Kitchen RemodelingKitchen Remodeling All about Home Improvement

Posted on May 30, 2012

When you are considering kitchen remodeling, one of the first questions that are likely to come to mind is whether it would be better to hire a contractor to remodel your kitchen or simply do it yourself? That's a complicated question and there is no one right answer for everyone because there are so many different variables involved.

Certainly you will want to take your kitchen remodeling budget into consideration when making the decision regarding whether to hire a contractor or do the work yourself. Naturally, hiring a contractor to perform your kitchen remodeling is going to substantially increase the amount of money you spend, just from the cost of labor alone.

Don't make the mistake, however; of thinking that you'll save a few bucks on your kitchen remodeling by going the cheap route, skipping the contractor and performing all the work yourself. If you have no prior experience in kitchen remodeling, there's a chance that you may end up making a mistaken and needing a professional to correct it for you. Should that happen; your kitchen remodeling budget will almost double overnight and the money you thought you were saving will suddenly become a distant dream.

If you have no prior experience in kitchen remodeling, but you're willing to spend some time taking some of the beneficial do it yourself classes offered at a number of home improvement stores; you very well may find a hidden talent. A good compromise when you don't have a lot of kitchen remodeling experience, but want to save some money, is to reserve some of the smaller and less complex tasks for yourself and outsource the larger kitchen remodeling projects for the pros. A good kitchen remodeling starter project is learning how to install new fixtures and faucets. Clinics teaching these basic kitchen remodeling skills are normally offered on a weekly basic at most large home improvement stores. After you've successfully accomplished that kitchen remodeling project, then you can think about a larger project, like laying ceramic tile.

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About the author:

Lyn Davis is a freelance author. For more information visit Kitchen Remodel or Home Design

Author: Lyn Davis

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Video: Apple's 'Intense Interest' in TV?

CNBC's Jon Fortt reports the latest details from the "All Things Digital Conference", including speculation on Apple's unveiling a revolutionary iTV. Also, Lawrence Bossidy, former Honeywell chairman & CEO, discusses the difference between the leadersh...

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Kodak losses continue, but aren't as bad in April (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

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Child survivor of Syrian massacre details shooting (Americablog)

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Spokane Attorney Provides Legal Advice To Personal Injury Victims ...

Spokane Attorney Provides Legal Advice To Personal Injury Victims

Selecting a lawyer to handle a person?s personal injury case is a tough decision. This is particularly true when one has already experienced serious tragedy or injury. No matter how difficult the task, getting a Spokane attorney who focuses in this area will give one the best opportunity of a large compensation.

This type of lawyer is one who aids people get compensation for injuries from accidents occasioned by others. This compensation normally covers medical bills incurred by the injured person, lost income from time taken off employment for recovery. It also covers the replacement of any damaged property in the accident. The lawyer is the mediator for his client and the cover firm of the person who occasioned the accident.

You will want to start by ensuring that the attorneys he calls are competent. You should also ensure that the lawyers are attentive and capable of handling his personal injury case. There are plenty of resources that could help a person find a lawyer.

One needs to get in touch with the American Bar Association since they may give a list of local lawyers who specialize in personal injury cases. A person could get a list by calling them or by carrying out a search on their website. They furthermore provide many resources to help in preparing for the process.

You could ask pals or family for suggestions concerning attorneys they have dealt with before. One ought not to fear asking for details such as the time the lawyer took to call back and if they believed the lawyer was experienced. One needs to as well find out if the personality of the lawyer was gracious and sociable, and whatever other relevant information about the lawyer they recommend.

A person can also ask his current lawyer for suggestions on a good Spokane attorney. If a person has made a will or purchased a house in the past, he could ask the lawyer he worked with for any recommendations. Like anybody else, one?s lawyer will be pleased to recommend a suitable lawyer that he personally knows.

You will find a detailed summary of the advantages you get when you use the services of a lawyer and information about a reliable Spokane attorney at http://www.nordstromlawfirm.com now.

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Microsoft's Photosynth app lets (some) Windows Phone users in on the panorama craze

Are you one of those folks who enjoys taking snaps of everything around you and own a Mango-flavored Windows Phone slab? Well, we've got some phenomenal news for you: Microsoft has placed its Photosynth application up for grabs on the Marketplace. It's simple, the app -- which doesn't cost a dime -- will let you shoot some 360-degree photos in both landscape and portrait mode. Additionally, you'll be able to share those all-around shots with your friends on Twitter as well as the newly public Zuck network. You can snag Redmond's Photosynth v1.0 now straight from your WP device or from the Marketplace link below -- let's just hope you can give that London panorama a run for its money.

Microsoft's Photosynth app lets (some) Windows Phone users in on the panorama craze originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 May 2012 10:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Customized Web Design is not o?

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Senator Coburn?s ?Debt Elimination Ordnance (DOE)? Adventure

Posted on | May 26, 2012 | No Comments

by Smitty

Now and then it?s healthy to step outside of Obama?s ?Real World?. To breath some fresh air. To ponder existence beyond the orbit of the Obamas, Kimberlins, and #Occupy hippies. The Left?s controlling 1% makes for a long, strange, dangerous trip.

One of the handful of political leaders worth two hoots today is Senataor Tom Coburn. Watch this interview on what is THE issue of the election:

The Obama Administration is fundamentally incapable of facing the budget reality. While you can attempt a mellow pose, and say that the problems did not begin on Obama?s watch, you?d better be honest and admit that Obama has done frack-all to offer substantial leadership in any other direction.

Even the much-derided George W. Bush at least tried to do something, anything, to privatize Social Security. Sad. The post title, by the wasy, tries to play on ?Debt Bomb? and ?Explosive Ordnance Demolition (EOD)?.

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Indy 500 wide open as Penske tries to go 5-0

IndyCar driver Marco Andretti, left, talks with a member of his crew as his grandfather and 1969 Indy 500 champion Mario Andretti, center, looks on following the final day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Friday, May 25, 2012. The 96th running of the race is Sunday. (AP Photo/Tom Strattman)

IndyCar driver Marco Andretti, left, talks with a member of his crew as his grandfather and 1969 Indy 500 champion Mario Andretti, center, looks on following the final day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Friday, May 25, 2012. The 96th running of the race is Sunday. (AP Photo/Tom Strattman)

IndyCar driver Will Power, of Australia, prepares to drive on the final day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Friday, May 25, 2012. The 96th running of the race is Sunday. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

IndyCar driver Scott Dixon, of New Zealand, pulls out of the pit area on the final day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Friday, May 25, 2012. The 96th running of the race is Sunday. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

IndyCar driver Takuma Sato, of Japan, greets fans on the final day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Friday, May 25, 2012. The 96th running of the race is Sunday. (AP Photo/Tom Strattman)

IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe, of Canada, waves to fans as he walks to the pit area for the final day of practice for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Friday, May 25, 2012. The 96th running of the race is Sunday. (AP Photo/Tom Strattman)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Marco Andretti knows how much heartache his family has suffered at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He needs no reminders that IndyCar could use an American superstar, and with his famous last name, he is quite aware of the hope that maybe he can be the one to elevate this attention-starved series.

None of that matters to Andretti as he heads into the Indianapolis 500.

He believes he can win Sunday's race ? "it's going to be our race to lose," he said ? and he wants it, badly. But Andretti wants it for himself, for his own career, and not because of what it would mean to his family or for IndyCar. Mario Andretti won in 1969, and no Andretti has done it again in 65 starts and many of those races were devastating near-misses.

"That's not my approach to the event. My approach is I want to win our Super Bowl," Andretti said. "I put that pressure on myself. I don't want to do it because he did it and my dad didn't, that's all bonus. Do I think we can? You're darn right."

The 96th running of the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing" is the most wide-open race in a very long time. Engine competition for the first time in six years and the introduction of a new car has widened the pool of potential winners, and there's no clear favorite.

"I think we're going to see the best race we've had in at least a decade," said Roger Penske, winner of 15 Indy 500s and the team owner of pole-sitter Ryan Briscoe.

Penske is undefeated this season, as Helio Castroneves and points leader Will Power have combined to win the first four races. And with Chevrolet power, Penske drivers have swept all five poles so far this season.

So it seemed to be business as usual on pole day, when Chevrolet clearly had the edge. The team put nine drivers inside the top 10, and all six of the full-time entries were from Penske and Andretti Autosport.

Then came Carb Day, and the Hondas came to life.

Chip Ganassi teammates Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon led the leaderboard, with Andretti landing third on the final speed chart as the fastest Chevy driver.

"Maybe some sandbagging?" Franchitti wondered as Andretti slid into the seat next to him following their final on-track session before the race. "Do you really think we're all going to show what we can do?"

The return of Chevrolet and addition to Lotus has renewed rivalries this season in IndyCar, and the fight between Chevy and Honda has been on display since the track opened May 9. Chevy lost two appeals in its fight to prevent Honda from getting a new compressor cover for its turbocharger, and the final decision came the day before practice officially opened.

Honda then dominated on the track, particularly Josef Newgarden and Bryan Clauson, the two young American drivers for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing. But there was skepticism that the Chevy teams were simply holding back, and that sure seemed to be the case after qualifying.

There's been no speculation whatsoever about the two Lotus entries, which have been so far off the pace there have been calls for IndyCar to park Simona de Silvestro and Jean Alesi after the start. The engine is a tremendous handicap to Alesi, the 47-year-old former Formula One driver who has never before raced an IndyCar, never raced on an oval and has been only sporadically racing in anything at all the last several years.

On Friday, his last day in the car before the race, Alesi was clocked at 204.452 mph ? almost 10 miles slower than the last non-Lotus car, and a long way off Franchitti's 222.360.

"The engine is a disaster," he was picked up saying during the television broadcast of practice. "The engine is really bad."

Nothing has been bad for Andretti, who has been one of the few constants this month at Indy. He's been consistently fast, and was thought to be a threat for the pole. He wound up fourth, right behind teammates James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

IndyCar is seeking a new star now that Danica Patrick has fled to NASCAR, and will miss her first Indy 500 since 2005. She was the de facto face of the series, and IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard knows he needs somebody else to step up and fill her void.

He knows that an Andretti win would be a very good thing for the series.

"Wherever you go in the world, Andretti is known in racing," he said. "This is Marco's stance. I've never seen him so confident. It's like a new Marco to me."

But Bernard doesn't care who wins on Sunday so long as it is a great race with tremendous story lines. He watched on television as Bubba Watson won the Master's in April, and the golf had him longing for an emotional victory celebration in his series.

The promoter in him craves that spontaneous moment that captures the audience.

"When you're sitting at home on the couch, or you're sitting here, you just watched an exhausting 500 miles of a great race, and the drivers get absorbed in it and show their passion," Bernard said. "These 33 drivers, they have no guarantee they're going to be in the race next year. This could be their last opportunity to win. That's the drama. I think that is important to the sport."

Indy got that emotion last year when JR Hildebrand crashed coming out of the final turn while leading. It opened the door for Dan Wheldon to sail by for his second Indy 500 win, and made for a fascinating display of raw emotion. There was the rookie Hildebrand, devastated but showing how to lose with dignity, and there was Wheldon, ecstatic to have won with a tiny team in a year he did not have a full-time job.

Wheldon was killed five months later in a 15-car accident in the IndyCar season finale, and his presence has been felt at the speedway all month. He's featured on the race day ticket, his car has been on display and owner Bryan Herta will drive it in a lap of honor before the race.

Fans have been asked to wear white sunglasses during tributes on the parade lap, lap 26 and lap 98, which recognize the numbers of his winning cars, and Wheldon's wife, Susie, is here.

"He lived for that race, if that was the only race that he could do in the year, then he would do it," she said. "His family is the most important part of his legacy, so we want to be there to honor him in that way as far as him being last year's winner and everything about that race that he loved so much. I feel like it's important for me to be there."

Associated Press

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Find What You Love: Stanford University Commencement address by Steve Jobs | Ze

10,694 views | Posted in Decisions, wisdom | 4 comments

?Your time is limited, so don?t waste it living someone else?s life?

Commencement address by Steve Jobs
CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios
Given to graduates of Stanford University, June 12, 2005 (Duration: 15 mins)
?I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

? you can?t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something ? your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life?

Your time is limited, so don?t waste it living someone else?s life.

Don?t be trapped by dogma ? which is living with the results of other people?s thinking. Don?t let the noise of others? opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.?

Read the entire transcript on The Stanford University News Press

Compiled by Zen Moments

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Finding Your Life Purpose (DVD)
Eckhart Tolle

?If you?ve been searching in vain to find your true purpose in life, Echkhart Tolle has some straightforward advice: stop struggling. For the primary purpose of every human being is simply to be fully engaged in this moment, aligned with the natural flow of reality itself. On Finding Your Life Purpose, the bestselling author of A New Earth, invites viewers to discover the two-fold intention of our human incarnation: first, to free yourself from thought-based reality and its inherent dissatisfaction; and, second, to express in your own way the grand vision that universal consciousness has for your life.? Amazon.com Books review

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The Last Lecture

Randy Pausch

?We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.?? Randy Pausch

?What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy? When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn?t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

But the lecture he gave??Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams??wasn?t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because ?time is all you have?and you may find one day that you have less than you think?). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living. In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.? Amazon Books review

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Real Estate Marketing Is Perfect With Videos | www.DANKLAVITTER ...

May 27th, 2012 by Steve Joney

Advertising family homes and property over the last year or so has actually been suffering, nevertheless, you may still be a profitable real estate professional. A specific secret that lots of people are disregarding is going to be potential of marketing with video. You need to use videos to showcase ones self, your organization, and your property listings. It shouldn?t really make a difference should you be promoting homes, leasing households, or even vacation rentals. Anyone can certainly make a video to promote them all and in some cases get them valued in Yahoo and YouTube. In case you are selling condominiums, properties, townhomes, or apartments you ought to check into video as a unique marketing strategy.

The good thing about offering houses through marketing with video could be the capability to deliver an immediate personal message. It involves your current customers and allows them to relate with you on a personal foundation. You possibly can speak with them personally to tell them your message and suggest to them the place you want to promote. With videos you appear to be a genuine qualified professional in their eyes therefore you achieve quite a bit of trust.

Marketing housing continues to be evolving year after year and you could see fads evolving to social networking and entertaining characteristics, like video clips. As an effective agent you must be changing to these tendencies and offer online video media and social media to all your campaigns. Now there are many online websites that may create videos to help you, but allowing it to be reasonably priced is the greatest path to take.

As you start looking for organizations be sure to look at their demonstrations as well as to question them questions you could have. By way of picking a seasoned real estate property online video media company you happen to be putting your homes and properties in very good hands. This can be a most effective way to take in case you are determined about marketing houses.

Just before you really get started looking you actually should figure out just what exactly your personal budget is for your videos and get a business that will deliver a fantastic video around or listed below ones budget range. Virtual tours are excellent however a legitimate online video generates a higher effect on your customers.

Learn more about how to make qr codes. Stop by Steve Joney?s site where you can find out all about the best spinner and what it can do for you.

Tags: homes, houses, marketing, real estate, realtors, video, videos

Posted in Video

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Mesothelioma and Memorial Day

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Google search for iPhone review

The Google Search app for iPhone app was recently updated with a complete redesign that makes searching on Google a rather pleasant experience. It features a very stylish and snappy UI that's bound to impress anyone who uses it.

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Stars sell, sell, sell at amfAR Gala

Karl Lagerfeld and Diane Kruger during the auction for the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS benefit during the 65th Cannes film festival, in Cap d'Antibes, southern France, Thursday, May 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

Karl Lagerfeld and Diane Kruger during the auction for the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS benefit during the 65th Cannes film festival, in Cap d'Antibes, southern France, Thursday, May 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

Karolina Kurkova models during the auction for the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS benefit during the 65th Cannes film festival, in Cap d'Antibes, southern France, Thursday, May 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

Karolina Kurkova models during the auction for the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS benefit during the 65th Cannes film festival, in Cap d'Antibes, southern France, Thursday, May 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

for the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS benefit during the 65th Cannes film festival, in Cap d'Antibes, southern France, Thursday, May 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

for the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS benefit during the 65th Cannes film festival, in Cap d'Antibes, southern France, Thursday, May 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan)

CAP D'ANTIBES, France (AP) ? Hugs, kisses, a massage and a vampire bite - stars were desperate to sell to the highest bidder at the amfAR Gala at the Cap D'Antibes.

In an attempt to raise money Thursday at the Cinema Against AIDS auction, celebrity presenters threw in bribes to persuade the well-dressed audience to part with their money, and try to achieve a target of $10 million dollars.

Held at the exclusive Hotel Du Cap, over-looking the sea, Janet Jackson, Alec Baldwin, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kylie Minogue, Gerard Butler and Kim Kardashian all attended the black tie event.

Heidi Klum offered a massage, Diane Kruger donated the services of her boyfriend Joshua Jackson, "Vampire Diaries" starlet Nina Dobrev said she'd willingly bite a bidder and Chris Tucker did a mini Michael Jackson dance routine - all to win people over and get them opening their wallets.

Many references were made to the troubled European financial climate - appropriately, Aloe Blacc took to the stage to sing "I Need a Dollar," while Jessie J performed "Price Tag."

However, austerity measures were not encouraged.

Diners watching the auction take place on stage in a large marquee were asked to empty their bank accounts buying an Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe print, the chance to star in a short film by Karl Lagerfeld, a private match with Novak Djokovic or a holiday on Lake Como.

For the first time at the French amfAR auction, there was also a fashion show.

Models strutted on a catwalk between dining tables to show off 24 outfits, selected by former Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld to create the "Perfect Black Wardrobe."

Containing designs by Chanel, Dior, Armani, Kenneth Cole, Lanvin, Valentino, Tom Ford and Louis Vuitton - the winning bidder paid 320,000 Euros to have them made in a size of her choosing.

The final total for the items under the hammer is still being calculated - although it seems likely that these celebrity sales people will easily reach their $10 million total.

Associated Press

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Short interest in Facebook rises: Data Explorers

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Missouri opts for untested drug for executions

FILE - In this July 28, 2009 file photo, a bottle of the drug Propofol is seen at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. The same anesthetic used in the overdose death of pop star Michael Jackson is now the drug of choice for executions in Missouri, causing a stir among critics who wonder how the state can guarantee a drug untested for lethal injection won?t cause pain and suffering for the condemned. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

FILE - In this July 28, 2009 file photo, a bottle of the drug Propofol is seen at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. The same anesthetic used in the overdose death of pop star Michael Jackson is now the drug of choice for executions in Missouri, causing a stir among critics who wonder how the state can guarantee a drug untested for lethal injection won?t cause pain and suffering for the condemned. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

This April 4, 2007, photo provided by the Missouri Department of Corrections shows Michael Worthington. Worthington, awaiting execution for the rape and strangulation of Griffin in 1995, could face execution with the same anesthetic used in the overdose death of pop star Michael Jackson. Missouri announced it is switching to a single drug, propofol, for executions making it the first state ever to use it as an execution drug. (AP Photo/Missouri Department of Corrections)

This 1995 photo provided by Carol Angelbeck shows her daughter, Mindy Griffin with her Newfoundland puppy, Bearon in front of her condo in Lake Saint Louis, Mo. Michael Worthington, awaiting execution for the rape and strangulation of Griffin in 1995, could face execution with the same anesthetic used in the overdose death of pop star Michael Jackson. Missouri announced it is switching to a single drug, propofol, for executions making it the first state ever to use it as an execution drug. (AP Photo/courtesy Carol Angelbeck)

This Dec. 2, 1984, photo provided by Carol Angelbeck shows Angelbeck, left, and her daughter, Mindy Griffin, with their Clydesdale mare Shelly in Troy, Mo. Angelbeck has spent years urging Missouri officials to pick up the pace on executions. Griffin was raped and strangled by Michael Worthington who broke into her suburban St. Louis condo in 1995. Worthington is awaiting execution. (AP Photo/courtesy Carol Angelbeck)

ST. LOUIS (AP) ? The same anesthetic that caused the overdose death of pop star Michael Jackson is now the drug of choice for executions in Missouri, causing a stir among critics who question how the state can guarantee a drug untested for lethal injection won't cause pain and suffering for the condemned.

Last week the Missouri Department of Corrections announced it was switching from its longstanding three-drug method to use of a single drug, propofol. Missouri would be the first state ever to use propofol as an execution drug.

"This is very, very concerning with a drug that we don't know, and seeing the problems of the one-drug method," said Kathleen Holmes of Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Until recently, the 33 states with the death penalty used a virtually identical three-drug process: Sodium thiopental was administered to put the inmate to sleep, then two other drugs stopped the heart and lungs. But makers of sodium thiopental have stopped selling it for use in executions. Supplies mostly ran out or expired, forcing states to consider alternatives.

Most states have retained the three-drug method but turned to pentobarbital as a replacement for sodium thiopental. Pentobarbital, a barbiturate used to treat anxiety and convulsive disorders such as epilepsy, has been used in roughly 50 executions over the past two years, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center.

But its use may be short-lived as its maker also opposes selling it for use in executions.

The statement announcing the change in Missouri said the decision was "due to the unavailability of sodium thiopental" but did not elaborate on why propofol was chosen. The protocol change was administrative and did not require legislative approval. The Corrections Department declined interview requests, but spokesman Chris Cline said Wednesday in a one-sentence statement, "Working with expert guidance, we are confident that this new one-drug protocol will be effective and appropriate."

It wasn't clear when propofol would get its first use in an execution. None are scheduled in Missouri despite Attorney General Chris Koster's request last week that the Missouri Supreme Court set execution dates for up to 19 condemned men whose appeals have run out.

Litigation over Missouri's new protocol is possible. Attorneys for death row inmates told The Associated Press that they are still gathering information on the new process and no decision has been made on whether to seek an injunction.

Between 1989, when executions resumed in Missouri, and 2005, the state put to death 66 convicted killers. But in the seven years since, only two men have been executed ? Dennis Skillicorn in 2009 and Martin Link last year. Use of the death penalty has declined sharply in recent years nationwide. The U.S. had 98 executions in 1999 but just 43 last year. Nearly 3,200 people remain on death row.

Propofol, made by AstraZeneca and marketed as Diprivan, gained notoriety following Jackson's death in 2009. Spokespeople for AstraZeneca and its U.S. marketer, APP, declined comment on its use in executions. But Dieter questioned if enough research has been done.

"Any drug used for a new purpose on human subjects should certainly be tested very, very carefully," Dieter said. "I can only imagine the things that might go wrong."

Adding to the concern, some say, is Missouri's written protocol which, like the one it replaced, does not require a physician to be part of the execution team. It states that a "physician, nurse, or pharmacist" prepares the chemicals, and a "physician, nurse or emergency medical technician ... inserts intravenous lines, monitors the prisoner, and supervises the injection of lethal chemicals by nonmedical members of the execution team."

Jonathan Groner, an Ohio State University surgeon who has studied lethal injection extensively, said propofol is typically administered by either an anesthesiologist, who is a physician, or a nurse anesthetist under the physician's direct supervision. Improper administration could cause a burning sensation or pain at the injection site, he said.

Groner said high doses of propofol will kill by causing respiratory arrest. But the dosage must be accurate and the process must move swiftly because propofol typically wears off in just a few minutes.

"If they start breathing before the heart stops, they might not die," Groner said. That would force the process to be restarted.

Critics also question the safety of the single-drug method. Missouri becomes the third state with a single-drug protocol, along with Arizona and Ohio. Three others ? South Dakota, Idaho and Washington ? have options for single- or multiple-drug executions, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. California and Kentucky are exploring a switch to the one-drug method.

Concerns were raised after a one-drug execution last month in Arizona. Thomas Arnold Kemp, a 63-year-old convicted killer, shook for several seconds upon receiving a lethal dose of pentobarbital.

The debate over the administration of lethal drugs has angered some capital punishment advocates who suggest that death row inmates ? largely convicted killers ? seem to get more compassion than their victims.

Carol Angelbeck has spent years urging Missouri officials to pick up the pace on executions. Angelbeck's 24-year-old daughter, Mindy Griffin, was raped and strangled by Michael Worthington, who broke into her suburban St. Louis condo in 1995. Worthington is awaiting execution.

"If they can't find a drug they like, go to hanging," Angelbeck said. "Maybe they should feel some pain and others would think twice about killing someone."

Associated Press

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'Madagascar 3' roars: Twitter highlights from Cannes

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Obama and Hollande tackle eurozone crisis

French President Francois Hollande, right, chairs his first cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Thursday, May 17, 2012. Second right is Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Social Affairs minister Marisol Touraine, and Minister for Productive Recovery Arnaud Montebourg, left. (AP Photo/Regis Duvignau/Pool)

French President Francois Hollande, right, chairs his first cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Thursday, May 17, 2012. Second right is Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Social Affairs minister Marisol Touraine, and Minister for Productive Recovery Arnaud Montebourg, left. (AP Photo/Regis Duvignau/Pool)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama says the G-8 economic summit will target both management of the European debt crisis and a "strong growth agenda."

Obama spoke in the Oval Office following his first meeting with new French President Francois Hollande (frahn-SWAH' oh-LAWND'). Obama says he and Hollande agreed that the eurozone crisis is of extraordinary importance to the world economy.

Hollande took office this week following conservative Nicolas Sarkozy's ouster by voters frustrated by his handling of the economy.

Later Friday, Obama and Hollande will join other world leaders at the G-8 at Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains.

Associated Press

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Video: 250-pound alligator chomps on man?s arm

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Twitter Wants An Interest Graph: Now Tracking Your Browsing To Make Follow Suggestions

Twitter does a lot of things right, but it still hasn't solved the problem of turning its noise into signal. After joining Twitter, it can take a lot of following and unfollowing scores of accounts before you've curated a stream that makes sense for you. With its platform growing fast, Twitter is looking to make the onboarding process a little easier (and more personalized) for new users, which is why it announced today via its blog that it will begin serving users tailored suggestions of who they should follow.

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Spooked horse swims two miles offshore

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Facebook boosts IPO size by 25 percent, could top $16 bil

By Olivia Oran and Alexei Oreskovic

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc increased the size of its initial public offering by almost 25 percent, and could raise as much as $16 billion as strong investor demand for a share of the No.1 social network trumps debate about its long-term potential to make money.

Facebook, founded eight years ago by Mark Zuckerberg in a Harvard dorm room, said on Wednesday it will add about 84 million shares to its IPO, floating about 421 million shares in an offering expected to be priced on Thursday.

The additional shares will be sold by early investors including PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Accel Partners' James Breyer and investment manager Tiger Global Management, the company said in a filing.

The company itself has not increased the number of shares it will sell.

Zuckerberg's voting power will be reduced to about 55.8 percent from about 57.3 percent after the IPO as a result of the issue of additional shares, the company said.

The expanded size, coupled with Facebook's recently announced plans to raise the IPO price range, would make Facebook the third-largest initial share sale in U.S. history after Visa Inc and General Motors.

The social networking company is drumming up massive demand for the offering even as slowing revenue and user growth spur questions about the long-term Facebook story.

Those concerns over revenue growth were underscored on Tuesday, when GM said it planned to pull out of advertising on Facebook.

"This is much more a spectacle, a media event and a cultural moment than it is an IPO," said Max Wolff, an analyst at GreenCrest Capital. "This is not a game of models and fundamentals at this point."

GM's announcement, while ill-timed for Facebook, should not seriously hurt the IPO's reception for now as it may not be representative of advertisers' overall attitude, said Brian Wieser, an analyst with Pivotal Research Group.

"The demand for the IPO probably won't be affected materially by this," he said, adding, however, there were probably a lot of calls between underwriters and investors following GM's announcement.

The IPO, Silicon Valley's largest, eclipses the roughly $2 billion debut by Google Inc in 2004.

Facebook raised the target price range to $34-$38 per share in response to strong demand, from $28-$35, according to a Tuesday filing. That would value the company at $93-$104 billion, rivaling the market value of Internet powerhouses such as Amazon.com Inc, and exceeding that of Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc combined.

The increased price range made it very unlikely that Facebook shares would double on their trading debut as they might have if the company had come out at the low end of its initial price range, Wolff said. He expects a first-day gain of about 10 percent.

"No rational person thought they were buying the stock for $28," said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Patcher, noting Facebook had traded as high as $44 in the secondary markets in recent months.

Facebook said in Tuesday's filing that it arrived at the higher IPO price range after one week of marketing the offering - part of a cross-country roadshow in which CEO Zuckerberg has taken the stage to lay out his vision for the company's money-making potential and its top priorities.

The price range hike, coupled with strong results from internet and social media players Groupon Inc and China's Renren Inc, contributed to a dotcom rally on Wall Street on Tuesday. Shares of Pandora Media Inc rose 10.3 percent, Zynga Inc was up 7.7 percent, Groupon climbed 3.7 percent and Renren gained 6.4 percent.

LONG-TERM GROWTH

Before the IPO size was increased, Facebook would have raised about $12.1 billion based on the midpoint price of $36 and the 337.4 million shares on offer originally.

At this midpoint, Facebook would be valued at roughly 27 times its 2011 revenue, or 99 times earnings. Google went public at a valuation of $23 billion, or 16 times its trailing revenue and 218 times earnings. Apple Inc went public in 1980 at a valuation of 25 times its revenue and 102 times earnings.

Facebook's IPO comes as some investors worry the company has not yet figured out a way to make money from a growing number of users who access the social network on mobile devices such as smartphones. Meanwhile, revenue growth from Facebook's online advertising business, which accounts for the bulk of its revenue, has slowed in recent months.

With some 900 million users, it had $1 billion in net income on revenue of $3.7 billion in 2011.

The company has also extended the time frame for its $1 billion acquisition of mobile app maker Instagram, projecting the deal would close this year instead of the second quarter as it previously indicated.

It provided no reasons, though a source familiar with the matter told Reuters last week that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has reached out to Google and Twitter as part of the agency's standard review for deals of that size.

Facebook is scheduled to begin trading on the Nasdaq on Friday. A host of Wall Street banks are underwriting the offering, with Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs serving as leads.

(Additional reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Edwin Chan, Maureen Bavdek, Matthew Lewis, Richard Chang, Ryan Woo and Ian Geoghegan and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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No Laughing Matter: New Surgery Offers Hope to Children With Dangerous Giggling Seizures

It is the most treasured and joyous sound for nearly every parent: their child's laughter. But for a rare number of children, laughter can signal a potentially devastating, even fatal future, and their parents will do anything to make the laughter stop.

"The giggling when he was young was such an endearing type of a giggle that we thought it was his normal giggling," Robin Dysart of San Antonio, Texas, said about son Keagan. "Until we realized he was giggling at inappropriate times. There wouldn't be anything to laugh about."

Watch the full story on "20/20" Friday at 10 p.m. ET.

Karen Williams of Toronto noticed the same strange behavior in her son, Mateo.

"There's a forcedness to it," she said. "It almost looks like there's something else that's possessing the laughter."

They are called gelastic seizures, and appear as spontaneous, uncontrollable and often maniacal giggles or laughter. They are short and unpredictable. The cause: a rare form of epilepsy called Hypothalamic Hamartoma (HH) in which a non-cancerous lesion wreaks havoc in a highly sensitive area near the brain's stem. Too often the laughter goes undiagnosed.

The Dysarts have video of Keagan swimming. It looks innocent enough until you hear an odd giggle as the little boy struggles to stay above water.

"He's in his own little world, he's enjoying himself, and he's entertaining himself," Keagan's father, Chris Dysart, said he thought at that time.

Added his wife, Robin: "What's wrong with giggling?"

As each boy grew up, the strange giggling persisted. Some of Keagan's school teachers reprimanded him early on for his inappropriate laughter, according to his parents. Both families drifted in the medical wilderness looking for answers.

Finally, one neurologist told the Dysarts that Keagan's strange laughter wasn't funny at all but potentially dangerous.

"I couldn't understand how they could call these seizures, at first," Robin Dysart said. "He's not convulsing, he's not on the floor, like everybody thinks of a seizure, like grand maul seizures, all these uncontrollable things. How can this be a seizure?"

Mateo's parents got even less information from their Canadian doctors. "It's a child being a child," one doctor told them. Unsatisfied, Karen Williams hunted on the Internet for clues.

"And when you type in 'laughing episode,' anything to do with unexplained laughter, gelastic seizures came up. And when you typed in 'gelastic seizures,' benign brain tumor came up, and that's when the magnitude of it really hit us," Williams said.

Left untreated, the laughing seizures caused by HH can cause long-term behavioral and cognitive damage. Some children grow up so debilitated that they live with their parents. Some have even been institutionalized.

For Robin Dysart, tears would stream out of her as she contemplated Keagan's future.

"The thing that always scared me the most was just this stereotypical image of a homeless, crazy person that has that maniacal laugh and nobody accepts him," she said. "To be a parent of a child who's unaccepted; I can't explain it."

Keagan and Mateo were treated with anti-epileptic drugs. But it didn't stop the laughing. And both boys developed other kinds of seizures, such as tonic or panic seizures that occurred up to six times a day.

"He [struggled] everyday to hold it together," Williams said of Mateo, a hyper little boy who found sanctuary playing hockey and soccer.

Keagan always loved taking the school bus. He asked his father one day whether he could walk to the bus stop on his own. His parents would normally accompany him to the corner because of his seizures.

Moments after Keagan took off on his own, the phone rang: It was the school's transportation department. Keagan had seized and collapsed before getting on the bus.

"I had no clues what was going on," Chris Dysart said. "I tried to wake my son up, and he's not responding, I mean, not responding in the least bit. At that point, I was like, 'We've got to do something.'"

For years, little could be done to stop the laughing seizures, short of an invasive craniotomy. Fraught with danger, the brain is separated, carved open and the lesion, deep in the brain's center, cut out. The risks are every parent's nightmare: a possible loss of sight, uncontrollable urination, stroke and even death if the kidneys shut down.

"And that's what led us to want to explore new technologies to be able to get to these deep centers in the brain, without having to do traditional surgery," said Dr. Angus Wilfong, the medical director at the Comprehensive Epilepsy Program at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.

Now there is hope. For the first time, in an experimental pilot program at Texas Children's Hospital, doctors are using real time MRI-guided lasers to destroy lesions that cause laughing seizures in epilepsy patients like Mateo and Keagan.

"So the new techniques, this MRI-guided laser ablation have increased our accuracy and our safety and our worry factor," said neurosurgeon Dr. Daniel Curry, who, along with Wilfong, is behind this potential breakthrough.

It's a journey to the center of the brain. With MRI imaging guiding their every move, doctors drill a small hole the size of a pencil into the child's skull inserting a laser probe and then guide it to the lesion. The lesion is destroyed in a matter of seconds and a lifetime of misery and suffering averted.

This Friday, "20/20's" cameras take you inside this amazing new surgery. "It's curing epilepsy at the speed of light. So, it really is a new world," Wilfong of Texas Children's Hospital said.

Keagan and Mateo underwent the surgery -- Keagan last year at age 8 and Mateo earlier this year at age 7. Today, both boys are seizure free, filled with real laughter, the kind parents don't want to stop.

"Robin and I were in the kitchen and then we hear this laughter," Chris Dysart remembered shortly after Keagan had the laser ablation surgery. "And Robin and I just kind of tensed up and froze. And we walk around into the living room, and he was laughing, like really laughing, at the TV show, and at appropriate times.

"And I think Robin and I just sat there in tears for about five, 10 minutes, because this was the first time we'd heard him laugh. And he wasn't having a seizure."

For more information:

Hope for HH

Watch the full story on "20/20" Friday at 10 p.m. ET.

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