Why an Italian lawmaker's phone call trumps Obama's speech

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Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's decision to take a call from an Italian lawmaker during President Barack Obama's speech highlights the tentativeness of his claim to authority.

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Verizon HTC Incredible 4G gets press render, sheepishly grins for Mr. Blurrycam

Promise not to laugh, folks, because this one appears a bit camera shy: meet the HTC Incredible 4G for Verizon Wireless. As you can see, the designers have kept the same industrial, funky and yet austere style as before, and like the original, the famous red accents are back in the mix. The camera pod continues to exist as part of a larger protrusion on the back, which now sports a significant amount of texture. The number of capacitive buttons on the front has been reduced to three, with search now absent. The Incredible 4G is is most certainly an Ice Cream Sandwich device, complete with a Sense 4 overlay.

A quick peek at the hardware information reveals a dual-core 1.2GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage, an 8MP primary camera and a front-facing VGA counterpart, along with 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 -- as well as support for LTE, NFC and WiFi Direct. The display is estimated at 4-inches and is said to offer qHD resolution. In highly welcome bit of news, the camera is said to capture a rapid burst of images, which gives us hope that this is the same option found on the One X and One S. Nonetheless, it appears to be a mainstream, middle-of-the-road handset that will likely be priced between $100 and $150 on-contract. Be sure to hop the break for the press render, and for a few extra blurry snapshots, just hit up the source link below.

Continue reading Verizon HTC Incredible 4G gets press render, sheepishly grins for Mr. Blurrycam

Verizon HTC Incredible 4G gets press render, sheepishly grins for Mr. Blurrycam originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple works on Mac malware fix but takes heat

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U.S. consumer website helps factor college costs

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LG Optimus 3D Max wages dual-core war in benchmark tests

A mere day has passed since we stumbled upon initial benchmarks for the Optimus 4X HD, and now, yet another LG smartphone has tossed its hat into the arena. In the Optimus 3D Max's arsenal is a dual-core 1.2GHz CPU, which is part of the TI OMAP 4430 SoC. Today, we pitted it against two dual-core contemporaries from HTC and Samsung -- namely, the One S and Galaxy S Blaze 4G. Sadly, the Optimus 3D Max failed to put up much of a resistance to either smartphone, and while its scores remain unofficial, its plainly obvious that this LG will look sorely dated upon its arrival. You can see how it all unfolded just after the break.

[Thanks, Konstantinos]

Continue reading LG Optimus 3D Max wages dual-core war in benchmark tests

LG Optimus 3D Max wages dual-core war in benchmark tests originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook Buys Instagram For $1 Billion

Facebook has just agreed to a staggering $1 billion acquisition of Instagram - the popular mobile photo editing and sharing site - according to reports.

Twitter exploded with people marveling at the astronomical sale price, joking about hipster filters, and comparing previous photo site acquisitions.

The big question on everyone's minds is why. For Facebook, the short answer is because they can, and it's all about staying current. Instagram is in.

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom insisted that "Instagram is not going away."

Instagram lets users stylize photos, such as this one of Selena Gomez, on the go.

"We'll be working with Facebook to evolve Instagram and build the network," Systrom said. "We will continue to add new features to the product and find new ways to create a better mobile photos experience for users."

The app will remain in the App Store and on Google Play and users will still be able to share on social networks other than Facebook, he said.

Elsewhere, another 10-figure tech sale was in the works. Rumors surrounding AOL's desire to sell off its patent portfolio have floated for weeks.

Monday, those rumors turned into a very real $1.056B deal with Microsoft.

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Travelzoo shares soar on sale report

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U.S. adds more on clot risk to some birth control pills - Drug Abuse ...

U.S. health regulators are adding information to the labels on a popular class of birth control pills that includes Bayer AG?s Yaz and Yasmin, to show they may raise the risk of blood clots.

All common birth control pills increase a woman?s chances of getting potentially fatal blood clots.

But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday that some studies showed the danger may be even higher for more recent pills that contain the compound drospirenone, a synthetic hormone.

?The revised drug labels will report that some epidemiologic studies reported as high as a three-fold increase in the risk of blood clots for drospirenone-containing products ... whereas other epidemiological studies found no additional risk,? the FDA said in a statement.

The FDA?s own study found that 10 in 10,000 women taking pills with drospirenone would get a blood clot per year, compared with about six in 10,000 women taking older contraceptives.

A clot in blood vessels can prove fatal if it breaks loose and travels to the lungs, heart or brain.

YASMIN
Brand Name: Ocella, Yasmin, Yaz
Generic Name: drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol (dro SPY re nown, ETH in il, ESS tra dy ol )

Yasmin is made by Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals.
Yasmin? (drospirenone/ethinyl estradiol) is an oral contraceptive (birth control pill). It is taken by women to prevent pregnancy.

Yasmin is a combined oral contraceptive, a birth control pill that contains both an estrogen and a progestin. It works to prevent pregnancy primarily by stopping ovulation (the maturation and release of eggs from the ovaries). However, it also prevents pregnancy in two other, minor ways. Yasmin alters the cervical mucus (the fluid of the cervix, which is the lower, narrow part of the uterus that is connected to the vagina), making it more difficult for sperm to enter the uterus. Lastly, Yasmin alters the lining of the uterus (called the endometrium), making it less receptive to an embryo.

###

Important information about Yasmin
This medication can cause birth defects in an unborn baby. Do not use if you are pregnant. Do not use Yasmin if you have any of the following conditions: a history of stroke or blood clot, circulation problems (especially if caused by diabetes), a heart valve disorder, breast or uterine cancer, abnormal vaginal bleeding, kidney or liver disease, an adrenal gland disorder, severe High Blood Pressure, migraine headaches, or a history of jaundice caused by birth control pills.

Source - http://rx-s.net/yasmin.php

To put the risk into perspective, the FDA added that the risk of blood clots from pregnancy is even higher than any risk from birth control pills.

The announcement comes after an advisory committee of outside experts to the FDA voted in December for a label revision for pills with drospirenone, calling for clearer information about their risks and benefits.

The experts stopped short of agreeing that these pills? risks outweighed their benefits, since some studies found the pills did not increase blood clot risks.

In January, the Project on Government Oversight, a U.S. watchdog group, urged the FDA to hold a new vote about the birth control pills after a study showed four of the FDA?s advisers had ties in the past to makers of pills containing drospirenone.

The FDA said past ties to industry are usually not considered conflicts under the law.

During the December panel meeting, some women?s advocacy groups called for the pills to be taken off the market, as the studies that viewed pills favorably were industry-funded.

The consumer groups and patients shared tearful stories about sudden deaths or life-changing disabilities they or their loved ones suffered from blood clots, which they believed were caused by Yaz or Yasmin.

Yaz, a reformulated version of Yasmin, remains one of the U.S. top-selling contraceptives. Bayer had $374 million in Yaz sales in 2010, according to data from IMS Health. Sales of Yaz have slipped in recent years, after Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Watson Pharmaceuticals launched generic versions.

Cynthia Pearson, executive director of the National Women?s Health Network, who testified at the December meeting, said that a simple label change would not necessarily protect women from blood clots.

?I fear that if the FDA holds another public hearing three years from now, there will be a new group of women telling sad stories about the harm done to their health by clots,? she said on Tuesday.

Most common contraceptive pills combine the hormones estrogen and progestin to help block ovulation and sperm. But they also increase the chance of a woman getting blood clots compared to not taking pills, particularly as she ages.

###

(Reuters)

Provided by ArmMed Media

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Herbal remedy blamed for high cancer rate in Taiwan: study

A toxic ingredient in a popular herbal remedy is linked to more than half of all cases of urinary tract cancer in Taiwan where use of traditional medicine is widespread, said a US study Monday.

Aristolochic acid (AA) is a potent human carcinogen that is found naturally in Aristolochia plants, an ingredient common in botanical Asian remedies for aiding weight loss, easing joint pain and improving stomach ailments.

The ancient herb has been touted around the world for thousands of years for everything from gout to childbirth, but scientists now know it carries serious risks of causing kidney disease and urinary cancers.

The latest research found it can interact with a person's DNA and form unique biomarkers of exposure, as well as creating signals within tumor suppressing genes that indicate the carcinogen has been ingested.

In Taiwan, where previous research has shown about one-third of the population has taken AA in recent years, rates of urinary tract and kidney cancer are about four times higher than in Western countries where use is less common, said the findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"It is a rare tumor and Taiwan has the highest incidence of any country in the world," said lead author Arthur Grollman of the department of pharmacological sciences at Stony Brook University in New York.

"The fact that Taiwan had the highest incidence both of cancer and this renal disease -- that was our clue that something was going on there," Grollman told AFP.

The research was based on 151 patients with urinary tract cancer, of whom 60 percent showed specific mutations linked to the herbal remedy.

In particular, after being ingested the acid forms a unique kind of lesion in the renal cortex, and also gives rise to a particular mutational signature in the TP53 tumor suppressing gene, said the study.

The herb is known in Europe by the name birthwort because it was often given to women during childbirth. Derived from the Greek, "aristolochia" means noble birth.

"This has been used by every culture in the world from the earliest written record," said Grollman.

Signs of harm have emerged in recent decades, and the acid is blamed for causing a kidney disease called Balkan endemic nephropathy, first described in 1956, that afflicted rural farmers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Serbia.

The villagers were found to be baking seeds from a weed called Aristolochia clematitis in their bread.

In the 1990s, a group of Belgian women reported sudden late stage kidney failure after taking a weight loss drug that contained AA.

And even though many countries have taken steps to warn of the risks, the ingredient is difficult to control and still finds its way into products via the Internet, said Grollman, adding that most of the AA products currently being used in Taiwan are made in China.

"Many countries ban it but it is always available on the Internet. And in fact you can't ban it in the United States. You can only ban its importation."

The US Food and Drug Administration warned of the risks of aristolochic acid in 2001 after two patients developed serious kidney disease after using botanical products containing it.

"Natural is not necessarily safe, nor is long-term usage," said Grollman.

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More on Santorum Delegate Math and Some Thoughts on Texas as Winner-Take-All

FHQ won't belabor the point on the Santorum delegate math. We're late to this anyway, as the Santorum campaign put out their memo, "The Media's Delegate Math is Wrong" last Thursday. There are degrees to delegate counting. As much as the AP projection is rosy for Romney (It is actually not that bad for Santorum, while we're on the subject.), the Santorum count is equally -- well, way more so in truth -- Santorum-friendly.

The truth lies somewhere in between; closer to the AP projection, but in the between nonetheless. At least with the AP's math, we know that there is a proportional projection of the delegates across most of the group of non-binding caucus states. That can be accounted for, and in fact, FHQ attempts to do just that by backing out those delegates until they are actually allocated at congressional district and/or state conventions. Those delegates are unbound. To take one example, the AP initially -- based on the March 6 caucus straw poll results -- awarded Rick Santorum 11 delegates in North Dakota, Ron Paul eight, Mitt Romney seven and Newt Gingrich two delegates. [Yes, that proportionally allocates the three automatic delegates also.] The reality following the late March state convention in the Peace Garden state was that the slate of delegates selected favored Romney. Once the dust settled the AP was able to report that of that elected slate of delegates, 12 supported Romney, eight Santorum, two Paul and one delegate came out for Gingrich.¹ Two others remained uncommitted and that rounded out the 25 non-automatic delegates. Of those three automatic delegates, one, the national committeewoman Sandy Boehler endorsed Romney while the other two stayed on the sidelines.

Is the media's count wrong?

Yes, their projection was. Reality versus projection shows an eight seven delegate swing in Romney's direction.

The advantage to that is that we have the ability to pinpoint mistakes; or at least perceived mistakes. Such a benefit is not afforded us in the Santorum count. This is what prompted me to say -- via tweet -- that it was put up or shut up time for the Santorum campaign. Either demonstrate -- state-by-state -- what the count is or stop pretending.² FHQ is absolutely fine with the Arizona or Florida argument. It is wrong to reallocate those delegates strictly proportionally, but that is an area I'm willing to play along with the Santorum folks. But if they want anyone to believe that the campaign is having any success in this, well, Paul-like caucus strategy, then it is time to show who the delegates are and it would help to share a line of endorsement from those delegates as well. The Santorum campaign needs fewer North Dakotas and much fewer "You'll just have to trust us, but we have almost 200 more delegates than anyone is giving us credit for" press releases. The proof is in the pudding and I don't think the Santorum folks have gotten us to that point in the meal yet. [Heck, I don't think we're seated at the table yet.]

The question is simple: If you have more delegates when are you going to share with everyone from where those delegates are?

--
The far more interesting piece of information from the Santorum delegate memo was that Texas would be moving to a winner-take-all allocation of its delegates. FHQ has a few comments on this:

1. This has come up several times since it became apparent that Texas would not be able to hold a March 6 presidential primary. The Republican Party of Texas voted in September 2011 to shift to a proportional method of allocation to comply with RNC rules. But then, due to the dispute of congressional district lines, the March primary became unfeasible.?
2. This had RPT arguing that the [proportionality] rules were set in stone prior to October 1 (the deadline for states to have rules in place according to the RNC rules) and that was that. But that had FHQ asking in December why it was not possible to argue before the RNC that circumstances out of the control of RPT forced the switch to proportionality in the first place and that with an after-April 1 primary Texas could transition back to its former delegate allocation method.
3. Of course, arguing that RPT would have an argument before the RNC is not anything that has any basis in reality in the Republican rules. There is -- as RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer pointed out -- no waiver process. That is only something that occurs on the Democratic side. The RNC delegate selection process is, as FHQ has attempted to point out, much more decentralized. Traditionally, states have had the latitude to decide how they will allocate their apportioned delegates. In 2012, that leeway was only afforded to states with contests after April 1. But just as there is no waiver process on the Republican side, there is nothing in the RNC delegate selection rules to prevent a post-October 1 change on the state level to state-level delegate rules. There is no direct penalty for such a move. Would there be a challenge to such a change at the convention (if it mattered)? Sure, but it would still be possible. Several states finalized plans after October 1, 2011. Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina all moved the dates of their contests after that point. Any penalties incurred were due to the earliness of those contests and not because they had shifted the dates of their primaries or caucuses after October 1. Who else changed dates after October 1? Texas did; twice.?
4. Can RPT change to a winner-take-all method of allocation? Yes, but there apparently is not enough willingness to do so where it counts in the Lone Star state. Back at the end of February, when the state party had to finalize plans to deal with the new court-arbitrated May 29 primary date, the [State Republican Executive Committee of the] Republican Party of Texas voted down at least three resolutions to change the proportional allocation method to something else.?
5. Now there is a movement within at least some factions of the party to revert to the rules as they were before: winner-take-all. Of course, just as many thought that all the pre-April 1 states would have strictly proportional allocation, many are of the opinion that Texas will be strictly winner-take-all. To return to the rules as they were in 2008 in Texas, though, the party would be returning to a conditional system of allocation. A majority winner, either statewide or on the congressional district level, would receive all of the at-large or the three delegates per congressional district, respectively. Otherwise, everything is proportional. This is not a statewide winner-take-all delegate system like what was witnessed in Washington, DC last week (or Florida or Arizona for that matter). What that means is that Santorum would not necessarily receive all of the delegates from Texas.?
6. ...and even if Santorum did win all of the Texas delegates would it keep Romney from 1144? It would reduce his cushion some.

--
¹ From the AP's Dale Wetzel:

"The state GOP initially said delegates would be awarded in proportion to the caucus results, though the delegates would remain free to vote their conscience. If delegates were awarded proportionally, Santorum would get 11, Paul would get eight, Romney would get seven and Gingrich would get two.?

But at the state convention, Romney supporters successfully elected the most delegates ? even though the former Massachusetts governor finished third in the caucuses. In interviews with the AP, 12 delegates said they backed Romney, eight supported Santorum, two favored Paul and one preferred Gingrich. Two delegates said they had no favorite.?

Rounding out North Dakota's 28 delegates are three members of the Republican National Committee who will automatically attend the convention. Among them, Sandy Boehler supports Romney while Curly Haugland and Stan Stein, the state GOP chairman, are uncommitted.?

The delegates said they plan to meet prior to the national convention to decide how they will vote with the idea that they would divvy up votes to reflect the results of the caucuses."

² This prompted Jon Bernstein to respond that it was the campaign's job to pretend. And I totally agree. It is the Santorum campaign's right to pretend. However (and this is where so many conversations between political scientists end up), I would argue that there are degrees of pretending and the Santorum folks do themselves no favors by not presenting even one shred of evidence that they have any more delegates than the press gives them credit for. [I genuinely hope that Jon comes back at this with a reference to the Seinfeld episode where Elaine and the Eastern European author are arguing in an elevator about whether there are "just coincidences" or if there are degrees of coincidences.] If Santorum campaign wants to push back against the AP projection, it isn't had to do, but do it by producing at least one, say, Missouri congressional district delegate who is supporting Santorum or at least one more than the AP is attributing to Santorum.

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How To Get Ripped ? How To Build Muscle and Stay Lean | sports ...

Before anything else, let me tell you about the different body types. In medical terms, people come in three body types ? ectomorph, endomorph, and mesomorph. Now, your ability to build muscle and stay lean (i.e., how fast you can build muscle and how easily you can lose fat) depends quite largely on your body type.

People with the ectomorph body type typically appear skinny. These are the people that are being categorically referred to as ?hard gainers? in the world of bodybuilding. They have a fragile and delicate physique?they have light bones, small joints, and very little muscle. Ectomorphs are generally not naturally powerful and, as such, they need to work extra hard (much harder than endomorphs and mesomorphs) to be able to build muscle and gain strength.

The only advantage that ectomorphs have over the two other body types is that they have the least amount of fat in their body and they can stay that way without putting much of any effort in it. Ectomorphs can practically eat anything they want and as much as they want and do not have to worry about gaining a single ounce of fat. Even if an ectomorph does gain any fat at all, he/she wouldn?t have to work as hard as endomorphs and mesopmorphs to shed the fat he/she has gained.

Mesomorphs generally have a large bone structure, large muscles and a naturally athletic physique. People with this body type are the ones that are considered to be gifted with the ?good? kind of genes (as far as body/muscle building is concerned) because they are naturally strong and they find it quite easy to gain and lose weight and to build muscle. In case you didn?t know, a great majority of Mr. Universe winners are mesomorphs.

As for people with the third body type, the endomorph, their physique is generally round and soft and presents the illusion that much of their body mass is concentrated in the abdominal area. A very good advantage of endomorphs over ectomorphs is that they can build muscle as easily as the mesomorphs. The problem is that they are also easy to gain fat which is very difficult for them to shed.

The main reason why I?m telling you this is because, depending on your body type, you may find it really hard to reduce your body fat (if you are an endomorph), or you may feel that it is taking you forever to see any muscle gain on your body. Keep in mind that it can be done, whether it?s to lose fat or to put on some muscle mass. Everyone can get ripped regardless of their body type and I will be talking here about the things that will allow you to achieve your goal in the shortest possible time.

But before that, I?d like to clarify what I meant by ?shortest possible time?. Please don?t mistake it for ?a very short time? because that?s definitely not what I meant by that. The thing is, people (ectomorphs in particular) can gain only up to 5 pounds of muscle in a year considering that they are doing everything right (from their workout, to their diet, to their lifestyle). Mesomorphs can achieve a bit more than that, but let?s just focus on the majority for the meantime. Now, by ?shortest possible time? I don?t mean that you can pack on 5 pounds of muscle in less than a year. What I?m saying is if your body is capable of gaining 5 pounds of muscle in a year, you will gain all that 5 pounds of muscle in a year and not a month longer.

Anyway, if you want to build muscle and stay lean, diet is very important. If you want to reduce your body fat and really lean down you have to pay close attention to what you are eating. If you are somebody who tends to put on weight easier you would want to reduce the wheat, get rid of the refined sugars, and focus more on raw foods and vegetables and some good quality protein.

From a workout perspective you need to be doing full body exercises and you need to train with heavier weights. Some of the exercises that you would want to do are squats, pull-ups, dead lifts, push presses, military press, and all sorts of full body compound exercises that get a lot of muscle involved using heavier weights.

If you really want to pack on the muscle, you need to be able to do 5 or 6 sets of 10 to 12 reps of these exercises, doing a lot of work on your large muscle groups.

This type of workouts are metabolic meaning that it gets your heart rate up and gets you breathing heavily. Getting a lot of muscle involved is great for burning fat because they force a lot of muscle fibers. The heavier the weight you use, the more muscles need to be engaged to lift it, and that?s a really good thing.

On top of that, you need to do a little bit of integral cardio. Cardio is very beneficial if you are looking to really take the fat level down. You would want to do 15 to 20 minutes of cardio workout about 3 times a week either after your strength training workouts or on their own.

Now, there?s nothing wrong about doing long version cardio. People have been talking about it as just a waste of time. But the thing is, you can?t do integrals all the time. You need something to balance out and allow your body to recover a little bit better and a longer duration and lighter intensity cardio can be helpful in burning fat and, at the same time, allowing your body to recuperate from the workouts.

So, if you really build muscle and stay lean, just follow those guidelines. They?re a great way to start you off. Another thing to keep in mind is that determination and discipline are also important if you really want to achieve your goals. You can?t expect to get ripped just by working out for a few months. You can?t expect yourself to shed fat and keep it away if you are just going to gorge on junk foods after you slim down.

I don?t know if this is good news to you but building muscle and staying lean is a lifetime commitment.

About the Author

This article is written by Jonathan Castor. Castor enjoys writing and educating people about matters related to health and fitness. He has written many articles that focus primarily on the topic of muscle building. If you want to learn how to get ripped fast, visit http://www.gainmusclebuildmuscle.com.

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