Cotton T-shirt fabric can store electricity, maybe keep your cell phone charged

ScienceDaily (June 29, 2012) ? Over the years, the telephone has gone mobile, from the house to the car to the pocket. The University of South Carolina's Xiaodong Li envisions even further integration of the cell phone -- and just about every electronic gadget, for that matter -- into our lives.

He sees a future where electronics are part of our wardrobe.

"We wear fabric every day," said Li, a professor of mechanical engineering at USC. "One day our cotton T-shirts could have more functions; for example, a flexible energy storage device that could charge your cell phone or your iPad."

Li is helping make the vision a reality. He and post-doctoral associate Lihong Bao have just reported in the journal Advanced Materials how to turn the material in a cotton T-shirt into a source of electrical power.

Starting with a T-shirt from a local discount store, Li's team soaked it in a solution of fluoride, dried it and baked it at high temperature. They excluded oxygen in the oven to prevent the material from charring or simply combusting.

The surfaces of the resulting fibers in the fabric were shown by infrared spectroscopy to have been converted from cellulose to activated carbon. Yet the material retained flexibility; it could be folded without breaking.

"We will soon see roll-up cell phones and laptop computers on the market," Li said. "But a flexible energy storage device is needed to make this possible."

The once-cotton T-shirt proved to be a repository for electricity. By using small swatches of the fabric as an electrode, the researchers showed that the flexible material, which Li's team terms activated carbon textile, acts as a capacitor. Capacitors are components of nearly every electronic device on the market, and they have the ability to store electrical charge.

Moreover, Li reports that activated carbon textile acts like double-layer capacitors, which are also called a supercapacitors because they can have particularly high energy storage densities.

But Li and Bao took the material even further than that. They then coated the individual fibers in the activated carbon textile with "nanoflowers" of manganese oxide. Just a nanometer thick, this layer of manganese oxide greatly enhanced the electrode performance of the fabric. "This created a stable, high-performing supercapacitor," said Li.

This hybrid fabric, in which the activated carbon textile fibers are coated with nanostructured manganese oxide, improved the energy storage capability beyond the activated carbon textile alone. The hybrid supercapacitors were resilient: even after thousands of charge-discharge cycles, performance didn't diminish more than 5 percent.

"By stacking these supercapacitors up, we should be able to charge portable electronic devices such as cell phones," Li said.

Li is particularly pleased to have improved on the means by which activated carbon fibers are usually obtained. "Previous methods used oil or environmentally unfriendly chemicals as starting materials," he said. "Those processes are complicated and produce harmful side products. Our method is a very inexpensive, green process."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of South Carolina. The original article was written by Steven Powell.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Lihong Bao, Xiaodong Li. Towards Textile Energy Storage from Cotton T-Shirts. Advanced Materials, 2012; 24 (24): 3246 DOI: 10.1002/adma.201200246

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/7vIhvUY8zD8/120629211540.htm

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Belarus frees journalist, seen as gesture to Poland

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Analysis: GOP sees tax opening in Obama court win (The Arizona Republic)

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Black Church Leader: Civility in America at 'All-Time Low'

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The Rev. Franklyn Richardson, chair of the National Conference of Black Churches, made that assessment Thursday. He was one of several church leaders invited to an event on public discourse.

Richardson said that the key element of the low level of good discourse could be found with "articulated intolerance." He told CP that he felt in order to raise the level of civil discourse, the Church must "own its part" in creating the poor environment for civility.

"First of all, the Church must own its own contribution to this. The Church is not without accountability in this area," said Richardson. "The Church is not just a mere spectator of it, it was a participant. So the Church must own, we must own the ways in which we have been intolerant in our views."

Richardson's remarks came on a day when he was part of a day-long dialogue between church leaders of varying political backgrounds. Held at the Frederick Douglass Museum, the "Better Angels Dialogue" was sponsored by the Faith & Politics Institute.

Dr. Richard Land, president of The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, was another attendee of the summit. Land told CP that he believed the state of civility in the United States was "pernicious and cancerous."

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"It is up to us people of faith to try to lead by example and by exhortation to get people to elevate the discourse by understanding that we can disagree with everything somebody may say without attacking them as a person," said Land.

"For instance, I am strongly pro-life, but that does not give me liberty to hate people who are pro-choice or to attack them and their motives ? I think that unfortunately we have gotten into a downward cycle and all sides deserve the blame."

Other leaders invited to the summit included the Rev. Canon Peg Chemberlin, immediate past president of the National Council of Churches; Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church; and Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, senior fellow at Beverly LaHaye Institute.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Crouse stated, "There is a general recognition that it's not just compromise for the sake of compromise but a matter of finding principles on which we can agree without discarding our own basic very deeply held beliefs and values."

Crouse believes that churches play a "pivotal role" in the effort to make public discourse on various issues more civil.

"So important that we have prophetic voices from the pulpit and that we have believers who are willing to really tackle the problems without resorting to clich?s and without resorting to stereotypes and putting people into boxes," said Crouse.

"Christ commanded us to work together and to believe in each other and treat people as equals. That does not mean sacrificing your own beliefs but it does mean standing up for truth and standing up for basic principles of faith."

Source: http://www.christianpost.com/news/black-church-leader-civility-in-america-at-all-time-low-77391/

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Spoiler or voice of reason? Russian role In Syria

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, listens to question during his and Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalam, unseen, news conference in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 28, 2012. Russia is denying comments by a U.S. official that it has endorsed a Syrian transition plan that includes a call for President Bashar Assad to give up power in favor of a national unity government saying that outside forces must concentrate on convincing opposition groups to soften their demands. But, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied that Thursday. "We are not supporting and will not support any external meddling,? he said. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, listens to question during his and Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalam, unseen, news conference in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 28, 2012. Russia is denying comments by a U.S. official that it has endorsed a Syrian transition plan that includes a call for President Bashar Assad to give up power in favor of a national unity government saying that outside forces must concentrate on convincing opposition groups to soften their demands. But, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied that Thursday. "We are not supporting and will not support any external meddling,? he said. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, answers questions during his and Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalam, unseen, news conference in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, June 28, 2012. Russia is denying comments by a U.S. official that it has endorsed a Syrian transition plan that includes a call for President Bashar Assad to give up power in favor of a national unity government saying that outside forces must concentrate on convincing opposition groups to soften their demands. But, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov denied that Thursday. "We are not supporting and will not support any external meddling,? he said. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Russia takes center stage Saturday when the U.S. and other major powers gather in Geneva to try to map out a strategy to end the bloodshed in Syria, where activists say 14,000 people have died since the uprising against President Bashar Assad began in March last year.

The Americans have the diplomatic clout to arrange such a conference, bringing together the five veto-wielding U.N. Security Council members ? Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. ? as well as Turkey and representatives of the Arab League, Iraq, Kuwait and Qatar.

But only the Russians have the influence with Assad to give this latest diplomatic initiative any chance of success.

WHY IS RUSSIA SO IMPORTANT?

Russia is Syria's most important ally and protector and its main supplier of arms. At the U.N. Security Council, the Russians have blocked the world body from taking strong, punitive action against the Assad regime, including global economic sanctions or military action. The Russians have also consistently opposed any international plan that would demand Assad's removal from power, although they have said they would not stand in the way of such a formula if all Syrian parties agreed.

WHY IS RUSSIA SO TIED TO ASSAD?

Russia maintained close ties to Assad's father, Hafez, who ruled Syria with an iron fist from 1971 until his death in June 2000. With all the political changes brought on by the Arab Spring revolutions, Syria is now Russia's last remaining ally in the Middle East. In the last four decades, Russia has sold Syria billions of dollars worth of weapons, and the loss of its Syrian ally could cost Moscow other lucrative trade deals. A change in power in Damascus could also reduce Russian political influence in Arab world, where it is a broker in Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. The Russians also strongly oppose a world order dominated by the United States and want no repeat of last year's NATO air campaign that led to the ouster of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, a former Moscow ally.

HAS RUSSIA'S POSITION ON SYRIA SHIFTED?

As the Syria conflict grows bloodier, Russia has shifted away from public support for Assad himself, instead focusing on well-founded concerns that foreign military intervention could lead to even more bloodshed. Russia accuses the West of ignoring the darker side of the Syrian opposition, including Islamic extremist elements and the summary execution of captured Syrian soldiers. Moscow also notes Assad still commands the loyalty of many Syrians, including Christians, his own Alawite sect and secular Sunni Muslims, who fear the rise of Islamic extremism if the regime collapses.

WHAT WILL BE RUSSIA'S STRATEGY AT THE CONFERENCE?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov insists the Geneva talks should concentrate on persuading Syrian opposition groups to soften their demands. He also denies claims by the U.S. that Moscow backs a plan for a transition government to oversee the drafting of a new Syrian constitution and eventual election. The Russians will likely play for time, blocking any explicit call for Assad to step down while endorsing talks among all Syrian parties, something the opposition has previously rejected. This would let the Russians say they are actively seeking a solution to the crisis without jettisoning their longtime ally.

__

Associated Press correspondents Elizabeth Kennedy in Beirut, Vladimir Isachenko in Moscow and John Heilprin in Geneva contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-06-29-Russia-Syria%20Conference%20QandA/id-652c945ed87c42f5a2d03d31fbde3c0e

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M_Star_Online: Britain: 'Cuts must stop' as economy plunges: Union leaders demanded today the Chancellor halt the coalition's ... http://t.co/emag0J0k

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Hands-on with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on the Google Galaxy Nexus

Sponsored links, if any, appear in green.

Here at Google I/O 2012, the search giant handed out Galaxy Nexus smartphones to attendees that were updated with a preview version of the new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system. We got our hands on one and gave it a quick tour to check out the new features.

There a number of new features in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but the most prominent ones are the improved touch response and performance, offline voice to text transcription, new home screen and widget management, revamped notification bar, and Google Now intelligent search tool.

Performance-wise, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on the Galaxy Nexus appears to be snappy and quick, but that is often the case when a phone is loaded with a clean operating system for the first time. In our experience, once the phone has been in use and loaded with apps and data, it tends to slow down significantly. We will have to see if that happens with Android 4.1, or if Google's under-the-hood improvements are really making a difference in the long run.

Google's new offline voice transcription works as promised and makes the existing feature more usable in more situations. The new home screen and widget management features are well done and add to the already improved experience offered in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Likewise, the new notification bar offers more information than before and the ability to swipe down with two fingers to display even more data if wanted. It is also possible to perform actions, such as reply or comment, on notifications that display in the new status bar.

Google Now is a big new feature that promises to make it easier to carry out day-to-day tasks. Google's goal with Now is to provide information to the user without them asking for it. It does this by combining data from past search history, current location, and upcoming calendar data to inform the user of such things as weather, flight times, transportation information, upcoming events, and more. We didn't get a whole lot of time to play with Google Now just yet, but we look forward to taking a deeper dive into it when we have a final, proper version of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean to test.

All in all, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is most certainly an incremental improvement over Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, but the new features and performance enhancements promise to provide a better experience for many users, which is the most important thing of all. Unfortunately, it may be a long time before many Android owners get to benefit from Jelly Bean's improvements, as the vast majority of devices in use today aren't even running Android 4.0 yet. The Jelly Bean update is shipping on the new Google Nexus 7 tablet and will be available for the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S smartphones in mid-July. Other than that, we really don't know when it will come to the multitude of Android devices in use today.

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'Nothing left' as hundreds of homes gone in Colo. fire

The tens of thousands of evacuees in the Colorado Springs, Colo., area received word Thursday that hundreds of homes have been lost to the out-of-control wildfire there.

"We now know hundreds of homes have been destroyed," Mayor Steve Bach said a morning press conference.

"There was nothing left in some areas -- burned out foundations that were smoldering. It looked like a nuclear weapon had been dropped. It's as close to hell as I could imagine," Bach said after touring the heavily damaged Mountain Shadows subdivision.

Bach said a firmer count would be available later Thursday. Sources earlier told the Colorado Springs Gazette that as many as 300 homes were destroyed in a big firestorm Tuesday, and that more homes have burned since.

Officials were able to confirm that no new homes were destroyed overnight.

Along the fire lines, crews were still battling what the city fire chief had called a "monster."

"Something blowing up at Blodgett and Woodmen," reported one firefighter over an emergency communications scanner, according to the Gazette.

Blodgett Peak is near the U.S. Air Force Academy and crews have been battling flare-ups there for several days.

Crews are getting a break in the weather, with the area no longer under a "red flag warning," which means extreme fire danger.

On Wednesday, mandatory evacuations were ordered for the 3,000 people in the town of Crystola and part of Woodland Park after more than 32,000 people had to flee on Tuesday.

Those evacuation orders came as the fire moved down a ridge toward those homes, the Gazette reported, citing communications from an emergency services scanner. "It's huge," said the voice over the scanner. "I would estimate two-three miles in width."

In another scanner exchange, a request was made for more fire crews at Blodgett Peak. "As of right now I cannot hold this hill," a voice said from the fire.

Story: Heat hub for US is Kansas farm town -- not Death Valley

Heavy smoke made for unhealthy air in and around the city. After jumping fire lines Tuesday, the towering blaze has now burned more than 29 square miles.

By late Wednesday, winds picked up and stirred flames, forcing some crews to retreat, the Gazette reported. C-130 planes used to bomb the fire with retardant were grounded.

Colorado Springs Fire Chief Rich Brown on Wednesday called the Waldo Canyon Fire a "monster event" that is "not even remotely close to being contained." The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Video: Evacuated: uncertainty breeds fear in the fire zone (on this page)

Tuesday night, the community of Mountain Shadows, northwest of Colorado Springs, appeared to be enveloped in an orange glow.

People were "freaking out" as they fled Tuesday night, local resident Kathleen Tillman told the Denver Post. "You are driving through smoke. It is completely pitch black, and there is tons of ash dropping on the road."

"This is a fire of epic proportions," Brown said at a briefing Tuesday night.

"It was like looking at the worst movie set you could imagine," Gov. John Hickenlooper added after flying over the fire. "It's almost surreal. You look at that, and it's like nothing I've seen before."

Colorado is battling eight large fires, its worst fire season in history.

President Barack Obama will tour the Colorado Springs area on Friday to show his support, the White House said Wednesday.

Wildfires leave Colorado tourism high and dry

The state's largest blaze is the 136-square-mile High Park Fire, which has destroyed 257 homes and killed one woman. That fire was triggered by lightning on June 9 and is nearly contained.

In Boulder, Colo., the Flagstaff Fire burned to within 1.5 miles of the southern edge of the University of Colorado campus. The 230-acre fire was 30 percent contained and "remains a threat to Boulder," Reuters quoted incident commander Rocky Opliger as saying.

Nationwide, 35 large, active wildfires were being fought. The bulk of them were in nine western states: Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and California.

Although the fire season got off to an early start in the West, the number of fires and acreage burned nationwide is still below the 10-year average for this time of year.

The Associated Press provided this roundup of other fires across the West:

• In Utah, a 72-square-mile wildfire has destroyed at least 56 structures, mainly homes, between Fountain Green and Fairview. That number is expected to rise. One person has died in that fire. A fire near St. George started Wednesday afternoon and had grown to 2,000 acres by midnight, forcing an undetermined number of residents near New Harmony and Bumblebee to evacuate. The fire was burning three miles north of Zion National Park, prompting park officials to close a canyon area popular with hikers known as the Kolob section.
• In southeast Montana, wildfires that have torched more than 200 square miles and burned dozens of homes spread farther Wednesday, with more evacuations ordered after a blaze near Roundup jumped a fire line. The growing Dahl Fire, which has burned more than 60 homes by one estimate, forced an unknown number of residents to leave their homes near its southern flank, on top of an estimated 600 people evacuated the day before. "That's one of the most dangerous fires in the history of Montana," Gov. Brian Schweitzer said.
• In Wyoming, a wildfire in the Bridger-Teton National Forest has grown from about 2,000 acres to 12,000 acres, or nearly 19 square miles, officials said Wednesday. Authorities worked to get campers out of the area.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Special Reference and Education Press: Getting The Right ...

So much of the education system is dependent on the age of your child, and they only have one chance to get ahead. As the old cliche goes, the sooner the better, and this is particularly true when it comes to your child's education. Do not blindly put your faith in the public school system.

Every child is unique, and if the normal schooling system is not working for your child, or you feel that it will not work, then there are other alternatives to look at that could prove to be more beneficial. From a private school to public school, parents have several options of which schooling to choose. They can:

- Use the public school system

- Teach the child themselves after school

- Hire someone to provide tutoring

- Enroll them in a private school

- Home school.

A child's education is basically their foundation to the future and what education is chosen impacts dramatically on life. The environment and style of teaching to which a child exposed is integral to their ability to learn. Many studies show that children's language development is affected not only by the quantity and quality of the language they hear from their parents and teachers, but also from their classmates. The effect of peer to peer learning is about the same as the effect that a child's parent's level of education has on their ability to communicate.

Classmates are an important learning resource for children. If a teacher can effectively manage their children's behavior, and create an environment in which children feel comfortable to converse amongst each other and learn language from one another than the teacher can collectively accelerate the children's language development. Their opportunity to do this is dependent on the school and the style of teaching. For example, using a Montessori school would give your child the chance to enhance free-thinking and creativity which is believed to increase productivity.

It is highly recommended that if you opt for the public school system, that you visit the school during a normal school day and take note of how the children interact with each other. Going alone once and with your child another time is something that many people have seen as a productive activity.

In many cases, after school tutoring, either by the parent or a tutor, can help a child enormously, but if the child is not learning at school then it is not addressing the real cause of the problem. Also it can be expensive, and the tutoring necessarily takes place after school, when children are tired and wanting to do something else.

While it's not a daunting task, home schooling takes a lot of time and effort. There is a vast supply of teaching materials available, especially on line, and it is possible that a support network or meet up group exists in your area.

For those who can afford, private schools may be the answer as they can offer different styles and types of teaching. For example, Montessori schools have a completely different style and philosophy to the public school system. Do a trial run and see how your child does in an alternative type of school for a day.

Ideally, the age when a child begins school is a good time to 'shop around' and look at all the education options available for your child, to minimalise any friction of having to take them out of school once they have settled in with their environment, schedule and friends.

----------------------------------------------------
The advantages of a Montessori education are well known in creating creativity, free thinking and productivity later in life. If you live in the Colorado area and are interested and want to know more , why not contact this Montessori school in Denver http://mchdenver.org/ and arrange a visit where you will be able to find out much more about this leading Denver Montessori school http://mchdenver.org/

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Seventy dead, 200,000 stranded in Bangladesh floods

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Sony Xperia Neo L peels back the covers for FCC

Remember that low-end Xperia handset that surfaced earlier this month with a one-way ticket to China? Well that 4-inch ICS device, the Neo L, has just made its many assets known for the folks at the FCC, stripping down to its internal skivvies and leaving nothing to the (lawyer's) imagination. There aren't any surprises here -- no LTE or AWS support, but it does sport radios for EDGE / GPRS (850MHz, 1900MHz), GSM (850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 1900MHz) and WCDMA (900MHz, 2100MHz). So, the good news is that if you have your eye on this Sony-made Android lightweight, then it should play nice with AT&T and T-Mobile. Whether it'll ever officially joins those carriers lineups remains to be seen, but don't let a little thing like that stop you from importing away. Hit up the source to trawl the mobile dissection at your leisure.

Sony Xperia Neo L peels back the covers for FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jun 2012 17:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What I Ate Wednesday #33 ? Farmers Market Vegan

Breakfast: A green?(and very loose) rendition?of The Alkaline Sisters? Buckwheat and Berry Smoothie, consisting of 1/3 cup sprouted buckwheat, 1/2 cup almond milk kefir, 3/4 cup frozen strawberries, the juice of?a lemon, about 1 tsp each of maca and spirulina, 1 tbsp tahini, a 1/2-inch piece of fresh ginger, four large leaves of lacinato kale, and?one date, topped with a handful of fresh sliced strawberries and accompanied by two of Choosing Raw?s No-Bake Omega-3 Snack Bars.

?

Discovering myself in the almost unfathomable situation of having no frozen bananas in the house, I frantically searched through my recipe archives for a smoothie recipe that promised thick, creamy yummniess without the implementation of the standard tropical fruit. Unfortunately, I didn?t have an avocado, either?or a cucumber?both of which the Alkaline Sisters? recipe calls for. In a last-minute mad attempt to evoke some sort of creaminess from this doomed smoothie, I added a scoop of tahini, to which I would attribute the rather perplexing and not quite pleasant flavor that the end result of my morning science experiment held.

Smoothie=fail. Granola bars=fantastic! Unbelievably simple to make?and utterly satisfying to eat, Gena?s no-bake snack bars perked up my morning after my disappointing?smoothie fiasco.

Breakfast Checklist: Protein?almond milk kefir, tahini, chickpeas, almond butter (last two in bars).?Whole Grain?sprouted buckwheat, GF rolled oats, brown rice puffs (last two in bars). Fruit?strawberries, lemon, dates, dried apricot, dried figs, prunes (last four in bars).?Leafy Green?kale. ?Super Food??maca, spirulina, chia seeds, hemp seeds, flaxseed meal (last three in bars). Added Veggie Bonus!?ginger.

Local Ingredients:?Lacinato kale from Driftless Organics, strawberries from JenEhr Family Farm.

Morning Tea: An of Strawberry Vanilla Bean Rooibos Iced Tea from The First Mess.

While I usually revel in sipping on my thermos of steaming hot tea in the morning, this ritual does not seem conducive to the current summer weather. Enter iced tea?nature?s gastronomic solution to all our herbal drink pleasures. I skipped the agave and lemon juice in Laura?s recipe, opting to enjoy the intensely vanilla-ey and subtlely fruity flavor in their unmarred, refreshing glory.

Lunch: A medley of leftover salads atop a large handful of mixed greens and chickpeas tossed with Liquid Gold Dressing and dusted with dulse flakes, accompanied by a Raw Tex-Mex Pumpkin Wrap filled with Smoky Tahini Coleslaw from the lovely Elenore at Earthsprout. The salads, beginning in the upper right-hand corner of the bowl and rotating clockwise, are as follows: Green Bean and Potato Salad with Miso Dressing?from For the Love of Food, Raw Coconut Noodle Pad Thai from PUREmamas, cortido, and Black Rice Salad with Mango from Bon Appetit.

With all this leisure time suddenly thrown at me in the beautiful days of post-high school bliss, how have I kept myself occupied? Fooling around in the kitchen, of course! This pasttime obviously leads to oodles of leftovers crowding up the fridge, though I certainly cannot complain about this since it means I get to enjoy each delicious recipe on multiple occasions! I won?t bore you by recalling all the modifications I made to the five recipes I mentioned above (though you can read specifically about the Black Rice Salad on my last What I Ate Wednesday?yes, I still have leftovers), but I will assure you that every salad turned out as a complete and utter success, especially the Coconut Noodle Pad Thai which served as my first experience in opening a coconut! I also urge to you sprint on over to Earthsprout to try your hand at her Raw Tex-Mex Pumpkin Wraps, which I dehydrated at 170?F in my oven?even without ?proper? equipment, they tasted suprisingly and authentically raw with a crunchy/chewy/pliable texture and a slightly spicy, umami flavor.

Meal Checklist: Protein?garbanzo beans, almonds, tahini. Whole Grain?black rice. Vegetables (and fruits)?green shallot, garlic scapes, chives, purple potatoes, green beans, cilantro, red onion, scallions, jalapeno, zucchini, carrots, sugar snap peas, ginger, butternut squash, tomatoes, fennel, broccoli, mango, orange, apple, coconut (whew! Quite a hefty list).?Leafy Greens?mixed greens, dulse seaweed, sweetheart cabbage.

Local Ingredients: Mixed greens, cilantro, red onion, scallions, sugar snap peas, and?fennel?from Harmony Valley Farm; cortido from Fizzeology, green shallots from the Plahnt Farm; garlic scapes from the Troy Kids? Garden; chives from my backyard herb garden; purple potatoes and zucchini?from Driftless Organics, carrots from JenEhr Family Farm, tomatoes from Canopy Gardens, broccoli from Roots Down Community Farm, and apple from Future Fruit Farm.

Lunch Dessert: A Lavender Vanilla Dream Ball from This Rawsome Vegan Life.

Expecting a standard (though still delectable) raw ball, I found myself in almost a state of shock to experience the silky smoothness hidden within these bites of lavender heaven?truly dream balls!

Local Ingredients: Lavender from the Plahnt Farm.

After-Lunch Beverage:?A tall glass of NessAlla?Kombucha in?Peach Blush?flavor.

Afternoon Snack: A vibrant homemade juice of?a 1/4 of a small head of?romaine lettuce, 2 large stalks of lacinato kale, 1 baby cucumber, 2 large carrots, and a 1/2-inch piece of fresh ginger.

If you follow my Twitter feed, perhaps you caught my intense bout of sheer excitement at unearthing a working juicer from the depths of my basement. I cannot accurately express my ridiculous happiness at my newly obtained ability to?revel in?colorful, nutrient-rich beverages full of fruits and veggies without having to stop by the Willy Street Co-op?s juice bar. Daily juices, here I come!

Local Ingredients:?Romaine lettuce from Harmony Valley Farm, lacinato kale?from Driftless Organics, baby cucumber from Canopy Gardens, carrots from JenEhr Family Farm.

Dinner: A salad bowl similar to that of lunch. This one included a Conservation Burger from Choosing Raw, another Raw Tex-Mex Pumpkin Wrap filled with Smoky Tahini Coleslaw from Earthsprout, and some more of both the Green Bean and Potato Salad with Miso Dressing from For the Love of Food?and the?Raw Coconut Noodle Pad Thai from PUREmamas. All of this sat atop a pile of mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, sprouted buckwheat, and pea sprouts?tossed in Liquid Gold Dressing.

With my new juicer comes leftover juice pulp?the fruit and veggie solids remaining after you?extract the liquid out of them. A shame to waste all that fibrous, nutrient-dense pulp, it?s become common practice in the raw foods community to implement this leftover juicing goodness in raw crackers, breads, pancakes, and burgers. Gena?s particular recipe also calls for almond pulp?the solids remaining after making almond milk. Since I make some variety of nut milk kefir every week, my freezer contains ample amounts of nut milk pulp, and I happily threw it in the food processor along with my juice pulp, some flaxseed meal, and a dash of fresh herbs before forming the mixture into patties and baking them at 350?F for 15 minutes on each side. Yay, semi-raw food!

Meal Checklist: Protein?almonds, tahini. Whole Grain?sprouted buckwheat. Vegetables?mixed veggies in the juice pulp in the burger, butternut squash, tomatoes, cilantro, fennel, apple, broccoli, zucchini, carrot, ginger, sugar snap peas, green beans, green shallot, garlic, chives, purple potatoes, pea sprouts.?Leafy Greens?mixed greens, sweetheart cabbage.

Local Ingredients: Tomatoes from Canopy Gardens; cilantro, fennel, sugar snap peas, mixed greens, and sweetheart cabbage from Harmony Valley Farm; apple from Future Fruit Farm; broccoli from Roots Down Community Farm; zucchini and purple potatoes?from Driftless Organics; carrots from JenEhr Family Farm; green shallot from the Plahnt Farm; garlic from Brantmeier Family Farm; chives from my backyard garden; pea sprouts from Troy Community Farm.

Comment Provoking Questions: What?s the most disappointing smoothie you?ve ever made? What?s your favorite flavor combination for homemade iced tea? Do you dehydrate in your oven? What?s your favorite juice recipe?

Happy WIAW!

Until next time, Ali.

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Egyptian Air Force holds lots of bake sales (Unqualified Offerings)

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Obama offers mixed verdict on immigration ruling

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Pressing his immigration agenda, President Barack Obama said he is pleased the Supreme Court struck down key parts of Arizona's immigration law Monday but voiced concern about what the high court left intact.

The court allowed a provision requiring police to check the immigration status of someone they stop for another reason and who they suspect is in the country illegally.

Said Obama: "No American should ever live under a cloud of suspicion just because of what they look like." He said police in Arizona should not enforce the provision in a way that undermines civil rights.

The court's decision comes days after the Obama administration issued a directive that protects from deportation hundreds of thousands of younger immigrants who came illegally to the United States as children. Obama on Monday used the court's decision to push for congressional action on a broader overhaul of immigration laws and to reaffirm his move to target deportations to criminals.

"I will work with anyone in Congress who's willing to make progress on comprehensive immigration reform that addresses our economic needs and security needs, and upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants," he said in a statement before leaving on a two-day campaign and fundraising trip.

The decision keeps the issue of immigration as a high profile issue and gives Obama yet another opening to boost his standing with Hispanic voters for whom immigration is an important issue. Obama won two-thirds of the Latino vote in 2008 and has a large lead over rival Mitt Romney among that voting bloc in recent polls.

Obama pledged in 2008 to push for passage of comprehensive changes in immigration laws, but the effort stalled in Congress and Obama turned his attention to addressing the economy and pressed ahead with passing an overhaul of health care laws, which consumed much of 2010.

Romney on Monday blamed Obama for lack of action on immigration. He also said states have the right to secure their borders, "particularly when the federal government has failed to meet its responsibilities."

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that efforts to deal with immigration have been hindered by "a retreat" among Republicans who had once advocated changes. He noted that Romney had embraced the Arizona law as a model for the country during the Republican primaries ? a position, Carney said, "that hardly suggests a desire for comprehensive bipartisan immigration reform."

The Supreme Court on Monday struck down other provisions of Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants, including requiring all immigrants to carry registration papers with them.

"A patchwork of state laws is not a solution to our broken immigration system ? it's part of the problem," Obama said.

That echoed what Obama said in April 2010 when Arizona passed its law. "If we continue to fail to act at a federal level, we will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country," Obama warned at the time.

Associated Press

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Find The Best Way To Find Low Interest Rate for Car Finance?

Contact Information Mark Fulton 601 International House 233 Regent Street London London United KIngdom - W1B2QD United Kingdom Phone: 0871 956 2700 Email: loanfinance977@gmail.com

Market Press Release ? June 25, 2012 1:10 pm ? London, 25 June 2012, Finding the car financing has become so challanging in those days but there are some online loan lending companies are still very interested to giving car finance or car loan service. In such position personal car loans and financing prove boon for individual. In position where you cannot shell out large sum of cash, and economic solutions to customers. This also ensures that you dont have to take out cash from your savings accounts at one go and still you can get your dream vehicle.

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While sensing for car finance companies and financing choice, you should believe better credit rating. Immaterial of what kind of economical organization you are taking finance from, your credit rating would be taken into record with large circumstance .You will simply receive financing for the car, provided you have a best credit rating.

Nowadays, respective banks and credit card companies are adding exceptional benefit and characteristic to car loans and other financing container to appeal consumer. To recognize whether these collection are really helpful or not, you require to analyse and find out. Overall, you require to be cautious at the time of decision making on availing the loan.

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Good credit mark If you dont want to load yourself with finances, then the finest means is to get better your credit mark before applying for the loan. This will make large variation in the judgement and classification.

Mark Fulton?is a economic expert dealing with all forms of bad credit car loan lenders and guaranteed car finance lenders, he provides analysis and skillful information on car loan, Car loan UK, cheap car loans.
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Vizio Announces The Co-Star, A $99 Google TV Box With OnLive Gaming Built In

Watch out, Sony, Vizio is chasing your tail. Just yesterday Sony revealed its latest Google TV hardware, a $199 remake of the company's first GTV products. And now today, Vizio took to the wires and announced its first player in the Google TV game, the $99 Co-Star. The Co-Star is a serious contender in this game, too. The product boasts all the Google TV functionality along with additional baked-in apps such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, iHeartRadio, and for the first time on a Google TV box, OnLive. With OnLive gamers can demo, watch and actually play games through the cloud gaming service. Plus, all this is available for $100 less than Sony charges.

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Spain's banks, government co-dependent on debt

FILE-In this June 16, 2012, file photo, a demonstrator holds a life saver in front of the headquarters of Bankia bank during a protest against the Spanish bank in Madrid, Spain. Europe's finance ministers meeting Thursday will try to find common ground on whether to soften Greece's austerity terms, possibly clear a bank bailout request from Spain and discuss new ways to boost confidence in the 17-country eurozone. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

FILE-In this June 16, 2012, file photo, a demonstrator holds a life saver in front of the headquarters of Bankia bank during a protest against the Spanish bank in Madrid, Spain. Europe's finance ministers meeting Thursday will try to find common ground on whether to soften Greece's austerity terms, possibly clear a bank bailout request from Spain and discuss new ways to boost confidence in the 17-country eurozone. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

MADRID (AP) ? The Spanish government and Spanish banks are perilously co-dependent.

The financial strength of one hinges on the other, and right now both are struggling for survival.

The Spanish economy, the fourth-largest among the 17 countries that use the euro, is suffering from the aftershocks of a real estate bust that has devastated banks and families. Unemployment is nearly 25 percent and the economy is forecast to shrink 1.7 percent in 2012.

At the request of the Spanish government, euro countries offered up to ?100 billion ($125 billion) in rescue loans for Spanish banks on June 9.

Spain made the formal petition for the aid on Monday, but the terms of the loans ? including the size and interest rates ? have yet to be agreed. They are expected to be made public by July 9 and will likely be discussed at a key European leaders' summit that starts Thursday in Brussels.

The intentions of the bailout are good but the bank bailout has only made investors more nervous about the country's financial condition.

Although Spanish banks will agree to pay back the loans with interest, it is the Spanish government that is on the hook if they cannot. In effect, the bank loans will be treated as government debt. And as the country's debt load rises, so does the interest rate it pays to borrow money, a sign that the pool of investors hungry for Spanish bonds is shrinking.

One group of investors that isn't shying away from Spanish government bonds is Spain's banks. The amount of Spanish government debt owned by Spanish banks ? yes, the same banks that are about to receive billions in emergency loans ? is rising fast.

"It is as if the government were buying its own debt," says Alejandro Varela of Renta4, a Madrid-based brokerage. "It is like a dog chasing its own tail."

With Spain's economy enduring its second recession in just three years, analysts say the odds are rising that the government will need a bailout of its own. The yield on the country's 10-year bonds surpassed 7 percent last week, the level that pushed Ireland, Portugal and Greece to the breaking point, although it now has fallen back to a still alarming 6.5 percent or so.

Here are some questions and answers about the tight relationship between the Spanish government and its troubled banks:

HOW DEPENDENT IS THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT ON SPANISH BANKS?

Two-thirds of Spain's government bonds are owned by the country's banks, pension funds and insurance companies. That's up from 50 percent at the end of last year. By comparison, only 38 percent of French government bonds are held by domestic banks and other financial firms.

In Spain the sharp increase in such a short period signals that foreign demand is falling fast as the country's economic outlook worsens.

Spain has issued ?50 billion in bonds since the start of the year. It plans to issue another ?36 billion by the end of 2012, bringing its total debt to ?608 billion. The economy ministry notes that demand has been strong at recent bond auctions. However, the Treasury has been careful to issue debt in small increments ? about ?2 billion at each auction. And it knows the takers will include those trusty Spanish banks.

WHY ARE SPANISH BANKS BUYING SO MUCH GOVERNMENT DEBT?

They are attracted to the high interest rate on Spanish government bonds. The interest rate, or yield, on 10-year Spanish bonds has of late been the highest it has been since the country joined the euro in 1999. It means financial markets consider Spanish bonds to be a risky investment.

The European Central Bank is making Spanish bonds even more attractive for banks. To help ease the continent's financial crisis, the ECB has provided European banks ?1 trillion in three-year loans carrying an interest rate of 1 percent. Spanish banks, which have borrowed tens of billions of euros under the ECB program, can make a tidy profit simply by pocketing the spread between the interest rates on ECB loans and Spanish bonds.

Analysts say there is another reason Spanish banks keep buying their government's debt: survival. If Spanish banks were to stop buying Spain's bonds at a time when foreign money is fleeing, the government's borrowing costs would rise even higher and so would the threat of default ? on the very bonds held by the banks.

"If something does go wrong, it is Spanish banks that will be hardest hit by that," says Jennifer McKeown of Capital Economics in London.

HOW DOES THE BAILOUT OF SPANISH BANKS ALTER THE EQUATION?

The eurozone's $125 billion package of rescue loans for Spain's troubled banks is supposed to help them deal with huge losses on real estate investments and promote economic growth by making it easier for them to lend money to companies and individuals.

But the rescue package hasn't eased jitters about the country's financial system ? it's worsened them.

Bond investors have reacted to the deal by driving the (country's) government's borrowing rates higher. That increases the likelihood that the government itself will need help from the rest of Europe to get out from under its rising debt burden.

Spain's debt as a proportion of its annual economic output was forecast to be 80 percent this year before the bank bailout existed. With the bank bailout included, the country's debt-to-GDP ratio rises to 90 percent or more, according to some private analysts. When a country's debt burden exceeds 90 percent, it's generally considered bad for an economy's health.

Spain's total debt includes bonds issued by the central, regional and local governments, plus other liabilities, such as unpaid bills to state suppliers.

Spanish banks have also been hurt by the bailout. As the interest rate on government bonds rises, the value of the bonds already owned by banks falls.

HOW MUCH GOVERNMENT DEBT DO INDIVIDUAL BANKS OWN?

Banco Santander, the largest bank by market capitalization in the euro region, holds about ?35 billion in Spanish debt, or about 3 percent of its total assets. It is considered a relatively healthy bank that will not need to tap the $125 billion emergency loan package.

Bankia, SA, which crumbled under the weight of bad real estate loans and was recently nationalized, holds almost ?17 billion in state debt, or 5.5 percent of its total assets. It is one of several big banks that will need billions in rescue loans. CatalunyaCaixa, another bank that needs rescue loans, owns ?3.9 billion in Spanish bonds, or 5 percent of its total assets.

WHAT IS THE LIKELY OUTCOME FOR SPAIN?

The tight link between the Spanish government and its banks is sustainable, but just barely, says Varela of Renta4. The interest rates on Spanish government bonds are high but manageable ? for a short while longer, he says.

Spain's bond yields were even higher before it joined the euro, but back then the economy was growing and tax revenue was increasing. Today Spain's economy is lifeless.

But the government must keep selling bonds. It needs money to finance its budget deficit and repay maturing debt.

If confidence were to drop sharply, and borrowing costs went to 8 or 9 percent, then the appetite for Spanish bonds could evaporate, even among its loyal banks.

"At some point, if people stop financing you, you default," Varela says.

But Varela is betting on a different outcome. Because of Spain's size ? it is the fourth-largest economy in the euro zone ? he believes the ECB will eventually step in to buy Spanish bonds and break the co-dependency of banks and the government.

Associated Press

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Syrian officers defect, Turkey looks to NATO

ANKARA (Reuters) - A Syrian general and 38 other soldiers defected to Turkey overnight, state television said on Monday, days after Syria shot down a Turkish warplane, escalating tensions between the two neighbors.

Turkey has summoned a NATO meeting for Tuesday to agree a response to the downing of its military reconnaissance jet in what it says was an attack without warning carried out over international airspace.

Turkey's cabinet was to meet on Monday to discuss Friday's attack, which lent a more menacing international dimension to the 16-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. Britain said it could press for more serious action at the United Nations Security Council.

European Union foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg called for a calm response from Turkey, saying they would increase pressure on Assad. There seemed little appetite, however, for any military retaliation against Syria

"Military intervention in Syria is out of the question," said Dutch foreign minister Uri Rosenthal. "It is not a matter of consideration for the Dutch government. That is also at stake in the ... context of NATO."

The new defections from Assad's armed forces could encourage those awaiting a disintegration of Assad's army. But there has been little indication of any broader trend to desertion in the senior ranks of the armed forces, bound often to Assad by their Alawite background.

A Syrian general, two colonels, two majors, a lieutenant and their families - altogether 199 people - crossed the border into Turkey overnight, CNN Turk said. Thirteen Syrian generals are now in Turkey which is giving logistical support to the Free Syrian Army, though Ankara denies arming the rebels.

Turkish newspapers welcomed Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's decision to invoke an article in the NATO alliance's founding treaty providing for urgent consultations if a member considered its security interests threatened.

"Turkey has moved into action" both Milliyet and Vatan newspapers declared in headlines under the NATO flag. Liberal Radikal daily said: "No accident, an attack".

The search for the aircraft and two messing air crew continued in the eastern Mediterranean, close to the maritime borders of both countries.

FEARS OF REGIONAL CONFLICT

But analysts thought it unlikely that Turkey, even with the second biggest army in NATO, some half a million men under arms, would opt, at least for now, for military action against Syria.

"I don't think Turkey's response will be a military one," said Cagri Erhan, a professor of political science at Ankara University. "War is not one of the options. Turkey will act in line with measures taken within NATO."

"I'm not of the opinion that Turkey will immediately respond militarily," agreed Beril Dedeoglu of Galatasaray University. "But if there is another action, then there will certainly be a military response, there is no doubt."

Syria argues that the Turkish aircraft was in Syrian airspace flying low and fast when it was attacked. It said it was not clear until after it was shot down that it was Turkish.

The United Nations has said more than 10,000 people have been killed by government forces, while Syria has said at least 2,600 members of the military and security forces have been killed by what it calls foreign-backed "Islamist terrorists."

Fierce fighting continued inside Syria, which has a 900 km (550 mile) border with Turkey, with rebel fighters killing dozens of soldiers in the last few days as they fought against army attacks on towns and villages in central, north and eastern Syria in the last several days, according to opposition sources.

Syrian tanks and artillery shelled the eastern city of Deir al-Zor, killing at least 20 people on Sunday in the second day of heavy bombardment in the country's main oil-producing region, opposition activists said.

"Regime forces have dismantled their roadblocks from inside of Deir al-Zor after incurring heavy losses from rebels. They have withdrawn from residential areas and are now shelling the city from the outskirts. The victims are mostly civilians," a source at a hospital in Deir al-Zor told Reuters.

The official state news agency said "terrorists" abducted a state-appointed head of clerics in Deir al-Zor and blew up an oil pipeline passing through the province.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights, an opposition activists' organization that monitors the crackdown on the 16-month revolt against Assad's rule, said loyalist forces on Sunday killed another 70 people, mostly civilians and soldiers who had tried to defect, elsewhere in the country in shelling, military raids and summary executions in the provinces of Homs, Hama, Idlib, Deraa and suburbs of Damascus.

The intensification of the fighting has raised fears in Turkey of a flood of refugees and a slide into ethnic and religious warfare that could envelop the region. Ankara, like the West, is torn between a wish to remove Assad and the fear that any armed intervention could unleash uncontrollable forces.

WASHINGTON CONDEMNS ATTACK

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the attack on the Turkish F-4 jet "brazen and unacceptable" and said Washington would cooperate closely with Ankara to promote a transition in Syria.

While Turkish newspapers have railed against Assad, Erdogan, not always known for his emotional restraint, has eschewed bellicose rhetoric.

The prime minister, who turned against former ally Assad bitterly after he refused his advice to bow to demands for democratic reform, seemed to back away from any suggestion of an armed response.

If he sought some kind of retaliation from the NATO meeting set for Tuesday, he could have invoked another article on mutual defense. That he did not, suggests the reaction will remain at least for now, on the diplomatic stage.

The foreign ministry said Turkey knew where the wreckage of the RF-4 Phantom jet lay, 1,300 meters (4,265 feet) under water, but had not yet found it. Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the search continued for the two crew.

He said the jet had been clearly marked as Turkish and dismissed Syria's assertion it had not identified the aircraft, flying low and very fast, before opening fire.

RUSSIAN VETO

Russia, which along with Iran is Damascus's chief ally, has provided most of Syria's arms and has access to a deep water naval base in the country.

Davutoglu said he planned to set out Turkey's case to the U.N. Security Council where Western powers are seeking, against Russian and Chinese opposition, to push through a motion that could allow stronger measures against Assad.

Moscow has made clear it would continue to veto such a move, which it fears could undermine its interests in Syria and wreak anarchy. That apparent inevitability forces the focus for any stronger action on NATO.

(Additional reporting by Tulay Karadeniz and Ayla Jean Yackley; Writing by Jon Hemming)

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