Keep Acidulated Water on Hand for Sliced Fruit [Kitchen Hacks]

Everyone knows that adding lemon juice to sliced fruit will keep it from browning, but it can also impart a bitter flavor to the fruit unless you balance it with a little sugar or other sweetener. Bento weblog Lunch in a Box recommends having a small container of water with lemon juice and sweetener ready to go in your fridge so you can quickly assemble lunches and snacks on the fly.

Lunch in a Box also notes that

any form of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) will work including lime juice, orange juice, cream of tartar, a crushed vitamin C tablet dissolved in water, or even ground chili pepper. I like the flavor that orange juice adds to fruit, but often use bottled lemon juice with a little Splenda or sugar for the same effect without the pucker. Salt water also slows browning and adds an interesting savory bite to fruit.

Adding the acidulated water to a spray bottle would also work well.

Speed Tip: Keep acidulated water for slicing fruit | via

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/jpjoLRxz3HA/keep-acidulated-water-on-hand-for-sliced-fruit

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Afghans weary of yet another summit ahead of Bonn Conference

An international conference on Afghanistan's future opens Monday in Bonn, Germany. But on the streets of Kabul, Afghans have low expectations a decade into the western presence here.

As leaders from around the world gather in Bonn, Germany to discuss the future of Afghanistan the stakes could not be higher.?Question marks hover over NATO and Afghan forces' progress against the insurgency, the future of US involvement after its 2014 withdrawal deadline, and which factions in the conflict Pakistan will ultimately support.

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Yet for many Afghans, the second Bonn Conference is little to be excited about. International summits like it have taken place on a nearly annual basis over the past ten years and most Afghans say they?ve seen little change as a result.

?I don?t think these conferences are for the good of Afghanistan. We?ve seen many other conferences where hundreds or even thousands of people came. During conferences here in Afghanistan, they closed the roads and people suffered due to strict security policies or even died in attacks during the conference, but they changed nothing,? says Zmary Sapai, a wholesale food merchant in Kabul. ?These conferences are just throwing dirt in the eyes of the Afghan people.?

On Monday the second Bonn Conference will take place 10 years after the first one gathered shortly after the fall of the Taliban government. A decade ago Afghan and international leaders gathered to create a transitional government and pave the way for a new constitution.

Today the political and security situation in Afghanistan remains far from settled and Afghan leaders at Bonn will likely be looking to secure continued international support for the decade to come as they seek to create lasting stability.

The first Bonn Conference and the years immediately following it were marked with much hope following the ouster of the Taliban government and violence staying at relatively low levels. Within five years, however, the Taliban resurgence was well under way and the promises of reconstruction and peace seemed distant to most Afghans.

?If the coming 10 years are like the last 10 years, it will make the Afghans very concerned. After the first Bonn Conference they were saying that they were bringing democracy to Afghanistan, but they gave the country to warlords and jihadist groups,? says Babrak Shinwari, a former member of Parliament from Nangarhar.

Despite billions of dollars of international investment in Afghanistan?s reconstruction ? more than $70 billion from the US alone ? the nation has seen questionable progress.

Human Rights Watch was one of several organizations to issue a cautionary statement in the days leading up to the conference. The rights organization warned of a situation ?dominated by poor governance, lack of rule of law, impunity for militias and police, laws and policies that harm women, and conflict-related abuses.?

Still, there is hope enough time remains to overcome the mistakes of the last ten years. In addition to time, many say improvement will also require enduring international funding.

The Afghan government currently gets 90 percent of its public spending budget from international donors and the World Bank recently warned that it will depend on billions of dollars in foreign assistance for years to come in order to stay afloat.

?From the Bonn Conference what we hope is that the Afghan government makes their demands and suggestions in a fair way that can convince the international community to keep their political and economic assistance for the long-term and maintain these achievements we?ve made over the last several years with the support of the international community,? says Zaifnoon Safi, a member of parliament from Laghman Province.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/x2uTyZ0AFLI/Afghans-weary-of-yet-another-summit-ahead-of-Bonn-Conference

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Oklahoma State Wins Bedlam Game Over Oklahoma And Makes BCS Case

STILLWATER, Okla. ? A dominating performance made Oklahoma State a conference champion for the first time in decades. Now, the Cowboys want a shot at an even bigger title.

Joseph Randle ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns, Richetti Jones returned a fumble for a score and No. 3 Oklahoma State throttled No. 13 Oklahoma 44-10 Saturday night to win the Big 12 championship and make its case to play for the BCS national title.

The Cowboys (11-1, 8-1 Big 12) snapped an eight-game losing streak in the Bedlam rivalry and won their first outright conference title since 1948 in the three-team Missouri Valley.

Oklahoma State's defense, badmouthed much of the season while giving up big yardage but leading the nation in takeaways, forced the Sooners into five turnovers ? four of them by quarterback Landry Jones.

Fans started chanting "L-S-U!" midway through the fourth quarter with the victory well in hand, then stormed the field and tore down the goal posts when it was over.

While the top-ranked Tigers won the SEC championship Saturday to lock up a spot in the BCS title game, No. 2 Alabama sat at home idle after finishing second in its division. Oklahoma State, meanwhile, proved itself the best team in its state and its conference. But it's up to the voters, who had the Cowboys fifth in the coaches' poll and Harris poll, to decide whether Oklahoma State will play for the highest stakes.

Coach Mike Gundy proclaimed earlier this week that he considered the Crimson Tide to be the second-best team in the nation "right now" ? maybe because that's what he thought his team needed to hear that to get fired up and prove him wrong.

"Last week, I said Alabama should be there," Gundy said on the field after the game. "There's no question Oklahoma State should be No. 2 right now. No question."

For most of the 107 years of the Bedlam rivalry, the Sooners had the better team and more on the line.

But each of the past two years, Oklahoma came in with a lower ranking and still found a way to derail a couple of the best teams in Oklahoma State history ? first dashing any hopes of a BCS at-large berth two years ago and then taking away the Cowboys' shot at the Big 12 championship last season.

With all that history on their side, the Sooners came out looking to intimidate.

After coming onto the field, players ran into the west end zone for a pregame prayer and then lingered after it was over ? right outside the gate where the Cowboys were getting ready to run out. Coaches, game officials and security officers made them get out of the way.

The Sooners couldn't back up the pregame bluster, though.

Brandon Weeden's 53-yard pass to Tracy Moore set up Jeremy Smith's 9-yard touchdown run, and the Cowboys defense ? which entered the game ranked 107th out of 120 teams in the nation ? never needed any more than that.

Brodrick Brown outfought Jaz Reynolds to pick off Landry Jones' pass in the end zone and prevent an Oklahoma score, and Alex Elkins stripped the ball from the quarterback on a sack to set up a TD for the Cowboys.

Jamie Blatnick picked up the fumble and returned it 59 yards to the 1-yard line, and Randle scored on the next play to make it 17-0. Randle added a 2-yard run after Sam Proctor's holding penalty on a kickoff return backed the Sooners up, and they went three-and-out ? punting it back to Oklahoma State on a shortened field.

Richetti Jones made it 34-3 after Landry Jones reached back to pass the ball and fumbled it onto the turf, with the OSU defender bobbling it and then finally controlling it for a 5-yard return.

The Sooners got their only points on Michael Hunnicutt's 48-yard field goal at the end of the first half and Blake Bell's 28-yard TD scamper with 2:25 left in the game.

Gundy thinks there's more to the Cowboys than the nation's second-highest scoring offense, and he wants a chance to prove it against LSU and its second-ranked defense.

"We'd love to have that challenge. I think our defense is better than what other people say," Gundy said.

It ended up as Oklahoma's most lopsided defeat since losing the 2005 Orange Bowl against Southern California, and the second-biggest margin of victory for the Pokes in the series ? behind only a 47-0 shutout in 1945.

Oklahoma State's case to play against LSU in New Orleans next month will be hurt by a double-overtime loss 15 days earlier at Iowa State, which finished its season 6-6. It'll bolstered by five wins against teams in the BCS Top 25, compared to two for Alabama.

And, of course, the Cowboys will have the momentum from not only winning a conference title but doing it in dominating fashion against a team that was ranked No. 1 earlier this season.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/03/oklahoma-state-wins-bedlam-oklahoma-bcs-football_n_1127698.html

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Augmented Sound Gaming With Dimensions ? 148Apps ? iPhone ...

Making everyday life a game.

Technology is improving in in leaps and bounds. It?s an immensely exciting time to be alive. Just a glance at the growing prevelance of Augmented Reality games aptly demonstrates that. How about a game that relies on augmented sound though? Now, that?s a bit different.

Dimensions looks extremely interesting in that respect. It uses augmented sound to turn the world into a game. Designed to be played in parallel with normal life, the game manipulates and enhances sound nearby changing the things we hear as a matter of course over the day. Players enter and exit different dimensions within the game as they go about their life. Missions can then be completed by collecting artifacts and fighting enemies.

It?s a pretty fascinating concept and with music from Inception composer Hans Zimmer, Dimensions looks all the more compelling.

Dimensions is set for release sometime this month. We?ll be sure to keep an eye on its development. For now, check out the video below that explains a bit more.

[Source: Gamasutra]

Posted in: Blog, Upcoming

Tagged with: augmented reality, Augmented Sound, Dimensions, Gaming, Inception, Music

Source: http://www.148apps.com/news/augmented-sound-gaming-dimensions/

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Davis' block lifts No. 1 Kentucky over No. 5 UNC

North Carolina's Dexter Strickland, left, looks for a teammate as Kentucky's Anthony Davis, right, and Marquis Teague defend during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

North Carolina's Dexter Strickland, left, looks for a teammate as Kentucky's Anthony Davis, right, and Marquis Teague defend during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

North Carolina's Reggie Bullock, left, shoots in front of Kentucky's Terrence Jones during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Thursday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

North Carolina's Tyler Zeller, center, shoots between Kentucky's Anthony Davis, left, and Terrence Jones during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

Kentucky head coach John Calipari urges his team on during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against North Carolina in Lexington, Ky., Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

North Carolina's Reggie Bullock, center, shoots between Kentucky's Terrence Jones, left, and Eloy Vargas during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) ? Pushed and pressured all day, Anthony Davis finally went somewhere else no one could on the floor. Up.

The freshman soared to block John Henson's shot in the final seconds and No. 1 Kentucky held on to beat No. 5 North Carolina 73-72 on Saturday to extend the Wildcats' home winning streak to 39 games.

"I just jumped as high as I could with my arm up," said Davis, who had seven points and nine rebounds. "I thought I probably would (block it). I have long hands."

Freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for Kentucky (8-0) and Doron Lamb added 12 of his 14 points after halftime in the heavily hyped matchup.

"I didn't realize, because I hadn't been watching much TV, that this game was being played up like the end alls of end alls," Kentucky coach John Calipari said.

Davis sure ended it, all right.

Reggie Bullock hit a 3-pointer for North Carolina (6-2) to cut the Wildcats' lead to 73-72 with 48 seconds left. After freshman Marquis Teague missed the front end of a one-and-one, Davis blocked Henson's shot, grabbed the rebound and the Wildcats ran out the clock.

"If he doesn't block the shot, we lose," Calipari said. "Both teams gutted it out, just gutted it out. This is supposed to be March, not now. I'm exhausted."

Tyler Zeller and Harrison Barnes scored 14 points apiece for the Tar Heels, who led by as many as nine in the first half and held a six-point lead in the second before Kentucky rallied.

The Wildcats haven't lost at Rupp Arena since Calipari took over, a span of 38 games that includes winning their final one at home under Billy Gillispie.

Lamb converted a three-point play as part of a 7-0 run that gave Kentucky a 63-60 lead. After Zeller hit a jumper to cut it to one, Lamb hit a pair of 3s, the second in the corner that gave the Wildcats a 69-64 lead with 3:47 left.

"He had a couple of layups, a couple of threes and they were big shots, they were big shots. That one in the corner was a huge shot and he knocked it down," Calipari said. "I've got good players. We're young, we're inexperienced, but I have really good players."

After a 3-pointer by Barnes, North Carolina's 11th of the game, made it 69-67. Darius Miller's basket made it 71-67. Henson hit two free throws and Kidd-Gilchrist answered with two more before Bullock's 3 set up the final sequence.

After Teague missed the front end of the one-and-one following a foul by Kendall Marshall with 21 seconds left, the Tar Heels had one more chance.

Marshall found Zeller and as Terrence Jones came to double team, he found Henson. Henson went up for a winner, but Davis used his 6-foot-10 frame and massive wingspan to block the ball. He grabbed the rebound as North Carolina never tried to foul as time expired.

"He came from the other side of the lane, it was a great play by him," Henson said.

Jones finished with 14 points and Miller had 12 for the Wildcats. North Carolina's P.J. Hairston scored 11 and Henson finished with 10.

Kentucky last reached No. 1 under Calipari in 2009-10, but promptly lost its first game after receiving the ranking. The Wildcats beat St. John's 81-59 on Thursday night before this matchup ? the first between top five teams in Lexington in 13 years.

Last year, these two teams played a pair of memorable games with North Carolina winning 75-73 in Chapel Hill before Kentucky topped the Tar Heels 76-69 in the NCAA regional finals in March.

This one was equally as entertaining even though North Carolina slipped from the No. 1 spot last week when they lost to UNLV in Las Vegas to keep this from being the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup in the 35-year history of Rupp Arena.

The Tar Heels committed five early turnovers, but Hairston, who had been questionable to play because of a sprained left wrist, hit a pair of 3-pointers upon entering to give North Carolina a 24-18 lead.

A jumper by Barnes extended it to 34-25, the biggest deficit the Wildcats faced this season and Kentucky trailed at the half for the first time this season, 43-38.

It's the first time the two schools have met this highly ranked since Dec. 26, 1981 in East Rutherford, N.J., when Michael Jordan, James Worthy and Sam Perkins combined for 66 points in North Carolina's 82-69 victory.

Kentucky standout Sam Bowie didn't play in that game because of a stress fracture in his left leg, but that game still featured 18 draft picks ? including five that went in the first two rounds. The NBA draft was 10 rounds through 1984.

This matchup had even more media anticipation and included more than two dozen NBA scouts and front office personnel. Kentucky's young squad that starts three freshmen and two sophomores responded.

"We felt like this was a good test to see where we're at against one of the best teams in the country," Miller said. "We came out with a W. I think we're all pretty happy about it."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-03-T25-NCarolina-Kentucky/id-1ab6af2885fe45af83d0741eba988fa1

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Hormonal prostate cancer therapy tied to blood clots (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) ? Hormone-targeted therapy for prostate cancer may raise the risk of potentially dangerous blood clots, a large U.S. study suggests.

Analyzing data on more than 154,000 older men with prostate cancer, researchers found that those who received hormonal therapy had double the rate of blood clots in the veins, arteries or lungs compared to men not on the treatment.

Of the 58,000-plus men taking hormonal therapy, 15 percent developed a blood clot over roughly four years, versus seven percent of men who did not receive get the therapy.

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

In this study, men who developed blood clots ended up in the hospital about one-quarter of the time, the researchers report in the journal Cancer.

"By no means is this a trivial risk," said lead author Dr. Behfar Ehdaie, of Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

For men weighing their options for prostate cancer treatment, Ehdaie said the risk of blood clots -- and other side effects -- needs to be balanced against the benefits.

Other potential side effects of hormonal therapy include weight gain, bone thinning, hot flashes and erectile dysfunction.

And for many prostate cancer patients, experts say, the benefits of hormonal therapy are not clear.

The approach is based on the fact that testosterone can fuel the growth of prostate cancer. Curbing a man's production of the hormone -- by surgical removal of the testicles or, far more often, medication -- can be helpful.

But hormonal therapy was originally given only to men with advanced prostate cancer that had spread to other sites in the body. For them, the treatment offers symptom relief that generally outweighs the risks of side effects, said Dr. Vahakn B. Shahinian, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Hormone therapy can also improve survival when given along with radiation therapy to men with "high-risk" prostate cancer that is likely to progress. (Many prostate tumors are slow-growing and may actually never advance to the point of threatening a man's life.)

"Those are the two scenarios where there is clear-cut evidence of a benefit," said Shahinian, who wrote an editorial published with the study. "The issue comes when you look at the host of other scenarios where hormone therapy is used."

In the past couple decades, some doctors started giving hormonal therapy as a first-line therapy to men newly diagnosed with tumors that were still confined to the prostate. That's despite the fact that the benefits for those patients are not established.

In some cases, men may be in poor health, and aggressive treatment with radiation might not be wise. But the doctor and patient may feel the need to "do something," Shahinian said. So hormonal therapy is the choice.

There's also evidence that financial motives have played a part, Ehdaie noted.

By 1999, hormonal therapy was given to about half of prostate cancer patients. But studies have found that after more recent cuts in Medicare reimbursement for the therapy, fewer doctors are using it.

The bottom line, both Ehdaie and Shahinian said, is that men should thoroughly discuss the risks and benefits of different prostate cancer treatments with their doctor.

As for why hormonal therapy would promote blood clots, the mechanisms are uncertain.

In fact, the current findings do not prove that the therapy itself is the direct cause of men's blood clots. Ehdaie's team tried to account for other factors that could explain the link; and they did find that men on hormonal therapy tended to be older and in poorer overall health.

But even with those differences considered, men on hormonal therapy had a 56 percent greater chance of developing a blood clot. And the clot risk generally climbed the longer a man was on the treatment.

"We can't infer causality, but it is a strong association," Ehdaie said.

It's possible, he noted, that hormonal therapy raises the risk of clots because of its negative effects on metabolism, which can include boosting a man's fat mass.

"I think the take-away message is that this reinforces the fact that hormonal therapy has potential risks, and men should be informed," Shahinian said.

Shahinian is a paid consultant to Amgen, which is seeking approval for its bone cancer drug, Xgeva, to treat certain men with advanced prostate cancer.

For many men with prostate cancer, having no immediate treatment at all is an option.

According to the National Cancer Institute, about half of the more than 190,000 U.S. men diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2009 fell into the "low-risk" category -- meaning their cancer had low odds of progression.

They are among the men who can choose to forgo treatment and instead have their cancer monitored -- what doctors call "active surveillance."

Such watchful waiting can be stressful, Shahinian noted. But men should be aware that "doing something" comes with potential risks, he said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/tFt8Vx Cancer, online November 9, 2011.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111201/hl_nm/us_prostate_cancer

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Police: 2 upstate NY kids call 911, ask for Santa (Providence Journal)

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