Category: News

I regularly pull extra-hard on bus handles, quietly flexing my biceps (and triceps, if possible), sneaking in a small work-out on my way across town. Designer Junjie Zhang has dreamed up a way to generate power from doing just that. More »

An important part of first grade math is learning addition and subtraction facts. Students need to develop an understanding of the relationship between addition and subtraction as well as develop strategies for quick recall of facts. This post includes some of the best resources for helping students learn addition and subtraction facts to 18.

Books

Math Fables Too
by Greg Tang
Illustrated by Taia Morley
This book is math and science all in one.  Students will learn interesting facts about the behavior of animals such as bats, archerfish, and seagulls, they will develop their vocabulary and learn addition facts. Students are presented with a number of animals grouped in different ways.  For instance 4 herons are all together, then 3 use a feather and 1 uses a twig to lure fish to the surface of the water.  There are many excellent teaching opportunities in this book.

Math-terpieces
by Greg Tang
Illustrated by Greg Paprocki
In this book math is combined with art history. Each page focuses on a famous work of art by artists such as Degas, Warhol, and Pollock. Each page has groupings of objects related to the painting. Students are asked to add together the groups to get a certain sum. Students also get the opportunity to see how three or more groups can be used to get the desired sum. Tang tells students how many ways it is possible to get the sum and provides all the illustrated answers in the back of the book.

Mission: Addition
written and illustrated by Loreen Leedy
This is a very well illustrated and engaging book with stories that students will love. Leedy includes all the basic concepts of addition including definitions, place value, horizontal and vertical computation, adding groups of the same things and groups of different things, as well as incorporating word/story problems throughout.

Subtraction Action
written and illustrated by Loreen Leedy
The same characters from Mission: Addition appear in Leedy’s subtraction book. This is a great book for teaching the concept of subtraction. Leedy covers all the basics of subtraction including definitions and showing each step of a subtraction problem. She uses numbers, words, and pictures to tell subtraction stories.

Subtracting with Sebastian Pig and Friends On a Camping Trip
by Jill Anderson
illustrated by Amy Huntington
In this book some of the things that Sebastian and his friends need on their camping trip are disappearing. Each page spread tells of a missing item. “Where Are the Worms? There were seven worms. Now there is just one! How many worms are missing?” Each problem in the story is represented in the text by a word problem and also in Sebastian’s notebook where he writes the number sentence, draws a picture representation of the problem and then lists the addition facts from that family. Students who pay attention will see that it’s a group of mice who are taking the campers things.

Websites for Students

Addition Word Problems is a great activity for students to get experience solving story problems. If a student enters an incorrect answer they can click on the button “Explanation” and they will see a written explanation of the problem, a strategy for solving, and the number sentence for the correct answer. When they are finished playing they will get a summary of their time and how many problems they solved correctly.

Alien Addition is an arcade style game where students must use the arrow keys to move back and forth firing the laser “sum” at the spaceship with the corresponding number sentence. Students may select the range for facts as well as the speed of the game. At the end of each stage students get a summary of hits and misses (incorrect answers). Misses show the student’s answer and the correct number sentence. Minus Mission is the subtraction version of Alien Addition.

Sum Sense is a subtraction game that challenges students by giving them three number cards that they must arrange into the correct number sentence. They can choose the number of problems they want and a time from one to ten minutes to solve. If the student answers incorrectly they are told to try again.

Hidden Pictures can be played with either addition or subtraction facts. Students solve problems to uncover a photograph. The photos are of animals in their natural habitats and a short description is given for each one.  Addition Concentration is also a fun game on this website.

Funbrain includes several games that are great for practicing addition and subtraction facts. Line Jumper gives students the visual of a number line for solving addition and subtraction problems between 1-20.  Students can play Tic Tac Toe against the computer with addition or subtraction facts. In Math Baseball students solve addition or subtraction problems to move around the bases and score runs. A one or two player version is available.

Additional Resources for Teachers

Mathwire.com is a great source for addition and subtraction classroom games and templates you can use for assessment or as center activities. The site also includes good ideas and resources for incorporating writing in math.

The NCTM Illuminations site has a large collection of lesson plans for teaching addition and subtraction. Each lesson in the list is actually a unit plan that contains up to five related lessons.

UEN.org provides a great resource for games and centers that will help students practice their addition and subtraction facts. Templates in pdf form are included for all the games as well as background information, instructional procedures, assessment plans, and extension ideas.

There are some good short video clips on addition and subtraction that you could incorporate into lessons or use at listening stations. Many use music and interesting visuals and could be helpful for students who are having difficulty remembering certain facts. Here are a few good videos that I have found: Adding and Subtracting Song, Adding 9 + 1, Doubles Doubles, and Five Bees, which also counts in Spanish.

Posted by Michelle Manchir at 12:38 p.m.



SPRINGFIELD — Red-light camera tickets would be slightly harder to get and cheaper to appeal under legislation the Illinois House sent to Gov. Pat Quinn today.



Critics say the red-light reform plan falls short of the sweeping overhaul needed, but that didn’t prevent the House from voting 80-27-1 to approve it.



The legislation would ban the city and suburbs from tacking on an extra fee to the standard $100 fine if a ticket is appealed, a common practice which deters many motorists from fighting the charges.

The measure also would give drivers more wiggle room to creep up to the edge of an intersection before stopping. A complete stop would still be required before making a right turn on red, but drivers could come to a halt after the painted stop line without getting a ticket as long as pedestrians were not nearby. Drivers awaiting a green light to head straight into an intersection also could make stops past the stop line without being nabbed by a camera.

Statistics show that the most dangerous red-light-running infractions involve drivers who barrel straight into an intersection and become involved in broadside collisions. But most tickets issued through cameras involve drivers who fail to come to a complete stop while making a right turn on red — a violation that experts say rarely is dangerous.



Rolling right turns would still be outlawed under the measure, but drivers would no longer be required to make their stop at a white line several feet shy of the intersection.



Other changes to the state red-light camera law that are included in the plan codified what is already common practice. One provision mandates that yellow lights on traffic signals be timed to comply with broad guidelines set by state transportation officials, a standard that every community with cameras already claims to meet.



Another provision requires that any ticketed vehicle owner be able to access video of the alleged misdeed on the Internet. That is a courtesy already widely offered by camera vendors.



In the Senate, the measure was sponsored by Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and hammered out in a closed-door meeting last month with other lawmakers and lobbyists for Redflex and Redspeed, vendors hired to operate camera systems for Chicago and many suburbs.

El primer coche deportivo exótico en la línea de Ferrari o Lamborghini tenía que llegar de un momento a otro, en un mercado que con el correr del tiempo se ha convertido en uno de los más importantes del mundo. Y parece que la primera que ha dirigido su interés hacia los deportivos, ha sido una ignota firma de diseño llamada CH auto, con el Aculein, una especie de Ferrari made in China.

Siguiendo con la tradición de clonar todo lo que provenga de occidente, el Aculein es la carta de presentación de CH Auto un estudio de diseño bastante considerable, si tenemos en cuenta que tiene en su plantilla a más de 300 personas y cuyo jefe de diseño, un tal Wang Bisen, ideó este coche inspirado en un Ferrari 599 GTO.

La idea de CH Auto parece que es llamar la atención del mundo del diseño para atraer inversionistas y así atraer a posibles clientes de otras marcas. Entre su palmarés figura haber trabajado antes con otras marcas chinas, como Geely, GAW y BAW.

¿Y qué podemos esperar del Aculein? Es un deportivo con motorización de BMW. Usa el motor V8 4.8 produciendo 367 caballos y el cambio del BMW Serie 6. CH Auto ha dado algunas especificaciones de prestaciones bastante respetables: de 0 a 100 km/h acelera en 5.2 segundos, con una máxima de 267 km/h. Claro que son casi 100 km/h menos de velocidad máxima con respecto a todo un Ferrari 599, pero es un buen comienzo para hacerse notar en el mercado.

Vía | Autocar

If there’s any lesson to be learned from this story it’s this: When you decide to take a bunch of clothes into a store’s changing room with the intention of voiding your bladder all over them, do not leave your wallet behind.

That’s what police in Cape Coral, FL, allege a 22-year-old woman did at her local Walmart.

According to authorities, employees saw the suspect take $163 worth of clothing from the racks into the changing room, where she apparently decided to test their urine absorption capacity.

She made it easy work for the police to find her by leaving her wallet, complete with driver’s license, in the room with the pee-drenched pile of clothes.

The woman has been charged with criminal mischief and property damage and has been released on $500 bail.

We’re going to assume that the clothes were not immediately put back on the sales floor.

Police arrest woman suspected of urinating on clothes at Cape Coral Walmart [News-Press.com]

Thanks to Ron for the tip!

[JURIST] The International Whaling Commission (IWC) unveiled a draft proposal Thursday that would make limited commercial whaling legal for the first time in 25 years. The proposal reflects a compromise for the countries that engage in whaling despite international law against it. Japan, Norway, and Iceland would be allowed to continue under strict quotas meant to reduce whaling to sustainable levels over time. Japan, which defends its illegal whaling by claiming an exemption for scientific purposes, will have its self-imposed quota for minke whales reduced from 935 to 400 for the 2010 season and down to 200 by 2015. The hunting of humpback whales in the Southern Hemisphere is still prohibited, but the proposal allows for a limited number in the North Atlantic. The proposal addresses the fact that the overall ban on whaling has been ineffective:
The status quo is not an option for an effective multilateral organisation. To overcome the present impasse, the IWC has in recent years recognised the need to create a non-confrontational environment within which issues of fundamental difference amongst members can be discussed with a view to their resolution. Reconciliation of differences in views about whales and whaling will strengthen actions related to the common goal of maintaining healthy whale populations and maximizing the likelihood of the recovery of depleted populations.Despite this goal, the IWC has received criticism from the anti-whaling group Greenpeace. The IWC will discuss the proposal during its June meeting in Morocco.Whaling is regulated by the 1946 Whaling Convention, and commercial whaling was outright banned in 1986 by the IWC. The Japanese whalers defend their whaling as scientific research because they collect data on the whale’s age, diet, and birthing rate, before packaging and selling the meat. The Japanese mostly hunt for minke and finback whales, but have begun to hunt humpback whales, which have reached sustainable levels since being placed on the endangered species list in 1963. Earlier this month, Japanese authorities indicted New Zealand anti-whaling activist, Pete Bethune, with five criminal charges in connection with boarding a Japanese whaling vessel as part of an anti-whaling protest in the antarctic seas.

Posted by Michelle Manchir at 12:25 p.m.



SPRINGFIELD — Drivers convicted of speeding at least 40 mph over the limit would no longer be able keep the violation off of their driving record under legislation the House sent Gov. Pat Quinn today.



The measure, inspired by a Tribune report, would prohibit a driver from getting court supervision if he is found guilty of such excessive speeding. Court supervision is a form of probation that allows a person to wipe a violation off of his driving record if he doesn’t get another ticket for a specified time, usually a period of months.

The Tribune reported a high number of motorists driving more than 100 mph ended up getting the court supervision, something viewed by critics as a slap on the wrist for driving way too fast.



The issue of eliminating the break for these types of violations was championed by Secretary of State Jesse White and pressed in the Senate by President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and the House by Rep. John D’Amico, D-Chicago.



The measure went to the governor 105-3.

By Tim Shoemaker

There are plenty of reasons C4L members should be actively opposed to the financial ‘deform’ bill under consideration in the Senate.  The provision that is most deserving of righteous anger however, is Sen. Jeff Merkley’s alleged “audit” of the Federal Reserve. 

From The Huffington Post:

The Senate has been more hostile territory for the Fed audit provision. Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) opposes the Grayson-Paul version, but allowed a much more restrictive audit proposal from Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) into his bill.

The Senate bill would allow an audit of the TALF program and slightly expands authority to audit emergency lending conducted under section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act, but restricts it to very specific purposes.

It would not allow the GAO to look into the Fed’s massive purchase of toxic assets, its hundreds of billions in foreign currency swaps with other central banks or its open market operations, among other restrictions.

We’ve seen this language before.  Rep. Mel Watt tried to introduce a similar “audit” provision to the House financial reform bill.  Thanks to the tireless efforts of our members calling, emailing, and faxing their representatives, the Paul-Grayson amendment was substituted for Watt’s before eventually passing the House.

Contact your Senators and demand that before they grant the Federal Reserve new powers we must have complete transparency!  A standalone vote on S. 604 is long overdue in the Senate.  Let them know the American people will not stand for more secrecy when it comes to their money and this country’s financial institutions.

By Gary Howard

When looking at this Rasmussen poll on American views of capitalism and socialism, I hoped that the percentage of those favoring capitalism over socialism would be much larger.

Sixty percent (60%) of U.S. adults nationwide say that capitalism is better than socialism. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 18% disagree, while 21% are not sure.

Adults under 30 are closely divided on the question. While Republicans and unaffiliated voters overwhelmingly say that capitalism is better, just 43% of Democrats agree. Twenty-four percent (24%) of Democrats say socialism is better.

Seventy-six percent (76%) of investors favor capitalism, compared to only 45% of non-investors.

Last year at this time, among all adults, only 53% said capitalism was better. Continue reading…

A better idea of what this means would have come if they asked these folks how they define capitalism, but I guess this sort of answers that question [emphasis added]:

However, it’s important to note that just 35% believe a free market economy is the same as a capitalist economy. In fact, despite tepid support for capitalism, 77% of Americans prefer a free market economy rather than a government managed economy.That’s consistent with the 75% who say that business is better at customer service than government.

One reason for the gap in support for capitalism and free markets is clearly the behavior of some large American corporations. Seventy-three percent (73%) of Americans believe that Goldman Sachs is likely to have committed fraud as charged by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. Seven-out-of-10 Americans believe that government and big business work together against the interests of consumers and investors. Continue reading…

And that is the best news to take from this poll, that most people see that it’s the collusion of big business and big government that causes most of our problems. Common sense seems to be alive and well, except inside the beltway.

People still need to be educated about what a true free market looks like, but at least there are a lot of people open to it.

Saudi Arabia could soon have the first nuclear power plant in the Gulf states if U.S. backing for the plan moves forward.

A new part of Riyadh will be completely powered by nuclear energy.

One reason that oil consuming nations might be interested in pushing this forward is that nuclear power in oil-producing nations might increase the amount of oil available for export:

OilPrice:

The government of Saudi Arabia has announced a new section of its capital Riyadh is set to be powered solely by nuclear energy. This will be the first nuclear power plant in the Gulf states, and the first in the broader Middle East.

If the U.S. government backs Saudi Arabia’s bid to build a reactor, they’ll be creating the potential for nuclear growth within the GCC, or Gulf Cooperation Council, whose members include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, and Oman.

All of those states are also reviewing the possibility of producing nuclear fuel, so they can export more oil and gas to foreign markets.

According to the EIA, Saudi Arabia is the largest oil-consumer in the Middle East and one of the largest sources of oil consumption growth is electricity production since the nation must burn oil during the summer to generate electricity. Thus any power generated by a nuclear reactor frees up oil for export. This means more oil to sell for Saudi Arabia and more oil supply available for the global market.

It sounds like a win-win, as long as the technology is used peacefully of course.

As we understand it though, purely civilian reactors can be designed so that their fuel can’t be weaponized. Even if there will be some risk of nuclear fuel used as a low-tech dirty bomb, which as we understand is still possible with the fuel used for civilian reactors, it’s probably better for nations like the U.S. to play an active part in planning nuclear power in the Middle East so that it can keep things as transparent as possible.

This is because civilian reactors will inevitably be developed at any rate, especially in a nation flush with investment capital such as Saudi Arabia.

Already the U.A.E and Kuwait are planning nuclear power of their own as well. So it’s better to be a part of the plan, which might help add some slack to the oil market at the same time. Not sure how this will play with Iran though…

Join the conversation about this story »

James Cameron’s Oscar-winning blockbuster Avatar sold a record-breaking 1.5 million copies on blu-ray discs when it arrived on store shelves on the 40th anniversary of Earth Day this week. The feat shatters the previous record set by The Dark Knight in 2008. A 3D blu-ray edition of Avatar is planned for release sometime next year. Earlier this year, Avatar replaced Cameron’s 1997 period drama Titanic as the highest-grossing film in cinema history.

Purchases of new homes surged in March to an annualized rate of 411,000, an increase of 27% over February, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s the fastest growth of new home sales since April 1963. While selling additional new home is an indication that consumers are feeling more bullish about the housing market, today’s news should be taken in context.

This news isn’t particularly shocking for those who follow the housing market, considering that pending home sales increased significantly in February. New home sales rising also complements yesterday’s news that the sales of existing homes increased in March. The home buyer credit, set to expire in April, was described as mostly responsible for that news. There’s little doubt that the credit also drove new home sales to increase so much last month.

It is a little shocking that home buyers aren’t more interested in looking for deals on foreclosures or short sales, however. Foreclosures hit a new high in March, so there are plenty of steals be had for bargain hunters. Yet, many Americans chose to buy new homes instead.

March’s 411,000 annualized home sales were quite good compared to the prior month’s 324,000. But after a four-month decline, February had the fewest new home sales on record — since at least January 1963. So even relatively few sales in March would have had trouble falling below February’s level. In fact, the historical numbers show how weak March’s new home sales actually were:

New home sales peaked at a rate of 1.39 million in mid-2005. Last month’s numbers would have to double to get back to the pre-housing bubble levels in the 800,000’s. You only have to look back to July 2009 to see a higher number than in March.

Last month’s increased sales also didn’t do much to help lower the inventory of new homes for sale. It dropped a measly 2,000 homes from 229,000 to 227,000. That means builders are keeping up with the demand for new houses.

While additional new construction is good news for jobs, it might not help the housing market’s price stability. As mentioned, foreclosures are still extremely high. Consequently, there is a substantial inventory of existing homes, which has increased by 9% over the past two months. The market would be better served to sell off more of the existing home inventory before ramping up the building of new houses. Then, construction jobs could still be created through renovation projects. Price stability will be hard to attain as long as overall inventory is increasing.

This recent surge in new home sales is likely fleeting. Its driving force — the home buyer credit — will be gone at the end of April. So we can expect to see strong sales of new homes again this month, but fewer come summer. If construction doesn’t slow down accordingly, then the inventory of new homes will begin growing.

Note: All statistics above are seasonally adjusted.

(Nav Image Credit: Jerome/flickr)

Harvard University today (April 23) announced that Sumner M. Redstone has contributed $1 million to be used by Harvard College and Harvard Law School. This contribution by Redstone, a graduate of both Schools, will establish scholarships for 20 Redstone Scholars to attend Harvard College for the 2010–11 academic year. Additionally, Redstone’s gift will furnish funding for 10 postgraduate public service fellowships at Harvard Law School.

The Sumner M. Redstone Undergraduate Scholarship Fund will provide financial assistance to deserving men and women at Harvard College. The fund will support undergraduates from a broad range of socioeconomic backgrounds who demonstrate a commitment to public service reflecting the civic ideals of President John F. Kennedy.

“I am deeply grateful to Mr. Redstone for this generous gift. It will help ensure that Harvard College is accessible to students who hold service to the public good as a fundamental value,” said Michael D. Smith, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and John H. Finley Jr. Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “These immediate-use scholarships support the College’s strong commitment to creating a diverse and outstanding undergraduate class each year.”

At Harvard Law School, the Redstone Fellowships will support 10 students who wish to pursue postgraduate public service.

Martha Minow, dean of the faculty and Jeremiah Smith Jr. Professor of Law, said, “In the 50 years since John F. Kennedy inspired a generation with his call to service, Sumner Redstone has steadfastly answered that call throughout the course of his extraordinary career and as a visionary leader in our society. Now, with these fellowships, he shares his inspiration by supporting the newest generation of lawyers who wish to make a difference in the lives of their fellow human beings. I am enormously grateful for his vision and leadership. The 10 recipients of his generosity will magnify his contribution many times over, by helping untold numbers of people. As President Kennedy’s brother Robert said, each time a person acts to improve the lot of others, ‘he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.’”

Redstone said, “As a graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Law School, I have experienced firsthand the culture of excellence and public service that is a fundamental tradition of these great schools. Harvard’s longstanding commitment to leadership through enlightenment and engagement provides an outstanding foundation for the next generation of leaders for the U.S. and around the world.

“As the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s presidency nears, we reflect on how his influence sparked an era of optimism, activism, and national service. I have established these scholarships to help celebrate President Kennedy’s spirit by fostering a focus on education and a renewed commitment to public service. I am honored to have the opportunity to recognize and encourage these admirable young men and women.”

The recipients of the scholarships announced today will be chosen based on criteria that include a commitment to public service that reflects President Kennedy’s civic ideals.

Redstone has recently awarded more than $100 million in charitable grants to fund initiatives in the United States and abroad. His contributions have funded research and patient care advancements in cancer, burn recovery, and mental health at several major nonprofit health care organizations, and have provided support for groups that care for impoverished children in Southeast Asia.

Redstone has served as the executive chairman of the board of directors of Viacom Inc. since Jan. 1, 2006. He also serves as executive chairman of the board of CBS Corp. He was chief executive officer of the former Viacom Inc. from 1996 to 2005 and chairman of the board of the former Viacom Inc. since 1986. He has also been chairman of the board of National Amusements Inc., Viacom’s controlling stockholder, since 1986, its chief executive officer since 1967, and also served as its president from 1967 through 1999. Redstone served as the first chairman of the board of the National Association of Theatre Owners and is currently a member of its executive committee. He has been a frequent lecturer at universities, including Harvard Law School, Boston University Law School, and Brandeis University. Redstone graduated from Harvard University in 1944 and received an LL.B. from Harvard Law School in 1947. Upon graduation, he served as law secretary with the U.S. Court of Appeals and then as a special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General. Redstone served in the Military Intelligence Division during World War II. While a student at Harvard, he was selected to join a special intelligence group whose mission was to break Japan’s high-level military and diplomatic codes. Redstone received, among other honors, two commendations from the Military Intelligence Division in recognition of his service, contribution, and devotion to duty, and the Army Commendation Award.

NOOOOOOOOOOO.

There I was, letting myself get excited about possibility of HTC acquiring Palm. I mean, can you imagine webOS on HTC-made hardware? I’d buy one for each hand. Alas, those hopes and dreams have been dashed.

According to Reuters, HTC took a look at Palm’s numbers and decided that it wasn’t such a good deal. Along with whatever bits of webOS they kept around, HTC’s purchase of Palm would have also earned them one of the biggest, most insurmountable patent catalogs in the industry, thereby securing themselves against future lawsuits from Apple or anyone else. For HTC to give that up because of the numbers doesn’t make the numbers sound too great.

Oh well – there’s always Lenovo.

UPDATE: Blippy is taking this seriously.

Social networking site Blippy.com is exposing reams 4 of its users’ credit card numbers to anyone who can use Google. Simply by typing a phrase into Google and specifying the results come from Blippy, page after page of results like DEBIT CARD PURCHASE AT DOMINO’S PIZZA #01, [redacted] MI ON 122109 FROM CARD#: 54243[redacted] appears.

For those of you unfamiliar with the service, Blippy lets users input their credit cards and share their purchases on the site and across other online social networks. Yeah, who would have ever thought that might go horribly wrong?

Blippy says they use “administrative, physical and electronic measures designed to protect your information from unauthorized access.” Whatever they are, they don’t seem to be working.

If you’re a Blippy user, there’s little you can do except complain. The Google has your data now and it will take some doing on Blippy’s part to get it down from there.

We’ve reached out to Blippy for comment.

UPDATE #2: Company response, says it’s just four users. Via phone, Blippy co-founder Ashvin Kumar told Consumerist, “Even if it’s just four users, it’s four users too many.”

Blippy is working with Google to clear the cache and the results should be gone within an hour, says Ashvin. The results are from four users whose data was included in the HTML code of a test page several months ago.

The data was scrubbed but Google, which keeps a copy or “cache” of every website it indexes, still showed the info. Blippy itself doesn’t even accept credit information, just bank information. However, the raw data provided by banks sometimes includes credit card numbers along with the transaction data. Blippy started scrubbing out this information a few months ago, but not before it got captured by Google.

UPDATE #1: Blippy co-founder Philp Kaplan gave comment to the Times:

In a phone interview Friday morning, Blippy’s co-founder, Philip Kaplan, said the card numbers in question belonged to four Blippy users. He explained that when people link their credit cards to Blippy, merchants pass along their raw transaction data – including some credit card numbers – and the site scrubs that information to present just the merchant and the dollar amount spent. But several months ago, when Blippy was being publicly tested, that raw transaction data was present in the site’s HTML code, where it was retrieved by Google.

Mr. Kaplan said that early on, Blippy started disguising the raw transaction data behind the scenes, but it did not know about the breach until today. He added, “This still looks pretty bad.”

Blippy Users’ Credit Card Numbers Exposed in Google Search Results [Mashable] (Thanks to Brian!)

RELATED:
Upgrades: Blippy Lets You Screen Out Single Purchases
Shed What’s Left Of Your Financial Privacy On Blippy

    

There’s a real vacuum when it comes to document editing software in the App Catalog (we’re looking at you, Dataviz). Sure, Google Docs allows you to do some basic editing to spreadsheet documents via the Web using Google Docs, and there are some rudimentary text editing programs available to webOS users, but until Scratch ($5.00 in the App Catalog) came along, there hasn’t been a way to edit text documents with rich markup while also smartly utilizing the cloud.

Scratch is a word editing program that offers full document editing with a wide array of text formatting options. In addition to supporting true paragraphs, Scratch allows you to bold, italicize and underline text as you’d expect, and you can format blocks of text with bulleted lists, numbered lists, and heading sizes. Enhancing this feature set, nearly every formatting option has a keyboard shortcut associated with it (gesture area + L will, for example, create a bullet list from selected text), allowing for surprisingly efficient document editing. There’s no question that the $5 asking price is a tad steep for those features alone, and the program sweetens the pot by adding the ability to import and export text documents directly from Google Docs. 

This program is solid enough in its own right, but what would make this blogger especially giddy? If the folks behind Scratch and the folks behind the WordPress oriented app Poster combined forces and, with a little bit of PDK magic, created one of the more robust cloud oriented pieces of content creation software available to any mobile platform.   Think about it, guys.

Filed under: Advice, Health, Healthy Eating

Losing weight might be a lifesaving measure, but new studies suggest that it could be bad for your health too. Researchers have found that counting calories and limiting portions can produce higher levels of a dangerous stress hormone called cortisol, which can lead to major health problems including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Furthermore, they warn doctors against putting patients on stringent weight loss programs because they feel diets can lead to long-term health issues.

To determine this, experts from the University of California San Francisco and Minnesota University teamed up to study to over 120 women over three weeks on a restricted diet of 1,200 calories a day. The women gave saliva samples before and after the study, which were tested for hormone levels.

The researchers found that the study participants who controlled their calorie intakes most strictly had a higher level or cortisol than normal. What’s even more baffling? A number of them even gained weight in response to the hormone.

Continue reading Counting Calories is Bad For Your Health

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If you’re someone who confuses paintball war with real war, you’ll be verrrrry interested in this MK-19 belt-fed Nerf launcher. The DIY shoots 2.5 rockets/second, weighs 100 pounds, and guarantees that everyone’ll want to be on your team. [UberGizmo] More »

[JURIST] US President Barack Obama on Thursday expressed opposition to a pending Arizona bill that would require individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants to present valid identification to law enforcement officials. In remarks delivered at a naturalization ceremony, Obama stated that failure to enact federal immigration reform has given rise to laws such as the one under consideration in Arizona:
Indeed, our failure to act responsibly at the federal level will only open the door to irresponsibility by others. And that includes, for example, the recent efforts in Arizona, which threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and their communities that is so crucial to keeping us safe.Obama’s stance on the Arizona law reflects his administration’s policy that aims “to bring people out of the shadows.” The remarks underscored Democratic opposition to the bill in Arizona. Proponents argue, however, that the law will discourage illegal immigration.The Arizona Senate approved SB1070 earlier this month. Prior to the Senate approval, the Arizona House of Representatives also approved the legislation. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) must decide whether to sign the bill within five days after the Senate passage. On Thursday, Brewer announced a new Arizona border security plan, and declared her support for a 10-point plan supported by US Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ). In 2008, Arizona voters defeated a ballot measure dealing with illegal immigrants. The initiative would have revoked the business licenses of employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Arizona is the most active border crossing point in the US.