Newtown holds the first funerals for the victims

NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) ? A grief-stricken Newtown began laying to rest the littlest victims of the school massacre, starting with two 6-year-old boys ? one of them a big football fan, the other described as a whip-smart youngster whose twin sister survived the rampage.

Family, friends and townspeople streamed to two funeral homes to say goodbye to Jack Pinto, who loved the New York Giants and idolized their star wide receiver, and Noah Pozner, who liked to figure out how things worked mechanically.

In front of the funeral home where relatives mourned Noah, well-wishers placed two teddy bears, a bouquet of white flowers and a single red rose at the base of an old maple tree.

"He was just a really lively, smart kid," said Noah's uncle Alexis Haller, of Woodinville, Wash. "He would have become a great man, I think. He would have grown up to be a great dad."

Noah's twin sister, Arielle, who was assigned to a different classroom, survived the killing frenzy by 20-year-old Adam Lanza that left 20 children and six adults dead last week at Sandy Hook Elementary in an attack so horrifying that authorities could not say whether the school would ever reopen.

At Jack's service, hymns rang out from inside the funeral home. A mourner, Gwendolyn Glover, said that Jack was in an open casket and that the service was a message of comfort and protection, particularly for other children.

"The message was: You're secure now. The worst is over," she said.

The funeral program bore a quote from the Book of Revelation: "God shall wipe away all tears. There shall be no more death. Neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain."

At both funeral homes, people wrestled with the same questions as the rest of the country ? what steps could and should be taken to prevent anything like the massacre from happening again.

"If people want to go hunting, a single-shot rifle does the job, and that does the job to protect your home, too. If you need more than that, I don't know what to say," Ray DiStephan said outside Noah's funeral.

He added: "I don't want to see my kids go to schools that become maximum-security fortresses. That's not the world I want to live in, and that's not the world I want to raise them in."

With more funerals planned this week, the road ahead for Newtown, which had already started purging itself of Christmas decorations in a joyful season turned mournful, was clouded.

"I feel like we have to get back to normal, but I don't know if there is normal anymore," said Kim Camputo, mother of two children, 5 and 10, who attend a different school. "I'll definitely be dropping them off and picking them up myself for a while."

With Sandy Creek Elementary still designated a crime scene, State police Lt. Paul Vance said that it could be months before police turn the school back over to the district. The people of Newtown, consumed by loss, were not ready to address its future.

"We're just now getting ready to talk to our son about who was killed," said Robert Licata, the father of a student who escaped harm during the shooting. "He's not even there yet."

Classes were canceled Monday, and Newtown's other schools were to reopen Tuesday. The district made plans to send surviving Sandy Hook students to a former middle school in the neighboring town of Monroe.

Sandy Hook desks are being taken to the Chalk Hill school in Monroe, empty since town schools consolidated last year, and tradesmen are donating their services to get the school ready within a matter of days.

"These are innocent children that need to be put on the right path again," Monroe police Lt. Brian McCauley said.

On Sunday, President Barack Obama pledged to seek change in memory of the 20 children and six adults slain Friday by a gunman packing a high-powered rifle. The president slowly recited the first names of the children.

"What choice do we have?" he said. "Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard?"

Authorities said Sunday that Lanza was carrying an arsenal of hundreds of rounds of especially deadly ammunition, enough to kill just about every student in the school if given enough time. Lanza decided to kill himself when he heard police closing in about 10 minutes into the attack, Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said Sunday on ABC.

Across the country Monday morning, vigilance was high. In an effort to ensure student safety and calm parents' nerves, school systems asked police departments to increase patrols and sent messages to parents outlining safety plans they said are regularly reviewed and rehearsed.

Teachers girded themselves to be strong for their students and for questions and fears they would face in the classroom.

"It's going to be a tough day," said Richard Cantlupe, an American history teacher at Westglades Middle School in Parkland, Fla. "This was like our 9/11 for schoolteachers."

Communities were on edge. In nearby Ridgefield, Conn., schools were locked down after a suspicious person was seen near a train station.

Authorities say the gunman shot his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their home and then took her car and several of her guns to the school, where he broke in and shot his victims to death, then himself. A Connecticut official said the mother ? a gun enthusiast who practiced at shooting ranges ? was found dead in her pajamas in bed, shot four times in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.

Lanza was wearing all black, with an olive utility vest, during the attack.

Investigators have offered no motive, and police have found no letters or diaries that could shed light on it. A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said investigators were reviewing the contents of Lanza's computer, as well as phone and credit card records. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the case.

Divorce paperwork released Monday showed that Nancy Lanza had the authority to make all decisions regarding Adam's upbringing. The divorce was finalized in September 2009, when Adam Lanza was 17.

Federal agents have concluded that Lanza visited an area shooting range, but they do not know whether he practiced shooting there.

Lanza took classes at Western Connecticut State University when he was 16, and earned a B average, said Paul Steinmetz, spokesman for the school in Danbury. He said Monday that Lanza took his last class in the summer of 2009.

Lanza is believed to have used a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle in the school attack, a civilian version of the military's M-16 and a model commonly seen at marksmanship competitions. It's similar to the weapon used in a recent shopping mall shooting in Oregon.

Versions of the AR-15 were outlawed in the U.S. under the 1994 assault weapons ban. That law expired in 2004, and Congress, in a nod to the political clout of the gun-rights lobby, did not renew it.

In some of the first regulatory proposals to rise out of the Newtown shooting, Democratic lawmakers and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman said Sunday that military-style assault weapons should be banned and that a national commission should be established to examine mass shootings.

"Assault weapons were developed for the U.S. military, not commercial gun manufacturers," said Lieberman, of Connecticut, who is retiring next month. "This is a moment to start a very serious national conversation about violence in our society, particularly about these acts of mass violence."

Gun rights activists remained largely quiet, all but one declining to appear on the Sunday talk shows. In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Rep. Louie Gohmert, a Texas Republican, defended the sale of assault weapons and said that the principal at Sandy Hook, who authorities say died trying to overpower the shooter, should herself have been armed.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers John Christoffersen, Ben Feller, Adam Geller, Jim Kuhnhenn and Michael Melia in Newtown; David Collins in Hartford, Conn.; Brian Skoloff in Phoenix; and Anne Flaherty in Washington.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/newtown-holds-first-funerals-victims-183717274.html

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UberConference Takes Its Pain-Free Conference Calling Solution Mobile With Debut Of iOS And Android Apps

uberconference Apps CloseupUberConference, the online, visual conference calling solution (and?TechCrunch Disrupt NYC 2012 winner), is today expanding its service to mobile with the introduction of applications for both iOS and Android. The new apps will primarily offer users a way to start a conference directly from their phone.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/vjBE853bwaA/

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ConocoPhillips agrees to fines for Kuparuk oil spills on Alaska's North Slope

ConocoPhillips has agreed to pay state and federal environmental regulators $312,000 in penalties and other costs related to a pair of oil spills at the Kuparuk Unit facility on Alaska?s North Slope.

The state will receive $267,000 for the 2006 and 2007 spills, both of which stemmed from corroded pipelines.

The charge includes $155,000 in fines and $112,000 to repay the state for the investigation that followed the spill.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will receive $45,000 for the 2007 incident.

In March 2006, Conoco spilled about 500 gallons of water contaminated with small amounts of crude, the state said in a written statement. A number of factors caused internal corrosion, leading to the leak, an investigation found.?

In December 2007, Conoco spilled 2,870 gallons of contaminated water and 1,386 gallons of crude. An investigation determined that incorrectly manufactured pipe insulation allowed water to be drawn to the pipe's sidewall, the state said.

In that incident, Conoco and contracted responders built snow berms to contain the spill and constructed a 300-yard-long ice road in subzero cold to improve access to the site, the EPA reported. The teams removed the pollution with shovels and hot water, and the oil was eventually separated and recovered from the snow.

Remedial measures ConocoPhillips will take in the future include improvements to its program to monitor for evidence of corrosion in its flow lines, the state reported.

The state Environmental Conservation department has instituted new requirements for leak detection, monitoring, engineering reviews, reporting and inspections because of the two leaks and others on the North Slope, said Larry Dietrick, state Director of Spill Prevention and Response.

Contact Alex DeMarban at alex(at)alaskadispatch.com

Source: https://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/conocophillips-agrees-fines-kuparuk-oil-spills-alaskas-north-slope

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Robber shoots California resident with own rifle

KINGSBURG -- Investigators say a home invasion robber struggled with an armed Central California resident and shot the man several times with his own rifle.

The 29-year-old Kingsburg man managed to walk to a next-door apartment for help despite leg, back and groin wounds.

He's hospitalized with non-life threatening wounds.

The Fresno Bee (http://bit.ly/YfZ2k9 ) says a woman and three men forced their way into the man's apartment early Monday.

He was apparently targeted because he was seen earlier with a large amount of cash.

Kings County sheriff's investigators say the man reached for his .22-caliber rifle but he was immediately attacked and unable to get off a shot.

One of the robbers stabbed him in the hand.

The rifle was then snatched and one of the intruders shot him.

------

Information from: The Fresno Bee, http://www.fresnobee.com


Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_22215400/robber-shoots-california-resident-own-rifle?source=rss

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Direct Marketing Companies-How Are They Different? | Carl Willis

Monday, December 17th, 2012 at 11:31 am ?

Direct marketing companies and network marketing companies are often put into the same category. However, they are two different business models. Direct marketing is nothing new, and while many companies claim to be direct marketing they are not.

What are the differences? Does direct marketing have some limitations that make it much more difficult to make it work as a business when starting out? It gets you to ask the important questions when it comes down to making a choice, and there are some other questions that come with this too.

So, if you were to choose between MLM companies and direct marketing companies which would you choose and why? I will give you a better definition of what direct marketing means, and why I chose network marketing and affiliate marketing.

What is the best way to define direct marketing companies? Simply put, these companies are marketing directly to the consumer, and there are various ways to do this including:

  • Mobile advertising (texts, phone calls)
  • Email
  • Interactive websites
  • Ads online (banner ads)
  • Fliers
  • Catalogs
  • Sales Letters (or promo)
  • Last but not least, door to door advertising!

While the last one has worn out its welcome, the rest of these avenues for marketing are certainly strong in that they focus on the customer and their needs in order to match the customer with a product. This all done using data, which is now how most grocery store choose coupons or how they determine what fliers go out based on shopping habits of those in certain zip codes.

Freaky? Times are changing, and no doubt so is the way these companies are marketing to the consumer. This is why direct marketing is now stronger than ever, and has people wondering, ?What will they think of next??

Why I Partnered with Network Marketing Companies Instead of Direct Marketing Companies

So, while the definition makes these direct marketing companies sound strong, and they are, they aren?t for me. Why? They generally require more money to startup, and I?ll give you an example. One company, known as DeTech, does not use the traditional network marketing business model to market their products.

They have folks that start up an office, so it?s more like a franchise in not so many words, but the product only comes from DeTech, and it?s only sold to targeted customers which in most cases are other businesses.

Mary Kay states that they use a similar business model in that they are more of a direct sales company, but this is NOT to be confused with direct marketing either. In some cases it?s both as they market directly to women that want a better skincare product and better cosmetics. However, startup cost is very little, and you can earn more on those you recruit into the business.

Direct marketing doesn?t work like this! Network marketing also allows you to build your own business, thus you have your own retail customers, but you will earn income through the sales volume of your team that comes into the business through you.

I hope that this article on ?direct marketing companies? was helpful, and should you need a marketing platform to help you market your brand or business, CLICK HERE now to get more information today!

If you enjoyed this post please??like & share??this page.

Carl Willis
skype: carlso20

Click Here to work with me personally!

PS:?Earn $500 Per Day
The Easy Way?Here!

Tagged with: direct marketing ? direct marketing companies ? Direct sales ? direct sales companies ? network marketing

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Source: http://carlwillis.com/direct-marketing-2/direct-marketing-companies-how-are-they-different/

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NRA Facebook page goes dark, Twitter quiet

17 hrs.

The National Rifle Association's?main?Facebook page isn't accessible, and its Twitter account is quiet three days after the?shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

Only?a Facebook page for the NRA?blog remains posted. The last item shared?at 6:30 a.m. Friday (before the school?shootings)?was?about the "Friends of NRA" TV show that will start a third season soon.

The blog is described as being an "official?inside look at the NRA's Programs including Shooting Championships, National Firearms Museum, Law Enforcement Division, Education & Training and more." (The NRA's Web blog is here.)

On Twitter, Friday was also the last day the NRA tweeted, at 6:36 a.m.: "10 Days of NRA Giveaways???Enter today for a chance to win an auto emergency tool!"

The day before, Dec. 13, on Twitter, the NRA said: "Did you hear? Our #facebook page reached 1.7 million 'likes'?today! Thanks for being a friend!" and this photo was posted by the organization:

But those 1.7 million likes, tied to the NRA's main Facebook page, could not be?seen as of Monday.

NBC News contacted the NRA for comment about its Facebook page removal, and will update this post if we hear back.

It it does not appear that?Facebook?itself took any action, one way or another, regarding the NRA page. When asked, a?Facebook spokesperson told NBC News the social network had no?comment.?

Online, the NRA's?news?site?continues to be viewable???but without any news of Friday's horror. On the site, among the "top stories"?viewers will find "Homefront Hugs USA Urges Volunteers to Make a Difference in a Soldier's Life," "Fast & Furious Gun Buyer Sentenced to 57 Months in Prison" and "Illinois Concealed Carry Ban Ruled Unconstitutional." All were apparently posted before the shootings.

Check out Technology, GadgetBox, Digital?Life and InGame on?Facebook,?and on?Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/nra-facebook-page-goes-dark-twitter-quiet-1C7649063

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Cops: Ind. gun collector threatened school shooting

Lake County Sheriff'S Department / AP

Von. I. Meyer, 60, of Cedar Lake, Ind., seen in an undated photo provided by the Lake County Sheriff's Department, allegedly made threats to shoot people at the school where his wife worked during an argument.

By NBC News staff

A man was arrested after allegedly threatening to "kill as many people as he could" at a school during a heated argument with his wife, police in Indiana said Sunday.

Interim Cedar Lake Police Chief Jerry Smith said he believed Von I. Meyer, 60, was just bluffing when he made the ominous remark early Friday, NBCChicago.com reported.

Meyer, who was arrested Saturday on seven felony charges, initially threatened to set his wife on fire, then said he would kill her "at the school" where she worked and "would kill as many people as he could before police could stop him police," Smith said.

Meyer's wife works at the cafeteria at Jane Ball Elementary School, less than 1,000 feet from the couple's home in Cedar Lake, about 45 miles southeast of Chicago.

Smith said Meyer's wife stayed away from that school Friday and police boosted security at the elementary school and three other area schools as a precaution, taking those steps before 26 people, including 20 students, were shot and killed at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.

"We just didn't want to take any chances," he said of the extra security at the schools.

47 guns hidden in house
Although police found 47 guns and ammunition hidden throughout Meyer's two-story home after they arrested him, Smith said most of those weapons were antique collector guns and he believes Meyer was not serious about his school threat.

He said Meyer's wife told officers their relationship was turbulent and he had often threatened her.

"If people followed through on all the threats they've ever made ? things said in anger that they don't really mean and regret ? our population in this country would be half of what it is," he said. "This was something he said in the heat of an argument. He hadn't been plotting this."

School safety expert Kenneth Trump and criminologist James Fox speak with TODAY's Erica Hill about the importance of not turning our schools into fortresses and remind viewers of how rare school shootings are.

Meyer fled his home early Friday after his wife reported the alleged threats to police, and he may have gone into hiding in a densely wooded area around his home, Smith said.

Police watched the house, but Meyer apparently slipped back into his home at some point. He was arrested there without incident Saturday on felony intimidation, resisting law enforcement and domestic battery charges.

Meyer remained jailed Sunday without bond at the Lake County Jail, pending an initial hearing on the charges. It wasn't clear Sunday whether he had an attorney yet.

Police initially said Meyer was "a known member of the Invaders Motorcycle Gang," but Smith said Sunday evening Meyer is not an active member of that group, although he was affiliated with it in his youth.

Smith said security would remain high at the area's school in the coming days, mostly because of the heightened concerns nationwide in the wake of the deadly shooting rampage in Connecticut.

"One of your greatest fears is that someone might try to be a copycat," he said.

Hoax threat in Conn., Texas rumors
Separately, police in Bristol, Conn., took a person into custody Sunday night after a false online threat was made against a school there, NBCConnecticut.com reported.

According to police, a juvenile made threats against Bristol Central High School ? about 25 miles away from the scene of Friday?s elementary school massacre.

Upon further investigation, the threat was found to be a hoax.

Meanwhile, extra police will be on duty at a school campus in Texas Monday morning after rumors of an alleged security threat there started spreading over the weekend, NBCDFW.com reported.

Leaders at Granbury High School, south-west of Forth Worth, issued a statement to concerned parents stating the district is actively investigating the threat and the threat rumor has not?been confirmed.

NBCChicago.com?s Rick Callahan, NBCDFW.com and NBCConnecticut.com contributed to this report.?

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/17/15962294-ind-man-threatened-school-shooting-during-argument-with-wife?lite

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UK and US block Internet Regulation | E RADAR | Smarter business ...

The United Kingdom and other member states have blocked an attempt to put the United Nations in control of the Internet at a conference in Dubai this week.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) ? the UN?s agency for information and communications technology ? brought together representatives from around the world to try and agree on updating telecoms regulations that hadn?t been touched since 1988.

But representatives from the UK and US, as well as from Chile, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, Kenya, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal and Sweden said they wouldn?t be able to sign up without discussing it first with their domestic governments.

Critics claim that giving equal rights to each state of the UN and putting one vote in each of their hands could lead to Internet censorship. High profile figures such as?Vint Cerf, one of the creators of the internet, and Sir Tim-Berners Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, even said such regulations would be a threat to a free internet and standards should be left to the private sector organisations building the technology.

However, countries such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia have said the current Internet governance framework allows the US to hold the rights to the naming and registration of addresses on the internet and puts control into select hands. They believe new regulations are now needed.

Avatar of Jim Richardson

About the Author:

Editor based in Washington DC responsible for international affairs. Personal views are my own and don't necessarily represent those of E RADAR. Passionate about gadgets, technology and making use of common sense!

Jim Richardson ? who has written 392 posts on E RADAR | Smarter business online.


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Source: http://www.eradar.eu/2012/12/uk-block-internet-regulation/

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Bunnie Huang building an open, ARM-based laptop, might even sell you one if you ask nicely

Image

How do you follow-up creating Chumby, exposing illicit microSD card production and building an open-source radiation detector? If you answered "go to Disneyland," then you aren't Andrew "Bunnie" Huang -- who is now designing and building his very own laptop. Powered by an ARM Cortex A9 and running Linux, the hardware is NDA-free and as open as he can make it, with documents already online for you to study. He's expecting to finish validation and testing in the next few months, and may even offer a few for sale on Kickstarter -- although he does warn that it won't come cheap, so if you're looking for a machine to noodle around on, just get an EeePC.

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Source: Bunnie Huang

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US Cellular delivering Jelly Bean update to Samsung Galaxy S III on December 21st

US Cellular delivering Jelly Bean update to Samsung Galaxy S III on December 21st

Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T all have already done it, and now it's US Cellular's turn to start distributing the Android 4.1 batch to its own variant of Samsung's Galaxy S III. According to the carrier, said Jelly Bean update is set to hit the flagship, TouchWiz-loaded handset this Friday, December 21st, carrying now-accustomed features such as Project Butter, Google Now and a slew of other enhancements to the camera app, notifications, widgets and, naturally, the overall user interface. US Cellular didn't give us a specific time as to when we can expect the goods, but it did say the update will be available over-the-air and via USB -- either way, you may want to bookmark that source link below, as more in-depth installation details are expected to show up there come Friday.

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