toys airplane using solar power

A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Many items are designed to serve as toys, but goods produced for other purposes can also be used.For instance, a small child may pick up a household item and "fly" it through the air as to pretend that it is an airplane.
Most young mammals (Toddlers) have been observed to play with whatever they can find, turning such things as pinecones, rocks and food into toys. Toys and games have been unearthed from the sites of ancient civilizations.

Wooden toys are simply classic, and when made from FSC wood they're a very green and safe option for kids. But today's kids' toys often have a gadgety gimmick. These wooden helicopter and airplane toys by BERTYandMASHA on Etsy keep all the classic and add some cool with subtle solar power. Watch them whirring in the video after the jump.

he designers write on their Etsy page, "This wooden airplane needs just a little sun or a strong light to spin its propeller. The stronger the light, the faster it will spin. There are no batteries and no switch, which makes it very reliable. It will be a lot of fun for children from the age of 5, and for adults as well. It gives a first experience with renewable energies, and unlike most solar toys this is made from solid chestnut wood. The wooden figure is made of beech."

No batteries, no switches, nothing very complicated -- and it teaches about the power of the sun for providing energy -- all in a wooden toy with a timeless style.

The toys are priced at about USD$108, which is very expensive. But considering the toy is likely to last a long time without plastic bits breaking off or batteries going dead, it seems reasonable.

Watermelon Gazpacho

Watermelon is a vine-like (scrambler and trailer) flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center. Pepos are derived from an inferior ovary, and are characteristic of the Cucurbitaceae. The watermelon fruit, loosely considered a type of melon – although not in the genus Cucumis – has a smooth exterior rind (green, yellow and sometimes white) and a juicy, sweet interior flesh (usually pink, but sometimes orange, yellow, red and sometimes green if not ripe). It is also commonly used to make a variety of salads, most notably fruit salad.

Requirement

4 cups cubed seedless watermelon, about 1 1/4 pounds

1 pound ripe tomatoes, quartered or cut into sixths

2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, to taste

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Generous 1/2 cup chopped celery (2 ounces)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Thin celery slices or sticks for garnish

Method

Working in batches, purée all of the ingredients except the garnish in a blender for two minutes or longer until frothy and smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings, making sure you have used enough salt and lemon juice for a vivid flavor. Transfer to a bowl, and chill for several hours. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve, garnishing each bowl with thinly sliced celery or, if serving in glasses, with a thin lengthwise slice of celery stick.

Yield: Four to six regular servings, or 8 to 12 aperitifs.

Advance preparation: You can serve this soup the day after you make it. Leftovers are good for two or three days.

Nutritional information per serving (four servings): 130 calories; 1 gram saturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 milligrams cholesterol; 17 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 19 milligrams sodium (does not include salt to taste); 2 grams protein

Conclusion:
Celery brings together the elements of this surprising soup.

Spielberg plans return trip to 'Jurassic Park

Twenty years after his Velociraptors and T.rex ruled Jurassic Park, director Steven Spielberg says the maneaters are returning to a movie theater near you -- teeth sharpened, and not for the popcorn.

Spielberg on Thursday told audiences at the giant Comic-Con International convention in San Diego that he was at work on a new "Jurassic Park" movie, delighting a packed house at the pop culture showcase.

"We have a story. We have a writer working on the script, and I think we will see a 'Jurassic 4' in our foreseeable future, probably in the next two or three years."

"Jurassic Park" thrilled audiences in 1993 with its modern-day dinosaurs developed from DNA in fossils that wreaked havoc upon a theme park where, instead of enjoying the wonders of science, the guests got eaten. The movie took in $915 million worldwide in its day and spawned two sequels.

Spielberg made his first trek to Comic-Con this year to show audiences clips from his upcoming film, "The Adventures of Tintin," which was directed by the Oscar winner and produced by "Lord of the Rings" filmmaker Peter Jackson. It is scheduled for release in December of this year.

The movie is based on the comic books by Belgian artist Georges Remi, whose pseudonym was Herge, and they tell of a young journalist and his faithful dog who find themselves on numerous adventures, solving mysteries.

Spielberg said he and Jackson, a pair of filmmakers he characterized as "just two huge Tintin fanboys," began conceptualizing the movie as many as six years ago. He said they used state-of-the-art digital camera technology and capitalized on innovations developed by director James Cameron on his smash hit movie, "Avatar."

"We wanted to use animation to get as close to the characters that (Herge) invented and not characters that we would then reinvent based on big names, big movie stars," Spielberg said.

The director, a sci-fi film fan since childhood who made the genre movies "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," was at Comic-Con to receive an Inkpot Award for achievement in science-fiction movies.

He received a standing ovation from the crowd and told them: "We all love the same source material that has brought all of us here and the source material has always been the collective imaginations of so many brilliant artists and storytellers."

Health at birth linked to teen academic performance: Study

Babies who get low scores on a test of heart, lung and brain function given just a few minutes after birth may be more likely to need special education as teenagers, suggests a new study from Sweden.

But an outside researcher said that the chance of going to a special school was still low enough that parents shouldn’t be concerned so long as their kids with a low so-called “Apgar score” do fine early in life.

Apgar scores are measured one minute after birth and again five minutes after birth. They’re rated on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 meaning a baby is very pink and breathing well, has a fast enough heart rate and has good reflexes and muscle tone.

“It’s simply a measure of how well the baby has transitioned from intrauterine life,” said Dr. Nigel Paneth, a pediatrician at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

While a low Apgar score might mean that something went wrong during delivery – for example, the baby was deprived of oxygen at some point – “Apgar score to some extent reflects the underlying condition of the baby and the baby’s brain,” added Paneth, who was not involved in the new study.

A couple of things are known for sure about babies with very low Apgar scores, he said: they have a higher risk of dying soon after birth, and they also are more likely to have cerebral palsy, a group of brain disorders that originate during development.

Other than that, Paneth added, only weak connections have been found between Apgar scores and how well a kid does later on.

In the current study, researchers led by Dr. Andrea Stuart of Central Hospital in Helsingborg used large Swedish databases to link Apgar scores with kids’ grades in school and their chances of being in a special-education school.

The researchers had data on close to 900,000 babies born between 1973 and 1986.

Most of those kids had a normal Apgar score of 9 or 10 at the five-minute test. Only about 1 percent had a score below 7 and one-third of those were below 4, indicating serious immediate problems.

In total, about 23,000 of the kids were going to a special-education school at age 16.

Kids with an Apgar score below 7 were about twice as likely to go on to special schools as kids with high Apgar scores. Kids who had scores as low as 2 or 3 were about three times more likely to need special education.

Still, the authors point out in Obstetrics & Gynecology, only 1 in 44 babies with a score below 7 will go on to need special education because of whatever caused that low score at birth.

That shows that the Apgar score really doesn’t help predict which kids will end up needing more help in school, Paneth said.

“The vast majority of these kids with Apgars of 7 or less are going to normal schools and they’re getting good grades,” he said – though on average, these kids did slightly worse in normal schools than kids who had scores of 9 or 10.

The findings also can’t prove that low Apgar scores – or whatever made babies have trouble early on – caused more of them to need extra help in school as teens. But “the reasons leading to a low Apgar score … might have an impact on future brain function,” Stuart told Reuters Health in an email.

She added that kids with low scores shouldn’t be singled out.

“Children born with a low Apgar score should not be seen as a separate group, but each child should be treated individually, both medically and academically, based on its medical needs and academic capacity.”

Piramal, DBT begin second stage of drug discovery initiative

NEW DELHI: Piramal Life Sciences Ltd (PLSL) today said its drug discovery partnership with Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has entered second stage to find new medicines for various diseases, including cancer and diabetes.

Government of India and PLSL expect to find new drugs from 14,000 bioactive cultures discovered in a nationwide search for new drugs from biodiverse habitats across the country in collaboration with nine national institutes, PLSL said in a statement.

As per the initiative, which is jointly funded by PLSL and DBT, a total of 2.45 lakh different microbes were collected and characterised at national centres, it said.

"Extracts from these microbes were screened for biological activities across four different therapeutic areas namely cancer, diabetes, inflammation and infectious diseases," it added.

Based on the results of these studies, the team has identified greater than 14,000 cultures that showed potent activities in the above disease conditions, it said.

All these cultures are in the process of classification and storage in a national repository created by DBT at the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS).

"This enormous database is a starting point for the isolation of novel scaffolds that may be useful for developing drugs," it said.

The team has now moved ahead for the second phase of the programme to identify and characterise the chemical entity which is responsible for the bioactivity described for the extracts.

"With the integration of high end technology platforms both in biology and chemistry, rapidity in isolation has been achieved, and 1000 extracts out of the 14000 will be evaluated within the next one and half years to obtain lead molecules," the company said.

The company plans to take advantage of the high end chemistry platforms that can handle batches of more than 500 extracts at a time and follow them through dereplication database analysis for recognising the active molecules.

PLSL and DBT had in 2007 kicked off their joint initiative to find new drugs.

Shares of PLSL today closed at Rs 96.05 on Bombay Stock Exchange , up 4.52 per cent from its previous close.

To Make It As A Flight Attendant In China, You Have To Be Beautiful

In China, becoming a flight attendant is serious business.
The positions are considered prestigious and thousands compete for coveted spots despite poor treatment, low pay, and grueling conditions, according to the Global Times.
China Southern Airlines, one of the country's largest carriers, recently held a pageant-style competition to recruit a new class of stewardesses. Tens of thousands applied; the company even turned the interview process into an American Idol-type reality TV show. 98% didn't make it past the first interview.
Here's what China Southern Airlines requires:

• Women must be 25 or younger
  
• They must be single
  
• They must be between 5' and 5'9"
  
• Their legs cannot be "X or O shaped"
  
• There are also restrictions on their weight-to-height ratio
  
• No glasses or visible scars
  

Hong Kong Airlines goes beyond physical requirements and trains all its flight attendants in kungfu.
American airlines imposed similar restrictions on flight attendants' physical characteristics in the 1930s and '40s; those standards were relaxed, although they lingered in some form, through the 1960s. Today such requirements would be considered illegal.

Is Tiger Woods Running Out Of Money?

Nike reportedly slashed their contract with Tiger Woods by 50% last year, cutting his endorsement earnings to less than one-third of what had been previously reported.
Last month, Forbes estimated that Woods' endorsement deals brought in about $75 million in 2010, but now a report by Fortune says that his actual earnings may be less than $20 million.
Many of his major sponsorship deals were canceled in the wake of sexual scandals in late 2009, but the quiet renegotiation with Nike – by far his biggest benefactor – has delivered this biggest hit.
Given his recent (very expensive) divorce and a series of huge real estate deals, his debt may soon become overwhelming. He's paying more than $10 million a year in mortgage payments and property taxes just on his main Florida home.
The declining revenues may also explain why IMG did not put up a fight when Tiger's agent, Mark Steinberg, decided to leave for another agency. An IMG sources tells Fortune their income off his deal had dropped to about $1.5 million a year.
In January, a Dubai investment group pulled the plug on his luxury golf resort project. And yacht prices aren't what they used to be.
Compounding Woods' troubles even more is the fact that he hasn't won a tournament in almost two full years. He's won about $1.8 million the last two years. In 2009 alone, he won $10.5 million in a single campaign.
No one is going to feel sorry for a pro golfer making "only" $20 million a year, but for a guy used to living on top of the world, it's not just his knee and ankle that are hurting right now.
His agent denies that he's facing any financial strain.

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Four favorite tips for green computing

Whether you call yourself green or just a good-old-fashioned miser, saving energy and resources usually means saving some money too. But how does that apply to using computers? In honor of Earth Day, we polled Macworld's readers to find their favorite tips for green computing. Here are the results.
1. Use PDFs whenever possible
Paper products represent the largest portion of the United States’ trash, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 2007, they made up roughly 68 million tons (or a little over a quarter) of all materials in the municipal waste stream. But even if you don’t feel ready to go all the way to a paperless workflow, you can still cut back on your paper use.
It's easy to take advantage of OS X's built-in support for the PDF file format in small but significant ways. Reader ckasper called out the ever handy Save As PDF feature as a paper saver. For instance, instead of printing receipts for every online purchase, press Command-P and in the Print window that appears, click on the PDF button. Choose Save PDF To Web Receipts Folder and a copy of the receipt—images and all—will be saved to a pre-made folder in youruserfolder/Documents.
If you want to save PDFs in a different folder you can do that too. (For instance, make one for “Donations.”) Create your new folder where ever you’d like. Then, next time you need to save a PDF, press Command-P, click on the PDF button, choose Edit Menu from the bottom, and then click on the plus (+) button to add your folder. The folder will appear in the PDF menu from then on.
Reader Matt Clement also vouched for the power of PDFs. He e-mails reports to himself so he can view them on his iPad instead of printing out hard copies. “I send them in PDF and them open them in iBooks, so I’ve got them all week in one handy place,” he said. (We recently shared an Automator workflow that simplifies moving PDFs onto an iPad or iPhone.)
2. Make the most of your paper
If you really must print, use both sides of the page, noted reader bradhurley. Most newer printers can do this automatically. (Without requiring you to turn the paper over and put it back in the paper tray.) Press Command-P, click on the menu at the lower-right of the dialog box and choose Layout. If you have the option, you’ll see a Two Sided menu at the bottom of the dialog box. Choose Long Edge Binding or Short Edge Binding.
When you need to check through a large document and can’t bear to do it onscreen, consider cramming more than one page onto a sheet of paper. To do this, go to the same menu, choose Layout, and then choose a number (up to 16) from the Pages Per Sheet pop-up menu. Choose a layout direction to control how the pages stack up.
Still got used sheets of paper lying around? Reader kevinbriankelly recommended using old printed documents for scrap paper. For more tips, see “Simple ways to save when you print.”
3. Turn things off when you’re not using them
The easiest way to save energy is to turn your equipment off when you’re not using it as reader Maxer and ckasper suggested. Putting your computer sleep is good, but a sleeping Mac still draws power. Turning it off altogether reduces the load even more.
Still, if you’re backing up your Mac, you’ll want to give it some time to do its thing when you’re not at your keyboard. Go to System Preferences, choose Energy Saver, and click on Schedule. A sheet will appear where you can choose a daily startup and shutdown time for your Mac. You can even determine a separate schedule for the weekdays and weekend by clicking on the Every Day pop-up menus.
Reader technologist noted that many devices—especially all those battery chargers and peripherals—continue to draw power (known as their vampire draw) even when they’re not being used. (See for yourself by plugging one in to a $20 Kill A Watt electricity usage monitor or Belkin's $30 Conserve Insight energy use monitor.) The only way to truly cut their power use to zero is to unplug them or use a “smart” power strip.
Sophisticated Circuits’ $199 PowerKey Pro USB 650 lets you choose which devices will be completely powered down. Belkin offers a number of energy-saving devices that combine, for example, surge protection with outlets that switch off at the end of the day. The $45 EcoStrip 2.0 switches off power to peripherals when your Mac is turned off. The not-quite-available-yet UFO Power Center will include four outlets that can be remotely controlled and report back on energy usage to an iPhone app.
You can get ahead of the game by buying energy efficient equipment at the start. Reader bradhurley pointed out that the ideal computers and monitors are rated EPEAT Gold or Silver. “These computers generally include recycled content, exceed Energy Star standards, and are made to be easy to recycle,” he said. All Apple computers are not only Energy Star qualified, but also meet the EPEAT Gold standard.
4. Reuse old equipment
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 29.9 million desktops and 12 million laptops were discarded in 2007—that’s roughly 115,000 computers out with the trash each day. Similarly, the agency estimates 235 million units of electronic products are in storage—sitting unused in home closets, attics, or basements.
Many readers, such as nyalathotep, encouraged others not to let old equipment go to waste. First consider if friends or family might benefit from hand-me-downs or if there’s a job for old Macs to do (see “Use an old Mac as a backup server”). It’s surprisingly easy to sell old electronics on sites like Craigslist or eBay. Check out our stories about “Preparing an old Mac for sale” and how to “Preserve your Mac’s resale value.”
On the flip side of that, others wrote in to say their golden rule was to buy used instead of new. “Don’t grossly overbuy your machine,” added reader bastion. “The difference in power consumption between a high-end mini (peak) and a low-end Mac Pro (idle) is truly staggering. It’s not only green but it keeps money in your wallet, which for many people is far more compelling. My early 2009 mini has paid for itself in the form of lower electric bills compared to the G5 it replaced.”
For more tips on recycling, donating, and even using Mac parts in craft project, see “How to recycle your Mac” as well as Apple’s own recycling programs for Macs and displays and for iPod and mobile phones.

Healthy Summer Meal Ideas

Summertime cookouts can be healthy when you serve a menu featuring lean cuts of meat, top foods with light and flavorful sauces, and serve with good-for-you salads and veggies

1. Tex Mex on the Grill
Flank steak and vegetable fajitas offer authentic flavor and cook up in minutes. Pair with Refried Beans and sliced papaya to round out your meal.

2. Pork Tenderloin With Spicy Guava Glaze
Rubbing lean pork tenderloin with a fragrant spice mixture before grilling infuses flavor into the meat. Then, instead of a traditional barbecue sauce, brush the pork with a sweet glaze of guava paste, vinegar, and jalapeño pepper to add a tropical note to your barbecue. To carry out your island theme, serve the pork with rice and a mango salsa.

3. Sizzling Grilled Steak
Satisfy the steak and potato crowd with this easy grilled menu that's ready in about 40 minutes. A California Cabernet Sauvignon is the perfect wine to pair with the steak, and it you want to offer an easy dessert, homemade Peach Ice Cream will make everyone happy.

4. Jerk Pork Tenderloin With Pineapple-Plum Relish
Jerk seasoning originated in the Caribbean and is used as either a marinade or rub for grilled meats. The blend of cinnamon, allspice, thyme, black pepper, and habañero pepper give the seasoning its characteristic sweet heat. The fruit relish balances the heat and is a colorful addition to the plate. Serve the pork and relish with steamed rice and fresh greens for a truly unique barbecue meal.

5. Kansas City Barbecued Chicken
Take a break from pork and sauce up some chicken with this sweet and spicy Kansas City-style sauce. This version has a nice balance of brown sugar and vinegar so the sauce isn't overwhelmingly sweet. Low-fat potato salad and crisp coleslaw make perfect accompaniments.

6. Hoisin and Bourbon-Glazed Pork Tenderloin
Pork tenderloin is the leanest and most tender cut of pork–a 3-ounce portion has about the same amount of fat as a 3-ounce skinless chicken breast. Grilling tenderloin over wood chips and basting in a sweet-and-spicy glaze puts the flavor over the top. Invite some friends over and serve the pork with Tomato Relish, Spring Giardiniera, Rosemary-Roasted Mashed Potatoes, and Grasshopper Ice Cream Pie.

7. Beer-Can Chicken With Cola Barbecue Sauce
Cooking a chicken over a can of beer may seem kind of zany, but it really does add flavor to the chicken and helps keep it moist during grilling. To complement the hint of beer in the chicken, serve it with this unique sauce of cola, ketchup, and Worcestershire. You'll love this chicken with Sweet Potato Shoestring Fries and Fresh-From-the Garden Vegetable Salad.

8. Carolina Pulled Pork With Lexington Red Sauce
Carolina-style barbecue features a thin, vinegar-based sauce that gives the shredded pork a tangy kick. Vinegar-based sauces are typically lower in sugar than sweet, tomato-based sauces, and here, the sauce is brushed on a bone-in pork shoulder, also known as Boston butt. Complete the menu with fresh tomato slices and grilled corn.

9. Grilled Chicken With White Barbecue Sauce
Fans of white barbecue sauce love its tangy creaminess with just the right kick from both black and red ground pepper. This sauce is low in fat because it uses reduced-calorie mayonnaise, vinegar, and a splash of lemon juice. Create a hearty backyard menu by adding potato salad, a fresh lima bean-corn salad, and homemade ice cream.

10. Barbecued Pork
If you're tired of the same ol' BBQ sauce, this pork is marinated and basted with a rich mixture of brewed coffee, molasses, spicy brown mustard, and vinegar. The coffee flavor is subtle, but adds a rich depth to the molasses and mustard. And as long as you're departing from tradition, why not replace baked beans with black beans and potato salad with grilled plantains?

11. Flank Steak With Radish Salsa
This lightened menu includes grilled favorites like flank steak and veggies in a balsamic mixture. Serve flank steak with a radish salsa on top of grilled Italian-Herb Bread for a filling meal. Round out the meal with slightly sweet tea and grilled banana splits for those with a sweet tooth.

Color Psychology

Like death and taxes, there is no escaping color. It is ubiquitous. Yet what does it all mean? Why are people more relaxed in green rooms? Why do weightlifters do their best in blue gyms?
Colors often have different meanings in various cultures. And even in Western societies, the meanings of various colors have changed over the years. But today in the U.S., researchers have generally found the following to be accurate.

Black

Black is the color of authority and power. It is popular in fashion because it makes people appear thinner. It is also stylish and timeless. Black also implies submission. Priests wear black to signify submission to God. Some fashion experts say a woman wearing black implies submission to men. Black outfits can also be overpowering, or make the wearer seem aloof or evil. Villains, such as Dracula, often wear black.

White

Brides wear white to symbolize innocence and purity. White reflects light and is considered a summer color. White is popular in decorating and in fashion because it is light, neutral, and goes with everything. However, white shows dirt and is therefore more difficult to keep clean than other colors. Doctors and nurses wear white to imply sterility.

Red

The most emotionally intense color, red stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing. It is also the color of love. Red clothing gets noticed and makes the wearer appear heavier. Since it is an extreme color, red clothing might not help people in negotiations or confrontations. Red cars are popular targets for thieves. In decorating, red is usually used as an accent. Decorators say that red furniture should be perfect since it will attract attention.
The most romantic color, pink, is more tranquilizing. Sports teams sometimes paint the locker rooms used by opposing teams bright pink so their opponents will lose energy.

Blue

The color of the sky and the ocean, blue is one of the most popular colors. It causes the opposite reaction as red. Peaceful, tranquil blue causes the body to produce calming chemicals, so it is often used in bedrooms. Blue can also be cold and depressing. Fashion consultants recommend wearing blue to job interviews because it symbolizes loyalty. People are more productive in blue rooms. Studies show weightlifters are able to handle heavier weights in blue gyms.

Green

Currently the most popular decorating color, green symbolizes nature. It is the easiest color on the eye and can improve vision. It is a calming, refreshing color. People waiting to appear on TV sit in "green rooms" to relax. Hospitals often use green because it relaxes patients. Brides in the Middle Ages wore green to symbolize fertility. Dark green is masculine, conservative, and implies wealth. However, seamstresses often refuse to use green thread on the eve of a fashion show for fear it will bring bad luck.

Yellow

Cheerful sunny yellow is an attention getter. While it is considered an optimistic color, people lose their tempers more often in yellow rooms, and babies will cry more. It is the most difficult color for the eye to take in, so it can be overpowering if overused. Yellow enhances concentration, hence its use for legal pads. It also speeds metabolism.

Purple

The color of royalty, purple connotes luxury, wealth, and sophistication. It is also feminine and romantic. However, because it is rare in nature, purple can appear artificial.

Brown

Solid, reliable brown is the color of earth and is abundant in nature. Light brown implies genuineness while dark brown is similar to wood or leather. Brown can also be sad and wistful. Men are more apt to say brown is one of their favorite colors.

Colors of the Flag

In the U.S. flag, white stands for purity and innocence. Red represents valor and hardiness, while blue signifies justice, perseverance, and vigilance. The stars represent the heavens and all the good that people strive for, while the stripes emulate the sun's rays.

Food for Thought

While blue is one of the most popular colors it is one of the least appetizing. Blue food is rare in nature. Food researchers say that when humans searched for food, they learned to avoid toxic or spoiled objects, which were often blue, black, or purple. When food dyed blue is served to study subjects, they lose appetite.
Green, brown, and red are the most popular food colors. Red is often used in restaurant decorating schemes because it is an appetite stimulant.

Watermelon and Squid Salad

I have a pretty limited knowledge of Persian food – I’ve only had it a few times at a restaurant called Reza’s in Chicago, where I had heavy stews each time.  They were really good, but pretty standard meat/vegetable concoctions. 

Then I saw an article about a Persian chef who makes light and healthy Persian food in June’s issue of Food and Wine.   I was interested in learning about a side of Persian food I wasn’t familiar with, and when I saw that the article included a watermelon and squid salad recipe, I immediately tore it out and put the ingredients on my grocery list.  Not only do I have a soft spot for savory watermelon recipes, but the the combination of watermelon and squid just sounds so fun.

Grilling the squid was an adventure.  It’s important to get your grill really, really hot before you put the squid on, because you want to get char marks and have some smoky flavor on your squid, but you don’t want to leave it on the grill too long or it will get rubbery.  I balanced each little tentacle on the grill grates very carefully so it wouldn’t fall through (no casualties, phew!), but if you have a pan that’s made for using on the grill with odd-shaped items, that seems like a much easier way to do it.

This salad is perfect for dinner on a hot summer night.  The dressing on this salad is a little bit tart and a little bit spicy, and perfect for the sweet watermelon.  I could even imagine using the dressing on a green salad with watermelon cubes or on watermelon alone – it was SO good.  The original version of this recipe calls for it to be sprinkled with sumac at the end, which I didn’t have on hand, but if you can get some, the dark red color would look great sprinkled on top.

Watermelon and Squid Salad

Adapted from Food and Wine/Hoss Zare
Print version here

• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup white wine vinegar
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 jalepeno, minced (leave seeds out for milder dressing)
• Zest of one lime
• Juice of one lime
• Salt and pepper
• 1 pound squid, bodies and tentacles separated
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• About 3 pounds of watermelon, cut into small wedges (about ½ inch thick and 4 inches tall)
• 1/3 cup chopped mint

1.  Whisk the vinegars, green onions, jalapeno, half the lime zest, and half the lime juice in a small bowl.  Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
2. Heat your grill.  In a medium bowl, toss the squid with the olive oil, crushed red pepper, and remaining lime juice and zest.  When the grill gets very hot, grill the squid over the hottest part of the grill until lightly charred, about 4 minutes.  Slice the squid bodies into thin rings.
3. Arrange the watermelon on a platter, cover with the squid, and drizzle with the dressing.  Garnish with the chopped mint and serve.

GetJar Latest Victim in Apple's 'App Store' War

Apple latest effort to control the phrase, the tech giant has sent a cease-and-desist letter to GetJar, a mobile platform that offers more than 150,000 free apps across a variety of operating systems, over use of the “App Store” name.

According to a letter dated June 22 and obtained by the Wall Street Journal,Apple's lawyers requested that San Mateo, Calif.-based GetJar stop using the term "App Store" and instead use the terms “mobile download service” or “application download service.”

GetJar chief marketing officer Patrick Mork said despite receiving the letter a few weeks ago, the company “has no intent” to stop using the app store term in its communication.

“We feel we have the right to use this term and that it's generic and doesn't confuse consumers in any way,” he said. “We’re not going to be bullied by Apple.”

Six-year-old GetJar was “surprised and disappointed” by the request by Apple, Mork said.

“For Apple to come and tell us to stop using a term that’s generic and one we helped pioneer, we were surprised,” he said. “It’s kind of like if Wal-Mart turned to Safeway and said ‘hey you can’t use supermarket in your advertising.’”

GetJar, which calls itself “the world’s largest free app store,” has apps for Google’s (GOOG: 531.99, -14.61, -2.67%) Android and Research in Motion’s (RIMM: 28.98, -0.05, -0.17%) BlackBerry, as well as several other mobile operating systems.

While it does not carry apps for the iPhone, GetJar’s system detects Apple devices and redirects customers to the Apple App Store.

The move by Apple comes a day after a California district judge denied the company’s request for an injunction against Amazon’s (AMZN: 218.28, +1.54, +0.71%) AppStore name. The court found that Apple had failed to establish that it’s “App Store” is famous enough to be considered prominent or renowned.

While Apple has spent a lot of time and money trying to protect the name, the judge said there was “evidence that the phrase 'app store' is used by other companies as a descriptive term for a place to obtain software applications for mobile devices.”

Apple initially filed to protect the name in 2008 by registering it with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, claiming rivalries’ use of the term harms its own app store.

Two years after, the agency sought public opinion on the matter to see if any companies objected to Apple’s request. First, Microsoft (MSFT: 26.92, +0.15, +0.56%) objected, sparking a legal battle between the two, then in March, after Amazon launched its app store for the Android, Apple filed suit against the online retailer. 

All three Apple adversaries have claimed the term “app store” is generic and should not apply exclusively to Apple.

Aspirin Might Interfere With New Heart Drug

A new study backs up a suggestion that high dosages of aspirin may interfere with AstraZeneca's heart drug Brilinta, offering a possible explanation for disappointing results from a study of patients in North America.

The potential multibillion dollar drug is already approved in 33 countries, but the prospects of a green light from U.S, regulators have been clouded by a trial that appeared to show it performed worse than rival drug Plavix.

Experts have speculated that the lack of effect in U.S. patients might be due to the drug's interaction with aspirin, which is typically given in higher doses alongside treatments such as Plavix in the United States than in Europe.

The results of an analysis of the interaction between Brilinta and aspirin dosage level, published in U.S. medical journal Circulation, appeared to support that assertion, although it noted that the regional variation could still be due to chance alone.

The analysis suggested that U.S. patients on Brilinta also taking low-dose aspirin actually did 27 percent better than those on low-dose aspirin and Plavix.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is due to make a decision on Brilinta by July 20.

Radiation in Our Food

Though the horrendous tsunami that hit Japan on March 12, 2011 seems like old news in the midst of today’s headlines, the crippled nuclear power plants at Fukishima Daichi continue to spew radiation into water, air and soil, with no end in sight. 

Even as thousands of Japanese workers struggle to contain the ongoing nuclear disaster, low levels of radiation from those power plants have been detected in foods in the United States. Milk, fruits and vegetables show trace amounts of radioactive isotopes from the Fukushima Daichi power plants, and the media appears to be paying scant attention, if any attention at all. It is as if the problem only involves Japan, not the vast Pacific Ocean, into which highly radioactive water has poured by the dozens of tons, and not into air currents and rainwater that carry radiation to U.S. soil and to the rest of the world. And while both Switzerland and Germany have come out against any further nuclear development, the U.S. the nuclear power industry continues as usual, with aging and crumbling power plants receiving extended operating licenses from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, as though it can’t happen here. But it is happening here, on your dinner plate.

Taking a page from the BP pubic relations handbook, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) and the Japanese government have downplayed the extent of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daichi, in which three of six nuclear reactors are in ongoing meltdown. According to Japanese nuclear engineer Naoto Sekimura, nuclear fuel rod meltdown at the damaged plants began only hours after the tsunami, and the situation has not been contained. There is still an ongoing threat of a total “China Syndrome” meltdown, and Japanese officials now say that the three damaged plants may possibly continue to emit uncontrolled radiation for another year.

According to Greenpeace, the ocean around large areas of Japan has been contaminated by toxic radioactive agents including cesium, iodine, plutonium and strontium. These radioactive agents are accumulating in sea life. Fish, shellfish and sea vegetables are absorbing this radiation, while airborne radioactive particles have contaminated land-based crops in Japan, including spinach and tea grown 200 miles south of the damaged nuclear plants. Meanwhile, on U.S. soil, radiation began to show up in samples of milk tested in California, just one month after the plants were damaged.

Radiation tests conducted since the nuclear disaster in Japan have detected radioactive iodine and cesium in milk and vegetables produced in California. According to tests conducted by scientists at the UC Berkeley Department of Nuclear Engineering, milk from grass fed cows in Sonoma County was contaminated with cesium 137 and cesium 134. Milk sold in Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, Vermont and Washington has also tested positive for radiation since the accident. 

Additionally, drinking water tested in some U.S. municipalities also shows radioactive contamination. Is the fallout from Fukushima Daichi falling on us? Yes, it is.

Thanks to the jet stream air currents that flow across the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. is receiving a steady flow of radiation from Fukushima Daichi. And while many scientists say that the levels of contamination in food pose no significant threat to health, scientists are unable to establish any actual safe limit for radiation in food. Detection of radioactive iodine 131, which degrades rapidly, in California milk samples shows that the fallout from Japan is reaching the U.S. quickly.

Though California is somewhat on the ball regarding testing for radiation in foods, other states appear to be asleep at the switch with this issue. Yet broad-leaf vegetables including spinach and kale are accumulating radiation from rain and dust. Some spinach, arugula and wild-harvested mushrooms have tested positive for cesium 134 and 137 according to UCB, as have strawberries.

According to the U.S.-based group of medical doctors Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), no amount of man-made radiation in water and food is safe. “There is no safe level of radionuclide exposure, whether from food, water or other sources, period,” said Jeff Patterson, DO, immediate past president of PSR, in late March. “Exposure to radionuclides, such as iodine 131 and cesium 137, increases the incidence of cancer. For this reason, every effort must be taken to minimize the radionuclide content in food and water.”

Doctor Alan Lockwood MD echoes this. “Consuming food containing radionuclides is particularly dangerous. If an individual ingests or inhales a radioactive particle, it continues to irradiate the body as long as it remains radioactive and stays in the body.”

“Children are much more susceptible to the effects of radiation and stand a much greater chance of developing cancer than adults,” states Andrew Kanter, MD, president of PSR’s board. “So it is particularly dangerous when they consume radioactive food or water.”

Should you panic about this? No. That will do no good. But you can call, write and email your congressperson, your senator, and any other elected officials in your district, ask them to push for testing of foods and water in your area, and tell them to take the threat of global nuclear fallout seriously. For while none of the 104 nuclear power plants in the U.S. are melting down at present, we have had our own nuclear accidents. Remember Three Mile Island? Radiation has made its way to the American dinner table. This is a time to speak out, and to put pressure on policy makers. Clearly, it’s far better to be politically active now than radioactive tomorrow.

Special thanks to Steve Hoffman of Compass Marketing in Boulder Colorado, who extensively researched this issue and provided the source materials for this story.

Chris Kilham is a medicine hunter who researches natural remedies all over the world, from the Amazon to Siberia. He teaches ethnobotany at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he is Explorer In Residence. Chris advises herbal, cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies and is a regular guest on radio and TV programs worldwide. His field research is largely sponsored by Naturex of Avignon, France.

Men Embrace Circle Sunglasses

• STILL defiantly hanging on to those aviator sunglasses? Well, you’re now on notice. This summer, the shape of shades has come full circle. Round sunglasses, by now a two-year-old trend for women, have finally been braced by men.

“Very true, we’ve been seeing that a lot,” said Larry Davis, the manager of the modish Selima Optique shop in SoHo. “And it’s across the board. The young guys are more into the John Lennon-style glasses, and older guys are buying the more old-fashioned, professor-style ones. We even had a run on hot-pink ones after they were featured in Rolling Stone.”
From familiar favorites like Ray-Ban and Persol to indie upstarts like Moscot and Salt, round-framed sunglasses are this summer’s strongest new seller. Seizing the moment, Oliver Peoples, a Los Angeles-based brand that made its debut 25 years ago with a collection of vintage-inspired round frames, reissued three of the styles that helped turn the company into one of the 1980s’ notable brands.
As noted, round glasses usually accommodate one of two looks, 1960s peacenik or 1920s pencil-neck, depending on whether the arms join the frame at the side or the top, respectively. But either makes a refreshing departure from the various ’70s-style sunglasses that have been shielding hipster eyes from reality’s harsh glare for something like a decade now.
There is only one problem.
“The round shape is not that flattering to a face,” said Larry Leight, the founder and creative director of Oliver Peoples. “They’re a strong statement, and they look a lot better on people who can handle that shape. They work the best on a skinnier face.”
The hardest to wear, Mr. Leight said, are those with lenses that are perfectly round. They make the most cartoonish statement and are generally the least flattering to a face.
As Madeline Weeks, GQ’s fashion director, observed, “It’s a little affected.” For one thing, she said, the circle’s perfect geometry does not jibe with a face’s more organic shape. Second, the most natural-looking bridge between two circles is a short one; unless the frames are thick and large, a wide bridge looks awkward.

But on many faces, the short bridge sets the lenses close together and makes one’s head look like a balloon dangerously close to popping. Sure, it’s fine for Harry Potter, but he can cast a spell that makes people think he’s hot. The rest of us rely on the glasses to work the magic.
More forgiving shapes have a slight oval or teardrop shape. Perhaps the best is the faux circle known in the trade as the P3, a shape that looks like a circle but which is, in fact, slightly wider than it is high, and tapers slightly toward the bottom, mirroring the general shape of the face. Johnny Depp has long favored the P3 style, which softens his angular features and puts a gentlemanly spin on his generally disheveled appearance.
If that’s what you’re after, Ms. Weeks said, it’s worth doing a bit of footwork and trying on as many pairs as possible until you find the ones that best fit your face. But as a woman who knows what works for her, she’s not giving up her Ray-Ban aviators anytime soon.

Non-invasive embryo gene screen

The current method involves taking cells from the embryo itself, which experts fear may be harmful.
Now UK researchers say it is possible to run the same checks on cells surrounding the fertilised egg that are normally thrown away.
The test could tell a woman if her baby was likely to have a condition like Down's syndrome.
It would not only be less invasive, but cheaper too.
Lead researcher Elpida Fragouli, from Oxford University, said: "In the ovary, the eggs are surrounded by a cloud of tiny cells, known as cumulus cells.

"Cumulus cells are routinely stripped off eggs during IVF treatments and are usually discarded, so it should be straightforward to obtain them for analysis."

Dr Fragouli's team examined cumulus cells from 26 women undergoing genetic screening prior to IVF treatment.
They found abnormalities in the cumulus cells that appeared to tally with genetic errors in the eggs they had surrounded.
Dr Fragouli added: "We are still in the process of establishing the usefulness of these genes as non-invasive markers of egg chromosome status and quality.
"However, it is interesting that several of these genes are involved in vital cellular functions of the cumulus cells and egg they enclose, such as cell signalling and regulation, hormonal response and cell death, and so they may shed light on the genetic origins of chromosome abnormality."
UK fertility expert Stuart Lavery said: "It would be much cheaper, much less invasive and something that may have a good clinical application.
"Potentially what it may allow us to do is to have the ability of picking the best embryo from the best egg which means that we can hopefully move towards single embryo transfer."
Putting only one fertilised egg into the womb avoids multiple births, which are known to increase the health risks of both mother and child.

Rescuers rush to reach 40 trapped Chinese miners

BEIJING: A buildup of volatile gas hampered rescue efforts in one Chinese coal mine and high levels of water slowed them in another as emergency crews raced to reach 40 miners trapped Sunday for a second day, officials and state media reports said.

The accidents-a cave-in at one mine and a flood at the other-occurred Saturday in two southern provinces after days of heavy rains.

At the Heshan mine in Guangxi, rescuers vented explosive gas released from coal seams and pumped out silt-filled water as they tried to reach 19 miners believed to be 1,200 feet (390 meters) underground, the state media reports said. China Central Television interviewed a miner who said he heard a loud explosion before the cave-in, which killed at least three miners.

Waters continued to flood into the Niupeng mine in Guizhou, where 21 miners are trapped. Industrial pumps were brought into action but the waters remained high, CCTV said.

Heavy demand for coal to fuel China's economy has turned Chinese mines into the world's deadliest, despite constant safety campaigns that have managed to reduce fatal accidents. On Saturday, the State Administration of Work Safety released its latest order for vigilance after accidents at four other mines, a construction site and a port left 26 people dead in the past two weeks.

Chinese Teen Girl Offers Virginity for White iPhone 4

A mainland Chinese teenage girl has been caught on Weibo in the act of selling her virginity – for a white iPhone 4.

The girl has been identified by Hong Kong’s branch of NextMedia as only surnamed Wen (pictured right), from Maoming city of south China’s Guangdong province. She stated in her post that her “valuable first night” – which literally means ‘virginity’ in Chinese – was worth the gifting of a white iPhone 4, which retails in China for RMB 4,999 for the 16-gigabyte model.

The girl, Wen, then gave out her QQ number, and encouraged young men to contact her if they were serious about the deal.

Of course, it’s possible that this is a publicity stunt by a young woman who’s keen to become famous. Come to think of it, that might actually be preferable to someone selling their body in some way in exchange for a soon-to-be-obsolete gadget.

Sadly, this isn’t the sole incident of this nature this month: a few weeks ago a 17-year old Chinese boy went so far as to have a kidney removed so that he could sell it to buy an iPad 2

Training in molecular biology and biotechnology Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi

June 30, 2011 --
Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi Contact- ppjauharlabs@gmail.com) Mobile-91+9560757331 /91+7830959033
1. Summer Training

The summer training course of four to six weeks will be offered to B. Sc and B. Tech (Biotechnology) and M. Sc (Life Science disciplines including Biotechnology & Bioinformatics) students to provide exposure and acquaintance with practical aspects of techniques and protocols in molecular biology, plant biotechnology and genomics in the months of May - June every year. Candidates interested in the summer training program should send their application with detailed bio-data and relevant documents duly forwarded by the Director/ Principal / Dean / Head of Dept of his/her Institution to the Director Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi. Latest by 31st March of every year. Applications will be screened & a maximum of 25 short listed candidates will be informed by 31st April through e-mail and the training will be conducted in the month of May-June. The trainee will be associated with one of the scientific staffs of Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi. and will work on the on-going activities of the centre. A sum of Rs. 8,000/- for 4 weeks and Rs. 10,000/- for six weeks plus service tax (10.4%) will be charged as training fee.

2. Project work training for students:

The project work-training of three to six months will be offered to students doing M. Sc/ M. Tech in Biotechnology / Bioinformatics or any branch of Life Science disciplines, and B. Tech (Biotech/Bioinformatics) degree programmes. The training aims at providing opportunity for carrying out research in molecular biology, integrated plant biotechnology and genomics. Application with detailed bio-data and relevant documents from prospective candidates will be received round the year and the students selected by a selection committee will be informed accordingly by e-mail. The selected candidate will have to work in one of the on-going projects of the Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi under the supervision of a scientist of Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi. On completion of project work the candidate will be allowed to submit a thesis/report/dissertation to his/her institution with signature of the scientist of Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi. as co-supervisor. A copy of the thesis must be submitted to the Director, Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi. And any publication or IPR resulting from the project work will be in the name of Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi. However trainee will get suitable authorship in the publication depending upon the level of his/her contribution. A course fee of Rs. 6000/- per month plus service tax (10.4%) will be charged.

3. Training of individuals from corporate sector and NGOs:

Corporate employee and NGO workers are encouraged to apply for a 1-2 week training program in identified specific areas of Biotechnology. On case-to-case basis the training will be conducted in consultation with the Director, Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi. And fee will be charged @ Rs. 10,000/- per week in the areas of expertise available at the Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi.. The selection of corporate and NGO candidates for training will be solely at the discretion of the selection committee.
4. Short-Term Group Training:

A two to three week structured group training program will be organized periodically anytime of the year for regular staff of corporate and other Universities. The information regarding the trainings program will be advertised through Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi. Website and the interested candidates (below the age of 45 years) may apply through proper channel to the Director, Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi.. Each of these trainings will be coordinated by a scientist of the Dr. Prem P. Jauhar Molecular Biology Labs New Delhi having experience in the subject area of training but expert faculty may be called from other institutions if needed.
The areas of Short Term Group Training and corresponding course fee is as follows: Area of Research and Fee to be charged for one training per person

1. DNA marker technology Rs. 25,000/-
2. DNA Fingerprinting and DNA Barcoding Rs-25000/-
3. Genome Sequencing Rs. 25,000/-
4. High throughput Genotyping Rs. 30, 000/-
5. Gene Expression Profiling Rs. 30,000/-
6. Microbial Biotechnology Rs. 20, 000/-
7. Genome informatics Rs. 20, 000/-
8. Gene cloning Rs. 25,000/-
9. Plant transformation Rs. 25,000/-
10. Viral Diagnostics Rs– 20,000/-