Businesses Shine in Sandy Aftermath - Small Business Trends

Businesses and ordinary citizens have been notably in the lead in bringing aid to victims of Hurricane Sandy.? On the other hand, some celebrities, government agencies, and even the mayor of New York City are taking criticism for poor planning, slow response, and a lack of concern toward victims who are still suffering without food, clothing, shelter, fuel or drinkable water.? Sadly, the aftermath of Sandy is unfolding in an eerily similar way to another devastating hurricane, Katrina, where the damage proved to be worse than initially thought, the full extent of it coming to light day by terrible day.

Businesses Help the Community

The best and brightest. Some like to paint businesses as being greedy, driven only by profit.? Businesses, including small businesses, aren?t always recognized for the good they do in their communities.? Yet they play a key role in natural disasters to help citizens keep? body and soul together ? even when the business owners and their? businesses have been victims and are immersed in the same natural disaster. The Fiscal Times

A helping hand. University of Wisconsin law professor Ann Althouse refers to posts about the efforts of businesses versus those of government to aid those suffering with power outages and other problems following Sandy. The post and the commenters pose the reasonable question: Who is truly helping New Yorkers in need? Althouse

Collective effort. Help in the Hurricane?s aftermath wasn?t limited to businesses in New York City. Businesses from outside the city were quick to lend a helping hand, too. Take this report on businesses acting as collection points for donated supplies bound for victims of Hurricane Sandy. It?s just one example of how small businesses are an integral part of the charitable fabric of our communities. The Saratogan

Setting Priorities

Let them eat cake. While ordinary citizens and some businesses are going above and beyond to assist people in need, some celebrities have been, well, tone deaf.? Take actress Debra Messing.? She was blasted by local New York media for donning a Marie Antoinette costume while attending a lavish event whose resources (such as refrigerators) many say could better have been used to assist storm victims.? Of course, those celebrities may have gotten the impression everything was fine through the overly-hasty high-fives being given by public officials last Tuesday and Wednesday. The New York Post

Marathon mess up. The New York Marathon was scheduled to take place this past weekend, and up until Friday Mayor Bloomberg had declared the show must go on.? New Yorkers were outraged.? In a city where hundreds of thousands are continuing to struggle without necessities and the dead and injured are still being discovered, the Marathon became a lightning rod of criticism.? On Friday the Mayor finally caved to pressure and cancelled the event.? Even then, his statement made it sound as if protests, rather than a desire to help storm victims, are what finally caused the cancellation.? Another example of tone deaf?? The Wall Street Journal

Going the distance. Naturally the marathoners were disappointed ? some had traveled thousands of miles at considerable expense for the event.? A large number showed their grit and civic commitment by volunteering to help storm victims. This photo below from Runners World shows runners who had planned to participate in the now cancelled race, crowding the Staten Island Ferry headed to help Staten Island storm victims. Twitter via Runners World

Government Slow to Respond

Slow responders. Uh oh! While citizens and local businesses have been doing what they can, government on all levels appears to have been caught with their planning pants down. Take the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which despite its stated policy of preparedness, was soliciting bids from vendors for bottled water on? Friday, days after the storm and after rumors of running out of water started making the rounds. Breitbart

Here?s a full text of the FEMA solicitation for 470 tractor trailer or truck loads of bottled water equaling 2.3M gallons, four days after the storm had subsided.? FedBizOpps.gov

The rumor mill. Under a section labeled ?rumor control? on its Website, the Federal Emergency Management Agency insists stories about the organization running out of water are false. However, the site doesn?t state how much water the federal agency is actually distributing or in how timely a manner.? FEMA

Left in the lurch. Other parts of government are feeling the heat from citizens, too.? Residents of hard-hit Staten Island, Rockaway Beach and other places in New York and New Jersey are complaining that government at various levels has been slow to respond. With their community in shambles, residents are caught on camera expressing their frustration.? Similar reports catch residents saying, ?Where is FEMA?? Where?s the police?? Where are rescue crews? When are we going to get some help??? CBS New York

Inadequate response. ?Official help has arrived in the last couple of days, but many residents say it?s not enough and poorly organized.? Huffington Post

Photo Credits: Deidre Duffy, Reuters; Debra Messing, The New York Post; Volunteers, runnersworldmag

Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/11/businesses-shine-hurricane-sandy.html

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Duke football learns its place in the ACC

It?s no secret that the ACC?s top two teams?No. 8 Florida State and No. 10 Clemson?are in a class of their own.

The Blue Devils (6-4, 3-3 in the ACC) know that first hand after being outmatched in back-to-back losses to the two. Much like the loss to the Seminoles a week ago, Duke did little to help itself against the Tigers (8-1, 5-1) Saturday night by giving up big plays defensively and failing to take advantage of turnovers, a recipe conducive to a lopsided score against a vastly more athletic and talented opponent.

?There?s no real magic formula,? head coach David Cutcliffe said. ?The better the opponent, the more solid your game has to be fundamentally.?

Down 7-0 after a quick Clemson score, the Blue Devils were forced to settle for a field goal on their first possession after senior wide receiver Desmond Scott was unable reel in a pass from redshirt senior quarterback Sean Renfree that likely would have been a touchdown?the team?s first miscue of the night. Duke was forced to play catch up the rest of the night.

Clemson?s second touchdown came on a 58-yard bomb through the air as quarterback Tajh Boyd connected with wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins. Unlike most of the Tigers? passing touchdowns in the contest, Duke?s secondary was in position to make a play on the ball. Going stride for stride with Hopkins, redshirt junior cornerback Ross Cockrell could not break up the pass and the speedy 6-foot-2 receiver raced into the end zone for the second of his three touchdowns in the first quarter.

?There?s nothing more you could do,? Cutcliffe said. ?At first upstairs, they thought [Cockrell] knocked the ball away.?

The Blue Devils? last sign of life came when Renfree delivered a career-long 77-yard touchdown pass to Jamsion Crowder to pull Duke within four. That score, however, would be the last time the game was within reach as the Clemson offense continued to score at will throughout the first half, quickly putting the game out of reach.

?At first it wasn?t that bad,? redshirt senior cornerback Lee Butler said. ?Then they kept scoring and we couldn?t really stop them.?

FIVE KEY PLAYS: Duke vs. Clemson


2012/11/03 5 Key Plays: FB vs. Clemson - Images by Duke Student Publishing Co. Duke Chronicle

Ultimately, the secondary was unable to keep Clemson?s dynamic receiving corps of Hopkins and Sammy Watkins in front of them in the first half, preventing the Blue Devils from having a fighting chance. For the second straight game, Boyd threw for five first-half touchdown passes, racking up 344 yards on just 16 completions.

?We didn?t make enough plays in the beginning of the game to really change the outcome,? Cockrell said.

Playing without starting defensive end Kenny Anunike, Duke?s rush defense was just as vulnerable. The Tigers accumulated 339 yards on the ground and each of Clemson?s five rushers averaged more than five yards per carry.

Duke?s defense, however, won the turnover battle, managing to pick off Boyd three times on the night? the highest total in his career. The Blue Devil defense also recovered a fumble, while the offense did not turn the ball over once. Despite winning the takeaway battle 4-0 for the second straight week, the offense was unsuccessful in converting any of Clemson?s miscues into points, further dooming Duke?s chance to beat a ranked opponent for the first time since 1994.

?It?s odd,? Cutcliffe said. ?We have taken care of the ball and taken the ball away. And we are not doing anything. One of the old game actions is play for breaks, but when one comes your way score. We aren?t getting points off of turnovers. Those are what good football teams do. We have to get back to that point.?

The offense?s inability to get in groove can partially be attributed to the fact that its most reliable threat?wide receiver Conner Vernon?has been a non-factor the last two games with just eight catches for a meager 59 yards.

For a team that has given up 105 points in its last two outings and has been riddled by injuries, a bye week could not come at a better time as the team enters the final stretch of the season.

?Obviously, after the eight quarters we have played, we need one,? Cutcliffe said. ?We have a lot of significant injuries, and we?re getting thin at some places.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thechronicle/all/~3/FaTAw0-SNzM/duke-football-learns-its-place-acc

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What election? Sandy's the big story on 'SNL'

NEW YORK (AP) ? You wouldn't have known it was the Saturday before the election on "Saturday Night Live."

Sure, Mitt Romney, played by Jason Sudeikis, made a quick appearance on "Weekend Update," but otherwise much of the focus was on Superstorm Sandy ? and Mayor Michael Bloomberg's sign-language interpreter, Lydia Callis.

The real Callis has gained some pop-culture popularity with her enthusiastic interpreting of Bloomberg's words. She was back at the mayor's side at Saturday's briefing in New York and was played on "SNL" by Cecily Strong. The mayor ? played by Fred Armisen ? thanked Callis for bringing "pizazz" to her job.

Hosting Saturday's show was comedian and TV star Louis C.K. He said in the monologue of New York City: "We're still standing."

President Barack Obama didn't appear on the show.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/election-sandys-big-story-snl-062754545.html

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Rwanda's national carrier plans fleet expansion, listing

KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda's national carrier plans to more than double its aircraft fleet in the next five years, and to list on the country's stock exchange once it turns profitable, a senior company executive said.

At present Rwandair has a fleet of seven aircraft. It plans to increase this to 17 planes over the next five years, which would allow the airline to expand its route network to Europe, China and India, Chief Executive Officer John Mirenge told Reuters in an interview late on Friday.

The carrier - which is loss-making and 99 percent government-owned - recently added a new 75-seater Bombardier CRJ-900 plane which it bought from the Canadian company. The second is due to arrive on Monday.

"We have plans that after 2015 - after we have consolidated as a regional carrier - we will start operating out of the continent into Europe and also China," Mirenge said.

"We are already talking to Boeing about their 787s that can reach Europe and China with some good cargo holds that will carry the excess baggage that are required."

He said the new CRJ-900s will join Rwandair's fleet of two Boeing 737-800s, bought last year from Boeing, two Boeing 737-500s that have been operating since 2010 and a Bombardier Dash-8 turboprop that operates on domestic routes.

The seven-strong fleet is a mixture of owned and leased planes. The projected fleet of 17 would also include both owned and leased aircrafts.

"We are not looking at ourselves going into a buying spree because that burdens your balance sheet and it's not a good mix. So if the demand on a market requires it there are always planes to lease, as long as they can pay for their own survival," he said.

Mirenge, who joined Rwandair as CEO November 2010, said the company hopes to become profitable by 2015-16 and would ideally become a publicly listed company sometime around 2018-2020.

"But the government, I think, plans to start progressively divesting much earlier than that, as soon as the company is viable and starts breaking even," he added.

He said the company was also expanding its destinations and will be flying to Juba, South Sudan soon, with other possible routes including Cameroon, Zambia, Ivory Coast and Zanzibar.

Mirenge said the biggest challenges for the airline included high fuel costs, outsourcing of maintenance and the relocation fees of its team of 60 largely expatriate pilots.

Rwandair is a relatively small airline when compared with other larger carriers on the continent like Kenya Airways , South African Airways and Ethiopian Airlines.

(Editing by George Obulutsa and Sanjeev Miglani)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rwandas-national-carrier-plans-fleet-expansion-listing-081924306--finance.html

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New Twitter policy lets users see tweets pulled down for copyright

Twitter has changed the way it responds to DMCA copyright notices. Rather than removing tweets, it is ?withdrawing? them instead. This helps show when and why tweets go missing, and also brings new transparency to the DMCA process.

Twitter has made a significant shift in how it responds to copyright complaints. In the past, such complaints caused tweets to vanish without a trace but now people can see the place where a tweet once stood ? and the reaction to its disappearance.

The new policy, reported in a tweet?by a member of Twitter?s legal team, can be explained with an example. Let?s look at the Twitter account of @mikko, an executive with computer security firm F-Secure. On Saturday, Mikko posted something that led a copyright owner to demand that Twitter take the tweet down. Here is what the tweet looks like now:

This is important because everyone else who saw the original tweet will now know why it is has gone missing. Remember that, in the past, the tweet would have just vanished and a link to its location would have redirected to a page like this saying it ?doesn?t exist.? Now, others are made aware of the disappearance and can ask what happened:

In this case, we don?t know yet if the copyright complaint against Mikko is legitimate or not (I don?t know Mikko; I discovered the missing tweet by googling the text of the Twitter notice). For the purpose of this story, it doesn?t really matter ? the bigger point??is that tweets subject to a copyright notice no longer go down a memory hole. This is important to?reporters and scholars who use Twitter as a news source and now have an explanation when a piece of news vanishes due to copyright reasons.

The tweet announcing the policy suggested it was in the name of ?#transparency.? This is consistent with other efforts by Twitter to shine light on a copyright process that critics say is susceptible to abuse by content owners. In January, for instance, Twitter published 4,410 DMCA takedown requests it received in the previous year.

The DMCA refers to a law that gives internet companies like Twitter or Google immunity for copyrighted material posted by their users. To preserve this immunity, they have to take down users? material when they receive a notice from a copyright owner; the target of the notice can then send a counter-notice saying the material should not be taken down.

In an email, a Twitter spokesman explained the change in policy this way:

[W]hen we get a valid DMCA request, we withhold the tweet until such time as we get (if we ever do) a valid counter-response from the user. In this case, if someone with the permalink tries to navigate to the tweet, they?ll see that it is being withheld for copyright reasons. We also send the requests to Chilling Effects for publication. Our prior policy was to delete the Tweet without any language explaining the takedown, then manually repost the Tweet if/when we got a valid counter response.

The new Twitter policy comes as both internet companies and copyright owners are growing frustrated with the existing DMCA regime. On one hand, content creators say it is too much effort to track and send DMCA notices for each infringement. On the other hand, rights owners may be growing trigger happy with notices; Google, for instance, is now receiving more than 1 million copyright requests a month, some of which are not justified and can create a ?chilling effect? for users.

Source: http://gigaom.com/2012/11/04/new-twitter-policy-lets-users-see-tweets-pulled-down-for-copyright/

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Roadside bomb kills Afghan district police chief

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/roadside-bomb-kills-afghan-district-police-chief-081116919.html

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Country Financial Controller ? Chad | organismes.org

The Country Financial Controller will be responsible for the effective management of Concern Chad country programme?s finances.? This will include general accounting controllership, finance staff management, partner finance oversight, training, treasury management, financial planning/budgeting, and reporting.? The post holder will be responsible for ensuring proper financial management and reporting on all donor grants and other funds raised by Concern.? Maintaining and managing controls & procedures to safeguard and account for all assets, funds and interests of Concern?s operations is a crucial part of the role. The Country Financial Controller will undertake staff training & development.? Where the country operations works with partners, the Country Accountant is responsible for partner assessment, monitoring & capacity building.? The post holder is also a member of the senior management team and will participate in all key decisions relating to finance.

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

Financial Control

????????????? Maintain an effective & efficient system of internal controls which comply with Concern Worldwide?s financial guidelines.

????????????? Review existing systems on an on-going basis in order to develop and improve internal controls, in compliance with Concern?s policies and procedures

????????????? Ensure that all financial records & accounts are compiled timely, accurately and in line with international accounting standards & donor regulations

????????????? Ensure that the country financial operations comply with legal & statutory requirements e.g. audit & financial reporting to all relevant national authorities.

????????????? Ensure that country management prepares the annual & revised Country budget and donor budgets, as accurately as possible.

Financial Reporting

????????????? Ensure timely & accurate preparation of monthly management accounts for budget-holders and Country Management to ensure that they can take appropriate action on any significant variances.

????????????? Ensure timely & accurate preparation of quarterly financial reports for Dublin (Financial Reporting Pack (FRP))

????????????? Ensure timely & accurate preparation of donor reports for external donors / agencies.

????????????? Reconcile all balance sheet items on a quarterly basis, in accordance with Concern Worldwide policies & procedures

????????????? Finalise year end accounts for external auditor and provide any ad-hoc year reports for Dublin Finance.

Financial Systems

????????????? Ensure that country financial management systems & records are adequate in order to identify and protect the assets & interest of the organization.

????????????? Ensure that the systems in place, enhance, as far as possible, the efficiency & effectiveness of the manner in which assets are utilized

????????????? Ensure that the global accounting package (Microsoft Great Plains) is maintained in a proper manner, and utilized in an appropriate & effective manner.

????????????? Establish & maintain a donor financial management system in order to optimize funding & to ensure efficient & accurate reporting to donors.

????????????? Ensure adequate controls over cash & bank management are constantly monitored & updated to minimize the risk of fraud or misappropriation.

????????????? Undertake regular field visits in order to assess the financial systems in place & implement improvements wherever needed.

Capacity Building

????????????? Develop the capacity of the local finance team in N?Djamena, Goz-Beida and Gore to ensure that a good standard of financial management is maintained.

????????????? Develop a second layer of staff who can fill the gap whenever any position is vacant in the finance team.

????????????? Undertake financial training of budget-holders, to assist them in enforcing financial controls & making decisions based on financial reports.

Other financial duties

????????????? Facilitate internal, external & donor audits

????????????? Ensure that all statutory deductions & taxes in respect of national staff are complied with & to liaise with relevant authorities in this respect.

????????????? Assist in the development & implementation of the Country?s Strategic Plan

????????????? Any other finance-related assignments

Ville

N?Djamena

Exp?riences / Formation du candidat

ESSENTIAL

Education, Qualifications & Experience Required:

Accountancy Qualification (e.g. CPA, ACA, ACCA)

3 years post qualification experience

Experience managing large programme budgets

Previous experience in Concern or a similar organization

Fluent English and intermediate French or higher

DESIRABLE

Education, Qualifications & Experience Required:

Experience in preparing budgets and reports for international donors.

Experience in staff capacity development and management

Knowledge of development issues and concepts.

Experience of working/living in an insecure environment

Ability to work under pressure to meet tight deadlines

Good team worker

Good Communication and Networking Skills

All applications should be submitted through our website at?https://jobs.concern.net?by the stated closing date CV?s should be no more than 4 pages in length.

Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer posts before the closing date.

Langues parl?es du candidat

English and French

Dur?e du contrat

2 years

Salaire / Indemnit?

?31, 853 to ?38, 944 and benefits

Postuler en ligne

https://jobs.concern.net

Date de fin de validit? de l?annonce

16/11/2012

Source: http://www.organismes.org/country-financial-controller-chad/

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Consumer Debt is Up ? But is it All Bad? The Theory of ?Good? Debt

Post image for Consumer Debt is Up ? But is it All Bad? The Theory of ?Good? Debt

?Debt? is a dirty word. It makes people cringe, but it doesn?t have to?there is such a thing as good debt. Typically, when people talk about this brand of debt, they list three in particular: student loans, auto loans, and mortgages. More generally, you can understand so-called ?good? debt as a loan that is either a necessity?your car?or one that promises a bigger and brighter future?with higher education. That?s one reason why some people are still optimistic about the American consumer debt profile: student loans may be up, but at least credit card debt is down.

The thing is, people define that ?better future? differently. For some, it?s simply financial solvency, and for others it?s the guarantee of a Beamer with a subwoofer in the back. For others still, some traditionally ?good? are no longer so, thanks to the recession. As you?ll see below, however, the decline of ?good? debt is a bit overhyped. Simply put, good debt remains good debt until you?re unable to pay it off.

Your education

An education is an investment, and one you expect will yield dividends in the future. Even entry-level jobs typically require a 4-year degree, and, as you move up the ladder, that list of requirements can grow. And there?s reason: a higher salary demands higher education.

To get there, many students have to take out a student loan. And for many of them, that student loan is ?good? debt, if begrudgingly so, because their degree is an investment.

There is, of course, a caveat to my endorsement of student loans. Especially since 2007, some critics have bashed appraisals like mine as, well, smacking of privilege. And to some extent, they?re absolutely correct. For some, student loans are a boon, and, for others, a burden, one they?ll be shrugging off for years. Some simply can?t escape loans, at which point this good debt becomes absolutely terrible debt: if you default on your student loans, they don?t go away, even if you declare bankruptcy. You may also end up ineligible for future loans.

You do not want that future. But if you?re financially less fortunate, it?s a future you?ll have to consider prudently.? If you know you?ll have to finance quite a bit of your higher education with student loans, then you should also have a very clear budget and even a career path.

Jane E. Babel, who counsels high school students about post-secondary education, lays out clear steps for her clients. ?If they aren?t sure about their future career plans, I tell them to start with this figure: $45,000. That is the median salary of a college graduate in this country, according to the U.S. Department of Education,? she said. Once a student arrives at a projected salary, he or she should take out in loans no more than their anticipated annual income.

There are quite a few ways to cut corners, too. Attend community college for a couple years and then transfer to a four-year university, apply to public, in-state schools, and, if possible, live at home.

Whatever the plan, the college-bound need to ensure that their student loans don?t slide from good debt?a reasonable income and good credit?to bad debt?a low-paying career and years of loans.

Your Car

In her song ?Handshakes,? Emily Haines, of the band Metric, sings over wailing guitars: ?Buy this car to drive to work / Drive to work to pay for this car / Buy this car to drive to work / Drive to work to pay for this car.? It goes on like that.

Haines expresses with style what we all know about your auto loan: it?s a loan you just can?t do without?unless you have the cash to pay for your car up front, or, for the select few, you live just down the block from the office. Your auto loan is ?good? debt simply because you need wheels.

The degree of its ?goodness? depends on the borrower?s tastes. If you?re a car enthusiast, your car?s sheen, make, model, and year are of utmost importance. Because it finances the hobby you love, your loan may even be a great debt.

But for others, this debt?s ?goodness? is a much more precarious attribute. Unlike your home, your car almost surely will not appreciate in value. While your home, with fix-ups, renovations, and additions, may indeed increase in value, it?s extremely rare that your car will do the same. Its value begins depreciating as soon as you get behind the wheel.

If your auto is simply a means to get to and from work and nothing more, then you should take a look at used cars. Otherwise that ?good? debt could become awfully burdensome.

Your home

Your mortgage is a unique investment, unlike stocks and bonds.

?Real estate is one of the actual investments that you can take on that is tangible,? said Michael Shenfeld, a real estate consultant in Chicago. ?It?s a place where you can live.?

Your mortgage is versatile, too: y. You can also use it as capital?if you borrow against it with a home equity loan?or as income?if you sell once you?re ready to leave.

For the aforementioned reasons, economists have traditionally called mortgages ?good? debt. That term, however, has been especially contentious since 2007, when the lending bubble burst and, in many areas, home prices plummeted.

The big picture, however, is much more nuanced. ?Negative publicity sells and people have been down about the market ever since it started to slip right around 2007 or 2008,? Shenfeld said. Home prices are on the rise, though, and Shenfeld expects they will continue to do so.

Moreover, the bubble that burst wasn?t necessarily a national one: it was a collection of smaller bubbles, specific to each given community. For example, on the north side of Chicago, where Shenfeld works, the real estate market wasn?t hit quite as hard as some its Midwestern neighbors, including Detroit.

?We never really had the bubble that other areas had,? he said. Lending practices were tighter than, say, those in California real estate, a market that Shenfeld?s studied in depth. Out West, some sellers expected their homes to appreciate as much as 100% or even 300% percent, Shenfeld said. In inflated markets like that one, sellers and lenders have suffered a much more extreme correction: the bubble grew quite large, and, once it burst, it got quite a few wet.

Chicago was much luckier. ?Our standard appreciation was 5.9%, so it didn?t need much correcting,? Shenfeld said. The reason: ?Conservative people, conservative investors, conservative buyers.?

Your mortgage?s ?goodness,? then, really is a matter of where you live and, of course, your own personal finances. In fact, if you can afford to move, and you?d like a larger home, you can often find one at much lower price and with much lower interest rates.? Even if you do sell low, you can buy even lower if you play your cards right.

Source: http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/2012/consumer-debt-bad-theory-good-debt/

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The Travel Roller | Fitness Town Health and Fitness Blog

How many of you stretched after your last workout? Yeah, even if I could see a show of hands, I think that showing would be slim.

I, too, am guilty of skipping the stretch part of my workout. Although I know it?s good for me, sometimes even us trainer?s don?t always do what?s expected of us.

One thing that I have found to help offset my lack of stretching, though, is rolling. While I may not have the time right after my workout for those pesky good-for-me stretches, I always have some spare time in the evening to roll out my tired and shortened muscles.

A lot of people have heard of foam rolling ? which is awesome. Foam rolling is a form of myofascial release, which is just a fancy word for working out the kinks and knots in the muscles.

While foam is one of the more popular ways to roll the muscles of the body, I much prefer the Travel Roller as my human rolling pin. Read more?

About PJ

PJ is the exercise & fitness half of the Go Fit Gal team. The Go Fit Gals provide online nutrition, diet & fitness programs. Getting fit & healthy has never been easier! Check them out at www.gofitgals.com.

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McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe feels confident about 2012 ...

McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe feels confident about 2012 Abu Dhabi GP ? Formula 1 news

McLaren technical director Paddy Lowe has said that they are hoping to come up stronger in the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and are confident that they will not face any issue with the soft Pirelli compound tyres at Yas Marina Circuit this weekend.

Jenson Button of the Woking based team could only secure 5th place finish in the Indian GP because of his poor start on soft tyres. Although, he seemed very strong on the hard compound later but after losing some crucial time in the beginning, he failed to improve his position.

On the other hand, his teammate, Lewis Hamilton came 4th in the charts and remained unable to secure a podium finish because he also struggled with his pace on soft tyres.

Nevertheless, Lowe has said that they have resolved the problem and are aiming to attain competitive result in the approaching race. ?

?We very much hope not, but it was a particularly bad problem for us in India,? he told the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes phone-in. ?There is something about the nature of that track that seems to be quite unusual so we're optimistic that won't reoccur here. We've had that compound in previous races this season and it hasn't been a problem so hopefully it won't be a problem this weekend.?

Furthermore, Button said that the competition has been very tough in the season so far and they are expecting an intense fight amongst the top three teams in the remaining three grands prix. ?

?It's going to be very competitive here and I think a couple of other teams that have been strong in the latter stages of the season will be strong as well,? Button said.

Therefore, he said that they are trying their best to keep on making the substantial developments in their car in order to compete with their rivals in the forthcoming races.

Presently, the British team is standing at third place in the constructors? championship. Additionally, they are ahead of Lotus and are behind their main opponent, Ferrari.

It will be thrilling to see how all the contenders perform in the remainder of the season.

Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/McLaren-technical-director-Paddy-Lowe-feels-confident-about-2012-Abu-Dhabi-GP-Formula-1-news-a198316

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