Video: Supercar Sounds of London 2011 by Dariudrarta

London, Supercar Videos ? By Lawrence on January 2, 2012 at 11:18 am ? No Comments

London is always a favourite destination for those wanting to go supercar spotting. Dario Abbondanza aka, Dariudrarta on Youtube, spent a lot of time in the British capital this year and managed to record lots of exotic machinery accelerating through the enclosed streets.

You?ll recognise a lot of cars from videos we?ve shown you before. Supercars such as the Fab Design Mercedes SLS, Lamborghini LP670-4 SV, Ferrari 599, Ferrari California, Ferrari 430 Spider, Audi R8, Mercedes C63 AMG and a BMW M6 all make an appearance.

The sound is amplified due to the high-walled surroundings so turn up your speakers and enjoy the finest sounding supercars London had to offer in 2011.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GTspirit/~3/N4naI37Nnc4/

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Jonathan Comey ? NFL Blitz: Steelers, Bengals loom as playoff probables

By JONATHAN COMEY

January 03, 2012 12:00 AM

When the time is right, it doesn't matter who stands in your way.

The Patriots found that out in 2001 when they beat the 13-3 Steelers and 14-2 Rams en route to the Super Bowl. They reinforced it in 2004, beating the potent Colts, 15-1 Steelers and NFC top seed Eagles for another title.

If you've got what it takes, the opponent is meaningless.

That brings us to this New England team, which might have what it takes "? but more likely will need a few things to fall their way if they want to add a fourth Vince Lombardi Trophy to the victory chest.

In other words, Pats fans shouldn't be above rooting for some specific outcomes this weekend as the NFL Wild Card playoff games get under way.

After a bye week off to rest physically and sharpen up mentally, the Patriots are guaranteed a game against one of three opponents: Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Denver. (Houston, as the No. 3 seed, can't play New England until the AFC title game.) All three possible opponents are defense-first, and all three have quarterbacks with a special quality.

But which would be the best opponent? And which is the most likely?

A breakdown:

No. 6 SEED: CINCINNATI (9-7)

Estimated chances to play New England (with win at Houston): 39 percent

Strengths: Overall team defense (fourth in yards per play allowed), pass rush, balance

Weaknesses: No particular area of dominance, subpar running game, inexperience

Outlook: This team has been pretty consistent about one thing ? against good teams, they've been competitive but not good enough to win. They lost all four of their games against AFC North rivals Baltimore and Pittsburgh, lost to San Francisco and lost to Houston.

While rookie passing combo Andy Dalton to A.J. Green is the best first-year duo in decades, both the air attack and ground game are equally mundane. Still learning, they are just average on offense ? which usually means good things when measured up against the unstoppable New England offense.

Rooting for Cincinnati Saturday afternoon makes a lot of sense for Patriots fans looking for the path of least resistance, and the Bengals have a legitimate shot to win as three-point underdogs. Houston might start Jake Delhomme, a guy who was watching from the couch two months ago, and closed the season with three losses.

Even against a Cincy team that pulled off a mild upset in Houston, New England would be favored by 9-11 points in the AFC Divisional Round, and I'd sure pick them to cover.

No. 5 SEED: PITTSBURGH STEELERS (12-4)

Estimated chances to play New England (beat DEN + HOU win over CIN): 43 percent

Strengths: Experience, wide receivers, pass rush, pass defense

Weaknesses: Health, kicking game

Outlook: Obviously, this is the team that New England would love to avoid. The loss of running back Rashard Mendenhall is a blow, but not much of one ? backup Isaac Redman has looked just as good this year, and the team thrives through the air anyway.

The big question is Ben Roethlisberger, who is so good that at even 50-percent health he's still one of the best in the league. He passed it all over the Patriots in the first meeting, but since that Week 8 game Pittsburgh has only averaged 16.8 points a game. That's not going to get it done against a New England team that averaged 32.1 a week this year.

Pittsburgh has the pass rush to disturb Brady, but with the injuries and the site being switched to Foxboro, New England would still be a solid 4-6 point favorite against Pittsburgh. But the Steelers would make the fans sweat icy bullets at Gillette, almost certainly.

DENVER BRONCOS (8-8)

Estimated chances to play New England (beat PIT + HOU win over CIN): 18 percent

Strengths: Two great pass rushers (Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil), potent running game

Weaknesses: Can't throw a forward pass, inexperience, general lack of talent.

Outlook: This would be the best matchup for New England, but is also the least likely. Coming into the playoffs at 8-8 with three straight losses would be a negative even against an easy playoff opponent, but instead Denver has to take on the superior Steelers. Even with the Denver fans in full throat behind them, the Broncos are eight-point underdogs vs. Pittsburgh and for good reason.

The Broncos only played five games against teams with winning records for 2011, and lost five of them. Compare that to Pittsburgh, which went 4-4 vs. the iron and has more experience on both sides of the ball.

With Tebow Magic having been more or less debunked over the losing streak, the Broncos are now hoping their run game is enough against a Pittsburgh defense that is traditionally impenetrable. Doubtful.

If the Broncos do beat the Steelers, though, the Tebow Magic could be back in play ? and the way the Patriots have failed to play complete games, you'd have to be at least a little worried that Denver'd have a puncher's chance to beat them. But it's also hard to see the patently predictable Broncos come up with any type of new wrinkle in a rematch with a team that solidly beat them ? in Denver, no less.

Jonathan Comey is sports and features editor for The Standard-Times. Email him at jcomey@s-t.com

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States change how they recruit foster parents (AP)

MIAMI ? For decades, it was common for officials around the country to approve foster parents by room and board criteria: Did they pass a background check? Is their home clean? Are their dogs safe and vaccinated?

Now several states including Florida, California and Wisconsin are trying to find ones who they know upfront will help with homework, sew Halloween costumes and accompany kids to doctor appointments. Complicating the efforts is the longtime problem of finding enough adults to house children in need.

"Most jurisdictions end up being in a reactive mode because they don't have enough fosters parents so they're just focused on getting people into the fold instead of making sure standards for parents are elevated," said David Sanders, an executive vice president at Casey Family Programs, an advocacy organization in Seattle.

In Florida, the demand for foster homes was so dire that children were sleeping in child welfare offices as recently as a few years ago. And there were recurring problems for the parents that it could recruit: unreturned phone calls, condescending caseworkers and an inability to get the records they needed. They also weren't invited to staff meetings where the child welfare professionals were making decisions about the foster child's case.

Former Department of Children and Families Secretary Bob Butterworth worked with Carole Shauffer, executive director of Youth Law Center and an attorney who often sued the state, to make sweeping changes to the system in 2007.

Through a far-reaching Quality Parenting Initiative program, Shauffer worked with foster parents and child welfare workers in Florida to address those issues during a 90-day program. Meetings were designed to bring foster parents and caseworkers together to open the lines of communication. Florida changed the way it trains staff and recruits foster parents, even offering online training to make it more convenient to get certified. Overall, the changes led to a distinct cultural change in how the two view each other.

The program also encourages small improvements, like returning foster parents' phone calls or writing a thank-you note to them. Shauffer's team heads the initial effort and stresses the program is not a marketing campaign, but rather an ongoing effort to change stereotypes, increase communication and cut through barriers between foster parents and state agencies. Shauffer's organization spent more than $150,000 in 15 regions across Florida this past year. The tab was picked up by an advocacy group. Several counties in California began using the program in 2009 after seeing Florida's success.

"The cost is minimal. It's the commitment that's hard," said Shauffer, who said child welfare agencies in both states have made the changes a priority.

Foster parent groups say the changes are sorely needed.

"We can use overhauling," said David Sharp, public policy chairman for National Foster Parent Association.

Sharp says that while conditions vary by state and county, foster parents often don't get to comment in court on how the child is doing on a daily basis. Instead, volunteers representing the children and attorneys for the state typically give their opinions about where they think a judge should place a child.

"Agencies don't take us seriously. No matter how upset or concerned we might get for children's wellbeing, there's really nothing we can do," said Sharp, who is also a former Alabama foster parent of 27 children. "(Foster parents)...see they don't have any effect on the child's life long term and they quit."

Around the country, smaller-scale efforts are springing up to address problems.

Connecticut's new child welfare Commissioner Joette Katz has pushed for massive foster care reform, saying the agency needs to respect foster parents, include them in decision making and provide better support services.

Her changes come in the aftermath of a class-action lawsuit in 1989 alleging Connecticut's child welfare system was failing to find quality permanent families for foster children. At one point, 30 to 35 percent of foster kids were being housed in group homes and institutions ? a costly but generally inferior alternative to foster homes, said Ira Lustbader, lead attorney for the lawsuit filed by the advocacy group Children's Rights.

The state was so short on foster homes they were sometimes keeping unqualified foster parents, he said.

An independent federal court that is monitoring reform efforts has repeatedly said the state overuses group homes and institutions instead of recruiting more foster parents. In 2008, the state agreed to add 850 foster family homes by July 2010, yet had a net loss of 84 foster homes as of July 2011.

Tennessee and New Jersey have had success launching efforts to recruit homes specifically for teenagers and children with disabilities and other special needs ? populations that often end up in group homes or institutions.

In 2006, Wisconsin launched a four-year marketing campaign where child welfare officials assessed the motivations of their best foster parents. They realized the majority did it for personal fulfillment or spiritual desires. They crafted a marketing campaign, trying to attract foster families akin to Peace Corps recruits ? an honest way to balance tough work and poor pay with a priceless human reward.

The website didn't just include rosy stories from foster parents. Officials were up front that "this is painful, this is hard work. There are no rewards sometimes," said Colleen Ellingson, CEO of Adoption Resources of Wisconsin, who coordinated the effort.

Some foster care agencies initially felt it was a waste of money.

"Within a year they all said this was the most effective help we've ever had. It was driving families to them," she said. One area had 25 potential foster families contact them in one month. In the past they'd never had more than five.

Some states are also cutting foster parents who don't meet expectations.

Miami foster parent Maritza Moreno says she's frustrated when she hears of fellow foster parents relying on medical transport provided by the state to take their child to the doctor.

"A parent would never do that," said Moreno, an insurance adjuster, who has fostered eight children, mostly babies, in the past four years.

She says foster children "really need a parent, not a caregiver."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111231/ap_on_re_us/us_rebranding_foster_parents

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Learn About the Types of Disability Insurance | Insurance World

Almost all of us are familiar with the word ?Insurance? and its importance in our lives. Insurance is of different types including travel insurance, pet insurance, home insurance and life insurance. Of them perhaps, car insurance and life insurance are among the most opted for. However, we cannot neglect other types. This article lays more stress on disability insurance and its various aspects.

As you can easily figure it out from the name itself, insurance basically helps the policy holder to take care of his or her necessities when he or she fails to attend work due to injury or illness. This type of insurance in not complicated at all. It covers you from loss of earning, if you have become disabled due to accident or something. This type of insurance will provide solutions to your rehabilitation and medical expenses.

You will find a different products or policies in this regards when you look for them. Thus, market analysis or study is very important before you opt for any kind of disability insurance so as to ensure that you get the maximum benefits at the best possible price.

Broadly speaking, disability insurance is of two types, i.e. long term disability insurance and short term insurance. The former offers 75-80% of your actual income on a tax free basis, whereas latter covers around 40-60% of your actual income. Short term policy is usually available for 90-365 days, whereas a long term policy might last up to 2 -5 years or even more than that. The longer the benefit period, more expensive premiums tend to become.

You should consider factors such as renewability and total disability before you select any sort of insurance policy. Go for the policy that can be canceled by you instead of your disability insurance provider. Avoid the policies that require you to pay some sort of penalty if you cancel the policy.

The cost of insurance depends on various factors like occupation, age, sex etc. The higher the risk of disability becomes, the higher the price of premium becomes. You should choose a disability insurance policy since the beginning so that you can live a peaceful life even after being disabled.

This insurance is different from health insurance in the context that it covers income lost while unable to work, whereas health insurance covers the cost of medicine, doctors as well as hospital costs. If you don?t have disability insurance with you, then paying for daily expenses while unable to work implies that your bank balance is draining slowly.

This insurance is among the most important means of protection against any sort of financial loss, if a person gets injured. It happens a lot of time that insurance companies give a hard time to make claims, thus your selection of insurance service provider should be well assessed. It is recommend that you come in contact with an experienced disability insurance claims lawyer, as he will help you to save time, money and various hassles and help alleviate unfair insurance practices.

Source: http://www.dhszyy.com/learn-about-the-types-of-disability-insurance.html

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If Mitt Romney wins both Iowa and N.H., it may be 'game over'

If Mitt Romney wins both Iowa and New Hampshire, it would be a first for someone who isn?t already president. But the Iowa caucuses have a habit of producing surprises, and there are scenarios under which Romney doesn't live up to expectations.

Four days before the Iowa caucuses, it?s now clear that Mitt Romney could win there and then the New Hampshire primary a week later.

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The latest Iowa polls show the former Massachusetts governor neck and neck with Texas Rep. Ron Paul for the lead, with both in the low 20s among likely caucusgoers. In New Hampshire, polls show an average 20-point lead for Mr. Romney over his nearest competitor, Congressman Paul.

If Romney wins both, that would be unprecedented for someone who isn?t already president.

Since the GOP Iowa caucuses began to matter in 1980, Iowa and New Hampshire have had a history of going in different directions.?And if Romney wins both by comfortable margins, then for all intents and purposes, it?s game over.

Romney will have a lock on the Republican nomination, as the only candidate with momentum, big money, a national organization, and substantial room for growth in his numbers. (Iowa provides a clue on that last point: 50 percent of likely GOP caucusgoers view Romney as ?acceptable? for the nomination, versus only 35 percent who see Paul that way, according to the new NBC-Marist poll.)

?If he wins both, the image that it?s over will be hard to shake,? says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.?The media will be full of stories about how no one who is not already president has ever pulled off the one-two punch.

But if Romney wins Iowa with a small plurality, that will give hope to the also-rans. And there?s no indication that Romney can win Iowa going away, because of continuing reservations over his moderate image, policy flip-flops, and Mormonism.??

Also, the caucus format favors the most enthusiastic voters, as it requires attending an evening-long event at an appointed time, unlike a primary. The NBC-Marist poll shows Romney has less ?strong support? (51 percent of his voters) than the surging Rick Santorum (59 percent), Paul (54 percent), and Rick Perry (52 percent).

So if Romney wins Iowa, it is likely to be with a low plurality ? perhaps even with the same 25 percent he won in his second-place finish four years ago. Chances are Paul won?t be far behind. And Mr. Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, could surprise both.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/iq514DMWQMk/If-Mitt-Romney-wins-both-Iowa-and-N.H.-it-may-be-game-over

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Iran reports nuclear progress as sanctions loom (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) - ? Iran announced a nuclear fuel breakthrough and test-fired a new radar-evading medium-range missile in the Gulf on Sunday, moves that could further antagonize the West at a time when Tehran is trying to avert harsh new sanctions on its oil industry.

U.S. President Barack Obama signed a law on Saturday imposing tougher financial sanctions to penalize Iran for a nuclear research programme that the West suspects is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

The move could for the first time hurt Tehran's oil exports, and the European Union is due to consider similar steps soon.

As tensions have risen, Iran threatened last week to close the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow Gulf shipping lane through which 40 percent of world oil flows, if sanctions hit its oil exports.

At the same time, it signaled on Saturday that it was ready to resume stalled international talks on its nuclear programme.

It says the programme is completely peaceful and, in what Iranian media described as an engineering breakthrough, state television said Iran had successfully produced and tested its own uranium fuel rods for use in its nuclear power plants.

The rods were made in Iran and inserted into the core of Tehran's nuclear research reactor, the television reported.

Iran is trying to develop its own nuclear fuel cycle to power reactors without international help. Western countries are skeptical of some of Tehran's engineering claims but say they fear Iran's enrichment of uranium to make fuel could eventually lead to it producing a weapon.

SABRE-RATTLING

In what has become part of a pattern of saber-rattling in recent weeks, Iran is finishing a 10-day Gulf naval exercise.

Deputy Navy Commander Mahmoud Mousavi told IRNA state news agency it had successfully test fired a medium-range surface-to-air missile equipped with "the latest sophisticated anti-radar technologies."

Iran has apparently delayed pre-announced plans to test its long-range missiles during the drill, saying the weapons would be launched in the next few days. Its long-range missiles could hit Israel or U.S. bases in the Middle East.

The United States and Israel say they have not ruled out military action against Iran if diplomacy fails to resolve the dispute over its nuclear programme.

Western analysts say Iran sometimes exaggerates its nuclear advances to try to gain leverage in its stand-off with the West.

The U.N. Security Council has already imposed four rounds of global sanctions on Iran, but Russia and China have refused to back sanctions that would seriously affect Iran's oil industry, so the EU and United States have taken measures on their own.

Just how far the latest U.S. measures will go could depend on how Obama decides to implement them.

The U.S. defense funding bill, approved by Congress last week, aims to reduce the oil revenues that make up the bulk of Iran's export earnings. Obama signed it in Hawaii on Saturday, where he was spending the Christmas holiday.

If enforced strictly, the sanctions could make it nearly impossible for most refiners to buy crude from Iran, the world's fourth biggest producer.

POSSIBLE WAIVERS

However, Obama asked for scope to apply the measures flexibly, and will have discretion to waive penalties. Senior U.S. officials said Washington was consulting foreign partners to ensure the new measures did not harm global energy markets.

Despite its missile tests, war games and threats to close the Hormuz Strait, Iran has also made conciliatory gestures, saying it wants to resume talks with major powers, stalled for a year, about its nuclear research programme.

Western officials suggest the offer may be a stalling tactic to avert sanctions and buy time for more nuclear progress.

Iranian media reported on Saturday that nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili would write to the EU foreign policy chief to say Iran was ready for talks.

A senior Western diplomat in Tehran, who asked not to be identified, said the stepped-up Iranian threats show "that they are worried about losing petrodollars, on which more than 60 percent of the economy depends."

The rising tensions are having an impact at home. Iran's currency has nosedived in recent weeks as ordinary Iranians have moved money from savings accounts into gold or foreign currency.

The price of staple foods has increased by up to 40 percent in recent months and many critics have put the blame on increasing isolation brought about by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's economic and foreign policies.

(Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120101/wl_nm/us_iran_missile

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LG to Show Off 84-Inch ?Ultra Definition? TV at CES

Apparently, a 55-inch OLED television isn't wowing enough. So, in addition to the TV we reported on Tuesday, LG will also be unveiling at CES what it describes as the world's largest 3-D "Ultra Definition" television -- an 84-inch, 3840x2160 resolution 3-D display.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/U4xm6SKipB4/

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