Oil near $88 as China manufacturing stays weak

BANGKOK (AP) ? Oil hovered near $88 a barrel Wednesday in Asia as China's manufacturing stayed weak and hopes dimmed the Federal Reserve will announce a further loosening of monetary policy to boost the flagging U.S. economy.

Benchmark crude for September delivery was up 16 cents at $88.21 a barrel at midafternoon Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost $1.72 to settle at $88.06 in New York on Tuesday.

Brent crude was down 38 cents at $104.54 on the ICE futures exchange in London.

Data from China, the world's No. 2 crude consumer, showed that manufacturing slowed in July as government efforts to boost the economy couldn't completely offset weak overseas demand for exports.

The state-affiliated China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said its purchasing managers' index, or PMI, fell 0.1 percentage point to 50.1 in July, the slowest growth in eight months and just above the 50 level signifying expansion. A separate survey by HSBC showed manufacturing contracting, albeit at a slower rate than in previous months.

Expectations faded that the Fed will announce new measures to boost the U.S. economy after a two-day policy meeting that ends Wednesday.

Traders have been guessing for months about when and whether the Federal Reserve would try to spark the economy. Hopes rose last week, then retreated Tuesday, following reports of strengthening consumer confidence and home values.

In other energy futures trading, heating oil shed 0.5 cent to $2.843 a gallon and gasoline was up 0.3 cent at $2.777 a gallon. Natural gas rose 1 cent to $3.219 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oil-near-88-china-manufacturing-stays-weak-081253636--finance.html

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$1685000 :: 1376 85th Av Ct NE, Clyde Hill WA, 98004 | Mike Rozell ...

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Source: http://rozellrealestate.com/clyde-hill-homes-for-sale/1685000-1376-85th-av-ct-ne-clyde-hill-wa-98004

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Don't Sweat It

It's true, there is something twisted in the way we warm the planet when we try to cool it. This summer could end up the hottest in 60 years, and all our hiding out indoors will have made the problem worse. Stan Cox, whose 2010 book, Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World, makes this argument with blistering intensity, points out in the Times that the cooling of buildings and vehicles accounts for the release of 500 million tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent every year. But it's easy to get distracted by the giant numbers. Yes, A/C units have grown in popularity, but they are not more of a threat to the environment than heaters; in fact, they may be the lesser sin. Analyses of home-energy use reveal that we use more energy to heat our homes (41.7 million BTUs per year, on average, at a cost of $631) than to cool them (7.8 million BTUs, at $276). That?s true even though millions of people have moved into the hot and humid metropolises of the Sun Belt since the 1970s. In fact, as Cox himself points out, that southward migration produced a net decline in energy use for climate control, since all the extra demand for electricity?in the frigid shopping centers of Houston, Phoenix, and elsewhere?has been more than offset by a reduced need for oil- and gas-based home heating. As of a few years ago, homeowners in cold states like Minnesota were putting out 20 to 25 percent more carbon dioxide through the use of their heaters than were the A/C-happy folks in Florida. And while it's true that the HFC refrigerants now used in home appliances are themselves a source of global warming, these will soon be phased out by manufacturers. Even now, they amount to just one-fourth of the total greenhouse emissions associated with air conditioning.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=f686b28e5705b9a2b337a69ba740a2a8

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The Seven Myths of Helicopter Parenting

7. This conversation is boring. In the little echo chamber of media, we have heard enough about bourgeois parents overparenting their kids to last 13 lifetimes. You may feel this way, and I honestly sympathize, but the problem persists. Judging from all the books desperately reaching for other ways to parent (Chinese? French?) along with the recent anguished works of elaborate critique, we may be reaching a tipping point, one of those interesting moments of self-reflection in which people actually look at what they are doing and try to change it, or more cynically, in which fashions change. Madeline Levine?s pleasingly sensible and practical book occasionally dips into the melodramatic, apocalyptic tone of popular cultural critiques?like the The Lonely Crowd, The Feminine Mystique, and The Culture of Narcissism?with its discussion, for instance, of a ?culturally normalized form of child abuse,? but she is not in this particular case overplaying her hand. The image Warner cites from Levine?s first book, The Price of Privilege, of a girl from a wealthy family, successful in all the right ways, personable, high-achieving, but with the word ?empty? carved into her forearm, continues to haunt. Or put another way: ?Our kids need more than four years between crossing a street and putting on a condom.?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=d830db86c3de1bf0372ef840c89b9ee7

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Audiences Want Their VOD: Can Netflix Save the Home - Indiewire

A report by the Digital Entertainment Group released Sunday claims that subscription VOD services, led by Netflix, have buoyed Hollywood?s home entertainment sector to such a degree that revenue is actually up for the first time in five years, according to a Paid Content article by Daniel Frankel. But the question remains whether revenue from the digital models will ever fully replace the depressed VHS/DVD streams that sustained the industry for nearly 30 years.

According to the data from the DEG study, U.S. home entertainment is up 1.4% through the end of June, with a ballooning $2.4 billion coming from digital businesses ($1.1 from SVOD) and electronic sell-through even as physical media continues to tank.

Here?s the money graf:

With Netflix reporting $1.04 billion in U.S. streaming revenue during the first two quarters, it?s easy to tie this metric to Los Gatos, Calif.?Yes, it?s all true you ? the company with the cratering stock price has turned the home entertainment business around.

Meanwhile, other data from the report sends a barrage of mixed messages: Disc rentals are down 26%, but up 23% at rental kiosks; ownership continues to shift from physical to digital, but appears to be losing out on the whole to non-ownership through subscription streaming services.

A likely driver of this is that with such increased availability of good content through digital channels ? and an increased focus on long-investment, high-quality TV series by consumers (think ?The Wire,? ?Mad Men,? etc.) ? audiences are consuming at a rate that makes ownership superfluous. Who has time to watch a movie twice when there is so much great new content to catch up on?

As IW readers, where do your tastes and preferences lie? Are you an owner or streamer? And why?

Read the whole piece at Paid Content.

Source: http://www.indiewire.com/article/audiences-want-their-vod-can-netflix-save-the-home-entertainment-business

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The EnVest Foundation: ?Redefining the Profile of a Philanthropist?

Joshua Humbert, Founder and Managing Director of the EnVest Foundation

WASHINGTON, DC - In 2004, Joshua Humbert created the EnVest Foundation, a social philanthropic organization comprised of a network of members with charitable mindsets who understand that meaningful and consistent giving is the pathway to becoming a philanthropist.

Co-founded with rising business stars Demek Adams and Fred Greene, the three individuals incorporated EnVest as a nonprofit public grant-making foundation in 2005 and set out to educate, inspire and motivate the next generation of philanthropists.

The foundation's website allows individuals?to create a profile?and connect with like-minded peers, and participate in group volunteer projects and programs such as their annual 40 Under 40 event that recognizes community members making a difference.

In 2011, the EnVest Foundation launched the EnVest 2000? Campaign in an effort to develop professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 from first-time or occasional donors into society's next generation of life-long philanthropists.

Through the campaign, the EnVest Foundation seeks to ?redefine the profile of a philanthropist? by: developing and advising 2,000 or more new profiles on the website over the next five years; providing a high-level philanthropic curriculum to at least 500 new members over the next five years with the goal of transforming members? casual philanthropic habits into engaged and educated philanthropy; developing a minimum of 150 millennial philanthropists over the next five years who gives or pledges at least $1,000 a year for a minimum of three years to a charity of their choice; coordinating and encouraging 20,000 or more volunteer hours over the next five years; and growing the scope of the organization beyond the Washington, DC region to major metropolitan areas such as New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Additionally, the EnVest Foundation has chosen to place a special focus on increasing its African American membership. This focus was chosen given the socio-economic status of black communities (a burgeoning middle and upper middle class) and the strong legacy of black philanthropy within the cities targeted for expansion.

To learn more about the EnVest Foundation visit http://envestfoundation.org/ and create a profile to connect and network with young professionals who are redefining the profile of philanthropy.

Source: http://www.blackgivesback.com/2012/08/the-envest-foundation-redefining.html

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FSMdotCOM: Apple Releases Pics Of A 2005 iPhone Prototype Dubbed ?Purple' http://t.co/jLX6TTpq

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Source: http://twitter.com/FSMdotCOM/statuses/229945887533723648

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