Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/167762565?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Bunny's Blog: Six Million Pets Adopted Through Iams Home 4 the ...
Via BusinessWire.com - Iams Home 4 the Holidays, one of the world?s largest pet adoption programs, is thrilled to announce that it has reached the significant milestone of placing its 6 millionth homeless pet in a forever home. The landmark adoption comes in the program?s 13th year as Iams again teams with founding partner Helen Woodward Animal Center, along with more than 3,500 animal organizations from across the globe to encourage pet adoption.
?We are thrilled to celebrate our 6 millionth pet adoption,? said Michel Brousset, Iams Marketing Director. ?While we?re working towards our goal of placing even more animals into loving homes this holiday season, we recognize that not everyone is in the position to adopt a pet and we encourage those animal lovers to lend a hand through our Bags 4 Bowls program. Together, we can help millions of animals in need.?? To learn more about how to get involved in Iams Home 4 the Holidays and the Bags 4 Bowls program, including details about pets available for adoption, fun ways to donate meals and quick access to informative content and tips, visit www.facebook.com/iams.
?We are incredibly proud of this achievement and are grateful to those families who have opened their hearts ? and their homes ? to an animal in need,? said Mike Arms, founder of the adoption drive and president of Helen Woodward Animal Center. ?Having reached our 6 millionth adoption, we recognize that there is still plenty of work to be done in our fight against pet homelessness, which is why we?re inspired to continue our work and this yearly program.?
This year?s campaign goal is to find homes for 1.5 million pets and donate 5 million meals to animals at participating adoption and rescue centers (through the Bags 4 Bowls campaign). So far, for the 2012 campaign, more than 520,000 pets have been adopted, including 270,159 dogs and 241,640 cats.
Through January 3, consumers can get involved by:
- Visiting the Iams Facebook page (www.facebook.com/iams) to search for adoptable pets.?
- Becoming a fan of the Iams Facebook page (www.facebook.com/iams) and creating a custom adoption announcement or holiday card to share with family and friends. For each card created and shared, Iams will donate a meal to pets in need.?
- Purchasing specially-marked packages of Iams dog or cat food during the duration of the campaign. For every specially-marked package sold, Iams will donate one bowl of food to a participating Iams Home 4 the Holidays animal organization.?
?We are thrilled to celebrate our 6 millionth pet adoption,? said Michel Brousset, Iams Marketing Director. ?While we?re working towards our goal of placing even more animals into loving homes this holiday season, we recognize that not everyone is in the position to adopt a pet and we encourage those animal lovers to lend a hand through our Bags 4 Bowls program. Together, we can help millions of animals in need.?? To learn more about how to get involved in Iams Home 4 the Holidays and the Bags 4 Bowls program, including details about pets available for adoption, fun ways to donate meals and quick access to informative content and tips, visit www.facebook.com/iams.
Source: http://bunnyjeancook.blogspot.com/2011/11/six-million-pets-adopted-through-iams.html
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HOLIDAY HAZARDS FOR PETS
Came across this in an e-mail and wanted to pass it on to keep our furry kids safe as we celebrate the season.
Holiday Hazard #1: Chocolate
Any chocolate is off-limits for pets. "Baker's chocolate is the most [toxic]," Cook said. The darker the chocolate, the more dangerous it is to pets. Theobromine and caffeine are the toxic ingredients.
Holiday Hazard # 2: The Tree
Curious dogs may sniff and paw and pull the tree over on themselves; cats like to get up and try out this strange indoor tree.
Anchor it, Cook said. You can use wire to secure the top of the tree; then run the wire up to the ceiling or the wall and secure it.
Watch out, too, for the tree preservative often put in the water around the tree trunk, so your dog or cat doesn't lap it up. It can cause gastrointestinal problems.
Holiday Hazard #3: Seasonal Plants
Poinsettias get the bad rap as the most poisonous, when actually they are fairly low on the toxic scale. But eating them may still cause some gastrointestinal upset, according to the journal Veterinary Technician.
Other problematic holiday plants to keep out of reach: Christmas cactus, mistletoe, holly, cedar, balsam, and pine.
Holiday Hazard #4: Table Scraps
Rich, fatty foods are often holiday favorites, but they can result in life-threatening pancreatitis, Cook said. Anything salty, spicy or greasy qualifies. Bones from chicken or turkey can splinter in the stomach. Keep table scraps out of reach, and be sure the garbage isn't accessible to your pet.
Holiday Hazard #5: Ornaments
Tinsel can be too fascinating for a cat to pass up as a snack. Small decorations hanging low on the tree can be gobbled by both dogs and cats, and intestinal blockage can result.
Holiday Hazard #6: Holiday Cheer
Slipping a dog, cat or other pet alcoholic beverages to see how they act when inebriated isn't funny, and could be very dangerous, Cook said. "It can make them very sick, with vomiting and diarrhea."
Holiday Hazard #7: Dangerous Foods
Certain foods on the dangerous list all year may be more plentiful around the holidays or your guard may be down. Be sure your pet has no access to coffee grounds, grapes, raisins, onions, chewing gum or mints with Xylitol. This sweetener, also used in baked goods and candy, is associated with liver failure and death in dogs, according to the AVMA.
Holiday Hazard #8: Socially Shy Pets
Some pets simply aren't comfortable around a lot of people. Some get scared, others get hostile.
Whatever way your pet's party-shy personality tends to turn, put it in a spare bedroom with food and water, out of the way of guests, Cook suggested.
Holiday Hazard #9: Escape Artists
Pets "can be like little kids," Cook says. "They like to get out, too." So you've got company maybe guests who aren't used to keeping track of pets and someone leaves the door open and out they go.
Besides alerting guests to your furry escape artists, "make sure you have a way of finding your pet," Cook said. That means either a microchip, or at the least, a rabies tag or ID tag with your contact information, the vet's contact information, or both.
Holiday Hazard #10: Aluminum Foil
Crumpled up, with food sticking to it, aluminum foil can be irresistible to a pet. If swallowed, though, it can cause puncture wounds in the gastrointestinal tract, Cook said.
The holidays can be a busy and stressful time, but it's also a time to reconnect with your family, friends, and of course, pets. So be sure to take the proper precautions to ensure everyone has a safe and happy holiday season. 
Source: http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=4601216
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Falling behind in line: Jon Fitch has no clue why his GSP rematch hasn?t come yet
Nick Diaz will get his shot, then it looks like Carlos Condit and Jake Ellenberger are in the running for a fight against Georges St-Pierre. Where's the guy who's 13-1-1 in the UFC at 170 pounds?
Jon Fitch is still wondering why he seems to be on the outside looking in when it comes to a title fight against the welterweight champ.
"It's confusing and I try not to think about it because I just want to focus on my fight and be able train again," Fitch told ESPN1100/98.9 FM in Las Vegas.
When pressed further by Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole, Fitch unloaded.
"It is frustrating because the truth of the matter is, I don't understand what the problem is. No one's come up to me and said 'we don't like what you're doing. Do this differently.' I've gotten absolutely zero feedback about what's going on," Fitch said. "I have no idea what's happening or why certain guys are getting title shots. It's a complete mystery to me and no one's approached me and said anything about my style or what I'm doing good or bad."
More than a few fans have turned against Fitch and his methodical style. On Fitch's Wikipedia page, one even went as far as labeling him "Decision [expletive]."
"I don't know who these people are (calling me boring). It's a mystery. I've never met one of these people ever in my life. I've never been told that by anyone in the UFC. I've never been told that by anyone I've ever met in any of my signings. I don't understand where it's coming from either," said Fitch.
An dominant victory win, could change everything. Fitch, who's strung together five straight decision wins and draw since his UFC 87 loss against GSP, faces the very tough Johny Hendricks. With Hendricks' developing striking game backed by a college wrestling background that includes two NCAA national titles, Fitch will score major points if he can finish his opponent at UFC 141.
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Leinart fractures collarbone, will need surgery
Houston Texans quarterback Matt Leinart (11) reacts after getting sacked during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011, in Jacksonville, Fla. The Texans won 20-13. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)
Houston Texans quarterback Matt Leinart (11) reacts after getting sacked during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011, in Jacksonville, Fla. The Texans won 20-13. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)
Houston Texans quarterback Matt Leinart stands on the sideline with his arm in a sling during the second half of an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Jacksonville, Fla., Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011. The Texans won 20-13. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Houston Texans quarterback T.J Yates (13) looks for a receiver as Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Nate Collins (98) puts the pressure on during the second half of an NFL football game on Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011, in Jacksonville, Fla. Houston won 20-13. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Houston Texans quarterback T.J Yates (13) throws a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Nov. 27, 2011, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)
HOUSTON (AP) ? Matt Leinart's return to the NFL lasted less than a half, and coach Gary Kubiak says the Texans will sign another quarterback this week. Perhaps even Brett Favre will be in the mix.
Leinart will be placed on injured reserve after fracturing his left collarbone in the second quarter of Houston's 20-13 win in Jacksonville on Sunday.
The left-handed Leinart was making his first start since 2009 in place of Matt Schaub, who broke a bone in his right foot in the Texans' 37-9 win in Tampa Bay on Nov. 13.
Kubiak says Leinart will have surgery within the next week, and Schaub is due to have surgery on Wednesday to repair a Lisfranc injury.
Kubiak says Houston will try out other quarterbacks this week and hinted the 42-year-old Favre, who retired in January after 20 seasons, could be considered.
"I don't think you rule out anybody," Kubiak said when asked about Favre specifically. "There are a lot of names being mentioned. We've got to continue to work through the process.
"I'm not going to rule out anybody, nor confirm anybody."
Favre's agent, Bus Cook, said late Monday the Texans have not contacted him about Favre.
"I've been a little bit part coach, part counselor here the last couple of weeks," Kubiak said. "I've got Schaub in my office all day last Monday and today I've got Lefty (Leinart) up there. It's just difficult. It's difficult for both of them."
Despite losing one key player after another, Houston (8-3) has won a franchise-record five straight games. Rookie T.J. Yates, a fifth-round draft pick out of North Carolina, will start Sunday's game against Atlanta (7-4). Kellen Clemens, signed last week, will back him up.
Clemens was one of five quarterbacks to try out last Tuesday in the wake of Schaub's injury. Kubiak spent much of Monday discussing all the options.
"When that will happen, I don't know," Kubiak said. "My focus now is strictly with T.J. and Kellen, and moving forward with Atlanta."
Brodie Croyle, Jeff Garcia, Trent Edwards and former Rice quarterback Chase Clement worked out last Tuesday. Clemens had an automatic edge because he spent training camp with Washington, former Kubiak mentor Mike Shanahan and former Texans offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.
"I have an opinion on those guys," Kubiak said. "There are some other names that are going to come up in the next day or so. We'll just have to sort it all out."
The 6-foot-3 Yates, a record-setting quarterback for the Tar Heels, went 8 for 15 for 70 yards in place of Leinart on Sunday. Kubiak says he kept the play calls simple for Yates.
"What he had to go do is not easy to do," Kubiak said.
When the Texans drafted Yates, Kubiak compared him to Schaub with his skill set and knack for understanding the game.
He was also attractive to Houston because he ran a similar offense at North Carolina, where he set the school records for yards passing in a career (9,377) and a season (3,418). The Tar Heels' offensive coordinator was John Shoop, who worked on staffs with the Chicago Bears and Oakland Raiders, among other teams.
"He had a lot of things going for him when he stepped in the NFL, as far as how he had been taught," Kubiak said. "He plays the game fast, you have to play fast in this league. You have to be able to get rid of the ball, you have to be able to move.
"He's got those things going for him," Kubiak said. "Now it's just a matter of a ton of reps and we'll see how much progress he can make."
It certainly helps that Yates has the league's best defense and one of its most productive running games supporting him. The Texans gave up only 151 yards in the second half Sunday to preserve their lead.
"Well, the whole group's impressive right now," Kubiak said of the top-ranked defense, yielding 268.4 yards per game. "They're just playing very, very hard. The thing that's most impressive, I use the word 'group' because everybody's making plays. It's contagious."
Houston rushed for only 88 yards in Jacksonville, its second-lowest total of the season, and Kubiak blamed his conservative play-calling for the struggles.
"I don't know if I put our guys in great position," Kubiak said. "I was concerned having one quarterback out there, and making sure that I was trying to find a way to win the game that day. I don't like some of the things I did. We played hard. We just didn't play very good offensively in the second half."
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
NBC?s The Sing Off ? Season Finale
The final three groups perform for the last time before finding out whom America voted as the country’s best a cappella group. The Sing Off Season Live Finale Monday, 11/28, 8/7c on NBC http://www.nbc.com/sing-off/
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But We?re Superinnocent
What we?re supposed to hear, and hear, and hear, is that Democrats didn?t care as much about reducing the deficit as the GOP did, that they were obsessed with hiking taxes, and that they wanted the whole shebang to fail to prove a point. The reason Republicans keep saying this, as Jonathan Chait explains, is that it looks to most people like they triggered the supercollapse because they wouldn?t deal on taxes. Sen. Tom Coburn?s mega-compromise, the nucleus of a ?Gang of Six? deal that would raise some taxes while cutting spending, got nowhere. The ?grand bargain? that Speaker John Boehner flirted with in the summer, the one that could have averted the debt crisis, couldn?t pass a Republican Congress. A Gallup poll about the failure had voters blaming the GOP by a 3-to-2 margin (all voters) or a 2-to-1 margin (independents).
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=d17d1a7f684f7072552b556c4b24e5c5
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Euro in danger, Europe races for debt solution
A man checks stock indexes on a screen of a bank in Milan, Italy, Monday, Nov. 28, 2011. For the second time in as many market days, Italy paid sharply higher borrowing rates in an auction Monday, as investors continued to pressure the eurozone's third largest economy to come up with reforms urgently. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
A man checks stock indexes on a screen of a bank in Milan, Italy, Monday, Nov. 28, 2011. For the second time in as many market days, Italy paid sharply higher borrowing rates in an auction Monday, as investors continued to pressure the eurozone's third largest economy to come up with reforms urgently. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
A man checks stock indexes on a screen of a bank in Milan, Italy, Monday, Nov. 28, 2011. For the second time in as many market days, Italy paid sharply higher borrowing rates in an auction Monday, as investors continued to pressure the eurozone's third largest economy to come up with reforms urgently. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Map shows which EU members are in the eurozone and other European countries that are EU candidates
PARIS (AP) ? European leaders rushed Monday to stop a rampaging debt crisis that threatened to shatter their 12-year-old experiment in a common currency and devastate the world economy as a result.
One proposal gaining prominence would have countries cede some control over their budgets to a central European authority. In a measure of how rapidly the peril has grown, that idea would have been unthinkable even three months ago.
World stock markets, glimpsing hope that Europe might finally be shocked into stronger action, staged a big rally. The Dow Jones industrial average in New York rose almost 300 points. In France, stocks rose 5 percent, the most in a month.
More relevant to the crisis, borrowing costs for European nations stabilized. They had risen alarmingly in recent weeks ? in Greece, then in Italy and Spain, then across the continent, including in Germany, the strongest economy in Europe.
The yields on benchmark bonds issued by Italy and Germany rose, but only by hundredths of a percentage point. The yield fell 0.1 percentage point on bonds of France, 0.14 points for those of Spain and 0.22 points for Belgium.
Allowing a central European authority to have some control over the budgets of sovereign nations would create a fiscal union in Europe in addition to the monetary union of the 17 countries that share the euro currency.
Some analysts have said that would be a leap toward creating a United States of Europe. More delicately, it would force the nations of Europe to swallow their national pride, cede some sovereignty and agree to strengthen ties with their neighbors rather than fleeing the euro union during the crisis.
"The common currency has the problem that the monetary policy is joint, but the fiscal policy is not," Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said in a meeting with foreign reporters in Berlin.
The monetary union has existed since the euro was created in 1999, but the European Union, which includes the 17 euro nations and 10 others that use their own currencies, has no central authority over taxing and spending.
Countries like Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy overspent wildly for years and racked up annual budget deficits that have left them with monstrous debt. Italy holds ?1.9 trillion in debt, or 120 percent of the size of its economy.
A fiscal union could prevent excessive spending in the future. More important, it would be a step toward addressing today's debt crisis: It could provide cover for the European Central Bank to stage a massive intervention in the European bond market to drive down borrowing costs and keep the debt crisis under control.
So far, the ECB has resisted, in part because of concerns that bailing out free-spending countries would only encourage them to do it again, a concept known as moral hazard. Enforced budget discipline would ease those concerns.
A fiscal union would also pose a practical problem ? how to make such a body democratically accountable.
Another option is for the 17 nations in the euro group to sell bonds together, known as eurobonds, to help the countries in the deepest trouble because of debt. Germany has resisted such a plan, because it would raise borrowing costs for it and other nations that have good credit ratings.
While Europe buzzed over the possible solutions, finance ministers of the euro nations prepared for a summit beginning Tuesday evening in Brussels, to be joined the following day by ministers from the rest of the European Union.
Italy readied an auction of bonds designed to raise ?8 billion, or about $10.6 billion, and steeled itself for the high interest rates it will have to pay.
In Washington, President Barack Obama huddled with European Union officials, but the White House insisted Europe alone was responsible for fixing its debt problems.
Obama said failing to resolve the debt crisis could damage the U.S. economy, which has grown slowly since the end of the recession in June 2009 and still has 9 percent unemployment.
"If Europe is contracting, or if Europe is having difficulties, then it's much more difficult for us to create good here jobs at home," Obama said at an annual meeting between U.S. and EU officials.
Despite signs of possible progress on the debt crisis Monday, the euro has appeared to be in increasing danger the past few weeks. Experts said the currency could fall apart within days without drastic action, with consequences rivaling those of the 2008 financial crisis.
"Everyone knows that if the eurozone crashes the consequences would be very dramatic and in the race after that there would no winners, just losers," said Finland's finance minister, Jutta Urpilainen.
For countries that decided to leave the euro group and return to their own sovereign currency, the conversion would be wrenching.
If Germany broke away, for example, its national currency could rise in value quickly because the German economy is stronger than the European economy as a whole. But a stronger German mark would damage the German economy because Germany depends heavily on exports, and it would cost more for everyone else to buy German goods.
As for weaker countries that decided to leave, depositors would probably yank money out of their banks, fearing a plummeting currency. Savers in Greece would not want their euros replaced with, say, feeble drachmas.
If countries tried to repay their old euro debts with their own currencies, they'd be considered in default and would struggle to sell bonds in global financial markets. Corporations would face the same squeeze.
Overall, economists at UBS estimate, a weak country that left the eurozone would see its economy shrink by 50 percent.
Currency chaos and defaults by governments and companies would weaken European banks and also cause them to stop lending to each other. Because banks are connected globally, a credit freeze in Europe would spread. As it did in 2008, a credit freeze would cause stock markets to sell off worldwide, and another deep recession would probably follow.
Wolfgang Munchau, a columnist for the influential Financial Times newspaper, wrote Monday that the common currency "has 10 days at most" to avoid collapse. He called for decisions on a fiscal union and the creation of a powerful common treasury.
Unlike the United States, which has centralized institutions in Washington for raising taxes and spending money, the euro nations have 17 independent treasuries with little oversight from Brussels, the headquarters of the EU.
That would change under the fiscal union proposal being aired ahead of another summit of EU leaders that begins Dec. 9. Ten nations in the EU do not use the euro currency, most notably Britain.
While not explicitly backing a fiscal union, Germany and France have promised to propose measures that will make the 17 euro countries operate under strict and enforceable rules, so that no single country can wreak continent-wide damage.
Already, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international group devoted to economic progress, warned that the global economy would be rocky in coming months.
In its six-month report Monday, it said the continued failure by EU leaders to stem the debt crisis "could massively escalate economic disruption" and end in "highly devastating outcomes."
The latest turmoil came last week, after Germany tried to auction $8 billion worth of its national bonds and could persuade investors to buy only $5.2 billion. It was a sign that even mighty Germany was not immune from the debt crisis.
Investors around the world will watch the Italian bond auction Tuesday. If it receives a similarly poor reception, more European countries will be in danger of being locked out of the international bond market.
Exactly how a fiscal union would take shape in Europe is an open question.
Schaeuble, the German financial minister, said the proposal would require passage only by the 17 countries that use the euro currency. The other 10 countries in the EU, such as Britain, Poland and Sweden, could adopt it if they wanted to.
But analysts said such a move would take a long time to come to fruition.
"We do seem to be moving slowly towards more of a fiscal union but at a pace that may result in all the components being put in place after a complete meltdown of the financial system," said Gary Jenkins, an economist with Evolution Securities.
Many think the ECB is the only institution capable of calming frayed market nerves. But Merkel, the German chancellor, has continually dismissed the prospect of a bigger role for the ECB.
____
Pylas reported from London and Wiseman from Washington. Melissa Eddy, Juergen Baetz, Kirsten Grieshaber and David Rising in Berlin, and Matti Huuhtanen in Helsinki contributed to this story.
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Polaroid Z340 Instant Digital Camera
The Polaroid Z340 Instant Digital Camera ($299.99 direct), isn't Polaroid's first digital iteration of the Polaroid film camera, but it's the first one to let you go beyond wallet-size photos, upping the picture size to 3 by 4 inches. Basically a fully integrated combination of a 14-megapixel camera with a second-generation ZINK printer, it delivers on ease of use, reasonably good quality for the printed photos, and, most of all, the traditional Polaroid promise of letting you snap a picture and have the finished photo in hand in less than minute.
The Z340 is a lot closer in physical design to the consumer-level Polaroid film cameras we remember than the first version was. The Polaroid PoGo Instant Digital Camera ($200 street, 4 stars) that we reviewed a little more than two years ago was basically a 1.4-inch-thick rectangular box, with a slot on the side for the photos to exit through. The photos were only wallet size, at 2 by 3 inches.
The Z340's wedge shape is reminiscent of some of the old film models. The dimensions, not counting the hand strap on the side or the tiltable LCD in its fully up position, are 4.8 inches deep by 5.8 inches wide, with a height of about 2.3 inches in front tapering off to about 1.3 inches in back. If you went back to, say, the 1980s with it, and handed it to someone to take your picture, they'd probably be impressed by the 2.7-inch color LCD for framing the image, but they'd probably not notice anything else special about it. Just snap the picture, and a reasonably good-quality print comes out the front slot.
The Camera
The camera side of the Z340 offers lots of control of features like ISO settings and white balance. Casual photographers will want to ignore these in favor of the Auto setting, but more serious photographers will appreciate having them. It also offers about 30 different scene modes, including Portrait, Sunset, and Backlight.
As with Polaroid's first-generation digital camera, the Z340's fixed focus lens is arguably its defining feature. Polaroid says it left out an optical zoom to help keep the camera size down. However, that puts the Z340 in a category that hardly exists any more except with camera phones.
The Z340 does offer a digital zoom, which for most cameras would be best ignored. In context of an instant camera, however, where you'll be printing the photo immediately, the feature can be useful, since it will effectively let you crop the picture when you take it.
Keep in mind too that although you can treat the Z340 like any digital camera, saving photos as files and then sending them by email, posting them to an online site, or printing them on any printer you like, that isn't how you're most likely to use it. The whole point of the camera is that it lets you print your photos on the spot using the built-in printer. If you plan to use it primarily as a standard camera without a printer, you're better off getting a model that fits that description.
Camera Tests
The Z340 is one of the slower cameras we've tested. It requires a full 4.4 seconds to start up and grab a shot, averages 0.7 second between hitting the shutter button and capturing a photo, and makes you wait 2.8 seconds between photos in continuous drive mode. This won't be a major issue if you're printing photos as you shoot, but if you're selectively printing the best snapshots, the delay can cause you to miss some candid moments.
On the plus side, the image quality for capturing photos, as distinct from the image quality for the final printed photo, is surprisingly good. The 14-megapixel camera recorded 1,948 lines per picture height of resolution according to Imatest. This exceeds the 1,800-line mark that denotes a sharp image. The camera also scored well in low-light performance, keeping its images well under the 1.5 percent noise threshold through its top standard ISO setting of 1600. There's some evidence of in-camera noise reduction, so you can expect to lose some detail as you increase the ISO, but not so much that the small prints that the camera produces will suffer. There are also two extended ISO modes, 3200 and 6400, for extreme low-light shooting. You'll want to use these sparingly, since they limit image resolution to 3 megapixels.
The Printer
The Z340 uses the same print engine as the Polaroid Grey Label GL10 Instant Mobile Printer ($169.99 direct, 4 stars) that we reviewed about a year ago. The printer uses ZINK technology, which means it doesn't need separate ink and paper. The ink?or, more precisely, what serves as ink?is embedded in the paper as clear dye crystals. The printer uses heat to activate the color and create images.
Not having to load ink and paper separately makes printer setup simple. Open the input door, slide in the paper, and close the door. We ran into a little trouble getting the paper fully inserted, but solved it by using a pen point to push the paper in fully. People with small hands might not have the same problem. Note that the camera comes with one 10-sheet pack of photo paper, which is the maximum it can hold at once. Additional paper is $19.99 for three packs of 10 sheets, which works out to 66.6 cents per photo.
You can set the printer to print immediately after taking a picture, but the feature is off by default. The other choice is to navigate to a picture to preview it on the LCD, hit the Print button, optionally crop the image, add a white border or graphic border, or correct red-eye, and then hit the print button again to print. We timed the printer at a reasonably consistent 44 to 48 seconds per photo.
Output quality isn't a match for a typical inkjet. We saw a slight soft focus effect in most photos, and colors in some cases were a bit off. A blue sky in one photo, for example, came out as bluish gray, and the red autumn leaves on one tree came out as purple. There was also a slight loss of subtle shading, so one photo of a landscape, for example, looked more like a photo of a painting that a photo of a real landscape. Even so, the quality was generally suitable for snapshots, and most casual photographers will probably be satisfied with the results.
Battery life was a pleasant surprise. Polaroid claims that a fully charged battery is good for 25 prints plus 75 snapshots with flash. In our tests of printing only, it outlasted the paper we had available for testing, still going strong on a single charge after 40 prints.
The Combination
As anyone who has ever used a Polaroid film camera knows, bringing along a camera that prints is qualitatively different from bringing along a camera plus a printer. It's simply a lot easier, and a lot less cumbersome, to take a picture and print it on the same fully integrated gadget than to carry two gadgets so you can take the picture on one and print it on the other.
On that score alone, the Polaroid Z340 Instant Digital Camera succeeds quite nicely. We'd like it a lot better if the final result?namely, the printed photos?were of a higher quality or the initial price and running cost were lower. But if you don't mind the level of output quality for the price, it's otherwise highly attractive as a fun toy, or, in some cases, a useful tool for work, when you want the convenience of taking pictures and then printing them with minimal effort.?
More Photo Printer Reviews:
??? Epson Stylus Photo R2000
??? VuPoint Photo Cube
??? Polaroid Grey Label GL10 Instant Mobile Printer
??? Epson Stylus Pro 3880
??? HP Photosmart Premium Fax e-All-in-One
?? more
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/y_KvbGX6Bks/0,2817,2396778,00.asp
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Clinton to weigh reforms in historic Myanmar visit (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will test Myanmar's tentative democratic reforms this week in a high-stakes visit that could mark the resource-rich Asian nation's return to the world stage after more than 50 years of political isolation.
Clinton's trip to Myanmar follows a decision by U.S. President Barack Obama this month to open the door to expanded ties, saying he saw "flickers of progress" in a country until recently seen as a reclusive dictatorship firmly aligned with its powerful northern neighbor, China.
Clinton will be the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Myanmar -- also known as Burma -- since the military seized power in 1962, and diplomats are looking at her access and the tone of her reception as they assess the changes under way.
She will meet twice with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent 15 of the last 21 years in detention after leading a mass popular uprising that was crushed by the army.
The visit could herald a broader rehabilitation of Myanmar, which is bordered by India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand. It may persuade Washington and other western powers to ease sanctions that have driven the country deeper into Beijing's embrace.
Clinton departed on Monday, headed first to a development conference in South Korea before flying to Myanmar's remote new capital of Naypyitaw on Wednesday where she will hold talks with President Thein Sein, Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin and senior officials from parliament.
On Thursday, Clinton will travel to the main city of Yangon where she will hold the first of her meetings with Suu Kyi, according to sources in Myanmar.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, has endorsed Clinton's visit and plans to run in a parliamentary by-election later this year, highlighting gradual moves toward democracy.
Clinton will tour Yangon's dazzling gold-domed Shwedagon Pagoda, one of Myanmar's most revered historical sites and a frequent focus for political activists in the past.
U.S. officials say she will meet other civil society leaders and representatives of ethnic minority groups which have long battled the government. She will head home on Friday to weigh possible further steps, including easing U.S. sanctions in place since 1988 when the military waged a bloody crackdown on student-led protests.
DIPLOMATIC GAMBLE
Myanmar and U.S. officials have disclosed few details of Clinton's schedule, reflecting sensitivities over a trip which analysts say amounts to a diplomatic gamble that Myanmar's political reforms are genuine.
Clinton -- the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Myanmar since John Foster Dulles made the trip in 1955 -- could risk endorsing Myanmar's new leadership prematurely if the reforms are reversed and restrictions reimposed on Suu Kyi.
While her schedule does not include any "town hall" style meetings that have featured on other overseas trips, Clinton is expected to meet local people at various stops, giving her a chance to practice the direct personal diplomacy that has become her trademark.
For more than a week, plainclothes U.S. security personnel have been inspecting possible locations Clinton may visit, including the lakeside home of Suu Kyi in Yangon and a shelter for patients with HIV/AIDS run by supporters of her National League for Democracy party, witnesses said.
In remarks earlier this month, Clinton said Washington was ready to be a partner for Myanmar but only if its new military-backed civilian government carries through on promises to deepen political reforms.
"We'd like to see more political prisoners released. We would like to see a real political process and real elections. We'd like to see an end to the conflicts, particularly the terrible conflicts with ethnic minorities. But we think there's an opportunity and we want to test it," Clinton said.
"We're not ending sanctions. We are not making any abrupt changes. We have to do some more fact finding, and that's part of my trip," she told Fox News.
Clinton's trip caps a period of rapid change in Myanmar after the military handed power to a nominally civilian government following elections last November.
Since then, the new government has called for peace with ethnic minority groups, displayed some tolerance of criticism, suspended an unpopular Chinese-funded dam project, freed about 230 political prisoners and reached out to Suu Kyi
But political analysts say Myanmar's military remains strong behind the scenes, leading some analysts to question whether the generals are truly ready to cede power.
The president, Thein Sein, is a former junta member and parliament is packed with army-backed candidates. The military also continues to flex its muscles in some restive ethnic regions such as northern Kachin state, where sporadic fighting between the army and the Kachin Independence Army has continued since June despite progress in talks with other ethnic groups.
"Given the Burmese government's long history of authoritarian rule and systematic violations of human rights, vigilance is in order," Suzanne DiMaggio, vice president for global policy at the Asia Society, wrote in a commentary.
"But this is not the time to sit back, fold our arms, and wait for change to unfold. How Burma's transition plays out is a story that hasn't been written yet."
CHINA WATCHES FROM THE WINGS
Clinton's Myanmar visit looked certain to raise concern in China as part of an increasingly assertive U.S. stance in Asia.
Both Obama and Clinton recently made major diplomatic tours in the region, signaling both to longtime U.S. allies and to Beijing that the United States is not ready to take a back seat to China's political and economic influence.
Obama, unveiling a "pivot" in U.S. policy toward Asia as wars wind down in Iraq and Afghanistan, announced a new de facto U.S. military base in Australia and a new willingness to push back against China particularly in Southeast Asia where territorial disputes have caused tension.
Myanmar -- until recently seen as an economic and political satellite of China -- could be an important part of the puzzle.
Sino-Myanmar economic ties are booming with some $12.3 billion in Chinese investment in the country. But Myanmar's decision in September to shelve the China-backed $3.6 billion dam project has highlighted strains in the relationship that Clinton may hope to exploit.
"It reinforces Burma's new willingness to stand a little apart from China, but that should not be overdone. All in all, it's a great breath of fresh air after more than twenty years of policy stalemate," said Douglas Paal, an Asia expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
(additional reporting by Aung Hla Tun in Yangon)
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Ministry of Truth ? Blog Archive ? Beware the Cancer Quack
Before getting to the meat of this post, I want to kick things off with some eminently sensible pictorial advice
Believe it or not, this particular poster, by Max Plattner, dates to the period from 1936 to 1938 and yet, as the events of this week have shown, it remains as relevant today as it was is the year if was first published; a year which also saw Jesse Owens win four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics, much to the chagrin of a certain Mr A. Hitler. 1936 also saw the the publication of the very first Billboard magazine charts, from which i discovered, somewhat curiously, that I have copies of three of five recordings* that achieved the highest chart positions during that year.
*For the the record, the three that I have are Billie Holliday?s recording of Gershwin?s ?Summertime? and Robert Johnson?s ?Cross Road Blues? and ?Sweet Home Chicago?.
Returning to the 21st century, the story that serves as a reminder of the value of the advice given in that poster is, of course, that of Billie Bainbridge, a four year old girl with a rare and inoperable form of brain cancer.
Actually, if truth be told, the story I?m most interest in isn?t, strictly speaking, about young Billie. It?s actually about the American clinic, the Burzynnski Clinic, that Billie?s family hopes she will be able to attend, if they can manage to raise $200,000 to cover the costs. And its also about the manner in which a PR flack who claims to represent that clinic reacted when a blogger started raising some very pertinant questions about the clinic operating practices and the effectiveness of the treatments it offers.
I really don?t to revist ground that already been well enough covered elsewhere over the last few days, so if you?re coming to this for the first then you need to start with the following posts by Andy Lewis of The Quackometer:
The False Hope of the Burzynski Clinic
The Burzynski Clinic Threatens My Family
I?d also suggest that you pick up Dorothy Bishop?s article, ?The weird world of US ethics regulation?, David Colquhoun?s commentary, which covers some of the ?science? behind the activities of this clinic and shows it to be, quite literally, taking the piss, Cancer Research UK?s commentary. ?Hope or False Hope?? and this post, by Josephine James, which includes a fairly comprehensive collection of links to other articles covering this same story.
Last, and by no means least, Zeno?s been looking at some of the business/financial aspects of this story in a post which also includes the following table of the Burzynski clinic?s claimed response rates for common cancers:
Now, I?m no oncologist but I?ve read enough alt-med research papers over the years to know what scientifically meansingless data looks like, and Burzynski?s objective response rate data looks pretty meaningless to me.
For starters, Burzynski does a pretty lousy job of identifying exactly what it he claims to be treating, for example, lung cancer comes in five histological types; Non-small-cell carcinoma (NSCLC), small-cell carcinoma, carcinois, sarcoma and unspecified and each of these histological types may have their own sub-types ? NSCLC sub-types include squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, bronchioalveola carcinoma, carcinoid and other. Lung cancers are highly heterogenous malignancies in which is its not unusal for tumors to consist of more than one subtype and so, if you look at some of the credible published research in this area what you will invariably find is that researchers go to quite some considerable length to spell out just exactly what kind of tumors they?ve been working on as not all types/subtypes respond equally well to particular treatments.
Cancer is a very complicated disease, or rather category of diseases, and its therefore necesssary for researchers to be very specific as to the type, and sub-type. of cancer they been working on, when presenting their findings, if their results to have any real scientific value.
So, already we?re off to a rather mediocre start in terms of the quality of the evidence on offer and that was enough to prompt me to do a bit more background reading on the subject of research standards which, perhaps, unsurprisingly, threw up another anomaly that merits further investigation.
In clinical trials of non-surgical cancer treatments, how do we assess whether or not the treatment is having any actual effect, given that, in many, if not most cancers, its relatively unusual for a treatment to be so successful that it entire eradicates the tumors?
The answer is that we look for evidence of shrinkage in the size of the tumor(s) and in order to do that we need some sort of objective standard against which measure this shrinkage, if it occurs, and decide whether its significant enough to provide evidence of a definite response to treatment. That, in very simple terms, what the objective response rate is used for ? it measures the percentage of patients who exhibited a clincially significant response to the treatment based on standard assessment criteria, and for cancers thist standard is determined by a set of published rules called RECIST (Research Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours), which was initally published in 2000 (version 1.0) and then revised in 2008 (version 1.1). If you?re at all interested, then a full copy of the guidelines can be accessed here, and for our purposes you should take a good close look at section 4.3, ?Response Criteria?, which starts on page 5 of the pdf, or page 232 if you?re going from the page numbers on the actual pages.
Burzynski?s data table includes the following list of definitions in relation to his table of figures:
OR: Objective Response, includes CR, PR, MR, & IM.
CR: Complete Response. Complete disappearance of all signs of cancer in response to treatment of 4 weeks or longer.
PR: Partial Response. More than 50% decrease in the size of the tumors (the sum of cross-sectional area of the tumors), in response to treatment of 4 weeks or longer.
MR: Mixed Response. Significant decrease (more that 25%) in the size of tumors wifi simultaneous increase in size of some of the other tumors.
IM: Improvement. Decrease in size of the tumors, not confirmed yet by the second follow-up radiological measurement.
SD: Stable Disease. Hb decrease or increase in the size of the tumors, but no progression, in response to treatment of 12 weeks or longer.
PD: Progressive Disease. More then 50% increase in size of the tumors (the sum of cross-sectional area of the tumors), in response to treatment of 4 weeks or longer.
EP: Evaluable Patients. Patients who remained on treatment long enough to enable an objective evaluation of the response.
So, Burzynski?s claimed ?objective response? includes any/all patients who had either a complete, partial or mixed response to treatment or who showed an improvement, even if this had not been verified by a second, follow-up, radiological measurement*
*Ideally, measurements should be taken via a CT scan although measurements can also be taken from X-ray photographs for some lung cancers, provided certain conditions are met, i.e. the X-ray photograph must provide an unobsrtructed view of the tumor.
If, however, you consult the RECIST guidance you?ll find no reference whatsoever to any kind of ?mixed response? category and, of course, researchers shouldn?t be including results in their data before they?ve been propery verified, so there?s no ?improvement? category either.
What you will come across, if you go beyond the guidelines and look at a few journal papers for recent studies conducted using the RECIST standards, are references to a ?minor response? category, as here:
PATIENTS AND METHODS: Per protocol, the first three disease assessments were done at 2, 4, and 6 months. For the purpose of the analysis (landmark method), disease response was subclassified in six categories: partial response (PR; > 30% size reduction)*, minor response (MR; 10% to 30% reduction), no change (NC) as either NC- (0% to 10% reduction) or NC+ (0% to 20% size increase), progressive disease (PD; > 20% increase/new lesions), and subjective PD (clinical progression).
*I should point out, before anyone become confused by the numbers here that under the RECIST standard, the size of a tumour is measured in terms of the sum of its diameters in two planes of measurement and not by its cross-sectional area, as used by Burzinski, and the two measures amount to near enough the same thing as makes no difference for our purposes, or those of cancer researchers.
Now all this raises a couple of rather important questions about Burzynki?s response rates.
One is that his data appears to be off protocol in so far as his ?mixed response? category is not the same as the ?minor reponse? category that is fairly commonly used by other researchers, even if its not part of the formal RECIST standard, as the latter make no reference whatsoever to any tumours showing an increase in size at the same time as other showing a measurable decrease, albeit one too small to categorised as a partial response. It also, noticably, includes results that haven?t, at the time of publication, been properly verified, which is also a bit of a no-no.
Burzynski also published his ?objective response rate? without any further qualification ? there is no data given to show what proportion of the patients who did exhibit a response of some kind fall into each of his four categories, and from the point of view of cancer patients, that?s pretty important information because the figure that they?re naturally going to be most interested in is the ?complete response? category as that shows the number of patients for whom the treatment was a complete success.
So, we have no way of knowing exactly how much of Burzynski?s claimed response rate is based on results that have yet to be properly verified at the time of publication and, equally, no way of knowing how much of this same rate is accounted for by his off protocol ?mixed response? category, the clinical value of which is, to day the least, distinctly dubious as, ultimately, a treatment which shrinks some tumours, but not others, is only ever going to be of limited value to patients unless it can be used as part of a combination therapy with other treatments that successfuly target the tumours that Burzynski?s treatments fail to reach.
To me that all looks just a bit dodgy, especially as Burzynski appears to be touting his wholly unproven antineoplastion therapy as something of a one-size-fits-all miracle cure.
Then, as I was researching this post, the plot thickened even further as I happened across on of Burzynski?s less than happy former customers, Wayne Merritt, who was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic/liver cancer in 2009. Of everything on the Merritt?s site, one claim, in particular, caught my eye:
Along with the long list of other meds that were supposed to work in conjunction with each other, the Burzynski Clinic gave my husband standard chemotherapy medications. We were never told that two of the medications were conventional chemo medications. We discovered from our local pharmacy that one medication the Burzynski Clinic had charged us over $2300.00 for could have been purchased from the pharmacy for around $170.00.
Leaving aside the alleged 1250% markup, what the Merritt?s are alleging ? and this is only an allegation at this point ? is that Burzynski has been mixing standard chemotherapy meds in with his antineoplastion therapy without telling his patients.
If this is true then it is an extremely serious breach of medical ethics and it raises further questions about Burzynski?s claimed response rates as, without proper controls, there would be absolutely no way of establishing the extent to which any of his claims may be attributable to to the covert adulteration of his treatments with conventional chemotherapy medications, particularl when you consider that a ?mixed response? is pretty much what you?d expect to see in patients who received partial chemotherapy.
Footnote.
Incidentally, Wayne Merritt is still alive and seemingly doing pretty well even if the very obvious lessons of hsi encounter with the Burzynski clinic haven?t struck home. The ?what are we doing now? link on his site leads to a webpage which stands as veritable cornucopia of cancer woo but which whooly omits an mention of the single most salient detail in his story:
Monday 12 September 2011
I have great news! We saw the oncologyst today to get the results of the CT Scan Wayne had last week. The results are as follows: There has been no change. No growth. No new areas of suspect. Total inactivity! What does that mean? Well,? it?s kind of hard to say but we are accepting the fact and believing that the tumors have died! The doctor said she and the doctor who diagnosed would discuss doing a second biopsy to deturmine if there are any live cells within the tumor. If that happenes, and the results are that the tumors are truely dead, then we hope to be able to discuss ceasing the chemotheropy treatments!
So, that?s a win for medical science then?
Sadly, no ? not according to the Merritt?s, as their journal entry continues?
We?ve prayed and believed so long and hard for a miracle?. believing that it would come the way our human minds picture it?? instantly. However God has choosen to give us this miracle in bits and pieces. Bit by bit, a little each day. He did not take these tumors away all at once,? but left them there as evidence that they were in fact there,? life threatening,?. and now it appears?.. STOPPED IN THEIR TRACKS BY THE POWER OF PRAYER AND FAITH!!!
God has taken us on this journey for a reason. And while we still don?t know where or how the journey will end?? we will declare till the end that God is a miracle working God!
Yes, witness the miraculous power of the cognitive bias and its unmatched ability to blind people to the obvious.
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Tesla Motors spills its guts for showroom tour, visitors wonder where the gas tank's hiding
Tesla will begin priming the car-hungry public for its next electric offering, still set for a mid-2012 launch. The Model S will be given an extensive deconstruction in Tesla showrooms, touring around both the US and Europe over the next few months. The socket-friendly sedan will show off its electrical internals, including what the manufacturer says is the most energy dense battery in the industry, apparently capable of squeezing up to 300 miles from a single charge. We're also promised interactive touchscreen interfaces dotted around the stores to help explain precisely how it all works. Check out the full Tesla Motors tour schedule at the source below.
Tesla Motors spills its guts for showroom tour, visitors wonder where the gas tank's hiding originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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