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Nike outletAs the story goes, a blogger named Chris Soghoian recently got an e-mail from a big-name PR company with a somewhat odd proposition. The e-mail begins as follows: "Mr. Soghoian, I wanted to gauge your interest in authoring an op-ed this week for a top-tier media outlet on an important issue that I know you're following closely. The topic: Google's sweeping violations of user privacy. Google, as you know, has a well-known history of infringing on the privacy rights of America's Internet users. Coach BootsNot a year has gone by since the founding of the company where it has not been the focus of front-page news detailing its zealous approach to gathering information – in many cases private and identifiable information - about online users." The e-mail goes on about how "Google is at it again" and ends with, "I'm happy to help place the op-ed and assist in the drafting, if needed. For media targets, I was thinking about the Washington Post, Politico, The Hill, Roll Call or the Huffington Post." You can read the entire exchange here. As a blogger myself, I can tell you that if someone presented me with an opportunity to write an opinion piece and then basically told me what my opinion should be and offered to help write the thing, I'd be more than a little dubious about the whole ordeal. So was Soghoian, as evidenced by his reply: "Who is paying for this? (not paying me, but paying you)" John Mercurio of the PR firm, Burson-Marsteller, replied that he wasn't able to reveal his client. But as it turns out, Dan Lyons of the Daily Beast discovered that Burson-Marsteller's client was none other than Facebook. coach outletSays Lyons: "Confronted with evidence, a Facebook spokesman last night confirmed that Facebook hired Burson, citing two reasons: First, because it believes Google is doing some things in social networking that raise privacy concerns; second, and perhaps more important, because Facebook resents Google's attempts to use Facebook data in its own social-networking service." The issue for Facebook, apparently, is Google's "Social Circle" feature, which connects you to your Google contacts and any information they've publicly shared via social networks such as Twitter and, yes, Facebook. Social Circle also connects you to your contacts' connections, too, as "secondary connections." Friends of friends, as it were. hermes birkinAs it pertains to Google's Social Circle feature, Burson-Marsteller's e-mail contends the following: "Google is collecting, storing and mining millions of people's personal information from a number of different online services and sharing it without the knowledge, consent or control of the people involved." Which may technically be true, though Soghoian claimed Burson-Marsteller and—by extension—Facebook was "making a mountain out of a molehill," reports Lyons. Coach OP Art BagsAfter all, the information that Google scrapes from your social connections appears to be information that's already available publicly—Social Circle just wraps it all up in a nice little package, connects it to your own profile and then may very well use it to deliver relevant advertising to you as well as selling it as (hopefully) non-identifying data to marketing firms.

Coach JewelryIf you're looking to drop some weight, Jenny Craig may be your go-to diet plan, according to Consumer Reports, which just released its third round of diet-plan ratings. Jenny Craig came in first place, beating out stalwarts like Weight Watchers, Atkins and Ornish. The magazine's ratings of six popular diet plans were based on the programs' adherence to the 2010 U.S. dietary guidelines and the results of previously published clinical trials on the diets' weight-loss effectiveness. (More on TIME.com: New Dietary Guidelines Show Politics Still Trumps Science) Jenny Craig — which combines personalized counseling (over the phone and in person) with portion-controlled, prepackaged meals — netted an overall score of 85 points. Slim-Fast 3-2-1 came in second with 63 points, and Weight Watchers finished third with 57 points. The Zone (54 points), Ornish (48 points) and Atkins (48 points) rounded out the bottom three. What ultimately gave Jenny Craig the edge, the magazine reported, was a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in Oct. coach factory outlet2010, which found that 92% of the 442 women in the study stuck with Jenny Craig for two years — a remarkable level of compliance — and lost 8% of their original body weight on average. (More on TIME.com: Diet Food: Red Hot Chili Peppers May Help You Eat Less) Nancy Metcalf, a senior program editor at Consumer Reports Health, wrote about the methods the magazine used to tally the ratings: [J]ust to be clear, we didn't conduct these clinical trials ourselves, as we're not a biomedical research institute. Instead we scoured the scientific literature, and our in-house data scientists crunched the numbers to come up with Ratings for each diet's long- and short-term weight-loss results and dropout rates. Meanwhile, our food experts analyzed menus from each diet for the other critical piece of the Ratings — nutritional quality. birkin bagIndeed the JAMA study that showed good results for Jenny Craig was funded by Jenny Craig. When asked about the potential conflict of interest, Metcalf told NPR's Shots blog that there isn't a lot of other independently funded data: It would be great if more such studies of popular diets were published, given the amount of money consumers spend on them, but in the absence the next best thing is randomized clinical trials funded by the diet programs but of sufficient quality to be published in a peer-reviewed medical journal. ... I'd like to make the point that by funding clinical research good enough to pass peer review, all six of the diets we've rated are more credible than the countless diets out there that assert their efficacy based on little more than a few cherry-picked personal testimonials. But while Jenny Craig edged out its competition, that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best program for everyone. It all depends on your personal preferences: if you're not a fan of prepackaged meals, Jenny Craig may not be a good fit. Coach- Poppy Collections If you want to be able to eat out and cook your own food, lots of people vouch for the Weight Watchers point-based program.

cheap nike shoes storeNo magic football helmet can prevent players from sustaining concussions. But thanks to new research out of Virginia Tech, football players, and their parents, now know which equipment could reduce the risks. Over the past decade, the Virginia Tech researchers have compiled data from more than a million head impacts at Virginia Tech football practices and games. From these statistics, scientists were able to specify the speeds and tackling angles that would most likely to lead to concussions. (More on TIME.com: Fan Rage: How Home Team Losses Contribute to Domestic Violence) The scientists tested the safety features of 10 different helmet models, measuring the accelerations, at impact, when the helmets were sped from these multiple distances and angles. Coach JewelryThe data yielded an overall STAR value — Summation of Tests for the Analysis of Risk — for each helmet. Taking these values, the Virginia Tech researchers created a ranking system: the safest helmet, the Riddell Revolution Speed, was assigned five stars — the top grade — and the least safe helmet, the Adams A2000 Pro Elite, was slapped with the label NR: Not Recommended. A paper describing Virginia Tech's methodology will be published in the Annals of Biomedical Engineering. This important work could shake up the helmet market. Luxury Coach Outlet"For the first time, consumers can go to a website and see which helmets have the best chance to reduce the risk of a concussion," says Stefan Duma, a professor of biomedical engineering at Virginia Tech and head of the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences. The problem of concussion exists at every level of football, threatening players who sustain multiple hits with long-term brain injury. Recent studies of retired pro football players have shown that a history of concussion can lead to dementia-like brain damage associated with depression, suicidal tendencies and memory loss. Studies of former NFL players also show that they are at significantly higher risk of Alzheimer's than the rest of the population. (More on TIME.com: Football Searches for the Cause of Another Tragedy) Better helmets could mean less risk of concussion and brain damage. hermes birkin handbagsThe 10 helmets rated by the Virginia Tech researchers were as follows: Five Stars: Best Available • Riddell Revolution Speed Four Stars: Very Good • Schutt ION 4D • Schutt DNA Pro + • Xenith X1 • Riddell Revolution • Riddell Revolution IQ Three Stars: Good • Schutt Air XP Two Stars: Adequate • Schutt Air Advantage One Star: Marginal • Riddell VSR4 NR: Not Recommended • Adams A2000 Pro Elite Coach New ArrivalsPrice was by no means the strongest predictor of safety. The Adams A2000 Pro Elite, with an NR rating, costs $199.95, while the four-star Riddell Revolution and Schutt DNA Pro + cost $182.99 and $169.95, respectively.

cheap nike shoes storeAround 6:24 p.m. E.T. on the evening of Saturday, May 7, at the hallowed Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky, Dialed In, the favorite in the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby, will enter the starting gate. Maybe you're picking him. Or maybe you're more inclined to go with your heart and root for Mucho Macho Man, trained by a woman who survived a heart transplant. Or maybe you want to really hit it big and are putting a few bucks down on one of the long shots, like Watch Me Go or Derby Kitten. No matter which 3-year-old colt you pick to win the Derby, there's something you probably don't know about him. He's very likely running the race with a performance-enhancing drug in his system. (See pictures of the Kentucky Derby.) Throughout the world, drugs are banned on race day. In the U.S., for example, horses can't test positive for anabolic steroids like equipoise and Winstrol or be treated with antiulcer medications or even Advil-like anti-inflammatory drugs. coach handbags outletBut the U.S. and Canada are among the very few countries where horses can receive injections of furosemide, a diuretic also known as Lasix, or Salix, up to four hours before post time. This drug is barred in Hong Kong, England and most other places that host horse races. Within racing, Lasix is recognized as a performance-enhancing drug. Imagine if, at the Olympics, world-class sprinters like Usain Bolt were permitted to be treated with a performance-enhancing drug four hours before the race. That's essentially what happens in North American horse racing. After receiving the diuretic, the horse urinates, and yes, he or she "pisses like a racehorse." hermes birkin bag The loss of body fluid typically causes the horse to shed 10 to 20 lb. (4.5 to 9 kg); the lighter the horse, the faster it can run. In 1991, just 45% of American horses got Lasix injections before their starts, according to the Jockey Club, the breed registry for all North American thoroughbred horses. Last year, 95% of all horses were on race-day Lasix. After a few high-profile steroid incidents — especially those involving Rick Dutrow, the trainer of 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner Big Brown, who gave steroids to several of his horses — American racing has taken positive steps to keep anabolics out of the game. Now, it's about time the U.S. joined the rest of the racing world and ended the use of a different type of performance-enhancer on race day. "Lasix is a very polarizing subject in racing right now," says Scott Palmer, a veterinarian who runs the New Jersey Equine Clinic and also heads the racing committee of the American Association of Equine Practitioners. "This a huge deal.Coach New Arrivals Racing in America is in trouble, and medication is a part of that. It makes a world of sense to send a horse to the gate free of the influence of any medication." (See why, in Britain, horse racing and betting are no longer mates.) Race-day drugs present all kinds of problems. Start with the horse. The sport itself already exerts tremendous pressure on the animal. So is it humane to stick needles in horses just four hours before the start of a race? Drugs also mask the weaknesses in racehorses. The goal of thoroughbred breeding is to produce the strongest, fastest horse possible. But if an overwhelming majority of American horses run on drugs, how can breeders know which horses are really naturally gifted? How can breeders truly know if a stud will sire a horse that is prepared for the rigors of racing? "America's reputation has taken a hit on the world stage," says Lincoln Collins, director of Three Chimneys, one of the U.S.'s top breeding farms. Collins has conducted racing business in 22 countries. replica coach outlet"And it's because there's a perception that American racehorses are on drugs."

cheap nike shoes storeLast summer, when nearly 2 million vacationers descended on California's Yosemite National Park, the line of cars at the South Entrance was often nearly a mile (1.6 km) long. Rangers walked from car to car pacifying irritated visitors with free maps and friendly advice, but during particularly busy periods, they gave up, raised the gates and waved folks through just to keep the crowd moving. When conservationist John Muir helped create Yosemite in 1890, he could walk for hours in the 1,200-sq.-mi. (3,100 sq km) oasis without seeing another human being. Not so today, especially since a Ken Burns documentary series on PBS in 2009 boosted the popularity of all national parks. Over 281 million people visited the parks in 2010, and while that's great for the coffers, the incursion of so many humans means that parking is difficult and the lines at concession stands can rival those at the U.S. Open.hermes birkin handbags Even crime is up; the number of assaults spiked 20% last year. (See 10 things you didn't know about national parks.) In part because rising airfares will spur more domestic vacations, national-park officials are expecting 2011 to draw the biggest numbers ever — 4.2 million at Yosemite alone, a 10% increase over last year. "The fact that people love their parks so much is a great thing," says David Barna, a spokesman for the National Park Service (NPS). "We just need to figure out how to accommodate everyone without impacting the experience too significantly." (See 50 authentic American experiences.) The NPS is preparing for the onslaught with a series of measures, including adding shuttle buses to take visitors through the most heavily trafficked areas and requiring reservations for popular attractions. coach factory outletAt Yosemite, it has even hired guides to optimize space in parking lots. "If visitors park themselves, [our biggest lot] holds 350 cars, but if we're helping them, we can fit 550 or 600," says Scott Gediman, a spokesman for the park. (And where will the parking guides park? In the same lots.) In the more distant future, experts contend, parks may have to take even more drastic action, such as capping the number of daily visitors to certain areas or closing areas altogether. Bob Manning, a professor of natural resources at the University of Vermont, suggests the national parks might have to borrow some strategies from their man-made counterparts — theme parks like Disneyland. Coach Madison Collections "Might we see something like a FastPass at a national park? It sounds far-fetched, but 30 years ago, the idea of shuttle buses probably seemed silly too," he says.

nike sb shoesIt's no odd thing to pine for a simpler time, to wish you could go back to childhood. It's a common, impossible fantasy, it seems, one that is more exaggerated gasp and wistful dream in difficult times. For some, though, the desire for a past life is so insatiable, they do everything they can to make it happen. cheap hermes birkinUnfortunately, given that time travel isn't yet possible, they often seem a bit unusual in their quest. National Geographic's "Taboo" highlights the life of one such dreamer: Stanley, the adult baby. He sleeps in a giant crib, plays Legos in a baby play area, gets fed with a bottle and is even creating his own gigantic highchair. It's not sexual, just the recapturing of a simpler time, no matter how psychologically complicated it may appear. An infantalist, Stanley dresses normally for the real world, but in his apartment, it's all child's play. Though most babies don't build their own cribs. replica coach outletTo learn more about the show, which airs Wednesday night, click over to National Geographic.