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To get to Highland Park from downtown Los Angeles, you'll hop on the 110 North towards Pasadena and eventually pass through a strip of highway that's one of L.A.'s oldest. The five lanes shrink down to two, and the synchronized stoplights at the foot of the onramp are replaced by stop signs. If you exit at one of the avenues and head west on Figueroa, it's likely you'll spot the sign for El Atacor #11, a chain famous for its tacos dorados de papa. Make a left on to York Avenue, pass the La Estrella lonchero truck that tempts you with its sizzling asada, and a half mile down York you'll see the humble storefront of Galco's Soda Pop Stop, an Italian Grocery Mart established in 1897.
Recently, I walked into Galco's for a second time to meet John Nese, owner of the nostalgia-tinged soda pop shop that is often credited with reviving craft soda interest 15 years ago. Normally, I don't begin interviews by profusely apologizing to the subject, but my recording device had failed me the previous go-around, and all the colorful anecdotes, sharp insights, and pocket wisdom had been erased. This time, I placed two recording devices on the table and grumbled about the pitfalls of technology.
John sympathized. "You think that's bad?" he asked. He said he paid $2,000 dollars to have someone tell him that the computer chip died in his car. And, he pointed out, only the dealers have access to the right equipment and computers. Which reminded him: It used to be a dollar to get a key made; now, it's $250 to buy an electronic one from the dealer.
"How much control are we under?" he asked. Little Richard was wailing from the radio, in seeming agreement. "I mean, that really bothers me. And they're forcing this onto the people…I'll get off my soapbox now," he laughed.
Selling sodas is merely his platform, one that allows him to call out the wrongs and trappings of Big Business.
Interludes like these frequently pop up in conversation with John, the longtime Highland Park native whose family emigrated from Italy. Since taking over the business, he's turned his store into a bastion of craft soda, where the shelves are stocked with bottles emblazoned with quirky slogans ("Drink it for Vim and Vigor") and the sounds of doo-wop music can be heard playing overhead. For him, supporting the small guys is a life's work.
John is a friendly man, filled with a child-like enthusiasm about a beverage adored by children. His handshake is earnest. He is widely considered the guardian for independent soda bottlers. But at his core, John is a vigilant watchdog—a social activist in the guise of a small business owner, calling out injustices that, if you ask him, are often levied by big corporations and institutions that think they can operate unchecked. It's this iconoclastic streak that's earned him letters from Pepsi's lawyers, threatening to file a lawsuit because he was selling Mexican Pepsi.
In his words, they're posted so everyone can see what goes on in the world of "high finance." Having lived in L.A. his entire life, his knowledge of public policy and cultural history is deep. Selling sodas, as I soon learned, is merely his platform, one that allows him to call out the wrongs and trappings of Big Business. It was 15 years ago when, faced with financial troubles, John decided to stock his shelves with small-batch, independent bottlers after a run-in he had with a Pepsi salesman.
Now, Galco's carries 600 different types of pop, as well as off-the-beaten path candies, beers, and an underrated Italian sub for only $4.50. Amid the vast treasure trove you'll find oddball flavors such as cucumber, anise, and banana; 60 types of root beer (some dry, some creamy); a Plantation Style Mint Julep; cereal-grain sodas (despite my skepticism, John insists that some have such a high mineral content that you can practically live off of them);sodas brewed like beer; pinot noir wine country soda; and, what may be most amazing of all, varieties of cola that don't start with "Coca."
"Coca Cola called me two weeks ago and one of their reps said, 'You're signed up for delivery but you haven't bought any.' I said yes, that's true. She said, almost uncomfortably, 'Why not?' And I told her if anyone wants a Coke you can get it at any store, so why should I sell it? That's the truth."
Instead of selling what's ubiquitous, Galco's provides a prelapsarian glimpse into what the world of soda might have looked like if major corporations hadn't taken over the market. John, who normally walks around to help inquiring customers, sat down and told me how he entered the business, sounded off on soda trends, gave insight into what makes a soda taste good, offered a revisionist history of the soda industry, and told personal stories about his relationship with his beloved city, Los Angeles. Step into the mind of a soda iconoclast…


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Dumbbells and decency: Some people lack gym etiquette
Tim Schweska spends a lot of time with weights in hand.
He competes in Scottish heavy events - the tossing of weights and other objects - and hits the gym frequently. The 33-year-old acknowledges he's a "bigger guy" and knows people are curious when he's pumping that iron.
But don't ask him that stereotypical question: "How much do you bench?"
"I've never walked up to a librarian and asked, 'How fast do ya read?'" Schweska said.
Gym etiquette. Some have it, but many people don't know what the phrase even means.
Tricia Cross, fitness director at two Fit Club locations in Springfield, Ill., says good manners at the gym are simple concepts to follow.
"There are tons and tons of unspoken rules when it comes to gym etiquette ... what it basically boils down to is be polite. Treat others as you would want to be treated, and don't be a slob," she said. "Common sense should be enough to know what to do or what not to do, but I guess that doesn't always happen."
Wipe it off
For example, most gyms have sanitizing products so you can wipe down your equipment after use. Not everyone practices that policy, though. And it can get pretty disgusting, as Kevin Cox of Springfield noted when describing a fellow gym-goer who uses an elliptical trainer and tends to sweat a lot.
The other person's sweat spills "onto the framework of the machine between his feet and runs down to the lowest level, where he lets it sit after quitting his workout. It smells very bad," Cox said. "He wipes the sweat from the handholds but only with a dry towel, instead of the sterilizing wipes the club provides. I find it very distasteful and cannot bring myself to get on the machine after he's been there."
Cross said everyone should clean their stuff when they are finished.
"As we already know, the gym is disgusting," she said. "Don't add to it by leaving your sweat all over the stuff you're using."
Molly Suhadolnik, co-owner of CrossFit Instinct and director of group fitness and wellness at Gold's Gym, agreed.
"Even in smaller gyms with less members, there is still usually a high number of people coming in and out, sharing equipment," she said. " ... Gyms should provide some type of sanitary wipes and towels. Use these on machines before you use them, and wipe them off after you are done. It is nearly impossible for employees to be able to wipe down everything in between each use. It is up to you to keep things clean, as well."
Talk it out
Schweska, who has been weightlifting for 17 years, said most gyms have signs posted regarding cellphone use on the gym floor, but "so many people ignore the warning."
"Most of you are not doctors, you don't work for the president or the Pentagon, and none of us have any interest what you did at the bar last night, so hang up the phone," he said.
Cross said the gym isn't a good place for a conversation in person, either.
"Don't bother someone in the middle of a set," she said. "Wait for them to finish, then ask them whatever it is you needed to. There is nothing like being in the middle of a set, busting your hump to get it done, and all the sudden there is a tap on your shoulder or you hear, 'Excuse me, but ...' Talk about killing the motivation. Plus, it is dangerous and you might hurt someone ... or someone might hurt you for interrupting their set."
Suhadolnik said grunting is a common complaint.
"Grunting during a workout is perfectly acceptable, as long as it is by accident or on your final rep. Grunting loudly rep after rep, set after set, is simply wasting energy. Couldn't that energy be used towards your lift to get a better number?" she said. "This is disruptive to others and usually seems as though it is just for attention."
Share and share alike
Gyms are shared spaces. But some people behave as if the gym is a private exercise room at home.
Brooke Anderson of Springfield says she works out over her lunch break, which means she doesn't have much time. But she says doing circuits - short, intense sessions on a variety of machines - isn't easy when other exercisers decide to rest on machines.
"Oftentimes I have to skip a couple of machines because people will sit on them and not use them, or if they do use them, they do them half-heartedly and will sit on it for over 10 minutes and look around. Very frustrating," Anderson said.
Cross said to be courteous to others. This includes picking your weights up when you are finished, and not hogging the equipment.
"If you are doing something that you would get mad at if someone were to do it to you, don't do it. If you wouldn't trash your own home, don't do it here."
Gym hygiene
Rules of thumb, from Molly Suhadolnik, director of group fitness and wellness at Gold's Gym in Springfield:
- If you are sick, stay home. When people have a hard workout, your body is temporarily at a higher risk as the immune system drops for a short amount of time. So if you're sick when you work out, you could potentially share your illness with other people at the gym.
- Wash your hands after using the restroom. Don't do just a quick rinse-off - lather up for at least 15 seconds.
- Cough into your sleeve, not your hands. Working out involves lots of touching of weights, buttons exercise machines, etc. Coughing into your sleeve will help prevent the spread of germs.

subset: commoncrawl


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This article is more than 1 year old
Acer CloudMobile S500 Android phone review
Handset of the year? No, really
When I recently took a quick shufti at the alternatives on offer to anyone harbouring doubts about the iPhone 5 I stuck my neck out and awarded a Recommended badge to a phone I'd only used briefly at a trade show. After using it for a week has my enthusiasm waned? Nope.
Bargain blower: Acer's CloudMobile S500
Acer's new baby gives you a 4.3in 720 x 1280 IPS screen, a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Krait CPU MSM8260A with 1GB of RAM along with 8Mp main and 1Mp web cameras all for less than three hundred quid. That would make a pretty convincing offer even if was a styleless and plasticky lump which it most assuredly is not.
Until now, Acer had yet to make an aesthetically truly convincing mobile phone. The CloudMobile still has the trademark curved top and bottom – and just a wee bit too much bezel at each end – yet the quality of materials are in a different league from its previous handsets.
Lightweight and feels nice in the hand too
Thanks to a nicely rounded soft-touch back it's an extremely pleasant phone to hold and use. It's also pretty light, an important factor in this age of increasingly large and hefty handsets.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the first 720p Android smartphone to feature a 4.3 rather than a 4.5, 4.6 or 4.7in screen. Be that as it may, the end result is an impressive pixel-density of 342dpi, which makes the display supremely crisp and sharp. The IPS panel also features what Acer calls Zero Air Gap, which, in layman's terms, means there are fewer spaces between the internal layers for light to bounce around off. This makes things brighter and sharper still.
Given the high pixel density on the 4.3in display, the quality is superb
The end results are very robust viewing angles, excellent colour saturation and good performance in bright sunlight. This really is one of the very best phone screens I have ever clapped eyes on: crisper than the iPhone 5 and with none of the freaky super-saturated colours of the Galaxy SIII's AMOLED display.


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Ohio beard victim testifies against fellow Amish
CLEVELAND (AP) -- An Amish bishop concerned about cult-style "brain-washing" by a breakaway group testified against 16 fellow Amish Thursday and said his chest-length beard was chopped to within 1 1/2 inches of his chin in a late-night home invasion.
"I saw the flash of scissors right by my head," Myron Miller, 46, of Carrollton told a U.S. District Court jury, holding up two fingers to demonstrate the open blades.
The jury is hearing evidence in five attacks labeled by the government as religious-based hate crimes. The defense calls them internal church discipline.
"I tried to get away," said Miller, testifying how four or five men dragged him by the beard out of his farmhouse last Oct. 4 and wrestled him to the ground. His beard has grown back nearly to mid-chest.
Hair and beards have spiritual significance in the Amish faith. Amish men do not shave their beards after marriage, believing it signifies their devotion to God.
Miller testified that the beard-cutting left him in shame. "It was humiliating," he testified as dozens of Amish watched from the public gallery. "Did I look different? Definitely."
Under questioning by the prosecutor, Miller testified that he was concerned about "cultic" brain-washing in the breakaway community. Prosecutors say the leader, Sam Mullet Sr., was involved in "sexual counseling" of women in his community. He hasn't been charged with sex-related crimes.
Pressed by the prosecutor to specify his concerns, Miller mentioned without details "cultic" activities and reported "brain-washing" of community members required to submit to Mullet's authority.
Miller testified about a long-running dispute with Mullet, whose son moved to Miller's community and later got embroiled in a child custody dispute.
Ed Bryan, defense attorney for Mullet, asked Miller whether the dispute involved personal issues instead of religious differences as the government has argued in calling the attacks religion-based hate crimes.
"I have nothing against Sam Mullet," Miller responded. "What's going on in that community, or was going on, we were very concerned about interaction with any of our members."
Trying to cast the issue as personal, Bryan asked Miller about a horse-and-buggy dispute with Mullet that came to a head last fall and asked, "Less than a week later your beard's cut, right?"
"Correct," Miller testified.
The defendants, who live in the Bergholz settlement in eastern Ohio, could face lengthy prison terms if convicted on charges that include conspiracy and obstructing justice. Mullet has denied ordering the hair-cutting but said he didn't stop anyone from carrying it out.
Attorneys for the defendants have not denied that the hair cuttings took place and said in the opening statements that members of the breakaway group took action out of compassion and concern that some Amish were straying from their beliefs.


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4-stjernet hotel i Grenoble
The 4-star Le Grand Hôtel is located in the Grenoble City Centre, 10 metres from Place Grenette. The guest rooms are soundproofed, air-conditioned and some offer a balcony.
The guest rooms have a private bathroom with a bathtub or a walk-in shower. They also have a minibar, a flat-screen TV with satellite channels and free WiFi.
Le Stendhal onsite bar offers a variety of drinks, cocktails and wines. Guests have the option of a full-breakfast or an express breakfast. A range of cold dishes can be delivered to your room for lunch or dinner.
The front desk at Le Grand Hôtel Grenoble is open 24 hours a day. Grenoble TGV Train Station is 1.5 km away. Public parking is available nearby.


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Sketched Out: The Rise of Underground Sound In Toronto
A documentary about 3 decades of underground music in Toronto. Coming Soon.
Sketched Out The Movie
Announcements of any kind - CD releases, parties, club dates, whatever
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Friday, 22 February 2013 05:31 AM EST
Italy, the eurozone's third-biggest economy, is deep in its longest recession for 20 years. Successive governments have failed to revive an economy stagnant for two decades.
Public fury over record unemployment — especially among the young — tax increases and economic pain, combined with a recent rash of high-level corruption cases has fanned support for comic Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.
A skillful Internet user, Grillo has been the most active on the hustings, touring Italy in a camper van on a "tsunami tour," shouting himself hoarse with obscenity-laced insults at a discredited political class, winning roars of approval from large crowds.
Some analysts say his could be the third-biggest single party in the Feb. 24-25 vote with around 20 percent support, ahead of Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL).
Berlusconi, 76, spent most of 2012 in the shadows — undermined by a lurid sex scandal — after he was ignominiously bundled out of power and replaced by technocrat Mario Monti in November 2011 as Italy faced a grave debt crisis.
Monti imposed austerity policies and brought borrowing back under control, winning plaudits from European partners.
But the billionaire media magnate burst back in December in an extraordinary blitz of television appearances, belying his age, that halved center-left Pier Luigi Bersani's 10-point poll lead over the former premier's center-right coalition.
Berlusconi, a born showman and master communicator, backed by a television empire, has won back voters by attacking a hated housing tax imposed by Monti and offering to pay it back, something his opponents say is an impossible vote-buying trick.
Bersani, a worthy but dull former minister, and his Democratic Party have seemed stuck in their tracks, complacent about their lead and unable to respond dynamically to the threat from Berlusconi and Grillo.
Monti has disappointed European partners and investors who would like to see him return to office to continue his reform agenda. Analysts said on Thursday his centrist support was draining and he may fall below 12 percent.
Pollsters still believe the most likely outcome is a center-left government headed by Bersani and backed by Monti, but the rise of Grillo and Berlusconi, and the outgoing premier's weak performance, are causing jitters about whether this will produce a strong government committed to reform.
Latest published polls before a legal blackout on Feb. 9 showed the center-left about 5 points ahead and analysts believe this still holds, with perhaps a slight decline in support.
Italy may lose momentum on reforms vital to revive growth if no clear winner emerges from the election, credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's said on Wednesday.
The spread between the yield on safe-haven 10-year German bonds and their Italian equivalent widened by 14 basis points on Thursday in a sign that hitherto relaxed investors were slowly waking up to the risk of a weak government.
Bersani's opponents also say he would be unable to agree on reforms with Monti and would be hobbled by trade unions and leftists, something party officials deny.
Grillo's owes much of his success to rage at the failure of lawmakers to keep their promises to transform the economy, change a badly flawed electoral law, cut the privileges of a pampered political class or combat rampant corruption.
Critics say his policies are vague and impractical and hardly anything is known about the 5-Star candidates, whom Grillo keeps out of the limelight and under iron control.
A bloc of more than 100 5-Star members of parliament, or a sixth of the lower chamber, could be deeply disruptive and further delay reforms.
"The 5-Star Movement is providing an outlet for rage and frustration. The traditional parties are incapable of indicating any other course," said author Beppe Severgnini in a front page editorial in the Corriere della Sera daily on Thursday.
Massimo Franco, one of Italy's top political analysts, told Reuters: "Grillo is the most visible sign of a crisis in the political system, the system that people are fed up with . . . this is the end of a system not of a government."
Ironically, however, a late surge by Grillo may hurt Berlusconi more than the left and could increase the chances of a more stable Bersani-Monti government.
Analysts say that, helped by Grillo's rise at Berlusconi's expense, Bersani may even be able to win undisputed control of the Senate or upper house, something which has been in doubt.
Under Italy's electoral law, Bersani will win comfortable control of the lower house even if he is only just in front of Berlusconi because of a hefty winner's bonus.
In the Senate the bonus is allocated by region, hence the center-right target is to stymie a center-left government in the upper house, which has equal law-making power to the Chamber of Deputies.
Bersani has said he would like to ally with Monti even if he wins alone, to give his government stronger cover in the markets and underline his declared commitment to pro-European reforms. But he refuses to abandon his leftist ally Nichi Vendola as the price of a post-election pact.
Bersani's economy spokesman, Stefano Fassina, told Reuters this week that the center-left was committed to urgent economic reforms, headed by streamlining a bloated public sector and making radical changes in a complex judicial system that is a disincentive to investment.
Monti would not be able to refuse to enter a governing alliance that guaranteed stability, reform and a bulwark against dangerous populism, he said.
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The man pictured here is Wladimir Klitschko. It is telling that you might know who he is; he's the IBF, WBO and IBO world heavyweight champion, which isn't nearly as cool as it was 15 years ago. But still: The job of the heavyweight champion of the world is to be the "scariest man on earth," and make headlines for it. People don't have to watch boxing, they just have to know that the heavyweight champ is out there causing a ruckus.
Kiltschko is Ukranian, but he was born in Kazakhstan, also home to Borat. So when he ran into Sasha Baron Cohen and his wife Isla Fisher in a Los Angeles restaurant last week, he thought he might have a little fun with the guy.
According to The Daily Star, Klitschko said: "As he walked past me I turned to face him and said, 'Hey, I think you are an arsehole for what you said about Kazakhstan'. Unbelievably, he started to defend himself – but before he could continue I stood up and was towering over him. I said, 'I have broken people's necks for less than what you have done.'"
"He looked frightened – like he had picked a fight with the wrong man. And then I owned up and told him I really think his Borat character is amazing. He looked pretty relieved!"
We hope Klitschko sold the "character is amazing" line hard, because, well, Isla Fisher is far too lovely and hilarious to have to deal with her husband urinating himself in her presence. Though we would understand.
See? Kazakhs Do Have a Sense of Humor [KZ Blog]


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text: In the days following Atmananda's talk, I longed to know if my vision of the "snow" had been a mystical experience, an optical illusion, or a figment of my imagination. Graduation was only weeks away. I assumed that Atmananda would help me solve the mystery, and I counted the days until his next public lecture. I did not tell my friends much about Atmananda. They seemed content, even after reading the Castaneda books, to view the world through a rational framework. In contrast, I grew excited about the possibility of transcending the world of reason altogether. They were proud of their letters of acceptance from the Harvards and the Princetons. I was proud of my letter of acceptance from The School Of Mysticism. My letter arrived in the form of brilliant white specks which swirled about me like snow. Nor did I tell my parents, who represented discord, anxiety, and manipulation--the opposite of what Atmananda seemed to stand for. Instead, I spoke with my brother. He and I were close. I wanted to be just like him. He used words such as disciples, selfless-service, humanity, humility, purity, soul, soul-mate, past-lives, karma, fast track, and cosmic evolution. He got excited when he talked about Atmananda. He told me that he too had experienced perceptual distortion during Atmananda's talks. We returned to "Yoga Life Perfection."


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On June 29 General Motors closed the doors of its Buick City complex in Flint, Michigan, its last operating assembly plant in the city. The plant closure deals a further blow to the industrial city, the birthplace of both the giant car company and the United Auto Workers union, that has lost tens of thousands of auto jobs over the last two decades.
GM is ending Buick production in Flint, where the large model cars have been made since 1904. The 235-acre Buick City facility had only 1,200 workers left—1,000 full time employees and 200 temporary workers—a fraction of the 28,000 auto workers who once produced cars there during the peak production years of the mid-1980s. Many of higher-seniority workers are expected to retire or will be forced to transfer to other plants throughout the country.
In 1984 GM brought together a half dozen factories to form the massive complex and dubbed it Buick City. This was supposed to be GM's answer to rival Toyota City and a symbol of the US carmaker's determination to fight foreign competition. Since then, however, the company's share of the car and truck market share has declined from around 40 percent to 30.7 percent in 1997.
GM is consolidating its large car production because of greater demand for its more profitable light trucks and Sports Utility Vehicles. Production of Buick LeSabres will transferred to more modern large car plants in Detroit/Hamtramck and Lake Orion, near Pontiac, Michigan.
The plant closing is part of GM's strategy to eliminate between 38,000-50,000 jobs in its North American operations over the next few years. Since the late 1970s the world's largest carmaker has eliminated over a quarter of a million jobs, including nearly 50,000 in the Flint area alone. Wall Street, however, has criticized GM for not carrying out the same pace of job-cutting that has made number two automaker Ford more efficient and profitable.
GM employment in the Flint area has fallen from 77,000 workers in manufacturing and office centers in 1978 to 33,000 today. The number of GM jobs is expected to dwindle further to 22,000 in the next few years. The official unemployment rate in the city is 9.7 percent, more than double the state average, and the bulk of better-paying auto jobs have been replaced with low-wage employment in the service sector.
The United Auto Workers union has been unwilling and incapable of resisting GM's unrelenting downsizing. On the contrary, in the name of boosting GM's competiveness and profitability, the UAW has aided GM in cutting labor costs and suppressed every struggle by rank-and-file autoworkers against plant closings and mass layoffs.
In 1997 when GM announced its plans to shut the assembly plant at the heart of the Buick City complex, UAW Local 599 argued that this was an unwise business decision and pledged that the union would work to increase speedup, impose more forced overtime and carry out whatever measures were needed to boost production and profits.
The Local 599 leadership went so far as to spend $4 million to place full-page ads in the Wall Street Journal and Investor's Business Daily, aimed at convincing GM stockholders that they would get a better return on their investment if the Buick City plant were kept open, and a different UAW plant was closed down. The ad featured the results of an internal GM quality report, comparing the performance of 19 GM assembly plants, including Lake Orion, Detroit/Hamtramck and Lansing, Michigan. Under the headline, "The Standings," the ad lists Buick City in second place, topped only by the joint GM-Toyota operation in California.
Last summer two strikes erupted at GM parts plants in Flint, which virtually closed the automaker's North American operations. While hundreds of thousands of auto workers in Flint and elsewhere were seeking to fight GM's attack on jobs, the UAW agreed to a contract that eliminated 1,300 of the 9,200 strikers' jobs, paved the way for further plant closings and layoffs and included a pledge not to call any further strikes until the settlement of 1999 national contract. Throughout the 44-day strike the UAW International leadership made it clear that it was not challenging GM's decision to close Buick City.
In the current round of auto talks for a new contract with GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler, the UAW leadership has already indicated that it is willing to sign a long-term agreement that will give the Big Three auto companies a further green light to close plants and eliminate jobs.


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In the world of fantasy wish lists, wouldn't it be great if—instead of prompting us to snack all the time—our bodies would just use up fat we have already stored?
One major reason this doesn't happen has to do with our diets. When you consume starch and refined sugar, these foods enter the bloodstream quickly, causing a sugar spike. Your body then produces the hormone insulin to drive that sugar from your bloodstream into cells. But over time, excessive levels of insulin can make your muscle cells lose sensitivity to the hormone, leading to type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Your fat cells are another story: They always remain sensitive. Insulin spikes lock fat into them, so you can't use it for energy.
How do you break this cycle and get your body to work optimally again? Happily, you don't need to go on an extreme diet. The first step is just to reduce the blood sugar spikes that produce sharp increases of insulin. The substance in our diet that's most responsible for these surges is starch—namely, anything made from potatoes, rice, flour, corn, or other grains. (Think pasta, lasagna, white bread, doughnuts, cookies, and cakes.) You could cut out these foods entirely. But wouldn't it be great if there were a way to solve the problem without completely eliminating these carbs?
More From Prevention
It turns out there is. You can blunt the blood sugar-raising effects by taking advantage of natural substances in foods that slow carbohydrate digestion and entry into the bloodstream. No matter what kind of sugar blocker you use, your waistline (and health) will win in the end.
Have a fatty snack 10 to 30 minutes before your meals.
Reason: You remain fuller longer. At the outlet of your stomach is a muscular ring, the pyloric valve. It regulates the speed at which food leaves your stomach and enters your small intestine. This valve is all that stands between the ziti in your stomach and a surge of glucose in your bloodstream. But you can send your pyloric valve a message to slow down. Fat triggers a reflex that constricts the valve and slows digestion. As little as a teaspoon of fat—easily provided by a handful of nuts or a piece of cheese—will do the trick, provided you eat it before your meal.
MORE: 12 Ways To Never Get Diabetes
Start your meal with salad.
Reason: It soaks up starch and sugar. Soluble fiber from the pulp of plants—such as beans, carrots, apples, and oranges—swells like a sponge in your intestines and traps starch and sugar in the niches between its molecules. Soluble means "dissolvable"—and indeed, soluble fiber eventually dissolves, releasing glucose. However, that takes time. The glucose it absorbs seeps into your bloodstream slowly, so your body needs less insulin to handle it. A good way to ensure that you get enough soluble fiber is to have a salad—preferably before, rather than after, you eat a starch.
Eat some vinegar.
Reason: It slows the breakdown of starch into sugar. The high acetic acid content in vinegar deactivates amylase, the enzyme that turns starch into sugar. (It doesn't matter what kind of vinegar you use.) Because it acts on starch only, it has no effect on the absorption of refined sugar. In other words, it will help if you eat bread, but not candy. But there's one more benefit: Vinegar also increases the body's sensitivity to insulin. You should consume vinegar at the start of your meal. Put it in salad dressing or sprinkle a couple of tablespoons on meat or vegetables. Vinegar brings out the flavor of food, as salt does.
Include protein with meals.
Reason: You won't secrete as much insulin. Here's a paradox: You want to blunt insulin spikes—but to do that, you need to start secreting insulin sooner rather than later. It's like a fire department responding to a fire. The quicker the alarm goes off, the fewer firefighters will be needed to put out the blaze. Even though protein contains no glucose, it triggers a "first-phase insulin response" that occurs so fast, it keeps your blood sugar from rising as high later—and reduces the total amount of insulin you need to handle a meal. So have meatballs with your spaghetti.
MORE: Your Flat Belly Shopping List
Nosh on cooked veggies.
Reason: You digest them more slowly. Both fruits and vegetables contain soluble fiber. As a rule, though, vegetables make better sugar blockers, because they have more fiber and less sugar. But don't cook your vegetables to mush. Boiling vegetables until they're limp and soggy saturates the soluble fiber, filling it with water so it can't absorb the sugar and starch you want it to. Also, crisp vegetables are chunkier when they reach your stomach, and larger food particles take longer to digest, so you'll feel full longer. Another tip: Roasted vegetables like cauliflower can often serve as a delicious starch substitute.
Sip wine with dinner.
Reason: Your liver won't produce as much glucose. Alcohol has unique sugar-blocking properties. Your liver normally converts some of the fat and protein in your blood to glucose, which adds to the glucose from the carbs you eat. But alcohol consumed with a meal temporarily halts your liver's glucose production. A serving of any alcohol—beer, red or white wine, or a shot of hard liquor—will reduce the blood sugar load of a typical serving of starch by approximately 25%. That doesn't mean you should have several drinks (especially if you have diabetes, as multiple drinks can cause hypoglycemia). Not only does alcohol contain calories, but it also delays the sensation of fullness, so you tend to overeat and pile on calories. Be especially mindful about avoiding cocktails that are made with sweetened mixers—yet another source of sugar.
Save sweets for dessert.
Reason: All of the above. If you eat sweets on an empty stomach, there's nothing to impede the sugar from racing directly into your bloodstream—no fat, no soluble fiber, no protein, no vinegar. But if you confine sweets to the end of the meal, you have all of the built-in protection the preceding rules provide. If you want to keep blood sugar on an even keel, avoid between-meal sweets at all costs—and when you do indulge, don't eat more than you can hold in the cup of your hand. But a few bites of candy after a meal will have little effect on your blood sugar and insulin—and can be quite satisfying.
Move your body.
There are other ways of blunting sugar spikes, and exercise is one of the best. Your muscle cells are by far the biggest users of glucose in your body and the target of most of the insulin you make. When you exercise, your muscles need to replenish their energy stores, so each cell that you work out begins making glucose "transporters." These sit on the surface of the cell and allow glucose to enter. In the meantime, while cells are still making the transporters, they also open up special channels that allow glucose in, independent of insulin. So to reduce sugar spikes, try going for a walk after eating.
Quick quiz: Are you at risk of diabetes?
If you have any three of the following signs, the odds are about 5 to 1 that you have insulin resistance—a condition that puts you in danger of metabolic syndrome and diabetes.
1. A waist that measures 35 or more inches if you're a woman—or 40-plus inches for that man in your life
2. A blood triglyceride level of 150 mg/dL or greater
3. An HDL level of less than 50 mg/dL if you're a woman—or less than 40 for a man
4. Blood pressure of 130/85 mmHg or higher
5. Fasting blood sugar greater than 100 mg/dL
From The Sugar Blockers Diet. Get more tips on how to beat your sugar addiction while eating the foods you love–try the book for free!


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NOSHKI: Unknown attackers blew up a track of Pakistan Railways in the Zangi Abad area of Noshki district on Monday.
According to Levies force, unknown men had attached an explosive device along the track which went off. However, no loss of life was reported.
The blast damaged a seven-feet-long portion of the track causing suspension of train services in the surrounding areas.
After the incident, law enforcement agencies and Levies force reached the site and cordoned off the entire area. They started an investigation to trace the suspects.
Courtesy: DAWN.COM


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Oculus Rift has a whole new user interface that lets you customize your VR Home space and replace your traditional computer monitor with nearly unlimited VR screenspace. Oculus Core 2.0 is rolling out in beta in December.
Oculus Dash
Dash is reminiscent of a Minority Report-style interface, where windows dangle in the air and can be moved around with the wave of a hand. Dash will let you code inside VR, but also bring along your favorite desktop experiences like Facebook and Messenger, YouTube, Spotify and even Google Chrome.
Developers will especially enjoy the ability to debug VR apps while actually running them via Visual Studio, Unity and Unreal. Screens appear in full-fidelity inside Dash, and you can access the rest of your PC beyond the core apps.
Customizable Home
The revamped Oculus Home lets you make your startup screen for Rift into your fantasy geek palace. You can pick all sorts of sensible or sci-fi furnishings, like art, seating and toys. You can show off trophies of your in-game achievements, and even play retro video games by popping cartridges into old-school game machines. Oculus is planning to let you hang out with friends inside Home in the future.
It all seems heavily inspired by Aech's basement headquarters from Ready Player One. Creating a familiar, customizable spaces inside VR could get people more hooked on Oculus' products. The Sims proved insanely popular, and the new Oculus Home could let you build your virtual home around you rather than beneath you.
Meanwhile, Dash could be the answer for developers and others who rig together multiple physical monitors to give them extra screenspace. Dash will make the screen all around you, so you could shove your music app behind you, and leave chat apps in the sky while your whole front-facing view is consumed by the work at hand. Spending whole work days inside VR sounds a bit exhausting, but for hardcore multi-taskers, Dash could truly be the new computing platform Mark Zuckerberg envisioned when he acquired Oculus.


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I'm an amateur gardener. Many of you know more about gardening than I do.
But I've learned a few things over the years and I shared some in my previous post on affordable gardening.
This post is about creating impact.
The first thing I've learned is that you can create impactful garden scenes with a fairly small range of plants – if that's your preference. At the farmhouse, we had many kinds of plants. At this new garden, we have far fewer. So we use a lot of hosta, hydrangea, ferns, and boxwood throughout our garden.
I've learned that structure matters. Plants of the same variety massed together in a circle or semi-circle make a strong structural statement.
When we lived at the farmhouse, a neighbour was throwing out clumps of green-and-white hosta. We gladly took some. We divided and planted them around this tree, below. They formed a lush circle in just two gardening seasons.
My husband created two circles, above – one with hosta and one with boxwood. Look closely and you'll see a taller boxwood semi-circle too.
Boxwood is perfect for creating structure. We buy them small (aka inexpensive) and let them grow. These ones, curving along our present garden path, are now two years old and will be trimmed and shaped soon.
Contrast is another way of creating impact. The hosta and Japanese forest grasses, below — planted along another curve in the path — make a nice contrast.
Meanwhile, ligularia's dark leaves, below, contrast well with almost anything.
It's a backdrop for the light-green hosta. But notice the green-and-white grass, below left. Alone, the shape and colour of its blades would contrast nicely with the leaves of that hosta too.
Contrast can also be created using varieties of the same genus of plants. Note the different kinds of hosta used below.
While contrasts are striking, we also like the harmony that comes from repeating a single colour throughout the garden at certain times of the year.
The red blooms of bee balm, below, echo the red of the chairs.
And the white blooms of bridal wreath spirea reinforce the white-stained arbour, below.
Sticking with colour, let's talk about single-colour gardens and borders.
The white hollyhocks and daisies (above) and Annabelle hydrangea, below, are striking when grown en masse.
Fast-growing and easy to divide, they are popular in all-white gardens. (Vita Sackville-West's white garden at Sissinghurst in the UK is most famous, but many gardens, both private and public, have these plants in their white borders.)
Of course, we've also learned that a single plant can make a magnificent statement, as does this giant Sum and Substance hosta.
And this equally striking goatsbeard.
Size, form, texture, contrast and colour: all can make a strong impact in your garden.


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Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Sullivan is a libertarian leaning and self-described conservative[1] (in the tradition of Edmund Burke and Michael Oakeshott) blogger. He is known for his independent views and an inquiring mind. His blog has become quite popular.
Sullivan was born in the United Kingdom and moved to the United States in the 1980s. He was educated at Oxford University. In 1984, he won a Harkness Fellowship to Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and earned a Masters degree in Public Administration in 1986. [2]
He is a staunch proponent of gay marriage. Although he supported the election of President George W. Bush and the invasion of Iraq, he was subsequently very critical of the Bush administration, and opposed the policies of President Bush in Iraq.
Andrew Sullivan is known for having publicly described himself as both a homosexual[3] and a Catholic. For example, Sullivan's public statements led to this question and answer:[4]
- John Hawkins: What do you say to people who think that being gay and wanting to be a Catholic in good standing are two incompatible things?
- Andrew Sullivan: I'd say they have a point. I've tried hard. But the real tragedy is that the hierarchy will not even discuss the issue. It's closed. Over. ...
In 2007, a purported lesbian wrote to Andrew Sullivan concerning lesbianism and obesity:
|And - oh heck, I'll admit it - aesthetics have value, too! As a woman, I may not be as focused on looks as men are predisposed to be, but I sure am tired of seeing so many queer ladies out there who are way past 200 pounds. Way, way past. Sorry, but no amount of "fat acceptance" is going to make that a pleasant sight - gay, straight, butch, femme, male or female.[5]
- ↑ Andrew Sullivan. "Forbes' Definition Of "Liberal"", Jan 24, 2009.
- ↑ Andrew's Bio.
- ↑ theatlantic.com
- ↑ Interview
- ↑ http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/05/obesity_and_les.html


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Americans aren't stockpiling assault rifles like they used to, which is why gun sales have fallen sharply from a year ago.
Sales dropped 7.6% through the end of June, compared to the first half of last year, according to CRT Research.
Gun enthusiasts simply aren't as worried about new federal gun restrictions going into effect, the way they were in 2013, so there is a lot less urgency for people to run out and buy assault weapons while they still can.
President Obama tried to pass a gun bill last year that would have restricted military-style semiautomatic rifles, but the legislation failed in the Senate.
"The number one driver in this sector, for the big sales spikes, has been fear - fear of legislation," said CRT analyst Brian Ruttenbur.
But the industry is still strong, says Ruttenbur.
Related: Opening soon: Gun range with a bar
Gunmakers like Smith & Wesson (SWHC) and Colt say that while rifle sales are dropping, sales of handguns are climbing.
Ruttenbur said this is partly because more people are applying for concealed carry permits, which allow them to carry concealed handguns in public places. Handguns are also popular among the growing demographic of women.
"Women don't want a Dirty Harry magnum," said Ruttenbur. "They want a pretty little gun that fits into a pocket book along with their cell phone."
Ruttenbur said that CRT derives its information from the background checks that the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducts when a consumer buys a gun. Background checks -- which include people who already own guns but are seeking an additional concealed carry permit -- have dropped about 5% in the first half of this year, compared to 2013, according to the FBI.
Related: Pink is the new black for women with guns
The record month for background checks was December 2012, when the FBI conducted nearly 2.8 millIion checks. That's the month that 26 children and educators were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.


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text:
Griffin just announced their first iPad accessories, mostly consisting of cases and other screen protection. My favorite is the Elan Passport, pictured above—classy, eh? And yet, demure. Too bad it's not also a kickstand, like Apple's case.
So, a quick rundown. The Elan Passport, a leather flip-open case with some room for business cards or whatever (paper! ha!), runs for $50, as does its sister product, the Elan Sleeve (predictably, a slip-in leather sleeve). The FlexGrip case looks like those ugly-ass pastel silicon cases for the iPhone, except huge, and will be available in a few different colors for $30. Lastly, the Screen Care Kit has some accoutrements to keep your big-screened iPad safe: Microfiber cloth, cleaning solution, and a protective screen shield. The Screen Care Kit will be $25. All of these products will be available in spring, right around the iPad's launch. For more info on the iPad, like you guys haven't already drowned under a deluge of stories, check out our coverage. [Griffin]


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By Siby K. Joseph
With the multiplication and escalation of conflicts at various levels, the need for conflict resolution has become more urgent than ever before. There has been a realization among governments, international organizations and non-governmental organizations that more resources and time need to be set apart for managing conflicts and that the work for peace has to take place by harnessing the cooperation of several agencies at different levels. Governments by virtue of their rigid structure very often fail to address adequately questions related to conflicts of a delicate and complex nature. Also, failed agencies and resources available with governments have been found inadequate in this respect. The latest tendency is to search for other tracks of conflict resolution and also to tap resources to compliment government effort.
Towards Multi-Track Approach
The movement from 'track-one diplomacy' to 'track-two diplomacy' resulted in the emergence of a large number of actors in conflict resolution and peace building processes. John McDonald and Louis Diamond have identified nine actor categories or tracks in conflict resolution: official diplomacy, education, research and training, business, funding, media and communication, religion, NGOs and advocacy groups and private citizens. In addition to these group of actors the Carnegie Commission recognized the role of the UN and religion organizations in the peace building process. Barnett Rubin and Susana Campbell in a study for the Center for Preventive Action pointed out that "the multiplicity and variety of actors involved in generating conflicts requires a similar multiplicity of international partners to resolve them". The multidimensional nature of conflicts has been partly giving rise to the concept of a multi-track approach in conflict resolution.
According to Diamond and McDonald Multi-track diplomacy is "a conceptual framework designed .... to reflect the variety of activities that contribute to international peacemaking". They pointed out that track two diplomacy is designed (1) to reduce or resolve conflict between groups or nations by improving communication, understanding and relationships; (2) to lower tension, anger, fear or misunderstanding by humanizing the "face of the enemy" and giving people direct personal experience of one another; (3) to affect the thinking and action of track-one (i.e. official diplomacy) by exploring diplomacy options without prejudice, thereby preparing the ground for more formal negotiations for re-framing policies. The successful resolution of conflict mainly depends on track-two diplomacy complimenting track-one diplomacy. Thus a combined effort of track-one and track-two is essential in the process of conflict resolution.
NGOs and International Agencies
Over the years there have been a tremendous increase in the number of NGOs, so also the variety of their activities and their geographical spread. Because most of the NGOs are involved in work relating to development, relief and advocacy, which are of direct and visible benefit to the people, they have achieved a high degree of good will. In addition, many of the NGOs have skilled personnel who can intervene in conflict situations creatively in order to bring resolution. This fact has been recognized by the United Nations as well as international funding agencies like the World Bank who now bank upon the resources of NGOs for conflict resolution, particularly in areas like early warning, third party intervention, reconciliation and peace building. The UN General Assembly recognized the role of NGOs and called upon the UN Department of Public Information (DPI) to work with NGOs interested in communicating information about the United Nations. In continuation of the General Assembly resolution, the NGOs and Institutional Relations Section was established within DPI to provide information and other liaison services to the growing number of NGOs accredited to the United Nations. In 1968, the UN Economic and Social Council formalized its consultative relationship with NGOs. However it is to be noted that NGOs were not given any formal status in the General Assembly or other powerful bodies like the Security Council.
Now NGOs have become key partners in development assistance especially to less developed countries from international agencies like the UN, the European Union and the World bank. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former Secretary General of the UN affirmed that NGOs "are an indispensable part of the legitimacy without which no international activity can be meaningful.
The Role of NGOs
NGOs constitute an essential part of civil society and they have the potential to play key roles in resolving conflicts and restoring civil society. NGOs can support to form well knit local infrastructures or peace constituencies comprising of people from different sectors of civil society whose aim is to attain sustainable peace and whose activities are based on long term commitment. NGOs should invest more resources for capacity building activities at different levels. It involves the training of its own staff, identifying indigenous partners, local leaders and so on. They can act as mediators to bring consensus among different conflicting groups with the help of local peace constituencies.
Pamela Aall suggests the number of roles that NGO's can play in the peace making process. NGOs should presume their traditional relief and rehabilitation activities with a long-term perspective. "The initial emergency relief response should be linked to a set of activities that leads to the transformation of those conflicts in a way that promotes sustained and comprehensive reconciliation among the warring parties". Aall cautions us against the dangers of using external resources in relief and rehabilitation activities. Excessive use of external resources can foster dependence and passivity. It can also become a new object of contention, inadvertently fueling conflict. NGOs should mobilize local resources which empower the people and enroll new participants into their activities, especially women who have often been kept passive in the peace process. They should continue to monitor human rights abuses. They should undertake the task of providing an early warning of potentially violent conflicts and should pursue conflict resolution activities. Aall warns that these roles must be kept separate, both for the safety of NGO workers and in order for it to be effective.
To work effectively in a conflicting situation NGOs should preserve their own identities and neutrality and should appear to be impartial. Unofficial status of NGOs provides more access to conflicting parties, which helps in the process of negotiation. The long-term commitment of NGOs is a crucial factor in establishing trust among the people and to attend to the goal of lasting peace. Pamela Aall prescribes four conditions for NGOs more directly engaging in conflict resolution activities: (1) the NGO must be very familiar with the country, issues and participants in the conflict (2) the NGO should have indigenous partners (3) NGO staff must be well grounded in conflict resolution skills and knowledge and (4) NGO workers must understand and accept the personal risk they run in attempting to intervene directly in the conflict.
State is often seen as one of the parties in a large number of conflicts. Therefore, it is important for NGOs to maintain their independence without loosing trust of the conflicting parties including the State. NGOs should work in co-operation and co-ordination with each other to reduce duplication in their activities. In this process NGOs should not loose their individual identities. Coordination and networking of NGOs is a key factor in lobbying and advocacy at a higher level. NGOs should not limit their scope of work to mere conflict resolution, but expand it to address the root causes of conflict and enhance the process of peace building. Hence, the role of the NGOs in conflict resolution is based on their presence at the ground level as actors with a reservoir of good will generated through years of development and rehabilitation work. Apart from creating a congenial atmosphere for negotiations, where the prospects for such negotiations are not visible at the level of the conflicting actors, NGOs can play a key role in many intractable conflicts. Peace building is now seen as a part of sustaining agreements reached. No organization is perhaps more equipped than NGOs in undertaking this task. However, in order to play a more effective role in conflict management, NGOs may have to reorient themselves with the requisite attitude and skills, which of course should be seen as an additional element of their development work.
Source: International Seminar on Conflict Resolution, February 15-17 , 2003


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After the recentdesktop beta release,allowing users to earn up to 5GB of additional space, Dropbox has released a beta version of its Android app, giving users to potential to claim the same 5GB of space another way.
Before you get all excited and think the 5GB of space along with the 5GB you earned from using the desktop beta, sorry, you can only earn 5GB total.
To get started with the Dropbox Android beta you will need to visit this Dropbox forum post to download and then install the APK.
After installing Dropbox version 2.0.9 for Android, you will be greeted with the setup process to automatically upload photos and videos.
The setup process is short and sweet, leaving you with only one decision to make; allow Dropbox to upload photos and videos via Wi-Fi only, or upload over Wi-Fi and your data plan.
If you are on a tiered data plan, not a grandfathered unlimited plan, your best bet is to stick with Wi-Fi only. Dropbox removed the previous limit of 180MB uploads in this latest build, meaning that 20-minute video of your cat chasing a laser will automatically upload when you are done recording, thus using up a good amount of your data plan.
Going forward, after you take a photo or video Dropbox will automatically upload it to the Camera Uploads folder in your account. Pretty neat, eh?
So, how do you earn the 5GB of extra storage? Well, for your first photo upload, you will earn 500MB, for each additional 500MB uploaded you will earn another 500MB of storage up to 4.5GB. All in all, earning up to 5GB total.


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WASHINGTON—With a couple of lines tucked into his State of the Union speech this month, President Obama pitched the tent for a three-ring circus starring advocates with competing agendas: controlling greenhouse gases, expanding fossil fuel development and conserving open spaces.
The idea Obama proposed would siphon $2 billion from the swelling oil and gas royalties the government expects to collect over the next decade and devote it to federally sponsored clean-car research that has been starved for cash. The question is what he will have to give up in negotiations to get what he wants.
"Much of our new-found energy is drawn from lands and waters that we, the public, own together," he said in the speech. "So tonight, I propose we use some of our oil and gas revenues to fund an Energy Security Trust that will drive new research and technology to shift our cars and trucks off oil for good."
The program Obama wants to bolster pays for research into batteries and other technologies that could expand the use of efficient, affordable cars that emit little or no carbon dioxide. Nearly every hybrid electric vehicle sold in the United States uses batteries developed in part through the Energy Department. But like other spending aimed at confronting climate change, the program is anathema to many conservatives.
Obama's sweetener—paying for clean-car research with drilling royalties—immediately attracted praise from those who favor more drilling and see it as an opening to expand drilling to areas where it is currently prohibited. But it has raised the hackles of some land conservationists, who have long fought for more royalty money to flow into the Land and Water Conservation Trust, which they say has been underfunded for years.
Like all spending decisions, the amount to be provided for clean energy research and the uses to be made of royalties are matters that only Congress, with its power of the purse, can decide.
What this all presages is an intense period of backroom horse-trading among parties who have long mistrusted each other, and who all have as much to lose as to gain.
"Obama is setting up the pieces for a game of chess," said David Friedman, a clean vehicles expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Sam Ori, director of policy for Securing America's Future Energy, or SAFE, the group that first came up with the funding plan that Obama endorsed, was more blunt: "We believe there has to be something in a program like this for Republicans," he said. "Otherwise it is not going to go anywhere."
SAFE Supports Drilling in Protected Areas
SAFE is a group of leading business executives and retired generals, admirals and diplomats dedicated to maintaining reliable sources of domestic energy and minimizing the nation's exposure to price disruptions. In his speech, Obama embraced SAFE's ideas without reservation.
"If a non-partisan coalition of CEOs and retired generals and admirals can get behind this idea, then so can we," Obama said. "Let's take their advice and free our families and businesses from the painful spikes in gas prices we've put up with for far too long."
What the president did not mention is that SAFE's plan expressly recommends expanding drilling on public lands, even in off-limits areas like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that he has previously pledged to protect.
As envisioned in a detailed report issued in December by SAFE's leadership council, the Trust would be "seeded with revenues from the development of oil and natural gas in federal lands currently inaccessible to industry due to either Congressional or Administrative action. These areas include: the Pacific, Atlantic, and Eastern Gulf of Mexico planning areas of the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR)."
The 1002 area of the refuge, named after a section of the governing statute, comprises 1.5 million acres of coastal plain that contain substantial oil and gas reserves as well as prime wildlife habitat.
The day after Obama's speech, Robbie Diamond, SAFE's president, called the moment "a unique opportunity to have our cake and eat it too."
But in the days that followed, White House officials distanced themselves from that part of SAFE's plan, saying the administration would rely on cash flow from existing leases.
A White House official, speaking on background, said the administration has no plan to open the refuge to drilling or to go beyond its current five-year plan for offshore leasing. Indeed, the Interior Department is putting the final touches on a plan that recommended, in its first draft, designating as untouchable wilderness the very section of the wildlife refuge that SAFE wants to open up.
SAFE expects the details to be a matter of continuing negotiation, according to Ori. "We are interested in continuing to work not just with the White House but on the Hill, hopefully to get to something that both sides can support," he said.
The existing leases currently pay royalties of roughly $12 billion a year. About half of that money goes to the states—leaving more than enough to provide $200 million a year for the Energy Department, according to the White House's reckoning.
But this is not a scheme that Obama can impose by fiat. To set aside a chunk of that money for clean energy research would require Congressional action. And Congress is sure to have ideas of its own when it comes to funding for clean energy research, access to oil and gas on public lands, and spending to set land aside for conservation—for decades another principal use for royalties.
In general, SAFE's approach comports well with the president's broad energy prescriptions, which he likes to sum up in the phrase "all of the above." He slipped the phrase into his speech to Congress, although it was not in the written draft released by the White House moments before he spoke. And even as he pledged to take actions to confront climate change, he promised to "keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits."
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, was quick to support the president's plan—but, like SAFE, she said it should expand drilling to restricted areas.
"I proposed this idea in my Energy 20/20 blueprint that I released last week," she said in a statement released the day after the president's speech. "Under my Advanced Energy Trust Fund proposal, new production on previously closed federal lands could provide a substantial source of new revenue to fund research on the most promising new energy technologies, while paying down the national debt. I intend to get to work on this as soon as possible."
New Funding Would Support Ambitious Ideas
Friedman, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said Obama's proposal would significantly increase the amount of money the administration has been able to set aside for green technology—about a 10 percent increase in Energy Department spending for energy efficiency and renewables overall, he estimated, and a 25 percent bump in the transportation account.
But Roland Hwang, an energy and transportation expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council—in a blog post calling the clean fuel research spending "an excellent idea"—said it should be paid for not by diverting royalties, but by eliminating subsidies for the oil and gas industry, which run into billions of dollars a year.
The research would focus mainly on improving batteries. But it would also address such obstacles as lightweight materials, lubricants, and biofuels, and, down the road, fuel cells running on hydrogen.
The most notable goal, a project called EV Everywhere, is "to be the first nation in the world to produce plug-in electric vehicles that are as affordable for the average American family as today's gasoline-powered vehicles within the next ten years," said David Danielson, assistant energy secretary for renewables, in a message last month.
"I am more convinced now than ever that we can capture this opportunity, and I am committed to making the strategic investments necessary to get there."
It is the kind of R&D that has long been a staple of Energy Department budgets under Democrats and Republicans alike, and that the Obama administration emphasized throughout its first term.
Under the stimulus spending program at the start of the administration, the Energy Department had lots of money to spend on innovative research. But that budgetary bulge has ended, the current year's budget has allowed no growth, and like the rest of the government, the agency could face sharp cuts in the months ahead.
"Establishing a guaranteed source of funding will allow the Energy Department to maintain targeted and sustained investments that are catalytic and directly advance U.S. energy security," said a White House fact sheet on the new proposal.
Conservationists Also Want Royalty Money
Advocates of expanding conservation lands for public use are already raising their eyebrows at the notion of establishing "guaranteed" uses for drilling royalties. They say that for decades Congress has broken its promises to set aside royalties from offshore drilling for the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
Under a long-standing law governing offshore drilling, LWCF is authorized to get $900 million a year from drilling royalties. But like any other spending program, that is subject to annual appropriations bills.
According to the Land Trust Alliance, a coalition of conservation groups, Congressional appropriators "have consistently withheld much of that funding, shortchanging the program by some $17 billion over the past 46 years." Obama managed to get $432 million added to the fund in 2010, before Republicans seized control of the House. But the annual contribution has been reduced since then, and like all federal spending, prospects for the rest of this year are uncertain.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers has been pushing legislation that would offer a "permanent fix" for the land conservation fund's problems—in effect, giving the program a dedicated stream of royalty income, just as Obama is proposing to do for electric-vehicle research. It would make the full $900 million available each year without further appropriation—an ironclad guarantee that would prevent that portion of the royalties from being diverted to clean cars, to deficit reduction or for any other purpose.
Partly because the Land and Water Conservation Fund is shared with state and local governments for popular recreational uses, it enjoys broad bipartisan support, and its backers will be jealous of any attempt to divert this money to other purposes.
So they, too, may have to be accommodated if a deal is ever to be struck.


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CBS, Lefty Sites Quick to Slam New Pope
That was fast. The celebration in St. Peter's Square hadn't yet died down and the world was still digesting the news that Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio had become Pope Francis I. Almost immediately, some media outlets were out to find downsides and discord.
CNN had the dubious distinction of being first out of the gate, waiting just seven minutes after the white smoke signaling a new pope to interview activists for women priests. "We have been hosting pink smoke vigils to raise awareness on women's inclusion," said Erin Saiz Hanna of the Women's Organization Conference to CNN Correspondent Miguel Marquez. Once the new pontiff's identity had been announced, ABC's "Nightline" co-anchor Terry Moran celebrated the new Pope Francis I, saying that now the Catholic Church can "turn a corner" and "revive" its original mission of aiding the poor. When the Church abandoned that mission, he didn't say.
NBC's Luke Russert tweeted to suggest people keep the politics out of the new pope news: "Before we slice and dice every political statement this Pope has ever made during his entire life....breathe, take it in." But within 14 minutes, on an MSNBC blog page, Russert was lecturing the new pope on the "hallmarks of my religion" which are "faith, guilt, and charity" and passing along liberal talking points as advice to the pontiff. "Instead of a Catholic faith where priests are expected to completely suppress their sexuality, an acknowledgement that the many of the Church's recent problems stem from the unnatural requirement of celibacy," he wrote.
While ABC and NBC were mostly positive and respectful in their evening broadcasts, CBS "Evening News" was quick to bring up divisive social issues. Correspondent Allen Pizzey introduced Pope Francis as "a conservative and opposes abortion, supports celibacy and called gay adoption 'discrimination against children.' But he could not stop Argentina from becoming the first Latin American country to legalize same-sex marriage or dissuade the government from promoting free contraception and artificial insemination."
Correspondent Mark Phillips read in the crowd's enthusiasm for the new pope's greeting a repudiation of Benedict XVI. "Not just the pope changed tonight, the language and the tone of the papacy changed as well. And judging from the reaction of the multitudes, it was a change, Scott, that they needed."
Carter Evans told viewers, "According to a CBS/New York Times poll, more than half [53% on CBS slide] of Catholics in the U.S. believe that the church is out of touch with their needs. Especially on issues like birth control, ordaining women, and allowing priests to marry." Evans signed off saying, "How Americans will react to the philosophy of the new pope remains to be seen. Today though they say that they're hoping a new era of communication between the pope and the people of the church is beginning."
Liberal sites on the web reacted as expected. The Daily Beast noted disappointment with the new pope's "attitude towards homosexuality." Salon also published an article describing Pope Francis as a pope, "who unsurprisingly has terrible views on gay and reproductive rights." TMZ, to better educate the public on the new pope, released a Pope Francis I facts list. The first fact shown? "He staunchly opposes gay marriage and abortion."
The more explicitly liberal the news outlet, the nastier the tone and content. The Huffington Post splashed in big red letters Francis' orthodox stances on gay marriage, abortion and contraception, along with a leftwing conspiracy theory that he was complicit in the Argentine junta's kidnapping, imprisonment and murder of priests in the 1970s. By morning, they had amped up the volume with a massive headline that read:
Pope Called Gay Marriage 'Destructive Attack On God's Plan'... 'Staunchly Opposes Abortion, Contraception'... Believes Gay Adoption Is 'Discrimination Against Children'... Accused Of Conspiring With Murderous Junta In Priest Kidnapping – OR He 'Saved Their Lives'
2011 FLASHBACK: 'What Scandal If The First Pope Ever To Be Elected From The Americas Had Been Revealed As An Accessory To Murder And False Imprisonment' "
Gawker zeroed in on gay marriage as well, but at least admitted there is no evidence to back up the kidnapping claims. Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, Tweeted her own attack. "New Pope is a Jesuit, cares about poor but also a man who'd persecute gays & refuse to trust women 2 own their bodies. Why label 'reformer'?"
Soros-supported liberal site Alternet also gave play to the conspiracy theory, and mentioned Bergoglio's "troubling association" with an "international right-wing group." Alternet also warned that Francis is "theologically closer to the last two prelates, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, than to the liberal and beloved Pope John XXIII, for whose legacy many Catholics yearn for a return. But Bergoglio campaigned against same-sex marriage in Argentina, and said that adoptions by LGBT people discriminate against children." Funny, but John Paul II, and to a lesser degree, Benedict XVII definitely qualified as "beloved" by many Catholics, and they were conservative. Hard left magazine Mother Jones published an article titled, "Pope Francis I is Really, Really Opposed to Gay Adoption."
And leave it to "comedian" and militant atheist Bill Maher to deliver the most hateful derision about an event of great important to 1.2 billion Catholics. Taking to Twitter, he wrote: "Congratulations to the Vatican on the new pope! And this time, they found one who never was a Nazi! (we hope, he's from Argentina)." He followed up with: "Can we stop this 'Pope is intellectual' bs? Can't be an intellectual if U think Unicorns r real, or Klingons,or obvious myths from Bronze Age".
However Francis's papacy turns out, he's off to a good start – annoying all the right – or left – people.


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Wisconsin National Primate Research Center Director Jon Levine has kindly allowed us to reproduce a piece previously posted in On Wisconsin.
Question and Answer with Wisconsin National Primate Research Center Director Jon Levine
Work flows from "the best of reasons," says new director of primate research center.
Administering a big research center at the forefront of biomedical science is challenge enough. Running one with 1,500 monkeys is the test of a lifetime. But that is exactly the matchup for Jon Levine, the Northwestern University neuroscientist recruited to UW–Madison in late 2010 to run the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center (WNPRC). For Levine, leading one of the nation's eight national primate centers is an opportunity to promote the kind of science that led to human embryonic stem cells and remains our best hope for beating diseases such as Parkinson's and AIDS. At the same time, the center is a magnet for controversy, as the use of monkeys in biomedical research is contentious.
Q: Many people hear about the Primate Center only when there is an issue — or a perceived issue. If there is one thing people should know about the center, what would that be?
A: That researchers and staff are passionate about their work, and that they are wonderful, caring people committed to advancing the cause of human and animal health. The average person knows very well the suffering a family member or friend may endure in disease or injury; unfortunately, few are aware of the importance of biomedical research with non-human primates in developing therapies and strategies for preventing these conditions. I want everyone to know why we do what we do — because we are deeply committed to bringing about a future in which HIV can be prevented, the ravages of Parkinson's disease can be stalled or reversed, and infertility, complications of pregnancy, and metabolic diseases such as diabetes can be successfully treated.
Q: What do you tell someone — a child, for example — who asks you about the use of monkeys for biomedical research?
A: That we are the good guys. We play by the strictest of rules, intended to ensure the humane and careful utilization of a precious resource. And we have the best of reasons for the work we do. I do not hesitate to give children an explanation in terms they can appreciate. For example, many kids know someone who has been diagnosed with some form of leukemia. We are developing methods to take blood cells from cancer patients and reprogram them into "induced pluripotent stem cells" — make them younger versions of themselves, before they became cancerous. Those induced cells can lead us to an understanding of how blood cells become cancer cells and how we might better treat leukemia.
Q: What do you think we can look forward to in the way of scientific advances from the center in the next few years?
A: I could fill pages with advances I hope will be realized. I'll mention one that I think could enable progress in many others: transgenesis. The ability to induce, block, or alter the expression of specific genes in the mouse is now routine and has made it the standard for most studies of the genetic mechanisms underlying human disease. However, there are many aspects of human physiology and disease that can only be faithfully reproduced in non-human primates. We are undertaking new approaches to manipulate gene expression in non-human primates. We hope to target genes involved in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's, metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, and developmental disorders such as autism.
Q: What will be the greatest challenge for the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center over the next decade?
A: The major challenge for federally funded research institutions is to sustain funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other sources, especially through times of austerity, flat budgets, and increasing costs. I'm confident, however, that the talented researchers and staff at the WNPRC will keep us positioned to renew our base grant funding from the NIH. I am also certain that researchers who use non-human primates on campus will continue to successfully compete for individual research funding. Nevertheless, given the special costs of research with monkeys, and the preciousness of the resource, we will be looking at new sources of support. Over the longer term, the center's biggest challenge will be to replace and/or renovate portions of our infrastructure. My vision for a new WNPRC building complex may have to wait until the economy recovers over the next few years — but it is a goal that I hope we can realize.
Article reprinted with permission from Jon Levine and On Wisconsin http://onwisconsin.uwalumni.com/departments/qa/jon-levine/
Photos courtesy of WNPRC


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text: http://www.slate.com/id/2139941/nav/tap1/?GT1=8019 Junk-Food Jihad Should we regulate French fries like cigarettes? By William Saletan Posted Saturday, April 15, 2006, at 7:31 AM ET Goodbye, war on smoking. Hello, war on fat. In a span of two months, smoking bans have been imposed in Scotland, enacted in England, Denmark, and Uruguay, proposed by the government of Portugal, and endorsed by the French public. China has banned new cigarette factories. In Virginia, our third most prolific tobacco state, senators voted to ban smoking in nearly all public places. The Arkansas legislature, backed by a Republican governor, passed a similar ban and voted to extend this policy to cars in which a child is present. Tobacco companies have won a skirmish here or there, but always in retreat. So, we've found a new enemy: obesity. Two years ago, the government discovered that the targets of previous crusadesbooze, sex, guns, and cigaretteswere killing a smaller percentage of Americans than they used to. The one thing you're not allowed to do in a culture war is win it, so we searched the mortality data for the next big menace. The answer was as plain as the other chin on your face. Obesity, federal officials told us, would soon surpass tobacco as the chief cause of preventable death. They compared it to the Black Death and the Asian tsunami. They sent a team of "disease detectives" to West Virginia to investigate an obesity outbreak. Last month, the surgeon general called obesity "the terror within" and said it would "dwarf 9-11." How do we fight it? Everyone agrees on exercising and eating responsibly. The debate is over what the government should do. Health advocates want to restrict junk-food sales, regulate advertising, require more explicit labels, and ban trans fats (also known as partially hydrogenated oils), which are often put into crackers, cookies, and other products to prolong shelf life. They marshal the kind of evidence that won the war on smoking: correlations between soda, junk food, obesity, disease, and death. Lawyers who made their fortunes suing tobacco companies are preparing suits against soda companies. Two months ago, when President Bush gave a health-care speech at the headquarters of Wendy's, activists compared the hamburger chain to Philip Morris. They see themselves as waging the same brave struggle, this time against "the food industry." But somehow, "the food industry" doesn't sound quite as evil as "the tobacco industry." Something about foodthe fact that it keeps us alive, perhapsmakes its purveyors hard to hate. For that matter, the rationale for recent bans on smoking is the injustice of secondhand smoke, and there's no such thing as secondhand obesity. Last year, a Pew Research poll found that 74 percent of Americans viewed tobacco companies unfavorably, but only 39 percent viewed fast-food companies unfavorably. This week, a Pew survey found that more Americans blame obesity, especially their own, on lack of exercise and willpower than on "the kinds of foods marketed at restaurants and grocery stores." These obstacles don't make the assault on junk food futile. But they do clarify how it will unfold. It will rely on three arguments: First, we should protect kids. Second, fat people are burdening the rest of us. Third, junk food isn't really food. Targeting kids is a familiar way to impose morals without threatening liberties. You can have a beer or an abortion, but your daughter can't. The conservative aspect of this argument is that you're entitled, as a parent, to decide what your kids can do or buy. That's the pitch Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, made last week in a bill to crack down on junk food in schools. The liberal half of the argument is that kids are too young to make informed choices. In this case, it's true. Studies show that little kids ask for products they see on television; fail to distinguish ads from programs; and are heavily targeted by companies peddling candy, fast food, and sugared cereal. This stage of the fat war will be a rout. In schools, the audience is young and captive, and the facts are appalling. According to a government report, 75 percent of high schools, 65 percent of middle schools, and 30 percent of elementary schools have contracts with "beverage"i.e., sodacompanies. The sodas are commonly sold through vending machines. The contracts stipulate how many thousands of cases each district has to buy, and they offer schools a bigger cut of the profits from soda than from juice or water. Soda companies, realizing they're going to lose this fight, are fleeing elementary schools and arguing that high-schoolers are old enough to choose. But health advocates refuse to draw such a line. They're not going to stop with kids. To keep junk food away from adults, fat-fighters will have to explain why obesity is the government's business. Some say the government created the problem by subsidizing pork, sugar, cream, high-fructose corn syrup, and other crud. Harkin reasons that the government pays for school lunches and must protect this "investment." But their main argument is that obesity inflates health-care costs and hurts the economy through disability and lost productivity. Last month, former President Clinton, a confessed overeater, told the nation's governors that obesity has caused more than a quarter of the rise in health-care costs since 1987 and threatens our economic competitiveness. It's not our dependence on foreign oil that's killing us. It's our dependence on vegetable oil. If the fat-fighters win that argument, they'll reach the final obstacle: the sanctity of food. Food is a basic need and a human right. Marlboros won't keep you alive on a desert island, but Fritos will. To lower junk food to the level of cigarettes, its opponents must persuade you that it isn't really food. They're certainly trying. Soda isn't sustenance, they argue; it's "liquid candy." Crackers aren't baked; they're "engineered," like illegal drugs, to addict people. Last year, New York City's health commissioner asked restaurants to stop using trans fats, which he likened to asbestos. But he ignored saturated fats, which are equally bad and more pervasive. Why are trans fats an easier whipping-cream boy? Because they're mostly artificial. This, I suspect, is where the war will end. Ban all the creepy-soft processed cookies you want to, but respect nature and nutrition. New York City is purging whole milk from its schools, despite the fact that milk has steadily lost market share to soda during the obesity surge. A fact sheet from Harkin implies that schools should treat milk, French fries, and pizza like soda, jelly beans, and gum. Come on. How many people died in the Irish jelly bean famine? How many babies have nursed on 7-Up? How many food groups does gum share with pizza? If you can't tell the difference, don't tell us what to eat. --------------- This is getting ridiculous, pretty soon we're all gonna be eating at Taco Bell, wearing kimino's and singing I'm a Yankee Doddle Dandy. Someone needs to stop this **** *amazingfantasy, you have been fined 1 credit for violating the verbal morality code* CRAP! It's already happened!


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