Morgellons Disease – on the Skin or in the Head?

2012-01-26T21:55:00.000-08:00

“I would lay in the bed and it felt like an army of ants

just crawling over the bed, all over my body”

(Anonymous Patient)

About MorgellonsDisease

What sounds like a science fiction horror movie is actuallyreal life for the unlucky people who have contracted the disease which leavespainful sores all over the body. The sores ooze blue fibers, white threads andlittle black specks of sand-like material. The worst part, patients say, is thecreepy and constant sensation of bugs crawling under their skin.

History of Disease

In 2001, according to Mary Leitao, her thentwo-year-old son developed sores under his lip and began to complain of"bugs." Leitao, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science inBiology and worked for five years at Boston hospitals as a lab technicianbefore becoming a stay-at-home mother, says she examined the sores with herson's toy microscope and discovered red, blue, black, and white fibers.

She states that she took her son to see at least eightdifferent doctors who were unable to find any disease, allergy, or anythingunusual about her son's described symptoms. Fred Heldrich, a JohnsHopkins pediatrician with a reputation "for solving mysterycases," examined Leitao's son. Heldrich found nothing abnormal aboutthe boy's skin, wrote to the referring physician that "Leitao wouldbenefit from a psychiatric evaluation and support," and registered hisworry about Leitao's "use" of her son.

Leitao says that her son developed more sores, and morefibers continued to poke out of them. She and her husband, Edward Leitao,an internist with South Allegheny Internal Medicine in Pennsylvania, felt their son suffered from"something unknown." She chose the name Morgellonsdisease from a description of an illness in the monograph ALetter to a Friend by Sir Thomas Browne, in 1690, wherein Brownedescribes several medical conditions in his experience, including "thatendemial distemper of children in Languedoc,called the morgellons, wherein they critically break out with harsh hairs ontheir backs."

Leitao and their supporters claim that such unusual disease hasactually been around for centuries. In 1935, an English physician wrote a paperabout Morgellons including excerpts from medical journals from the 1600's,describing the disease. Unfortunately, not much was known then about Morgellons-- and not much has been learned in the more than 400 years since.

To attract public attention and funs for research, Leitaostarted the Morgellons Research Foundation (MRF) in 2002, which became non-profitin 2004. The MRF claims to have received self-identified reports of Morgellonsfrom all 50 US states and 15other countries, including Canada,the UK, Australia, and the Netherlands, and states that theyhave been contacted by over 12,000 families.

Signs and Symptoms

People who have Morgellons disease report the followingsigns and symptoms:

Skin rashes or sores that can cause intense itching
Crawling sensations on and under the skin, often compared to insects moving, stinging or biting
Fibers, threads or black stringy material in and on the skin
Severe fatigue
Inability to concentrate and short-term memory loss
Behavioral changes
Joint pain
Vision changes

Morgellons disease shares characteristics with variousrecognized conditions, including Lyme disease, liver or kidney disease,schizophrenia, drug or alcohol abuse, and a mental illness involving falsebeliefs about infestation by parasites (delusional parasitosis).

CDC Investigation

As many of the patients live in California,under the pressure of the state's U.S. senator, DianneFeinstein, in 2008, federal health officials began systematic investigation.

The results, released Wednesday, January 25, 2012, bring theultimate conclusion that Morgellons existsonly in the patients' minds.

"We found no infectious cause," said MarkEberhard, a Center for Disease Control and Prevention official who was part ofthe 15-member study team.

Afflicted patients have documented their suffering onwebsites and many have vainly searched for a doctor who believed them. Somedoctors believe the condition is a form of delusional parasitosis, a psychosisin which people believe they are infected with parasites.

Last May, Mayo Clinic researchers published a study of 108Morgellons patients and found none of them suffered from any unusual physicalailment. The study concluded that the sores on many of them were caused bytheir own scratching and picking at their skin.

The CDC study was meant to be broader, startingwith a large population and then went looking for cases within the group. Theintent was to give scientists a better idea of how common Morgellons actuallyis.

They focused on more than 3 million people who lived in 13counties in Northern California, a location chosen in part because all hadhealth insurance through Kaiser Permanente of Northern California, which had a research arm that could assist in theproject. Also, many of the anecdotal reports of Morgellons came from the area.

Culling through Kaiser patients’ records from July 2006through June 2008, the team found — and was able to reach — 115 who had whatsounded like Morgellons. Most were middle-aged white women. Roughly 100 agreedto at least answer survey questions, and about 40 consented to a battery ofphysical and psychological tests that stretched over several days.

Blood and urine tests and skin biopsies checked for dozensof infectious diseases, including fungus and bacteria that could causesome of the symptoms. The researchers found none that would explain the cases.

There was no sign of an environmental cause, either,although researchers did not go to each person's house to look around.

They took fibers from 12 people, which were tested at theArmed Forces Institute of Pathology. Nothing unusual there, either. Cotton andnylon, mainly — not some kind of organism wriggling out of a patient's body.

Skin lesions were common, but researchers concluded most ofthem were from scratching.

What stood out was how the patients did on the psychologicalexams. Though normal in most respects, they had more depression than thegeneral public and were more obsessive about physical ailments, the studyfound. However, they did not have an unusual history of psychiatric problems,according to their medical records. And the testing gave no clear indication ofa delusional disorder.

The researchers prefer to call the supposedly psychologicaldisorder as "unexplained dermopathy" in their paper.

But clearly, something made them miserable. "Theabsence of evidence is not evidence of absence," said Felicia Goldstein,an Emory University neurology professor and studyco-author. She said perhaps the patients could be helped by cognitivebehavioral therapy that might help them deal with possible contributingpsychological issues.

The results of the study corroborated the previousconclusions from a study conducted of 108 patients at the Mayo Clinic. Thisstudy also failed to find evidence of skin infestation despite doing skinbiopsies and examining specimens provided by the patients. The study, which wasconducted between 2001 and 2007, concluded that the feeling of skin infestationwas a delusion, delusional parasitosis.

Contradiction

While the CDC has not found any physical sources for thedisease, it is still does not mean that they do not exist. For example NationalPediculosis Association in Boston, Massachusetts, teamed up with theOklahoma State Department of Health to study the creepy crawlers, and theresults were not zero. The researchers took skin samples from 20 patients whoclaim they have the bugs, but were diagnosed by their doctors as delusional andfound collembolan, a microscopic critter, in 18 of the 20 patients.

Collembola feed on algae, bacteria and decaying matter. Theythrive in wet or damp surroundings, and can be found under leaky kitchen orbathroom sinks, swimming pools, and the soil of potted plants. The officialreport was published in the journal of the New York Entomological Association. However,the CDC response was that the collembola was not a danger to humans, at leastthere is no sufficient evidence that it can be any health danger.

Karjoo Phenomenon

While mostly, thereare no answers to Morgellons disease, mostly questions and suggestions, thereis at least one person who says that there is an answer! Dr. RahimKarjoo, a Fellow of The American Society of Clinical Pathology, claims that heknows how to treat Morgellons disease.Per Dr. Karjoo, this is a disease of the hair and the hair follicle, and mayalso be characterized by severe lesions on the skin. This infection can spreadquickly if it is not controlled and treated in time. He also refers to Morgellonsdisease as ‘Karjoo phenomenon,’ because Dr. Karjoo considers himself asthe one who could find solid answers with regard to what actually causes thiscondition and how to treat it.

Sources and AdditionalInformation:

http://news.yahoo.com/study-freakish-mystery-illness-finds-no-cause-220159892.html

http://www.safesolutionsinc.com/morgellons.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons

http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-rt-us-skin-diseasetre80p02q-20120125,0,109194.story

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/morgellons-disease/sn00043

http://www.morgellonsmedicalcenter.com/

The fear of Friday the 13th

2012-01-13T14:47:00.000-08:00

Today is Friday the 13th. Today is Friday the 13th! Today isFriday the 13th!! Today is Friday the 13th!!!

So what????

If you feel nothing about the combination of number 13 andFriday, you represent a rare minority. It's hard not to feel something aboutFriday the 13th, Tom Fernsler, a University of Delaware mathprofessor says, "I find that 95% of people in the world aresuperstitious about something, and the other 5% are liars."

While the fear for the day itself is common, the name forthe related phobia is less known to general public. In fact, there are severalcompeting words, which represent this fear, and all of them are fairly hard topronounce.

So, the fear of Friday the 13th is called friggatriskaidekaphobia (Frigga beingthe name of the Norse goddess for whom "Friday" is named and triskaidekaphobia meaningfear of the number thirteen), or paraskevidekatriaphobia aconcatenation of the Greek words Paraskeví (Παρασκευή,meaning "Friday"), and dekatreís (δεκατρείς, meaning"thirteen") attached to phobía (φοβία, from phóbos,φόβος, meaning "fear"). The latter word was derived in 1911and firstappeared in a mainstream source in 1953.

The History of Friday the 13th

One of the theories of how the unlucky combination appearedto the World, proposed by Donald Dossey, founder of the StressManagement Centerand Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, is attributed tolegend about Loki. Apparently, the first recorded mention of a Friday the 13thoccurred sometime in the early 1900s. There is no definitive date of the originof the dreaded day of special misfortune. While there is evidence to suggestthat the number thirteen was considered unlucky prior to the 20th century,there was no link between Friday and the number 13.

So, the phobia associated with Friday the 13th is a result of an ancientcombination of two separate negative associations with the number 13 and theday Friday.

Apparently, there is a Norse myth about 12 gods having a dinner party at Norseheaven know as "Valhalla". Anuninvited 13th guest arrived, the mischievous Loki. Loki was able to manipulatethe blind god of darkness Hoder to shoot the god of joy and gladness Balder theBeautiful, with a mistletoe-tipped arrow. Then, the whole earth grew dark.Balder died and all of Earth mourned. It was an awfully unlucky day. Sincethen, the number 13 has been considered ominous and threatening.

The number 13 and Friday are recurring presences in other mythological,spiritual and religious tradition. For example, in Christianity, 13 peopleattended the Last Supper before Judas' betrayal and Jesus' death on aFriday.

Another theory about the origin of the superstition tracesthe event to the arrest of the legendary Knights Templar. The Knights Templarwere a monastic military order founded in Jerusalemin 1118 A.D. Their original mission was to guide and protect Christian pilgrimsalong the route from Europe to Jerusalemduring the Crusades. Through this mission, the Templars developed abanking system to protect the finances of the traveling pilgrims, then expandedthis system throughout their holdings in Europe.Over time, France’s PhilipIV of

France

amassed a debt to the Knights Templar for years of service. He had becomeenvious of the Knights Templar and their rise to power, so he set his sights ontheir famed fortunes. Philip devised a plan to arrest all the Knights Templarand charge them with crimes so devastating that no person or group wouldcome to their defense. The charges against them were religious in nature andbacked by the papacy of the Vaticanand Pope Clement V. His plan had to be swift and carefully put together so asto not alert the Templars in advance.

King Phillip’s orders were sent a month in advance andwere not to be opened till dawn on Friday, October 13, 1307. The chargesagainst the Templars were of the highest accusations of heresy: thatthe Knights Templar asked members to spit on the cross and step on it, to denyChrist, to perform homosexual acts, and so on. The king’s orders were to engageand arrest every Templar in France.All Templar outposts, homes, wineries, mills, and castles were to be taken inthe name of the King of France and Pope Clement V. This nationwide arrest waswidely successful, and medieval torture tactics were used to obtain confessionsfrom the Knights. This single act against the Templar Order is now viewed asone of the most unlucky days in History – Friday the 13th.

You are not alone!

So, you understand now, that if you feel uncomfortabletoday, you are not alone. According to the Stress Management Center and PhobiaInstitute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States only are affectedby a fear of this day, making it probably the most feared day and date inhistory. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normalroutines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed."It's been estimated that $800 or $900 million is lost in business onthis day".

May be, for you it is a lucky Day!

But, some people like the day, consider is a happy one, and even celebrate it. May be, you one of those...

Many parties, some with themes similar to Halloween, are celebrated on Friday 13 around the world. Some charities and fundraising organizations use Friday 13 to hold functions and events to help raise funds for their causes. Other events may include wine tasting nights, art exhibitions, music evenings and dance nights.

Friday 13 is a big celebration at Port Dover in Ontario, Canada. It is a day for motorcyclists to gather and it happens every Friday 13. The event attracts large crowds who gather at the town each year and is supported by PD13, a nonprofit organization that coordinates Friday the 13th events in Port Dover.

For those born on Friday 13, it is their lucky day according to myth. Some people win large amounts of money through the lottery on Friday 13. According to CNN.com, one British couple bought their winning ticket on Friday 13 after a mirror at their home fell down. The lucky couple won $17 million.

Two More!

There is some good news, though. The date can only appear amaximum of three times during a calendar year.

The bad news are that for the first time since 1984, thosethree Friday the 13ths — today, April 13 and July 13 — are exactly 13 weeksapart.

But more good news are that after this summer, the dateisn't set to venture back onto the calendar until September, 2013.

Sources and AdditionalInformation:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-01-12/Three-Friday-the-13ths-in-2012/52523744/1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th

http://www.timeanddate.com/date/friday-13.html

http://www.squidoo.com/fridaythe13th

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/12/friday-the-13th-meaning-unlucky_n_1202843.html

http://www.kim-watkins.com/blog/?p=1206

Keep your Secrets for yourself on your iPhone!

2011-12-27T23:05:00.000-08:00

For several days, one of the most popular posts onYahoo! is related to the few usefultips on how to improve your productivity while working with touchpad of themobile computer devices and smart phones. That is quite understandable as moreand more new features are introduced in the modern gadgets, and more our dailytasks are delegated to them.

The post reminded me on a very different topic –safety of your most sensitive information. Think about possible consequences ofyour pictures or notes to be found by somebody you would rather not share thisinformation with. The outcomes may range from slight confusion to competedisaster. So, you need a virtual “safe” on your smartphone to keep there yourprivate and touchy information.

Today, I would like to present a relatively newapplication for iPhone and iPad with very characteristic title: My SecretFolder. My Secret Folder's icon looks like an iOS Folder (that's becauseits designed exactly the same) but what it actually is, is a private, passcodeenabled app that stores pictures, movies, notes, contacts and a bunch of thingsyou don't want people to accidentally stumble upon. It even has a porn modebrowser!

But probably best of all is if someone accidentally openedthe app and entered the wrong passcode, the app will snap a picture of theculprit, tag a location to the incident and keep it on file for when youreturn. Feel free to carry your "sensitive material" on your iOSdevice from now on, as you are the only one who has access to it.

So, if your iPhone is stolen or used by a stranger, it willtake snaps of that person while using your iPhone. It’s not enough as it willtake spying actions like mailing you about the location of your iPhone or iPad.Hence you can locate the thief and can get back your stolen iPhone.

While the application has some extra interesting features,the few, described above are already sufficient for privacy oriented users totry the application. The PRO version costs $0.99 for limited time in iTunesstore.

Sources and AdditionalInformation:

http://gizmodo.com/5851513/my-secret-folder-for-ios-hide-the-stuff-you-dont-want-other-people-to-see

http://www.bestipadappslist.com/ipad-apps-list/my-secret-folder/

http://ipad-os.net/2011/my-secret-folder-ipa/

Facts and Legends of Bermuda Triangle

2011-12-05T23:36:00.001-08:00

On a sunny day, December 5-th, 1945, 66 years ago, five U.S. Navy Avenger torpedo bombers comprising Flight19 took off from the Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida on a routinethree hour training mission. The setup plan was to take them due east for 120miles, north for 73 miles, and then back over a final 120-mile leg that wouldreturn them to the naval base. But that never happened - they never returned.

This mysteriousdisappearance has opened a list of the aircraft-related cases of missing peoplein the Bermuda Triangle, as before there were only multiple ship-relatedincidents reported. While I am still reluctant to consider Bermuda Triangle as True Stories versus Urban Myths (two sections of my Best Hoaxes blog), there aredefinitely some circumstances which make this part of the ocean special. Mostlikely, they have real scientific explanations, yet to be discovered orconfirmed.

TheLoss of Flight 19

The flight 19 started at 2:10 p.m., as scheduled fromthe Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station in Florida.Led by instructor Lieutenant Charles Taylor, the assignment was to fly athree-legged triangular route with a few bombing practice runs over Hen andChickens Shoals. Two hours after the flight began, the leader of the squadron,who had been flying in the area for more than six months, reported that hiscompass and back-up compass had failed and that his position was unknown. Theother planes experienced similar instrument malfunctions. Radio facilities onland were contacted to find the location of the lost squadron, but none weresuccessful. After two more hours of confused messages from the fliers, adistorted radio transmission from the squadron leader was heard at 6:20 p.m.,apparently calling for his men to prepare to ditch their aircraft simultaneouslybecause of lack of fuel.

Indications are that the flight might become lostsomewhere east of the Florida peninsula and was unable to determine a course toreturn to their base. The flight was never heard from again and no traces ofthe planes were ever found. It is assumed that they made forced landings atsea, in darkness somewhere east of the Florida peninsula, possibly afterrunning out of gas. It is known that the fuel carried by the aircraft wouldhave been completely exhausted by 8 p.m. The sea in that presumed area wasrough and unfavorable for a water landing. It is also possible that someunexpected and unforeseen development of weather conditions may have intervenedalthough there is no evidence of freak storms in the area at the time.

By this time, several land radar stations finallydetermined that Flight 19 was somewhere north of the Bahamas and east of theFlorida coast, and at 7:27 p.m. a search and rescue Mariner aircraft took offwith a 13-man crew. Three minutes later, the Mariner aircraft radioed to itshome base that its mission was underway. The Mariner was never heard fromagain. Later, there was a report from a tanker cruising off the coast ofFlorida of a visible explosion seen at 7:50 p.m.

The disappearance of the 14 men of Flight 19 and the13 men of the Mariner led to one of the largest air and seas searches to thatdate, and hundreds of ships and aircraft combed thousands of square miles ofthe Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico,and remote locations within the interior of Florida. No trace of the bodies oraircraft was ever found.

Although naval officials maintained that the remainsof the six aircraft and 27 men were not found because stormy weather destroyedthe evidence, the story of the "Lost Squadron" helped cement thelegend of the Bermuda Triangle,an area of the Atlantic Ocean where ships and aircraft are said to disappearwithout a trace. The Bermuda Triangle is said to stretch from the southern U.S.coast across to Bermuda and down to the Atlantic coast of Cuba and SantoDomingo.

Historyof Bermuda Triangle’s Bad Reputation

Unusual features of the area had been noted in thepast. Christopher Columbus wrote in his log about bizarre compass bearings inthe area. However, the term "Bermuda Triangle" was first used inan article written by Vincent H. Gaddis for Argosy magazine in1964. In the article, Gaddis claimed that in this strange sea a number of shipsand planes had disappeared without explanation. Gaddis wasn't the first one tocome to this conclusion, either. As early as 1952, George X. Sands, in a reportin Fate magazine, noted what seemed like an unusually large number of strangeaccidents in that region.

In 1969 John Wallace Spencer wrote a book called Limboof the Lost specifically about the Triangle and, two years later, afeature documentary on the subject, The Devil's Triangle, wasreleased. These, along with the bestseller The Bermuda Triangle,published in 1974, permanently registered the legend of the "HoodooSea" within popular culture.

Why do ships and planes seem to go missing in theregion? Some authors suggested it may be due to a strange magnetic anomaly thataffects compass readings (in fact they claim Columbus noted this when he sailedthrough the area in 1492). Others theorize that methane eruptions from theocean floor may suddenly be turning the sea into a froth that can't support aship's weight so it sinks (though there is no evidence of this type of thinghappening in the Triangle for the past 15,000 years). Several books have goneas far as conjecturing that the disappearances are due to an intelligent,technologically advanced race living in space or under the sea.

In 1975, Larry Kusche, a librarian at Arizona StateUniversity, reached a totally different conclusion. Kusche decided toinvestigate the claims made by these articles and books. What he found hepublished in his own book entitled The Bermuda Triangle Mystery-Solved.Kusche had carefully dug into records other writers had neglected. He foundthat many of the strange accidents were not so strange after all. Often aTriangle writer had noted a ship or plane had disappeared in "calmsseas" when the record showed a raging storm had been in progress. Otherssaid ships had "mysteriously vanished" when their remains hadactually been found and the cause of their sinking explained. In one case aship listed missing in the Triangle actually had disappeared in the PacificOcean some 3,000 miles away! The author had confused the name of the Pacificport the ship had left with a city of the same name on the Atlantic coast.

More significantly, a check of Lloyd's of London'saccident records by the editor of Fate in 1975 showed that the Triangle was nomore dangerous than any other part of the ocean. U.S. Coast Guard recordsconfirmed this and since that time no good arguments have ever been made torefute those statistics. So many argue that the Bermuda Triangle mystery hasdisappeared, in the same way many of its supposed victims vanished.

The BermudaTriangle Facts

The "BermudaTriangle" or "Devil's Triangle" is an imaginary area located offthe southeastern Atlantic coast of the United States of America, which is notedfor a supposedly high incidence of unexplained disappearances of ships andaircraft. The apexes of the triangle are generally believed to be Bermuda;Miami, Florida; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The US Board of Geographic Namesdoes not recognize the Bermuda Triangle as an official name. The US Navy doesnot believe the Bermuda Triangle exists. It is reported that Lloyd's of London,the world's leading market for specialist insurance, does not charge higherpremiums for vessels transiting this heavily traveled area.

A significantfactor with regard to missing vessels in the Bermuda Triangle is a strong oceancurrent called the Gulf Stream. It is extremely swift and turbulent and canquickly erase evidence of a disaster. The weather also plays its role. Prior tothe development of telegraph, radio and radar, sailors did not know a storm or hurricanewas nearby until it appeared on the horizon. For example, the Continental Navysloop Saratoga was lost off the Bahamas in such a storm with all hercrew on 18 March 1781. Many other US Navy ships have been lost at sea in stormsaround the world. Sudden local thunder storms and water spouts can sometimesspell disaster for mariners and air crews. Finally, the topography of the oceanfloor varies from extensive shoals around the islands to some of the deepestmarine trenches in the world. Most of the sea floor in theBermuda Triangle is about 19,000 feet (5,791 meters) down; near its southerntip, the Puerto Rico Trench dips at one point to 27,500 (8,229 meters) feetbelow sea level. With theinteraction of the strong currents over the many reefs the topography of theocean bottom is in a state of flux and the development of new navigationalhazards can sometimes be swift.

It has beeninaccurately claimed that the Bermuda Triangle is one of the two places onearth at which a magnetic compass points towards true north. Normally a compasswill point toward magnetic north. The difference between the two is known ascompass variation. The amount of variation changes by as much as 60 degrees atvarious locations around the World. If this compass variation or error is notcompensated for, navigators can find themselves far off course and in deeptrouble. Although in the past this compass variation did affect the"Bermuda Triangle" region, due to fluctuations in the Earth'smagnetic field this has apparently not been the case since the nineteenthcentury.

Sourcesand Additional Information:

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq8-1.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/aircraft-squadron-lost-in-the-bermuda-triangle

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq15-1.htm

http://www.unmuseum.org/triangle.htm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1205_021205_bermudatriangle.html

Thanksgiving Menu – Historical Perspectives

2011-11-19T16:34:00.001-08:00

The firstThanksgiving

About 390 years ago, in 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoagtribe members shared a three-day autumn harvest feast, which is considered asbeing the first Thanksgiving celebration. After the rain that marked the end ofthe draught and revived the crop of corn and other fruits, colonists decided tocelebrate the day with their neighbors or Massasoit, the chief of the NativeIndians or Wampanoags, and his family. He came with all his extended familythat constituted ninety people and stayed for three days.

FirstThanksgiving Menu

Colonists were, of course, in bad shape and there were only four grownup married ladies left to do all the cooking. Thus, General Bradford sent fourof his soldiers to hunt for fowls, who brought such a large number with themthat it could feed the whole village for a week. Wampanoags also helped insupplementing the food supplies by contributing five deer they had killed andprobably other supplies out of courtesy. The food listed in Winslow's accountconsists of corn meal, fish such as bass and cod and wild fowls or turkeys.Other things that were not listed, but were available to residents of Plymouthin those days and were probably a part of the feast were lobster, rabbit,chicken, squashes, beans, chestnuts, hickory nuts, onions, leeks, dried fruits,maple syrup and honey, radishes, cabbage, carrots, eggs, and may be goatcheese.

Potatoes were unavailable in those days and butter and oil were scarce. Therewere no ovens, so though pumpkin stew and pudding may have been served, therewas no scope to prepare pumpkin pies. Women who did the cooking were born andraised in England and probably experimented with their cooking by adapting theircooking methods to the native foods available to them. Roasting was thepreferred method of preparing meats and poultry. But roasting on a spit over afire took hours and required constant monitoring by someone who also turned thespite every now and then, so perhaps roasted venison was served with boiledfish and fowl or turkey. It is not unlikely that few of these birds may stillhave an overlooked birdshot embedded inside them.

Indian corns do not pop well, so there were no popcorns on Thanksgiving table,though corn may have been ground into meal for bread and thickener. Thoughcranberries were available to the colonists, cranberry sauce could not possiblyhave been served, because they had no access to sugar. Though honey or syrupcould have been used to sweeten the cranberries, it required a lot of labor.Since there were four ladies cooking all day, to feed the crowd of about 150people, they could not have find time to do all that work. In short, theThanksgiving meal for the pilgrims would have consisted of roasted venison,stewed or boiled fowl, lobster and fish, corn and wheat breads, stew of driedfruits and perhaps pumpkin, one or two boiled vegetables and only water todrink.

ThanksgivingMenu 1779

The following menu for a New England Thanksgiving dinner as found in aletter written in 1779 by Juliana Smith to her 'Dear Cousing Betsey.'

Haunch of VenisonRoast Chine of Pork
Roast Turkey Pigeon Pasties Roast Goose
Onions in Cream Cauliflower Squash
Potatoes Raw Celery
Mincemeat Pie Pumpkin Pie Apple Pie
Indian Pudding Plum Pudding
Cider

While it would be difficult to set forth a single 'traditional' Thanksgivingmenu, the preparations related by Juliana Smith that went into this dinner werecertainly typical of early New England Thanksgivings. 'This year it was UncleSimeon's turn to have the dinner at his house, but of course we all helped themas they help us when it is their turn, & there is always enough for us allto do. All the baking of pies & cakes was done at our house & we hadthe big oven heated & filled twice each day for three days before it wasall done & everything was GOOD, though we did have to do withoutsome things that ought to be used. Neither Love nor (paper) Money could buyRaisins, but our good red cherries dried without the pits, did almost as well& happily Uncle Simeon still had some spices in store. The tables were setin the Dining Hall and even that big room had no space to spare when we wereall seated.' Apparently roast beef was part of the tradition menu for thisfamily, but 'of course we could have no Roast Beef. None of us have tasted Beefthis three years back as it must all go to the Army, & too little they get,poor fellows. But, Nayquittymaw's Hunters were able to get us a fine red Deer,so that we had a good haunch of Venisson on each Table.' There was an abundanceof vegetables on the table...Cider was served instead of wine, wiht theexplanation that Uncle Simeon was saving his cask 'for the sick.' Juliana addedthat 'The Pumpkin Pies, Apple Tarts & big Indian Puddings lacked fornothing save Appetite by the time we had got round to them...We did notrise from the Table until it was quite dark, & then when the dishes hadbeen cleared away we all got round the fire as close as we could, & crackednuts, & sang songs & told stories."

ThanksgivingMenu 1845

The New England Economical Housekeeper, and FamilyReceipt Book, published in 1845,offers the following menu for Thanksgiving Dinner:

Roast Turkey, stuffed.
A Pair of Chickens stuffed, and boiled, with cabbage-and a piece of lean pork.
A Chicken Pie.
Potatoes; turnip sauce, squash; onions; gravy and gravy sauce; apple andcranberry sauce; oyster sauce; brown and white bread.
Plum and Plain Pudding, with Sweet sauce.
Mince, Pumpkin and Apple Pies.
Cheese."

ThanksgivingMenu 1877

Buckeye Cookery, published in1877 and in 1880 listed the typical menu for the Thanksgiving Dinner at thetime:

Oyster soup;

boiled fresh codwith egg sauce;

roast turkey,cranberry sauce;

roast goose,bread sauce or currant jelly;

stuffed ham,apple sauce or jelly; pork and beans;

mashed potatoesand boiled onions, salsify, macaroni and cheese;

brown bread andsuperior biscuit;

lobster salad;pressed beef, cold corned beef, tongue;

celery, creamslaw;

watermelon,peach, pear, or apple sweet-pickles;

mangoes,cucumbers, chow-chow, and tomato catsup; stewed peaches or prunes;

doughnuts andginger cakes; mince, pumpkin, and peach pies;

plum and boiledIndian puddings;

apple, cocoa-nutor almond tarts;

vanillaice-cream; old- fashioned loaf cake, pound cake, black cake, white perfectioncake, ribbon cake, almond layer cake;

citron, peach,plum, or cherry preserves; apples, oranges, figs, grapes, raisins, and nuts;tea and coffee.

ThanksgivingMenu 1927

GoodHousekeeping's Book of Good Meals: How to Prepare and Serve Them recommends thefollowing Thanksgiving Dinner menu:

Cream of TomatoSoup, Roast Turkey, Southern Giblet Gravy, Potato Croquettes, Brussels Sprouts,Cauliflower with Hollandaise Sauce, Cranberry Jelly, Romaine Salad, FrenchDressing, Individual Pumpkin Pies, Whipped Cream, Cider Ice, Nuts, Raisins.

Halves ofGrapefruit, Roast Duck, Apple Stuffing, Baked Sweet Potatoes, Creamed Turnips,Cole-Slaw, Baked Squash, Cider, Indian Pudding, Foamy Sauce, Nuts, Coffee.

Fruit Cocktail,Chicken Fricassee, Riced Potatoes, Celery, Buttered Onions, Squash Pie.

Thanksgiving asofficial Holiday

Thanksgiving became an official holiday in the United States on October3, 1863 via proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln. This was largelydue to the lobbying efforts of Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey's Lady'sMagazine who had lobbied for 17 years for the holiday. The proclamationdeclared the last Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day.

By 1916, Thanksgiving was referred to in writings as Turkey Day due tothe popularity of the bird at the traditional feast.

Interestingly enough, in 1941, President Franklin D. Rooseveltattempted to move the official Thanksgiving date to earlier in November inorder encourage a longer Christmas shopping season as a Depression recoverystrategy. His idea was shut down by Congress, and the official date wasdeclared permanently as the fourth Thursday in November via Public Law #379.

Selected Recipes

There is tons of information and online resources nowadays letting youfind out the best recipes for your Thanksgiving Dinner, so I will just postsome, which look the yummiest to me, and easy to follow (even for myself).

Appetizer - Smoky SalmonChive Spread

Ingredients:

2 cans (7.5 oz. each) salmon (preferably Alaskan king or sockeye), well drained

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1 container (7 oz.) nonfat Greek yogurt

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2 ounces hot-smoked salmon, finely chopped

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1/4 cup finely chopped red onion, plus slivers for garnish

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3 tablespoons chopped chives
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

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1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

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Kosher salt

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Seeded crisp lavash or other crackers

Preparation:

Remove bones and skin from salmon; break into chunks. In a medium bowl, mix yogurt, hot-smoked salmon, chopped onion, chives, mustard, and pepper with a fork until well combined. Gently stir in salmon, season to taste with salt, and top with slivered onion. Serve with lavash.
Make ahead: Chill, covered, up to 3 days (you may need to moisten with a bit more yogurt).

45-minutes RoastTurkey

It's almost a given that time and oven space are at a premium onThanksgiving Day, and this method of roasting turkey, unorthodox as it is,address both. Split, flattened, and roasted at 450 degrees F (lowering the heatif the bird browns too fast), a 10-pound bird will be done in about 40 minutes.It will also be more evenly browned (all of the skin is exposed to the heat),more evenly cooked (the legs are more exposed; the wings shield the breasts),and moister than birds cooked conventionally. But it works only for relativelysmall turkeys.

Ingredients:

One 8- to 12-pound turkey
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil or melted butter
10 or more garlic cloves, lightly crushed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Put the turkey on a stable cutting board, breast side down, and cut out the backbone. Turn the bird over and press on it to flatten. Put it breast side up in a roasting pan that will accommodate it (a slightly snug fit is okay). The wings should partially cover the breasts, and the legs should protrude a bit.
Tuck the garlic and the herb under the bird and in the nooks of the wings and legs. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
Roast for 20 minutes, undisturbed. By this time the bird should be browning; remove it from the oven, baste with the pan juices, and return it to the oven. Reduce the heat to 400 degrees F (or 350 degrees F if it seems to be browning very quickly).
Begin to check the bird's temperature about 15 minutes later (10 minutes if the bird is ont he small side). It is done when the thigh meat measures 155-165 degrees F on an instant-read meat thermometer; check it in a couple of places.
Let the bird rest for a few minutes before carving, then serve with the garlic cloves and pan juices. Or serve at room temperature.

Pumpkin Tarts

Ingredients:

12 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 pound butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 cups solid pack pumpkin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 (16 ounce) package confectioners' sugar
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
1 cup finely chopped pecans, divided

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Make the pastry dough by creaming together 12 ounces of cream cheese with 1 pound of butter and the sugar in a large bowl until thoroughly blended. Mix in the flour, a little at a time, until the dough is workable. Cut the dough into 4 equal-sized pieces, roll the pieces into balls, and refrigerate until needed.
To make the filling, mash 12 ounces of cream cheese with brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl until smooth and well combined; beat in eggs, one at a time, incorporating each egg before adding the next one. Mix in the pumpkin, evaporated milk, and vanilla extract until the filling is smooth.
Cut each dough ball in half, and cut each half into 12 pieces (96 total pieces). Working in batches, press each small piece of dough into the bottom and up the sides of mini muffin cups. Fill the little crusts almost to the top with the pumpkin filling. Refrigerate unused dough until you need it to make the next batch.
Bake in the preheated oven until the filling is set and the crusts are lightly golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
Mash 1/2 cup of butter, the shortening, and 8 ounces of cream cheese together in a bowl until thoroughly combined, and mix in the confectioners' sugar and marshmallow creme until smooth and creamy. Spread or pipe the frosting onto the cooled tarts. Sprinkle each tart with a few chopped pecans. Refrigerate until serving.

Sources andAdditional Information:

http://festivals.iloveindia.com/thanks-giving/dinner/food-in-history.html

http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodthanksgiving.html

http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/tgivinghistory.htm

http://www.ivillage.com/45-minute-roast-turkey/3-r-61007

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/pumpkin-tarts/detail.aspx

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/smoky-salmon-chive-spread-10000001932464/

Why Bolsheviks Succeeded in their November 1917 Revolt?

2011-11-06T15:06:00.000-08:00

“A lie told often enough becomes the truth”

— Vladimir Lenin

What is it to you almost 100 years after the fact? Is itimportant? Yes, it is. The day was a beginning of the November Bolshevik Revoltin Russia, which threw the biggest country in the World in the Communist Chaosfor 70 years, and significantly influenced the fate of other geographicalregions.

Let’s take a brief peek…

The confusion starts from the very beginning. The revolutionis called October Revolution, but it started exactly 94 years ago, November 6,1917 by the Julian calendar used in Russia at the time (count back 13 days toget the date by the modern calendar, later accepted in Russia as well).

There are many historical points, where we can start thejourney, explaining this turnaround point in the history, and the closest onein time is so-called February Revolution 1917. Yes, Russians were happy enoughto get two revolutions in one year.

February 1917Revolution

On 23rd February 1917 the International Women's Day Festivalin St. Petersburg turned into a city-wide demonstration, as exasperated womenworkers left factories to protest against food shortages. Men soon joined them,and on the following day - encouraged by political and social activists - thecrowds had swelled and virtually every industry, shop and enterprise had ceasedto function as almost the entire populace went on strike.

Nicholas ordered the police and military to intervene, however the military wasno longer loyal to the Tsar and many mutinied or joined the people indemonstrations. Fights broke out and the whole city was in chaos. On February28th over 80,000 troops mutinied from the army and looting and rioting waswidespread.

Faced with this untenable situation Tsar Nicholas abdicated his throne, handingpower to his brother Michael. However Michael would not accept leadershipunless he was elected by the Duma. He resigned the following day, leavingRussia without a head of state.

After the abdication of the Romanovs a ProvisionalGovernment was quickly formed by leading members of the Duma and recognizedinternationally as Russia's legal government. It was to rule Russia untilelections could be held. However its power was by no means absolute or stable.The more radical Petrograd Soviet organization was a trade union of workers andsoldiers that wielded enormous influence. It favored full-scale Socialism overmore moderate democratic reforms generally favored by members of theProvisional Government.

After centuries of Imperial rule Russia was consumed with political fervor, butthe many different factions, all touting different ideas, meant that politicalstability was still a long way off directly after February Revolution.

Between Revolutions

One person keen to take advantage of the chaotic state of affairs in St.Petersburg was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov - aka Lenin. Lenin had spent most of the20th Century travelling and working and campaigning in Europe - partly out offear for his own safety, as he was known Socialist and enemy of the Tsaristregime. However with the Tsar under arrest and Russian politics in chaos, Leninsaw the opportunity to lead his party, the Bolsheviks, to power. From his homein Switzerland he negotiated a return to Russia with the help of Germanauthorities. (As a proponent of withdrawing Russia from the Great War, theGermans were willing to facilitate Lenin's passage back via a 'sealed train'.)

Lenin's return in April of 1917 was greeted by the Russian populace, as well asby many leading political figures, with great rapture and applause. However,far from uniting the fractious parties, he immediately condemned the policiesand ideologies of both the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet. Inhis April Theses, published in the Bolshevik newspaper Pravda, he advocatednon-co-operation with the liberals (ie. non-hardline Communists) and animmediate end to the war.

At first his uncompromising stance served to isolate Lenin and the Bolsheviks,however with powerful slogans like 'Peace, land and bread,' Lenin begin to winthe hearts of the Russian people - who were increasingly unable to stomach warand poverty.

During the summer of 1917 Lenin made several attempts to invoke anotherrevolution the likes of which had taken place in February, with the aim ofoverthrowing the Provisional Government. When the Machine Gun Regiment refusedto leave Petrograd (as St. Petersburg was then known) for the frontline Leninsought to maneuver them instead into making a putsch. However Kerensky,arguably the most important figure of the time - a member of both theProvisional Government and Petrograd Soviet - adeptly thwarted the coup.Experienced troops arrived in the city to quell any dissidents and theBolsheviks were accused of being in collusion with the Germans. Many werearrested whilst Lenin escaped to Finland.

Despite this PR disaster Lenin continued plotting and scheming. MeanwhileKerensky suffered his own political setbacks and even had to appeal to theBolsheviks for military aid when he feared his Minister of War, Kornilov, wasaiming for a military dictatorship. By autumn the Bolsheviks were climbing intothe ascendency, winning majority votes within the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets.Leon Trotsky was elected as president of the former.

The October Revolution

With Russian politics still in a state of constant flux Lenin realized that nowwas the time to capitalize on his party's popularity. He planned a coup thatwould overthrow the increasingly ineffective Provisional Government and replacethem with the Bolsheviks. On October 10th he held a famous meeting with twelveparty leaders, and tried to persuade them that a revolution was required.Despite receiving the backing of only 10 of them plotting went ahead.

November 6^th, the Petrograd Soviet was meeting inthe Smolny Institute - a former girls school. Speeches were made by Trotsky asto why people should support the communists. While he was giving these speeches,he knew that the Red Guards and armed workers were actually taking over keypoints in the city. By the time that the speeches had finished most of the citywas in the hands of the Bolsheviks (communists led by Lenin) - as Trotsky hadplanned. The telephone and telegraph buildings were taken over, as were thepower stations. Bridges were captured. So were the railway stations.

There was very little bloodshed and it is probable that manypeople in Petrograd were unaware of what had happened when they woke up in themorning. In fact, while the communists were taking power, theatres and cinemaswere still open!!

Throughout the 7th the Red Guards kept on occupyingimportant buildings. By mid-afternoon, the only building not held by theBolsheviks was the Winter Palace, the old home of the tsar. It was here thatthe Provisional Government met. In fact, the troops who were meant to bedefending the building had gone home and only the Women’s Battalion remained.

The sign for the Red Guards to attack the Winter Palace wasa shell fired by the naval ship the "Aurora". The attack was shortlived and any opposition was easily overcome. The Provisional Governmentsurrendered to the Red Guards. The attack took longer than it might have donebecause there were 1000 rooms in the Palace that they had to search.

In the Smolny Institute, those politicians who did not agreewith what had happened and did not want the Bolsheviks in power walked out ofthe building. Trotsky said that they were going to where they belonged - thewaste-paper basket of history.

At 1 a.m. on November 8th, a shabbily dressed man got to hisfeet and rose to speak. He took away a handkerchief from his face and wasinstantly recognized as Lenin. He told those in the Smolny Institute that hewas forming a government of Bolsheviks and that it would contain no middleclass people. The government would work to help the workers and peasants.

By the end of the day the members of the ProvisionalGovernment were under arrest. Lenin's statement that he would overturn thegovernment of Russia - made after his brother had been executed - wasfulfilled.

Why did the Bolshevik Revolution of November 1917 succeed?

The investigation of the reasons, underground sources andmotivations of the different parties, groups, and individual people is quite acomplicated task. Multiple studies are published in Russia and other parts ofthe World on the topic, and the outcomes are so different and controversial,depending on the authors’ political views and used sources, that the topicdeserves a big scientific monograph. We will provide in brief several moments,which contributed to the miracle – a small group of extremists was able to getto the power in huge multi-cultural, multi-national country with traditionalbelieves in higher authority and G-d.

1. FebruaryRevolution. The first revolution opened the door to the revolutionaryprocess in the country. People saw that the Tsar was out of the picture fastand easily. Hey, that was just beginning. Nice slogans, feeling of freedom andfor the bright future for everyone. People were ready for change.

2. Provisional Government problems. TheBolsheviks succeeded because the Provisional Government was weak andunpopular. Some of the people in theProvisional Government were smart and wished good, but they did not understandthe psychology and simple desires of the masses: bread and entertainment. While being inpower, provisional government was not able to secure solid support amongdifferent groups, and create loyal military. When it was attacked, nobody wasprepared to defend it. On 25th October, only Women's Battalion attempted todefend the Winter Palace against Bolshevik forces. John Reed, an Americanjournalist in Petrograd during the revolution wrote ‘What happened to thewomen?’ we asked a soldier. He laughed. ‘We found them hiding in aback room … crying. We did not know what to do with them; in the end wejust sent them home. Other sources offered a different account on theconsequences, claiming that some of the girl-soldiers had been thrown from thewindows into the street, most of the rest had been violated, and many hadcommitted suicide as a result of the horrors they had gone through.

3. Slogans. The Bolsheviks had attractive,easy to say and easy to understand, slogans such as ‘Peace, Bread, Land’ and‘All Power to the Soviets’. Otherparties claimed they could never deliver their promises, but their argumentswere too complicated for people to understand. This meant that they got the public’s support.

4. Pravda. The party ran its ownpropaganda machine, including the newspaper Pravda(‘Truth’), which got their ideas across.

5. German money. Germany was graduallylosing the war, so they were looking for the ways to turn things around, otherthan on the battlefield. The Germans financed the Bolsheviks because they Leninpromised them to take Russia out of the war. This gave Bolsheviks the money tomount their publicity campaigns, and some other support in information andplanning.

6. Lenin. A brilliant leader – aprofessional revolutionary with an iron will, ruthless, brilliant speaker, agood planner with ONE aim – to overthrow the government.

7. Army.While Provisional Governmentwas playing its intellectual games, Bolsheviks was secretly working onbuilding their private army (the Red Guards), dedicated to the revolution, whichwas set up and trained under outstanding military organizer Leon Trotsky andfunded not exclusively by German money but by donation of the rich revolution-orientedcitizens, who has not imagine in their worst dreams, where their money willlead Russia. Well-organized Red Guards groups gave the Bolsheviks the militarypower to win.

8. Organization.The Bolsheviks had solid well-built organization, sharpened by years of theillegal political activity underground. A central committee (controlled by Lenin andother leading Bolsheviks) sent orders to the soviets, who gave orders to thefactories. The difference with most of the other liberal parties at the timewas that Bolsheviks in practice embraced freedom for the people only in case,when it is aligned with the ideas and tasks of the Global Revolution. Unlikethe Provisional Government, the Bolsheviks demanded total obedience from theirmembers, so they were well-disciplined. From a tiny group, the membership grew upto 2 million in 3 months.

Sources and AdditionalInformation:

http://www.st-petersburg-life.com/st-petersburg/1917-russian-revolution

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/november_1917.htm

http://www.johndclare.net/Russ5.htm

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wdeath.htm

Broken Marriage – Thanks to iPhone!

2011-10-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

When Apple released its new iOS 5 operatingsystem to go with its iPhone 4S, it touted a new application called "FindMy Friends" as a great way to track and meet up with friends. Similar inconcept to Google Latitude, Find My Friends lets users follow people who haveaccepted requests in their own copies of the app. Once they give the thumbs up,friends will appear both on a list of contacts and on a Google map.

As needed users can toggle parental and privacy controls.The most important of these may be temporary sharing, which will automaticallystop tracking by others after a certain length of time. Find My Friends is afree universal app for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, but requiresboth iOS 5 and an iCloud account.

While this social application might be quite useful forbuddies to have fun staking and meeting each other unexpectedly, some usersmight find suitable applications to get is utilized. If the online postsappearing on a chat forum at MacRumors.com are for real, "Find MyFriends" may have already claimed its first marriage.

October 15, 2011 on MacRumors, a man saying he lived in New York City postedthis:

Divorcing wife. Thanks iPhone 4s and Find My Friends.

I got my wife a new 4sand loaded up find my friends without her knowing. She told me she was at herfriends house in the east village. I've had suspicions about her meeting thisguy who live uptown. Lo and behold, Find my Friends has her right there.

I just texted her asking where she was and the dumb b!otch said she was on 10th Street!! Thankyou Apple, thank you App Store, thank you all. These beautiful treasure troveof screen shots going to play well when I meet her a$$ at the lawyer's officein a few weeks.

thankfully, she's the rich one.

It has not been determined whether the story posted onMacRumors was, in fact, authentic, and the man did not immediately reply to arequest from ABC News for comment. But more than 100,000 people have viewed theposts, according to MacRumors. More than 300 of them replied with expressionsof sympathy, skepticism and -- this being the Internet -- a few less-than-savoryjokes.

Arnold Kim, the editorial director of MacRumors, said it was"definitely a busy thread."

MacRumors did not try to verify the man's story (if, infact, it was a man), but said everyone who registers for its forums has tovalidate their email when they register.

"Find My Friends" uses the iPhone or iPad'sbuilt-in Global Positioning System to see your friends' locations on a map onthe screen of your device. GPS can be accurate to within a few feet forcivilian uses.

Apple says "The Find My Friends app is a great way toshare your location with people who are important to you" -- whetheryou're trying to meet friends at a crowded concert or make sure your kids getsafely home from school.

The man was back with a new post less than an hour later,including a couple of screen grabs showing the location of his wife was on East65th St., though she sent him a text message saying, "Was hard to findstupid cab hate meat packing...."

The husband again: "Shesaid she is in meat packing district which is on 12th street. I DONT THINK SO. Appreciate thesupport. not my finest hour here but going to get better soon."

How true the story is? Or that is a marketing trick of theApple developers? Or that is application developers? In any case, the associatedbuzz will make the trick. The software is free for to use, so there is nofinancial barrier for its installation.

In any case, if you like the application, and its potential,you should be aware on the possible negative outcomes, not being considered.

Once you're being followed by someone, they can discoveryour location, or at least the location of your phone, at any time, with threeexceptions:

When your phone is turned off or otherwise off the grid,
After you've deleted that person from your list of followers, or
When you go into Hide mode, which you find under the Me menu at the bottom of the screen.

Note that deleting someone from the list of people you'refollowing is different than deleting a person from your list of people allowed followingyou. Also, you can still see the locations of other people when you're in Hidemode.

One of Find My Friends' best features is the Temporary modefound in the top-level menu. This allows you to set up select windows of time,adjustable to the half-hour, in which you're able to follow another person andlet him or her follow you. Once the time window has expired, you're unfindableto each other and will have to submit new requests to once again appear on eachothers' maps.

This is nice for two reasons. 1) People forget. If youreally want to be visible to this person only for a select amount of time, butthen you forget to manually turn off access for days/weeks/months, it leavesyou with a very strange feeling. 2) A temporary invitation that automaticallyexpires just seems smoother than actively defriending someone.

Sources and AdditionalInformation:

http://gma.yahoo.com/cheating-heart-iphone-app-finds-wife-another-man-140300843.html

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1254206

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-my-friends/id466122094

http://www.ipodnn.com/articles/11/10/12/look.echoed.in.icloud.version.of.find.my.iphone/

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/Find-My-Friends-Voluntary-Stalking-Made-Simple-73516.html

Dead Sea Scrolls are Available Online

2011-09-26T22:38:00.000-07:00

Today is the greatday for all the history lovers and those who are interesting in Judaism, Christianity,Islam, and multiple congregations and sects, basing their religious beliefs onthe concepts of Monotheism. In a joint effort by Israel's national museum andGoogle, the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea scrolls, previously only available to asmall group of scholars, have been made available online.

Five of the mostimportant Dead Sea Scrolls will now be available to the digital public: thebiblical Book of Isaiah, the manuscript known as the Temple Scroll, and threeothers. Visitors are also able to search the ancient texts at the Digital Dead SeaScrolls website.

The scrolls offercritical insight into customs and religion of ancient Israelis, includinginformation on the birth of Christianity. The sacred texts include the oldest writtenrecord of the Old Testament ever found.

The Scrolls are forthe most part, written in Hebrew, but there are many written in Aramaic.Aramaic was the common language of the Jews of Palestine for the last twocenturies B.C. and of the first two centuries A.D. The discovery of the Scrollshas greatly enhanced our knowledge of these two languages. In addition, thereare a few texts written in Greek. The scrolls are most commonly made of animalskins, but also papyrus and one of copper. They are written with a carbon-basedink, from right to left, using no punctuation except for an occasionalparagraph indentation. In fact, in some cases, there are not even spacesbetween the words.

Written between thethird and first centuries BCE, the Dead Sea Scrolls include the oldest knownbiblical manuscripts in existence, according to Google's press release. Theywere hidden in 11 caves in the Judean desert on the shores of the Dead Sea,around 68 BCE. The owners of the texts apparently wanted to protect the scrollsfrom approaching Roman armies.

"Thispartnership with The Israel Museum, Jerusalem is part of our larger effort tobring important cultural and historical collections online," Google'sspokesperson wrote in the press release. "We are thrilled to have beenable to help this project through hosting on Google Storage and App Engine,helping design the web experience and making it searchable and accessible tothe world."

How they were found?

In the spring of1947 Bedouin goat-herds, searching the cliffs along the Dead Sea for a lostgoat (or for treasure, depending on who is telling the story), came upon a cavecontaining jars filled with manuscripts. That find caused a sensation when itwas released to the world, and continues to fascinate the scholarly communityand the public to this day.

The firstdiscoveries came to the attention of scholars in 1948, when seven of thescrolls were sold by the Bedouin to a cobbler and antiquities dealer calledKando. He in turn sold three of the scrolls to Eleazar L. Sukenik of HebrewUniversity, and four to Metropolitan Mar Athanasius Yeshue Samuel of the SyrianOrthodox monastery of St. Mark. Mar Athanasius in turn brought his four to theAmerican School of Oriental Research, where they came to the attention of Americanand European scholars.

It was not until1949 that the site of the find was identified as the cave now known as QumranCave 1. It was that identification that led to further explorations andexcavations of the area of Khirbet Qumran. Further search of Cave 1 revealedarchaeological finds of pottery, cloth and wood, as well as a number ofadditional manuscript fragments. It was these discoveries that proveddecisively that the scrolls were indeed ancient and authentic.

Between 1949 and1956, in what became a race between the Bedouin and the archaeologists, tenadditional caves were found in the hills around Qumran, caves that yieldedseveral more scrolls, as well as thousands of fragments of scrolls: theremnants of more than 15,000 Dead Sea Scrolls, written in Hebrew, Aramaic, andGreek between 150 BC and 70 AD. They are between 800-1,000 years older thanpreviously known manuscripts.

Importance

The scrolls includethe oldest known biblical manuscripts in existence, religious manuscripts notincluded in the Bible and documents that describe daily Jewish life in the landof Israel during the time of the Second Temple Period, and the birth ofChristianity and Rabbinic Judaism.

The manuscripts spana time when the Holy Land was under Greek rule and then the Roman,whose soldiers destroyed the Jews' Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. toquash a rebellion. All that remains of the temple today is the WesternWall.

Major Discoveries

We will just mention12 amazing facts that make this amazing discovery a breakthrough point forhistorians and religious scholars:

The Scrolls can be divided into two categories—biblical and non-biblical. Fragments of every book of the Hebrew canon (Old Testament) have been discovered except for the book of Esther.
There are now identified among the scrolls, 19 copies of the Book of Isaiah, 25 copies of Deuteronomy and 30 copies of the Psalms.
Prophecies by Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Daniel not found in the Bible are written in the Scrolls.
The Isaiah Scroll, found relatively intact, is 1000 years older than any previously known copy of Isaiah. In fact, the scrolls are the oldest group of Old Testament manuscripts ever found.
In the Scrolls are found never before seen psalms attributed to King David and Joshua.
There are non-biblical writings along the order of commentaries on the OT, paraphrases that expand on the Law, rule books of the community, war conduct, thanksgiving psalms, hymnic compositions, benedictions, liturgical texts, and sapiential (wisdom) writings.
The Scrolls appear to be the library of a Jewish sect - Essenes. The library was hidden away in caves around the outbreak of the First Jewish Revolt (A.D. 66-70) as the Roman army advanced against the rebel Jews. The Essenes are mentioned by Josephus and in a few other sources, but not in the New Testament. The Essenes were a strict Torah observant, Messianic, apocalyptic, baptist, wilderness, new covenant Jewish sect. They were led by a priest they called the "Teacher of Righteousness," who was opposed and possibly killed by the establishment priesthood in Jerusalem. The enemies of the Qumran community were called the "Sons of Darkness"; they called themselves the "Sons of Light," "the poor," and members of "the Way." They thought of themselves as "the holy ones," who lived in "the house of holiness," because "the Holy Spirit" dwelt with them.
The last words of Joseph, Judah, Levi, Naphtali, and Amram (the father of Moses) are written down in the Scrolls.
One of the most curious scrolls is the Copper Scroll. Discovered in Cave 3, this scroll records a list of 64 underground hiding places throughout the land of Israel. The deposits are to contain certain amounts of gold, silver, aromatics, and manuscripts. These are believed to be treasures from the Temple at Jerusalem, that were hidden away for safekeeping.
The scrolls contain previously unknown stories about biblical figures such as Enoch, Abraham, and Noah. The story of Abraham includes an explanation why God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac.
The Scrolls have revolutionized textual criticism of the Old Testament. Interestingly, now with manuscripts predating the medieval period, we find these texts in substantial agreement with the Masoretic text as well as widely variant forms.
The Dead Sea Scrolls enhance our knowledge of both Judaism and Christianity. They represent a non-rabbinic form of Judaism and provide a wealth of comparative material for New Testament scholars, including many important parallels to the Jesus movement. They show Christianity to be rooted in Judaism and have been called the evolutionary link between the two.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.christianpost.com/news/dead-sea-scrolls-now-available-online-56556/

http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/wsrp/educational_site/dead_sea_scrolls/discovery.shtml

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2011-09-26/dead-sea-scroll/50554550/1?csp=34news

http://www.centuryone.com/25dssfacts.html

Ludwig Van Beethoven Love Letter: Immortal Beloved

2011-09-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

This post is afollow-up to the previous publication on some interesting facts from LudwigVan Beethoven life. One of the reader of this blog sent inquiry related tothe noted mysterious fact from the Beethoven biography, related to his loveletter written to unknown addressee, Immortal Beloved. While there is nodefinite answer from historians, who this woman was, I would like to give someinsights on the topic.

Immortal Beloved Letters

The Immortal Beloved (German Unsterbliche Geliebte) is the mysteriousaddressee of a love letter which composer Ludwig van Beethoven wrote on 6-7July, 1812 in Teplitz. The apparently unsent letter was in found in thecomposer's estate after his death, after which it remained in the hands of AntonSchindler until his death, was subsequently willed to his sister, and was soldby her in 1880 to the Berlin State Library, where it remains today. The letteris written in pencil and consists of three parts.

The sole documentary evidence for the "Immortal Beloved" is asoul-searching and impassioned letter Beethoven wrote in the Bohemian spa ofTeplitz on 6/7 July 1812 (though the year and place are not given) addressed toan unnamed woman whom he must have met on 3 July 1812 in Prague. The wording ofthe letter suggests an existing love relationship of long standing. SinceBeethoven did not specify a year, nor a location, an exact dating of the letterand identification of the addressee was speculative until the 1950's, when ananalysis of the paper's watermark yielded the year, and by extension the place.Scholars have since this time been divided on the intended recipient of theImmortal Beloved letter. The two candidates favored most by contemporaryscholars are Antonie Brentano and Josephine Brunsvik. Other candidates who havebeen conjectured, with various degrees of mainstream scholarly support, areJulie ("Giulietta") Guicciardi, Thérèse von Brunswick, Anna-MarieErdödy, and Bettina Brentano, among several others.

The 1994 film Immortal Beloved has a fictional plotcentered on the mystery of who the letter was addressed to, ultimatelydeclaring Beethoven's lover to be his sister-in-law Johanna van Beethoven.

Text of theLetter

Part 1

July 6th, in themorning
My angel, my all, my very self. - Only a few words today, and, what is more,written in pencil (and with your pencil)-I shan't be certain of my rooms hereuntil tomorrow; what an unnecessary waste of time is all this--Why thisprofound sorrow, when necessity speaks--can our love endure without sacrifices,without our demanding everything from one another, can you alter the fact thatyou are not wholly mine, that I am not wholly yours?--Dear God, look at Naturein all her beauty and set your heart at rest about what must be--Love demandsall, and rightly so, and thus it is for me with you, for you with me-- but youforget so easily that I must live for me and for you; if we were completelyunited, you would fee this painful necessity just as little as I do--My journeywas dreadful and I did not arrive here until yesterday at four o'clock in themorning. As there were few horses the mail coach chose another route, but whata dreadful road it was; at the last state but one I was warned not to travel bynight; attempts were made to frighten me about a forest, but all this onlyspurred me on to proceed--and it was wrong of me to do so.. The coach brokedown, of course, owing to the dreadful road which had not been made up and wasnothing but a country track. If we hadn't had those two postillions I shouldhave been left stranded on the way--On the other ordinary road Esterhazy witheight horses met with the same fate as I did with four--Yet I felt to a certainextent that pleasure I always feel when I have overcome some difficultysuccessfully--Well, let me turn quickly from outer to inner experiences. Nodoubt we shall meet soon; and today also time fails me to tell you of thethoughts which during these last few days I have been revolving about mylife--If our hearts were always closely united, I would certainly entertain nosuch thoughts. My hear overflows with a longing to tell you so manythings--Oh--there are moments when I find that speech is quite inadequate--Becheerful-- and be for ever my faithful, my only sweetheart, my all, as I amyours. The gods must send us everything else, whatever must and shall be ourfate--
Your faithful Ludwig

Part 2

Monday evening,July 6th
You are suffering, you, my most precious one--I have noticed the very momentthat letters have to be handed in very early, on Monday--or on Thursday--theonly days when the mail coach goes from here to K[arlsbad].--You aresuffering--Oh, where I am, you are with me--I will see to it that you and I,that I can live with you. What a life!!!! as it is now!!!! without you--pursuedby the kindness of people here and there, a kindness that I think-that I wishto deserve just as little as I deserve it--man's homage to man--that painsme--and when I consider myself in the setting of the universe, what I am andwhat is the man--whom one calls the greatest of me--and yet--on the other handtherein lies the divine element in man==I weep when I think that probably youwill not receive the first news of me until Saturday--However much you loveme--good night--Since I am taking the baths I must get off to sleep--DearGod--so near! so far! Is not our love truly founded in heaven--and, what ismore, as strongly cemented as the firmament of Heaven?—

Part 3

Good morning, onJuly 7th
Even when I am in bed my thoughts rush to you, my eternally beloved, now andthen joyfully, then again sadly, waiting to know whether Fate will hear ourprayer--To face life I must live altogether with you or never see you. Yes, Iam resolved to be a wanderer abroad until I can fly to your arms and say that Ihave found my true home with you and enfolded in your arms can let my soul bewafted to the realm on blessed spirits--alas, unfortunately it must be so--Youwill become composed, the more so as you know that I am faithful to you; noother woman can ever possess my heart--never--never--Oh God, why must one beseparated from her who is so dear. Yet my life in V[ienna] at present is amiserable life--Your love has made me both the happiest and the unhappiest ofmortals--At my age I now need stability and regularity in my life--can thiscoexist with our relationship?--Angel, I have just heard that the post goesevery day--and therefore I must close, so that you may receive the letterimmediately--Be calm; for only by calmly considering our lives can we achieveour purpose to live together--Be calm--love me--Today--yesterday--what tearfullonging for you--for you--you--my life--my all--all good wishes to you--Oh, docontinue to love me--never misjudge your lover's most faithful heart.

ever yours
ever mine
ever ours

AntonieBrentano (von Birkenstock)

Antonie Brentano was the daughter of Johann-Melchior von Birkenstock. Shewas born in Vienna on May 28,1780, thus 10 years younger than Beethoven. She underwent education with the Ursulineorder in Pressburg.

On July 23, 1798 shemarried the Frankfurt merchant Franz Brentano, 15 years her senior. Her firstchild was born in 1799 but died a year later. She then had four survivingchildren. Maynard Solomon states inhis research that her marriage was seemingly unhappy one.

Antonie'shusband, Frankfurt banker Franz Brentano, became a close friend of Beethovenduring the family's short stay in Vienna, and his half-sister, Bettina vonArnim née Brentano, may have introduced them in 1810. After moving with herhusband to Frankfurt (after their wedding in 1798), Antonie had returned toVienna to minister to her dying father and remained for two years afterwards tosettle his estate, during which time the Brentanos' friendship with Beethovenwas established.

The Brentano's remained in Vienna until late in 1812 - she didn't likeFrankfurt much and was ill most of the time. During her illnesses Beethovenwould often play the piano for her. The Immortal Beloved letters were writtenat a time when it was evident that she would be leaving Vienna. After herdeparture at the end of 1812 she and Beethoven never met again. AntonieBrentano died in 1869 at the age of 89.

Maynard Solomon suggested that Antonie Brentano might have been the"Immortal Beloved" in his research:

She must be awoman well known to Beethoven in Vienna; she must have been in Prague in the firstweek of July 1812; and she must have been in the Bohemian spa town of Karlsbadin the weeks following.

There is an indirect fact, supporting the Somolon’s theory of AntonieBrentano been the woman, Beethoven addressed these love letter. There is a diary entry in 1812 on thesubject: “Submission, the most devoutsubmission to your fate, only this can give you the (self-) sacrifice -- for yourobligation. O hard struggle!... You must not be a man, not foryourself, only for others. For you there is no more happiness except inyourself, in your art. -- O God, give me the strength to conquer myself;nothing must chain me to life. In this way with A. everything goes toruin.” Whether the “A.” is indeed Antonie (it is not clearly an “A’),the important thing here is that Beethoven is feeling rueful after anotherrelationship, perhaps his most intense yet, has gone adrift, but he is rationalizingthis as the price he has to pay for his composing. Some years later, hewould dedicate the Diabelli Variations (opus 120) to Antonie. There is evidence he intended dedicating histwo final Piano Sonatas Opp 110 & 111 to her. There is also a possibilitythat he wrote his song cycle, An die ferne Geliebte [To the Distant Beloved],with her in mind.

On learning ofBeethoven's death, Antonie began noting down the names of her friends who haddied. By the end of her long life the list ran to many pages. The first entryread: "Beethoven, 26 March 1827".

Sources and Additional Information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortal_Beloved

http://flavorwire.com/186413/read-ludwig-van-beethovens-1827-love-letter-to-a-mystery-woman

http://classicalmusic.about.com/od/onestopbeethoven/a/beethoven_love.htm

http://home.swipnet.se/zabonk/cultur/ludwig/beeim.htm

http://www.madaboutbeethoven.com/pages/people_and_places/people_friends/biog_brentano.htm

http://www.sexualfables.com/immortal_beloved.php

23 Interesting Facts about Beethoven

2011-09-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

Many Google searches came for Beethoven today, bringing this searchstring to the prominent top-ten list. I hope, that most of the people werelooking for reference to the famous classical composer, rather than to the cutedog, named on his honor.

Ludwig van Beethovendefinitely deserves the public interest, as he was among the most influential,creative and powerful musicians in the history has ever known. This Germancomposer and pianist has produced some classical pieces of work in the field ofmusic, which includes many symphonies, an opera, concerti, piano sonatas, etc.Beethoven was a legend recognized for his great music, also as his temper! In this post, I would like to bring to yourattention some interesting and not widely known facts of his life and career.As any genius, he was also a human being with his feelings, fears, desires, andlove stories.

1. Born inGermany on December 16^th, 1770, Beethoven was the eldest of 7siblings, 4 of whom passed away during childhood.

2. Beethoven’searliest music instructions were the piano lessons his father started to givehim when he was four or five years old. Some researchers claim that Beethovensuffered substantial abuse by her father to practice music to the extreme. Somealso believe he was the victim of sexual abuse. There are opinions that hismusic expresses anger later in life at the mistreatment suffered by the victim.

3. Hisfirst public performance came at the age of seven on 26^th March1778. Interestingly, 26^th March was the same date when Beethovendied. While delivering his first performance in Cologne, Beethoven’s fatherannounced him to be six years old. It was due to this declaration that healways thought himself to be 1½ years younger than his real age. It was onlyyears later when he received his baptism certificate did he learn about hisreal age. He assumed it to be his elder brother’s certificate, who died inchildhood.

4. It isrumored that as a young man, another very famous musician—Mozart, heardBeethoven’s playing. He made a comment about the young man, and thatBeethoven’s career should be watched for his genius. Mozart seemingly passed onthe torch for being the most famous musicians in the world to the youngBeethoven, and their meeting may have very well inspired Beethoven to work hardto achieve greatness.

5. Beethovenwas lucky to learn music under the guidance of well-known musicians, likeGottlob Neefe, Joseph Haydn, Albrechtsberger, Salieri and the celebratedMozart.

6. It wasin 1782 at the young age of 12 when Beethoven published his first composition.It was a set of keyboard variations that eventually declared him as one of thepopular piano players in history.

7. He movedto Vienna in 1792 where he met the prominent Austrian composer Joseph Haydn andstudied piano under him. This earned him the reputation of a virtuoso pianistin no time.

8. Beethovenis known for composing 9 symphonies, 7 concertos, 17 string quartets, 32 pianosonatas, and 10 violin sonatas, 5 cello sonatas, a sonata for French horn.

9. Beethovenwas one of the first musicians to be given annual grant of 4000 florins, justbecause the people didn't want him to leave Vienna.

10. Beethovenwrote three love letters to an “Immortal Beloved”, the mystery of which remainsunsolved till date. Since he fell in love with many women, biographers areunable to figure out the woman behind this entire eccentric puzzle. Some researchersbelieve her to be one of three different women. Each of the three women went onto marry other men, but they are believed to have been loved and lost byBeethoven.

11. Beethovendid not have any children, but he formed an attachment to one of his nephews,and he even won custody of him after his brother’s death. The nephew did notgrow up to be a musician like his uncle, and he seemed to have been spoiled byhis famous uncle.

12. Duringhis entire lifetime, Beethoven wrote just one opera titled Fidelio which is stillconsidered to be one of the classical and prominent pieces of art.

13. Hismusical life was divided into three major periods. It was during the secondperiod, popularly known as the “Heroic” period, when he struggled a lot andattained heroism. Even his renowned Fifth Symphony was one of the masterpiecescomposed during this period.

14. Around1796, Beethoven started having hearing problems. What started as an annoyingringing sensation worsened and transformed into a severe ailment calledtinnitus. And by 1816, he had completely lost his hearing and became deaf.

15. Despitelosing his hearing powers, Beethoven continued to compose, conduct, andperform. He used a special rod on his piano sound board which he used to biteas it helped him determine the sound through the vibrations that traveled fromthe piano to his jaw. He also sawed off the legs of his piano. This has allowedhim to compose music by feeling the vibrations from the floor.

16. Strangely,Beethoven poured lots of ice water on his head whenever he sat down to composemusic.

17. Beethovenconstantly put 60 coffee beans in his cup of coffee. No wonder where he got allthat energy from!

18. Beethovenwas also known for his poor temper. The truth is, he would stop performing tohis audiences if he felt that they were talking too much or not giving himproper attention. It is also known that Beethoven once threw a plate full offood at a waiter because he wasn’t happy with his service.

19. Beethovenspent most of his time composing music. At one occasion, he was arrested by thepolice as his clothes and hair were so messy that the police thought he wassome homeless tramp.

20. Beethoven’sfinal masterpiece is an ironic one. He suffered at the hands of his violentlyalcoholic father while growing up, and then his progressive and eventuallycomplete deafness cut his spirits in his adult life. And yet, he was able tocompose the Ninth Symphony and its “Ode to Joy,” arguably one of the most beautifulcompositions in history.

21. UnlikeMozart, who was buried in a common grave (as was the custom at the time),20,000 Viennese citizens lined the streets at Beethoven’s funeral on 29 March1827. The funeral procession was one of the most impressive Vienna had. FranzSchubert, a great Beethoven admirer, was one of the grave bearers and died in thefollowing year. He was buried next to Beethoven.

22. InAugust 1845, Beethoven's monument at Bonn was unveiled, which also happened tobe the first monument of a composer that was created in Germany.

23. Beethovenis acknowledged as one of the giants of classical music; occasionally he isreferred to as one of the "three Bs" (along with Bach and Brahms) whoepitomize that tradition. However,
many musicians and music critics – including Beethoven’s one-time teacher,Joseph Haydn—actually feared Beethoven’s work at the time because it relied somuch on passion rather than the mathematically precise nature consistent withthe Classical style of the age.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/facts-about-beethoven-12985.html

http://www.yukozimo.com/archives/4728/

http://www.strange-facts.info/interesting-facts-about-beethoven

http://factspage.blogspot.com/2010/03/12-interesting-facts-about-beethoven.html

http://maestrofast.blogspot.com/2011/04/lots-of-ludwig.html

http://gofisherie.com/?p=61

Steve Jobs Fight with Pancreatic Cancer

2011-08-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

It is understandable that the top Google search inquiriestoday are linked to the Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, decision to step down. Apple’s Board of Directors today announcedthat Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board hasnamed Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’snew CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join theBoard, effective immediately.

Here's Steve'sletter to the board and community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when Icould no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be thefirst to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come. I hereby resign as CEOof Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of theBoard, director and Apple employee. As far as my successor goes, I stronglyrecommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO ofApple. I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it.And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role. Ihave made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all forthe many years of being able to work alongside you.

While there are multiple potential aspects for further discussion andspeculations, I would like review the main reason for this, unexpected formany, decision. And the reason is – Pancreatic Cancer – one of the most deadlyillnesses today.

Steve Jobs has battled a rare form of pancreatic cancer foryears, undergoing a series of aggressive treatments, including a livertransplant, and surviving longer than many others with the disease.

Jobs was diagnosed with a rare form of pancreatic cancer,called a neuroendocrine tumor, in 2003, but his illness was not disclosed untilthe following year, after he'd tried a special diet treatment and had surgery.

In June 2008, he appeared at a trade event looking thin andfrail. Apple said he was suffering from a "bug," but reports latersurfaced that he had surgery and lost weight as a result. In January 2009, Jobssaid a hormone imbalance had caused his weight loss. Two weeks later he gave updaily oversight of Apple for six months, saying his health problems were moreserious. That June, a Memphis hospital confirmed that Jobs had had a livertransplant.

His latest announcement could be a sign that his pancreaticcancer has returned, says Richard Goldberg, a professor at the University ofNorth Carolina-Chapel Hill's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Goldberg has no knowledge of Jobs' case but says the mostlikely reason for a setback is that the tumor has spread into the transplantedliver. It's also possible Jobs' body is rejecting the transplant, although thatis more likely soon after a transplant, he says.

All pancreatic cancers are serious, but Jobs' type of tumorwas much less lethal than most pancreatic cancers, from which patients oftensuccumb in months. Some people who have what Jobs had survive for many years,Goldberg says.

Jobs has not said why he had a liver transplant, but neuroendocrinetumors often spread to the liver. It's possible that his original liver wasdamaged by treatment for the tumor, Goldberg says.

About PancreaticCancer

Cancer of thepancreas barely makes the top 10 most common cancers in the U.S. However,pancreatic cancer's tendency to spread silently before diagnosis makes it thefourth deadliest cancer diagnosis. Yes, the biggest problem with this type ofthe disease is a fact that tumor or cancer in the pancreas mayoften grow without any substantial symptoms at first, or even with no symptomsat all.

Therefore, pancreatic cancer often has a poor prognosis,even when diagnosed early. It typically spreads rapidly and is seldom detectedin its early stages, which is a major reason why it's a leading cause of cancerdeath. Signs and symptoms may not appear until pancreatic cancer is quiteadvanced and surgical removal isn't possible. Still, if pancreatic cancer iscaught early, the tumor may be removed by surgery and the disease may becontrolled.

Pancreatic cancer begins in the tissues of the pancreas — anorgan in the abdomen that lies horizontally behind the lower part of thestomach. The pancreas is a gland that serves two basic functions – exocrine and endocrine:

The exocrine function makes chemicals that break down protein, and it delivers these chemicals right into the digestive tract. Most of the pancreas is devoted to this function, and tumors are more likely located here.
A smaller part of the pancreas is devoted to the endocrine function, which makes insulin and glucagon. The pancreas puts insulin and glucagon directly into your bloodstream to help your body burn or store sugar. Cancers in this area are very rare.

Steve Jobs is diagnosed with the second, much less frequent,and not so deadly, type of the disease. His tumor reportedly is one of fivetypes that begin in hormone-producing cells. "People can co-exist withthis disease for years," says Richard Goldberg, an expert inneuroendocrine tumors at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, who hasnot treated Jobs. If the liver begins to fail, however, "people can godownhill pretty quickly. When you hit the wall, you hit the wall."

Only about 10% of people with metastatic disease — cancerthat has spread around the body — survive this type of tumor, Goldberg says.

Hopefully, Steve Jobs will be among those 10%, who will manageto survive. Wish him full recovery, as far as that is possible for the cancer survivors.

Sources and AdditionalInformation:

http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-resigns-as-ceo-of-apple-2011-8

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-01-17-apple-jobs-medical-leave_N.htm

http://pancreatic-cancer-facts.blogspot.com/2011/04/pancreatic-cancer-overview.html

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-08-02-jobs-cancer_x.htm

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/medical/cancer/story/2011-08-24/Apple-CEO-Steve-Jobs-resigns-after-battling-pancreatic-cancer/50127460/1

Google News: Better Search Algorithm for All

2011-07-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

CNet reported that Google is planning to make more changes to its search algorithm, the process which has started earlier this year, and already significantly affected multiple websites and blogs ability to be rated high in the Search Engine.

According to Search Engine Land, which puts on the event, Google's Matt Cutts said that his company plans to launch Panda version 2.2 at some point in the near future. The update will reportedly deal with the issue of sites that republish content being placed higher in search results than the original source.

Google launched a Panda update earlier this year. At the time, the company's goal was to improve results on queries that had previously been dominated by content farms, like eHow and Answers.com, which wrote SEO-friendly stories, contained little actual value to users. In a blog post announcing the change, Google said that it would affect 11.8 percent of all queries.

"This update is designed to reduce rankings for low-quality sites--sites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other websites or sites that are just not very useful," the search giant wrote in a blog post in February. "At the same time, it will provide better rankings for high-quality sites--sites with original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis, and so on."

In April, CNET examined the impact that update, along with the addition in April of more "user feedback signals" to Google's algorithm, had on results. Based on its research, CNET found that news sites took the most advantage from Google's changes, while sites like WikiHow and eHow were hit hard.

Demand Media, the company that operates eHow and Livestrong, among other sites, confirmed during an earnings call with investors last month that it was hit hard by the algorithm change.

"In February and April, we experienced two major algorithm changes," Demand Media CEO Richard Rosenblatt said during his company's first-quarter earnings call. "For eHow, here is the impact: as compared to the levels before the first February change, we saw a net decline in search engine referrals of 20 percent."

In response, Demand Media promised more high-quality postings on popular topics.

A Google spokesman told PCMag that sites that believe they have been adversely impacted should "extensively evaluate their site quality."

"In particular, it's important to note that low quality pages on one part of a site can impact the overall ranking of that site," the Google spokesman said. "Publishers who believe they've been impacted can also post in our webmaster forums to let us know. We will consider feedback from publishers and the community as we continue to refine our algorithms."

Durant Imboden, editor of Europesiteforvisitors.com, tried just that. After experiencing a 35 percent drop in U.S. traffic last week, he added a "nofollow" attribute to affiliate links and cleaned out archived material to "help Google distinguish our site from content farms." But the expected results were not been received.

Although Google engineers use feedback in the forum to update its search algorithm, the Google spokesman noted that there was no whitelist or blacklist for sites affected by the algorithm. In other words, the search engine doesn't plan on making individual exceptions.

"Our recent changes to help people find high-quality sites are entirely algorithmic and we have not taken manual action, nor will we take manual action to address particular sites. Instead, we will consider feedback from publishers and the community as we continue to refine our algorithms to improve our search quality at scale."

Though Google's upcoming 2.2 update might not affect as many sites as its major update in February and the subsequent algorithm change in April, it signals that the company is constantly evaluating results, and will change things as necessary. In fact, Cutts reportedly said at the SMX Advanced Conference that the search giant will continue to tweak its algorithm as it sees fit.

In response to a request for confirmation that it's launching an algorithm change soon, Google has this to say: "We'll continue to iterate on returning high-quality sites to Google users as part of the roughly 500 changes we make to our ranking algorithms each year. We have nothing more specific to announce at this time."

To help webmaster distinguishing good from bad, Google posted some questions that one could use to assess the "quality" of a page or an article. These are the kinds of questions they claim to ask themselves as they write algorithms that attempt to assess site quality.

In their own words: Of course, we aren't disclosing the actual ranking signals used in our algorithms because we don't want folks to game our search results; but if you want to step into Google's mindset, the questions below provide some guidance on how we've been looking at the issue:

Would you trust the information presented in this article?
Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
How much quality control is done on content?
Does the article describe both sides of a story?
Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

Bottom Line

While the change might be challenging for many website owners, for end user it should be positive with no obvious drawbacks. How many times you were discouraged by the top search result of being useless, decreasing your productivity? Hopefully, the new changes will hunt these annoying resources from the top of the search results pages.

Sources and Additional Information:
http://blogging4good.blogspot.com/2011/06/google-continues-tweaking-search.html

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20070336-17/report-google-panda-update-2.2-coming-soon/

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2381394,00.asp

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality.html

5 Interesting Facts about Napoleon Bonaparte

2011-06-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

Search string Napoleon Bonaparte was on the top at Google today. I could not identify what is the reason for the interest sparkling for this great figure, but Napoleon’s miraculous and controversial personality still serve as source of inspiration for his multiple fans, big authors, and prominent film makers. So, we will devote a post to him as well.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769 in Ajaccio on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. Through his military exploits and his ruthless efficiency, Napoleon rose from obscurity to become Napoleon I, Empereur des Francais (Emperor of the French). He is both a historical figure and a legend—and it is sometimes difficult to separate the two.

In this post, we will review several facts from life of Napoleon – interesting, funny, and tragic.

Little Nabulio

He was born Napoleone di Buonaparte and his parents called him Nabulio. When he was a schoolboy, royal inspectors examined each child on how his studies and personal development were coming and then recommended a future career. One of Napoleon’s reviews said he was distinguished in mathematics, but “very poor in social accomplishments” and said he should become a naval officer. Another one reported that he was domineering and stubborn, and a third one said he should look to the army for a job.

Secret of Napoleon

The great Napoleon Bonaparte could have won the Battle of Waterloo if not only with that hemorrhoid he had. He could have the chance and advantage from the British by attacking earlier in the day, but Napoleon Bonaparte delayed his attack because he suffered greatly from hemorrhoid pain that morning.

Napoleon Bonaparte suffered greatly from hemorrhoid pain during many of his battles, as the tension of battle apparently caused his sphincter muscles to tighten horrendously on his hemorrhoids, thereby generating massive pain and discomfort for him. He used bathing to help control his hemorrhoid pain, but during the battle of Waterloo he was having a hard time dealing with constipation, which made his discomfort and possibly his pain much worse and, he had no time to sit in a bath to ease his miserable state.

Napoleon and Josephine

Josephine’s real name was Rose (Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie, to be exact) but Napoleon didn’t like it. He renamed her Josephine and she went with it.

Josephine was the older woman – she was 32 when she married 26-year-old Napoleon. She already had two children by her first husband Alexandre François Marie de Beauharnais. Their daughter, Hortense, actually married Napoleon’s brother Louis. Napoleon, of course, had requested it, and the marriage was an unhappy one.

Napoleon and Josephine ended up divorcing not because of the affairs, which both of them were having, but because Josephine was unable to produce an heir to the throne. She agreed to a divorce so Napoleon could marry his mistress, Archduchess of Austria Marie Louise, in the hopes that she would be able to have his son, and indeed she did. Another fun fact: Marie Louise was the grand-niece of Marie Antoinette.

Despite the divorce, and despite the fact that he told a friend that he truly loved her but didn’t respect her, Napoleon’s last words were, “France, armée, tête d’armée, Joséphine.”(“France, army, head of the army, Joséphine.”)

Napoleon and Slavery

Following a peace with Britain that culminated in the Treaty of Amiens (1802), Napoleon initiated an ambitious project to re-establish the French overseas empire. One element of this scheme was the re-establishment of slavery, which had been abolished during the French Revolution, in France's Caribbean colonies, including Saint-Domingue (Haiti). The failure of the French campaign in Haiti and the breakdown of peace with Britain, dashed Napoleon's colonial dreams. After his return from exile on Elba, Napoleon desired to recreate his rule as a new "liberal" empire. One element of this effort was abolishing the slave trade. The slave trade in the British Empire was abolished in 1807, although slavery wasn't eradicated in the British West Indies until 1833.

Napoleon’s decision to reinstate slavery in France’s oversea colonies is controversial and had badly affected his reputation.

Napoleon Death

During his reign of more than a decade, Napoleon at times controlled most of Europe, was defeated and exiled, escaped, reclaimed his title, met his final military defeat at Waterloo, and was exiled again to the Atlantic Ocean island of St. Helena. He died there six years later in 1821. Ever since, the circumstances of his death have inspired spirited debate.

Some experts argue that powerful men—French, English, or maybe a combination—feared the ex-emperor might escape exile again and retake France. Some of these conspiracy proponents suggest that Napoleon was slowly poisoned with arsenic, perhaps in his wine or food. Studies of Napoleon's hair have revealed high levels of arsenic, but critics say medicines and even hair tonic of the era sometimes contained the toxic element.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.neatorama.com/2009/04/11/a-few-facts-about-napoleon/

http://www.solarnavigator.net/history/napoleon_bonaparte.htm

http://onlineroom.blogspot.com/2008/09/interestingfactsnapoleonbonapartehemroi.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/01/070117-napoleon.html

http://www.bukisa.com/articles/481959_100-interesting-and-controversial-facts-about-napoleon-bonaparte

Sleep Deprivation Makes you Happy!

2011-03-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

UC Berkley is making the top Google search line today. The interest is evoked by a new intriguing research, offering not widely accepted viewpoint, that sleep deprivation may offer a positive effect on your mood and psychological well-being. Everybody knows that a sleepless night can make us cranky and moody. But a lesser known side effect of sleep deprivation is short-term euphoria, which can potentially lead to poor judgment and addictive behavior, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley.

According to a report from UC Berkeley’s Newscenter, UCB and Harvard researchers discovered that a night spent awake rather than asleep created heightened activity in the mesolimbic pathway, a brain circuit driven by dopamines, those neurotransmitters associated with happiness, decision-making, and motivation. The findings were published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience at http://www.jneurosci.org/.

While this link might not be widely known to the general public, it is not new and unique on the scientists’ monitor. Nearly 30 years have passed since Anna Wirz-Justice, MD, first prescribed a night without sleep for a severely depressed 80-year-old woman. "She used to just sit around all day, feeling suicidal," says the Swiss neurobiologist. "She hardly spoke or moved.''

The remedy worked. By the next morning, the elderly woman "was talking and moving around as if she were actually another person," Wirz-Justice says. "She told me that at about two or three in the morning, she felt like a black cloud had been lifted from her shoulders."

But there was a problem: Patients tended to relapse into depression as soon as they did get a good night's sleep. And, up today, there are no reliable approaches to preserve the sleep deprivation positive effect on a long run.

In the recent study, the researchers were also motivated by curiosity over why so many patients with clinical depression feel more positive after sleepless nights. So they used functional MRIs to study the brains of 27 healthy young adults, half of whom had slept well the previous night and the other half of whom had stayed awake all night.

“Participants viewed numerous images, including pleasant scenes (for example, bunnies or ice cream sundaes), and were asked to rate the pictures as either neutral or positive. Across the board, those who had skipped a night’s sleep gave more positive ratings for all the images while the well-rested participants gave more moderate scores,” reads the UCB Newscenter report.

The trouble is that the type of positivity prompted by all-nighters is based on short-term dopamine spikes and can thus spur overly optimistic choices that might have disastrous results. A new tattoo, a dip in the bay, or a motorcycle ride with a stranger can seem like great ideas in the blaze of that morning-after buzz.

“When functioning correctly, the brain finds the sweet spot on the mood spectrum. But the sleep-deprived brain will swing to both extremes, neither of which is optimal for making wise decisions,” said Matthew Walker, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at UC Berkeley and lead author of the study.

“After a good night’s sleep, the frontal lobe regions are strongly connected to the dopamine reward regions, but that’s not the case after a night of no sleep,” said Walker, who is also the principal investigator at UC Berkeley’s Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory. Located in UC Berkeley’s psychology department, the sleep lab focuses on cognitive aspects of the sleeping brain using a multimodal imaging approach, including functional MRI, neurophysiological, and psychophysical techniques.

“The elastic band of sleep deprivation can only be stretched so far before it breaks,” Walker warned.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.toptentweets.info/all-nighters-make-you-happy-uc-berkeley-researchers-say-east-bay-express.html

http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/03/22/pulling-an-all-nighter/

http://depressivedisorder.blogspot.com/2010/12/sleep-deprivation-as-cure-for.html

http://depressivedisorder.blogspot.com/2011/02/circadian-rhythm-chronotherapy-for.html

Marketing Battle among Mobile Phone Carriers

2011-03-10T23:06:00.000-08:00

Today, there was a big marketing event on our corporate parking lot, arranged by Sprint. Being faithful Verizon subscribers for years, I was not interested in changing the carrier, but I noticed that the action drew a descent amount of visitors. Combining this spotty event with Sprint coming to the top of the Google Searches, the thought comes, that Sprint is doing significant efforts to capture bigger market share on the USA consumer market. Spring also introduced several great smartphones for their subscribers, like the HTC EVO 4G and the Samsung Epic 4G.

Let’s review, what the current status of popularity among top Mobile Carriers is. Review the chart prepared by ComScore for the end of November 2010.

By end of December 2010, the global picture has not significantly changed. The largest four mobile network providers, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint, continued to dominate the US market, gaining combined market share 82% of the US mobile subscribers (age 13 and up). Verizon led the US mobile market as the carrier for 31.3% of mobile subscribers, with AT&T accounting for 26.6% share, followed by T-Mobile (12.2%) and Sprint (11.9%).

There are some other interesting mobile phone trends worth to mention. For example, Google Android became the second biggest smartphone operating system in the US in 2010, trailing only market leader RIM. “The 2010 US Digital Year in Review” indicates that among smartphone OS platforms, RIM retained its lead with 31.6% market share in December 2010 (although decreasing roughly one-quarter from 41.6% the previous year).

RIM was followed by Google at 28.7% (surging 452% from 5.2% in the past year), Apple’s market share remained mostly flat at 25%, while Microsoft followed at 8.4% (down more than 50% from 17.9% in 2009). By December 2010, smartphone penetration had reached 27% of the mobile market.

However, if we take a look on the same data publish this month, we can see that in the beginning of 2011, Google Android became already a leading mobile platform, bypassing RIM as a former leader.

And talking about successful Google Android penetration, Verizon is leading in its adoption among all carriers.

Definitely, the battle is not over yet. Conservative corporations still stick to the more traditional Blackberry, keeping in mind the solid business applications developed by RIM. For users, the severe competition is very good, as it drives the providers to improve their offerings and drop the process for equipment and services.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/google-becomes-2d-biggest-us-smartphone-os-in-2010-16176/comscore-network-operator-2010-feb-2011jpg/

http://www.comscoredatamine.com/2011/01/google-android-subscribers-by-carrier/

http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/3/comScore_Reports_January_2011_U.S._Mobile_Subscriber_Market_Share

History of Sunchips Biodegradable Bags on Consumer Market

2011-02-27T18:36:00.000-08:00

On the top of the Yahoo! Search lines today – Sunchips bags. Let’s review, step-by-step, what could possibly bring the public interest to such a trivial item.

Fully Bio-degradable bags introduction

In April 2009, it has been announced that, just in time for Earth Day in 2010, PepsiCo's Frito-Lay Div. would be rolling out compostable packaging. Applied to bags of its SunChips brand, a popular line of multigrain snacks, the plant-based, biodegradable material is a structure made of NatureWorks' (www.natureworksllc.com) polylactic acid (PLA) film, which should decompose over 14 weeks when placed in a hot, active compost bin or pile—at home or at an industrial composting site.

The company made enormous marketing effort to play up its environmentally friendly nature as the package was made from plants and not plastic and could break down in compost.

However, the problems came from totally unexpected side. Unhappy customers complained the bag was too loud. The stiffer material made it give off noise of that, measured in decibels, is about as loud as a busy city street.

Packages recall

Use of the new environment friendly, but noisy, packages triggered widespread irritation among customers - and caused SunChips sales to drop by as much as 11% over the 52 weeks after the bags became available in March 2010. Profits is a good indicator of the solution effectiveness, and Frito-Lay quickly realized that the bags were trouble, especially when a Facebook group called "Sorry But I Can't Hear You Over This SunChips Bag" gathered quickly of more than 44,000 fans.

"It was interesting we got a lot of extremely positive feedback ... but on the same hand we heard one overwhelming complaint," said Brad Rodgers, manager of sustainable packaging for PepsiCo advanced research.

So Frito-Lay got rid of the biodegradable bags last October for all flavors except Original SunChips.

New solution

PepsiCo Inc., which owns Frito-Lay, spent a good chunk of last year trying to find a solution. The company found that if it used a different adhesive to put together the two layers of a bag — one which protects the food on the inside and one which carries the logo and labels on the outside — it created a sort of noise barrier.

Brad Rodgers said engineers looked at dozens of possible options. He admitted that he was initially suspect of the theory that the razor-thin layer of adhesive would solve such a big problem. But engineers found that a more rubber-like adhesive really did absorb some of the sound.

The company's first design gave off noise that registered at roughly 80 to 85 decibels. The new design dampens the noise to around 70 decibels, on par with its original packaging and most other chip bags.

The new bags are already hitting store shelves with Original SunChips. If all goes well, Frito-Lay will roll out the bags to all SunChips flavors.

How compostable is the old package?

In the light of the customer complaints on the noise, the question of how real are the manufacturer claims on the biodegradability of the old packages has been not addressed by the consumers.

The first warning sign was received from the Regional Municipality of Niagara, Ontario, announcing May 18, 2010, that it will not accept the bags in its Green Bin program because the film takes too long to degrade in the community's composting plant.

"The Sun Chips bags are made of polylactic acid, which is a corn starch-based product similar to that which is used in the compostable liner bags that are accepted in the Region's organics program. Both products compost under the right conditions, however, the Sun Chips bags have three layers of and compost in about 14 weeks (the same term as promised manufacturers term), while the bin liner bags are a single layer and break down in three to four weeks," Andrew Pollock, director of waste management services, said.

"The Walkers' Gore Composting Facility, which processes the Region's Green Bin material, produces compost in eight weeks. As such, the Sun Chips bag may not fully break down in the composting process. Bags that do not fully break down would be screened out and landfilled.

If the Canadian rejection was based purely on the released compostability term, the further consumer reports questioned the advertised 14-weeks term itself as being inaccurate. Recently the old bag was tested out to see if they could decompose quickly. Testing found that the bag, after 14 weeks in the compost pile, remained intact. In the test, the bag was placed in a home-compost with wood chips, grass clippings, dirt, and leaves.

“The items in contact with the bag composted nicely, but the bag itself? Take a look at the photo. It might decay in an ‘industrial’ compost pile, though we can't say for sure,” the report said.

Let’s see if the new packages can address the questionable biodegradability as well, otherwise revealing that the company advertising does not reflect the real situation might hit again the product sales.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.packagingdigest.com/article/343903-Sunchips_debuts_compostable_bag.php

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_sunchips_quieter_bag

http://www.fastcompany.com/1731385/frito-lay-reintroduces-sunchips-compostable-packaging-without-the-noise?partner=rss

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/business/sunchips-bag-a-newer-quieter-sunchips-bag-introduced-51925.html

http://www.plasticsnews.com/blog/2010/05/sunchips_fail_one_compostabili.html

Gawker Discloser and Chris Lee Resignation

2011-02-09T23:20:00.000-08:00

Internet is one of the greatest inventions, which totally changed lives of many people. Mostly, for good… But, in some cases, the greater openness to the society of the individual private stories might bring unpleasant surprises. There is not a secret any more that some recruiters run online searches to check the prospective candidates on the Internet to see if there are no warning signs, which may prevent you from getting a job you like. But for public figures it may lead to disaster, running their political or professional careers.

Today, Gawker is in the spotlight. The resignation of Republican Congressman Chris Lee (D 26th District - NY) reveals another Political Sex Scandal. What happened was that Gawker, the main blog in the highly successful Gawker Media Network, ran a post of how the married Chris Lee was using Craigslist to find dates. Lee, apparently forgetting he was a public official, decided to send a photo of himself shirtless.

Moreover, Lee confessed to the woman via text that he normally dates other women and he lied about his position, age, and marital status – he is definitely not divorced, and he is 46. Lee told the woman he was 39 and that he was a lobbyist, not an elected official from New York.

When the woman discovered Lee was lying on three counts, she cut off contact and sent his photo and information, including the text contact, to Gawker. The result is, when it hit the media, Lee and his staff tried to say while the email account indeed belongs to him, but it was highjacked. "The Congressman is happily married," the spokesman told Gawker. "The only time he or his wife posted something online was to sell old furniture when they changed the apartment they keep in DC."

That could, theoretically, be true. But the evidence suggests otherwise. The emails were sent more than a week before the alleged hack. The shirtless photo--which, according to metadata contained in the picture, was taken in Washington, D.C.-was taken with a Blackberry, the same mobile device that Lee uses, which means the hacker would have also accessed the photos on Lee's phone.

Eventually, and within the span of about 24 hours, Lee announced his resignation. Lee, who is 46 years old, was considered a rising star in the Republican Party. He is married with one child and serves on the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

“I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents,” Lee said in a statement. “I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness.”

Lee’s statement did not confirm or deny any specific allegations from the Gawker report.

You are not a Congressman or any other elected official? Still, be careful with your public communication. It may cost your job and quite a significant discomfort in your family life. Remember, the secret stays the secret only up to the moment it is shared with just one other person.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/abraham/detail?entry_id=82779

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/09/christopher-lee-craigslist_n_820979.html

http://www.buffalo123.com/buffalo/news/congressman-chris-lee-resigns-in-response-to-gawker-news-report

http://badgoneblog.com/2011/02/09/republican-rep-chris-lee-resigns-from-congress-over-craigslist-shirtless-pic-he-sent-to-a-female/

Taco Bell Beef in Court

2011-01-25T23:19:00.000-08:00

Taco Bell Beef story is not on the top of the Google searches list, but it reached the first position in popularity at Yahoo. So, what is the story?

According to the suit filed by the Alabama law firm Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, Taco Bell is using a meat mixture that contains binders and extenders, and does not meet the minimum requirements set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be labeled as "beef.” Attorney Dee Miles said the meat mixture contained just 35 percent beef, with the remaining 65 percent containing water, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent and modified corn starch.

Here’s the actual ingredient list on the side of the shipping containers labeled “Taco Meat Filling".

Beef, water, isolated oat product, salt, chili pepper, onion powder, tomato powder, oats (wheat), soy lecithin, sugar, spices, maltodextrin (a polysaccharide that is absorbed as glucose), soybean oil (anti-dusting agent), garlic powder, autolyzed yeast extract, citric acid, caramel color, cocoa powder, silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent), natural flavors, yeast, modified corn starch, natural smoke flavor, salt, sodium phosphate, less than 2% of beef broth, potassium phosphate, and potassium lactate.

And here is the list of Seasoned Ground Beef ingredients from Taco Bell website:

Beef, Water, Seasoning [Isolated Oat Product, Salt, Chili Pepper, Onion Powder, Tomato Powder, Oats (Wheat), Soy Lecithin, Sugar, Spices, Maltodextrin, Soybean Oil (Anti-dusting Agent), Garlic Powder, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Cocoa Powder (Processed With Alkali), Silicon Dioxide, Natural Flavors, Yeast, Modified Corn Starch, Natural Smoke Flavor], Salt, Sodium Phosphates. CONTAINS SOYBEAN, WHEAT

Based on the lawsuit, in accordance with the USDA regulations, Taco Bell can't call this mixture "beef" at all. Beef is officially defined as "flesh of cattle", and ground beef is defined as:

Chopped fresh and/or frozen beef with or without seasoning and without the addition of beef fat as such, shall not contain more than 30 percent fat, and shall not contain added water, phosphates, binders, or extenders.

That is certainly nothing like the mix that Taco Bell is using in their products. Therefore, the law firm argues that the mixture labeled as "taco meat filling" in the industrial packaging should be labeled in exactly the same way in all advertising and packaging, as the USDA mandates.

Following USDA guidelines “by book”, any food labeled as "meat taco filling" should at least have 40% fresh meat. As, Taco Bell stuff only has 36% meat, that makes this claim well grounded from all perspectives.

The suit was filed on behalf of Taco Bell customer and California resident Amanda Obney, who is not seeking monetary damages, but instead wants a court to order Taco Bell to be honest in its advertising. "We are asking that they stop saying that they are selling beef," Miles said.

Irvine, Calif.-based Taco Bell spokesman Rob Poetsch said the company denies that its advertising is misleading and said the company would "vigorously defend the suit."

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/01/25/wheres-beef-taco-bell-sued-ingredients/

http://www.tacobell.com/nutrition/ingredientstatement

http://gizmodo.com/5742413/this-is-what-really-hides-in-taco-bells-beef?skyline=true&s=i

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700104116/Taco-Bell-defends-its-meat.html?s_cid=rss-14

iPhone and Verizon: Will that be a Happy Marriage?

2011-01-12T22:31:00.000-08:00

The rumors were going in rounds, but nothing happened… until now. The iPhone is finally coming to Verizon. After talking up his new LTE network a bit, Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam confirmed a CDMA (non-LTE) version of the iPhone 4 will be introduced to Verizon Wireless network next month. Talks started way back in 2008, and the phone has been in testing for a year -- it sounds like they wanted to get this one right. Current Verizon customers will be able to pre-order on February 3rd for the standard $200 price for the 16GB model on a two year agreement, $300 for the 32GB version -- everyone else can order on February 10th (see it compared with AT&T's iPhone 4). Just to clarify and put any wild rumors to bed, the phone is Verizon 3G (EV-DO) only, no 4G data or GSM roaming. It's not a world phone or an AT&T + Verizon phone, it's just a Verizon phone.

Outside of Verizon connectivity, the phone is basically unchanged, although Verizon's CDMA network doesn't support simultaneous voice and data as with the GSM version. It does have the new antenna design we were hearing about last week, but that's just because CMDA requires a different configuration of antennas. Apple claims they didn't go LTE just yet because first-gen chipsets would force unwanted design decisions, and customers want a Verizon device now. That slight modification also equates to a slight bump in where the volume buttons and mute switch -- a new case might be required. Software-wise the big innovation is five user WiFi hotspot functionality, something that's standard on Android phones, while Apple has kept the iPhone only able to tether directly to one computer.

How that may change the competition of the wireless carriers? A lot! With the network available on the US market, Verizon will be able to attract all the iPhone fans from the main competitor AT&T and ultimately dominate the market. When the iPhone hits Verizon on February 3rd, we are likely to see the following consequences:

Apple and Android will breakaway as the two leading mobile operating systems, both separating even further from the pack over the next year. BlackBerry, Windows Phone, WebOS and others are in big, big trouble.
Apple and Google will begin a more rigorous arms race in terms of releasing new and innovative features. This is what I really love: both want to “win” and will push harder and harder to make the best product, and in the end, it’s the consumer that really wins.
Prices for smartphones in general will drop due to increased competition – consumers win again.

Personally, as long-term Verizon user and fateful Droid fan, I do not care much about the new gadget introduction. But I do care on the quality and reliability of the network connection. There is a serious danger that Verizon’s network may become just as congested and overloaded as AT&T’s became as soon as iPhone has been introduced to AT&T. Verizon assures that network is ready for all surprises. Is that true – we will see soon.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.engadget.com/apple/verizon-iphone/

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/the-arrival-of-the-verizon-iphone/

http://www.onlinesocialmedia.net/20110110/verizon-iphone-vs-droid-bionic-4g-release-importance/

http://phandroid.com/2011/01/10/verizon-iphone-how-will-it-affect-android/

History of the New Year Celebration

2010-12-29T23:48:00.000-08:00

While most of the world now celebrates New Year's Day on January 1st, it was not always that way. If you had lived in Mesopotamia and Babylon 4,000 years ago (c. 2000 B.C.), you probably would have celebrated the New Year in mid-March, at the time of the Vernal (Spring) Equinox. If, however, you were an Egyptian, your new year began with the Autumnal Equinox and the flooding of the Nile. If you were Greek, the Winter Solstice began your New Year celebrations. All these seasons reflected a time of renewal, re-birth and regeneration. However, it was secular, civic and religious influences that eventually changed most "new year" celebrations to January 1st.

Measuring time was, historically, determined by the easily observed cycles of the sun (solar), the moon (lunar) and of the regular occurrences of seasonal events that influenced agriculture. However, since solar, lunar and seasonal events were not consistent, formulating a reliable calendar evolved over eons.

The earliest known Roman calendar designated March as the beginning of the New Year, on the Vernal Equinox - the beginning of spring and a time when warring could begin, again. Depending upon whether one focuses on Mars or Martius as the derivation of that month's name, either interpretation is acceptable, as the return of spring begins a new crop season; and, with the winter ending, the weather was favorable for moving troops. Their calendar had ten named months, reflected in the historic, numerical names of six of the months. The origin of the names of the months were:

March - Mars, Roman god of war; or, Martius - Roman god of fertility and vegetation
April - perhaps derived from aperire - Latin from open; or, from Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty
May - Maia, Roman goddess of spring
June - Juno, principle Roman goddess of marriage and the well-being of women
July - originally Quintilis, Latin for 5th month, renamed for Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.
August - originally, Sextilis, Latin for 6th month, renamed for Augustus Caesar in 8 B.C.
September - septem, Latin for 7
October - octo, Latin for 8
November - novem, Latin for 9
December - decem, Latin for 10

Before 700 B.C. the calendar year began with the month of March, until the second king of Rome, Numa Pontilius, added the month of January and February. The month of January was named to honor Janus, a Roman god with two faces - one looking back and the other looking forward, signifying the old and the new.

February is derived from Februa, the Roman festival of purification.

In 46 B.C.E. the Roman emperor Julius Caesar first established January 1 as New Year’s day. In later years, Roman pagans observed the New Year by engaging in drunken orgies—a ritual they believed constituted a personal re-enacting of the chaotic world that existed before the cosmos was ordered by the gods.

As Christianity spread, pagan holidays were either incorporated into the Christian calendar or abandoned altogether. By the early medieval period most of Christian Europe regarded Annunciation Day (March 25) as the beginning of the year. According to Catholic tradition, Annunciation Day commemorates the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would be impregnated by G-d and conceive a son to be called Jesus.

After William the Conqueror (AKA “William the Bastard” and “William of Normandy”) became King of England on December 25, 1066, he decreed that the English return to the date established by the Roman pagans, January 1. This move ensured that the commemoration of Jesus’ birthday (December 25) would align with William’s coronation, and the commemoration of Jesus’ circumcision (January 1) would start the New Year - thus rooting the English and Christian calendars and his own Coronation. William’s innovation was eventually rejected, and England rejoined the rest of the Christian world and returned to celebrating New Years Day on March 25.

About five hundred years later, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII (AKA “Ugo Boncompagni”, 1502-1585) abandoned the traditional Julian calendar. By the Julian reckoning, the solar year comprised 365.25 days, and the intercalation of a “leap day” every four years was intended to maintain correspondence between the calendar and the seasons. Really, however there was a slight inaccuracy in the Julian measurement (the solar year is actually 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds = 365.2422 days). This slight inaccuracy caused the Julian calendar to slip behind the seasons about one day per century. Although this regression had amounted to 14 days by Pope Gregory’s time, he based his reform on restoration of the vernal equinox, then falling on March 11, to the date had 1,257 years earlier when Council of Nicaea was convened (March 21, 325 C.E.). Pope Gregory made the correction by advancing the calendar 10 days. The change was made the day after October 4, 1582, and that following day was established as October 15, 1582. The Gregorian calendar differs from the Julian in three ways: (1) No century year is a leap year unless it is exactly divisible by 400 (e.g., 1600, 2000, etc.); (2) Years divisible by 4000 are common (not leap) years; and (3) once again the New Year would begin with the date set by the early pagans, the first day of the month of Janus - January 1.

Throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods, the Church remained opposed to celebrating New Years at January 1 - supposedly the day on which Jesus’ circumcision. So, the January 1 has been celebrated as a holiday by Western nations for only about the past 400 years.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.holidays.net/newyear/story.htm

http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/newyearshistory/

http://adoptionworld.org/kid/newyear.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Year's_Day

Facebook Numbers in Status: New way of telling private things in public

2010-12-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

Last week, people changed their Facebook profile pictures to cartoons to stand up to child abuse and violence. The trend popularity went south when rumors started to surface that the Facebook cartoon profile picture meme was a nice hoax set up by child predators.

So, today, there is a new popular game in our virtual town – the Number Game. It works like this: You send a friend any number in a non-public communication like a Facebook private message or in a chat, and this number will be associated for now with you for all matters of communication in public. The friend will then write his or her ‘real’ feelings about you in a public status update, but will refer to you only by your number without mentioning names or other hints, so that your identity is hidden in plain sight to all but the two of you.

The official explanation from the Facebook page:

The Number Game is a fun, interactive game that you can play with your facebook friends! Here is how it works: Facebook users can ask their friends what they think about them by supplying them with a number through a message. The friend then gives the answer via a status, and attaches the number to their answer for identification purposes.

Step By Step.

::: Ask your friends via a status or on chat to send you their favorite number through a message if they want feedback on what you think about them

::: Post a status about that particular person, starting it with the number they sent you (It can be a compliment, something you like or dislike about them, or something you always wanted to tell them)

Below are listed a few examples!

Number sent to you: 21
Status: True friend; you've always been there and I'm grateful for our relationship!

Number sent to you: 1013
Status: I wonder why we never really talk... you seem cool, but we just never connect:/

Number sent to you: 10
Status: You're gonna make it somewhere someday:P Keep up the good work and stay true to who you are

OK, is this game fun?

Let’s admit, the game basically offers reverse anonymity - the opposite of having a secret admirer or adversary. Both parties know who the other is. The difference between having this conversation about ‘true’ feelings in private is that you’re telegraphing it publicly on Facebook - except that no one has any idea what you’re talking about. It’s not like the rudimentary encryption hides anyone’s identity in order to allow them to say things to another in secret they wouldn’t say otherwise. I could see a value in that. But all the Numbers Game does is clog everyone else’s news stream with revelations that “so-and-so thinks 6 is a total B.” Do you really care? Unless you want to become a virtual detective, trying to transcript the anonymous numbers into the real names of your friends.

Why, why, why?

The game has made to the top of the Google Searches, penetrated to 2 popular social networks – Facebook and Twitter – and gained more than 1,000 'likes' in less than 12 hours on Facebook page only. So, if it is not fun, why it is so popular? I would offer several possible suggestions for your consideration:

As every virtual epidemic, it is addictive. All your friends are getting their feedback, and you are out of the main track? No, get back to it!
It is all about you. Everybody like this sort of game. Just one more way, and one more reason to discuss the most interesting topic on the Earth – YOU.
But why in public status? Private communication is not enough? The anonymous revelation about you gives you feeling of significance and magic. Like reading in the local newspaper about yourself, like “Student B. was hit by passing by scooter. He was released from the emergency room after brief observation”.
There might be certain positive outcome from the game as well. Let’s say, you want to get real opinion about you from the particular person, but you kind of cannot approach with your inquiries. Within this game, that would be quite natural.

I would say that this Facebook game seems to be best suited for the teenagers, who are in the stage of constant uncertainty about themselves, their looks, relationship, friendship, and love.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.aiesalas.com/2010/12/numbers-on-facebook-status-reason.html

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/39754/facebook-numbers-in-status-defeats-purpose-of-facebook/

http://www.facebook.com/TheNumberGame

http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2010/12/08/facebook-numbers-status/

Thanksgiving Quotes for your Celebration

2010-11-25T00:32:00.000-08:00

Here are some wonderful Thanksgiving quotes that show you how to count your blessings. How often do we remember to express our gratitude to our friends, family, and God? If you wish to express your deepest gratitude, these thanksgiving quotes will be helpful.

Henry Van Dyke

Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse.

Johannes A. Gaertner
To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.

William Law
Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world: It is not he who prays most or fasts most, it is not he who gives most alms or is most eminent for temperance, chastity or justice; but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God wills, who receives everything as an instance of God's goodness and has a heart always ready to praise God for it.

Melody Beattie
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

Frank A. Clark
If a fellow isn't thankful for what he's got, he isn't likely to be thankful for what he's going to get.

Fred De Witt Van Amburgh
None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

Estonian Proverb
Who does not thank for little will not thank for much.

Ethel Watts Mumford
God gave us our relatives; thank God we can choose our friends.

H. U. Westermayer
The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.

Meister Eckhart
If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, 'thank you,' that would suffice.

Galatians 6:9
Do not get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.

Thomas Aquinas
It would seem that the ingratitude, whereby a subsequent sin causes the return of sins previously forgiven, is a special sin. For, the giving of thanks belongs to counter passion, which is a necessary condition of justice. But justice is a special virtue. Therefore this ingratitude is a special sin. Thanksgiving is a special virtue. But ingratitude is opposed to thanksgiving. Therefore ingratitude is a special sin.

Albert Barnes
We can always find something to be thankful for, and there may be reasons why we ought to be thankful for even those dispensations which appear dark and frowning.

Henry Ward Beecher
The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!

William Faulkner
Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.

George Herbert
Thou that has given so much to me,
Give one thing more -- a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleases me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days;
But such a heart, whose pulse may be
Thy praise.

J.A. Shedd

He who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart.

Edward Sandford Martin

Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

For flowers that bloom about our feet;
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet;
For song of bird, and hum of bee;
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee!

Henry Ward Beecher
The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!

Henry Jacobsen

Praise God even when you don’t understand what He is doing.

Gerald Good

"If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will change your life mightily."

Robert Burns

Some hae meat and canna eat, -
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.

O. Henry

There is one day that is ours. There is one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus biscuits and marvel how much nearer to the porch the old pump looks than it used to. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.

Ellen Orleans

I have strong doubts that the first Thanksgiving even remotely resembled the "history" I was told in second grade. But considering that (when it comes to holidays) mainstream America's traditions tend to be over-eating, shopping, or getting drunk, I suppose it's a miracle that the concept of giving thanks even surfaces at all.

Jon Stewart

I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://quotations.about.com/od/specialdays/a/thanksgiving2.htm

http://www.theholidayspot.com/thanksgiving/quotes.htm

http://www.quotegarden.com/thanksgiving.html

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/thanksgiving.html

National UnFriend Day: Clean your Facebook Account

2010-11-17T12:48:00.000-08:00

"Remember five years ago when no one had Facebook and you didn't know what the guy you took high school biology with was having for lunch?" Jimmy Kimmel asked the audience on his show last night. "Remember how that was fine? Let's go back to that."

If you didn't watch "Jimmy Kimmel Live" November 11, you might think Kimmel started a campaign to end Facebook, but he's not. Instead, he announced a new national holiday called "National Unfriend Day," where he encourages you to "cut out some of the friend fat in your life" on Facebook and otherwise.

Today, November 17, Kimmel wants you to look at all of your Facebook friends and decide: who is really your friend? A friend, as he says, is not someone who "asks what 'Harry Potter' character you are."

See two Video Presentations (watch one after another as they are logically connected):

National UnFriend Day

National UnFriend Day (part 2)

On his show yesterday evening, Kimmel celebrated the arrival of National Unfriend Day with its very own anthem sung by country artists Brad Paisley and Darius Rucker.

To all the friends I've un'ed before

Who sent me quizzes about Jersey Shore

You made my life a hell

With your stupid LOL

To all the friends I've un'ed before

To all the guys from grammar school

Posting shirtless pictures by their pool

Your fat and sweaty back

Really makes me want to yak

To all the friends I've un'ed before

Our time on earth goes by so quickly

We have to make each moment great

So I cannot waste one more minute

Reading your dumb status update

Kimmel may have a point, but this rather funny joke of a holiday seems to be more a late night comedy sketch than an event manufactured out of real concern for the status of friendship.

Still, National UnFriend Day is good natured -- at least for those not being unfriended -- and you might even consider taking the day to cut some friend fat of our own.

Facebook had no immediate comment on how the festivities were being marked at company headquarters. Needless to say, Zuckerberg is not likely to be adding Kimmel to his friends list anytime soon.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/04/national-unfriend-day-jim_n_778742.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/social.media/11/11/national.unfriend.day.mashable/

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-20023121-501465.html

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/11/08/jimmy-kimmel-national-unfriend-day/

Black Friday Ads – Get Ready for Shopping Season

2010-11-05T13:19:00.000-07:00

One of the most reliable signs of the coming Big Shopping Season is the Black Friday is getting back to the top of the Google Searches. The slow but steady economy recovery promises the potential good sales results for the vendors, and that is escalating the heat of the season preparation.

Black Black is the Friday after Thanksgiving, and it's one of the major shopping days of the year in the United States -falling anywhere between November 23 and 29. In 2010, it is November 26. While it's not recognized as an official US holiday, many employees have the day off -except those working in retail.

Black Friday Ads

The term “Black Friday” was coined in the 1960s to mark the kickoff to the Christmas shopping season. “Black” refers to stores moving from the “red” to the “black,” back when accounting records were kept by hand, and red ink indicated a loss, and black a profit. Ever since the start of the modern Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the Friday after Thanksgiving has been known as the unofficial start to a bustling holiday shopping season.

Black Friday Ads

So, this year the word is already out quite early: Black Friday sales ads have been leaked to websites and news outlets throughout the country. Before you give too much credit to the sleuthing skills of the websites that post these early deals, consider this: Many retailers leak their sales early, on purpose. Sears, for example, started offering its Black Friday deals on Fridays and Saturdays starting at the end of October, and scored a lot of free publicity as a result. (The company also ran television ads promoting its early start on the shopping holiday.)

Early leaks are a relatively new strategy says Ellen Davis, vice president at the National Retail Federation, and even now, retailers still want to control buzz about their discounts as much as possible. "They don't want their Black Friday deals to get out too early because then you tip your hand to the competition. If you're offering $9 crockpots, then your competition might offer them for $8," she says.

Sometimes the leaks are unauthorized. "Retailers found that the circulars were leaked by a vendor who might have been printing them, or someone inside the company who didn't have permission to do so," says Davis.

Early previews that aren't endorsed can be frustrating for retailers, she says, because they might change their mind about sales as the date gets closer, or their promotions might vary by location. That's one reason many stores keep their biggest discounts under wraps until the day of the sale.

And not every store wants their sales leaked early. Wal-Mart, for example, is notorious for keeping its deals private and even issuing warnings to any websites that post information.

"One of the tactical things they can do to get more attention for their own sales is to let it out really quickly, or pull a Wal-Mart and try to keep it as under wraps as they can until a few days before," says Brad Wilson, publisher of Brad's Deals. He says he usually gets early information about sales from companies themselves. Sometimes, employees from the companies pretend to be average consumers who have discovered sale information in the hopes of promoting it on his site, he says.

Along with the early leaks, many companies are also offering earlier-than-usual sales themselves. In addition to Sears, Amazon, Target, and Toys 'R Us are getting a head start on Black Friday by discounting their sale items weeks ahead of Thanksgiving.

For shoppers, though, part of the secret to mastering Black Friday sales is to ignore a lot of the early hype. The National Retail Federation's Davis says consumers shouldn't put too much trust into third-party websites that sometimes post incorrect information. The best source is retailers' websites, she says.

Black Friday Ads

All Black Friday information will be released by Monday or Tuesday of Thanksgiving week, says Dan de Grandpre, founder of DealNews.com. "There are a lot of rumors ahead of time, but they're not always accurate," he says. If you see details of a leaked ad online, it might be an early draft of sales that could change.

PriceGrabber.com's president Laura Conrad recommends following the Twitter feeds of your favorite retailers so you can be first to receive their deal announcements. The Shopping Blogwebsite also runs a popular Black Friday Twitter feed (@BlackFriday).

To nab the best deals, you'll probably need to get out of bed early and shop in-person, says Wilson of Brad's Deals. "Ninety-five percent of Black Friday items are available online, but some of the best limited-quantity deals are in-store only," he says.

The list of the Websites where you can find pre-released information on the Black Friday deals:

http://www.blackfriday2010.com/

http://www.blackfriday.org/

http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com

http://www.myblackfriday.com

http://www.black-friday.info

http://bfads.net/

Sources and Additional Information

http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2010/11/02/the-secrets-behind-black-friday-leaks.html

http://blackfriday.com/black-friday-history

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1942935,00.html

History of Pumpkin Carvings

2010-10-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

Halloween is coming and is hardly surprising that the pumpkin carving ideas is one of the hottest searches on Google. There are so many free downloadable templates and web sites sharing the ideas, that I will not follow this line of inquiries. I would prefer to review the history of this celebration, which is quite strange for the modern civilized World. Don’t you think so?

The history of pumpkin carving

Without a doubt the most recognizable symbol of Halloween is a pumpkin carved into a jack-o-lantern. To understand the origins of how pumpkin carving began and what it really means we must first take a look at the holiday itself. How long has Halloween been around? Have there always been pumpkins carved? Here are some answers!

For most of the general population it is known as Halloween and is a night for dressing up, telling ghost stories, having spooky parties, trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving. What most people don't know is that Halloween is actually based on an ancient Celtic holiday known as Samhain (pronounced "sow wan"), which means "summer's end".

It was the end of the Celtic year, starting at sundown on October 31st and going through to sundown November 1st. It was a night to honor loved ones that had passed on since the veil between their realm and ours is at its thinnest on that night.

Celebrated for centuries by the Celts of old, Witches and many other nature based religions, it is the most magical night of the year. It is the Witches' New Year, and the Last Harvest. Although the religious significance of it has passed for the general public, Halloween is a "magical" night for all!

On this magical night, glowing jack-o-lanterns, carved from turnips or gourds, were set on porches and in windows to welcome deceased loved ones, but also to act as protection against malevolent spirits. Burning lumps of coal were used inside as a source of light, later to be replaced by candles.

When European settlers, particularly the Irish, arrived in American they found the native pumpkin to be larger, easier to carve and seemed the perfect choice for jack-o-lanterns. Halloween didn't really catch on big in this country until the late 1800's and has been celebrated in so many ways ever since!

Legend of Stingy Jack

The legend of Jack O' Lantern goes back to hundreds of years in the Irish history. The original Jack O' Lantern was not a pumpkin, but a miserable, old drunkard who played tricks on anyone he could lay his hands on, including family, friends, his mother and even the Devil himself. As the story goes, one fine day, he tricked the Devil to climb up an apple tree. Once the devil reached up the tree, Stingy Jack placed crosses around the tree, so that the Devil was unable to come down. Only when Jack took a promise from the Devil that his soul would not be taken away when he dies, he allowed the Devil to come down.

After many years, when Jack finally died, he went to the bejeweled gates of heaven, where Saint Peter told him that he was mean and cruel and led a worthless life on earth. Jack reached hell, as he was not allowed to enter heaven. The Devil also kept his promise and didn’t allow Jack to enter hell. Jack was scared that he would have to keep wandering in the unending darkness between heaven and hell, since he was not welcome anywhere. Jack asked the devil where to find his way in the darkness. The Devil tossed an ember from the flames of the hell to help Jack light his way. Jack kept the ember safely in a hollowed out turnip, his favorite food. From that day onwards, Stingy Jack roamed around on the earth without any place to rest, with his lit Jack-O' Lantern.

The Irish people kept the fable of Stingy Jack alive by hollowing out turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes and beets on All Hallow's Eve. They placed a candle in them, to ward off the evil spirits and keep the Stingy Jack away. These were the original Jack-O-Lanterns. But later on, the Irish migrants discovered that pumpkins were much easier to carve than turnips etc. and switched over to pumpkin-carving. The modern day Halloween celebrations have improvised pumpkin carving beautifully. Pumpkin-carving activities are perused with great enthusiasm on Halloween and people of all age participate in it with keen interest and eagerness.

Pumpkins are indigenous to the western hemisphere and were completely unknown in Europe before the time of Columbus. In 1584, the French explorer Jacques Cartier reported from the St. Lawrence region that he had found "gros melons", which was translated into English as "ponpions," or pumpkins. In fact, pumpkins have been grown in America for over 5,000 years. Native Americans called pumpkins "isquotersquash."

The Purpose of a Jack-O’-Lantern

The primary purpose of a jack-o’-lantern in tradition was that to be placed in the window of a home or on the doorstep to ward off evil spirits, and sometimes even Stingy Jack himself. These lanterns are often accompanied by treats, in order to prevent the spirits from playing a trick on the occupants.

Today, the carving of a jack-o’-lantern is an activity enjoyed by young and old alike. While the majority of faces remain as representations of demons, by the end of the 20th century it was becoming increasingly popular to carve the faces of popular figures or celebrities into pumpkins, as well as using stencils to form more intricate designs. It is also common for young children – for whom handling sharp objects may pose a safety risk – to paint a face on the side of the pumpkin.

Interesting Fact

Did you know that pumpkins are not a vegetable - they are a fruit! Pumpkins, like gourds, and other varieties of squash are all members of the Cucurbitacae family, which also includes cucumbers, gherkins, and melons.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.pumpkincarving101.com/pumpkin_carving_history.html

http://festivals.iloveindia.com/halloween/jack-o-lanterns/pumpkin-carving-history.html

http://www.pumpkincarvingworld.com/2007/08/the-history-of-.html

http://www.suite101.com/content/the-history-and-myths-about-jack-olanterns-a222020

iPad Jailbreaking News: LimeRa1n or GreenPois0n

2010-10-09T23:22:00.000-07:00

Definitely, the news about jailbreaking process breakthrough is not just for iPad holders, but for all kind of iPhones as well. But since, I am faithful Droid fan, I personally care about iPhones much less. So, October 10 and October 11 should be great days in the technological history of iProducts. Because the solutions to unlock the full power of these devices are coming...

What is Jailbreaking?

Jailbreaking is a process that allows iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad users to run any code on their devices, as opposed to only that code authorized by Apple. This process permits users to install homebrew applications on their devices by unlocking the operating system and allowing the user root access. Once jailbroken, iPhone users can download many extensions and themes previously unavailable through the App Store via unofficial installers such as Cydia. A jailbroken iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch is still able to use the App Store and iTunes.

Does Apple like the users’ ability to bypass their filters and use the commercial applications for free? Definitely, no. Therefore, they release once a while software updates, which cause the jailbroken devices to be returned to the original state. The severe competition between freelancing hackers and hackers employed by Apple continues.

Is that legal to Jailbreak your device?

All the law obedient citizens would be surprised, but the answer is YES. You have a freedom to unlock the Apple device, and Apple has a freedom to prevent you from doing that, but not through legal and enforcement approaches, but purely through technological solutions only.

Jailbreaking an iPod or iPhone in the United States is legal "fair use", and does not violate copyright laws defined by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In response to a request by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the U.S. Copyright Office explicitly recognized an exemption to the DMCA to permit jailbreaking in order to allow iPhone owners to use their phones with applications that are not available from Apple's store, and to unlock their iPhones for use with unapproved carriers. Apple had previously filed comments opposing this exemption and indicated that they did consider jailbreaking to be a violation of copyright (and by implication prosecutable under the DMCA). Apple's request to define jailbreaking as a violation of copyright was denied as part of the 2009 DMCA rulemaking. In their ruling, the Library of Congress affirmed on July, 26, 2010 that jailbreaking is legal under U.S. copyright law.

Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia Law School, argued that jailbreaking is "legal, ethical, and just plain fun." Wu cited an explicit exemption issued by the Library of Congress in 2006 for personal unlocking, which notes that locks "are used by wireless carriers to limit the ability of subscribers to switch to other carriers, a business decision that has nothing whatsoever to do with the interests protected by copyright" and thus do not implicate the DMCA. Wu did not claim that this exemption applies to those who help others unlock a device or "traffic" in software to do so. As of July 26, 2010, The U.S. Copyright Office has approved exemptions to the DMCA that allow iDevice users to Jailbreak their devices legally. These exemptions also allow phone users to unlock their phone in order to switch carriers. It is still possible Apple may employ technical countermeasures to prevent jailbreaking or prevent jailbroken phones from functioning, but they will not be able to sue users who jailbreak.

GreenPois0n and LimeRa1n

All the iDevices fans were expecting the new jailbreak solution from Chronic Dev Team, and recently the release date of the Greenpois0n has been announced as October 10, 2010. It supposed to cover all iOS 4.1 Devices for life including Apple T.V 2G (which means a solution for all iPad 3.2.2 holders as well). There are two more important points to bring in: the solution should be for life, so Apple future efforts should not harm the unlocked devices, and that the solution is untethered meaning that users do not have to plug the jailbroken device into a computer every time it needs to be restarted (as in some previous software releases.

The spice to the picture added the fresh news on the competitive solution LimeRa1n, created by Geohot, the famous guy who unlocked the iPhone and also creator of blackra1n. This new exploit supposed to jailbreak all iDevices including iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3G which even the SHAtter exploit and GreenPois0n cannot jailbreak.

With Limera1n and GreenPois0n around the news, one thing is sure that we will definitely get the jailbreak for iPhone 4, 3GS, iPod Touch 4G, 3G and iPad with in next 2 days. It can either GreenPois0n or Limera1n or even both. The Chronic Dev Team did note that since Geohot's LimeRa1n is a different exploit, it will effectively "burn" it. This is because Apple will be tipped to the new exploit. With rumors of a Verizon iPhone coming in early 2011, this could enable them to close the bootrom exploits, both of them, prior to that device's rumored launch.

Which jailbreak I will recommend? At the moment it is still unclear even for the people which are more experienced on the topic than I am. I would recommend not jumping to the first trials, but waiting to see what the results of both GreenPois0n and LimeRa1n are. Wait couple of days and choose jailbreak which is the easiest, fastest, and safest.

Happy Jailbreaking!

Updates:
The plans have changed fast. Jailbreak limera1n was released today for 4.1 iDevice users with some limitations, like supported only for Windows OS, while the previously announced dev-team jailbreak, which was due out tomorrow, may be put on hold while the team works on revising their tools for the limera1n exploit rather than exposing multiple exploits that will quickly be patched.

You can download Limera1n now: http://www.limera1n.com/

Venezuelan parliamentary election 2010

2010-09-27T00:13:00.000-07:00

We do not want the Communist system

because it goes against our Constitution

and the rights that strengthen the lives of people

(Archbishop of Caracas, Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino,

September 22, 2010)

Today, 26 September of 2010, there is an important day in Venezuela. Today the parliamentary election took place to elect the 165 deputies to the National Assembly. 110 of these deputies are constituency representatives elected on a first-past-the-post system (in 87 electoral districts), 52 elected on a party list system (2 or 3 deputies per state of Venezuela, depending on population), and 3 seats are reserved for indigenous peoples, with separate rules. Additionally, 12 representatives are chosen for the Latin American Parliament.

A total of 6465 candidates have registered with the National Electoral Council by the June deadline. Around 17.5m of the country's 28.5m population are eligible to vote.The ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), with around 7 million members, is by far the largest party in the country by membership.

While the election results outcomes are not clear yet, it is not a surprise that World observers are closely watching the process of election as the results might significantly change the political realities of the South America and the whole World in a way.

Current political realities

Pro-government parties are expected to face a strong opposition in the 167-unicameral National Assembly election. Opposition parties boycotted the vote in 2005. This time they see votes in Venezuelans' discontent with the gloomy economy, electricity rationing and revelations of graft. Leftist President Hugo Chavez' control of the legislature isn't under threat, but significant gains for the opposition could see him having to work harder to have his way. Political observers see the chance of instability ahead of the vote.

Government supporters and critics have taken to the streets in rival demonstrations that promise to continue up to and well past the election, regardless of the outcome.

Opposition parties have their own problems, and might not be able to translate the popular discontent into votes for their candidates. They are beset with divisions in their ranks and could have trouble finding candidates less tainted by corruption that the pro-government candidates. And the opposition accuses Chavez' National Electoral Council of gerrymandering seven of the country's 23 states, including the major cities of Caracas and Maracaibo, for the benefit of pro-government parties.

A recession combined with 25 per cent inflation, the highest in America, adds to the hardship for Venezuelans. The economy shrank 2.9 per cent in 2009 and is expected to continue to contract. Several banks have failed. Oil prices are volatile, a potential problem because Venezuelans are accustomed to cheap gas. The graft revelations are also undermining the popularity of the governing coalition.

Chavez, first elected in 1998, was re-elected in December 2006 with 61 percent of the vote. Since then, the president, who has a military background, has markedly intensified political reforms. On Feb. 15, 2009, Venezuelans voted in favor of a constitutional amendment to remove term limits on all elected offices.

Crime

Only a few days ago, Chávez stated unequivocally that "it is not true that Venezuela is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, nor is it true that today there is more violence here than there was 11 years ago." Facts, however, are stubborn things. Since 1999, when Chávez took office, no Latin American country has seen a more acute deterioration in personal safety than Venezuela. The country's homicide rate has gone from 20 per 100,000 people in 1998 to 49 per 100,000 in 2009 -- nine times as high as in the United States. This places Venezuela solidly among the world's most violent countries, alongside chronically bad cases such as Jamaica and Guatemala. In the capital city, Caracas, the rate is 122 per 100,000, a figure comparable only to that of Ciudad Juárez, the Mexican border town where drug traffickers are literally waging a war against the state and one other. Car theft rates, a good barometer of property crime (unlike other crimes, stolen cars are usually reported to the authorities), have also exploded from 69 per 100,000 people in 1998 to 155 in 2009.

No wonder, then, that crime -- according to nearly every opinion poll carried out in the run-up to the election -- tops voters' concerns by a large margin. In August, the Venezuelan Institute for Data Analysis (IVAD) reported that 84 percent of voters mentioned insecurity as a major concern, while less than half that percentage mentioned unemployment, the second most important issue to voters. So, the opposition is running neck and neck with Chávez's party and has a fighting chance of capturing a significant majority of the popular vote, though not of the heavily gerrymandered seats.

The government's anxiety is palpable. Since 2004, it has refused to release official crime figures, leaving the task of compiling them to NGOs. In August, the government-controlled judiciary cautioned El Nacional, an opposition newspaper, against publishing images related to "blood, weapons and terror messages." The warning followed the newspaper's controversial decision to publish a large cover photo of wounded corpses in Caracas's main morgue. True to form, Chávez has oscillated between blaming the remnants of capitalism for the mess and claiming that "the United States has infiltrated Venezuela … to kill, to kidnap people and then to say that Chávez can't [govern effectively]" -- that is, when he's not denying that crime is a problem altogether.

Hugo Chavez Appeal

The Venezuelan president used his Twitter account to make a comment about the parliament election held on Sunday. He urged people to consolidate the victory of his government project. He also told his supporters that he looks forward to meet with them at the Palace of Miraflores

President Hugo Chávez urged his supporters to "prepare to receive and accept the results," via his Twitter account @chavezcandanga. The President sent a message to his supporters.

"We are waiting (for the results). I ask everyone to prepare to receive and accept the results. It was another great day," Chávez said in his Twitter account.

Results

Results are still unknown, but several polls predict the pro-Chavez forces to win a majority (and possibly two-thirds of all seats), in spite of the economic, political, and social situation. If that happens, Chavez would be once again given a mandate to deepen the revolution processes and to continue moving towards communist standards.

History does not teach! Communist ideology, while offering nice and attractive theories and slogans, in practice, is leading to the worst dictatorship and people oppression possible. I was born in the Communist country, I know that…

Sources and Additional Information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_parliamentary_election,_2010

http://www.newsahead.com/preview/2010/09/26/venezuela-26-sep-2010-venezuela-holds-parliamentary-election/index.php

http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/0924_venezuela_elections_casaszamora.aspx

http://www.theamericaspostes.com/2414/venezuela-elections-2010-catholic-church-warns-against-fraud-and-suggested-to-vote-against-chavez/

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Update 09-27-2010:

Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez maintained his sway in the National Assembly, with his ruling Socialist Party winning at least 90 of 165 seats that were up for grabs in Sunday’s congressional polls. However, Chavez failed to hold on to the two-thirds majority his party enjoyed in the Assembly, with the Opposition alliance getting as much as 60 seats, up from 12 last time. The results were declared early Monday morning by National Electoral Council president Tibisay Lucena. However, Opposition leader, Ramon Guillermo Aveledo called the delay in result publication ‘inadmissible’.

Both sides claim victory in Venezuela assembly vote.

What Yahoo! BUZZ is?

2010-09-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! Buzz is a new way to get your news. We pull in the hottest stories from a broad assortment of web publishers throughout the day, then give you the chance to be an editor by voting (“buzzing”) stories up or down, submitting your own to Buzz, or have a conversation around them by commenting on buzz articles.

For each Yahoo! Buzz story there’s a ranking. The stories ranking is based on votes received, comments on the story, related search terms, and the times it’s been shared to others by email.

The highest ranked Buzz story might be featured on the Yahoo! homepage, the Web’s most popular starting point.

A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.

Where do you get the data for the Buzz Index?

The data is collected from Yahoo! search log files. The Yahoo! Buzz Index counts the total number of people searching for specific subjects. Individual users and their searches remain completely anonymous.

What is a buzz mover?

Buzz movers are the subjects with the greatest percentage increase in buzz score from one day to the next.

Significant increases in buzz score do not necessarily indicate huge overall interest in a subject.

Greatest overall buzz is reflected by the list of buzz leaders.

For example, a subject that increases its buzz score from 4.0 to 12.0 would have a one-day buzz move of 200%, which might qualify it for inclusion on the list of buzz movers. However, that same subject, with a buzz of 12.0, might not make that day's list of buzz leaders.

What is a buzz leader?

Buzz leaders are the subjects with the greatest buzz score on a given day. These subjects are the most searched subjects on Yahoo! for that day.

What do the numbers mean?

A subject's buzz score is the percentage of users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read.

More precisely, each point is equal to 0.001% of users searching on Yahoo! on a given day. For example, a buzz score of 500 for "Pokemon" translates to 0.5% of all users searching on Yahoo!

For buzz movers, the number displayed is the percentage increase in the subject's buzz score from the previous day.

Is anything filtered out?

Company names (such as Yahoo!), utilities and formats (email, MP3), and general terms (movies, downloads, football) are filtered out by the editors of the Yahoo! Buzz Index. The editors' goal is to list subjects that are interesting to the broadest possible audience. To this end, terms related to adults-only content are also excluded.

In some cases, the editors may also exclude terms that they believe have been elevated by similarity to unrelated popular terms. For example, the movie The Rock might be excluded if the buzz was determined to be solely generated by interest in the WWF star, The Rock.

How often is the site updated?

The Yahoo! Buzz Index is published Tuesday through Saturday. All the rankings on the Yahoo! Buzz Index -- both movers and leaders -- are updated each weekday and reflect the traffic from two days earlier. For example, Wednesday's Buzz Index reflects Monday's searches and clicks. (Twenty-four hours are required to process data and verify results.)

What does "Days on Chart" mean?

"Days on Chart" refers to the number of days a term has been one of the top 50 terms in a Buzz Leader category (overall, movies, television, music, sports). Note that we use the top 50 terms to track longevity, rather than just the top 20 that are displayed on the site. Days are calculated from January 1, 2001.

What do the arrows on Buzz Leaders mean?

The arrows reflect changes in rank for buzz terms. Green arrows indicate a move up in the rankings, while red arrows indicate a move down. The arrows don't reflect the direction or amount of change in a term's overall buzz score.

What does the "Move" column on Buzz Leaders mean?

The move number reflects the change in a term's buzz score. Positive move numbers are green and negative move numbers are red. While these numbers can sometimes indicate a trend in the popularity of a buzz term, they are also affected by the overall traffic patterns of users on a particular day. (For example, searches on Sunday differ greatly in character and variety from those made on Mondays.)

What does "Prev. Rank" mean?

"Prev. Rank" shows where a current buzz term was ranked in the previous day's buzz index. The number may be anywhere from 1 to 50, or, if a term is new to the buzz, it will be indicated with a dash.

What does "Breakout!" mean?

When a term goes from very few searches to a large number of searches, we refer to it as a Breakout!. Most movers have been searched for previously, which means the increase in searches on the term can be expressed in a percentage. Breakout! terms have a huge percentage increase because of the small number of searches from the previous day. Breakout! terms head straight to the top of the list of movers.

Web site of Yahoo! Buzz: http://buzz.yahoo.com/

Wizard of Oz fun movie quotes

2010-08-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

The unusual search string wizard of oz quotes came to the public focus and top Google searches as today Google Doodle Celebrates the Wizard of Oz 71^st Birthday. It was 71 years ago, the people hooked-up in the 1939 American music fantasy film “The Wizard of Oz”. Later on, it was considered as the all-time classic musical fantasy film that people enjoyed all over the world ever since.

The movie, based on the 1900 novel by L. Frank Baum, is directed by Victor Fleming and starred Judy Garland (played Dorothy), Jack Haley, Ray Bolger and Bert Lahr. The people then did not only enjoy it but also take in its wisdom.

Apparently, the said film catapulted Judy Garland to stardom and made quotes such as “Oh Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore” and “Follow the yellow brick road” iconic cultural references.

Who will forget the songs, as the movie gave us the all-time classis “Over the Rainbow” which until now, people love to sing. The MGM almost cut the song Over the Rainbow, when they felt that the film was too long and needed to be shortened. And luckily, it was kept and became the Judy Garland’s signature song that inspired a lot of people who have watched the film.

Initially, The Wizard of Oz made only a small profit due to its enormous budget, despite largely favorable critical reviews. "Over the Rainbow" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the film itself received several Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Telecasts of the film began in 1956, and because of them the film has found a larger audience—its television screenings were once an annual tradition and have re-introduced the film to the public, making The Wizard of Oz one of the most famous films ever made. The Library of Congress named The Wizard of Oz as the most-watched film in history. It is often ranked among the top ten best movies of all-time in various critics' and popular polls, and it has provided many memorable quotes.

One of the famous quotes the film Wizard of Oz come out is the words: “There’s no place like home; there’s no place like home; there’s no place like home” which is of course what Dorothy said at the very end of the movie to get back to Kansas.

Here are some memorable quotes from the movie:

Wizard of Oz: A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.

Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?
Scarecrow: I don't know... But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking... don't they?
Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.

Dorothy: What would you do with a brain if you had one?

Wizard of Oz: You, my friend, are a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate impression that just because you run away you have no courage; you're confusing courage with wisdom.

Dorothy: I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

Wicked Witch of the West: Who ever thought a little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness?

Scarecrow: I could while away the hours/conferrin' with the flowers/consultin' with the rain/And my head I'd be scratchin'/ While my thoughts were busy hatchin'/If I only had a brain.

Wizard of Oz: Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the Earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain. Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have. But they have one thing you haven't got: a diploma.

Dorothy: Well, we're not living in a trailer park, so we'll be all right.

Glinda, the Good Witch of the North: You have no power here! Now begone, before somebody drops a house on you!

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.fiint.com/1766/wizard-of-oz-quotes-google-doodle-celebrates-the-wizard-of-oz-71st-birthday/

http://blog.beliefnet.com/ourladyofweightloss/2010/08/wizard-of-oz-quotes-to-live-by.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138/quotes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_(1939_film)

http://thewizardofoz.warnerbros.com/

Truth about Bill Cosby: Dead or Alive

2010-08-02T22:09:00.000-07:00

One of the top searched strings today was did bill cosby die. I will not pull suspense any longer by simply calming down all the Bill Cosby fans. Not true!!! Cosby Show star is alive and well. Cosby distributed a joke messages to his followers on Twitter, that his death was another hoax earlier today.

Bill Cosby Dead at the age of 72 is only an internet rumor believed to have started on Twitter. No major news stations supported the rumor on Bill Cosby’s death. And that is not for the first time. Cosby has been the subject of another such deception in February 2010.

Bill Cosby, only 73 years old, and someone with his young relation, of course, 20 years younger, than most of his chronological age.

Mini Biography

William H. Cosby Jr. was born on July 12th, 1937, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and for over thirty years, he has been one of the world's most respected and well-known entertainers and comedians. After tenth grade, Cosby joined the Navy and completed high school through a correspondence course. He later took up athletics’ scholarship at Temple University, supporting himself during his studies by tending bar, where his easy-going style and witty joking with the clients prompted suggestions that he try stand-up comedy. This he did and was soon to be discovered by the legendary Carl Reiner.

In his early twenties, he appeared on many well-known variety programs including "The Ed Sullivan Show" (1948) (aka "The Ed Sullivan Show"). His big break came in 1965 when he appeared as "Alexander Scott" in "I Spy" (1965), winning numerous Emmys for his performance. He later appeared in "The Bill Cosby Show" (1969), playing a teacher, although originally the show only lasted for two years. He then created a Filmation cartoon based on many of his high school buddies including Weird Harold, Dumb Donald, Mushmouth, and others: the show was, of course, "The New Fat Albert Show" (1972). The theme was humorous but also focused on Cosby's more educational side. He studied for many years during his career in the 1960s and 1970s, and he received a doctorate in Education from the University of Massachusetts. Cosby also starred in some highly successful movies such as Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Let's Do It Again (1975), A Piece of the Action (1977), Mother, Jugs & Speed (1976), and California Suite (1978). During his early years he also made some comedy albums that sold very well; his most notable comedy song being "Little Old Man." He was one of the original cast members of "The Electric Company" (1971), and he was featured in the series "Pinwheel" (1979) during the late 1970s and then appeared in the mediocre The Devil and Max Devlin (1981).

In 1984, 'Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids' stopped production, and "The Cosby Show" (1984) commenced. The show was originally intended to follow a blue-collar family, but finally ended up portraying a white-collar family. It was originally rejected by ABC, accepted by a then-floundering NBC, and was an almost instant success. From 1985 to 1987 the show broke viewing records, with Cosby becoming perhaps the strongest driving force in television during the eighties. Despite this great success, he arguably created his own downfall. The Cosby Show led what was considered by many at that time to be the best night of television: the line-up included "Night Court" (1984), "Hill Street Blues" (1981), and "Family Ties" (1982), which all followed The Cosby Show.

Cosby was dissatisfied with the way minorities were portrayed on television. He produced the TV series "A Different World" (1987) and insisted that this program should follow the Cosby Show, rather than Family Ties. A Different World was set in an historically Black college and concentrated on young people and education. Impact was felt on the show immediately; at its peak, the Cosby Show logged an estimated 70 million viewers. However, after the scheduling reshuffle, the show lost roughly 20% of its massive audience. However, Cosby was still riding high in the early nineties until massive competition from "The Simpsons" (1989).

The Cosby Show finally ended in 1992, conceding to "The Simpsons" (1989), with the final production considered to be one of the highest-rated shows of the season and featured a pleading Cosby asking for peace in riot-torn Los Angeles during the height of the Rodney King riots. Cosby never seemed able to top the success of the Cosby Show; his film Leonard Part 6 (1987) was considered to be one of the worst American films in history and may have contributed in part to his downfall as a film actor, along with his performance in Ghost Dad (1990). He did attempt a minor comeback in 1996 starring in the Robin Williams film Jack (1996), which was directed by Francis Ford Coppola; and in another show, "Cosby" (1996), (starring Phylicia Rashad, who appeared as his wife in the previous Cosby Show). Since then he has produced films such as Men of Honor (2000), and shows including "Little Bill" (1999).

Sadly, his son Ennis was murdered in 1997. Throughout the years, Bill Cosby has taken a socially conscious tone, often associated with family values, coupled with a distinctly urban spin on his style. He will go down in entertainment history as one of the most successful and most respected entertainers in the world.

Want to see Bill Cosby when he was young, ambitious, not very popular, but still funny?

A Very Young Bill Cosby - The most amazing videos are a click away

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.12news.us/did-bill-cosby-die.html

http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978033989

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/08/bill_cosby_is_not_dead.html

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001070/bio

Roman Polanski. Genius! Sex Offender?

2010-07-12T21:41:00.000-07:00

Public interest has been attracted today to a stunning ruling, when Roman Polanski was declared a free man— no longer confined to house arrest in his Alpine villa after Swiss authorities rejected a U.S. request for his extradition because of a 32-year-old sex conviction.

The decision left the Oscar-winning director free to return to France and the life of a celebrity, albeit one unable to visit the United States. Switzerland, which arrested the 76-year-old Polanski last September as he arrived receive a lifetime achievement award at a Zurich film festival, blamed U.S. authorities for its decision, citing a possible "fault in the U.S. extradition request." The United States failed to provide confidential testimony to refute defense arguments the filmmaker had actually served his sentence before fleeing Los Angeles three decades ago, Widmer-Schlumpf said.

The Swiss decision for now ends the United States' long pursuit of Polanski, who has been a fugitive since fleeing sentencing for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl. But Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said his office will try again to have Polanski extradited if he is arrested in another country with a favorable extradition treaty.

Beyond the legal issue, the extradition request was complicated and diplomatically sensitive because of Polanski's status as a cultural icon in France and Poland, where he holds dual citizenship, and his history as a Holocaust survivor whose first wife Sharon Tate was murdered in 1969 by followers of cult leader Charles Manson in California.

France, where the filmmaker has spent much of his time, does not extradite its own citizens and Polanski has had little trouble traveling throughout Europe — although he has stayed away from Britain. The U.S. cannot appeal the decision, but Polanski is still a fugitive in the United States.

In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the Obama administration was disappointed by the Swiss action. "The United States believes that the rape of a 13-year-old child by an adult is a crime, and we continue to pursue justice in this case," Crowley said.

In Los Angeles, Cooley, who is running for state attorney general, called the decision a "disservice to justice and other victims as a whole." He accused the Swiss of using the issue of the confidential testimony as an excuse to set Polanski free. "To justify their finding to deny extradition on an issue that is unique to California law regarding conditional examination of a potentially unavailable witness is a rejection of the competency of the California courts," Cooley said. "The Swiss could not have found a smaller hook on which to hang their hat."

Widmer-Schlumpf, the Swiss justice minister, said the decision was not meant to excuse Polanski's crime, adding the issue was "not about deciding whether he is guilty or not guilty." The government said extradition had to be rejected "considering the persisting doubts concerning the presentation of the facts of the case." In justifying the decision, Switzerland also invoked what it called the "public order" — a lofty notion meaning that governments should ensure their citizens are safe from arbitrary abuse of the law. The Justice Ministry cited the fact that U.S. authorities hadn't pursued Polanski in Switzerland previously, even though he's often visited the country and bought a house here in 2006. It also stressed that the victim, Samantha Geimer, who long ago publicly identified herself, has joined in Polanski's bid for dismissal.

The acclaimed director of "Rosemary's Baby," "Chinatown" and "The Pianist" was accused of plying his victim with champagne and part of a Quaalude during a 1977 modeling shoot and raping her. He was initially indicted on six felony counts, including rape by use of drugs, child molesting and sodomy, but pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual intercourse.

In exchange, the judge agreed to drop the remaining charges and sentence him to prison for a 90-day psychiatric evaluation. However, he was released after 42 days by an evaluator who deemed him mentally sound and unlikely to offend again.

The judge responded by saying he was going to send Polanski back to jail for the remainder of the 90 days and that afterward he would ask Polanski to agree to a "voluntary deportation." Polanski then fled the country on the eve of his Feb. 1, 1978, sentencing.

"Polanski got away with a lot, but it's not all black and white," said Loyola Law School professor Stan Goldman. "I don't see the D.A. rushing to investigate the very palpable evidence of misconduct in the original case. And the victim said they were hurting her every time they brought this up. So there are many shades of gray."

Sources and Additional Information:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/roman_polanski

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-me-0713-polanski-freedom-20100712,0,5300268.story

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0713/1224274586501.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/roman-polanski/7886702/Roman-Polanski-released-US-says-case-is-not-closed.html

Google to acquire travel software firm ITA

2010-07-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

ITA Software search string made to the top of Google Search Trend. And it is understandable, because the name of the company ITA Software has became linked to the leading search provider Google itself. And, Google, as usual, is in the community focus, being at the focus of public attention.

According to the official Google press release, today, July 1, 2010, Google announced an agreement to acquire ITA Software, a Cambridge, Massachusetts flight information software company, for $700 million, subject to adjustments.

Google's acquisition of ITA Software will create a new, easier way for users to find better flight information online, which should encourage more users to make their flight purchases online.
The acquisition will benefit passengers, airlines and online travel agencies by making it easier for users to comparison shop for flights and airfares and by driving more potential customers to airlines' and online travel agencies' websites. Google won't be setting airfare prices and has no plans to sell airline tickets to consumers.
Because Google doesn't currently compete against ITA Software, the deal will not change existing market shares. We are very excited about ITA Software's QPX business, and we're looking forward to working with current and future customers. Google will honor all existing agreements, and we're also enthusiastic about adding new partners.

ITA’s technology earlier drew interest from several other firms, including Expedia Inc., Kayak.com, Travelport LP and Amadeus SA, people familiar with the matter said. Some of them submitted unsolicited bids for ITA but weren't given access to ITA's financial information because it was in exclusive talks with Google. There are rumors that at least one bidder was taking a "wait and see" approach to how Google would handle ITA's clients while another was considering whether it should take a more vocal stand against the deal.

Google said it would "honor all existing agreements, and we're also enthusiastic about adding new partners."

Henry Harteveldt, a travel-industry analyst at market watcher Forrester Research Inc., said he "would be surprised if the regulators found any cause for concern."

The deal helps Google compete with rival Microsoft Corp.'s Bing search engine, which uses ITA's technology to provide airfare information; search queries on Google currently point air travelers to other sites.

The acquisition is Google's fourth-largest in its nearly 12 years of existence and comes on the heels of a $750 million purchase of AdMob Inc., a mobile advertising company. That deal received significant scrutiny by federal antitrust regulators before being approved earlier this year.

With ITA, Google could provide more detailed results, including recommending specific flights, and better compete with the other online travel agencies. Critics worry, that Google could use its dominance in overall search to direct traffic to its own offering or increase licensing fees for ITA software. On Thursday Mr. Schmidt said "Google is not going to become a travel agency."

ITA was founded in 1996 by a team of computer scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It raised a $100-million round of funding in 2006 from venture capital firms Sequoia Capital, Battery Ventures and General Catalyst Partners.

The deal signals Google's serious interest in becoming a major player in travel, a hub of online commerce including search.

"With Google, we think we will have access to the scale, both of technology and of other bright people to work with, to help really take this to the next level," ITA Chief Executive Jeremy Wertheimer said.

Online Travel Ecosystem

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.google.com/press/ita/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703571704575341270531117614.html

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-google-travel-20100702,0,7794153.story

Abby Sunderland was in great spirits after being spotted!!!

2010-06-11T16:59:00.000-07:00

The Qantas airbus sent from Perth early today contacted the 16-year-old Miss Sunderland on board her stricken vessel Wild Eyes around 2pm today. A Qantas spokesman said the airbus arrived over the search area about 2pm and spotted Miss Sunderland's damaged yacht shortly afterwards.

Her yacht has been dismasted, but remained upright and she is reported to be "in good spirits''. She will be rescued by fishing boat within 24 hours, rescue authorities said.

A crew of 11 SES and FESA volunteers that were on board the 'spotter' airbus returned to Perth just after 7:30pm last night after successfully locating the troubled vessel in the Indian Ocean.

FESA taskforce leader Will Blackshaw said the crew had a very brief period of contact with the young sailor, but said she remained positive despite the setback.

"Abby is in very good spirits," he said. "She's obviously keen to have some assistance, but she is in very good spirits. The window of opportunity to speak to her was very short, so we had very brief, direct conversations about her health, the condition of the vessel, and her communications. The seas are very rough indeed, and there is a lot of wind, and she is obviously going to have a very uncomfortable night of sleep”.

He said the plane was conducting its first pass of the area and had been searching for Abby for only 10 minutes when she was spotted from the air.

The crew then made radio contact with the young sailor, with the first words conveyed being "This is Abby". Mr Blackshaw said the crew instructed Abby to activate two further EPIRB devices tomorrow afternoon to ensure a continuous signal for rescue crews to spot her.

FESA spokesman Chris Lawson confirmed a second, smaller plane would leave Perth Airport early this morning to conduct another sighting and ensure Abby was okay. SES volunteer Michael Wood, who spotted Abby's vessel from the airbus, said he had been excited to locate the boat.

"Because I was at the front of the plane, I just happened to spot Abby as she came into the field of view," he said. "It was very nervy at first, but very exciting that positive contact had been made. We're all mindful that Abby's got a number of hours left so we've all got our fingers crossed."

Sgt Mike Wear, from WA Water Police, said Abby sounded "very upbeat and very strong" during the brief contact. "It certainly was a very emotional event to be able to speak to the young girl Abby today and see her in that predicament out there," he said.

Earlier today, Qantas refused to comment on how much the trip had cost the company or whether they would seek reimbursement for the flight.

Laurence Sunderland said his daughter would not be resuming her round-the-world attempt once she has been rescued, the AFP news agency reports. Abby had been trying to break her brother Zac's solo voyage record. "We've got our Abigail back and the quest will be over," he said. "Knowing that she's alive and well means so much more to me than any sailing record. It's just a huge, huge relief."

He and his wife had rejected criticism from some over their decision to allow her to make the attempt, saying she was prepared and mentally well-equipped to deal with the challenge.

Sources and Additional Information:

http://100searches.blogspot.com/2010/06/16-year-old-abby-sunderland-is-lost-in.html

http://soloround.blogspot.com/2010/06/photo-and-flyover-update.html

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/solo-sailor-abby-sunderland-out-of-contact-distress-signal-activated/story-e6frg12c-1225878274560#

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0611-abby-sunderland-20100611,0,5457878.story

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10291246.stm

16-year old Abby Sunderland is lost in Indian Ocean

2010-06-10T22:49:00.000-07:00

Abby Sunderland is the 16-year-old girl who was sailing around the world in attempt to set a record as the youngest ever to do so. According to The Associated Press she is currently missing between Africa and Australia. Reports came from her brother that the teen navigator lost contact with her family this past Thursday when she was in the Southern Indian Ocean. Reportedly, Abby was sailing into a storm at the time and her emergency beacons were activated.

The family provided an update on the situation at abbysunderland.com. They've noted that Australian Search and Rescue will be sending an airbus over her location as soon as possible. However, the best they will be able to do is communicating with her via marine radio and providing her support to address her emergency situation, if needed. According to the note posted here, Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis.

Abby set sail from Los Angeles County's Marina del Rey on Jan. 23 in an attempt to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone without stopping. Abby soon ran into equipment problems and had to stop for repairs. She gave up the goal of setting the record in April, but continued on. Her website says she left Cape Town, South Africa, on May 21 and on Monday reached the halfway point of her goal.

The search will continue for Abby Sunderland between Africa and Australia. Hopefully it was a glitch with some equipment that caused the distress/emergency beacon signal. Let's hope she is located soon and everything is fine with Abby.

Abby's father struggled with emotions and said he didn't know if his daughter was in a life raft or aboard the boat, or whether the boat was upside down.

"Everything seemed to be under control," Laurence Sunderland said. "But then our call dropped and a hour later the Coast Guard called."

Sunderland’s Boat

Sunderland's yacht, Wild Eyes, is a 40-foot (12.19 m) sloop built in 2001 by A.S.A. Yachts PTY, Australia. It was designed by Jutson Yacht, Australia, specifically to be sailed single-handed through the Southern Ocean. As BTC Velocity, the vessel finished second in the Class 3 (Open 40) category of the Around Alone 2002 race. Wild Eyes is constructed of E-glass with Kevlar reinforcement into five watertight compartments with a crash bulkhead and a stern escape hatch. It was bought in Rhode Island by the Sunderland family in October 2009, then sailed by Abby and Zac, with their father Laurence, to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for transport to California. Wild Eyes was refit in Marina Del Rey, California with an array of electrical, communication and navigation systems.

Abby is hundreds of miles from land. The nearest ship was about 400 miles away. The rescue effort is being coordinated by the French-controlled Reunion Islands and Australia. Sunderland had been sailing in 50- to 60-foot seas and it was dark when the EPIRB devices were activated.

The Sunderlands are asking people to pray for their daughter, a high-school junior from Thousand Oaks, Calif.

The latest official note from Abby Sunderland family

June 10th, 2010 10:23am We spoke with Abby early this morning and learned that she had had a very rough day with winds up to 60 knots and seas 20-25 feet. She had been knocked down several times but was handling things well. The wind had subsided to around 35 knots which she and Wild Eyes are quite comfortable with.

We were helping her troubleshoot her engine that she was trying to start to charge her systems. Satellite phone reception was patchy. She was able to get the water out of the engine and start her up. We were waiting to hear back from her when American Search & Rescue authorities called to report having received a signal from her emergency beacon (EPIRB). We initially thought that the signal was sent automatically from her water-activated EPIRB and that it had been activated during one of her knockdowns. As we pulled the paperwork from her EPIRB registration, we learned that the signal had come from her manually activated EPIRB.
We were referred to Australian Search & Rescue and while we were on the phone with them another signal came in from her handheld PLB (Personal Locator Beacon). Her water-activated EPIRB has not been activated so we are hopeful that the boat is still upright.
We are working closely with American, French and Australian Search & Rescue authorities to coordinate several ships in the area to divert to her location. There are several ships in her area, the earliest possible contact is 40 hours. We are actively seeking out some sort of air rescue but this is difficult due to the remoteness of her location. Australian Search & Rescue have arranged to have a Quantas Airbus fly over her location at first light (she is 11 hours later). They will not be able to help her other than to talk via marine radio if they are able to get close enough. Hopefully, they will be able to assess her situation and report back to us.
Abby has all of the equipment on board to survive a crisis situation like this. She has a dry suit, survival suit, life raft, and ditch bag with emergency supplies. If she can keep warm and hang on, help will be there as soon as possible. Wild Eyes is designed for travel in the Southern Ocean and is equipped with 5 air-tight bulkheads to keep her buoyant in the event of major hull damage. It is built to Category 0 standards and is designed to self-right in the event of capsize.
Thank you for all of your kind emails and calls. We appreciate your prayers and support.
We will update as soon as there is some news.
Laurence, Marianne and Team Abby

Latest Video Interview with Zac, Abby’s Brother:

16-year old Abby Sunderland lost in Indian Ocean

Sources and Additional Information:

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978292997

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/17943/emergency+rescue+effort+is+launched+for+teen+sailor+abby+sunderland/

http://www.sevensidedcube.net/general/2010/abby-sunderland-16-year-old-sailing-around-the-world-lost-in-indian-ocean/

http://soloround.blogspot.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abby_Sunderland

Irina Pavlova – new top figure at NBAs New Jersey Nets

2010-05-20T21:18:00.001-07:00

Today many Google readers were checking for the Irina Pavlova on the Search Engine. Who is that Russian lady, capturing so much of attention? You would be surprised, but the interest came from the sport breakthrough news.

The new owner of the New Jersey Nets, Russian Mikhail Prokhorov, has appointed Irina Pavlova as president of the company that will oversee his ownership of the Nets and their new stadium he’s building.

“She will work closely with the management structure of the Nets to create all conditions necessary for successful development of the team,” he said.

Pavlova has extensive experience in business and finance. She earned an MBA from Stanford University, worked as a financial analyst with Prudential Investment Corp. and became Russia’s first employee for Google. She lived in Moscow and Washington as a child. She’s fluent in Russian, English and Spanish.

Prokhorov, a billionaire who is Russia’s richest man, immediately fired the club director and has promised to revive the last-place Nets and bring them to the top in the nearest future. His company, Onexim, described Pavlova as the “perfect bridge between Russia and the United States.”

“She will establish the company’s office (in New York) and cooperate closely with the Nets management to ensure they have everything they need to build a championship team,” Onexim said in a statement.

Pavlova will coordinate the development project in Brooklyn that is to become the Nets’ new home. The long-delayed arena is expected to open in 2012. Prokhorov agreed to buy 80 percent of the Nets and 45 percent of the arena project from developer Bruce Ratner last year.

In the recent interview to The New York Times, Mikhail Prokhorov announced “America, I came with piece!”

I should also confess that I was not successful to find online any pictures of Irina Pavlova, neither in English, nor in Russian publications.

Scandal Pictures of the Miss 2010 Contestants

2010-05-10T23:09:00.000-07:00

Miss USA scandal pictures search string captured the top listing in the Google Hot Trends today, after TMZ.com reported that there has been considerable controversy over the promotional photos for Miss USA contestants. All the photos authorized by the pageant. The Miss USA pageant airs tonight.

The Miss Universe Organization has released a set of black-and-white pictures of the Miss USA 2010 contestants that are very sexy and causing a bit of an uproar. According to TMZ, traditionalist fans are making “tons of calls” complaining about how “provocative” the photos of the Miss USA 2010 contestants are.

The Miss Universe Organization defends the photos, noting that the pictures are “tasteful and very sexy.” Tasteful the photos might be, but it is most likely the “very sexy” that many find so objectionable. Pageant representatives told TMZ: “You can have brains and be smart and still be sexy.” Many would agree that intelligence is a form of beauty and be quite attractive in a sexy sort of way.

The black-and-white Miss USA 2010 pictures may simply be a pushback from the political correctness –where intellect has been championed over pulchritude — that seems to have been pervasive in the beauty pageant sphere for the past decade or so. There have been various movements to discontinue certain portions of the contests, including the bikini contests, because some believed that it objectified women, placing too high a value on the sexuality and the physical beauty of the contestants.

Of course, the sexy Miss USA 2010 photos may simply be a very smart and timely promotion by the Miss Universe Organization, which is owned by Donald Trump, a man who knows more than a little about promotion.

The upcoming Miss USA 2010 Pageant will be shown on NBC May 16 at 7 p.m. EST. The sexy pictures of the contestants can be seen and rated at MissUniverse.com.

Review the selected images to give you impression what is all about. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge a pic.

So, do you really think that these pictures are inappropriate? Is not Miss USA pageant not about the beauty? I personally do not see anything wrong in “the big picture” and in any of these photos in particular. Beautiful ladies and professionally made shots!

UPDATE
So, as you see, there are no clickable pictures in the post. My picture host decided that the pics are inappropriate for the public gallery storage, so just thumbs could be seen. So, the media perception is clear. I am still not convinced, however....

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