Mediation with art therapy can change your brain and lower anxiety

Public release date: 29-Nov-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Lee-Ann Landis
leeann.landis@jefferson.edu
215-955-2240
Thomas Jefferson University

(PHILADELPHIA) Cancer and stress go hand-in-hand, and high stress levels can lead to poorer health outcomes in cancer patients. The Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine combined creative art therapy with a Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program for women with breast cancer and showed changes in brain activity associated with lower stress and anxiety after the eight-week program. Their new study appears in the December issue of the journal Stress and Health.

Daniel Monti, MD, director of the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine and lead author on the study, and colleagues have previously published on the success of Mindfulness-based Art Therapy (MBAT) at helping cancer patients lower stress levels and improve quality of life.

"Our goal was to observe possible mechanisms for the observed psychosocial effects of MBAT by evaluating the cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes associated with an MBAT intervention in comparison with a control of equal time and attention," says Monti. "This type of expressive art and meditation program has never before been studied for physiological impact and the correlation of that impact to improvements in stress and anxiety."

Eighteen patients were randomly assigned to the MBAT program or an education program control group. All had received the diagnosis of breast cancer between six months and three years prior to enrollment and were not in active treatment. The MBAT group consisted of the MBSR curriculum (awareness of breathing, awareness of emotion, mindful yoga, walking, eating and listening), paired with expressive art tasks to provide opportunities for self-expression, facilitate coping strategies, improve self-regulation, and provide a way for participants to express emotional information in a personally meaningful manner.

Patient response to the MBAT program was measured using a 90-item symptom checklist, completed by each patient before and after the eight-week program. In addition, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used pre and post-program to evaluate cerebral blood flow, corresponding to changes in the brain's activity. Scans were performed at rest, during a "neutral task" (control), meditation task, stressor task and at rest againdesigned to evaluate the general as well as specific effects and provide a thorough analysis of the CBF changes between the pre and post-program scans.

Participants in the MBAT group demonstrated significant effects on cerebral blood flow compared with the control group. The MBAT group showed increases in the emotional centers of the brain including the left insula which helps us to perceive our emotions, the amygdala which helps us experience stress, the hippocampus that regulates stress responses, and the caudate nucleus that is part of our brain's reward system. These increases correlated significantly with a lowering of stress and anxiety, as also reflected in the results of the pre and post-program anxiety scores among the MBAT intervention group.

The observed psychological and neuropsychological changes are consistent with current literature that states that MBSR interventions have shown to reduce anxiety, depression and psychological distress in a variety of populations. These have been associated with improved immune function, quality of life and coping effectiveness in women with breast cancer.

Given the improvements in anxiety levels and observed changes in CBF in the MBAT participants, these findings suggest that the MBAT program helps mediate emotional responses in women with breast cancer. "With the sample size enlarged, perhaps we can extrapolate these results to other disease populations and gain a fuller understanding of the physiological mechanisms by which mindfulness practices confer psychological benefits," says Monti.

###

Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals

Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals (TJUH) are dedicated to excellence in patient care, patient safety and the quality of the healthcare experience. Consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the nation's top hospitals, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, established in 1825, has over 900 licensed acute care beds with major programs in a wide range of clinical specialties. TJUH is one of the few hospitals in the U.S. that is both a Level 1 Trauma Center and a federally-designated regional spinal cord injury center. TJUH patient care facilities include Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience, the region's only dedicated hospital for neuroscience, Methodist Hospital in South Philadelphia, and additional patient care facilities throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. TJUH partners with its education affiliate, Thomas Jefferson University.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 29-Nov-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Lee-Ann Landis
leeann.landis@jefferson.edu
215-955-2240
Thomas Jefferson University

(PHILADELPHIA) Cancer and stress go hand-in-hand, and high stress levels can lead to poorer health outcomes in cancer patients. The Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine combined creative art therapy with a Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program for women with breast cancer and showed changes in brain activity associated with lower stress and anxiety after the eight-week program. Their new study appears in the December issue of the journal Stress and Health.

Daniel Monti, MD, director of the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine and lead author on the study, and colleagues have previously published on the success of Mindfulness-based Art Therapy (MBAT) at helping cancer patients lower stress levels and improve quality of life.

"Our goal was to observe possible mechanisms for the observed psychosocial effects of MBAT by evaluating the cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes associated with an MBAT intervention in comparison with a control of equal time and attention," says Monti. "This type of expressive art and meditation program has never before been studied for physiological impact and the correlation of that impact to improvements in stress and anxiety."

Eighteen patients were randomly assigned to the MBAT program or an education program control group. All had received the diagnosis of breast cancer between six months and three years prior to enrollment and were not in active treatment. The MBAT group consisted of the MBSR curriculum (awareness of breathing, awareness of emotion, mindful yoga, walking, eating and listening), paired with expressive art tasks to provide opportunities for self-expression, facilitate coping strategies, improve self-regulation, and provide a way for participants to express emotional information in a personally meaningful manner.

Patient response to the MBAT program was measured using a 90-item symptom checklist, completed by each patient before and after the eight-week program. In addition, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used pre and post-program to evaluate cerebral blood flow, corresponding to changes in the brain's activity. Scans were performed at rest, during a "neutral task" (control), meditation task, stressor task and at rest againdesigned to evaluate the general as well as specific effects and provide a thorough analysis of the CBF changes between the pre and post-program scans.

Participants in the MBAT group demonstrated significant effects on cerebral blood flow compared with the control group. The MBAT group showed increases in the emotional centers of the brain including the left insula which helps us to perceive our emotions, the amygdala which helps us experience stress, the hippocampus that regulates stress responses, and the caudate nucleus that is part of our brain's reward system. These increases correlated significantly with a lowering of stress and anxiety, as also reflected in the results of the pre and post-program anxiety scores among the MBAT intervention group.

The observed psychological and neuropsychological changes are consistent with current literature that states that MBSR interventions have shown to reduce anxiety, depression and psychological distress in a variety of populations. These have been associated with improved immune function, quality of life and coping effectiveness in women with breast cancer.

Given the improvements in anxiety levels and observed changes in CBF in the MBAT participants, these findings suggest that the MBAT program helps mediate emotional responses in women with breast cancer. "With the sample size enlarged, perhaps we can extrapolate these results to other disease populations and gain a fuller understanding of the physiological mechanisms by which mindfulness practices confer psychological benefits," says Monti.

###

Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals

Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals (TJUH) are dedicated to excellence in patient care, patient safety and the quality of the healthcare experience. Consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the nation's top hospitals, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, established in 1825, has over 900 licensed acute care beds with major programs in a wide range of clinical specialties. TJUH is one of the few hospitals in the U.S. that is both a Level 1 Trauma Center and a federally-designated regional spinal cord injury center. TJUH patient care facilities include Jefferson Hospital for Neuroscience, the region's only dedicated hospital for neuroscience, Methodist Hospital in South Philadelphia, and additional patient care facilities throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. TJUH partners with its education affiliate, Thomas Jefferson University.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-11/tju-mwa112912.php

lyrid meteor shower hippocrates andrew breitbart red wings penguins the band colton dixon

Short-term exposure to essential oils lowers blood pressure and heart rate... but only when exposure is less than one hour

ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2012) ? The scents which permeate our health spas from aromatic essential oils may provide more benefits than just a sense of rest and well-being.

For according to a new study(1) in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, the essential oils which form the basis of aromatherapy for stress relief are also reported to have a beneficial effect on heart rate and blood pressure following short-term exposure -- and may therefore reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, on the downside, those beneficial effects were reversed when exposure to essential oils lasted more than an hour.

The study was performed in men and women working in various spa centres in the city of Taipei in Taiwan, where the traditions of ancient Chinese civilisations are maintained in religious ceremonies and healing therapies. Aromatherapy, as practised today, is still presented as natural healing with essential oils extracted by infusion from aromatic plants.

One hundred young, healthy non-smoking spa workers taking part in the study visited the study centre on three occasions (about once a week), when each volunteer was exposed to vapours of essential oils released from an ultrasonic ioniser for two hours. During this time and on each visit three repeated measurements -- resting heart rate, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) -- were taken from each spa worker in the study room, a small space measuring 4 metres in height by 3.5 m in length and 3.2 m in width. Before each participant entered the study room, 100% pure bergamot essential oil was vaporised for 1 hour.

Essential oils are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) composed of hundreds of aromatic chemicals, and VOC levels in the room were also measured throughout the study period.

Results showed (after adjusting for age, sex, BMI, day of the week, and visit order) that the room's VOC level was significantly associated with reduced blood pressure and heart rate for between 15 and 60 minutes after the start of exposure. These associations were statistically significant. For example, after 45 minutes exposure 15-minute SBP had reduced by a mean of 2.10 mmHg and heart rate by 2.21 beats per minute.

However, after exposure for more than 1 hour -- from 75 to 120 minutes after the start of exposure -- VOC levels became associated with an increased 15-minute mean blood pressure and heart rate. After 120 minutes, for example, mean SBP had risen from baseline by 2.19 mmHg, and heart rate by 1.70 beats per minutes. Thus, say the authors, "prolonged exposure for longer than 1 hour to essential oils may be harmful to cardiovascular health in young, healthy subjects."

As background to the study the authors note that aromatherapy has long been used for stress relief and associated with some healing properties. Even exposure to the essential oil vapours from fragrant candles has been found to reduce test-taking anxiety among nursing school students in the USA.

However, says investigator Dr Kai-Jen Chuang from Taipei Medical University in Taiwan, it is still unknown if exposure to essential oil increases the risk of cardiovascular events through a partial effect on blood pressure and heart rate.

"Our results suggest that exposure to essential oil for 1 hour would be effective in reducing heart rate and blood pressure," said Dr Chuang. "However, the most interesting finding of our study is that exposure to essential oil for over an hour was associated with elevated blood pressure and heart rate."

Dr Chuang explained that, although the effect of essential oils on stress reduction has been well documented, epidemiological studies have reported an association between VOCs and cardiopulmonary effects -- asthma among hairdressers, for example. Studies by Chuang's own group in Taiwan have already shown that exposure to VOCs for over an hour in hair salons can lead to increased serum levels of C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation) and 8-OHdG (a marker of oxidative stress). Overexposure to essential oils, he suggested, may in such ways be harmful to cardiovascular health in young, healthy subjects.

He also noted the opinion of the American Heart Association on air pollution in the development of cardiovascular disease. This acknowledges the direct effects of air pollution on the lung and cardiovascular system through neural and central mechanisms to cause a systemic inflammatory response. "These potential biological processes may also be applied to the adverse effects of VOC exposure on cardiovascular health, although at this time there is no proof available for this hypothesis," said Dr Chuang.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by European Society of Cardiology (ESC), via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Chuang K-J, Chen H-W, Liu I-J, et al. The effect of essential oil on heart rate and blood pressure among solus por aqua workers. Eur J Prevent Cardiol, 2012 DOI: 10.1177/2047487312469474

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/heart_disease/~3/iawztv7wCPE/121129093419.htm

linkedin usps bachelor pad bachelor pad Green Coffee Bean Extract september 11 adam levine

silvio twelfths: Astronomy and Space Sticker Book | Education ...

Astronomy and Space Sticker Book
by Emily Bone
Publication Date: November 1, 2012

14 Used! | New! from $6.46 (as of 11/25/2012 17:47 PST)

Education & Reference

An accessible, visually stunning introduction to the wonders of space, from the stars and planets themselves to the astronauts and robots who've explored the Solar System. Packed with stickers, both illustrated and photographic, showing everything from the bubbling surface of the Sun to the distant clouds of space dust where stars are born. Written in consultation with an astronmer and astrophysicist.

• Rank: #224669 in Books
• Published on: 2012-11-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 24 pages

Source: http://educationreference839.blogspot.com/2012/11/astronomy-and-space-sticker-book.html

Russell Means Taylor Swift Red Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 2 celiac disease san francisco giants Medal of Honor Warfighter Richard Mourdock

Source: http://vatakbryi.posterous.com/astronomy-and-space-sticker-book-education-re

dierks bentley kenny chesney blake shelton academy of country music awards brad paisley zac brown band aubrey

Source: http://silvio-twelfths.blogspot.com/2012/11/astronomy-and-space-sticker-book.html

neil degrasse tyson neil degrasse tyson davy jones death born this way foundation lytro camera lytro camera andrew brietbart

Michigan AG Files Felony Charge Against Ex-President of DocX

Lorraine Brown?s legal drama continues as Michigan attorney general Bill Schuette announced the filing of a felony charge against the former DocX president.

Brown is being charged with one count of conducting criminal enterprises (racketeering) for her alleged role in authorizing the fraudulent signing of mortgage documents filed in the state. The felony charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

According to a release from Schuette?s office, the attorney general launched an investigation after county officials across Michigan reported suspicions of forgery after a 60 Minutes broadcast revealed the name ?Linda Green? had been signed on thousands of mortgage documents in several styles of handwriting. Officials reviewed their files and found similar documents.

?Shortcuts like robo-signing are just one piece of the mortgage foreclosure crisis,? Schuette said. ?Our investigation remains ongoing, and we will bring to justice every lawbreaker we find.?
Arrangements are being made for Brown to surrender to Michigan authorities. Schuette noted that although the charges address Brown?s alleged role in the scheme, his office?s overall investigation into robo-signing remains ongoing.

Earlier in the month, Brown agreed to a plea deal in Missouri over the company?s robo-signing practices. She also pleaded guilty in a Florida court to a charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Her sentencing date has not been set in that case.

Source: http://www.dsnews.com/articles/michigan-ag-files-felony-charge-ex-president-of-docx-2012-11-28

justin timberlake michael dyer bachmann bachmann iowa caucus results sickle cell trait sugar bowl

Romney to Meet Obama at White House

Guess who's coming to lunch. President Obama will meet privately with former Republican rival Mitt Romney at the White House Thursday, their first meeting since the election, the White House announced Tuesday.

The president and the former GOP nominee will meet for lunch in the private dining room, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney announced in a written statement.

The meeting fulfills a promise the president made on election night to work with Romney going forward. "We may have battled fiercely, but it's only because we love this country deeply, and we care so strongly about its future," the president said at the time. "In the weeks ahead, I also look forward to sitting down with Governor Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward."

Their encounter comes as the president is negotiating with congressional Republicans to prevent the economy from going over the "fiscal cliff" of mandatory spending cuts and tax increases set for Jan 1.

There will be no press coverage of the meeting, according to the White House.

Get more politics at ABCNews.com/Politics and a different spin at OTUSNews.com.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/romney-meet-obama-white-house-thursday-154339661--abc-news-politics.html

solar flares 2012 whitney houston will toyota recall northern lights sign of the times keystone pipeline purim

BOOZE PRICING: binge-taxing as proposed by Camerlot is a cynical ...

Why politicians are addicted to denial about the causes of boozy Britain

?Observe closely?I have a turkey up my sleeve..?

Wherever you are and whatever you?re doing, the sociological braindeath of our political ?lite goes with you. I awoke this morning and turned on the bedroom telly to discover a debate going on between four people about the new Coalition ?policy? of raising the price of alcohol in Britain.

There is but one strategy employed by the pols in relation to controlling our national drinking habit: to look at some research from somewhere else on the planet, and then conclude that their policy must be the one for us. ?It worked in Borneo, so let?s go for it? seems to be the guiding principle.

There are three possible reasons why they do this. One, cost. Two, profound stupidity. Or three, a desperate search to find something ? anything ? that supports what they?ve already made their minds up to do. Trust me: it?s the last of these, with just a subtle hint of the second one.

A full-on qualitative study of the social anthropology, cultural mores and community quality influences upon drinking behaviour would cost, tops, around ?350,000 from a good UK research agency. This being a government-sponsored project, you can double that (suppliers always do) and then add on a little for ?subsistence? while doing the fieldwork. Call it a round million. For a problem that has direct socio-economic costs of many billions of Pounds per year, it still represents a minute investment in tackling the problem. The hard bit would come when the research was debriefed, and everyone in the room started trying to promote their own policy hobby-horse. The only answer to this issue is the appointment of a Cabinet-level Big Beast independent of the Health, Treasury, Employment, Home Office, Family and Community ministries?as well as all the health, alcohol, busybody and police lobbies. God alone knows how one could ever arrange that within our current governmental model, but it would be fun trying.

Profound stupidity was the inordinately heavy cross Tessa Jowell brought to the table when she was Labour Minister of Culture. Well, that and a greedy husband with shares in the brewery business. So it was that Ms Jowell decided to extend both drink licenses and drinking hours as the best means of controlling anti-social drinking. She also had the hots for opening casinos everywhere, with drink readily available to fuel the gambling habit. Her sole rationale for doing this was that it worked in Belgium, and the Irish experiment was, so far, working quite well.

The Irish ?working well? myth was soon exposed, but Tessa ploughed on to produce the redoubled disaster we face today in the A&E departments and pub-blighted centres of our cities.

Now the Conservative-dominated Coalition (for the sake of brevity, I?ll just use the major Party name from here on, as the LibDems are clearly unimportant to this and many other issues) has alighted upon price as the determining factor that outweighs all others. Reflecting the general sloppiness associated with all ?ideas? that emerge from behind the high walls of Camerlot, the research stage has been eschewed in favour quoting the experiences of Canada.

I?ve never met a Canadian I didn?t like, although I suspect Mark Carney may be about to break that rule. However, I?d like if I may to summarise the minor differences between Canada and the UK. These are, in no particular order, that its culture, urban population density, drink-ordering model, retail structures, size, location, financial system, economic performance, unemployment level and climate are the chalk to Britain?s cheese. As a valid comparison to aid the evolution of alcohol consumption policy in the UK, its potential contribution to any sane debate is around that of a teetotal badger.

This didn?t stop the guest on the BBC sofa this morning (he was very pro the policy) from simply saying, over and over, ?it worked in Canada?. I could sit on the same sofa and argue for the annihilation of the British Royal Family by saying ?it worked in Russia?, adding weight to my argument by observing that Nicholas II and George V were cousins with a striking physical resemblance to each other.

In the background on a large screen was another bloke (he was very anti the policy) who had done quite a lot of research? involving the tedious and time-consuming process of talking to British people and observing communities ? rather than crunching Canuck numbers. He said it wouldn?t work, the problem was a cultural one, it would hit those without a drinking problem hardest, and it was a tax on the poor and increasingly desperate folks at the bottom. ?It worked in Canada,? said the van Rompuy lookalike in the studio.

My vote went to the remote contributor because he appeared to have done his homework, as opposed to staring at a Maple Leaf over his navel. But he?d have got my vote thirty years ago, his views reflecting those I drew from the last research project I did on the topic myself for the Whitbread Brewery client: that heavy drinking is a cultural cancer the Tories propose to cure by using the anti-homoaeopathic strategy of doubling the price of the disease-catalyst.

It?s odd the way in which, as supposed members of the European Union, the policy-fakers never go to France, Spain, Italy or Greece. There, all booze is cheap, and binge drinking a rarity. Life there (despite the best intentions of Berlin-am-Brussels) is less challenging than in the UK, the climate more cheerful, and the cultural drinking rules more firmly embedded in a supportive family model. In Britain ? where the climate sucks, life gets harder every year, and families are coming unglued from Perth to Penzance ? poor, young and older people get pissed all the time.

Anyone can join up those dots and ? allowing for the standard level of human error ? work out roughly how to solve Britain?s drink problem?which didn?t exist at all in the 1950s, when the pace of life here was roughly on a par with that of Southern France today. It wouldn?t tackle every problem: our overlaying of a wine fashion onto a session-drinking beer culture, for example, has been a major factor, in that the British tend to favour bottle-slurping plonk gulping, rather than a quiet glass of wine spritzer with a, say, French midday family meal.

In short, we drink far too much because the cultural milieu is overwhelmingly accepting of it; and because profound social and economic changes have brought us more misery not less. This is relative ? it could be a massive mortgage being fed by a stressful job, or a trapped underclass desperation being calmed by the escape into oblivion ? but alcohol?s success in retaining a trendy and largely positive image in our culture makes it the mind alteration of choice for most people.

The difficult, longer-term factors will therefore not be addressed by our political Party structures and processes. This is because first, the credit won?t be given to the person and Party that kick off the bullet-biting; second, the drinking lobby is treated with kid-gloves by all governments because it is a powerful pressure group; third, changing the propensity for mind-numbing booze sessions would mean rejecting the entire target-driven, globalist, deregulated employment, home-ownership, media-content, neocon construct upon which our hopelessly failing economy is based; but above all, the Government needs more money ? and fast.

Do not underestimate the last point there as a motivator for classic superficial and cynical Camerlot policy-making. Taxing alcohol has three advantages, if you?re a short-termist idiot: it can be spun as responsible social policy, it brings in half a billion quid in HMRC revenue a year, and the potential for more tax on it is enormous ? if your criterion is the fact that it represents only 2% of government receipts currently.

Keeping it simple, a 30% increase in alcohol duty would, if introduced gradually over three years on top of inflation, cover the cost of the NHS. Doing that over a five year period would wipe out the entire burden of the Welfare State. At first glance, it sounds like an ironically neat way of getting a fat booze industry to pay for the social damage it inflicts. In fact, it solves nothing: the problem won?t go away, the percentage of household income spent on alcohol will go back up again (it?s been falling for over a decade thanks to discounting), the adverse effect on inflation will be notable, it will fuel illegal grey import crime, domestic violence will continue as is, familial structures will remain weak, days lost to the economy will rise, and the brewers will both lay off workers and build in their own extra profit-fudge in order to maintain profitability.

If you want to truly comprehend the hypocrisy involved in political alcohol-control policies, then go to any off-licence point of sale material, any bottle, any can or any wine-box. Big and bold will be the brand name, alcohol type and strength; very small indeed will be the units warning and the by now robotic ?drink responsibly? lip service paid by the industry to the need for ?social awareness? about the dangers of drinking.

The worst binge-drinking in the world takes place in Russia -? a country whose Wild West Friedman-on-steroids ways and previous command-economy greyness have, over time, made for a strong argument in favour of being blotto much of the time. When given access to the laughing-liquid, the Swedes aren?t far behind: this and their high suicide-rate in turn reflect a climate, wildlife and geography that consists largely of elks wandering about in freezing cold pine forests and near-perpetual darkness for much of the year. I once spent a Saturday evening in Gothenburg during which, after 6.45 pm, I didn?t meet a single sober person beyond the restaurant staff and the cab drivers. The same dark, cold and moralising socio-climatic mix of Scotland goes a long way to explaining its never-ending love affair with the whisky bottle.

Northern ?protestant?, miserably-driven cultures create binge drinking. Southern ?Catholic? warmer and more laid-back cultures don?t. The booze prices in the former are far higher than in the latter; but the truth is, decades of research have shown that using price as a social policy to tackle addiction is useless. The correlation between consumption and price is there among moderate drinkers at the margins: among the unhappy pissheads, the correlation between the two is zero.

As long is there is universal Establishment denial that we are an unhappy culture, we will get tax-rises disguised as social policy?with a little time off immediately before every election. I did a reasonable calculation during the last election suggesting perfectly credibly that 12% of all those who voted after 5 pm were anything from tipsy to legless. Now that is a correlation?.and it sums up the irony of cynical idiocy better than anything else I can offer.

See also The anti-meritocracy of the Masons and Common Purpose

Source: http://hat4uk.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/booze-pricing-binge-taxing-as-proposed-by-camerlot-is-a-cynical-policy-doomed-to-failure/

mauritania mark sanchez obama open mic jefferson county colorado extenze tenacious d steve smith

Samsung to ship 19 million Windows 8 computers this year: executive

Country music titan Dolly Parton is anything but shy.In an exclusive interview with "Nightline," Parton dished about her love life (including those rumors that she is secretly gay), losing a drag queen lookalike contest and building a multimillion-dollar entertainment empire.Watch the full story on "Nightline" tonight at 11:35 p.m. ETIn her long reign as a country music legend, Parton, now 66, has done it all. In her new motivational memoir, "Dream More," which will be released on Nov. 27, Parton talks about growing up dirt poor in Sevierville, Tenn., in a cabin with 11 siblings. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-ship-19-million-windows-8-computers-executive-082855280.html

kenny powers carl hagelin triple play virginia tech shooting james neal jackie robinson virginia tech

The Midlife Guru: Long Distance Grand-Parenting is a Real Drag

I anticipated with delight being a Grammie. ?After all, when your kids are all grown, moved out of the house, on their way, married, successful in their careers -- what else is there to look forward to??

When I became a Grammie, I wanted to be the kind of Grammie that was involved in my granchildrens' lives. Babysit at least once a week to give the parents a free date night. ?Take my grandchildren on little outings. Make and eat treats together. Create cute little projects. Go to their special events. Share secrets. Have sleepovers. You know-- the memory making, good friend, always around, spoiler kind?of Grammie.

Well, that was the plan---until reality set in. You see, my grandson lives hundreds of miles away, making it nearly impossible for me to do all the things I had intended. Instead of having my grandson in close proximity, I have been relegated to long distance Grammie status and it is a real drag. What I would give to have weekly play dates. Instead, I have had to get pretty creative to establish the kind of Grammie-hood I had always envisioned. Here are some of the things I've done in order to shrink the distance and strengthen my grandparent ties:?

1. Embrace Technology. ?I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to have not have regular communication with my grandson. Thank you technology. Even though Jack is only two and a half, my grandson knows that cell phones and computers are great tools to hear and see his Grammie. His mom is really good about calling me almost daily so that Jack can hear my voice. Sometimes I have been busy and they had to leave a message. I've kept those voicemails for when I need a quick pick me up or when he is being a two year old and refuses to talk to me. When I hear the, "Hi Grammie. I miss you," my heart just melts. ??

Skype is another great use of technology. After all, their motto is, "Wherever you are, wherever they are-Skype keeps you together." When Jack was younger, I don't think he quite got the whole look at Grammie in the computer thing. ?But now that he is two and a half, he knows that it is me. We laugh and make faces and share toys and books. ?It is a pretty good?substitute?for being in person.??


2. Utilize Snail Mail- I know it is old fashioned, but who doesn't like getting mail? I send cards for all?holidays?(I've even been known to make up special occasions just so that I can send something fun) and little surprise gifts (stuff that costs more to mail than to buy or make). Just another way for my grandson to know that his Grammie is thinking of him.

My first choice for sending cards.

3. Create visual ques. I've just started working on this one but it has great possibilities. A company called?Heritage Makers provides great ideas for keeping family history alive.?I made a deck of playing cards using our family pictures as the faces for the cards. He can use them for a matching game. In the future, I'm going to make a calendar with pictures of me and his Pop-Pop so that he will not only learn his months and days, but see us cheering him on as well. ?Another great template they have is for a family history picture book. It will provide Jack with a story of how his family came together.????
4. Make Visits. Luckily, my husband is very supportive of this. He knows how important it is for me to keep connected and because he owns his own company, he has a hard time getting away. ?He is all for me taking a trip twice a year to visit. I subscribe to Southwest Airlines "Ding." ? It alerts me on my cell phone whenever there is a special deal going north. JetBlue Airlines has a similar program on the internet. ?No matter what airline you fly, buying a ticket on the internet is always cheaper than over the phone. I do my best to get the least expensive ticket possible. After all, I want to have some cash left over to spoil my grandson once I get there.


5. Leave?mementos. I always leave a?souvenir?of my visit so that after I've left, he has something tangible to remember me and the things we did together. A craft project or a game we played. Cookies that he can eat now and his mom can freeze for later. It is a great conversation starter for when I return home, " How is the ...." He then will fill me in and we can talk about what we did. Just another way to build on those memories. ?

While being a Long Distance Grammie isn't my first choice, I have still been able to come up with ways to stay connected with the most precious little guy I know: my grandson. Hopefully, some day, we will live closer. ?Until then, I will keep doing my best to be a real presence in his life. ?

Are you a long distance Grammie too? What do you do to stay involved in your grandchildren's lives?

***For a view from the "other side of long distance?grand-parenting,"?please check out my daughter's blog: the stationery place??Being the mom of a long distance?grandchild, she has a lot to say on this topic as well.
? ???

Source: http://www.themidlifeguru.com/2012/11/long-distance-grand-parenting-is-real.html

colcannon dystonia tourettes gonzaga rosie o donnell soda bread recipe vanderbilt

$550 million Powerball jackpot drives ticket frenzy

(Reuters) - Want to quit that depressing job? Buy a bigger house? Or how about a whole tropical island of your own? Maybe start a foundation?

Dreams of vast riches from a record Powerball lottery jackpot of more than half-a-billion dollars prompted a frenzy of ticket-buying across the United States ahead of Wednesday's draw, and continued heavy sales were nudging the payout even higher.

Powerball has not had a winner for two months, and the pot has already grown by about $225 million following brisk ticket sales after no one won the top prize in Saturday's drawing. By early afternoon on Wednesday, the jackpot stood at $550 million.

The drawing takes place at 10:59 p.m. ET/0315 GMT, and ticket sales cease from one to two hours earlier, depending on the state.

In a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, Joe Cooke, 29, fantasized that if he won he could quit his job fielding customer service calls for a financial institution, which he described as listening to "rich, mean people" complain all day.

And how exactly would he quit?

"I was thinking, maybe I should hire a marching band to help me," he said after buying $50 worth of Powerball tickets Wednesday morning. "Or maybe I'll just walk right into office and moon him."

The draw on Wednesday night would dish out more than $360.2 million if paid as a lump sum. Alternatively, the total of $550 million can be paid out in an annuity over three decades.

In the Idaho mountain town of Salmon, lottery vendors reported record numbers of people lining up on the last day to buy tickets.

"We sold 800 tickets yesterday and we're expecting even more today. People are really excited,' said Laurie Barrett, clerk at the Salmon Chevron.

Retired construction worker Bob Powell said it was his first time to play Powerball.

"I never buy tickets. My money comes too hard," he said.

Asked why he made an exception, Powell joked, "A deep voice came to me in my sleep last night. It said, ?Buy a lottery ticket.'"

"But I didn't buy a ticket," Powell said. "I bought the ticket."

Powerball is sold in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. There have been nearly 300 jackpot winners over the past 20 years, taking home payouts of over $11.6 billion.

The previous Powerball top prize of $365 million was won in 2006 by ConAgra slaughterhouse workers in Nebraska. The largest-ever U.S. lottery jackpot, the $656 million Mega Millions drawing, was shared by three winning tickets last March.

Among dreamers lining up at an Arizona grocery store in Tucson for a shot at Wednesday's prize was metal shop worker Errol Simmons, 54, entrusted with a list of lucky numbers by a dozen or so co-workers.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE WINNINGS?

"I've got to get this right," he said as he checked through the list. "I don't want to be the guy who lost us half a billion dollars because I couldn't count.

"If we win, I'll buy a new truck," he said. "For each day of the week."

The chances of winning the jackpot are about one in 175 million, compared to about one in 280,000 for being struck by lightning.

Mary Neubauer, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Lottery, where Powerball is based, said lottery officials had received calls and emails from people around the world asking if they can buy a ticket. They cannot.

"Sales across the country are just through the roof. It means lots of people are having fun with this, but it makes it difficult to keep up with the (jackpot) estimate," she said.

At a convenience store in Philadelphia, store supervisor Usman Malik said some people were spending $100 at a time on Wednesday to scoop up tickets. "It's like a frenzy," he said. "Everybody thinks they are going to win."

(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman in Idaho, Teresa Carson in Oregon,; Keith Coffman in Colorado,; Paul Ingram in Tucson, Jonathan Kaminsky in Washington state, Dave Warner in Philadelphia and Nick Carey in Illinois; Writing by Peter Rudegeair and Tim Gaynor; Editing by Paul Thomasch, David Storey and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/record-500-million-powerball-jackpot-drives-ticket-buying-090306439.html

al green burger king delivery etta james at last john king obama sings al green heidi klum and seal ohare airport

Director Kappos's Speech on Software Patents, the PTO, and ...

By Jason Rantanen

Last week, Director of the USPTO David Kappos delivered a keynote address to the Center for American Progress that focused on software patents and the smartphone "patent wars."? The speech is noteworthy for the Director's strong defense of software patents. The entire speech is worth reading - here are a few excerpts to induce you to read the full speech:

Software patents, like all patents, are a form of innovation currency. They are also ecosystem enablers, and job creators. The innovation protected by software patents is highly integrated with hardware. All of it must remain eligible for protection. The current software patent ?war? is hardly the first patent war?and unlikely to be the last in our nation?s patent history. Whenever breakthrough technologies come onto the scene, market players find themselves joined in the marketplace by new entrants. The first instinct of the breakthrough innovators is to bring patents into play. This is not only understandable, it is appropriate. Those who invest in breakthrough innovation have a right to expect others to respect their resultant IP. However, in the end, as history has shown time and time again, the players ultimately end up agreeing to pro-consumer solutions via licenses, cross-licenses or joint development agreements allowing core technologies to be shared.

***

So does that mean we?re done? End of speech? Should we just accept the problems, given the importance of the innovation and the illogic of discriminating against great technology that happens to be implemented in software? Of course not. The right point of inquiry is quality. By getting that right, we grant patents only for great algorithmic ideas worthy of protection, and not for everything else. This administration and its innovation agency understand that low-quality patents do no good for anyone. Low quality patents lead to disputes, uncertainty, and lost opportunity. Quality is central to our mission. All of this especially for software.

So we?ve been working on the underlying drivers for software patent quality from the beginning. Knowing that you get what you measure, starting in the summer of 2009 we assembled a taskforce to devise a comprehensive new set of quality metrics. That work culminated in 2010, when we rolled out the most complete, broad, objective patent quality measurement system on the planet ? seven metrics, which we report eagerly to the public. The Lexus of quality metrics. And what do those metrics show? Patent quality isn?t broken at all. In fact, our decisions on both allowances and rejections correctly comply with all laws and regulations over 96 percent of the time.

***

You know, the history of software patents is not a perfect one, although things are improving. Some of the most troublesome patents have expired; others can be challenged with new post-grant proceedings; and newer patents are quantifiably clearer, and aligned with current legal standards. But it?s important to note that, during the so-called smartphone patent wars, innovation continues at breakneck pace. A system like ours, in which innovation is happening faster than consumers can keep up, cannot fairly be characterized as ?broken?. Nor can it be said that the U.S. is just a receiver of all this innovation. Most of the innovation is taking place right here. Broken? What?

The fact is, the explosion of innovation?and follow-on litigation?that we see across consumer electronics hardware and software is a direct reflection of how our patent system wires us for innovation. It's both natural and reasonable that in a fast-growing, competitive market, innovators would seek to protect their breakthroughs using our patent system.

The full version of Director Kappos's speech is available here: http://www.uspto.gov/news/speeches/2012/kappos_CAP.jsp

?

?

Source: http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2012/11/director-kapposs-speech-on-software-patents-the-pto-and-innovation.html

Lark Voorhies Jennifer Livingston Orlando Cruz MLB Playoff Schedule arizona cardinals Big Bird Adam Greenberg

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Slams Chris Brown Rant as "Verbal Rape", Calls For Lifetime Twitter Ban

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/11/elisabeth-hasselbeck-slams-chris-brown-verbal-rape-rant-calls-fo/

Nathan Adrian London 2012 Synchronized Swimming London 2012 hurdles Taylor Kinney Beach Volleyball Olympics 2012 Jessica Ennis Oscar Pistorius

GLHFCasting ? Real Estate Management For Buildings of All Types

Columbus Investment Property Management Purchasing real estate can be a lucrative and memorable experience as you monitor the development and success of your property over a long period of time. This can also be a very time-consuming process with money to collect, residents to find, and areas to update and repair. If you own real estate but are often involved in other projects, you probably don?t have the time to manage your investment properly. Work with a responsible property management and maintenance company to help alleviate this burden. Property management companies can help in the process of finding residents, collecting rent, and communicating with the tenants of the property. We will work diligently to be the source of the very best property management services you can find anywhere. We know that different forms of real estate need different procedures and we can think outside of the box. For a great solution to your real estate management concerns, contact us today.

Category: Uncategorized /

Source: http://www.glhfcasting.com/real-estate-management-for-buildings-of-all-types/

BET Awards 2012 declaration of independence 4th Of July 2012 Zach Parise Spain Vs Italy Euro 2012 tiger woods Pepco

Manchester City striker Tevez banned for speeding

Associated Press Sports

updated 9:48 a.m. ET Nov. 26, 2012

MORECAMBE, England (AP) -Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has been banned from driving for speeding.

Magistrates in the northern English town of Lancaster imposed the interim ban on Monday after he failed to provide identification when he was caught speeding in nearby Morecambe on March 28.

The Argentina international did not attend the hearing.

His solicitor Gwyn Lewis told the court that "my instructions are though (Tevez) was not the driver on that occasion I am not going to argue against a ban on grounds of exceptional hardship."

Separately, Tevez's Porsche Panamera was impounded in Manchester on Nov. 15 because he could not produce a full British driving license.

Two days later, Tevez mimicked driving a car after he scored twice in his team's Premier League win against Aston Villa.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement

More news

Chelsea is held 0-0 by Man City

Rafa Benitez endured a hostile reception and gave the restless Chelsea fans nothing to cheer about as his first match in charge ended in a drab 0-0 draw with Manchester City on Sunday.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/49963280/ns/sports-soccer/

cynthia nixon cspan state of the union drinking game oscar noms capital gains tim thomas oral roberts

Awaken Your Productivity With Fearless At Work | Small Business ...

You have to find the translation of comic book heroes into popular movies fascinating.? Characters from childhood fantasies have been reimagined to fit every real life concern, from the complication of terrorism that underscores Chris Nolan?s Batman trilogy to teen angst represented by The Amazing Spiderman.

It makes one wonder what does it take to be truly fearless in real life.

Michael Carroll seems to believe he has the answer, at least for how we work. Thirty seven years of Buddhist training infuses his career as a human resources executive and professional coach. The thoughts are profoundly captured in his book Fearless at Work: Timeless Teaching For Awakening Confidence Resilence and Creativity in the Face of Life?s Demands. ?I discovered the book through NetGalley and requested a copy.

Carroll organizes 38 principles based on Tibetan practices (He explains the practices further in an appendix).? The principles are eye-opening words for contemplation.? Five sections organize the principles to be easy to find:

1. The five primary slogans, meant to be spiritual facts of life.
2. Exploring the ironies of cowardice ? learning to admit fear.
3. Taming the mind.
4. Establishing a fearless presence.
5. Living a skillful life.

You can read them sequentially, each building on each other. You can also read in your own order, useful for reminders, though Carroll recommends to read the 5 primary slogans. These are meant to help us engage life on our terms, instead of feeling out of control:

• Face the Fierce Facts of Life
• No Delight No Courage
• Recognize Fear
• Discover the Jewel of Fearless Abundance
• Command Gracefully

The principles support any journaling you choose to do in developing one?s avocation.? Each principle ends with a brief summary paragraph.

When digging deeper into the text, be prepared for startling phrases ? not sure I would think of myself as a coward, for example, but it?s the word Carroll uses to get to the heart of vulnerability. It supports the facts of life outline in the primary slogans, so I appreciated the point the author makes ? to appreciate a full aware of my life.

Acceptance is a hallmark of the first pages, beginning with a listing of ideas supporting the first term, Face the Fierce Facts of Life:

To be human hurts ? at times unbearably so. Anything can and does happen. Each of us is alone. We are born alone and we die alone.

Now this is a heavy thought, for sure, but Carroll wisely explains each listing and expand the thought carefully so that jolt from the phrases connects to professional thoughts that everyone has mostly likely entertained in their career:

The slogan ?Be a flagpole? reminds us that leadership is not always moving forward, getting it done, and driving results. Sometimes it requires us to stop ad simply be ? often in the midst of the most difficult circumstances.

I felt the most applicable thoughts to a reader who owns a small business is Living a Skillful Life. I thought the section spoke to connecting skills to ambitions through a spiritual conversation.

Ever met a small business owner who believed so much in their skills or product offering?? I?m sure you have. Everyone has.? And in every case these small businesses truly believe in their business, in some ways similar to an evangelist believing in the life calling.

Many segments address behavior to account one?s self for undertaking an action.? For example, Don?t Kick The Dog. I had to brace myself for that phrase. It means do not do something needless to alert people of a superior position you have, a petty action. If you kick the dog, it will bark, which leads to other dogs in the neighborhood barking along.

Here?s a better explanation of it:

The slogan Don?t Kick The Dog reminds us that we can pay a heavy price when we chose emotional victories over fearlessness?.such emotional victories can seem satisfying in the moment, but it inevitably leads to wider ?barking? and useless emotionality.

You have to read the chapter to learn a how the phrase came to be. Regardless, in simple language, when you are petty, others will know and ?bark??er, relay.

You?ll remember the emotional speedbumps that can impede fearlessness, and as a result, impede productivity and teamwork.? Taking a vejra view of aggression ? the fluid nature of underlying feelings ? shows how to draw upon assertiveness without improper bullying, while part three, Taming the Mind, notes mindful awareness and meditation in establishing a fearless presence.

Another segment, Just Slow Down, is a reminder of good judgment not being rushed.

Carroll wrote this book, along with Awake at Work, and Mindful Leader, to address what it is people really are striving to be personally and professionally ? happy, stress-free, fulfilled. Fearless at Work is not meant to provide organizational process, but is a good journal for applying self-introspection in the middle of small business chaos.? Like books such as Switch, Drive, and Adaptability, Fearless at Work does not tell try to interpret situations, but merely provide an overarching viewpoint that you can apply during your daily activities. Once you do, you?ll feel more like a superhero instead of looking for a hero.

?

About Pierre DeBois

Pierre DeBois is the founder of Zimana, a consultancy providing strategic analysis to small and medium sized businesses that rely on web analytics data. A Gary, Indiana native, Pierre is currently based in Brooklyn. He blogs about marketing, finance, social media, and analytics at Zimana blog.

?

Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/11/fearless-at-work-book-review.html

weather chicago swizz beatz mpaa south carolina debate lauren scruggs william shatner seattle weather

Ask The Charlotte Home Inspector | Covenant Hills Real Estate and ...

In case you are on the lookout for an opulent and upscale community in which you?ll establish your property, then it?s best to take a good look at Covenant Hills real estate and homes for sale. You will discover this very unique gated group in the southern district of Orange County, California. All of its 722 acres present residents a picturesque view of the San Juan Valley.

Even the nighttime view is a treat as Covenant Hills supplies a romantic view of metropolis lights below. Extra importantly, each location on this rigorously planned community will offer you a sight to behold. Covenant Hills real estate and homes for sale range from the one household homes which may cost roughly half 1,000,000 dollars to the plush and splendid estates price round 5 million.

Residents of Covenant Hills will take pleasure in entry to no less than sixteen parks and village clubhouses for his or her utmost enjoyment. Residents of Covenant Hills will enjoyment of a relaxing afternoon at the pool and spa on the Flintridge clubhouse. Flintridge additionally boasts of world class tennis courts and an outside terrace with an impressive view of the hills. However, children will certainly find the Terramor clubhouse a treat. The Terramor aquatic park has an enormous pool with a beach style entry all around which makes it a protected place for tiny tots to wade in and enjoy. There are additionally different water treats like water blasters and? the giant purple bucket which pours water over the kids who eagerly watch for the bucket to fill up. This clubhouse also has a skate park, a biking path and a picnic space for households to enjoy.

One other standard clubhouse for Covenant Hills and Ladera Ranch residents is the Oak Knoll Club House. It?s beautifully maintained gardens provide a scenic landscape to loosen up in. It additionally has a small water park for kids to frolic and revel in in as well as pools and open spaces.

Purchasing and eating in style for Covenant Hills and Ladera ranch locals shouldn?t be a problem as malls, purchasing facilities and restaurants abound within the area. The Mercantile West shopping middle has a number of boutiques and shops. You can shop in your surfing and sporting wants at Hobie Surf Shop or choose your furnishings and home improvement wants at Tuvali. You may also choose to offer your palate a treat at specialty eating places like Infusion, Roma D?Italia, as well as the Beachfire Bar and Grill, the Pacific Whey Bakery Caf? and the Maggie Moo?s Ice Cream.

You will also find Kohl?s Department Store at Mercantile East, together with Chick?s Sporting Goods. Mercantile East can also be residence to a number of different eating places like Subway and Pizza Hut, Kanpai Sushi and Newport Rib Firm, as well as Baskin and Robbins can also be discovered at Mercantile East.

Making that all-necessary resolution to purchase one of the a whole bunch of Covenant Hills real estate and homes for sale from www.previewochomes.com/covenant-hills.php isn?t any totally different from making that massive leap to the good life at Ladera Ranch.

Source: http://www.askthecharlotteinspector.com/2012/11/covenant-hills-real-estate-and-homes-for-sale-living-the-good-days-at-covenant-hills-and-ladera-ranch/

JJ Watt jerry sandusky john lennon johnny depp hayden panettiere raul ibanez completely wrong

lern2play Resources and Information. This website is for sale!

By using our site, you consent to this privacy policy: This website allows third-party advertising companies for the purpose of reporting website traffic, statistics, advertisements, "click-throughs" and/or other activities to use Cookies and /or Web Beacons and other monitoring technologies to serve ads and to compile anonymous statistics about you when you visit this website. Cookies are small text files stored on your local internet browser cache. A Web Beacon is an often-transparent graphic image, usually no larger than 1 pixel x 1 pixel that is placed on a Web site. Both are created for the main purpose of helping your browser process the special features of websites that use Cookies or Web Beacons. The gathered information about your visits to this and other websites are used by these third party companies in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. The information do not include any personal data like your name, address, email address, or telephone number. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/lern2play

buster posey eric holder eric holder carole king crystal renn matilda cab calloway

Gadgets worth buying ? even if they're not on sale

8 hrs.

Rosa Golijan , NBC News

Black Friday's over, but the shopping frenzy continues. Even so, there are some?gadgets that never seem to end up on discount table. These are?the best products of the moment, and you can?buy them ? even if they're not on sale ? without feeling an ounce of regret.

We've selected these gadgets (and gift-worthy?premium?services) through our own?firsthand experience, along with insight from fellow technology reporters and other tech-savvy colleagues.?Most are options that make sense in any circumstance, but a few recommendations?are better suited for certain people (for instance, Android fans, T-Mobile customers, etc.). The goal is for you to have a "safe" list: These are indisputably the best tech options of the moment for your loved ones ? or yourself.?

Apple iPhone 5
The iPhone 5 is the best smartphone choice on the market right now. (And good thing too, because?if you favor iOS, it's really your only option.) It's ridiculously slender and light, but makes no compromises when it comes to performance and battery life.

Samsung Galaxy S III
Those who prefer Android should feel comfortable snagging a Galaxy S III. While the phone would have been even better if Samsung hadn't slapped so many embellishments?on top of the pure?Android OS,?it's a solid device with a large, bright screen and a snappy processor.

Google?Nexus 4?by LG
You can find the Samsung Galaxy S III on all U.S. carriers, but the?impressive Nexus 4 only runs on T-Mobile and AT&T in this country. Google's newest?smartphone has the latest, purest version of Android, 4.2 Jelly Bean, with features like Photo Sphere panoramic shooting and wireless display video streaming.?And since it's Google's own baby,?it's bound to be first in line for the next Android?operating system upgrade, too.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
NBC News' Wilson Rothman declared the Kindle Paperwhite "the new king of e-readers" when he reviewed it.?It has great contrast that comes as a result of an innovative integrated lighting system. You still get the easy-on-the-eyes readability and impressively long battery life, but no more need for an Itty Bitty Book Light. ($119 for Wi-Fi-only model, $179 with Wi-Fi and 3G.)

Apple iPad (4th generation)
Though the iPad Mini has received most of the attention this season, we're not recommending it for now?because ? as lovely as the new size and shape is ? the screen should have higher resolution. We are recommending the newest iPad, however: It?maintains all the clever design touches and excellent battery life?of the prior generation, but runs even faster. Pricing starts at $499.

Google?Nexus 7?by Asus
The Nexus 7 is a lightweight,?high-performance tablet that delivers a pure Android experience to people who prefer that platform. While we don't feel that there are enough tablet-specific Android?apps to make any of those devices viable competitors to the iPad, this 7-inch tablet, starting at $199, is a best-in-class vehicle for Web, email and all of?Google's own services.?

Amazon Kindle Fire HD
For $199, the Kindle Fire HD makes a lot of sense for?media consumption,?especially if you're already in love with Amazon and its $70-per-year Prime media service. (Just don't?expect to be editing photos and?working on spreadsheets on this, like you can on an iPad.)?The 7-inch?tablet's a decent improvement on its predecessor, and the all-new?8.9-inch version is a solid step up for just $299.

Apple 13-inch MacBook Air
Choosing a laptop can seem difficult, but for most people, an ultra-light device with speedy guts is the way to go. Unless you're someone who does incredibly processor-intensive work ? or desperately needs a DVD drive ? the 13-inch MacBook Air, starting at $1,199, is the best bet. (Why else would so many PC makers try to copy it?)

AirPort Express
The router provided by your Internet service provider is typically a pain in the rump to deal with. If you're finally ready to accept that it's time to look elsewhere, then Apple's $99?AirPort Express is the router you should pick up. It's ridiculously simple to set up and you won't have to think about it much after the day you unbox it.

Spotify subscription
You want music. And you want lots of it. Instead of purchasing songs a la carte or forking money over for every album you download, you should sign up for a premium Spotify subscription for $9.99/month. You'll have access to millions and millions of tracks, instantly, and even be able to store them locally on your mobile device or computer for off-line play.

Amazon Prime subscription
Purchasing movie or TV show downloads quickly leads to a long credit card statement, but with a $70-per-year Amazon Prime subscription, you'll have access to a huge library of streaming video. On top of that, you'll also get free shipping on most items. If you own a Kindle, Prime also gives you "free"?book borrowing, including bestsellers like the Harry Potter series.

Netflix subscription
If you're not prone to shopping on Amazon and couldn't care less about getting free shipping with your video streaming service, then the $7.99-per-month?Netflix is the choice for you. Besides, its movie library is more impressive than Amazon's, at least for now.

Canon PowerShot S110
Canon's S-series cameras have gained a reputation for being the best point-and-shoot devices on the market. If you're not content with the photos your phone spits out and want the kind of manual control usually reserved for DSLRs, then the latest PowerShot S110 (between $400 and $450 retail) is?ideal. (And?if you can live without the S110's touchscreen and the built-in Wi-Fi, you can find the otherwise identical PowerShot?S100 on sale now.)

Canon EOS Rebel T4i
Canon's T4i represented a big jump ahead for the affordable?Rebel series of DSLRs. Its new processor ?delivers speed and low-light performance previously seen only in pro cameras, and its?HD video shooting is the best in its price range (it's around $800 retail). Unless you have a bunch of Nikon lenses, there's really no reason not to pick up one of these.

Nikon D600
Speaking of Nikon, the D600 is just right?for dedicated amateur photographers who want a full-frame DSLR but don't want to pay through the nose (the camera plus 24-85mm lens retails for around $2,500). It has all the features you'd want from a higher-end DSLR and a nifty viewfinder which offers 100 percent coverage (unlike many cheaper models).

Panasonic Lumix TS4
While you take most of your pictures with your phone, you get nervous taking it out at the beach or at the pool. One grain of sand or drop of water, and it's "bye?bye, smartphone." That's where the TS4 comes in. Whether you're way into extreme sports or just have kids, a rugged camera like this?is a great thing to have on hand. (Retail price between $200 and $250.)

Want more tech news?or interesting?links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/gadgets-worth-buying-even-if-theyre-not-sale-1C7208005

shuttle pippa middleton space shuttle discovery spacex tupac hologram tupac back tax deadline

% chance WS and OM will have long term relationship?

Please, no "Why do you care?" responses!
Also, if you can cite a source, that's appreciated.

Two cheaters are coming together to live. My wife will be 34 and soon twice divorced and if we divorce.

WW recently left for OM and now they are living together. Affair was secret for 6-7 months, then D-Day, and now we are 4 months past D-Day.

She and I have two young children and they are staying with her for 2 months while I travel.

Background: My wife was married before (7 years) and had a six month PA but did not leave husband. She eventually left her husband for me rather quickly. We have been together 7 years until now. OM was in marriage for 12 years but had 3 year affair a few years ago. Marriage lost vitality after that and his ex has already moved on with new guy since finding out this summer about OM's affair with my wife. OM also had a previous affair when single with a married woman.

So what are the chances they stay together for 1 year, 2 years, 7 years, a liftetime? Of course, wife feels like she is "deeply in love" even though she regrets destruction of her marriage with me.

My wife's father married his OW when my wife was a child. So I think she uses this as the model that it will "work" between her and OM. And if not, oh well she feels like she needed to take this chance. Yes, it's all about her apparently.

Source: http://talkaboutmarriage.com/coping-infidelity/61616-chance-ws-om-will-have-long-term-relationship.html

nc state erika van pelt pat robertson hunger games trailer hunger games trailer in plain sight hunger games movie review

Green Blog: Another Path to Biofuels

Last week I wrote about two companies that are racing to be first in commercial-scale production of motor fuel from nonfood sources. A large group of other companies is pursuing various other strategies, one or two steps behind. One of those companies is planning to use algae.

The company, SEE Algae Technology of Austria, is building a 2.5-acre factory on a sugar plantation near Recife, Brazil, that will use genetically modified algae that can eat carbon dioxide from the sugar. Adding urea and some nutrients, the algae excrete ethanol.

The path to profitability, according to the company, is raising the amount of algae produced per unit of area. Algae grows in ponds, but that turns out to require a lot of space: sunlight does not penetrate more than a couple of inches, so the ponds must have big surfaces. The problem is that the carbon dioxide injected to promote algae growth tends to escape from a big surface.

SEE Algae?s solution is a silo that is 16 feet tall and has a volume of 177 cubic feet. Sunlight is directed all over the inside of the silo by optical fiber technology. Because the light is coming from multiple directions, the hardware can produce algae at a density up to 20 times greater than can be generated on a pond, according to Joachim Grill, the company?s chief executive.

The carbon dioxide source is a small electricity-producing plant that burns the part of the sugar cane that remains after the sugar has been extracted. (Brazilian sugar plantations have a second source of carbon dioxide: sugar is often used to make ethanol, and the yeast that digests the sugar and yields the ethanol also gives off a pure stream of carbon dioxide as well. Still, that carbon dioxide has more value when sold for edible uses like producing carbonated beverages, Dr. Grill said.)

The pilot plant, which is scheduled to be complete in May, will produce about 370,000 gallons of ethanol a year, Dr. Grill said. If it runs as planned, SEE Algae?s customer, Grupo JB, will add 14 more, all the same size. Even that would be small by the standards of commercial oil refineries, but it could turn out to be the first serious commercial production of ethanol from algae.

Using genetically altered algae to make ethanol is one route to biofuels, but SEE Algae has a second route in mind. Ordinary algae develops an oil as it grows, and this can be processed into a diesel substitute. The procedure involves removing the water and adding a solvent, generally hexane, that dissolves the cell wall so that the oil can be purified and processed.

But for the time being, Dr. Grill said, customers who follow that pathway do not bother making fuel from the oil. The reason is that the oil can also be processed into products with a higher profit margin, notably cosmetics and nutritional supplements, including Omega-3. ?It?s a big rage,?? he said of the latter.

Turning algae into fuel or other chemicals that are now made from oil could have commercial benefits when oil prices are high. But it could also make financial sense in countries that have put a price on carbon dioxide emissions to combat global warming, since the algae consume the carbon and reuse it in their product.

(If that product is fuel, the carbon will be released when the ethanol or biodiesel is burned. But environmentally, that is better than releasing carbon that had been sequestered deep underground as oil.)

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/23/another-path-to-biofuels-two-actually/?partner=rss&emc=rss

politico fox news new york times Tammy Baldwin house of representatives paul ryan michele bachmann

In His Own Words: Bill Gates Dishes on Computers, Religion and Being Smart [Excerpt]

In Impatient Optimist: Bill Gates in His Own Words readers get a glimpse of the visionary Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist's philosophy on business, technology and life via some of his most memorable quotes

By Lisa Rogak

Image: Reprinted with permission from Impatient Optimist?by Lisa Rogak, Agate B2, September, 2012

Editor's note: The following excerpt is reprinted with permission from Impatient Optimist: Bill Gates in His Own Words, edited by Lisa Rogak and published September 2012 by Agate Publishing: B2 Books.

Love him or hate him, Bill Gates has been a venerable worldwide business icon for more than three decades, ever since the first mass-produced personal computer debuted in 1981. Alternately described as an ingenious visionary and a tyrannical, sometimes less-than-scrupulous businessman, he has been all but impossible to ignore. But despite one's opinion of Gates, even his most prominent naysayers have no choice but to admit the obvious: He helped to spearhead one of the greatest revolutions in modern history by turning the inaccessible computer technology of the 1970s into an invaluable and easy-to-use tool for the masses, while also providing jobs and wealth to many along the way.

Gates has consistently been ranked as one of the world 's wealthiest men?as well as one of the most controversial founders and CEOs in history?and businesspeople of all stripes have taken their cues from him, using his words and business strategies to help create and grow their own companies. And in contrast to his hard-nosed reputation, after he left running the day-to-day operations of Microsoft in 2008 to devote himself full-time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a kinder, gentler side began to emerge. As a result, people who are actively involved in their own philanthropic efforts, whether in a professional or part-time capacity, have begun to take a second look at the man.

Despite the fact that he's no longer at the helm of one of the world's most powerful companies, Gates has steadfastly remained in the news. His friendship and philanthropic partnerships with U2's Bono and investing titan Warren Buffett attract the attention of both the media and public, which only helps to gain more attention for his charitable acts, whether he is testifying with former President Bill Clinton about increasing federal aid to earthquake-ravaged cities and villages in Haiti, or making the rounds at the Sundance Film Festival to promote the topic of public education reform. And unlike Gates's days at Microsoft, where he was entrusted with protecting a bevy of corporate secrets, today his life is virtually an open book, featuring regular updates on Facebook and Twitter and blog posts at TheGatesNotes.com.

Bill Gates's second act is no less compelling than his first. Anyone interested in his personal life or looking for inspiration to drive forward his or her own business endeavors can find enlightenment through reading Gates's own words.

"If a kid if addicted to a personal computer, I think that's far better than watching TV, because at least his mind is making choices."
Programmers at Work, 1986

"Computers are great because when you're working with them you get immediate results that let you know if your program works. It's feedback you don't get from many other things."
The Road Ahead, 1995

"I've never done anything solo, except take tests."
Working Together, 2010

"I think short of the transporter, most things you see in science fiction are, in the next decade, the kinds of things you'll see. The virtual presence, the virtual worlds that both represent what's going on in the real world and represent whatever people are interested in. This movement in space as a way of interacting with the machine. I think the deep investments that have been made at the research level will pay off with these things in the next 10 years."
D5 Conference: All Things Digital, May 30, 2007

"If being a nerd means you're somebody who can enjoy exploring a computer for hours and hours late into the night, then the description fits me, and I don't think there's anything pejorative about it. But here's the real test: I've never used a pocket protector, so I can't really be a nerd, can I?"
The New York Times Syndicate and News Service, August 5, 1996

"I devote maybe ten percent to business thinking. Business isn't that complicated. I wouldn't want to put it on my business card. [I'm a] scientist. Unless I've been fooling myself. When I read about great scientists like, say, Crick and Watson and how they discovered DNA, I get a lot of pleasure. Stories of business success don't interest me in the same way. Say you added two years to my life and let me go to business school. I don't think I would have done a better job at Microsoft."
Playboy, July 1994

"Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning."
Time, January 13, 1997

"There are one hundred universities making contributions to robotics. And each one is saying that the other is doing it all wrong."
The World Is Flat, 2005

"Humanity's greatest advances are not in its discoveries, but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity, reducing inequity is the highest human achievement."
Commencement address, Harvard University, June 7, 2007

"Smartness is an ability to absorb new facts. To walk into a situation, have something explained to you, and immediately say, "Well, what about this?" To ask an insightful question. To absorb it in real time. A capacity to remember. To relate to domains that may not seem connected at first."
The Rich and How They Got That Way, 2001

"Everybody should watch chemistry lectures?they're far better than you think. Don Sadoway, MIT?best chemistry lessons everywhere. Unbelievable."
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 23, 2008

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=3141d272d813db4d573fadb1e818bb8c

dallas tornado video 1940 census instagram for android dallas news dallas fort worth dfw 1930 census