Traders came back to work after the Thanksgiving weekend to the same old worries about the fiscal cliff and the European debt crisis. The stock market was down throughout the day Monday as Washington lawmakers and business groups bickered over the proper rates for taxing and spending. In Europe, leaders tried to cobble together another bailout loan for Greece.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 42.31 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 12,967.37.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 2.86 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,406.29.
The Nasdaq composite rose 9.93 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,976.78.
Black eye is often stays up late, emotional instability, eye fatigue, aging, venous blood flow velocity is too slow, the oxygen deficiency of red blood cells of the skin, eye, vein carbon dioxide and metabolic waste accumulation of excessive formation of chronic hypoxia The blood is dark and forms a stagnation caused by eye pigmentation.
Methods / steps
1, Eggs Eggs rich in high quality protein, but the protein can promote cell regeneration, so regular consumption of eggs to increase protein intake have a certain effect to ease the formation of dark circles. Daily but the human body can only absorb a maximum of the nutrition contained two eggs, the consumption of eggs should not be more than two. Some people are used to eating raw eggs, fact, extremely digestible raw eggs also contain bacteria, and therefore suggest that you as the best food boiled eggs. In addition, lean meat, poultry, eggs, aquatic products are also rich in high quality protein, regular consumption of such foods can also help to reduce the formation of dark circles, but due to the eggs protein composition and the closest to the human body, so the best absorption effect.
2, Sesame Sesame UFA well known, but its efficacy may eliminate dark circles fresh people aware. Sesame is rich in vitamin E, which can ease the formation of dark circles with nourishing the eye and ocular. Both make beautiful black hair, but also to eliminate dark circles, kill two birds with one stone, no wonder some people regarded as the sesame magic ?magic food?. In addition to sesame seeds, rich in vitamin E foods are peanuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, etc.
3, Carrot In addition to vitamin E to nourish the eye and ocular vitamin A also has this effect. Carrot choice is to increase the intake of vitamin A, can maintain the normal function of the epithelial tissue, improve dark circles. In addition, carrots contain vitamin A also helps to improve vision, especially in the dark vision. Other foods contain vitamin A, as well as animal liver, butter, eggs, alfalfa, apricots.
4, Kelp As the iron core ingredients of a hemoglobin. Therefore, the added amount of iron can promote an increase in hemoglobin, thereby enhancing its ability to transport Oxygen and nutrients seaweed is rich in iron, so often take kelp can also ease the distress of the black eye. Containing iron-rich foods as well as animal liver, lean meat.
5, Green tea Often use computers to drink green tea, add a specific plant nutrients, eliminate dark circles caused due to computer radiation. Green tea contains concentrated polyphenols, can inhibit free radical damage, skin support fibers and today is widely recognized as the most effective anti-free radical factor. Drink plenty of decaffeinated green tea can not only eliminate dark circles, which contains catechins, both to help the body fat metabolism, and sleep, sleep quality not only stability, but also people are less likely to have a feeling of fatigue.
Preschool children?s had better not drink tea 1. Because tea contains theophylline and other substances, the central nervous system is very easy to generate excitement.
The infant's body is in the developmental stage, the body nervous system for...
The nutritional value and effectiveness of sardines Sardines are rich in can health-promoting Omega-3s, EPA and DHA. These basic fatty acids can help unimpeded the flow of blood inside the body to maintain a healthy heart and prevent cardiovascular dis...
Week rapid weight loss recipes For some people beginning to lose weight, control appetite is a very sleepy which things, how to control the daily intake of calories? Below is necessary to introduce to you one week to lose weight fa...
Ten ?best? Summer life tips 1. Best condiment-- Vinegar
In hot summer, it is easy to sweat a lot. Eating more vinegar can help us increase the stomach acid concentration and digest and absorb nutrients and work up an appetite.
...
6 Notes Oral antihypertensive drugs Required oral antihypertensive drugs, should note the following:
1, In the take medicine process to regularly measure blood pressure, 3-7 days measured one time.
2, Using a single drug, two week...
Joint pain prevention and treatment We should pay attention to the prevention of joint pain:
1, note that joint warm. Do not wet the room to protect the joints do not get cold damp.
2, reduce the joint weight-bearing exercise, s...
How to do dry lips in winter ? tips for dry lips The skin of the lips is very thin, once the weather is too dry, it is easy to cause cracking, so winter must care lips.
Methods / steps
1, In dry weather, remember to use a lip balm, Lip liquid ...
Daily best dining schedule Best dining schedule of daily
Breakfast ? ? 7:00
Recommended breakfast: a full orange, 1 cup of coffee, 2 slices whole wheat bread, 1 tomato scrambled eggs
Lunch ? ? 12:30
Recommended Lunch: ...
The nutritional value and effectiveness of eggplant Eggplant nutrition, are more abundant, contains protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and calcium, phosphorus, iron and other nutrients. 100 grams of eggplant contains protein per 2.3 grams, 0.1 grams...
Beneficial to lower blood pressure fruit (1) Orange: contains a lot of vitamin C, citric acid and glucose of 10 kinds of nutrients. high blood pressure caused by Chronic hepatitis , tangerine can improve liver detoxification, the accelerate...
Tags: remove dark circles, remove dark circles food, remove the black eye, remove the black eye food This entry was posted on Saturday, November 24th, 2012 and is filed under Beauty, Health Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
In this entire world of growing technology, a cellular telephone is a must, but there are distinct varieties of people who use this cellphone for different purposes. Some use it for mere communication applications, some use to only for leisure. We use the phone for whatever factors it is usually useful. A cellphone performs only with a network relationship. You ought to choose a correct mobile deal or else you will pay out a lot more for interaction instead of the gadget.
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"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude." -- Cynthia Ozick
Is it just me, or did all of the election ads just get replaced with things-you-need-to-buy-for-Christmas ads? I remember when people didn't decorate their houses for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. Some of my neighbors have had decorations up for weeks now -- long before Halloween. I also remember when stores were actually closed on Thanksgiving. Now it's an opportunity for people to get their early-bird Black Friday shopping done and/or prioritize where they need to be at 3:00 a.m. on the day after Thanksgiving. If you are one of those people, fine. I know there's a lot of money to be saved by getting there at 3:00 a.m.
But do me a favor. When you get home, take a few minutes to reflect on why we have a Thanksgiving holiday in the first place. Think about the name for a minute: "Thanks Giving." Yep, we're supposed to be giving thanks -- and not for that great deal we just got on the new mini iPad. You see, the first Thanksgiving in 1621 was motivated by a particularly great harvest. The Pilgrims were giving thanks to God for the food that was to sustain them through the harsh winter.
Now that we get our food from Fred Meyer, Rosauer's, or Walmart, we often forget that many people were involved in bringing our food to the table. So take a little time this Thanksgiving to send a quiet "thank you" to them and to anyone else who's done something special for you lately. Or maybe give thanks to someone you've been taking for granted. Or -- deep breath -- maybe think about it the day after Thanksgiving and the day after that. And the day after that.
You see, years ago I started keeping a gratitude journal. Each night I write down at least 10 things that I am thankful for. There are a lot of repeat entries -- things like good home-cooked food, my friends and family, comfortable shoes, and a comfy bed. But there are also random things that draw my attention as I reflect each night. The shooting star I saw on my morning run. The nice person who held the door open for me when I was loaded down with books. The first snowfall.
Ending the day in gratitude is a nice practice. It's far better than ending your day thinking about what your colleague said during the staff meeting that really made you mad. Or about all of the things you need to do tomorrow. Writing in my gratitude journal leaves me feeling uplifted -- even on the days when it seems like a gargantuan task to come up with 10 whole things to be grateful for.
So give it a try tonight. And tomorrow. And maybe even the night after. You may find you really enjoy it -- that maybe you've got a whole lot in your life to be grateful for. Maybe, like me, you'll find that coming up with 10 things to be thankful for puts you in a calm, peaceful state and sets you up for a good night's sleep. And that's something we can all be grateful for.
For more by Mary Pritchard, click here.
For more on emotional wellness, click here.
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Last time we checked in with Apple's ongoing court battle with Samsung in the upcoming Galaxy Nexus case, which will be tried by the same court that awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages this past summer, Apple was adding the latest Samsung devices to the suit. Now Samsung has responded in kind, adding the iPad mini, 4th generation iPad and 5th generation iPod touch to the mix.
With all the things Kobe Bryant has learned from Phil Jackson over the years, there's still one unanswered question that seems to gnaw at him.
How could a keeper of 11 NBA championships ever be passed up for a coaching job? More important, how could the Lakers ever dismiss Jackson's accomplishments when he's won of five his 11 titles here in two separate stints?
"It's very strange," Bryant said after the Lakers' 84-82 loss Tuesday to the San Antonio Spurs. "You would think that organizations and other coaches would try to learn from Phil. That's what they should do.
"If you have a coach that has won more than anybody, you would want to study and analyze them and wonder why that is the case. They haven't done it."
Yes, Bryant is still excited about the Lakers hiring Mike D'Antoni as their new head coach. He even revealed he was the first choice he recommended to the Lakers' front office. But that was because, at the time, Bryant said he didn't know Jackson even was considered a candidate since he had retired from the game two years ago.
Once Bryant learned he was in the mix, though, he campaigned hard.
He relished the "We Want Phil" chants showering down from the Lakers fans at Staples Center. Bryant glowingly sang his praises in news conferences.
He acknowledged the unsettled feeling that his injured right knee partly contributed to the Lakers falling in a four-game sweep to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 Western
Conference semifinals in Jackson's last season.
The reason for Bryant's want for Jackson to return? Easy. Bryant provided a startling admission on whether he'd have five NBA titles if not for Jackson's guidance.
"Probably not," Bryant said.
MAGIC GRIEVES
After staying silent for two days about the D'Antoni hire, Magic Johnson took to Twitter.
"I've been mourning Phil Jackson not being hired as the Lakers head coach," Johnson tweeted. "My mother always taught me that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."
HIGHLIGHT REEL
If his time with the New York Knicks indicated anything, Chris Duhon wouldn't be surprised if D'Antoni spends his first day presenting a highlight film of each player.
"It gave all the guys a lot of confidence," said Duhon, who played for D'Antoni from 2008-10. "It was definitely a first for me. It really lightened the mood."
Still, Duhon scoffed at the widely held perception D'Antoni's system will entail little defense.
"You have Kobe, you have Metta (World Peace), you have Pau (Gasol) and you have Dwight Howard, obviously, protecting the paint," Duhon said.
"These guys have pride. They're not going to give up 157 points."
INJURY UPDATE
Lakers reserve forward Jordan Hill, who has a sprained right wrist, is considered probable for Friday's game against the Phoenix Suns.
"It's not bad," Hill told this newspaper following the Lakers' loss Tuesday. "It's tolerable."
The Lakers had the day off Wednesday, but Hill spent that time receiving treatment.
He wore a brace to support the wrist. Immediately after the game, Hill sat by his locker stall receiving stimulation treatment. Hill, who also has monitored a herniated disk in his back, said he couldn't remember how he injured his wrist.
Curious to see what $349 can get you outside of the Play Store? If you head to the deals site Daily Steals in the next day, you'll get a chance to buy the Galaxy S3 Mini for just a penny under $350. This one is the 16GB model with just HSPA+ -- no LTE here -- and is unlocked with the proper frequencies for AT&T. So if that all fits the bill for you, hit the source link below.
Bertil Enevag Ericson / Scanpix Sweden via Reuters
Police vans stand guard outside the Sagerska Palace, the official residence of the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, after a man died inside either by committing suicide or in an accident on Friday.
By Reuters
STOCKHOLM ? A man has died inside Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's residence in Stockholm after either committing suicide or an accident, but the prime minister and his family were safe, police said Friday.
"There are no signs of a crime. We investigate this as a suicide or a work-related accident," Towe Hagg, a police spokeswoman, told Reuters.
Media said the man died of gunshot wounds.
The dead man was not part of the prime minister's personal bodyguards but had full clearance to be in the building. Another official said he was a security guard who worked at the residence.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The race for the White House is pretty much back where it started, after thousands of ads, billions of dollars in spending, two conventions and three presidential debates. Despite some detours, the emphasis is heavily on the nation's lukewarm economy and President Barack Obama's stewardship of it.
But if Tuesday's election does amount to a referendum on the Obama economy, the outcome likely won't shine a bright light on how to fix it. There's too much polarization in the nation's capital and in the country as a whole ? regardless of who wins ? to produce a clear consensus plan for averting a looming "fiscal cliff" of higher taxes and deep automatic cuts in military and domestic spending.
Last week's devastating East Coast storm, the campaign debates and controversy over the deadly terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, scrambled things a bit in the home stretch.
But as millions of Americans vote for president, Congress and thousands of state and local posts, the excruciatingly slow economic recovery and continued high joblessness were clearly weighing on their minds.
Obama's Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, doggedly tried to keep the focus on the economy. Its poor performance on Obama's watch has been his main theme. He cites his own business background in presenting himself as the person who can heal it and restore jobs.
Obama agrees that the economy remains challenged. But he points to a string of recent positive economic reports and a slow but steady drop in the unemployment rate as reasons not to switch leadership midstream.
If he wins a second term, Obama probably will be credited with keeping things from getting much worse and for policies like his auto-industry bailout, which helped pave the way for an eventual comeback.
Both campaigns are mindful that no president since Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s ran for re-election with a national jobless rate as high as it is now ? 7.9 percent in October.
Romney has pointed out that the jobless rate is higher ? by a tenth of a percentage point ? than when Obama took office. Obama supporters note it's an improvement from the 10 percent reached in October 2009.
Republican consultant Rich Galen said that while Obama's handling of Superstorm Sandy did help the president some, any boost he got from that has subsided and the race "goes back to where it was a week ago" with the economy again the No. 1 issue.
Democratic pollster Doug Schoen, who worked for President Bill Clinton, said "ultimately, it's the economy" that will drive returns. "If Romney wins, it's the economy. And if Obama wins, it's because he's been able to blunt the impact of the economy."
Either way, Schoen predicts the country will be even more polarized after the election than it is now.
Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University, said the country remains closely divided, much as it was in the 2000 and 2004 presidential races.
"Both parties have consolidated their bases. There are really very few independents. They may not register their party affiliation. But they all lean in one direction or the other," Baker said.
Economic issues will shape the national post-election agenda no matter who wins as the nation hurtles toward a toxic brew of expiring Bush-era tax cuts and more than $1 trillion in automatic defense and domestic spending cuts that will begin to take effect in January unless Congress can strike a deficit-reduction deal to stop it.
Congress, as closely divided as the nation itself, so far has been unable to do so. Economists and many in the business community warn that going over the so-called fiscal cliff could plunge the nation back into recession.
Congress returns to work next week to deal with the fast-approaching economic crisis and other unfinished business.
But House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, campaigning for Romney in Ohio, said he isn't holding his breath waiting for a grand compromise and said a short-term temporary fix is probably "the best you can hope for."
It's seems doubtful the congressional mix after the election will be much more conducive to bipartisanship. Republicans are confident of keeping, even expanding, their majority in the House, while Democrats are increasingly hopeful of retaining control in the Senate.
Even if the economy is central to Tuesday's election, many economists say it's likely to get better under either Obama or Romney.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, a strong Obama supporter, agrees.
The U.S. economy is "inching ahead" and business will improve regardless, Buffett says, and "the economy will get better under either one of them."
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EDITOR'S NOTE ? Tom Raum covers politics and economics for The Associated Press.
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Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum
In the comments section of this post, Susan wrote:
When I set about (rather foolishly) to write every day in October about the mission of motherhood, I had no idea what a wild ride it would be. God has been very direct in answering my questions. I come to this space on November 2 with a very different sense of mission than just a month ago." Can you share more about HOW God has been "very direct" in answering your questions? I looked at your first post, and you were partly speaking about the mission as a writer as well as that of being a mother. Were these some of your questions? How is your sense of mission different? Why? I am very, very interested. VERY interested. I am sorry it has been so hard. I think we all have our own, different issues (often), but I will say, this time with multiple ages (oldest 31, youngest still 9) has been, for maybe the last five years, VERY stretching for me. It is just harder than I expected! Perhaps things have leveled out some here (with four out of the home) -- but it's been a process! I would just love for you to share more -- is that your intention??
I'll try:-)
I think that I've been living a kind of tension that might be similar to yours. Maybe it's a universal experience when there is a large family, at least to some degree. Every woman's journey is likely a bit different but I do think there are some kindred moments.
My own struggle, as best as I can describe, was kind of on three planes. I was wrestling with the idea that somehow living a wholehearted, intentional mama life in the suburbs fell short of God's command to minister to the poor. For my entire mothering life, I'd always considered my home my mission field and this family an endless opportunity to live the works of mercy, but some recent reading had challenged that for me. Through some pretty intensive prayer and some great spiritual guidance, I think I've come to peace with that angle. I wrote about it earlier in the series.
The second plane was the idea that somehow this is all pointless. I think one way that the devil distracts and dissuades mothers of many, who came to mothering with the best intentions, is to suggest to them that their wide-eyed optimism and extraordinary openness to life was really a very silly propostition. He teases them with the apparent "failures" of their mothering experiences, the ungrateful children who hurl ugly words, the stumbling sinfulness of every day life. He taunts them with the little ones yet to raise and undermines every last shred of confidence. And he says, "don't you think you better look for something more? Clearly, this magnum opus isn't turning out so great." I think I've come to peace with that struggle, too.
The other tension was harder for me to pinpoint. I see lots of women my age, who were mothers at home with me when our firstborns were little, who homeschooled with me in those early years, and they are living in mostly empty nests and going out into the world to do some pretty interesting and even noble things. There is literature that suggests that this is the natural progression for women at midlife (not sure I buy into said literature, but it does exist).?
Then, even trickier, are the women who are (were?) committed mothers at home, who, like me, discovered that with the internet, we could be mothers at home and then some. It has given me pause lately when I read about how the internet solves the loneliness problem for women who are at home in abandoned neighborhoods. I remember the feeling of nearly exhilarating connection when I found like-minded moms online. For me, there was more than just friendship. There was opportunity as well--a chance to write and publish widely, to connect with speaking opportnities, to build a professional profile--all without leaving home.?
I watched as women built social network platforms, broadened horizons, and took full advantage of all the internet could offer to further a ministry and build community and encourage creativity and even provide some income for a family. I remembered when I made a decision to be a mother at home nearly a quarter century ago. It wasn't even a decision! I had no regret leaving the professional world behind to stay home with my baby. But this? This online world? It crept in and became big in my life before I really recognized it for what it was.
I found myself chafing. I wanted to be working on my book. Instead, I was plodding through college algebra. I wanted to be researching moving my blog to Wordpress. Instead, I was filling out the teacher, parent, and counselor portions of the Common App. I wanted to be writing a blog series on the The Mission of Motherhood. Instead, I was struggling to oversee a home renovation for which my husband had long planned. I wanted to commit to a speaking engagement. Instead, I knew that I was needed at home (and on the soccer field) because Mike would be traveling. I was frustrated.?
It seemed like I prayed and sought counsel and wrestled and wrestled forever with this. And then, within the course of a week, God threw in everything and the kitchen sink. I came to this blog a mother at home, homeschooling a big bunch of kids, praying for more babies, and grateful to be making a home with a man I've loved since I was fifteen. That's who I was. That's still who I am. I'm a homemaker. I make a home. I can't make a home and build a social media platform or a publishing career.
If I am going to continue to write, I have to write in the margins of my life at home. I remember writing in the margins in high school. over and over again, I wrote "Mrs. Michael Foss." And now, all these years later, that is still the sum of my words in the margins.
That's who I am. The only way I'm going to be content is to be who I am. I was starting to recognize this as I worked through this The Mission of Motherhood?study. Last week, it all came into very clear vision.
When Barbara Curtis died suddenly, I found myself thinking about her legacy. Barbara was a lot of things to a lot of people. To me, most of all, she was the example of a mother who had children over the entire spectrum of her childbearing years. I often looked at her relationship with her youngest daughter and found great hope that I'd be a vital part of my little girls' lives well into their young adulthood, despite my "advanced maternal age." And then Barbara died suddenly and Maddy is still so very young.
She's the same age as the boy who sits next to me with algebra, the one who has grown closer to me in the last few months than in the last few years, because somehow we find ourselves fighting through math and science together. And that seems really significant to me right now. I ache to think that I might not be around when Sarah is his age.
Barbara was nothing if not real. She was true to who she was. You always knew where you stood and you always knew what was important to her. That's a very rare thing in the internet world, I think. I don't want to be Barbara Curtis. I do want to be real. Peace is to be found in being real. The internet is a lot less stressful if we just live in the realm of real life.?
The day after Barbara died was Sarah's birthday. I hadn't really slept the night before. Every year, I struggle with reliving those hours before her birth instead of just remembering them. This year has been particularly poignant. Sarah was born just before the last presidential election. This year, the election, Halloween, Barbara's death--it all collided to shake me awake and remind me that four years ago I didn't know if I'd survive childbirth and live to raise my baby. Four years ago, I was just so very grateful when I finally was wheeled into the NICU to meet the tiny baby in the too-big handknit pumpkin hat. And we were both alive.
On the morning of Sarah's birthday this year, I found myself at Starbuck's. The line was ridiculously long. As I stood in line, I noticed a baby in a carseat carrier on the floor by an overstuffed chair. She had a bottle propped in front of her. And she was wearing a pumpkin hat. Her mother sat in the chair, busily tapping away on her iPhone and when the baby fussed, she rocked her with her foot. I left the cafe crying.
I'm sure it was lack of sleep, emotion from the days before, and good old anniversary reaction, but that baby in the hat rocked me to my core.?
There are lots of ways to be the mother with the iPhone. I don't need an infant to make that mistake. I can make it daily with even nearly-grown children. I tried to explain this whole train of thought to my husband. I bumbled along and then concluded with, "What if I only have another fiteen years with Sarah? I don't want to spend those years living inside a screen, distracted, disconnected, and offering her just a random push with my toes now and then."?
And he said, "I doesn't matter if you have fifteen years or fifty years, if you don't offer her everything now, you won't have this chance again."
And really that's it. That's it for all of them. I have now. I have no other guarantees. This is my one chance to honestly live the life of a mother at home with her children.
Oh, and then there was the kitchen sink. The kitchen sink got clogged almost two weeks ago. Not a small clog--a clog that has defied even Liquid Fire. It's defied the dishwasher repair guy. It's defied the super auger we rented from Home Depot. I have a sense that this clog is going to require we go through a wall in the basement. The basement. That's where I've stashed everything during this renovation project. The basement. That's where I kept telling myself (and the contractor) that we would turn our attention after Christmas, after the wedding. But no. The kitchen sink is demanding that the basment move to front and center right now. The kitchen sink stands to remind me that I was put on this earth to subdue. And the kitchen sink screams that my life is mostly unpredictable and many of my stresses come from trying to make commitments outside my home (even if they're merely a click away) that require a predictability from me that I cannot guarantee. Two weeks ago, the kitchen sink made me cry. I just knew it was the last thing--the final little stressor that was going to be my undoing.?
And, really, it was. It was the final thing. But I'm not upset about it any more and I'm not railing against the kitchen demons who conspire to rob me of time to do more important things. I'm grateful. The drain won't make me nuts if I recognize that my mission today is to deal with drains. The drain isn't distracting me from my "real work;" it is my real work. I am able to click this laptop closed and give my full attention to the dishes in the laundry sink, the mess in the basement, the paper Christian needs me to edit, the boy who wants to go to morning Mass, the little girl who was up sick last night, the late night soccer practice...
the list goes on and on. It's my mission statement.
It's real. It's here. It's now. And it's all I've got.
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~ ~ ~
Are you thinking about the mission of motherhood, too??I'm going to join The?Nester for 31 Days. I'm going to host a 31 day "retreat" here ?to remind myself (and anyone who wants to come along) of the mission of motherhood and matrimony.?If you want to do your own 31 Days on anything you choose, head?here and join!?If you want to retreat from the noise of the 'net for a month and focus your own sweet home and family, grab a ?Remind Myself of the Mission? button and curl up with a candle, your Bible, and?this good book!?Let me know your thoughts below. We can help each other hear His mission.?You can add a Remind Myself button by cutting and pasting the code below.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Setting his clock back six years Sunday at LP Field, Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher stayed stride for stride with Titans running back Chris Johnson covering a deep pass route down the sideline.
Johnson, who once clocked 4.24 seconds in the 40-yard dash, boasts some of the fastest feet in the NFL. Urlacher, 13 seasons removed from the days when he played defensive back in college, possesses a balky left knee that has been the source of international intrigue and considerable doubt.
Using the sideline as his friend, Urlacher kept up with his fleet-footed enemy well enough that he was in perfect position to break up Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck's lofted pass.
Urlacher returned an interception 46 yards for a touchdown, forced one fumble and recovered another in a game he acknowledged was his best of the season. But Urlacher's most significant display of athleticism came when the 34-year-old isolated on the league's speediest running back and won the battle.
When Urlacher makes plays like the Urlacher we recognize, the Bears look like a defense with no weaknesses and a team with few peers.
The only time Urlacher looked quicker in a 51-20 victory was when he raced over to congratulate emerging NFL defensive player of the year candidate Charles Tillman after Tillman's fourth forced fumble. Together they celebrated a day of fun and ferocity when the Bears defense that created five turnovers turned Music City into Gnashville.
Surely it's just a coincidence that the Bears reached midseason in a city halfway to New Orleans, site of Super Bowl XLVII. But if the Bears offense uses this as a springboard, Sunday's game might represent more than a metaphor. Matt Forte surpassed 100 yards rushing. Jay Cutler posted a 138.1 passer rating. Brandon Marshall caught nine passes for 122 yards and three touchdowns.
Yet no one could stop talking about a Bears defense so feared that Hasselbeck admitted expecting the Titans not to worry about turnovers was "like telling someone not to leave a putt short on the green."
Tennessee's bad case of the yips started early and continued often.
"The big plays, the takeaways, I've never been around anything like this in high school or college at any level," Urlacher said. "Every week, it seems someone else is doing it."
Much to the delight of Urlacher's teammates, this week it was the emotional leader of Lovie Smith's best defense ever. Sometime after Corey Wootton scooped up Sherrick McManis' block of Brett Kern' punt to score a 5-yard touchdown, Urlacher told Tillman he wanted in on the end-zone action.
"I said, 'Hey, call it, man. The tongue has the power of life or death. Say it, speak it, believe it,' " Tillman said.
When Hasselbeck took the shotgun snap on first-and-10, Urlacher did it with instincts and experience - Urlacher's biggest asset at this stage. He noticed Lance Briggs had jumped the running back and floated in front of wide receiver Damian Williams.
"I was just reading his eyes trying to get underneath one of those guys running across the middle," Urlacher said.
Hasselbeck never saw Urlacher, who caught the pass and lumbered into the open field like so many Bears defenders had before him. He sidestepped Hasselbeck because NFL quarterbacks just aren't supposed to tackle 258-pound linebackers, received a nice block from Israel Idonije and ambled across the goal line.
"I made it," Urlacher kidded.
Was there any doubt?
"No," Julius Peppers said. "He does it in practice all the time."
Ho-hum. Urlacher's pick-six made the Bears the first team in NFL history with seven interception returns for touchdowns in the first eight games. Yet, to a man, the Bears acted more thrilled about Urlacher making progress than their defense making history. They realize what a productive Urlacher means to a season looking more special every Sunday.
"We have been waiting for Brian to really step up like that," Smith said.
Added safety Chris Conte: "It's been a long road. To see him come back and make a play like that, we're all proud of him."
Respect and affection for Urlacher run deep enough to wonder if his uncertain future helps motivate a team driven to win a Super Bowl ring for the aging face of the franchise. No, Urlacher's new mustache doesn't include flecks of gray. But nobody except Urlacher knows how healthy his knee really is, and a contract paying Urlacher $7.5 million expires in eight games.
The more Urlacher plays as he did in a blowout of Titanic proportions, the more likely No. 54 will be around for more days like Sunday.
"There are going to be times we can't do this," Urlacher said. "But we're going to keep trying every week."
For a football team thinking Super Bowl, it never gets old.
Any stock trader will tell you that if there's one thing investors hate, it's uncertainty.
Unfortunately, with President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney virtually tied in polls before the election Tuesday, uncertainty is one thing they are getting in spades.
"It's crazy close," says Kim Forrest, a senior equity analyst and vice president at Fort Pitt Capital, a financial management company in Pittsburgh. "It's so up in the air, it really could go either way. In the short term, the markets will be happy that it's over."
If it's over.
Wall Street could wake up on Wednesday without a winner. If the election comes down to a thin margin in a swing state ? Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire, take your pick ? the outcome could be delayed for days or weeks.
Related: NBC poll shows Obama with narrow 48-47 margin
The closest presidential election in recent history was bad for stocks. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell as much as 8 percent during the five weeks following the 2000 election, between George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore.
The election was Nov. 7. Gore didn't concede until Dec. 13, after the Supreme Court essentially stopped a recount of votes in Florida.?
The biggest drop for stocks came three days after the vote, when television networks retracted their call of New Mexico for Gore and labeled it too close to call. The S&P fell 2.4 percent.
The S&P closed at 1,432 on the day of the election. It fell to 1,360, a drop of 5 percent, by Dec. 13, the day that Gore conceded defeat. The Dow Jones industrial average fell from 10,952 to 10,794 over the same period.
This year, "investors would like to see, regardless of who wins or loses, a clean and quick outcome," says Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago, who lived in Florida in 2000. "Then we can move on to our other problems."
The most prominent of those other problems is the looming so-called fiscal cliff, a combination of higher taxes and government spending cuts that will take effect unless Congress acts by Jan. 1. The total impact next year could be as high as $800 billion.
Getting the election out of the way is the first step toward resolving the issue. For many investors, backing Obama or Romney matters less than knowing which direction the country will take.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index has fallen 3.5 percent since reaching its highest point in almost five years in September, in large part because companies lowered their revenue expectations for the rest of the year.
Related: Finals jobs report unlikely to sway many voters
In the meantime, investors have tried to decide which industries would benefit from a victory for which candidate.
A Romney victory would favor financial stocks because investment taxes would be more "investor-friendly" than they would under an Obama administration, Ablin says. Financial stocks typically pay higher dividends than companies in other sectors such as technology, for example, where cash is invested for growth.
Obama has proposed raising the tax on capital gains to 20 percent from 15 percent for high-earners and leaving it at 15 percent for everyone else. Romney wants a 15 percent rate for high-earners and no tax for everyone else.
Obama would tax high-earners' dividends as ordinary income, a sizable increase for most people. As with capital gains, Romney would maintain the 15 percent rate for richer people and eliminate the tax for people who make less.
Defense stocks would also likely benefit from having the Republican as commander-in-chief because he has pledged to increase military spending, while Obama has proposed to limit the growth of defense spending.
Infrastructure and engineering companies would likely fare better after an Obama victory, while oil companies would do better under Romney, says Forrest at Fort Pitt Capital.
Bill Stone, chief investment officer at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia, says that regardless of the election, signs from the housing market to auto sales encourage him that companies will remain profitable and that stocks are an attractive investment, especially given low returns on other assets.
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The human body has more than a trillion cells, most of them connected, cell to neighboring cells.
How, exactly, do those bonds work? What happens when a pulling force is applied to those bonds? How long before they break? Does a better understanding of all those bonds and their responses to force have implications for fighting disease?
Sanjeevi Sivasankar, an Iowa State assistant professor of physics and astronomy and an associate of the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, is leading a research team that's answering those questions as it studies the biomechanics and biophysics of the proteins that bond cells together.
The researchers discovered three types of bonds when they subjected common adhesion proteins (called cadherins) to a pulling force: ideal, catch and slip bonds. The three bonds react differently to that force: ideal bonds aren't affected, catch bonds last longer and slip bonds don't last as long.
The findings have just been published by the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Sivasankar said ideal bonds ? the ones that aren't affected by the pulling force ? had not been seen in any previous experiments. The researchers discovered them as they observed catch bonds transitioning to slip bonds.
"Ideal bonds are like a nanoscale shock absorber," Sivasankar said. "They dampen all the force."
And the others?
"Catch bonds are like a nanoscale seatbelt," he said. "They become stronger when pulled. Slip bonds are more conventional; they weaken and break when tugged."
In addition to Sivasankar, the researchers publishing the discovery are Sabyasachi Rakshit, an Iowa State post-doctoral research associate in physics and astronomy and an Ames Laboratory associate; Kristine Manibog and Omer Shafraz, Iowa State doctoral students in physics and astronomy and Ames Laboratory student associates; and Yunxiang Zhang, a post-doctoral research associate for the University of California, Berkeley's California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences.
The project was supported by a $308,000 grant from the American Heart Association, a $150,000 Basil O'Connor Award from the March of Dimes Foundation and Sivasankar's Iowa State startup funds.
The researchers made their discovery by taking single-molecule force measurements with an atomic force microscope. They coated the microscope tip and surface with cadherins, lowered the tip to the surface so bonds could form, pulled the tip back, held it and measured how long the bonds lasted under a range of constant pulling force.
The researchers propose that cell binding "is a dynamic process; cadherins tailor their adhesion in response to changes in the mechanical properties of their surrounding environment," according to the paper.
When you cut your finger, for example, cells filling the wound might use catch bonds that resist the pulls and forces placed on the wound. As the forces go away with healing, the cells may transition to ideal bonds and then to slip bonds.
Sivasankar said problems with cell adhesion can lead to diseases, including cancers and cardiovascular problems.
And so Sivasankar said the research team is pursuing other studies of cell-to-cell bonds: "This is the beginning of a lot to be discovered about the role of these types of interactions in healthy physiology as well as diseases like cancer."
###
Iowa State University: http://www.iastate.edu
Thanks to Iowa State University for this article.
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AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? A car bomb exploded near a major hotel in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Sunday, wounding several people, a pro-government television station reported.
The powerful blast shook the Dama Rose hotel and shattered much of its glass, Ikhbariyeh TV reported. The hotel in the past was used by U.N. observers visiting Syria. The site of the blast is 500 meters (yards) from the army chief-of-staff's building.
The report said the bomb was planted under a car parked in an outdoor lot near the government Labor Union building. The union chief, Mohammad Azouz, told The Associated Press that at least 12 people ? all syndicate members ? were wounded by shattered glass and two of them are in critical condition.
Regional satellite stations broadcast brief clips from the capital showing a plume of white smoke rose from a building. Azouz said firefighters at the scene were putting out a blaze caused by the blast, while ambulances were taking the wounded to nearby hospitals. He said there were blood stains on the street.
In northeast Raqqa province, the state news agency SANA reported that gunmen assassinated a leading member of the ruling Baath party. It said the gunmen broke into the home of Ismail al-Hamadeh at dawn and sprayed him with bullets as he slept, killing him instantly.
Elsewhere in Syria, the army clashed with rebels in the northern cities of Idlib and Aleppo, Damascus and the southern border town of Daraa where the uprising against President Bashar Assad began in March 2011, according to the London-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
In the Damascus suburbs of Harasta and al-Hajira, the army and the rebel Free Syrian Army exchanged heavy fire, killing a handful of rebels, SANA said. The army destroyed some rebel vehicles fitted with machine guns, according to the report.
___
Associated Press reporter Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, contributed to this report.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 2, 2012) ? Some 4.567 billion years ago, our solar system's planets spawned from an expansive disc of gas and dust rotating around the sun. While similar processes are witnessed in younger solar systems throughout the Milky Way, the formative stages of our own solar system were believed to have taken twice as long to occur. Now, new research lead by the Centre for Star and Planet Formation at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, suggests otherwise. Indeed, our solar system is not quite as special as once believed.
Using improved methods of analysis of uranium and lead isotopes, the current study of primitive meteorites has enabled researchers to date the formation of two very different types of materials, so-called calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions (or CAI's for short) and chondrules, found within the same meteorite. By doing so, the chronology and therefore overall understanding of our solar system's development has been altered. The study has just been published in the scientific journal Science.
4.567 billion years -- this is how far back we must travel to experience our nascent solar system. The researchers at the University of Copenhagen Centre for Star and Planet Formation took a closer look at the first three million years of the solar system's development by analysing primitive meteorites composed of a blend of our solar system's very oldest materials. In part, the study confirmed previous analyses demonstrating that CAI's were formed during a very short period of time. The new discovery is that the so-called chondrules were formed during the first three million years of the solar system's development as well. This stands in contrast with previous assumptions asserting that chondrules only started forming roughly two million years after CAIs.
Painting a new picture of the Solar System
"By using this process to date the formation of these two very different types of materials found in the same meteorite, we are not only able to alter the chronology of our solar system's historical development, we are able to paint a new picture of our solar system's development, which is very much like the picture that other researchers have observed in other planetary systems," says James Connelly of the Centre for Star and Planet Formation.
We aren't that special...
Showing that chondrules are as old as CAIs addresses a long-standing question of why chondrule formation should be delayed by up to 2 million years after CAIs. The answer -- it is not.
"In general, we have shown that we are not quite as unique as we once thought. Our solar system closely resembles other observable planetary systems within our galaxy. In this way, our results serve to corroborate other research results which indicate that earth-like planets are more widespread in the universe than previously believed," says Professor Martin Bizzarro, head of the Centre for Star and Planet Formation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Copenhagen.
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Journal Reference:
J. N. Connelly, M. Bizzarro, A. N. Krot, A. Nordlund, D. Wielandt, M. A. Ivanova. The Absolute Chronology and Thermal Processing of Solids in the Solar Protoplanetary Disk. Science, 2012; 338 (6107): 651 DOI: 10.1126/science.1226919
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LOS ANGELES, Calif. (SEND2PRESS NEWSWIRE) ? While DJs at nightclubs are using Cristelle?s ?Breakdown? to keep dance floors filled, her recordings are also playing on the soundtracks of television programs across a wide spectrum of entertainment.
Cristelle?s song ?Dance My Life Away,? the title of which seems to sum up part of her approach to the world, has had two placements. The first was in the Cinemax production of ?Femmes Fatales? and the second was in the VH1 series, ?Basketball Wives.?
There have also been two placements for Cristelle?s ?Gonna Love You,? the first in the CW series ?Shedding for the Wedding? and the second in the long-running and iconic CBS series, ?The Young and the Restless.?
?No Rush,? a song whose title is the antithesis of Cristelle?s non-stop schedule, was featured in the Lifetime network motion picture, ?The Natalee Holloway Story.?
?While making music is such a joy for me, it?s sometimes hard to concentrate on the business side of things,? Cristelle admits, ?but fortunately there?s a great team of experts who look after all the connections and placements. The success they?ve had is really exhilarating for me.?
?Working with Cristelle is exciting,? notes her producer, Peter Roberts. ?We?re all very pleased with the use of ?Breakdown? in clubs and expect that this song will start to appear on soundtracks of motion pictures and television programs along with the other great tunes that are already placed.?
Many of Cristelle?s songs reflect her upbeat personality. ?Living life to the fullest? seems to be her motto. ?I?m always an on-the-go type of girl,? says the 23-year-old singer, dancer, and model. In particular, the ?Breakdown? single celebrates the enthusiasm of youth, the headiness of love, and the continual quest for sharing good times.
About Cristelle For Cristelle, her love of performing became evident about the time she learned to walk. She feels fortunate that her family was involved with music and the arts, ?so I was always surrounded by singers, actors, and artists,? she notes happily. Cristelle earned a spot in Los Angeles High School for the Performing Arts and spent one season with Disney On Ice performing in ?High School Musical.?
Cristelle Music Online A music video for ?Breakdown? is now on YouTube and the single is available for sale on iTunes and Amazon. Her first album, ?Rush,? will be released later this year by BDM Records. As with the single, the producer is Peter Roberts, who has had more than 250 of his songs recorded by artists in almost every genre, including Irene Cara and jazz superstar George Benson.
More Information For complete news and information on Cristelle, visit her website at http://www.cristellemusic.com where you?ll find her music as well as links to her social network pages.
MEDIA CONTACT: John Scott G jsg@gmanmarketing 818-223-8486
NEWS SOURCE: Cristelle/BDM Records
Cristelle ?Breakdown? video:
About Jesse JJ Jame
JJ Jame is a percussionist and home-brew theremin player, formerly a member of the Redondo Beach based BoyRacer.com electronica band, and a long-time electronic music fan, as well as formerly an editor for the defunct EMcult website that Christopher Simmons launched in 1997 but soon abandoned (in many ways this site, MIN, is the stepchild of that project).
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Apple has introduced their lighter, thinner, more "concentrated" iPad mini but they certainly weren't first-to-market with a small tablet. Most recently, Google and their partner, Asus, launched the Nexus 7, the best Android tablet to date.
Still, the Nexus 7 hasn't really caught on beyond Android aficionados and gadget geeks. And that's despite it's decent build quality, ultra-modern operating system, and the full-on Google support only Nexus-class devices enjoy. It remains to be seen if Apple's small tablet will fare any better in the thus-far completely big iPad dominated market, but if you're looking for an alternative, there's very few other places to look.
So what happens when you put Apple's iPad mini up against Google and Asus' Nexus 7? Apple's engineering precision up against Google's Android power? Let's take a look.
iPad mini vs. Nexus 7: Hardware
The Nexus 7 sports a quad-core Tegra 3 processor and a 7-inch IPS display at 1280x800 resolution, which translates into 216 ppi. It has NFC, Bluetooth 3.0, and GPS built-in, and they've just added an HSPA+ option to the high end model (but not LTE, and yes, that makes a difference). It's got a 1.2 megapixel, 720p camera on front, and the back is plastic, but soft-touch to make it easy to hold on to, even one-handed.
The speaker is stereo but Google doesn't make a big deal about it. The original Nexus 7 came with 8 or 16GB of storage, but that's just been bumped to 16 or 32GB. Battery life is rated at 9 hours for video, which is accurate in my experience. (Though standby time for me has been abysmal.)
The iPad mini blends an iPod touch-like casing and internals with a decidedly iPad 2-like 4:3 screen ratio, splitting the difference in side bezel almost down the middle. The back is aluminum and the front, a 7.9-inch IPS display at 1024x768 and163 ppi. How does that compare to the physically smaller but denser Nexus 7?
The iPad mini also has a die-shrunk, dual core Apple A5 processor inside, and while there's no NFC, there is GPS on the cellular model, and there are cellular models compatible with GSM and CDMA, including HSPA+, DC-HSPA+, and LTE around the world.
The iPad mini has stereo speakers but Apple likewise doesn't advertise them, and both a front facing 1.2mp, 720p camera and a rear-facing 5mp, 1080p camera. You can get the iPad mini in black or white, and in 16, 32, or 64GB versions. Battery life is rated at 10 hours for watching videos, and iPads have traditionally met Apple's battery life claims.
So when it comes to hardware, iPad mini wins on design, manufacturing, and elegance, and Nexus 7 wins on power and screen density.
The Nexus 7 runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean but should be updated shortly to Android 4.2. Jelly Bean is a great operating system, but it's still better suited for phones instead of tablets. Google claims the Nexus 7 uses a mix of phone and tablet UI, based on what's best for the task at hand. My guess is they're still searching for the right way to translate Android to tablets and we'll see it in 5.0 or some other future version. Right now, however, it's much more like a big phone than a small tablet, and that's not a bad thing -- it might even be better for some users -- but it's a different thing. Also, while Google and Project Butter have done a lot to improve interface and performance, it's still not iOS-level polished, and things like the back button are still an exercise in frustration. That said, Android is even more powerful than ever, with features and functions far beyond those available to iOS. Google Now is more than a few steps ahead of Siri, notifications are actionable, and apps can actually communicate with each other. Imagine that.
iOS 6 comes loaded on the iPad mini, and Apple still leads the industry when it comes not only to polish and consistency, but to pushing out software updates for their devices (granted, they have much fewer of them and much more control over them than anyone else in industry). You still can't do a lot of things with iOS, and that will frustrate a lot of users, especially those with edge or very specific power needs, but what you can do you can do easily. iOS 6 also has a complete, optimized tablet interface with multiple columns and features beyond what you can fit on a single phone-style interface screen. Safari for iPad is still the best mobile browser (sorry Chrome), the Home button is an amazing escape hatch for non-technical users, and the accessibility features lead the industry.
So software is a similar story to hardware. Apple writes better code and creates more cohesive, consistent user experiences than Google. But Google makes code that does more things and is more customizable than Apple. Argue that all you want, but at the end of the day iOS in invariably smoother, more intuitive, more up-to-date, and more pixel perfect than Android, yet just as invariably misses out on a lot of features Android gets early and gets stock. If you want something that's accessible and just works, iOS has the advantage. If you want something configurable that just works the way you want it to, Android wins.
When it comes to services that bring the internet fully to your iPad mini, Apple has iCloud, which includes iTunes in the Cloud, iTunes Match, Photo Stream, Documents in the Cloud, Find my iPhone, Find my Friends, and more. As a service goes, it's... serviceable. It backs up and syncs your data and gives you access to all of the your iTunes content. But Apple is still new to the cloud and they aren't as strong at it as they are hardware and software. At least not yet.
Google was born in the cloud. They're the biggest cloud services provider in the world. Android, in many ways, is a localized front end for Google's cloud. Now the localized part traditionally wasn't as good as Apple -- they just chucked web pages inside of apps -- but Google has been getting better code as well. Now their services not only work well, but look better and perform far better than ever before.
The twist here is that you can get almost every single Google service on the iPad mini that you can get on the Nexus 7. Now, Android has by far -- by far! -- the better Google integration of course, but the iPad mini has a surprising amount as well, including the brand new Google Search. And that's also including Gmail, Google+ YouTube, Drive, Google, etc. That's a full, robust, and increasingly good set of offerings available in Apple's App Store. (For reasons that involve the difference in business models between Apple and Google.)
So, going with the Nexus 7, you get the best Google can offer, but nothing from Apple. Going with the iPad mini, you get everything Apple and almost everything Google, but there's one more kind of service to consider -- customer service.
The Apple Store is unmatched. From buying your iPad mini, to being taught how to use it, to easily getting help with it when something goes wrong, Apple has hundreds of stores in dozens of countries. If you live anywhere near an Apple Store and your iPad mini stops working, you can go in and get it fixed, or get it swapped out for a replacement, in a matter of hours. With the Nexus 7, all you'll have is lost time and patience as you wait for Google's notoriously non-human mechanisms to process you.
If you live in the Google cloud, Nexus 7 is undeniably the better choice. If you don't, go with the iPad mini. What Apple lacks in online services, Google makes up for, and you get the best customer service in the business.
iPad mini vs. Nexus 7: Content
Apple has a tremendous advantage when it comes to content. iTunes started earlier and is now in more countries and provides more content than anyone else on the planet. Moreover, like with the services above, even if you don't like iTunes books, movies, TV shows, etc., you can also get Amazon, Netflix, Spotify, and all the other content companies right on your iPhone.
Google provides a lot of its own content now with Google Play, and you have access to enough third party content that there's no real difference. If you live in the U.S., you're almost certainly good to go. If you live outside the U.S. it can literally be the difference between being able to get legitimate content onto your phone and not (if that matters to you).
When it comes to apps, Apple used to win by default based on the sheer magnitude of numbers. That's no longer true for phones, but it is for tablets. Apple has over 275,000 tablet-optimized apps. Google has a handful. Sure, you can run the 700,000+ Android phone apps on the Nexus 7, just like you can run the 700,000+ iPhone/iPod touch apps on the iPad mini, but that's a second-class experience. Do you want a big phone or a tablet?
Apple has also become slightly more open over time, and Android apps have become much better looking and better working. You can still knock Apple for being more controlling, both in terms of what apps you can get and how those apps can interact with each other (or not), but for some users the simplicity and security of that model trumps any neck-bearded annoyance.
Now, if you already have an iPhone or iPod touch or iPad, and a lot of iOS apps that work on the iPad mini, or if you've already bought a lot of iTunes media, that can make it easier and cheaper to stick with Apple. Likewise, if you already have a lot of content from Google Play, you'll find it easier to stick with Android.
Otherwise, if you're in the U.S., you're good to go with either, and if you're outside the U.S. and really care about buying your media, check and see what's available, but Apple and the iPad mini is your safer bet.
iPad mini vs. Nexus 7: Price
The Nexus 7 is $199 for 16GB, $249 for 32GB, $299 for 32GB + HSPA+.
The iPad mini is $329 for 16GB, $429 for 32GB, and $529 for 64GB, and you can get HSPA+/LTE on all of those for an additional $130.
So, while the iPad mini is much better built, uses aluminum instead of plastic, includes extras like LTE and a 5mp rear-facing camera, etc., the Nexus 7 absolutely wins on price.
iPad mini vs. Nexus 7: The bottom line
If you want to run Android, absolutely have to have a slightly higher screen density, or don't have more than $299 in your pocket, get the Nexus 7. Otherwise, get the iPad mini. Cost isn't the same thing as value.
The iPad is almost synonymous with tablets for most people, most of the time, for very good reason. If you want a Nexus 7, you specifically want a Nexus 7. If you want a tablet, you want an iPad mini.
Last time we checked in with Apple's ongoing court battle with Samsung in the upcoming Galaxy Nexus case, which will be tried by the same court that awarded Apple $1.05 billion in damages this past summer, Apple was adding the latest Samsung devices to the suit. Now Samsung has responded in kind, adding the iPad mini, 4th generation iPad and 5th generation iPod touch to the mix.
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