COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) ? Texas A&M had trouble shooting free throws for 39 minutes against Army, but finally made a slew in succession with the outcome in the balance.
Aggie guards Fabyon Harris and J'Mychal Reese combined to make six consecutive free throws in the final 43 seconds and Texas A&M prevailed 61-55 over the Black Knights before 6,416 fans in Reed Arena.
Texas A&M, which had lost 53-51 to Southern a week prior in Reed, avoided its second consecutive upset.
"It was a good, gritty win for our team," Aggies coach Billy Kennedy said. "Army has a good team and a good system. They can represent us in war any time, because they fight. . The right guys for us got fouled at the end, because both of those guys (Harris and Reese) are good free throw shooters."
The Black Knights led 55-54 with 1:02 remaining after Ray Turner made his first free throw but missed the second for the Aggies. Texas A&M's Elston Turner came up with the offensive rebound, however, and Army's Dylan Cox fouled Harris on a 3-point attempt from the left side of the arc on the outlet.
Harris, with 43 seconds remaining, made all three of his free throws in lifting the Aggies (9-3) to a 57-55 lead, one they wouldn't relinquish as Cox missed a layup and a 3-pointer down the final stretch.
Texas A&M forward Kourtney Roberson also collected a steal on an errant pass by Kyle Toth with 27 seconds remaining. Reese helped put away the game with three free throws in the final 23 seconds.
"They deserved to win today, and we didn't," said Army coach Zach Spiker, who added he was proud of how hard his 6-6 team played against a Southeastern Conference opponent.
The Aggies only had three offensive rebounds in the loss to Southern, but had 19 against the Black Knights, including five by Andrew Young and four by Roberson. Texas A&M snagged nine offensive rebounds in the first nine minutes, and 10 the rest of the way. The Aggies nearly doubled up Army 19-10 on second-chance points in the six-point game.
"Early on our defense wasn't where it needed to be," Spiker said of the Aggies outhustling the Black Knights following missed Texas A&M shots.
The Aggies and Black Knights had never met prior to Saturday, but Texas A&M owns a 7-0 all-time advantage against Patriot League opponents. Kennedy said so-called easy wins aren't as easy as they used to be.
"You have to be able to win ugly, and we were able to do that," Kennedy said. "Everybody assumes we're supposed to overpower some of these teams, but that doesn't happen very often in college basketball anymore."
Harris led the Aggies with 12 points, and Turner followed with 11. Kyle Wilson paced Army with a game-high 15 points. The Aggies made only 15 of 27 from the free-throw line, but were solid from the 3-point line by sinking 8 of 20.
Texas A&M was also able to finally set aside the disappointment of the two-point setback to Southern, considering the week break between games because of Christmas.
"We were all thinking about that loss," Harris said. "We came back and were all locked in and playing hard, and it paid off."
You do not want to cause damage to your home through your home improvement projects. That?s why you must learn all you can about the projects you are taking on. The following article offers many tips and techniques associated with home improvement.
Chair cushions eventually flatten with use. However, you can breathe new life into those flattened cushions with a a little sunshine. The sun will help remove some of the moisture in the cushions and give them new bounce. Be sure that you flip the cushion over often or put it away periodically, because the colors of the fabric can fade in the sun.
Stained baseboards offer an excellent alternative to traditionally painted ones. In addition to it having a classic look, the wood?s natural and warm look will fit in any type of home. Additionally, minor damages are not so glaringly obvious on stained boards as they are on painted boards. There are many different tints available in stain form, making matching your decor easy.
Place several nail holes along the rim of the paint cans! Why? Typically, paint will spill out and run down the can when you put the lid on it. Use a nail and drive several holes around the perimeter of the can into the bottom of the channel to solve the problem.
Only consider contractors for your home improvement projects that have proper licensing from your state of residence. You can easily find out this information by looking at your state government?s website or by calling them. If a contractor is not properly licensed, it can be a wake up call that they are either scam artists or not knowledgeable enough to get licensed.
Drain Snake
If you want to save money, then consider getting a drain snake. This will help you avoid buying drain cleaners so often. Drain snakes aren?t for people who are inexperienced, so you might need a plumber to show you how it is used for the first time. Do not buy a drain snake that will not fit the pipe or you could damage it.
In home improvement, you should focus on making improvements that are highly visible. When you sell your home, buyers will be looking at it, not inspecting its guts. While there is a lot to do in terms of improvements that people cannot see, you have to work on the most obvious ones first and foremost.
Create a welcoming space in your entryway by adding some accessories to the space. Set it up as a good place to store overshoes, umbrellas, hats, scarves and coats, as well as a good place to deposit keys, outgoing mail and other items that might be needed by people coming and going. These simple additions can provide organizational advantages to your home.
Avoid the lowest priced contractors. It may seem lucky, but some people promise low prices and ramp them up once they have the job. It is also possible that some will simply fail to produce quality work. Make sure you do the right research to find out if your work is being priced well.
If you?re upgrading your electrical system, you should have a pro do it. Professionals are aware of what is best and how to do it properly. If you know nothing about electric work and try, you may do more harm than good.
Any home improvement projects outside of your home should stay in line with your neighborhood?s character. If your house is an eyesore, you?ll have a hard time selling it when the time comes.
Paint is a great way to decorate your home on a minimal budget. Even if you can afford to paint only a single room, you can still use interior paint to change the look and feel of your favorite area. You can make a room look completely remodeled by painting it. Of course, if things don?t go well, you can always paint it again!
Planning Ahead
Nothing is more important to successful home improvement than planning ahead. You can prevent poor decisions and disaster by planning ahead. If you plan out what you are going to do, you will not run into as many issues.
If you have sharp furniture, you should put down some padding, which will keep children safe and make your home look nicer. Corner protectors can be purchased from a store, or foam tape could be used to pad these sharp edges on the furniture. Something else to consider is taping down any loose wires that could potentially strangle your children.
When you put in new kitchen cabinets, be certain that each one is secured to wall studs. You should mark every stud before you begin the project. A stud finder can be an inexpensive but priceless tool,
Think about putting in matching metal fixtures if you want to change the look of your bathroom. There are lots of different finishes and styles available in drawer pulls, shower curtain rods, toilet paper holders and towel racks. In many cases, a coordinated set of hardware comes in a single, handy package. Installing one of these sets is a simple one-day (or even one-afternoon) project.
When it comes to home improvements, if you are not aware of what to do, disaster can occur. This is all the more reason why you should know the right information, like what you read here in order to come up with a solid home improvement plan to tackle any issue you have.
Rhonda Morin is the owner of MyInteriorDecorator.com and loves helping others decorate the home of their dreams through her articles, tips and tricks on her blog and through her store at http://myinteriordecorator.com/store. Rhonda wrote an ebook all about decorating your home so you can do it yourself. This knowledge comes from thousands of homes decorated and years of perfecting her skill. She gives this all to you in her book The Decorating Bible.
Posted on December 29, 2012 by dufttuey508 in Internet
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Magnetic levitation is central to the fastest trains we know today, but it's that dependence on electromagnets and rails that limits how and where it's used for transportation. Aoyama Gakuin Universityhas a unique alternative: changing the material properties themselves. By floating graphite over a bed of circular magnets, taking advantage of its tendency to generate an opposing magnetic field, researchers can move the graphite just by blasting its edge with a laser. The heat skews the magnetic behavior of that area enough to unbalance the graphite, either in a specific direction or a spin. The research team believes it could lead to maglev transportation or even energy converting turbines that are steered solely by light, with no contact or outside guides: maglev vehicle pilots could have much more control over where they go. Getting to that point will require a much larger scale, but successful development could give technology a very literal lift.
Durning, california king of figure superstars, dead inside New york city Whilst luxury diamond jewelry, a terrific way to and also hues are generally well-liked by fanatics of custom, no stylish accent recommendations consideration that is comparable to the particular custom bag. Nowadays, Coach Outlet Online ?examines several of the extremely desirable custom bag labeling from around the world. (PRWEB) December 19, Next year Even tho it?s a Chanel quilted buckskin glenohumeral joint tote or maybe a Lv clutch system in the centre of each lover of high-finish girls????s trend is an interest in traditional custom totes. Nowadays, Rodeo Drive Second-hand, top merchant of 100% traditional certain Lv totes, Chanel Purses, and other luxury items explains to you one of the most much loved custom luggage on earth. The majority of the brands are mainly on Coach Outletcom inside a specific reduced rate to the getaways. Furthermore, luxury fanatics can easily gain free delivery on specific purchases. 1) ? ?Coach ???C One of the most well-known brands inside custom totes, Coach took its begin in The early 1940?s making modest buckskin items. Right now a way large, the business is now well-known due to the sort of Coach glenohumeral joint luggage, suitcases along with stylish items. Depending on Rodeo Drive Second-hand co-founder Raya Jaffer, Coach delivers luxury layout inside a aggressive cost. ???Coach implies high quality plus a custom think about a cost lowered compared to some other custom luggage in the comparable value.???? 2) ? ?Lv ???C Every single luxury tote lover features their desire, however, many concur: If it requires style and also position, couple of brands can easily match up the particular standing in the This particular language trend content label. Old-fashioned Lv luggage, handbags and also add-ons have grown to be the particular defacto standard regarding style, also, since the particular content label seems to be to hold its placement as the top trend model between Cina????s growing luxury industry, fascination with LV, founded inside 1854, continues to be strong remember. Due to their uncompromising offering method (LV hasn?t already has a buy inside 154 decades), mid-range consumers looking for a deal head for you to internet sites by way of example Coach Outletcom, that provide buyers the chance sell or buy 100% traditional custom totes in a small percentage in the cost. Three or more) ? ?Chanel ???C Founded at the begining of last century by trend experienced Gabrielle ???Coco???? Chanel, the particular Chanel garments and also add-ons are generally adored with regards to elegance and suppleness. The particular Chanel 2.Fityfive glenohumeral joint tote was introduced inside 1955, after Coco made a decision your woman necessary any tote to discharge the woman?s palms. Up-to-date inside 2007, the particular tote stays really well-liked by Chanel fanatics around the globe. 4) ? ?Prada ???CExclusive, deluxe and immediately well-known, Prada, founded inside 1921, has developed into indication of standing to the wealthy and efficient. Put on by this sort of famous statistics since Artist superstar Bette Davis and also former 1st Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, an italian language gentleman , business????s sort of timeless totes nevertheless resonate together with buyers of stylish trend, as the Prada Hobo Bag has developed into rapidly favorite between model loyalists. A few) ? ?Longchamp ???C Rounding your chance of most-looked bag brands is Longchamp, any This particular language buckskin and also luxury items business founded inside 1948. ???People adore the tranquility of Longchamp,???? Raya claims. ???It is impeccably produced from the greatest high quality leathers and also textiles nevertheless incorporates a quite delicate seem. It?s not fancy, or perhaps logo design covered that is certainly more widespread together with Coach luggage.???? In addition to totes, the corporation additionally produces garments, diamond jewelry, and other trend add-ons. Rodeo Drive Second-hand has generated a status of offering excellent delivers on totes, garments and also add-ons inside the leading creative designers of stylish trend. The organization gives a 100% guarantee of genuineness on the products supplied, and also performs daily using a system of clientele looking to get, promote, or perhaps shops in the luxury items. Coach Outletcom adores high-finish trend, and also believes obtaining a high quality, basic piece needs to be a straightforward, pleasant ? and even more importantly ? hassle-free shopping expertise. For your finest in Lv, Chanel, Prada, Prada, St. Steve Knits, Louboutin, Tiffany & Company. plus more, check out RDR on the web from Coach clearance web shop.
BEIJING (AP) ? A Chinese court has ordered Apple Inc. to pay 1.03 million yuan ($165,000) to eight Chinese writers and two companies who say unlicensed copies of their work were distributed through Apple's online store.
The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ruled Thursday that Apple violated the writers' copyrights by allowing applications containing their work to be distributed through its App Store, according to an official who answered the phone at the court and said he was the judge in the case. He refused to give his name, as is common among Chinese officials.
The award was less than the 12 million yuan ($1.9 million) sought by the authors. The case grouped together eight lawsuits filed by them and their publishers.
An Apple spokeswoman, Carolyn Wu, said the company's managers "take copyright infringement complaints very seriously." She declined to say whether the company would appeal.
Unlicensed copying of books, music, software and other products is widespread in China despite repeated government promises to stamp out violations.
Apple's agreement with application developers requires them to confirm they have obtained rights to material distributed through the company's App Store.
"We're always updating our service to better assist content owners in protecting their rights," Wu said.
The Chinese writers said they saw applications containing unlicensed versions of their books last year.
In November, a court ordered Apple to pay 520,000 yuan ($84,000) to the Encyclopedia of China Publishing House for copyright infringement in a separate case. Apple is appealing, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
In the latest case, the Beijing court awarded 605,000 yuan ($97,500) to one company and 21,500 yuan ($3,450) to the second, according to the court official.
The biggest individual judgment went to writer Han Ailian, who was awarded 186,000 yuan ($30,000).
As a chunk of the Big East transforms itself into a mostly or even all-Catholic basketball league, the conference faces a choice: play up or play down its faith-based roots?
TOTAL COLLAPSE Football and fear fueled the demise of the Big East. Scout.com
With Catholic higher education already struggling to strike a balance between faith and financial security, either course carries both challenges and opportunities.
On the one hand, the seven schools that announced Saturday they'll set off on their own ? St. John's, Georgetown, Marquette, DePaul, Seton Hall, Providence and Villanova ? already have made clear they'll look to non-denominational institutions that otherwise fit their profile, such as Butler , to expand.
But even if they do so, the conference's identity will likely lie with its core of Catholic-rooted schools. To be sure, going overboard with that identity could harm recruiting of non-Catholic students ? both athletes and non-athletes ? and limit expansion. But a moderate embrace could help institutions reconnect their sports programs to their missions, and reinvigorate their religious identities at a time when important groups on campus fear it's slipping away.
Think of a non-secular Ivy League, but with much better basketball. It might take a leap of faith to believe these days, but the NCAA's musical chairs game of conference realignment isn't always just about money.
''It's not all about revenue,'' said Warren Zola, an assistant dean at Boston College's Carroll School of Management, who follows college sports business issues closely. ''It's partly about brand. I think the Catholic schools are looking at that and thinking, `What do we have in common with the existing Big East and the future Big East?'''
It's not a coincidence that the seven schools that announced Saturday they're separating from the Big East are all Catholic. They're each part of a tradition that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: church institutions that sprang up to serve urban immigrant communities. Neither their demographics nor tightly-packed city campuses lent themselves to football players and stadiums ( Notre Dame , with space to grow in Indiana, proved the exception to the pattern).
Basketball was a better fit for city schools, and each has done well with it.
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The problem today is that college athletics revolves around big-time football dollars. That's left behind the niche these Catholic schools inhabit: basketball powers where football is either second-fiddle (Georgetown, Villanova) or not played at all (the others). So they're setting off on their own.
''If it ends up as all Catholic schools, that's the way we're going to talk about them,'' said Linda Bruno, a former associate commissioner of the Big East and former commissioner of the Atlantic 10 conference, who now leads the Division III Skyline conference. But while it will be up to the school presidents to decide whether to market the conference that way, she's not sure that's the best course.
''Why box yourself in?'' she said. ''They're so much more than a Catholic basketball league. They're going to be a national basketball league.''
So far, that seems to be the marketing plan.
''The criteria that we'll set forth will be non-denominational,'' Villanova athletic director Vince Nicastro said Sunday, adding the group will be looking for schools that are committed to top-tier competition, are ''attractive media entities,'' and ''care about the holistic development of their student athletes.''
''When you start to populate that matrix, you'll probably see some Catholic schools in there and see some schools that aren't Catholic,'' he said.
Still, it's also worth noting that five of the seven institutions now leaving the Big East are led by priests or members of religious orders. Seton Hall installed its first lay president in 2010, and it's widely believed that many such schools will soon follow, given the dwindling pool of academics from the clergy or religious orders.
HOOPS ARE HERE! Who tops power rankings? AP poll: See the top 25 Player of the Year Watch Photos of the weekend Scout.com: Latest recruiting news
That could encourage the current presidents to try to put a mission-related stamp on the conference, a way to distinguish the schools in this particular league.
What kind of stamp? One model is the Ivy League, which prohibits athletic scholarships (but awards them for financial need), and schedules league basketball games only on weekends (the Ivy League also doesn't allow football teams to play in the postseason).
The soon-to-be former Big East schools probably wouldn't go that route. But they could impose their own mission-related choices like public service requirements and higher ethical standards ? practices that could be cast in non-sectarian terms that the likes of Butler might embrace.
And while Butler's two recent runs to the national title game make it especially appealing, there's no shortage of Catholic colleges with creditable basketball programs that might aspire to such company, and where the played-up Catholic identity would be part of the appeal. Gonzaga and St. Mary's on the West Coast may prove too far away, but Creighton, Dayton, Xavier, Canisius and St. Bonaventure could all be potential candidates (as might Saint Joseph's and LaSalle in Philadelphia, but for the fact nearby Villanova would be unlikely to accept expansion in its own market).
At the far end, one could even imagine a conference decision not to play games on Sundays ? and a dramatic showdown with the NCAA over a request to be assigned only to Thursday-Saturday brackets in the NCAA basketball tournament.
''That would definitely be something meaningful,'' said Rev. John Piderit, president of the New York-based Catholic Education Institute, mulling the Sunday idea.
A few of Piderit's other suggestions, like ''name that hymn'' contests and saints trivia on the scoreboard of basketball games, likely wouldn't get past the schools' marketing teams.
FOXIEST FANS Check out the FOXiest fans from arenas across the country and? tweet us your photo .
But they speak to the kind of branding opportunity only Notre Dame routinely gets among America's Catholic schools. Notre Dame's slick ''What Would You Fight For'' campaign, boosted by this year's run to the BCS national championship, has become a marketing engine for the university and, arguably, the faith in the United States.
Another possible upshot of the new league: at a time when conference realignment has torn asunder so many natural rivalries that percolated for decades ? Duke-Maryland, Pittsburgh-West Virginia, Oklahoma-Nebraska ? a conference embracing its Catholic identity could reinvigorate some natural ones. Imagine the intensity of Catholic high school basketball rivalries, but with 15,000 spectators instead of 1,500.
''A Catholic basketball conference could be a way back to the roots of why conferences came together initially,'' Zola said. ''I think it's fantastic if some leaders in intercollegiate athletics can put the brakes on chasing every dollar out of their potential in athletics and refocus on their purpose as an institution.''
Gun Rights FUCKED ? Congress (Mental Health Bills Ignored) Current gun control bills ? current mental health related bills? just a few of both? Quote from Obama and Jay Carney? PS: Personal Opinion ? Kiss your high capacity magazines goodbye very soon? Punish The Many Because Of The Few
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Greed, not generosity, more likely to be 'paid forward'Public release date: 17-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: APA Public Affairs public.affairs@apa.org 202-336-5700 American Psychological Association
With money or work, people are more likely to look out for themselves
WASHINGTON Paying it forward - a popular expression for extending generosity to others after someone has been generous to you - is a heartwarming concept, but it is less common than repaying greed with greed, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.
"The idea of paying it forward is this cascade of goodwill will turn into a utopia with everyone helping everyone," said lead researcher Kurt Gray, PhD. "Unfortunately, greed or looking out for ourselves is more powerful than true acts of generosity."
The study, published online in APA's Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, is the first systematic investigation of paying forward generosity, equality or greed, according to the authors.
"The bulk of the scientific research on this concept has focused on good behavior, and we wondered what would happen when you looked at the entire gamut of human behaviors," said Gray, an assistant professor of social psychology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, who conducted the study with researchers at Harvard University.
In five experiments involving money or work, participants who received an act of generosity didn't pay generosity forward any more than those who had been treated equally. But participants who had been the victims of greed were more likely to pay greed forward to a future recipient, creating a negative chain reaction. Women and men showed the same levels of generosity and greed in the study.
In one experiment, researchers recruited 100 people from subway stations and tourist areas in Cambridge, Mass., to play an economic game. They told participants that someone had split $6 with them and then gave them an envelope that contained the entire $6 for a generous split, $3 for an equal split, or nothing for a greedy split. The participants then received an additional $6 that they could split in another envelope with a future recipient, essentially paying it forward.
Receiving a generous split didn't prompt any greater generosity than receiving equal treatment, but people who received nothing in the first envelope were more likely to put little or nothing in the second envelope, depriving future recipients because of the greed they had experienced. The average amount paid forward by participants who received a greedy split was $1.32, well below an equal split of $3.
The results confirmed the researchers' hypothesis that greed would prevail because negative stimuli have more powerful effects on thoughts and actions than positive stimuli. Focusing on the negative may cause unhappiness, but it makes sense as an evolutionary survival skill, Gray said. "If there is a tiger nearby, you really have to take notice or you'll get eaten," he said. "If there is a beautiful sunset or delicious food, it's not a life-or-death situation."
The study also examined whether people would have similar reactions involving work rather than money. In one online experiment, researchers told 60 participants that four tasks needed to be completed, including two easy word association games and two boring, repetitive tasks that involved circling vowels in dense Italian text. They explained to the participants that someone had already split the work with them, leaving them the two fun tasks in a generous split, one fun task and one boring task in an equal split, or both boring tasks in a greedy split. The participants then had to complete those tasks and split an additional four tasks with a future recipient. The results were the same, with greed being paid forward more than generosity.
"We all like to think that being generous will influence others to treat someone nicely, but it doesn't automatically create a chain of goodwill," said Gray. "To create chains of positive behavior, people should focus less on performing random acts of generosity and more on treating others equallywhile refraining from random acts of greed."
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Article: "Paying It Forward: Generalized Reciprocity and the Limits of Generosity," Kurt Gray, PhD, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Adrian F. Ward, MA; and Michael I. Norton, PhD, Harvard University; Journal of Experimental Psychology: General; online Dec. 17, 2012.
Full text of the article is available from the APA Public Affairs Office and at
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xge-ofp-gray.pdf
Kurt Gray, PhD, can be contacted at kurtgray@unc.edu or by phone at (617) 279-3683.
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 137,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.
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Greed, not generosity, more likely to be 'paid forward'Public release date: 17-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: APA Public Affairs public.affairs@apa.org 202-336-5700 American Psychological Association
With money or work, people are more likely to look out for themselves
WASHINGTON Paying it forward - a popular expression for extending generosity to others after someone has been generous to you - is a heartwarming concept, but it is less common than repaying greed with greed, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.
"The idea of paying it forward is this cascade of goodwill will turn into a utopia with everyone helping everyone," said lead researcher Kurt Gray, PhD. "Unfortunately, greed or looking out for ourselves is more powerful than true acts of generosity."
The study, published online in APA's Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, is the first systematic investigation of paying forward generosity, equality or greed, according to the authors.
"The bulk of the scientific research on this concept has focused on good behavior, and we wondered what would happen when you looked at the entire gamut of human behaviors," said Gray, an assistant professor of social psychology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, who conducted the study with researchers at Harvard University.
In five experiments involving money or work, participants who received an act of generosity didn't pay generosity forward any more than those who had been treated equally. But participants who had been the victims of greed were more likely to pay greed forward to a future recipient, creating a negative chain reaction. Women and men showed the same levels of generosity and greed in the study.
In one experiment, researchers recruited 100 people from subway stations and tourist areas in Cambridge, Mass., to play an economic game. They told participants that someone had split $6 with them and then gave them an envelope that contained the entire $6 for a generous split, $3 for an equal split, or nothing for a greedy split. The participants then received an additional $6 that they could split in another envelope with a future recipient, essentially paying it forward.
Receiving a generous split didn't prompt any greater generosity than receiving equal treatment, but people who received nothing in the first envelope were more likely to put little or nothing in the second envelope, depriving future recipients because of the greed they had experienced. The average amount paid forward by participants who received a greedy split was $1.32, well below an equal split of $3.
The results confirmed the researchers' hypothesis that greed would prevail because negative stimuli have more powerful effects on thoughts and actions than positive stimuli. Focusing on the negative may cause unhappiness, but it makes sense as an evolutionary survival skill, Gray said. "If there is a tiger nearby, you really have to take notice or you'll get eaten," he said. "If there is a beautiful sunset or delicious food, it's not a life-or-death situation."
The study also examined whether people would have similar reactions involving work rather than money. In one online experiment, researchers told 60 participants that four tasks needed to be completed, including two easy word association games and two boring, repetitive tasks that involved circling vowels in dense Italian text. They explained to the participants that someone had already split the work with them, leaving them the two fun tasks in a generous split, one fun task and one boring task in an equal split, or both boring tasks in a greedy split. The participants then had to complete those tasks and split an additional four tasks with a future recipient. The results were the same, with greed being paid forward more than generosity.
"We all like to think that being generous will influence others to treat someone nicely, but it doesn't automatically create a chain of goodwill," said Gray. "To create chains of positive behavior, people should focus less on performing random acts of generosity and more on treating others equallywhile refraining from random acts of greed."
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Article: "Paying It Forward: Generalized Reciprocity and the Limits of Generosity," Kurt Gray, PhD, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill; Adrian F. Ward, MA; and Michael I. Norton, PhD, Harvard University; Journal of Experimental Psychology: General; online Dec. 17, 2012.
Full text of the article is available from the APA Public Affairs Office and at
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xge-ofp-gray.pdf
Kurt Gray, PhD, can be contacted at kurtgray@unc.edu or by phone at (617) 279-3683.
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world's largest association of psychologists. APA's membership includes more than 137,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) ? A Danish historian says he has discovered a copy of what is believed to be a previously unknown fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen.
Esben Brage says he found the six-page text in early October while searching in the National Archives through boxes that had belonged to wealthy families from Andersen's home-town of Odense in central Denmark.
The handwritten tale entitled "Tallow Candle," and dedicated to a widow who had lived across from Andersen, had been left seemingly untouched at the bottom of one of the boxes.
Andersen expert Ejnar Stig Askgaard said Thursday this is likely one of Andersen's earliest works, written seven years before his official debut.
Born in 1805, Andersen wrote nearly 160 fairy tales including "The Ugly Duckling" and "The Little Mermaid."
I recently joked that it felt like the main purpose of Kickstarter seemed to be to convince the world they wanted simplified wallets and fancy ink pens. If you don't spend much time on Kickstarter, you may have missed that those two categories seem to account for a somewhat-larger-than-expected percentage of projects that people find interesting. The wallets, in particular, fascinate me, because there are an absolutely insane number of new wallet projects, with nearly every single one claiming to have reinvented wallets. I had no idea that the wallet market was open to such disruption.
Of course, it may be open to an entirely different form of disruption. As Nick Bilton at the NYTimes recently pointed out, as his smartphone has been able to do more and more, he's beginning to think that wallets may be becoming entirely obsolete. There's almost nothing he still needs to carry on his person since nearly everything that used to be in his wallet can now be taken care of via his smartphone:
Printed photos, which once came in ?wallet size,? have been replaced by an endless roll of snapshots on my phone. Business cards, one of the more archaic forms of communication from the last few decades, now exist as digital rap sheets that can be shared with a click or a bump.
As for cash, I rarely touch the stuff anymore. Most of the time I pay for things ? lunch, gas, clothes ? with a single debit card. Increasingly, there are also opportunities to skip plastic cards. At Starbucks, I often pay with my smartphone using the official Starbucks app. Other cafes and small restaurants allow people to pay with Square. You simply say your name at a register and voil?, transaction complete.
But wait, what did I do with all of the other cardlike things, like my gym membership I.D., discount cards, insurance cards and coupons? I simply took digital pictures of them, which I keep in a photos folder on my smartphone that is easily accessible. Many stores have apps for their customer cards, and insurance companies have apps that substitute for paper identification.
It's not entirely obsolete, but Nick makes a compelling case that it's heading in that direction. To be fair, many of the new wallets seen on Kickstarter are, in effect, responses to this trend. The most popular styles appear to be "simplified" or "minimal" wallets that shrink down what you have to carry, so that you can just take the few essential cards with you. But, it's possible that many people will be able to get by entirely without a wallet in the not-too-distant future.
This, in turn, reminded me of something else: about how disruption may destroy industries while making our own lives better in the process -- but that simple economics tends to do a bad job recognizing that. I've talked about how traditional economic measures might measure the wrong thing. So, if we're looking at wallets, for example, those in the wallet-making business might claim that this move towards the digitization/smartphonification of everything is "bad" for the "wallet industry." That's obviously silly, and most people aren't too concerned about the wallet industry. But that ignores just how many industries are being totally upended by the smartphone. Think of all the things you don't need any more due to the smartphone. A few months back, the Cato Institute put together a fun chart on "dematerialization" due to the smart phone, trying to make the argument that advances in technology, such as the smartphone, might also be good for the environment, since they lead to people needing a lot fewer physical devices, since they're all packaged into that tiny device in your pocket:
Of course, what this also points out is the nature of disruption and innovation. Disruptive innovation, by its nature, destroys entire industries or segments of industries by making them obsolete. If you simply measure the economic impact on the fact that those industries are no longer present, or that those products are no longer being sold for hundreds of dollars, you could argue that there's a negative impact on the economy. But, if you flip it around and look at (a) how much better our lives are, in that we have access to all that at the touch of our finger tips in a single smartphone, and (b) that as compared to buying all those other devices, individuals actually get to keep more money to themselves (though, not necessarily in their now obsolete wallets) to be spent in more productive ways, it seems like it's actually a really good thing.
But this is something that we often struggle with from a policy standpoint. While no one claims to be missing "the fax" industry, lots of industries at risk of disruption will do all sorts of things to angle policy makers into blocking that disruption, by arguing about the economic impact of their own industries, and falsely implying that, if they're disrupted away, all of that money somehow "disappears" from the economy. But the nature of innovation is that we make things obsolete by making other things better and more powerful and changing the way we do things. The end result is, generally speaking (and, yes, there are exceptions), better for everyone, enabling them to do more with less and do so more productively. Whether it's a "wallet" or the entire list of things in the graphic above, progress has an amazing way of destroying old ways of doing business, and we shouldn't fear or worry about that, we should celebrate it.
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The facebook status of my friend was heart-breaking:?After 25 years of working for the same company, my wonderful hard working amazing husband was told he does not have a job. Our world has turned upside down???A hard?situation to face?at the holiday season.
But the reality is, we?re all dealing with tough stuff. Stepfamilies, especially, often carry pain throughout the holiday season. So, how do you cope? Here are a few suggestions:
1) Don?t dwell on the negative.??Try to find something positive about?your challenging reality.?The holiday?season?when?we?walked through?my stepson?s custody battle was one of the hardest for me.?It?seemed as if?I got out of?bed every day with a dark cloud over my head. But I tried to focus on the blessing of the relationship with my husband and his willingness to walk a difficult road together that might not include a happy ending.
2) Trust God?s plan for your family even if you don?t understand it. I love the words of Charles Spurgeon: ?When you can?t trace God?s hand, trust His heart.? God wants what?s best for you and your family.?However, life is often understood backward; ?circumstances don?t?make sense?with our finite eyes. But we find peace?when we trust God?s plan, even if we don?t understand it.
3) Do your part to overcome the pain. Don?t allow yourself to be a victim, wallowing in self-pity. If you?re struggling with a stepfamily challenge that seems to have no end,?seek support. Talk with other stepmoms (healthy-minded ones). Find a counselor educated in stepfamily dynamics. Use Scripture and prayer to find answers. But don?t stay stuck in your pain?without reaching out.
4) Consider the joy of perseverance.??When I complete a long run as I train for running events, I find?joy in the perseverance of completing a 10 or 12 mile run. I know I?ve pushed myself to the limit and I wanted to give up, but I didn?t. The same holds true with stepfamilies. We will be pushed to the limit, but the joy comes in refusing to quit. I?ve written about it more here: ?Stepparenting Feels Like I?m Running a Marathon.?
5) Read our holiday e-book for encouragement. Stepmom Heather Hetchler and I wrote?our e-book, Unwrapping the Gift of Stepfamily Peace, to offer hope and encouragement to stepparents. We know how difficult the holiday season can be ? we?ve walked the road in our own stepfamilies. I hope you?ll consider purchasing and reading?the e-book as a gift to yourself.
I don?t know what pain you?re facing in your stepfamily but I?pray you don?t allow it to overshadow the joy of the holiday. I want to offer the privilege of praying for you if you share your concerns with me. I?d love to hear from you. ?For nothing is impossible with God? (Luke 1:37).
Are you facing stepfamily pain? Will you commit to a positive perspective and intentional effort?to keep it from overshadowing?your holiday joy?
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Your Holiday Doesn?t Have to Be Perfect to Be Meaningful
HERMOSA BEACH (CBSLA.com) ??A Hermosa Beach mother made the decision to undergo a double mastectomy even though she doesn?t have breast?cancer.
Jennifer Caras? family, however, has a history of the life-threatening disease.
Her sister, Julie, passed away at the age of 28 from a brain tumor, and her mother and?grandmother battled breast cancer.
Those circumstances impacted?Caras? decision to remove both of her breasts in January.
?I always feel like I have three good reasons to do it and it?s my three little ones. I?ve got to be around for them a long time, and I?ve got to be healthy,? she said.
Dr. Stephen Sener, the chief of surgical oncology at Keck Medical Center of USC, said there are many reasons patients undergo elective mastectomies.
In addition,?multiple factors go into determining a patient?s risk of developing breast cancer.
?Have they been gene tested? What?s really the family history? Is it just breast cancer? How many people with breast cancer? Is there a history of ovarian cancer in the family?? he said.
According to Sener, instead of surgery, some patients choose to take the anti-estrogen drug Tamoxifen, which has shown to cut the risk of developing breast cancer in half.
?For some people, that?s enough to have a conversation about, but for others, half is still no good,??Sener said.
While surgery drastically reduces the risk of breast cancer, there are side effects and a 1 percent chance that cancer will develop.
Sener said, ?After doing this for 30 years, I?ve never had someone come back and tell me that they did the wrong thing? after they?ve had a prophylactic mastectomy.?
Caras said with her family?s support, she?s ready to move forward.
?Taking this into my own hands and eliminating my risk?it is a big decision. It is a big decision, but it feels right and it feels empowering to take it off my plate,? she said.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was recovering in Cuba on Tuesday after an operation targeting an aggressive cancer that has defied multiple treatments and has prompted the socialist leader to name a political successor.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro spoke on Venezuelan television after the surgery, saying that "it's been a complex operation." He indicated that the surgery lasted more than six hours and said it was completed "correctly and successfully."
Maduro, who was designated by the president on Saturday as his preferred political heir, made the announcement in Caracas flanked by other Chavez aides and military commanders. Maduro then led an outdoor vigil where the president's supporters joined hands in prayer and sang along with a recording of Chavez singing the national anthem.
"We've lived through complex moments of tension," Maduro said, without giving details.
It was the fourth cancer-related operation that Chavez has undergone since June 2011.
Three days before the surgery, Chavez announced that he needed to have surgery again after tests showed "some malignant cells" had reappeared in the same area of his pelvic region where tumors were previously removed.
Chavez said beforehand that the surgery would present risks.
Afterward, Maduro said that Chavez had been moved to a room to recover and begin "special treatments" under the care of a team including medical experts from Venezuela, Cuba and elsewhere.
With Chavez in Havana were his children and grandchildren as well as political allies including National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez, Maduro said.
"We're waiting for you here," Maduro said, addressing Chavez on television. "You have to return, and we're waiting for you here, your children, we who've sworn to be loyal to you even beyond this life."
Maduro added: "If there were another life, we'd be loyal and we'd be your soldiers forever."
After he spoke, some of the president's supporters in a Caracas plaza broke into chants of "El Comandante will live!"
Supporters held a prayer meeting in downtown Caracas while the surgery was under way, singing hymns.
"We ask God, to allow him to live," said Carmen Romero, who participated in the gathering. Some held up posters of Chavez as they sang.
On the city's streets, Venezuelans on both sides of the country's deep political divide voiced concerns about Chavez's condition and what might happen if he ultimately doesn't survive his illness.
"It's difficult to think about Venezuela without Chavez," said Rafael Perdomo, a mechanic who has supported the president since 1998, when he first ran for the presidency. "I fear that we, the poor, could lose everything if Chavez dies."
Chavez recently said for the first time that if his illness cuts short his presidency, Maduro should take his place and be elected president to continue on with his socialist movement. But Perdomo said he didn't trust Maduro the way he trusts Chavez.
Others Venezuelans said that while they're sorry about Chavez's health and wish him the best, it isn't a particular concern for them. Many were out buying Christmas gifts and shopping for food as they prepared for the holiday season.
"I'm sorry about what is happening to the president, but for many of us life goes on," said Maria Colmenares, a housewife and opposition supporter, as she left a supermarket with bags of groceries and stood on a street corner waiting for a taxi.
"I feel pity for Chavez and his people, especially the Chavistas because they have put all their hopes in the president and they know that nobody is capable of replacing Chavez," Colmenares added. "None of Chavez's collaborators have his charisma."
Chavez received a flurry of get-well messages from leaders across Latin America, including the presidents of Chile, Peru and other countries. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, who visited Chavez in Havana on Monday, said his ally was undergoing a "very delicate operation."
"He's passing through one of the hardest moments of his life. Our heart and our solidarity are with a historic president," Correa said at an event Tuesday in the Ecuadorean city of Tulcan.
Those sending messages of support ahead of the operation included American actor Sean Penn, who joined a Monday night candlelight vigil in Bolivia organized by the Venezuelan Embassy. He wore a track suit emblazoned with the colors of Venezuela's flag, just like one that Chavez has worn.
"He is one of the most important forces we've had on this planet. And I will wish him nothing but that great strength he has shown over and over again," Penn told a crowd at the vigil, his voice quavering with emotion. He called Chavez "inspiring."
Throughout his nearly 14-year-old presidency, Chavez has been loved by some Venezuelans and reviled by others as he has nationalized companies, crusaded against U.S. influence and labeled his enemies "oligarchs" and "squalid ones."
The 58-year-old president won re-election in October and is due to be sworn in for a new six-year term on Jan. 10. If Chavez were to die, the constitution says that new elections should be called and held within 30 days.
Chavez first announced he had been diagnosed with cancer in June 2011. He underwent a surgery for a pelvic abscess, and then had a baseball-sized tumor removed from his pelvic area. In February, he underwent another surgery when a tumor reappeared in the same area.
He has also undergone months of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Throughout his treatments in Cuba, Chavez has kept secret some details of his illness, including the exact location and type of the tumors.
Chavez had previously said in July that tests showed he was cancer-free. But he said over the weekend that a new round of tests in Cuba had again found cancerous cells.
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Diego Torres in Quito, Ecuador, and Associated Press writers Ian James and Fabiola Sanchez in Caracas contributed to this report.
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Christopher Toothaker on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ctoothaker
This question of whether customer service is the new marketing isn?t just about the increasing importance of social media and customer reviews, or rising consumer disenchantment with traditional marketing. For some, it?s about making the decision between long-term reputation and short-term profit.
This topic was at the center of a recent Google+ Debate research firm Software Advice hosted titled ?Is Customer Service the New Marketing?? A panel of experts discussed what kinds of companies should embrace a customer-centric strategy as a form of marketing, and how they should go about implementing this approach.
The event featured a lineup of customer service and marketing experts including:
Denis Pombriant, Beagle Research Group CEO, author
The panel answered the following questions before the debate was opened up to the audience for questions:
Zappos leadership sees support not as a cost center, but as an opportunity to market through personal connections with customers. Their success is largely attributable to customer loyalty and word of mouth. So, based on this, is customer service the new marketing?
And where doesn?t this strategy work?
For companies where it does make sense, how do they implement such a monumental shift in strategy and culture?
Clearly, this is a strategy that pays out over the long term. How can a business measure this shift to ensure they are getting the right return on their shifting investment and priorities?
Here?s a quick snapshot of their discussion.
The group first emphasized the importance of mirroring your customers? expectations, rather than trying to dictate your brand to them. Customers won?t believe what you say about yourself unless it matches what their social networks also say about you. This can be amazing customer service, or it can be price, selection, or something else.
Next, they talked about breaking the bounds of marketing and customer service departments. Instead of feeling like you have to choose one or the other, leverage them together. Retweet an interesting customer service interaction on Twitter. Or get service agents to collaborate on buyer persona development. Be creative.
For companies that do want to implement a Zappos-level of customer service, you need to start at the top. Make the decision to put the customer at the center of your business, then reinforce the idea with processes, resources and measurement.
Finally, the group said the most important thing marketers need to consider is that the buyer is in control of their buying process. You can?t decide what information they will go after, or when, so you still need to make your company as attractive as possible. Customer service is just a piece of that puzzle.
FILE - This March 16, 2012 file photo shows researcher Terry Storm working in a stem cell research lab at the Lorry I. Lokey Stem Cell Research Building on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, Calif. A report by the Institute of Medicine released Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 said California?s stem cell agency has done a good job of supporting research but said improvements are needed. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)
FILE - This March 16, 2012 file photo shows researcher Terry Storm working in a stem cell research lab at the Lorry I. Lokey Stem Cell Research Building on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, Calif. A report by the Institute of Medicine released Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 said California?s stem cell agency has done a good job of supporting research but said improvements are needed. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? California has transformed into a major player in stem cell research, but the taxpayer-funded institute responsible has "significant deficiencies" in how research dollars are distributed, experts said Thursday.
A report by the Institute of Medicine found too many members on the board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine represented schools that won funding and recommended a restructuring to avoid the appearance of conflict of interest.
California voters in 2004 approved Proposition 71, a state ballot initiative that created CIRM, at a time when there were federal restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research and such work was opposed by some on religious and moral grounds because embryos have to be destroyed to harvest the cells.
The agency was given broad power to distribute $3 billion in bond proceeds to promising research. So far, it has distributed more than $1 billion to some five dozen universities that went mostly toward investments in new buildings and basic research.
The team of 13 experts that reviewed the stem-cell agency's operations did not judge the merits of individual studies because that was outside the scope of the report and it would have been too time-consuming and costly. But they raised serious questions about how grants were allotted.
The approval process "has some significant deficiencies which need to be improved upon in order to improve CIRM's credibility and transparency," said Harold Shapiro, an emeritus professor at Princeton University who chaired the report.
In a few short years, CIRM got off the ground and funneled research money with an eye toward stem cell therapies, turning the state into "an international hub of research and development in stem cell biology," the report said.
While the panel did not find any specific cases of conflict, it noted that the potential exists because of how the board is made up.
CIRM is composed of 29 members, mostly from academia. They have the dual role of providing oversight and day-to-day management. While the structure may have worked when CIRM was first launched and shielded it from political meddling, change is needed going forward, experts said.
"They're not broken but they're bent," said Sharon Terry, president of the nonprofit Genetic Alliance who was part of the panel. "They need some correction."
Among the recommendations: The board should remain at arm's length from the management team, focus on providing better oversight and should not decide what projects to fund. It also needs to be more diverse and include more representatives from industry and members with no stake in the grant-awarding process. Experts also favored the creation of an outside scientific group to give advice and expertise.
Some of the suggested changes would require legislative approval, but the panel felt they were needed to erase concerns about possible conflicts of interest.
In a statement, CIRM board chairman Jonathan Thomas said the agency has not had a chance to digest the report. Once board members talk it over with the panel next week, they will decide "on how best to proceed so that we can respond in as thoughtful a manner to the recommendations" as the panel did, Thomas said.
The latest report echoed several others in the past by other groups, which also called for a new governance structure.
"CIRM has not responded in a meaningful way to many previous public interest suggestions or to independent reviews," Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society said in a statement. "We hope the agency will not continue that pattern."
Since cutting the first check in 2006, CIRM now finds itself at a crossroads. The federal research limits that existed when it was created have been relaxed and it recently shifted focus from basic research to funding projects that can swiftly begin human trials. Experts felt this goal was unrealistic and urged the agency to have a more balanced approach.
At its current funding pace, CIRM is expected to earmark the last grants around 2017, but since most are multi-year awards, it will stay in business until around 2021. It's currently deciding its future for when the money runs out.
The $700,000 report was sponsored by CIRM ? a customary practice for organizations seeking a review. The Institute of Medicine said sponsors have no influence on the fact-gathering process and are barred from reviewing drafts or weighing in on the report before publication.
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Follow Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia
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Online:
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine: http://www.cirm.ca.gov/
An Ecuadorian blogger who documented a security hole that allowed him to register in Ecuador's national online identity database system as the nation's president was arrested on Friday, before being released today following an intervention by President Rafael Correa himself.
The MoD's Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) has awarded IBM a contract to help make the running of its ?24 billion property portfolio more energy and operationally efficient.
DIO is responsible for the management of around 4,000 separate sites worldwide, including military barracks, land, air and naval bases, and military training grounds.
Using IBM?s smarter buildings software and services, DIO expects to reduce building operating costs and find ways to better use its existing real estate.
DIO will use IBM technology to replace its "outdated legacy IT environment" and create a new centralised information management system to allow faster analysis, said DIO.
Andrew Manley, DIO chief executive, said, ?IBM analytics technology helps us continue our work in creating a world-class infrastructure to put DIO at the leading edge of the technology transformation process happening right now across the MoD.?
The IBM TRIRIGA system will provide an integrated property management platform comprising of software and consultancy services. This will give DIO central visibility of its property and data on how efficiently they are being used.
A geospatial mapping capability, created by business partner Esri UK, will provide a real-time visualisation map to display the scope of infrastructure and assets.
The new system will be launched in a number of "capability releases" through to April 2014, said the DIO. The potential value of the contract has not been disclosed.
Georgina O'Toole, an analyst at TechMarketView, said, "We understand that IBM will collect and process data from the lower level systems such as those associated with the National Housing Prime (NHP) contract let in 2011.
"We know that Steria already holds a contract to provide a housing management system to DIO for the management of the housing estate. It may well be that an interface will be required between the Steria and IBM systems."
After the selection of Atlas (led by HP) for the current core Defence Information Infrastructure (DII(F)) programme, said O'Toole, other suppliers had to focus on delivering complex software development and integration projects in order to maintain a presence.
"As DII(F) and other core contracts are restructured the infrastructure and applications supplier landscape within UK defence has the potential to be severely disrupted over the next few years," said O'Toole.
The MoD revealed this week that between 2009 and 2011 it spent a whopping ?3.6 billion on IT and telecommunications for use across the department and armed services.
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Public release date: 17-Dec-2012
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But the reality is, we?re all dealing with tough stuff. Stepfamilies, especially, often carry pain throughout the holiday season. So, how do you cope? Here are a few suggestions:
This topic was at the center of a recent Google+ Debate research firm Software Advice hosted titled ?Is Customer Service the New Marketing?? A panel of experts discussed what kinds of companies should embrace a customer-centric strategy as a form of marketing, and how they should go about implementing this approach.