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Facebook live feed redesign goes live today. What do you think?

Earlier this week we brought you exclusive screenshots of a new Facebook homepage design featuring, among other things, a “Top News” filter for your news feed.

This morning Facebook announced those changes will be rolling out today, and broke down the reasoning behind the updates, which it says were largely a result of user feedback.

As we reported earlier, when you log in you’ll now be able to toggle between two views: your News Feed, which is essentially what used to live in the Highlights section, and the Live Feed, which is the same real-time feed from your friends that you’re used to. You can edit what appears in that feed via an “Edit Options” link at the bottom of the page.

Your News Feed is now a “summary view of the most interesting activity that’s happened in the last day,” powered by the stories Facebook thinks you’ll most enjoy and based on your past history interacting with the site. Factors include how much activity and attention an item has seen (from friends liking and commenting) and how likely Facebook perceives you might interact with that story.

Also as reported previously, older items have been added back to the News Feed based on user feedback, including when your friends have been tagged in photos or become fans of Pages. Birthdays and events have also been made more prominent again in the right column of your home page.

The changes should be rolling out to all users today — have you seen them yet on your Facebook home page? What do you think of the new views?

Tags: facebook, live feed, redesign
User reviews: Facebook

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Belmar Photo of the Day 10/23/2009

 

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Grocery Store Musical in the fruit aisle

Belmar Photo of the day Thursday Oct 22 2009

 

Report: School lunches fall short on veggies

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Report: School lunches fall short on veggies
Recommended changes include a limit on calories, more whole grains
The Associated Press
updated 12:45 p.m. ET, Tues., Oct . 20, 2009
WASHINGTON - School lunches need more fruits, veggies and whole grains and a limit on calories, says a report urging an update of the nation's 14-year-old standards for cafeteria fare.

But the changes won't come cheaply.

Schools can't put just anything on a kid's lunch tray. They must follow federal standards, because the government's school lunch program subsidizes lunch and breakfast for needy kids in nearly every public school and many private ones.

Yet those standards are lacking, according to an Institute of Medicine report released Tuesday. They don't restrict the number of calories kids are offered, even though childhood obesity keeps climbing.

And they don't match up with the government's own dietary guidelines, which serve as the basis for the familiar Food Pyramid and were updated in 2005. They call for lots of fresh fruit and veggies and more whole grains.

"Today, overweight children outnumber undernourished children, and childhood obesity is often referred to as an epidemic in both the medical and community settings," Virginia Stallings, who chaired the report committee, wrote.

The proposed standards won't be cheap. The committee said breakfast prices could soar 20 percent, and lunch prices could rise by 4 percent.

That's daunting for school kitchens, which get less from the government, $2.68, than it actually costs to make each free lunch, about $2.92, according to a recent survey done by the School Nutrition Association. Combine that with rising food and fuel prices, and school kitchens are feeling the squeeze. Many have been raising prices for full-price meals.

The federal dollars "simply do not keep pace with rising costs on everything from food and labor to napkins and spoons," Dora Rivas, president of the association and head of food and nutrition in Dallas public schools, said in a statement last week.

The group is pressuring Congress to boost spending on school lunches. The Institute of Medicine committee agreed, saying the reimbursement should be raised to cover the cost of adding more fruits and veggies to the menu and substituting healthier whole grains for refined grains.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the Obama administration would review the report as it writes new rules for school meals.

The report proposed new standards according to grade levels — kindergarten through five, six through eight and nine through 12. Among the recommendations:

Each week, kids should be offered 2 1/2 to 5 servings of fruit for lunch, depending on their grade, and at least five servings of fruit for breakfast. No more than half the fruit servings should be juice.
Kids should be offered 1 1/4 to 2 1/2 servings of vegetables for lunch, according to the report, which says that a half-cup of dark green and bright orange veggies and legumes like beans should be offered at lunch.
And kids should be offered nine to 13 servings of grain for lunch and seven to 10 servings of grain for breakfast, the report said. At least half of those servings should be whole whole grains such as whole wheat bread, oatmeal and brown rice.
That is what they should be offered — under the proposed standards, a kid would be allowed to turn down some items in the cafeteria line as long as they still took a certain number of fruits, juices or veggies to their seats.

The current standards only set minimum calorie levels, but the report says there should be a ceiling on calories, too. Lunch should be no more than 650 to 850 calories, and breakfast should be no more than 500 to 600 calories, depending on grade, the report said.

The Institute of Medicine is part of the National Academies, an independent organization chartered by Congress to advise the government on scientific matters.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33388040...and_parenting/
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Farmingdale man with 13 DUIs charged with leaving scene of fatal Wall crash

Farmingdale man charged with leaving scene of fatal Wall crash

On revoked list until 2030

By MICHELLE SAHN
STAFF WRITER

A Farmingdale man, whose driving privileges are suspended until 2030, has been charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident on Route 35 this weekend.

Walter Poland III, 46, of West Main Street, was arrested Monday. He was charged with knowingly leaving scene of accident resulting in death and causing a death while driving on the revoked list, said First Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Peter E. Warshaw Jr.

The Farmingdale man was driving a 1996 Dodge Ram van that was fashioned into an ice cream truck, said Warshaw. He was not selling ice cream at the time the accident occurred.

Authorities said the accident victim was a man in his 50s, but they cannot release his name because his family has not yet been notified. He was struck just after 7 p.m. Sunday on Route 35 North, near 18th Avenue.

Poland has been convicted of driving under the influence seven times and his license is suspended until 2030, said Michael Horan, a state Motor Vehicle Commission spokesman.

Poland's first DUI offense occurred in September 1981, in another state, records show. His license was suspended in 1982 for DUI and refusal to submit to a Breathalyzer test, then again for DUI in 1987, May 1988, November 1988, 1992 and 2006, according to Horan.

In some of those cases, Poland was also charged with driving with a suspended license, records show. His license has also been suspended administratively more than a dozen times, often for surcharge-related issues, records show.

Poland's bail was set at $150,000 cash-only, and before he can be released, he must turn in his car registration to Wall police.

"The Wall Township Police Department did a tremendous job in the investigation of this matter," Warshaw said. "Their tenacious effort led to a very quick arrest."

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call Wall police at 732-449-4500.

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Belmar NJ in the news Council candidates discuss DPW furloughs, police, SIDs

Council candidates discuss DPW furloughs, police, SIDs

Election News

By Zach Levine

Democratic Councilman Matthew Doherty, 36, will be running for re-election to his seat in this year’s general election and will be challenged by Republican James Bean Jr., 36.

The race is for one full, three-year term.

A debate between the two candidates is scheduled for next Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Taylor Pavilion.

Perhaps one of the biggest issues the candidates will have to address during their respective campaigns will be the furlough implementation within the department of public works [DPW].

All borough departments were asked to take a wage freeze this year to help save money. The Belmar Police Department, which is currently in arbitration regarding its salary, did not agree to the freeze. The DPW did not accept the freeze either, and it was due a 4-percent wage increase this year.

The governing body subsequently decided to implement furloughs in the public works department in order to save money. The announcement was handed down at a council meeting last month, and the department will be forced to take off 10 Tuesday’s throughout the remainder of the year, save for Election Day.

When asked for thoughts about the furlough situation, both candidates said they believe the borough had no choice but to implement furloughs for the DPW.

Mr. Bean noted that, when dealing with these situations, all personal emotions have to be set aside, and only the economic factors must be dealt with.

“I think it’s all about economics,” he said. “There is only so much taxpayer money coming in.”

He further noted that, after reviewing the situation, it seemed to him that furloughs were the only option to deal with this difficult situation.

“Furloughs are the only way to work with the union and work around it, and it was the only way it could have been done,” Mr. Bean said.

Councilman Doherty agreed with his opponent, highlighting the importance of economics in the matter.

“If we didn’t have these furloughs, we would have had to raise property taxes, and I would not support that,” he said. “The furloughs were the only option we had. It’s very unfortunate and I hope we don’t have this situation again.”

He further stressed that, in this economic climate, all borough employees are being called on to help out.

“We need our borough employees to work with us and understand that our residents cannot absorb these large-scale taxes,” he said.

Similarly, the Belmar Policeman's Benevolent Association [PBA] has also not agreed to a wage freeze for 2009, and currently both groups are in arbitration to find a solution to the matter.

Mr. Bean said that, just like the situation with the DPW, the matter is specifically about economics.

“It’s about economics,” he said. “If there are no other options, then the police department just has to get creative.”

The notion of combining police forces has come up recently, as well, and Mr. Bean said the only neighboring borough which he would consider merging departments with is Lake Como.

“I’m not for combining police forces unless it is with Lake Como,” he said. “If we ever had to combine with a larger town, they would have taxation power over us, and I would not want us to take that. I want to keep the Belmar police force in Belmar.”

Councilman Doherty stated that he is hopeful the PBA will eventually accept the zero-percent wage freeze and help out the borough economically.

“The PBA has not accepted the zero-percent freeze, and we need the arbitrator to understand the tax burden and agree to the zero percent due to this economic climate,” he said.

Like Mr. Bean, Councilman Doherty noted that he is strongly in favor of merging police departments with Lake Como.

“I think it would be a natural fit,” he said. “I’m not only in favor of it, but I’m advocating for it. I’m always going to be looking for ways to share costs and find savings.”

On another subject, the idea of adding a Special Improvement District [SID] has recently been proposed in Belmar.

The SID is a collection of local businesses who would actively recruit for new businesses to join Belmar, as well as work to improve the ones which are currently operating in the borough.

The SID would be paid for by all commercial property owners, who will be required to participate in the organization if it is eventually approved by the borough council.

Some have worried, however, that the day-to-day operations of the SID would conflict with the overall work of the tourism commission and chamber of commerce, two similar local organizations.

Mr. Bean stated that he is in favor of the SID in Belmar, as he believes that it would lead to a healthy competition between the community organizations.

“I’m all for competition,” he said. “If one makes the other work harder, then I’m all for it.”

He also said that, if the people of Belmar want to have a SID, he would not stand in their way of doing what they can to try to improve the community.

“If the citizens want to do it, I won’t stop them. We’re all working for the same goal and all looking for a better Belmar,” he said.

Councilman Doherty believes that a SID will be a huge asset to the local community as well.

“The SID would be a tremendous benefit to the businesses in town,” he said. “We already have the chamber and tourism in place, and the SID would supplement their work.”

He also noted that the SID can recruit businesses to Belmar, whereas the tourism commission recruits people to Belmar and the chamber of commerce helps look out for local businesses.

“There are a lot of things the SID can do that the chamber and tourism cannot do. They’d leverage off of each other’s strengths, and we’d make sure all would work together,” Councilman Doherty said.

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