An important aspect of securing business data is online privacy. In this era of online tracking, seeking out means to avoid or reduce tracking has become an obsession for many Internet users. Most of our browsers now offer some form of privacy browsing or incognito mode that reduces the ability of sites to track you and also prevents trails of your Web activities from being saved to the local system. Firefox users have also long enjoyed a variety of add-ons and extensions that grant the user more control over tracking technologies and Web sites that rely on scripting for dynamic content.
Recently several new add-ons/extensions for Chrome have become available. I would like to bring two of these to your attention. If you are a Chrome user, these two tools are worth your serious consideration. The first tool is Confusion, the second is ScriptNo. Confusion is mostly just an information tool to help you understand that you are being tracked and who is doing it. ScriptNo is a very powerful tool giving you greater control over scripting and tracking features of various sites.
I think everyone and anyone can benefit from the Confusion tool, as it will not interfere with your current Web habits. However, ScriptNo requires some training and can be a nuisance if you are not willing to severely change you surfing habits and be ready to make individual trust decisions about every site you ever visit. ScriptNo is not for the casual user, it is for the serious Internet enthusiast who is willing to change their behavior to gain greater control over security and privacy.
Check back next week to read my next post with more details about each of these tools you can use.
By Matthew Schwimmer & Moe Koltun of?Roto Analysis
In the baseball-watching community, people often disparage the All-Star game. There are arguments over whether or not the game should count, complaints about the fact that there needs to be one representative from every team, and, of course, there are always disputes from fan base to fan base about who should start in the game. Today, we?re going to be giving you who we think should be starting in the All-Star game if it was instead a Fantasy Baseball All-Star game?with a slight twist. Rather than just simply picking who has been the best at each position so far this year, we?re going to choose the players who have returned the most value to their fantasy owners relative to where they were ranked in the preseason. That way, we can truly see the players who have been Fantasy All-Stars for their owners. We will finish with the American League next week.
All Rankings Data taken from CBS?s preseason draft kit.
Catcher: Carlos Ruiz, Phillies
Carlos Ruiz is second on the player rater amongst catchers despite being ranked 23rd preseason. Ruiz?s calling card this season has been his .354 average and increased line drive rate, up to 26% from a career average of 20%. While the average may be unsustainable for the rest of the season, fantasy owners are grateful for what they?ve gotten from Ruiz so far and know he?ll benefit from having Chase Utley and Ryan Howard back in the lineup shortly.
Backup: Yadier Molina, Cardinals
First Base: Joey Votto, Reds
Sometimes you can?t always look for value and have to reward greatness. With the departure of Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, the National League does not have much greatness at first base. Joey Votto is currently 2nd in the majors in batting average (.355), 7th in homers (14), 6th in the RBIs (47) and has more than double the Wins Above Replacement of any other first basemen in the league. The Reds centerpiece for years to come has a swing that should allow him to stay amongst the best hitters in the league for a long time.
Backup: Paul Goldschmidt, Diamondbacks
Second Base: Jose Altuve, Astros
Sometimes great things come in small packages, and owners who risked a late round selection on the 5 foot, 5 inch (that?s generous) Astro have been pleasantly surprised. Altuve has always silenced critics at each level by hitting for a high average and this year is no exception. Along with a .309 average, Altuve has also contributed 5 home runs, 12 steals, and 45 runs. A spot on the all-star team is certainly deserved, as is a spot on all fantasy rosters.
Backup: Aaron Hill
Shortstop: Starlin Castro, Cubs
The Cubs may not have many things going their way this season, but Starlin Castro is certainly one of them. The young shortstop is maintaining an average over .300 while showing some power (6 HR) and speed (16 SB). Castro?s value in OBP leagues does take a huge hit because he walks only 2.2% of the time, worst amongst qualified major leaguers. While the youngster still has room to improve, he?s certainly been a treat for fantasy owners so far this season and has the potential to become an extremely special player in this league.
Backup: Rafael Furcal, Cardinals
Third Base: David Wright, Mets
I guess those preseason worries of David Wright being ?done? were premature, as so far this season he leads the majors in batting average at .358. The new dimensions in Citi Field along with some swing adjustments have allowed Wright to hit 8 homers so far and strike out in only 12.9% of his plate appearances, down form the 21%+ he?s posted his last three seasons. Wright has already been significantly more valuable then any other National League 3B this year, a trend I expect to continue as the year progresses.
Backup: David Freese, Cardinals
Outfield: Ryan Braun (Brewers), Melky Cabrera (Giants), and Michael Bourn (Braves)
The saying goes that leagues are lost, not won in the first round, but Ryan Braun is trying to silence those cries this year. Although Matt Kemp was drafted ahead of Braun and has spent most of the season on the disabled list, Braun has put his steroid drama on the backburners by hitting .314 with 20 HR and 52 RBI. Five category contributors are nearly impossible to find, but Braun ranks in the top 16 of outfielders in all 5 categories.
Melky was drafted 38th amongst outfielders as owners were clearly torn between whether he could reproduce last season?s statistics or not. Cabrera has silenced the critics, in a much tougher ballpark, by hitting .351 and scoring 51 runs so far. Although his 10 steals don?t excite people, he?s on pace to set a personal best and swipe over 20 bases. Melky?s success this year is due to his approach of relying on grounders, which is a very smart approach for a guy without much power in a big ballpark.
Michael Bourn has always been an underrated fantasy commodity and owners thought they realized this by ranking him in the top 20 outfielders this season. Well, Bourn has outperformed his draft position once again, and he?s been a top 10 outfielder so far. As a leadoff hitter who hits for a high average and steals bases with the best of them, Bourn has added power to his resume this year as he?s hit 7 home runs, more than Adrian Gonzalez. The strong 4-category player will continue to succeed as he checked in at 7 on the RotoAnalysis Outfield Rankings for the remainder of the season.
Backups: Andrew McCutchen (Pirates), Jayson Heyward (Braves), and Carlos Beltran (Cardinals)
Starting Pitcher: R.A. Dickey, Mets
Dickey has been the single most valuable starting pitcher for fantasy owners in all of baseball so far this season, despite being the 70th ranked pitcher before the season. There?s not much I can say about Dickey that hasn?t already been said?he?s an enigma, but he?s contributed in all 4 starting-pitcher categories, and should continue to do so going forward.
First Reliever: James McDonald, Pirates
McDonald went undrafted in most leagues and was ranked 111th among starting pitcher in the preseason, yet he?s currently one of the ten most valuable pitchers for fantasy in all of baseball, and would be higher if the Pirates gave him a little more run support, granting him more than 7 wins. McDonald has made a variety of helpful adjustments this year, which I wrote about in more depth for RotoAnalysis, but some of them include improved command inside and outside the strike zone, less reliance on his fastball especially in both 3 ball and 2 strike counts, and he has also added a highly effective slider. I have full confidence in McDonald to be a top 15-20 pitcher going forward.
Second Reliever: Wade Miley, Diamondbacks
Miley is more of a 3 category performer than most of the pitchers on this list, as he doesn?t strike out very many batters, but luck-based or not, you cannot argue with the stat line Miley?s put up this season. A 2.19 ERA, a barely over 1.00 WHIP, and 9 wins to go with a mediocre 64 strikeouts are elite statistics, especially for someone who wasn?t ranked in the top 200 starting pitchers in the preseason. There are huge questions about Miley?s stats going forward, but there is no way you can question what he?s done so far. This spot is definitely deserved.
Third Reliever: Matt Cain, Giants
Cain and Dickey have been neck-and-neck for a while now competing for the top spot in the actual All-Star game, but Cain slipped to fourth in the Fantasy All-Star Game because he was much more highly touted (27th ranked starting pitcher preseason) than the above three guys. Going forward, Cain is definitely the safest and most reliable option out of the top 4 fantasy All-Star pitchers in the NL, thanks to his above average ?stuff,? great command, consistent track record and gigantic home ballpark.
Fourth Reliever: Gio Gonzalez, Nationals
Throughout his entire career, Gio has always been an absolutely electric pitcher to watch when he is on. What has made this season different from the rest of his career has been the absence of those huge blow-up outings that he used to have so often. Gonzalez currently sits at 2nd in the NL in strikeouts, and when that?s paired with 10 wins, a sub-2.80 ERA, and a 1.08 WHIP, it?s really a testament to just how good pitching in the NL has been this year that he?s not ranked higher up on this list.
Fifth Reliever: Stephen Strasburg, Nationals
Innings limit worries aside, Stephen Strasburg is one of the five most talented pitchers in baseball right now. So far this season, he?s more than earned his rank of the 20th best starter. Strasburg leads the MLB with 118 K?s (10 more than Gio Gonzalez?s 108), and is only behind Gio thanks to the disparity in their preseason rankings. I don?t know whether or not the Nationals will go through with their innings cap on Strasburg, but I do know that when he pitches, Strasburg is going to absolutely dominate, as he?s shown invariably throughout his career.
Closer: Aroldis Chapman, Reds
Chapman didn?t start this year with a closer job, leaving him undrafted in most leagues and completely reasonably ranked as the 77th relief pitcher in the preseason. However, outside of Craig Kimbrel, no National League relief pitcher has been better than Chapman so far this year, thanks to his absolute dominance with and without the closer role, sporting a 1.98 ERA and 0.77 WHIP to go with 9 saves and a whopping 64 strikeouts (the same as Wade Miley) in less than 37 innings. I know he?s had some trouble of late, but his full-season stats are still phenomenal, and I?d rank Chapman as the number 1 relief pitcher in all of baseball going forward.
Rest of Bullpen: Johnny Cueto (Reds), Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers), Chris Capuano (Dodgers), Lance Lynn (Cardinals),? Kenley Jansen (Dodgers), and Johan Santana (Mets)
Agree? Disagree? Questions? Tweet?@RotoAnalysis?and be sure to follow Moe?@MoeProblems?and Matt?@KidCotti21. Check out their work on?RotoAnalysis.com, as well as The RotoAnalysis Fantasy Sports Podcast.
We know what you're doing ... the website that exposes your ill-advised Facebook statuses.
Hate your boss? Hungover after a big night? Don?t head to Facebook to vent your feelings.
A new website created by a British teenager highlights the dangers of revealing private information on social networking services.
We Know What You?re Doing exposes the comprising status updates of Facebook and Foursquare users who haven?t set their accounts to private.
?I?m getting so mad right now I hate my boss Jay I hope he dies better yet I feel like killin him,? says Anastasia R, while Thomas L announces that it ?feels great to be not hungover for first Friday in ages?.
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WKWYD?s search tool scours Facebook and Foursquare for key words such as "hungover" and ?cannabis? and divides the findings into four categories: ?Who wants to get fired??, ?Who?s hungover??, ?Who?s taking drugs?? and ?Who?s got a new phone number??.
The so-called ?social networking privacy experiment? is the brainchild of 18-year-old web developer Callum Haywood. The British teenager's creation is proving incredibly popular. According to Haywood?s Twitter feed, WKWYD attracted over 100,000 people in its first 27 hours.
?I created the website to make people aware of the issues that is created when they post such information on Facebook without any privacy settings enabled,? Haywood told CNN. ?The people featured on the site are most likely not aware that what they post as ?public? can be seen by absolutely anybody, and that Facebook will happily give away this information to other websites via its Graph API.?
While those featured on WKWYD may be surprised to find themselves on the site, the web developer hasn?t used any published information that users haven?t already revealed publicly.
In a post on its website, computer security site Sophos claims that there?s ?nothing slimy or hackerish? about Haywood?s experiment.
Sophos also argues that the responsibility for potentially damaging status updates lies not with Facebook, but with users. ?At the very least, people have got to start paying attention to Facebook's privacy settings.?
Social media expert Jenna Price agrees. ?You need to be really careful of your online presence because it?s your reputation,? says the University of Technology Sydney academic. ?When you go online and trash your reputation, and you do it yourself, you?ve only got yourself to blame.?
According to the University of Technology academic, the public have been given countless warnings about the dangers of failing to protect their privacy online, but many have failed to heed the warnings. To Price, WKWYD? is using humour deliver an important message. ?I think if it draws attention to complete abject stupidity that?s a good thing.?
WKWYD is not the first site to highlight the risks of oversharing online. Please Rob Me collated public check-ins from social networking services to announce when users would be away from home. Another social media aggregator, Openbook, makes it possible to search public Facebook status updates in real time.
By contrast to Please Rob Me and Openbook, WKWYD is careful not to reveal too many details about the people it features. Haywood only lists users by their first name and doesn?t link to their profiles.
There was some good news today for those who have been caught out by WKWYD. Haywood took to Twitter to announce that he will introduce a new feature tomorrow which will allow anyone featured on the site to request the removal of their post.
To avoid having your private thoughts exposed on WKWYD, Haywood recommends that users head to Facebook?s privacy setting ?and make sure Control Your default Privacy is not set to ?Public??.
San Fransisco, CA ? (SBWIRE) ? 06/28/2012 ? In recent years, Las Vegas personal injury attorney has become considerably less aggressive in chasing damages for their clients. There have been many reports of injured clients receiving sub-par settlements, or ineffectual attorneys losing sure-thing cases.
One personal injury attorney Las Vegas changing all this is Jared Richards, founder of JaredRichardsLaw.Com. Jared has a vast amount of experience representing clients in the personal injury field. He is one of the most accomplished lawyers in Las Vegas, scoring in the top 1% of all applicants on the national Law School Admissions Test.
Jared graduated with honors from the law school at the prestigious Brigham Young University, and began practicing law at the large Las Vegas office of a nationwide law firm. Alongside 400 other attorneys, he gained a huge amount of experience representing personal injury clients. Over many years, Jared successfully represented over $20 million through litigation for his clients. Dissatisfied with the standard of counsel for personal injury clients, he set up Richards Associates, LLC.
Now Richards Associates represent personal injury clients in the Las Vegas area. They take on cases where clients have been injured in accidents, by consumer products, or by medication. Their Las Vegas personal injury attorneys are committed to giving injury victims the high-pressure legal representation they need to get a favorable result in their case.
Avoiding ineffective legal tactics, Richards Associates are gaining a reputation among Las Vegas personal injury attorneys for assertively making personal injury claims. With these aggressive tactics, their experienced attorneys are having a great deal of success representing clients all over Las Vegas.
Their website, JaredRichardsLaw.com, contains comprehensive information about all their services. It also provides a personal history of their founder, Jared Richards. If you are interested in engaging their legal services, visitors can apply for a free case review online.
A spokesman for JaredRichardsLaw.com said: ?If people have been injured in an accident, by a consumer product or by medication and someone else is responsible for their injuries, they need to talk to lawyer. Our personal injury attorneys have the experience claimants need. We practice injury law because we care about helping people and their families. Our Las Vegas and Henderson attorneys are committed to providing injury victims with aggressive representation.?
About JaredRichardsLaw.com JaredRichardsLaw.com is the website of Richards Associates, LLC, a Las Vegas Attorney at Law. Richards Associates focus on specialized areas of law practice. These include personal injury, bankruptcy, probate, estate planning and civil litigation. Richards Associates are members of the American Bar Association, the State Bar of Nevada, the Clark County Bar Association and the Nevada Justice Association. For more information visit http://www.JaredRichardsLaw.com
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, speaks with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, left, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti during a round table meeting at an EU Summit in Brussels on Friday, June 29, 2012. European leaders have agreed to use the continent's permanent bailout fund to recapitalize struggling banks, and agreed to the idea of a tighter union in the long term. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, speaks with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, left, and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti during a round table meeting at an EU Summit in Brussels on Friday, June 29, 2012. European leaders have agreed to use the continent's permanent bailout fund to recapitalize struggling banks, and agreed to the idea of a tighter union in the long term. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
French President Francois Hollande arrives for a press conference at an EU Summit in Brussels, Friday, June 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
From right, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and Denmark's Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt participate in a media conference at an EU Summit in Brussels on Thursday, June 28, 2012. European leaders gathering Thursday in Brussels are set to sign off on a series of measures to boost economic growth but expectations of a breakthrough on the pooling of debt have fallen by the wayside. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel leaves an EU Summit in Brussels on Friday, June 29, 2012. European leaders have agreed to use the continent's permanent bailout fund to recapitalize struggling banks, and agreed to the idea of a tighter union in the long term. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
BRUSSELS (AP) ? After 18 disappointing summits since the start of the debt crisis, Europe's leaders appeared Friday to have finally come up with a set of short-term measures and long-term plans that show they are serious about restoring confidence in their currency union.
Leaders of the 17 countries that use the euro agreed they will let funds intended to bail out indebted governments funnel money directly to struggling banks as well. They said the move will "break the vicious circle" of bank bailouts piling debt onto already stressed governments.
European Council President Herman Van Rompuy called it a "breakthrough." Global stock markets and the euro rallied hard.
The decision is a victory for Spain and Italy, whose borrowing costs have risen to near unsustainable levels despite their efforts to cut spending and reform their labor markets.
In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel is likely to face a grilling from a skeptical German Parliament later. Heading into the summit, Merkel had stuck to her line that any financial help from Europe's bailout fund must come with tough conditions, so a separate decision allowing countries that have reformed their economies easier access to bailouts, without such stringent conditions, was widely seen as a defeat by the German press.
Merkel insisted the funds would still only be released when it was clear countries were undertaking serious reforms.
"We remain completely within our approach so far: help, trade-off, conditionality and control, and so I think we have done something important, but we have remained true to our philosophy of no help without a trade-off," Merkel told reporters in Brussels.
Van Rompuy dismissed talk that Merkel had lost in the negotiations.
"It was a tough negotiation," Van Rompuy said. "It took hours yesterday. And you can't summarize this in winners and losers."
In addition, the leaders of the eurozone countries authorized the EU bailout funds to buy bonds of countries in order to reduce the interest rates the markets charge.
Leaders of the full 27-member European Union, which includes non-euro countries such as Britain and Poland, also agreed to a long-term framework toward tighter budgetary and political union, though those plans will require treaty changes and won't be realized for years.
The scale of the moves were unexpected and provided investors a reason for optimism, even as analysts cast doubt on the plans' feasibility and noted that some fundamental problems with the common currency remain.
"I think the elements we put together will reassure the markets," said Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Mario Draghi, the head of the European Central Bank, was similarly optimistic.
"I'm actually quite pleased with the outcome of the European Council," said Draghi. "It showed the long-term commitment to the euro by all member states of the euro area. But also it reached tangible results in the shorter term."
He cited in particular the waiver of the ESM's preferred creditor status for Spain and the future possibility of using ESM for direct recapitalization of the banks, which is something that the ECB had advocated for some time.
But he said strict conditionality was essential to the program's credibility.
Stocks around the world surged Friday, with markets in countries on the front line of the crisis doing particularly well. Italy's FTSE MIB and Spain's IBEX indexes each rose 3 percent.
Perhaps more importantly, the yield on Spain's 10-year bond dropped by 0.32 percentage points to 6.58 percent. Italy's was down by 0.14 percentage points to 5.94 percent. Both countries have seen their rates edge toward the 7 percent level which is seen as unsustainable over the long term.
The importance of recapitalizing banks directly from the bailout fund became evident this month when Spain was offered ?100 billion ($125.6 billion) for its shaky banks. Previously the bailout loan would have to be made to the Spanish government, which would lend it on to the banks. The prospect of having that debt on the government's books spooked investors, who began demanding higher interest rates to reflect the risk of a Spanish default.
Lending the money directly to the banks avoids putting more debt on the government's books.
Analysts remain skeptical about whether the moves will be enough to fix Europe's debt crisis, especially as the amount of money available to help in the crisis ? some ?500 billion ? is dwarfed by the amount of debt across the continent. Italy alone has outstanding debt of ?2.4 trillion.
"These steps are the obvious ones to take to try to restore some confidence in the market in the short term," said Gary Jenkins, managing director of Swordfish Research in London. "Alone, they do not solve the underlying problems but they might buy a bit of time, which is probably about the best they can do right now."
Though welcoming the measures that were taken, analysts think more will have to be done.
"If the aim is to ease tensions on the Italian and Spanish bond market on a more sustainable basis, we probably will need to have more assurance on the fire power," said analyst Carsten Brzeski of ING in a note.
Brzeski said more liquidity support from the ECB "looks inevitable" and may come as soon as Monday.
As well as trying to fix the euro, the EU leaders also agreed to devote ?120 billion in stimulus to encourage growth and create jobs, though half of it had already been earmarked and it includes only ?10 billion in actual new commitments. France had pushed for the growth package, arguing that austerity measures are stifling growth and making things worse.
They also agreed to give the ECB new powers to oversee the bailout funds by July 9, and to oversee big European banks by the end of the year.
For the longer-term, the 27 leaders of the EU agreed on "four building blocks" of a tighter union ? but postponed specifics until a study due in October. The building blocks, which include sharing debt in the form of jointly issued Eurobonds, were laid out in a sweeping document presented by Van Rompuy and colleagues before the summit.
It was unclear, however, whether the general agreement on the tighter union included any commitment on eurobonds from Germany and other stronger economies that have firmly opposed sharing debt with more profligate countries such as Greece.
One key factor in the negotiations was that French President Hollande appeared to turn against Merkel and lobbied instead on behalf of the southern states frustrated at the failure of austerity measures to solve their problems.
"The best way to get other people to move is to move yourself," he said.
Germany and France have been the traditional drivers of European policy, but the Socialist Hollande and conservative Merkel differ over how to tackle this crisis.
But Hollande declined to take credit.
"No one can say I won or I lost," he said. "What was at stake was Europe. That's who won."
Traders on the floor of the NYSE react to the Supreme Court's decision on healthcare.
By msnbc.com news services
Stocks closed Thursday?s seesaw session lower on concerns about global banks, a surprise Supreme Court ruling upholding a landmark healthcare law, and pessimism about the ability of a European summit to ease the region's debt crisis.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed the day down 25 points, having tumbled 177 points earlier in the session.
As EU leaders began the two-day summit, finance officials were working on urgent measures to diminish financial market pressure on Spain and Italy, which may be more difficult to bail out than smaller nations in the euro zone.
Recent statements from German Chancellor Angela Merkel have been at odds those of other European leaders on how to deal with the crisis.
"Angela Merkel was very adamant about the fact she isn't going to give an inch or two - the markets at this point may be looking at the statement (at the conclusion of the summit) to see if the actions match her rhetoric," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist, D.A. Davidson & Co. Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Wall Street losses accelerated after a divided U.S. Supreme Court backed the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare overhaul law that requires that most Americans to get insurance by 2014 or face a penalty. The decision surprised many investors who see the law as a hallmark of a business unfriendly administration.
Related: Hospital shares rise on health ruling, insurers fall
"The proof in the pudding will come out over the next three or four days because the Supreme Court ruling, being ninety pages long, probably will require some in depth interpretation," said Dickson.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase & Co dropped after a New York Times report projected that losses from a recent botched trade could reach $9 billion, more than four times the original estimate.
U.S.-traded shares of Barclays slumped after Britain said it had brought in the fraud squad to investigate possible crimes over attempts to manipulate lending rates, a scandal that is expected to spread to other banks.
Further weighing on the financial sector, Citi Investment Research posted a bearish note on several U.S. banks including Bank of America Corp and Goldman Sachs as the slow economic recovery hurts trading.
UC Berkeley chemists installing first carbon dioxide sensor network in OaklandPublic release date: 27-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robert Sanders rsanders@berkeley.edu 510-643-6998 University of California - Berkeley
Country's first urban sensor network allows local monitoring of emissions, CO2 limits
The City of Oakland will be ground zero for the first urban sensor network to provide real-time, neighborhood-by-neighborhood measurements of carbon dioxide a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming and other air pollutants.
The prototype network, being installed by chemists at the University of California, Berkeley, will employ 40 sensors spread over a 27 square-mile grid, most of them mounted atop local schools to engage students in the project. The information the network will provide could be used to monitor local carbon dioxide emissions to check on the effectiveness of carbon-reduction strategies now mandated by the state, but hard to verify.
"Today, we monitor air quality in the entire East Bay from only about a dozen stations, but that gives you an average that may not be representative of what's happening where you live," said project leader Ron Cohen, UC Berkeley professor of chemistry. "The advantage of many, many sensors is that the network captures the whole range of pollutant sources, from freeways to homes. This could inspire communities to think about local actions to change the CO2 they emit."
The state has committed to a cap and trade strategy as an attempt to lower carbon emissions, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District instituted a carbon fee on regional businesses in 2008. But carbon taxes rely on reports by local agencies and businesses that estimate their emissions based on assumptions that may be wrong, such as the amount of carbon dioxide emitted when pouring concrete.
UC Berkeley graduate student Virginia (Jill) Teige, who designed the sensors, said "no one is actually measuring CO2 at a fine enough resolution to confirm whether the reports are right or not. The idea of putting up a network to monitor emissions is like measuring how fast everyone is driving in order to confirm that people are abiding by the speed limit."
Built and installed by Cohen, Teige and their lab colleagues, the shoebox-size sensors will continuously measure carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone levels as well as temperature, pressure and humidity, streaming the information live to the Web through the site http://beacon.berkeley.edu.
"One of my fantasies is that the local news will show a video of the day's changing CO2 levels, just as it shows the movement of weather fronts," Cohen said.
Network stretches from hills to bay
The sensor network, dubbed BEACON (Berkeley Atmospheric CO2 Observing Network), stretches from the East Bay Regional Parks on the east to Interstate 880 on the west, and from El Cerrito on the north nearly to the San Leandro border, encompassing open space as well as heavily trafficked areas.
Most of the sensors are being mounted on the roofs of local schools, Cohen said, in order to get students interested in the connection between carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. The UC Berkeley researchers work with Oakland's Chabot Space & Science Center to create middle school and high school activities using live sensor data streamed through the Web as part of the students' energy and climate science curriculum.
"As soon as we heard about the sensor project, we thought it was so timely, clever and relevant to our mission - to inspire young people to take responsibility for Planet Earth, and to learn about climate science," said Etta Heber, director of education at Chabot. "We are thrilled to be working with Ron and his team to engage the K-12 community in cutting-edge science."
Tracy Ostrom, a teacher in the Green Energy Academy at Skyline High School who participated in Chabot's training, is eager to incorporate the sensor data in her classroom work, as well as host UC Berkeley graduate students who can show her students "what field science is all about, which can help the students define their interests in pursuing a career in this type of field."
"As students are instructed on greenhouse gases and global climate change, they will also see how the BEACON project can potentially influence national and global policy making," she wrote in an email.
Nine of the sensors are now in place at Chabot, the Oakland Zoo, two high schools and five elementary schools. Others are ready to install, pending approval by school officials.
Two are reserved for the new Exploratorium in San Francisco, which is scheduled to open next year on Pier 15 and includes an exhibit on CO2 and climate change. The sensors could detect the fumes from a passing ship or the effects of a "Spare the Air" day, Cohen said.
Off-the-shelf parts make monitoring cheaper
Cohen and his UC Berkeley colleagues have built refrigerator-sized monitoring equipment for years, each package costing up to $250,000, but providing exquisitely precise and detailed data. The new sensor packages cost one-twentieth as much because they make use of off-the-shelf devices, such as a nitrogen dioxide sensor identical to that found in industrial toxic gas alerts.
The BEACON network is a pilot program funded by the National Science Foundation to determine what information can be learned from a densely spaced network. Lower cost means less sensitive instruments, but the precision should be offset by sheer numbers, Cohen said.
"A massive number of inexpensive sensors as common as cell phone towers will fundamentally change our knowledge," said Cohen, who directs the Berkeley Atmospheric Science Center. "Real time observations will enable rapid verification of the effectiveness of policy and compliance with treaties and other agreements and commitments."
Teige noted that the current sensors will be placed about two kilometers apart. "How closely spaced these sensors need to be in an optimal network is still an open question that we intend to address with this pilot, before expanding the network to other cities and the entire Bay area," she said.
Each sensor is connected to the Internet, many of them wirelessly, so they can send measurements every five seconds to a computer in Hildebrand Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. Cohen and Teige hope to have all 40 sensors in place by the end of the summer, just in time for the opening of classes in local schools.
"I'm anxious to see the data that will come out," said Chabot's Ben Burress, who developed the teaching guides and is training teachers how to use data visualization software to display sensor data. "I think it's fantastic that Ron wants to complement his research with real-time science in the classroom."
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UC Berkeley chemists installing first carbon dioxide sensor network in OaklandPublic release date: 27-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Robert Sanders rsanders@berkeley.edu 510-643-6998 University of California - Berkeley
Country's first urban sensor network allows local monitoring of emissions, CO2 limits
The City of Oakland will be ground zero for the first urban sensor network to provide real-time, neighborhood-by-neighborhood measurements of carbon dioxide a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming and other air pollutants.
The prototype network, being installed by chemists at the University of California, Berkeley, will employ 40 sensors spread over a 27 square-mile grid, most of them mounted atop local schools to engage students in the project. The information the network will provide could be used to monitor local carbon dioxide emissions to check on the effectiveness of carbon-reduction strategies now mandated by the state, but hard to verify.
"Today, we monitor air quality in the entire East Bay from only about a dozen stations, but that gives you an average that may not be representative of what's happening where you live," said project leader Ron Cohen, UC Berkeley professor of chemistry. "The advantage of many, many sensors is that the network captures the whole range of pollutant sources, from freeways to homes. This could inspire communities to think about local actions to change the CO2 they emit."
The state has committed to a cap and trade strategy as an attempt to lower carbon emissions, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District instituted a carbon fee on regional businesses in 2008. But carbon taxes rely on reports by local agencies and businesses that estimate their emissions based on assumptions that may be wrong, such as the amount of carbon dioxide emitted when pouring concrete.
UC Berkeley graduate student Virginia (Jill) Teige, who designed the sensors, said "no one is actually measuring CO2 at a fine enough resolution to confirm whether the reports are right or not. The idea of putting up a network to monitor emissions is like measuring how fast everyone is driving in order to confirm that people are abiding by the speed limit."
Built and installed by Cohen, Teige and their lab colleagues, the shoebox-size sensors will continuously measure carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone levels as well as temperature, pressure and humidity, streaming the information live to the Web through the site http://beacon.berkeley.edu.
"One of my fantasies is that the local news will show a video of the day's changing CO2 levels, just as it shows the movement of weather fronts," Cohen said.
Network stretches from hills to bay
The sensor network, dubbed BEACON (Berkeley Atmospheric CO2 Observing Network), stretches from the East Bay Regional Parks on the east to Interstate 880 on the west, and from El Cerrito on the north nearly to the San Leandro border, encompassing open space as well as heavily trafficked areas.
Most of the sensors are being mounted on the roofs of local schools, Cohen said, in order to get students interested in the connection between carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. The UC Berkeley researchers work with Oakland's Chabot Space & Science Center to create middle school and high school activities using live sensor data streamed through the Web as part of the students' energy and climate science curriculum.
"As soon as we heard about the sensor project, we thought it was so timely, clever and relevant to our mission - to inspire young people to take responsibility for Planet Earth, and to learn about climate science," said Etta Heber, director of education at Chabot. "We are thrilled to be working with Ron and his team to engage the K-12 community in cutting-edge science."
Tracy Ostrom, a teacher in the Green Energy Academy at Skyline High School who participated in Chabot's training, is eager to incorporate the sensor data in her classroom work, as well as host UC Berkeley graduate students who can show her students "what field science is all about, which can help the students define their interests in pursuing a career in this type of field."
"As students are instructed on greenhouse gases and global climate change, they will also see how the BEACON project can potentially influence national and global policy making," she wrote in an email.
Nine of the sensors are now in place at Chabot, the Oakland Zoo, two high schools and five elementary schools. Others are ready to install, pending approval by school officials.
Two are reserved for the new Exploratorium in San Francisco, which is scheduled to open next year on Pier 15 and includes an exhibit on CO2 and climate change. The sensors could detect the fumes from a passing ship or the effects of a "Spare the Air" day, Cohen said.
Off-the-shelf parts make monitoring cheaper
Cohen and his UC Berkeley colleagues have built refrigerator-sized monitoring equipment for years, each package costing up to $250,000, but providing exquisitely precise and detailed data. The new sensor packages cost one-twentieth as much because they make use of off-the-shelf devices, such as a nitrogen dioxide sensor identical to that found in industrial toxic gas alerts.
The BEACON network is a pilot program funded by the National Science Foundation to determine what information can be learned from a densely spaced network. Lower cost means less sensitive instruments, but the precision should be offset by sheer numbers, Cohen said.
"A massive number of inexpensive sensors as common as cell phone towers will fundamentally change our knowledge," said Cohen, who directs the Berkeley Atmospheric Science Center. "Real time observations will enable rapid verification of the effectiveness of policy and compliance with treaties and other agreements and commitments."
Teige noted that the current sensors will be placed about two kilometers apart. "How closely spaced these sensors need to be in an optimal network is still an open question that we intend to address with this pilot, before expanding the network to other cities and the entire Bay area," she said.
Each sensor is connected to the Internet, many of them wirelessly, so they can send measurements every five seconds to a computer in Hildebrand Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. Cohen and Teige hope to have all 40 sensors in place by the end of the summer, just in time for the opening of classes in local schools.
"I'm anxious to see the data that will come out," said Chabot's Ben Burress, who developed the teaching guides and is training teachers how to use data visualization software to display sensor data. "I think it's fantastic that Ron wants to complement his research with real-time science in the classroom."
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Everyone knows that the stock market is a popular place to invest money - and the smart ones know that it is also a place where you can lose money if you are not careful. There are several different ways to approach to market; I am going to concentrate on one today, but it will be good to go over the different major options, as they all have their place in your investment portfolio.
Resources should of course be split into several different sections; what we need to live on, what we need to try to save for a retirement that is at least comfortable, and what we have to play around with.
The retirement resources should be, ideally, placed into secure investment objects, and the closer we get to that age, the safer those vehicles should be - you don't want to lose the bundle, after all, when you are just two years away from retirement.
The younger you are, the higher yield and riskier strategies are ones you should think about, but still something which cannot result in catastrophic losses.
But there is a percentage of money with which greater risks should, perhaps, be taken - and there are strategies that, while more risky, can also result in greater payoffs. The idea that you should buy stocks for short term, higher yield gain is not a new one - call it short term flip, or day trading - arbitrage or contrarian trading.
The strategy for this type of trading is completely different from that of normal stock purchase decisions, where the company is analyzed (or the fund, for that matter). In day trading, small amounts are made not from the intrinsic value of the stock, although that certainly matters, but from trends (technical analysis only) which cause all stocks and commodities to rise and fall over short periods of time.
To help learn these strategies, and to truly help yourself to understand the underlying principles of this type of trading, Brad McFadden's Daily Trading Report is one of the most useful sites out there - at this website you will find that there are several important tools, and his strategies are well thought out and fairly easy to understand.
Knowing the mechanics behind the markets allow you to day trade in a more coherent, strategy based fashion - financial markets are a lot more predictable than most people think, and the Daily Trading Report helps you understand this. Predictability is caused by trends, but they are often obscured by other things happening in the market. At the Daily Trading Report, you have access to proprietary and published indices which are little known and not widely followed by a lot of traders, but which do point towards certain probable outcomes in global trends.
Some things which seem like gambling are really more certain than many people make them out to be; it is all about learning and understanding the underlying principles of the 'machinery' which you are trying to manipulate, and it is in the way that the Daily Trading Report teaches you these principles that makes it such a valuable trading house of information. When it comes to day trading strategies, get the best information out there - start at the Daily Trading Report.
'We bickered a little bit in the beginning. ... But I love her,' Levine says of his fellow 'Voice' judge. By James Montgomery
Adam Levine at "MTV First: Maroon 5" Photo:
Last month, just as "The Voice" was wrapping its second season, reports began to circulate about a growing feud between judges Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine, one that supposedly involved plenty of behind-the-scenes bitching, more than a few temper tantrums and (quite possibly) one very public use of the c-word.
Of course, given that the show was heading toward its finale, one could reasonably assume some of that drama may have been cooked up to draw in viewers, though there were on-air moments where the tension between Aguilera and Levine seemed very real indeed. So, when Levine and his Maroon 5 mate James Valentine sat down with MTV News to premiere their brand-new "One More Night" video, we had to ask him about the feud. And while Levine didn't deny on-set friction, he let it be known that things have truly been blown out of proportion.
"We bickered a little bit in the beginning, to be totally truthful, we had a little bit of a rough start, just kind of all getting to know each other," he said. "But I love her, she's the best, and we're having a fantastic time as of late on the set. She's great, and all of that is sensationalized media BS ... so don't worry about any of that."
And while Levine made it clear that he'd much rather be discussing Maroon 5's just-released Overexposed album, he understands that rumors like this are all part of living life beneath the glare of the spotlight. And he's not exactly losing any sleep over that fact.
"It affects you as much as you let it. I mean, I know the deal, so as long as I do, it doesn't matter what people say," he explained. "Think about if we listened to what people say all the time, imagine how crazy it would make you."
?Infidelity is best defined as the keeping of secrets in an intimate relationship.?
?Robert Weiss, 2006
Last week I published a blog on why men cheat. The piece generated an unexpectedly overwhelming response from all sides, with one of the main comments being, ?It?s not just men who cheat.? And that statement is absolutely correct! Our cultural stereotypes tell us that it is usually men who step out on wives or girlfriends, but research actually indicates that nearly as many women cheat as men. And it does take two to dance the infidelity tango.
Studies on modern Western culture universally suggest that between 10 and 20 percent of men and women in marriages and other committed, long-term relationships are sexually unfaithful to their spouse or significant other. Interestingly, the reasons men and women cheat often differ by gender, and these reasons tend to parallel our general understanding of male versus female sexuality.
For example, when actively viewing pornography, males are typically more aroused by a rapid-fire succession of visual images, objectified body parts, and concrete sexual acts, whereas females tend to be more responsive to sexual imagery that includes some kind of emotional connection.
Pornographers, increasingly aware of this reality, are now actively evolving a new erotic genre known as ?Mommy Porn.? The wildly popular erotic book series begun with the worldwide bestseller Fifty Shades of Gray exemplifies the ways in which mature women typically respond to pornography, in that they are interested more in eroticized relationships than objectified body parts.
For instance, the vast majority of the Fifty Shades trilogy?s largely female readership report feeling excited less by the book?s graphic depictions of bondage and sexual domination and more by the intense relational tension taking place between the two main characters. A similar phenomenon, aimed at a younger female age group, is the tremendously successful Twilight book and filmseries with its exploration of young, beautifully sculpted, highly objectified male figures?presented as vampires and werewolves who are struggling with their desire to love and possess a young girl. (True Blood on HBO falls somewhere in the middle of Fifty Shades and Twilight.)
In simple terms, when men view porn they tend to be more aroused by body parts and genital interaction, whereas women are far more engaged by material that also incorporates some concept of romantic connection or love.
Most healthy men feel comfortable engaging in a ?purely sexual? experience that is void of emotional attachment or relationship, whereas healthy women tend to enjoy sexuality that is inclusive of some kind of emotional connection, even if that connection is only implied. This theme holds true in terms of how men and women tend to view and engage in relationship infidelity.
In one survey, Undercover Lovers, a UK based extramarital dating site (not unlike Ashley Madison in the US), surveyed 4000 of its members, approximately 2000 men and 2000 women, about their cheating habits. Among the women cheaters, 76% stated they still loved their husbands, and 57% said they loved the other man. It doesn?t take a mathematical genius to realize that 76% plus 57% equals a quite a bit more than 100%, implying that women who cheat likely feel more comfortable with their behavior when experiencing or at least perceiving feelings of love.
In that same survey, 67% of male cheaters said they loved their wives (a number somewhat similar to the females studied), yet among that same group a mere 27% said they loved their mistresses. The significant difference here is that men who cheat have less of a need to feel bonded to an affair partner than women who engage in the same behavior.
Further research, conducted by Rutgers University biological anthropologist Helen Fisher, revealed that 34% of the women she studied (who were active in sexual/romantic affairs) said they felt ?happily married,? whereas 56% of the males studied (also active in sexual/romantic affairs) stated they felt ?happily married.? Fisher?s study indicates that women are generally more comfortable having an affair when feeling less attached to a primary spouse or partner, while men appear to be more emotionally comfortable with and accepting of being bonded in a primary relationship and also having sex outside of that bond.
What Drives a Cheating Woman?s Behavior?
Women who sexually or romantically cheat do so for a variety of underlying interpersonal and psychological reasons, the most common of which are listed below:
She feels neglected, ignored, or under-appreciated. A woman who feels more like a housekeeper, financial provider, or nanny than a wife or girlfriend is more vulnerable to finding an external situation that brings attention and appreciation for who she is rather than the functions she performs.
She has low self-esteem. Women who suffer with chronic self-esteem and/or mood disorders?some genetic, some resulting from early childhood trauma or neglect?are more likely to seek validation through romantic and/or sexual activity. Being pursued sexually is a way for these women to feel worthwhile, desirable, wanted, needed, and loved.
She has enough sex, but craves more intimacy. More so than men, women feel valued and connected to their relationship partner through non-sexual emotional interaction such as touching, kissing, cuddling, gift-giving, being remembered, and most of all via meaningful communication. Women who aren?t getting this kind of intimacy with a primary partner will sometimes seek it out elsewhere through sexual/romantic relationships. These same women may also engage in impulsive and/or addictive behaviors like compulsive overeating or spending to compensate for the emptiness they feel.
She wants revenge. A woman who feels disempowered by her relationship can use sex with someone else as a way to retaliate. For the woman whose spouse or partner has broken her trust in any number of ways?cheating, lying, spending a large amount of money foolishly, etc.?retaliation via outside sex/romance is sometimes an option.
She is lonely. Women who find themselves with a lot of time alone at home while caring for young children, and also empty nesters, who sometimes feel a lack of importance and meaning once children are grown and gone, may use affairs and sexual liaisons to fill the void. Women who have spouses or partners who are gone for long periods of time for work?they?re in the military, for instance?may also find themselves using sex and affairs to fill what feels like an untenable emptiness.
She is bored to tears. Sometime women miss the excitement of the early, ?honeymoon? stage of a relationship. They crave the dopamine/oxytocin fueled rush evoked by new romance and the obsessiveness of thinking about another person 24/7. A healthy, stable relationship, in which intimacy is built slowly over time, lacks the excitement they crave, so they seek the ?high? of new romance by engaging in affairs.
She is not having enough sex to suit her specific needs. Healthy adult women fully enjoy good sex. They enjoy the physical act as much as men do, and they also enjoy the feelings of being wanted/needed/desired that partner-sexuality can evoke. Women are not martyrs; a sexless relationship may not be acceptable for some, even when the lack of sexual interaction is due to the male spouse?s medical or related issues.
She wants out. In troubled relationships it can be easier to find a fast exit strategy than to work on an existing partnership. Rather than proactively breaking up, some women engage a new romantic/sexual partner, thereby giving their significant other a reason to end it (after learning about the affair).
She is moving on, but doesn?t want to be alone. If a woman views her current relationship as over, she may begin one or several new relationships, thereby ensuring that there is someone waiting in the wings as her committed partner exits.
She is a sex or relationship addict. Some emotionally troubled women engage in a constant, never-ending stream of sex and romance (often involving drugs and/or alcohol) as a means of controlling how they meet their emotional needs. Such behavioral problems most often are the result of early sexual trauma and profound abuse that leaves these women unable to be faithful to a spouse or significant other, even though they may intellectually wish to do so.
She expects too much from a long-term, primary partnership. Some women have unreasonable expectations about what a long-term spouse or partner should offer. Narcissistic and emotionally immature, these women expect their significant other to meet their every single need, while also being mind-readers in terms of knowing what those needs are. And when their partner inevitably fails them, they feel justified in seeking attention elsewhere.
She lacks women friends. Some women, especially those who have experienced early maternal abuse or neglect, will dismiss and undervalue their need for solid, supportive female friendships/community. Instead, these women will seek to meet their emotional needs through attention from males, often by having sex and affairs. Other women are seen as competitors to be devalued, dismissed, or avoided. The attention of men is what matters.
Can the Damage Be Undone?
In many ways, cheating has become pervasive in modern society, as evidenced to some extent by the large number of infidelity websites and ?friend-finder? smart-phone apps such as Blendr, Undercover Lovers, and most prominently Ashley Madison. These sites and apps use technology to unapologetically promote cheating. In fact, Ashley Madison?s company slogan reads: ?Life is Short, Have an Affair.?
These websites and apps make cheating easy as finding a good Italian restaurant. Click the ?AM? logo on your smart-phone and the interface instantly display a grid of pictures of immediately available potential sex partners, utilizing geo-locating software to show you which potential partners are geographically closest. (Often they?re within a few hundred feet!) Tapping on a picture displays a brief profile of that user, along with the option to chat, send pictures (sext), or share your own location.
If the interest is mutual, you simply make a plan to meet and have sex. No muss, no fuss, just the sex thank you very much. No longer does a woman have to risk rejection in a bar or be vulnerable to a workplace affair?not in this day when she can geo-locate a willing sex partner with her smart-phone. At last look, Ashley Madison had more than 14 million members, making it one of the world?s most popular and financially profitable websites/smart-phone apps. The simple fact is Ashley Madison and similar companies have successfully utilized modern technology to monetize infidelity.
Sadly, some women may not realize how profoundly their secretive sexual or romantic behavior can affect the long-term emotional life of a trusting spouse or partner. Betrayal hurts men, too. And, as always, more than any sexual act itself, it?s the keeping of secrets from an intimate partner and the resulting breakdown of relationship trust that causes the most damage.
As is true in most emotionally charged events, there are likely multiple meanings/issues/reasons behind the choice to engage in affairs and extra-relational sexual behavior. It often takes the involvement of a skilled professional to help parse through the layers of a woman?s decision-making to find the root causes. If a couple chooses to address these concerns together, marital and couples counseling can for some turn a relationship crisis into a growth opportunity.
If the woman in question turns out to have a problem with sex or love addiction, she will require more specialized individual treatment to address both past trauma and her adult sexual behavior patterns. Gender separate inpatient treatment for women sex/relationship addicts is available at The Ranch in Tennessee, and 12-step support can be found at Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA). Unfortunately, even when experienced therapists are extensively involved with people committed to healing, some couples are unable to ever regain the necessary sense of trust and emotional safety required to make it together. For these couples, solid, neutral relationship therapy can help the individuals involved healthfully process a long overdue goodbye.
Robert Weiss LCSW, CSAT-S is the author of three books on sexual addiction and an expert on the juxtaposition of human sexuality, intimacy, and technology. He is Founding Director of The Sexual Recovery Institute, in Los Angeles and Director of Intimacy and Sexual Disorders Services at The Ranch in Tennessee, and Promises Treatment Centers in California. Mr. Weiss is a clinical psychotherapist and educator. He has provided sexual addiction treatment training internationally for psychology professionals, addiction treatment centers, and the US military. A media expert for Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times, Mr. Weiss has been featured on CNN, The Today Show, Oprah, and ESPN among many others. Rob is the Sex and Intimacy blogger for Psych-Central, an online psychology site, and can also be found on Twitter at @RobWeissMSW.
Like this author? Catch up on other posts by Robert Weiss LCSW, CSAT-S (or subscribe to their feed).
????Last reviewed: 27 Jun 2012
APA Reference Weiss LCSW, R. (2012). Girls Gone Wild? Why Women Cheat. Psych Central. Retrieved on June 28, 2012, from http://blogs.psychcentral.com/sex/2012/06/women-cheat/
Are you scared to speak in public? Do you have stage fright? I have been speaking to audiences since I was 25 years old. When I first started I was terrified. I don't know why I was scared but I was. Literally could not sleep the night before I had to speak to an audience. And it didn't matter whether it was a small group or a very large group. I found myself actually avoiding speaking to more than two people at a time.
One day I realized that this fear was holding myself back from my potential to get myself and my ideas known. I asked myself, "how can you ever be successful if you aren't willing to speak to people?" It was then that I committed overcoming this fear and learn how to speak to audiences with confidence and without fear immobilizing me.
Since that decision I have delivered over 2000 speaking engagements to entrepreneurs, small businesses and even Fortune 500 companies. This week I spoke to an unbelievable audience at Google headquarters in New York. What a great experience to be able to communicate to speak to a company that is so well recognized by the entire world.
Over the years I have learned from other great speakers like John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Bill Clinton, Guy Kawasaki, Harvey McKay, Steve Jobs, Jackie B. Cooper, Joel Osteen, Les Brown, John Maxwell, Seth Godin, Gary Vaynerchuk, Tony Robbins and others. Watching them inspired me to become more confident in my abilities.
Here are a few tips that you may find helpful for handling the fear of public speaking
1) Commit to overcoming the fear. The fear will not go away until 'it' is clear that you are committing to speaking in public. Speak as often as you can to as many different groups as you can. After 2000 speaking engagements I still experience some fear but it no longer prevents me from speaking because my commitment is greater than the fear. NY Times Best Selling author, Seth Godin,says, "My only tip is.... speak."
2) Own the Stage - When you walk out on the stage or platform, own the stage; make it yours. Plant your feet firmly in one place and anchor in at that one place. Avoid moving around much in the beginning of your presentation so the audience can see that you are confident, grounded in who you are and your position.
3) Speak to the Everyone in the Room and Connect Be sure that you are communicating beyond the first row and all the way to the back row and to the edges of the room, left and right. Your focus should be to connect to each individual in the room. The first two years I spoke I did so without a microphone forcing me to reach, connect with and project to everyone in the audience. "Everyone Communicates Few Connect", John Maxwell.
4) Open with Your Message - Open with that thing you want the audience to remember. "I am here to show you how to double your sales. That's right, Double YOUR Sales." Make it very clear in the first one minute what the audience is going to get from your presentation. Make your opening statement bold, promising, inspiring and hopeful of massive gain. Chet Holmes, author of The Ultimate Sales Machine and partner with Tony Robbins says,: "Open strong. If you open strong, the audience will be patient for 20 minutes."
5) Pick a Topic That You are Confident - Speak on subjects on which you are an authority, expert and have complete confidence. Use this as a way to gain altitude over your audience. Everyone has some angle or positioning that makes them the authority in a room with the most altitude. Use your expert positioning to grow your own confidence and to have your audience know that. The great sales expert, Harvey Mackay, says "The best way to sound like you know what you're talking about is to know what you're talking about."
6) Hammer Away at Your Opening Message - Distill your message down to a few points and then repeatedly beat it to death. A big mistake is to try to cover too many things in one presentation. Make sure your audience walks away from your event with one message ringing violently in their heads. Simplify your message down to a a thing or two rather than many. Les Brown, says, "Read, study and over prepare."
7) Close Big - Your closes should be compelling and inspiring providing your audience with a reason to be moved. Great speakers always bring a great close to their presentation. By this time the fear has subsided so be careful not to take the close for granted. Finish big!
Everyone I know experiences some level of fear when speaking in public. Don't think you have some disability - it's normal. Commit to speaking and the fear will subside. Then learn from other great speakers. Whether it is for a simple job interview, a presentation at your office, a sales presentation to one customer or many, to your church, community or school there is no getting away from the idea that at some time in your life you will be forced to speak in public.
The ability to speak confidently and comfortably in public is one of the keys to creating success in your life.
Grant Cardone, NY Times Best Selling Author and Sales Training Expert
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Follow Grant Cardone on Twitter: www.twitter.com/grantcardone
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Public release date: 27-Jun-2012
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