Maggie Farina's card for her 550 New Avenue Ave. business, ?Maggie's Place,?reads: 'Come and join the world of scrapbooking.' After speaking with Maggie and her customers, it becomes clear that for them, scrapbooking truly is a universe unto itself.
"Most people think they're not creative," Maggie Farina said,?"until they come to scrapbooking." ?
What Is Scrapbooking?
Scrapbooking is anything that you want it to be. You start out with a piece of paper and add photos, other objects, and journaling is a big part of it, too.?
"You have to journal," Maggie said. "It has to be in your own handwriting."
Journaling gives each page a personal touch, which is the point for many.
Maggie added, "It's telling a story about your life."?
A Real Community
"We're there to help each other," Maggie noted of those who attend her classes and scrapbooking sessions.
Classes at Maggie's Place (which is open about every other weekend. Check out her website for a full schedule) include Card Marking, Stamping, Scrapbooking, Papercrafting Techniques, K&Co's SMASH Books and Zentangles.?
A day at Maggie's is affordable, too. "I charge $20 for the whole thing," Maggie said, referring to the regular 10 a.m. - midnight crop sessions.
Speaking with a few of Maggie's loyal customers, it becomes clear that they're a tight-knit clan. "It's a wonderful group of ladies," said Maggie's Place regular Kirsten Wagner.?
Anita Taylor, another enthusiast, noted that she began scrapbooking, "because my mother passed away." Anita created a heritage album and explored the genealogy of her family through scrapbooks.?
Of Maggie's Place specifically, Anita had this to say: "I'll be there forever."
Gold medal favourite Zhang Jike scotched suggestions that new regulations would challenge China's dominance of the Olympic table tennis tournament on Monday with an emphatic opening win.
The world champion from Qingdao outplayed a former Chinese compatriot, Bora Vang, now the world number 71 from Turkey, before dismissing the notion that China will be under more pressure in London.
A rule change restricting each nation to only two players in the singles events means China will be unable to repeat their medal monopoly from Beijing when they swept the board.
But Zhang laughed off the idea that the change could open the door to non-Chinese paddlers.
"I don't think there is more pressure," said Zhang, after his 11-8, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 win. "I am confident that the winner will still be Chinese."
"I don't think the tournament will be lessened because there are only two Chinese players," he added.
Zhang started well against Vang, scoring well with tight little highly spun short serves, and neatly accurate backhand flicks to follow up.
Vang gambled on ambitious attacks and held Zhang to 7-7 in the first game and 6-6 in the second, but he could not stop the favourite getting away from him when it mattered.
In the third game Zhang mixed it up more, occasionally using half distance containing loops, and then switching to fierce forehand attacking topspins behind his serves.
In the fourth game he attacked consistently with beautifully rhythmic forehand loops.
"I think I played well," said Vang. "But I couldn't do more. Everyone knows the Chinese players are very strong."
Zhang may now get a tough fourth round test, as he plays Vladimir Samsonov, the 36-year-old still-effective former world number one from Belarus, with the great reach and adaptable all-round game.
Zhang's team mate, Wang Hao, twice a former Olympic medallist, had to fight hard to reach the last 16, overcoming Werner Schlager, the former world champion from Austria, 11-3, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-9.
Michael Maze, the former European champion from Denmark, also reached the fourth round, and offered a very different prognosis from that of Zhang.
"I think there is a good chance we will see one of the Chinese players lose before the final," Maze said after winning 12-10, 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 11-3 against Greek veteran Kalinikos Kreanga.
"They play under great pressure anyway. But here on European soil and with only two players in the competition there is much more pressure on them."
Maze, who had an English father and has a Danish mother who was watching, was also cheered enthusiastically by Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark.
His progress and his opinions were later matched by those of his fellow left-hander, Timo Boll, the former world number one from Germany who is one of the few players capable of halting the Chinese.
Boll came through in Wang Hao's half by winning 11-8, 11-5, 12-10, 12-10 against Noshad Alamiyan, the world number 77 from Iran.
Brains are different in people with highly superior autobiographical memory Could not connect to DB: 1040: Too many connectionsCould not execute 'UPDATE pressrelease SET r_hits = r_hits+ 1, r_total_hits = r_total_hits+ 1, r_pub_hits = r_pub_hits+ 1, r_total_pub_hits = r_total_pub_hits+ 1 WHERE r_id = 217981' on database eurekalert: 2002: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2) Public release date: 30-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Janet Wilson janethw@uci.edu 949-824-3969 University of California - Irvine
UCI study finds structural variations among those who recall their lives perfectly
Irvine, Calif., July 30, 2012 UC Irvine scientists have discovered intriguing differences in the brains and mental processes of an extraordinary group of people who can effortlessly recall every moment of their lives since about age 10.
The phenomenon of highly superior autobiographical memory first documented in 2006 by UCI neurobiologist James McGaugh and colleagues in a woman identified as "AJ" has been profiled on CBS's "60 Minutes" and in hundreds of other media outlets. But a new paper in the peer-reviewed journal Neurobiology of Learning & Memory's July issue offers the first scientific findings about nearly a dozen people with this uncanny ability.
All had variations in nine structures of their brains compared to those of control subjects, including more robust white matter linking the middle and front parts. Most of the differences were in areas known to be linked to autobiographical memory, "so we're getting a descriptive, coherent story of what's going on," said lead author Aurora LePort, a doctoral candidate at UCI's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory.
Surprisingly, the people with stellar autobiographical memory did not score higher on routine laboratory memory tests or when asked to use rote memory aids. Yet when it came to public or private events that occurred after age 10, "they were remarkably better at recalling the details of their lives," said McGaugh, senior author on the new work.
"These are not memory experts across the board. They're 180 degrees different from the usual memory champions who can memorize pi to a large degree or other long strings of numbers," LePort noted. "It makes the project that much more interesting; it really shows we are homing in on a specific form of memory."
She said interviewing the subjects was "baffling. You give them a date, and their response is immediate. The day of the week just comes out of their minds; they don't even think about it. They can do this for so many dates, and they're 99 percent accurate. It never gets old."
The study also found statistically significant evidence of obsessive-compulsive tendencies among the group, but the authors do not yet know if or how this aids recollection. Many of the individuals have large, minutely catalogued collections of some sort, such as magazines, videos, shoes, stamps or postcards.
UCI researchers and staff have assessed more than 500 people who thought they might possess highly superior autobiographical memory and have confirmed 33 to date, including the 11 in the paper. Another 37 are strong candidates who will be further tested.
"The next step is that we want to understand the mechanisms behind the memory," LePort said. "Is it just the brain and the way its different structures are communicating? Maybe it's genetic; maybe it's molecular."
McGaugh added: "We're Sherlock Holmeses here. We're searching for clues in a very new area of research."
###
Fellow authors are Aaron Mattfeld, Heather Dickinson-Anson, James Fallon, Craig Stark, Frithjof Kruggel and Larry Cahill. Funding was provided by the National Institutes of Health, the Gerard Family Trust and Unither Neurosciences Inc.
About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UCI is among the most dynamic campuses in the University of California system, with nearly 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 1,100 faculty and 9,000 staff. Orange County's second-largest employer, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $4 billion. For more UCI news, visit www.today.uci.edu.
News Radio: UCI maintains on campus an ISDN line for conducting interviews with its faculty and experts. Use of this line is available for a fee to radio news programs/stations that wish to interview UCI faculty and experts. Use of the ISDN line is subject to availability and approval by the university.
UCI maintains an online directory of faculty available as experts to the media. To access, visit www.today.uci.edu/experts.
For UCI breaking news, visit www.zotwire.uci.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Brains are different in people with highly superior autobiographical memory Could not connect to DB: 1040: Too many connectionsCould not execute 'UPDATE pressrelease SET r_hits = r_hits+ 1, r_total_hits = r_total_hits+ 1, r_pub_hits = r_pub_hits+ 1, r_total_pub_hits = r_total_pub_hits+ 1 WHERE r_id = 217981' on database eurekalert: 2002: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2) Public release date: 30-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Janet Wilson janethw@uci.edu 949-824-3969 University of California - Irvine
UCI study finds structural variations among those who recall their lives perfectly
Irvine, Calif., July 30, 2012 UC Irvine scientists have discovered intriguing differences in the brains and mental processes of an extraordinary group of people who can effortlessly recall every moment of their lives since about age 10.
The phenomenon of highly superior autobiographical memory first documented in 2006 by UCI neurobiologist James McGaugh and colleagues in a woman identified as "AJ" has been profiled on CBS's "60 Minutes" and in hundreds of other media outlets. But a new paper in the peer-reviewed journal Neurobiology of Learning & Memory's July issue offers the first scientific findings about nearly a dozen people with this uncanny ability.
All had variations in nine structures of their brains compared to those of control subjects, including more robust white matter linking the middle and front parts. Most of the differences were in areas known to be linked to autobiographical memory, "so we're getting a descriptive, coherent story of what's going on," said lead author Aurora LePort, a doctoral candidate at UCI's Center for the Neurobiology of Learning & Memory.
Surprisingly, the people with stellar autobiographical memory did not score higher on routine laboratory memory tests or when asked to use rote memory aids. Yet when it came to public or private events that occurred after age 10, "they were remarkably better at recalling the details of their lives," said McGaugh, senior author on the new work.
"These are not memory experts across the board. They're 180 degrees different from the usual memory champions who can memorize pi to a large degree or other long strings of numbers," LePort noted. "It makes the project that much more interesting; it really shows we are homing in on a specific form of memory."
She said interviewing the subjects was "baffling. You give them a date, and their response is immediate. The day of the week just comes out of their minds; they don't even think about it. They can do this for so many dates, and they're 99 percent accurate. It never gets old."
The study also found statistically significant evidence of obsessive-compulsive tendencies among the group, but the authors do not yet know if or how this aids recollection. Many of the individuals have large, minutely catalogued collections of some sort, such as magazines, videos, shoes, stamps or postcards.
UCI researchers and staff have assessed more than 500 people who thought they might possess highly superior autobiographical memory and have confirmed 33 to date, including the 11 in the paper. Another 37 are strong candidates who will be further tested.
"The next step is that we want to understand the mechanisms behind the memory," LePort said. "Is it just the brain and the way its different structures are communicating? Maybe it's genetic; maybe it's molecular."
McGaugh added: "We're Sherlock Holmeses here. We're searching for clues in a very new area of research."
###
Fellow authors are Aaron Mattfeld, Heather Dickinson-Anson, James Fallon, Craig Stark, Frithjof Kruggel and Larry Cahill. Funding was provided by the National Institutes of Health, the Gerard Family Trust and Unither Neurosciences Inc.
About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is a top-ranked university dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UCI is among the most dynamic campuses in the University of California system, with nearly 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students, 1,100 faculty and 9,000 staff. Orange County's second-largest employer, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $4 billion. For more UCI news, visit www.today.uci.edu.
News Radio: UCI maintains on campus an ISDN line for conducting interviews with its faculty and experts. Use of this line is available for a fee to radio news programs/stations that wish to interview UCI faculty and experts. Use of the ISDN line is subject to availability and approval by the university.
UCI maintains an online directory of faculty available as experts to the media. To access, visit www.today.uci.edu/experts.
For UCI breaking news, visit www.zotwire.uci.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Paul McCartney performs during the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 28, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, Pool)
Paul McCartney performs during the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 28, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, Pool)
Paul McCartney performs during the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 28, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, Pool)
LONDON (AP) ? Don't spend it all in one place, Paul.
London Olympic organizers say former Beatle Paul McCartney and other star performers who took part in Friday's opening ceremony essentially donated their time ? receiving a mere pound ($1.57) ? for their performances.
The nominal fee was offered to make the Olympics contracts binding ? but pales in comparison to the millions big names like McCartney can command for a stadium gig.
Other performers such as Mike Oldfield, Dizzee Rascal and Emeli Sande are also thought to have received the nominal fee.
Director Danny Boyle's "Isles of Wonder" extravaganza featured British music that spanned generations, right up to live performances from two of the hottest homegrown acts of the moment: grime star Rascal and the band Arctic Monkeys.
www.HotConflict.comSaleem Siddiqui discusses the LIONS. It has begun! Wake Up! The Story of Disclosure for the Earth in the English language as told in the traditional fashion of the Craft upon the Way or Path Sunnah of the final messenger. The Seal of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Family of Light the White Brotherhood, Muhammad messenger of Allah. From the Mysteries of the Pyramids and the Sphinx to the Secrets of the Square and Compass of Sacred Geometry. If you are of the LIGHT, then nothing can ever make you forget. Enjoy the show! Salam Peace
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Thousands of people are expected to form a "human chain" around Japan's parliament on Sunday to demonstrate against the use of nuclear power following last year's atomic crisis at Fukushima.
It will be the latest in a string of protests in Japan, which has seen a rising tide of anti-nuclear sentiment since Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda in June ordered the restart of two reactors.
Noda defended the move citing looming power shortages after Japan switched off its 50 nuclear reactors -- which provided the resource-poor country with a third of its energy -- in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.
Weekly demonstrations outside the prime minister's residence have drawn tens of thousands of people and a rally in west Tokyo earlier this month saw a crowd that organisers claimed was about 170,000-strong.
The Sunday demonstrations, scheduled to start about 3:30 pm (0630 GMT), will see a march through the capital before protesters form a human chain around the legislature in the evening to demand a "swift abolition of nuclear power".
Early Sunday a dozen police vehicles were stationed on the street facing the prime minister's residence and the parliament.
Hiroshi Sakurai, a 65-year-old painter, said he arrived on the street to join the anti-nuclear rally for the first time.
"After the Fukushima disaster, I came to feel strongly that it is human arrogance to think that we can control nuclear power with our technology," he told AFP.
Protest organiser Kaori Echigo said demonstrators from across the nation of 127 million people were expected to descend on Tokyo for the march.
"Not only people from Tokyo but also people from Hokkaido (in the north), Nagano (in central Japan) and Osaka are expected to come by bus," Echigo told AFP.
The latest rally comes less than a week after a damning government-backed report on last year's crisis said Japanese officials and Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), operator of the crippled Fukushima plant, ignored the risk of an atomic accident because they believed in the "myth of nuclear safety".
A separate parliamentary report said the worst nuclear accident in a generation was a man-made disaster, marked by a lack of oversight and collusion between TEPCO, the government and regulators.
The giant utility largely cleared itself of blame, saying the size of last year's earthquake and tsunami was beyond all expectations and could not have reasonably been foreseen.
A 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, crippled cooling equipment at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, triggering meltdowns that spewed radioactivity and forced tens of thousands of residents to flee.
The rising anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan has also led to the launch of Greens Japan, a political organisation aiming to field candidates with an environmental agenda in parliamentary elections.
"A party that strongly pursues environmental policies is needed," Akira Miyabe, the group's 59-year-old deputy head, is quoted by Kyodo News as saying at an inaugural meeting on Saturday.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) ? Romania's unpopular president was fighting for his political life on Sunday as Romanians voted on whether to impeach him, part of a political battle that has raised questions about the rule of law in the fledgling European Union member.
Traian Basescu's rivals in the government are seeking to impeach him for the second time in five years. They claim the 60-year-old populist violated the constitution by meddling in government business, coddling cronies and using the secret services against enemies.
Basescu, a former ship captain whose popularity has plummeted over economic challenges, says the impeachment process is a political vendetta carried out by opponents and has urged his supporters to boycott the vote ? a tactic that may help him survive thanks to a rule requiring turnout to be more than half of the total electorate.
The political turmoil has dented Romania's credibility, with the U.S. and EU expressing doubts about the left-leaning government's respect for the independence of the judiciary. Critics accuse Prime Minister Victor Ponta, himself the subject of a plagiarism scandal, of orchestrating the move as part of a power grab.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) and will close at 11 p.m. (2000 GMT) with 18 million Romanians eligible to vote. Most are expected to vote to impeach Basescu, but it is uncertain whether the government can muster the necessary turnout.
Basescu, who has been president since 2004, saw his approval numbers drop after government introduced austerity measures in 2010 to meet demands by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a multibillion euro (dollar) loan. The government cut public wages by one-fourth and raised sales tax to 24 percent, one of the highest in the EU.
Ponta says that Basescu's confrontational style of governing and interfering in the justice system and government business are evidence that he is unfit for the job. He says that charges that he plagiarized his 2004 doctoral thesis are orchestrated by Basescu's camp.
The foreign ministry has opened polling stations in embassies in the United States, Italy, Spain, France and elsewhere where an estimated 2 million Romanians are eligible to vote.
MAKE PERSONAL FINANCE UNIVERSAL AND YOU SERVE THEM AND THE REPUBLIC BETTER:
There are many defenses of algebra and the virtue of learning it. Most of them sound reasonable on first hearing; many of them I once accepted. But the more I examine them, the clearer it seems that they are largely or wholly wrong -- unsupported by research or evidence, or based on wishful logic. [...]
Nor is it clear that the math we learn in the classroom has any relation to the quantitative reasoning we need on the job. John P. Smith III, an educational psychologist at Michigan State University who has studied math education, has found that "mathematical reasoning in workplaces differs markedly from the algorithms taught in school." Even in jobs that rely on so-called STEM credentials -- science, technology, engineering, math -- considerable training occurs after hiring, including the kinds of computations that will be required. Toyota, for example, recently chose to locate a plant in a remote Mississippi county, even though its schools are far from stellar. It works with a nearby community college, which has tailored classes in "machine tool mathematics."?
That sort of collaboration has long undergirded German apprenticeship programs. I fully concur that high-tech knowledge is needed to sustain an advanced industrial economy. But we're deluding ourselves if we believe the solution is largely academic.
A skeptic might argue that, even if our current mathematics education discourages large numbers of students, math itself isn't to blame. Isn't this discipline a critical part of education, providing quantitative tools and honing conceptual abilities that are indispensable -- especially in our high tech age? In fact, we hear it argued that we have a shortage of graduates with STEM credentials.
Of course, people should learn basic numerical skills: decimals, ratios and estimating, sharpened by a good grounding in arithmetic. But a definitive analysis by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce forecasts that in the decade ahead a mere 5 percent of entry-level workers will need to be proficient in algebra or above. And if there is a shortage of STEM graduates, an equally crucial issue is how many available positions there are for men and women with these skills. A January 2012 analysis from the Georgetown center found 7.5 percent unemployment for engineering graduates and 8.2 percent among computer scientists.
As a wise young man once informed his math teacher, "I'll never need to even know what a polynomial is in real life." Posted by Orrin Judd at July 29, 2012 7:05 AM ??
The home console generation is about to make a jump forward. Starting at the end of this year, our current generation of consoles will be taking a back-seat to the new and improved technology and hype that comes along with the new hardware. Think about it?another slew of games that will get our blood bubbling with excitement, the news feed full of hype/hate/and joy, brand new experiences that previously were deemed impossible on the only technology. The possibilities are endless?
But, on a sadder note, we are still a bit away from that level of excitement. So, while we wait for those days to come, lets take a look at the past. Namely, the past years that have been this generation. Through these last eight years we have seen, and played, a very impressive lineup of games; from shooters to racers to role-playing games and so on. Now, the real question is?what was the best of them all? Which game, when we look back at this trio of consoles, will we regard as the best of the generation?
As I am not as all-knowing as I like to say I am, I actually won?t be giving you the ?Best Game This Generation?. Instead, I will be offering up some of my opinions on the games that should be considered, but the real final choice will be yours. Let?s see who you pick?
Uncharted 2:?Among?Thieves
Batman: Arkham City
Check out Nate?s review of Batman: Arkham City right here.
?
Red Dead Redemption
?
Mass Effect 2
?
Gears of War 3
Check out Kyle?s review of Gears of War 3 right here.
Metal Gear Solid 4
?
So there you have it, a couple of games that I think are in the running for Best Console Game This Generation, but I do know there are other games that I am sure I left off my list that you, the readers think are it. So now is your chance, let me know which game from above, or not, you think is the best game that the consoles have had this generation.
Marketa Slukova, left, from Czech Republic looks on as Doris Schwaiger, right, from Austria reaches for a ball during their Beach Volleyball match at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 28, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Marketa Slukova, left, from Czech Republic looks on as Doris Schwaiger, right, from Austria reaches for a ball during their Beach Volleyball match at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Saturday, July 28, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
And now for something completely different.
It was bound to happen in the land of Monty Python and Mr. Bean: We've just had our first slapstick comedy-related mishap of the London Games.
The beach volleyball venue at Horse Guards Parade has been playing the "Benny Hill" theme over the loudspeaker while the raking crew smooths out the sand during timeouts. That inspired a couple of fans to mimic the show ? in short, to start running around the concourse between the upper and lower sections, chasing and being chased by a pair of blondes in skirts.
The crowd loved it, and the P.A. announcer also egged them on, until one of the blokes ran smack-dab into an Olympic volunteer.
The crowd gasped.
The two quickly hugged it off and went back to their respective duties: She resumed directing fans to their seats and he headed for the beer concession.
The volunteer, who declined to give her name, said she was uninjured. The fan, who said to identify him and his mate as "The Murray Brothers," seemed more concerned about spilling some of his beer.
The Associated Press has learned exclusively that it was not his first of the day.
So, no crisis here. Until a giant cartoon foot comes out of the sky and stomps out the venue, that is.
? Jimmy Golen ? Twitter: http://twitter.com/jgolen.
(EMAILWIRE.COM, July 28, 2012 ) San Diego, CA -- Acupuncture has been a part of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean culture for thousands of years. It is a practice that uses extremely thin, pre-sterilized, disposable needles on specific areas of the body. In order to treat and prevent diseases; mental, emotional, and spiritual disorders, as well as relieve pain and increase general health.
For athletes who live in Hillcrest, San Diego, The Wellness Source is a great choice for healing their sports injuries. Acupuncture, though it involves needles, is pain free. The Wellness Source uses the finest Japanese and Korean needles to provide a very gentle and effective treatment and maintains that their acupuncture experience is one of relaxation and healing.
The clinic provides personalized care and wellness programs, complete with private rooms, full attention, proper and up-to-date-equipment, as explained on the clinic?s website, http://www.acupunctureandyou.com.
Top Hillcrest San Diego acupuncturist Bertram Furman, the creator of The Wellness Source, is known for his expertise in traditional Chinese medicine and ?provides his patients with the most effective way to restore balance and leads them to their optimal health. He works on both the immediate imbalance and the causative factors, and shows his patients how easy and fun it can be to achieve wellness?not just in the short-term, but for life.?
Recently, The Wellness Source has received attention for their successful treatment of summer sports injuries through acupuncture. Bertram takes care of sprains, strains, asthma, and fatigue, among other conditions, and provides medical massages to increase motion.
?My recommendation for people getting sports injuries is don't wait,? Dr. Furman said.
?The sooner we see someone who injured themselves, the quicker we can help heal the injury.?
Dr. Furman and his staff treat a variety of sports injuries, but also take care of conditions such as depression, gastrointestinal problems, heart problems, kidney infections, and sleep disorders. The Wellness Source is also a specialist in infertility and pregnancy treatments that keep both mother and child healthy. In addition, the clinic has weight loss programs and detoxification programs that have become increasingly popular.
The Wellness Source accepts many types of insurance and can also provide services for workers with compensation cases. Free consultation is provided at The Wellness Source?s office in San Diego, and making an appointment is simply a phone call away.
About The Wellness Source:
The Wellness Source was created to help people achieve optimum and sustainable health. They provide in-depth primary healthcare using both traditional and contemporary methods to help their patients attain health and wellness. They specialize in oriental medicine, acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, medical massages, detoxification, weight loss, and optimal health and wellness coaching, all of which are used to treat a vast array of conditions. For more information, please visit http://www.acupunctureandyou.com/.
The Wellness Source 4002 Park Blvd Suite E San Diego, CA 92103
Hardwood floorings evoke elegance and flair to any kind of home. They're additionally long lasting, which makes them an effective financial investment for any property owner. Hardwood floors coverings are also considered as the strongest flooring material among others, so it's definitely an excellent investment for homeowners. Moreover, they also make the home a protected area for families to inhabit as they don't carry any sort of toxins or irritants identified in the majority of synthetic floorings. If you prefer yours to last for many years, you have to suitably sustain them. Here's exactly how you can make that materialize:
Sweep and Wipe Frequently
Over time, hardwood floor coverings accumulates muck, sand, and grit which could potentially ruin the surface of your floor covering as they act as a sand paper, scratching away the preventive layers and covering of your floor. In this situation, it's good to sweep regularly using a microfiber dusting pad to remove undesirable filth. Setting a cloth by the front doorway for people to clean their feet or footwear before entering the house is also a good strategy to keep hardwood away from these possibly damaging flecks.
Wipe Spills Immediately
Practically, every floor covering product-- if you accidentally spilled something on it and refuse to wipe it right away-- can have its finish damaged completely. Hardwood floors coverings are no exception to this, that's the reason it's often great to clean water or other spills right away to protect against permanent staining as well as damage.
Prevent Utilizing Hard Cleaning Solutions
Keep clear of oil soaps and other powerful washing solutions as they can cause your hardwood flooring to permanently discolor. Using these compounds could also make complications when it's time for you to place maintenance wax or protective layer on the floor. Go with cleaners with neutral pH, those that are especially made for hardwood floorings, to maintain their luster and classy style.
Avoid Dragging Furnishings
If you're replacing your furnishings in your living area, try lifting items instead of dragging them as doing this can scuff and nick the surface of your hardwood Tampa homeowners also have. You wouldn't desire to completely damage your floor covering investment, would you? Ensure that you place felt under home furniture legs and drag them throughout your chosen location or better yet, lift furnishings if you can.
Safeguard Hardwood from the Sunshine
Intense exposure of Tampa hardwood flooring to UV rays can easily cause it to decline and tarnish overtime. To avoid this, make sure to put up drapes, blinds, or sheer drapes on your windows or other entry ways to guard it from the harsh sun and maintain its value. Visit wfca.org/Pages/How-To-Clean-Hardwood-Floors.aspx for more information.
For more details, search hardwood flooring, hardwood tampa and tampa hardwood flooring in Google for related information.
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FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2012, file photo, New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin drives to the basket during the second quarter of an NBA basketball game New Jersey Nets at Madison Square Garden in New York. Linsanity could be put to rest in New York when the clock strikes midnight. That's the deadline the Knicks face to match the daunting offer the Houston Rockets have made to Lin, the Harvard point guard who dazzled all of basketball for a brief stretch last season. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2012, file photo, New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin drives to the basket during the second quarter of an NBA basketball game New Jersey Nets at Madison Square Garden in New York. Linsanity could be put to rest in New York when the clock strikes midnight. That's the deadline the Knicks face to match the daunting offer the Houston Rockets have made to Lin, the Harvard point guard who dazzled all of basketball for a brief stretch last season. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)
FILE - This Feb. 10, 2012 file photo shows New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin reacting after scoring during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers in New York. This would have been such an easy decision in February. Lin was the biggest thing in basketball, and no way the Knicks would have let him go elsewhere. Now, knowing his price and with no assurance he'll play as he did when Linsanity reigned, the Knicks may allow Lin to leave for Houston.(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, FIle)
FILE - This Feb. 24, 2012 file photo shows New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin laughing during warmups before the start of the NBA All-Star Rising Stars Challenge basketball game in Orlando, Fla. This would have been such an easy decision in February. Lin was the biggest thing in basketball, and no way the Knicks would have let him go elsewhere. Now, knowing his price and with no assurance he'll play as he did when Linsanity reigned, the Knicks may allow Lin to leave for Houston. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)
FILE - In this March 7, 2012 file photo, New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin, left, shoots over San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan during the first half of an NBA basketball game, in San Antonio. This would have been such an easy decision in February. Lin was the biggest thing in basketball, and no way the Knicks would have let him go elsewhere. Now, knowing his price and with no assurance he'll play as he did when Linsanity reigned, the Knicks may allow Lin to leave for Houston. (AP Photo/Darren Abate, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2012 file photo, New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin reacts during the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game against the New Jersey Nets, at Madison Square Garden in New York. This would have been such an easy decision in February. Lin was the biggest thing in basketball, and no way the Knicks would have let him go elsewhere. Now, knowing his price and with no assurance he'll play as he did when Linsanity reigned, the Knicks may allow Lin to leave for Houston. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun, File)
HOUSTON (AP) ? Jeremy Lin figured he'd be having this kind of news conference in New York.
Instead, he was talking about his new deal with the Houston Rockets on Thursday on the same practice court where he worked in virtual anonymity seven months ago before he was waived. Lin became a Rocket again when the Knicks decided not to match Houston's three-year, $25 million offer.
"It's been an unbelievable ride," Lin said. "Just a lot of things I didn't expect to happen, in terms of just the way last season went. I still have to kind of remind myself that this is all actually happening, sometimes. But it's a huge blessing. I can't believe how it all shaped up and for me to be here right now. I'm definitely excited and thankful."
Lin said he expected to be re-signed by the Knicks after he electrified the Big Apple last season before he was sidelined by a knee injury. Shortly after the Knicks officially declined to match, Lin was quoted on SI.com as saying, "Honestly, I preferred New York."
Lin said the question he answered was set in the context of before the start of the free agency period.
"The question was, 'Going into free agency, which team did you prefer?'" Lin said. "Before July 1, I didn't even know what teams were interested in me. But all I was hearing was, 'You're going back to New York.' At that time, before free agency started, I preferred New York. By the time it came to the offer sheet, I was just excited about both opportunities.
"Houston and New York," he said, "I was definitely excited about the possibility to go to both."
But probably not as excited as the Rockets were to get him.
Houston has missed the playoffs the last three seasons, and when Linsanity skyrocketed in New York, general manager Daryl Morey was kicking himself for waiving him on Christmas Eve. When Lin hit a winning 3-pointer in Toronto on Valentine's Day, owner Leslie Alexander called Morey to tersely ask him again why Lin was no longer a Rocket.
"He was killing me," Morey said with a smile. "I think one of the reasons Mr. Alexander is a great owner is because we're constantly evaluating our past decisions and deciding what did we know at the time? What could we have done better? How can we improve?
"People are making a lot of us admitting to our mistake," Morey said. "But the only way to get better is to quickly say, 'That was a mistake. How can we do better next time?'"
At the time Lin was released, the Rockets had Goran Dragic and Kyle Lowry on the roster ? two point guards with NBA experience. And who knew what Linsanity would become?
"We had very fair reasons to waive him," Morey said. "But the reality is, we shouldn't have."
The Knicks didn't initially see his potential, either, dropping him briefly to the developmental league in January. He was recalled in early February and with team floundering at 8-15, coach Mike D'Antoni turned to Lin.
The 23-year-old undrafted point guard from Harvard scored 25 points in a 99-92 win over New Jersey and a global phenomenon was born. He proved to be more than a one-game wonder, becoming the first player in league history to average 20 points and seven assists in his first five games.
Lin jerseys became the league's top sellers, he made the cover of Sports Illustrated in consecutive weeks and had drinks named for him in New York. He was initially overwhelmed by the media glare. Now, he takes it in stride.
He went to dinner with new teammate Chandler Parsons in Houston on Wednesday night and Parsons estimated they were interrupted 15-20 times by fans asking for autographs and photos.
"This past year, it took me by surprise and it was just this huge storm," Lin said. "It was kind of baptism by fire. You get thrown into it and you've just got to make adjustments and learn. That's a lot of what I had to do."
While Alexander said the decision to pursue Lin was "all basketball," he acknowledged that he could potentially impact on the Rockets' brand in the way that Yao Ming did, expanding its reach in Asia. But hat, Alexander, depends on how good Lin becomes and if the team improves along with him.
Lin is American-born, but of Chinese and Taiwanese descent, and the number of Chinese media at the press conference was about equal to the American contingent.
"If you don't win, what difference does it make?" Alexander said. "If you get him, and he's not a very good player, you look like a fool. How does that help you in any way?"
There's an added caveat for Lin and the Rockets this season ? the All-Star game will be played in Houston on Feb. 17. Yao was named to eight All-Star teams, largely on the strength of Chinese fans who voted online.
"It's great for the city, it's great for the fans, it's great for everybody," Alexander said of getting Lin. "The sponsors, everybody associated with the team."
On the court, though, all Houston really needed was a point guard. The Rockets lost the unrestricted free agent Dragic to Phoenix, then dealt Lowry to Toronto for a first-round pick, made more valuable because it has lottery protection.
Lin averaged 14.6 points and 6.2 assists in 35 games (25 starts) for the Knicks last season. His aim is to improve his statistics every year ? and how good they get, not even he would venture to guess.
"I don't know what my ceiling is, I don't know what my potential is," he said. "We don't know what the ending is going to be. But I'm excited to find out."
With Lin in place, the roster is still taking shape. Morey says the team plans to sign Bulls center Omer Asik to a three-year, $25 million offer sheet on Friday.
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SANFORD, Fla. -- George Zimmerman says he would tell Trayvon Martin's parents: "I'm sorry," and says he's open to talking with them.
Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the teenager's death.
He made the statement Wednesday in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
When asked to explain what he meant when he told a police dispatcher he was following Martin, the neighborhood watch volunteer said he was trying to keep an eye on Martin to tell police.
Zimmerman says after he got out of his car, Martin was next to him. Zimmerman says he looked down, then looked up and Martin punched him and broke his nose.
He says as the two were struggling, Martin said "you're going to die tonight." He says Martin also reached for the gun that Zimmerman always carries.
When asked by Hannity if he would do anything differently the night he killed Trayvon Martin, Zimmerman responded: "No Sir."
"It was all God's plan, and for me to second-guess it, or judge it..." he also said, before trailing off.
This was the title of the press release that we did announcing a recent award I was fortunate to win in Dallas last week.?
Here's what the rest of it read:
"Edmonton area best selling/award winning author, business owner and resident Charmaine Hammond was delayed when airport security was stumped by the x-ray of her travel bag. Inside was the crystal trophy she received at the eWomenNetwork Convention in Dallas after winning the prestigious 2012 International Business Matchmaker of the Year Award.
eWomenNetwork states ? The Business Matchmaker of the Year award recognizes a unique woman who has consistently gone out of her way to help others succeed. She is the consummate connector, who unselfishly looks out for the business needs of others.? eWomenNetwork is a global community of women entrepreneurs with a reach of 500,000 people.
Hammond, a bestselling/award winning author and international transformational speaker accepted the award noting ?A business matchmaker is a champion and connector for others...when you are a champion and connector for others; it comes back to you tenfold. Be and give that which you want to receive.?
Hammond?s 3 C?s tips for business matchmaking:
1. Connect- connect authentically, consider how you could support the person you are speaking with. Ask yourself "who is in my circle of influence that would be a great connection for this person?" Follow up after you meet people. Ask before tell...which means learn about the other person, show interest in what he/she is saying, and look for common connections. Powerfully connect and introduce people. I often do email introductions, having both parties on the "to" line, and always start by a) bigging each person up, clearly explaining why I am connecting the two people and c) encouraging them to set up a time to connect.
2. Communicate- by being present, mindful and open. Engage the person in the dialogue. Ask questions. Listen deeply to the conversation (what is being said that is not being said). Listen for clues about the person's underlying interests (what is important to him/her).? Engage others in dialogue, invite them in.
3. Champion- be a champion for others, share good news/accomplishments/successes and milestones for other people (without expectation of anything in return), refer people whose services you believe in, provide a recommendation on Linked In, and for their marketing materials, mentor others, and simply be a champion.
And I added a fourth.... Create an Experience- when you create powerful connections, engaging conversations and build meaningful relationships, you create an experience! As you reflect on the people in your circle of influence, consider these questions: 1) Who could I introduce or connect to support one another? 2) Who could I cross promote, support or share good news about? 3) Who in my circle needs a champion in their corner? 4) Whose services have helped me so much, that I can be a champion for them by providing an endorsment, reference or referral?
Hammond is the best selling and award winning author of the wildly popular On Toby?s Terms (Bettie Youngs Books, 2010) which is in development to become a major motion picture with Impact Motion Pictures. She is also the co-author of GPS Your Best Life- Charting Your Destination and Getting There in Style (Bettie Youngs Books, Aug. 2012) which is being released August 1, 2012. She also authored Toby The Pet Therapy Dog & His Hospital Friends (Bettie Youngs Books, 2011) and Bounce Forward. A successful business owner for 1997 and has been changing lives for 25 years.
Chinese mobile ads platform Guohe just earned itself a top award at the Smarties(TM) 2012 China ceremony of the Mobile Marketing Association for its Starbucks Crhistmas promotion case that calls on tens of thousands of young Chinese people to flock into Startbucks to tweet and check in at the coffee franchise for a yuletide drink upgrade.
Guohe won both the Gold Award for Mobile Interaction and Special Gold Award of all categories, which means Guohe will get to introduce their Chinese wireless marketing case studies to the rest of the world.
How did Guohe make this happen? Well, the mobile ads company got started a two-week-long ?Let?s Merry? campaign by baking banners ads featuring Starbucks into some quality Chinese mobile apps ranged from magazine app Business Value, Weico a iOS client for Chinese Twitter Sina Weibo to China?s Foursquare Jiepang. The ads called upon users to change the default app theme to a Starbucks theme by downloading a ?Let?s Merry? app skin and to use social media sharing and LBS check-in functions to spread the words.
Users could easily check in at a Starbucks using Jiepang, and message their friends using Sina Weibo. Guohe took the ?Let?s Merry? campaign one step further by integrating yet another medium: Outdoor ads placements. A large electronic billboard at Raffles City in Shanghai lit up with special Christmas wishes enabled once enough people had checked in on the Starbucks ad.
During the promotion, total Starbucks brand exposure totaled 4.6 million impressions. 670,000 people participated in the promotion. 450,000 users downloaded the ?Let?s Merry? branded app skin. 40,000 tweeted about Starbucks, 60,000 checked in via Jiepang, 27,000 downloaded the Starbucks badge via Jiepang for an upgraded Starbucks drink, and as many as 21,000 people followed Starbucks in a single day.
Starbucks said that the campaign was the very first trial for them as well to integrate mobile advertising in our marketing matrix, and was impressed by its efficiency in converting mobile users into actual consumers. Neo Zhang, co-founder of Guohe Ad said that the Beijing-based would keep on innovating and bringing more new and fresh ad formats for advertisers and mobile media.
Learning about gardening can be very overwhelming, but just like anything else, it can also be very easily researched, taught, and learned. Since you have discovered this tip-filled article, hopefully, you will gain enough information to refine your gardening methods, thereby, becoming a better gardener.
Stinkbugs can be a nuisance in the garden. These bugs are known to be proliferate in the cooler fall months. They thrive on fruits, citrus, peppers and various beans. If they are left in the garden, they can do great damage to your plants, so you should do whatever you can to eliminate them.
Many times, houseplants will have to be transferred to a new pot. Many variety of plants aren?t too keen on the idea, however. It is easy to check if a plant needs to be re-potted. Simply turn the plant upside down, and tap on the pot until the plant comes out easily. If the roots are prominent, then it?s time to put the plant in a new pot. However, if only a tiny amount of roots show or even none at all, then your plant is probably doing fine in the original pot.
When autumn has arrived, you must plant everything you want to eat before winter. Instead of a clay pot, show some fall spirit by using a hollow pumpkin to plant your lettuce or kale in. Clean out the pumpkin just like you would if you were making a jack o?lantern. Spray Wilt-Pruf inside the pumpkin and along its edges so that the pumpkin won?t rot. Once you have finished, you can begin planting.
When you are ready to start your garden, think about which vegetables you use often while cooking, and make sure to plant those. This will lower your monthly grocery bill, and also make the most use of your garden space. Do not grow foods that the family will not consume, especially if you do not have the room for it.
The correct soil can make a big difference in how your garden grows. The type of plants you?re planning to grow will determine the type of soil you need, and whether the soil will or will not be adapted. You can also make an artificial area with one variety of soil.
If you want to grow vegetables in you backyard, it is vital that you place them in an area where they could get roughly six hours of sun on a daily basis. Most vegetables require this amount of sun in order to grow properly and at a quicker pace. Some flowers need the same thing.
You should start pea seedlings indoors instead of planting them outside right at the start. If you plant them inside, they might germinate more effectively. Your seedlings will be stronger, and this will mean they can withstand diseases and bug attacks. Once your seedlings are sturdy, you can then move them outside.
Use pots to start your plants, then transfer them to a garden when they become seedlings. This insures that the plants will grow and thrive into adulthood. The period between plantings will also be shorter. As soon as you harvest the mature plants in your garden, your new seedlings will be large enough to plant outside!
Add some powerful fertilizer to your future garden plot with the use of a chicken tractor. Chicken tractors are chicken coops that can be moved from one place to another. They feature open floors and an area in which the chickens can be protected from the elements. A chicken tractor protects your poultry and allows them to graze specific areas of your garden while also naturally fertilizing it. When your chickens have effectively cleared and fertilized one area, you simply move the chicken tractor on to the next patch.
Not as difficult as you thought, right? Just like anything else in life there is much to learn when it comes to gardening. It is easy to become overwhelmed. Sometimes, it helps to have a place to start! So, hopefully, with the tips you learned you now have that ability.
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WASHINGTON, July 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --?ConvergeUS, the nonprofit arm of TechNet, whose mission is to accelerate technology-based social innovation, today announced it has received a $100,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) to help fulfill its mission of using innovation to help some of the nation's most pressing challenges.?
"ConvergeUS is pleased to join the family of W. K. Kellogg Foundation grantees," said Patrick Gusman, Executive Director, ConvergeUS, "We view this grant as a recognition of our growing success and expanding relationships."
ConvergeUS will use the grant to establish an innovation fund to benefit military families and low-income urban residents across the country. Each year, ConvergeUS identifies social challenges and creates "technology innovation blueprints" that focus on purposeful applications of technology to address these issues. For 2012, ConvergeUS is working with the following partners to achieve breakthroughs:
Student App and Digital Portfolio for Military Connected Children--Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC): MCEC is developing a student mobile app and digital portfolio tool that will allow the 1.2 million children of military parents to access resources and track their academic progress to improve outcomes and quality of education in hopes that the tool can be ready for implementation in other organizations that could benefit from a similar prototype.
Online Self-Help Resource Tool for Military Families--National Military Family Association (the Association): The Association is seeking support to create a user-generated rating system (application programming interface) to complement the online resource tool that the Association is launching (MiMapp). MiMapp will deliver vital information to military spouses and family members when the families need it. The "Yelp" like rating system is an important added feature to support our nation's military families.
Data-powered, Proactive Management of Local Government--Living Cities: Living Cities wants to implement a system of municipal analytics and data tracking. The goal is to introduce efficiency and competency in preventing problems in government and business establishments. Living Cities seeks to transform systemic operations of government and business to help eliminate inefficiency that costs society greatly and specifically seeks to assist people with lower incomes. Living Cities plans a pilot in New York, but this tool's success would benefit society as a whole.
The fund will help provide technical assistance, recruitment of resources, and sub-grants for enhanced organizational capacity to ConvergeUS's partners. With this support, the partners will be able to plan more effectively and thus optimize their development of the game-changing technology for the military families and low-income constituents they are serving.
"We believe that technology and innovation can be great accelerators in the search for better outcomes for people facing difficult challenges," said Rey Ramsey, Co-Chair of ConvergeUS and President and CEO of TechNet. "ConvergeUS Innovation Fund will allow our partners to demonstrate the power of technology and innovation to positively impact lives."
"Nonprofits that serve military families; that's a big deal, really important, and ConvergeUS is really helping out with its innovation fund," said Craig Newmark, Founder and Customer Service Representative for Craigslist. "There's a lot of things that families need getting done."
About the W.K. Kellogg Foundation:
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF), founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer, Will Keith Kellogg, is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. Guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive, WKKF works with communities to create conditions for vulnerable children so they can realize their full potential in school, work and life. The Kellogg Foundation is based in Battle Creek, Mich., and works throughout the United States and internationally, as well as with sovereign tribes. Special emphasis is paid to priority places where there are high concentrations of poverty and where children face significant barriers to success. WKKF priority places in the U.S. are in Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico and New Orleans; and internationally, are in Mexico and Haiti. For more information, visit www.wkkf.org.????
About ConvergeUS:
ConvergeUS is the 501(c) (3) non-profit arm of TechNet and its mission is to drive technology-enabled breakthroughs for critical social concerns. When TechNet was founded in 1997, the founders made it a priority to concentrate on improving education in the United States and established the high-tech industry's credentials as good corporate citizens. In keeping with the core objectives of TechNet, ConvergeUS annually selects a maximum of three non-profit partners to accelerate social innovation. We concentrate our efforts on either specific social issues or geographic areas in need of rapid improvement and sustainable momentum for meaningful change. In our selection process, we prioritize difficult and seemingly intractable problems and regions left behind by the innovation economy.?ConvergeUS drives the innovation required through convening and strategic support. ConvergeUS works with a sense of urgency by encouraging entrepreneurship and bringing together the public and private sector to determine how best to deploy technology address the problems ConvergeUS identifies.
To learn more, visit www.convergeus.org.? More about TechNet at www.technet.org.
JERUSALEM (AP) ? A settler body has overturned a ruling by Israel's Council on Higher Education and has granted university status to a college in an Israeli settlement.
The move could draw a new round of international condemnation against Israeli policies in the West Bank.
Shmuel Dovrat, a spokesman for the education council of the West Bank settlements, says the school in the settlement of Ariel will now be named Ariel University. He says university status means the institution will receive public funding for the upcoming school year.
Tuesday's decision awaits a final approval from Israel's military.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu applauded the decision, and Palestinians criticized it.
Israel's Council for Higher Education ruled earlier that there was not enough funding to support another university, but the settler body overruled that.
A HSBC bank logo is highlighted by the sun in London in this file photo taken March 1, 2010.
By NBCNews.com's Alastair Jamieson and news services
A "pervasively polluted" culture at HSBC allowed the bank to act as financier to clients moving shadowy funds from the world's most dangerous and secretive corners, including Mexico, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Syria, according to a scathing U.S. Senate report issued on Monday.
The report [link to PDF here] which comes ahead of a Senate hearing on Tuesday, said large amounts of Mexican drug money was likely to have passed through the bank.?
HSBC's U.S. division provided money and banking services to some banks in Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh believed to have helped fund al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, according to an Al-Jazeera story on the report.
While the big British bank's problems have been known for nearly a decade, the Senate probe detailed just how sweeping the problems have been, both at the bank and at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a top U.S. bank regulator which the report said failed to properly monitor HSBC.
"The culture at HSBC was pervasively polluted for a long time," said Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, a Congressional watchdog panel.
The report comes at a troubling time for a banking industry reeling from a multi-country probe into the manipulation of global benchmark rates. Last month, rival British bank Barclays agreed to pay a $453 million fine to settle a U.S.-British probe into the rigging of the benchmark interest rate known as the London interbank offered rate, or Libor.
Lax controls The report caps a year-long inquiry that included a review of 1.4 million documents and interviews with 75 HSBC officials and bank regulators. It will be the focus of a hearing on Tuesday at which HSBC and OCC officials are scheduled to testify.
Banks pulling out of rate-setting panels in wake of Libor scandal
In a statement emailed to NBCNews.com, the bank said:?
We will apologize, acknowledge these mistakes, answer for our actions and give our absolute commitment to fixing what went wrong.?We believe that this case history will provide important lessons for the whole industry in seeking to prevent illicit actors entering the global financial system.
The report also contained strong criticism of the OCC, saying the regulator failed to crack down on the bank despite multiple red flags, allowing money laundering issues "to accumulate into a massive problem".
The failings and lax controls inside HSBC included an inability to properly monitor $15 billion in bulk cash transactions between mid-2006 and mid-2009, inadequate staffing and high turnover in the bank's compliance units, the report said.
HSBC ignored risks in doing business in countries such as Mexico, a country rife with drug trafficking, it said.
Between 2007 and 2008, HSBC's Mexican operations moved $7 billion into the bank's U.S. operations. According to the report, both Mexican and U.S. authorities warned HSBC that the amount of money could only have reached such a level if it was tied to illegal narcotics proceeds.
The focus of the Senate probe was HSBC's U.S. operations, which has its main office in New York. HSBC used the U.S. unit as a selling point to clients outside the United States, touting its ability to handle U.S. dollar transactions.
Red flags The report described that among HSBC's problems was the bank's compliance division being unable to battle the suspect money. High turnover of top compliance officials made it difficult for reform to take hold, the report said. Employees were "overwhelmed" by a mounting number of suspect transactions that needed review.
HSBC, according to the report, helped move money for a Mexican foreign-exchange dealer called Casa de Cambio Puebla that served as a hub for laundered proceeds, according to the report.
Banks' bad behavior may be scaring away investors
Between 2005 and 2007, there was a "growing flood" of U.S. dollars moving between the exchange house and HSBC, setting off red flags inside HSBC. Some bankers said the transfers were legal. One said the money came from Mexican landscapers working in the United States and routing money back home to their families.
HSBC ultimately closed the account in November 2007 after it received a seizure warrant from the Mexican attorney general seeking money tied to the exchange dealer, the Senate report said.
Some of the money that moved through HSBC was tied to Iran, the report said, which would violate U.S. prohibitions on transactions linked to it and other sanctioned countries.
Between 2001 and 2007, more than 28,000 transactions were identified by an outside auditor for HSBC that potentially could have run afoul of laws that prohibit transactions with sanctioned countries. Of those, 25,000 involved Iran. A smaller number required additional analysis to determine if violations of U.S. regulations had occurred, the report said.
In 2010, Wachovia agreed to pay $160 million as part of a Justice Department probe that examined Mexican transactions, according to a BBC report, which also?said ING last month agreed to pay $619 million to settle U.S. government allegations that it violated U.S. sanctions against Cuba and Iran.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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