The Unemployment Rate Is Dropping, Which Is Not as Good as It Sounds

As long as inflation remains in check, the Federal Reserve has promised not to raise interest rates until unemployment hits 6.5 percent. So how long until that happens? A few estimates are worth noting for the contradictions they reveal in the labor market.According to calculations by the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project, at the current pace of job growth, about 155,000 jobs per month over...

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China tightening controls on Internet

BEIJING (AP) — China‘s new communist leaders are increasing already tight controls on Internet use and electronic publishing following a spate of embarrassing online reports about official abuses.The measures suggest China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, and others who took power in November share their predecessors’ anxiety about the Internet’s potential to spread opposition to one-party rule and their...

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Netflix blames Amazon for Christmas Eve outage

NEW YORK (Reuters) – An outage at one of Amazon‘s web service centers hit users of Netflix Inc‘s streaming video service on Christmas Eve and was not fully resolved until Christmas Day, a spokesman for the movie rental company said on Tuesday.The outage impacted Netflix subscribers across Canada, Latin America and the United States, and affected various devices that enable users to stream movies and...

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Ticket rush: Film fans hand Hollywood record cash

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The big deal for Hollywood is not the record $ 10.8 billion that studios took in domestically in 2012. It’s the fact that the number of tickets sold went up for the first time in three years.Thanks to inflation, revenue generally rises in Hollywood as admission prices climb each year. The real story is told in tickets, whose sales have been on a general decline for a decade, bottoming...

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Condom Dispensers in Philly Schools

Philadelphia is installing condom dispensers in 22 city high schools where students as young as 14 will be able to receive condoms for free in an effort to combat an “epidemic” of sexually transmitted disease among the city’s teenagers.Students returning to school from Christmas break will find clear plastic dispensers filled with condoms in the offices of nurses whose schools have the highest rates...

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Say Hello to Higher Taxes: Why Neither Party Wants a Deal

With five days to go until the fiscal cliff, Republicans and Democrats are displaying as much effort as New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez in the latter stages of a typical four-interception blowout—which is to say, none whatsoever. They can barely bestir themselves to maintain the pretense that they’re working to avoid the $ 600 billion of tax hikes and spending cuts due to arrive next week.President...

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Afghan bomber attacks near major US base

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A vehicle driven by a suicide bomber exploded at the gate of a major U.S. military base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing the attacker and three Afghans, Afghan police said. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.Police Gen. Abdul Qayum Baqizai said a local guard who questioned the vehicle driver at the gate of Camp Chapman was killed along with two...

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10 Talented Dogs Playing the Piano

Title Post: 10 Talented Dogs Playing the PianoRating: 100%based on 99998 ratings.5 user reviews.Author: Fluser SeoLinkThanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comm...

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Wife’s Garbled Text a Sign of Stroke

Dec 25, 2012 12:57pmSending garbled texts may be a sign of stroke. Image credit: Stone/Getty Images.Smartphone autocorrect is famous for scrambling messages into unintelligible gibberish but when one man received this garbled text from his 11-week-pregnant wife, it alarmed him:“every where thinging days nighing,” her text read. “Some is where!”Though that may sound like every text you’ve ever received,...

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In Brazil’s Favelas, a Middle Class Arises

The night before appliance retailer Casas Bahia opened in Rio de Janeiro’s largest slum, resident Joana Darc de Morandi couldn’t sleep. Shopping list in hand, Joana was first in line to get in, seven hours before some 200 people began streaming through the store’s front door. “It’s very important for the neighborhood,” Morandi, 57, says of Rocinha, the slum where she lives. “Casas Bahia being here...

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