Title favorites tough to find in men's basketball

Indiana climbed its way to No. 1 this week, back where it started the season.

Fitting with the way this season has gone, the Hoosiers aren't likely to be there long after losing on a buzzer beater to Illinois Thursday night.

So far in this season of parity, No. 1 is no fun. Get to the top ? or even close to it ? and chances are a letdown is coming.

Since Indiana and Duke dominated No. 1 the first 10 weeks of the season, it's been a jumble at the top with five different teams up there the past five weeks, a streak that will almost certainly stretch to six.

So as the regular season winds down into its final month, who are the title contenders? Well, good question. At this point, any team in the Top 25 or even just out of it might have a chance.

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Indiana. The Hoosiers are the current No. 1, so might as well start there. Indiana is tough, talented and has one of the best players in the country in big man Cody Zeller. The Hoosiers (20-3) are 8-2 in the rugged Big Ten, but have had some tough losses. They lost to Butler in December when a 5-foot-11 walk-on hit a floater in the closing seconds of overtime and couldn't crack 60 points in a loss to unranked Wisconsin last month. Indiana had been on a roll beating then-No. 13 Michigan State and top-ranked Michigan last week, but took a big stumble by losing to the unranked Illini. The Hoosiers also face some tough games down the stretch, including two against No. 10 Ohio State both Michigan schools again.

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Florida. The Gators are No. 2 this week, but also figure to fall a few spots after a looks-bad-on-the-resume loss to Arkansas on Tuesday. Florida has one of the nation's most dynamic backcourts in Kenny Boynton, Mike Rosario and Ervin Walker and a multidimensional front line anchored by powerful Patric Young. The Gators have dominated most games, but allowed Arizona to score seven points in the final 56 seconds in a one-point loss in December and struggled at both ends in a loss to Kansas State a week later. Florida got on a roll after that, winning 10 straight games, but had a huge letdown in the loss to the Razorbacks. Still, 18-2 and with a lineup like that, they figure to make a decent run in the NCAA tournament.

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Michigan. The Wolverines might have the nation's best starting backcourt in Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr., and have arguably been college basketball's most consistent team. Michigan opened at the No. 5 in the preseason poll and have remained in the top-5, moving into the top spot the week of Jan. 28. The Wolverines only lasted a week at No. 1 thanks to a loss, but that was to Indiana, ranked No. 3 at the time. The Wolverines' only other loss was on the road to Ohio State, which they avenged with an overtime win at home on Tuesday in one of the season's best games. Still, the Big Ten is tough this season and Michigan still has to face Michigan State and Indiana, not to mention go through the grind of the conference tournament.

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Duke: The Blue Devils have one of the nation's best players in Mason Plumlee and a guard in Seth Curry who can score in bunches. The problem for Duke has been injuries and occasional lapses on defense. A foot injury by big man Ryan Kelly was a big loss. The multidimensional power forward has been out since injuring his right foot in early January and the Blue Devils struggled the first few games without him. One of those struggles came after Duke climbed to No. 1 again on Jan. 21, a 90-63 loss to unranked Miami that was the third-worst by a No. 1 team ever. Still, the Blue Devils (19-2) spent four weeks at No. 1 before Kelly got hurt and will be a formidable team when he returns.

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Kansas: The talent and depth are there for a big run, but do the Jayhawks have enough focus to go deep in the NCAA tournament? The first part of the season was great for Kansas. Led by fabulous freshman Ben McLemore, the Jayhawks raced through the first two months of the season, their only loss a tight one to Michigan State. The past couple of weeks have been a struggle. After scraping past West Virginia on the road on Jan. 28, Kansas lost to Oklahoma State, their first at home to the Cowboys since 1989. It got worse ? much, worse ? on Wednesday night, when Kansas scored 13 points in the first half against TCU for its first losing streak since 2006. After the loss to the Horned Frogs, coach Bill Self called his team the worst Kansas had put on the floor since Dr. James Naismith invented the game, so the Jayhawks (19-3) have a lot of work to do, no matter how talented they are.

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Arizona. Coach Sean Miller finally has his own players in place and the Wildcats are loaded after a second straight stellar recruiting class. Arizona has a good mix of youth and veterans, with a strong backcourt and multidimensional frontcourt. What the Wildcats need is consistency. Arizona managed to pull out some close wins early in the season ? Florida and San Diego State were the big ones ? before it caught up to them on the road against Oregon. The Wildcats then lost at home to UCLA, a team that went on to lose to Arizona State and USC their next two games. Arizona has struggled with turnovers and perimeter defense at times, but has the talent to go deep into March ? if it can find more consistency.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/title-favorites-tough-mens-basketball-091416391--spt.html

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Getting The Word Out About You On The Internet - Empower Network

There is a chance that one?s business can skyrocket into a world of fame and fortune, but it is more likely for a business to remain small. Most do not become either and just fade away. New enterprises are known for an astonishing failure ratio, which is particularly the case when it comes to online entities. Study the following piece and discover the Web marketing ideas that can help prevent such an outcome.

Offer a free gift with purchase ? this is a great way of making your customers feel like they are valued. Taking good care of customers if often overlooked when people are doing Online marketing, but if you give some things away, even if it costs you a little, it will make your customers feel appreciated.

TIP! Provide incentives to those who refer others to your site. Offer a freebie for a certain number of referrals to turn that one sale into multiple sales.

Try and make all your banner advertisements look unique. If you can make your banner ads look different from the norm, you will find that more people will click on it.

One of the most promising ways to market your services and products is to identify a profitable niche. You wouldn?t be successful marketing your mint Star Wars action figures to collectors of baseball cards. Even if you do make a few sales, this approach is not likely to generate the levels of profit and business that you desire. So always use your marketing efforts wisely and gear it towards your target audience.

TIP! You can get lots of visitors to a website through viral videos. To come up with a video that goes viral, one must think outside the box.

One way to provide high-quality content and advance your Web marketing goals is to secure interviews with respected authorities in your website?s niche. You can jot down notes during the interview or record or videotape the interviews. The interview itself will build your reputation, just because of its existence. Plus, the right interviewees will bring visitors of their own and increase your traffic.

Creating a section for frequently asked questions will help your customers with common issues and make it easier for them to order. This will give your visitors immediate answers to their questions, which will make them more pleased with your site. The more your client will benefit, the greater the chances that they will complete a purchase for the things you offer.

TIP! Make sure your website?s tag defines the primary focus of your site. Located very prominently in the window of your browser, the website tag is one of the first things people see.

If you are trying to sell a product, make a video of it being used. This is often a much more direct and unambiguous way to convince potential customers of the product?s value. Use this platform to fully outline features and benefits of your product that can be missed in the advertising. Post your video on your blog, as well as other websites like Vimeo and Youtube.

Deciding how you want your website to progress can be a hard task. Try and narrow down your choices until you have the best one. You should pick a website niche that you are familiar with and that you also enjoy. Once you have a solid goal for the content of your website, it is easier to achieve marketing goals.

TIP! Try to place banners on your web site that do not have the appearance of being banners. Dress them up to resemble click-able links, leading to more valuable content.

Change your headlines often and see how it affects traffic. Once you understand how to incorporate your marketing message, stay with it and use it as your new image. Paying attention to your customers always pays off in the end.

Email is a very important tool for marketing via marketing. Ensure that your emails are protected! Don?t use free email services that lack functions that you need, such as the ability to store mail indefinitely. Pay for reputable companies to archive and maintain this sensitive information.

TIP! Read the various studies done on the psychology of Internet marketing and web design. Psychology can play a part in the way someone looks at your site, depending on a lot of different factors.

Keeping an eye on what your competitors are doing is very beneficial when you have an online business. Browse sites selling products similar to your own, and make note of what they are doing right and wrong. Try to stand out from your competitors by finding a niche that is unfilled.

Enthusiasm is key when it comes to properly marketing your company. Show your prospective customers that you love your product and also how great your business is. You don?t have to be 100% genuinely in love with your product, but you do have to convey that to others. They need to believe it. This should generate lots of sales and profits for you.

TIP! It is both a science and art to do internet marketing. Prior to starting an Internet marketing campaign, make sure you understand both parts.

Try offering different versions of your site to people all over the world. Try to create many variations of the same site in different languages. You would be surprised at how much viewer traffic this could add; not to mention, the global expansion that could be available to you. If customers can properly understand your site because the content is in their own language, it increases the chance that they will purchase items from you.

Failure in other businesses can be a catalyst to your success, so look for those open doors. Employ the tips and tactics that you found above and you can be the next Website marketing success story.

TIP! Consider marketing your website as a forum or social gathering spot instead of just another business website. Your site will get a lot of traffic when people come back to talk to other people.

To Get More Info About Online Marketing And Learn The Secrets Of How You Can Start Making 1k Per Day Online While Working Less Than 4 Hours A Week Click Here!

Source: http://www.empowernetwork.com/promo101/blog/getting-the-word-out-about-you-on-the-internet/

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Frugal Family Tree: Tsukihoshi Kids Shoes Review and Giveaway

Finding the right shoes for kids can be rough. Things are too tight, too loose, too big, too small, it feels weird or they just agree with what you say then when you get home it turns out the shoes don't fit at all. But?that's?normal when it comes to kids and shoes. For them its harder to know if a shoe fits right so us as parents have to start out by giving them good choices when it comes to the brands we have them select from.

Plus they need to look cool not only to me but to my kid. My son at 3 is staring to get an?opinion?on what he wants in the way of shoe and clothing color, I think its so cute! I have done a lot of?research?on kids shoes for fit,?durability, light weight and colors?available. One shoe company that is at the top of my list is Tsukihoshi.

Tsukihoshi is a Japanese brand that has been around 1873. These shoes have proper arch support, flex at the toes of the foot allowing for running and jumping in comfort, barefoot like comfort (great for little developing feet)
light weight, easy on and off, and two great?features?that I LOVE an anti bacterial removable insoles and the best of all they are MACHINE WASHABLE!!! How awesome is that!!

I really do love these shoes and so does my son. He picked out the orange ones, he loves orange. Even my husband who is picky about style loves them. I was impressed by that! They are so easy to put on my son can do it himself. It has a?Velcro?top and fake laces. So they look cool and not like a typical no lace shoe.

My son was running so fast all over the mall yelling "Super Cool" and showing people his shoes I had to put him back into his stroller! He has a several other pairs of shoes but since he got these he insists on wearing his orange shoes. I love how great they fit his feet! They are a true to size fit and sizes range from Baby to Toddler to Youth.

I even saw that many celebrities kids are wearing Tsukihoshi too. Tori Spelling, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sandra Bullock, Adam Sandler, Julie Roberts, Jack Black, John Stewart and so many more celeb parents buy these shoes for?their?kids. ?They come in several styles for boys and girls including a mary jane one that is so cute.

You can find Tsukihoshi (when you say it the T is silent) at Nordstrom, online and other high end kids shoes retailers. A great investment in the foot health of your little ones!

Here are some other fun?styles?I like:

For the Girls:




GIVEAWAY
For our Valentine's Day event we are hosting a giveaway for one pair of shoes from Tsukihoshi for the little Valentine in your life. Winner's Choice of style.

Enter in the Rafflecopter form:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

?*Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts Feb 6, ?2013 and ends on Feb 15, 2013 at 12:01 am EST. Winner will be emailed and has 72 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize. I was sent a product to review for this post.

Source: http://www.frugalfamilytree.com/2013/02/tsukihoshi-kids-shoes-review-and.html

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Video: Can the Rally Last?

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50697694/

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JC Penney sues to block bondholders from declaring default

(Reuters) - J.C. Penney Co Inc filed a lawsuit on Monday asking a Delaware judge to declare that it is not in a default of its bond agreements, protecting nearly $3 billion of debt from being due in the coming months.

The lawsuit was filed after J.C. Penney received a letter earlier on Monday from the Brown Rudnick law, firm which said the retailer had breached a covenant of a bond indenture agreement by granting a lien on its inventory, according to the complaint filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

The indenture agreement related to $326 million of outstanding bonds that mature in 2037, although the letter said that J.C. Penney could be in default on all of its $2.9 billion bond debt, according to the lawsuit.

The letter also said bondholders believed that J.C. Penney's debt could be declared payable in less than three months, according to the lawsuit.

The letter said Brown Rudnick represented investors who hold more than half of the outstanding bonds due in 2037, according the complaint, which seeks to be heard on an expedited basis.

"We believe this notice of default is invalid, completely without merit and is intended to create self-interested trading opportunities in the market, and we will therefore vigorously defend the interests of J.C. Penney and all of our constituencies," J.C. Penney Chief Financial Officer Ken Hannah said in a statement.

In the complaint, J.C. Penney noted that the demand from Brown Rudnick came as the company is investing significantly to update its stores.

J.C. Penney has been struggling with plunging sales for almost a year as Chief Executive Ron Johnson has tried to eliminate most discounts while also transforming each of its 700 largest stores into a collection of 100 shops for brands like Levi's and PVH Corp's Izod band.

Customers balked at the new pricing and the retailer has backtracked on some of its pricing policy.

The stock was down more than 50 percent in the past 12 months.

The case is JC Penney Company Inc v U.S. Bank National Association, Delaware Court of Chancery, No. 8276.

(Reporting By Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Tim Dobbyn and M.D. Golan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/j-c-penney-sues-block-bondholders-declaring-default-224053854--finance.html

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54 countries aided CIA rendition program, report finds

By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

As many as 54 nations aided the United States in rendition and detention operations that swept up more than 130 people as part of the Central Intelligence Agency?s global counterterrorism efforts, according to a report released Tuesday by the Open Society Justice Initiative, a human rights advocacy group.

The report, titled ?Globalizing Torture: CIA Secret Detention and Extraordinary Rendition,? is the most complete account yet of the covert and extra-legal detention of suspects at undisclosed locations, or ?black sites,? in the post-9/11 era. Relying on information provided by human rights groups, public records and court cases, the report details the harsh treatment some suspects faced.

?The United States prides itself on being a leader in the field of human rights, and now we have courts around the world saying that the United States is a torturer,? Amrit Singh, who authored the report, told NBC News. ?Those kinds of findings really undermine the United States? ability to advocate for human rights around the world.?

Public debate over the use of torture as a counterterrorism tactic was reignited recently with the release of the movie ?Zero Dark Thirty." Critics of the film say it incorrectly portrays the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics in the pursuit and killing of Osama bin Laden, but filmmakers say the torture scenes depict just one part of the decade-long hunt for the terrorist mastermind.

The use of renditions appears to have reached its apogee after the September 11 attacks, when President Bush expanded the program to include indefinite periods of detention in third-party countries, according to the report. While the Obama administration has taken measures to impose more oversight on the process, renditions appear to continue, according to the report.

President Obama issued an executive order 2009 that directed that the CIA close its secret detention facilities in order to ?promote the safe, lawful, and humane treatment of individuals? held by the United States. But the order specified that the closures did not apply to facilities used to hold terror suspects ?on a short-term, transitory basis.? A task force established by the order produced recommendations in 2009 that would allow rendition to continue, but with measures to prevent ?the transfer of individuals to face torture.?

Due to continued secrecy over the CIA?s extraction and detention of suspects, estimates on the total number of detainees have been imprecise. ?The catalog of 136 people identified in the new report as detained or transferred by the CIA is the largest such list to be compiled to date. The report notes that the total number of people subject to rendition, detention, or interrogation will not be known until the countries involved release that information.

Italian court convicts 3 Americans in CIA kidnapping

Countries assisting the United States included Afghanistan, Germany, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the United Kingdom. Some of the countries hosted facilities used by the CIA on their soil, according to the report, while others provided intelligence or aided in the capture, transport, or detention of individuals.

?The 54 governments basically enabled these operations,? Singh said. ?Without the participation of these governments, the programs would not have been possible.?

The practice may have long-term ramifications for the United States, as foreign governments react to emerging information about the secretive practice, Singh said. On February 1, for example, an Italian court sentenced a former CIA chief and two other American officials in absentia to prison sentences for the kidnapping of a Muslim cleric in 2003.

The report also includes details on the brutal conditions faced by some suspects, including Maher Arar, a Canadian and Syrian citizen. Arar was held in Jordan and Syria between 2002 and 2003 after being detained at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on information provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In Syria, he was imprisoned in a cell three feet wide, threatened with electric shocks, and beaten with cables, according to the report.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Singh also cited the case of Khalid El-Masri, 49, who said he had been detained by the CIA in Afghanistan after being extradited from Macedonia. His case is unique, Singh said, because his claims of mistreatment have been affirmed by a court. While a 2006 lawsuit El-Masri brought in federal court against the U.S. government was dismissed, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in December that El-Masri?s rights had been violated.

Europe court:German was victim of CIA extraordinary rendition program

A 6,000-page review of CIA detention practices was approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee in December. Initiated in 2009 by a 14-1 vote of the committee, the report is a ?comprehensive review? of the detention and interrogation of CIA prisoners, committee chairwoman Senator Dianne Feinstein said in a statement. The report, which remains classified, ?uncovers startling details about the CIA detention and interrogation program and raises critical questions about intelligence operations and oversight,? Feinstein said.

The committee is expected to vote again in February on whether or not to declassify portions of the report following comment from the White House and CIA.

Among those urging for the declassification of the report is Senator John McCain, who in December said it is his hope that "all Americans can see the record for themselves, which I believe will finally close this painful chapter for our country. ... Our enemies may act without conscience, but we do not.?

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/05/16853156-report-pulls-back-veil-on-cias-rendition-program?lite

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NASA's Curiosity Rover Hammers Into 1st Mars Rock

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has pounded into a Red Planet rock with its drill for the first time, bringing the 1-ton robot a big step closer to initiating its first full-bore drilling operations.

The Curiosity rover?hammered the rock using the arm-mounted drill's percussive action over the weekend, completing another test along the path toward spinning the bit and biting into rock for the first time.

"We tapped this rock on Mars with our drill. Keep it classy everyone," Curiosity flight director Bobak Ferdowsi ? who gained fame as "Mohawk Guy" during the rover's nail-biting landing on the night of Aug. 5, 2012 ? wrote in a Twitter post Sunday (Feb. 3), sharing a photo of the pounded rock.

Curiosity's drill can bore 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) into Martian rock, deeper than any rover has been able to go before. Using the drill and its associated systems is a complex operation, so the mission team has been building up slowly to the first drilling activity on the Red Planet.

Last week, Curiosity performed some "pre-load" tests, pressing down on a rock with its drill in several different places to see if the amount of force applied matches predictions.

The six-wheeled robot has also been carefully evaluating its target rock, which is part of an outcrop the mission team has named "John Klein," after a former Curiosity deputy project manager who died in 2011.

Curiosity's main goal is to determine if its Gale Crater landing site?could ever have supported microbial life. Along with the rover's 10 science instruments and 17 cameras, the drill is viewed as key in this quest, as it allows Curiosity to dig deep into Martian rocks for potential signs of past habitability.?

The mission team wants to test the drill out on a target with scientific value, and John Klein seems to qualify. The outcrop shows many signs of past exposure to liquid water, including light-colored mineral veins that were apparently deposited by flowing water long ago.

Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall?or SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook?and?Google+.?

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nasas-curiosity-rover-hammers-1st-mars-rock-192003957.html

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