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TajaKuzman
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X-GENRE-text-genre-dataset

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Yesterday, for the first time in 9 years, I emailed my psychiatrist and lied to him about being sick so that I could cancel my appointment. I don't remember the last time that I missed a session. He could tell I was lying and asked how I was doing emotionally, I wasn't doing particularly well at my last session two weeks ago, but I wouldn't budge and claimed it came on suddenly. I feel mad at therapy right now. I feel mad about everything right now. I feel like I should be better by now. Over the last month I've been slipping back into a super dark place. I won't deny that I made a shit load of progress but right now it feels like I haven't made any of it. I don't feel like I'm able to put the skills I know that I have to work right now. I don't want to. I'd just like to have some semblance of normal. Just a tad, without having to take medication for it or to have to go to see a psychiatrist or to have to tell myself a fuckton of mantras that I don't even believe anyway and I know saying I don't give a shit means that I give a shit but fuck me I'm so tired of trying. I went from being a person who overshared my life with almost everyone I would meet to being someone who hardly talks to even my closest friends. I keep everything all knotted up inside now and the rage and the anger becomes almost unbearable and I'm on this medication that is supposed to help with my fight or flight reflex and I don't think it's working, except for the drying my mouth out and giving me bad breath bit, but then again I think it might be and then I get scared thinking why do I still want to lash out in anger so severely why can I go for months at a time now and be sure as sure can be that I'm over something and then it still comes roaring back like it never left and I fall backwards for days. Or is this part of getting better? That when I do go down for the count is it harder now because I have had a lot of good? This feels different though, it feels old hat. It feels like it's been brewing. A while back my psychiatrist made a comment in regards to how when my depression gets to a certain level that I tend to use my suicidal thoughts as a go to . I was ready to hear that and I've been able to use it since he said it to mostly curb them. As soon as they come on I say to myself stop using these horrendous thoughts to torture yourself it's only a go to, knock it off dumb ass -- or something similar. This and learning forms of meditation were working for a while or so it seemed. I seem to have gone so inward that now I can't get out. I keep telling everyone that I'm fine and that it'll pass. I'm not fine but it probably will pass. But it's hard not to be disappointed in myself. I don't want to be throwing tantrums on Twitter or feeling so low and losery that I can't even run. That's when I know it's really bad, is when I don't want to run. Don't give two fucks that I haven't ran since Monday. I'm supposed to be pacing someone in a race tomorrow. Nope, won't be beating myself up AT ALL for letting my friend down, it isn't like I don't let my friends down ALL THE FUCKING TIME, because I suck at friends. That is actually part of my problem, part of where all of my pent up rage and shit is coming from. It's guilt because I let my depression win and rule my friendships and so I'm unreliable and I let people down and I won't let people in and so they give up because I make them, I don't give them another choice because I truly don't know how. ttp://gusgreeper.com Corinna Carlson thank you kindly for your supportive comments, they are always very much appreciated. Tod M We don't know each other well, but I follow your blog and Instagram. It DOES get better -- you know this. If tomorrow sucks, call it a day, make popcorn, crawl into bed, and watch bad TV. And try again tomorrow. {{HUGS}} ttp://twitter.com/EatsShootsEdits Steven Schwartz I for one have never and will never give up on you. I know the wonderful Corinna. I do not pressure you to spend time with you even though I miss you, because I know you are on a journey. Just know I am always here and always available for you. You do not have to be well or at your best for me to be your friend. Good or Bad, healthy or ill you are my friend I put zero conditions on it. You have given me so much more than you know, I am a better person for being your friend. ttp://twitter.com/Kenzie20 Kenzie Someday, I am going to come to Canada, and you and I are going to have a long chat over coffee (or beers or whatever) about wanting to feel normal. And then afterwards we can go hide in a bookstore and read or something. hugs	Opinion/Argumentation	CORE	English
Enjoy fun science experiments for kids that feature awesome hands-on projects and activities that help bring the exciting world of science to life. Make an Egg Float in Salt Water An egg sinks to the bottom if you drop it into a glass of ordinary drinking water but what happens if you add salt? The results are very interesting and can teach you some fun facts about density. What you'll need: One egg Water Salt A tall drinking glass Instructions: Pour water into the glass until it is about half full. Stir in lots of salt (about 6 tablespoons). Carefully pour in plain water until the glass is nearly full (be careful to not disturb or mix the salty water with the plain water). Gently lower the egg into the water and watch what happens. What's happening? Salt water is denser than ordinary tap water, the denser the liquid the easier it is for an object to float in it. When you lower the egg into the liquid it drops through the normal tap water until it reaches the salty water, at this point the water is dense enough for the egg to float. If you were careful when you added the tap water to the salt water, they will not have mixed, enabling the egg to amazingly float in the middle of the glass.	Instruction	CORE	English
It is said that human resource professionals only look at a resume for an average of 30 seconds. So you only have 30 seconds to stand out from a crowd and make a great first impression! How do you do that? Here are a few pointers to get you started. Formatting While everyone seems to have their own personal opinion on format, the truth is really it's about the content. If you need help or a starting point, there are a number of websites that offer different templates and resume suggestions. Here are a few formatting suggestions: Keep it clear and concise -- use headings for your sections (ex. Experience, Education, etc.) and rather than paragraphs use bullet points to explain your experience For someone with a lot of experience, it is okay to have a two page resume -- if you haven't had a lot of experience, a one page resume is appropriate (if you have a CV or research background different guidelines apply) Layout can and should vary -- if you are a new graduate you should consider beginning with your education; if you are a professional with some good experience to showcase begin with that -- whichever way, be sure that each section is listed in reverse chronological order Unless references are asked for, do not include them on your resume -- also, it is not necessary to state 'References available upon request' at the bottom. Most employers will not hesitate to ask for references if they need them and including this statement on your resume is just stating the obvious Contact information A common mistake that is easy to avoid is an unprofessional e-mail address. Don't think that this is just students or young professionals; there are plenty of experienced professionals with inappropriate or unprofessional personal e-mail addresses as well. Also, include contact information that you can actually be contacted at. If you are currently in a job, we strongly advise that you do not give out your company e-mail or office phone number as contact information for prospective employers. You never know when an employer may contact you. Content Focus on measurables -- rather than providing the employer with a job description of past roles, focus on your accomplishments. Use statements that include action words, such as attract, make, save, etc. Examples of measurable statements: Grew sales by X% in a nine state territory to an annual sales revenue of $X Led X number of people in a department that oversaw the marketing of X number of products Successfully attracted X number of new customers within one year, an increase of X% to the overall customer database in the Eastern region Some people like to include a career objective or skills profile within their resume, while this is something that is not standard it can sometimes be helpful to quickly give a snapshot of abilities. If you choose to include something like this, be sure that it is tailored to the job that you are applying for. Using keywords in these introduction sections that have been featured in the job posting can be an easy way to catch an employer's interest. It can be difficult to know how far to go back in your work history. If you are a seasoned professional this can be particularly important to avoid any type of age discrimination. As a general rule, it is most appropriate to include the past 15 years of experience. As a young professional, if you have built up some good work experience, don't feel that you need to include your part time work from high school unless it directly relates to the position that you are interested in. If you are struggling for good work experience content, you can use your part time work and try to draw again on the measurable or business skills that you picked up. If you have a gap in your resume the best place to explain the reasons is in your cover letter. If it was a minimal amount of time you can sometimes cover these gaps by using years rather than months when including dates in your work experience. Resume databases If you post your resume to a database, there are things that can be done to get your resume recognized. First of all, be sure to keep your resume up-to-date. Many resume databases will remove or deactivate resumes that haven't been updated in three to six months. Use keywords within your resume that an employer might use to search for candidates with your qualifications and skills. You can use current job postings that may be of interest to you -- look at the words used in those and select a few keywords that you can use in your resume. Keywords can be incorporated into your resume in your past work experience and/or your career objective. While we hope you are happy in your current job and won't need your resume, it doesn't hurt to keep it fresh. Updating your resume is much easier as you go. For more information, contact AgCareers.com at agcareers@agcareers.com .	Instruction	CORE	English
This year will be a boom year -- for scaremongering But before you start wondering what I'm "on" to make a comment like that, let me explain: I believe this is going to be a boom year for fright. There is no shortage of scary stuff in the media. Things like "House prices are unaffordable!"; "Property prices will crash"; "Europe's financial system will fall apart"; "Which economy will topple next?"; "It's China's turn for a property bubble"; "Will America go into recession again?"; "Britney Spears does it again!" Every year is a boom year Of course just about every year is a boom year for fright. As far back as I can remember there have always been scary stories in the media. And looking back over the years I have invested through many property slowdowns, share market crashes, periods of double-digit interest rates and periods when people thought housing was unaffordable or would never go up in value again. Yet despite all of this the value of my properties keeps doubling, allowing me to refinance and buy even more properties. Like I said, there's always bad news in the media. I remember in the late 1980s the cry was, "Don't buy houses... they can't go up in value. Your kids will never be able to afford them." Then there were similar headlines in late 2003 and predictions of our property markets collapsing in 2008. There always seemed to be scary headlines about a grim future that could have given me plenty of reasons not to invest in property. Before the global warming crisis there was an over-population crisis with politicians, environmentalist and economists predicting massive food shortages, rioting in the streets and an impending collapse of society. I even recall a panic about global cooling. Of course, the media gets more mileage out of this type of story. Journalists find it hard to get readers' interest reporting on the unemployment rate being well below the long-term average, an economy that is the envy of most nations, a resources boom the likes of which we haven't seen in a century and 19 years of continuous economic growth for Australia. This is boring. Take a long-term view As a property investor you need to take a long-term view and refuse to be scared by the next boogey man jumping out from behind the bushes. To be successful you need to step back and take a big-picture view. The fact is, this week somebody's getting married, somebody's looking forward to having a baby, somebody's getting promoted, somebody's getting transferred, somebody's getting divorced. A lot of people are happening to get rich. This year more than 150,000 new households will be formed in Australia and they are all going to have to live somewhere. Those who can't afford to buy will have to rent. This means the long-term fundamentals -- in fact the medium-term fundamentals -- for our property markets are very sound. And if you take a long-term perspective, you'll be able to spot and act on opportunities that arise this year, as many potential home buyers and investors get scared by this boom year for fright. Is this a year of opportunity? This could well be a year of opportunities for property investors who are willing and able to see the big picture. But remember: what you look for is what you see. If you look for bad news you'll find it. On the other hand if you look for opportunities, you will find them. And boy, are there opportunities out there at present. What determines property prices? While many factors, including supply and demand, affordability, interest rates and the economy, affect property values, I have observed: Short-term property price movements (one to three years) are usually determined by market sentiment (which is currently very low) Medium- to long-term property price movements are determined by two main factors: population growth and the wealth of the nation . Despite what some people would like, strong population growth in Australia is a given (to replace our ageing baby boomers) and as a matter of fact so is our increasing wealth. I don't think that anyone would argue that as a nation Australia will become wealthier over the next 15 years. Australia is well positioned to benefit from the growth of Asia, which represents 50% of the world's population. We have vast resources that will be required by our growing neighbours and we're at the beginning of the mother of all resources booms. However, rising property prices, decreasing affordability, changing sentiment and fluctuating supply were a volatile mix that caused our property markets to slump. And now we are in a buyers' market. But the funny thing is that buyers don't buy in a buyers' market -- yet smart investors do! They recognise that the current market presents them with a smorgasbord of opportunities and they step up and take advantage of them. I've found that when there's lots of bad news people believe times are going to be tough forever, just like when things are good people forget the bad times ever existed and think that things are going to remain good forever. Neither case is true! In fact during booms people are most confident when they should probably be the least confident, as things can't continue travelling at breakneck speed and above average rates of growth. Similarly, during the market slowdowns, things eventually turn around. Ironically, people have the least confidence when it's more likely that things are going to improve -- that is, when markets are near their lowest point. Now is the right time to educate yourself and get set to take advantage of the opportunities that this stage of the cycle presents. Yes, things have slowed, and property prices have fallen over the past 18 months. And they will continue to fall in some areas. But this is a normal part of the ups and downs of the property cycle. As always, while some people worry about the bad news and sit on the sidelines, astute investors will set themselves up for the next stage of the property cycle by purchasing well-located real estate. property observer Network partners Property Observer is Australia's number one property investment website for investors and savvy buyers, featuring property news , property information, market forecasts and expert commentary and analysis . Property Observer covers all aspects of real estate, including residential property and commercial property, throughout Australia and around the world. Property Observer offers everything you need to know about selling your house, buying a house and the property cycle, as well as tips on property management and when and how to invest in property.	Opinion/Argumentation	CORE	English
Mark Twain is said to have remarked that a gold rush is a good time to be in the pick and shovel business. Investors may be able to apply that same bit of wisdom to the growing number of U.S. states that have legalized pot. Although federal law prohibits the sale or possession of marijuana, Massachusetts last week joined the ranks of states -- 18 plus Washington, D.C. -- that allow its use for people suffering from chronic illnesses like cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. In Washington and Colorado, meanwhile, voters passed an initiative to allow pot for recreational use. How to invest in legalized Marijuana Several states made recreational use of marijuana last week, and there are several small-cap stocks that stand to gain from the drugs growing acceptance. Photo: AP. Those changes have kickstarted a small but fast-growing medical-marijuana industry, estimated to be worth about $1.7 billion as of 2011, according to See Change Strategy, an independent financial-analysis firm that specializes in new markets. In Colorado alone, sales topped $181 million in 2010, and the business employed 4,200 state-licensed workers, says Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association , a nonprofit trade group that campaigns for marijuana's federal legalization. In addition to profiting itself from growing and selling marijuana, the industry benefits a slew of other businesses, such as insurers, lawyers and agricultural-equipment firms, experts say. "Call it the 'green rush,'" says Derek Peterson, CEO of GrowOp Technology, an online retailer of hydroponics -- products used in the cultivation of indoor plants -- and a subsidiary of OTC stock Terra Tech /quotes/zigman/8701126 /quotes/nls/trtc TRTC +1.19% . "The industry is expanding, and there are all kinds of investment opportunities." For regular investors looking to get in on the action -- and without having to actually grow or sell drugs -- there are several small-cap stocks that stand to gain from marijuana's growing acceptance. Medbox /quotes/zigman/7157004 /quotes/nls/mdbx MDBX -90.24% , an OTC stock with a $45 million market cap, for example, sells its patented dispensing machines to licensed medical-marijuana dispensaries. The machines, which dispense set doses of the drug, after verifying patients' identities via fingerprint, could potentially be used in ordinary drugstores too, says Medbox founder Vincent Mehdizadeh. Based in Hollywood, Calif., the company already has 130 machines in the field, and it expects to install an additional 40 in the next quarter. "The smart money is trying to help with compliance and transparency," Mehdizadeh says. Expelled U.S. Olympian: Yeah, I ate marijuana Nicholas Delpopolo becomes the first U.S. Olympian in London to be disqualified for failing a drug test. Of course, investing in drugs the federal government still outlaws poses enormous risks to investors, says Sam Kamin, a law professor and the director of the Constitutional Rights & Remedies Program at the University of Denver. In fact, nearly 500 of the estimated 3,000 dispensaries nationwide have either been closed by the federal government or shut down in the past year, says a spokesman for StickyGuide.com , an online directory and review site for medical marijuana dispensaries -- and yet another ancillary business that's currently seeking investors. That said, there are many companies that appear to be betting on a change in federal law. Steep Hill is a quality-control laboratory that tests medical marijuana to see if there's any contamination from mold, bacteria or harmful pesticides. The company, based in Oakland, Calif., is also actively seeking funding of up to $3 million. David Lampach, co-founder and president of Steep Hill, expects a federal law legalizing medical marijuana within the next decade. Cannabis Science in Colorado Springs, Colo. /quotes/zigman/11136879 /quotes/nls/cbis CBIS +2.33% , an OTC stock with a market cap of $41 million, is developing marijuana-based medicines to help cancer and HIV/AIDS patients. "We're at the beginning of the revolution in medicine," says CEO Robert Melamede. Other companies are creating a range of quirky products that allow people to use marijuana without smoking it. Medical Marijuana /quotes/zigman/548382 /quotes/nls/mjna MJNA -7.45% , an OTC stock with a $69 million market cap, based in San Diego, Calif., offers more than 50 ways to ingest marijuana , from Dixie Elixir soda to Dixie Chill ice-cream and a range of Dixie Edibles, like chocolate truffles and crispy rice treats. While experts say competition in the medical-marijuana business is growing fast, they add that there are also still plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs. For example, Troy Dayton, president and CEO of ArcView Group , an angel investor network for the industry, says demand has been growing for handheld tobacco vaporizers like those made by Ploom (which charges $250 for its "premium loose-leaf vaporizer"). "There's a rush now to make the ideal vaporizer," Dayton says. "There's still room for a kingmaker in this space." In the meantime, at least one drug company is directly selling medical marijuana to patients around the world. GW Pharmaceuticals /quotes/zigman/286334 /quotes/nls/gwprf GWPRF +0.19% , based in London, markets Sativex, billed as the world's first marijuana-based medicine. With a market cap of around $137 million, it's listed on the Alternative Investment Market, a submarket of the London Stock Exchange. Sativex is currently sold as a mouth spray to help alleviate symptoms of multiple sclerosis in several countries, including the U.K., New Zealand, Germany, Spain, Denmark and Canada, a spokesman says, and it is currently seeking FDA approval in the U.S. for use as a pain reliever in late-stage cancer patients.	Instruction	CORE	English
Study News Tuesday, 30th October 2012 One year down, three to go! We are now one year into our research study, and what a year it's been! Thanks to everyone who took part and helped us make the last year a successful step towards our mission of defeating dementia in Down's syndrome. But we're not quite there yet, and we have another three years to go before the project is finished! We've seen lots of people since we started, and 21 people have now been to Cambridge to have their brain scans. But we still need about 40 new people to help us! If you or someone you know is interested, we'd love to hear from you. This website contains all the information you need to get in touch, so we hope to hear from you soon! Until then, we'll keep you updated right here, so don't forget to stop by whenever you have a minute to see how we're getting on! Liam. Monday, 3rd September 2012 The Down's Syndrome Energy Study. It's been a busy summer here in Cambridge for the Down's syndrome research group . Almost 20 people have visited Liam and Tiina in Cambridge to have brain scans, and there are more on their way over the next couple of weeks! But we still need more people to come and help us, so please do get in touch if you're interested. It's also been a busy summer for Kate , who has been setting up a new Down's syndrome project. Kate wants to know why some people with Down's syndrome find it difficult to do exercise. She thinks that people with Down's syndrome might have problems with their mitochondria (click HERE to hear how this word sounds). These are like 'little energy factories' inside our cells which help us to make energy. Kate would like people with Down's syndrome to help with her research by coming to Cambridge and doing some exercise. If you would like to know more about Kate's study, you can click on HERE . I know she would love to hear from you! Thanks for keeping up to date with our study, and there'll be more news soon about how we're getting on with our work to defeat dementia in Down's syndrome! Liam. Friday, 6th July 2012 Full steam ahead! We're now well under way with our project, and Tiina and I have been very busy indeed since our last update. We've been plodding on through wind and rain, visiting people all over England. There are now 21 people who have volunteered for our study, and 12 of those people have already been to visit us at the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre in Cambridge. At this point, we'd just like to say a big thank you to all of those ladies and gentlemen who have helped us out so far, you've been fantastic! So now we are going full steam ahead, but the search for volunteers is still on! We need lots more people to help us complete our project, so if you're interested please get in touch, and help us to Defeat Dementia in Down's Syndrome! Liam Friday, 27th April 2012 A strangely dry spa day in Cambridge It has been another busy busy month for Liam and I. We have found ourselves driving by the beautiful scenery of The Cotswold landscape (not that we are complaining!) and explored the small towns of Suffolk and Norfolk counties. Unfortunately, we have mostly been accompanied by clouds and rain with an odd sunny day a week. So there has been even more reasons to shelter in the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre in Cambridge, where the kettle is always warm and the beds of the scanners are comfortable and welcoming. At least this is what we believe. We hope that the two individuals, who visited the brain imaging centre with us, feel the same. After all, they were the lucky ones who had a chance to relax on the comfy beds while listening to their favourite music..We hope it felt more like a strange dry spa break, now who wouldn't want that? Mmm (dreaming..) Tiina Thursday, 29th March 2012 Twelve is the magic number A warm welcome to our followers! It has been the most sunniest and warmest week in March -- I hope you all have had plenty of chances to soak up the sun! Liam and I, on the other hand, have been seeing the sun mostly through the windows of our car as we have been extremely busy with driving to visit our participants all across the eastern counties and beyond! Nevertheless, it is a great pleasure to announce that we have successfully recruited and consented 12 individuals with Down's syndrome, whom have very kindly agreed to help us with the study. We have been treated very well at our participants' homes and greeted with cakes, biscuits and tea -more than we would ever expect! So thank you very much for the families for being so kind to us and for giving us a chance to tell you, why we are so passionate about what we do. I take my hat off to you, the 12 participants and their families, for sharing our passion and for helping us Defeat Dementia in Down's Syndrome! Tiina Wednesday, 8th February 2012 The prologue Today is a happy day for our research team -- an article about 'Defeat Dementia in Down's Syndrome' study was published on Cambridge University website and in Business Weekly . In addition, Cambridge News and Disabled and Supportive Care (D&SC) magazine have also expressed interest in featuring the article. We are glad that we can bring public's attention to the importance of this research and to the implications the results of this study might have in the future. On the same happy note, we are glad to announce that we have officially moved into recruitment phase and have already consented two adults with Down's syndrome, whom have agreed to participate in this research! Hopefully, more people will be able to help us in the future towards our goal of defeating dementia in Down's syndrome!	News	CORE	English
Where are the ladies? where are the shadies? The Lizas, the Lotties and Lous? Where have they gone to? You know they want to All go in Revues Girls don't go off to work, all bus'ness now they shirk They've got in Revue On Revue there's now a run, if you'd like to go in one I'll tell you what to do Well, you've got to do this and you've got to do that If you want to get on in Revue Your Maudies and Bessies must wear pretty dresses And a dainty little shoe Plenty of ginger, snap your finger Let the Johnnies in the stalls get a view Have a smile on your face, show a little bit of lace If you want to get on in Revue. Flossie the Flapper was courting a Sapper Who from the front came home on leave And without any warning, he found that she'd gone in A Revue called 'I'VE SOMETHING UP MY SLEEVE' The first night that he got back, To the stage door he made a track To see his little Flossie, but he sighed For he found another battalion there Waiting for his Flossie fair When he said 'What's your game?' she calmly replied, 'Well, you've got to do this and you've got to do that If you want to get on in Revue The night may be 'parky' when a nice young man in Khaki Says, 'Come in my Lotus for a mile or two' If it's fine or if it's raining, remember he's in training 'Sit with me at the back' he'll say to you 'It's as soft as a sofa' but you're safer with the chauffeur If you want to get on in Revue.'	Prose/Lyrical	CORE	English
Majority in U.S. Still Say Government Doing Too Much But fewer Americans now say government has too much power by Frank Newport PRINCETON, NJ -- A majority of Americans (54%) continue to believe the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses, although that is down from the record high of 61% earlier this summer. About four in 10 Americans (39%) say the government should do more to solve the nation's problems. Only a few times in Gallup's 20-year history of asking this question has a higher percentage of Americans said the government should do more to solve the nation's problems than said the government is doing too much. Two of these were in the fall of 1992 and again in early 1993, as Bill Clinton ran for and took office as president. Another was in October 2001, just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and at a time when Americans were especially supportive of government and its efforts to help the nation recover from the attacks and retaliate against those who were responsible. Americans have been most likely to say the government was attempting to do too much during the middle years of the Clinton administration, and in recent years during the Obama administration. These data were collected as part of Gallup's annual Governance survey, conducted Sept. 6-9, which overlapped the end of the Democratic convention. Other Gallup measures from this poll, including satisfaction with the way things are going in the U.S. , were more positive this year than previously, suggesting that the convention may have made at least temporary changes in Americans' perceptions. Major Partisan Divide on Appropriate Role of Government The appropriate role of government in addressing the nation's problems is one of the most divisive issues in this year's presidential election. President Barack Obama tends to support the idea that government should do more to address the country's problems, while Mitt Romney generally takes the opposite view. It is thus no surprise to find large partisan differences in Americans' views on the appropriate role of government. Two-thirds of Democrats think government should do more, while an even larger percentage of Republicans say government is doing too much that should be left to individuals and businesses. More than six in 10 independents agree that the government is doing too much. Fewer Say Government Has Too Much Power A separate question in the Sept. 6-9 poll asked Americans to characterize the scope of government power. Americans are now basically split between those who say the federal government has too much power and those who say it has either the right amount of or too little power. This marks a change from the last two years; 57% last year and 59% in 2010 said the government has too much power. Gallup first asked this question in September 2002, and found a majority of Americans saying the government had about the right amount of power -- no doubt a legacy of the strong support the government and government institutions received after the 9/11 terrorist attacks of the previous year. By September 2005, however, these views had flipped, and more Americans said the government had too much power than felt its power was about right -- and this has been the case each year since. Partisans' views on the government's power are related to which party is in power. Republicans have been much more likely to agree that government has too much power since 2009, under a Democratic president, while they were comparatively less likely to say the government had too much power from 2002 through 2008, under a Republican president. The fact that Democrats for most of the Bush administration were more likely than Republicans to say the government had too much power probably reflected Democrats' negative views on government power in the Bush years in terms of fighting terrorism, the Patriot Act, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Once Obama took office, however, these partisan views changed, and Republicans' concern about government power overtook Democrats'. This partly reflects Republicans' views on the role of government spending and government power in domestic and economic affairs. Bottom Line Americans continue to say the government is attempting to do too much that should be left to individuals and businesses, and about half say the government has too much power, while the rest say that its power is about right or that it has too little power. These views have moderated somewhat compared with prior surveys, most likely as a result of the apparently successful Democratic convention, which resulted in changes in a number of Gallup trends. Republicans are much more likely to say the government is doing too much and has too much power than are Democrats, underscoring one of the most meaningful partisan and ideological divides facing the country today -- and one that will continue to play out in the presidential campaign this fall. Sign up to get Election 2012 news stories from Gallup as soon as they are published. Survey Methods Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Sept. 6-9, 2012, with a random sample of 1,017 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points. Interviews are conducted with respondents on landline telephones and cellular phones, with interviews conducted in Spanish for respondents who are primarily Spanish-speaking. Each sample includes a minimum quota of 400 cell phone respondents and 600 landline respondents per 1,000 national adults, with additional minimum quotas among landline respondents by region. Landline telephone numbers are chosen at random among listed telephone numbers. Cell phone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Landline respondents are chosen at random within each household on the basis of which member had the most recent birthday. Samples are weighted by gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region, adults in the household, and phone status (cell phone only/landline only/both, cell phone mostly, and having an unlisted landline number). Demographic weighting targets are based on the March 2011 Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older non-institutionalized population living in U.S. telephone households. All reported margins of sampling error include the computed design effects for weighting and sample design. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls. For more details on Gallup's polling methodology, visit www.gallup.com . Click below to get more stories, RSS feeds, and e-mail alerts on these topics:	News	CORE	English
Ted walked into the pet store. With no hesitation, he opened the front door (the cow bell on the handle ding-a-ling-a-linged), marched past the cockatoo perched by the door ("Hello, I'm not for sale!" it cackled), past the various assorted reptiles and birds (the 2 dozen parakeets were extremely noisy!), past the adorable puppies playing tug-of-war in the makeshift playpen (they wagged their tails but couldn't understand why he didn't stop and at least pet them), and went straight up to the rodent section. He ignored the hamsters (which all left their wheels and tunnels and hid in their plastic houses), guinea pigs (whose squeals sounded not unlike a pig's), and the bunnies (which simply sat and started at him). Instead, Ted simply stood directly in front of a large, metal cage full of very fuzzy animals with ears that looked like a cross between a mouse and a bunny; short, coarse-but-fuzzy tails; small little front paws that looked remarkably like little hands; back feet like a tiny kangaroo; and big black eyes. In short, these animals had the face of a guinea pig, the body of a rabbit, and the tail of squirrel. They were chinchillas. Most of them were gray, although one of them was white with a gray tail. Ted stood in front of the cage. He didn't bend over and examine the cute, cuddly creatures, or try to pet them, or anything. He simply stood there and stared at them. He crossed his arms impatiently. Eventually, a store employee realized that this person wasn't "just looking", but was waiting for assistance. The employee walked over to Ted and asked: "Can I help you?" Ted looked up, reacting as many customers do - like nothing was really wrong: "Oh, yes, I would like to purchase a chinchilla. The white one, please." The employee hesitated. "Well, you can't simply pick out a chinchilla. They're very finicky animals, and although these are all handled since birth, and therefore very tame, each one won't like just anybody." Ted repeated, firmly, "I want the white one." "Again, you can't just pick a chinchilla. The chinchilla actually has to pick you." "Hm." Ted bent over and looked into the cage. The chinchillas all turned and looked at him. "Well," Ted said, "I guess I can deal with that. But I'm confident that one way or another, the white one and I will wind up together." "Okay..." In his mind, the employee began to question Ted's motives. He shook his head. This was his job, it didn't matter what he thought of a customer. "Well, let me open the cage for you, and you can put your hand in. It may take a moment, as the different chins may come up and sniff you, maybe even nibble you, but the one that stays the longest or jumps onto your hand will be your chinchilla." Ted didn't respond, so the employee opened the cage. Ted put his hand in the cage, close to the floor, palm facing up. Like the employee said, the various chinchillas (including the coveted white one) hopped, walked, and otherwise made their way to his hand, and began sniffing him. They began sniffing and nibbling all up and down his arm and hand, more and more. Soon every chin in the cage was standing on whatever part of Ted they could find, sniffing him, and making very quiet squeaking noises. Ted's eyes were wide, but he didn't move a muscle. He look over at the store employee. His eyes were just as wide, his eyebrows raised. He shook his head, raising his hands in confusion. "I don't know, this has never happened before." "Well," Ted said, "can you simply remove some of them? Surely if you make some of them move, only some of them will stay." The employee gently reached his arm through the small cage door, next to Ted's arm, and tried pushing some of the chins. They all resisted, but some of them sort of fell off. They immediately got back on. The employee kept brushing them off, but they kept getting back on. The employee got more aggressive, but to no avail. This ritual continued for about 5 minutes until he finally gave up. He threw up his arms. "I don't know what to do! This doesn't make any sense!" Ted tried to withdraw his arm, but there were so many chins that they were pushing against the cage bars. So Ted pulled harder, and they started falling off, but they kept trying to scramble back on. So Ted simply yanked his arm out, and the store employee quickly closed the door. Ted stood straight up for moment, looking down at the normally docile creatures as they began to gnaw on the bars in their crazed desire to get to Ted. Ted looked at the employee, then turned around, and marched out the door. Past the adorable puppies, past the assorted reptiles and noisy birds, past the big cockatoo (which cackled "Goodbye! If you come back I'm still not for sale!"), and out the door, the cow bell of which jangled angrily. The store employee simply stood there, staring after him. He turned and looked at the chins. They had quickly, surprisingly, calmed down, back to normal. They were going about their quiet ways, eating, chewing on cardboard, and climbing around the different parts of the cage. He shook his head. "Maybe my intuition wasn't wrong about that guy after all..." I wish there was a mountain high enough that I could climb up to the stars and bring one home for you. Norm turned on his all-house music system. He needed something to help him focus while he worked, and although he would be working primarily in the study, he wanted to take advantage of this one opportuniy he had to play HIS music over the sound system. Normally, his wife and kids would insist on playing that cheesy country music throughout the whole house, and there was nothing he could do about it - he was outvoted! This time, however, the family was visiting his parents-in-law, and he was going to play what he wanted. He grumbled. He paid good money for this system, and did all the work himself to install it, and he never even got to use it. He put in the soundtrack to that new thriller movie that he saw with his guy friends (his wife refused to watch it with him - she thought it looked like a stupid movie). It starred two popular actors, a man and a woman, as they awoke from cryogenic sleep to find themselves in an country theu didn't recognize, and then trekked across a foreign, post-apocalyptic landscape filled with unknown terrors and paranoid groups of human survivors. Norm really like the soundtrack, because, for the most part, it was very ambient in nature, and provided a unique atmosphere for getting thought-intensive work done. The music began with the swell of an orchestral string section, then shifted into a brooding, slow-moving piece accompanied by ambient piano and harp. He spread out the paperwork from his big work assignment across his desk in a very organized fashion. He didn't sit down in his cushy office chair, but instead leaned on the desk with both of his hands, intently studying the notes and figures on the paper. An hour later, the papers were scattered chaotically, and some of them were on the floor or in the wastebasket. Norm was sitting in the chair with his left elbow on the desk and his left hand on his forehead. In his right hand was one of the papers, which was completely filled with pencil scribbles that had erased, re-written, and then erased again. The movie soundtrack was in the midst of a moving piece that accompanied a scene in which the main characters were being chased by wolfmen and vampires. Norm was seriously considering taking a break when this track was over, so when the hammered percussive section died away into tense, sustained string chords, he set down the paper he was holding with a sigh. He spun his chair around, stood up, and stretched. He was in the middle of a big yawn when he heard a strange noise in the living room. It sounded remarkably like a door being shut, which didn't make any sense, because his family was gone and no one else had a key to the door, which was always kept locked. He froze, and slowly put his arms down. He peeked his head arouund the corner of the room's doorframe, and he heard the noise again. He slowly looked down both ends of the hallway, but didn't see anything. He heard the noise again. It seemed to be coming from the living room, where the door to the house was. Was someone trying to break in? Quietly, Norm grabbed the wooden baseball bat that Norm always kept in the study, even though his family never understood why. Then, while the movie soundtrack continued continued to play its tense, subtle music throughout the house, he began to tiptoe down the hall towards the living room. The noise started happening more frequently now, like whoever it was who may be trying to break in was becoming more frantic, more determined. Norm's heart was pounding in his ears, almost in time to the now building music that he was only barely aware of. He clutched the bat tighter in his hands as he emerged from the hallway and into the main room of the house. The TV was off, and so were all the lights, except for the one directly above the front door. The sound had stopped, but now he heard something rustling by the door. He couldn't tell for sure, but he thought it was coming from the bush just outside the door. He swallowed and moved closer to the door. He'd never encountered a burglar before, but he wasn't about to let one break into his house. The music was almost at its highest point now, with every string instrument (and even parts of the horns and percussion) playing repeated notes in a steady rhythm, getting louder and louder. Norm reached a trembling hand out to grasp the door handle. Just as the music built to a deafening crash, a small, black figure dashed out from behind the couch and leapt at Norm's face. Norm fell backwards, dropping his bat. The figure was behind him now. He whipped around and saw - Inque, the family housecat. The cat was playing with her catnip mouse, which would explain why she was acting in such a strange manner. She was jumping and clawing at invisble things at the air while she still held the mouse in her mouth. Norm swore. He clambored to his feet, grabbed the nearest throw pillow off the couch, and threw it at the cat. The cat retreated into a back room of the house. Still breathing heavily, Norm picked up the bat and trudged back to the study. The CD player built into the wall had ejected the soundtrack CD, as it always did when it finished playing something. Norm stared at it for a moment. He picked up the CD, and then the CD's case that had been sitting on the desk. He studied them both for a moment, then threw them in the trash. Whether you agree or disagree with Casey Anthony's verdict, why don't you pray for her and her family and the loss of an innocent little girl, rather than name calling? It's done, you can't change the verdict. She's obviously a soul in need of saving. But you can pray, that's something you CAN do. Bob, Dan, and Ken are riding in a car down the interstate. Bob is driving, Dan is in the passenger seat, and Ken is in the back seat on the driver's side. As they're driving, they run into construction. It doesn't really slow them down, but Ken is rather keen on the concrete barriers bordering the road. "Those barriers have weird flixible thingies attached to them," he said, indicating the yellow, plastic objects sticking up about 3 feet in the air. They were attached every foot or so. Dan cocked an eyebrow. "I bet it would be real fun to stick your arm out and hit them," he said. "Well it just so happens we have one!" Dan said, grinning. "My hiking stick, it's sticking up in the back!" Ken unbuckled himself and clambered over the back seat, reaching into the station wagon's hatch. "Oh no you don't!" Bob insisted. He tried to find an opening to move into the right lane, but it was filled with other cars, the drivers of whom seemed oblivious to his turn signal. "We're probably breaking at least a dozen traffic laws right now," he muttered. Ken managed to grab the hiking stick from the back, and, much to Bob's chagrin, he stuck it out the back window, holding it by its molded rubber handle to maximize grip and reach. The plastic guards began to slap against the stick, making a very noisy rhythm, and waving in the stick's wake. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere (as they usually are), blue and red lights lit up behind them. Bob groaned. "Oh no..." Despite the busy traffic in both lanes, Bob managed to navigate across to the right side of the interstate, rolled to a stop, and put his window down. Ken had reluctantly rolled up his window after retracting his plastic-smacking stick. After the police car stopped behind them, there was an indeterminate length of time which seemed much longer than it needed to be, and then a husky, brim-hatted officer walked up to the driver's side. Speaking in a slight drawl, he then asked the question: "Do ya know why I pulled ya over, son?" The use of the word "son" made Bob's throat tighten, but he made himself swallow. It just made it more awkward. "Well," he started, "I would guess it's cause my friend Bob here was smacking the plastic things on top of the concrete barriers with a hiking stick." I sound like an idiot, he thought. "Oh, it was him, was it?" the officer gestured to the man in the backseat. "Hell, I thought it was you, and I was gonna give ya a warning to cut it out!" He laughed. Bob forced a laugh in response, and the other two men in the car followed suit. "Listen, if it's the guy in the backseat, I ain't gonna spoil your fun. Just be careful you don't ruin your nice thing-a-ma-jig there!" He gestured to the hiking stick that Ken had been ineffectively trying to hide. Without another word, the cop climbed into his patrol car. Bob was afraid to drive away, but the officer turned off his lights and drove away after a short moment. The three men just stared at each other. Then, in silence, Bob started the car back up, drove back across the lanes of the interstate, and rolled down Ken's window for him. Dan and Ken grinned at each other, and Ken happily stuck his stick out, and started smacking the plastic thingies again.	Opinion/Argumentation	CORE	English
Man Utd waiting on the results of Kagawa scan Wednesday 24 October 2012 Manchester United will on Wednesday discover the extent of any damage done by midfielder Shinji Kagawa, after the Japan international injured his knee during United's 3-2 Champions League victory over Braga on Tuesday, the Daily Mail has reported. United came back from two goals down to take three points and all-but secure their safe passage into the next round of the competition thanks to a Javier Hernandez brace and one from Jonny Evans, leaving United with nine points from nine available. Braga scored twice through Alan inside 20 minutes but United completed the turnaround with 15 minutes of the match remaining. Kagawa however was replaced by Luis Nani at half-time having twisted his knee mid-way through the first-half. Sir Alex Ferguson could not say at full-time how serious or otherwise the injury was, instead admitting he was waiting for the results of the scan to be held a day later.	News	CORE	English
How to have a good relationship A summary of the research evidence, by Dr Bob Rich Love in the bank: the 5:1 rule Every relationship involves problems and conflict. Trading in one partner for another is freeing yourself from one set of problems, and taking on another set. Choosing to live alone also has its problems. So, the trick is to have a good relationship DESPITE the problems that arise. Research by John Gottman and many others has shown that it is possible to "put love in the bank." When the conflicts arise, you can survive them and maintain a good relationship if, on the average, there are at least 5 good interactions for every bad one. When I found out about this, I monitored good and bad interactions between my wife and me for a week. I found that the ratio was more like 20:1, explaining why we have been married for over 43 years now. A good interaction is anything that one person does in order to make the other feel good. It can be a smile, a friendly tone of voice, a non-sexual touch like a pat on the back... basically, anything the other person notices, and therefore feels good for sharing a life with you. So, deliberately and intentionally, go out of your way to do things that put love in the bank. Avoid actions that go the other way. If one happens, apologise, own up, and counter it with one or more good acts. Do note that this only works if BOTH partners do it. How to handle conflict Every relationship involves conflict situations. Where "there is never any conflict," you can be sure that one partner controls, dominates and therefore abuses the other. There would be conflict if the subjugated person dared. Conflict is healthy -- if handled right. Four dimensions are all-important. Here are the extreme points of each: Listening vs. defensiveness . When you make a complaint, you need to be heard. More than that: you need to feel that you've been heard. Even if the complaint proves to have been misguided and wrong, the emotion associated with it is genuine. So, a response of this kind is good: "I hear that you're hurt that I didn't phone that I'd be late. Sorry you feel so badly about it. But actually, I tried to ring, only my phone ran out of charge, and I couldn't get to any other phone. So, all I could do was to hurry home, and well, here I am." Defending your actions is fine -- AFTER acknowledging the feelings of the other person. The opposite is illustrated by: "You've trampled mud all over the carpet again!" "Yeah? And I see last night's dishes are still in the sink!" A counterattack like this may work, but damages the relationship. Complaint vs. criticism . A complaint addresses an issue. A criticism says something negative about a person. For example, "You've trampled mud all over the carpet again!" is a complaint. "You're a slob for trampling in all that mud" is a criticism. The first is constructive, the second destructive. It's a cliche of childraising to discipline the child with love: to do something about unacceptable behaviour while making the child still feel loved. The same applies to adult relationships. Accepting influence vs. stonewalling . I am stonewalling when whatever you say, whatever you want, I do what I feel like, when I feel like. Included are promising to do a job and then not doing it, not-hearing something or forgetting it had been said, advancing endless excuses, and a straight refusal every time, even if the suggestion or request is wise and reasonable. Some men have the habit of thinking that accepting influence from a woman is somehow demeaning and belittling. It ain't. A good relationship is one in which partners listen to each other, pool their wisdom and make decisions jointly, each accepting influence from the other. Respect vs. contempt . This is the most important. Even if the other three factors are handled right, the relationship will founder if one partner acts with contempt toward the other. Derogatory terms (stupid, slut, bastard, lazy, slovenly, spendthrift, miser...) are terms of contempt. Interestingly, the research shows that universalising statements have the same effect as such labels: "you always..." and "you never..." are terms of contempt. "It distresses me when you drink to excess" is respectful. "You"re a drunkard" is not. Argument style People have various emotional styles for engaging in conflict. The relationship is more stable if you and your partner use the same style. Mismatches cause problems, but with tolerance and goodwill, you can learn to make allowances and put in place defence strategies for minimising the effect of the different styles. Three major styles are called volatile, rational and avoidant. None of these is better than the others -- the issue is whether your way of doing it drives your partner away or not. Volatile arguers are drama queens. They shout, scream, exaggerate, make a great show out of the issue. Then when it's over, they are passionate, and make great love. Rational arguers like to organise a meeting, sit down and seriously talk an issue out. They need to understand, negotiate, look for compromises. Avoidant arguers are those who say, "We can agree to disagree over this." Peace and harmony are a lot more important to them than being right, or having their way. As I said, if you and your partner have matching styles, then you can have a good long term relationship. Two volatiles can have fierce arguments followed by wonderful passion. Two rationals can sort things out. Two avoidants can live together regardless of an accumulation of unresolved issues. The problem arises if the two partners have different styles, and you can see why. A volatile and a rational will drive each other crazy. When one partner calls the other "a cold fish," "boring," "all in the head, no heart," you can be sure it's a volatile talking about a rational. The retort will be "throws tantrums like a spoiled kid." A rational teamed up with an avoidant is a chasing game. One has the need to talk it out, the other to run away. Some situations of domestic violence can be understood with one or the other reaching breaking point, because the issue just won't stop. And yes, a rational can be violent. The worst is a volatile and an avoidant. It doesn't take long for the avoidant to move out. It IS possible to build a loving, lasting relationship despite such mismatches. This needs understanding and allowance. You need to accept the other person's style, and each of you needs to do your best to modify somewhat toward the other's preferred way of doing things. This is difficult, but possible. It may even be good for you. Attachment style As a little child, a person has to make sense of the world. We build a model of reality, including what kind of person we are, what is safe and what is dangerous. As part of this, we form long-term reactions to other people, and these strongly influence romantic relationships in adulthood. If the people who cared for you when you were little treated you with consistent love (even when you needed discipline), and you learned to trust them, then as an adult you will have a positive view of others and feel comfortable around them. But if the big people who ruled your childhood were dangerous and unpredictable, you will have a negative view of others as an adult, and generally keep them at an emotional distance. That's one dimension. The second is how you think of yourself. If the way you were treated as a little child built up your confidence and made you feel good about being you, then that's how you will be as an adult. However, the events in your childhood may have made you feel damaged, never good enough, inferior, and then you have a negative view of yourself as an adult. Naturally, both these distinctions have many degrees. Each is a continuum, not a point. All the same, a good understanding of what makes people tick in relationships is that how you feel about yourself and others determines how you behave as one half of a couple: trust others fear others I'm OK Secure attachment Dismissive attachment I'm faulty Insecure attachment Avoidant attachment Various researchers have used different names for these, and some only have three rather than four types. But the concept is clear enough. People with secure attachment are wonderful partners and lovers, and many of them find secure partners for themselves. Those of us with attachment problems are not so lucky. We tend to have selective perception, seeing situations and other people in a way that confirms our expectations. We fall in love with people who treat us the way out childhood carers treated us, and this keeps our problematic attitudes going. If you have problems in your relationship, chances are your and your partner's attachment style contributes to this. People with dismissive attachment tend to handle conflict by being abusive and contemptuous, those with insecure attachment readily fall into the victim role (and these two often find each other), avoidant people are often loners who wish for love, but don't know how to get it. And because these patterns act as self-fulfilling prophecies, they tend to be stable for many people. But there is hope. Your attachment style is only one of many relevant influences. And it is an invitation, not a command; a tendency, not a doom. I am an example. I have the very worst pattern: "I am damaged and people hurt you." And yet, I am now impervious to negative opinions of other people (while taking in anything they say that might help me to improve). The damaged little boy is still within me, but he no longer has any influence. People like me, and I can form good relationships with them, including those the closest to me: my wife and children. If I could do it, so can you. It took me many painful years, but I can shorten the journey for my clients. If you have identified an attachment style that's not the best, see a psychologist. In summary Look for a mate who argues the way you do. Whatever the provocation, treat your partner with respect, be open to influence, listen, and complain rather than criticise. And put LOTS of love in the bank. ...and something from me I am not aware of any research on the next point, but it works. It turns on the little word "me." Think of the difference between I want someone to love me; I want someone to love. One is needy, the other giving. Or: She is screaming at me. How can I defend myself; She is screaming. How can I help? A rule of the universe is, the more you give, the more you get. If both partners are in the relationship FOR the other rather than for what they can get out of it, they can ride over every difficulty.	Instruction	CORE	English
I looked all over for people with similar issues and tried all the solutions posted for issues like this but got nowhere. I have tried both with ow3nd and twitch accounts and with ow3ned when I start my stream I get nothing, with twitch it goes online for a second with a black screen and then back offline, while xsplit still says it is streaming. Trying to local record gets me a file in the xsplit recordings folder that is 0 bytes large and disappears as soon as I stop local recording. When I try to test bandwidth with either stream I get 0kbps, I tried turning firewall off but it did not help. When I start the stream it tells me at first I have 24kbps bitrate, which shortly goes down to 12, then 8, 6, 4, and then the bitrate counter goes away entirely Here is a compilation image with some information, I assume you want something more than just speedtest.net specifics, if so can you tell me how to get to that information and specifically what you want? Absolome wrote: turned off antivirus, turned off windows firewall. Still getting the same problem with local recording and streaming, still starts off streaming at about 27 kbps and steadily drops to nothing Are you using a wireless connection for streaming? If you are, consider switching to a wired one. That said, whether you are using a wireless / wired connection, please try the (applicable) suggestions here . Did you update to v. 1.0 yet? Try updating your channel plug-in - delete it complete from the channels view (take note of settings you want to keep), then add it through the interface. This will install the latest version of the plug-in. Whoops, sorry - completely forgot to write the name of the processes to watch for: VHMultiWriterExt2.exe (this is the encoder, and there has to be one for video and one for audio). Xsplit.core.exe does not change much when local recording, since it's basically the encoder you turn on. Fix: XSplit Not Recognizing Paid Licenses (June 2-4) Last Updated: 16:56 EST In the XSplit 1.0.1204.1301 client we have discovered a bug which for several hours today may have prevented many paid users to login to XSplit. We have constructed XSplit as a service that will still be able to operate for paid users even if our servers should experience unexpected downtime. The official XSplit 1.0.1204.1301 had a bug which prevented this safety mechanism to kick in under some special circumstances which we discovered today during intermittent server down time. We will work very hard to avoid similar situations going forward and we thank everyone for their support and patience. While we are still working on some server issues, the patch in the download page will resolve the issues for existing XSplit account holders who have been logged into their account before on the current workstation. New users that have recently signed up for an XSplit account or existing users who is logging into XSplit on a new workstation may still be getting the following message "You need to be online the first time before you login". We are working to resolve that and will provide an update when this issue is resolved.	Forum	CORE	English
Files seem to be deleted from Free Agent Go Flex 1TB drive I have a Free Agent Go Flex 1TB external drive that I bought expressly to store my movies on when I deploy overseas. I am using HandBrake to transfer the movies to the external, using a MacBook. I've transferred about 100 movies (about a GB each) to the external drive. Today, I transferred one movie successfully and got an error message on the second that the "Destination drive [the Go Flex] is not valid". When I checked the contents of the drive in Finder, the movies do not appear; however, the drive shows that approx 100GB has been used - which is exactly what it showed prior to the error. When I plugged the external drive into a Windows PC, some of the movies showed up, but not all. I'm at a loss as to what to do to get to the files. Help!	Forum	CORE	English
Seeing The Sign Where to go. How to get there. Looking for a picture-perfect view of the Sign? For many visitors to Los Angeles, there is no more coveted photo than a shot of the world famous Sign. Though it is visible from all over the city from its lofty perch on Mt. Lee, it can actually be surprisingly difficult to get a well angled shot. Many are surprised to learn that it's actually illegal to hike to (or basically get anywhere near) the Sign, which is set well back behind restricting gates and protected by security cameras and Park Rangers. With our insider's photo guide to the Sign, you'll beat the crowds and get that perfect photo you were hoping for. (Commercial photographers and filmmakers, please consult our "Filming the Sign" page for information on getting the proper permits.) Check the map below to find the best location near you, or visit them all for a fun day tour!	Instruction	CORE	English
I am new 2 this forum... i found this forum very intresting and da forum is providing loads of help 2 studentzz I have Unconditional offer for addmission in PhD integrated (MS by research Leading to PhD) from University of Wollongong. I am abt 2 apply for student viza. I would appreciate help in regardzz wid docuements 2 b submitted @ the time of student visa lodging. Kindly correct me if i am missing some of the documentzz. Here is da List. Congratulations for getting a HEC scholarship to PhD program from a reputable university in Australia. Undoubtedly this is some thing a person should always be proud of. Your efforts and hard work has paid of. As per rules [University of Wollongong] comes in streamline processing which basically means that Embassy recognizes your university to be an authentic education provider. This makes an applicant's chances for obtaining a visa even brighter. Please follow the link to visa check-list below to submit your case to the Embassy. Assessment Levels have been streamlined meaning you will be treated the same as a student from United States. i.e Assessment Level 1 < Reference: http://www.immi.gov.au/students/checklis\\... > There is not need to notarize your statement of purpose(SOP). Your signature at the end are sufficient. Please write it persuasively and put some thought into it as it is a document of utmost importance. Undeniably visa officer will read your SOP and the outcome of the decision will be based on it. I hope it was helpful. Regards C.Sagan P.S- My semester will commence in spring for Masters of Professional Engineering from UOW this July 2012. FaizaJ May 6th, 2012, 10:50 AM Thank you C.Sagen for da info and complements. Yes, University of Wollongong is very nice university and very reputable one. Have you applied for da visa? hope 2 c u at Wollongong. By the way, is PFL a good consultant for australia visa cases handling? Thankzzz once again Carlsagan. carlsagan May 6th, 2012, 04:05 PM @FaizaJ The purpose of human existence should be to help others if we cannot they we should at least try not to harm others. The university is well known for research on Nano Technology. According the updated rankings it's research capabilities are higher than [University of Melbourne]. The program allows me to participate in thesis and contribute directly in my discipline. It is the one of those universities working on nano based solar panels that will eventually end the monopoly of oil cartels around 2030's. Shortage of energy will cause the biggest crisis mankind has ever faced in the future. The world relies heavily on energy, 90% of which comes from oil. Already the price of petrol as of 6th May 2012 is spiraling out of control. It is obvious that if an alternative is not discovered soon, immediate repercussions will be on the price of transportation that will reach beyond the grips of a common man,the price of commodities and overall living cost have been rising and are bound to go even higher in the years to come. In this regard some nations have invested in renewable energy technologies but they are ineffective on an industrial scale. The answer will come from [University of Wollongong, Nano Labs] where today researchers are looking for answer to these questions. That is what I hope to be a part of. I hope to strengthen the fabric of science. I worked in the middle east for few years to earn my tuition fees. My colleagues and boss is Australian and our Head Office is also based in Australia. I got the visa in 2 weeks time. It was difficult on HEC scholarship a few years ago as they were having trouble funding students already pursuing degree abroad. We were hearing news of Pakistani scholars returning home leaving their studies because HEC was unable to provide funds. May be situation has improved since them. This was in around the year 2007/08. I took a decision not to apply for HEC as they were in troubles of their own. In any case it is tremendous achievement to have your efforts recognized by government of Pakistan, considering the current situation. Being fully funded gives you the liberty to enjoy your stay while in Australia on a stipend. As for your queries, National Identity Cards are translated in shops around places where Notary Public sit outside court rooms. They are usually well advertised. One cannot miss their signboards. A translated NIC is a print out of a simple form built in excel with your data. It is nothing really sophisticated or amazing. The reputation of the consultant doesn't matter in your case. You are a sponsored student for research degree. You automatically meet the criteria of [Genuine Student] and [Temporary Entrant]. The only important pieces of paper in your application will be the letter from HEC and your statement of purpose. Regards Escallanio May 6th, 2012, 10:32 PM Hi FaizaJ i am also scholarship awardee (HEC batch X1). However mine is for PhD. Can any one elaborate about financial statement in scholarship case? @FaizaJ and carl i have heard it is MUST to submit first semester fee to be granted australia visa...However in HEC Scholarship tuition fee is paid once visa is granted. Will a simple plain Scholarship letter be enough to submit with application fee for visa to be granted? That's because Embassy is under the impression that you are a fraud. Applying to Australia with the malicious intentions of causing harm to its citizens either directly or participating in activities that will bring harm to its citizens indirectly. The decision officers so far must have been unable to determine [ Genuine Student] and or [Temporary Entrant ] intentions. FaizaJ May 8th, 2012, 02:02 AM @carlsagen i am impressed. You have chosen Wollongong with an excellent frame of mind. You have done thorough research in choosing wollongong. Wollongong is very famous in telecommunication as well. However sometimes nowadays fear comes in my mind. i dont know why but my frame of mind is not set bcoz i wonder why i choose wollongong instead of melbourne or Uni of Sydney. May b i am work i dont know but ???? Carlsagen, is it your own picture in the display. i hope 2 see you soon in NSW. Where you from in Pak? FaizaJ May 8th, 2012, 02:10 AM Escallanio i Nice 2 meet you. I am HEC scholars as well. i am in batch ix. I am going 2 Uni of Wollongong MS leading 2 PhD. HEC wont provide bank statement or any advance payment this is what HEC Islamabad told me. They told me if Uni is world class or above average they will not ask for advance payment once you inform them about HEC scholarship. Normally HEC scholars are accepted by universities abroad without asking fee in advance. one of your post says you got addmission in ballarat as well. Lolzz. I am sure they will ask you about tuition fee in advance as its a low standard uni. I am waiting on Wollongong offer. i have conditional offer which required me 2 pay first semester fee. My consultant (PFL) have inform them about my scholarship last friday. let see when they dispatch unconditional offer. FaizaJ May 8th, 2012, 03:14 AM @Carlsagen In our case, HEC told that we will not pay tuition fee till visa is granted. Is it a pre-requisite to deposit first semester tuition fee for visa 2 be granted? can you please explain tthis situation? carlsagan May 8th, 2012, 08:04 AM @carlsagen i am impressed. You have chosen Wollongong with an excellent frame of mind. You have done thorough research in choosing wollongong. Wollongong is very famous in telecommunication as well. However sometimes nowadays fear comes in my mind. i dont know why but my frame of mind is not set bcoz i wonder why i choose wollongong instead of melbourne or Uni of Sydney. May b i am work i dont know but ???? Carlsagen, is it your own picture in the display. i hope 2 see you soon in NSW. Where you from in Pak? The course was subsidized by my company (Head Quartered in Australia) on the recommendations of my boss in UAE who is an Australian and an alumni of UoW. About the profile picture, it belongs to 'Carl Sagan' a famous American astronomer whose documentaries about the universe has always captivated me. He made science easy and accessible for all. I guess if you are coming to UOW this spring it is likely to run into each other since not many Pakistani students are expected to be there. @Carlsagen In our case, HEC told that we will not pay tuition fee till visa is granted. Is it a pre-requisite to deposit first semester tuition fee for visa 2 be granted? can you please explain tthis situation? As per the official guide lines. If you are a fully funded student, you must show evidence that the sponsoring agency, government or organization will cover the cost of:travel, tuition and living expenses for yourself and dependent family members accompanying you to Australia. < Reference:http://www.immi.gov.au/student\\... \| 574-Postgrad Research > canberra_pk May 9th, 2012, 12:38 PM Please also include Form 80 and Form 54 in your application. If you don't want to submit with the application now then make sure you keep them handy as Visa Officer might ask you to submit later. Well, I also wonder why you didn't choose Uni Melb or ANU or other top Aussie Uni. Well, Uni Wollongong ranks 10 in Australia currently (http://www.australianuniversities.com.a\\... Good luck for your visa application. carlsagan May 9th, 2012, 03:43 PM @canberra pk University of Wollongong has exactly the same research breath as ANU. (Reference: http://www.australianuniversities.com.au\\... Overall it is a mid ranking university with faculty a lot less cocky than ANU or Melbourne, thus a lot less pain in the... FaizaJ May 10th, 2012, 06:26 AM @carlssagen thank you carlsagen. Yes, sure i will definitely meet you. I have heard about form 157 A. Never heard about form 54 and 80.. do i need 2 submit them as well? @canberrapk I have applied 2 Uni of Wollongong and Uni of Queensland. If i get addmission in Queensland Uni (Unconditional ) then i will prefer Queensland University as my sister and brother in law are settled there. At the moment i have two conditional offers : one from QU and other from UoW. Lets see who offer unconditional without paying tuition fee 4 first semester. Yes melbourne is good but UOW and QU are also excellent in research. i am getting late as my classes in UoW starts Mid July and QU on 30 July and i havent yet recieved unconditional offer. carlsagan May 10th, 2012, 07:30 AM @carlssagen thank you carlsagen. Yes, sure i will definitely meet you. I have heard about form 157 A. Never heard about form 54 and 80.. do i need 2 submit them as well? Please follow the document checklist as per 574-postgrad research streamline applicants. Any unnecessary/irrelevant documents are discarded by the Islamabad Embassy before dispatching to Adelaide office. canberra_pk May 10th, 2012, 09:59 AM Hi FaizaJ You may also need to submit Student Supplement Form that can be found at: http://www.pakistan.embassy.gov.au/files\\... For PhD Research you don't need to worry about start date as it can be started at any time of the year (preferably before end of Semester 2 the latest.). Depends on when you get your visa. Go for UQ if you get unconditional offer letter of course. It's an excellent Aus Uni and trust me St Lucia, Brisbane/Queensland is a wonderful place to study at and live in. canberra_pk May 10th, 2012, 12:26 PM carlsagan: Please correct me if I am wrong. The student visa application is sent DIRECTLY to Adelaide Office and NOT via Islamabad as you mentioned in your message below?? Thanks! Form 80, 54 and student supplement forms are requested from most of Pakistani students see at (although it's old info but still valid I believe?): http://www.pakistan.embassy.gov.au/files\\... Please follow the document checklist as per 574-postgrad research streamline applicants. Any unnecessary/irrelevant documents are discarded by the Islamabad Embassy before dispatching to Adelaide office. canberra_pk May 10th, 2012, 02:34 PM @FaizaJ THE below info (Pak specific) is available at Australian High Commission (AHC), Islamabad website.	Forum	CORE	English
Customer Service Value For Money Media Gallery for Western Union Money Transfer Latest Reviews WU stinks their customer service is non existant. I have yet to have a money transfer overseas to go smoothly there is always something I have to call about and wait and then get someone who I can barely understand as it appears they do not hire anyone who doesn't have an accent. I actually had to resort to yelling at the customer service person today, they are slow, they want confirmation but won't send you a confirmation e-mail, right now I have two seperate transactions hanging out... I sent money online for just 44 as it stated that you can send upto 400 x2 before ID is required. It clearly states this, i only did the transaction because of this, as i dont have any i.d at all. They took my money from my credit card, then frozen the transaction saying i need to send id. Its a joke! I need to send id but dont have any, my money is held and i cant pay my reciever Terrible Service, Bad Company You will be asked to confirm your to call for this message. For your security, we need more information before we can process your money transfer. You call.....then...you'll wait forever!!!.... until your phone runs out of battery charge and wasted so much of your precious time!!!!!!!! What an awful experience I've just had trying to send funds from the U.S. to Canada. It was not sufficient for me to get cash from the bank, fill out forms, provide identification, and pay a $111 fee (to send $1,200 U.S). I needed to also return a phone call to Western Union, wait a half hour, then identify the transaction number, my driver license number, and the recipient's name. Then, incredibly, I had to identify HOW the recipient would SPEND ALL the funds, HOW I am SURE of the... Western Union has the worst system I've ever encountered, you actually went in to my credit report for the transfer of a lousy $200, I was asked questions about who I pay my mortgage to and who I took credit from to purchase my car. To put the icing on the cake, you denied my transfer of $200 for my desperate brother and the agent had the audacity to offer a 50% discount hahahaha what a joke you people are, I rudely stated to him that I wanted nothing from Western Union and rather stick to... Last month, my boyfriend and I were sending money to California from New York to my boyfriend's brother in order to put down a deposit on an apartment that we really wanted to get. We decided to use Western Union and we called the 1-800 number and asked the customer service representative if they deducted the money from the credit card and if it was sent to the destination. The rep "assured" us that the money was there and the transaction was complete and to have a great evening. The next... Mdmdm's response to courtneyrose05's Review Written on: 01/11/2012 I am in the Phillipines.. I have been here 2 1/2 months as I extended my visa 2x and got married.. I am renting a house with my wife and I furnished it and buy her family dinner all the time.. I have burned through all my cash so I try to send myself a $1000 transfer the first one went through ok so after I pick it up I try another one but they cancel it.. they keep cancelling my transfers.. I call them.. I email them I send them my passport but they just say the system is cancelling my transfers.. I KNOW!!! Then they say something about security issues.. Hey dumb butts I'm sending money to myself. I have to show my passport to pick it up. I have had this online account 5 years!!!! Why is this a security issue?? On top of that I can't load my Western Union Debit card.. Then I apply for a Western Union ForX account and get approved but I can't log in. I am running out of money and Western Union does not care if I have been a good customer for 6 years. I recently used the WU Pay service by transferring money from my bank account to them. It's been 2 days now since WU received the money, still they haven't sent any confirmation of receipt. It's impossible to contact them via chat or phone (they're always unavailable, even during their business hours) and their email responses are a bunch of baloney and vague at best. I hope to recover my money soon thanks to my bank. I called in to ask about a problem, but I couldn't understand the person, his english was so bad. I asked him to transfer me to another agent, but he said to hang up and call back. I was on the phone for 2 hours and got hung up on 3 times. No one I spoke to could speak english, and they didn't help at all. I have been using Western Union for may be 4 years sending money home every month. The only reason I stick to WU is it's convenient for my receiver to collect money from local Western Union place. I have spoken to hundreds of companies over the phone but Western Union is by far the rudest one. It is as if I have made a call to some third world police department and I'm getting interrogated! I have always had problems with them whenever I had changed address or phone number etc. They REALLY... This company/bank goes further than the people from the great black continent south of Europe! If you want to be taken for a ride, this is the best Company/Bank to do it. What a lack of unmitigated slight of hand! To start with, they have now started charging 4% above the going base exchange rate, which was only 3% 6 months ago, and only 2% about 2 years ago. They don't provide Vaseline when you start dealing with WU and the problems they create! Then there are the exorbitant transfer... I agree with all the other reviewers regarding this company, which is the worst I have ever dealt with. They have now been holding my payment hostage for over a week and will not respond to my emails. Over the phone, they were "too busy" and wanted me to leave a voice mail. I said that was not acceptable and foolishly continued to wait. After half an hour, I asked for a supervisor, who eventually said she "escalated" my issue (whatever that means) and would call back "hopefully within 24... Took two hours to deal with agents on the phone, then finally after hours of waiting and frustration, they figured they cannot help by phone and wanted me to go to their office to make the transaction. Cancelled the transaction for money transfer but the fee is NOT reimbursed!!! Terrible! Never ever gonna make business again with them! The level of irresponsibility at western union is unimaginable, for a company with global reach, i am completely shocked at how they conduct business. How do you decline service to a customer without explanation of any sort. It's a shame they are still in business. The following is an email I sent them. It explains almost everything. I am a very loyal customer to western union and have been making money transfer for years through this company. But I am so disappointed by the customer service so much that I wonder why the company is even paying people who are like robots and can't help customers. Less than a month ago, I made a large money transfer, but my rewards points were not printed on my receipt. I called the customer service line and after ... What kind of legitimate company denies your transaction, and also closes your account without even sending you a courtesy email as to the reasons WHY it was cancelled and denied? To take it further, I was sending money via Billpay, which required me to verify my account by accessing my online banking (which is a reputable bank btw, CHASE). To put it short, Western Union is a joke. Unless you want to deal with hassles and your money being frozen an a non-FDIC insured system, don't even... Western Union paid money to someone else who didn't have MTC number ( this umber only supposed to be known to sender and receiver) They wont admit it is their issue - said we need to report to police as it was fraud but cant explain how money was paid to someone who was not the correct receiver. They are not interested in helping to solve what happened to money and police cant do anything without details of where money was paid out. Their agents are not trained and pay out to anyone even... They deducted money from my account and it did not reach to receiver . After 2 days they said the transaction has been cancelled . No reason given by them . They said your money has been refunded to your bank account . It has been more than 5 days still I have not received money back . If I try to ask western union they say check with your bank , we have refunded your money back . My bank is asking reference number from western and western union is not providing any reference number . Western Union is worthless! I first started making online transaction in July because they offered zero transfer fee. The money came in the recipient's bank account in a next business day, very impressive. Then I made another transfer to the same recipient's account and they held the money for nearly one week, always stating that it has been transferred, but the recipient has never got the money, until they sent me an email about transfer failure stating that the beneficiary's name was... western union has no customer service i paid for the minute service and my money was not recieved for four days i tried several times to correct an agent mistake and found it very dificult to do so finally after days of effort i was able to get my money sent i will never use the service again I tried sending money OL and it won't go through coz they're asking for some stupid codes.. Everytime I call they'd say I have to wait until the transaction posts then I can enter the code... 3 days later, I decided to just cancel it since it's still on pending approval... To my dismay the next day... My money was deducted from my account even after I cancelled the transaction.. I've called them so many times and all they say is that they'll give me a refund but until now... THEY STILL... Minike's response to Guest's Review Written on: 29/08/2012 I hear you. I had the same experience. Customer service is sluggish, giving nasty reasons to not process the transfer and holding the money for so unreasonablly long time. Their business is just a failure! Reply to this comment Pintikan's response to Guest's Review Written on: 10/10/2012 i am having the same problem right now. they are imbeciles. did they returned the money to you? Reply to this comment Pintikan's response to Guest's Review Written on: 10/10/2012 i am having the same problem right now... are they able to refund the money back to your account? After typing and retyping several time their details required I got nowhere! so annoying! so i popped the cash in an envelope and wished it bon voyage! and yes it made is safely at no cost to me! yes me, the consumer the no 1-the customer! who? yes me! the customer! get lost, waste of time............ THE BIGGEST WASTE OF TIME!!! Most of the locations listed on their website are no longer active e.g Rite Aid at Grand Central. For those money centers that are still open, their computers are often down. Their online service is ABYSMAL! They make it impossible to send money. The security checks they have in place don't work (e.g. you don't get a text message on your cell with the code as promised etc). The customer reps don't know how to resolve the issues and all they say is they can't... A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME. I understand that protecting the privacy of customers is important, but I feel as if they make up things. I couldn't wire money online even though the website clearly stated that you could do so and have the funds available in minutes. They told me to try sending a smaller amount which I did, but was charged a separate transaction fee for every smaller transaction sent. I seriously could NOT believe the customer service... and I work in customer service so I feel... When I attempted to withdraw them money in minutes I couldn't until the next day. Attempted to call in to the customer support and demand a refund for mislabeled services. They treated my like I was no one and didn't even care about my call. I was left on hold for half the call and the other half was them shouting company policy at me which had nothing to do with my issue. After an hour of battling I simply asked where I could pick up the money, they put me on hold for twenty more minutes to... Here is why western union should not exists: - Western Union is the ONLY company in the world makes mistakes and refuse to corrected them.In fact, they ask customers to correct them. - the customer service seems like a scam! they cant help you , they don't know how to help you, and can't commnucate at all and their supervisor have no problem being rude and mean to you. - thier over-charge service fee don't match the service quality. finally, if you have someone in need money right away DO... Western Union Money Transfer Fiasco I tried to send money to a friend in Canada yesterday. I gave Western Union $2500 to send, which they on their web site had told me was the maximum I could. I took the cash to their agent. They took my cash and said everything was fine. Then, my friend went to get the money and it wasn't there. In the meantime Western Union had called my phone. Their fraud department had intercepted my transfer. The person who sounded like he was in South America... Okay, listen everyone... All i can say, STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY IF YOU COULD FIND A WAY TO SEND MONEY TO YOUR FAMILY MEMBER, FRIENDS OR TO ANYONE. Someday, they will hold your money and start asking some personal question which is really rediculous and after that, They will ask you to send some documents before releasing your money. I never did.. I never send anything and i never say or mentioned anything. I told them, you know what, just refund my moneyback. Which is they did but before... I tried to use Western Union online money transfer, because they have a promotional zero money transfer fees. It initially shows that the my transaction went through fine and after couple of hours I receive an email that the trasaction is not complete and is rejected. So I call their customer support, this is what they have to say and I quote " Use one of the agent offices, online service requires a lot of verification and is a delayed process", which is suprising because Western Union... I used WU today to transfer money to Spain for my daughter.Because of the RB/Ulster Bank fiasco she was unable to use her own card.Firstly my credit card was declined so I rang my CC issuer and they told me they automatically put a stop on all WU transactions because of fraud. They lifted the stop and I tried again and only after I put in my card details did WU inform me they needed a scan of my passport/id -then followed major panic as I had to change computers and email myself the scans... I sent money to my son in England, from NYC, Western Union Refuses to pay in Brighton England. Customer service give you the run around, they are keeping the money, now they are giving me hard time to get a refund for the lmoney they are keeping and refused to deliver to the receiver. Want to keep the $104 dollars they charged me for "no service" thieves, lousy customer service, people in India that cannot and will do nothing to help, a total disaster of company I hope people read this... Ngocchau's response to Guest's Review Written on: 14/08/2012 NEVER USE WU AGAIN, NEVER NEVER I've sent money to vietnam for my sister on 31/07/12 .She has not received money yet until now, they sent me an email to inform receiver would receive on 02/08/2012. Ive been contacted customer service lots of time but the same answer is to find out why the money has delayed and they would ring me back to let me know.No one ring me back, only i contact them.I want a refund but i dont know how long .Its hard to get money back from them. TERRIBLE COMPANY I tried to send money on line - it failed, after a couple of attempts and 15 min spent filling out all the fields/security questions etc.- with no explanation as to why. I called them, after 15 more minutes wasted on the phone, the agent told me he could not put the transaction through and he did not know why. He offered to look up a location for me, after a few more minutes he got back to say that the system was down and that I should look this up on line. I asked for a phone or email I... I recently tried sending under $5000 from here in BC Canada to Arkansas and got an email from the fellow in Arkansas that WU was very difficult when he went to receive the money. So I phoned WU and had an equally difficult time. They wanted to know all kinds of things like why I was sending money, what it was for, how was I sure that the receiver wasn't scamming me, etc. Basically a lot of information that is none of their business. I cancelled the transfer and will try Money Gram. I will... So Inhad my wallet stolen while abroad in Italy, and my boyfriend sent me euros to hold me over in Florence until I could have my credit card replaced. So I told him where the nearest western union was in Florence, and I went there today with a friend who spoke Italian fluently to help me retrieve the money. I brought my passport and gave the man the transaction number, and he immediately said he couldn't help me. When we asked why, he pointed out that my boyfriend has written the... i would NEVER recommend western union to ANYONE. they have the WORST customer service i have ever encountered. not only was i rudely spoken to but i was blamed for an issue that i did NOT do. save yourself the trouble and the fees and go with another money transfer company. Very bad! Very slow! Very unresponsive customer support! They held up transfer and did not notify me. I kept calling and they asked for more information. I gave them what they wanted and then it happened again. Another call and more questions. Once they had asked everything that was possible to ask they said it would be two more weeks to transfer the money. Four days just to deposit the money from my bank to there account. I have been using Western Union Service for 2 years now. I use it twice a month to send funds to my family in another country. Apart from the fact of it being expensive... considering i was using it twice a month. I still used it because it was available and I really did not want to search for other options. I started with using the agent locations and then eventually moved online. Today there was an error with sending the funds online and asked me to call the number to complete my... Guest's response to emmaferns's Review This is the worst customer service experience I have ever received in my life. I will never recommend this business to anyone in need of transferring money. The only thing I would ever want from you all again is for you to shut all of your doors- GO OUT OF BUSINESS!!!!! I was trying to find how much it costs to send money between the US and Hong Kong. Western Union was the first company to spring to my mind as it has shop locations almost everywhere worldwide. W.U seems like a friendly company judging by it's wording on it's websites but it does not make it easy to find the actual cost of a transaction. Only in the US sites is there a calculator to find the total cost. I also came across this article in my searches. So I tried the calclator to find... I usually don't write reviews . I do make an exception here as the service received in High barnet western union branch was appalling. I waited 1 hour ! There were only 2 people changing currency in front of me ! The agent was EXTREMLY RUDE and UN HEPLFUL. I didn't knew what to fill to receive money . He just vaguely pointed at a paper on the desk nearby so more queue for me. Then he asked any info he could think about including the sender town birth which i have no clue about.. to end... Had not got a clue how to use this service so went to co-op travel on High Street Oldham and could not thank them enough for all the help they gave me.I would use this service again and would gladly advertise this.I was told about Western Union from a colleage at school. Thankyou xxxxxx !!! In mexico showed my ID and they couldnt verify it or something. Wouldnt give me the money. Totally incompetent. Who else would have the code number- it was sent to the same name ! USE MONEY GRAM _ MUCH BETTER !! Ill never use this scum country again ! I went to receive 3700$ was sent from Russia to Alaska for some climbing support, they say they can give me only 2000 $, and sender must split money, so I asked how much people can send by Western Union, so they say up to 10000$, so you can send but you cannot receive. to change transaction - 170$ , are they real?? they must be stoped Bleep's response to Guest's Review Written on: 15/04/2012 THREE times I told the agent my wife in the Philippines requires DOLLARS...as she has a dollar account..of couse it arrived in pesos and at a very unfavorable rate of exchange...which had to be repeated to get it back into dollars! Submitted a online money transfer, then i decided to cancel. Western union said that if my card was debited that it would the money would be returned. I needed to know a timeframe. They said it would be 3-5 days for it to return but they could speed it up by faxing my bank and they would do that within the hour and my money would be in the bank before noon the next day. THAT WAS A LIE. They never faxed anything, so i called my bank and got a direct fax number then called Western Union back... Guest's response to Guest's Review Written on: 17/04/2012 17-4-2012 I can only echo the comments here - WU is an inefficient and incompetent service with possibly the most terrible customer service I have ever experienced (and they dont seem to speak/understand English too well - which doesnt help matters!) Western Union could not be more unhelpful if they tried. You can't get anyone who speaks English. You'll get transferred 10 times. And in the end, never get to make the transfer anyway. They wasted 2 hours of my time tonight and I couldn't be more frustrated. Let this be a lesson to everyone, take complete control of your life and never have an emergency that you don't have money stashed away for because you will definitely NOT be helped by Western Union. If I could have given them no... To send 600 used to cost 12 dollars to send to the Philippines which in my opinion was too high, but now it costs 18 dollars to send 600 dollars which is nothing but a complete rip off and to send online it cost 30 dollars and to send over the phone they will amazingly charge you 60 dollars, and the worst thing about it is that they have everybody over a barrel in that there is not any good competitor of western union to easily choose from otherwise.	Opinion/Argumentation	CORE	English
Social media The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject . Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page . (December 2013) Social media is the interaction among people in which they create, share or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks . [ 1 ] Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 , and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content ." [ 2 ] Furthermore, social media depend on mobile and web-based technologies to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals and communities share, co-create, discuss, and modify user-generated content. They introduce substantial and pervasive changes to communication between organizations, communities, and individuals. [ 3 ] Diagram depicting the many different types of social media Social media differ from traditional or industrial media in many ways, including quality, [ 4 ] reach , frequency, usability, immediacy, and permanence. [ 5 ] There are many effects that stem from internet usage. According to Nielsen, internet users continue to spend more time with social media sites than any other type of site. At the same time, the total time spent on social media in the U.S. across PC and mobile devices increased by 37 percent to 121 billion minutes in July 2012 compared to 88 billion minutes in July 2011. [ 6 ] For content contributors, the benefits of participating in social media have gone beyond simply social sharing to building reputation and bringing in career opportunities and monetary income, as discussed in Tang, Gu, and Whinston (2012). [ 7 ] Geocities , created in 1994, was one of the first social media sites. The concept was for users to create their own websites, characterized by one of six "cities" that were known for certain characteristics. [ 8 ] By applying a set of theories in the field of media research (social presence, media richness) and social processes (self-presentation, self-disclosure), Kaplan and Haenlein created a classification scheme in their Business Horizons (2010) article, with seven different types of social media: However, the boundaries between the different types have become increasingly blurred. For example, Shi, Rui and Whinston (2013) argue that Twitter, as a combination of broadcasting service and social network, classes as a "social broadcasting technology". [ 9 ] Mobile social media refers to the combination of mobile devices and social media. This is a group of mobile marketing applications that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content. [ 10 ] Due to the fact that mobile social media run on mobile devices, they differ from traditional social media by incorporating new factors such as the current location of the user (location-sensitivity) or the time delay between sending and receiving messages(time-sensitivity). According to Andreas Kaplan , mobile social media applications can be differentiated among four types: [ 10 ] Space-timers (location and time sensitive): Exchange of messages with relevance for one specific location at one specific point in time (e.g., Facebook Places ; Foursquare ) Space-locators (only location sensitive): Exchange of messages, with relevance for one specific location, which are tagged to a certain place and read later by others (e.g., Yelp ; Qype ) While traditional social media offer a variety of opportunities for companies in a wide range of business sectors, mobile social media makes use of the location- and time-sensitivity aspects of it in order to engage into marketing research, communication, sales promotions/discounts, and relationship development/loyalty programs. [ 10 ] Marketing research: Mobile social media applications offer data about offline consumer movements at a level of detail heretofore limited to online companies. Any firm can now know the exact time at which a customer entered one of its outlets, as well as comments made during the visit. [ 10 ] Communication: Mobile social media communication takes two forms, the first of which is company-to-consumer in which a company may establish a connection to a consumer based on its location and provide reviews about locations nearby. The second type of communication is user-generated content. For example, McDonald's offered $5 and $10 gift cards to 100 users randomly selected among those checking in at one of the restaurants. This promotion increased check-ins by 33% (from 2,146 to 2,865), resulted in over 50 articles and blog posts, and prompted several hundred thousand news feeds and Twitter messages. [ 10 ] Sales promotions and discounts: While in the past customers had to use printed coupons, mobile social media allows companies to tailor promotions to specific users at specific times. For example, when launching its California-Cancun service, Virgin America offered users who checked in through Loopt at one of three designated Border Grill taco trucks in San Francisco and Los Angeles between 11 am and 3 pm on August 31, 2010, two tacos for $1 and two flights to Mexico for the price of one. [ 10 ] Relationship development and loyalty programs: In order to increase long-term relationships with customers, companies are able to create loyalty programs that allow customers who check-in regularly at a location to earn discounts or perks. For example, American Eagle Outfitters remunerates such customers with a tiered 10%, 15%, or 20% discount on their total purchase. [ 10 ] E-Commerce: Mobile social media applications such as Amazon.com and Pinterest are influencing an upward trend in the popularity and accessibility of e-commerce, or online purchases. [ 11 ] Business Marketing Analysts have stated that one of the key take aways of the Nielsen Company 's "State of the media: The social media report 2012" [ 6 ] is that more consumers are accessing social media content today via mobile platforms, especially apps. [ 12 ] E-commerce businesses may refer to social media as consumer-generated media (CGM). A common thread running through all definitions of social media is a blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value. [ 5 ] People obtain information, education, news, and other data from electronic and print media. Social media are distinct from industrial or traditional media such as newspapers, television, and film as they are comparatively inexpensive and accessible. They enable anyone (even private individuals) to publish or access information. Industrial media generally require significant resources to publish information as in most cases the articles goes through many revisions before being published. One characteristic shared by both social and industrial media is the capability to reach small or large audiences; for example, either a blog post or a television show may reach no people or millions of people. Some of the properties that help describe the differences between social and industrial media are: [ 5 ] Quality: In industrial(traditional) publishing—mediated by a publisher—the typical range of quality is substantially narrower than in niche, unmediated markets. The main challenge posed by content in social media sites is the fact that the distribution of quality has high variance: from very high-quality items to low-quality, sometimes abusive content. [ 4 ] Reach: Both industrial and social media technologies provide scale and are capable of reaching a global audience. Industrial media, however, typically use a centralized framework for organization, production, and dissemination, whereas social media are by their very nature more decentralized, less hierarchical, and distinguished by multiple points of production and utility. [ 5 ] Frequency: The number of times an advertisement is displayed on social media platforms. Accessibility: The means of production for industrial media are typically government and/or corporate (privately owned); social media tools are generally available to the public at little or no cost. [ 5 ] Usability: Industrial media production typically requires specialized skills and training. Conversely, most social media production requires only modest reinterpretation of existing skills; in theory, anyone with access can operate the means of social media production. [ 5 ] Immediacy: The time lag between communications produced by industrial media can be long (days, weeks, or even months) compared to social media (which can be capable of virtually instantaneous responses). [ 5 ] Permanence: Industrial media, once created, cannot be altered (once a magazine article is printed and distributed, changes cannot be made to that same article) whereas social media can be altered almost instantaneously by comments or editing. [ 5 ] Community media constitute a hybrid of industrial and social media. Though community-owned, some community radio, TV, and newspapers are run by professionals and some by amateurs. They use both social and industrial media frameworks. Social media have also been recognized for the way they have changed how public relations professionals conduct their jobs. They have provided an open arena where people are free to exchange ideas on companies, brands, and products. As stated by Doc Searls and David Wagner, two authorities on the effects of Internet on marketing, advertising, and PR, "The best of the people in PR are not PR types at all. They understand that there aren't censors, they're the company's best conversationalists." [ 13 ] Social media provides an environment where users and PR professionals can converse, and where PR professionals can promote their brand and improve their company's image by listening and responding to what the public is saying about their product. There is an increasing trend towards using social media monitoring tools that allow marketers to search, track, and analyze conversation on the web about their brand or about topics of interest. [ 14 ] This can be useful in PR management and campaign tracking, allowing the user to measure return on investment , competitor-auditing, and general public engagement. Tools range from free, basic applications to subscription-based, more in-depth tools. The honeycomb framework defines how social media services focus on some or all of seven functional building blocks. [ 3 ] These building blocks help explain the engagement needs of the social media audience. For instance, LinkedIn users are thought to care mostly about identity, reputation, and relationships, whereas YouTube's primary features are sharing, conversations, groups, and reputation. Many companies build their own social containers that attempt to link the seven functional building blocks around their brands. These are private communities that engage people around a more narrow theme, as in around a particular brand, vocation or hobby, rather than social media containers such as Google+ , Facebook , and Twitter . PR departments face significant challenges in dealing with viral negative sentiment directed at organizations or individuals on social media platforms (dubbed "sentimentitis"), which may be a reaction to an announcement or event. [ 15 ] According to Jan H. Kietzmann, the honeycomb framework of social media is based on the following functional building blocks: [ 3 ] Identity: The identity block represents the extent to which users reveal their identities in a social media setting. This can include disclosing information such as name, age, gender, profession, location, and also information that portrays users in certain ways. [ 3 ] Conversations: The conversations block of the framework represents the extent to which users communicate with other users in a social media setting. Many social media sites are designed primarily to facilitate conversations among individuals and groups. These conversations happen for all sorts of reasons. People tweet, blog, et cetera to meet new like-minded people, to ﬁnd true love, to build their self-esteem, or to be on the cutting edge of new ideas or trending topics. Yet others see social media as a way of making their message heard and positively impacting humanitarian causes, environmental problems, economic issues, or political debates. [ 3 ] Sharing: Sharing represents the extent to which users exchange, distribute, and receive content. The term ‘social’ often implies that exchanges between people are crucial. In many cases, however, sociality is about the objects that mediate these ties between people—the reasons why they meet online and associate with each other. [ 3 ] Presence: The framework building block presence represents the extent to which users can know if other users are accessible. It includes knowing where others are, in the virtual world and/or in the real world, and whether they are available. [ 3 ] Relationships: The relationships block represents the extent to which users can be related to other users. By ‘relate,’ we mean that two or more users have some form of association that leads them to converse, share objects of sociality, meet up, or simply just list each other as a friend or fan. [ 3 ] Reputation: Reputation is the extent to which users can identify the standing of others, including themselves, in a social media setting. Reputation can have different meanings on social media platforms. In most cases, reputation is a matter of trust, but since information technologies are not yet good at determining such highly qualitative criteria, social media sites rely on ‘mechanical Turks’: tools that automatically aggregate user-generated information to determine trustworthiness. [ 3 ] Groups: The group functional block represents the extent to which users can form communities and sub communities. The more ‘social’ a network becomes, the bigger the group of friends, followers, and contacts. [ 3 ] It is through this process of "building social authority" that social media becomes effective. One of the foundational concepts in social media has become that you cannot completely control your message through social media but rather you can simply begin to participate in the "conversation" expecting that you can achieve a significant influence in that conversation. [ 16 ] However, this conversation participation must be cleverly executed because while people are resistant to marketing in general, they are even more resistant to direct or overt marketing through social media platforms. This may seem counterintuitive but is the main reason building social authority with credibility is so important. A marketer can generally not expect people to be receptive to a marketing message in and of itself. In the Edelman Trust Barometer report in 2008, the majority (58%) of the respondents reported they most trusted company or product information coming from "people like me" inferred to be information from someone they trusted. In the 2010 Trust Report , the majority switched to 64% preferring their information from industry experts and academics. According to Inc. Technology's Brent Leary, "This loss of trust, and the accompanying turn towards experts and authorities, seems to be coinciding with the rise of social media and networks." [ 17 ] [ 18 ] An increasing number of scholars have sought to study and measure the impact of social media. A 2010 study by the University of Maryland suggested that social media services may be addictive, [ 19 ] and that using social media services may lead to a "fear of missing out," also known as the phrase "FOMO" by many students. [ 20 ] It has been observed that Facebook is now the primary method for communication by college students in the U.S. [ 21 ] [ 22 ] According to Nielsen, global consumers spend more than six hours on social networking sites. "Social Media Revolution" produced by Socialnomics author Erik Qualman contains numerous statistics on social media including the fact that 93% of businesses use it for marketing and that if Facebook were a country it would be the third largest. [ 23 ] Several colleges and universities such as Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Columbia and Stanford among others have even introduced classes on best social media practices, preparing students for potential careers as digital strategists. [ 24 ] There are various statistics that account for social media usage and effectiveness for individuals worldwide. Some of the most recent statistics are as follows: Consumers continue to spend more time on social networks than on any other category of sites—roughly 20 percent of their total time online via personal computer (PC), and 30 percent of total time online via mobile. [ 6 ] Total time spent on social media in the U.S. across PCs and mobile devices increased 37 percent to 121 billion minutes in July 2012, compared to 88 billion in July 2011. [ 6 ] Facebook remains the most-visited social network in the U.S. via PC (152.2 million visitors), mobile apps (78.4 million users) and mobile web (74.3 million visitors), and is multiple times the size of the next largest social site across each platform. [ 6 ] 51% of people aged 25–34 used social networking in the office, more than any other age group. [ 6 ] While the computer is still the primary device used to access social media despite dropping 4% in usage in 2012, the last year saw a significant increase in usage, most notably through tablets from 3% to 16%, internet enabled TVs from 2% to 4%. [ 6 ] In a study conducted by the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, it was found that on average, any individual is just 12 hours of separation from another around the world, using social networking sites. [ 34 ] In a study titled "Mastering the Art of Social Media," the researcher found that online communication has become a central part in the communication of political actors. In the study, Klinger focuses on Switzerland, where broadband, internet use, and media literacy are among the highest in the world, and how all major political parties in Switzerland run their own websites and social media sites. [ 35 ] "In the U.S. alone, total minutes spent on social networking sites has increased 83 percent year-over-year. In fact, total minutes spent on Facebook increased nearly 700 percent year-over-year, growing from 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008 to 13.9 billion in April 2009, making it the No. 1 social networking site for the month." According to the article "The Emerging Role of Social Media in Political and Regime Change" by Rita Safranek, "The Middle East and North Africa region has one of the most youthful populations in the world, with people under 25 making up between 35-45% of the population in each country. They make up the majority of social media users, including about 17 million Facebook users, 25,000 Twitter accounts and 40,000 active blogs, according to the Arab Advisors Group . [ 37 ] Social media has disrupted the personal and commercial habits of Americans to a degree not seen since the early days of television . Just as television turned a nation of people who listened to media content into watchers of media content, the emergence of social media has created a nation of media content creators . According to 2011 Pew Research data, nearly 80% of American adults are online and nearly 60% of them use social networking sites. [ 38 ] More Americans get their news via the Internet than from newspapers or radio, as well as three-fourths who say they get news from e-mail or social media sites updates, according to a report published by CNN. The survey suggests that Facebook and Twitter make news a more participatory experience than before as people share news articles and comment on other people's posts. According to CNN, in 2010 75% of people got their news forwarded through e-mail or social media posts, while 37% of people shared a news item via Facebook or Twitter. [ 39 ] In the United States, 81% of people say they look online for news of the weather, first and foremost. National news at 73%, 52% for sports news, and 41% for entertainment or celebrity news. Based on this study, done for the Pew Center, two-thirds of the sample’s online news users were younger than 50, and 30% were younger than 30. The survey involved tracking daily the habits of 2,259 adults 18 or older. [ 40 ] 33% of young adults get news from social networks. 34% watched TV news and 13% read print or digital content. 19% of Americans got news from Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn. 36% of those who get news from social network got it yesterday from survey. More than 36% of Twitter users use accounts to follow news organizations or journalists. 19% of users say they got information from news organizations of journalists. TV remains most popular source of news, but audience is aging (only 34% of young people). 29% of those younger that 25 say they got no news yesterday either digitally or traditional news platforms. Only 5% under 30 say they follow news about political figures and events in DC. Only 14% of responders could answer all four questions about which party controls the House, current unemployment rate, what nation Angela Merkel leads, and which presidential candidate favors taxing higher-income Americans. Facebook and Twitter now pathways to news, but are not replacements for traditional ones. 70% get social media news from friends and family on Facebook. [ 41 ] For children, using social media sites can help promote creativity, interaction, and learning. It can also help them with homework and class work. Moreover, social media enable them to stay connected with their peers, and help them to interact with each other. Some can get involved with developing fundraising campaigns and political events. However it can affect mental health of teens. Teens who use Facebook frequently and who especially susceptible may become more narcissistic, antisocial, and aggressive. Teens become strongly influenced by advertising, and it influences buying habits for the future. Since the creation of Facebook in 2004, it has become a distraction and a way to waste time for many users. [ 42 ] Americans spend more time on Facebook than any other website in the United States. Based on a Nielsen study, the average American has spent more than 17 minutes per day on the social media site. [ 43 ] In a recent study conducted, high school students ages 18 and younger were examined in an effort to find their preference for receiving news. Based on interviews with 61 teenagers, conducted from December 2007 to February 2011, most of the teen participants reported reading print newspapers only “sometimes,” with fewer than 10% reading them daily. The teenagers instead reported learning about current events from social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and blogs. [ 44 ] Another study showed that social media users read a set of news that is different from what newspaper editors feature in the print press. [ 45 ] Using nanotechnology as an example, Runge et al. (2013) [ 46 ] studied tweets from Twitter and found that some 41% of the discourse about nanotechnology focused on its negative impacts, suggesting that a portion of the public may be concerned with how various forms of nanotechnology are used in the future. While optimistic-sounding and neutral-sounding tweets were equally likely to express certainty or uncertainty, the pessimistic tweets were nearly twice as likely to appear certain of an outcome than uncertain. These results imply the possibility of a preconceived negative perception of many news articles associated with nanotechnology. Alternatively, these results could also imply that posts of a more pessimistic nature that are also written with an air of certainty are more likely to be shared or otherwise permeate groups on Twitter. Similar biases need to be considered when the utility of new media is addressed, as the potential for human opinion to over-emphasize any particular news story is greater despite the general improvement in addressed potential uncertainty and bias in news articles than in traditional media. [ 47 ] On October 2, 2013, the most common hashtag throughout the country was “#governmentshutdown,” as well as ones focusing on political parties, Obama, and healthcare. Most news sources have twitter, and Facebook, pages, like CNN and the New York Times, providing links to their online articles, getting an increased readership. Additionally, several college news organizations and administrators have Twitter pages as a way to share news and connect to students. [ 48 ] According to "Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2013", [ 49 ] in the US, among those who use social media to find news, 47% of these people are under 45 years old, and 23% are above 45 years old. However social media as a main news gateway does not follow the same pattern across countries. For example, in this report, in Brazil, 60% of the respondents said social media was one of the five most important way to find news online, 45% in Spain, 17% in the UK, 38% in Italy, 14% in France, 22% in Denmark, 30% in U.S., and 12% in Japan. [ 49 ] Moreover, there are differences among countries about commenting news in social networks, 38% of the respondents in Brazil said they commented news in social network in a week. These percentages are 21% in U.S. and 10% in UK. The authors argued that difference among countries may due to culture difference rather than different levels of access to technical tools. [ 49 ] News media and television journalism have been instrumental in the shaping of American collective memory for much of the twentieth century. [ 50 ] [ 51 ] Indeed, since the United States' colonial era, news media has influenced collective memory and discourse about national development and trauma. In many ways, mainstream journalists have maintained an authoritative voice as the storytellers of the American past. Their documentary style narratives, detailed exposes, and their positions in the present make them prime sources for public memory. Specifically, news media journalists have shaped collective memory on nearly every major national event – from the deaths of social and political figures to the progression of political hopefuls. Journalists provide elaborate descriptions of commemorative events in U.S. history and contemporary popular cultural sensations. Many Americans learn the significance of historical events and political issues through news media, as they are presented on popular news stations. [ 52 ] However, journalistic influence is growing less important, while social networking sites such as Facebook , YouTube and Twitter , provide a constant source of alternative news sources for users. As social networking becomes more popular among older and younger generations, sites such as Facebook and YouTube, gradually undermine the traditionally authoritative voices of news media. For example, American citizens contest media coverage of various social and political events as they see fit, inserting their voices into the narratives about America's past and present and shaping their own collective memories. [ 53 ] [ 54 ] An example of this is the public explosion of the Trayvon Martin shooting in Sanford, Florida. News media coverage of the incident was minimal until social media users made the story recognizable through their constant discussion of the case. Approximately one month after the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin , its online coverage by everyday Americans garnered national attention from mainstream media journalists, in turn exemplifying media activism . In some ways, the spread of this tragic event through alternative news sources parallels that of the Emmitt Till – whose murder became a national story after it circulated African American and Communists newspapers. Social media was also influential in the widespread attention given to the revolutionary outbreaks in the Middle East and North Africa during 2011 . [ 55 ] [ 56 ] [ 57 ] However, there is some debate about the extent to which social media facilitated this kind of change. [ 58 ] Another example of this shift is in the on-going Kony 2012 campaign, which surfaced first on YouTube and later garnered a great amount of attention from mainstream news media journalists. These journalists now monitor social media sites to inform their reports on the movement. Lastly, in the past couple of presidential elections, the use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter were used to predict election results. U.S. President Barack Obama was more liked on Facebook than his opponent Mitt Romney and it was found by a study done by Oxford Institute Internet Experiment that more people liked to tweet about comments of President Obama rather than Romney. [ 59 ] Criticisms of social media range from criticisms of the ease of use of specific platforms and their capabilities, disparity of information available, issues with trustworthiness and reliability of information presented, [ 60 ] the impact of social media use on an individual's concentration, [ 61 ] ownership of media content, and the meaning of interactions created by social media. Although some social media platforms offer users the opportunity to cross-post simultaneously, some social network platforms have been criticized for poor interoperability between platforms, which leads to the creation of information silos- isolated pockets of data contained in one social media platform [ 62 ] However, it is also argued that social media have positive effects such as allowing the democratization of the internet [ 63 ] while also allowing individuals to advertise themselves and form friendships. [ 64 ] British-American entrepreneur and author Andrew Keen criticizes social media in his book The Cult of the Amateur , writing, "Out of this anarchy, it suddenly became clear that what was governing the infinite monkeys now inputting away on the Internet was the law of digital Darwinism, the survival of the loudest and most opinionated. Under these rules, the only way to intellectually prevail is by infinite filibustering." [ 66 ] This is also relative to the issue "justice" in the social network. For example, the phenomenon “ Human flesh search engine ” in Asia raised the discussion of "private-law" brought by social network platform. Comparative Media professor José van Dijck contends in her book " The Culture of Connectivity " (2013) that to understand the full weight of social media, their technological dimensions should be connected to the social and the cultural. She critically describes six social media platforms. One of her findings is the way Facebook had been successful in framing the term 'sharing' in such a way that third party use of user data is negelected in favour of intra-user connectedness. Tim Berners-Lee contends that the danger of social networking sites is that most are silos and do not allow users to port data from one site to another. He also cautions against social networks that grow too big and become a monopoly as this tends to limit innovation. [ 67 ] Eric Ehrmann contends that social media in the form of public diplomacy create a patina of inclusiveness that covers [ 68 ] traditional economic interests that are structured to ensure that wealth is pumped up to the top of the economic pyramid, perpetuating the digital divide and post Marxian class conflict. He also voices concern over the trend that finds social utilities operating in a quasi- libertarian global environment of oligopoly that requires users in economically challenged nations to spend high percentages of annual income to pay for devices and services to participate in the social media lifestyle. The phrase " Digital divide " was coined in 1996 by Lloyd Morrlsett, a founder of the Children's Television Workshop and President of the Markle Foundation, to describe the chasm that purportedly separates information technology (IT) haves from have-nots in the US. As Virginia Eubanks explains the digital divide in terms of social structure that have-not side users don't have much consumer power but the have side have the power. Money and labors go from the have-not to have. Neil Postman also contends that social media will increase an information disparity between winners – who are able to use the social media actively – and losers – who are not familiar with modern technologies. Since large-scale collaborative co-creation is one of the main way forming information in the social network, the user generated content is sometimes viewed with skepticism; readers do not trust it is as a reliable source of information. Aniket Kittur, Bongowon Suh and Ed H. Chi took wikis under examination and indicated that, "One possibility is that distrust of wiki Content is not due to the inherently mutable nature of the system but instead to the lack of available information for judging trustworthiness.". [ 69 ] To be more specific, the authors mention that reasons for distrusting collaborative systems with user-generated content, such as Wikipedia, include a lack of information regarding accuracy of contents, motives and expertise of editors, stability of content, coverage of topics and the absence of sources. [ 70 ] Social media is also an important source of news. According to 'Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2013', social media is one of the most important ways for people find news online (the others being traditional brands, search engines and news aggregators). [ 49 ] The report suggested that in the United Kingdom, trust in news which comes from social media sources is low, compared to news from other sources (e.g. online news from traditional broadcaster or online news from national newspapers). People who aged at 24-35 trust social media most, whereas trust declined with the increase of age. Rainie and Wellman have argued that media making now has become a participation work, [ 71 ] which changes communication systems. The center of power is shifted from only the media (as the gatekeeper) to the peripheral area, which may include government, organizations, and out to the edge, the individual. [ 72 ] These changes in communication systems raise empirical questions about trust to media effect. Prior empirical studies have shown that trust in information sources plays a major role in people’s decision making. [ 73 ] People's attitudes more easily change when they hear messages from trustworthy sources. In the Reuter's report, 27% of respondents agree that they worry about the accuracy of a story on a blog. [ 49 ] However, 40% of them believe the stories on blogs are more balanced than traditional papers since they are provided with a range of opinions. Recent research has shown that in the new social media communication environment, the civil or uncivil nature of comments will bias people's information processing even if the message is from a trustworthy source, [ 74 ] which bring the practical and ethical question about the responsibility of communicator in the social media environment. Some have said that "fast (social) media and deep slow thought don't mix well." From Nicholas Carr , "As media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation." However, there are several benefits brought from deep reading. For example, "our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connection that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged." But needs for convenience often make it difficult to choose this slower, more deliberate way. [ 75 ] For Malcolm Gladwell [ 76 ] the role of social media, such as Twitter and Facebook, in revolutions and protests is overstated. On the one hand, social media make it easier for individuals, and in this case activists, to express themselves. On the other hand, it is harder for that expression to have an impact. [ citation needed ] Gladwell discusses that social media are built around weak ties and he argues that "social networks are effective at increasing participation —by lessening the level of motivation that participation requires”. [ citation needed ] According to him “…Facebook activism succeeds not by motivating people to make a real sacrifice, but by motivating them to do the things that people do when they are not motivated enough to make a real sacrifice”. [ citation needed ] Evgeny Morozov , 2009–2010 Yahoo fellow at Georgetown University contends that the information uploaded to Twitter may have little relevance to the rest of the people who do not use Twitter. In the article "Iran: Downside to the “Twitter Revolution”” in the magazine Dissent , [ 77 ] he says: "Twitter only adds to the noise: it’s simply impossible to pack much context into its 140 characters. All other biases are present as well: in a country like Iran it’s mostly pro-Western, technology-friendly and iPod-carrying young people who are the natural and most frequent users of Twitter. They are a tiny and, most important, extremely untypical segment of the Iranian population (the number of Twitter users in Iran — a country of more than seventy million people.)” Even in the United States, the birth-country of Twitter, in 2012 the social network had only 107.7 million accounts. [ 78 ] Since there are likely to be many multi-account users, and the United States in 2012 had a population of 314.7 million, [ 79 ] the adoption of Twitter is somewhat limited. Professor Matthew Auer of Bates College casts doubt on the conventional wisdom that social media are open and participatory. He also speculates on the emergence of "anti-social media" used as "instruments of pure control." [ 80 ] Social media content is generated through social media interactions done by the users through the site. There has always been a huge debate on the ownership of the content on social media platforms since it is generated by the users and hosted by the company. Added to this is the danger to security of information, which can be leaked to third parties with economic interests in the platform, or parasites who comb the data for their own databases. [ 81 ] The author of Social Media Is Bullshit, Brandon Mendelson , claims that the "true" owners of content created on social media sites only benefits the large corporations who own those sites and rarely the users that created them. [ 82 ] Privacy rights advocates warn users about uses for the information that can be gathered through social media. Some information is captured without the user's knowledge or consent, such as through electronic tracking and third party application on social networks. Others include law enforcement and governmental use of this information, [ 83 ] including the gathering of so-called social media intelligence through data mining techniques. [ 84 ] Additional privacy concerns regard the impact of social media monitoring by employers whose policies include prohibitions against workers' postings on social networking sites. [ 85 ] A survey done in 2010 from different universities revealed that there are lines drawn between personal and professional lives. Many of the users surveyed admitted to misrepresenting themselves online. [ 86 ] Employees can be concerned because their social media sites reflect their personal lives and not their professional lives, but yet employers are censoring them on the internet. Other privacy concerns with employers and social media are when employers use social media as a tool to screen a prospective employee. This issue raises many ethical questions that some consider an employer’s right and others consider discrimination . Except in the states of California, Maryland, and Illinois, there are no laws that prohibit employers from using social media profiles as a basis of whether or not someone should be hired. [ 87 ] Title VII also prohibits discrimination during any aspect of employment including hiring or firing, recruitment, or testing. [ 88 ] Data suggests that participants use social media to fulfill perceived social needs, but are typically disappointed. [ 89 ] Lonely individuals are drawn to the Internet for emotional support. This causes problems as it interferes with “real life socializing”. [ 90 ] Some of these views are summed up in an Atlantic article by Stephen Marche titled, "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?" Marche argues that social media provides more breadth, but not the depth of relationships that humans require. While he makes interesting points about how social media is replacing face-to-face interaction, he fails to cite some of his sources. [ 91 ] Sherry Turkle explores similar issues in her book Alone Together, as she discusses how people confuse social media usage with authentic communication. People tend to act differently online and are less afraid to hurt each other’s feelings. Some online behaviors cause stress and anxiety, much of this associated with friends and the permanence of online posts. This anxiety is also associated with the fear of being hacked or of colleges and employers exploring social media pages and finding unsavory things posted. Turkle also speculates that people are beginning to prefer texting to face-to-face communication, which can contribute to feelings of loneliness. [ 92 ] Researchers found that only exchanges that involved direct communication and reciprocation of messages to each other increased feelings of connectedness. However, passively using social media without sending or receiving messages to individuals does not make people feel less lonely unless they were lonely to begin with. [ 93 ] A current controversial topic is whether or not social media addiction should be included in the DSM-V. [ 94 ] Extended use of social media has led to increased Internet addiction, cyberbullying, sexting, sleep deprivation, and the decline of face-to-face interaction. [ 95 ] According to several clinics in the UK, social media addiction is a certifiable medical condition. One psychiatric consultant claims he treats as many as one hundred cases a year. And as the title of this article states, "Social media addiction recognised as official condition". [ 96 ] Social Isolationism: The largest form of social isolationism is caused by social networking websites, when the marketers affiliated with these websites actually limit the visibility of users to develop “artificial marketing.” Artificial marketing is something that occurs because of social media platforms, where marketers can follow users through their activities on the web and their individual searches. They are fed information that they already have some interest in, and therefore automatically use this to feed them more information, products, or sources that are all similar. This is a form of isolationism because people are not being exposed to different information, and are constantly trapped into thinking they need more of similar information. At times they don’t even see what else is out there, because of over exposure to the same kind of things. In the book “Networked – The new social operating system” by Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman, the two authors reflect on mainly positive effects of social media and other internet based social networks. According to the authors, social media is used to document memories, learn about and explore things, advertise oneself and form friendships. For instance, they claim that the communication through internet based services can be done more privately than in real life. Furthermore, Rainie and Wellman discuss that everybody has the possibility to become a content creator. Content creation provides networked individuals opportunities to reach wider audiences. Moreover, it can positively affect their social standing and gain political support. This can lead to influence on issues that are important for someone. As a concrete example of the positive effects of social media, the authors use the Egyptian revolution in 2011, where people used Facebook to gather meetings, protest actions, etc. [ 64 ] Rainie and Wellman (Ibid) also discuss that content creation is a voluntary and participatory act. What is important is that networked individuals create, edit and manage content in collaboration with other networked individuals. This way they contribute in expanding knowledge. Wikis are examples of collaborative content creation. Number of US social network patent applications published and patents issued per year since 2003. [ 97 ] There has been rapid growth in the number of US patent applications that cover new technologies related to social media, and the number of them that are published has been growing rapidly over the past five years. There are now over 2000 published patent applications. [ 98 ] As many as 7000 applications may be currently on file including those that haven't been published yet. Only slightly over 100 of these applications have issued as patents, however, largely due to the multi-year backlog in examination of business method patents , patents which outline and claim new methods of doing business. [ 99 ] In early 2013, Steve Joordens, a professor at the University of Toronto, encouraged the 1,900 students enrolled in his introductory psychology course to add content to Wikipedia pages featuring content that related to the course. Like other educators, [ 100 ] Joordens argued that the assignment would not only strengthen the site’s psychology-related content, but also provide an opportunity for students to engage in critical reflection about the negotiations involved in collaborative knowledge production. However, Wikipedia’s all-volunteer editorial staff complained that the students’ contributions resulted in an overwhelming number of additions to the site, and that some of the contributions were inaccurate. [ 101 ] Wikipedia can also be incorporated into assignments related to the gender gap. A 2010 survey of more than 58,000 self-selected Wikipedians indicated that 87% of contributors to the site are male, and 13% are women. [ 102 ] In response, the Wikipedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, has set a goal of raising the percentage of female contributors to 25% by 2015. [ 102 ] As of October 23, 2013, the site’s “Wikipedians” page states that “Experienced women editors can be very successful—they are more likely to become administrators than men—but they are more likely to leave if treated aggressively in discussions, especially as new editors, when their good-faith contributions are more likely to be reverted than a similarly good-faith contribution by a man”. [ 103 ] Wikimedia, Wikipedia’s meta-wiki, labels the gender gap a “very sensitive subject”. [ 104 ] Noting that “[p]eople who want to talk about the gender gap are sometimes victims of harassment,” Wikimedia argues that “The gender gap mailing list is the best place to talk about this with other people who are interested and can help.” Facebook represents a potentially useful tool in educational contexts. It allows for both an asynchronous and synchronous, open dialogue via a familiar and regularly accessed medium, and supports the integration of multimodal content such as student-created photographs and video and URLs to other texts, in a platform that many students are already familiar with. Further, it allows students to ask more minor questions that they might not otherwise feel motivated to visit a professor in person during office hours to ask. [ 105 ] It also allows students to manage their own privacy settings, and often work with the privacy settings they have already established as registered users. Facebook is one alternative means for shyer students to be able to voice their thoughts in and outside of the classroom. It allows students to collect their thoughts and articulate them in writing before committing to their expression. [ 105 ] Further, the level of informality typical to Facebook can also aid students in self-expression and encourage more frequent student-and-instructor and student-and-student communication. At the same time, Towner and Munoz note that this informality may actually drive many educators and students away from using Facebook for educational purposes. From a course management perspective, Facebook may be less efficient as a replacement for more conventional course management systems, both because of its limitations with regards to uploading assignments and due to some students’ (and educators’) resistance to its use in education. Specifically, there are features of student-to-student collaboration that may be conducted more efficiently on dedicated course management systems, such as the organization of posts in a nested and linked format. That said, a number of studies suggest that students post to discussion forums more frequently and are generally more active discussants on Facebook posts versus conventional course management systems like WebCT or Blackboard (Chu and Meulemans, 2008; Salaway, et al., 2008; Schroeder and Greenbowe, 2009). [ 106 ] [ 107 ] [ 108 ] Additionally, Facebook’s privacy settings can be difficult to understand and manage, leaving some potential users – particularly females and older students – uncomfortable about the level of privacy and safety afforded them. [ 107 ] Further, familiarity and comfortability with Facebook is often divided by socio-economic class, with students whose parents obtained a college degree, or at least having attended college for some span of time, being more likely to already be active users. [ 109 ] Instructors ought to seriously consider and respect these hesitancies, and refrain from “forcing” Facebook on their students for academic purposes. [ 110 ] [ 111 ] Instructors also ought to consider that rendering Facebook optional, but continuing to provide content through it to students who elect to use it, places an unfair burden on hesitant students, who then are forced to choose between using a technology they are uncomfortable with and participating fully in the course. A related limitation, particularly at the level of K-12 schooling, is the distrust (and in some cases, outright disallowal) of the use of Facebook in formal classroom settings in many educational jurisdictions. However, this hesitancy towards Facebook use is continually diminishing in the United States, as the Pew Internet & American Life Project’s annual report for 2012 shows that the likelihood of a person to be a registered Facebook user only fluctuates by 13 percent between different levels of educational attainment, 9 percent between urban, suburban, and rural users, only 5 percent between different household income brackets. The largest gap occurs between age brackets, with 86 percent of 18-29-year-olds reported as registered users as opposed to only 35 percent of 65-and-up-year-old users. [ 112 ] Twitter, also, promotes social connections among students. It can be used to enhance communication building and critical thinking. Domizi (2013) utilized Twitter in a graduate seminar requiring students to post weekly tweets to extend classroom discussions. Students reportedly used Twitter to connect with content and other students. Additionally, students found it “to be useful professionally and personally” [ 113 ] Junco, Heibergert, and Loken (2011) completed a study of 132 students to examine the link between social media and student engagement and social media and grades. They divided the students into two groups, one used Twitter and the other did not. Twitter was used to discuss material, organize study groups, post class announcements, and connect with classmates. Junco and his colleagues (2011) found that the students in the Twitter group had higher GPAs and greater engagement scores than the control group [ 114 ] Gao, Luo, and Zhang (2012) reviewed literature about Twitter published between 2008 and 2011. They concluded that Twitter allowed students to participate with each other in class (back channel), and extend discussion outside of class. They also reported that students used Twitter to get up-to-date news and connect with professionals in their field. Students reported that microblogging encouraged students to “participate at a higher level” [ 115 ] Since the posts cannot exceed 140 characters, students were required to express ideas, reflect, and focus on important concepts in a concise manner. Some students found this very beneficial. Other students did not like the character limit. Also, some students found microblogging to be overwhelming (information overload). The research indicated that many students did not actually participate in the discussions, “they just lurked” [ 116 ] YouTube is the most frequently used social media tool in the classroom. [ 117 ] [ not in citation given ] Students can watch videos, answer questions, and discuss content. Additionally, students can create videos to share with others. Sherer and Shea (2011) claimed that YouTube increased participation, personalization (customization), and productivity. YouTube also improved students’ digital skills and provided opportunity for peer learning and problem solving [ 118 ] Eick and King (2012) found that videos kept students’ attention, generated interest in the subject, and clarified course content [ 119 ] Additionally, the students reported that the videos helped them recall information and visualize real world applications of course concepts. In 2013, the United Kingdom Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) began to advise celebrities and sportstars to make it clear if they had been paid to tweet about a product or service by using the hashtag #spon or #ad within tweets containing endorsements. In July 2013, Wayne Rooney was accused of misleading followers by not including either of these tags in a tweet promoting Nike. The tweet read: The tweet was investigated by the ASA but no charges were pressed. The ASA stated that “We considered the reference to Nike Football was prominent and clearly linked the tweet with the Nike brand." [ 120 ] When asked about whether the number of complaints regarding misleading social advertising had increased, the ASA stated that the number of complaints had risen marginally since 2011 but that complaints were "very low" in the "grand scheme." [ 121 ] ^ Gerhards, Jürgen, and Mike Schäfer, 2010. Is the internet a better public sphere? Comparing old and new media in the USA and Germany. new media & society, 12(1) 143–160. DOI: 10.1177/1461444809341444 ^ J. Schroeder and T.J. Greenbowe, 2009. "The chemistry of Facebook: Using social networking to create an online community for the organic chemistry laboratory," Innovate, volume 5, number 4, athttp://www.uh.cu/static/documents/AL/The%20Chemistry%20of%20Facebook.pdf, accessed 14 September 2011. ^ C. Madge, J. Meek, J. Wellens, and T. Hooley, 2009. "Facebook, social integration and informal learning at university: ‘It is more for socialising and talking to friends about work than for actually doing work’," Learning, Media and Technology, volume 34, number 2, pp. 141–155.	Information/Explanation	CORE	English
Libyans wave their new national flag in Tripoli during celebrations marking one year since the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi. Photograph: Mahmud Turkia/AFP/Getty Images One thing was missing from the highly charged celebrations that erupted in Tripoli's Martyrs Square at the weekend to mark the anniversary of last year's revolution. There were fireworks, marching bands and bouncy castles for the children, a hooting phalanx of tugboats on the seafront and thousands of flickering Chinese lanterns sent into the night sky. But there was no sign of the government. The balcony on the Red Castle overlooking the square was empty, with the leadership of the National Transitional Council perhaps sensing that an appearance would see the cheers turn to jeers. The reality is that, a year after revolution first swept the country, Libya 's government, by turns secretive and inept, is seen by ordinary people less as the solution than the problem. "This celebration was about the people, not the government," said Dr Hana El-Gallal, a legal specialist working with civil rights groups in Benghazi. "The people are doing a better job than the government." Certainly the crisis-bound NTC must envy the ability of ordinary people to contrive celebrations in which militias kept the peace and not a shot was fired, not by order but by what amounts to common consent. The decision of the NTC to hold its meetings in private and rule by decree has left diplomats dismayed, and the country is fragmenting under its feet.Misrata, Libya's third city, will tomorrow hold its own elections, unsanctioned by the NTC, a final step towards what is independence in all but name. Its militias control a 300-mile-long corridor stretching across central Libya, policing it according to the city's own leadership, rather than that of the NTC. To the east, tribal leaders are meeting to consider a similar step, dismayed, as are the Misratans, by rumours that the NTC may delay June's promised national elections. Nor are the government's critics impressed by the declaration by NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil last week that it will form a political party, which seems an aberration of its promise to withdraw from politics once democracy is established. And then there are the militias: Libya has more than 500 armed groups, each following their own orders. The wonder is not how bad the violence and armed clashes are -- the latest being intertribal violence in the southern town of Kufra that has left more than 20 dead -- but how tranquil the country is. Last week Amnesty International, which is making the running on recording human rights abuses in postwar Libya, reported on the continued use of torture and illegal detention. Amnesty highlighted the 12 deaths in custody that have occurred in militia jails since last September. A cause for concern, certainly, but also the kind of figure that would be considered a wild success were it Afghanistan or Iraq The problem is not that Libya's militias are out of control, but rather that there is no mechanism for disciplining the minority who commit human rights violations. "You think this is bad?" said Ahmed, a young militiaman from Tripoli's eastern suburb of Souk al-Juma, regarding an incident last month when two militias battled for custody of a beach house. "Think if you give a gun to every young guy in London. What do you think London would look like the next night?" Yet this lack of central control invites disaster, because the lack of security across Libya means nothing else gets done, and because the discipline of militias will start to unravel. "This kind of thing is very bad for security, for business, for everything in Libya," said Amnesty International's Donatella Rovera. A cabinet of technocrats was announced by the NTC last November, but it is starved of authority. Last month prime minister Abdurrahim El-Keib, regarded as a capable official, met Misratan leaders to complain that he has no power. All strategic decisions are the province of the NTC, whose internal squabbles mean nothing gets done. Instead of tackling problems, the NTC lets them pile up, like water behind a dam. The law for June's election has been published, but there is no justice system to enforce it. Libya now exports more than a million barrels of oil a day, but officials of the internationally mandated Transitional Finance Mechanism complained that even they were not allowed to view the accounts showing where oil revenues are going. Meanwhile, the government is on a collision course with the international criminal court over its decision to try Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the late dictator, on home soil and under laws not yet published, rather than hand him over to The Hague. A court system has still to take shape, and the NTC left diplomats scratching their heads last week when it announced that a law on transitional justice had been passed, in secret, two months ago. "They [the NTC] are becoming defensive, they don't understand that their power comes from the people," said El-Gallal. Meanwhile, wages go unpaid, reconstruction is nonexistent, power cuts are common and much of the country is running out of money. Skirmishes, such as the battle between militias and the town of Beni Walid over its refusal to hand over war crimes suspects, simmer unchecked. And on Friday President Barack Obama's spokesman, Jim Carney, joined the chorus of critics, calling for the NTC to make its decisions "openly and transparently". Nervousness among western diplomats is well placed, for while the Arab Spring revolts in Bahrain, Egypt, Syria and Tunisia are home-grown, Nato was the midwife in Libya's revolution. Western recognition was the reason that the NTC, led by figures from the eastern town of Benghazi, are Libya's government, and alliance bombs were the reason it won the war. Should Libya lurch back into dictatorship, the blowback will be felt abroad, not least in London and Paris. And many Libyans now have the hardware to make their feelings felt. As one militiaman from Benghazi put it, he will give the new government a chance, but "if it is no good, well, we know how to do revolution". I believe that Cameron and Sukozy made a bid for ever-lasting personal International fame in Libya - (desire to be remembered as the modern day Churchill and Napolean.) The French and British inspired 'revolution' was both opportunist (riding off the back of the Arab Spring movements) and illegal (incorrect interpretation of the UN Resolution) And the net result - pain, disillusion bankrupty and disorder (not only in Libya but to a greater degree than ever in France and Britain - it was a costly war). Cameron and Sukozy - you failed and should be held accountable. Western recognition was the reason that the NTC, led by figures from the eastern town of Benghazi, are Libya's government, and alliance bombs were the reason it won the war. Correct. So NATO and the west are every bit as responsible for the aftermath as the militias they assisted, and all those who supported intervention will be judged by and held responsible for this: The reality is that, a year after revolution first swept the country, Libya's government, by turns secretive and inept, is seen by ordinary people less as the solution than the problem. Interventionists are vindicated or condemned by the results, just like non-interventionists. In the case of Libya, as in Iraq, the responsibility of interventionists for the deepening chaos is made all the heavier for having been warned, again and again, that this would be the result. Those of us without the desire and arrogance for power do learn; politicians never do, alas! Cameron said the other day that it was no use looking backwards, we can learn nothing from the past. I thought he was a History graduate. As the saying goes; those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. After one is badly injured in say a real"y bad car accident,it takes time to recover. Libya has to find a route not back! but forward where it wants to go,at this moment its a bit like the tower of Babel,though all speak the same language,theres so many ideas. Libya now exports more than a million barrels of oil a day, but officials of the internationally mandated Transitional Finance Mechanism complained that even they were not allowed to view the accounts showing where oil revenues are going. ...analysts have claimed that the no-bid contracts to U.S oil companies constitutes as exploitation since many non U.S companies would give the same service for shorter contracts and lower percentage of revenue , Also the fact that the U.S is still occupying the country and making the hydrocarbon law one of the benchmarks for withdrawal led many to believe the U.S is applying pressure on Iraq to accept this law. George Bush WAS telling the truth in big bold letters, back in 2003, the moment US troops secured the refineries and main the Iraqi oil offices (meanwhile shunning protection for museums looted by mobs) that their real objectives had been met: " Libya now exports more than a million barrels of oil a day, but officials of the internationally mandated Transitional Finance Mechanism complained that even they were not allowed to view the accounts showing where oil revenues are going." Says it all really,i don't suppose any international body could discover who is looting the oil wealth as trade secrets protect corporations accounts. Is it Syria and Iran next in line for destruction and looting ,i hear Assad's forces were attacking a funeral which is obviously not the same as US drone attacks targeting funerals in Afghanistan and Pakistan.is it because only our enemies commit war crimes while we commit war? Clearly the west is adapt at leaving chaos in its wake throughout the middle east . Liberal interventionists' would feel ashamed if they were capable of such emotion. Many of those who called for western intervention genuinely did so for humanitarian reasons, to prevent a massacre in Behghazi. The assumption was that Gaddafi was hated by all Libyans and that support for him would crumble at the first sight of NATO warplanes. The fact that that didn't happen left NATO with a dilemma: They could either withdraw and watch the ugly progress of Gaddafi's revenge, or press on ruthlessly and effect regime change. To do the former would have involved losing face on a grand scale. So they did the latter. Watching the brutal final stages of the Libyan conflict was for me a painful experience. The present outcome, as I have posted on another thread, has cured me of the illusion that military intervention can do any good at all. As now in the case of Syria, where a dictator is bent on crushing dissent we are not entitled to intervene, even if only to stop the slaughter -- just stand by and wring our hands, and hope that the Syrian people will unite to bring Assad down. Massacres are a daily event, and for much of the time it is difficult to determine who is fighting whom or why. I suspect that the eventual outcome may be no less chaotic and destructive than in Libya. Watching the brutal final stages of the Libyan conflict was for me a painful experience. The present outcome, as I have posted on another thread, has cured me of the illusion that military intervention can do any good at all. I applaud you for voicing your change of mind, a rare occurence on these threads. The assumption was that Gaddafi was hated by all Libyans and that support for him would crumble at the first sight of NATO warplanes I honestly don't believe that NATO made that assumption, although that was the narrative. There was plenty of evidence that Gaddafi had a lot of support, much of it reported by knowledgable posters on cif, although not, shamefully, the Guardian itself. As now in the case of Syria, where a dictator is bent on crushing dissent we are not entitled to intervene, even if only to stop the slaughter -- just stand by and wring our hands, and hope that the Syrian people will unite to bring Assad down. Massacres are a daily event, and for much of the time it is difficult to determine who is fighting whom or why. I suspect that the eventual outcome may be no less chaotic and destructive than in Libya. I don't believe that it is a straight choice between wringing our hands and military intervention. Unfortunately, when you have chosen regime change as your only acceptable outcome it limits the options. Lest We Forget* 'Compilation of a small sample of footage, recorded in July 2011, documenting the mass support of the Libyan people for the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and their opposition to the barbaric NATO bombing and the NATO backed rebels. These events were given little or no coverage in the pro NATO mainstream media, as to have done so would have exposed the lies and propaganda of the western leaders and their supporters used to justify the imperialist intervention and the subsequent imposition of the reactionary NTC led interim government.' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UEMb4m3e\\... To suggest that the brutal nature of the 'rebels' is an oversight by the US and NATO is utter nonsense. These are the same states that supported the fascist contras in nicaragua, General Pinochet, The Muhajadeen in Afghanistan, The KLA in Kosovo, The Libyan Islamic Fighting group in Libya etc - portraying them as 'freedom fighters'. The Libyan uprising has been characterised by racist violence. On the second day of the uprising 50 African migrants were slaughtered by the rebels. This is all justified in the media by nonsense about 'African mercenaries' which Amnesty International have already comprehensively demolished. There were no 'African mercenaries'. The rebels waged warfare against the black Libyan population and African migrant workers. NATO want a government that disunites Africa -- that will draw North Africa away from its southern neighbours. Therefore it is very important for NATO that the government in Libya is a racist one which will discontinue with the Libyan led project to unite Africa against imperialist exploitation of labour and resources. It is no mistake that this uprising has been characterised by racist violence -- it's part of the plan. We must also put the war drive of the last decade into context. The western world is collapsing economically. War is big business and a 'racket' in every sense of the word. It also serves as a distraction from the crisis at home. The current economic crisis is on a scale not seen since the 1910's -1930's.... We all know how that ended... world war which caused mass destruction and death but* resulted in a post WW2 economic boom! A very strange article, whose sensationalist headline is belied by its much more balanced content, which acknowledges to the orderly way in which the mass anniversary demonstrations took place; accepts "how tranquil the country is"; and records the NTC's achievement in drafting a consensual law for national assembly elections. However it treats the upcoming Misratan election in a very odd way, as a "final step towards what is independence in all but name". They're holding a local council election, for god sake! Which the organisers are presenting as a democratic model for the whole country. It seems that the Libyans can't win in the eyes of the western media: if they don't do things they are failing to lead the country; and when they do take serious initiatives they are usurping authority and threatening national unity. We need to look at Libya in context, as the quote from "Ahmed, a young militiaman from Tripoli's eastern suburb" points out in the wisest passage in this article. It was obvious to any thinking person, who was not taken in by the propaganda on television, that with all the different tribes, ethnies, languages and cultures in Lybia, any government other than Khadaffi's had to be carefully studied and organized. France got their 30% of Lybian oil. Otherwise only more death, brutality, destruction and torture has resulted from all the money spent by the so-called civilized west - NATO, and will continue. It is extraordinarily sad. Heads of Government are only out for money and power. Negociation was never tried. People do not matter any more. Preserving history, buildings, treasures is never even considered. 2011 was a very tragic year for the world. Lybia goes the way of Irak. Destroyed. As indeed our environment is going - heading for destruction. It's been prophecied for a long time. When will they ever learn? "Libya now exports more than a million barrels of oil a day, but officials of the internationally mandated Transitional Finance Mechanism complained that even they were not allowed to view the accounts showing where oil revenues are going." This paragraph explains a lot about the Oil being the primary motive of the West in its breaching of the UN resolution and intervening in Libya. Before recognising the NTC the West made sure the NTC gave written commitment to grant Oil contracts to Western companies and now that they are shipping out 1M barrels a day (to make up for the Iranain Oil) they don't care to make sure they pay the right people the right money and what the NTC corrupt bunch are doing with the money and how the people who gave martyrs are being ripped off and betrayed. Enjoy Uncle Sam's and NATO's democracy. And this is just the beginning. The civil wars and the West's final decision that there are too many ethnicities and tribes to live together in peace and risk of "disintegration" and the splitting of the country into tribal and ethnic "regions" and the old colonial strategy of divide and rule has still not come yet. An excellent article but a follow-up that would explain how Libya is disintegrating is needed. The main reason for the failure of this operation is that it was half baked and was stopped in the middle. It's a half finished job. NATO dismantled a regime but did not establish another regime in its place. The NTC a group of profiteers and ex-Gaddhafi bureaucrats will do no better now then they did when they worked for Gaddaf. Abdul Jalil the NTC chief was a Justice Minister administering a non-existent justice system. As explained by Bernard Lugan in this article in French (http://www.egaliteetreconciliation.fr/L\\... Libya is now six small countries where 500 Militia groups call the shots: 1- The city state of Misrata run by an Islamist-Gangster coalition 2 - A fundamentalist run section in the West 3 - A sufi run section in the west 4 - The south which trying to break away with on going fighting in Kufra 5 - Tripoli which has never been enthusiastic about the change. Tripoli is now being policed by Amazigh Militias from outside the city mostly the neighboring areas 6 - The Warfallah tribe (making 30% of the population) with their center in Bani Walid and who refuse to recognize the authority of the CNT and remain loyal to Kaddhafi 's tribe and his sons. Add to these the border skirmishes between Libyan Militias and the armies in the neighboring countries (Egypt, Tunisia, Chad and Niger). Discovery of arms smuggling to Tunisia and Algeria (43 anti air craft missiles, Libya had a stock pile of 20,000). Cameron and Sarkozy have created a new Somalia on the med, if the escalating situation is not managed immediately it will endanger the peace and security of the neighboring countries and Europe. Most popular on the Guardian Today in pictures After advising tourists against travel to the cities of Jammu and Srinagar for nearly 20 years, the Foreign Office has lifted its guidelines after a fall in violence. So, Dal Lake and part of the Valley of Kashmir, one of India's most beautiful regions, are once again open to visitors	News	CORE	English
This one caught my eye because of 2 things. Some audio transmission clips from the lunar flights and a photograph that was presumed unseeable, but with todays modern advancements, they claim to make out a pyramid shape. This is the first time that I've personally heard or seen anything about these 2 items in my thread. I have alot of time in reading and video watching invested. Im sure a bit of you already know this info, The vid is from 2008. I have always questioned that NASA put 70 tons of aluminum on the moon with pretty stunning accuracy with pocket calculator computing power. And one conspiracy tugs at the other. If we didnt go to the moon then how are were ground level photos taken, unless its all one giant fraud. Here is a recently uploaded video from Finlands ex minister of health discussing a UFO conference in Russia where a case of abduction of a Russian farmer says he was in a UFO, flew over the back side of the moon and saw bases....Pretty good vid First of all, big problems can have small solutions when the solution is coupled with a good brain. Computing power wasn't the hurdle for the moon landing, knowledge of physics and obtaining accurate information for the basis of the calculations was the hard part. The moon landing can probably be calculated with an abicis combined with knowledge of geometry and algebra to be honest. Computers do not equal answer to all things. Secondly, I've been watching the moon for a while with my telescope. There are no visible structures on this side of it. Who knows what's on the other side. Would nightvision even work on the backside of the moon? This one caught my eye because of 2 things. Some audio transmission clips from the lunar flights and a photograph that was presumed unseeable, but with todays modern advancements, they claim to make out a pyramid shape. This is the first time that I've personally heard or seen anything about these 2 items in my thread. I have alot of time in reading and video watching invested. Im sure a bit of you already know this info, The vid is from 2008. I have always questioned that NASA put 70 tons of aluminum on the moon with pretty stunning accuracy with pocket calculator computing power. And one conspiracy tugs at the other. If we didnt go to the moon then how are were ground level photos taken, unless its all one giant fraud. Yes and the same with mars too! Thanks for sharing the videos! Very important videos for those seeking the truth. Whether your posts get one or tons of flags, still a very important thread. That even if repeated should be repeated for truths sake. Secondly, I've been watching the moon for a while with my telescope. There are no visible structures on this side of it. Who knows what's on the other side. Would nightvision even work on the backside of the moon?. Why is this a concern? The side of the moon that we never see from earth has the same amount of time in sunlight as the side that is visiable from earth. From a stationary postion on the surface of the moon one would have a fourteen day sunlight period followed by a fourteen day dark period. Secondly, I've been watching the moon for a while with my telescope. There are no visible structures on this side of it. Who knows what's on the other side. Would nightvision even work on the backside of the moon?. Why is this a concern? The side of the moon that we never see from earth has the same amount of time in sunlight as the side that is visiable from earth. From a stationary postion on the surface of the moon one would have a fourteen day sunlight period followed by a fourteen day dark period. Your telescope wouldn't pick up objects on the moon. Simply because it isn't designed for that purpose. And no night-vision won't work either. I dont think the dark side of the moon is actually dark, we just cant see it so it referred to as dark. If a extraterrestrial civilization were to build, what better spot. Its human instinct to question what we cant see or the unknown. Its personally one of my favorite subjects. If none of these topics were even real, I enjoy getting a cold drink and reading and filling my mind with fiction or non fiction, its a great way to spend a rainy evening. The first video at 3.30 is the zeeman crater they claim a castle is under the blur the crater is 184km in dia thats a big castle then Then at this post here you will see that Joe Escamilla who ranks with Hoagland and Icke as a bit of an idiot claimed it was an Alien repairing his ship obviously he hadn't checked the size of the objects in the picture. The Above Top Secret Web sites are a wholly owned social content community of The Above Network, LLC. This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.	Forum	CORE	English
Good work sped - hopefully this works like your Crows one did last night PUDDINGS. __________________ Somebody who loves life and thinks that North Melbourne are grouse. A word of warning this is not have anything to do with porn or anything disgusting. So please refrain from posting up pornographic images and posting about it. Also no trolls allowed. __________________ Somebody who loves life and thinks that North Melbourne are grouse. A word of warning this is not have anything to do with porn or anything disgusting. So please refrain from posting up pornographic images and posting about it. Also no trolls allowed.	Forum	CORE	English
Rhona Mitra Cast as Female Lead in Michael Bay's 'The Last Ship' Rhona Mitra is a badass English actress with plenty of silver screen skills, starring in "Doomsday," "Shooter" and "Underworld: Rise of the Lycans." Her TV list is just as impressive: "Strike Back," "Nip/Tuck," "Boston Legal" and "The Practice." Now, Mitra can add one more show under her belt -- "The Last Ship." "The Last Ship" is based on the popular 1988 novel of the same name by William Brinkley. The show, set to debut sometime in 2013, will feature a post-apocalyptic world in which members from a naval destroyer find themselves as some of the last people on Earth. You can bet your bottom dollar this show will be the next big thing. Why am I so sure, you ask? Mega producer Michael Bay will be producing this TNT drama. Who's in Charge? Michael Bay will produce the show, who is most famously known for his Transformers series . The show is written by "Without a Trace" creator Hank Steinberg. Steven Kane -- who recently worked on "The Closer" -- will take the role of producer. According to Deadline.com, casting for the show has closed and all the major roles have been filled. And the Cast is... Rhona Mitra: Mitra will play Rachel Scott, the strong-willed and fearless paleomicrobioligist. Eric Dane: He will play Captain Tom Chandler, the captain of the USS Nathan James. Chandler gets word from his family that they are still alive, but militias everywhere, jeopardizing their lives. It is up to him to figure out how to save the last of humanity. Dane became a household sensation for playing Dr. Mark "McSteamy" Sloan on the medical drama television series "Grey's Anatomy." He was also in the films "Marley & Me," "Valentine's Day" and "Burlesque." Adam Baldwin: He will play the character of Mike Slattery, second in command to Captain Tom Chandler. Baldwin is most known for his role in "Independence Day" as well as several TV series including "Leverage," "Castle" and "Chuck." Charles Parnell: He will be playing the role of Commander Master Chief (CMC) Hugh Jeter aboard the USS Nathan James. CMC Jeter runs a tight ship and even threatens to shoot a sailor who attempts to leave the ship without permission, according to i09.com . Parnell is a television actor and has made appearances on "Bones," "Fringe," "CSI: Miami," "All My Children" and "Law & Order." Michaela McManus: Michaela McManus will be playing Lt. Jackie Makena, who runs the Combat Information Center and is in charge of missile deployment. She is dating Danny Green, the leader of a group of SEALS. McManus has experience in short film and television, making appearances in "Cosa Bella," "One Tree Hill," "The Vampire Diaries" and "CSI: Miami." Sam Spruell: He will play the character of Quincy Tophet, a paleomicrobiologist who is the assistant of Rachel Scott's assistant. He helps her dig for ice samples in the hopes to find a cure for the mutating virus. Spruell has been featured in British series "Spooks" and "P.O.W." and is most recently known for his role in "Snow White and the Huntsman."" A strong cast of veterans mixed with a quality production and writing team should blend well to make this a good watch. Bay creates cinematic wonder with his eye for special effects, bringing settings to life in a surreal way. As long as the acting is adequate, a good script will make this show a hit.	News	CORE	English
Campaign provides phone cards to soldiers SAVANNAH -- The Coastal Bank, a community bank serving coastal Georgia, launched its third annual initiative to raise money for the USO's Operation Phone Home, which provides prepaid phone cards to deployed military personnel, enabling them to call loved ones while away from their families this holiday season. The bank will lead the 2012 fundraising campaign for USO Operation Phone Home, which runs through Nov. 30. "This campaign is a small way for us to express our gratitude for their selfless sacrifice and service to our nation," said Jim LaHaise, acting bank president and CEO. "Our goal is to put at least one phone card in the hands of every soldier and service member in our area who is deployed during the holidays." The public is invited to join the bank and the USO in connecting deployed soldiers from the Coastal Empire and the Lowcountry to their loved ones. A $5 donation will provide a service member with a phone card. Cards will be given in December to deployed members of the U.S. Army, Army National Guard, Air National Guard, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Naval Reserve. Anyone donating $5 or more will be entered into a drawing to win one free Chick-fil-A sandwich per week for a year. Two winners will be announced at the conclusion of the campaign. The public can buy phone cards online at www.phonehomesav.com or visit a Coastal Bank branch to make a donation to the campaign. The Hinesville branch is at 101 W. Hendry St. "We are fortunate to live in such a generous community, where people are willing to support our local service men and women," said Mitchell Bush, president of USO of Georgia-Savannah. "This year, we hope to raise a record number of phone cards for service members serving overseas during the holiday season." SAVANNAH -- The Coastal Bank, a community bank serving coastal Georgia, launched its third annual initiative to raise money for the USO's Operation Phone Home, which provides prepaid phone cards to deployed military personnel, enabling them to call loved ones while away from their families this holiday season. The bank will lead the 2012 fundraising campaign for USO Operation Phone Home, which runs through Nov. 30. "This campaign is a small way for us to express our gratitude for their selfless sacrifice and service to our nation," said Jim LaHaise, acting bank president and CEO. "Our goal is to put at least one phone card in the hands of every soldier and service member in our area who is deployed during the holidays." The public is invited to join the bank and the USO in connecting deployed soldiers from the Coastal Empire and the Lowcountry to their loved ones. A $5 donation will provide a service member with a phone card. Cards will be given in December to deployed members of the U.S. Army, Army National Guard, Air National Guard, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Naval Reserve. Anyone donating $5 or more will be entered into a drawing to win one free Chick-fil-A sandwich per week for a year. Two winners will be announced at the conclusion of the campaign. The public can buy phone cards online at www.phonehomesav.com or visit a Coastal Bank branch to make a donation to the campaign. The Hinesville branch is at 101 W. Hendry St. "We are fortunate to live in such a generous community, where people are willing to support our local service men and women," said Mitchell Bush, president of USO of Georgia-Savannah. "This year, we hope to raise a record number of phone cards for service members serving overseas during the holiday season."	News	CORE	English
Now that the days of painfully straight-looking hair are over and more relaxed, voluminous-looking styles are in, it's time to put your flat iron on the backburner and brush up on your blow-drying skills. To find out more, we hit up hairdresser Phillip Gallo for some styling shortcuts. STEP ONE: KEEP IT REAL "Begin by detangling the hair using a wide-tooth comb before towel-drying the hair and applying a heat protection or volumising product," advises Gallo. To speed up the drying process, He recommends blow-drying your hair upside down, using your hands to create body and texture in at the roots as you dry off excess moisture. STEP TWO: DIVIDE AND CONQUER Once the hair feels close to dry, that's your cue to separate the hair into two sections from ear to ear. Then all you need to do is secure the first section into a hair clip before tackling the bottom section with a barrel brush. "As you grab each section, you want to pull the hair in an upward direction from the roots so that it feels like you're gently stretching the strands against the downward pressure of the hot air." STEP THREE: SEAL THE DEAL "Once you're satisfied with the amount of volume and movement in the hair, give each section a quick once over with the cold air button to seal the hair cuticle and add shine," Gallo says. And if you're thinking of adding a finishing product or hairspray to the routine, it's best to wait until the hair has cooled down as the heat will only cause the product to set looking stiff and crunchy. STEP FOUR: DON'T OVERDO IT "The biggest mistake most women make when it comes to at-home styling is overloading the hair with too much product," says Gallo. "The roots produce enough oil as it is, so aim to keep the product concentrated on the lengths and ends where you need the protection and shine the most." TOOL TIME Owning the right styling tools is half the battle when it comes to perfecting a professional blow-dry at home. When it comes to creating shiny, smooth-looking hair, you can't go past a thick-bristled, round brush. Unlike a flat paddle brush that slips through the hair, the thicker, the more concentrated the bristles, the more hair it means you can collect at once to cut down on styling time. Aside from boasting ionic and ceramic technology that's designed to minimise heat damage and frizz, salon-grade dryers are built to handle heavy-duty use. Plus, the powerful motor means you can get away with using the medium heat settings for the majority of your styling needs.	Instruction	CORE	English
High School lives up to the title High School 3.0 stars TORONTO - What to do when your high school introduces mandatory drug testing? Make sure the entire student body is baked. And the teachers. That's the game plan in High School , a stoner comedy with Matt Bush as the nerdy Henry and Sean Marquette as his ne'er do well childhood friend, Travis Breaux. Breaux is always stoned. Henry is on his way to MIT and will be class valedictorian, but then he and Travis cross paths and Henry is convinced to smoke a joint. Trouble. The headmaster (Michael Chiklis, fairly demented here) suddenly decides to hold school-wide drug tests. Henry will fail, get kicked out and lose his future at MIT, so he and Breaux need to come up with a plan. They decide to get the entire student body stoned on brownies so that all the drug test results will be rendered useless. To get enough dope for all those brownies, they pay a visit to the local psycho drug dealer (Adrien Brody) and steal his stash of kief. Then they start baking. Everything that could go wrong does go wrong in High School , a cheerful if lightweight comedy about being young and footloose and not bowing to authority, and all that. The performances are decent. Bush and Marquette are entirely watchable as the high school schemers; Brody is out of control crazy as the dope specialist and -- pleasant surprise -- Colin Hanks and Yeardley Smith turn up in small roles. The action is frantic and funny, what with all the students and all the teachers getting stoned, but what it means in the end isn't clear. Silliness is what it means, probably. It's a fun ride, but entirely forgettable.	Opinion/Argumentation	CORE	English
Carson, Calif. Alvaro Saborio was back in the starting lineup for Real Salt Lake on Saturday night, as it prepared to take on Chivas USA in a crucial Major League Soccer game at the Home Depot Center. The team's leading scorer missed its game last weekend with a shoulder injury suffered in a CONCACAF Champions League game last week, even after lobbying coach Jason Kreis to play. But Saborio now will get a chance to add to his 14 goals this season against a team that hasn't won in two months. The last-place Goats are riding a nine-game winless streak since July 28. Led by former RSL assistant Robin Fraser, they are 7-15-7 and have lost their last five in a row by a combined 10-1 score, having not found the back of the net at all in their last three games. Beating them is crucial for RSL, which is 15-11-4 and fighting to stay in the top three in the MLS Western Conference to avoid a wild-card game in the playoffs. RSL, the Los Angeles Galaxy, and the Seattle Sounders all are within one point of each other in the battle for second and third place, with four regular-season games remaining (five for the Sounders). The Galaxy are playing at Colorado on Saturday, while the Sounders are at Vancouver. RSL also will start Luis Gil in place of midfielder Ned Grabavoy, who injured his right quadriceps during practice this week. The team has shown some hope for the stretch run by going 2-1-1 in league play since a three-game losing streak. Reader comments on sltrib.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Salt Lake Tribune. We will delete comments containing obscenities, personal attacks and inappropriate or offensive remarks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. If you see an objectionable comment, click the red "Flag" link below it. See more about comments here.	News	CORE	English

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Multilingual manually-annotated X-GENRE genre dataset

Multilingual (English-Slovenian) manually-annotated X-GENRE genre dataset is to be used for automatic genre identification, namely, for training genre classifiers (on the training split) and evaluation in the in-dataset scenario (on the test split).

The dataset was presented in the paper "Automatic Genre Identification for Robust Enrichment of Massive Text Collections: Investigation of Classification Methods in the Era of Large Language Models" (Kuzman et al., 2023).

To download the dataset as a HuggingFace dataset:

from datasets import load_dataset
import pandas as pd

train = load_dataset("TajaKuzman/X-GENRE-text-genre-dataset", "train")
test = load_dataset("TajaKuzman/X-GENRE-text-genre-dataset", "test")
dev = load_dataset("TajaKuzman/X-GENRE-text-genre-dataset", "dev")

# To open as Pandas DataFrame:
train_df = pd.DataFrame(train["train"])
dev_df = pd.DataFrame(dev["train"])
test_df = pd.DataFrame(test["train"])

Dataset Summary

The X-GENRE dataset consists of almost 3,000 texts and 3.3 million words in English and Slovenian language. It is split into train, test and dev split. The dataset was used to develop the XLM-RoBERTa-based multilingual genre classifier X-GENRE, available on HuggingFace.

Dataset sizes:

split	# words	# texts
X-GENRE-train	1,940,317	1,772
X-GENRE-test	583,595	592
X-GENRE-dev	798,025	592
Total	3,321,937	2,956

The X-GENRE dataset was constructed by merging three manually-annotated datasets by mapping a joint X-GENRE genre schema to the original schemata:

the Slovenian GINCO dataset (Kuzman et al., 2022),
the English CORE dataset (Laippala et al., 2023)
and the English FTD dataset (Sharoff, 2018).

Distribution of the original datasets in the X-GENRE dataset (in number of texts):

split	FTD	CORE	GINCO	Total
X-GENRE-train	630	607	535	1,772
X-GENRE-test	210	203	179	592
X-GENRE-dev	210	203	179	592
Total	1,050	1,013	893	2,956

Distribution of languages in the dataset (in number of texts):

split	Slovenian	English	Total
X-GENRE-train	535	1,237	1,772
X-GENRE-test	179	413	592
X-GENRE-dev	179	413	592
Total	893	2,063	2,956

Data Attributes

The dataset is in JSONL format. It has the following attributes:

text: text instance
labels: genre label
dataset: original manually-annotated genre dataset from which the text was obtained (CORE, GINCO or FTD)
language: language of the text (Slovenian or English)

Genre labels

The dataset uses the "X-GENRE" schema.

labels_list=['Other', 'Information/Explanation', 'News', 'Instruction', 'Opinion/Argumentation', 'Forum', 'Prose/Lyrical', 'Legal', 'Promotion']

Description of labels:

Label	Description	Examples
Information/Explanation	An objective text that describes or presents an event, a person, a thing, a concept etc. Its main purpose is to inform the reader about something. Common features: objective/factual, explanation/definition of a concept (x is …), enumeration.	research article, encyclopedia article, informational blog, product specification, course materials, general information, job description, manual, horoscope, travel guide, glossaries, historical article, biographical story/history.
Instruction	An objective text which instructs the readers on how to do something. Common features: multiple steps/actions, chronological order, 1st person plural or 2nd person, modality (must, have to, need to, can, etc.), adverbial clauses of manner (in a way that), of condition (if), of time (after …).	how-to texts, recipes, technical support
Legal	An objective formal text that contains legal terms and is clearly structured. The name of the text type is often included in the headline (contract, rules, amendment, general terms and conditions, etc.). Common features: objective/factual, legal terms, 3rd person.	small print, software license, proclamation, terms and conditions, contracts, law, copyright notices, university regulation
News	An objective or subjective text which reports on an event recent at the time of writing or coming in the near future. Common features: adverbs/adverbial clauses of time and/or place (dates, places), many proper nouns, direct or reported speech, past tense.	news report, sports report, travel blog, reportage, police report, announcement
Opinion/Argumentation	A subjective text in which the authors convey their opinion or narrate their experience. It includes promotion of an ideology and other non-commercial causes. This genre includes a subjective narration of a personal experience as well. Common features: adjectives/adverbs that convey opinion, words that convey (un)certainty (certainly, surely), 1st person, exclamation marks.	review, blog (personal blog, travel blog), editorial, advice, letter to editor, persuasive article or essay, formal speech, pamphlet, political propaganda, columns, political manifesto
Promotion	A subjective text intended to sell or promote an event, product, or service. It addresses the readers, often trying to convince them to participate in something or buy something. Common features: contains adjectives/adverbs that promote something (high-quality, perfect, amazing), comparative and superlative forms of adjectives and adverbs (the best, the greatest, the cheapest), addressing the reader (usage of 2nd person), exclamation marks.	advertisement, promotion of a product (e-shops), promotion of an accommodation, promotion of company's services, invitation to an event
Forum	A text in which people discuss a certain topic in form of comments. Common features: multiple authors, informal language, subjective (the writers express their opinions), written in 1st person.	discussion forum, reader/viewer responses, QA forum
Prose/Lyrical	A literary text that consists of paragraphs or verses. A literary text is deemed to have no other practical purpose than to give pleasure to the reader. Often the author pays attention to the aesthetic appearance of the text. It can be considered as art.	lyrics, poem, prayer, joke, novel, short story
Other	A text that which does not fall under any of other genre categories.

Citation information

Please cite the following paper which describes the construction of the dataset in more details:

@article{make5030059,
AUTHOR = {Kuzman, Taja and Mozetič, Igor and Ljubešić, Nikola},
TITLE = {Automatic Genre Identification for Robust Enrichment of Massive Text Collections: Investigation of Classification Methods in the Era of Large Language Models},
JOURNAL = {Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction},
VOLUME = {5},
YEAR = {2023},
NUMBER = {3},
PAGES = {1149--1175},
URL = {https://www.mdpi.com/2504-4990/5/3/59},
ISSN = {2504-4990},
DOI = {10.3390/make5030059}
}

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Edit dataset card

Paper: Kuzman, T.; Mozetič, I.; Ljubešić, N. Automatic Genre Identification for Robust Enrichment of Massive Text Collections: Investigation of Classification Methods in the Era of Large Language Models. Mach. Learn. Knowl. Extr. 2023, 5, 1149-1175. https://doi.org/10.3390/make5030059

Size of downloaded dataset files:

19.1 MB

Size of the auto-converted Parquet files:

10.8 MB

Number of rows:

2,956

Models trained or fine-tuned on TajaKuzman/X-GENRE-text-genre-dataset

classla/xlm-roberta-base-multilingual-text-genre-classifier

Text Classification • Updated Aug 12 • 1.31k • 27