Affairs of the hearth - Washington Blade

Have you had an affair this year?? Open any newspaper or online news source and the odds are pretty good that you?ll be reading about someone else?s.

There are foreign affairs and domestic affairs, love affairs and extramarital affairs, current affairs and political affairs and let?s not forget our country?s financial affairs, which nobody in Congress seems to be able to straighten out.

I?ve had many affairs of the heart, but at the end of the year I always think back on my affairs of the hearth: my real estate relationships with buyers and sellers.

The purchase of a home is probably one of the largest and most important business affairs you will ever be involved in. It?s an emotionally charged process, where you share the intimate details of your life ? your wants, needs, finances and insecurities ? with relative strangers.? Your own story may be a romantic comedy, a farce or a thriller with lots of twists and turns, but each time you buy or sell a home, you can be sure it will be An Affair to Remember.

The Meet Cute

Selecting your agent is the first step in beginning your affair with real estate. You may spy him across a crowded room at an open house or be attracted to his online photo. You may be introduced to her by friends or family, or share a smile in the checkout line at Whole Foods.

However you meet, your relationship begins with a hint of desire. You?re excited about the prospect of finding a new home. Your sleep schedule suffers as you stay up late looking at listings on the Internet. You draw little hearts around your favorites and tell all your friends about them.

The Dating Game

On your first ?date? with your agent you are a bit tentative about the information you share.? Unlike a personal relationship, however, there is no such thing as too much information. Sharing personal data early helps to enhance communication and establish mutual respect and trust, which is a critical part of a successful future together.

Slowly, you introduce your agent to your circle of friends and family who want to meet this new person who is currently playing such a large role in your life. After all, these people care about your interests and you want them to like each other and work well together.

The Romantic Journey

During your next series of dates, your agent takes you to new heights, Columbia Heights, District Heights and places you have never been before. Boy meets condo. Girl meets house.? You feel euphoric as you are being introduced to an entirely new world of light-filled spaces.? Your eyes sparkle like granite countertops.

Your agent takes on the roles of educator, counselor, mentor and sometimes inquisitor to make sure you are informed and at ease, and when the time and place are right he asks if you are ready to make a commitment.? Like Sally who met Harry, you shout, ?Yes!? Yes!? Yes!?

The Rules of Engagement

Before you ?put a ring on it,? your agent negotiates your pre-nuptial agreement. This document, also known as a contract offer, outlines the terms and conditions of your upcoming marriage.

You use the ensuing engagement period to conduct a review of your financial obligations, obtain a health check-up, see that you are properly insured and decide whether you are still in love. Soon you are ready for the wedding ceremony, where you signify your commitment to everlasting joy and debt.

Back to the Future

Will you outgrow your first love, divorce and move on or stay with your beloved forever as you grow old together? Will this be The End of the Affair? I doubt it.

Just as Thomas Crown had two affairs, one with Faye Dunaway and the other with Rene Russo, most of us will have more than one affair of the hearth in our lifetime. Look for the sequel in 2013.

Valerie M. Blake can be reached at 202-246-8602 or Valerie@DCHomeQuest.com. Prudential PenFed Realty is an independently owned and operated broker member of BRER Affiliates, Inc. Prudential, the Prudential logo and the Rock symbol are registered service marks of Prudential Financial, Inc. and its related entities, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide.? Used under license with no other affiliation with Prudential. Equal Housing Opportunity.

Source: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2012/12/27/affairs-of-the-hearth/

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Goldwin Korea to sponsor the UIAA Ice Climbing ... - Recreation Law

PRESS RELEASE Goldwin Korea to sponsor the UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour 12 December 2012, BERN, Switzerland: The UIAA ? International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation has signed a sponsorship agreement with Goldwin Korea, the official license partner of The North Face in Korea, starting with the 2013 UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour.The agreement involves a long-term commitment by the UIAA and Goldwin Korea to champion and develop the sport of competitive ice climbing.?An agreement such as this one is a sign of confidence that the UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour which has been growing in popularity over the years is a top notch international event,? said UIAA president Frits Vrijlandt. ?We are ready to take the sport to the next level and the support of a major company such as Goldwin Korea will ensure this happens.?Kihak Sung who is Chief Executive Officer of Goldwin Korea said the sponsorship agreement with the UIAA is an evolution of the company?s continued and proud support of a number of Korean climbers and explorers since 1997.?I am very delighted that we will support global climbers as sponsor company of the UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour series from 2013 to 2018,? said Sung. ?I also look forward to the ongoing success of all UIAA Ice Climbing World Tour events.?

Sung who sent a video message to the UIAA General Assembly last month said that he is especially enthusiastic that the first stop in the 2013 UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup tour will be in Cheongsong, Korea and he is looking forward to meeting ice climbers from all over the world.

Angelika Rainer ? Italy, Shin Woon Seon ? Korea and Maria Shabalina-Tolokonina ? Russia (Photo: UIAA)

The 2013 tour dates are:

• Cheongsong, Korea (12 ? 13 January, 2013): UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup (Lead and Speed) & World Championship (Lead) Saas-Fee, Switzerland (18 ? 19 January, 2013): UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup (Lead and Speed)
• Rabenstein, Italy (26 ? 27 January, 2013): UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup (Lead and Speed)
• Busteni, Romania (7 ? 9 February, 2013): UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup (Lead and Speed)
• Kirov, Russia (8 ? 10 March, 2013): UIAA Ice Climbing World Cup (Lead and Speed) & World Championship (Speed)

The promotional video for the 2013 competition which was recently released by the UIAA can be found here.

In addition to the usual tour, a new event, the UIAA Ice Climbing World Youth Championship will be held in Saas Grund, Switzerland 12 ? 13 January, 2013 simultaneously with the Cheongsong competition.

The 2012 tour saw 209 athletes from 27 countries compete in the Lead and Speed disciplines.

In Speed, competitors climb up an artificial ice wall in the fastest time while in the Lead discipline athletes are judged on their ability to climb a difficult route in the best time.

There are two types of winners; those who win each phase of the competition and overall winners based on the total points accumulated after events in Korea, Switzerland, Italy, Romania and Russia where the tour concludes on 10 March 2013.

The UIAA Ice Climbing Commission has added Rabenstein (Italy), which has experience holding ice climbing competitions, as a new venue for the 2013 competitions calendar. Additional requests from organizers for competitions to be held in the U.S.A. and Russia are under consideration.

Kihak Sung of Goldwin Korea (Photo: Goldwin Korea)

About Goldwin Korea

Goldwin Korea is the official license partner of The North Face in Korea. Goldwin Korea launched The North Face in Korea in 1997 and The North Face is now the leading outdoor brand in Korea.

About The North Face

The North Face, a division of VF Outdoor, Inc., was founded in 1968. Headquartered in San Leandro, California, the company offers the most technically advanced products in the market to accomplished climbers, mountaineers, snowsport athletes, endurance athletes, and explorers. The company?s products are sold in specialty mountaineering, backpacking, running and snowsport retailers, premium-sporting goods retailers and major outdoor specialty retail chains.

About the UIAA

The UIAA was founded in 1932 and has 80 member associations in 50 countries representing about 1.3 million people. The organization?s mission is to promote the growth and protection of mountaineering and climbing worldwide, advance safe and ethical mountain practices and promote responsible access, culture and environmental protection.

The organization operates through the work of its commissions which make recommendations, set policy and advocate on behalf of the mountaineering community. The UIAA is recognized by the International Olympic Committee for mountaineering and natural surface climbing.

Source: http://recreation-law.com/2012/12/27/goldwin-korea-to-sponsor-the-uiaa-ice-climbing-world-tour/

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New computer bridges classical and quantum computing

A new type of machine could rival quantum computers in exceeding the power of classical computers, researchers say.

Quantum computers rely on the bizarre properties of atoms and the other construction blocks of the universe. The world is a fuzzy place at its very smallest levels ? in this realm where quantum physics dominates, things can seemingly exist in two places at once or spin in opposite directions at the same time.

The new computers rely on "boson" particles, and resemble quantum computers, which differ from traditional computers in important ways. Normal computers represent data as ones and zeroes, binary digits known as bits that are expressed by flicking switch-like transistors on or off. Quantum computers, however, use quantum bits, or qubits (pronouced "cue-bits"), that can be on and off at the same time, a state known as "superposition."

This allows the machines to carry out two calculations simultaneously. Quantum physics permits such behavior because it allows for particles that can exist in two places at once or spin in opposite directions at the same time.

[Experiment Demonstrates Possibility of Quantum Internet]

In principle, quantum computers could solve certain problems much faster than can classical computers, because the quantum machines could run through every possible combination at once. A quantum computer with 300 qubits could run more calculations in an instant than there are atoms in the universe.

However, keeping qubits in superposition is challenging, and the problem grows more difficult as more qubits are involved. As such, building quantum computers that are more powerful than classical computers has proven very difficult.

Now, though, two independent teams of scientists have built a novel kind of device known as a boson-sampling computer. Described as a bridge between classical and quantum computers, these machines also make use of the bizarre nature of quantum physics. Although boson-sampling computers theoretically offer less power than quantum computers are capable of producing, the machines should still, in principle, out-perform classical computers in certain problems.

In addition, a boson-sampling computer does not require qubits. As such, "it's technologically far simpler to create than building a full-scale quantum computer," said researcher Matthew Broome, a quantum physicist at the University of Queensland in Australia.

Boson-sampling computers are actually a specialized kind of quantum computer (which is known more formally as a universal quantum computer).

"The main difference between boson-sampling computers and universal quantum computers is that boson-sampling quantum computers can't solve a universal set of problems like universal quantum computers can," Broome said. "But they are still conjectured to be able to solve problems that would be massively intractable for classical computers. Boson sampling computers are an intermediate model of a quantum computer."

Boson-sampling computers are not based on qubits, but on particles called bosons. "In our case, we use photons," said researcher Ian Walmsley, a quantum physicist at the University of Oxford in England. Photons are the packets of energy that make up light, and are one type of boson.

Broome and Walmsley were in separate groups that each devised a boson-sampling computer, based off concepts first described by theoretical computer scientist Scott Aaronson at MIT. The computers involve multiple devices that can each generate single photons. The photons are inserted into a network where they can interact with one another. They emerge from outputs equipped with sensors to analyze the particles.

The task of calculating which outputs these photons will emerge from, an operation known as boson sampling, grows well beyond the capabilities of classical computers the more photons are involved. The new computers accurately resolved what paths the photons would take ? three photons with Broome and his colleagues' machine and four in Walmsley and his collaborators' device.

Since boson-sampling computing is in its infancy, it remains uncertain whether these computers can solve problems beyond boson sampling. Still, this research suggests that computers based on quantum physics could indeed tackle problems beyond the reach of classical computers.

Previously, there was nothing to say "that anything you can do on a quantum computer you can't do on a normal computer, which leaves in question the necessity for quantum computers," Broome said. "Now, with boson sampling, we're coming up with machines based on quantum physics that can attack problems strongly believed to be intractable for classical computers."

In the future, "it would be great to push these computers toward more photons to tackle problems that would be challenging to simulate on normal computers," study coauthor Walmsley added. Using about 20 to 30 photons would be a problem?beyond the capabilities of classical computers.

Both research teams detailed their findings online Dec. 20 in the journal Science.

This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, sister site to LiveScience.

Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/computer-bridges-classical-quantum-computing-175759146.html

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Killer Left Chilling Note Before N.Y. Firefighter Shootings

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/12/killer-left-chilling-note-before-ny-firefighter-shootings/

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So You Just Got a Wii U. Now What?

Chelsea Stark 2012-12-26 18:25:02 UTC

Since the holiday gift-giving period is over, many of you might be fortunate enough to have received a brand new Wii U.

Nintendo's latest console is quite different from other gaming consoles, and there are lots of great ways for you to take advantage of it. There are already a wide variety of games coming out for the Wii U, so you have a plethora of entertainment options as soon as you take it out of the box.

We've compiled a list of tips for first-time Wii U owners that should make your setup and first few days much easier. We've included a few games to try, as well.

Are you setting up a Wii U for the first time? Share any of your thoughts and tips in the comments.

Thumbnail image courtesy nubobo, Flickr.

Topics: Entertainment, Gadgets, gallery, Gaming, holidays 2012, Nintendo, Wii U

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/12/26/wii-u-setup-tips/

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'Les Mis' dreams a dream, and dreams big

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, NBC News

REVIEW: There are movies and then there are movie experiences. "Les Miserables" is the latter. The audience I saw it with sat in mesmerized silence through the songs, the drama, the very miniscule speaking parts. They sat quietly when the credits rolled and then applauded with fervor, as if they were seeing the show live. If a Broadway musical isn't your thing, "Les Mis" won't convert you, but if you're open to it, the filmed version doesn't let fans down. It's not subtle, it's not small, but it shouldn't be.

The musical, based of course on Victor Hugo's 1000-page-plus 150-year-old novel, does an amazing job of skating between multiple plots. Hugh Jackman plays the released prisoner Jean Valjean, who spends the film fleeing the dogged Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe). Their lives criss-cross with that of a doomed mother, trickster innkeepers, an abused orphan and the young students of France's 1832 June Rebellion. That's a lot of happenings, even for a three-hour film, and newcomers to the "Les Mis" craze are bound to get lost once or twice, but stay with it.

So much of the movie rests on Jackman's performance, and he delivers. His singing is powerful and natural, and his performance as the haunted, redeemed Valjean drives the movie.

Anne Hathaway as Fantine isn't in every scene, but her fall from prettiest girl in the factory to wretched mother who sells her hair, teeth and body to save her child is stunning, a mini-movie all its own. The beautiful Hathaway keeps only her swan neck -- the rest of her turns dirty and ugly and sick and messy, a most non-Hollywood look for a red-carpet icon.?

Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter play the?Th?nardiers, the conniving innkeepers who treat Fantine's daughter Cosette as their own Cinderella. Not all critics appreciate their bumbling slapstick, but it's remarkably toned down considering the actors in question. Their "Master of the House" is the musical's most memorable song (tied only with Fantine's "I Dreamed a Dream"), and it's hard not to leave the theater with it bumbling around in your brain.

So many other highlights. Isabelle Allen, the tiny blonde who plays a young Cosette, is a somber, sweet version of the musical's famed poster, and her grave demeanor suits her role. Her character grows up to be played by an adequate Amanda Seyfried, but Seyfried is blown off the screen by beautiful brunette Samantha Barks, who played the role of Eponine in the London production and reprises it wonderfully, touchingly here.

The plot that takes place on a Parisian barricade brings in a dozen or so young men with names like Scrabble words (Enjolras,?Courfeyrac,?Lesgles). But Eddie Redmayne as Marius, who pines for Cosette and is in turn loved by Eponine, is really the main one you need to know, and he rises out of a crowd of young faces with a soaring voice and a believable anguish as his brave rebellion goes horribly wrong.

Not everything works. Fans of the musical were amused by the casting of Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert. He can be a great actor, but he has an Australian accent and no stage singing experience (though yes, he sang for years with his own band). Every time he sings, it feels a little like a night at a Sydney karaoke bar. But the complaints are minor. Whether you've got the soundtrack memorized or only know it from Susan Boyle and George Costanza,?"Les Mis" is a dazzling film experience.

Related content:

Source: http://entertainment.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/21/16073473-les-miserables-dreams-a-dream-and-dreams-big?lite

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TSX closes lower as U.S. budget fears linger

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index ended down after a quiet, shortened Christmas Eve trading session on Monday, as oil prices extended their retreat on worries about U.S. 'fiscal cliff' budget measures, pulling energy shares lower.

With U.S. lawmakers suspending talks on the spending cuts and tax increases that could send the economy back into recession until after Christmas, the market was cautious.

Rick Hutcheon, President and Chief Operating Officer at RKH Investments, said uncertainty around the U.S. fiscal cliff was weighing on the market.

"We have to get past the fiscal cliff. That's obviously a negative," he said.

World oil prices fell for a third straight session as the budget dispute threatened to hurt demand by the United States - the world's top oil consumer. Energy was the most influential negative sector, closing down 0.7 percent.

There is no set date for budget talks to resume, and the two sides have only a few days between Christmas and January 1, when $600 billion in spending cuts and tax increases start to take effect.

But Hutcheon also cautioned that markets were quiet: "There is very little volume - you can't read too much into the transactions that are occurring today."

"It's extremely quiet," said John Kinsey, Portfolio Manager at Caldwell Securities. "There's just nobody around."

Kinsey, like most political experts and economists, expects a U.S. budget deal of some sort will come after Christmas.

"They have been through this before and they usually just kick the can down the road," he added. "Something's going to get down, not probably what I would like to see, but something is always done."

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.gsptse> closed down 0.12 percent, or 14.90 points, at 12,370.80.

Canadian and U.S. equity markets closed early, shutting at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) ahead of Tuesday's Christmas holiday. Canadian markets will remain closed through Wednesday's Boxing Day holiday.

Financial stocks closed little changed, up 0.03 percent. The materials sector edged down 0.13 percent as copper slipped. The Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB Index <.trjcrb>, which tracks commodity prices, was down 0.35 percent.

Canada Life, a unit of insurer Great-West Lifeco Inc , is close to a deal for state-rescued insurer Irish Life, a source familiar with the talks said on Sunday. On Monday, Great-West rose 0.5 percent to C$24.30.

Chevron Corp's Canadian unit said it would buy a 50 percent stake in the Kitimat liquefied natural gas project and the proposed Pacific Trail Pipeline from EOG Resources Inc and Encana Corp . Encana fell 2.3 percent to C$19.66.

After Friday's close, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc said a client had given notice that it would terminate an engineering, procurement and construction contract. But SNC said it did not anticipate a material impact on fourth-quarter earnings. Its shares closed up 0.8 percent at C$40.21.

Outside the index, Sears Canada Inc rose 1.6 percent to C$10.83 after it said its chief financial officer would resign effective January 4. The company, majority-owned by Sears Holdings Corp is pushing for a turnaround after several quarters of precipitous declines in same-store sales.

($1=$0.99 Canadian)

(Reporting by Allison Martell; editing by Peter Galloway, G Crosse)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tsx-may-open-lower-u-fiscal-cliff-concerns-133350692--finance.html

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