srijeda, 31.03.2010.
China steps up Google service disruptions
NEW YORK/SHANGHAI - The Chinese government appears to be be ramping up its conflict with Google, according to reports. As of Tuesday, Internet users in China who attempted to conduct Google searches via both computers and mobile devices received error messages. cheap shoescheap Nike shoxcheap Nike Shox ClassicNike Shox Classic on sale Nike Shox Classic
Google and China have been at odds for two months after the company said would pull its Chinese-language search services out of China. Google cited concerns over censorship and after a hacking attack late in 2009 that originated from China spurred it to rethink its China strategy.
Last week, Google attempted to circumvent Chinese government by redirecting tens of millions of users in China to its uncensored server in Hong Kong. The former British colony is semi-autonomous and has greater freedoms. Google does not censor searches there. According to the Wall Street Journal, even the most benign searches
On Tuesday however, Internet users in China attempting to conduct Google searches via Google's Hong Kong site received error messages. Even the most benign searches, such as the word "happy," returned error prompts stating that the results could not be opened, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"Users in some cities said they couldn't access Google.cn, the mainland Chinese Web address Google has long used, which since last week has automatically sent users to the Hong Kong site," stated the Wall Street Journal article. "Google's music search service also appeared to be inaccessible."
Google reported its mobile services have been partially blocked in China for two days, while searches on its Chinese-language site became erratic, about a week after the company shut its mainland Chinese portal and rerouted Web searches to a Hong Kong site.
On a Web site showing the accessibility of Google's services in China, the company listed mobile as "partially blocked" on Sunday and Monday. Prior to Sunday, there were no issues with mobile services in China, according to the site.
The leading Internet search provider has said it intends to retain some business operations in mainland China, including research and development staff and a sales team, but analysts have said that the Chinese government could make life difficult for Google.
"We can confirm that our status page indicates that mobile services are partially blocked from within mainland China," a Google spokeswoman told Reuters, but did not speculate on the cause for the outages.
Some users in Shanghai on Tuesday reported no problems with searching through Google's mobile service, indicating that the outages are intermittent.
Other mobile users have had problems ever since Google stopped censoring search results in China earlier this month by effectively shutting Google.cn and rerouting traffic to an uncensored site in Hong Kong.
Searches on that site from within mainland China have also been unstable, with some searches for normally non-sensitive terms returning blank pages.
At other times, even sensitive searches return a normal result, showing links to pages that are then blocked by China's Internet filters.
- 07:42 -
utorak, 30.03.2010.
9 teens charged with ‘unrelenting’ bullying
NORTHAMPTON, Mass. - Nine teens have been charged in the "unrelenting" bullying of a teenage girl from Ireland who killed herself after being raped and enduring months of torment by classmates in person and online, a prosecutor said Monday.
Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel said 15-year-old Phoebe Prince of South Hadley was stalked and harassed nearly constantly from September until she killed herself Jan. 14. The freshman had recently moved to western Massachusetts from Ireland.
"The investigation revealed relentless activities directed toward Phoebe to make it impossible for her to stay at school. The bullying for her was intolerable," Scheibel said. cheap shoescheap Nike Air Maxcheap Air Max 2006 Air Max 2006 on sale Air Max 2006
Six teens — four girls and two boys — face charges including statutory rape, assault, violation of civil rights resulting in injury, criminal harassment, disturbance of a school assembly and stalking. Three younger girls face delinquency charges.
Scheibel said the harassment began in September. She said school officials knew about the bullying, but none will face criminal charges.
"The actions of these students were primarily conducted on school grounds during school hours and while school was in session," the prosecutor said.
Scheibel refused to discuss the circumstances of the rape charges.
Family moved away
Prince's family has moved away from the area and could not immediately be located for comment. Scheibel spoke for them at a news conference to announce the charges.
"The Prince family has asked that the public refrain from vigilantism in favor of allowing the judicial system an opportunity to provide a measure of justice for Phoebe," she said.
Some students accused of participating in the bullying have been disciplined by the school and will not be returning to classes.
Scheibel said the case is still under investigation, and there may be additional charges.
The Massachusetts Legislature cited Prince's death and the apparent suicide of 11-year-old Carl Walker-Hoover of Springfield last year when members passed anti-bullying legislation earlier this month.
- 07:39 -
ponedjeljak, 29.03.2010.
Billionaire playgrounds 2010
Stressful times typically call for big vacations, but the tough economic climate has forced some families to find enjoyment closer to home this year. The same isn't true for the world's billionaires. Although some have seen their net worth shrink, many continue to visit their personal getaways to escape from their high-profile lives.
The location of these luxury destinations is a matter of personal taste.
Some, like Oprah Winfrey, enjoy the Caribbean heat. Despite owning a 60-acre Maui getaway and a 42-acre estate in Montecito, Calif., Oprah occasionally yearns for the serenity created by the crystal-clear Caribbean water and the region's perfect palm trees. To calm this urge she visits her coastline playground on Antigua, where Eric Clapton and Giorgio Armani are among her famous neighbors.
Virgin's Richard Branson also basks in the Caribbean sun from Necker Island, his exclusive 74-acre getaway. As part of the British Virgin Islands, this destination is surrounded by turquoise waters and comes fully staffed with a water sports crew, a personal chef and a masseuse. Visitors often rent the entire island, which can accommodate up to 28 guests.
But sometimes one hot destination isn't enough. Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen certainly feels this way, choosing instead to island-hop on his private playground “Octopus”, a $200 million, 416-foot megayacht. This floating five-star hotel features a pool, a basketball court, a movie theater, two helicopters, a 10-person submarine, a jet-ski dock and a 60-person crew.
Other billionaires are drawn to colder climates. When he's not sailing on his 557-foot yacht, Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea Football Club, gets in some exquisite skiing while staying at his 200-acre ranch on Wildcat Ridge near Aspen, Colo.
Bill Gates also likes escaping to the cold — the very cold. Since retiring from Microsoft in 2008, the philanthropic billionaire has dedicated his time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose development initiatives are based mainly in Africa. To escape the continent's heat Gates has been known to spend time at Greenland's only ski center, the Apussuit Adventure Camp.
At this remote resort 15 miles outside Maniitsoq, West Greenland, there are no ski lifts and, more importantly, not many people. "Given the small populations in Greenland's towns, one can bring his or her own staff and gallivant around town going completely unnoticed," says Mads Nordlund p.r. and marketing coordinator for Greenland Tourism.cheap jeanstrue religion jeans on salecheap womens crops jeanswomens crops jeans on sale
Although most billionaires use their playgrounds to evade the press, Frenchman François-Henri Pinault — son of fashion and art mogul François Pinault — set sail for paparazzi haven Ibiza with Salma Hayek, his then girlfriend, in 2008.
Photographers snapped the couple frolicking with friends and family off the shores of this elite Mediterranean playground and tabloids around the world ran the pictures, but Hayek wasn't put off — she was so impressed by Pinault, or at least Ibiza, that she married him the following Valentine's Day.
Yet not all billionaires have the urge to fly for hours just to relax and have fun. Indian petrochem and telecom tycoon Mukesh Ambani is instead making his own home into his playground. His extravagant 27-story skyscraper being built in Mumbai has an estimated billion-dollar construction cost and plans call for a four-story open garden, a grand ballroom with a ceiling 80 percent covered by chandeliers and a health level that holds both a yoga studio and an ice room to escape the heat.
This residence may be ultraluxe, but at least Ambani can say that, like everyone else, he just finds enjoyment at home.
- 08:53 -
subota, 27.03.2010.
Skin-whitening creams found in Jackson home
LOS ANGELES - Detectives found large quantities of general anesthetic and dozens of tubes of skin-whitening creams in Michael Jackson's home after the singer's death, search warrants unsealed Friday show.
Investigators went to Jackson's rented mansion June 29 following a lengthy interview with his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who told them he had placed a medical bag in a cupboard in a closet.
At the home, detectives found 11 containers of the powerful anesthetic propofol, some of them empty, as well as a range of sedatives and various medical items including a box of blood pressure cuffs, according to the warrants, which were redacted and unsealed after The Associated Press filed a legal motion.
Jackson's June 25 death at age 50 was ruled a homicide caused by an overdose of propofol and other sedatives. Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
During their search, detectives found 19 tubes of hydroquinone and 18 tubes of Benoquin, both of which are commonly used in the treatment of a skin condition Jackson had called vitiligo. The disease creates patches of de-pigmented skin, and creams can be used to lighten skin that has retained its color to give a more even appearance.
"Some people with vitiligo get to the point where there is so much of them that is pale, it makes more sense to remove the bits that are brown," said Dr. David Sawcer, assistant professor of clinical dermatology at the University of Southern California.
Benoquin is derived from hydroquinone. Though the creams can be used at the same time, it is unusual to do so, Sawcer said. The medications typically come in travel-toothpaste-sized tubes and each treatment usually lasts a few months. Side effects include acute sensitivity to the sun. cheap shoescheap Nike shoescheap Air Max 2009Air Max 2009 on sale Air Max 2009
"In the places they have no pigment, they are exactly like an albino," Sawcer said.
The discovery of medical creams in Jackson's home dovetails with an odd remark Murray reportedly made soon after Jackson's death.
According to police statements obtained by the AP, Jackson's personal assistant, Michael Amir Williams, told detectives that in the hospital where Jackson was pronounced dead, Murray told him he wanted to return to Jackson's house "so that he could pick up some cream that Mr. Jackson has so that the world wouldn't find out about it."
Alberto Alvarez, Jackson's logistics director, who was summoned to the stricken star's side as he was dying, told police Murray interrupted CPR on the pop star to collect drug vials. He gave the vials and an IV line with a milky substance resembling propofol to Alvarez, according to the statement Alvarez gave police, and told him to put them in bags that were similar in description to those later found in the closet.
The skin cream was not listed as a factor in Jackson's death nor was it detected in a toxicology report. What killed Jackson, according to the autopsy report, was an overdose of propofol, an anesthetic normally used for surgery. Murray told police he gave it to Jackson to help him sleep, a use anesthesiology experts have said is grossly improper.
Dr. Zeev Kain, anesthesiology department chair at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center, said he was surprised by the amount of propofol detectives found. Among the 11 containers police said they found were three 100ml vials, which Kain said could be used as general anesthesia for several hours.
"A doctor should not use propofol at home to start with," Kain said.
The warrants also show Murray shipped propofol and other medications to his girlfriend Nicole Alvarez's house in Santa Monica. It's unusual to send propofol to a private residence but not illegal
- 07:28 -
petak, 26.03.2010.
Hacker gets 20 years in credit card thefts
BOSTON - A computer hacker from Florida was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison for helping engineer one of the largest thefts of credit and debit card numbers in U.S. history.
U.S. District Judge Patti Saris sentenced Albert Gonzalez of Miami, who pleaded guilty last year to breaking into computer systems of major retailers, including TJX Cos. and BJ's Wholesale Club.
Prosecutors had sought cheap jeans25 years for Gonzalez, saying he victimized millions of people and cost companies, banks and insurers nearly $200 million. His lawyer had argued Gonzalez should get no more than 15 years.
Gonzalez pleaded guilty last year in three separate hacking cases brought in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. The Thursday hearing dealt with the Massachusetts case. A second sentencing Friday, also in Boston, will deal with the others.
Gonzalez's Boston true religion jeans on saleattorney, Martin , has said his client, a self-taught computer genius, displayed behavior consistent with Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism. A defense psychiatrist's report described Gonzalez as a socially awkward Internet addict with an "idiot-savant-like genius for computers and information technology."
Authorities saidmens jeans on sale Gonzalez and two foreign co-defendants would drive past retailers with a laptop computer, tapping into those with vulnerable wireless Internet signals. They would then install "sniffer programs" that picked off credit and debit card numbers as they moved through a retailer's computers before trying to sell the numbers overseas, authorities said.
Gonzalez, known cheap mens jeansonline as "soupnazi," became a Secret Service informant after he was first arrested for hacking in 2003.
But even as he helped the government nail other hackers, prosecutors said, he kept breaking into retailers' computer systems, amassing $2.8 million he used to buy a Miami condo, a car, Rolex watches and a Tiffany ring for his girlfriend
- 06:59 -
četvrtak, 25.03.2010.
Military to tighten rules on gay firings
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates is going to make it tougher for service members to get fired for being gay by insisting that each case be scrutinized by more senior-ranking officers.
The plan, to be announced Thursday, is considered a stopgap measure by the Obama administration until Congress decides whether to repeal the 1993 law, which bans openly gay service.
Under the new guidelines, firings of enlisted personnel who violate the ban must be approved by officers who hold a rank equivalent to a one-star general or above. Testimony provided by third parties also should be given under oath, the plan says.
The details were described by U.S. military and defense officials who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because no announcement had not been made.
The officials said the goal was to ensure that the existing law was applied fairly and consistently across the military. The plan also is aimed at eliminating flimsy testimony supplied by third parties.
Eliminate grudge cases
Gates has said he wanted to find ways to implement the existing law more "humanely" and eliminate cases in which gay service members are outed by someone carrying a grudge.
In the meantime, Gates has cheap jeans
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womens skirts&shorts jean on saleordered an internal assessment on how the Pentagon could lift the ban without damaging morale or hurting recruitment. That study is due Dec. 1.
Gay rights groups say the move is a step in the right direction but that Congress must still act to lift the ban.
"At the end of the day, service members would still be leaving the services under 'don't ask, don't tell' every day, so what we need is repeal," said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director, Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund.
President Barack Obama has said the ban unfairly punishes gays and has called on Congress to lift the ban. Gates agrees but says he wants to move slowly and has ordered the lengthy assessment to ensure a repeal of the ban won't negatively impact troops or their families.
Military officials, Republicans and even some conservative Democrats have been reluctant to embrace the change. They say they support Gates' review of the policy but that no changes should be made if they might hurt military effectiveness.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and other Democrats say the time has come to repeal the ban and have called for an immediate moratorium on dismissals.
Nathaniel Frank, a senior research fellow with the Palm Center, which supports a repeal of the ban, said it is unclear how much of an impact the new guidelines would have because regulations already restrict third-party allegations.
"Anything that continues to allow the discharge of service members for something that research shows has no bearing on military effectiveness will not go far enough," Frank said.
- 04:56 -
srijeda, 24.03.2010.
Single women still feel ‘spinster’ stigma
Though more and more women are staying single or waiting to marry these days, the stigma against "spinsters" hasn’t lessened, a new survey found.
About 40 percent of adults were single in 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Researchers interviewed 32 of these middle-class, never-married women over age 30. They found that these women perceive themselves as caught in a double bind: Their single status made them both highly visible and invisible.
"We found that never-married women's social environments are characterized by pressure to conform to the conventional life pathway," said Larry Ganong, co-chair of Human Development and Family at the University of Missouri. "Heightened visibility came from feelings of exposure, and invisibility came from assumptions made by others."
For example, the study subjects said they felt more visible in situations such as bouquet tosses at weddings, cheap shoes
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MBT shoes which prompted unwanted, intrusive questions about the their marriage status. Yet the respondents also felt invisible in society, with others assuming they were married and had children, and ignoring the reality of single women. The subjects often felt people expected them to justify or explain their singlehood.
The women also reported other difficulties tied to their social status:
• Awareness of shifting realities as they become older, such as the shrinking pool of eligible men;
• Reminders that they are on different life paths than most women when others inquire about their single status;
• Feelings of insecurity and displacement in their families when parents and siblings remark about their singlehood and make jokes or rude comments.
While one might think these annoyances become worse with age, the researchers actually found that dealing with single stigma is the worst for women in their mid-20's through mid-30's, while women older than age 35 tend to be more content with being single and don't express as much dissatisfaction as do younger women.
Before age 25, being single is considered more acceptable for women, the study indicates, but after reaching that age, women felt scrutinized by friends, family members and others for their singlehood.
"Mainstream media also enforce these ideas," Ganong said. "For example, shows like 'Sex and the City,' which portray female protagonists who are hyper-focused on finding men, and end with the majority of those characters getting married, are popular."
Ganong and his co-researcher Elizabeth Sharp of Texas Tech University will detail their findings in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Family Issues.
- 08:10 -
utorak, 23.03.2010.
Snow plagues Plains on first weekend of spring
OKLAHOMA CITY - More snow fell Sunday as part of a powerful storm blowing through Oklahoma and the southern Plains on the first weekend of spring.
The National Weather Service said there was moderate to heavy snow across northeast Oklahoma, northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri, with some places reporting 8 to 12 inches of snow. The snow and rain was expected to end later Sunday.
The storm disrupted travel on highways and other roads. Wind was as much a hazard as the snow itself, one trucker said.
Jason Nation, who drives a Werner Enterprises tractor-trailer, took a break Sunday afternoon at a Pilot truck stop along Interstate 44 in Mount Vernon, Mo., in the state's southwest corner. He said he was on a trip from Laredo, Texas, to northern Missouri.
"When we entered Arkansas (early Sunday) it was really a blizzard," Nation said. "The wind keeps pushing you to the right." cheap shoes
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Authorities have attributed at least five deaths in four states to the weather. Police in Arlington, Texas, said ice on an interstate caused an accident Sunday involving five vehicles and two 18-wheelers. One of the 18-wheelers fell on another vehicle, killing one person.
The storm came a day after temperatures had reached into the 70s, and forecasters say temperatures should rebound into the 60s as soon as Monday.
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation urged people in the eastern part of the state not to travel on the snow-packed and slick roads if they didn't have to, but said roads in the western part of the state were improving as the weather did.
Authorities reported dozens of wrecks amid heavy snow and high winds, many of them with injuries. Single deaths were reported in Missouri, Kansas and Texas, while Oklahoma reported two traffic fatalities.
The second death in Oklahoma happened Sunday morning, when an SUV slid off a snowy highway east of Marietta, just north of the Red River separating Oklahoma from Texas. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Dixie G. Anderson, 77, of Marietta, suffered fatal injuries when her vehicle hit a tree.
The storm is the third major winter storm to hit Oklahoma in the past three months, including a Christmas Eve blizzard that stranded holiday travelers at airports and on snow-packed highways. Forecasters, though, said that this time temperatures should rebound into the 60s as soon as Monday.
- 09:05 -
ponedjeljak, 22.03.2010.
Teen Girls Stabbed in Broad Daylight in Brutal Brooklyn Attack
NBCNewYork.com
updated 4:16 p.m. ET March 20, 2010
A 16-year-old girl and her 15-year-old friend suffered grave injuries when a knife-wielding woman jumped out of a car and stabbed them on a Brooklyn street Friday afternoon, according to a published report.
The two girls had been hanging out on Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights at about 5 p.m. when a car drove up and a woman and man, whom witnesses identified respectively as "Corona" and "Darnell," leapt out and went after them.cheap shoes
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Witnesses told the Daily News that the man pinned the girls to the ground while the woman repeatedly sliced the 16-year-old's face and thrust the knife once into the 15-year-old.
- 06:43 -
četvrtak, 18.03.2010.
NJ Woman Eats Her Way to “World’s Fattest”
A New Jersey woman has a big fat goal: To eat her way to the title of “World’s Fattest Woman.”
The already 600-pound Donna Simpson of Old Bridge, N.J., has 400 pounds to go and plans to reach the 1,000-pound mark in the next two years, reports the New York Post.
She plans to eat 12,000 calories a day, which is at least 2,000 more calories than Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps consumes during his training. The only difference is he burns 3,000 calories each day during that time.
But eating that much is expensive -- as much as a $750-a-week budget. So what’s a girl to do? Get men to pay her to eat, of course.gucci shoes for sale
Simpson, 42, who already has a boyfriend (who's only 150 pounds) has found other men that are willing to pay to watch her eat burgers, fries, cakes, chips, and 70-pieces of sushi at a time, on her Web site [NSFW].gucci shoes on sale
On SupersizedBombshells.com [NSFW], Simpson goes by the name Treasure, and lists some of her hobbies as "eating, going to restaurants, snuggling and being fed."
Treasure also wishes for her admirers to give her "food and gift certificates from any restaurant."
Fans can download videos of her eating for just $11. They can also see more photos of her by paying a $15 monthly membership fee.
Despite the fact that Simpson cannot easily walk and uses a motorized scooter to get around, she says that she is healthy.
Simpson already holds the Guinness World Record for the fattest mother, ever since she gave birth to her daughter Jacqueline in 2007. Simpson was only 532 pounds then.
"I'd love to be 1,000 pounds," Simpson told the Post. "It might be hard though. Running after my daughter keeps my weight down."
Simpson met her 49-year-old boyfriend Phillipe, who encourages her to eat more, on a dating site for plus-size people, reports the London Telegraph.
"I think he'd like it if I was bigger," she told the Post. "He's a real belly man, and completely supports me."
- 04:54 -
utorak, 16.03.2010.
China's New Year Feasts Go Upmarket
Whether it's the shark's fin with crab roe soup at Yi Long Court at the Peninsula Hotel in Shanghai or the truffled claypot rice at the China Grill in Beijing's Park Hyatt hotel, Lunar New Year is a time for patrons at some of China's fanciest restaurants to splurge on expensive gourmet cuisine
Dining out during the festive season is a relatively new concept for mainland China. Traditionally, the eve and first two days of the Lunar New Year were reserved for family, eating large meals prepared by an army of relatives, like a Thanksgiving or Christmas feast in the West. Restaurants were often closed during the period as well.
But in recent years, restaurateurs say the festivities—and the luxurious dishes that have become a staple for many wealthy Chinese—are now taking place in their dining rooms.
In Hong Kong, affluent locals have been feasting on shark's fin and abalone in gilded restaurants during the New Year for some time—the result partly of tiny apartments that are unable to host dinner parties.
At Fook Lam Moon in Hong Kong, pricey signature dishes for the festive season include a braised turtle number that costs 1,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$129). Reservations have bounced back this year after a dip in 2009, said Michelle Chui, a manager at Fook Lam Moon, which operates nine high-end Cantonese restaurants across Asia
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The chain's two Hong Kong restaurants are booked solid over the New Year season, and Ms. Chui says demand is largely fueled by mainland Chinese diners holidaying in the city. "This is a new phenomenon for us, only in the past two years" said Ms. Chui. "The mainlanders have a lot more money these days."
Some wonder if the rush to the restaurants is killing the true spirit of new year. Chen Hangfeng, a 35 year-old artist in Shanghai, loathes the obligation to eat numerous new year's meals at large banquet halls around the city and the fact that the new dining procession has replaced the family feast of years gone past.
"I don't like it at all," said Mr. Chen who recalls large spreads that were hosted at the homes of relatives, where everything was made from scratch by the family—even the grinding of the flour to make sticky rice balls for desserts.
"People try to order the expensive things to try to impress you and it just doesn't taste very good," he said. "By eating in restaurants, we're losing our authenticity."
Mr. Chen, however, is fighting a losing battle.
China's catering industry grossed 1.8 trillion yuan ($263.7 billion) in 2009—a 17% increase from the previous year, according to a report by China Cuisine Association released late last month. Consumer Web site dianping.com recently reported that the Beijing dining scene exploded with 40% sales growth in 2009, with 20 new restaurants opening daily in the capital. The site also noted that the average check in Beijing grew to 75 yuan, a 7% increase over the past year.
Holiday season can be particularly lucrative, with corporate clients among the biggest spenders in the lead up to festivities.
"We get a lot of companies coming here for entertaining. They always order the grouper, lobster, fat choy, oysters and abalone, and they're all good for blessing the new year," says Yi Long Court chef Tang Chi Keung, whose restaurant charges 1,280 yuan per person for a nine-course meal. "Every businessman who comes must order the fat choy dish to bring them good fortune."
But once the Lunar New Year begins, the focus is on family—even if it is in restaurants.
"Traditionally, we have dinner at home with the family, preparing and making dumplings together," said Sarah Li, marketing manager at Elite Concepts, a restaurant group that runs several eateries on the mainland, including Duck de Chine in Beijing. "Things have changed in recent years, with people now seeking out a nice restaurant to spend their New Year," she added. Diners need to book at least a month in advance to enjoy the new year's 388 yuan per person menu at Duck de Chine that includes its signature roast duck as well as new year favorites like braised conpoy with sea moss and dried oysters.
To a Beijinger who makes an average 56,578 yuan, the menu is indeed extravagant, especially to the host who insists on footing the entire bill.
Across town, the China Grill restaurant at the Park Hyatt hotel is also enjoying a surge in business, though as recently as three years ago, the same hotel that is fully booked had to create special promotions to stoke business during what had been traditionally known as a moribund period.
"We have definitely seen dramatic changes over the past few years," said Adam Lu, director of food and beverages at the Park Hyatt, who is luring diners with a menu that includes wok-fried Australian grain-fed beef and live prawns soaked in wine. "Not only have we observed more reservations, we found that the whole family will dine outside instead of staying at home."
- 06:53 -
subota, 13.03.2010.
Infant deaths prompt warning on slings
WASHINGTON - The government warned Friday that those chic baby slings that hip moms and dads are sporting these days can be dangerous, even deadly for their little ones.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission said it has investigated at least 13 deaths associated with sling-style infant carriers over the last 20 years, including three deaths last year. One other case involving a fatality is still being investigated. Twelve of the deaths involved babies younger than four months of age, the agency said. LV shoes on sale
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The commission is advising parents and caregivers to be cautious when using infant slings for babies younger than four months. It said that many of the babies who died in slings were a low birth weight twin, were born prematurely, or had a cold
In its warning, CPSC said that slings can pose a suffocation hazard in two different ways.
• A sling’s fabric can press against a baby’s nose and mouth, blocking the baby’s breathing and suffocating a baby within a minute or two, the agency said.
• The other scenario involves slings where the baby is cradled in a curved or “C-like” position, nestling the baby below mom’s chest or near her belly. That curved position can cause a baby who doesn’t have strong neck control to flop its head forward, chin-to-chest, restricting the infant’s ability to breathe. “The baby will not be able to cry for help and can slowly suffocate,” said the commission’s warning.
The CPSC specializes in product safety, and often negotiates agreements with manufacturers for recalls, when necessary. It’s a part of the executive branch’s regulatory arm, charged with watching over its area of concentration in much the same way as similar agencies like the Food and Drug Administration and the Agriculture Department’s Food and Inspection Service.cheap shoes
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Baby wearing’ latest parenting trend
Slings are made of soft fabrics that wrap around the chest so that on-the-go parents can carry their babies or just stay close as they bond with their infants. They have become increasingly popular in recent years with parents who want to “wear” their babies, known as “baby wearing.”
Slings also have been promoted by baby experts as a way to calm fussy babies or for nursing moms who can breast-feed their little ones in the sling.
In 2008, Consumer Reports raised concerns about slings and some two dozen serious injuries, such as skull fractures — mostly when a child fell out of the carrier.
Later, after the death last year of a 1-week-old Derrik Fowler in Oregon, safety advocates again warned about the slings and a suffocation risk. The baby died in a sling of positional asphyxia or suffocation, according to court records.
Not always dangerous
Safety advocates have been particularly worried about so-called “bag style” slings, in which the fabric wraps around the parent’s neck and cradles the child in a curved position, such as the sling used by Fowler’s parents.
But not all slings are dangerous, said Pat Shelly, director of The Breastfeeding Center for Greater Washington.
“The safest baby wearing is in a carrier that keeps the newborn baby solidly against his mother’s body, in an upright position,” Shelly said in an AP interview. “Parents should be instructed to allow the infant to keep his chin off his chest optimizing the airway for breathing.”
Shelly, a nurse, teaches classes at her center on how to properly wear a sling.
The popular “SlingRider” by Infantino has been singled out for criticism because of the curved position that the baby can fall into while inside the sling. According to court documents, little Derrik Fowler was in an Infantino sling when he died and his parents are suing the company.
Infantino says its SlingRider is safe. It also said in a statement that the company is working with the Consumer Product Safety Commission to address its concerns.
The SlingRider was recalled in 2007 for problems with the plastic sliders on the sling’s strap. There have been no recalls because of a suffocation risk.
The commission’s caution on slings came three days after its chairman, Inez Tenenbaum, told a meeting of the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association that it planned to issue a warning to parents about the carriers.
JPMA, an industry trade group, certifies 20 children’s products, but does not have a certification program for slings. It is currently working with ASTM International, an organization that sets voluntary safety standards, to develop a standard for slings.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission also has no rules governing slings and potential dangers.
- 08:27 -
petak, 12.03.2010.
Lesbian teen back at school after prom flap
JACKSON, Miss. - An 18-year-old Mississippi lesbian student whose school district canceled her senior prom rather than allow her to escort her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo said she got some unfriendly looks from classmates when she reluctantly returned to campus Thursday.
Constance McMillen said she didn't want to go back the day after the Itawamba County school board's decision, but her father told her she needed to face her classmates, teachers and school officials. cheap shoes
"My daddy told me that I needed to show them that I'm still proud of who I am," McMillen told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "The fact that this will help people later on, that's what's helping me to go on."
The district announced Wednesday it wouldn't host the April 2 prom. The decision came after the American Civil Liberties Union told officials a policy banning same-sex prom dates violated students' rights. The ACLU said the district not letting McMillen wear a tuxedo violated her free expression rights.
‘Thanks for ruining my senior year’
McMillen said she felt some hostility toward her on the Itawamba County Agricultural High School campus.
"Somebody said, 'Thanks for ruining my senior year.'" McMillen said.
The school board issued a statement announcing it wouldn't host the event in Fulton, "due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events."
The statement didn't mention McMillen or the ACLU. When asked by the AP if McMillen's demand led to the cancellation, school board attorney Michele Floyd said she could only reference the statement.
"I guess they would rather do that than what's right, what's constitutionally correct," McMillen said. nike shox shoes on sale
Same-sex prom dates and cross-dressing are new issues for many high schools around the country, said Daryl Presgraves, a spokesman for GLSEN: Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a Washington-based advocacy group.
"A lot of schools actually react rather than do the research and find out what the rights of these students are," said Presgraves, who was preparing to facilitate a discussion about anti-gay bullying at a National Association of Secondary School Principals meeting.
The school district had said it hoped a privately sponsored prom could be held. McMillen said if that happens, she's sure she'll be excluded.
"It's a small town in Mississippi, and it's run by an older generation with money. Most of them are more conservative and they don't agree with it," she said.
‘I am a little bummed out’
Fulton Mayor Paul Walker said he supports the school district's decision and knew of no private efforts to host the prom.
"I think the community as a whole is probably in support of the school district," Walker said of the town of about 4,000.
Itawamba County is a rural area of about 23,000 people in north Mississippi near the Alabama state line. It's near Pontotoc County, Miss., where more than a decade ago school officials were sued in federal court over their practice of student-led intercom prayer and Bible classes.
A couple of students had different reactions to the decision.
Anna Watson, a 17-year-old junior at the high school, was looking forward to the prom, especially since the town's only hotspot is the bowling alley, she said.
"I am a little bummed out about it. I guess it's a decision that had to be made. Either way someone was going to get disappointed — either Constance was or we were," Watson said. "I don't agree with homosexuality, but I can't change what another person thinks or does." nike shox shoes on sale
McKenzie Chaney, 16, said she wasn't planning to attend the prom, but "it's kind of ridiculous that they can't let her wear the tuxedo and it all be over with."
A Feb. 5 memo to students laid out the criteria for bringing a date to the prom, and one requirement was that the person must be of the opposite sex.
Presgraves said his organization hears about school districts that prohibit same-sex prom dates and gay-straight alliance clubs at schools. He said those kind of policies are detrimental to gay students. nike shox shoes
"It sends a message that these students shouldn't be treated the same," Presgraves said.
- 04:18 -
srijeda, 10.03.2010.
Older Adults Need Less Sleep
How much sleep we need is largely a mystery, and sleep seems tougher to come by as we agecheap shoesMany studies - often funded by
the pharmaceutical industry - have suggested that we're all sleep-deprived zombies, risking our health for lack of shut-eye. cheap Nike Air Max
But new research in the U.K. confirms previous indications that older people need less sleep. It also suggests that variations
in sleep hours needed are normal and healthy - so long as one is not overly sleepy during the day. CHANEL on sale
"Healthy aging appears to be associated with reductions in the sleep duration and depth required to maintain daytime alertness," the scientists said in a statement.
Still, researchers warn that many people in modern society suffer from sleep deprivation, and that it can lead to plenty CHANEL
of woes from accidents on the job to higher risk of falls and even death in elderly people.
The study, announced today, involved 110 healthy adults who did not have any sleep disorders and didn't complain about lack of sleep.
They went through various rounds of sleep and wake periods under varying conditions, and were tested for sleepiness during the wake periods.
- 06:39 -
World’s coolest hot springs
I’m not sure if it was the water’s otherworldly milky blue or the enormous plumes of cumulous-cloud steam that made me hesitant to take a dip in Iceland’s Blue Lagoon. Something about the scene—swimsuited bodies of all shapes, sizes, and ages bobbing blissfully while sipping blue liquid from plastic martini glasses—screamed Cocoon. And yet, as I lowered myself into the seductive brine, which is actually runoff from a geothermal power plant, I felt stress melt away.
From the icy tundra of Alaska to the arid desert of the Atacama, our molten-to-the-core planet is laced with underground plumbing that regularly springs a surface leak. And visiting these hot springs can be a therapeutic addition to any vacation.
Earth’s mineral-rich tonic begins as rain that seeps miles underground, gathering concentrations of everything from sulphate (which is why many springs smell like rotten eggs) to magnesium. The water is heated for hundreds or even thousands of years before percolating to the surface via rock fissures at temperatures ranging from 90°F to 212°F (that’s boiling, folks).
But be warned: since our bodies can withstand only about 108°F without scalding, the vast majority of unsupervised hot springs are not suitable for swimming (20 people have died and dozens more have been injured in mishaps in Yellowstone National Park alone).
Lucky for us, wellness enthusiasts and entrepreneurs have spent years taming many of our planet’s hot-water faucets and turning them into destination spas with thermal pools regulated at the ideal temperature—generally from 98°F to 104°F.
Popular spots include Banff Upper Hot Springs in Canada’s Alberta province and Calistoga Hot Springs in California’s Napa Valley; others have tongue-twister names such as Pamukkale in Turkey, where you can soak atop millennia-old Greek and Roman ruins.
There is even an official name, balneology, to describe the therapeutic use of thermal baths. While the medicinal magic of “taking the waters”—touted in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a cure-all—no longer holds water, a hot springs dip is often advised for people with sore muscles, rheumatism, and arthritis, says Melissa Taylor, assistant marketing coordinator for Canadian Rockies Hot Springs, which include Banff Upper Hot Springs. “Naturopaths also suggest that soaking in hot mineral water is a good way to detoxify the body,” she adds.
Bottom line: an hour or two in a thermal pool—especially one surrounded by natural beauty and clean air—is just about the greenest way to relax and recharge, courtesy of our blue planet.
- 06:03 -
The offensive line is always at the top of the search rankings
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