Parties carp as Italy's "wise men" seek end to political crisis

By Naomi O'Leary and Barry Moody

ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano expressed despair on Tuesday at fierce criticism of his latest plan to end a post-election deadlock that has raised fears of months of instability in the euro zone's third largest economy.

Two groups of "wise men" appointed by Napolitano to try to forge a policy compromise between squabbling parties to end the impasse since the February 24-25 election started work on Tuesday. Napolitano said they would report back in 8-10 days.

The 87-year-old head of state reacted angrily to suggestions from the center-right of Silvio Berlusconi that his plan, which came after all other efforts to find a government failed, were a useless waste of time that the economy could ill afford.

"After seven years I am ending my mandate in a surreal way, finding myself the subject of absurd reactions, suspicions and incomprehensible paranoias, from the harmless to the unhinged," Napolitano was quoted as saying by Corriere della Sera daily.

Italy is deep in its longest recession for 20 years and although markets have so far remained relatively sanguine about the political deadlock, the economy desperately needs a stable government to unblock decades of sluggish growth.

There are also fears Italy's borrowing costs could rise dangerously if the impasse finally starts to spook investors.

Since the election, the parties have refused to budge at all from irreconcilable positions that "made one despair of the possibility of governing this country", Napolitano said.

Napolitano appointed the commissions after Democratic Party (PD) leader Pier Luigi Bersani failed to gather enough support for a center-left led government despite a week of efforts.

The president's own attempt to dislodge the parties from entrenched positions also faltered last Friday.

The election resulted in three main blocs, none of which has enough support in parliament to govern alone. The center-left holds a majority in the lower house but not in the Senate.

On Tuesday, they restated their positions, with Bersani ruling out a "grand coalition" with the center-right but saying an early election would be "disastrous" and calling on other parties to support a limited package of reforms.

For its part, Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party said Bersani was blocking agreement.

"Obviously if this stalemate continues because the PD is thinking more of their factional interests than of the nation, the only road possible is going to the polls in June," said PDL secretary Angelino Alfano.

TWO WORKING GROUPS

The two working groups, one of which will discuss social-economic reforms and the other institutional changes such as a new electoral law, include representatives of the main center-left and center-right blocs, the head of the national statistics agency, legal experts and a senior Bank of Italy official.

Berlusconi's center-right has been particularly harsh in its criticism of Napolitano's move - unusual in a country where the president is typically treated with great deference.

Bersani on Tuesday again rejected a governing coalition with Berlusconi and said new elections would not fix Italy's problems. He also said Berlusconi's attempts to pick the new president were "unacceptable".

Napolitano's wise men idea was also criticized by populist 5-Star Movement leader Beppe Grillo who called the experts "domestic carers for democracy".

"At the end of the day what is it? A fake coalition government ruled by the president? I have seen the names but my puzzlement remains," Grillo's Senate leader Vito Crimi said.

One of the experts, constitutional judge Valerio Onida, shot backo: "In this parliament they need babysitters more than carers."

The government-forming crisis is now inextricably bound up with a vote next month by both houses of parliament and regional representatives to replace Napolitano by May 15.

Berlusconi's PDL party fears that if no agreement is reached on a government then Bersani could ally with Grillo to appoint a new president hostile to the media magnate, who is seeking immunity from a string of legal cases.

The 76-year-old billionaire is facing an imminent verdict in a trial for paying for sex with an underage prostitute as well as in his appeal against a four-year tax fraud sentence and has large business interests to protect.

Respected political commentator Massimo Franco said fears over the presidential election would explain Berlusconi's pressure for the working groups to finish quickly.

"Above all he suspects a successive phase marked by a Quirinale (presidential palace) hostile to the PDL," Franco wrote in a column in Corriere della Sera.

Napolitano, who cannot call elections in the final months of his presidency, may also be trying to draw things out so that the key decisions are taken by his successor, insiders say.

Details of what the two commissions will propose have not been announced, but they are also likely to include cutting the cost of the bloated political system and reforms to unblock Italy's notoriously stagnant growth.

The key reform is changing the much maligned electoral law, which is a major cause of the current impasse, but politicians failed to agree on new rules despite repeated promises during the outgoing technocrat government of Mario Monti.

Another election with the same law could produce a similar impasse, experts say, but such a reform of the rules would be improbable by June.

One of the members of Napolitano's commissions, center-left Senator Filippo Bubbico, said they would also discuss easing painful tax hikes imposed by the outgoing technocrat government of Mario Monti. "We will work fast," he promised.

Anger over the economic pain imposed by Monti, particularly a hated housing tax, pushed many voters to support Grillo in the election, where his group won an unprecedented 25 percent.

(Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italys-wise-men-seek-end-political-crisis-president-144743141.html

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Rocky mountains originated from previously unknown oceanic plate

Apr. 3, 2013 ? The mountain ranges of the North American Cordillera are made up of dozens of distinct crustal blocks. A new study clarifies their mode of origin and identifies a previously unknown oceanic plate that contributed to their assembly.

The extensive area of elevated topography that dominates the Western reaches of North America is exceptionally broad, encompassing the coastal ranges, the Rocky Mountains and the high plateaus in between. In fact, this mountain belt consists of dozens of crustal blocks of varying age and origin, which have been welded onto the American continent over the past 200 million years. "How these blocks arrived in North America has long been a puzzle," says LMU geophysicist Karin Sigloch, who has now taken a closer look at the problem, in collaboration with the Canadian geologist Mitchell Mihalynuk.

Collisions and continental growth

One popular model for the accretion process postulates that a huge oceanic plate -- the Farallon Plate -- acted as a conveyor belt to sweep crustal fragments eastwards to the margin of American Plate, to which they were attached as the denser Farallon Plate was subducted under it. However, this scenario is at variance with several geological findings, and does not explain why the same phenomenon is not observed on the west coast of South America, the classical case of subduction of oceanic crust beneath a continental plate. The precise source of the crustal blocks themselves has also remained enigmatic, although geological studies suggest that they derive from several groups of volcanic islands. "The geological strata in North America have been highly deformed over the course of time, and are extremely difficult to interpret, so these findings have not been followed up," says Sigloch.

Sigloch and Mihalynuk have now succeeded in assembling a comprehensive picture of the accretion process by incorporating geophysical findings obtained by seismic tomography. This technique makes it possible to probe the geophysical structure of Earth's interior down to the level of the lower mantle by analyzing the propagation velocities of seismic waves. The method can image the remnants of ancient tectonic plates at great depths, ocean floor that subducted, i.e., disappeared from the surface and sank back into the mantle, long time ago.

Intra-oceanic subduction of the Farallon Plate

Most surprisingly, the new data suggest that the Farallon Plate was far smaller than had been assumed, and underwent subduction well to the west of what was then the continental margin of North America. Instead it collided with, and subducted under, an intervening and previously unrecognized oceanic plate. Sigloch and Mihalynuk were able to locate the remnants of several deep-sea trenches that mark subduction sites at which oceanic plates plunge at a steep angle into the mantle and are drawn almost vertically into its depths. "The volcanic activity that accompanies the subduction process will have generated lots of new crustal material, which emerged in the form of island arcs along the line of the trenches, and provided the material for the crustal blocks," Sigloch explains.

As these events were going on, the American Plate was advancing steadily westwards, as indicated by striped patterns of magnetized seafloor in the North Atlantic. The first to get consumed was the previously unknown oceanic plate, which can be detected seismologically beneath today's east coast of North America. Only then did the continent begin to encounter the Farallon plate. On its westward journey, North America overrode one intervening island arc after another -- annexing ever more of them for the construction of its wide mountains of the West.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen (LMU).

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Karin Sigloch, Mitchell G. Mihalynuk. Intra-oceanic subduction shaped the assembly of Cordilleran North America. Nature, 2013; 496 (7443): 50 DOI: 10.1038/nature12019

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/-phbAnJKcsw/130403141402.htm

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Judge: Facebook can be sued over 'timeline'

The Associated Press ? ? ? 9 hrs.

A Chicago-based social media company called Timelines can sue Facebook over allegations that it violated the smaller firm's trademark on the word "timeline," a federal judge ruled.

Timelines launched a website called Timelines.com in 2009 that enables users to track historical events and their personal lives online. Two years later, Facebook Inc. launched a major new feature it called "timeline," which similarly allows users to highlight their lives online in chronological order.

The Chicago company filed its lawsuit weeks after Facebook introduced its "timeline" feature.

Facebook had asked a federal judge in Chicago to throw out Timelines' suit, arguing, among other things, that the word "timeline" is too generic to be trademarked.

But in a 23-page ruling posted this week, U.S. District Judge John Darrah disagreed, noting Facebook itself has battled hard in the courts to protect words it's trademarked, including "poke" and "like."

Timelines.com has just over 1,200 registered users, the ruling said. Facebook has said recently it has around a billion.

Darrah's ruling giving the suit the green light means a jury trial can start as scheduled on April 22.

A spokesman for Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook, Andrew Noyes, declined any comment on the ruling. A Timelines' attorneys, Douglas Albritton, said he was "pleased" and declined further comment.

? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Review: Few effective, evidence-based interventions to prevent posttraumatic stress disorder

Public release date: 2-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tom Hughes
tahughes@unch.unc.edu
919-966-6047
University of North Carolina Health Care

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. Millions of adults are exposed to traumatic events each year. Shortly after exposure many experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) such as flashbacks, emotional numbing and difficulty sleeping.

Despite this high rate of exposure, little is known about the effectiveness of treatments aimed at preventing and relieving posttraumatic stress symptoms that adults may experience after such events, according to researchers at the RTI-UNC Evidence-based Practice Center.

The article, published online today by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, summarizes the results of a systematic review of clinical interventions for adults exposed to at least one traumatic event such as war, a natural or manmade disaster, motor vehicle accidents, community violence, sexual assault or domestic violence. The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality funded the review.

After reviewing 2,563 abstracts, the investigators found 19 studies that met the criteria for inclusion in the review. Only two psychotherapeutic treatments showed possible benefits for adults exposed to trauma. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in particular was found to be more effective than another type of therapy called supportive counseling for individuals exposed to a traumatic event and who meet the diagnostic criteria for another trauma-related syndrome, Acute Stress Disorder. In addition, a type of therapy called collaborative care (care management, evidence-based pharmacologic interventions, and components of CBT) showed promise to reduce severity of symptoms based on one study.

"Unfortunately, because this body of evidence is so small, the generalizability of these findings is not known," said Catherine A. Forneris, PhD, ABPP, professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the UNC School of Medicine. "Much more research is needed before we can make definitive conclusions.

Gerald Gartlehner, MD, MPH, of RTI International and Danube University, agrees, "Clinicians and patients should know have to be aware that while there are many treatments offered for the prevention of PTSD, many lack sufficient scientific evidence. not based on scientific evidence. Without sound studies, there is great uncertainty whether traumatized people actually receive the best care."

The authors recommend immediate attention from funding agencies, clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and other public health authorities to support further, well-designed research that can broaden the evidence base. They suggest that future studies expand their examination of the impact of trauma interventions to a wider range of outcomes such as risk-taking behaviors and suicidality and focus on longer-term indicators of development and functioning.

###

Media contacts:

Tom Hughes

Lisa Bistreich-Wolfe
919-316-3596
lbistreich@rti.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 2-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tom Hughes
tahughes@unch.unc.edu
919-966-6047
University of North Carolina Health Care

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. Millions of adults are exposed to traumatic events each year. Shortly after exposure many experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) such as flashbacks, emotional numbing and difficulty sleeping.

Despite this high rate of exposure, little is known about the effectiveness of treatments aimed at preventing and relieving posttraumatic stress symptoms that adults may experience after such events, according to researchers at the RTI-UNC Evidence-based Practice Center.

The article, published online today by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, summarizes the results of a systematic review of clinical interventions for adults exposed to at least one traumatic event such as war, a natural or manmade disaster, motor vehicle accidents, community violence, sexual assault or domestic violence. The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality funded the review.

After reviewing 2,563 abstracts, the investigators found 19 studies that met the criteria for inclusion in the review. Only two psychotherapeutic treatments showed possible benefits for adults exposed to trauma. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in particular was found to be more effective than another type of therapy called supportive counseling for individuals exposed to a traumatic event and who meet the diagnostic criteria for another trauma-related syndrome, Acute Stress Disorder. In addition, a type of therapy called collaborative care (care management, evidence-based pharmacologic interventions, and components of CBT) showed promise to reduce severity of symptoms based on one study.

"Unfortunately, because this body of evidence is so small, the generalizability of these findings is not known," said Catherine A. Forneris, PhD, ABPP, professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the UNC School of Medicine. "Much more research is needed before we can make definitive conclusions.

Gerald Gartlehner, MD, MPH, of RTI International and Danube University, agrees, "Clinicians and patients should know have to be aware that while there are many treatments offered for the prevention of PTSD, many lack sufficient scientific evidence. not based on scientific evidence. Without sound studies, there is great uncertainty whether traumatized people actually receive the best care."

The authors recommend immediate attention from funding agencies, clinicians, researchers, policymakers, and other public health authorities to support further, well-designed research that can broaden the evidence base. They suggest that future studies expand their examination of the impact of trauma interventions to a wider range of outcomes such as risk-taking behaviors and suicidality and focus on longer-term indicators of development and functioning.

###

Media contacts:

Tom Hughes

Lisa Bistreich-Wolfe
919-316-3596
lbistreich@rti.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/uonc-rfe040213.php

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Negative emotions in response to daily stress take a toll on long-term mental health

Apr. 2, 2013 ? Our emotional responses to the stresses of daily life may predict our long-term mental health, according to a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

Psychological scientist Susan Charles of the University of California, Irvine and colleagues conducted the study in order to answer a long-standing question: Do daily emotional experiences add up to make the straw that breaks the camel's back, or do these experiences make us stronger and provide an inoculation against later distress?

Using data from two national surveys, the researchers examined the relationship between daily negative emotions and mental health outcomes ten years later.

Participants' overall levels of negative emotions predicted psychological distress (e.g., feeling worthless, hopeless, nervous, and/or restless) and diagnosis of an emotional disorder like anxiety or depression a full decade after the emotions were initially measured.

Participants' negative emotional responses to daily stressors -- such as argument or a problem at work or home -- predicted psychological distress and self-reported emotional disorder ten years later.

The researchers argue that a key strength of the study was their ability to tap a large, national community sample of participants who spanned a wide age range. The results were based on data from 711 participants, both men and women, who ranged in age from 25 to 74. They were all participants in two national, longitudinal survey studies: Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) and National Study of Daily Experiences (NSDE).

According to Charles and her colleagues, these findings show that mental health outcomes aren't only affected by major life events -- they also bear the impact of seemingly minor emotional experiences. The study suggests that chronic nature of these negative emotions in response to daily stressors can take a toll on long-term mental health.

In addition to Charles, co-authors on the study include Jennifer Piazza of California State University, Fullerton; and Jacqueline Mogle, Martin Sliwinski, and David Almeida of Pennsylvania State University.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Association for Psychological Science.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. S. T. Charles, J. R. Piazza, J. Mogle, M. J. Sliwinski, D. M. Almeida. The Wear and Tear of Daily Stressors on Mental Health. Psychological Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1177/0956797612462222

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/qMSxqcNr4pc/130402150159.htm

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Kyle Taylor Finance Might need some Money? - Onlinekredite direkt ...

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John Lundberg: A Brief Guide to National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, poetry lovers! An annual celebration (since 1996) sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, the event aims to spread the gospel of poetry and celebrate the art's rich past and vibrant present.

Local celebrations will be popping up all over the country. New York's Southeast Steuben County Library plans to celebrate Prufrock-style: "Guests are invited to break out their favorite hats and join the library for a sumptuous tea" (expect some talk of Michelango). The city of Redmond, Washington is hosting a poetry contest for poems based solely on the spines of books. And the University of Buffalo will hold a 14-hour marathon reading of all 1,789 of Emily Dickinson's poems--an event that would probably terrify Emily Dickinson.

The academy's official site previews some of this year's national events. I've highlighted a few of my favorites.

The Dear Poet Project
This new project, inspired by Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, invites students to write a letter to a poet serving on the academy's board. The hope is for these letters to spark a correspondence about poetry that will be featured on the site.

April 17: Poetry & the Creative Mind Gala
The Academy's annual gala, where celebrities and some of the country's best-known poets meet to celebrate the art, will be held at Lincoln Center in New York. This year's readers include Mario Batali, Dick Cavett, Patricia Clarkson and Amber Tamblyn. You can still buy tickets here.

April 18: Poem in Your Pocket Day
A day to carry your favorite verse with you and share it with others. If you don't already have a poem in mind, explore the academy's list of poems ready for printing. You'll find terrific choices like "Love III" by George Herbert (excerpt below). And it's fun to explore the site's themes--like Hill, Fins, Moo, Rake, and Dark to see what verse is underneath.

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd any thing.
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd any thing.

In none of these events float your boat, don't worry, the academy has dreamt up 30(!) ways to celebrate, like signing up to receive a poem in your inbox each morning throughout the month of April. It's a chance to enjoy poetry in the quiet of your own home -- with or without your favorite hat.

?

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-lundberg/national-poetry-month_b_2964168.html

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Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 LTE hits AT&T retail on April 5th with a $249 contract option

Have you eyed the LTE version of Amazon's Kindle Fire HD 8.9, yet remained skittish about buying such a relatively expensive tablet sight-unseen? AT&T is now willing to accommodate you: stop by an AT&T retail store from April 5th onward and you can pick up a 32GB model in person. The carrier is also offering an alternative purchase model. The $399 contract-free purchase is still available for those who want their freedom, but the initial price can drop to $249 for anyone willing to sign a two-year contract for a data plan. While either is still a lot of money to throw at Amazon's ecosystem, it's good to know that we can at least minimize the qualms surrounding an impulse purchase.

Filed under: Tablets, Amazon, AT&T

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Source: AT&T

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Careers: What Does It Take to Become a Real Estate Agent? Part 6 ...

What is it really like to be a real estate agent, and what does it take to become one? We interviewed six Redfin Agents to find out why they chose real estate as a career and how they came to work at Redfin. Yesterday we profiled Chad Pluid, who managed a restaurant and worked in banking before joining Redfin. Today you?ll hear from?Bree Al-Rashid, a Redfin listing agent who worked as horse trainer, financial planner, and a real estate agent at another brokerage before joining the company.

If you?re looking for more agent info, be sure to check our entire series of real estate agent profiles and don?t hesitate to investigate open real estate jobs at Redfin.

Bree Al-Rashid ? Listing Agent

Before joining Redfin, Bree worked as horse trainer, financial planner, and a real estate agent at another brokerage.

What did you do before you joined Redfin?

In college I ran a riding school and summer camp for kids to help pay for my tuition. One of my riding students ended up being a high level VP of a financial planning firm. She tried to hook me up with her son, but when that didn?t work out she said I should work for her firm. I did that for about two years, and stayed in the financial planning industry for six years.

What made you want to pursue your real estate license, and what was the process like?

I was tired of being stuck inside an office. My husband worked in real estate and was looking for help, so I decided to become licensed. We built a business together at Keller Williams, and then worked at RE/MAX for awhile.

Coming from an industry where there was a lot of licensing that you had to obtain, getting my license was pretty easy. You have to plan it out and do the classes, but if you?re a good test taker it?s fine. For most people who are interested in the industry, it?s totally feasible. You don?t have to have achieved high levels of math or analysis to be a licensed real estate professional.

How did you hear about Redfin, and why did you decide to apply?

A colleague at RE/MAX became a Redfin partner agent, and he introduced me to it. I was a partner agent for awhile, but when I decided I needed more balance in my life, I applied to Redfin. I started as a listing specialist, which provides the opportunity to keep regular hours. It has afforded a much more balanced life, especially with vacation time.

Do you worry about the market going up and down?

It hasn?t been a problem. I was always very lucky; I had as much or more business than I wanted.

What?s the best part of your job?

Redfin has a team of people that you can count on for support, so you can create balance in your life. Working on your own as an agent is a challenge; it?s hard to be a graphic designer, HR manager and bookkeeper all in one day and be successful. Now my day is spent marketing houses, negotiating contracts, and solving real estate-related problems. Redfin offers a chance to get your life back.

I love Redfin?s feel, the corporate culture. I love its weirdness ? how we?re thinking out of the box ? it?s super progressive, not stale and stodgy. I?m sick of it sounding like real estate is only for people who are over sixty. Redfin is really fresh. There?s also a lot of room for growth. If you want to work in other parts of the company, there are options. You?re not stuck being an agent for the rest of your life.

What skills do you think are important to be successful as a real estate agent?

People who come from a liberal arts background are often successful in real estate. 90% of what we do is good communications, reading into subtext, connecting the dots for human beings. People who are overly analytical struggle in this industry because they lose sight of the human component. There?s so much that can?t be measured in real estate; you can?t measure human emotions or the layout of a house.? It takes people skills and good communicators to be successful. Organization, problem solving, and the ability to be calm during stressful situations are also important.

What would you tell people who are thinking about becoming an agent?

If you?re getting into real estate as an independent broker and you have no background in the industry or a natural market to find business, it?s a tough business to get into. I came from financial planning, which has a similar struggle. It?s very difficult to find clients right off the bat. That?s what is unique about Redfin; if you have interest in the agency and you?re 22 years old, you can get into it right away. Or if you?re 50 and coming back for a second or third career, you can do the same thing. There are so many great built-in systems, and there?s an opportunity for mentorships. We don?t let people fail at Redfin.

At Redfin our motto is ?keep it weird.? What?s something ?weird? about you?

My pig won ?Grand Champion Market Hog? at the 1994 Oakhurst Fair. I didn?t get chicken pox until I was 14.? Then I gave them to my mom who was 41.?I can throw a Frisbee with my feet.

To get in touch with Bree or read her reviews from Redfin clients, check out her profile page on Redfin.com.

Source: http://blog.redfin.com/blog/2013/03/careers-what-does-it-take-to-become-a-real-estate-agent-part-6.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=careers-what-does-it-take-to-become-a-real-estate-agent-part-6

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Hillsborough County sports briefs

Junior Women?s tournament: The Plant City Junior Women?s Club holds its inaugural charity golf tournament April 6 at Walden Lake Golf and Country Club, 2001 Clubhouse Drive.

This event will be held to raise funds for the club?s Plant City Shoe Project. There will be trophies, prizes and a 50-50 drawing. For information contact Stephanie Eisenbach, president and Shoe Project chairwoman at (813) 468-0230 or Steph57b@yahoo.com.

Brandon Ballet golf tournament: Brandon Ballet holds a four-person golf scramble April 28 at River Hills Golf and Country Club, 3943 New River Hills Parkway.

Registration will begin at 11:30 a.m. with a shotgun start at 1 p.m. Prizes will be provided for first, second and third as well as longest drive and closest to the pin. A post-tournament dinner will be served.

Sponsorships remain available and all proceeds go to Brandon Ballet.

The cost is $85 per individual or $320 per group if you register before April 19. For information, contact Monica Frost at (813) 545-6688.

Sickle Cell Classic: The Sickle Cell Association of Hillsborough County will host an Old School Celebrity Golf Classic April 20 at Heritage Isles Golf and Country Club, 10630 Plantation Bay Drive.

The four-person scramble begins with registration at 7 a.m., a shotgun start at 8 a.m. and an awards luncheon at 12:30 p.m. Pairings will be provided for individual golfers. Awards will be presented for first, second and third along with closest to the pin and longest drive. The cost is $85 per golfer.

Former NFL and USFL defensive back Luther Bradley will host the tournament, and sponsorship opportunities remain available. For information, go to oldschoolcelebritygc.com.

Holy Innocents tourney: Holy Innocents Espicopal Church will hold a golf tournament May 18 at Bloomingdale Golfers Club, 4113 Great Golfer?s Place. The best ball scramble is $240 for foursomes and $65 for individuals. Price includes: cart, range balls, gift bag, prizes and a meal. Interested players and sponsors can contact Steve Purifoy at spurifoy@earthlink.net or (813) 495-4307.

From www.tampabay.com

Source: http://golf.blogm4u.com/2013/03/30/hillsborough-county-sports-briefs/

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