Chris Singleton Loses Lottery, Chance to Change the World

Like countless other Americans, Washington Wizards swingman Chris Singleton learned that week that he did not win the Mega Millions jackpot valued at well over $400 million.

Unlike his fellow citizens, however, Singleton believed he actually had a relatively decent chance... considering he purchased $10,000 worth of tickets for the drawing!

Explaining on Twitter that he considered the collection of tickets to be an "investment," the former Florida State standout added the hashtag #halfwaytoabillionaireifiwin and told followers:

“If I get richer, I will change the world for the better.”

That's nice to know. Not as nice as if Singleton had simply donated the 10 grand to a food bank instead of essentially flushing it down the toilet. But hey. The guy plays for the Wizards. He's not exactly familiar with winning game plans.

Does the rookie, who is averaging 4.8 points per game, have any regrets? Nope. The only options available to him and this cash were to play Mega Millions or "blow it in the club," he Tweeted.

But is that really true? What should Chris Singleton have done with his $10,000?

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Windsor Homes: 4 Deadly ?For Sale By Owner? Traps!

Posted in Buyer Blog | 03/04/2012

Windsor Homes

Purchasing Windsor homes that are ?For Sale By Owner,? can be a very risky experience and is not recommended for those without a sufficient real estate background.

It is understood that today?s home buyers are looking for bargain. Who doesn?t want to save money when they can? ?But like everything else, trying to cut corners can often bring a host of other problems, including spending more money than you originally intended.

Here are some reasons why you should be wary about purchasing a FSBO home:

1.? Paying Too Much:? Most FSBO?Windsor homes are overpriced.? Period.? Sellers believe their home is worth a certain amount, regardless of neighborhood comparisons and the current real estate market.? It is very rare that a seller has a clear understanding of what a good price on their home should be. There are too many horror stories involving buyers who simply didn?t know they were paying too much for a home until it was too late.? By having an experienced real estate agent at your side these problems can easily be avoided.

2.? Negotiating With Sellers Directly:? This is always a very tricky situation for a variety of reasons.? Sellers of FSBO homes are usually more emotionally attached to their homes and it is much harder to negotiate with a seller who won?t budge on prices, repairs or anything else you may want included in the contract.? If a seller knows how much you want the home, they may consider you vulnerable and you end up paying too much.? However, if you play hardball, their emotions could get in the way and they may walk away.? Regardless, you lose.

3.? You Will Need a Real Estate Lawyer:? If you choose not to work with a real estate agent, it is necessary for you to hire a real estate lawyer to review your contract.? This is where you don?t want to compromise.? With lawyers averaging $350 an hour, this can be costly, particularly if a contract needs to be revised several times.

4.? The Appraisal May Be Low:? When sellers and buyers don?t have access to neighborhood comps and other market data, then oftentimes, the price agreed upon for a FSBO home is often higher than the actual value of a home.? When that?s the case, the appraisal will come in low and lenders will not loan the money.? It is then that you will have to renegotiate, make up the difference or cancel the contract.? A good agent can spot an overpriced home before you start the negotiating process.

So if you think buying ?FSBO?Windsor homes guarantees you a better deal, it might be time to think again.

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UN in Haiti sees jump in cholera cases

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) ? Haiti is seeing a jump in the number of cholera cases as the Caribbean nation heads into the annual rainy season, a United Nations humanitarian agency said Tuesday.

The U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a monthly bulletin that the new cholera cases were found in the western and northern parts of the country and that Haitian health officials recorded 77 new cases a day for the whole country in early March, when the rains began.

Medical teams have been deployed to stem the spread of cholera but their effectiveness has been hampered in part by little coordination and an absence of salaries paid to people working in cholera treatment centers run by Haitian authorities, the U.N. bulletin said.

The day-to-day operations of the Haitian government have been largely been put on hold after Prime Minister Garry Conille suddenly resigned in February because of clashes with President Michel Martelly. Martelly named his foreign affairs minister, Laurent Lamothe, as his next pick but it's unclear when Parliament will vote on Lamothe's candidacy.

The new cholera cases come after a steady decline since June of last year when aid workers saw peaks of more than 1,000 cases on certain days.

The Boston-based group Partners in Health said it saw the number of cholera cases nearly triple from almost 19,000 in April 2011 to more than 50,000 two months later.

The same group wants to introduce a cholera vaccine to Haiti but its distribution is on hold as an ethics committee studies the program.

The disease, now the largest cholera outbreak in the world, has killed more than 7,000 people and sickened another 530,000, health officials say. The disease was likely introduced by a U.N. peacekeeping unit from Nepal, where the disease is endemic, several months after the January 2010 earthquake.

Cholera is caused by a bacteria found in contaminated water or food, and can kill people within hours through dehydration. It is easily treatable if caught in time.

Associated Press

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Video: Boone Pickens on Higher Oil Prices

Is team Obama punishing the oil and gas industry with high taxes and more regulations? Boone Pickens, BP Capital Management, weighs in.

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Sports, art, streetlights: A new life in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) ? The crowd ? both men and women ? cheered wildly as two Mogadishu basketball teams entered an old stadium that once bore the bloodstains of war.

During the recent reign of Islamist militants, playing basketball in Somalia's seaside capital was punishable by torture or death. Today, Somalia's blue flag has reclaimed its place over the battered Lujino Stadium, replacing the black banner of al-Shabab, the militant Islamist group that until a few months ago held sway over much of Mogadishu.

This seaside capital is full of life for the first time in 20 years. Since African Union and Somali troops pushed Islamist militants out of the city last year, schools, shops and markets have reopened. The city government has repaired potholed streets and installed streetlights. Turkish Airlines last month began weekly flights, advertised on billboards, marking the first time in decades that a reputable international carrier has regular flights to Mogadishu.

Western-style restaurants are opening, including near Mogadishu's beach front, where men and women swim together without fear of punishment from militants. People dance at weddings.

It's too early to say that the chaos, violence and hunger that have often gripped Mogadishu since 1991, when dictator Siad Barre was overthrown by warlords who then turned on each other, are gone for good. But a tectonic shift has occurred in the life of this city since al-Shabab's withdrawal last August. The group at one point had controlled all but a few blocks of the capital.

"I see so much difference as a longtime resident in Mogadishu," Abdiaziz Nur, a 31-year-old Mogadishu resident, said at a cafe where he was smoking a hookah. "I had never dreamed that I would either walk through Mogadishu's streets or drive my car at night, but now we feel glorified and proud."

The war is still sometimes felt in the capital, with a mortar round or car bomb exploding every few days. Unexploded munitions are also a danger ? an old bomb embedded in ground being used as a soccer field exploded last month as a team jumped up and down in celebration of a goal, killing two players and wounding three.

But the violence is nowhere near the scale previously seen, and al-Shabab's strict social rules are no longer enforced in a capital whose population is believed to be between 1.5 million and 3 million. No one knows how many people live in Mogadishu, because until now it has been too dangerous to conduct a census.

Changes are coming with stunning speed.

A Somali-American entrepreneur is investing millions of dollars to open the first international bank here in more than two decades. The First Somali Bank, protected by 10 guards, plans to offer mortgage loans and international banking services.

"The city is returning to normal now. Thanks to Allah we can do business here again," said Liban Abdi Igal, the bank's chairman, who was recently living in Maryland. "I have returned here with optimism after seeing progress and revival."

After getting a facelift, the national theater reopened for the first time in 20 years. The opening concert on March 19 featured musicians playing guitars and drums. The performance was broadcast live on TV. Beauty salons and gyms are again flourishing in Mogadishu. Women have started driving cars, and Somalis play music on radios without fear.

Despite the advances, poverty is still prevalent in much of the city. Thousands of refugees displaced by famine last year sleep on dusty lots. Unemployment is widespread. Women with children on their laps sit on street corners, hoping for a handout.

Nowhere is Mogadishu's transformation more clearly observed than on its many sports fields.

Just a year ago, al-Shabab used Mogadishu's stadium as a launching pad for attacks against the nearby presidential palace. Mortars fired by pro-government forces sometimes landed inside the stadium. Blood stained the walls and the stone bleacher seats, even the goal posts. After al-Shabab left, residents washed the blood away.

The coach of Somalia's national basketball team, Daud Diriye, never thought he'd see the day when sports came back to the city. His team is even traveling to Uganda to play in a tournament.

"Having endured the strict rule of the Islamists for so much time, I thought my training days were over," the 53-year-old potbellied coach said.

On a recent day, Shukri Saeed was next to a male basketball fan at a game and excitedly spoke of the city's changes.

"Sports are witnessing a revival nowadays, and everyone is in charge of his own destiny," she said.

Hundreds of men and women were joking, chewing gum and enjoying simple pleasures together at the game. Al-Shabab had banned males and females from sitting together in public as a violation of Sharia law. Violators faced public whipping or imprisonment.

Across the war-scarred capital, dozens of soccer fields are filled with players. The revival of sports has not only brought ordinary Somalis outside, it has also pulled young militants away from the hold of insurgent groups.

"I have three al-Shabab defectors who want a new, entertaining life," Daud said, glancing at two men struggling to catch a bouncing ball.

Mogadishu residents are even going out at night to watch sports competitions ? a normal activity most anywhere else in the world but a forgotten pleasure here.

Mohamed Hashi, a 64-year-old former basketball player, watched a crowd arriving at the stadium with tears in his eyes.

"The grim days are over," he said.

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World stocks propped by China PMI; U.S. data eyed

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Education - Standard Testing - PDF

Education - Standard Testing

In an effort to boost education, especially in america , standardized testing has been instituted. But can it really
work? This summary is not intended to response the question involving whether or not standardized
assessment works but to provide both sides of the argument both for an versus it.
The concept of standardized testing is simple. Every student is taught the same material in each subject so
that a standardized test can be created as well as given to each of them. This can serve as a good barometer
as to the student's improvement.
Those who help the theory say by using standardized tests nothing is left to probability or discretion of the
teacher. Every teacher is different and therefore each teacher has a distinct style of teaching, which includes
how they create tests for their students. A number of teachers create what can be considered difficult tests
while other educators create what would be regarded as very easy tests. In this case how well trainees does
on these kind of tests would be proportional to the teacher these people happened to get. Together with
standardized testing and each teacher teaching a similar material, this variable is eliminated. Thus , every
student is taught the same, tested the same and therefore may be evaluated the same.
Those who are against standardized testing give the next argument. Teachers may not all be the same , but
neither are generally students. To assume that each child can learn a subject with the same speed as another
student is unfair. That is why many schools have several levels of classes which commonly include advanced,
regular and slow. In this way students can be taught according to their expertise and not by a number of
standard set for them. With standardized assessment , the slower children have very little chance of
succeeding. If they are unable to keep up with the work fat loss , when test moment comes, that they will be
able to complete the test because there is a good chance that a large part of the material they never realized.
By forcing the teachers to go through every unit of the course in a certain amount of energy totally defeats the
objective of getting an education initially. Ultimately, the sluggish children don't understand anything, are just
pressed through and are unsuccessful the tests at any rate. This leads to greater decrease out rates plus much
more children facing a lifetime of underemployment and unemployment.
Of course the whole argument on this subject is much more complex compared to couple of paragraphs
above. In the meantime, at least for now, standardized testing is earning the war. Most school systems keep
these things. Some systems flourish with them and some not well. Usually it is the school system inside the
poorer district that does poorly together with standardized test scores. Many times, whole courses fail their
standardized tests, which are today required for a child to graduate from high school. Compounding this
problem isn't child left behind that pushes kids to another location grade before they may be even ready. As
soon as they are seniors they've the education level of a 7th grader. As it pertains time to take his or her final
standardized test to graduate, these people literally have no probability.
As was mentioned at the top, there is no existing solution to the problem and no answer as to whether or
otherwise not standardized testing should continue. The only thing which is certain is that it is a growing
problem that will not go away.

Schools in Arizona

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