amberchen22

subota, 31.07.2010.

14 Things That Make Us Believe in Someone

Trust is an interesting concept. By the time you mesos get to work in the morning, you may have chosen to trust or not trust a dozen people. When you turn on the weather channel, you are choosing to trust the meteorologist. When you leave your jewelry on your dressing table, you do so because you trust the cleaning person who will come in the afternoon. When you count your change at the deli, you are choosing to not trust the cashier. Even spending money requires trusting that the otherwise worthless rectangle of green material in your hand has value.
Trust is what keeps our society functioning. Evolutionarily speaking, we must trust to survive. But it can be a slippery thing. What makes us trust people? And more curiously, what makes us trust some people but not others?
According to the “experts”—sociologists, psychologists, economists, political scientists—trust is based on expectation. To the degree you believe you can expect a certain response from someone, you trust him. To the degree you believe he will reciprocate at some point in the future in some (often undefined) way, you trust him. Of course, past experience—with the person in question or with others—will affect that confidence, but in the here and now, certain behaviors and visual cues can also influence if and how much you trust someone:
1. Familiarity. The more contact you have with someone, the more information you collect about him or her. The more information you have, the more confident you can be in your expectations.
2. Resemblance. If someone looks, dresses, or acts like you, you’re more likely to believe his or her actions and reactions will be similar to your own. A 2002 study at a Canadian university showed that people are more likely to trust someone whose facial features resemble theirs.
3. Consistency. The more someone behaves with consistency, the better you’re able to establish patterns and form expectations.
4. Punctuality. If someone is regularly on time, it not only signals consistency, but also general conscientiousness toward wow gold 
other people.
5. Flexibility. Social-exchange theorists have found that people are more likely to trust someone who does not try to explicitly negotiate or force a binding agreement. (Think of the last car salesman you encountered.)
6. Discretion. The ability to keep a secret and exercise tact will always inspire trust.
7. Transparency. The flip side of discretion is transparency. We want someone to keep our secrets, but not her own. Self-disclosure builds trust.
8. Competence. In the workplace, nothing inspires trust more than getting the job done right.
9. Engagement. Trust is based on an understood reciprocity. If someone does not even appear to invest in you, he likely doesn’t have much to lose in betraying you.
10. Face Time. Part of engaging is an effort to make “face time.” A recent study showed that people in the workplace are more likely to trust team members with whom they buy wow gold 
interact in person more than those they work with via email or videoconference.
11. Facial hair. Another recent study in the Journal of Marketing Communications found that consumers trust pitchmen with beards more than those without. There are limits, however, to the beard-trustworthiness theory. Graphic designer Matt McInerney was only halfway kidding when he made a graphic spectrum of “The Trustworthiness of Beards.”
12. Eye contact (but not too much). This is perhaps the biggest behavioral indicator of trustworthiness. But the quality of the eye contact, observes psychologist Elaine Ducharme, also matters. Is it steely or warm? Too much eye contact can be unnerving.
13. Handshake (not too firm, not too soft). Any businessperson can tell you the importance of a firm handshake in building confidence. However, like eye contact, there is a middle ground. Too firm suggests aggression; too soft suggests passivity.
14. Posture. No one trusts a slouch. A straight back projects an image of strength and confidence.
Of course, while these behaviors and visual cues might inspire trust, they don’t guarantee trustworthiness. As Ducharme wryly reminds, cheap wow gold 
many psychopaths maintain excellent eye contact.

četvrtak, 29.07.2010.

Turning it on in the kitchen

I never knew I was fashionablemesos. Notuntil I got an e-mail telling me I was.
It said, "Are you aware of the term 'zhunan'? You have become one ofthe most fashionable men in China. Your wife must be very pleased."
Well, Ellen's always very pleased, but I was none the wiser, so I asked for an explanation.
"Oh, it refers to men who love cooking, because 'zhu' is a universalword in Cantonese for cooking and 'nan' means man. Most of these zhunanare born in the 1980s, who are passionate about cooking and uploadingpictures, recipes, discoveries of good restaurants and having theirblogs or some cooking BBS. There's a new slogan among young girls: Ifone has to marry, then one must marry a zhunan!"
When I told Ellen that I'd been called a zhunan, she was tickled pink.
I've always been interested in food, ever since I was young. There wasalways something to discover, news things to eat, and new places to eatthem at.
Growing up in 70s Australia, food was just beginning to change from theold English style of "meat and three veg". Lots of different peoplewere coming into Australia, bringing with them their own cookingstyles, and wow gold newingredients.
Chinese-style cooking was one of the first big experiments for myfamily. My dad bought a huge wok, and we picked through the shiny newcookbooks, looking for things to try. Looking back now, the recipesthemselves were terribly Westernized, but it was a start. I was hookedon learning about food.
As I got older, the 80s and fusion cuisine took over. Suddenly it waseasy to get ingredients that had previously been impossible. Hundredsof glossy cookbooks began to appear, and I started to make trips intoChinatown, by Adelaide Central Market, to buy things to make my cookingmore exciting, more authentic.
The more I learned, the more I wanted to travel to these exotic placesthat I only knew from the recipes. My culinary desires were onlyfurther heightened by my opportunities to interview celebrity chefsabout their new books, or just by talking to visitors at events such as"Tasting Australia".
Finally, my big chance came, and I landed a teaching job in China. Ithought that I would be able to just wander slowly around, and eat allthe things I'd only read about.
Unfortunately, to do that, you need to be able to read and speakChinese - something that I can't do. So I was back to cooking formyself, but now I had buy wowgold  access to the freshest, most authentic ingredients I couldhave imagined.
As time passed, I began to pick up new techniques and preparationideas, just by watching my neighbors working on their balcony kitchens.I scrimped and saved, and bought some new knives and tools to make mylife easier. After I met Ellen, I bought an oven, so I could make thefresh bread and cakes that she so enjoys.
My Chinese neighbor, Miranda, is especially envious of my skills. Shethinks that Ellen's incredibly lucky to have me as a fiance, as her NewZealand born husband doesn't know one end of a wooden spoon fromanother.
I don't know if I really fit the description of a zhunan, as I don'tmaintain a blog to showcase my exploits - and I hope Ellen's not justmarrying me for my cooking skills alone.
But it's true that I am incredibly passionate about cheap wow gold my cooking.

srijeda, 28.07.2010.

Find Your Happy Place: Banning Negativity from Your Life

Negativity doesn’t always present itself in an obvious mesos way. There are three sources from which it usually breeds: 1) your relationships, 2) yourself, and 3) your environment. Whether you’re receiving it from one or all sources, here are some things to do to reduce it in your life:
Relationships
Minimize toxic relationships. These often go hand-in-hand with negativity. If an individual makes you feel bad about yourself, what you do, or how you are, then that person is toxic. Toxic people often make others feel badly in order to feel better about themselves. If you can’t completely remove them from your life, minimize the time you spend with them and work on cultivating healthier, happier relationships.
Set clear boundaries. If an individual crosses a line or goes too far with her commentary, then let her know that although you care for her, the negativity isn’t welcome. Explain to her that if she can’t be positive or respectful, then you can’t be around her.
Find positive people. The more you surround yourself with positive, high-energy people, the less room you have for those who are negative. Focus on building friendships that make you feel special, build your confidence, and empower you to be the best you can be.
Your Inner Self
Stop focusing on the “what ifs”. Fear and anxiety impair our ability to move forward and achieve the things that will bring happiness into our lives. As a result, focus on what you want to do and wow gold imagine yourself doing it. Push out fear and instead, feel the positive feelings and happiness you know you’ll get from doing the things you want to do.
Meditate. This can be in traditional formats such as yoga or deep breathing or just carving in some alone time by yourself. Spend some time on a daily basis clearing your mind, ridding it of negative thoughts, and refocusing it on those that are positive.
Do what you love. Enjoying the things you love allows you to feel positive, happy, and joyful. When we do things that feel good and that bring us happiness, we disengage with negativity.
Think positively. Although I’m not that well-versed in the law of attraction, there is a lot of truth to being the master of your own buy wow gold destiny. “Positive thoughts beget positive results.”
Environment
Love what you do and where you do it. Although the recession may be making it difficult to be too picky in this area, if we work with people who are negative, it can be draining. Further, low company morale can have a tremendously negative impact on your overall outlook. If this is the case, look for a new job and seek out a company that is known for having a healthy, positive culture.
Love where you live. Our neighborhood can have a big impact on our outlook. Whether something distasteful has happened in your community or you just don’t get positive vibes from your neighbors, it may be time to move.
Get involved. Get involved in your local community. Do some charity work. Get involved with a non-profit. Be a big brother or sister. Getting involved in philanthropic programs makes a positive impact on the world around you, ultimately making you feel positive about yourself and about life.
Don’t let negativity bring you down. Make it a thing of the past and cheap wow gold see how positive life can be!

utorak, 27.07.2010.

25 Greatest Science Books

1.The Voyage of the Beagle (1845) by mesos Charles Darwin
2.The Origin of Species (1859) by Charles Darwin


One of the most delightful, witty, and beautifully written of all natural histories, The Voyage of the Beagle recounts the young Darwin's 1831 to 1836 trip to South America, the Galápagos Islands, Australia, and back again to England, a journey that transformed his understanding of biology and fed the development of his ideas about evolution. Fossils spring to life on the page as Darwin describes his adventures, which include encounters with "savages" in Tierra del Fuego, an accidental meal of a rare bird in Patagonia (which was then named in Darwin's honor), and wobbly attempts to ride Galápagos tortoises.

Yet Darwin's masterwork is, undeniably, The Origin of Species, in which he introduced his theory of evolution by natural selection. Prior to its publication, the prevailing view was that each species had existed in its current form since the moment of divine creation and that humans were a privileged form of life, above and apart from nature. Darwin's theory knocked us from that pedestal. Wary of a religious backlash, he kept his ideas secret for almost two decades while bolstering them with additional observations and experiments. The result is an avalanche of detail—there seems to be no species he did not contemplate—thankfully delivered in accessible, conversational prose. A century and a half later, Darwin's paean to evolution still begs to be heard: "There is grandeur in this view of life," he wrote, that "from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."

"The most important science book of all time. Darwin revolutionized our understanding of life, the relationship of humanity to all creatures in the world, and the mythological foundation of all religions." —geneticist Lee M. Silver, Princeton University

3. Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy) by Isaac Newton (1687) [Download PDF]


Dramatic is an unlikely word for a book that devotes half its pages to deconstructions of ellipses, parabolas, and tangents. Yet the cognitive power on display here can trigger chills.

Courtesy of Andrew Dunn
Principia marks the dawn of modern physics, beginning with the familiar three laws of motion ("To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction" is the third). Later Newton explains the eccentric paths of comets, notes the similarity between sound waves and ripples on a pond, and makes his famous case that gravity guides the orbit of the moon as surely as it defines the arc of a tossed pebble. The text is dry but accessible to anyone with a high school education—an opportunity to commune with perhaps the top genius in the history of science.

"You don't have to be a Newton junkie like me to really find it gripping. I mean how amazing is it that this guy was able to figure out that the same force that lets a bird poop on your head governs the motions of planets in the heavens? That is towering genius, no?" —psychiatrist Richard A. Friedman, Cornell University

4. Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems by Galileo Galilei (1632)

Courtesy of the University of Chicago
Pope Urban VIII sanctioned Galileo to write a neutral treatise on Copernicus's new, sun-centered view of the solar system. Galileo responded with this cheeky conversation between three characters: a supporter of Copernicus, an educated layman, and an old-fashioned follower of Aristotle. This last one—a dull thinker named Simplicio—represented the church position, and Galileo was soon standing before the Inquisition. Galileo comes across as a masterful raconteur; his discussions of recent astronomical findings in particular evoke an electrifying sense of discovery. The last section, in which he erroneously argues that ocean tides prove Earth is in motion, is fascinatingly shoddy by comparison. Galileo, trying to deliver a fatal blow to the church's Aristotelian thinking, got tripped up by his own faith in an idea he was sure was true but couldn't prove.

"It's not only one of the most influential books in the history of the world but a wonderful read. Clear, entertaining, moving, and often hilarious, it showed early on how science writing needn't be stuffy." —cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, Harvard University

5. De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres) by Nicolaus Copernicus (1543)

Copernicus waited until he was on his deathbed to publish this volume, then prefaced it with a ring-kissing letter to Pope Paul III explaining why the work wasn't really heresy. No furor actually ensued until long after Copernicus's death, when Galileo's run-in with the church landed De Revolutionibus on the Inquisition's index of forbidden books (see #4, above). Copernicus, by arguing that Earth and the other planets move around the sun (rather than everything revolving around Earth), sparked a revolution in which scientific thought first dared to depart from religious dogma. While no longer forbidden, De Revolutionibus is hardly user-friendly. The book's title page gives fair warning: "Let no one untrained in geometry enter here."

6. Physica (Physics) by Aristotle (circa 330 B.C.)


By contrast, Aristotle placed Earth firmly at the center of the cosmos, and viewed the universe as a neat set of nested spheres. He also mistakenly concluded that things move differently on Earth and in the heavens. Nevertheless, Physica, Aristotle's treatise on the nature of motion, change, and time, stands out because in it he presented a systematic way of studying the natural world—one that held sway for two millennia and led to modern scientific method.

"Aristotle opened the door to the empirical sciences, in contrast to Platonism's love of pure reason. You cannot overestimate his influence on the West and the world." —bioethicist Arthur Caplan, University of Pennsylvania

7. De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body) by Andreas Vesalius (1543)


In 1543, the same year that Copernicus's De Revolutionibus appeared, anatomist Andreas Vesalius published the world's first comprehensive illustrated anatomy textbook. For centuries, anatomists had dissected the human body according to instructions spelled out by ancient Greek texts. Vesalius dispensed with that dusty methodology and conducted his own dissections, reporting findings that departed from the ancients' on numerous points of anatomy. The hundreds of illustrations, many rendered in meticulous detail by students of Titian's studio, are ravishing.
(Available on CD-ROM.)

8. Relativity: The Special and General Theory by Albert Einstein (1916)


Albert Einstein's theories overturned long-held notions about bodies in motion. Time and space, he showed, are not absolutes. A moving yardstick shrinks in flight; a clock mounted on that yardstick runs slow. Relativity, written for those not acquainted with the underlying math, reveals Einstein as a skillful popularizer of his ideas. To explain the special theory of relativity, Einstein invites us on board a train filled with rulers and clocks; for the more complex general theory, we career in a cosmic elevator through empty space. As Einstein wow gold warns in his preface, however, the book does demand "a fair amount of patience and force of will on the part of the reader."

9. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins (1976)


In this enduring popularization of evolutionary biology, Dawkins argues that our genes do not exist to perpetuate us; instead, we are useful machines that serve to perpetuate them. This unexpected shift in perspective, a "gene's-eye view of nature," is an enjoyable --brainteaser for the uninitiated. So is a related notion: that altruistic behavior in animals does not evolve for "the good of the species" but is really selfishness in disguise. "Like successful Chicago gangsters," Dawkins writes, "our genes have survived, in some cases for millions of years, in a highly competitive world."

10. One Two Three . . . Infinity by George Gamow (1947)


Illustrating these tales with his own charming sketches, renowned Russian-born physicist Gamow covers the gamut of science from the Big Bang to the curvature of space and the amount of mysterious genetic material in our bodies (DNA had not yet been described). No one can read this book and conclude that science is dull. Who but a physicist would analyze the atomic constituents of genetic material and calculate how much all that material, if extracted from every cell in your body, would weigh? (The answer is less than two ounces.)

"Influenced my decision to become a physicist and is part of the reason I write books for the public today." —theoretical physicist Lawrence M. Krauss, Case Western Reserve University

11. The Double Helix by James D. Watson (1968)


James Watson's frank, and often frankly rude, account of his role in discovering the structure of DNA infuriated nearly everyone whose name appeared in it, but it nonetheless ranks as a first-rate piece of science writing. The Double Helix takes us inside a pell-mell race whose winners were almost guaranteed fame and a Nobel Prize. Most poignant are Watson's disparaging descriptions of his encounters with DNA researcher Rosalind Franklin. Her X-ray crystallography images showed the molecule to be a helix, crucial data that Watson and his collaborator Francis Crick "borrowed" to construct their DNA model. Franklin died of ovarian cancer in 1958, losing out on the 1962 Nobel Prize for the discovery. Perhaps to atone, Watson noted her key contribution in the epilogue to his book.

"The telenovela of my generation of geneticists." —geneticist Mary-Claire King, University of Washington

12. What Is Life? by Erwin Schrodinger (1944)


Long a classic among biologists, this volume describes, from the perspective of a Nobel Prize–winning physicist, how living organisms differ from inanimate objects like crystals. Schr?dinger carefully outlines how the two groups obey different laws and puzzles over what the "paragon of orderliness" of living things may signify. Some editions include an autobiographical sketch, in which Schr?dinger describes the conflict over teaching Darwin that raged when he was in school, as well as his own fascination with evolution.

"What Is Life? is what got Francis Crick and the other pioneers of molecular biology in the 1950s interested in the problem in the first place." —cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, Harvard University

13. The Cosmic Connection by Carl Sagan (1973)


At a time when NASA was reeling from the end of the Apollo program, Sagan reacquainted both the public and his colleagues with the majesty of the universe, starting with the oft-overlooked worlds of our own solar system. He also championed the search for extraterrestrial life and argued for the likelihood of planets around other stars two decades before they were discovered. The TV series Cosmos brought Sagan to the masses, but the adventure began here.

14. The Insect Societies by Edward O. Wilson (1971)


The patriarch of modern evolutionary biology explores the lives of everyone's favorite creepy crawlies—ants, termites, bees, and wasps—in this 500-page treatise unmatched in scope and detail by any other work on the topic (with the possible exception of his own 1990 volume, The Ants). It also lays the groundwork for his 1975 classic, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, which explores the then-controversial idea that the social behavior of animals, including humans, has a deep biological basis. The book is a labor of love, infused with the author's boundless fascination for his tiny subjects. Wilson openly acknowledges the quirkiness of his obsession; the dedication reads, "For my wife Irene, who understands."

15. The First Three Minutes by Steven (1977) [Download PDF]


When was a student, "the study of the early universe was widely regarded as not the sort of thing to which a respectable scientist would devote his time." But after World War II, radar researchers turned their instruments to the sky and helped bring creation stories out of the realm of myth and into the realm of science. , winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics, offered the first authoritative, popular account of the resulting Big Bang scenario in The First Three Minutes. A 1993 afterword discusses more recent advances. Amazingly, only the description of the first fraction of a second of cosmic history has changed significantly.

16. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson (1962) [Download PDF]


When Silent Spring was first published, a chorus of critics called Carson "hysterical" and "extremist." Yet the marine biologist's meticulously documented indictment of DDT led both to a U.S. ban on the insecticide and to the birth of the modern environmental movement. Carson argues that DDT not only indiscriminately kills insects, including beneficial species like bees, but also accumulates in the fat of birds and mammals high on the food chain, thinning eggshells and causing reproductive problems. Her chilling vision of a birdless America is still haunting. "Over increasingly large areas of the United States," she writes, "spring now comes unheralded by the return of the birds, and the early mornings are strangely silent where once they were filled with the beauty of birdsong."

17. The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould (1981) [Download PDF]


In this witty critique of bad science, Harvard scholar Stephen Jay Gould sets out to eviscerate the notion of biological determinism. For hundreds of years, Gould argues, questionable measurements of human intelligence, like skull size or IQ, have been used to justify racism, sexism, and class stratification. According to Gould, even respected sociologists and psychologists have used falsified or shaky data to support the belief that Westerners are genetically predisposed to rule the world. The book drew political and scientific criticism, especially from social scientists furious that Gould had oversimplified or demonized their work.

18. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks (1985)


In these profiles of patients with unusual neurological disorders, Sacks revolutionizes the centuries-old literary tradition of presenting clinical case studies. Far from dryly reporting each case, the eminent British-born New York City neurologist writes in lively prose with the gentle affection of a country doctor on house call and a contagious sense of wonder. To him, the man with Tourette's syndrome and the woman who cannot sense her own body position are the heroes of the stories. Legions of neuroscientists now probing the mysteries of the human brain cite this book as their greatest inspiration.

19. The Journals of Lewis and Clark by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (1814)


One of history's most famous tales of exploration began on May 14, 1804, when William Clark and his Corps of Discovery set off from the mouth of the Missouri River, beginning an epic 28-month journey west to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. (Meriwether Lewis joined the group two days later.) The Journals, a meticulous chronicle of their expedition, offer an unprecedented glimpse at unexplored, undeveloped America west of the Mississippi. Lewis, the group's naturalist and astronomer, and Clark, the surveyor, documented new species of wildlife (coyotes, jackrabbits, mule deer, and others), unfamiliar geology, and interactions with native peoples. A complete copy of the Journals and their companion material is heavy reading (the definitive Nebraska edition has 13 volumes), but an abridged version captures all the adventure in a palatably sized package.

20. The Feynman Lectures on Physics by* Richard P. Feynman, Robert B. Leighton, and Matthew Sands (1963)


Not only did physicist Richard Feynman win the 1965 Nobel Prize for his work on quantum electrodynamics, he once played bongos for a San Francisco ballet. The beloved book Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! recounts his raucous adventures, but these undergraduate physics lectures, presented over two years at Caltech in the 1960s, are Feynman's true gift to students at all levels. The first 94 lectures cover a wide swath of basic physics, from Newtonian mechanics to electromagnetism, while the final 21 venture into quantum mechanics. Feynman's characteristic humor and peerless explanations elevate these classroom lessons to enduring classics.

"Feynman, the prankster-genius, appeals no matter what field you're in. It helps to know some basic physics to approach his lectures, but he has such a luminous mind and is so good with metaphor that you can grasp a fair amount about what's going on in modern physics buy wow gold without formal understanding of complex math, up to a point." —psychiatrist Richard A. Friedman, Cornell University

21. Sexual Behavior in the Human Male by Alfred C. Kinsey et al. (1948)


The first of two books known collectively as the Kinsey Report, this treatise became an improbable best seller. With raw, technical descriptions of sexual acts, distilled from thousands of interviews, it documented for the first time what people really do behind closed doors. Many researchers consider the book flawed because of its sampling bias: Most of the men interviewed were young, white, and eager to participate. Nevertheless, the work remains an outstanding model of scientific bravery in the 20th century, with its insistence that sexual acts be described as healthy functions of the human body and that cultural taboos not stand in the way of science.

22. Gorillas in the Mist by Dian Fossey (1983)


In a richly hued portrait of the lives and behavior of African mountain gorillas, Fossey documents her 13 years dwelling in a remote rain forest amid these enigmatic animals. One of a trio of protégés picked by famed anthropologist Louis Leakey to conduct field studies of great apes, Fossey was determined, devoted, and often angry—over the apes' diminishing habitat and especially over the danger they faced from poachers (who may have been responsible for Fossey's 1985 murder). In Gorillas she leaves behind a scientific treasure, one rendered more poignant by her death in the service of these peaceful, intelligent beasts.

23. Under a Lucky Star by Roy Chapman Andrews (1943)

Roy Chapman Andrews made scientific history during the 1920s by leading five motorized expeditions into unexplored reaches of the Gobi desert. He emerged with the equivalent of paleontological gold: more than 350 new species (including the dinosaurs Protoceratops and Velociraptor), the first fossils of Cretaceous mammals, and the first nests of dinosaur eggs. He packed out plenty of wild tales, too, which are woven into this engaging autobiography. Rumors persist that the fedora-wearing, snake-hating, death-defying explorer may have served as the inspiration for Hollywood's Indiana Jones.

24. Micrographia by Robert Hooke (1665)

A revelation in its time, Micrographia exposed the previously hidden microscopic world. Hooke, an early developer of the compound microscope, used his device to peer at the eyes of flies, the stinger on a bee, hairs, bristles, sand particles, seeds, and more, noting every detail with both words and masterful illustrations. The original book is a hefty three pounds, so the digital versions now available are more convenient, but there is something to be said for flipping through a printed copy and discovering, like a hidden treasure, each drawing in its beautiful intricacy. (Available on CD-ROM.)

25. Gaia by James Lovelock (1979)

As an inventor of scientific instruments, James Lovelock may seem an unlikely figure to have launched a New Age, earth-mother environmental movement. Yet that's exactly what he accomplished with Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth. In it Lovelock laid out his daring idea that our planet is a single, self-regulating system, dubbed Gaia, wherein "the entire range of living matter on Earth, from whales to viruses, and from oaks to algae, could be regarded as constituting a single living entity, capable of manipulating the Earth's atmosphere to suit its overall needs." Lovelock has since refined the hypothesis, which many scientists criticized as quasi cheap wow gold mystical, and notes that he never implied that Gaia was a sentient being.

ponedjeljak, 26.07.2010.

Eminem leads U.S. album and singles charts

Eminem's "Recovery" led the U.S. pop album mesos chart for a fourth week on Wednesday, thanks to his latest hit single.
The album sold 195,000 copies during the week ended July 18, taking its total to 1.5 million. He becomes the first artist to log a four-week stretch at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 since Susan Boyle began a six-week stint in November.
No doubt "Recovery's" continued success is aided by its hit single "Love The Way You Lie" (featuring Rihanna), which will take the No. 1 spot when the Hot 100 is published Thursday.
It will mark the first back-to-back Hot 100 chart-toppers of his career. The album's first single, "Not Afraid," went to No. 1 in May. In all, Eminem has topped the Hot 100 four times.
The highest debut on the Billboard 200 -- and first of six entries in the top 10 -- came from Korn's "Korn III - Remember Who You Are," which started at No. 2 with 63,000. The rock band's last album, 2007's "Untitled," debuted and peaked at No. 2 with 123,000 sold in its first week.
Newsboys notched its wow gold
best showing on the Billboard 200 as "Born Again" bowed at No. 4 with 45,000 -- the Christian act's highest sales week since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. The act has never risen higher than No. 28 with "In the Hands of Good" in 2009.
Pop veteran Sting debuted at No. 6 with "Symphonicities," an album's worth of Sting and Police songs classically reinvented by noted composers and performed with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra. The set sold 36,000 copies.
Country newcomer Jerrod Niemann came in at No. 7 with "Judge Jerrod & the Hung Jury," selling 34,000 in its opening week. The album was sale-tagged for less than $7 at both Best Buy and Wal-Mart.
Rock super group Hellyeah charged in at No. 8 after selling 28,000 copies buy wow gold 
of its second album "Stampede." The act consists of Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett (both of Mudvayne), Vinnie Paul (Pantera), Tom Maxwell (Knives Out! and Nothingface) and Bob Zilla (Damageplan).
The final arrival in the top 10 came from M.I.A.'s "Maya," starting at No. 9 with 28,000. Her last set, 2007's "Kala," started at No. 18 with 29,000 copies.
As for the rest of the top 10, Drake's "Thank Me Later" slipped one to No. 3 (50,000), Justin Bieber's "My World 2.0" held at No. 5 (41,000) and the soundtrack to "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" slid six to No. 10 (28,000).
Overall album sales totaled 5.21 million units, down less than 1% compared to the previous week, and down 23% compared to the comparable sales week of 2009. Year to date album sales stand at 164.4 million, down 12% compared to the same cheap wow gold 
total at this point last year.

subota, 24.07.2010.

How to Break Out of Your Comfort Zone

Over time, we all gather a set of constricting mesos habits around us—ones that trap us in a zone of supposed comfort, well below what our potential would allow us to attain. Pretty soon, such habits slip below the level of our consciousness, but they still determine what we think that we can and cannot do—and what we cannot even bring ourselves to try. As long as you let these habits rule you, you’ll be stuck in a rut.
Like the tiny, soft bodied creatures that build coral reefs, habits start off small and flexible, and end up by building massive barriers of rock all around your mind. Inside the reefs, the water feels quiet and friendly. Outside you think it’s going to be rough and stormy. There may be sharks. But if you’re to develop in any direction from where you are today, you must go outside that reef of habits that marks the boundaries of your comfort zone. There’s no other way. There’s even nothing specially wrong with those habits as such. They probably worked for you in the past. But now it’s time to step over them and go into the wider world of your unused potential. Your fears don’t know what’s going to be out there, so they invent monsters and scary beasts to keep you inside.
Nobody’s born with an instruction manual for life. Despite all the helpful advice from parents, teachers and elders, each of us must make our own way in the world, doing the best we can and quite often getting things wrong. Messing up a few times isn’t that big a deal. But if you get scared and try to avoid all mistakes by sticking with just a few “tried and true” behaviors, you’ll miss out on most opportunities as well. Lots of people who suffer from boredom at work are doing it to themselves. They’re bored and frustrated because that’s what their choices have caused them to be. They’re stuck in ruts they’ve dug for themselves while trying to avoid making mistakes and taking risks. People who never make mistakes never make anything else either.
It’s time to pin down the habits that have become unconscious and are running your life for you, and get rid of them. Here’s how to do it:
1. Understand the truth about your habits. They always represent past successes. You have formed habitual, automatic behaviors because you once dealt with something successfully, tried the same wow gold response next time, and found it worked again. That’s how habits grow and why they feel so useful. To get away from what’s causing your unhappiness and workplace blues, you must give up on many of your most fondly held (and formerly successful) habits. and try new ways of thinking and acting. There truly isn’t any alternative. Those habits are going to block you from finding new and creative ideas. No new ideas, no learning. No learning, no access to successful change.
2. Do something—almost anything—differently and see what happens. Even the most successful habits eventually lose their usefulness as events change the world and fresh responses are called for. Yet we cling on to them long after their benefit has gone. Past strategies are bound to fail sometime. Letting them become automatic habits that take the controls is a sure road to self-inflicted harm.
3. Take some time out and have a detailed look at yourself—with no holds barred. Discovering your unconscious habits can be tough. For a start, they’re unconscious, right? Then they fight back. Ask anyone who has ever given up smoking if habits are tough to break. You’ve got used to them—and they’re at least as addictive as nicotine or crack cocaine.
4. Be who you are. It’s easy to assume that you always have to fit in to get on in the world; that you must conform to be liked and respected by others or face exclusion. Because most people want to please, they try to become what they believe others expect, even if it means forcing themselves to be the kind of person they aren’t, deep down.
You need to start by putting yourself first. You’re unique. We’re all unique, so saying this doesn’t suggest that you’re better than others or deserve more than they do. You need to put yourself first because no one else has as much interest in your life as you do; and because if you don’t, no one else will. Putting others second means giving them their due respect, not ignoring them totally. Keeping up a self-image can be a burden. Hanging on to an inflated, unrealistic one is a curse. Give yourself a break.
5. Slow down and let go. Most of us want to think of ourselves as good, kind, intelligent and caring people. Sometimes that’s true. Sometimes it isn’t. Reality buy wow gold is complex. We can’t function at all without constant input and support from other people. Everything we have, everything we’ve learned, came to us through someone else’s hands. At our best, we pass on this borrowed existence to others, enhanced by our contribution. At our worst, we waste and squander it. So recognize that you’re a rich mixture of thoughts and feelings that come and go, some useful, some not. There’s no need to keep up a fa?ade; no need to pretend; no need to fear of what you know to be true.
When you face your own truth, you’ll find it’s an enormous relief. If you’re maybe not as wonderful as you’d like to be, you aren’t nearly as bad as you fear either. The truth really does set you free; free to work on being better and to forgive yourself for being human; free to express your gratitude to others and recognize what you owe them; free to acknowledge your feelings without letting them dominate your life. Above all, you’ll be free to understand the truth of living: that much of what happens to you is no more than chance. It can’t be avoided and is not your fault. There’s no point in beating yourself up about it.
What is holding you in situations and actions that no longer work for you often isn’t inertia or procrastination. It’s the power of habitual ways of seeing the world and thinking about events. Until you can let go of those old, worn-out habits, they’ll continue to hold you prisoner. To stay in your comfort zone through mere habit, or—worse still—to stay there because of irrational fears of what may lie outside, will condemn you to a life of frustration and regret.
If you can accept the truth about the world and yourself, change whatever is holding you back, and get on with a fresh view on life, you’ll find that single action lets you open the door of your self-imposed prison and walk free. There’s a marvelous world out there. You’ll cheap wow gold see, if you try it.

petak, 23.07.2010.

How low should you go when accepting a job offer?

The job market may be slowly starting mesos to recover, but some salary offers are still a few years behind.
Some hiring managers are offering salaries lower than what workers previously received. The question is: How low should workers go when it comes to accepting an offer?
Some job hunters leap too soon at low-paying jobs, while others may be too optimistic about how their skills translate into a current wage and hold out for too long, experts say. While financial hardship is a strong motivator to take a low-paying gig, job seekers also should be mindful that taking such a position can negatively affect their careers — and their incomes — for years.
Since the labor market began picking up steam, companies hiring for entry-level or administrative spots with pay that would normally range from $40,000 to $50,000 have been offering workers $28,000 to $38,000, said Randy Miller, founder and chief executive of ReadyMinds, a Lyndhurst, N.J., provider of online career counseling and coaching.
For workers further up the food chain, an offer that might have been $100,000 a few years ago is now coming in at $85,000 or $90,000, he said.
"Companies are more worried these days about margins, profitability, and they are cutting costs across the board. Even though [workers are] qualified and have prior experience, the hiring department has been told to set a budget at a lower range," Miller said. "Everybody is more price-sensitive these days."
"Some people, because they are embarrassed to be unemployed or because of the financial hardship, do take a low-paying job, though the prospects aren't that great, and they stick with that job wow gold for a long time," said Gary Burtless, a labor economist at the nonprofit Brookings Institution.
Hannah Riley Bowles, an associate professor at the Harvard Kennedy School who has studied the attainment of leadership positions, said lower pay has long-term effects. For one, raises are added to that lower base salary. Also, "think about putting aside some percentage of your savings. You are putting away a smaller [amount]," Riley Bowles said.
Experts said workers can ask about educational and training opportunities. If you do accept a low offer, make sure you're gaining in other ways, such as valuable experience or access to a network that can advance your career.
"These may be things that companies are more willing to provide right now than salary," Riley Bowles said. "That is the way to beat the sad story of: 'I started at a lower level, and I am stuck at the lower level.' "
Job seekers who receive a low offer should compare that offer to what they can get elsewhere in the current market, rather than what they could have received before the recession began, Riley Bowles said.
"It would probably be unwise to walk away from an offer if it's competitive. They should keep focused on the current economy, and buy wow gold not be distracted by previous income," she said. "But that is hard to do emotionally."
Sometimes, job seekers misjudge their own value in the labor market. "People think that their qualifications and the state of the job market are such that they could get a much better job," Burtless said.
The problem with making that miscalculation is that the longer a worker remains jobless, the harder it is to impress companies, he said. "They look at you and see that you haven't held a job for a year and a half … usually their interpretation is not very charitable if someone else is standing on line for a job cheap wow gold and that person hasn't been unemployed for as long," Burtless said.

četvrtak, 22.07.2010.

Serena Williams hoping to play at US Open

Serena Williams is hoping to mesos recover from a right foot injury in time to play at the U.S. Open, the agent for the 13-time Grand Slam singles champion said Tuesday.
"Right now, we're taking it a day at a time. She's resting and recovering," agent Jill Smoller said in a telephone interview. "She's a fast healer."
The No. 1-ranked Williams had surgery last week in Los Angeles to repair deep cuts on her right foot. She tweeted Tuesday about spending a "5th day in bed. arghhhh"
The American was hurt while she was in Munich this month — shortly after winning her fourth Wimbledon singles title on July 3, and before playing in an exhibition match against Kim Clijsters that drew a tennis-record crowd of 35,681 in Brussels on July 8.
"She will start training again as soon as she's healed," Smoller wow gold said.
Williams already has pulled out of three hard-court tournaments she was scheduled to enter in preparation for the U.S. Open. The season's last major championship begins Aug. 30 in New York.
She withdrew from the July 26-Aug. 1 event in Istanbul, the Aug. 9-15 event in Mason, Ohio, and the Aug. 16-22 event in Montreal.
The foot injury also led the 28-year-old Williams to miss the full World TeamTennis season for the Washington Kastles.
Generally, neither Williams nor her older sister Venus, a seven-time major singles champion, publicly discusses injuries.
Serena Williams already buy wow gold missed all of February, March and April this year because of a left knee problem. She is 25-4 with two singles titles in 2010 — at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
She won her first Grand Slam championship at age 17 at the 1999 U.S. Open, and she also won the title there in 2002 and 2008. Last year, as the defending champion, she lost in the semifinals to Clijsters when a tirade at a line judge over a foot-fault call at the end of the match resulted in a point penalty.
"Serena Williams is one of our sport's greatest champions, and we are very hopeful she will be back at the U.S. Open. We communicate with her team frequently, and will continue to do so," Open tournament cheap wow gold director Jim Curley said. "We wish her a speedy recovery."

srijeda, 21.07.2010.

Trim those sails at sea with a fitness cruise

Cruise liners, long considered mesos modern-day galleons of gluttony, are also hoisting seriously sophisticated fitness and wellness centres on the high seas.
The food has not disappeared but a battery of seaworthy fitness experts are also on deck to help the health-minded cruiser resist the siren song of that endless buffet.
"Cruise lines are doing a great job of keeping up with the 21st century. You can be a fitness junkie on a cruise," said Mike Weingart of Travel Leaders in Houston, Texas. "Those who want to be fit can keep up their routine."
Or learn new ones.
Jogging tracks and state-of-the-art fitness centres are standard on most big ships, but increasingly so are wellness education classes, metabolic testing and cutting edge fitness classes, from kettlebell workouts to TRX suspension training, which borrows technology from U.S. Navy Seals.
"I had to add another TRX class at 4:30 because 4:00 was sold out," said Sarah Ward, a personal trainer aboard the 4,100-passenger Norwegian Epic.
The Epic, Norwegian Cruise Line's newest ship, boasts 20 dining options and 24/7 pizza delivery. But most popular at the wellness centre is a seminar titled "Secrets to a Flatter Stomach."
"People who are fit will find the gym," said Ward, who presides over the ship's Pulse wow gold Fitness Centre. "I like to find the others."
Princess Cruise Lines also offers more than a moveable feast on its 17-ship fleet.
"Our demographic is more the boomer generation, so obviously we understand that fitness is important to these travellers," said spokeswoman Karen Candy. "Our gyms are state of the art."
Cruisers can play Wii Fit skiing and hula hooping games, workout to exercise classes on stateroom TV, or even channel their inner Lance Armstrong in spin classes that mimic Tour de France terrains.
For those who'd rather laugh than grunt, Travel Leaders is organizing a series of Fit and Funny cruise seminars on selected Carnival Cruise Lines sailings from Galveston, Texas.
Austin Davis, a.k.a the Weight Whisperer, leads the seminars. He thinks a cruise is the perfect place to work on developing healthy habits.
"The temptations are a benefit to me," said Davis, a former comedian turned fitness expert. "No distractions. You can have anything, but you can't have everything."
Davis, a fitness consultant to hospitals at the Texas Medical Centre, advocates shorter workouts of high intensity. But the heart of his message is mindfulness.
"When you write down everything buy wow gold you eat, endless buffet or not, you will eat less," he said. "People tell me they want to get in shape, well round is a shape, pear is a shape."
Weingart thinks the cruise-as-floating-food-orgy concept may be waning.
"Luxury cruises are finding it's more quality than quantity. Dinner portions are, in many cases, a little smaller, and a lot of lines have done away with midnight buffets."
Candy thinks today's cruisers are more keen to tone up their sea legs.
"Go to the gym on the first day of the cruise so you can see what's offered, so you're not disappointed," she said. "Some people have actually gone on a cruise cheap wow gold and lost weight."

utorak, 20.07.2010.

What Is Comic-Con? A Brief History of the Mega-Event

Much like a comic book superhero, the annual mesos Comic-Con International in San Diego is rooted in humble origins before evolving into the massive pop culture gathering it is today. The event started in 1970 as the Golden State Comic-Con, a three-day event held at San Diego's historic U.S. Grant Hotel. That drew about 300 people.
This year's convention will attract more than 125,000 comic book, movie and television fans, packing the San Diego Convention Center's 615,701 square feet of exhibit space. Though there are many significant comic book conventions around the country each year, Comic-Con International is by far the biggest in terms of attendance and the number and diversity of exhibitors.
As comic book movies have become of increasing importance to Hollywood - the big box office of "X-Men" in 2000 is generally considered the turning point - there's been more and more movie and television involvement in Comic-Con, in turn attracting more and more mainstream media attention and wow gold a wider base of potential attendees. Past celebrity appearances have included Johnny Depp, Robert Downey Jr. and Nicolas Cage - this year, Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen and even Helen Mirren are expected to make appearances.
Comic-Con was founded by comic strip letterer and artist Shel Dorf, who passed away last November and had organized similar events in Detroit. The convention was first called "San Diego Comic-Con" in 1973, with the first "masquerade" - an enduring, annual Comic-Con parade of fan-made costumes - coming a year later. The current name of "Comic-Con International" came in 1995. The Eisner Awards, essentially the comic book industry's version of the Oscars, has been held at Comic-Con every year every year since its inception in 1988.
After occupying various hotels for its first 20 years of existence, Comic-Con moved into its current home of the San Diego Convention Center, buy wow gold located near the water in downtown San Diego, in 1991. By 2004, the convention reached its manifest destiny in utilizing the entire convention center space, including the 6,500-person capacity Hall H, which is used for the most popular movie and TV panels.
Until 2006, it was easy to buy admission to Comic-Con on the day you wanted to go. That year, entry was delayed for some on Saturday, traditionally the convention's most popular day. In 2007, some day passes sold out in advance, with the event completely selling out in 2008. This year, for the third year in a row, tickets cheap wow gold were gone months before the event, this time in March.

ponedjeljak, 19.07.2010.

Two-thirds of world's population get insufficient vitamin D: study

Two-thirds of the world's population mesos get insufficient amounts of vitamin D, a new study has found.
Half the people in North America and Western Europe get insufficient amounts of vitamin D and "elsewhere it is worse", said study lead author Anthony Norman, a professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences (emeritus) at University of California, Riverside, and an international expert on vitamin D.
"Given that two-thirds of the people are vitamin D-insufficient or deficient, it is clear that merely eating vitamin D-rich foods is not adequate to solve the problem for most adults," Norman said in the study published in the July issue of Endocrine Today.
Currently, the recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 200 international units (IU) for people up to 50 years old; 400 IU for people 51 to 70 years old; and 600 IU for people over 70 years old.
"There is a wide consensus among scientists that the relative daily intake of vitamin D should be increased to 2,000 to 4,000 IU for most adults," Norman said. "A 2,000 IU daily intake can be achieved by a combination of sunshine, food, supplements, and possibly even limited tanning exposure."
While there is now abundant data on vitamin D and its benefits, there is room for more study, Norman said.
"The benefits of more research on the topic justifies why this field of research deserves wow gold additional governmental funding," he said. "Already, several studies have reported substantial reductions in incidence of breast cancer, colon cancer and type 1 diabetes in association with adequate intake of vitamin D, the positive effect generally occurring within five years of initiation of adequate vitamin D intake."
Because vitamin D is found in very few foods naturally (e.g. fish, eggs and cod liver oil), other foods such as milk, orange juice, some yogurts and buy wow gold some breakfast foods are fortified with it. The fortification levels aim at about 400 IU per day.
Norman, who holds the title of Presidential Chair in Biochemistry-Emeritus, has been researching vitamin D for nearly 50 years.
In 1967, his laboratory discovered that the vitamin is converted into a steroid hormone by the body. Two years later, his laboratory discovered the vitamin D receptor (or VDR), an essential receptor for the steroid hormone form of vitamin D that is present in more than 37 target organs of the body that respond biologically to the vitamin.
"There is now irrevocable evidence that receptors in the immune, pancreas, heart-cardiovascular, muscle and brain systems in the body generate biological responses to the steroid hormone cheap wow gold form of vitamin D," Norman said.

subota, 17.07.2010.

Top 10 Quotes About Men That Every Man Should Live By

A good quote can change a man’s perspective mesos on life. It could shape his behavior for the better or simply make him sound really cultured at a cocktail party. Whether it’s ancient Greek, some kind of Eastern thing or just something you overheard a drunk tell the bartender, it’s nice to have a few excerpts of enlightenment in the back pocket. And although we rule against getting “Carpe Diem” tattooed on your forehead, we do condone memorizing a few of these quotes about men for daily recital.. . We understand each man lives by his own set of principles. However, there are poets, thinkers and scholars who have a much better way of articulating the proper ideals of man, and “I believe it was Nietzsche who said… ” always sounds better than, “Phil the plumber says… ”
So to help keep you on the right track in life, here are 10 quotes about men, written by men who’ve lived more notable lives than us, that every man should live by.. Quotes About Men
10. John Kennedy
“A man does what he must -- in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and pressures -- and that is the basis of all human morality.”
Doing the right thing is not always easy, but the greatest of men understand the obligation to do it anyways. JFK may have faltered on this front with Marilyn Monroe and the 700 other presidential playmates, but maintaining complete morality is a tough process. This isn’t only for men who make decisions on foreign policy, the space race and oval office intercourse, but the everyday decisions as well. Do the right thing and don’t look back; a clear conscience is often underrated..
9. Chuck Norris
“Men are like steel. When they lose their temper, they lose their worth.”
A man can model his life solely on the Walker, Texas Ranger ethos, but for the purposes of diversity, we settled for just one Chuck Norris quote. This metallic metaphor reiterates the importance of self-control, and just how destructive your temper can be. Norris knows there’s nothing more pitiful than a father having a tantrum over a high strike at his son’s little league game. Losing your cool in the boardroom or on the sidelines, is perhaps the most devaluing of exercises. Thank you, sensei..
8. Albert Camus
“After a certain age every man is responsible for his face”
Camus’ quote from The Fall is in reference to the protagonist Clamence, a self-absorbed hypocrite who realizes his entire existence is a farce. Hopefully his face looks a lot different from yours. We’re all products of our pasts, and at a certain point “who we are” is a reflection of “what we’ve done.” And when you'd reach that age, you better be proud of the choices you’ve made and the actions you’ve committed, because you’re responsible for them. And if you make a few mistakes, there’s always botox..
7. Theodore Roosevelt
“Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow small ones.”
The long and arduous path to the top of the totem pole is about proving yourself on the bottom. Underachievers always think they’ll start performing when they get the promotion to the bigger wow gold job, but they’re only fooling themselves. Jim from the compliance department may think he has the goods to get the corner office, but streaming reruns of Alf all day isn’t exactly outgrowing your current position..
6. George Washington
“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”
A cynical quote from old GW, who was perhaps still bitter he didn’t accept the Brit’s offer to throw Valley Forge, but nonetheless, an insightful quote. Anyone can be bought, and only a select number of strong willed men are impervious to a price. There are two lessons here: One, a man should always strive to honor his principles no matter what the monetary offer may be. Two, if it’s $500,000 or more, make sure you get it in cash -- up front..
5. Oscar Wilde
“Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.”
It’s an old quote that’s revisited by Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally -- there’s no such thing as a platonic relationship between a man and a woman. The man is usually consumed with the idea of sleeping with her. It’s a belief widely acknowledged by men, but rarely accepted by women. Remember that. Movie and dinner nights might mean one thing to you, but she certainly doesn’t view it as a precursor to intercourse..
4. Machiavelli
“It is not titles that make men illustrious, but men who make titles illustrious.”
Though Machiavelli may have been directing this quote toward the reigning Medici Family in 16th century Florence, he knew it had relevance with the 21st century paper mill employee. Never be restricted or defined by your title, no matter who you are. You could be CEO or Junior Assistant Manager to the Traveling Secretary, but it’s only worth what you make it. If, however, you’re the latter of the two, you might want to explore other career opportunities in the meantime.
3. Plato
“When men speak ill of thee, live so as nobody may believe them.”
Criticism comes from all directions in life -- your spouse, your children, your colleagues. But in the end, it’s better to dismiss the ill will and maintain your buy wow gold own convictions. Plato is a perfect example. The basis of Western philosophy would not have existed if all the critics were justified with answers. But as for the concept of the “platonic relationship,” we still have our doubts..
2. Napoleon
“There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time.”
Whether you’re trying to claim world domination or simply take a road trip with your son, just know the greatest enemy of those plans is time. Life is short, unpredictable and you’re only given a small window of opportunity to complete your aspirations. Constant procrastination and indecisiveness is a sure way to be robbed of them. So quit putting off that coup d'état, and get your act together..
1. Bob Dylan
“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.”
You have to do what makes you happy. It’s cliched, but a proven truth in life. It might not make you rich, but there’s nothing more valuable than waking up to do what you love. If you have an affinity for changing urinal cakes at the local Cracker Barrel, and that’s what brings you joy in life, all the power to you. And if you love touring the world, playing sold out arenas and being a cheap wow gold cultural icon, that’s fine too..

petak, 16.07.2010.

Lessons learned from the 2010 World Cup

Congratulations to Spain for deservedly mesos claiming their first World Cup, but man, what a terrible final. It was never going to be a classic, mind you, with the Netherlands compelled to break down Spain’s midfield artistry by hook or by crook - or risk being passed to death.
However, the cynicism of the Orange went way beyond what many believed they were capable of, even provoking the Spaniards into some football that was very unlike their usual renowned "tiki-taka" style.
In the end though, the best team won. Well, to my mind, the best team on the day but the second-best team in the tournament. I thought that, apart from the semifinal, Germany played more incisive football than the Spaniards, whose short passing often failed to produce the clinical finish their elaborate interchanges deserved once David Villa went off the boil following the quarterfinals. And, let’s be honest, eight goals in seven games by La Roja tells its own story. But a win is a win, whether you do it by one goal or a hatful.
So, apart from the fact that Spain rules, what else did I learn from this World Cup?
Well, I think that the continued homogenization of football – with players moving freely between clubs of different countries, and those clubs being so familiar with each other through Champions League encounters - makes for too little contrast in styles to produce great matches.
There seem to be only two ways of playing nowadays: defend in numbers and catch teams on the break, or frustrate your opponent by playing endless keep-ball and eventually nicking a goal by attrition as Spain did time and again. Both methods can produce the desired result, but don’t necessarily get you off your seat too often.
The second thing I learned is that football has got to come into the 21st century by wow gold any means necessary. Goal-line technology, video replays, five match officials or more (with the pace of the modern game why not have a referee in each half as well as someone on either goal-line) - whatever it takes to get the decision right.
Some may reject the idea, but if you do so on the grounds of expense, check out world governing body FIFA’s 2009 annual report and you’ll find it announced profits of $196 million and boasted reserves in excess of $1 billion, which is more than enough for a few-dozen cameras and some replay machines.
If you feel the use of technology would be undemocratic because it couldn’t be universal, well no-one is saying we should have five officials and a battery of technical equipment for games between Tiny Town Rovers and Mickey Mouse United – only at the highest level where so much money and prestige is at stake.
And if you don’t want the additional safeguards because it takes away the human element - well it does, it takes away human error, and there is no definition I can find in which error is a good thing.
The third thing I’ve learned is that the rules of football need to evolve. With the proliferation of cautionable offences I’d like to see the introduction of another card, perhaps a blue one, because at present players get the same yellow card for some minor transgression like kicking the ball away in petulance as they do for a scything tackle.
Two blues could equal a yellow, two buy wow gold yellows make a red. That way the punishments could fit the crime, and you wouldn’t see players or referees hamstrung for the bulk of a game because of a card awarded for a small infringement in the first few minutes.
I’d also like to see penalty goals awarded for a handball on the line that stops a certain goal. Asamoah Gyan should never have been put in the position of having to take a penalty during extra-time of Ghana’s quarterfinal with Uruguay, because he’d already have scored but for Luis Suarez’s "professional" handball. Rugby has a penalty try, so why not a penalty goal?
And, on the issue of halting play for supposedly injured players, why not have a mandatory two minutes off the field for anyone who requires the game to be stopped for treatment? If you’re really hurt, you need at least that amount of time to recover. If you’re faking, you punish your own team. That would stop simulation in a hurry, wouldn’t it?
Finally, I’ve learned that the idea of football being a great leveler is not empty rhetoric. For me, the highest compliment I can pay to the organizers of Africa’s first FIFA World Cup is that - aside from the drone of the vuvuzelas, which by the end of the tournament were being blown by just as many non-Africans as Africans - this tournament appeared no different to any other in terms of the ambience and efficiency.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter wanted a uniquely African World Cup, but he didn’t get one. And that’s a good thing, because, as a part African myself, I suspect the uniqueness he was talking about was based on a cultural image rooted in the continent’s colonial past.
Instead, we saw a modern Africa hosting a modern World Cup which in many ways was indistinguishable from any that had gone before it. And, in a rainbow nation, maybe that’s the way it should have cheap wow gold been, because, under the skin, we’re all the same.

četvrtak, 15.07.2010.

Casar wins Tour 9th stage, Schleck in yellow

Andy Schleck has taken possession of the mesos Tour de France yellow jersey in dramatic fashion after an epic day of racing that virtually ended Cadel Evans's victory hopes.
Luxemburger Schleck, the Saxo Bank climbing specialist who finished runner-up to Alberto Contador in 2009, now leads what appears to be a two-man race with a 41sec lead on the Spaniard.
Frenchman Sandy Casar took the stage honours after a thrilling 204km ninth stage from Morzine on Tuesday, which included the gruelling 25.5km ascension over the Col de la Madeleine, the fourth and last climb of the race.
Casar, of Francaise des Jeux, was one of the last remnants of a larger breakaway group which was joined in the final kilometre by a trio which included Schleck and reigning champion Alberto Contador.
Casar had done most of the work dragging his three companions to the line in the final kilometres, but shortly after they were caught he pulled to the front inside the final kilometre and held on to claim his third career stage win on the race.
Having come second twice during stages of the race -- notably in 2007 and in 2009 -- Casar made a determined effort not to lose out again
"When you haven't experienced it, you don't know the difference between first and second place. But since 2007, it's never been the same for me," said the Frenchman.
"Second place is horrible. I've finished second twice and today I just didn't want to do wow gold it again. The only thing on my mind was victory."
It was the first time in the race Schleck has taken possession of the yellow jersey, and the feat did not leave the Luxemburger unaffected.
But he kept enough composure to challenge Contador to an imminent duel in the Pyrenees, where four stages beginning Sunday will play a key role in deciding the outcome of this year's Tour.
"We're both at about the same level, although now I have a lead of 41secs," said Schleck, who won the stage to Morzine-Avoriaz on Sunday to close to within 20sec of Evans.
"It's now up to him (Contador) to attack in the Pyrenees."
With Lance Armstrong already out of the equation on Sunday, and Evans' collapse Tuesday, Contador said he now had a clearer idea of who his main rival is.
"I know what my aim is now, and which wheel I have to follow -- Andy Schleck's. I think he's the most dangerous," said the Spaniard, who up until now has been largely unchallenged on the race's tough climbs.
"It was a really epic stage, and the very hard climb to the Madeleine left a lot of people struggling."
Overnight race leader Evans started trailing halfway through the climb of the Madeleine and shortly afterwards Contador and Schleck made the Australian's task even more difficult when they attacked all the other favourites.
Schleck proved the more offensive, the Luxemburger accelerating several times in a bid to shake Contador off his wheel.
When that tactic failed, the pair agreed on a pact of non-aggression and raced the remainder of the climb together.
Schleck and Contador buy wow gold came over the summit with a 2:10 deficit to the leading group, while Evans crossed over seven minutes later.
Evans eventually finished 8:09 behind Schleck and Contador, dropping 17 places to 18th at 7:47 behind Schleck.
The Australian, a two-time runner-up in 2007 and 2008, came into the race after an impressive Giro d'Italia where he finished fifth overall.
Admitting his Tour is now all but over, the Aussie later revealed that a left arm injury sustained in a crash early on the eighth stage Sunday had left him under par.
"I'm not at my normal level, but when you're in the yellow jersey at the Tour whether you're good or not you have to be there," said Evans.
"I haven't seen the results yet but I'm pretty cheap wow gold sure it's over for this year."

srijeda, 14.07.2010.

M.I.A.'s third effort just as charming

Like her previous albums, M.I.A.'s mesos third work, "MAYA," is akin to a pop art installation.
She takes street slang, sampled beats and plenty of attitude and craftily twists them into a multilayered, startling statement that serves biting social commentary. Even when you think you get the message, there's something else to be considered.
Since 2007's "Kala," M.I.A. has become a mother and is engaged to her wealthy boyfriend. But that hasn't removed her from her role as fierce agitator needling those in power on "MAYA" (titled after her real first name).
"They told me this is a free country/ But now it feels like a chicken factory/ I feel cooped up I wanna bust free/ Got nothing to lose if you get me," chants M.I.A. on the winding "Lovealot," later wow gold promising "I won't turn my cheek like I'm Ghandi/ I fight the ones that fight me."
The relentless punk-style drumming on "Born Free" — courtesy of a sample of Suicide's "Ghost Rider" — is matched by a fired up M.I.A., who sounds like she's belting into a backyard sound system: "You can try to find ways to be happier/ you might end up somewhere in Ethiopia/ you can think big with your idea/ you ain't never gonna find Utopia."
While there are plenty of frenetic, whirring sounds on "MAYA," her signature clanging rhythms eventually give way to the mellowed out sounds buy wow gold of songs like the aptly titled, "Space." The song's lullaby-ish melody and echoing lyrics conjure images of an orbiting M.I.A., happily unplugged from Earth and its old news.
Producer Diplo, who had a hand in her Grammy-nominated track "Paper Planes," leaves his mark on another airy and instantly lovable track, "Tell Me Why."
And M.I.A. is unexpectedly sweet on the downtempo, reggae-influenced "It Takes a Muscle." It's a stark contrast to "Meds and Feds," in which the grit overpowers the groove, making it one the album's most difficult to digest.
CHECK THIS TRACK OUT: Blaqstarr and Rusko team up for a surprisingly pop sound on "XXXO," which has spawned a couple remixes, including one featuring rap cheap wow gold heavyweight Jay-Z.

utorak, 13.07.2010.

Mel Gibson is focus of domestic violence inquiry

Mel Gibson was named Thursday as a potential mesos suspect in a domestic violence investigation involving his ex-girlfriend, Russian singer Oksana Grigorieva, earlier this year, sheriff's officials said.
The disclosure came after detectives interviewed Grigorieva about the alleged attack at an undisclosed location in Malibu.Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Grigorieva was the only person interviewed so far in the case.
Gibson and Grigorieva have been involved in a nasty custody dispute over their infant daughter — the subject of a confidential court case.
Whitmore declined to disclose further details of the domestic violence investigation or any potential evidence.
"We're in the process of verifying, verifying, verifying," Whitmore said. "All the allegations that have been put forth will be thoroughly investigated."
A phone message left for Alan Nierob, Gibson's spokesman, was not immediately returned.
The actor has not publicly discussed the breakup with Grigorieva, 40. The former couple first revealed their relationship shortly after Gibson's wife,
Robyn, filed for divorce last April. The divorce is pending.
Court proceedings in the case involving wow gold the 8-month-old daughter of Gibson and Grigorieva have been conducted in closed session.
Gibson's attorney, Stephen Kolodny, previously said the actor has paid Grigorieva "tens of thousands of dollars" and provided her with a home, vehicle and nanny since their breakup.
He also accused the singer of violating the terms of a confidential custody agreement reached in May.
Grigorieva has said she cannot discuss the case.
Attorneys handling the matter for Gibson and Grigorieva did not respond to e-mails seeking comment Thursday.
The Sheriff's Department said the alleged attack on Grigorieva occurred Jan. 6, and the investigation was in a preliminary stage. It could take a month before the inquiry is concluded and the results are turned over to the district attorney's office, which will decide whether to pursue charges.
The investigation was being conducted by the same sheriff's substation that arrested Gibson in 2006 on suspicion of drunken driving. The station is located in suburban Agoura and also covers Malibu, where buy wow gold Gibson lives.
Gibson eventually apologized for making a series of anti-Semitic and sexist remarks during his arrest. He also said he had battled alcoholism for all of his adult life.
Gibson is no longer on probation for the drunken driving case and his conviction has been expunged.
Gibson, 54, won an Academy Award in 1995 for directing "Braveheart," which won that year's best picture Oscar.
His remarks in 2006 led to a lengthy cooldown period for the actor, who was once one of Hollywood's most bankable stars. "Edge of Darkness," released earlier cheap wow gold this year, represented Gibson's first starring role since 2002.

subota, 10.07.2010.

Heights of World Cup final give footballers extra challenge: research

Footballers playing in the World Cup mesos final could see their exercise capacity reduced by five percent because of the effects of altitude, researchers at the University of Edinburgh suggested in a report released on Friday.
The research said that, as the final takes place at 1,753 metres above sea level at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg, the players will have to adapt to oxygen levels in the atmosphere almost 20 percent less than at sea level.
Although the stadium is not high enough to cause altitude sickness, both teams would also have had little time to acclimatize at the higher altitude, having won the semi finals at sea level, with Spain wow gold winning at Durban and Netherlands winning at Cape Town.
Dr Andrew Bretherick, who collated data from existing studies, said "While these footballers are incredibly fit nobody knows quite why some people are affected more by altitude than others. There is 18 percent less oxygen in every breath in Johannesburg than there is in London. The footballers could even be more affected than less sporty people because when they play their lungs are already working at capacity, so the reduced oxygen levels could have more of an effect."
Researchers looked at studies comparing the rate of oxygen consumption of trained athletes at different altitude levels. They then cross buy wow gold referenced these findings to altitude levels of football stadiums being used in the World Cup in South Africa -- of which the ones in Johannesburg are the highest.
The effects of altitude have been blamed as why some players may have not been on their top form during the tournament.
The aim of the study is to raise awareness of the effects of high altitude. Altitude sickness can occur from 2,400 metres and lead to potentially fatal conditions, such as high altitude pulmonary cheap wow gold oedema (HAPE), which causes fluid to build up on the lungs.

petak, 09.07.2010.

4 Things You Must Do To Get Things Done!

Getting things done is a topic of mesos many websites out there these days, and they all say different things. How is a person supposed to get anything done when there are so many sites to read on how to get things done?!? I don’t subscribe to any specific guru out there, but here are a few ways that I have stayed productive for the last several years. These methods might not be ground breaking, but they work for me, and I think they will work for you too.
Create Small Lists
I take an 8 1/2×11 sheet of paper and fold it in half three times, and use one side to make my list. This accomplishes a few things. First it keeps my list short, which requires me to only put my high priority items on the list. Second, I can carry it around with me easily during the day so I can mark things off of the list. This is very motivating. Finally it saves paper; I just refold it for the next list! Keeping a small list makes the to-do list less overwhelming and more manageable.
Put Everything in a Calendar
I put everything in my calendar. The good thing about this is that I don’t have to remember things, I just check my calendar the night before (more on this later) and I end up making all my meetings. The bad thing about this is that if it isn’t in my calendar, it doesn’t get done. This has taken some training of the people around wow gold me as well as some discipline on my part to keep it up to date. In the beginning there were a couple missed meetings and phone calls, but the world didn’t come to an end, and now not many things slip through the cracks. Whether you keep a calendar in hard copy form or digital form is up to you. I use Google calendar because I can sync it between all of my computers and devices so I don’t miss anything. Also, a great tool for training the people around you is Timebridge. This allows you to provide a web page to people so they can schedule time with you based on the availability on your calendar. I use this all the time, and it prevents a lot of back and forth when scheduling meetings.
Have Everything Accessible
This is very important to me. I try to get everything in digital form, and put it in a place where I can access it from wherever I am at the time. There are many tools that make this easy, but the one that I use is Evernote. This allows you to capture things in many different ways, and access them from an online website, or sync them between multiple computers or mobile devices. The other thing I use is an iPhone. This has become a device I cannot live without. This particular brand is not required, but buy wow gold some type of smart phone is a great time saver. You get to carry around your calendar, contacts, and anything else you can access on the Internet through sites like Evernote. Additionally, there are thousands of applications out there to help you do everything. I still write my to-do list on paper though.
Plan the Night Before
Each evening, right before I go to bed, I look at my calendar for the next day. This allows me to identify any special events that require something outside the norm, such as an early meeting or a late meeting that will cause me to miss dinner with my family. This also allows me to get a good night’s rest because I am not worrying that I am missing something important for the next day.
There you have it, four simple things that have enabled me to accomplish an enormous amount of stuff in a single day. They may not be cutting edge, but they have worked for me for a long time! What are some ways that you use to deal with the avalanche of cheap wow gold things in your life?

četvrtak, 08.07.2010.

Australian researchers warn of rising rates of diabetes in Asia

Australian researchers on Wednesday mesos sounded the alarm over rising rates of diabetes across South-East Asia, linked to an increasingly westernized lifestyle.
The study in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, found 11 percent of men and 12 percent of women had developed type two diabetes, but they did not know it so the disease went untreated.
This was on top of 4 percent of the population diagnosed with the disease triggered by poor diet and obesity, said professors Tuan Nguyen and Lesley Campbell of Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research.
"Dietary patterns have been changing dramatically in Vietnam in recent years, particularly in the cities as they become more westernized ... there are fast food outlets everywhere," Nguyen told Australian Associated Press (AAP).
"In Asia, diabetes is commonly found among well-off people, who can afford western-style fast food whereas in Australia it's commonly found in socio-economically disadvantaged groups."
Nguyen said the study findings added to a growing pool of research that suggested the disease was now "reaching epidemic proportions around wow gold the world."
In particular, he said, the findings in Vietnam echoed the results of a similar investigation in Thailand.
"Because of that, we feel very confident that we can extrapolate our findings to other parts of South-East Asia including Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia and Laos," Nguyen said.
"We also believe they are applicable to South-East Asian communities in Australia and around the world."
Type two diabetes is caused by a diet high in fat or sugar and a lack of exercise, and without treatment the condition leads to worsening health problems including heart disease, vision loss and lower limb amputation. Ultimately it leads to kidney failure.
About 3 percent of Australians have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes while about another 3 percent of the population were thought to be undiagnosed.
Australian health officials were tracking a third category -- 16 percent of Australians who have the earliest signs of the disease or "pre-diabetes."
"If you add it up, it makes buy wow gold about 23 percent of the (Australian) population at risk," Campbell told AAP.
"Who knows what we would find if we went and looked at this in the same way in the Third World. Unfortunately, we are watching, in just over a generation, a very rapid increase in diabetes in the Third World nations."
Campbell said a "sad story" was emerging in developing nations, where hunger and poverty co-existed with diseases from the affluent West, but without a western-standard health system.
In a bid to address this, the researchers have also developed a low-tech but accurate diagnostic tool that could be used to identify those likely to have undiagnosed diabetes.
The test requires only a patient's blood pressure to be checked and compared against their hip and waist measurements.
"In developing countries, it's critical that you have screening tests that can be used by workers with only basic training -- and that's cheap wow gold what this is," Campbell said.

srijeda, 07.07.2010.

Why soccer's biggest stars failed to shine

Soccer’s superstar players never mesos materialized here at the World Cup. The game’s best – Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Wayne Rooney, etc. – often failed to lift their play and, in turn, their teams, to a level this grand stage demands.
The conventional wisdom on why: They were too selfish, unable to adapt to the team concept of a national squad.
Then there’s Diego Maradona’s take: Unlike the past, the stars weren’t selfish enough.
“Today the players are more collective, more team players,” the Argentina coach said after his own star-studded team was bounced from the World Cup. “They want to do everything with their teammates. It is a different type of game right now.”
This goes against so much of what we’ve come to believe, and expect, in sports. The reason that Uruguay and the Netherlands square off here Tuesday in a semifinal is because they embraced selfless, team-oriented play.
Such a mentality is celebrated.
What Maradona is suggesting is that this line of thinking has become so widespread it’s actually killed the star player, who no longer acts like a star player. Rather than demanding his place in the natural pecking order of pure talent and past performance, they sink back into the pack.
Such thinking would carry little weight except it is Maradona who said it. Who could know more about what’s needed for a talented player to morph into a larger-than-life superstar and dominate the World Cup? No one owned this event the way Maradona did in 1986 when he led Argentina to the title.
His implication is that the star needs to act like the star. That he is better than his teammates is a given. Rather than apologize for it, he must remind them of it, make them respect it. He must lead not by being one of the guys but by being above the guys. It’s the cult of personality, if you will.
“I think we were more selfish,” Maradona said, which has to be the first time wow gold an old player said that about a bygone era. “Maybe before it was about being selfish players who [made the] rest of the team work for us.”
Today’s players receive remarkable hype – television commercials, video games and media attention. They are single-name personalities around the globe.
Yet you’d never hear one say that the rest of the team works for them. They’d be vilified. Instead today’s stars go out of their way to support their teammates and talk publicly about how no one player is more important than the other.
Only some players are more important, Maradona notes.
Consider the most competitive environments on earth – the military battlefield, the flight deck of a commercial airliner or a hospital operating table.
This is where failure is not an option. In those cultures, the delineation between the star (the general, the lead pilot) and the others (private, flight attendant) is clear. Often socialization between classes is prohibited – enlisted men do not dine with officers – and the word of the higher-ranked person must be respected.
When having open-heart surgery, no patient would care if the lead surgeon is friends with or helps empower the nurse. In fact, the idea buy wow gold that the nurse would fear disappointing the lead surgeon and would clearly defer to him at all times might be considered a positive. You’d want the most brilliant talent to be the leader.
In Maradona’s day, he says, that carried over to a soccer team. He was Diego Maradona and they were not.
“Time changes in life,” Maradona said.
In this time, the star player must be humble and supportive. And not just on the field, but in all parts of team life. Obviously all players know they need others to make them better in the game. Someone has to pass them the ball. Or receive a pass. But off the field, is one for all, all for one really the best concept?
It’s difficult to say. Maradona only knows the mentality that made him lead a country to World Cup glory. It certainly isn’t the only way.
Perhaps it is one of them, though. And with most of the world’s top individual players home watching the semifinals, with criticism of their selfish play ringing through their heads, maybe the opposite is true. Maybe they weren’t selfish enough.
Maybe Maradona’s correct. Maybe the soccer cheap wow gold world has gone soft.

utorak, 06.07.2010.

Is bug spray dangerous?

A summer necessity, bug spray keeps mesos insects away - but is it also bad for our health? Researchers are debating whether the anti-pest sprays with which we douse ourselves are putting our health in danger.
One chemical found in many repellents is DEET (N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide). Developed and tested in the 1940s and 1950s by the U.S. Army for use in jungle warfare during World War II, DEET is extremely efficient at repelling mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, chiggers and blood-feeding flies such as black flies and deer flies.
In addition to popular forms such as aerosols and pump sprays, DEET is also found in towelettes, lotions, creams and gels. The chemical keeps insects away for hours after application and can be applied over sunscreen.
But as long as DEET has been around, it has raised questions over its safety from citizens and scientists alike. Some are bothered by the smell, while others worry that it may irritate skin; many have felt the burning sting of accidentally spraying bug repellent over a minor cut.
Although the Environmental Protection Agency re-approved the use of DEET in 1998 after an extensive safety review, new data suggests that the substance may affect our cells in unintended ways.
A 2009 study found that DEET can interfere with the activity of enzymes wow gold that are vital for the nervous system to function properly. In the study, the researchers found that DEET blocked the enzyme cholinesterase, which is essential for transmitting messages from the brain to the muscles in insects. The researchers noted that DEET may also affect the nervous systems of mammals, and that more research in this area is needed.
The study, conducted by the Institute of Development Research in France, and published in the journal BMC Biology, found that chemicals that interfere with the action of cholinesterase can cause excessive salivation and eye-watering in low doses, followed by muscle spasms and ultimately death.
However, based on a 1998 review, EPA officials determined that DEET, if used as directed, does not pose significant health risks to consumers.While the recent DEET study may deter some people from using bug spray altogether, other scientists have suggested that people keep in mind that the purpose of bug repellents is to prevent being pricked by biting insects that may transmit disease, including Lyme disease, malaria and encephalitis.
So what are some alternatives to DEET?
One of the newest arrivals on store shelves is picaridin, a substance derived from pepper that is popular in Europe and Australia. Studies by its manufacturer suggest that picaridin lasts for two to eight hours and is just as effective as DEET, but is less oily and completely odorless. Independent studies by the EPA are underway.
Another bug repellent on the market is the chemical IR3535, which has also been growing in popularity since its approval in the U. S. about adecade ago. Available in Europe for 20 years, numerous studies have confirmed the buy wow gold effectiveness of IR3535, which can offer protection for up to 10 hours.
A formulation that consists of 20 percent IR3535 is "very effective," entomologist Daniel Strickman of the U.S. Department of Agriculture told LiveScience, a sister site of Life's Little Mysteries. "It's the only repellent active ingredient that has never caused an adverse effect."
The EPA strongly recommends that consumers carefully read the instructions on bug spray products before applying them in order to ensure that they are applied safely, particularly on children.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) advises that DEET be sprayed over clothing, rather than directly onto the skin. Other steps to ensure that you're applying bug spray in the safest way possible include:
Never apply bug sprays over cuts, wounds or irritated skin.
Do not apply on hands or near the eyes and mouth, especially of young children.
Do not allow young children to apply DEET products themselves.
After returning indoors, wash bug spray-treated skin with soap and water.
Heavy application is not necessary to achieve protection, so apply it sparingly.
Do not spray in enclosed areas.
Some bug spray products cannot be used on children cheap wow gold under three years old, so always check the label to make sure.

ponedjeljak, 05.07.2010.

Tour a castle on the Hudson, while it still stands

Tour a castle on the Hudson, while it still stands
One of the stranger sights on the mesos river, Bannerman's island castle is a high-walled ruin topped withturrets that looks like it was built to repel catapult attacks. Inreality, the century-old structure off the river's eastern shore was awarehouse for bayonets, pith helmets, rifles and other military relics.
The island has had a second life in recent years as a summer touristattraction. Visitors — many who know the castle from their daily traincommute to New York City — can take a tour boat or a kayak for guidedtours of the island. But hard hats must be worn. Big chunks of thecastle tumbled down this winter and more could fall at any time.
"Every year, something deteriorates and comes down on us," Neil Caplanof the Bannerman Castle Trust said as he gave a tour of the islandrecently.
The castle looks both majestic and precarious, and Caplan and the trustare scrambling to raise money for repairs before it's too far gone.This past winter was especially rough: Two walls fell down, includingone facing the river bank with "BANNERMAN'S ISLAND ARSENAL" emblazonedacross the top. Vegetation sprouts from the walls and the crenelatedtop is so degraded it looks like it's missing teeth.
The structure is named for Francis Bannerman VI, who bought the rocky,6 1/2-acre island in 1900 as a place to warehouse items sold in his warrelic store in Manhattan, some 50 miles south. (City fathers did notwant him to store munitions locally.) Bannerman wow gold was an amateur architect with a touch of P.T. Barnum. He modeled hiswarehouse after castles in his native Scotland, giving it a siege-readylook with a moat and turrets.
Bannerman also built an island residence much smaller than thewarehouse but with the same castle motif. It's on a high spot of landand commands the sort of sweeping view of the Hudson Highlands thathedge fund managers pay millions for.
The Bannerman family enjoyed an island retreat that was a world untoitself. They could spend idle days by the gardens, watch the ferries goupriver or sail. Down the hill was the castle and a separate powderhouse, which blew up spectacularly in 1920.
Family members continued to frequent the island for decades afterFrancis Bannerman died in 1918. The island was sold to New York statein 1967, two years before a fire gutted the castle. Left standing werethe high walls familiar to Metro-North and Amtrak passengers.
Bannerman Castle Trust formed in 1993 to turn the scenic ruin into aproper attraction. Caplan, a local real estate agent andbed-and-breakfast owner, has headed the trust since the beginning. Thepay is modest, but he's passionate. During a recent tour of the islandfor tourism industry officials and the press, he stopped a couple oftimes to pull weeds from the winding walking paths and actually shoutedonce: "This is still important to save!"
Visitors can get close-up looks at the castle ruins, but must stay backbecause of the threat of a fresh collapse. The tour also buy wow gold includes a ramble through island paths that wind through rehabilitated gardens and to the house.
The residence is scheduled for roof, floor and other stabilization workthis summer with the help of donations and state and federal grants.More ambitious — and expensive — work on the castle is still in thefuture.
Though the island is part of nearby Hudson Highlands state park, thetrust is responsible for raising money for its rehabilitation. Caplanpraises parks officials as wonderful partners, but the state agency hasalready closed dozens of parks and has little money to spare. U.S. Sen.Charles Schumer has applied for $1 million through the "Save America'sTreasures" historic preservation program, but that money, if it comes,is not expected until next year.
The castle could face more danger if the Hudson Valley gets anotherwinter with cycles of freezing and warmer weather — which pretty muchdescribes every recent winter here. There are fears the island'ssignature feature could become a rock pile. That would leave the trustwith an even more expensive choice of whether to reconstruct afaux-castle. Caplan hopes to raise enough money before it gets to thatpoint.
"I just get antsy," Caplan said in the shadow of the castle, "because cheap wow gold it can come down at any time."

subota, 03.07.2010.

Gulf Coast is expecting a glum Fourth of July

Fireworks displays have been mesos canceled.White-sand beaches that should be crowded with sunbathers are insteaddotted with cleanup workers, booms and sand-sifting equipment. Normallypacked hotels are trying to fill rooms ahead of what is a crucialweekend for beach businesses.
Across the oil-stained Gulf Coast, it's going to be a glum Fourth of July.
"We got hit right between the eyes in June. July is starting to looklike a total disaster," moaned hotel owner Julian MacQueen, who saidhis 181-room Hampton Inn in Pensacola Beach, Fla., should be bookedsolid but is only 70 percent occupied, even with rooms reduced from$225 a night last year to as little as $150.
And those who make their living from tourism have a longer-term fear:that the vacationers who find other destinations this year will neverreturn.
At Souvenir City in Gulf Shores, Ala., owner Paul Johnson said thenumber of customers walking through the giant shark's-mouth entrance ofhis store to buy such things as T-shirts, flip-flops, hermit crabs,seashells and other beach kitsch is down by about half from last year.
"People who have been coming here for 20 or 30 years and went to Destinor Myrtle Beach or wherever may say, `Hey, we went there and reallyliked it. That's our wow gold place now,'" Johnson said, referring to spots in Florida and South Carolina.
The stakes are high for the hotels, motels, restaurants, souvenir shopsand ice cream stands along the beaches of what is affectionately knownas the Redneck Riviera.
"The Fourth of July is a key, key component," said Chris Thompson,president and CEO of Visit Florida, which promotes tourism in thestate. "It's one of the most critical weekends," when many businessesmake the bulk of their summer tourism income.
Tourism officials say there have been numerous hotel cancellationsacross the coast. About 25 percent of all rooms in the Pensacola Bayarea were still vacant on Friday, said Ed Schroeder, director of theconvention and visitors bureau. Last year, hotel occupancy was 100percent at the start of the holiday weekend.
The oil spill will probably ruin the holiday for Kenny DiNero, who runsa dockside bait and tackle shop in Ocean Springs, Miss. Normally on theFourth, the waters off Mississippi are full of boats. People fish andstop on islands to swim and have cookouts.
This year, "all the islands are closed because of the spill. Therewon't be any fuel sold. There won't be any ice sold. There won't be anybait sold. And there won't be any damn fishing," DiNero said. "Normallyon the Fourth buy wow gold I do $10,000 to $15,000 in sales. This weekend I'll be lucky to do $500."
Many businesses are fighting the misperception that every stretch of beach is coated in oil.
Pensacola Beach is doing its best to make its sands presentable. About1,300 BP employees and county crews are working overnight to cleanwhatever oil washes up during high tide. By most mornings, the touristsections are largely clean, with only orange and brown stains in thesand left behind.
Visitors like Laura Barbier of Dallas said they have been pleasantlysurprised. She said her family has been visiting the Gulf Coast everysummer for 15 years. They almost didn't come this year because of theoil.
"I'm glad we did," she said, stepping on a gooey tar ball that rolledin with a wave. "It's not as bad as the news made it sound."
In Alabama's Bayou La Batre and Dauphin Island, there isn't much tocelebrate this Independence Day, with tar staining the beaches andlivelihoods on the brink. Dauphin Island's new public beach has beenconverted into a staging area for the cleanup. Both communities havecanceled their fireworks displays.
"With this happening, tourism is dead. We just didn't feel the wholeatmosphere was conducive to a fireworks show," said Dauphin IslandMayor Jeff Collier. "People just aren't in the mood."
He added: "Maybe when this is over we'll have something cheap wow gold to celebrate. Maybe Labor Day?"

petak, 02.07.2010.

LA show has largest traveling exhibit of mummies

A 10-month-old baby who lived in Peru 6,420 mesos years ago and a 17th-century nobleman; a South American woman with a tattoo on each breast and one on her face, a woman who had tuberculosis, a child who had a heart condition and a youngster with a facial tumor.
"Mummies of the World" is being called the largest traveling exhibition of mummies ever assembled.
The 45 mummies and 95 artifacts in the show come from 15 museums in seven countries, said Marc Corwin, CEO of American Exhibitions Inc. The show opens Thursday at the California Science Center, then will go on a three-year tour across the country.
The 10-month-old baby, known as the Detmold child, is on loan from the Lippisches Landes museum in Detmold, Germany. The Orlovits family was with a group of mummies found in 1994 in a forgotten church crypt in Vac, Hungary. And Baron von Holz was a 17th-century nobleman who apparently died during the Thirty Years' War in Sommersdorf, Germany.
The mummies are both natural and intentional and they often come with as many questions as answers, said Heather wow gold Gill-Frerking, an anthropologist and forensic archaeologist, as well as director of science and education for AEI.
Some curators agreed to contribute to the exhibition so that scientific tests could be conducted on remains, said Diane Perlov, senior vice president for exhibits at the science center.
Many of the tests — CT scans, X-rays, radio carbon dating, MRI, mass spectrometry, isotope analysis and DNA tests — were conducted as the mummies were being readied for shipment, Perlov said.
The exhibit is based on the work of the German Mummy Project, a group of experts from 15 European institutions based at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums in Mannheim, Germany. Wilfried Rosendahl, the scientific head of the project, is curator of "Mummies of the World."
Beside human mummies, there is a mummified bog dog, lizard, fish, rat, hyaena, cat, squirrel, falcon and a howler monkey from Argentina, Corwin said.
Perlov described an Egyptian woman, her arms crossed over her chest like royalty and her fists closed. Noninvasive tests revealed that in each clenched fist, she clutched the tiny tooth of a child. It was not known why.Another mummy, also from Egypt, was found to have a number of teeth stuffed in a head cavity. "One theory is that in order to reach buy wow gold the afterlife, you have to be a complete body. These may have been his teeth and they needed to be reacquainted with the body," Perlov said.
Mystery, history and curiosity will lure what Corwin expects will be record-breaking crowds. But expect some couch potatoes, too.Millions of TV viewers have gotten used to shows such as the "CSI" and "Bones," which revolve around identifying remains. The jargon and testing methods have become familiar. For fans of documentaries on the Discovery, History and National Geographic channels, some of the hows, whys and wheres have been answered, too.
Gill-Frerking works with an international collaborative team of brilliant anthropologists, geneticists, biologists, chemists and botanists, but an actress may have aimed the biggest spotlight on forensics, at the same time inspiring women to pursue science."'NCIS' is probably one of my very favorite shows ever, and I watch it in English and German. I'm a Pauley Perrette fan. I love the work that Pauley Perrette is able to do in the lab. I think she gives a phenomenal boost to science and for women in science," Gill-Frerking said.
Perrette plays the Goth-looking but genius Abby Sciuto on the top-rated television drama.
People are naturally curious and they often ask questions you don't anticipate, Gill-Frerking said. "Did kids go to school 5,000 years ago? Maybe. Possibly. Probably not in the way we think about it," Gill-Frerking said.
People also have come to expect a lot out of DNA, she said. "Ancient DNA questions come up a lot. It works brilliantly on 'CSI,' but it doesn't always work on mummies. First of all, it can be destructive. And it doesn't always give us answers."
Because the exhibit is playing to a sophisticated audience, "Mummies of the World" has ramped up its multimedia displays, allowing people to learn what a mummy feels like (Gill-Frerking says a bog body feels like an old, crackly leather coat), view a mummified tooth under a microscope and look at a photo of a 3-D body scan, among other things.
No matter how many tests are invented, there are going to be answers that went to the grave with some mummies — such as the woman tattooed with ovals containing small circles.
"It's clearly got some kind of meaning and it had a cheap wow gold purpose — I'm willing to bet," said Gill-Frerking.

četvrtak, 01.07.2010.

King Kong swings back to Universal Studios in 3-D

Over two years ago, a fire ravaged the mesos Universal Studios Hollywood backlot, turning several famous outdoor sets into ashes and apparently setting iconic giant gorilla King Kong free. At least, that's how the fact-meets-fantasy story line goes in "King Kong 360 3-D," an immersive addition to the studio tour opening July 1.
Rather than simply move past the real-life blaze that destroyed the theme park's original 30-foot-tall animatronic ape in 2008, the fire has become part of the revamped attraction's mythology, addressed by tour guides and featured in footage broadcast inside the tour's trams. One doctored image ominously depicts the figure of King Kong emerging from the smoke.
"The fire presented us with a unique opportunity to rebuild King Kong, which had been without a doubt one of the most popular stops on the studio tour," said Universal Studios show producer Valerie Johnson-Redrow. "The initial thought was, of course, to go back to Peter Jackson's 2005 film and re-imagine King Kong in an entirely new way for the studio tour."
Instead of recreate the animatronic Eighth Wonder of the World that burned down alongside exterior sets from "Back to the Future" and "To Kill a Mockingbird," Universal Studios enlisted Jackson and his team at special effects company Weta Digital in New Zealand to craft an entirely new adventure that would transport visitors to his rendition of Skull Island.
During the breakneck three-minute encounter, the computer-generated battle-scarred big ape tussles with a dinosaur gang on the side of a cliff. As the beasts seemingly smash into and lunge over the tram, a system underneath the winding vehicle jolts in sync with the action while bursts of air and water mimic King Kong's breathy roar and the dinosaurs' wet slobber.
The sequence, which premiered during an invite-only event Tuesday, is screened 60 frames per second from 16 hidden high-definition film projectors on two 40-foot-tall, 180-foot-long curved screens. The screens envelop the tram inside a soundstage, nestled in a new hillside location on the backlot across from the newly rebuilt New York set.
Before boarding the tram, riders are wow gold given 3-D glasses and instructed by Jackson in a video when to don them for the brawl, which at one point cleverly depicts the last car of the tram being ripped off. Some moments, such as King Kong toying with his prehistoric prey and a foolhardy tourist snapping a photo, can only be viewed from certain vantage points.
Joe Letteri, visual effects supervisor for "King Kong" and "Avatar," said the team was tasked with several challenges in bringing 3-D to the studio tour. Most noticeably, the gorilla-versus-dinos smackdown is entirely seamless, so there are no cuts during the battle, and unlike a typical 3-D movie, the audience isn't always looking in the same direction.
"Everyone is seeing something different because they're not facing the same screen," said Letteri. "Every time someone goes through this ride, they're going to have a different experience depending on where they sit and look. We're making sure that everybody in the tram — whether in the front or the back — experiences something interesting and exciting."
Jackson introduced "King Kong 360 3-D" from New Zealand in a prerecorded 3-D video to a crowd of celebrities and media gathered in a soundstage Tuesday morning. Attendees were entertained by African dancers and drummers and noshed on such dishes as shrimp skewers and bite-sized banana cream pies at the jungle-themed soiree before boarding trams.
"Today is the first day you will ever be inside of a 3-D story as opposed to viewing the story from a seat," Larry Kurzweil, president and chief operating buy wow gold officer of Universal Studios Hollywood, told the crowd. "You will literally be as deep inside a battlefield on Skull Island as you could possibly imagine. It's riveting. It's intense. It's perilous."
The attraction was first constructed 20 miles away inside the massive 281,000-square-foot hangar where Howard Hughes built his 200-ton plane dubbed the Spruce Goose and where James Cameron filmed several scenes for "Titanic" and "Avatar." A mock tram filled with balloon-headed mannequins was fabricated to aid technicians in tweaking the audiovisual systems.
"King Kong 360 3-D" is expected to breathe new life into the venerable 46-year-old tram tour, which includes stops at the Bates Motel from "Psycho" and Amity Harbor from "Jaws." Attendance at Universal Studios Hollywood dipped from 4.6 million in 2008 to 4.3 million in 2009, according to the most recent report from the Themed Entertainment Association.
The theme park's sister resort in Orlando, Fla., has already experienced a surge in visitors since the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Islands of Adventure theme park this month. Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim, Calif., is also drawing big crowds this summer with the debut of the high-tech "World of Color" lagoon show.
"The hype surrounding Kong is certainly going to give people a reason to visit and see it for themselves," said Duncan Dickson, who teaches theme park management at the University of Central Florida. "The allure of seeing something totally new and remarkable in 3-D, and the fact that Peter Jackson is involved, is going to cheap wow gold make people naturally curious."

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