Common Mistakes in Speaking And Writing | Article Directory USA ...

I?m amazed that otherwise intelligent speakers and writers repeatedly make mistakes when presenting their views. The ones that irritate me the most are:

It?s v. its.?It?s means ?it is.? Example:?It?s time for all of us to leave.?It most assuredly does not indicate a possessive form of the pronoun. When the apostrophe is absent, however, we can safely infer that possession is intended, as in?The dog licked its paw.

Whiskey ? Tango ? Foxtrot.?A crude expression, popularized by Rahm Emanuel and others in the Obama White House to express surprise and dismay. Don?t use it in speech or writing.

Oftimes, oftentimes. These words are archaic. Don?t use them.

Literal.?This word is frequently used in support of an exaggeration or a metaphor.

Example:?A literal flood of recrimination

Improved:?A flood of recrimination

Podium v. lectern.?A person may stand on a podium or behind a lectern. He may even do both at the same time. But please don?t say that the person is standing at, near or behind the podium. A lectern is the stand on which the speaker?s notes are placed; the podium is the platform on which the speaker and lectern stand.

People.?The people?is a political term, and it should not be confused with?the public. The former refers to political opposition support, campaigning, and similar activities.

Decimate v. devastate.?Decimate means one-tenth (deci) of something was destroyed. Do not use this word if you mean widespread destruction. In that case, devastate or destroyed would be better choices, as in?Hurricane Katrina destroyed (not decimated) the city?s 9th ward.

Nature.?Often simply redundant.

Example:?Activities of a hostile nature

Improved:?Hostile activities

Pushing the envelope. A trite expression that is used to convey the idea that a limit of some kind has been reached. The term was first used by aviators to describe the performance characteristics of aircraft.

The bottom line. Another trite expression that supposedly conveys the idea that a final result has been achieved. It is a term that accountants use when describing income statements. Avoid it.

Their as a plural.

Incorrect:?The band played their best selection now.

Improved:?The band is playing its best selection now.

Near by. Not accepted by most grammarians. Use?near?or?near at hand?instead.

Respective v. respectively. In most cases, sentences can be improved if these words are eliminated.

Sentence:?Works of non-fiction are listed under the names of their respective authors.

Improved:?Works of non-fiction are listed under the names of their authors.

Subjunctive mood.?The subjunctive form of the verb differs from the indicative in the third person singular of the present tense. Example:?We recommend that he take [not takes] the entrance examination.?Note also that the subjunctive must be used when the sentence expresses a condition contrary to fact, as in?If I were [not was] you, I would go to graduate school.

Source: http://blog.articledirectoryusa.com/2012/03/05/common-mistakes-in-speaking-and-writing/

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In a handy little addition for music fans, Google search results will now show upcoming concerts when you search for an artist. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/gDXfl0z-qDo/google-search-results-now-show-concert-listings

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US, NKorea in first nuclear talks since Kim death

U.S. envoy for North Korean Affairs Glyn Davies, center, is surrounded by journalists after giving a statement to media at a hotel in Beijing, China, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. The U.S. and North Korea reopen nuclear talks on Thursday that will provide a glimpse into where Pyongyang's opaque government is heading after Kim Jong Il's death and test its readiness to dismantle nuclear programs for much-needed aid. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

U.S. envoy for North Korean Affairs Glyn Davies, center, is surrounded by journalists after giving a statement to media at a hotel in Beijing, China, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. The U.S. and North Korea reopen nuclear talks on Thursday that will provide a glimpse into where Pyongyang's opaque government is heading after Kim Jong Il's death and test its readiness to dismantle nuclear programs for much-needed aid. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A man looks at photos of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il displayed outside North Korean embassy where a meeting of North Korean and U.S. diplomats is held, in Beijing, China, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. The U.S. and North Korea reopen nuclear talks on Thursday that will provide a glimpse into where Pyongyang's opaque government is heading after Kim Jong Il's death and test its readiness to dismantle nuclear programs for much-needed aid. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

U.S. envoy on North Korean Affairs Glyn Davies, center, speaks to embassy staff, before heading to the nuclear talk between the US and North Korea, at a hotel in Beijing, China, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. The U.S. and North Korea reopen nuclear talks on Thursday that will provide a glimpse into where Pyongyang's opaque government is heading after Kim Jong Il's death and test its readiness to dismantle nuclear programs for much-needed aid. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A Chinese paramilitary soldier opens a gate for a van carrying U.S. diplomats at the North Korean embassy in Beijing, China, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. The U.S. and North Korea reopen nuclear talks on Thursday that will provide a glimpse into where Pyongyang's opaque government is heading after Kim Jong Il's death and test its readiness to dismantle nuclear programs for much-needed aid. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

BEIJING (AP) ? The United States and North Korea met for a second day of talks Friday on restarting nuclear disarmament in return for aid, negotiations that were delayed by the death of North Korea's longtime leader Kim Jong Il two months ago.

The discussions, which ran all day Thursday, could signal whether North Korea under new leader Kim Jong Un is ready to agree to steps demanded by Washington and Pyongyang's neighbors to return to broader multinational disarmament talks. More than three years have passed since the last six-nation discussions, which are meant to provide aid and diplomatic concessions in return for the North taking verifiable steps to mothball its nuclear weapons programs.

Kim's Dec. 17 death upended a tentative deal between the United States and North Korea in which Pyongyang would have suspended its uranium enrichment in return for food.

U.S. envoy Glyn Davies told reporters before meeting his counterpart Kim Kye Gwan on Friday that the talks had covered all major areas.

"All those same issues, that begin with de-nuclearization but go on to non-proliferation, humanitarian affairs, human rights, all of those issues are on the table," Davies told reporters.

He and Kim met for three hours Friday morning. There was no immediate word on whether they would hold a second session that afternoon.

The U.S.-North Korea talks in Beijing are the third round since July aimed at restarting the broader negotiations that began in 2003 and also involve China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. The six-party talks were last held in December 2008. Pyongyang walked away from those talks in 2009 and later exploded its second nuclear device.

Additional steps may be needed before a resumption of the six-nation talks. The North may first request food shipments, while the U.S. and its allies want assurances Pyongyang is committed to making progress on past nuclear commitments.

Questioned on what agreements were needed to restart the six-nation talks, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the North Koreans "need to still come back and answer some of the questions and issues that we've raised previously."

"But we are also steadfast in what we're asking for North Korea to do, which is live up its prior commitments, and we're going to continue to talk with them," Toner told reporters at a Thursday briefing in Washington.

The United States has also said that better ties between North Korea and U.S. ally South Korea are crucial. North Korea has rejected South Korean offers to talk in recent weeks, and animosity between the rivals still lingers from violence in 2010: a North Korean artillery attack in November killed four South Koreans on a front-line island, and Seoul blames North Korea for the sinking of a warship that killed 46 sailors earlier that year. Pyongyang denies sinking the ship and says a South Korean live-fire drill provoked the artillery attack.

The six-nation talks, once restarted, would be aimed at dismantling North Korea's remaining nuclear programs in exchange for what would likely involve even greater donations of aid.

Worries about North Korea's nuclear capability took on renewed urgency in November 2010 when the country disclosed a uranium enrichment facility that could give it a second route to manufacture nuclear weapons, in addition to its existing plutonium-based program.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-02-23-AS-Koreas-Nuclear/id-75847329b5fb4da6a5d5896a6bc50787

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Distant planet an exotic water-world

Orb is unlike anything in the solar system

Web edition : 6:02 pm

A new class of planet has emerged from the buzzing masses of celestial spinners, a type unlike the rocky, gassy and icy worlds shuffling around the solar system.

The poster-planet for this new order is GJ 1214b, first discovered in 2009 and now shown to be a steamy, water-rich sphere. But it?s not a water-world in the sense of splashing oceans and Kevin Costner: Scientists suspect that the planet?s interior is filled with some exotic, high-pressure form of solid H₂O unlike anything seen on Earth.?

The planet is just 6.5 times more massive than Earth and about 2.7 times bigger in diameter. ?It circles a small star about 42 light-years away.

?It?s an exciting thing that we don?t have in our solar system,? says Lisa Kaltenegger, an astronomer who divides her time between Germany?s Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge. ?And it?s a fun puzzle trying to figure out what the atmosphere of that planet is really made of.?

Astronomers sniffed out the latest details using the Wide Field Camera 3 aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. It?s not the first time GJ 1214b has been peered at, but the new study both confirms and sharpens previous observations.

As the planet passed in front of its star, the team could study its atmosphere at a range of infrared wavelengths, and from there could estimate the planet?s composition ? a mystery because of its low density. The atmosphere is at least half water and is probably clustered near the planet?s surface, says Zachory Berta, a graduate student at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and coauthor of the study describing the planet?s properties, which will appear in the March 1 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

The interior, Berta says, is probably largely water molecules instead of primarily something like rock. But it?s not water in familiar frozen or liquid forms.

?We?re not talking about either a frozen core of normal ice or a liquid water ocean,? Berta says. ?You?re getting into weird states of matter when you?re describing this.?

Found in: Astronomy

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/338654/title/Distant_planet_an_exotic_water-world

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Viewers loved CBS the most during Valentine's week

NEW YORK (AP) ? During Valentine's week, viewers were showing CBS the love.

According to Nielsen Co. figures released Wednesday, in last week's top 30 ranking, CBS could claim all but eight of the most-watched shows. And on Valentine's night, CBS' durable drama "NCIS" won the top spot with a remarkable audience of nearly 20 million viewers.

For the week, CBS' prime-time average was 10.9 million viewers, with Fox in second place with 8.7 million. ABC and NBC followed.

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts, as usual, with ABC's "World News" placing second and the "CBS Evening News" in third.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-02-22-Nielsens/id-760bd2ba212844d89a06f531d41dbcc2

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Weight Loss Tips to Help You Get Rid of the Unwanted Fat | New ...

New Health And Fitness.Org - Health Information You Can Use

There?s ton of online information regarding dieting and weight loss, but a lot of it is simply too time consuming for the regular individual. Lots of other things such as our job, family life, and life in general come before making meals and working out. Plenty of information is available when it comes to dieting and sometimes we brush off some information because we think it?s not really important when in reality it is. One of these little things that people usually dismiss is meal frequency.

It?s important to eat several times during the day in reasonable portions. Whenever you consume food, your body burns off calories as it digests your food and so increases your metabolism. The opposite takes place if you fail to eat for long periods of time; your metabolism slows down because you?re not burning off lots of calories.

Just because you don?t have a lot of money doesn?t mean you can?t exercise. There?s no need to spend a considerable amount money anyway on exercise. Walking and running are quick ways to be fit without spending a considerable amount of money on gym memberships or exercise equipment. You may not realize what a good form of exercise walking is and the amount of calories that it can burn.

You may not feel very motivated for doing exercise so you may decide not to exercise regularly. Don?t! It?s truly essential to be consistent with your exercise to obtain results. You can increase your motivation by exercising with a friend or group of friends. Everyone in the group will help to motivate each other so that they exercise harder and longer, leading to better weight loss results. Try going for a run a couple of times a week with your pals.

The way you prepare your food is likewise very important. You can make a big difference to your food in when you are preparing them; for instance, the best way to cook vegetables is by steaming them. Steaming vegetables helps them to keep nearly all of their nutrients, many of which are lost in other cooking methods. Steamers are great and aren?t limited at just vegetables! All sorts of foods, including fish and meat, can be cooked quickly in a steamer.

Going to eating places with loved ones and close friends is one of the most important ways we socialize in our society. Nevertheless, restaurants usually serve very large portion sizes which contain many more calories than a regular meal eaten at home. The wise thing to do here is stop eating just before you sense you?re full, or eat in a slow manner to allow your belly to know it?s full. Or you can merely order smaller servings as most of the time it will be sufficient. When you?re starving, you usually end up getting too much food and then you can?t finish it all.

Many small things which affect your body in small ways work in concert to make a huge difference in your weight loss and health.

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Source: http://newhealthandfitness.org/2012/02/11/weight-loss-tips-to-help-you-get-rid-of-the-unwanted-fat/

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Beautify windows | Home improvement center

In the design window of the house, many people often forget some of the fundamental nature of things. In fact, not a few who think the window just as the exit point of light and air. Consequently, windows were often escape from an artistic touch and seem boring. In fact, if designed properly, the windows would add to the beauty of house building as a whole. There are some easy ways to design a window to appear artistic, namely the selection of appropriate and supporting elements.

Place a line and eye-catching

1. Learn the movement of the sun from sunrise to sink. This is important so that you can study the influence of the movement of the sun room in the house. So that the width and window openings can be adjusted by the area available.

2. Adjust the width and height of window opening to the interior and the usefulness of the existing furniture in the room.

3. Create a composition window with the design layout of the house. It would be nice if you consult with architects intense beliefs.

4. If you want a house with high windows elements of his art, do not forget to continue to prioritize the comfort of residents.

5. Try to combine building materials are soft and hard, so that the level of security and comfort a window can be met. For example, if you use a stone element in building a house, then use the element aluminum is not that hard on the window material.

6. Align design with a garden window in order to get an impression of harmony.

Trellis Iron, Aluminum, and Wood
Trellis can be mounted inside or outside the window. In terms of interior, serves to enhance your window grille and as a safety room. While from the exterior, trellis serves to deter excessive sun coming into the home or commonly referred to as sun shading. Trellis consists of ferrous materials, aluminum, and wood. Especially for wood railings, should be used on the windows that do not require a high level of security. These bars can be mounted directly on the frame using bolts or screws so that the system is structurally strong.

Window blinds
The curtains can be used to make the room romantic, dim, or terangbenderang. Using curtains bisamemberikan different shades on the windows, so it will look attractive and character.

Source: http://www.birariabavaria.com/beautify-windows.html

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