Tips Links and Tidbits Newsletter


Tuesday 19th December 2006

Index




Basic Computer User



Microsoft Delivers 7 Security Bulletins, 3 Critical
The software giant added a seventh security update to its expected batch of bulletins, which includes three critical issues, delivering 11 individual software patches in total. More


Prosecution of Google click fraud extortionist quietly dropped: More


Hotmail used to launch extortion scam
A Hotmail user logged into their account this week to find that scammers had deleted all their e-mails except for one, which was from a hacker demanding cash in exchange for restoring the lost information, according to Websense. More


Hacker Infiltrates UCLA, Data on 800,000 People
The highly sophisticated attack exploited a software flaw to crack the computer system in a bid to obtain Social Security numbers, UCLA said in notices sent to all 800,000 potential victims, most of them current or former students and faculty members. More


The New Attack Pattern
Opinion: Danger still lurks, but things have gotten a lot better for the average computer user. More


Security researcher: MIME flaw bypasses virus scanners
Some of the most popular anti-virus scanners on the market are open to exploitation according to a security researcher. More


Samsung claims memory chip speed breakthrough
A prototype fusion memory, OneDRAM, can move data up to five times faster than conventional memory, company claims. More


The Anderson Forecast: 2007 Predictions From One of the Best
Futurist and analyst Mark Anderson has a 93 percent accuracy rate. So what does he see happening in 2007? More

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Advanced Computer User



Code Green Stops Documents From Leaving
Working late? The next time you carelessly send out a copy of a corporate document to your own personal email to finish up at home, don’t be surprised to receive a note from your IT department. CodeGreen’s new appliance helps prevent sensitive corporate information from leaving the network. More


Lithium polymer batteries likely replacement for dangerous lithium ionin laptops, says Sony: More


Sync Folders the Easy Way
What’s the easiest way to keep your USB thumb drive in sync with afolder on your desktop? Forget the Windows Briefcase -- it’s old, clunky, and hard to use. Instead, check out this 3-minute video tip for a far easier way, using a secret Microsoft utility that you can download for free. More


AMD: New Chips Consume Half the Power of Core 2 Duo
AMD announced its entry into the 65-nm manufacturing generation Tuesday with a new line of 65-watt “energy-efficient" processors that the company claimed already consumes just under 50 percent less power than the Intel Core 2 Duo. More

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Health



"God, I’m just a fat, bald guy, 60 years old, singing the blues, you know?" - Joe Cocker

Lose Fat by Exercising Less

By Al Sears, MD

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that burning fat during a cardio workout will keep the fat off. Long-duration cardio will stimulate your body to build back any fat burned. And if you do it long enough, the unnatural stress will give you a stooped, weak, arthritic, tired, and old body shape.

Your body makes metabolic “decisions" based on its reading of your environment - which means that the sustainable benefits of exercise happen after you stop exercising. During long-duration workouts, your body thinks to itself, “I’m burning fat. I need to make sure I have enough fat - at all times - so I don’t run out of fuel during these stressful periods." As a result, your body will actually start to make and store more fat as soon as you finish the workout. This is your body’s defensive response to an unnatural condition you created.

To burn fat and keep it off, you need to give your body the right challenge - a challenge that triggers your body to stop, not encourage, fat production.

Let’s take a quick look at what your body uses for fuel when you exercise.

When you put your body in motion, its first fuel source is ATP. This “high-octane" energy source doesn’t last long - only for the first two minutes. To keep going, your body burns carbohydrates stored in your muscles and liver. This lasts for the next 10 to 15 minutes. Once you pass the 20-minute mark, you’re predominantly burning fat.

Look at the chart below:

Body Fuel WithVarying Activity

ActivityLevel

Protein

Carbs

Fat

Resting

1- 5 %

35%

60%

Low-Intensity
5- 8 %
70%
15%
Moderate-Intensity
2- 5 %
40%
55%
High-Intensity
2%
95%
3%

This chart shows that at low-intensity activity, your body derives most of its energy from carbohydrates and only 15 percent from fat. But when you step up your activity level to moderate, you increase the energy burned from fat to 55 percent of the total. If you increase your activity to high-intensity, you dramatically reduce your dependency on fat and derive nearly all your energy from carbs.

The relationship between moderate-intensity exercise and fat burning has led many to the logical conclusion that you should exercise at moderate intensity, because that’s how you burn the most fat. But long-term practice of this strategy actually causes problems.

Hours of Tiresome, Boring Exercise ... Just to Build More Fat

You can use this strategy to lose weight and to get reasonably lean. But because your body learns to store energy as fat, you can only get lean after you sacrifice muscle and other high-energy burning tissues. Unless you cut calories in addition to exercising, your body will try to build more fat and give up more lean tissue until, sooner or later, your body wins.

Another consequence of longer-duration cardio? As many of my patients have found, this unnatural activity can cause joint degeneration. Plus, if you persist through middle age and beyond, this type of exercise can accelerate some very negative effects of aging. It lowers testosterone and growth hormone, boosts destructive cortisol levels, and robs you of muscle, bone, and internal organ mass and strength.

Short-duration exercise, on the other hand, actually increases levels of growth hormone. Case in point: Researchers from Loughborough University in Leicestershire, England tested growth hormone levels in sprinters and endurance athletes. On average, the sprinters had three times as much growth hormone as the endurance runners.

Remember that the most important changes from exercise occur after, not during, the exercise period. If you take a look at the table above, you’ll see that the body burns an even higher percentage of energy as fat - 60 percent - while resting. (The “cardio" proponents seem to overlook this fact.)

The way you exercise affects your metabolism for several days. This is good news. It means that all you have to do during exercise is stimulate the adaptive response you need. Then your body will continue making the important changes while you rest.

Trigger Your “After-Burn" - Your Body’s Native Fat Burner

Short bursts of exercise tell your body that storing energy as fat is inefficient, since you never exercise long enough to utilize the fat during each session. But carbohydrates, which are stored in muscle, burn energy at high rates. Exercising for short periods will use these carbs and burn much more fat after exercising (hence the term “after-burn") while you replenish the carbs.

Case in point: Researchers at Laval University in Quebec divided participants into two groups: long-duration and repeated short-duration exercisers. They had the long-duration group cycle 45 minutes without interruption. The short-term interval group cycled in numerous short bursts of 15 to 90 seconds, resting in between.

The long-duration group burned twice as many calories, so you would assume they would burn more fat. However, when the researchers recorded both groups’ body composition measurements, it was the interval group that had lost the most fat - nine times more fat for every calorie burned. Because the short bursts stimulated a greater after-burn.

In addition to burning fat, short-duration exercise produces many other desirable results for your metabolic health. It:

Improves maximal cardiac outputs
Promotes the development of quicker cardiac adjustments to changes in demand
Helps you decrease body fat
Achieves “higher peak stroke volumes during overload" (Your peak stroke volume is the maximal amount of blood your heart can pump per beat when maximally challenged.)
Improves cholesterol levels
Provides an anti-aging benefit by raising testosterone levels (This fights against memory loss, the accumulation of fat, sexual problems, and the loss of strength and bone.)
And you’ll be able to get these benefits in as little as 10 minutes per session.

For instance, take a look at Message#1799, where I gave you an easy short-duration exercise routine to start with. It alternates between periods of exertion (exercising at an intensity that gives your heart and lungs a challenge) and periods of recovery (where you slow down until your heart rate returns to normal).

If you’re new to exercise, or feel out-of-shape, get started with this routine today - but take it easy for the first two weeks. The speed and intensity of your exertion should be fast enough for you to break a sweat, but not so intense that you have any trouble finishing the 10-minutes.

That will get you on your way to burning more fat and feeling younger and healthier than you have in years.

[Ed. Note: Build on your short-duration interval training with Dr. Sears’ PACE program, which adds dimensions like progressivity, incremental intensity, decreasing duration, and acceleration. His PACE book is available for the first time ... right now! In just a few seconds, you can download all the strategies, all the tips, advice, and performance secrets - over 150 pages of life-changing techniques you won’t find anywhere else. Click HERE.]
From the www.earlytorise.comnewsletter
[Early to Rise Copyright ETR, LLC, 2004]
If you’d like to subscribe to Early to Rise or suggest it to a friend, please visit: here


Vice President of National Psychiatric Association Admits Antidepressants Can Worsen Depression
Controversy Over Antidepressants Gains Momentum
Antidepressants have come under increasing international scrutiny after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned that the drugs can cause suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This week, the Vice President of the Swedish Psychiatric Association admitted on national Swedish television that an immense number of people get worse from antidepressants. Dr. Christina Spjut, one of the top psychiatric authorities in Sweden, said that many people take antidepressants for years while the drugs actually cause their depression to continue. These statements were made during a national program about the negative side effects of antidepressants. Dr. Spjut also said that there is a considerable lack of knowledge about these side effects.
In use since the 80’s, the adverse effects of antidepressants were successfully hidden from public view by vested interests in psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry until the last few years, when studies and warnings began coming out showing the serious dangers of psychiatric drugs. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now acknowledged that widely prescribed psychiatric drugs can cause suicide, homicidal ideation, mania, psychosis, heart attack, stroke and sudden death. The FDA will be finally be holding a public hearing on the correlation between adult suicides and antidepressant use on December 13th, nearly 15 years after the FDA first heard testimony from countless families and medical practioners in 1991 -- and failed to warn the public of the risks. The FDA did issue black box warnings regarding suicides correlated to antidepressant use in children and teens, but has failed to address the risks to the adult population until now. To learn more about the dangers of psychiatric drugs and the history of the black box suicidality warning on antidepressants, read this by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International.


Chicken soup helps heal, shows research: More


Chocolate found to reduce risk of miscarriage: More


Why You Need Vitamin B-6

By Al Sears, MD

"Dr. Sears, my family doctor put me on antidepressants," a new patient told me. “I’ve been feeling down, but I know it’s not depression. What’s going on?"

After a simple test, I discovered that she was deficient in a very important nutrient: vitamin B-6.

These days, plain old vitamins aren’t news. But I recommend you make them a part of your daily regimen. Vitamin B-6, for example, affects every cell in your body. Over 60 different bodily enzymes rely on B-6 to do their job properly. Without it, life would be impossible.

Here are just a few of the symptoms of a vitamin B-6 deficiency:

Depression

Lack of energy

Muscle pain

Dandruff/Psoriasis

Loss of appetite

Irritability

Digestive problems

Forgetfulness

You may not see a connection between all of these problems, but vitamin B-6 has so many functions in your body that the lack of this essential vitamin creates symptoms that are broad and general.

In your brain, B-6 helps to make neurotransmitters. These chemicals carry messages between nerve cells - hence, the connection to memory and depression. B-6 also promotes healthy skin and hair - which is why dandruff, dry flaky skin, or even hair loss may be signs of a B-vitamin deficiency.

It’s easy to get your daily allowance of B-6 from your diet - from foods like chicken, pork, bananas, and spinach. But for maximal therapeutic benefit, you may need a supplement. B-6 is more effective when you take it with magnesium. I recommend 75 mg of B-6 with 500 mg of magnesium.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Sears, a practicing physician and the author of The Doctor’s Heart Cure and 12 Secrets to Virility, is a leading authority on longevity, physical fitness, and heart health.]

From the www.earlytorise.comnewsletter
[Early to Rise Copyright ETR, LLC, 2004]
If you’d like to subscribe to Early to Rise or suggest it to a friend, please visit: here


Doctors prescribing antidepressants, antipsychotic medications to infants under the age of one, says psychiatrist: More


The Easiest Weight Loss Secret Ever
The other night I was eating dinner with my beloved overweight friend and the subject of weight loss came up. I’ve known this woman since childhood and, like lots of people, she wouldn’t mind losing some weight, but she isn’t really motivated enough to make any major lifestyle changes. That got me thinking. Are there things people can do, without turning their lives upside down, that could make a real difference to their health? Small, simple things, perhaps, that they could do without feeling as if they were on a diet?

"Absolutely," says nutritionist and life coach Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS. “In your friend’s case, a salad before each meal would make a huge difference." Bowden explained that a small, simple salad eaten before the main course would accomplish three things -- it would add to the body’s stores of valuable antioxidants... increase the daily intake of fiber... and improve satiety, thus reducing overall calories, which could help you lose weight.

"Salads are natural appetite suppressants," Bowden explained. "The soluble fiber helps to slow the entrance of glucose (blood sugar) into the bloodstream, making you less likely to be hungry after eating. And, according to one study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, when 42 women ate a simple 100-calorie salad before dinner, they consumed 12% less calories during the meal, even without trying to diet or limit their intake." According to Bowden, attacking the breadbox at dinner has the opposite effect. “It drivesblood sugar up, making it more likely that you’ll store calories as fat," he told me.

"The trick is to consume a lot of colorful vegetables," said Bowden. “The cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli contain cancer-fighting substances like indoles and sulforaphane, and using a variety of colored vegetables -- red peppers, carrots, spinach and red onions - guarantees a wide spectrum of antioxidants."

You get a triple whammy from the salad if you use oil and vinegar on it. "Research shows that vinegar helps lower both blood sugar and insulin," Bowden told me. “According to research at Arizona State University, it also helps increase the feeling of fullness." Bowden says two or three tablespoons of vinegar on the salad along with high-quality olive oil ought to do the trick. The fat in olive oil actually helps the body make the most of many of the nutrients in the salad -- such as fat-soluble vitamins and antioxidants. It also slows stomach emptying, thus preserving a full feeling and improving the quality of digestion.

And don’t forget the fiber you’ll be getting if you choose those vegetables wisely. “Several studies have shown a correlation between high-fiber diets and lowered rates of degenerative disease," Bowden said. “Even without the weight loss benefits, a salad before a meal is a nutritional bonanza."

Be well,
Carole Jackson
Copyright © 2006 Bottom Line’s Daily Health News. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
To start receiving your own copy of Daily Health News, visit: here


The Workout That Keeps on Working

By Al Sears, MD

Yesterday, I told you how my PACE® exercise program prevents heart attacks. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s also the most effective way to burn fat.

Check out these results ...

When Mike first came to my clinic, he weighed 324 pounds. When I measured his body composition, he was 44 percent fat! I put him in the PACE® program - and in six weeks, he lost 37 pounds. In 18 months, he lost 107 pounds. His body fat went down to an amazing 6 percent ... and he still looks fantastic. The fat never returned.

So how can a 10-12-minute workout burn so much fat? Because the most important changes don’t occur during exercise, they occur afterward.

As reported in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, a group of men and women in a Colorado State University study exercised for two minutes and then rested for one minute. They continued these intervals for a total of 20 minutes - and continued to burn fat at an increased rate for 16 hours.

I recommend that your exercise sessions never last more than 20 minutes. Keeping it brief programs your body to burn fat after the session. Long-duration “cardio" routines burn fat during the session - but when you finish, your body starts to make more fat to prepare itself for your next workout. This locks you into an endless cycle of burning fat, only to make and store more.

Here’s an easy PACE® program to get you started:

INT

Rest

INT

Rest

INT

Rest

INT

Rest

INT

Rest

1
min.

1
min.

1
min.

1
min.

1
min.

1
min.

1
min.

1
min.

1
min.

1
min.


If you’re in the gym, choose any machine you like: elliptical machine, stationary bike, recumbent bike, stair-stepper, etc. During your first interval, find a comfortable level of exertion - something that gives your heart and lungs a gentle challenge. After one minute, rest. (But when I say “rest," I don’t mean “stop." It’s better to stay on the machine and go at a slow, easy pace, equivalent to walking.) Then repeat.

This whole workout only takes 10 minutes. When you’re done, you should feel like you’ve given yourself a challenge. But don’t overdo it. Take it slow at first.

[Ed. Note: Dr. Sears, a practicing physician and the author of The Doctor’s Heart Cure and 12 Secrets to Virility, is a leading authority on longevity, physical fitness, and heart health. To help you stay active and mobile - far into old age - sign up for your free copy of his “Youth Secrets."]
From the www.earlytorise.comnewsletter
[Early to Rise Copyright ETR, LLC, 2004]
If you’d like to subscribe to Early to Rise or suggest it to a friend, please visit: here


Exercise for Your Body Creates the Building Blocks for Your Brain - Jon Herring

Walking home from work last week, I passed my neighbor, Tom, out for his brisk daily walk. We stopped to chat for a few minutes. Tom’s 86 years old, and I’m not only impressed with his fitness (he walks two to three miles most days), but also with his mental sharpness. He is always quick with a joke, he remembers the details of conversations we had weeks ago, and his questions about my fiancee and my work are insightful.

I thought about Tom when I read a recent article in The Wall StreetJournal about our brains and aging.

It’s well known that our brainpower (and brain volume) begins a slow, natural decline starting in our 40s, with memory and cognition suffering the most. Popular belief is that challenging our brains - with exercises like crossword puzzles, reading, playing musical instruments, etc. - helps keep us mentally sharp in old age. I believe this is true. But we now know that physical exercise can be even more effective.

Until just a few years ago, it was held that old brains do not grow new neurons. But that assumption has now been overturned. And a new study published in Gerontology has shown that, in elderly patients, as little as three hours a week of aerobic exercise increases the brain’s volume of gray matter (neurons) and white matter (connections between neurons). Not only did the researchers notice these differences in MRI results, they found that their subjects also improved in memory and cognitive scores.

So if you want to be able to do mental gymnastics into old age, it might pay to take up real gymnastics today. Or at least, to get out and take a brisk walk five or six times a week ... like my spry neighbor Tom.
From the http://www.earlytorise.com newsletter
[Early to Rise Copyright ETR, LLC, 2004]
If you’d like to subscribe to Early to Rise or suggest it to a friend, please visit: here

Osteoporosis: Not Just a Concern for Women

By Jon Herring

When I was home for Thanksgiving, I learned that a family friend had recently fallen and broken his leg. While the fall was relatively minor, his broken leg was the result of osteoporosis, which has made his bones brittle and weak.

People tend to think of osteoporosis as a woman’s condition, but it is a growing - yet often overlooked - threat to men. And because most men don’t know they’re at risk, they’re far less likely to take action to prevent it. In fact, one-third of all osteoporosis-related fractures happen to men. And their chance of suffering complications and death as a result is dramatically higher than it is for women. Men with prostate cancer are especially vulnerable, as the disease and a common treatment called “androgen deprivation therapy" (ADT) both contribute to bone loss.

Fortunately, there are simple, natural steps men can take to prevent osteoporosis. The first and most important is to maintain adequate levels of vitamin D. If you are not able to spend at least two or three hours per week in sunlight, you should be taking a vitamin D supplement or cod liver oil. This should be combined with at least 1,000 mg of calcium per day, preferably gotten from your diet. And make sure you eat plenty of protein, too. Recent studies have shown that a high-protein diet makes more calcium available for bone mineralization.
From the http://www.earlytorise.com newsletter
[Early to Rise Copyright ETR, LLC, 2004]
If you’d like to subscribe to Early to Rise or suggest it to a friend, please visit: here

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Other



United States imprisons more people than China, Russia or any other nation, experts say: More


Some really nice pictures in this lot... Enjoy!


German High-Tech Sky Sail May Cut Costs, Emissions
Putting a harness on ocean winds, a German shipping company plans to unfurl a giant high-tech kite over a cargo ship next year to boost the vessel’s propulsion and to conserve fuel. More


Censorship alive and unwell.. More


I received a false report this week about “the end of the world as we know it" financially speaking. Here is an interesting take on it... More


And now, your reward for reading to the bottom...

Did you hear the one about the two duck hunters from Wisconsin?

A guy buys a new Lincoln Navigator for $42,500.00 (with monthly payments of $560.00).

He and a friend go duck hunting in upper Wisconsin . It’s mid-winter; and of course all of the lakes are frozen. These two guys go out on the ice with their GUNS, a DOG, and of course the new NAVIGATOR.

They decide they want to make a natural looking open water area for the ducks to focus on, something for the decoys to float on.

Now making a hole in the ice large enough to invite a passing duck, is going to take a little more power than the average hand drill can produce.

So, out of the back of the new Navigator comes a stick of dynamite with a short 40 second-fuse. Now our two Rocket Scientists, afraid they might slip on the ice while trying to run away after lighting the fuse (and becoming toast, along with the Navigator), decide on the following course of action: they light the 40 second fuse; then, with a mighty thrust, they throw the stick of dynamite as far away as possible.

Remember a couple of paragraphs back when I mentioned the NAVIGATOR, the GUNS, and the DOG....???

Let’s talk about the dog: A highly trained Black Lab used for RETRIEVING; especially things thrown by the owner. You guessed it: the dog takes off across the ice at a high rate of speed and grabs the stick of dynamite, with the burning 40-second fuse, just as it hits the ice.

The two men swallow, blink, start waving their arms and, with veins in their necks swelling to resemble stalks of rhubarb, scream and holler at the dog to stop. The dog, now apparently cheered on by his master, keeps coming.

One hunter panics, grabs the shotgun and shoots the dog. The shotgun is loaded with #8 bird shot, hardly big enough to stop a Black Lab. The dog stops for a moment, slightly confused, then continues on. Another shot, and this time the dog, still standing, becomes really confused and of course terrified, thinks these two geniuses have gone insane. The dog takes off to find cover, UNDER the brand new Navigator.

The men continue to scream as they run. The red hot exhaust pipe on the truck touches the dog’s rear end, he yelps, drops the dynamite under the truck and takes off after his master.

Then “ “" “" “" “" “ BOOOOOOOOOOOOM “" “" “" “" “" ! ! ! !

The truck is blown to bits and sinks to the bottom of the lake, leaving the two idiots standing there with “I can’t believe this just happened" looks on their faces.

The insurance company says that sinking a vehicle in a lake by illegal use of explosives is NOT COVERED by the policy. And he still had yet to make the first of those $560.00 a month payments.

The dog is okay... ...doing fine.

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