In a springtime show of unity, congressional Democrats welcomed President Barack Obama to the Capitol Wednesday and unveiled budget blueprints that embrace his key priorities and point the way for major legislation this year on health care, energy and education.

Even so, both the House and Senate versions lack specifics for any of the administration's signature proposals. And Democrats decided to cut spending -- and exploding deficits -- below levels envisioned in the plan Obama presented less than a month ago.

Administration officials and congressional leaders said any differences were modest.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., left, speaks during a news conference about the budget on Capitol Hill in Washington Wednesday, March 25, 2009 as Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., listens. [Agencies]

"This budget will protect President Obama's priorities -- education, energy, health care, middle class tax relief and cut the deficit in half," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said after the chief executive met privately in the Capitol with rank-and-file Democrats.

Because today's technology allows you to do so many things quickly, it's easy to fall into the trap of believing that search engine optimization should happen at the snap of your fingers, too.

But the truth is, search engine optimization takes time. More than two hours, two days, two weeks, or even two months. It is a long-term process and a long-term commitment: but, done right, it brings long-term business growth. Here's a brief sketch of what you can expect when you take on the task of serious search engine optimization:

Business Analysis. So many businesses want to skip this stage! But this is the foundation of the entire SEO structure: analyzing your business, your goals, your current website, your market, and your products and services. Until you know who you are, who you want to reach, and how you want to reach them, SEO will remain nothing more than a pipedream.

Keyword Research. Once you have thoroughly analyzed your business, keyword research must be performed to determine what words and phrases your potential clientele are searching on to find you. One of the most dangerous mistakes you can make is to assume you know how people are searching for you: you need the hard facts that only in-depth, professional research can provide.

Website Optimization. The keywords and phrases must then be incorporated strategically throughout your site. You may also find that your website needs restructuring or a full or partial redesign in order to appeal to your market and be easily indexed by the search engines.

Site Indexing. Once your website has been search engine optimized and goes live, you begin another phase of the waiting game: it can take up to 8 weeks for the various search engines to index your site. And there is absolutely no way to speed up that process.

Ongoing Testing. Finally, it is vital to understand that your job isn't done even when your site has been search engine optimized and indexed. That is just the start of the longest phase of the process: tracking results, testing different terms, and adding new content. In fact, this phase has no endpoint … as long as you want to maintain a viable web presence, you must continually put time and effort into your site's search engine optimization.

 

The United States is facing a brain drain and can no longer take for granted its ability to attract the world's top talent, according to a new study.

The Kauffman Foundation, a non-profit organization, surveyed 1,203 Indian and Chinese immigrants and found that skilled immigrants are leaving the US to return to their home countries in greater numbers. It released the study - America's Loss is the World's Gain - conducted by Vivek Wadhwa of Harvard University last week.

"A substantial number of highly skilled immigrants have started returning to their home countries in recent years, draining a key source of brain power and innovation," said Robert E. Litan, vice-president of Research and Policy at the Kauffman Foundation. "We wanted to know what is encouraging this much-needed growth engine to leave our country, thereby sending entrepreneurship and economic stimulus to places like Bangalore and Beijing."

The study said all respondents had either studied or worked in the US and subsequently returned home. Most cited reasons like a growing demand at home for their skills, better opportunities for professional growth, the need to be closer to family and friends or problems adjusting to life in the US to return.

The respondents were young with the average Indian being 35 and the average Chinese being 37 years. They were highly educated with most holding a master's or Ph.D degree in management, technology or science.

According to the study: "These returnees are at the very top of the educational distribution for these highly educated immigrant groups - precisely the kind of people that make the greatest contribution to the US economy and business and job growth."

"Sadly, given the political climate and the economic crisis, we're likely to lose even more of this human endowment."

The outflow of this talent is likely to pose a threat to US' competitiveness. Historically, immigrants have proven to be one of US' greatest competitive advantages. Between 1990 and 2007, the proportion of immigrants in the US labor force increased from 9.3 percent to 15.7 percent.

Immigrants started 52 percent of Silicon Valley technology companies and contributed to more than a quarter of America's global patents, Wadhwa wrote in a recent Business Week article. They have contributed disproportionately in the most dynamic part of the US economy - the technology sector.

In 2006, US companies founded by immigrants employed 450,000 people and reported $52 billion in revenues.

The Kauffman Foundation study said it was worrisome that up to a third of the returnees hold permanent resident status in the US or are American citizens.

Nearly half of the returnees are planning to start businesses in their home countries - for which they foresee a better success rate at home than in the US.

Interestingly, one-third of the Indians and one-fifth of the Chinese said visa issues were a strong factor in their decision to return, which indicated that placing limits on foreign workers in the US cannot be the answer to the country's rising unemployment rate.

For instance, the stimulus bill imposes tough new restrictions on H1B visas for highly skilled workers hired by companies getting bailout money - a sign that the country is turning inward, despite the cost to America's long-term competitiveness.

"While some have tried to associate the increase in foreign workers over recent years with the economic problems that have plagued the country, this data verifies the opposite effect," said Wadhwa. "If the US government and the business community could find better ways to offer good jobs in tandem with less restrictive visa policies for talented immigrants, the US might be able to recapture many of these immigrants and their potential to help grow the US economy."

“Just give me the basics!”

That’s what this Chinese pronunciation guide is all about.

It’s all that you need to know Chinese pronunciation to get by.

The 80% that’s important.

To speak Mandarin, the first thing to learn is learning Chinese pronunciation of words using the system known as pinyin.

Pinyin is the Romanized Chinese phonetic system and is the most effective aid to learning Mandarin today.

(Romanized means using English alphabets.)

Pinyin was invented in the 1950’s so that anyone, especially English speaking people, could learn Chinese pronunciation easily.

Most of the letters in pinyin have the same sounds as letters of the alphabet – with only a few exceptions.

It’s really a very practical pronunciation system.

Can you imagine an English speaker trying to pronounce Chinese characters without pinyin?

(By the way, pinyin is less complicated that the other forms of Romanization for Chinese pronunciation, Wade-Giles and Yale.)

First, "The Four Tones"

Chinese is a tonal language.

Each Chinese character is a syllable with a fixed tone.

A different tone is a different Chinese character and hence a different meaning.

Chinese pronunciation involves four tones, each indicated by a tone mark.

The tone marks are placed over the vowels. (If the letter “i” has a tone mark over it, the dot is removed.”

First Tone: a high, level tone represented by “-“ as in ma ? “mother”

Second Tone: a rising, questioning tone represented by “/” as in má ? “to have pins and needles”

Third Tone: a drawling tone falling then rising represented by “v” as in ma ? “horse”

Fourth Tone: a sharp falling tone represented by “” as in mà ? “to scold”

Each syllable is written as a combination of consonants and vowels, plus the tone mark. Some syllables don’t start with consonants. And the only consonants that come after vowels are are the nasal “n” or “ng”.

(note: from here on, I’m just going to use 1, 2 3, 4 to represent the four tones)

You can see the importance of getting the tones right to avoid misunderstandings and comic situations.

A friend of mine just learnt the words for “secretary” “mi4 shu1” and instead said “mystery book” “mi2 shu1”

I bet you've heard stories like that.

It will take some time to get the tones right cause they’re not “natural” to English speakers.

(English is my first language and I went through the same process even though I’m an Overseas Chinese.)

Don’t be put off by the tones.

Eventually you’ll get it. But just so you know, you don’t have to be perfect.

I have American friends living in Shanghai who get by fine with a flat tone.

Of course, breakdowns in communication arise now and then, but the Chinese people can see you’re a foreigner learning Chinese (i.e. their language) and they’ll try hard to make sense of what you say.

So, they’re doing all the “hard work”!

Selecting a good domain name is the key factor for attaining a better page ranking. The most commonly used aspect while choosing a domain name is the usage of keyword in the URL. You can take the idea of selecting a domain name that has low competition but with good demand can ultimately help in Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

There are many factors to keep in mind while naming your domain. A good domain name should be short and easy to spell by the users. By avoiding long domain name will help the searchers to find your website and also to remember the name much easily. The keyword used in your domain name can be descriptive to help the internet users to memorize.

Make sure to include the domain name that is unique and at the same time keyword rich. Usage of more keywords in your domain name will help in a better ranking which in turn may also help the searchers to find your website. The use of more than two keywords can bring a negative impact, as it can make the domain name lengthier and the chance of misspelling is more. So it better to use a maximum of two keywords. Another drawback is that it can also make your email address long. So it is recommended the use of shorter and catchy domain names.

Among a large number of steps while choosing a domain name, the most important and foremost one is whether you are choosing a free or paid domain. In all these, give consideration to the customer so that your potential users can find your website.

Another important factor to be remembered in domain naming is the use of hyphens (-). If you are using two or more keywords, without separators, as your domain name it can be interesting, but at the same time the search engine may consider it as a single keyword. In this case, it is advised to use hyphen to separate the keywords. But for internet users the domain name without hyphen will be easier to remember and the one with hyphens tend to bring confusion for the users. A main solution for this issue is that you may use hyphened domain name during the registration with a search engine and for online advertising. At the same time go for a domain name which uses no hyphen, so that it may help the people who prefer just keywords during the searching.

Taking these tips into consideration will help you in selecting an excellent domain name for your website. You can register multiple variants for your website at the price of a single domain name. Also, make sure to avoid the use of numbers in your domain name as it may prevent confusion. In place of keywords you can also use some unique brand names for your website

Selecting a good business and domain name can draw a good traffic, and makes the entire process of optimization much easier. All you require is a shorter and unique web address that can bring your website among the top listing.

 

Soldiers killed Guinea-Bissau's President Joao Bernado "Nino" Vieira on Monday, hours after the tiny West African state's army chief was killed in an attack, residents of the capital said.

Gunfire and the crump of heavier weapons resounded in Bissau city and it was unclear who was in control.

Two residents, who both declined to be identified, said they had been told by presidential guards that Vieira had been killed and his body was lying in his home.

The country of just 1.6 million people, a former Portuguese colony, has suffered years of coups and civil strife and has been used in the past few years as a conduit for smuggling Latin American cocaine to Europe.

Vieira is a former military ruler who was ousted during a civil war in the 1990s and returned to power in a 2005 election.

He had been at odds with armed forces chief of staff General Batista Tagme Na Wai, who was killed in an attack on Sunday evening.

Tensions are rife within Bissau's political establishment and security forces. In January, the armed forces command said militiamen hired to protect President Vieira had shot at Na Wai.

A member of the militia denied the shooting had been an assassination attempt, but the armed forces command nevertheless ordered the militia be disbanded.

The 400-strong force had been recruited as Vieira's personal bodyguard by the Interior Ministry after the president was targeted in a machinegun and rocket-propelled grenade attack on his residence on November 23 last year.