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While the iPad has been flying off shelves for almost two weeks now, its Wi-Fi — currently the only way to get online with iPad, until the 3G wireless models drop later this month — has caused some headlines of its own. Now the news comes of Israel blocking the entry of iPads into the country over concerns of the wireless transmitters being too strong.

It seems that Israeli Customs have already confiscated 10 iPads from travelers until officials can certify the strength of the wireless transmitters used in the new Apple product. The ban doesn’t appear to be an issue of import, as tourists are being blocked from bringing iPads along with residents of the country. This must certainly be a difficult blow for those traveling with their great new device, only to have it taken away by the hosting government. The iPads are being held with a daily storage fee to the owner, or can be mailed home at the owner’s expense for now.

The Communications Ministry of Israel has explained its reasoning:

If you operate equipment in a frequency band which is different from the others that operate on that frequency band, then there will be interference

 The iPad specs show it can manage 802.11 a/b/g/n radio transmissions. The n radio representing the most recent wireless capabilities. I suppose I could understand if Israel doesn’t currently run 802.11n networks, but that still doesn’t compute — the way these Wi-Fi technologies work, is that they access a Wi-Fi hotspot using the lowest common denominator. So if the iPad was the only n-capable Wi-Fi device on a wireless network, it would be downgraded to the next highest possible transmission speeds based on other wireless client devices. Then again, I don’t pretend to know what the infrastructure in Israel is like, so I can’t be certain where their concerns may stem from. (I don’t suppose the Israeli government will relax due to the fact the iPad has been having major Wi-Fi connectivity issues…?)

Hopefully Israeli officials can come to agreeable terms soon, as Apple will be releasing the iPad internationally on May 10. But until the restrictions die down, you’ll have to leave your iPad at home when traveling to Israel in the near term.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: How AT&T Will Deal with iPad Data Traffic

A former high-ranking National Security Agency official has been accused of sharing classified information with a newspaper reporter.

In an indictment unsealed Thursday, federal prosecutors said 52-year-old Thomas Drake illegally retained classified information, passed some of that classified information to a reporter with the The Baltimore Sun, who was identified only as “Reporter A,” and then tried to cover up his actions.

“Our national security demands that the sort of conduct alleged here – violating the government’s trust by illegally retaining and disclosing classified information – be prosecuted and prosecuted vigorously,” Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said in a statement.

Fox News has learned that “Reporter A” is Siobhan Gorman, who now works for The Wall Street Journal, which is owned by the same company that owns Fox News.

According to the indictment, one of Drake’s “close” friends put him in touch with “Reporter A” in late 2005. Over the next several months, all three set up a series of email accounts intended to hide their true identities, according to the indictment.

Drake and “Reporter A” then exchanged hundreds of emails, after Gorman agreed to a series of conditions, including a vow to refer to Drake in her articles only as a “senior intelligence official,” the indictment said.

Between February 2006 and November 2007, “Reporter A” published a series of articles about the NSA, some which contained classified information, according to prosecutors.

Several of Gorman’s articles during that time dealt with the emerging threat of cyberattacks and NSA efforts to keep up with developing technologies.

“Drake served as a source for many of these newspaper articles,” the indictment said.

In fact, the indictment said, he “reviewed, commented on, and edited drafts, near final and final drafts of Reporter A’s articles.”

In a March 2007 article about an internal NSA document, Gorman quotes an NSA spokesman as declining to comment due to the document’s “classified” nature.
 
“The information is essentially embedded in a classified, privileged communication meant solely for the consumption of cleared NSA personnel,” spokesman Ken White was wuoted as saying. “Communications detailing the agency’s classified internal preparations to modernize our cryptologic enterprise are strictly limited to the properly authorized venues afforded by our congressional oversight committees.”

After the stories were published in The Baltimore Sun, the FBI launched a criminal investigation into the disclosure of classified information.

According to the indictment, Drake knew about this investigation and subsequently shredded documents he had removed from NSA and deleted relevant information from his home computer.

He did so “in part to conceal his relationship with Reporter A and prevent the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s discover of evidence that would have linked defendant Drake to the retention of classified documents for the purpose of supplying information to Reporter A,” according to the indictment.

This was not the first time Drake allegedly shared classified information with someone not qualified to receive it, according to the indictment.

Before the “close” friend put Drake in touch with “Reporter A,” Drake allegedly shared classified information with the “close” friend, who worked as a congressional staffer at the time, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors said Drake described his relationship with the congressional staffer as a “close, emotional friendship” and a “different and special” bond.

Drake joined NSA in August 2001, eventually obtaining “Top Secret” security clearance. In 2006 he became a teacher at the National Defense University in Washington, maintaing his access to sensitive information.

But Drake left the school in November 2007, after NSA suspended his security clearance. He resigned from NSA in 2008.

A federal grand jury in Maryland has indicted Drake on five counts of “willful retention of national defense information,” one count of obstruction of justice, and four counts of making false statements to federal investigators.

Each count carries a maximum of five to 20 years in prison.

Drake is not currently in federal custody, but he is expected to appear in federal court sometime next week.

After a short preview yesterday, FoMoCo today released official details and pictures of its new “intelligent four-wheel-drive (4WD) control system,” that will debut on the 2011 Ford Explorer.

“Talking with customers told us that flexibility and freedom to tackle any road, anytime is important to them,” said Explorer Chief Nameplate Engineer Jim Holland. “We saw the opportunity to eliminate a compromise by adding an intuitive and efficient terrain management system that can demystify four-wheel-drive control and enable the driver to properly match 4WD traction to the situations and road conditions they encounter.”

Click here to get prices on the 2010 Ford Flex.

The 2011 Ford Explorer’s intelligent 4WD and terrain management system will allow drivers to pick from various conditions including:

• Snow: For snow and slippery conditions. Limits torque to wheels to prevent
• Sand: For deep sand and rutted conditions. Optimizes torque for increased traction
• Mud: For slippery, muddy conditions. Allows wheel spin for momentum build
• Hill Descent: For Creeping down steep inclines, without using the brake pedal
• Normal: For all regular driving under normal road conditions.

The 2011 Ford Explorer will make its debut later this year.

Make the jump for the press release for more details.

2011 Ford Explorer Terrain Management System:

Press Release:

ALL-NEW FORD EXPLORER TERRAIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM MAKES CAPABILITY, TRACTION USER-FRIENDLY

* The all-new Ford Explorer features an intelligent four-wheel-drive (4WD) control system that optimizes vehicle capability to specific situations
* The Ford terrain management system integrates powertrain and braking controls to provide appropriate traction for any driving conditions the roads and climate present
* Terrain management is activated by a console-mounted, switchable knob, enabling 4WD control through an intuitive choice of settings for various conditions
* Terrain management helps Explorer deliver increased fuel economy by eliminating heavy transfer case and driveline components, while making 4WD capabilities more accessible

DEARBORN, Mich., April 15, 2010 – When the all-new Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle goes in to production later this year, it will offer an advanced terrain management system that takes the mystery out of four-wheel drive by optimizing powertrain behavior for specific situations and road conditions.

Anecdotal customer feedback indicated the potential for driver confusion with previous systems as to the best use of 4×4 high- and low-range engagement.

Ford Explorer with intelligent 4WD and terrain management eliminates guesswork, using simple icons to help drivers choose the correct setting at the simple turn of a dial for the climate or surface situation they may be driving. The icons depict the various settings to best suit driving conditions:

Snow: For snow and slippery conditions. Limits torque to wheels to prevent
Sand: For deep sand and rutted conditions. Optimizes torque for increased traction
Mud: For slippery, muddy conditions. Allows wheel spin for momentum build
Hill Descent: For Creeping down steep inclines, without using the brake pedal
Normal: For all regular driving under normal road conditions.

“One of our goals with the new Explorer is to deliver four-wheel-drive capability with easier and intuitively operated control,” said Holland. “The selectable settings are contingent upon weather and conditions, so the system is easily operated and understood. Ford terrain management makes it easier for SUV veterans, while making confidence-building Explorer capability even more accessible to segment newcomers.”

Employment of intelligent 4WD with Ford terrain management allowed Explorer engineers to deliver the “any road, anytime” capabilities that SUV buyers expect, while eliminating weight.

Less driveline mass helps the new Explorer with V-6 power deliver an estimated 25 percent better fuel economy than the 2010 model.

“Intelligent 4WD with terrain management works by optimizing Explorer powertrain and braking systems to best suit a variety of situations, allowing vehicle behavior characteristics to provide appropriate traction and driver control,” said Holland. “We anticipate the system will really be a stress-reducer and confidence-builder, especially when driving in adverse conditions.”

The re-engineered Ford Explorer goes in to production later this year.

– By: Omar Rana

EDF’s Renewable Energy Specialist Colin Meehan recently examined a scenario about how the mix of wind, coal, and natural gas affects Austin’s energy costs. The post is pretty technical for the lay reader, but it makes the case for investment in renewable energy as a key cost-saving measure:

Whether greenhouse gas regulations from the EPA or Congress, we now know that they are coming within the next year. This fact makes past and future Austin Energy's investments in renewable energy an important cost-saving measure for Austinites as fossil fuel generation costs continue to increase for a number of reasons.

Read Colin's full post on the Texas Energy Exchange blog.

Jared R. Curhan is the Ford International Career Development Professor and Associate Professor of Organization Studies at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, where he specializes in the psychology of negotiation and conflict resolution. He received his BA in Psychology from Harvard University and his MA and PhD in Psychology from Stanford University. A recipient of support from the National Science Foundation, Curhan has pioneered a social psychological approach to the study of “subjective value” in negotiation (i.e., social, perceptual, and emotional consequences of a negotiation). His current research uses the Subjective Value Inventory (SVI), a measure he developed, to examine precursors, processes, and long-term effects of subjective value in negotiation. Deeply committed to education at all levels, Curhan received Stanford University’s Lieberman Fellowship for excellence in teaching and university service, as well as MIT’s institute-wide teaching award presented annually by the graduate student council. Curhan is Founder and President of the Program for Young Negotiators, Inc., an organization dedicated to the promotion of negotiation training in primary and secondary schools. His book, Young Negotiators (Houghton Mifflin, 1998), is acclaimed in the fields of negotiation and education and has been translated into Spanish, Hebrew, and Arabic. The book has been used to train more than 35,000 children across the United States and abroad to achieve their goals without the use of violence.

Courses Taught:

Power and Negotiation – MIT Sloan School of Management

Creating Value that Sustains Relationships – MIT Sloan School of Management

Organizational Processes – MIT Sloan School of Management

Individuals, Groups, and Organizations – MIT Sloan School of Management

Research Interests: Negotiation, conflict resolution, social psychology, organizational behavior, education.

Select Publications:

Curhan, J. R., & Overbeck, J. R. (2008). Making a positive impression in a negotiation: Gender differences in response to impression motivation. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 1, 179-193.

Curhan, J. R., & Pentland, A. (2007). Thin slices of negotiation: Predicting outcomes from conversational dynamics within the first 5 minutes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 802-811.

Curhan, J. R., Elfenbein, H. A., & Xu, H. (2006). What Do People Value When They Negotiate? Mapping the Domain of Subjective Value in Negotiation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 493-512.

Mueller, J. S., & Curhan, J. R. (2006). Emotional intelligence and counterpart mood induction in a negotiation. International Journal of Conflict Management, 17, 110-128.

Curhan, J. R., Neale, M. A., & Ross, L. (2004). Dynamic valuation: Preference changes in the context of face-to-face negotiations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40, 142-151.

Link to website:

http://mitsloan.mit.edu/faculty/detail.php?in_spseqno=SP000025&co_list=F

After more than a year idling in the House, a proposal to give the residents of the nation’s capital a voting representative in Congress finally seemed clear for passage this week when Democratic leaders announced they were ready to accept some version of the accompanying amendment that would scrap most of D.C.’s gun control laws.

That is, until Sen. Orrin Hatch stepped in.

The Utah Republican said Thursday that he’ll filibuster the bill the House expects to take up this month because, although it keeps the original provision granting Utah a new member of the House, it wouldn’t carve out a distinct new congressional district for that lawmaker to represent. Instead, every voter in Utah would choose the state’s fourth House member.

“Anyone who believes in what is left of federalism in America, regardless of their party or ideology, should oppose this legislation,” Hatch said in a statement. “Utah deserves an additional seat in the House, but like every other state it should have the freedom to elect its House members from regular districts. The federal government has no business dictating to any state which approach they must use. … Under the House bill, one House member from Utah would have three times as many constituents as the others.”

The Senate version of the bill — which passed early last year with Hatch’s support — would re-divide Utah to create a separate congressional district. The bill passed by a slim 61-37 margin, with most Republicans (including Utah’s Robert Bennett) opposing it. With Hatch aligned against the latest proposal, it would almost surely fail in the Senate.

H/t: The Hill.

InterOil (IOC) has further twisted the knife in the wounds of its skeptics by signing an agreement with Mitsui to take the next step toward building a condensate stripping plant.

This agreement is obviously good news, and the stock is reacting accordingly (up $2).  But let’s not get carried away.

What Mitsui has agreed to do is pay half the cost of the next phase of planning and evaluation…as long as the condensate stripping facility is ultimately built.  If the plant is NOT built, InterOil will have to repay Mitsui’s share of these costs. 

Thus, the agreement is best perceived as a form of convertible debt financing.  Mitsui is lending InterOil the money to proceed with the next phase of planning and evaluation (including paying InterOil’s share of these costs).  If the planning and evaluation is successful, Mitsui’s loan will convert into a share of the project.  If the planning and evaluation is NOT successful, InterOil will be on the hook for all the money Mitsui fronted.

What is also not clear is what percentage of the project Mitsui will end up with if the plant is eventually built.  Is it a 50/50 joint venture, as the cash split would imply?  Or will Mitsui end up with a significantly greater share?  The answer to that question is obviously very important to the value of InterOil’s stock.

It is also not clear from the company’s release whether the deal with Mitsui is a definitive agreement, or whether it is merely a letter of intent.  (The release mentions a “definitive agreement” that needs to be signed by December 31, 2010, but does not specify what the definitive agreement refers to).

Here’s a more positive take from Raymond James:

Here’s the release:

CAIRNS, Australia and HOUSTON, April 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — InterOil Corporation (NYSE:IOC – News) (POMSoX:IOC) announced today that the Company has entered into agreements with Mitsui & Co. Ltd., to jointly operate and fund the preliminary works involved to develop a proposed condensate stripping facility (‘the Project’) at InterOil’s Elk and Antelope field site in Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea.

The preliminary works program is for all the works required to take us through the Front End Engineering and Design (FEED) stage for the construction of a condensate stripping plant, to the point of Final Investment Decision (FID).  The Project is proposed to be designed to process 400 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscf/day) of wellhead gas with an anticipated yield of approximately 9,000 barrels (bbls) of condensate per day.  Dry gas will be reinjected into the reservoir for storage until the proposed LNG facility has been constructed.  The condensate will be barged to the InterOil refinery in Port Moresby for processing and sale.  

InterOil and Mitsui will each be responsible for half of the capital expenditure involved in the preliminary works and Mitsui will fund InterOil’s share.

Standard conditions of the agreements include the completion of FEED, an EPC agreement, and the definitive agreements by December 31, 2010, necessary to reach FID.  In the event that FID is not reached, InterOil will be required to refund the capital expenditure incurred to date within a specified period.

Mr. Phil Mulacek stated, “We look forward to a long and prosperous relationship with Mitsui, one of the largest energy conglomerates in Japan.  When in production, the condensate project will provide a stable platform of early cash flow enhancing the benefit to partners in our proposed LNG project.”

See Also: The Background On InterOil: “Major Momentum” Or Gigantic Fraud?

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• InterOil (IOC) To Shortsellers: See, We Told You Our New Gas Site Is Huge
• Here’s More Proof That InterOil (IOC) Lied To Investors, Says Skeptic
• InterOil (IOC): "Major Momentum" Or Just A Castle In The Air? (A New Investigation)

It is officially Spring and the newness of the season is contagious.  It’s time to shed the extra layers, pull out the sunglasses, take a deep breath of fresh air and get moving.  Whether you are leaving behind your winter hibernation, traveling for a spring break or like me and moving across the country, you are going to want to get out and find something fun to do and somewhere delicious to eat.  

Enter Wikiplaces and GoodFood – both of which are available for multiple smartphone platforms, so can we all maybe try to get along this week?  I am sure the apps look and run similarly on different phones and platforms, but I can only speak (and write) from my experiences on the Palm Pre Plus.  So here goes.  

Wikiplaces is an app that utilizes your phone’s GPS and location services to find Wikipedia-archived places of interest close to where you are – wherever you are.  There is no need to enter your location or initiate a search.  Just launch Wikiplaces, and the app populates a list of places from Wikipedia that are near your location.  With each listed item, the app provides its distance from you along with links to the Wikipedia article and a map.  This app helped me to find some kid-friendly activities and museums as well as interesting information about our current city.  I also plan to continue trying out this app as I seek new ways to entertain and pacify my toddler as we travel on cross-country.

GoodFood similarly uses the GPS and location services on your phone to find area restaurants.  When you open the app, GoodFood searches and maps all restaurants in the vicinity that have been rated by others in their social-networking community.  Not only can you see the ratings and reviews left, but you can even see pictures if they have been posted by the other users.  Depending on your mood, you can sort restaurants by distance, rating, price and genre.  

After eating at Chili’s yet again, we decided it was time to try something new and different in our travels.  GoodFood helped us to find a phenomenal little Middle Eastern restaurant in the heart of the South, which is not an easy feat.  The food was a pleasant surprise and the tiramisu actually made us consider applauding.  Regardless of what your needs are, if you are hungry, GoodFood can be particularly useful.  Looking for the ease and painless experience of your favorite tried and true chain restaurant?  GoodFood will let you know of any in your area.  Wanting to be more adventurous and try the local fare?  GoodFood can let you know what’s recommended and what you are better off skipping.

Both Wikiplaces and GoodFood are extremely intuitive and easy to use without the need for instructions.  While they are simple single task applications, they are efficient at what they do and do it well.  These may not be the kind of apps you will find yourself using everyday, but they are great in a pinch when hunger or boredom strikes.  And best of all, they are free, so why not give them a try?   

Anyone else find a great app available for the Pre Plus worth noting?

 

The weather on Friday and over the weekend looks to be sunny and warm — anyone in the mood for a picnic?! We’re definitely planning on pulling out our old picnic blanket and heading to the nearest patch of green for a lazy afternoon. And of course, we’ll need some lunch to sustain all that relaxing!

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A year after being served a Whopper with some extra-special sauce inside, a sheriff’s deputy in Washington state has filed a lawsuit against Burger King, claiming the company was negligent for having an employee that spat in his burger.

It was March 24, 2009, when the deputy — in full uniform and driving his patrol vehicle — pulled into the drive-thru and ordered a Whopper. The deputy claims he sensed something was amiss in the Burger Kingdom when the employee who handed him his order could not make eye contact.

The deputy inspected his Whopper and discovered what appeared to be a phlegmy gob of spit between the buns. Suspecting a crime had taken place, he summoned other deputies to the scene, who took the Whopper into evidence.

Ultimately, the DNA in the saliva on the burger was matched to that of a 22-year-old employee. He pled guilty to third-degree assault against an officer and was sentenced to three months in jail.

But now the deputy wants BK to answer for the incident.

In a lawsuit filed in district court, the deputy alleges Burger King was “negligent in their selection, training and supervision of its employees… and failing to provide them with adequate standards.”

In addition to the spitter, the plaintiff’s lawyer claims that the employee who actually handed the burger to the deputy had hepatitis.

“There’s been no assurance after the fact that they’ve changed anything,” said his attorney. “We haven’t gotten anything — not even an apology.”

The suit seeks unspecified damages and a change in Burger King’s hiring and supervision policies.

Clark County deputy sues Burger King over spit on his food [Seattle Times]

Filed under: Budget, SUV, Technology, Videos, Ford, Off-Road

Ford has just announced that the next-generation Explorer will benefit from all-wheel drive coupled to a Land Rover-like terrain management system. According to Ford, the company’s researchers found that Explorer owners were somewhat befuddled by when to use which four-wheel drive mode, and has since simplified the process significantly. Instead of having to decide whether two-high, four-high or four-low is best for the current trail conditions, owners will simply have to select from an easy to use console mounted knob.

Drivers simply pick between normal, mud, sand or snow modes and allow the Explorer’s all-wheel drive setup to do the rest. The vehicle’s software then uses various vehicle sensors to help provide the most traction possible. Each mode is also usable with a new hill-decent assist feature borrowed from the company’s full-sized pickups. Push the button and the Explorer will automatically try to itself down any slope, no matter the condition.

Ford is hoping that by leaving the traditional transfer case behind, it can save a few pounds and up the model’s efficiency at the same time. Coupled to the truck’s new unibody construction (yes, the Explorer is going all crossover on us), Ford is estimating that the V6 model will benefit from a 25 percent increase in fuel-efficiency compared to current models. Hit the jump to see a video of the new all-wheel drive system in action.

[Source: Ford]

Continue reading 2011 Ford Explorer will debut new four-mode terrain management tech [w/video]

2011 Ford Explorer will debut new four-mode terrain management tech [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every day, we’ve been updating our chart of safety violations at coal mines owned by Massey Energy, whose Upper Big Branch Mine suffered an explosion on April 5, killing 29 workers. And the numbers have been climbing at a pretty astounding rate. At Freedom Mine #1, across the Kentucky border from Upper Big Branch, there have been 389 violations this year, and 206 since the Upper Big Branch explosion. That’s 206 violations in 10 days.

What’s more, 63 of these violations were deemed “significant and substantial,” meaning they are “reasonably likely to result in a reasonably serious injury or illness under the unique circumstance contributed to by the violations.”

And it’s not just Freedom Mine #1. Alma Mine #1 has 15 violations in the past ten days; Road Fork Mine #51 has 12; Justice #1 Mine and Ruby Energy Mine each have 11 — keep going down the list.

Check out our running tally for the latest numbers.

The new system, which uses sub-surface pipes to remove salts and deliver water to plants on demand, grew 200 prosopis trees in the United Arab Emirates’ desert during a test-run.

A British company has developed an irrigation system that allows saline and brackish water, which contains more salinity than freshwater, to be used for growing crops, Wired reports.

The Dutyion Root Hydration System uses a network of underground pipes to deliver water directly to a plant’s roots. Water then diffuses through the walls of the polymer pipe because of differences in moisture levels, which act as filters and leave contaminates behind. Almost any water source can be used–-even industrial wastewater–-without the need for secondary purification.

“What we’re looking to do is take our irrigation system and move to places where it’s not possible to irrigate today,” said the system’s designer Mark Tonkin of Design Technology and Irrigation. “[We] stumbled across a way of effectively desalinating water. We put pipe in the ground which lets water vapor to escape and the waste element is what gets left in the pipe.”

The overall system is gravity fed and needs minimal maintenance while the pipes must be periodically flushed to clean out accumulated salts and dirt, Tonkin told Wired.

Approximately 70 percent of the world’s freshwater is used for agriculture. Wide use of salt water for irrigation would free freshwater for other uses and increase food security for people living in dry coastal areas.

Brackish water is already being used to grow saltwater-tolerant plants for biofuels, but DTI is growing plants to eat–such as tomatoes, strawberries, peppers and beans as well as cherry and olive trees.

“There are no plants that we’ve tried to grow that can’t survive simply by using water vapor as opposed to having wet water put on them, and that is a major change,” Tonkin said in a promotional video for LAUNCH, a forum for innovation. “It’s made it possible to put an irrigation system in the ground where there is no freshwater and no likelihood of anybody building a desalination plant and grow plants where you couldn’t grow them today.”

Pilot projects were carried out in the U.S. and the United Kingdom. DTI chose an extreme environment for its first field-scale trial–the raw desert in the United Arab Emirates, Tonkin told Circle of Blue via email. The company grew 200 prosopis trees–a species that thrives in arid places–from saline groundwater.

DTI is now in the transition phase between testing and commercialization, Tonkin wrote. It is setting up supply chains and forming local partnerships for manufacturing component parts, marketing and installation.

Source: Wired

Marrow is great and all, but what about the bones that aren’t blessed enough to bear the sacred gel in easily extractable amounts? We can’t forget about those. Chicken backs, beef knuckles, ham hocks, chicken feet, lamb necks, hooves and any other animal-derived matrices of calcium phosphate and collagen fibers are all worth saving, cooking, and perhaps even eating. Hell, I bet elk antlers would make a fine, mineral-rich soup. The best part is that bones, feet, hooves, heads, and connective tissues are all pretty inexpensive, sometimes even free, parts of the animal. They also represent an entirely different realm of nutritional content than basic muscle meat, being complex organs playing multiple roles in the body.

You see, bone is living tissue, rather than inert structure. It is rigid, true, but it’s actually an organ, in fact, placing it squarely in the nutritional all-star camp of liver, heart, brain, kidney, and sweetbreads. Bone is also slightly elastic, owing to the collagen, which combines with the calcium phosphate to lend “elastic rigidity.” (If it weren’t for the collagen, bones would simply be hard with no give, and thus brittle.) Bone is full of minerals, mostly calcium and phosphorus (seeing as how the “bone” part of bone is calcium phosphate, this is no surprise), along with sodium, magnesium, and other trace minerals. If the connective tissue – and most animal scraps and bones you use will have tendons, ligaments, and cartilage – is still attached, bones also include stuff like chondroitin and glucosamine, popular joint supplements that are the raw materials for bone and cartilage formation.

Let’s do a quick rundown of all the other good stuff found in bones and, therefore, well-made bone stock:

• Bone marrow – We went over this last week, but I’ll say it again: bone marrow is one of the first “superfoods” (for lack of a better term – I actually slightly cringe using it) our ancestors enjoyed. It’s fatty, with a bit of protein and loads of minerals. Even if you’re cooking spindly chicken bones, there’s going to be marrow, and that marrow will make it into your stock.
• Collagen and gelatin – Most commercial gelatin comes from animal collagen already, so why not cut out the middle man and get your gelatin directly from bone and cartilage? The more collagen your bones have, the more gelatinous, rich, and viscous your stock will be – important qualities, especially if you intend to reduce your stock into sauces. Gelatin may even reduce joint pain in athletes, as one (admittedly small) study appeared to show. Another showed benefits for ulcer patients.
• Glycine – Although our bodies already produce plenty of glycine, rendering it a non-essential amino acid, there’s some evidence that supplementation can help mitigate free-radical oxidative damage in rats with alcohol-induced hepatotoxicity. Bone broth is rich in glycine. It probably doesn’t mean much, but it can’t hurt. And hey – it may even improve sleep quality, as one Japanese study showed in human subjects. Drink a warm cup of broth before bed, perhaps?
• Proline – Proline is another non-essential amino acid found in bone stock, but supplementation has shown promise in patients suffering from vision loss due to gyrate atrophy. It’s also an important precursor for the formation of collagen, though it’s not clear whether eating proline has any affect on the body’s ability to make collagen.
• Hyaluronic acid – Hyaluronic acid, also known as hyaluronan, is one of cartilage’s three glycosaminoglycans. It helps broth gel, and it’s been used for years to treat race horses with osteoarthritis, usually as an intra-articular injection or IV fluid. Recent studies on oral administration have been promising, though, meaning oral administration of quality bone stock (as opposed to, um, what other method of administration?) might help us with our joint issues, too. According to Wikipedia, human studies are underway and showing promise, but I wasn’t able to dig up much beyond this small study. Still, it’s compelling, and I’ll continue to drink broth regardless.
• Chondroitin sulfate – Chondroitin sulfate is another glycosaminoglycan present in bone stock. It’s also a popular supplement for the treatment of osteoarthritis the efficacy of which has come under question. One recent review concludes that chondroitin sulfate “may interfere with progression of osteoarthritis”. I’d say it’s worth a shot.
• Calcium – I’ve downplayed the importance of large amounts of supplementary calcium in the past, but that doesn’t mean it’s not important. It’s the raw material for bone production and fortification, and bone stock might be one of the best sources of calcium around, especially for those who avoid dairy and don’t eat enough leafy greens.
• Phosphorus – There’s also a good amount of phosphorus in bone stock, though I doubt Primal eaters lack adequate dietary phosphorus (there’s plenty in meat). Still, it’s a nice buffer.
• Magnesium – Magnesium is pretty lacking in the modern diet. Fatty fish like mackerel offer good amounts, as do leafy greens, nuts, and seeds, but most people, Primal folks included, could stand to take in more magnesium. Dr. Michael Eades says if he had to recommend just one supplement, it’d be magnesium; Dr. Stephan Guyenet over at Whole Health Source recently posted a couple great pieces, one on magnesium and insulin sensitivity (short version: the former improves the latter) and another on magnesium and vitamin D metabolism (short version: the former affects the latter). Bone stock is just another way to obtain this valuable mineral.
• Sulfur, potassium, and sodium – Stock has these minerals in mostly trace amounts, but they’re all important for health. Sodium isn’t really an issue for most people, but potassium is undoubtedly important and often lacking. Both are crucial electrolytes (bone broth – possible new sports drink?). Sulfur is the “S” in MSM, or methylsulfonylmethane, the popular joint supplement that has shown some promising results in humans.

The best way to extract all that boney goodness from the bones is to cook with them, and that means making stock (or broth; from here on out, I’ll just say stock, but the two are pretty similar, with broth technically being derived from meat and bones, and stock from just bones). I mentioned a basic chicken stock recipe last year, but we can do better than that. Besides, different bones require different considerations. A few tips:

• Add a couple shots of apple cider vinegar to your stock. This aids in the extraction of minerals without really altering the flavor.
• Roast your bones beforehand. This adds color and flavor. For big bones like beef, 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 50 minutes usually works. For chicken, just use roasted carcasses.
• Don’t throw bones away. Even if you just ate a couple bone-in chicken thighs, save those measly little bones! Freeze them and keep adding to your collection until you’ve got a respectable amount.
• Don’t be afraid to simmer long and slow. Smaller animals require less cooking time to extract nutrients, so chicken can probably go for twenty hours and produce a quality stock, but beef or lamb bones can go for several days, provided you keep the heat low and watch the water level to prevent burning.
• Add feet, especially chicken feet, for added collagen – and more gelatin.
• If it’s a delicious joint supplement you’re after, look for actual animal joints to throw in. Knuckles, especially, have tons of cartilaginous material and snappy ligament that will break down in the water.
• When dealing with the bigger bones from ungulates, sometimes the heat and the water need a little assistance. To really get the good stuff, stick the bones in a sturdy bag and smash them with your sledgehammer (you do have a sledgehammer, right?). Then put the shards in the stockpot. Native Americans used to do this to buffalo bones to get at the little grease pockets lurking within the bone latticework; why shouldn’t we do the same? Another option is to remove the bones after half a day or so and go to work with a smaller hammer, a chef’s knife, or even the food processor. They’ll have softened considerably, and you’ll be able to chop them up into bits for quicker, more thorough extraction. Last week, I took a 10-inch chef’s knife to some cow knuckles and cow necks that’d been simmering for a day and returned the pieces for another few hours of cooking. That stock was the thickest, richest, most gelatinized stock I’ve ever made. Correlation, causation? I lean toward the latter. In fact, going forward, I plan on doing this every single time I make stock. The difference was just that huge.
• You can eat bone, technically. Now, if you’ve made a proper stock and gotten all you can out of your bones, eating them may not confer many benefits. Still, it’s an interesting thought. Chicken bones in particular become pretty delectable after a day of stewing, and I’ll confess to sifting through the stock solids for snacks. I haven’t eaten an entire carcass or anything (yet), but I may try a few of the smaller, softer bones as an experiment. Anyone else?
• Once your stock has cooled in the fridge, only skim the fat if you’re prepared to store or use the stock right away. That layer of fat is protecting your broth from adulterants, whether they’re random fridge flavors or bacteria.
• Speaking of fat, I’d toss poultry fat. It’s a relatively high-PUFA animal fat, and a day of simmering has probably damaged it beyond repair. If you’re stewing bones with more saturated animal fat, though, you should absolutely save the fat layer.
• Veggies are optional, but tasty. They add flavor, and the classic mirepoix blend of carrots, onions, and celery is always a welcome addition. Herbs work well, too. I’m partial to thyme, bay leaf, and whole peppercorns, with maybe a sprig or two of rosemary added. If you’re doing herbs and veggies, add them toward the end of cooking, especially if you’re doing a marathon two-day stock making session.

Divining the nutritional details of traditional foods like bone stock and bone marrow is difficult, if not impossible altogether. We know stock contains gelatin, calcium, phosphate, magnesium, glucosamine, chondroitin, and other trace minerals, but what are the numbers? We’re a numbers generation; we expect to have accurate info at the tips of our fingers at all times, but that’s unrealistic. Bone composition isn’t set in stone. What the animal ate, how it lived, where it lived, the mineral content of whatever it ate, the nutrient density of whatever it ate – these all factor into the composition and content of the bones, joints, and cartilage. The nutrition facts of commercial bone meal marketed as a calcium supplement gives us a general idea of the mineral content (900 mg calcium, 360 mg phosphorus, 9 mg magnesium per serving) of bone stock. That stuff comes from powdered “cattle raised in the United States,” which undoubtedly means corn-fed, nutritionally-deficient cows. We don’t know exactly how an animal’s diet affects its bone composition, but we know that it matters. Diet plays a huge role in everything, and I’d bet that grass-fed (again, as always) results in better, more nutritious stock. Regardless of the numbers, bone stock is good for you, damn good, and being somewhat in the dark about the precise nutrient count shouldn’t dissuade you from making and using your own bone stock on a regular basis.

Even if you don’t (or are unable to) seek out bones specifically for cooking, you’ll end up with plenty as leftovers. In fact, I’d suggest opting for whole animals or bone-in segments; the meat tastes better, it stays fresher longer, and you get some cooking bones when it’s all done. When you roast a chicken, you’ve got an entire skeleton to work with. When you cook a bone-in leg of lamb on the barbecue, you’ve got a big femur left over. What does a skinless breast offer after it’s been eaten, or an endless parade of steaks? I love a good steak as much as the next man, but a Primal eater shouldn’t live on muscle meat alone. I highly recommend giving homemade stock a try. If you eat animals, you should have access to their bones, and you should never throw those bones away.

Have I missed anything? Anyone have any good stock-making tips?

Lori NY Flickr Photo (CC)

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Analyst expectations have been rising higher and higher for tons of U.S. companies. Here are the major names where analyst sentiment has swung the most, ie. earnings revisions have been ramped higher the most number of times, based on data from Fact Set and Waverly Advisors.

As seen below, Cisco (CSCO) takes the cake with 30 upward revisions to its Q1 earnings so far. Other notables include Texas Instruments (TXN) with 24 upward revisions, Apple (AAPL) with 20, Amazon (AMZN) with 18, Whole Foods (WFMI) with 16, Starbucks (SBUX) with 16, and Home Depot (HD) with 16. We set the cut-off for our screen at 16 revisions.

While analysts may raise their estimates for good reason, at the same time they set the expectations bar ever higher each time. Should these analyst favorites miss their ramped numbers, look out below.

Now see why analysts expect companies to wildly blow away their numbers this quarter >

The chart shows the number of upward revisions that have been made to each stocks Q1 earnings estimates to date. Disclosure: The author owns shares in Chesapeake Energy (CHK).

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Think equity markets have come too far to fast? Think again, says David Bianco, the head of U.S. equity strategy and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

In a note to clients Thursday, Mr. Bianco raised his 12-month target for the S&P 500 to 1350, after revising his earnings forecast higher. 

He raised his 2010 earnings expectation to US$80, from US$75 and his 2011 target to US$88 from US$85. In 2012, he expects profits to hit $94, up from $90 previously. 

"The most significant part of our revised S&P 500 EPS outlook is the US$3 boost to 2011 EPS," he said in a note to clients. 

"This boost reflects higher S&P 500 top-line growth with more margin expansion from lower credit costs and more operating leverage than we previously assumed."

Mr. Bianco said the S&P 500 will reach 1300 late in 2010, but added that his bullish stance rests upon two key outlooks:

First, the S&P EPS recovery has to outpace the US GDP recovery. Second, the Fed stays pat on interest rates until early 2011 and long-term treasury yields stay under 5% through 2011.

First quarter earnings will validate his first key outlook, he said, while the next several months should improve the clarity on outlook two.

"If 10yr treasury yields stay under 4% this summer then the market should grind higher led by mega-cap stocks," he wrote. 

David Pett

Mark Fiore made a little online history this week by being the first web-only journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize. His editorial cartoons, though, were rejected from the App Store for violating Apple’s anti-satire provisions. That’s a dangerous precedent. More »

Initial unemployment applications unexpectedly increased from 460,000 last week to 484,000 this week.

An unnamed Labor Department official quoted in the wire stories says:  “Volatility is always associated with the Easter holiday” and “This is more attributable to administrative factors than to possible layoffs. I did not see anything in the states’ numbers that would reflect economic concerns.”

That said — even if the number does not imply increased layoffs, it certainly does not indicate a willingness to hire on the part of businesses. Thus, the jobless recovery continues.

Tired of seeing spy shots on every auto related internet blog, GM slapped up two pictures of the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro Convertible on their Facebook page. I’m not sure I would have chosen either to highlight the lines of the car, as the best profile of the new Camaro drop-top is from the side. GM opted for an elevated front view, which makes the Camaro’s already-small windshield look even tinier. Worse, the front view of the convertible is essentially the same as the front view of the hard top; wouldn’t you want to highlight the differences instead of pointing out the similarities?

The rear photo isn’t much better, but at least you can tell it’s a ragtop Camaro. I’d have shot the car from eye level, not floor level, to give a sense of the interior and the lines of the windshield. In any event, at least you can clearly see the styling influence from the first generation Camaro in the rear pic.