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Food fit for a champion

chicken breast_pasta_11_10_12When you?re training to compete in the event of your life, your sport will dictate what you put on your plate?

Michael Phelps, 27, swimmer
The American 14 times gold medallist is a fan of carb-loading (essentially, consuming a lot of carbs). Also, he was eating between 8,000 and 10,000 calories a day when training for the Beijing Olympics, where he won an incredible eight gold medals. This carbohydrate-heavy diet is a response to the sheer amount of weight he loses through swimming and training (it can amount to several pounds a week). If only the rest of us had that problem!

What he has for?

?breakfast
Three fried-egg sandwiches with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, fried onions and mayonnaise, followed by three chocolate-chip pancakes; a 5-egg omelette; three sugar-coated slices of French toast and a bowl of grits (a maize-based porridge), washed down with 2 cups of strong coffee. It starts the day off perfectly.

?lunch
Around 1lb of enriched pasta; 2 large ham and cheese sandwiches on white bread smothered with mayonnaise, and washed down with several energy drinks.

?dinner
Another 1lb of pasta, perhaps with a creamy carbonara sauce, followed by a large pizza and more energy drinks.


Dai Greene, 26, hurdler

Welsh hurdler, Dai, admits to being ignorant about diet and nutrition until he became dedicated to his athletics. ?Eating right just helps your capacity to train; the more recovered my body is, the better I perform. You wouldn?t put the wrong fuel in a car and expect to get a quality performance out of it. The same applies to me ? if I eat badly, I have poor concentration and I feel lethargic ? and the stopwatch never lies.?

What he has for...

?breakfast
Two slices of toast with peanut butter and a cup of tea, as well as a protein shake. As a treat: a bagel packed full of bacon, with ketchup.

?lunch
Generally, a pasta dish with lots of veg, but if it?s the day of a race, the menu will include rice or pasta, a small amount of veg and a small amount of protein (either chicken or turkey).

?dinner
Usually a pasta bake or a lasagne, and then a light meal such as eggs on toast, either poached or scrambled, later in the evening.

?snacks
Throughout the day, Dai will have peanut butter or Nutella on toast for a carbohydrate hit, as well as different kinds of fruit.


What makes a good diet

Dr Samantha Stear, national lead for performance nutrition at the English Institute of Sport, reveals all

?A good diet isn?t going to turn a mediocre athlete into a champion, but a champion eating a bad diet may just miss out,? says Dr Stear. ?Sprinters need around 5g of carbs per kilo of their body weight each and every day. And, for endurance athletes, this increases to 7g!?


Picture credit: Shutterstock


Source: http://www.athomemagazine.co.uk/more-celeb/sally-gunnell/6123-food-fit-for-a-champion

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Unusual genetic structure confers major disease resistance trait in soybean

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 11-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Andrew Bent
afbent@wisc.edu
608-265-3034
University of Wisconsin-Madison

MADISON Scientists have identified three neighboring genes that make soybeans resistant to the most damaging disease of soybean. The genes exist side-by-side on a stretch of chromosome, but only give resistance when that stretch is duplicated several times in the plant.

"Soybean cyst nematode is the most important disease of soybean, according to yield loss, worldwide, year after year," says senior author Andrew Bent, professor of plant pathology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. "As we try to feed a world that is going from 6 billion toward 9 billion people, soybean is one of the most important sources of protein and food oil."

The nematode is a tough opponent, able to live for years in the soil, and chemicals that kill it are highly toxic and persistent, Bent says. Planting soybeans bred to contain a genetic structure called Rhg1 is the preferred defense against the cyst nematode, currently in use on millions of soybean acres worldwide.

Until now, scientists knew few details about how Rhg1 works. In a study published today in the journal Science, Bent, graduate student David Cook, and collaborators including Matthew Hudson of the University of Illinois, showed that Rhg1 actually houses three genes that work together to confer nematode resistance. Although a single copy of Rhg1 does not make the plant resistant, plants with 10 copies of this three-gene structure do grow well in a field infected with the nematode.

The new finding is noteworthy for several reasons beyond the fact that Rhg1 limits a disease that still causes over $1 billion in U.S. soybean yield losses every year, says Bent. "Having several genes right next to each other that all control the same trait is really common in microbes and fungi, but it's very uncommon in multicellular higher organisms."

Second, although the phenomenon of "multiple copy numbers" repeats of a stretch of DNA has been seen before, "this is a demonstration that the multiple copies are what make the genes practically effective."

Third, the multiple copies concern a three-gene sequence rather than an individual gene. "We have known that genes get duplicated, but it's very unusual to have a small block of genes duplicated so many times," Bent says. "This is an odd structure."

Many details remain to be worked out, including exactly how the three genes fight the nematode. Because two of the genes are involved with transporting chemicals inside and between cells, "an obvious theory is that the plant is transporting something differently," Bent says, "but we don't know if this is a compound that is toxic to the nematode or something the nematode needs. We can't assume that the plant is poisoning the nematode. It may not be cooperating with a parasite that relies on plant chemicals for survival."

Apparently, it's the sheer number of the triple-genes that makes soybeans resistant, Bent says. "We have evidence that what confers the resistance is higher expression of all three genes," not a mutation in the genes. "The fact that the genes are making more of their product is what makes for resistance."

Identifying the genes needed for resistance should help plant breeders quickly identify resistant plants, speeding the quest to breed soybeans with stronger nematode resistance.

Biotechnologists can also now work with these genes to achieve better nematode resistance.

More broadly, Bent notes that multiple gene copies are being found more commonly, so finding repeats of a string of genes with a single function "may not be a one-shot thing. Is this the tip of the iceberg? Is there a lot more of this going on than we know?"

As gene sequencing gets cheaper and faster, "people are discovering that these copy number variations are much more common than we suspected, especially in plants," Bent says. "Now, we have given a concrete example of a useful trait, that is explainable due to the copy number variation of a string containing several active genes."

###

David J. Tenenbaum, 608-265-8549, djtenenb@wisc.edu


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 11-Oct-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Andrew Bent
afbent@wisc.edu
608-265-3034
University of Wisconsin-Madison

MADISON Scientists have identified three neighboring genes that make soybeans resistant to the most damaging disease of soybean. The genes exist side-by-side on a stretch of chromosome, but only give resistance when that stretch is duplicated several times in the plant.

"Soybean cyst nematode is the most important disease of soybean, according to yield loss, worldwide, year after year," says senior author Andrew Bent, professor of plant pathology at University of Wisconsin-Madison. "As we try to feed a world that is going from 6 billion toward 9 billion people, soybean is one of the most important sources of protein and food oil."

The nematode is a tough opponent, able to live for years in the soil, and chemicals that kill it are highly toxic and persistent, Bent says. Planting soybeans bred to contain a genetic structure called Rhg1 is the preferred defense against the cyst nematode, currently in use on millions of soybean acres worldwide.

Until now, scientists knew few details about how Rhg1 works. In a study published today in the journal Science, Bent, graduate student David Cook, and collaborators including Matthew Hudson of the University of Illinois, showed that Rhg1 actually houses three genes that work together to confer nematode resistance. Although a single copy of Rhg1 does not make the plant resistant, plants with 10 copies of this three-gene structure do grow well in a field infected with the nematode.

The new finding is noteworthy for several reasons beyond the fact that Rhg1 limits a disease that still causes over $1 billion in U.S. soybean yield losses every year, says Bent. "Having several genes right next to each other that all control the same trait is really common in microbes and fungi, but it's very uncommon in multicellular higher organisms."

Second, although the phenomenon of "multiple copy numbers" repeats of a stretch of DNA has been seen before, "this is a demonstration that the multiple copies are what make the genes practically effective."

Third, the multiple copies concern a three-gene sequence rather than an individual gene. "We have known that genes get duplicated, but it's very unusual to have a small block of genes duplicated so many times," Bent says. "This is an odd structure."

Many details remain to be worked out, including exactly how the three genes fight the nematode. Because two of the genes are involved with transporting chemicals inside and between cells, "an obvious theory is that the plant is transporting something differently," Bent says, "but we don't know if this is a compound that is toxic to the nematode or something the nematode needs. We can't assume that the plant is poisoning the nematode. It may not be cooperating with a parasite that relies on plant chemicals for survival."

Apparently, it's the sheer number of the triple-genes that makes soybeans resistant, Bent says. "We have evidence that what confers the resistance is higher expression of all three genes," not a mutation in the genes. "The fact that the genes are making more of their product is what makes for resistance."

Identifying the genes needed for resistance should help plant breeders quickly identify resistant plants, speeding the quest to breed soybeans with stronger nematode resistance.

Biotechnologists can also now work with these genes to achieve better nematode resistance.

More broadly, Bent notes that multiple gene copies are being found more commonly, so finding repeats of a string of genes with a single function "may not be a one-shot thing. Is this the tip of the iceberg? Is there a lot more of this going on than we know?"

As gene sequencing gets cheaper and faster, "people are discovering that these copy number variations are much more common than we suspected, especially in plants," Bent says. "Now, we have given a concrete example of a useful trait, that is explainable due to the copy number variation of a string containing several active genes."

###

David J. Tenenbaum, 608-265-8549, djtenenb@wisc.edu


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/uow-ugs100912.php

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Chris Roberts Returns To Game Design: Unveils 'Star Citizen' At GDC

Chris Roberts Unveils New Game At GDC

Dedicated PC gamers everywhere are rejoicing over the news that Chris?Roberts?has returned to game design after a 10 year absence. Chris gave the world a dramatic first look at his new game, Star Citizen, at yesterday?s Game Developers Conference in?Austin,?Texas.

Roberts is famous in the gaming community as the man behind such hits as Wing Commander and Privateer. Chris is also known as the director of the Wing Commander movie that starred an up and coming new face in?Hollywood, Freddie Prinze Jr., and Matthew Lillard. Since his retirement from game design, Roberts produced several feature?films including?The Punisher,?The Jacket,?and?Lord of War.

While he was busy producing movies, Roberts waited?patiently?for computer technology to catch up to his vision for the perfect space combat game.?Sensing?the time was finally at hand,?Roberts began work on?Star Citizen last year, and yesterday he was ready to unveil his new game to the world.

At the GDC, Chris spoke at length about Star Citizen, and he explained why he wanted to design a game that pushed the PC to its limits:

?I?m a PC gamer in my heart, but I have consoles at home and I tend to buy the console version of a game that?s built for a console because I don?t want to play it on the PC. But if someone was building a game that really pushed the limits of the PC, and said this is what it can be if you dream it, then I think I?d definitely buy that. That?s one of the big reasons for me to come back.

?In recent years, game designers have stopped innovating and pushing the boundaries of what you can do in this genre. I plan on bringing that kind of development mentality back into PC gaming and space sims in particular.

?There is a lot of noise out there regarding social and mobile games right now, and I think PC gamers are feeling a little left out of the mix. But the PC is still incredibly capable of presenting an experience that?doesn?t?take a back seat to any other platform out there, including consoles. With my game, I want PC gamers to stand up, be counted and get excited again about all the great experiences their computer can deliver?

Of course no presentation would be complete without a new video that showed off the?new game in all its glory, and Star Citizen got the full treatment at the GDC. Watching the video, you could see the incredible amount of detail that went into the design of the game. Most striking is the manner in which real physics are applied as huge carriers?maneuver?in space. Roberts discussed the principals behind the stunning visuals:

?In terms of a physics model, everything?s rendered and?modeled?physically correctly, If we take a look, as I?m yawing, you?ll see that my thrusters on top are articulating to give the thrust in the correct place to rotate, the proper pitch when I bank. This ship?isn?t?set up to roll at thirty degrees a second, it?s actually?modeled?properly. It?s a full rigid body and it has these thrusters at different points.?

He has always been a hardcore gamer at heart, and Roberts is fondly remembered?for his dedication to the gaming community. Perhaps that is why he also announced his decision to use Crowd Funding for Star Citizen. A website has been created at?www.robertsspaceindustries.com to raise funds for the project, and the response has been overwhelming. Just hours after the announcement, so many people were trying to?contribute?that the site was actually knocked offline for a brief period.

Crowd Funding is?becoming?quite popular as an alternative to traditional fund raising, and Chris explained his reasons for choosing this innovative new method of financing:

?We are taking this approach to fund-raising for several reasons. For one, this route takes the traditional game publisher out of the mix and enables us to take the millions of dollars normally used by publishers for a triple-A title and plow them right back into developing the game. Secondly, using our own crowd funding mechanism allows us to reach out to our international fans, who have been devoted followers of my games in the past. Thirdly, going direct gets us much closer to our fans and allows us to focus more on the community side, create more updates for our fans and directly interact with them as we are making the game.?

Star Citizen is still about two years from launch, which means that the technology will continue to evolve alongside the game.?Participants?in crowd funding will be invited to play an early beta version of the game in about a year, and The Inquisitr will be keeping you up to date on all the latest development?s as Chris and his team continue to work on Star Citizen.

We can only imagine what sort of computer we will use to play Star Citizen when it is?released?24 months from now. How much more can we add to a system that already has 16 gigs of ram, a hex core?CPU, and dual Nvidia 660 TI graphic cards. Oh well, one can always dream, and, like many of our readers, we can?t wait to play Star Citizen.

Source: http://www.inquisitr.com/360098/chris-roberts-returns-to-game-design-unveils-star-citizen-at-gdc/

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Building Up Your Traffic With The Right Internet Marketing Methods ...

When you operate a home business, it is very important for your Internet marketing efforts to be a success. You need to do all that you can to attract new users to your website and show them what you have to offer. This article will highlight five ways to be an Internet marketing success. There is no reason why they should not work for you, regardless of what product and/or service you are trying to sell.

Businesses often make the mistake of using social media sites to advertise directly. This is a bad idea because customers resent being ?spammed? with a lot of ads, and you?ll get a poor reputation if you engage in this behavior. Instead, use your social media sites to interact with your customers. Post facts of interest, questions they can answer and responses to their comments, concerns and questions. Doing this will help increase your reputation as a business that cares about customers and as an expert in your field.

Start a mailing list. This can be a great way to reach prospective customers by sending them email. Make sure your list is easy to opt-in and opt-out of, so people feel comfortable about giving you their email address. Keep emails relevant and helpful; don?t send frivolous emails about what you did last night. Always include a link to your site, so the emails can serve as a reminder to check you out.

Find a good product to market. Whether you create this product or sell someone else?s product, it is important that you pick a product that works and solves a problem for someone. If you have a bad product, it doesn?t matter how good your marketing skills are people will find out that your product is not a good one and move on to other things. They will likely also share their dissatisfaction everywhere on the internet. Save yourself time, money and embarrassment by picking a solid product that people can trust.

Join the social networks your customers use the most. Have your customers answer to surveys to win free products if you are not sure which social networks are popular among your target audience. Even though Facebook and Twitter are the most popular sites, your niche might prefer a different site. Create accounts on the sites your audience uses and fill your profiles with information on your products and links to your site. You should share updates as often as possible and encourage your subscribers to react and share these updates. Organizing contests and sharing exclusive information is a great way to generate some attention on social networks.

Make sure you design your site so that you are maximizing your chances of selling your product. Your site needs to be where the ads blend in, not stand out. You want to pick colors carefully, and you want everything optimized for the search engines.

Are there any local marketing associations in your community? There is nothing better than getting together with someone in person to discuss internet marketing. You can network with people in person and network with those same people online. Knowing them in person helps the whole experience. You can go to group meetings, show people your projects or plan in person, and much more. You can also network with each other to reach out to the local communities.

By simply looking at the way other people market on the internet, you can find out how to market your own products and services. This is one of the best ways you can become successful in a short amount of time with internet marketing. Try your best to learn strategies from other successful internet marketers so that you will know how to become successful very quickly. Then over time you can form your own strategies and start marketing to a lot of people on the internet. It?s perfectly fine to borrow strategies from other internet marketers. Business professionals do it all the time.

Twitter has only been popular for a few years, but it has become a global phenomenon. You would not be wise to ignore the impact that Twitter can have on your business. We live in a world where everyone is overly concerned about what others are doing. Signing up for Twitter will give customers a little peek inside your business. Offer discounts to your followers so they will feel like you appreciate them.

As you can see, there are some serious problems that can be detrimental to your internet marketing business. You need to be careful and avoid these pitfalls in order to be successful. Look at these tips from the article, and if you are doing any of these items, you need to reassess your marketing and rid yourself of these problems.

Incorporating videos to your webpage is a great way to keep your visitors interested. Check out these helpful articles on how to make professional web videos ? Pattern Making Software and Free Movie Making Programs

Source: http://www.businesslistingnow.com/blog/building-up-your-traffic-with-the-right-internet-marketing-methods/

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Browns LB Fujita criticizes Commissioner Goodell

FILE - This Sept. 9, 2012 file photo shows Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita looking on before an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, in Cleveland. Fujita has criticized NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for the way he has handled his suspension in the New Orleans Saints' bounty case. Fujita had his three-game suspension reduced to one on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012, by Goodell, who sent the veteran a letter. Fujita says he's pleased Goodell acknowledged he never participated in the pay-for-hits program, but did not like the commissioner's "condescending tone" in a letter to the linebacker. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)

FILE - This Sept. 9, 2012 file photo shows Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita looking on before an NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, in Cleveland. Fujita has criticized NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for the way he has handled his suspension in the New Orleans Saints' bounty case. Fujita had his three-game suspension reduced to one on Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012, by Goodell, who sent the veteran a letter. Fujita says he's pleased Goodell acknowledged he never participated in the pay-for-hits program, but did not like the commissioner's "condescending tone" in a letter to the linebacker. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak, File)

(AP) ? With as much purpose as any tackle he's ever made, Scott Fujita delivered a shot to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Angered by Goodell's handling of the New Orleans Saints' bounties scandal, Fujita accused the commissioner of misusing his power, questioned his record on player safety, and the Browns linebacker vowed to keep fighting to clear his name.

"The commissioner says he is disappointed in me," Fujita said. "The truth is, I'm disappointed in him."

One day after Goodell reduced his three-game suspension to one for alleged involvement in the Saints' pay-for-hits program and ruled on the penalties for three other players, Fujita took on the commissioner in a strongly worded statement.

Fujita charged Goodell with "abuse of power" and expressed his displeasure with the way his suspension was lessened. On Tuesday, Goodell sent Fujita a letter in which he chastised the 10-year veteran and member of the NFL Players Association's executive committee for not doing more to stop his former teammates in New Orleans from taking part in the "bounty" program.

Goodell wrote to Fujita that he was "surprised and disappointed by the fact that you, a former defensive captain and a passionate advocate for player safety, ignored such a program and permitted it to continue. ... . If you had spoken up, perhaps other players would have refused to participate and the consequences with which we are now dealing could have been avoided."

Fujita was angered by the "condescending tone" in Goodell's letter ? and most of its content.

"For him to come out and say he was disappointed in me for not standing up to my coach," Fujita said after practice Wednesday. "I haven't had someone tell me they were disappointed in me since I was 12 years old, and that was my father."

Fujita was pleased Goodell all but exonerated him from any involvement in the Saints' mess, but was incensed the commissioner felt it necessary to chastise him for not stepping in and trying to stop the rogue program.

"I thought it was uncalled for and inappropriate," Fujita said.

Fujita will appeal his one-game suspension and intends to play Sunday when the winless Browns (0-5) host the Cincinnati Bengals.

Fujita has maintained his innocence in the scandal since it first broke in March. Seven months later, Fujita hasn't changed his stance and felt a recent Sept. 28 meeting with Goodell was "respectful and productive," which is why he's puzzled the commissioner would come down so hard.

"I went in and no punches were thrown," Fujita said of meeting Goodell in New York. "Everybody was kind. So, yeah, I was a little bit taken aback by it. It didn't have to go there at all. It just felt like one more personal jab."

After reading Goodell's letter, Fujita said he began preparing a statement to rebuke the commissioner. Fujita's wife, Jaclyn, urged him to "cool down and sleep on it" before he sent something he would regret. For Fujita, Goodell's implication that he was hypocritical about player safety hurt most.

"For him to speak to me as if I'm cavalier about player health and safety, that's when I said enough is enough," Fujita said.

The way Fujita sees it, Goodell overstepped his boundaries.

"It's just a power-run-amok situation," he said. "Obviously, the scope of the conduct-detrimental powers that have been afforded him are broad, but there has been clear abuse of power that has been afforded to him."

In his statement, Fujita said Goodell's new ruling "seems like an extremely desperate attempt to punish me. I also think it sets a dangerous precedent when players can be disciplined for not challenging the behavior of their superiors. This is an absolute abuse of the power that's been afforded to the Commissioner."

Fujita said if the wording in Goodell's letter had not been so offensive he may have accepted the lesser suspension without a fight.

On Tuesday, Goodell upheld the suspensions of Jonathan Vilma and Will Smith and reduced penalties for Fujita and Anthony Hargrove.

Vilma will sit out the entire season and Smith's punishment stands at four games. Hargrove, a free agent defensive lineman, will face a two-game suspension once he signs with a team. He originally was hit with eight games, but that was reduced to seven with five games already served.

The players were implicated in what the NFL said was a bounty pool run by former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and paid improper cash bonuses for hits that injured opponents. The players have acknowledged a pool but denied they intended to injure anyone.

Fujita insists the bounty program never existed.

Goodell's new ruling comes about a month after an appeals panel created by the NFL's labor agreement vacated the original suspensions on technical grounds during Week 1 of the regular season. The panel informed Goodell he needed to clarify the reasons for the punishment.

Fujita feels a personal connection to the player safety issue. He was at the bargaining table for the players during contract talks when they successfully fought for changes. Fujita's close friend and former Saints teammate Steve Gleason is afflicted with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, an incurable disease that medical studies say could be lined to head injuries.

Fujita knows his fight's not over. And he's not worried about any repercussions for his criticism of Goodell.

"This is how I feel about things," he said with a shrug. "I've been very clear about it since back in March, so I don't think it could get any worse."

___

AP Sports Writer Brett Martel in New Orleans contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-10-10-Bounties-Fujita/id-77ae865ffc1d4a5c970a5b5a8dd7a283

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'Spider-Man' Sequel Eyes Shailene Woodley As Mary Jane

'Secret Life' actress would play Emma Stone's rival for the affections of Andrew Garfield's friendly neighborhood superhero.
By Josh Wigler


Shailene Woodley
Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1695288/shailene-woodley-spider-man-mary-jane.jhtml

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Sanity Travel Tips: Flying with Young Kids | momsicle

The quickest advice: Don?t do it. Now go have a glass of wine.

Everyone hates to see a family with young kids get on the plane. And you know who hates it most of all? The parents. I would rather be getting an enema, washing my hair with hot tree sap, or eating a can of spray cheese topped with Lucky Charms and mayonnaise. If you know me, that?s about as low as it can get.

But we just got back from Tampa and we survived four flights with a three year old and a one year old. Everyone is remarkably intact. K-Pants threw up on the first flight during the bumpy descent, so that was awesome; but because I was prepared with a full extra change of clothes for him and Baby Woww (whom he also sprayed), things were alright.

How to Survive Flying with Young Children

1. The short answer: drugs.

I packed liquid melatonin, children?s Dramamine, adult Dramamine (don?t forget to take care of mama!), Ibuprofen, and nighttime Orajel (Baby Woww was teething). We?ve used Benadryl in the past, but I forgot to buy it in a small enough container to pass through security. I am NOT a doctor, so don?t consider this medical advice. But I will say that I experimented with each thing before taking it on the plane, to make sure nothing had the opposite effect on the kids. And I follow dosage instructions. If you?re going to give the kids something, make sure you do it 20-30 minutes before you want it to take effect.

2. Pack in advance. I?m admittedly neurotic, but I feel like packing one week before the trip is crucial. That way you can assess what you need to go to the store to get. I knew to go find the Orajel that was missing from the liquids/drugs bag, and I had time to search out extra headphones and phone chargers. It?s the worst feeling to realize at midnight the night before the trip that you need something critical. Plus, the night before your trip, you NEED to sleep.

3. Use technology to your advantage. We have an iPhone and a tablet that?thanks to you, readers!?were filled with kid-friendly games. We bought the Fisher Price iPhone Apptivity case, and it worked great for the kids to hold, and?bonus!?it made it easier for me to find my phone in the seat pocket or travel bags (it?s hard to lose a phone when it?s being hugged by a colorful baby rattle). If you have a toddler who doesn?t constantly press the home button on your phone, then don?t worry about a special case. The one year old always pushes the home button, and the case has a feature that makes it so the child can?t do it.

4. If you can separate the kids, do it. This was unexpected. I feel like when we travel together I can only survive if my husband is next to me as another enforcer and source of moral support. However, the biggest problems we had were generally due to the baby wanting something the preschooler had, or vice versa. So they mainly fought over things, and there?s no good place for time-out on a plane (although for something egregious, the back area near the restrooms will work). On our return trip my husband got upgraded to first class with the baby, and it was much less stressful for each of us. And I have to give my husband credit here, he let me choose where I wanted to sit and I chose coach with the three year old, because flying with kids aged 9-months to just under three years is the WORST.

5. Pack lots of snacks.

This is a no-brainer. Try to make them a real mix of savory and sugary, so that you don?t have sugar highs and sugar lows. Things wrapped in shiny wrappers always work well for us, so we had Luna bars and fiber fruit bars. K-Pants is obsessed with cough drops, so we brought a bunch of those. We also got popcorn and apple crunchy straws from Trader Joe?s. TJ?s is perfect for these kinds of snacks. I recommend trying out any new snacks on the kids before the flight so that you know what they?ll really go crazy for.

6. Pack little toys and games.

This is mainly for the preschool set. Though my friend Emily had finger puppets for her one year old, and felt cut-outs entertained both kids when I stuck them on the seat backs.

7. Bring books, especially audio books. We stopped at the library before the trip and got some paperback books about K-Pants?s favorite things (trucks, boats, trains). It was nice that the books were new. We also looked for audio books that I then downloaded onto an iPod, so that the toddler could listen during the flight. NOTE: we haven?t had any success with either of our babies wearing headphones. But now that K-Pants is three, he wears them fine. We practiced with the headphones the week before.

8. Label things. One of the hardest things when traveling is that everything is packed so neatly in bags that I don?t often use, so it takes me way longer than necessary to locate the medicine or the headphones. Meanwhile, someone is having a meltdown. I went overboard and labeled the zippers on my backpack with ?Liquids? and ?Technology? and it was awesome.

9. Bring lots of extra plastic bags.

You can never have enough. You?ll need a couple for trash as the kids eat snacks. You?ll need some for soiled clothes or diapers. I also packed all snacks and toys in bags that we could then reuse later. Just throw ?em in and I guarantee you?ll use ?em.

10. Bring your big stroller. We could have gotten by easily with a single stroller in Tampa, but the double allowed us to strap two tired kids in at the airport, or have one child in the stroller with a suitcase in the other side. Options are endless, and you can gate check that bad boy for free.

11. Don?t be afraid to buy media and food on board the flight. I was frazzled and exhausted on our second flight to Tampa. I?d been thrown up on the flight before, and my airport burrito had canned corn in it. I was in a MOOD. Eight dollars for a little tapas box on the plane was definitely overpriced, but it was just the gourmet pick-me-up I needed. And paying for DirectTV came in handy for kids movies, and sports and adult entertainment (not that kind!) when the kids were napping. Just put out of your mind how overpriced everything is: Your in-flight sanity is priceless.

12. Park at a long-term lot that drives you directly from your car to your terminal. You know flying is going to be nerve-wracking, so why start it out with a frustrating trip from the outer banks of economy parking, where you have to wheel all your gear to a bus stop and wait. We used Air Park at the Portland airport, and they come to your car and drop you off at the terminal for a little less than $10 per day. Worth it if you have to leave your car.

13. Practice before getting on the flight.

The kids don?t usually play games on the iPhone or tablet, and I didn?t want the plane to be the first time, because there?s always a little frustration in learning something new. So we talked about how exciting the flight would be, and practiced with the games and the headphones beforehand. We also practiced with wearing the carry-on backpack.

14. Pack a full set of extra clothes for each child. Comes in handy in soooo many ways: accidents, throw-up, spilling ginger ale?

Please add your tips so that others (including me!) can benefit.

***

Want more family travel advice and ideas?

Sanity Travel Tips?(the original post)

Games to Play in Tight Spaces

Surviving the Road Trip

Other People?s Kids

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Source: http://momsicle.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/sanity-travel-tips-flying-with-young-kids/

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Amazon, Netflix May Compete More Heavily In Future As Online ...


By Alistair Barr
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc's deal to purchase streaming movies from cable network Epix could transform the way such deals are done, thanks to a pay-for-performance sweetener that had not been previously disclosed.
According to an executive directly involved in the deal, Amazon agreed to an earn-out provision payable to Epix over time if the number of subscribers to Amazon's Prime Instant Video service rises above a certain threshold. That comes in addition to a fixed upfront fee, the basis for most subscription video-on-demand deals up to this point.
The generous terms of the deal, announced in September, provide the strongest evidence yet that Amazon is willing to pay up to be a player in this market as it faces a dwindling demand for DVDs - once its core entertainment offering - and tough competition for its Kindle Fire tablets.
Film studios and TV network executives, meanwhile, now have a worthy foil to play against Netflix - once the only major streaming player - and possibly a template for future deals.
"This could be considered online video deals 2.0. After doing 1.0 deals mostly with Netflix and a few with Amazon, it dawned on the media companies that they may want to get a piece of any future growth too," said Goldman Sachs media analyst Drew Borst.
The deal with Epix - a partnership between Hollywood studios Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Lionsgate - was structured so studios could capture any rapid Prime Instant Video growth, according to the executive involved in the transaction.
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment on details of the deal. An Epix spokeswoman also declined to comment.
But Epix Chief Executive Mark Greenberg did say of Amazon: "Internet delivery of content is a way in which a new, emerging younger audience wants to view content, and they know they can be a significant player in the space, we are happy to help them get there."
Epix previously had a deal with Netflix, which had been paying $200 million a year since 2010 for exclusive rights to the network's movies. When that exclusivity period expired, Amazon swooped in and quickly struck a three-year partnership to add about 3,000 movies from Epix to Prime Instant Video.
The deal sent a message that Amazon, which has not had a reputation for paying richly for anything, was serious about its digital video ambitions and was willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to secure content.
"There are times when it's frugal to make big productive investments," said Roy Price, head of Amazon Studios, Amazon's Hollywood studio. "When there are opportunities to do that we will do that."
HOLLYWOOD'S NEW BEST FRIEND
The studios are going to benefit.
"Hollywood loves it because they can say Amazon is paying us X and we want more from you," said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities in LA. "It's a club they can use to beat Netflix over the head."
A Netflix spokesman declined to comment on the structure of its content deals.
"We never thought that we were going to operate without competition," Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, said during an investor conference last month. "We were surprised that it has taken this long for anyone to really emerge in a meaningful way."
Amazon's Prime Instant Video service has more than 25,000 titles now, but that is still about half the number available on Netflix.
In addition to Netflix, Amazon also competes with Hulu, run by Jason Kilar, one of Amazon's former executives, which has a subscription video service called Hulu Plus. Earlier this year, Comcast Corp launched a rival called Streampix and Verizon and Coinstar's Redbox are expected to launch a competing service soon.
While Amazon's streaming deals cost less than Netflix's in raw dollar terms, it pays more on a per-subscriber basis, according to media executives and Wall Street analysts.
Amazon offers its streaming-video-on-demand service (SVOD) as a feature of its Prime program, which charges $79 a year in the United States for free two-day shipping on most products the company sells.
The company does not disclose subscriber figures for its Prime service. But some media companies that have done streaming video deals with Amazon have seen the data. One executive who has seen the figures told Reuters Amazon has about 9 million Prime subscribers. Prime Video subscribers - Prime members who have used the streaming service - total between 3 million and 4 million, this person said.
Netflix's larger customer base - it has about 25 million streaming video subscribers in the United States - means its total cost in licensing deals is typically higher than Amazon's, said the executive. But Amazon's cost basis, when adjusted for subscribers, is typically higher since its customer base is smaller.
Amazon does not disclose how much it pays for content. Barclays analyst Anthony DiClemente estimates that Amazon spends about $1 billion a year on content for its streaming service while Netflix spends close to $2 billion a year.
Netflix shares dropped as much as 11 percent the day Amazon's Epix deal was unveiled, although they have recovered since then.
Netflix stock jumped more than 10 percent on Monday after Morgan Stanley upgraded the company, saying Amazon was unlikely to separate its streaming video subscription service from its broader Prime offering, making it less of a direct competitor.
However, keeping Prime Instant Video packaged with its Prime shipping program will help Amazon pay more for video content, because it can subsidize content costs from profits made when Prime customers buy more physical products through the company, Wedbush's Pachter said.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PRIME
Amazon, which ranks as the world's largest Internet retailer, has been a leading purveyor of DVDs, but sales are falling as more viewers download and stream video instead.
The downward spiral of DVDs sales dovetails with Amazon's face-off against Apple Inc in tablet computing. Amazon is pricing its Kindle Fire devices lower than Apple's iPad with the aim of using it as a loss-leader to generate profit from the products and services consumers buy on its site, including digital movies, TV shows and books.
That means that gaining access to digital movies and TV shows is crucial for Amazon's future.
Since the middle of 2011, Amazon has announced streaming video deals with more than 10 media companies, including NBCUniversal, part of Comcast, News Corp's Fox, and ABC, part of Walt Disney Co.
Amazon has been selective about which content it will buy, in contrast to Netflix, which has opted to pursue a broader range, according to media executives who have done deals with both companies.
"The fact that they have spent a lot of money on a few things has been very interesting," said Netflix's Sarandos during last month's investor conference. "We're obviously keeping a good eye on it."
COMMODITY CONCERN
Some media companies are treading carefully with Amazon, though, given its track record of driving prices down.
In the book and e-book market, where Amazon grew to be the dominant player, it has battled publishers for the right to set its retail prices below wholesale.
Amazon will have more difficulty commoditizing movies and TV shows because it is competing for content with a growing list of streaming video on demand rivals. And Hollywood controls how and when its content is distributed more tightly, with big-budget films traditionally heading to theaters first, followed by DVD and pay TV.
For example, one media company has short-term agreements with Amazon that allow for quick exits if the deal does not go according to plan, said an executive.
(Reporting By Alistair Barr in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Lauria, Martin Howell)

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/09/amazon-netflix_n_1950079.html

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1991 wedding guest list made VP debate side issue

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