October 2009

How to Lower Cholesterol

Posted Tue, 10/27/2009 - 05:37 by admin

Although cholesterol is essential for life, high levels in circulation are associated with atherosclerosis. Cholesterol can be ingested in the diet, recycled within the body through reabsorption of bile in the digestive tract, and produced de novo. For a person of about 150 pounds (68 kg), typical total body cholesterol content is about 35 g, typical daily dietary intake is 200–300 mg in the United States and societies with similar dietary patterns and 1 g per day is synthesized de novo.

The name cholesterol originates from the Greek chole- (bile) and stereos (solid), and the chemical suffix -ol for an alcohol, as François Poulletier de la Salle first identified cholesterol in solid form in gallstones, in 1769. However, it was only in 1815 that chemist Eugène Chevreul named the compound "cholesterine".

http://www.hbextract.com/

Lil Wayne guilty on N.Y. gun charge, headed to prison

Posted Mon, 10/26/2009 - 23:30 by admin

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
U.S. rapper Lil Wayne pleaded guilty on Thursday to attempted criminal possession of a weapon in a July 2007 incident and will serve a year in prison, New York City prosecutors said.

Lil Wayne, 27, who won best rap album at the 2009 Grammy Awards and whose real name is Dwayne Carter, agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors and will be sentenced at New York State Supreme Court in February.

Prosecutors said a gun was found in his tour bus in July 2007. Rapper Ja Rule was arrested separately on similar charges after a hip hop concert in New York where both men performed.

Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, pleaded innocent and a trial date has not yet been set.

Carter had convinced the court earlier to delay his trial date to accommodate his performing schedule.

The rapper would have faced more serious gun possession charges if the case had gone to trial, as well as a maximum 15-year prison sentence, a spokeswoman at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office said.

Carter's lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Carter's album, "Tha Carter III," was the biggest-selling U.S. release of 2008 and won him best rap album and three other prizes at the 2009 Grammy Awards. (Reporting by Edith Honan, Editing by Christine Kearney)

Trade association asks for probe of book price war

Posted Mon, 10/26/2009 - 20:45 by admin

NEW YORK – A trade organization wants the government to look into the price war among online booksellers.
The American Booksellers Association sent a letter Thursday to the U.S. Department of Justice, asking for an investigation into the cost-cutting race among Amazon.com, Walmart.com and Target.com. The price war has resulted in hardcovers such as Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" being offered for under $9.
The booksellers association fears that such prices are "devaluing the very concept of the book" and make it impossible for smaller stores to compete.
Some smaller stores, however, have said that they're not concerned about the price competition. They say it affects the most commercial books, which are less vital to independent stores than they are to discount clubs and superstore chains.
"We are committed to providing our customers with low prices, and our online book announcement demonstrates that commitment," said Daphne Davis Moore, a spokeswoman at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. "We always comply with applicable law."

Michigan Politics Thumbs Its Way Into Gitmo Hearing (CQPolitics.com)

Posted Mon, 10/26/2009 - 18:51 by admin

Accusations of a Michigan gubernatorial political play surfaced Thursday in an odd place: a House Intelligence subcommittee hearing about Congress' feud with the executive branch over when lawmakers should receive briefings on spy activities.

Republicans invited as their witness to the hearing Dave Munson, an "average citizen" from Standish, Mich., who opposes moving detainees at the Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba to a prison in his town.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the full committee's ranking Republican, said Munson would illustrate how the Obama administration's refusal to share information with the intelligence panels was part of a broader problem with executive branch transparency.

Democrats said the invitation of Munson didn't relate to the hearing's topic -- aimed more at the Bush administration's allegedly improper shielding of intelligence activities from Congress -- and that the issue of Guantanamo was outside the committee's authority. Democrats invited as witnesses two former staffers to the Church Committee, which recommended the creation of congressional intelligence committees.

Toward the end of the hearing, Rep. Anna G. Eshoo, a California Democrat, offered an explanation as to why Republicans were focusing on Guantanamo. "I know we've got some candidacy involved in this," Eshoo said, referring to Hoekstra's bid for Michigan governor.

Interrupted Hoekstra: "You're questioning my motives, and that is totally inappropriate."

Some Michigan Democrats, including Sen. Carl Levin and Rep. Bart Stupak, who represents Standish, have said they are open to housing Gitmo detainees at the Standish prison. Stupak and some other local officials have touted its potential to create jobs in a state that has been hit hard by the economy.

But Hoekstra opposes the move, which he says poses security risks to the region. Munson, the owner of the Summer Trail Inn and the organizer of the Michigan Coalition to Stop Gitmo North, said Thursday that the Obama administration has not shared information about the potential security threats that would accompany housing high-profile terror suspects.

Both parties have accused the executive branch of violating the rules for keeping Congress "fully and currently informed" of intelligence activities set forth in the National Security Act of 1947. Most recently, Democrats have alleged the previous administration should have informed Congress of a [@urlprogram@http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003170113@] reportedly designed to capture or kill al Qaeda leaders in foreign countries, a program they learned about only this summer.

But Hoekstra on Thursday also lobbed his own allegation that by not sharing information about Guantanamo with the intelligence panels, the Obama administration was "trying to shut down congressional oversight and is willing to disregard the requirement to keep the congressional intelligence committees 'fully and currently informed' about intelligence matters." After the hearing, Hoekstra said Obama was violating "the spirit," if not the letter, of the law.

Democrats, though, said questions about Guantanamo strategy, such as where to place ex-detainees, belonged with the House Armed Service Committee. Hoekstra disputed that, saying the detainees had intelligence value and that the Intelligence Committee had received information about them in the past.

Far-right leader appears on BBC show amid protests

Posted Mon, 10/26/2009 - 17:03 by admin

LONDON (AFP) –
The BBC controversially gave a far-right party leader a first appearance Thursday on its flagship political panel show as angry protesters besieged its headquarters.

Nick Griffin, chairman of the British National Party (BNP), appeared on the weekly "Question Time" debate show as around 500 demonstrators joined in angry protests outside Television Centre in west London.

Around 30 demonstrators broke into the BBC's headquarters, while others lit flares outside and clashed with police. Six people were arrested and three police officers were injured, one being taken to hospital with a head injury.

The British Broadcasting Corporation defended its decision to invite Griffin on the show, saying it was duty bound to be impartial.

The BNP had never appeared on the show before but was invited on after Griffin and a colleague were elected to the European Parliament in June, with the party taking nearly 944,000 votes -- a 6.2 percent share.

The BBC's invite sparked passionate debate -- and saw mainstream parties change tack and agree to share a platform with the BNP.

"We remain firmly of the view that it was appropriate to invite Nick Griffin onto the 'Question Time' panel in the context of the BBC meeting its obligation of due impartiality," BBC deputy director general Mark Byford said.

"Members of the audience asked the kind of tough questions that mark 'Question Time' out as the premier television programme where the public put the panellists on the spot." Related blog: Griffin's TV dream could be nightmare for opponents.

Griffin faced hostile questions in a show dominated by debates around BNP policy and panellists challenging the 50-year-old on quotes attributed to him.

His appearance has dominated the British news agenda this week and was on the front page of most national newspapers Friday.

"I've been relentlessly attacked and demonised over the last few days," Griffin said.

"I am not a Nazi. I never have been," he said, adding that "I am the most loathed man in Britain in the eyes of Britain's Nazis" for having stopped the BNP being "frankly an anti-Semitic and racist organisation".

He said: "I do not have a conviction for Holocaust denial", adding: "I was very critical of the way in which the Holocaust is abused to prevent serious discussion over immigration."

He added: "Our country must remain fundamentally a British and Christian country... based on Western democratic values", saying he stood for people who felt "shut out in our own country".

Griffin was on the panel alongside Justice Secretary Jack Straw for the governing Labour Party; Sayeeda Warsi, communities spokeswoman for the main opposition Conservatives; Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne and US playwright Bonnie Greer.

Griffin said beforehand that the furore around his appearance "clearly gives us a whole new level of public recognition". The BNP website said it had been forced to take its normal pages offline due to a surge in hits.

The BNP wants to "stop immigration and put British people first". Its membership is restricted to "indigenous Caucasian" people, though that is set to change after a recent court battle.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Griffin going on the show was "a good opportunity to expose what they are about".

Griffin told Britain's domestic Press Association news agency afterwards that he thought the programme was a "hard-fought match" that would "polarise normal opinion".

He said: "A huge swath of British people will remember some of the things I said and say to themselves they've never heard anyone on 'Question Time' say that before and millions of people will think that man speaks what I feel."

NFL fines Ray Lewis for hit on Ochocinco

Posted Fri, 10/16/2009 - 10:59 by admin

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – The NFL has fined Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis for a helmet-to-helmet hit delivered to Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco.
The play came in the fourth quarter of Baltimore's 17-14 loss on Sunday. Lewis hit Ochocinco after a pass from Carson Palmer sailed incomplete, and the 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness helped set up the winning touchdown with 22 seconds remaining.
Asked Wednesday if he expected to be fined, Lewis replied, "Probably."
The amount of the fine was not disclosed.

Smelly Washers

Posted Fri, 10/16/2009 - 07:52 by admin

Because water usually had to be heated on a fire for washing, the warm soapy water was precious and would be reused over and over, first to wash the least soiled clothing, then to wash progressively dirtier clothing. The load of soaking wet clothing would be removed, and another load of dirty clothes added to the machine. While the earliest machines were constructed entirely from wood, later machines made of metal permitted a fire to burn below the washtub, to keep the water warm throughout the day's washing.

What is now referred to as an automatic washer was at one time referred to as a washer/extractor, which combines the features of these two devices into a single machine, plus also includes the ability to fill and drain water by itself. It is possible to take this a step further, to also merge the automatic washing machine and clothes dryer into a single device, but this is generally uncommon because the drying process tends to use much more energy than using two separate devices; a combined washer/dryer not only must dry the clothing, but also need to dry out the wash chamber itself.

Smelly Washers

Wind Spinners

Posted Fri, 10/16/2009 - 07:49 by admin

Modern acrobatic kites use two or four lines to allow fine control of the kite's angle to the wind. Traction kites may have an additional line to de-power the kite and quick-release mechanisms to disengage flyer and kite in an emergency.

In Vietnam, kites are flown without tails. Instead small flutes are attached allowing the wind to "hum" a musical tune. There are other forms of sound-making kites. In Bali, large bows are attached to the front of the kites to make a deep throbbing vibration, and in Malaysia row of gourds with sound-slots are use to create a whistle as the kite flies.[citation needed]

Wind Spinners

TLC network says it is suing Jon Gosselin

Posted Fri, 10/16/2009 - 07:43 by admin

NEW YORK – The TLC network says it's suing Jon Gosselin (GAHS'-lihn) for breaching his contract as star of the reality show "Jon & Kate Plus 8."
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Maryland, alleges that Gosselin hasn't met the obligations of his contract as an exclusive employee, has appeared on other programs for pay and made unauthorized disclosures about the show.
Gosselin has starred for two years in "Jon & Kate Plus 8," which has been consumed in recent months by marital turmoil as Gosselin and his wife, Kate, feuded, then filed for divorce. The couple are the parents of young twins and sextuplets.
Recently, TLC announced the show would be renamed "Kate Plus Eight," with a reduced presence by Jon Gosselin. A TLC spokeswoman, Laurie Goldberg, has said the show's longtime future remains in question.
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TLC is owned by Discovery Communications, LLC.

Zimbabwe's MDC boycotts unity government with Mugabe

Posted Fri, 10/16/2009 - 07:14 by admin

HARARE (Reuters) –
Zimbabwe's opposition MDC said it would boycott the country's power-sharing government until sticking points have been resolved and a political deal is reached, sparking the biggest crisis since the administration was formed nine months ago.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Friday his Movement for Democratic Change would disengage from President Robert Mugabe's "dishonest and unreliable" ZANU-PF party in the country's unity cabinet set up in February.

"It is our right to disengage from a dishonest and unreliable partner. In this regard, whilst being in government we shall forthwith disengage from ZANU-PF and in particular from cabinet and the council of ministers until such time as confidence and respect are restored amongst us," Tsvangirai told reporters.

A key test of the MDC's decision may come next month when Finance Minister Tendai Biti -- who is a senior MDC leader -- is due to present Zimbabwe's 2010 national budget.

Mugabe's ZANU-PF said the MDC's move would have to be considered seriously by the party.

"That is a matter that would require a collective response from all of us in the party. It needs some serious consideration. I wouldn't want to pre-empt the party's position," said Didymus Mutasa, a senior ZANU-PF official and Minister of State in Mugabe's office.

STALEMATE

The MDC's decision could lead to a stalemate in the government, analysts said.

"It means that the issues that the government is meant to be dealing with are not being dealt with, attention is being diverted to other side issues and they've got a huge crisis on their hands," said Cheryl Hendricks, a senior research fellow at South Africa's Institute for Security studies.

The fresh crisis in Zimbabwe comes after a court this week ordered the detention in prison of Roy Bennett, a senior MDC official, and ruled that he should stand trial on terrorism charges.

Zimbabwe's High Court will rule later on Friday on a bail application brought by Bennett's lawyers. He is charged with illegally possessing arms for purposes or committing acts of terrorism which carries a maximum death sentence. Bennett denies the charge.

Tsvangirai said the detention of Bennett showed that Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party regarded the MDC as a junior partner and that the power-sharing administration would collapse if the president continued his unilateral rule.

"The ... detention of our party treasurer Roy Bennett has brought home the fiction of the credibility and integrity of the transitional government. It has brought home the self-evident fact that ZANU-PF see us as a junior, fickle and unserious movement," Tsvangirai said.

Analysts said the MDC's decision may not mean the end of the power-sharing government but it will put pressure on the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional body under whose auspices former South African President Thabo Mbeki brokered a settlement in Zimbabwe last year.

"I do not think that this will lead to the collapse of the unity government. It is a difficult moment for the (government of national unity) GNU but if SADC has any conscience still left it should move swiftly to salvage what is left of the unity government," said Eldred Masunungure, a leading political analyst and University of Zimbabwe lecturer.

Tsvangirai said if the new constitutional crisis escalated further, it would only be resolved by holding fresh elections under supervision of the United Nations and SADC.