German Cheesecake

Ingredients

1 ½ cups white sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese , softened

1 pound small curd cottage cheese

½ cup butter , softened

4 medium eggs

1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease the bottom and halfway up the sides of a 9 inch spring form pan. Mix together the sugar, cornstarch, and flour and set aside.

Combine the cream cheese and cottage cheese; beat with an electric mixer at high speed until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the softened butter. Gradually add the sugar mixture, beating until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, blending well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla and mix just until smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake rest in the oven with the door closed for 2 hours. Remove and cool on a wire rack. Chill for 4 hours or overnight.

Source: allrecipes

Are you an Optometrist??? Need a software? Visit  VisualEyes

Bathroom renovation?? Need some help? Just visit  Bathmaster

Read More

What to Expect in Samasung's Galaxy S4

Last Thursday evening in New York ,the Samsung Electronics Co. is hosting a media event at Radio City Music Hall where it is expected to lift the wraps on this year iteration of the Galaxy S smartphone – the Galaxy S4.

The Korean electronics giant has said little ahead of time about what it plans to do with its best-selling line of smartphones that has helped catapult it to the number one slot for global market share in the fast-growing business — and making the company into the arch-rival of Apple Inc.

A Chinese gadget blog called IT 168 has run what is purported to be leaked images of the new Galaxy S4, confirming what have been some common expectations that have emerged about the new device. Those include:

• 5-inch high-def screen: Big screens have become the rage in the high-end smartphone business, with most Android-based devices eclipsing the 4-inch diagonal screen size of Apple’s iPhone 5. The previous Galaxy had a 4.8-inch screen, and most are expecting Samsung to use its strength in display manufacturing to go even bigger with the new model, sporting a high-definition 1080p resolution.

• Eye-tracking: Finger scrolling is the common method of navigation on smartphones, but the Galaxy S4 is believed by some to be incorporating a new type of user interface that would scroll content based on the movement of the user’s eyes. Other uses would include pausing a video when the user looks away from the screen.

• Eight-core chip: Difficult to verify, as the few reported leaks do not include tear-downs of the device, but Samsung already unveiled an eight-core Exynos chip at the Consumer Electronics Show back in January, and many believe it will be included in the new smartphone – though some reports say the U.S. version will actually make use of a quad-core Snapdragon chipset from Qualcomm.

• Launch date and price: Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S3 at a launch event in London on May 3 of last year, and the device saw its initial launch later than month (though didn’t come to the U.S. until late June). The timing of tonight’s event suggests that a launch of the S4 could come before the end of April, and a U.S. launch may get priority, given the event’s location.

The event gets underway at 7pm ET. Check back at MarketWatch for live stream coverage of the event.

– Dan Gallagher

Source: marketwatch

Are you an Optometrist??? Need a software? Visit  VisualEyes

Bathroom renovation?? Need some help? Just visit  Bathmaster

Read More

PI Day with Caltech Students

They have met in secret for months.

Using a basement in Caltech student housing, they have gathered supplies and tried to recruit more to help. Everything they have done has been kept under wraps (literally), stuffed in cages buried under butcher paper no one would look at twice.

But Thursday morning, under the cover of darkness at 4 a.m., they unleashed their plan.

In the latest manifestation of self-proclaimed Caltech nerd-dom, a group of undergrads strung a chain of 15,000 colored paper loops across the campus in honor of Pi day. There are nine colors, each one representing a number.

The multicolor chain should be in order, representing the digits of Pi going 15,000 digits deep.

For the uninitiated, Pi is the digit that’s mostly often simplified to 3.14 (hence, March 14) and is used to calculate the circumference of a circle. The decimal can go out forever and mathematicians have figured it out to the 10 trillionth number so far.

“People appreciate it here,” said Margaret Lee, a first-year physics student at Caltech who led the chain gang. “Pi is a really important constant in physics and math. We’ve told a couple of visitors about it and they got really excited. This is why I wanted to go to Caltech.”

As a devoted science and math fan, Lee said she thought about what to do for Pi day months ago.

She said she thought it would be “so cool” to do a chain, so she started asking her friends. She managed to wrangle five accomplices who met in their spare time in a student housing basement. For months they cut the strips of paper from 10 reams they bought. When they weren’t working, they hid the colorful loops in cages under paper so no one would find it.

“We’re kind of nerdy,” she said with pride.

Lee estimated the chain stretches half a mile. She said it should be up through next week, when students are taking their finals.

The chain wasn’t the only Pi day celebration Thursday at Caltech. Just before 2 a.m., students enjoyed a Pi party outside their buildings.

Source: latimes

Are you an Optometrist??? Need a software? Visit  VisualEyes

Bathroom renovation?? Need some help? Just visit  Bathmaster

Read More

New Carnival Nightmare

Another Carnival cruise liner is experiencing problems with its propulsion system amid reports of power outages and overflowing toilets while docked in the Caribbean, one month after a fire crippled the Carnival Triumph in the Gulf of Mexico.

Carnival officials, in a statement to FoxNews.com, said the ship has a "technical issue" with its backup emergency diesel generator that is currently being worked on by its engineering team.

“Yesterday, during regularly scheduled testing of the ship’s emergency diesel generator, a malfunction occurred,” the statement read. “At no time did the ship lose power and the ship’s propulsion systems and primary power source was not impacted. The ship is at dock in St. Maarten. All guests are safe and comfortable. There were periodic interruptions to elevators and restroom services for a few hours last night. However, all hotel systems are functioning normally and have been functional since approximately 12:30 a.m.”

Approximately 4,300 passengers and roughly 1,100 crew members were aboard the ship, a Carnival spokesman told FoxNews.com.

A U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman in Miami told the Associated Press Thursday that Carnival Dream's captain reported possible trouble with the ship's propulsion system. Petty Officer Sabrina Laberdesque said the ship has sewage and power and officials are working to correct the problems. She says the Coast Guard is not involved because the ship is moored.

Carnival officials said in a statement that they “can confirm only one public restroom was taken offline for cleaning based on toilet overflow and there was a total of one request for cleaning of a guest cabin bathroom. Aside from that there have been no reports of issues on board with overflowing toilets or sewage."

As engineers work on the technical issue, arrangements are being made to fly all guests home via private charter flights and scheduled flights from St. Maarten. Passengers will receive a refund equivalent to three days of the voyage and 50 percent off a future cruise, Carnival officials said.

The ship’s next voyage, scheduled for Saturday, has also been canceled. Guests scheduled to sail on that cruise will receive a full refund and 25 percent off a future seven-day cruise. Any non-refundable transportation related expenses will also be reimbursed.

Multiple passengers aboard the Carnival Dream told CNN.com of the unpleasant unfolding situation while docked in port at Philipsburg, St. Maarten.

"We are not allowed off of the boat despite the fact that we have no way to use the restrooms on board," Jonathan Evans of Reidsville, N.C., said in an email early Thursday. "The cruise director is giving passengers very limited information and tons of empty promises. What was supposed to take an hour has turned into seven-plus hours."

GreggStark, who is traveling aboard the 1,004-foot liner with his wife and two children, said “human waste” was found on the floor of some of the ship’s bathrooms and that some toilets had overflowed. The ship also had mechanical issues, he said.

"The elevators have not been working,” Stark told CNN. “They've been turning them on and off, on and off."

Several passengers told The Associated Press, however, that power and water were out for just 10-20 minutes on Wednesday evening, contradicting reports of longer outages and unsanitary conditions.

"We have toilets. We have water. It's no different than a regular day at sea," said 31-year-old Tasha Larson of Winston-Salem, N.C., after disembarking with her boyfriend to spend the day in St. Maarten.

Mary and Terry Washington of Tampa, Florida, said the generator malfunction gave them an additional day to spend in St. Maarten.

"The plumbing is fine," Mary Washington said. "The food is fine. Everything is fine."

Ship officials announced over the liner’s public address system that they were trying to fix the problem and were working on the generators. A few hours later, another announcement was made, saying the problem was worse than expected, Stark said.

The Dream had been scheduled to leave port at about 5 p.m. ET Wednesday after sailing from Port Canaveral on Saturday.

Vance Gulliksen, a Carnival spokesman, told CNN late Wednesday he wasn't aware of a problem. In a message posted on its Facebook page later Thursday, Carnival said there were brief interruptions to elevators and toilets Wednesday night.

A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Carnival Corp. following last month’s fire in an engine room that crippled the Carnival Triumph, leaving more than 4,200 passengers without power or working toilets for five days.

A Coast Guard official said a leak in a fuel oil return line caused the fire that disabled the massive 14-story vessel.

Cruise industry expert Andrew Coggins, a former Navy commander who is now a professor at Pace University in New York, said the fire could potentially have been serious.

"The problem is the oil's under pressure," he told the AssociatedPress. "What happens in the case of a fuel oil leak where you have a fire like that is it leaks in such a way that it sprays out in a mist. In the engine room you have many hot surfaces, so once the mist hits a hot surface it will flash into flame."

Carnival's latest incident, meanwhile, highlights the "inherent vulnerabilities" of taking a cruise, Miami-based maritime attorney Robert Peltz told FoxNews.com.

"Fortunately this latest incident occurred close to a port, but it does underscore the inherent vulnerabilities of cruise ship travel," Peltz said in a statement. "When a ship loses power while at sea, its passengers and crew are at severe risk for injury or death. Far too often, ships left without power are left at the mercy of unstable currents and unpredictable weather. The cruise industry needs to go beyond lip service and take meaningful steps to ensure this dangerous problem does not continue to keep occurring."

Source:foxnews

Are you an Optometrist??? Need a software? Visit  VisualEyes

Bathroom renovation?? Need some help? Just visit  Bathmaster

Read More

NBA says “Dahntay Jones Fouled Kobe Bryant”

Referees should have called Atlanta Hawks forward Dahntay Jones for a foul on Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant in the final seconds of Atlanta's victory Wednesday, the NBA announced Thursday.

With five seconds remaining and the Lakers trailing 94-92 in the fourth quarter, Bryant took a 18-foot fadeaway baseline jumper and missed. With Jones putting pressure on the shot, Bryant landed on Jones' foot with 4.9 seconds left and sustained a severely sprained left ankle. He is out indefinitely, hurting the Lakers' playoff chances.

Before the 2011-12 season, the NBA issued its points of emphasis for referees and players, and one of those points was directed at a defender's responsibility on jump shots. The NBA said a defender cannot get into the landing area of the airborne shooter, and airborne shooters must be allowed the opportunity to return the floor safely.

Jones violated that edict.

"After review at the league office, video replay confirmed that referees missed a foul call on Jones as he challenged Bryant's shot and did not give him the opportunity to land cleanly back on the floor. Bryant should have been granted two free throws," the NBA posted on NBA.com/official.

Had a foul been called Bryant would have had two free throws and a chance to tie the game. The Lakers lost and fell to 34-32 in the WesternConference. But they remained in eighth place, 1/2-game ahead of the Utah Jazz for the final playoff spot in the West.

Since the game ended, Bryant has complained about the play on Twitter several times.

Source: usatoday

Are you an Optometrist??? Need a software? Visit  VisualEyes

Bathroom renovation?? Need some help? Just visit  Bathmaster

Read More

Lobster Thermidor

Ingredients

1 medium(1 ½ pound) cooked lobster

2 tablespoons butter

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 3/8 cups fresh fish stock

¼ cup white wine

¼ cup double cream

½ teaspoon hot English mustard

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

saltand freshly ground black pepper to taste

¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions

Cut the lobster in half lengthwise, and remove the meat from the claws and tail. Leave to one side. Remove any meat from the head and set aside. Cut the meat up into pieces and place back into the shell.

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot; cook and stir until tender. Mix in the fish stock, white wine and double cream. Bring to a boil, and cook until reduced by half. Mix in the mustard, lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper.

Preheat your oven's broiler.

Place the lobster halves on a broiling pan or baking sheet, and spoon the sauce over the lobster meat in the shell. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top.

Broil for 3 to 4 minutes, just until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Source: allrecipe

Are you an Optometrist??? Need a software? Visit  VisualEyes

Bathroom renovation?? Need some help? Just visit  Bathmaster

Read More

The New Pope: Bergoglio of Argentina

In Vatican City, with a puff of white smoke from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and to the cheers of thousands of rain-soaked faithful, a gathering of Catholic Cardinals picked a new pope from among their midst on Wednesday. Choosing the cardinal from Argentina, the first South American to lead the church.

The new pope this 2013 is Jorge Mario Bergoglio (it is pronounced as Ber-Goal-io) and will be called Francis, the 266^th pontiff of Roman Catholic Church. He is also the first non-European leader of the church in more that 1,200 years.

In choosing Francis, 76, who had been the archbishop of Buenos Aires, the cardinals sent the powerful message that the future of the church lies in the global south, home to the bulk of the world's Catholic.

“I would like to thank you for your embrace,” the new pope, dressed in white, said from the white balcony on St. Peter’s Basilica as thousands cheered joyously below. “My brother cardinals have chosen one who is from far away, but here I am.”

Speaking in Italian as he blessed the faithful, Francis asked the audience to “pray for me, and we’ll see each other soon.”

“Good night, and have a good rest,” he concluded, in a grandfatherly, almost casual tone.

“Habemus papam!” members of the crowd shouted in Latin, waving umbrellas and flags. “We have a pope!” Others cried, “Viva il Papa!”

“It was like waiting for the birth of a baby, only better,” said a Roman man, Giuliano Uncini. A child sitting atop his father’s shoulders waved a crucifix.

Francis, who is also the first member of the church’s Jesuit order to become pope, is known as a humble man who spoke out for the poor and led an austere life in Buenos Aires. He was born to Italian immigrant parents and was raised in the Argentine capital.

The new pope inherits a church wrestling with an array of challenges that intensified during his predecessor, Benedict XVI, including a shortage of priests, growing competition from evangelical churches in the Southern Hemisphere, a sexual abuse crisis that has undermined the church’s moral authority in the West and difficulties governing the Vatican itself.

Source: nytimes

Are you an Optometrist??? Need a software? Visit  VisualEyes

Bathroom renovation?? Need some help? Just visit  Bathmaster

Read More