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A wake-up call in Florida (Powerlineblog)

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Everyday Activities That Make Your Allergies Worse | Health X Pert ...

Most of us are psyched for warmer weather, but allergy sufferers are cursing runny noses, congestion, red eyes, and itchy throats. You may not realize it, but here are the everyday things that can aggravate your symptoms. Exercising outside is a no-brainer when temps start going up, but not so for those allergic to pollen. If you can?t bear to skip outdoor workouts, try to exercise early in the morning when pollen counts are lowest. If you decide to exercise outside, be sure to wash your clothes to get rid of pollen and take a shower to rinse allergens out of your hair. If your allergies are really bad, invest in a gym membership or equipment for your home gym ? exercising in the AC will make you breathe much easier. Opening the window to get some fresh air? Don?t you dare. Pollen and other allergens blow in where they come in contact with your eyes and nose. Keep the windows in your home, office, and car closed, and definitely don?t use a window fan. If you?re hot, turn up the air-conditioning. Keep reading to find out other common things you?re doing that can worsen allergies.

See the original post:
Everyday Activities That Make Your Allergies Worse

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Alabama tornadoes: Study shows victims tried to hide

STR / Reuters

An aerial view shows extensive damage to homes and businesses in the path of tornadoes in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on April 28.

By Mike Stobbe, The Associated Press

ATLANTA -- Most of the victims of last year's epic tornado outbreak in Alabama had at least one thing in common: They knew the storm was coming.

A year after the onslaught of dozens of twisters killed at least 250 people in Alabama and more elsewhere in the South, federal researchers are completing a study of who died and where they were when it happened. Among the conclusions so far: Nearly half of the people who died had been advised to take shelter. Indeed, most of them did.

But many of the tornadoes were so fierce that few structures were able to withstand them.


These were catastrophic winds that could destroy pretty much anything in its path," Cindy Chiu, an epidemic intelligence service officer, said in reporting preliminary findings this month at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conference in Atlanta.

Unlike in other tornado outbreaks, the largest group of people who died were in single-family houses ? not mobile homes ? the CDC analysis found.

The April 27, 2011, outbreak involved 62 tornadoes that stretched along ground-hugging tracks that covered more than 1,000 miles. Fatalities were reported from central Alabama to far north Alabama.

While many who heard the warnings sought shelter, others took their chances and lost.

The American Red Cross shares disaster data with the CDC, including what was gathered in extensive interviews with families of the deceased.

Relatives of an 80-year-old woman from Lawrence County "notified her of impending storm ? asked her to go to storm shelter next door. She refused, said if her time to go, she would."

The wife of a 35-year-old man from Franklin County heard the warning on TV, according to another vignette provided by Chiu. "She and sons went to basement of neighbors. He stayed in the home," the vignette states. "Tornado struck (at) 330pm and he was found 30 mins later near a tree. He was badly injured and died in the hospital."

Dateline NBC's Josh Mankiewicz reports from Alabama, where local residents recount the surreal experience of surviving recent tornadoes. Despite losing their homes, Pleasant Grove survivors who still have their family "feel fortunate."

The CDC has been examining reports of 255 deaths, including a few for which no Alabama death certificate has been found yet. It's possible a few people were injured in Alabama but died in hospitals in nearby states, Chiu said.

For 120 of those 255, the CDC determined whether the victims knew of the coming tornadoes ahead of time. And 105 were warned.

Watch the most-viewed videos on msnbc.com

Of those, 70 took some kind of protective action, like covering themselves or going to what they thought was a safer location or room ? including 45 who sought proper shelter, like a basement or interior room on the lowest floor possible. Nineteen were in bathrooms, 10 in basements, 10 in bedrooms and 10 in hallways and smaller numbers in other rooms.

Devastated residents in Alabama hope help comes quickly as the entire region reels from the worst outbreak of tornadoes in nearly 40 years. The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore reports.

The average age of those who died was 50, and a third of the deaths were people 65 and older, the CDC found.

Being elderly is considered one of the greatest risk factors for death and injury in a tornado. Older people may be less mobile and have more difficulty getting to shelter. They may be frail, and more likely to die from an injury that might not kill a healthier and younger person.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir Trailer






Nicktheface2 never fails, great stuff.

Gave me goosebumps lol.


__________________
Attended: UFC 111: St-Pierre/Hardy, UFC 128: Shogun/Jones, UFC 133: Evans/Ortiz, Strikeforce: Fedor/Silva (floor seats)

Attending: UFC on FOX: Diaz/Miller, UFC on FX: Guida/Maynard (maybe)

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GOP follows Romney's lead in parrying Democrats

WASHINGTON -- As Mitt Romney has emerged as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, Republicans in Congress are increasingly taking their cues from him - even if it causes heartburn and grumbling among conservatives unhappy about having to beat a tactical retreat.

That dynamic was on full display last week as House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, moved to defuse a student loan grenade President Barack Obama threw at them. And Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky sidestepped attempts by Democrats to tag Republicans as soft on violence against women.

It's a defensive game for Republicans, who are determined to avoid the kinds of stumbles they endured last year when they lost the political battle over renewing Obama's payroll tax cut.

"Some folks in an election year would say you need to take tough issues off the table," said Rep. Rob Woodall, R-Ga. "Other folks in an election year say you need to bring your best solutions to the toughest issues, and I'm in that latter camp."

Student loan interest rates was a back-burner issue until the White House lit it up barely a week ago and put it at the top of its agenda with a two-day Obama campaign swing to three university campuses in North Carolina, Iowa and Colorado, all early tossup states in the November election.

Interest rates are scheduled to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent on July 1 due to a quirk in a law Democrats muscled through Congress five years ago.

Romney on Monday endorsed the $6 billion move to forestall the interest rate increase, even before Obama set foot on the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill. Boehner quickly slated a vote - tapping unspent money from Obama's unpopular health care law to pay for it - and by Friday, the issue was mostly deflated.

The vote, however, put Republicans crosswise with the Club For Growth, which urged lawmakers to oppose the legislation. The group sometimes uses its fundraising muscle to back primary challengers to GOP incumbents.

In a remarkable performance on Thursday, Boehner accused Obama of manufacturing the issue.

"The president keeps attempting to invent these fake fights because he doesn't have a record of success or a positive agenda for our country," the speaker said. "It is as simple as this: The emperor has no clothes."

In fact, Republicans had invited the battle by failing to address the issue before Obama raised it. Their budget blueprint last month assumed the interest rate subsidy would expire. And while the GOP chairman of the House Education Committee was working on a longer-term plan, Boehner stepped in forcefully to take the issue off the campaign table.

"I think they're doing a good job of seeing when pitches are coming at their head," said GOP strategist John Feehery of Quinn Gillespie & Associates.

However, Feehery added, "You can't just be on defense all the time. You've got to be on offense, too. The Republicans are better off when they're trying to pin Obama down on things as opposed to when they're trying to avoid haymakers from Obama."

Opportunities to go on offense are limited since Republicans control only the House.

Holding both the White House and a Senate majority, Democrats have more opportunity to set the political agenda. The Violence Against Women Act had been renewed twice without opposition in the Senate, but Democrats this year opted to make it a broader battle for women's votes.

With a handful of GOP co-sponsors, they added new language making gay people and battered illegal immigrants eligible for the menu of programs funded by the anti-violence law, sparking opposition from many GOP conservatives.

"They specifically put things in there in an attempt to get us to vote 'no,'" said McConnell spokesman Don Stewart.

Even as Democrats threatened to force an up-or-down vote on their preferred version - a step that could have put numerous Republicans on the wrong side of the issue - McConnell promised a speedy debate and won a key demand to have votes on two GOP alternatives, defusing the battle, at least for now.

So what's next?

Obama and Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York have more up their sleeve, including a pay equity bill opposed by Republican allies like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Later, there could be potential Senate votes on extending expiring middle-class tax cuts. And if the Supreme Court strikes down Obama's health care law, Democrats would be poised to force votes on popular elements of the measure, including allowing children up to 26 years old to remain on their parents' health insurance.

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Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon Renew Wedding Vows in Paris


Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon took a vacation this week to the most romantic city on the planet, and the famous couple made the most of it:

They renewed their vows in Paris!

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon in Paris

With the Eiffel Tower in the background and with Cannon donning a white tuxedo and Mariah in a similar-colored gown, Cannon got down on one knee once again and professed his love for his lovely wife.

It's not the first time the pair has renewed its vows, either.

With Rev. Al Sharpton officiating, Carey and Cannon did so last year in the hospital where twins Moroccan and Monroe were born. Speaking of those adorable tykes:

They turn one on Monday!

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6 Ways to Boost Your Rankings Using Google Authorship - Search ...

Google authorship is big on the agenda for a lot of SEOs at the moment, and rightly so considering how heavily Google is looking to push this into search results.

Creating a personal brand is incredibly valuable toward building and strengthening great relationships. After all, you?re always going to have more trust in recommendations from your own circle of friends.

nielsen-degree-of-trust-advertising

This study from Nielsen strongly backs this up, with 90 percent of people trusting recommendations from people they know. In comparison, only 41 percent trust search engine results!

That stat alone shows the importance of why Google had to become more social. If searchers are given more buying trust in their results, then advertisers are going to get a better return on investment. And Google authorship appears to be a key part of their solution toward achieving this, essentially merging personalized search with your social circle.

So what can you do to capitalize on this?

1. Build a Personal Brand Online

Google have realized just how important social media is as an indicator toward assessing the quality of a website. And because in many ways social media is more about personal branding, (as opposed to company branding) authorship starts to make a lot more sense.

Google doesn't want to just measure the influence of a brand profile on Twitter/Facebook/Google+ ? it wants to know about its employees, its writers, and online fans/followers.?Treat your own reputation management seriously and look to build a strong profile on key social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, etc.

If you?re not an active blogger, you really should start now. It?s never too late! Blogging is a great way to build a personal brand ? plus it opens doors to further opportunities such as writing on higher profile sites, conference/event speaking or media interviews, meaning that you can leverage your online profile even further.

2. Setup Google Authorship For All the Websites You Write On

By connecting your Google+ profile with all of the websites you publish content on, it means that your profile is going to be displayed whenever an article/blog post that you?ve written appears in Google?s search results.

On its own this should naturally increase your following ? because people will also click through to your Google+ profile as well. So that?s already helping to build your profile and make you more influential.

Plus it?s going to get you extra traffic by positively influencing rankings within your social circle. Which is also another key reason Google promotes this: it pushes large volumes of traffic through to Google+ and gives users a reason to re-visit.

3. Use Google+ Daily

Even if you have to force yourself to do it ? try spending a small amount of time each day commenting and sharing your connections content, not just your own, to strengthen those connections.

By making a small effort each day, you'll gradually start to build up a stronger profile.

4. Use Tools & Interact With Influencers in Your Niche

Firstly identify the key influencers in your industry. Tools like FollowerWonk, Topsy and FindPeopleOnPlus are great for this.

Then get their attention ? definitely don?t overdo it by stalking them and replying to everything they say. But make the effort to interact with them occasionally and share their content and hopefully this will go both ways.

In Twitter you can build private lists of people you want to interact with more frequently. Why not do the same with a Google+ circle too?

If you can start getting retweets from people with 10,000+ followers it?s likely to help build your social reach. And again, the same rules apply with shares on Google+.

Another great tool is Google Ripples (see this guide on SEOmoz to show how to use it). Basically, it means you can see who the influential people are when sharing a post and how far it has reached. See this screenshot for the recent announcement of Google Drive:

google-ripples-google-drive

5. Hire Great Writers With Strong Social Profiles

This is one of the most important lessons to learn. Finding the right people is critical.?Making mistakes in new hires can set you back massively.?

Take the time to find someone who is great, as opposed to someone who ?can do the job.? It's much more rewarding in terms of the results you can achieve.

This fits in incredibly well with Google authorship ? personally this is something I looked for in a writer beforehand anyway. But now there is even more incentive to find a writer who has a great social profile and can reach out to their own audience and network.

In many ways, authorship is almost a Panda-style algorithm update, meaning that Google will reward quality over quantity. Look for top writers within your industry to hire ? forget about the $10-a-go copywriting services and find an actual individual who can help promote yourself my using sites such as the Problogger Job Board or AuthorPress and most importantly reach out to your own blog and social network.

If Google is going to measure the influence of a writer?s social profile when ranking content, you should do the same when looking to hire them too!

6. Meet Bloggers and Writers in Person

Meet people in real life. Go to industry events, find blogger meet-ups ? figure out where these guys hangout and get to know them. But do it offline ? it?s far more personal!

Recently I analyzed the people I had most frequently interacted with on Twitter using WhoReTweetsMe.com?because I wanted to see how many of these people I?d actually met in person. Even I was surprised by the results, I?d met 88 out of the top 100!

Having a personal brand is a great first step ? but really getting out there and meeting people is the way to take it to the next level.

What Impact Will Authorship Have to Rankings?

At the moment it?s unclear how much of a direct impact authorship has, or will have, to influencing rankings. However, even if it?s not a ranking factor just yet, Google authorship and Google+ already influences personalized search results ? which in itself can boost the rankings for connections within your social circle. This opens up huge opportunities for individuals, because it means Google is likely to reward you personally for being an authority online.

Google are also fully aware that a website?s reputation is no longer just based on links. People will much more commonly tweet a link now than they would blog about it, so to ignore social from their algorithm long-term would make no sense to them if they want to continue providing the most relevant set of search results possible. Which of course they do!

It seems pretty clear that this is the way Google intends on heading. There's no reason not to set up Google authorship. So get in there sooner rather than later.

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