North KOREA puts rockets on stanby for US strike

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on Friday ordered missile units to prepare to strike US mainland and military bases, vowing to "settle accounts" after US stealth bombers flew over South Korea.

The order came after US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, with tensions soaring on the Korean peninsula, said Washington would not be cowed by Pyongyang's bellicose threats and stood ready to respond to "any eventuality".

Kim directed his rocket units on standby at an overnight emergency meeting with top army commanders, hours after nuclear-capable US B-2 stealth bombers were deployed in ongoing US joint military drills with South Korea.

Rating the New Voice Coaches: How Did Usher and Shakira Do?

Usher and Shakira

Eleven singers graced The Voice stage during the hit NBC singing competition's Season 4 premiere on Monday. But while there was no shortage of future hitmakers and Grammy winners that made it to the next round — Judith Hill anyone? — let's be honest. Everyone's ears, and eyes, were on new coaches Usher and Shakira, who are filling in for Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera this cycle. So did the new additions push your big red button? Or are Cee Lo and X-Tina really irreplaceable?

Things You Should Know About Florida Gulf Coast University

Florida Gulf Coast University, also known as FGCU, is a coeducational public research university located just south of theSouthwest Florida International Airport in the South Fort Myers region of unincorporated Lee County, Florida, United States. The university belongs to the 12-campus State University System of Florida. FGCU competes in the Atlantic Sun Conference in Division Isports and is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate's,bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.^[3]

The school was established by then-governor Lawton Chiles in 1991, although the

Lululemon pulls "too revealing" yoga pants

Lululemon has yanked its popular black yoga pants from store shelves after it found that the sheer material used was revealing too much of its loyal customers.

The company insisted it had not changed the specifications for the clothing, but is warning of a shortage of the extraordinarily popular clothing items, which make up make up about 17 percent of all women's pants and crop pants in its stores.

Yoga pants on display at a Lululemon store in New York City

Shares dropped almost 5 percent in morning trading Tuesday and at least one analyst that follows the company stripped it of its "buy" rating.

• What Lululemon learned from the recession
• Lululemon's measured growth pays off
• Lululemon CEO Christine Day on making it to the top

Rapper Lil Wayne suffers seizure, coma and hospitalize in ICU

Grammy-winning and multiplatinum-selling rapper Lil Wayne suffered a seizure and "is recovering," his record label's publicist said Friday.

The New Orleans artist arguably occupies the highest rungs of the hip-hop world, but he shares them with fellow rapper Drake, who hails from Toronto.

New world, New Pope,New Hope: How will Francis lead his church?

VATICAN CITY — The world has a new pope. And this pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, now simply Francis, has to confront a new world.

"Brothers and sisters, buona sera," Francis said Wednesday, addressing the delirious rain-soaked crowd in St. Peter's Square with a noticeably personal and inclusive style. "Let's start this journey of brotherhood, love and trust."

That journey won't be easy. In the eight years since a similar papal conclave elected the recently resigned Pope Benedict XVI, the Catholic Church has faced vexing problems, from banking coverup charges to damaging internal leaks.

Things You Need to Know About the Mighty Yet Flawed Galaxy S4

                     Samsung’s Galaxy S4 looks much pretty like a 
                        larger version of the S III that preceded it. 
                                           Image: Samsung

The S4′s 13-megapixel camera has a 

mixed bag of features.Image: Samsung

Samsung’s Galaxy S4 finally made its debut Thursday night, and not a single thing about the phone was surprising. Every feature and every spec was leaked prior to the S4′s unveiling. But that doesn’t make the S4 any less impressive.

Here are five things you need to know about the Galaxy S4, before you decide whether or not it will be your next phone.                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                     The S4 Is Watching You

By tracking your eye movement, the S4 will pause a video when you look away from the screen with Smart Pause. Smart Scroll, on the other hand, scrolls up and down through a page when the phone is tilted. While the Smart Pause feature could lead to jittery video playback while you keep an eye on what’s going on around you, the Smart Scroll could be helpful when reading large blocks of text. Maybe.

Both seem gimmicky and it’s tough to determine when these functions will actually be used. Maybe when you break your thumb and you can’t flick up and down to read a site or when you have to look away from a video so you don’t get hit by a car but you just have to catch every nuance of the latest Beyonce video.

Evolution, Not Revolution

The S4 picks up right where last year’s Galaxy S III left off. As far as looks go, the S4 looks like a larger version of its predecessor. It’s thin, it’s light, and it’s made of plastic. The sloped edges and anti-iPhone styling are all in place. The S III had a 4.8-inch, 720p, Super HD AMOLED display covered in Corning’s scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 2. The S4 has a 5-inch, 1080p Super HD AMOLED display covered in Gorilla Glass 3. The S III was 0.34-inches thick, the S4 is 0.31-inches thick. The S III weighed 4.7-ounces, the S4 weighs 4.6-ounces. While the S III had an 8-megapixel rear camera, and a 1.9-megapixel front camera, the S4 has a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front camera. TouchWiz — Samsung’s alterations to Google’s Android operating system — looks to be largely the same between the S III and S4. The S4 is basically more, more, more of everything — specs and features.

This isn’t a bad thing. Like the S III, the S4 will be available across AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and U.S. Cellular — though we don’t have release dates or pricing info yet. And while, no, the S4 doesn’t live up to Samsung’s own hype, it’s important to remember that the S III didn’t either. Still, the S III was one of last year’s best smartphones and it was wildly popular. Samsung found a winning formula in the S III and it’s sticking to it with the S4.

S Voice Is Growing, Whether It Deserves to or Not

Siri, the voice assistant app found on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 doesn’t always work as expected, but she’s entertaining. Google’s Voice Search feature works far, far better than Siri, but it’s a bit dry and purely a utility and not a digital best friend. S Voice, on the Galaxy S III, was a train wreck, often failing to recognize voice commands or deliver coherent responses. But that isn’t stopping Samsung from expanding its capabilities on the S4.

S Voice has a new function called S Voice Drive, which will allow S4 owners to operate their phone by voice commands — as long as their car has Bluetooth. S Voice Drive promises to read back text messages, transcribe and send text messages responses, offer turn-by-turn driving directions, rattle off the weather and place a phone call. This all sounds lovely in concept, but we’re weary that its execution will be as bad as S Voice on the S III. Hopefully Samsung proves us wrong, and delivers a solid voice assistant that actually works. Regardless, Samsung’s expansion of S Voice shows us that the company believes that voice-driven interfaces are here to stay, whether we like it or not, and whether they figure out how to make it work or not.

A Mixed Camera Bag

Samsung mixed stellar camera features with features that make you wonder if someone just grabbed all the ideas in a camera brainstorm meeting and sent them to the engineers.

Their efforts fall flat with the Dual Camera function that adds an image of the person taking the photo to a picture, but inside a floating box. The effect is odd and makes the final photo look kitschy. And not in a good way. Like those bad prom photos from the 80s where two photos were superimposed. Except the floating head is someone concentrating on taking a photo.

The Dual Video Call feature, on the other hand, solves the problem with Apple’s FaceTime only using one camera, so that the person shooting ends up doing that awkward straight arm thing so everyone can talk to grandma on video. By using both cameras and presenting a dual split-screen, you can use both cameras and the viewer can see everyone at once.

Samsung also added an eraser feature so you can remove photo bombers (boo) and anything else that you’d rather not be in your final image. But the most puzzling item was the ability to add audio to a photo. Wouldn’t it just be better to shoot a video instead of a photo and attaching sound?

Knox Stands Between You and Your Boss

Samsung’s answer to the BYOD while not sacrificing security is Knox. The feature separates phone calls, email, and apps. The Samsung S 4 is the first Samsung device to ship with the security feature. The enterprise feature lets your IT department securely manage the S 4 without creating a phone so mired in security, you won’t want to use it.

The feature is similar to BlackBerry’s Balance technology that separates the work and personal environment on BlackBerry phones down to the kernel. Knox uses a hardware baked in security solution. Good for you and your boss.

Samsung Galaxy S4 launch: final transformation for company that stole Apple's crown.

In New York this evening, Samsung aims – with the launch of the Galaxy S4 smartphone – to complete its transformation into the company that stole Apple’s crown.

With the iPhone manufacturer’s share price is at its lowest level in more than a year and markets worrying that its best days are behind it,Samsung will launch the S4, its latest smartphone.

This is a phone that is likely to track how your eyes move and use a screen of unprecedented resolution – the Korean company believes it will cement its position as the world’s leading technology brand. And in the words of one analyst, “there won’t be a person on the planet who hasn’t heard of the S4”.

That’s thanks to Samsung’s most potent weapon, its marketing budget. Coupled with unprecedented momentum, Samsung has powered its way to becoming the biggest phone manufacturer in the world, taking over from Nokia, and it has been able to promote itself as a brand uniquely positioned to sell consumers everything from refrigerators to televisions and from mobile phones to laptops. At the company’s recent European showcase it even renewed its push into robotic vacuum cleaners.

This week, however, is all about the global flagship device: the S4 is likely to have a large, 5” screen, built-in payment technology from Visa and 4G speeds. It will also develop the technology in its predecessor, the S3, that kept the screen on when it detected that a user was looking at it. And the fact that the device launches in America, too, is crucial: while Samsung has dominated in Europe in particular, in America it has not gathered quite the same following.

Michael Jordan applies for marriage license with Yvette Prieto in Florida

It appears NBA legend Michael Jordan is headed back down the aisle. TheAssociated Press says Jordan and his fiancée Yvette Prieto stopped by the Palm Beach County courthouse Thursday. The purpose of the visit was to apply for a marriage license, according to Kathy Burstein, a spokeswoman for the clerk's office.

Jordan proposed to Prieto, a model, in late 2011. The two met, and started dating, in 2008. This will be Jordan's second marriage, after ending a 17-year union with Juanita Jordan in 2006. The couple didn't have a prenuptial agreement when they got married, and the divorce cost Jordan $168 million, making it one of the most expensive on record.

Jordan's pro career has been over nearly a decade. Though he is most known for his time as the star of the Chicago Bulls, Jordan played his last game with the Washington Wizards, a team he partially owned, on April 16, 2003.

by tasmegah.blogspot.com

International Women's Day.'Girl Rising' Writers On What Happens When We Don't Educate Girls

As we celebrate International Women's Day, women everywhere are still fighting for equality, education and empowerment in both the developed and developing world. A new documentary film, "Girl Rising," traces the lives of nine girls around the world, highlighting the injustices that women face from childhood.

Marie Arana and Maaza Mengiste, writers of "Girl Rising," joined HuffPost Live's Alicia Menendez in studio to discuss.

"Generation after generation the poor have been accustomed to taking their children to work with them," Arana said. "By the time they're 6 or 7 and they are able to carry a burden, they do. The immediate effect on a family's income is perceived as being more important than education," she added, saying that 70 percent of the 170 million children who are not in school worldwide are women.

Carly Fiorina, Global Ambassador for Opportunity International, says investing in women is the way forward for changing the lives of future generations.

"When we invest in a girl, when we invest in a woman, we know that she invests back in her family and in her community," Fiorina said. "Women improve the fate of the world."

Calling women the "most underutilized," and the "most subjugated resource in the world," Fiorina said the ongoing fight for women's equality is really a fight to change the world by utilizing an untapped resource.

"We are harming ourselves as a global community, men are harming themselves, by not investing in women."

by tasmegah.blogspot.com

Daylight saving time 2013: When is it? What does it save?

Daylight saving time 2013 is 2 a.m. Sunday, with much of America turning the clock ahead one hour. But when does daylight saving time save money?

At 2 a.m. this Sunday, most of the United States will move its clocks an hour ahead to 3 a.m. In theory, that slight nudge conserves energy. In practice, it seems daylight saving time hardly saves energy at all.

In some cases, it actually increases energy consumption.

In Indiana, daylight saving time caused a 1 percent jump in electricity, according to a 2010 study. The energy saved from reduced lighting was canceled out by an increase in the use of heating and air conditioning, the researchers from Yale University andUniversity of California Santa Barbara said.

RECOMMENDED: Fracking. Tight oil. Do you know your energy vocabulary?

The shift in time means people wake up longer before the warming sun appears in the colder months, and get home nearer to the hottest hour of the day during the warmer months. 

It goes against conventional wisdom, first espoused by the king of aphorism himself, Benjamin Franklin. On a 1784 trip to Paris, the founding father observed the perils of sleeping well into daylight and wasting precious candle wax and lighting oil throughout the darkening eve.

Since lighting accounts for about 12 percent of residential US electricity consumption today, it might follow that Franklin’s wisdom would still hold true. But heating and air conditioning are the new energy hogs – combining to account for nearly half of household consumption. 

The US Energy Policy Act of 2005 doubled down on the energy-saving theory by extending the daylight saving period by a month. Two years later the Department of Energy studied the effects of the expansion. 

What did they find?

Total electricity savings from the extended Daylight Saving period amounted to 1.3 terawatt-hours, or 0.03 percent of electricity consumption over the year.Those weak savings are one reason why 5,253 people, as of Thursday, have signed a White House online petition seeking to eliminate the tradition. 

“Daylight Savings Time is an archaic practice in our modern society,” the petition reads. 

The request needs 100,000 signatures by April 4 to warrant an official response from the White House. The petitioners cite related health issues and reduced workplace productivity as additional reasons for ending daylight saving time.

“Also: It's really annoying,” the petitioners add.

by tasmegah.blogspot.com

Penyakit kencing manis/diabetes, tanda-tanda dan cara mengawal

Apakah diabetes

Diabetes adalah penyakit yang disebabkan oleh wujudnya masalah dalam pengeluaran insulin oleh organ pankreas.  Ia terjadi sama ada tidak ada langsung insulin yang dihasilkan oleh pankreas atau insulin yang dihasilkan tidak mencukupi untuk menampung keperluan tubuh badan.  Kekurangan atau ketiadaan insulin ini akan menyebabkan tubuh tidak boleh menggunakan glukosa secara optimum yang mengakibatkan jumlah glukosa dalam darah meningkat.  Kandungan glukosa yang berlebihan ini akan menyebabkan banyak komplikasi perubatan.

Jenis diabetesDiabetes terbahagi kepada 2 jenis iaitu:

1.     Diabetes jenis 1 
Diabetes jenis ini adalah di mana pankreas tidak langsung menghasilkan insulin.  Pesakit yang mengalami diabetis jenis 1 ini perlu menyuntik diri mereka dengan insulin setiap hari.  Jika tidak mereka akan berisiko untuk menemui ajal (walaupun kita tahu ajal itu di tangan Allah).    Diabetes jenis ini tidak mengenal peringkat umur.  Sesiapa sahaja boleh mengalami penyakit ini termasuk kanak-kanak. 

2.     Diabetes jenis 2 
 Diabetes jenis ini, pankreas masih mampu mengeluarkan insulin tetapi dalam jumlah yang tidak mencukupi untuk kegunaan tubuh atau tubuh tidak menggunakan insulin yang dikeluarkan dengan berkesan.  Untuk pengidap diabetes jenis 2 ini, mereka tidak perlu mendapatkan suntikan insulin.  Apa yang mereka perlu lakukan adalah mengawal dan menjaga jenis pemakanan, bersenam dan mengambil ubat.  Diabetes Mellitus jenis 2 atau lebih dikenali dengan kencing manis berlaku kepada semua peringkat umur dan simptom-simptomnya tidak nampak ketara. Malahan, hampir 1 dari pada tiga orang yang menghidap kencing manis tidak menyedari yang mereka mengalaminya. Diabetes merupakan keadaan yang kronik di mana badan tidak mampu menukarkan makanan kepada tenaga. Ini menyebabkan gula di dalam darah semakin bertambah dan meningkatkan risiko penyakit jantung, kegagalan buah pinggang dan komplikasi-komplikasi yang lain.

Simptom atau tanda-tanda kencing manis        ·      Cepat dahaga
        ·      Kerap kencing dengan kuantiti yang banyak
        ·      Cepat lapar
        ·      Kebas kaki
        ·      Mata kabur


Komplikasi yang akan di hadapi oleh penyakit diabetes

1.  Penyakit mata - ia mampu merosakkan mata sehingga mata jadi buta.

2.  Penyakit buah pinggang - 20 ke 30 peratus pesakit diabetis mengalami    kegagalan buah pinggang.

 3.  Penyakit saraf - 50 peratus dari pesakit diabetis mengalami masalah saraf seperti kehilangan deria    rasa kaki dan tangan.  Organ tertentu seperti jantung, mata, perut, buah pinggang dan zakar juga sukar berfungsi.

 4.  Penyakit kardiovaskular - risiko kematian meningkat antara 2 hingga 4 kali lebih tinggi.

 5.  Amputasi (pemotongan bahagian tubuh) - diabetis adalah penyebab utama amputasi di   kalangan    mereka yang tidak terlibat dengan kemalangan jalan raya.       
6.  Strok dan serangan jantung.

Faktor Risiko Yang Boleh Dikawal

1.  Lebih berat badan: Apabila index jisim badan (BMI) anda melebihi 25.
2.  Gaya hidup yang tidak aktif
3.  Tinggi kolesterol dan juga lemak. Contohnya HDL ‘kolesterol baik’ rendah           daripada 35 mg/dL   atau trigliserida melebih 250 mg/d  Tekanan darah melebih 140/90 mmHg untuk dewasa.
4.  Merokok.

Faktor Risiko Yang Tidak Boleh Dikawal

1. Kaum.Kaum India didapati mempunyai risiko kencing manis lebih tinggi berbanding kaum yang lain.
2. Umur melebihi 45 tahun meningkatkan risiko kencing manis
3. Sejarah keluarga yang mempunyai kencing manis meningkatkan risiko tersebut.

Lebih banyak faktor risiko anda, maka kemungkinan untuk menghidap kencing manis menjadi semakin tinggi.

Faktor Risiko Untuk WanitaMenghidapi kencing manis ketika mengandung meletakkan anda pada risiko yang tinggi untuk mendapat diabetes mellitus jenis 2 pada kemudian hari. Perempuan yang melahirkan anak melebihi 3.5 kg juga turut mempunyai risiko. Mempunyai sejarah ‘sindrom polisistik ovari’ juga meletakkan risiko anda untuk mendapat kencing manis.

Bagaimana untuk mendiagnos kencing manisUjian darah yang ringkas sudah cukup untuk mendiagnos diabetes. Ujian HbA1C memberikan gambaran mengenai keadaan glukosa dalam darah pada dua tiga bulan sebelumnya. Ia menunjukkan bagaimana anda mengawal paras glukos anda. Sekiranya melebihi 6.5%, bermakna kawalan paras glukos anda tidak dikawal dengan baik.
Doktor akan melihat pada simptom anda dan juga ujian darah yang diambil. Sekiranya ujian darah ketika tidak makan dan selepas makan melebihi 7.0 mmol/L dan 11.0 mm0l/L, anda akan didiagnos mempunyai kencing manis.Doktor juga akan meminta anda minum air gula yang telah disediakan sekiranya perlu untuk mendiagnos penyakit kencing manis.

Cara mengawal diabetes: 

Diet

Apa yang baiknya mengawal paras glukosa dalam darah dengan diet turun mengurangkan risiko komplikasi kencing manis. Anda harus mengawasi kandungan karbohidrat dalam pemakanan anda. Sebaiknya kurangkan kalori dengan mengurangkan makanan yang mengandungi karbohidrat seperti nasi putih dan juga roti putih. Gantikan dengan roti gandum sekiranya perlu.Berjumpa dengan pakar pemakanan adalah cara terbaik untuk anda mengubah tabiat pemakanan yang tidak sihat.

Senaman 

Saya amat menitik beratkan hal ini kerana ia amat penting. Cukuplah sekadar senaman ringan dilakukan setiap hari. Semakin hari anda boleh meningkatkan kekuatan senaman anda. Apabila bersenam ia mampu membantu tubuh badan menggunakan insulin dengan efektif dan mengawal kandungan glukosa dalam darah.Gabungan diet dan senaman juga akan mengurangkan lemak, merendahkan tekanan darah dan juga melindungi jantung anda.Bersenam sekurang-kurangnya 3 kali sehari dengan senaman sederhana selama 30 minit.

Ubat-ubatan

Apabila kencing manis tidak dapat dikawal dengan diet mahupun senaman, ubat adalah alternatifnya. Terdapat banyak jenis pil yang mampu mengawal kandungan gula dan boleh digunakan secara gabungan pil. Ada jenis ubat yang merangsang penghasilan insulin,  ada ubat yang meningkatkan kesan insulin terhadap sel dan ada juga ubat yang menghalang pencernaan karbohidrat.

Insulin

Dan dalam situasi-situasi tertentu, suntikan insulin diperlukan dalam rawatan kencing manis. Apabila anda didiagnos kencing manis ketika mengandung, insulin akan diberikan. Begitu juga apabila kandungan gula terlalu tinggi dan tidak dapat dikawal. Juga dalam keadaan situasi apabila pankreas mengalami kegagalan menghasilkan insulin.