Purple in the Interior Design
Violet has long been considered a difficult color to match and it has not been recommended in the area of interior design. Yet today it is one of the trendiest colors! Subtle blend of blue and red, purple matches a wide palette of colors to create an original and very modern atmosphere.
Symbolism
Paradoxical union of two opposing, red and blue, purple suggests mystery, wealth, but also melancholy and sensuality, according to the dominant that is blue or red. Violet is known because it can help us find inner harmony. In the study of colors, it is considered a relaxing color, but also conducive, favoring female sexuality and creativity! Complex and rich in meaning, purple conveys excellent psychological health!
Violet over the Ages
This color has long been associated with mysticism in the Western symbolism: indeed, in the Catholic religion it is the color of the clothes of the bishop and those worn by priests during Advent and Lent. In addition, it is the symbol of nobility, and it aroused little interest before the 70s, when it had also its revolution in the area of furniture!
Violet, the Alternative to Black Light
Violet has the ability to replicate the simplicity of a black, very popular in the halls or rooms, while offering much greater brightness. With shades of dark and electric violet, it seems clear and stylish. Nowadays, designers use purple quite frequently! This color has become very fashionable and you may wonder why. Violet has the feature that gives an impression of luxury to the simplest items.
Violet in Your Living Room
Violet is very frequently used to dress up rooms: elegant, contemporary, and dense, creating a sober atmosphere and design. Some people use it to the walls of the room: it allows them get black or grey furniture without a depressing result and violet can trigger the impression of a larger space! Indeed, purple, as blue and red, gives a sense of depth to any spaces.
A Violet Office
Purple was recently chosen as one of the most soothing colors. It has thus become the favorite color for offices, since it offers both relaxation and improves creativity.
Can Purple be Used Everywhere?
One might think that purple would not match a kitchen or bathroom. Yet, many people now opt for a soft purple (or occasionally electric) in toilets, corridors or in the kitchen. The most important thing is to create and maintain a harmony between the shades and parts of the house.
What Environments can be created using Purple?
By its wealth of shades, purple matches many colors, but beware! It all depends on the atmosphere you want to create. For a futuristic interior, opt for electric purple, intermingled with black or white furniture, preferably lacquered. For more originality, you can add a touch of bright orange. For a sexy and baroque design feel free to play with colors like plum, eggplant violet, purple or violet-gray with black lace that suggest sensuality! Such colors are perfect for cozy rooms.
© 2008 Anand Upadhye. All rights reserved. Anand Upadhye is the owner and webmaster of http://www.gingerlist.com/ and a recognized Internet Marketing professional. You can find Restaurant Guides, Low Budget Hotels, Free Travel Guides and Local Business Directory on Gingerlist.com!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Top 10 – The Most Famous Night Clubs in the World
For those who are tired of the nightclubs in their city, this version of international discos and clubs is a reliable one! However, you have to pay attention to prices, as they can be much higher than prices in your native town! For those who are not bothered by high prices, here is a top 10 list of the hottest nightclubs in the world:
The tenth in this top is the nightclub Cocoon Club in Frankfurt, Germany. Those who want an unforgettable nightlife are invited to Cocoon Club, where they will discover high quality music in a dream like setting.
The nightclub Skye in Sao Paulo occupies the ninth position in the top. What will you discover here? It is a stylish club, at the last floor of the tallest hotel in the city. You can feel as close as never to the Brazilian sky enjoying the time of your life!
On the eighth position, you can discover the alert rhythm of Spanish people, having fun in a famous Spanish club. La Fira in Barcelona is the perfect place for those who enjoy high quality live concerts. The club La Fira will exceed a lot the expectations of many young people, taking into consideration that having fun in a museum is not an everyday event.
The seventh position in the top belongs to the disco called Le Batofar in Paris. Once you have arrived there, you will definitely be impressed by the lights and the modern electronic music. If you have not discovered yet what water fun means, Le Batofar will invite you to feel the river Seine under your feet, in amazing rhythms!
The nightclub on the sixth position invites young people willing to have fun to Switzerland, where Chlosterli is the ideal place for those who adore the rhythms of the music in an old room, with contemporary interior design.
Guacara Taina occupies the fifth position in the list of the most popular nightclubs in the world. Located in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Guacara Taina is actually a cave and it is one of the oldest clubs in the world. The intimacy of the setting, located at several meters underground, offers great fun to anybody!
The fourth position is occupied by the Aquarium Club in London. Apart from the moments of fun it offers, you can also enjoy special cocktails, Jacuzzi, and a huge dancing rink.
The third position belongs to a disco in London as well, where you can feel great in a cozy atmosphere. Miniscule of Sound is a nightclub for couples or for those who love intimacy, in the real sense of the term.
Halikarnas is the name of the nightclub that occupies the second position in the top of the best stylish nightclubs in the world. Halikarnas (Turkey) is the only club in the world set up in the Roman style, where the party takes place in the open and fresh air invites you to have more fun.
The first place is occupied by Privilege in Ibiza, the largest nightclub in the world. Those who really want to discover what nightlife means are invited in Privilege to discover the latest trends in the electronic, trance and house music area.
© 2008 Anand Upadhye. All rights reserved. Anand Upadhye is the owner and webmaster of http://www.gingerlist.com/ and a recognized Internet Marketing professional. You can find Restaurant Guides, Low Budget Hotels, Free Travel Guides and Local Business Directory on Gingerlist.com!
For those who are tired of the nightclubs in their city, this version of international discos and clubs is a reliable one! However, you have to pay attention to prices, as they can be much higher than prices in your native town! For those who are not bothered by high prices, here is a top 10 list of the hottest nightclubs in the world:
The tenth in this top is the nightclub Cocoon Club in Frankfurt, Germany. Those who want an unforgettable nightlife are invited to Cocoon Club, where they will discover high quality music in a dream like setting.
The nightclub Skye in Sao Paulo occupies the ninth position in the top. What will you discover here? It is a stylish club, at the last floor of the tallest hotel in the city. You can feel as close as never to the Brazilian sky enjoying the time of your life!
On the eighth position, you can discover the alert rhythm of Spanish people, having fun in a famous Spanish club. La Fira in Barcelona is the perfect place for those who enjoy high quality live concerts. The club La Fira will exceed a lot the expectations of many young people, taking into consideration that having fun in a museum is not an everyday event.
The seventh position in the top belongs to the disco called Le Batofar in Paris. Once you have arrived there, you will definitely be impressed by the lights and the modern electronic music. If you have not discovered yet what water fun means, Le Batofar will invite you to feel the river Seine under your feet, in amazing rhythms!
The nightclub on the sixth position invites young people willing to have fun to Switzerland, where Chlosterli is the ideal place for those who adore the rhythms of the music in an old room, with contemporary interior design.
Guacara Taina occupies the fifth position in the list of the most popular nightclubs in the world. Located in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Guacara Taina is actually a cave and it is one of the oldest clubs in the world. The intimacy of the setting, located at several meters underground, offers great fun to anybody!
The fourth position is occupied by the Aquarium Club in London. Apart from the moments of fun it offers, you can also enjoy special cocktails, Jacuzzi, and a huge dancing rink.
The third position belongs to a disco in London as well, where you can feel great in a cozy atmosphere. Miniscule of Sound is a nightclub for couples or for those who love intimacy, in the real sense of the term.
Halikarnas is the name of the nightclub that occupies the second position in the top of the best stylish nightclubs in the world. Halikarnas (Turkey) is the only club in the world set up in the Roman style, where the party takes place in the open and fresh air invites you to have more fun.
The first place is occupied by Privilege in Ibiza, the largest nightclub in the world. Those who really want to discover what nightlife means are invited in Privilege to discover the latest trends in the electronic, trance and house music area.
© 2008 Anand Upadhye. All rights reserved. Anand Upadhye is the owner and webmaster of http://www.gingerlist.com/ and a recognized Internet Marketing professional. You can find Restaurant Guides, Low Budget Hotels, Free Travel Guides and Local Business Directory on Gingerlist.com!
Monday, October 13, 2008
The Worst Tip We Have Ever Received
Yes, our pro-consumer bias has its limits. For instance, when a customer service representative tries to help you, don't respond by telling them to "go back to school," or by mentioning that your fourth-grade class can "spell better." Of the tens of thousands of tips you have sent us, this is one of the worst. Do not be this guy.
Here's the situation: Reader Bryan ordered an item from Adorama's Amazon store. After the item shipped, he decided to change the shipping instructions so he could pick up his package at the UPS store. Amazon's policies kept Adorama from changing the instructions on a shipped item, so, after apologizing, Adorama gave Bryan two options: a full refund, or once the item returned undelivered, they could re-ship the item with the right instructions.
Bryan didn't send us his original request, so we'll start with Adorama's response. The writing isn't the clearest, but the content speaks for itself:
hi!
unfurtunaly this is an Amazon order and we wont be able to have you pick it up. I apologized for the inconvenience this may have caused you.
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
Brian responded:
I don't see why it being an amazon order changes anything. It's MY package that I paid for, and paid shipping for. UPS is not able to deliver to my location, all I want is to be able to pick up the package THAT I PAID FOR.
Make it happen, or I'm just returning all of it, and then you'll be refunding my money.
Right off the bat you can tell Bryan is trouble. "Make it happen?" Tell that to a waitress and you'll rightly end up with a drink down your shirt. Let's see how Paola responds:
I apologized for the inconvenience but our contract with Amazon is like that we cant make any changes to the order or have ups hold it for you , if you are unable to be at the address you provide with your order for shipping the order will come back to us and we will give you the money back for the item.
have a nice day!!
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
Paola provided a direct explanation to Bryan's question. Adorama's contract with Amazon prevents them from changing the shipping address. Simple enough, but Bryan kept pushing:
Well, I guess you just lost some money. I have NEVER had any issues with getting UPS to hold a package that I have bought from Amazon.
I'm so sorry for the inconvenience maybe you place the order through Amazon and it was ship by another company. I don't want you to feel like if we don't appreciated your business but unfurtunaly we can not hold the pack. if the order was place directly from us we wouldn't have this problem.
again I apologies.
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
Another fairly direct response from Paola, and a way to avoid the problem in the future. Fine.
How Bryan choose to advance his case?
Please learn proper grammar and english. It would make your messages much easier to understand.
At this point, Paola could have stopped responding. The substantive interaction was over. If we were in Paola's place, we wouldn't have been able to respond with anything approximating a polite response. And as we'll see, advancing the conversation doesn't help anyone, even if the intent is to help an unreasonable customer.
Oh thank you.... For the compliment... am just trying to give you good customer service. at least someone is paying attention to your problem.
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
See, this is what I'm talking about. Re-read your last 2 messages. They are written poorly. "unfurtunaly" is spelled "unfortunately".
All this poor grammar and spelling lets me know is that the employees at this place are incompetent, and that I would never order anything from you again. No one is paying attention to my problem and I am NOT receiving "good customer service". If I was receiving "good customer service", my problem would have already been taken care of when I called yesterday. I can't believe all this hassle is being put into this situation. All I want to do is pick up my package; this should not be an impossible task.
You fail. I will never order anything from adorama again.
Are you a teacher? All I m trying to do is help you and "unfortunately" you don't see that you are just looking for mistakes in the grammar. I hope you have a very nice day!
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
Yes. I am a teacher. I teach 4th grade, and they spell better than you
and can complete sentences using proper punctuation. It reflects poorly on you and the company you work for. If you can't do this, maybe this is the wrong job for you. You are doing NOTHING to help me. If you want to help me, offer to overnight me another camera with no restrictions on the package, so that I can pick it up at the UPS office. Sitting here and arguing with me does nothing to fix the problem.
Today, I will be contacting any management/owners that I can get ahold of and informing them of the awful customer service I've received. If you can't solve the problem and just type gibberish to me, then you are of no use in your current place of employment.
With the respect you deserve let me explain you something. I was trying to assist you since the first time that you call , but you just say that you wanted your money back and started complaining about my grammar instead of telling me that you wanted the item expedited, is very frustrating for me as a customer service representative that is doing her best to assist you, to only get this kind of email in response like if I was one of your students . Am really sorry this is going the way is going, you are the first customer I get that is a "teacher" and act like a student.
If you want the item I will be more than happy to place a new order for you, I will need to charge you for the item again and am supposed to charge you for shipping as well because I don't see where we mess up with your order we send it to the address that you provide Amazon for shipping. if you will like I can ask my manager as a first time courtesy to give you free shipping. And if you want fell free to contact my manager to complaint about my customer service skills her ext# is 2219 her name is Leah, I am sure she will be happy to listen to you and read our emails....thank you and have a nice day!!!!!!
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
Can we all agree this is a reasonable solution? Paola offered to resend the item, possibly even waive the shipping. And she volunteered her manager's number and rightly suggested that any third party might find Bryan's behavior offensive.
So how does Bryan respond to the olive branch?
Wow. I have no clue what any of that says since your sentences are all run-ons and really really long. Go back to school.
The situation deteriorates from there.
I just feel sorry for the kids you teach ... You are very disrespectful, maybe my problem can be solve going back to school but in your case you will have to be born again.. Respect others is easy and make others life easier too. Here at Adorama we treat our customers with respect because that's how they treat us. but that's not you case. Have a good life.
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
Spend less time telling me to be 'born again' and more time studying an English book. Religion is just a crutch for the weak.
Sent from my BlackBerry(r) smartphone with SprintSpeed
Be happy!! Have a nice day!! "teacher"
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
I was happy today until I had to deal with you. And for some reason you decide to bring religion into this. I'm making phone calls right now, doing my best to make sure that you don't have a job by the end of the day.
Sent from my BlackBerry(r) smartphone with SprintSpeed
Ok she is waiting for your call ext#2219 leah .. bye
PAOLA
Adorama customer service
If you were Bryan, how would you characterize this interaction when you sent it to our tipline? What one point might you seize upon to sensationalize your story?
Okay.... Here's an awesome email exchange between an adorama.com camera customer service rep and myself. Yeah, I'm an asshole, but this ignorant woman actually suggested that I become "born again".
All this because they put all kinds of restrictions on MY package which won't allow me to pick up my package at the UPS office.
Enjoy!
You sure got one thing right, Bryan.
Clearly the exchange could have been handled better by everyone. The telecoms and other large companies use rigid customer service manuals to limit similar debacles. Their customer service is like Plinko: your complaint's destiny is governed by its fall down a maddening decision tree. Bryan would have been dismissed with a simple: "We cannot accommodate your request at this time. Please be assured, your business is important to us." We prefer companies where employees can treat us not just as consumers, but as people.
When dealing with any company, always treat customer service representatives as you would want to be treated yourself. The whole Golden Rule thing and all. Not only is it common decency, but it's the single best way to get exactly you want.
Your request is being processed... Hillary: America Will Rise Again "From The Ashes Of The Bushes"
In a passionate speech introducing Joe Biden at a campaign rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania this afternoon, Hillary Clinton gave a strong endorsement to Barack Obama by celebrating the end of the Bush administration, shouting:
"Make no mistake about it. We've done it before and we will do it again. America will once again rise from the ashes of the Bushes."
Your request is being processed...
Hillary: America Will Rise Again "From The Ashes Of The Bushes"
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| Marcus Baram | October 12, 2008 05:26 PM
Read More: Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Bush Administration, Hillary Clinton Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton John McCain, Video, Politics News
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In a passionate speech introducing Joe Biden at a campaign rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania this afternoon, Hillary Clinton gave a strong endorsement to Barack Obama by celebrating the end of the Bush administration, shouting:
"Make no mistake about it. We've done it before and we will do it again. America will once again rise from the ashes of the Bushes."
It's the second time in the last week that she's used the dramatic line - last Monday, she said that "America can rise again as we have before from the ashes of the Bushes" in a forceful speech at the 8th Annual Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee Luncheon in New York City.
This afternoon, she also slammed John McCain and the Bush administration's response to the financial crisis, criticizing them for bailing out large companies while "millions of people are losing their homes and jobs every single day! Where's their bailout?"
And she said that sending Republicans back to Washington to clean up the economic mess was like "sending a bull to clean up the china closet. They broke it and we're not buying it anymore."
Biden, demonstrating again that he is the Obama campaign's pit bull, slammed the McCain campaign's recent attacks that focused on Obama's association with Bill Ayers, accusing the Republican candidate of "relying on political stunts instead of offering solutions" and calling McCain "erratic."
The Democratic vice-presidential nominee shook his head as he noted "the ugly inferences and unbecoming personal attacks that have been directed and launched by the McCain campaign."
And he mocked Sarah Palin's record of questioning how much of a role man-made causes had to do with global warming: "How the heck are you going to solve a problem if you don't know what's causing it?"
"Make no mistake about it. We've done it before and we will do it again. America will once again rise from the ashes of the Bushes."
Your request is being processed...
Hillary: America Will Rise Again "From The Ashes Of The Bushes"
RSS stumble digg reddit del.ico.us news trust mixx.com
| Marcus Baram | October 12, 2008 05:26 PM
Read More: Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Bush Administration, Hillary Clinton Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton John McCain, Video, Politics News
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Buzz this article up.
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Show your support.
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In a passionate speech introducing Joe Biden at a campaign rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania this afternoon, Hillary Clinton gave a strong endorsement to Barack Obama by celebrating the end of the Bush administration, shouting:
"Make no mistake about it. We've done it before and we will do it again. America will once again rise from the ashes of the Bushes."
It's the second time in the last week that she's used the dramatic line - last Monday, she said that "America can rise again as we have before from the ashes of the Bushes" in a forceful speech at the 8th Annual Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee Luncheon in New York City.
This afternoon, she also slammed John McCain and the Bush administration's response to the financial crisis, criticizing them for bailing out large companies while "millions of people are losing their homes and jobs every single day! Where's their bailout?"
And she said that sending Republicans back to Washington to clean up the economic mess was like "sending a bull to clean up the china closet. They broke it and we're not buying it anymore."
Biden, demonstrating again that he is the Obama campaign's pit bull, slammed the McCain campaign's recent attacks that focused on Obama's association with Bill Ayers, accusing the Republican candidate of "relying on political stunts instead of offering solutions" and calling McCain "erratic."
The Democratic vice-presidential nominee shook his head as he noted "the ugly inferences and unbecoming personal attacks that have been directed and launched by the McCain campaign."
And he mocked Sarah Palin's record of questioning how much of a role man-made causes had to do with global warming: "How the heck are you going to solve a problem if you don't know what's causing it?"
Why Home Should Not Be Shown At Game Shows
Home should not be shown at trade shows. Absolutely not. Not under any circumstances. Why? Because it is boring. Home is not a game. It's not even a user interface. It's a...thing. Once Sony get around to deciding what that actually is will probably be the time they decide to release it, but until then - and especially in the state it was in for my TGS demonstration - it should be kept as far from prying eyes (and hands) as possible.
TGS is a games show. It's for games. Loud, exciting, playable things. But Home? So not a game. The build I was treated to yesterday went a little like this: I log on as "Ricky". Who was a girl, but hey, who am I to question someone else's naming conventions. Then I move around a bit. And I find, about three seconds into the experience, that I'm running around a near-perfect recreation of Sony's TGS booth.
Great! I think. Yeah, I'm already at TGS, and can play all these demos, but wouldn't it be awesome if people at home could be doing this, and seeing the trailers I'm seeing, and playing the demos I'm playing? It would. But in this build? No way. Not a single demo pod was active. Not a single booth was running a trailer. The main Sony theater screen (the in-Home one) was showing a short, looped trailer, but it wasn't the same stuff I could see with my real eyes not 10 feet away.
So if Home wasn't going to be a multimedia extravaganza for me on the day, what was it going to be? A chat room? Nope. There were eight other people in the room. All eight of them were Sony employees. None of them spoke English. That was the end of that.
And if not a chat room, could I...well, what could I do, exactly? Could I explore Home? Nope. I wasn't allowed outside the virtual Sony booth, so the service's plazas and apartments were off limits. There were no games available to play. There was, literally, nothing to do.
Oh, wait! There was one thing. Some booths allowed you to sit down at them. And a few even let you access the web page of the game you were looking at for more information. But that was it. It was, I think, one of the most empty and pointless titles on the showroom floor.
Which isn't to say that Home is either empty or pointless. The final product, whenever it ships, could yet be the best thing to happen to the PS3. It could be a revolutionary new UI. it could be a great communications tool. It could be a games portal, it could be a media hub, it could be all of those things, it could be none of them.
But until Sony sort that question out, they'd do well to keep the game off showroom floors, and away from members of the public who may walk away wondering why they'd just wasted 15 minutes wandering around an empty virtual PS3 booth when they could have been wandering around the real PS3 booth doing stuff.
Pomegranate Ranked Healthiest Fruit Juice UCLA Study Lists Top Ten; Health Magazine Contributor Samantha Heller Discusses Them; All High In Antioxidan
Most of us know juice is a healthier drink than sugary soda.
But not all juices are created equal.
Health magazine is reporting on a UCLA study listing the ten healthiest fruit juices. [To see the list, click here.]
On The Early Show Saturday, Health magazine contributor and clinical nutritionist Samantha Heller talked about what makes the juices healthy.
The study took into account the antioxidant levels of the juices.
Basically, Heller says, anything with a vivid color, like most berries, will be high in antioxidants, so it's no surprise berry juices landed in most of the top 10 slots.
Oxidants, she explains, are naturally-occurring substances that derive from oxygen. Chemically speaking, oxygen always wants to "mate," and if it can't find a mate, it will latch onto anything. As it's latching onto substances in our body, it can overwhelm them, and cause disease.
Antioxidants, on the other hand, voluntarily bond with molecules of oxygen, preventing them from glomming onto any other substance in our body, and that helps keep us healthy.
And these juices have high levels of antioxidants.
Still, Heller cautions that doesn't mean you should go overboard with any of them.
There's always the danger, she points out, that when we tell people something is healthy for them, they'll go out and drink it by the gallon.
The truth is, you consume a lot of calories with juice. No-sugar-added doesn't necessarily mean no sugar at all. And sugar, even though it's naturally-occurring sugar, can really pack on the pounds if you consume too much.
Also, bear in mind that juices sometimes interact with medications in an undesirable way. For example, grapefruit juice interacts with some medications, so you have to be careful.
Another Heller suggestion: Eat the fruit itself if you can, rather than drinking the juice. The fruit has far fewer calories. Remember: It takes ten oranges to make a glass of orange juice, but one orange will be relatively low in calories. Also, the fruit will give you the fiber you need, but the juice won't. So the fruit is always a better choice than the juice.
If you're a big juice-lover, and you're not much of a fruit-eater, Heller says it would be better to get the nutrients the juice has to offer. But to avoid calorie overload, mix it with club soda. You'll get the taste, with half the calories.
Among the top ten juices:
Pomegranate Juice
Pomegranate is the healthiest of them all because it contains the most of every type of antioxidant. It wins in all categories. And it's thought that it might do some very good things; it may protect against some cancers, such as prostate cancer. It might also modify heart disease risk factors, and it could be healthy for your heart. So pomegranate was the clear winner.
Concord Grape Juice
Concord grape juice is a source of very potent antioxidants. And there's some research indicating it may be good for our hearts and also help reduce blood pressure. Grapes are also high in fiber, but much of their goodness is in the seed, so you need to consider whether grape juice is the way to go.
Blueberry Juice
The color alone indicates a lot of antioxidants. But blueberry juice also contains tons of fiber, and is also very high in Vitamin C. One of the qualities of antioxidants is that they can lower inflammation, and so there's some indication that blueberries may have some effect on age-related cognitive abilities. And don't forget that blueberries are very low in calories.
Black Cherry Juice
This one actually has scientists a bit excited. Not only is it high in antioxidants, but there is evidence that black cherry juice can actually diminish exercise-induced muscle injuries.
Cranberry Juice
Like all of these juices, it's high in antioxidants. But cranberry juice is also high in Vitamin C. And there's always been a sort of wives' tale that cranberry juice helps prevent urinary tract infections. Well, it turns out researchers are finding evidence that it actually can decrease the number of urinary tract infections. The thinking is, it helps stop bacteria from sticking to the bladder wall, protecting against infections.
But not all juices are created equal.
Health magazine is reporting on a UCLA study listing the ten healthiest fruit juices. [To see the list, click here.]
On The Early Show Saturday, Health magazine contributor and clinical nutritionist Samantha Heller talked about what makes the juices healthy.
The study took into account the antioxidant levels of the juices.
Basically, Heller says, anything with a vivid color, like most berries, will be high in antioxidants, so it's no surprise berry juices landed in most of the top 10 slots.
Oxidants, she explains, are naturally-occurring substances that derive from oxygen. Chemically speaking, oxygen always wants to "mate," and if it can't find a mate, it will latch onto anything. As it's latching onto substances in our body, it can overwhelm them, and cause disease.
Antioxidants, on the other hand, voluntarily bond with molecules of oxygen, preventing them from glomming onto any other substance in our body, and that helps keep us healthy.
And these juices have high levels of antioxidants.
Still, Heller cautions that doesn't mean you should go overboard with any of them.
There's always the danger, she points out, that when we tell people something is healthy for them, they'll go out and drink it by the gallon.
The truth is, you consume a lot of calories with juice. No-sugar-added doesn't necessarily mean no sugar at all. And sugar, even though it's naturally-occurring sugar, can really pack on the pounds if you consume too much.
Also, bear in mind that juices sometimes interact with medications in an undesirable way. For example, grapefruit juice interacts with some medications, so you have to be careful.
Another Heller suggestion: Eat the fruit itself if you can, rather than drinking the juice. The fruit has far fewer calories. Remember: It takes ten oranges to make a glass of orange juice, but one orange will be relatively low in calories. Also, the fruit will give you the fiber you need, but the juice won't. So the fruit is always a better choice than the juice.
If you're a big juice-lover, and you're not much of a fruit-eater, Heller says it would be better to get the nutrients the juice has to offer. But to avoid calorie overload, mix it with club soda. You'll get the taste, with half the calories.
Among the top ten juices:
Pomegranate Juice
Pomegranate is the healthiest of them all because it contains the most of every type of antioxidant. It wins in all categories. And it's thought that it might do some very good things; it may protect against some cancers, such as prostate cancer. It might also modify heart disease risk factors, and it could be healthy for your heart. So pomegranate was the clear winner.
Concord Grape Juice
Concord grape juice is a source of very potent antioxidants. And there's some research indicating it may be good for our hearts and also help reduce blood pressure. Grapes are also high in fiber, but much of their goodness is in the seed, so you need to consider whether grape juice is the way to go.
Blueberry Juice
The color alone indicates a lot of antioxidants. But blueberry juice also contains tons of fiber, and is also very high in Vitamin C. One of the qualities of antioxidants is that they can lower inflammation, and so there's some indication that blueberries may have some effect on age-related cognitive abilities. And don't forget that blueberries are very low in calories.
Black Cherry Juice
This one actually has scientists a bit excited. Not only is it high in antioxidants, but there is evidence that black cherry juice can actually diminish exercise-induced muscle injuries.
Cranberry Juice
Like all of these juices, it's high in antioxidants. But cranberry juice is also high in Vitamin C. And there's always been a sort of wives' tale that cranberry juice helps prevent urinary tract infections. Well, it turns out researchers are finding evidence that it actually can decrease the number of urinary tract infections. The thinking is, it helps stop bacteria from sticking to the bladder wall, protecting against infections.
2008 ozone hole larger than last year
The 2008 ozone hole – a thinning in the ozone layer over Antarctica – is larger both in size and ozone loss than 2007 but is not as large as 2006.
Ozone is a protective atmospheric layer found in about 25 kilometres altitude that acts as a sunlight filter shielding life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays, which can increase the risk of skin cancer and cataracts and harm marine life.
This year the area of the thinned ozone layer over the South Pole reached about 27 million square kilometres, compared to 25 million square kilometres in 2007 and a record ozone hole extension of 29 million square kilometres in 2006, which is about the size of the North American continent.
The depletion of ozone is caused by extreme cold temperatures at high altitude and the presence of ozone-destructing gases in the atmosphere such as chlorine and bromine, originating from man-made products like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol but continue to linger in the atmosphere.
Ozone hole extension
Ozone hole extension during the last 10 years
Depending on the weather conditions, the size the Antarctic ozone hole varies every year. During the southern hemisphere winter, the atmosphere above the Antarctic continent is kept cut off from exchanges with mid-latitude air by prevailing winds known as the polar vortex – the area in which the main chemical ozone destruction occurs. The polar vortex is characterized by very low temperatures leading to the presence of so-called stratospheric clouds (PSCs).
As the polar spring arrives in September or October, the combination of returning sunlight and the presence of PSCs leads to a release of highly ozone-reactive chlorine radicals that break ozone down into individual oxygen molecules. A single molecule of chlorine has the potential to break down thousands of molecules of ozone.
Julian Meyer-Arnek of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), which monitors the hole annually, explained the impact of regional meteorological conditions on the time and range of the ozone hole by comparing 2007 with 2008.
"In 2007 a less concentric and larger polar vortex led to an early onset of the ozone destruction in the sunlit parts of the polar vortex," Meyer-Arnek said. "Therefore, we saw an ozone hole formation in the beginning of September 2007 which corresponded to the average behaviour of the years 1995-2006."
"In 2008 a more concentric polar vortex led to a delay of the onset of the ozone destruction of about one week. The preconditioning of the polar chemistry was about the same for both years, although in 2008 the temperatures were slightly below the 2007 temperatures leading to slightly improved formation of PSCs," he continued.
Chlorine activation and ozone hole extension
Chlorine activation early September 2008
"Since the polar vortex remained undisturbed for a long period, the 2008 ozone hole became one of the largest ever observed."
Minimum values of the ozone layer of about 120 Dobson Units are observed this year compared to around 100 Dobson Units in 2006. A Dobson Unit is a unit of measurement that describes the thickness of the ozone layer in a column directly above the location of measurement.
DLR’s analysis is based upon the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Cartography (SCIAMACHY) atmospheric sensor onboard ESA’s Envisat, the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) aboard ESA’s ERS-2 and its follow-on instrument GOME-2 aboard EUMETSAT’s MetOp.
Scientists say that since the size and precise time of the ozone hole is dependent on the year-to-year variability in temperature and atmospheric dynamics, the detection of signs of ozone recovery is difficult.
"In order to detect these signs of recovery, a continuous monitoring of the global ozone layer and in particular of the Antarctic ozone hole is crucial," Meyer-Arnek said.
Monthly averages of total ozone values
Average of total ozone values for September 2008
In order to train the next generation of atmospheric scientists to continue the monitoring, students at ESA’s Advanced Atmospheric Training Course, held 15–20 September at University of Oxford, UK, were given the task of analysing this year’s ozone hole with Envisat sensors.
Studying the Envisat data, the students’ findings were in line with atmospheric scientists that the south polar vortex was more concentric in 2008 than in 2007, leading to a relatively late onset of ozone depletion, and that the size of this year’s hole is similar to previous years.
"This exercise led us to realise that although many questions have been answered and much has been learned about the stratospheric chemistry and atmospheric dynamics driving ozone hole behaviour, many new questions must be raised especially concerning ozone hole recovery," said Deborah C Stein Zweers, a post-doc satellite researcher from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) who attended the course.
"We want to know when the ozone hole will recover, how its recovery will be complicated by an environment with increasing greenhouse gases and how atmospheric dynamics will shape future ozone holes. These and many other questions will attract the attention of our generation of scientists for the next several decades."
Ozone is a protective atmospheric layer found in about 25 kilometres altitude that acts as a sunlight filter shielding life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet rays, which can increase the risk of skin cancer and cataracts and harm marine life.
This year the area of the thinned ozone layer over the South Pole reached about 27 million square kilometres, compared to 25 million square kilometres in 2007 and a record ozone hole extension of 29 million square kilometres in 2006, which is about the size of the North American continent.
The depletion of ozone is caused by extreme cold temperatures at high altitude and the presence of ozone-destructing gases in the atmosphere such as chlorine and bromine, originating from man-made products like chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol but continue to linger in the atmosphere.
Ozone hole extension
Ozone hole extension during the last 10 years
Depending on the weather conditions, the size the Antarctic ozone hole varies every year. During the southern hemisphere winter, the atmosphere above the Antarctic continent is kept cut off from exchanges with mid-latitude air by prevailing winds known as the polar vortex – the area in which the main chemical ozone destruction occurs. The polar vortex is characterized by very low temperatures leading to the presence of so-called stratospheric clouds (PSCs).
As the polar spring arrives in September or October, the combination of returning sunlight and the presence of PSCs leads to a release of highly ozone-reactive chlorine radicals that break ozone down into individual oxygen molecules. A single molecule of chlorine has the potential to break down thousands of molecules of ozone.
Julian Meyer-Arnek of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), which monitors the hole annually, explained the impact of regional meteorological conditions on the time and range of the ozone hole by comparing 2007 with 2008.
"In 2007 a less concentric and larger polar vortex led to an early onset of the ozone destruction in the sunlit parts of the polar vortex," Meyer-Arnek said. "Therefore, we saw an ozone hole formation in the beginning of September 2007 which corresponded to the average behaviour of the years 1995-2006."
"In 2008 a more concentric polar vortex led to a delay of the onset of the ozone destruction of about one week. The preconditioning of the polar chemistry was about the same for both years, although in 2008 the temperatures were slightly below the 2007 temperatures leading to slightly improved formation of PSCs," he continued.
Chlorine activation and ozone hole extension
Chlorine activation early September 2008
"Since the polar vortex remained undisturbed for a long period, the 2008 ozone hole became one of the largest ever observed."
Minimum values of the ozone layer of about 120 Dobson Units are observed this year compared to around 100 Dobson Units in 2006. A Dobson Unit is a unit of measurement that describes the thickness of the ozone layer in a column directly above the location of measurement.
DLR’s analysis is based upon the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Cartography (SCIAMACHY) atmospheric sensor onboard ESA’s Envisat, the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) aboard ESA’s ERS-2 and its follow-on instrument GOME-2 aboard EUMETSAT’s MetOp.
Scientists say that since the size and precise time of the ozone hole is dependent on the year-to-year variability in temperature and atmospheric dynamics, the detection of signs of ozone recovery is difficult.
"In order to detect these signs of recovery, a continuous monitoring of the global ozone layer and in particular of the Antarctic ozone hole is crucial," Meyer-Arnek said.
Monthly averages of total ozone values
Average of total ozone values for September 2008
In order to train the next generation of atmospheric scientists to continue the monitoring, students at ESA’s Advanced Atmospheric Training Course, held 15–20 September at University of Oxford, UK, were given the task of analysing this year’s ozone hole with Envisat sensors.
Studying the Envisat data, the students’ findings were in line with atmospheric scientists that the south polar vortex was more concentric in 2008 than in 2007, leading to a relatively late onset of ozone depletion, and that the size of this year’s hole is similar to previous years.
"This exercise led us to realise that although many questions have been answered and much has been learned about the stratospheric chemistry and atmospheric dynamics driving ozone hole behaviour, many new questions must be raised especially concerning ozone hole recovery," said Deborah C Stein Zweers, a post-doc satellite researcher from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) who attended the course.
"We want to know when the ozone hole will recover, how its recovery will be complicated by an environment with increasing greenhouse gases and how atmospheric dynamics will shape future ozone holes. These and many other questions will attract the attention of our generation of scientists for the next several decades."
Steve Jobs Drinking Game
The upcoming Apple media event should be pretty interesting, but why settle for interesting when you can have exciting? Sure, Apple is expected to unveil a slew of new and upgraded notebooks, and that’s all well and good, but not everyone gets excited about new laptops. So what’s a casual citizen to do? Well, like most dilemmas, this can easily be solved with a drinking game. The event starts at 10am Pacific Time/ 1PM Eastern, so for those of you on the East Coast, there’s no need to pack a lunch.
15 Foods That Can Save Your Heart
At least three times a day, you have a chance to significantly lower our cholesterol, blood pressure, and overall risk of heart disease. How? By eating the right foods at every meal.
Over the years, the definition of a heart-healthy diet has changed. “Cutting saturated fat to lower cholesterol used to be the focus, but now we know if that’s all you’re doing, you’re missing other dietary chances to further protect your heart,” says Melissa Ohlson, R.D., nutrition coordinator of preventive cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic. Additional risk factors, like hypertension and inflammation, can also be tamed by diet, but the foods that help aren’t necessarily the same as the ones that slash cholesterol. The following 15 foods will help you tackle heart disease from every angle.
Head Off High Blood Pressure
Hypertension (blood pressure that’s 140/90 or higher) is the most common risk factor for heart disease. When blood pressure is elevated, your heart has to work harder to pump blood through your body. “That damages the lining of your arteries, leading to plaque buildup, which can ultimately cause a heart attack or stroke,” says New York City cardiologist Richard Stein, M.D., a spokesman for the American Heart Association. To maintain a healthy blood pressure (120/80 or lower), eat these foods regularly.
SWISS CHARD: A potassium powerhouse, this vegetable supplies nearly 1,000 milligrams (mg) of the mineral per cup, cooked. Studies show you need about 4,000 mg of potassium (found in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and yogurt) a day to keep blood pressure low. “When you don’t get enough potassium, sodium levels in your body rise, which causes a buildup of fluid in the cells, increasing blood pressure,” says Stein. On top of that, the greens are rich in calcium and magnesium, which also help prevent hypertension. Not a Swiss chard lover? The rainbow variety, with stalks that are yellow, red, or hot pink, tastes less bitter than other types and is worth a try.
FRESH HERBS: They’re a healthy substitute for salt, which has almost 2,400 mg of sodium per teaspoon—more than what you should get in an entire day if you want to control your blood pressure. Instead, try sprinkling dishes you’d usually salt with chopped fresh herbs, which are typically more flavorful than dried ones. Chives and rosemary complement potatoes, parsley perks up eggs, sage goes well with poultry, and thyme can add zip to air-popped popcorn. As an added bonus, herbs are rich in antioxidants that protect your cells against the kind of damage that can lead to heart disease. If you simply can’t cut out salt completely, try this trick: Use a mortar and pestle to crush the kosher variety (which has about half the sodium of table salt) with herbs like oregano, thyme, and lavender, suggests Connie Gutterson, Ph.D., a registered dietitian and nutrition instructor at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, California.
LOWFAT OR NONFAT YOGURT: Have yogurt for breakfast and as a snack. It has about 50 percent more blood pressure–lowering calcium and potassium than lowfat milk. In studies, people who ate enough of these two minerals and kept their sodium intake low experienced drops in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The reduction is larger in people with hypertension, but yogurt also lowers blood pressure a little in people with normal levels. This is important, because the closer you can get your blood pressure to a healthy level of 120/80, the better off your heart will be. If you’re not a yogurt fan, drink lowfat or nonfat milk instead, or use it as an ingredient in everyday cooking, suggests Susan Moores, R.D., a nutritionist in St. Paul, Minnesota, who specializes in heart disease. “Substitute an equal amount of milk for water in packaged foods that need to be reconstituted, like instant oatmeal, condensed soup, and hot chocolate.”
Curb Unhealthy Cholesterol Levels
LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol, accumulates on artery walls, hardening into plaque that can block blood flow. “Without enough blood reaching the heart, you can suffer chest pain or heart damage,” says Stein. To keep plaque at bay, you want to lower LDL and raise HDL (“good”) cholesterol. These foods will help.
GARLIC: This tasty bulb has a mild cholesterol-lowering effect and also keeps LDL from building up in the arteries and contributing to plaque. You need to consume several cloves a day to get the protective benefits. To fit it into your meals, use garlic as often as you can in cooking. It pairs well with everything from roast meats and poultry to vegetables, soups, and pasta dishes. An even easier way: Stir a teaspoon of chopped garlic into 2 tablespoons of lowfat mayo and use it as a spread on your sandwich or wrap.
EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL: Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats, which can lower LDL when they replace saturated fat in your diet. “In fact, every 1 percent decrease in your intake of saturated fat—found in cheese, butter, and fatty meats—can reduce your LDL level by 2 percent,” says Ohlson. But be careful what you replace it with, she says. Many people substitute carbohydrates like white bread and lowfat cookies for saturated fat. While that strategy may lower your LDL level, it causes your HDL to drop—and that’s also not good for your heart. Try replacing saturated fat–rich foods with olive oil, as well as with avocado, nuts, and other sources of monos. Extra-virgin olive oil has an advantage over other types: It packs extra polyphenols, compounds that keep LDL cholesterol from sticking to artery walls. “Since extra-virgin olive oil costs several dollars more than the regular kind, don’t use it for cooking,” says Moores. “Instead, incorporate it where you can really savor the flavor—in a salad dressing, as a topping for bread, or drizzled over steamed veggies.”
ALMONDS: When adults ate about an ounce of these nuts a day as part of a healthy diet, their LDL levels dropped 13 to 20 percent—the amount comparable to the reduction that occurs with some medications—according to researchers at the University of Toronto. “All nuts are nutritious, but almonds are particularly heart-healthy because they have the most vitamin E. This antioxidant protects cells against the kind of damage that can lead to atherosclerosis,” says Moores. They’re also a good source of calcium. If almonds are a little too blah for you, toast them in a shallow baking pan at 350°F for 10 to 15 minutes to bring out their flavor.
Beat High Blood Sugar
About 24 million women have fasting blood sugar (glucose) levels high enough to qualify them as prediabetic, and another 10 million have type 2 diabetes—and many of them don’t know it. “Type 2 diabetes is a powerful risk factor for heart disease, particularly in women,” says Stein. “It can damage the nerves and blood vessels that lead to the heart and quadruple your chances of having a heart attack.” To keep your blood sugar levels in check, add these foods to your diet.
Beat High Blood Sugar continued...
BARLEY: It’s the grain least likely to produce spikes in your blood sugar; in fact, a study from the Creighton University School of Medicine found barley was better than much-touted oats at keeping glucose levels under control. The reason may be that the grain has high levels of a soluble fiber called beta-glucan, which is digested very slowly and helps lower cholesterol levels. (Hulled barley has more fiber than pearl barley, but it takes longer to cook. Either one makes a smart addition to your diet.) Substitute barley fl our for about half the all-purpose type called for in your muffin and quick-bread recipes. You can also add barley to soups or serve it as a side dish with fish, meat, or poultry in place of rice or potatoes.
CAYENNE CHILI PEPPER: Sprinkling this spice on your food helps prevent a big spike in blood sugar after a meal, according to a new study from the University of Tasmania. When adults polished off a chili-seasoned burger on a bun with a sugary beverage, their blood sugar was much lower than when they finished the drink and the burger sans spices. The researchers credit capsaicin—the fiery substance in chili peppers—for at least part of the benefit.
CARROTS: A Harvard University study found that crunching on half a cup of dark yellow vegetables, like carrots, each day cuts the risk of diabetes in women by 27 percent. The researchers aren’t sure why, but they think it may be due to the high level of antioxidants in these vegetables. To enhance your absorption of antioxidants from carrots (or any colorful veggie), serve them with a little fat, such as olive oil.
Scale Back Your Weight
Simply carrying a few extra pounds on your frame raises your chances of developing chest pain or having a heart attack by 17 percent, according to a review of 21 studies published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Being obese—having a body mass index of 30 or greater—increases your risk by 49 percent. Excess pounds also raise your odds of developing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, inflammation, diabetes, and other conditions that increase heart disease risk. To maintain a healthy weight, incorporate these foods into your meals.
BROCCOLI: While it’s true that all veggies are low-cal, broccoli is one of the biggest diet bargains: A half cup of cooked florets has a mere 27 calories, about the amount in just a tiny bite of lasagna. You’ll also get 3 grams of fiber, which helps fill you up. “Before you cook broccoli, chop it into small pieces. That way, it will absorb the seasonings better,” says Gutterson.
ORANGES: One of the few fruits in season this time of year, oranges deliver that sweet taste you crave for just 65 calories apiece. In addition, oranges contain a type of fiber called pectin that not only keeps you full, but also controls cholesterol. “Plus, it takes a while to peel and eat one, so it helps increase satisfaction and control appetite,” says Moores. A good choice: California navel oranges, which are at their peak in January and February.
LEAN PORK: Adults who have a high-protein meal burn twice as many calories afterward as those who eat a high-carb one, according to a study at Arizona State University in Mesa. With just 122 calories per 3 ounces, pork tenderloin is one of the leanest sources of protein, supplying as much as prime rib for one-third to one-eighth of the fat. The same size serving of pork top loin has 147 calories and 5 grams of fat.
Fight Inflammation
“Most heart attacks happen when plaque that has built up in the artery bursts, forming a blood clot that blocks blood flow. Researchers now believe inflammatory compounds trigger plaque eruption,” says Stein. In fact, a recent study at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that high levels of C-reactive protein (or CRP, a measure of inflammation) is a more reliable predictor of heart trouble than high cholesterol. To fight inflammation, rely on the following foods.
SALMON: This fish is one of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which ease inflammation, boasting three to six times the amount found in other popular seafood, like shrimp, flounder, and Mahi-mahi. If salmon’s flavor is a little too fishy for you, Gutterson suggests mellowing it by poaching fillets in white wine, chicken or vegetable stock, lemon zest, and dill or fennel.
BLACK BEANS: Few foods supply as much magnesium as black beans, and adults who don’t get enough of the mineral in their diets are about twice as likely to have high levels of CRP, according to a study by the Medical University of South Carolina. A cup of canned beans delivers 120 of the 320 milligrams of magnesium you need daily.
DRIED CHERRIES: Tart or sweet, they’re loaded with anthocyanins, antioxidants that help neutralize the enzymes that cause plaque to break apart. “Fresh cherries do the same thing, but dried ones are more versatile and are available year-round,” says Gutterson. Mix a tablespoon or two into cereal, wild rice, salads, muffin batter, or yogurt.
Over the years, the definition of a heart-healthy diet has changed. “Cutting saturated fat to lower cholesterol used to be the focus, but now we know if that’s all you’re doing, you’re missing other dietary chances to further protect your heart,” says Melissa Ohlson, R.D., nutrition coordinator of preventive cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic. Additional risk factors, like hypertension and inflammation, can also be tamed by diet, but the foods that help aren’t necessarily the same as the ones that slash cholesterol. The following 15 foods will help you tackle heart disease from every angle.
Head Off High Blood Pressure
Hypertension (blood pressure that’s 140/90 or higher) is the most common risk factor for heart disease. When blood pressure is elevated, your heart has to work harder to pump blood through your body. “That damages the lining of your arteries, leading to plaque buildup, which can ultimately cause a heart attack or stroke,” says New York City cardiologist Richard Stein, M.D., a spokesman for the American Heart Association. To maintain a healthy blood pressure (120/80 or lower), eat these foods regularly.
SWISS CHARD: A potassium powerhouse, this vegetable supplies nearly 1,000 milligrams (mg) of the mineral per cup, cooked. Studies show you need about 4,000 mg of potassium (found in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and yogurt) a day to keep blood pressure low. “When you don’t get enough potassium, sodium levels in your body rise, which causes a buildup of fluid in the cells, increasing blood pressure,” says Stein. On top of that, the greens are rich in calcium and magnesium, which also help prevent hypertension. Not a Swiss chard lover? The rainbow variety, with stalks that are yellow, red, or hot pink, tastes less bitter than other types and is worth a try.
FRESH HERBS: They’re a healthy substitute for salt, which has almost 2,400 mg of sodium per teaspoon—more than what you should get in an entire day if you want to control your blood pressure. Instead, try sprinkling dishes you’d usually salt with chopped fresh herbs, which are typically more flavorful than dried ones. Chives and rosemary complement potatoes, parsley perks up eggs, sage goes well with poultry, and thyme can add zip to air-popped popcorn. As an added bonus, herbs are rich in antioxidants that protect your cells against the kind of damage that can lead to heart disease. If you simply can’t cut out salt completely, try this trick: Use a mortar and pestle to crush the kosher variety (which has about half the sodium of table salt) with herbs like oregano, thyme, and lavender, suggests Connie Gutterson, Ph.D., a registered dietitian and nutrition instructor at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, California.
LOWFAT OR NONFAT YOGURT: Have yogurt for breakfast and as a snack. It has about 50 percent more blood pressure–lowering calcium and potassium than lowfat milk. In studies, people who ate enough of these two minerals and kept their sodium intake low experienced drops in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The reduction is larger in people with hypertension, but yogurt also lowers blood pressure a little in people with normal levels. This is important, because the closer you can get your blood pressure to a healthy level of 120/80, the better off your heart will be. If you’re not a yogurt fan, drink lowfat or nonfat milk instead, or use it as an ingredient in everyday cooking, suggests Susan Moores, R.D., a nutritionist in St. Paul, Minnesota, who specializes in heart disease. “Substitute an equal amount of milk for water in packaged foods that need to be reconstituted, like instant oatmeal, condensed soup, and hot chocolate.”
Curb Unhealthy Cholesterol Levels
LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol, accumulates on artery walls, hardening into plaque that can block blood flow. “Without enough blood reaching the heart, you can suffer chest pain or heart damage,” says Stein. To keep plaque at bay, you want to lower LDL and raise HDL (“good”) cholesterol. These foods will help.
GARLIC: This tasty bulb has a mild cholesterol-lowering effect and also keeps LDL from building up in the arteries and contributing to plaque. You need to consume several cloves a day to get the protective benefits. To fit it into your meals, use garlic as often as you can in cooking. It pairs well with everything from roast meats and poultry to vegetables, soups, and pasta dishes. An even easier way: Stir a teaspoon of chopped garlic into 2 tablespoons of lowfat mayo and use it as a spread on your sandwich or wrap.
EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL: Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats, which can lower LDL when they replace saturated fat in your diet. “In fact, every 1 percent decrease in your intake of saturated fat—found in cheese, butter, and fatty meats—can reduce your LDL level by 2 percent,” says Ohlson. But be careful what you replace it with, she says. Many people substitute carbohydrates like white bread and lowfat cookies for saturated fat. While that strategy may lower your LDL level, it causes your HDL to drop—and that’s also not good for your heart. Try replacing saturated fat–rich foods with olive oil, as well as with avocado, nuts, and other sources of monos. Extra-virgin olive oil has an advantage over other types: It packs extra polyphenols, compounds that keep LDL cholesterol from sticking to artery walls. “Since extra-virgin olive oil costs several dollars more than the regular kind, don’t use it for cooking,” says Moores. “Instead, incorporate it where you can really savor the flavor—in a salad dressing, as a topping for bread, or drizzled over steamed veggies.”
ALMONDS: When adults ate about an ounce of these nuts a day as part of a healthy diet, their LDL levels dropped 13 to 20 percent—the amount comparable to the reduction that occurs with some medications—according to researchers at the University of Toronto. “All nuts are nutritious, but almonds are particularly heart-healthy because they have the most vitamin E. This antioxidant protects cells against the kind of damage that can lead to atherosclerosis,” says Moores. They’re also a good source of calcium. If almonds are a little too blah for you, toast them in a shallow baking pan at 350°F for 10 to 15 minutes to bring out their flavor.
Beat High Blood Sugar
About 24 million women have fasting blood sugar (glucose) levels high enough to qualify them as prediabetic, and another 10 million have type 2 diabetes—and many of them don’t know it. “Type 2 diabetes is a powerful risk factor for heart disease, particularly in women,” says Stein. “It can damage the nerves and blood vessels that lead to the heart and quadruple your chances of having a heart attack.” To keep your blood sugar levels in check, add these foods to your diet.
Beat High Blood Sugar continued...
BARLEY: It’s the grain least likely to produce spikes in your blood sugar; in fact, a study from the Creighton University School of Medicine found barley was better than much-touted oats at keeping glucose levels under control. The reason may be that the grain has high levels of a soluble fiber called beta-glucan, which is digested very slowly and helps lower cholesterol levels. (Hulled barley has more fiber than pearl barley, but it takes longer to cook. Either one makes a smart addition to your diet.) Substitute barley fl our for about half the all-purpose type called for in your muffin and quick-bread recipes. You can also add barley to soups or serve it as a side dish with fish, meat, or poultry in place of rice or potatoes.
CAYENNE CHILI PEPPER: Sprinkling this spice on your food helps prevent a big spike in blood sugar after a meal, according to a new study from the University of Tasmania. When adults polished off a chili-seasoned burger on a bun with a sugary beverage, their blood sugar was much lower than when they finished the drink and the burger sans spices. The researchers credit capsaicin—the fiery substance in chili peppers—for at least part of the benefit.
CARROTS: A Harvard University study found that crunching on half a cup of dark yellow vegetables, like carrots, each day cuts the risk of diabetes in women by 27 percent. The researchers aren’t sure why, but they think it may be due to the high level of antioxidants in these vegetables. To enhance your absorption of antioxidants from carrots (or any colorful veggie), serve them with a little fat, such as olive oil.
Scale Back Your Weight
Simply carrying a few extra pounds on your frame raises your chances of developing chest pain or having a heart attack by 17 percent, according to a review of 21 studies published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Being obese—having a body mass index of 30 or greater—increases your risk by 49 percent. Excess pounds also raise your odds of developing high blood pressure, high cholesterol, inflammation, diabetes, and other conditions that increase heart disease risk. To maintain a healthy weight, incorporate these foods into your meals.
BROCCOLI: While it’s true that all veggies are low-cal, broccoli is one of the biggest diet bargains: A half cup of cooked florets has a mere 27 calories, about the amount in just a tiny bite of lasagna. You’ll also get 3 grams of fiber, which helps fill you up. “Before you cook broccoli, chop it into small pieces. That way, it will absorb the seasonings better,” says Gutterson.
ORANGES: One of the few fruits in season this time of year, oranges deliver that sweet taste you crave for just 65 calories apiece. In addition, oranges contain a type of fiber called pectin that not only keeps you full, but also controls cholesterol. “Plus, it takes a while to peel and eat one, so it helps increase satisfaction and control appetite,” says Moores. A good choice: California navel oranges, which are at their peak in January and February.
LEAN PORK: Adults who have a high-protein meal burn twice as many calories afterward as those who eat a high-carb one, according to a study at Arizona State University in Mesa. With just 122 calories per 3 ounces, pork tenderloin is one of the leanest sources of protein, supplying as much as prime rib for one-third to one-eighth of the fat. The same size serving of pork top loin has 147 calories and 5 grams of fat.
Fight Inflammation
“Most heart attacks happen when plaque that has built up in the artery bursts, forming a blood clot that blocks blood flow. Researchers now believe inflammatory compounds trigger plaque eruption,” says Stein. In fact, a recent study at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that high levels of C-reactive protein (or CRP, a measure of inflammation) is a more reliable predictor of heart trouble than high cholesterol. To fight inflammation, rely on the following foods.
SALMON: This fish is one of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which ease inflammation, boasting three to six times the amount found in other popular seafood, like shrimp, flounder, and Mahi-mahi. If salmon’s flavor is a little too fishy for you, Gutterson suggests mellowing it by poaching fillets in white wine, chicken or vegetable stock, lemon zest, and dill or fennel.
BLACK BEANS: Few foods supply as much magnesium as black beans, and adults who don’t get enough of the mineral in their diets are about twice as likely to have high levels of CRP, according to a study by the Medical University of South Carolina. A cup of canned beans delivers 120 of the 320 milligrams of magnesium you need daily.
DRIED CHERRIES: Tart or sweet, they’re loaded with anthocyanins, antioxidants that help neutralize the enzymes that cause plaque to break apart. “Fresh cherries do the same thing, but dried ones are more versatile and are available year-round,” says Gutterson. Mix a tablespoon or two into cereal, wild rice, salads, muffin batter, or yogurt.
When Taking the Keys to the Car Turns Real
EVERYBODY had a story to tell about trying to take the keys from an elderly driver. Paul K. Schwarz, a retired Scarsdale Middle School teacher, described meeting with angry resistance from his father, Herbert, every time he brought up the subject of driving.
“My dad was born in 1907 in White Plains,” Mr. Schwarz said. “He would have been 101 and he might have made it, because he took really good care of himself, but his one real blind spot literally was the car.”
There were small accidents, tickets and excuses — the senior Mr. Schwarz once claimed that a police officer must have been colorblind to ticket him for running a red light. Another time he blamed a faulty brake pedal for an accident. After he exited his driveway in reverse and crashed into a tree, Mr. Schwarz lost his insurance. Undaunted, he looked in the Yellow Pages and got reinsured.
Paul Schwarz and his brother tried unsuccessfully to get their father’s doctor to intervene. They even talked about disabling their father’s car but ran out of time. His last accident, on the Hutchinson River Parkway, landed him for eight weeks in the intensive care unit, where he died in 1997 at the age of 90.
“It was an awful two months,” said Mr. Schwarz, who is involved with several nonprofit groups that work with the elderly. He was speaking at a recent conference here for Westchester police commissioners and chiefs, part of an effort to address the issue of older drivers in the county.
Ken Donato, the police chief in Ossining, recalled reporting a 90-year-old military veteran who worked in his building to the Department of Motor Vehicles, but not until after the elderly man had had three accidents in three weeks, one of which totaled Chief Donato’s car.
Even County Executive Andrew J. Spano shared the story of his father, who called to see if his politically connected son could arrange for the Department of Motor Vehicles to cut him some slack on his eye examination. Mr. Spano refused and then asked his father how he was managing to drive if he had trouble seeing.
“And he says, ‘Your mother tells me what the sign says,’ ” Mr. Spano said. “I went to the house, and I took the keys away. He didn’t speak to me for two months.”
These experiences have a familiar ring to adult children of elderly drivers. They were shared at the conference, developed by the Older Driver Family Assistance Network, which is part of the county’s Department of Senior Programs and Services.
“Westchester County is among the three leading counties in New York State that provide a good and practical action plan for dealing with older drivers,” said Tamar Freund, manager for the State Department of Motor Vehicles’ newly created Office of the Older Driver.
More than 20 percent of Westchester’s population is older than 60, and the fastest growing segment comprises people older than 85. Statewide, one in seven drivers is 65 or older.
Elderly drivers are not inherently unsafe but have a wide range of abilities, Ms. Freund said.
Dr. Cathryn Devons, director of geriatrics at Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, said that aging can affect response time, depth perception, tolerance for alcohol, and, in cases of dementia, judgment. Medications can compound such issues.
A chart distributed at the conference that graphs the driver fatality rate is shaped like a U, with 16-year-olds at one peak and drivers 85 and older at the other. (Elderly drivers are frailer, compounding the mortality rate.)
Police officers described elderly drivers who appeared confused and lost or could not negotiate curves in the road and drove onto lawns or did not notice an officer’s flashing lights for more than a mile or appeared to be drunken drivers, but after being pulled over were found to be simply disoriented.
In a survey of 21 Westchester police officers conducted in 2007 by the Older Driver Network, all of them said they had observed older drivers in their community who they believed were at risk of an accident. More than 90 percent said they had seen accidents caused by older drivers who were unaware of traffic surrounding them, and 76 percent said they had encountered older drivers who could not see signs.
With such obvious risks to themselves and public safety, moving elderly drivers off the road would seem to be an obvious solution. But even police officers can be hesitant to act, particularly if the driver reminds the officer of his or her own grandparent.
“How am I going to tell a guy who fought for this country and has two Purple Hearts that I am going to take away his license and take away his freedom?” one police chief asked at the conference.
New York State does not mandate that elderly drivers be retested. An older driver may be subject to license review, but only after a written report from a police officer, medical professional or concerned citizen. Most requests for reviews come from police officers, said Frank Vega, a license examiner in the Yonkers District Office of the State Department of Motor Vehicles.
Not only do families hesitate to report their loved ones, but doctors and occupational therapists are also torn between their ethical responsibility to protect public safety and their duty to protect patient confidentiality. In short, they worry about liability. “If I make a report to the D.M.V., I’m not protected,” said Kathleen Golisz, an associate professor of occupational therapy at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry. “What I do instead is say, ‘It’s in your medical chart, and it could be summoned in a court of law.’ ”
At the conference for police chiefs, cue cards were distributed to be given to officers throughout the county. They included a checklist on identifying at-risk older drivers, procedures for documenting the encounter and local resources to help elderly drivers.
The county’s Family Caregiver Support Program can help families begin a conversation with older drivers about their abilities and can make referrals to driver evaluation programs. The group also offers transportation to doctor’s appointments, grocery stores and other destinations, said Mary Edgar-Herrera, the program administrator. She noted that in the suburbs, where public transportation is limited, there was a risk of elderly people becoming isolated when they lose access to their cars.
Westchester has also initiated a “Car Fit” program, where experts evaluate whether an elderly driver’s car is properly adjusted and recommend changes and adaptations. For instance, with some couples, the husband may have been the sole driver for 40 years. His wife may then take over the driving, but never readjust the seat or mirrors.
The Older Driver network also plans a series of talks this fall at several senior centers and libraries.
The issue is not an easy one to address, the advocates said.
“Based on voting records, people would rather drive than vote,” said Ms. Freund, of the Motor Vehicle Department. “Driving in America is so much tied up with personal identity. We will take action with elderly drivers, but we would rather all these matters be voluntary.”
“My dad was born in 1907 in White Plains,” Mr. Schwarz said. “He would have been 101 and he might have made it, because he took really good care of himself, but his one real blind spot literally was the car.”
There were small accidents, tickets and excuses — the senior Mr. Schwarz once claimed that a police officer must have been colorblind to ticket him for running a red light. Another time he blamed a faulty brake pedal for an accident. After he exited his driveway in reverse and crashed into a tree, Mr. Schwarz lost his insurance. Undaunted, he looked in the Yellow Pages and got reinsured.
Paul Schwarz and his brother tried unsuccessfully to get their father’s doctor to intervene. They even talked about disabling their father’s car but ran out of time. His last accident, on the Hutchinson River Parkway, landed him for eight weeks in the intensive care unit, where he died in 1997 at the age of 90.
“It was an awful two months,” said Mr. Schwarz, who is involved with several nonprofit groups that work with the elderly. He was speaking at a recent conference here for Westchester police commissioners and chiefs, part of an effort to address the issue of older drivers in the county.
Ken Donato, the police chief in Ossining, recalled reporting a 90-year-old military veteran who worked in his building to the Department of Motor Vehicles, but not until after the elderly man had had three accidents in three weeks, one of which totaled Chief Donato’s car.
Even County Executive Andrew J. Spano shared the story of his father, who called to see if his politically connected son could arrange for the Department of Motor Vehicles to cut him some slack on his eye examination. Mr. Spano refused and then asked his father how he was managing to drive if he had trouble seeing.
“And he says, ‘Your mother tells me what the sign says,’ ” Mr. Spano said. “I went to the house, and I took the keys away. He didn’t speak to me for two months.”
These experiences have a familiar ring to adult children of elderly drivers. They were shared at the conference, developed by the Older Driver Family Assistance Network, which is part of the county’s Department of Senior Programs and Services.
“Westchester County is among the three leading counties in New York State that provide a good and practical action plan for dealing with older drivers,” said Tamar Freund, manager for the State Department of Motor Vehicles’ newly created Office of the Older Driver.
More than 20 percent of Westchester’s population is older than 60, and the fastest growing segment comprises people older than 85. Statewide, one in seven drivers is 65 or older.
Elderly drivers are not inherently unsafe but have a wide range of abilities, Ms. Freund said.
Dr. Cathryn Devons, director of geriatrics at Phelps Memorial Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, said that aging can affect response time, depth perception, tolerance for alcohol, and, in cases of dementia, judgment. Medications can compound such issues.
A chart distributed at the conference that graphs the driver fatality rate is shaped like a U, with 16-year-olds at one peak and drivers 85 and older at the other. (Elderly drivers are frailer, compounding the mortality rate.)
Police officers described elderly drivers who appeared confused and lost or could not negotiate curves in the road and drove onto lawns or did not notice an officer’s flashing lights for more than a mile or appeared to be drunken drivers, but after being pulled over were found to be simply disoriented.
In a survey of 21 Westchester police officers conducted in 2007 by the Older Driver Network, all of them said they had observed older drivers in their community who they believed were at risk of an accident. More than 90 percent said they had seen accidents caused by older drivers who were unaware of traffic surrounding them, and 76 percent said they had encountered older drivers who could not see signs.
With such obvious risks to themselves and public safety, moving elderly drivers off the road would seem to be an obvious solution. But even police officers can be hesitant to act, particularly if the driver reminds the officer of his or her own grandparent.
“How am I going to tell a guy who fought for this country and has two Purple Hearts that I am going to take away his license and take away his freedom?” one police chief asked at the conference.
New York State does not mandate that elderly drivers be retested. An older driver may be subject to license review, but only after a written report from a police officer, medical professional or concerned citizen. Most requests for reviews come from police officers, said Frank Vega, a license examiner in the Yonkers District Office of the State Department of Motor Vehicles.
Not only do families hesitate to report their loved ones, but doctors and occupational therapists are also torn between their ethical responsibility to protect public safety and their duty to protect patient confidentiality. In short, they worry about liability. “If I make a report to the D.M.V., I’m not protected,” said Kathleen Golisz, an associate professor of occupational therapy at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry. “What I do instead is say, ‘It’s in your medical chart, and it could be summoned in a court of law.’ ”
At the conference for police chiefs, cue cards were distributed to be given to officers throughout the county. They included a checklist on identifying at-risk older drivers, procedures for documenting the encounter and local resources to help elderly drivers.
The county’s Family Caregiver Support Program can help families begin a conversation with older drivers about their abilities and can make referrals to driver evaluation programs. The group also offers transportation to doctor’s appointments, grocery stores and other destinations, said Mary Edgar-Herrera, the program administrator. She noted that in the suburbs, where public transportation is limited, there was a risk of elderly people becoming isolated when they lose access to their cars.
Westchester has also initiated a “Car Fit” program, where experts evaluate whether an elderly driver’s car is properly adjusted and recommend changes and adaptations. For instance, with some couples, the husband may have been the sole driver for 40 years. His wife may then take over the driving, but never readjust the seat or mirrors.
The Older Driver network also plans a series of talks this fall at several senior centers and libraries.
The issue is not an easy one to address, the advocates said.
“Based on voting records, people would rather drive than vote,” said Ms. Freund, of the Motor Vehicle Department. “Driving in America is so much tied up with personal identity. We will take action with elderly drivers, but we would rather all these matters be voluntary.”
Big Media Websites Can't Admit Obama Is Over 270
Here are the latest electoral projections from independent, small media electoral forecasting websites:
Election Projection: Obama 364-174
Electoral-Vote.com: Obama 349, McCain 174, 15 tied
Fivethirtyeight: Obama 347.6-190.4 McCain
Pollster.com: Obama 320, McCain 158, Toss-up 60
Real Clear Politics: Obama 277, McCain 158, Toss-up 103
There are many more, but I'll stop there. The key point is that all small media election projection websites, including the Republican Election Projection and Real Clear Politics, have Obama over 270 electoral votes. This is because polls now objectively show that Obama is well over 270 electoral votes. However, none of the big, and so-called liberal, media websites show Obama over 270 right now. Every single one is even more favorable to McCain than Real Clear Politics:
MSNBC: Obama 264-174 McCain
CNN: Obama 264-174 McCain
New York Times: Obama 260--200 McCain
None of these websites can admit what is patently obvious to even Republican poll watchers right now: Obama is over 270 outside the margin of error. The inability of these big media sites to simply admit reality--reality that is evident in their own reporting about McCain playing from well behind right now--is pathetic.
Maybe they are afraid of being accused of pro-Obama bias (probably). Maybe they are just biased toward McCain (possibly). Maybe they just suck at electoral forecasting (definitely). Maybe they are invested in a close campaign (absolutely). Whatever it is, you would be well served to never, ever listen to big media for election forecasts and horserace information. They just don't have it. Stick to the small media independent websites, since we pretty only exist because the big media websites suck so bad at this stuff. So much information is publicly available now that a few nerds obsessed with poll numbers are much better sources for election information than you will every get from big media. The lack of depth in horserace coverage on major news websites is actually how I discovered the blogosphere myself back in 2002.
Update: I should have mentioned that I came up with the idea for this post after reading a comment by Chachy yesterday.
by: Chris Bowers
Election Projection: Obama 364-174
Electoral-Vote.com: Obama 349, McCain 174, 15 tied
Fivethirtyeight: Obama 347.6-190.4 McCain
Pollster.com: Obama 320, McCain 158, Toss-up 60
Real Clear Politics: Obama 277, McCain 158, Toss-up 103
There are many more, but I'll stop there. The key point is that all small media election projection websites, including the Republican Election Projection and Real Clear Politics, have Obama over 270 electoral votes. This is because polls now objectively show that Obama is well over 270 electoral votes. However, none of the big, and so-called liberal, media websites show Obama over 270 right now. Every single one is even more favorable to McCain than Real Clear Politics:
MSNBC: Obama 264-174 McCain
CNN: Obama 264-174 McCain
New York Times: Obama 260--200 McCain
None of these websites can admit what is patently obvious to even Republican poll watchers right now: Obama is over 270 outside the margin of error. The inability of these big media sites to simply admit reality--reality that is evident in their own reporting about McCain playing from well behind right now--is pathetic.
Maybe they are afraid of being accused of pro-Obama bias (probably). Maybe they are just biased toward McCain (possibly). Maybe they just suck at electoral forecasting (definitely). Maybe they are invested in a close campaign (absolutely). Whatever it is, you would be well served to never, ever listen to big media for election forecasts and horserace information. They just don't have it. Stick to the small media independent websites, since we pretty only exist because the big media websites suck so bad at this stuff. So much information is publicly available now that a few nerds obsessed with poll numbers are much better sources for election information than you will every get from big media. The lack of depth in horserace coverage on major news websites is actually how I discovered the blogosphere myself back in 2002.
Update: I should have mentioned that I came up with the idea for this post after reading a comment by Chachy yesterday.
by: Chris Bowers
E-Voting Doesn’t Get Computer Scientist’s Vote
Just in time for Halloween and Election Night Fever, a professor at Rice is scaring the crap out of us … well, kind of. Dan Wallach, an associate professor and Director of Rice’s Computer Security Lab, is an e-voting expert who specializes in what-could-go-wrong scenarios.
He’s headed to Austin Wednesday to tell the state senate about all the risky business associated with the computers Texas uses to count its votes. (As in, the ones we’ll be using Tuesday, November 4 to pick the next president.) Back in June, Wallach testified before the Texas House Committee on Elections about the dangers of ES&S, the e-voting computers used by Texas.
“All of these voting machines were vulnerable to what we call ‘viral attacks,’” Wallach tells Hair Balls.
“If you have enough access to [one computer] to be able to get out a screwdriver and monkey around without anybody looking then what you could do is you could replace the software inside the one voting machine,” he says. (So, if you hear any clanking in the booth next you, please notify an official.) Wallach says it’s more likely it would be a poll worker after or before the election who would get the type of access needed, but once one computer is corrupt, it doesn’t take long for all of them to be.
“I compromise one voting machine and then all the voting machines get brought back to the election warehouse,” he says. “Then my evil voting machine talks to the [main] machine that’s tabulating and getting all that stuff and then it hijacks that machine and now it’s evil.” And from there it’s a bad-apple-bunch scenario.
Wallach says there are ways of detecting these types of problems, but they’re not always successful. For one of his Rice classes, Wallach uses Hack-A-Vote, a fake voting computer similar to the ones used in Texas, and tells a group of students to wreak havoc on the system. Then another group of students inspects the machine for possible viruses.
“Many of the subtle hacks escape detection,” he says. These subtle hacks could result in anything from votes being deleted, added or not counted at all. To date, Wallach says there have been no reports of these kinds of problems in real elections.
“There is also no evidence to suggest the absence of an attack like this having been attempted, because if somebody was successful, you’d never know,” he says. “That’s not the sort of thing that gives you warm fuzzies.”
But hacking vulnerabilities aren’t Wallach’s only beef with voting computers. “In terms of technologies we have available today, the best technologies we have involve paper,” he says. “These electronic machines we use in the state, they generate no paper record so if they misbehave you have no way of either detecting it or correcting it.”
So, um, don’t forget to vote and once you voted, don’t forget who you voted for because this one isn’t going to remember.
— Dusti Rhodes
He’s headed to Austin Wednesday to tell the state senate about all the risky business associated with the computers Texas uses to count its votes. (As in, the ones we’ll be using Tuesday, November 4 to pick the next president.) Back in June, Wallach testified before the Texas House Committee on Elections about the dangers of ES&S, the e-voting computers used by Texas.
“All of these voting machines were vulnerable to what we call ‘viral attacks,’” Wallach tells Hair Balls.
“If you have enough access to [one computer] to be able to get out a screwdriver and monkey around without anybody looking then what you could do is you could replace the software inside the one voting machine,” he says. (So, if you hear any clanking in the booth next you, please notify an official.) Wallach says it’s more likely it would be a poll worker after or before the election who would get the type of access needed, but once one computer is corrupt, it doesn’t take long for all of them to be.
“I compromise one voting machine and then all the voting machines get brought back to the election warehouse,” he says. “Then my evil voting machine talks to the [main] machine that’s tabulating and getting all that stuff and then it hijacks that machine and now it’s evil.” And from there it’s a bad-apple-bunch scenario.
Wallach says there are ways of detecting these types of problems, but they’re not always successful. For one of his Rice classes, Wallach uses Hack-A-Vote, a fake voting computer similar to the ones used in Texas, and tells a group of students to wreak havoc on the system. Then another group of students inspects the machine for possible viruses.
“Many of the subtle hacks escape detection,” he says. These subtle hacks could result in anything from votes being deleted, added or not counted at all. To date, Wallach says there have been no reports of these kinds of problems in real elections.
“There is also no evidence to suggest the absence of an attack like this having been attempted, because if somebody was successful, you’d never know,” he says. “That’s not the sort of thing that gives you warm fuzzies.”
But hacking vulnerabilities aren’t Wallach’s only beef with voting computers. “In terms of technologies we have available today, the best technologies we have involve paper,” he says. “These electronic machines we use in the state, they generate no paper record so if they misbehave you have no way of either detecting it or correcting it.”
So, um, don’t forget to vote and once you voted, don’t forget who you voted for because this one isn’t going to remember.
— Dusti Rhodes
UK accused of 'sabotaging' Europe's green energy plans Leaked documents show strong pressure being exerted to 'kill the essence' of the EU's renewable
Britain has been accused of trying to wreck Europe's plan to tackle climate change by lobbying to remove aviation from renewable energy targets.
Leaked documents from the council of the European Union show that the UK is exerting strong pressure on other EU governments. The argument being used is that biofuels made from plants or algae will not be ready for use as commercial aviation fuel until after 2020.
EU leaders pledged last year to generate 20% of all energy from renewable sources but if aviation, which contributes up to 9% of all greenhouse emissions in Europe, is omitted from the EU calculations at a meeting of energy ministers next week, it will significantly reduce the overall target and make it harder to tackle climate change.
Last night, in an unusual move, an adviser to the EU Industry Committee openly stated that British civil servants were leading the attempt by several countries including Cyprus, Italy and Malta to undermine the EU's renewable energy commitments.
Luxembourg MEP Claude Turmes, who denied that the leaked documents came from his office, said: "Britain is leading the attempt to undermine the climate change directive. Gordon Brown promised that the UK would not attempt to cut the EU 20% renewables target.
"Now UK civil servants from the Department of Business, enterprise and regulatory reform have a different strategy and are pushing for cuts. A government that is supposedly committed to tackle climate change must not try to kill the essence of this directive."
The document, seen by the Guardian, states that "member states want the aviation sector to be excluded from the denominator used to calculate the overall target. They consider that in the present state of technology we cannot expect it to be possible for biofuels that can replace kerosene to be certified for commercial aviation by 2020".
This was disputed by Virgin Atlantic. "We expect to run 5% of our fleet on biofuels, and 10% by 2020," said a spokesman. On Thursday, other aviation companies joined Virgin in committing to a similar shift to biofuels by 2020.
Britain has the largest aviation industry in Europe. If it succeeds in having it exempted, it stands to reduce by nearly 12% the amount of renewable energy it will need to generate by 2020.
Earlier this year the government set out what is considered to be an ambitious but achievable £100 billion commitment to renewables by 2020. An energy white paper, now passing through parliament, seeks to make Britain the first country in the world committed to 60% cuts in emissions.
Environment groups said that if Britain removed aviation from Europe's commitments it would open the door for other countries to plead special cases for their most polluting industries and render the directive nearly meaningless.
Robin Webster, Friends of the Earth's energy campaigner accused business minister John Hutton of trying to wreck the EU renewables deal: "His special pleading for the aviation industry could unravel this priceless agreement. It's time Brown stepped in and saved Britain's reputation in Brussels."
He added: "The government is working behind the scenes to sabotage Europe's renewable energy plans. This short sighted approach will leave families facing spiralling fuel prices and saddle the country with a multi-billion pound bill for dealing with the consequences of climate change."
This is the third time that Dberr officials have been exposed by the Guardian trying to undermine EU renewables energy targets. Last year Gordon Brown reacted angrily to other leaked documents showing that Britain was trying to persuade EU countries to set lower renewable targets.
The latest papers seen by the Guardian also show Britain trying to water down a series of renewable energy proposals in other areas. DBerr officials want to change a pledge that all new and refurbished buildings should be fitted with renewable energy sources like solar or wind power. Instead, countries would only have to increase "gradually" the minimum level of energy from renewable sources.
In addition, the UK is pressing for countries to be allowed to choose the speed at which they introduce renewable energy and is eager to allow large projects started before 2020 to be included.
These proposals would allow governments pass on the necessity to switch to renewables to future administrations and could allow them to start major projects as late as 2019 and claim credit for them even if they were not finished for a decade or more.
It further wants to change the rules that would give renewable electricity projects priority access to national grids.
Last week other leaked papers showed that Britain wanted Brussels to offset more domestic carbon savings through investment in clean projects in the developing world.
The move would let firms and countries import more carbon credits to count against their pollution targets. It would allow Europe to make less effort to cut its pollution, while keeping it on course to meet its target of reducing carbon emissions by 20% by 2020.
Leaked documents from the council of the European Union show that the UK is exerting strong pressure on other EU governments. The argument being used is that biofuels made from plants or algae will not be ready for use as commercial aviation fuel until after 2020.
EU leaders pledged last year to generate 20% of all energy from renewable sources but if aviation, which contributes up to 9% of all greenhouse emissions in Europe, is omitted from the EU calculations at a meeting of energy ministers next week, it will significantly reduce the overall target and make it harder to tackle climate change.
Last night, in an unusual move, an adviser to the EU Industry Committee openly stated that British civil servants were leading the attempt by several countries including Cyprus, Italy and Malta to undermine the EU's renewable energy commitments.
Luxembourg MEP Claude Turmes, who denied that the leaked documents came from his office, said: "Britain is leading the attempt to undermine the climate change directive. Gordon Brown promised that the UK would not attempt to cut the EU 20% renewables target.
"Now UK civil servants from the Department of Business, enterprise and regulatory reform have a different strategy and are pushing for cuts. A government that is supposedly committed to tackle climate change must not try to kill the essence of this directive."
The document, seen by the Guardian, states that "member states want the aviation sector to be excluded from the denominator used to calculate the overall target. They consider that in the present state of technology we cannot expect it to be possible for biofuels that can replace kerosene to be certified for commercial aviation by 2020".
This was disputed by Virgin Atlantic. "We expect to run 5% of our fleet on biofuels, and 10% by 2020," said a spokesman. On Thursday, other aviation companies joined Virgin in committing to a similar shift to biofuels by 2020.
Britain has the largest aviation industry in Europe. If it succeeds in having it exempted, it stands to reduce by nearly 12% the amount of renewable energy it will need to generate by 2020.
Earlier this year the government set out what is considered to be an ambitious but achievable £100 billion commitment to renewables by 2020. An energy white paper, now passing through parliament, seeks to make Britain the first country in the world committed to 60% cuts in emissions.
Environment groups said that if Britain removed aviation from Europe's commitments it would open the door for other countries to plead special cases for their most polluting industries and render the directive nearly meaningless.
Robin Webster, Friends of the Earth's energy campaigner accused business minister John Hutton of trying to wreck the EU renewables deal: "His special pleading for the aviation industry could unravel this priceless agreement. It's time Brown stepped in and saved Britain's reputation in Brussels."
He added: "The government is working behind the scenes to sabotage Europe's renewable energy plans. This short sighted approach will leave families facing spiralling fuel prices and saddle the country with a multi-billion pound bill for dealing with the consequences of climate change."
This is the third time that Dberr officials have been exposed by the Guardian trying to undermine EU renewables energy targets. Last year Gordon Brown reacted angrily to other leaked documents showing that Britain was trying to persuade EU countries to set lower renewable targets.
The latest papers seen by the Guardian also show Britain trying to water down a series of renewable energy proposals in other areas. DBerr officials want to change a pledge that all new and refurbished buildings should be fitted with renewable energy sources like solar or wind power. Instead, countries would only have to increase "gradually" the minimum level of energy from renewable sources.
In addition, the UK is pressing for countries to be allowed to choose the speed at which they introduce renewable energy and is eager to allow large projects started before 2020 to be included.
These proposals would allow governments pass on the necessity to switch to renewables to future administrations and could allow them to start major projects as late as 2019 and claim credit for them even if they were not finished for a decade or more.
It further wants to change the rules that would give renewable electricity projects priority access to national grids.
Last week other leaked papers showed that Britain wanted Brussels to offset more domestic carbon savings through investment in clean projects in the developing world.
The move would let firms and countries import more carbon credits to count against their pollution targets. It would allow Europe to make less effort to cut its pollution, while keeping it on course to meet its target of reducing carbon emissions by 20% by 2020.
Howard Stern loses listeners -- and influence -- on satellite radio
Howard Stern, the self-proclaimed King of All Media, has lost his crown.
The shock jock's syndicated morning radio show once drew a national audience of 12 million, but since jumping to satellite radio three years ago, his listeners have dwindled to a fraction of that. Where once Stern routinely commanded a parade of Hollywood's hottest stars -- George Clooney, Johnny Depp, Julia Roberts -- today publicists are left to tout studio appearances by the likes of Chevy Chase, Joan Rivers or Hulk Hogan.
Stern, weary of fighting the Federal Communications Commission over hefty fines and charges of indecency on his terrestrial show, wanted creative independence on the unregulated airwaves of satellite. He got it -- and a lucrative five-year contract worth hundreds of million of dollars.
But for a 54-year-old man who once likened his youthful craving for media attention to a heroin addiction, the move may have come with unintended consequences. Along with the loss of a massive daily radio audience, Stern has also watched as his past triumphs of a hit movie, bestselling books and huge pay-per-view television specials recede into memory.
So far, the radio personality's leap from traditional media to a niche platform has come at a heavy price -- namely, cultural relevancy. Unlike an Arianna Huffington, who vastly increased her reach on her upstart website, Stern's place in the national conversation has been reduced to a murmur in the din of the exploding entertainment universe.
"It's like Howard went from playing Madison Avenue to playing an upscale off-Broadway concert hall for a lot of money," said Tom Taylor, executive news editor at Radio-Info.com, which tracks the radio industry. "He made a Faustian bargain. He got everything he wanted in terms of money and not being bothered by the FCC, but he lost the bulk of his audience."
Even recent occurrences that only a few years ago might have driven a torrent of frenzied attention gave Stern only a momentary blip. Thanks to the Sirius-XM merger, Stern's potential satellite audience significantly broadened last week when his morning show became available to XM subscribers for the first time. And earlier this month, Stern got married for the second time, to model Beth Ostrosky.
Stern, who rarely gives interviews, and his representatives declined to comment for this article. But Sirius officials note that with their company's merger, the radio host will now be able to reach a "potential" audience of 19 million subscribers, though they would not provide exact audience numbers. (XM subscribers must pay about $4 extra per month to hear Stern.)
Radio analysts, however, estimated the actual size of Stern's daily satellite audience to be between 1 million and 2 million. (Sirius executives call those figures low because established rating services do not measure satellite radio use in each market.)
Stern's program today is much like it was. It has retained its ribald spirit and irreverent nature, and despite the enhanced autonomy, the language is only a bit more coarse and the sexual discussions slightly more explicit.
As before, the radio host and his carnival of misfit contributors riff for hours on the day's topics, which can vary from Stern's sexual appetites to sidekick Artie Lange's boorish and often out-of-control behavior. Stern's longtime radio companion Robin Quivers still delivers daily news reports, mostly about celebrities, while offbeat segments such as quizzing porn stars on current events or tickling strippers might also be featured.
"The show has a lot of sameness, though he definitely has a lot more freedom now," Taylor said. "There's a sense talking to the people who know him that he is aware that he's isolated. But he knew this would happen."
With a reduced audience, Stern's show is no longer a prime stop on the major film promotion circuit. And the A-list guests who used to submit to Stern's biting personal questions in order to hype their projects have become scarce.
Lately, his guests have been mostly fading stars, cable TV personalities and loyal friends. His summer guest list included Brad Garrett of the struggling Fox comedy " 'Til Death," Joan Rivers, Hulk Hogan, Piers Morgan ("America's Got Talent") and Ernest Borgnine. And only two stars of summer movies -- Seth Rogen of "Pineapple Express" and Verne Troyer of "The Love Guru" -- dropped by his New York City studios.
It's a far cry from previous years, when from the bully pulpit of his radio show, Stern anointed himself as "The King of All Media." Though the boast was vintage Stern and an obvious exaggeration, it was still something few could contradict. He made headlines, not to mention millions of dollars, off his bestselling books, "Miss America" and "Private Parts." "Private Parts" was adapted for the big screen, where it was a box office and critical success.
In leaving terrestrial radio, Stern also left behind an invaluable and reliable tool for self-promotion: the FCC. Over the years, the government agency hit Stern with millions of dollars in fines, generating loads of free publicity.
Without the bureaucratic foil, few of Stern's escapades generate much heat outside his specific universe.
"He's not in the news anymore, and controversies that made the news definitely helped his visibility," said Michael Harrison, editor of the talk radio trade publication Talkers. "Sometimes people equate news buzz with success."
Stern's departure didn't just cut into his cultural currency, it also hurt CBS Corp.'s bottom line.
Radio revenue for the company, which used to syndicate Stern's program to 45 major and medium markets, dropped by 10% or more in the years since Stern left. Some of the decline is due to economic conditions and increased competition, but radio analysts attribute much of the loss to Stern's absence.
Despite his diminished influence, several industry analysts warned against selling the shock jock short.
"Howard was very brave to go into a relatively new media that's still evolving," said media analyst Jeff Pollack. "It's the wave of the future, where people will find their favorite talent in a subscriber-based context."
Tom Leykis, a popular syndicated talk-radio host based in Los Angeles, maintained that Stern's historical influence outweighs his heavy drop on the buzz meter.
"I don't think you can count out Howard Stern," said Leykis, who is heard locally on KLSX-FM (97.1). "He took radio, which was akin to the used-car business, and made it a vital part of the entertainment business. Even if he does have a smaller audience in terms of his cumulative audience, that won't last forever. Terrestrial radio is hemorrhaging audience as it tries to find its place in the Digital Age, while satellite is up tremendously. Stern has defied the experts every time."
Since Stern's departure from terrestrial radio, rumors have periodically circulated that the shock jock will return to his terrestrial radio roots. Stern has dismissed the talk, but his current contract expires in 2010. What then? What if he returned to FM?
"Stations would be lining up to get him," said Harrison. "He grabbed the brass ring and is now on sabbatical from a lot of stuff that had nothing to do with his life. But if he ever wanted to return, there'd be nothing but open arms."
By Greg Braxton, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 13, 2008
The shock jock's syndicated morning radio show once drew a national audience of 12 million, but since jumping to satellite radio three years ago, his listeners have dwindled to a fraction of that. Where once Stern routinely commanded a parade of Hollywood's hottest stars -- George Clooney, Johnny Depp, Julia Roberts -- today publicists are left to tout studio appearances by the likes of Chevy Chase, Joan Rivers or Hulk Hogan.
Stern, weary of fighting the Federal Communications Commission over hefty fines and charges of indecency on his terrestrial show, wanted creative independence on the unregulated airwaves of satellite. He got it -- and a lucrative five-year contract worth hundreds of million of dollars.
But for a 54-year-old man who once likened his youthful craving for media attention to a heroin addiction, the move may have come with unintended consequences. Along with the loss of a massive daily radio audience, Stern has also watched as his past triumphs of a hit movie, bestselling books and huge pay-per-view television specials recede into memory.
So far, the radio personality's leap from traditional media to a niche platform has come at a heavy price -- namely, cultural relevancy. Unlike an Arianna Huffington, who vastly increased her reach on her upstart website, Stern's place in the national conversation has been reduced to a murmur in the din of the exploding entertainment universe.
"It's like Howard went from playing Madison Avenue to playing an upscale off-Broadway concert hall for a lot of money," said Tom Taylor, executive news editor at Radio-Info.com, which tracks the radio industry. "He made a Faustian bargain. He got everything he wanted in terms of money and not being bothered by the FCC, but he lost the bulk of his audience."
Even recent occurrences that only a few years ago might have driven a torrent of frenzied attention gave Stern only a momentary blip. Thanks to the Sirius-XM merger, Stern's potential satellite audience significantly broadened last week when his morning show became available to XM subscribers for the first time. And earlier this month, Stern got married for the second time, to model Beth Ostrosky.
Stern, who rarely gives interviews, and his representatives declined to comment for this article. But Sirius officials note that with their company's merger, the radio host will now be able to reach a "potential" audience of 19 million subscribers, though they would not provide exact audience numbers. (XM subscribers must pay about $4 extra per month to hear Stern.)
Radio analysts, however, estimated the actual size of Stern's daily satellite audience to be between 1 million and 2 million. (Sirius executives call those figures low because established rating services do not measure satellite radio use in each market.)
Stern's program today is much like it was. It has retained its ribald spirit and irreverent nature, and despite the enhanced autonomy, the language is only a bit more coarse and the sexual discussions slightly more explicit.
As before, the radio host and his carnival of misfit contributors riff for hours on the day's topics, which can vary from Stern's sexual appetites to sidekick Artie Lange's boorish and often out-of-control behavior. Stern's longtime radio companion Robin Quivers still delivers daily news reports, mostly about celebrities, while offbeat segments such as quizzing porn stars on current events or tickling strippers might also be featured.
"The show has a lot of sameness, though he definitely has a lot more freedom now," Taylor said. "There's a sense talking to the people who know him that he is aware that he's isolated. But he knew this would happen."
With a reduced audience, Stern's show is no longer a prime stop on the major film promotion circuit. And the A-list guests who used to submit to Stern's biting personal questions in order to hype their projects have become scarce.
Lately, his guests have been mostly fading stars, cable TV personalities and loyal friends. His summer guest list included Brad Garrett of the struggling Fox comedy " 'Til Death," Joan Rivers, Hulk Hogan, Piers Morgan ("America's Got Talent") and Ernest Borgnine. And only two stars of summer movies -- Seth Rogen of "Pineapple Express" and Verne Troyer of "The Love Guru" -- dropped by his New York City studios.
It's a far cry from previous years, when from the bully pulpit of his radio show, Stern anointed himself as "The King of All Media." Though the boast was vintage Stern and an obvious exaggeration, it was still something few could contradict. He made headlines, not to mention millions of dollars, off his bestselling books, "Miss America" and "Private Parts." "Private Parts" was adapted for the big screen, where it was a box office and critical success.
In leaving terrestrial radio, Stern also left behind an invaluable and reliable tool for self-promotion: the FCC. Over the years, the government agency hit Stern with millions of dollars in fines, generating loads of free publicity.
Without the bureaucratic foil, few of Stern's escapades generate much heat outside his specific universe.
"He's not in the news anymore, and controversies that made the news definitely helped his visibility," said Michael Harrison, editor of the talk radio trade publication Talkers. "Sometimes people equate news buzz with success."
Stern's departure didn't just cut into his cultural currency, it also hurt CBS Corp.'s bottom line.
Radio revenue for the company, which used to syndicate Stern's program to 45 major and medium markets, dropped by 10% or more in the years since Stern left. Some of the decline is due to economic conditions and increased competition, but radio analysts attribute much of the loss to Stern's absence.
Despite his diminished influence, several industry analysts warned against selling the shock jock short.
"Howard was very brave to go into a relatively new media that's still evolving," said media analyst Jeff Pollack. "It's the wave of the future, where people will find their favorite talent in a subscriber-based context."
Tom Leykis, a popular syndicated talk-radio host based in Los Angeles, maintained that Stern's historical influence outweighs his heavy drop on the buzz meter.
"I don't think you can count out Howard Stern," said Leykis, who is heard locally on KLSX-FM (97.1). "He took radio, which was akin to the used-car business, and made it a vital part of the entertainment business. Even if he does have a smaller audience in terms of his cumulative audience, that won't last forever. Terrestrial radio is hemorrhaging audience as it tries to find its place in the Digital Age, while satellite is up tremendously. Stern has defied the experts every time."
Since Stern's departure from terrestrial radio, rumors have periodically circulated that the shock jock will return to his terrestrial radio roots. Stern has dismissed the talk, but his current contract expires in 2010. What then? What if he returned to FM?
"Stations would be lining up to get him," said Harrison. "He grabbed the brass ring and is now on sabbatical from a lot of stuff that had nothing to do with his life. But if he ever wanted to return, there'd be nothing but open arms."
By Greg Braxton, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 13, 2008
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Prosecutors Expected To Spare Wall St. Firms
Justice Department officials yesterday vowed to unravel the complex financial deals that helped prompt a market crisis in an effort that will generally seek criminal charges against individual brokers and bankers, rather than companies themselves, according to interviews with lawyers involved in the cases.
This Story
*
Job Cuts Continue For Ninth Month
*
Bush Enacts Historic Financial Rescue
*
Bush: 'People Are Watching' House Vote
*
Prosecutors Expected To Spare Wall St. Firms
*
Bid for Wachovia: After Change In Tax Law, Wells Fargo Swoops In
*
Data on Job Losses, U.S. Factory Orders Paint Bleak Picture
*
Pinched and Watching Pennies
*
Support Rallied as House Readies for Its Second Bailout Vote
*
In Light of Crisis, Common Trading Practice Looks Risky
*
Rescue Package May Not Fully Thaw Credit Markets
*
Bailout Bill
*
How the House Vote Shifted
*
What Wells Fargo-Wachovia Would Look Like
View All Items in This Story
View Only Top Items in This Story
Mindful of the fallout from the last wave of business fraud cases six years ago, authorities are leaning against seeking indictments of major banks and insurers that may have inflated the value of their mortgage-related investments. Instead, prosecutors will look for such garden-variety crimes as false statements and insider trading by executives who tried to disguise financial problems or pad their wallets.
Exhibit A is Bear Stearns, the investment bank that collapsed in March and was bought by J.P. Morgan Chase during a cash squeeze that ultimately gripped Wall Street. Two former fund managers there are fighting criminal charges for allegedly misleading investors about the financial health of their unit. The company will avoid indictment, according to two sources familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process is not final. Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York, declined to comment yesterday.
That pattern is likely to persist even as fallout from the liquidity crisis intensifies. Last week, the FBI announced 26 investigations underway at companies including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, American International Group, Countrywide Financial and IndyMac.
ad_icon
At an American Bar Association conference yesterday, Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip vowed that prosecutors would press ahead to decode the obscure financial products at the heart of the market's troubles. He said there would be "no unwillingness to take the facts and the law where they lead."
Yet the tenor is markedly different from the last wave of financial scandals, which began with the indictment of accounting firm Arthur Andersen six years ago. The firm swiftly collapsed, costing tens of thousands of jobs. More recently, corporate executives and civil liberties advocates pressed for legislation that would bar strong-arm prosecution tactics. In August, Filip issued guidance that reminds prosecutors to consider the rights of corporate employees.
Among other factors, the guidelines require government lawyers to take into account the health of a business when they make decisions about whether to file criminal charges. Given the current landscape, with Lehman in bankruptcy proceedings, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under federal control, and AIG surviving only after an $85 billion infusion from the Treasury, lawyers with experience in such cases predict few major criminal prosecutions of businesses.
"It would be a very rare company that would ever be prosecuted," said Joshua Hochberg, former chief of the Justice Department's fraud section. "These are all negotiated settlements. . . . A criminal conviction brings mandatory debarment and effectively puts a corporation out of business."
Prosecutors for months have been sifting through documents in an effort to separate bad business decisions from possible criminal conduct.
The initiative has been complicated in part by gaps in regulation of mortgage-backed securities. Credit-default swaps, a kind of insurance against defaults on housing-related investments, are not considered a security under the laws that govern the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Columbia University law professor John Coffee Jr. That means companies that sell the swaps do not have an affirmative duty to advise investors about their risks. Rather, brokers would be subject to law enforcement action only if they made a misleading statement about their risks or value, perhaps in a bid to win greater fees.
"It's always fraudulent when you have a material misrepresentation, deliberately made, with the intent to deceive and for personal gain," said Gil M. Soffer, who oversees corporate fraud prosecutions at the Justice Department.
Such allegations go to the heart of a criminal case filed last month against two former Credit Suisse employees and may underpin an investigation of individuals who had worked at Lehman and who were involved in the same market, known as auction-rate securities. The Lehman probe was reported yesterday by the Wall Street Journal.
Government officials with experience investigating corporate fraud say some of the patterns they are detecting -- lying to investors, shifting debt off corporate balance sheets -- are familiar.
"The more things change, the more things stay the same," said Benton Campbell, U.S. for the Eastern District of New York and a former member of the government's Enron Task Force.
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
This Story
*
Job Cuts Continue For Ninth Month
*
Bush Enacts Historic Financial Rescue
*
Bush: 'People Are Watching' House Vote
*
Prosecutors Expected To Spare Wall St. Firms
*
Bid for Wachovia: After Change In Tax Law, Wells Fargo Swoops In
*
Data on Job Losses, U.S. Factory Orders Paint Bleak Picture
*
Pinched and Watching Pennies
*
Support Rallied as House Readies for Its Second Bailout Vote
*
In Light of Crisis, Common Trading Practice Looks Risky
*
Rescue Package May Not Fully Thaw Credit Markets
*
Bailout Bill
*
How the House Vote Shifted
*
What Wells Fargo-Wachovia Would Look Like
View All Items in This Story
View Only Top Items in This Story
Mindful of the fallout from the last wave of business fraud cases six years ago, authorities are leaning against seeking indictments of major banks and insurers that may have inflated the value of their mortgage-related investments. Instead, prosecutors will look for such garden-variety crimes as false statements and insider trading by executives who tried to disguise financial problems or pad their wallets.
Exhibit A is Bear Stearns, the investment bank that collapsed in March and was bought by J.P. Morgan Chase during a cash squeeze that ultimately gripped Wall Street. Two former fund managers there are fighting criminal charges for allegedly misleading investors about the financial health of their unit. The company will avoid indictment, according to two sources familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process is not final. Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York, declined to comment yesterday.
That pattern is likely to persist even as fallout from the liquidity crisis intensifies. Last week, the FBI announced 26 investigations underway at companies including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, American International Group, Countrywide Financial and IndyMac.
ad_icon
At an American Bar Association conference yesterday, Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip vowed that prosecutors would press ahead to decode the obscure financial products at the heart of the market's troubles. He said there would be "no unwillingness to take the facts and the law where they lead."
Yet the tenor is markedly different from the last wave of financial scandals, which began with the indictment of accounting firm Arthur Andersen six years ago. The firm swiftly collapsed, costing tens of thousands of jobs. More recently, corporate executives and civil liberties advocates pressed for legislation that would bar strong-arm prosecution tactics. In August, Filip issued guidance that reminds prosecutors to consider the rights of corporate employees.
Among other factors, the guidelines require government lawyers to take into account the health of a business when they make decisions about whether to file criminal charges. Given the current landscape, with Lehman in bankruptcy proceedings, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under federal control, and AIG surviving only after an $85 billion infusion from the Treasury, lawyers with experience in such cases predict few major criminal prosecutions of businesses.
"It would be a very rare company that would ever be prosecuted," said Joshua Hochberg, former chief of the Justice Department's fraud section. "These are all negotiated settlements. . . . A criminal conviction brings mandatory debarment and effectively puts a corporation out of business."
Prosecutors for months have been sifting through documents in an effort to separate bad business decisions from possible criminal conduct.
The initiative has been complicated in part by gaps in regulation of mortgage-backed securities. Credit-default swaps, a kind of insurance against defaults on housing-related investments, are not considered a security under the laws that govern the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to Columbia University law professor John Coffee Jr. That means companies that sell the swaps do not have an affirmative duty to advise investors about their risks. Rather, brokers would be subject to law enforcement action only if they made a misleading statement about their risks or value, perhaps in a bid to win greater fees.
"It's always fraudulent when you have a material misrepresentation, deliberately made, with the intent to deceive and for personal gain," said Gil M. Soffer, who oversees corporate fraud prosecutions at the Justice Department.
Such allegations go to the heart of a criminal case filed last month against two former Credit Suisse employees and may underpin an investigation of individuals who had worked at Lehman and who were involved in the same market, known as auction-rate securities. The Lehman probe was reported yesterday by the Wall Street Journal.
Government officials with experience investigating corporate fraud say some of the patterns they are detecting -- lying to investors, shifting debt off corporate balance sheets -- are familiar.
"The more things change, the more things stay the same," said Benton Campbell, U.S. for the Eastern District of New York and a former member of the government's Enron Task Force.
By Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Why are games so expensive? Shops are cutting the price of everything – except videogames. Are we being ripped off?
Wandering into a videogame shop can be a pretty depressing experience – and not just because it takes four hours to get to the checkout. £34.99 for Mass Effect? £49.99 for a console game?
And those price tags tend to stay the same, at least until savage reviews tell everybody the game's a duffer and the shops cut its price in panic. Still, there's always the pre-owned section, where you can get the same game with added scratches, bashes and jammy fingerprints. The savings? A few quid if you're lucky. Somebody's having a laugh, but who? And why?
Games are costly, and the obvious reason is that they're expensive to make. The days when industry-defining hits were the creations of bored teenagers hammering away on home computers are long gone. Today, a games studio is more like a film studio, with huge teams spending years on a single project. Budgets in the tens of millions aren't unusual, and that means games have to sell an awful lot of copies just to break even. The overwhelming majority simply don't.
Even many of the bigger names still coast from project to project, struggling to keep afloat. Most recently, Flagship – the creator of Hellgate: London, largely made up of Blizzard alumni – closed its doors after just one game. Ritual, a group of successful FPS developers who'd worked on licences such as Quake, Heavy Metal and Star Trek, collapsed after the launch of the first episode of its new SiN series, and met the most humiliating fate of all – being bought by a casual games company
Everyone wants a cut
There's more to it than that, though, because every other type of entertainment technology – from music formats to DVD – has become cheaper over the last couple of decades, despite ever-growing budgets. Games haven't, and one of the main reasons for this is the sheer number of people with their fingers in the money pie.
Take stores. When you buy a game from a shop, the retailer keeps around 20 per cent of the money. That isn't pure profit, though: retailers have to pay for staff, marketing, premises and all the other costs of running a business, including tax. That's why offshore, Internet-only retailers can sell games much more cheaply without immediately going out of business.
Digital distribution is even better. Bandwidth isn't a huge deal when you're buying that much of it, saving a fortune in packing, postage and other materials. Valve's Steam is the most famous of these services.
Sometimes the retailer takes even more money. If the game gets a snazzy display, the retailer will often expect a contribution towards the cost. In some cases, retailers might ask for an extra bit of cash just to stock a game, safe in the knowledge that if they don't stock it, it won't sell. As for those Top Ten racks and similar promotions, they're not always based on sales…
The munch bunch
Once the retailer has taken its cut, there are plenty of other people waiting in line. The distributor gets a share, which equates to 1-2 per cent of the retail price. The publisher takes a similar cut, and a further 5 per cent goes to pay for the manufacturing and packaging. Attention-grabbing box designs and limited editions such as a copy of Halo in a metallic space helmet will obviously cost more.
What's left of the money at this stage finally goes back to the game developer, at which point it's divided further. If the developer has used someone else's game engine – which many do because it works out much cheaper than building their own – then they'll have to pay a royalty to the owner, and if the game uses characters or content that belongs to someone else (such as comic book superheroes, characters from films or music from big-name artists) then that's another royalty payment. Engine and character licences can each account for around 5 per cent of the total price.
Some of the remaining money then goes to cover the cost of building the game, losses from less successful titles (or games that were started and then canned) and all the other costs of being in business. That doesn't leave much for kick-starting the next project, leaving most scrabbling around in search of another contract just to keep the studio alive.
Console mania
If you're creating for consoles, there's even more money involved – which is partly why console games are more expensive than PC ones. Partly? Cynics suggest that because consoles don't really suffer from piracy, they can charge prices that PC owners simply wouldn't stomach.
There may be some truth in that, but console game design really is expensive. You need development kits, which are especially pricey in the early days of new console hardware, and you need to pay the console manufacturer – whether it's Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo – a per-copy royalty, which is around $10 (£6) on each unit manufactured, irrespective of whether they're sold or end up in landfill.
This makes console games a risky bet, especially when a new machine is just getting off the ground. High-profile games that don't sell hundreds of thousands of copies may never make any money, and could be condemned to fester in the budget bin for the rest of eternity.
What about casual games? Small games such as Xbox Live Arcade releases don't have the giant budgets of their bigger brothers, but they can still cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and take forever to break even. Once again, the price you pay doesn't go straight to the creator; the publisher (in this case Microsoft) takes a cut of each sale.
Here, the amount depends on how much involvement Microsoft has, but the figures are reportedly between 35 per cent and 70 per cent, so if the game sells for 800 Microsoft Points – just short of £7 in real money – then the creator gets between £2 and £5 per sale. You need to sell a lot of copies to make any money.
Ah, you're thinking. What about pre-owned games? Everybody got paid first time round, so shops can sell them for pennies and still make money. That's true, but the sheer speed at which people buy, complete and then trade in games means that used titles can be on the shelves within a few days of release – and nobody in their right mind is going to pay full whack for a game if there's a used version going for half the price. For shops, selling used games cheaply would be commercial suicide – especially since people are willing to consider a few quid off a bargain.
Smart shopping
You don't have to pay full whack, though. Waiting until a game is no longer a hot release is always smart – you won't get discounts when demand outstrips supply – and PC versions are always cheaper than console ones. Online is cheaper than the high street, digital is cheaper than boxed, and even the most sought-after games eventually end up in the bargain bins or on eBay.
It's important to keep things in perspective, though. When you buy a CD you're spending a tenner for about an hour of music, while on DVD you're paying £15 for around three hours of amusement. With a game, you're getting hours of single player and potentially months of online multiplayer. Games are certainly expensive, but the good ones still offer exceptional value for money.
Now read 10 Xbox 360 tricks Microsoft doesn't tell you and seven more Xbox 360 secrets Microsoft doesn't tell you.
Prefer PlayStation 3 tricks? Then read 10 PS3 tricks Sony doesn't tell you and 8 more PS3 tricks Sony doesn't tell you.
By Richard Cobbett
And those price tags tend to stay the same, at least until savage reviews tell everybody the game's a duffer and the shops cut its price in panic. Still, there's always the pre-owned section, where you can get the same game with added scratches, bashes and jammy fingerprints. The savings? A few quid if you're lucky. Somebody's having a laugh, but who? And why?
Games are costly, and the obvious reason is that they're expensive to make. The days when industry-defining hits were the creations of bored teenagers hammering away on home computers are long gone. Today, a games studio is more like a film studio, with huge teams spending years on a single project. Budgets in the tens of millions aren't unusual, and that means games have to sell an awful lot of copies just to break even. The overwhelming majority simply don't.
Even many of the bigger names still coast from project to project, struggling to keep afloat. Most recently, Flagship – the creator of Hellgate: London, largely made up of Blizzard alumni – closed its doors after just one game. Ritual, a group of successful FPS developers who'd worked on licences such as Quake, Heavy Metal and Star Trek, collapsed after the launch of the first episode of its new SiN series, and met the most humiliating fate of all – being bought by a casual games company
Everyone wants a cut
There's more to it than that, though, because every other type of entertainment technology – from music formats to DVD – has become cheaper over the last couple of decades, despite ever-growing budgets. Games haven't, and one of the main reasons for this is the sheer number of people with their fingers in the money pie.
Take stores. When you buy a game from a shop, the retailer keeps around 20 per cent of the money. That isn't pure profit, though: retailers have to pay for staff, marketing, premises and all the other costs of running a business, including tax. That's why offshore, Internet-only retailers can sell games much more cheaply without immediately going out of business.
Digital distribution is even better. Bandwidth isn't a huge deal when you're buying that much of it, saving a fortune in packing, postage and other materials. Valve's Steam is the most famous of these services.
Sometimes the retailer takes even more money. If the game gets a snazzy display, the retailer will often expect a contribution towards the cost. In some cases, retailers might ask for an extra bit of cash just to stock a game, safe in the knowledge that if they don't stock it, it won't sell. As for those Top Ten racks and similar promotions, they're not always based on sales…
The munch bunch
Once the retailer has taken its cut, there are plenty of other people waiting in line. The distributor gets a share, which equates to 1-2 per cent of the retail price. The publisher takes a similar cut, and a further 5 per cent goes to pay for the manufacturing and packaging. Attention-grabbing box designs and limited editions such as a copy of Halo in a metallic space helmet will obviously cost more.
What's left of the money at this stage finally goes back to the game developer, at which point it's divided further. If the developer has used someone else's game engine – which many do because it works out much cheaper than building their own – then they'll have to pay a royalty to the owner, and if the game uses characters or content that belongs to someone else (such as comic book superheroes, characters from films or music from big-name artists) then that's another royalty payment. Engine and character licences can each account for around 5 per cent of the total price.
Some of the remaining money then goes to cover the cost of building the game, losses from less successful titles (or games that were started and then canned) and all the other costs of being in business. That doesn't leave much for kick-starting the next project, leaving most scrabbling around in search of another contract just to keep the studio alive.
Console mania
If you're creating for consoles, there's even more money involved – which is partly why console games are more expensive than PC ones. Partly? Cynics suggest that because consoles don't really suffer from piracy, they can charge prices that PC owners simply wouldn't stomach.
There may be some truth in that, but console game design really is expensive. You need development kits, which are especially pricey in the early days of new console hardware, and you need to pay the console manufacturer – whether it's Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo – a per-copy royalty, which is around $10 (£6) on each unit manufactured, irrespective of whether they're sold or end up in landfill.
This makes console games a risky bet, especially when a new machine is just getting off the ground. High-profile games that don't sell hundreds of thousands of copies may never make any money, and could be condemned to fester in the budget bin for the rest of eternity.
What about casual games? Small games such as Xbox Live Arcade releases don't have the giant budgets of their bigger brothers, but they can still cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and take forever to break even. Once again, the price you pay doesn't go straight to the creator; the publisher (in this case Microsoft) takes a cut of each sale.
Here, the amount depends on how much involvement Microsoft has, but the figures are reportedly between 35 per cent and 70 per cent, so if the game sells for 800 Microsoft Points – just short of £7 in real money – then the creator gets between £2 and £5 per sale. You need to sell a lot of copies to make any money.
Ah, you're thinking. What about pre-owned games? Everybody got paid first time round, so shops can sell them for pennies and still make money. That's true, but the sheer speed at which people buy, complete and then trade in games means that used titles can be on the shelves within a few days of release – and nobody in their right mind is going to pay full whack for a game if there's a used version going for half the price. For shops, selling used games cheaply would be commercial suicide – especially since people are willing to consider a few quid off a bargain.
Smart shopping
You don't have to pay full whack, though. Waiting until a game is no longer a hot release is always smart – you won't get discounts when demand outstrips supply – and PC versions are always cheaper than console ones. Online is cheaper than the high street, digital is cheaper than boxed, and even the most sought-after games eventually end up in the bargain bins or on eBay.
It's important to keep things in perspective, though. When you buy a CD you're spending a tenner for about an hour of music, while on DVD you're paying £15 for around three hours of amusement. With a game, you're getting hours of single player and potentially months of online multiplayer. Games are certainly expensive, but the good ones still offer exceptional value for money.
Now read 10 Xbox 360 tricks Microsoft doesn't tell you and seven more Xbox 360 secrets Microsoft doesn't tell you.
Prefer PlayStation 3 tricks? Then read 10 PS3 tricks Sony doesn't tell you and 8 more PS3 tricks Sony doesn't tell you.
By Richard Cobbett
100 Skills Every Man Should Know: 2008's Ultimate DIY List
Automotive
1. Handle a blowout
2. Drive in snow
3. Check trouble codes
4. Replace fan belt
5. Wax a car
6. Conquer an off-road obstacle
7. Use a stick welder
8. Hitch up a trailer
9. Jump start a car
Handling Emergencies
10. Perform the Heimlich
11. Reverse hypothermia
12. Perform hands-only CPR
13. Escape a sinking car
Home
14. Carve a turkey
15. Use a sewing machine
16. Put out a fire
17. Home brew beer
18. Remove bloodstains from fabric
19. Move heavy stuff
20. Grow food
21. Read an electric meter
22. Shovel the right way
23. Solder wire
24. Tape drywall
25. Split firewood
26. Replace a faucet washer
27. Mix concrete
28. Paint a straight line
29. Use a French knife
30. Prune bushes and small trees
31. Iron a shirt
32. Fix a toilet tank flapper
33. Change a single-pole switch
34. Fell a tree
35. Replace a broken windowpane
36. Set up a ladder, safely
37. Fix a faucet cartridge
38. Sweat copper tubing
39. Change a diaper
40. Grill with charcoal
41. Sew a button on a shirt
42. Fold a flag
Medical Myths
43. Treat frostbite
44. Treat a burn
45. Help a seizure victim
46. Treat a snakebite
47. Remove a tick
Military Know-How
48. Shine shoes
49. Make a drum-tight bed
50. Drop and give the perfect pushup
Outdoors
51. Run rapids in a canoe
52. Hang food in the wild
53. Skipper a boat
54. Shoot straight
55. Tackle steep drops on a mountain bike
56. Escape a rip current
Primitive Skills
57. Build a fire in the wilderness
58. Build a shelter
59. Find potable water
Surviving Extremes
60. Floods
61. Tornados
62. Cold
63. Heat
64. Lightning
Teach Your Kids
65. Cast a line
66. Lend a hand
67. Change a tire
68. Throw a spiral
69. Fly a stunt kite
70. Drive a stick shift
71. Parallel park
72. Tie a bowline
73. Tie a necktie
74. Whittle
75. Ride a bike
Technology
76. Install a graphics card
77. Take the perfect portrait
78. Calibrate HDTV settings
79. Shoot a home movie
80. Ditch your hard drive
Master Key Workshop Tools
81. Drill driver
82. Grease gun
83. Coolant hydrometer
84. Socket wrench
85. Test light
86. Brick trowel
87. Framing hammer
88. Wood chisel
89. Spade bit
90. Circular saw
91. Sledge hammer
92. Hacksaw
93. Torque wrench
94. Air wrench
95. Infrared thermometer
96. Sand blaster
97. Crosscut saw
98. Hand plane
99. Multimeter
100. Feeler gauges
Top 10 Easy Ways to Look Sharp
In a perfect world, it wouldn't matter what a genius JavaScript programmer or top-flight professional looked like. In this world, though, coming across as an unkempt schlub won't do anything good for your career, your social life, or your luck with that cute guy or gal from marketing. Luckily, it doesn't take a lifetime of primping practice to get good at looking decent. A few clever grooming hacks can give you a new and improved look, or help you prep when you've got almost no time before a meeting. Read on for our list of 10 low-fuss ways to upgrade your appearance. Photo by Jaako.
10. Get rid of pet hair and sweater fuzz.
It should be your choice to talk about your adorable pet Mittens, rather than have it be obvious you two are close. If you lack a lint roller (or an over-priced refill for one), you can use the palm of your hand, or a document mailing package laying around the office. For non-mammalian trappings on your most stylish sweater, try using a disposable razor.
9. Track the time between haircuts with automatic reminders.
Nobody's going to up and tell you that your hair's in need of a trim, and it's hard to make it a priority when you've got a packed schedule. If you're Googler Matt Cutts, you still manage to keep up appearances by using a Google Calendar hack to track your between-cut time. Geeky? Yes. Easier to listen to than your boyfriend/girlfriend's gentle nagging? For sure.
8. Fix your clothing choices with hangers.
We all make mistakes when it comes to clothing choices—busted gray T-shirt with khakis, huh?—but you can fight your own worst instincts with nothing but a few hangers. You can, for example, use them to weed out clothes you really don't need any more. If you have to dress for co-workers' scrutiny every weekday, you can arrange a left-to-right closet to avoid over-wearing outfits. Best of all, using these tricks frees up space for important stuff—like DIY projects.
7. Give your shoes a drill-instructor-approved polish.
Nice leather shoes stop looking so darned crisp with time, or after being actually worn and walked around in. Restoring their luster isn't hard at all—you just need a can of the black stuff, a horsehair brush, a newspaper and a rag. Check out the Art of Manliness' polishing guide and queue up the boot camp marching songs. No time for the rag routine? You can still pull off an acceptable shine in five minutes. Photo by abchbum.
6. Get a sharp-looking suit on the cheap.
Sometimes, advanced common sense can pay off big. Brazen Careerist blogger Penelope Trunk notes that for those who will only wear a three-piece once every job, spending a lot of dough just isn't necessary. Spend your time instead looking for a good tailor; buy a passable suit, have it cut to fit, and don't hit the Wii Fit before the interview.
5. Freshen your breath without mints.
At many white-cloth Indian restaurants, customers are given a dry assortment of herbs after the meal, or between dishes. That's because herbs like coriander seeds and spearmint do a heck of a job destroying harsh breath. MSN Health points out that yogurt, fiber-rich fruits and veggies, sugarless gum, and snacks stocked with vitamin C are similarly potent at knocking down post-meal remainders. Photo by yoppy.
4. De-grease unwashed hair.
Maybe the alarm didn't go off, or the night went a bit late—however you ended up with greasy hair, you can pull off some one-minute triage. Throw some baby powder (or talc, or even corn starch, if you're out) into your palms, run it through your hair with a comb or fingers, and wipe off any excess white dust. eHow's got the details, but our commenters have got their own bad hair how-tos.
3. Learn to shave with a straight razor.
If you want to look good, save money, and feel like an old-fashioned man's man, learning how to shave with a straight razor is your ticket to all three. It can be a bit daunting, but it's the closest and cleanest shave, and quite a bit greener, too. If tackling your face Sweeney-Todd-style is just a bit too intimidating, you can still avoid razor bumps and get twice as much life from disposables.
2. Get a black belt in tie-tying.
Maybe the reason so many people never quite master the art of tying a tie is because it's embarassing to ask—it's a total head trip in helplessness. Luckily, there are lots of ways to get your tie on without ever having to admit naivete. For straight-up, diagrammed knots, check out Tie-a-Tie.net, with a basic video tutorial at YouTube. For advice on what style and knot go with which occasion (or face structure), try the Kinowear blog's guide. Feeling confident, grasshopper? Learn how to get it done in 10 seconds.
1. Pack for wrinkle-free clothes.
Hotel room irons—they're small, leaky, and not very good. Avoid them altogether by packing like a pro. Travel firm Fodor's suggests separating hanger items with bags. Then there's the Advanced Hobo-jitsu of the bundle wrapping technique, and the mind-blowing skills of the Japanese turbo-fold for T-shirts. If you're fearing the worst, no matter how skilled your packing, you can avoid giving Downy their pound of flesh and whip up your own wrinkle releaser.
How do you stay a sharp-dressed, neatly-coiffed, proper-looking lad or lady? What routines or last-minute tricks save your morning routine? Tell us your not-so-secrets in the comments.
10. Get rid of pet hair and sweater fuzz.
It should be your choice to talk about your adorable pet Mittens, rather than have it be obvious you two are close. If you lack a lint roller (or an over-priced refill for one), you can use the palm of your hand, or a document mailing package laying around the office. For non-mammalian trappings on your most stylish sweater, try using a disposable razor.
9. Track the time between haircuts with automatic reminders.
Nobody's going to up and tell you that your hair's in need of a trim, and it's hard to make it a priority when you've got a packed schedule. If you're Googler Matt Cutts, you still manage to keep up appearances by using a Google Calendar hack to track your between-cut time. Geeky? Yes. Easier to listen to than your boyfriend/girlfriend's gentle nagging? For sure.
8. Fix your clothing choices with hangers.
We all make mistakes when it comes to clothing choices—busted gray T-shirt with khakis, huh?—but you can fight your own worst instincts with nothing but a few hangers. You can, for example, use them to weed out clothes you really don't need any more. If you have to dress for co-workers' scrutiny every weekday, you can arrange a left-to-right closet to avoid over-wearing outfits. Best of all, using these tricks frees up space for important stuff—like DIY projects.
7. Give your shoes a drill-instructor-approved polish.
Nice leather shoes stop looking so darned crisp with time, or after being actually worn and walked around in. Restoring their luster isn't hard at all—you just need a can of the black stuff, a horsehair brush, a newspaper and a rag. Check out the Art of Manliness' polishing guide and queue up the boot camp marching songs. No time for the rag routine? You can still pull off an acceptable shine in five minutes. Photo by abchbum.
6. Get a sharp-looking suit on the cheap.
Sometimes, advanced common sense can pay off big. Brazen Careerist blogger Penelope Trunk notes that for those who will only wear a three-piece once every job, spending a lot of dough just isn't necessary. Spend your time instead looking for a good tailor; buy a passable suit, have it cut to fit, and don't hit the Wii Fit before the interview.
5. Freshen your breath without mints.
At many white-cloth Indian restaurants, customers are given a dry assortment of herbs after the meal, or between dishes. That's because herbs like coriander seeds and spearmint do a heck of a job destroying harsh breath. MSN Health points out that yogurt, fiber-rich fruits and veggies, sugarless gum, and snacks stocked with vitamin C are similarly potent at knocking down post-meal remainders. Photo by yoppy.
4. De-grease unwashed hair.
Maybe the alarm didn't go off, or the night went a bit late—however you ended up with greasy hair, you can pull off some one-minute triage. Throw some baby powder (or talc, or even corn starch, if you're out) into your palms, run it through your hair with a comb or fingers, and wipe off any excess white dust. eHow's got the details, but our commenters have got their own bad hair how-tos.
3. Learn to shave with a straight razor.
If you want to look good, save money, and feel like an old-fashioned man's man, learning how to shave with a straight razor is your ticket to all three. It can be a bit daunting, but it's the closest and cleanest shave, and quite a bit greener, too. If tackling your face Sweeney-Todd-style is just a bit too intimidating, you can still avoid razor bumps and get twice as much life from disposables.
2. Get a black belt in tie-tying.
Maybe the reason so many people never quite master the art of tying a tie is because it's embarassing to ask—it's a total head trip in helplessness. Luckily, there are lots of ways to get your tie on without ever having to admit naivete. For straight-up, diagrammed knots, check out Tie-a-Tie.net, with a basic video tutorial at YouTube. For advice on what style and knot go with which occasion (or face structure), try the Kinowear blog's guide. Feeling confident, grasshopper? Learn how to get it done in 10 seconds.
1. Pack for wrinkle-free clothes.
Hotel room irons—they're small, leaky, and not very good. Avoid them altogether by packing like a pro. Travel firm Fodor's suggests separating hanger items with bags. Then there's the Advanced Hobo-jitsu of the bundle wrapping technique, and the mind-blowing skills of the Japanese turbo-fold for T-shirts. If you're fearing the worst, no matter how skilled your packing, you can avoid giving Downy their pound of flesh and whip up your own wrinkle releaser.
How do you stay a sharp-dressed, neatly-coiffed, proper-looking lad or lady? What routines or last-minute tricks save your morning routine? Tell us your not-so-secrets in the comments.
Can’t Open Your E-Mailbox? Good Luck
LOGGING on to Gmail or other e-mail service has become a routine of daily life, completed without a thought. What would you do, however, if you woke up tomorrow, plugged in your user name and password as you always do, but then received an unfamiliar message: “User name and password do not match”?
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If you’re a Gmail user, what you’ll want to do after a few more unsuccessful, increasingly frantic attempts is to speak with a Google customer support representative, post haste. But that’s not an option. Google doesn’t offer a toll-free number and a live person to resolve the ordinary user’s problems.
Discussion forums abound with tales of woe from Gmail customers who have found themselves locked out of their account for days or even weeks. They were innocent victims of security measures, which automatically suspend access if someone tries unsuccessfully to log on repeatedly to an account. The customers express frustration that they can’t speak with anyone at Google after filling out the company’s online forms and waiting in vain for Google to restore access to their accounts.
Tom Lynch, a software entrepreneur who lives near Austin, Tex., discovered early last month that he had been locked out of both Gmail accounts he used; he had no idea why. He received boilerplate instructions for recovering his accounts that did not apply to his particular circumstances, which included his failing to maintain a non-Gmail e-mail account as a back-up. He said it took him four weeks, including the use of a business directory and talking with anyone he could find at Google, before he succeeded in having service restored.
A Google spokesman placed the blame on Mr. Lynch, saying he did not follow Google’s guidelines. The spokesman characterized Mr. Lynch’s ordeal as a praiseworthy illustration of Google’s tough security: “We have had no cases of falsely recovered accounts.”
Google does provide phone support to Gmail customers who subscribe to Google Apps Premier Edition, which costs $50 annually and includes larger storage quotas and other benefits. Customers who use the advertising-supported version of Gmail, however, must rely solely on what Google calls “self-service online support.”
Microsoft and Yahoo similarly offer phone support only to their premium e-mail customers. (Yahoo says it offers phone support for its free e-mail service “in some cases,” but it does not publish the phone number; it is revealed to the user in distress only after e-mail communication fails to resolve the problem.)
Last month, Google’s official blog dispensed advice for those unfortunate souls who find themselves locked out. The post, “What to do if you can’t access your Webmail,” scolded users about not sharing passwords with anyone, pointed customers to a form to reset the password and, if that doesn’t solve the problem, to another form to start the “account recovery process.”
As customers, we bring the same expectations to Google’s personalized information services, like Gmail or Google Docs, its word-processing service, as we do to our bank’s Web site. These are places that hold information very dear to us. My bank recognizes that losing access for days at a time is unacceptable. It provides me with round-the-clock phone support for account problems. So, too, should Google, even if I pay the company not in the form of a monthly account fee, but with my attention, which Google commercializes by selling slices to its advertisers.
Last month, with cases like Mr. Lynch’s in mind, I contacted Google to see what the company had to say about my suggestion that it add phone support for its customers with account-related problems. The company returned with a debate team of three to argue the negative position: Matthew Glotzbach, who works with Google’s business customers; Roy Gilbert, who handles consumers; and Greg Badros, who is an engineering director.
Mr. Glotzbach began by saying that “one-to-one support isn’t always the best answer” because it would take Google too long to collect lots of data about a problem that is affecting many users simultaneously.
For systemic problems, data collection is important. But not for other categories. Account recovery could be slow for a locked-out customer who doesn’t have a backup e-mail account, and who declined to provide a security question and answer because of concerns that someone else could use it to get in (which is what someone did to Gov. Sarah Palin’s Yahoo Mail account).
Mr. Badros argued that Google asks so little personal information of a new Gmail customer that it’s hard to determine identity when the genuine user and the impostor both present themselves to claim the account, and neither can produce the verification. He said more information could be asked of users when they sign up, but the inconvenience would dissuade them from trying the service.
Mr. Gilbert added that proving identity with only minimal information is a problem, whatever form of communication is used to reach customer support. He said, “Even if they were standing right in front of us, it wouldn’t help.”
THIS makes sorting out competing claims seem permanently hopeless, when, of course, this is not the case; it simply means that standard security questions will not suffice. But if Google were to use real people to sort out identity problems over the phone, the only remaining consideration would be the one that Google’s panel of experts didn’t mention in our talk: cost.
Google says it has “tens of millions” of Gmail customers. (It declines to be more specific.) If it’s willing to consider phone support for account-access emergencies, it can take heart in the example of Netflix, which last year adopted phone support with enthusiasm, replacing online support completely. For all customers. For all problems. And without resorting to an offshore call center.
It turns out that a staff of 375 customer service representatives are enough to handle calls from Netflix’s 8.4 million customers, answering most calls within a minute. Netflix says with justifiable pride that it has received the top ratings in online retail customer satisfaction by both Nielsen Online and ForeSee Results.
A Netflix spokesman explained the complete switch to phone support: “Most people don’t need customer service,” he said, “but when they do, they want it now.”
- By Randall Stross.
Randall Stross is the author of “Planet Google: One Company’s Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know,” published by Free Press.
Skip to next paragraph
Add to Portfolio
* Google Inc
Go to your Portfolio »
If you’re a Gmail user, what you’ll want to do after a few more unsuccessful, increasingly frantic attempts is to speak with a Google customer support representative, post haste. But that’s not an option. Google doesn’t offer a toll-free number and a live person to resolve the ordinary user’s problems.
Discussion forums abound with tales of woe from Gmail customers who have found themselves locked out of their account for days or even weeks. They were innocent victims of security measures, which automatically suspend access if someone tries unsuccessfully to log on repeatedly to an account. The customers express frustration that they can’t speak with anyone at Google after filling out the company’s online forms and waiting in vain for Google to restore access to their accounts.
Tom Lynch, a software entrepreneur who lives near Austin, Tex., discovered early last month that he had been locked out of both Gmail accounts he used; he had no idea why. He received boilerplate instructions for recovering his accounts that did not apply to his particular circumstances, which included his failing to maintain a non-Gmail e-mail account as a back-up. He said it took him four weeks, including the use of a business directory and talking with anyone he could find at Google, before he succeeded in having service restored.
A Google spokesman placed the blame on Mr. Lynch, saying he did not follow Google’s guidelines. The spokesman characterized Mr. Lynch’s ordeal as a praiseworthy illustration of Google’s tough security: “We have had no cases of falsely recovered accounts.”
Google does provide phone support to Gmail customers who subscribe to Google Apps Premier Edition, which costs $50 annually and includes larger storage quotas and other benefits. Customers who use the advertising-supported version of Gmail, however, must rely solely on what Google calls “self-service online support.”
Microsoft and Yahoo similarly offer phone support only to their premium e-mail customers. (Yahoo says it offers phone support for its free e-mail service “in some cases,” but it does not publish the phone number; it is revealed to the user in distress only after e-mail communication fails to resolve the problem.)
Last month, Google’s official blog dispensed advice for those unfortunate souls who find themselves locked out. The post, “What to do if you can’t access your Webmail,” scolded users about not sharing passwords with anyone, pointed customers to a form to reset the password and, if that doesn’t solve the problem, to another form to start the “account recovery process.”
As customers, we bring the same expectations to Google’s personalized information services, like Gmail or Google Docs, its word-processing service, as we do to our bank’s Web site. These are places that hold information very dear to us. My bank recognizes that losing access for days at a time is unacceptable. It provides me with round-the-clock phone support for account problems. So, too, should Google, even if I pay the company not in the form of a monthly account fee, but with my attention, which Google commercializes by selling slices to its advertisers.
Last month, with cases like Mr. Lynch’s in mind, I contacted Google to see what the company had to say about my suggestion that it add phone support for its customers with account-related problems. The company returned with a debate team of three to argue the negative position: Matthew Glotzbach, who works with Google’s business customers; Roy Gilbert, who handles consumers; and Greg Badros, who is an engineering director.
Mr. Glotzbach began by saying that “one-to-one support isn’t always the best answer” because it would take Google too long to collect lots of data about a problem that is affecting many users simultaneously.
For systemic problems, data collection is important. But not for other categories. Account recovery could be slow for a locked-out customer who doesn’t have a backup e-mail account, and who declined to provide a security question and answer because of concerns that someone else could use it to get in (which is what someone did to Gov. Sarah Palin’s Yahoo Mail account).
Mr. Badros argued that Google asks so little personal information of a new Gmail customer that it’s hard to determine identity when the genuine user and the impostor both present themselves to claim the account, and neither can produce the verification. He said more information could be asked of users when they sign up, but the inconvenience would dissuade them from trying the service.
Mr. Gilbert added that proving identity with only minimal information is a problem, whatever form of communication is used to reach customer support. He said, “Even if they were standing right in front of us, it wouldn’t help.”
THIS makes sorting out competing claims seem permanently hopeless, when, of course, this is not the case; it simply means that standard security questions will not suffice. But if Google were to use real people to sort out identity problems over the phone, the only remaining consideration would be the one that Google’s panel of experts didn’t mention in our talk: cost.
Google says it has “tens of millions” of Gmail customers. (It declines to be more specific.) If it’s willing to consider phone support for account-access emergencies, it can take heart in the example of Netflix, which last year adopted phone support with enthusiasm, replacing online support completely. For all customers. For all problems. And without resorting to an offshore call center.
It turns out that a staff of 375 customer service representatives are enough to handle calls from Netflix’s 8.4 million customers, answering most calls within a minute. Netflix says with justifiable pride that it has received the top ratings in online retail customer satisfaction by both Nielsen Online and ForeSee Results.
A Netflix spokesman explained the complete switch to phone support: “Most people don’t need customer service,” he said, “but when they do, they want it now.”
- By Randall Stross.
Randall Stross is the author of “Planet Google: One Company’s Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know,” published by Free Press.
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