Australian scientists discover the secret to hydrating beer
Australian researches have found a way to improve the hydrating qualities of beer, without compromising on taste. By adding electrolytes to the amber ale, the researchers from a Queensland university may even have found a way to avoid a post-drink hangover.
By Courtney Greatrex on 16 August, 2013 12:18 pm
SAY goodbye to the dreaded Monday morning hangover, thanks to researchers from a Queensland university who have discovered it may be possible to improve the hydrating effects of beer.
Since the beginning of time, it seems sipping on a frosty cold beer has been a necessity on a scorching hot day. This can be counter-intuitive at times, given alcohol actually increases dehydration and leads to drunkenness, risky behavior and eventually, the hangover.
However, researchers from Griffith University’s Health Institute may have answered every Australians prayers. They have found that by adding electrolytes, a common ingredient found in sports drinks, and reducing the alcohol content could make a beer more refreshing than ever.
As part of the study the Institute manipulated the electrolyte levels of two commercial beers, one that was regular strength and one that was light. They then gave those two beers to volunteers who had been heavily exercising just before consumption to test their fluid recovery.
Attorneys general raise privacy concerns over ObamaCare navigators
By Jordy Yager – 08/17/13 10:30 AM ET
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi argued late Friday that new hires under ObamaCare could threaten the private information of people trying to get health insurance.
Bondi said that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is making it easier for someone to be hired as a so-called navigator, cutting back on background checks and eliminating a fingerprinting requirement, which could make it easier for a person’s private information to fall into the wrong hands.
“Because of time constraints, HHS [is] cutting back on the requirement to become a navigator, meaning they’re not going to be doing background checks. They’re not going to be fingerprinting these people,” said Bondi in an interview with Fox.
“And it’s more than navigators. It’s people that assist the navigators. Now, these navigators will have our consumers throughout the country’s most personal and private information — tax return information, Social Security information. And our biggest fear, of course, is identity theft.”
American Red Cross Lifeguard Training Starts September 24
American Red Cross Lifeguard Training Starts September 24 at the YWCA
Pre-test dates are September 14 and 18
Ridgewood, NJ—August 14, 2013–YWCA Bergen County is offering its next American Red Cross Lifeguard Training course beginning September 24 and running through October 10, 2013. Students must take and pass a swim test, which will be held on September 14 at 10:00 a.m. and September 18 at 7:00 p.m. Participants must be 15 years of age or older and a $10 swim test fee is due at registration.
This course prepares students with the CPR, First Aid and lifeguard techniques necessary for employment as a professional lifeguard. Classes will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. at 112 Oak Street in Ridgewood, and the course fee is $350. For more information or to register call the YWCA Aquatics Department at 201-444-5600, x327, or visit www.ywcabergencounty.org.
About YWCA Bergen County
YWCA Bergen County (www.ywcabergencounty.org) is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all. We are the area’s largest provider of child care services, a recognized leader in health and fitness programs, and operator of healingSPACE, the county’s only Sexual Violence Resource Center. Celebrating nearly a century of commitment to our community, today we improve the lives of thousands of women, girls, and their families.
‘Real Housewives of NJ’ stars back in court today
Wednesday, August 14, 2013 Last updated: Wednesday August 14, 2013, 11:45 AM
BY REBECCA D. O’BRIEN
STAFF WRITER
The Record
Teresa and Giuseppe “Joe” Giudice, stars of the popular reality TV show “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” are due back in federal court Wednesday afternoon for their arraignment on a 39-count indictment.
They are expected to plead not guilty to all the charges, which detail an alleged conspiracy to defraud banks and other lenders in connection to more than $4.9 million in home-related loans they obtained between 2001 and 2008.
Crowd barriers were in place Tuesday night outside the Martin Luther King, Jr. courthouse in Newark, and amped-up security was in place Wednesday morning in anticipation of another media circus – at their indictment in July, the couple was mobbed by photographers, video cameras, reporters and curious passers-by.
Both were released on $500,000 bail on the condition that they stay in New York and New Jersey. Teresa Giudice, 41, tweeted about her travel to Florida this past weekend for a book signing, but her lawyer – former federal prosecutor Henry Klingeman – said she had permission from pre-trial services to make the trip.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/celebrities/Real_Housewives_of_NJ_stars_back_in_court.html#sthash.TqOsWLFF.dpuf
ATM ‘skimmer’ hit banks in Clifton, Lodi, police say
Tuesday, August 13, 2013 Last updated: Wednesday August 14, 2013, 7:27 AM
BY JAMES NORMAN
STAFF WRITER
The Record
CLIFTON – Police are seeking a technologically savvy man in his 20s who installs electronic data skimmers on automated-teller machines then uses the data he collects to create his own debit cards and withdraw money from the accounts of unsuspecting customers, authorities said Tuesday.
Detective Sgt. Robert Bracken said pictures of the suspect were captured by security cameras at a Valley National Bank branch in the city.
Bracken said the same man has been active in Lodi and Montville.
“He has made numerous cards from the data he has gathered and has stolen uncounted amounts of money,” Bracken said. “He stole $1,800 from one victim alone.”
In Education, the Goal Posts Move
August 9, 2013 12:20PM
By Neal McCluskey
Other than in Shaquille O’Neal’s stunning vision of the future of basketball, the goals in sports don’t move. If they did, it would make the games a whole lot more random, and the outcomes unreliable indicators of who is really the better team. But in education—as we’re seeing with the hue and cry over new test results in New York—the goals do move. A lot. That’s pretty ironic considering that the top-down measures are specifically intended to establish set standards.
Earlier this week, New York released the results of its first statewide tests to gauge student mastery of the Common Core national curriculum standards. Not surprisingly, “proficiency” rates crashed, plummeting between 24 and 34 percentage points depending on the subject. But as Core supporters rightly warned, plummeting scores don’t necessarily indicate plummeting performance; they indicate that the goal posts have moved. Of course, supporters say the posts have moved higher—like basketball hoops in Shaq’s 2044—and that may be the case. But what’s more important is just that the goals are in different places—maybe they moved to the side, not up—and students haven’t been shooting in that direction.
This is far from the first time the goals have jumped, ducked, or shifted in the “standards” era. Throughout the No Child Left Behind years we saw states changing tests, standards, etc., so results often weren’t comparable from one year to the next. And New York itself revealed a few years ago that its tests had gotten easier over the years, rather than its education system getting much better.
Perhaps the most troubling consequence of all this is that these top-down standards-and-testing regimes are supposedly giving us bright-line indicators of student knowledge and ability, but that line is constantly leaping around. In other words, it’s shiny but worthless. And the line isn’t all that bright, really. Very often parents never get to see the tests their children take, especially year-after-year iterations to see how the exam has changed. And even if they could access the tests, how many have time to thoroughly vet them? I’d guess roughly zero.
Then there’s the problem of a baseline, which is going to be difficult to establish in New York with this year’s results. For one thing, it’s quite clear that the new tests were administered before the corresponding curricula were in place. The Common Core may be a higher or lower standard than what New York used to have, but again, for the tests, much of what matters is only that the Core is different. You may be a great all-around athlete, but if you’ve been training for baseball you’re not going to look so good if you suddenly have to play football. Moreover, there is decent reason to believe that some, or maybe many, types of test items will need to be changed in the next go-round because they were simply poorly constructed. If they are improved, scores will also go up—but that will be because the tests have gotten better, not the education.
From an immediate political and policy perspective, the worry about the latest goal teleportation in New York is not that people will reject the Common Core, as Core fans fear, but that when scores almost certainly rise next year Core supporters and school officials will declare the schools and Core “working.” But a score increase very likely won’t indicate improving education nearly as much as students and schools simply shooting in the direction to which the goal has moved. It may also very well reflect improvements made to test items after examining problems in this year’s assessment.
In the long term, the problem is clearly top-down goal-control to begin with. Aside from the basic problem that all children are different and need different things, the evidence is awfully clear that politicians love to reorient goal posts. Sometimes it’s because they don’t like the scores that the current goals are producing. Sometimes it’s because they are coerced into change. But as long as they keep doing it—and whenever you are trying to get votes, you will have a strong incentive to appear to “make things better”—the score of the game will be close to worthless. And that doesn’t really help anyone.
Armstrong Confirms “Hundreds” Of Layoffs At Patch, 400 Sites Shuttered Or Partnered Off, And A New CEO
Darrell Etherington
We reported yesterday that AOL’s hyper-local news service would lose hundreds of employees today, and now we have confirmation from a well-placed Patcher privy to the call that AOL CEO Tim Armstrong did indeed confirm to employees that hundreds would be laid off, with notifications of who will be let go coming throughout the coming week. (Disclosure: AOL owns TechCrunch).
In a call Armstrong held with the Patch team today, he explained that “AOL is going to be running the show” at the restructured Patch along with new CEO Bud Rosenthal. Rosenthal replaces outgoing CEO Steve Kalin, who was reported to be getting the boot earlier this week.
400 Patch sites will be closed or partnered with outside sites over the coming week as part of the changes being made at Patch to try and turn things around, Armstrong explained on the call, but also reassured the Patch staff that the company is behind the initiative and told them not to “worry about what [they] read in the press,” calling it “bullshit.” Nonetheless, he encouraged any Patch non-believers still remaining at the company to get out now, emphasizing that there’s no room for equivocation in turning the effort around.
FLASH FLOOD WATCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
836 AM EDT FRI AUG 9 2013
…FLASH FLOODING POSSIBLE INTO THIS EVENING…
…FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING…
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEW YORK HAS ISSUED A
* FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT…
NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHEAST NEW YORK…INCLUDING THE
FOLLOWING AREAS…IN SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT…NORTHERN
FAIRFIELD. IN NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY…EASTERN BERGEN…EASTERN
PASSAIC…WESTERN BERGEN AND WESTERN PASSAIC. IN SOUTHEAST NEW
YORK…NORTHERN WESTCHESTER…ORANGE…PUTNAM AND ROCKLAND.
* THROUGH THIS EVENING
* SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE RESULTED IN LOCALIZED AMOUNTS OF
1 TO 3 INCHES OF RAINFALL ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE LOWER HUDSON
VALLEY…NORTHERN FAIRFIELD…AND NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY. MORE
HEAVY RAINFALL FROM ADDITIONAL SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IS
POSSIBLE THROUGH THIS EVENING. DUE TO THE PREVIOUS
RAINFALL…LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING COULD RESULT FROM ANY
ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAIN.
* SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE 1 TO 2 INCH PER HOUR
RAINFALL RATES THROUGH THIS EVENING.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS MAY DEVELOP THAT LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING. FLASH FLOODING IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION. YOU SHOULD MONITOR LATER FORECASTS AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION
SHOULD FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS BE ISSUED.
2 of 3 winning Powerball tickets sold in N.J.
Thursday, August 8, 2013 Last updated: Thursday August 8, 2013, 1:29 PM
BARBARA RODRIGUEZ AND GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press
LITTLE EGG HARBOR — Three winning tickets in two states matched all the numbers for a $448.4 million Powerball jackpot, including one sold in a supermarket in a New Jersey coastal community hit hard by Superstorm Sandy last year.
The other winning tickets were sold in central New Jersey and in Minnesota.
“Hopefully, it’s somebody who lives in the area, and this is their reward for having gone through this,” said Carol Blackford, a retiree whose home in Little Egg Harbor was flooded with knee-high water during Sandy last October. “And if they want to share, we’re here.”
And even if the winner wasn’t someone devastated by the storm, this community just a few miles from where Sandy made landfall will benefit from the jackpot.
Phil Weber, director of the Acme Markets store where the winning ticket was sold, said Thursday that the store would donate $10,000 in gift cards to local charities. Weber said some of the store’s employees are still out of their homes more than nine months after the storm. The store itself has been making donations since Sandy, Weber said.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/state/2_of_3_winning_Power_Ball_tickets_sold_in_NJ.html#sthash.SCa6Ux8m.dpuf
Readers Respond to Pro Valley Expansion “Name Calling”
What’s funny about the shrinking number of people who support this is that they resort to taking cheap shots rather than sticking to the point, primarily because they can’t. Sort of like, “I’m taking my ball and going home.” Pretty pathetic.
This uneducated boor should not be given too much attention. He rears his ugly head periodically and then goes away after being corrected.
He is probably slaving over his next screed on the schools or Democrats. I just hope that he calms down before he gets behind the wheel.
Willard construction was like building a shed compared to the valley project. Nd day taffic to willard will not increase after construction. The residents actually wanted more clasroom space.
Residents want better schools and pay with their taxes. They do not want commercial business expansion in a residential area to benefit a business. There is a difference.
Trauma centers are regulated. The hospitals have specialized equipment and highly trained staff and participate in research. Car accident and pedestrian accident victims in Ridgewood are transported to Hackensack/St Joes because they have the facilities for the best outcome.
$4.2M red-light camera settlement could be split among 500,000 drivers
Post cards have been mailed to hundreds of thousands of drivers across New Jersey this week as part of a $4.2 million settlement to a class action lawsuit brought on by residents who feel they were wrongly ticketed by red light cameras. South Jersey Times
Readers debate Construction impact on School children
Wow… HUNDREDS of trucks all at the same time as drop off and pick up. Hard to imagine it would take HUNDREDS of trucks per day. I hope not. But, what above the expansion at Willard School — that went on while kids were in the building. What about the $40 million expasion (which took 2 years) of the train station. That included heavy sub-ground drilling within 1/2 mile of GW and directly in front of the Senior Housing. What above when West Side Pres was rebuilt dirctly next to GW? I know each of these was smaller, but in every case life went on as usual, and once it was done everyone got to enjoy the finished product.
or….
Schools are not comparable ever: their evolution is directly commensurate with the number of kids in town. Willard did not double in size, and West Side Pres only replaced a building that had been destroyed by fire. Whatever “enjoyment” (I, for one, don’t “enjoy” hospitals) we might get from the “finished product” (more traffic, etc.)—nothing outweighs what we will have to endure during construction, or the de-valuing of our homes, which is permanent…
Please don’t talk about the hospital serving Ridgewood!! Only 5% of Valley patients actually live here. Most Valley employees live elsewhere.
Photo credit: Boyd A. Loving Aging Chlorine Tablets Cause Hazmat Scare Saturday Evening
Auguest 3,2013
Boyd A. Loving
8:10 PM
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood firefighters and police officers responded to a home located in the 200 block of South Pleasant Avenue early Saturday evening in response to a 911 telephone call reporting a chemical odor emanating from a residential garage.
Arriving firefighters quickly identified the odor’s source as a container filled with aging chlorine tablets, which were starting to sublime. On duty personnel from the Bergen County Department of Health and Human Services Hazardous Materials Division were quickly summoned to assist Ridgewood firefighters.
After an extensive evaluation and consultation period, it was determined that the safest method to dispose of the material was to release the container’s contents into the sanitary sewer system, followed by a significant flush of fresh water. This was safely accomplished after a portion of South Pleasant Avenue was closed to traffic and a manhole was opened. No one was injured during the incident.
for any other sewer services call 24-7 A1 sewer & drain
Exclusive: Dozens of CIA operatives on the ground during Benghazi attack
CNN has uncovered exclusive new information about what is allegedly happening at the CIA, in the wake of the deadly Benghazi terror attack.
Four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the assault by armed militants last September 11 in eastern Libya.
Sources now tell CNN dozens of people working for the CIA were on the ground that night, and that the agency is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a secret.
CNN has learned the CIA is involved in what one source calls an unprecedented attempt to keep the spy agency’s Benghazi secrets from ever leaking out.
Read: Analysis: CIA role in Benghazi underreported
Since January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency’s missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency’s workings.
The goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress.
It is being described as pure intimidation, with the threat that any unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of his or her career.
In exclusive communications obtained by CNN, one insider writes, “You don’t jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well.”
‘Real Housewives of New Jersey’ stars’ hidden lives go public
Tuesday July 30, 2013, 10:21 PM
By VIRGINIA ROHAN
RECORD COLUMNIST
Teresa Giudice dragged her heels about signing the contract that made her one of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.” Today, that seems telling.
“It took me 10 to 11 months to sign. … You couldn’t know how they’re going to portray you, and do you really want your whole life out there?” Teresa told The Record in early May 2009, shortly before the show debuted, adding something that now seems ironic. “But you know what’s great about it? My whole life’s not out there. … What I wanted them to know, they knew.”
Now the world has learned a lot more about Teresa and husband Joe Giudice than they surely ever wanted outsiders to know. The Montville couple were indicted on charges they conspired to defraud banks and other lenders in connection with nearly $4 million in mortgages, construction loans and home equity loans they received between 2001 and 2008. And the pair find themselves living in two different realities: one of wealth and privilege that viewers see on television on Sunday nights, and one of scary possibilities that began to unfold Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Newark.
In the couple’s initial court appearance on a 39-count indictment, U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Walder set bail at $500,000 each and ordered them to surrender their passports. A trial date will be set Aug. 14. Lawyers for both Giudices said they intend to plead not guilty.
