Blueberries - The Fruit

Blueberries (Vaccinium) are small round fruits with a thin dark blue skin, flesh of the same color, and small gritty seeds that are barely noticeable when eaten.


Health Benefits of Blueberries:

• Increased Immune Function
• Protection Against Heart Disease
• Alzheimer's Protection
• Osteoporosis Protection
• Antioxidant Protection
• Prevention of Epileptic Seizures
• Prevention of Alopecia (Spot Baldness)Packed with antioxidants, blueberries have been shown to reduce the risk of cancer, alleviate the effects of Alzheimer's, and may help prevent urinary tract infections. Furthermore, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, flavonols, and tannins found in blueberries have been shown to inhibit cancer cell development.

Natural vitmains, minerals, and nutrients found in Blueberries: Vitamin C | Vitamin K | Dietary Fiber | Manganese |

How to choose Blueberries: Look for the darkest blueberries you can find. The darker the blueberry, the sweeter it is. Avoid any blueberries which have wrinkles as this is a sign they are not fresh and may soon start to get moldy.

Climate and origin: With so many varieties, blueberries can grow in cold temperate to sub-tropical climates. Blueberries are native to both Europe and North America, and it is not yet known where they originated.

Taste: Blueberries vary widely in taste depending on variety. In general, blueberries have a mild taste that is a bit sweet or a bit tart, depending on how ripe the blueberry is.

Substitutes with more vitamins: Blackberries, Cranberries

Miscellaneous information: Huckleberries were the staple food of the Scots who used them to make wine, however, widespread cultivation of the blueberry quickly and completely replaced the huckleberry in their diet.

Hidden Feature: Chrome ABOUT Pages

If you want to enable experimental features in Google's Chrome browser, get diagnostic data, or see hidden information and features. Then you want to check out the Chrome's ABOUT pages, to access them in the address bar type "about:about" to see a list of available pages.

• about:about: Lists available Chrome About pages.
• about:appcache-internals:  Displays information about the  HTML 5 AppCache manifests.
• about:blank: Displays a blank page.
• about:cache: Displays a list of cached URLs.
• about:crash: Displays a crash page in the active tab.
• about:view-http-cache: Displays a blank page.
• about:credits: Displays credit information about different browser features.
• about:conflicts: Lists all modules loaded into the main process.
• about:dns: Displays browser DNS preresolution information.
• about:flags: Allows the enabling and disabling of experimental features.
• about:flash: Lists information about Flash.
• about:gpu: Displays informaton about the GPU charactoristics.
• about:histograms: Lists histogram about different browser features.
• about:inducebrowsercrashforrealz - Crashes the Google Chrome browser.
• about:kill: Displays a generic error message when a webpage crashes unexpectedly
• about:memory: Displays processor and memory data.
• about:net-internals:  Lists internal network and cache information.
• about:plugins: Displays informaton about the installed plug-ins.
• about:stats: Displays a blank page.
• about:sync-internals: Displays the browser sync information.
• about:tcmalloc: Lists memory and processor information for the browser.
• about:terms: Displays information about Google Chrome Terms of Service.
• about:version: Lists version information for the Chrome browser.

French Onion Soup for upcoming Winter

French onion soup is a favorite but it usually isn't substantial enough to make a complete meal. We've solved this problem by adding fiber-rich chickpeas to a broth flavored with sherry and three kinds of onions. Of course, we didn't forget the gooey topping, we've just made it a little lighter and a lot easier to prepare at home—simply top toasted whole-wheat bread with cheese and pour the soup on to melt it.

6 servings, 1 1/2 cups each

Active Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 large sweet onions, sliced
• 2 cups chopped spring onions, or leeks, whites and light green parts only
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, or 1/4 teaspoon dried
• 1/4 cup dry sherry, (see Ingredient Note)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 3 14-ounce cans reduced-sodium beef broth
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
• 1/4 cup minced fresh chives, or scallions
• 6 slices whole-wheat country bread
• 1 cup shredded Gruyère, or fontina cheese

Preparation

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sweet onions and stir to coat. Cover, reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until softened and starting to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add spring onions (or leeks), garlic and thyme and cook, uncovered, stirring often, until starting to soften, 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Stir in sherry and pepper; increase heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring often, until most of the liquid has evaporated, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in broth and chickpeas and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the vegetables are tender, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in chives (or scallions).
3. Meanwhile, toast bread and divide it among 6 bowls; top with cheese. Ladle the soup over the bread and cheese and serve immediately.

Tips & Notes

• Ingredient note: Sherry is a type of fortified wine originally from southern Spain. Don't use the “cooking sherry” sold in many supermarkets—it can be surprisingly high in sodium. Instead, purchase dry sherry that's sold with other fortified wines in your wine or liquor store.

Nutrition

Per serving: 374 calories; 10 g fat ( 4 g sat , 4 g mono ); 20 mg cholesterol; 48 g carbohydrates; 18 g protein; 6 g fiber; 591 mg sodium; 555 mg potassium.

Nutrition Bonus: Calcium, Folate & Vitamin C (25% daily value).

Carbohydrate Servings: 3

Exchanges: 2 starch, 2 vegetable, 1 medium-fat meat, 1/2 fat

Aardvarks - Animal File Fact

 Found throughout southern Africa, aardvarks use their keen sense of smell to sniff out their favorite food—termites.

Aardvarks live throughout Africa, south of the Sahara. Their name comes from South Africa's Afrikaans language and means "earth pig." A glimpse of the aardvark's body and long snout brings the pig to mind. On closer inspection, the aardvark appears to include other animal features as well. It boasts rabbitlike ears and a kangaroo tail—yet the aardvark is related to none of these animals.

Aardvarks are nocturnal. They spend the hot African afternoon holed up in cool underground burrows dug with their powerful feet and claws that resemble small spades. After sunset, aardvarks put those claws to good use in acquiring their favorite food—termites.

While foraging in grasslands and forests aardvarks, also called "antbears," may travel several miles a night in search of large, earthen termite mounds. A hungry aardvark digs through the hard shell of a promising mound with its front claws and uses its long, sticky, wormlike tongue to feast on the insects within. It can close its nostrils to keep dust and insects from invading its snout, and its thick skin protects it from bites. It uses a similar technique to raid underground ant nests.

Female aardvarks typically give birth to one newborn each year. The young remain with their mother for about six months before moving out and digging their own burrows, which can be extensive dwellings with many different openings.

Fast Facts

Type:

Mammal

Diet:

Omnivore

Average life span in captivity:

23 years

Size:

Head and body, 43 to 53 in (109 to 135 cm); Tail, 21 to 26 in (53 to 66 cm)

Weight:

110 to 180 lbs (50 to 82 kg)

Did you know?

An aardvark's tongue can be up to 12 in (30.5 cm) long and is sticky to help extract termites from the earthen mounds.

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:

Nail Polish Thinner – Make Your Own Thinner And Use That Old Polish!

Clumpy, glompy, thick nail polish… let’s face it, we have all let a bottle of nail polish sit there for so long that it moves “past its prime” and becomes seemingly unusable. Maybe you grew tired of the color, or perhaps it went out of season and you had to wait until the next year to use it again. Regardless of how it’s happened, just how on earth are you supposed to apply this thick, goopy mess to your fingernails?
That’s when a nail polish thinner comes in handy. The good news is that you do not need to rush out to the store to actually buy a nail polish thinner. You can actually make your very own nail polish thinner with a little bit of orange oil and a bit of solvent.
1. Begin to selecting a solvent you will use for your homemade nail polish thinner. Some of the more popular choices out there include shellite or even good old acetone that you can find in most nail polish removers.

2. Once you have chosen the solvent you would like to use, it is time to add the orange oil to the mix. The orange oil is essential as it will help maintain the consistency of the nail polish. It both keeps the nail polish smooth and it will help conceal that otherwise unpleasant scent of the solvent. You will want to be sure that the orange oil and the solvent are blended in equal parts.
3. Now add a small amount of this nail polish thinner to the actual nail polish. Start with just a few drops, screw the cap back on to the nail polish and give the bottle a good shake. Continue with this process until the nail polish has reached the consistency you like. You may need to check the consistency over the course of an hour, removing the brush or applicator every 10 to 15 minutes to ensure that the consistency stays the same. If the nail polish thickens, add a couple more drops of the nail polish thinner to the nail polish.
4. Here comes the true test: applying the nail polish to your finger nails. Test the nail polish out on just one finger nail. Apply one coat, allow it to try, and apply another. If the nail polish appears the way that you would like it to, then you have successfully recovered and saved your favorite nail polish!
Once you have given your thick, otherwise unusable nail polish some nail thinner “CPR”, be sure to discard of any unused nail polish thinner just to be safe. Nail polish thinner, whether store bought or homemade, is extremely flammable so it is important to keep it in a cool, dry place after being used.

Aung San Suu Kyi - Freedom Fighter

Aung San Suu Kyi is one of the world’s most renown freedom fighters and advocates of nonviolence, having served as the figurehead for Burma’s struggle for democracy since 1988.
Born on June 19th, 1945 to Burma’s independence hero, Aung san, Aung San Suu Kyi was educated in Burma, India, and the United Kingdom. Her father was assassinated when she was only two years old.
In 1988, while living in London, she returned to Burma to nurse her dying mother,and was plunged into the country’s nationwide uprising that had just begun. Joining the newly-forming National League for Democracy political party, Suu Kyi gave numerous speeches calling for freedom and democracy.
The military regime responede to the uprising with brute force, shooting and otherwise killing up to 10,000 demonstrators student, women, children, and others-in a mater of months. Unable to maintain its grip on power, the regime was forced to call for a general election in 1990.
As Suu Kyi began to campaign for the NLD, she and many others were detained by the regime. Despite being held under house arrest, the NLD went on to win a staggering 82% of the seats in parliament. The regime never recognized the results.


Suu Kyi has been in and out of arrest ever since. She was held from 1989-1995, and again from 2000-2002. She was again arrested and placed behind bars in May 2003 after the Depayin massacre, during which up to 100 of her supporters were beaten to death by the regime’s cronies. She has moved from prison back into house arrest in late 2003 and has been held there ever since.
She has won numerous international awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament, United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Jawaharlal Nehru Award from India.





She has called on people around the world to join the struggle for freedom in Burma, saying “Please use your liberty to promote ours.”

Windows 7: Scheduling Your Computer to Shut Down Automatically

Do you leave your computer on for extended periods of time, and would like it if your computer would automatically shut down at a specific time of day.  Follow the instructions below.

• Click the Start button, in the search box, type "scheduled tasks" then click the item in the search results.
• In the Task Scheduler console, in the Actions pane on the right, click "Create Basic Task ...".
• In the Basic Task Wizard dialog, enter a name for task, such as "Shutdown Computer" and include a optional description such as "Shuts down computer at 12:00 a.m. everyday", press the Next button.
• On the Task Trigger page, select "Daily" and press the Next button.
• On the Daily page, enter a start date and time that you want the task to first begin (e.g. 12/1/11 and 12:00 a.m.) and press the Next button.
• On the Action page, select the "Start a Program" and press the Next button.
• On the Start a Program page, in the Program/script field, type:  %SYSTEMROOT%\SYSTEM32\SHUTDOWN.EXE
• Press the Next button, review the Summary page and press the Finish button.

Based on the task that was defined above Windows will now automatically shut down at 12:00 a.m. each day. Although before it does the system will display a pop-up notification, "Windows will shut down in less than a minute."

Luxury Apartment in San Francisco USA

The flat in San Francisco in the loft area of 465 m2, the company Martin Building Company, which was sold for 3.32 million dollars and called Fabulous multi-level loft, or a multi-level loft. Perhaps it's the only way in which the interior design so much space.

DY undRst& dis msg? IT Tips

Sprite Melons (Cucumis melo) - The Fruit

Sprite Melons (Cucumis melo) are smooth oval shaped fruits with a light yellow to cream colored skin, crisp cream colored flesh, and a multitude of small oval shaped seeds in the center.

Health Benefits of Sprite Melons:

• Increased Immune Function
• Protection Against Heart Disease
  *Some of these health benefits are due to the nutrients highly concentrated in Sprite Melons, and may not necessarily be related to Sprite Melons.

Natural vitmains, minerals, and nutrients found in Sprite Melons: Vitamin C | Iron |

How to choose Sprite Melons: Look for sprite melons with a lot of yellow on the outside. Also check the brown ring at the bottom of the melon where the vine was attached, if the ring is full of cracks, you know you have a very sweet melon. If you want to buy ahead, sprite melons can be ripened in your refrigerator and will keep for several weeks.
Climate and origin: Like most melons, sprite melons prefer warmer temperatures and can be grown in warm temperate to tropical climates. Particularly adept to the climate of the U.S. Southeast, sprite melons are popular in Eastern North Carolina and should be found there from Mid-June to September.
Taste: Sprite melons have a crisper and sweeter texture over other melons. Like an aromatic syrup, properly ripened sprite melons can have sugar contents 25-30% higher than that of other melons.