Couple's Friends Raise Thousands for Life-Saving Surgery

In the past year, Drew Lewis has proposed to his now-wife, celebrated his wedding day and received a life-changing diagnosis of stage 4 colon cancer.

He's also realized the power of social media, the power of friends lending a helping hand and, in this holiday season, the power of giving thanks.

Lewis is scheduled to undergo surgery today just days after their healthcare provider dismissed their appeals to pay for the life saving procedure as well as an earlier surgery. His medical bills, he estimates, will be about $400,000.

But Lewis and his wife, Amy Blansit, 33, of Springfield, Mo., have been buoyed by an outpouring of financial and emotional support from family, friends and strangers who have sent the couple nearly $20,000 in the past week through a Facebook page and the charity website GiveFoward.com.

"It really is unbelievable what people are doing," Blansit told ABCNews.com.

Lewis, a 45-year-old real estate agent, was diagnosed with colon cancer in January after a colonoscopy revealed tumors throughout his body and cancer that had spread to his lymph nodes.

Through nine months of chemotherapy and two surgeries to remove the tumors, Lewis and his wife relied on each other and turned down the often-overwhelming offers of help from friends and family.

"We've had friends from the beginning who wanted to help - bring food, cut the lawn - anything that they can do to help," Blansit said. "We kept turning them away."

The couple, who are raising Lewis' two teenage children from a previous relationship, turned their friends away even as they received the devastating news that Lewis' insurance carrier would not pay for the surgeries to remove his tumors, treatments that doctors told him would stretch his life expectancy from one to two years to at least seven.

Lewis and Blansit got that news just hours before Lewis' second surgery in October but decided to forge ahead with that procedure, as well as a third and final operation - scheduled for today - at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

"We thought this is our only chance and if we have to downsize and change our lifestyle to make it happen then we will," Blansit said. "You can't really put a price tag on what you would do in this situation and what life means. There's really not a number for it."

The couple appealed the insurance decision but found out last week that their appeal had been denied. Lewis' insurance carrier, HealthLink, declined to cover the operations because they were classified as "experimental" and "exploratory," according to Blansit.

HealthLink said the decision not to pay for Lewis' surgeries was made by United Security Life and Health, which it said is Lewis' primary health provider. United Security Life and Health did not return requests for comment from ABCNews.com.

That same week, Lewis and Blansit's friends and family, without knowing the couple's insurance woes, stepped in to help.

"We kept turning them away and then at Thanksgiving they just ignored us," Blansit said.

The couple's friends and family decided to use the social media tools that Lewis had been using to keep them updated on his progress as a way to raise money for the couple, both of whom have been unable to work due to Lewis' treatment.

Lewis' co-workers began a fundraising drive at the couple's bank and shared the information on Lewis' Facebook page.

As Lewis' coworkers helped in Springfield, Blansit's sister and brother-in-law, thousands of miles away in Las Vegas, established the "Drew Lewis Colon Cancer Fund" on GiveForward.com.

In just one week, nearly $10,000 has been raised by Lewis' colleagues and another $9,000 has been collected on GivingForward.com.

"It's one of those things where we're so far away from everyone who is doing it. It's such a neat way to be connected," a grateful Blansit said.

It wasn't until the hospital bills began to arrive this week and their appeal was denied that they let their family and friends know that they were tackling Lewis' treatment without the aid of insurance.
"It's a hard thing to get to and to discuss because it also means that Drew is not able to provide for his family," said Blansit. "It comes to the point that Drew has to say he's sick and can't do it on his own. That was the point we got to. It's a hard place to be in life."

Even more than the financial aid, Blansit says the helping hands have been a beacon of hope for Lewis, with the messages left on Facebook and GivingForward.com motivating his recovery.

"Drew… For the past few years I've been making a $500 donation to a charity instead of having professionals come and put lights on my house for Christmas. This year, I am sharing this gift with you…" wrote one donor.

Blansit says she and Lewis have a mini-command center in his hospital room with a laptop, iPad and two iPhones set up to monitor the overwhelming response.

"We're kind of addicted to social media right now," she said. "We just had so many people who are drawn to Drew and who absolutely think the world of him that we couldn't keep up with our phones."
"It really changes his day to have that connectedness and see that he's changing lives through his process," Blansit said. "He says that's his therapy. That's his means to sometimes manage a day."

Life Insurance Tips: Reasons to Buy Right Now

Unlike car or home insurance, life insurance is considered optional by most people. But InsuranceHotline.com reminds those who haven’t yet taken out a policy of the important reasons they shouldn’t delay. These tips make it clear why buying now is the smart choice.

(PRWEB) November 28, 2012
Many people believe they don’t need life insurance, but for everyone there is at least one good reason to take out a policy. InsuranceHotline.com’s life insurance buying tips make it clear what the reasons are and why delaying can be a big mistake.

Young People Get Better Rates
The younger the person applying for a life insurance policy, the lower the rate they will qualify for. Every year of delay can mean higher rates as the risk of health problems increases. Insurance companies give the best rates to people who represent the lowest risk of a claim. When it comes to life insurance, that means people who are young and healthy.

"When taking out a permanent life insurance policy, those who are young can lock in a low premium and have coverage that will last a lifetime" says Tammy Ezer of InsuranceHotline.com. Rates are typically better on term policies as well. Lower premiums are a good reason to buy now.

Protecting Loved Ones
Even in a family where both parents make a good living, it’s hard these days for anyone to get by as a single parent. For those who have children, those kids are the top reason to buy life insurance now. And it’s not only for the breadwinner; a homemaker needs a policy too. Consider the cost of child care in the event that a working parent suddenly has to pay for it.

Raising children is expensive, and life insurance ensures that a sudden death doesn’t force them to give up their lifestyle and dreams. It can keep them in their home, pay for school and activities, and keep good food on the table. It means stability in an unstable time.

Health Changes Happen
Even a person who is healthy now can be struck by an unexpected illness, and after that illness strikes it is much harder to get life insurance. Thinking that health problems are not going to happen until old age can be a big mistake. Young people are diagnosed with cancer and other terminal illnesses every day. And it doesn’t have to be a terminal illness. Things like high blood pressure or diabetes can reduce the ability to qualify for insurance and also raise the rates.

Good health is a good reason to take out a policy now – healthy people get better rates, and a sudden change in health status can’t affect the rate once the policy has been issued.

Everyone Has Final Expenses
Even those who have nothing else to plan for financially will still have final expenses, and those can be a major burden on grieving relatives. A life insurance policy takes that one burden away and allows your loved ones to move forward without the strain of more bills.

No one wants to think about death, but it happens every day in unexpected ways. Life insurance provides for those left behind, and making a difficult time easier may well be the main reason everyone should obtain a policy right away. Take the time to obtain life insurance quotes and know your options.

About: InsuranceHotline.com is a free online insurance rate comparison service that directs consumers to its large network of more than 30 insurance companies and licensed insurance professionals and provides quotes based on the lowest rates available through its network. In business since 1994, InsuranceHotline.com does not sell insurance, is not a licensed broker, and is not owned in whole or in part by an insurance company, agent or brokerage; ensuring consumers get a truly unbiased quote.

Aptitude Life Reports Significant Demand for its "Zero Carb" Health Beverages

Aptitude Life Ltd (OTC Pinksheets: SUNB), an energy and health drink company based in the UK, reports a significant increase in orders for its 1-calorie "Zero Carb" health drinks for the months of December / January based on strong initial demand for its products. 

The company reports that preorders/sales for December 2012 /January 2013 have exceeded 200,000 units, as the Company's products continue to gain market acceptance as consumers opt for healthier beverage choices.  Aptitude Life customers are choosing a healthier lifestyle and increasingly more discerning about what they are putting into their bodies.  Aptitude's products meet the growing need for increased energy and nutritional benefits for the active consumer. The drinks were designed to appeal to those seeking a healthy alternative to the majority of beverages on the market, which are very high in sugar content and have no nutritional benefits to consumers.  Aptitude Life's formulas have been developed from time proven formulas and decades of research from around the globe.

Aptitude Life's group of products include; Aptitude Raspberry, Aptitude Green Tea, Aptitude Coffee and Aptitude Extreme. All of these flavors are blended to provide optimal health benefits and great tasting flavors that appeal to consumers. Aptitude Raspberry is proving to be one of the company's most popular drinks because it features Ketones, the world's best weight loss extract. Ketones are the element in raspberries that kick start weight loss by triggering the body to increase the release of adiponectin, a protein hormone that helps the body to regulate glucose and reduce body fat.  Aptitude Green Tea is blended with a concentrated extract of Camellia sinensis and trace vitamin supplements that work together to not only jump start weight loss but also promote overall health.  Aptitude Xtreme combines the benefits of the raspberry and green tea products to provide an amazing energy boost and overall rejuvenation benefits. All three of these products are just one calorie and contain zero grams of carbohydrate making them among the most effective energy drinks on the market.

At just 2 calories and 1gram of carbohydrate, Aptitude Coffee is a vitamin-infused drink loaded with antioxidants and designed for heavy coffee drinkers, but with superior hydration effects. This cold coffee beverage formula increases energy, metabolic rates and mental alertness and is produced with a blend of organic coffee beans and made with 100% natural ingredients.  The beverage is the perfect choice to rejuvenate and hydrate the body through natural ingredients while satisfying the craving for coffee. Aptitude Life's product offerings are designed to provide the ultimate in health benefits while offering consumers a variety of choice and flavors.

Larger-than-life mystery of love and murder

Bill Roorbach’s new novel, “Life Among Giants,” is a bighearted, big-boned story about a young man’s entanglement with celebrities. Without a hint of satire, it offers a savvy reflection on America’s conflicted relationship to fame: beguiled one minute, horrified the next; desperate to touch the Beautiful People, but just as eager to rebuke them. The novel’s 6-foot-8 narrator, David Hochmeyer, reminds me of that star-struck neighbor who once fell under Gatsby’s spell and felt “simultaneously enchanted and repelled.”

In fact, the opening pages of “Life Among Giants” make a nod to Fitzgerald’s classic: Across the water from David’s modest home sits “a mansion the size of an embassy” that draws everyone’s attention and sparks fantasies of impossible romance. Full of vast ballrooms, secret passages and luxurious bedrooms, it’s like something Steven Millhauser might have designed for Paris Hilton. The woman who lives there — Sylphide — is “the greatest ballerina in the history of the world,” and she twirls through David’s life for 40 years.

(Algonquin) - In a novel transfixed by celebrity, billionaires, best-selling authors, world-ranked tennis players, Super Bowl veterans, epoch-making choreographers and trend-setting foodies thunder through the pages.

True to his title, Roor­bach has created a story populated with giants. Superlatives grow so thick in these pages that there’s barely room for an ordinary person to turn around. In addition to the world-famous Sylphide, there’s her husband, a Bono-like rock star whose melodies and images have seeped into our cultural DNA. Billionaires, best-selling authors, world-ranked tennis players, Super Bowl veterans, epoch-making choreographers and trend-setting foodies thunder through these pages.

But not everyone can gain admittance to this Olympian realm, and that frustration is what kicks off “Life Among Giants.” David’s glad-handing father is a struggling financier in Westport, Conn., “always finding ways to make himself taller,” always just one shady deal away from the good life. For this intoxicated dreamer, the mansion across the pond is a flame he can’t resist. Depressed and desperate beneath a shiny veneer of overconfidence, David’s father falls in with some very tough men, and in the early pages of the novel, they murder him in a fancy restaurant. That bloody assassination leaves a mysterious connection to Sylphide that will mystify David for decades to come.

“Life Among Giants” reads like something written by a kinder, gentler John Irving. There’s no bear, but David is a familiar Irving character: the extraordinary but modest young man, fatherless, involved with an older woman, drifting through the lives of strange people, pining for love, tender toward sexual outliers. There’s even the requisite paternal mystery that simmers a little too long.

Roorbach takes his time, following his endearing narrator from high school to middle age, repeatedly folding his story back on itself like an origami master. That opening hail of bullets is still ringing in our ears when David returns to the months leading up to his father’s murder. We watch his sister babysitting for the famous rocker and his ballerina wife. David nervously falls in love with Sylphide, while his father tries to ingratiate himself with the famous couple across the water.

Roorbach spends the novel hopscotching between plausible and implausible. Periodically, a weird dreamlike quality wafts over these scenes, a reminder of the reality-distortion field that world-famous people exercise over everyonearound them.

It’s all endlessly entertaining, but endless, nonetheless. Originally, “Life Among Giants” was even longer, at 600 pages, but an editor prevailed on Roorbach to cut it down, and he should have kept prevailing. The tendency to cycle back on events already described taxes the novel’s pacing. Other sections of the book churn when they should drill down. While his increasingly unbalanced sister obsesses over their father’s death, David goes on to Princeton, where he’s a football star, which leads to a position on the Miami Dolphins, but the Ivy League campus never really materializes, and we get little visceral sense of the crunch and crash of a professional athlete’s life. This is big-time sports labeled, but not experienced. His affair with a masseuse therapist seems equally contrived (hours-long lovemaking sessions — sure). And the whole time, arcane clues to his father’s murder are polished over and over like coins that begin to lose their inscriptions.

When the story gets around to food, though, the plot grows tangible and pungent again. In the final sections, David opens a restaurant in his old home town. He’s borne back ceaselessly into the past, toward a solution to the crime that destroyed his family and toward the ballerina who dared to choreograph his life for “a dance too big for the stage.” After years of deception, subterfuge and outsize personalities, he’s a man who delights in the aroma and texture of real ingredients. “I lingered over the cooking,” he tells us, “rubbed out some sage leaves, rolled a little fresh thyme, taking too much of the other kind of time, two trips to the garden, inefficient pleasure, dry-panning the herbs with just a little more Thai fire-pepper than I thought I should.” (Roorbach recently served as a judge on Food Network’s “All Star Challenge”; what he knows about mushrooms alone could charm a gourmand — or take down an enemy. )

Asked once what he’d most like to change about the publishing industry, Roorbach wished for “many, many, many fewer books published.” That’s the kind of wisdom that can bring me to tears, but publishing infrequently doesn’t help an author’s marketability. Almost 60, Roorbach is one of those fine writers whose career is always just about ready to break out. While teaching at various colleges, he’s published several nonfiction books and placed nature essays and short stories in all the right places — Harper’s, the Atlantic, Granta — but his only previous novel appeared way back in 2001. Consequently, “Life Among Giants” strides out into a reading public largely unfamiliar with his name.

But I hope this delightful if frustrating novel finds an audience. Roorbach is a humane and entertaining storyteller with a smooth, graceful style. Yes, he could rein in his rambling nature, but some readers will relish the ruminative nature of this mystery about love and murder among people bigger than life.

'Diverse' Bacterial Life Found in Ice-Sealed Antarctic Lake

American researchers have found a "diverse" colony of microbial life living in an ice-sealed Antarctic lake. The life survives at temperatures of 8.6 degrees Fahrenheit and could mean that life could survive in extreme conditions on Mars or other places in the Solar System.

Life survives in Lake Vida, near the southern tip of Antarctica, despite the fact that the lake's waters are beneath more than 30 feet of ice, hadn't been uncovered for more than 2,800 years, and are about six times as salty as sea water.

Researchers initially discovered microbes frozen in the ice covering Lake Vida in 2002 and, during subsequent trips funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA in 2005 and 2010, sampled the lake's water. Researcher Alison Murray says what they found in brine samples was a "pretty diverse community" of microbes—with 32 types of bacteria falling under eight different phyla.

[RELATED: 'Fossil' Mountains Entombed by Ice]

"The diversity suggests it's a pretty sable community of interacting parts," she says.

It also might mean life could survive in environments that scientists once thought were inhospitable, such as Mars or Europa, a moon of Jupiter that scientists hypothesize might have subterranean oceans.

"This discovery gives us the indication that life can survive in such cold temperatures and isolated from surface processes," Murray says. "It has expanded our view of the types of ecosystems that are habitable."

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Murray's discovery, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Monday, is the latest in a series of new research in Antarctica. Earlier this year, Russian scientists announced they'd successfully sampled Lake Vostok, which had remained untouched beneath 2.5 miles of ice for more than 15 million years. If scientists discover life in Vostok, it is likely to look different than the bacteria inhabiting Lake Vida, Murray says.

Vostok's water is also kept in liquid form largely because of pressure exerted from the ice, whereas Vida's water remains in liquid form because of its high salt content. "On all accounts they're very different—Vostok is kilometers below the surface, we're meters below the surface. Vostok is also thought to have much more fresh water compared to Vida," she says.

Nail Life Master Pairs

The two-day Nail Life Master Pairs was won here on Saturday night by Zia Mahmood of New York City and Chip Martel of Davis, Calif. They finished more than one-and-two-thirds boards ahead of Cecilia Rimstedt from Sweden and Meike Wortel from the Netherlands. Third were Joao Paulo Campos and Miguel Villas-Boas from Brazil.

The Smith Women’s Pairs was captured by Victoria Gromova and Tatiana Ponomareva from Russia, who were just over one board ahead of Migry Zur Campanile of New York City and Miriam Varenne from Switzerland. Third were Lisa Berkowitz and Sally Strul of Boca Raton, Fla.

Zia and Martel were only 30th after the first day but had two closing sessions of 67 and 60 percent to move ahead of the field of 182 pairs. This is their second Life Master Pairs title together; Martel’s 30th national championship and Zia’s 24th.

Overtricks can be so important in pair events. The diagramed deal was Board 2 in the last session (rotated to make South the declarer).

After a natural auction (East’s redouble was aggressive), Zia was in one no-trump.

West led the heart three, which South knew was lowest from a five-card suit.

Declarer took East’s jack with his ace and ran the club ten, West discarding a diamond.

To hold South to seven tricks, East had to take this trick and shift to the spade jack (or king), but he returned his last heart. Declarer won with dummy’s king, led a diamond to his king and played a diamond to the jack and ace.

Now East led the spade jack, but it was too late. Declarer won with his queen, played a diamond to dummy’s queen, returned a spade to his ace and ran the club nine.

East won with his queen and cashed two spade winners, but at Trick 12 had to lead away from the king-two of clubs into dummy’s ace-seven.

Plus 120 was worth 69.5 matchpoints out of 90. Plus 90 would have scored only 29.5 matchpoints, a difference of nearly half a board.

Hector 'Macho' Camacho's mother says life support will end Saturday

Hector "Macho" Camacho will be taken off life support, his mother said Friday night, indicating she would have doctors do that Saturday. It was a decision the former championship boxer's eldest son opposed.

The boxer's mother, Maria Matias, told reporters outside the hospital where Camacho lay unconscious since being shot in the face that she had decided doctors should remove life support, but only after three of his sons arrived in Puerto Rico early Saturday and had a chance to see him a last time.

"I lost my son three days ago. He's alive only because of a machine," Matias said. "My son is not alive. My son is only alive for the people who love him," she added.

The three other sons were expected to arrive from the U.S. mainland around midnight Friday. "Until they arrive, we will not disconnect the machine," Matias said.

Another news conference was scheduled for Saturday morning at Centro Medico, the main trauma center for San Juan.

The former champion's mother has the final say in the matter, but his eldest son, Hector Jr., said he wants to keep his father alive.

"He's going to fight until the end. My father is a boxer," the son said.

Doctors have said Camacho is clinically brain dead from a shooting Tuesday night in his hometown of Bayamon. But relatives and friends told The Associated Press they were still wrestling with whether to remove him from life support.

"It is a very difficult decision, a very delicate decision," former pro boxer Victor "Luvi" Callejas, a longtime friend, said in a phone interview. "The last thing we lose is hope and faith. If there is still hope and faith, why not wait a little more?"

Aida Camacho, one of the boxer's aunts, said in an interview that the family could decide by late Friday whether to donate his organs.

As some relatives and friends continued to pray for a miracle, condolences kept coming in for Camacho's family and preparations began for memorials and a funeral Mass.

Gov. Luis Fortuno lamented what he called a sudden loss. "'Macho' will always be remembered for his spontaneity and charisma in and out of the ring," he said.

Also offering condolences was governor-elect Alejandro Garcia Padilla, who defeated Fortuno in November.

"The life of Macho Camacho, like other great athletes of ours, united the country," he said. "We celebrated his triumphs in the streets and we applauded him with noble sportsmanship when he didn't prevail."

Camacho was shot as he sat in a car with a friend, 49-year-old Adrian Mojica Moreno, who was killed in the attack. Police spokesman Alex Diaz said officers found nine small bags of cocaine in the friend's pocket and a 10th bag open inside the car.

Police reported no arrests and said investigators continued to interview potential witnesses. Capt. Rafael Rosa told reporters Friday that they are tracking down several leads, but added that very few witnesses were cooperating. He declined to say whether police had identified any suspects.

Hector Camacho Jr. lamented the violence that grips Puerto Rico, a U.S. island territory of nearly 4 million people that reported a record 1,117 homicides last year.

"Death, jail, drugs, killings," he said. "That's what the streets are now."

Camacho's sisters have said they would like to fly Camacho's body to New York and bury him there. Camacho grew up mostly in Harlem, earning the nickname the "Harlem Heckler."

He won super lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight world titles in the 1980s and fought high-profile bouts against Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard. Camacho knocked out Leonard in 1997, ending the former champ's final comeback attempt. Camacho had a career record of 79-6-3.

Camacho battled drug, alcohol and other problems throughout his life. He was sentenced in 2007 to seven years in prison on burglary charges, but a judge eventually suspended all but one year of the sentence and gave Camacho probation. He wound up serving two weeks in jail, though, after violating that probation. A wife also filed domestic abuse complaints against him twice before their divorce.

Life of Brevard outdoorsman to be celebrated Saturday

 How do you capture the many lives a man can pack into one lifetime?

If you’re talking about Sid Cullipher, you can talk about the time he streaked across the field during a national cricket match in Australia. Or the day he and two others snatched an alligator out of the French Broad River. Or the dramatic rappelling rescue he conducted once with the Brevard Rescue Squad.

You can also talk about his driving passion for the outdoors. Whether he was working with Outward Bound, paddling a kayak with Headwaters Outfitters, mountain climbing or communing with forest animals, Cullipher held a vast vision for a thriving global environment that he applied to the place he came to hold dear — Western North Carolina and, in particular, the glorious ruggedness of Transylvania County.

These stories and more will be retold and remembered at “Sidibration,” a party here Saturday in honor of Cullipher’s giant life and lingering spirit.

Cullipher died Nov. 10. It was a startling end to the life of a 51-year-old man with shoulder-length hair and an earring, seen by those who knew him as a strong, loving husband and father with a discerning intellect and that overriding desire to play in the woods.

“He was a superman,” said Nonnie Cullipher, Sid Cullipher’s wife. “He was an inspiring, charismatic and loving person who had an impact on a lot of people.”

Sid Cullipher began suffering debilitating headaches over the summer but wasn’t sure what was wrong. He arrived at Duke University Hospital in October for a battery of neurological testing. Doctors finally pinpointed the problem. It was gastric cancer. Eleven days after the official diagnosis, he died.

Passion for outdoors
Cullipher shone brightly during his life, according to family and friends. Danna Smith, a co-founder of the nonprofit Dogwood Alliance, which works to preserve and restore native forests in the Southeast, said Cullipher exuded an authenticity that everyone from young student activists to corporate suits could connect with.

“He was very passionate about the natural world and wanting to protect it, and he could relate to just about anybody,” Smith said.

“He could sort of fit into a lot of different circumstances,” she said.

At Headwaters Outfitters, which sits at the headwaters of the French Broad River in Rosman, Cullipher started working as a river guide and program director and eventually bought the place.

Six years ago, he and two co-workers had heard stories of an alligator living in the river they paddled. One night, they spotted the 4-year-old gator and, while a colleague collared it with a rope, Cullipher jumped into the muddy French Broad and wrestled the reptile into submission.

Cullipher said at the time that he wanted to capture the creature to save it. He turned it over to wildlife officials, who had it shipped to friendlier climes in Florida.

Allie Kozak said Cullipher was her river guide on a trip down the French Broad.

“It was just a great day, and, afterward, I made him give me a job,” Kozak said with a laugh.

Headwaters will go on, Kozak said, “but it’s definitely lonely here without him.”

She said she’s been collecting stories and photos for a party Saturday at the American Legion Hall in Brevard to celebrate Cullipher’s life and raise money to offset medical bills.

And boy are there stories. Like the time Cullipher and his wife dressed up like the notorious gangsters Bonnie and Clyde. Only Cullipher dressed as Bonnie, while his wife played Clyde.

Or the time he drove to Mississippi to deliver diapers and sanitary napkins to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Cullipher slept out of his truck but wanted to be sure people had the necessities. He ended up running a warehouse where donated goods where collected.

Or the many times Cullipher performed fire dancing. Cullipher attended the famed free-spirited Burning Man gathering in Nevada, and he helped found WNC’s version of the “burn” called Transformous.

There are more stories. It’s hard to sum up the many facets of a man. But Sid Cullipher’s family and friends will share and listen and remember Saturday.

“I would have liked to have had 30 more years with him,” Nonnie Cullipher said, “but because he was so super, he didn’t need to be infirm. And I think it would have made him angry. He just imploded like a dying star.”

Whole life prison terms upheld by Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal has upheld the principle of whole life sentences for the most dangerous of offenders, saying it does not breach human rights.

The Lord Chief Justice and four judges said jail without the possibility of release should be "reserved for the few exceptionally serious offences".

He said judges must be convinced those sentenced to whole life need to be held forever for punishment and retribution.

It comes a week before an appeal by Jeremy Bamber and two murderers.

Bamber and two others will be seeking to overturn their whole life tariffs at the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights.

The power to imprison someone forever is reserved for offenders judged to be the most dangerous to society and currently applies to 46 people in jail. Other life term prisoners can be released on licence if they can prove they are no longer a risk to society.

The judgement effectively sends a signal to the Strasbourg judges that the courts in England and Wales are content that whole life tariffs are justified and that the power to jail someone forever should not be overturned.

In their ruling the Court of Appeal judges upheld the sentence of whole life imprisonment given to one killer, David Oakes. He tortured and shot his partner and their daughter in Essex, before attempting to turn the gun on himself.

But the court replaced the whole life tariff for three other serious offenders.

Danilo Restivo, who mutilated his neighbour in Bournemouth and was found guilty of another murder in Italy, was told he would receive a 40-year minimum term.

Two other rapists were given minimum terms to replace their whole life tariffs.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, said it was highly unlikely any of the men could ever be released because of the danger they posed to society.

Lord Judge said that Parliament had clearly legislated to allow judges to hand down whole life sentences without the possibility of release - and that the European Court had already accepted it could not intervene.

"It is open to the individual state, to make statutory provision for the imposition of a whole life minimum term, and in an appropriate case, as a matter of judicial discretion, for the court to make such an order," he said.

"The result is that the whole life order, the product of primary legislation, is reserved for the few exceptionally serious offences in which, after reflecting on all the features of aggravation and mitigation, the judge is satisfied that the element of just punishment and retribution requires the imposition of a whole life order.

"If that conclusion is justified, the whole life order is appropriate: but only then. It is not a mandatory or automatic or minimum sentence."

The judges also dismissed an appeal against a minimum 30 year term brought by Kiaran Stapleton, convicted of the murder of Indian student Anuj Bidve in Salford. His appeal was unrelated to the whole life tariff cases.

The Court of Appeal's decision comes the week before the European Court of Human Rights deals with similar appeals.

Three men serving whole-life tariffs for murder will have their cases heard by the Grand Chamber, the highest level of the Strasbourg court.

The men include Jeremy Bamber, convicted of shooting his adoptive parents, sister and her two children in 1985 in Essex.

Sun Life Financial Presents $110,000 in Grants and Scholarships to Atlanta Nonprofits and Rising Star Students before a Performance of TOTEM™ by Cirque du Soleil

The U.S. business group of Sun Life Financial Inc. (NYSE: SLF, TSX: SLF) today announced Atlanta’s Sun Life Rising Star Award recipients, providing $110,000 in grants and scholarships to two community organizations, Fugees Family and Andrew and Walter Young Family YMCA as well as an exemplary student nominated by each: Tucker High School’s Lewis Makor, and D.M. Therrell High School’s Ce'Darius Glaze.
Sun Life Regional Group Manager Kevin Kuzon and Sun Life Voluntary Benefits Practice Leader Michael Otis surprised the students with their scholarships at a special pre-show ceremony at TOTEM™ by Cirque du Soleil®. Before taking in the show, the students, their families and nonprofit representatives enjoyed an exclusive experience with VIP ROUGE™*, where they participated in performance workshops led by world-renowned performers from TOTEM™.

The Sun Life Rising Star Awards program recognizes nonprofits that redress low high school graduation rates and honors outstanding students who have overcome significant obstacles to succeed. The program also promotes financial literacy as a means to achieve life-long financial wellness and stability. Each winning organization receives a $50,000 grant and selects an exemplary student they work with to receive a $5,000 college scholarship. Since the program’s inception, Sun Life has granted nearly $3 million to 54 students and 47 nonprofit organizations across the country. This year, Sun Life expanded the program to seven cities from five in 2011, and will award grants and scholarships to students and nonprofits in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix and South Florida.

“We are making an investment in our youth, our education system and the workforce of tomorrow through our Sun Life Rising Star Awards program,” said Sun Life Financial U.S. President Wes Thompson. “It’s a privilege to reward these incredible students who have persevered in the face of adversity and stayed committed to furthering their education. We believe they need only opportunity and support to realize their full potential.”

In addition to monetary support, the Sun Life Rising Star Awards program will provide winning organizations with educational curriculum and resources to increase financial literacy among students. Sun Life recently partnered with dfree®, a movement developed by Dr. DeForest B. Soaries Jr. to galvanize the public to overcome the culture of debt and attain financial self-sufficiency. Sun Life and dfree® will provide the students and nonprofits with Breaking Free Workbooks, which includes interactive activities and tools to encourage debt-free living.

A six-person judging panel comprised of Atlanta’s foremost community and business leaders selected the Sun Life Rising Star Awards winners based on the following criteria:

Nonprofit’s commitment to developing and promoting skills that directly translate to educational engagement and matriculation rates for secondary school youth under the age of 21.

Nonprofit’s demonstrated partnership with a secondary or post-secondary educational institution
Nonprofit’s documented ability to respond to the needs of specific groups of youth in a manner yielding measurable results

Student nominee’s plan to pursue post-secondary education, leadership qualities, commitment to his or her community, and a 750-word essay on how financial education contributes to future success
2012 Atlanta Sun Life Rising Stars:

Fugees Family – The Fugees Family is devoted to helping child survivors of war rebuild their lives, one step at a time. The organization works to afford refugee youth equal access to educational opportunities with the goal that each Fugee will attend a post-secondary institution, earn a degree, and enter the workforce prepared to provide for their families in a way that will enable them to break free of the generational cycle of poverty.

Student Recipient: Lewis Makor, Tucker High School
Makor has been in the Fugees Family program for seven years and is known as a “big brother” to his peers. He hopes to be the first person in his family to attend college, and is working to save tuition money at Camp Twin Lakes, a Fugees academic summer camp. A talented athlete, Lewis also hopes to play soccer at the collegiate level. He is interested in attending a mid-size university in the southeast to study business and psychology.

Andrew and Walter Young Family YMCA – Andrew and Walter Young Family YMCA is part of the YMCA of Metropolitan Atlanta whose mission statement is: Your YMCA, reflecting its Judeo-Christian heritage, is an association of volunteers, members and staff, open to and serving all, providing programs and services which develop spirit, mind, and body. The YMCA cause nationally and locally is to make a difference in the areas of youth development, healthy living and social responsibility.

Student Recipient: Ce'Darius Glaze, D.M. Therrell High School
Glaze is a dedicated peer leader and volunteer camp counselor at the Andrew and Walter Young Family YMCA. He works (through the Atlanta Workforce Development program) in the nonprofit’s community kitchen every morning, participates in Teen Leadership programs, competes on the varsity track team, and volunteers at a youth after-school program. An avid reader, he is committed to becoming the first college graduate in his family and wants to study electrical engineering.

The judging panel included: The EDMAT Company Founder, President and CEO Linda Burns; Fallon Benefits Group President Stephen Fallon; Integrated Life Center Psychiatrist Dennis O’Brien; City of Atlanta Senior Advisor to the Mayor Michael Sterling; CNN Senior Marketing Manager Keisha Taylor and Round of Applause Executive Director Nieta Wigginton.

Truly hairy mid-life crises: chimps and orangs get them too

Forty- and 50-somethings in the throes of a mid-life crisis should probably stop blaming a troubled marriage, their kid's college costs, or technology that makes them feel about as modern as papyrus compared to their younger colleagues.

A new study finds that chimpanzees and orangutans, too, often experience a mid-life crisis, suggesting the causes are inherent in primate biology and not specific to human society.

"We were just stunned" when data on the apes showed a U-shaped curve of happiness, said economist Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick in England and a co-author of the paper, which was published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

The U-shaped curve of human happiness and other aspects of well-being are as thoroughly documented as the reasons for it are controversial. Since 2002 studies in some 50 countries have found that well-being is high in youth, plunges in mid-life and rises in old age. The euphoria of youth comes from unlimited hopes and good health, while the contentment and serenity of the elderly likely reflects "accumulated wisdom and the fact that when you've seen friends and family die, you value what you have," said Oswald.

The reasons for the plunge in well-being in middle age, when suicides and use of anti-depressants both peak, are murkier. In recent years researchers have emphasized sociological and economic factors, from the accountant's recognition that she will never realize her dream of starring on Broadway to the middle manager's fear of being downsized, not to mention failing marriages and financial woes.

In what Oswald, 58, calls "a burst of madness," since no such study had ever been attempted, he and his colleagues decided to see whether creatures that don't have career regrets or underwater mortgages might nevertheless suffer a well-being plunge in middle age.

They enlisted colleagues to assess the well-being of 155 chimps in Japanese zoos, 181 in U.S. and Australian zoos and 172 orangs in zoos in the United States, Canada, Australia and Singapore. Keepers, volunteers, researchers and caretakers who knew the apes well used a four-item questionnaire to assess the level of contentment in the animals, said psychologist Alex Weiss of Scotland's University of Edinburgh. One question, for instance, asked how much pleasure the animals - which ranged from infants to graybeards - get from social interactions.

All three groups of apes experienced mid-life malaise: a U-shaped contentment curve with the nadir at ages 28, 27 and 35, respectively, comparable to human ages of 45 to 50.

Why would chimps and orangs have a mid-life crisis? It could be that their societies are similar enough to the human variety that social, and not only biological, factors are at work, Oswald said. Perhaps apes feel existential despair, too, when they realize they'll never be the alpha male or female.

An evolutionary explanation is even more intriguing. "Maybe nature doesn't want us to be contented in middle age, doesn't want us sitting around contentedly with our feet up in a tree," he said. "Maybe discontent lights a fire under people, causing them to achieve more" for themselves and their family.
"By knowing our results, people might be gentler on themselves" when they experience a mid-life crisis, Oswald said. "Knowing that it's biological, they'll realize that if they can just hang on they'll likely come out the other side."

Amanda Todd tribute honours life of bullied teen

Hundreds attended a celebration of life at the Red Robinson Theatre in Coquitlam, B.C., Sunday to remember Port Coquiltam teen Amanda Michelle Todd.

The 15-year-old girl committed suicide in October after suffering two years of cyberstalking, harassment and bullying.

It was an emotional day, as groups of young girls, parents and others gathered to share memories of Amanda.

Kelsey Cunningham, one of her friends, said Amanda had more supporters in life than she knew.

"Everybody loved her and a lot of people were there for her, but she just didn't realize it at the time," Cunningham said.

Hundreds attended a celebration of Amanda Todd's life at the Red Robinson theatre in Coquitlam, B.C. (CBC)
Norm Todd, Amanda's father, gave thanks for the outpouring of support.

"Amanda has a new journey now that willl be brighter and stronger, and she will always be with us in so many other ways," he said.

Carol Todd, Amanda's mother, held back tears as she read a letter she wrote to her "princess snowflake."

The tribute featured a lot of singing, which Amanda's loved to do. (CBC)
Todd spoke of the kindness and compassion her daughter taught her.

Many of Amanda's friends spoke, describing her spunky personality, her love of shiny things, but also her desire to be known — a wish that came true, but only out of tragedy.

Teen's video went viral
Weeks before her death, Todd posted a poignant video to YouTube in which she detailed her plight with bullies and others who tried to manipulate her in person and online.

Todd's video was posted weeks before she took her own life. (YouTube)
In the video, using a series of flash cards, Amanda told the story of how she was stalked online, and how a series of offline social betrayals left her feeling isolated.

After she died, the video gained worldwide recognition and registered more than six million hits, and copies of the video re-posted to YouTube have since gained at least 16 million additional hits.

The popularity of the video caused a groundswell of support for anti-bullying measures.

After she died, the video gained worldwide recognition. The popularity of the video caused a groundswell of support for anti-bullying measures. (CBC)
Many of the mourners at Sunday's memorial wore pink bracelets to bring attention to the cause.

Mary Zilba, famous as one of the stars of the reality show The Real Housewives of Vancouver, was one of a number of mothers who attended the memorial who didn't know Amanda in life, but were touched — and angered — by her story all the same.

"Social media has gone over the top. I mean, we need to start making sure we're monitoring our children," she said.

Outside the theatre, yet another mother expressed the anger she felt at what happened to the Todd family.

"A lot of people should be held accountable for it. They definitely should make bullying a criminal offense. These kids need to know they can't do this without a consequence," the woman said.

The celebration of life was held nine days before what would have been Amanda's 16th birthday.

New York man sentenced to life for subway suicide bomb plot

A Bosnian-born U.S. citizen was sentenced to life in prison on Friday for his role in planning a suicide bomb attack on New York City subways in 2009 at the behest of senior al Qaeda operatives.

Adis Medunjanin, 28, was convicted in May by a federal jury in Brooklyn on nine counts including conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism and providing material support to al Qaeda.

Prosecutors had urged U.S. District Judge John Gleeson to give Medunjanin the maximum penalty of life in prison, saying in a pre-sentencing court filing that he "committed a host of heinous crimes aimed at killing and maiming his fellow American citizens in order to alter and take revenge for American foreign policy."

Medunjanin's accused co-conspirator Najibullah Zazi was arrested in September 2009, just days before Medunjanin and a third member of the plot, Zarein Ahmedzay, planned to carry out what U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called "one of the most serious terrorist threats" to the United States since the September 11 attacks.

During the sentencing on Friday, a lawyer for Medunjanin, Robert Gottlieb, described him as a bright young man with a loving family who had fled to the U.S. from Bosnia when he was a child. Members of his extended family sat quietly in the back of the courtroom, some of them wiping away tears.

When asked if he would like to make a statement, Medunjanin, recited several Koran verses in Arabic. He then delivered a speech about the plight of Muslims and the poor across the world, and denied having anything to do with the subway plot.

Gleeson said it was difficult to believe that three men who went to high school in Queens, New York, could become pawns in an al Qaeda plot.

"This was not a fringe character in our society," he said.

During Medunjanin's trial, prosecutors described how the three made a plan to travel overseas with the intent of joining up with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. They made it to Pakistan, where they were introduced to an al Qaeda facilitator. That facilitator took them to meet with senior al Qaeda operatives, who provided them with military training and persuaded them to return to the United States to carry out an attack in New York City.

After their return, the three met to discuss their plans for a suicide attack, and settled on a target: New York City subways. Zazi began to assemble explosive devices at his family's home in Colorado, and drove to New York City with the materials in September 2009, prosecutors said. The plan was aborted when Zazi and Ahmedzay became suspicious that they were being monitored.

After federal agents searched Medunjanin's home in January 2010, Medunjanin got into his car and sped erratically across the Whitestone Expressway in Queens, crashing his car into another vehicle in what prosecutors described as a last-ditch attempt to fulfill his suicide mission.

"Adis Medunjanin sought martyrdom for himself and death for innocent New Yorkers as part of al Qaeda's plan to spread terror within our shores," U.S. attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement.

Both Zazi and Ahmedzay pleaded guilty and testified against Medunjanin during his trial. Zazi, 27, is scheduled to be sentenced on December 14, and Ahmedzay, also 27, will be sentenced on May 10.

Sun Life Global Investments partners with Dynamic Funds and Sentry Investments to bring income funds to investors

Sun Life Global Investments announced today that it will launch a new suite of income funds for Canadian investors that are slated to launch in January 2013 . Included in this new offering will be the new Sun Life Granite Managed Income Portfolios.

Pending receipt of all regulatory approvals, these new income funds will leverage the expertise of many investment managers with proven track records, including those from Sun Life Global Investments' newest partners, Dynamic Funds and Sentry Investments. The partnerships and new funds are Sun Life Global Investments' latest move to grow its business in Canada , since launching two years ago.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with two first class managers to expand the fund line-up that we've been building over the past two years," said Sadiq S. Adatia, Chief Investment Officer, Sun Life Global Investments. "Through these partnerships and these income funds, we can help investors generate money for life and give them more choices for earning income leading up to and during their retirement."

By investing in income funds, investors can rely on a steady amount of income to help them meet their lifestyle needs, with the goal of maintaining the nest egg that they have built up over their working lives.

"Baby boomers approaching retirement have had an increasing desire for income as they move from the asset accumulation phase into the asset de-accumulation phase of their lives," adds Rick Headrick , President, Sun Life Global Investments. "Income funds help investors in the de-accumulation phase because the distributions provide investors with money in their pocket to help pay for their needs and lifestyle."

Since launching October 2010 , Sun Life Global Investments has grown its investment platform to include 60 funds and oversees $5.7 billion in client assets under management. As of September 30, 2012 , 10 of 11 of the original long-term funds were above their respective median, with eight of 11 funds ranked in the top quartile over a two year period.*  In addition, Sun Life Global Investments won its first Lipper Award** in 2012. The expansion of Sun Life Global Investments builds on Sun Life Financial's focus to grow its leadership in wealth management in Canada , as well as broaden its asset management business around the world.

IFB Fall Summit 2012

The life insurance industry isn't doing enough to attract, educate and engage younger clients, and as a result, it could fail to capture the business of an entire generation, according to Rick Forchuk, vice president of retail insurance distribution with Kingston, Ont.- based Empire Life Insurance Co.
"We are missing, as an industry, a great big chunk of the marketplace," said Forchuk, speaking at the Independent Financial Brokers (IFB) fall summit in Toronto on Tuesday.

Forchuk pointed to recent figures from the Life Insurance and Market Research Association (LIMRA) showing that sales of life insurance policies in Canada either declined or remained unchanged in 2011 in all age groups, except for consumers over the age of 55. Among consumers under the age of 25, year-over-year sales were flat, and among those between the ages of 25 and 54, year-over-year sales declined slightly.

"What's happening here is 86% of the Canadian marketplace had low growth or negative growth in terms the number of policies sold," said Forchuk. "We, as an industry, are missing an entire generation."

He suggested that perhaps insurance agents aren't being proactive enough about targeting this generation. Since life insurance is a product that is typically sold rather than bought, clients who are not approached by insurance agents are unlikely to seek out the product themselves, Forchuk said.
"A bunch of people are not buying life insurance policies from us, because we're not selling it to them," he said.

Partly contributing to the trend is a decline in sales of life insurance for children. Whereas in the past, insurance agents commonly urged clients to buy policies for their children within about a month of a child's birth, Forchuk said this is no longer a common practice. As a result, he said advisors are missing an opportunity to plant the seed for the next generation of life insurance owners.

"Children who grew up with life insurance policies become life insurance buyers when they become adults and start families and start businesses," he explained. In contrast, it can be tougher to sell insurance to individuals who have lived their lives without it – and without understanding the purpose it serves.
Also contributing to the problem is the poor state of financial literacy, according to Forchuk. Younger generations of Canadians received little, if any, financial education in school, and since advisors don't typically target younger clients, these individuals are not getting professional advice, either.

"Financial literacy is a significant issue in our country," Forchuk said. "We have a generation of people coming out school, who are as deeply indebted as they've even been before, and knowing less about how to deal with money as they ever did before."

This lack of education is affecting the insurance industry, in particular, since most of these Canadians have a poor understanding of insurance products – and this makes them tough to sell. Even individuals covered by group insurance plans through their workplace are often unfamiliar with their coverage, Forchuk said.

"Many times, the end user – the insured person – has no idea what they've got," he said.
"We've got to do something about helping Canadians learn more about their finances."

Life Time Mixes Camaraderie and Competition with the Launch of Esprit de She Athletic Event Series for Women

In the same innovative spirit with which Life Time Fitness (NYSE: LTM), connected several of the most prominent international-distance triathlon events via the Race to the Toyota Cup, the Company has launched a new, premiere athletic event series for women—Esprit de She, the spirit of her race series. Mixing camaraderie with competition, Esprit de She offers fitness-inspired ‘happy hour’ 5k/10k runs and triathlons for every pace and passion.

In its debut season the 18-event series will travel to a variety of popular swim, bike and run host cities, including the eight featured events below. Additional Esprit de She destinations will be announced in the near future.

“Esprit de She is a lifestyle that lives beyond the finish line,” said Esprit de She brand director, Lindsey Kurhajetz. “Aside from the fashionable freebies and designer event experiences, Esprit de She brings women’s favorites together in one place. Fueled with inspiration and motivation, celebration of the accomplishment and a welcoming social space - the healthy way of life never looked so good!”

Each Esprit de She event will feature a post-race market of festive proportions where participants and spectators can salute success with a drink at the bubbly bar and enjoy tasty tapas and energetic tunes while browsing the bustling, community market showcasing fresh produce, local artisans, creative projects and more.

To RSVP for any of the Esprit de She events, visit www.espritdeshe.com, the official website of the spirit of her series. Esprit de She also can be found on Twitter by following @EspritdeShe and by liking the Esprit de She Facebook page.

10 Work-Life Balance Tips for MBA Students

Although tough, achieving a work-life balance in an MBA program doesn't have to be like having your cake and eating it, too, say MBAs and business students and professors.

At Fordham University's School of Business Administration, for example, MBA and executive MBA students are offered monthly yoga sessions, a wellness program, and meditation exercises--in the school's Jesuit tradition--to help them cope with the "immense pressure" of b-school, says Francis Petit, the associate dean for executive programs.

When it comes to that pressure, Samuella Becker is experiencing "déjà vu with life-balance issues" as a doctoral candidate in business administration at Pace University's Lubin School of Business and the founder of a public relations agency. She's currently drawing on work-life balance techniques she developed juggling her marketing MBA studies at Lubin in the mid-1980s with her job as communications director at First Investors in New York and her social life.

She's one of several b-school insiders offering tips for MBA applicants who hope to balance their studies and life outside of school.

1. Consider a job without travel: If your job requires travel at least 25 percent of the time, you're going to be lugging a suitcase to class and rushing to the airport during breaks, warns Becker. She left a Fortune 200 company--with travel 30 percent of the time--for a domestic position at an investment firm with no travel.

2. Weigh family planning: If you plan to have a child soon, try to time the arrival after graduation, if possible, advises Becker, who was pregnant during the last nine months of her part-time MBA. "My classmates ... [were] taking bets as to whether I'd take my finals on time," she says. "I did, but my son arrived two weeks early--a week before my finals."

3. Balance course difficulty: Offset difficult analytical classes with ones that have less mathematics, recommends Todd Dewett, who has taught management for a decade at Wright State University's Raj Soin College of Business. "Balancing a numbers course with talk of leadership or marketing or law keeps the worst headaches at bay," he says.

4. Go "off duty:" Designating two "off duty" chunks of time each week--one for you, and one for any significant others--that are free of school work is vital, according to Dewett. "Be serious about using these time blocks and seek support from your significant others to follow through," he says.

5. Be honest about your limitations: Clarify your limitations with the "flexible" parties in your life, says Ben Cober, a recent Indiana University--Bloomington Kelley School of Business MBA grad. "Explaining why you can't do things, and saying 'no' is OK, and appreciated if people understand why and ahead of time," he says.

6. Limit credit hours: Twelve credits a semester may work in college but not in business school, advises Ericka Smith, a recent University of Wisconsin--Whitewater College of Business and Economics MBA grad. "Exceeding nine credits is going to be physically and mentally demanding," says Smith, who juggled her MBA studies, a Habitat for Humanity board position, a full-time marketing job, and raising a four-year-old son.

7. Exercise regularly: As an MBA student at the College of Business at University of Texas--San Antonio in the mid-1990s, Zan Jones worked full time, served on a nonprofit board, and taught fitness and aerobics two evenings a week. "Exercise helped me stay healthy and have more energy, and being forced to exercise kept me active," she says.

8. Don't skimp on sleep: Instead of burning the midnight oil, Jones woke up at 4:30 a.m. sharp, studied for an hour or an hour-and-a-half, and then went back to sleep until 7 a.m. "Instead of waking up tired from being up half the night, I would wake up feeling relatively rested," she says.

9. Outsource: MBA students need to delegate responsibilities where possible. On a recent panel of former executive MBA students at Arizona State University's W. P. Carey School of Business, someone joked about the importance of hiring a gardener, says Stacey Whitecotton, the school's associate dean for MBA programs. "Even though it was funny, you seriously need to realize that you can no longer do everything you used to do," she says.

10. Limit TV watching: If you insist on having a television, store it in a closet and only bring it out for must-see programs, says Lubin management professor Bruce Bachenheimer. But that doesn't mean have no fun.

Life-saving 3-D technology

Surgeons can now operate on livers with greater confidence by taking advantage of a software-driven service that can help them to perform a 3-D analysis of a liver.

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) scans, the HexaLotus service creates an accurate model of the patient's liver.

Dr Liu Jimin, 42, who founded HexaLotus, explained how the service can help doctors.

The produced model is compared against that of a healthy liver. HexaLotus automatically morphs the healthy liver to match the size and dimensions of the patient's liver.

Through the new model, segments of the patient's liver can be observed and analysed for irregularities. Specific segments and elements of the liver, such as veins, can be isolated and displayed.

This means that doctors can get a good handle of the structure of the patient's liver before even making a single cut.

HexaLotus' modelling technology is based on a software called LiverSuite from the Singapore Bioimaging Consortium, a member of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star).

Dr Liu added that several hospitals here are already trying it out.

HexaLotus is one of 40 home-grown technologies and commercial solutions that were exhibited at A*Star's Media Exploits 2012 event last week.

This digital media industry forum allows users and developers to share insights and learn about new developments. A total of 320 people from 140 companies attended it.

It was organised by Exploit Technologies, an A*Star arm which commercialises the technology developed by A*Star's 14 research institutes, packaging them into such forms as software development kits ready for licensing.

The technology is not just for big companies. It is tailored to the needs of start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which comprise about three-quarters of Exploit Technology's licensees.

Ohio teen sentenced to life over Craigslist plot

A remorseful teenager was sentenced Friday to life in prison with no chance for parole for his role in a deadly plot to lure men desperate for work with phony Craigslist job offers.

"I thought it was something horrible," a grim-faced Brogan Rafferty, 17, told Judge Lynne Callahan before he was sentenced.

If his life has been hell since the killings last year, "They must be living in it," said Rafferty, gesturing with his cuffed hands at victims' relatives who crowded the court. He said they also were victims of his crimes.

Rafferty told the judge, who will preside at the January trial of alleged triggerman Richard Beasley, 53, that his mentor is evil and deceitful and said he wished he had taken the opportunity to flee and stop the killings.

"There were many options I couldn't see at the time," said Rafferty, who remained composed during the sentencing, watching with a slight frown as relatives of the victims addressed the court.

"You know nothing of remorse, you know nothing of shame," Barb Dailey, sister of Timothy Kern, told Rafferty in an eye-to-eye confrontation just steps apart.

Without true repentance, "You will be destroyed," she told Rafferty, who nodded slightly.

Lori Hildreth, sister of the lone survivor, Scott Davis, 49, read a statement from him as Rafferty's mother sobbed.

"It was only by the grace of God that I survived," Davis' statement said. "You took from me a chance to have a normal life."

Davis' statement reminded Rafferty that they shared a meal before he was wounded and said Rafferty had a chance to "stop what was about to happen."

The judge, acknowledging the high emotions in court, said she had considered Rafferty's age, broken-home childhood and lack of any prior record, but said it was outweighed by "executions" that were cold, calculated and methodical.

"You had the opportunity to stop the deaths," she said.

Rafferty's defense attorney, John Alexander, said the prosecution had offered as recently as Monday to recommend a sentence of 30 years to life in return for his testimony against Beasley. The prosecution said that was a framework for discussion, not an offer.

Rafferty is willing to testify against Beasley, according to Alexander, who said that "if it weren't for Richard Beasley, Brogan wouldn't be sitting here" in court.

Rafferty was convicted of aggravated murder and attempted murder in the deaths of three men and wounding of a fourth.

The sentencing was delayed from Monday amid talks on a deal for leniency in return for Rafferty's testimony. Rafferty was looking to avoid a life sentence without hope of parole.

The jury rejected the defense claim that Rafferty feared for himself and his family if he didn't cooperate with Beasley.

Beasley, described as the teen's spiritual mentor, has pleaded not guilty and faces a Jan. 7 trial.
Prosecutors say the victims, all down in their luck and with few family ties that might highlight their disappearance, were lured with phony offers of farmhand jobs on Craigslist last year.

One man was killed near Akron and the others were shot at a southeast Ohio farm during bogus job interviews.

Prosecutors say robbery was the motive.
Rafferty, a high school student from Stow near Akron, was tried as an adult but didn't face a possible death penalty because he is a juvenile.

Beasley, an ex-convict and self-styled street minister from Akron, could face the death penalty if convicted.

The surviving victim testified as the prosecution's star witness. Davis identified Rafferty as Beasley's accomplice and told the jury a harrowing story.

Davis, who was looking to move close to his family in the Canton area, said he was walking across what turned out to be a bogus job site when he heard a gun cock and turned and found himself face to face with a handgun. He said he pushed the weapon aside, was shot in the arm and fled through the woods.

During Rafferty's trial, Alexander painted Beasley as the mastermind and said that the first killing came without warning for Rafferty.

The three murdered men were Ralph Geiger, 56, of Akron; David Pauley, 51, of Norfolk, Va.; and Kern, 47, of Massillon. Authorities say they were targeted because they were older, single, out-of-work men with backgrounds that made it unlikely their disappearances would be noticed right away.

Life sentence in Ariz attack that wounded Giffords

Gabrielle Giffords limped to the front of the courtroom and stared silently Thursday as she came face-to-face for the first time with the man who tried to kill her.

The former congresswoman hadn't been near Jared Lee Loughner since the deadly rampage outside a meet-and-greet at a supermarket that killed six people and left her partially blind, with a paralyzed right arm and brain injury.

Giffords' astronaut husband told Loughner what Giffords couldn't, before he was sentenced to seven life terms for the January 2011 slayings and attempted assassination of a member of Congress.

"Mr. Loughner, you may have put a bullet through her head, but you haven't put a dent in her spirit and her commitment to make the world a better place," Mark Kelly said.

Giffords, wearing a black brace around her torso, looked closely at the 24-year-old Loughner for several minutes without uttering a word.

Loughner returned their gaze, but showed no emotion. His mother sobbed nearby.

Loughner was then ordered to serve the seven consecutive life sentences, plus 140 years in federal prison for the shootings that killed six people and wounded 13, including Giffords, as she met with constituents in a Tucson shopping plaza.

His guilty plea enables him to avoid a federal death sentence. No state charges will be filed.

The sentencing marked the end of a nearly two-year-long saga in which Loughner, who has schizophrenia, was forcibly medicated at a Missouri prison medical facility so he can be competent to understand the charges against him. U.S. District Judge Larry Burns recommended Thursday that he remain there indefinitely.

Some victims, including Giffords, welcomed the plea deal as a way to move on. It spared victims and their families from having to go through a potentially lengthy and traumatic trial and locks Loughner up for life.

At the hearing, Loughner looked nothing like the smiling bald man with a bruise around his eye seen in the mug shot taken after the shooting. He had closely cropped brown hair and was wearing dress pants, shirt and tie.

One by one, his victims had the chance to tell him how his actions immeasurably changed their lives. They approached the podium to address Loughner, and asked the judge if they could turn to face him.
Loughner told the judge that he would not speak, and sat showing no visible emotion at a table with his attorneys.

The last victim to approach the podium was Giffords, causing the courtroom to go quiet and somber. The couple had been sitting several rows behind the prosecutor's table, across the room from Loughner.

As they sat in the courtroom, Kelly put his arm around her, and she would lean into him. When they made their way gingerly to the podium, the 42-year-old Giffords, dressed in black pants and a turquoise shirt, limped. Kelly held her arm and spoke to Loughner, who stared blankly at the couple.

"Gabby would trade her own life to bring back any one of those you savagely murdered on that day," Kelly said. "Gabby works harder in one minute of an hour fighting to make each individual moment count for something than most of us work in an entire day."

Kelly added: "Her life has been forever changed. Plans she had for our family and her career have been immeasurably altered. Every day is a continuous struggle to do those things she once was so good at."

Kelly kissed Giffords when he was done. He grabbed her hand and helped her walk back to her seat.

Susan Hileman, who was shot three times while trying to save her 9-year-old neighbor, shook as she spoke.

"We've been told about your demons, about the illness that skewed your thinking," she said. "Your parents, your schools, your community, they all failed you. It's all true. It's not enough."

Officials at Pima Community College had suspended Loughner over safety concerns after his classroom disruptions. They told him that if he wanted to return, he would have to get a mental health clearance. Loughner withdrew.

The court-appointed psychologist who treated Loughner has warned that although Loughner was competent to plead guilty, he remained severely mentally ill and his condition could deteriorate under the stress of a trial.

Authorities said they will return Loughner to the Missouri prison facility, but it's up to federal prison officials whether he will remain there.

Legal experts had predicted that the only viable defense for Loughner was an insanity defense, given the number of witnesses and video surveillance footage. Still, Loughner never mounted such a defense.

Burns said Loughner did not have an insanity case because the evidence indicated he was aware of his actions and knew they were wrong. In fact, the judge noted, an examination of Loughner's computer showed the 24-year-old had researched Giffords and the federal death penalty beforehand.

"It would not have washed," the judge said.

Loughner planned the attacks by getting a gun, high-capacity pistol magazine and ear plugs and lying in wait for Giffords at the grocery store, Burns said. Among those killed was another federal judge, John Roll.

Mavy Stoddard, who was shot three times and cradled her dying husband, 76-year-old Dorwin Stoddard, in her arms as he lay bleeding after shielding her from gunfire, was among those who spoke to Loughner.

"You took away my life, my love and my reason for living," Stoddard said.

"I am so lonesome, hate living without him," she said, her voice cracking. Staring down at Loughner, she said, "we will never let you win. You will not take our spirit."

Life Time MediSpa to Host VIP HydraFacialMD Events in Denver and Colorado Springs Nov. 27-29

As The Healthy Way of Life Company, Life Time Fitness (LTM) helps organizations, communities and individuals achieve their total health objectives, athletic aspirations and fitness goals by engaging in their areas of interest – or discovering new passions – both inside and outside of Life Time’s distinctive and large sports, professional fitness, family recreation and spa destinations, most of which operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Company’s Healthy Way of Life approach enables customers to achieve this by providing the best programs, people and places of uncompromising quality and value. As of Nov. 7, 2012, the Company operated 105 centers under the LIFE TIME FITNESS® and LIFE TIME ATHLETIC(SM) brands in the United States and Canada. Additional information about Life Time centers, programs and services is available at lifetimefitness.com.

Edge Systems is an FDA registered manufacturer of advanced aesthetic technologies and products. Edge's premier system is the HydraFacial MD® skin solution based hydradermabrasion system, ranked one level above IPL for skin rejuvenation.

New Individual Limited Medical Plans from Standard Life and Accident Insurance Company

Standard Life and Accident Insurance Company (Standard Life), a leading provider of Medicare supplement and voluntary benefits insurance, now offers limited medical plans to provide health coverage for individuals, families and small business owners – market segments that may be without the benefit of employer sponsored major medical insurance.

While there is still much uncertainty about the full effects of PPACA on the health insurance industry, there is currently a broad window of opportunity for agents to provide affordable coverage to these underserved markets. For example, in 2011, 48.6 million Americans were uninsured1, and according to a recent report, of the 42% of Americans that have some type of financial plan in place for emergencies, 22% say that health insurance is not a part of their plan.2

In addition, because many carriers are redefining or downsizing their health product offerings, agents who may be concerned about the future of selling health products will find that adding Standard Life limited medical plans to their portfolio can increase profitability by appealing to a range of prospective new clients, and may also be a good fit for many existing ones. 

Standard Life offers five plan levels that combine a core package of inpatient and outpatient benefits for common occurrences including doctor/wellness visits, daily hospital room, surgery, diagnostic and ambulance service. The plans pay limited, cash benefits for accidental death, fracture, burn and critical illness, and there are no deductibles.

The underwriting is simplified and applications may be submitted by phone, fax or online through Standard Life's convenient, new Scanit portal which allows applications to be downloaded, filled out, scanned and submitted electronically – directly to underwriting. Scanit provides a faster and more efficient way to process applications resulting in faster commission payments.

Why Mars Life Hunt Targets Methane

The hunt for life on Mars took a new turn today (Nov. 2), with the news that NASA's Mars rover Curiosity detected no methane in its first few sniffs of Red Planet air.

The search for Red Planet life has long been intertwined with the search for methane, which is why so many scientists and laypeople alike were probably disappointed by the initial atmospheric readings from Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars instrument, or SAM.

"Everybody is excited about the possibility about methane from Mars, because life as we know it produces methane," SAM co-investigator Sushil Atreya, of the University of Michigan, told reporters today.
A possible biosignature

At least 90 percent of the methane in Earth's atmosphere is biologically derived, Atreya said. As a result, many researchers regard Martian methane as a possible indicator of Red Planet life.

Further, scientists think the gas disappears rapidly from the Martian atmosphere, meaning any methane swirling there today was likely produced in the recent past.

"The conventional destruction mechanism of methane is photochemistry, as on Earth, and that results in a several-hundred-year lifetime of methane on Mars," Atreya said, adding that some of the gas is probably absorbed by the Red Planet surface as well.

But detecting lots of methane on Mars would not be convincing evidence of life by any stretch. The gas can also be produced by abiotic processes, such as the degradation of interplanetary dust particles by ultraviolet light and interactions between water and rocks. Comet strikes may also deliver methane to Mars, Atreya said.

Life Fitness and FitPro Name the World's Top Personal Trainer to Watch

Life Fitness, the global leader in commercial fitness equipment manufacturing and FitPro North America, a premier provider of high-quality educational resources for fitness professionals, have named Joanne Blackerby as the world's top Personal Trainer to Watch. Blackerby was selected from a pool of nearly 1,000 nominees in the contest's second year, along with 10 other finalists from around the world. A nationally certified fitness trainer with more than 20 years experience in the industry, Blackerby specializes in full-body workouts and is known to be one of the toughest, yet most down-to-earth trainers in Texas, U.S.A.

"We are proud to recognize personal trainers who have demonstrated their commitment to the fitness industry and are continually recognized by their peers for their innovation and motivation," said Chris Clawson, president of Life Fitness. "The trainers we are honoring embody the same mission Life Fitness stands for -- helping people live healthier lives -- and we're pleased to help them further that mission in their individual communities."

The Personal Trainers to Watch program, which launched in April with a global call for entries, is designed to recognize and reward personal trainers who have demonstrated a commitment to fitness and helping their clients achieve a healthy lifestyle. Nominees were judged by a panel of five industry experts who evaluated each candidate on client motivation and retention techniques, community service and fitness accomplishments.

Blackerby impressed the judges with her entrepreneurial spirit, creative motivational techniques and dedication to improving her community through health and fitness initiatives.

"I started in the fitness industry because I believed that health and fitness could not only change bodies, but it could nurture communities," said Blackerby. "By providing education and guidance, I've been lucky enough to help people transform their lives. This award validates what I've worked so hard to achieve, and I couldn't appreciate it more."

As a wife and mother of three, Blackerby loves trail running, teaching children's exercise classes and volunteering in the school lunch room when she's not training in her gym, Spirit Fitness Training. With a range in certifications including ACE, YogaFit, ViPR and TRX, Blackerby spends more than 40 hours per week with clients.

In addition to international recognition as the 2012 Personal Trainer to Watch, Blackerby won $5,000 USD toward her personal training business, a select piece of Life Fitness equipment, a personalized award plaque and a one-year membership and continuing education course package from world-renowned educational resource PTontheNet.