The Dreaded Limelight ? SPEAKING OUT

I had my cue cards ready and I practiced until I was blue in the face, but I couldn?t shake the feeling that I just wanted to have it over and done with. Surprisingly I was more excited than nervous. It?s always interesting to see what others think of what you do, especially when they have the same interests and are going through the same degree as you.

It was the moment of truth, my tutor called my name and it was my turn to stand there and talk about me. When I noticed I left my cue cards on my seat. With a second spare it was fight or flight ? I ran to my seat and grabbed my cards at which I hardly used, but it felt more like a comfort blanket. My slides (see below) prompted me to talk about certain points, I had no writing on my slides and I just wanted them to be pictorial as my commentary should be enough.

After attending a fair amount of workshops for Public Speaking, I decided to go with the tips from my latest workshop held by Academy at the Hub and was hosted by Jude Clayborne (see previous blogpost here). It was a very relaxed, casual talk as the audience were all students. I used the energy and feel of talking to a really good friend which I realised seemed to relax me and allowed me to speak freely and comfortably which I discovered at my latest workshop thanks the Jude.

The talk went swimmingly and even had some students approach me after the talk to ask some questions as well as advice. I think i really need to remember the next time I?m asked to do a bit of public speaking or am shoved unexpectedly into the limelight that It?s really not that terrible and they?re not wolves and they aren?t going to eat you.

Me 1 ? Wolves 0.

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Categories: Speaking Out Representatives | Tags: Academy at the hub, Kristine Omandap, public speaking | Permalink.

Author: Laura North

Run events and training on public speaking for people who don't like it

Source: http://speakingoutevents.com/2012/12/16/the-dreaded-limelight/

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South Africa is not "falling apart": Zuma

BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) - South Africa is not "falling apart" and the ruling African National Congress (ANC) can run the continent's biggest economy, President Jacob Zuma said on Sunday, as he sought to dispel the concerns of rating agencies and investors about sluggish growth.

In his opening address to an ANC conference to choose its leadership for the next five years, Zuma said two downgrades by international ratings agencies this year did not mean South Africa was in trouble.

"We want to dismiss the perceptions that our country is falling apart because of the downgrades," he said. "We continue to do our development work, we continue to plan for a recovery."

At the conference this week held in the central city of Bloemfontein, Zuma, 70, is expected to garner enough support to head off a challenge to his party chief post from Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.

Retaining the ANC leadership puts Zuma in pole position to secure a second five-year term as South Africa's president in the next national election in 2014.

Spicing up the contest for top ANC jobs, former mineworkers' leader and anti-apartheid hero Cyril Ramaphosa, now one of South Africa's richest men, has agreed to stand for the post of ANC deputy president currently held by Motlanthe.

"He (Ramaphosa) is running," a senior party official told Reuters on Sunday.

In his speech, Zuma said the government was relying on its long-term National Development Plan as its strategy for undoing the "glaring and deep" inequalities left by decades of white-minority apartheid rule, which ended in 1994.

"Today, the ratings agencies and investors are asking whether the ANC can continue to manage this economy so that we can grow, create jobs, manage our debt and provide policy certainty," Zuma said.

"Yes, the ANC will continue to provide strong economic leadership and steer our economy boldly."

South Africa's economy is forecast to grow 2.5 percent this year, well short of the 7 percent the government says is needed to make a serious dent in 25 percent unemployment.

Zuma also called for an end to internal faction-fighting and corruption in Nelson Mandela's 100-year-old liberation movement, which faces accusations from critics that it has lost its moral compass under the scandal-hit Zuma presidency.

Party insiders said Ramaphosa's inclusion in the ANC leadership team could help to restore the party's image.

This has been undermined by growing popular disillusionment over the ANC government's failure to tackle still widespread poverty and unemployment and over persistent problems of graft, cronyism and mismanagement.

Ramaphosa, now 60, won international renown as a campaigner against apartheid when he led a mineworkers' strike in 1987, and he also helped draft South Africa's post-apartheid constitution before becoming one of the country's most successful and respected businessmen.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-not-falling-apart-zuma-125736907--business.html

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Chevron to pay $1.8 million in Utah settlement

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Chevron Corp. has paid Utah $1.8 million in a settlement reached after Utah claimed the oil company collected money from a cleanup fund meant only for firms without insurance, state officials said Thursday.

Chevron misrepresented the fact that it had coverage when it applied for reimbursement from the fund established for the cleanup of leaky underground storage tanks, the Utah attorney general's office said.

The state said Chevron should have repaid the money it received along with paying penalties, fines, interest and attorney fees.

Chevron denied the allegations and said in the settlement it was legally entitled to money from the fund. Company spokesman Brent Tippen said Chevron was pleased to reach a mutually acceptable settlement.

"Chevron acted at all times in good faith and believes its dealings with the state's underground storage tank fund have been proper and without fault," Tippen said in a statement to The Associated Press. "It is advantageous for both sides, however, to bring this matter to a conclusion."

It was the first negotiated settlement reached between Utah and oil companies accused of misusing the fund.

The state sued ConocoPhillips and BP Amoco after those companies refused to negotiate a settlement, said Donna Kemp Spangler, spokeswoman for Utah's Division of Environmental Quality.

The state says BP Amoco helped itself for a dozen years to state assistance, collecting $1.5 million until 2007. The state claims ConocoPhillips filed $25 million in false claims over 14 years.

Montana is also pursuing a claim that BP collected money from a tank cleanup fund while receiving payouts from an insurance company.

BP says the lawsuits are without merit. ConocoPhillips has said it does not comment on legal issues.

Settlements are still possible with those two companies, but the two sides are not close at this time, said Therron Blatter of Utah's Division of Environmental Quality.

Utah's Petroleum Storage Tank Fund was created by the Legislature in 1989 to help small gas station owners who paid into the account get help when they had leaky storage tanks, Kemp Spangler said.

"We need to have that fund whole," Kemp Spangler said. "We need to make sure there is enough money to pay the people that are participating in it."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chevron-pay-1-8-million-160001387.html

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Ray Kurzweil becomes a Googler, named Director of Engineering

Come December 17th, futurist extraordinaire Ray Kurzweil will be joining Google's ranks as Director of Engineering to work on projects that involve machine learning and language processing. Specifics regarding those projects, however, haven't yet surfaced. The technologist took the announcement to pat himself on the back about predicting the arrival of self-driving cars and smartphones that can answer questions more than a decade ago, and says he's "thrilled to be teaming up with Google to work on some of the hardest problems in computer science so we can turn the next decade's 'unrealistic' visions into reality." If things pan out how the Google greenhorn predicts, we might just see computers as crafty as Homo sapiens by 2029.

[Image credit: Ed Schipul]

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Source: KurzweilAI

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Mm-CTXCET4o/

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Users should not be targeted in states that legalized pot: Obama

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama says federal authorities should not target recreational marijuana use in two Western states that voted to make it legal, given limited government resources and growing public acceptance of the controlled substance.

Obama's first comments on the issue come weeks after Washington state and Colorado voters supported legalizing cannabis last month in ballot measures that stand in direct opposition of federal law.

"It does not make sense from a prioritization point of view for us to focus on recreational drug users in a state that has already said that under state law that's legal," he told ABC News in part of an interview released on Friday.

"At this point (in) Washington and Colorado, you've seen the voters speak on this issue. And, as it is, the federal government has a lot to do when it comes to criminal prosecutions," Obama said.

Marijuana remains an illegal drug under U.S. federal law, but Washington and Colorado on November 6 became the first states in the nation to make it legal for individuals to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for private use.

The Department of Justice has maintained that pot remains a federally controlled substance, and states have been looking for guidance from federal authorities on how they will handle the conflict with state laws.

Obama's comments do not mean that Justice Department officials have completed their review of the Colorado and Washington laws, a department spokeswoman said on Friday.

Asked whether Drug Enforcement Administration agents were arresting people for possessing pot in Colorado and Washington, spokeswoman Dawn Dearden said that the "DEA's focus has always been to disrupt and dismantle large-scale drug trafficking organization - not to arrest individual users."

Medical use of marijuana is legal in 18 U.S. states. But federal officials have still continued to crack down on some providers in those states.

DOJ TO RESPOND 'RELATIVELY QUICKLY'

Obama called the situation "a tough problem, because Congress has not yet changed the law." He told ABC that "what we're going to need to have is a conversation about" how to reconcile federal and state laws, and that he has asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to examine the issue.

Holder has said the Justice Department is still considering its options but will act "relatively soon," possibly with a month.

"I think we will come up with a policy that will be respective of federal law but also will make sure we are effective in our fight against crime that truly has an impact on the American people," he said after a speech in Boston on Tuesday. He is scheduled to speak later on Friday at an event in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Congress is also expected to weigh in soon. Senate Judiciary Committee Patrick Leahy has said he plans to hold a hearing soon after the next Congress convenes in January and called Obama's comments Friday "common sense."

"In a time of tight budget constraints, I want law enforcement to focus on violent crime," the Vermont Democrat said in a statement. "But now that we have a gap between federal and state laws on marijuana, we need more information and a wider discussion about where our priorities should be."

In a separate letter to the Office of National Drug Control Policy on Thursday, Leahy said lawmakers could reconcile that gap, but they need to know how the Obama administration plans to proceed. For example, Congress could amend the federal law to allow small amounts of marijuana in states where it is legal.

Several advocacy groups that back looser marijuana laws welcomed Obama's comments, even though it remains unclear how his administration will act.

Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance said he is still worried Holder will act before considering the views of lawmakers and others.

The president's comments are "definitely a tentative step forward," said Nadelmann, whose advocacy group backs U.S. drug policy reform. "It suggests that he's keeping his options open to be a little more forward on this."

Still, Obama told ABC that he would not go so far as to say pot should be legalized altogether. There are also concerns about drug use in children and violence, the father of two told ABC, according to its website.

Obama himself admitted to regularly smoking pot in high school in his 1995 memoir, "Dreams of My Father," but has expressed regret.

"I want to discourage drug use," he told ABC.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; additional reporting by David Ingram and Alina Selyukh in Washington and Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Jackie Frank and David Brunnstrom)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/recreational-marijuana-not-top-federal-priority-obama-142811335.html

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Popularity of Caribbean island soars after wedding

ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) ? A speck of an island in the Dutch Caribbean has become increasingly popular with gay couples after legislators legalized same-sex marriages in a region still openly hostile to gays and lesbians.

Two men were recently married in Saba, marking the first ceremony of its kind in the region and setting off a frenzy of calls from gay couples in other Dutch Caribbean islands seeking to marry, said Julietta Woods with Saba's Civil Registry office."People keep calling me every second," she said by telephone this week.

As part of the Netherlands Kingdom, the islands of Saba, Bonaire and St. Eustatius have to recognize same-sex marriages. While Bonaire and St. Eustatius have balked at the idea of legalizing such unions, the idea has been embraced in Saba, long considered a gay-friendly destination.

"We've seen it as a human rights issue," said Saba council member Carl Buncamper, who is openly gay. "It is important to give the partners equal rights when it comes to inheritance and other benefits."

Dozens of gay couples cheered Saba's unprecedented step, noting that gays often face taunts, threats and even death elsewhere in the Caribbean, with many islands enforcing so-called buggery laws implemented in colonial times. Some islands also have tried to amend their constitution to establish that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.

While Saba currently stands alone in approving same-sex marriages, Bonaire and St. Eustatius are expected to follow.

The Netherlands, which in 2001 became the first country in the world to approve same-sex marriages, is giving those islands more time to adopt the same law amid local opposition. The Netherlands has said local governments should use the time to help communities get used to the idea of gay marriage.

The other Dutch Caribbean islands of St. Maarten, Curacao and Aruba have to recognize same-sex marriages but don't have to legalize them because they have a more autonomous relationship with the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, the nearby French Caribbean islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe are expected to soon debate the issue as France prepares to vote early next year on whether to legalize same-sex marriages.

In Saba, it took legislators several years to adopt the law and ensure that procedures were in place. On Dec. 4, officials married Xiomar Alexander Gonzalez and Israel Ernesto Ruiz in a civil ceremony at the island's courthouse.

The two men live together in Aruba and wanted to make their union official, dressing in all white to celebrate the occasion. Gonzalez said people in Saba were very welcoming.

Aruba does not allow same-sex marriages, but that could eventually change, said Desiree Croes, Aruba's first openly gay Parliament member. Croes had planned to marry to her partner in Saba, but they ended up marrying Dec. 12 in the Netherlands to celebrate with more family and friends.

Although Aruba is supposed to recognize same-sex marriages, it has struggled to do so. In 2005, the island's Superior Court ordered the government to register the union of two women who complained their 2001 marriage in the Netherlands wasn't recognized locally.

Croes said she believes her marriage will pave the way for others.

"It will take time to change the minds completely," she said. "We still get stares, but the good thing is that people don't criticize us openly."

___

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/popularity-caribbean-island-soars-wedding-170854006.html

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Holiday gifts for pets following high-tech trend | Pets | The Sun Herald

LOS ANGELES -- A holiday present for Fido or Fluffy used to be an extra table scrap or a new squeeze toy. But as with gifts for their human counterparts, pet presents are becoming increasingly high-tech.

Like presents for young children who lack the dexterity to enjoy their new playthings, pet gifts are usually for the human who owns the pet. Allie Robino of Austin, Texas, bought a dog treat maker for her 8-year-old rescue mutt Bentley, but it'll be her baking the biscuits -- not Bentley.

She bought PetSmart's Sunbeam Holiday Dog Treat Maker, essentially a waffle-maker with dog-bone molds, for Bentley when she took him to see Santa Claus at a Fort Worth pet store. Even though he and her other dog, Shiner, will be the primary beneficiaries of the purchase, it's mostly a gift for Robino, who admits to having problems making things at home from scratch.

"A lot of these kinds of things end up being more complicated than the company promises, but this was super easy to use and the finished product looked great. Believe me, if it were possible to mess up, I would have messed up. I'm batting zero on Pinterest," she said, referring to the photo-sharing website beloved by amateur chefs and DIY-crafters.

Robino said it was the only time she has bought a gift for a pet that requires electricity, figuring that would put Bentley in a rarefied group of animals with high-tech presents. But there are actually plenty of gadgets in stores for animals, from the predictable (dog barking control, electronic self-cleaning cat litter boxes) to the surprising (exercise equipment, air conditioners for doghouses, pet air purifiers for human houses).

Impact of technology

Technology is having an impact in every area of the pet world, including food, toys and care products, said Bob Vetere, president of the American Pet Products Association. He believes health care advances are moving the fastest.

"There are many advances on the pet rehabilitation side of health care that weren't even heard of a few years ago. There are also new advances in medication, treatments, and even testing and diagnostic areas. For example, you can send off your pet's DNA to find out their breed and even give at-home tests to determine if certain diseases are present," he said.

Rehab equipment for pets, such as a dog-size treadmill, are no longer just for veterinarian clinics. Pet owners can buy the DogPacer's Minipacer treadmill ($479), which is made for dogs under 55 pounds. The original DogPacer treadmill will accommodate dogs up to 179 pounds and sells for $499 -- about the same price as human-size gym equipment.

For owners who exercise with their pets, the Sharper Image Pet-O-Meter Pet Pedometer ($19.99) counts steps, calculates distance and tracks the calorie intake of the human partner.

There's an app for that

Meanwhile, the proliferation of apps for mobile devices offers clutter-free options for urban pet owners with little living space.

There are apps that track pets' whereabouts, like the GPS-based monthly service Tagg Pet Tracker, which can alert owners if a dog leaves a designated area or monitor a pet's physical activity. For a simpler option, PetHub dog tags and collars make owners' contact information accessible through a scanning app on a mobile device, and animal shelter and GPS tracking services can be added.

Microchip is tops

Vetere believes the best high-tech pet product is the microchip, which can be implanted in many animals and will help reunite owners with lost pets.

"They are also widely used by industry professionals to track vaccinations, test results and other records. With GPS microchips now available as well, your missing pet can not only be tracked back to you, but you can now track them down and prove ownership if need be," he said.

Vetere predicts hot high-tech gifts this year will be microchip pet doors, which open using a chip implanted in the animal. He said the most popular products will always be those that make life easier for pet owners -- "like automatic feeders and water delivery systems, automatic litter boxes, grooming tools that comb and also vacuum up the pet hair."

On Vetere's personal wishlist is "an automatic yard cleaner that would pick up after my dog, but I don't see how that would work without a robot," he said.

Voice commands

For pets and owners who do volunteer work -- yes, there's an app for that, too. For example, the $149.99 TouchChat alternative communication app lets people who have difficulty speaking play with a dog using voice commands.

Ricochet, a 4-year-old golden retriever from San Diego, works with people who have Down syndrome, who are autistic or who suffered strokes. Patients touch an iPad, prompting a synthesized voice to deliver a command like sit. If the dog performs the command, the patient can throw her a treat.

"No cues, inflection or interaction is needed from her handler. They can communicate with Ricochet directly, giving them a sense of independence, self-confidence and empowerment," said owner Judy Fridono.

Source: http://www.sunherald.com/2012/12/13/4357957/holiday-gifts-for-pets-following.html

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