Reasons for learning language..!

?

The world is coming closer day by day with the help of IT technology. Gone are the days when people would use postal services and wait for days in order to communicate. This is 21st century- the ?information age?. Now people across the world communicate with each other instantaneously. The advent of internet in common man?s life has changed the entire scenario. People now see and talk with each other, sitting miles away from each other. However, although we can easily approach people living in other corners of the nation, yet many people are not able to befriend them, share their thoughts with them and brainstorm over international issues with them. The only reason for this appealing situation is the linguistic divide of the world. People living in different corners of the world speak different languages. Hence in today?s scenario it becomes very important to learn foreign languages for the several reasons.

Some of the reasons why people learn language are given below-

1. International studies: Many students fly from one country to another in order to pursue international level education. Those students need to learn a language which is commonly used in that country in order to talk to their peer group.

2. International Business: The need for learning language shot up with the introduction of globalization. There are many entrepreneurs and businessmen who are bound to learn a new language as they have to deal with international clients. They must know the foreign language if they wish to crack a smart deal with the foreign delegates.

3. Cultivating the hobby: Many people have a hobby to learn new languages. For this they pursue vocational courses or online courses to learn a new language. They don?t have any particular reason to learn a language yet they learn it for their sheer passion.

4. Career opportunity: There are many people around the world who pursue a career by learning a foreign language. Professions such as tourist guide, international telesales and many others demand the knowledge of a foreign language.

5. Migration: Many people around the world migrate from one country to another in the hope of a better standard of living. Such people settle in a foreign land along with their family. For surviving in a foreign land it becomes quite important to learn a foreign language that is very widely used in that region.

There might be several other reasons for leaning a language which may vary from person to person. Whatever might be the reason, it is a fact that every year millions of people pursue language training through different modes. There are basically two different modes of learning a foreign language that are by far very popular. One is through traditional classroom system. In this mode students go to a physical class where they get trained by a mentor who has in depth knowledge of a particular language. And the other method is of online training. In this mode a student pursue an online training course sitting at home. This mode of training has gained huge popularity in recent times due to great advantages of the concept of online education.?

james randi wargames blake griffin dunk florida primary full force odd fellows eli whitney

Twitter rage from Myanmar

An flare-up of arson attacks and riots in Myanmar's remote Rakhine state -- which, by most accounts, have led to 500 homes torched and seven deaths -- have stoked nationalistic anger.

That fact alone is hardly surprising. Many of the country's majority ethnic group, the Burmese, have a dim view of the perceived assailants: Muslim men from an ethnic group called Rohingya. Though the Rohingya maintain they've existed on Myanmar's coast for centuries, they are widely derided as invaders from neighboring Bangladesh. A government official once famously derided them as a "dark brown" tribe that are "ugly as ogres."

What's novel, however, is the outpouring of anger on Twitter.

Here's a sampling of the anti-Rohingya Tweets:

@kozawgyi: We do not want #Extremist #Rohingya #Terrorist who engage in destructive acts in our Land. Our emotion is as same as USA #9/11 attack!

@ashinswami: Rohingya are killing and burning now poor Rakine villagers. How to stop them?

@thatburmesekid: they kill our people.they burn our villages.It is not protesting but they are terrorists. #Rohingya get out from #Myanmar.

@nyaseasar: Rohingya is not a nationality in Myanmar.They killed innocent Rakhine people and burned native villages.They are terrorists.

@goddess_ofspace: #rakhine people are not terrorist people... #ROHINGYA are ~!!!!

And so on.

Western media have a habit of exaggerating the role of Twitter in foreign conflict zones. To be clear, the percentage of Myanmar nationals with Internet access and a Twitter account -- let alone electricity -- is infinitesimmaly tiny.

What's interesting is that some in Myanmar are joining the rest of the world in using Twitter (and Facebook) to vent nationalistic rage and excoriate the foreign media.

A bit more background: Most outlets contend the tit-for-tat attacks began with the rape and murder of a local woman. Believing the perpetrator to be Muslim, a mob run aboard a bus and beat Muslim men to death, according to AFP. The violence has since escalated.

Also, Myanmar's president, initially avoiding a public address for fear "it would impose burden to your mind," has broken his silence.

According to Myanmar's state mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar, he called the violence "anarchic activities become wider due to instigations based on religion and racism putting rage, hatred and vengeance in the fore." He warned citizens to resist "the desire of vengeance and anarchy."

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/southeast-asia/twitter-...

madonna super bowl halftime kelly clarkson super bowl giants super bowl 2012 half time show halftime show 2012 kelly clarkson super bowl 2012 giants

[MULTI] Fxphd - PRM202: Premiere Pro for the Filmmaker (2012)

Recent releases of Adobe's Premiere Pro have truly added more and more "pro" features to the software, opening up editors' and artists' eyes to the software. With that in mind, Tyler Ginter, professor of our Yellowstone DOP211 course, leads this production-based course which relates his real-world experience working on various jobs in the software. The reality in today's post world is that artists, editors, and other post pros have to work with R3D, Phantom, and DSLR footage all on a single job or even a single timeline. Ginter will be utilizing a variety and footage and formats to show where Premiere Pro excels on the job. The course will also include an honest appraisal of where it falls short and ways in which you can work around these shortcomings.
Ginter has a great perspective, having used Avid and Final Cut Pro in the past, more recently has been using Premiere Pro due to its speed and flexibility in working with various types of footage.

Class 1: Data Management/Organization - Prior to starting your edit you must have a good organizational workflow. As a result, part of being a great editor is also being a great DIT! We will cover how to organize your folders inside and outside of Premiere, additional applications and hardware that will enhance your workflow, and how to setup essential Premiere preferences.

Class 2: Customizing the Interface/Keyboard Shortcuts - We will cover the most essential parts of the interface and how to get around the application and customize it for editing. If you are more familiar with Final Cut or Avid I will try and point out what is the same and what is different. More importantly we will setup custom keyboard shortcuts. From here on we will be dealing a lot more with the keyboard instead of the mouse. Becoming a good editor also means becoming a fast editor and I will share with you my tricks on how to work faster with your keyboard.

Class 3: Model BTS Edit Part 1 - Interview - We will start from a blank project and work through the edit of a real world Behind the Scenes (BTS) model shoot for James Douglas Studio. I will teach you tricks on how to shoot for your edit, interview techniques/questions, how to edit down your interview, and how to developing the story while working through your edit.

Class 4: Model BTS Edit Part 2 - Audio - Audio is often the overlooked and normally done as an afterthought. We will be perfecting our audio from the edited interview and go over tricks on how to improve audio quality in your final edit. We will pick out a music track that fits the pacing and lock down all audio in our edit. Lastly, I will teach you how to get away from annoying audio keyframes using a more reliable and simpler to use technique.

Class 5: Model BTS Edit Part 3 - Timelapse - We will cover the easiest way to process a series of RAW photographs using After Effects and Premiere. Timelapse is great way to enhance your story and it will be a nice B-Roll edition for the Model BTS Edit.

Class 6: Model BTS Edit Part 4 - B-Roll - We will add all of our B-Roll to include the timelapse we processed from the previous week, NAT sound, and photos. We will perfect the flow of the story with visuals that match the interview and music.

Class 7: Model BTS Edit Part 5 - Graphics/Effects/Titles - We will add effects, design an intro, create lower thirds, and add credits. I will demonstrate how to use Dynamic Link to round trip between After Effects and Premiere to create graphics and text.

Class 8: Model BTS Edit Part 6 - Color Correction - We will grade the entire edit and establish an overall look using Colorista II. I will also show how to produce similar results using Premiere's integrated color correction tools.

Class 9: Model BTS Edit Part 7 - Exporting/Project Manager - We will prepare our final edit for our client using Adobe Media Encoder to establish presets batch export several different high resolution and web versions. I will also cover the Project Manager and how to properly backup and archive your entire project for easy access later.

Class 10: Red Workflow/Stabilization/Time Remapping - I will show how to work with native Red Epic footage filmed using SnapRoll Media's Remote Control Helicopter. I will cover how to color correct and edit this footage using the Red R3D Source Settings. Lastly, I will use Adobe Dynamic Link to send the footage to After Effects to use the new warp stabilizer. Once the footage is perfectly smooth I will cover how to use the time remapping tools in Premiere.

[Extabit] ( Recommendation Premium , Highest Speed )

http://extabit.com/file/2dbqhgcw8mcgd/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part1.rar http://extabit.com/file/2dbqhgd0kpix9/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part4.rar http://extabit.com/file/2dbqhgd0mkot9/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part5.rar http://extabit.com/file/2dbqhgd0mkf8t/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part6.rar http://extabit.com/file/2dbqhgd0ml7p9/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part7.rar http://extabit.com/file/2dbqhgd0gblbx/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part2.rar http://extabit.com/file/2dbqhgd0gyoj1/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part3.rar
[RyuShare]
http://ryushare.com/4364c02d9679/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part1.rar http://ryushare.com/281bd4d63e51/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part2.rar http://ryushare.com/b014034861d/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part3.rar http://ryushare.com/444d94d2a6b7/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part4.rar http://ryushare.com/2904a97b4e17/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part5.rar http://ryushare.com/427beb8886e7/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part6.rar http://ryushare.com/b014034861e/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part7.rar
[BitShare]
http://bitshare.com/files/gqfaigxr/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part1.rar.html http://bitshare.com/files/0rcooubn/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part2.rar.html http://bitshare.com/files/dzybf4r5/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part3.rar.html http://bitshare.com/files/typpmi5m/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part4.rar.html http://bitshare.com/files/miwhqtbo/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part5.rar.html http://bitshare.com/files/ob9cy796/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part6.rar.html http://bitshare.com/files/gxl0fhaf/Premiere_Pro_for_the_Filmmaker.part7.rar.html

mark buehrle mark buehrle rick perry ad rick perry ad dragnet dragnet immaculate conception

Subprime college

?Many parents and the children they send to college are paying rapidly rising prices for something of declining quality, ? writes George Will in Subprime college educations.

Quoting Glenn Reynolds? new book,?The Higher Education Bubble, Will writes that colleges has become a ?status marker? for many people, ?signaling membership in the educated caste, and a place to meet spouses of similar status.?

Since 1961, the time students spend reading, writing and otherwise studying has fallen from 24 hours a week to about 15 ? enough for a degree often desired only as an expensive signifier of rudimentary qualities (e.g., the ability to follow instructions). Employers value this signifier as an alternative to aptitude tests when evaluating potential employees because such tests can provoke lawsuits by having a ?disparate impact? on this or that racial or ethnic group.

Just as the government pumped money into mortgages, it?s pumped money into student loans ?with the predictable result that housing prices/college tuitions soared and many borrowers went bust.?

Tuitions and fees have risen more than 440 percent in 30 years as schools happily raised prices ? and lowered standards ? to siphon up federal money.

Twenty-nine percent of borrowers?never?graduate, and many who do graduate take decades to repay their loans.

A Forbes writer?s smart, nonconformist son skipped college: At 27, he?s earning as much as friends with a college degree, owns his home and has started a retirement fund. ?Of course, your mileage may vary.

deron williams jarhead montrose marshawn lynch earthquake bay area clear channel drexel

Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alves marry

Dan Steinberg / AP

Matthew McConaughey and Camila Alvez are now husband and wife.

By Natalie Finn and Melanie Bromley, E! Online

Updated Sunday, 9 a.m. PT: Deep in the heart of Texas, Matthew McConaughey said "I do." The "Magic Mike" star swapped vows with longtime girlfriend Camila Alves tonight in an intimate ceremony at their home in Austin, E! News has confirmed after first reporting?that the wedding would take place this weekend.

Preparations were underway Friday, with a party-rental truck seen passing security outside the McConaughey compound, after which a van loaded with orchids also made the cut.

And no one had to worry about the guests being late--they spent the night!

MORE: Celeb Weddings We'd Love to See This Summer

The bride and groom's nearest and dearest had a pre-wedding slumber party last night, camping out in the several dozen or so two-person luxury tents erected in the back garden, each with its own air-conditioning unit, patio and doormat (gives it that homey touch, you know?) to accommodate the outdoorsy revelers.

A giant white tent was set up on the grouds, as well as six or seven long wooden dining tables, each one looking as if it could accommodate 15 to 20 people. Workers who helped set up were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements.

According to Entertainment Tonight, the theme of the wedding was "island beach meets Texas" with yellow and orange colors.

At the reception, guests reportedly enjoyed a variety of eats from Brazilian steakhouse Estancia Churrascaria, including Brazilian top and bottom steak, chicken wrapped in bacon and pork sausages with cheese bread.

MORE: Matthew McConaughey Moves Back to Texas: Is He Done With Hollywood?

While the guest list is being kept under wraps, we do know the identities of at least one adorable duo that was there: the bride and groom's nearly 4-year-old son, Levi, and 2-year-old daughter, Vida.

McConaughey and Alves, a Brazilian model turned handbag designer and TV host, met in 2007. He popped the question on Christmas Day.

The happy couple can just keep livin' together as always, albeit now as husband and wife.

GALLERY: Celebrity Weddings?

More in entertainment:

3 10 to yuma west virginia football west virginia football black friday violence black friday violence il postino il postino

Can Obama recover from his 'horrible, no-good' week?

President Obama's bad week included weak jobs numbers, the Wisconsin recall vote, less-than-helpful comments by Bill Clinton, and his own verbal gaffe. Obama has the edge in most polls, but there could be more bad weeks between now and the presidential election.

By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / June 10, 2012

President Barack Obama pauses while talkig about the economy, Friday, June 8, 2012, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Enlarge

In what looks to be a historically contentious campaign season, there?s at least one point on which there?s no argument: The past week was particularly bad for President Obama ? a ?terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad week,? as the headline over Chris Cillizza?s ?The Fix? blog at the Washington Post puts it.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "off"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Look at what happened: Lousy employment numbers report (just 69,000 jobs created in May and unemployment ticking up to 8.2 percent); failed recall of Republican Gov. Scott Walker in Wisconsin (a major blow to unions, a key part of the Democratic base); Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee raising a lot more money last month than Obama and the Democratic National Committee; Bill Clinton ? again ? going off-message on a key point Obama?s been trying to make (end the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy).

Then, at week?s end, there was Obama?s own major gaffe now chiseled in stone in GOP campaign ads ? his off-hand declaration that ?The private sector is doing fine.? ? which the normally well-scripted Obama had to quickly walk back.

On Sunday, the Romney campaign released a new video contrasting Obama?s ?doing fine? quote with images of Americans recounting their economic struggles.

Know your US presidents? See if D.C. Decoder can stump you!

Meanwhile, press accounts of Obama?s tough-mindedness and direct involvement in fighting terrorism became a dispute over whether the White House had leaked sensitive national security information in order to boost the President?s image. Democrats as well as Republicans in Congress are asking critical questions.

Romney, of course, has had his own major gaffes. Who can forget ?I like being able to fire people?? Or ?I'm not concerned about the very poor.? Or ?I'm also unemployed.?

It?s worth noting that in both Romney?s and Obama?s cases, what seemed like insensitive sound bites made more sense in fuller context.

But Obama?s comes a lot closer to the election ? an election that inevitably turns on his record during tough economic times, which he (for the most part accurately) ties to Europe?s problems and Republican congressional intransigence.

jane russell meryl streep martin scorsese sacha baron cohen best picture nominees 2012 academy awards 2012 albert nobbs

Europe bailout of Spain could cost $125 billion

Spain's Economy Minister Luis de Guindos gestures during a news conference at the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, June 9, 2012. Spain will ask for a bailout for banks felled by bad real estate loans, in an about-face that European officials welcomed Saturday and said could cost up to euro100 billion ($125 billlion). A rescue for Spain will be Europe's fourth since the single currency bloc's debt crisis erupted two years ago. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Spain's Economy Minister Luis de Guindos gestures during a news conference at the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, June 9, 2012. Spain will ask for a bailout for banks felled by bad real estate loans, in an about-face that European officials welcomed Saturday and said could cost up to euro100 billion ($125 billlion). A rescue for Spain will be Europe's fourth since the single currency bloc's debt crisis erupted two years ago. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

A man buys fish in a market in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday June 9 2012. Spain will ask for a bank bailout from the eurozone, becoming the fourth and largest country to seek help since the single currency bloc's debt crisis erupted. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Spain's Economy Minister Luis de Guindos gestures during a news conference at the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness in Madrid, Spain, Saturday, June 9, 2012. Spain asked for a European rescue of its troubled banks holding an emergency conference call with European finance ministers, a move that turned the nation into the fourth from the 17-nation eurozone to seek outside help since the continent's financial crisis erupted two years ago. (AP Photo / Andres Kudacki)

A man holds a cup as he begs in a street in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday June 9 2012. Spain will ask for a bank bailout from the eurozone, becoming the fourth and largest country to seek help since the single currency bloc's debt crisis erupted. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A fisher woman sells fish in a market in Barcelona, Spain, Friday, June 8, 2012. Spain could decide this month to ask for a bailout for its troubled banking sector, a step that would make it the fourth country in the 17-member eurozone to seek help since the EU debt crisis broke out. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

(AP) ? Spain became the fourth and largest country to ask Europe to rescue its failing banks, a bailout of up to ?100 billion ($125 billion) that leaders hoped would stabilize a financial crisis that threatens to break apart the 17-country eurozone.

The rescue offer follows growing pressure from international investors and the Obama administration and comes a week before elections in Greece, whose voters could decide whether the country leaves the euro.

Europe's widening recession and financial crisis has hurt companies and investors around the world. Providing a financial lifeline to Spanish banks is likely to relieve anxiety on the Spanish economy ? which is five times larger than Greece's ? and on markets concerned about the country's ability to pay its way.

"What the markets are looking for is essentially the Spanish government's acceptance that its banks are broke," said Jacob Kirkegaard, a research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, Saturday.

Economy Minister Luis de Guindos announced the deal after an emergency conference call with eurozone financial leaders. He said the aid will go to the banking sector only and would not come with new austerity conditions attached for the economy in general ? conditions that have been an integral part of previous bailouts to Portugal, Ireland and Greece.

The exact figure of the bailout has not yet been decided. De Guindos said the country is waiting until independent audits of the country's banking sector have been carried out before asking for a specific amount. The audits are expected June 21 at the latest.

De Guindos did say, however, that Spain would request enough money for recapitalization, plus a safety margin that will be "significant."

With markets in turmoil, de Guindos said the government's efforts to shore up the financial sector "must be completed with the necessary resources to finance the needs of recapitalization."

Finance ministers of the 17 countries that use the euro said the money would be fed directly into a fund Spain set up to recapitalize its banks, but underscored that the Spanish government is ultimately responsible for the loan.

Still, that plan allows Spain to avoid making the onerous commitments that Greece, Ireland and Portugal were forced to when they sought their rescues. Instead, the eurogroup statement said that it expected Spain's banking sector to implement reforms and that Spain would be held to its previous commitments to reform its labor market and manage its deficit.

The eurogroup statement said that meant the cost could reach ?100 billion.

The Spanish acceptance of aid for its banks is a big embarrassment for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who insisted just 10 days ago that the banking sector would not need a bailout. He was elected in November and walked right into a hurricane.

International pressure on Spain to solve its financial problems has grown more urgent in recent weeks. On Thursday ratings agency Fitch hit Spain with a three-notch downgrade of its credit rating. That left it two levels above junk status. Then on Friday, Moody's Investor Services warned it could downgrade Spain and other countries in the eurozone.

The International Monetary Fund early Saturday released a report estimating that Spanish banks need a recapitalization injection of at least ?40 billion ($50 billion) following a stress test it performed on the country's financial sector. That report came out three days ahead of schedule, underscoring the urgency of the situation.

And U.S. President Barack Obama, facing re-election, enduring a weak economy and in need of strong trading partners, expressed strong concern late Friday over the European economic crisis.

U.S Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner welcomed Spain's decision and the offer of European support, describing them as "important for the health of Spain's economy and as concrete steps on the path to financial union, which is vital to the resilience of the euro area."

French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said the deal would "contribute to restoring confidence in the eurozone."

"The accord announced tonight speaks to a reinforced solidary among the countries of the eurozone and to their resolute desire to ensure its stability," he said in a statement.

Spain's financial problems are not due to Greek-style government over-spending. The country's banks got caught up in the collapse of a real estate bubble. However, as Spain's leaders have struggled for a solution to their banking crisis, the country's borrowing costs have soared close to the level that forced the governments of Greece, Portugal and Ireland to seek rescues.

Some of Spain's banks are struggling with by toxic real estate loans and assets. The Bank of Spain says they total around ?180 billion. Nationalized lender Bankia, SA, which has requested ?19 billion in aid, has ?32 billion in toxic assets. Around four other banks are considered prime candidates for bailouts. De Guindos said Saturday the sector is largely solid and the euro zone package will be funnel toward only about 30 percent of it.

Analyst Rafael Pampillon if IE Business School in Madrid said the bailout addressed the uncertainty the markets had felt about how Spain's debt-laden banking sector would recapitalize.

"This uncertainty, and hence the panic, will slowly dissipate from the markets," he said. Pampillon added that with polls forecasting a pro-Euro victory in Greek elections, markets would be further relieved because the austerity conditions imposed on Greece would most likely be fulfilled.

Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University trade policy professor and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the decision "buys some temporary breathing room for the eurozone."

Moody's said Spain's banking problem is largely confined to that country and not likely to spill over to other eurozone nations, with the exception of Italy ? where the European Central Bank has already stepped in to buy government bonds as a way to help lower the country's borrowing costs.

Spain has been criticized for being too slow to set out a roadmap to resolve its problem. European business leaders and analysts have stressed that Spain must find a solution quickly so that it is not caught up in any market turmoil sparked by the June 17 Greek elections. There are concerns that anti-bailout left-wing party Syriza could become the largest party in the Greek parliament, putting the country's membership in the eurozone at risk.

Working in Spain's favor is the fact that its public debt is actually quite low, at 68.5 percent of its gross domestic product at the end of 2011.

Its debt is predicted to hit 78 percent by the end of the year, but even that figure would be below the debt-to-GDP ratios of Europe's strongest economy, Germany, which is at 82 percent.

But Spain's in its second recession in three years, with unemployment at nearly 25 percent and little hope for improvement this year. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government has imposed a wave of austerity measures since he took office in December that have raised taxes, made it cheaper to hire and fire workers and cut government funding for education and health care.

___

DiLorenzo reported from Paris. Associated Press writers Juergen Baetz in Berlin, Slobodan Lekic in Brussels, and Alan Clendenning and Harold Heckle in Madrid contributed to this report.

Associated Press

monta ellis election results wiz khalifa taylor allderdice mixtape reggie wayne taylor allderdice vincent jackson vicki gunvalson

McDonald's serves up 'super-sized' sales miss

Matthew DiFrisco, Lazard Capital Markets senior restaurant analyst, discusses what may have caused the fast-food restaurant to miss its same-store sales target and why he maintains a "buy" rating on the stock and lowered its price target by one dollar.

By msnbc.com staff

Shares of McDonald?s (MCD) were edging lower Friday after the fast-food giant?said economic difficulties around the world and rising costs are weighing on quarterly results.

The restaurant chain said May sales rose 3.3 percent. But that figure was lower than the 4.6 percent analysts had expected.

May sales missed estimates in the company?s two biggest markets -- Europe and the United States. They fell in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, due to declines in Japan and China, the company said.

The world's biggest hamburger chain has been more resilient to economic difficulties than most of its competitors, but a resurgence of the European debt crisis in May and a cooling economy in China have taken their toll on the company?s results.

Foreign currency rates and higher costs, due in part to preparations for the summer Olympics in London, also are expected to weigh on earnings this quarter, McDonald's said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

For a complete list of the latest market movers click here.?

?

the glass castle jennifer hudson trial north korea threat brandon jacobs brandon jacobs brian dawkins askew

The Other Red Planet: Soviet Union Scored an Interplanetary First at Venus 45 Years Ago

Features | Space

The U.S.S.R.'s Venera 4 was the first spacecraft to return data from inside another planet's atmosphere


Venera probe capsuleDROP-OFF: The Venera 4 descent capsule successfully penetrated Venus's atmosphere 45 years ago, starting a new chapter of planetary exploration. Image: NASA

If Venus's pass across the sun earlier this week yields a bounty of information for hunters of transiting worlds in other planetary systems, it's because Venus is a known entity. Studying the June 5 Venus transit as if it were a faraway exoplanet "gives us a reality check," says planetary physicist Colin Wilson of the University of Oxford. "We can check on all those exoplanet techniques to see how accurate they really are." Such data may enhance NASA's Kepler mission as well as the many ground-based campaigns using planetary transits to identify distant worlds, a method that has led to the discovery or characterization of more than 200 exoplanets.

That reality check would not be possible without the data planetary scientists already have about Venus. And humanity's up-close exploration of Earth's cloud-shrouded closest neighbor began in earnest 45 years ago, when the Soviet probe Venera 4 launched on June 12, 1967.

The first two Veneras had failed after launch. Venera 3, launched in 1965, is thought to have crashed on Venus but returned no data.

At last, on October 18, 1967, Venera 4 became the first man-made object to enter another planet's atmosphere and send back data. "It was before any Mars landers or anything," Wilson says. And it changed our view of Earth's sister planet forever.

Not much was known at the time about Venus, according to Roald Sagdeev, former director of the Space Research Institute of the U.S.S.R. [now Russian] Academy of Sciences. What was known, he says, "was that it was covered by very dense clouds...and it was established that the atmosphere was in a state of super-rotation," meaning that the winds whip around Venus up to 60 times faster than the planet rotates. The unknowns were many, Sagdeev adds: "the temperature, the thickness of the atmosphere, and the atmospheric pressure. And nobody knew at the time that carbon dioxide was a major constituent of the atmosphere."

Venera 4 made it deep enough into Venus's atmosphere to reach pressures 22 times that at sea level on Earth (one atmosphere), sending back data all the way. Venera's instruments showed the atmosphere was mostly carbon dioxide and detected no oxygen or water.

From a technical perspective, too, the probe was an achievement, says Wilson, who works with the European Space Agency's Venus Express, currently orbiting the second planet. "It was the first planetary entry system that worked using the atmosphere to decelerate. They had to decelerate 300 g's. Building things to sustain that kind of shock is incredible."

The mission was not perfect, though. Partway through the dense atmosphere, Venera 4 conked out. "The immediate interpretation was that the spacecraft managed to hit the surface of the planet and terminated its work," says Sagdeev, who managed the Venera program starting with probe number 9. It was not until a few years later that the scientists realized that the spacecraft had been crushed by the pressure. "At least it helped them to design the next generation of Veneras," he says. And in fact, Venera 8, which Sagdeev called "very successful," was a beefed-up version of Venera 4. That lander survived on the surface for almost an hour, withstanding crushing pressure 92 times stronger than on Earth's surface.

After Venera 4, the Soviets sent 12 more Venera spacecraft to Venus?all successful?over the next decade and a half whereas the U.S. only flew one mission, Pioneer Venus, launched in 1978. Yet since the Venera program ended, there have been few Venus missions from any nation, with the notable exceptions of NASA's Magellan and the ESA's Venus Express, along with two Soviet Vega probes whose dual mission included a Halley's Comet flyby. There is still plenty more to learn about the planet.

country music awards autism awareness angelman syndrome total recall troy tulowitzki katie couric good morning america the rock vs john cena