Track Swine Flu Using Google Maps

Since yesterday's total of outbreaks was only at two and now that total is growing everyday, keeping up with where it's moving to is pretty important. Hundreds of victims have died, mostly in Mexico, but since it is spreading fast it is very important to protect yourself and to monitor your own health. Use the link here to track the outbreaks on Google Maps.

Map Key:
• Pink markers are suspect
• Purple markers are confirmed
• Deaths lack a dot in marker
• Yellow markers are negative

Make Your Children Work for Their Keep

After the birth of a child there's always the temptation to say, "Yes, it's cute, but what can it do?" Until recently the answer was simple 'lie there an cry," but now babies can be put on the payroll, so to speak, almost as soon as they're born.
Just dress your young one in Baby Mops and set him or her down on any hard wood or tile floor that needs clearing. You may at first need to get things started by calling to the infant from across the room, but pretty soon they'll be doing it all by themselves.
There's no child exploitation involved. The kid is doing what he does best anyway, crawling. But, with Baby Mops he's also learning responsibility and a health work ethic. Laugh a little already!

Amazing Beatbox Kid

Wednesday Morning Humor: Game over. Geek wins.

Michael Jordan having "retired," with $40 million in endorsements, makes $178,100 a day, working or not.

• If he sleeps 7 hours a night, he makes $52,000 every night while visions of sugarplums dance in his head.
• If he goes to see a movie, it'll cost him $7.00, but he'll make $18,550 while he’s there.
• If he decides to have a 5-minute egg, he'll make $618 while boiling it.
• He makes $7,415/hour more than minimum wage.
• If he wanted to save up for a new Acura NSX ($90,000) it would take him a whole 12 hours.
• If someone were to hand him his salary and endorsement money, they would have to do it at the rate of $200 every second.
• He'll probably pay around $200 for a nice round of golf, but will be reimbursed $33,390 for that round.
• He'll make about $19.60 while watching the 100-meter dash in the Olympics, and about $15,600 during the Boston Marathon.
• This year, he’ll make more than twice as much as all U.S. past presidents for all of their terms combined.

Amazing isn’t it?

However...If Jordan saves 100% of his income for the next 500 years, he'll still have less than Bill Gates has at this very moment.

Game over. Geek wins.
--Article borrowed from [GAS]

Susan Boyle - Britains Got Talent

Just in case you missed the awesome performance by Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent, click below to see it. It is amazing.

Food Portion Sizes Study

[ABC Note]Last year I posted an article on today's food portions compared to past portions...here is some more in depth information on why most Americans are blind into what they are eating:

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill analyzed three government surveys taken over two decades and reviewed answers to the average portion size consumed for specific foods, such as snacks, desserts and soft drinks. They also looked at whether the eating was done at home or out.

"Between 1977 and 1996, food portion sizes increased both inside and outside the home for all categories except pizza," Samara Joy Nielsen and Barry M. Popkin write in the Journal of the American Medical Association. According to the study, Americans are eating per portion, on average:

* 93 more calories from salty snacks, such as potato chips, pretzels and popcorn.
* 49 more calories from soft drinks.
* 97 more calories from hamburgers.
* 68 more calories from French fries.
* 133 more calories from Mexican food, such as burritos, tacos, enchiladas.

"The most surprising result is the large portion-size increases for food consumed at home - a shift that indicates marked changes in eating behavior in general," the researchers reported.

Americans' waistlines are keeping up with the portion increase trend. Nearly 60 percent of the country is overweight, with the numbers growing, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Clearly the problem is that Americans are eating too much food," Popkin said. "The shifts in where we are eating, as well as the types of food and how much, are critical."

Food Portion Sizes - Distortion
Nutrition experts said the study confirmed what many thought: Americans aren't aware of how much they're eating.

"We're getting so used to eating out and used to (restaurants') portion sizes," said Lisa Drayer, a registered dietitian and director of nutrition services with Dietwatch.com. "We're getting a distorted view of what portion sizes are. We're not likely to make a distinction between restaurant sizes and real sizes when going home."

Food Portion Sizes - Effects of Supersizing
"An extra 10 calories per day translates to one pound gained per year," Drayer explained. "So you can see how all of these calorie increases combined can translate to weight gain over the long-term." The most important thing, according to Drayer, is to be able to eyeball portion sizes and know how much you are really eating. They key is to relate portion sizes to every day objects.

For example, the USDA food pyramid recommends an average American consume 5-7 servings of vegetables. But just what is a serving? Drayer says if you remember that a fruit serving looks like a tennis ball, you can get a better idea of what you're putting away at the table.

According to a 2002 American Dietetic Association survey, Americans tend to overestimate the recommended serving sizes for many foods. Fewer than half of the respondents accurately estimated the recommended serving sizes of pasta, meat or vegetables.

Food Portion Sizes - Supersizing Restaurant
Also, watch out for the "more is better" mentality, especially at fast food restaurants.

"We're often encouraged to buy larger-sized portions and 'value meals' because they provide a better value for our money," Drayer says. "But while these oversized portions may be good for our wallets, they are not necessarily good for our waistlines or our health."

Portion Control
What are other ways to avoid portion distortion? Here are some other tips to slim down portions at home, according to Drayer and the American Dietetic Association:

* Beware of unconscious eating. "This is where we're not aware of how much food we're putting in our mouths," Drayer said. "We snack more, we're eating by ourselves, in front of the TV or talking on the phone."
* Use smaller plates. You won't be tempted to fill up all the space of a big platter with extra food you don't need.
* Serve yourself what you would normally dish out, but then cut everything in half and save the rest for lunch the next day.
* "Kill the plate," or make whatever is left on the plate unavailable to nibble on, whether it's a napkin across the food, or, in an extreme move, pouring salt over the leftovers.

[ABC Note] Check out the book above, Mindless Eating, for reasons on why we eat like we do. It should clear our thoughts on food and change our eating habits.

Man Stabbed For Passing Wind

Waco, Texas — A man was stabbed after causing a stink, literally, in a motel room while eating with a friend, police said. Five men from the Houston area were sharing a Waco motel room Tuesday night, and two were inside the room eating when one had a flatulence problem, Waco police Officer Steve Anderson said. One man was so upset about the gas that he threw a large knife at him, cutting his leg, and then stabbed him in the chest, Anderson said.

The 35-year-old man was transported to a Waco hospital, where he was treated for what appeared to be non-life threatening injuries, Anderson said.

Jose Braule Ramirez, 33, of Houston, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, police said. He was arraigned Wednesday and was being held in the McLennan County Jail on $15,000 bond and placed on an immigration hold, according to jail records. He cannot be released, even if he posts bond, until authorities verify he is in the country legally.

A jail spokeswoman who declined to give her name said she was not allowed to release information on whether Ramirez had an attorney.

[ABC Note] It would probably be a good investment for the victim(stabbing, not gassed) to invest in the Under-Tec's "Under-Ease" underwear to knock out any future uncomfortable moment while company is nearby. If you are for some reason interested, you can visit the Under-Tec Website for more information. It's either that or make sure your friends leave their weapons at the door.

UNC Tarheels = 2009 NCAA Champs

After all the speculation on who would run through the tournament and the criticism on the Heels choking in the long stretch with their "lazy" defense, they have silenced those critics...and senior Hansbrough now has a title ring to finish out his college career. The hard work paid off. Coach Williams stated in the after game conference that he would not of taken $10 million for that moment for Hansbrough. There were several records broken by the Tarheels during last night, including most first half points(55), largest deficit at the half(21), and most individual steals(8) by Ty Lawson. Sorry duke...not really.
Game articles:

• A Deceptively Tough Run to Glory
  
• Critics Go Silent as Tyler takes Title
  
• Game Recap

The Stunning Consequences of Not Getting Enough Sleep

Nothing feels worse than hearing your alarm clock ring in the morning when your body is screaming for a few extra hours of rest. Given the opportunity, who wouldn’t get more sleep? If I had a choice between a year of unlimited Easter candy and a year of unlimited sleep, I’d say “Bye-bye Cadbury” and “Hello, bed!”

Many people don’t get as much sleep as they should. Since the invention of the light bulb, people sleep about 500 hours per year less than they used to. Whether we’re kept awake by our partner’s snoring or we stay up too late watching TV, we wake up tired, groggy, and cranky. No wonder the coffee industry does so well. Unfortunately, sleep deprivation has some side effects and they can’t all be remedied with a little extra caffeine.

This Is Your Brain on Sleep

While the mechanism of sleep isn’t fully understood yet, doctors and scientists do know that it’s one of our body’s most important processes. Studies show that sleep is important for cellular renewal, helping to replace muscle tissue and dead cells throughout the body. Studies have also shown that sleep is a key time for the brain to process and archive information, including memories. Deep, restorative REM sleep, the kind associated with dreaming, seems to stimulate regions of the brain used in learning.

Every night without adequate rest is like adding to a sleep debt—eventually it will have to be repaid. Even after one sleepless night, we can feel the first effects of sleep deprivation—irritability, memory loss, and drowsiness. Continued sleep deprivation can result in trouble concentrating, blurry vision, impaired judgment, and even more severe mental effects. After just a few days without any sleep, people can begin to experience hallucinations, mania, and nausea. Luckily, if you repay your sleep debt right away, those effects vanish immediately.

Short-Term Side Effects

Sleep deprivation doesn’t just cause mental deficits; our physical abilities are diminished too. Studies have demonstrated that not sleeping can reduce glucose metabolism by as much as 40 percent. We use stored glucose for energy and sleep deprivation can interfere with how the body stores and processes it. Sleep-deprived athletes also experience high levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, as well as lower levels of human growth hormone, which is important for muscle repair. The immune system is also thought to be maintained while asleep; people who don’t get enough sleep tend to be more susceptible to infections and have slower healing times.

Sleep deprivation also has an effect on how the brain stores information. A study at the University of Pennsylvania showed that mice who were taught a task and allowed to sleep afterward remembered what they had learned better than mice that didn’t sleep. Among school-aged children, those who get even one less hour of sleep than their peers have shown to perform more poorly on tests of memory and attention.

Some of the effects of short-term sleep deprivation can be very similar to the effects of being drunk. In 2000, researchers in New Zealand and Australia found that people who drive after being awake for seventeen to nineteen hours performed worse on tests than people with a blood alcohol level of 0.05 percent, almost the legal limit for drunk driving. In fact, the U.S. Department of Transportation reports that as many as 100,000 sleep-related auto accidents occur every year.

One study found that sleep-deprived medical interns working on the night shift were twice as likely to misinterpret patients’ test results. There is even evidence that sleep deprivation may have played a part in some major disasters, including the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Long-Term Consequences

It’s easy to erase the short-term effects of sleep deprivation—get more sleep. However, when people don’t sleep well for weeks, months, or even years, it can have cumulative effects on their health. Sleep has shown to be important in regulating blood sugar levels and people who don’t sleep can become increasingly resistant to insulin. Long-term insulin resistance puts extra burdens on the pancreas to produce more, and eventually can result in type 2 diabetes.

Recent studies have also linked chronic sleep deprivation to obesity. Sleep has an important effect on the hormones ghrelin and leptin, which control hunger and appetite. When we don’t sleep, these hormones can go out of balance, causing us to eat more than we need. Heart disease, high blood pressure, and depression are other diseases that can result from long-term sleep deprivation.

Get Forty Winks … At Least

It’s common to feel a bit tired in the morning, but how do you know if you’re truly sleep-deprived? Sleep experts say that if you feel groggy or tired during the day, feel the urge to nap, or if you fall asleep within five minutes of lying down, you could possibly be sleep-deprived. Another symptom of severe sleep debt is the occurrence of “micro-sleeps,” short bursts of sleep that can happen without a person even realizing it.

Although most people think they need to sleep for eight hours a night, the amount actually varies from person to person; some are fine with five, others would do better with ten. If you feel like you need more sleep, simple lifestyle changes can help you get more. Missing a few hours of sleep on occasion isn’t the end of the world, because it’s easy to make up the sleep with no lasting side effects. Many people are psychologically adjusted to constantly feeling tired, and in the short-term, their bodies may be able to adjust too. But the long-term consequences of sleep deprivation should be enough to convince anyone to hit the sack.

Gmail's April Fools - Autopilot

Expecting a new Google Labs feature for Gmail turned out to be a quick laugh. Gmail's autopilot is below:





What happens if a sender and recipient both have Autopilot on?

Two Gmail accounts can happily converse with each other for up to three messages each. Beyond that, our experiments have shown a significant decline in the quality ranking of Autopilot's responses and further messages may commit you to dinner parties or baby namings in which you have no interest.