http://www.findtoto.com is a web-based service that can help you find your dog, cat, parakeet, whatever--just like Jessica Simpson did.  Find Toto helped the lovely Jessica, recover her dog, Daisy, when the little scamp ran away.  Knowing Jessica, the mutt probably wanted to get a vaccination.  

The website claims a 78.2 percent success rate within 48 hours, and a 68 percent success rate thereafter.  Here's how it works:

Immediately after notifying Find Toto personnel, they "alert thousands of neighbors within minutes."  The website asks this question:  "Can you notify 10,000 neighbors in 30 minutes?  WE CAN!" 

They use a location-specific mapping system plus the most-current household database, and employ a call system that's used for emergency broadcasts.  Check 'em out here.




 

Taken together, fading vision, "romance" lighting, and menus with small type sizes/bad backgrounds, are forcing us Baby Boomers to take our "cheaters" with us when we go out for the evening. 

"Cheaters," of course, are those cheap, over-the-counter eyeglasses we can buy at the corner drugstore.

Nor surprisingly, restaurants are accommoding their elderly customers by keeping a supply of visual aids--mini-flashlights, magnifying glasses, and "cheaters"--on hand.  Sometimes, they simply give up and increase the font sizes on their menus.  As one Minneapolis restauranteur put it, "It seems like if I do anything under size 12 in the font, I get complaints.  I'm sure in 15 years I'll be one of the guests complaining about not being able to read the menu."

However accommodating restaurants and bars may be to their Boomer customers, they're reluctant to adjust the lighting.  After all, how many of us get better looking in harsh lighting?

Here's more.

 

The Huffington Post reports that one of the most closely-guarded secrets in U. S. history--the recipe for Coke--has been revealed.  Apparently, the recipe was published on February 18, 1979, in Coca Cola's hometown newspaper:  The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.  It seems that a local reporter discovered it in a handwritten recipe book written by a local pharmacist.  Ready?  Here you go:    

Because of its properties and effects, marijuana has been effectively used to treat insomnia, anxiety, depression, rheumatism, gastrointestinal dysfunctions, ulcers, cancer, epilepsy, bronchitis, and asthma.  Here’s more:

1. Cancer.  For years (probably decades!) the opponents of legalizing marijuana—the “anti-dopers”—have claimed that smoking pot causes lung cancer.  After all, you’re inhaling smoke, just like you do with cigarettes.  That’s just wrong!  Researchers at the American Association for Cancer Research have found that smoking marijuana actually works to slow down tumor growth in the lungs, breasts, and brain!

2. Seizures.  Marijuana is a muscle relaxant.  It has antispasmodic qualities that are effective in treating seizures.  Indeed, there are documented cases of sufferers who are seizure-free only because of marijuana!

3. Migraines.  Since the medical use marijuana was legalized in California, doctors report that they have successfully treated 300,000 migraine sufferers that conventional medicine couldn’t help—all because of marijuana use! 

4. Glaucoma.  The best-documented use of marijuana has been the treatment of glaucoma.   

5. Multiple Sclerosis.  Remember Montel Williams, the former talk-show host?  He used pot to treat his MS, which focused media attention on marijuana’s ability to stop the neurological effects and muscle spasms that accompany this dread disease. 

6. Tourette’s Syndrome and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.  Just as marijuana effectively combats seizures and multiple sclerosis, its properties slow down the tics in those suffering from Tourette’s and the obsessive neurological symptoms in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

7. ADD and ADHD.  A documented study conducted by the University of Southern California concluded that marijuana is not only a perfect alternative for Ritalin but treats the disorder without any of the negative side effects of the pharmaceutical.

8. Crohn’s Disease.  Marijuana has been demonstrated to reduce the symptoms of Crohn’s, which is a chronic inflammation of the intestines, by controlling nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.

9. Alzheimer’s.  Some research suggests that tetra hydro cannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana, retards deposits in the brain that cause this horrible disease. 

10. Premenstrual Syndrome.  Marijuana can be used to treat the cramps and discomfort associated with PMS. 

www.Stay.com claims that "We make travel planning easy!"  They turn "travel planning into a fun and social activity."

Go to the website, login, and then create a personal travel guide to cities ranging from Amsterdam and Athens to Venice and Vienna.  You can even print your travel guide in a compact format that you can carry with you on your trip.

Stay.com provides "current" and "unbiased" hotel reviews prepared by guests who've stayed at "more than 100,000 properties worldwide from hotels to bed-and-breakfasts to condos to all-inclusive resorts."

Here's an example of the travel guide options for Beijing.  

Purdue University experts have discovered a great approach to lowering 50 percent of winter heating costs!  They're at work on a new research project that promises to reduce heating bill by 50 percent for those of us who live in very cold climates. The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, builds on previous work that began about five years ago at Purdue's Ray W. Herrick Laboratories.

Heat pumps provide heating in winter and cooling in summer, but they aren't very efficient in extreme cold climates. The Purdue research involves changes to the way heat pumps operate to ensure they are more cost-effective in very cold climates.

The modern technology works by modifying the conventional vapor-compression cycle behind standard air conditioning and refrigeration.

The common vapor-compression cycle has four stages:

1° Refrigerant is compressed as a vapor, then

2° Condenses into a liquid, and

3° Expands to a combination of liquid and vapor, and finally

4° Evaporates

The project investigates two cooling approaches during the compression process.  For the first experiment, relatively large volumes of oil are injected into the compressor to absorb heat generated throughout the compression stage. In the second, a mixture of liquid and vapor refrigerant from the expansion stage is injected at various points during compression to supply cooling.

The new heat pumps might be half as expensive to operate as heating technologies now utilized in cold regions where natural gas is unavailable and people use electric heaters and liquid propane.

As we wait for the results of the Purdue research, here are some suggestions to improve you home air quality and save energy:

    Ensure your thermostat is located in an area that is not too cold or hot. 
    Install an automatic timer to maintain the thermostat at 68 degrees during the day and 55 degrees at night. 
    Use storm or thermal windows in colder areas. The layer of air between the windows acts as insulation, helping to keep the heat inside where you want it. 
    If you haven't done so already, insulate your attic and all outside walls. 
    Insulate floors over unheated spaces, e.g., your basement, crawl spaces, and your garage. 
    Close off the attic, garage, basement, spare bedrooms and storage areas. 
    Heat only the rooms that you use during the winter. 
    Seal gaps around pipes, wires, vents or other openings that could transfer your heat to unheated areas. 

Most people are unaware that common indoor air quality practices help reduce home air heating costs too:

    Rain can bring moisture indoors, creating dampness and mold spores, which are bad healthy indoor air. Check your roof, foundation and basement or crawlspace once a year to catch leaks or moisture problems and route water away from your home's foundation. 
    Help to keep asthma triggers away from your house by fixing leaks and drips as soon as they start. Standing water and moist encourage the development of dust mites and fungus, both common triggers that can worsen asthma. Make use of a dehumidifier or AC unit when needed, and clean both regularly. 
    High levels of moisture in your home increase dampness and mold growth, which not only damage your house but threaten health. Install and run exhaust fans in bathrooms to remove unhealthy moisture and odors out of your home. 
    Ventilate your kitchen stove directly outside or open a kitchen window when you cook. Keeping exhaust -- including cooking odors and particles -- outside of your home prevents dangerous fumes and particles from harming you or your family. 
  
Our Guest Blogger, Rosalind Dall, writes for www.ductlessairconditioners.org split system air conditioner.  Rosalind's personal hobby blog help people consume less energy and purify indoor air.

One struggles to think of a worse vehicle at a worse time. Introduced shortly after 9/11 — an event whose causes were tangled in America's unquenchable thirst for oil — the Hummer H2 sent all the wrong signals. It was/is arrogantly huge, overtly militaristic, openly scornful of the common good. As a vehicle choice, the H2 was a spiteful reactionary riposte to notions that, you know, maybe we all shouldn't be driving tanks that get 10 miles per gallon. Not surprisingly, the green-niks struck back. A Hummer dealership was torched in Southern California. The H2 was also a PR catastrophe for GM, who happened to be repossessing and crushing the few EV1 electric cars at the time. It all contributed to GM's emerging image as the Dick Cheney of car companies.

The most expensive and luxurious pet hotel in the U. S. just opened in Fort Worth.  The $4.4 million SPA PAW hotel replaces the Pooch Hotel in Sunnyvale, California as the costliest in the country. 

The Spa Paw "resort" features pets-only rooms--no human guests are allowed--no cages/kennels.  There are custom upholstered beds with chenille and satin blankets.  As you'd expect if you're paying $200/night, there is a nightly turn-down service.

Even better, Spa Paw features a state-of-the-art Wellness Center, a boutique, and prescription treatments, the latter including Eastern medicine practices such as acupressure and massage.  The hotel boasts a "lavish experience for our guests and peace of mind for you."  Check these out:

• Aromatherapy
• Feel good massage, bodywork & facials
• Reflexology
• Pampering beauty treatments
• Spa quality products
• Wellness classes including doga for your pet and Pilates for you
• Dog treadmill classes

As we expect, you'll want to make reservations today.  Here's how. 

According to the Mayo Clinic, drinking red wine is healthy, as long as it's consumed in moderation. 

Because of its alcohol content and naturally occurring plant compounds, studies have found that red wine reduces the risk of heart disease and certain cancers, and perhaps most important, slows the progression of such degenarative disorders, including Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's. 

The problem, of course, is that consumption must be moderate:  For men, no more than two drinks daily; for women, no more than a single glass. 

Here's more.

• Nearly 80 percent of respondents want a single-story home;
• The preferred floorplan is a 1,900 square foot, three-bedroom unit, with the master bedroom on the first floor;
• The median price respondents plan to spend for the new house is $189,426;
• Preferred features include the following:
  • In-unit washer/dryer;
  • Storage space;
  • Easy-open windows;
  • First-floor master suite;
  • Easy usable thermostat.
• About one-half either don't care about the environmental impact of building a home, or are concerned about the environment, but the concern doesn't influence their purchase.  A mere 12 percent said they'd pay more--an average amount of $6,732--for an environmentally-friendly house;
• Proximity to shopping is the most important consideration for the location of the housing, followed by proximity to medical care.
• Perhaps most surprising is the fact that 83 percent of respondents rated high-speed Internet access as "somewhat" to "very important."

Billed as a “private air yacht,” the Aeroscraft could offer ocean cruises with luxury accommodations, “skimming just above forests, canyons and cities,” the website (http://tinyurl.com/587xz2) dreams, “then delivering its passengers to inland resorts and national parks hundred of miles from sea."

Or the versatile Aeroscraft could also serve as an “executive office in the sky,” with a high-tech business and conference center decked out with computerized offices, videoconferencing capabilities, a conference room that could handle 100 business travelers, and a transformable interior and personal stateroom.

The Aeroscraft uses six turbofan jets to lift it to its cruising altitude, where it’s driven by huge rearward electric propellers powered by a renewable resource, such as hydrogen fuel sells. A complex buoyancy-management system will provide precise adjustments in-flight to account for changes in outside conditions and passenger movement.

Whose idea was this, anyway? The Aeroscraft is the invention of Ukrainian-born Igor Pasternak, president of Worldwide Aeros Corporation in Canoga Park, California. Worldwide Aeros’s product line includes heavy-lift cargo planes, FAA-Certified airships, and tethered balloon systems.

Pasternak marvels at his baby’s future: “You can land on the snow, you can land on the water. It's a new vision of what can be done in the air.”

This is the LG solar hybrid air conditioner, which is, according to LG Electronics, the first eco-friendly solar hybrid air conditioner.  It provides 70 watts of power/hour by using solar cell modules attached to the top of the unit.  LG Electronics claims that this new hybrid system can reduce about 400 pounds of carbon dioxide--equivalent to nearly 800 pine trees--over a 10-year period.

Lennox, another well-known company, has developed a similar product, SunSource, which uses a single solar panel to power the fan motor moving air across the outdoor coil.  Lennox claims that the SunSource will cut energy consumption for heating and cooling by one-half.

According to David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding, co-authors of Drink This, Not That!, it's much healthier to eat fruits than the juices that are made from them. 

Turning a fruit into a juice, they say, keeps the flavor, but "loses the substance, the power.  Even the very best fruit juice isn't as nutritious as the fruit it originally came from, because the fiber that makes a piece of fruit so filling has been stripped away: Instead of filling your belly like an apple or an orange, juice just passes through your gastrointestinal tract like a little stream of sugar. . . .  The sweet melody is intact, but the soul is lost. So as a rule, always choose the original version (that would be the fruit) over the Muzak version (that would be the juice)."

They go on to say that juice isn't a "terrible" choice--we can still get our daily quota of vitamins and minerals from it.  The problem is that manufacturers simply mix a lot of water and sugar with a tiny bit of flavoring, and call it "juice."

With this in mind, David and Matt compiled a list of the best and worst juices at the supermarket, then added a healthier alternative to each.  Here goes:

WORST CRANBERRY COCKTAIL:  Ocean Spray Cran-Apple (8 fl oz); 130 calories; 32 g sugars.  According to Dave and Matt, Ocean Spray markets a variety of cranberry juice blends, all of which are "polluted with unruly loads of added sugar.  RECOMMENDED ALTERNATIVE.   Ocean Spray’s Cranenergy, which has only 35 calories and nine grams of sugars.   

For the list of WORST MIXED-BERRY BLEND, WORST LEMONADE (Hint: it's probably the one you're buying--Minute Maid Lemonade in the 20-ounce bottle, which delivers a whopping 250 calories and 67.5 grams of sugars), WORST MIXED-BERRY BLEND, WORST GRAPE JUICE, WORST "JUICE IMPOSTER," and WORST CANNED JUICE, together with their RECOMENDED ALTERNATIVES, go here

HOW DOES IT WORK? The Minoru produces images with two superimposed pictures. It looks like there’s depth and distance between the objects. The result? You get a stereoscopic image that looks three-dimensional when viewed through 3D glasses.

Just plug it into your computer, install the software, hit a button to take a 3D photo—or record a 3D video. Your Minoru can work like a normal webcam, too, and it’s got a built-in microphone for recording sound.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST? Internet prices range from $69.99 (Amazon) to $89.99 (Target and Best Buy).

Mycoskie returned to the U. S. and founded TOMS Shoes, promising to match every shoe purchase with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need.  One for One.

And how about this: TOMS has given away more than 400,000 pairs of shoes to children worldwide!

Every purchase of TOMS Shoes results in the gift of transportation, safety, and disease prevention to a needy kid.  Check it out: http://www.toms.com.

Mycoskie returned to the U. S. and founded TOMS Shoes, promising to match every shoe purchase with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need.  One for One.

And how about this: TOMS has given away more than 400,000 pairs of shoes to children worldwide!

Every purchase of TOMS Shoes results in the gift of transportation, safety, and disease prevention to a needy kid.  Check it out: http://www.toms.com.

Advertising Age, an influential weekly magazine that delivers news, analysis and data about marketing and media, recently announced a new healthful, “fast-casual” dining concept developed by two former McDonald’s executives, Mike Roberts and Mike Donahue.  This brand—working name “Stephanie’s”--is planned for an early 2011 launch, with another 250 locations slated in the next five years.  

The menu.  Healthy eating—apple-cinnamon steel-cut oats and pita pockets for breakfast, smoked-chicken sweet-pea soup and pork/sweet-potato kabobs for lunch and dinner—priced between $8 and $12. 

The carbon footprint.  “Green” features—rooftop herb gardens, grass parking lots, fresh flowers, biodegradable cutlery—intended not only to differentiate Stephanie’s from the competition, but also to appeal to the environmentally friendly. 

In a statement to Advertising Age, Donahue, formerly McDonald’s VP of U. S. Communications and Customer Satisfaction, diplomatically declined to identify possible competitors in the space--"We don't want to get into a food fight with anybody"--said that the goal is to be socially responsible.  We want (Stephanie’s) to be a respite."

Here’s more 

According to a recent study, car thieves are less likely to steal brightly-colored vehicles, apparently considering their resale values. 

Students in the Netherlands paint their bikes pink or yellow, making it easier to spot thieves. 

The study found that black, silver, grey and blue autos are the most frequent targets, while yellow, pink and red are the least attractive.  Of the 109 vehicles studied, pink was found to be the perfect deterrent to car thieves, while black, particularly for luxury cars, was most preferred.

A new report finds that the U. S. housing market is still in a tailspin.  Last month, almost one-quarter of all home listings had at least one price reduction.  Price-cutting is widespread as well, according to Trulia, a real estate tracking firm.  Indeed, 21 of the 50 largest markets cut prices on nearly one-third of their listings, with Minneapolis leading the way--40 percent of the city's listings registered at least one price reduction.  Minneaplis is followed by Milwaukee, Dallas, Boston, Baltimore, Phoenix and Memphis, all slasheing prices on more than 32 of their listings.

"Sellers are feeling the heat this summer as the economic recovery simmers down and home inventory levels climb," says Pete Flint, Trulia's co-founder and chief executive of  Trulia.  "We're seeing more sellers reduce their home listing prices to attract potential buyers."

Contributing to this meltdown are waning consumer confidence, continued high unemployment, fears about a double-dip recession and a volatile stock market.  Undoubtedly the biggest negative factor, however, has been the expiration of the federal homebuyer tax credict, which had attracted first-time buyers into the market.  According to Alex Barron, founder of the Housing Research Center, entry-level buyers have all but disappeared. "The whole market has slowed down anywhere from 30 to 40 percent across the country," says Barron. "When supply exceeds demand, you have to lower the prices."

Here's more:  http://preview.tinyurl.com/2ad5wzz

Although not yet proven in humans, lab rodents in an extreme caloric restricted diet have had extended life spans by up to 30 percent.

A recent study conducted at Harvard University in the U.S.A. again confirms the benefits of drinking moderate amounts of red wine. The study, using laboratory rats, confirmed earlier studies at other universities that red wine contains ingredients that reduce levels of cholesterol in the blood stream, reduces risks of some forms of cancer, and even helps prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Bottom line:  Red wine may be a potent antidote to Alzheimer's!

Beyond professional applications, the era of personal robotics is now underway.  Robosoft believes that its service robots called "robuters" will be part of everyday life within five years. According to forecasts by the Japan Robotics Association, the worldwide personal and service robotics market will reach $17 billion by 2010.  

Consumer Reports Complete Guide to Health Services for Seniors: What your family needs to know about finding and financing Medicare, assisted living, nursing homes, home care, adult day care.

• How can you take advantage of pharmaceutical company drug-assistance programs?
• What essential services should a home health aide provide?
• How can you calculate annual health care expenses?
• How do you decipher a state survey report for a nursing home?
• Where can you find adult day care?
• What should you look for in an assisted-living contract?

• The ins and outs of paying for health care services, including Medicare coverage and insurance options;
• How to find the best long-term care, whether at home or in the community; and
• City-by-city ratings for Medicare HMOs and Medicare supplement insurance policies, as well as a guide to how well a particular state is monitoring nursing homes.