FACEBOOK IPO LIVE: The social network goes public

Posted on May 20, 2012 by selously

Electronic screens inside the Nasdaq stock market announce the listing of Facebook shares before the start of trading, Friday, May 18, 2012 in New York. The world’s definitive online social network raised $16 billion in an initial public offering that values the company at $104 billion. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

It’s Facebook’s big day.

The site, which was born in a dorm room eight years ago and has grown into a worldwide network of almost a billion people, is making the most talked-about stock market debut in years.

Here’s some of what Associated Press reporters are finding. Check back all day for updates. All times EDT.

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9:15 a.m.

FLASHBACK: GOOGLE’S DEBUT

The last technology stock to go public with this level of attention was Google, which made its debut Aug. 19, 2004. Here’s how The Associated Press covered it:

SAN JOSE, Calif. ? In the most highly anticipated Wall Street debut since the heady days of the dot-com boom, shares of Google surged nearly 20 percent on their first day of public trading Thursday as the quirky Internet company completed its much-hyped initial stock offering.

Despite the first-day jump, the debut generated much less money than the company envisioned after it launched an unorthodox auction designed to open the stock beyond large investors who typically get first crack at new stock issues.

Google shares finished the day at $100.34, up 18 percent, and the stock offering raised $1.67 billion. The company originally hoped to open at between $108 and $135, generating as much as $3.6 billion and making the company worth up to $36 billion.

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8:54 a.m.

THE RIPPLE EFFECT: CALIFORNIA CASH

Besides minting Internet billionaires, the Facebook IPO should provide a little help for the cash-starved state of California.

The state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office says the IPO will generate $1.6 billion to $2.6 billion for the state through the middle of next year as shareholders cash in their stock.

California badly needs the money: Gov. Jerry Brown said over the weekend that the projected state deficit has swelled to $15.7 billion for the coming fiscal year. In January, it was projected at $9.2 billion.

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8:48 a.m.

POP AND DROP

Several of last year’s must-have IPO stocks aren’t exactly must-haves anymore.

Pandora, an Internet radio company, went public June 15 at $20 a share. You could have bought the stock during the day for $26. It’s now trading under $11.

Groupon, the online daily deal company, priced its stock at $20 a share on Nov. 4. It traded above $31 the first day and is now under $13.

And LinkedIn, a social network for professionals, more than doubled from its $45 offer price within minutes of hitting the market last May 19. It reached $122.70 on the first day before closing at $94.25. It’s back to about $105.

? Dave Carpenter, Personal Finance Writer

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8:41 a.m.

THE KID BILLIONAIRE

CEO Mark Zuckerberg is selling about 30 million shares of Facebook as part of the initial public offering. At $38 each, he pockets $1.15 billion. He will remain Facebook’s largest shareholder, will more than 32 percent of Facebook’s total shares. At the $38 share price, his stake in the company is worth $19.1 billion.

Zuckerberg will control the company with 56 percent of its voting stock as a result of agreements he has with other shareholders who promise to vote his way.

Here’s his bio:

AGE: 28. Born May 14, 1984.

RESIDENCE: Palo Alto, Calif. Grew up in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.

EDUCATION: Philips Exeter Academy, class of 2002. Studied computer science at Harvard University before dropping out.

PROFESSIONAL CAREER: Co-founded Facebook in his Harvard dorm room in 2004. Has served as CEO since.

FAMILY: Mother, Karen; father, Edward; sisters Arielle, Donna and Randi Zuckerberg.

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8:30 a.m.

NEXT STOP: 1 BILLION

Have a look at how explosively Facebook has grown. According to the company, this is when the site passed milestones for its number of active users, defined as someone who logs on at least once a month:

1 million ? End of 2004.

5.5 million ? End of 2005.

12 million ? End of 2006.

20 million ? April 2007.

50 million ? October 2007.

100 million ? August 2008.

150 million ? January 2009.

175 million ? February 2009.

200 million ? April 2009.

250 million ? July 2009.

300 million ? September 2009.

350 million ? End of 2009.

400 million ? February 2010.

500 million ? July 2010.

608 million ? End of 2010.

750 million ? July 2011.

800 million ? September 2011.

845 million ? End of 2011.

901 million ? March 2012.

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HEDGE FUND VIEW: HE’S IN

Andrew Schneider, a hedge fund adviser and CEO of San Francisco-based Schneider Family Office, was busy selling shares of Apple and LinkedIn on Thursday to free up cash for buying Facebook.

He planned to spend at least $20 million, or 8 percent of his firm’s liquid assets.

“You’ve got 900 million users, and you’ve got real solid revenue, and the company is earning money,” Schneider says.

He’s not concerned about plowing such a large proportion into one company: “We feel very strongly and very comfortably about this.” Nor is he rattled by General Motors’ announcement that it would stop buying display ads on Facebook. He calls that “a very, very small amount.”

Schneider points out that there were naysayers when Google went public in 2004, priced at $85 a share. It closed Thursday at $630.

“A lot of people went on the short side of Google when it opened,” says Schneider, who is also CEO of Global Hedge Fund Advisors. “And boy, were they wrong.”

?Christina Rexrode, AP Business Writer

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HEDGE FUND VIEW: STEERING CLEAR

Whitney Tilson says his hedge fund, T2 Partners, avoids newly public companies as a rule because companies tend to go public only when things are going well.

T2 Partners prefers to look for battered stocks that it can scoop up cheaply. It bought more stock in JCPenney this week. Tilson admits, though, that avoiding initial public offerings doesn’t always work. Google, he says, “turned out to be a great deal.”

Tilson said he expects Facebook’s stock will rise over the long term. Facebook, he says, “does look and smell a lot like Google.”

? Christina Rexrode, AP Business Writer

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INSTEAD OF A RED CARPET, RED INK

Facebook isn’t getting much of a welcome to the neighborhood.

Thursday was one of the worst days of the year for stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 156 points and has fallen 11 of the past 12 days, mostly because investors are nervous about turmoil in debt-burdened Greece.

The Nasdaq composite, representing the stock exchange where Facebook will trade, fell 2 percent on Thursday. The composite was up almost 20 percent for the year at the end of March, but that gain has withered to 8 percent.

? Erin McClam, Financial Markets Editor

Associated Press

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BREAKING: General Motors To Stop Super Bowl Advertising …

Posted on May 20, 2012 by selously

According to?The Wall Street Journal’s?Sharon Terlep and Suzanne Vranica, General Motors will no longer be advertising during the Super Bowl.

The news comes only days after General Motors pulled the plug?on its entire $10 million Facebook budget citing poor performance.

Neither was shocking given how traumatic 2012 has been for GM’s advertising partners.

It started when chief marketing officer Joel Ewanick reviewed GM’s global $5 billion ad budget in January.

GM consolidated some 90 creative and media accounts into just three agencies.?Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and McCann Erickson, at Ewanick’s bidding, created a 50/50 joint venture called “Commonwealth,” solely to handle Chevrolet’s massive account. A third agency, Carat, was then tasked with media buying.

The move was made because General Motors is looking to slash its media spending by as much as $2 billion over the next five years, according to the Journal.

GM’s decision to pull ads from Facebook and the Super Bowl are the first, and perhaps most public, moves for the automaker in the coming months.

The reason these were the first to go: They aren’t effective, GM believes.

Ewanick met with Facebook in January and was unimpressed by Facebook’s pitch for the value of its ads.

As for the Super Bowl, Ewanick told the Journal he suddenly came to the realization Super Bowl ads were not effective, a theory he’s not alone in holding, particularly at their?$4 million and rising?price tag.

“We understand the reach the Super Bowl provides, but with the significant increase in price, we simply can’t justify the expense,” said Ewanick in a statement released by the company.

Despite being the?third-largest Super Bowl advertiser, GM was overshadowed by numerous competitors including Chrysler’s “Halftime in America” ad featuring Clint Eastwood, Fiat’s supermodel-laden ads for the Fiat 500 and?Honda’s remake of Ferris Bueller.

We surveyed 500 readers who ranked ads from Chrysler, Volkswagen, Audi, Honda and Fiat in their top 10. Among the same readers, two ads for the 2012 Chevrolet Silverado finished in the bottom 10.

With GM’s marketing plans in a state of flux the message to media vendors is clear: no campaign is safe, and GM is only at the beginning of its $2 billion in cuts.

Now Watch:

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Exclusive: Did White House “spin” tip a covert op?

Posted on May 20, 2012 by selously

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – White House efforts to soft-pedal the danger from a new “underwear bomb” plot emanating from Yemen may have inadvertently broken the news they needed most to contain.

At about 5:45 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 7, just before the evening newscasts, John Brennan, President Barack Obama‘s top White House adviser on counter-terrorism, held a small, private teleconference to brief former counter-terrorism advisers who have become frequent commentators on TV news shows.

According to five people familiar with the call, Brennan stressed that the plot was never a threat to the U.S. public or air safety because Washington had “inside control” over it.

Brennan’s comment appears unintentionally to have helped lead to disclosure of the secret at the heart of a joint U.S.-British-Saudi undercover counter-terrorism operation.

A few minutes after Brennan’s teleconference, on ABC’s World News Tonight, Richard Clarke, former chief of counter-terrorism in the Clinton White House and a participant on the Brennan call, said the underwear bomb plot “never came close because they had insider information, insider control.”

A few hours later, Clarke, who is a regular consultant to the network, concluded on ABC’s Nightline that there was a Western spy or double-agent in on the plot: “The U.S. government is saying it never came close because they had insider information, insider control, which implies that they had somebody on the inside who wasn’t going to let it happen.”

DOUBLE AGENT

The next day’s headlines were filled with news of a U.S. spy planted inside Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), who had acquired the latest, non-metallic model of the underwear bomb and handed it over to U.S. authorities.

At stake was an operation that could not have been more sensitive ? the successful penetration by Western spies of AQAP, al Qaeda’s most creative and lethal affiliate. As a result of leaks, the undercover operation had to be shut down.

The initial story of the foiling of an underwear-bomb plot was broken by the Associated Press.

According to National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor, due to its sensitivity, the AP initially agreed to a White House request to delay publication of the story for several days.

But according to three government officials, a final deal on timing of publication fell apart over the AP’s insistence that no U.S. official would respond to the story for one clear hour after its release.

When the administration rejected that demand as “untenable,” two officials said, the AP said it was going public with the story. At that point, Brennan was immediately called out of a meeting to take charge of damage control.

Relevant agencies were instructed to prepare public statements and urged to notify Congressional oversight panels. Brennan then started the teleconference with potential TV commentators.

White House officials and others on the call insist that Brennan disclosed no classified information during that conference call and chose his words carefully to avoid doing so.

The AP denies any quid pro quo was requested by them or rejected by the White House. “At no point did AP offer or propose a deal with regard to this story,” said AP spokesman Paul Colford.

As for his appearance on ABC, Richard Clarke acknowledges he made a logical “leap” when he said that “inside control” meant “there was human inside control rather than anything else I could imagine.” But he adds that over the course of a week, ABC “took extraordinary measures … to make sure” that nothing it was planning to broadcast would damage ongoing counter-terrorism operations.

PREMATURE SHUTDOWN

As a result of the news leaks, however, U.S. and allied officials told Reuters that they were forced to end an operation which they hoped could have continued for weeks or longer.

Several days after the first leaks, counter-terrorism sources confirmed to Reuters that a central role in the operation had been played by MI-5 and MI-6, Britain’s ultra-secretive domestic and foreign intelligence services, whose relationship with their American counterparts has been periodically strained by concern about leaks.

These sources acknowledged that British authorities were deeply distressed that anything at all had leaked out about the operation.

The White House places the blame squarely on AP, calling the claim that Brennan contributed to a leak “ridiculous.”

“It is well known that we use a range of intelligence capabilities to penetrate and monitor terrorist groups,” according to an official statement from the White House national security staff.

“None of these sources or methods was disclosed by this statement. The egregious leak here was to the Associated Press. The White House fought to prevent this information from being reported and ultimately worked to delay its publication for operational security reasons. No one is more upset than us about this disclosure, and we support efforts to prevent leaks like this which harm our national security,” the statement said.

The original AP story, however, made no mention of an undercover informant or allied “control” over the operation, indicating only that the fate of the would-be suicide bomber was unknown.

The White House may ultimately have to explain its handling of the case both to Congressional oversight committees and to leak investigations the administration itself has launched.

The Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, Representative Mike Rogers, announced a “preliminary review” of leaks about the operation.

Two leak investigations have been opened by the executive branch as well, one by the Director of National Intelligence and one by the FBI.

On Wednesday, FBI director Robert Mueller, appearing before the Senate Judiciary committee, promised the bureau would “investigate thoroughly.”

(Reporting By Mark Hosenball; Editing by Warren Strobel and Jim Loney)

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Video: JPMorgan: Worst Still to Come?

Posted on May 19, 2012 by selously

Shares of JPMorgan are down an additional 3% since news that the nation’s largest bank may have lost $3 billion instead of $2 billion. Jim Rickards, JAC Capital Advisors, weighs in.

Self improvement Tips That Everyone Should Follow | Never Lose …

Posted on May 19, 2012 by selously

Are you finding it hard to grow and find success in your personal development? Many people think that personal development is something they can?t do, the truth is everyone can help themselves personally develop. What it takes is an open mind, you have to try new things in order to succeed. You might find a few new hints in this article. The advice might be just what you need to take another step forward. Learn more about over 50 dating now,

Some level of contentment is crucial to mental health and self-improvement. While self-help tactics and tips focus on constant striving, there is a bigger picture to consider. You will never achieve holistic health and mental happiness without allowing yourself a bit of enjoyment. Learn to be content with things you cannot change (your family, last year?s earnings, etc.). Once you are satisfied with the permanent things in your life, you are ready to change the things you can control.

Many people find that they can improve their lives by joining a religious group or an important cause. When we belong to a group that is trying to help themselves and other people improve we can find great purpose in our lives. If a person find himself without direction he can try finding a religious group that fits his beliefs and time table.

Be someone that people want to come to for information and ideas. You do not want to always be the one asking questions. This will provide you room to ask questions when you have them. A two way relationship with peers is better than having to go down a one way street.

The best way you can help yourself is to spend more time relaxing. Many times, people get depression or anxiety because they are overwhelmed. By taking even one hour out of your day to just relax, read a book or watch TV, your mind is more stable to handle important matters.

Learn proper concentration techniques and utilize daily. Concentration is key to self-improvement and personal development, helping you to maintain in tune with those things in your life that are more important. With concentration, you are able to soak up all that you should be focusing on from day to day.

Your self confidence during personal development periods will benefit from a harmonious relationship to your core self. If you?re in tune with your mind, body, and soul, you?ll find it easier to defend yourself against challenges to your core beliefs and values. This helps you strengthen the impact of your beliefs, and your confidence in them.

Experience life, but do not push your body beyond its limits or put yourself in danger of being seriously injured. There are many things in life that many of us would have liked to do at one point or another and want to do before we die. Do not take too big of risks because you are not going to heal the way you once would have.

Personal development, like so many other things, truly must come from within. When you decide that you want to improve yourself you should write down a list of all of the things that you want to make better. It will not be possible to do all of these at the same time, however.

As you grow older you will gain understanding about yourself. Once you have insight into your behaviors, you will be able to know why you do what you do, and hopefully will be able to change anything that you do not like.

A personal development plan needs to be a daily plan of action. Divide your plan for success into things that need to be worked on each and every day, so that each night when you go to sleep you are in a better position than when you woke up that morning.

A great tip for personal development is to find the best in yourself before trying to be true to yourself. If you are not sure who you are, there is no way you can be true to yourself. Once you figure yourself out, then you can be true to yourself.

A great tip that can help you with your personal development goals is to check out the library. The library is filled to the brim with informational books that can help you. You?ll be amazed at how many books they have that can offer insight into the different areas of your life.

Personal development also means being thankful for what you do have. Be gracious for the wonderful things in your life, and use this knowledge to propel yourself to your goals. The support systems you already have in place offer several venues to continue to work on your self-confidence.

These tips should help you feel more comfortable if you choose to follow them. Perhaps not all these tips would work in your particular situation. If you cannot resolve your problem yourself or have a hard time defining what the issue is, you should probably go see a professional before it gets worse. Click here to find out more about text messages to get your ex back today.

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User:Heisinkprovac1976 – HKUSU Wiki

Posted on May 18, 2012 by selously

From HKUSU Wiki

Have A Look At These Self Improvement Recommendations And Go After Your Goals! mindjet connect

The concept of personal development is dependant on a person enhancing their selves in every ways consistently. It involves increasing understanding, personal-understanding, spiritual growth and succeeding with your individual goals. You can pick up a lot of good suggestions for personal development by reading through the below article. Take your time, there is absolutely no dash and shortly you will begin to recognize your self within a much more optimistic lighting. mindjet connect

Instruct your self to train popular routines of successful men and women. Don’t try and make lots of alterations simultaneously. Get started with two or three concepts that can produce a difference, and exercise these couple of right up until they believe organic for you. Be patient as it needs time to develop a brand new behavior.

Are you finding on your own eating alcoholic beverages way too typically? The dangerous substances in cigs can cause COPD, cancers and a large set of other conditions. Your body needs to be cured with the maximum value. If you want to start off boosting your daily life, you need to cease performing harmful pursuits. Take into account your practices and prefer to omit behavior from the daily life that can be described as dangerous.

Enable your personal rules information your personal improvement. Your personal primary beliefs are what support your sensation of self. In the event you continue to be on the top of your morals you will have a boost in self worth and you will have a excellent basic to guard them. Doing this will help you build persistence, which is actually a great feature to have.

You need to take care of yourself before you can start off taking care of other individuals. Whatever point you may well be at on your journey, it is very important appropriately look after on your own.

Consuming the occasional dangers, over a small stage, can help you guide a happier existence! It might be frightening to get out of your comfort and ease sector as a result of concern with faltering or rejection, though never ever consuming dangers will create unfulfilled. Being able to venture threats may in the end be a contributing aspect in one’s general pleasure.

Make a list of goals you intend to attain. For instance, you might want to be a more confident man or woman. Record it. Take a seat and strive to imagine strategies to give yourself a lot more self-self-confidence. Do your greatest to make the best atmosphere for your personal achievement by seeking the kind of situations that may help you development. By making you to ultimately street address every target, you improve your odds of success.

One can learn to properly take care of your feelings, even during hard situations. Once you discover how to keep relaxed in the midst of stress, you’ll get the self confidence essential to cope with whatever happens in your daily life. Take some time throughout your day to stop and get breaths.

Spend some time to go through what has helped other folks being who they would like to be. The most apparent means of avoiding issues both in job and personal issues is to be aware what individuals stumbling blocks are and discover how other folks eliminated them. Studying in regards to the instruction they have figured out can have a good affect all on your own personal development.

Your reaction to a predicament can decide your amount of tension. Learn how to approach your worries, and try to evaluate a situation meticulously. In case a blunder may be the problem, you can appropriate it or manage coping with your oversight. Be grateful for which you might have and not for which you’ve lost.

It really is almost impossible to get a happy, healthful imagination when your entire body has been ignored entirely. Get some exercise regularly and have a nourishing diet program. When you have a strong physique, you will find a robust thoughts.

Self improvement plans should have measurable objectives, and you have to keep track of how you are carrying out. Consider the information integrated in this post and find out what you need to do. Report in the diary or journal what measures you take and whenever, and also this way you can get some knowledge of the newest modifications which can be ensuing. mindjet promo code

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TB patient charged in Calif for not taking meds

Posted on May 18, 2012 by selously

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Armando Rodriguez was warned several times to continue taking his tuberculosis medicine.

At one point, authorities said, he told his case officer he stopped the treatment out of concern for his liver while binging on alcohol and methamphetamine.

So on Tuesday, authorities took the unusual step of arresting Rodriguez and charging him with refusing to comply with a tuberculosis order to be at home at certain times and make appointments to take his medication.

It’s a move that divides public health officials.

“I think it’s an error to confine someone in the criminal justice system for a public health crime,” said Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University public health law professor who drafted a model law adopted by several states struggling with the issue. “The whole intention is to protect the public’s health. It’s not to lay blame on someone.”

Health officials say Rodriguez, 34, of Stockton has active pulmonary tuberculosis, which can include coughing up blood or phlegm and can spread through the air.

Rodriguez has been noncompliant with his treatment and could become contagious as a result, Ginger Wick, nursing director for San Joaquin County, said in a letter requesting a warrant for Rodriguez’s arrest.

After failing one time to give himself the drugs, Rodriguez told a nurse he had gone on an alcohol binge and taken methamphetamine and didn’t want to hurt his liver, Wick said in her letter.

Rodriguez was arrested Tuesday and is expected to be arraigned Thursday on two misdemeanor counts.

He will likely be appointed a public defender.

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that usually attacks the lungs. Many people have a latent form, and the active form usually only affects adults whose immune systems are compromised, which can happen from drug use.

Public health experts are divided on the issue of mandatory treatment and criminal charges for patients who don’t comply with treatment orders.

Many of those who do support criminal prosecution in the rarest of cases when public health is in jeopardy oppose the jailing of patients.

Implementing mandatory treatment should be a last resort, and prosecuting someone for disobeying a public health order is unhelpful and sends the wrong message if protecting public health is the intent, Georgetown’s Gostin said.

Instead, the afflicted should be given assistance such as transportation to and from treatments rather than punishment as an incentive to take their medicine, he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said laws to control the spread of tuberculosis have been in use for more than a century, though regulations differ in each state.

As many as 12,000 new cases of tuberculosis are reported in the country each year, the CDC reported. California recorded 2,317 new cases in 2011, a low since records have been kept.

Nonetheless, officials throughout the nation continue to struggle to stop the spread of tuberculosis, with several drug-resistant strains emerging in recent years.

Federal and state officials don’t keep records of the number of people prosecuted for refusing to take their medicines. But some say it’s exceedingly rare to file criminal charges in such cases.

San Joaquin County has had more than 30 tuberculosis prosecutions since 1984, prosecutor Stephen Taylor said, noting the county is more aggressive than other jurisdictions in prosecuting patients to get them to take their medication.

“The criminal cases we’re dealing with generally involve drug users who are harder to treat and manage because the TB medicines conflict with street drugs,” he said. “We have to throw these people in jail and treat them as in-patients. They don’t cooperate as out-patients.”

Karen Furst, San Joaquin County public health officer, said the county arranges transportation and other services to help patients stick to their drug regimen and turns to the legal system only as a last resort.

“I have to make sure that if I’m aware that somebody is in a position that could possibly be spreading a disease to another person, that I take steps that are necessary to prevent that from happening,” she said.

Rodriguez was discharged in March from San Joaquin General Hospital with four medications for active tuberculosis and agreed to take the drugs under observation by a county health official on weekdays and on his own on weekends, authorities said.

He allegedly refused to take the drugs on another day and then was not at home on three occasions and missed an appointment.

Each charge against Rodriguez carries a maximum penalty of a year behind bars. In her letter, Wick said Rodriguez would need nine months of treatment.

_____

Associated Press writer Paul Elias in San Francisco contributed to this report.

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Video: Ahead of Facebook’s IPO

Posted on May 18, 2012 by selously

CNBC’s Kayla Tausche shares final thoughts on Facebook ahead of its IPO.

frame of mind – {long distance loving} a blog on how to love from afar …

Posted on May 17, 2012 by selously

Happiness is a frame of mind. I don?t know who said it, but I?ll most certainly say it again. Many of you in long distance relationships have lamented about how the days between visits get longer as time passes. Speaking from experience, by the end of the third or fourth week apart, I was not a very kind person. I would start the vicious ?I hate long distance? battle, which didn’t end until the day I saw {cv} again. Now that we are in the same place, I look back on my lackluster attitude and get a bit frustrated with myself. Hindsight is always 20/20, but in this case, it is so true. I wish I had the perspective during those years that {regardless of how it feels just then} long distance was only a phase. Going through it, it definitely did not feel that way. Whether you?re in a long distance relationship or not, I think what I learned from my experience cross-applies. During some of those years, I didn?t always choose to be happy. I chose to let our situation define me–and I regret that. Though distance kept us apart for a few years, we were so blessed to have found one another in the first place. Had I kept that in the front of my mind, my frame of mind would have been much different.

{cv} and I weathered those long distance years–and we both got much wiser as a result. Blogging retrospectively about long distance helps me share that ?wisdom?, though I can?t claim to be an expert on the topic. The takeaway for today is to not let the stinkiness of your long distance {or any situation} define you. Happiness is absolutely a frame of mind?

P.S. Have you seen my cameo in the newest Sweet Lemon magazine?

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Romney keeps media at bay as he sticks to script

Posted on May 17, 2012 by selously

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) ? Mitt Romney is trying harder than ever these days to stay on script ? and keep his traveling national press corps at arm’s length.

The latest clash came Wednesday when aides to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee blocked the reporters who cover Romney daily from asking him questions at the “rope line” separating him and his supporters.

The incident was a prime example of the pattern of tense interactions with the press that have marked the Romney campaign for months. The candidate often seems eager to chat about mundane things ? the food on the charter airplane, whether he has a lucky tie ? with a press corps he’s come to know well and readily recognizes.

But his staff frequently limits access to a candidate known for making awkward, if not politically troublesome, statements during unscripted moments ? and Romney very rarely answers challenging questions on the issues of the day as he campaigns.

“You have some work to do here,” Romney told reporters on his campaign plane, waving at a basket of snacks as he selected a package of Grandma’s Vanilla Cream sandwich cookies.

But asked a question about Vice President Joe Biden‘s attacks on his record at Bain Capital during a speech in Ohio, the former Massachusetts governor simply said: “No interviews.”

Instead, Romney did a lengthy interview with Ed Morrissey, a conservative blogger.

It’s a window into how he might conduct himself as president. After he was elected governor of Massachusetts, for example, Romney closed off a set of public elevators in the Boston statehouse and prohibited press access to the lobby outside the governor’s office. The area was previously open to the press, and his successor, Gov. Deval Patrick, re-opened the elevator and the lobby after he took office.

Wednesday’s incident came after Romney delivered brief remarks to Florida supporters and walked over to where supporters were cordoned off and waiting to meet him. A group of reporters left an area designated for the media and tried to get within earshot of Romney when a campaign staffer put out her arms to keep reporters from walking past her.

After a brief standoff, reporters from a number of national outlets circumvented the staffers and moved close enough to hear Romney.

A few hours later, Romney’s campaign acknowledged a mistake.

“This was an error on the part of the campaign staff and volunteers. We have reminded them that press is allowed on the rope line to record the governor’s interactions with voters,” spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan, making clear the agency wasn’t responsible for the policy, said: “The Secret Service does not restrict movement of the press into a general public area or their movement within the general public area.”

Rope lines are a staple of political campaigns, but a candidate’s presence there can lead to some memorable moments ? and Romney has sometimes been candid in such situations. As Democrats marked the anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden, Romney told traveling reporters that “even Jimmy Carter” would have made that decision ? a sharp quip that the campaign later softened as they muted their criticism of the Obama team’s focus on the occasion.

And earlier this year, Romney was on a rope line during the Daytona 500 when an Associated Press reporter asked him about his familiarity with the sport.

“I have some friends who are NASCAR team owners,” he said, a comment that later drew criticism from Democrats seeking to cast him as out of touch.

Trying to control a campaign’s message isn’t unique to Romney’s campaign. White House reporters traveling with Obama sometimes are limited in how they can approach the president on a rope line. Still, reporters are able to observe Obama interacting with voters on airport tarmacs when he walks over to greet waiting crowds.

Obama often doesn’t answer questions on rope lines, though he sometimes will chat with reporters. He recently told some that he won a basketball game he played with actors George Clooney and Tobey Maguire. The president prefers taking questions in formal interview settings.

Romney rarely does interviews with print media, preferring conservative broadcast outlets. He also regularly tapes interviews with local TV and radio reporters when he visits different states. But he doesn’t often allow himself to be grilled by the reporters who know him and his record best and who tend to ask the toughest questions.

The campaign also limits opportunities to watch Romney interact with voters. It says he regularly meets with middle-class families before events, but those meetings always take place in private. The campaign does not release the names of those attending.

His campaign insists that almost all interactions between reporters and campaign staff be either anonymous or completely off the record. And he’s only just now starting to allow his traveling press corps to share his campaign plane regularly. News organizations that travel with presidential candidates pay their own way, including plane fare, meals, hotels and other expenses, often thousands of dollars per day.

His aides are tight-lipped on even the most mundane issues, like travel logistics. And they are visibly averse to allowing the candidate to step into unscripted situations.

Even Romney finds a little humor in the sometimes tense relationship. While talking to reporters at the rear of his plane recently, Romney looked a few rows back at Rick Gorka, his traveling press secretary. “Rick is about to pass out. Gorka is,” he said with a laugh and added, as if speaking for Gorka, “‘What are you doing?’”

Gorka responded by waving his hand in a “wrap it up” motion.

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