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There is no doubting the efficacy of a long term care insurance (LTCI) policy as it happens to be the only product which guarantees access to quality care and financial protection. No wonder many people are considering it but only few of them have actually purchased a policy because the majority of Americans are scared that they might not be able to maintain the annual premium.
It?s true that in the past there have been cases of lapsed LTCI policies due to the failure of maintaining the annual premiums. However prevalent, this should not be a reason to discourage people from clinching their personalized LTCI policy. Always heed the advice of the experts which is to identify your health care needs first before buying a policy. One more thing that you should not ignore is the fine print of a potential LTCI policy as this usually contains the allowable benefit triggers.
If you are a resident of Washington, you have to be more agitated with the state?s cost of long term care (LTC) rather than the price of an LTCI policy as the former is increasing at a speedy rate.
Washington Long Term Care Insurance vs. Long Term Care Costs
According to Genworth Financial?s 2011 Cost of Care Survey, Washingtonians with family members in nursing homes have to fork out $85,712 annually for a private room. Semi-private rooms, on the other hand, cost $220 per day or $81,843 per annum.
Meanwhile, the monthly rate of an assisted living facility in Washington is $4,000, on average, but in the Seattle area people pay as much as $4,250 for a one-bedroom facility.
After a year of paying for a loved one?s LTC needs out-of-pocket, that?s when these residents will notice how their nest egg has dwindled so fast.
Avoid being a burden to the ones you love by starting a good plan that will ensure you of the best LTC services someday while protecting your assets.
Invest in a comprehensive LTCI policy which will provide you with full or partial LTC coverage. Your objective in purchasing a policy is, after all, to avoid paying the total expenses that you could possibly incur in a nursing home, assisted living facility, or at home. Get long term care quotes .
What?s paying an annual premium worth $1,500 or $1,700 if the total benefits that you could receive someday would amount to $500,000 given the rate of inflation protection that is provided by your policy?
Except for the air we breathe, there is no other free item in this world that is better than one which is paid for. Leave Medicaid to the poor and take time to study a Washington long term care insurance policy with a licensed LTCI representative in your area.
Related Articles - washington, long, term, care, insurance,
Source: http://www.amazines.com/Insurance/article_detail.cfm/3695595?articleid=3695595
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Posted: 2:51 pm Tue, December 20, 2011
By American Insitute of?Architects
Tags: Urban Penthouse
Firm: VJAA, Minneapolis
Editor?s note: This is the second installment in an occasional series featuring the 2011 recipients of the Minnesota society of the American Institute of Architects? honor awards. The text comes from AIA and the firms.
The project is a penthouse apartment in a new 60-story-plus high-rise in the Midwest. The clients are collectors of contemporary Asian art, and the display of their collection played a central part in the development of the spaces. The 5,500-square-foot project includes four bedrooms and a custom-designed playroom.
The main social spaces are lined by warm wood surfaces conceptually set within larger, brightly lighted and open circulation areas. Instead of walls, shear lines of material divisions define rooms and separate the living spaces. Family members can be in close proximity while occupying completely different environments.
The art?s position around the perimeter of each space considers sequence, scale and sight lines to determine its location. Sculpture is used to show off its silhouette and to create an element of surprise. The basic white palette of the apartment is defined by living spaces lined with plain-sliced walnut, mediated with perforated aluminum screens. Walnut floors are used throughout. Walnut slatted ceilings are installed in the living room, dining room and kitchen. The open slatted walnut ceilings are used to conceal lighting fixtures, sprinklers and acoustical material.
Larger custom-designed elements include digitally designed and fabricated aluminum plate screens and a rubber playroom with a climbing surface. Day-lighting strategies focus on using reflective surfaces to distribute light from the perimeter to the center of the floor plan. The aluminum screens are used to create a layered effect, allowing the spaces to feel open and connected while still distinctly separate. Variations in pattern are analogous to sand dunes that foster diverse ecologies through variation in topography. In the case of these perforated screens, a distinct pattern fosters active space. Conversely, a subtle pattern fosters passive space.
On the Boards usually is a roundup of building projects designed by firms belonging to the American Institute of Architects Minnesota. Submissions from AIA Minnesota architecture firms are encouraged. Highlighted projects are notable for the impact their quality designs will have on the communities in which they reside. Upon completion, many of these buildings will appear in the pages of Architecture Minnesota magazine, architecturemn.com.
To submit, please email the following to ontheboards@aia-mn.org: firm name and location; project name, location and description; projected or actual completion date; firm project team and overall project team; additional details of interest to the architecture, engineering and design community; phone number and email address for a project contact (for F&C purposes; will not be published). High-resolution (minimum 1MB) renderings or photographs, including caption information and credit, should also be submitted. For more information, call 612-338-6763.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 at 2:51 pm and is filed under On the Boards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
Source: http://finance-commerce.com/2011/12/on-the-boards-urban-penthouse/
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Continue reading Samsung Stratosphere review
Samsung Stratosphere review originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 17 Dec 2011 09:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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NEW YORK ? Florence + The Machine are more like FLORENCE + the machine: There's no question who dominates.
Florence Welch was first signed as a solo artist, and the CD booklet for their latest album, "Ceremonials," has 14 pictures of Welch, none of anyone else.
But her band plays an integral part in her otherworldly sound: "She has definite ideas about what she wants and she feels like she can trust us to deliver the goods," said harpist Tom Monger.
And if the band ever has a breakout player, Monger might be it. Welch calls his addition to the band, which now stands at seven, "a total fluke": Shortly after recording the "Dog Days Are Over" from the band's album "Lungs," which included a keyboard sound simulating a harp, Welch was sitting in a studio when Monger walked by, carrying something that Welch said "looked like a telephone box wrapped in a blanket."
She wondered what it was, and Monger told her it was a harp. She quickly invited him in, and The Machine soon had a new member.
But he's not your parents' kind of harp player. He takes the instrument out of the parlor and plays with strength and aggression.
"There is still this kind of stigma or stereotype to the harp being a romantic instrument played by ladies in long dresses and very regal settings," he said. "That doesn't have to be the case."
Leave all that to Welch, who has drawn comparisons to Stevie Nicks for flowing onstage outfits and a witchy woman persona. The "Ceremonials" opening track, "Only If For a Night," is about a ghost (the singer finds it "so strange, so surreal, that a ghost should be so practical"). In "Seven Devils," she talks about how "all your love will be exorcised." She proclaims on "Shake it Out" that "it's hard to dance with the devil on your back."
Florence + The Machine's first album, which sold more than 3 million copies worldwide, was a quilt with a number of different producers, including Paul Epworth, whose work with Adele helped take the British singer to the top of the pop world this year.
"I wanted to make a sound that was cohesive, that was a whole, rather than a collection of songs that sounded quite separate," the 25-year-old Welch said. "I wanted a sound that floated through the whole album."
She and Epworth took a different approach for "Ceremonials," which was released last month. Welch feels it represents her varied influences, which range from Hole and Nirvana to Kanye West and Jay-Z, and Beyonce. Rihanna and Lady Gaga are also favorites, as are Spiritualized. And Kate Bush.
"There's a real sense of people being into loads of different stuff at once," she said in a recent interview. "I think you kind of get that from this record, the fact that I've been into so much different stuff. Style-wise, it touches on so many different things."
Welch said she and Epworth "kind of geek out together on drum sounds." They frequently sound like miniature bomb blasts on top of music that might otherwise be considered ethereal, reminiscent of Bush's work.
Rolling Stone described it, without really defining it, as "a very British record," a point that was echoed by VH1 music executive Rick Krim.
"It's not American, whatever that means," said Krim, executive vice president for talent and music programming. "It feels like it's from the hills of England somewhere."
Krim and VH1 have signed Welch to participate in its upcoming "Divas" special, where she will represent British soul music. Next year, MTV will air an "Unplugged" episode with the band. Krim said he was impressed by the distinctiveness of Florence + The Machine's second disc.
"She's not trying to make cookie-cutter Top 40 music," he said. "She does one thing and hopes the audience gravitates toward her instead of doing something that will fit a format."
____
Online:
http://florenceandthemachine.net/
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Contact: David DeFusco
david.defusco@yale.edu
203-436-4842
Yale University
A Yale study examining the impact of aviation on climate change found that removing sulfur from jet fuel cools the atmosphere. The study was published in the October 22 issue of Geophysical Research Letters.
"Aviation is really important to the global economy. We better understand what it's doing to climate because it's the fastest growing fossil fuel-burning sector and there is no alternative to air travel in many circumstances. Emissions are projected to increase substantially in the next two decadesby a factor of twowhereas projections for other sectors are expected to decrease," said Nadine Unger, the study's author and assistant professor of climate science at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.
Particles of sulfate, formed by burning sulfur-laden jet fuel, act like tiny mirrors that scatter solar radiation back into space. When sulfur is removed from the fuel, warming occurs but it's offset by the cooling effect of nitrate that forms from nitrogen oxides in jet exhaust. The result is that desulfurization of jet fuel has a small, net cooling effect.
In 2006 the United States introduced an ultralow sulfur standard for highway diesel, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is interested in desulfurized jet fuel for its potential to improve air quality around airports. Aircraft exhaust particles lodge in the lungs and cause respiratory and cardiovascular illness. In 2006 there were more than 31 million flights across the globe, according to an FAA emissions inventory.
"It's a win-win situation, because the sulfate can be taken out of the fuel to improve air quality around airports and, at the same time, it's not going to have a detrimental impact on global warming," she said.
Unger used a global-scale model that assessed the impact of reducing the amount of sulfur in jet fuel from 600 milligrams per kilogram of fuel to 15 milligrams per kilogram, which is the level targeted by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The study also simulated the full impacts of aviation emissions, such as ozone, methane, carbon dioxide, sulfate and contrailsthose ribbons of clouds that appear in the wake of a jetwhereas previous studies examined each chemical effect only in isolation.
"In this study we tried to put everything together so that we account for interactions between those different chemical effects," said Unger. "We find that only a third of the climate impact from aviation can be attributed to carbon dioxide."
Unger also ran a simulation of aviation emissions at the Earth's surface and found that the climate impact is four times greater because the emissions occur at altitude in the upper atmosphere.
"The chemical production of ozone is greater in the upper troposphere and its radiative efficiency is greater," she said. "It's a stronger greenhouse gas when it's higher up in the troposphere, which is exactly where aviation is making it."
###
The paper, "Global Climate Impact of Civil Aviation for Standard and Desulferized Jet Fuel," can be found at http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/gl1120/2011GL049289/.
?
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.
Contact: David DeFusco
david.defusco@yale.edu
203-436-4842
Yale University
A Yale study examining the impact of aviation on climate change found that removing sulfur from jet fuel cools the atmosphere. The study was published in the October 22 issue of Geophysical Research Letters.
"Aviation is really important to the global economy. We better understand what it's doing to climate because it's the fastest growing fossil fuel-burning sector and there is no alternative to air travel in many circumstances. Emissions are projected to increase substantially in the next two decadesby a factor of twowhereas projections for other sectors are expected to decrease," said Nadine Unger, the study's author and assistant professor of climate science at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.
Particles of sulfate, formed by burning sulfur-laden jet fuel, act like tiny mirrors that scatter solar radiation back into space. When sulfur is removed from the fuel, warming occurs but it's offset by the cooling effect of nitrate that forms from nitrogen oxides in jet exhaust. The result is that desulfurization of jet fuel has a small, net cooling effect.
In 2006 the United States introduced an ultralow sulfur standard for highway diesel, and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is interested in desulfurized jet fuel for its potential to improve air quality around airports. Aircraft exhaust particles lodge in the lungs and cause respiratory and cardiovascular illness. In 2006 there were more than 31 million flights across the globe, according to an FAA emissions inventory.
"It's a win-win situation, because the sulfate can be taken out of the fuel to improve air quality around airports and, at the same time, it's not going to have a detrimental impact on global warming," she said.
Unger used a global-scale model that assessed the impact of reducing the amount of sulfur in jet fuel from 600 milligrams per kilogram of fuel to 15 milligrams per kilogram, which is the level targeted by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
The study also simulated the full impacts of aviation emissions, such as ozone, methane, carbon dioxide, sulfate and contrailsthose ribbons of clouds that appear in the wake of a jetwhereas previous studies examined each chemical effect only in isolation.
"In this study we tried to put everything together so that we account for interactions between those different chemical effects," said Unger. "We find that only a third of the climate impact from aviation can be attributed to carbon dioxide."
Unger also ran a simulation of aviation emissions at the Earth's surface and found that the climate impact is four times greater because the emissions occur at altitude in the upper atmosphere.
"The chemical production of ozone is greater in the upper troposphere and its radiative efficiency is greater," she said. "It's a stronger greenhouse gas when it's higher up in the troposphere, which is exactly where aviation is making it."
###
The paper, "Global Climate Impact of Civil Aviation for Standard and Desulferized Jet Fuel," can be found at http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/gl1120/2011GL049289/.
?
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/2011-12/yu-rsf121411.php
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Movies in 3-D may be all the rage in Hollywood these days, but a new 3-D video of the giant asteroid Vesta is truly out of this world.
The video, which is best viewed with red-blue glasses, lets viewers glide over the surface of the giant space rock, and features stunning up-close views of Vesta's bumpy ridges and pockmarked surface.
NASA's $466 million Dawn spacecraft has been in orbit around Vesta since July 15. The 3-D video was created by Ralf Jaumann, who is a member of the Dawn mission team at the German Aerospace Center. Jaumann made the film by stitching together high-resolution images that were taken by Dawn from July to August 2011.
"If you want to know what it's like to explore a new world like Vesta, this new video gives everyone a chance to see it for themselves," Jaumann said in a statement. "Scientists are poring over these images to learn more about how the craters, hills, grooves and troughs we see were created."
Scenic close-ups
At the beginning of the video, Vesta appears at the center of the frame, looming larger and larger as the spacecraft approaches. From this global viewpoint, Vesta's mysterious band of ridges and troughs at its equator can be seen. [Video: Asteroid Vesta Fly-over in 3D]
More space news from msnbc.com
Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: Researchers set up?a "periodic table" for extrasolar planets ranging from Hot Mercurians to Cold Jovians, with Earthlike worlds in the middle.
Viewers then fly over the asteroid with scenic close-ups of Vesta's battered surface, including three huge craters that are peculiarly linked at their rims. Mission scientists nicknamed these craters in Vesta's northern hemisphere the "Snowman" craters because of their distinct likeness to the wintery figure.
This bird's-eye view of Vesta also includes a virtual tour of a massive mountain inside an expansive crater at the rock's south pole. The central peak stands a staggering 16 miles (25 kilometers) high, which is more than twice the height of Mount Everest.
Since arriving at Vesta, Dawn has been beaming back the clearest views yet of the huge, battered space rock.
The images featured in the film were obtained as the spacecraft approached the asteroid, and as the probe made its first orbit collecting science data. This orbit, which is known as the survey orbit, took the probe to an altitude of about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) above Vesta's surface.
"Dawn's data thus far have revealed the rugged topography and complex textures of the surface of Vesta, as can be seen in this video," Carol Raymond, Dawn deputy principal investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement. "Soon, we'll add other pieces of the puzzle such as the chemical composition, interior structure, and geologic age to be able to write the history of this remnant protoplanet and its place in the early solar system."
What could have been
Measuring 330 miles (530 kilometers) across, Vesta is the second-most-massive object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Because of its size, many astronomers classify Vesta as a protoplanet, saying it would have continued to develop into a rocky planet like Earth or Mars if Jupiter's gravity had not wreaked havoc in the asteroid belt long ago.
NASA's Dawn mission is the first prolonged visit to a large asteroid. The spacecraft was launched in September 2007 and has since traveled more than 1.7 billion miles (2.7 billion kilometers).
Dawn arrived at Vesta July 15 and will spend a year studying the giant rock and taking detailed photos of it from three different orbits. Then, the spacecraft will leave Vesta's orbit and travel to the asteroid Ceres, which is the largest body in the main asteroid belt.
Ceres measures about 590 miles (950 kilometers) across and is so large that it is considered to be a dwarf planet. Dawn is expected to arrive at Ceres in February 2015.
You can follow Space.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
? 2011 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45554491/ns/technology_and_science-space/
Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!
This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Gold Canyon Rehab Center?. Anything posted here will also show up there.Topic Tags:
Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.Girls Floor
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BEIRUT (Reuters) ? Royal Dutch Shell said on Friday it would cease operations in Syria to heed new European Union sanctions against Damascus, deepening the international isolation of President Bashar al-Assad imposed over his violent crackdown on popular unrest.
In the latest bloodshed, Syrian army defectors killed eight Air Force intelligence personnel in an attack on their base in the north of the country, according to an opposition group.
The incident suggested that armed deserters are turning increasingly from defending civilian protesters against violent repression by Assad's security forces to an offensive of ambushes and roadside bombs, raising the specter of civil war.
Western and Arab countries have been intensifying punitive sanctions to press Assad to carry out pledges to halt bloodshed by withdrawing forces from restive cities, starts transition talks with the opposition and admit Arab League observers.
Royal Dutch Shell said it would shutting down in Syria to heed a batch of EU sanctions slapped on Syria's economically vital oil and financial sectors the day before.
A Shell spokesman said: "Our main priority is the safety of our employees ... We hope the situation improves quickly for all Syrians."
The EU on Friday extended sanctions to three Syrian oil concerns, including the state-owned General Petroleum Corporation (GPC) and Syria Trading Oil (Sytrol), to crank up the financial pressure on the Assad government.
The three oil concerns were among 11 entities and 12 Syrian leadership figures added to an EU blacklist now aimed in part at bringing the Syrian ventures of oil giants to a halt. Royal Dutch Shell was the first to bow out.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called for international action to protect Syria's civilian population from "continual ruthless repression that, if not stopped now, can drive the country into a full-fledged civil war".
More than 4,000 people have been killed, including 307 children, in the military crackdown on unrest since March and more than 14,000 people are believed to be held in detention, she told an emergency session of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
"In light of the manifest failure of the Syrian authorities to protect their citizens, the international community needs to take urgent and effective measures to protect the Syrian people," Pillay said in Geneva. "All acts of murder, torture and other forms of violence must be immediately stopped."
She voiced disquiet at reports of increased armed attacks by the opposition forces, including the so-called Free Syrian Army, against the Syrian military and security apparatus.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activists said at least 20 civilians were killed by Syrian security forces across the country on Thursday, mainly in the provinces of Hama and Homs - epicenter of the anti-Assad revolt.
The Observatory said the attack on Air Force intelligence took place in Idlib province, between the towns of Jisr al-Shughour and the Mediterranean port of Latakia.
"A clash ensued for three hours which led to the death of at least eight members of the Air Force Intelligence," it said.
The Syrian state news agency SANA said security forces "on Thursday killed 5 armed men and arrested 35 others during a clash with armed terrorist members in the Hama countryside".
It said dozens of Kalashnikov assault rifles, shotguns, grenades and explosives were seized.
OPPOSITION ORGANISING
The anti-Assad Syrian Free Army has formed a military council of nine defecting officers. They issued a declaration pledging to "bring down the regime and protect citizens from the repression ... and prevent chaos as soon as the regime falls".
The main civilian opposition group, the Syrian National Council, held a first meeting with Free Army leaders in Istanbul this week. A Council spokeswoman said the Council only supports a peaceful uprising and the Free Army is not its armed wing.
Syrian armed forces defectors began organizing three months ago and now number around 10,000, say opposition sources.
They cite increased operations in the last ten days by defectors and insurgents in the central regions Hama and Homs, Idlib on the border with Turkey, and the southern province of Deraa where armored convoys have been attacked.
U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, on a visit to Ankara, praised Turkey for being "a real leader" on the Syrian crisis.
"We also welcome the government's giving space in Turkey to the political opposition," he told Hurriyet newspaper. "The United States' position on Syria is clear. The Syrian regime must end its brutality against its own people and President Assad must step down so a peaceful transition that respects the will of the people can take place," Biden said.
SANA said Syria had suspended a free trade zone pact with Turkey in retaliation for Ankara's actions. Turkey, formerly a staunch ally of Assad, has also suspended financial credit dealings with Syria and frozen Syrian government assets, joining the Arab and Western campaign to isolate Assad.
In Paris, French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said on Friday he had taken steps to protect members of Syria's National Council in France after recent threats.
"Given the troubles in Syria, we have seen a certain number of threats on Syrian opponents," he told a press conference. "Measures to protect them have been taken."
After a meeting with SNC chairman Burhan Ghalioun earlier this month, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Paris considered the group to be the legitimate partner with which it wanted to work.
RUSSIAN EXCEPTION
The expanded EU sanctions list encompasses media companies and firms the EU says supply sensitive equipment to a research centre that supports Assad's suppression of dissent. The United States and the Arab League have also imposed an array of economic sanctions and banned travel by some Syrian VIPs.
But Russia has opposed further sanctions and defended its right to sell arms to Syria. The Interfax news agency on Thursday reported the delivery of Russian anti-ship cruise missiles to Syria, a few days after a United Nations commission of inquiry called for an arms embargo on Damascus.
Russia traditionally uses what influence it still has in the Middle East as a lever in diplomatic maneuvering with Europe and the United States. Syria is also one of its major arms clients.
Russia and China, which both have oil concessions in Syria, teamed up in October to veto a Western-backed Security Council resolution condemning Assad's government for the bloodshed.
(Additional reporting by Alister Bull in Iraq, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Dmitry Zhdannikov in London; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111202/wl_nm/us_syria
President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, daughters Malia and Sasha, obscured, and mother-in-law Marian Robinson, far left, arrive for the lighting of the National Christmas Tree at the Ellipse across from the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec., 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, daughters Malia and Sasha, obscured, and mother-in-law Marian Robinson, far left, arrive for the lighting of the National Christmas Tree at the Ellipse across from the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec., 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
The National Christmas Tree is pictured after it was lit by President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, daughters Malia and Sasha Obama and and mother-in-law Marian Robinson, at the Ellipse across from the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec., 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Barack Obama, with daughter Sasha and first lady Michelle Obama, with Malia, arrive for lighting of the National Christmas Tree at the Ellipse across from the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec., 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, and daughters Malia and Sasha Obama arrive for lighting of the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse across from the White House in Washington, Thursday, Dec., 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The new National Christmas Tree is settling into its new digs just south of the White House.
President Barack Obama and his family officially marked the start of the Christmas season by lighting the tree in a ceremony just after dark Thursday.
The 26-foot Colorado blue spruce was planted in March on the Ellipse, a park that lies between the White House and the National Mall. Strong winds in February toppled the previous tree, which stood in the park since 1978.
In remarks delivered during the tree-lighting ceremony, Obama urged the crowd to be generous and to help others in need during the holidays.
"In this season of hope, let's help those who need it most: the homeless, the hungry, the sick and shut-in," he said. "In this season of plenty, let's reach out to those who struggle to find work or provide for their families."
Obama welcomed troops returning home in time for the holiday, and asked Americans to express their gratitude to service members.
"In this season of generosity, let's give thanks and honor to our troops and our veterans and their families who've sacrificed so much for us," he said.
Obama was joined at the ceremony by his wife, Michelle; daughters Sasha and Malia; and mother-in-law Marian Robinson. The first lady read Clement Clarke Moore's poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" with Muppet star Kermit the Frog.
The lighting ceremony, hosted by TV's Carson Daly, included performances of Christmas carols and tunes by pop group Big Time Rush, English singer Ellie Goulding, pop band OneRepublic, country singer Rodney Atkins, soul songstress Marsha Ambrosius and the Airmen of Note, a jazz ensemble of the United States Air Force.
The ceremony marks the 89th holiday tree lighting. The tradition began with President Calvin Coolidge in 1923.
Associated PressDeclan Ganley
Source: http://twitter.com/declanganley/statuses/140931551071453185
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