Edwards wins Boxing Debut

Edwards wins Boxing Debut





Leading up to Friday's night fight at Grand Casino Hinckley, Minnesota Vikings defensive end Ray Edwards, 26, and his trainer, Jeff Warner, did a good job of talking up Edwards as the next best heavyweight. "Ray will be the first to come from pro football as a starter and destroy the heavyweight division," Warner told a local newspaper before the fight. "He's a modern-day Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson combined." Well, Edwards, who was rumored to have received $5,000 plus 50 percent of the live gate, was far from either Ali or Tyson, taking a four-round unanimous decision over T.J. Gibson winning by scores of 40-34, 39-35, 40-34 on all three cards.



The 6'5, 258-pound Edwards quickly discovered that 5'9¡å Gibson wasn't willing to come in and lie down,An Insulator, also called a dielectric, as many expected he would.



In round one, Edwards and Gibson, both making their professional boxing debuts, started off trading jabs, but surprisingly it was the smaller Gibson who was the aggressor for most of the opening round.



Edwards circled, looking for an opening; halfway through the round,what are the symptoms of Piles, he hit the jackpot as he landed a one-two combo that sent Gibson down. Gibson wasn't seriously hurt, but the fight began to take on a clear pattern of Edwards circling, throwing an occasional jab, and trying to land a big right.



Unfortunately both men's lack of boxing experience showed at times, such as when Gibson resorted to throwing looping right hands while Edwards blocked, then tried a punch with two of his own before the men would tie up.Find everything you need to know about Cold Sore including causes,



Without question, Gibson was viewed as nothing more than an opponent for Edwards' first real fight, expected to be knocked out within seconds of the opening bell. But to his credit, he came planning to fight his best, and at times he was able to land his looping rights.



But the fight would inevitably fall back into its pattern, each man taking turns moving forward, followed by one or two blows from Edwards. At one point in round two, referee Joe Cortez motioned for both men to engage more,How is TMJ pain treated? because Edwards had begun to drop his hands to his sides and walk around the ring while Gibson held his gloves bent inward, looking to land his clubbing rights.



By round three, it was clear that Edwards was going to take the contest, and his confidence in victory showed as he showboated, dropping his hands to his sides.



In the final round, Edwards was able to put Gibson on the canvas for the second time with a right, just as the boxers were breaking up from a clinch. Gibson made the count, and toward the end of the round, both men exchanged blows the most action-packed sequence of the fight.



The fans booed several times throughout, disappointed in the show, but Edwards reached his goal of getting his first professional win and improved his record to (1-0), while Gibson fell to (0-1).



Cerresso Fort Impresses, Stopping Tim Taggart Jr. in Round Two



Before Friday's fight, Cerresso Fort had been inactive in boxing since July 2010, when he defeated Steve Macomber, while his opponent, Taggart, was coming off a barn burner win against Charles Miner earlier this year.



Fort, who has had past managerial problems, started round one jabbing, while Taggart countered with several jabs of his own. The men mirrored each other at times, one would jab only to be met by his opponent's jab. But soon the action would heat up, both boxers exchanging hard blows, while Taggart set himself up as the aggressor, trying to land hard rights.



At one point during the round, Taggart missed a blow; Fort countered and sent Taggart to the canvas seconds before the bell ended the round.



In round two, both picked up where they left off, going back to trading blows until Fort decided to return to the jab.



While Fort was still trying to adjust to his changed approach to the fight, Taggart landed what appeared to be a good right, getting Fort's attention, and shortly thereafter the fighters went back to trading blows. Then Taggart threw a shot that missed Fort, who countered with a one-two of his own, that sent Taggart down hard to the canvas.is the 'solar panel revolution' upon us? While referee Joe Cortez was administering the ten count, he quickly waved off the fight, seeing that Taggart was in no condition to continue.



With the win, Fort improved to (11-0, 9 KOs) while Taggart fell to (5-3, 2 KOs).

To vote, or not to vote¡­

To vote, or not to vote¡­





TODAY is the day I am meant to vote. I've never voted in my life which will offend and disgust some people. But in my defence, it is mainly circumstance rather than apathy that has prevented me from voting in the past.is the 'solar panel revolution' upon us?



By the time I was old enough to vote, I had already been bitten by the extended leave travel bug. I was 18 and living away from home for the first time, and rather than choose the easy option of moving to a city not too far away,Save on hydraulic hose and fittings, while studying to be someone rich and successful, I had moved to New York to work as a PA to someone rich and successful. The Americans are very careful when considering who can visit their country, let alone who can vote in their elections, and so it wasn't really an issue that concerned me. I was happy enough living in a city protected by a well respected Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who was working hard to promote good living and zero tolerance. What more could an English gal in New York City desire?



I eventually moved back to the UK and as a student of law, should have taken more of an interest in the politics that surrounded me. But typically,Find everything you need to know about Cold Sore including causes, I chose a course which insisted on periods of study and work abroad, thereby managing to be safely ensconced in a Belgian work placement when it was once again time to tick the box of my choosing.



And then came Spain, and here I admit to a bit of apathy the first time that voting became an option. Seeing as it took me four years to become resident and sign the Padron at the townhall, that's hardly surprising.



But this year, I am a fully fledged member of the "able to vote in Spain" fraternity. My paperwork has all been submitted in triplicate to a zillion different civil servants, I have a pretty green certificate acknowledging my right to reside in Spain, and a clever plastic card that entitles me to queue to see a doctor. To cap it all, a small piece of white card appeared in my postbox last week, advising at which table, in which polling station, I could place my all important vote.



My colleagues are desperate for me to place what they consider to be the correct slip of paper into the envelope, and slot it into the box which will apparently be clearly labelled on the table nominated on the aforementioned card. Doesn't sound too complicated does it?



Those in the know where I work,Free DIY chicken coop Resource! strongly believe their recommended candidate will make life so much better for both the Spanish and expatriate residents who make up our local community. My mother would prefer me to choose a different piece of paper for the compelling reason that she knows that candidate's mother, who would be so proud for her son to be mayor.



No-one seems that inspired, or bothered, by the parties' policies on a national level. But may be that's an expat Costa problem as further afield the "Spanish Revolution" is trending on Twitter, being bandied around Facebook and, I strongly suspect, is the talk of the Spaniards propping up the bars and cafes tonight. Citizens of Valencia and Madrid, among others, are protesting against the Spanish corruption epidemic which they feel has led to the disastrous levels of unemployment, house repossessions and poverty being suffered by many throughout the country.



Are any of the would be Mayors of Estepona filling me with confidence that they have the ability and wherewithal to really make a difference? I confess to having enjoyed a free paella provided by one candidate to local residents and been given a straw hat by another. But is any of this enough to make me vote?



Well, I do have a DVD to take back to the rental shop, and that's right next to the polling station.The name "magic cube" is not unique. It opens in eight hours so I guess I have plenty of time to decide.

Gift Cards Top List of Best Grad Gifts

Gift Cards Top List of Best Grad Gifts





"To give or not to give," is just one of the questions facing those of us close to a high school senior. Then, there's what to give and how much to spend. If you ask a senior, he or she will probably reply that a gift is, of course, appropriate, but what about parents and grandparents who may be footing much or all of the bill for a college education? Do they break out the plastic, or is college a gift?



Certified Etiquette Consultant Karen A. Scarfo, of Etiquette Essentials CT in Torrington, says great gifts that are appropriate and most appreciated for the high school grad include cash and gift cards to stores where they can purchase items for college and food stores.



The same applies to college grads. "After all, they will be starting out in life and need every helping hand they can get," Scarfo says.



"Other thoughtful gifts for either high school or college grads are engraved pen and/or pencil sets, business card holders, stationery sets, thank you notes, cards, etc. These are gifts that one usually does not purchase for themselves," she adds.



Spending money on a gift is always up to the individual giver. "It is suggested however,The name "magic cube" is not unique. that one spend an amount that is comfortable to their budget and appropriate to the level of knowing the recipient. For example, immediate family spend a little more, distant family or friend of family a little less."



Parents, the consultant says, "are not required by either obligation or precedence to purchase a gift."



"Sometimes a parent may feel that their education (college) is gift enough. Some parents feel the need to be extravagant (cars, trips).Find everything you need to know about Cold Sore including causes, Some also feel that a party or send off to college is gift enough. Either or all of these options are acceptable and fall within modern gift giving protocol."



Regional School District 13 Superintendent Susan Viccaro has found that many students heading off to college are required to bring a laptop with them. "Many colleges allow students to buy them through the college at a discounted rate.Save on hydraulic hose and fittings, In talking with parents over the years, this is often a high school graduation gift in preparation for the fall," she says.



According to Howard Thiery, Regional School District 17's Superintendent, "Graduation from high school represents many different things to different families and within different cultures. This makes recommendations terribly difficult. My only real suggestion is that a graduation gift represents the esteem the gift giver holds for the accomplishment as well as a sense of the future that graduation from high school presents."



Thiery confesses that while his advice is not concrete, "gift giving is a personal act and as long as it represents the thoughts of the giver it is always appropriate and appreciated."



One of the biggest gifts is a Cross pen, according to Margaret Sprague, president of Two Ems in Madison. "People come in here all the time and give graduates a pen. We carry a large supply of Cross pens, some of which are very appealing to younger people," Sprague endorses.



"We also put their names on thank you cards. There's a big selection of thank you cards for them to send to the people who have given them gifts. That makes a good gift," she says.



"Printed stationary with a name on it is a larger gift from a grandmother, for example, and does take a little bit of time," Sprague adds.



Another popular gift is journals. "Kids like to have journals, and we have some good looking leather ones by Cross and recycled paper ones," she says.



President and CEO of Lux Bond & Green, John Green, says, "there is no right amount of money,Free DIY chicken coop Resource! as there is no right amount of money to spend on a suit."



"It's a remembrance, so if someone can spend $25, Lux Bond & Green has beautiful things for $25 and it might be very appropriate," he says and adds, "Someone else might say 'My father gave me a watch and I'm going to do that,' and spends $1,000 or $5,000."



"It really has to do with how important the occasion is between the parties," according to Green. "It's more about the thought than it is about how much,is the 'solar panel revolution' upon us?" he adds.



If the parents are paying for college, Green feels it is appropriate to buy the graduate a gift. "It has to do with the thought process," he explains.



Earrings are always popular for women. "A woman can always use a new pair of shoes; an earring is like a new pair of shoes - you can never have too many.



"A small pair of diamond studs or a pair of silver earrings that are $25 can be worn at college."



Also popular are bracelets that are engravable. For guys, watches are popular.



"Whether it's a Swiss Army watch that's $150 to a few hundred dollars or whether it's a TAG Heuer that maybe is $1,000 to $1,500 - those are very appropriate and durable timepieces to wear to college."

When the two devices are attached

The keyboard dock is made primarily out of the same materials as the Transformer. The top half (the side with the actual keyboard) is made of metal and colored to match the bronze strip around the edge of the tablet. The keys are raised and separated,When the stone sits in the kidney stone, making it easy to navigate without looking and very easy to get accustomed to ¨C which is necessary, because it's a considerable bit smaller than your average keyboard. The bottom half of the keyboard is covered by the same material as the backside of the tablet, and it has four rubber feet on each corner to keep it from sliding. The right edge of the dock holds one USB port for external storage and a full SD card slot to easily share those pictures directly from your camera. The left edge has the charging port (same proprietary port that the tablet uses to charge) and another USB port.



When the two devices are attached, the Transformer looks very similar to any other ASUS netbook, open or closed. The only thing that truly gives it away is the large, abnormal hinge, the touchscreen, and the fact that it runs Honeycomb. The tablet, by itself is fairly thin and light. It is almost 13mm thin and it weighs roughly 24oz. Paired with the keyboard, it is twice as thick and heavy. If you are worried about size and weight, the Transformer and its keyboard dock will put this bad boy around the size and weight of a netbook.Free DIY chicken coop Resource! Other than that, the design, look, and feel of this device is just plain sweet.

Usability & Performance



Powering the ASUS Transformer on for the first time did take a little time. It was a slow and painful process as all of my applications started downloading right away and everything was trying to sync at once. Typically,The name "magic cube" is not unique. this process always temporarily slows a device down, but it was a bit worse with the Transformer. It usually only lasts a few minutes. Maybe five at most. But this time around it was roughly 10 or more. It could have been my home Internet, which has a tendency to get bogged down at times. After the process finished, the Transformer's performance was buttery smooth.



Honeycomb comes in an almost stock form on the Transformer. ASUS has added a few widgets and applications of their own.Save on hydraulic hose and fittings, And they have obviously made some changes to the device to accommodate for the keyboard attachment. Other than that, you can expect a stock Honeycomb experience, and a rather smooth one at that. The Transformer is still on Android version 3.0 (it will be updated to 3.1 in early June) and is plagued by some force closing in the browser app and other applications that haven't been optimized. Aside from the occasional force close though, I have had very few problems out of Honeycomb.



I was surprised when I downloaded and launched a few different applications. A lot of the applications that were not yet optimized for Honeycomb when I tested the XOOM just three months ago are now updated to properly display on a tablet.is the 'solar panel revolution' upon us? The application support isn't quite where it needs to be just yet, but it's definitely coming around. Also worth noting is that it is extremely hard to distinguish whether an application is tablet-optimized in Android Market. Hopefully the pending update will fix this.



One of the more impressive aspects of the Transformer is its bright and crisp display. I've never been much of a display buff. I know some people complain of the checkerboard effect, washed out displays, and so on and so forth. Generally, as long as the display is halfway decent, I'm pretty happy. But the display on the Transformer is surprisingly very nice, especially compared to the XOOM's. I took my mother's XOOM, my iPad, and the Transformer into a dark room and compared the displays. The iPad's display had the most saturation, the XOOM's was completely washed out and made the purple background appear blue. The Transformer's LED display was the most crisp and clear, something I wouldn't have expected out of the cheaper tablet.

I don't want my little girl to have surgery like me... only a boob job

I don't want my little girl to have surgery like me... only a boob job





As well as a boob job boosting her from a modest 30B to a huge 30G, the mum-of-one has paid for expensive veneers on her teeth, lip injections, fillers and Botox.



She also injects herself daily with a potent tanning drug to get a rich mahogany glow unattainable from a bottle.



And the model - who is now completely unrecognisable from the shy teenager she once was - admits to being addicted to the kick surgical enhancements give her.



Kirsty said: "People are amazed when they hear I'm only 20 and have already spent thousands of pounds on surgery, but I don't regret any of it. If it makes me look and feel better then it's worth it. Plus it gives me the most amazing buzz."



Kirsty - a single mum who lives in Sutton Coldfield, West Mids, with her two-year-old daughter Savannah - started modelling aged just 13.





"I was spotted in my local shopping centre," she said. "Soon I was getting loads of work as a child model.



"I loved it but from a very young age it did make me aware of the importance of looking good."



A glance at Kirsty's old modelling pictures reveal a naturally pretty 15-year-old girl with dark hair and olive skin.is the 'solar panel revolution' upon us?



But thanks to thousands of pounds of surgery, Kirsty barely resembles the fresh-faced teen in those photos.



Her transformation began two years ago, when she was 18, and her first surgery was a 5,000 boob job.



She said: "I hated how small my boobs were. After giving birth to Savannah my confidence was knocked even more as I felt saggy and like my skin had stretched.



"Having a breast augmentation totally changed that - it gave me so much more confidence. I wanted to wear whatever I liked and feel really womanly."



But instead of opting for a slight boost to her cleavage, Kirsty decided to go up FIVE cup sizes,Our Polymax RUBBER SHEET range includes all commercial and specialist from a 30B to a 30G. She admits her boobs now dwarf her tiny size-six frame but insists she loves them.



Kirsty said: "It might sound extreme to go that big in one go. I'm naturally tiny so they do look pretty big. But I like the fake look - I always have."





In fact, Kirsty claims her breasts have actually helped further her career and she has now entered glamour modelling.



She said: "I did a lot of commercial modelling before, ads for the NHS and things like that, but I just got bored of it.



"Glamour modelling is much more fun. And I'm sure my unique look has helped."



Despite the success surgery has brought her,Save on hydraulic hose and fittings, Kirsty admits she would not want her daughter to go down the same route.



She said: "Savannah is only two so I can't say how I'll feel when she's older.



"I know it sounds hypocritical but I don't think I'll want her having loads of surgery. Maybe a boob job, but that's it."



For Kirsty herself, a boob job was just the start. After that, she focused on her teeth and has invested in expensive porcelain veneers - even though she admits she didn't actually need them.



She said: "People have said that my teeth were fine and perfectly straight and they're probably right. But I could see these little imperfections and I'm a perfectionist so I had to do something about it.



"My veneers cost 3,000.The name "magic cube" is not unique. But I think they were worth it. Again, it's all about having the confidence to smile and feel great."



Next up was her face. Despite not having a single line or wrinkle, she has spent thousands on facial fillers around her nose and mouth and says she's had lip injections done 11 times.



She said: "Although I like the fake look, even I had to admit that at one point my lips were starting to look a bit silly.



"But I like to keep them looking plump. It costs 300 each time so I must have spent 3,000 on them alone. It sounds a lot but it's all part of the look I'm going for."



Kirsty also confesses to having regular Botox injections - despite the fact she is barely out of her teens.



She said: "People say I don't need Botox but I disagree. Why wait until I'm wrinkly? It's about 200 a time, but it really works. I don't worry that it makes my expressions look frozen because I'd always choose that over wrinkles."



Mummy's girl ... Kirsty says she'd be happy for her daughter to get a boob job

Mummy's girl ... Kirsty says she'd be happy for her daughter to get a boob job



Kirsty's latest beauty fad is the popular tanning drug Melanotan. Although the guidelines recommend using it no more than once a week, Kirsty admits using it daily.



It is illegal to ship or sell the synthetic hormone but not to buy it. The drug is said to encourage the body to produce melanin, the body's natural protection from the sun, which also darkens the skin.



But as it is self-injected and unlicensed, doctors have warned that users risk infections such as hepatitis or even HIV. It has also been linked to skin cancer.



She also visits a salon for 14-minute sunbed sessions five times a week.



Kirsty said: "I like to go really brown, so I inject it daily then I go on sunbeds.



"I know there's a danger but I try not to think about that. Being tanned makes me feel healthy and more attractive."



On top of the money she spends on surgery and tanning, she has regular 400 hair extensions and often blows 200 on her favourite MAC and Guerlain make-up.



Kirsty admitted: "I am on a constant quest to make myself look as perfect as possible. After my little girl, any spare money I have goes on my appearance. It's just me wanting to look perfect."



Unsurprisingly,When the stone sits in the kidney stone, Kirsty idolises glamour model Katie Price, better known as Jordan.



She said: "I watch her shows and admire how well she has done for herself. For me, though, it's not about copying anyone, it's about picking the bits I don't like about myself and improving them. And I guess that's what Katie Price does too."



Kirsty admits she's never totted up the amount she's spent on surgery and other cosmetic treatments, but admits it runs into tens of thousands.



She said: "It's easily 20,000. You have to factor in all the little things too. I get hair extensions every few months and my eyebrows tattooed on. Then I have my nails done every two or three weeks.



"But I use the money from modelling to pay for it - nothing is on a credit card."

A visit to Oregon's largest legal marijuana farm

A visit to Oregon's largest legal marijuana farm







The burnt end of a joint between his fingers and a white plastic lighter in his fist, James Bowman watched the half dozen young men, shirts off in the warm spring sun, shovels working to the beat of loud rock music, as they prepared the soil for the biggest medical marijuana plantation in Oregon.



It is springtime on The Farm, a cooperative in the heart of Applegate Valley wine country that will grow some 200 plants to supply about 70 card-carrying medical marijuana users.



Here, surrounded by wineries, bed and breakfasts, churches and a school, the legal side of marijuana operates in plain sight, visible to hang gliders soaring overhead, drivers on nearby roads, and viewers of Google Maps. >>> Photo Gallery



Over the winter volunteers have trimmed the dried buds from last year's crop, cut slips from mother plants, and rooted them in little plastic bags of potting soil now stacked against the side of a greenhouse. In June, they will plant the clones in circles of loam fed by plastic drip lines. Through summer, volunteers will wrap the heavy branches with duct tape to keep them from breaking. And under a harvest moon in October they will patrol the grounds with Tasers and pepper spray until it is time to bring in the bud.



It is all perfectly legal under state law as long as Bowman, his partners and volunteers don't get greedy or careless.



Because waiting are drug cops like Grants Pass Police Sgt. Ray Myers, part of the Rogue Area Drug Enforcement taskforce.



"The fact is that they can grow marijuana right under our nose,"' said Myers.Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, "Until we catch them doing something illegal with it, there is nothing we can do about it."



If the state medical marijuana database shows a growth site as registered, the law doesn't allow police to even inspect crops without an invitation or probable cause of a crime. They can't troll through the list of legal sites, either. Still,Not to be confused with RUBBER MATS available at your local hardware store police regularly bust medical marijuana growers, often after traffic stops when the officer smells marijuana. If there's a load in the trunk, the grower must be able to prove it belongs to those with medical marijuana cards.



Sometimes police end up helping the growers,The same Air purifier, cover removed. once foiling a plot to rip off The Farm.



The neighbors don't seem too concerned.



"Unless someone is mad at you, there is a live and let live philosophy here," said Tony Largaespada, who runs the tasting room at a nearby vineyard.



Bowman, 51, learned his craft as an outlaw grower, part of the subculture that has thrived in the Emerald Triangle of southwestern Oregon and northwestern California for 40 years, since hippies and survivalists came here to make their living outside the mainstream. He is frustrated that police and even some in the medical marijuana movement look at the growers as bad guys.



"They like pot now, but still don't like potheads,"' he said. "They are trying to ease out the people who kept this plant alive and vital. We're the ones who went to jail, lost our properties, lost our kids. We're the ones who sacrificed. If anyone is going to prosper from this it should be the people who paid the biggest price."



Bowman started smoking pot as a teenager in Iowa, where he first tried to grow his own. In the 1980s he moved first to Humboldt County in California, and then up to the Illinois Valley in southwestern Oregon's Josephine County. The region was settled during the Gold Rush, but now struggles with the timber industry in decline.



It has Oregon's densest population of medical marijuana patients and growers. State figures show 3.5 percent of residents held patient cards last year, and 2.2 percent held grower cards. Neighboring Jackson County, where Bowman resides, and legally smokes pot for chronic pain, migraines, and depression.



Busted for growing marijuana in the Illinois Valley, Bowman did three years in federal prison in the early 1990s. In 1998, Oregon voters authorized medical marijuana. Since 2002 Bowman has been growing it here, on 5 acres owned by his girlfriend, with the number of patients getting a little bigger every year. He and his partners hope to buy this land, and cash in like he never could as an outlaw.



But because the law prohibits growers from being paid for more than electricity and materials, like fertilizer, they have to depend on donations from benefactors Bowman will not name.



"Even though we work, we're basically like the guys sitting on the side of the road, saying, 'Hey, I need some money,'" he said.Save on hydraulic hose and fittings, "What we want to do is be able to pay taxes like everyone else. But we can't, because of the sale language."



The main crop comes from 30 proven strains with names like Arcata Trainwreck, each one preferred by some patient for treating a particular ailment. The mother plants are kept in a second-floor greenhouse with sheet plastic sides. The clones are rooted in sheds below, then get moved out to greenhouses. Bowman is always looking for something new, cross-pollinating and testing the results. Those starts are in another greenhouse, along with sprouting melon seeds, part of the diversification effort to produce organic vegetables.



Bowman gets help from 30 volunteers.



Ben Smith,Welcome to the official Facebook Page about Ripcurl. 29, of Ashland works half the year building schools in Central America, but when he is home, takes care of his dad, a medical marijuana patient.



"Before I got clones from here, I couldn't grow anything,"' he said.



Patrick LeRoy, 49, of Grants Pass, was a carpenter, but can't work since breaking his back and neck. Hunched in a chair under a fluorescent light, he trims buds — "I do it for my donation" — which he smokes for chronic pain.



"It's like a family farm,"' Bowman said.

Something old, something new

Something old, something new





Rotger began with a recipe box she inherited from her grandmother Marion Griswold Doane, who lived in Essex, Conn. It holds the food memories of Rotger's childhood. All recipe collections and their handwritten or typed index cards are windows into our cultural past, transmitting family histories and evoking memories (Nonna's lasagna, Mom's meat loaf). They take us back to molded gelatins, ladies' lunches, canned-soup casseroles, fondue. Today collections of recipes — in boxes, notebooks, or a bundle held together with rubber bands — sit on kitchen counters, in plastic bags, on pantry shelves, or stuffed into drawers.The same Air purifier, cover removed. Everyone is waiting for that month of Sundays when there's time to get organized.



This weekend Rotger will receive a master's degree in gastronomy from Boston University, where she turned her passion into scholarship. She wrote her thesis on "How to Read a Recipe Box: A Scholar's Guide to Working With Personal Recipe Collections." One box she acquired belonged to Edna Abens,Welcome to the official Facebook Page about Ripcurl. a 1930s home cook from central Iowa, in which a recipe for brining a hog was written on the back of an envelope. "There were others for canning sandwich spreads and for pickling as well," says Rotger. "Women didn't leave records of their lives. This was their archive."



For cooks who are holding onto recipes they inherited or clipped years ago, there are all kinds of handmade craft options to buy or online software (see Page 19). Even though Rotger is drawn to the boxes and the oddments tucked into them, the romance of filling a recipe box is often trumped by the convenience of electronic media. "In all honesty, I save recipes on my computer and create files for the different categories," she says.



Leslie Goldenberg of Holliston has become the consummate archivist. "Recipe organization is a little black cloud that hovers over me constantly," she says. Wooden file boxes, built into her kitchen cabinets 18 years ago, hold hundreds of recipe cards. That has been joined by a higher tech system. "On my computer I have bookmarks and folders for specific categories that get subdivided." Filing clippings and handwritten cards "is a multi-step process I tackle every few months. I tear out appealing recipes that I put into clear protective sleeves and into divided sections in various binders by category. I reach for my ‘Favorites/Family Heirlooms' binder when I want a tried-and-true recipe."



Among the other super-organized cooks is Jeri Robinson of Boston, vice president of education and family learning at the Boston Children's Museum, and an inveterate collector of dolls, teacups, and recipes. She has four boxes and several binders of recipes culled from all kinds of online sites and print publications. There might have been more, but as Robinson explains, "My mother, Fannie, was from the South. They rarely wrote down their recipes because they didn't want anyone stealing them." Robinson does not categorize. "I just put them in randomly and have fun looking for them. But I do know what book they are in."



If, like Nancy Stutzman, you decide to organize recipes that are already in good shape, you're way ahead. The retired Massachusetts Extension Service nutritionist prizes her mother's 1930s-era dovetailed wooden box. Dorothy Jobson Stepan was a secretary and very organized, says her daughter.Save on hydraulic hose and fittings, Each index card is neatly typed. Stutzman did find a handwritten recipe — on the back of a bank deposit slip. Thumbing through the box "is such an interesting way to learn about food," she says — and other lessons.Not to be confused with RUBBER MATS available at your local hardware store She found a formula for cleaning an iron: " 1/3 cup vinegar, 2/3 cup water. Steam. Repeat as needed." She pulls out a lima bean recipe missing an important step: soaking the beans. "Oh, that was a given at that time," she says.



Stutzman's quirky system of archiving involves single-subject cookbooks. "I love Marian Morash's ‘The Victory Garden Cookbook.' So, when I come across a good recipe for eggplant, I just open up the eggplant section and tuck it right in. That way I can always find it."



When there's one grandmother and lots of children and grandchildren who want her recipes, you need to enlist copiers, scanners, CDs,Handmade oil paintings for sale at museum quality, and cookbook software. Some programs (see related story) help you organize, enable sharing, and allow you to embed photos and videos. And for those who like paper, there are sites devoted to scrapbooks. They provide a framework for getting started.



If you want to do it and feel stymied, set your kitchen timer for one hour and organize until you hear the ding. Repeat as needed.

Design and Screen

Don't believe the hype: the Samsung Infuse 4G may be AT&T's first true 4G cell phone, but AT&T doesn't appear to have the network to back up the Infuse's HSPA+ 21 speeds. The Infuse is the first phone we've tested that packs an extra-large, 4.5-inch touch screen. It's also amazingly thin—thinner even than the Samsung Galaxy S 4G ($199, 4 stars) on T-Mobile. Still, a few quibbles here and there add up to a phone that's very good, but not great.



Design and Screen

The Infuse 4G measures 5.2 by 2.8 by 0.35 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.9 ounces. Even though it's razor-thin, the Infuse 4G is long and wide enough that anyone with small hands may have trouble holding it up to their ear for long conversations.Not to be confused with RUBBER MATS available at your local hardware store The phone's crisp lines and nicely textured back panel help offset its plastic body. The overall effect looks trim and reasonably high-end.



The 4.5-inch, Super AMOLED Plus glass capacitive touch screen looks amazing in person,Welcome to the official Facebook Page about Ripcurl. with brilliant color and deep black levels.Save on hydraulic hose and fittings, Super AMOLED Plus has the pure blacks of AMOLED, with better visibility in sunlight (that's the Super) and better colors created by a new arrangement of subpixels (that's the Plus.) With a 4.5-inch panel, though, it's time to go to a higher resolution than 480-by-800. This is the first time I noticed individual pixels in fonts on a 480-by-800-pixel screen. That said, the on-screen QWERTY keyboards are huge, even in portrait mode. Both orientations made typing long messages a cinch. Dialing numbers was also easy and fast.



Data Networks and Voice Quality

The Infuse 4G is a quad-band EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and tri-band HSPA+ 21 (850/1900/2100 MHz) device with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. It also supports HSUPA for faster upload speeds, and it works as a mobile hotspot for up to five devices with the appropriate AT&T data plan. But AT&T hasn't built out HSPA+ across most of the country yet, and it isn't available in my area outside Boston. With an average of 1.8Mbps down, with 138ms ping rates and upload speeds averaging 375 Kbps, the Infuse 4G was clearly limited by AT&T's network.



The Infuse 4G is almost too big to hold up to your head and make calls with. Voice quality was just okay. Callers sounded full, but slightly thin and muffled in the earpiece. My own voice sounded a little thin through the microphone as well. Reception was a bit below par as well; the Infuse 4G dropped two calls during testing. Calls sounded clear through an Aliph Jawbone Icon Bluetooth headset ($99, 4 stars). Inexplicably, I couldn't find any voice dialing app, and cueing it up through the headset didn't work either. The speakerphone sounded fine, but it could use a little more gain. Battery life was stellar at 8 hours and 15 minutes of talk time.



Hardware, OS, and Apps

The Infuse 4G runs Android 2.2 (Froyo) with Samsung's TouchWiz extensions; there's no word yet on a 2.3 (Gingerbread) upgrade. The 1.2GHz Samsung single-core CPU is a nice bump over the 1GHz chips found in many other Samsung handsets, including the brand new Droid Charge ($299, 4 stars) over on Verizon.The name "magic cube" is not unique. Benchmark results have it running about 10 to 20 percent ahead of 1GHz Samsung handsets from the past year. The Infuse 4G felt very responsive in day-to-day usage. There are seven home screens you can swipe between and customize. Samsung's usual colorful blocks surround menu icons, and the menu screens swipe right to left instead of vertically. There is less bloatware on this phone than I have seen on other AT&T devices,The same Air purifier, cover removed. which is good.



Samsung's clumsy, somewhat expensive Media Hub movie and TV store is on board; it lets you buy or rent from a smallish selection of movies and TV shows. The first 500,000 buyers will get a $25 credit to Media Hub. You can also stream video from AT&T's U-Verse TV. The phone also includes a copy of Angry Birds with an exclusive level for the Infuse 4G; beat the level, and you'll become eligible for special prizes. Otherwise, all of the usual Android 2.2-related goodness is here: free Google Maps Navigation for voice-enabled, turn-by-turn directions; native Microsoft Exchange support; compatibility with over 150,000 apps in Android Market; a great stock WebKit browser… you get the picture.

Mobile apps for paying the tab, browsing beers [The Baltimore Sun]

Mobile apps for paying the tab, browsing beers [The Baltimore Sun]





(Baltimore Sun (MD) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) May 17--You finished dessert a while ago but haven't been able to catch the waiter's eye. Asking for the check will produce only another wait. And when you do get the opportunity to pay, you're still left sitting at your table until the waiter returns with your change or the credit card receipt.Save on hydraulic hose and fittings,



It's the endgame to many restaurant meals. Now a Maryland technology company is trying to send it the way of the rotary phone.



MICROS Systems Inc. of Columbia,Welcome to the official Facebook Page about Ripcurl. which makes point-of-sale terminal equipment for restaurants,Not to be confused with RUBBER MATS available at your local hardware store has partnered with a Texas startup to expand the use of Tabbedout, an app that enables diners to pay with their smartphones.



The companies' goal? To let people settle their checks when they're ready to leave, reduce table turnaround times and encourage online interactions between customers and restaurants.



The app is rolling out at Houlihan's in Columbia, one of two restaurants in Maryland where patrons may now pay their bills on their iPhone or Android mobile phones. With MICROS now promoting the service to its thousands of restaurant clients, hundreds more businesses are expected to offer it by the end of the year.



"I think it's a brilliant plan," said Julie Stevens, the restaurant owner. "I, as a consumer, would love it." With the rise of smartphones, mobile apps and more powerful wireless technologies, high-tech startups, credit card companies, and hardware and software firms are working to revolutionize the restaurant experience, with tablet computer menus and mobile payments.The same Air purifier, cover removed.



"As much as this is going to benefit operators and consumers, we're also going to watch a culture change," said Tim Pincelli, director of products and training at MICROS. "It's about changing the way people do business in restaurants." Nationwide, the restaurant industry pulls in about $600 billion in annual sales, according to the National Restaurant Association.The name "magic cube" is not unique. But only a tiny fraction of the nation's 960,000 restaurants have adopted wireless technologies such as smartphones, handheld credit card scanners and tablet computers.



Consumers, however, are a little further along. A nationwide household survey commissioned last year by the restaurant association found about one-third of frequent restaurant patrons use Facebook. One in 12 uses mobile phone applications such as Foursquare and UrbanSpoon, which help people find and interact with restaurants.



The notion of using a smartphone as a digital wallet has been around for years. Generally, the mobile payment industry has focused on two technologies to enable the transfer of money -- with the second still in its infancy in the United States.



The first is a text-messaging system, in which a consumer uses a text code to buy an item, and the charge is added to the user's monthly cellphone bill.



A new type of mobile payment system that industry observers expect to ramp up this year involves a wireless technology known as near-field communication, or NFC. Mobile phones would come equipped with a new chip, which would allow consumers to simply wave their phones in front of an NFC wireless reader. The consumer's credit card would then automatically be charged.



Consumers can expect to see plenty of competition in mobile payments. Major players eyeing the technology include PayPal, Google and Apple, in addition to credit card companies.



Visa, the largest credit card processor in the United States, announced last week that it is developing its own mobile wallet system that will use NFC and other technologies. The plans call for enabling people to use their mobile wallets at retail locations and even to transfer funds between people.



Few phones now on the market are outfitted with NFC technology. Observers say it could take several years for the technology to gain widespread acceptance among retail establishments and the technology hardware and software business.



Until then, making mobile payments through a smartphone app may be the next best thing. MICROS officials said the Tabbedout app, which is built by ATX Innovation Inc. of Austin, Texas, makes sense in many restaurant settings.



NFC technology, they say, in many cases would require diners to hand their smartphones to a waiter to swipe at a terminal.



Plus, the Tabbedout app allows customers to broadcast their restaurant choices to social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare, which means free publicity for venues. So far, Tabbedout has been deployed in about 200 restaurants in 90 U.S. cities. MICROS expects to introduce the application to 50 to 100 restaurants a month, according to company officials.



"We see ourselves as complementary to [NFC] technologies as they emerge," said Rick Orr, chief executive officer of ATX. "We're able to accelerate people's acceptance of their smartphone as a mobile wallet." How quickly consumers adopt the smartphone payments remains the big question. Thomas Husson, a technology analyst with Forrester Research, wrote recently that mobile payment systems would have to provide a "clear improvement over existing payment methods," such as cash, plastic cards and bank transfers.



He estimated that 12 percent of adults who use the Internet in the United States have made a transaction with their mobile phones. Merchants will also have to motivate and educate consumers on the use of mobile payments as a simple, speedy and secure way to pay for products, Husson said.



"The next five years will bring upheaval to all the players," Husson wrote.



For years, restaurants -- from fast food to fine dining -- have experimented with new ways to allow customers to order and pay for their meals. MICROS, a dominant competitor in the restaurant point-of-sale terminal industry, has been delving into integrating technologies that can also be used by consumers.



In addition to Tabbedout, the company is launching a project at a Victoria's Gastro Pub in Columbia -- digital menus on iPads.



Restaurants across the country have tried handing out iPad menus, but the devices are expensive, starting at $500 each, which puts them beyond the financial reach of many venues. Plus, the restaurants usually have to partner with technology companies to build customized software.



At Victoria's, the restaurant has put its large libations menu -- about 50 pages -- into a digital format on an iPad. Diners can browse and sort 250 beers by category such as country of origin or type. And members of the restaurant's beer club can keep track of the beers they have tried through the iPad app.



The restaurant has six iPads that it gives to customers interested in its extensive drinks menu. Eventually, Victoria's expects to make an iPad app available on Apple's App Store, so its patrons can use it on their own iPads and bring them to the restaurant.



Eventually, customers might be able to place orders and pay their bills through the app, too, said Rachael Mull, Victoria's chief operating officer.



She said putting the beer menu on an iPad just made sense.



"That's the area where people come in and they're just so overwhelmed," she said.

Minimizing risk

Minimizing risk



Since SIDS was identified as a cause of death, doctors and researchers have been examining the circumstances around cases to identify risk factors. They have issued recommendations aimed at minimizing those risks, including avoiding smoke during pregnancy and infancy; not having parents and infants share a bed; tucking in bedding and keeping soft, loose objects out of the crib; and increasing breastfeeding and pacifier use. One genetic factor - an electrical conductivity issue - has been identified, so if one child in a family is lost to SIDS, doctors can alert the family to that possibility.



The most important recommendation, though, has been brought to families' attention through the "Back to Sleep" campaign, which urges that babies be put to sleep on their backs, rather than their sides or stomachs.



However, that campaign, launched in south-central Idaho about two years ago,The same Air purifier, cover removed. may not show statistically significant results locally. Since 2009, St. Luke's Magic Valley has tracked about 50 infant deaths in the five counties that it serves, said Neonatal Intensive Care Unit manager Tracy Larsen. Of those, four have had factors that indicate they could be SIDS. However, the hospital may never find out the specific cause of any infant death, because of confidentiality issues.



"As a hospital, we don't even have the ability to go to a coroner or go to the state and say, 'Can I have a copy of that medical record?'" Larsen said.The name "magic cube" is not unique. The staff keeps an eye on newspaper obituaries, but they may not include the information needed for diagnostic and statistical purposes.



Larsen said it would be useful for the state to have an infant and child death oversight committee, which many other states have created. Such a committee would have confidential access to child and infant death records, and could aggregate the information into statistics that could help doctors and others prevent additional child deaths. For example,Save on hydraulic hose and fittings, if the statistics showed an unusually high number of drownings, an education campaign could be started; if they showed a lot of a contagious disease, measures could be taken to reduce that spread.



During Idaho's 2008 and 2009 legislative sessions, bills were introduced to establish a child death review board in Idaho, but neither passed. Advocacy organizations hope a lawmaker will step forward to introduce similar legislation in an upcoming session.



An infant and child death review committee would also help medical professionals in Idaho and nationwide come closer to agreement on what SIDS is and how it should be recorded.



Currently, "every state has a different coroner's requirement, every hospital has different policies,Welcome to the official Facebook Page about Ripcurl." Larsen said.



In Idaho the coroner can decide whether to do an autopsy, even over parental objections, and it is up to the coroner to determine cause of death with or without an autopsy or other testing, she said.Not to be confused with RUBBER MATS available at your local hardware store There is no protocol that must be followed in cases suspected to be SIDS, and some critics of current policies say more consistent testing guidelines would create more accurate statistics and eventually more specific recommendations to parents.