In today?s fast-paced world, it?s too easy for your family to come home after long days at work and school simply to plug into their computers or the television. Many families hardly even find the time to eat together, and when they do they spend much of their time texting. It?s important to set aside time for the family. When you?re all focused on one activity together, you will bond and relax at the same time. One option that can bring the whole family together is with family board games.
Board games are a classic form of entertainment, and because there is such a wide range of board games to choose from, you can ensure that you?ll find something that is entertaining for the whole family. You can choose family board games which can be completed in less than half an hour if everyone is busy with homework, or you could choose a longer game that will take up the better part of a lazy, rainy afternoon. Be sure to look at the intended ages and skill level of board games to find something that?s age-appropriate for your family, so that they don?t get frustrated.
Some family board games are based almost entirely on luck or chance, such as those which are played with the roll of the dice. Others will require strategy and skill to complete. These are considered to be good for children, because they encourage critical, strategic thinking. This makes them a healthier activity than plugging into computer games instead. While you play together as a family, you can get competitive as you wish, or spend the time to talk about your days in between rounds of the game. There?s nothing better than spending time together over a friendly round of games as a family.
Online, you?ll find a range of different family board games to choose from. Chess is one of the most timeless and classic games to play, while a wooden or marble chess set makes a timeless piece of decoration as well. Mahjong is a Chinese game which involves skill, calculation, and strategy. It is usually played by four players, making it perfect for family board game night. Backgammon is another board game which is available, involving both luck and strategy for an entertaining experience. These are family classics which have been played for centuries, and continue to delight players of all ages to this day.
Finding and giving the right gift is an art and we at Global Home Accents try to make it personal and unusual from abstract art to gadgets. We constantly expand our range of unique gift ideas for her of for him to make it perfect for you to choose the right one.
Gunmen on Sunday shot and killed a Bangladeshi policeman serving with the African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan's Darfur region, the mission said, adding to a recent surge of violence.
Another UNAMID policeman was wounded in the attack on their compound in the South Darfur capital Nyala, a UNAMID statement said.
The Bangladeshi, whose name was not released, "lost his life at approximately 3:15 am (0015 GMT), when a gang surrounded and fired at the staff in the mission's community policing centre inside the Otash camp for internally displaced persons," UNAMID said.
"The armed men fled after the police unit returned fire."
There was no detail on the identity of the attackers or their motive.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in an April report to the UN Security Council, said criminality "has emerged as the most significant threat to civilians and humanitarian workers", including in camps for displaced people.
To address the new security environment, the Security Council on July 31 trimmed the size of the UNAMID mission, which will still have about 21,000 soldiers and police.
UNAMID says 38 of its peacekeepers have been killed since the initial deployment more than four years ago.
In other recent unrest, Sudanese security forces in Nyala shot dead eight people during a protest sparked by high prices on July 31.
Last Thursday, UNAMID said it had received reports from fleeing villagers of air strikes west of Shangil Tobay, south of the North Darfur state capital El Fasher. Rebels are active in the area, the army said.
On Friday the UN reported that 25,000 people have been displaced around the North Darfur town of Kutum after unrest that began with the killing of a government official.
Rebels drawn from black African tribes rose against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government in 2003 in a conflict the UN estimates killed at least 300,000 people. The government said 10,000 died.
Clashes between rebels and government troops, banditry and inter-ethnic fighting continue in the region but violence is much less than at its peak nearly a decade ago.
The UN says about 1.7 million people are still living in camps in Darfur.
Testing new and potential life-saving drugs can be a harrowing process because of the risk involved with not knowing how a substance will react once in the human body. Harvards scientists are hoping that microchips, such as the one pictured above, can mimic the function of human organs well enough for them to test those drugs. More »
Apple suffered a rare marketing miss during the Olympics when it aired a series of Mac commercials that were quickly criticized for being bland and making Apple customers look inept.
Now, one new marketing report suggests that Apple may have aired the commercials in an attempt to appeal to its aging customer base.
According to YouGov, a market research firm, Apple's brand is now more popular among those 35 and older than those 18-35 years old, a big shift for the company. As a result, YouGov thinks that Apple may feel compelled to appeal more to this audience.
"Now that adults 35+ have a higher perception of Apple, it may make sense that the 'Genius' ads were airing during the Olympics, where the prime time audience is easily over 35 years old," YouGov writes in its report. "It appears that the 35+ demographic, which includes Boomers 50 and over, may need more product hand-holding than the younger group ? hence the Genius."
Even if Apple's customer base is gradually getting older, we have a hard time believing the company would deliberately choose to water down its brand during a huge prime-time event to appeal to this target audience. After all, Apple's brand power has always been largely based on its cool factor. Making commercials that look like Dell ads and belittle the customer's intelligence doesn't exactly help that. If anything, it might turn off older customers too.
What's more, it is possible to make advertisements that appeal to both demographics at once. Case in point: the Mac/PC campaign featuring actors John Hodgman and Justin Long. So this really just seems like a lousy excuse for a lousy ad campaign.
As Apple's former ad guru Ken Segall put it in a blog post criticizing the Mac commercials, "There's no excuse for a campaign like that. Apple's momentum is fueled by the enthusiasm of its core customers. The last thing it wants is to win new customers at the cost of looking ridiculous to its enthusiastic supporters."
However, if these commercials are indicative of a change in Apple's advertising strategy, the company may be at risk of turning off fans and tarnishing its brand.
Just as we see so many signs of optimism in the Arizona real estate market, we, Terry McDonnell, founder and President of Business Real Estate Weekly (BREW) and Jordan Rose, founder and President of Rose Law Group pc, are thrilled to announce that through our mutual enthusiasm for Arizona real estate and commitment to providing our readers/clients with the most essential, accurate and timely information, we have formed an exciting new partnership: BREW by Rose Law Group. We are thrilled about this and think you will be too!
Watch over the next several months as we roll-out some incredibly useful new features on BREW and Rose Law Group Reporter. If you are a current BREW subscriber, this means you will have access to more information, quicker.? And if you are not yet a subscriber, you will want to be! As a BREW by Rose Law Group subscriber, you will now (for no extra cost), receive up to the minute information on a larger volume of transactions taking place throughout Arizona and? have exclusive access to even more in depth stories (with expert commentary), maps and archives. Indeed, reporter resources have been expanded as a result of this partnership. As a Rose Law Group client, you will receive a reduced subscription rate to BREW by Rose Law Group at your renewal or as a new subscriber.
For nearing 20 years BREW has been a must-read for anyone who is, or wants to be successful in Arizona real estate.? As this market starts to heat up, BREW presented by Rose Law Group will continue the tradition of providing the most accurate, important information, but will, over the next several months,? disseminate it in real-time, with enhanced features to allow you to know much more, adding value to your business.
Here?s to the market comeback and our partnership!
Contact: Stuart Wolpert swolpert@support.ucla.edu 310-206-0511 University of California - Los Angeles
For years, many scientists had thought that plate tectonics existed nowhere in our solar system but on Earth. Now, a UCLA scientist has discovered that the geological phenomenon, which involves the movement of huge crustal plates beneath a planet's surface, also exists on Mars.
"Mars is at a primitive stage of plate tectonics. It gives us a glimpse of how the early Earth may have looked and may help us understand how plate tectonics began on Earth," said An Yin, a UCLA professor of Earth and space sciences and the sole author of the new research.
Yin made the discovery during his analysis of satellite images from a NASA spacecraft known as THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) and from the HIRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. He analyzed about 100 satellite images approximately a dozen were revealing of plate tectonics.
Yin has conducted geologic research in the Himalayas and Tibet, where two of the Earth's seven major plates divide.
"When I studied the satellite images from Mars, many of the features looked very much like fault systems I have seen in the Himalayas and Tibet, and in California as well, including the geomorphology," said Yin, a planetary geologist.
For example, he saw a very smooth, flat side of a canyon wall, which can be generated only by a fault, and a steep cliff, comparable to cliffs in California's Death Valley, which also are generated by a fault. Mars has a linear volcanic zone, which Yin said is a typical product of plate tectonics.
"You don't see these features anywhere else on other planets in our solar system, other than Earth and Mars," said Yin, whose research is featured as the cover story in the August issue of the journal Lithosphere.
The surface of Mars contains the longest and deepest system of canyons in our solar system, known as Valles Marineris (Latin for Mariner Valleys and named for the Mariner 9 Mars orbiter of 1971?, which discovered it). It is nearly 2,500 miles long about nine times longer than the Earth's Grand Canyon. Scientists have wondered for four decades how it formed. Was it a big crack in Mars' shell that opened up?
"In the beginning, I did not expect plate tectonics, but the more I studied it, the more I realized Mars is so different from what other scientists anticipated," Yin said. "I saw that the idea that it is just a big crack that opened up is incorrect. It is really a plate boundary, with horizontal motion. That is kind of shocking, but the evidence is quite clear.
"The shell is broken and is moving horizontally over a long distance. It is very similar to the Earth's Dead Sea fault system, which has also opened up and is moving horizontally."
The two plates divided by Mars' Valles Marineris have moved approximately 93 miles horizontally relative to each other, Yin said. California's San Andreas Fault, which is over the intersection of two plates, has moved about twice as much but the Earth is about twice the size of Mars, so Yin said they are comparable.
Yin, whose research is partly funded by the National Science Foundation, calls the two plates on Mars the Valles Marineris North and the Valles Marineris South.
"Earth has a very broken 'egg shell,' so its surface has many plates; Mars' is slightly broken and may be on the way to becoming very broken, except its pace is very slow due to its small size and, thus, less thermal energy to drive it," Yin said. "This may be the reason Mars has fewer plates than on Earth."
Mars has landslides, and Yin said a fault is shifting the landslides, moving them from their source.
Does Yin think there are Mars-quakes?
"I think so," he said. "I think the fault is probably still active, but not every day. It wakes up every once in a while, over a very long duration perhaps every million years or more."
Yin is very confident in his findings, but mysteries remain, he said, including how far beneath the surface the plates are located.
"I don't quite understand why the plates are moving with such a large magnitude or what the rate of movement is; maybe Mars has a different form of plate tectonics," Yin said. "The rate is much slower than on Earth."
The Earth has a broken shell with seven major plates; pieces of the shell move, and one plate may move over another. Yin is doubtful that Mars has more than two plates.
"We have been able to identify only the two plates," he said. "For the other areas on Mars, I think the chances are very, very small. I don't see any other major crack."
Did the movement of Valles Marineris North and Valles Marineris South create the enormous canyons on Mars? What led to the creation of plate tectonics on Earth?
Yin, who will continue to study plate tectonics on Mars, will answer those questions in a follow-up paper that he also plans to publish in the journal Lithosphere.
###
Watch videos of Yin demonstrating plate tectonics and briefly discussing his career.
UCLA is California's largest university, with an enrollment of nearly 38,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The UCLA College of Letters and Science and the university's 11 professional schools feature renowned faculty and offer 337 degree programs and majors. UCLA is a national and international leader in the breadth and quality of its academic, research, health care, cultural, continuing education and athletic programs. Six alumni and five faculty have been awarded the Nobel Prize.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Stuart Wolpert swolpert@support.ucla.edu 310-206-0511 University of California - Los Angeles
For years, many scientists had thought that plate tectonics existed nowhere in our solar system but on Earth. Now, a UCLA scientist has discovered that the geological phenomenon, which involves the movement of huge crustal plates beneath a planet's surface, also exists on Mars.
"Mars is at a primitive stage of plate tectonics. It gives us a glimpse of how the early Earth may have looked and may help us understand how plate tectonics began on Earth," said An Yin, a UCLA professor of Earth and space sciences and the sole author of the new research.
Yin made the discovery during his analysis of satellite images from a NASA spacecraft known as THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) and from the HIRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. He analyzed about 100 satellite images approximately a dozen were revealing of plate tectonics.
Yin has conducted geologic research in the Himalayas and Tibet, where two of the Earth's seven major plates divide.
"When I studied the satellite images from Mars, many of the features looked very much like fault systems I have seen in the Himalayas and Tibet, and in California as well, including the geomorphology," said Yin, a planetary geologist.
For example, he saw a very smooth, flat side of a canyon wall, which can be generated only by a fault, and a steep cliff, comparable to cliffs in California's Death Valley, which also are generated by a fault. Mars has a linear volcanic zone, which Yin said is a typical product of plate tectonics.
"You don't see these features anywhere else on other planets in our solar system, other than Earth and Mars," said Yin, whose research is featured as the cover story in the August issue of the journal Lithosphere.
The surface of Mars contains the longest and deepest system of canyons in our solar system, known as Valles Marineris (Latin for Mariner Valleys and named for the Mariner 9 Mars orbiter of 1971?, which discovered it). It is nearly 2,500 miles long about nine times longer than the Earth's Grand Canyon. Scientists have wondered for four decades how it formed. Was it a big crack in Mars' shell that opened up?
"In the beginning, I did not expect plate tectonics, but the more I studied it, the more I realized Mars is so different from what other scientists anticipated," Yin said. "I saw that the idea that it is just a big crack that opened up is incorrect. It is really a plate boundary, with horizontal motion. That is kind of shocking, but the evidence is quite clear.
"The shell is broken and is moving horizontally over a long distance. It is very similar to the Earth's Dead Sea fault system, which has also opened up and is moving horizontally."
The two plates divided by Mars' Valles Marineris have moved approximately 93 miles horizontally relative to each other, Yin said. California's San Andreas Fault, which is over the intersection of two plates, has moved about twice as much but the Earth is about twice the size of Mars, so Yin said they are comparable.
Yin, whose research is partly funded by the National Science Foundation, calls the two plates on Mars the Valles Marineris North and the Valles Marineris South.
"Earth has a very broken 'egg shell,' so its surface has many plates; Mars' is slightly broken and may be on the way to becoming very broken, except its pace is very slow due to its small size and, thus, less thermal energy to drive it," Yin said. "This may be the reason Mars has fewer plates than on Earth."
Mars has landslides, and Yin said a fault is shifting the landslides, moving them from their source.
Does Yin think there are Mars-quakes?
"I think so," he said. "I think the fault is probably still active, but not every day. It wakes up every once in a while, over a very long duration perhaps every million years or more."
Yin is very confident in his findings, but mysteries remain, he said, including how far beneath the surface the plates are located.
"I don't quite understand why the plates are moving with such a large magnitude or what the rate of movement is; maybe Mars has a different form of plate tectonics," Yin said. "The rate is much slower than on Earth."
The Earth has a broken shell with seven major plates; pieces of the shell move, and one plate may move over another. Yin is doubtful that Mars has more than two plates.
"We have been able to identify only the two plates," he said. "For the other areas on Mars, I think the chances are very, very small. I don't see any other major crack."
Did the movement of Valles Marineris North and Valles Marineris South create the enormous canyons on Mars? What led to the creation of plate tectonics on Earth?
Yin, who will continue to study plate tectonics on Mars, will answer those questions in a follow-up paper that he also plans to publish in the journal Lithosphere.
###
Watch videos of Yin demonstrating plate tectonics and briefly discussing his career.
UCLA is California's largest university, with an enrollment of nearly 38,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The UCLA College of Letters and Science and the university's 11 professional schools feature renowned faculty and offer 337 degree programs and majors. UCLA is a national and international leader in the breadth and quality of its academic, research, health care, cultural, continuing education and athletic programs. Six alumni and five faculty have been awarded the Nobel Prize.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Suggested the parliamentary Finance Committee, Thursday, that is the direct deletion of zeros and currency exchange during the month of July of next year, as shown, the central bank removed the fears of all, it confirmed that the government will support this project after providing Baijayate and cons.
A member of the Committee Haitham Jubouri in an interview for ?Alsumaria News?, ?The Finance Committee supports the project to delete the zeros and currency exchange, and must be government involvement in this project as responsible for drawing up the financial policy of the country,? likely to ?be direct this project during the month of July next year 2013. ?
The Jubouri that ?the central bank removed all fears of a changing of the currency, after warnings from the conduct of money laundering or increase the size of inflation,? noting that ?the form of committees competent to control it.?
The Jubouri that ?the Iraqi government did not object to the origin of the project, but objected to the lack of knowledge of this,? pointing out ?that it will support the project after providing the positive aspects and negative aspects of the project.?
The Finance Committee of the House of Representatives have shown, in the July 13, 2012, support for the replacement of the existing currency, while the central bank?s readiness required for this step, confirmed that the bank needs another year to begin the process of replacement.
As announced, in (July 11, 2012), a willingness to clarify the reasons for the Council of Ministers on the frequency of switching the currency, although the central bank confirmed its ability to that of the occurrence of fraud affecting the national economy.
And announced by the Finance Committee?s parliamentary Najiba Najib in (the third of July, 2012), that the budget next year, 2013, will be the new currency after deleting three zeros from the current currency, arguing that the reluctance of traders and companies from trading in Iraqi currency behind the adoption of the Central Bank of the project to delete the zeros.
Hosted the Parliamentary Finance Committee, in (26 June), Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of the appearance of Mohammed Saleh to discuss the mechanism that will be followed by the bank in the process of deleting the zeros and how long this process and the variables that will occur on the exchange of currency.
Jubouri was revealed on 15 May 2012, that the month of January of next year, 2013, three zeros will delete and replace the currency, while the next will see the September 2012 direct printing of new currency in different categories.
He accused the central bank, in (12 September 2011), government bodies obstructing the monetary reform and vowed persecuting, blaming the authorities responsible for exposing the financial interests of the country to danger.
What was seen as an adviser to Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdul Hussein Al-Anbuge, in (25 August 2011), to raise zeros from the currency is the biggest corruption in Iraq if it was during this period, and fall under the name of tampering with the economic, warning of ?mafias currency? is preparing to rig the trillions Iraqi dinars to replace them in the light of the upcoming changes.
It is noteworthy that some economists believe that Iraq is ready for the time being to delete the zeros of the Iraqi dinar, pointing out that the deletion needs to be a security and political stability as well as economic stability.
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Public release date: 9-Aug-2012
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