longer needed heartburn medications one year later, researchers report in the Feb. 21 New England Journal of Medicine.

?This is very encouraging,? says Peter Kahrilas, a gastroenterologist at the Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago who wasn?t part of the research. He says that for reflux disease, the magnet-laden ring is ?the most promising device that has been introduced in a long time, if not ever.?

While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the device for reflux in March 2012, scientists are still monitoring its long-term safety and effectiveness in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD. Chronic GERD can lead to esophageal scarring and a condition marked by abnormal cell growth called Barrett?s esophagus, which increases the risk of an esophageal cancer called adenocarcinoma. In the United States, nearly 18,000 people each year develop some form of esophageal cancer.

Medicines to treat GERD aim to neutralize acid in the stomach or limit its production. But they don?t address the anatomical problem at the core of acid reflux: the defective sphincter valve between the esophagus and the stomach that allows some of the stomach?s acidic digestive juices to backflow into the esophagus.

The device is an expandable ring of titanium beads with magnetic cores that looks like a tiny bracelet. A surgeon clips it around the bottom of the esophagus to close it off where it enters the stomach. The ring of magnets pulls inward to cinch the tube closed but can expand to allow food to pass downward. It even allows a person to belch as needed.

The high success rate in patients continued over three years, says study coauthor Robert Ganz, a gastroenterologist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. The patients in the study who did continue to need heartburn medications decreased their doses. Also, the pH level of the lower esophagus, where acid has no business being, normalized in most patients after the ring was installed.

But six patients experienced pain, vomiting and difficulty swallowing and ultimately had the device removed. Two-thirds of the entire group reported some difficulty swallowing just after the ring was put in place, but this rate fell to 11 percent one year after surgery and 4 percent at three years.

Torax Medical of Shoreview, Minn., makes the device and markets it as LINX. Doctors at various hospitals have implanted a few hundred of the devices so far, the study authors note.

But questions remain, Kahrilas says. The study had no control group getting other treatment for comparison. Also, the participants were not a random sampling of GERD patients. While all were faring poorly on standard medications, the group excluded anyone who was obese, had advanced inflammation of the esophagus or had a large hiatal hernia, a bulge in the stomach that is commonly associated with GERD.

Kahrilas says further tests will be necessary to determine who the optimal patients would be, particularly when the device is stacked up against medications that curb acid production. That includes proton pump inhibitors sold under brand names such as Prilosec, Nexium and Aciphex. These drugs are effective, but scientists have questioned their long-term safety (SN: 12/04/10, p. 30).

The Torax website doesn?t say how much the device and its installation cost, but Medicare reimburses another esophageal sphincter valve surgery called fundoplication ? an operation with a higher rate of side effects.

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/348410/title/Surgery_shows_promise_in_treating_persistent_heartburn

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Bloggers: Blogging For Need vs. For Greed - web design Singapore

Editor?s note: This article is contributed by Jedi (J-e-d-d-y) Nyachiro, an Internet based entrepreneur living in Canada and founder of ThemeTemplateReviews.com, a website that helps both entrepreneurs and small business owners find the right tools to put together successful websites. You can follow Jedi on Twitter.

Are you thinking about starting a blog right now or in the near future? Well, what?s taking you so long?Jokes aside, Its important to know your reasons for starting your own blog. There are millions of blogs out there, However just because there are lots of them, it doesn?t mean that each and every blog is doing well financially.

It?s common knowledge that you can make money blogging, however do not allow greed to overshadow your main purpose. Greed can ultimately lead to your site?s downfall if you are not careful.

(Image source: Fotolia)

You?ll need to consider the skills you have that will help you be an asset to the online world of blogging. You don?t have to be a deep thinker, an amazing writer or a fountain of endless ideas.

The building blocks of any successful blog is to have useful and interesting content, and the ability to provide information and content that other people need and are looking for.

Recommended Reading: Popular But Bad Blogging Advice

Early beginnings

For whatever reasons you have for starting a blog, the motivation varies from person to person. In the beginning people started blogs mainly because the concept was still very new.

Competition was scarce and readers were hungry for materials, so it was easy to gather a fanbase fairly early in the game. Once blogging platforms became more accessible to the general public, just about anyone can get a blog up and running in minutes.

(Image source: Fotolia)

The Rush Begins

All of a sudden everybody was writing and reading blogs, and online dairies start popping up. As the number of blogs keep rising, advertising agencies started coming in, asking for ad space in well-read blogs. More bloggers starting writing and more requests for ad space came rolling in.

In time, every square inch of the Internet real estate was covered with ads and banners.

Impacts of blogging for ads

Blogging suddenly became a great source of income and everyoen wanted in. This lead many things happening, include:

Cheating

This capitalistic view of the Internet led many people to do whatever it is they had to do in order to play the system and earn more money from ad revenue. This gave rise to the Black Hat SEO as many shady individuals started creating lots of blogs and placing identical content across blogs in order to attempt to attract more traffic and get more ad space.

Fake Meta-Tags

Lots of meta-tags became filled with popular search terms regardless of whether they were related to the blog?s content or not. Content became virtually unreadable and forced, as many people take to stuffing keywords into their blog posts, forgoing grammar, spelling, accurate and useful information.

Rise of Content Mills

To work a content mill is the practice of paying writers low fees to generate tons of content to push a blog site to the top of the search engine results. These articles are usually not high-quality and contains a lot of keywords to help push the rankings higher up. It would have worked if Google wasn?t paying attention.

Recommended Reading: Bloggers: 10 SEO Mistakes You Should Avoid

Policing the blogs

Google is the number one search engine in the world. To get on Google?s bad side is to ask for an eviction notice. Consider Google the landlord on the Internet. If you are always breaking house rules, drumming up a bad reputation for yourself, even if your landlord cannot evict you, they can use other ways to make your life harder, such as by increaing your rent when it comes the time to renew your lease.

Google does not have a grudge against individuals who have banner-riddled websites, or irrelevant meta tags. They are just looking out for the quality of their own product. High-ranking, low-quality websites undermine the effectiveness of Google as a search engine. It?s time to wrestle back some control.

Of Pandas and Penguins

A few tweaks of the Google algorithm, and with constant updates, once again everyone is able to gain access to useful information via the search engine. If your site makes money with shady practices such as buying links and duplicating content, Google will make sure you do not turn up anywhere. If however your contents are useful and are worth reading, Google has every reason to push up the rankings.

for a quick Buck

If you?re starting a blog for the sole purpose of making money, then you should take a step back and re-evaluate your priorities because blogs don?t automatically generate you a nice income. It requires a lot of hard work, time and effort. Compared one-for-one with a 9-to-5 job, managing a blog would give you slower and lower returns.

Check Out: 20 Reasons To Say ?No? To Freelancing

(Image source: Fotolia)

And that?s when you may start blogging for ads instead of blogging for your passion, or enlist the help of black hat SEO and other shady techniquest, or worst still, quit! Truth be told, if you want a six-figure income, working from the comforts of home, you?re better off buying a lottery ticket.

This May Help: Beginner?s Guide To SEO: Best Practices (Part 1)

Conclusion

You need a lot of patience and resilience to avoid turning over to the dark side and losing out to your greed. Provide something of value, build a loyal readership base and your blog will grow. When that happens, the money will come.

Source: http://www.ipixel.com.sg/blog/web-design/bloggers-blogging-for-need-vs-for-greed/

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Pentagon issues furlough notice as ?sequester? budget cuts loom (Washington Post)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/286276992?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Square's Business in a Box Is an One-Stop Startup Kit

Square's quest for small business domination continues in the form of Business in a Box, a convenient, all-in-one package that intends to get small businesses up, running, and using as many Square products as possible. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Wp5CDzPOi0A/squares-business-in-a-box-is-an-one+stop-startup-kit

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Content Marketing Skills: 50 Things Every Content Marketer Should ...

By Elisa Gabbert February 19, 2013 Posted In: Copywriting Comments: 6

Fancy yourself a content marketer, or want to become one? Here?s a big fat list of the content marketing skills and tactics you should know before you apply for that content marketer job or update the title on your business cards.

1. Good grammar and proper use of punctuation ? Hopefully you learned this in school. If you weren?t paying any attention, it?s not too late. You can pick up a lot just from reading voraciously ? like how the mermaid in Splash learned English from watching TV. I also recommend picking up a basic writing manual, because it would be very difficult to intuit all the finer points of grammar and punctuation through intuition. You?ll feel nice and superior once you know the difference between a hyphen, an en-dash, and an em-dash.
2. The difference between grammar and style ? A lot of choices you make when writing aren?t technically about grammar but what editors call ?style? ? and I don?t mean whether your shoes match your belt. A ?style guide? is a set of conventions that publishers agree to use for consistency?s sake. Most newspapers adhere to AP style while most book publishers adhere to Chicago style. Unfortunately, a lot of web publishers skip this step, part of the reason why many websites and blogs appear less than completely professional. If you?re serious about content marketing, make sure there?s someone on your team who understands the grammar/style distinction. Ideally, you?ll create your own style guide for internal use. An example of a style choice is whether you hyphenate ?email? ? for years, ?e-mail? was the usual standard, but it?s now most commonly written without the hyphen.
3. How to create an outline ? Good fences make good neighbors, and good outlines make good papers. It?s one of the secrets of good writers. Start with structure and build out from there.
4. How to write concisely ? A new book called How to Not Write Bad (see what he did there?) by Ben Yagoda shows an example of a needless circumlocution: ?The criteria that made this site able to be nominated are because of the uniqueness of the content it possesses.? Yagoda rewrites this statement as: ?The site has excellent content.? Fluffing up your point with extra and longer words is a classic student paper move. It only has the effect of making you appear underconfident in your opinions. State what you mean as clearly and simply as possible (which is not to say there?s no room for personality in your content ? see #4).
5. How to write in your own voice ? Everyone talks in their own voice without thinking, but many people find it difficult to write in that voice. Though some types of content require a sort of generic, professional uber-voice, your blogging and social media efforts will benefit from showing some of your real personality. Don?t write sentences you would be embarrassed to say out loud.
6. The difference between concision and saying too little ? There?s a persistent myth that web readers are lazy and won?t read long content. We?ve found the opposite to be true ? the longer our content, the better our engagement metrics across the board (page views, shares, time on page, comments, etc.). So don?t use ?concision? as an excuse for dull writing that lacks detail and analysis.
7. How to write scannable content ? That said, not everyone will want to read every word on the page, so use lists, bullet points, subheads, boldface, highlighting, pop-out quotes and other formatting tricks that make your content easy to scan for high-level takeaways. Another good trick for long-form content: Create a table of contents with jump links so readers can skip right to the part they?re interested in and ignore the rest.
8. HTML ? Most content management platforms have a WYSIWYG editor ? i.e., ?what you see is what you get.? That means they work like a Word document, with buttons to help you format your text, insert images, etc. But no WYSIWYG editor works perfectly every time, and you?ll find it incredibly useful to be able to look at the source code and fiddle around to get your formatting right. Bonus points if you can hand-code a table.
9. How to do keyword research ? SEO keywords are still the cornerstone of content marketing. Familiarize yourself with some basic keyword tools and start using them regularly. I use Google?s tool and our own Free Keyword Tool as basic starting points, then delve into others for special circumstances.
10. How to find and use long-tail keywords ? Keyword tools won?t always provide you with a lot of long-tail keyword options. Here are nine ways to find those longer, more specific niche terms.

    
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11. The three types of search queries ? Different types of search queries reveal different intent and demand different types of content. Know the three main types: informational, navigational, and transactional.
12. How to align content types with marketing goals ? Some types of content drive lots of traffic. Others may get fewer views, but be better at converting new leads or customers. Know what types of content are more likely to help you meet your business goals.
13. On-page optimization basics ? I.e., where to put those keywords. Title and URL are no brainers. Then there?s subheads, images, your meta description, etc. ? and obviously your keyword should be peppered throughout the body of the text if it?s actually relevant to the content. SEOmoz has a good analysis of on-page optimization factors to help you aim for the perfectly optimized page.
14. The anatomy of a SERP ? You should know what a basic Google SERP looks like depending on search query type and be able to recognize anomalies, changes, and possible tests. What queries trigger universal results or the 7-result SERP? How much real estate is given to ads ? above the organic results, on the right-hand side or even below the results? Are there product listing ads or just text ads? What queries trigger the Knowledge Graph?
15. The difference between page title and H1 ? Each page on your site can effectively have two titles. You can choose to make these the same or vary them.
16. How to write a super clickable, shareable title ? The viral marketing experts at Upworthy recommend writing 25 titles (you read that right, 25) for each piece of content to help you hit upon true title genius. Because the first 24 might suck.
17. How to write formulaic titles ? Not every page on your site needs to be hyper-shareable. Product pages, for example, should stick to the basics, conveying maximum information while still being SEO-friendly. By hitting upon a title tag formula, you can optimize this high-volume pages in a scalable way.
18. The character/pixel limits for titles and meta descriptions ? Up until recently, the thinking was that titles could be no longer than 70 characters, or Google will truncate them or, on occasion, substitute a completely different title (yay). Recent experiments suggest that characters per se are not the limiting factor, but pixels. (If you don't feel like counting pixels, 70 chars is still a good rough guideline.) Your meta description should be between 150 and 160 characters.
19. How to write a meta description ? Aside from knowing the character limit, know the purpose of this text. Google says it can?t and won?t affect your rankings, but since it might show up in the search results, it should accurately describe your content as well as ?sell? it to convince them to click. It should be as relevant and compelling as a PPC ad. Also: Don?t use quotation marks in your meta description ? a quote will make Google think your description is over before it is.
20. How to optimize images ? Image search traffic, the other white meat! Know how to use keywords in your image file names and alt text in order to rank in Google image search.

    
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21. When to link ? and when not to ? Links are a beautifully subtle, gently suggestive way to point readers to more information on related topics within your content. Use internal linking to keep readers on your site and foster flow among your various pages. Use external linking when it makes more sense to reference an outside source. Don?t overuse either or you?ll sacrifice readability, and piss Google off in the process.
22. The importance of inbound links ? Links still matter, yes they do, we like links and you should too. Even if your team separates the content marketing and SEO roles, every web marketer should understand why links matter ? and the kind of content that earns them.
23. How to write an outreach email ? If your content marketing mojo is strong, you?ll get links without even asking for them. But it takes a while to get into that upper echelon. Initially, you?ll need to go out and seek the links. One way to do this is by writing an outreach email to potentially interested linking parties. After all, people can?t link to your content if they don?t know it exists. And the goal here is actually twofold ? you?ll be building relationships at the same time.
24. How to use Google Alerts ? Set up a Google Alert so you?ll know when people talk about you, your company, or your products, etc. on the web. You can also use Google Alerts to follow a ?beat? ? for example if you plan to cover some industry news announcement, you can keep up with the evolving story and the coverage elsewhere. (Note that in my experience, Google Alerts don?t work very well for low-volume queries.)
25. How to turn citations into links ? If a site mentions your brand or cites your content without linking, reach out and ask them to provide a link. It?s one of the easiest forms of link building.
26. How to make your content easily shareable ? You?ll get more social shares (on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Pinterest, what-have-you) if you make it very easy for readers to share your stuff. Install social buttons and widgets that minimize the work for your visitors.
27. How to monitor brand mentions on social media ? Don?t sign in to Twitter to tweet out your new content, then promptly sign out and never look at it again. Ugh! If you?re going to use social platforms to promote your content, make sure you?re also keeping up with conversations there, responding to questions and feedback, and occasionally promoting other people, content, and brands as well. In other words, be human.
28. How to respond to a complaint ? If someone leaves a nasty review or flames you on social media, don?t get mad and don?t get defensive (at least not publicly).
29. How to moderate and respond to blog comments ? This seems more basic than basic but a lot of content marketers get this wrong. If you never respond to comments, it gives the impression that you don?t care whether people leave them or not. And please don?t leave obvious spam comments under your posts. Major turnoff.
30. When to update old content ? If you?re still getting search traffic to an old piece of content that is no longer accurate or up-to-date, take the time to update the content, or you?re wasting that traffic.
31. The importance of anchor text ? Anchor text ? the text that you make clickable when hyperlinking ? is powerful stuff. You can even see it in action with less competitive queries. But tread carefully ? many experts believe that anchor text is getting less valuable as a signal, and over-optimized anchor text could even get you flagged as a web spammer.
32. The importance of information architecture ? It may not be part of your job to define the structure of your website, but at the very least you should understand why a well-organized information architecture is key for good SEO and usability.
33. How to use Google Analytics ? When Larry interviews SEO candidates, he asks them to sign into their Google Analytics account and poke around. This shows two things: a) how their site or blog is doing (which demonstrates if they can apply SEO) and b) if they know their way around the application (which demonstrates how much time they spend in Analytics). Don?t just create content; track and measure so you know what works and what you should do more/less of in the future.
34. How and when to leverage rich snippets ? Rich snippets are the organic SEO equivalent of ad extensions in AdWords. They benefit some types of businesses more than others. For example, e-commerce companies should make use of the reviews and ratings snippets. Here is a list of the types of rich snippets that Google offers.
35. How to set up author markup ? Specifically, as a content marketer, you should know how to take advantage of the author markup snippet so that your author photo shows up in the SERPs, which builds authority and can have a big effect on your click-through rate. Unfortunately (IMO) you?ll need a Google+ account to do this.
36. How to use the structured data testing tool ? Use this tool to test how your snippets/microdata appear in search results.

    
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37. How to set up an A/B test ? A/B testing isn?t just for ads and subject lines. You can test titles, layouts, images, all kinds of marvelous things that could affect the way people interact with your content. There are some pretty robust software options out there for A/B and multivariate testing, but the easiest (and free-est) way to get started is with Google Analytics Content Experiments (formerly Website Optimizer).
38. How to write a press release ? These are usually pretty boring and formulaic, to tell you the truth, but nonetheless you should know how to write professionally about a corporate news announcement. Know what information to include in a press release and how to set the right tone.
39. How to ?spin? an article from different angles ? There?s always more than one way to skin a cat and spin a story. I?m not talkin? about old-school, spammy-crappy, no-value article spinning. I?m talking about re-writing an article or other piece of content with a different focus, so it has broader appeal to more audiences. Just make sure the different articles are truly unique with minimal overlap.
40. How to repurpose content in other formats ? Similarly, know how to change the format of a piece of content to get more leverage out of it, without changing the ?angle? per se. Turn a long blog post or series of blog posts into an e-book or guide that users can download as a PDF. Or turn the data in an infographic (visual content) into a written, readable article.
41. How to pitch a story ? You?ll occasionally want to publish content somewhere other than your own site, to build your audience, expand reach as well as grow your link profile. Learn how to write a tactful pitch letter that demonstrates the value you can provide with a contributed piece of content.
42. How to build a slide deck ? As far as I?m concerned, PowerPoint and Excel are necessary evils. As a writer, I?d always rather work in a good ol? Word doc, but there are situations where you?ll need to present information in a different way. Webinars and online courses, for example, require slide decks. This presentation has some ideas for making better-looking slides:
43. How to find questions to answer with your content ? Common questions make great starting points for content. Here are three ways to find questions to answer.
44. How to do an interview ? It?s hard to get good answers if you don?t know how to ask good questions. Once you learn that skill, interviewing experts with a higher profile and larger network than you can be a great way to drive traffic and links and attract some attention. Another smart tactic is the group interview (AKA crowdsourcing).
45. What makes a good infographic ? Like them or not, infographics are a type of content and as a content marketer, you should know your way around one. Not every kind of information lends itself to a visual presentation, but some data does, and when executed well, infographics make awesome linkbait.
46. What makes a good video ? It?s often easier to rank for a competitive keyword with a video than with traditional written content, because fewer people are doing video. ?How to? keywords often lend themselves to videos, for example.
47. When to outsource content creation ? Your time is worth something, and it won?t always be cost-effective for you to handle every aspect of a content marketing project. Consider outsourcing when you want to create a type of content that?s not in your area of expertise. For example, I don?t know how to edit a video or execute complex design work ? but I can write the script or do the research.
48. How to do a competitive content analysis ? Before tackling a competitive keyword space, see who and what is already ranking. What do their backlink profiles look like? Do you have a hope and prayer of competing? How can your content be more awesome?
49. How to create and maintain an editorial calendar ? The bigger your site, goals, and team, the more likely it is that you?ll need an editorial calendar to keep things running smoothly and on schedule. Here are some of the pros and cons plus mistakes to avoid when creating an editorial calendar.
50. How to troubleshoot a traffic loss ? If a previously reliable piece of content suddenly falls off a Google cliff due to algorithmic changes, know how to troubleshoot and recover.

What did I miss? Content marketers, let me know in the comments!

Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/02/19/content-marketing-skills

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Survey Says: 10% Of Netflix Subscribers Have Streamed House Of ...

It?s been a little more than two weeks since Netflix released its long-awaited original series House of Cards to the public. The entire first season of the show, which stars Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright and was produced by David Fincher, was released at once, leading many subscribers to binge-watch over the first few weeks.

Netflix has been mum on viewership of House of Cards, preferring so far not to break out the number of subscribers who have watched it or how many hours they?ve watched. The company has said, however, that?the program is its most-watched show. And research from financial services firm Cowen and Company suggests that Netflix?s original programming is already starting to pay dividends for the streaming service.

Cowen surveyed 1,200 people last week, of which about 28 percent were paying Netflix subscribers, and another 18 percent had access to a Netflix streaming account. Of those, about 10 percent had watched House of Cards during the first few weeks it was available. And they?re not just watching one episode ? on average, Netflix viewers had streamed an average of six episodes of the new original series.

Viewers generally rated the series well, with 80 percent saying it was ?good? or ?exceptional.? Viewers also liked Netflix making all 13 episodes of the first season available at the same time. According to the survey, 90 percent viewed that release plan positively, as they gobbled up multiple episodes per viewing session.

The release schedule and the quality of the show could have a positive effect on Netflix subscriber retention, according to the survey. About 86 percent of those surveyed said they would be less likely to cancel after viewing House of Cards. And the new original programming could bring in more subscribers. Thirty-four percent of all those surveyed said they were aware of Netflix?s original programming plans. The largest percentage were aware of Netflix?s plans to bring back Arrested Development, with another 19 percent of everyone surveyed aware of House of Cards.

The survey also found that current subscribers watch about 6.5 hours of content a week on about 2.5 devices per account. Approximately 23 percent of Netflix subscribers said they had cancelled their cable or satellite TV service. Those who had cancelled watched about 8.5 hours of content on average.

With more than 23.6 million members in the United States and Canada, Netflix, Inc. is the world?s leading Internet subscription service for enjoying movies and TV shows. For $7.99 a month, Netflix members in the U.S. can instantly watch unlimited movies and TV episodes streaming right to their TVs and computers and can receive unlimited DVDs delivered quickly to their homes. In Canada, streaming unlimited movies and TV shows from Netflix is available for $7.99 a month. There are...

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Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/19/netflix-house-of-cards-survey/

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How to file for bankruptcy in Australia | Finance Study

Are you an Australia citizen or a resident facing financial difficulties that demand you to declare yourself bankrupt? Well, then you need some basic bankruptcy law information to guide you on how to do it. Before you jump both legs into making this worthwhile decision that has the capacity to affect your future financial obligations even further. Bankruptcy is a consideration made if you are not in a position to settle your liabilities with your currently owned assets. Nevertheless, before you think of declaring yourself bankrupt you need to put in mind the implications it has in your future life.

Australian residents experience bankruptcy claim differently, it deviates slightly from how it is done elsewhere in the world. For instance, in Australia a creditor has the capacity to lodge a petition demanding that a certain debtor be declared bankrupt. Despite, the technique used the effect and procedure of placing a claim is barely the same. The 1996 act of parliament in Australia informs the procedure and the legislation that revolve around bankruptcy in this country. Only persons can become bankrupt, this law excludes companies because they undergo liquidation instead.

Once you consider been declared bankrupt as the cheapest alternative you need to contact the registrar to guide through the procedure of acquiring this status. Australia citizens, residents and registered businessmen are the only persons allowed to file bankruptcy claims if the debt was incurred within the confines of the country.

The person filing the suite to be declared bankrupt has to present a current financial statement, debtor?s petition and an acknowledgement letter to the authorities in this case the Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia. The financial statement must expressly show beyond unreasonable doubt that the debtor is unable to raise the amount owed by the creditor. Usually, if the petition is placed by a creditor the set minimum debt threshold should be $5000. Upon completion of papers verification and approval you can now begin the bankruptcy claim process.

The bankruptcy claim process is systematic. It begins by noting the amount owed to each creditor including their physical addresses. Step two you should indicate your income in terms of how much money you earn including all assets that legally belong to you.

Insolvency trustee agencies are widespread across the country therefore step number three involves contacting your home based insolvency branch. Here you are offered a bankruptcy trustee who will always act as the contact person pending your suite. Lastly, present in person dully filled debtor?s petition and financial statement papers to the Official Receiver. The official Receiver has the mandate to approve or nullify your proposal if it does not meet the criteria identified above. If they accept and approve your petition you are declared bankrupt legally. At this stage your trustee should issue you with a bankruptcy number.

Australian law demand, that one can only remain bankrupt for a maximum period of three years within which you must maintain contact with your trustee constantly. In as such,bankruptcy can take you up to eight years without being discharged if the claim owner does not maintain contacts with the trustee.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2013 at 8:56 am and is filed under Bankruptcy, Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Source: http://financestudy.com.au/2013/02/18/how-to-file-for-bankruptcy-in-australia/

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Fearne Cotton shows off new baby bump trick in Twitter picture ahead of due date

Posted: Monday 18 Feb 2013

Above: Fearne Cotton showed off her baby bump trick on Twitter today

Above: Fearne Cotton is expecting her first baby with boyfriend Jesse Wood

Above: Pregnant Fearne Cotton made these pretty cupcakes on Valentine's Day

WELL she may as well put it to good use.

Fearne Cotton has been showing off her new baby bump tricks on Twitter days ahead of her due date.?

The heavily pregnant Radio 1 presenter made use of her huge belly when she balanced her porridge bowl as she ate breakfast this morning.?

After posing for the cute snap wearing a leopard print cardigan and grey tee, the 31-year-old wrote: "Morning! Look no hands."?

Fearne, who's expecting her first baby with boyfriend Jesse Wood any day now, has been sharing Twitter pictures of her pregnancy hobbies over the last couple of weeks.?

On Valentine's Day, the mum-to-be did some themed baking and posted snaps of her heart decorated cupcakes on the social networking site.?

Days before, she tweeted: "Lord help me. Today I colour coded my books. #nesting."?

Anyone else think she's getting a little bored??

Source: http://new-magazine.co.uk//latestnews/view/48713/Fearne-Cotton-shows-off-new-baby-bump-trick-in-Twitter-picture-ahead-of-due-date-/

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New Android apps worth downloading: Pok?mon TV, Bump update, DIE HARD

If you or your kids are into the cartoon show Pok?mon, we?re about to improve your Monday with Pok?mon TV, today?s leading app worth downloading, which allows users to stream Pok?mon straight to their Android devices. Following that is an update to info-sharing app Bump that lets you share files between your Android device and computer. Lastly we have DIE HARD, a Temple Run-style title meant to promote the new movie A Good Day to Die Hard.

What?s it about? As the name suggests, Pok?mon TV enables you to stream Pok?mon cartoon shows straight to your Android device, wherever you are.

What?s cool? There have been a lot of episodes of various animated versions of the video game Pok?mon over the years, and Pok?mon TV makes them available to users for streaming instantly over a Wi-Fi or cellular Internet connection. You can watch entire episodes of Pok?mon from your device, and the app includes other content like Pok?mon movie trailers and special features.

Who?s it for? For Pok?mon cartoon show fans (who are mostly little kids), this app is a must.

What?s it like? For more streaming videos, TV and movies, try Crackle and Cartoon Network Video.

Bump update (Free)

What?s it about? Bump is an app for sharing contact information and files ? just fill in your info, then ?bump? your Android device against someone else?s to exchange phone numbers, email addresses and photos.

What?s cool? Bump simplifies the sharing process, turning it into a sort of digital handshake, by which you can exchange info with another person through their Android device. It?s not just contact information, either ? Bump will also share photos and videos when you bump devices. The latest update to the app makes it possible to bump files between your smartphone or tablet and your computer, as well.

Who?s it for? If you find yourself networking a lot or just like the freedom to quickly share photos and files with other people (or computers), check out Bump.

What?s it like? There?s a similar premise behind SocialThump, although that app is geared toward sharing social media info. You can also use Sonar to find people you know from the Internet the next time you?re at a convention or similar event.

What?s it about? Last week saw the release of A Good Day to Die Hard, and along with the movie came a game, DIE HARD, which riffs a bit on the Temple Run formula.

What?s cool? DIE HARD successfully borrows from (or maybe rips off) the Temple Run formula by putting players in an over-the-shoulder perspective of protagonist Jack McClane. Just like other runners, your goal is to keep moving while taking corners and dodging obstacles, but DIE HARD adds to the formula by putting a gun in your hand and requiring you to quickly take out enemies before they shoot you. The mixture of fast reflexes and a little bit of tactical strategy successfully helps DIE HARD feel fresh in an overcrowded genre.

Who?s it for? If you like DIE HARD, running games or shooting guys, you?ll like DIE HARD.

What?s it like? You?ll obviously see similarities between DIE HARD and Temple Run; another similar title is TheEndApp.

Download the Appolicious Android app

Source: http://www.androidapps.com/tech/articles/13228-new-android-apps-worth-downloading-pokemon-tv-bump-update-die-hard

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Amazing: Israel treating injured al-Qaida terrorists

Seven men reportedly undergoing treatment in Israel after being injured in Syria are members of the Brigade of Ahfad al-Rasoul, an al-Qaida-affiliated organization, according to informed Middle Eastern security officials.

One of the men is a jihadist from Afghanistan who fought U.S. forces there, the Middle Eastern security officials further revealed.

The Brigade of Ahfad al-Rasoul ? the Grandsons of Prophet ? is now a major part of the Syrian opposition. It recently announcing the formation of a full battalion in an attempt to control Syria?s northern Idlib province.

The Brigade has taken responsibility for scores of attacks against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad?s regime.

The seven men reportedly were wounded Saturday near Israel?s security fence with Syria in the Golan Heights. They were discovered by the Israel Defense Forces on the Syrian side of the border and were brought to Israel?s Ziv Hospital in the northern city of Safed, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The newspaper reported the men have been isolated from other patients and are expected to remain hospitalized for one week.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the treatment of the seven wounded men ?exceptional, isolated cases.?

The men?s ties to al-Qaida underscore the deep involvement of jihadist in the Syrian opposition.

The U.S. has been at the forefront of supporting the opposition targeting the Assad regime, although the Obama administration has denied it has supplied any weapons to the Syrian rebels.

More holes in White House denial

The White House denial of supplying arms to the al-Qaida-saturated Syrian rebels may be somewhat more difficult for some to swallow now that it has been revealed the arms-to-rebels plan was endorsed by the leaders of the CIA, Pentagon and State Department.

If, indeed, President Obama rejected the arms plan, as reported earlier by the New York Times, it would mean the White House went against the recommendations of outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta; Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; and then-CIA Director David Petraeus.

The plan was said to have been generated by Petraeus and Clinton.

During Senate hearings on Benghazi last week, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., asked Panetta and Dempsey whether they had supported a plan ?that we provide weapons to the resistance in Syria.?

?We do,? Panetta replied.

?You did support that?? McCain asked again.

?We did,? added Dempsey, who was sitting next to Panetta.

Neither Dempsey nor Panetta elaborated on their positions.

Panetta?s comments:

The Minister of State for Agriculture & Food Processing Industries, Shri Tariq Anwar releasing a book at the 84th Annual General Meeting of ICAR, in New Delhi on February 18, 2013. The Union Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Shri Sha

The Minister of State for Agriculture & Food Processing Industries, Shri Tariq Anwar releasing a book at the 84th Annual General Meeting of ICAR, in New Delhi on February 18, 2013. The Union Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Shri Sharad Pawar is also seen.

Photo no.CNR - 48407

Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/phsmall.asp?phid=45526

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The real unemployment (Powerlineblog)

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Police: 7 foreigners kidnapped in north Nigeria

Map locates kidnapping, Nigeria

Map locates kidnapping, Nigeria

BAUCHI, Nigeria (AP) ? Gunmen attacked a camp for a construction company in rural northern Nigeria, killing a guard and kidnapping seven foreign workers from Britain, Greece, Italy, Lebanon and the Philippines, authorities said Sunday, in the biggest kidnapping yet in a region under attack by Islamic extremists.

The attack Saturday night happened in Jama'are, a town in Bauchi state. There, the gunmen first attacked a local prison, burning two police trucks, Bauchi state police spokesman Hassan Muhammed told The Associated Press.

The gunmen then targeted a workers' camp for Lebanese construction company Setraco, which is building a road in the area, Muhammed said. The gunmen shot dead a guard at the camp before kidnapping the foreign workers, the spokesman said.

"The gunmen came with explosives, which they used to break some areas," Muhammed said. He did not elaborate and an AP journalist could not immediately reach the town, which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the state capital, Bauchi.

One British citizen, one Greek, one Italian, three Lebanese and one Filipino were kidnapped, said Adamu Aliyu, the chairman of the local government area that encompasses Jama'are. He said one of the hostages was a woman, while the rest were men. He initially had said four of the hostages were Lebanese. He blamed the confusion on incorrect information he received from his staff.

Italian news agency ANSA later said authorities confirmed an Italian had been kidnapped. It quoted Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi saying the safety of the hostage must be given "absolute priority."

Greece confirmed one of its citizens was abducted. A statement from Greece's foreign ministry said authorities had a plane on standby to send investigators to Nigeria and that its foreign minister had been in contact with Terzi.

"Two Greek police officers, liaisons in Greece's Nigerian Embassy, are in contact with their colleagues of the countries involved and the Nigerian authorities," the statement said.

Britain's Foreign Office said Sunday it was looking into the kidnappings.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the abductions, though Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north has been under attack by the radical Islamic sect known as Boko Haram in the last year and a half. The country's weak central government has been unable to stop the group's bloody guerrilla campaign of shootings and bombings. The sect is blamed for killing at least 792 people in 2012 alone, according to an AP count.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north, has demanded the release of all its captive members and called for strict Shariah law to be implemented across the entire country. The sect has killed both Christians and Muslims, as well as soldiers and security forces.

The group, which speaks to journalists in telephone conference calls at times of its choosing, could not be immediately reached for comment Sunday.

Foreigners, long abducted by militant groups and criminal gangs for ransom in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta, have become increasingly targeted in Nigeria's north as the violence has grown. However, abductions of foreigners in the north have seen hostages regularly killed.

In May, gunmen in Kaduna state shot and killed a Lebanese and a Nigerian construction worker, while kidnapping another Lebanese employee. Later that month, kidnappers shot a German hostage dead during a rescue operation.

Gunmen who authorities say have links to Boko Haram also kidnapped an Italian and a British man last year in northern Kebbi State who were later killed during a rescue operation by Nigerian soldiers backed up by British special forces. The sect later denied taking part in that abduction, which left Italian authorities angry that the nation was not consulted before the failed rescue attempt.

In December, more than 30 attackers stormed a house in the northern Nigeria state of Kaduna, killing two and kidnapping a French engineer working on a renewable energy project.

Chinese construction workers also have been killed by gunmen around Maiduguri, the northeastern city in Nigeria where Boko Haram began.

In the most recent attack, assailants attacked North Korean doctors working for a hospital in Yobe state, stabbing two to death and beheading a third. No group claimed responsibility.

Foreign embassies in Nigeria have issued travel warnings regarding northern Nigeria for months. Worries about abductions have increased in recent weeks with the French military intervention in Mali, as its troops and Malian soldiers try to root out Islamic fighters who took over that nation's north in the months following a military coup. Last week, the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, put out a warning following the killings of polio workers in the northern city of Kano and the killing of the North Korean doctors.

"The security situation in some parts of Nigeria remains fluid and unpredictable," the embassy said.

___

Jon Gambrell reported from Johannesburg. Associated Press writers Cassandra Vinograd in London, Victor Simpson in Rome and Demetris Nellas in Athens, Greece, contributed to this report.

___

Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-17-Nigeria-Violence/id-0666579b450c473a83af7ea420dd697c

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NBA All-Star Weekend: Houston February 15, 16, 16, 2013

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In wake of Russian meteor, a scramble for new windows

The meteor that exploded in Russia's frozen Chelyabinsk region Friday blew out windows in more than 4,000 buildings. Replacement is a top priority for a small army of recovery workers.

By Laura Mills,?Associated Press / February 16, 2013

A small army of workers set to work Saturday to replace the estimated 200,000 square meters (50 acres) of windows shattered by the shock wave from a?meteor?that exploded over Russia's Chelyabinsk region.

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The astonishing Friday morning event blew out windows in more than 4,000 buildings in the region, mostly in the capital city of the same name and injured some 1,200 people, largely with cuts from the flying glass.

Fifteen of the injured remained hospitalized on Saturday, one of them in a coma, the regional health ministry said, according to the Interfax news agency.

Regional governor Mikhail Yurevich on Saturday said damage from the high-altitude explosion ? estimated to have the force of 20 atomic bombs ? is estimated at 1 billion rubles ($33 million). He promised to have all the broken windows replaced within a week.

But that is a long wait in a frigid region. The midday temperature in Chelyabinsk was minus-12 C (10 degrees F.), and for many the immediate task was to put up plastic sheeting and boards on shattered residential windows.

More than 24,000 people, including volunteers, have mobilized in the region to cover windows, gather warm clothes, and food and make other relief efforts, the regional governor's office said. Crews from glass companies in adjacent regions were being flown in.

In the town of Chebarkul, 50 miles west of Chelyabinsk city, divers explored the bottom of an ice-crusted lake looking for?meteor?fragments believed to have fallen there, leaving a 20-ft.-wide hole. Emergency Ministry spokeswoman Irina Rossius told Russian news agencies the search hadn't found anything.

Police kept a small crowd of curious onlookers from venturing out onto the icy lake, where a tent was set up for the divers.

Many of them were still trying to process the memories of the strange day they'd lived through.

Valery Fomichov said he had been out for a run when the?meteor?streaked across the sky shortly after sunrise.

"I glanced up and saw a glowing dot in the west. And it got bigger and bigger, like a soccer ball, until it became blindingly white and I turned away," he said.

In a local church, clergyman Sexton Sergei sought to derive a larger lesson.

"Perhaps God was giving a kind of sign, so that people don't simply think about their own trifles on earth, but rather look to the heavens once in a while."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/bCoqY7Gc7BU/In-wake-of-Russian-meteor-a-scramble-for-new-windows

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Thousands using GPS jammers on UK roads pose risks, say experts ...

Home
> Science & Technology, Surveillance, UK > Thousands using GPS jammers on UK roads pose risks, say experts ~?Guardian

by?Charles Arthur

Thousands of people in the UK are using ?GPS?jammers? that plug into car cigarette lighters and can stop tracking systems used to detect stolen cars, monitor vehicle use or stop drivers working overlong hours, according to new findings from experts.

That could lead to the danger of overtired lorry drivers staying on the roads despite the presence of monitoring equipment, and could also pose a threat if vehicles equipped with the jammers were to go on to airport areas near aircraft which rely on GPS (global positioning system) for navigation.

Yet despite the risks posed by the devices ? which are sold over the internet ? it is not illegal to import, sell, buy or possess them. It is an offence only under the Wireless Telegraphy Act to ?knowingly use? such a device to block GPS signals ? though the communications regulator Ofcom is looking to close some of the loopholes.

The growing use of the devices could also torpedo any plans to introduce ?pay as you drive? insurance or road toll systems if the vehicle owner was able to block communications with monitoring systems.

FULL ARTICLE @ THE GUARDIAN

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Source: http://stopmakingsense.org/2013/02/15/thousands-using-gps-jammers-on-uk-roads-pose-risks-say-experts-guardian/

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Planes swoop in to help air pollution satellites

NASA

A NASA research plane flies over a tethered rheostat balloon in Huron, Calif., during a flight to help monitor air quality.

By Becky Oskin
LiveScience

Anyone who's ever driven down Interstate 5 in central California's Kern County knows about the smell. The one that penetrates cars despite closed vents and windows. Wafting from an adjacent cattle ranch, the largest on the West Coast, the well-known odor comes from the ammonia all those cows produce.

California's Central Valley, which spans I-5, regularly has some of the worst air pollution in the United States because of its unfortunate combination of geography and agriculture. It is ringed by mountains that trap bad air like water in a bathtub, and it is lined with fertile soils that produce much of the country's vegetables, fruits, nuts and meat, along with pollutants.

The region's unique pollution profile drew the attention of NASA scientists, who recently sent two research planes on swooping arcs from Bakersfield to Fresno on a mission to improve air-quality monitoring in the United States.

Tight lid traps pollution
The Central Valley bathtub has a shallow lid, the flights revealed, and this contributes to the region's poor air quality. "All of the pollution is confined to a very shallow boundary layer, about 1,500 feet (450 meters) and as shallow as 500 feet (150 m)," said Luke Ziemba, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Langley Research Center. "We would spiral down into this muck and get very clean air above the boundary and very polluted air below."

Farm Sanctuary

A cattle ranch in California's Central Valley.

The region's shallow, thin boundary layer, the lowest layer of the atmosphere, confounds both satellites monitoring the pollutants and the atmospheric models that predict the occurrence of these pollutants, Ziemba said. "Models in the San Joaquin Valley get the composition wrong, and when satellites try to retrieve the properties of the aerosols, it can be difficult," he said.

Ammonia from dairy farms is part of the problem, Ziemba said. The ammonia creates chemical droplets called aerosols that accumulate in the valley's stagnant air. Aerosols and other tiny particles confuse satellites. From space, the instruments can't distinguish between pollution located high in the atmosphere and that found at the surface, where people live.

"Near-surface pollution is one of the most challenging problems for Earth observations from space," said Jim Crawford, the mission's principal investigator. "To look at ground level, you still have to look through the whole atmosphere."

Nor can satellites readily detect the difference between liquid and frozen droplets. "Basically, we have to make an educated guess as to the type of aerosol we're looking at," said David Starr, a NASA project scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center.

Better tracking
To better monitor aerosols and other pollutants, such as ozone?and small particulates, NASA has launched a five-year, $30 million mission called DISCOVER-AQ, for Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality. "The most tortured title in all of our Earth Ventures," said NASA program manager Hal Maring.

DISCOVER-AQ will use the airplane missions to help improve air-quality monitoring on the ground and from space, Crawford said. Researchers will use the information for a planned 2017 pollution-monitoring satellite, called TEMPO. The data will also give scientists the opportunity to compare the view of satellites from space with that from stations on the ground, as well as from aircraft. [Top 10 Craziest Environmental Ideas]

NASA

Two NASA planes tracked pollution in Callifornia's Central Valley in January and February.

"Even in urban areas, there's a fairly sparse (monitoring) network," Crawford said. "What's really happening there is a difficult question to answer. If you could learn to use satellites to diagnose what's happening, we could begin to broaden our understanding of what's driving air quality," he said.

The Central Valley is the second of four stops for the researchers. The first was Baltimore, in 2011, and the next two are Houston and Colorado.

Improving satellites
In the Central Valley, one plane, a P-3B, spiraled in the atmosphere below 15,000 feet (4,500 m), skimming as low as 100 feet (30 m) over local airports to capture pollution levels near the surface. Because the boundary layer was so low, the researchers also launched a tethered balloon to record surface pollutants.

At the same time, a B200 King Air plane flew as high as 26,000 feet (8,000 m). The plane's instruments looked down at the surface like a satellite, measuring particulates and gaseous air pollution along agricultural and traffic corridors.

The flight paths of the two planes passed over air-quality ground stations, as well as underneath a fleet of eight Earth-observing satellites, called the Afternoon Constellation or "A-train," that soar over California every afternoon within 15 minutes of each other. [Satellites Gallery: Science from Above]

"They come over at 1:30 p.m., which is the worst time of day as far as emissions are concerned. Emission are concentrated in the morning, but these satellites were not launched with air quality in mind," Crawford said. "That's what this observing strategy is looking forward to in the future. We hope these experiments make them better."

Reach Becky Oskin at boskin@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @beckyoskin.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/15/16975368-planes-swoop-in-to-help-air-pollution-satellites?lite

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