Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/UuET_X3Ydj8/
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Thursday, March 14, 2013
Karol?na Kurkov?: Having My Son on Set Is Too Distracting
"He likes to show off. He goes to everybody, 'Hello, look at my car, look at my rock star shirt.' He starts singing and dancing - he's like a little performer!"
Has The MBA Become A Worthless Degree? - Careers ... - AOL Jobs
By John A. ByrneIf you asked Dale Stephens, the 21-year-old author of Hacking Your Education, he would undoubtedly agree. In a highly provocative excerpt from the book recently published by The Wall Street Journal, Stephens forcefully declares that even if you were accepted into Harvard Business School, you should decline the offer.
Why? Stephens, a college dropout, says that you should take the $174,400 that it would cost to attend Harvard Business School and invest it in yourself. "Consider what you could do instead with that $174,400," he writes. "The first step should be to move to a part of the country that supports your interests. If that's film, move to Los Angeles. Technology, San Francisco. Oil, Houston. You could live decently in these cities for $3,000 per month. Over the course of two years, that still leaves you $100,000 to invest in yourself."
Frankly, he is full of crap.
For one thing, a Harvard MBA does not cost $174,400. The annual tuition is $51,200 and it is severely discounted for at least half the students. In fact, Harvard's average fellowship support per MBA student was $29,843 last year, essentially a 58.3 percent discount on that annual tuition. And the rest of the money that one would need to get a degree can easily be borrowed at relatively low interest rates. It's a similar story elsewhere.
More: 8 Professional Certifications In High Demand
After a degree in law, the MBA has become the degree that cynics and publicity seekers love to bash. Yet, those three initials on a diploma are one of the most powerful and tried-and-true investments you could ever make in yourself. The vast majority of MBA graduates from the top 50 to 100 schools in the world double or triple their total pay thanks to the education they receive.And you don't have to go to Harvard, Stanford or Wharton. At Notre Dame's Mendoza School, last year's MBA graduates landed average salaries that exceeded their pre-MBA pay by 149 percent. At the University of Minnesota's Carlson School, the increase was 132.2 percent, and at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School, it was 122.2 percent, And these numbers exclude starting bonuses and other bennies that are often handed out to MBAs when hired.
At Harvard Business School, 3 of every 4 graduates last year reported getting a median signing bonus of $20,000 and 1 in 5 (21 percent) had median "other guaranteed compensation" of $25,230. Harvard MBAs lucky enough to collect all three (base, sign-on bonus and guaranteed comp) earned first-year median pay of $170,230. Not bad for a "worthless degree."
Interested in film? Go to UCLA's Anderson School where the MBA recruiters include Fox Entertainment, NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Sony and Walt Disney. Those entertainment companies were among 148 firms that held recruitment events on UCLA's campus last year, not to mention the 1,105 job opportunities on the school's job boards.
What about technology? Among the biggest employers of MBAs are Apple, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, and Amazon.com. Each of those firms and many more in technology recruit at more than a dozen business schools each year.
What about oil? You should be thinking of going to the University of Texas at Austin where Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Hess are among the top employers of MBAs for both internships and full-time jobs.
More: Great Jobs In Finance That Don't Require An MBA
And the truth is that for many of the very best companies, from McKinsey, Bain, Boston Consulting Group or Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley or JPMorgan Chase, you would be hard pressed to get even a chance to interview without an MBA degree. MBA jobs at those prestige employers, moreover, set young professionals up for the best and most compelling jobs later in one's career.The immediate benefits of the degree are obvious. But then there is the enduring value of the network you inherit once you graduate. The very best schools boast powerful alumni networks that open all kinds of closed doors, from tip offs to plum jobs that are not advertised, to seed capital for a startup idea, to potential customers for your business. That certainly beats a cold call to someone on LinkedIn.
The data shows that the full cost of an MBA degree from a top 25 U.S. school -- including the lost of income from being in school for two years -- can be completely recouped within 3.1 (at schools such as the University of Iowa and Michigan State) to 3.8 years (Carnegie Mellon University).
Finally, education also provides something of a safety net in good times and bad. The research shows that the more education you have, the more likely you are to earn more money in a career and the less likely you are to be unemployed.
Stephens may not need an MBA to get a book contract and put up a website, but he won't be working at McKinsey, J.P. Morgan, Apple or Google anytime soon. A quality MBA program is a life-changing experience that builds self-confidence, communication skills, and a successful future. A worthless degree? I don't think so.
John A. Byrne is the editor-in-chief of PoetsandQuants.com and PoetsandQuantsforExecs.com. He created the first regularly published business school rankings for BusinessWeek in 1988.
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Source: http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2013/03/12/mba-degree-career-worth/
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Engadget Giveaway: win a Pantech Discover!
The Pantech Discover isn't a flagship device that may turn a lot of heads, but we determined that it was actually one of the best -- if not the best -- budget-friendly phone we've reviewed. Available for $50 on AT&T, it sports a 720p display, 13MP camera and a few other tempting specs. Pantech was kind enough to offer one to our readers, so head below to our widget to enter! Entries will be accepted until 11:59PM ET tomorrow.
Note: comments are no longer accepted as entries to giveaways. We've begun using Rafflecopter for our contests, so now you have the ability to put in more than one entry!
a Rafflecopter giveawayFiled under: Announcements, Mobile
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/12/engadget-giveaway-pantech-discover/
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Monday, March 11, 2013
Before the conclave, horse-trading has begun
Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer arrives to celebrate mass in the Sant' Andrea al Quirinale church, in Rome, Sunday March 10, 2013. Cardinals from around the world gather this week in a conclave to elect a new pope following the stunning resignation of Benedict XVI. In the secretive world of the Vatican, there is no way to know who is in the running, and history has yielded plenty of surprises. Yet several names have come up time repeatedly as strong contenders for the job. Scherer, the Archbishop of Sao Paulo, is among those considered to have a credible shot at the papacy. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer arrives to celebrate mass in the Sant' Andrea al Quirinale church, in Rome, Sunday March 10, 2013. Cardinals from around the world gather this week in a conclave to elect a new pope following the stunning resignation of Benedict XVI. In the secretive world of the Vatican, there is no way to know who is in the running, and history has yielded plenty of surprises. Yet several names have come up time repeatedly as strong contenders for the job. Scherer, the Archbishop of Sao Paulo, is among those considered to have a credible shot at the papacy. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
U.S. Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley hoists a book of prayers as he celebrates Mass in his titular church of Santa Maria alla Vittoria in Rome, Sunday, March 10, 2013. Cardinals from around the world gather this week in a conclave to elect a new pope following the stunning resignation of Benedict XVI. In the secretive world of the Vatican, there is no way to know who is in the running, and history has yielded plenty of surprises. Yet several names have come up time repeatedly as strong contenders for the job. O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, is among those considered to have a credible shot at the papacy. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
Cardinal Angelo Scola celebrates a mass in Rome's Santi Apostoli church, Sunday March 10, 2013. Cardinals from around the world gather this week in a conclave to elect a new pope following the stunning resignation of Benedict XVI. In the secretive world of the Vatican, there is no way to know who is in the running, and history has yielded plenty of surprises. Yet several names have come up time repeatedly as strong contenders for the job. Scola, the Archbishop of Milan, is among those considered to have a credible shot at the papacy. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
VATICAN CITY (AP) ? The Vatican insists that the cardinals participating in the upcoming conclave will vote their conscience, each influenced only by silent prayers and reflection. Everybody knows, however, that power plays, vested interests and Machiavellian maneuvering are all part of the game, and that the horse-trading is already under way.
Can the fractious Italians rally behind a single candidate? Can the Americans live up to their surprise billing as a power broker? And will all 115 cardinals from around the world be able to reach a meeting of minds on whether the church needs a people-friendly pope or a hard-edged manager able to tame Vatican bureaucrats?
This time there are no star cardinals and no big favorites, making the election wide open and allowing the possibility of a compromise candidate should there be deadlock.
While deliberations have been secret, there appear to be two big camps forming that have been at loggerheads in the run-up to the conclave.
One, dominated by the powerful Vatican bureaucracy called the Curia, is believed to be seeking a pope who will let it continue calling the shots as usual. The speculation is that the Curia is pushing the candidacy of Brazilian Odilo Scherer, who has close ties to the Curia and would be expected to name an Italian insider as Secretary of State ? the Vatican No. 2 who runs day-to-day affairs at the Holy See.
Another camp, apparently spearheaded by American cardinals, is said to be pushing for a reform-minded pope with the strength to shake up the Curia, tarnished by infighting and the "Vatileaks" scandal in which retired Pope Benedict XVI's own butler leaked confidential documents to a journalist. These cardinals reportedly want Milan archbishop Angelo Scola as pope, as he is seen as having the clout to bring the Curia into line.
The other key question to resolve is whether the pope should be a "pastoral" one ? somebody with the charisma and communication skills to attract new members to a dwindling flock ? or a "managerial" one capable of a church overhaul in a time of sex-abuse scandals and bureaucratic disarray.
It's hard to find any single candidate who fits the bill on both counts.
Italy has the largest group of cardinal electors with 28, and believes it has a historic right to supply the pope, as it did for centuries. Italians feel it's time to have one of their own enthroned again after 35 years of "foreigners," with the Polish John Paul II and the German Benedict.
But Italians are divided by which Italian church groups they have been affiliated with, and which leaders they follow. A dispute that pitted the followers of the archbishops of Genoa and Florence is said to have cost them the papacy in 1978 after 455 years of Italian popes.
Andrea Riccardi, a founder of the Sant Egidio community and minister of cooperation in the Italian government, says Italian cardinals should get the first look.
"The pope is bishop of Rome," Riccardi said. "Only if the selection of an Italian becomes impractical should it be the case to look in another direction."
From one point of view, the Italians have already suffered a setback. The selection of Tuesday for the conclave to begin is considered a victory for the "foreigners" who had sought more time to get to know get to know one another amid pressures to begin voting as early as Sunday.
And the leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, which polled experts on Saturday, found Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley topped their list of papal favorites ? ahead of both Scherer and Scola.
Two other Americans ? Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington ? also emerged as potential popes in the survey. That was a surprise since Americans had largely been written off because of potential negative perceptions of electing a superpower pope. Vatican watchers have also noted that an American pope would likely have difficulty dealing with anti-Christian violence and persecution in the Islamic world.
But there are 11 American cardinal-electors, second in number only to the Italians, and they are being talked up for their perceived managerial skills.
The American reputation may have been boosted by the Vatican's decision to silence their daily pre-conclave news conferences. The American eagerness for transparency has been well received among Catholics ? and cast in sharp contrast to the secrecy-prone Italians.
There is one more camp, which presumably commands enough votes to influence the election.
It is the "Benedict faction," the 67 voting cardinals who owe their red hat and presence in the conclave to the most recent pope. They make up more than half of the voters.
Their loyalty to Benedict could damage the ambitions of any cardinal thought to have damaged his papacy and been part of the "divisions" that Benedict lamented in his final addresses.
Who might that be? Their names are presumably listed in a secret report prepared for Benedict about the "Vatileaks" scandal.
Only a few people have seen that report. None of the cardinals who will be voting are among them.
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Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Dems halt background check talks with Sen. Coburn
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Senate Democrats set aside their effort Wednesday to win support from conservative Sen. Tom Coburn for requiring federal background checks for nearly all gun purchases, at least temporarily hurting President Barack Obama's chances for pushing one of his top priorities through Congress.
Democrats' failure to resolve a final dispute with the Oklahoma Republican means they've lost a valuable ally, at least for now. Coburn has an A-rating from the National Rifle Association and could have prompted backing from other Republicans and from moderate Democrats from GOP-leaning states leery of alienating voters.
In addition, gun-curb supporters say the Senate will have to approve legislation with strong bipartisan support to boost their chances of success in the GOP-led House. Republican leaders there have said they won't act until the Senate produces legislation.
Senate Democrats instead will seek backing from other Republicans for what they still hope will be a bipartisan drive to expand the current background check system, said an aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who has been leading the Democratic effort.
The aide, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because the talks were private, said conversations with Coburn would continue. But it was clear that Democrats' focus was shifting elsewhere.
Requiring nearly universal background checks is the foundation, and most popular part, of the proposals to curb firearms that Obama unveiled in January. That package came a month after the shooting massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., of 20 first-graders and six staffers.
Currently, the checks are required only for sales by the nation's 55,000 federally licensed gun dealers, not for private sales between individuals, like those at gun shows or online. An Associated-Press-GfK poll in January found 84 percent favored requiring background checks at gun shows.
The talks between Coburn and Schumer foundered because Schumer was insisting that records be kept of private gun sales, perhaps by the seller, the manufacturer or others. Negotiations had lasted weeks and the two sides were stuck on the issue for some time, so Wednesday's development was not a surprise.
Schumer argues that retaining such data is the only way to assure that private transactions include background checks, which are designed to keep guns from criminals, people with mental problems and others. Coburn says such checks could be a precursor to a federal registry of gun owners, which is vociferously opposed by the NRA, is illegal under current law and which the White House says will not happen.
"Dr. Coburn is still hopeful they can reach an agreement," Coburn spokesman John Hart said.
The government must quickly destroy records of background checks it conducts. But licensed gun dealers are required to keep paper records of firearms they sell for 20 years, and must turn them over to the government if they go out of business.
The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to begin voting Thursday on four gun control measures.
Lacking a deal with Coburn, one of the bills will be from Schumer, requiring nearly universal background checks resembling a measure he proposed two years ago. It will lack some of the provisions he tentatively had agreed to with Coburn, such as an appeals mechanism for veterans barred from obtaining guns because they have been formally declared to have serious mental difficulties.
The panel also plans to consider bills banning assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, making gun trafficking and buying guns for people forbidden to own them federal crimes, and boosting aid to schools for security measures like installing video cameras.
All are expected to pass the committee, but their fate in the full Senate is less certain.
Schumer's bill could be amended to reflect any bipartisan agreement that is reached by the time gun legislation reaches the floor, probably in April.
Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., also have been involved in the background check negotiations and said in a joint statement that they would continue looking for an agreement with other senators.
"It is clear that ultimately we will need bipartisan support," Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said in an interview.
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