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Gluten free baked goods seem to be getting more popular all the time. This means that there are more products out to help you bake gluten free things than there were, say, five or six years ago. For instance, you can now easily pick up a bag of gluten free flour, such as the Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour I keep in my pantry, and use it in a variety of recipes much as you would use regular all purpose flour. This is exactly what I did with this recipe, adding gluten free flour to a recipe that can easily use regular flour.

These banana pecan muffins certainly did not suffer for being gluten free. Indeed, no one I served them to had a clue that there wasn’t a speck of gluten in them! The muffins are moist, soft and very tender. Some of that tenderness comes from the lack of gluten in the flour, but they were not crumbly or mushy (as some bad GF baked goods I’ve tried have been). They had a great mixture of spices that really complemented the bananas, and of course the pecans added a great crunchiness. I usually like to used roasted and salted pecans in my baked goods for that extra sweet-savory flavor, but regular toasted pecans are just fine, too.

These muffins taste great when they’re fresh, but are so moist that they keep well for a day or two when stored in an airtight container. They’re a great alternative to a banana bread, since muffins take so little time to bake, and make a great breakfast treat with a cup of coffee in the morning if you make them the night before.
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[The following guest blog post was provided by Manuel Davis, a tax accountant at Back Taxes Help, who has helped thousdands of taxpayers file IRS back taxes and setup IRS Payment Plans.]

In the remaining few days before the 2009 income tax deadline, millions of taxpayers will be rushing to finish their tax returns. If you’ve left your own taxes until the last minute – here are some tips to help you with last minute filing:

Don’t Rush

The closer the deadline is, the more people tend to rush to get their taxes in on time. Rushing through your tax return can result in costly mistakes – whether the mistakes generate penalties and fees or lost refund money. Try to clear a couple hours a day until they are completed; or seek help from a tax professional who has the time to work through your return and submit it before the April 15th deadline.

Provide Complete Documentation

If sending your tax return through the mail, make sure you’ve attached all required documentation, from W-2’s to 1099’s to medical receipts and any other documents you may have to support your return. If filing electronically, make sure you have your documentation safely stored in case you’re asked to present it to the IRS for proof.

Make Copies

Before mailing in your return, make a copy of all of your paperwork. If you get audited, you’ll want to have a copy of the return you sent in as well as all the supporting documentation. If e-filing, print out a copy of your return and save it with your documentation.

Mail Certified Mail

When you’re filing close to the deadline, it’s a good idea to mail your return using Certified Mail. Certified Mail allows you to receive a receipt stamped with the date of mailing, a unique tracking number that lets you verify delivery online, and the recipient must sign for the mail to receive it. You also have the option for requesting a copy of the signature with Return Receipt through the US Post Office (for an additional fee). If the IRS claims not to have received your tax return, you’ll have records that prove you mailed it in time. You may need to re-mail a return if the IRS misplaces it, but you can’t be charged late fees or penalties if you can prove it was mailed before the deadline.

Be Careful of Deductions and Credits

Honesty is the best policy when completing your tax returns. Trying to get deductions you don’t qualify for can cost you much more in penalties and repercussions than you get from the deduction if you’re caught. Double check all of your deductions to ensure you’re only claiming deductions and tax credits you qualify for.

Check the IRS Website for Missed Deductions

While you never want to lie to look like you qualify for more deductions or credits than you really do – you also don’t want to miss any deductions or credits that you really do qualify for. Check the IRS website to view new deductions and credits available. Even if you hire a tax professional to prepare your return for you, it doesn’t hurt to double check the deductions and credits to make sure they gave you everything you qualify for.

Need More Time?

If you aren’t able to file your return before April 15th, file for an automatic extension with Form 4868. If you owe taxes, you are still responsible for getting payment to the IRS by April 15th but you will have more time to complete the return.

Can’t Pay In Full?

Even if you cannot pay in full, still file a tax return. The failure to pay penalty is .5% percent per month whereas the failure to file penalty is 5% per month. You can always setup a payment plan to pay the IRS over time.

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Upset over new regulations that restrict the consumption of beer on the job, dozens of line workers at Carlsberg brewery walked off the job on Thursday. The production workers were quickly joined by Carlsberg’s delivery drivers, even though the new policy has no direct impact on the drivers.

While it may seem strange to American sensibilities, Carlsberg workers were previously allowed to self-police and drink as much on the job as they wanted. Beer was supplied in coolers positioned throughout the brewery, and workers were allowed to help themselves. Drunkenness was not tolerated, however, and could ultimately provide grounds for employee dismissal.

The new rules eliminate the beer coolers, but still allow employees to drink beer during lunchtime in the company canteen. Truck drivers are permitted to bring three beers from the canteen, since they often have lunch while making deliveries. An ignition lock on the breweries trucks prohibits drivers from starting them if their BAC is over the legal limit.

This is the Dashboard app for iPad. It brings OS X’s dashboard to the iPad. Cool, right? Well, you’re not getting it. More »

Some chicks sweat, and some perspire. I figure the new ads for Degree Natureffects are aimed at the latter. There’s a lot of talk, after all, about cranberry and orange flower and matching body mists. Very ladylike. The new product, from Degree Women, "celebrates women and hopes to help them release their ‘outdoorphins,’ " says the marketer, adding another piece of ad-speak to the already jam-packed marketing lexicon. The outdoor campaign, in cities like San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Washington, came from the marketer’s research that shows the closer a person lives to nature, the healthier she’s likely to be, and that a touch of nature improves a woman’s mood throughout the day. The study also found that 86 percent of women said they’re more productive if they eat their lunch outside. (There were no stats to tell how many ditched the rest of the day.) The ads, from indie ad and marketing agency Walton/Isaacson, do spruce up some plain-Jane billboard and bus-shelter spaces with girly flowers, botanicals and foliage. See a larger image here. Plastic? Who cares? They’re purty. Look for them to brighten up some dank transportation hubs, and let’s hope the smell-o-vision version is coming up next. Mmmmm, honeysuckle!

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Wow.

Update: We’ve slipped back down. Not clear if we can hold.

Update 2: Uh, oh, it’s looking like we’re not going to hold it with 3 minutes left to go. We’re back down to 10,992.

Update 3: Per CNBC, we haven’t hit that level since September 26, 2008.

Update 4: We didn’t hold. Looks like we missed it by about 3 points. But, given the ructions in Greece, etc. today’s 71 point gain is pretty impressive.

Update 5: Here’s a fuller rundown of what happened today.

Join the conversation about this story »

STATEMENTS FROM THE SUPREME COURT

REGARDING JUSTICE JOHN PAUL STEVENS’S RETIREMENT

April 9, 2010

Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.:

Associate Justice John Paul Stevens has earned the gratitude and admiration of the American people for his nearly 40 years of distinguished service to the Judiciary, including more than 34 years on the Supreme Court. He has enriched the lives of everyone at the Court through his intellect, independence, and warm grace. We have all been blessed to have John as our colleague and his wife Maryan as our friend. We will miss John’s presence in our daily work, but will take joy in his and Maryan’s continued friendship in the years ahead.

 

Associate Justice Antonin Scalia:

John Paul Stevens leaves behind a distinguished career of service on the federal bench, first on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and then, for the last 34 years, on this Court. He has authored a significant number of our landmark opinions, but that alone would be a misleading indicator of his impact. In many, many cases where he did not write he brought to Conference brilliant and distinctive insights that affected the outcome. I shall miss his brilliance, and his companionship.

Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy:

 

For decades John Stevens did more than follow standards of judicial excellence. He set them. He insists on the mastery of every case, clarity in thought and expression, courtesy to colleagues and counsel, and, above all, unquestioned independence and integrity. He demonstrates that to fulfill its role the judiciary must remain capable of attracting to its ranks those lawyers who are preeminent in the profession. His love for this Nation is evident from his distinguished service in World War II, his years at the bar, and his career as a jurist. It is a historic privilege for me to have John Stevens as an admired, splendid colleague, and devoted, wonderful friend.

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas:

I am deeply honored to have served with Justice Stevens. From my first days on the Court and throughout our time together, he has been a model of kindness and decency. I will treasure the years I have been privileged to work with him. I am certain that he will be remembered for his keen intellect and his prodigious body of work here at the Court. And, he should be. I consider it my good fortune to have served so long with him and to know that he is my friend. Virginia and I will miss him and Maryan.

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg:

John Paul Stevens is the very best and most collegial of jurists. On the bench, his polite “May I . . . ,” invites advocates to get to the nub of the case. Work from other chambers invariably takes precedence over all else on his agenda. I will miss his bright company, but his caring opinions, sometimes pathmarking, sometimes prophetic, remain to inspire generations of judges, lawyers, and law students.

Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer:

Ever since I have known John Stevens I have recognized that he is a model of intelligence, judicial wisdom, decency, and common sense. All of us on the Court will miss his service here. So will the Nation.

Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito:

I was deeply saddened to learn that Justice Stevens will be leaving the Court at the end of this Term. He will surely be remembered as one of the most important Justices to serve on the Court, and his contributions to the law will long endure. No one could hope for a better colleague, and it has been a distinct honor for me to have had the opportunity to serve with him for the past four years. I wish John and Maryan all the best in the years ahead.

Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor:

It would have been my wish to have served longer with John Paul Stevens. I thank my new friend for his warm welcome and shared wisdom, as well as for his immeasurable contributions to the Court and our country. One Term together was not long enough for me, but I will treasure our service together and all I have learned from him for the remainder of my time on the Court.

Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (Retired):

Justice John Stevens is remarkable. Although close to 90 years of age, he is in splendid physical condition and his mind is as sharp as ever. He has been a splendid, efficient and hardworking Justice for 34 years and the Court will miss him greatly.

Associate Justice David Souter (Retired):

Justice Stevens is the gold standard of intellectual integrity and personal decency, and the Nation’s debt to him is incalculable. Besides, he’s a friend of mine, which makes me as lucky as anyone can get.

Let’s play Count von Count, shall we? One… two… three fingers…four..five…six… wait.

Domino’s ‘American Idol’ Box Features 6-Fingered Singer [Serious Eats via BuzzFeed]

Whether you’re looking for a new notification sound, ringtone, or a high quality wallpaper to make that home screen more enjoyable, Zedge has you covered. Zedge.com is a website for users to upload wallpapers and ringtones for download, and Zedge delivers with their free mobile application for Android.

Unlike Android’s default tabs that are placed at the top of the screen, Zedge uses a custom tab interface that places the tabs at the bottom of the screen for easier one handed use. To search, just slide up the Search tab, much as you would Android’s sliding app drawer on the home screen. Type in your keywords, and Zedge searches wallpapers and ringtones simultaneously lightning fast. Choose between the two to start looking at the results.

When viewing wallpapers, Zedge displays 10 images at a time. You can mark something as a favorite, or tap the image to enlarge it and bring up a download button. Once downloaded, tap “Set” and you’re done. Easy, simple, fast.

Where Zedge really stands out is how it manages ringtones. On the results page after a search, Zedge has a small play button next to each file, and tapping it automatically starts buffering and playing the sound without switching screens. While the audio is playing, the search tab transforms into a green download button, making it obvious how to obtain the selected ringtone. One minor annoyance when viewing ringtones was the titles of the files. Since Zedge relies on user uploads, the results will only be as precise as the user defined titles and tags. This can be irritating when looking for something specific. When viewing all available ringtones (as opposed to searching with keywords), there are 27 provided categories and genres to refine the results, in addition to the standard “Most Downloads”, “Newest”, etc. This method of searching often results in finding something really cool that you didn’t even know you were looking for.

The Good

• Incredibly fast, responsive, clean, and intuitive user interface.
• Fast searching
• Links with a Zedge.com account for syncing favorites
• Easy to set downloaded material as ringtones and wallpaper

The Bad

• Search results are only as precise as the user defined tags
• Music search results are sparse due to copyright
• Permanent ads at the top of the screen

Application Note: 3G or Wi-Fi is recommended if you want your downloads to finish before your phone is obsolete.

Final Verdict
Zedge is a fast application with a great UI that delivers when you’re looking for new alert sounds, ringtones, or wallpapers to spice up your phone.

Note: This review was submitted by Jared Haren as part of our app review contest.

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Your dashboard may soon become as versatile as your laptop.

Compared with the electronic wizardry found in our homes and offices, even the most advanced cars built today seem stuck in the Stone Age. Like a visit to Colonial Williamsburg, spending time in the car means abandoning modern advances like Wi-Fi and iTunes for comparatively ancient technologies like satellite radio, in-dash CD players, and tiny nav screens suction-cupped to the windshield.

Keep Reading: The Future of In-Car Technology – Feature

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If you don’t have the time to research the benchmarks, fear not. Tom’s Hardware has come to your aid with a simple list of the best gaming CPUs offered at each and every pricepoint. More »

Outgoing Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) met with reporters today just a few hours after the news leaked that the 18-year House veteran had decided to hang up his hat at the end of this year. After suffering a barrage of criticisms over his stand on abortion during the health care debate — first from liberals and then from conservatives — speculation was that he was retiring from the exhaustion. Yet Stupak denied that Friday, saying that, after passage of the health reform bill, he felt that his work in Congress was done.

“My friends and family know that during the last several election cycles, when it seemed like health care reform was impossible in Washington, I considered retiring from Congress,” he said. “But in each of the past several election cycles, I chose to continue to serve the people of the first district because I felt we still had work to do.”

Today, children can no longer be denied care because of a pre- existing condition and no insurance company can drop you for your family from care or cap your insurance coverage due to a serious injury or chronic illness. Today, because of reforms, seniors will be able to afford their prescription drugs and Americans will receive preventive care that they need. And today, small businesses can receive tax credits to make employee insurance coverage more affordable.

After 18 years, together, we’ve accomplished what you sent me to Washington to do, health care for all Americans.

Stupak said he’s ready to take on “new challenges,” though he didn’t say what they might be.

Next week, Congress is back in session, and financial regulation will occupy much of the legislative calendar in and mental capacity of Washington for the next month or two. The proposed legislation imposes stronger capital requirements and creates a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, among other provisions. But it cannot stop the innovation of newer, more interconnected and frankly weirder financial products — and a brilliant new investigative report by Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein at ProPublica shows just how new, interconnected and weird some of those products were.

The report shows how one hedge fund, Magnetar, originated mortgage-based investment instruments, backed them with the riskiest possible assets and then made massive bets against its own products. Every part of it was perfectly legal, and very little of it came under regulatory oversight.

According to bankers and others involved, the Magnetar Trade worked this way: The hedge fund bought the riskiest portion of a kind of securities known as collateralized debt obligations — CDOs. If housing prices kept rising, this would provide a solid return for many years. But that’s not what hedge funds are after. They want outsized gains, the sooner the better, and Magnetar set itself up for a huge win: It placed bets that portions of its own deals would fail.

Along the way, it did something to enhance the chances of that happening, according to several people with direct knowledge of the deals. They say Magnetar pressed to include riskier assets in their CDOs that would make the investments more vulnerable to failure. The hedge fund acknowledges it bet against its own deals but says the majority of its short positions, as they are known on Wall Street, involved similar CDOs that it did not own. Magnetar says it never selected the assets that went into its CDOs.

The whole thing is worth a read.

Brooke Burke is writing the book on motherhood.

On Friday, The New American Library announced that it will publish the Dancing With The Stars co-host’s memoir titled The Naked Mom.

In the book, Burke, 38, will rely her experiences balancing a career in showbusiness with raising four children.

”The book will further establish Brooke’s already impressive track record when it comes to tackling topics in a voice that speaks to moms,” said NAL spokeswoman Kara Welsh. Brooke “will have women everywhere nodding their heads in recognition with her sharp take on modern motherhood,” Walsh adds.

Brooke says: “I am so excited to share my take on motherhood—uncensored, revealing, vulnerable and sexy. From bringing up a blended family, to balancing a career in entertainment, to carpooling in stilettos, I have found my own way to gracefully raise four children by accepting that there is no right or wrong way to approach motherhood. I hope my book will help women celebrate and embrace their own unique selves, guilt-free.”

The Naked Mom arrives in April 2011.

Dieter, Derek, and Keith discuss webOS 1.4.1, tussle over Verizon, and answer listener emails.

• Download it directly with this link
• Subscribe via iTunes
• Subscribe directly to the Podcast feed with your favorite Podcatcher here
• Listen to it here with the player above

Thanks to everybody for writing and calling in!

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If you’ve ever followed a lifted 4X4 down the road you’ve probably unknowingly stared at the cover that houses the rear differential. You may have not known what you were looking at but odds are you saw it. They usually come in one of two ways – either covered in road grime and leaking (this is the majority) or chrome plated. Sure, you sometimes get that individual that wants to stand out in the crowd by painting it, but the majority of them are like those previously described.

Until recently the above mentioned covers were really the only two options if you wanted to play dress-up with your 4X4. Times are a changing though and the folks from Zingology think they have the answer to your custom woes. Sculpted by artist Raymond Gibby of Nobility Bronze these new differential covers are sure to give your 4×4 the new look and feel you may, or may not have been looking for.

I suppose there is an appeal to these things, after all they are different. I think the biggest drawback to these would be having to answer all the questions that come with owning one. Like the title of the posts states, my first question would be WTF?

On March 20, 2010, the

Chicago Tribune crafted and published an editorial opinion that, in part, accuses Illinois Senate President John Cullerton for a strategy of “delay and deny” when it comes to the most pressing issues facing our state.  This editorial is one of a constant series from the Tribune that neglects to reasonably consider or credit the efforts of lawmakers who seek to find common ground to achieve economic and budget solutions.

Accusations that Democratic legislators are doing nothing to address the serious challenges facing

Illinois are matters of opinion.  The Tribune has refused to publish the full response.  In addition, the Tribune indicated that it will not publish a response that says the March 20^th editorial was “riddled with inaccuracies.” 

Cullerton’s full response has been posted here.