Washington (CNN) — The U.S. Army is recalling 44,000 combat helmets — some of which are being used by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and possibly Iraq — after they failed to meet ballistics testing standards, an Army official announced Monday.
Brig. Gen. Peter N. Fuller, who’s responsible for buying and testing equipment for soldiers, told reporters at the Pentagon the recall was issued Thursday. Tests showed the Advanced Combat Helmet (ACH), which is standard issue for all soldiers, did not meet service requirements.
Fuller said he was not aware of any injuries or deaths related to the recalled helmets.

For the full article go to:  http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/17/army.recalls.combat.helmet/index.html?hpt=Sbin

(CNN) — J.D. Moyer decided recently to conduct a little experiment with artificial light and his sleep cycle.

The sleep-deprived Oakland, California, resident had read that strong light — whether it’s beaming down from the sun or up from the screens of personal electronics — can reset a person’s internal sleep clock.

So, for one month, whenever the sun set, he turned off all the gadgets and lights in his house — from the bulb hidden in his refrigerator to his laptop computer.

It worked. Instead of falling asleep at midnight, Moyer’s head was hitting the pillow as early as 9 p.m. He felt so well-rested during the test, he said, that friends remarked on his unexpected morning perkiness.

“I had the experience, a number of times, just feeling kind of unreasonably happy for no reason. And it was the sleep,” he said. “Sure, you can get by with six or seven hours, but sleeping eight or nine hours — it’s a different state of mind.”

Moyer may be onto something.

For the full article go to:  http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/13/sleep.gadgets.ipad/index.html?hpt=Sbin

(PEOPLE.com) — He’s already defied the odds by surviving a non-aneurysmal brain hemorrhage — now Bret Michaels is stepping up his physical therapy so he can return to the stage by the end of the month, according to a source.

“He’s still in rehab,” says the source. “His doctor told him to do physical therapy once a day, but he’s doing it twice a day, because he wants a speedy, 100 percent recovery.”

The buzz is that Michaels — who friends call a fighter — is pushing himself for what would likely be a dramatic first public appearance at the May 23 finale of “The Celebrity Apprentice.”

For the full article go to:  http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/05/14/bret.michaels.perform.again.ppl/index.html?hpt=Sbin

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — As Congress debates the new rules of the road for the U.S. banking industry, some lawmakers have an ambitious proposal: They want to cut ATM fees.

Last week, a trio of Democratic senators led by Iowa’s Tom Harkin proposed capping automated teller machine fees at just 50 cents.

Currently, banks and other ATM operators are free to charge consumers whatever they want for using their machine. And backers of the amendment maintain that those who tend feel the brunt of those fees are lower- and middle-income Americans, precisely those who can’t afford it.

For the full article go to:  http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/14/news/companies/atm_fees/index.htm?hpt=T2

(CNN) — Progressive Catholic groups vented outrage Friday over the decision of a Roman Catholic school in Massachusetts to rescind the admission of an 8-year-old student because his parents are lesbians.

“The idea that a child might be punished because he does not live with his two biologic parents is antithetical to notions of Christian charity and Catholic social justice,” said Patrick Whelan, president of Catholic Democrats, in a statement Friday.

Other liberal Catholic and gay groups issued similar statements Friday, responding to news reports this week that a child accepted to St. Paul Elementary School in Hingham, Massachusetts, for the fall was told he couldn’t enroll after the school learned that his parents are gay.

For the full article go to:  http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/14/catholic.student.gay.parents/index.html?hpt=T2

Los Angeles, California (CNN) — The Episcopal Church consecrated its first openly lesbian bishop Saturday in the face of objections from some conservative Anglicans.

The Rev. Mary Glasspool, 56, is a new bishop surrounded by controversy.

For the full article go to:  http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/15/episcopal.lesbian.bishop/index.html?hpt=T2

iPhone 4G — The Story of Lost and Found Gourmet Haus Staudt is a nice German beer garden in Redwood City, California. He works on the iPhone Base band software, which is the small utility application which helps the iPhone to make calls. On the evening of March 18th, Gary Powell was celebrating his 27th birthday in this niche beer garden by having some rocking German beer. We all probably know how good a German beer is. But alas, Gary “underestimated” it. He forgot the new prototype of iPhone 4G somewhere in the beer bar, and this way, a great revolutionary product was lost. This prototype iPhone 4G emerged out few weeks later in the technical blog www. gizmodo.com. Apparently, some guy found this lost iPhone, and then sold it to Gawker media (reportedly for $5000), who posted this find of the year in its blog: Gizmodo.com. And the rest is history!

For the whole story go to:  http://gizmodo.com/5520164/this-is-apples-next-iphone

(WIRED) — The iPad was supposed to change the face of computing, to be a completely new form of digital experience.
But what Steve Jobs showed us yesterday was in fact little more than a giant iPhone. A giant iPhone that doesn’t even make calls. Many were expecting cameras, kickstands and some crazy new form of text input. The iPad, though, is better defined by what isn’t there.

For the full article go to: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/28/wired.missing.from.ipad/index.html?hpt=C2

(CNN) — A new decade is about to start, and you may be tempted to set a copious list of resolutions for yourself in order to broadly “make life better.”

You may be thinking that you’ll jump in on January 1 to reform everything from diet to relationships to personality.

That, experts say, is the wrong approach. It’s great to want to make changes, but in order to actually accomplish your goals, they say, it’s important to be realistic, specific, and accountable.

Here are 10 things you can do to help yourself stay in a mindset to make positive changes in the coming year:

1. Set smaller goals with smaller steps

Gradual small steps motivate people toward larger change, said Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, professor of psychology at Yale University and author of the new book “The Power of Women.”

If you want to lose weight, for example, change small aspects of your eating pattern. Resolve to have a salad tomorrow for lunch, and then do that for a week.

Write down the steps you want to take in a datebook to make it concrete, and reward yourself for making the individual changes, she said.

Let’s say you want to work on being more optimistic this year. Nolen-Hoeksema recommends imagining what you would be like if you were optimistic. Imagine yourself going through a day at work if you were optimistic and confident, then write that down in great detail.

Now, you have specific aspects of that ideal of optimism to work toward. Pick one thing that the optimistic you is doing that you’re not, and start working in that direction, she said.

2. Frame your goals positively

Despite the proven health risks of certain habits, such as smoking, thinking about a habit in the negative will not help you nix it. Studies have shown that it’s hard to get motivated about avoiding cancer, but easier to think about smelling better and saving money as reasons to quit smoking, Nolen-Hoeksema said.

So, if you want to quit doing something, think about the positive aspects of not doing it. And make sure you reward yourself for sticking to the plan along the way.

For the full article go to:  http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/12/29/motivation.new.years.resolutions/index.html

(CNN) — The chief justice of the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in favor of an American father in an international custody battle.
The ruling by Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes will reunite a 9-year-old boy with his father, David Goldman, who has been locked in a custody battle with the family of the boy’s deceased mother.
Last week, a lower court unanimously upheld a decision ordering that Sean Goldman be returned to his father in New Jersey.

The custody battle began in 2004, when Goldman’s wife, Bruna Bianchi, took their then-4-year-old son from their home in New Jersey to Rio de Janeiro for what was to have been a two-week vacation. She never returned, instead remarrying there and retaining custody of Sean. She died last year in childbirth.

For the full article go to: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/12/22/brazil.custody.battle/index.html