Most expensive cities in the world

For Americans overseas, exchange rates and cost-of-living adjustments can make living overseas more expensive than back home.

New York ranks only No. 29

If you think $43 is too much to pay for lunch, you shouldn't live in Oslo. According to "ECA International", a global human resources company, that's how much an average lunch costs in Norway's capital. But Oslo is only the second-most expensive city on ECA's ranking of 399 global locations. And while the price of an average lunch in Tokyo is a comparatively modest $17.86, other costs, such as a $22 movie ticket and an $8.47 kilo of rice, earn it the dubious honor as the world's most expensive city.

ECA's ranking is based on a basket of 128 goods that includes food, daily goods, clothing, electronics, and entertainment, but not rent, utilities, and school fees, which are not typically included in a cost-of-living adjustment. ECA researchers and local partners gathered prices in September 2009 and March 2010 for domestic and imported brands that are internationally recognized—such as Kellogg's cereal or Sapporo beer. While lower-priced goods and services are available in these markets, the study estimated the cost of supporting the standard of living expected by expatriate employees, says Lee Quane, ECA's regional director for Asia. Some of the cities, such as Seoul and Stockholm, jumped up in the ranking as the local currency strengthened against the U.S. dollar. Quane says that while a slowdown in business may tempt employers to scale back compensation, "recessions only last so long" and retaining top talent in these places is critical to companies' success when the global economy recovers.

Source: "ECA International"
1. Tokyo, Japan

Rank in 2009: 2
Food: Lunch at a restaurant: $18
Can of beer from grocer: $3.37
One kg of rice: $8.47
One dozen eggs: $3.78

Entertainment: Movie ticket: $22

Appliances: Washing machine: $879

The strength of the yen has brought Tokyo back to the No. 1 spot on ECA International's ranking for the first time since 2005. In addition to the costs above, rent for a two-bedroom apartment for expats is typically more than $5,000 per month in Tokyo, according to data from EuroCost International. While visitors need more pocket money here than in any other city, the monthly consumer price index in Tokyo's wards has actually dropped year-on-year for 14 straight months as of May 2010, based on figures from Japan's statistics bureau.

2. Oslo, Norway

Rank in 2009: 8
Food: Lunch at a restaurant: $43
Can of beer from grocer: $4.71
One kg of rice: $5.66
One dozen eggs: $6.72

Entertainment: Movie ticket: $16

Appliances: Washing machine: $880

Oslo rose above Copenhagen as the most expensive city in Europe when the kroner strengthened against other currencies. ECA International says an upward trend in oil prices, a short recession, and Norway's reputation as a safe haven for investors contributed to the kroner's rise.
3. Luanda, Angola

Rank in 2009: 1
Food: Lunch at a restaurant: $47
Can of beer from grocer: $1.62
One kg of rice: $4.73
One dozen eggs: $4.75

Entertainment: Movie ticket: $13

Appliances: Washing machine: $912

Angola's capital slipped to third place this year as the kwanza depreciated. Prices in Luanda have actually increased in the past year, but currency changes offset any inflation, according to ECA International. In addition to everyday goods, EuroCost International estimates that the average expat pays more than $3,500 per month for a two-bedroom flat in Luanda.
4. Nagoya, Japan

Rank in 2009: 3
Food: Lunch at a restaurant: $19
Can of beer from grocer: $3.08
One kg of rice: $9.14
One dozen eggs: $3.33

Entertainment: Movie ticket: $20

Appliances: Washing machine: $621

Japan's fourth most populous city, Nagoya is also among the country's most expensive. The city ranks No. 1 for the cost of rice: $9.14 per kilogram, according to ECA International data. As Japan's auto hub, the Nagoya area is an important center of business: about 44 percent of automobiles produced in Japan are made here, according to the Greater Nagoya Initiative Center. Such companies as Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, and General Motors have headquarters, manufacturing operations, or distribution points in the Nagoya region.

5. Yokohama, Japan

Rank in 2009: 4
Food: Lunch at a restaurant: $17.39
Can of beer from grocer: $3.26
One kg of rice: $6.54
One dozen eggs: $3.72

Entertainment: Movie ticket: $19.50

Appliances: Washing machine: $630

About half an hour by commuter train from Tokyo, this port city has active shipping, biotechnology, and semiconductor industries. Yokohama is one of the world's most expensive cities, but companies here enjoy lower operating costs compared with the nearby capital. Nissan opened a new headquarters in Yokohama this year and reportedly will sell its office in Tokyo to cut costs.
6. Stavanger, Norway

Rank in 2009: 14
Food: Lunch at a restaurant: $33
Can of beer from grocer: $4.76
One kg of rice: $5.71
One dozen eggs: $6.34

Entertainment: Movie ticket: $15.50

Appliances: Washing machine: $749

This small seaside city earned its riches from oil in the North Sea and has become known as Norway's petroleum capital. Stavangerexpats.com says food expenses in Norway are about 50 percent higher than the EU average: A can of soda is about $2.80, and a beer at a bar can be $12.
7. Kobe, Japan

Rank in 2009: 6
Food: Lunch at a restaurant: $16
Can of beer from grocer: $3.09
One kg of rice: $8.57
One dozen eggs: $2.81

Entertainment: Movie ticket: $20

Appliances: Washing machine: $470

The city has one of Japan's largest ports and has become home to many heavy machinery, iron and steel, and food product companies. According to the Japan External Trade Organization, 117 foreign and foreign-affiliated companies have offices in Kobe. As the price of Kobe beef, the style of high-grade meat named after the city, suggests, food is costly here, as are other living expenses.
8. Copenhagen, Denmark

Rank in 2009: 7
Food: Lunch at a restaurant: $36
Can of beer from grocer: $2.10
One kg of rice: $4.85
One dozen eggs: $6.99

Entertainment: Movie ticket: $15

Appliances: Washing machine: $1,196

A 2009 "survey" of 73 international cities by UBS found that employees in Copenhagen have the highest income. Places with higher salaries often have higher prices, but residents here enjoy good living standards overall. Some examples of the cost of living: Renting a DVD costs about $8 per night, a pair of women's jeans is more than $150, and a one-way ticket on public transport costs about $3.70.
9. Geneva, Switzerland

Rank in 2009: 9
Food: Lunch at a restaurant: $30
Can of beer from grocer: $2.02
One kg of rice: $3.81
One dozen eggs: $7.64

Entertainment: Movie ticket: $16

Appliances: Washing machine: $1,304

Geneva, home to many companies and U.N. organizations, is one of the most expensive cities for food and household appliances. Food prices in Switzerland are 45 percent more expensive than in the rest of Western Europe, and the cost of electronics and appliances in Geneva is among the highest worldwide, according to a 2009 UBS report.
10. Zurich, Switzerland

Rank in 2009: 10
Food: Lunch at a restaurant: $25
Can of beer from grocer: $2.01
One kg of rice: $3.36
One dozen eggs: $5.81

Entertainment: Movie ticket: $16

Appliances: Washing machine: $974

Zurich, Switzerland's largest city, is the country's main business center and the headquarters city for many financial companies, including UBS and Credit Suisse. Although Zurich had the greatest number of company bankruptcies in Switzerland last year, according to Dun & Bradstreet, the inflation rate started to increase again this year after falling in 2009.

Why Skin Cancer Is on the Rise

For years and years now, millions of sun worshippers across the country would hit the beaches during summer to work on the perfect, golden tan. However, the advent of indoor tanning salons now allows Americans to sport a sun-kissed look year-round. And as more and more people pursue a perpetual summer-style tan, dermatologists have begun noticing a significant rise in skin cancer incidents, especially among young women.

Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, still makes up just 3 percent of all skin cancers, and results in about 8,000 deaths a year, according to the National Cancer Institute. But three factors have doctors alarmed: The rates of this cancer are rising; it has become the most common cancer for young people; and many of the cases result from the preventable, but addictive, behavior of indoor suntanning.

"In the last few decades, it's certainly been on the rise. And some people think that may be a result of behavior, and UV exposure," said Jennifer Stein, an assistant professor of dermatology at New York University's Langone Medical Center. "This is a very serious cancer, and this is a behavior that's preventable."

Tanning and cancer go hand-in-hand

Without tanning beds, soaking up the rays was limited to clear days in the summer. The invention of the tanning bed changed that, and throughout the 1990s, the rapid proliferation of tanning salons provided venues for millions of people to sunbathe regardless of weather, season, or time of day.

Since 1992, the indoor tanning industry has grown five-fold, with 28 million indoor tanners in the United States supporting a billion-dollar-a-year business, said Maria Tsoukas, an assistant professor of dermatology.

During that same period, melanoma rates have increased by 2 percent in the general population, Stein said. Amongst young women, who make up 71 percent of tanning salon customers, incidents of melanoma have increased by 2.2 percent, Stein said. Over that time, skin cancer also became the most common form of cancer for Americans ages 25-29, a group that traditionally shows very low cancer rates, Stein said.

"We see a surprising number of young women coming in with melanoma, and a lot of them say they've used tanning beds," Stein told LiveScience.com. "By far, by far, the majority of users of indoor tanning beds are young women."

While some dermatologists believe that other factors, such as increased UV exposure resulting from the hole in the ozone layer, contribute to the rise in melanoma rates over the last 18 years, the irrefutable link between indoor tanning and melanoma makes tanning beds the prime suspect, Tsoukas said.

In a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, frequent tanning bed users proved three times more likely to develop melanoma than non-users, and subjects that used tanning beds for any amount of time showed a 74-percent higher rate of melanoma than non-users, according to research published online May 2 in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

That study did not investigate the percentage of indoor tanners who developed melanoma, rather showing the difference between users and non-users.

How tanning causes cancer

Indoor and outdoor tanning can be dangerous, because the same ultraviolet radiation that provokes a tan also damages DNA. In fact, exposure to the mid-day sun can produce as many as 40,000 DNA errors an hour, said Regina Santella, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York.

The UV light causes the DNA molecule thymine to bind to adjacent thymine molecules in a manner that renders both molecules unreadable during transcriptions, Santella said. Transcription is a step in which the body reads the DNA instructions the cell will later follow. When those thymine errors occur in areas of DNA that regulate cell growth, skin cancers like melanoma can begin to develop, Santella said.

Most times, skin cells rapidly repair most of those 40,000 errors, but over time repeated errors can cause cancer or other problems.

Tanning is actually the body's response to that damage, with the darker color produced by skin adding an additional layer of protection for the DNA, Stein said. However, when the body produces the hormone that initiates tanning, it also produces a secondary molecule in the endorphin family, said Scott Feldman, a professor of dermatology at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

Endorphins are chemicals that transmit feelings of pleasure and happiness. In effect, exposure to UV radiation gets tanning bed users high, Feldman said. And like any high, tanning can become addictive.

In 2005, Feldman conducted a study where he gave volunteers endorphin-blocking chemicals before they used a tanning bed. The study aimed to test whether frequent tanning salon customers would enjoy the experience as much if their bodies didn't produce endorphins. They didn't. And even before the frequent tanners used the tanning bed, they showed signs of physical addiction to tanning.

"When we started doing the experiments, the first couple volunteers got sick, and we
said 'Hey, that's unexpected,'" Feldman told LiveScience. "We were putting them into withdrawal."

Tan responsibly

With studies proving that tanning bed use causes both addiction and cancer, many dermatologists have begun comparing the practice to other forms of drug abuse like drinking and cigarette smoking, Feldman said. And much like with smoking and drug abuse, doctors have told their tan-loving patients to "just say no."

"There is no point to it. Someone wants to look darker? Gimme a break. For cosmetic reasons, people risk getting a fatal cancer. To me, it's a public health hazard because it has no upside," Santella said. "Don't go to skin tanning salons. Simple as that."

Others advocate that tanning salon patrons take an approach more like drinking alcohol, with moderation and responsibility mitigating the long-term health effects, Feldman said.

"We see the cancer patients, but there are millions of people tanning, and considering the number of people doing it and not getting cancer, it's probably not the first problem we need to solve in America," Feldman said. "If a woman comes in, and I see cigarettes in her bag, I'll tell her to stop smoking before I tell her to stop tanning. Lung cancer is considerably worse."

But those approaches only tackle the physical side of tanning without getting to the root problem that drives millions of Americans, young women in particular, to engage in a behavior they often know raises their risk of a deadly disease, Stein said. To fix the social pressures behind the rise in this largely preventable cancer, America might need to refine its idea of beauty.

"I've met people who said they couldn't stop tanning. They wanted to stop, but couldn't. They liked the way it felt and they felt pressure from their friends," Stein said. "I think we really need to change that notion in this country that looking tan means looking healthy, because we know that tans are not healthy."

The Best Android Phones

What is the best Android phone? There may only be one or two iPhones available at a time -- but there are more than a dozen different Google Android designs that are competing for the title "Best Android Smartphone On The Planet" -- or "Best Android Smartphone So Far."

We rate the best Androids available today and our top picks should be a quick and easy shopping guide for those looking for a great device.




©HTC


1. Sprint EVO 4G

At the moment, the HTC-built Sprint (NYSE: S - News) EVO 4G is the Android phone to beat. A gazillion top-line features including a beautiful 4.3-inch screen, an 8-megapixel camera, 720p HD video output and, of course, access to Sprint's super-fast 4G network (when it comes to your neighborhood). A physically large phone like its Windows Mobile twin (T-Mobile's HD2), the EVO 4G is an absolutely amazing piece of handheld technology.



©HTC


2. HTC Droid Incredible
This is HTC's super smartphone made for Verizon's EV-DO 3G network. The Incredible sports a great 3.7-inch screen and shares a lot with its big brother, the EVO 4G -- like a 1GHz Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM - News) Snapdragon processor, an 8-megapixel camera and HTC's Sense home screen look and feel. A downside is the phone's limited battery life, but there are higher-capacity battery packs available from third-party companies.




©Google


3. Google Nexus One

This is the phone that Google decided to lend its corporate name to. The Nexus One was the first phone to be updated to the latest version of the Android OS 2.2 (of course). It boasts a 3.7-inch AMOLED screen and has a 5-megapixel camera. Also manufactured by HTC, the Google Nexus One is only sold on Google's Web site for use on T-Mobile's 3G network. A Sprint version is rumored to be coming soon. Google has suggested that Verizon (NYSE: VZ - News) subscribers should check-out the similar Droid Incredible.



©Verizon


4. Verizon Droid

Made by Motorola (NYSE: MOT - News) for Verizon this phone is a winner. A slide-out QWERTY keyboard, a terrific 3.7-inch screen, 16GB of built-in memory, turn-by-turn GPS travel instructions, loads of video extras and a fast processor make this a desirable option. (Verizon's cellular network doesn't hurt either.) Even though its design is a few months old, the phone comes across as a cutting-edge, thoroughly modern Android device.



©Garmin-Asus


5. Garminfone

Garmin (NASDAQ: GRMN - News) has been promising a cutting-edge direction-finder/smartphone for awhile now. This joint effort with the computer gurus at Asus finally hits all the right notes. The Garminfone is a super GPS navigation device built into a state-of-the-art Android smartphone. In our tests we found the Garminfone to be the best smartphone navigation system today -- with the added plus of being able to have someone you know lend his/her voice to the travel commands. Very cool.

DISH WASHING TO AVOID

Should you pre-rinse your dishes before loading the dishwasher?.



Experts unanimously agree that you should NOT pre-rinse your dishes before loading the dishwasher.

Why not? Because your dishes will not get any cleaner if you rinse them before loading your dishwasher. Pre-rinsing is therefore a complete waste of time, water, energy, and money. And, in some cases, it can actually harm your glassware.

Still not convinced? Here are the details.

Dishes will not get any cleaner if you pre-rinse them.

Modern dishwashers and detergents have come a long way in the past couple of decades. "You will not improve your wash performance one bit by pre-rinsing," says John Dries, a mechanical engineer and owner of Dries Engineering, an appliance design consulting company. He points out that heavily soiled dishes are used in pre-market "wash tests," not pre-rinsed dishes.

In most cases, all you need to do is scrape your plates over a trashcan to get rid of bones or chunks of food. One caveat: It's a good idea to pre-soak pans or dishes that have something really burned on them. Pre-rinsing doesn't help in this situation.

Use the dishwasher's rinse cycle if you're not going to run your dishwasher immediately and are worried about the smell of sour food.

How about older dishwashers? "People with any age dishwasher can feel comfortable knowing they don't need to pre-wash dishes before washing them in the dishwasher," says Jill Notini, a spokesperson for the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.

Pre-rinsing is a complete waste of time, water, energy, and money.

With pre-rinsing you're essentially washing your dishes twice. Rinsing your dishes while letting the water run can waste gallons of water. Consider this: An energy-efficient dishwasher uses up to 5 gallons of water to wash an entire load of dishes. Washing dishes by hand while letting the water run can use up to 27 gallons.

The same is true for electricity if you pre-rinse with warm or hot water. "You use more electricity rinsing dishes off in the sink than the dishwasher uses to wash the whole load," says Mike Edwards, a senior design engineer at Bosch Home Appliances.

Instead of pre-rinsing the dishes, spend your time on something that will make a difference: Loading the dishwasher correctly.

Experts say a properly loaded dishwasher can significantly impact how clean your dishes turn out. "The biggest impediment in washing is due to poor loading," says Edwards. Get tips from Consumer Reports and a video from Bosch.

Rinsing dishes before loading the dishwasher can do more harm than good.

Today's advanced detergents are designed to attack food particles left on dishes. "If there isn't food soil, they tend to attack glasses," says Edwards. "Some glasses are more susceptible to this kind of attacking than others."

The detergent etches small pits in glasses that you can't see with the naked eye, but the glass appears cloudy, according to Edwards. The process is called "etching" and causes permanent damage.

This is different than temporary hard water stains, which can also result in the cloudy appearance of glassware. Find out how to tell the difference.

"Your detergent amount needs to be based on the amount of food soil in the dishwasher," says Edwards who also points out that those who have soft water should use less detergent than those who have hard water.

6-story Jesus statue in Ohio struck by lightning

A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm and burned to the ground.


The "King of Kings" statue, one of southwest Ohio's most familiar landmarks, had stood since 2004 at the evangelical Solid Rock Church along Interstate 75 in Monroe, just north of Cincinnati.

The lightning strike set the statue ablaze around 11:15 p.m., Monroe police dispatchers said.

The sculpture, 62 feet tall and 40 feet wide at the base, showed Jesus from the torso up and was nicknamed

Touchdown Jesus because of the way the arms were raised, similar to a referee signaling a touchdown. It was made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, which is all that remained early Tuesday.

The fire spread from the statue to an adjacent amphitheater but was confined to the attic area, and no one was injured, police Chief Mark Neu said. The fire department would release a monetary damage estimate Tuesday, he said.

Travelers on Interstate 75 often were startled to come upon the huge statue by the roadside, but many said America needs more symbols like it. So many people stopped at the church campus that church officials had to build a walkway to accommodate them.

The 4,000-member, nondenominational church was founded by former horse trader Lawrence Bishop and his wife. Bishop said in 2004 he was trying to help people, not impress them, with the statue. He said his wife proposed the Jesus figure as a beacon of hope and salvation and they spent about $250,000 to finance it.

Mystery of legend's two watches resolved

Asking why Maradona does any of the wacky things he does is usually a futile attempt at finding a brick of logic in a hurricane of madness, but when it comes to why Maradona wore two watches while leading Argentina against Nigeria Saturday, there actually is an answer.

Maradona always wears two watches when he travels - one set to local time and one set to the time back in Argentina. Plus, as a man of extravagant taste (he also wears large diamond earrings and, of course, has a special expensive toilet seat installed in his hotel bathroom), Maradona also has a taste for fancy watches. A taste that the Italian tax authorities have enjoyed as a means of recouping a bit of the $39 million in back taxes he owes from when lived there while playing for Napoli. In 2006, they seized a pair of Rolexes from Maradona while he visited Naples for a charity match.

With those Rolexes long gone, Maradona now wears a pair of his own Hublot special edition watches that feature a silhouette of the former No. 10 raising his arms in victory (or perhaps to knock in a goal).

Of course, Maradona's accessories weren't limited to a pair of watches for the Nigeria match. In addition to the timepieces and his Goodfellas suit, he also clutched Rosary beads to help him pray for a fair match. And despite the best efforts of Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, Argentina got the victory.

If these results continue for Maradona, look for two watches to become a globe-sweeping trend. Paris Hilton will be wearing pink ones by July. Now you know who to blame.

Benefits of drinking green tea every day

Nine reasons to drink green tea daily.

Have you been wondering “what’s all the fuss about green tea?” Now you can stop wondering and start drinking ... green tea, that is. This flavorful beverage offers many health benefits to anyone who drinks it regularly. Green tea contains a potent plant nutrient known as epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG, for short. But don’t fret, you don’t have to keep track of its chemical name to reap the health benefits.

Here are nine reasons to start drinking green tea or continue drinking it if you’re already hooked.

1. Green tea is a superb fat fighter. Its active ingredient, EGCG, increases the rate at which fat is burned in your body.

2. It targets belly fat. Research at Tufts University indicates that EGCG in green tea, like other catechins, activate fat-burning genes in the abdomen to speed weight loss by 77 percent.

3. Green tea keeps energy stable by balancing blood sugar levels. EGCG improves insulin use in the body to prevent blood sugar spikes and crashes that can result in fatigue, irritability, and cravings for unhealthy foods.

4. Research shows it may be helpful against lung cancer. In an April 2010 study published in Cancer Prevention Research, EGCG was found to suppress lung cancer cell growth.

5. Green tea may halt colorectal cancer. In numerous other studies, EGCG appears to inhibit colorectal cancers.

6. In research, it appears to cause prostate cancer cells to commit suicide. A March 2010 study in Cancer Science indicated that EGCG aids the body by causing prostate cancer cells to commit suicide.

7. Green tea may prevent skin damage and wrinkling. EGCG appears to be 200 times more powerful than vitamin E at destroying skin-damaging free radicals. Free radicals react with healthy cells in the body, causing damage, so lessening their numbers may help reduce wrinkling and other signs of aging.

8. It contains a potent antioxidant that kills free radicals. Because it is a potent antioxidant green tea can positively impact a lot more than skin cells. Free radicals are increasingly linked to many serious chronic illnesses like arthritis, diabetes, and cancer.

9. Green tea tastes good. If you’re not wild about the flavor, try a few different kinds. Try it iced or hot. Add some of the natural herb stevia to sweeten it if you want a sweeter drink. I wasn’t crazy about green tea the first few times I tried it, but now I love it with a fresh squeeze of lemon and a few drops of stevia over ice -- et voila! Green tea lemonade. Mmmmm.

Reap the rewards
Add one or two teaspoons of green tea leaves to a cup of boiling water, preferably in a tea strainer. Let steep for five minutes. Pour over ice if you prefer a cold beverage. Most experts recommend three cups daily. And, don’t worry, green tea contains a lot less caffeine than coffee or black tea.

20 Things You Should Never Buy Used

We all love scoring great deals on Craigslist and Ebay, but many second-hand purchases are actually terrible deals. Stay clear of these 20 used items that will end up costing you money -- or even endanger your health.

1. Cribs and children's furniture: If there's any chance that you'll put your children at risk by buying used, just buy new. Used children's furniture, especially cribs, can be a safety hazard because you can't be certain of a potential recall or if the crib was installed correctly. (See also 7 Baby Items You Don't Need to Buy.)

2. Car seats: Even if a used car seat looks OK, damaged car seats aren't uncommon. Considering that safety technology improves every year -- and the fact that car seats can go for as little as $50 -- buying new is usually the better option.

3. Bicycle helmets: Usually, a crash would only crush the foam inside the helmet casing, so the damage to the helmet may not be visible. However, since helmets are meant to protect against one accident only, buying new would be a safer bet.

4. Tires: Sometimes it's hard to tell if used tires were once part of a totaled wreck. If they have been in an accident, they're bound to be unstable and unreliable. Putting your safety at risk for the sake of saving a few bucks just doesn't add up.

5. Laptops: Because of their portability, laptops are prone to all sorts of abuse and problems. When you buy a used laptop, unless it's refurbished, you have no idea what it's been through or when important parts will die on you. You also don't get the warranties and tech support that come with buying new.

6. Software: Most software comes with a serial number that you register with the company when you activate the software on your computer. If the serial number on your use software has already been registered, you can't use it again.

7. Plasma and HDTVs: The cost for fixing or replacing the parts on plasma or HDTVs is high. Sometimes, it costs as much as buying a new TV. Considering the repair costs, you'd want to get an extended warranty, but that isn't an option if you buy your TV used.

8. DVD players: While it's smart to buy used DVDs, this doesn't apply to DVD players. DVD players have lasers that will eventually wear out. The cost to repair or replace may cost more than the player is worth.

9. Digital and video cameras: Like laptops, used digital and video cameras are likely to have been dropped and banged around. It may not be obvious, but once the damage kicks in, it'll be expensive to repair. If you know what to look for in a digital camera, you can get a great new camera without breaking the bank.

10. Speakers and microphones: Speakers and microphones are sensitive audio equipment that don't stand up well to blasting and mishandling. Like laptops and cameras, the damage may not be obvious, but their performance would be severely compromised.

11. Camera lenses: An SLR camera lens is the most expensive part of a camera. It also directly affects the quality of your images. Any damage to the lens, however slight, will show up in your photos.

12. Photo light bulbs: Not the ordinary light bulbs you use at home. We're talking about the light bulbs used with photography equipment. They're relatively expensive, but their life span is short enough that you likely won't get much use out of them if you buy second-hand.

13. Mattresses and bedding: Just think: You may be sleeping with other people's mold, mites, bacteria, and bodily fluids. Besides, even the really good mattresses are only supposed to last eight to 10 years, and it's hard know for sure how old a used mattress may be.

14. Swimsuits and undergarments: This is probably a no-brainer, but it needs to be said: Do not, do not, do not buy used swimsuits or undergarments. They're worn too close to the body -- someone else's body -- to consider buying used.

15. Wet suits: Wet suits lose the ability to keep you warm over time. If you're a scuba diver, or the last owner was one, the constant change in water pressure will eventually wear out the wet suit and make it more likely to tear.

16. Shoes: If you get used footwear, it's likely they're already molded to the last owner's feet. Poor-fitting shoes are not only uncomfortable but can cause all sorts of health problems, as well.

17. Hats: Hats are likely not cleaned before they're resold or donated. If you buy a used hat, you don't know if you're also getting skin infections, old sweat stains, hair products, and other cringe-worthy remnants. Now that's a deal you don't want.

18. Makeup: A good thing to remember about used makeup is that it's a breeding ground for bacteria and a number of contagious diseases. The great deal you found may come with pink eye and cold sores. Instead of buying used, consider making your own beauty products (it's easier than you think) or skip makeup altogether.

19. Pet supplies: Old stains and odors continue to ferment even if used pet supplies are sitting around in storage. If cleanliness is ever an issue, just say no.

20. Vacuum cleaners: Vacuums are among the heavy-duty household appliances that tend to get a lot of use and abuse. They can also cost more to fix than if you bought them new right from the start.

Amy Lu writes at Wise Bread, a blog dedicated to helping readers live large on a small budget. Wise Bread's book, 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget, debuted as the #1 Money Management book on Amazon.com.

Oldest leather shoe steps out after 5,500 years

About 5,500 years ago someone in the mountains of Armenia put his best foot forward in what is now the oldest leather shoe ever found.

It'll never be confused with a penny loafer or a track shoe, but the well-preserved footwear was made of a single piece of leather, laced up the front and back, researchers reported Wednesday in PLoS One, a journal of the Public Library of Science.

Worn and shaped by the wearer's right foot, the shoe was found in a cave along with other evidence of human occupation. The shoe had been stuffed with grass, which dated to the same time as the leather of the shoe — between 5,637 and 5,387 years ago.

"This is great luck," enthused archaeologist Ron Pinhasi of University College Cork in

Cork, Ireland, who led the research team.

"We normally only find broken pots, but we have very little information about the day-to-day activity" of these ancient people. "What did they eat? What did they do? What did they wear? This is a chance to see this ... it gives us a real glimpse into society," he said in a telephone interview.

Previously the oldest leather shoe discovered in Europe or Asia was on the famous Otzi, the "Iceman" found frozen in the Alps a few years ago and now preserved in Italy. Otzi has been dated to 5,375 and 5,128 years ago, a few hundred years more recent than the Armenian shoe.

Otzi's shoes were made of deer and bear leather held together by a leather strap. The Armenian shoe appears to be made of cowhide, Pinhasi said.

Older sandals have been found in a cave in Missouri, but those were made of fiber rather than leather.

The shoe found in what is now Armenia was found in a pit, along with a broken pot and some wild goat horns.

But Pinhasi doesn't think it was thrown away. There was discarded material that had been tossed outside the cave, while this pit was inside in the living area. And while the shoe had been worn, it wasn't worn out.

It's not clear if the grass that filled the shoe was intended as a lining or insulation, or to maintain the shape of the shoe when it was stored, according to the researchers.

The Armenian shoe was small by current standards — European size 37 or U.S. women's size 7 — but might have fit a man of that era, according to Pinhasi.

He described the shoe as a single piece of leather cut to fit the foot. The back of the shoe was closed by a lace passing through four sets of eyelets. In the front, 15 pairs of eyelets were used to lace from toe to top.

There was no reinforcement in the sole, just the one layer of soft leather. "I don't know how long it would last in rocky terrain," Pinhasi said.

He noted that the shoe is similar to a type of footwear common in the

Aran Islands, west of Ireland, up until the 1950s. The Irish version, known as "pampooties" reportedly didn't last long, he said.

"In fact, enormous similarities exist between the manufacturing technique and style of this (Armenian) shoe and those found across Europe at later periods, suggesting that this type of shoe was worn for thousands of years across a large and environmentally diverse region," Pinhasi said.

While the Armenian shoe was soft when unearthed, the leather has begun to harden now that it is exposed to air, Pinhasi said.

Oh, and unlike a lot of very old shoes, it didn't smell.

Pinhasi said the shoe is currently at the Institute of Archaeology in Yerevan, but he hopes it will be sent to laboratories in either Switzerland or Germany where it can be treated for preservation and then returned to Armenia for display in a museum.

Pinhasi, meanwhile, is heading back to Armenia this week, hoping the other shoe will drop.

The research was funded by the

National Geographic Society, the Chitjian Foundation, the Gfoeller Foundation, the Steinmetz Family Foundation, the Boochever Foundation and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA.

5 Ways to Cut the Fat From Your Grocery

Eating is an expensive habit. And if you're anything like me, then food probably consumes a significant portion of your budget. On average, American families spend $9,478 a year on food alone -- that's 13.3 percent of their total household budgets, according to a recent survey by the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics.

To help you get a grip on this tasty but often expensive cost-of-living, here are five ways to cut the fat from your grocery bill.

1. Make a grocery list and check it twice. Going through your kitchen before hitting the supermarket is free, and planning ahead can fatten your wallet by preventing expensive impulse buys. You might even save on gas by being organized because you won't need to make a second shopping trip to buy those forgotten items.

2. Stop clipping worthless coupons. Take a good look at the grocery coupons you're clipping before getting excited about the deal. Many coupons offer deals on highly packaged foods low in nutrition and high in unpronounceable ingredients. Skipping the worthless coupons and opting to pay a little bit more for whole foods may be a better deal for your health in the long run.

3. Watch the price scanner. Mistakes on price scans are common at the grocery store and can cost you additional dollars. A Consumer Reports survey found that 6 percent of respondents were overcharged at the grocery checkout, and no particular chain stood out as more or less accurate. Watching while your grocery prices scan and verifying their accuracy at check-out can save you money and may even score you free food -- many grocery chains will give you the item for free if it scans at the wrong price, but it's up to you to spy the error.

4. Buy generic items over big brand names. Save a huge 10 to 50 percent on every shopping trip by switching your brand name buys for generic items. It costs big bucks to market brand name products, and you're paying for that expense when you buy a food item with a recognizable label. Compare many generic items to the brand name equivalent and you'll find that the brands are not necessarily better than their less-advertised alternatives.

5. Skip the cans, buy dried beans in bulk. Why are you buying beans canned in captivity? Buying dried beans in bulk and soaking them overnight is a frugal way to add protein to your diet without paying for the high cost of meat. Besides, dried beans are extremely cheap and expand when soaked, so your family gets more meal for every dining dollar spent by forgoing the canned variety.

Finding simple ways to cut your everyday food expenses takes a bit of practice, but the payoff can be huge. Keeping track of your budget can also help you save money on all your other living expenses.

Beware the hidden dangers of flip-flops

At last, the breezy days of summer are upon us. Instead of repeatedly checking the daily weather forecast to deliberate if we need a scarf or sweater for layering, we can enjoyably slip on some comfy shorts or an effortless sundress. For many of us, flip-flops become the go-to footwear to accompany such an ensemble, but as we’ve often been warned, these flimsy slip-ons do not always provide ideal foot support.



USA Today reports that Justin Shroyer, an assistant professor of kinesiology at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette, studied over 100 flip-flop wearers to uncover patterns in their feet and leg movements. While presenting his findings at the American College of Sports Medicine's annual meeting in Baltimore this week, Shroyer explained some of the key problems with these shoes. Namely, he discovered that by trying to grip and hold flip-flops in place, people work the muscles in their shins much harder than when they’re barefoot. He said that shortened strides while wearing flip-flops can also strain the lower legs.

"The more the shoe conforms to your foot, the better off your foot and leg will be," Shroyer told USA Today. "If it's loose, your foot has to work harder to keep your flip-flop on." He said that more structured flip-flops with deepened heel cups and defined arches can remove some of the stress from your feet and legs, but that a sneaker is still preferred when doing extensive walking or activity.


Orthaheel Wave Sandal, $54.99, orthaheelusa.com



Dr. Rock Positano, director of the Non-surgical Foot and Ankle Service at the Hospital for Special Surgery, confirms Shroyer's findings. "With no real solid support underneath the foot, it loses its shock-absorbing capabilities. The lower leg, shin, knee, hip, and back are overworking." Dr. Jacqueline Sutera, doctor of podiatric medicine and surgery for the American Podiatric Medical Association, agrees with Shroyer as well. "Wearing flip-flops will shorten your stride, so your leg and foot muscles have to work harder," she says. "This causes the need for compensation--sometimes from your knees, hips, and back. This could be bad news for people with previous injury in these sensitive areas." In addition, Dr. Positano says certain pathological foot types (like high and flat arches) predispose people to foot and ankle issues, and that soft flip-flops with no support accentuate these mechanical deficiencies. Some short-term issues related to flip-flop use would be heel and arch pain, tendinitis, shin splints, sprains, splinters, cuts, and toe injuries. Long-term problems might be stress fractures, bunions, hammertoes, and neuromas.


Sole Platinum Sandal Sport Flips, $69.95, yoursole.com

The right kind of flip-flops to wear this summer.

As Shroyer suggested, "not all flip-flops are created equal," says Dr. Sutera. "The wider the straps, the better. Also, try to get a sandal with a back strap. Back straps take some of the stress off your toes and decrease the demand for them to work so hard." She agrees that a more contoured flip-flop is preferable. "If you have arch support and can cup the heel, then the foot may not pronate as much." (Pronation is when the arch flattens out when we place weight on the foot.) "There is a certain amount of pronation that is normal, but over-pronation causes many, many foot problems. I call it "the root of all evil."

When it comes to brands, some are better than others. Those ultra-affordable Old Navy flip-flops may be appealing and available in every color, but your feet will pay the price if you’re doing much more activity than sitting around at a barbeque. Dr. Sutera lists Crocs, Clarks, Born, Teva, and Birkenstock as acceptable brands for light to moderate use. For a higher end option, Dr. Positano is impressed with the offerings from Tory Burch, Chanel, Prada, and Bally. Here's a complete list of flip-flops given the APMA Seal of Acceptance.

Even with a comfortable flip-flop, you should limit your use to no more than a few hours of wear. "If you’re hanging around the pool or going to the beach it’s fine. They’re not going to kill you," says Dr. Positano. "Where people get into trouble is when they use them all day, walking around, and standing for a long period of time." The worst scenario, perhaps, is what Dr. Positano refers to as the "Disney World fracture." "You have a person who’s already walking more than they’re accustomed too. Pair that with foot gear with no support, and you have the quickest way to arrive at the vacation from hell. Trips are ruined because people develop stress fractures, knee problems, and hip and back problems."

When in doubt, Dr. Positano offers up some simple but important advice: "The bottom line is wearing flip-flops is no different than wearing three-inch high heels. Be sensible. Know how to wear something and when to wear it."

How to Secure Your Facebook Account

Facebook drew back the curtain Wednesday on new privacy settings designed to keep users' personal information more secure, but consumer advocates say the social networking site's update will still leave some information vulnerable.

Because that data remain at risk, users should take caution with the information they post on Facebook, these advocates say.

Parry Aftab, the executive director for Wired Safety, a consumer resource that focuses on online security and privacy, says she has a simple test for gauging which information is Facebook-safe. "Would you put it on a sign in front of your house?" she says. "That's got to be your measure." (Wired Safety is one of five groups that sit on Facebook's unpaid safety advisory board.)

Facebook has come under fire from users since December, when policy changes made more of users' information open by default, unless they activated controls to keep it private. The outcry picked up in late April when the social networking site began pilot testing an "instant personalization" feature that allowed partner sites visited by a user to pull data from his or her profile and automatically share it with others. (For example, the feature could inform users' Facebook friends that they had been using the Internet radio station Pandora to listen to Justin Bieber.) To avoid having their information shared, consumers must actively opt out on Facebook and on the partner sites, but they could still unwillingly have their information shared if their friends didn't opt out, as well. The policy changes spawned user complaints, as well as concern from consumer advocates, Congress and the Federal Trade Commission.

Facebook's new policy, which it plans to roll out in coming weeks, will provide simpler controls, founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a conference call. Among the changes:

• Basic privacy setting controls will be condensed to a single page, reformatted as a chart so that users can easily review who has access to what.

• Once a user chooses who can see a particular type of content -- "friends only" for photos, for example, or "friends of friends" for status updates -- that choice will apply retroactively and going forward in the case of future policy changes.

• Opt-outs for "instant personalization" and other applications that access a user's profile will be made easier.

• Users can opt out of sharing information with Facebook platform and third-party apps, even if what's collected is something consumers have set that "everyone" can access. Apps must also ask permission to access any information a user has set to more private settings.

Although the new policy addresses some of users' concerns, it doesn't do enough to protect their information, says Jeffrey Chester, the founder and executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy, an advocacy group focused on digital media.

"It does not bode well for protecting privacy on Facebook in the future," he says. Of particular concern: Facebook's desire to share user data with advertisers to better target the ads that appear on pages. Policy changes have weakened users' ability to opt out as that business grows, Chester says.

A Facebook spokesman says the site doesn't sell currently user data to advertisers or anyone else and that the company's revenues are not tied to how open its users are with their information.

Here's how to navigate the new settings and keep your profile secure:

1) Review Settings

Simpler controls may help most users, but an opt-out system will do little for users who don't look at those controls, says Paul Stephens, the director of policy and advocacy for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group. Unless users say otherwise, everything is shared. Use the "preview my profile tool" on Facebook's privacy settings pages to see what others can spot. Also consider downloading the free tool at ReclaimPrivacy.org, which flags unsecure settings and offers tips to revise them.

2) Eliminate 'Everyone'

Users would do well to stop thinking of social networks as somehow cut off from the broader Internet. "People understand that when they tweet [using Twitter.com], that it's a broadcast to the world," Aftab says. Anything in Facebook settings that's available to "everyone" is available publicly in the same fashion, potentially showing up to anyone who clicks on your profile, visits sites such as OpenBook or conducts a search on Google (GOOG, News. "Don't post it unless you want your parents, the police, predators and your principal [or boss] to see it," she says.

3) Opt for Security

Facebook's new policy still allows users to specify restrictions post by post. Opt for a more secure setting and tighten or loosen it further if the situation calls for it, Aftab suggests. For example, users can set photo sharing to "friends only" but then specify that their boss can't view the newly uploaded pictures from a recent party. On the other hand, they can broaden a job-hunt status update to include "friends of friends," instead of just people in their immediate circle.

4) Share With Caution

Even information shared with "friends only" could pose a security threat if a friend's account is hacked or a bug occurs, Stephens says. Seemly innocuous data, such as a birthday, a mother's maiden name or a favorite pet's name is enough for hackers and identity thieves to do serious damage. "You're providing a source of data that might be used by a hacker to access password-restricted sites," he says.

There's also the embarrassment factor. In February, a temporary bug resulted in a handful of Facebook users receiving hundreds of private messages meant for others. In early May, another glitch allowed users to view friends' private chats with other people.

Britain bans doctor who linked autism to vaccine

Britain's top medical group on Monday banned a doctor whose research suggesting a
link between a common vaccine and autism caused millions of parents worldwide to abandon the shot for measles, mumps and rubella.

Dr. Andrew Wakefield was the first to publish peer-reviewed research suggesting such a connection, even though the study was later widely discredited. The ruling by Britain's General Medical Council found him guilty of serious professional misconduct.

Wakefield, 53, then moved to the U.S. and set up an autism center in Texas, where he has a wide following, but faces similar skepticism from the medical community. The ruling in Britain only applies to his right to practice medicine in the U.K., not in other countries.

Appearing on NBC's "Today Show" on Monday, Wakefield described the decision as "a little bump on the road." He claimed the U.S. government has been settling cases of vaccine-induced autism since 1991.

Wakefield said the council's ruling against him — which cited alleged unethical conduct in carrying out his research — had been "made from the outset" and vowed to continue his research into the link between vaccines and autism.

"These parents are not going away; the children are not going to go away and I most certainly am not going away," he said.

Two rulings by a special branch of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in March and last year found no link between vaccines and autism. But more than 5,500 claims have been filed by families seeking compensation for children believed to have been hurt by the measles vaccine.

Wakefield has the right to appeal the ruling, which takes effect within 28 days.

Vaccination rates in Britain have never recovered since Wakefield's research was published in 1998 and there are measles outbreaks in the country every year. The disease is also on the rise in the U.S.

Numerous other studies have been conducted since then and none have found a connection between autism and any vaccine.

Britain's General Medical Council struck Wakefield from the medical register Monday and found him guilty of "serious professional misconduct." The council's investigation focused on how Wakefield and colleagues carried out their research, not on the science behind it.

Wakefield has been a central figure in the anti-vaccine lobby and has garnered much support from parents suspicious of vaccines, including some Hollywood celebrities. In February, U.S. actress Jenny McCarthy, who has an autistic son, issued a statement with her former partner Jim Carrey.

"It is our most sincere belief that Dr. Wakefield and parents of children with autism around the world are being subjected to a remarkable media campaign engineered by vaccine manufacturers," McCarthy and Carrey said in February. "Dr. Wakefield is being vilified through a well-orchestrated smear campaign."

Wakefield and colleagues published a study in the medical journal Lancet in 1998 alleging a link between autism and the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella.

At the time, Wakefield was working as a gastroenterologist at London's Royal Free Hospital and did not have the ethical approval to conduct the study. He had also been paid to advise lawyers representing parents who believed their children had been hurt by the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

Ten of the study's authors later renounced its conclusions and it was retracted by the Lancet in February.

In 2005, Wakefield founded a nonprofit autism center in Austin, Texas, but quit earlier this year.

In January, Britain's medical council ruled that Wakefield and two other doctors acted unethically and showed a "callous disregard" for the children in their study. The medical body said Wakefield took blood samples from children at his son's birthday party, paying them 5 pounds (today worth $7.20) each and later joked about the incident.

In a statement then, Wakefield said the medical council's investigation was an effort to "discredit and silence" him to "shield the government from exposure on the (measles) vaccine scandal."

In Monday's ruling, the medical council said Wakefield abused his position as a doctor and "brought the medical profession into disrepute."

At least a dozen British medical associations including the Royal College of Physicians, the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust have issued statements verifying the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

"I hope this ruling will finally persuade the public and some misguided journalists that Dr. Wakefield behaved irresponsibly," said Dr. Jennifer Best, a virologist at King's College University in London. "(The measles) vaccine is a safe vaccine."

Why chocolate milk can be good for you

The Chocolate Milk Diet

Imagine if everything you needed to know about weight loss, you learned in kindergarten. Well, if your teacher gave you chocolate milk as a lunchtime treat, she was (unknowingly) giving you one of the most powerful weight-loss tools in the nutritional universe. Turns out this childhood staple may be the ideal vehicle for your body’s most neglected nutritional needs. Each bottle delivers a package of micro- and macronutrients that can help you shake off body flab and replace it with firm muscle. And when you served it ice-cold, the creamy sweetness flows across your tongue with all the pleasure of a milk shake. Yum.

That’s the crux of what I'm calling "The Chocolate Milk Diet," which isn’t a diet at all. It’s essentially three eight-ounce servings of chocolate milk consumed at key points throughout your day: one when you wake up, a second before you exercise, and a third directly after your workout. Or, if it's your day off, just pattern them for morning, afternoon, and night. Sounds good, right? It is, and that’s why it’s so easy. But is this a free ticket to eat as much fried chicken as you want throughout the rest of the day? Unfortunately not, but alongside a healthy diet, it can help you drop lots of belly fat fast. Here are the four reasons why:

Secret #1: The Calcium Effect

Researchers have known for years about the role that calcium plays in building strong bones, but a more recent development deals with they way it affects your belly. A series of studies have shown that calcium can actually impede your body’s ability to absorb fat, and when researchers in Nebraska analyzed five of these studies, they were able to estimate that consuming 1,000 mg more calcium can translate to losing nearly 18 pounds of flab. What’s more, other studies have shown that dairy foods offer the most readily absorbable calcium you can find. Knock back three servings of brown cow and you’ll reach that crucial 1,000 mg threshold. At that point, any other calcium that you eat or drink is a bonus.

Bonus Tip: Everything is not as it seems in the world of fat and calories. Click here to see the 30 “Healthy” Foods that Aren’t. You'll be shocked by the pounds of fat you may unwittingly gain while thinking that you're eating healthy.


Secret #2: The Vitamin D Factor

All the calcium in the world isn’t going to help you if you don’t get a good dose of vitamin D to go with it. That’s because vitamin D is responsible for moving calcium from your food to your body, which means if you’re running low on D, you’re probably also missing the calcium you need to stay slim. Other symptoms of the D deficiency are weak muscles, easily breakable bones, and depression—not a great combo for success. Now here’s why this is significant: Most experts agree that the average American isn’t getting enough D. Some estimate that only half the population is meeting the requirement and one study published in the journal Pediatrics found that 70 percent of American children had low levels of D in their diet. The thing is, your body makes vitamin D naturally when you expose your skin to sunlight, but most people spend too much time indoors to benefit. And intentionally spending more time in the sun could put you at risk for skin cancer. The solution? Drink up. Chocolate milk, like most milk, is fortified with vitamin D.

One caveat here: Drink 1% chocolate milk. Vitamin D won't work without a little fat to help break it down. You want to skip the whole milk, too, as it has too many calories to make it a regular habit. The best option is 1%, or low-fat chocolate milk. It has the fat you need to absorb crucial vitamins, yet at three cups a day, it will save you 120 calories over whole milk.

Bonus Tip: Everything you need to know about cereal is right here: America's Best and Worst Cereals. Keep the sugar down and the fiber up for a perfect start to your day.


Secret #3: The Endurance Boost

If you want to lose the gut, you’ve got to exercise—no surprise there. But here’s a fact that’s not so obvious: Drinking chocolate milk can improve your gains. In a study published in The International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, subjects given chocolate milk before hopping on the stationary bikes were able to ride 49 percent longer than subjects given a generic carbohydrate-replacement beverage. And on top of that, they pedaled even harder. Total work performed by the chocolate-milk group was greater than the work performed by subjects drinking carbohydrate-replacement drinks or electrolyte-fortified sports drinks. The reason? Milk has naturally occurring electrolytes that keep you hydrated—more hydrated then water, in fact, which I revealed recently on my Twitter account—and its natural sweetness helps push more energy into your muscles. Another study from 2009 found similar results, but it went one step further by asking participants which beverage they thought tasted better. Not surprisingly, 100% chose chocolate milk.

Bonus Tip: Discover more loveable liquids by browsing through our Best Beers slideshow. Or, if you’d rather avoid the calories altogether, then you’ll want to read The Worst Beverages in the Supermarket. Again, the point is to make weight-loss easy and fun, without ever worrying about going on a diet again.


Secret #4: The Protein-Body-Weight Connection

Want to know the secret to staying thin? You need more muscle. That’s because muscle burns more calories than fat, so for every new muscle fiber you create, your resting metabolism receives another surge of fat-torching energy. And chocolate milk can help you do that. Researchers have determined that the ideal protein load for building muscle is 10 to 20 grams, half before and half after your workout. How much protein will you find in low-fat chocolate milk? Eight grams per cup. (That means one serving before your workout and one serving after will give you a total of 16 grams of highly effective whey protein—a perfect serving.) Add that to the extra cup you drank first thing in the morning and you’re looking at a turbocharged metabolism that keeps you burning calories all day long.

And don’t forget, you can still melt those 18 pounds of belly fat without giving up your favorite foods. You just need to make smart swaps, and we’ve got 10 new ones right here. You'll lose weight faster than ever—again, with ever dieting again.

Like this story or have another nutrition secret? Please share it with others here.

How online hackers can steal your cash

Could Online Hackers Steal Your Cash?

When you access your bank account online you probably don't think that at that exact moment there may be a hacker, somewhere in the world, trying to steal your bank information and your money.


More from Bankrate.com:

• Beware the Risks of Joint Bank Accounts

• A Cheat Sheet on Tipping Do's and Don'ts

• Learn Grocery Pricing Secrets and Save


Your bank offers secure online banking, so why should you worry, right?

Despite banks' efforts to protect accounts from the online crooks, hacker attacks remain a serious threat that cost Americans millions of dollars each year. The Internet Crime Complaint Center reported that Americans lost about $559 million to Internet thieves in 2009. That is more than twice the 2008 figure, when $268 million was stolen on the Internet, according to the center.

"Last year there were more online bank robberies than there were actual on-site bank robberies," says Sean Sullivan, a security adviser at F-Secure, an Internet security firm. "Banks have become very proactive in protecting accounts from hackers, but it's still quite a large problem. We see all types of new attempts every day."

Biggest Threat

Banking Trojans -- malicious code specifically designed for banking fraud -- are one of the biggest threats to consumers who bank online, Sullivan says. They are invisible and can steal multiple types of data, including passwords. Some more advanced types of Trojans can make fraudulent transfers and drain your account while you are logged on to the account online, he says.

Is Your Bank Safe?

The more questions and passwords you are asked to enter in order to log in to your account, the safer is your bank's website.

If your bank only asks you to enter a username and password to log in its website is not as secure as it should be, Sullivan says.

Some banks require customers to create a username, a site key name and use personalized pictures or symbols that appear during the login process. In addition, banks should ask customers to answer a security question before gaining access to their account.

"The more layers you have before you get to your account, the safer you are," Sullivan says.

Who's Liable?

In the event you become a victim of online theft, act quickly and know your rights. The general rule for consumer checking and savings accounts is the bank is liable for most of the damage, as long as you report the illicit transfer in a timely manner. But if you have a line of credit account or a business account, you need to be extra careful, because the bank will not always be obligated to pay for your loss.


"It is based on whether the customer's conduct with respect to security was reasonable," he says. In that case the court will ultimately determine who was more at fault for the breach -- the bank or the consumer.

Business Accounts

Business accounts are the most vulnerable to hacker attacks and the least protected by the law. Hackers are much more inclined to break into a six-figure business account than a consumer account with a few thousand dollars, Sullivan says.

"There are hundreds of cases of thefts of money from small business deposit accounts each year," Johnson says.

Business accounts are regulated by the Uniform Commercial Code, or UCC, which requires banks to maintain "commercial reasonable authentication security procedures," in any kind of wire transfer, he says.

"If the bank can show the breach was caused by something the customer did the bank is not liable," Johnson says.

California attorney Nada Alnajafi says most small businesses don't understand the risk they are taking when they use wire-transfer accounts.

"I don't think a lot of them understand they are taking almost full risk for any potential issues," she says.

She is representing a small Los Angeles business owner who lost $50,000 after a hacker committed a fraudulent transfer from his Bank of America account to a Croatian Bank. She filed a lawsuit on behalf of her client against Bank of America in February because the bank refused to take responsibility for the theft, she says.

Bank of America claims it is not liable for the illicit transfer. The lawsuit is pending.

How to Help Protect Your Account

• Don't access your account from a shared computer.

• Be certain your computer has anti-virus, firewall and anti-spyware programs, including security software with automatic updates.

• If you are using wireless service, check the settings on your computer to make sure the connection is encrypted. Don't connect to your account using a public network, like the ones you find at a coffee shop or at the airport.

• Review your statements regularly and carefully, and report any suspicious activity to your bank immediately.

• Use a strong password with letters and numbers combined. Don't use the same password for multiple accounts.

• Log out after every session.

Why being insecure in relationships is good

Feeling happy and secure in our relationships is a goal many people strive for, but in times of need the emotionally insecure partners may be doing us a favor by being more alert to possible danger.


Evolution may have shaped us to consist of groups of emotionally secure and insecure individuals, researchers write in the March issue of the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science.


When faced with threats to close personal relationships, people react in different ways according to their sense of whether the world is a secure place. The same reaction styles also cause people to be more or less attuned to dangers of all kinds.


Evolution would have favored a mix of these so-called attachment styles if mixed groups were more likely to survive than groups of only secure or only insecure individuals.


"Secure people have disadvantages," experimental psychologist Tsachi Ein-Dor of the New School of Psychology in Herzliya, Israel, told LiveScience. "They react slowly and then act slowly because they need to first get organized."


This notion would explain why almost half of all people in the world have insecure attachment styles, he said, despite the fact that people prefer secure types as romantic partners.


How we view the world


People who do well in relationships have what's called a secure attachment style. They tend to view the world as a safe place, and their optimism allows them to focus on tasks without being bogged down with negative thoughts. They seek out groups and work well in them.


In contrast are those who exhibit insecure attachment styles. Some people are anxious types, always clinging to their significant other, and others are aloof, or avoidant, preferring to deal with problems on their own instead of relying on their partners.


Attachment behavior is a survival adaptation, said Ein-Dor. Because infants can't survive on their own, they have to attach themselves to their parents. If an infant cries and is soothed by its parent, it learns that it can trust other people for love and support.


Those whose parents don't have time or energy to respond may learn they have to fend for themselves.


Such traits can take on different meanings in a group setting. When in immediate danger, people shouldn't necessarily take comfort in the sense of peace and safety a group can provide.


Benefits of being insecure


To test their idea that mixed groups would benefit survival, Ein-Dor and his colleagues put students in groups of threes alone in a room with a concealed smoke machine, which was switched on to simulate a fire. Groups were quicker to notice the smoke and to react to it if they contained individuals who scored high for insecure attachment.


Groups that had a member who rated high for the anxious attachment style tended to notice the smoke faster than other groups, and those that had a member rating high on attachment avoidance tended to react first, such as by leaving the room.


"This is the first [paper] I've read that has started to sway me toward the idea that insecure attachment styles are adaptations," said Paul Eastwick, a psychologist at Texas A&M University, who was not involved in the current study. "I have always favored more of a 'side effect' explanation."

10 Surprising Sex Statistics
10 Things You Didn't Know About Sex
10 Things Every Woman Should Know About a Man's Brain
Original Story: Being Bad at Relationships Is Good for Survival
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17 unexpected benefits of exercise

More from Prevention

Next time you're too busy, tired, or achy to lace up your sneakers, remember these health-transforming benefits of exercise.

1. Be Happier at Work
Increase productivity...and maybe get a raise

An active lifestyle may help you check off extra items on your to-do list, says a study from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. On days staffers participated in on-site fitness activities, they reported thinking more clearly, getting more done, and interacting more effectively with colleagues. You'll be less likely to miss work due to illness, too. Research shows that people who participate in vigorous leisure-time physical activity (such as jogging or bicycling) just once or twice a week take about half the sick time of those who are more sedentary.

Do this: Sign up for workplace fitness classes. None on-site? Recruit coworkers to go for a lunch hour power walk. Or ask HR to designate a room for a noontime stretching or workout session, using DVD instruction.

2. Improve Your Vocabulary
Brush up on your Scrabble skills

A single treadmill session can make you brainier. Exercisers who ran just two 3-minute sprints, with a 2-minute break in between, learned new words 20% faster than those who rested, in a University of Muenster in Germany study. Getting your heart pumping increases blood flow, delivering more oxygen to your noggin. It also spurs new growth in the areas of the brain that control multitasking, planning, and memory.

Do this: Add a bout of exercise, like running up and down the stairs, before trying to memorize anything--say, Spanish phrases for your trip to Mexico.

3. Get Natural Pain Relief
Keep moving to ease stiff, achy joints

It may seem counterintuitive, but rest isn't necessarily best for reducing pain and stiffness in the knees, shoulders, back, or neck. Healthy adults who did aerobic activity consistently had 25% less musculoskeletal pain than their couch-bound peers, says Stanford senior research scientist Bonnie Bruce, DrPH, MPH, RD.

Exercise releases endorphins, the body's natural pain reliever, and may make you less vulnerable to tiny tears in muscles and tendons. Staying active can also provide relief for chronic conditions such as arthritis: In a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study, arthritis sufferers experienced 25% less pain and 16% less stiffness after 6 months of low-impact exercise like balance and strengthening moves. Most people start to feel improvement within a few weeks, says study author Leigh Callahan, PhD, an associate professor of medicine at UNC.

Do this: Practice yoga or tai chi twice a week; both increase flexibility and range of motion and reduce pain.

4. Feel Sexy at Any Size
Flaunt a figure you can be proud of

A good workout practically ensures a better body image. The simple act of exercising-regardless of your weight or fitness level-can make you feel positive about how you look, possibly due to the release of feel-good hormones, finds a review of 57 studies on exercise and body image.

Working out can also boost your libido by increasing blood flow to the genitals. University of Washington research found that just one 20-minute cycling workout enhanced sexual arousal up to 169% in women. And the benefits stand the test of time: A Harvard study of swimmers found that those over age 60 were as satisfied sexually as those decades younger.

Do this: Try 20 minutes of aerobics before a romantic evening. To feel good naked anytime, walk or do yoga daily.

5. Lower Dental Bills
A health-boost worth smiling about

Flossing and brushing, it turns out, are not the only keys to a healthy smile, says Mohammad Al-Zahrani, DDS, PhD, a former associate professor at Case Western Reserve University. Exercise plays an important role, too. In his recent study, Al-Zahrani discovered that adults who did 30 minutes of moderate activity 5 or more times a week were 42% less likely to suffer from periodontitis, a gum disease that's more common as you get older. Working out may thwart periodontitis the same way it does heart disease--by lowering levels of inflammation-causing C-reactive protein in the blood.

Do this: In addition to staying active, get a twice-yearly dental cleaning (or more often if your dentist says you are at high risk for gum disease).

6. Unlock Hidden Energy
Rouse your body out of a slump

If you're among the 50% of adults who report feeling tired at least 1 day a week, skip the java and go for a walk. University of Georgia researchers who analyzed 70 different studies concluded that moving your body increases energy and reduces fatigue. Regular exercise boosts certain fatigue-fighting brain chemicals such as norepinephrine and dopamine, which pep you up, and serotonin, a mood enhancer.

Do this: Take a 20-minute stroll for a quick pick-me-up, or aim for 40 minutes of activity daily for a sustained lift.

7. Shrink Stress Fat
Combat anxiety-related weight gain

Just two 40-minute workouts a week is enough to stop dangerous belly fat in its tracks, according to University of Alabama at Birmingham research. The waistline of those who worked out less expanded an average of 3 inches. Exercise may lower levels of hormones such as cortisol that promotes belly fat.

8. Slash Cold Risk 33%
Build up your body's defenses

Moderate exercise doesn't just rev your metabolism--it boosts your immune system, too, helping your body fight off cold bugs and other germs. Women ages 50 to 75 who did 45 minutes of cardio, 5 days a week, had a third as many colds as those who did once-weekly stretching sessions, a University of Washington study found.

Do this: Add more cardio to your routine by turning your walk into a run.

9. Improve Vision
Carrots are great, but exercise might be better

What's good for your heart is good for your eyes. An active lifestyle can cut your risk of age-related macular degeneration by up to 70%, according to a British Journal of Ophthalmology study of 4,000 adults. This incurable disease makes reading, driving, and seeing fine details difficult, and it's the most common cause of blindness after age 60.

Do this: Protect your eyes during all outdoor activities (if you're a walker, shoot for a mile a day). Be sure to wear UVA/UVB-blocking sunglasses all year long.

10. Reach the Deep-Sleep Zone
Decent shut-eye is not a far off dream

Say good night to poor sleep. Women age 60 and older who walked or danced for at least an hour, four times a week, woke up half as often and slept an average 48 minutes more a night than sedentary women, according to a study in the journal Sleep Medicine. That is good news for the many women who toss and turn more as they get older. As you age, sleep patterns start shifting, so you spend more of the night in lighter sleep phases, says Shawn Youngstedt, PhD, an assistant professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina.

Do this: Aim to exercise for at least half an hour, even if it's after a long day. Evidence suggests that for most people, light to moderate activity in the evening won't disturb sleep, though trial and error will tell you what works for you.

11. Never Get Diabetes
Walk to keep your blood sugar in check

Walking 2 miles 5 times a week may be more effective at preventing diabetes than running nearly twice as much, report Duke University researchers. Because fat is the primary fuel for moderate exercise, walking may better improve the body's ability to release insulin and control blood sugar.

Do this: Start a walking program

12. Eliminate Belly Bloat
Shrink the muffin top

The next time you feel puffy around the middle, resist the urge to stay put. A study from Spain's Autonomous University of Barcelona suggests that mild physical activity clears gas and alleviates bloating. That's because increasing your heart rate and breathing stimulates the natural contractions of the intestinal muscles, helping to prevent constipation and gas buildup by expediting digestion.

Do this: Walk or pedal lightly on a bike until you feel better.

13. Clear Out Brain Fog
Build your mental muscle

Exercise is linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease among older people; now, new research shows it can prevent brain fog at a much younger age too. Japanese researchers assigned sedentary young adults to two groups; one took aerobic exercise classes, and the other did not. After 4 months, MRIs revealed that the nonexercising group experienced shrinkage of gray matter in some areas of the brain, while the active participants had no change.

Do this: Try a new fitness routine, or sign up for a new class at the gym. Besides the obvious benefit of getting a workout, trying something fresh can help stimulate the growth of brain cells.

14. Save Your Heart
Reduce dangerous inflammation

Sedentary, obese women age 50 and older who began exercising lowered their levels of C-reactive protein-an inflammatory blood marker linked to heart disease—by 10% after 1 year, found research recently published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.

15. Add Years to Your Life
Stay healthy and active for years to come

Being physically fit can actually change how your body works. Vigorous exercisers have longer telomeres-cellular biomarkers that shorten as we age-compared with healthy adults who rarely work out.

16. Ease Your Ailments
Heal your body with yoga

Yoga has a well-earned reputation as a surefire stress reducer (particularly when combined with meditation), and new studies show the simple stretching regimen can also help treat and prevent a number of other ailments, from back pain to diabetes. Other research reveals regular yoga practice can put an end to mindless eating by creating an outlet for emotions that can lead to binging. Unfortunately, less than 15% of women over age 35 say they do yoga frequently, according to the National Sporting Goods Association.

17. Survive Breast Cancer
Increase your defenses against the disease

Exercise not only reduces breast cancer risk, it can also save your life if you're diagnosed. Overweight women who were exercising more than 3 hours a week before they were diagnosed were 47% less likely to die than those who exercised less than a half hour per week.

Do this: Sneak in mini bouts of exercise. Take a quick walk when you get the morning paper, hit the stairs before lunch, or knock out a few pushups and crunches while watching TV. Just two to three 10-minute workouts a day is enough to fill your quota for the week.

7 THINGS TO STOP DOING NOW ON FACEBOOK

1.Using a Weak Password

Avoid simple names or words you can find in a dictionary, even with numbers tacked on the end. Instead, mix upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and symbols. A password should have at least eight characters. One good technique is to insert numbers or symbols in the middle of a word, such as this variant on the word "houses": hO27usEs!

2.Leaving Your Full Birth Date in Your Profile



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It's an ideal target for identity thieves, who could use it to obtain more information about you and potentially gain access to your bank or credit card account. If you've already entered a birth date, go to your profile page and click on the Info tab, then on Edit Information. Under the Basic Information section, choose to show only the month and day or no birthday at all.

2.Overlooking Useful Privacy Controls

3.For almost everything in your Facebook profile, you can limit access to only your friends, friends of friends, or yourself. Restrict access to photos, birth date, religious views, and family information, among other things. You can give only certain people or groups access to items such as photos, or block particular people from seeing them. Consider leaving out contact info, such as phone number and address, since you probably don't want anyone to have access to that information anyway.


4.Posting Your Child's Name in a Caption

Don't use a child's name in photo tags or captions. If someone else does, delete it by clicking on Remove Tag. If your child isn't on Facebook and someone includes his or her name in a caption, ask that person to remove the name.

5.Mentioning That You'll Be Away From Home

That's like putting a "no one's home" sign on your door. Wait until you get home to tell everyone how awesome your vacation was and be vague about the date of any trip.

6.Letting Search Engines Find You

To help prevent strangers from accessing your page, go to the Search section of Facebook's privacy controls and select Only Friends for Facebook search results. Be sure the box for public search results isn't checked.6.Permitting Youngsters to Use Facebook Unsupervised

7.Facebook limits its members to ages 13 and over, but children younger than that do use it. If you have a young child or teenager on Facebook, the best way to provide oversight is to become one of their online friends. Use your e-mail address as the contact for their account so that you receive their notifications and monitor their activities. "What they think is nothing can actually be pretty serious," says Charles Pavelites, a supervisory special agent at the Internet Crime Complaint Center. For example, a child who posts the comment "Mom will be home soon, I need to do the dishes" every day at the same time is revealing too much about the parents' regular comings and goings.

8 Old Wives Tales: Which Should You Believe?

8 Old Wives Tales: Which Should You Believe?



Just like your mom didn't need a thermometer to know if you had a fever, we bet your grandmother or other homegrown expert didn’t let the lack of a medical degree stop her from issuing health directives. But which of them are worth following?

1. Grandma's wisdom: Ginger is good for upset stomachs.
Science says: Yes. Good evidence shows ginger reduces nausea.

2. Grandma's wisdom: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Science says: Granny's overstating this fruit's potency. Still, the peel is a good source of quercetin, an important antioxidant that, studies suggest, helps lower blood pressure, fight asthma and allergies, and prevent heart attacks.

PLUS: 10 Medicinal Herbs You Can Grow at Home

3. Grandma's wisdom: Honey speeds healing.
Science says: Yes. Mild to moderate burns (but not other types of wounds) heal faster if you spread honey on them -- maybe because it creates a moist, antibacterial environment that promotes tissue growth.

© 2009 Jupiterimages Corporation

4. Grandma's wisdom: Put butter on a burn.
Science says: No. There's no evidence of a benefit from butter.

PLUS: 19 Weight Loss Secrets From Around the World

5. Grandma's wisdom: Sleeping in air-conditioning can give you a chill.
Science says: She may be onto something. Air conditioners dry out the protective layer of mucus along nasal passages, which likely allows viruses to infect you more easily. Viruses reproduce faster inside a cold nose too.

6. Grandma's wisdom: If you go out with wet hair, you'll catch a cold.
Science says: Maybe. Some research indicates (but doesn't prove) that a wet head helps cold viruses take hold, by tightening blood vessels in the nose and making it harder for white blood cells to reach the viruses and fight them off.

PLUS: 7 Tricks to Drop Pounds

7. Grandma's wisdom: Swimming after eating can lead to cramps and drowning.
Science says: Not exactly, but not completely wrong either. After you eat, blood gets shunted to your digestive tract and away from exercising muscles. That can lead to a buildup of lactic acid in your muscles, so swimming a few laps too soon after lunch could cause a sudden (though not fatal) cramp.

8. Grandma's wisdom: Chocolate gives you pimples.
Science says: Not quite. Chocolate bars might trigger an acne flare-up, but if so, the culprit is probably the sugar, milk, and gooey fillings, not the cocoa.