Saturday, April 27, 2013

RolePlayGateway?

Q: So how does this Sponsor thing work?

A: Well, Sponsorship was set up to allow vampires the opportunity to become equal citizens. In our roleplay, we have a minimum requirement of one Sponsor needed to start the game. Ideally, however, we?ll have five different Sponsors for each vampire type. Instead of the usual RP thing where people get paired, this is more like each Sponsor is responsible for their group, but will still be interacting quite a bit with the other vampires and Sponsors. However, it may turn out as a pairing if their?s only one vampire of a specific type.

I?m mostly having it set up so that the roleplay?s Sponsors-to-be come to the University in this year?s batch of transfer students, unfamiliar with the ways of vampire segregation. However, if you ask, I?ll be allowing one or two people to already be Sponsors at the start of the game.

Q: So how does the human Gift work?

A: Unlike Normal Vampires, who's powers are strictly elemental, a human Gift could be anything. A magic touch in the garden, better with numbers than a calculator, super-endurance. This is normally an extremely buffed-up skill/talent.

Q: So how does the Witch Vampire's craft type work?

A: It's sorta like how different types of magic-casters in different cultures use their craft differently. Some use voodoo, others use runes, and others use alchemy. It's very open, and largely up to the player to decide the individual strengths and weaknesses of their craft. However, no god-modding, of course. Every strength results in a weakness.

Q: Do the pictures have to be anime?

A: Technically, no. However, they cannot be real people. I, personally, prefer anime (easier to find pictures), but I have done face-claims and such before. I?ve noticed that the different types of roleplays (real, realistic, and anime) all have different kinds of ?feels?. This roleplay in particular is going to have a light-hearted anime feel most of the time, but will also have it?s real/realistic moments and undertones. For example, the characters in this RP are capable of comically eating massive amounts of food, but I?m not going to allow them to do so when the mood is serious.

As such, and because I understand anime images make some people uncomfortable, I?ll also be allowing either an extensively-written description or a semi-realistic image as a substitute.

Q: Clarify the Empathic Vampire's power?

A: Here?s how it works, using our anger/fire guy as an example.The more angry he is personally, the hotter/higher quality the flame will be. The more angry the people around him are, the more quantity of that flame there?ll be.

Let?s say he wants to use his power, but he?s not angry. His flame will be pretty wimpy. Okay, so what if if he?s not angry, but the people around him are? The power backing his flame will increase, but it?s amount will increase much more. If he?s the only one who?s mad, however, his flame would be super hot, but there would only be a little bit of it. However, it does NOT have to be an elemental power. More often, it's something psychic-related (like telepathy), or in a category of of it's own (like light or moving dust particles).

Q: Do have any certain way you want them to be changed into a vampire?

A: Well there?s a number of ways you could go about doing it. Involving venom, blood, and genes.

One could have the change forced upon them if bitten by a Demonic Vampire. Demonic Vampires are the only vampires that have the venom capable of doing so, and they can use this venom at will. However, the venom is a lot like saliva, and is known to just kinda come out by itself, causing accidents. The transformation would be incredibly painful. Demonic vampires are the only true immortal vampire and are essentially the undead. The human would die and then be reanimated.

One could change willingly if they share blood with a vampire. It can be any type of vampire, but it has to be willing. This change is extremely dangerous for both parties, however, because it involves sucking out the majority of the human?s blood, then replacing it with vampiric blood.

Finally, one could change by accident, or just out of the blue if vampirism runs in the family. And I?m not saying Mom or Dad, more like a Great-great-great Aunt. It has to be a distant relation, otherwise they simply would?ve been born a vampire. This change often comes out of nowhere, soon after puberty?s over, or during.

Q: Are vampires immortal?

A: Yes and no, it really depends on the type. Vampires, in general, live longer and are harder to kill than humans. This is nature?s response to the fact that there are fewer vampires than humans.

Empathic and Witch Vampires are the most similar to humans, they don?t even really need blood. They live for hundreds of years, but it?s rare to see one over 500. Normal and Human-Turned Vampires can expect to live twice that amount, but since they rely on blood (which they can?t really get this day and age) they typically die sooner. A Shapeshifting Vampire can expect to live a life much like their animal; if they transform into a rabbit, they?ll probably live only to 100. If they transform into a turtle, they'll probably live for a very, very long time. Demonic Vampires, however, live forever if not killed. Even without blood, though that?s an withered existence that can be likened to that of a fate worse than death.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RolePlayGateway

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Four die in NATO plane crash in Afghanistan

BERLIN, April 26 (Reuters) - Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski have not signed a deal, the newly-crowned champions said on Friday, shooting down widespread speculation of another surprise transfer. "Bayern, as opposed to some reports, has no contract with Robert Lewandowski," the Bavarian Champions League semi-finalists said in a brief two-line statement. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/four-die-nato-plane-crash-afghanistan-182134333.html

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U.S. sues Novartis over kickbacks

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday announced its second civil fraud lawsuit against Novartis AG in four days, accusing a unit of the Swiss drugmaker of paying multimillion-dollar kickbacks to doctors in exchange for prescribing its drugs.

Authorities said the Basel-based company for a decade lavished healthy speaking fees and "opulent" meals, including a nearly $10,000 dinner for three at the Japanese restaurant, Nobu, to induce doctors to prescribe its drugs.

They said this led to the Medicare and Medicaid programs paying millions of dollars in reimbursements based on kickback-tainted claims for medication such as hypertension drugs Lotrel and Valturna and the diabetes drug Starlix.

The charges are detailed in a whistleblower lawsuit first filed against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp by a former sales representative in January 2011 and which the U.S. government has now joined.

Twenty-seven U.S. states, the District of Columbia and the cities of New York and Chicago are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which seeks triple damages under the federal False Claims Act.

"Novartis corrupted the prescription drug dispensing process," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said in a statement. "For its investment, Novartis reaped dramatically increased profits on these drugs, and Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal healthcare programs were left holding the bag."

On Tuesday, the government accused Novartis of inducing pharmacies to switch thousands of kidney transplant patients to its immunosuppressant drug Myfortic in exchange for kickbacks disguised as rebates and discounts.

Novartis spokeswoman Julie Masow said the company disputes the claims in both lawsuits and will defend itself. She also said physician speaker programs are "an accepted and customary practice" in the industry.

People who file whistleblower lawsuits, sometimes known as "qui tam" lawsuits, on behalf of the government under the False Claims Act share in recovered damages.

The United States does not participate in all such lawsuits, but often joins cases it believes have greater merit.

The original lawsuit against East Hanover, New Jersey-based Novartis Pharmaceuticals was filed by Oswald Bilotta, who now lives in North Carolina. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"We believe that Novartis' alleged payment of kickbacks is yet another example of abuse in the pharmaceutical industry that contributes to skyrocketing medical costs," James Miller, a partner at Shepherd, Finkelman, Miller, and Shah in Chester, Connecticut representing Bilotta, said in a statement.

A $9,750 DINNER

According to the complaint, from January 2002 to November 2011, Novartis often paid doctors to speak about its drugs and programs that were supposed to have educational purposes, but which in reality were often social occasions or not held at all.

Authorities said that for Lotrel, Valturna and Starlix alone, the company spent nearly $65 million and conducted more than 38,000 speaker programs over the decade.

The complaint describes a variety of alleged improper programs, including seven at Hooters restaurants that Novartis sales representatives attended, and pricey meals to which Novartis allegedly treated doctors.

Among these meals were dinners at high-end Chicago restaurants such as Japonais and L20, a $2,016 dinner for three at Smith & Wollensky in Washington, D.C. and the $9,750 dinner for three at Nobu in Dallas in December 2005.

Satow, the Novartis spokeswoman, said speaker programs are "promotional programs" designed to inform physicians how to use the company's medicines.

Novartis "invests significant time and resources to help ensure these programs are conducted in an ethical and responsible manner," she said. "We are dedicated to doing it right.

Bilotta filed his lawsuit four months after Novartis in September 2010 agreed to pay $422.5 million to resolve criminal and civil liability over its marketing of several drugs, including the epilepsy drug Trileptal.

The case is U.S. ex rel. Bilotta v. Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-00071.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Andre Grenon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-sues-novartis-over-kickbacks-030649564.html

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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Civil Society Wants Bigger Role in Green Climate Fund Planning ...

  • by Carey L. Biron (washington)
  • Tuesday, March 12, 2013
  • Inter Press Service

WASHINGTON, Mar 12 (IPS) - As the new board of the United Nations Green Climate Fund meets in Berlin this week, activist and watchdog groups here and around the world are expressing frustration over proposed rules they say are already significantly limiting civil society participation in the new initiative.

dominica_flood_640

The fund, created in 2010 under the auspices of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is eventually expected to channel some 100 billion dollars a year to help developing countries counter and adapt to climate change. Yet because it has no fundraising capability itself, the source of that money has yet to be decided upon.3

In weeklong meetings this week, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) board members are slated to engage in critical discussions on that funding model. This will include the role that private sector financing is expected to play, an issue that has divided developed and developing countries.

"Decisions taken at the Green Climate Fund board are central to how the needs of climate vulnerable communities will be met, so it is essential that their deliberations are open and transparent," Janet Redman, co-director of the Sustainable Energy and Economy Network at the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington think tank, said Tuesday.

"At this point it seems the board wants to limit public participation, access and voice. That would be a huge step backward."

On Tuesday, 73 international civil society organisations sent the GCF's leadership an open letter decrying a lack of rules conducive to their "meaningful" participation.

"The active and engaged participation of civil society at the Board and country level is essential for creating an effective, equitable and environmentally sound Fund that can be responsive to the differentiated needs of men and women, minorities and indigenous peoples increasingly impacted by climate change," the letter states.

The signatories urge the fund to build on the experiences of other international funds "rather than permitting a retreat to operations that are less transparent and accountable, as is currently the case".

Among broad policy recommendations and potential procedural tweaks, the letter pushes for a system of permanent observers allowed to participate in all meetings and the broadcasting of board proceedings on the Internet. The signatories also suggest a process by which to accredit stakeholders and "sufficient financial resources ? to support their effective participation".

"I would be pleasantly surprised if the GCF board started to view civil society as valuable partners in shaping the GCF into a 21st century institution based on science and equity, but I'm not going to hold my breath," Karen Orenstein, a Washington-based campaigner with Friends of the Earth U.S., a watchdog group, told IPS from Berlin.

"Already the interim parametres set up for our participation Wednesday ? the first day of the Berlin meeting ? are overly restrictive. At some point in the not-too-distant future, though, the marginalisation of civil society in this process is going to become a real liability that will come back to haunt the board."

Paradigm shift

Developing countries have keenly watched the development of the GCF. In mid-February, a joint statement from ministers of Brazil, China, India and South Africa urged the prioritisation of the "early and meaningful operationalisation" of the fund.

Yet thus far, progress has been slow. Last year, South Korea agreed to host the institution's secretariat, and a 24-member executive board has been named, comprising equal numbers of representatives from developed and developing countries.

But so far, significant funding has been notably lacking.

When the fund was set up, developed countries promised 30 billion dollars as starter capital. According to a February statement by Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan, however, only around seven billion dollars of that has so far come in, undoubtedly affected in part by austerity concerns in Europe, the United States and elsewhere.

For this reason, many observers are particularly interested in this week's deliberations over the role that the private sector will play in funding the GCF. Particularly since the 2008 financial crisis started to squeeze national governments, bilateral and multilateral donors, including the United Nations, have increasingly looked for ways to rely on private sector capital.

"Many members of the board from developed countries have said they don't want to talk about potential sources for the public money, and have focused instead on how to leverage private capital," the Institute for Policy Studies' Redman told IPS from Berlin.

"But many developing countries are saying the GCF should be largely funnelling public money, and are talking about the possibility of raising finance through, for instance, taxing financial transactions or carbon. Unfortunately, the whole discussion has become part of a much larger geopolitical struggle, part of much broader narratives."

Further, when the GCF does engage with the private sector, she cautions, the focus should be not on major multinational investors but rather on local actors interested in developing sustainable national economies.

"The GCF wants to bring about a paradigm shift, but we're not going to avoid any climate catastrophe unless we get a profound shift in the organisation of our economies," she says.

"Clearly that includes the private sector, and we certainly want to include private sector entrepreneurs in countries most affected by climate change. But what we can't do is provide fertile ground for foreign direct investments that look to extract profit from developing countries rather than working to build up sustainable local economies."

Because the UNFCCC framework offered little guidance on the source of GCF funding, the issue is open to significant interpretation. The U.S. government, among others, has suggested that the 100-billion-dollar pledge, to be raised yearly by 2020, can be made up partially by private sector investments.

Yet Friends of the Earth's Orenstein and others have strongly cautioned against this reading.

"Private climate finance cannot be a substitute for direct public support ? the 100 billion dollars developed countries have promised must be made up entirely of public funds," she says.

"Private finance would be especially difficult to deploy in low and lower-middle income countries. Many areas in need of funding, especially adaptation, will simply not turn a profit."

While advocates are hoping this week to lay a progressive conceptual basis for the funding discussion, the board's discussion on an overall model for the GCF is expected to stretch until at least September.

? Inter Press Service (2013) ? All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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Steganography is no laughing matter

Steganography is no laughing matter [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 12-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Albert Ang
press@inderscience.com
Inderscience Publishers

Hiding secret messages in email jokes

Encrypting a message with a strong code is the only safe way to keep your communications secret, but it will be obvious to anyone seeing such a message that the sender is hiding something, regardless of whether they are encrypting their emails for legitimate or illicit purposes. Steganography on the other hand can hide a secret message in plain sight. Often a message is secreted within the binary strings of 0s and 1s in a compressed image or music file format. Prying eyes see only the original image or hear the song, whereas the recipient, knowing that a message is within uses software to extract it. Nevertheless, a putative interception might still take place; this kind of disguise also has the problem of requiring large file sizes.

An alternative to such steganography would be to hide a message in plain sight within a plain text document. Unfortunately, despite the much smaller file sizes that would be possible, secreting a message within normal text usually disrupts the grammar and syntax or the spelling and so immediately looks suspicious. Now, an approach that is far less obvious and is tolerant of poor grammar has been developed by computer scientist Abdelrahman Desoky of the University of Maryland in Baltimore County, USA and is described in the latest issue of the International Journal of Security and Networks.

Desoky suggests that instead of using a humdrum text document and modifying it in a codified way to embed a secret message, correspondents could use a joke to hide their true meaning. As such, he has developed an Automatic Joke Generation Based Steganography Methodology (Jokestega) that takes advantage of recent software that can automatically write pun-type jokes using large dictionary databases. Among the automatic joke generators available are: The MIT Project, Chuck Norris Joke Generator, Jokes2000, The Joke Generator dot Com and the Online Joke Generator System (pickuplinegen).

A simple example might be to hide the code word "shaking" in the following auto-joke. The original question and answer joke is "Where do milk shakes come from?" and the correct answer would be "From nervous cows". So far, so funny. But, the system can substitute the word "shaking" for "nervous" and still retain the humor so that the answer becomes "From shaking cows". It loses some of its wit, but still makes sense and we are not all Bob Hopes, after all.

Other examples where substitutions are possible might include the equally funny: What do you get when you cross a car with a sandwich? A traffic jam, which might use a well-known sandwich bar brand, "Subway" as an alternative answer. Similarly, Where is Dracula's American office? The answer being the Vampire State Building. The question could be substituted as Where is Dracula's American home? With the same answer. There are endless puns any one of which might be used in a similar setting. A collection of such jokes sent in a message with the non-obvious answer substituted for the wittier version could conceal a message using Jokestega. Desoky suggests that 8 bits of data might be hidden in a simple joke of the type discussed.

###

"Jokestega: automatic joke generation-based steganography methodology" in Int. J. Security and Networks, 2013, 7, 148-160


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Steganography is no laughing matter [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 12-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Albert Ang
press@inderscience.com
Inderscience Publishers

Hiding secret messages in email jokes

Encrypting a message with a strong code is the only safe way to keep your communications secret, but it will be obvious to anyone seeing such a message that the sender is hiding something, regardless of whether they are encrypting their emails for legitimate or illicit purposes. Steganography on the other hand can hide a secret message in plain sight. Often a message is secreted within the binary strings of 0s and 1s in a compressed image or music file format. Prying eyes see only the original image or hear the song, whereas the recipient, knowing that a message is within uses software to extract it. Nevertheless, a putative interception might still take place; this kind of disguise also has the problem of requiring large file sizes.

An alternative to such steganography would be to hide a message in plain sight within a plain text document. Unfortunately, despite the much smaller file sizes that would be possible, secreting a message within normal text usually disrupts the grammar and syntax or the spelling and so immediately looks suspicious. Now, an approach that is far less obvious and is tolerant of poor grammar has been developed by computer scientist Abdelrahman Desoky of the University of Maryland in Baltimore County, USA and is described in the latest issue of the International Journal of Security and Networks.

Desoky suggests that instead of using a humdrum text document and modifying it in a codified way to embed a secret message, correspondents could use a joke to hide their true meaning. As such, he has developed an Automatic Joke Generation Based Steganography Methodology (Jokestega) that takes advantage of recent software that can automatically write pun-type jokes using large dictionary databases. Among the automatic joke generators available are: The MIT Project, Chuck Norris Joke Generator, Jokes2000, The Joke Generator dot Com and the Online Joke Generator System (pickuplinegen).

A simple example might be to hide the code word "shaking" in the following auto-joke. The original question and answer joke is "Where do milk shakes come from?" and the correct answer would be "From nervous cows". So far, so funny. But, the system can substitute the word "shaking" for "nervous" and still retain the humor so that the answer becomes "From shaking cows". It loses some of its wit, but still makes sense and we are not all Bob Hopes, after all.

Other examples where substitutions are possible might include the equally funny: What do you get when you cross a car with a sandwich? A traffic jam, which might use a well-known sandwich bar brand, "Subway" as an alternative answer. Similarly, Where is Dracula's American office? The answer being the Vampire State Building. The question could be substituted as Where is Dracula's American home? With the same answer. There are endless puns any one of which might be used in a similar setting. A collection of such jokes sent in a message with the non-obvious answer substituted for the wittier version could conceal a message using Jokestega. Desoky suggests that 8 bits of data might be hidden in a simple joke of the type discussed.

###

"Jokestega: automatic joke generation-based steganography methodology" in Int. J. Security and Networks, 2013, 7, 148-160


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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/2013-03/ip-sin031213.php

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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Federer, Azarenka advance at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) ? Defending champion Roger Federer beat Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-3, 6-1 in a third-round match at the BNP Paribas Open on Monday, with the Swiss star tweaking his back near the end of the match. Victoria Azarenka, the defending women's champion, needed three sets to move on.

Federer earned his 890th career ATP Tour victory, joining Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl and Guillermo Vilas as the only men to have won at least that many matches in the Open era. The second-ranked Federer is seeking his first tournament title of the year at an event where he has won four championships and has a 41-8 career record.

Federer was the highest-seeded men's player in action Monday. He has Tuesday off to give his back a rest.

"I'm not too worried. I have gone through it so many times where you feel a little tweak," he said. "Happened during Grand Slams, during tournaments, in practice. It's just something you learn to deal with."

Top-ranked Azarenka rallied to beat 28th-seeded Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 under the lights and improve to 15-0 this year. Azarenka's pal, musician Redfoo of LMFAO, cheered her on.

Azarenka said she wasn't feeling well and when the match ended she grabbed a bunch of tissues for her stuffy nose.

"I just wanted to go to sleep instead of playing tennis. I couldn't breathe and I was too stupid not to use a tissue," she said. "She really played well. She came out firing and playing so freely, going for every possible shot there was. I didn't adjust well."

A 4.7 magnitude earthquake struck at 9:55 a.m. near Indian Wells. It occurred before the day's matches had begun, although the Indian Wells Tennis Garden was busy with fans and workers, many of whom said they felt a strong jolt.

Federer ran out of the house where he's staying.

"I didn't know how long it was going to last, if it was going to get worse from there, or if the worst was already past," he said. "It was a very strange feeling to have because you see the windows shaking and you look up and realize you're under a structure. It was quite scary for a second there."

Fifth-seeded Rafael Nadal was on the massage table preparing for his match against Leonardo Mayer of Argentina when the quake hit.

"I was very scared," he said. "I think the massage table moves even worse."

The Spaniard said his legs were wobbling and even though it was his first earthquake it took him "probably a half-second" to realize what was happening.

After the excitement caused by the quake, Nadal didn't even get to play his match. Mayer withdrew because of a back injury.

Nadal opened his bid for a third Indian Wells title with a two-set victory over American Ryan Harrison on Saturday, the Spaniard's first hard-court match in nearly a year. He returned to the ATP Tour a month ago, winning two of three tournaments on clay after missing seven months because of a left knee injury.

Temperatures are forecast to soar into the 90s in the next few days, conditions that should favor Nadal.

"For me, for my knee, for my foot, for everything is better when the conditions are warmer," he said. "I love practicing and playing in days like today: no wind, fantastic weather, good, hot temperature."

Nadal shared a friendly hit on Sunday with tournament owner Larry Ellison, the co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corp. and one of the world's wealthiest men.

"His backhand improve, especially a lot from last year, so that's great," Nadal said. "It's great what he's doing for tennis and especially this tournament. He knows more about tennis I think than me."

On the men's side, No. 6 Tomas Berdych defeated 27th-seeded Florian Mayer 6-4, 6-1; Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis outlasted 20th-seeded Andreas Seppi, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to win his 13th consecutive match this season; and No. 10 Richard Gasquet beat 24th-seeded Jerzy Janowicz, 6-1, 6-4. No. 13 Gilles Simon was a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 winner over Benoit Paire.

Gulbis takes on Nadal in the fourth round, a player that Gulbis has yet to beat in four matches.

"I believe that I can win," Gulbis said. "Yeah, I said it already."

Among the women's third-round winners Monday were No. 4 Angelique Kerber, No. 7 Sam Stosur, No. 8 Caroline Wozniacki, and No. 10 Nadia Petrova.

No. 11 Ana Ivanovic was beaten 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 by No. 24 Mona Barthel of Germany, who improved to 8-16 in her career against Top 20 opponents.

Kerber beat 30th-seeded Yanina Wickmayer 6-1, 7-6 (4) after rallying from a 1-4 deficit in the second set. She and her coach were talking before the match when the quake hit.

"In the first moment we both were thinking, it's like a subway here, but actually we are in the desert. No way that there is a subway," Kerber said.

Stosur needed three sets to get by 32nd-seeded Shuai Peng of China, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2; and Wozniacki routed 29th-seeded Elena Vesnina, 6-2, 6-1. Petrova beat No. 21 seed Julia Georges, 6-1, 6-2 and Spanish qualifier Garbine Muguruza defeated Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, 6-4, 6-0. American Jamie Hampton lost to Urszula Radwanska, 6-0, 7-6 (4).

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/federer-azarenka-advance-indian-wells-041923713--spt.html

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Monday, March 11, 2013

Daily Wedding Stat: The Benefit of Strong Relationships With ...

marketing for weddingsbridal marketing bookwedding marketing bookFor millennials, the generation that accounts for more than 83% of today's weddings and the first to grow up with the Internet, technology has done more than give unprecedented access to information; it has physically changed their brains on a microcellular level. What worked in bridal marketing just ten years ago is no longer effective because the way today's engaged couples think is actually different than couples of generations past. In Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace, wedding expert Liene Stevens unveils the mindset of today's brides and grooms and provides a blueprint for marketing your business in a rapidly changing world.

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Source: http://www.thinksplendid.com/2013/03/daily-wedding-stat-benefit-of-strong.html

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