What the heck is she wearing now?! From her wacky wigs to her mile-high shoes, the Mother Monster is always dressed to impress! Check out her edgiest ensembles.
Source: http://www.ivillage.com/lady-gagas-kooky-couture/1-b-52400?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Alady-gagas-kooky-couture-52400
Google is launching a free tier of Google Maps Engine today, in conjunction with its announcement of Maps Engine Pro, a small business tool. The free tier offers all of the same features but has smaller quotas for data access, in the ‘tens of megabytes’ vs. the terabytes available in the full version.
Google is also launching a new Public Data Program that allows organizations to sign up for a free GME account to create maps and publish them on the web. This could let an organization like, say, the government of Latvia, surface maps of data that it would normally have to have a team build custom tools to present.
The idea is to offer up a public map of new voting districts, transport routes, public works or any other kind of data in a way that can be easily searched via Google or other tools, and that can be distributed widely in a stable fashion. Google happens to be very good at that, and many organizations and government simply aren’t.
Any organization will be able to take advantage of the new program, which does not face the same quota limitations as the free-tier Google Maps Engine product. The only stipulation is that these maps be posted publicly. This serves their needs to have those maps easily searchable, and Google needs to have its mapping products be the most complete picture of the world. There are only so many layers of data that Google can collect itself, and this program taps another whole group of organizations with unique, valuable data to add to the overall product.
Today, Google is also announcing that it will have integration with some very popular GIS software like ESRI and QGIS. It’s also firing up a partnership with Safe Software, one of the biggest spatial visualization companies around. Their data transformation tool FME will get full Google Maps Engine integration.
Maps Engine is used by companies like FedEx, Amtrak and NOAA. Google recently launched a Maps Engine API that was designed to allow companies to import data and layer it on top of Google’s own mapping layers. The Google Maps Engine product has been around for about two years and available commercially for over a year.
The benefits of a free tier are obvious: It offers a taste of the full-on product to attract new enterprise customers. The benefits of a public data tool to help governments and others ship public maps are a bit more subtle. Yes, these organizations get a stable and powerful platform based off of Google’s mapping efforts, but they’re also potentially contributing hundreds of thousands of individual data sets back to Google’s overall mapping platform, making it even more dominant.
Recalculating ...
When I make a wrong turn, the woman's voice in my GPS says, "Route recalculation." Then she tells me how to get back on track.
How I wish this electronic tool could be adapted for men whose wives have breast cancer.
Imagine a device that would help us correct course when we try our best to support the women we love — and inevitably mess up. As a breast cancer husband who did just about everything wrong when my wife was diagnosed, I would have been very grateful for a little back-seat driving.
Let's consider some examples.
My wife, Marsha, has just had a mammogram. A radiologist rather callously informs her, "Sure looks like cancer to me." A three-day weekend looms before she can see a surgeon and get more information. My wrongheaded instinct is to cheer her up. Marsha loves books, so surely she'll be happy if I take her to a book festival. That'll get her mind off the cancer bombshell.
But as we walk around, she looks sadder than I've ever seen her. Route recalculation: "Honey, I can see this isn't what you want to do right now. Tell me what would be helpful: We can go home, we can sit and cuddle, we can watch some mindless TV, we can, gulp, talk about how you're feeling." Then, shut up and listen.
Another time, we're running from doctor to doctor, listening to treatment plans. I figure it's my job to pick the best plan — a husband is supposed to take care of his wife, right? Route recalculation: Be her sounding board, not her boss.
Your wife might ask you, "What did you think of that doctor? What do you think about that chemo regimen?" Tell her what you think. Ask her questions. But then step back and remember that it's her decision, not yours.
One surgeon says to Marsha, "I can see you'd always worry about recurrence, so I'd recommend a double mastectomy." Marsha had always thought she would say, "Off with my breasts," if it meant saving her life.
Now she is mourning this possibility. I try to make things better, saying, "Honey, I'll love you with or without your breasts."
Marsha responds: "How'd you feel if they wanted to cut off your penis?"
Me (thinking to myself): "What the ... ?"
Spousal Route Recalculation: Don't take her cutting remark personally. Admit it, you can't possibly imagine how she feels. Medical route recalculation: Marsha sees another doctor who says that lumpectomy plus radiation offers comparable survival odds for Marsha, and that's the route she chooses.
My wife tells me I don't have to come to the doctor's office with her. So I'm going to listen, right? Route recalculation: She may be trying to spare me because she feels guilty imposing on my time.
Tell her: "What the heck, I'm coming anyway. I'll remind you of the questions you want to ask. I'll write down or tape-record what the doctor says."
Detour: One breast cancer survivor told me, "My husband isn't very good with doctors, he has a demanding job as a truck driver, and I could bring my sister to the appointments." She and her husband agreed on this arrangement, and it worked out fine for them.
I'm exhausted. My job is as demanding as ever, I'm doing more household chores because my wife is dealing with cancer, and then there are all the doctors' visits. Dare I take any time to unwind? No sirree. That would be ... selfish!
Route recalculation: Caregivers need a break, too. "Honey, is it OK if I go for a bike ride, shoot some hoops, hang out with my pals?" I ask. Marsha is very understanding. For a little while, I can run away from cancer. And when I get back home, I feel a little calmer, a little more myself. And I'm a better caregiver.
I'm in the mood for love. But my wife is in the middle of cancer treatments. Do I dare come on to her? Maybe I should just hold back. Route recalculation: There's nothing wrong with propositioning your wife. Maybe she's in the mood, too. Or maybe she just wants you to hold her, massage her back, whisper "I love you" in her ear.
And if she's not in the mood, well, as my wife teases, "Too bad for you!" But at least she knows I haven't lost that loving feeling. And who knows, maybe one day soon she'll be ready for an intimacy route recalculation.
Silver is the author of Breast Cancer Husband: How to Help Your Wife (and Yourself) Through Diagnosis, Treatment and Beyond.
By Lisa Maria Garza
(Reuters) - A Michigan man rejected an offer from Wal-Mart Stores Inc to rehire him after he was fired for helping a woman who was being attacked in the store parking lot during his meal break.
Kristopher Oswald, 30, who worked nights stocking shelves at a Wal-Mart store in Hartland Township, located northwest of Detroit, said on Friday that he does not feel safe going back to work.
"I believe my job was only offered to me because of the negative publicity they received," Oswald said. "There is no way I can expect to walk in as if I was a new hire and everything would be OK."
A spokeswoman for Wal-Mart said the company has a strict policy against retaliation and offered to accommodate Oswald with safety measures such as an escort to and from his vehicle into the store.
"His position is still open to him now if he wants to come back to the store. We'd welcome him back," company spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said.
She also said the company offered to reimburse Oswald for lost wages.
Wal-Mart said Oswald's initial firing resulted from his violation of company policy that requires employees to alert store management and call police instead of intervening in dangerous situations.
Publicity about the firing prompted Wal-Mart's corporate office to review the parking lot security footage and police report, Buchanan said. Oswald, a temporary employee who had worked seven weeks for the company prior to the incident, was offered his job back.
"Everyone makes mistakes and so do companies," Buchanan said.
Oswald was sitting in his car around 2:30 a.m. on October 13, eating a sandwich, when he heard a woman scream, he said. A man was sprawled on the hood of the woman's car. When she tried to pry him off her vehicle, he attacked her.
Oswald said he confronted the man, who then began punching him in the head and threatening to kill him. He was able to subdue the man, but then two other men jumped him from behind.
Local authorities arrived on the scene and quickly broke up the fight.
Oswald said he is seeking therapy to work through the trauma of the attack.
"I'm being haunted by this incident because I'm not a violent person," Oswald said. "All I did was what anyone should have done in that situation."
(Reporting by Lisa Maria Garza; Editing by Greg McCune and Bob Burgdorfer)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/man-fired-aiding-woman-rejects-234535334.htmlEating right and exercise are key to controlling blood sugar. So maybe you should skip that doughnut.
Eating right and exercise are key to controlling blood sugar. So maybe you should skip that doughnut.
There's a growing body of evidence linking elevated blood sugar to memory problems.
For instance, earlier this year, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine concluded that higher glucose may be a risk factor for dementia, even among people without type 2 diabetes.
So the question is, at what point does the risk of cognitive decline set in?
Or in other words, should we be aware of creeping blood sugar, even before it gets to levels that doctors call pre-diabetes?
Well, researchers, writing this week in the journal Neurology, have some new data that suggest that even modest increases in blood sugar among people in their 50s, 60s and 70s can have a negative influence on memory.
The study included 141 healthy older people, all of whom had blood sugar in the normal range. All of the participants were given recall tests where they were read a list of 15 words and then asked to repeat back as many as they could remember.
The researchers found that if a person's hemoglobin A1C (the AIC test is a common blood test that reflects a person's average blood sugar level over a two-to-three month period) went from 5 percent, which is in the normal range, up to 5.6 percent, which is edging closer to what doctors classify as pre-diabetes, this was associated with recalling fewer words.
This association suggests the effect isn't huge. But researchers says it's significant.
So, what's actually happening in the brain when blood sugar levels are chronically elevated?
Study author Agnes Floel of Charite University Medicine in Berlin says there may be a couple of things at play. It's possible that blood vessel effects can damage memory. "Elevated blood sugar levels damage small and large vessels in the brain, leading to decreased blood and nutrient flow to brain cells," explains Floel.
Another explanation: Elevated blood sugar "may impair the functioning of brain areas like the hippocampus, a structure particularly relevant for memory," Floel says.
"When you're making a decision or trying to retrieve [information from your memory], the hippocampus requires a lot of glucose," explains Gail Musen of the Joslin Diabetes Center.
But when glucose levels rise in the body, it may lead to a disruption in the transport of glucose through the blood-brain barrier to the hippocampus. And this may impact the integrity of the hippocampus, according to the findings of the new study.
So it seems that when blood sugar in the body rises, it may be "more difficult to get that glucose to the hippocampus," Musen explains.
We should point out that it's possible for blood sugar to go dangerously low, a condition known as hypoglycemia. This is most commonly an issue for people being treated for diabetes with insulin.
So, what can we do to help control blood sugar and keep it in the healthy range?
What we eat is important. "Consuming a diet rich in fiber, vegetables, fruit, fish, and whole-grain products" is recommended, Floel wrote to us in an email.
And there's exercise too: "Exercising regularly is absolutely associated with lower blood sugars, on average, and it's also associated with brain health," says Paul Crane of the University of Washington.
