Through the smoke billowing out from the two explosions and amidst the screams of those injured and scared, a modern tool stepped up in the chaos to bring needed information and a semblance of order during the horrific attack Monday, April 15 on the Boston Marathon. Twitter, the modern-day ally who aided so much in the reporting of Tunisia and the Middle East rebellions, once again provided a forum for all those seeking to find and put out information in second-by-second updates.

The bombs went off at 3 p.m. along Boylston Street, Boston, as seen here on this graphic created by The New York Times, about an hour and a half after the first runners of the Boston Marathon crossed the finish line. Pictures, videos, and tweets were almost immediately posted online as Boston Police and other officials directed the uninjured to evacuation routes, and medical personnel rushed into the smoke, broken glass, and blood.

Photographers, news stations, and friends and family members of the runners all held cell phone cameras to record what should have been a wonderful moment of accomplishment, with many snapping photos in the otherwise clear afternoon light. Though the pictures and videos rapidly turned grim, reporters and authorities were quick to utilize the advantage these recordings provided. The Boston Police department’s twitter page put up a tweets such as that an explosion did indeed occur, and kept updating the page with information on what citizens of Boston were expected to do.

As more and more images went up, police were able to have before and after pictures of the finish line and of at least one of the bomb sites. Any possible way investigators can piece together what happened is crucial.

The ability to use Twitter also allowed civilians, both those caught in the attack and those with friends or family in the area, to reassure one another of their locations and safety, even though authorities, to prevent any remote detonations, shut down cell phone service in the Boston area. Through texting, Twitter, and Facebook, people were able to find their loved ones, and find information on where to go or how to help.

Many other sites and organizations used Twitter as a posting board, putting up links to other sources of information and aid. Google put up a reminder about their Google Person Finder program, a system that allows you to enter in a person’s name or information and uses it much like a status, searching their database and others like it for matching or related information. This allows people to help one another find their loved ones during times when phones are disabled.

The Red Cross used Twitter to inform the public that they, at that time, did have enough donated blood to meet the demand. This was important to get out, as some of the runners who were not injured by the blasts headed towards the nearest hospital with the goal to give blood. The extra people milling about the emergency rooms and lobbies were an unneeded distraction with the hundreds of victims being rushed in.

News reporters and even the White House used the social media to update the American people on what was being done and when to expect more information. At 6:00 p.m. that day, three hours after the first explosion, the official White House twitter page announced when President Obama would address the nation. 

What all this boils down to is that in our age of the Internet, information can be updated again and again as new facts and new events are happening, even in the middle of a confusing and shocking crisis. In this way, officials can get out necessary information, can utilize the eyes and experiences of witnesses, and people can find their loved ones in an amazingly short time. For all the bad talk that this generation of technology gets, its uses in times of trouble are many and, as this event shows, are rapidly becoming invaluable.

Image credit: R.I.P. Boston Bombing

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All over social media sites like Twitter and Facebook there has been a growing outcry at CNN’s coverage of the Steubenville Rape Trial. During the recent six minute news item, most of the time was spent commenting on how distressful and emotional the trial was for the two criminals.

CNN first addressed the two rapists, Trent Mays (17) and Ma’lik Richmond (16), as star football players and as the report progressed the praise grew. Poppy Harlow, who sat in the court room during the trial, mentioned how these “two young men with promising futures, star football players and good students watched as their lives fell apart.” To add to this, she mentioned how emotional it was to sit in the court room as the two rapists were found guilty of raping an intoxicated 16 year old girl.

Only a few comments were made about the young victim, and not one of them was about how vicious the offence inflicted on her was. The two men raped, videoed and took pictures of the young girl but instead, Poppy Harlow chose to focus on Malik crying when he heard his sentence.

And then viewers watched as the two men stood and apologised to the family of the young girl, their family and to the community – again Poppy Harlow mentioned how hard it was to watch the scene.

The report ended with Paul Callan, CNN’s legal contributor, talking about how hard life will be for the two men and how the consequences of their horrendous actions will follow them for the rest of their lives, without a single mention of how this is justified.

Rightly so, many people became angry from the report and voiced their outcry on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking site. But some went a step further. Gabriel Garcia started an online petition to have CNN apologise on air for their report. On the site he wrote:

That CNN decided to paint the tears of the convicted Steubenville rapists in a sympathetic light and say how their lives were ruined — while completely ignoring the fact that the rape victim’s life is the one whose life was ruined by these rapists’ actions — is disgusting and helps perpetuate a shameful culture in which young people never understand the concept of consent and in which rape victims are blamed and ostracized. Changing that culture must be done brick by brick, and it can start by heaping public shame on this major cable news network and forcing them to admit that they are wrong. Publicly.

Around 230,000 people have signed it some of them including their own reasons for doing so including Danielle Hauck, Huntingdon, PA who wrote:

These boys were rapists. They knew what they were doing. To say that their poor little lives were ruined for RAPING SOMEONE? They deserve far more than serving a year in Juvie and being registered as a sex offender for life. Disgusting, CNN. That poor young woman who was assaulted… and then made into the perpetrator rather than the victim? Absolutely foul and inhuman.

TheWrap have allegedly been told by two insiders at CNN, that Poppy Harlow is aware of the outrage and has been badly affected by it. They state that “Poppy is taking this extremely personally as a woman,” said one executive. “She’s outraged that someone would think she’d do such a thing” as slant her coverage toward rapists. “It’s gotten so out of control.”

Poppy Harlow has said nothing publically and CNN has yet to respond to the demand. But if they are hoping that this issue will simply go away they should think twice. People interested in justice will continue champion for the victim in this trial and all cases of sexual assault, even when News programs such as CNN let us down.

Image Courtesy : Marsmet523

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A proposal by the Transport Security Administration (TSA) to condone “small knives” and select sporting equipment such as novelty baseball bats and ski poles in carry-on baggage has garnered copious backlash from federal air marshals, flight attendants, pilot unions and even members of the U.S. Congress.

According to the TSA’s March 2013 ‘Changes to Prohibited Items List’ – which, after 9/11, was revised to include the prohibition of nail clippers, match books and box cutters – knives now permitted onboard must fit the following criteria: the blade is no more than 2.36 inches in length and ½-inch in width; and the knife does not have a non-retractable or fixed blade with a molded grip for targeted wielding. Should the new regulations be approved, passengers will additionally be free to tote lacrosse sticks, pool cues, golf clubs (a maximum of two), hockey sticks, and ski poles, which have a metal point at the end of the shaft and – falling into the TSA’s “prohibited” criteria – a molded handle.

Unmoved by public outcry, TSA administrator John Pistole told a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee earlier this month, “I think the decision is solid and it stands and we plan to move forward.” The TSA’s stance maintains that checking for and confiscating these small knives – of which 2,000 are found and confiscated in US airports daily – is “time-consuming”  and “distracts” the officers during baggage screenings from “focusing on the components of an improvised explosive device.”

Pistole cited the two to three minute lag time incurred when a knife is picked up by the metal detector and the passenger having to riffle through the piece of luggage to produce the knife for confiscation. “A small pocket knife,” he posits, “is simply not going to result in the catastrophic failure of an aircraft, and an improvised explosive device will.” A TSA spokesman asserted that the presence of federal air marshals, armed pilots traveling as passengers, who are not guaranteed to be present on every flight, and airline crew trained in self-defense confers an extra layer of security.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, disagrees. “You need to stop this now. These cause bleeding,” she said. “These cause injury. These can cause a terrible tragedy. And I don’t want to take it to the next length. It can possibly cause someone to lose their life.”

In an afternoon news conference in New York on March 10, Senator Charles Schumer expressed his bewilderment at the new ruling, stating that the TSA’s objective to expedite the baggage screening process is nullified by the time consumed in measuring and assessing each and every knife and baseball bat in passenger’s luggage. “These items are dangerous, and have not become less so in the years since they were banned from planes. Now is not the time for reduced vigilance, or to place additional burden on TSA agents who should be looking for dangerous items,” he said.

During the conference, Schumer held up a bottle of shampoo and then a razor blade as a comical juxtaposition to show his perplexity that while knives are ‘in’, the 2006 TSA ban on non-flammable liquids, gels and aerosol paints in quantities exceeding 100ml stays. “I don’t understand. I can’t carry my shampoo but they will let people carry knives. It doesn’t make much sense to me,” traveler Colleen Krauss told WNCN, an NBC affiliate.

Transport Workers Union Local 556, which represents over 10,000 flight attendants at Southwest Airlines, raised concerns over “air rage,” which refers to any violent or disruptive behavior perpetrated by a passenger or crew member. “While we agree that a passenger wielding a small knife or swinging a golf club or hockey stick poses less of a threat to the pilot locked in the cockpit, these are real threats to passengers and flight attendants in the passenger cabin,” the union said in a statement.

The TSA’s proposal comes on the heels of a passenger risk-profiling concept put forward by the International Air Transport Association, the premise of which is to analyze passenger’s potential “risk” based on previous itineraries, birth date, passport number and criminal record and subject them to screenings accordingly. The U.S. government has been urging the populace to apply for Global Entry, a program that allows those who pass background checks to be identified as “trusted” and gain access to PreCheck lanes for expedited security screening at certain airports.

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Daniel Riveiro Jr., of the Tampa Bay area, is excited to begin participating in the Watoto program. Watoto aims to rebuild the nation of Uganda, where a heartbreaking number of citizens have lost their lives in recent wars. It is truly a tragedy of epic proportions, one that has created countless widows and orphans. Clearly, Uganda’s citizens are in desperate need of assistance.

Daniel Riveiro is no stranger to philanthropy. As an alumnus of Jesuit High School in Tampa, Daniel learned to be a leader and a man of faith from an early age, so joining forces with Watoto seemed like an obvious choice. Now, he plans on taking a trip to Uganda in the near future so he can help ease the people’s suffering. The Watoto program provides a range of services, including medical care such as HIV/AIDS treatment, education to help develop the next generation of leaders, trauma counseling, and spiritual discipleship.

There are many ways to participate in the program according to Watoto.com. One can donate toward the cost of vehicles, technology, or medical equipment. There are also a number of sponsorship options. One can sponsor an individual baby, child, or housemother or make a contribution to the Living Hope program, which focuses on abandoned or widowed women, some of which are HIV positive. But Watoto is about more than just fundraising: those with the means can travel to Kampala, the war-torn capital of Uganda, and visit the Watoto church to see firsthand how the program has improved people’s lives since it began in 1983.

Uganda’s people have suffered terribly at the hands of corrupt rulers, and nearly one million people have been killed in the fighting that has plagued the country for years. Even worse, 20,000 children were abducted and forced to be child soldiers, according to Watoto.com. Thankfully, there are people like Daniel Riveiro who are willing to help the Ugandan people get back on their feet again.

Find out more about Daniel Riveiro:

• About.Me
• Daniel Riveiro 
• Flickr
• Flavors.Me
• Travel
• Career
• Pictures
• Dooid
• Image Portfolio

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Thursday, January 24, California Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013. Before 10 assault weapons, the Senator delineated some 150 firearms to be prohibited from sale, transfer, import and manufacture for their, ‘dangerous, military-style’ nature. The ban does provide exemptions for thousands of hunting and sporting rifles as well as guns operated manually by bolt, pump, lever and slide-action.

It also provides exemption for weapons used by government officials, law enforcement and retired law enforcement.

Senator Feinstein defended her assault on automatic and semi-automatic weapons by invoking the December 14 Elementary School massacre at Sandy Hook. “The future of the nation is at stake,” stated the Senator, magnifying the bill as a package to stop mass-murders by stemming the deadly tide of their weapons of choice.

The same day of Senator Feinstein’s presentation, the conservative Breitbart News reported at least two stories where the assault rifle AR-15 Bushmaster deterred home invasions by its supremacy over concealed arms used by would-be robbers.

The AR-15 was the weapon used by Adam Lanza at Sandy Hook to senselessly massacre small school children.

To Senator Feinstein’s credit, her bill does not seem to discriminate between concealed weapons and rifles, targeting at least 30 automatic pistols. Indeed, Senator Feinstein’s 2013 Assault Weapons Ban prohibits magazines carrying more than 10 bullets, hoping to belittle the god-complex of dangerous sociopaths that enjoy dealing death at random.

However, what will an assault weapons ban really accomplish? Besides further stigmatizing guns and those that use them, it reframes usage as a criminal activity rather than an American right.

Chicago, for example, boasts some of the strictest gun laws and saw record gun-related homicides this year upwards of 500.

Famously, Major Rudy Giuliani combated the New York crime wave by placing more guns on the street by prioritizing policing and the NYPD. He went on to be voted the second most popular Major in the history of New York.

Senator Feinstein’s home state of California faces precinct closures and record gun sales as citizens seek to comfort their nerves by replacing an active police force with a paranoid home defense. Interestingly enough, cash strapped California continues to pay top dollar to psychiatrists, hoping that preventative medicine might cope with the scourge of criminalism.

But tax funded million dollar salaries to penitentiary psychiatrists and preventative gun bans cannot hope to replace the heart and soul of a humble and dedicated armed police force facing a large armed citizenry sending gun sales nation-wide to record heights.

Gun sales rose in 48 out of 50 states in 2012, and the December statistics for background checks rose in every single state of the Union. Last December, sales numbers tell the story of a scared constituency; the top 5 states recorded 60% growth in the wake of Sandy Hook.

As the country mourned, Massachusetts alone saw a 36% rise in gun permits. Shop keepers noted that women increasingly purchase guns, accounting for a third of customers now where once they were seldom seen.

The FBI also noted the rising popularity of guns post Sandy Hook by reporting 39% rise in background checks to set a new monthly record.

Directly following the Sandy Hood tragedy, the Pew Research Center for People and Press conducted a poll where still only half the polled believed the gun control superseded the American right to bear arms.

Pew did note the 65% of respondents believed that assault weapon ownership made the nation more dangerous – not safer. The typical concealed pistol, however, now, by and large, classifies as assault due to its automatic capabilities.

So while the liberal media played shock journalism and pointed fingers at conservatives during the Presidential decree to join the residents and victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in grief, the nation continued to arm itself.

David Gregory, in a December 23 broadcast of ‘Meet the Press,’ illegally brandished an automatic magazine banned from the District of Columbia to shock his viewership into appeasing liberals who wish to criminalize guns and their culture.

Ironically, as police investigated his brazen behavior, the President of the United States paid a surprise visit to boost ratings of the flagging show and talk about his take of the Fiscal Cliff talks.

Perhaps there is a cognitive dissonance in the media.

President Obama himself, in a pre-taped discussion with Barbara Walters on ‘Nightline’, December 26, joked that he ran for President so that his daughters could hang out with ‘men with guns.’ Both the President and Chicago Major Rahm Emanuel send their children to schools with an armed guard.

And yet the liberal media cries foul when the NRA concluded its Sandy Hook silence to propose a Federal mandate to arm all schools such that the misbegotten can not so hideously waltz into institutions of learning and commit murder.

So Thurday, January 3, the Sandy Hook Elementary School reopened under armed guard. A concerned police presence identified grown-ups and insured the students that they went to the most secure school in America.

Marlboro, New Jersey followed similar protocols, posting an armed and uniformed officer at each of the eight elementary schools and middle schools.

Since 2007, the Harrods, Texas school board has allowed for teachers to carry concealed weapons to ensure a minimal level of protection in the face of a stringent budget that does not provide for an armed guard.

Spokespeople for Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnestota, South Dakota and Oregon have all stated that they will consider similar methods.

Indeed, the Fontana, California school district just bought 14 AR-15s to police itself.

President Clinton, in 2000, on the one year anniversary of the ignominious Columbine School shooting, announced $120 million in federal grants to promote his ‘COPS in Schools,’ program.

Certainly it is too soon for the rabid liberal media to admit that good-guys with guns stop bad-guys with guns.

Perhaps we will have to witness the Democratic machine stall in a contested political atmosphere before the sober minded remind the nation of the now bi-partisan wish to dedicate as much fire-power in the protection of our school children as we do to foreign wars.

Image Courtesy :  paljoakim

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A woman was saved from a tragic death on the New York City Subway tracks yesterday after falling off the platform. The incident happened on the G Brooklyn–Queens Crosstown Local line heading north through Brooklyn, before the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station.

According to an eyewitness, the unidentified woman had a seizure on the subway platform and fell on the tracks. An incoming train was entering the station when an operator noticed the woman on the tracks and immediately slammed on the brakes.

A passenger at the station captured a photo of the incident, which was then shot by local photography project Humans of New York.

Brandon Stanton, the photographer behind Humans of New York, was on board the incoming train and stated on his Facebook, “The conductor shut down the power of the train and held us there for about 20 minutes.” The woman was attended by members of the public with medical crews arriving on the scene soon after.

Following the recent bout of subway related incidents, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) has been urging their motormen to be more aware of their surroundings. They have also been encouraged to reduce their speed to about 10 miles per hour when entering the stations to avoid hitting someone who might be on the tracks. Trains are known to enter a station at a speed of 30 to 35 miles per hour.

According to John Samuelsen, President of Transport Workers Union Local 100, “The union’s motives are to save riders’ lives – and save motormen from the emotional trauma of running someone over.”

This latest effort was put in place after several recent high-profile accidents involving New York subway trains. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), however, believes that this latest message of caution from the TWU is an effort to stage a work slowdown, and any operators found to be slowing down their train without the MTA’s permission will be charged with taking part in an illegal job action which could lead to a job suspension.

While the public has urged the MTA to install platform doors or barriers to prevent further unwanted mishaps, an MTA spokesman said that platform doors would be expensive to install because it would require upgrades of the train signal system.

Despite debates surrounding ways of tackling subway safety issues, one theme has been consistent: due to the vigilance of a train operator, a life was saved. With the photograph now circulating the web, many believe that yesterday’s incident was nothing short of a miracle.

Image Courtesy : Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York

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The numbness of grief, the feeling of loneliness, and the reliance of faith when in despair are common humanly reactions, that may be anyone’s reality by chance. We live in an era, where “moving on” and “letting go” are default expectations after the death of a loved one. But what if a son did not want to be separated from his deceased father; what if faith was stronger than death. Recently, the Associated Press reported a strange case of a distraught son who wasn’t quite ready to let his father go.

The two unidentified brothers, aged 38 and 48, allegedly stole their father’s coffin after the burial ceremony had been delayed due to heavy rain. The elder brother particularly had an exceptionally hard time accepting his father’s passing especially after the recent death of his mother. Nevertheless, both sons of the late 92-year-old Clarence Street, were arrested after police officers found an empty casket inside their van at the Citgo gas station, a mile away from the location where the body was soon discovered.

This bizarre situation started to unfold as the Detroit police was notified that a white van and a purple pickup entered the Gethsemane Cemetery and allegedly left with a casket from the mausoleum. According to Detroit news, the estimated time of disappearance was between 8 am and 9:30 am on Monday. The next day, officers tracked the van and found the vacant coffin, then later the body of Mr. Street. That morning the body was found “intact and unharmed” in a freezer belonging to the elder brother in the basement of a two-story wooden house located on the 4600 block of Eastlawn Street.

Lieutenant Harold Rochon told Detroit news that the 48-year-old Detroit man, “was very, very, very distraught; he is very religious, and he was hoping his father would be resurrected. He was hoping for a miracle.” The 48-year-old brother is believed to have mental problems according to investigators after an interview was conducted. The police refused to reveal the names of the two brothers and had not charged them with anything yet as the investigation is still ongoing.

Initially, the burial ceremony was scheduled to be on Saturday but was delayed until Monday due to a storm. Currently, Mr. Street’s body rests is in the Detroit Swanson Funeral Home. According to Mr. Rochon, the burial has been rescheduled and now, family members are looking for another casket. If found guilty, the brothers may be charged with disinterment, a crime that may resort up to 10 years in prison. Currently, the men are undergoing a forensic examination to determine whether they should be charged or not.

From dust we were created, and to dust we shall return. Sometimes people have a hard time coping with grief and being separated from recently deceased loved ones. And sometimes people have a really, really hard time coping with grief, hence the case of the Street was born.

Image Courtesy : MudflapDC

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Dale J. Stephens is quite a character. He is young and ambitious, not an uncommon combination for a person in their twenties. When Stephens was a teenager, he came home from school one day and declared to his parents that he was going to quit college. It was not for the characteristics of adolescent rebellion, dabbling with the wrong crowd or to obtain more videogame play time, rather, he was on a mission “not to let his schooling interfere with his education,” as Mark Twain once put it.

Fast forward a couple of years, Stephens has become a Thiel Fellow, started the ‘Uncollege’ movement, travelled around the world for various speaking engagements, and has a book due for publishing early this year by Penguin.

Stephens’ Rationale

Stephens’ mantra is the failed economics of college fees, commercialization of universities, having to take courses that do not apply to your field, and the recent emergence of available free online courses. In Stephens’ words: “I lead a social movement to change the notion that college is a prerequisite to success.”

In essence, ‘Uncollege’ is Stephens’ response to the current education system, which he considers broken. It is a movement, a call to change mindsets about college, and a platform for like-minded people to think, “Hey, I’m not the only one who feels this way about college.” The movement’s main initiatives are the ‘Hackademic Camp’ and the ‘Gap Year Program’. The former has a program that facilitates self-building and challenges participants to craft ways to improve the current education system. The latter is a yearlong program costing some $12,000 to participate. It looks like a longer version of the ‘Hackademic Camp’, boasting an opportunity to live abroad for 3 months, engage listeners in a conference, create an enviable resume and enhance your work experience.

How successful has Stephens been? There have been both likeminded thinkers and critics. Nevertheless, amidst the support and criticism, it cannot be denied that he has achieved a lot for his age. It can be attributed back to his personality; this young fellow knows who he is, what he is doing, and how to communicate that to the world.

Should I Quit College Then?

Quitting college to pursue better opportunities – is this model a befitting response to all education systems worldwide? Is it one that can be universally accepted, regardless of culture? Does the notion apply to every academic, regardless of type of course study? These questions are open-ended, and have been a great cause for debate in recent years.

Stephens’ curriculum does open up networking possibilities and the chance to travel, both of which are appealing to the fresh high school graduate. But then again, college is also a place to network, organize events, create startups and journey on self-discovery. Rachel Alexander nicely sums up why she’d rather stay in college here.

Rather than limit your response to either a narrow minded retort or gullible support, consider Stephens’ point of view, and come up with your own conclusions. Go through his ‘Uncollege Manifesto,’ his resources, his ideas. You may not be in full favor of implementing the ‘no college’ idea yourself, but by just going through his material you’d start to think, ”What could I actually do to enhance my learning as a college student?” You’d start to take notice of student opportunities and student-based organizations. You’d value your education more; to not merely see education as classroom grades, but as a livelong process, absorbing what you can wherever you go.

To end, here are Stephens’ twelve steps to self-directed lifelong learning:

Image Courtesy : UnCollege

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Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, announced January 7 the acquisition of Knovel. New York City-based Knovel provides a web-based application that integrates technical information with analytical and search tools to drive innovation and deliver answers engineers can trust.

Founded in 2001, Knovel has developed a deep knowledge of the engineering community and is a valuable tool for thousands of engineers and students in more than 700 corporations and engineering schools worldwide.  Knovel integrates information and data from more than 100 engineering societies and publishers and makes it highly searchable and interactive so that engineers can easily manipulate the data they find and use it in other engineering applications.

“Knovel’s comprehensive list of content contributors, engineering-specific search, and tools such as interactive graphs, together with Elsevier’s deep engineering content base and global market reach, will allow us to deliver an even more comprehensive and better integrated solution for engineers and engineering students,” said Alexander van Boetzelaer, Managing Director of Elsevier Corporate Markets. “This acquisition will give us the opportunity to provide an enhanced experience for our customers as they work to overcome engineering challenges and improve technical outcomes.”

Recently named by research firm Outsell one of the “10 to Watch” in scientific/technical and medical publishing, Knovel has expanded its offerings and customer base as multiple factors have influenced the engineering technical reference market segment. This market has grown rapidly, driven by advancements in technology, the proliferation of technical data, the demand for cross-disciplinary knowledge, an aging engineering workforce and need to educate the next generation of engineers.

“This is a great new chapter for Knovel,” said Chris Forbes, Knovel President and CEO.  “The acquisition gives us an exciting way to expand Knovel’s technology, innovation and comprehensive content selected from the best engineering publishers and societies to more organisations across the world.”

As a leading publisher of engineering journals and books, Elsevier offers global reach, an extensive partner network and a high-quality pool of relevant engineering content.  Elsevier has a longstanding content licensing relationship with Knovel and will continue to seek out the best engineering content available for customers.

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Washington, U.S.A. — In a busy year filled with hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, floods and deadly windstorms, the American Red Cross responded to 113 large-scale disasters in 42 states and territories from Alaska to Florida between January 1 and December 1.

“Hurricane Sandy was the biggest U.S. response in five years, but it wasn’t the only disaster that disrupted lives in 2012,” said Charley Shimanski, senior vice president for Red Cross Disaster Services. “Devastating tornadoes and raging wildfires wiped out entire neighborhoods while Hurricane Isaac affected communities all along the Gulf Coast. The Red Cross responded to each of these disasters, offering shelter, food and comfort to people on their darkest days.”

Disasters struck across the country, from the East Coast to the West, and few regions were spared.

Throughout the year, the Red Cross opened a total of 907 shelters and provided more than 109,000 overnight stays to help people forced from their homes. In total, more than 29,000 trained disaster workers served 9.9 million meals and snacks and distributed more than 6.8 million relief items. Health and mental health workers provided more than 141,000 consultations to help people on the road to recovery.

The Red Cross also responded to tragic events that impacted people’s lives in the last year, most recently the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, as well as the mass shootings at the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado in July and at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin in August. In all three responses, the Red Cross provided emotional and mental health support, as well as food and drinks for first responders.

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms Impacted Many Lives

In June, Tropical Storm Debby marked the start of hurricane season by causing widespread flooding across much of Florida. Then in late August, Hurricane Isaac came ashore bringing with it strong winds and drenching rain that impacted Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. In response to Isaac, the Red Cross mobilized thousands of disaster workers to help people by opening 157 shelters, providing thousands of overnight stays. Volunteers served hundreds of thousands of meals, distributed more than 140,000 relief items and provided thousands of health and mental health contacts.

Hurricane Sandy made landfall along the Atlantic seaboard in late October, leaving massive devastation in its wake. In all, eleven states and Puerto Rico felt the impact with New York and New Jersey seeing the most devastation. The large Red Cross relief effort continues today, weeks after the storm’s landfall. As of December 1, more than 15,300 trained disaster workers mobilized to provide help. The Red Cross has handed out millions of relief items and meals, provided tens of thousands of health and emotional support contacts to people whose lives have been turned upside down. Even as relief work continues, the Red Cross will be on the ground supporting recovery efforts for some time.

Spring Tornadoes and Floods

In early March, as many as 95 confirmed tornadoes touched down, destroying communities across the Midwest and Southeast. Tornadoes slammed through the Dallas-Fort Worth area in early April and in mid-April, dozens of tornadoes ripped across the Midwest for a second time.

In all, severe spring weather affected communities in 16 states, including Kansas, Illinois, Missouri,Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, Ohio, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi,Oklahoma, West Virginia and Texas. The Red Cross launched responses to provide safe shelter, warm meals and relief supplies to people forced from their homes. Disaster workers served nearly a quarter of a million meals and snacks and handed out more than 112,000 relief items like cleaning supplies and comfort kits.

June Derecho

A string of storms with winds up to 90 miles per hour swept across Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, New Jersey, Ohio and the District of Columbia in June, bringing with them hundreds of reports of impact from devastating winds. Millions were without power in sweltering areas as high temperatures broke records. The Red Cross provided thousands of overnight stays in more than 70 shelters, served more than 246,000 meals and snacks, and distributed about 128,000 relief items.

Summer Wildfires

Dry conditions fueled devastating wildfires across the western part of the country, forcing evacuations and destroying homes. In response, the Red Cross launched wildfire relief operations in nine states including Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington and California. The Red Cross provided nearly 4,000 overnight stays in shelters, served more than 159,000 meals and snacks, and handed out tens of thousands of relief items to people in need.

International Response

The American Red Cross helped almost 3 million people around the world in 2012, responding to 13 disasters in more than 20 countries. These included floods in Bolivia, Peru, Afghanistan, the Philippines,Bangladesh, Nigeria and Panama. Assistance was also sent to Senegal, Burkina Faso, Chad, Niger,Mauritania, Mali and Malawi to help people affected by food shortages, as well as a drought in Paraguay. Red Cross workers are also responding to help people affected by civil unrest in Syria and a cholera outbreak in Sierra Leone. The American Red Cross responded in Jamaica and Haiti after Hurricane Sandy made landfall in those countries.

The Red Cross thanks everyone who has supported disaster relief operations this year. Every nine minutes the Red Cross responds to a disaster in communities across the country, and whether it’s a hurricane or a fire in someone’s home, the Red Cross is there. Click here to view a photo slideshow of disaster responses supported this year.

The Red Cross also provides 24-hour support to members of the military, veterans and their families – in war zones, military hospitals and on military installations around the world; collects and distributes more than 40 percent of the nation’s blood supply and trains more than 9 million people in first aid, water safety and other life-saving skills every year.

If someone would like to support the Red Cross mission and help those in need, they can visit www.redcross.org. Contributions may also be sent to someone’s local Red Cross chapter or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.

Image Courtesy : American Red Cross

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Houston, U.S.A. — America’s space program has come a long way from the early days when astronauts ate food packed in toothpaste tubes. Today, nutrition is known to be a key ingredient in astronaut health in space, just as it is for humans on Earth.

NASA scientists and educators have teamed up to publish a book, aimed at intermediate school students, that explains the role of nutrition in the space program. The free e-book describes how space nutrition research is conducted and highlights this important avenue of ongoing research at NASA. Educator Guides that suggest ways to incorporate the material into the classroom, along with mapping to National Science Education Standards, accompany the text.

“Spaceflight provides the backdrop to gain kids’ interest,” said Scott M. Smith, NASA nutritionist. “These books provide an opportunity to expand and educate beyond space to everything from science, math, nutrition, health, history, reading and more. The fact that this material was developed by scientists actually conducting research on Earth and with astronauts in space provides insight into what it takes to conduct research at NASA, or anywhere – from an initial concept to the final publication in a scientific journal.”

“It’s a new mission for education, shaping the future of our next generation of space explorers,” said Lisa Neasbitt, educator and coauthor. “Educators who use Space Nutrition will be treated to an educator guide based on recent cognitive neuroscience.  These strategies, such as using another’s point of view, promote rigor through higher order thinking and depth of knowledge. Space Nutrition encourages project-based learning such as radio shows, scientific inquiry, plays, skits, songs and dances that incorporate student strengths and facilitate confidence and competence in students.”

The book is available in two forms: a PDF document version and an interactive iBook version for use on iPads. Both can be accessed for free here.

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On Friday, December 14, 20-year-old Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut. Reportedly 28 people were killed in total, including 20 children and the shooter himself.

Lanza had at least three guns with him: a Glock and a Sig Sauer, which he brought into the school, and a .233-caliber rifle, which he left in the back seat of his car. He had hundreds of rounds and no apparent motive. He killed many innocent people before he took his own life. When police arrived, children were led away with their eyes closed, so they could not see the horrors behind them.

The shooter said nothing as he shot students in two classrooms.

Parents rushed to pick up their students, shocked and terrified. Stephen Delgiadice, whose 8-year-old daughter attends the elementary school, said “It’s alarming, especially in Newtown, Connecticut, which we always thought was the safest place in America.”

The Newtown Bee chronicles the heroes that risked their lives to save others. A janitor ran throughout the rooms, warning everyone about what was happening and checking to make sure doors were locked from the inside. Teachers and students locked themselves in classrooms, hiding in closets and corners of the room as gunfire echoed down the halls. Principal Dawn Hochsprung, just coming out of a meeting, warned other teachers behind her to lock the door before confronting Lanza head on. She was shot moments later. Someone in the office had turned on the intercom, broadcasting the shots to the rest of the school as a final warning to protect the students. The quick thinking of these and many more saved the lives of many.

This shooting is the second worst in U.S. history, following the 33 dead in the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. Connecticut citizens remember Columbine school as well, when 15 students were killed in 1999.

According to the Chicago Tribune, police “believed [Adam] to suffer from a personality disorder.” He lived with his mother Nancy Lanza, the first victim of his attack. He then went to the Sandy Hook, where police speculate Nancy may have worked as a substitute teacher, to open fire in the classrooms. A majority of the students were between the ages of five and nine.

A teary-eyed President Obama called for action to stop these senseless killings, adding that “[the students] had their entire lives ahead of them — birthdays, graduations, wedding, kids of their own. Among the fallen were also teachers, men and women who devoted their lives to helping our children.” The shooting has brought the subject of gun control up for debate once more as relatives, friends and neighbors mourn their loss.

A candlelight vigil was held at St. Rose of Lima Church, where hundreds of people gathered to pray for the families of the victims.

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Lecanto, U.S.A. –If you’re one of the millions of American families struggling financially, the Season of Giving only spotlights how little you can give—and how much your kids are focused on taking. But it’s not pure selfishness. Gregory Downing says kids are disconnected from harsh economic realities partly because they’re sheltered from the truth, and partly because parents themselves aren’t in reality about the fundamental shift our world has undergone.

“Everything about the way we build wealth and think about money has changed, Yet we’re still living like people who are able to work 40 years for the same company and retire comfortably with the gold watch.” says Downing, author of Entrepreneur Unleashed: Wealth to Stand the Test of Time as well as an upcoming book on providing a financial legacy for kids.

A real estate investment business owner and motivational speaker, Downing says parents must teach kids the basics of entrepreneurship. Generating multiple streams of income is the only logical path to financial freedom in a global economy where it’s now the norm for college grads to move back home jobless and saddled with debt.

To remove our kids’ sense of entitlement and “employee” mindsets, parents can minimize gift buying, concentrate on the “togetherness” aspect of the holidays, and—after the tree comes down—call a family forum. Here’s what you might say:

Be honest about your financial situation: If you’re bringing home half the income you once earned and you now have to buy your own health insurance, spell this out for kids, urges Downing. They can handle the truth.

Lay out the family finances in business terms: ”Get out your pay stubs or tax returns and a month’s worth of bill statements and walk through them all,” suggests Downing. “Say, ‘Here are our revenues for the upcoming year. Here are our operating expenses. Here are our profits.’ Not only will this be an educational experience for the kids, it may be one for you as well.”

First, ask kids for cutback suggestions: Ask them “Where might we as a family save money? How can you help?” Implement their ideas if you can. This gives kids a sense of control over their destinies and forces them to prioritize the activities they value.

Then, broach the subject of kids as contributors: They can at least fund their own non-essentials (think video games and prom dresses) and start saving for college.

“You can position it as a fun experience that may bring the family together,” Downing says. “Tell them the economy is forcing us to do what Americans do best—be innovative and create our own future.”

Ask them to think up ways they might earn income:  If your child loves to read, perhaps she could start a business reading books to the elderly, Downing suggests.

“Once the business gets off the ground, your child can take it to the next level,” he says, adding that it’s critical to teach kids the value of creating streams of income that are not linked to their time. “Perhaps she could franchise her ‘reading to the elderly’ service by subcontracting reading gigs to other kids.”

Make the connection between wealth and giving: Explain that, generally, those who give of their time and/or money invite abundance into their lives.

Now, plan for the future: Set family goals in all areas that matter to you—financial, but also spiritual, educational, health & fitness, and so forth.

Downing advises, “Meet every 30 days to monitor everyone’s progress. You’ll be amazed by how this keeps kids—and parents—energized and focused and keeps the family close and moving in the right direction.”

This last step is critical, says Downing. It clarifies your values and makes sure you’re all doing things—say, working twice a month at the animal shelter—that teach kids what really matters in life.

“When kids are really ‘giving back’ they won’t have that desperate need to acquire the right clothes or high-tech trinkets to fill some spiritual void,” he concludes.

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Omaha, U.S.A. — According to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent report on financial literacy in the United States, many individuals would do well to take a refresher course just to cover the basics. And when it comes to more complex financial issues such as 401k and retirement planning, the average investor is not in a position to either make informed decisions on their own or have an enlightened conversation with their broker if they have one. “The SEC’s report points to subjects that are not even on the radar of conventional sources of investment knowledge,” says George Morgan, the Executive Director of The Buttonwood Center for Investor Education.

So how can a person know if they aren’t financially literate or aren’t asking the right questions of their broker? “You really have to take some time to educate yourself,” says Morgan. “If you’re going it alone, be on the lookout for educational financial planning classes in your area. If you are working with a broker, your questions should include things such as what is an appropriate return on your investment, as well as asking about alternative ways of investing.”

Morgan, a retired broker himself, recently ran into a married couple who were former clients. ”They told me about their current broker and what a great job he is doing. They described how this new broker met with them on a regular basis and that so far this year, they had a return they were very pleased with. If they had known the right questions to ask, their returns might have been significantly higher and the amount of money they paid to the broker could have been considerably lower.”

Morgan’s new book, Extra Lettuce: Manage Your 401k Now to Avoid Flipping Burgers Later, easily explains how to take control of your personal finances and manage retirement funds in order to best plan for your golden years.

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Joseph Kalbfell, a 54-year-old Salem, Ohio man is awaiting the verdict in his trial for importuning a minor for sexual activity. Prosecutors allege that Kalbfell offered to perform oral sex on a 12-year-old boy. In addition to the now 14-year-old boy, other witnesses testified that a man believed to be Kalbfell also made lewd comments to three young girls and another young boy.

In the charged offense, the boy claimed he was pushing his bicycle when a man in a gray van commented on his posterior. The boy responded with a derogatory comment and the man then allegedly offered to perform oral sex on the boy. The boy repeated the derogatory term and the man drove away. Kalbfell denies soliciting the boy and told police the boy made up the story against him because Kalbfell refused to give him a cigarette.

Ohio’s Importuning Laws

The state of Ohio has strict laws regarding the importuning (solicitation) of minors for sexual activity. The criminal statute prohibiting importuning creates separate offenses based on the age of the alleged minor victim and the relative age of the alleged offender. It clearly says that “[n]o person shall solicit a person who is less than thirteen years of age to engage in sexual activity with the offender, whether or not the offender knows the age of such person.”

The statute prohibits the solicitation of a minor age 13, 14 or 15 years old for sexual conduct when the alleged offender is 18 years old or older and is at least four years older than the minor. Whether the alleged offender knew the minor’s age is irrelevant. When the minor is age 16 or 17 and the alleged offender is 18 years old or older (and at least four years older than the minor), the alleged offender must have at least recklessly disregarded the minor’s age.

The Ohio legislature clearly structured the statute to only criminalize sexual conduct involving very young minors and when the relative age difference is such that the minor may not be in full control of the situation. What the statute does not criminalize is sexual activity involving two consenting teenagers 13 and older as long as the age difference is not four years or more.

Potential Penalties

The consequences for importuning a minor of any age are serious. Even a first offense involving a minor under 13 is a third degree felony and “there is a presumption that a prison term [between nine and 36 months] shall be imposed.” If the alleged offender “previously has been convicted of a sexually oriented offense or a child-victim oriented offense,” the offense becomes a felony of the second degree carrying a mandatory prison sentence of two to eight years.

Importuning a minor 13 or older is a felony of the fifth degree and a prison term of six to 12 months is presumed on a first offense. If the alleged offender “previously has been convicted of a sexually oriented offense or a child-victim oriented offense,” the offense is a fourth degree felony with a mandatory prison term of six to 18 months.

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Many motorists are aware of the risks associated with distracted driving; however, drivers continue to engage in this dangerous practice. Various news sources have detailed the hazards associated with texting, eating or talking on the phone while driving. However, sources report that there is a new problem on the horizon–webbing.

According to a new study by State Farm, Internet surfing on portable devices while driving is the latest danger. The practice, also known as “webbing,” is particularly common among teens. The frequency of this practice among young drivers has increased from 29 percent in 2009 to 48 percent in 2012.

While webbing is common for younger motorists, State Farm asserts that motorists of all ages are webbing while driving. Between 2009 and 2012, research found that the number of drivers using the Internet while operating a vehicle increased to 21 percent from 13 percent for all age groups.

California put laws into effect in 2008 and 2009, which restrict drivers from texting or using a cellphone while driving.

In 2008, the state completely prohibited the use of a cellphone while driving. Therefore, a driver cannot talk on a wireless phone while driving unless he or she is using a hands-free device, such as a Bluetooth, headset or car kit.

Including penalty assessments, the fine for a first offense is $76. A second offense is $190. A violation of the handheld cell phone ban is a reportable offense, which appears on a violator’s driving record.

All minors are prohibited from using wireless devices use while driving, including hands-free devices.

Furthermore, a motorist cannot write, transmit or read text-based communication on an electric wireless communications device while driving a motor vehicle. The law specifies that a driver may not use the Internet or send emails on a cellphone while driving. These activities are illegal even if the motorist is stopped in traffic.

The fine for violating this anti-texting law is $20 for the first offense and $50 for each subsequent offense. However, additional penalty assessments can add to the fines.

While states have used legislative efforts to prevent distracted driving, motorists continue to take serious risks on the road. Unfortunately, all it takes is a simple text message to compromise the life of another.

If you have been injured in a distracted driving accident, you should contact an experienced personal injury attorney today.

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A high school student’s hopes for leniency from an Ohio court were dashed recently when he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his part in a series of killings.

The 17-year-old defendant was charged with aggravated murder and attempted murder in the deaths of three men and the wounding of another. He was allegedly an accomplice in a plot hatched by an older man to lure victims with a phony Craigslist posting.

The posting was for a job opportunity doing farm labor. Three men in their 40s or 50s were killed, one near Akron and the others in southeastern Ohio at a farm where they had come expecting job interviews.

The victims were selected because they were single, out of work and unlikely to raise red flags with law enforcement if they disappeared. Robbery was the motive for the crimes, said prosecutors.

The man who escaped death was lured like the others by the promise of an employment opportunity. When the potential victim showed up at the farm, the older man tried to shoot him, but succeeded only in wounding him in the arm as he fled.

Boy Claimed Influence From “Evil” Adult

The wounded man testified at the 17-year-old’s trial, identifying him as the 53-year-old shooter’s accomplice. Prosecutors did not claim that the teen had actually shot any of the victims himself.

The older man, who has a prison record and presented himself as an Akron street minister, apparently had become the young man’s spiritual mentor. The youth claimed that he could not see his way clear to any alternatives when he was drawn into the murder plot, though he now realized that his mentor is evil.

The teen’s defense attorneys had asked the judge to consider that the youth came from a broken home and had no prior record, and to take his age into account. Additionally, the high schooler said he did not realize that his mentor intended to murder the men until he shot the first victim.

Pleas For Leniency Denied

The young man’s defense attorneys tried to negotiate a more lenient sentence in exchange for testimony against the triggerman in his upcoming trial, and sentencing was briefly delayed for talks. The attorneys had hoped for a deal that would allow the young man to be released within 20 to 30 years.

In the end, the judge said that despite any mitigating factors the defense presented, the killings were cold-blooded executions, and the 17-year-old had had an opportunity to stop them.

Every case is different, and every defendant is innocent until proven guilty. Having a capable defense attorney is a criminal defendant’s best chance for acquittal or a reduced sentence. Whatever the outcome, it is wise to engage an experienced criminal defense attorney, because life and liberty may be at stake.

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Las Cruces, U.S.A. — Parents know that knowledge is power, and reading is the key to this power. However, many parents struggle to find ways to make their kids be avid readers. Children are more likely to read if parents let them decide what they read, however parents can give them directions and offer support, Scholastic suggests.

“… it’s your [the parents'] job–not the schools’–to find books to get your kids reading and to make sure they read them,” CNN suggests.

“Parents are powerful instruments when it comes to setting the tone for whether or not a child will be a reader, and certainly what their children read,” says L.A. Miller, the author of the new science-fiction and fantasy YA book series Quests of Shadowind, which includes “Sky Shifter,” “The Grounding Stone,” and “Veil.”

“Quests of Shadowind” is the story of a group of kids who are abducted to an alien world called Shadowind, which is inhabited by ghostly creatures, cyborg animals, and virtual humans–a land where anything is possible, including being downloaded into a cryptic, evil, role-playing game. In order to survive, the teens band together as they search for a way back home.

“Freedom of choice is key to getting them motivated and excited. Vampire sagas, comics, manga, books of sports statistics–terrific–as long as kids are reading,” says James Patterson, a father and a “New York Times” best-selling author. “Should they read on e-tablets? Sure, why not? How about rereading a book? Definitely. And don’t tell them a book is too hard or too easy.”

Learning to read does not always come naturally. This is a skill that must be taught, and it takes some work. Parents should show their children that reading can be fun and help to incorporate reading as part of the everyday activities the whole family enjoys.

“In many ways parents’ attitudes can inspire their children to love reading,” says L.A. Miller. “It’s important to create reading environments in and outside of the home, and to stick to it. I believe parents are good reading role models. If your child sees you and other family members reading, it’s more likely that he or she will pick up a book.”

The National Education Association offers some tips for choosing books for children:

• For beginning readers, select books that match their skill level.
• Find colorful books.
• Pick books based on the child’s interests (hobbies, nature, science).
• Let the child make his or her own choices.
• Support every book choice.
• Ask librarians and teachers for book suggestions.
• Encourage your child to try different kinds of books.

“Reading is one of the most important skills that parents can help to develop in their children,” says Mr. Miller. “It’s a fundamental skill that will help children to be as academically successful as possible.”

For more information, visit www.QuestsofShadowind.com.

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Washington, U.S.A. —  NASA was named the best place to work in the federal government among large agencies in a survey released today by the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, non-partisan organization. This ranking, which reflects NASA’s highest results since this index was developed, makes clear that the agency’s work force is focused on carrying out the nation’s new and ambitious space program.

“The best workforce in the nation has made NASA the best place to work in federal government,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, who is accepting the award at a ceremony this morning in Washington, D.C. ”Our employees are carrying out the nation’s new strategic missions in space with heart-stopping landings on Mars, cutting-edge science and ground-breaking partnerships with American companies to resupplying the space station. They are truly leading in the innovation economy.”

The rankings are based on responses from nearly 700,000 federal workers. The Best Places to Work rankings are based on data from the Office of Personnel Management’s annual Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey conducted from April through June 2012 and additional survey data from nine agencies plus the Intelligence Community. This is the seventh edition of the Best Places to Work rankings since the first in 2003.

NASA’s Stennis Space Center was ranked second in the sub-agency component category.

During the past year, NASA’s employees continued to implement America’s ambitious space exploration program, landing the most sophisticated rover on the surface of Mars, carrying out the first-ever commercial mission to the International Space Station and advancing the systems needed to send humans deeper into space.

Just last week, NASA announced the next Mars rover mission and recently announced the first year-long crew stay on the International Space Station. As the agency continues developing the capabilities to explore the solar system and beyond, as well as understand our home planet and make life better here, workers with a wide range of skills and interests will be critical.

For more about NASA, visit: http://www.nasa.gov.

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New York, U.S.A. — Mortgage rates showed little movement, with the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate reversing last week’s move and rebounding to 3.52 percent, according to Bankrate.com’s weekly national survey. The average 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.37 discount and origination points.

The average 15-year fixed mortgage rate held at 2.85 percent and the larger jumbo 30-year mortgage remained at the record low of 3.98 percent. Adjustable rate mortgages were mixed, with the 1-year ARM sliding to 2.97 percent, the 5-year ARM staying at 2.74 percent for a third consecutive week, and the 10-year ARM rising to 3.2 percent.

Mortgage rates showed little movement as the fiscal cliff talks looked more like a stalemate. But a newly announced stimulus plan from the Federal Reserve aimed at buying longer-term Treasuries should help bring both bond yields and mortgage rates lower, albeit modestly. Mortgage rates are closely related to yields on long-term government bonds. Don’t expect any big moves in mortgage rates as long as the fiscal cliff talks drag on.

The last time mortgage rates were above 6 percent was November 2008. At the time, the average 30-year fixed rate was 6.33 percent, meaning a $200,000 loan would have carried a monthly payment of $1,241.86. With the average rate now 3.52 percent, the monthly payment for the same size loan would be $900.32, a difference of $341 per month for anyone refinancing now.

Survey Results

30-year fixed: 3.52% — up from 3.50% last week (avg. points: 0.37)
15-year fixed: 2.85% — unchanged from last week (avg. points: 0.27)
5/1 ARM: 2.74% — unchanged from last week (avg. points: 0.35)

Bankrate’s national weekly mortgage survey is conducted each Wednesday from data provided by the top 10 banks and thrifts in the top 10 markets.

For a full analysis of this week’s move in mortgage rates, go to http://www.bankrate.com/mortgagerates.

To see mortgage rates in your area, go to http://www.bankrate.com/funnel/mortgages

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Chicago, U.S.A. — Hiring the right person to fill a position can be a difficult decision to make, and a new CareerBuilder study shows the cost of choosing incorrectly can be high. Sixty-nine percent of employers reported that their companies have been adversely affected by a bad hire this year, with 41 percent of those businesses estimating the cost to be over $25,000. Twenty-four percent said a bad hire cost them more than $50,000.

“Whether it’s a negative attitude, lack of follow through or other concern, the impact of a bad hire is significant,” said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “Not only can it create productivity and morale issues, it can also affect the bottom line.”

Effects of a Bad Hire
The price of a bad hire adds up in a variety ways. The most common are:

• Less productivity – 39 percent
• Lost time to recruit and train another worker – 39 percent
• Cost to recruit and train another worker – 35 percent
• Employee morale negatively affected – 33 percent
• Negative impact on clients – 19 percent
• Fewer sales – 11 percent
• Legal issues – 9 percent

Characteristics of a Bad Hire
When classifying what makes someone a bad hire, employers reported several behavioral and performance-related issues:

• Employee didn’t produce the proper quality of work – 67 percent
• Employee didn’t work well with other employees – 60 percent
• Employee had a negative attitude – 59 percent
• Employee had immediate attendance problems – 54 percent
• Customers complained about the employee – 44 percent
• Employee didn’t meet deadlines – 44 percent

Why Companies Make Bad Hires 
The most common reason associated with a bad hire is rushing the decision process. Two-in-five hiring managers attributed a bad hire to pressure to fill the job opening.

• Needed to fill the job quickly – 43 percent
• Insufficient talent intelligence – 22 percent
• Sourcing techniques need to be adjusted per open position – 13 percent
• Fewer recruiters due to the recession has made it difficult  to go through applications – 10 percent
• Didn’t check references – 9 percent
• Lack of strong employment brand – 8 percent

One-in-four employers (26 percent) stated they weren’t sure why they made a bad hire and said sometimes you just make a mistake.

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Dallas, U.S.A. — In response to new data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) showing 9,878 drunk driving fatalities in 2011, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is celebrating an historic milestone in the nation’s fight against drunk driving; the first time drunk driving fatalities have fallen below 10,000.

“This drop in deaths is an important milestone in our nation’s ongoing fight against drunk driving and is further validation that MADD’s Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving is working,” said MADD National President Jan Withers. “MADD urges state lawmakers to take advantage of recently passed federal funds available for states requiring all convicted drunk drivers to use an ignition interlock device.”

Not only did the number of people killed in drunk driving crashes in 2011 (9,878) drop by 2.5 percent from the number killed in 2010 (10,136), but this decline outpaced the 1.9 percent decrease in overall highway deaths. “Our efforts are paying off in lives saved and injuries prevented,” added Withers.

Since MADD was founded in 1980, more than 300,000 lives have been saved as a result of efforts to strengthen drunk driving laws and raise awareness about this 100 percent preventable crime. In addition, since MADD’s Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving was launched in 2006, we’ve seen an almost 27 percent decrease in drunk driving fatalities. The campaign includes three important components: 1) supporting high-visibility law enforcement efforts, such as sobriety checkpoints and NHTSA’s nationwide ‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over’ campaign; 2) requiring ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers; and 3) supporting the development of technology to automatically determine whether a driver is at or above the legal limit of .08 blood alcohol concentration (BAC).

“While we have much to celebrate today, we are also reminded of the 9,878 precious lives lost to drunk driving in 2011 and the countless loved ones left behind to pick up the pieces,” said Withers. “In addition, we know that preliminary numbers indicate an overall increase for highway deaths in 2012, so MADD is reminding people across the country to remain vigilant in always planning ahead for a sober designated driver during the holidays and year-round.”

For more information on MADD’s Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving, visit www.madd.org/campaign.

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Washington, U.S.A. — A new investigation into online puppy sales highlights the problem of the Internet being used as a tool for exploiting dogs and consumers.

To bring awareness to the magnitude of the issue, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) on December 12, released its latest investigative report, How Much is that Doggie on my Browser? The Truth Behind Online Puppy Sales, marking the first publicly available large-scale examination of the connection between Internet puppy sales and suspected puppy mill operations.

The one-day investigation focused on over 12,000 advertisements representing a total of over half a million puppies for sale on nine major buyer-seller Internet websites on just one day. Six of these sites are dedicated primarily to the puppy market and three offer puppies amongst a variety of other commodities.

Employing the criteria set forth by a panel of experts, investigators further isolated the nearly 10,000 ads from the six puppy-specific websites and found that 62% of the ads qualified as “likely puppy mills.”

“Consumers opting to purchase puppies over the Internet are duped into believing they are buying from reputable breeders,” said Ben Stein, Honorary Member, IFAW Board of Directors. “The cute puppy images shown on many seller websites hide the heartbreaking reality of the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in which the dogs are housed.”

Lacking the regulation assigned to some brick-and-mortar establishments, the Internet has become a preferred platform for unscrupulous commercial facilities to sell puppies directly to  innocent consumers who are unwittingly supporting the puppy mill industry.

“Most federal regulations designed to address the puppy trade pre-date the Internet and are insufficient in addressing the specific issues relating to online puppy sales,” noted Tracy Coppola, IFAW Campaigns Officer.  “We launched our investigation to determine the scope and scale of the trade in an effort to better inform decision-makers as they are currently considering new policies to eliminate loopholes allowing this practice to continue.”

The report also recommends that websites strengthen efforts to shut down puppy mill advertisements.

According to a recent survey from the American Pet Products Association, the number of dogs living in U.S. homes is at an all-time high — more than 78 million and growing.

“As America’s demand for pet dogs grows, so does the number of online puppy sales,” added Jeff Flocken, DC Office Director, IFAW.  “This holiday season and beyond, we hope that consumers looking to add a new puppy to their family will not fall victim to the deceptive practices of puppy mill operators over the Internet.  Instead, they should proactively take a stand against puppy mills by always adopting from local shelters, responsible local breeders and rescue facilities.”

The exploitation of animals over the Internet is not limited to dogs and other domestic animals.  Since 2004, IFAW has performed numerous investigations on Internet wildlife trade; and its investigative report,Killing with Keystrokes, convinced eBay to institute a global ban on the sale of ivory products from its website.

To download a full copy of How Much is that Doggie on My Browser?  The Truth Behind Online Puppy Sales, please visit www.ifaw.org.

About IFAW (the International Fund for Animal Welfare)
Founded in 1969, IFAW saves animals in crisis around the world. With projects in more than 40 countries, IFAW rescues individual animals, works to prevent cruelty to animals, and advocates for the protection of wildlife and habitats. For more information, visit www.ifaw.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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New York, U.S.A. — This holiday season—with crowded malls, shrinking bank accounts, and frayed nerves—providing great service is even more critical than usual. Much like Santa, customers have their own “naughty or nice list,” and they won’t hesitate to take their business elsewhere.

“There’s no better time than the holiday season to uplift your customers with great service,” says Ron Kaufman, author of the New York Times bestseller Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues, and Everyone Else You Meet. ”Unfortunately, there’s also no easier time to do or say exactly the wrong thing.”

During the holidays, companies are overbooked and short staffed. Popular items run out of stock. Departments aren’t prepared for the increased volume of customer inquiries and complaints.

“These practices will land you on customers’ naughty lists,” says Kaufman. “These are often not isolated incidents. Instead, they are evidence of a bigger problem in the organization’s overall service culture.”

Kaufman is at the head of a growing worldwide movement to uplift service in general—for customers and for colleagues. His book takes readers on a journey into a world of uplifting service with dynamic case studies and perspective-changing insights. Readers learn how the world’s best-performing companies achieved an uplifting service transformation.

To Stay on the Nice List

Make it seamless. Customers will be shopping, ordering, and asking questions across every possible channel: in person, over the phone, at their computers, on their mobile devices, at work, in their cars, and from home. Providing integrated, smooth service across channels reduces frustration and allows them to get back to their busy lives.

Customize for your customers. Your customers know they aren’t your only customer, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to be treated that way. Personalized service makes people feel special. Implement processes that allow you to recall your customers’ questions, preferences, and choices in all future interactions.

Say “Yes.” to service recovery. Great service recovery turns “oops” into opportunities. Be grateful when unhappy customers give you a chance to win back their business. Why? Because for every customer who does complain, there are several others who didn’t give you a second chance. The key? Make sure employees are empowered to make amends.

Happy (engaged) employees equals service with a smile. Service providers seem exhausted and too overwhelmed to do anything more than provide the minimum service to keep customers moving along. Aligned, vigorously supported employees who are connected to the brand, to colleagues, and to customers fuel job and customer satisfaction.

Weave yourself into the fabric of the community. Companies that contribute to and participate in the wider community are ones people want to do business with and places where employees want to work.

To Get Stuck on the Naughty List

Specialize in the run-around. Companies that aren’t streamlined force customers to give the same information to one person after another as they’re passed from department to department. Departments are so siloed that customers feel like they aren’t talking to people who work at the same company.

Treat customers like a number. When you don’t personalize service by taking the time to learn your customers’ names or implementing systems that remember their needs, you make customers feel like they’re just one of many. Make one mistake and they will immediately go somewhere else.

Exhibit a “the customer’s always wrong” mentality. A shaky service recovery program reacts to complaining customers by seeking to avoid blame (often too focused on passing the buck to even take notice of the customers’ real needs).

Put unhappy, clock-watching employees in front of customers. Employees who are interested only in working for a wage often feel that the service they provide is a chore (and it shows).

Put the bottom line on a pedestal. Companies concerned only with their bottom line make customers feel like they’re being tricked or swindled. They offer deals that aren’t backed by great service, or run ads touting low-cost products that don’t offer real satisfaction. Both parties may have completed a deal, but neither was uplifted by any lasting value.

“When you commit to creating an uplifting service culture, you’ll spend every holiday season on your customers’ nice lists,” says Kaufman. “And you will reap the benefits year-round.”

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Carlsbad, U.S.A. — The three best professions for job seekers with disabilities are all in the field of health care: Pharmaceutical Sales, Pharmacy Technician and Physician’s Assistant, according to a new report by CareerCast.com.

“Organizations specializing in job placement for the disabled find that healthcare employers offer better access to careers than any other industry,” says Tony Lee, publisher, CareerCast.com. “Many Americans have some kind of disability and a large percentage of them either work in health care today or will find a job in that sector in the future.”

The 2010 U.S. Census estimates that 54 million Americans have a disability, which translates into 10% of the population ages 18 to 64. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that unemployment for the disabled is 12.9%, which is significantly higher than the national average and up from a rate of 9.3% at the onset of the recession in 2008. However, healthcare job growth is rising steadily, with the sector expected to increase by 5.6 million jobs within the next eight years, creating many available positions for disabled candidates.

Disabled workers can be a great asset to a company, but only about 20% of Americans with a physical or cognitive disability participate in the traditional workforce today. Discrimination is still a key barrier to employment, and one the most difficult hurdles for disabled job seekers to overcome is perception.

The following is an overview of the best jobs for disabled candidates, according to data gathered for the CareerCast Jobs Rated report.

Pharmaceutical Sales
Median Pay (Wholesale/Manufacturing Sales Representatives): $56,620
Number of Jobs/Outlook: 1,830,000/16% growth

Pharmacy Technician
Median Pay: $28,400
Numbers of Jobs/Outlook for Growth: 334,400/32%

Physician Assistant
Median Pay: $86,410
Number of Jobs/Outlook for Growth 83,600/ 30%

Accountant/Auditor
Median Pay: $61,690
Number of Jobs/Outlook for Growth: 1,216,900/16%

Telecommunications Equipment Specialist
Median Pay: $54,710
Number of Jobs/Outlook for Growth: 194,900/15%

Software Developer
Median Pay: $90,530
Numbers of Jobs/Outlook for Growth: 913,100/ 30%

Market Research
Median Pay: $60,570
Number of Jobs/Outlook for Growth: 282,700/41%

Vocational Counselor
Median Pay: $53,380
Number of Jobs/Outlook: 281,400/19% growth

Medical Technologist
Median Pay: $46,680
Number of Jobs/Outlook: 330,600/13% growth

Management Analyst
Median Pay: $78,160
Number of Jobs/Outlook: 718,800/22% growth

To read CareerCast.com’s full report, visit http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/best-jobs-disabled.

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Tucson, U.S.A. — The United States is forfeiting a half century of leadership in medical care and medical research and development, writes orthopaedic surgeon Lee Hieb, M.D., in an article in the winter issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.

“We are rapidly throwing it all away as we spiral ever downward into a “vampire economy”—an economy so overtaxed and overregulated that it is sucking the lifeblood out of its productive citizens, she writes.

Hieb undertakes a diagnostic examination of the medical economy, and features the following findings:

• There are 140,000 pages of regulations pertaining to Medicare, compared with a “mere” 82,000 in an impossibly complex tax code.
• Today, 49 cents out of every dollar is spent by government. In 1920, only 10 cents was spent by government, and 90 cents privately. Even in 1947, after World War II and the Marshall Plan, only 20 cents of every dollar was spent by government.
• Businesses are organized into cartels. Some are favored by government, so that profits are retained privately, but losses are shared by taxpayers.

The diagnosis, Hieb writes, according to the Austrian school of economics, is that we have a classic fascist economy. According to Lwewellyn Rockwell, “Fascism is the system of government that cartelizes the private sector, centrally plans the economy to subsidize producers, exalts the police state as the source of order, denies fundamental rights and liberties to individuals, and makes the executive state the unlimited master of society.”

Hieb’s description of the economy comes from the title of Guenther Reimann’s 1938 book, The Vampire Economy: Doing Business Under Fascism.

“The frontispiece of Reimann’s book is a pictorial representation of what it took a car manufacturer to get 5,000 tires for his autos. After 6 months and numerous encounters with boards, chambers, secretaries, ministers, councils, and commissars, the company received 1,000 rubber tires and 4,000 ersatz tires, at a 200% increase in price.”

Hieb compares this with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), although the FDA takes 15 years to approve a drug, not just 6 months.

When F.A. Hayek wrote The Road to Serfdom in 1928, 55 percent of the German economy was controlled by the government, and their military expenditure was 10 percent of their budget. Today in America it is estimated that 45 percent of our economy is controlled by the government, and our military consumes 21 percent of the national budget.

Hieb explores the moral hazards of dependency on government money, and warns physicians: “We must never put ourselves in such financial dependency on the government that we are willing to compromise Hippocratic principles of ethical patient care.” Independence, she writes, is the “garlic necklace.”

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, founded in 1943, publishes the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.

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Dearborn, U.S.A. – A key part of Ford Motor Company’s heritage returns home as a Model A built in 1903 is again with the Ford family, kicking off the yearlong celebration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of company founder Henry Ford. Considered the oldest surviving Ford vehicle, the 1903 Model A was unveiled on December 11 to Ford Motor Company employees by Executive Chairman Bill Ford, who purchased the vehicle at an auction in October.

“The timing was perfect to bring this key part of Ford heritage back to the family as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of my great-grandfather’s birth and his vision to improve people’s lives by making cars affordable for the average family,” said Bill Ford. “His vision to build cars that are reasonably priced, reliable and efficient still resonates and defines our vision today as well.”

MotorCities National Heritage Area and the Henry Ford Heritage Association teamed up with more than 30 Henry Ford-related collaborators to coordinate the yearlong celebration of events. These activities, highlighting Ford’s legacy, contributions and influence, include tours, educational programming, dramatic re-enactments, lectures, integration and special events at auto shows and more.

A dedicated website, www.henryford150.com, that includes an interactive timeline of Ford’s life, tours, a calendar of 2013 events and information about efforts to preserve Henry Ford’s heritage also launched on December 11.

Henry Ford’s 150th legacy will be celebrated in 2013 through a variety of events. Some of these include:

• Coming Together: A Celebration of Henry Ford – July 27, 2013, The Henry Ford Estate Fair Lane, Dearborn, Mich. This free community event will bring Henry Ford to “life” and feature many of his little-known interests and contributions.
• Maker Faire – July 27-28, The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan. A two-day, family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness. This year’s celebration of the Maker movement will include a special program to recognize innovators.
• Discovering Henry Ford shows at The Henry Ford – April-December. A presenter-facilitated multimedia program using a large touch screen monitor to access digital assets (movies, photos) in themed 20-minute shows (Henry Ford the Tinkerer, Henry Ford and the Model T).
• Henry’s T – Dramatic presentation at Greenfield Village – May-August. Visitors will meet Henry Ford in this interactive 15-minute play and hear how he was inspired to build the world’s universal car. Guests also will find out why the Model T was so revolutionary and how Henry Ford’s visionary thinking and hard work enabled him to put the world on wheels.

The role of the Model A 

The Model A returning home played a pivotal role in Ford Motor Company history.

In July 1903, Henry Ford faced a daunting situation: The company’s cash balance stood at less than$250. A much-needed cash infusion arrived on July 13, 1903: One full payment and two deposits totaling$1,320 for three Model A cars kept Ford Motor Company afloat.

The car revealed is a red 1903 Model A Rear Entry Tonneau. It is believed to be car No. 3, chassis No. 30, and the lone survivor of the group of three Model A cars sold on that day.

The vehicle was auctioned through RM Auctions in October in Hershey, Pa.

“The Model A helped keep our company going during a difficult time and enabled my great-grandfather to continue pursuing his vision of putting the world on wheels,” said Bill Ford. “We look forward to carrying that same spirit of innovation forward as we develop new technologies for safer, cleaner, more fuel-efficient vehicles.”

For additional information, go to http://media.ford.com/mini_sites/10031/HenryFord150.

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Illinois, U.S.A. — The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) says progress is being made in identifying and removing thousands of vehicles damaged beyond repair by Sandy. The estimate of 230,000 insurance claims for vehicle damage in the areas affected by Sandy remains unchanged at this time. Many of those vehicles were flooded and are being towed to holding areas where they will be loaded on car haulers and taken to facilities to be crushed.

On December 5, NICB officials visited holding areas in Brooklyn where more than 7,000 new vehicles awaiting delivery to dealerships had been parked when Sandy flooded the area with more than three feet of water. All but 800 cars had been removed. The vehicles suffered extensive damage as the wind and water shoved them into each other and flooded their electronic systems, damaging them beyond repair.

“New York City Police and the other law enforcement agencies around the area were understandably focusing on other emergencies and disaster efforts initially,” said NICB New York Region Operations Director Thomas Lohmann. “Now they have begun to address the issue of dealing with thousands of flooded and damaged vehicles, and they are doing an outstanding job of getting these vehicles towed to holding areas where they can be identified and accounted for prior to being scrapped. They are also going after towing companies that have taken cars off the street without permission, and are submitting outrageous towing and storage bills to insurance companies. Some may be holding the vehicles in an attempt to increase storage fees, or actually claim title to the vehicle after it sits at their facility for an extended time.”

NICB member insurance companies have provided extra resources to tow damaged vehicles and dispose of them, and are working with NICB to ensure all of the Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) of these vehicles are reported to the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) at www.vehiclehistory.gov.

NICB’s efforts are focused on making sure these damaged vehicles are identified. Using VINCheck(SM), consumers can enter the VIN of a vehicle they are interested in purchasing to see if it has ever been declared as salvage. VINCheck, available free of charge at www.nicb.org, provides access to information from insurance companies representing nearly 90 percent of the insured, private passenger market. It was created in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“Despite everyone’s best efforts, there will be cases where damaged vehicles are cleaned up, dried out and sold by unscrupulous dealers or individuals who know how to beat the system,” said NICB President and CEO Joe Wehrle. “No one should be driving a car that’s been sitting in four feet of water. It’s unsafe. But people who will sell you a car like that aren’t worried about your safety.”

NICB is also warning victims of Sandy to be on the lookout for contractors who may try to take advantage of the situation by offering to do repairs in return for an advance payment or insurance check. Unscrupulous contractors may take the money and run, inflicting more financial damage and suffering on the victim.

Image Courtesy : SVLuma / Shutterstock.com

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Washington, U.S.A. — Strangers committed about 1.8 million nonfatal violent crimes in 2010, or about 38 percent of all nonfatal violent victimizations during the year, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced on December 11. This represents a 77 percent decline from 7.9 million nonfatal violent crimes committed by strangers in 1993, according to the earliest available data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS).

During a more recent period from 2001 to 2010, the rate of violence committed by strangers declined 47 percent and the rate committed by offenders the victims knew declined by 41 percent. The percentage declines for these two rates were not statistically different.

In the NCVS, nonfatal violent crimes include rape, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault and simple assault. Simple assault (assault not involving an injury or a weapon) made up 60 percent of violent victimizations committed by strangers in 2010, followed by aggravated assault (20 percent), robbery (17 percent) and rape or sexual assault (two percent).

More than half (52 percent) of all robberies in 2005-10 were committed by strangers, down from nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of robberies in 1993-98. Aggravated assaults and simple assaults committed by strangers also declined between the two periods, while the percentage of rapes and sexual assaults remained stable.

Based on data from the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR), among homicides in which the victim-offender relationship could be determined, strangers committed between 21 percent and 27 percent of homicides from 1993 to 2008, compared to between 73 percent and 79 percent of homicides committed by offenders known to the victims.

In 2010, males (9.5 victimizations per 1,000 males) experienced violence by strangers at nearly twice the rate of females (4.7 per 1,000). From 1993 to 2010, males (down 83 percent) experienced a larger decline than females (down 76 percent) in the rate of violence committed by strangers.

In each time period studied, young adults ages 18 to 24, people who were never married, and American Indians or Alaska Natives had the highest rates of violent victimization by a stranger among all groups in the respective categories. In 2005-10, people age 65 or older experienced the lowest rates (1.6 per 1,000) of violent victimization by strangers.

Other findings from 2005-10 include:

• Persons in urban areas experienced higher rates of violent victimizations by strangers than persons in suburban and rural areas.
• A higher percentage of violence by strangers occurred in public places (51 percent) (e.g., commercial establishments, parking lots or garages, open areas, streets or aboard public transportation) than in private places (26 percent).
• Strangers committed about nine percent of violent crimes that occurred in the victim’s home.
• About half of violent victimizations committed by strangers occurred while the victims were away from home traveling, shopping or doing leisure activities.
• About 10 percent of violent crimes committed by strangers involved a firearm, compared to five percent of violent crimes committed by someone the victim knew.
• About 22 percent of victims of violence committed by strangers were injured, compared to 31 percent of victims who knew the offender.

The NCVS collects information from victims on the frequency, characteristics and consequences of criminal victimization, using a nationally representative sample of about 40,000 households comprising nearly 75,000 persons. In the FBI’s SHR program, a part of the Uniform Crime Reporting program, law enforcement agencies report monthly supplemental data about homicide incidents with details on location, victim, and offender characteristics.

The report, Violent Victimization Committed by Strangers, 1993-2010 (NCJ 239424), was written by BJS statistician Erika Harrell. The report, related documents and additional information about the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ statistical publications and programs can be found on the BJS website at http://www.bjs.gov.

Image Courtesy : Daryl Lang / Shutterstock.com

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Irvine, U.S.A. — For those with fingers on the pulse of the business world, Entrepreneur magazine reveals the biggest trends of 2013 and the directions they’ll take various industries in the future. These movements reflect the wants and needs of a changing demographic in the United States and what’s necessary for entrepreneurs to keep in mind when considering consumers, employees and how business is getting done around them.

“Whether you’re running an established company or hope to start in the new year, it’s crucial to stay in-the-know with what’s happening in business right now to stay competitive—and more importantly, what to expect next,” says Amy Cosper, VP and editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine. “Being savvy about modern expectations and consumer tendencies can make or break a business, and we’ve got a great look at what 2013 has in store.”

The list looks at the booming trends that will help anchor a business moving forward and thinking ahead:

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