04th July 2013 - Qatar Tribune

Issue No. 94 Thursday, 4 July 2013
Summer Mood
Page 5
FACEBOOK ADMITS CONTACT DETAILS OF 6
MN USERS IMPROPERLY SHARED DUE TO BUG
July has arrived, and there’s no denying it:
it’s peak summertime. We plan on spending
as much of this month as possible outside,
whether it’s a weekend getaway to a lazy
afternoon picnic no matter how sunny the
sun is. With that in mind, our July shopping
list showcases everything from our favourite
white cut-out shirt dress to the strappiest of
sandals. Check out ‘July Summer Fashion:
What You Need to Be Buying Right Now’.
Locks feeling a little...lank lately? Well, it’s
more than natural to crave a major update
to your look — your hair, actually. And who
better to give us some perfect hair-spiration
than some of our very favourite, cool-underpressure
celebs? ‘Play It Cool With These
10 Summer-Perfect ‘Dos’ showcases latest
summer hair trends to be followed…. from
Leigh Lezark’s modern-flapper waves to
Rooney Mara’s super-chic “hair hat”!
When it’s all about summers, how can
we leave the kids behind? ‘Sprinkler Party
Ideas’ helps you create an amazing chilledout
atmosphere for your kids to beat the heat
the perfect way. And trust me, the adults will
have just as much fun as the kids during this
summer-time extravaganza!
And…. with the vacation season it’s time
too for Bloom to go for a break! This retreat is
an excellent period for retrospection, looking
back at the previous editions, gauging its
performance and adding a bit of ‘zing factor’
to the publication.
So, don’t go away! We’ll be back in
September, starting afresh with more
intriguing topics.
Happy Holidays!
Drop us a word at bloom@qimqatar.com.
Your feedback is always welcome. So be it
science, technology, lifestyle or fashion, take
your pick right away. And Facebook users
keep liking our page!
Page 8
JULY SUMMER FASHION: WHAT YOU NEED
TO BE BUYING RIGHT NOW
Page 7
PLAY IT COOL WITH THESE
10 SUMMER-PERFECT ‘DOS
Follow us on
www.facebook.com/BloomQatar

2 Thursday, 4 July 2013
The study did
GLUTEN ALLERGY MAY PLAY
ROLE IN GASTRO WOES IN
KIDS WITH AUTISM
In some children with autism, levels of
immune system antibodies to gluten proteins
are elevated, a new study shows.
The finding may have implications for the
cause and treatment of gastrointestinal
troubles that often accompany autism
spectrum disorders. Diets excluding
gluten have become popular in the autism
community, but the effectiveness of such
diets has not been confirmed.
However, according to the new study, “there
appears to be an increased immune reactivity
to gluten in children with autism, which is
associated with gastrointestinal symptoms,”
said lead researcher Armin Alaedini, an
assistant professor of medical sciences at
Columbia University Medical Center in New
York City.
The study did not find any link between
autism and celiac disease, an autoimmune
disorder that is triggered by gluten.
Gluten is found in many wheat and related
grain products.
In the study, Alaedini’s team reviewed the
medical records and blood samples of 140
children, 37 of whom had autism. Researchers
tested the blood samples for antibodies to
a marker of celiac disease and antibodies
to gliadin, a marker of gluten. In addition,
patients also were tested for genes associated
with celiac disease.
Alaedini stressed that the study is preliminary
and “the increased antibody response to
gluten [found among patients] does not
necessarily indicate sensitivity to gluten or
any disease-causing role for the antibodies in
the context of autism.”
Instead, the higher levels of antibodies
to gluten could point to immune and/or
intestinal abnormalities in the affected
children, he said.
More research into the immune response of
people with autism to gluten might bring
clues to the condition or highlight “a subset
of patients that would respond to certain
treatment strategies,” Alaedini said.
Importantly, the findings do not suggest that
putting a child with autism on a gluten-free
diet has any benefit, he added.
“Such a conclusion cannot be drawn from this
particular study,” Alaedini said. “By itself, the
increased antibody response to gluten does
not necessarily indicate sensitivity to gluten
or any pathogenic [disease-causing] role for
the antibodies.”
Another expert agreed that the study findings
are preliminary.
“By themselves, anti-gluten antibodies do
not mean disease,” explained Dr. Daniel
Coury, medical director of Autism Speaks’
Autism Treatment Network and chief of
developmental & behavioral pediatrics at
Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus,
Ohio.
“They are part of the whole puzzle. When
they occur with other abnormalities and with
symptoms, we begin to get a clearer picture. It
may be that this will help identify a subgroup
of individuals with autism who may benefit
from a specific treatment someday when we
have a better understanding of just what is
going on here,” Coury said.
Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental
& behavioral pediatrics at the Steven &
Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center
of New York in New Hyde Park, added that
“this study could appear like some vindication
to the many people who think that gluten
is somehow involved in autism and dietary
changes might be helpful. But that is not an
accurate take-home message,” Adesman said.
“Although increased gluten antibodies
are present in children with autism and it
appears they are involved in gastrointestinal
problems, at this point it’s hard to know what
role, if any, these antibodies have in autism,”
he said.
Adesman noted that research into gluten-free
diets for children with autism hasn’t shown
any benefit. “And this study doesn’t reinforce
any basis for dietary intervention for autistic
children,” he stressed.
Another expert agreed.
“We take of a lot of autistic kids with gastrointestinal
symptoms,” said Dr. William Muinos,
co-director of pediatric gastroenterology at
Miami Children’s Hospital, but there is really
no clinical implication to these results.
“You need to get more clinical information to
make an impact on treatment,” Muinos said.
“You need to find out the mechanism to know
how to treat it.”
(HealthDay News)
NEW INSULIN PUMP CUTS
ODDS OF OVERNIGHT
HYPOGLYCAEMIA
A new sensor attached to an
insulin pump helps prevent
dangerously low blood sugar
levels in patients with type 1
diabetes while they sleep, a new
study finds.
The new pump automatically stops
delivering insulin when the sensor
finds blood sugar levels have reached
a pre-set low level, and it reduced
overnight episodes of low blood sugar
(hypoglycaemia) by a third, the researchers
report.
“After years of hoping for a way to achieve our goal
of getting good blood sugar control without a lot of
low blood sugar, we are finally, with this new technology,
getting close to our goal,” said study lead author Dr.
Richard Bergenstal, executive director of the International
Diabetes Center at Park Nicollet in Minneapolis.
“Hypoglycemia has all of a sudden become an important
topic,” he said. “Now that we are able to keep blood sugar
down, we are running up against hypoglycaemia as
being our biggest barrier to achieving the blood sugar
control we want to get to prevent eye disease, kidney
disease and amputations and heart disease.”
The effects of hypoglycaemia can range from dizziness
to seizures to coma and death, according to Bergenstal.
“Patients are scared to death saying, ’Am I going to go
to sleep tonight and am I going to wake up tomorrow
morning, or am I going to have a major problem in
the night,’” he said.
This may also be another step to creating a socalled
“artificial pancreas” for people with type 1
diabetes, who cannot make insulin on their own,
Bergenstal added. “This is the first step that shows
that the artificial pancreas can actually work,” he
said.
Although this device has been used in Europe,
the new study is a move toward getting the
device approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration.
The study was funded by Medtronic Inc., the maker of the device.
The results of the study were published on June 22 online in the
New England Journal of Medicine, to coincide with a scheduled
presentation at the American Diabetes Association annual
meeting in Chicago.
“This is a very real difference for people with type 1 diabetes,
because these patients often go to bed in fear of low blood sugar,”
said Dr. Ronald Tamler, director of the Mount Sinai Diabetes
Center in New York City. He was not involved in the new study.
But he added that it remains to be seen whether patients are
agreeable to wearing a sensor along with an insulin pump and
whether they can trust the technology.
“Some patients may not be willing to wear a sensor in addition
to an insulin pump and entrust themselves to devices that need
to work accurately and in harmony to succeed,” he said. “It’s a
matter of practically and trust.”
For the study, 247 patients with type 1 diabetes who were subject
to hypoglycaemia during the night were randomly assigned to the
new device or a standard insulin pump for three months.
Patients wore a sensor along with an insulin pump. When the
sensor sensed that blood sugar was getting too low overnight,
the software was programmed to stop the pump for a short while.
The researchers found that the new device cut the times patients
experienced hypoglycaemia by 37.5 percent, compared with
patients who didn’t have the new device.
In addition, patients using the new device had about 32 percent
fewer bouts of hypoglycaemia during the night and 31.4 percent
fewer hypoglycaemia events during the day, the researchers
found.
Moreover, the device had no effect on blood sugar levels, which
were controlled in both groups.
Dr. Spyros Mezitis, an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital
in New York City, agreed that with the sensor, “we are one step
closer to the artificial pancreas.”
“This is an upgrade of the insulin pump and patients can avoid
night-time low blood sugar, by using this technology,” he said.
(HealthDay News)

Thursday, 4 July 2013
3
BUSY AS A BEE
but when I do, I call D. J. Haverkamp, a local
instructor and a gentle, knowledgeable
beekeeper.
When I first started, keeping bees was a
much easier task than it is today. The bees
had few serious predators, and hives would
grow and expand and produce tremendous
amounts of honey year after year with
minimal attention. As long as the hives were
well placed, somewhat protected during the
winter months, and kept clean and tidy,
the bees were happy and took care of their
chores in a very natural and understandable
way.
Now there are real problems facing the
bees and their keepers. There has been an
epidemic of failed hives, massive departures
of seemingly healthy colonies, and tragic
deaths of millions of these winged creatures.
Scientists are blaming the increased usage
of pesticides, loss of habitat, parasites, and
viral and fungal diseases.
At present, I have four hives. I restocked
them with new bees and queens, and I fed
the hives with a supplemental diet of sugar
syrup to get them settled in.
My gardens are never more beautiful than
they are when these creatures are pollinating
and encouraging flower development and
vegetable production. And once the honey
is harvested in the early fall, I use it to make
fruitcakes, cookies, ice creams and tarts; I
drizzle it on yogurt and cheese; and I use it
to add a mellow sweetness to salad dressings
and smoothies. I also package the honey
in beautiful jars as gifts for my family and
friends - that way, everyone gets a chance to
enjoy home-grown honey.
The vitality of our vegetable and flower
gardens depends on the health of this
hardworking insect. This environmental
and conservational concern sparked my
interest in the bee population - and a desire
to care for hives of my own.
There is something so romantic about the
subject of beekeeping…of course I had to
have my own hives, my own bees, my own
colonies of these mysterious, somewhat
frightening, awe-inspiring benefactors of
nature.
Years ago, I made friends with the “bee
man” in our area, Ed Weiss. He was an
expert on beekeeping who also sold all the
accoutrements the backyard beekeeper
requires. Not only did he teach; he also
provided materials and helped each of
us acolytes become a serious and good
beekeeper.
But backyard hobbyists and serious
gardeners alike have become enamoured of
beekeeping and supplies, and “beekeepers
for hire” are far more available and
common nowadays. Ed and his late wife,
Anita, started an organisation called
the Back Yard Beekeepers Association
(backyardbeekeepers.com) in 1993. It is an
excellent source for general information
and for finding clubs in your area. I have
finally mastered the art of beekeeping to
the point that I need help only occasionally,
Here are some of my favourite resources
to get you started on your own beekeeping
adventure: Dadant & Sons (dadant.com) for
bee supplies and tools, and D. J. Haverkamp
(bedfordbee.com), who offers a beekeeping
school and hive-maintenance services.
Hive Maintenance
It’s important to check the hive and frames
throughout the season for egg and honey
production, and to confirm that the queen
is in good health. Honey is then harvested
in early fall.
The right timing: It’s best to work at
midday, provided it’s clear and the winds are
calm - 50 to 60 percent of the hive should be
out foraging then.
Proper gear: I wear a one-piece bee suit
that covers me from head to toe; it has no
openings for errant bees to enter.
At the ready: A smoker should be prepped
before you open the hive. (Mine is fuelled
with bark, straw and dried leaves.) It calms
the bees and establishes a sense of wellbeing
in and around the hive.
Essential tool: A hive tool will allow you to
pry loose the frames - which are often stuck
in place with beeswax and propolis - and lift
each one out.
Protected crop: The honeycomb should
be capped with wax, so that little honey
escapes while you check the frames.
SPRINKLER PARTY IDEAS
The Party Theme
Start by setting the tone weeks before
with invitations that hint at what’s to
come. Look for store-bought cards, or
create your own -- a project you and your
birthday boy or girl can work on together.
And trust us, the adults will have just as
much fun as the kids during this summer-time
extravaganza.
1. Creating a Watery World
To create a watery world, you don’t need
an adult-size swimming pool -- just lots
of blue and green decorations, a menu inspired
by critters from the sea, and a few
aquatic activities.
Design invitations on a computer, print
them out, then cut them to fit in the cellophane
bags. Cut the vellum to desired
size, cutting the top with a scallop cutter.
Slip the cards and vellum into cellophane
bags; place bags in the cards behind the
windows, and secure them with photo
corners. Tuck them into envelopes.
3. Towel Favours
the mouth, and turn right-side out. Iron
the mouth flat. Sew or glue an eye onto
the side that will face out. Pin the fish
onto the centre of the towel. And lastly,
sew the fish to the towel using a zigzag
stitch, leaving the mouth open. Tuck favours
inside.
4. Fishing Game
For this game, you will need kitchen
twine, 4-foot-long bamboo poles (available
at floral-supply stores), a hot glue
gun, a drill, blue and green Moosgummi
foam, plastic crabs and frogs, and horseshoe-shape
and round magnets.
2. Party Invitations
For the invitations, we used picture window
cards with envelopes, cellophane
bags that fit inside cards, plain paper,
blue vellum, scissors, a scallop edge rotary
cutter, and photo corners. We added
a favour -- a cellophane “fortune fish” --
to each.
Send guests home with this fish towel,
made by you. The best part is, you can
stuff the fish’s mouth with candy, treats,
and fun surprises.
All you’ll need is a pair of scissors, scalloped
pinking shears, coloured fabric (we
used a cotton-polyester blend), green
or other contrasting-colour thread, eye
buttons or adhesive-backed eyes, kraft
paper and a fabric pencil. First, transfer
the template to kraft paper, then trace
it onto a double layer of fabric. Cut out
the sides and bottom of fish shapes with
scalloped shears; for the mouth, leave a
1/2-inch seam allowance and cut with
regular scissors. Sew pieces together at
Drill a hole through the diameter of each
pole, 1 inch from the end. Cut twine to
be as long as the pole, thread one end
through the hole, and tie. Tie a horseshoe
magnet to the other end. Use our
template to cut out foam lily pads; enlarge
and reduce the template on a photocopier
for pads of varying sizes. Hotglue
round magnets to the backs of frogs
and crabs, and let dry. Set a plastic animal
on each lily pad and float pads in a
kiddie pool or small pond.

4 Thursday, 4 July 2013
NASA SETS
SIGHTS ON
THE SUN
For the most part, the sun gets plenty
of attention from astronomers. Its surface,
or photosphere, bristles with sunspots
and erupts with powerful flares.
Its outer atmosphere, or corona, shimmers
with gossamer arcs mapped out by
magnetic field lines. But between these
two charismatic regions lies a swathe
some 1,700 kilometres (1,050 miles)
thick - the chromosphere - that has
largely been overlooked.
This region is about to have its day.
On June 26, NASA plans to launch the
$181 million Interface Region Imaging
Spectrograph. The instrument’s “eyes,”
working in the ultraviolet spectrum and
designed to follow the flow of matter
and energy in the chromosphere, will
help astronomers to work out how the
photosphere and corona are linked - including
how temperatures soar from
some 6,000?degrees Celsius (10,832
degrees Fahrenheit) at the solar surface
to more than 1 million C (1,800,000 F)
in the corona. The chromosphere is “a
missing piece of the puzzle,” says Bart
de Pontieu, the IRIS science lead at the
Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics
Laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif.
Other missions have looked at the chromosphere
before, including the Sunrise
2 high-altitude balloon observatory,
which landed on June 17 after a five-day
flight in the Arctic. But IRIS will hone in
specifically on the chromosphere with
greater spatial and temporal resolution
than many of its predecessors.
IRIS will take images every five seconds,
will obtain spectra every one to two seconds
and will be able to discern objects
as small as 240 kilometres (149 miles)
across. “It’s just staggering the dynamics
you can see when you have that kind
of resolution,” says Scott McIntosh, an
IRIS co-investigator at the National
Center for Atmospheric Research in
Boulder, Colo.
That resolution will help researchers to
map out small, fingerlike jets of plasma
that were discovered in 2007. Using data
from the Japanese Hinode satellite and
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, de
Pontieu and his colleagues tracked these
“type II spicules,” which rapidly funnel
mass and energy up through the chromosphere
and could be a significant factor
in the coronal heating problem. But
they appeared and died away in minutes
- faster than anyone had expected. “Suddenly
it became clear that this new class
of events was very important all over
the sun,” says Alan Title, a solar physicist
at Lockheed Martin and an IRIS
principal investigator.
IRIS’ 20-centimeter (8-inch) telescope
and imaging spectrograph are designed
to study phenomena that change as
rapidly as these spicules. If all goes to
plan, an aircraft carrying IRIS will take
off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in
Southern California before releasing a
Pegasus rocket that will launch IRIS the
rest of the way into space. IRIS will fly in
a polar orbit, 660 kilometres (410 miles)
above the Earth’s surface, constantly
facing the sun. Its narrow field of view
will be trained on just a small part of the
chromosphere: about 1% of the sun’s
disk.
First light is expected about three weeks
after launch, with science data arriving
several weeks after that. The IRIS team
plans to start by answering some long-standing
questions about the chromosphere, says McIntosh,
such as how many photons are emitted as solar
plasma rises up through the chromosphere and
how many form as it falls back down, cooling and
condensing along the way.
Title says that one of the reasons IRIS is happening
now is because modelling work carried out over
the past decade has given solar physicists the confidence
that they could actually understand the data
flowing from a chromospheric mission. The mission
team includes modellers such as Mats Carlsson of
the University of Oslo, who says that IRIS will help
him to understand why his models don’t come up
with the right amount of heating for the upper
chromosphere. “Finally we have some hope of being
able to understand these things, by combining
simulations and observations,” says Carlsson.
The spacecraft will begin its mission at an opportune
time: The sun is now at the peak of its 11-year
cycle of activity, although this peak is much less impressive
than the last one. By one measure of solar
activity - the amount of radiation emitted by solar
storms that reach Earth - the current maximum
looks about the same as 1996’s solar minimum,
says Dean Pesnell, a solar physicist at NASA’s Goddard
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
IRIS didn’t necessarily have to fly during a solar
maximum, but it will be a boon should the sun flare
up during the two-year mission, says de Pontieu.
One of the mission’s scientific goals is to better
understand how kinked magnetic field lines at the
sun’s surface trigger big eruptions of matter and
energy. IRIS will be able to track these large flares
up into the corona, connecting the dots through
the earliest phases of a flare’s life cycle.
And there is another way in which the mission’s
timing will be auspicious. In November, the comet
ISON is expected to have a close brush with the
sun. IRIS, along with other solar missions, will be
in a prime position to watch this happen and could
spot unexpected events. There is precedent: In December
2011, a comet named Lovejoy flew through
the solar corona, and surprised physicists with the
way its waving tail interacted with the sun’s magnetic
field.
(Alexandra Witze-NYT Syndicate)
PLANET GREEN
Earth’s gone green in recently
released satellite images showing
our planet’s vegetation.
Emerald Nile
Looking like a ginkgo leaf, the life-sustaining Nile River
winds south through Egypt in a satellite picture created
from images taken between July 9 and July 15, 2012. The
white dots are the urbanised areas of northern Egypt.
Using the NASA/NOAA Suomi NPP satellite, scientists
can now detect subtle differences in greenness
on the 25 percent of Earth that’s made up of land.
The images - taken between April 2012 and 2013 -
show the darkest green areas as the lushest, while
the pale colours signify sparse vegetation cover due
to snow, drought, rock, or urban areas, according to
the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric
Administration.
Mapping vegetation has some practical uses, including
forecasting weather or understanding how to
best use agricultural land.
A River Runs Through It
Farmland straddles the Platte River in Nebraska in an image
created from pictures taken between July 22 and 28,
2012. This region produces around 40 percent of the annual
corn yield for the U.S., according to NOAA.
Fertile Crescent
The Tigris and Euphrates rivers create a fertile crescent
through central Iraq in an image created from pictures
taken between Nov. 12 and Nov. 18, 2012. Though clouds
can often obscure satellite images, there’s usually enough
clear sky over the course of the week to get the shot, according
to the NOAA website.
Mississippi Greens
The Mississippi River and its many tributaries – seen in
lighter green – empty into the Gulf of Mexico in a picture
made from satellite images taken between March 25 and
March 31 of this year. Forty percent of salt marshes in
the continental United States are located where these two
water bodies meet.
(Christine Dell’amore-NYT Syndicate)
Mountain High
The Rocky, Cascade and Coast mountain ranges of the
Pacific Northwest seem to resemble parts of the human
brain in an image taken from June 11 to June 17, 2012.
White areas depict higher, less vegetated elevations. Potato
fields and other crops can be seen in the bottom centre
of the image as the Rocky Mountains give way to the
plains of Idaho.

Thursday, 4 July 2013
5
BEST ANDROID
APPS THIS WEEK
Soundwave Music
Discovery (Free)
Irish start-up
Soundwave
wants to help
people discover
new music
by following
what friends
and tastemakers
are playing.
The app tracks and shares song plays on Spotify and Rdio, as
well as on your Android device, while showing you the plays of
others – as well as aggregated charts.
Humble Bundle 6
(Up to you)
If you love games and
own an Android device,
you should be all over
the Humble Bundles like
a rash. The latest is available
for another eight
days, and like its predecessors
lets you set your
own price for a collection
of games: Aquaria, Fractal,
Organ Trail: Director’s Cut, Stealth Bastard Deluxe and
Pulse in this case. But if you pay more than the average ($4.70
at the time of writing), you get Frozen Synapse and Broken
Sword: Director’s Cut thrown in too, plus soundtracks and the
Windows/Mac/Linux versions too.
Where’s My Mickey?
(£0.64 / £1.29)
Disney had a
big hit with its
Where’s My Water?
And Where’s
My Perry physicspuzzle
games.
Now it’s applying
that formula to
its most famous
character: Mickey Mouse. This game sees Mickey collecting
water over more than 100 levels split into five episodes, with
more available as in-app purchases. (£0.64 is for the cheaper
smartphone version, but for the “XL” tablet edition, which has
extra levels designed for the bigger screen come for £1.29)
Monsters
University
(£0.64)
More Disney: this is
the official mobile game
for the latest Disney/
Pixar movie, Monsters
University. It’s a pair of
games, actually, both
from the endless runner
genre. Catch Archie sees
you chasing down rival
mascot Archie the Scare
Pig, while Toxicity Challenge involves running through sewers
avoiding glow-urchins.
Rockmelt (Free)
Rockmelt started life as a desktop web browser with an emphasis
on social networking. Nowadays, it’s more about mobile.
Its Android app promises to help you find (and share)
“the most viral, newsworthy, cute, interesting, and otherwise
awesome stuff” from websites and blogs, with the sharing options
including Facebook
and Twitter. A mobile
browser for the BuzzFeed
generation, you could say.
Gangstar
Vegas
(£4.99)
Gameloft’s Gangstar
games are unashamedly influenced by the Grand Theft Auto
series, although GTA’s availability on Android provides keen
competition nowadays. This latest game is set in Las Vegas,
with 80 missions, and lots of weapons and cars to use. It has
all the murderous hallmarks of GTA, but the jury’s out on
whether it has that franchise’s sharp humour too.
Izik search (Free)
izik is a
search-engine
app for
Android devices,
which
given Google
knows
a thing or
two about
search,
might seem
like an idea doomed to obscurity. But izik comes from Blekko,
which has won a fair few fans on the web as a Google alternative.
Can izik do the same on Android? It promises “fun and
functional” search, with results organised into categories, and
a gesture-based user interface to quickly swipe between them.
Scribblenauts Remix (£0.63)
Warner Bros
has brought
its popular
puzzle game
to Android
tablets (well,
some: check
the list of
supported
devices before buying). The game gets you to think up objects
and characters to help you solve the 50 levels, with plans to
add new levels for players who pay to subscribe to a “World
Pass”.
Si Evolution
Android has
plenty of
alternativekeyboard
apps, with
Si Evolution
the latest
to join
the fray.
Launched by SnapKeys, it’s “a simple, smart alphabetic keyboard
for any age that frees up your whole screen”, with the
somewhat bullish ambition of putting “an end to QWERTY”
with its alphabetical layout. An interesting idea though.
(Courtesy: guardian.co.uk)
FACEBOOK ADMITS CONTACT DETAILS OF 6
MN USERS IMPROPERLY SHARED DUE TO BUG
Phone numbers and email addresses belonging
to some 6 million Facebook users
have been improperly shared due to a software
bug, the social network has said.
But no financial or other information
was revealed to others, and there was "no
evidence that this bug has been exploited
maliciously," Facebook said yesterday in
a security note, adding it was "upset and
embarrassed" by the glitch.
Affected users were being notified by
email, it said, while stressing that the
practical impact was likely to be "minimal,"
partly because improper data sharing
would only have occurred between users
who already had some connection.
"We take people's privacy seriously, and
we strive to protect people's information
to the very best of our ability," it said, but
added: "Even with a strong team, no company
can ensure 100 percent prevention
of bugs." In this case, the bug "may have
allowed some of a person's contact information
(email or phone number) to be
accessed by people who either had some
contact information about that person or
some connection to them."
The unwarranted sharing would have occurred
when a Facebook user went to
download an archive of their Facebook account
through the social network's Download
Your Information (DYI) tool, it
said.
"They may have been provided
with additional email addresses
or telephone numbers for
their contacts or people
with whom they have some
connection," according to
the security note. It continued:
"We've concluded
that approximately 6 million
Facebook users had
email addresses or telephone
numbers shared."
"We currently have
no evidence that
this bug has been exploited
maliciously, and we
have not received complaints
from users or seen anomalous
behaviour on the tool or site to suggest
wrongdoing."
"Although the practical impact
of this bug is likely to be minimal
since any email address or phone number
that was shared was shared with people
who already had some of that contact information
anyway, or who had some connection
to one another, it's still something
we're upset and embarrassed by."
(Courtesy: indianexpress.com)

6 Thursday, 4 July 2013
Everyday Food
Grilled Desserts
No need to turn on the oven or even go back into the kitchen
to get dessert after your cookout. All these sweet finales can be
prepared right on the grill.
Grilled Peach Melba
Grilled Banana Splits with Hot Fudge
and Caramel Sauce
Ingredients:
• 1/2 pint raspberries
• 2 large ripe peaches
• 2 tbsps. sugar
• 2 tbsps. melted unsalted butter
• Ice cream
• 2 tbsps. light-brown sugar.
Directions:
• Heat grill to medium. Halve and pit
peaches; prick skins with a fork. In a
bowl, stir together butter and lightbrown
sugar; brush butter mixture
over peach halves, coating entirely.
• Make the raspberry sauce: In a bowl,
toss raspberries with sugar; let sit 5
minutes. Pass through a sieve into
another bowl, pressing with a spoon
to extract as much liquid as possible;
discard solids.
• Grill peaches on both sides until
fruit is tender, 5 to 10 minutes.
Serve warm, topped with ice cream
and drizzled with raspberry sauce.
Ingredients:
• 6 firm-ripe unpeeled
bananas, halved
lengthwise
• 6 tbsps. honey
• 12 tbsps. packed
light-brown sugar
• Vanilla ice cream, for
serving
• Hot Fudge Sauce, for
serving
• Caramel Sauce, for
serving
• 2 cups lightly
sweetened whipped
cream, for serving
• Finely chopped
roasted lightly salted
peanuts, for serving
• 6 maraschino
cherries, for serving
Directions:
• Preheat a grill to
high, and lightly oil
the grill grate.
• Place the banana
halves, cut side up,
on a baking sheet and drizzle the
honey evenly over them. Sprinkle
with the brown sugar. Place the
bananas, cut side up, directly on the
grill. Close the grill cover and cook
until the bananas are caramelised
around the edges, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Carefully transfer the grilled
banana halves (still in their skins)
to a small baking sheet. Using two
small forks or a long, thin spatula,
carefully remove the banana halves
from their skins and place 2 pieces
of banana on each dessert plate.
Top each banana with 1 or 2 scoops
of vanilla ice cream. Drizzle with
the Hot Fudge Sauce and Caramel
Sauce. Top with dollops of whipped
cream and sprinkle with chopped
peanuts. Garnish each banana split
with a maraschino cherry, and serve
immediately.
Grilled Plum Kabobs
Grilled Pineapple with Coconut Sorbet
Ingredients:
• 8 ripe plums, quartered and pitted
• 2 tbsps. Grape-seed oil or vegetable
oil
• 2 pints vanilla ice cream
• Caramel Sauce
Directions:
• Arrange 4 plum quarters on each of
8 skewers so that cut sides of fruit
all face in the same direction. Brush
cut side of fruit with oil, and place,
cut side down, on a medium-hot
grill, off direct heat.
• Grill just until fruit begins to turn
golden brown, about 2 minutes.
Brush bottoms of fruit with oil, and
turn over. Grill until pit cavity fills
with juices and fruit is soft, about 5
minutes, depending on ripeness of
fruit and heat of grill.
• Serve with bowls of vanilla ice cream,
drizzled with caramel sauce.
Ingredients:
• Vegetable oil, for grates or pan
• 1 pineapple, peeled, cut crosswise
into 4 thick slices, and cored
• 2 tbsps. honey
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 cup coconut sorbet
• 1/4 cup torn fresh mint leaves, for
garnish.
Cook’s Note:
To peel the pineapple: Using a chef’s
knife, trim the top and bottom,
remove the peel, and slice the fruit.
Cut out the tough core with a paring
knife.
Directions:
• Heat grill or a grill pan to medium;
lightly oil grates or pan. In a bowl,
toss pineapple with honey and
cayenne.
• Grill until light-brown grill marks
appear, 10 to 15 minutes, turning
once. Serve pineapple with sorbet;
garnish with mint.

Thursday, 4 July 2013
7
PLAY IT COOL WITH THESE
10 SUMMER-PERFECT ‘DOS
Amanda Seyfried
Freida Pinto
Olivia Palermo
Jessica Szohr
We’re obsessing over Seyfried’s sleek,
twisted updo. To do a slightly easier version
at home, apply shine-enhancing gel to
wet hair and slick back in sections. Twist
each section onto itself and pin — you’ll be
left with a chic and edgy ‘do that will last all
night with zero effort.
Got a super-chic wedding coming up? Meet
your nuptials-appropriate hair soulmate,
Freida Pinto, who proves that you can’t go
wrong with a shiny, sleek side chignon. Got
bangs? Give them a bit of a curl with an
iron, comb through, and spray to the side,
to create a seamlessly sleek look.
We would like to honour Ms. Olivia Palermo
with the award for the fattest, most voluminous
side braid that ever was. Take a
cue from the style star and pull your plait
apart after braiding, for a loose, mermaidy
look that’s as perfect for a daytime bike
ride as it is for your hottest night out.
We’ve never seen Jessica Szohr look this
smouldering. If you have a shorter cut,
let this photo be your permission to embrace
summertime texture and frizz — it
ensures that your crop will look sexy and
edgy, never prim.
Anna Paquin
Leigh Lezark
Iman Abdulmajid
Rooney Mara
To those of you that have wondered how to
make slick hair work in real life: let Anna
Paquin be your guide. Her sleek roots are
the perfect contrast to her flowing waves
— the perfect modern update to the ubiquitous
Old Hollywood do.
Oh, Leigh — have you ever looked cooler?
Lezark’s modified ‘20s waves somehow
look badass, not retro, when finished with
tons of shine and a smoked-out eye. Colour
us obsessed!
Who doesn’t love a pony? Our fave lady
Iman shows us how to make long hair look
so right now with a severe middle part, low
placement, and lots of fluffy volume in the
tail. Perfection!
So, this one is a little out there, but trust us
here: Rooney Mara’s modified suicide roll
is the most rad new way to dress up your
basic top knot.
Aisha Tyler
Emma Watson
Dying to get your hair
off your face? Rather
than slicking it all
back, try this modified
bouffant à la Aisha
Tyler, with volume
on the top and supersleek
sides. If you
have bangs, just rake
them back with a bit
of moulding wax —
totally summertimeeasy.
Braids, oh how we missed
thee. Just when we thought
Hollywood had ditched plaits
for ponytail-focused ‘dos
and pixie cuts galore, Emma
Watson delivered with what
might be one of the best
braided ‘dos we’ve ever seen.
To recreate? French braid
from the forehead to the back,
secure, then add more regular
braids underneath. Weave it
all together, pin at the base
of your head, and muss with
your fingers — that wasn’t so
hard, now was it?
(Courtesy: refinery29.com)

8 Thursday, 4 July 2013
JULY SUMMER FASHION: WHAT YOU
NEED TO BE BUYING RIGHT NOW
A striped tee is a Summer classic!
Check out the Alexander Yamaguchi
boxy stripe tee that offers a laid-back
twist on the staple.
sunny the sun
All we want to do when it’s hot
and sticky outside is live in a
pretty white dress — and at
least try to appear more polished
than we actually feel.
This Boy. by Band of Outsiders
white cut-out shirt dress maintains
a ladylike silhouette, but
the cool cut-outs feel just a
little sexy — not to mention,
they will help combat the heat.
Summer-ready pants can be
hard to come by, especially
seeing as how capris have gotten
a bad wrap over the years.
To score cropped trousers that
don’t enter into pedal-pusher
territory, look for a tailored
silhouette and a narrow opening
right above the ankle, like
the bold floral pair from Zara
or the ones at H&M.
As the temperatures heat
up, we’re feeling less inclined
to layer, which is
why we love the colorblock
maxi. With statement addons
— hello, chain-link
neckline! — and its brilliant
cobalt hue, this dress
will take you from day to
night with minimal work.
Check out brands like Lilly
Pulitzer.
What’s cuter or more comfortable than this pair of
Soludos Lalesso espadrilles? The insect print feels
both a little quirky and totally eye-catching — just
think of them as sweet upgrade on last year’s flipflops
and throw these in your beach bag instead.
Evening sandals in the Summer should be two
things: tall and sexy. These Aquazzura lace-up
cage sandals are both and will look good worn
with a pair of distressed jeans and a tee or a pencil
skirt and silk tank. Wear them with neutrals
for a pop of colour or play with a mixture of patterns
and prints for something that feels more
global.
Every girl needs a red dress in her
arsenal. And with wedding season
upon us, we can’t think of a better
time to invest in this BCBG Max
Azria red asymmetrical hem dress.
Because it has a clean silhouette, it
can be dressed up or down depending
on the accessories.
You must have been fighting against
the white pump trend for months,
but you should see Brit It girl Sophia
Webster’s take on them, and you’ll be
sold. The heel is walkable, the pointed
toe is roomy enough, and the shade is
just shy of stark!
Tabitha Simmons is one of our favourite
new shoe designers, but her main line is not
exactly budget-friendly. We love seeing her
signature feminine details at J.Crew prices.
These Daisy Willow sandals upgrade the basic
flat sandal into a fashion favourite.
Chances are good that starting
this month, your office thermostat
will be set to arctic. When
you need to layer up indoors but
don’t want to be weighed down
by a thick wool sweater, the linen
cardigan does the trick. Check out
brands like DKNY & Eileen Ficher.
Send your feedback and suggestions to bloom@qimqatar.com • Tel : 44666810, Fax : 44654975