Facebook campaign gets kids 100,000 'Likes,' 1 cat

Marisa Papile Urbano/Facebook

By Helen A.S. Popkin

One more shelter cat has a forever home thanks to a couple of irresistibly adorable kids, their social media-savvy mom and more than 100,000 Facebook users.

Remi Urbano, a 7-year-old feline fan in Newton, Mass., and his toddler sister,?Evelyn, really?wanted a cat. Mom?Marisa was on board, but daddy Dan would only acquiesce to the furry new family member on one condition ? that the kids get get at least 1,000 "likes" on their cat campaign photo (above) featured on mom's Facebook page.?

"Dan thinks there is NO way we can do this," Marisa wrote. "I say there is. Help us out. We really want a cat named Hairy Pawturrr. If you can't like, shares. Shares count too! Thanks so much everyone!!" (Like most kids ? well, humans ? the Urbanos are apparently huge Harry Potter fans.)

Certainly this was all in good fun for the family ? Papa Urbano would have to exist in the pre-Internet age of 1990-something to not know that when it comes to cats and the Internet,?all bets are off.? What's more, he has in-real-life knowledge of?his children's obvious charm, which we only get a glimpse of via Facebook.

And so, more than 118,000 Facebook "Likes" later, a lovely tabby with a jaunty white bib and socks to match, left the?Ellen M. Gifford Cat Shelter?in nearby Brighton for her new home with the Urbanos, along with a new name ? "Hairyette" instead of "Hairy" in the end, as the the kitty selected is a "she."? (Why not Purrrmione Granger?" We've reached out to the Urbanos and we'll let you know what they say.)

As you can see from the updated photos on?mom's Facebook page, Remi seems delighted with his social media campaign's success ? even if Hairyette looks a little unsure. (You know how cats are.)??

Marisa Papile Urbano/Facebook

?

"We?never intended to get this much attention, but are so happy to have put smiles on some faces and most importantly to have saved a life," Marisa writes in her Facebook update. "Thank you to the Ellen Gifford Cat Shelter for helping us find our newest family member, they are a wonderful organization and were so kind to our family. Hooray for happy endings!"

As for Dad, "I knew it was going to hit 1k at some point - I thought it would take longer than 2 hours," Dan wrote, chronicling his rapid defeat in a blog belonging to Mimocom, the Boston-based design company where he works. "Out of all the pets we could have gotten, a cat is the best I could think of but we?re getting rid of all our fish now."

Rather than sending gifts to the Urbano's new addition ? as many have offered on her Facebook page ? Marisa asks that instead, donations are sent to Ellen M. Gifford Cat Shelter.

?Good job, Facebook! Now, are you willing to clean the litter box?

?

Mimoco

Dad Dan doesn't seem to be one to hide his feelings.

?

Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah abut the Internet. Tell her to get a real job on?Twitter?and/or?Facebook. Also,?Google+.??

More Digital Life:

Venus the cat may look two-faced, with her dramatic fur and different colored eyes, but she's as sweet as can be and getting lots of love on the Internet with over 600,000 hits on YouTube. Her owners talk about their beloved pet's newfound fame.

Source: http://digitallife.today.com/_news/2012/11/15/15191376-facebook-campaign-gets-kids-100000-likes-a-cat?lite

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Microsoft CEO Ballmer suggests more hardware coming

SANTA CLARA, California (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's chief executive said his company would look at more opportunities to build its own devices, after the launch of its Surface tablet last month, potentially bringing the software giant into competition with its hardware partners and opening the door to a Microsoft-branded phone.

"Do I anticipate that partners of ours will build the lion's share of all Windows devices over the next five years? The answer is, absolutely," Steve Ballmer said at a tech industry event in Santa Clara, California, on Wednesday.

"With that said, it is absolutely clear that there is an innovation opportunity on the scene between hardware and software and that is a scene that must not go unexploited at all by Microsoft," he said.

With the Xbox game console and now the Surface tablet -- designed to take on Apple Inc's iPad -- Ballmer has been moving Microsoft toward being a "devices and services" company that would develop its own hardware where it made sense.

Reports surfaced two weeks ago that Microsoft was already testing a design for its own phone, but the company has not confirmed anything.

Microsoft's new Surface tablet is the company's first foray into building its own PCs and has raised questions in the tech industry about how aggressively it plans to move into marketing more of its own personal computing devices.

Looking to Apple's success with its iPads and iPhones, Microsoft believes tightly controlling the design of both hardware and software can lead to superior consumer products.

But building its own tablets and "hybrid" PCs puts Microsoft into direct competition against manufacturers like Hewlett-Packard, Acer and Lenovo, who for years have been customers of Microsoft's Windows operating system.

(Reporting By Noel Randewich; Additional reporting by Bill Rigby in Seattle; Editing by Chris Gallagher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-ceo-ballmer-suggests-more-hardware-coming-162247027--finance.html

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BP expected to admit to criminal misconduct in 2010 spill

HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc is expected to plead guilty to criminal misconduct in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster through a plea agreement it has reached with the U.S. Department of Justice that may be announced as soon as Thursday, according to two sources familiar with discussions.

The sources, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said that BP will plead guilty in exchange for a waiver of future prosecution on the charges.

BP and the Justice Department declined to comment.

BP has been locked in months-long negotiations with the U.S. government and Gulf Coast states to settle billions of dollars of civil and criminal liability claims resulting from the April 20, 2010, explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers and fouled the shorelines of four Gulf Coast states in the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.

It is unclear what form of criminal misconduct BP will plead guilty to. In an August filing, the Department of Justice said "reckless management" of the Macondo well "constituted gross negligence and wilful misconduct," which it intended to prove at a pending civil trial set to begin in New Orleans in February 2013.

It is also unclear whether the deal will resolve any civil charges brought by the Justice Department, and how large a financial penalty BP might pay to resolve them.

BP has previously adamantly denied any suggestion that it was grossly negligent in the disaster, a charge that could trigger billions of dollars in penalties under the Clean Water Act.

(Reporting By Chris Baltimore, Editing by Martin Howell and Ken Wills)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bp-expected-admit-criminal-misconduct-2010-spill-032835340--finance.html

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Anne Maguire: The Atos fitness for work tests that a teenager blames ...

?

By Torcuil Crichton? 6 Nov 2012 00:01

?Anne Maguire demands end to ATOS tests that teenager says killed his father?

LABOUR?S (Shadow Minister for Disabled People) Anne McGuire told the Commons about brave 13-year-old Kieran McArdle, whose dad Brian suffered a heart attack after losing his benefits

THE Atos fitness for work tests that a teenager blames for the death of his disabled dad should be ditched, an MP demanded yesterday.

The plea came as Labour?s Anne McGuire told the Commons about Kieran McArdle, whose dad Brian collapsed of a heart attack because of the stress of losing his benefits.

The 13-year-old, from Larkhall, Lanarkshire, wrote a letter to the Daily Record about the work capability assessments administered by French firm Atos, who he blames for Brian?s death.

The Record delivered his plea for reform to the department for Work and Pensions last week, and Secretary of State Iain Duncan Smith promised to reply.

McGuire raised the Record?s coverage of the case in the Commons yesterday and used it to demand the tests be abandoned.

The Stirling MP said: ?Brian was paralysed down his left hand side, blind in one eye and unable to speak properly. Yet he was declared fit for work.

?Atos said in response our trained doctors, nurses and physiotherapists strictly follow the guidelines given to them by the government.

?Given the crescendo of complaints about the workings of the work capability assessments should the minister not accept his responsibilty and undertake a fast and fundamental review.?

Mark Hoban, the Work and Pensions Minister, said his condolences are with Mr McArdle?s family.

But he said the system only needed refinements to make it work.

He added: ?We and Atos go to great lengths to make the process as fair as possible.?

The Scottish Daily Record

Teen?s letter about cruel effects of Atos hand-delivered by Record to Iain Duncan Smith?s Whitehall office

Atos benefits bullies killed my sick dad, says devastated Kieran, 13

Co-founder of Black Triangle

Source: http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2012/11/07/anne-maguire-the-atos-fitness-for-work-tests-that-a-teenager-blames-for-the-death-of-his-disabled-dad-should-be-ditched/

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Canadians missing loan payments falls to pre-recession levels but ...

The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION

By: Sunny Freeman, The Canadian Press

Posted: 11/6/2012 11:16 AM | Comments: | Last Modified: 11/6/2012 3:18 PM

TORONTO - The number of Canadians missing or defaulting on loan payments fell to pre-recession levels during the summer even though the amount of money owed continued to rise, according to a report from Equifax Canada.

Overall non-mortgage debt loads continued to increase during the third quarter, up 1.8 per cent from the same quarter of last year, the credit-monitoring firm said in its latest Quarterly Credit Trends Report released Tuesday. However, only 1.22 per cent of debts were unpaid after 90 days or more in the July-September quarter.

That's down sharply from 1.37 per cent in the previous quarter and the lowest delinquency rate on record going back to early 2007, before the recession began.

"This ultimately is a good measure of how people are servicing their debt," said Nadim Abdo, vice-president of consulting solutions at Equifax Canada.

"Debt is increasing at a slower rate, the actual delinquencies are improving, they're going down. That to me actually shows responsibility of some sort."

The Equifax report suggested Canadian non-mortgage debt totalled $489 billion in the third quarter, up from $484.7 billion in the second quarter.

The biggest increase was a nine per cent jump in auto financing loans as buying activity in the Canadian auto market picked up over the past year.

Balances on credit cards were actually down, while money owed to banks through term loans and lines of credit grew only moderately.

Abdo pointed out that while credit card balances have been falling over the past two years, often lines of credit balances would grow at the same time, suggesting that consumers were transferring credit card debt to other types of lower interest borrowing.

"The drop in credit cards could be a deleverage rather than just transferring them somewhere else," he said.

"You could actually argue that people are paying off at least a bit of their credit card debt now."

In addition the credit bureau's credit seeking index ? a measure of consumers' appetite to take on new debt ? actually sat about nine per cent lower than where it stood in 2007, a further sign there is some control in the market, Abdo said.

"People who are using credit are using their own credit facilities that they have, versus applying for new ones (like) they were back in the heyday," he said.

"To me, that would be a sign of control."

The study's findings could be taken as a moderately encouraging sign that Canadians may finally be heeding repeated warnings from both Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney and Finance Minister Jim Flaherty about the perils of taking on too much debt.

Still, Statistics Canada's recently released revised data shows that household market debt has risen to 163 per cent of disposable income, well above the 152 per cent previously reported using a less focused measure.

A report earlier this year by Moody's Analytics said with Canadians so deep in debt, it would be extremely difficult for domestic spending to pick up slack in the economy if things started to go downhill.

That could result in a serious downward spiral in employment levels, household spending and the quantity and quality of credit outstanding, it said.

During the most recent quarter, consumer credit conditions in Canada remained "stable" and in line with the firm's projections for GDP growth and unemployment, noted Cristian deRitis, senior director of consumer credit economics at Moody?s.

"Balances are declining for credit cards, personal finance and sales finance loans as borrowers turn to bank instalment loans and lines of credit to meet their needs," he said.

"Auto financing continues to experience rapid expansion as Canadians flock to dealer lots and showrooms.?

Abdo said that based on the current Canadian economic climate, he expects the trend of declining debt accumulation to continue ? barring some large unforeseen shock from the global economy.

Source: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/finance/delinquencies-on-consumer-debt-drops-to-pre-recession-levels-but-total-mounts-177492601.html

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Unemployed vote split down the middle

5 hrs.

Steve Liesman , CNBC

In an election that was supposed to be about jobs, jobs and jobs, the unemployed vote appears to be a dead heat.

In an exclusive look at how the unemployed will likely vote, CNBC found 26 percent of the public report either they or someone in their household has lost a job in the past four years.

But this group splits 48 percent to 48 percent in their presidential choice, similar to the broader population, which splits 48 percent to 47 percent for President Obama.

CNBC:?Obama-Romney: Where they stand on the economy

If the respondent was unemployed, the break is 50 percent for Obama vs. 45 percent for Republican challenger Mitt Romney. If only a person in the household lost a job (not the individual respondent), the split is 51 percent for Romney vs. 48 percent for Obama.

With a 7.9 percent unemployment rate in October, Obama stands for reelection with the highest jobless rate of any president in the post-war era.

Of the four other incumbents who ran with unemployment rates above 7 percent ? Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, GHW Bush and Ronald Reagan ? only Reagan won back the White House.

CNBC:?Latinos' improving finances may swing key states

Significantly, while the unemployment rate under Reagan was 7.4 percent in the October before the election, it had fallen 1.4 percentage points in the prior 12 months.

Under Obama, unemployment has fallen by 1 percentage point in the past year.

The data raises several questions that can only be answered by actual election results, including whether the change in the unemployment rate is more or equally important than the level of joblessness.

CNBC:?Businesses will have a lot of 'concerns' if Obama wins?

It could be that the positive momentum in the rate, added to the power of the incumbency, is sufficient to keep Obama in the White House. It could equally be that the high level of unemployment is a key factor in winning Romney the job.

However, the split support among the unemployed suggests Romney was not overwhelmingly successful in winning the support of those who have personally experienced joblessness. That could be because his message on jobs was not strong enough or because other factors ? race, political leaning and especially income level ? were more important.

The demographics of the unemployed skew slightly less white than the broader population. But it?s hard to attribute the split among the unemployed to ethnicity.

Did Wall Street just give up on Romney?

White voters overall break 57 percent to 38 percent for Romney. White voters who have experienced unemployment break 57 percent to 42 percent for Romney, which is not a statistically meaningful difference. But it shows that Romney was not successful in gaining significantly more support among whites who have experienced unemployment compared to those who have not.

Of course, the actual election results will almost certainly differ significantly from the polls and it could turn out that unemployment is the front-burner issue it was cracked up to be. Indeed, other polls have shown that for the broader voting population, jobs is a key factor in presidential choice.

How the poll was conducted: The poll, conducted in conjuction with another survey, was based on 1,000 likely voters conducted Nov. 2-3 by Hart-McInturff, a Republican and Democratic polling organization.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/unemployed-split-down-middle-between-obama-romney-1C6883972

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