Dark chocs help to fight ME
From The Sun
By CLODAGH HARTLEY
December 18, 2006
DARK chocolate helps to prevent a chronic illness, scientists have discovered.
Eating a small bar every day fights the fatigue syndrome once known as yuppie flu, tests have revealed.
The illness — myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) — leaves sufferers exhausted and with neurological problems. People taking part in a study at Hull Royal Infirmary found they felt better after eating specially-formulated dark chocolate every day for eight weeks.
But chocaholics will have to search around — only chocolate made with 85 per cent cocoa was found to have health benefits. Professor Steve Atkin said: “No one has examined the effects of chocolate on ME before, so this is a very exciting result for us.“The participants took 45g of special chocolate high in polyphenol chemicals for eight weeks. They then had a two-week rest before taking a placebo chocolate, low in polyphenols, for the same time. After the first period they felt less fatigue and once they moved to a placebo chocolate they began feeling more tired again.
“They didn’t experience any significant weight gain either.”
Polyphenols can reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and strokes. Chocolate also increases serotonin, which regulates mood.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Charlie Crocked
With the game only at the half way point news that charlie has damaged his medial knee ligament.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Saturday, December 09, 2006
For Mac Enthusiasts or people who dislike the welsh
Story taken from 'Ping Wales', a leading Welsh IT News Site
Apple discontinues UK mail-in repair service
Take a hike, Mr Jones
In a manoeuvre distinguished by both its stealth and audacity, Apple UK has discontinued its mail-in repair service without notifying its customers or, it appears, its resellers. The move came to Ping Wales' attention when regular contributor and resident Mac guru David Chisnall contacted Apple to schedule a repair for a PowerBook which has been registered with the vendor's AppleCare Protection Plan, a service that extends the warranty on Apple products from the statutory requirement of one year to three. It also extends telephone support from the standard 90 days after purchase to three years.
However, instead of going through the usual procedures associated with the direct mail-in service – which involve Apple sending the customer prepaid shipping labels, packaging material if it's needed, and paying for shipping to and from its repair centre – he was told to take the machine to the nearest Apple authorised repair centre.
Apple declined to comment on the matter, but a call to the company's tech support call centre confirmed that the mail-in repair service had been discontinued just over a month ago.
A straw poll of businesses in Wales which use Macs reveals that no business customers have been informed of the change to the repair service. Among the companies polled is fotoLibra.com, a digital picture library based in Harlech.
Gwyn Headley, managing director, told Ping Wales: "We haven't received any information from Apple to inform us of this change, but though it is a cynical viewpoint, I'm not surprised at any computer manufacturer reducing their support service, because of the cost to maintain it."
Headley added that the move will not dissuade fotoLibra.com from making future Apple purchases, as the performance of its other Apple equipment, such as servers and laptops, had been largely faultless.
Apple resellers in the region told Ping Wales that they hadn't been informed of the change either, adding that this did explain why the number of repairs coming in had increased significantly over the last few weeks.For Apple customers in South and West Wales, this means taking their faulty equipment to Cardiff. For those living in more northern parts of Wales, getting Apple products repaired may take a trip to Chester or beyond.Either way, any Welsh business considering buying Macs now has to take into consideration the impact this will have on the total cost of ownership of the equipment. Popping a machine in a box and handing it to the UPS man is a lot cheaper than having a technician drive to Cardiff twice. There's also the issue of downtime; many repairs will require parts to be ordered, and can't be completed while the customer waits, so the machine will have to be left for a day or two.
Apple's FAQ on the AppleCare service states: "The AppleCare Protection Plan includes telephone technical support, global repair coverage, on-site repairs for desktop computers, web-based support resources and powerful diagnostic tools."
At the time of publishing, Apple continued to assert in its terms and conditions that a direct mail-in service was available for most equipment covered by AppleCare. However, as the company has not made any official statement on the matter, it remains to be seen whether this service promise will be honoured for existing customers without the pressure of a class-action lawsuit.
Ping Wales is Wales' leading technology news site. Register for free at pingwales.co.uk.
Apple discontinues UK mail-in repair service
Take a hike, Mr Jones
In a manoeuvre distinguished by both its stealth and audacity, Apple UK has discontinued its mail-in repair service without notifying its customers or, it appears, its resellers. The move came to Ping Wales' attention when regular contributor and resident Mac guru David Chisnall contacted Apple to schedule a repair for a PowerBook which has been registered with the vendor's AppleCare Protection Plan, a service that extends the warranty on Apple products from the statutory requirement of one year to three. It also extends telephone support from the standard 90 days after purchase to three years.
However, instead of going through the usual procedures associated with the direct mail-in service – which involve Apple sending the customer prepaid shipping labels, packaging material if it's needed, and paying for shipping to and from its repair centre – he was told to take the machine to the nearest Apple authorised repair centre.
Apple declined to comment on the matter, but a call to the company's tech support call centre confirmed that the mail-in repair service had been discontinued just over a month ago.
A straw poll of businesses in Wales which use Macs reveals that no business customers have been informed of the change to the repair service. Among the companies polled is fotoLibra.com, a digital picture library based in Harlech.
Gwyn Headley, managing director, told Ping Wales: "We haven't received any information from Apple to inform us of this change, but though it is a cynical viewpoint, I'm not surprised at any computer manufacturer reducing their support service, because of the cost to maintain it."
Headley added that the move will not dissuade fotoLibra.com from making future Apple purchases, as the performance of its other Apple equipment, such as servers and laptops, had been largely faultless.
Apple resellers in the region told Ping Wales that they hadn't been informed of the change either, adding that this did explain why the number of repairs coming in had increased significantly over the last few weeks.For Apple customers in South and West Wales, this means taking their faulty equipment to Cardiff. For those living in more northern parts of Wales, getting Apple products repaired may take a trip to Chester or beyond.Either way, any Welsh business considering buying Macs now has to take into consideration the impact this will have on the total cost of ownership of the equipment. Popping a machine in a box and handing it to the UPS man is a lot cheaper than having a technician drive to Cardiff twice. There's also the issue of downtime; many repairs will require parts to be ordered, and can't be completed while the customer waits, so the machine will have to be left for a day or two.
Apple's FAQ on the AppleCare service states: "The AppleCare Protection Plan includes telephone technical support, global repair coverage, on-site repairs for desktop computers, web-based support resources and powerful diagnostic tools."
At the time of publishing, Apple continued to assert in its terms and conditions that a direct mail-in service was available for most equipment covered by AppleCare. However, as the company has not made any official statement on the matter, it remains to be seen whether this service promise will be honoured for existing customers without the pressure of a class-action lawsuit.
Ping Wales is Wales' leading technology news site. Register for free at pingwales.co.uk.
Injury Crisis Deepens
Such is the luck Newcastle have had this seasons with injuries i find myself expecting at least one player to limp out of every game, just hoping that its a position we can cover with players returning. Through a combination of versitile players (solano, sibierski, ramage and charlie) and a productive physio team Newcastle have managed remarkably well.
Saturdays game against Blackburn might have tested the already stretched squad to its limits, with a further three injuries to add to the list and at least a week before any of our walking wounded are expected to be available.
Glenn Roeder is maintaining that Newcastle will continue on, while there is little else he can do i wonder how other clubs would be handling it.
GK: Given, Srnicek, Harper, Krull
DR: Carr
DL: Babayaro, Bernard
DC: Taylor, Ramage, Moore, Bramble
MR: Milner, Solano
ML: Charlie, Duff, O'Brien
MC: Butt, Parker, Emre, Dyer
SC: Martins, Luque, Rossi, Owen, Ameobi, Sibierski
Reserves:
DC: Huntington
D/M: Gate
MC: Pattison
SC: Troisi, Carroll
Saturdays game against Blackburn might have tested the already stretched squad to its limits, with a further three injuries to add to the list and at least a week before any of our walking wounded are expected to be available.
Glenn Roeder is maintaining that Newcastle will continue on, while there is little else he can do i wonder how other clubs would be handling it.
GK: Given, Srnicek, Harper, Krull
DR: Carr
DL: Babayaro, Bernard
DC: Taylor, Ramage, Moore, Bramble
MR: Milner, Solano
ML: Charlie, Duff, O'Brien
MC: Butt, Parker, Emre, Dyer
SC: Martins, Luque, Rossi, Owen, Ameobi, Sibierski
Reserves:
DC: Huntington
D/M: Gate
MC: Pattison
SC: Troisi, Carroll
Friday, December 08, 2006
New Look!
As promised the old blogger accounts, those without easy editing and password protection, have been converted to the Blogger Beta system. This means that i have updated 'Out In The Cold' but in the process the modifications i made to the template have been lost.
This site will still operate as a general area of my blog, users should not notice much change.
Gwip
This site will still operate as a general area of my blog, users should not notice much change.
Gwip
Identity Card Revolt
Citizens will face fine rather than sign up to ID card register
From Out-law.com.
Hundreds of thousands of people will refuse to sign up to the UK Government's planned identity register, according to just-published research. Around eight per cent of those surveyed said they would refuse to sign up to the database even if they are fined.
The survey was carried out by polling firm YouGov on behalf of the Daily Telegraph newspaper and in a sample of 1,979 people found that a significant proportion were prepared to defy the government over the database.
Of the 39 per cent of people who opposed the identity register, 21 per cent said they would resist signing up, even if it meant paying a small fine. That figure is eight per cent of the total.
If the figures are extrapolated to the entire UK population of 60 million people they mean that 23.4 million would oppose the database and 4.8 million would be prepared to face a fine for resisting signing up. If just two per cent of the country's over 16s refused to register then the Government would face a one million person revolt, the Telegraph said.
The survey found that 52 per cent of people are unhappy at their details being kept on a database, and that the biggest concern was that people could access the information who were not entitled to see it. Of those 52 per cent of people, 77 per cent said that they believed unauthorised personnel would see the information, while 71 per cent said the system could contain harmful errors about them.
The national identity register will be the main database for the Government's proposed ID cards. The register will contain identifying biometric data.
Though residents will not be required to carry the ID card at all times, OUT-LAW revealed last week that the ID card legislation allows the mobile fingerprint scanners that police are currently testing to access that database. That means that if police are given the go-ahead for mobile fingerprint machines, someone's identity can be checked immediately on the street against the database.
The Telegraph survey showed that there were high levels of approval for many of the kinds of surveillance that are on the increase in the UK. CCTV cameras in high streets were approved of by 85 per cent of people, photographing airline passengers by 72 per cent. Maintaining DNA material on a national database had an approval rating of just 37 per cent.
Information Commissioner Richard Thomas has repeatedly warned that the UK is becoming a surveillance society without any real public debate about the process or its consequences.
"Two years ago I warned that we were in danger of sleepwalking into a surveillance society," Thomas said in November. "Today I fear that we are in fact waking up to a surveillance society that is already all around us."
Despite 79 per cent of people surveyed saying they thought the UK was a surveillance society, 62 per cent said they did not feel they were spied upon.
Copyright © 2006, OUT-LAW.com
OUT-LAW.COM is part of international law firm Pinsent Masons.
From Out-law.com.
Hundreds of thousands of people will refuse to sign up to the UK Government's planned identity register, according to just-published research. Around eight per cent of those surveyed said they would refuse to sign up to the database even if they are fined.
The survey was carried out by polling firm YouGov on behalf of the Daily Telegraph newspaper and in a sample of 1,979 people found that a significant proportion were prepared to defy the government over the database.
Of the 39 per cent of people who opposed the identity register, 21 per cent said they would resist signing up, even if it meant paying a small fine. That figure is eight per cent of the total.
If the figures are extrapolated to the entire UK population of 60 million people they mean that 23.4 million would oppose the database and 4.8 million would be prepared to face a fine for resisting signing up. If just two per cent of the country's over 16s refused to register then the Government would face a one million person revolt, the Telegraph said.
The survey found that 52 per cent of people are unhappy at their details being kept on a database, and that the biggest concern was that people could access the information who were not entitled to see it. Of those 52 per cent of people, 77 per cent said that they believed unauthorised personnel would see the information, while 71 per cent said the system could contain harmful errors about them.
The national identity register will be the main database for the Government's proposed ID cards. The register will contain identifying biometric data.
Though residents will not be required to carry the ID card at all times, OUT-LAW revealed last week that the ID card legislation allows the mobile fingerprint scanners that police are currently testing to access that database. That means that if police are given the go-ahead for mobile fingerprint machines, someone's identity can be checked immediately on the street against the database.
The Telegraph survey showed that there were high levels of approval for many of the kinds of surveillance that are on the increase in the UK. CCTV cameras in high streets were approved of by 85 per cent of people, photographing airline passengers by 72 per cent. Maintaining DNA material on a national database had an approval rating of just 37 per cent.
Information Commissioner Richard Thomas has repeatedly warned that the UK is becoming a surveillance society without any real public debate about the process or its consequences.
"Two years ago I warned that we were in danger of sleepwalking into a surveillance society," Thomas said in November. "Today I fear that we are in fact waking up to a surveillance society that is already all around us."
Despite 79 per cent of people surveyed saying they thought the UK was a surveillance society, 62 per cent said they did not feel they were spied upon.
Copyright © 2006, OUT-LAW.com
OUT-LAW.COM is part of international law firm Pinsent Masons.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)