HEC: Supreme Ordered To Keep Working

The Supreme Court ordered the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to keep working under the ordinance until any amendment in the law before adjourning the hearing for indefinite period, Geo News reported.

On Monday, the SC while hearing the constitutional petition against the devolution of HEC issued notices to Attorney General of Pakistan, Ministry of Law, Ministry of Education and HEC and later adjourned the hearing till Tuesday.

A three-judge bench, headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heard the petition filed by the Directory of Riphah University against the devolution of HEC.

The apex court after hearing the arguments of Advocate Anwar Mansoor and issuing notice to the stakeholders adjourned the hearing.

Method to Enhance Education for Kids

With the spread of the internet, home computers and other electronics, many companies have capitalized on the entertainment potential that has been created. Other companies have seized the opportunity to combine the entertainment aspects of computers and electronics with enhanced education for children.

Two of the most talked about companies blending fun and education, creating fun brain games, are FunBrain (FunBrain.com), founded in 1997, and Brain Pop (BrainPop.com). Both companies cover a wide range of educational topics including Science, Health, Engineering, Technology, Math, Social Studies, Arts & Music. The games are interactive and promote education while also entertaining and engaging the child.

Both companies and their web sites have been a valuable resource for educators and parents. BrainPOP, conceived in 1999 by pediatrician Dr. Avraham Kadar, M.D. as a creative way to explain difficult concepts to his young patients, says that over 125,000 teachers use the free platform. The web site includes professional development tools, graphic organizers, best practices, and much more. This is very useful for creating lesson plans, video tutorials. Parents could also use the tools for one-on-one education with their children.

CET 2011 Results Coming Up Today

The Directorate of Technical Education Maharashtra will announce the MBA/MMS- CET 2011 results today i.e. on April 11, 2011 at 5.00 pm. Results will be made available in the DTE Maharashtra’s official website: http://www.dte.org.in once declared.

Candidates who have appeared the MBA/MMS - CET 2011 and are eagerly waiting for the results can visit the aforementioned website. Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), Maharashtra, conducts the MAH-MBA/MMS-CET 2011. MAH-MBA/MMS-CET 2011 was held on February 27, 2011.

The entrance test was conducted for admission into the following Post-graduate programmes, to be offered in the ensuing session 2011. The programmes are being offered in the Government, University Managed, University Departments and Unaided Institutes in the Maharashtra State.

Kennedy Senate Institute

Members of the Kennedy family gathered with former staff members and elected officials on a blustery stretch of Boston's oceanfront Friday to break ground on the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.

The institute will feature a replica of the Senate chamber where the Massachusetts Democrat served for 47 years until his death from brain cancer in 2009. It will be located adjacent to John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in the city's Dorchester section.

Kennedy's widow, Victoria Kennedy, said it's fitting that the two centers will be set next to each other, because it was John Kennedy who inspired his younger brother Edward's enduring love of the Senate and public service.

She said she hopes the institute will do the same thing for future generations.

"My husband didn't want a memorial to himself or his achievements," she said. "He wanted to create a place that would spark an interest and nurture the belief that public service can be a noble endeavor."

The groundbreaking comes as the Kennedy family's future political legacy is up in the air. There are no members of the family serving in Congress now. Edward Kennedy's son, former U.S. Rep Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island, chose not to seek re-election last year.

Patrick Kennedy attended the groundbreaking, but did not speak publicly. The late senator's two other children, Edward Jr. and Kara, also attended.

Planning for the center had begun before Kennedy's death. Organizers have already raised $60 million in private donations and pledges, and $38 million more will come from federal funds.

The institute is intended to offer an interactive experience, according to planners.

Visitors will be offered a virtual chance to participate in the effort to break a Senate logjam over the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They will also learn the consequences of what would have happened if the bill had not become law.

Edward Kennedy gave his first speech on the floor of Senate in support of the bill.

In a testimony to Kennedy's long reach, more than 100 of his former staff members attended the event.

Among the elected officials on hand were Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd.

Republican Sen. Scott Brown, who won the seat held by Kennedy during a special election last year, said he keeps a picture of Kennedy on his office mantle. Brown had run for office promising to block the health care bill that Kennedy supported.

Despite their differences, Brown said he admired Kennedy's work ethic.

"I understand the large shoes I have to fill, but one thing I always appreciated was his dedication to service, his sense of humor and the fact that he was so zealous in the way that he fought for what he truly believed in," Brown said.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick recalled Kennedy as a political fighter. Despite an effort at bipartisanship at the groundbreaking, he criticized what he called "decades of poisonous rhetoric about how government is bad."

"My greatest disappointment with the conservative movement so-called is that it's sapping the optimism out of our country," the Democratic governor said. "Ted Kennedy was an optimist, he not only understood, but embodied the uniquely American blend of optimism and effort."

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino recalled how he once got a call from Kennedy on a request Menino had made, long after he had forgotten about it himself.

"This guy Ted Kennedy was a very special guy," Menino said. "We'll never have a guy like him ever again in this business."

1st Reardon Trial Begins In Waterbury

A police captain who investigated years old pornographic images found in the former home of Dr. George Reardon, and a man identified as one of the boys depicted in those old photos, testified Tuesday in the opening day of a civil case against St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford.

The case is the first of 93 lawsuits filed against the hospital by men and women who say that Reardon, who died in 1998, used the pretext of a child growth study to horribly abuse them decades ago. The hospital is accused of failing to protect children in the doctor's care.

This first lawsuit was brought by a middle aged man who lives and works in Greater Hartford, known in court records as John Doe 2.

West Hartford Police Capt. Donald Melanson, the opening witness, supervised the investigation into the discovery of a cache of photographs at Reardon's former home at 155 Griswold Road.

A new homeowner doing basement renovations found 50,000 to 60,000 slides in a wall. The slides generally depicted underage children in sexually suggestive positions with exposed genitalia, Melanson said.

He said there seemed to be a pattern that the photographs were taken in series. They would begin with the subjects fully clothed, then in various stages of undress, then completely naked. The children would be posed in sexual positions.

Melanson said some slides had notations that identified the subjects. Others had notations that seemed to indicate that Reardon may have been trading images with other pedophiles. He said those notations included the phrases "out for rotation" and "ready for a trade."

He said West Hartford police were able to positively identify about 90 of the children depicted in Reardon's slides. In some cases, he said, the identifications were made after the adults depicted as children in the slides gave police childhood photographs.

One child photographed by Reardon testified Tuesday. He was identified only by the pseudonym William Roe, a 54-year-old man with three brothers and a sister who grew up in suburban West Hartford with his parents.

Roe testified that his mother agreed to have him and his three brothers participate in Reardon's purported growth study after the doctor approached one of the brothers who was recovering from a tonsillectomy at St. Francis Hospital.

He said that after his mother dropped the boys off for their first visit at the hospital, Reardon spoke to all the boys to tell them that they were being asked to participate in a growth study and what would be expected of them. Reardon then returned the boys to his office waiting room and called them in individually for supposed study sessions that lasted from 30 to 45 minutes, Roe said.

when it was his turn, Reardon instructed him to undress and then measured his genitalia, Roe said. He also said the doctor then stimulated him to orgasm and took additional measurements. He said Reardon photographed the entire session.

Roe said he thought Reardon took between 50 and 100 photographs. He said he and his brothers never returned for a second session.

"We all agreed that it was a very strange experience and that we did not want to go back," Roe said. After the boys told their mother of their experience, she agreed that they did not have to return, Roe said.

In his half hour opening statement, Doe's attorney, Michael Stratton, a New Haven trial lawyer from a firm handling dozens of the cases, said St. Francis decided to become a leader in medical research in 1960 with an accompanying commitment to protect participants. He said the hospital failed to conduct even a minimal review of Reardon.

"Dr. Reardon was allowed to use St. Francis as a playground, and he used the study to get children in," Stratton said.

Paul D. Williams, attorney for the hospital, said St. Francis was not in court to defend Reardon, whom Williams called "a master manipulator who fooled and deceived everyone."

"If there is any anger in this case it should be directed at Dr. Reardon," Williams said. "We are all angry at what he did."

Williams asked the jury not to Monday-morning quarterback what St. Francis knew or should have known. The case is being heard by a jury of four men and two women. The presiding judge is Dan Shaban.

Reardon was chief of endocrinology at St. Francis from 1963 until he was forced to retire in 1993, when a brother and sister from upstate New York tracked him to Hartford and complained to the state Department of Health that he had abused them when he was a medical student in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

According to court records, doe's case is similar to most of the pending cases Reardon approached his mother and persuaded her to allow him to enroll Doe and his brother in the so-called study. The brother, John Doe 3, also is suing.

Doe claims in his suit, filed by the New Haven law firm Stratton Faxon, that he was abused from 1977 to 1985, when he was aged 9 to 17. In some cases, he says Reardon picked him up at his home and drove him to the hospital for examinations. In other cases, he stayed overnight at Reardon's home and the doctor drove him from there to the hospital. He said he was seen by Reardon about 100 times.

In a deposition, Doe's mother said she asked to be present when Reardon saw her sons, but the doctor refused. The mother said she wanted to witness her sons' examinations because the two, now-grown men, "were my sons and I really wanted to know what he was doing." St. Francis is represented by the law firm Day Pitney.

Those suing St. Francis claim on a variety of grounds that the hospital, as Reardon's employer, had an obligation to supervise him and protect them. Judge Shaban has dismissed most of the grounds but is allowing the first suit to proceed on two that the hospital negligently failed to supervise Reardon and that it failed in a special duty it had to protect children.

The victims want damages from St. Francis for the trauma they say was inflicted by Reardon and the lingering effects they say they still endure. Efforts to settle the suits, including an 11th hour mediation session last week failed.

Rabbit Out Of a Hat

It may be a bit early to call it the Miracle of the Racing Rain, but credit Auto Club Speedway president Gillian Zucker and her staff for pulling a rabbit from a hat over the weekend.

Years from now, it could very well be said that Sunday's crowd at the Auto Club 400 estimates of which range from 75,000 (ours) to 88,000 (NASCAR's) saved racing in Southern California.

Zucker and ACS put together an aggressive marketing program to stem the dwindling numbers at Fontana. What made the number even more significant was the improvement over that of the last race at the track about five months ago.

There was no doubt Zucker and the track were on the hot seat. NASCAR and track owner International Speedway Corp. had already agreed to pull one date from the facility, and there was a question as to whether major-league racing could thrive in the market.

Well, the answer is yes. While Sunday's crowd won't compare with those at NASCAR strongholds such as Daytona, Talladega, Bristol or Michigan, it will rank higher on the list than many others. That should silence the critics who've relished in bashing the West Coast for its lack of attendance at Sprint Cup races.

Of course we excluded Las Vegas from the list. Much like the open wheel Long Beach Grand Prix, is it about the racing or the opportunity to have a great time?

As much as we, or even you, hate to admit it, perhaps Kevin Harvick has been right all along. The winner of Sunday's close finish, Harvick has long maintained that tracks should be held accountable for their attendance, that there should be a demand for a second race rather than follow traditional habits.

Harvick, who just might be angling for a shorter or more diverse schedule, believes that a track should sell out one race before adding a second. In this economy, that's solid thinking. And, to his credit, Harvick put his back into the ACS efforts with various promotional activities centering around his native Bakersfield.

But before we all get swept away by the euphoria of Sunday's attendance, let's remember that it was just one race. Along Harvick's line of thinking, the speedway is now faced with the challenge of attracting more for the 2012 race.

Will it result in the return of a second date any time soon? That's to be determined by NASCAR sometime in the future, but Sunday's effort was a great start.

It was with a certain amount of sadness to understand that Mike Sweeney has decided to end his Major League Baseball career. We have been fortunate to see Big Mike Sweeney's son play the game since 1987, give or take a year, and the deposition rarely changed over the years.

Sweeney enjoyed playing the game, regardless of the level. He carried himself with a tremendous amount of grace that rubbed off on others, and he never forgot his roots just ask the fans who won a Sweeney autographed baseball at a Fan Appreciation Day game at Ontario High School.

And that swing he learned from his father: it was a beauty to watch.

Whether Sweeney makes the Hall of Fame, he'll always be recognized as a man of honor, conviction and character. We'll wish him well in his retirement.

It went unnoticed by many, but certainly not in the running world, that Cal Poly Pomona's Daniel Rojas was among the leading U.S. performers at the recent L.A Marathon. Rojas, who ran at Mt. San Antonio College before transferring over the hill to Cal Poly, posted an impressive time of 2:20.12 to finish 10th in his marathon debut.

We have, on previous occasions, been rather harsh on Cal Poly Pomona athletic director Brian Swanson about the merry go round of head coaches in the women's basketball program.

He wants it to stop as well. Therefore, he removed the interim tag from Danelle Bishop's title Monday. Not exactly a bad move, since she took the Broncos to the Elite Eight this season.

Now, all the pressure is squarely on Bishop's shoulders, as it should be. It's her program to run, her team to build, her games to win. Perhaps the move will bring tranquility to a program with rich history.
It won't be official until the Angels say so, but Upland High School graduate Michael Wing is apparently headed for San Bernardino. At least that's what dad Damon Wing is hoping for. The younger Wing is beginning his fifth season of pro ball, being drafted out of Upland in 2007.

Auto Club Speedway, part 2: The crowd was certainly a story, but so was the effort by the operations crew from the speedway and NASCAR.

Those arriving early never figured the race would get off on time when they were greeted by a steady drizzle. The wet stuff stopped at 10 a.m., though, and within two hours the track was dry enough to race.

That was crucial, considering "weepers," water seeping through the racing surface, were an issue Friday. It was good work by those involved.

James Campbell, a Korean War veteran, is the example of good things coming to those who wait. At 79 years and 6 months, Campbell rolled his first perfect game recently at Victor Bowl in Victorville, part of a 139-300-181 series.

Campbell makes the commute to Victorville from Barstow, where he resides at the veterans home. Reportedly, he's told friends he'll continue to make the 80-mile round trip as long as gas is under $5 a gallon.

A 10 year Navy veteran, Campbell was a gunner on an aircraft that flew off the USS Princeton in Korea. He's averaging 174 in the Hesperians League and 185 in his Saturday League, down from the 202 he averaged when he was 69.
So Jim Tressel's paper trail at Ohio State indicates he might have been loosely playing with the truth, again. Wonder when the full story will eventually leak out?

If I were running the NCAA, and I'm glad I'm not, I would tack on another five Big 10 games to the five that Ohio State already suspended Tressel. The governing body chased Jerry Tarkanian for years, but it was never proved that he lied to them at all.

VCU Upsets

The lead was collapsing in on Virginia Commonwealth, the dream of a most remarkable NCAA tournament run finally flickering. Rams coach Shaka Smart had just earned a technical for charging toward an official at the Alamodome after calling a timeout on Sunday.

"I didn't even say anything, but I guess I charged out there a little bit faster than I should have," said Smart, 33. "I've got to control my pace as I move toward the officials."

The second year head coach then offered a blunt pep talk: "It was basically forget about the refs, forget Kansas,'' he said. "This is all about us, and we've got to do what we've got to do.''

When it was over, VCU had done it, taking out top-seeded Kansas, 71-61, in the NCAA Southwest Regional final. In the ensuing delirium, some fans began cheering at the sight of several older men in suits. "Selection committee," those fans yelled in tribute. The men indeed were part of the NCAA selection committee, sudden celebrities in the Virginia Commonwealth orbit after making the surprising decision to put the Rams into the tournament. Now the most unlikely team ever to reach the Final Four will face Butler on Saturday in an all-Cinderella matchup in Houston.

Officially, VCU (28-11) becomes the third No. 11 seed to advance to the Final Four, after LSU in 1986 and another Colonial Athletic Association miracle team, George Mason, in 2006. But sources said VCU really was a 12th seed, bumped up to an 11th seed because of all the bracket rules that keep teams from playing each other. If the NCAA hadn't expanded from 65 to 68 teams this season, VCU, a fourth place finisher in the Colonial Athletic Association, wouldn't have been in.

"Their players could play for us any day," Kansas coach Bill Self said after his team made just 2 of 21 three pointers and just 15 of 28 free throws. "If we played shirts and skins today, you wouldn't have much of a difference on players or how they look. They've got some good-looking kids. They got what they deserved today. They certainly outplayed us."

As Rams guards drained a barrage of first-half threes, racing to a shocking 18-point lead, there was no fear factor. VCU super-sub Brandon Rozzell dropped one of his four first-half three-pointers from right in front of the Kansas bench and then ran his mouth at that shell-shocked group.

Kansas (35-3), led by the twin tower Morris brothers of North Philadelphia, Marcus (20 points, 16 rebounds) and Markieff (13 points, 12 rebounds, 8 turnovers), got within two points. But VCU counterpunched.

Point guard Joey Rodriguez ignoring the air ball he had just thrown up, followed by a blocked layup attempt drained a three pointer off the dribble, pushing VCU's lead back out to 60-52 with five minutes left.

After Marcus Morris scored on a putback, Rodriguez drove and threw back outside to Bradford Burgess, who had made six three-pointers and the game winning shot Friday against Florida State. A wide open Burgess drained a three from the top of the key.

"That game was all about style of play," Smart said. "We got the style going the way that we wanted in the first half. And if you watched closely, their players were tugging on their shorts for much of the game."

Chris Brown Apologizes

Though Robin Roberts says Brown was aware she was going to ask about Rihanna, Chris told a different story on last night's "106 & Park" on BET where he said the talking points approved by his people were all about "positivity" and his new album.

Brown says he was "thrown off" by Robin's line of questioning and said she only brought up the Rihanna incident in an effort to "exploit me."

The singer says he then exploded backstage "to release the anger that I had inside me," adding that "I got very emotional and I apologize for that." Chris Brown was invited on 'Good Morning America' to perform and be interviewed. There were no talking points offered."

Boys lacrosse top 10

With three early wins against top-10 competition, St. Mary’s-Annapolis has earned the top spot in The Post’s first boys’ lacrosse rankings of the season.

Under first year Coach Rob Chomo, the Saints have knocked off No. 4 Gonzaga, No. 5 Landon and No. 10 DeMatha already in 2011. They begin MIAA play on Friday at Mount St. Joseph’s.

No. 2 Georgetown Prep won the IAC regular season title a year ago and returns a talented corps of seniors that includes do-everything midfielder Bobby Gribbin (Penn State) and defensemen Henry Williams (Notre Dame) and Jeff Hale (High Point).

Second-team All-Met attackman Connor Gallegos and honorable mention pick Nick Weeden, a midfielder, lead No. 3 Episcopal, which is off to a 6-0 start this season.

Gonzaga begins 2011 at No. 4 coming off its first WCAC title in more than a decade. The Eagles boast a potent offense highlighted by midfielders David Planning (Ohio State) and Connor Reed and attackmen Kyle Bruun (St. Joseph’s) and Sean Whitcomb. Whitcomb scored the game-winner in overtime in last season’s WCAC championship game. They already have six victories this season thanks to three wins at the Jesuit Lacrosse Classic in Houston last weekend.

A year after rallying past Georgetown Prep for the IAC tournament title, Landon begins the season ranked No. 5. Senior Patrick Keena, a 2010 All-Met second-team pick, paces the Bears’ attack. First-team All-Met goalie Will Joyce graduated, and his brother Alex Joyce a Georgetown commit takes over between the pipes this season.

St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes grabs the No. 6 spot despite the departure of three All-Met honorees off last season’s squad. Honorable mention All-Met pick Peter Milley, a Georgetown signee, and North Carolina commit Brent Armstrong ensure the Saints have plenty of returning talent.

No. 7 Severna Park graduated All Met Player of the Year Connor Hunt and seven other starters off last season’s undefeated Maryland 4A/3A championship team, but the Falcons’ bid for a sixth state title should get a boost from a group of 23 seniors, including UMBC-bound midfielder Avery Littlejohn.

No. 8 Bullis won 15 games in a breakout 2010 campaign, including victories against Gonzaga and St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes. With a defense anchored by Johns Hopkins signee John Kelly, the Bulldogs should be in position to push the IAC’s best this season.

Two time defending Virginia state champion Langley comes in at No. 9 and remains the team to beat in Northern Virginia. Despite losing All-Met defender Thomas Robinson (Loyola, Md.) and nine other seniors, the Saxons return talented attackers Jack Sandusky and Sean Ahearn as well as a reliable tandem in net in junior Andrew Spivey and senior Ryan Long.

Rounding out the list, No. 10 DeMatha has lost a pair of non-conference games already this season but WCAC wins against St. Mary’s Ryken and Bishop Ireton are proof that senior attackman Ryan Belka and the Stags, who lost the league’s title game to Gonzaga in overtime a year ago, will challenge for the top again.

VCU Is A Cinderella Sweet 16 Team

VCU's surprise run to the Sweet 16 has many evoking memories of another CAA team that made a deep NCAA Tournament run as a No. 11 seed. Here's the thing, though. VCU is different, and maybe even better, than the 2006 George Mason squad.

After the ESPN college hoops crew decided to eviscerate the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee for their inclusion of VCU in the Field of 68 (still weird to type), I decided as a CAA fan to become the SB Nation D.C. torchbearer for Shaka Smart's 2011 Rams basketball team. The premise was simple: VCU deserved to be in the field based on their body of work, and any subsequent wins would not be fluke upsets but rather a solid ball club simply winning games.

Well, I need to tap into the Gheorge The Blog petty cash fund and send Shaka a Harry and David sausage and cheese basket, because that premise looks pretty good in retrospect if I may say so myself. So, last night, in my Dallas hotel room, to prevent a Captain Willard-esque meltdown, I decided to pen another tome to this year's tournament darlings, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Problem was, much like Mr. Maguire, I didn't even know where to start. Is VCU this year's 2006 George Mason, as everyone is droning on and on about? Or, as I slowly realized over a 28-dollar room-service lasagna, is VCU instead wait for it this year's VCU?

Let me explain. Sure, Shaka Smart's 2011 team has some similarities to Jim Larranaga's 2006 bunch. Both are/were veteran mid-major squads with sneaky athleticism who play as a true team. Mason had five players average double figures during their 2005-2006 season; VCU has four guys averaging double figures this year. Both have personable and energetic coaches. Both played up the David vs. Goliath, Us against the World mentality (though as noted above I never felt VCU was a David and there's no way Shaka Smart really did either). Both have become the de-facto "Cinderellas" during their run.

But that's where the similarities end, at least to this observer. While George Mason scrapped and clawed their way to their magical Final Four run, having to stage rallies in each game they played, VCU has won three games in five days against major conference competition in dominating fashion. Just ask USC, Georgetown and Purdue what they think of the Rams.

"If you watched VCU a certain time in the season you wouldn't see what you just watched out there," Painter said. "Then you watch them during a four- or five-game stretch and you literally think, 'They can beat any team in the country.' I made that statement VCU can beat any team in the country on a neutral court. And I believe that. I was hoping that team wouldn't show up, but that team from VCU did show up."

VCU has won their first three tournament games by an average of 16 points per game behind tenacious, suffocating defense and solid three-point shooting. This should surprise no one, as VCU has excelled all season with a similar formula. But even I was stunned when totaling the numbers for these first three victories: 29 of 60 from behind the arc (48 percent) and 58 forced turnovers against just 18 Rams giveaways.

I would be remiss if I also didn't mention the good this VCU run is doing for the conference as a whole. Rather than pretending to be an expert on win shares and bid shares, I'll let CAA and UNC-Wilmington columnist Brian Mull explain.

VCU win worth another $1.4 million for the #CAA, bringing total to $9.8 million generated through NCAA Tourn...60 percent of this money ($4.2 million) will be split equally between the 12 CAA schools. The other 40 percent goes into an incentive pool.

In a nutshell, what's good for the goose (Rams) is good for the gander (CAA), or something hokey like that.

Career Builder: Job Oppertunity

At some point, like it or not, we have to venture into the work force. It's unavoidable. A select few fall into their professional roles. A summer job, internship or family business gently ushers them into the work world and allows them to sidestep the job search process. For the rest of us, the day comes when we try to make our résumés look impressive and then take our nicest clothes to the cleaners.

Job hunting is always intimidating. Even the most seasoned professional feels a tinge of anxiety during interviews or in the days when the managers are deciding whom to hire. For first-time job seekers, or those who haven't searched in a long time, the entire process can feel overwhelming.

Although no amount of preparation will take away those butterflies, these five tips can improve your chances of landing the perfect job.

1. Think creatively when writing your resume

Putting together your résumé is the first step in the job search, and often it is the most difficult, especially for first-time job seekers. If you're fresh out of school or are returning to the work force after an extended leave, you might think, "I have no experience to list." Although your work history might be limited or nonexistent, you need to think beyond job titles.

Look at your volunteer experience, clubs, association, guilds and any other activities you were involved in at school and in your personal time. Tutoring a child, organizing a fundraiser, and serving as a committee's bookkeeper all require communication and leadership skills that employers value.

2. Network and ask questions

You're not the first person to look for a job, so don't pretend like you're alone in this hunt. Your friends and family remember what it was like and they'll happily help where they can.

Look around you and you'll realize how many different connections you have to dozens of industries. Let people know that you're looking for a job and what you want to do, and they can let you know whether they hear of an opportunity. Plus, a personal reference goes a long way when a hiring manager is looking at a stack of otherwise similar applications.

3. Find a mentor or buddy

Because job hunting can be filled with many questions and a lot of uncertainty, having someone to rely on is always a good idea. Find a friend or family member who is willing to answer your questions. They are also good resources for looking over your résumé and practicing interview questions. Ultimately a job search comes down to you and the employer, but having someone to share it with you along the way is helpful.

4. Be focused

Novice job seekers, especially in today's economy, are eager to find any job. That often means blasting the same résumé to every company and hoping to land an interview with anybody. Employers don't want to hire someone looking for a job; they want somebody who's perfect for their job.

Decide what you want out of your job search. What kind of job? In what industry? How are you qualified? When you answer those questions, you can begin to tailor your cover letter and résumé for each position.

5. Have confidence

When you're a new job seeker, you can feel as if every other applicant is more qualified than you and you have nothing to offer the company. Don't let self doubt damage your search. Remember that you have skills and talent to offer and that you have as much right to be considered for the job as anybody else. If you act as if you don't belong in that interview, the hiring manager will feel the same way. Don't be arrogant and act as if you're owed the job; just act as if you are worth the hiring manager's time.

Goldman Deals: On Tape

A Goldman Sachs director disclosed to Raj Rajaratnam in 2008 that the investment bank was weighing an acquisition of either Wachovia or American International Group, according to a wiretapped telephone conversation that was played in court on Tuesday.

Mr. Rajaratnam, co-founder of the hedge fund Galleon Group, is on trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan on insider trading charges. On Tuesday, a defense lawyer began his cross-examination of a main government witness who has pleaded guilty to passing illegal stock tips to Mr. Rajaratnam.

But the most striking testimony came when prosecutors played a recording of a July 25, 2008, call between Mr. Rajaratnam and Rajat K. Gupta, then a Goldman director.

Mr. Rajaratnam, working from his Greenwich, Conn., home that day, told Mr. Gupta that he was meeting with Gary D. Cohn, the president of Goldman, later in the week. He asked Mr. Gupta about a rumor that Goldman might look to buy a commercial bank.

“This was a big discussion at a board meeting,” Mr. Gupta said. He explained that the Goldman board was divided over whether buying a commercial bank made sense because it was a low-return business. Goldman was bearish on commercial banks, he said, but the board was “opportunistic” and if Wachovia “was a good deal they’d go and buy Wachovia.”

Mr. Gupta also said that the board was weighing the acquisition of an insurance business, including A.I.G. “Yes, A.I.G. was in the discussion mix,” he said. Ultimately, Mr. Gupta concluded, “I would be extremely surprised” if there was “anything imminent.”

The detailed discussion of Goldman’s board meeting is the first time the government has disclosed specific comments made by Mr. Gupta to Mr. Rajaratnam about the bank’s internal dealings while a director. The exchange also reveals the thinking of Goldman’s board at a time when the bank was struggling as the financial crisis grew.

A Goldman spokesman declined to comment.

The Securities and Exchange Commission brought a civil action this month against Mr. Gupta, who once ran the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, accusing him of passing illegal tips to Mr. Rajaratnam about Goldman and Procter & Gamble, where he also served as a director. The case recounted phone calls between the two men, but provided no detail of their content.

Mr. Gupta has not been charged criminally. Gary Naftalis, a lawyer for Mr. Gupta, has said that the S.E.C.’s accusations are baseless.

The government concluded its direct examination Tuesday morning of Anil Kumar, a former senior executive at McKinsey, who has pleaded guilty to giving Mr. Rajaratnam confidential information about his clients.

Mr. Kumar testified that Mr. Gupta had numerous business dealings with Mr. Rajaratnam, including a partnership in a fund managed by Mr. Rajaratnam called Voyager that was unrelated to Galleon and that collapsed during the financial crisis.

During the cross-examination, John Dowd, Mr. Rajaratnam’s lawyer, attacked Mr. Kumar’s credibility, depicting him as a cooperating witness in the government’s back pocket and a cheat who did not pay his taxes.

“When you got caught, you pinned it all on Raj, didn’t you?” Mr. Dowd said.

Mr. Kumar, who spoke in a soft, scholarly tone during the direct examination, became combative. He raised his voice several octaves and repeatedly sparred with Mr. Dowd, shooting back clipped, rapid-fire retorts and mocking his questions with derisive laughter.

Mr. Dowd focused on the plan Mr. Kumar had set up in 2003 to receive secret payments from Mr. Rajaratnam and then invest them in Galleon. To avoid detection by McKinsey, Mr. Kumar established a shell company and opened a Swiss bank account in the company’s name. Those payments were then redirected to an offshore Galleon account controlled by Mr. Kumar but opened in the name of his housekeeper.

Mr. Kumar told the jury that he did all this at the direction of Mr. Rajaratnam, who paid him more than $2 million.

On Monday, Mr. Dowd called Mr. Kumar’s maneuvers “a monstrous lie.”

Mr. Kumar said, “I am not sure what you mean by ‘monstrous,’ I obeyed the instructions of Raj Rajaratnam, the managing partner of Galleon.”

Spring Equinox

While March showed some lamb-like weather this past weekend, Spring is officially rolling in like a blustery lion. Today, the Vernal Equinox (which actually occurred just before midnight) marks the celestial point when the sun shines directly on the equator and the length of day and night are nearly equal in all parts of the world. But while the giant star might be doing something special today somewhere behind the snow clowds, I’m not sure we’ll be able to notice it much.

Here in Baristaville, we’ve moved almost fully round the seasons in the past few days though not in the correct order.

If Friday was summer, Sunday was spring and Monday is winter, will we have autumnal weather on Wednesday? Nah, it’s only March doing its wacky thing.

Tiger Woods Gets A New Girlfriend

Tiger Woods‘ new girl looks like a younger version of his ex-wife Elin Nordegren but she’s also a bad girl with a police record!

Alyse Lahti Johnston, 22, is a student at Northwood University, which has a campus near in West Palm Beach, Florida conveniently located near Tiger’s place. But this student has something of a rough past, after being arrested last year under suspicion of DUI. The charges were late downgraded, but her mugshot indicates says it all!

The two have allegedly been dating for a few weeks and are spending plenty of time on Tiger’s luxury yacht. Perhaps they are trading golf tips since she is an amateur golfer herself!

UCSD Policy Limits

With transfer applications soaring and budget cuts looming, the University of California San Diego is raising the threshold on a guaranteed admission program for the state’s community college students.

For years, community college students who took specific courses and obtained a 3.0 grade point average could count on admission under the program called Transfer Admissions Guarantee, or TAG.

But faced with growing demand and limited capacity, UCSD officials in recent weeks have notified community college officials statewide that for guaranteed admission in 2012 and beyond TAG students will have to earn GPAs of 3.5 or better.

Mae Brown, assistant vice chancellor and director of admissions at UCSD, said that TAG applications have grown from 443 five years ago to 8,715 for fall admission this year.

“We saw the exponential growth in TAG applications this is a guarantee and the obvious issue is we don’t have the capacity,” Brown said. “Given the severe budget situation, and the university (statewide) taking a $500 million or more budget reduction, if we are going to guarantee, we should be guaranteeing admissions to the best prepared.”

UCSD’s program started in the early 1980s and involved only two year schools in San Diego and Imperial counties. Later, UCSD entered agreements with 33 colleges around the state. And since 2009 it has offered the program to all 112 California community colleges.

Brown said applications spiked dramatically for 2011 largely due to a new computer based process that makes it easier for TAG students to apply to multiple campuses. Still, she said, the trend was already overtaxing the campus’ capacity.

The university’s decision has prompted a sharp response from officials of Southwestern College, which serves a predominantly minority population in the South Bay.

“We are very concerned,” said Angelica Suarez, vice president for student affairs at the one college district. “It’s about access for our students. This is going to narrow and reduce the number of students who can go to UCSD.”

Suarez and Jaime Salazar, Southwestern’s transfer center coordinator, said UCSD’s decision directly contradicts university policies calling for the removal of barriers for students from traditionally underrepresented groups.

“They’re always giving us lip service,” said Salazar. “They say they’re committed to diversity, but it’s all lip service. It’s all about being the Ivy League of the West, serving the elite.”

Brown, who has met recently on the issue with representatives of all six community college districts in San Diego and Imperial counties, dismissed the notion that the change runs counter to the university’s diversity goals. She said that when the TAG program was implemented in the early 1980s available then only to local two year college it was meant to boost then low transfers from community colleges.

“It had nothing to do with underrepresented minorities,” she said.

Brown noted that UCSD will continue to admit community college transfers through TAG and the non guaranteed transfer process.

“Because community colleges are so racially diverse, you automatically pick up more diversity whenever you admit those transfers,” she said.

Of the nine University of California undergraduate campuses, seven have TAG programs. Berkeley and UCLA do not offer guaranteed transfer admissions to community college students.

Nick Serrano, a Southwestern College student government officer, disagrees with Brown’s contention that the decision is neutral in its effect on minorities.

“The change from a 3.0 to a 3.5 is huge,” said Serrano. “To a lot of our students this is discriminating because minority students do tend to have lower GPAs.”

He added that many UC eligible Southwestern students can’t really consider other campuses in the system because they can’t afford the cost of living away from home.

“It’s an access issue,” Serrano said. “It will limit a lot of our students, who can only go local, from going to UCSD.”

UCSD accepted 25 TAG students from Southwestern in 2008, 46 in 2009 and 66 in 2010. It has received 152 TAG applications for fall of this year.

Brown said that based on 2010 data, she estimates the 3.5 threshold would have reduced the applicant pool by about 50 percent. Administrators at other local community colleges are not as distressed by UCSD’s decision as their counterparts at Southwestern.

“I agree that it’s a big jump (from 3.0 to 3.5,)” said Lynn Neault, vice chancellor of student services for the San Diego Community College District. “As the demand for higher education increases, they’ve got to manage budgets and manage enrollment just like we do.

“What we need to do is make clear to our students from the start that they need to get as high a GPA as they can.”

Neault estimated that the higher GPA would disqualify about 45 percent of her district’s TAG applicants. Southwestern College officials and others have asked UCSD to modify its decision. They have suggested that students already in the program be grandfathered in at 3.0 for 2012 admission.

Other suggestions include keeping the threshold at 3.0 for San Diego and Imperial county students while raising it for others. Another is that the level be raised only to 3.2. Brown said the decision has already been made by the faculty’s admissions committee. But the question of those in the pipeline, at least is open to discussion.

“We’ve met with the community college vice presidents,” Brown said. “And we’ve talked about ways to accommodate students in that bind.”

Texas Woman's University

A student at a North Texas university has been caught after allegedly made a threat in class that prompted a school lockdown. Nobody has been harmed at Texas Woman's University in Denton.

TWU shortly after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday advised students and staff to remain inside during the search for the man, who left class after making the unspecified threat.

A statement from TSU says the lockdown was lifted by late morning after the suspect was taken into custody. Keep in touch with us for further details and updates.

TWU, with enrollment of about 14,000, is located 50 miles north of Dallas.a

Swift Car Insurance

Many people refer to the internet when finding swift car insurance. They are looking to get insurance for their car in a hurry because of different reasons, but turning to the internet can really help people tremendously.

For one, the convenience of shopping for anything online is always favorable. Some people do not want to shop around with different insurance providers and they don’t want to spend the time to get on the phone with insurance provider after insurance provider. This is why the internet has become the number one place where people who are looking for swift car insurance will go for information as well as insurance quotes.

The fact that you are online right now means that you are already ahead of most people when it comes to attaining swift car insurance. You will be able to immediately go to different websites and get a number of quotes within minutes. This will allow you to look at all of the proposals and it will help you choose the best swift car insurance that is the most favorable to you.

Depending on what your driver’s license record looks like, your results may vary from others. A lot of people that want swift car insurance are unaware of how quotes are calculated; therefore you should try to understand that before you are expecting a ridiculously low quote.

For example, if you have accidents in your driving history that were due to your driving negligence, or whatever the case may be, but if it was determined by your police report and your insurance provider that you were at fault, it means that your insurance will be going up. The reason for this is because now you are considered a liability to the insurance company and in order for them to be on the safe side with your driving record, they will need to charge you a higher premium, just in case.

Another thing that affects the premium of your swift car insurance is the amount of points that you have on your driving record. The more points you have means that you received tickets and they were not settled in court. This lets them know that you are more vulnerable to get more speeding tickets or even have an accident because your history shows that you have several points on your license. If you received those points from speeding tickets, they will be able to see that because once they pull up all of your information for your swift car insurance quote it will show them why you received those points. If you are a speed demon in the streets then you are more apt to getting another ticket and even hitting someone in the street, so your insurance will reflect that.

Whether or not your driving record is clean, you should definitely check online for swift car insurance quotes and shop the best deal possible for yourself and for your family. There are so many companies online that are fighting for the next customer that they are willing to offer better deals online than they would to a regular person who would walk into their office.

Kim Kardashian

Is there a new addition to the Kardashian clan?

Melissa Molinaro is turning heads in the newest Old Navy commercial, where she performs in a fake music video for the company looking eerily similar to reality star Kim Kardashian.

This is not the first time that Canadian born Melissa Smith, aka Melissa Molinaro has made her mark on television, as she participated in both “Making the Band 3” and “The Pussycat Dolls Present: Search For the Next Doll.” In both instances, she came very close to winning the shows, but, unfortunately, things didn’t work out for her in either case.

Now, with the buzz of this new Old Navy campaign, the interest in the “Kardashian look alike” is growing, and we should be seeing a lot more of her because there are twelve commercials in total slated to come out by the end of the year.