text:
Sky & Telescope's Interactive Sky Chart is a Java applet that simulates a naked-eye view of the sky from any location on Earth, at any time of night, on any date between 1600 and 2400 A.D. Charted stars and planets are the ones typically visible without optical aid under clear suburban skies. Some deep-sky objects that can be seen in binoculars are plotted too.
The applet should work properly in most Java-enabled Web browsers. For best results on a PC, use Internet Explorer 6 or Netscape 7; on a Mac, use OS X 10.3 with Safari. If you have trouble getting the Sky Chart to open on your computer, please review our detailed system requirements to check whether you're using a supported operating system and/or to download one of the supported browsers.
There are three common reasons for trouble with the Interactive Sky Chart:
1. Security Warnings If your Java is up-to-date but you receive security warnings when you attempt to access the Interactive Sky Chart, it's because we have always self-signed the Java security certificate, but as of the most recent Java update, this is no longer allowed. There is a workaround that will not harm the security of your computer, instructions are listed below
2. Black Screen If the Interactive Sky Chart shows you a black screen, check to see if you need a Java update: go to Java.com and click on "Do I have Java" to verify your Java version. Downloading a new or updated version of Java is free. Depending on your browser, you might need to activate the Java plug-in after updating.
3. Change Location Doesn't Work if the "Change Location" button isn't working, check to make sure you don't have a "pop-up blocker" installed, which will block new browser windows from opening automatically. The "Change Location" button opens a new browser window.
4. Slow Connection You might have a problem with your Internet connection. This is especially likely if you are seeing pages on other Web sites load very slowly. We suggest you contact your Internet service provider in this case.
Quick links:
- How to Work Around Java-Related Security Warnings
- How to Open the Sky Chart
- How to Change Your Location and Time Zone
- How to Change the Date and Time
- How to Change the Sky Chart's Display
- How to Print the Sky Chart
How to Work Around Java-Related Security Warnings
If you see a Java-related security warning when you attempt to open the Interactive Sky Chart, you'll need to follow the steps below to enable the Sky Chart for your computer. We are working to update the Interactive Sky Chart so that it does not produce these types of errors, but this workaround will help you access the Sky Chart in the meantime without harming the security of your computer.
In Windows computers:
1. Click the "Start" button and select "Control Panel".
2. Select "Java" - if you are showing large or small icons, you shouldsee
"Java" listed there. If you are using the "Category" layout, select
"Programs" then "Java"
3. When the Java Control Panel opens, select the tab marked "Security"
(see screen shot below)
4. Click "Edit Site List..."
5. Click "Add"
6. In the little box marked "Location", type in the skychart's address:
7. Click "OK". You may get another warning message about http locations
being a security risk, but click "Continue"
8. Click "OK" to close the Java Control Panel
In Macs:
1. Click the apple icon in the uppser left corner, then choose "System
2. Select "Java"
3. Follow steps 3 through 8 above.
How to Open the Sky Chart
Go to the Interactive Sky Chart by clicking on the link from the website header, then click on the Interactive Sky Chart link within the article. The applet may take time to download, especially if you have a slow connection.
If you haven't previously set your default observing location, the chart will open with the location set to Greenwich, England. Set the location by clicking on the "Change Location" button. (Pop-ups need to be enabled for our site for this button to work.) Enter your observing location in only one of the three sections available for this purpose: USA or Canada, World by City, or Worldwide by Latitude & Longitude. Then click the corresponding SUBMIT button. (If you run into trouble at this stage, see the more detailed instructions in How to Change Your Location and Time Zone.) Once you've set the location, it'll be remembered in a cookie on your computer.
The time zone is set automatically from your location, and the default time is 9:00 p.m. You can change the time by clicking the arrows next to the hour shown or you can set both date and time by clicking on "Change" in the Date & Time section. If daylight saving time is currently active in your area, check the small box to the right of the words Daylight Saving Time. Then click the SUBMIT button.
The Interactive Sky Chart should now appear on your screen, showing the sky visible tonight from your location at your specified local time:
On the right side of the screen you'll see a circular map of the constellations labeled ALL-SKY CHART, with a green, four-sided frame near the edge labeled WEST. The part of the sky inside this frame appears at a larger scale in the rectangular window labeled SELECTED VIEW in the upper left corner of your screen. Under that you'll find Location and Date & Time displays. This page is known as the Combined View.
The All-Sky Chart's center represents the part of the sky directly overhead. Its circular edge represents the horizon all around you, as if you were standing in an open field and turning around in a complete circle. Compass directions are labeled around the horizon/edge.
A star that's plotted on the map halfway from the edge to the center, therefore, can be found about halfway up the sky — halfway from horizontal to straight up.
The Selected View shows about as much sky as you can take in at once with your unaided eyes; the field of view is about 50 degrees wide by 40 degrees tall. Compass directions are abbreviated along the bottom, and two markers partway up the right edge of the window indicate your viewing altitude, from 0 degrees at the horizon to 90 degrees overhead.
If you cannot see the bottom or part of the side of the sky chart, resize your desktop to 800 x 600 pixels (or larger). To do this on a PC running Windows 95 or higher, go to the taskbar at the bottom of your screen and click Start > Settings > Control Panel > Display. On the Display Properties screen, click the Settings tab and move the Screen Area bar until it says "800 by 600 pixels." Then click OK. You'll get a pop-up window that says, "Windows will now resize your desktop;" click OK. Once your display is reset to the new size, another pop-up window will ask, "You resized your desktop, do you want to keep this setting?" Click OK again.
How to Change Your Location and Time Zone
From the Combined View (the dual-pane screen with the circular chart on the right and the rectangular window at upper left), click the CHANGE button in the Location display area toward the lower left of the screen. If nothing happens, check to make sure you aren't blocking pop-ups from our site, because the Change Location button opens a new browser window:
All locations:
Be sure to enter data in just one of the three sections of this page: USA or Canada, World by City, or Worldwide by Latitude & Longitude. If you want to make the new location your default observing location, click the checkbox provided for that purpose. If you don't check the box, the new location will be used for this session only.
USA or Canada:
The simplest way to enter your location, and the approach recommended for first-time users, is to enter your Zip code (USA) or postal code (Canada) and choose USA or Canada from the country pull-down menu. When you click the SUBMIT button, the system will use this information to determine your city, state or province, latitude, and longitude.
If you enter your location by specifying a city, be sure to choose the corresponding entry from the state/province pull-down menu too, as well as the country (USA or Canada) from the country pull-down. Click the SUBMIT button. If the system can't find your city, or if you get a page listing several possible matches with the same city name but different geographic coordinates (latitudes and longitudes), go back and try entering a nearby city with a more unusual name. The Sky Chart's accuracy will not be compromised as long as the city or town you choose as your observing location is no more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from your actual location.
Alternatively, if you have a good map or atlas handy, you could instead estimate your latitude and longitude and choose the best match to those coordinates from the list of multiple cities with the same name.
World by City:
Enter the name of your city or town, select your country from the pull-down menu, and click the SUBMIT button. If the system can't find your city in our database, try entering a common alternative spelling of the name, if any. If that doesn't work either, try entering the name of a larger city nearby.
If the information you enter causes the system to come up with several possible matches with identical city names but different latitudes and longitudes, follow the instructions in the USA or Canada section above.
Worldwide by Latitude & Longitude:
If you know your latitude and longitude or can find them using a high-resolution map or Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, enter them in the spaces provided. All entries should be positive numbers. Degrees of latitude should fall between 0 and 90, minutes between 0 and 60; be sure to specify north (N) or south (S) using the radio buttons. Degrees of longitude should fall between 0 and 180, minutes between 0 and 60; be sure to specify east (E) or west (W). For reference, in North America latitudes are N and longitudes W, while in Australia latitudes are S and longitudes E. If in doubt, choose your location using one of the methods described above instead.
This option to set your latitude and longitude manually doesn't work very well. Instead, we recommend selecting a named location near you instead. Anything within 50 miles (80 km) will work fine. At the level of resolution of a full-sky chart, a 50-mile error in location is negligible.
An odd glitch is that when you do a Change Location, the Sky Chart with the corrected location pops up in a new window or tab, leaving the old one in place. That's OK — just close the old window and proceed with the new one.
Once you have successfully entered your location, you'll see the Choose Time Zone screen:
Note that you cannot get to the Choose Time Zone screen directly from the Combined View, All-Sky Chart, or Selected View — you must go through the Choose Location screen first.
First verify that the location displayed there is correct. If it isn't, click on the Change Location link to return to the Choose Location page. Otherwise, select the time zone appropriate to your location from the pull-down menu. The system will not check whether your time-zone selection matches your location. If you're unsure of the time zone for the location you've selected, you may be able to figure it out using SwissInfo.net's Local Times Around the World page. Don't forget to check the Daylight Saving Time box if appropriate. Then click the SUBMIT button; you'll be returned the Combined View, where you'll see a depiction of the sky for the location you've selected.
How to Change the Date and Time
There are two ways to change the date and time for which the Sky Chart shows the sky. First, from the Combined View (the dual-pane screen with the circular chart on the right and the rectangular window at upper left), click the CHANGE button in the Date & Time display area at the lower left of the screen. This will take you to the Choose Date & Time page:
Choose any date between 1 January 1600 and 31 December 2400 using the day and month pull-down lists and the year text-entry box. If daylight saving time was, is, or will be active for your current observing location on your selected date, check the small box to the right of the words Daylight Saving Time. If you wish to change your location and time zone, use the link supplied.
If you want the Sky Chart to use Universal Time (UT) rather than local time, check the small box provided for that purpose. UT, which is essentially the same as Greenwich Mean Time, is used worldwide by astronomers and others to avoid confusion between time zones.
The second way to change the Sky Chart's date and time is to click on the month, day, year, hour, or minute in the display at lower left in the Combined View (under the Date & Time heading), which will become highlighted (in the following example, the hour field has been selected):
Then use the + or – button to increase or decrease the value you've selected. Each time you change a quantity, both the Selected View and All-Sky Chart will be updated instantly.
How to Change the Sky Chart's Display
Change the Field of View:
Besides changing the observing location and date/time for which the Sky Chart shows you the constellations, you can change which part of the sky is featured in the Selected View. Click on the area of the All-Sky Chart that you'd like to see in more detail. The green frame will jump to where your cursor is pointing, and the scene in the Selected View window will now show this area.
Or, click and hold down your mouse button within the green frame on the All-Sky Chart, then drag the frame around the sky. The scene in the Selected View window will change as the location of the green rectangle on the All-Sky Chart changes.
Or, click and hold down your mouse button in the rectangular Selected View window, then drag the cursor to move to another part of the sky. The green frame in the All-Sky Chart will follow your movements.
Maximize the View:
The Combined View packs a lot of information into a small amount of real estate on your computer's screen. If you click the MAXIMIZE button under the All-Sky Chart or Selected View, that field will enlarge to fill the applet's 800-by-600-pixel window. In reality, the All-Sky Chart doesn't get much bigger, because even in the Combined View it already spans almost the entire height of the window. But the Selected View enlarges severalfold. The field of view remains the same as before, but the display is much larger and more readable. Note that when the Selected View is maximized, you can still move around the sky by holding down your mouse button and dragging the cursor.
To return to the Combined View, click on the BACK TO COMBINED VIEW button in the lower right corner of the maximized view.
Customize the Display:
Click on the SHOW ADVANCED DISPLAY OPTIONS button located in the bottom left corner of the Combined View (the dual-pane screen with the circular All-Sky Chart on the right and the rectangular Selected View window at upper left). This will take you to the Advanced Display Options screen:
Click the various checkboxes on or off, depending on what you'd like to see in the All-Sky Chart and Selected View, which can be controlled independently. The Interactive Sky Chart displays the following:
- The 1,686 brightest stars down to magnitude 5.0; of course, only half of these are above your horizon at any one time. You can toggle labels on or off for 26 named stars.
- The Sun, Moon, and five naked-eye planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn); you can toggle their labels (but not their symbols) on or off. Note that due to certain limitations of the software underlying the Sky Chart applet, the Moon's phase is indicated properly, but the orientation of the terminator — the line between the illuminated and shadowed parts of the Moon's face — is not; it is always depicted as vertical.
- Selected deep-sky objects (star clusters, nebulae, and galaxies); you can toggle their symbols and labels on or off.
- Selected special sky events such as meteor showers and bright comets, if any; you can toggle their symbols and labels on or off. Note that the Sky Chart displays special sky events for the current year and only a few years into the future.
- Constellation lines and labels. In the Selected View, they're either on or off. On the All-Sky Chart, you can have no lines or labels, lines only, or lines and labels. In the latter case, a name shows up only when your cursor moves over a constellation; at the same time, the constellation lines become highlighted.
- Buildings and trees are shown along the horizon in the Selected View. Sometimes they block celestial objects of interest that are low in the sky. If that happens, remove them by unchecking the appropriate box.
The RESTORE DEFAULT button resets any changes you've made to the chart's original settings. The CANCEL button returns you to the Combined View without changing any of the settings.
How to Print the Sky Chart
If you have a color printer and a generous budget for ink, you can print the maximized All-Sky Chart or Selected View in living color. Simply choose the view you want, then click your browser's PRINT button or choose File > Print from the menu bar. Use the landscape (wider than tall) setting for the Selected View; either the landscape or portrait (taller than wide) setting will work for the All-Sky Chart.
You'd probably rather not use so much ink all at once. So we've provided the capability to generate a black-on-white version of the All-Sky Chart as an Adobe PDF file suitable for economical printing on either a color or black-and-white printer. (Sorry, but this capability does not exist for the Selected View.)
In the lower-left corner of the All-Sky Chart, whether in the Combined View or maximized display, you'll see a CREATE PDF button. If you click it, your browser should call up a PDF file of the All-Sky Chart corresponding to the current date, time, and location settings. This may take a minute or two, and depending on which operating system and browser you're using, the PDF may open in the browser itself or in Adobe Reader.
The PDF chart will show all the objects, lines, and labels that the All-Sky Chart is capable of displaying, regardless of which boxes are currently checked in Advanced Display Options. As a result, the printable chart may look cluttered, and some labels (all of which are in the same orientation) may overlap others. Still, if you print this PDF, you'll have a chart reasonably well suited to use outside under the night sky. (You might be able to minimize label overlap by changing the chart's time by 15 or 20 minutes either way and generating a new PDF.)
The foregoing assumes that you already have the free Adobe Reader program on your computer and that it is properly configured as a "helper" application for your web browser. If that's not the case, then rather than open the PDF automatically, your browser may ask you to save it to disk.
Note that the printable All-Sky Chart may not open if your copy of Adobe Reader is older than version 5.0 You can get a free upgrade to the latest version (7.0 as of May 2005) at Adobe's website. Adobe Reader is available for PCs and Macs running all popular operating systems.
Another alternative is to use one of the bimonthly sky charts provided in our Getting Started in Astronomy flyer, which is available in Adobe PDF format for observers in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The maps in Getting Started produce high-quality 8½-by-11-inch (or A4) printouts in black and white. Here's a detail from one such printout:
These charts don't show the ever-changing positions of the Moon and planets. If you see a bright "star" near the line labeled "ECLIPTIC" that's not on the map, you've located a planet. To figure out which one it is, consult the latest issue of Sky & Telescope or use the Interactive Sky Chart).
If this Help page doesn't answer your questions, please send an e-mail message to email@example.com. Describe your problem in as much detail as possible, and note which part of the site you were on when you got stuck. Thank you!


text:
Silicon Valley's venture capitalists think social games are the next big pot of money.
Unfortunately, so do class-action lawyers.
Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff, a Sacramento-based law firm, has announced an investigation into social gaming, claiming the business is rife with abuse:
U.S. & World
Users of these games may have been charged without their consent for "special offers" that result in hidden charges to credit and debit cards, sometimes through the use of phone text messages and auto-recurring SMS subscriptions. Many of these companies and advertisers making "special offers" then make it very difficult — or impossible — for users to get their money refunded.
Social games like Mafia Wars and FarmVille, played on Facebook and MySpace, let people play with their online friends in cartoonish fantasy worlds for free. Game publishers like Zynga and RockYou make some money through conventional advertising, but they also profitably help marketers sign up new users for services like a Netflix subscription or a Video Professor DVD set.
It's a big business: Zynga's 2009 revenues are estimated at somewhere between $100 million and $200 million. And Electronic Arts spent $400 million acquiring Playfish, a rival maker of Facebook games.
That means the likes of Zynga are big enough to be a target for the likes of Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff, which has won a number of class-action cases, including a similar suit against AOL for deceptive subscription come-ons. AOL settled that case for $25 million. And according to TechCrunch, another law firm is considering a similar class-action claim against the industry.
Social game players can pay to buy points which they spend on so-called "virtual goods" -- in-game add-ons which speed up gameplay or give them an advantage against other players. But they can also acquire these points by accepting offers.
The social networks which host these games can potentially benefit: Game publishers like Zynga spend money to buy advertising on their sites as they seek to sign up new users to which they can market offers.
But the relationship has grown less cozy: Facebook booted Zynga's latest game, FishVille, off of its site for violations of its terms of service. And Offerpal Media, a startup which brokers offers for social games, abruptly replaced founder Anu Shukla after she publicly declared her company to be aboveboard. The new CEO, George Garrick, promised to improve Offerpal's business practices.
It's not just users getting scammed, according to critics of the social-gaming business. Users are taking advantage of advertisers by clicking on offers just to get points, and then cancelling the service.
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus, speaking in front of an audience of entrepreneurs at Berkeley earlier this year, confessed to doing "every horrible thing in the book" to get revenues for his startup -- an apparent reference to accepting misleading ads and offers.
"That sounded bad enough when it was reprinted on a tech blog; imagine how it's going to sound in court," observed Valleywag, a Silicon Valley gossip blog.
Court is a ways away: The law firm has only announced an investigation, and if it decides to proceeed, it must persuade a judge to certify the case for class-action status. But given Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff's track record of class-action litigation, the threat seems like one social-gaming startups should take seriously.
Representatives of Zynga and Facebook, two companies prominently targeted by the investigation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Here's Zynga's Pincus on how he built his business:

subset: commoncrawl


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This is an excerpt from Social Issues in Sport, Second Edition, by Ronald B. Woods, PhD.
Just as television changed the way families in the 1950s interacted with sport, the Internet has given fans yet another way to experience sport. The Internet gives sport fans virtual access to sport in real time and on demand and allows them to create personal, specific methods of interaction. By 2009, three out of four Americans had home access to the Internet, while 63% of those now have broadband Internet connections at home, a 15% increase from the previous year (PewInternet.org 2009).
The business model for television has been to schedule programs and events at certain times and expect a mass audience to view them. However, the advances in technology in the last 10 years allow people to record any program and replay it at their convenience using TiVo or similar technology. Of course, people can also skip the advertisements if they wish, fracturing the business model that has been in place for over 50 years.
The plethora of cable channels, specialized sport networks, and sport packages has also contributed to a diffusion of the television audience. For those who want to watch sports all day, there are channels and programs available 24/7. Some of us use the Internet to supplement televised sport and newspaper accounts, but for the majority of younger folks, the Internet has become the primary source for news generally and sports specifically. Social media such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, and blogs have opened up other possibilities for sport news and discussion. Beyond simply reporting the news, social networking sites have the ability to link sport fans with each other and with professional athletes to share ideas, discussions, opinions, and photos with lightning speed around the world. The Internet can also present a wide variety of programming by video streaming in real time so that people can watch their alma mater play a football game in another time zone or follow their daughter's college volleyball game.
Major League Baseball (MLB) established its Advanced Media (MLBAM) site in 2000, and the result has been an entity that generated $380 million in 2007 and continues to grow at about 30% a year. MLB.com now boasts up to 8 million unique visitors per day during the season and offers team news, merchandise, and ticket sales (Jacobson 2007).
For the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men's basketball tournament, CBS Sports and the NCAA offered an "on-demand" website; on the first day of the 2010 tournament, the website had the largest single day of traffic for a live sport event on the Internet with 3.4 million hours of live video and audio streaming consumed by 3 million unique website visitors. One of the "hit features" of the website seemed to be the "boss button." If your boss at work is nearing your desk, you simply hit the button. On the first day, the button was hit an astounding 1.7 million times. Of course, the challenge for the future for networks is to correctly balance coverage between the three types of screens—television, computer, and mobile phones (Osbourne 2010).
If you search for "sports" or "athletes" on YouTube, you'll bring up more than 884,000 photos and 31,700 videos, including sport blooper videos, various commercials and athlete interviews, videos of women in sport, and profiles of athletes at every level of competition.
We visit the websites of favorite teams, check for scores, listen to games in progress, order tickets, browse for stories, read sport blogs, or enter chat rooms to discuss the latest event results. We can track the progress of sport events anywhere in the world. Stories by sports writers are published on the Internet so that we have access to perspectives from sport newsrooms around the country.
Even sport events that are only "pretend" have cornered a significant share of the marketplace on the Internet. According to a survey from the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA), an industry organization that represents more than 110 companies, an estimated 27 million American adults play fantasy sports, translating into revenue of nearly a billion dollars per year. About 85% of gamers play fantasy football and 40% play fantasy baseball. The typical player is male, between the ages of 18 and 49 with above-average income and education, a marketer's dream. The average cost to the player per year is about $150.00 for a subscription to play. Fantasy sports are not regulated by gambling rules since the outcome of games has been judged to be based more on skill or knowledge of participants than on chance (Ankeny 2009).
The rise of the Internet is likely one of the causes for the declining circulation of major newspapers. Newspaper circulation has been slowly falling since the 1980s, but recently that descent seems to be accelerating. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations (Bloomberg 2009), average weekday circulation for U.S. newspapers fell 7.1% during the six-month period from October 2008 to March 2009 compared to a 3.6% drop in the previous year. Among the top 20 selling newspapers, only the Wall Street Journal posted an increase, of 0.6%, in the Audit Bureau's report, while all other papers posted decreases. Even USA Today, the nation's largest newspaper, posted a loss of 7.5%, and The New York Times posted a loss of 3.6%. One of the key reasons given in the report for the decline is the increasing consumer interest in getting news from the Internet. In fact, some newspaper executives are buoyed by the expanded audience they are reaching by combining their print and Internet readers together. In spite of that optimistic view, the key problem is that most newspapers do not charge for their online editions, and advertising for online editions is difficult to sell. USA Today is one of the first newspapers to offer subscriptions to readers for its online edition, which replicates the print version.
As technology improves and access to the Internet increases, websites will fight to win consumers. Media corporations will enter the fray and try to entice consumers by offering exclusive data and entertainment on their sites. Eventually, Internet access may allow us to design our own sport entertainment by giving us access to novel event presentations with unique camera angles, favorite announcers, instant replay on demand, and player or coach interviews. The interactive nature of such experiences will draw us closer to the action and make us more involved than the average spectator.
Learn more about Social Issues in Sport, Second Edition.
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text:
Fifty years ago this year, in October of 1962, James Bond first appeared onscreen in "Dr. No"
We take it for granted now. 007 has become an pop culture cornerstone. A Bond movie is as close to a sure thing to be a big success as there is in the movie business. But there was a time when movie audiences had never heard of James Bond. As hard as it is to imagine, there was a time when a James Bond movie was not a surefire huge grossing film. When, in spite of shining prospects, a misstep could have cut short an entire franchise.
Thankfully, the first movie they made was the brilliant "Dr. No". A tone setting film that established the world of James Bond in almost every way. Its success would propel the Bond series to become one of the longest running, most successful movie franchises of all time.


text:
In this game you need to build a tower that is as tall as possible. Blocks will hang from the top and when you click the mouse button, the block will drop down. If it fails to land on the block beneath, then you lose a block and when you loses three blocks, the game will be over. If you manage to drop the block perfectly on the block beneath, then you get extra bonus scores. As the tower gets taller it will start to shake and the taller it gets, the wider it shakes, making the dropping of new blocks more difficult.
Back to Games/Action


text:
Hey guys,
I currently have four (4) classic-castle minifigs up for trade.
Each minifig comes with two (2) accessories. Minifigs are in very good condition, with little to no scratches or stress (bite) marks. Plus a brown treasure chest filled with jewels, pearl gold studs, and gold coins (not pictured):
I am looking to trade for any (or all) of the following:
Elf Warrior (CMS3) (x1)
Dragon Master(s) Lord (with cape) (x1)
LotR Longsword (light grey) (x1)
Eomer Rohan Helm (x1)
Light gray pirate scimitar (x1)
Let me know if you are interested and would like to trade.


text:
- Font:
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Nora Cara was flabbergasted.
She was about to order her usual morning coffee and muffin at Dunkin' Donuts when she saw the new calorie labels. The chocolate chip muffin she had her eye on was 630 calories.
"I was blown away," said Cara, a 27-year-old homemaker from Forest Hills in New York City. "I'm not a no-carb type of person, and I usually don't even think about it. But you pick up a little muffin with your coffee, and it has 630 calories in it? That's a bit extreme!"
New Yorkers have been in the throes of sticker shock since this spring when the Big Apple became the first city in the country to implement a law forcing chain restaurants to post the calorie count of each food in the same size and font as the price.
Restaurants have not exhausted their legal challenges, but the city will start fining violators up to $2,000 beginning Friday, say officials with the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
While some sit-down chains and fast-food eateries are waiting until the last minute, coffee shops like Starbucks — home of the 470 calorie raspberry scone and 610 calorie cookie — have been replacing their menu boards and adding calorie tags to pastries in recent weeks. The result: Do a little eavesdropping in a New York City restaurant, and you may think you've stumbled into an Overeaters Anonymous meeting.
At T.G.I. Friday's, one of the few sit-down chain restaurants to have already added calorie counts to menus, a group of young women gasped as they studied the menu, barely able to find a meal under 1,000 calories, never mind an appetizer or dessert. Both Stephanie Fowler and Lindsay Green asked about the suddenly popular Classic Sirloin — at 290 calories, it was one of the lowest calorie items on the menu — but learned the restaurant ran out by the time the dinner rush started.
Outside the Forest Hills' Dunkin' Donuts, Juan Restrepo, the 45-year-old owner of a construction company, said he was quitting corn muffins — 510 calories! — this time for good.
"My daughter warned me about them," he lamented. "I just didn't listen."
Preventing diabetes
Putting the brakes on thoughtlessly inhaling calories is exactly the effect New York City health officials hoped the law would have. They say calorie labels could reduce the number of obese New Yorkers by 150,000 over the next five years, and prevent 30,000 cases of diabetes.
New York is not the only city pushing calorie labels. New laws in Seattle and California's Santa Clara and San Francisco are scheduled to go into effect later this year, including some more stringent than New York's, requiring restaurants to post information about sodium, carbs, fats and cholesterol in addition to calories.
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Such laws have faced stiff opposition and legal challenges from the restaurant industry. A judge struck down New York City's first calorie labeling law , which would only have applied to fast food restaurants that were already making calorie information available on Web sites or posters. The law was then revised to apply to all chain restaurants with 15 or more outlets nationwide.
"We're still in court, but the ruling is in effect," said New York City health department spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti. Fines for the restaurants who haven't posted calorie counts by Friday will range from $200 to $2,000 depending on the violation, she said.
Scaperotti said she didn't know what impact the calorie labels have made on consumer choices or sales. But, she said, "We know nutritional information is effective. If you go to the Starbucks near our office in lower Manhattan, the little cookies that are 80 calories each — they're the first ones to go."
1,360 calorie salad
Many New Yorkers are finding that even the foods they thought were lower calorie really aren't. Vicki Freedman, who lives in Manhattan, watches her weight and always tries to choose a light option when eating out. But the 26 year old just discovered that the Friday's pecan-crusted chicken salad, served with mandarin oranges, dried cranberries and celery, has 1,360 calories.
"That surprised me the most because they market it as a healthy option," she said. "It's like false advertising. You think it's better than the burger and the fries. It's misleading." (The cheeseburger served with fries is, indeed, 1,290 calories.) Video: Calorie counts force people to face facts
Meals ordered at sit-down chain restaurants may have more calories than typical takeout fast-food, nutritionists say, because the portions are often larger and an entrée can be served on a plate smothered with French fries. In a takeout restaurant, the fries have to fit into a container, which limits the portion size.
Managers at some restaurants, including an Upper East Side Johnny Rocket's and Outback Steakhouse, said new menus including calorie counts would be on tables by Friday, or shortly thereafter.
"We're concerned," acknowledged Eric Hagy, proprietor of Outback Steakhouse on Third Avenue in Manhattan. "I don't know what effect it will have, but it will bring people's attention to certain items that are high in calories, like the Bloomin' Onion appetizer. It has over 2,000 calories, but it's meant to be shared between two or three people."
At a Starbucks on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, barista Bishoy Ayoub, 18, said he's noticed many customers switching to smaller drinks or reduced-fat drinks since calorie labels were posted several months ago.
'Take off the labels'
"Some people actually tell us we should take off the labels, because it discourages them from ordering what they want," he said. "But I think honesty is the best policy."
At a Wendy's nearby, where calorie counts were just posted next to prices on the menu-boards behind the counter, customers didn't flinch. "I figure I've got 1,350 calories here on my tray," said Tristan Rowe, 26, who lives in Brooklyn, pointing to his lunch of a chicken club sandwich, junior bacon-cheeseburger, large fries and a large Coke (which actually added up to 1,680 calories). "It's not going to change what I order — I'm not watching my waistline. I have a very active lifestyle."
Despite the eye-opening revelations, whether New Yorkers will switch to lower calorie meals remains to be seen. They may just switch menus.
That's what Fowler, the woman who was dining recently with her friends at T.G.I. Friday's, decided to do.
"I'm so upset," she said, noting some entrees — like the Jack Daniels ribs and shrimp dinner — contain almost 2,000 calories, and the desserts were more of the same (the brownie obsession is 1,500 calories). "I wish they wouldn't have done this."
But then Fowler noticed that the waiter had handed her friend an old menu, which didn't have calorie counts on it.
"You got a menu without anything on it?" she asked her friend. "Can I have yours?"
Roni Caryn Rabin is a health writer who lives in New York City. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday and Real Simple magazine, among other publications, and is author of the book, "Six Parts Love: A Family's Battle with Lou Gehrig's Disease." She teaches journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
© 2013 msnbc.com. Reprints


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Birchbox Acquires JolieBox, Expands InternationallySeptember 27, 2012
Birchbox, the U.S.-based beauty discovery commerce company, has acquired Paris-based JolieBox. The acquisition expands the company's footprint, distribution and partnerships.
"The delight of discovery extends across any border and to any culture," says Katia Beauchamp, Birchbox co-founder. "JolieBox, with its like-minded team and brand ethos, is the absolute perfect partner to build relationships with new customers and brand partners internationally while simultaneously improving distribution as we scale."


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1/4 mile ET ?
1/4 mile ET ?
Around 12.6 seconds seems to be what NEDRA has: 12.643s 102.89mph top speed. Current record holder for street production over 349V class is Roadster Sport. That's quite easy, because there really is no competition in (mass) production street car class currently. If something like Nemesis could get that status, then Roadster would look slow.
Looks like Roadster start is explosive but it starts to lose acceleration quite fast after 60mph. 1/8 times for Roadster (different car, no mention about "sport") are 8.140s 84.11mph, so it already is at 84mph speed at half-way the track and has used over four seconds to get 24mph increase from 60mph.
That might be caused by aerodynamic drag, Roadster isn't actually very aerodynamic. Model S will be much better in that than current Roadster.
Keeping the car on the road and going in a straight line, while traveling on a surface that offers less than desireable traction is, I think, more important than how fast the car will go or how well it will accelerate, if you live where it snows or if you like to go to the mountains in winter. However, acceleration and speed is definately important to me when considering which car to buy.
The performance of Tesla vehicles under low traction conditions is something that has not been widely discussed. It appears, from what I have read, that the performance of the roadster is basically the same as a rear wheel drive with positraction. If so, performance on snow and ice will most certainly not be as good as your garden variety 4WD, or the BMW, Subaru, Volvo and Audi full time four wheel drive vehicles, which are, of course, all gas/diesel powered vehicles. No matter how you slice it, two wheel drive is two wheel drive. No comparison to a four wheel drive vehicle under limited traction conditions.
In order for an electric drive vehicle to attain the same, or even superior performance as the present gear driven 4WD vehicles in limited traction conditions, electric car manufacturers will have to individually equip each wheel with a motor. A computer controlled power distribution system could then be used to supply power to each wheel in accordance with that wheel's available traction.
Sounds crazy? Not according to a Japanese Professor and Engineer. The prototype he has built, the Elica, has six wheels, and is a virtual rocket when it comes to performance. The power to each wheel is computer controlled, according to the traction available at that wheel.
Of course, a six wheel vehicle would hardly be something that would go into production in the US or anywhere else in the world, but it just shows what is possible.
Until electric car manufacturers can offer an all wheel drive vehicle with computer traction control, I think I'll stay with my conventional 4WD vehicles. I wonder if the SUV Toyota and Tesla are going to design will be all wheel drive. Just have to wait and see, I guess.
We sure do live in interesting times....
Difference between 4WD and 2WD cars are pretty small even in slippery surface. Much more depends of your tires, car behavior especially when (not "if") sliding starts and road maintenance. These cars are not off-road cars so 4WD or 2WD you can't drive them in deep snow anyway.
Tesla has one of the worlds best traction control systems in their cars, which help controlling it quite a bit. Also the fact that you can have very precise control of your car real wheels with just accelerator in power-induced sliding helps a lot (lift the accelerator, and wheels slow car due regen braking, push it down and it accelerates). Speed-induced sliding depends a lot more of car balance and tires than which wheels are driving wheels. 4WD car can be nightmarish to control in all-wheel slides. Or not.
Obviously EV can be traditional 4WD. There is nothing to stop that. Or two-engine 4WD, or even hub-motor 4WD. Rear-wheel drive just is easiest and most cases the best solution.
A typical "flatlander" comment Timo. Where do you live? Hawaii?? LA?? There is a world of difference between 4WD and 2WD vehicles, as well as front wheel drive compared to rear wheel drive vehicles, under limited traction conditions. To say that the difference is pretty small just shows that you have zero experience driving on ice and snow with either type of vehicle. I have 30 years of driving experience on snow and ice, driving both 2WD and 4WD vehicles, and I can tell you there is a world of difference. No one is talking about going off road into deep snow. But when driving with snow on the roadway, even when there is only two to three inches of snow, the difference can be safely getting where you are going or planting your hood ornament into a snow bank. And if the snow gets deeper (maybe six to eight inches) on the roadway, which is, at times, common in areas that get winter snow, a 2WD vehicle will not be able to move unless the drive wheels have chains attached. If you don't live in the snow or do not plan to go to the mountains in winter, then an electric 2WD SUV would be fine for you. But be assured that there is a HUGE difference between 2WD and 4WD vehicles in limited traction situations, and any statement to the contrary just shows that you do not have experience driving under these conditions.
Are you gonna argue that Canada is such a place?
Timo's correct, 4WD makes next to NO difference onroad, it's sole reason to exist is for going off road. Every winter, the first dozen vehicles I see in the ditch are all 4WD models. Why? Because drivers assume exactly what you're assuming, and they're wrong every time.
If I had a dollar for every 2 wheel drive car I've seen fail to make it up some of hte hills in my town during winter, I'd be able to buy a roadster sport. icy hills are a good time to have a vehicle with 4wd. My car is only 2wd, but I'll be damned if I ever try going out to hte middle of nowhere in vermont or new hampshire on a snowy day with it. but between any possible lack of 4wd and infrastructure, I suspect EVs won't catch on as quickly in very rural areas as fast as htey might in urban or suburban areas.
Speaking as a Canadian driver, in my experience:
RWD vehicles that lack weight on the rear wheels are terrible in snow. Your rear wheels will often buck out sideways when you try to accelerate. In bad conditions you'll often get half-way up a hill, then spin sideways and slide back down to the bottom. Hopefully no one is behind you!
FWD is generally better if your engine is up front, because the weight is on the drive wheels. They can pull you around a slippery corner. Your rear end doesn't swing out when you attempt to accelerate. But if you hit the gas too hard in a corner your wheels will break loose and you'll lose steering. So there are significant differences between RWD and FWD in snow conditions, and you need to understand those differences to drive safely.
4WD/AWD is somewhat less likely to get suck. 4WD/AWD will also accelerate signficantly faster than any type of 2WD in snow. Unfortunately that will give you a false sense of security, and it will not decelerate any faster! That's why you see 4WD/AWD vehicles in the ditch. Idiots are driving them.
3rd paragraph "stuck" not "suck". LOL.
To ECam I live in Finland and I have been trained to drive all kinds of vehicles, including military APC:s in winter. I know what I'm talking about. 4WD is better than 2WD, but difference is small.
8 inch show is a lot of snow in road. Don't they have any road maintenance there? Roadster would get stuck just because it doesn't have the ground clearance to manage that deep snow, Model S would probably also get stuck for same reason (unless the snow is very loose). 6 inches is a bit more manageable, and yes, you don't need a AWD to drive that, only good tires and well-behaving car.
I agree with both Wawlkus and Douglas3. Note that Douglas3 said that RWD with no weight at rear sucks. It sucks in wet tarmac too unless you want to do powersliding. For Tesla cars that is not the case, they are well-balanced with low (very low for Model S) center of gravity. Douglas3 did leave out FWD case where you don't have weight on front, then when you start to slip going up steep hill your front end of the car tries to go all around the place except forward, and if it goes too much to side you end up spinning front down. It basically does same as rear wheel driven car, but with more easily controlled way.
Totally agree with all of your comments Doug3...the advantage to AWD / 4WD is not getting stuck....I HATE GETTING STUCK!...therefore, one of the vehicles in my household will always have to be an AWD / 4WD...this is why I would prefer TM to offer an AWD version of the Model S when practical.
My car is rear wheel drive and we get a ton of snow here. I run z-rated tires in the summer and snow tires in the winter. I also live up in the mountains and climbing the hills every day is a piece of cake with snow tires even in 2-3 inches of snow. I've been caught in a snowstorm in z-rated tires before though and the car struggles to go up even the slightest incline. I used to think I would need a separate 4WD vehicle, but now I think that would be pointless.
Timo, I've never seen a FWD vehicle with no weight on the front tires! Seems pointless. What kind of car is that?
I could also point out that there are differences between 4WD and AWD in snow handling. "True" 4WD vehicles don't allow front/back differential wheel motion, and they really wallow through corners. 4WD is better for grinding through mud off road, but AWD is definitely better for winter driving. AWD vehicles drive rather like FWD cars do in snow, except that you don't get that "pull around the corner" turning characteristic - you can't modulate the turn radius with the gas pedal.
I suspect the Model S will be just fine in winter conditions, as long as you use snow tires. The nice even weight distribution will really help.
FWD with no weight on front is more a situation than a car. Small FWD car with lightweight engine, lots of weight in back behind rear axle for one or other reason (like towing something heavy that is not balanced right).
I have to admit that I don't recall driving any rear-engine car with front wheel drive. Sounds kind of stupid arrangement to me.
It is impressive for a street car. Not so much for a electric car.
Drop the advertisement, otherwise get deleted as spammer.
Just to make clear, my above message is for someone whose message actually got deleted, not to h8tow8.
We don't get much ice and snow in Queensland, but i have driven the Mitsubishi Delica 2.8 turbo deisel, and i do know the difference between 2 and 4 WD in this vehicle makes it a different beast. We get plenty of rain and have quite a few hills, as well as greasy slippery conditions when it starts to rain, i always switch to 4WD under these conditions , it feels more stable , easier to handle and doesn't move as much on the road - however it costs more fuel. At present we have a Hyundai santa Fe 3.3 v6 FWD - and boy do you know it's a FWD with big wheels now shod by Pirelli scorpion zeros it's a lot better than the standard Kuhmo's - but it needs to be driven a different way - and i'm sure is not as stable as the delica. (my Mini is however great and i want it closer to unstable to drive the way i like ) - i used to race a 1312cc supercharged 1976 Mini SS - top speed 237KPH - 1/4 mile 14.8 seconds


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The American economy may be in a gloomy descent toward recession as the nation slogs through the final days of a bitterly divisive presidential election, but it was hard to find anything to say but "oooh and ahhh" during a 10-day fall road trip through two of those United States of America.
Late September-early October in Montana and Wyoming is sublime, almost spiritual in its beauty and quiet.
The hordes of travellers are back in the cities, the hunters still haven't taken to the hills and the deer and the antelope are home on the ranges bathed in a golden hue under vibrant, cloudless skies.
My wife Gayle and I packed up our trusty, 12-year-old Explorer and headed south in search of rejuvenation and inspiration after a hectic summer.
Occasionally on interstates, but more often on the two-lane "blue highways," we found it in spades through some 3,400 kilometres.
Our first stop stateside was the farming village of Valier, about 90 minutes south of the Chief Mountain border crossing. It's well worth the search to spend a night or two at the Stone School Inn, a majestic, five-unit bed and breakfast in a stately, 1911 sandstone school.
Owner Susan Northfisher and her dogs Biscuit and Gravy run the inn with impeccable class and understated hospitality. Northfisher fled the rat race of Los Angeles a couple of years ago for the sanity of rural Montana.
The rooms are ridiculously spacious and airy and Susan's morning meals leave you gastronomically set for the day.
A true slice of Americana is to be found in Valier's Froggie's Tavern, just off Highway 44, where cigarette smoke, rowdy laughter and the scent of Budweiser hang heavy in the air. During our dinner there, one local walked in and announced to all that he was so hungry, "I could eat a cow from the inside out."
We worked our way south toward the lure of Yellowstone National Park on I-15 through Great Falls and the state capital of Helena before taking to the backroads again, through towns like Ennis, nestled in the Madison River valley, legendary among fly fishermen.
It was our first trek to Yellowstone, the first and most popular of America's national parks. It still takes some getting used to seeing the hillsides of charred tree trunks, remnants of the massive fires of 1988 which scarred more than one-third of the park. But once your focus turns to the steaming, bubbling mud pits, the colourful geyser fields and Old Faithful, the iconic grandpappy of them all, you understand the timeless allure of this place.
Even in late September, there was construction on Yellowstone's roads and you can only imagine what the congestion is like in mid-summer.
South of Yellowstone lies the much smaller but breathtaking Grand Teton National Park, set against the jagged, dramatic range of peaks crowned by Grand Teton itself at 4,197 metres.
For an old western movie fan, it was a thrill to see this countryside where they filmed Shane, the classic 1953 duster starring Alan Ladd and that best of black-clad bad dudes, Jack Palance.
Take a day or two to poke around Jackson, the ski-hiking-retail therapy mecca just south of the park gates. At about 9,000 residents, it draws natural comparisons to Banff. We spent a couple of hours in Jackson's National Museum of Wildlife Art and balanced that with a night of locally brewed beer, country rock music and people-watching in the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar.
Working your way through the Tetons can be a slow process, not because of traffic but because there's a photo opportunity around every curve, none better than the jaw-dropping Oxbow Bend on the Snake River.
East of Yellowstone lies the weathered Absaroka Range, which contains almost 50 peaks of more than 3,6oo metres. An hour further along Highway 14 brings you to Cody, the bustling cowboy town founded by legendary hunter and showman Buffalo Bill Cody.
There's a nightly rodeo show during the sultry summer nights, but Cody's crown jewel is the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, five museums of all things western housed under one roof that has been correctly dubbed the "Smithsonian of the West."
Sheridan, 250 kilometres east of Cody in the shadow of the Bighorn Mountains, is a pin-neat prairie town whose downtown streets are dotted with century-old brick buildings and dozens of bronze sculptures, ranging from frontier lore to the whimsical.
Turning north into Montana, a must-stop for us was the Little Bighorn Battlefield, where an ambitious Gen. George Custer led his U.S. cavalry troops to annihilation at the hands of massed Lakota and Cheyenne warriors on June 25, 1876.
Located on the Crow Indian reservation, those who walk the national monument's pathways through the whispering grasses tend to do it in reverent silence, soaking in the evocative spirits of the place -- the loss of life on both sides at one of the final stands of the nomadic way of life for aboriginal people.
In the waning days of our vacation, we found a true, hidden gem in Fort Benton, nestled on the shores of the broad Missouri River and within a day's drive of Calgary. Hundreds of steamboats puffed their way up to the levees during Fort Benton's heydays in the mid-19th century, with some of their passengers and cargo bound for the pre-rail era Canadian west.
Fort Benton was also home to Shep, the "forever faithful" sheep dog who met the four arrivals at the town's train station every day from 1936 to 1942, waiting for his dead master to return.
Treat yourself to a stay and a meal at the stately, riverside-hugging Grand Union Hotel, built in 1882 and gloriously restored a decade ago. You can almost here the ghosts of the teamsters, river pilots and high-rollers plotting the west's future in the hotel bar.
Morton is the Herald's religion writer


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Ludlum Entertainment has struck a deal with Electronic Arts, granting them exclusive worldwide rights to the works of author Robert London, with a new Jason Bourne game currently in development at Starbreeze Studios.
Chronicles of Riddick developer Starbreeze Studios is already hard at work on a new Jason Bourne game as EA and Ludlum Entertainment announce the multi-year agreement that grants the publisher exclusive rights to Robert Ludlum's full catalog.
"Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne is the most exciting action hero to emerge in decades, thrilling audiences around the world," said Mike Quigley, group vice president of marketing, EA Games Label. "EA is excited to enter into a long-term relationship with Ludlum Entertainment, bringing the action, intrigue and intensity of Robert Ludlum's fiction to life for casual and core gamers around the globe."
Ludlum Entertainment originally offered the rights to Vivendi back in 2005, but after releasing only one title - The Bourne Consiracy - the rights were handed back last year during the great Sierra property purge that resulted from the Activision Blizzard merger.
While The Bourne Conspiracy didn't impress me much, a new title developed by Riddick developer Starbreeze might be just what the deadly assassin posing as a doctor ordered.


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"Dallas." For 14 seasons and a handful of TV movies, that one word defined a generation of prime time television. The epic, melodramatic saga of a Texas oil fortunes was in fact overshadowed by one of its own characters, the villainous but compelling J.R. Ewing. Even those who have never seen a single episode of the show know the pop culture value of the phrase "Who Shot J.R.?" Naturally, when TNT decided to revive the show in 2012, following the children of the original series' main characters, there was some very justified scoffing; but when the man himself, Larry Hagman was announced to return as J.R. alongside his on-screen bother Bobby (Patrick Duffy), it would be very hard to not be intrigued. Debuting to impressive ratings and strong critical buzz, the initial 10-episode season of "Dallas" proved that nostalgia can sometimes payoff and the return of not just J.R. and Bobby, but other prominent cast members from the original series helped bridge the gap between generations of TV viewers.
Yet, once that nostalgia wears off, "Dallas" is tasked with seeing that the new blood of the show, John Ross Ewing III (Josh Henderson), J.R.'s equally conniving son and Christopher Ewing (Jesse Metcalfe), Bobby's adopted son, along with their respective ladies, Elena Ramos (Jordana Brewster) and Rebecca Sutter (Julie Gonzano), blaze their own trails, if for no other reason than, to be blunt, the older stars aren't going to be with us forever. Sadly, after a solid first season and promise of a second, lengthier season, time caught up with the face of Dallas, as Larry Hagman succumb to a long battle with cancer, leaving the second season in turmoil and the legacy of a series forever changed. To be fair, "Dallas" always was a soap opera, albeit a well-acted one, and on that note, this re-launched series is very much top-tier when compared to other entries in the genre. When the action isn't on the older generation, viewers are in store for numerous squabbles, romantic betrayals and reconciliations, and performances that lack nuance. Henderson fares best of the new cast, channeling the mean streak of his iconic father, while making the character into something unique; Metcalfe on the other hand becomes grating on the nerves, with an overly earnest do-gooder attitude that is only upstaged by the vapid machinations of Brewster and Gonzano.
The series comes alive whenever Duffy or Hagman are on screen, although Duffy himself succumbs to the awful tropes of the genre late in the season. It's a testament to these actors not missing a beat on their characters that the season arc involving a power struggle over the Southfork Ranch as well as Christopher's clean energy research manages to feel more thoroughly fleshed out than it is under closer scrutiny. A lot of the gaps are filled by cameos and supporting roles from other fellow "Dallas" alumni, most notably Linda Gray as J.R.'s equally infamous ex-wife. The nostalgia does eventually fully wear off and the season ends satisfyingly, but nowhere near the promise offered in the first two episodes; yes there's a trademark, "Dallas" cliffhanger, but it feels more contrived than it should, almost as if it were an eleventh hour addition. This new incarnation of "Dallas" doesn't break any new ground and there's nothing to suggest it ever aspired to do so; it merely trades on goodwill towards its legacy series and for major fans, it's a satisfying revisit to that world. In hindsight, it provides the rare opportunity for an actor like Larry Hagman to have his swan song, revisiting his most iconic role and he doesn't disappoint one moment; he and Duffy get to act their butts off, delivering some moving work at times and although there's still a little more J.R. left to be unleashed on the world, the end result is bittersweet.
The 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is a solid visual offering, albeit no one aspect jumps out as being overly impressive. Colors are naturally warm, making those Texas exteriors pop with visual appeal, although interiors definitely have a studio vibe to them. Detail is firmly above average with minimal digital noise/grain, perhaps the result of some minor DNR. Edge enhancement is most noticeable in location shots, although it's never distracting and compression artifacts are kept to minimum.
The Audio
The Dolby Digital English 5.1 audio track gets a few chances to flex its surround muscles; notably at the Cattle Baron's Ball early in the season, providing some subtle atmospheric effects. A few standout moments aside, it's a well-mixed, clean track that sounds better than any soap opera I've ever heard and is on par with the best nightly network dramas. English SDH subtitles are included.
The Extras
The bonus features include a feature-length commentary on the pilot, deleted scenes for all but two episodes, and a host of promotional style featurettes including: Back in Production, Dressing Dallas, Who Shot J.R., Ewing Family Love Oak, Southfork Legacy, and Oil and Water. While not incredibly enlightening, they do cement the fact the old cast has a true love for the series and was happy to be back.
Final Thoughts
Once the nostalgia fades, "Dallas" is a solid, nightly melodrama, elevated at times by solid performances from the original series cast members. At 10 episodes, it never overstays its welcome and has enough twists and turns to keep you coming back, even if they can be a bit hackneyed or obvious in hindsight. Old fans will definitely want to give this one a go, while new fans, especially genre enthusiasts should find this return to Southfork an entertaining one. Recommended.


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XMM-Newton gives new insight into neutron stars
XMM-Newton has given astronomers and physics a valuable new insight into the most exotic stars in the Universe. Known as neutron stars, the composition of these extremely dense stellar objects has always been something of a puzzle. Now, XMM-Newton has revealed that they almost certainly resemble over-sized atomic nuclei.
Natalie Webb and Didier Barret, Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, Toulouse, France, have used XMM-Newton's EPIC camera to find three previously undiscovered neutron stars and accurately measure the quantity of various X-rays coming from the their surfaces. They were then able to compare their results with theoretical predictions to deduce the internal composition of the neutron stars. All three neutron stars lie in globular clusters of stars that orbit the centre of our galaxy.
Neutron stars are the exotic remains of exploded stars. Whilst most of a massive star's outer layers are thrown off into space, the dead heart at the centre of the former star implodes. Astronomers call this small heart a neutron star and it has some amazing properties. Although it is the size of an asteroid, usually about 10–12 kilometres across, it contains more mass than our Sun, meaning its composition must be highly dense - so dense, in fact, that it cannot be made of normal atoms.
Initially astronomers believed that the neutron star was composed almost exclusively of neutrons, all squeezed together and resembling a giant atomic nucleus. Doubts crept in when observations started showing that some neutron stars appeared to have higher masses than expected, up to double the mass of the Sun, whilst others appeared to have even smaller radii of just 6-8 kilometres, so astronomers postulated exotic models containing uncommon particles such as pions, kaons or quarks.
Determining the mass and radius of a neutron star is a big challenge because they are such small objects they cannot be seen in detail. Instead, astronomers must collect the light coming from the neutron star and then use computer models to converge on a solution that reveals the neutron star's size and mass.
"Knowing the distance to the neutron star accurately is crucial in this work," says Webb. This is why the researchers looked for neutron stars in the spherical clusters of stars surrounding the Milky Way. Known as globular clusters, these well-studied objects have accurate distance estimates, which can be used for any star found in them. The team identified a likely neutron star in three different clusters: Omega Centauri, M13 and NGC 2808.
The neutron stars were all found to be orbiting other stars and emitting X-rays. These X-rays are expecting to pass through an atmosphere of hydrogen gas surrounding the neutron star. Webb and Barret compared their results to those produced by new theories of possible neutron star interiors. The computer codes that used these theoretical models were only released into the astronomical community by other astronomy groups about a year ago.
Webb and Barret's new analysis shows that astronomers had previously been under-estimating the mass and over-estimating the radii of some neutron stars. They conclude that neutron stars can have masses up to 2.4 solar masses and radii that start from 8 km.
They discovered that despite all the musing over highly complicated particle interiors, still the most likely composition of a neutron star is what astronomers first suspected forty years ago: neutrons. They found only one exotic solution that remained feasible, an interior made of quarks. These particles are constituents of neutrons and would be able to squeeze together more densely.
They hope to extend the work to other neutron stars.
Note for editors:
Constraining the Equation of State of Supranuclear Dense Matter from XMM-Newton Observations of Neutron Stars in Globular Clusters by Natalie A Webb and Didier Barret is published in The Astrophysical Journal (Volume 671, Issue 1, pp. 727-73)3.
For more information:
Natalie Webb, Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, France
Email: Natalie.Webb @ cesr.fr
Didier Barret, Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, France
Email: email@example.com
Norbert Schartel, ESA XMM-Newton Project Scientist
Email: Norbert.Schartel @ esa.int


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DEERFIELD BEACH, FL — Perhaps as further proof of the expansive weight loss/weight management market and the power of the Internet in the health and fitness community, eDiets.com announced that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), net income and earnings per share for fiscal 2002 nearly doubled, while revenue increased 21.6 percent over fiscal 2001. The results mark the company's second consecutive profitable year.
EBITDA for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2002 increased 99 percent to $2.9 million or 9.7 percent of revenues, compared to $1.4 million or 5.9 percent of revenues for 2001. Net income for 2002 increased 105 percent to $1.6 million or $0.09 per diluted share, compared to net income of $794,000 or $0.05 per diluted share, for the prior year. Revenue totaled $29.6 million in fiscal 2002 compared to $24.4 million in 2001. In addition, the company's deferred subscription revenue balance grew $0.9 million to $3.1 million at the end of fiscal 2002, compared to $2.2 million as of Dec. 31, 2001.
For the fiscal fourth quarter of 2002, eDiets reported revenues of $7.3 million, a 2.6 percent decrease compared to revenues of $7.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2001. Revenues declined as a result of a lower average base of members compared to the prior year period, the company said. EBITDA totaled $195,000, a decline of 81.5 percent compared to EBITDA of $1.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2001, while net income totaled $136,000 or $0.01 per diluted share, a decline of 82.3 percent compared to net income of $764,000, or $0.05 per diluted share in the prior year period. EBITDA and net income declined in the fourth quarter of 2002 compared to the fourth quarter of 2001 primarily due to higher online media costs and significant investments in new marketing programs in the most recent quarter, according to the company.
"We had another year of strong financial results in 2002, although growing our base of members using traditional online advertising proved challenging. Despite this, we continued to support our vision to be the global online destination for diet, fitness and motivation, with significant investments to develop new offerings and marketing channels," said David Humble, CEO and founder of eDiets.
"The fruits of some of these investments are coming to market, with more scheduled to come later in the year. We have entered 2003 with a strong framework for continued growth and profitability."


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Are you looking to acquire real estate investments and maybe considering bringing another investor into the agreement? Then make sure you read this blog post first! Buying investment property with a partner can be a great way to invest, if you follow these 3 strategies… They say "two heads are better than one" and that's … Continued


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Gaining perspective on gray whales
As whale-watching season begins, many amateur photographers will be snapping shots of the giant creatures as they swim down the California coast on their annual migration from Alaska to their calving grounds off Mexico.
One marine scientist is taking the task to a new level.
Wayne Perryman, a researcher with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Southwest Fisheries Science Center, is shooting aerial images of the whales as part of a project to precisely measure their size and health.
Whales making their way south after a glut of winter feeding look different than they do after spring break in Baja, he said.
"Whales are mammals just like you and I, and after the holiday season our shape is different than when we get into it," said Perryman, who leads the cetacean health and life history program for the center.
"The same is true with whales," he said. "Females coming south are really big and round – they look like swimming shoeboxes. We can get a look at overall population condition, and by the number of pregnant females, and the females with brand new calves, we can get a feeling for their reproduction."
Using a stabilized digital camera mounted on a Twin Otter, Perryman will make more than a dozen flights to photograph the whales on their southward journey this year. Last year he captured images of 200 whales, and he aims to shoot the same number this year, through a $45,000 grant from the International Whaling Commission.
Gray whales make the 5,000-mile migration each year, to the delight of whale-watchers throughout California. The medium-sized baleen whales consume more than a ton of shrimp-like crustaceans called amphipods each day, and grow about 45 feet long.
The animals were hunted to near extinction twice over the past 150 years, before an international whaling ban stopped their hunting in 1946. They've since rebounded to a population of about 20,000, and are readily spotted off the San Diego coast in winter.
"This is a phenomenal year we've had," said Hieu Do, a captain with Flagship San Diego Harbor Excursion, who said that whale-watching trips have been turning up six or seven animals per cruise, more than the usual number. "I think it's one of the best seasons we've had in a long time."
Perryman and his staff are documenting that annual trek, in order to discover year-to-year variations that shed light on the whales.
He photographed the animals using film cameras for several years starting in 1996, documenting dwindling health conditions that he said helped explain a dramatic, ten-fold increase in strandings in 1999 and 2000, when 350 whales turned up on beaches.
After almost a decade hiatus from the project, he resumed again last year, using a digital camera, which adjusts for the plane's movement to produce crisp, high resolution of the animals. Perryman and his staff then analyze the images to calculate the whales' length and width.
It's akin to a cetacean version of the body mass index, used to assess human fitness. But while many people aim to shed a few pounds this time of year, the whales' health hinges on maintaining a thick layer of blubber to get them through the lean months.
"What we're asking is how fat are you," Perryman said. "If you're a gray whale, it's important to be fat, because they only eat six months out of the year."
The study measures the whales' overall physical condition, their reproductive success, and just as importantly, the health of the Arctic waters where they feed. There, rapid changes in ice formation may affect the whales' timelines for feeding and migration.
"We're using gray whales as a window to look into the Arctic," Perryman said. "For us, it's a very cost-effective way to work. You can imagine how expensive it is to field research projects in the Arctic. To have an animal that feeds in the Arctic and then swims right down to San Diego, is a gold mine."
In 2011, ice formation was typical. But last year, he said, the normal pattern was confounded by record high amounts of sea ice in the spring, and record low ice during the summer. Scientists will try to understand what that means for the whales by comparing photos from year to year.
"Last year was the most anomalous year for ice distribution," Perryman said. "The question is, 'how is this going to affect gray whales?'"


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Acoustics and signal processing
Acoustics and signal processing research focuses on active noise control and distributed sensing. Active noise control reduces noise in hearing protection and communication systems to reduce noise induced hearing loss and to enhance the ability to communicate. Distributed sensing research uses signal processing to focus listening in a specified direction. This research blends mechatronics—the design of mechanical and electrical systems—with high performance signal processing and control algorithms to improve communication in noisy environments.
Faculty contact: Laura Ray


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Former X Factor judge Tulisa has been cleared of a drugs charge in dramatic scenes at Southwark Crown Court.
The singer was accused of boasting that she could "sort out" cocaine for a journalist and put him in touch with her rapper friend Mike GLC, who supplied the Class A drug.
Undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood, dubbed the "Fake Sheikh", posed as a wealthy film producer called Samir Khan when he met the former X Factor judge at a string of luxury hotels and restaurants, jurors at London's Southwark Crown Court heard.
Contostavlos vehemently denied brokering the deal, which was exposed in a Sunday newspaper last June.
Today judge Alistair McCreath told the jury that the case "cannot go any further" because there were "strong grounds to believe" that Mr Mahmood had "lied" at a hearing before the trial started.
The 26-year-old star smiled broadly in the dock as the jury was formally discharged from trying the case.
Throwing out the case, Judge Alistair McCreath told the jury: "There are strong grounds for believing Mr Mahmood told me lies."
The judge told the jury things have happened in the case which have thrown up 'considerable considerations' in the case.
The Fake Sheik could even face perjury charges.
A trial cannot go ahead if prosecution has been "tainted... by serious misconduct", judge tells jury.
Judge tells them he refused initial defence application to throw out case. But matters have changed, he said. Judge recounted to jury evidence given by Sun journalist, Mazher Mahmood, whose evidence is central.
Mahmood gave evidence in court which was 'entirely inconsistent' with earlier testimony, the judge said.


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Chocolate, hazelnut & salted caramel tart
A buttery pastry case with a layer of caramel and just a hint of salt, studded with nuts and finished with a fudge filling
Nutrition and extra info
Nutrition: per serving
- kcal424
- fat31g
- saturates16g
- carbs31g
- sugars19g
- fibre2g
- protein5g
- salt0.6g
For the hazelnut pastry
- 50g blanched hazelnut
- 200g plain flour
- 1 tbsp icing sugar
- 140g cold butter, diced
Butter is a dairy product made from separating whole milk or cream into fat and…
- 1 egg yolk
- flour, for dusting
Flour is usually made from grinding wheat, maize, rye, barley or rice. As the main…
For the salted caramel
- 75g caster sugar
- 25g butter
Butter is a dairy product made from separating whole milk or cream into fat and…
- 100ml double cream
- 1 tbsp golden syrup
Golden syrupgoal-dun sir-rup
Golden syrup is a translucent, golden-amber coloured, sweet syrup, which can only be produced…
- large pinch sea salt flakes
- 50g blanched hazelnut, toasted and roughly chopped
For the chocolate fudge filling
- 100g dark chocolate (70%)
Dark chocolatedahk chok-o-let
Dark chocolate means the shiny, dark-reddish brown treat produced from the cacao bean, theobroma…
- 75g butter
Butter is a dairy product made from separating whole milk or cream into fat and…
- 2 large eggs, plus 1 yolk
- 50g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp cocoa
To make the pastry, whizz the hazelnuts in a food processor until finely ground. Add the flour, icing sugar and butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and 1-2 tbsp cold water, and pulse until the dough comes together. Tip the dough out and flatten into a disc, then wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins.
Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. On a floured surface, roll out the pastry to line a 23cm loose-bottomed, deep tart tin. Trim the edges and prick the base with a fork, then line with baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Bake for 20 mins, then carefully remove the baking beans and parchment and bake for a further 5-10 mins until light golden. Allow to cool.
Meanwhile, make the salted caramel. Tip the sugar into a small pan, add 1-2 tbsp water and heat gently to dissolve the sugar. Increase the heat and cook until the sugar turns to an ambercoloured caramel. Reduce the heat and add the butter, cream and golden syrup, and stir until the sauce is smooth and thickened. Remove from the heat and add the salt. Allow to cool for a few mins, then spread onto the tart base. Scatter with chopped hazelnuts and set aside.
For the chocolate filling, melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until smooth, then remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolk and caster sugar for about 6 mins until thick and pale. Fold in the melted chocolate and cocoa, then pour into the tart case. Transfer to a baking sheet and cook for 20-25 mins or until set and the top has formed a crust. Allow to cool to room temperature before serving in slices.


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C. David Baker, the former commissioner of the Arena Football League, was introduced as the Hall of Fame's president and executive director Thursday.
When Stephen Perry announced his decision to retire, the Pro Football Hall of Fame knew he was leaving big shoes to fill. The Hall's board of trustees found a big someone — literally.
C. David Baker, the former commissioner of the Arena Football League, was introduced Thursday as the Hall of Fame's president and executive director. Baker, a power forward at Cal-Irvine from 1971-75, stands 6-foot-9 and weighs in at 390 pounds. His son, Sam, is the starting left tackle for the Atlanta Falcons.
Baker is the sixth person to hold the position, and the first with no county ties since Pete Elliott was hired in 1979.
"He'll start off from Day 1 as the biggest executive director," said Perry, who will work with Baker through a transition period. "People say there's big shoes to fill, well, there's no problem filling them."
Baker brings a diverse background to Canton, from sports business to big-time politics.
For nearly 12 years, Baker was the AFL's commissioner. He was the owner of the Anaheim Piranhas in the AFL prior to becoming commissioner.
Before that, Baker was the mayor of Irvine, Calif., an affluent suburb in Orange County.
Baker is leaving behind the sunny skies of Newport Beach, Calif., to relocate to Canton. He is wrapping up his involvement the last four years as a partner in Union Village, a healthcare project in Henderson, Nev., that will create the first integrated health village in the world. The project is expected to create more than a thousand jobs there.
"It is 76 degrees and crystal clear today in Newport Beach," Baker said during a phone interview Thursday. "I would like to think we're coming for a purpose and the people. I get excited about that."
Canton is not foreign to Baker. He has been to a couple of enshrinements, most notable that of John Elway, who like Baker is a former AFL team owner. Baker also came to the Hall of Fame in 2007 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony on an arena football exhibit that chronicled the indoor game's growth.
He didn't imagine then he would be back in Canton one day as the Hall's top leader.
"I wasn't thinking that three or four months ago when this process started, either," Baker said. "My goal was this health care project near Las Vegas ... that will provide thousands of jobs in a place they are really needed.
"When this opportunity came up, because the Hall has done such a wonderful job under Steve Perry's leadership, and Canton stands for something that's very special, I hope I can help the team there take that platform and help it grow. I got excited about the opportunity and so did my wife."
The NFL also is aware of Baker. When he was the AFL's commissioner, his office was in New York. When Paul Tagliabue was the NFL's commissioner, he and Baker worked on a youth football initiative.
Tagliabue's strategist suggested the two commissioners have lunch or dinner once a month.
"That guy was Roger Goodell," Baker said. "I could tell then this is a guy who values the integrity of the game."
"The bond between the NFL and the Pro Football Hall of Fame is stronger than ever," Goodell said in a statement. "David is a dynamic executive with a strong football background. We look forward to supporting him in growing the Hall of Fame's record of success."
Baker's background does have a bit of controversy. In 1989, he ran for a congressional seat in California. The Federal Elections Commission ruled Baker took an $11,000 campaign donation from his aunt, above the $1,000 federal limit on contributions.
Baker didn't deny the mistake, and Tom Schervish, the chairman of the Hall's board of trustees, said the Hall was aware of the situation.
"Through the hiring process we vetted the situation exhaustively on an issue that happened 25 years go," Schervish said. "His performance and decision making since then have been exemplary."
"It was a mistake under pressure," Baker said. "It was my mistake and my fault. That's why the values and principals that Canton stands for mean so much to me. I shared this with them in (the hiring process). I wanted them to know the good things and the bad. In sports, it's not about the mistakes you make, but how you try to come back from those."
Baker was hired as the AFL's commissioner in 1996 and helped grow the league's value. Franchises, which initially were reportedly valued at about $400,000, grew to $20 million.
The AFL formed an unofficial relationship with the NFL, so Baker is not new to the league.
"He's been around and he's done a lot of interesting things," said Perry, who will work with Baker in a transition period. "He's accomplished a lot of things in his work as a developer and attorney."
Baker graduated from Pepperdine University's School of Law. He specializes in corporate mergers, acquisitions and real estate law.
When his son Sam, an All-American at USC, was a first-round draft pick by the Falcons, he left the AFL to make sure his son's career started without a hitch. Sam Baker was re-signed to a six-year, $41.5 million contract in March with $18.25 million guaranteed.
It seems one of the first initiatives Baker plans to undertake is branding. He has extensive leadership experience in sports, business, law and civic projects, but he spoke mostly about Canton's positive impact on the NFL.
"What's great about the Hall of Fame is it sets the standard of greatness. Canton constitutes what it is to be great over a period of time," Baker said. "I get excited about a message that translates to our families, our companies, our communities and our country. Canton stands for greatness. If we can translate that to other things, we will make it more relevant and make a difference in the lives of others."
Baker and his wife, Colleen, have purchased a home in Glenmoor and are in the process of relocating here. He will be in town Saturday and his first day on the job at the Hall of Fame will be Monday.
"I am humbled and privileged to have the opportunity to work on something I believe is so important to the game and our culture," Baker said. "Our goal is to shine that beacon of greatness of the rest of the country and throughout the world."
Reach Todd at 330-580-8340 or firstname.lastname@example.com
On Twitter: @tporterREP


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I Got Tattooed
June 9, 2011
Because I'm a bit weird about putting detailed photos of my tattoos on the internet, you will get a picture of my swollen forearm with a bloody napkin.
It's a dagger of doom and reminds me to not tolerate fools ;). Trust me, it's pretty awesome.
I don't reckon I'll be doing much crafting while this heals because it goes across the elbow ditch. Last time a tattoo did that it took ages to heal.
Happy happy Thursday!
2 Comments leave one →
June 9, 2011 9:01 pm
cool! i am trying to get the nerve to get one on my leg. i know what it feels like i'm just being a baby


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As the tattoo industry has seen an explosion in popularity over the last few years, the need training in this field has also grown. In these video tutorials, some of the top tattoo artists in the world share their techniques and their take on the art of tattoo. The tutorials range from absolute beginner level to advanced color and blending techniques used by some of the world's best.
The Gnomon Workshop offers professional training on most of the software applications used in today's digital pipelines. There are foundational titles to introduce users to the software and tools, as well as advanced production titles that discuss application tools and processes vital to the production of digital assets and media.
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To see bird events in one place check our Events map. Also if you have organized, plan to organize or took part in another birdwatching event or conservation action for birds, please share it by adding information, photo(s) or video(s).
Here you will find out about the upcoming Spring Alive events organized for you by BirdLife Partners in different countries. If you wish to inform about planned event not included in the calendar please contact your national coordinator.
Spring Alive is supported by


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***1/2 (out of four)
I don't love the title. Yet I'm highly in favor of almost everything else about "Silver Linings Playbook," which turns grief and mental illness into rich fodder for warmth, connection and comedy.
That's not a stretch for writer-director David O. Russell ("Flirting with Disaster," "I Heart Huckabees," "The Fighter"), who's experienced in the chaos and laughs that can come from family members being themselves and trying to get their lives outside the home on track. Pat (Bradley Cooper) has just arrived at his parents' place in Philadelphia after eight months in a psychiatric facility; he thinks the wife who sold their house and left will take him back if he gets in shape and proves his new, positive outlook. That's easier said than done; she's taken out a 500-foot restraining order, and Pat, who reiterates "I'm better" as if that will be enough to convince his family that he is, admits that he has no filter. If there's an elephant in the room, Pat's always pointing to it.
Enter Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), who just lost her job and her husband. She and Pat develop a tenuous friendship based on both their familiarity with medication and their sense of lingering on the fringes of society and stability. Believing that everything troubling should be dealt with at all times, Pat constantly mentions Tiffany's late husband. He still panics, though, whenever he hears Stevie Wonder's "La Cherie Amour," his wedding song that also was playing when he walked in on his wife and another man showering together.
Many movies play mental illness for laughs or even cuteness. Though it's funny, "Silver Linings Playbook" never laughs at the state of its characters. Pat and Tiffany's interactions yield countless awkward moments, authentically demonstrating their uneasy balance between mind and mouth. Cooper's much better than usual, while the always-great Lawrence is particularly fantastic. She'll definitely be Oscar-nominated for this performance and could absolutely win.
"Silver Linings" also gets nice, subtle supporting work from Chris Tucker—really—as one of Pat's friends from the institution, plus vivid turns from Jacki Weaver and Robert De Niro as Pat's parents. Adapting Matthew Quick's novel, Russell creates characters that are complicated and not always compatible. Though it's more about the people than their specific conditions, the movie's equally raw and entertaining—a deep, charming story about condescension and reciprocation, and the challenge of loving yourself and others.
Watch Matt on "You & Me This Morning," Friday at 6:55 a.m. on WCIU, the U
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