As the wife of a warden, Bobbi Parker knew all about the pace of life inside the Oklahoma state reformatory where she lived in a house with her husband and daughters before disappearing 17 years ago with a convicted killer.

Now Parker is facing prison time herself, though jurors are recommending just one year for helping Randolph Franklin Dial escape - a charge that carried a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The Greer County jury convicted Parker Wednesday of assisting Dial's 1994 escape from the southwestern Oklahoma prison her husband, who still works for the state prison system, helped supervise.

Parker, 49, showed no emotion as jurors returned their guilty verdict. She said nothing as she was handcuffed by sheriff's deputies and escorted to the county jail adjacent to the courthouse after District Judge Richard Darby denied requests for bond that would have allowed her to remain free during an expected appeal. Darby set formal sentencing for Oct. 6.

Her husband, Randy Parker, bowed his head and was comforted by family members after the 12-member jury delivered its verdict following about 14 hours of deliberation over three days. Parker, a 27-year employee of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections who now works as its security and facility operations manager, testified during the trial that he still loves his wife despite her disappearance with Dial and almost 11-year absence before they were found living together in 2005 in East Texas.

Prosecutors alleged Parker fell in love with Dial and ran off with him on Aug. 30, 1994, when her husband was deputy warden of the prison in Granite. Defense attorneys maintained that Dial drugged her, kidnapped her at knifepoint and held her hostage for more than a decade by threatening to use his alleged mob connections to harm her family if she tried to flee.

Police said they found the pair living happily as man and wife on April 4, 2005, on a chicken ranch near Campti, Texas.

Prosecutors said they were happy with the jury's decision in a trial that lasted from the spring to the edge of autumn and involved more than 80 witnesses and nearly 800 pieces of evidence.

"We're just grateful for the work of the jury to sacrifice their summer," said Assistant District Attorney David Thomas, the lead prosecutor.

District Attorney John Wampler, who filed the original charges in 2008, said he believes the verdict vindicates the prosecution.

Italian prosecutors sought to persuade an appeals court to uphold the murder conviction of Amanda Knox, saying during closing arguments Friday that "all clues converge toward the only possible result" of finding the young American woman and her co-defendant guilty.

Speaking for two hours in a packed room, Prosecutor Giancarlo Costagliola urged the jury to keep in mind the family of the victim, British student Meredith Kercher, who was Knox's roommate at the time of the slaying. His fellow prosecutor, Giuliano Mignini, urged the jurors to ignore the media hype and what he said was a pro-defendant slant surrounding the case.
A verdict in the appeals trial of Knox and her co-defendant and one-time boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito is expected at the end of September or early next month.

SCROLL DOWN FOR SLIDESHOW OF MOST CONTROVERSIAL U.S. COURT TRIALS

Costagliola denounced what he said was "an obsessive media campaign that makes everyone feel like the parents of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito."

"As you make your decision, I wish that you jurors feel a little bit like the parents of Meredith Kercher, a serious, studious girl whose life was taken by these two kids from good families."

Mignini claimed that the prosecution was "subjected to systematic denigration of a political and mediatic nature" and urged the jury to forget the pressure of an international press he said was overwhelmingly in favor of the defendants.

"The trial must be held here, in this courtroom," Mignini said. "This lobbying, this mediatic and political circus, this heavy interference, forget all of it!"

Mignini showed graphic photos from the murder, and said he will never forget seeing Kercher's eyes wide open as he went to inspect the crime scene. As if to emphasize the contrast, he also showed the court a photo of the two defendants kissing in the immediate aftermath of the killing outside the house that was being inspected by police. The move led Knox's lawyer to object.

Knox and Sollecito were convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher on the night of Nov. 1, 2007 in the house Knox and Kercher shared while exchange students in Perugia.

Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison; Sollecito to 25. Both deny wrongdoing and have appealed the verdict, which was issued by a lower court in December 2009.

The prosecutors argue that the 21-year-old Kercher was the victim of a drug-fueled sex assault. In the original trial, the prosecutors had sought life sentences - Italy's stiffest punishment. Like the defendant, they have also appealed the lower court's verdict, as they can in Italy.

Costagliola, at the start of closing arguments expected to last two days, summed up what he said were the clues that point to the defendants: bloody footprints found in the house that are compatible with those of the defendants, cell phone activity and witness testimony that appear to contradict the defendant's alibi that they spent the night at Sollecito's house and stayed there until about 10 a.m. the day after the murder, a staged burglary at the house of the murder aimed at sidetracking the investigation.

This all pointed to ascertaining the defendants' presence at the scene of the crime, he said, adding: "All clues converge toward the only possible result of finding the defendants guilty."

Knox, 24, appeared tense during the session. Her mother, Edda Mellas, said it was hard for her "as she has to listen to people saying horrible and untrue things about her."

Costagliola also talked of an independent review of DNA evidence that cast doubt on much of the genetic evidence used to convict Knox will help his daughter overturn the conviction. He challenged the results of the independent review and defended the findings of the original investigation.

In the first trial, prosecutors maintained that Knox's DNA was found on the handle of a kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon, and that Kercher's DNA was found on the blade. They said Sollecito's DNA was on the clasp of Kercher's bra as part of a mix of evidence that also included the victim's genetic profile.

The independent review challenged both findings. It said police had made glaring errors in evidence collecting and that below-standard testing raised doubts over the attribution of DNA traces, both on the blade and on the bra clasp, which was collected from the crime scene several weeks after the murder.

The review boosted Knox's chances of being acquitted and freed after four years behind bars, and gave hope to her family.

Curt Knox, the defendant's father, said he was hopeful and grateful to the appellate court for having granted the review.

Behind razor wire and thick concrete walls, Troy Davis spent what may be his final hours Wednesday with friends and family, awaiting his execution at 7 p.m. for the murder of a police officer over 20 years ago, a crime he maintains was committed by another man.

"Troy is in good spirits," said Amnesty International spokeswoman Wende Gozan Brown, who visited with Davis on Tuesday, after he received news that a final plea for clemency to a state pardons board had been rejected. "He is steadfastly maintaining his innocence, as he always has."

(SCROLL DOWN FOR LATEST UPDATES)

Davis's pending execution has sparked an extraordinary outcry nationally and internationally that continued Wednesday, with thousands of people expected to participate in evening protests and vigils at Georgia's death row prison and the state capitol. By early afternoon, dozens of protesters were already singing and praying in a small cordoned-off area on the prison grounds.

Earlier this week, the state's pardons board was bombarded by hundreds of thousands of petitions to spare Davis's life, including calls from former FBI director William Sessions and Bob Barr, a four-term Republican congressman from Georgia and death penalty supporter. Many of those opposed to the execution noted the lack of physical evidence tying Davis to the crime and the recantation of critical eyewitness, many of whom told attorneys for Davis that they had been pressured by police to testify that Davis was the shooter.

"Imposing an irreversible sentence of death on the skimpiest of evidence will not serve the interest of justice," Barr wrote in an editorial on the case last Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, Davis offered to submit to a lie detector test, but the request was denied by prison officials. "I guess Troy Davis felt like he had enough witness testimony in his favor that he felt that the polygraph would not be necessary," said Laura Moye, director of Amnesty International's U.S. death penalty abolition campaign, when asked why Davis had not submitted to a polygraph before.

The Davis defense's last-minute petition to the Superior Court was rejected by a state judge late Wednesday afternoon.

As the hours until the execution dwindled, calls for clemency continued from around the nation and the world, including from a group of former death row wardens, who wrote to Georgia authorities calling on them to halt the death sentence due to doubts about Davis's guilt. Among the group was the former warden in charge of the Georgia death chamber.

"While most of the prisoners whose executions we participated in accepted responsibility for the crimes for which they were punished, some of us have also executed prisoners who maintained their innocence until the end," the wardens wrote in a press release. "It is those cases that are most haunting to an executioner."

Meanwhile, the family of the murdered policeman, Mark MacPhail, and the case's original prosecutor have argued strenuously for Davis's execution, and have asserted that there is no doubt that he is guilty of the murder.

And that's how the new series introduces us to the three new Angels - ex-cat burglar Abby (Rachael Taylor), former dirty cop Kate (Annie Ilonzeh) and disgraced marine Gloria (Nadine Velazquez). Yet, the same can also be said for the three actresses that signed on for this "Charlie's Angels" ABC reboot.

Sadly, there's nothing here that distinguishes this from the original "Charlie's Angles," except that Bosley is now a smooth womanizing computer hacker named Bos (Ramon Rodriguez)

We learn from an opening Charlie voice-over that the Angels are on a mission to rescue Sarah Daniels, a 16-year-old being held captive by the legendary unseen trafficker Baharo. Long story short, thanks to some kung-fu magic -- and the fact that Bosley somehow has access to a 'satellite camera' that can see inside the room (insert groan here) -- the Angels rescue Sarah.

So what do they do? Celebrate, of course! But one Angel is not happy. Gloria is frustrated that they will never track down Baharo himself, but the matter doesn't concern her for long because as she leaves the agency, Gloria is killed by a car bomb!

And now the girls are sad -- very sad. And they say things like, "I never thought my heart could hurt this much" and "We were a family, she was our sister." And now we're sad because it's not over yet.

The pressure was on Simon Cowell to deliver a knock-out first show with the launch of X Factor USA tonight - and he didn't disappoint.
The 51-year-old, who quit his coveted role on American Idol to bring his British format to America, wowed viewers with a series of both weird and wonderful performances, and a dose of controversy.
A single mother who had everyone in tears, a reformed drug addict hoping to turn his life around, the most bizarre but endearing older couple, and a man who pulled his pants down mid-act, were just a few of the highlights of a stunning first show.
The production was undeniably slick - zooming overhead shots showed panoramic American scenes as the judges were introduced with explosive fanfare and that catchphrase so familiar from the UK show - 'it's time to face the music.'

This was no accident, Cowell brought out the best of his production team to ensure that the magic translated across the Atlantic, and tonight we saw plenty of it at the L.A. and Seattle auditions.
Joy: Stacy is congratulated by her family after her talent is recognised at last
But following the model of the original, the fanfare was just a sideshow to the stories that were to unfold over the first two hour episode on America's Fox Network.

And America seemed to eat up each tale of woe and redemption as reception to the show on Twitter was hugely positive, as the program played the enthusiastic observations kept rolling in.

One tweeter described the show as 'magical,' while another wrote: 'Every1 and any1 gets a chance-No matter what's your age,race or background..New Fav show.'

She is one of the most popular singers in the world and he is cementing his place in Hollywood so they're busy schedules mean they' don't get to spend much time together.
But Russell Brand seemed to have no problem finding a female companion to keep him company while his wife Katy Perry was hard at work in Brazil.
And who better to fill her place than an international supermodel.
The Get Him To The Greek star, 36, smiled broadly as he posed with Cindy Crawford.

And in case the 45-year-old wasn't enough woman for him, Russell enlisted the company of ageless sex symbol Sharon Stone, 54.


They were at the premiere for Mexico: The Royal Tour at luxury resort JW Marriot in Los Angeles.
The show sees CBS travel editor Peter Greenberg visiting memorable destinations with that nation's leader.
But Russell looked as though he misread the dress code, exposing his arms in a waistcoat.

Filling the car up with petrol is not the most glamorous of jobs.
But Vanessa Hudgens managed to turn the boring task into a flashbulb event yesterday when she stepped out in some serious over-the-knee boots.
The 22-year-old also wore tiny, ripped denim hot pants to pump some gas in Los Angeles before zooming off to a meeting.

All eyes were on the High School Musical actress's chocolate brown boots with multiple straps that accentuated her toned, tanned thighs.
A set of oversize aviator sunglasses, a grungy tee and piles of necklaces and rings added oomph and attitude to what was actually a rather raunchy look for the star.

The daring outfit is something of a departure from Miss Hudgens' usual style of pretty dresses or pared-down jeans and a fail-safe cardi.
Observers may wonder whether the star's sexy style is the result of new beau, actor Austin Butler.

And judging by the pair's passionate display of affection in Bob's Big Boy diner in Burbank this week, they could well be right.
The new couple struggled to keep their hands off each other as they supped milkshakes in the early hours of Sunday morning.
But a source close to the actress told Hollywoodlife.com: 'It isn’t a serious thing at all. She’s having fun hooking up with him but no official relationship has flourished yet.

Former US Vice President Al Gore's claim that his latest climate change campaign was watched by 8.6 million people has been refuted when actual figures showed that it was closer to 17,000 viewers.

Despite Gore, 63, successfully getting speakers including Renee Zellweger to make appearances, website 'Watts Up With That?' has revealed that internet viewing figures were way below those reported by him.

Using web traffic information to estimate visitor numbers, the website said that even 17,000 viewers was possibly generous.

Even video highlights of the talks posted on YouTube proved to be unpopular, with some films receiving just one or two views.

The Internet campaign, named '24 Hours of Reality', spearheaded by the former presidential candidate was supposed to raise awareness about climate change.

The multimedia presentations showed how extreme weather events, such as floods, fires and storms, are linked to climate change.

The hourly broadcasts were filmed from locations across the world including Beijing, New Delhi, Jakarta, London and Rio de Janeiro.

Meanwhile, Eric Young, Deputy Communications Director, The Climate Reality Project, refuted reports numbers were inflated.

"We are thrilled by the vast global attention 24 Hours of Reality received. Millions of people around the world watched and engaged online and in person," the Daily Mail quoted Young as saying.

"Our strategy was to bring the event to as many people as possible. We achieved this by partnering with Ustream, whose player was embedded in sites across the web, not just on our homepage.

"This was in addition to the watch parties in homes, schools and businesses, and the live television broadcast on Current TV," he added

Alessandra Ambrosio Sighting Photo:

Lustrous supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio was recently spotted with her businessman fiance Jamie Mazur and their daughter, Anja Mazur Ambrosio, during a shopping trip this past weekend in Malibu.

The Victoria’s Secret model-mom was garbed hippie chic in a sheer tank top over a deep grey-brown bikini and a tiny denim cut-off shorts that flawlessly displayed the Brazilian’s remarkable legs.

As Ambrosio shopped her butt off at the Kitson boutique, her husband-to-be Mazur took little Anja out for some ice-cream while they they patiently waited for mommy to finish doing every woman’s favorite hobby.

Surprise! Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift duet at her Los Angeles show:

Taylor Swift has been covering Justin Bieber’s “Baby” during her latest concert tour, but last night in L.A., she did one better!

Instead of just singing his song, Swift was able to get Bieber himself to come out and duet with her on stage — sending the crowd into hysterics.

The show was Swift’s first of four sold out concerts at the Staples Center … no word on if Bieber (or maybe someone else) will pop up on stage tonight.”You think you’ve heard LOUD screaming in your life,” Taylor Swift tweeted after her Los Angeles show on Tuesday night. “Then [Justin Bieber] comes out and does a surprise song during your show. Woah. Unreal.”

Yes, Bieber made a surprise appearance during the Swifty concert. These two have been longtime friends (even moreso now that he’s dating her BFF, Selena Gomez) so while we’re sure fans were shocked, it can’t have come as that much of a surprise.



“We should do that more often. great show! #muchlove,” Bieber tweeted to Swift.

The pop favorites sang a duet on Bieber’s song “Baby.” Bieb’s manager, Scooter Braun, was sitting on the secret beforehand. “Had to keep it a secret all day. But [Bieber] just came out and sang BABY with [Swift] at STAPLES. EPIC ROAR! #greatmoment,” he tweeted.

Let the liquidation begin — HP’s 16GB TouchPad on sale for $99 (Photo):

Well, that didn’t take long. It’s only been a day since HP announced its intention to discontinue production of webOS devices, and it looks like the outfit’s already throwing its flagship tablet in the bargain bin. PreCentral reports that HP sent out a memo to its affiliates asking them to cut the price of the ill-fated TouchPad to $99 and $149 for the 16GB and 32GB editions, respectively. The date apparently put forward by HP is August 20th, but at least two Canadian retailers (Best Buy and Future Shop) have already made the cut — though both outlets show the sale ending August 22nd. As proof that being fashionably late isn’t always a good thing, the white 64GB edition has surfaced on HP’s US site, sporting a $600 asking price, leaving us to wonder, well: why now? If all of that isn’t enough to turn your smile upside down, webOSroundup is playing the bearer of bad rumors, with what they say is an internal memo from AT&T stating that the carrier’s launch of the Pre 3 has been “completely cancelled.”

Update: Looks like the SlickDeals forums folks have discovered a way to bring those Canadian prices down south, and are reporting that they will be official in the US on Saturday morning. Hit up the link below for details.

Katie Holmes On ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark’ Daughter, Relationship Photo:

Katie Holmes is mother to one of the most famous and fashionable little girls in the world. There is no five year old, at least in the American non-monarchial world, quite as style-forward as Tom Cruise’s one blood heir, and, at least from the paparazzi’s perspective, the two are never apart.

In her new film, “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” Holmes has to focus on building a relationship with another little girl. Playing the new wife of single father Guy Pearce, she’s forced to bond with his young daughter, played by Bailee Madison. What is at first awkward develops into a trust in the most extreme of conditions (hey, it’s a horror film directed by Guillermo del Toro), something that Holmes said having a young daughter helped her conceptualize.

“I think being a mom myself, when I read my character and I saw the journey she takes and how we see her make sacrifices for her child — I think I didn’t understand that until I became a mom,” Holmes recently told Reuters. “Just how much you love this person. You will do anything for that person, and you have strength you didn’t know that you had, which is what I like about my character. So I think that being a mom definitely gave me much more insight to this character.”

It’s a similar sentiment to what she expressed at a recent press conference to promote the film.



“I love the relationship between Kim and Sally, and I love the bonding that occurs, and it’s really about two human beings that recognize something of themselves in each other,” she told assembled press. And that shared relationship that turns into something very special and powerful and Kim has to learn not only to listened but to bring this little girl in her life, but to make her feel safe.”

Garlic and Thyme Dietary Supplement:

Garlic and Thyme, are the two powerful antioxidants found in Forever Garlic-Thyme, combine create a great tool in maintaining good health. When garlic is cut or crushed, enzymes react to produce a powerful agent. Studies have shown that garlic’s other ingredients help the metabolism convert fats to energy and protect the body against free radicals.

Other healthy substances in this odorless softgel include ajoene and lecithin, which can help emulsify fats. Garlic’s sulphur compounds have also been shown to have beneficial properties. Garlic also contains germanium, a mineral trace element believed to help boost the body’s immune system and selenium, a trace mineral antioxidant.

Thyme contains the antioxidants Tannin, Phenol and Thymol (saponins). Other beneficial nutrients contained in Garlic-Thyme are potassium, calcium, magnesium, B vitamins and vitamin C.

Other Health Benefits of Garlic Thyme:

Health expel worms in the intestine

Natural Antibiotic and anti-bacterial

Help prevent bad breath and body odor

Helps prevent and cure digestive problems

Helps prevent heart disease

Has anti-aging properties

Supplement Facts

Serving Size 1 Softgel

Serving per Container 100

Amount Per Softgel % Daily Value

Odorless Garlic Concentrate, liquid (cloves) 60 mcg (equivalent to 1,000 mg fresh garlic)

Thyme, powdered (leaves) 120 mg.

Daily Value not established

Formula Ingredients: Garlic Oil Concentrate (10 mg equivalent to 1,000 mg of fresh garlic cloves); Thyme (50 mg powdered leaves)

Other Ingredients: Canola Oil, Gelatin, Glycerin, Lecithin, Beeswax, Purified Water, Carob Extract

Contents: 100 softgel capsules

Directions: Take one softgel with each meal

Note : All Information contained here is not intended as substitute for any medical treatment prescribed by your doctor. You are advised to consult your physician and obtain professional medical advise before taking any dietary supplements and/or attempting any home remedy.

5 Ways To Blow His Mind In Bed Photo:

Have a new guy? Need to spice things up with an old one? Want to bust out something extra special for his birthday? Or maybe you just feel like going the extra mile tonight? Whatever your reason for wanting to treat your man, here are five ways to blow his mind in the bedroom.

1. Talk dirty.

They say that a man’s most erogenous zone is his brain. This means, it really is more important for you to blow his mind than blow his…well, you know. The quickest way to bring him into the moment and add passion to your sex life is to start talking dirty. Don’t know what to say? Just start by talking about what you want to do to him, what you are doing to him, what you love doing to him, how good it feels or what you want him to do to you.

2. Play With “The Boys.” Few girls will tell you that balls are their favorite part of a guy’s body. But like them or not, the majority of guys find it pleasurable to have them played with. Whether you’re going down on him, on top of him, or underneath him, go through the trouble of reaching your arm around to play with the boys. He will be VERY appreciative.

3. Hop on Reverse Cow Girl. Nothing spices it up like trying a new position. A popular one that many guys call “the hottest thing ever” is reverse cowgirl. Reverse cowgirl means that you’re on top, but flipped around. So you’re straddling him on your knees, but facing his feet instead of his face. A little side note: He’s going to have a full on view of your bootie, so if you’re a groomer, you probably want to be pretty well groomed. This position is very revealing. (Which is part of why it’s so hot!)

4. Wake him up with a BJ. Some guys aren’t into making out in the morning, but NO guy is going to turn down a morning BJ. Because guys’ testosterone levels are the highest in the morning, it’s a time when they want sex the most. And if he’s going to wake up with a boner anyway… you might as well do something with it. (Well, that’s probably his logic anyway). Show him how good you are at anticipating his needs by going down on him before he even has time to roll over and start poking you awake.

5. Tease Him. Good things are worth waiting for. And in the case of sex, the longer you wait, the more exciting it can be. Especially as a relationship progresses, sex can sometimes feel like something that’s rushed through as opposed to something that’s relaxed and enjoyed. Spend time kissing him, touching him a bit, and then kissing him some more. Give him time to anticipate sex, really want it, and get extra excited. As a result… after you’ve blow his mind, he’ll turn back around and blow yours.

Tell us: what do you do to your guy to drive him wild?

BettyConfidential’s Sexpert Amber Madison is a sex educator and author of Hooking Up: A Girl’s All-Out Guide to Sex and Sexuality, and Talking Sex With Your Kids, which was released in March.

IBPS Common Written Exam for Clerical Cadre Aug-2011:

Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) sarkari-naukri.blogspot.com

IBPS House, Post Box No.8587, Kandivali (East), Mumbai – 400101

Published at sarkari-naukri(dot)blogspot(dot)com

IBPS conducts Written Exam for Clerical Cadre like earlier advt. for Officers Cadre.

IBPS, an autonomous body, has been authorised by the IBA and has received mandates from 19 Public Sector Banks to conduct the recruitment of Clerical Cadre posts twice in a year for their requirements.

A Common Written Examination (CWE) will be conducted on 27/11/2011 by the IBPS as a pre-requisites for selection of personnel for Clerical Cadre posts in the following 19 Public Sector Banks.

Allahabad Banks / Andhra Bank/ Bank of Baroda/ Bank of India/ Bank of Maharashtra/ Canara Bank/ Central Bank of India/ Corporation Bank/ Dena Bank/ Indian Bank/ Indian Overseas Bank/ Oriental Bank of Commerce/ Punjab National Bank/ Punjab & Sind Bank/ Syndicate Bank/ Union Bank of India/ United Bank of India/ UCO Bank/ Vijaya Bank

Those will be successful in the Common Written Exam (CWE) will be given a scorecard (Like CAT exam of IIM) and may apply to any of the participating bank when they come up with their job vacancy and then these successful candidates have quote their personal details and their CWE scores.

Each of the bank will issue individual recruitment notifications, details of vacancies, eligibility criteria etc. separately.

Clerical posts :

• Age : 18-28 years as on 01/08/2011, age relaxation as per rules for SC/ST/OBC/ PWDs/ Ex.-SM


• Qualification : 60% marks in Matriculate/ SSC/ SSLC/ 10th standard (passing marks for SC/ ST/ OBC/ PWD/ ExSM) OR 50% marks in HSC / 11th of 10+1+3 pattern (passing marks for SC/ ST/ OBC/ PWD/ ExSM) OR Graduate in any discipline from recognised university.

Application Fee : Rs.350/- (Rs.50/- for SC/ST/PWD candidates) can be paid online at the time of filling the application form online through Online Payment Gateways of the Banks/ Credit Card OR through NEFT OR to be deposited in CBS branches of 6 bank out of 19 bank (for fee details please see detailed advertisement carefully before payment) . Keep the details/receipts of the fee submission safely as it is to be shown at the time of written test.

How to Apply for CWE : Candidates need to apply Online at IBS website from 25/08/2011 to 24/09/2011 only.

Important Dates

1. Payment of Application Fees : 24/08/2011 to 23/09/2011


2. Start date of Online submission of Application : 25/08/2011


3. Last date for online submission of Application : 24/09/2011


4. Date of CWE Exam for Clerks : 27/11/2011

Please visit http://www.ibps.in/html/common.htm for all the details available and to submit the application online from 25/08/2011 onwar

Maria Shriver Interviews Wallis Annenberg For LA Magazine’s First Women’s Issue:

We’re not sure which is more exciting: that the ever-glossy and beautiful Los Angeles Magazine is unveiling it’s first ever ‘L.A. Woman’ Issue … or that Maria Shriver is crowned queen.

The 49-page portfolio is not just about women in this city (there are plenty), but it is instead an exploration of LA’s super-women, meta-women, mega-women – women who don’t just look good and sound good when they’re in front of the camera, but women who do good by this city.

‘The L.A. Woman’ celebrates the debut of Maria Shriver 2.0. We are reminded of her long-standing dedication to women’s issues (eight years ago, Shriver founded The Women’s Conference and it quickly became the nation’s premier forum for women) but it also reminds us of her journalistic past: the cover story is not a traditional article about Maria at all, instead, she sits down for a spirited conversation, a frank and real back-and-forth, with none other than LA’s Wallis Annenberg.



Shriver faces a super woman truly her equal as she sits and talks with Annenberg, one of the city’s most generous and forward-thinking philanthropists. There is no denying that Los Angeles is a city spread apart; we have to make efforts to travel to see one other, efforts to find new ways to connect. Wallis Annenberg has dedicated her time, energy and funds to create shared cultural spaces within our city’s walls where we can all meet, play and live. From The Annenberg Space For Photography (my favorite place in this city) to the easy, breezy Annenberg Community Beach House – and the currently-under-construction Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, this L.A. grande dame (she’ll deny it!) is an integral link in Los Angeles’ cultural DNA.

Both Maria and Wallis are mothers of four and daughters of famous families. Here’s a sneak peak from their candid conversation, on newsstands later this week:

Anna Faris Talks Women Actresses, Co-Stars And Boob Jobs In Marie Claire:

Women of Hollywood, do yourselves — and your careers — a favor: find Anna Feris’s number. And call it.

And no, that’s not a pun on her upcoming film, either.

The “House Bunny” and “Scary Movie” standout is due to star in the upcoming sex comedy, “What’s Your Number?” and, if it does as well as expected, it’s going to make her a very powerful lady in show business. Unfortunately, it’s a rarity that a woman star can top line a straight comedy, and even rarer that an all-woman ensemble can do so. It happened with this spring’s “Bridesmaids,” and if Faris can pull it off, she says she wants her own “equivalent of the Judd Apatow crew,” alluding to the Seth Rogen-led humor frat that consistently opens films to great fanfare.

She’s already taking applications.

“When we meet each other, it’s always at some fussy event where everyone’s, you know, schmoozy and full of sh*t. So it’s difficult,” Faris tells Marie Claire in their new issue. “I would love to have more actress friends, but I just don’t… I have to call somebody’s agent and be like, ‘Hey, I know this is crazy — I don’t even have a specific project — but I’d really like to hang out with this girl.’ It has to be awkwardly coordinated like that.”

One potential project to get in touch with her about: “Gold Diggers,” which she’s producing herself.



“It’s really exciting to create something, sell it, and feel like I’m not just a pawn waiting to be cast,” she said about the project.

That Faris has reached this moment in her career speaks to her talent, but also her perseverance. After a three year marriage fell apart in 2007, she went off the rails a bit, getting a boob job and hitting the sauce.

“I was like, ‘F*ck it, I’ve got nothing to lose, nobody to support,’” she remembered thinking. “I wore the same Garfield shirt and jeans for three weeks. I had a running joke with my friend: ‘I hope somebody roofies me tonight!’ I didn’t care what people thought.”

Now married to Chris Pratt, an emerging comedy star in his own right, Faris now doesn’t have to worry what people think: she’s about to be in charge.

IT can make Panchayati Raj more effective: Ruhullah:

Noting that geomatics is vital part of governance, Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Information Technology Aga Syed Ruhullah said the use of technology can help in making the Panchayati Raj system more effective.

“Use of geomatics for good governance is only possible when the back end data is easily available. Geomatics is vital part of governance and if the technology is made accessible, the Panchayat Raj can be made more effective,” Ruhullah said during a conference on ‘Geomatics for G-Governance’ yesterday.

The regional conference was organised by University of Kashmir in collaboration with the Indian Society of Geomatics here.

Geomatics is the discipline of gathering, storing, processing, and delivering geographic information, or spatially referenced information.

The minister said that geo-information technology and communication technology can play a significant role in development and planning.

He also stressed need for building the technical ingenuity of state to harness the benefits of geo-information technology for overall development through good governance.

“There is also a need for coordinated and pragmatic approach for the collection, maintenance, updating and accessibility of the datasets at the state level to make use of geomatics possible,” Ruhullah said.

Facebook’s ‘Subscribe’ Button: 5 Things You Need To Know:
Forget “friending”: a new feature from Facebook now lets users “subscribe” to one another’s updates.
In a blog post published Wednesday, Facebook announced that it would begin rolling out the “subscribe button,” a tool that offers users a new way to interact with one another, as well as more of a say over the information that appears in their News Feeds.
“Our mission is to connect people and help them share. The goal of this new feature really is to give people more control over how they do that,” Naomi Gleit, Facebook’s director of product, told the Huffington Post.
As we wrote here, the just-announced setting, which lets Facebook operate more like Twitter by enabling people to “follow” public figures, could have important effects on etiquette, sharing, and the way people connect on Facebook.
Facebook will begin rolling out the “subscribe” button to all users starting September 14.



We’ve put together a guide to five key things you need to know about the “subscribe” button. Check them out, then tell us what you think of the new feature in the comments below.

Kanye West’s Puppet Show ‘Alligator Boots’ Never Aired But Was Incredible:

Alligator Boots is not Kanye West’s crowning artistic achievement. It’s not even really a complete achievement, considering that the Rhymefest-affiliated puppet show was canceled before it would have aired on Comedy Central. But this is the Internet, where not everything is made available but a lot sure is, and Konee Rok has posted about 10 minutes of behind-the-scenes footages of what might have been.In this video discovered by The Vine, we take an extensive look behind the scenes at a 2008 pilot for “Alligator Boots,” a sketch/puppet show pilot created by rapper Rhymefest in collaboration with Kanye West and Daniel Ellison of Jackhole Productions, who also produced “Crank Yankers.”

The show had almost the exact same concept as “The Muppet Show” — the puppets, which interact with live action celebrities, even were created by Jim Henson’s Muppet Workshop — but with a decidedly hip-hop flavor. For instance, Rhymefest describes a sketch in which a literal pig is touted as the next big thing in rap, but nobody notices that he’s just a pig “except for smart people.”

Another sketch, shown in the video, features “Beary White” crooning an X-rated ballad to Kim Kardashian in Princess Leia’s metal bikini.

Yes, when the show’s production was first leaked in 2008, it got some pretty bad press. And we’re the first to admit that the promos made the show look terrible. And also, many of the sketches sound ridiculous and actually are ridiculous. But the show looks ridiculous in the best, most Kanye-rific, oblivious to its own silliness way possible. However, Comedy Central has a history of taking chances with some great programming and also some not-so-great programming, and we feel like “Alligator Boots” could have been an experiment worth exploring.



“I think it’s going to go amazing!” -Kim Kardashian as Princess Leia in the unaired pilot. Sorry, Kim.

6 Things to Consider When Accepting a Job Offer Photo:

Scoring an offer means you’ve made it through the toughest part of the job hunt. All the applications, research, and thank-you notes have paid off—congrats!

But not all the stress is over just yet. Now comes an important decision: whether or not to accept the position. How do you know if it’s the right job for you? Or, what if you have to choose between two appealing offers?

Weighing the dozens of pros and cons can easily be overwhelming, so here are the most important factors to keep in mind when you’re making that oh-so-important decision.

1. The People

No, my number one consideration is not the money—it’s the people. Your boss, your team, and the co-workers that will surround you everyday are crucial for your happiness and success at a job. Sure, it’s hard to judge people after only meeting them briefly, but think about how they treated you during the interview process. Were they friendly? Did they ask personal questions as well as professional ones? Did they call you back in a timely manner?

The answers to these questions may reflect how your co-workers and superiors will treat you as an employee. I recently interviewed with a company who didn’t call me back for several weeks after our five-minute speed-interview. When I finally got the return call, we proceeded with a 10-minute interview, and then they made me an offer. Is someone who’s ready to hire you after 15 minutes really considering how well you’ll fit into the team? Probably not.

2. The Environment

Weigh the pros and cons of working for a corporation, an agency, a non-profit, or a start-up. They’re very, very different environments, and it’s important to decide which you’d thrive in. If you’re more of an individual worker who likes structure and competition, the corporate path may be for you. If you want a fast-paced environment that’s new every day, an agency or start-up may be a good choice.

The physical location is also important to consider. A long commute or lack of lunch options may pull down your everyday attitude. Nothing is worse than going to a miserable work environment every morning—and even worse, taking that unhappiness home with you, too.

3. The Benefits

Having a great benefits package is important for more than the obvious reasons. If a company offers its employees perks like health, dental, retirement, and flexible spending plans, it can mean they’re competitive and doing well financially. If a place doesn’t offer benefits package, it might just be because they’re small, but it could also imply that they’re struggling as a company.

Even if benefits aren’t overly important to you, working for a company without them is something to carefully consider. Been there, done that, and in my experience, it didn’t point to company success.

4. The Stability

A lot of organizations are able to impress with their past work or current profits, but take some time to do research on the company’s recent success and hiring activities. Has it been operating steadily during this crazy economic climate? If so, you’re likely looking at a pretty stable job. If not, be careful: you could be walking into a hazardous environment and a job that could be gone within a year.

5. The Money

When looking at a job offer, or comparing two, often the most tempting thing to do is to go for the money, but that’s not necessarily the right approach. Take it from me—I’ve taken a job for the money and hated it, and taken a massive pay cut to work somewhere I love. I’ve learned that salary is only a small part of my happiness at work.

Consider what salary you could live with, as well as the amount that would make a job offer irresistible, and keep those numbers in mind (and of course, negotiate!). Think more about potential of the whole package and less about the numbers on your monthly paycheck.

6. Your Gut

Finally, after you’ve weighed the important factors, take time to listen to what your gut is telling you. People often say when they’re buying a house, “when you walk into the one, you’ll feel it.” Same advice here: if you walk out of an interview and everything feels right (or wrong), pay attention to that feeling.

5 ‘Dream Jobs’ That Aren’t As Glamorous As They Look:

Who wouldn’t want to be a travel writer? They visit some of the most interesting and beautiful places in the world, and they get paid for it. Or a celebrity assistant? They get to hang out with celebrities!

The truth is that while these jobs certainly do come with great perks, even so-called “dream jobs” aren’t perfect. Though all 10 of the following people love their careers and wouldn’t change them for anything, there are times when, like the rest of us, they think work sucks.

1. Travel Writer

The perception: Trips to the world’s most beautiful locations and meals at the best restaurants, all expenses paid.

The reality: “It’s a difficult industry to get into and it can be a tough field to stay in because it’s not known for paying well,” says Sarah Sekula, a freelance travel writer whose work has appeared in publications such as Sherman’s Travel and USA Today. “Therefore, this is not the right profession for you if your main concern is making a ton of money.”

Plus, Sekula says, although the travel is great, it can interfere with her personal life. “You’re on the road often, so you miss things in town like birthday parties and weddings,” she says.

2. Celebrity Assistant

The perception: Behind-the-scenes access to a world few get to see.

The reality: “From the outside looking in at [the life of] an assistant to Hollywood icons looks glamorous. Not really,” says Lisa Krohn, who says she often worked 75 to 100 hours per week as an assistant to celebrities and business powerhouses such as Martha Stewart, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and author and Mandalay Entertainment CEO Peter Guber.

“You’re an intimate confidant and muse for people 24/7 on top of doing all of the administrative work. It is crucial for you to find, maintain and grow in your own character, personality and identity constantly. Otherwise you become a victim, emotional cripple and you live vicariously through your boss and his or her life,” she says.

3. Blogger

The perception: “[Since I work from home], many people immediately jump to the conclusion that I get to work whenever I want, sleep in every day, go out with friends all the time, make a ton of home-office tax deductions, and that it’s an overall easy lifestyle,” says Andrew Schrage, editor of the personal finance blog MoneyCrashers.com.

The reality: “I have had to overcome some major challenges to working from home to avoid business failure,” Schrage says. “Not having the structured 9-to-5 routine forces me to become extremely disciplined and prepare for my work-from-home job. Moreover, working from home makes it difficult to separate work from my personal life. Working at an office allows you to shut out your work once you leave and get home. Unfortunately, I rarely get to enjoy that freedom, which I’ve learned is priceless.”

4. Conference and Meeting Planner

The perception: It’s all menu sampling and international travel. Paid for, of course.

The reality: “My friends think I lead a glamorous life — traveling to all the great resorts in Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean and Hawaii,” says Hillary Bessiere, director of business development for Bishop McCann, a firm that produces meetings and events for brands around the world. “However, what they don’t realize is that as planners we usually only see one part of the destination from the time we arrive to the time we depart, and that’s our operations office to make sure our clients’ programs go off without a hitch. I’ve been called a jet-setter, but what people don’t see are the days you are up from 6 a.m. until 2 a.m., and sometimes you’re lucky if you are able to change clothes every day.”

5. Jewelry Designer

The perception: Arts and crafts, for adults.

The reality: It can be a logistical nightmare.

“The part of my job that is not glamorous (that few realize before setting out) is the complexities of managing and financing a lot of inventory,” says Kathy Loewenstern, who designs and sells her jewelry collection at KathyLo.com. “To be successful in the jewelry business, you need a very wide product assortment and you need to be constantly changing and updating to stay abreast of trends and to give your customers something new.”

This need for an extensive product assortment creates stress throughout the business, from designing to sourcing to selling, she says.

My Baby and “My Baby” – Startups and Children as Labors of Love:

As a 35 year old business owner with a 20 month old daughter, I can only stress one thing: I wish I did it all sooner.

That goes for both the business and the baby, though most importantly the baby.

Having met several other successful entrepreneurs in Manhattan with whom I share strikingly similar backgrounds, I’ve begun to recognize a pattern — after being raised in rural areas or suburbs by stay-at-home moms, it seemed to us all that there was nothing more important than having a career first and postponing motherhood as long as possible.

As a neighbor once astutely pointed out, “There are a lot of old parents in New York.” Yet my reasoning for longing for an earlier start to child-rearing encompasses far more than this preoccupation. Now that I have made it halfway through the most rigorous, poignant decade of my career, and with the clock ticking, I am not racing to conceive another child. In addition to all these elements, my husband and I live far away from any grandparents or family, so unfortunately now is not an ideal time to be raising a baby.

Looking back ten years, I honestly doubt that even I would have been receptive to this advice myself, but I can now attest that if women like you and I do want to have children, perhaps we should start thinking about it earlier. Our generation seems to be caught in this sort of reactive rubber band effect, so I can only hope that my daughter, Agnes, will have a more balanced perspective on the matter. All that being said, in my personal experience, having a child and starting a company have proven similar in a myriad of ways.

To begin, it took careful planning to conceive of both my company and my child. In fact, funnily enough they both incubated for nine months before “launching,” so to speak (my daughter, however, did not launch so easily, as I was in labor for over 30 hours). Beware, for the first year of life for both these “babies” holds little to no sleep.



Additionally, you will be pushed to your limits, and you might even think you have made a huge mistake (though rest assured, you did not). Under no circumstance should you have a child during your first year of launching a startup, unless your parents live very close or you have an au pair. Even then, this would be questionable timing, as both business and children require constant attention and nurturing. Essentially, one only gets out what one puts in, and there are only so many hours in a day. Also, in either realm, if you are too sleep-deprived, you will make mistakes. It’s important to create a routine and set a daily schedule: this in turn makes a child’s life more comfortable and predictable and your business life more efficient and focused. If you are like me, you may juggle high level management with sales, HR, and financial tasks. Switching gears can be jarring for even the best multi-tasker, so just make specific time slots for your internal tasks as well as your meetings. Also, if ever you are feeling unmotivated or overwhelmed, remember that just being a mom makes you work more efficiently since, more often than not, one wants to get home to see her child, so there is less time wasted during the day.

Having a child also helps you in your personal life as well as your business life, especially in terms of prioritizing who and what is important to you. I often find myself spread too thin, engaged in too many professional groups, boards and other activities. Reflect on the fact that “no” could be one of the first words that your child learns, and for good reason. For many women, saying “no” can be difficult. I feel like I often fall into this category. Although in business discourse I strive to say “what if,” rather than “no,” when it comes to making decisions about my valuable time and energy, “no” is so important. If you start a company and it is successful, invariably people will come out of the woodwork with a keen interest in occupying your time. While this can be flattering to some at first, it is ultimately most important to protect your time and really measure if taking that meeting or having a seat on that group truly aligns with your values. After having a child, you immediately and inevitably start thinking about your legacy both in terms of what you are creating and what you will ultimately be leaving behind. Make quick decisions but be very mindful of what you choose to sign up for — what it means to you.

On a final and obvious note, don’t underestimate the power of naming, in both business and with regards to your child. In both cases this has a profound impact and will shape the way your company (or child) is perceived by the world and therefore how he or she perceives the self. For instance, I was almost named Wilamina. In the context of my life now in New York, perhaps that would actually even be a cooler name than Elizabeth, but growing up in a backward coal-minding town in the middle of Pennsylvania, I imagine my childhood would have been challenging.

Now Hiring! Say Good-Bye To Job Fairs And Hello To AmericaHires360.com:
It was around this time three years ago when the U.S. economy began to take a downward spiral. Six weeks later I was jobless and like most Americans scrambling to find my next career opportunity. Through my job loss I discovered LinkedIn.com which then led me to create JobsDirectUSA, an organization committed to helping unemployed professionals find work.
In the few years since, I have devoted my life to helping America get back to work. While the success of my efforts has been well documented, throughout this time I’ve spent countless hours, days, and nights thinking about a single event that can stimulate hiring and help millions of American workers find employment.
I present to you the America Hires Virtual Job Fair which will run from October 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011 at AmericaHires360.com.
The interactive event will run on-line for 13 consecutive weeks and aims to connect job candidates with hiring companies throughout the United States.



What you should know:
No need to travel

Submit your resume instantly

Featured Speakers and breakout sessions

Attendance is easy from any computer with internet access

Live chat capability between Employers and Candidates

Hiring companies participating nationwide
For more information, or to register, please go-to americahires360.eventbrite.com.

Last night, in an interview at New York City’s 92nd Street Y, trailblazing journalist Barbara Walters sat down with psychiatrist and author Gail Saltz, MD, to share her thoughts on her life and career. She spoke candidly about women in the workplace, marriage, her controversial affair with married Senator Edward Brooke, and the highly successful career she began in 1961 and continues to build today.
As the child of a father whom she said attempted suicide and whom she described as a “gambler” and a mother with “a lot on her plate,” Walters said her family’s uncertain financial status led her to seek a serious career: “I always felt I had to work. Women of my generation didn’t have to work but I did, and that made a difference.”

‘There Was A Feeling I Could Cover Other Things’
Walters described the beginning of her career as an accident. “I never thought it was going to happen. I was a writer,” she said. “I wasn’t beautiful. I didn’t sing or dance. Most women on the TODAY show were models and actresses… I didn’t pronounce my Rs…” On that show in 1961, she said, “there were eight writers, seven male one female.” Walters joked, “The only way to get that writing job was if that one woman ‘got married or died — preferably both.”

The sexism she was initially up against was apparent in a video shown before Walter’s entrance on stage. The film traced the trajectory of her career, going from shots of her in full Playboy bunny getup in what she called “fluffy TODAY show pieces,” to her breakthrough as a hard news reporter and the emotional footage of her covering the funeral of John F. Kennedy, Jr., a moment which Barbara identified as the “first time there was a feeling I could cover other things.”
And what didn’t she cover? After ten years, Walters became the first female co-host on network TV at the TODAY Show, then, with 1967’s “Not for Women Only,” she changed daytime TV, becoming the first female anchor on a major network. She has interviewed every American President and First Lady since Richard Nixon, as well as countless celebrities like Christopher Reeve and Barbara Streisand and other major figures on the world stage, such as the Dalai Llama.

The Trade-offs
Walters also spoke to the choice women make in order to have successful careers: “I think that there still is this feeling, to some degree, that the successful woman, the ambitious woman, what has she given up?” and added, “I don’t think a career is necessarily the greatest thing in the world. I think you do pay a price.”

Walters recalled working on her birthday, working on New Years Eve, and having to send a producer to interview one of her idols, Nelson Mandela, because she — echoing the words she used to describe her mother — “had too much on her plate.”

She said it was difficult on her daughter to have a mother who was always traveling, and admitted that her career has led her to pay a price in her romantic relationships. Walters was married four times to three different men. “Whether I did it deliberately or not, my career came first,” said Walters. “Whether it’s good or bad I don’t think it’s [marriage] as necessary for women who have careers,” adding, “I certainly don’t want to get married now.”

At the end of the day, Walters recognizes, “My life is not like most women’s of my age.” She described her lunches with a dear friend with many children and grandchildren whom she always tells “you are so rich!” before her friend insists, “no, you are so rich!”
The most tense part of the evening came when Dr. Saltz asked Walters point-blank about her affair with married U.S. senator Edward Brooke, the first African-American to be popularly elected to the senate. When asked how it felt to her at the time, Walters replied:
“He was fascinating. It was a dangerous thing to do and he knew it and I knew it and eventually we had to break up … I think that there would have been a lot of affiliate stations that would not have been very happy with me.”

How More Women Can Get a Seat on the Board, Lead to Success:
Participating at the board level of our portfolio companies is one of the most interesting and enjoyable roles I have as a venture capitalist.
A significant portion of building value at a portfolio company happens within the board of directors. As a part of this group, you advise and guide strategy, tactics and outcomes for the company.
In my opinion, there are two key jobs for a venture capitalist: The first is picking great investments, and the second is being influential in the board room as you actively guide the direction of companies. While the first job is important to start the company-building process, the second is where company value is created.
Earning a seat at the table of the board of directors is important for anyone who wants to be a part of guiding a company toward its future, not just for venture capitalists. It is especially important for women, who are largely underrepresented on corporate boards, to think strategically about how they can add value to companies on a broader scale.
In 2010, only 15.7 percent of Fortune 500 company board seats were held by women, according to research by Catalyst. With women holding 51.5 percent of the management and professional positions in the U.S. labor force, there is an increasing pipeline of qualified women to fill these seats. But many women may not be cultivating the skills they need to obtain board positions.

Based on my own experience and through working with other successful women, I have identified some areas where women can focus to prepare themselves to sit on boards:

• Develop a career plan – It is crucial to manage your career and be in positions where you can demonstrate your leadership skills. Starting with a strong educational background, such as a degree in economics or engineering followed by an MBA, is a great foundation for building a career in technology and/or venture capital. Don’t be afraid to take a risk. Get out of your comfort zone, perhaps by joining a smaller organization where you can showcase your skills. Be mindful of what professional positions you take on and make sure that each
  
  position adds value to your personal skill set.


• Get relevant experience – The most effective company boards include a diverse set of people with a diverse set of skills. It includes experts from each relevant sector or position teaming up to provide advice for the companies. Finance and technology backgrounds are especially pertinent for venture capitalists. Actively focus on areas of learning that prepare you to analyze business models. Operating experience that can translate to the board room is highly sought after. Companies want advice from people who have strong track records of success and practical experience, not just people who can theorize.


• Specialize – When our portfolio companies want to add board members, we look at candidates who have the experience that we need to make that specific company successful. This could be in sales or ecommerce, for example, or operating experience in a particular sector, like mobile. For public companies, we may need a corporate governance expert who is or has been a general counsel, or an audit committee member who is a current or former CFO. Be a master of your position, gaining the experience and knowledge that will cause boards to look your way.


• Be a leader – The most effective board members are effective leaders. Don’t be afraid to be assertive and exercise your ability to lead in various positions. Take a leadership role in industry-related activities, such as networking groups, or join a non-profit board and start actively learning how to effect change and influence an organization. Use these experiences to cultivate your leadership skills and practice wielding influence at the board level.

Earning a seat on the board of directors is just the start. To be effective on the board and help lead the company to success, you need to use your voice and get your opinions out there. Drive the discussion and make sure your concerns and thoughts are addressed. Don’t wait for other people to call on you and ask what you think. When other people perceive you as a leader, they will respect your opinions and want you to be part of their boards too.
Always take a broad view. As a board member, you have a responsibility as a fiduciary, as well as to the constituency you are representing. You often need to balance competing objectives to achieve the right decision for the company.

I have to admit I was a little shocked after initially reading this article titled “Why Women Shouldn’t Go to Tech Conferences” (can you blame me?) featured on Forbes Woman.
The article followed Susannah Breslin who was asked to speak on a women-panel about how to make a living blogging as a career. She was annoyed at the fact that the panelists discussed how they got brands to sponsor their blogs:
“They allude to getting paid what I assume everyone imagines are large sums to work with these companies and I start to wonder if this is what social media and blogging have become. Ways to make money.”
You know, the same way you are annoyed when you are at a fitness convention and the panelists start talking about different kinds of elliptical machines. It’s a panel about blogging for heaven’s sake, yes you will find “young, cute chicks” discussing how they turned their love for fitness, shopping, or music into a money making website. Is that the only topic women have to offer on a tech panel? After reading this quote I really start to wonder if this is Ms. Breslin’s first tech conference:
“I wonder what all the men in the other rooms of this conference are doing. I imagine they are talking about apps they have created, and companies they have founded, and complicated technology things that they want other people to buy. I wonder if anywhere at this conference men are talking about whether or not they have feelings.”



I imagine women at other conferences talk about the apps they have created, companies they have founded and very “complicated technology” that yes, women can understand too. See: Marissa Mayer, Caterina Fake, Elizabeth Crawford, Sara Chipps, Hilary Mason (the list is a long one).
It is unfair to make assumptions about the credibility of women in tech based on one genre of the tech industry. It’s the panels titled “A Woman’s Touch” or topics like “what its like to be a women in tech” are definitely part of the problem. Women as a whole shouldn’t be singled out or labelled, a smart idea is a smart idea regardless of the gender or the source that it originated from.
Susannah, if you’re reading this, I get it.
The post was about how we should use blogging not only to advance our own careers but to help others as well. Point well made. But the way you first started with a controversial title and then twisted the article to paint a picture of women contributing nothing but a superficial agenda and ‘feelings’ is a bit absurd. I feel many people who read this article may have missed your point and left feeling justified that women do not have a place in tech.
I’ll admit, there may be female panelists at conferences that bring nothing to the table, but to be honest, there are men who don’t as well. To single out all women and label them the way articles like this just did is what groups like Women in Wireless, Women 2.0 and Girls in Tech work to turn around.
Rachel Sklar (@rachelsklar #changetheratio) is considered a “women in tech watchdog”, calling out men-dominated panels and working to get the voices of female leaders heard in the tech industry.

I was recently speaking with a teen aged girl who said: “I adore my father but I would never date anyone like him. He treats me like a princess, but I don’t like the way he treats women.”
I was blown away by her ability to so succinctly articulate the complexity of her emotions about the two sides of her father; the man who loves her and the man who seemingly treats women as disposable, interchangeable, companions for the purposes of physical and social convenience. It’s not that he’s blatantly disrespectful on any level and as a single man, his behavior is far from inappropriate, yet she has learned well, and recognizes the contrast between how he has taught her to be loved and how he treats women in general.

Her father lavishes her with affection and attention, so she feels cherished. Before she even understood what it meant, he told her she was beautiful, smart and worthy. This makes her relatively immune to the compliments of boys who try to impress her with words that would make a girl deprived of such reinforcement swoon or flee. Ambition, intelligence and good communication are her basic requirements. The young men courting her understand the bar has been set high and vie for her respect and friendship.

Our exchange prompted me to think about the fathers in my life: my father, my friend’s fathers, my brothers, colleagues etc. and what their daughters could possibly be learning from them about their self image and how they should be treated as women. Everything from what love looks and feels like, to the value of intelligence and definition of physical beauty are transmitted from father to daughter in verbal and non-verbal cues.
When I was about five years old, my father looked at me and offered a stern warning, “You have fat potential!”
At the time, I had no idea what he meant, but I could tell from his tone, and the way he looked at me, it was not good. I eventually learned what it meant and became obsessed with my weight. I was terrified of gaining weight. It took me many years, a handful of therapists and even more self-help books to get myself firmly on the path to reversing the damage inflicted upon my self image by my father’s well received words.



A colleague of mine recently bragged “I’ve been married 18 years and never once cheated!” I laughed and asked if he was impotent. Of course he wasn’t, but he did boast that his wife could wear his fourteen year old daughter’s bathing suit. This was his reason for fidelity; having a wife in her 40′s, with three children, that does God only knows what, to fit herself into clothing belonging to her child, barely two years into puberty. I could only hope that she was modeling healthy choices to her children in her efforts to keep herself this size.
I congratulated him and wondered if he would take responsibility if he were to discover his daughter throwing up her meals to meet his weight requirements. Could he even see how with all the pressure surrounding young girls to look like airbrushed, anorexic models, that his comments might have a detrimental effect on his daughter?
Another father, married 20 years with two teenaged daughters, has a beautiful family, whom he professes to love deeply and value greatly. Yet, he has been having an affair for almost 10 years. I asked him if he really believed his daughters and wife were clueless about his clandestine activities. He looked at me earnestly and nodded yes. I told him I disagreed and shared with him my understanding of the uncanny ability of children to know all things that parents try to hide. He admitted that he watched his own father’s infidelity throughout his parent’s marriage.
Then he mentioned a cousin of his who serially cheats on her husband; she attributes this to watching her father cheat on her mother and she realized in therapy how this experience left her with trust issues. Subconsciously, her cheating is her way of avoiding the heartache and humiliation she watched her mother endure. He became introspective when he realized how many of our friends are dealing with the fallout of their father’s affairs playing out in their relationships.

The VMA’s always get people talking and this year is no exception.
Except that it is. This year the award show is boldly choosing what few shows have chosen before: no host.
The Hollywood Reporter sat down with executive producer, Jesse Ignjatovic, to explain why they made the choice that they made and to give us a head’s up on what else we can expect.
THR: So no host, huh? Ignjatovic: We talked to different people and ultimately, it just didn’t feel like we needed one this year. Other years, like in 2007, we’ve gone host-less and it worked. If it’s not the right person then [we feel it’s] better to go without. It means better presenter moments potentially, but I don’t think it necessarily changes the landscape of the show.

THR: The VMA build-up has been largely focused on Lady Gaga, who’s opening the show. What does she mean to MTV?

Ignjatovic: She’s a gem. She’s that muse. She’s sort of the artist that’s really pushing boundaries that mean so much to our audience. And she is the artist that everyone is looking to. Like, what is she going to do next to outdo herself and take it to another place? I think she’s inspired other artists to push themselves. I know she’s inspired me and the VMA team.

BlackBerry has just unveiled the new Blackberry Bold 9900 Touch Release Date, Specs and Price. The BlackBerry Bold 9900 Touch smartphone features a stunning new design that evolves the iconic BlackBerry aesthetic a step further. The easy to use BlackBerry keyboard is kept in tact on the new 9900, while a new brilliant high resolution, capacitive touch screen has been added, all of which running on a new performance-driver platform powered by the BlackBerry 7 operating system.
The new Blackberry Bold 9900 Touch is an amazing new device that combines the best of performance, functionality, and style according to Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO of Research in Motion (RIM), the manufacturer of BlackBerry since 1999.
The new Blackberry Bold 9900 Touch Specs and Features
The new Blackberry Bold 9900 Touch is the thinnest BlackBerry smartphone yet at only 10.5mm. It runs the latest BlackBerry 7 OS and come with 5.0 MP cameras with flash and 720p HD video recording capability. Lets have a detailed look at BlackBerry Bold 9900 Specs and Features Released so far:
115 x 66 x 10.5 mm, approximately 130 g
2.8″ capacitive touch screen display – VGA (640×480), 287 dpi resolution
Ultra-easy QWERTY keyboard, optical trackpad
1.2 GHz Processor, 768 MB RAM
8 GB on-board memory, plus microSD slot supporting up to 32 GB cards
NFC technology
5.0 MP camera, supports 720p HD video recording
Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), Digital Compass (Magnetometer), Proximity Sensor
Built-in GPS / aGPS
Dual-Band Wi-Fi® – 802.11 b/g/n at 2.4 GHz and 802.11 a/n at 5 GHz
Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR support
Wireless Network support: Tri-Band HSPA+, Quad-Band GSM/EDGE
1230 mAh removable, rechargeable battery
BlackBerry 7 OS
OpenGL 2.0 support for developers.

The new Blackberry Bold 9900 Touch Release Date
The new model of BlackBerry 9900 to be available at 225 carriers, later this month of August 2011. According to RIM Release documents, the new Blackberry Bold 9900 will be made available to business class customers on August 17th and to general public on August 31st.
The new Blackberry Bold 9900 Touch Price
If leaked T-Mobile documents are to trusted, the new Blackberry Bold 9900 Touch Price range is set to $249.99 to $349.99, depending upon the carrier contract and country.
The new Blackberry Bold 9900 Touch UK Release Date and Price
The new Blackberry Bold 9900 Touch Release Date in UK is 12th August and price plans will start at £31.
The £31 a month deal offers the handset for free on a 24 month contract with 300 minutes Anytime, Unlimited texts (subject to the fair use policy) and 500 MB Blackberry Data.

Tina Fey Talks The Next Season Of ’30 Rock’, Emmy Nominations, Alec Baldwin Leaving And Tracy Morgan:

With the looming threat of Alec Baldwin’s ending tenure and Tracey Morgan recovering from his mishap, Tina Fey’s role as the captain of “30 Rock” has become a lot more strategic.

As she is readying herself for the upcoming season (and as the Emmys grow closer), the new-mom sat down with Deadline to talk about how to navigate the show’s past and what she plans on for the future.

DEADLINE: Do you think that Tracy Morgan’s seemingly anti-gay jokes in his standup routine [“I’ll kill my son if he acts gay”] will hurt the show’s Emmy chances or its reputation in general? TINA FEY: Because of my real-life pregnancy, we don’t go back on the air until January. I’m hoping that Tracy will have, and the world will have, forgotten about that by them. He from the first has gone around very sincerely and done his best to try to make up for the foolishness.

DEADLINE: Will you write the controversy into the show?

FEY: It’s the kind of story that even if it happened to someone else, we would probably turn it into a Tracy story. So we may use it.

A 16-year-old boy died after masturbating 42 times without stopping in Rubiato town, in Goiás region, Brazil. His mother told a local newspaper that she already knew about his son’s addiction and that she planned to see the doctor, but the decision came too late. The young man began to masturbate at midnight and spent [...]

Nancy Grace joins ‘Dancing With the Stars’ season 13: Nancy Grace is part of the lineup for season 13 of Dancing With the Stars, which may be the biggest DWTS casting head scratcher since Kate Gosselin. Grace, 51, is the host of her own show on HLN, where she covers current events and frequently highlights cases of missing persons. Her often acerbic and schoolmarmish [...]

Lacey Schwimmer & Chaz Bono paired on ‘Dancing with the Stars’: Author and activist Chaz Bono, the transgender son of pop icon Cher, has been paired with Lacey Schwimmer on the U.S. series “Dancing with the Stars.” ABC announced the pairings of the celebrities and their professional dance partners for Season 13 this week. In addition to Bono and Schwimmer, NBA champion Ron Artest was paired [...]

Alyssa Milano welcomes Baby Boy Milo Photo: Alyssa Milano has given birth to a healthy baby boy.Milano, 38, delivered her son, Milo Thomas Bugliari, at 9:27 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to People. The boy’s father is talent agent David Bugliari, who Milano married in 2009. Milano is an avid Twitter user (she announced her pregnancy via tweet in March), and has already [...]

How to increase Show Popularity Photo & Video: This tv reporter really know how to increase her show popularity… And she sure know how to look provocative, her name is Pamela David. She was born in Córdoba, Argentina on the 6th October 1978 and she move to Santiago del Estero when she was a child. Pamela entered many beauty contests while in Santiago [...]

Audrina Patridge Says bye-bye to Reality TV Show: Former ‘Hills’ star Audrina Patridge was pretty successful on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ so everyone wants to know if she thinks her former castmate, Kristin Cavallari, will do just as well. Patridge actually seems a little surprised By Jessica Wedemeyer Audrina Patridge may not have taken home the mirror-ball trophy as a contestant on Dancing [...]

Jessica Simpson Boob Reduction Before Her Wedding Photo: Jessica Simpson is reportedly so unhappy with her pre-wedding figure, that she’s willing to do just about anything to look thinner. Does that mean she’s really considering downsizing her chest? According to In Touch it’s true (but I’m not buying it for a second). Jessica loves her chesticles, not thinking she’s going to downsize anytime soon. [...]

JoJo Levesque Tweets Sexy Curves Pics: I have no idea who JoJo is. I don’t care to know who JoJo is. I’ve never even been compelled to do research on who JoJo is, and frankly I’ve never even heard of JoJo until this very moment. That’s when it was brought to my attention that she’s tweeting sexy pics of herself to [...]

Poonam Pandey Hot & Sexy 51 Bikini Photo: Model Poonam Pandey has forever been in news since she made that statement to strip for the Indian cricket team if they win the World Cup! Even though Team India went on to win the World Cup, everyone wondered if the hot beauty would drop clothes, but before the whole drama could reach its climax, [...]

Amanda Knox Murder Appeal News & Update: Amanda Knox is back in an Italian courtroom Monday, as she continues to appeal her conviction for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher. And the whole process has the sister of victim Meredith Kercher going public with a highly emotional appeal for justice. In a letter released by her family’s Italian lawyer, Kercher’s sister Stephanie, [...]

University of Maryland Beats Miami Football Team 32-24: Drenched in a mixture of sweat and rain, Randy Edsall spoke excitedly about winning his first game as University of Maryland Football team’s head coach. Anyone who knows Edsall wouldn’t be surprised to know that he took none of the credit for the Terrapins’ 32-24 victory over short-handed Miami on Monday night. “It’s not about [...]

Rory McIlroy, Caroline Woznaicki Dating: Golf Star Confirms Relationship:

It’s official! Rory McIlroy confirmed to the Associated Press that he is dating the world’s No. 1 ranked women’s tennis player Caroline Wozniacki.

“Why it’s going so well is that we have so much in common,” the 2011 U.S. Open champion said. “Obviously, different sports, but we’re pretty much in the same position at a young age and we can talk about things that probably a lot of 21, 22-year olds can’t talk about. It’s nice to have someone that sort of understands what you’re going through.”

Rumors of their relationship began spreading in late July when a tennis blogger saw them together at a restaurant in London. McIlroy, who was said to have broken up with his girlfriend of four years before the British Open, also exchanged Twitter messages with Wozniacki.

After McIlroy disappointingly finished the PGA Championship at 11-over par, he immediately flew to Cincinnati to visit Wozniacki and watch her play in a WTA tournament.