Ask an Expert: All About Health and Fitness for the Average Joe

Hey everyone! I'm Steve Kamb, the creator and owner of Nerd Fitness, a fitness community dedicated to helping nerds, desk jockeys, and average joes get healthy. The overarching theme of Nerd Fitness is to "level up your life, every single day." Focus on getting stronger, getting faster, having fun, and eating right?and your appearance will start to change as a result of that.

I am NOT a fitness expert. Although I obtained a basic personal training certification from AAAI a few years back, I run my site not from the perspective of a fitness expert with every degree known to man, but as normal guy down in the trenches with you?a nerd who sits at a computer all day long, loves to play video games, and really enjoys staying active while pushing myself to be in the best shape I can be. I help others get healthy by destroying excuses, providing actionable advice, designing workouts with no gym required, and helping build new habits that actually stick. Have questions for me? I'm here for the next hour?ask away!

Have an expert you'd like to see participate? Email us.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/nLIEkze4xjM/ask-an-expert-all-about-health-and-fitness-for-the-average-joe

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Temple Run 2 tops Android Games of the Week

This week saw the release of a sequel to one of the most downloaded mobile games of all time. That game is of course Tempe Run, and this sequel is no slouch. We?ve also got a wonderfully violent and zombified driving game , a brilliant action adventure game about cave diving on an alien planet, an adorable puzzle platformer, and a new spin on the role playing/match three hybrid genre. Here we go!

The Temple Run cloning was more rampant on Android than it was on iOS, with plenty of fake sequels and releases. I can tell you that not only is this Temple Run sequel real, but it?s also pretty fantastic. It expands on the last game by adding mine cart segments, zip lines, a tweaked upgrade store, and pathways that actually bend, if you can believe it. At its core, it?s still pretty much the exact same game, and will likely bore anyone tired of running games, but as it?s free, you should probably give it a shot anyway.

There?s a new trend developing in the Google Play store--driving games in post apocalyptic environments with automotive arsenals modeled after Twisted Metal plus hordes of zombies. Then again, zombies tend to invade every facet of mobile gaming these days. This is a solid game with good design, offering a lot of customization options, including several vehicles and plenty of guns to install and upgrade over the course of the story mode. It?s ?bloody good time

Gene Effect, an exploration based adventure game in which you pilot a small mining vessel around the ominous caverns of a desolate mining planet, is worth your attention. Though you quickly discover that it?s not so desolate after all, and the stakes skyrocket pretty quickly. It?s a solid game with good pacing, ambient aesthetics, and a real sense of wonderment and discovery as you learn more about this alien environment and solve the puzzles within. There are plenty of optional puzzles and secrets to uncover, and this game feels close in spirit to the excellent Waking Mars. Sold, yet?

They may be absolutely everywhere, but there?s just something about charming puzzle platformers with cute little creatures that keeps you coming back for more long after you?ve sworn off of them forever. Tupsu is a little monster with tentacles that you can move separately and attach to various surfaces to get around and solve puzzles. The gameplay is pretty good, though it?s rarely difficult, so those looking for a challenge should look elsewhere. It?s also very similar in visual style to the excellent Contre Jour, and feels like it was inspired by it heavily.

Match-three games with heavy RPG elements aren?t exactly a new idea, but you don?t see them all that often. Djorick?s Curse is a gem. After choosing between various class options, you start battling the various dark minions brought about by the curse. Matching similar tiles has an effect depending on the tile, letting you attack, heal, repair, collect gold, and more. As you play, you?ll gain experience and level up, upgrading your abilities and generally making things easier for yourself before tougher minions attack.

Download the Appolicious Android app

Source: http://www.androidapps.com/games/articles/13169-temple-run-2-tops-android-games-of-the-week

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GOP leaders decide House will vote on Senate-approved 'fiscal cliff' compromise (Star Tribune)

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Itchiness explained: Specific set of nerve cells signal itch but not pain, researchers find

Jan. 2, 2013 ? Johns Hopkins researchers have uncovered strong evidence that mice have a specific set of nerve cells that signal itch but not pain, a finding that may settle a decades-long debate about these sensations, and, if confirmed in humans, help in developing treatments for chronic itch, including itch caused by life-saving medications.

At the heart of their discovery is a type of sensory nerve cell whose endings receive information from the skin and relay it to other nerves in the spinal cord, which then coordinates a response to the stimulus. Published online Dec. 23 in Nature Neuroscience, a report on the research suggests that even when the itch-specific nerve cells receive stimuli that are normally pain-inducing, the message they send isn?t ?That hurts!? but rather ?That itches!?

Pain and itch are both important sensations that help organisms survive. And pain is arguably more important because it tells us to withdraw the pained body part in order to prevent tissue damage. But itch also warns us of the presence of irritants, as in an allergic reaction. However, ?when either of these sensations continues for weeks or months, they are no longer helpful. We even see patients stop taking life-saving medications because they cause such horrible itchiness all over,? says Xinzhong Dong, a Howard Hughes early career scientist and associate professor of neuroscience at the Institute of Basic Biomedical Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. ?And sometimes when we try to suppress chronic pain, with morphine for example, we end up causing chronic itchiness. So the two sensations are somehow related, and this study has begun to untangle them,? he says.

Because nerve cells send their messages as electrical currents that flow through them just as they would through wires, scientists can plug tiny monitors into individual nerve cells to detect the moment of stimulation. The scientific controversy over pain and itch centers around a group of nerve cells known to respond electrically to painful stimuli such as molecules of capsaicin, the fiery ingredient in chili peppers. A small subset of these nerve cells also responds electrically to itchy stimuli because they have on their surfaces receptors for molecules like histamine. One of these itchy receptors, called MrgA3, binds the anti-malaria drug chloroquine, causing serious itchiness in many patients.

Sensory nerve scientists have not known whether the nerves with itchy receptors and pain receptors were actually sending both types of messages to the brain, or just itch messages. What the current study found is that, in nerves with the itchy receptor MrgA3, electrical signals sent in response to both painful and itchy stimuli are interpreted by the brain as itch.

To reach this conclusion, the researchers first used a genetic trick to label the MrgA3 cells in mice with a glowing protein that allowed them to see the cells under the microscope. Aided by the glow, they were able to plug in those tiny electricity monitors and watch nerve cell responses to different stimuli. The cells transmitted electrical signals when the mice were exposed to itch-inducing chloroquine and histamine, as well as pain-inducing capsaicin and heat. Based on this result, the researchers tentatively concluded that the cells could send both pain and itch signals.

In the next experiment, the researchers monitored the behavioral responses of mice to the different stimuli. As expected, when the tails of normal mice were placed in hot water, they quickly pulled them out; when normal mice were given a bit of chloroquine or histamine, they scratched vigorously with their hind legs.

Then, to examine the role of MrgA3 cells in pain and itch, the scientists selectively killed MrgA3 nerve cells in adult mice and retested their responses. Presumably, the researchers noted, because MrgA3 cells are only a small fraction of all pain-sensing nerve cells, the mice had normal withdrawal responses to painful stimuli like hot water. However, when exposed to itchy stimuli, their scratching responses were reduced to varying degrees depending on the stimulus, most significantly in response to chloroquine. The fact that some stimuli still caused scratching suggested to the scientists that MrgA3 cells are not the only ones in the body that respond to itch. ?We were convinced that MrgA3 cells are responsible for much of the sensation of itch, but it wasn?t yet clear whether MrgA3 cells could also relay painful information,? says Dong.

In their final experiments, the scientists used genetic techniques to create mice in which the MrgA3 cells were the only cells in the body capable of responding to capsaicin, that peppery pain-inducing substance. When injected into the cheeks of mice, normal mice massage the area with their forepaws to relieve the hot sensation. When injected into the experimental mice, they vigorously scratched their cheeks with their hind legs, suggesting that this normally painful stimulus had been communicated to the brain?by MrgA3 cells?as itchiness.

"Now that we have disentangled these itchy sensations from painful ones, we should be able to design drugs that target itch-specific nerve cells to combat chronic itchiness," says Dong. "We hope that this will not only provide relief, but also increase people's faithfulness to their drug plans, particularly for deadly diseases like malaria and cancer."

Other authors of the report include Liang Han, Qin Liu, Hao-Jui Weng, Zongxiang Tang, Yushin Kim, Kush Patel, Zhe Li, Benjamin McNeil, Shaoqiu He and Yun Guan of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; and Chao Ma, Hong Nie, Lintao Qu and Robert LaMotte of the Yale University School of Medicine; and Yiyuan Cui and Bo Xiao of Sichuan University.

This work was supported by grants from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS054791, NS047399, NS014624, and NS070814), the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (GM087369) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The authors have no competing interests to disclose.

On the Web:

Link to article in Nature Neuroscience
Dong Lab
Dong HHMI Profile

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/UMAKzygCFVk/130102104548.htm

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Use for old Christmas trees? Douglas fir needles may sterilize nano devices for medical applications

Jan. 2, 2013 ? As Twelfth Night approaches and the Christmas decorations start to look old, as the last crumbs of cake are swept away and the remnants of the turkey have finally been consumed, there is the perennial question as to what to do with the tree. Research published in the International Journal of Biomedical Nanoscience and Nanotechnology suggests that the needles of the plant Pseudotsuga menziesii, commonly known as the Douglas fir could be used to sterilize nano devices destined for medical applications.

Chemist Poushpi Dwivedi of MNNIT in Allahabad, India, and colleagues explain that one of the most troubling problems in biomedicine is bacterial infection at the site of implanted medical devices, prosthetics and sensors. They explain that despite advances in sterilization procedures and aseptic measures pathogenic microbes can still invade biomaterials and tissues. The researchers are developing an antimicrobial, self-sterilizing composite material derived from Douglas fir needles that is essentially a silver/chitosan bionanocomposite that can be used to safely coat medical implants and surgical devices to preclude microbial growth.

The team points out that silver nanoparticles have been tested widely for their potential as antimicrobial agents given that silver is well known to have bactericidal properties. They point out that using biological agents has come to the fore as an efficient and effective way to make novel types of silver nanoparticles with uniform size and shape and biocompatible surfaces for use in medicine. The team has now used an extract from Pseudotsuga menzietii together with silver nitrate solution to generate nanoparticles. These particles can then be readily dispersed in chitosan polymer to make a material that can coat metals and other materials. The plant extract acts as a natural chemical reducing agent to convert the silver ions in the nitrate solution to nanoscopic silver metal particles.

"The size and the percentage of the particles produced can be easily controlled, according to the requirement, by the initial concentration of the metal precursor and volume of the plant biomass," the team explains. So, as you are sweeping up the last fallen needles from your Christmas tree come Twelfth Night, think on, those needles could underpin the next medical shot in the arm.

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Journal Reference:

1. Poushpi Dwivedi, S.S. Narvi, R.P. Tewari. Potentiality of the plant Pseudotsuga menzietii to combat implant-related infection in the nanoregime. International Journal of Biomedical Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, 2012; 2 (3/4): 187 DOI: 10.1504/IJBNN.2012.051217

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/--E7G2XK8KY/130102140445.htm

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The Bachelor Pad: Myth and Reality ? Sociological Images

For the last week of December, we?re re-posting some of our favorite posts from 2012. Originally cross-posted at Inequality by Interior Design.

There is not actually a great deal of literature on ?man caves,? ?man dens,? and the like?save for some anthropological and archeological work using the term a bit differently.? There is, however, a substantial body of literature dealing with bachelor pads.? The ?bachelor pad? is a term that emerged in the 1960s.? It was a style of masculinizing domestic spaces heavily influenced by ?gentlemen?s? magazines like?Esquire?and?Playboy.? Originally referred to as ?bachelor apartments,? ?bachelor pad? was coined in an article in the?Chicago Tribune, and by 1964 it appeared in the?New York Times?and?Playboy?as well.

It?s somewhat ironic that the ?bachelor pad? came into the American cultural consciousness at a time when the median age at first marriage was at a historic low (20.3 for women and 22.8 for men).? So, the term came into usage at a time when heterosexual marriage was in vogue.? Why then?? Another ironic twist is that while the term has only become more popular since it was introduced, ?bachelorette pad? never took off?despite the interesting finding that?women live alone in larger numbers than do men.? I think these two paradoxes substantiate a fundamental truth about the bachelor pad?it has always been more myth than reality?(see?here,?here,?here,?here, and?here).

The?gendering of domestic space?had been a persistent dilemma since the spheres were separated in the first place.? Few men were ever able to afford the lavish, futuristic and hedonistic ?pads? advertised in?Esquireand?Playboy.? But they did want to look at them in magazines.

A small body of literature on bachelor pads finds that they played a significant role in producing a new masculinity over the course of the 21st century.? As Bill?Ogersby puts it, ?A place where men could luxuriate?in a milieu of hedonistic?pleasure, the bachelor pad was the spatial manifestation of a consuming masculine subject that became increasingly pervasive amid the consumer boom of the 1950s and 1960s? (here).? The really interesting thing is that few men were actually able to luxuriate in these environments.? Yet?Playboy ??along with a host of copycat magazines ? spent a great deal of money, time, and effort perpetuating a lifestyle in which few men engaged.? Indeed, outside of?James Bond movies?and the?Playboy Mansion, I wonder how many actual bachelor pads exist or ever existed.

In the 1950s ? despite a transition into consumer culture ? consumption was regarded as a feminine practice and pursuit.? Bachelor pads ? and the magazines that sold the images of these domestic spaces to men around the country ? helped men bridge this gap.? More than a few have noted the importance of?Playboy?s?(hetero)sexual content in helping to sell consumption to American men.??Barbara Ehrenreich?said it this way: ?The breasts and bottoms were necessary not just to sell the magazine, but to protect it? (here).? Additionally, the masculinization of domestic space took many forms in early depictions of bachelor pads with ostentatious gadgetry of all types, beds with enough compartments and features to be comparable to Swiss Army knives, and each room designed in anticipation of heterosexual conquest at a moment?s notice.

Paradoxically, bachelor pads seem to have been produced to sell men thehistorically ?feminized? activity of consumption.

I?m guessing that many of the ?man caves? I?ll see in my research wouldn?t necessarily fit the image most of us conjure in our minds. ?But the ways men with caves talk about them are replete with images not yet fully realized by men who are most often economically incapable of architecturally articulating domestic spaces without which they may never feel ?at home.?

???????

Tristan Bridges?is a sociologist of gender and sexuality.? He starts as an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the College at Brockport (SUNY) in the fall of 2012.? He is currently studying heterosexual couples with ?man caves? in their homes.? Tristan blogs about some of this research and more at?Inequality by (Interior) Design. ?You can follow him on twitter @tristanbphd.

Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2012/12/31/the-bachelor-pad-myth-and-reality/

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18 Under 18: HuffPost Teen's List Of The Most Amazing Young People Of The Year

It's been an amazing year for young people, and here at HuffPost Teen, we've been inspired by watching many of the them dominate in fields ranging from entertainment to science to technology to sports -- and beyond. To celebrate these awesome almost-legal game-changers of 2012, we've created our first annual "18 Under 18" list. Read through the names we selected below, then tell us: Who did we forget? Share your thoughts in the comments or tweet your own #18under18 picks @HuffPostTeen!

Michaela DePrince

Born in Sierra Leone during the civil war, Michaela DePrince grew up in an orphanage with her sister. Her father had been killed by the rebels and her mother starved to death shortly after. DePrince's time in the orphanage was made even more difficult by her vitiligo, a skin condition that causes light blotches on the skin, which caused her treated poorly and called "the devil's child." At just three years old, DePrince found a magazine picture of a beautiful ballet dancer and carried it around with her because she "saw hope in it." When was adopted by a family in the U.S., DePrince quickly began her ballet training. As a teenager, she was featured in the film "First Position," a 2011 American documentary. She has now graduated from the American Ballet Theatre's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School and will continue her work at the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

DePrince talked about being a role model to the Associated Press: "Because I've been through so much, I know now that I can make it and I can help other kids who have been in really bad situations realize that they can make it too."

Jack Andraka

Fifteen-year-old Jack Andraka won the 2012 Intel Science Competition, the world's largest high school science research competition, for his groundbreaking research on pancreatic cancer. The Maryland high school student developed a test for pancreatic cancer that is 28 times cheaper and faster, and also 100 times more sensitive, than current tests. When his name was announced in June for the Grand Prize of $75,000, the expression of pure elation on his face was priceless. A video showing his stunned reaction almost immediately went viral. "I did not think I was going to win a single award," he said to Intel. "It's unbelievable, I can't believe this is happening to me. This means so much to me."

Andraka told Wall Street Journal Live about his future plans to patent his test and take it nation-wide: "I'm incredibly excited about that aspect of this endeavor."

Malala Yousafzai

This year, Pakistani teen activist Malala Yousafzai's crusade for girls' rights to education -- in the face of threats on her own life -- brought education and women's rights into the global spotlight. The 15-year-old was shot in the head in a Taliban assassination attempt in early October because she spoke out about universal educational rights through a series of anonymous blog posts published by the BBC. Yousafzai, who started writing them when she was 11 years old, criticized the Taliban for their repressive regime and destruction of girls' schools in the Swat Valley, where she grew up. Her cause started an international movement for education and girls' rights, which recently culminated in a global day of action, "Malala Day."

Malala was named a runner-up for the Time "Person of the Year" award and thousands of supporters have nominated her for next year's Nobel Peace Prize.

"Malala doesn't just represent one young woman, she speaks out for all those who are denied an education purely on the basis of their gender," campaign leader Shahida Choudhary wrote on the Change.org petition she started for Malala's nomination.

Gabby Douglas

This summer, 16-year-old Gabby Douglas (also known as the "flying squirrel") made history when she became the first African-American woman to win the gold medal in the Women's Gymnastics Individual All-Around during the Olympics in London. Along with the other four members of the "Fab 5," Douglas quickly became an Olympic favorite. She has since been named a 2012 Woman of the Year by Glamour Magazine and was included on Forbes' "30 Under 30" list.

The athlete shared some words of advice for young people at a recent charity event: ?Never give up and always keep fighting, because though times may be tough, the sacrifices do pay off, so just keep pushing towards your dream and just love it at the same time and enjoy it.?

Carly Rose Sonenclar

Thirteen-year-old singer Carly Rose Sonenclar won over "X Factor" judges -- and became a viral Internet sensation -- with her jaw-droppingly powerful voice. Her soulful first performance of Nina Simone's "Feelin' Good" stunned the judges and racked up nearly 20 million views on YouTube, leading judge Demi Lovato to gush, "I want to buy your music right now."

In a surprising twist of events, Carly Rose did not win the competition and was edged out of the lead by winning country singer Tate Stevens. Still, it's safe to say that a superstar has been born -- and that she has a bright career in the music industry ahead of her.

Samantha Garvey

Long Island high school student Samantha Garvey was homeless and living in a local shelter when she became a semifinalist in the prestigious Intel Science Competition last year, and her incredible display of strength inspired students and educators across the country. Once her impressive accomplishments began making headlines, donations and support from people across the country started pouring in. Although the aspiring marine biologist did not win the Intel Competition, she was awarded a $50,000 scholarship, invited to attend the State of the Union at the White House, and was even given a new home in Bay Shore, Long Island. Garvey graduated high school this year, and was named one of Business Insider's Most Impressive Kids to Graduate in 2012.

"This is just the most amazing thing you could ask for," Garvey said at a news conference last January, after her family was given rent-subsidized housing by the county.

Tavi Gevinson

Feminist, fashion blogger and 15-year-old high school student Tavi Gevinson went from the fashion industry's youngest A-lister to a media mogul in her own right this year. Gevinson, a blogger from Chicago, Illinois, is already a full-blown multimedia phenomenon. She is editor-in-chief of Rookie, an online magazine for teen girls that launched in 2011, editor of the publication's first book, "Rookie: Yearbook 1,? and a social media darling with hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter and Instagram. She also went on a road trip this year with Rookie, organizing events for Rookie readers around the country, from pajama parties to craft nights.

In a TEDxTeen talk she gave this year, Tavi discussed the process of founding an alternative online space for teenage girls and discovering what feminism means to her, saying: "I realized that feminism was not a rulebook but a discussion, a conversation, a process."

Nick D'Aliosio

When London-based 17-year-old tech wizard Nick D'Aliosio -- dubbed the "Internet's Genius Boy" by GigaOM -- created the app Summly, his objective was to revolutionize the way people read news. Summly uses complex algorithms to summarize news stories into chunks of text sized for the iPhone, and has already received over $1 million in funding from investors like Ashton Kutcher and Zynga CEO Mark Pincus. The second version of the news summarization app was released in November -- on his 17th birthday.

?The only way I see my age coming into this is that I?ve built this for my age, my demographic," the young CEO told the Huffington Post.

Harry Styles

Okay, so what if he was only under 18 for part of 2012 -- we're still putting him on the list! As one-fifth of the biggest pop culture phenomenon of 2012, One Direction, Styles, who turned 18 on February 1, is the band?s resident ladies man and arguably its most popular member. Styles has not only seemingly won over the hearts of most preteen girls in the universe, but also 23-year-old pop princess Taylor Swift.

Dating life aside, Styles has helped propel the British boy band to the top of the charts -- and to worldwide superstardom, working his way up from "X Factor UK" auditions to playing Madison Square Garden. And beyond One Direction, he's helped spearhead an even larger international trend: The long-awaited return of the boy band.

David Boone

Cleveland high school student David Boone's "Homeless to Harvard" story is one of the most inspiring we've heard all year. The aspiring engineer has gone through struggles with gang violence and temporary homelessness (when he was 14, his home was destroyed by gang members) but his troubled past didn't stop him from dreaming of a brighter future.

"All of these life lessons have shaped me into who I am, transforming my dreams and aspirations and allowing me to free myself from what was becoming an unproductive environment," Boone wrote in a HuffPost Teen blog post. After being accepted to over 20 schools, Boone chose to join the freshman class at Harvard University next year.

Emma Axelrod, Elena Tsemberis and Sammi Siegel

This spring, three 16-year-olds from New Jersey -- Emma Axelrod, Elena Tsemberis and Sammi Siegel -- launched a petition insisting that a woman should moderate at least one of the presidential debates. In just a few months they garnered over 170,000 signatures, and perhaps partially due to their powerful campaign, female journalists Candy Crowley and Martha Raddatz were chosen to moderate two of the three debates for the first time in 20 years. As the girls wrote on their petition, "Women and men will never be truly equal in our country until they?re one and the same in positions of power and both visible in politics."

Claressa Shields

Gabby Douglas wasn't the only teen athlete who made history at the Olympics this year. Seventeen-year-old Claressa Shields became the first American woman ever to win a boxing gold medal. But before she was setting records in London, the Michigan teen had a troubled childhood, with a brother in prison and father with a criminal record.

"I can't even explain the pain that I had went through, all the people that I had to deal with and just life -- period," she told the Associated Press. "There were people who were telling me I couldn't do this. And whenever somebody doubted me, it always makes me push harder. So thank you ... all the haters."

Julia Bluhm

Julia Bluhm, 14, started a body image revolution when she launched a high profile petition asking Seventeen Magazine to feature at least one unretouched photo spread each month.

"I've always just known how Photoshop can have a big effect on girls and their body image and how they feel about themselves," Bluhm told the Huffington Post. "You need to see something realistic -- you need to see a reflection of what truly represents a teenage girl nowadays." After Bluhm protested outside the Seventeen offices and her petition made headlines across the country, the magazine promised to "celebrate every kind of beauty" and only feature photos of real girls.

Taylor Wilson

At 14 years old, teen physicist Taylor Wilson became the youngest person ever to create nuclear fission. Now, the talented scientist is in the process of building his own nuclear reactor.

Taylor may be a Ph.D. student, but he's still your typical 17-year-old at heart. The teen told CBS News: "When I hold something that's radioactive, it's kind of an indescribable feeling. It's kind of like when I'm with my girlfriend."

Maude Apatow

This year, 15-year-old Maude Apatow, daughter of director Judd Apatow and actress Leslie Mann, made a name for herself on Twitter, with over 100,000 people following her quirky, LOL-worthy updates ("Is it possible to swallow your retainer in your sleep?"). She's also as a contributor to hellogiggles.com, where she?s interviewed celebrities and written about her love-hate relationship with Twitter. Oh, and in her free time the ninth grader from Los Angeles also finds time to act -- most recently, in the hit movie ?This is 40,? which also stars her parents and younger sister.

Dad Judd Apatow described the process of working with his daughter to the New York Times: "A few times I pushed Maude to commit more to her performance, and she got mad at me and then did something wonderful."

Adora Svitak

Child prodigy and education crusader Adora Svitak is, at age 15, a published author of essays, poems and two books, TED speaker, activist, and in the words of Diane Sawyer, a "tiny literary giant." She's also a literacy spokesperson, lecturing around the world to spread her passion for reading and writing.

As Svitak wrote in a Huffington Post blog, "To me, us teenagers are at the perfect crossroads of childish naivete and adult realism -- we still believe that problems can be solved, and now we also have the tools and knowledge to solve them."

Stefan Bachmann

This past September, teen author Stefan Bachmann published the popular children's book, The Peculiar, which he wrote when he was 16. The fantastical novel tells the story of a faery invasion in steampunk Victorian England and has garned critical acclaim since its release.

The LA Times wrote: "Bachmann, who is now 18, writes as if he didn't just read classic books. His prose is so elegantly witty, it's as if he absorbed them and is writing by osmosis."

The young writer is currently studying music at the Zurich Conservatory, where we're hoping he'll find inspiration a second novel!

Katy Butler

Katy Butler from Plymouth, Michigan knows firsthand how hurtful bullying can be.

"When I was 12, I came out as a lesbian to my best friend and she decided she was going to tell the whole school for me," Butler told The Daily Beast. "Kids ended up walking down the hallway, calling me names, pushing me against walls and into lockers, knocking my books over. Horrible things like that."

This inspired the 17-year-old to start a campaign to get the rating of the documentary, "Bully," changed from R to PG-13. "I think [the movie] could create a big change, and it could potentially save lives if kids are allowed to see it,? she told The Washington Post.

Butler was supported by celebrities like Ellen Degeneres, and her campaign was likely one of the reasons the rating of the film ended up getting changed to PG-13.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/31/teen-year-in-review-huffp_n_2302280.html

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Engadget's top posts for 2012

So, are sugar plum fairies dancing in your head yet? Us neither, so how about those always-popular year-end lists? It's time to re-raise a toast to that tradition here at Engadget with a look at the top articles over the last 12 months as voted on by you, dear readers. If you're drawing a blank about any such ballot-casting, you did it with each duly noted click -- meaning that, Kumbaya-style, our list is also your list. Overall, 2012 was a red-letter year at Engadget as we unveiled a snappy fresh look (literally and visually), changed to a new commenting system, added the poshly accented Eurocast and generally kicked butt with more features, liveblogs and scoops than ever -- all of which is reflected in (woot!) our largest all-time yearly readership. After a couple of years off, we're re-booting the top yearly post tradition, so without further ado, here's a list of the articles that brought the biggest page-view ruckus in 2012.

Top 20 most trafficked posts of 2012, in order:

1. Apple's next-generation iPad liveblog
2. Apple's next-generation iPhone liveblog
3. Apple's 2012 WWDC liveblog
4. Apple's iPad mini liveblog
5. Live from Amazon's Santa Monica press conference
6. Live from Apple's education event
7. Samsung's Mobile Unpacked liveblog
8. Microsoft's major announcement liveblog
9. Live from Microsoft's Windows 8 press event at Mobile World Congress 2012
10. Google's I/O keynote 2012 liveblog
11. Live from Microsoft's 'sneak peek' at Windows Phone
12. Engadget Live: 'Ask me anything' Q&A with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop
13. Live from Microsoft's E3 2012 keynote
14. The Windows Phone 8 event liveblog
15. Live from the HTC press conference at MWC 2012
16. Live from Blackberry Jam Americas 2012
17. Live from Samsung Unpacked at IFA 2012
18. Live from the Nokia press conference at MWC 2012
19. Nexus 7 review: the best $200 tablet you can buy
20. iPhone 5 review

15,514 - total number of posts for 2012
1,039 - number of hands-on posts
246 - number of Engadget reviews
48 - number of liveblogs
10 - number of Engadget shows

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, HTC, Nokia, Google, Amazon, RIM

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/P5DpNR3ybjo/

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