Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Getting Lunch to Work for You


Between fast food joints, school lunch programs and Chinese buffets, grabbing a good-for-you lunch on the go is getting harder and harder. Want to pack healthier lunches for the whole family? It's easy -- all you need to do is a little planning. The Goal: Make Healthy Lunches for the Whole Family, Monday - Thursday Start by jotting down everyone's likes, dislikes, and never-trieds. The overlaps in the "likes" column will form the basis for your meals. Throw in items from the "never-trieds" column here and there, so everyone gets the chance to try new foods. Once in awhile, pick something from the "dislikes" column and try cooking it a new way -- people often have an aversion to a particular food preparation more than the food itself. The Plan:Pick one day of the week for grocery shopping, and two for food preparation. On each prep day, make two lunches, with enough servings for everyone. For example: Shop and prepare two days' worth of food on Sunday. Prepare the remaining two days on Tuesday night. Voila! Lunches for everyone. Once a week, let everyone eat what they want to, with some parameters (more on that later). Here are some meal ideas: 1. Wraps The problem with sandwiches for lunch is that they're usually all carbohydrates and protein, minus the occasional iceberg lettuce leaf and tomato slice. Whole grain wraps are a tasty, healthier alternative. Some filling ideas: - Roasted vegetables and hummus - Chicken with avocado and tomato slices with oil and vinegar Recipe: Greek Salad Wrap 2. Burritos Burritos made with whole grain tortillas can be served either warm or cold, making them an easy meal for elementary schoolers and office dwellers alike. For add-ins, try salsa, guacamole, or low-fat cheese and sour cream. Some filling ideas: - Chicken and jalapeno - Shrimp and tomatillos Recipe: Grilled Veggie Burritos 3. Hearty Grain Salads Adding together a lean protein, veggies and a whole grain is a complete healthy lunch alternative. Some ideas: - Chicken, broccoli and brown rice - Whole wheat pasta salad with tuna, fresh veggies and a vinaigrette Recipe: Refried Soba Noodles with Tofu 4. Soups Whether you're making a chilled summer gazpacho or a hearty winter stew, soups are easy to transport, and a great way to get a ton of vegetables into one dish. Recipe: Turkey Chili 5. Sides and Snacks Both kids and adults alike need something to munch on. Try one of these alternatives to chips and pretzels: Baby carrots with hummus Celery with peanut butter Cheese and grapes Air-popped popcorn Recipe: Spiced Roasted Chickpeas 6. Something Sweet Got some sweet teeth in the family? Give them one of these afternoon pick-me-ups: Fruit: Dried or regular (dried is sweeter) Yogurt with honey Recipe: Sweet and Salty Trail Mix 7. Better Choices Let's face it -- you aren't always going to eat the healthiest when left to your own devices, and neither is your family. Set some parameters for when they're on their own -- eat at least one piece of fruit, choose whole grain bread, or have a small salad before your meal. Teaching them to take small steps toward healthy eating now will have a big impact down the road, and not just for them -- for you, too!

Strong aftershock hits Haiti


A strong aftershock rocked Haiti on Wednesday morning just as much-needed medical aid was set to reach the earthquake-ravaged nation.

The 6.1-magnitude aftershock was about 6.2 miles deep, with an epicenter about 35 miles (60 kilometers) west-southwest of the capital of Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

It rattled people struggling to recover from the devastating 7.0-magnitude earthquake that walloped the impoverished country January 12, killing at least 72,000 people.

Such a strong tremor can pose significant danger in a nation where damaged buildings are teetering precariously. The aftershock was the strongest to hit Haiti since last week's original quake, the USGS said.

Patients at a hospital near Haiti's airport in Port-au-Prince immediately started praying as the ground shook like a ship rocking back and forth. They asked for forgiveness and protection, a nurse said.

At least one injury was reported in the moments after the aftershock, which struck at 6:03 a.m. ET.

The aftershock jolted Haiti as much-needed medical reinforcement approached offshore in the form of a state-of-the-art hospital aboard a U.S. naval ship.

The USNS Comfort is to arrive midmorning Wednesday in the flattened capital. U.S. helicopters will ferry patients aboard, bringing relief to overloaded hospitals and clinics.

Two severely injured Haitians already have been transported to the hospital ship as it sailed toward Haiti, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

The patients -- a 6-year-old boy with a crushed pelvis and 20-year-old man with a broken skull and possibly fractured cervical vertebrae -- had been treated initially on the USS Carl Vinson, a U.S. aircraft carrier docked off the Haitian capital.
The Comfort is carrying nearly 550 doctors, nurses, corpsmen, technicians and support staff, who will be joined by 350 other medical staffers once the ship reaches Haiti, according to the U.S. Southern Command. The ship will have six operating rooms available and can house up to 1,000 patients.

The United States has been conducting some medical operations aboard the USS Carl Vinson, docked off Haiti's coast.
More than a week after the devastating earthquake, efforts to get hospitals back into working shape were seeing some results, but the injured were still streaming in.

Surgeries resumed Tuesday at University Hospital, the country's largest, said Dr. Jon Andrus, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization.


At the general hospital in Port-au-Prince, doctors were working under stressful conditions in buildings located away from the main building, which has been deemed unsafe.

"We have run out of IVs and IV needles and IV fluids," said Dr. Mark Hyman of the medical relief organization Partners in Health. "We've run out of surgical supplies. We have to wash with vodka, and we have to operate with hacksaws because we don't have enough operating tools."

The military is going to help with organization and supplies, Hyman said. "They're going to help us get electricity, they're going to help us get food, they're going to help us get tents, they're going to help us get all the operating supplies in," he said.
Early Wednesday, 3 million Haitians were still in need of food, water, shelter and medical assistance, the United Nations estimated.

Some officials said relief efforts have started to turn the corner in getting aid to those who need it.
"Every day we reach out further," said Lt. Gen. P.K. Keen, deputy commander of the U.S. Southern Command. "We are moving in the right direction."

Keen is in charge of U.S. military operations in Haiti. The U.S. military already has delivered 200,000 bottles of water and more than 600,000 rations to Haitians, Keen said.

John Holmes, the U.N. emergency relief coordinator, agreed the situation slowly is improving.
"We are making progress," Holmes said. "But it's very frustrating that it takes so long to get as many supplies, doctors and hospitals that are needed."

The aid effort has frustrated some, with a few organizations saying that the bottleneck at the Port-au-Prince airport and mismanagement in other areas have hampered aid distribution.

Meanwhile, authorities said they believe about a third of the bodies that will make up the final death toll have been buried.
Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that at least 72,000 bodies had been recovered, not including the unknown number of bodies buried by families or collected by the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

It was unclear how many of the dead had been identified before burial and how many of those burials occurred in mass graves.
"We know that bodies have been buried; we feel inappropriately," Andrus said. He cited lack of refrigeration as a complicating factor and made an urgent appeal for blood donors because storage was not possible.

"Despite all our efforts, situations, circumstances are such that we are disappointed in many cases on how this has been managed, beyond everybody's control," he said.

Pan American Health Organization, which is coordinating the health-sector response, offered a preliminary estimate of 200,000 dead.

At least 28 of them were Americans, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday.

But miraculous rescues were still taking place as people were being pulled out alive even after a week under rubble.
On Tuesday night, New York City Fire Department and Police Department rescuers pulled two children alive from the ruins of a two-story Port-au-Prince building. The 8-year-old boy and 10-year-old girl were taken to an Israeli tent hospital.

Earlier, rescuers pulled a survivor from the rubble near Haiti's national cathedral. Rescue crews said two other survivors might be under the same pile, though hopes faded in the evening.

In all, international rescue teams of about 1,700 people have rescued 121 people, the United Nations said.

Outside Haiti, people have contributed more than $220 million to major U.S. relief groups, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, a newspaper covering nonprofit organizations. But the world's generosity continued to overwhelm the ability of the airport in Port-au-Prince. The result: Some badly needed aid was left sitting on the tarmac.

U.S. Army Maj. Daniel Allyn, deputy commander of the Joint Task Force Unified Response, said flights would be diverted to two alternate ports of entry within the next day or two to relieve the pressure. On an average day before the earthquake, the airport was handling 13 commercial aircraft; in the days since, it was handling more than 200, Allyn, said.

Some flights were diverting to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, causing congestion there, too, Andrus said.

Nevertheless, advances were being made: Roads that were impassable in the initial aftermath of last week's quake have been cleared, so that supplies could be trucked to those in need, he said.

Dr. Rajiv Shah, the U.S. Agency for International Development administrator, told reporters Tuesday night that the U.S. response has been "swift, aggressive and coordinated."

Shah cited the U.S. donations of 18 water production units providing nearly 2 million liters of drinking water per day and nearly 17 million meals as examples.

The goal of the efforts, he said, "is to make sure that the things we do collectively as an international community to support the relief effort are as sustainable as possible."

In an interview with CNN's Amanpour, Haitian President Rene Preval applauded the progress aid workers have made over the past week in restoring electricity and communication, clearing roads, erecting shelters, distributing food and re-establishing hospitals.

Preval credited the international community, saying, "Without their help, it would be impossible for us to cope with the situation."

The U.N. Security Council approved sending an additional 2,000 soldiers and 1,500 police officers to the country, and the port is expected to reopen next week, said U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Fixing the port is a priority, because it is where fuel enters the country. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said this week that he would send 225,000 barrels of gasoline and diesel, with arrival Thursday at a refinery in the Dominican Republic, for use in Haiti.

That represents nearly three weeks worth of fuel if Haiti were to continue the 11,000 barrel-per-day consumption that was typical before the earthquake.

About 2,000 U.S. troops were in Haiti, and more than 5,000 were offshore on ships, Allyn said. The U.S. military anticipated eventually having 10,000 troops in Haiti, he said.

Some Haitians welcomed the arrival of U.S. forces, but one man said Haitians needed more relief supplies, not troops or guns.

Learning lessons from past disasters

"Do you need anything from the pharmacy?" my wife asked. "I have to go early tomorrow to pick up a case of toothpaste."
"Why a case?"

"They are having a drive for Haiti at Bea's school. They are asking all the parents to drop toothpaste, blankets, and other emergency goods to be sent to the earthquake victims."

Maybe your church or your school has asked you to do something similar? If so, pause to think for a moment how crazy it is. You drive to the store. You buy individual items at retail prices. You deliver them to the church or school, where they will be boxed, dispatched to a depot, loaded into a container, trucked to a port, loaded onto a boat, shipped to Haiti, unloaded, sorted, and somehow distributed who knows how many weeks from now. And then -- what if it turns out they don't need the toothpaste?

The day before Christmas, 2004, a terrible tsunami struck the coastline of Indian Ocean countries. The disaster killed perhaps 225,000 people and destroyed millions of homes. International aid surged into the regions: billions of dollars pledged by governments and donated by individuals.

One year after the disaster, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies published a remarkably candid assessment of the result of this generosity:

"Initially, aid organizations had to base their relief distributions on informed guesses -- overwhelmed by logistics, they lacked the time to undertake detailed assessments or consultations with affected people. The situation on the hardest-hit west coast [of the Indonesian island of Aceh] remained the big unknown. 'We were taking steps in the dark,' said one aid worker.
"Although international agencies were right in guessing that water, food and shelter would be survivors' initial needs, they were wrong to assume these needs would not be covered, at least partially, by Indonesians themselves. Agencies did little to suppress the myth of disaster victims dependent on external aid to survive. ...

"As dramatic stories of suffering hit the headlines, more agencies poured in, expecting the worst. But aid workers arriving at Meulaboh, dubbed 'ground zero' of the western coast, on 4 January were surprised to find survivors being well cared for by the Indonesian army and authorities. A scramble for beneficiaries began. Some agencies jealously guarded their information to ensure their 'niche.' Within weeks, the 'humanitarian space' had become too small for all these actors.

"Coordination became difficult. Out of 200 agencies present in late January, only 46 submitted reports to U.N. coordinators. Joint needs assessments were rare. Language proved problematic, with U.N. meetings held in English and government meetings in Indonesian. Without knowing who was doing what and where, some communities were overwhelmed with aid while others were neglected.

"At the root of coordination problems was one key factor: too much money. Nearly everyone could hire a helicopter or boat, make their own needs assessments and distributions, and 'fly the flag'. ...

"A month after disaster struck, the aid effort was in full swing. Yet despite a massive response, some of those in greatest need missed out. Most agencies flocked to Aceh's devastated west coast -- but 150,000 people displaced on the east coast received far less aid. Meanwhile, although over 200,000 homeless people found a roof with host families, very few of these families received aid in the first month."

On the other side of the Indian Ocean, the Sri Lankan government did not respond as efficiently as the Indonesian government.
Sri Lanka was hit hard by the tsunami: 31,000 dead. In the months after the disaster, the people of the island nation accepted some $2.2 billion in public and private aid.

The Sri Lankan branch of the anti-corruption group Transparency International reviewed Sri Lanka's record on the fifth anniversary of the tsunami.

TI Sri Lanka found that $603 million of that $2.2 billion was spent on projects unrelated to tsunami damage. An additional $472 million had untraceably vanished: stolen perhaps, or diverted, or wasted.

I don't want to send the wrong message: In many ways, reconstruction after the tsunami has been a huge success. Many charities did great good.

Yet it is also true that if improperly managed, the surge of international donations into a disaster zone can do great harm.
The international humanitarian community has learned important lessons from the tsunami -- and you should too.

Lesson 1:

Disaster relief is first and foremost a military operation. Nobody else has the reach and the lift.

In the first half week after the quake, the U.S. military distributed 600,000 packaged meals and installed water purification systems that can pump 100,000 liters per day. Army helicopters deliver food inland, bypassing the miserable Haitian roads; the Navy has already converted the little port of Cap Haitien to receive modern containers.

The prevention of looting and rioting, the digging out of survivors, and the airlifting of emergency supplies -- those are jobs for government agencies. If all you ever do for Haiti is pay your taxes -- then you have already done a great deal.

Lesson 2:

As the immediate shock passes, a disaster-struck region can benefit from many services that governments do not provide so well. The traumatized must be counseled. The bereaved must be comforted. The maimed must be treated and rehabilitated.

Roads must be reopened. New homes must be built. Economic activity must be re-ignited.

Here is where charities and non-government organizations [NGOs] can excel -- or fail.

What is needed after a disaster is more help. What often arrives are many helpers.

These excess helpers bid up the price of some local services. In Afghanistan, I met doctors who had studied abroad, where they had learned English as well as medicine. On their return home, they could earn $100 a month treating the sick -- or $500 a month translating for non-governmental organizations. Guess which job they picked?

So when you do give, concentrate your giving on big organizations with an established presence in the disaster zone. Be suspicious of any group that will first need to build an infrastructure in the area.

And if you are at all tempted to travel yourself to help? Unless you possess unique skills that have been specifically requested by a reputable aid organization -- do everybody a favor, and stay home. The room you'll occupy, the water and electricity you'll consume, are needed by the local people.

Lesson 3:

Disaster survivors need work, not welfare. The distribution of free food, water, tents, etc. must end rapidly, within at most a few weeks. Otherwise a disaster population ends up as a permanent mendicant upon the international community.

Instead, what works best are "cash for work" schemes. Does a road need to be cleared of rubble? Pay local people to do the job -- and not just the manual labor either. Hire local engineers, buy supplies locally. Poor as it is, Haiti manufactures its own cement. It is home to merchants who want to sell rebar and bottled water. If goods and services are dumped free upon a poor country, it can crush any hope of locally sustained economic recovery.

There's always the chance that the locals may do the job incompetently and corruptly. That risk is still to be preferred to the certainty of dependency on long-term international aid -- and the ensuing exodus of the educated and talented to opportunity abroad. Perhaps 600,000 Haitians live in the United States, probably about one-third of them illegally. Another 82,000 Haitians live in Canada. A Haitian-born woman now serves as Canada's governor-general, the country's effective head of state. Altogether, an estimated 80 percent of Haiti's university graduates live abroad.

For all its horror, a disaster can be a demand-side stimulus to a local economy. Give survivors the means to supply their own wants, and then get out of the way.

Lesson 4:

American leaders are pledging a bigger and more permanent commitment to Haitian reconstruction. Big mistake. Please reconsider.

Haiti already receives $250 million of U.S. government aid annually, more than any country in the Americas except Mexico and Colombia. Canada and the EU also give generously. Altogether, more than one-third of Haiti's budget depends on foreign donations. And that's only the government-to-government assistance!

The World Bank counts 10,000 NGOs in operation in Haiti. To a great extent, these NGOs have displaced the broken Haitian state. They support libraries and universities, run schools and hospitals -- so much so that the island has been nicknamed, "the republic of NGOs."

Haitian agriculture offers an extreme example. The Haitian farmer's association ANDAH estimates that of the $91 million budgeted for public investment in agriculture in 2006-2007, $85 million was managed by NGOs.

Control of the resources of an NGO has become a crucial asset in Haitian political competition; employment in an NGOs has become the outstanding avenue to upward mobility in Haiti. In fact, the previous prime minister, Michele Pierre-Louis, had headed the Haitian arm of George Soros' Open Society Institute.

President Rene Preval's two earlier nominees for the job had been rejected by the Parliament. But nobody was going to vote against a nominee who controlled one of the largest pools of cash on the island. Pierre-Louis' nomination was approved by the Chamber of Deputies 61-1 in July 2008, and by the Haitian Senate 12-0. Her detractors simply abstained: 20 in the Chamber, five in the Senate.

Altogether, Haiti has received nearly $6 billion in aid since 1990. The nation has borrowed another $1.5 billion on global markets. That's almost $1,000 per Haitian in international transfers. Yet half the children on the island go unimmunized against disease. Two-thirds of Haitians cannot read or write. Order is kept by Canadian troops, not Haitian forces.

More of what is not working won't work better. The huge aid flow has not lessened poverty, disease or illiteracy. It has instead empowered leaders who possess only one skill: the ability to manage and manipulate foreign donors.

Haiti and its supporters must choose between one of two futures -- and the present grim moment is as good a time as any to start.

Future 1: Accept that Haiti cannot govern itself. Close the government, fire the president and cabinet, and put the NGOs fully in charge. The NGOs get the aid money. They hire, they fire. They give the orders to the police and the foreign troops. They allocate the reconstruction money. They teach and immunize. Local elites will be deprived of the power to extract bribes, steal from the population, and divert humanitarian assistance to themselves. Outsiders pay Haiti's bills -- maybe it's time they made Haiti's decisions.

OR Future 2: Generously fund disaster relief and post-disaster job creation -- but set a date certain for the termination of all further international cash assistance. December 31, 2019, would do as well as any date. Over the next decade, international assistance would taper on a pre-set schedule. Haiti's people need to know: It's up to them to elect better leaders, and up to those leaders to run schools, roads and the local economy.

NGOs can offer advice, but unelected foreigners dispensing free money make a poor substitute for your own government. And to adapt an old formula -- there's no representation without taxation.

It sounds tough, but this is the medicine that worked for South Korea and Taiwan in the 1960s. It's the medicine that has worked for every country that has ever escaped poverty. Haiti is a tougher case than most. But who will deny that the present path is a path of ever worsening and costlier failure?

Did you hear that Disney could go after you for posting vacation videos online?



Can you imagine that? In a day and age where the internet and youtube are like common place.
Does Disney have the right to do this? Read all about it.

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/01/19/legal-limbo-disney-could-go-after-you-for-posting-vacation-vide/

Too Busy For School? Here's The New Way To Earn Your Degree

Jillian Paul of Sacramento was well into her teaching degree when she found out she was pregnant. She didn't have time to complete the student teaching portion before she was due, so she put her degree on hold. When her daughter turned 2 last year, Paul decided to pick up where she'd left off, but she realized that driving to classes at the state university nearby would cut too much into her full-time mom duties. So she investigated online courses -- and decided to get her masters through National University.

"I was sold when I saw I had so many class times to pick from," Paul says. "I can do my homework whenever I have time. I can miss a couple of classes and still get the course done." Online courses aren't just for typical college undergrads, taking courses for their liberal arts degrees. Most online students are working adults and stay-at-home parents, like Paul, who want more job skills but don't have time to sit in a classroom.
"The type of student we attract is typically older, in their mid-30s, and they work," says Mary Sherman, associate dean for National University's Sacramento campus. "Online gives them flexibility to go to school, raise their families, and continue to work."
Rising enrollment, rising value
The number of students going online is rising rapidly. Nearly 4 million students took at least one online course in the fall 2007 term, according to the Sloan Consortium, an online-education advocacy group: a 12% increase over the previous year. (The U.S. has about 20 million higher-education students.) At the University of Phoenix, a for-profit leader in online education, enrollment rises every year. In 2006, Phoenix enrolled 225,000 students; in 2009, its enrollment was 398,000.
And it's not only online colleges offering Internet courses. Most traditional colleges and universities offer them, too, as part of their degree programs (although not all schools allow students to earn a degree entirely online).
And while employers several years ago might have turned up their noses at applicants with online degrees, more are partnering with these educators. Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch lent his name to an online MBA school run by Chancellor University System, and this month, the AFL/CIO announced it was creating an online school for union members to learn new job skills.
Truths and misconceptions
But online courses are not for everyone. "There's a misperception that online courses are easier than brick-and-mortar ones," says Helen MacDermott, content director for online-learning resource eLearners.com. "But just because the format and delivery is different doesn't mean that it's less challenging and demanding."
First-time college students may be better off in the classroom, because most contact between online students and teachers is over e-mail. There are no verbal reminders in online courses about getting your homework done, and students need to learn to fit their coursework into every spare 15 or 30 minutes they have. "It's a long-term commitment, between one and two years, so you need to use every one of your spare minutes to address your coursework," says MacDermott, who plans to earn her online degree in instructional design and technology this year. "That's why people with good time-management skills are the ones who will excel."
Another misconception about online education: that it's cheaper than a traditional degree. That's not always the case. Online courses at for-profit schools can cost more than those at brick-and-mortar institutions. An online bachelor's degree at Kaplan University costs about $64,000, which is the average cost of a four-year traditional public university. Tuition last year at the University of Phoenix campus in Columbia, S.C., ranged from $325 to $515 per credit hour, while tuition at the University of South Carolina is $8,838 per year -- which, for a student with two 15-hour semesters, averages $295 per credit hour.
And while online students get to skip the commute to campus, they still have to log onto an electronic forum a few times each week to participate in discussions, communicate with teachers and peers, get their assignments, and hand in homework and exams.
Managing classes and time
While flexibility was the big benefit for Paul in Sacramento, she doesn't feel like an isolated student with nameless, faceless peers and professors. In fact, she says, her class has become a close-knit cybercommunity. "We have weekly class chat sessions. Instructors put their IM addresses on the syllabus. I have plenty of study buddies."
Paul still has to juggle her studies between making dinner and getting her daughter to bed. But she has learned to use her time wisely, like prepping for an exam while waiting in the doctor's office.
"If my only option was to attend a traditional college, I wouldn't be getting an education at all. But because I'm able to fit classwork into my schedule, I'm getting far more out of learning."
Is online study your best option?
If you're interested in earning a degree online, ask yourself (and your school) these questions before you sign up for a course.
Do I have what it takes to succeed? Course loads are just as rigorous as classroom learning. And because there's no structured class schedule, it takes a lot of self-discipline to stay on track. Excellent time-management skills are a must; procrastination will be a problem.
Is the school certified and accredited? Legitimate online schools are recognized by both the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Check their databases to see which schools they have accredited.
Does the school offer financial aid? Title IV funding from the U.S., including student loans and grants, should be available.
How much will it cost? Tuition varies, but expect to pay as much per credit hour at a for-profit school like University of Phoenix as you would at a traditional campus like the University of California.
Can I break out of my shell? Make sure you're okay with not sitting in a classroom and seeing your teacher face-to-face. Don't get isolated -- connect to your colleagues through the e-resources offered, like online forums and chat rooms.