Filed under: Morning Scoop
Each morning, we dish out a few links we love.
How does Carrie Underwood stay slim? Her diet trick is never eating out — would that work for you?
Thinking of detoxing? Here are some cleansing tips from Gwyneth Paltrow’s Chinese medicine guru. … Read more
For God’s Sake — He’s Just A Kid That Can Sing!
Bieber Fever has caused another Tween Frenzy.
Australian police sparked a near riot on Monday after they shut down a concert by Canadian teen singing sensation Justin Bieber over crowd safety fears just hours before the free event was due to start.
The 16-year-old had been scheduled to sing three songs — behind bulletproof glass mind you — in front of the Overseas Passenger Terminal on Channel 7’s Sunrise program in what would have been his only Australian public performance. Chaos nearly ensued when cops pulled the plug on the show after reports of shoving and girls fainting in the audience. The news didn’t sit well with the thousands of Bieber fanatics who had arrived ahead of the show — many of which had been camped out all night.
“Police at the event were concerned for the 4,000 excited people already in attendance with many more anticipated to arrive prior to the start of the performance,” New South Wales police said in a statement. “All those removed from the area have so far suffered only minor injuries and have been treated at the scene.”
Bieber, who later sang one song live on local television, apologized to the fans who had waited to see him perform at his only Australian gig.
“I am so sorry that it got out of control, we don’t want anyone to get hurt. It gets crazy sometimes,” he said.
The “Baby” crooner took to his Twitter page saying: “I love my fans…I love it here in Australia…and I want to sing. I WANT TO MAKE THIS CLEAR…I DONT CANCEL…I WOKE UP THIS MORNING TO THE POLICE CANCELING THE SHOW FOR SAFETY REASONS. I love my fans….and I am just as disappointed as everyone else with the news from this morning. I want to sing for my fans.”
He later added, “I’m beyond grateful…that was incredible. Thank u for such an amazing warm welcome Australia…I told you I wouldnt let you down. Thank U!”
In November, a Long Island, New York, mall was the scene of a similar stampede, which led to charges being filed against the singer’s manager, Scott Braun, after he allegedly failed to send a Tweet to Justin’s fans to difuse the situation.
Filed under: Advice, Fitness, Ask a Fitness Expert
Dear Sarah,
I have been speed walking, interspersed with a few minutes of jogging, for about six weeks. Last week I started full on jogging, interspersed with a few running spurts, and my shins are burning. Why does this happen? Am I doing … Read more
Having the right look and feel on your Windows Phone can become hard when carriers love to add totally unnecessary crap on your device. Well… the next version of Windows Phones will not have any of those anymore, they will 
become a thing of the past. A member over at XDA found a little something that explains it as fallowed:
Regarding preloaded applications by OEM/MO: Requirements are much more strict in this regard now due to frequent end-user complaints about "slow, laggy, etc" Stock ROMs. I know every one of you reading this knows what I mean Preloaded App Requirements (which will be distributed as .xap) as follows:
– Maximum of 6 preloaded applications on the device, not to exceed 60MB
– All preloaded apps must pass Marketplace submission process (some extended APIs are available to OEM/MO so the process is slightly relaxed in that regard)
– The application(s) and all future updates must be free of charge.
– The apps must launch without dependency on network availability.
– The apps must persist through a "hard reset".
– The apps must be updatable and revocable (!!!!) through the Marketplace.
– The apps must notify the user at first launch of any capabilities to be utilized and get user consent (to access compass, accelerometer, network, etc.)
This is simple great news for people on AT&T for example, the company that always has the most crapware filled devices. I guess this might make people a little more happy with Windows Phones, because your memory is not going to waste, and with carriars being lazy these days, we might see the end to stupidware.
Via:PN
So You Think You Can Dance has unveiled the list of all-star former contestants who will partner up with this season’s aspiring champions. They will pair each week with the 2010 contestants who are vying for a $250,000 cash prize and a dance magazine cover feature. Each week, this year’s Top 10 contestants will draw the name of an all-star and perform in the style perfected by that dancer.
“The whole reason for doing it is to make the show more exciting…Some of these brilliant dancers (from past seasons) have just disappeared off the face of the earth. To be able to have this show use its own talent is fabulous….”series creator and judge Nigel Lythgoe said last month.
The new season of SYTYCD kicks into high gear May 7.
New So You Think You Can Dance All-Stars Revealed:
Stephen “tWitch” Boss
Comfort Fedoke
Courtney Galiano
Anya Garnis
Lauren Gottlieb
Neil Haskell
Allison Holker
Mark Kanemura
Pasha Kovalev
Kathryn McCormick
Ade Obayomi
Dominic “D-trix” Sandoval
At 6:30 tomorrow morning (Monday) Family Roots Publishing will begin set-up of a booth at the BYU Computerized Genealogy Conference in the Salt Palace here in Salt Lake City. We are in vendor booth number 6 in room 255A & D. The conference starts at 8 am and runs through Monday and Tuesday. Free Shipping is offered on book purchases made at the booth.
On Tuesday, we set up another much larger Family Roots Publishing Co. booth in the Salt Palace exhibit hall for the National Genealogical Society Conference, while continuing to exhibit at the BYU event nearby. That event doesn’t start until Wednesday morning, but our display has now grown to the point that it will take all day Tuesday to set it up. In the last month we’ve taken on several hundred genealogy guidebook titles that we previously did not handle, making a tremendous selection for our customers. Again, since so many folks are flying in for the conference, we’re offering FREE SHIPPING on all book purchases made at the FRPC booth (Booth 204/206/208) during the week.
Come by and say hello…
The following books and online resources have been assembled to help support 2nd grade math instruction pertaining to money. Many of these resources can be integrated into lessons on identifying and comparing money value, counting and exchanging coins, and making change. Books: Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday, written by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Ray Cruz, tells the story of Alexander, a young boy who is given a dollar from his grandparents. After wasting the money on candy, bets, and toys, he decides to try to make money instead of spending it. He looks for loose change, recycles bottles, and even tries to pull out a tooth in an attempt to get money from the tooth fairy. None of Alexander’s ideas work and he his left with a deck of cards, a melted candle, a one-eyed bear, and some bus tokens. Pigs Will Be Pigs: Fun With Math and Money, written by Amy Axelrod and illustrated by Sharon McGinley-Nally, chronciles the adventures of some very hungry pigs in a house with no food. Mr. Pig wants to eat out but the Pigs have no money. So the family searches the house, looking under beds, carpets, and even the washing machine. Soon they’ve found enough coins and bills to head out to the Enchanted Enchilada. The Go-Around Dollar, written by Barbara Adams and illustrated by Joyce Audy Zarins, tells two stories. One story follows a one-dollar bill as it is passed from person to person. The bill eventually ends up being framed as the first dollar earned at a new store. The other story provides factual information about dollar bills and features labeled pictures of a dollar bill with explanations of its various numbers and symbols. 26 Letters and 99 Cents, by Tana Hoban, is actually two books. The first half of the book is dedicated to letter and initial sound recognition. But the second half of the book uses a variety of coins to demonstrated counting from 1 to 99. In addition to vivid photographs that can help young learners with coin identification, the book also illustrates the concept of monetary equivalency grouping. A Quarter from the Tooth Fairy, written by Caren Holtzman and illustrated by Betsy Day, tells the tale of how a young boy spends a quarter he got from the Tooth Fairy. First he buys a monster but later returns it, getting 2 dimes and a nickel. He continues to buy and return things, receiving different combinations of 25 cents with each exchange. The book can serve as an excellent introduction to the idea that different coins can produce the same value. Websites: H.I.P. Pocket Change is facilitated by the U.S. Mint. It offers a variety of games and puzzles that promote knowledge of money value and money counting skills. This site also provides lots of factual and historical information about money that is presented in engaging and interactive formats. Discovering Coin Values is an entertaining and visually stimulating money counting game provided by toonuniversity.com. The game challenges students to reach specific amounts by selecting the appropriate coins and sliding and flipping them into a container. If the student makes an error, the game offers feedback to help them select the correct coins. This game is an excellent medium in which to practice money counting. KidsBank.com is sponsored by Sovereign Bank and offers some fun stories and comic strips that teach children about money. Some of these stories involve money values and equivalent exchanges as well as general information about how money is used. Students can also take quizzes in the site’s game room to test their money knowledge. Practical Money Skills for Life provides valuable money education for children and adults alike. The site offers a variety of games geared for different ages and skill levels. The game Ed’s Bank is a great tool for 2nd graders to reinforce their knowledge of coin values and compare money set values as they save to buy items from a store. The game is entertaining and is ideal for capturing a 2nd grader’s attention. Learning to Use Money offers detailed information about money value and equivalent monetary exchanges. It has excellent images of coins and dollar bills, demonstrates how money is added and combined to make different amounts, and offers a game in which students can practice adding coins to reach specific totals. This site does a terrific job visually representing the relationship of coins and bills or varying values. The Money Page is another great resource for practicing money skills. This site offers a variety of word problems pertaining to money as well as games that promote coin counting skills. Problems are presented in a visually stimulating manner and incorporate realistic coin images. Additional Resources: The Moneyville page, sponsored by the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, provides a history of money, details about strange currencies of the past, information about the artwork found on coins and bills, interesting facts about money, measurement facts regarding money, and generally fun facts about currency. This wealth of information can inspire a variety of creative money lessons. At Euro Kids’ Corner, students can get a chance to learn about the currency of Europe. In addition to providing an abundance of information about the Euro, this site also provides a history of money, information on early currencies of Europe, and describes different european currencies that were used throughout the 20th century. The site is complimented with great photos and visual imagery. The money page at A to Z Kids Stuff is a great resource for teachers. This page has a money poem, book recommendations, and categorically sorted links to a variety of money education activities. There are also craft suggestions and lots of other cross-curricular activities that can enhance an instructor’s money lessons.
Even the most passionate of eco-warriors must find it hard to get by without a cell phone. Thankfully, with more eco-friendly models appearing on the market there are options for those who shop with a conscience. Building on the success of last year’s Reclaim model Samsung has managed to form its forthcoming Restore cell phone out of 84 percent recyclable materials. Launching in the summer this device will be available only from Sprint (priced from US$49.99).
..
Continue Reading Samsung to release the Restore recycled cell phone
Tags: Conservation,
Environmentally-friendly,
Mobile Phone,
Recycled,
Samsung,
Sprint
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The week is off to a nice start, continuing where US markets left off on Friday.
The Nikkei is up over 2%.
From Nikkei.com:
And from FinViz.com, S&P futures are also heading higher:
Join the conversation about this story »
Bottled water might seem like a very innocuous, ecologically-friendly beverage, but it does have its dark side – it has been estimated that 1.5 million barrels of oil are used annually for the production of one-use water bottles. About 38 million of those get tossed out each year. True, many of them go to recycling facilities, but those facilities aren’t exactly carbon footprint-free themselves. Then of course, there’s also the whole matter of wondering if you’re a sucker for paying to drink what is likely just filtered tap water. That’s where the bobble water bottle comes in. You just fill it from the faucet, and it filters the water as you drink…
Continue Reading Bobble bottles offer instant filtered water, on the go
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Bible Cross References Visualization [openbible.info] highlights the frequent cross-referencing in the Bible, making a distinction between references that target events happening “before” or “after” the actual mentioning. From the variations in frequency and density, various insights can be made.
On the same topic, see also:
. Visualizing the Bible (which uses the same technique)
. Comparing the Holy Scriptures
. Bible Exegesis
. Bible Information Diagrams
. Bible Timeline
. Gospel Spectrum
On the same visualization technique, see also:
. Shape of Song
. One Book, Many Readings
. TwitArcs
. music chart arcs
. Document Arcs
. Email Thread Arcs
. Blogosphere Linkology Arcs
Host: Larry Hryb, Xbox LIVE’s Major Nelson (Xbox LIVE ) (Twitter)
Co-host : e (Xbox LIVE ) (Twitter)
Co-Host: Stepto (Xbox LIVE) (Twitter)
Interview: Allen Goedde, Bioshock 2(19:38 – 25:23)
Interview: Nick Baynes, Split / Second (25:23 – 39:23)
Name the Game
Xbox 101 and more
Note: I’ve added the above show notes to the ID3 Lyrics data field. If your device supports displaying lyrics, you’ll find this useful
Links to some of the things mentioned in this episode:
Xbox LIVE Marketplace release schedule
Halo- Reach SKU’s announced (with pix)
Left 4 Dead 2 Game Add-on- The Passing
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction
Splinter Cell Conviction Starter Kit
Bioshock 2
Halo 3- ODST <—You’ll need this for the upcoming Halo Reach beta
Show Details:
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Email at Major – at Xbox – dot com with comments about the show.
At this point, you’re either in the Verizon Droid Incredible camp, or the Sprint Evo 4G. And both are stellar HTC Android smartphones. But the latter has a few extra bells and whistles up its sleeve, and like you, we can’t wait to get our hands on it. (Again.) And so it’s worth mentioning that Best Buy is now promoting the Evo 4G, and you can sign up to be notified when it will be available. We still don’t know any more than "Coming summer 2010," but hopefully we’ll learn more at the launch event in a few weeks. Stay tuned. [Best Buy] Thanks, Cody!
The Earth Day rally was incredible. Well over 100,000 people were in the crowd, well over 10x what the Tea Partiers delivered on tax day, so you can figure out which event the media fawned over.
I ended up spending a lot of time chatting with James Cameron, and I’ll do a separate post on what he’s like in person. I also chatted with a few people in the know about inside-the-beltway climate politics who were relatively optimistic that the climate bill can be put back on track. We’ll know more in a day or two.
I’m hoping that the Earth Day folks put together individual video clips that I can post later. I had been scheduled for three minutes and ended up with only getting a little over one minute, so I had to gut my carefully crafted talk.
But there was one science-meets-rhetoric riff that I mostly kept, which I thought was a useful rhetorical device: Global warming means local storming. Here’s what I had written:
Global warming means local storming. Global warming makes storms like Katrina more fierce. Record wild-fire-storms in the West, Record dust-storms in Australia, record snowstorms and rainstorms here on the East Coast. Global warming set the table for those local superstorms.
Before the comments and emails come in on how one can’t scientifically attribute any single hurricane to global warming (duh), I’ll just quote from Dr. Kevin Trenberth, head of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, back in 2005:
Sea temperatures have risen nearly 1 degree in the tropics over the last century, with most of the rise coming since 1970, and most of that increase can be attributed to the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through the burning of coal and gasoline, he said.
NCAR researchers have correlated the rise from human influences to a 3.5 percent increase in the amount of water vapor in the Earth’s atmosphere. That vapor and the heat it transports is sucked up by a storm as it intensifies.
By Trenberth’s calculation, global warming has raised the heat available to a major storm by about 7 percent.
“So, when a storm is over land, you are probably getting, on the relative order to the same storm in the 1970s, about 7 percent more water,” Trenberth said. “Maybe that is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Maybe that is the extra water that causes the levee to break.”
I am using the phrase “set the table” because that’s what Stu Ostro, Senior Meteorologist at the Weather Channel, used in making a comparable point about Georgia’s devastating September rainstorms. Of course, Ostro pointed out there was no way to know if global warming had “caused” the record floods, but
Nevertheless, there’s a straightforward connection in the way the changing climate “set the table” for what happened this September in Atlanta and elsewhere. It behooves us to understand not only theoretical expected increases in heavy precipitation (via relatively slow/linear changes in temperatures, evaporation, and atmospheric moisture) but also how changing circulation patterns are already squeezing out that moisture in extreme doses and affecting weather in other ways.
It is the compounding of “typical” extreme weather events on top of human-caused climate change that creates the devastating, record-smashing “global-warming-type” events. To re-excerpt the Must re-read statement from UK’s Royal Society and Met Office on the connection between global warming and extreme weather:
We expect some of the most significant impacts of climate change to occur when natural variability is exacerbated by long-term global warming, so that even small changes in global temperatures can produce damaging local and regional effects. Year on year the evidence is growing that damaging climate and weather events — potentially intensified by global warming — are already happening and beginning to affect society and ecosystems. This includes:
* In the UK, heavier daily rainfall leading to local flooding such as in the summer of 2007;
* Increased risk of summer heat waves such as the summers of 2003 across the UK and Europe;
* Around the world, increasing incidence of extreme weather events with unprecedented levels of damage to society and infrastructure. This year’s unusually destructive typhoon season in South East Asia, while not easy to attribute directly to climate change, illustrates the vulnerabilities to such events;
* Sea level rises leading to dangerous exposure of populations in, for example, Bangladesh, the Maldives and other island states;
* Persistent droughts, leading to pressures on water and food resources, and the increasing incidence of forest fires in regions where future projections indicate long term reductions in rainfall, such as South West Australia and the Mediterranean.These emerging signals are consistent with what we expect from our projections, giving us confidence in the science and models that underpin them. In the absence of action to mitigate climate change, we can expect much larger changes in the coming decades than have been seen so far.
The UK’s Royal Society is the UK’s national academy of science, “the world’s oldest scientific academy in continuous existence,” founded in 1660. The Met Office, the UK’s National Weather Service (i.e. meteorological office), is within the Ministry of Defence.
The point of the phrase “global warming means local storming” is that one of the key ways people are going to experience climate change is through these blow-out, uber-extreme weather events:
Global warming means local storming, which is precisely why the anti-science disinformers try to shout down any talk of a link between climate change and extreme weather. Don’t let them.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at The Telegraph has some characteristically sober observations about the state of Greece and the EU as a whole.
The nut of the piece is that typically an IMF bailout wouldn’t be devastating, but when an IMF bailout comes under EU rules — strictly speaking the Maastricht treaty with its no bailouts rules — the effects will be quite rough.
The EU-IMF “therapy” of deflation for Greece repeats the catastrophic errors of Chancellor Heinrich Bruning in the early 1930s and must lead to a depression, he said.
Yet that is what IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is preparing for Greece, against the better judgment of his own experts. “Greek citizens shouldn’t fear the IMF; we are there to try to help them,” he said over the weekend. Yet a week ago he told Greece that devaluation and default are non-starters. “The only effective remedy that remains is deflation. That will be painful. That means falling wages, and falling prices. There is no other way.”
Actually, the IMF pursues other ways often, last year in Jamaica. What Mr Strauss-Kahn means is that the EU will not tolerate any other way. The Greek people must be sacrificed for the Project and to hold the EMU line, like the Spartans of Thermopylae who perished to gain time for the Alliance.
Join the conversation about this story »
Filed under: Convertible, Beijing Motor Show
If ever there was proof that just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should, it’s Mitsuoka Motors. Case in point – the Mitsuoka Galue Convertible, which we’ve finally gotten to see in person here in Beijing. Sadly, we cannot un-see it. Why anyone would take a perfectly serviceable contemporary Mustang convertible and transform it into this is beyond us. Then again, this is the same company that created the Orochi.
The Galue ‘vert’s front end apes an older Bentley while the tail is lifted straight off a late-1990s Cadillac DeVille. It’s all terribly wrong in so many ways. Just be happy that we’ve opted to spare you the sea monster-like Orochi, which was sitting on an adjacent turntable. It was so awful that the unfortunate model standing next to it collapsed from embarrassment.
Gallery: Beijing 2010: Mitsuoka Galue
Photos by Sam Abuelsamid / Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
Beijing 2010: Mitsuoka Galue Convertible is all kinds of wrong originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 25 Apr 2010 20:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
When the Pillsbury Bake-Off started, the recipe contest was all about from-scratch baking. I’ve got old cookbooks from the contest that feature all kinds of yeast breads, cakes and cookies, as well as main dishes. These days, the contest is much bigger – with a huge million dollar prize – but more of the recipes feature ready made ingredients instead of just the flour that was the original must-have ingredient. Don’t get me wrong – there is nothing wrong with a sponsored event asking you to use sponsored ingredients in your entries and it is great to have an element of convenience to make baking/cooking as accessible as possible. But for me, there will always be an edge for from-scratch baking.
Fortunately, there are still contests that give an edge to totally from scratch baking for those of us who love it. In this case, it’s Gold Medal Flour’s Scratch Bakers’ Club Baking Contest. This baking contest requires that you use at least one cup of any type of Gold Medal Flour (All-Purpose, Whole Wheat, Better for Bread, Self-Rising, Organic, Wondra) and that baking is the primary method of preparation.
The grand prize winner will get $1,000 plus a gift basket worth up to $150, and 9 runners-up will receive gift baskets of baking goodies worth up to $150 each! The contest runs from May 4, 2010–May 31, 2010 and all of the entries will be judged on creativity, taste, ease of preparation, appearance and overall appeal. I have to say that I think all of you (my readers!) will have no problems coming up with entries that meet this criteria!
Here’s the latest from Doug Elmendorf at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
Bottom line: Unless we raise taxes or cut spending (or both), we’re screwed.
This afternoon I participated in a panel discussion about “Fiscal Strategies after the Global Crisis” at the International Monetary Fund. My short presentation focused on some familiar themes:
Given current law and certain possible changes to that law that are generally supported by the Administration and many Members of Congress, the budget deficit and debt are on a worrisome path—unsustainable in the long run and posing growing risks even during the next several years.
The following picture shows CBO’s March projections of debt relative to gross domestic product (GDP) under current law (the budget “baseline”) and under an alternative scenario in which the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are extended and the alternative minimum tax (AMT) is indexed for inflation. The President’s budget would extend most of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, index the AMT for inflation, and make a variety of other changes in law. CBO’s projection of the debt under that budget is quite similar to our projection under the alternative scenario shown below. If that debt indeed rises toward 90 percent of GDP, it would be entering territory that is unfamiliar to us and to most developed countries in recent years.
Putting U.S. fiscal policy on a safe path would probably require significant changes in spending, revenue, or both. In thinking about changes that might be made, it’s important to understand where most of the revenue will be coming from and where most of the spending will be going.
CBO’s March projection under current law shows that, in 2020, about one-half of federal revenue will come from individual income taxes, about one-third will be from payroll taxes, and the rest will be from corporate profits taxes and other sources. The same projection shows that roughly three-quarters of spending will go to just five areas—Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense, and net interest—with the remaining one-quarter of spending covering all other federal programs. The following chart provides more details:
Shares of Federal Spending Projected for 2020 in CBO’s March Baseline
Changes of the magnitude required to put U.S. fiscal policy on a safe path could have important economic and social effects. Given the political and substantive difficulties in making significant policy changes, determining what those changes will be is an urgent task for policymakers.
Join the conversation about this story »
Bribes, prosecutors on the take, tax evasion and slush funds. It sounds like organized crime, but if we’re to believe Kim Yong-chul, author of Think Samsung, all these terrible things happen at popular electronics company Samsung. All the time. More »
Hello, everyone! This is the editor of Mark’s Daily Apple, Aaron Fox, reporting from the field. Check back throughout the day for text, photo and (maybe, fingers crossed) video updates.
7:37 am: After the breakfast buffet, Angelo De La Cruz energizes early wakers with a gentle movement session
8:04 am: Maya White shows attendees how to properly sit and stand like Grok in her posture presentation
9:51 am: Brad Kearns on Primal Blueprint Fitness and having pure motivations for training (keep it fun, convenient and energizing!)
10:32 am: The Primal Blueprint Fitness Challenge Assessment
11:07 am: One-on-one time with Barefoot Ted, Maya White and Angelo De La Cruz
12:30 pm: Fresh caught fish and local vegetables at the local farmers’ market
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