7 Things to Stop Doing Now on Facebook

by Consumer Reports Magazine
Wednesday, May 12, 2010

provided by

Using a Weak Password

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

Leaving Your Full Birth Date in Your Profile

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

Overlooking Useful Privacy Controls

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

Posting Your Child's Name in a Caption

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

Mentioning That You'll Be Away From Home

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

Letting Search Engines Find You

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

Permitting Youngsters to Use Facebook Unsupervised

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

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on Yahoo!

Copyrighted 2009, Consumers Union of U.S., Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Unhealthiest Juices in America

Unhealthiest Juices in America

By David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding - Posted on Mon, May 10, 2010, 11:06 am PDT

Eat This, Not That 
by David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding a Yahoo! Health Expert for Nutrition

VISIT NUTRITION HOME »

MORE BY THIS EXPERT

·         Unhealthiest Juices in America

·         The Worst 'Healthy' Foods In America

·         Best & Worst Seafood Dishes in America

All Blog Posts

Did you find this helpful?

Rate this blog entry:

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

thumbs upthumbs down

90% of users found this article helpful.

Think of your all-time favorite rock song: Hey Jude, London Calling, Smells Like Teen Spirit, whatever. Now imagine that the next time you crank it up, all the guitar riffs will be replaced by violins. Kinda weak, right?

Well that’s akin to what happens when you turn a fruit into fruit juice: You still have the flavor, but you don’t have the grit, the substance, the power. Even the very best fruit juice isn’t as nutritious as the fruit it originally came from, because the fiber that makes a piece of fruit so filling has been stripped away: Instead of filling your belly like an apple or an orange, juice just passes through your gastrointestinal tract like a little stream of sugar. It’s like listening to “Hey Jude” without the “Na-na-na na” part at the end. The sweet melody is intact, but the soul is lost. So as a rule, always choose the original version (that would be the fruit) over the Muzak version (that would be the juice).

That doesn’t mean juice is a terrible choice—after all, it’s still a great way to get your daily quota of vitamins and minerals. Problem is, a lot of what food marketers try to sell us as “juice” is about as healthy for you as, well, being chased down a highway in a white Ford Bronco. Manufacturers have found that mixing a lot of water and sugar with a tiny bit of fruit flavoring and calling it “juice” is a great way to get health-conscious consumers to pony up the bucks for the liquid equivalent of Skittles. 

To put together our new book, Drink This, Not That!, we scoured restaurant menus and supermarket aisles to uncover the best and worst drinks in America. Below, we reveal the six worst juices at the supermarket, and for each one we’ve provide a healthier alternative. Or, as the Beatles might say, we took a bad juice, and made it better. Just call it “Hey Juice!”

#6: WORST CRANBERRY COCKTAIL
Ocean Spray Cran-Apple (8 fl oz)
130 calories
0 g fat
32 g sugars

Ocean Spray makes a whole line of cranberry juice blends, but there’s only one thing you need to know: They’re all polluted with unruly loads of added sugar. The first two ingredients here are water and sugar, the hallmark of an inferior bottle. In fact, the best juices in this line have only 27 percent juice. This one? A paltry 15 percent. Go with Ocean Spray’s Cranenergy line instead. Compared to Cran-Apple it delivers slightly more real juice, a far weightier package of vitamins, and just over a fourth as many calories. (You're far better off eating your vitamins than drinking them. Here are 40 foods with scientifically proven superpowers.)

Drink This, Instead!
Ocean Spray Cranergy Raspberry Cranberry (8 fl oz)
35 calories
0 g fat
9 g sugars

#5: WORST MIXED-BERRY BLEND
Welch’s Mountain Berry (8 fl oz)
140 calories
0 g fat
33 g sugars

The flowering bouquet of fruit on the outside of this carton makes it appear to be just one step down from a smoothie, but in truth, it’s just one step up from Sunny Delight. Regardless of what Welch’s wants you to think, this juice is made with only 25 percent real fruit, and with this many calories in each cup, you should expect nothing less than 100 percent. Go with Bolthouse Farms 50/50 Berry blend and you’ll trade out the sucrose for an antioxidant- and flavor-rich blend of purple carrots, blackberries, pomegranates, and blueberries. 

Drink This, Instead!
Bolthouse Farms 50/50 Berry (8 fl oz)
120 calories
0 g fat
28 g sugars

#4: WORST LEMONADE
Minute Maid Lemonade (20 fl oz bottle)
250 calories
0 g fat
67.5 g sugars

In 99 percent cases, lemonade contains between 10 and 15 percent lemon juice, meaning that 85 to 90 percent of the calories are added as table sugar or high fructose corn syrup. The reason we pinned Minute Maid as the worst lemonade is that with this bottle, they’ve dropped the lemon juice concentration down to 3 percent, and at the same time, jacked the sugar level up to soda-like proportions. In fact, this bottle has more sugar than a same-sized bottle of Coca-Cola, not to mention a bevy of preservatives, fillers, and artificial colors. The only lemonade we’ve found that can legitimately call itself “juice” is the one below by R.W. Knudson. It replaces the added sugars with a blend of apple and grape juices. (Of course, if you're looking to lose weight, diet is only half the equation. For the other half, check out our list of the 100 best fitness tips ever written.)

Drink This, Instead!
R.W. Knudsen Lemonade (8 fl oz box)
130 calories
0 g fat
30 g sugars

#3: WORST JUICE IMPOSTER
SoBe Elixir Cranberry Grapefruit (20 fl oz bottle)
250 calories
0 g fat
63 g sugars

With a name that references two fruits, you might expect this bottle to provide a respectable dose of real juice. Unfortunately that’s not the case. The only juice this bottle carries is used as a coloring agent, which means every gram of sugar here is added during processing. That puts it right alongside soda as one of the worst beverages at the supermarket. Cut calories by looking for water-based beverages that use juice as a sweetener and flavoring, like the one from Olade below. The few calories it has come from a blend of lemon, pinapple, mango, and passion fruit. (Speaking of overblown packaging claims, check our roundup of“health” foods that aren’t.)

Drink This Instead!
Olade Tropical Juice Beverage (16 fl oz)
20 calories
0 g fat
4 g sugars

#2: WORST GRAPE JUICE
Tropicana Grape Juice Beverage (15.2 fl oz)
290 calories
0 g fat
72 g sugars

It’s hard to say which is worse, the fact that this bottle has as much sugar as six scoops of Edy’s Slow Churned Rocky Road Ice Cream, or the fact that it looks legit but contains only 30 percent real juice. The thing is, even if this bottle weren’t teeming with high fructose corn syrup, it would still be loaded with sugar. Grapes produce the most sugar-loaded juice at the supermarket—even a 10-ounce bottle of 100 percent grape juice carries more than 200 calories. If you like rich, dark juices, try the one below from Bossa Nova. The acai fruit from which it’s made is one of the most antioxidant-rich fruits on the planet.  

Drink This, Instead!
Bossa Nova Acai (10 fl oz bottle)
114 calories
0 g fat
22.5 g sugars

#1: WORST CANNED JUICE
Arizona Kiwi Strawberry (23.5 oz can)
360 calories
0 g fat
84 g sugars

These hulking calorie cannons—5 percent juice, 95 percent sugar water—have the equivalent of 20 teaspoons of sugar! (That makes the 1,800-calorie salad look downright nutritious.) They're sold at gas stations and convenience stores across America for the low, low price of 99 cents, making this quite possibly the cheapest source of empty calories in the country. Earn more flavor in fewer calories by switching to V8-Fusion instead. The company makes a reasonable line of regular blends and an even better line of light juices. 

Drink This, Instead!
V8-Fusion Strawberry Banana (12 fl oz bottle)
170 calories
0 g fat
42 g sugars

爱

爱是恒久忍耐，

又有恩慈；

爱是不嫉妒；

爱是不自夸，不张狂，

不做害羞的事，

不求自己的益处，

不轻易发怒，

不计算人的恶，

不喜欢不义，只喜欢真理；

凡是包容，凡是相信，

凡是盼望，凡是忍耐。

爱是永不止息

哥林多前书 13：4 - 8前

Whadda??? Again???

My throat was filled with foul words, ready to spit it all out, yet religion stops me.

Ok, maybe I have exaggerated the whole thing, but still, I'm angry, even until now.

A day before yesterday, that was Tuesday, I was sitting at the seat behind, waiting eagerly when Pak Cik Lee drove us to the Akademi Latihan Memandu Darul Naim. When we reached there, pak cik asked us (me and a guy from Chung Hwa) to check if our names were in the list. That guy (sorry, I don't know what's your name) found his, but me? I searched high and low for mine, a few times, yet I never found mine. I wanted to ask pak cik about it, but he was gone, instructing the CH guy how to drive on the outside road. I was left alone, not knowing what to do. I scanned the list again, still negative. There are only two Chinese names, and they were of guys'.

Feeling disappointed and clueless of what was happening, I hold Mom's cellphone in my hand, not knowing who should I called. Didn't uncle said that I was able to resit for it tomorrow (Wednesday)? But why can't I find my name? What's going on? Should I called uncle? Or my parents?

After fumbling the phone for a while, I decided to call my parents. Mom picked up the phone. I told her everything and she told me, " Really? Hmm...it's ok, maybe something unexpected had happened, later ask uncle lah.".

If so, what had happened? While I was thinking about this question and at the same time watch around to see if Pak Cik Lee or Pak Cik Nor had arrived, a man from the Akademi approached me.

"Err...awak dari Tiong Sia (uncle's place) ke?"

"Ya..."

"Nama awak takde dalam list kan?"

"Ya..."

"Err...test card awak salah, IC cetak salah, sebab tu takde dalam list. Awak kena tunggu sampai 3 haribule 5 baru boleh ambik ujian."

Wh...What?

"Dan...lesen L awak doh nok mati kan? Kena sambung smula. Lepas sambung, fotostat lesen, pah bayar duit, baru ambik ujian. Awak beritau cikgu awak lah, jiko tok pehe suruh dio datang jumpo sayo."

Shit.

3rd May? I have to wait till then? IC printed wrongly? What the hell... Hey, who the hell dealt with my documents anyway? How can you ever printed it wrongly when the numbers were under your very own eyes? Holy shit.

When I told Pak Cik Nor about that later, he said, "Huh? Salah? Ooo...ok, nanti saya buat.".

And I resumed my training as usual, just this time a bit shorter.

Sigh. I still have to wait, right? Wait wait wait...it's endless.

Sienz...

Arghh........BORING!!!!!!!!!!!


Checked my status in Matrikulasi just now, and it showed:
Dengan dukacitanya dimaklumkan, anda tidak berjaya.
Sekiranya ingin membuat rayuan sila KLIK di bawah.
Anda boleh membuat rayuan sebelum atau pada 30 APRIL 2010


What??? I'm not chosen? Duh...


Frankly speaking, I don't really hope for it. Even if I get it, I don't really think I'll be going to matriculation, because it isn't even included in my plan. Still, I applied for it, I don't know why, maybe for the "just in case"? *shrug*


But...but...I do feel a slight disappointment.


Why oh why???


Was it because that I'm so desperate to receive an answer from those that I have applied for, just like Maxine?
And when the answer came out to be negative, I felt rejected?


LOL. I don't know, really. 


Sigh. Lately I have become a home potato. Sitting, eating, watching TV programmes, sleeping, occasionally helping to do the household chores, etc. I ain't doing nothing. Watching others busy doing part time jobs, furthering their tertiary education, attend seminars or whatever it is that are educational and useful, I feel like I'm a pathetic, lame, useless and aimless loser. T_T


Yup, I'm now "enjoying" the life of the RTM (rehat, tidur, makan) people, just like what John said.


Damn. How long does it have to go on?

Students nowadays~

Who says being a student is easy?

One eye on the whiteboard, one eye on the handphone;

One ear on the lecturer, one ear on the classmate;

One hand on the notebook, one hand on the sweets.

Erm, I guessed it was more or less like that. I kind of forget the sequence and the part about the hands (Old lady...haha)

Well, it wasn't written by me, but my friend's sister. They showed me last week (yup, last week, I just remembered about it) at church and I think it's really really true. I myself also did the same thing, except the part about the cellphone, because I don't have one. T_T

Hey, speaking about that, when will I get one soon???????!!!!!!!!!

♥ Coffee ♥

Found this in Yahoo. For all coffee lovers, watch out!!
Unhealthiest Coffee Drinks in America

By David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding - Posted on Tue, Mar 30, 2010, 4:19 pm PDT

Eat This, Not That

by David Zinczenko, with Matt Goulding a Yahoo! Health Expert for Nutrition

VISIT NUTRITION HOME »

MORE BY THIS EXPERT

·         7 Unhealthiest Pasta Dishes in America

·         Unhealthiest Coffee Drinks in America

·         Unhealthiest Foods At The Mall

All Blog Posts

Did you find this helpful?

Rate this blog entry:

Sign in to rate!

Sign in to rate!

thumbs upthumbs down

91% of users found this article helpful.

I met an old college buddy for brunch at a local coffeehouse recently. "You're the nutrition guy, so I gotta be careful what I eat!" he teased, and ordered a totally healthy egg-white omelet. But then he ordered a coffee drink to go with it—some kind of whipped mocha frappe concoction—and all his nutritional hard work went right out the window. I didn't want to ruin his appetite, so I held my tongue. But my buddy made a classic mistake: He was watching what he ate, but not what he drank. The damage: more than 400 additional calories, slurped from a paper cup.

The fact is, a shocking number of the calories we consume at coffee joints doesn't come from the food. It comes from the coffee, and that's a shame. A cup of coffee in its raw, natural state contains only 5 calories, and the metabolism-boosting benefits of caffeine actually make coffee a good weight-loss supplement. But too much of our coffee has been razzle-dazzled into sugary, fatty, dessert-like beverages: Instead of drinking a cup of Joe, we're drinking... Joeshakes.

That said, as we discovered researching our forthcoming book, Drink This, Not That!, you can get your morning buzz without the accompanying caloric load, if you know what to look for—and what to avoid. Here's an overview of the best—and worst—coffee drinks in America.

#5: WORST FLAVORED LATTE

Dairy Queen Caramel MooLatte (24 fl oz)

870 calories

24 g fat (19 g saturated, 1 g trans)

112 g sugars

Per ounce this so-called coffee concoction delivers 1 gram of fat and 4.6 grams of sugar, making even Starbucks’ over-the-top line of Frappuccinos look like reasonably decent options. Maybe that’s why DQ decided to give it a name that alludes to the animal it promises to turn you into. If you can bring yourself to backtrack out of Dairy Queen and walk down to the neighboring coffee shop, you can order a large iced latte with a couple shots of flavored syrup and still save somewhere around 600 calories. (Do that a few times a week and lose 25 pounds in a year!) But if you’re stuck where you are, you better plan on pairing a small treat with a regular cup of coffee.

Drink This Instead!Small Chocolate Ice Cream Cone with a medium cup of coffee

240 calories

7 g fat (5 g saturated)

34 g sugars

BONUS TIP: Drinks aren't the only way to pack on unwanted calories. Think salads are healthy? Check out these15 gut-busting salads.

#4: WORST COFFEE/SHAKE HYBRID

Baskin Robbins Cappuccino Blast Turtle (large, 32 fl oz)

960 calories

27 g fat (16 g saturated, 0.5 g trans)

103 g sugars

In early 2009, when last we compiled our Worst Drinks list, Baskin Robbins stole the Worst Drink spot by a caloric landslide. The chain’s Chocolate Oreo Shake had 2,600 calories, and the Heath and York Peppermint Patty Shake wasn’t far behind. Thankfully, Baskin has since removed those items from its menu, but if it wants amnesty from us, it will have to drop the 32-ounce cup. 

Drink This Instead!

Cappuccino Blast made with Soft Serve (small, 16 fl oz)

280 calories

9 g fat (6 g saturated)

21 g sugars

BONUS TIP: For full nutrition information for all of your favorite chain restaurants and thousands of foods,download the bestselling Eat This, Not That! iPhone app. It’s like having your own personal nutritionist in your pocket at all times, and will help you avoid the caloric calamities and guide you to the best ways to lose your belly fast.

#3: WORST LATTE

Krispy Kreme Lotta Latte Chiller (Large, 20 oz)

1,050 calories

40 g fat (36 g saturated)

97 g sugars

This has a lotta something, but it ain’t latte. The average latte of this size, even when made with whole milk, has about 6 grams of saturated fat. This “kremey” abomination has six times that much—nearly two days' worth! Unfortunately Krispy Kreme makes it difficult to choose an alternative. Sure, the chain offers a line of hot espresso beverages, but it refuses to spill the beans on the nutritional info. That means you’re taking a big chance when you order the calorific Mocha or Kaffe Kreme. Instead, break your order down into two functions: the sweet and the caffeinated.

Drink This Instead!

Very Berry Chiller (Large, 20 oz) with a cup of regular coffee

290 calories

0 g fat

71 g sugars

BONUS TIP: Save calories, time, and money with the free Eat This, Not That! newsletter. Sign up today and you’ll get the Eat This, Not That! guide to shopping once and eating for a week, also for free.

#2: WORST PROTEIN-FORTIFIED COFFEE DRINK

Smoothie King Mo’cuccino Caramel (large, 40 fl oz)

1,140 calories

24 g fat (12 g saturated)

20 g protein

176 g sugars

The good news is that all Smoothie King’s coffee smoothies come equipped with a big scoop of protein powder. The bad news is that if you order this one, it will cost you more than half your day’s calories and as much sugar as 8 full-sized Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bars. Stick with reasonable drinks and—more importantly—reasonable portions.

Drink This Instead!

Coffee Smoothie Caramel (20 fl oz)

340 calories

1 g fat (0 g saturated)

14 g protein

56 g sugars

BONUS TIP: For a more comprehensive list of dubious beverages, and what to drink instead, check our 2010 list of the 20 Worst Drinks in America.

#1: WORST FROZEN MOCHA

Cosi Double Oh! Arctic Mocha (gigante, 23 oz)

1,210 calories

19 g fat (10 g saturated)

240 g sugars

A frozen mocha will never be a stellar option, but we’ve still never come across anything that competes with this cookie-coffee-milkshake hybrid from Cosi. Essentially it’s a mocha-flavored Blizzard made with Oreo cookies and topped with whipped cream and an oversized Oreo. Maybe that’s why it has half your day’s saturated fat and more sugar than a dozen Twinkies.

Drink This Instead!

Mocha (tall, 11 oz)

298 calories

8 g fat (5 g saturated)

41 g sugars

BONUS TIP: For other coffee secrets and tons of useful tweets, follow Dave Zinczenko on Twitter.