latestgroove.com

WE NEED YOUR HELP

2009-01-14T14:03:00.000-08:00

We NEED YOUR HELP!!!!

Haven's Story
written by mom Misty

Born January 26, 2004, Haven Kristina entered the world weighing in at 7 lbs 7 oz and 21 inches long. She was a happy baby and rarely cried, which was nice considering new moms and dads never get to sleep much.

Haven developed early and was using sign language by 6 months old and walking by 8 months old. Everything was going as planned until about age 2. We started noticing slight changes in her personality, and by June 2006, Haven had definitely changed to a moody child with OCD.

While living in California, in July 2006, we took her in to the doctor as she had gained 25 lbs in one month. We did a lot of blood work and an MRI of the brain to find nothing. By October 2006, she had gained another 15 lbs. We had another MRI done and more blood work – still nothing.

In January 2007, Haven was back at the doctor with extreme pains in her stomach and blood in her stool. Still, the doctors did an MRI of the brain and said she was just overweight. She was put on a 1000 calorie diet at age 3. In June 2007, Haven's left eye turned out to the left. We took her back in for another MRI. This proved too much for Haven and she went into a seizure before I had even left her side, and stopped breathing. Placed on a ventilator, she was in the hospital for a week.

Almost 1½ years had gone by, and Haven was getting worse with nothing being diagnosed, so we moved our family to Maryland to get in to Johns Hopkins. We were here about a month, when in October 2007, we were calling 911 with Haven having another seizure, but this one lasted 45 minutes long. She was rushed to Johns Hopkins where she stayed at the hospital another 10 days with numerous departments checking her and testing her, ultimately putting us in the care of Endocrinology. Haven was placed on blood pressure medication due to her constant high blood pressure. Another month of constant testing for Cushing's Syndrome her Endocrinologist called us on December 28th, 2007, informing us that Haven would now be handed over to Pediatric Oncology as she has Ganglioneuroblastoma Cancer.

Shocked and overwhelmed, we began meeting with Oncology weekly about the tumor and the cancer. Her tumor was in the abdomen at the back, near the spine. But the strange shape of it was concerning to them. It was wrapping around her main blood vessels. We scheduled her surgery after her 4th birthday so she could have a little fun. We waited anxiously in the waiting room for 14 hours when we finally got to see her. Another 10 days in the hospital for recovery and we were home and planning the start of her chemotherapy treatments and at home medications.

She had been on chemo for 9 months and had a scheduled 4 months to go, when we went to our next follow up visit with Endocrinology in November 2008. Haven was officially diagnosed with ROHHAD (Rapid-Onset Obesity With Hypothalamic Dysfunction, Hypoventilation, and Autonomic Dysregulation).

We were told that with Haven's calendar of progression, they expect that she will stop breathing on her own between the age of 6 and 7. In disbelief, I refused to accept that, and started researching and contacting doctors all over the USA. After 3 weeks of being told, and seeing all her charts and comparisons and blood levels and everything they can show, I can do nothing but agree.

Currently Haven is still in the middle of treatment for the cancer and tumor while we await more testing and confirmation from the medical board. This is such an extremely rare disease and to date there are only 30 known cases. We will be traveling to Chicago to visit a doctor who has worked with 15 of the 30 ROHHAD children.

As Haven has only reached the half way point of ROHHAD, we know that the years ahead will be difficult and trying, but more than worth the fight. We have an idea of what to expect in the coming years, as 75% of ROHHAD children go into cardiac arrest between ages 6 and 8. We also know all ROHHAD children lose the ability to breathe on their own between 5 and 8, and will then need machines to breathe for them.

Haven is our angel and she keeps us fighting for the cause of all the children of the world. She is strong and she is a fighter. She is truly an inspiration and I couldn't imagine a day without my baby.

Families of children with cancer all around the world have created web pages to tell us their stories. Now, their voices have finally been heard. Visit fexr.com/joyy Your registration alone equals 3 DOLLARS TO THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY (or you may select from other great organizations) to help fight diseases like this. Three minutes of your time equals a three dollar donation to the charity of your choice. It's that simple.

Help fight these diseases by donating to a great cause at fexr.com/joyy

If you simply don't have the time to help out any of these great causes, please forward this on to anyone else who you think may be willing to help. If 500 thousand receive this email and sign up, that's 1.5 million dollars that can help a save countless children's lives. The choice is very easy. God Bless!

fexr.com/joyy

Lose That Weight in 2009

2009-01-06T17:14:00.001-08:00

You know you've put it off long enough. First it was "wait until the kids were back in school," then "who can diet at Halloween with all the festivities," then along came Thanksgiving and Christmas with all the cookies. Well you're out of excuses it's time to lose that weight in 2009.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to find a food that was not only good for you but helped you lose weight and tasted good? How about a raspberry chocolate flavored juice? There is such a thing: the Acai berry. It's high in antioxidants, amino acids, and essential fatty acids. It helps you lose weight because the Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids it contains help increase your metabolism. The fiber fills you up and because it takes longer to digest, it keeps you full so you don't get hungry as soon.

Acai berries are not some brand new scientifically molded super food. It's been around for ages and has been consumed by native South Americans as a regular part of their diet. The Acai palm tree produces two crops a year. Are you now wondering why this wonder fruit doesn't show up in the produce section of your local supermarket or at least health food store? It's simply because the berries are extremely perishable once they've been harvested. Within 24 hours of being removed from the palm tree the berry starts to rot. That and the fact that the berry is a small sized fruit about the size of a grape with a rather large seed there isn't a lot that's edible.

The good news is that Acai berries products are available in the United States and other parts of the world besides South America. There's Acai berry juice, pulp, powders, extracts, and supplements.

Like any good for you food the challenge is to incorporate the food into your diet on a daily and regular basis. Here are a couple of ways to get Acai berries into your diet and boost your weight loss program.

Fruit smoothie - Mix 1/2 cup of juice with 1/2 cup of yogurt, whirl in a blender with a handful of chopped fresh fruit.

Mix the pulp with equal portions of applesauce

Mix half juice and half green tea

Mix half juice with half sparkling water

The amount you should use of the powders, extracts and supplements depend on the quality of the product and how the acai berry was processed. While there haven't been any side effects confirmed from Acai berries eating too much of anything isn't good for you.

Incorporate Acai berries into your weight loss program and lose that weight.

Visit Acai Berry Quality Plus and grab yourself a completely FREE trial to give it a go yourself!

Home prices in record decline

2008-11-25T12:02:00.000-08:00

Case-Shiller survey shows 16.6% annual decline in summer months as housing picture continues to deteriorate.

By Les Christie, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The home price plunge stayed on a record pace this summer, according to a widely watched gauge of national real estate markets released Tuesday.

The S&P Case-Shiller Home Price national index recorded a 16.6% decline in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago. That eclipsed the previous record of 15.1% set during the second quarter.

Prices in Case-Shiller's separate index of 10 major cities fell a record 18.6%, while its 20-city index dropped a record 17.4%

With foreclosures soaring at record rates, the economic picture dimming and job losses ramping up, all the elements were in place to push prices lower.

"The turmoil in the financial markets is placing further downward pressure on a housing market already weakened by its own fundamentals." said David Blitzer, Standard & Poor's spokesman for the indexes, in a press release. "All three aggregate indices and 13 of the 20 metro areas are reporting new record rates of decline. . . . Prices are back to where they were in early 2004."

The 10-city index is now 23.4% off its peak price, which came in June 2006; the 20-city index is down 21.8% from its July 2006 high and the national index has fallen 21% since the third quarter of 2006.

Home prices in the 10-city index have fallen for 26 consecutive months. The decline has broadened over the past 12 months, with prices dropping in every city of the 20-city index during September.

In the weakest market, Phoenix, the 12-month loss came to 31.9%. Las Vegas prices plummeted 31.3% and San Francisco recorded a 29.5% decline. The best performing markets, Dallas and Charlotte, N.C., still posted drops - 2.7% in Dallas and 3.5% in Charlotte.

With San Francisco and Las Vegas, the other members of the 10-city index are: Miami, down 28.4% year-over-year; Los Angeles, down 27.6%; San Diego, down 26.3%; Washington, down 17%; Chicago, down 10.1%; New York, down 7.3%; Boston, down 5.7%; and Denver, down 5.4%.

In addition to Phoenix, Dallas, Charlotte and the cities in the 10-city index, the 20-city index is made up of: Detroit, down 18.6%); Tampa, Fla., down 18.5%; Minneapolis, down 14%; Seattle, down 9.8%; Atlanta, down 9.5%; Portland, Ore., down 8.6%; and Cleveland, down 6.4%.

Foreclosures continue to take a heavy toll, with sales in some cities dominated by properties repossessed by banks and then put back on the market, often at bargain prices. In Las Vegas and Cleveland, for example, about half of all homes for sale are bank-owned properties, according to the real estate Web site, Trulia.com.

"Foreclosures are clearly a part of the market now," said Blitzer.

He added that the national index price trends tend to be more moderate because they encompass many more exurban and rural areas, where, in many cases, home prices never skyrocketed as they did in some of the hotter, urban markets.

Karl Case, the Wellesley economics professor who is the Case in Case-Shiller, said during a news conference about the latest index report that he would hesitate to put a number on how much further prices could fall, but the increasing job losses will surely worsen the situation.

"There's no cushion against unemployment," he said.

And Pat Newport, an economist with Global Insight, pointed out that the latest numbers don't even capture the impact of some of the events of the past couple of months.

"The real economy took a sharp turn for the worse towards the end of the third quarter," he said. "Since then, housing permits are down, the National Association of Home Builders index of activity dropped to a record low in November and purchase loan applications were down 15%. That's telling us the housing market has worsened a lot."

Add to that a jumping unemployment rate and more bank woes and it adds up to lousy home price numbers for months to come, according to Newport.

"As bad as the latest Case-Shiller numbers appear to be, they are bound to get a lot worse," he said.

Bad Day

2008-06-09T18:29:00.001-07:00

Chocolate = Super Healthy!

2008-05-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

by Justin Rogers

In its NATURAL state, that is. Chocolate comes from cacao beans, which are extremely nutritious and beneficial to your health! Let's go over some benefits of CACAO, courtesy of LiveSuperFoods.com.

Cacao Beans

Many people consider eating chocolate a “guilty pleasure.” But the reputation of chocolate as a junk food should more accurately be attributed to the harmful effects of commercial processing and refining techniques, and the other ingredients commonly added, most notably white sugar. All chocolate is made from the cacao (cocoa) bean, and cacao beans in their natural, unprocessed, unadulterated state are rich in nutrients and beneficial to health.

Why Unprocessed Chocolate is Good for You

Antioxidants: Cacao has more antioxidant flavonoids than any food tested so far, including blueberries, red wine, and black and green teas. In fact, it has up to four times the quantity of antioxidants found in green tea. Health benefits of these antioxidants include:

* Promote cardiovascular health - Help dilate bloods vessels, reduce blood clotting, improve circulation, help regulate heartbeat and blood pressure, lower LDL cholesterol, and reduce the risk of stroke and heart attacks.
* Protect from environmental and metabolic toxins - Help repair and resist damage caused by free radicals, and may reduce risk of certain cancers.

Neurotransmitters: By increasing the levels of specific neurotransmitters in our brains, cacao promotes positive outlook, facilitates rejuvenation and simply helps us feel good.

* Serotonin - Cacao raises the level of serotonin in the brain; thus acts as an anti-depressant, helps reduce PMS systems, and promotes a sense of well-being.
* Endorphins - Cacao stimulates the secretion of endorphins, producing a pleasurable sensation similar to the “runner’s high” a jogger feels after running several miles.
* Phenylethylamine - Found in chocolate, phenylethylamine is also created within the brain and released when we are in love. Acts as mild mood elevator and anti-depressant, and helps increase focus and alertness.
* Anandamide - Anandamide is known as the “bliss chemical” because it is released by the brain when we are feeling great. Cacao contains both N-acylethanolamines, believed to temporarily increase the levels of anandamide in the brain, and enzyme inhibitors that slow its breakdown. Promotes relaxation, and helps us feel good longer. (Also, cacao contains inhibitors that slow down the natural breakdown of anandamide, which in turn makes this natural 'good' feeling last longer.)

Essential Minerals: Cacao beans are rich in a number of essential minerals, including magnesium, sulfur, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium and manganese.

* Magnesium - Cacao seems to be the #1 source of magnesium of any food. Magnesium balances brain chemistry, builds strong bones, and helps regulate heartbeat and blood pressure. Magnesium deficiency, present in 80% of Americans, is linked with PMT, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and joint problems.
* Sulfur - Cacao is high in the beauty mineral sulfur. Sulfur builds strong nails and hair, promotes beautiful skin, detoxifies the liver, and supports healthy pancreas functioning.

Essential fats: There is a misperception that chocolate is fattening. In truth, the fats in cocoa butter are healthy fats. Cacao contains oleic acid, a heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, also found in olive oil, that may raise good cholesterol. Also, substances found in cacao are known to help reduce appetite.

Important note - To fully benefit from chocolate’s wide array of nutrients, eat chocolate that is as close to its natural state as possible. Whole cacao beans and nibs are best. You lose many of the health benefits when you eat commercially produced chocolate.

How to use cacao beans: Eat them as is; sprinkle on yogurt, granola, ice cream and desserts; make delicious chocolate shakes and smoothies; grind into a powder and add to tea, coffee and other drinks; combine with nuts in a food processor to make chocolate nut fudge; create your own chocolate bar; make chocolate sauce and liqueur.

Cacao: Its History and Use
From the Time of the Aztecs to Today

The cacao tree has been cultivated in Mexico and Central and South America for thousands of years, and it has been so highly valued that some Native peoples once used its seed, or bean, as currency. The Aztecs believed cacao to be of divine origin, and both they and the Mayans used the roasted bean in the famous beverage Chocolatl, together with vanilla and other flavorings.

In the early 16th century, Columbus brought sacks of cacao back to Europe, but he did not realize its economic value. Then, in 1519, Cortez brought cacao back to Spain, and it was soon made into a luxury drink for the upper classes. By the 17th and early 18th centuries, chocolate was considered a cure for many illnesses, as well as a catalyst for provoking passion, although it was still too expensive for the general populace. Finally, in the 18th century, chocolate houses were established in London, making chocolate available to a broader spectrum of society, and their popularity quickly surpassed that of the coffee houses.

Today cacao is planted on over 43,000 square miles worldwide. Forty percent of production is from Cote d’Ivoire, while Ghana and Indonesia produce about 15% each, and Brazil, Nigeria, and Cameroon provide smaller quantities.

How Cacao is Harvested

Cacao beans are harvested today in much the same way as they were by the Aztecs. After the pods ripen, which takes 5 to 6 months, they are removed from the tree and carefully cut open with a machete, and the cacao beans are extracted.

After harvesting, the beans are placed on banana leaves in large wooden boxes and left to ferment for several days. During fermentation, complex chemical changes take place. The bitterness of the bean is reduced and the rich chocolate flavor begins to develop. The beans are dried after fermentation, and during this drying process, the brown color develops and further flavor development occurs.

Using Cacao Beans and Nibs at Home

If you are using whole beans, simply crunch them between your fingers to loosen and remove the peel. You can use the beans whole or grind them in a spice mill/coffee grinder or food processor. Then add them to smoothies, teas, desserts, raw food bars or any dish that calls for the delicious flavor of chocolate. They are especially good when used in recipes with our vanilla beans. Here are some more detailed suggestions for enjoying the exquisite flavor of cacao:

1. Try eating them straight, a tablespoon at a time. Chew thoroughly and experience the taste extravaganza of raw (or roasted) chocolate.
2. Sprinkle on yogurt, granola, desserts, etc.
3. Make a delicious chocolate shake with dairy or nut milk, coconut oil, a frozen banana, agave nectar, and cacao beans.
4. Add agave nectar, yacon sweetener, or honey to the raw cacao nibs and chew!
5. Freeze cacao nibs with sweeteners (agave nectar or honey is fantastic). Eat cold.
6. Blend powdered cacao into herbal teas with the Peruvian superfood maca.
7. Add cacao nibs to ice creams for the healthiest chocolate chip ice cream in the world.
8. Create a raw chocolate bar! Blend the following raw ingredients together: cacao, agave nectar, carob powder, maca, coconut oil, and cashews. Pour into a mold and freeze. Eat cold and experience the truth about the food of the gods!
9. Grind whole beans or nibs into a powder and combine with coconut oil to make a chocolate sauce. Use in cookies, brownies or other raw or baked desserts.
10. If you have a Champion juicer, you can make unsweetened baker’s chocolate by running the nibs or unpeeled whole beans through it. To make a “liquor” run the powder through the Champion several more times until it separates into powder and liquid.
11. Make a scrumptious chocolate nut fudge. In a food processor or blender, start with your favorite nut (cashews or almonds are particularly good) and add coconut oil, agave nectar or honey, coconut flakes, cacao beans, vanilla, and a pinch of salt.

Cacao beans keep well in cool, dry conditions.

So... if you'd like to try some cacao beans for yourself, feel free to order some at LiveSuperFoods.com today!

iDoser - Get Stoned Without Getting Stoned

2008-05-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

"I-Doser Labs is the Industry Leader in Binaural Brainwave technology. Using proven, scientific, and safe methods of synchronizing your brainwaves; a simulated state can be achieved through the use of our advanced Binaural Methods."

How To Download Music from Anywhere

2008-04-26T07:08:00.001-07:00

by LatestGroove

Listening to music on the computer is always a nice, motivating experience.

However, sometimes, I just wanna pump a song in my car while I'm dealing with the fact that I'm on my way to work. There's nothing quite like it. Not to mention when you get off work, and play something like "Beautiful Day" by U2.

Computer speakers are just fine for what they are, but we all know that they don't even touch our sound system speakers, car speakers, auditorium speakers, etc. So let's get down to business.

How To Download Music from Anywhere

1. Myspace

Okay, this is easy. Just download the great program Myspace MP3 Gopher from our server. Extract. Open. Put in the friend ID of the music page you are extracting the song from. (The easiest way to get the friend id is just hover over any link in the profile like send message and you'll see at the bottom status bar of your browser the id. It will look something like this: http://messaging.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=
mail.message&friendID=6940840
&MyToken=19704d54-2dc6-47a3-b5fc-6cb29962c25a

Now open the program and enter the ID, and you'll see the music list.

Now double-click the song, hit download and it's that simple!

2. Google

If you haven't heard about the Google 2 Napster method yet, then you're quite frankly out of the loop. It's sort of something you have to know about. Basically, you can type in certain codes to make google search directories for any type of file you want (programs, music, videos, pictures, pdf/ebooks, torrents, etc).

Yeah, so here's an easy-to-use interface for doing just that!

3. Limewire

Yes, I know, everyone and his mother knows about Limewire. But it deserves at least a mention, don't you think? Just download, install, and search for media files P2P style. Hey, it works!

Download Here

4. Torrents

Basically, torrents are little files that act as doorways to download whatever file is attached to it. Confusing? Yeah, I know.

Just download BitTorrent, visit torrents.to, and find just about any file you like! That encompasses a lot more than just music. Guaranteed.

5. Usenext

Usenext is kind of the same concept as torrents/limewire, except it's all newsgroup based. So basically, it's faster and easier.

Just visit UseNext.com and read the instructions. I should mention that UseNext ISN'T FREE, it does cost a monthly fee. It isn't very expensive at all, though, and they do offer a 14-day free trial.

6. Moosix.net

This is a simple, little google-like page.

As you can see, there are 3 basic options: iJigg, MP3 Realm, and Esnips.

--iJigg

This one is tricky, but overall fairly simple. Just select iJigg and search an artist/song. For this example, I'll search radiohead. So this comes up:

Now, let's click DOWNLOAD on the first result on top, Karma Police. You'll see that it simply loads a blank page with the text 'http://www.ijigg.com/cgi-bin/loadSongData.cgi?songID=V2BAPAD'... wow, what does that mean? Don't worry, it's easier than it seems. Just copy/paste this string of text into your search bar like this:

Hit enter. Wow, great another blank white page with simple text. It's okay, I promise... the text returned this time is:

http://staticmdb-002.ijigg.com/songdata/19PywANEAkpfxeId0S.mp3 Rabbits in my head - karma police 01:58 radiohead karmapolice alternative rock thom yorke india Rabbits in my head 24 0 5 1209223757

What YOU want is that first part, http://staticmdb-002.ijigg.com/songdata/19PywANEAkpfxeId0S.mp3 - VOILA, you have yourself a direct link to the mp3 file for the song Karma Police by Radiohead.

--MP3 Realm

Now this one is a heck-of-a-lot easier. You just search the artist/song, and hit download...boom. :)

--eSnips

BOOOOOOO! I don't understand this one yet. Maybe you do?

7. Research

Get off your patoody and do a little research! It all starts with google...

I hope you've enjoyed this article, please subscribe on the top right if you'd like to know when more suave articles are posted!

The Give Buttons

2008-04-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of THE HUNGER SITE (TheHungerSite.com)

Please take part and simply click these links to nudge our world in the right direction. :)

The Rain Forest - When you click this button, you save 11.4 square feet of rainforest!

The Hungry Kids - When you click this button, you give 1.1 cups of food to hungry children!

Breast Cancer - When you click this button, you help a woman in need get a free mammogram!

Child Health Care - When you click this button, you help a child in need get health care!

Give Children Books - When you click this button, you help a child in need attain literacy!

Animal Rescue - When you click this button, you give .6 bowls of food to rescued animals!

Three Policemen Dismissed for Raping 16-year-old

2008-04-12T22:23:00.000-07:00

by Hindustan Times

The Punjab police on Saturday dismissed three of its personnel, including an assistant sub-inspector, after they allegedly raped a 16-year-old girl in a park behind the deputy commissioner's (DC) residence Ludhiana on Friday night.

The rape of the minor girl, who hails from Lucknow, came to light after she cried for help in the park behind the DC's residence in Ludhiana.

The three policemen overpowered the girl, who had come to meet her boyfriend in the park, and raped her. They shooed away her friend.

People who heard her cries took her to the home of the DC from where she was taken to a hospital for medical examination.

"The medical examination of the girl confirmed that she has been raped," Ludhiana district police chief RK Jaswal admitted.

"We have dismissed three personnel," Ludhiana range deputy inspector general (DIG) Ishwar Singh said.

Those who were dismissed included assistant sub inspector Inderjit Singh and two other personnel Hari Om and Gurmail Singh. All three were on police control room duty when they saw the girl in the park and overpowered her.

Original Article Here

Hillary Can't Answer Question on Colombia

2008-04-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

Yeah, she's stumped:

Catch Cancer with a Knowing Hand

2008-04-11T11:58:00.000-07:00

by Terri Coles

When it comes to detecting cancer, a visit to your doctor is always the most effective option, but a knowing hand doesn't hurt.

While there is no evidence that self-examinations of breasts and genitals leads to earlier detection of cancer, an awareness of what is normal for each individual can help a patient notice when something changes, said Dr Durado Brooks, the American Cancer Society's prostate and colorectal cancer director.

"Men should know what their testicles feel like normally," said Brooks, and if something out of the order is noticed, get it checked.

"One of the unfortunate things that happens is that many times men will, in the course of their day-to-day activities, notice some abnormality but either ignore it just because they don't think it's important or be concerned but not address it quickly," Brooks said. A physician will do genital and breast exams as part of a regular physical, and will know what may require further medical investigation.

Part of the problem may be that people are sometimes afraid to face a serious health issue. They may also be embarrassed to mention their unmentionables.

Artist Shannon Gerard may have an answer.

Gerard's partner was in the shower when he found a lump on one of his testicles. The discovery, and their hunt for information on what the lump could mean, inspired Gerard's artistic project that promotes body awareness and explores our feelings about the health of our most private parts.

The artist's Boobs and Dinks Early Detection Kits use crocheted models of breasts and penises -- complete with "lumps" sewn inside and an instruction booklet -- to illustrate how to perform a genital self-exam. The kit aims to both educate about a health issue and address the fears people have about their health, Gerard said.

"Talking to people about your fear, especially about your body, is really bizarre and intimidating," she said. "I thought the idea of making something soft like a plush toy you could play with while talking would mediate the conversation in a way that was less weird or less scary."

For most cancers, early detection means more treatment options and a greater chance of recovery -- and paying attention to your body can help you catch a change early, which could increase your chances of survival if there is cancer. Breast cancer makes up one in four of the cancer cases diagnosed in American women, according to the ACS; though relatively rare, testicular cancer is still the most common cancer in men aged 25 to 34, but the ACS says it usually curable if found before it has metastasized.

"The good news is that testicular cancer is one of the most highly treatable cancers," said Brooks. "In most cases, when it's detected it can be treated effectively and men can go on to live normal, productive lives. I think Lance Armstrong is certainly one of the most public examples of that."

Seven-time Tour de France winner Armstrong was diagnosed in 1996 with testicular cancer that had metastasized to his brain and lungs, and recovered after chemotherapy and brain and testicular surgery.

For women, monthly breast self-exams are an option but regular visits to a doctor is the best course, said Dr. Debbie Saslow, director of breast and gynecological cancer for the ACS. Vulvar cancer, for example, is rare and symptoms are more likely to present in itching than obvious outward signs, Saslow said.

Gerard's partner's story had a positive ending: An ultrasound revealed that his lump was a harmless dilated vein, sometimes seen in avid cyclists. But her work on body awareness has continued with her Playing Doctor installation, now running in Canada's most populous city, Toronto.

The installation includes the self-detection kits, as well as a video featuring models wearing life-sized versions and demonstrating how to do a self-exam. Braver visitors to the exhibition can follow along with the videos with the wearable kits provided.

Gerard is looking at wider applications of the self-exam kits and the other materials in her installation. "I've tried to locate it in the art world because that's my point of reference as an artist," she said, "but I think it's even more exciting to think of it as more of an educational tool."

She recently spoke to Planned Parenthood, which is looking at using the project in educational workshops, particularly with men, and she hopes to see the models used as discussion-starters in health environments. "Instead of being a manifestation of an idea," she said, "it could be the beginning of a process."

LATEST: Top 8 Firefox Addons

2008-04-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

by LatestGroove

Our Favorite, Latest Firefox Addons

1. WebMail Notifier 1.0.10
WebMail Notifier checks your webmail accounts and notifies the number of unread emails...
Supports : gmail, yahoo, hotmail, daum, naver, empas, nate and more

2. Adblock Plus 0.7.5.4
Ever been annoyed by all those ads and banners on the internet that often take longer to download than everything else on the page? Install Adblock Plus now and get rid of them.

3. IE Tab 1.5.20080310
IE Tab: Embedding Internet Explorer in tabs of Mozilla/Firefox...This is a great tool for web developers, since you can easily see how your web page displayed in IE with just one click and then switch back to Firefox.

4. Video DownloadHelper 3.0.3
The easy way to download Web videos from hundreds of YouTube-like sites.
This works also for audio and picture galleries.

5. Forecastfox 0.9.6
Get international weather forecasts from AccuWeather.com, and display it in any toolbar or statusbar with this highly customizable and unobtrusive...

6. All-in-One Sidebar 0.7.4
All-in-One Sidebar (AiOS) is an award-winning sidebar control, inspired by Opera's. It lets you quickly switch between sidebar panels, view dialog windows such as downloads, extensions, and more in the sidebar, or view source or websites in the sidebar.

7. FoxyTunes 2.9.5
Do you listen to Music while surfing the Web? FoxyTunes lets you control almost any media player and find lyrics, covers, videos, bios and much more with a click right from your browser.

8. SeoQuake
Seoquake is a Mozilla Firefox extension aimed primarily at helping web masters who deal with search engine optimization and internet promotion of web sites. Seoquake allows to obtain and investigate many important SEO parameters of the internet...

Teens videotape beating as revenge for online posts

2008-04-09T22:33:00.000-07:00

by Mike Celizic

Watch Video From MSNBC

For 30 minutes, six girls ganged up on a classmate, slamming her head into a wall and taking turns pummeling her and videotaping it all to post on the Internet. And when they were arrested and were being booked into juvenile detention, they joked about not being able to go to the beach, a Florida sheriff said Tuesday on TODAY.

The vicious attack in Lakeland, Fla., was supposedly in response to slurs and insults the victim had posted about them on MySpace. But the alleged online comments are no justification for the attack, Polk County, Fla., Sheriff Grady Judd told co-host Meredith Vieira.

“I don’t have the specifics of those comments, but there is nothing our victim could have said on the Internet that would have caused that kind of beating,” Judd said.

Officials released three minutes of the 30-minute video that show two of the girls taking turns screaming obscenities at the victim between attacks with their fists, while the others watched and taped the attack. They also challenge the victim to fight back, which she does not do on the video.

“The beating you’re seeing is the second beating,” he said. “She was knocked unconscious prior to this video clip.”

The 16-year-old victim suffered a concussion, and has hearing loss in her left ear and some loss of vision in her left eye, Judd said. Her face is obscured in the video and her name is being withheld.

Facing charges of battery, false imprisonment and kidnapping are Mercades Nichols, 17, Brittini Hardcastle, 17, April Cooper, 14, Cara Murphy, 16, Britney Mayes, 17, Kayla Hassell, 15, Zachary Ashley, 17, and Stephen Schumaker, 18.

The two boys are accused of acting as lookouts outside the house in which the beating took place on March 30.

All are in juvenile detention except for Schumaker, an adult, who was booked into the Polk County Jail and released on $5,000 bond.

Judd is recommending that all be charged and tried as adults, but that is a decision that is yet to be made by prosecutors who are investigating the case, Judd said.

The attack took place in the home of Nichols’ grandmother, where Nichols was staying during spring break, according to her mother, Christina Garcia.

According to local newspaper accounts, the victim had been staying at the house with Nichols after being thrown out of her own home. In a separate interview on TODAY with Matt Lauer, Garcia said that her daughter did not take part in the beating and, in fact, tried to warn the victim not to go into the house.

Mother defends suspect
Police say that Nichols was one of the girls who lured the victim to the house while Nichols’ grandmother was at work.

“Mercades, my daughter, warned this girl before she came into the house,” Garcia said. She said her daughter told the victim, “The two girls that you have been running your mouth about and threatening on MySpace are in the house. Please do not go in the house.”

She added that an adult in the home next door heard her daughter say that.

Lauer asked Garcia if she thought her daughter should have called police at some point during the half-hour attack.

“My daughter should have picked up the phone and called the police. Yes, she did warn this girl not to go in the house, but I do believe my daughter should have called the police,” she said.

But Garcia also said that the incident is being overblown by Judd.

“First of all, the tape that was released is only three minutes long. That was the worst of it,” she said, contradicting the sheriff. “My daughter is the one who turned the video tape over to the sheriff’s department for evidence. My daughter turned it over to them.”

Judd said the most shocking thing about the attack is how lightly the alleged assailants took their actions. Vieira asked him if they showed any remorse when they were arrested.

“None at all,” he said. “When we had them arrested and in detention, they were laughing and joking, ‘Guess we’re not going to go to the beach on this spring break.’ One girl actually asked our detective, ‘Am I going to be released in time to go to cheerleading practice tomorrow?’ ”

When told that Garcia disputes his account of what happened, Judd replied, “I’m not concerned with what one of the mothers of the suspects said; she doesn’t even have custody of the child.”

Garcia said she does have custody of her daughter, who, she told local reporters, was staying with her grandmother to be closer to school.

Judd said he wants to make the case an example to others.

“Our goal is not only to deal with this issue, but to try to educate parents across the state and across the nation that this is what your children are watching,” he said. “This is what some children are participating in. And we as a society have got to say, ‘This has to stop,’ because if we desensitize our children to this today, then what’s next tomorrow?”

Flickr Adds Video

2008-04-08T18:51:00.000-07:00

by LifeHacker

Photo-sharing site Flickr throws its hat into the ring with YouTube and Google Video and becomes a photo and video sharing site today. Flickr Pro members (only) can now upload up to 90-second video clips to the site, and everyone, pro member or not, can view and comment on the clips. The reason for the 90-second limit? The Flickr Help pages explain:

We're not trying to limit your artistic freedom, we're trying something new. Everyone has endured that wedding video, where even the bride will fast-forward to the "good bit." In fact, even Tara at FlickrHQ hasn't made it past the first 90 seconds of her own wedding video.

Check out the Flickr Video! Video! Video! group for some of the first clips to make it to the site.

Video on Flickr! [Flickr Blog]

The End Of The World?

2008-04-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

by REDTOPHANK

Was this the end of the world for anyone else?

View Full Size Image

Drag and Drop Text and Images in Firefox

2008-04-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

by LifeHacker

You can get around Firefox fast without taking your fingers off the keys, but mouse fans will be happy to know there are a whole lot of ways you can get things done in the 'fox by dragging and dropping text and images as well. For example, you can drag and drop:

* a URL (hyperlinked or not) onto an empty area on the tab bar to immediately have that URL opened in a new background tab.
* an image onto the address bar to immediately have that image open in the current tab.

CyberNet News runs down more more drag and drop goodness in Firefox; hit the link to see the rest.

Helpful Tip: Drag & Drop Text/URL's in Firefox [CyberNet News]

Know Who Your Neighbors Are

2008-04-06T22:51:00.000-07:00

by FelonSpy

Are you in danger? It's your right to know. Search for violent criminals in your area.

Begin Your Search

Safety starts with good information, even if it ends with a loaded .44 caliber pistol. While FelonSpy.com can’t help you get a gun, we can certainly help you figure out which direction to point it in.

Our patented Felon Search technology mines data from across the nation, from the web and otherwise, and combines it into a single, easy to use interface. Whether you’re checking up on your own neighbors or trying to find out if that hotel you’ve been eyeing is in a safe place, we can help.

Simply type in the desired address, click enter and let your new knowledge be your peace of mind.

NOTE: Although we get many requests from the European Union and certain Middle Eastern and African regions, we unfortunately only provide this information for the USA only. We are currently working on an E.U. solution and hope to have it online soon. Thanks for your support, we hope you like our site.

9 Hidden Keys to Happiness and Success

2008-04-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

by Melissa Van Rossum

We all love to feel motivated. I know I do. It’s absolute nirvana to be on purpose and on task at the same time. But life often intervenes in my plans and that can mean stress, frustration and setbacks and I find that I have to live my life on Inner Motivation – particularly when the proverbial chips are down.

Most of us wait for someone else to give us a reason to move ahead or we wait for circumstance or opportunity to line up in just the right way so we can move ahead with the inner commitment we’ve been holding back. We wait for our partner to say ‘I love you’ first, we wait for a sign of acceptance before we commit to revealing some part of ourselves and we wait for the evidence of the result before we commit our belief.

Too many of us this seems like a smart or even shrewd way of going about business and life. We think we’re protecting and insulating ourselves by not putting too much ‘out there’ and therefore avoiding disappointment or (God forbid) rejection. In reality, though, this is actually a very dangerous way to live life because it puts your life and your happiness in someone else’s hands - a sure fire equation for misery. From the inside this may seem like a very controlled way to live life, but it’s actually a very out of control way to live life. That’s why it makes us so unhappy and leaves us so unfulfilled. There’s nothing dependable or controlled about it.

One of my favorite movie scenes is from the Indiana Jones movie where he (played by Harrison Ford) and his father (played by Sean Connery) are searching for the Holy Grail. Indiana’s father lies dying at the hands of the Nazis and to save his life Indiana must find the Holy Grail. To get to the Grail, Indiana has to accurately decode his father’s Grail diary which will enable him to make his way through certain life-threatening challenges. After successfully making his way through several of the tests, he comes to a huge chasm that lies between where he is and where he wants to be. He reads the Bible passage from his father’s diary which has to do with “faith being the evidence of things not seen”. He picks up a handful of sand and throws it out to the chasm only to see the sand fall on an invisible bridge.

I personally believe there lies a bridge across every chasm we face, no matter the depth or the breadth of the canyon. The path to whatever we want in life always exists and we can find it if we have the unwavering commitment and willingness to learn and grow in the ways required of us.

“Courage is the price that life extracts for peace of mind.”
Amelia Earhardt

When the relationship or the job or the project doesn’t go the way you wanted it to, you need to have Authentic Inner Motivation to get you to where you want to be. You can’t force yourself to be motivated. You have to develop it from the inside out. Having Authentic Inner Motivation at your disposal whenever you want it requires focus, commitment and discipline.

How do you do develop Authentic Inner Motivation? Let’s take a look at the formula:

1. Set Goals - First, decide what you want. Take your sales, income and personal goals, and be crystal clear about them. Write them down and look at them several times throughout the day. A vague goal of doing the best you can or giving your best every day won’t get you there. You have to clearly see what you want – and often.

I have a Vision Folder. Inside it I have photographs, pages from magazines and mock-ups that reflect my goals. It’s an easy and portable way to keep my goals in front me, and I look at them every morning and evening.

2. Commitment – Nothing happens without complete and total personal commitment. If you’re leaving out even 1% of your total dedication to accomplishing your goal, you won’t get there. Think about this…what would happen if your doctor had a 99% commitment to healing you or your loved one? Would that be enough for you? Would you have respect for them?

If you want to sleep well at night, if you want to be respected by those you’re in relationship with and if you want to have overwhelming self-respect – commit 155% of yourself to your goals and watch your life change for the better.

3. Self-Honesty – This is a tough one for some folks. Not everyone is comfortable taking a hard look within. But if you’re serious about being successful you need to look within to see what you’re doing to create your own experience. You also need to be honest about what skills you need to learn to get you to where you want to be. Also, take an honest internal inventory of your emotional health. If you’re carrying resentment from your last employment experience, your last relationship or any other experience, it’s limiting the success you create today.

Think about the people you’ve known that use resentment as insulation in their life – now notice how betrayal is a common theme in their life. There’s a reason for that. Call it the Law of Attraction, Karma, a self-fulfilling prophecy or the “as ye sow, so shall ye reap” principle, it means you are creating your own experiences. When you hold on to resentment, you are (subconsciously) believing that you don’t have a choice or any power in your current situation, that the other person is against you in some way and so this situation will turn negatively and there’s nothing you can do about it. Resentment always breeds betrayal in your life. Take an emotional inventory and heal and release the reasons for the negative emotions – particularly the resentment and watch the prosperity roll in!

4. Accountability – It doesn’t matter whether you listen to a minister, your favorite self-improvement author, your Mom or Dr. Phil, they will all tell you the same thing…your life is created from the inside out, so you might as well own it. Blame of any kind is a jail cell for your spirit.

5. Commit to Faith & Belief – Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” - the faith and the belief has to come first – the evidence comes after. There was a book written several years ago under the title You’ll See It When You Believe It. Great title. In the tarot deck, the first card is the card of the Fool which shows a picture of a young man ostensibly walking off of the edge of the cliff – it’s said to be the bravest, most powerful card in the entire deck.

6. Have an Attitude of Gratitude – The most powerful words you can ever use, think or write is THANK YOU. Just as resentment can shut down your prosperity and relationships, an attitude of gratitude will open the floodgates of prosperity and love in your life. (Remember to use these powerful words with yourself as well!) Every life experience is a gift and a perspective of appreciation makes the inherent wisdom of our experiences all that more evident to us.

7. Practice Tolerance – Judgment is another self-limiting behavior that limits your success and hampers your motivation and creativity. Judgment is a terrible burden to carry around and creates a paranoiac state of mind. Practice tolerance and lighten your load!

8. Get Inspired – Inspiration comes from different sources for different people, and it’s essential that we know what works for us and that we prime these sources often. I have a writer friend who has her most motivating songs on a separate section on her iPod. When she feels blocked or frustrated or discouraged, one of the things she does is listen to those songs one by one. Long before the end of the songs she’s belting out the words right along with her favorite artist and she’s ready to take another stab at her project at hand. I like to go for a walk or a run outside. With two small children in my life I may only get ½ hour to squeeze in a run or a walk but that time is so inspirational to me. It really stirs my creativity. Meditating is inspirational as is a good movie, a good book or talking with someone else whose success you admire.

9. Take Care of Your Health – If you don’t feel well, it’s hard to stay motivated. So take good care of your health! Eat well, take vitamins, exercise every day, play, rest and enjoy your work! There’s a saying…anyone would give their money to have health, but no one would give their health to have money. Right now I’m really into juicing. It’s an idea that came to me while I was sitting outside (of course) next to the koi pond at Children’s Hospital when my son was ill last summer. As often as my husband could he would join us and come turn cartwheels to distract and make our son laugh so I could get some food into him. When –pop- there was the idea – juicing. It’s worked beautifully. Our son began drinking his veggies and since they’re masked under pineapple or apple or strawberries, he loves every drop. The rest of our family has started juicing as a result and I’m amazed at how good it makes you feel and how much energy it gives you! A friend of ours picked up the Jack Lalanne juicer for us while we were still in the hospital and he has a neat video on his site at www.powerjuicer.com .

Authentic Inner Motivation isn’t just a skill that will help you earn the kind of money that you want or that will make you happier while you’re doing it, it’s a way of living that will help you to live a happier and more successful life.

Use the AIM Formula in your work and let yourself shine! You’ll be happier, more successful and more prosperous for doing it.

14 Ways to Find a Wi-Fi Signal

2008-04-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

by Mike Gunderloy

Web workers on the go live and die by connectivity. In the olden days this used to mean finding a spare ethernet drop at your client’s office, but fortunately, we’ve advanced since then. Now we get the bulk of our connectivity over the air using a variety of technologies.

While there are plenty of devices using things like EDGE and EVDO to tap in through the phone network, in most cases finding wireless connectivity means just one thing: finding an open Wi-Fi hotspot and hooking up to it. But how do you find those hotspots? There are more ways than you might be aware of; here are 14 of them.

Web Directories - For starters, you can try searching for a hotspot on the web. No one directory is comprehensive, so if you strike out in one it’s worth checking another.

* JiWire has a database of nearly a quarter-million locations around the world, searchable by map or address. They also offer access to their database by iPhone, Skype, and desktop applications.
* Hotspot Locations has a searchable database of 100,000 or so hotspots, as well as news and reviews.
* WiFinder lists almost 40,000 hotspots, searchable by address.
* Wi-FiHotSpotList.com comes from Internet.com; there’s no mention of how many sites they cover, but I’ve found them to be fairly spotty.
* Wi-Fi Free Spot provides listings by state and city, rather than a search interface, but they limit the results to free hotspots, which is convenient.
* Another specialized option is the US Wireless Networks wiki, which concentrates on Wi-Fi in libraries.
* If you’re looking for a place to stay, you can try the Quikbooks hotel search, which includes a category for “complimentary Wi-Fi”.

Social Networks - There’s a social network for everything these days, and Wi-Fi is no exception. The theory is that your Wi-Fi using peers are the best source of information.

* In this category you can try WeFi, which boasts about 425,000 hot spots in its database. You can visit their site to search via Shockwave-based map, or download their client (released for Windows, beta for Mac) to get access to the information on your computer (as well as do the inevitable friend tracking).
* Another user-driven database comes from Hotspotr, which features a Google Maps mashup for searching but only has about 8400 listings.
* ILoveFreeWifi is another user-driven site, whose listings tend to have a bit more detail but whose database is concentrated on major cities.

Physical Detectors - If you just want to know whether a hotspot is nearby, you can use a detector that responds to Wi-Fi frequencies. These come in forms as diverse as keychains, USB keys, watches, and even t-shirts. Of course, just because you find a signal doesn’t mean there’s an open hotspot, but with no signal at all you can be sure you’re in the wrong place.

The Cream of the New Cell Phone Crop

2008-04-04T05:54:00.000-07:00

by PCWorld.com

Sleek sliders, colorful clamshells, and the fastest Internet tablet yet: There was something for everyone at 2008 CTIA, the largest North American wireless telecom show.

Samsung Instinct: Best of Breed Among iPhone Competitors

The phone everyone was talking about--the Instinct--a collaboration between Sprint (which badly needs customers) and Samsung (always interested in cutting-edge design) shapes up as the most serious iPhone wanna-be yet.

It has true 3G data support (via Sprint's EVDO network), real (not cleverly triangulated) GPS to support its navigation app, plenty of customization features, the possibility of third-party support via its Java/Brew underpinnings. . . and, oh yes, did we mention it should significantly undercut the iPhone in price? It's a little thicker and a tad narrower, but it certainly in the ballpark for those enamored of the iPhone form factor, and it is a touch-screen phone--with haptics feedback, no less. Could it be an iPhone killer? Maybe not, but given Sprint's intention of spending $100 million to market it, we'll be interested to see how things play out.

GO HERE TO SEE ALL NEW PHONES AND READ FULL ARTICLE

Amy Winehouse Treats Paparazzi

2008-04-04T00:10:00.000-07:00

by YouTube

Isn't she nice? :)

Digg is a PAIN Today

2008-04-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

by REDTOPHANK

It's getting to the point where every action I decide to take on Digg today takes about 3 refreshes or 6 retries.

Just wondering if anyone else shares the same frustration?

Please vote at the top!

Mobile, Dextrous, Social Robots

2008-04-03T09:23:00.000-07:00

by MIT Media Lab

Birth Month Can Affect Vision Later

2008-04-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

by Local 6.com

The time of year a baby is born influences whether he or she will need glasses later in life, according to a new study.

Dr. Yossi Mandel studied more than 276,000 people in Israel from 2000 to 2004 as they entered the military. All had been born in that country, so they would have experienced similar natural light levels before and near birth.

Myopia, the technical term for nearsightedness -- in which distant objects are not seen as clearly -- was mild in 19 percent of the people, moderate in 8.7 percent and severe in 2.4 percent.

The rates of having moderate or severe myopia were lowest for babies born in December or January and highest for babies born in June and July. More than 12.7 percent of people born in the months with the most sun had myopia. In the low-sun months, the rate was just over 11.5 percent.

Researchers also found that, when graphed, moderate and severe myopia rates went up and down as the amount of sunlight around birth went up and down.

A news release from the researchers said that the results were statistically significant, but it did not offer specifics on how much great the effect was.

The work supported previous research that suggest that light exposure before and just after birth can influence how the eyes develop.

Global Warming May Bring Malaria to Britain

2008-04-02T21:01:00.000-07:00

by Reuters

Climate change could bring malaria and other diseases to Britain and trigger more frequent heatwaves that will have huge health impacts, British doctors said on Thursday.

With the exception of Lyme disease, insect-borne diseases are largely unknown in Britain. But global warming could change that in a few decades, according to a report from the British Medical Association (BMA).

"Higher temperatures and heavier rainfall may increase the spread of infections like malaria that have previously been virtually non-existent in the UK," the organization's Head of Science and Ethics, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, said.

Hotter weather also poses a significant risk of an increase in skin cancers, sunburn and sunstroke.

The BMA said the state-run National Health Service needed to invest in prevention and treatment for serious health implications relating to climate change.

Around the world, scientists believe climate change could have potentially devastating consequences for human health.

A major study of the global risks by Tony McMichael of Australia's Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health concluded in January that climate change posed a more fundamental threat to health than the economy.

McMichael predicted that between 20 million and 70 million more people were likely to be living in malarial regions worldwide by 2080.