Protesters to march on Michigan capitol over 'right-to-work' vote

LANSING, Michigan (Reuters) - As many as 10,000 labor union workers from throughout Michigan and the U.S. Midwest are expected to march on the Michigan Capitol building in freezing temperatures on Tuesday to protest likely passage of a "right-to-work" law.

The Republican-controlled Michigan House of Representatives will consider two and perhaps three bills on Tuesday that would prohibit unions from compelling private sector workers and government employees to pay union dues.

The right-to-work movement has been growing in the country since Wisconsin fought a similar battle with unions over two years ago.

Michigan would become the 24th state to enact right-to-work provisions and passage of the legislation would deal a stunning blow to the power of organized labor in the United States.

Michigan is home of the heavily unionized U.S. auto industry, with some 700 manufacturing plants in the state. It is also the birthplace of the United Auto Workers, the richest U.S. labor union.

While the new laws are not expected to have much immediate impact because existing union contracts would be preserved, they could, over time, further weaken the UAW, which has already seen its influence wane in negotiating with the major automakers.

Right-to-work laws typically allow workers to hold a job without being forced to join a union or pay union dues.

Last Thursday, when the senate passed two bills and the House also considered right-to-work legislation, protesters converged on Lansing. Several people were arrested and officials sealed the Capitol from the public.

"We support people exercising their constitutional rights to protest," said Inspector Gene Adamczyk of the Michigan State Police. "But we need them to do it in an orderly manner."

President Barack Obama waded into the debate during a visit to the Daimler Detroit Diesel plant in Redford, Michigan on Monday, criticizing the Republican right-to-work effort.

"What they're really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money," Obama said.

School teachers are among those expected to march on the Capitol on Tuesday. Several school districts will not hold classes on Tuesday due to teacher and staff absences, Detroit newspapers and television stations reported.

Labor leaders such as UAW President Bob King say they were blindsided by Republican Governor Rick Snyder, who last Thursday announced he was supporting right-to-work after nearly two years of saying the issue was too divisive.

King was unsuccessful in more than a week of talks with Snyder and his staff in staving off the right-to-work push by the Republicans, who will lose several seats when newly elected members take their seats in the state house and senate in January.

Michigan has the fifth highest percentage of unionized workers in the United States at 17.5 percent and the Detroit area is headquarters for General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler, which is majority owned by Fiat SpA.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Greg McCune and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/protesters-march-michigan-capitol-over-vote-054656984.html

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Bing boosts snapshot search with richer info on famous faces and places

Whether you're upfront about it or firmly in the closet, the search data doesn't lie: we all have a pop culture crush. Which is why Microsoft's expanding Bing's snapshot pane, one of three columns within its revamped layout, to display expanded data on celebrities and landmarks. (What? You thought all of those Kim Kardashian keyword searches went unnoticed?) Now, users that enter queries related to either of those two categories will be able to preview a host of relevant info (e.g., filmography, discography, movie trailers and track previews) from that second results column, all culled from a wider reach of sources. It's the first of many planned enhancements for Microsoft's search platform, so stay tuned for further changes in the "coming weeks."

Filed under: Internet, Microsoft

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Source: Bing

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/BGOcmdrXmEc/

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Speech/Language Therapy for those Innocent Expressions | Inside ...

Posted in Conditions, Featured, Growth & Development | 0 comments

Speech and language are an integral part of any child?s growing up. However, with milestones occurring at different ages, it is not uncommon to see speech and language disorders go unnoticed in children. If a child has crossed the specified milestone and still has trouble with speech and ?language development, it is best perhaps to take the advice of a speech and language therapist. Here is more about speech and language therapists and how they can help.

What is speech/language disorder and how is it caused?

Speech disorders occur when a child has problem producing sounds. Language disorders on the other hand, occur when a child is unable to grab a language and express himself/ herself in the form of sentences. This may occur either because the speech or language skill has not developed or due to some neurological illness or injury. Most researchers believe that these types of disorders are often inherited genetically.

How can speech/ language therapy help?

Speech therapy and language therapy can help to correct such disorders to some extent. But one should be aware of the developments in a child after he starts undergoing such therapies. Firstly you need to find a trusted speech and language therapist who can build a good rapport with the child, making him/her feel at ease during the sessions.

How is therapy conducted?

Speech therapy often begins with an interview conducted by the therapist with the parents after the basic formalities of submitting forms and medical records of the child are over. The interview as a part of both speech therapy and language therapy are conducted to determine the extent of the disorder and the problems that the child is facing with communication and other behavioural changes.

How does speech/ language therapy for children operate?

The evaluation starts with the speech and language therapist asking some easy questions to the child with the help of visual images. The answers by the child will help to evaluate the development depending on the number of correct answers, clarity of the speech, length and correct formation of the sentence and also the degree of attentiveness. An expert therapist will be able to review the status of the development and specify treatment techniques that he is going to use to rectify the issue.

Most therapists do not allow the presence of parents during the sessions because it may interfere with their treatment and also the child may turn towards the parents for answers. This may hinder the progress. Leave your child to the therapist and slowly he will enjoy the classes and overcome the disorder.

Links-

http://voices.yahoo.com/what-expect-toddlers-first-speech-therapy-6923352.html?cat=25

http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/

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Source: http://insidekidshealth.com/2012/12/speechlanguage-therapy-for-those-innocent-expressions/

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YUIConf 2012 Talk: Writing for Developers ? Some Rational - YUI Blog

Up next in our YUIConf 2012 video series is a talk from Evan Goer. In addition to speaking and working at Yahoo!, Evan has written the excellent YUI 3 Cookbook. This talk was one of the most highly rated of the conference. Be sure to keep up on our video releases on YUI Theater and YouTube.

In this talk presented at YUIConf 2012, Yahoo! frontend engineer and YUI 3 Cookbook author Evan Goer discusses the principles behind clear and logical writing, and methods for organizing prose at the micro level. Evan also talks about ways of avoiding bad advice and focusing on what truly matters in writing. According to him, ?this is the stuff your college writing instructors should have taught you, but probably didn?t.?

You can find the slides for this talk here.

Source: http://www.yuiblog.com/blog/2012/12/10/yuiconf-2012-talk-writing-for-developers-some-rational-techniques-by-evan-goer/

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The Multiracial Advocacy Blog: Mixed Chicks Win Legal Battle

Lisa Shuchman

Corporate Counsel

Mixed Chicks LLC, a small company that makes specialized hair care products for women of mixed race, has won a jury award of more than $8 million in a trademark and trade dress dispute with a multimillion-dollar beauty supply company.

Sally Beauty Supply LLC, the world?s largest retailer of professional beauty supplies, agreed last month to pay $8.5 million to Mixed Chicks after the California jury found Sally Beauty had infringed the trademarks of Mixed Chicks?s products.

The settlement is actually larger than the amount awarded by the jury, as Sally Beauty offered the extra money to preempt the plaintiff?s requests for attorneys? fees and disgorgement of Sally Beauty?s profits from the sale of the infringing products.

Mixed Chicks was represented by Kenneth Parker and Alan Wechsler of Irvine, California-based Haynes and Boone. ?This is one of the largest trademark verdicts ever in the Central District of California,? Parker said, adding that Sally Beauty has also ceased selling its Mixed Silk products, which were the focus of the suit.

David vs. Goliath tales that come up with big wins for non-Goliaths are rare in the world of intellectual property, where the time and cost of litigation is daunting to small businesses and individuals. But Mixed Chicks co-founders Wendi Levy and Kim Etheredge felt that taking on the beauty supply giant was something they had to do. ?We were warned the case was not a slam dunk, that it would be expensive and time consuming, and we were told the payoff, if we won, might not be large,? Etheredge said. ?But it was about the principle for us.?

Like most small startups, Etheredge and Levy had worked hard to get their company going. The two women, who are both bi-racial, stumbled upon their idea for a specialty hair care company when they realized they had both struggled with their curly and often unruly hair most of their lives. They noted that the texture of hair for women of mixed race has particular qualities, and the women complained to each other that to get their hair under control they had to buy shampoos and conditioners in a drugstore?s ?ethnic? aisle, along with others in the generic hair care aisle. Their need to combine multiple products meant, ?we would have to use 10 different products instead of one,? Etheredge said.

In 2003 they went to a chemist to figure out what ingredients were effective for their hair types, and a year later launched Mixed Chicks. They started with a web-based business and soon were selling their products to salons and beauty-supply stores across the country. In 2009, Halle Berry endorsed the Mixed Chicks brand, giving the company a huge boost.

A representative from Sally Beauty Supply approached Etheredge and Levy at a trade show a short time later, and soon after the retail chain proposed an arrangement that would have it stock Mixed Chicks products in its stores. After studying the proposal, however, the women declined the offer, realizing that some of the chain?s policies?such as deep discounting, the need to provide large amounts of inventory, and a requirement that they accept returns?would be risky. ?We wanted to make sure we had control of our merchandise and inventory,? according to Etheredge.

In early 2011, Sally Beauty rolled out its own product line for multiracial women, which it called Mixed Silk. Levy and Etheredge first learned about it from clients and customers, who were calling and asking why there was a product on the market that looked so much like theirs but went under a different name and was less expensive. Some even thought Levy and Etheredge had introduced a new low-cost product to segment the market.

Etheredge and Levy were shocked. Everything about this new product line appeared to be a knock-off. ?The color and size of the bottles were the same, the color of the liquid was the same, the scent and texture of the products were almost identical,? said Parker, who formerly was corporate counsel for Callaway Golf Company. Even the advertisements seemed to resemble the Mixed Chicks promos, which feature a photo of Levy and Etheredge.

In addition, the Sally Beauty website contained a search engine in which a consumer could type in a product name to find out whether it was sold by Sally Beauty. It was programmed in such a way that when a consumer typed in ?mixed chicks,? the only results it returned were the Sally Beauty ?mixed silk? product line.

The effect, Parker said, was to deceive and confuse the public. In March 2011, Mixed Chicks sued [PDF], alleging Sally Beauty ?intentionally, knowingly, and willfully? infringed the Mixed Chicks trademark and trade dress.

Trademark and trade dress suits often don?t go to trial, as the parties typically choose to settle. But Etheredge and Levy weren?t satisfied with Sally Beauty?s offers, and the large retailer continued to sell the products they were convinced infringed. So after an almost two-year battle, the case went before a jury.

During the nine-day trial, Sally Beauty testified that similarities were coincidental. (Sally Beauty?s attorneys, Jonathn Gordon and Casondra Ruga of Alston & Bird, could not be reached for comment.) The jury didn?t buy it. After deliberating for six hours, the jury decided that Mixed Chicks had suffered $839,535 in actual damages, and found that Sally Beauty had acted willfully and with malice, oppression, or fraud, resulting in a punitive damages award of $7.27 million.

The disposition of the case was finalized last week. ?Others will enter the market, but we?re not afraid of competition?as long as it?s fair competition,? Etheredge said. ?We knew we were in the right, and we?re happy we can now move forward.?
Source: Corporate Counsel

Source: http://projectrace.blogspot.com/2012/12/mixed-chicks-win-legal-battle.html

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Kindle FreeTime Unlimited Offers Restricted Access To Content For Kids From Disney, Nickelodeon, DC Comics, And More

Amazon today launched FreeTime Unlimited, a subscription service that offers movies, games, and books for?the kids. The launch follows the recent software update to Kindle Fire, which introduced FreeTime, a profile system designed to restrict access to certain content.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/oIvzEJ3g0uU/

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Venezuela's Chavez to skip summit due to health

BRASILIA/CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will not attend a regional trade summit in Brazil on Friday, sources said, an absence sure to heighten speculation over the leftist leader's health.

Before he went to Cuba last week for more cancer-related treatment, Chavez had spoken enthusiastically about attending the Mercosur bloc's meeting in Brasilia to celebrate Venezuela's entry.

He has not been seen in public since November 15.

"Chavez is not coming. They've even canceled the hotel reservation," a Brazilian foreign ministry source said on Thursday. Another Brazilian official said Chavez's logistics and security advance staff were leaving Brasilia.

In Caracas, a source at the Miraflores presidential palace also said Chavez, 58, was not going to travel.

The recently re-elected president went to Cuba nine days ago for "hyperbaric oxygenation" treatment - normally used to treat bone decay caused by radiation therapy.

Chavez has had three cancer surgeries in Cuba since mid-2011. So even though officials were portraying the latest treatment as normal follow-up after radiation, rumors are rampant that it could be more serious.

"If Chavez does not show up at the first meeting where Venezuela is a full member of Mercosur, it will create a lot of distrust over his health," said Marcelo Coutinho, professor of international relations at Rio de Janeiro's Federal University.

Officials have given no detailed information on Chavez's condition.

SPECULATION AND SCENARIOS

His presence in Cuba, where Chavez has spent more than three months in total since his first 2011 diagnosis of cancer in the pelvic region, has overshadowed December 16 regional elections.

Without him on the campaign trail or television, the race for 23 governorships has been a low-key one, failing to light up the public like October's presidential election did with a record voter turnout of more than 80 percent.

Although Chavez continues to sign official papers and make appointments from Cuba, his absence may delay decisions on some major issues like a possible devaluation of the Bolivar currency or an amnesty for jailed opponents.

Various ministers have been visiting him in Havana this week, according to Venezuelan officials.

Chavez allies have lambasted media and others for behaving like "vampires" with speculation about his condition. One pro-opposition journalist said he was using a wheelchair.

Bonds have rallied since his departure, on investor hopes for a change to a more business-friendly government.

Newly appointed Vice President Nicolas Maduro, 49 - a former bus driver and union leader - has assumed a more prominent position amid speculation among Venezuelans over who could replace Chavez should he leave office.

Maduro, who is also foreign minister, was due to represent Venezuela at the Mercosur meeting in Brazil.

Congress chief Diosdado Cabello, a former military comrade of Chavez, is also often touted as a possible successor to lead the ruling Socialist Party.

Under the constitution, an election would have to be held if Chavez were to leave office within the first four years of his new six-year term, which starts on January 10.

That would give a fresh chance to the opposition, which garnered 44 percent of the vote - and a record number of 6.5 million votes - in the October presidential poll.

An internal U.N. report seen by Reuters drew three possible scenarios.

"If Chavez lives, his term will continue to face monumental political, economic and security challenges. If Chavez accepts his mortality and organizes a managed transition, a unified PSUV would likely fare well in a snap election," the report said.

"If Chavez dies unexpectedly without a clear successor, a unified opposition - likely behind former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski - would stand its best chance to come to power in over a decade."

Chavez is guaranteed a warm welcome and discreet treatment in Cuba because of his friendship with past and present rulers Fidel and Raul Castro, plus the strict controls on information there.

(Additional reporting by Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, Marianna Parraga and Deisy Buitrago in Caracas; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-chavez-skip-summit-due-health-180417063.html

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