BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer service that many associate primarily with piracy, has unveiled Sync, a file backup and syncing service that has some similarities to Dropbox and other cloud storage apps. But it has an eye towards power users and privacy.
Cloud storage services take files you want backed up and store them securely on a server somewhere, from which they can be accessed with your other devices or copied automatically. There are a number of free ones, like Dropbox, SugarSync, and SkyDrive.
BitTorrent Sync is a little different. Instead of sending your file to a distant server, it simply makes it available via the BitTorrent network to any devices or computers you've authorized.
Got a big home movie file, too big for your 2-gigabyte cloud storage? Put it in Sync and it's sent via BitTorrent to any devices you've set up to stay synchronized, like the computer at your parents' house, or your smartphone.
Other services offer similar capabilities, but Sync will be totally free and totally independent of companies and other servers ? no middle men means better privacy and no bandwidth or cost worries.
BitTorrent may be associated with piracy, but it's still just a protocol for sending things over the Internet, so you shouldn't have to worry about whether all that BitTorrent traffic will raise an eyebrow at your ISP.
Sync isn't available for use yet, but is being tested for release. You can try to become a tester for early access by signing up here, but it should get a real release in the next couple months.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBCNews Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.
Tahir-ul Qadri, with white cap, greets Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, head of coaltion party Pakistan Muslim League Quaid on Thursday after successfully negotiating an end to the four-day Islamabad protest he ignited.
By Amna NawazPakistan Bureau Chief, NBC News
Seemingly overnight, the moderate Islamic cleric and Canadian ?migr? Tahir-ul Qadri, whose massive protest forced Pakistan?s government to agree to major concessions on Thursday, has risen from obscurity to become a force to be reckoned with in Pakistani politics.
Until this week, local TV anchors and headlines did not scream his name, as they do now. His face was not plastered on rickshaws and lampposts, nor on signs carried by the 50,000 people who followed him to a sit-in, camp-out, anti-government protest in the cold and rainy streets of Islamabad, where they remain, celebrating his negotiated agreement with government representatives.
But the 62-year-old Qadri landed squarely at the center of Pakistan's latest political crisis, which saw a population desperate for change and frustrated by leaders long-accused of corruption and ineptitude seize upon his message of free, fair elections and accountability at the highest levels.
Qadri, who only returned to his homeland in late 2012, had demanded the immediate dissolution of the current government and sweeping reforms to guarantee free and fair national elections, which are expected to be held this spring. He agreed to something less in Thursday's declaration, signed after hours-long, closed-door discussions with government representatives. The deal calls for the dissolution of the current government before March 16, with elections to take place within 90 days, and a pledge to enforce Pakistan's Constitution regarding the eligibility of political candidates.?
Despite denying having any political ambitions, Qadri made himself a part of the political process by stipulating in the declaration that meetings to discuss Pakistan's Election Commission make-up would be held at his office's headquarters and that his own political party -- the Pakistan Awami Tehreek -- would help select a caretaker prime minister.?
Lahore-based defense analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi said that Qadri fell short of his aims.
"His assessment was that as he raises populist demands, other groups and parties will fall in line and he will become the undisputed and popular leader of Pakistan. This did not happen," Rizvi said. "However, the federal government in Islamabad has become hostage, because he has brought huge number of his followers to Islamabad, making it impossible for the government to take any action against him."
Tahir-ul Qadri, a moderate Islamic cleric who led a protest in Islamabad that forced the government to make major concessions on Thursday, tells NBC News that his movement is aimed at implementing 'transparency' into Pakistan's government.
Still, for a country built on a feudal mentality, where political loyalties are handed down over generations like family heirlooms, Qadri?s accomplishments are no small feat.
So how did he do it? One former government official, who attended a Qadri rally this week, heard him address the crowd, and spoke to those in attendance, called that "the million dollar question."
"This chap .. he comes here and he holds a huge public meeting in Lahore, which is very well organized and very well-attended, and then this enormous march to Islamabad?" wondered the official, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity. "How did this happen? Who's supporting him? It's a mystery to me."?
Professor C. Christine Fair, who teaches at Georgetown University and studies Pakistan, calls Qadri's sudden emergence on the national stage "theater,? and suspects the country?s powerful military helped to engineer the cleric?s return and organize his massive protest.
"If this came out of civil society, he'd be universally lauded,? she said. ?The reason he's not is that a lot of people think he's got an invisible hand behind him. This isn't Pakistani civil society saying enough is enough. It's something else."
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For the last seven years, Qadri has by all accounts led a quiet life in Toronto, where he immigrated with his wife and children. But he'd made a name for himself in certain Pakistani circles much earlier.?
In the mid-1980s, early in the presidential tenure of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, the young Qadri was already a known quantity in the corridors of power.
According to a former government official, Qadri was one of a handful of Islamic scholars called in to present his views on how a proper Islamic state should function to Zia -- who came to power in 1977 in a military coup and launched the Islamization of Pakistan -- and his cabinet. Whether or not his input was used is unclear, but he left an impression -- that of a confident, moderate, articulate young scholar who was incredibly knowledgeable on Islam.?
His early political career in Pakistan, however, was brief and largely forgettable. He founded the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) political party in 1989, listing education as its top priority and promising to revive "the faith of the masses in politics, elections and the government." Qadri briefly held office as a member of parliament during the military dictatorship of Gen. Pervez Musharraf, from 2002 until he resigned in protest in 2004. One local report at the time quoted him as saying that Musharraf had reduced parliament's power to "a rubber stamp."?
"I don't feel that I should sit in such a powerless parliament which can be suspended with a single stroke of a general's pen," he told Pakistan's Daily Times at the time.?
But after leaving the political arena, Qadri succeeded in developing an international network and loyal following in religious and social circles. In 1981, he established an organization called Minaj-ul-Quran International (MQI), founded to promote "true Islamic teachings and philosophy" for those "dissatisfied with the existing religious institutions and organizations and their narrow-minded approach," according to the group's website.?
The MQI manifesto espouses, "Love, peace, harmony, universal brotherhood, justice, equity and prosperity," and boasts a registered membership of 280,000 worldwide. The organization claims to be operating in more than 90 countries, including operating 69 educational and cultural centers in Pakistan, and 600 schools educating 170,000 students across the country. A social welfare and disaster relief sister organization was added in 1989, which the website says has delivered aid to victims of "the Tsunami affecting Indonesia; the Bam earthquake, Iran; the South Asian earthquake in Pakistan, as well as various developments and educational projects in Pakistan and other underprivileged countries."
Pakistan's envoy to US faces potentially deadly blasphemy charge
After founding MQI, Qadri appears to have spent years trying to be heard and cultivating his public image. He wrote books (1,000 of them, according to his website, of which 43 have been published), delivered lectures (5,000 total, 1,500 of which are available for purchase on CD or DVD at MQI sale centers "around the world"). His message and achievements are cross-published and highlighted on multiple websites, including those of his Islamic organization, his political party and his personal site.?
But it wasn't until March 2010 that he strode onto the international stage. Qadri wrote and published a 500-page ?fatwa,? or Islamic decree, "to place the Islamic stance on terrorism precisely in its proper perspective before the Western and Islamic worlds." The document, which is available for download in four different languages, lays out Quranic laws prohibiting terrorism and the killing of others in the name of Islam. At the time, nine years into the West's "War on Terror," his unequivocal language condemning terrorist acts set him apart from most Muslim scholars, and the world took note. His fatwa won praise from the U.S. State Department, drew international news coverage and made Qadri a sought-after speaker on the international circuit.?
In November 2010, he came to Washington, D.C., and delivered a lecture at Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. He spoke at the United States Institute of Peace that same month about the struggle against radicalism in Islam. He traveled to England and Australia to discuss terrorism and integration. But back in Pakistan -- where gas prices ballooned, power shortages proliferated and terrorism intensified -- Qadri remained a non-player.?
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But while he enjoyed success in his adopted country, Qadri's home country was in precipitous decline.?
The International Monetary Fund last year issued a dismal report on Pakistan's deteriorating economy, citing "deep seated and structural problems and weak macroeconomic policies" that have led to low GDP growth and a drain of foreign exchange reserves. Terrorist attacks have killed tens of thousands of Pakistanis and left the country teetering on the precipice of security chaos. A 2012 Gallup survey revealed President Asif Ali Zardari's performance ratings had plummeted and that 87 percent of Pakistanis believed the country was headed in the wrong direction. Power struggles between the military, judiciary and ruling government persisted, preventing legislators hell bent on maintaining their posts from turning their full attention to the nation's needs.?
Many thought the answer to the country's ills lay with former cricketer-turned-presidential-candidate Imran Khan. His self-proclaimed "tsunami" of supporters, inspired by his reputation as an outsider determined to change the system, set attendance records at his rallies, and gave Pakistan's notoriously rough-and-tumble journalists someone to cast as the political dark horse. But the candidate of change lost some of his shine in the Fall of 2012, when he began cherry-picking senior members of the same political parties he was criticizing for his leadership team. One senior adviser, Shireen Mazari, resigned from his party in protest in September. In her resignation letter, she accused Khan of trading his original ideals for ?traditional ?electables.??
For a country seeking salvation, Qadri, free from the confines of political process, checks the boxes that others in the current cast of characters in Pakistani politics cannot.?
Asif Hassan / AFP - Getty Images
Supporters of Pakistani Muslim cleric Tahir-ul Qadri flash victory signs in Islamabad Thursday as they celebrate government concessions on upcoming elections.
"Who are the other people to be supported?" asked one former government official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. "They are maybe not as incompetent and corrupt (as the current government leaders), but they are very good runners-up."
Qadri's message, on the other hand, has been simple and consistent.?
He has demanded free, fair and transparent elections in a country where political patronage is often bought. He's demanded that political candidates meet the constitutional requirements for candidacy, such as paying their taxes. A recent investigation by Pakistani journalist Umar Cheema found that fewer than one-third of Pakistan's members of parliament file annual tax returns, including president Zardari.?
Rizvi says Qadri's support is borne of "widespread alienation" in Pakistan, and is in reaction to the poor performance by the federal and provincial governments.?
PhotoBlog: Declaring victory from behind bulletproof glass
But professor Fair believes Qadri's quick rise has all the hallmarks of Pakistan's powerful military, which has historically?worked to influence policy and force political turnover -- both behind the scenes and through direct intervention. Though the military leadership has publicly taken a backseat during power struggles playing out before national elections, she believes it is privately pulling strings to prevent the same government officials from winning a majority, and to keep its hand in the game.
"They know that Pakistanis will not tolerate a direct military intervention. And this is (going to be) the second peaceful transition where parliament serves out its full term in Pakistan," Fair said of the military leaders. "Every time it happens, it makes it more difficult for the army to intervene. I don't think the intention is to overthrow the government -- it's to weaken the PPP (ruling party) before elections."
In an interview this week with NBC News, Qadri lambasted the current government as a "total failure," but insisted his goal was to reform, not topple it.
"We want to eradicate our political process and electoral process from might, money and manipulation," he said. "We want true democracy in place.?
He vehemently denied any support from Pakistan's military, or from external forces, as has been speculated in the local press, calling it "a false accusation," and "disinformation."
Now that he has the ear of the country and its leaders, it's unclear what Qadri will do next.?
Under the agreement signed Thursday, he has a role to play in the lead-up to elections. And while he insists he holds no political ambitions, that doesn't stop him from comparing himself to the elected-leader of the United States when asked what he stands for.
"I would say my slogan is like the slogan of Obama in America," he said. "He stood for change. If Americans accepted the slogan of change and voted for him, why not the same change? Democratically formed, the change in the corrupt system, why not the same change, democratically, peacefully should come in Pakistan???
NBC's Wajahat S. Khan and Fakhar Rehman in Islamabad, and Mushtaq Yousafzai in Peshawar, contributed to this report.
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New developments in the Clyde Cancer Cluster that's killing children in Sandusky County.
Two years ago, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson promised to meet with the families of seven dead kids who are part of the Clyde Cancer Cluster.
Now,?it appears she never had any intention of keeping that promise and is resigning. [Read the entire letter HERE]
Parents sent Jackson a letter last month asking her to keep her promise and meet with them.
Reporter Scott Taylor?tracked down Jackson in June of 2011 in North Olmsted. He discovered she had never heard of the cluster in Sandusky County even though it was identified as an official cluster in 2006.
Seven?dead kids and more than 30 sick with cancer, but the head of the Federal EPA wasn't aware of it.
Taylor?asked her to come to Clyde and meet with parents.?She tried to dodge the question, so he asked again.
"Would you be willing to meet with the parents of these kids?" Taylor asked.
"We certainly will have a representative from the EPA meet with these parents.?Absolutely," Jackson replied.
"But would you meet with them?" Taylor pressed.
"Yes, but I think it would be great if they met with one of our employees," Jackson said.
"They have tried. They have gone to D.C.?two or three times," Taylor said.?
"OK, then I am happy to meet with them," Jackson said.
Jackson -?who just resigned - does not mention in the letter about meeting with any parents.?In fact,?she had somebody else write it.?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gun rights groups on Sunday forecast that bids to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips would fail in Congress, as Vice President Joe Biden prepares this week to give President Barack Obama proposals to curb gun violence.
Even some congressional Democrats indicated that a bill to revive the U.S. assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 would have a difficult time winning passage in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Democratic-led Senate.
"An assault weapons stand-alone ban - on just guns alone ... in the political reality that we have today, will not go anywhere," Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, himself a gun owner, told the CNN program "State of the Union."
National Rifle Association President David Keene signaled little appetite for compromise as the White House mulls action on gun violence after the December 14 massacre of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school.
"What we put the brakes on is anything that simply takes away a person's Second Amendment right for no good reason," Keene told the CNN show, referring to the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of the right to bear arms.
"The likelihood is that they are not going to be able to get an assault weapons ban through this Congress," Keene said. Asked about new limits on high-capacity ammunition clips, he added: "I don't think ultimately they are going to get that either."
Biden, who heads a task force on gun violence due to give Obama recommendations as early as Tuesday, has said he will recommend universal background checks for gun buyers and new limits on the capacity of magazines like those used by the Connecticut gunman.
The White House also has said it will try to revive the U.S. ban on assault weapons that expired in 2004 after being in effect for a decade. Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein of California and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut are expected to introduce legislation on reviving the assault-weapons ban.
MISS AMERICA
The gun control debate has been heating up since the Connecticut massacre. The issue even came up during the Miss America pageant on Saturday night in Las Vegas. Miss New York, Mallory Hytes Hagan, the eventual winner, was asked during the competition whether armed guards should be put in schools.
"I don't think the proper way to fight violence is with violence," Hagan said, indicating that she opposes the idea championed by the NRA after the Newtown massacre.
The NRA has a long history of influence in Washington. It spends heavily on political races and says it has 4 million members. The group criticized the White House effort after meeting with Biden on Thursday.
Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Larry Pratt, executive director of another gun rights group, Gun Owners of America, said: "We don't think that there is much likelihood that the Congress is going to move on making gun-control laws worse than they are."
Pratt also touted a House Republican lawmaker's proposal to get rid of "gun-free zones" around schools, and asked: "Are we really better off when we say, 'No defense is a good defense?'"
Representative Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, was cautious about the chances for a revival of the assault weapons ban. He told CNN: "I think that we have a possibility. But I think it's going to be very difficult. I think the things that we do agree on, it seems, (are) the universal background checks and the (limits on) high-capacity magazines."
Biden on Friday wrapped up a series of White House meetings with people on various sides of the issue, including the NRA and gun owners' groups, the movie and video-game industries and law enforcement.
The background check requirement would extend to all gun purchasers. This would close the "gun-show loophole," in which vendors at open-air gun sales events can sell without a background check on the purchaser. It would also extend to private sales such as those conducted over the Internet.
Here's the sort of thing Kickstarter is all about: those ideas that are so head-bangingly simple you get genuinely angry you didn't come up with them yourself. Someone from Mobi-Lens popped by the Engadget stage this week to show off the company's new crowdfunded creations, lenses for smartphone and tablet camera that clip onto the side of the device.
The company brought by the macro and fisheye versions, which we got to play around with a bit. After a bit of adjusting on our handset, we were more than happy to take them for a ride, shooting some shots of Tim's Ken Block interview. We didn't get the greatest shots in the world for the few minutes we played around with it, but what the company has managed to get over on its site give you a decent idea of what's possible. The macro took some interesting shots as well, but you've really got to get in extremely close to get it to work as intended.
The lenses aren't cheap, at $40 bucks a pop, or $65 for two, but they're definitely cool additions for those looking to mix up their own smartphone photography a touch.
Arthur expresses uncertainty over Shane Watson?s Test position ? Cricket News Update
Australia?s Head Coach and selector, Mickey Arthur, has expressed uncertainty over Shane Watson?s Test future after the all-rounder voiced his desire to reinvent himself as purely a top-order batsman.
Watson made the decision to give up on his bowling following a recurrence of the calf injury which had kept him out from the start of the current home summer. Having missed the opening two bouts against South Africa, the 31-year-old returned for the final
match of the series before taking part in the first two Tests against Sri Lanka.
However, his inability to prove his mettle with the ball eventually persuaded him to reconsider his stance as an all-rounder, and indicate that bowling won?t be a part of his repertoire, at least in the immediate future, as he seeks consistency as a batsman.
Watson has had limited impact in the Test arena this summer, scoring just 153 runs in three matches at 30.60. His bowling contributions have also been minimal, where he has grabbed just 3 scalps at 52.66.
The selection panel had openly revealed their intentions to see Watson in an all-round capacity, but given the amount of cricket he has missed, largely due to bowling injuries, Arthur hinted at the possibility of considering the player as an out and out
batsman.
However, for that, Arthur suggested that the player will need to play Sheffield Shield fixtures rather than take part in the team?s limited-overs endeavours against West Indies, before the management decides whether to include him for the upcoming tour of
India, slated for next month.
"I don't think Watto would mind me saying this, right at the moment Watto wants to come back as a batsman," Arthur said. "He feels every time he bats and then he gets injured bowling, he just loses a bit of momentum with his batting, which is probably fair
to say. He wants to come back and bat, definitely. Once he feels his body is going well and that he feels he's cemented his batting position, we will then take another look at how we want to go with Shane in terms of bowling.
"He still wants to bowl, but his primary focus right now is to make the team as an out-and-out batsman."
If you drive an automobile, you have to carry insurance. Not all companies have the same options, they are very different. If you do your research, you will find that the costs of premiums greatly vary from company to company.
Contact a representative of your vehicle insurance provider to request a complete list of available discounts. Find out about all discounts to ensure that you are saving money.
TIP! When selecting your insurance policy, be sure to get quotes from several different agencies. Rates can vary drastically in the car insurance world.
Take a look at your vehicle?s insurance policy to make sure it is accurate and up-to-date. If you?re accurate, you can avoid claim denials, which can save money. Check all of your information, like your home address. Vehicle make, model and year? The amount of miles you place on your vehicle every year has an affect on your premium charges. Therefore, if your commute to work is short, make sure this is noted in your policy.
It can be beneficial to write down all the safety features your vehicle is equipped with. Certain features earn significant rate discounts, such as having a car alarm or extra air bags. These reduce potential damages and corresponding insurance claims. Whether your car is old or new specifically list each safety feature. You may be surprised how much it can save you.
Some coverage items are not worth the extra cash though. Make a list of the current items you are paying for with car insurance. Compare that list to your actual needs. You may find coverage you can drop. Simply by removing this coverage from your policy, you will notice a substantial decrease in your monthly payments. You may consider dropping comprehensive also, but since liability is on the driver you should not drop that.
TIP! Senior citizens are responsible for a high percentage of accidents which occur during daylight hours. This is something to be aware of because it can have an impact on auto insurance rates and may even prevent you from getting any insurance at all.
When considering the purchase of aftermarket additions for your car, be sure to check how much your insurance company will cover if your car is stolen or damaged. It has been found that most insurance companies do not pay for these parts, and they mostly just calculate the total amount the car is worth, without taking extra into consideration.
As soon as you sell, or otherwise no longer possess, a car, you will need to cancel insurance coverage for that vehicle. Having any unnecessary cars on your policy can add up quickly to wasted premium being paid.
There is a myth that insurance premiums instantly go down when people turn 25. If you have a good driver record, your premiums will go down as you age, even if you are still under 25.
TIP! When it comes to changing car insurance policies, always be sure that your driving record is clean before doing so. Insurance companies will check your driving history, so you want to make sure any outstanding fines are paid up.
If you want to save money on an insurance policy, you should consider moving out of state or to another city. Insurance premiums are cheaper in some cities and states than others. Thus, you might find a cheaper rate if you move somewhere else.
Completing a safe or defensive driver program can be a very smart investment and can save you a significant amount of money on your premium. Almost every car insurance company offers a reduction in premiums for such courses, and you will improve your driving skills as well. You can take these courses at certain driving schools. These courses can also be found on the Internet.
TIP! You have many options for insurance coverage beyond the legally required minimums. You are going to have to pay a higher deductible, but it might work out for you in the long run.
Practically every driver is paying a different auto insurance premium. While it is true that the type of car you drive and your coverage type influence this, these are not the only factors that influence the cost of a policy. Some people can get the same coverage, if not better, for less money. By learning more about auto insurance, you too will be able to save money without sacrificing good coverage.
Do you ever wonder why fitness centres are teeming with people in January but tend to have lower attendance as the months go by?
By all means, this may be an indication of individuals failing to sustain or live up to their New Year?s fitness resolution.
People who belong to this category routinely swear to exercise more, eat healthy food, take workout supplements, sleep more or a combination of these to start the new year. They begin the new year with an intense resolve to work on their fitness goals but eventually get sidetracked.
It?s no wonder most gyms nationwide make a killing during the first quarter of the year but see their sales targets drop drastically during the latter part. ?If not that, obesity figures may tend to skyrocket well after January if people continue to let their health and fitness go by the wayside.
Now, this is not to say you should sign up for a permanent gym membership. Whether it be at the gym or a home fitness centre, you can still become the fit and fab individual you were meant to become.
The trickier part is trying to sustain the momentum of a New Year?s fitness resolution.
A good suggestion here would be motivation by fear. This is simply when you are deathly afraid of something to the point it actually motivates you to do something about it on a consistent basis.
Take the example of cardiovascular disease. If you are afraid of getting afflicted with it, yet your belly fat is starting to accumulate at an alarming rate, what is the use of sitting in the office and at home all day and not doing anything about it?
Post a caricature of an overweight character in your cubicle, for instance. By routinely looking at this picture, your fitness instinct will automatically kick in especially if you are wary of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. It is guaranteed to get you moving and focus on the other fitness intangibles which includes healthy eating and getting sufficient rest.
If motivation by fear won?t do the trick for you, you can always stick to the traditional form. If you look up to someone with a killer body such as Arnold Schwarzenegger or LL Cool J, do something that will take your inspiration to a higher level.?Post a photo of that person so that it will be his or her image you?ll see when you wake up first thing in the morning?a sure-fire way to kickstart your day.
You can also use that photo as a wallpaper or screensaver for your office computer. This will help you get in the right frame of mind even before you begin pumping some serious iron.
Altnernatively, another great way to help you stick to your New Year?s fitness resolution is to chart or keep track of your progress. If you are a woman, have you been wanting to fit into a size 6 or 7 dress? ?Hang that dress in your room and visualise yourself fitting into it.
If you are a man, get yourself a size 31 or 32-inch pair of slacks and visualise a snug fit down the track.
Take appropriate action and stop at nothing until you reach this goal. Write down how many kilograms you lose each week. Jot down the next steps to be taken in order to maintain your fitness level once that goal is reached.
Write down new goals in order to be consistent. Once a certain fitness goal is reached, some people tend to become slack and get carried away.
These are just several ways on how to ratchet up the intensity for your fitness goals this 2013. You may have your own way of motivating yourself to achieve the goals you have drawn up. The key is to never be content with only a few weeks? or months? worth of success.
Make fitness a lifestyle, and your life will change radically for the better.
To view the entire article, please visit forbes.com
The world of financial services is built mostly around products and services. So it is often difficult for families tounderstand the concept of comprehensive wealth management.
Advisors who offer comprehensive wealth management are like financial concierges. Their only goal is to meet your needs. If you ask for fresh strawberries, they try to find them for you. And then they ask if you would like dipping chocolate or fresh cream to go with them.
The job of fiduciary wealth managers is todo what you would do if you had their time and expertise. First, they get to know you. Then they service your requests. And lastly they learn to anticipate your needs. The four practical areas involved are investment management, financial planning, wealth management and life planning.
Investment management lies at the core of wealth management. Two weeks ago I described some ways thatfee-only financial advisors might earn their fee on investment management alone. If they do, all of the other services they provide are at no additional expense to their clients.
If investment advisors earn their fee multiple times on investment management alone, you might think that?s where the most value lies. But I believe comprehensive wealth management offers the greater value. Although harder to quantify, it is what connects your investments to your life goals.
We do not charge hourly for these services. If we did, clients might not use them. Most of our clients are cautious supersavers. They struggle to spend money even when they should. Because their fee includes these services, they?re encouraged to call us anytime with their financial concerns.
Surrounding investment management is financial planning, which can range from college planning to retirement. Long-range financial planning turns on a host of assumptions, variables and random market noise. Much of financial planning is trying to ensure the money will be there when you need it. And in that process nothing is certain.
Even if you put all of your money into FDIC-insured investments, you can?t guarantee its purchasing power in retirement.Investing mostly in bonds or insured products may mean a lesser lifestyle later on.
Retirement planning consists of a wild scatter plot of potential projections. Navigating successfully through possible outcomes requiresregular adjustments. Without constant course corrections, financial planning is like walking blindfold across an open field. The chance of random success is small. And the calculations are not easily done on the back of a napkin.
During your accumulation phase, you must save enough to reach your retirement goals. For every decade you delay saving and investing, you cut your retirement lifestyle by more than half. A financial planner can help you calculate how much to save and help you actually do it.
Wealth management is based on the idea that very small changes can yield enormous gains in your family?s finances. And no gain is more valuable than the engine of saving and investing. A financial coach can help automate the process ofpaying yourself first?.
To view the rest of the article, please visit forbes.com
Paragon Wealth Management is a provider of managed portfolios for individuals and institutions.? Although the information included in this report has been obtained from sources Paragon believes to be reliable, we do not guarantee its accuracy.? All opinions and estimates included in this report constitute the judgment as of the dates indicated and are subject to change without notice.? This report is for informational purposes only and is not intended as an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase or sale of any security.? Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
Former HBO CEO and Vietnam Veteran, Bill Nelson, joins the Board of Directors for Hope For The Warriors, a national nonprofit organization that supports combat-wounded, their families, and families of the fallen
WASHINGTON, DC (PRWEB) January 07, 2013
Hope For The Warriors? is pleased to announce Bill Nelson, former Chairman/CEO of HBO?, as the newest member of their Board of Directors. Nelson has been a member of the Advisory Council since 2008 and a longtime supporter of Hope For The Warriors?.
Nelson retired from HBO? at the end of 2012 after more than 28 years with the company. He has been the chairman and CEO since 2007. He is also a Vietnam combat veteran and served with the U.S. Army?s 101st Airborne Division.
?It is an extreme privilege to join the Hope For The Warriors? Board of Directors,? Nelson said. ?Hope For The Warriors? is one of the most effective organizations in supporting our returning warriors in need.?
Nelson?s retirement encouraged donations from both HBO and its employees. Funds donated will support spouse/caregiver scholarships and the A Warrior?s Wish? program. Employees also had the option to donate to Hope For The Warriors? throughout 2012 as part of their employee giving program.
?For many years, Bill has led HBO? to be both financially successful and socially responsible,? Robin Kelleher, Hope For The Warriors? President said. ?He will leave an important legacy to the company for many years to come.?
Nelson was first introduced to the Hope For The Warriors? principals at a New York screening of HBO? Film?s Taking Chance, a movie about Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, USMC and his journey to escort the body of PFC Chance Phelps, USMC, who was killed in action in Iraq, back to his family in Wyoming.
?We are excited to bring Nelson?s strong leadership to Hope For The Warriors?,? Kelleher said.
The mission of Hope For The Warriors? (http://www.hopeforthewarriors.org) is to enhance the quality of life for post-9/11 service members, their families, and families of the fallen who have sustained physical and psychological wounds in the line of duty. Hope For The Warriors? is dedicated to restoring a sense of self, restoring the family unit, and restoring hope for our service members and our military families.
Hope For The Warriors? understands the challenges, pride, and joy of being a military family. For today, tomorrow, and years to come, Hope For The Warriors? will strive to meet the changing needs of service members and their families.
Hope For The Warriors? has earned a Four-Star rating from Charity Navigator (http://www.charitynavigator.org), an independent organization that evaluates fiscal responsibility and accountability of nonprofits.
Hope For The Warriors? (Federal Tax ID 20-5182295) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity as defined in sections 509(A)(1) and 170(B)(1)(A)(VI) of the Internal Revenue Code. Combined Federal Campaign, CFC #27800.
###
Anne Woods Barnwell Hope For The Warriors 910-554-1505 Email Information
Voted number one by Los Angeles Magazine, PINZ is a fun, massive entertainment and bowling center with a full bar in house. The bowling alley features a plethora of lanes, shoe rental, private party areas and a full arcade with air hockey and billiards. The staff is friendly, outgoing and inviting. And?PINZ has food and drinks for everyone. There is a free parking lot?just outside the main entrance.
Competing emotions will hang over this week?s crucial one-on-one meeting between Presidents Barack Obama and Hamid Karzai in Washington. Amid heightened tensions between the two countries, Obama and Karzai are set to discuss the future beyond 2014, when most foreign troops are set to withdraw from Afghanistan.
In addition to announcing new touchscreen notebooks today at CES, Lenovo is unveiling a trio of Windows 8-optimized desktops. You can get the lowdown on the new Erazer X700 gaming system here, but for now we'll take a look at the two all-in-ones.
Up first is the IdeaCentre A730, a 27-inch multi-touch all-in-one that measures just 0.9 inch (24.5mm) thick. Still, the system has room for an optical drive, which is integrated into the base. You have your choice of a 2,560 x 1,440 or 1,920 x 1,080 frameless display, and like many Windows 8 devices we've been seeing lately, the screen is adjustable -- from -5 degrees to 90 degrees. The desktop comes with up to a Core i7 processor, storage maxes out at 1TB and graphics options include an NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M chip with 2GB of dedicated memory. The A730 will go on sale for $1,499 and up in June.
Lenovo is also adding to its C series desktop lineup with the new 23-inch C540. It's more budget-friendly than the A730, with the non-touch model starting at $549 and processor options topping out at a Core i3 chip, and it will be available both with and without a touchscreen. (The resolution is 1,920 x 1,080 for both versions.) The highest-end graphics option will be a NVIDIA GeForce 615 chip with 2GB of RAM, and you can outfit the system with up to 2TB of storage space. The non-touch IdeaCentre C540 will be available in February, and touch models will hit the market in June. Hit up the press galleries below for a look at both systems.
The internet is an increasing important part of doing business and companies need to be aware of that and use it to reach their potential. So, if you?re planning on starting a web business, you need to know some great Online marketing techniques if you hope to compete. Follow these tips to be successful at Website marketing.
Be certain that the format of your website provides easily found links. Always ensure that your links are clearly visible and organized for the incoming traffic. Obscure or poorly placed links will often lead to less usage. This could cause one of your main pages to be losing out on a huge profitable angle.
Add a squeeze page to your site to build your contact base. This encourages your site visitors to offer up their email address. You can offer a promo item in exchange for the contact information. The most important goal here is to get people to sign up so that you have their email list for future mailings.
TIP! Always make it a point to provide helpful answers to questions potential customers may have. Internet surfers visit your homepage since they are curious to learn more, so if you aren?t in the habit of answering their questions, you are not going to retain traffic.
One of the most effective ways to establish rapport with customers is to offer customized and relevant content that gives them a feeling of control. There is too much spam and unwanted emails in the Internet world so make sure your emails are wanted and contain useful content. Always make it easy to allow customers to opt out of emails so that they don?t feel bombarded or stuck with no easy way out.
Oftentimes, marketing consultant services are prohibitively expensive for small business owners. Luckily, the internet has a wealth of information to help you. Some of the marketing resources available online and locally at little to no cost are online business forums, informational blogs, eBooks, and local business seminars.
Keep detailed statistics. It could be traffic, refunds, sales, referrals, or anything else that can be measured on your website. Statistics help you see what is working and what is not.
TIP! Create your own videos of yourself describing your product. Customers will be able to see you using the product.
Do not totally remove ideas that did not produce results. It may work better now than it did the first time. The Internet is always changing and there are always new things happening on it. Don?t sink extra time and money into ideas that aren?t working, but hang onto them in case they become viable down the road.
Create a website that has informative content and is easy to navigate. Educate your customers about your product and why it would be a benefit for them to purchase. Repeat information, fluff and unreliable information should be avoided.
Making and uploading a viral video and including tags in your video will aid in your affiliate marketing success. Also, make sure you always include a link to your site in the description area of the video. This will give a huge boost to the amount of traffic you get coming back to your site.
TIP! No internet marketing venture will succeed through luck alone, so remember that it always takes hard work and dedication. Big businesses have never stumbled into success.
Html Tags
It is important that you know when and how to use HTML tags. HTML tags will indicate how important your content is, and will show it in different bold gradations based on its importance. These tags are instrumental in helping search engine spiders analyze your page. Emphasize, then, your most important keywords.
Customize your site for worldwide access. Create more than one version of your website, in multiple languages. You will get many more customers from different parts of the globe, and you are likely to see an impressive boost in traffic. Your international customers will be more likely to make a purchase if they can read your website in their own language.
TIP! Try using banners on your site that don?t look like your typical banners. Try to make them appear like clickable links to get more content.
Your marketing campaigns such utilize emotional descriptions of your products to evoke feelings in your customers which could lead to impulse buys. Doing so aids in building brand recognition. Use very descriptive words when you are trying to sell your product.
A really good Affiliate marketing tip is to make your website stand out. The web is inundated with business, so you need to become innovative in order to set yourself apart from the pack. Highlight a service that you provide but your competitors do not; this is a surefire way to grab attention.
Have your website listed on all the major search engines and related directories. This is an excellent way to increase your customer base. Your business is more likely to have great success if it is listed by Google.
TIP! Before even thinking about getting your site ranked, you?ll need to build a terrific website. This should be the first step for everyone in web business.
Provide incentives for referrals. You can transform one sale into three by just giving people a free sample or a discount for referring three friends to your site. People love free stuff and the more people you get onto your site, the greater your sales are.
Advertise with popular websites. With the right investment, you can get your company and your products seen by a vast audience. Be sure to find yourself a well received and reputable website to promote yourself on that can get you more attention on a regular basis.
Do everything possible to make sure that your site?s content remains up-to-date. Old, outdated information is going to give the viewer the impression that you do not care about your company, and therefore your customers. A website that is current is encouraging and inviting to readers.
TIP! Consumers like to buy products described as special or limited editions. A lot of people like to own exclusive items, so marketing with words like this will tempt people to buy what you are selling rather quickly.
Press Release
Write and publish a press release to bring new users to your website. Develop a powerful and persuasive press release, then reach out to one of the many websites that will publish your release for free. Needless to say, a great press release can create a buzz around your business.
Although Website marketing may seem complicated, the basic ideas in the article above can significantly increase your company?s chance of success. By using the tips you have read, you will do your best in advertising and gain more business.
TIP! Modify your content and headlines on a regular basis, and see how doing so impacts traffic and purchases. Once you have determined which tone is most successful for representing your business, stick with it and boost your new, cohesive image.
When will genomic research translate into clinical care -- and at what cost?Public release date: 4-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bonnie Prescott bprescot@bidmc.harvard.edu 617-667-7306 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
New study applies quantitative modeling to genomics
BOSTON Genomic research is widely expected to transform medicine, but progress has been slower than expected. While critics argue that the genomics "promise" has been broken and that money might be better spent elsewhere -- proponents say the deliberate pace underscores the complexity of the relationship between medicine and disease and, indeed, argues for more funding.
But thus far, these competing narratives have been based mostly on anecdotes. Ramy Arnaout, MD, DPhil, a founding member of the Genomic Medicine Initiative at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), decided it was time to look at genomics from a new perspective. So he turned to quantitative modeling, a numerical forecasting approach used to predict everything from weather events to the outcomes of political elections, and an extremely useful way to both set expectations and assist in decision-making.
Arnaout and colleagues knew that drug-related adverse outcomes cost the health-care system upwards of $80 billion a year, and that many such cases should be avoidable by choosing and dosing drug prescriptions according to a person's genome. So they developed a quantitative model to estimate how much time and money would be required to use genomics, specifically pharmacogenomics, to cut these adverse outcomes in half. Their findings, currently published online in the journal Clinical Chemistry, provide one of the first examples of data-driven estimates being applied to genomic medicine and offer a template for the use of quantitative modeling in this field.
How do the numbers add up? After analyzing their model for a range of situations, the research team found that the cost can be expected to be less than $10 billion, spread out over approximately 20 years.
"If you look across medicine, you can see specific places here and there where genomics is really starting to change things, but it's been hard to know how it all adds up in the big picture," explains Arnaout, who is also an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Associate Director of Clinical Microbiology at BIDMC. "Quantitative modeling is a standard approach for forecasting and setting expectations in many fields as we all remember from the recent presidential election and from the hurricane season. Genomics is so important and is so often on the minds of our patients, students and staff, that it seemed like a good idea to use modeling to get some hard numbers on where we're headed."
The idea for the study originated nearly two years ago, while Arnaout (whose laboratory studies genomics) and Sukhatme, BIDMC's Chief Academic Officer, were attending a lecture, shortly after the 10-year anniversary of the sequencing of the genome. "Vikas asked me, 'So when is genomics really going to change medicine?'" remembers Arnaout. "I realized I didn't know. And that got me thinking."
Arnaout and Sukhatme, together with coauthors Thomas Buck, MD, and Paulvalery Roulette, MD, of BIDMC and HMS, decided to try and answer this question by applying forecasting methods to a big clinical problem drug-related adverse outcomes. "We know that preventable causes of these adverse outcomes -- patients' non-adherence, interactions between multiple drugs, and medical error, for example -- account for only a fraction of the millions of adverse outcomes that patients experience each year," explains Arnaout. "This leaves a significant number that are currently considered non-preventable and are thought to be caused by genomic variation."
By way of example, Arnaout explains that 30 million Americans currently use the blood-thinning drug warfarin. But because, in some cases, patients' genomes contain variants that make the standard dose of warfarin too high for them, these individuals are likely to experience bleeding, an extremely dangerous side effect. In fact, researchers now estimate that three-quarters of the variability in warfarin dosing requirement is due to these genomic variants, and they have already identified a set of variants in six specific genes that explain two-thirds of the variability.
"This kind of progress suggested an interesting thought experiment," says Arnaout. "What if we took existing examples in which there appears to be a carefully vetted, clinically useful connection between a specific adverse outcome and a specific genetic variant, found out how much it cost and how long it took to discover, and applied that model to all drugs? How much would it cost and how long would it take to cut adverse outcomes by 25 percent? How about by half?"
As data for the model, the authors selected eight associations involving six prescription drugs (clopidogrel, warfarin, escitalopram, carbamazepine, the nicotine-replacement patch and abacavir) and one drug class, the statin class of anticholesterol drugs.
Using an approach called Monte Carlo modeling, the team ran simulations to forecast the research investment required to learn how to cut adverse outcomes by meaningful amounts, and how long that research work would be expected to take. For statistical confidence, they ran their simulations thousands of times and explored a wide range of assumptions. "The results were surprising," says Arnaout. "Before we did this work, I couldn't have told you whether it would take a million dollars or a trillion dollars or whether it would take five years or a hundred years. But now, we've got a basis for thinking that we're looking at single-digit billions of dollars and a couple of decades. That may sound like a lot or a little, depending on your point of view. But with these numbers, we can now have a more informed conversation about planning for the future of genomic medicine."
The most important determinant of the numbers is the extent to which the examples used in the model will turn out to be representative of drugs as a whole. "It's a broad set of drugs that were used, but we know how the genome can surprise us," says senior author Sukhatme. "For example, you won't be able to use genomics to cut adverse outcomes in half if genomics turns out to explain less than half of the adverse outcomes. But even in that case, we found that pharmacogenomics will be able to make a significant dent in adverse outcomes cutting them by a quarter for multi-billion-dollar investments."
Also surprising, say the authors, was the timing. "As a rule, the fruits of research come only after research dollars have already been spent," points out Arnaout. This means that, in this case, hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent for "pump-priming" long before the public can expect to see any meaningful clinical impact. "It's one thing to say, 'Be patient,' based on just faith," he adds. "It's another to be able to say so based on data and a model. We now have that. This enables the conversation to shift to which indicators of progress to look for, over the five or so years of pump-priming, to make sure we're on track."
Can we go faster? "If we could enroll an ethnically diverse set of patients who are taking each of the 40 or 50 most commonly prescribed drugs, get their blood samples, and keep track of the adverse outcomes that some of them are bound to experience, we should be able to move faster, for less money," adds Arnaout, who describes this idea as a "50,000 Pharmacogenomes Project," a pursuit along the lines of the 1,000 Genomes Project, the UK10K or the Veteran's Association Million Veteran Program.
"This model provides the start of a provocative conversation and illustrates the value of quantitative modeling in this very practical and publically relevant aspect of genomics," adds BIDMC Chief of Pathology Jeffrey Saffitz, MD, PhD. "Such models should help both decision makers and the public set expectations and priorities for translating genomic research into better patient care."
###
Arnaout is funded through the Klarman Family Foundation.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and is currently ranked third in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
When will genomic research translate into clinical care -- and at what cost?Public release date: 4-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bonnie Prescott bprescot@bidmc.harvard.edu 617-667-7306 Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
New study applies quantitative modeling to genomics
BOSTON Genomic research is widely expected to transform medicine, but progress has been slower than expected. While critics argue that the genomics "promise" has been broken and that money might be better spent elsewhere -- proponents say the deliberate pace underscores the complexity of the relationship between medicine and disease and, indeed, argues for more funding.
But thus far, these competing narratives have been based mostly on anecdotes. Ramy Arnaout, MD, DPhil, a founding member of the Genomic Medicine Initiative at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), decided it was time to look at genomics from a new perspective. So he turned to quantitative modeling, a numerical forecasting approach used to predict everything from weather events to the outcomes of political elections, and an extremely useful way to both set expectations and assist in decision-making.
Arnaout and colleagues knew that drug-related adverse outcomes cost the health-care system upwards of $80 billion a year, and that many such cases should be avoidable by choosing and dosing drug prescriptions according to a person's genome. So they developed a quantitative model to estimate how much time and money would be required to use genomics, specifically pharmacogenomics, to cut these adverse outcomes in half. Their findings, currently published online in the journal Clinical Chemistry, provide one of the first examples of data-driven estimates being applied to genomic medicine and offer a template for the use of quantitative modeling in this field.
How do the numbers add up? After analyzing their model for a range of situations, the research team found that the cost can be expected to be less than $10 billion, spread out over approximately 20 years.
"If you look across medicine, you can see specific places here and there where genomics is really starting to change things, but it's been hard to know how it all adds up in the big picture," explains Arnaout, who is also an Assistant Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Associate Director of Clinical Microbiology at BIDMC. "Quantitative modeling is a standard approach for forecasting and setting expectations in many fields as we all remember from the recent presidential election and from the hurricane season. Genomics is so important and is so often on the minds of our patients, students and staff, that it seemed like a good idea to use modeling to get some hard numbers on where we're headed."
The idea for the study originated nearly two years ago, while Arnaout (whose laboratory studies genomics) and Sukhatme, BIDMC's Chief Academic Officer, were attending a lecture, shortly after the 10-year anniversary of the sequencing of the genome. "Vikas asked me, 'So when is genomics really going to change medicine?'" remembers Arnaout. "I realized I didn't know. And that got me thinking."
Arnaout and Sukhatme, together with coauthors Thomas Buck, MD, and Paulvalery Roulette, MD, of BIDMC and HMS, decided to try and answer this question by applying forecasting methods to a big clinical problem drug-related adverse outcomes. "We know that preventable causes of these adverse outcomes -- patients' non-adherence, interactions between multiple drugs, and medical error, for example -- account for only a fraction of the millions of adverse outcomes that patients experience each year," explains Arnaout. "This leaves a significant number that are currently considered non-preventable and are thought to be caused by genomic variation."
By way of example, Arnaout explains that 30 million Americans currently use the blood-thinning drug warfarin. But because, in some cases, patients' genomes contain variants that make the standard dose of warfarin too high for them, these individuals are likely to experience bleeding, an extremely dangerous side effect. In fact, researchers now estimate that three-quarters of the variability in warfarin dosing requirement is due to these genomic variants, and they have already identified a set of variants in six specific genes that explain two-thirds of the variability.
"This kind of progress suggested an interesting thought experiment," says Arnaout. "What if we took existing examples in which there appears to be a carefully vetted, clinically useful connection between a specific adverse outcome and a specific genetic variant, found out how much it cost and how long it took to discover, and applied that model to all drugs? How much would it cost and how long would it take to cut adverse outcomes by 25 percent? How about by half?"
As data for the model, the authors selected eight associations involving six prescription drugs (clopidogrel, warfarin, escitalopram, carbamazepine, the nicotine-replacement patch and abacavir) and one drug class, the statin class of anticholesterol drugs.
Using an approach called Monte Carlo modeling, the team ran simulations to forecast the research investment required to learn how to cut adverse outcomes by meaningful amounts, and how long that research work would be expected to take. For statistical confidence, they ran their simulations thousands of times and explored a wide range of assumptions. "The results were surprising," says Arnaout. "Before we did this work, I couldn't have told you whether it would take a million dollars or a trillion dollars or whether it would take five years or a hundred years. But now, we've got a basis for thinking that we're looking at single-digit billions of dollars and a couple of decades. That may sound like a lot or a little, depending on your point of view. But with these numbers, we can now have a more informed conversation about planning for the future of genomic medicine."
The most important determinant of the numbers is the extent to which the examples used in the model will turn out to be representative of drugs as a whole. "It's a broad set of drugs that were used, but we know how the genome can surprise us," says senior author Sukhatme. "For example, you won't be able to use genomics to cut adverse outcomes in half if genomics turns out to explain less than half of the adverse outcomes. But even in that case, we found that pharmacogenomics will be able to make a significant dent in adverse outcomes cutting them by a quarter for multi-billion-dollar investments."
Also surprising, say the authors, was the timing. "As a rule, the fruits of research come only after research dollars have already been spent," points out Arnaout. This means that, in this case, hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent for "pump-priming" long before the public can expect to see any meaningful clinical impact. "It's one thing to say, 'Be patient,' based on just faith," he adds. "It's another to be able to say so based on data and a model. We now have that. This enables the conversation to shift to which indicators of progress to look for, over the five or so years of pump-priming, to make sure we're on track."
Can we go faster? "If we could enroll an ethnically diverse set of patients who are taking each of the 40 or 50 most commonly prescribed drugs, get their blood samples, and keep track of the adverse outcomes that some of them are bound to experience, we should be able to move faster, for less money," adds Arnaout, who describes this idea as a "50,000 Pharmacogenomes Project," a pursuit along the lines of the 1,000 Genomes Project, the UK10K or the Veteran's Association Million Veteran Program.
"This model provides the start of a provocative conversation and illustrates the value of quantitative modeling in this very practical and publically relevant aspect of genomics," adds BIDMC Chief of Pathology Jeffrey Saffitz, MD, PhD. "Such models should help both decision makers and the public set expectations and priorities for translating genomic research into better patient care."
###
Arnaout is funded through the Klarman Family Foundation.
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and is currently ranked third in National Institutes of Health funding among independent hospitals nationwide. BIDMC is clinically affiliated with the Joslin Diabetes Center and is a research partner of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. BIDMC is the official hospital of the Boston Red Sox. For more information, visit www.bidmc.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The deal that lawmakers and the White House finalized late Tuesday to avert going over the fiscal cliff leaves science agencies in limbo, delaying a decision on budget cuts for two more months.
The agreement does, however, reduce the potential impact of these cuts.
"I am hopeful they will find a deal that spares the worst of these cuts, that takes a much more balanced approach," said Matt Hourihan of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Tuesday's tax deal, he said, "is a step in that direction."
The mandatory cuts would affect the current year's budget as well as future ones, leaving agencies such as the National Institutes of Health, NASA and the National Science Foundation in limbo.
"This deal doesn't change that at all, it just extends that condition of uncertainty into the next couple of months," said Hourihan, director of the AAAS research and development budget and policy program.
Had no deal been reached as the New Year began, Hourihan estimates that mandatory across-the-board cuts to research and development, both in defense and elsewhere, would have come to about 9 percent.
Negotiators managed to knock off about one-fifth of that cut for this year, then kicked the can down the road by delaying the deadline until March 1. [ 7 Great Dramas in Congressional History ]
These budget cuts, mandated by the Budget Control Act of 2011 and known as sequestration, were an important element of what is known as the fiscal cliff. Politicians struggled to address the fiscal cliff, which also involved the expiration of tax cuts.
The highest-profile element of Tuesday's deal ?income tax increases on those making $400,000 per year or couples making $450,000 or more ? was separate from sequestration. It does not affect the prospect of mandatory spending cuts.
For this fiscal year, the mandatory cuts would have reduced federal spending by $109 billion. But the deal made changes to rules regarding retirement accounts, with the intent of raising $12 billion. It also trades one type of cut for another. Congress has agreed to make $12 billion in cuts, divided between this year and next.
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Under sequestration, the Office of Management and Budget must allocate the cuts as mandated by the law. However, the $12 billion in cuts made as part of the deal are different. This time, Congress will have the power to pick and choose the areas that lose funding, Hourihan said.
This means science agencies may or may not be affected by the $12 billion in cuts.
The deal reduces the potential cuts to this year's budget to $85 billion, but potential cuts for future years remain unaffected, according to an analysis by the AAAS.
Budget cuts for science agencies mean less money to spend on equipment, facilities or research. For NASA, for example, this could mean cuts in missions, Hourihan said.
For the NIH or the NSF, both of which provide funding to the academic community, cuts could mean fewer and smaller grants and, as a result, less support for graduate students and others becoming established as scientists, he said.
Prior to the deal, NIH Director Francis Collins told a congressional subcommittee that sequestration would require the NIH to award 2,300 fewer grants.
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Public release date: 4-Jan-2013
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