Crock-Pot Recipes Review ? 148Apps ? iPhone, iPad, and iPod ...

A plethora of tasty meals that can be made with a slow cooker, even if the app's looks aren't the greatest.

The Slow Cooker is fast becoming a highly sought after kitchen gadget. With everyone leading increasingly busy lives, and in need of using their time productively, it?s so convenient being able to put some ingredients in a pot at the start of the day, knowing there will be a tasty meal ready by that evening. Crock-Pot Recipes might be a little, understandably, heavy on the advertizing but with plenty of different recipes to discover, it?s a useful resource.

That advertizing, by the way, will probably mostly grate because of the $3.99 price tag. There aren?t any banners or anything like that, but there is some fairly blatant usage of the Crock-Pot brand. Fortunately, it?s worth reading through as the app offers plenty of easy to follow recipes, even if the interface isn?t always the most attractive.

Over 250 recipes are included, covering a multitude of purposes, such as soups, chillis, curries, and even sandwiches. In each case, theme, difficulty rating and time taken figures are all offered for easy browsing. Photos are also included to tantalize the visual tastebuds, before opening up to an ingredients list and step by step instructions. This is where things turn a little too simple and basic looking, but they tell users all that they need to know about cooking the meal.

Increasingly common cookery features such as a timer, shopping list option, conversions and substitution sections are all covered here, as well as hands-free voice command functionality. It all works just how one would expect, easily covering everything users expect of a modern cookery app.

Crock-Pot Recipes does offer much more content than that, through in-app purchases, but this is where things could get pretty expensive. I found the ?basic? 250 recipes plentiful enough and didn?t feel any great need or urge to spend more. It?s convenient to have so many slow cooker focused recipes in one place.

Posted in: Food & Drink, iPad Apps and Games, iPad Food & Drink, iPhone Apps and Games, Reviews

Tagged with: $3.99, Crock-Pot, Crock-Pot Recipes, food, Food & Drink, Publications International, recipes, Slow Cooker, Slow Cooking

Review disclosure: note that the product reviewed on this page may have been provided to us by the developer for the purposes of this review. Note that if the developer provides the product or not, this does not impact the review or score.

Source: http://www.148apps.com/reviews/crockpot-recipes-review/

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Medical privacy rules get an update

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Those medical privacy rules you run into at hospitals, pharmacies and in your own doctor's office are getting an update.

Regulations unveiled this week by the Obama administration create new information rights that should make life easier for consumers. They also tighten restrictions on medical service providers trying to use patient information for marketing, and they greatly expand the list of businesses that can be punished for unauthorized disclosures.

"The government has taken pretty dramatic steps to strengthen privacy protections that previously existed for consumers," said Dianne Bourque, a Boston lawyer specializing in medical regulation. The long-awaited rules carry out a 2009 law promoting electronic medical records and updating federal privacy protections.

On the privacy front, doctors will now have to get prior approval from patients to pitch new medications or medical devices if those pitches are being paid for by a drug company or manufacturer.

For example, sometimes a pharmaceutical company will pay doctors to send all their heart patients a letter about a new medication. It may not be readily apparent to the patient that the drug company is compensating the doctor for sending the update.

The rules also create new rights for consumers.

For instance, you should find it much easier to get your medical records electronically instead of on paper. Up to now, some doctors and hospitals have been able to avoid providing records electronically by saying they don't have the capability.

"They won't be able to default to, 'Sorry, we can't send this to your home (computer) system; we have to give you a paper copy,'" said Susan McAndrew, a government lawyer who oversaw the regulations at the Health and Human Services Department.

Another welcome change: with your permission, your doctor can share your children's immunization records directly with a school. That simple tweak to existing rules will save parents from having to shuttle forms back and forth.

And, if you pay cash for a medical service, you can tell the doctor not to share information with your insurer. The sensitivity sometimes arises with people paying out-of-pocket for mental health counseling, McAndrew said.

The onus of complying with the new rules will fall mainly on the health care industry and contractors. One of the most notable changes is that companies that provide support services to doctors and hospitals will now face steep penalties for unauthorized disclosures of patient information.

"The compliance bar for folks who work with health care providers is much higher now," said Bourque.

The rules take effect at the end of September, after a period for health care service providers to learn the new requirements.

The original federal privacy law, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA, dates back to 1996.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-18-Medical%20Privacy/id-a15af617220e47188a2050622a92c009

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Young Adults Want to Recover from Addiction but Need Help to ...

Posted on Jan 19, 2013 in Therapeutically Based Treatment | 0 comments

Young adults undergoing addiction treatment arrive ready and willing to make the personal changes that bring about recovery, but it?s the help and guidance received during treatment that build and sustain those changes, according to a longitudinal study published electronically and in press within the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. The study was conducted collaboratively by the Center for Addiction Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School and the Butler Center for Research at Hazelden.

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?This study suggests that strong motivation to change may exist from the get-go among young adults with severe addiction problems entering residential treatment, but the know-how and confidence to change come through the treatment experience,? explains John F. Kelly, Ph.D., of the Center for Addiction Medicine who authored the study with Center colleagues Karen Urbanoski, Ph.D., and Bettina Hoeppner, Ph.D., and Valerie Slaymaker, Ph.D., of the Butler Center for Research at Hazelden.

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Analysis focused on 303 young adults, age 18-24, attending multidisciplinary, Twelve Step-based residential treatment for alcohol or other drug addiction. The study measured the subjects? levels of change during treatment in key areas, including motivation, psychological distress, coping skills and commitment to participation in mutual support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. Self-efficacy, or a young person?s confidence to stay clean and sober, was also assessed. Assessments were made at treatment intake, mid-treatment, at discharge and three months post-discharge.

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When entering treatment, study participants reported high levels of motivation to remain abstinent but lower levels of coping skills, self-efficacy and commitment to mutual support groups. During-treatment increases in these measures predicted abstinence from alcohol or other drug use at three months post-treatment. Self-efficacy or increased confidence in ability to sustain recovery was the strongest predictor of abstinence.

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Slaymaker of Hazelden adds, ?The young people in our study were quite motivated to do well in treatment but lacked the confidence, coping skills, and commitment to AA that are critical to longer-term success. Treatment appears to work by increasing their confidence and ability to make and sustain healthy, recovery-related efforts.?

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The findings suggest residential treatment provides the boost that the young people need. By reducing their psychological distress, developing their recovery-focused coping skills, increasing their commitment to AA and other groups, and by enhancing their overall confidence to stay clean and sober, young people make meaningful changes in treatment that position them for improved outcomes. Because self-efficacy was a strong predictor of abstinence, it may serve as a useful clinical summary indicator to monitor change and relapse potential among young adults in treatment.

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The study, titled ?Ready, Willing, and (Not) Able to Change: Young Adults? Response to Residential Treatment,? is published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Source: ScienceDaily

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Source: http://www.addictionts.com/2013/01/19/young-adults-want-to-recover-from-addiction-but-need-help-to-make-it-happen/

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'Like a little 9/11': Chopper crash rattles Londoners

A helicopter that collided with a construction crane and crashed onto the street killed two and injured nine others in a massive explosion. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

By Michelle Kosinski, Correspondent, NBC News

The helicopter crash in busy rush-hour London Wednesday was not terrorism-related. The chopper in fact struck a tall construction crane in heavy fog that left visibility in some areas near zero.

But some people initially had that fear, particularly as it happened close to the MI6 building, Britain's spy headquarters.

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The pilot had requested to land at a different place to his originally intended destination.

But Londoners, still very much on alert since the deadly July 7, 2005 bombings of trains and a bus, were immediately reminded of the scenes following those attacks ? as well as the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S.

One commuter had just left a train station nearby, and said she had been looking up at the tops of buildings, marveling at the thickness of the fog that completely obscured them.

At that moment, she said, she heard an explosion that sounded like a bomb, terrifying people in the area and sending them ducking for cover.

Then she described what looked like a "meteor shower," with many pieces of fiery debris raining down onto the streets.

Still upset as she talked to reporters, the woman said her first thought was that the city was under some sort of attack.

"Like a little 9/11," she said.

'Thought it was a bomb'
Another witness said the same. He suspected the loud bang and resulting fire was likely the work of a terrorist, until word started circulating among commuters that a helicopter was involved.

"I thought it was a bomb, I literally thought it was a bomb," he told reporters.

One man said he saw the chopper land on top of a car, that also burst into flames.? Others saw several vehicles on fire.? Firefighters rescued one man from a burning car.

Even after commuter Mark Louis Sidney realized there was a helicopter, crashed on the ground, he still suspected terrorism, wondering "Wait a minute, has this thing been shot out of the sky or what?"

The London bombings in 2005 were traumatic, killing 52 people and the four bombers.? In some ways, the losses still seem fresh.?

People still tell the stories of those who lost their lives by running a few minutes early or late that morning.? Or those who were spared by the same narrow margins.

In the last few years, Londoners have also instinctively adhered to that common New York directive ? "If you see something, say something" ?? highly aware of their surroundings during the morning commute. To the point that any loud noise or commotion puts them on edge, looking for the nearest and best escape.

Such would be the case, one would expect, in New York or any other city that has deeply experienced an attack.

But this time, the culprit appears to be an old, old foe: London fog.

Related links:
Two die as helicopter hits crane, crashes on London street
See photographs from the scene of the crash?

Source: http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/16/16544776-like-a-little-911-helicopter-crash-shows-londoners-still-fear-terrorism?lite

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No 'Death Star' for US Military, White House Says

The planet-killing Death Star may have been the ultimate weapon for the Empire in the "Star Wars" films, but it has no place in the United States military today, a White House official said Friday (Jan. 11).

The statement, an official response a petition to begin building a real-life Death Star by 2016 on the White House's We the People website, said President Barack Obama's Administration cannot support building the science fiction weapon for several down-to-Earth reasons.

"The Administration shares your desire for job creation and a strong national defense, but a Death Star isn't on the horizon," wrote Paul Shawcross, chief of the Science and Space Branch at the White House's Office of Management and Budget.

The Death Star petition, posted in the November, was signed by 34,435 people and the White House has pledged to respond to any petitions that garner 25,000 signatures in 30 days.

Not the least of the hurdles for a real-life Death Star is the space construction costs, which Shawcross said has been estimated at $850 quadrillion (that's $850,000,000,000,000,000). The White House is trying to reduce the deficit, not expand it, he wrote.

Then there's the Death Star's planet-destroying warship nature.

"The Administration does not support blowing up planets," Shawcross wrote.

And of course, there's the fact that Luke Skywalker destroyed the first Death Star with a single X-wing fighter.

"Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that could be exploited by a one-man starship?" Shawcross explained.

While there will be no moon-size Death Star in the U.S. military's arsenal by 2016, Saturn's real-life moon Mimas does look eerily similar to the fictional warship. [Saturn's'Death Star' Moon Mimas (Photos)]

Last year, astronomers with the agency's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope also announced that they found a real-life version of Tatooine, Luke's home planet with two suns. NASA also plans to send astronauts where no one has gone before ? an asteroid ? by 2025, and then take aim a manned trip to Mars in the 2030s.

And Shawcross also urged the public to go outside at night and look up.

"However, look carefully (here's how) and you'll notice something already floating in the sky ? that's no moon, it's a space station!" Shawcross wrote. "Yes, we already have a giant, football field-sized International Space Station in orbit around the Earth that's helping us learn how humans can live and thrive in space for long durations."

The?International Space Station ?is a $100 billion orbiting lab ??a deal compared to the Death Star ??and is currently home to a six-man crew representing the United States, Russia and Canada. Construction of the space station began in 1998 and today it is the largest manmade structure in space. It has the same living space as a five-bedroom house.

The space station can appear so bright to observers on Earth that at times it rivals Venus, the brightest planet in the night sky. Two American astronauts (of NASA), three Russian cosmonauts and a Canadian astronaut currently live on the station.

And Shawcross said there are other Star Wars technologies besides the Death Star that do have a place in today's society.

"We don't have a Death Star, but we do have floating robot assistants on the space station, a President who knows his way around a light saber and advanced (marshmallow) cannon, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is supporting research on building Luke's [robotic] arm, floating droids, and quadruped walkers," Shawcross wrote.

"We are living in the future!" Shawcross wrote. "Enjoy it. Or better yet, help build it by pursuing a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field."

The Administration and NASA have both been working to spur interest in science, math, engineering and technology among students.

"If you do pursue a career in a science, technology, engineering or math-related field, the Force will be with us!" Shawcross concluded. "Remember, the Death Star's power to destroy a planet, or even a whole star system, is insignificant next to the power of the Force."

With the Death Star officially the table, there is another science fiction spaceship petition that could draw a White House response.

Last month, an engineer writing as BTE Dan launched a petition to build a real-life Starship Enterprise from the "Star Trek" TV series. So far, 5,973 have signed the petition, so it still has a ways to go to prompt a White House response. The petition's deadline is Jan. 21.

For Shawcross's full response to the Death Star response, visit: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/response/isnt-petition-response-youre-looking

Editor's note: This story was updated to correct the number of signatures on the petition to build a Starship Enterprise. The correct number of petition signatures to date is?5,973.

This story was provided by SPACE.com, a sister site to LiveScience.? You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter?@tariqjmalik.?Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://www.livescience.com/26227-death-star-white-house-petition-response.html

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