Home > Real Estate > Steps in the Foreclosure Process
Because of the collapse of the real estate market, the word ?foreclosure? has become a regular part of the English language. This article will provide information about different types of foreclosures and how the process works.
In the context of real estate law, foreclosure is the legal process by which a real property lender recovers possession of the real property that secures its loan. Much like the repossession of a car or furniture when the borrower does not pay, foreclosure allows the real property lender to take back the property.
The bank that made the loan to you for your house can do this because as part of its agreement to loan money to the borrower, the lender is granted a lien by the homeowner which the bank can enforce should the homeowner refuse or be unable to pay.
The most common form of foreclosure in the United States is known as a ?non ? judicial? foreclosure under the provisions of the power of sale clause contained in a mortgage or deed of trust. This method has become the most frequent type of foreclosure proceeding because unlike a ?judicial? foreclosure no court action or judicial proceeding is required. In California, for example, virtually every foreclosure is a ?non ? judicial? foreclosure because it takes very little time and money to take back the property from the borrower.
A ?non ? judicial? foreclosure process involves the sale by the mortgage holder without court supervision. This process is fastest and cheapest way for the lender to terminate the rights of the homeowner and in some states can take less than six months.
A? non ? judicial? foreclosure culminates in a trustee?s sale. At the trustee?s sale the real estate will be auctioned to the highest bidder. Should bids not be forthcoming the property will revert to the lender whose loan is in default. If there are bidders, the foreclosing bank can keep the proceeds pay off its loan and any legal costs. Amounts in excess of the lender?s loan will be used to pay off junior or subordinate liens. Should there be a balance after the payment of all liens it will be paid over to the borrower.
Foreclosure by court, commonly known as a ?judicial foreclosure,? is available in every state and in some states is required. This involves a legal action in which the lender files a lawsuit that asks for a sale of the real property. As with other court actions, constitutional dictates of ?due process? allow a homeowner to answer the lawsuit and present legal defenses. At the conclusion of the case a decision is made in favor of either the lender or borrower. Should the lender prevail, the property is sold with the proceeds going to satisfy the foreclosing lender; then other lien holders; and, finally, the mortgagor/borrower.
More information about foreclosure can be found at http://www.palmspringslitigationattorney.com
Want to find out more about foreclosure. Visit attorney Mitchell Sussman?s web site where you can find out all about real estate foreclosure and how to deal with it.
Scores of Senegalese protested outside Gambia's embassy Thursday to demand that President Yahya Jammeh halt the execution of prisoners as another 38 convicts face the firing squad in coming weeks.
Demonstrators implored the international community to intervene after nine prisoners, including two Senegalese citizens, were executed for their crimes last Sunday in the tiny country which is wedged into Senegal.
The protesters chanted "Yahya assassin! Jammeh criminal!" and "Jammeh to the ICC (International Criminal Court)" as a handful of riot police kept watch.
"We want to alert the international community to say there are 38 people on death row and if nothing is done ... these people will be executed and thrown into mass graves," said Alioune Tine of the Dakar-based African Assembly for the Defense of Human Rights.
"As we speak no remains are in the hands of families."
Tine said the 47-year-old Gambian leader was a "modern day Idi Amin" referring to the former Ugandan dictator, and: "We must absolutely end the regime of this dictator."
The former soldier who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1994, has vowed to carry out all death sentences by mid-September.
Sheriff Bojang, a Gambian journalist exiled in Dakar like many of his colleagues who have fled persecution, is the first cousin of one of those executed on Sunday, Lieutenant Lamin Jarjou - one of three soldiers killed.
He said his cousin was accused of involvement in a bloody counter-coup attempt in 1994, and another several years later.
"That is what they said. He was tried, obviously they were beaten, coerced into signing things. We believed there was never a fair trial," Bojang told AFP.
Like most prisoners in Gambia, Jarjou was convicted by judges known locally as "machinery judges", hired by Jammeh from Nigeria. "He has the right to fire and hire them anytime so they only do what he wants them to do."
In all the time Jarjou was in prison, the only person to see him was his brother, for 10 minutes, during a hospital stay, said Bojang.
"Everybody was shocked ... nobody was aware of it," he said of the execution. His body has also not been returned to the family for proper Muslim burial rites.
Amnesty has said many on death row were tried on "politically motivated charges and subjected to torture and other ill-treatment to force confessions."
Last year eight military top brass, including the former army and intelligence chiefs and the ex-deputy head of the police force, were sentenced to death for treason.
Jammeh, who claims he can cure AIDS, is often pilloried for rights abuses and the muzzling of journalists. He has in the past threatened to cut off the heads of homosexuals and heaps derision on any criticism from the West.
Often accused by observers of paranoia, seeing coup plots around every corner and regularly reshuffling his government and top military officials, Jammeh rules the tiny nation with an iron fist.
"We have information that he has become completely mad; it is that in fact, there is no explanation," said Diene Ndiaye of Amnesty Senegal.
Mahawa Cham, a former Gambian lawmaker (2001-2006) and member of Jammeh's party, has no doubt that the president will continue his plans to execute the remaining prisoners.
"I believe he will continue to carry out the executions. This is a man who doesn't have sympathy for a human being. He thinks he is always right," Cham said.
Senegal has another citizen on death row awaiting execution and Jammeh's move to execute its citizens has caused a diplomatic spat between the nations.
On Wednesday Gambian Ambassador Mass Axi Gey was summoned by Senegal's Prime Minister Abdoul Mbaye to inform him of "the unacceptable" nature of the executions and urge Jammeh to spare the life of the third prisoner.
In Sierra Leone four civil society organisations said the executions were "putting The Gambia out of step with other African Union states, majority of which are abolitionist in law and practice."
AdvocAid, Amnesty International, the Centre for Accountability and the Rule of Law and Prison Watch in a joint statement urged Gambia to "commute prisoners on death row to terms of imprisonment.
The White House is taking its time to issue final federal rules for automakers to reach the 54.5 MPG by 2025 fuel economy standard. To fill the open space, many people are having their say in the matter, to influence the outcome. Three Republican Congressmen, for example, would like to see a delay to further consider higher fuel economy rules on "consumer safety." On the positive side, DrivingGrowth and the Consumer Federation of America say that jobs are being created by fuel efficiency and that consumers look forward to saving more money at the gas pump. Forbes contributor Mindy Lubber says that the "shift toward efficiency and advanced technology is driving job creation, investment and innovation across the country."
Lubber says automakers and suppliers will have better sales, profits and more jobs with the increase to 54.5 mpg. Ford is investing $135 million more in hybrid and electric production, and doubling the size of its team on forward-looking energy technologies. Honda is planning to hire 300 more workers next year at its Greensburg, IN, plant, which is slated to start producing the Civic Hybrid. Volkswagen is adding a third shift at its Chattanooga, TN plant to build more of its fuel-efficient Passats. And tier-one supplier Continental pursuing electrification technologies.
Also mentioned is a report issued by Ceres, a nonprofit that leads a coalition of organizations and public interest groups to address sustainability and global climate change. The Ceres commissioned report, More Jobs Per Gallon, states that the 54.5 mpg rule would create nearly 700,000 new jobs nationwide and more than 63,000 in the auto industry. It's similar to the DrivingGrowth report, which is also supported by environmental groups.
Look for ?nonstop? rather than just ?direct? flights. Nonstop flights, as their name implies, make no stops before arriving at the destination, whereas direct flights may stop at other airports on the way to the final destination. Although you are not changing planes, the stops you make on a direct flight can lead to many unexpected delays.
When you are traveling on a cruise ship, plan for any theme parties that they might have on board. Contact the ship ahead of time, and find out what they will be doing. Pack a few accessories that will help you enjoy the festivities, and you could even save some money since you won?t be tempted to buy costumes on the boat.
If you are going on a long plane ride and the person in the seat next to you has a lot to say, and you really don?t want to hear it, just pretend to nod off. When they see that you are sleeping, I would hope that they would get the idea and be quiet.
When planning travel for a vacation, look into a vacation package instead of booking your flight, hotel, and car rental from separate places. Usually you can find a great deal that will save you hundreds of dollars by booking them in a package form and will also save you time of booking from all the separate companies.
Peruse the blogosphere. Bloggers are everywhere, and there is most likely one, if not many, bloggers blogging about your destination. Their blogs are a great resource for finding information about hidden gems of the city?restaurants, hotels, attractions, and more. Don?t be shy. If you contact them, many will be happy to answer your specific questions as well.
Never put your home address on your luggage. When filling out the information card on your luggage, use your business address instead. If you do not have a business address, leave it blank. If you happen to leave your luggage somewhere, only give your contact information to the hotel or airline staff.
It is essential to join a car-rental club before traveling. While hotel loyalty programs give you various ?extras? like free breakfast, car-rental clubs help you avoid long lines and eliminate endless paperwork. They also keep you from constantly getting up-sold. A car-rental club helps you avoid stress and frustration, leading to a better traveling experience.
A tip we all forget, change the bed sheets if you are staying somewhere more than a few days. While on vacation, we tend to think that we are in a magical world where normal things don?t exist. However, they do, and if we forget about them, you can suffer from ugly infections especially if you are staying in a warm climate. Keep your sheets changes regularly.
Try using the roll technique for packing clothes into your bags for your trips. This generally saves more space and time than with traditionally folding the clothes. You can even fit more clothes in your bag this way. By rolling the clothes up in tissue paper, you can also prevent them from getting too many wrinkles.
As was mentioned at the beginning of the article, learning more about travel is not just for novice travelers, it is for everyone. This is because there are always things a person can learn. The information in this article will help you improve the quality of your next travel experience.
Learn more on Bordeaux car hire or Bologna car hire.
As well as noticed that no matter what quantity of money you make in monthly, there is never adequate?
You most likely understand how much you earned last month, but do you discover how much you spent? If you dont, you are not the only one who doesn?t. According to survey, most people spend 10% a lot more than they make!
Why is it tough to track spending?
It is difficult for people to track their spending and whether it?s wise or not simply because they cannot decifer between requirements and wants. This is one on the biggest hindrance towards getting into practice good private finance budgeting.
You may need items in life including foodstuff, water, shelter and clothing. Needs are those stuff we cannot live without. Needs are also those who living without would case difficulties and distress. Knowing between needs and wants is essential since your perception will determine whether you spend your money on this or not.
Advertising is so powerful these days that you might think of luxuriuos goods as ?needs? when in fact you dont actually need them. These deceiving commercials upon TV greatly influence the purchasing and personal financial budgeting behavior. It is your job to manufacture a wise decision whether every new product is something you really need in addition to cannot live without. Some things may help to make life easier and equal to the quality of life you are living, but it is more imperative that you know whether you can certainly truly afford them or maybe not.
After learning between desires and wants put whatever you have learned into train. Here is a simple spending system that will greatly help your personalized finance budgeting:
- Create a personal finance budget which you can use - Save 10% of one?s income - Always know just how much you have left to shell out - Instantly know the impact of any spending decision - Track all ones purchases - Pay your bills by the due date - Effectively manage credit card spending
Many people create a financial budget according to other people financial worksheets. As much as it?s good to have some sort of reference, do not forget to generate it personal. Customize your personal finance budget as outlined by your expenditures. You are the only one who will refer to it each day so go ahead and help it become your own. This way, it will also look more familiar to you.
Many people purchase items with charge card more often than they will with cash. Always remember that marketing and advertising to buy items with cash since you are already free from obligations later on. Some people may forget that a card does not do magic along with a real bill comes at the conclusion of the month ? exacerbating your long list of bills.
The key is to have patience at the same time of the creation and maintenance of one?s personal finance budgeting listing. It takes time to verify information on expenditures and income to ensure nothing is missed. Also the accuracy of information is amongst the most important factors to produce a personal finance budget that really works.
In your personal finance budgeting, always remember the consequences of one?s spending. If you are about to spend your savings today on a single thing, remember that this becomes money that?s no longer available should you need it in the actual nearest future.
In 2005 the You. S. was implemented with completely new bankruptcy laws that handed congress. Before that time, filing for chapter 7 bankruptcies was an easy way out of financial responsibilities.
Many people spent years being careless using credit and debts because it can be fixed with a fast filing for bankruptcy.
Now that the regulation has changed, there are more rules for filing a section 7. Before the 2005 modification, filers could choose which code they wished to file under. Income did not issue.
One of the main changes is that now those with a higher income will have to file under chapter 13 and therefore pay off some of the incurred debt. The law also charged new restrictions on chapter 7 lawyers. It may be tougher now to get a lawyer who will represent you in the bankruptcy case.
In addition to the modern income restrictions, there is also necessary counseling that debtors must complete before and after filing for chapter 7 bankruptcy.
Pre-filing, individuals must complete credit counseling and post-filing, they must complete economic budgeting. These should have also been implemented years before. They are designed to hold people aware of their own spending and keep them on track.
If you start a business from scratch that means you have to create or use a product that hasn?t been used before and you have to try and market it so that you can generate enough sales to stay in business. You have to go through all the teething processes that invariably cause lots of problems for you along the way. Buying an existing business can be a good decision than starting up a new business exclusively for a simple reason called risk. If you start a new business you might surrounded by countless risks that stop your business to grow exponentially. Due to the risk factors associated with starting a new business buying an existing business is much more popular. People prefer to take franchise of the business over starting a business from scratch.
There are many things which you should always bear in mind before your commence searching for an existing organization for sale.
First of all decide what kind of business you want to buy. Put your choice for any specific location where you think your business can grow at rapid speed. Do not look for the business that is pertaining for the profits only because buying a business in places you are interested in or have got past experience would give you sufficient moral to bypass any hurdle that comes while running the business.
It is better to know your strengths whenever you plan to buy a new business. Listing your skills, your current experience, your certification, what your great at or how you need to run your business will help you to plan a better strategy to run your business. It is really important to first decide what type of business you want to buy, have you been okay with building a commercial, office centered or industrial kind of business, Your desired net income and the level of capital you have readily available for the down payment.
Make a valuation of the business you want to buy as it may be important to verify the proper amount of the business you want to purchase. It also helps you spending the money for correct amount of the enterprise in which you are interested in as opposed to over paying. Also make sure you buy a business directly from owner, as these businesses have a great chance of negotiation, a good deal and saving some extra money.
Constantly while buying a business for sale, be ready to negotiate always, have great persuasion skills try to remember to stay within your budget.
Author is a professional writer as he is writing articles on various topics from last three years. With this post he wants to share information on Buy a Business. Find more on website.
Wealth inequality is but one aspect of European imperialism and usury, claims author Khondakar Golam Mowla in new book ?The Judgment Against Imperialism, Fascism and Racism Against Caliphate and Islam?.
Austin, TX (PRWEB) August 29, 2012
According to author Khondakar Golam Mowla, ?the present Occupy Wall Street movement is nothing but the revolution started by Prophet Jesus (Peace be upon him) about 2000 years ago when he drove money exchangers who were doing interest/usury-based business from the Temple Mount/al-Aqsa Mosque/Dome of the Rock.? In his new book ?The Judgment Against Imperialism, Fascism and Racism Against Caliphate and Islam: Volume 1? (published by AuthorHouse), he seeks to clear up misunderstandings about Islam while indicting nations that have oppressed their Muslim populations.
In this well-researched and comprehensive book, Mowla makes strong allegations about the structure of nations worldwide and provides extensive evidence to warrant these claims. Mowla also seeks to vindicate the honor of Muslims worldwide through historical fact and encourage the establishment of the Caliphate, the head of the Muslim community.
Citing statistics from the World Institute for Development of Economics Research of the United Nations University in 2000: ?[The study] found the richest one percent of adults owned 40 percent of global assets in the year 2000, and that the richest 10 percent of adults accounted for 85 percent of the world?s total,? Mowla writes. ?In contrast, the assets of half of the world?s adult population account for barely one percent of global wealth.? These statistics point to an extreme degree of inequality around the world, as has been further illustrated by the current Occupy movement. Further questioning the reasoning and justice behind a one world order, Mowla writes, ?Who will bomb those who are responsible for the usury based world economy instead of bombing the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham (i.e.: Iraq) and the genocide occurring in Iraq, Afghanistan, northern Pakistan and all Arab countries??
Mowla goes on to question the ethics and justification behind current world politics and economics as it applies to the oppression of the Muslim world by the Western world, especially in regards to the Caliphate. In ?The Judgment Against Imperialism, Fascism and Racism Against Caliphate and Islam?, Mowla writes:
?This book is based on following address of the Right Hon. Syed Ameer Ali, the first Muslim as well the first Indian, to be member of British Privy Council, on Islam in the League of Nations in 1919. His speech is summary of my book. He was greatest Judge of Indian subcontinent (present India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) during his life time and as such no one must argue against the necessity of Caliphate. He was not a Terrorist, the ill word which is used against present Muslims who ever try to use or work or struggle (Jihad, peaceful Jihad without war, killing and destruction) in favor of the word Caliph or Caliphate. Let mankind decide which is right or wrong for mankind in general and World Muslims in particular. I documented all historical fact, truth and only truth in this book from all kind of sources and as such this book is not a story telling or myth, but fact of history for those who has some morality to Judge between wrong and right, between bad and good and between war, killing destruction of wealth and permanent peace for all mankind. The Caliph/Khalifah is the spiritual leader; unless there is a Caliph/Khalifah the Muslim prayers are not valid according to Right Hon. Syed Ameer Ali as he mentioned during his speech on Islam in the League of Nations in 1919. Thus there is no nationalism in Islam like Iraq or Saudi Arab or Egypt etc. as all are part of one nation, Caliphate/Khilafah?.
About the Author
Khondakar Golam Mowla was born in West Bengal, India. He has a degree in commerce and various training in computer-related software tools like COBOL, SAP, Solaris and Legato/networker, etc. He has more than 30 years of experience in IT, including around 15 years in the USA and ten years? IT experience in USA organizations like CARE Bangladesh and other USAID-funded projects in Bangladesh. He is has 3 other books including ?The Election of Caliph/Khalifah?, ?World Peace? and ?The Judgment Against Imperialism, Fascism and Racism Against Caliphate and Islam: Volume 2?.
AuthorHouse, an Author Solutions, Inc. self-publishing imprint, is a leading provider of book publishing, marketing, and bookselling services for authors around the globe and offers the industry?s only suite of Hollywood book-to-film services. Committed to providing the highest level of customer service, AuthorHouse assigns each author personal publishing and marketing consultants who provide guidance throughout the process. Headquartered in Bloomington, Indiana, AuthorHouse will celebrate 15 years of service to authors in Sept. 2011.For more information or to publish a book visit authorhouse.com or call 1-888-519-5121. For the latest, follow @authorhouse on Twitter.
Marketing Services AuthorHouse 888-519-5121 Email Information
Online websites became a necessity for numerous business people. Small-scale and huge enterprises, alike, ensure that which they possess an internet site to depict their organization. But possessing an internet site isn?t really a kid?s engage in! You should have to consider treatment of numerous items. Deciding an internet internet hosting business could be the most straightforward opportunity accessible for you. You require not be anxious about nearly anything this way. The business will see to your web hosting desires. Still, this painless way out possibly will verify disastrous, if you don?t go with a suitable internet hosting small business.
There?s lots of items to look at previously finalizing an online web hosting business enterprise. The company supplier needs to possess the technical knowledge and methods to host a web site. It really should not be described as an amateur to this area. The companies preferably should be low-cost. Considerably less downtime, technical assist, and back-up solutions are necessary attributes. Aside from all of this, customers also really need to realize out which working units the online web hosting organization hosts its web site. You can get 4 functioning programs to host an internet site. They can not be as opposed to one another. Each and every one particular is sweet in its personal way. The 4 working programs is often provided as listed below:
*Windows: Microsoft Windows is mostly a standard working technique among site internet hosting service providers. It is always a good selection for equally ? shared servers and devoted server. It could actually effortlessly combine Microsoft items. Assistance is generally effortlessly procured for this OS. But nevertheless, working a Windows working method can demonstrate costly. It?s best to pick out windows website hosting firm, provided that you may be acquainted with sustaining Window devices.
*Linux: Linux has a lot positive aspects around Windows. It really is inexpensive than Windows. It is really system impartial. Anyone can use entry the web site, irrespective of which running program they really are utilising. Though, new buyers will not obtain it an easy task to use. Other than, Linux originate from distinct online businesses. There is absolutely no conforme version of Linux like Windows. It?s possible to select it for everybody who is intending to host your website on the shared server. Applying it on the committed server is just not recommended.
*Unix: Unix is comparable to Linux. There?s lots of benefits related by using an Unix hosting service. When compared with Windows; Unix enjoys big up-time, far better server load managing ability, and dependability. But, availability of Unix software systems is significantly less during the promote. It?s always not utilised up to Windows or Linux, for the reason that it is really dearer than Linux. The components for Unix is a lot more unique. It really is proposed for virtual net server.
*Macintosh: Macintosh working devices are hardly ever observed. You might find it seriously challenging to locate an online web hosting supplier to host it on Macintosh. Regardless, it is really one of the most secured OS. Hackers will not be in a position to hack the server quite simply. It is really the costliest OS while in the 4 running programs.
These are generally the 4 working units on which an online web hosting supplier can host your web site. An individual are unable to discussion on which OS is healthier! It mostly is dependent within the programming language you accustomed to form your web site and therefore the apps you operate with your word wide web server. Internet hosting merchants typically host the web site on Windows or Linux. You want to bear in mind most of the features earlier than finalizing on which working process make use of.
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I am struck by the following written by Chris Hedges in EMPIRE OF ILLUSION: THE END OF LITERACY AND THE TRIUMPH OF SPECTACLE (New York, Nation Books, 2009) in referring to the failure of the education of America?s business elites (you my read Romney if you like) in our most?prestigious?schools.
A culture that does not grasp the vital interplay between morality and power, which mistakes management techniques for wisdom, which fails to understand that the measure of a civilization is it compassion, not its speed or ability to consume, condemns itself to death.
This entry was posted on August 27, 2012, 9:31 pm and is filed under Politics, Economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Lao announces dramatic shift in land policy, commits to expand rights of communities, ethnic groupsPublic release date: 28-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jenna DiPaolo jdipaolo@rightsandresources.org 202-412-0331 Rights and Resources Initiative
As major international conference opens in Lao PDR, high-level government leaders commit to implement large-scale land reform
VIENTIANE, LAO PDR (28 August 2012)During a riveting keynote speech given at a international land and forestry conference in Vientiane today, Dr. Souvanhpheng Bouphanouvong, President of the National Assembly of Lao's Committee on Economic Planning and Finance, announced the government's intention to undergo a nationwide formal process of large scale land reform, and prioritize the need for increased local land management, given that access to land for rural households is fundamental to sustained poverty alleviation.
"For over a year, Lao has been undergoing a process of reviewing and revising various policies and legislation pertaining to land and natural resources. What we've learned from countries across the world is that by ensuring local peoples' rights to the land they live and work on, we are opening the door for numerous other benefits for our country." said Dr. Souvanhpheng Bouphanouvong to the global audience at the Workshop on International Knowledge Sharing and Learning hosted by the National Assembly of Lao PDR in cooperation with the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) and RECOFTC-The Center for People and Forests in Vientiane, Lao PDR, on August 28-29, 2012. The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. Saysomphone Phomvihane, Vice President of the National Assembly.
"A new national land policy is a priority in Laos," Dr. Bouphanouvong added. "Land disputes are a top concern of Lao's multi-ethnic population, and as a nation, we cannot ignore this opportunity to address conflicts and alleviate poverty."
This historic commitment follows a recent change in the government organization responsible for land matters, which is now managed by the new Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), though the Lao National Assembly plays a key role in balancing accelerated economic development and growth with ensuring that benefits from this process are distributed equitably across Lao PDR. It also responds to increasing demand from villagers in Lao PDR for a review of existing land laws to ensure development projects don't encroach on their land as they have in the past.
Today's commitment from the president of a key committee of the National Assembly signals that the Lao government is dedicated to working closely with civil society and community groups to develop and implement a new national strategy to grant significant land rights to the people who live in and around the nation's land and forest resources.
Mr. James Bampton, Program Director of RECOFTC noted how seriously the government is taking the land rights issue.
"We all heard Dr. Bouphanouvong say that what is needed now are policies and laws that end land disputes and enhance livelihoods in an equitable manner," said Mr. Bampton. "The high level people in this room suggest that this is now a true priority for Lao PDR. This is something millions of citizens have been waiting for, and hopefully, will soon benefit from."
Participants from more than eleven countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe shared their experiences, suggesting that granting greater control to local forest communities has been a key element in the turn-around accomplished by many of these countries, including China, South Korea, Mexico, Sweden, Nepal, Vietnam and Norway.
"Lao PDR is the latest in a series of countries around the world that are realizing the fundamental role of local control and improved forest governance in alleviating poverty, expanding legal and sustainable land management, and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation" said Arvind Khare, Executive Director of the Rights and Resources Group, the nonprofit coordinating mechanism of the Rights and Resources Initiative. "RRI's research and firsthand experience in other nations suggests that if Lao PDR does as it says it will do, it will slow the destruction of the nations' lands and unleash the entrepreneurial energy of an estimated 6 million people, who currently have only partial right to maintain and benefit from the use of their own land."
In her keynote address, Dr. Souvanhpheng Bouphanouvong said that "a significant shift in rethinking natural resource management and land tenure systems is already catalyzing a comprehensive revision of national forest policies and laws," and that the government would move immediately to take action in balancing between economic development, cultural and social progress, natural resources preservation, and environmental protection as well as political stability to achieve growth with equity.
"This represents a tipping point in our policies toward land rights and local management," said Dr. Akhom Tounalom, Vice Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, in his remarks to an audience comprised of researchers, high level government officials, policymakers, international experts on forestry and land reform, and community leaders from across Asia, Africa and Latin America. "Our current policies are not sufficient to ensure that we can meet our goals in terms of poverty eradication, economic growth, food security and climate change."
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The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI)
The Rights and Resources Initiative is a global coalition of 14 Partners and 120 Collaborators comprised of international, regional, and community organizations advancing forest tenure, policy and market reforms. RRI leverages the strategic collaboration and investment of its Partners and Collaborators around the world by working together on research, advocacy and convening strategic actors to catalyze change on the ground.
RRI is coordinated by the Rights and Resources Group, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.rightsandresources.org.
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Lao announces dramatic shift in land policy, commits to expand rights of communities, ethnic groupsPublic release date: 28-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jenna DiPaolo jdipaolo@rightsandresources.org 202-412-0331 Rights and Resources Initiative
As major international conference opens in Lao PDR, high-level government leaders commit to implement large-scale land reform
VIENTIANE, LAO PDR (28 August 2012)During a riveting keynote speech given at a international land and forestry conference in Vientiane today, Dr. Souvanhpheng Bouphanouvong, President of the National Assembly of Lao's Committee on Economic Planning and Finance, announced the government's intention to undergo a nationwide formal process of large scale land reform, and prioritize the need for increased local land management, given that access to land for rural households is fundamental to sustained poverty alleviation.
"For over a year, Lao has been undergoing a process of reviewing and revising various policies and legislation pertaining to land and natural resources. What we've learned from countries across the world is that by ensuring local peoples' rights to the land they live and work on, we are opening the door for numerous other benefits for our country." said Dr. Souvanhpheng Bouphanouvong to the global audience at the Workshop on International Knowledge Sharing and Learning hosted by the National Assembly of Lao PDR in cooperation with the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) and RECOFTC-The Center for People and Forests in Vientiane, Lao PDR, on August 28-29, 2012. The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. Saysomphone Phomvihane, Vice President of the National Assembly.
"A new national land policy is a priority in Laos," Dr. Bouphanouvong added. "Land disputes are a top concern of Lao's multi-ethnic population, and as a nation, we cannot ignore this opportunity to address conflicts and alleviate poverty."
This historic commitment follows a recent change in the government organization responsible for land matters, which is now managed by the new Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), though the Lao National Assembly plays a key role in balancing accelerated economic development and growth with ensuring that benefits from this process are distributed equitably across Lao PDR. It also responds to increasing demand from villagers in Lao PDR for a review of existing land laws to ensure development projects don't encroach on their land as they have in the past.
Today's commitment from the president of a key committee of the National Assembly signals that the Lao government is dedicated to working closely with civil society and community groups to develop and implement a new national strategy to grant significant land rights to the people who live in and around the nation's land and forest resources.
Mr. James Bampton, Program Director of RECOFTC noted how seriously the government is taking the land rights issue.
"We all heard Dr. Bouphanouvong say that what is needed now are policies and laws that end land disputes and enhance livelihoods in an equitable manner," said Mr. Bampton. "The high level people in this room suggest that this is now a true priority for Lao PDR. This is something millions of citizens have been waiting for, and hopefully, will soon benefit from."
Participants from more than eleven countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe shared their experiences, suggesting that granting greater control to local forest communities has been a key element in the turn-around accomplished by many of these countries, including China, South Korea, Mexico, Sweden, Nepal, Vietnam and Norway.
"Lao PDR is the latest in a series of countries around the world that are realizing the fundamental role of local control and improved forest governance in alleviating poverty, expanding legal and sustainable land management, and reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation" said Arvind Khare, Executive Director of the Rights and Resources Group, the nonprofit coordinating mechanism of the Rights and Resources Initiative. "RRI's research and firsthand experience in other nations suggests that if Lao PDR does as it says it will do, it will slow the destruction of the nations' lands and unleash the entrepreneurial energy of an estimated 6 million people, who currently have only partial right to maintain and benefit from the use of their own land."
In her keynote address, Dr. Souvanhpheng Bouphanouvong said that "a significant shift in rethinking natural resource management and land tenure systems is already catalyzing a comprehensive revision of national forest policies and laws," and that the government would move immediately to take action in balancing between economic development, cultural and social progress, natural resources preservation, and environmental protection as well as political stability to achieve growth with equity.
"This represents a tipping point in our policies toward land rights and local management," said Dr. Akhom Tounalom, Vice Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, in his remarks to an audience comprised of researchers, high level government officials, policymakers, international experts on forestry and land reform, and community leaders from across Asia, Africa and Latin America. "Our current policies are not sufficient to ensure that we can meet our goals in terms of poverty eradication, economic growth, food security and climate change."
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The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI)
The Rights and Resources Initiative is a global coalition of 14 Partners and 120 Collaborators comprised of international, regional, and community organizations advancing forest tenure, policy and market reforms. RRI leverages the strategic collaboration and investment of its Partners and Collaborators around the world by working together on research, advocacy and convening strategic actors to catalyze change on the ground.
RRI is coordinated by the Rights and Resources Group, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.rightsandresources.org.
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ScienceDaily (Aug. 27, 2012) ? Renal denervation leads to significant and sustained blood pressure reduction for up to 18 months in patients with treatment resistant hypertension, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2012. The new clinical data from the Symplicity HTN-2 randomized clinical trial were presented by principal investigator Dr Murray Esler, associate director of the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute of Melbourne, Australia.
Treatment resistant hypertension is blood pressure that remains persistently high despite at least three prescription blood pressure medications, including a diuretic. This condition puts approximately 120 million people worldwide at risk of premature death from kidney disease and cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack and heart failure. "Treatment resistant hypertension is one of the most challenging forms of hypertension to manage because it does not respond to blood pressure lowering drugs," said Dr Esler.
Renal denervation is a minimally invasive procedure which disrupts both afferent and efferent nerves leading into and out of the kidneys. It uses radio frequency energy emitted by a catheter device inserted into the renal arteries through the groin to treat patients resistant to drug therapy.
The Symplicity HTN-2 trial is an international, multi-center, prospective, randomized, controlled study of the safety and effectiveness of renal denervation with the catheter-based Symplicity? renal denervation system in patients with treatment resistant hypertension. Patients with treatment resistant hypertension were randomized in a one-to-one ratio to receive renal denervation plus antihypertensive medications or antihypertensive medications alone (control group) at 24 centers in 11 countries.
At baseline, the treatment (n=49 patients) and control (n=52 patients) groups had similar high blood pressures: 178/97 mmHg and 178/98 mmHg, respectively, despite both receiving an average daily regimen of five antihypertensive medications.
Patients in the control arm of the study were offered renal denervation following assessment of blood pressure, which was the trial's primary endpoint, at 6 months post-randomization. Thirty-five patients from the control group with systolic blood pressures ? 160 mmHg received denervation at 6 months (this became the crossover group).
The researchers found that renal denervation was safe and effective in both treatment groups up to 18 months post-procedure. Forty-three patients initially randomized to renal denervation were followed for up to 18 months and had an average blood pressure reduction of -32/-12 mmHg from baseline (p<0.01). Thirty-one patients in the crossover group were also followed for up to 18 months post-procedure and had a blood pressure reduction of -28/-11mmHg from baseline (p<0.01).
"These 18 month blood pressure reductions are consistent with the 12 month follow-up for both groups (-28/-10 mmHg from baseline for the initial treatment group and -24/-10 mm Hg from baseline for the crossover group)," said Dr Esler. "Safety results were sustained at 18 months as well, with no significant decline in kidney function."
He added: "Up to one-third of hypertensive individuals undergoing therapy are considered resistant to treatment. We are encouraged to see that renal denervation shows substantial and sustained blood pressure reduction in treatment resistant patients."
Dr Esler concluded: "We know the renal nerves play a crucial role in blood pressure elevation and this study shows those nerves can be targeted with renal denervation without major side effects.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
B. M. Egan, Y. Zhao, R. N. Axon, W. A. Brzezinski, K. C. Ferdinand. Uncontrolled and Apparent Treatment Resistant Hypertension in the United States, 1988 to 2008. Circulation, 2011; 124 (9): 1046 DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.111.030189
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Kristen Howerton recently wrote an article for the Huffington Post online. Kristen Howerton has children that were adopted in a transracial adoption.
After explaining about an incident that happened with her child at the playground, Kristen asks this:
This isn't the first time my kids have been questioned on the "realness" of their family by their peers.? I suspect it won't be the last.? I know I can't expect every single kid to have been educated on adoption, and inevitably my kids will be the ones educating their peers.? But is it too much to ask that other parents, whose families don't have exposure to transracial families, take a couple minutes and explain it to them so that my kids aren't always the center of the After-School Special on Adoption in the school playyard?
I know a little bit about this subject.
I have four children. They have three different fathers.
Two of my kids are biological siblings. One kid is the biological son of my husband.?
Three of my kids have biological siblings that do not live with them.
Three of my kids were long time members of the foster care system.
Two of my kids have IEPs.
I adopted my kids as a single mom and then I got married, so three of my kids have a different last name then me.
One of my children lives full time at a residential treatment facility.
One of my kids has cancer.
One of my kids has a bald head.
We get questions all the time. Why is she wearing a mask? Your boys are both 8, are they twins? Why were they in foster care? Who was their real mom? How much did they cost? Can you give Tori back since she has cancer? Are you mad that you adopted and then got stuck with a kid who is sick? Why does your kid live at the residential center? Is she going to come home? Are you mad that you adopted and then got stuck with a kid who has mental health issues? Do you hate their real mom? And these are just a tiny bit of what we get asked.
When Kristen Howerton wrote this post, she got a lot of negative comments. A lot of people said that it was Kristen's responsibility to educate her children on how to deal with questions and statements from other people.
I think that is true.
But I also think it is a parent's responsibility to teach their children about what they will see in this world.
The other day we were in line and the woman in front of us was wearing a religious covering (I'm guessing a burka) which covered her whole body except for her eyes.
Jon and Tori got very excited and started talking about how she must be a ninja.
Now according to some of the commenters on Kristen's article, the woman in Walmart had the responsibility to deal with her feelings regarding being called a ninja. That since she was different than every Caucasian heterosexual couple with their Caucasian children, that she needed to deal with being called a ninja in Walmart and perhaps even expect to be called out on her dress.
But in my mind, it was my responsibility as both a parent and heck, as a citizen of the United States and hell, an inhabitant on Earth to teach my children.
So I shushed them in line and when we got outside, I explained to them that some people dress in certain ways because they believe that God wants them to dress that way. I explained that some people cover their heads when they are out. Some women only dress in skirts or dresses. Some women cover their bodies and faces and share that only with their husbands.
And then I explained how by calling someone a ninja, they might hurt her feelings, even if they don't mean to.
But I should have done it earlier, before they had a chance to hurt the lady's feelings. (I don't know that she even hurt them. But I was mortified that my kid's might have caused her to be embarrassed or hurt.)
Kids aren't dumb. I started talking to my kids about adoption and foster care issues when they were tiny. So now at 7 and 8, they completely understand their life story and can express it to others. I explain to Tori how she got NF, how the tumors grow, what her medicine is for. In fact, about an hour ago, as I was explaining how people pick who they want for President, I went over what gay marriage was with Tori again.
Because here's the thing. Not talking about something with your kids doesn't make it go away. It doesn't keep them from being exposed to people of other religions or sexualities. As much as you try to shelter your child, you can't. And I don't think you should. They won't be sheltered forever and they will be much better members of society if they are educated.
It isn't the responsibility of the person who is different from you to educate you, unless of course they want to.
As an adult, I get asked a lot of questions about adoption or cancer or foster care or the Bachelorette. And I'm happy to talk about these things, but I'm happier when it is phrased like this:
"I'm interested in learning more about adoption. Would you mind if I asked you some questions?"
rather than:
"So you adopted her? What was wrong with her real mom? Did it cost a lot?"
Here's the deal:
As a family who is different than most families, it is my responsibility to educate my kids on how and when to share their story, what information shouldn't be shared freely, how to deal with questions, how to deal with questions that hurt their feelings, and how to deal with feelings of being different from other kids or families.
But as a parent, it is also my responsibility to educate my kids on the fact that not everyone is like us. It is my responsibility to make sure they know that the world doesn't revolve around our house in the suburbs. That there are many people who believe many different things and we share a world with them.
We need to try to understand others. We need to be empathetic towards others. We need to show love towards others, even if we don't agree with their lifestyle. We need to respect that other people have the right to live different than us. We need to respect that others might want privacy.
You can't possibly anticipate every scenario that your child might be in, but you can also take advantage of moment's like I had in Walmart to teach your children.
It can only make them better, more educated, more compassionate, more tolerant, more respectful people.
Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, is dead at the age of 82. He was the first of just 12 Americans to step on the moon from 1969 to 1972. Guest host Laura Sullivan speaks with science journalist Andrew Chaikin, who knew Armstrong and wrote about his contributions to the space program.
Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
LAURA SULLIVAN, HOST:
It's WEEKENDS on ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Laura Sullivan, in for Guy Raz.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NEIL ARMSTRONG: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
SULLIVAN: Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. He died today at the age of 82 after complications from a heart procedure. He was the first of just 12 Americans to step on the moon from 1969 to 1972.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ARMSTRONG: It has a stark beauty all its own. It's like much of the high desert of the United States. It's different, but it's very pretty out here.
SULLIVAN: Neil Armstrong was known as a private man and gave very few interviews. But science journalist Andrew Chaikin convinced Armstrong in 1988 to speak to him for his book "A Man on the Moon: Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts." Neil Armstrong and Andrew Chaikin grew to be friends.
And Andrew Chaikin joins us now from his home in Vermont. Andrew, that line, one small step, you know, that line said a lot about Neil Armstrong, didn't it?
ANDREW CHAIKIN: Well, what really, to me, said a lot about Neil was the conversation we had about that quote. And I promised him I was not going to ask him about it in our interview because everybody asks him about it, and I already knew the story of how he came up with that quote on the moon just a couple of hours after they landed. But what he said to me was the emotional moment was the landing. That was human contact with the moon. But the rest of the world was so focused on that first footstep that he really had no choice, and he did beautifully, as we all know. He came up with a wonderful quote.
SULLIVAN: As we mentioned, he was a notoriously private man, but you came to know him as a friend. How was Neil Armstrong, the public figure, different from the Neil Armstrong, say, at dinner with his family?
CHAIKIN: Well, I think the thing that people don't realize is, you know, he was so shy. He was really uncomfortable with the attention. And it's ironic that someone who is that way was thrust into one of the most absolutely white hot glares of publicity and celebrity that any human has had to endure. Having said that, when you got him away from that and he felt comfortable, he was warm, he was engaging, he had a really dry, delightful sense of humor, could tell great stories and could laugh. And, you know, he really was a delight.
And the more I got to know him, the more I kind of cherished that about him. But at the same time, I always had this feeling of tremendous admiration for Neil as a pioneer, as an explorer, as really the essence of the test pilot who did what he did, not for his own gratification, but for advancing the state of human knowledge and achievement.
SULLIVAN: Did Armstrong have thoughts on the direction of the U.S. space program later in life?
CHAIKIN: Yes. We talked about that some. He was very distressed at the way that NASA's future had become what he called the equivalent of a badminton shuttlecock getting hit back and forth between Congress and the White House and so on. But I think he was most anxious to see us get back in the exploration game, to get back to the moon and go even farther. But I never doubted his motivation or his passion or his belief that space exploration is part of the destiny of humankind.
SULLIVAN: Do you have any favorite memories of him, anything that jumps out at you when you think of Neil Armstrong?
CHAIKIN: Actually, one of the moments that I think about most is about an hour and a half into the moon walk, Buzz Aldrin had a different task to work on than Neil did, and Neil actually had a minute to be off on his own and explore the area. And he took off running to a crater that was about 200 feet behind the Lunar Lander. It only took him about a minute to run back there and snap some pictures and then another minute to run back, you know? And I often picture him loping in that one-sixth lunar gravity, literally venturing where no human had gone before. And, you know, it's a great little moment of human exploration that I always associate with him.
SULLIVAN: That's journalist Andrew Chaikin speaking about Neil Armstrong who died today at the age of 82. Andrew, thank you so much for joining us.
CHAIKIN: Thank you.
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Astronaut Neil Armstrong awed the entire planet when he became the first man to step foot on the moon in 1969. He died Saturday at age 82. NBC's Tom Costello reports on Armstrong's life and legacy.
By Alan Boyle
Editor's note: An early headline on this story briefly misstated Neil Armstrong's name.
First moonwalker Neil Armstrong's death at the age of 82 marks the passing of a "reluctant American hero," as well as the dimming of the Space Age's brightest moment.
His death followed complications from heart-bypass surgery he underwent this month, Armstrong's family said today in a statement released by NASA. The first public report?of?Armstrong's death came via NBC News' Cape Canaveral correspondent, Jay Barbree, a longtime friend.?
Armstrong has been immortalized in human history as the first human to set foot on a celestial body beyond Earth. "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind," he radioed back to Earth from the moon on July 20, 1969.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that "as long as there are history books, Neil Armstrong will be included in them."
Armstrong's fellow moonwalker on the Apollo 11 mission, Buzz Aldrin, was among the legions mourning his passage. "We are missing a great spokesman and leader in the space program," Aldrin said in a BBC interview. He said he'd remember Armstrong "as being a very capable commander and leader of an achievement that will be recognized until man sets foot on the planet Mars."
Michael Collins, the crewmate who circled the moon in the Apollo 11 command module while Armstrong and Aldrin took that first trip to the lunar surface, also paid tribute to his commander in a NASA statement: "He was the best, and I will miss him terribly."
President Barack Obama said that Armstrong and his crew "carried with them the aspirations of an entire nation," and that the first steps on the moon "delivered a moment of human achievement that will never be forgotten."
NBC's Jay Barbree, who has covered every manned space mission in U.S. history, was first to break the news that Neil Armstrong had died. He discusses the astronaut's life with NBC's Lester Holt.
"Today, Neil's spirit of discovery lives on in all the men and women who have devoted their lives to exploring the unknown ? including those who are ensuring that we reach higher and go further in space," Obama said in a White House statement. "That legacy will endure ? sparked by a man who taught us the enormous power of one small step."
The "one small step" served as the climax of a superpower space race with the Soviet Union, and arguably established the United States' primacy in outer space for decades to come. But Apollo 11 also set a precedent for peaceful cooperation in space. "We came in peace for all mankind," the plaque left behind on the moon read. At one point during Armstrong's first moonwalk, he stopped for what he called a "tender moment" and set down a patch to commemorate NASA astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who died in the course of their duties.
Before and after the moon The Ohio-born Armstrong began his career in aerospace as a Navy fighter pilot who served with distinction in the Korean War. During the 1950s, he was a test pilot with experience flying more than 200 kinds of aircraft. He was accepted into NASA's second astronaut class in 1962, and during his mission as Gemini 8 commander in 1966, he tamed his wildly spinning capsule and brought it in for an emergency landing.
See images from the career of astronaut and American hero Neil Armstrong.
That quiet cool served him well during Apollo 11, when he had to take manual control of the lunar module, nicknamed Eagle, during the landing. When the craft touched down in the moon's Sea of Tranquility, about 30 seconds' worth of fuel remained.
"Houston, Tranquility Base here," Armstrong reported to Mission Control. "The Eagle has landed."
Armstrong and Aldrin spent more than 21 hours on the lunar surface, including two and a half hours' worth of moonwalking. They were amazed to come back to Earth and see how millions of people across the planet had followed their exploits. "Neil, look up there," Aldrin told him as he pointed at a TV screen. "We missed the whole thing."
After his moon mission, Armstrong took a low profile, becoming what his family called a "reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job." He left NASA in 1971, and took on executive positions in the aerospace industry as well as a teaching position in the University of Cincinnati's engineering department. ?Armstrong served on several policy commissions, including the presidential panel that investigated the 1986 Challenger explosion.
Concerned about future spaceflight In his latter years, Armstrong became increasingly concerned about America's continuing leadership in space. He was a strong proponent of efforts to send American astronauts back to the moon, and feared that NASA's cancellation of its return-to-the-moon program would cede America's position as a leader in space exploration to other nations.?
"Some question why America should return to the moon," Armstrong told a House committee in 2010. "'After all,' they say, 'we have already been there.' I find that mystifying. It would be as if 16th-century monarchs proclaimed that 'we need not go to the New World, we have already been there.'"
When NBC's Jay Barbree asked Armstrong last month to reflect on the future of spaceflight, for the 43rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, the former astronaut pointed to remarks in which he said the lunar environment was "an exceptional location to learn about traveling to more distant places."
"I am persuaded that a return to the moon would be the most productive path to expanding the human presence in the solar system," he wrote.
Armstrong was famous for staying out of fame's spotlight as much as he could. Some outsiders may have faulted him for his reticence, but not his fellow astronauts.
"Most of our group?in those days could have accomplished?the challenge of the mission," Apollo 7 astronaut Walt Cunningham told NBC News' James Oberg in an email, "but I do not know?a one that could have handled the?resulting notoriety as well as Neil did."?
Over the past year, Armstrong was a bit more in the public eye. Last November, he and other space pioneers ? including Aldrin, Collins and John Glenn, the first American in orbit ??were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal during a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.
In February, Armstrong spoke at Ohio State University during a February event honoring the 50th anniversary of Glenn's history-making spaceflight. In May, Armstrong joined Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida to support the opening of the National Flight Academy, which aims to teach math and science to kids through an aviation-oriented camp.
On Aug. 7, just two days after his 82nd birthday, Armstrong underwent quadruple-bypass heart surgery after flunking a medical stress test. At the time, his wife, Carol, reported that her husband was "doing great" ? but today the family said complications from that surgery led to his death.
Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon and his now famous first words.
"While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves," the family said in today's statement. "For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."
Armstrong is survived by his wife, two sons, a stepson and stepdaughter, 10 grandchildren, a brother and a sister, NASA said. A website, NeilArmstrongInfo.com, has been created to provide more information about Armstrong's life and legacy.
Quick bites about Neil Armstrong:
Armstrong's interest in flight began in childhood: He earned his student pilot's certificate on his 16th birthday, before he got an automobile driver's license. "He never had a girl. He didn't need a car. All he had to do was get out to that airport," Armstrong's father was quoted as saying in the astronaut's biography, "First Man."
Armstrong's pulse was measured at 150 beats per minute as he guided the lunar lander to the moon's surface, NASA said. "I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats," Armstrong once said. "I don't intend to waste any of mine."
Asked about his experience on the moon, he told CBS: "It's an interesting place to be. I recommend it."
A crater on the moon is named for Armstrong. It is located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the site of the landing.
In 2005 Armstrong was upset to learn that his barber had sold clippings of his hair to a collector for $3,000. The man who bought the hair refused to return it, saying he was adding it to his collection of locks from Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon, Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein and others.
Although he was famously reticent, Armstrong once appeared in a TV commercial for Chrysler. He said he made the ad because of Chrysler's engineering history and his desire to help the company out of financial troubles.
More about Neil Armstrong's life and legacy:
This report was last updated at 12:30 a.m. ET Aug. 26 and includes reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.