Factbox: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

CARCAS (Reuters) - Stricken by cancer since mid-2011, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is in delicate condition after undergoing a six-hour operation that the government says was complex and difficult.

Here are some key facts about Chavez:

* Born to a poor family in Venezuela's plains, or "llanos," on July 28, 1954, Chavez once aspired to be a painter and then a professional baseball player in the U.S. Major Leagues.

* His impoverished but happy childhood in rural Venezuela often feeds the folksy anecdotes he uses when talking about politics. Combined with formidable charisma, his humble roots have helped him forge a strong emotional connection with many of Venezuela's poor, who see him almost like one of the family.

* A former lieutenant colonel, Chavez spent much of his later military career conspiring with other leftist soldiers to overthrow the traditional political order.

* He led a 1992 coup against then-President Carlos Andres Perez that failed but launched his political career. A brief speech while he was being led away to jail - wearing his trademark red beret - electrified many Venezuelans and propelled him toward the presidency as a populist leader.

* After being pardoned, Chavez toured the country before winning a 1998 election and taking office early the following year. For many poor voters, he symbolized a fresh start after decades of governments widely seen as self-serving and corrupt.

* Private media and business leaders remained staunchly against Chavez, however, and in 2002 a group of opposition politicians and dissident troops staged a coup. Chavez was arrested and flown to a military base on a Caribbean island.

* Two days later, loyal military officers and protests by supporters swept him back to power. Chavez accused the United States of being behind the putsch, and said he feared he was about to be killed. The drama of his return as president has since taken on almost religious overtones for some passionate "Chavistas."

* Chavez has enjoyed wide backing among the poor majority partly thanks to massive state spending to expand health and education programs, financed by income from oil exports. He has also cultivated support by confronting the United States, which he denounces as a decadent, war-mongering empire.

* Several times he has threatened to stop oil shipments to the United States - including when he accused then-U.S. President George W. Bush of backing the 2002 coup - but has never done so. The United States remains Venezuela's biggest oil export market, but Chavez has also increased fuel sales to China and anti-Western states such as Belarus, Iran and Syria.

* Inspired by his friend and mentor, Cuba's Fidel Castro, Chavez has taken Venezuela down an increasingly radical path, nationalizing much of the economy and running the government with a micro-managing - and many say autocratic - style.

* Opponents accuse him of repressing critics, squandering record oil revenues and scaring away investors by seizing assets ranging from shops and farms to multibillion-dollar refinery projects run by foreign energy companies.

* Chavez has a deliberately populist style, using colorful and strong language that draws on the macho culture of the "llanos" of his youth, and the barracks of his military career. Like Fidel Castro, he is known for long-winded televised speeches that often drag on late into the night. This year he broke his own record by speaking for nearly 10 hours.

* Chavez announced in mid-2011 that he was being treated for cancer. He had three operations in Cuba, during which two malignant tumors were removed. He declared himself cured in July, just before the presidential campaign's final stage.

* Chavez won re-election in October with 55 percent of the vote, and is to start a new six-year term on January 10. In late November he returned to Cuba for further medical checks, where a recurrence of cancer was found.

(Editing by Xavier Briand)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/factbox-venezuelan-president-hugo-chavez-202053862.html

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Ride The Search Engine Optimization Train To The Success Station ...

Mistakes Are Costing You! Learn To Stop?Making ALL 189 Of Them!

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Posted by Administrator on Dec 13, 2012 in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Your site will only be found if you take the time to apply SEO to your site. The tips in this article can help you make your website more visible.

Leave no stone unturned in your quest for links pointing to your homepage. Article directory submissions, online blogs, Internet forums and even traditional press releases all help. SEO success relies heavily upon obtaining strong outbound links.

Membership in the Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau will enhance your search engine optimization and increase your credibility. They will link to your website and help with searches that are local. Additionally, you will have an added benefit in that people are more likely to trust a website that is rated well by the Better Business Bureau.

TIP! It is important to be aware of your standings with search engines when it comes to SEO. Check your rankings frequently.

Using keywords at a certain density is important when fitting your page to be optimized by search engines. Your keyword density should be kept under 20 percent, which will prevent your site from being targeted as spam.

The meta tags you use should be highly descriptive. Mega tags should have an accurate description that will make people click on it.

Your server needs to be configured so that it is case sensitive in regard to URLs. The results could be split links.

TIP! It?s crucial that your site is frequently updated with unique and engaging content. Don?t just keep rehashing the same old subjects, either; if you offer content of value, then your readers will see value in your products, too.

Writing your articles based on keywords will help to optimize your content for search engines. When you put keywords in that are relevant to your content, you can ensure that a search engine will ferret them out. That, therefore, makes it easier for readers to find your articles. Your focused keyword should be repeated several times in the article?s text, and in its summary and title, too.

Consider asking the CEO or other important players to blog on your website when you are running a business website through an established company. People may be very interested in hearing what the owner, the power behind the brand, has to say.

If there are newsletters that target your customer base, use them to share articles promoting your business. Ezines tend to be archived for a while so your articles and site can still be accessible for months or years after it was created.

TIP! To choose the best keywords for your search engine optimization strategy you must think like someone who would want to find your website, not someone who already knows what?s there. Figure out which ordinary, everyday terms people actually use when they search.

Use search engines to help you gain additional traffic to your site. The best way to ensure a good flow of traffic from any search engine is to make sure your site is optimized for search engine spiders. Search engine spiders only search text, so it is key to use tags on all graphic elements in your site. You should write descriptions that word specific and targeted.

If you don?t know how to optimize your website content, then work with a company who specializes in SEO services. SEO techniques are the most effective way to get your website to rank highly in search engine results. You will find a number of companies offering SEO services on the Internet, and can look for the best deal.

TIP! Put yourself in the search seat and ponder as to what keywords you would use to locate your website. Then ensure these keywords are prominent throughout your web pages.

Using link directories is a good way to get links to your website, though you need to make sure to have links that are high in quality and placed on legitimate sites. You don?t want to get stuck using a directory that is out of date or is poorly designed. Always be mindful of which people you use as affiliates.

The content on your site may only deal with one or two subjects, but you still need to give each article a unique and appealing title. The length of your title is important as it lessens in strength with each additional word added. That makes the very first couple of words the most vital to the reader.

No one wants their business to fail miserably. Ironically, while there are many online businesses that do fail, it is actually a venue where success is much more available to you due to an endless array of advertising methods and capable structure.

TIP! SEO writing style needs to be applied to your writing techniques, if you want to start ranking higher with search engines. Switching to a SEO writing style means including keywords as naturally as possible throughout your writing.

Are you ready to have success in the home based business industry and build it on autopilot? Click below to register for free today. See how it works here. Also check out our team benefits here

Source: http://leucabiz.com/blog/ride-the-search-engine-optimization-train-to-the-success-station/

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Porsche breaks its own sales record

BERLIN (AP) ? German sports car maker Porsche AG says it has already broken last year's record sales number with one month left in 2012.

The company, which is now owned by Volkswagen, said Wednesday it delivered 128,978 vehicles through November, more than the total of 118,868 it sold in all of 2011 ? at the time a new record.

Though many automakers are struggling with increased competition in the low-end car market, the luxury market remains strong.

Porsche, based in Stuttgart, says worldwide sales for the first 11 months were up 38.7 percent over the same period in 2011. In Europe, where several countries are mired in recession, sales were up a modest 6.8 percent but Porsche saw spectacular 71.4 percent growth in the U.S. and 63.4 percent growth in China.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-12-12-Germany-Porsche/id-daa42b3078a34b7eba7be4695a818f5d

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No cheap flights? Look for train, bus tickets.

A little bit of creativity with travel can save you a lot of money if you plan ahead and think outside the box when it comes to travel options, Hamm writes.

By Trent Hamm,?Guest blogger / December 10, 2012

Fred Errington, left, and Deborah Gewertz of Amherst, Mass., wait for an Amtrak train to arrive at Union Station in Hartford, Conn., in this November 2012 file photo. There are many opportunities to shave some dollars from your travel if you think outside the box a bit, Hamm writes.

Dave Collins/AP/File

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A few months ago, I took a trip to Indianapolis. The first leg of the trip ? a flight from Des Moines to Chicago ? was uneventful, but it was the second leg that got interesting.

Skip to next paragraph Trent Hamm

The Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.

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I was scheduled to fly from Chicago to Indianapolis, but my flight was cancelled, as was the subsequent flight. After some discussion with the ticketing agent, they essentially agreed to refund my ticket, leaving me in Chicago.

I then went to the local Greyhound bus station, caught a bus to Indianapolis, read my book on the way, and arrived about five hours after I left the airport. Total cost of the trip? $25.

While this wasn?t exactly the most optimal of trips, it did leave me thinking about how I could have used alternative means to plan a trip that maximized my time and my money.

My initial trip planning simply involved booking a flight to Indianapolis. I shopped around a bit, but what I didn?t do was consider the possibility of using other means of travel for one of the legs of the trip ? or perhaps for the whole trip.?

1000 Raving Fans | David Wood's MLM Marketing Prosperity Blog

In this post I?m going to talk about a business model. A very specific business model anyone can use to make a full time income on or off of the Internet. All it involves is building an audience and giving them what they want. A piece of advice that has supposedly been taught for years.

In the Internet Marketing space, everyone has adopted this philosophy of Sell, Sell, Sell!

The school of thought has been, get people in your list and sell them as many products as you can in the shortest amount of time. While that makes a little sense, I have another option. Something far superior.

The problem with Sell, Sell, Sell lies in the old saying of ?churn and burn?. Churning and burning is what the vast majority of online marketers are doing. Churning and burning means building?massive?lists?of subscribers and throwing sales page after sales page at them until they become unresponsive or exit from your list altogether.

While the strategy does actually work, it?s?wildly?ineffective,?aggravating?and plain stupid. Here?s why. Let?s say your ultimate income goal is $100,000 per year, which is a very reasonable and attainable goal for anyone. $100k a year allows you to live a very comfortable mobile lifestyle as an Internet Marketer.

Now in order to make $100,000 per year selling let?s say information products, you need to sell 1000 products at $100 each or 3000 products at $34 each. Or even 6000 products at $17 each. Let?s take the 6000 product example.

Selling 6000 products takes a lot of work. To sell 6000 products, you could launch one product per month each selling 500 copies. That?s 12?500 = 6000 per year. This is the model a lot of marketers are using. It?s the perpetual launch model.

12 launches a year is excessive, most launch more like 6 products in a year just to achieve their 6 figure goal. Launching a product per month is insane. Here is why the model sucks:

1. You Have To Constantly Create New Products

2. You Have To Constantly Get New Buyers On Your List

3. It Makes You Look And Feel Like An Asshole

I have nothing against constantly creating products. Many billion dollar companies rely on product launch marketing. Look at Apple, if they stopped releasing new products each year; it wouldn?t take long for their stock to plummet. With that said, if you?re a one man band or a small group of people; there is a better way.

The biggest problem with the perpetual launch model is with churning and burning customers. Marketers especially in this space treat their customers as if they have a timer on them. They believe if they don?t sell something to them right away, they?re going to shutdown and become unresponsive for life. The reality is the opposite.

If you blast offer after offer at your customers, they will become unresponsive quickly. But if you take the other option, tell them your the good guy and that you?ll only promote things of massive value; they?ll stay responsive for a much greater length of time.

This means if you don?t blast offer after offer, instead offer your list free content and promote the occasional product to them; they will become fans of yours. Loyal customers. I really don?t like affiliate marketing that much. I prefer to promote my own products to my list. For one it?s a much easier sell since the people on my list already know me. It?s warm selling.

When you send your list to an affiliate offer, it?s a sort of cold sell with a warm recommendation from you. It doesn?t work as well. So I?m all for affiliate marketing, but in small doses. So obviously blasting offers to your list is a bad idea, and if you instead give value your customers will stay active for much longer. Which means you won?t need as many of them! That?s the golden information.

You won?t have to keep launching new products to get more buyers on your list if you just keep your buyers responsive. Touching on the third point, you do feel like an asshole when you?re constantly promoting other people?s offers. Your customers are meant to be like your ?tribe?. They trust you not to send them lots of crap; so don?t.

The ?Churn And Burn? Model is flawed without a doubt, the ?1000 Raving Fans? model is far superior?

The 1000 raving fans or 1000 fans model is the ultimate way to earn a living, especially on the Internet.?This is how it works:

The 1000 fans model is essentially making a full time income online by creating a small group of loyal fans. It?s very simple, you create a fan or (customer) base of just 1000 people. 1000 people who are happy to purchase your products and services. You help them, offer personal support and in return they support you by purchasing your products.

What I?m talking about here is getting rid of the old ineffective burn and churn method and instead focusing on helping a small number of people by providing high quality information, products and services. Becoming their go to person. Big lists are useless if you can?t maintain rapport with your?subscribers.?The bigger your list, the harder it is to manage and the more frustrating it gets as your open rates drop and unsubscriptions accelerate.

Its extremely difficult to earn 6+ figures a year blasting irrelevant product after irrelevant product to your massive list of general subscribers.

It?s easier to please a small group of people by charging premium prices for the exact products, services and information they require. Since it?s such a focused group of people; it?s easy to find out exactly what they want and how you can provide it to them.

The math makes so much more sense. Build a list of 1000 buyers who each spend an avg. of a day?s salary per year on your products/services/information. If your average buyer makes $37,000/year, that?s around $101/day times 1000 = your six figures. Obviously you?ll have people earning a lot more than that figure.

Another way of looking at it is if you release three products per year. Each priced at a low-ish $37. $37 x 3 x 1000 = $111,000/year. If you have 1000 true fans/loyal buyers, the chances are you?re going to make a lot more money than $100k or you?re going to need less buyers. In order to make $100k/year online releasing an average of 3 products per year, you only really need 500 buyers.

===>> Click Here To Continue To Part Two

Source: http://workwithdavidwood.com/1000-raving-fans/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=1000-raving-fans

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AD OF THE DAY: The Axe Morning After Pillow - Business Insider

Axe has come up with a solution to the morning-after cuddling that men (allegedly) hate so much: an inflatable arm and chest that smells like Axe.

The commercial seems like a parody, but it's actually real. Kind of. Axe is selling the morning after pillows, that come in skinny, body builder, tattooed, and hairy styles, on its?Puerto Rican Facebook page.

The spot, created by DDB Latin America, says the "breakthrough" product was created to give men freedom from women who have fallen under the powerful Axe effect. Apparently, the effect is so intense that the woman in the commercial won't let go of her man -- even while he plays tennis. We've yet to see this effect for ourselves, unfortunately, but if Unilever says it, it must be true, right?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/ad-of-the-day-the-axe-morning-after-pillow-gets-men-out-of-having-to-cuddle-2012-12

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A look at the dead-whale-on-a-beach dilemma

After a dead whale washed up on a beach in Malibu, Calif., near Bob Dylan's home it wasn't long before a foul smell was blowin' in the wind and residents were demanding answers. Although dead whales don't often arrive in wealthy neighborhoods, they do come ashore on beaches across the country fairly frequently. Getting rid of them is often not easy.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR GETTING RID OF A DEAD WHALE?

In this case there is disagreement, because the 41-foot mammal ended up on a private beach. Malibu officials say they aren't sure who should haul it away. The Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors says it isn't responsible because the whale is on private property, meaning it's up to the owners to get rid of it.

CAN LOS ANGELES COUNTY LIFEGUARDS HAUL IT AWAY?

Maybe, but that agency says it may big too big for one of its Baywatch boats to handle. They say it could require a tugboat like those used to guide giant ships in and out of ocean harbors. The lifeguards have indicated they'll try when the tide is right.

WHY DO WHALES WASH UP ON BEACHES?

Experts say some simply die of natural causes. Others become ill. Some seem to have gotten confused and lost their way. This one, a young fin whale, appears to have been hit by a ship because its spine was damaged and its back contained a large gash. A 47-foot whale found dead on a beach at the Point Reyes National Seashore suffered a similar fate in June.

HOW DO AUTHORITIES DISPOSE OF A DEAD WHALE?

Experts recommend either using a boat big enough to haul it away at high tide or burying it in the sand. The first option requires dragging it far enough so that it won't float back. The second requires large, expensive digging equipment. Sometimes, if the whale ends up on a deserted beach and not anywhere near a wealthy neighborhood, authorities can just leave it there for nature to take its course. That's what they did with a 30-foot gray whale that washed up on a beach near San Simeon last April.

HOW AUTHORITIES SHOULDN'T DISPOSE OF A DEAD WHALE:

By blowing it up. They tried that on a 41-foot sperm whale that washed up on a beach in Florence, Ore., in 1970. The blast rained blubber down on spectators a quarter mile away, including one chunk so large it crushed a car. The effort did result in a dramatic video that can be found on YouTube, however.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/look-dead-whale-beach-dilemma-231526497.html

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