Top 10 Mind Mapping Productivity Tips for ... - Business 2 Community

Mind mapping is a content marketing productivity tool that involves both an approach and a specific category of software.

Mind mapping adds a visual dimension to words and ideas, helping content marketers handle today?s challenges of complexity, increased responsibilities, and information overload.

A recent study by Innovation Trend?s Chuck Frey, for example, revealed that not only did mind mapping immediately and significantly enhance most user?s productivity, the more they used mind mapping, the more productive they became.

Key mind mapping features

Regardless of the software you choose, mind mapping key features allow you to visually display information in ways that make it easy for you to gain a fresh perspective, sparking new ideas, encouraging collaboration, and breaking complex projects into manageable tasks. Mind mapping permits you to:

• View as much, or as little, information as desired: You can collapse a mind map to just display the main topics, or expand the map and zoom in to reveal subtopics containing more details. A plus sign (+) next to a topic indicates the presence of subtopics. Clicking a minus sign (-) collapses a topic or subtopic.
• Export your work: After organizing your content ideas for an article, mind map, or white paper, you export it to other software programs for editing, formatting, and sharing. These include word processors, spreadsheets, presentation programs, and project management programs.

What can you do with mind maps?

Here are some of the types of content marketing tasks that mind maps can help you efficiently execute on a day-to-day basis:

• Analyzing and tracking your competition
• Creating buyer personas
• Planning editorial calendars
• Delegating editorial responsibilities
• Brainstorming article and blog post topics
• Organizing complex projects (eBooks, reports, white papers, etc.)

Mind mapping best practices

Unfortunately, many mind mapping users fail to take advantage of the full capabilities built into their software. The following best practices, however, can take your mind mapping to the next level.

With few exceptions, you can use the majority of these tips with most of the mind mapping software programs on the market.

1. Start with a sketch. Before starting to work on your computer, create a hand-drawn sketch showing the major topics you want to address in your map.
2. Use templates to save time. It?s always tough to start a new mind mapping project when you are staring at a blank screen. Instead, start by developing templates for the types of projects you will likely be creating over and over again ? like articles, blog posts, editorial calendars, personas, press releases, presentations, speeches, webinars, or white papers. This gives you a structure, or head start, to begin your work. Templates also foster consistency across all your content efforts.
3. Brand your maps. Customize your mind maps using consistent backgrounds, borders, typefaces, line, fill, and typeface colors that are used throughout your firm?s corporate identity. You can also brand your maps by choosing different borders and by adding map titles, copyright information, or your firm?s name to the headers and footers of your map.

1. Use Notes to reduce clutter. Avoid including too much detail in topics and subtopics by limiting them to just key words and phrases. To help you, you can use the Notes feature available in most mind mapping tools to add the more detailed information you?ll need in sentences, paragraphs, and lists. A small icon in your mind map will indicate the presence of a Note associated with a topic, and clicking the icon or running the mouse pointer over the icon reveals the Notes text. (The text will appear in the proper location when you export your map to Microsoft Word, or another software program.)
2. Add comments for reminders. The Comments feature is similar to Notes. Use it to add reminders, prompts, or warnings to topics without adding clutter. Comments are especially important when sharing maps with others.
3. Take advantage of keyboard shortcuts. Use keyboard shortcuts to navigate from topic to topic, show/hide subtopics, add new topics, add links, or edit and format text. Keyboard shortcuts eliminate the need to remove your hands from the keyboard to open menus and select commands or options. Though there might be a slight learning curve while getting used to your keyboard shortcuts, it should soon become second nature to you. (And if you want to create some customized shortcuts for your favorite tasks, consider using a tool like Alfred.)
4. Explore View options. In addition to collapsing and expanding topics, the better mind mapping software programs allow you to temporarily display one topic at a time, along with the subtopics associated with it. This reduces distraction and focuses your attention on a particular topic or task by displaying it at a larger size.

1. Make it visual! Most mind mapping programs include icons and simple graphics that you can insert to emphasize importance, delegate responsibilities, and display progress. You can also use boundaries and relationships to topics. Powerful mind mapping software programs, like MindManager 12 for Windows, allow you to add start dates and due dates to topics, to help organize your thought process and strategic planning.

1. Filter your maps. Filtering permits many mind mapping programs to offer scheduling and project management capabilities. You can filter on the basis of keywords, dates, or icons. For example, you can hide all completed projects, or just display overdue projects, projects with upcoming deadlines, or only projects assigned to specific individuals.
2. Take your mind maps with you. Mind mapping isn?t just for the desktop: Mobile versions of most mind mapping programs allow you to start projects and update them using your smartphones, iPads, and Android devices.

Sharing & collaborating ? Mind mapping trends

Mind maps are intended to be shared. You can export mind maps as static documents or, in some cases, as interactive PDFs. Reader programs are generally available to allow you to share your mind maps with those not currently using a mind mapping program.

More and more mind mapping programs are intended to be stored online, using proprietary cloud-based services, like Mindjet Connect or independent services such as Dropbox.

These services permit you to determine who has access to your stored maps and who can update them. You can also sync maps, so that the latest version of your project-planning templates or content marketing editorial calendar will always be available to your co-workers and clients.

Many mind mapping software programs permit you to track changes made by individual participants, and some even permit others to contribute to or update mind maps in real time. This allows remote participants in an online planning session to help you brainstorm new ideas. New topics and ideas are color-coded and tagged with the name, date, and time of the updates.

Getting started with mind mapping

Most mind mapping programs offer ?try before you buy? options, allowing you to download and use a full-featured program for up to a month. (After that, you can read the maps you?ve created, though you wouldn?t be able to export or modify them.)

Many mind mapping software publishers, such as Mindjet, offer unlimited free versions of their software programs for iPhones, iPads, and Android devices.

Some powerful mind mapping programs, such as Mindo and iThoughts HD, are available for iPads for purchase at a fraction of the cost of equivalent desktop programs. These can create and export maps in formats that can be read by programs from other software publishers.

If you?re not already a mind mapping user, getting started has never been easier.

Do you use mind maps?

If you?re currently a mind map user, share some of your experiences. Tell us how you use mind maps, the programs you use, and the lessons you?ve learned. Let us know if you have any advice, shortcuts, or content marketing productivity tips you?d like to share with newcomers to mind mapping.

Want more content marketing inspiration? Download our ultimate eBook with 100 content marketing examples.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/top-10-mind-mapping-productivity-tips-for-content-marketing-success-0285333

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Canadian firm proposes new Neb. oil pipeline route

KSL's Children's Television Programming Reports, as well as its FCC public inspection file, are available for viewing during regular office hours at the KSL Broadcast House or online.
The station representative who can assist a person with disabilities with issues related to the content of the public files is Mike Dowdle, available during regular office hours at closed_captioning@ksl.com and (801) 575-5555.

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Source: http://www.ksl.com?nid=157&sid=22013527&s_cid=rss-157

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Arab-Muslim to join 'Green Lantern' comic series

This image provided by DC Comics via Bender/Helper Impact shows interior panels of the November 2012 issue of the latest Green Lantern series featuring the character Simon Baz, DC Comics most prominent Arab-American superhero and the first to wear a Green Lantern ring. The character and creator share Lebanese ancestry and hail from the Detroit area, which boasts one of the largest and oldest Arab communities in the United States. (AP Photo/DC Comics via Bender/Helper Impact)

This image provided by DC Comics via Bender/Helper Impact shows interior panels of the November 2012 issue of the latest Green Lantern series featuring the character Simon Baz, DC Comics most prominent Arab-American superhero and the first to wear a Green Lantern ring. The character and creator share Lebanese ancestry and hail from the Detroit area, which boasts one of the largest and oldest Arab communities in the United States. (AP Photo/DC Comics via Bender/Helper Impact)

This image provided by DC Comics via Bender/Helper Impact shows the November 2012 cover of the latest Green Lantern series featuring the character Simon Baz, DC Comics most prominent Arab-American superhero and the first to wear a Green Lantern ring. The character and creator share Lebanese ancestry and hail from the Detroit area, which boasts one of the largest and oldest Arab communities in the United States. (AP Photo/DC Comics via Bender/Helper Impact)

DETROIT (AP) ? When DC Comics decided to blow up its fabled universe and create a brave, diverse future, Geoff Johns drew from the past for a new character: his own background as an Arab-American.

The company's chief creative officer and writer of the relaunched "Green Lantern" series dreamed up Simon Baz, DC's most prominent Arab-American superhero and the first to wear a Green Lantern ring. The character and creator share Lebanese ancestry and hail from the Detroit area, which boasts one of the largest and oldest Arab communities in the United States.

"I thought a lot about it ? I thought back to what was familiar to me," Johns, 39, told The Associated Press by phone last week from Los Angeles, where he now lives. "This is such a personal story."

Baz's story begins in a standalone "zero issue" available Wednesday that's part of a companywide effort to fill in the gaps or tell the origins of a character or team. Johns has no plans for Baz to fade into the background ? the character in February is bound for the Justice League of America, one of DC's premier super team books, to fight alongside Green Arrow, Catwoman and Hawkman.

Johns said he took economic as well as ethnic cues for the character from his native Detroit area, with Baz resorting to stealing cars after being laid off from his automotive engineering job. He steals the wrong car, which inadvertently steers him into a terrorism probe and, eventually, an unexpected call to join the universe's galactic police force.

The olive-skinned, burly Baz hails from Dearborn, the hometown of Henry Ford and the capital of Arab America. His story begins at 10 years old, when he and the rest of his Muslim family watch their television in horror as airplanes fly into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Events unfold from there as U.S. Arabs and Muslims find themselves falling under intense suspicion and ostracism in the days, months and years following the attacks.

"Obviously, it's affecting everybody," said Johns, who grew up in nearby suburbs in a Lebanese Christian household and got into comics when he discovered his uncle's old collection in his Arabic grandmother's attic. "One of the things I really wanted to show was its effect on Simon and his family in a very negative way."

Baz is not the first Arab or Muslim character to grace ? or menace, as has historically been the case ? the comic world. Marvel Comics has Dust, a young Afghan woman whose mutant ability to manipulate sand and dust has been part of the popular X-Men books. DC Comics in late 2010 introduced Nightrunner, a young Muslim hero of Algerian descent reared in Paris. He is part of the global network of crime fighters set up by Batman alter-ego Bruce Wayne.

Frank Miller, whose dark and moody take on Batman in "The Dark Knight Returns" in 1986 energized the character, took a different tack in his recent book, "Holy Terror," which tells the story of The Fixer and his efforts to stamp out Islamic terrorists. The graphic novel initially took root as a look at Batman's efforts to fight terrorism, which grew out of Miller's experiences of being in New York on 9/11.

A broader mission to bring Islamic heroes and principles to the comic world comes from Naif Al-Mutawa, creator of "The 99." The U.S. educated psychologist from Kuwait has been gaining followers across the globe since the 2006 debut of the comic book that spawned a TV series. "The 99" is named after the number of qualities the Quran attributes to God: strength, courage, wisdom and mercy among them.

The series gained a wide audience in 2010, when it worked with DC on a six-issue crossover that teamed the "The 99" with The Justice League of America.

Johns, who also has written stories starring Superman, The Flash and Teen Titans, said going diverse only works if there's a good story, and he believes he found that with Baz. But don't mistake him for a hero in the beginning: Baz disappoints both devout Muslims ? his forearm tattoo that reads "courage" in Arabic is considered "haram," or religiously forbidden ? and broader society by turning to a life of crime.

"He's not a perfect character. He's obviously made some mistakes in his life, but that makes him more compelling and relatable," he said. "Hopefully (it's) a compelling character regardless of culture or ethnic background. ... But I think it's great to have an Arab American superhero. This was opportunity and a chance to really go for it."

Of course, Johns hopes Green Lantern fans accept Baz, who joins other humans who have been "chosen," including Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner. The overall relaunch has been good for DC, which has seen a solid gain in sales and critical reception ? as well as some expected grumbling ? since coming out with the "New 52" last year.

Johns also sees the debut of Baz as a chance to reconnect with people in his home state: He's scheduled to visit Dearborn this weekend for events related to the release that include a signing Saturday at a comic book store and a free presentation Sunday on his career and characters at the Arab American National Museum. He worked with museum staff to make sure he got certain details right about his character and the Arab-Muslim community.

"It doesn't completely define the character but it shapes the character," he said. "My biggest hope is that people embrace it and understand what we're trying to do."

___

Associated Press Writer Matt Moore contributed to this report from Philadelphia.

___

Follow Jeff Karoub on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffkaroub

___

Online:

DC Comics: http://www.dccomics.com/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-09-04-Muslim%20Superhero/id-14061ac1f26a4fd6bc9d28c9586066cd

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Outspoken Women Speak Out about Marriage ? Bangor Daily ...

The monthly meeting of Outspoken Women was held on August 31, 2012 at Bell the Cat, where Jennifer Hill introduced featured speakers Cynthia Leiffer and Laurie Fogelman of Penobscot County for Marriage Equality. The meeting was a tribute to the outspoken first year college student MaKayla Reed, formerly of Belfast, who has emerged in recent years as a leader in the young lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgendered movement.

Laurie Fogelman opened the evening?s remarks by recalling her excitement in 2009 when the Maine legislature enacted a law allowing gays to marry. Her joy was short lived; in November of that year Maine voters repealed the law rendering her daughter?s Massachusetts wedding moot here. ?Our family held a second wedding in our town for them, but we were disappointed that their marriage here in Maine wasn?t legally binding.?

?Marriage brings people together,? stated the evening?s second speaker, Cynthia Leiffer, secretary of the Maine Nurse Practitioner Association, and regional ambassador for the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association. Ms Leiffer described several family weddings she and her legal domestic partner since 2004 have attended in the past several years. Ms Leiffer?s partner had three teenage children living at home when the two women got together in 1997. All three grown-up children are married now and she related the stories of their weddings.

When the eldest boy married, the bride?s parents made it clear that they did not approve of Ms Leiffer?s relationship to her partner and made a point to avoid them during the weekend-long event. The lesbian couple have been excluded from family activities with their grandchildren in an effort to keep the two sets of parents apart.

At the wedding of their daughter and the man she was marrying, the couple made every effort to include Ms. Leiffer and her partner, even urging them to dance together at the reception, but the groom?s family and some of the guests were visibly embarrassed. ?It was awkward, but we appreciated their efforts.?

Then, this last summer the youngest son married a woman who had a lesbian aunt in her family. Three sets of parents, including Ms. Leiffer and her partner, were invited to participate in this wedding. Their 5-year-old granddaughter saw that the lesbian couple were dancing openly and happily like the others at the reception. ?Well, my grandaughter?s going to be the flower girl at our wedding,? Ms. Leiffer said proudly. ?I want my grandkids to grow up in a world where we are respected, where we have the same status as straight couples,? she said.

Ms Fogelman, retired executive director of The Next Step Domestic Violence Project and past president of the Rotary Club of Ellsworth took the stage to speak of marriages in her family history, citing letters she had found to her great, great grandmother from a man professing his love for her. Letters from the woman?s mother stated that this man?s family was not good enough for her. They married anyway and had a long, rich marriage. Her great grandmother married a barber and worked as a schoolteacher to put him through pharmaceutical school and they had seven children and a successful marriage. Ms Fogelman?s second husband is Jewish and her marriage would have been frowned upon at one time. Her daughter, married now 5 years to a woman, continues to enjoy a devoted relationship with her spouse.

Beyond the issues of social awkwardness and the fierce love that compels people to want lifelong partnerships, both speakers emphasized real legal concerns. ?There are issues of insurance, family leave, social security, matters of property,? Ms Leiffer said. ?When a loved one becomes seriously ill, family members who previously acknowledged loving relationships have been known to turn their backs on life partners.?

Concluding the question and answer period, one lesbian participant confessed, ?I have no worries 90% of the time when people ask me personal questions. I do have a moment of hesitation sometimes, though, when I?m about to out myself, just a brief panic. I?m looking forward to the day that doesn?t happen.?

Source: http://bangordailynews.com/community/outspoken-women-speak-out-about-marriage/

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Gas prices highest ever for a Labor Day

Gas prices averaged $3.83 a gallon Friday, easily beating the 2008 record of $3.68. Hurricane Isaac is party to blame for high gas prices.

By Kevin Murphy,?Reuters / September 2, 2012

A man fills his gas tank at a gas station on Wednesday in South Euclid, Ohio. Labor Day gas prices are likely to hit a record, in part because of supply disruptions caused by hurricane Isaac.

Tony Dejak/AP

Enlarge

U.S. motorists hit the road in large numbers this Labor Day weekend, undeterred by gas prices that are the highest ever heading into the holiday in part due to Hurricane Isaac, which forced the closure of oil refineries on the Gulf Coast.

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The average price of regular gas nationally was $3.83 per gallon on Friday, 21 cents higher than a year ago, according to AAA. And the price on Monday will likely easily beat the Labor Day record of $3.68 set in 2008, the non-profit automobile association said.

The weekend is one of the busiest on American roads.

In Overland Park, Kansas, Shelly Faught and a group of relatives packed up several vehicles for a drive to a lake home in Arkansas despite having to pay $3.79 per gallon at the pump.

"We needed the escape," Faught said as she gassed up a pickup truck hooked to a pop-up camper. "We were a little nervous about the gas prices rising but we had this planned."

Juan Mendez of Liberty, Missouri, and his wife Ashlee traveled 215 miles (346 km) on Friday to Wichita, Kansas, because they wanted their infant to meet Mendez's parents. Mendez was not happy to see gas prices go up before the trip.

"It's one of those things you just have to deal with, there is nothing you can do about it," he said.

Terry Goode, a travel counselor at the AAA office in Kansas City, Missouri, said customers seem to be traveling as much as ever and have been streaming in for travel books and route advice.

"I've not heard people mention high gas prices," Goode said. "They just make it part of their budget and go."

Average gas prices jumped by nearly 31 cents a gallon in August and have risen 11 cents since Aug. 22, when forecasters first predicted that Isaac would reach the Gulf Coast and threaten to close oil refineries, AAA said in a report.

The group nonetheless projected that 33 million Americans would travel 50 or more miles (81 or more km) on Labor Day weekend, including 28.2 million by car. The projected number of car travelers would be 500,000 more than last year, AAA said.

Rental car agencies were bustling with business ahead of the weekend. At the Budget Rental Car outlet in Overland Park, 25 cars were reserved on Friday, said rental agent Ryan Mikel. That compared to only three reservations on Wednesday.

Mikel said the hassle of flying likely was spurring customers to bite the bullet and drive.

But the high gas prices gave others reason to pause.

Sarah Allison said at an AAA office in suburban Kansas City that she and her husband decided to fly rather than make a 1,100-mile (1,770-km) round trip to Dallas.

In Leawood, Kansas, Diana Weeks-Radke paid $3.86 a gallon on Thursday to fill up her car. She said a sudden price increase at the station was unfair.

"It's shameful," Weeks-Radke said. "The fuel is already there, bought and paid for and delivered."

AAA spokesman Michael Green said consumers often criticize gas price spikes but failed to realize that gas stations that held prices at lower levels would run out of gas quickly and be forced to buy more at higher wholesale prices to replace it.

"We don't really see gas stations taking advantage of drivers," Green said.

Green said the closure of refineries due to Isaac reduced fuel supply and raised demand, forcing up prices. Other factors for the higher prices included a refinery fire in Venezuela and a jump in world oil prices.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/rOinWETCWDo/Gas-prices-highest-ever-for-a-Labor-Day

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Mexico's Slim buys into Mexican soccer squads

Birmingham?? FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: Mexico's Slim buys into Mexican soccer squads MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim's cellphone company has acquired a 30 percent stake in two first-division Mexican soccer teams. Slim's America Movil company will hold nearly one-third of Grupo Pachuca, which...

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48870424/ns/local_news-birmingham_al/

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Investors Still Find Real Estate Enticing | RISMedia

(MCT)?The stone house has small rooms, an overgrown yard and a roof that begs to be replaced. But investor Frank Oliveri and his business partner, Al Best, see the potential in its Wyckoff, N.J., address and the $125,000 in renovations they?ve got planned.

The house fell into foreclosure after selling for $522,000 in 2006, when the housing market was at its frothiest. Oliveri, of Rochelle Park, N.J., and his brother, Mel, bought it recently for $315,000, even less than its 1999 sale price of $339,000.

After extensive renovations ? including the addition of a master suite ? the investors hope to sell the property for more than $600,000.

If this deal works out as planned, it will illustrate the more favorable numbers that are slowly drawing investors back into the real estate market. After the housing crash left many with losses, some investors are now seeing the attraction of lower home values and interest rates, as well as higher rents. Home sales are running ahead of last year?s very slow pace, and about one in five buyers is an investor, according to the National Association of REALTORS?.

?The flipping market is back,? says Antoinette Gangi, an agent in Woodcliff Lake, N.J. Real estate investors, she says, ?want to put their money in the dirt, not in the bank.?

That?s certainly the case with Best and the Oliveris. They look mostly for short sales or bank-owned properties, because they have to buy the properties cheaply enough that they can still turn a profit after spending on improvements. That?s easier to do in the current market.

?Prices have come down, and investors have a lot more room to wiggle with,? says Frank Oliveri. His brother is head of a real estate company in Paramus, N.J.

Builder Lou Chiellini of Park Ridge, N.J., who buys and renovates or replaces homes, also says that he?s been able to pay less for properties these days. At the same time, he?s accepting lower profit margins than in the past, he says.

?If you?re not greedy, you can still make money,? Chiellini says.

Some investors would rather hold properties, to take advantage of both lower purchase prices and higher rents.

?In some areas of the country, housing prices are down to the point where you can get a positive cash flow out of turning property into a rental unit,? says Jed Smith, an economist with the National Association of REALTORS?. ?In the past, they couldn?t get a positive cash flow on rentals; they got a return based on appreciation. Lower prices make properties more appealing to investors.?

?In any market, if the numbers make sense, you do the transaction,? says Dan Schwartz of Fair Lawn, N.J., president of the non-profit Metropolitan Real Estate & Investors Association. At current prices and interest rates, he says, ?the numbers are more likely to make sense? ? though there are still pitfalls.

?Yes, prices have come down and interest rates are at historic lows; however, banks are highly reluctant to lend money,? says Schwartz.

Certainly, there?s still plenty of risk in real estate investing. Upgrading a property can be expensive, and holding costs such as taxes, mortgages, utilities and insurance can eat into an investor?s profit ? especially if the sale takes longer than expected. Surprises like asbestos, bad wiring and underground oil tanks can pop up in older homes, requiring expensive remediation. And with mortgage money still tough to come by, it?s not always easy for investors to find buyers.

?It?s not easy money,? Best says. ?You?re going to find your opportunities, but nothing comes for free. ? It takes a lot of money and a lot of people to bring a deal together.? He and his partners borrow from private investors at high interest rates.

?There are more ways to lose money than there are to make money, when you?re not seasoned,? says Billy Procida, president of Procida Advisors in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., who invests in real estate directly and also lends money to other investors. ?Real estate is the single most complicated type of investing you could do. ? I?ve seen people buy land without knowing there?s a stream running through it and they can?t build on it.?

?Most investors are one-and-done. They realize they?re not going to make the money they?re supposed to make,? says Gene Lowe, a real estate professional in Wayne, N.J.

Lowe is an active investor who has recently stepped up his buying pace. His usual method is to pay cash for a small, neglected house ? often an estate sale and often the least expensive home in a town. He?ll spend a short time and limited amount of money to renovate it, then quickly resell. After a long period of watching home values slide, he said, some sellers are willing to take low prices.

?They?re worn down after trying to sell their house for the wrong price. I offer them much less than market value, and they take it,? he says.

For example, he said, he recently bought a bi-level in Butler, N.J., for $250,000, put in $15,000 worth of improvements, and sold it for $318,000.

One key to his success: he avoids major renovations that require getting permits from the town, because that dramatically slows the process.

Schwartz, a real estate investor since 1982, agrees that many investors spend too much time and money on renovations, which makes flipping a tricky proposition. He prefers to hold properties and rent them out for enough to cover his monthly costs.

Even with the risks, Schwartz thinks investors will look back in 15 years and wish they had taken advantage of this year?s low prices.

?Real estate has always gone in cycles,? Schwartz says, ?and I bet my money on the fact that it will go up again.?

?2012 The Record (Hackensack, N.J.)
Distributed by MCT Information Services

?

Copyright? 2012 RISMedia, The Leader in Real Estate Information Systems and Real Estate News. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be republished without permission from RISMedia.

Source: http://rismedia.com/2012-09-01/investors-still-find-real-estate-enticing/

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Florida Candidate Jokes About Hurricane Isaac, Asks For Campaign Cash

A southern Florida chiropractor is reminding campaign backers that even Hurricane Isaac cannot derail his long-shot bid for the state's legislature.

"Based on recent evidence, I am not happy to report our conclusive findings: Solomon for House yard signs are not effective wind and rain repellents," Democratic candidate Jeff Solomon of Pinecrest, Fla., wrote in a recent email to supporters. "I have proven this by driving through our community and noticing that Isaac has helpfully removed many of our signs. While I appreciate the storm's help, the election is not over -- I will be on the ballot this November."

Solomon is challenging state Rep. Michael Bileca (R-Miami), who the Miami Herald's Naked Politics blog notes has an almost tenfold fundraising advantage over Solomon.

The wind-and-rain quip was the first of several Isaac references in Solomon's fundraising appeal, which concludes by promising to replace the hurricane-battered signage with fresh placards pending new donations.

"While wind is not good for yard signs, it is good for momentum," Solomon wrote. "And I'm pleased to report that, politically speaking, the wind is at our back and filling our financial sails."

Hurricane Isaac made landfall as a Category 1 storm on Tuesday night, spanning across the Gulf Coast to the Florida Panhandle.

10 more election stories from beyond the presidential field:

GOP Candidate Plans Protests Against Jesse Jackson's Saginaw Rallies [Saginaw News]

Joe Kennedy Supports Cape Wind [Attleboro Sun Chronicle]

Radel Meets Florida GOP Leaders In Anticipation Of Winning Congressional Seat [Naples Daily News]

Lamb, Hanna Both Say They Want More Research Done On Hydrofracking [WKTV]

Vilsack Prepping For Debate With King [Sioux City Journal]

Mia Love Holds Mitt Romney Viewing Party [Fox 13 Now - Salt Lake City]

Utah Republicans Ask, 'Where's George?' [Salt Lake Tribune]

Gabriela Saucedo Mercer Attempts To Clarify Anti-'Middle Easterners' Comment, Says She Mentioned Chinese People Too [Phoenix New Times]

NRSC Pulls Wilson Ad Buys [KFDA]

Connecticut Senate Upset? Republican Linda McMahon Ahead In Poll [Independent Voter Network]

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/31/jeff-solomon-hurricane-isaac-florida_n_1846934.html

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Naruto game Pockie Ninja II Social ? Spirit Weapons | Video Game ...

By Gamer SyndromePublished: 31 August 2012 10:43 AM UTC

Posted in: Facebook Games, Social Gaming

Tags: Bleach, naruto, Pockie Ninja, Pockie Ninja II Social, spirit ninja, spirit weapon

The update, dubbed v.1.0.5, was introduced behind the scenes on August 27th, introducing a new Ninja Spirit Weapons gameplay system, as well as a host of gameplay fixes and refinements.

With over 900,000 monthly active users, Pockie Ninja II Social is proving a popular social destination for Naruto fans to hang out and compete for glory. Pockie Ninja II Social offers players a Facebook-exclusive Naruto style adventure, where friends can band together ? or compete against one another ? to raise armies of well known anime characters and build villages in a bid to conquer the social ninja world.

All ninjas are permitted to own the new Spirit Weapons, with each player class ? Taijutsu, Weapon and Ninjutsu ? receiving a style unique to them. Spirit Weapons are divided into 3 kinds: Free Spirit; Ryo Spirit; and Gold Spirit, the stats of which are the highest.

Handled correctly, Spirit Weapons play a powerful part in defending and assaulting villages. Their stats can be carefully levelled up by gaining spirit through spending Ryo or Gold, which in turn can enhance the stats of the ninja wielding them.

Each type of spirit weapon has special passive skills attached to it, allowing players to gain the upper hand in Pockie Ninja II Social?s carefully balance rock-paper-scissors style battle system. Ninjutsu players can use their weapon to raise the damage they can deal to Weapon class players, while Weapon class players can use their spirit weapon to counter that with increased damage to ninjutsu?s ? or opt for a more magical approach by giving it the skill to raise HP and Attack attributes. A team of players carrying well balanced Spirit Weapons that complement each others play styles is a force to be reckoned with.

Every time a spirit weapon is levelled up, so is the power of its attached skills. Gold spirit weapons require the least levelling up to achieve maximum skill effectiveness.

Article from Gamersyndrome.com

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Source: http://gamersyndrome.com/2012/social-videogaming/facebook-games/naruto-game-pockie-ninja-ii-social-spirit-weapons/

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