Relatively free from smog and overbuilt freeways, San Diego, set around a gracefully curving bay, is the second most-populous city in California – affluent and libertarian, but also easygoing and friendly.

That glimmer of hope some are seeing in the economy may be the glint of a diamond or the sheen of a silk scarf. Buoyed by signs of life in the real estate and stock markets, wealthy Americans are spending more freely on luxury goods, according to the Wall Street Journal. Then there's the rest of us. Fortunately, we found something for everyone in the products tested by Consumer Reports. Here are some high-end appliances and electronics that earned top marks in our tests and some less-expensive alternatives that don't sacrifice performance.

Built-in refrigerator: Thermador KBUDT4265E[S], $8,750
This 42-inch-wide built-in refrigerator from Thermador combines very good temperature performance with energy efficiency to keep your food fresh and your energy costs in check. The side-by-side model has a through-the-door ice and water dispenser but that means it can't accept an integrated panel if you want to match the refrigerator to your cabinetry. For the price, it's not as feature-laden as other refrigerators we've tested. While it has a temperature-controlled deli bin and gallon door storage it lacks split shelves and spill guards.
Alternative: Our Best Buy built-in is the Liebherr CS2062, $5,000.

Pro-style range: GE Monogram ZDP364NDPSS, $7,500
This dual-fuel 36-inch pro-style range pairs a gas cooktop with an electric oven. Superb simmering and impressive baking helped make this a top pick, but the high-power burners didn't deliver heat as fast as the other recommended kitchen ranges and broiling was mediocre. There are four burners and all are high power. The cooktop also has a built-in griddle. The GE offers plenty of oven space and the convection feature cuts cooking time.
Alternative: Our Best Buy regular gas range is the Frigidaire Gallery FGGF3032MW, $775.

Television: Panasonic Viera TC-P65VT50, $3,300
Part of Panasonic's flagship VT50 plasma series, this 65-inch, 3D-capable 1080p HDTV is easily one of the best (if not the best) TVs we've tested, with excellent high-definition picture quality and very good 3D performance. The set's deep black levels are among the best we've seen and it has very good sound. This model is loaded with features, including built-in Wi-Fi and Panasonic's Viera Connect online service, with a full Web browser, access to an apps market, and streaming movies and TV shows. It can also make Skype video calls when used with an optional webcam.
Alternative: The 60-inch LG 60PM6700, $1,250, is a Best Buy.

Generator: Kohler 8.5 RES-QS7, $3,200
Diamonds may be a girl's best friend but survivors of Hurricane Sandy would trade them for a generator in a New York minute. A stationary generator turns itself on and off when needed and runs on propane or natural gas for longer run time and safer fueling. In our generator tests, the Kohler delivered smooth, steady power and offered 7,000 watts with natural gas and 8,500 using propane. It was also the quietest of the models we tested, and shuts down automatically if the engine-oil level gets low. Installation costs extra.
Alternative: Our Best Buy standby generator is the Generac CorePower 5837, $1,800

Gas grill: Weber Summit E-670, $2,500
In our tests of gas grills, this beefy grill was impressive at low- and high- heat grilling and indirect cooking, has lots of stainless steel and ample cooking area and is made in America. There are six main burners, a side burner, infrared rotisserie burner, stainless-steel grates, and electronic igniter. You're also paying for a lighted cooking area, smoker burner, searing burner, lit control knobs, and utensil hooks.
Alternative: Our Best Buy large grill is the Huntington Patriot 658184, $700.

Digital camera: Canon EOS 7D Digital, $1,800
Heavier and pricier than most, this advanced SLR offers the best combination of superb photos, fast response, and sure shake handling. It also comes bundled with a powerful image-stabilized lens, has a weatherproof camera body, and can fire off eight still images per second. It's one of just a few advanced cameras in our tests that has excellent image quality for regular photos. It also has long battery life.
Alternative: The Canon EOS Rebel T3i, $650, scored the same and is a Best Buy.

Vacuum cleaner: Kirby Sentria, $1,350
From an iconic brand, this Kirby bagged upright was stellar at at all cleaning tasks in our vacuum tests and is among the least repair-prone upright brand according to our reader surveys. It's self-propelled, good since it's especially heavy, and comes with myriad features and attachments. Unfortunately, the attachments are cumbersome to connect, requiring removal of the powerhead, and the Kirby was fairly noisy. Alternatives: The Kenmore Progressive 31069, $200, and Hoover WindTunnel Max UH30600, $180, are both Best Buys.

Blender: Vitamix 5200, $450
The Vita-Mix 5200 is one of the most powerful blenders on the market today. Backed by a two horsepower motor, it aced our ice-crushing and icy drinks tests, and more. In our blender tests, this robust machine was excellent at grating cheese and pureeing soup. It also excelled at the durability task in which we perform the ice-crushing test 45 times. Fans like the Vitamix online community, which shares recipe ideas and other tips.
Alternative: Sharing top-billing is the Ninja Master Prep Professional QB1004, $60, a Best Buy.

readon1 url="http://homes.yahoo.com/news/high-end-products-top-marks-tests-150000784.html"]Source:homes.yahoo.com[/readon1]

That Celestial rock had been zooming along at 40,000 mph for thousands of years when it exploded over Russia on Friday — and that’s when it really picked up speed.

The first big meteorite of the media age rocketed through the consciousness of its target planet at the speed of Twitter. A rare event in a remote place went viral, thanks to the ubiquitous dashboard cameras of bad Russian drivers. And it instantly grabbed the attention of an electronic age that thought it was beyond being stunned by a bolt from space.

A bionic eye, proven effective in assisting people with a rare disease that causes blindness, has been approved for use in the U.S. While the Argus II Retinal Prosthetic System does not completely restore vision in people diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, it does allow the patient to distinguish light and shadow. A study of 30 people with the implant indicated the technology allowed them to recognize large letters and made it easier for them to walk on a sidewalk and more easily detect curbs. At over $100,000, the implants don't come cheap. But, then, how do you put a price on not being hit by a bus?

[readon1 url="http://now.msn.com/bionic-eye-approved-for-use-in-us
"]Source:now.msn.com[/readon1]

QUITO, Ecuador — Like many upper-class Ecuadoreans, Lenin Moreno rarely noticed people with disabilities. A successful businessman and politician, he was too busy being an overachiever.

All that changed in 1998. After buying bread at a Quito grocery store, Moreno was approached by gunmen in the parking lot. Even though he gave up his wallet and keys, the carjackers shot him in the back, leaving Moreno paraplegic.

Now, a dapper Moreno, 59, is sitting in a wheelchair at the colonial Carondelet presidential palace in Quito as newly arrived foreign dignitaries present him their credentials. Moreno was elected vice president in 2006. But, last month, he became acting president when President Rafael Correa took a leave of absence to campaign for re-election in Ecuador’s Feb. 17 vote.

That makes Moreno the world’s highest-ranking government official in a wheelchair. By nearly all accounts, he has used his power wisely. A fierce advocate for people with mental and physical disabilities, Moreno has helped turn Ecuador into one of Latin America’s most advanced countries for disabled people.
“The nice face of this government”

His work “is by far one of the best things this government has done,” said Monica Almeida, an editor at El Universo, one of the country’s largest newspapers. “The vice president is the nice face of this government.”

When Moreno first received the vice presidential sash, the government didn’t even know how many disabled people lived in Ecuador. It was rare to see people in wheelchairs in public. In rural areas, people with severe disabilities were treated as outcasts and hidden from society. Some were even confined to sheds and chicken coops.

But Moreno has tried to upend this grim scenario. Using profits from the OPEC country’s oil boom, the government is installing wheelchair ramps all over Quito — the capital — and other cities. People with severe disabilities now receive $300 monthly stipends from the government. Moreno helped draw up a law that compels Ecuadorean companies to set aside at least four percent of jobs to people with disabilities.

“We are going to make sure that not a single person with disabilities goes unattended,” Moreno said in a recent speech. “This is a revolution.”
Motivating the disabled to move forward

This campaign on behalf of the disabled includes providing free artificial limbs to poor Ecuadoreans. Imported prosthetics can cost well over $5,000. However, about 90 prostheses are being produced every month at three Ecuadorean workshops and are then distributed to people who once hobbled around on crutches or learned to get by with just one arm.

In the wing of a government hospital in Quito on a recent afternoon, several workers used saws and power sanders to put the finishing touches on new limbs as project manager Jorge Costa looked on. He said about 300,000 people are waiting for prostheses.

“The idea is to reinsert them into society,” he said. “With these limbs, they will become more motivated to find work.”

One person who has made this transition is Sarita Carlosama. A disease affecting her spinal cord left Carlosama paraplegic 20 years ago. Back then, she was studying to be a doctor at a Quito university. But she quit because there was no wheelchair access to the fifth-floor classrooms.

Carlosama ended up studying administration at a business academy where the classrooms were on the first floor. After graduating, finding a good job was tough. But following passage of the new four percent law to bring disabled people into the work force, Carlosama was hired by an oil company where she works as an accountant.

Now, her self-esteem is soaring. Three days a week she rises before dawn to practice tennis in her wheelchair before going to work. Not surprisingly, she’s full of praise for Vice President Moreno.

“He has achieved so much,” she says. “But even if he hadn’t done anything, just the fact that the vice president is in a wheelchair changes perceptions about disabled people.”

[readon1 url="http://www.voxxi.com/ecuador-vice-president-wheelchair/#ixzz2KtjKODBk"]Source:www.voxxi.com[/readon1]

• Catholic Church has lost ground to Protestants in Latin America
•  Benedict not as popular as John Paul in the region
• Africa also hoping it could have the next pop
  
  

MEXICO CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Latin America senses an opportunity to break Europe's grip on the papacy as Pope Benedict's decision on Monday to step down stirs hopes the world's biggest Roman Catholic bloc may finally get to lead the Church.

Home to 42 percent of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics, Latin America far outweighs Europe's 25 percent, although the Church has for years been losing ground to Protestant and evangelical rivals across the region.

Ever since Rome broke with a longstanding tradition in 1978 by appointing a non-Italian pope, John Paul II, the faithful of Latin America have harbored hopes that one of their own would soon take charge of the largest flock in Christendom.

"A Latin American pope would be good politics by the Church.

There are many Catholics here, but they're losing their share in the market," said Acacia Ramirez, a 36-year-old actuary, as she headed to work in Mexico City.

As recently as 1970, about 96 percent of Mexicans pledged allegiance to the pope in Rome. However, over the past four decades, millions have turned to evangelical Protestantism and other churches - or abandoned religion completely.

Between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of Catholics in Mexico fell from 88 percent to less than 83 percent. That was sharpest drop since records began. The decline in Brazil, which is home to the world's biggest Catholic population, has been even more precipitous.

A 2010 census showed that just over 120 million Brazilians call themselves Catholics - about 65 percent of the population, compared with over 90 percent of Brazilians in 1970.

Some top Latin American clerics mused openly about change.

"It could be time for a black pope, or a yellow one, or a red one, or a Latin American. Or it could be time for an Asian pope, or one from another continent," Guatemala's Archbishop Oscar Julio Vian Morales said after Benedict's announcement.

Benedict never captured the imagination of Latin American churchgoers in the same way as Polish-born John Paul, who visited the region several times and whose portrait still adorns the walls of homes and stores nearly eight years after his death.

HOPES FOR PEACE

Sitting in the shade of an enormous statue of John Paul outside the basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City, 57-year-old housewife Carmen Angel said she hoped the next pope would watch closely over Latin America.

"I think it would be very positive if the next pope were to be from Mexico," said Angel, on a pilgrimage from the city of Puebla with her husband and two granddaughters.

Aside from the German-born Benedict and his predecessor John Paul, Italy has dominated the Vatican for centuries.

There are 19 cardinals in Latin America who could now be in the running, including five from Brazil and three from Mexico.

Jesus Muro, a Mexico City chauffeur, said a Latin American pope would be a pacifying influence on the region, which includes some of the world's most violent countries.

"There would be less violence and less discontent among those with less," said Muro, 42, who attends mass every Sunday.

In Honduras, which has the world's highest murder rate, some believers said they hoped divine intervention could help the chances of a local cardinal, Oscar Andres Rodriguez.

"I'm sad about Pope Ratzinger, but will start to pray that Monsenor Rodriguez be elected as the new pope," said Suyapa Lopez, 58, a secretary in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, using Benedict's family name.

Rodriguez was seen as a candidate to succeed John Paul last time around, though his reputation suffered after he openly supported the ouster of former leftist President Manuel Zelaya in 2009.

In Chile, where John Paul branded General Augusto Pinochet a dictator during a visit in the late 1980s, some say they yearn for a pope who understands them.

"I feel very distant from the pope, from the Vatican. So much pomp and wealth," said teacher Grecia Opazo, 50. "It would be good for the pope to know about the problems we have here."

Latin America has been getting closer to the top job.

POPULAR ARGENTINE

In 2005, following the election of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger as Benedict XVI, it was widely reported that on each of the previous four ballots, Argentina's Jorge Mario Bergoglio received the second-highest number of votes.

Odilo Scherer, 63, archbishop of the huge diocese of Sao Paolo, and the 69-year-old Italian-Argentine Leonardo Sandri, head of the Vatican department for Eastern Churches, have been tipped as Latin America's leading candidates this time.

"It would be a revolution if a Latin American took over as the pope," said Alberto Levinson, a 56-year-old psychologist and devout Catholic in Buenos Aires. "Jesus Christ lived for the poor, not for the rich."

The pope's health has looked increasingly delicate in recent months, but many wondered what prompted his decision to become the first pontiff since the Middle Ages to resign.

"Why did he do it? Most of them when they reach that point, they don't want to leave and they stay until they die. So this one is wise," said retired economist Dorotea Ruiz, 66, in Cuba.

During his papacy, Benedict faced a series of crises in the Church, ranging from child sex abuse scandals to the leaking of his private papers by his butler.

Church elders in Brazil said the pope's departure could pave the way for a modernization of the Church, with the archbishop of Salvador, Murilo Krieger, calling it "an honest gesture".

Today many Brazilians increasingly look toward evangelical denominations or eschew religion altogether as the country grows more urban and prosperous.

In Rio de Janeiro, Deisy Alves, a 23-year-old student dressed in a devil costume and red horns on Monday for the country's Carnival celebrations, did not care who replaces Benedict.

"This last pope, he didn't mean that much to people my age, at least not the ones that I know," she said.

Senior Vatican officials have dropped hints that the next pope could be from Latin America or Africa.

"They're looking for a man with fairly worldwide experience, from Japan to Alaska and from Chile up as far as Canada," William Slattery, Archbishop of Pretoria, told Reuters.

"Today, the Catholic Church is tremendously strong in South America. They have been expecting a pope for a long time," he said. "Africa is the place where the church has become very strong over recent years, so Africa will have its own claims."

[readon1 url="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/11/pope-resigns-latinamerica-idUSL1N0BB5R020130211"]Source:www.reuters.com[/readon1]

It's like "Moby Dick" in real life. A rare white humpback whale has been sighted off the coast of Norway.

British maritime engineer Dan Fisher, 32, spotted the humpback whale while on a boat trip to Svalbard, Norway, and snapped photos from the ship's mast. The pictures were later published in The Daily Mail.

The short video above shows the white whale in the company of its pigmented peers. The whale surfaces, blows a spout and then dives under the water again.

Vatican confirms the Pope will resign on Feb. 28.

VATICAN — Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he would resign on Feb. 28 because he was simply too infirm to carry on — the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years. The decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March.

The 85-year-old pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals on Monday morning.

He emphasized that carrying out the duties of being pope — the leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide — requires "both strength of mind and body."

"After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry," he told the cardinals. "I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only by words and deeds but no less with prayer and suffering.

"However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of St. Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary — strengths which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me."

The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants.

Benedict called his choice "a decision of great importance for the life of the church."

The move sets the stage for the Vatican to hold a conclave to elect a new pope by mid-March, since the traditional mourning time that would follow the death of a pope doesn't have to be observed.

There are several papal contenders in the wings, but no obvious front-runner — the same situation when Benedict was elected pontiff in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II.

When Benedict was elected pope at age 78 — already the oldest pope elected in nearly 300 years — he had been already planning to retire as the Vatican's chief orthodoxy watchdog to spend his final years writing in the "peace and quiet" of his native Bavaria.

Contenders to be his successor include Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the archbishop of Vienna, and Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Canadian head of the Vatican's office for bishops.

Longshots include Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. Although Dolan is popular and backs the pope's conservative line, the general thinking is that the Catholic Church doesn't need a pope from a "superpower."

All cardinals under age 80 are allowed to vote in the conclave, the secret meeting held in the Sistine Chapel where cardinals cast ballots to elect a new pope. As per tradition, the ballots are burned after each voting round; black smoke that snakes out of the chimney means no pope has been chosen, while white smoke means a pope has been elected.

Popes are allowed to resign; church law specifies only that the resignation be "freely made and properly manifested."

Only a handful have done so, however and there's good reason why it hasn't become commonplace: Might the existence of two popes — even when one has stepped down — lead to divisions and instability in the church? Might a new resignation precedent lead to pressures on future popes to quit at the slightest hint of infirmity?

Benedict himself raised the possibility of resigning if he were simply too old or sick to continue on in 2010, when he was interviewed for the book "Light of the World."

"If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right, and under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign," Benedict said.

The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had an intimate view as Pope John Paul II, with whom he had worked closely for nearly a quarter-century, suffered through the debilitating end of his papacy.

[readon1 url="http://news.msn.com/world/pope-benedict-to-resign"]Source:news.msn.com[/readon1]

On May 17, 2006, in a firefight with Afghan Taliban insurgents, Canadian forces lost an artillery officer hit by shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade. She was Capt. Nichola Goddard, the first Canadian woman to be killed in action since her country’s 1989 decision to admit women soldiers into combat.

For a nation already divided about participating in the American-led Afghanistan war, Goddard’s death was a particular shock, and two more Canadian women have since died in combat. But Canada remains in the small group of countries – including Israel, France, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and now the U.S. – that have opened their fighting ranks to female soldiers.

Canada’s change didn’t come easily. “There was definitely heated discussion among my peers whether we should be there” in combat, said Lt. Col. Jennie Carignan, who enlisted in 1986.

But the country’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms made it inevitable, and the armed forces began a series of trials. The initial result was not encouraging for champions of full equality. The trials indicated that almost half the male rank and file viewed their female counterparts as “women first, tradespersons second, and soldiers never.” It was feared unit cohesion, esprit de corps and morale would suffer.

Final word came in a 1989 ruling by Canada’s Human Rights Commission ordering women to be admitted to all combat roles except aboard submarines. The submarine ban fell three years later.

Chief Warrant Officer A.P. Stapleford, who had enlisted in the Canadian infantry in 1975, said some initially questioned whether women were up to the task physically and whether the men would feel obliged to protect them.

“It was a shock at first and we overreacted at first, but we learned to adapt and work with them. They were going to be there anyway, so we just got over it and it wasn’t an issue to integrate them into units.” Nowadays, he said, soldiers take the presence of female combatants in stride.

The military says 2.4 percent of personnel in combat units are women – 145 officers and 209 enlisted soldiers. Overall, 9,348 women serve in the Canadian Armed Forces, 14 percent of all personnel.

Officers today speak of having adapted swiftly to women in combat, and officers and enlisted soldiers, male and female, whom the Associated Press sought out for interviews, insist they have no problem with the change.

But some in the civilian sector disagree with the principle.

While supportive of women serving in the military, columnist Margaret Wente of The Globe and Mail, a Toronto daily, wrote following the U.S. decision of Jan. 24: “The sheer physical demands of war (to say nothing of group cohesion, and all the rest) mean that fighting capability and performance are simply not compatible with gender equality.”

Gwen Landolt of REAL Women Canada, a socially conservative advocacy group, said: “It was a politically correct decision. The problem is women are just not equal physically, they can’t perform in combat to the same degree as men can.”

Landolt supports women serving as noncombatants and was the first female lawyer to serve in the legal department of the Canadian Forces. She said REAL Women waged a lonely battle to head off the 1989 decision.

“If the tribunal hadn’t come down in 1989 and smacked them so hard, maybe the military would be more objective,” she said in an interview.

“Feminism was at its height in Canada in 1989 and (feminist organizations) would hit back fast and furiously when we raised objections.”

Both she and Wente also cite issues of pregnancy, motherhood and sex, as well as male instincts of protectiveness of women.

Carignan, the veteran from 1986, said the first 10 years of integration were difficult, but after a review of anti-harassment policies and a revamp of the military’s code of ethics in the 1990s, things improved significantly.

“When I first entered into the forces I heard, ‘Women aren’t strong enough,’ so I just hit the gym harder,” said Carignan. “Then later I heard, ‘I’ve never had a woman as a troop commander’ but okay, so now let’s move on. And we did move on, never looking back.”

In 2003, she became the first woman to hold deputy command of a combat unit, and was Task Force Kandahar’s senior combat engineer in 2009.

Capt. Ashley Collette, during her 10-month deployment in Afghanistan, led a 50-strong all-male infantry unit providing security to villagers. She had close calls with roadside bombs, and two of her soldiers were injured. Now 28, she received the Medal of Military Valour, Canada’s third-highest military honor, for her leadership in the Panjwaii district near Kandahar – the district where Nichola Goddard died.

Carignan said while it took time and some struggle for women to get where they are today, “now, the men who initially were opposed are defending female combatants because they know in the end, it’s all just about how you do your job.”

[readon1 url="http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/4354057-95/women-combat-canadian-forces"]Source:www.concordmonitor.com[/readon1]

A strong earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale has jolted southern Colombia and was felt as far away as the Ecuadorian capital city of Quito.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said that the quake occurred at 9:16 a.m. local time (1416 GMT) Saturday and was centered about 11 kilometers from the Colombian town of Pasto.

The tremor occurred at a depth of 129 kilometers, USGS said. The quake was felt in Colombia’s south and west, and in the capital Bogota. It was also felt hundreds of kilometers south in Quito, where buildings reportedly shook for two minutes.

The Colombian service said national crisis centers were activated, but added there were no immediate reports of casualties or damages.

"It's possible there won't be aftershocks because of the great depth at which the quake occurred," said Jaime Raigosa, a seismologist at the Institute of Geology and Mining.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) in Hawaii stated that the quake would not cause a destructive tsunami.

"A destructive Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected, and there is no tsunami threat to Hawaii,” PTWC said.

[readon1 url="http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/09/288127/strong-70-richter-quake-jolts-colombia/"]Source:www.presstv.ir[/readon1]

If you’re the type that loves to explore the world by cruise ship visiting exotic ports 365 days a year, The World may be just the ticket for you – provided you’re rich of course.  The World Residences at Sea (http://www.aboardtheworld.com) is the first floating condominium in, well, the world. First launched in 2002, its 165 deluxe residences sold out within three years, and it has a continuing successful sales story to tell.

Esthec impressed numerous superyacht owners, designers and representatives of leading shipyards with the exclusive freedom in design and colour that Esthec offers during the recent Design Symposium and Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.

Using the exact same type of yacht, designer and architect Christina Norris (Oversee Yachts) gave all the visitors a treat by showing 3 extraordinary, personalized Esthec designs.