First lady wears Thom Browne coat and dress

President Barack Obama, accompanied by his daughters Sasha and Malia, first lady Michelle Obama and mother-in-law Marian Robinson, waves as they arrive at St. John's Church in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, for a church service during the 57th Presidential Inauguration. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Barack Obama, accompanied by his daughters Sasha and Malia, first lady Michelle Obama and mother-in-law Marian Robinson, waves as they arrive at St. John's Church in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, for a church service during the 57th Presidential Inauguration. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? First Lady Michelle Obama is wearing a navy Thom Browne coat and dress.

The fabric for the first lady's Inauguration Day attire was developed based on the style of a man's silk tie. The belt she is wearing is from J.Crew and her necklace was designed by Cathy Waterman. She is also wearing J.Crew shoes.

Her daughter Malia is also wearing a J.Crew ensemble. Sasha Obama is wearing a Kate Spade coat and dress.

At the end of the Inaugural festivities, the first lady's outfit and accompanying accessories will go to the National Archives.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-21-Obama-First%20Lady-Dress/id-36ecd6cb9b2b41f5a0c8219f24975e5c

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Straightforward And No-Nonsense Tips For Marketing Online ...

If you are trying to open a new business or expand on a current one, the powerful marketing tools available online may be for you. There is so much information available about it, though, that it can be overwhelming. This article will provide many great tips for Website marketing.

Alter the links in your emails if you regularly use this method to communicate with your customers. If your links are the same in all of your email communications, your customers will ignore them and possibly send your messages to their spam filters. Add some variety to your emails!

You possess the skills needed to be successful in internet promotion. Advanced software programs are not needed to be profitable. You can become successful if you are willing to dedicate yourself to your work and to carefully planning your marketing strategy.

You will avoid a lot of disappointment if you think of your Internet marketing project as a hobby rather than a full-time occupation. Do this for fun until the time comes when you know you can actually make a career out of it.

Talk with other online retailers to see if any mutual arrangements can be made. The larger the market you appeal to, the more money you have the potential to make. One example of this business style is the online reservations agent, who negotiates pricing for people booking a hotel, car and airline ticket at the same time. These are not competitors or rivals, they will work with you.

Adding emotive descriptions will help potential customers feel an attachment to what you are selling. This is on of the best ways to allow people to recognize your brand. Use good descriptive words like ?relief? and ?security?.

Try to encourage your customers to buy quickly by offering discounts or incentives. Some popular incentives that other marketers offer include free shipping and free wrapping services. To encourage efficiency in sales and keep customers drawn to your products, you could offer a particular incentive to the first certain number of people to order a given item. This is an effective way to win over buyers for more sales.

Give free samples and gifts with purchases; that will help your customers feel like you provide a lot of value, and that you respect them. Taking good care of customers if often overlooked when people are doing Website marketing, but if you give some things away, even if it costs you a little, it will make your customers feel appreciated.

It?s well-known that people feel respect for those in authority in a business. If you are the boss of your company, let people know! You may even want to call yourself the business?s President or CEO.

Internet promotion often involves the competition. Investigate what your competitors are doing, and assess both the strengths and weaknesses of their strategies. By checking out your competition and watching their approach to business, you can ultimately learn how to attract customers. Obviously, focusing on how the competition is doing can ultimately help you to become a better, more efficient marketer.

Figure out your target audience, and what sorts of content they respond positively to. When you have a firm grasp of who you want visiting your site and what they are likely to expect, it will be a snap to develop enticing, highly-appreciated content.

To advertise your product, you should create a sort of FAQ. Provide a well-thought-out response for each question, and don?t be afraid to self-sell where appropriate. Although you will be promoting your product, the FAQ section should not seem like an advertisement.

Create and advertise limited edition products and watch your profits grow. People go gaga over limited-edition items, and the rush to buy means you will sell out quickly.

Be sure to perform follow-up actions. After they have the product, ask the customer to take a survey or write a review.

Viral videos and media can help improve the success of your website. Upload the video to YouTube and link it to your website. That is going to dramatically affect your site visits.

Email is an important part of any Internet marketing strategy. Be sure that they are protected. Stay away from any free webmail service that deletes old messages; access to your old emails can be absolutely essential. Consider making your own email archiving arrangements, especially if you conduct sensitive communications with customers and consultants via email.

To increase your ad clicks, place an image on your page that, when clicked, leads to a page that describes the item you are advertising or selling. Try and match the text in your ads to the text in your copy. It doesn?t look like an advertisement.

Leave an area in your ad copy in which people who have not completed a purchase can let you know why. Perhaps they did not care for your copy, the guarantee or they may have had some other issue.

Do you want to break into the world of Internet marketing? Make sure your visitors are tempted to give you their email addresses to build your opt-in email list. When they can sign up for freebies or promotions, they will give their permission to send future emails. People are more likely to provide you with their email addresses when it is apparent that doing so is beneficial to them.

When done correctly, internet promotion is a cost effective, efficient way to advertise. By utilizing the advice contained in this article, you?ll be able to increase your business earnings by adding internet marketing to your overall marketing plans.

Internet Marketing, SEO

Source: http://www.websitehostdirect.com/straightforward-and-no-nonsense-tips-for-marketing-online/

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Thailand's latest l?se majest? sentencing: intent on trial | Asia News ...

Thailand?s draconian l?se majest? law continues to curb freedom of expression and has arguably reached a new level of arbitrariness with the most recent sentencing:

A Thai court has sentenced a leader of the Red Shirt political movement to two years in prison for a speech judged to have insulted the country?s monarchy.

The court ruled Thursday that 54-year-old Yoswarit Chuklom made a speech insulting the monarchy at a political rally in 2010. The Red Shirts took to the streets in 2010 in political protests that ended with deadly clashes with the military.

?Thai Red Shirt gets jail term for anti-king speech?, Associated Press, January 17, 2013

A Thai court today sentenced a government adviser, who helped lead protests in 2010 against former Prime Minister?Abhisit Vejjajiva, to two years in prison for insulting the royal family.

Yossawaris Chuklom, a comedian who goes by the name Jeng Dokjik, received the sentence for comments made in a speech to protesters that implied King Bhumibol Adulyadej influenced Abhisit?s decision not to dissolve the parliament, according to a court statement. The court said it freed him on bail while he appeals the sentence because he showed no intention to flee.

?Thai Comedian Gets Two-Year Prison Sentence for King Insult?, Bloomberg, January 17, 2013

While Yossawaris can not be considered as one of the highest-ranking red shirt leaders ? of which there were many during the 2010 protests ? his sentencing still needs special attention.

In sentencing a former protest leader to two years in prison, a court ruled that the defendant was liable not only for what he said, but also for what he left unsaid.

The criminal court?s ruling said the defendant, Yossawarit Chuklom, had not specifically mentioned the king when he gave a speech in 2010 to a large group of people protesting the military-backed government then in power.?But by making a gesture of being muzzled ? placing his hands over his mouth ? Mr. Yossawarit had insinuated that he was talking about the king, the court ruled.??Even though the defendant did not identify His Majesty the king directly,? the court ruled, Mr. Yossawarit?s speech ?cannot be interpreted any other way.?

The court ruled that it was obvious whom Mr. Yossawarit was talking about. During the trial, Thais with no apparent connection to the case were called to the stand and asked to whom they thought he was referring. All of the witnesses said, ?The king.?

?In Thailand, a Broader Definition of Insulting Royalty?, by Thomas Fuller, New York Times, January 17, 2013

This is indeed a new dimension of how arbitrarily l?se majest? is being applied here, on top of an already ambiguously written law (?insulting, defaming or threatening?): As many other l?se majest? (e.g. Ampon?s) or similar cases (e.g. Chiranuch?s) have shown, the principle is actually ?in dubio contra reo? (?when in doubt, decide against the accused?) for many different reasons.?Since the presumption of innocence doesn?t apply here, the prosecution is mostly not interested in the actual evidence (or the lack of in some cases), but rather in the ?intent? of the alleged crime.

David Streckfuss, a Khon Kaen-based academic and expert on the l?se majest? law, wrote in an academic article in 1995 ? long before the recent surge of cases ? about the rationale of these cases, since ?the truth or accuracy of the defendant?s words is irrelevant to the case. The defendant?s intent is determined by its hypothetical effect? (p. 452). Taking the case of then-Democrat Party secretary general (and later Thai Rak Thai executive and even later red shirt leader) Veera Musikapong?from the 1980s, Streckfuss has deduced ?five ?principles? that highlight the absurd mechanics of this draconian law ? here?s an excerpt:

The First Principle: Truth and Intent are Subordinated to Presumed Effect

Truth or guilt is determined purely by its effect. In a regular slander case, the central issue is substantiating the truth ? that is, a statement of truth that sullies someone?s reputation is not slander. If the defense can prove what the defendant said was true, the plaintiff?s case is lost, even if that truth has stained his or her character. In lese-majeste cases, however, it is not necessary to substantiate the truth, for the truth of what was said is not at issue. Ascertaining guilt remains at the level of its hypothetical impact, determined by the projected effect the words, if believed to be true, would have on listeners. [...]

The Second Principle: Actual Proof of Lese-Majeste?Requires Further Violation of Royal Dignity

?[G]uilt is determined by what the court estimates a safely abstract (and unascertainable) ?people? would feel were they to hear the words and believe them to be true. As a result, the prosecutors have the contradictory task of trying to argue how inflammatory the slanderous remarks are ? that they indeed constitute a threat to the security of the state and would cause people to look down on the king or the monarchy ? while at the same time maintaining that the words have no such effect on them personally. [...] If a witness for the prosecution, say, admitted that the intended effect of the words ? to cause the king to be looked upon negatively ? had succeeded in his or her own personal case, this would indeed be a confession, under oath, of l?se-majest?.?

?Kings in the Age of Nations ? The Paradox of L?se-Majest? as Political Crime in Thailand?, by David Streckfuss, in: Comparative Studies in Society and History, 1995, vol. 37 (3), pp 445-475 at p 453, 458

As of now, Yossawaris has appealed his sentencing. Meanwhile on Wednesday, the criminal court is expected to read their verdict against veteran labor activist Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, who is charged for editing articles in a news magazine that were deemed insulting to the monarchy.?L?se majest? continues to make headlines in 2013 and ?those defending it still find it hard to realize that with each case?

?The end result is that the dynamic?of this law do more damage to the monarchy than its critics could ever hope.?

?Kings in the Age of Nations ? The Paradox of L?se-Majest? as Political Crime in Thailand?, by David Streckfuss, in: Comparative Studies in Society and History, 1995, vol. 37 (3), pp 445-475 at p 473

____________________

About the author:
Saksith Saiyasombut is a Thai blogger and freelance foreign correspondent based in Bangkok, Thailand. He writes about Thai politics and current affairs since 2010 and is also reports for international news media such as Channel NewsAsia. You can follow him on Twitter @Saksith.

Source: http://asiancorrespondent.com/95661/thailands-latest-lese-majeste-sentencing-in-dubio-contra-reo/

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Legend, 2 Chainz, MC Lyte honored at Hip-Hop Ball

John Legend is seen at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 in Washington. (Photo by Larry French/Invision/AP)

John Legend is seen at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 in Washington. (Photo by Larry French/Invision/AP)

Rosario Dawson is seen at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 in Washington. (Photo by Larry French/Invision/AP)

2 Chainz is seen at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 in Washington. (Photo by Larry French/Invision/AP)

Doug E. Fresh is seen at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 in Washington. (Photo by Larry French/Invision/AP)

Swizz Beatz is seen at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 in Washington. (Photo by Larry French/Invision/AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? John Legend believes hip-hop played its part in helping Barack Obama become president, and he's proud at how the genre has matured over the years.

"I think hip-hop had a role in making sure we elected a black president in America because we made it so that black people were in people's homes ... through our music and through our culture," the R&B crooner said Sunday night at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball.

"I think it made Barack Obama and more people like him possible, so I'm really thankful for hip-hop and the role it plays in society," he continued.

Legend was awarded the humanitarian award at Sunday's event, and it was one of many honors handed out at the Harman Center for Arts.

Hip-hop pioneers MC Lyte and Doug E. Fresh were both given lifetime achievement awards. Fresh even hit the stage, beat boxing while comedian-actor-singer Wayne Brady cooed Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?" At one point, Brady even busted out his own rhymes.

Rapper Yo Yo earned a roaring cheer when she hit the stage to honor MC Lyte; Lil Mama also paid tribute to the "Ruffneck" rapper.

2 Chainz, who had a breakthrough year with his Grammy-nominated solo debut and multiple rap hits, earned the street soldier award for encouraging young voters as a spokesperson for the Hip-Hop Caucus' "Respect My Vote!" campaign.

"Doing my thing on the charts is one thing, but to be getting honored on another avenue, it just feels like a blessing," he said in an interview. "I'm keeping my head leveled and staying humble."

Actress Rosario Dawson won the vanguard award for her work as chairman of the Voto Latino organization.

"It's time to step out of the shadows. It's time to not just be talked about by other people, it's time to take the leadership ourselves and that first step of leadership is voting," Dawson said of the importance of the Latino vote.

Rappers Swizz Beatz and Meek Mill also earned honors at the event, attended by a few hundred hip-hop fans, including model Tyson Beckford, former NBA star Dikembe Mutumbo and Victor Cruz of the New York Giants. La La Anthony and Terrence J hosted the ball.

British singer Marsha Ambrosius also delivered a rousing performance, and playful jokes about Obama.

"I got a call from the president and he asked me to perform his favorite song," she said before singing the R&B jam "Hope She Cheats on You (With a Basketball Player)."

Then she sang "Butterflies," a song she co-wrote for Michael Jackson's 2001 "Invincible" album.

"This might have been his favorite," she said.

___

Follow Mesfin Fekadu on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MusicMesfin

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-21-Inauguration-Hip-Hop%20Ball/id-7a6b45fc16c24f0b8a4a31b32c8dd48a

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NOPD: 5 people shot in Central City where Martin Luther King Day ...

The New Orleans Police Department said that five people were shot in Central City on Monday afternoon. Police said that the shooting occurred shortly after 1 p.m. on the corner of LaSalle Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The shooting occured near where the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade had passed some 30 minutes earlier. The shooting did not appear to be related to the parade, authorities said.

New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas said that the shots were fired out of a white, two-door sedan that drove by a grocery store located near the intersection of both streets. Rapid shots were fired at a group of teenagers who were standing outside.

Five people were shot, Serpas said. All of the victims were male, Serpas said, and they were taken to an area hospital to be treated for their injuries, none of which appeared to be life-threatening.

The car was seen fleeing down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard toward the river and disappeared into the surrounding neighborhood, Serpas said, adding that video surveillance would soon be made available to the public.

Authorities said the shooting did not appear to be related to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade, which passed by about 30 minutes prior as residents participated in the 27th annual march to King's statue on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.?

"It's the state of affairs in our nation that young men do not heed the words of Martin Luther King Jr.," Serpas said.?

Check back in with NOLA.com for more on this breaking story.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/01/nopd_4_people_shot_in_central.html

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Avantree Saturn Bluetooth music adapter review

I’ve noticed that many of the new audio gadgets are now Bluetooth-capable, but what can you do about those that aren’t or are legacy products?? Avantree provides a solution with their Saturn Bluetooth receiver and transmitter, a small portable device that can turn your wired audio device into a wireless device. Specifications: * Bluetooth profiles [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/01/21/avantree-saturn-bluetooth-music-adapter-review/

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Bellator?s ratings on Spike were a mixed bag

The ratings news for Bellator's heavily hyped debut on Spike TV Thursday was decidedly mixed. The average viewership of 938,000 made it the most-watched show in the promotion's four-year history, though it lost nearly half of its audience that was delivered by TNA Impact Wrestling.

Bellator's move to Spike was precipitated by the end of the UFC's seven-year relationship with Spike in 2011. The UFC broadcast the first season of "The Ultimate Fighter" on Spike in 2005 as a time buy, then stayed on the network for six more seasons.

When the UFC signed an exclusive seven-year deal with Fox in 2011 that put its live events and programming on Fox, FX and Fuel, Spike was without mixed martial arts content. But Spike parent Viacom owns a controlling interest in Bellator and not long after the UFC's departure, Spike and Bellator announced a broadcast relationship.

Spike had a non-compete clause with the UFC and could not air other promotions' MMA content in 2012, so it continued to air replays of UFC content through the year. But in January, Spike was free to air Bellator programming and quickly began, airing Bellator 360 on Jan. 3 and Jan. 10.

Both Spike and Bellator officials banked heavily on the fact that Spike's nearly 100 million television homes would dramatically improve Bellator's ratings. That, in fact, occurred.

The title doubleheader in Irvine, Calif., on Thursday that featured lightweight Michael Chandler defeating Rick Hawn and featherweight Pat Curran besting Patricio "Pitbull" Freire was nearly triple the greatest viewership in its history. Bellator drew 325,000 viewers to MTV2 for Bellator 44 on May 14, 2011. MTV2 is in about 81 million homes.

By that standard, Bellator MMA Live Thursday on Spike was a grand slam home run.

However, it failed significantly in several other categories. It had a strong lead-in from TNA Impact Wrestling, which averaged 1.82 million viewers, and failed to keep it. Bellator MMA Live shed 49 percent of the audience the wrestling show delivered. The number of males 18-34, which is MMA's primary demographic, was roughly the same for wrestling and Bellator. TNA Impact Wrestling drew 141,000 18-to-34-year-old males, while Bellator increased that slightly to 149,000.

The biggest concern for Spike and Bellator officials has to be its performance among 18-to-34 year-old males. Season 13 was the worst-perform year of The Ultimate Fighter, yet it still averaged 578,000 among men 18-34. That was 388 percent better than Bellator's performance Thursday among the same demographic.

The worst the UFC ever did on Spike among males 18-34 was at Ultimate Fight Night 22, when he it attracted 445,000 viewers in the demographic.

Bellator MMA Live also declined Thursday in six of its quarter hour segments, suggesting viewers turned away. A big reason likely is the time slot, given that it began airing live at 10 p.m. on the East Coast. Normally for fight cards on television, the final quarter hour segment or the final two quarter hour segments draw the highest viewership, because that is when the main event is airing. But in Bellator's case, the final two quarter hour segments were its lowest.

In the first 15-minute segment, Bellator hit its peak of 1.219 million viewers. That was still a 33 percent decline from the number Spike had watching wrestling. The show ran 12 minutes long, meaning there were nine quarter hour segments, and Bellator saw a drop from the previous quarter hour in six of them.

It averaged 1.219 million at the open, from 10 p.m. to 10:15 p.m., according to Nielsen numbers. That went to 1.025 million from 10:15 p.m. to 10:30, then ticked up slightly to 1.033 from 10:30 to 10:45. But it had a sharp decline from 10:45 to 11, dropping to 871 thousand viewers.

It also performed poorly against all 14 seasons of The Ultimate Fighter on Spike. The UFC's reality show had a high average viewership of 2.957 million viewers in Season 10, which featured Kimbo Slice. Its lowest-rated season was Season 13, which averaged just 1.38 million viewers.

It also didn't do as well as any of the 26 separate Ultimate Fight Night cards the UFC aired on Spike. The Fight Night cards were numbered Fight Night 1 through 25, with a special card called Ortiz-Shamrock as the 26th.

Those ratings ranged from an average of 4.169 for the third Tito Ortiz-Ken Shamrock fight to 1.151 million for Ultimate Fight Night 22 on Sept. 15, 2010.

It certainly wasn't a home run for Bellator and Spike, though it was not a disaster. The ratings were OK and need to go up to maintain advertiser interest. Significantly, Bellator is going to have to find a way to attract those 18-to-34 year-old males that advertisers covet for it become a long-term success.

The numbers it was attracting on MTV2 were genuinely disastrous, though the cards were aired in standard definition, not high definition. The first Bellator show on Spike was more like a single than a home run in terms of ratings performance, but there is at least room to grow.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/bellator-ratings-spike-were-mixed-bag-203745464--mma.html

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