Wiggins Takes Tour Reins, Froome Wins Stage

The final climb of the 199-km seventh stage was short and unheralded, but its 5.9 km were enough to sort out the serious Tour contenders from the also-rans and the leading riders at the top are probably the same men who will battle it out for final victory in Paris in the two weeks ahead.

The stage went to Briton Chris Froome, who surged in the final 100 meters to beat defending Tour champion Cadel Evans by two seconds while his team leader Wiggins was third in the same time.

Italy's Vincenzo Nibali finished fourth, seven seconds adrift.

To see the two pre-Tour favorites side by side on the line was a sign that their battle would probably dominate the two weeks ahead.

"My first objective today was to take the yellow jersey," said Wiggins, who now leads the title-holder by 10 seconds overall and Nibali by 16.

"It's a dream since I was a child. Whatever happens in the rest of the race it's a massive thing," added the pursuit Olympic champion, the first Briton to lead the Tour de France since David Millar in 2000.

A seven-man breakaway, gone 15 km after the start in Tomblaine, was caught at the bottom of the final ascent and that is when the Team Sky train, who had led the chase for a while, seized control.

STEEP SECTION

Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen was the first stage of the Sky rocket at the foot of the climb.

Then Australian Michael Rogers took over and some Tour contenders started to lose ground - Dutchman Robert Gesink, American Levi Leipheimer and Luxembourg's Frank Schleck had already been dropped when Richie Porte took his turn.

When the Australian handed the baton to Froome, only five riders were left to tackle the steep last section of the hill.

With 400 meters to go, Evans surged, but Froome responded straight away to go for the stage and seize the polka dot jersey as the best climber in this Tour as well.

"I kept waiting for Cadel to go and he never really went. I think he didn't have the legs to go," the Kenyan-born Froome told reporters.

"Hopefully, he's not holding anything back and he's not going to surprise us in the next few weeks. He and Bradley look to be quite on par at the moment," he added.

The Team Sky effort was plain textbook cycling and Wiggins made it clear everything had been planned that way.

"That's the plan, that's what we trained for. We trained for each demand of this race, we covered every area.

"It's become clear that the Tour is now down to three riders, Cadel and Nibali and me," he added.

The revenge was all the sweeter for Wiggins as his Tour chances had been ruined last season by a crash in the same seventh stage.

"One year on after being in hospital in Chateauroux, to be in the yellow jersey. Great day," he said.

It was not so great for the riders involved in the awful crash which depleted the peloton in the previous stage to Metz - 13 riders were forced out of the Tour while many were not in a condition to play leading roles in the finale.

With another hilly 157-km ride into Switzerland that Team Sky should control easily on Sunday and the first individual time trial on Monday, in which Wiggins expects to “consolidate the jersey, the Briton is following his game plan to perfection.

"Then it's the rest day and we're halfway into the Tour," he said.

(Additional reporting by Mark Meadows; Editing By Alison Wildey)

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Williams Sisters Win Wimbledon Doubles Title

About five hours after Williams won her fifth singles title by beating Agnieszka Radwanska, she and sister Venus were back on Centre Court to beat Czech duo Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 7-5, 6-4 Saturday in the doubles final.

It was their fifth Wimbledon doubles title together, and came shortly after Venus watched her little sister win the singles final.

"I was definitely inspired by Serena's singles performance," Venus said. "Obviously it's wonderful to play on the court with her. I couldn't have done it without her, so it's great."

Both sisters have battled health issues over the last two years, with Venus having been diagnosed with an energy-sapping illness and Serena overcoming blood clots in her lungs and two operations after cutting her feet on glass in 2010.

This was their first doubles tournament together in two years, and they looked as if they hadn't missed a beat.

"She's such a fighter, you never say die," Venus said about her sister. "I don't think either of us believe that we can be defeated by anything. Nothing has defeated us yet, so we're going to keep that track record."

Serena was the last woman to win both the singles and doubles titles at Wimbledon, in 2009.

Playing under the closed roof, Venus Williams served out the match less than 15 minutes before the 11 p.m. deadline for the end of play on Centre Court.

Had the match gone to a third set, they probably would have had to come back and finish it off on Sunday.

"I told Venus on the court, it doesn't matter," Serena said. "We weren't really racing the clock, we were just playing our opponents who were playing really tough and really good."

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Williams Wins 5th Wimbledon Singles Title

There was the euphoria of winning her fifth singles title at Wimbledon, tying her older sister Venus, and her 14th in a Grand Slam tournament. The satisfaction of purging a shocking French Open implosion and the aura of vulnerability that followed. The relief that comes with reviving a career on the brink, from cheating death, from outlasting a patient and persistent adversary who on Saturday threatened with a comeback nearly as stirring as Williams’s.

When it was over, when her crisp backhand found open court, Williams fell backward onto the lawn. She stayed there for a few seconds, a grass angel basking in a 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 victory over Agnieszka Radwanska, before climbing through the crowd to meet her entourage in its box. Her appreciation of these moments is greater than it was 13 years ago, when at age 17 she announced her presence at the 1999 United States Open. There is an element of selflessness, of humility, that comes, perhaps, with age and maturity. Now 30, Williams is the first woman in her 30s to capture a Grand Slam since Martina Navratilova won Wimbledon in 1990 at age 33.

“Oh my God, I can’t even describe it,” Williams said during an on-court interview after she turned back Radwanska on a blustery and chilly Centre Court.

When she took to Twitter an hour later, Williams was nearly speechless still: Yeaa, she wrote, with 40 more a’s tacked on. When she appeared an hour after that in the interview room, Williams said that winning had yet to sink in; usually, she said, it does immediately. But it certainly appeared to while she answered a question about her motivation to win the women’s doubles final with Venus, as they did Saturday night.

“I don’t feel any pressure because, I mean, regardless, I won Wimbledon,” Williams said, placing her head on the podium as she unleashed a lengthy, high-pitched cackle.

Since the last time she won Wimbledon, in 2010, Williams has endured two foot operations, caused by a misstep on broken glass; emergency treatment for blood clots in her lungs; an 11-month hiatus from the tour; a demoralizing loss in the 2011 United States Open final; torn ligaments in an Australian Open warm-up tournament; and an outstanding clay-court season that came to a sudden and stunning end with a first-round defeat at the French Open, her earliest exit from a Grand Slam tournament.

Williams wanted to expunge the memory of her loss in Paris. She tried. She could not, at least for a while. Naturally negative is how Williams describes her temperament, a personality trait at odds with the confident, powerful persona she projects on the court.

The loss spilled over into Wimbledon, into sluggish three-set victories against Zheng Jie and Yaroslava Shvedova. Was she headed for another disappointment? Did she have enough mental toughness to advance? Her father and coach, Richard Williams, said she was lucky to have reached the quarterfinals.

“I think Serena feels the pressure; she doesn’t have time on her side,” said Chris Evert, an 18-time Grand Slam singles champion, in a recent interview. “And she wants to take advantage of these opportunities.”

Williams dominated the first set Saturday, winning the first five games as she matched Radwanska on extended baseline rallies, drilling sharp-angled forehands and cross-court backhands, even mixing in the odd drop shot. But when Radwanska, who was dealing with an upper respiratory illness, came back after a short rain delay and showed her mettle in the second set, overcoming a 4-2 deficit, Williams grew anxious, and it was natural to think back to her implosion in Paris, where she first blew a 5-1 lead in the second-set tiebreaker against Virginie Razzano, and then lost the match.

One does not survive a pulmonary embolism without some serious staying power. Winning her first service game of the third set stabilized Williams. Four straight aces at 1-2 emboldened her. A nifty drop shot to break Radwanska at 2-4 empowered her.

“After that,” said Williams, “it was, ‘I can definitely do this.’ ”

It was a disappointing result for Radwanska, seeking to become Poland’s first Grand Slam champion, but her presence in the final solidified her standing as a contender. It also proved that a crafty and creative tactician could handle and counter power and pace — at least for a time.

Williams became the seventh woman in the past seven Grand Slams to win the championship. The field is ever deeper. A revived Maria Sharapova. Angelique Kerber. Petra Kvitova. Victoria Azarenka, who will rise to No. 1 when the rankings are released Monday. Radwanska, who will climb to No. 2. But during these two weeks, none of the last three women could contain Williams.

Williams’s decision to remain in France to work with Patrick Mouratoglou, who owns and operates a tennis academy outside Paris, could be seen as a sign of maturity as well as desperation, a willingness to listen to another voice when for so many years she has stayed loyal to her clan. Those sessions recharged her psyche as much as her body, which absorbed a punishing workload at Wimbledon — a challenging slate of singles matches, in addition to a title run in doubles — without incident.

“I don’t see why not,” Williams said when asked if she could surpass Steffi Graf (22), Navratilova (18) and Evert on the Grand Slam singles title list.

For all the speculation that Williams had passed her prime, it is possible that this championship marks the beginning of a new phase, a return to prominence instead of a culmination. And in that new phase, Williams has assumed more of a supportive role in her relationship with Venus, who is battling an autoimmune disorder.

“I don’t know what I would have if Venus didn’t exist,” Williams said. “I don’t even know if I would own a Grand Slam title or if I would play tennis, because we do everything together.”

Ten of the last 13 Wimbledon singles titles belong to them. Five Wimbledon doubles championships, including their triumph Saturday. More euphoria. More satisfaction. More relief. Another trophy hoisted.

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Wrap Contracts Coming Back Strong Among Insurers

                New York Life found that despite low interest rates, 50 percent of retirement-plan participants use stable value products, which are classified as principal preservation investment solutions.

“Since the financial crisis of 2008, on average more than 20 percent of retirement assets have been invested in stable value investments and half of all participants across New York Life's retirement platform have some 401(k) savings within a stable value investment today,” said Steven Dorval, managing director of retirement and investment strategy at New York Life Retirement Plan Services in Boston.

New York Life began working with the largest stable value plan sponsors two years ago, purchasing wrap contracts that guarantee the principal on a fixed income portfolio. “The wrap contract is a return home for insurance companies,” Dorval told Insurance Networking News. “We were the early providers but lost the lead to bank holdings who offered lower margins. Insurers are back now in their natural role as guarantors.”

Pricing for the cost of a wrap contract before 2008 was .05 to .08 basis points, according to New York Life. Today, pricing is .2 to .25 percent basis points.

“It’s more than an $8 billion book of business for us, which has increased $5.5 billion since 2008,” said Dorval. “From a competitor perspective, a number of insurers, including Prudential, have seen more assets increase because stable value products are able to earn higher returns than money markets.”

Stable value funds are yielding two percent or more. The benefit for investors is return without the volatility.

“That’s a significant increase over money markets,” Dorval said.

Interest in stable value products is not exclusive to the baby boomer generation, according to New York Life’s analysis.

While baby boomers did have the highest rates of stable value use at 58 percent, the Gen X and Gen Y demographic were not far behind with rates of 46 percent and 32 percent, respectively.

“As people get closer to retirement, principal preservation is a higher priority,” said Dorval. “Younger folks shouldn’t have stable value exposure but across all demographics, we are finding that younger workers do have exposure because they may be more conservative due to the down market.”

© 2012 Insurance Networking News and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

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Vakuutusasiamiesten peritään 100 miljoonan dollarin petosten järjestelmässä

                   The Manhattan United States Attorney and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have charged three insurance agents with a $ 100 million fraud scheme involving stranger-owned life insurance or STOLI.

Typically, people buying a life insurance policy have some relationship to the person being insured. In contrast, with STOLI arrangements, a policy is bought with the intent to resell it to a third-party investor. Many insurance companies won't allow this, and in varying degrees the state laws prohibit it.

In an imprisonment up to 10 years, federal authorities announced on Feb 16 – Michael Binday accuse the three agents, to 48, the president and owner of a Scarsdale, N.Y. insurance agency; James Kevin Kergil, 57, an insurance agent based in Peekskill, N.Y.; and Mark Resnick, 56, an insurance agent based in Orlando, FL – of conspiring to defraud major insurance companies into the life insurance policies to straw buyers issuing, when the true owners of the policies were third-party investors and financiers. All three agents have been arrested.

The insurance companies referred to in the case are: American General Life Companies; Lincoln Financial Group; Security Mutual Life insurance Company and Union Central Insurance Company.

The policies involved were universal life policies, which combine an investment component with a death benefit-an amount paid to beneficiaries when the insured dies. Life insurance companies routinely take the position that the death benefit should correspond to the amount of money that the dependents would need insured's to replace lost earnings or to cover estate taxes and other expenses. When issuing the policies they rely on is the information provided about the applicant's financial condition and income.

In a statement announcing the U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan imprisonment up to 10 years, said that the three insurance agents concocted an elaborate scheme ", using straw buyers and third-party agents, to deceive the life insurance providers into issuing policies to unintended beneficiaries. And when their scheme was unraveling, they allegedly sought to throw investigators off the trail by destroying documents and telling other individuals to lie. Their alleged actions victimized the companies that issued these policies, and hurt the grand jury process. "

According to the imprisonment up to 10 years, the agents recruited elderly clients of modest means to serve as straw buyers and apply for universal life insurance policies. In exchange, the agents would pay them when the policies were resold.

Meanwhile, the agents did the necessary paperwork, misrepresenting the key elements of the application. For example, they stated that the straw buyers were worth millions, although almost all of them had a net worth of well under $ 1 million. They shifted the money around to make it look like the buyers were paying the premium themselves, while in fact it was coming from third-party investors.

While the applications stated that the buyers did not intend to sell their policies after they were issued, the agents had already made arrangements to sell them on the secondary market. All this generated millions of dollars worth of huge commissions for the agents.

As the notes, insurance fraud hurts companies imprisonment up to 10 years because it leaves them holding the bag in a bad business deal. And that indirectly hurts consumers because companies must raise their premiums to make up for lost profits.

The misrepresentations at every turn, imprisonment up to 10 years describes in some cases starting with the system for recruiting straw buyers. Resnick, one of the agents, advertised burial insurance and then persuaded consumers who responded to the ad to buy life insurance instead.

Another, Kergil, falsified documents for an 86-year-old woman who had responded to an ad for life insurance. The application stated that she had a net worth of $ 4.65 million, when in fact she was living on Social Security checks of about $ 1,485 a month and her total net worth was much less than $ 500,000. By participating in the deal she would receive between $ 20,000 and $ 100,000 when the $ 2 million policy she bought was re-sold.

These are classic elements of STOLI schemes, says Stephan r., a life insurance expert Leimberg and president of Leimberg Information Services, a publishing and software company. For more than five years they have proliferated with the vibrancy of the secondary insurance market, he explains; agents get one commission when they first issue the policy, and another when they resell it.

But in a number of respects the latest case is unusual, the criminal charges have been Leimberg adds: brought; the insurance agents have been arrested; the FBI is involved; and obstruction of justice, charges have been filed. As federal authorities got wind of what was happening, the agents allegedly destroyed documents and computer files.

2012 Forbes.com LLC ™ All Rights Reserved

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Too Strapped for Cash, Many Consumers also Lack Longevity, Life Insurance

                   With age comes wisdom supposedly, but even as more Americans are living longer they are not financially prepared for their retirement years and also lack life insurance.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the average life expectancy has increased to American's 75.7 years for men and 85.7 years for women. Of those age 65 and coupled, there is a better-than-even chance of one partner will live to age 94, and one-of-10 couples will have a partner that lives to 100 or more.

Unfortunately, a new study finds that while Americans are living longer, almost half are concerned that they are not financially prepared to live into their 70s, 80s and 90s.

Can't afford to live ...

The "Longevity and Preparedness Study," conducted by Northwestern Mutual, asked people how financially prepared they feel to live to age 75, 85 and 95 and that only slightly more than half studies (56 percent) feel financially prepared to live to the age of 75. Fewer than half (46 percent) feel financially prepared to live to age 85; and only about one-third (36 percent) feel prepared to live to age 95.

"These findings underscore that there is room to further educate clients — not only with respect to increasing longevity, but also more broadly about the value of long-term planning," said Greg Oberland, Northwestern Mutual EVP. "So we, as an industry, must emphasize that the plan is as important as the goals. And that plan is like a roadmap that helps clients stay on course. "

According to the research:

• Women live five years longer than the average men and feel less financially prepared to live longer lives.

• Men regardless of age are significantly more likely than women to feel financially prepared to live to age 75 (65 percent vs. 48 percent), 85 (55 percent vs. 37 percent), and 95 (43 percent vs. 30 percent).

• Younger Americans (25-59) feel less prepared than older Americans (60) to live to 75 (47 percent vs. 79 percent), 85 (37 percent vs. 66 percent), and 95 (29 percent vs. 52 percent)

"No matter what age you'll live to, it's important to protect the dollars you'll eventually depend on to provide an income in your retirement years," Oberland said.

Can't afford to die ...

The findings of the Study "The Insurance Barometer," an annual study conducted by the Life and Health Insurance Foundation for Education (LIFE) and the Life Insurance < http://www.lifehappens.org/=""> > and Market Research Association (LIMRA) to better understand the < http://www.limra.com/=""> > public's opinions, attitudes and behaviors regarding life and health insurance are separate but consistent with the "Longevity and Preparedness Study."

The study found that almost one-third of respondents believe they need more life insurance; that number includes 20 percent of current policyholders and about half with no coverage.

The two most cited excuses for not purchasing adequate amounts of life insurance are that it is simply (83 percent), and that they have other financial priorities (85 percent).

Respondents were asked to estimate the annual costs of a 20-year level-term life policy for a 30-year-old and shot wildly over the cost at $ 400, guessing. Younger adults, those most likely to qualify for preferred pricing, overestimated the actual cost of $ 150 by a factor of seven.

"Our research has suggested for years that consumers believed they couldn't afford life insurance, yet they had no idea how much it actually cost," said Robert Kerzner, president and CEO of LIMRA, LOMA and LL Global to INN. "This is the first study that quantifies the wide gap in clearly consumers ' understanding on the affordability of life insurance."

The cost of basic term life insurance has fallen by about 50 percent over the past 10 years, Feldman, CLU, ChFC, is Marvin, president and CEO of the RFC, the LIFE Foundation.

"We know these misconceptions are hindering people from taking steps to get the coverage they need. In essence, life insurance is falling down the priority list, "Feldman said.

According to the study, many are more concerned with paying their mortgage or rent (31 percent), or losing money on investments (26 percent) than with buying life insurance. Interestingly, saving for retirement continued to be the top financial concern (50 percent).

As the U.S. economy recovers, the insurers have an opportunity to help consumers Butterfly their investment and retirement strategies to ensure they have enough money set aside to maintain the life they're accustom to and to fund new plans, Feldman observes.

"We want companies and producers to better understand the consumer attitudes and perceptions that are contributing to the gap in coverage that exists today so that they can better respond and help us educate the public about the importance of financial protection and taking personal financial responsibility," Feldman said.

Technology can play an important role in those educational efforts by creating direct access to quality information and pricing.

"We need to engage younger generations — who live online — more creatively, using the platforms and technology they use in their day-to-day lives, to convey this information so that they know that they can afford the life insurance their family needs," Kerzner said. "While we have seen some insurers begin to advertise the price of their products in their marketing materials, and others place quoting tools more prominently on their websites to better educate consumers, all insurers should take a look at how they can make it easier for consumers to access this vital information and better understand the real cost of life insurance."

© 2012, Insurance Networking News and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Long-term care insurance: The long and short of it

                According to AARP, being incapacitated can get very expensive. The Washington, DC-based organization reports a private room in a nursing home costs about $74,000 a year, and a home health aide an average of $18 an hour.

 
You say you could not begin to afford those costs? If you're in your 50s today, imagine how high those expenses may be 25 years in the future. Little wonder that older Americans are investing in long-term care insurance.

Nursing home costs are often cited when arguing in favor of long-term care insurance. "What long-term care insurance really does is give you choice and options," says Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI).

The AALTCI conducts a yearly study of newly opened long-term care insurance claims, and has reported that 49 percent of them are paying for home health care. Another 24 percent of claims start when the insured is in an assisted living facility and just 27 percent when he or she is in a nursing home.

When to buy
The ideal time to buy long-term care insurance is when you are healthy, and in your early to mid-50s, says Amy Danise, editorial director for Foster City, Cal.-based Insure.com. "The coverage price really starts going up in your late 50s," she adds. "By your early 60s, you're looking at the price being quoted for long-term care, and it starts to look pretty unaffordable."

Sally Hurme, senior project manager in AARP's Department of Public Education and Outreach, citing statistics from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, reports the average age at which consumers buy long-term care insurance is 57. "That 50 to 60 age range is the decade in which people are buying long-term care insurance, and that's sort of the target age to be thinking of this," she says.
The best reason to act at younger ages is to qualify for coverage, Slome adds. You may be fine now, but in 24 hours, your health could change to the extent you would not be able to buy coverage at any price, he says.
Between ages 50 and 59, 17 percent of applicants for long-term care insurance are denied coverage. That number rises to 24 percent for those between 60 and 69, and 45 percent for those ages 70 to 79, Slome says.
Despite the fact older adults are urged to obtain coverage at earlier ages, age 64 is a very popular time to apply for coverage, Slome adds. That's because it's the year before Medicare coverage goes into effect, with its opportunity for more affordable preventive testing.
Many variables
One of the difficult aspects of determining which long-term care insurance policy to buy is the wide array of variables that must be considered. "This is a complex form of protection," Slome says. "With long-term care insurance, there are some really important differences that separate one policy from the next. You will see a 40 to 80 percent spread in what various policies cost."
Variables include the daily rate covered, typically $100 to $150, and waiting periods of 60, 90 or 120 days until the benefits kick in, Hurme says.
"The longer the waiting period selected, the lower the premium," she adds. "But your care could be very expensive during that waiting period. Or you could get well during that waiting period, and not need the benefits."
Policies also vary based on how incapacitated the insured must be before benefits are forthcoming, Danise says. The level of incapacitation is typically expressed in terms of Activities of Daily Living, or ADLs.
Policies that begin paying when the insured individual needs help with one or two ADLs are better than those that pay off only if more ADLs are impacted.
Another variable is how effectively policies keep pace with inflation, Slome says. Policy A and Policy B may both have 3 percent inflation growth.
"You think they're the same," he says. "But there could be nuances in how they each define that and that could mean the difference between getting or not getting an extra three or four months of coverage."
Shop around
When purchasing long-term care insurance, the best bet is to purchase a policy offered by an established and strong company, experts say. Genworth and John Hancock are the biggest names, followed by Prudential, Mutual of Omaha and Transamerica. Others round out the approximately 20 providers, says Slome, who urges consumers to purchase through an insurance broker.

Copyright © 2012, Chicago Tribune
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How To Make A Girl Fall In Love With You

Getting a girl of your dreams is much like getting the car of your dream. But unlike a car which you can always bargain for, there is nothing like a 20 percent discount in courting the girl of your dreams, she's so sweet a thing to be discounted, you dearly are in love with her and your feelings for her can only be communicated not by the words of the mouth, but by the words of the heart. Getting the girl actually depends on how big your heart is - faint heart, never won fair lady.

The first step in the heart-winning exercise for any man is to make a good impression. In your doing so, you don't have to talk, dress or do the common things that all the Toms do to get a decent girl's attention. Be unique, that's all you need. Be a man of his own style. Dress decently - indecency can make one be mistaken for arrogance; watch your language - obscene language gives the impression of immaturity, being uncultured and cheap; be a man of good habits - don't drink or smoke like any other loser.

Let her fall in love gradually. Romance is an important part of falling in love. When in College I had a crush on the most beautiful lady in our first year lot. Though all senior guys were out to get that girl, I managed to divert her attention from the other guys. I wrote her three letters without disclosing my identity and slid into her room secretly; all I said was 'Yours Secret Admirer.' The first letter contained the meaning of her name, this I got by playing around with the initials of her name to make meaning. The second was a funny message that could only be read backwards and it was all about her physique and her smartness. In the third letter I told the girl to be ready to receive a rose flower from her admirer, but only if she could be kind enough to phone him using a number that I had included in the letter. The girl did phone me that very night, and her first words to me were, "Hallo Secret Admirer." So, the story of our love affair came to be. Later she told me that was so creative of me, no one had approached her in that manner. I made her fall in love with me in the romantic manner.

Befriending and understanding the girl you are out to get is the next important thing. This is what I also did. You have to understand that as a lady, she loves to be loved, adores to be adored and needs to be needed. This will move you closer to the girl and you'll get to know what she's into, what she likes and dislikes, and what her style is. Love is built upon friendship and it always leaves individuals better off having known each other should they break up. I and my College steady were to break some time later but to date, we are the best of buddies. Be sure that bringing out the selflessness friend in you will make her create room for you in her heart.

A shoulder to lean on and some good friend that she can always turn to is all that a lady wants. Please don't hesitate to be helpful and supportive. Be that friend who rekindles her zeal of hardworking and restoring hope back into her life when she looses hope. This above all other things will make you her daily vitamin simply because you bring out the best in her in terms of personality and character. In you, she'll have found that friend whom she can open up to, share with and advice each other on the rights and wrongs, the dos and don'ts of life. Don't forget to always be there to celebrate the good times, and to lend an ear when the girl needs you to listen as a friend.

Make the girl feel special; because she's someone's friend - your friend, and let her know that she too has touched your life in a unique way like no one else could. Compliment her for her company and for being there when you needed her, when you felt sad and all alone. Show appreciations for the comfort the girl offers you and for making you smile.

In your day to day talks, share your dreams, your world, and every aspect of your life with your girl. Always dream with her, build with her, and always cheer her on and encourage her. Tell your girl how you always think about her even when you try not to think about her. Let the girl know that she's your first thing in the morning and the last thing when you go to bed at night.

Her knowing that you were thinking of her when you slipped beneath the softness of your blanket and gave in to the bliss of sweet dreams, will make her go 'my my' and her heart will sing your name all the year round.

You have to be creative and constructive to keep girl's interest in you so full of life. I remember one time I told my girlfriend to be to imagine we are both deaf and dump. We then sat opposite each other on the table and started sharing our feelings for each other using eyes and hand signs. It turned out to be some fun. There was also this time that we were in the library and we decided we are not going to speak to each other verbal, so I wrote a love note on a paper and passed it across the table to her, she replied and on and on we carried on our love on paper conversation till we almost exhausted a whole rim of paper. At sometime, I noticed that some guys sited with us on the table were enjoying our ordeal than their studies. Such are the things that made the girl embrace my world. I remember her suggesting that we play deaf and dump two years after we broke up, can you imagine that?

Never fail to phone her, even when she least expects it. I once called some girl that I was interested in at four o'clock in the morning. When inquiring of what I was doing up so early, I told her I was in thirteenth heaven, where people think of their loved ones when they can't sleep. Wow! First thing early the next morning, she was at my door with a king-sized hug for me.
No matter how many dates you take her, don't make any elbow - exceeding moves after any date, just drop her home and with a friendly handshake, wish her good night. Don't kiss her when she expects you to. Your respect as a gentleman will be earned on how patient you are with her when it comes to such matters as kissing her and accessing her inner graces.

The writing is on the wall that you want her, but you can't have her just yet. Increase your demand. Try to show her that men are also hard to get at times. Make her realize that when she feels a little dizzy, a little tired, a little sad, a little sick, a lot bored and very much cold, she's actually missing vitamin you. By this time, she'll be so much into you and since love is truthful and is characterized by open and honest communication, honestly promise her your everlasting devotion, loyalty, respect, and your unconditional love for a lifetime. Prove to her that you'll always be there for her, to listen and to hold her hand, and that you'll always do your best to make her happy, and feel loved.

Remember, patience is the key to her heart; be like that gardener watching a fruit as it hangs on the tree, day after day admiring it, but, exercising tremendous self-discipline, neither feeling the fruit, nor pinching it, nor testing it to see if it is ready. And then, one day he holds out his hand and the fruit simply drops into it, ripe, warm and eager to be eaten.

The patience and self-control which you practice will make you more attractive and charming. This will qualify you as her daily vitamin and win you that heart hers.

I wish you to meet the girl of your dreams ASAP, make her fall in love with you, and make her feel the happiest girl in the world!

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Common Signs of Breast Cancer

             
 The lack of knowledge makes cancer treatments difficult because the disease goes undetected till it reaches an advanced stage. If breast cancer treatments are done at early stages of the cancer, the chances of complete cure are much higher. Here are some of the signs that one must be aware of:

Lumps - Breast cancer doctors say that even though lumps are the most common and known signs of breast cancer, women often fail to recognize them. A lump is a kind of thickening one may feel near the breast or even in the armpit. They are very small, pea-sized and are generally painless. But one may feel some tenderness or irritation. Such lumps can be easily spotted through a mammogram.

Change in breast size- Changes in breast size is another symptom of cancer. Whether the breast size will increase or decrease will vary from women to women. Some women experience an increase in their breast size and some others find their breast size decreasing. This change is usually not noticeable until the size has changed a lot.

Change in color and texture- Breast cancer may also cause a change in color and texture of the breast. One may notice a marble-like area under the skin. Some areas of the breast may even differ greatly from other areas of the breast. The skin of the breast may also turn pink or red in color. In case of scarring, the skin may also even turn orange. Some tumors can't be seen or felt. In such cases, indentation or flattening of breast is a sure symptom.

Changes in nipple- One of the earliest signs of breast cancer is that one may notice some changes in their nipples. The nipple may get pushed inward and there may be a dimpled look. There may also be irritation and slight pain along with redness of the nipple. Paget's disease, a localized can be recognized by symptoms like itching, scaling of the nipple and ulceration. Discharge of clear fluid or blood is also a common sign of breast cancer.
Cancer doctors say the reasons for this disease are many and varied. Lifestyle and environmental factors are two main factors that play a huge role. Heavy intake of alcohol and red meat, dense breasts and obesity combined with pollution, and food contamination increases the risk of cancer. Apart from these, family history is also important.


It is important that women check themselves for any of the above mentioned signs periodically. If any of the symptoms are observed, a trip to a cancer specialist is mandatory.


Through his articles, youngrin wishes to inform and educate the readers about breast cancer treatments which will benefit those who are looking for useful information, For treatment log on to breast cancer treatments.


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NASA: We’ve Been Hacked Thousands Of Times Because Of Inadequate IT Infrastructure

Paul Martin, NASA’s Inspector General, gave written testimony in a House committee earlier this week detailing the security threats faced by their IT infrastructure. The thrust of the document is that NASA needs to double down on cybersecurity but, naturally, needs more money to do so.

Their IT budget is $1.5 billion, but of that only $58 million was spent on security. Considering the enormous network of datacenters, laptops, operations centers, and research labs scattered around the world, this may not be nearly enough. As it is, in the last two years NASA has been hacked thousands of times. In one instance, the hackers gained full access to some NASA systems and credentials for 150 employees.

NASA counted 5,408 security breaches where some access was given or malicious software was installed. In 2011 alone they had 47 attacks they described as “advanced persistent threats,” serious attacks by well-funded “individuals or nations.” Of those, 13 succeeded, and one attack based in China gained complete access to Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) systems — read, write, delete, add and delete users, modify logs, everything.

Furthermore, they have lost dozens of laptops. And while government-wide, more than half of laptops are encrypted, NASA has yet to implement encryption as standard practice. The result: only one in a hundred NASA laptops is encrypted.

People in security are likely shaking their heads. Encryption of employee laptops and total isolation of root access is something even a small business should be trying to do, to say nothing of a major government entity with enormous amounts of sensitive data.

And that’s the point of this report: Martin is saying that NASA is the target of very serious hackers, and their approach to security is wildly out of date. They also are working hard to bridge the gap between security and control and the benefits of cloud computing.

Martin describes the need essentially for modern security: thin clients and cloud computing, a top-down administration of security, 21st-century standards like encryption and password regulations, and a general move to a “continuous monitoring approach,” the way modern IT should be. They’ve addressed dozens of security issues and implemented many real improvements to their systems, but it’s a good example of a organization totally reliant on technology, yet unable to move as quickly as the threats they face. For tech and research entities, agility is becoming more important yearly, and NASA hopes to convince the House of that.

article source:http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/02/nasa-weve-been-hacked-thousands-of-times-because-of-inadequate-it-infrastructure/

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