 | | Your Daily Posterous subscriptions | May 13th, 2011 | | | | Posted 1 day ago by  joelpomales to joelpomales's posterous | |
 Yesterday the first In-N-Out Burger join in Texas opened its doors. The chain is unlike others in terms of the fervent loyalty it engenders in its fans, and they came by the thousands yesterday to Frisco, Texas to partake in its offerings. Some of them wore paper hats. Some of them ran out of gas. And then there's this woman, a Cali transplant, who openly cried on camera as she bit into the burger and memories of her childhood flooded back. That grilled patty was her madeleine. | | | | | | | Posted about 24 hours ago by joelpomales to joelpomales's posterous | |
 Even though Exxon Mobil alone earned more than $30 billion in profit in 2010 -- and has reported a huge 69% increase in profit in the first quarter of 2011 -- that company's CEO was one of several oil biz execs trying to convince the Senate Finance Committee that they still need $21 billion in tax breaks.
"Increasing these companies' taxes would only discriminate against certain U.S. workers, make our companies less competitive against others who are in the same business, and discourage future energy investment," said Rex Tillerson who is not only the CEO of Exxon Mobil, but whose name can in no way be real.
Tillerson was joined by suits from Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and your reigning Worst Company In America, BP.
From Bloomberg News: Senate Democrats are proposing to increase oil and gas taxes by $21 billion over 10 years and use the money to reduce the deficit. Democrats say this would end unjustified subsidies for profitable companies. Republicans and company officials say the legislation would impose higher taxes that may lead to higher gasoline prices for consumers. "We can put this money to better use and we should," said Senator Max Baucus of Montana, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee. He believes these funds could be utilized to chip away at the deficit and on clean energy programs. From the other side of the aisle, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch believes that the Democratic proposals do nothing to increase energy supplies or reduce our country's dependence on foreign oil. "The reasoning put forth for repealing these tax provisions -- rising gas prices and reporting higher first quarter profit -- would set a bad precedent for future tax increases," he said at the hearing. Tillerson Says Big Oil Needs $21 Billion Aid [Bloomberg] | | | Posted about 22 hours ago by joelpomales to joelpomales's posterous | |
As the spring heats up, more and more of us will be slathering on sunscreen before heading outside to enjoy the weather. What SPF should we look for? And what does that number actually mean, anyway? Let’s answer some sunscreen-related questions.
To understand how sunscreen works, it’s important to first understand how ultraviolet light works. UV light can be broken down into three regions. UV-A rays have the longest wavelength and are the nasty ones that penetrate deep into the skin (down to your dermis) to cause skin cancer and premature aging. UV-B rays have a shorter wavelength and only reach the outer layer of the skin, the epidermis, but they’re the major culprit behind sunburns. Then there’s UV-C, which we don’t really need to worry about; the ozone layer, water vapor, and other elements of the Earth’s atmosphere absorb these rays before they can get down to us.
With that brief overview in mind, how does sunscreen work? On two fronts. Inorganic compounds like titanium dioxide and zinc oxide reflect or scatter the UV rays, while organic molecules like benzophenones absorb UV rays to keep them from reaching your skin.  All of this leads us to SPF, that magical number we hope is guarding us against the sun’s nastier side effects. A sunscreen’s Sun Protection Factor tells us how effective the product is at deflecting the UV-B rays that lead to sunburns. (There’s no good measure for quantifying how well a sunscreen handles UV-A rays, although “broad spectrum” sunscreens offer protection from both UV-A and UV-B rays.) SPF is calculated based on how much longer it takes skin treated with a sunscreen to sunburn compared to skin that hasn’t been treated. Thus, a sunscreen with an SPF of 15 should theoretically allow a user to remain in the sun 15 times as long before getting toasty. Put in more scientific terms, SPF 15 sunscreen blocks around 93% of the UVB rays that would otherwise hit our skin, while SPF 30 blocks 97% of the burn-causing UVB. While these calculations are consistent – Title 21, Part 352 of the Code of Federal Regulations describes a rigorous methodology for determining SPF involving an “accurately calibrated solar simulator” – the numbers themselves can be a bit misleading. The actual amount of UV light that’s reaching us when we’re outside varies depending on factors like the time of day, what altitude and latitude we’re at, cloud cover, and reflection of UV rays by the ground. (The World Health Organization says snow can reflect upwards of 80% of the UV radiation that hits it, while beach sand can send back 15% of rays.) Thanks to these variations, it’s hard to pinpoint a specific time at which your SPF 15 or SPF 30 sunscreen will stop being effective. As a result, regardless of the SPF you’re using, the FDA and other researchers advocate reapplying sunscreen at least every two hours or so. Moreover, the FDA and WHO advocate coupling sunscreen with other forms of sun protection, like clothing and shade. How much sunscreen should I put on? (Or: Why is there a picture of a sunscreen-filled shot glass above?) Then there’s another problem: even those of us who scrupulously apply sunscreen probably aren’t using enough; many people are using as little as one quarter of the optimal amount of sunscreen. How much sunscreen should you be using? We’ll quote the FDA because we love the imagery they use: “An average-size adult or child needs at least one ounce of sunscreen, about the amount it takes to fill a shot glass—to evenly cover the body from head to toe.” Add that to your list of reasons to take a shot glass to the beach. More from mental_floss… How Is Wind Chill Calculated?
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 | | | Posted about 22 hours ago by  clementine to ReflectionOf.Me |  2 | | Wakana Kumagai, 6, waits for her mother after visiting the grave of her father, who was killed. With so many huge events occurring around the world lately, it's hard to believe that the devastating 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami that struck northeastern Japan happened only two short months ago. As of today, nearly 15,000 deaths have been confirmed, and more than 10,000 remain listed as missing. In some coastal communities, where the ground has sunk lower than the high tide mark, residents are still adjusting to twice-daily flooding. Many thousands still reside in temporary shelters because their homes were either destroyed or lie within the exclusion zone around the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. And now that tourism season has arrived, Japan is finding itself hit by yet another disaster - visits to the country have dropped by 50 percent. Alan Taylor's In Focus is on the scene, with images from the tsunami-affected areas of Japan that were taken over the past several weeks. | | | Posted about 22 hours ago by joelpomales to joelpomales's posterous | |
We've been keeping a close eye on Sprint's Google Voice integration since its troubled release last month, and Sprint has confirmed that many more of you are now able to activate the feature. Previously, individual customers with discounted accounts were being grouped with corporate and government enterprise customers, but it appears that the issue has been resolved (though corporate and government accounts are still unable to activate). However, Sprint confirmed that readers in Puerto Rico remain unable to activate regardless of their account status, and was unable to provide as estimate as to when integration will be available there. That said, Google has been incredibly proactive in getting these issues resolved from day one, despite clearly having their hands full this week. It looks like Google and Sprint have managed to work out some of the major kinks, but let us know in the comments if you're running into any other problems.Sprint / Google Voice integration now available for discounted accounts, still AWOL in sunny Puerto Rico originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 May 2011 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink ||| Comments | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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