Friday, June 29, 2012

Music: {allcanada} Krueger built impressive resume in Europe

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Although new Edmonton Oilers head coach Ralph Krueger has a limited body of work in the NHL, the 52-year-old forged the reputation as one of the most astute coaches in European and international hockey prior to serving on Tom Renney's staff in Edmonton the last two seasons. A native of Winnipeg with dual Canadian and German citizenship, Krueger spent two decades playing and coaching in Europe before joining the Oilers in 2010.

Under Krueger, a once directionless Swiss program found a team-wide identity. On a team that boasted little in the way of explosive offensive talent, Krueger instilled an often-airtight defensive system that took advantage of the team's assets: above-average goaltending and numerous smooth-skating and defensively aware players on his roster.

"I think Ralph is a very good coach," current St. Louis Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock told NHL.com in 2010. "You can see it the way he gets his teams prepared to play and the way they play with patience and discipline. That doesn't happen by accident."

During Krueger's long tenure as the head coach of Team Switzerland (1997-98 to 2009-10) he turned the Swiss national team from an afterthought on the international hockey scene into a team capable of pulling upsets against favored teams.

Krueger's first major tournament as Swiss bench boss was the 1998 World Championship, held in Basel and Zurich. To the delight of the home crowds, the underdog host nation tied favored Slovakia (1-1) and stunned Russia with a 4-2 upset in the medal-round qualification phase. Switzerland advanced to the semifinals before ultimately losing to the Czech Republic in the bronze medal game.

The fourth-place finish was the highest in Krueger's international career. However, his most notable coaching successes came in the 2006 and 2010 Olympics. In the Turin Games, the Swiss stunned the hockey world in back-to-back games by defeating the Czech Republic, 3-2, and then shutting out Canada, 2-0. The Swiss finished sixth.

Four years later in Vancouver, the Swiss were highly competitive in the preliminary round. Once again, Krueger's team gave Canada all it could handle, but ultimately lost via shootout to the eventual gold medalists. In the medal round quarterfinals, Team Switzerland battled Team USA hard but was unable to find the net in a 2-0 loss.

While Krueger is a demanding coach, he was also highly respected by his Swiss players. For his part, the coach took pride in their advancement and in the slow but steady growth of the program at all levels from the mid-1990s to the present day.

"These players have come a long way to be able to compete at this level," Krueger told NHL.com following his final game behind the Swiss bench.

Now that he is in charge of the Oilers, Krueger faces a somewhat opposite challenge to the one he tackled in his later years in Switzerland. His Edmonton roster is filled with explosive young offensive talents (No. 1 picks Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and rookie Nail Yakupov among them), but is need of defensive improvement. However, given that he has spent the last two seasons as an associate coach, Krueger brings instant familiarity with the roster that a candidate hired from the outside might lack.

As a player, Krueger realized from a young age that the NHL would not be in the cards. Unselected in the NHL Draft following a brief but successful WHL stint as a right wing with Calgary Wranglers, a 20-year-old Krueger headed to West Germany to play in the Bundesliga (the forerunner to the current-day DEL).

In a playing career that spanned most of the 1980s, Krueger became a versatile star in the West German league; not only was he a high scoring forward, but he played on the blue line when needed. Twice, Krueger played for Team West Germany at the IIHF World Championship. Over his later years, he served as a playing assistant coach for German minor league team EV Duisburg.

Krueger formally retired as an active player in 1992, accepting his first coaching job as the head coach of Austrian team VEU Feldkirch in what was then known as the Alpenliga (later disbanded and subsequently reorganized several times into the current-day EBEL). He spent six years coaching in Feldkirch, slowly molding the club into a squad that would earn a spot in the European Champions League in 1997-98. The lightly regarded team ended up embarrassing an unmotivated Dynamo Moscow team in the finals to capture the championship.

Thereafter, Krueger accepted the job with Team Switzerland. Building the Swiss program remained his sole hockey focus for the next 13 years, apart from a stretch in which he concurrently served as a scouting consultant for the Carolina Hurricanes. When Renney and the Oilers offered Krueger his first full-fledged NHL position two years ago, he jumped at the chance.

Krueger, who founded a motivational speaking company and authored an autobiographical self-help book, has gained the reputation for being a coach who emphasizes can-do thinking to his players and pays great attention to detail at practice. While he was unafraid to delegate responsibilities to assistant coaches, Krueger became known for remaining closely involved in all facets of his team's system.

These qualities ultimately convinced Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini that Krueger was the right man to succeed Renney and try to elevate the young Edmonton team to the next level.

"When I think of Ralph, I think of someone who has immense information, Tambellini told the team's official website. "That's vast experience with regards to professional hockey overseas as well as right here as an associate coach. When I watched that work with our group, knowing we have players from all over the world, I think his ability to communicate and think of tactics that work for different people is incredible. This is a big thing for us. I know Ralph and his family are extremely excited. This is a big step in his career but he deserves it, and we're very excited about it."

The new Edmonton coach's son, Daniel Krueger, has acquired his father's passion for international hockey. Born in Switzerland and a member of Team Germany at the most recent World Championship, Daniel played last season in the AHL for the Charlotte Checkers. A Cornell University graduate, Daniel was drafted by Carolina in the seventh round (No. 213) of the 2006 draft. The defenseman played one season in the Swiss National League for SC Bern and represented both the German junior and senior national teams before returning to North America to play in the AHL.

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Source: http://newsonlinemusic.blogspot.com/2012/06/allcanada-krueger-built-impressive.html

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Drew Brees talks about the NFL's bounty investigation on 'Late Show'

Drew Brees will appear on today's episode of "Late Show with David Letterman," which was taped on Tuesday and will air at 10:35 p.m. During his interview with Letterman, Brees again responded to questions about the NFL's pay-for-performance bounty investigation.

"It's certainly not a positive thing," Brees said. "I mean, just the whole process itself and the investigation I feel like has been extremely unfair. Unfortunately, it seems like it's been more of a media campaign then it is actually finding the truth to the matter."?

Brees said, as he has in the past, that he was not aware that a "pay-to-injure" program existed during former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams' time with the New Orleans Saints from 2009-11.

"... That's not something that I believe our team would be engaged in, and I think for all of us, it was a shock when we were accused of that because that's a pretty heinous accusation," Brees said. "So the entire time for a lot of us, it's been, 'Show us the proof, put forth the facts and, if indeed it is proved that there was a pay-to-injure program in place, then, yes, there should be punishment enforced.' Unfortunately, to this pointthere's been no hard evidence to show that that was indeed taking place."?

Brees again drew a distinction between the terms "pay-for-performance" and "pay-to-injure" when asked about the legality of the program.

"There's two things here: There's a pay-for-performance and then there's pay-to-injure," Brees said. "The NFL, through their media campaign, has combined the two and said that these were going on, but combined them as if they were the same thing. They're not the same thing.

"Pay-for-performance would be if I was a kick returner and I said to all the guys blocking for me, 'Hey, if I score a touchdown, if you get me in the end zone, I'll give you all $100' or 'I'll take you all out to eat.'? It's just a benefit, a reward.? That's a pay-for-performance, and that's just players taking care of players.? It has nothing to do with the front office management, owner, anyone.? Pay-to-injure is the same thing except it's, 'Hey, I'll give you money if you go and intentionally hurt somebody."?

Source: http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2012/06/drew_brees_talks_about_the_nfl.html

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How to Increase Blog Traffic: 8 Ways to ... - Business 2 Community

If you are a blogger I am going to say something here that you might baulk at!

Getting traffic and prospective customers to your bog isn?t that difficult!

There, I said it. Do you agree or are you one of those in the camp that constantly struggles when it comes to knowing the exact methods of how to increase blog traffic?

In this post you will learn 8 ways to drive new visitors to your blog, but (and this is a big BUT!), you have to be consistent, thorough, unrelenting and committed to your blogging or else your blog will simply be the next ghost town.

This is a multipronged approach that includes both online and offline marketing efforts, some paid and some free. You can use these techniques to master the art of increasing traffic and bumping up conversion rates.

1. Organic Search

Google still is, and for a long time will be, the main traffic driver on the web. In order to benefit from Google?s generosity of sharing their customers, as that is essentially what search traffic is, you have to play by the search engine?s rules. Therefore getting your site to rank high remains an important way to drive traffic. Search engine optimisation is a critical strategy to drive organic search results.

2. External Links

Your website is an island a vast ocean that is the internet. In order to attract more traffic you need to build more bridges for people to come visit. These bridges are what are known as links and links play a vital role in determining the credibility of your website to the search engines.

One thing to mention here is that not all links are equal. If your site discussed pony trekking then a link from a cake baking article is not really a valid citation. If your theme is eighteen wheel trucks and you have a link from Barbie dolls, again that?s not valid. You want to make sure that the site where the link comes from is a good match for what your blog discusses.

The next three items on the list are paid methods of attracting more traffic to your blog, which if you know your conversion rate and you have a monetisation strategy then these will work for you. If you are still getting started then until you master the art of tracking and conversion which is a different topic altogether then you might want to skip to number 6.

3. PPC Advertising

Paid keywords, such as Google Adwords, have proven themselves to be cost effective methods for driving targeted traffic to your site. Although cost can be prohibitive for many niches, providing you know your conversion rates and are constantly testing and tweaking, adwords is a way to drive instant targeted traffic to your site.

Google offers a lot of resources to help small business owners learn everything from the basics of using adwords to mastering advanced user strategies and tips. Google Adwords Small Business Center

4. Affiliate Traffic

Affiliate traffic is when you pay a third party a referral fee for getting targeted traffic to your site. Affiliates use their own online marketing techniques, methods and internet real estate to advertise your product or service and send the traffic to your site. You may not want to take on this task until you are more established as affiliates want to know expected conversions in return for their investment.

5. Paid Banner Advertising

Banners are perhaps the oldest form of advertising on the internet. They act much like billboards in real life. You place a banner in an area of high traffic and when some someone shows interest in what you are offering then they click through and are taken immediately to your site or landing page.

6. Offline efforts

how to increase blog traffic - networkingNot everything you do has to stay online. Promoting your site offline though business cards and networking can help drive traffic to your blog.

Every time you meet someone who you feel could benefit from your content then let them know that you blog and direct them there. If something comes up in a conversation that you have covered on your blog, say , ?I wrote a blog about that you should check it out? or after the event drop that person an email.

?We were talking about offline marketing efforts during the networking event and I thought I would share a blog I wrote discussing the exact same issue. Once you have read it leave me a comment at the bottom to let me know your thoughts?

The more people that know about your blog the more likely other people are to find and share it and at the same time you establish yourself as a thought leader.

7. Content

If you don?t have any content then there is no reason for people to check out your site. They?ll hit back on their browser and move on.

Quality content is absolutely fundamental to the success of your blog. Having bad content is like inviting people to a party and then telling them that there is no food or drink. People get disgruntled and leave.

Give people a strong reason to visit but more importantly to stay, subscribe and share. If you don?t have the content then this will not happen, so prior to inviting people and certainly before attempting any of the paid advertising methods make sure there is plenty of juicy content for people to find.

8. Email Newsletters

When you have gone through all the hard work of attracting people to your site then you want to be in a position to take that relationship to the next level. For some that may be buying your product or service or joining your membership program, but whatever it is you want to get people to subscribe to your email list.

People who have subscribed to your email list have shown an interest in what you do and what you talk about. They have expressed a desire to learn more about you and these are the most valuable type of blog readers.

When you publish a new blog you can send your subscribers an email to let them know you have new content for them to consume. If you make the email compelling enough then you will automatically have a flood of traffic to your blog.

As stated at the beginning, knowing how to increase blog traffic is not difficult! There is a multitude of ways to promote your blog both online and offline, what is important is that you produce top quality content, be consistent, thorough and unrelenting.

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How Many Neutrons and Protons Can Get Along? Maybe 7,000

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Cities grow more than suburbs, first time in 100 years

For the first time in a century, most of America's largest cities are growing at a faster rate than their surrounding suburbs as young adults seeking a foothold in the weak job market shun home-buying and stay put in bustling urban centers.

New 2011 census estimates released Thursday highlight the dramatic switch.

Driving the resurgence are young adults, who are delaying careers, marriage and having children amid persistently high unemployment. Burdened with college debt or toiling in temporary, lower-wage positions, they are spurning homeownership in the suburbs for shorter-term, no-strings-attached apartment living, public transit and proximity to potential jobs in larger cities.

While economists tend to believe the city boom is temporary, that is not stopping many city planning agencies and apartment developers from seeking to boost their appeal to the sizable demographic of 18-to-29-year olds. They make up roughly 1 in 6 Americans, and some sociologists are calling them "generation rent." The planners and developers are betting on young Americans' continued interest in urban living, sensing that some longer-term changes such as decreased reliance on cars may be afoot.

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The last time growth in big cities surpassed that in outlying areas occurred prior to 1920, before the rise of mass-produced automobiles spurred expansion beyond city cores.

New Orleans, which saw its population shrivel in the mid-2000s due to Hurricane Katrina, saw the biggest rebound in city growth relative to suburbs in the last year, 3.7 percent vs. 0.6 percent. Atlanta, Denver, Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, N.C., also showed wide disparities in city growth compared to suburbs.

Other big cities showing faster growth compared to the previous decade include Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Seattle.

"I will never live in the suburbs," said Jaclyn King, 28, a project director at a Denver hospital. King, who grew up in the Denver suburb of Littleton and attended Columbine High School, still remembers her parents' 45-minute train commute to the city each day for work. She now rents a Denver house with her fianc?e.

"I just like being connected to everything down here ? concerts, work, restaurants, all of it. This is where everything's at," said King, who biked 6 miles to her job on a recent morning.

Businesses are taking notice. "Companies are really seeking to meet the need of younger people who are choosing to live in cities," said Royal Shepard, an analyst with S&P Capital IQ in New York, who tracks the residential and commercial real estate market. The ratings agency has a "positive fundamental outlook" on residential real estate investment trusts, particularly those with holdings in multifamily apartment buildings, citing in part a demographic shift.

"The recession hit suburban markets hard. What we're seeing now is young adults moving out from their parents' homes and starting to find jobs," Shepard said. "There's a bigger focus on building residences near transportation hubs, such as a train or subway station, because fewer people want to travel by car for an hour and a half for work anymore."

Katherine Newman, a sociologist and dean of arts and sciences at Johns Hopkins University who chronicled the financial struggles of young adults in a recent book, said they are emerging as a new generation of renters due to stricter mortgage requirements and mounting college debt. From 2009 to 2011, just 9 percent of 29- to 34-year-olds were approved for a first-time mortgage.

"Young adults simply can't amass the down payments needed and don't have the earnings," she said. "They will be renting for a very long time."

The numbers are based largely on an analysis of census estimates as of July 2011 for cities and "primary cities," defined as boundaries of incorporated divisions and closely interrelated adjacent areas, by William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. They are supplemented with data from the New York Federal Reserve as well as Kenneth Johnson, a sociology professor at the University of New Hampshire.

Primary cities in large metropolitan areas with populations of more than 1 million grew by 1.1 percent last year, compared with 0.9 percent in surrounding suburbs. While the definitions of city and suburb have changed over the decades, it's the first time that growth of large core cities outpaced that of suburbs since the early 1900s.

During the mid-decade housing boom, city growth came close to a standstill as the wide availability of low-interest mortgages pushed new residential development outward.

Will it hold?
In all, city growth in 2011 surpassed or equaled that of suburbs in roughly 33 of the nation's 51 large metro areas, compared to just five in the last decade.

"City growth in recent years clearly has ramped up faster than suburban growth has declined, suggesting an increased attractiveness of cities," Frey said. "The real question is, will cities continue to hold their own when the suburban housing market picks up? Cities that market themselves well to young people and that offer job growth, cultural amenities and access to rapid transit are likely to see continued growth."

In Denver, for instance, civic leaders have been actively promoting their city to young, educated professionals ages 25 to 34, touting in brochures the city's "walkable urbanism" including a newly formed Theatre District, pedestrian walkways, high-rise apartments, bicycle lanes and a variety of sidewalk cafes and restaurants.

Similar efforts have been under way in other larger cities across the U.S., including Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C., seeking to turn excess city asphalt to greenery with new planters, small parks and pedestrian plazas.

In recent years, the share of 16- to 39-year-olds with driver's licenses has declined markedly. The suburb also is no longer a refuge from poverty, now surpassing cities in numbers of poor people.

Still, some economists aren't so certain "generation rent" will last. They point to practical considerations such as better schools in the suburbs, continued government tax breaks for home ownership and subsidies for travel in rural areas, as well as rapidly rising downtown rents, that are likely to push young adults to the suburbs once they sort out decisions about jobs, kids and finances.

Symm Vafeades, 33, isn't so sure. Growing up in Denver, he briefly moved outside the city as an adult to experience suburban life. Before long, though, he was back in town. Vafeades said he likes being able to stop at his favorite shop for iced coffee and a breakfast burrito on his way to work instead of sitting in traffic. His commute to his job as an architect clocks in at just 2 miles.

"I much prefer living in the city," Vafeades said. "There's just a lot more you can do without having to drive everywhere."

Other findings:

?Roughly 52 of the 73 cities with population of greater than 250,000 showed faster annual growth (or slower rates of losses) in 2011 than their average growth over the last decade. Cities switching from declines to gains included Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.

?Texas dominated the list of the 15 fastest-growing large cities from April 2010 to July 2011, including Round Rock, Austin, Plano, McKinney, Frisco, Denton, McAllen and Carrollton.

?The city of Chicago added nearly 9,000 people last year compared to annual losses of roughly 20,000 in the last decade, having benefited as fewer moved to the outlying exurban areas of Will and Kendall counties. Detroit saw much smaller losses last year, a sign that its 25 percent decline over the past decade has bottomed out.

?New York remained the most populous city at 8.2 million, followed by Los Angeles and Chicago. The 15 most populous cities were unchanged since the 2010 census with the exception of Austin, Texas, which moved up from 14th to 13th, supplanting San Francisco.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Fears, hopes grow for Sony under new president

(AP) ? The record 9,000 shareholders that packed Sony's annual meeting was no cause for celebration. After four years of losses and a halving of the share price, some angry investors doubt even a new CEO can pull the entertainment and electronics giant out of its slump.

The questions for management at a Tokyo convention hall this week were familiar ones, but only growing harsher. How is Sony Corp. going to regain its past glory? Is Sony finished? When is the red ink ever going to stop?

One man got up and began shouting. One by one, shareholders demanded to know why management didn't have more fresh faces, asked if the quality of Sony products was dropping, and even wondered whether Sony faced the risk of total collapse.

Once an icon of Japan Inc. with its portable Walkman music player and Trinitron TV, Sony reported the worst loss in its 66-year corporate history for the business year ended March with red ink of 457 billion yen ($5.7 billion). Profitability was battered by factors outside Sony's control such as last year's tsunami disaster in northeastern Japan, flooding in Thailand, the global economic slowdown and a soaring yen.

But most critically, Sony stumbled in the face of powerful, often cheaper, rivals such as South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., which dominates the global TV market. Sony has lost money for eight straight years in its TV business. Sony's glamor image is fading next to Apple Inc.'s iPod, iPhone and iPad, now bigger hits not only globally but also in Sony's Japanese home market, displaying the kind of ingenuity that was once prized as Sony's.

"We take the problem Sony's electronics business is facing very seriously, and we feel a sense of crisis," said Kazuo Hirai, the former head of Sony's game division who has taken over as CEO and president from Howard Stringer.

Decades ago, Sony co-founder Akio Morita was praised as a pioneer in unifying entertainment with technology to deliver dazzling fun gadgets such as the Walkman. He was a hero, helping fix Japan from wartime devastation, and catapulting a nation's technological wizardry to the global stage. Steve Jobs often sung the praises of Sony.

The company seemed to mirror and exemplify Japan's own rise as an economic and manufacturing power. Then something started going wrong. Critics often point to Sony's miscalculation of the strength of its digital music players over the last decade as a telling sign it had lost its way. Although Sony had developed digital music players early on, it failed to woo users by sticking to an unpopular proprietary format and not working on compatibility with the widespread MP3 format.

Now Sony's repeated promises of a revival have worn thin and are met with skepticism.

Stringer, who stepped down as CEO in April, pleaded with investors to support Hirai to carry out initiatives under the slogan of "One Sony." It's a strategy of removing barriers between the Tokyo-based manufacturer's sprawling divisions that span electronics, movies, music, banking and games so they all work better together.

But as soon as he stopped speaking, one stockholder asked why Stringer, who had hand-picked Hirai as his replacement, was staying on as chairman when Sony's performance had been so dismal under his seven-year tenure.

Hirai is promising to focus on image technology exemplified in sensors, broadcasting equipment and digital cameras to bring back Sony, but it faces competition from Samsung there as well.

"Japan excels in that core technology," Osamu Kumamoto, director at Asahi Electronics Co. of Japan, which offers image and robotics services, said at a recent manufacturing convention in Tokyo. "But Samsung is very advanced, too."

Hirai is also banking on games, the sector he knows best, having led Sony's U.S. game operations since 2006.

Sony has long faced tough competition from Nintendo Co. and Microsoft Corp. which makes the popular PlayStation machine. But the popularity of the iPhone and other devices that also offer games means Sony will increasingly be threatened by a host of electronics makers.

Still, Hirai departed from the line of his predecessors and didn't stress Sony's prowess in TVs. He only promised to stop the red ink.

Under Hirai, Sony has ended its joint venture in liquid crystal displays for TVs with Samsung to boost profitability. Sony fell behind in flat panel TVs and invested in a Samsung panel factory in 2004, to ensure a steady supply for LCD TVs.

Koichiro Hagiwara, senior analyst at Tokai Tokyo Research Center, said Hirai might be able to make a difference because of his understanding of entertainment and gadgetry.

"People have said the long promised synergy between software and hardware is a ghost that no one has ever seen," said Hagiwara. "But if anyone can make it real, it's Hirai."

Hirai is also promising to strengthen Sony's smartphone offerings, taking full control over its joint venture with Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson.

He has already said the company will cut 10,000 jobs, or about 6 percent of its global workforce. The job cuts come on top of a couple of rounds of layoffs under Stringer.

Hirai declined to detail upcoming products, saying that must be kept secret to stay competitive. But he acknowledged cost cuts, regrouping and promises won't be enough to revive Sony.

"We need to make sure our customers are moved by our products. We need to pique their curiosity," he told shareholders. "I want our shareholders to feel that Sony has changed."

Sony shares have lost about half their value over the past year to trade recently at about 1,000 yen ($12).

The changes at Sony underline a bigger shift in Japanese electronics to expand into businesses that sell to other businesses, rather than consumers.

There is speculation Sony will tie up with Japan's scandal-tainted Olympus Corp., which boasts a strong medical equipment division. Hirai declined comment on Olympus, but reiterated Sony wants to strengthen its medical business.

Panasonic Corp., which also suffered record losses, is vowing to turn itself around by focusing on such "business-to-business" sectors, including solar panels and batteries for autos, although it's not exiting consumer electronics.

In a reversal of a historical rivalry made famous by the 1980s video format wars between Sony's Betamax vs. Panasonic's VHS, the two companies are joining forces to develop next-generation TV display technology called OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, panels, aiming for low-cost mass production by 2013.

Samsung is planning to start selling TVs with big OLED screens later this year. OLEDs use a different technology than liquid crystal displays and deliver very clear, vivid imagery. Sony was the first in the world to sell an OLED TV, with an 11-inch model in 2007, but it wasn't a strong seller, partly because of its small size and high price.

Despite Hirai's promises to revive Sony, Kazuo Bando, a Tokyo retailer who owns 5,000 Sony shares and was at the shareholders meeting, wasn't feeling too confident.

"The management has failed," he said. "I am worried. I lost a lot of money."

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Associated Press

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The Decade of John Cena

John Cena vs. Kurt Angle: SmackDown, June 27, 2002 (Full-Length Match)John Cena, Big Show, Matt Hardy and Shawn Michaels vs. Kurt Angle, Edge, Chris Masters and Snitsky: Raw, September 19, 2005John Cena and Rob Van Dam have a contract signing: Raw, June 5, 2006John Cena vs. Rob Van Dam - WWE Championship Match: Raw, June 26, 2006John Cena and Rob Van Dam vs. Triple H, Shelton Benjamin and Chris Masters - WWE Championship and Intercontinental Championship Match: Raw, May 15, 2006John Cena attacks Edge in Edge's hotel room: Raw, July 10, 2006Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H: Raw, March 27, 2006 On June 27, 2002, one of WWE?s most polarizing figures made his ruthless debut, forever changing the course of sports-entertainment history.

That summer evening one decade ago in Chicago, Kurt Angle issued an open challenge for any competitor on SmackDown. At first no one answered the call ? until a young John Cena made his way to the squared circle, to forgettable entrance music and standard red-and-black ring attire. Angle took one look at his opponent and assumed he was just cannon fodder.?

Earlier that week on Raw, Mr. McMahon had spoken to WWE?s Superstars about his secret to success. The Chairman was looking for a Superstar who shared the same quality ? ruthless aggression. Clearly, the speech was enough to inspire Cena to introduce himself to the gold medalist, and answer the challenges laid out by both Angle and Mr. McMahon. When Angle asked Cena what made him stand out from everyone else, the rookie ring warrior cited the very trait introduced by the Chairman: ruthless aggression.

With a powerful haymaker, the future "Champ" went on the offensive and gave Kurt Angle ? a former WWE Champion and one of the greatest amateur wrestlers of all time ? a run for his money. During the battle, the fearless Cena proved that he was a force to be reckoned with by countering both the Angle Lock and Angle Slam, and nearly claiming victory on numerous occasions.

The Cenation leader was ultimately unsuccessful, but the intense bout introduced the WWE Universe to an eager and strong competitor who never backs down from a challenge. That evening, Cena earned the respect of his fellow WWE Superstars, including then-Undisputed Champion The Undertaker.

One month after his battle with Angle, Cena proved himself yet again by winning his first pay-per-view match against WWE?s first-ever Undisputed Champion, Chris Jericho. Solidifying himself as a true Superstar with his victory over Jericho, Cena?s unique personality soon emerged as the rapper known as the ?Dr. of Thuganomics,? moving from his generic two-color ring attire to his trademark jean shorts. (DOCTOR OF THUGANOMICS PHOTOS)

Cena quickly became one of WWE?s most popular and dominant Superstars. In his first two battles on The Grandest Stage of Them All, WrestleMania XX and WrestleMania 21, he captured his first United States Championship and first WWE Championship, respectively.

Ten years since answering Angle?s challenge, Cena is a 12-time World Champion, a Royal Rumble Match winner, a three-time United States Champion and a four-time Tag Team Champion. He has teamed with WWE Hall of Famers like Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels, and he has overcome insurmountable odds in the forms of Brock Lesnar and Big Show. The prospect of facing Cena at WrestleMania XXVIII was also enough to spark The Rock's in-ring return after an eight-year hiatus.

Cena's unparalleled career is not limited to his in-ring accomplishments. Recently, he reached an unprecedented milestone with Make-A-Wish, granting his 300th wish and further establishing himself as the biggest wish-giver in the organization's history (FULL STORY). The West Newbury, Mass., native is also a staunch supporter of the men and women who serve in the United States Armed Forces. Earlier this year, Cena honored America?s troops by wearing different variations of camouflage shorts, each signifying a different branch of the military.

One decade ago, John Cena was a brazen young competitor, refusing to back down and seizing an opportunity to make a splash against a gold medalist. In the years since, Cena remains that enthusiastic young Superstar at heart, defying the odds and making history. His extraordinary accolades in and out of the ring are a true testament to the abilities, heart and spirit of the Cenation leader.

Want to know how John Cena feels about his 10 years in WWE??Read a WWE.com exclusive interview with the Cenation leader now.

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Kendra Wilkinson on Jenny McCarthy Playboy Spread: You Go Girl!


Count Kendra Wilkinson as a fan of the Jenny McCarthy Playboy cover.

K-Dubs doesn't plan on baring it all anymore, but she has a message for McCarthy, who, at 39 years old, stripped down for the latest issue of the mag.

That message is simple: Way to be!

Clothed Jenny McCarthy PicKendra Wilkinson Cleavage

"Good for her," Kendra, who's posed for her share of Playboy spreads and starred on Hugh Hefner's TV shows. "She definitely has it, why not flaunt it?"

Jenny McCarthy, the 1993 Playmate of the Year, returns to nude form on the cover of the July/August double issue, which hits newsstands this week.

The cover, featuring Jenny McCarthy nude, is already out.

"She looks great," the Kendra on Top star said at Las Vegas' Pure Nightclub. "If that gives her confidence at almost 40 years old, why not do it?"

McCarthy has maintained humor about her Playboy return, recently saying she wanted to pose once more "before everything really falls apart."

[Photos: WENN.com]

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Colorado wildfire destroys hundreds of homes

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ? Colorado Springs officials said Thursday that hundreds of homes have been destroyed by a raging wildfire that has encroached on the state's second-largest city and threatened the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Mayor Steve Bach said a more accurate account will be available later in the day of the damage from a blaze that has burned out of control for much of the week and forced more than 30,000 evacuees to frantically pack up belongings and flee.

The cause of the blaze remains unknown and local authorities said Thursday that conditions are too dangerous for any such investigation to begin. El Paso County sheriff's Lt. Jeff Kramer said that U.S. Forest Service agents are waiting for firefighting commanders to tell them when it's safe to enter the burned area.

The wildfire was one of many burning across the parched West, blazes that have destroyed structures and prompted evacuations in Montana and Utah and forced the closure of a portion of Zion National Park.

Colorado's Thursday weather forecast offered some hope for progress, with the temperature expected to reach into the mid-80s ? about 5 degrees cooler than Wednesday ? and humidity 15 to 20 percent, about 5 percentage points higher.

Winds were forecast to be 10 to 15 mph out of the west.

"It's not windy yet this morning. That's always a good sign," fire information officer Rob Dyerberg said Thursday.

Neighborhoods where explosions of bright orange flame Tuesday signaled yet another house had been claimed were still dangerous, keeping authorities away from being to assess the damage.

An AP aerial photo taken Wednesday of one neighborhood showed hundreds of heavily damaged or destroyed homes.

Ed and Florine Gigandet took refuge in a hotel in Manitou Springs, which days earlier had been evacuated when the same fire passed through. They fled their home as ash fell on their driveway from an ominous orange smoke overhead.

Trying to learn about damage, the Gigandets drove to near their west Colorado Springs neighborhood to talk to police officers and see the area. They scoured media photos and spent hours on the phone with friends for any scrap of information. Authorities told the Gigandets it could be at least week before they're allowed home.

"We only packed clothes for four days," Florine Gigandet, 83, a retired photo printer, said. "I really thought that we'd be gone for only a day."

The displaced residents took stock of what they left behind. Some sat in coffee shops, others stood on bluffs to keep an eye on their neighborhoods, and others met with insurance company representatives.

The fire moved so fast that Laura Oldland grabbed damp laundry out of her drier and threw it into a suitcase. But she forgot her grandmother's dishes.

The Gigandets, avid golfers, left their clubs behind. "We should be out golfing," said Ed Gigandet, 81, a retired mining machinery sales analyst.

Meanwhile, the White House said President Barack Obama will tour fire-stricken areas of Colorado on Friday and thank firefighters battling some of the worst fires to hit the American West in decades.

Colorado Springs Police Chief Peter Carey said Obama's visit to Colorado, considered a key battleground state in the presidential election, would not tax the city's already-strained police force. Gov. John Hickenlooper said he expected the president might sign a disaster declaration that would allow for more federal aid.

The fire burned about 10 acres along the southwest boundary of the Air Force Academy campus. No injuries or damage to structures ? including the iconic Cadet Chapel ? were reported.

Late Wednesday night, Air Force Academy officials announced they were relocating about 550 cadets off academy grounds. About 200 cadets in summer academics were being moved to the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, and 350 others in airmanship and other training programs were released to local sponsor families, the school said. The cadet area isn't immediately threatened, and an incoming class of more than 1,000 is still scheduled to arrive Thursday.

About 120 soldiers from nearby Fort Carson built firebreaks around parts of the academy, aided by equipment including 10 heavy bulldozers, four excavators, 13 military transportation and support vehicles, and one commercial road grader, Army officials said.

The full scope of the fire remained unknown. So intense were the flames and so thick the smoke that rescue workers weren't able to tell residents which structures were destroyed and which ones were still standing.

Indeed, authorities were too busy Wednesday struggling to save homes in near-zero visibility to count how many had been destroyed in what is the latest test for a drought-parched and tinder-dry state. At one point, a team assessing the damage had to leave charred neighborhoods because of smoke and fire danger.

FBI officials are present and have said they were investigating the cause of the blaze.

In addition to the some 30,000 evacuees, about 3,000 more people were evacuated to the west of the fire, Teller County authorities said Wednesday, and Teller County courts were closed through Thursday.

The Red Cross was accommodating victims at its shelters, with space enough for perhaps 2,500 people. Most evacuees were staying with family and friends.

Crews also were battling a deadly and destructive wildfire in northern Colorado and another that flared Tuesday night near Boulder.

Colorado wasn't the only state affected by fire, as several burned throughout the parched West.

Among the fires elsewhere in the West:

? A 72-square-mile wildfire in central Utah has destroyed at least 56 structures, mainly homes, and continues to burn with little containment, authorities said Wednesday. Officials expected the damage estimate to rise considerably as they continue their assessment of the fire-ravaged area between Fountain Green and Fairview and north across the Utah County line. Officials returned to an evacuated area and found a woman dead Tuesday.

? The smaller New Harmony Fire near St. George started Wednesday afternoon and had grown to 2,000 acres by midnight, forcing an undetermined number of residents near New Harmony and Bumblebee to evacuate. The fire was burning about three miles north of Zion National Park, prompting park officials to close a canyon area popular with hikers known as the Kolob section.

? Wildfires that have torched more than 200 square miles and burned dozens of homes in southeastern Montana spread farther Wednesday, with additional evacuations ordered after a blaze south of Roundup jumped a perimeter line built by firefighters. The growing Dahl fire, which has burned more than 60 homes by one estimate, forced an unknown number of residents to leave their homes near its southern flank, on top of an estimated 600 people evacuated the day before.

? A wildfire in the Bridger-Teton National Forest has grown from about 2,000 acres to 12,000 acres, or nearly 19 square miles, officials said Wednesday.

___

Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, N.M., and Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyo., contributed to this report.

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Trayvon Martin's killer never identified himself: police

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

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entertainment news uk: Change Management - Types of ...

Change happens! The flow of evolution in business is imperative. Indeed, change is all around us and for many it is an exciting idea but for some it is quite a frightening prospect.

Change Management Training is put in place by many companies and organisations in order to ensure that all members of the company are skilled, trained and comfortable with any changes which are about to occur in the near future. As the entire business world is moving and changing quickly, Change Management is vital to many companies.

Change Management allows an element of movement towards future success within a company. It also allows staff to be more organised and understand the changes and work together as a team. The management of change can refer to changes in anything from mission, strategy, operation, technology, attitude, to behavior. Changes in all these aspects are important to companies and employees. Therefore it is important to execute these changes punctually and decisively. However because this can be difficult in some circumstances there are now dedicated change managers with a great deal of experience in the area which can help companies change for the better along with ensuring all changes run smoothly.

However when companies want to import change the primary hurdle is getting other people within the company on side. It is extremely important to acknowledge and understand why resistance is occurring within the organisation.

An important aspect of imposing change upon individuals is answering their first question which will be; "what's in it for me?" We are all human and only desire change if it will benefit us. So, don't be afraid to answer this question honestly. But always remember if people do not understand what benefits they will receive from such a change they will be less likely to respond positively.

Team work is vital in all companies especially when changes are being made. Many people feel unstable and unsure when a change in their job is taking place, especially if they do not understand the why's of this particular change. Therefore it is important that all members of the organisation understand the change as it will allow all members of this 'team' to be involved in all changes. It is important that change does not happen?to?someone but?with?them.

Change Management?has gained a great deal of popularity amongst some of the largest companies nationwide. Change Management is a science in itself which allows companies to gain organisational skills and in turn ensures all changes to run smoothly. Change Management experts achieve the desired goal by placing a large focus on the company and how it works. Whilst doing this they also arrange group meetings in order to maintain a team spirit across the company.

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Oil rises on better US manufacturing, housing data

The price of oil rose on some welcome news about U.S. manufacturing production and home sales.

Benchmark crude rose $1.29 to $80.64 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international varieties of oil, gained 61 cents to $93.63 per barrel in London.

The Commerce Department said factories received more orders in May for long-lasting manufactured goods such as heavy machinery, computers and communications equipment. Oil and other energy products benefit from stronger manufacturing because they are used to help make and ship goods.

The report helped ease recent concerns about slower factory production in the U.S.

Separately, the National Association of Realtors said that Americans signed more contracts to buy previously occupied homes in May, which matched the fastest pace in two years. It follows other recent data that shows steady improvement in the housing market this year.

"Once again, U.S. economic data is confounding the critics," Price Futures Group oil analyst Phil Flynn said. "Maybe the economy isn't so dreary."

Yet, job growth remains tepid, consumer confidence fell in June for the fourth straight month and demand for gasoline remains weak as Americans worry about jobs and the overall economy.

The Energy Department said that the nation's crude oil supplies fell by 100,000 barrels to 387.2 million barrels, which is 7.7 percent above year-ago levels. Gasoline supplies grew by 2.1 million barrels to 204.8 million barrels. Demand for gas over the four weeks ended June 22 was 4.8 percent lower than a year earlier.

Meanwhile, traders also kept a close eye on developments in Europe ahead of a meeting later this week where government leaders will discuss the crippling debt crisis. Traders are uncertain what will happen during the two-day European summit, which starts Thursday. The goal is to work on solutions to the crisis has hurt economies within the eurozone and has filtered out to the U.S., China and other countries. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Wednesday that there would be no quick solution to the structural issues plaguing the continent.

At the pump, the national average for retail gasoline fell 1.4 cents overnight to $3.383 per gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and the Oil Price Information Service. That's nearly 26 cents less than a month ago.

In other trading, natural gas prices jumped on expectations that demand will strengthen because of blistering heat in parts of the nation, particularly the Midwest. Natural gas rose 13 cents, or 4.6 percent, to $2.89 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Heating oil increased 2 cents to $2.59 per gallon and wholesale gasoline fell 2 cents to $2.506 per gallon.

Associated Press

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Facebook's Find Friends Nearby feature falls off the map, leaves buddy locating to other social apps

We're happy to chat up our Facebook friends on the web, but empowering them to track us down in person makes that virtual social experience feel a bit too real. Perhaps that was the reasoning behind the mysterious disappearance of the company's new Find Friends Nearby feature, which bit the dust yesterday just as quickly as it first appeared. During its hours-long tenure, the new tracking tab didn't give precise friend location information, but did provide a list of buddies in an undisclosed vicinity, making it possible for some not-so-top-tier contacts to realize that you're still in Tulsa, and didn't actually make that move to Timbuktu. Whatever the reason, Find Friends Nearby is now very much lost, but it could theoretically make its return at any point in the future. For now, you'll need to return to keeping an eye on acquaintances the old-fashioned way.

Facebook's Find Friends Nearby feature falls off the map, leaves buddy locating to other social apps originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 16:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EURO 2012 LIVE: Portugal 0, Spain 0

WARSAW, Poland (AP) ? Portugal plays Spain in the first semifinal of the European Championship in Donetsk, Ukraine, Wednesday. Here's the running account of the action and pre-match buildup. All times are local to Poland.

___

2206: Given time and room, Spain looks elegant and unbeatable. Squeezed and harried, they suddenly look ordinary. Their midfield is getting no space. Pereira is Portugal's third defender to be booked when he stops Fabregas on the edge of the box with a shirt pull. But the ensuing free kick goes nowhere.

___

2204: Busquets booked for asking the ref to give Ronaldo a yellow card when the Portuguese star went down rather too easily in the area. Pepe goes into the book a few moments later. The ref is trying to assert himself. These two teams seem more than happy to kick chunks out of each other.

___

2201: Portugal really taking the game to Spain. They're not hitting the target but are throwing everything at Spain here. When will the Spanish come out of their shell? They're not managing to express themselves in the usual way.

___

2156: Negredo off. He has been ineffectual. Fabregas is on to try and make a difference for Spain.

___

2153: Portugal again playing brightly and with no fear. They're showing the Spanish little respect. Is it so difficult for other teams to learn this is how to win, even against mighty sides like Spain? Portugal pressing high, squeezing Spain. But Portugal cannot relax for one moment.

___

2150: The second half's underway. No change to either side.

___

2135: You feel Del Bosque has to make some changes and consider Torres or Fabregas for the second half. The Spanish aren't themselves tonight; the Portuguese are playing well and proving hard to break down. Ronaldo has been in and out of the game, though. Yet to live up to his performances in recent matches.

___

2132: HALF-TIME: Portugal 0, Spain 0.

___

2129: TrevorHuggins1: Wonder if Del Bosque is regretting not having Fabregas out there. Spain are just one final pass short of a picnic. (via Twitter)

___

2127: Lovely chance for Silva but he finishes badly by trying to pass the ball into the net. Spain can be frustrating when they are pressured. Sergio Ramos picks up the first yellow card of the game when he deliberately blocks Ronaldo from completing a 1-2.

___

2122: Ronaldo shoots from 18 yards and the ball passes inches wide of Casillas' left post. Portugal playing with confidence and panache and keeping Spain defense-minded. Iniesta heads down the line with the ball. Assistant on the goal line says ball has crossed goal line. Replay shows it didn't. They must get those decisions right.

___

2115: Ronaldo could have passed it but instead chooses a complex reverse switch pass. Portugal appeals for a handball inside the Spanish area but there was no deliberate intent. Spain flows forward ? whistled loudly by what appears to be a Ukrainian crowd that doesn't like the passing game too much ? and Iniesta shoots over the bar again as we pass the 30-minute mark.

___

2112: PaulLogoAP: Donbass Arena definitely not full capacity, a lot of empty seats scattered. Absolutely no Portuguese section of fans in ... (via Twitter)

___

2110: Hardly any atmosphere out there in the stands. You can clearly hear the players calling to each other. The occasional whistle or cheer when there's a break, but surprisingly calm given the huge stakes and local rivalry.

___

2105: Nani breaks clear with a route to goal but clearly dives. He's lucky to get away without being booked. He was in a promising position out on the right. Why do that?

___

2103: Ronaldo is tripped just outside the area on the left and takes the kick but fires it straight at the wall. The Real Madrid genius is warming up now and getting into the game. Spain getting very little room or possession to play their usual game, but they still look dangerous.

___

2100: Two minutes later Iniesta breaks through again but shoots over. Ronaldo's been somewhat on the periphery of the game until now but he's just burst down the left and put in a cross but his final ball is a little heavy and Casillas comfortably collects. It's 0-0 ? but an entertaining 0-0.

___

2056: There's not much space out there but you can count on Iniesta to find some. He dribbles through the Portuguese defense before setting up Arbeloa who blazes over the bar.

___

2049: Casillas has to tip over the bar from a corner as Portugal makes a bright start, pinning the Spanish back in their own area. Spain not being allowed to have things their own way as Portugal closes down quickly, harrassing the Iberian neighbours.

___

2045: And the Spanish, in red, get the game underway.

___

2005: Another gamble by Spanish coach Vicente del Bosque. He's chosen Alvaro Negredo to lead Spain's attack, relegating both Cesc Fabregas and Fernando Torres to the bench. Negredo has played only five minutes so far in a group win over Croatia. His inclusion means Spain's coach has foregone the unorthodox 4-6-0 formation and opted instead for a traditional striker. Spain's lineup is otherwise unchanged from the 2-0 quarterfinal win over France, while Portugal has made one change with striker Hugo Almeida replacing the injured Helder Postiga in attack. The winner will play either Germany or Italy in the final in Kiev on Sunday.

___

2000: Tonight's lineups:

Portugal: Rui Patricio, Bruno Alves, Fabio Coentrao, Joao Pereira, Pepe, Joao Moutinho, Raul Meireles, Nani, Miguel Veloso, Hugo Almeida, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Spain: Iker Casillas, Jordi Alba, Alvaro Arbeloa, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, David Silva, Xavi, Alvaro Negredo.

___

1945: TrevorHuggins1: Spain will probably do a good job of keeping Ronaldo quiet in open play. The danger is a rash tackle that gives him a dead-ball opportunity. (via Twitter).

___

1930: gdunbarap: As usual at Euro 2012 in Donetsk, Roman Abramovich in the VIP box next to Metalist Kharkiv owner Oleksandr Yaroslavsky fo ... (via Twitter)

___

1852: The Spain team bus is on its way to the Donbass Arena, driving through the sunny streets of Donetsk accompanied by motor bike outriders.

___

1850: From AP reporter Paul Logothetis: "The Spanish FA says over 4,000 fans are expected to be at the Donbass Arena, more than double the amount who showed for the 2-0 quarterfinal victory over France. They will be expecting a better reception from the team after only captain Iker Casillas stayed out after France to thank them for making the long trip, something that drew criticism back in Spain. Two days after the win, Cesc Fabregas said: "It's true we should have showed more affection toward our fans, sometimes we're just under such pressure that ... we forget about the effort they make to come and support us. I'm sorry if that upset them, it won't happen again. Hopefully we can celebrate reaching the final with them on Wednesday."

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Void Century

Void Century

People from different time eras come together in Chicago. They find out that they are to discover what happened in the Void Century where no one knew what had happened. Mutants attack, and they react. How do they get out of this madness?

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This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Void Century?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

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AsilverSnowleopard
Member for 1 years



I am so interested! What kind of pics? I have a real life one I could use, or a drawing.

Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.~Einstein

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Chloe De Luca
Member for 0 years


I'm rather interested as well

"All I wanna know is how far you wanna go, fighting for survival"

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Dante Angelico
Member for 0 years



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