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Get over one fear: Afraid of spiders? Spend some time researching the little critters, and get over your fear. Being brave is awesome. |
Smile even if you're not feeling it: Smiling actually releases endorphins that instantly elevate your mood. And learning how to turn that frown upside down is a great skill. |
Quit a bad habit: Bite your nails? Still sneaking smokes? Quitting a bad habit is a true challenge for your brain. |
Study something you're interested in: Always intrigued with ancient Rome? Dedicate a certain amount of time daily or weekly to study a topic of intrigue. |
Tackle chores: No one wants to tackle chores first thing in the morning, but if you take care of one item on your to-do list first thing, you'll have more time to relax at the end of the day. |
Walk the line: Really, literally. Balancing is great for mind-body connection and coordination, so walk the line of the sidewalk or balance along the curb, and you're boosting your brain. |
Meditate: Spending some time on your own meditating is a smart way to give your brain a break and recharge. |
Play a board game with friends: Board games are anything but boring when you play with friends. And getting together to play is a social way to keep your brain active and have fun. |
Play an instrument: Learning how to play an instrument or making time to play one you love hones your hand-eye coordination and relieves stress. And playing and listening to music actually stimulates your brain and increases memory. |
Turn off the TV: That's right. Turn off the TV, and get outdoors. Television is totally entertaining, but watching hours upon hours turns brains into mush. Challenge yourself to watch less television and read more — or invite your friends over for an exciting game of Pictionary. |
Exercise: Along with staying physically fit, working out is a stimulating way to keep your brain in shape. Commit to a weekly workout plan, and you'll love the results. |
Jump-start your next fitness challenge with clothes that work for you (at a price that works for your wallet). With active essentials that fit your every move, whether you're racing a 5K or running out for groceries, Champion C9 helps you tackle life's hurdles with confidence and style. |
Two tablets enter, one tablet leaves! |
Sure, sure. The tablet market is teeming with options, but are you seriously going to buy Sony's Xperia Tablet Z? Or Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1, the 2014 edition? No, you're not. That's because the tablet market has conveniently divided itself into two distinct product categories, with marquee devices on one side and "... |
If you're interested is something smaller, you might be looking straight at Google's updated Nexus 7 or Amazon's new Kindle Fire HDX 7-inch model. These tablets lead the 7-inch pack, and they trump Apple's iPad mini (for now). Aside from having a black chassis, the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire HDX are nothing alike--and... |
The 7-inch Kindle Fire HDX is smaller than last year's Fire HD, and more compact than the Nexus 7. Its smaller size leaves a bit of extra room in your purse or bag, and it's easy to hold and use one-handed--both important elements to consider in this consume-while-you-commute world. The HDX is noticeably heavier than t... |
Winner: Tie. Both the Nexus 7 and the Fire HDX are stylish-looking devices with their own little quirks. |
Both the Fire HDX and the Nexus 7 have 7-inch, 1080p displays with the same pixel density. Their high-resolution displays and pristine viewing angles make watching videos, perusing the Web, reading ebooks, and playing games on either one a pleasant experience. But the Kindle HDX shows ivory whites and slightly saturate... |
Winner: Google Nexus 7. Its colors are more true-to-form than the Kindle HDX, though the Kindle's screen makes ebooks easier to read. |
Quad-core processors are already the norm for most top-tier Android tablets, and both the Nexus 7 and HDX have 'em. The Nexus 7 uses a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro with 2GB of RAM--a beefed-up version of the processor in the now-antiquated Nexus 4 phone--while the Fire HDX is fueled by a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdrag... |
Winner: Tie. Though the Fire HDX technically has a more powerful processor, both tablets are speedy and responsive. |
The Kindle Fire HDX comes with a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera--sufficient for video chatting--but no rear-facing camera. The Google Nexus 7, meanwhile, comes with both a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. |
My review of the Nexus 7 noted that the photo quality, while far from pristine, was passable for sharing photos online and snapping quick shots of the mammals in your life doing silly things. Amazon may have considered it an unnecessary feature, but that rear-facing camera can be a real bonus if you're livecasting the ... |
Winner: Nexus 7. It's nice to have rear-camera functionality when you need it. |
After three days of reading, checking things on the Internet, downloading content, and watching a movie on the train ride home, I finally got a request from the HDX to plug it in. It took about 5 hours of constant video playback to reduce the Kindle HDX's battery life to 50%--but even when I left it in my backpack for ... |
The Nexus 7 is just as long-lasting, and it can handle almost 9 hours of constant video streaming before it peters out entirely. It managed several days on standby without needing a charge, too. Overall, both devices performed similarly; and if you keep the screen brightness at dim, they'll get through a day of constan... |
Winner: Tie. The HDX may last a little longer, but both tablets will hold up for several days of moderate use or a full day of heavy use on a single charge. |
Both the Fire HDX and the Nexus 7 use Android, but the former runs a "forked" version of Android, meaning that Amazon has essentially built its own mobile operating system (called Amazon Fire OS 3.0) on Android's original framework. The Nexus 7, on the other hand, runs the latest version Android Jelly Bean, so it will ... |
Amazon places its own content front and center on the Fire HDX, hoping to constantly tempt you to invest in more stuff. As you scroll through the media carousel, you'll see additional suggestions associated with every book, movie, or music title you've downloaded. The avalanche of buying opportunities can be a little o... |
Amazon kept some key Android interface elements, such as the Notifications shade and the Quick settings, for its Kindle tablet UI. If you're currently an Android user, you'll notice plenty of similarities in the menus, too. |
The Nexus 7 begins its gadget life as a blank slate. Not until you install apps does it have a purpose. After you link your Google account, you don't have direct access to content, as you do with the Fire HDX's interface. Apps are merely icons on the screen, rather part of the instinctual flow of the interface. |
Winner: Kindle Fire HDX. It quickly gets you right to the content you use the most. |
Though Amazon has a massive content library, its severe lack of apps put it at a disadvantage. The number of Amazon apps has grown exponentially since its app store opened in 2011, but it's still missing major hits like Instagram and Candy Crush Saga. It also lacks Google's core applications--including YouTube--and tho... |
You can view content that you buy or add to your Amazon Watchlist on any Kindle tablet device, on your computer, or on your television. And though its content is tied down with DRM, you can stream it to any device that supports the Amazon Video app. A neat second-screen app called X-Ray brings up extra information abou... |
The Nexus 7 is a bit like traversing the Wild West with a few prospecting tools and a mule: There's a lot of gold out there, but getting to it is an adventure. The Google Play store has grown significantly over the past two years, and it's now neck-in-neck with Apple's iTunes Store for iOS in total app count. Out of th... |
Winner: Kindle Fire HDX. Though it lacks the Nexus 7's core applications, you can watch your content virtually anywhere and call on Amazon's attentive customer service if you find yourself in dire straits. |
The Kindle Fire HDX. It wins on the strength of its superior interface and software/content, though it excels in other matters, too. |
I found myself using the Fire HDX more often than the Nexus 7 to watch movies and to read on the train ride home. Its smaller size and convenient content carousel help guide you to exactly what you're most likely to use a tablet for, without having to sift through a library of apps or spend hours setting it up. The HDX... |
Multitaskers looking for a huge app library and maximum flexibility, however, might prefer the Google Nexus 7. It provides access to a vast application library, and it's a good option for families looking to share a tablet, since it lets you switch between user accounts. You don't have to worry about missing out on Ama... |
This story, "7-inch tablet showdown: Kindle Fire HDX vs. Nexus 7" was originally published by TechHive. |
NASSAU, Bahamas — John Travolta testified Wednesday that a Bahamas paramedic threatened to sell stories to the news media suggesting the movie star was at fault in the death of his 16-year-old son. |
Mr. Travolta said paramedic Tarino Lightbourne, who is now on trial for extortion, demanded $25 million. |
If he did not pay, Mr. Travolta told the jury, Mr. Lightbourne indicated he would use against him a consent document that the actor initially signed refusing to have son Jett sent to a local hospital. The document cleared Mr. Lightbourne of any liability. |
“They were stories that would imply that the death of my son was intentional and I was culpable in some way,” Mr. Travolta said. |
Mr. Travolta was testifying in the second week of the trial of Mr. Lightbourne and Pleasant Bridgewater, a former Bahamas senator who allegedly negotiated with the actor’s lawyers for the medic. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty. |
Mr. Travolta testified last week that he signed the document because he initially wanted his son flown to Florida for treatment. But Jett, who had suffered a seizure at a family vacation home on Grand Bahama island, was taken instead to a local hospital, where he died on Jan. 2. |
Mr. Travolta and his wife, Kelly Preston, left the Nassau courthouse immediately after his testimony in an entourage of cars with their attorneys and bodyguards. |
A Bahamian attorney for Mr. Travolta, Allyson Maynard-Gibson, has testified that Mr. Bridgewater told her in a January meeting that the paramedic was talking with a woman from an unidentified American news outlet “who said it might be beneficial to him if he could show that Travolta was negligent.” She said Mr. Lightbo... |
The actor testified that he authorized his lawyers to contact Bahamas police after hearing about the alleged threat from Mr. Lightbourne. |
The trial began Sept. 21 and is expected to last several weeks. |
When Exotic Wildlife Attacks… OMG! You’ll Never Guess! |
This is an absolute shocker! |
You will lose half your toupee with this one! |
Red hair (or ginger hair) occurs naturally in 1–2% of the human population. It occurs more frequently (2–6%) in people of northern or western European ancestry, and less frequently in other populations. Red hair appears most commonly in people with two copies of a recessive allele on chromosome 16 which produces an alt... |
Red hair varies in hues from a deep burgundy or bright copper (reddish-brown or auburn) through to burnt orange or red-orange and strawberry blond. It is characterized by high levels of the reddish pigment pheomelanin and relatively low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. It is associated with fair skin color, lighte... |
Cultural reactions have varied from ridicule to admiration; many common stereotypes exist regarding redheads and they are often portrayed as fiery-tempered. |
The term redhead has been in use since at least 1510. |
By the way, if that video scared you: don’t worry! |
That’s approximately 140 million people. Scotland boasts the highest percentage of natural redheads, with 13% (40% might carry the gene there) while Ireland comes in second with 10%. |
Take care out there, anyway! |
Research shows there are strong correlations between fitness and mortality. |
How imperative is being fit to living a longer and healthier life? Much more than we might have ever realized. In fact, a recent report finds that not being fit is seen to be as dangerous to our health as smoking. |
We can put it in a more positive light: By being fit, you reduce your risk of dying early in just about the same way that not smoking keeps you alive longer. Either way, if we don’t do something soon, we’re in trouble. Close to one-third of Americans are considered obese. Only 20 percent get the recommended amount of e... |
To come to these conclusions, writes Gretchen Reynolds in a New York Times story, researchers used a database of middle-aged men and women who had completed treadmill tests, and pulled records of more than 122,000 of them. They then checked death records for 10 years after those tests were administered. |
Those in the study with the lowest fitness level, she continued, were more likely to die early than those whose level was considered below average. Those with above-average fitness were more likely to die before those with high fitness levels. |
The study used the phrase being fit over exercise and did not offer any specific amount of exercise needed to be fit. Which means, in my book, that you just have to move. You don’t have to run a marathon or swim 100 laps or do the elliptical machine for an hour. Walk at lunch. Take the stairs. Run in place during comme... |
The American Heart Association recommends adults spend 150 minutes per week in moderate exercise, 75 in vigorous, or a combination of the two. Basically, that’s a half-hour a day. You can even spread that out over three 10-minute chunks. Can’t most of us manage that? |
It doesn’t even need to be that long, according to family physician Dr. Annie Ray, who wrote a post for kevinmd.com newsletter about four things doctors want patients to know. One involved exercise: Stop making excuses for not doing it, she writes. |
Here’s how it works: Do one squat, then 10 push-ups. Then do two squats and nine push-ups. Keep adding one more squat and one fewer push-up until you’ve done 10 squats and one push-up. Grand total: 55 of each. If you haven’t hit the five-minute mark (which is my own goal), add five of each until you do. I think there a... |
OK, I’m pushing you out the door now, or at least handing you a jump rope and some light weights. Go for it. And while you’re at it, if you happen to be a smoker, for your own sake and for the sake of us all, please try to at least cut down. We’re all in this fitness thing together. |
Industrial Light & Magic, the legendary visual effects studio founded by George Lucas for the making of “Star Wars,” confirmed its plans to open a London branch and to make its Vancouver outpost permanent. |
“We’re thrilled to have a good-news story in this industry. We’re in a very healthy place,” said ILM president and general manager Lynwen Brennan. Brennan told Variety that ILM is in the unusual position of having ten years of work lined up, starting with the “Star Wars” franchise. |
“It’s as close to a crystal ball as you can get in visual effects,” Brennan said. That has led ILM to add jobs at its San Francisco HQ as well as to expand to London and grow in Vancouver. |
Brennan said the company is also investing in technology that may not be applied until 2016 or 2018 releases, including new innovations in facial performance capture (already in use on “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and real-time rendering for vfx shots. |
ILM’s San Francisco base will have 500 artists and 700 total employees once it’s fully staffed for the projects — the largest number of artists ever at that location, said Brennan. ILM’s Singapore branch, which recently moved into its new “sandcrawler” building (so named due to its resemblance to the massive vehicle in... |
No jobs are relocating from other locations, said an ILM spokesman; all staff positions in London and Vancouver are new. |
With the U.K. and British Columbia offering more generous tax incentives than California, the London and Vancouver give studios a way to get such incentives while also taking advantage of ILM’s talent and expertise. While Quebec offers even richer incentives, Brennan says there are no firm plans to expand there. “We ha... |
Brennan also noted that ILM works closely with its partner Base FX in China, which has been able to take more work, and more sophisticated work, over time. |
ILM cited Disney’s “Star Wars” franchise and Disney/Marvel’s “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” as key projects for the London branch, which the company expect to be fully staffed in April. Sue Lyster will oversee business operations at ILM London as director of operations. Creative director Ben Morris and animation directo... |
Brennan said she expects that ILM London will also bring new work to the company, as it will make ILM accessible to London’s filmmaking community. |
At ILM Vancouver, Randal Shore will manage operations and will have the title supervising producer. The Gastown facility will open in March and will also work on “Star Wars,” as well as “Warcraft,” “Transformers: Age of Extinction” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Creative supervision of the Vancouver branch is hand... |
ILM Vancouver has been hiring in anticipation of the move, including picking up staffers from Sony Imageworks, which is under pressure as Sony reviews its operations in search of cost savings. |
Lookin At Lucky was made the early 3-1 favorite for the Kentucky Derby and Sidney’s Candy was the second choice Wednesday in a full field of 20 horses. Neither, however, drew the most favorable post position for Saturday’s race. |
Trained by three-time Derby winner Bob Baffert and ridden by Garrett Gomez, Lookin At Lucky drew the No. 1 post — generally considered a disadvantage because horses charging into the first turn of the 1 1-4 mile track tend to jam the inside. |
Sidney’s Candy, 5-1, didn’t fare much better, drawing the outside No. 20 post — making for the widest of all trips around Churchill Downs. |
Twelve horses have won from the No. 1 post; the last was Ferdinand in 1986. Only two winners have come from No. 20, with Big Brown doing so two years ago. |
Devil May Care is a 10-1 co-third favorite as she attempts to become the fourth filly to win the Derby. The last filly to run in the Derby, Eight Belles, finished second two years ago, but broke down after crossing the finish line and had to be euthanized. |
Mike Pegram, co-owner of Lookin At Lucky, still feels, well, pretty lucky. |
Trained by John Sadler, Sidney’s Candy is ridden by Joe Talamo and owned by weight loss maven Jenny Craig. The colt swept the California preps but has never raced on dirt before. |
Devil May Care will take on the boys from the No. 11 post. The other co-third choices are Florida Derby winner Ice Box and Gotham winner Awesome Act. |
Devil May Care is one of four horses in the field trained by Todd Pletcher, who is 0 for 24 in the Derby. His best horse, Eskendereya, was forced out with a leg injury last weekend. |
Devil May Care has the lowest odds of Pletcher’s four horses. Super Saver is 15-1, Mission Impazible is 20-1, and Discreetly Mine is 30-1. |
A year ago, 50-1 shot Mine That Bird stunned the field and won under a rail-hugging ride by Calvin Borel, who rides Super Saver this time. |
There are a quartet of horses at 50-1 this time: Dean’s Kitten, Make Music for Me, Backtalk (a son of 2004 Derby winner Smarty Jones) and Homeboykris, co-owned by Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre. |
Hall of Famer trainer D. Wayne Lukas, a four-time Derby winner, will saddle Dublin, listed at 12-1. |
The Derby field in post-position order with odds: Lookin At Lucky, 3-1; Ice Box, 10-1; Noble’s Promise, 12-1; Super Saver, 15-1; Line of David, 30-1; Stately Victor, 30-1; American Lion, 30-1; Dean’s Kitten, 50-1; Make Music for Me, 50-1; Paddy O’Prado, 20-1; Devil May Care, 10-1; Conveyance, 12-1; Jackson Bend, 15-1; ... |
The draw reverted to a traditional pill pull for the first time since 1997, after a two-tier, made-for-TV process was used the past 12 years. |
Instead of the connections for each horse selecting their starting spots, officials pulled entry blanks simultaneously with a numbered pill to determine what spot a horse breaks from in the starting gate. |
Trainers (by post position): 1, Bob Baffert. 2, Nick Zito. 3, Ken McPeek. 4, Todd Pletcher. 5, John Sadler. 6, Mike Maker. 7, Eoin Harty. 8, Mike Maker. 9, Alexis Barba. 10, Dale Romans. 11, Todd Pletcher. 12, Bob Baffert. 13, Nick Zito. 14, Todd Pletcher. 15, Todd Pletcher. 16, Jeremy Noseda. 17, D. Wayne Lukas. 18, T... |
Owners (by post position): 1, Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman. 2, Robert LaPenta. 3, Chasing Dreams Racing 2008 LLC. 4, WinStar Farm LLC. 5, Ike and Dawn Thrash. 6, F. Thomas Conway and Jack Conway. 7, Winstar Farm LLC. 8, Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey. 9, Ellen and Peter O. Johnson. 10, Donegal Racing. 11, Glencr... |
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