World’s first cheeseburger in a can

World's first Cheeseburger in a can from Katadyn, a Swiss Company.

The canned cheeseburger is sold by Katadyn, a Swiss based company for trekkers and campers. The can is cooked in water and the cheeseburger will be ready in minutes. It has a shelf life of 12 months without refrigeration.

Katadyn began in 1926 in Switzerland and its founder Professor Georg Alexander Krause discovered the disinfectant qualities of silver and made significant contributions for portable water-purification units.

They still sell mobile water sterilization and desalination equipment but now are diversifying in food categories such as cheeseburger in a can, the first of its kind in the world.

The cheeseburger is sold under Katadyn’s best known brands, Trekking-Mahlzeiten, a subsidiary company that produces and sells specialty meals for the outdoor, expedition and extreme athlete markets. Their main purpose of selling these cheeseburgers in a can is to maintain their philosophy to have a ready-cooked meal in minutes.

The canned cheeseburger is available here and sells for 3,95 Euros ($5.83 US or $5.84 Canadian dollars).

How is the cheeseburger cooked? The can is dropped in a water container and cooked over a fire for a minute or two. The can is then removed, the lid is opened and the food is ready to eat. It has a shelf life of 12 months without requiring any refrigeration.

Besides this cheeseburger, Trekking-Mahlzeiten sells freeze-dried complete meals, vegetarian soups, vegetables, red wine, peronin and others.

Their products can be used for space travelers, so some of the astronauts might appreciate their portfolio of food items.

Should McDonald’s worry about this cheeseburger in a can invention? Since Trekking-Mahlzeiten doesn’t make fries, McDonald’s can rest easy.

Promote your blogs for Free with Buzzfuse

Buzzfuse

Do you want to promote your blogs for free? If so then you should try Buzzfuse, which helps you to promote your blogs either for a small fee or for free. You can register your favorite blogs, pictures or songs and market it through Buzzfuse. Buzzfuse then markets your blog worldwide and you get more visitors in the process.

It is a simple registration process within minutes you can join and add your blogs there or if you like certain articles or topics you can ask Buzzfuse to recommend it for you.

You can either find favorite topics and articles at Buzzfuse.com or they can send an e-mail newsletter with links. You can update your preferences anytime and Buzzfuse will search them for you.

For bloggers who want to market, you can register your blog at Buzzfuse and they will pass this to all the customers registered at their site and promote your blogs in both the site and via e-mail.

So, it satisfies both the parties, the readers and marketers. It provides relevant articles for consumers and markets your blogs to boost traffic.

In premium versions, it helps you to submit your blogs on all the major social networks. So, it will generater more audience to your blogs.

This is a paid post for Payperpost.com.

Google rated 'best place to work' by Fortune magazine

Google was rated the “best place to work” once again, according to Fortune Magazine’s latest 100 best companies to work for in the US. Last year, Google was rated the best place to work by Fortune.



The top 100 list was compiled by the San Francisco-based Great Place to Work Institute, which selects the businesses from the surveys it conducts with almost 100,000 employees at 406 companies.

Milton Moskowitz and Robert Levering, co-founders for this Institute, have compiled these top 100 lists since 1998 and it gives a good indication of a better workplace to work for.

Milton Moskowitz said in a press statement about the purpose of their list:

The best way to find out if a company is a good employer is to ask the employees who work there.

Google’s employees love to work there because of its "flexibility, financial security and the opportunity to get things done."

You can see the video which was shown in the last article in DJ summarizes best the conditions in Google and why employees favor it most. With conditions like that, it is easy for Google to attract top talent.

Google has 13,900 employees and is on a hiring spree, so more staff will be added to this total by end of this year.

According to the Fortune Top 100 list, nine of the 100 companies are based in and around the Bay Area, where Google is housed. California and Texas have 13 companies each in this list.

The companies that appeared in this list had the following features in common.

• Companies found more ways to share their profits with employees, with stock options and deferred profit sharing.
• Work Family benefits
• Flexible Work Schedules.
• Offer telecommutes to workers. Google provides free commute to workplace with integrated online connectivity in their buses.

So, if other companies want to join in this list , they should offer the above, plus more incentives.

The top 10 companies are the following:

1. Google
2. Quicken Loans
3. Wegmans Food Markets
4. Edward Jones
5. Genentech
6. Cisco Systems
7. Starbucks
8. Qualcomm
9. Goldman Sachs
10. Methodist Hospital System

You can see the entire list here.

Other notable companies include Microsoft (#86), Yahoo (#87) and Apple (not ranked).

Chameleon changes color to be noticed not just to blend in the surroundings

Chameleon in Taronga Zoo. Photo courtesy Mrupp.info.

Until now, chameleons were believed to have used different colors to blend in with their surroundings. However, scientists now say it's not a just camouflage, but also something chameleons do to be noticed to attract a mate or fend off rivals.

Dr. Devi Stuart-Fox from the University of Melbourne, Australia and her team analyzed chameleons and found the reptiles to change color for a variety of reasons other than just camouflage -- they use them for communication, temperature control.

Stuart-Fox and her team wanted to find why chameleons flashed bright colors and found they use color to signal other chameleons. They either use them to attract potential mates or ward off rivals from their territory.

They have published their findings in the current journal Plos Biology.

Devi Stuart-Fox said the following to BBC News:

[Our research] suggests that chameleons evolved color change for signaling, to fend off rivals or attract a mate, and not so they could match a greater variety of backgrounds."

Her team analyzed 21 southern African dwarf Chameleon species (Bradypodion spp) and studied their color changing abilities and evolutionary relationships.

Chameleons have a different visual system than humans, as they have a fourth type of cone which is ultra-violet (UV) sensitive. Researchers had to first measure what chameleons were actually seeing.

The Melbourne-based researcher explained:

"We measured color with a spectrometer, which measures both the UV and visual color range, and combined this with information on the chameleon visual system to model chameleon color perception."

Dr. Stuart-Fox found that when two males fight, they begin to exhibit brighter colors until the one that is losing diminishes its brightness as a way to admit defeat before leaving.

In an another experiment, chameleons were introduced to a predator such as a snake where they also showed brighter color. Scientists say this is their mechanism to warn other chameleons of predators.

Dr. Stuart-Fox gave this closing statement about why they change colors to the BBC News:

"We found that chameleon species that changed color the most had displays that were most conspicuous to other chameleons. But they didn't have a greater range of background colors in their habitats."

Some chameleon facts from the BBC:

• Color change is rapid (milliseconds or seconds) as under direct neural control

• Its eyes can move independently

• It can see in two different directions at once

• Its tongue is twice as long as its body

The natural green color present in the chameleon may have misled humans to believe they change color to suit the surroundings. Dr. Stuart-Fox’s study however refutes that theory.

Another Great Potential Income Source for Blogging – Audio Ads

Blogging has become a full time job for many and with so many options to earn blogging, many are working fully on blogging instead of working for somebody else. Google Adsense, Yahoo Ads and other places offer good benefits for bloggers, but they are not good enough because many of the users have become savvy and hardly click any ads and thus limiting the earnings potential for the bloggers. However, there are other opportunities such as Net Audio Ads, which helps bloggers and sites immensely to earn income steadily.

NetAudioAds Pay-Per-Play advertising is an Audio-only advertising channel backed by one of the BIG 5 search engines. Once you join and post the code, it plays a 5 second audio ad in the site, whenever the user clicks your blog. And you get paid with every visit the user makes. Unlike Google Adsense, NetAudioAds pays no matter what the user does at your site, there is no need to click any ads, and they listen to the radio ad targeted just for your users.

I joined a few weeks and I am very happy with the service, it is easy to generate codes and put them in your blogs.

It was just launched recently already more than 108 million sites have joined so far.

The advertisers bid just like the Google AdWords and will compensate the publishers just like the Google Adsense, but only major difference is website owners will earn revenue on 100% of their traffic, no additional clicks necessary.

So join this wonderful opportunity, if you join before February 1, 2008, you will be joined in a lucrative affiliate program with NetAudioAds. For every potential earnings of those you recommended, you will get a share of their income as commissions.

The affiliate programs works as follows:

Tier 1 - Get paid for ads on your site. And/or

Tier 2 - Get paid on ads served on the websites of those that you personally refer, and

Tier 3: Get paid on ads served on the websites of those that your direct referrals refer.

So join before February 1, 2008, if you want to join in this lucrative program, best of all it is free. You can learn more about this opportunity here.

These are the benefits for joining NetAudioAds.

• 100% Free Opportunity
• Paid Weekly
• Earn off of your own website(s)
• Earn by referring others
• Limited Opportunity
• Breakthrough technology
• Massive Residual Income

The code of the ads just occupies a little space and you can add this code easily to your main page or pages and start earning every time a user clicks those pages. It is that easy and revolutionary.

Coke bottle coffins, Made In Ghana

Ghana currently hosting the 2008 African Nations Cup has a unique product, custom made coke bottle coffins and other types of coffins. The tradition started in the 50s is a thriving business in Ghana with worldwide orders for it.

Near Teshie a suburb in Ghana, there is a coffin business company named Paa Joe Works and there they make this unique type of coffin.

At this workshop you will find elaborately decorated burial caskets with various shapes. Some of the coffins are in the form of an airplane, whale, football, lion, shoe, snake, a white Mercedes Benz or a Coke bottle.

Emmanuel Doku the manager of this workshop spoke to the Associated Press and said:

"We have customers from all round the world. The idea is that you order a coffin to reflect what the person has done in their life…So the lobster could be for a fisherman, the cucumber for a grocer, the aero plane for someone who has worked in the airline industry, or perhaps who used to fly a lot for his job."

He said the tradition started in the 1950s when a coffin maker, Ataa Owuo wanted to build something special for his grandmother who had died recently. He built an aero plane coffin because she had never traveled before in her life. With that coffin, he hoped it will take her to heaven.

Doku said they get orders from all over the world and Ghana is the only place they make such coffins.

He was asked whether he had to make any unusual coffin design. He said they made a womb coffin for a German doctor in 1992. The doctor had sent him a plastic model of the body part for that coffin.

What do you think about these coffins? Is it cool or extravagance?

Woodlands Lap-Band Procedure for Weight Loss

There are many weight loss surgery techniques available, among them Lap-Band System for Weight Loss is one of the best and desired weight loss surgery technique. Some of the advantages for Woodlands lap-band are the following:

• Least Invasive Surgical Approach
• No Stomach Stapling or Intestinal Re-routing
• Lowest Operative Complication Rate
• Low Nutritional Risk
• 10-Times Safer Than Gastric Bypass

Dr. Richard Collier's clinic is one of the most advanced weight loss clinics in the country. The surgery is performed laparoscopically on an outpatient basis, that is you can have surgery in the morning and discharged few hours later. Other weight loss surgery techniques will make you stay for a few days. With Woodlands lap-band, you can recuperate at home.

Dr. Richard Collier is a fully trained bariatric surgeon and has performed surgeries and procedures such as laparoscopic gall- bladder removal and hernia repair, and laparoscopic colon surgery for more than seventeen years. He is also an expert in advanced laparoscopic procedures such as the laparo-scopic Nissen fundoplication for reflux disease.

To find out whether this lap-band procedure is right for you, click here.

You can find out more about this lap-band procedure by attending one of Collier’s free weekly seminars. You can call (281) 367-2263 and sign up for this free seminar.

This is a review for payperpost.com.

Lego celebrates 50th birthday today

The original Lego brick turns 50 Monday and the company is celebrating its anniversary with special Lego sets and plans to have special contests and challenges soon.

Lego, the most popular toy in the world loved by kids and adults alike, turned 50 Monday. Lego is celebrating this anniversary in their offices worldwide.

It all started in the 1940s by the Lego Group founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen, developed the first Lego toy with plastic with studs on top and hollow underneath. But in 1958, the original design for the Lego brick came into place with hollow tubes at the bottom and studs on top.

This formed the basis for all of its Lego building elements. With just six 2x4 bricks, you can create 915 million combinations.

The original patent for the Lego brick was filed 50 years ago at 1:58 p.m. on Jan. 28.

From this brick as the base, the Lego Group has released thousands of play sets themed around a variety of topics, such as space, robots, pirates, mines, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Vikings, ninjas and other popular themes.

And it has even advanced to sophisticated categories such as Lego Mindstorms and Lego NXT that can be programmed with a PC or a Mac to do complicated tasks.

Google is also celebrating this 50th anniversary with a special logo, if you visit Google.com you can see this logo.



The Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are both avid lovers of the Lego brick, as well as many of their employees,so this logo must have come out of that enthusiasm for the toy.

Soren Torp Laursen, president Lego Americas, said in a press statement:

When you give someone a Lego brick, the possibilities are endless…The brick is a medium for creativity and fun unlike any other. Over the last 50 years we have seen millions of incredible creations and heard amazing stories from the young and the young at heart. The classic brick remains the same, the only thing that varies is the creative breath that children bring to the play experience, and that's the real magic behind a timeless toy.

To celebrate the 50th birthday of the brick, the Lego Group has developed two commemorative products, and will be announcing programs and activities through the entire year to engage families and children in the celebration. You can find more details about this in the upcoming issue of Lego club magazine or at the site here.

Lego has inspired so many people during these 50 years and surely will inspire many more in the future. It is one of the greatest gifts any one can give to children. Happy birthday, Lego!

Penny Press Coins for Businesses and Establishments

Penny coins at the Chattanooga Zoo.

I visited Chattanooga Zoo last summer with my friends; it is a great place to see. There we saw penny machine that cranked the above coins, which I collected them a few as souvenirs. These penny press machines are made by Global Impressions.

Global Impressions manufacture this original coin operated hand crank penny machine, which even a child can operate with minimum effort. Just by cranking the wheel it ejects out a coin with any figure we like or lettering in them, so it cranks out one at a time. It is ideal to promote businesses and also to have memory keep sake.

There is all sorts of penny press machines you can buy from Global Impressions. They

provide these machines either on a split revenue plan or for a full purchase plan. Even a split-revenue plan will make you money at the establishment.

Qtrax File-Sharing Site Facing Problems With Record Labels and Musicians

Qtrax introduced its file-sharing site with much fanfare, as it said it landed a deal with record labels so customers could trade music for free. But now, labels are denying it and individual artists could prove to be a problem for the company.

Qtrax, an online file-sharing service, was introduced yesterday to great fanfare. The group issued a press release saying it had signed a deal with major record labels that would allow customers to trade music online for free. The peer-to-peer network said it would offset the costs of free file-trading with advertising. The world celebrated the innovative idea.

That was, however, until record labels came forward saying they had no such deal with Qtrax. In a comment posted on a DigitalJournal.com article yesterday, it was revealed Warner Music denied having any deal with Qtrax, saying it "has not authorized the use of our content on Qtrax's recently announced service." Universal Music Group and EMI Group PLC also said they had no licensing agreement with Qtrax. Other labels remained silent or had no response to the media and Qtrax fell silent with no further announcements posted on their website.

But in addition to problems with record labels, Qtrax is also now facing protests from artists such as Prince, Van Morrison and the Black Crowes. Web Sheriff, a company representing these artists, contacted Qtrax and said it can’t release their music, photographs or other intellectual property until it gets full approval from the artists.

John Giacobbi, Web Sheriff's president, said in an e-mail to Cnet.com:

"Whilst Qtrax is an interesting model, many major label and indie artists will not be happy about their music being given away free (to consumers) in return for a currently opaque return from advertising revenues,"

British-based Web Sheriff said even if music labels give approval to Qtrax, the company will still have to get final permission from artists before it makes their songs available for download.

The media and customers worldwide are waiting for Qtrax to respond to the situation to clearly explain what happened with its press release and why there are discrepancies.

According to the LA Times, Qtrax Chief Executive Allan Klepfisz, said labels are now overreacting. "We got nods to go ahead with the service Friday night," Klepfisz said. "There's been a misunderstanding," he told the LA Times in a phone interview. Klepfisz believed his company was close enough to a deal to proceed with an announcement, but since this issue has created so many problems, the company now says it will delay the service until contracts are worked out.

I had a chance to try out the Qtrax player, which is available for download here. It looks just like any other desktop music player; it requires a registration, but it takes a long time to activate the membership. It hasn’t yet sent my activation for me to begin downloading music collections (and I doubt it will now that the service has been delayed).

I could browse the site, and I see plenty of major artists such as Alicia Keys, Wyclef Jean, Shakira, Foo Fighters, and other major artists. Qtrax music player shows about nine million tracks in its music player and allows registered members to click on download links. Because of the increased interest in the site, it's currently very slow.

In my opinion, it's going to be quite a job for Qtrax to jump over so many hurdles, as I don’t think the music labels or the artists will make it easy for them. Qtrax should have sorted this out before making a big announcement.

Love Needs Seconds and Patience

The Great Buddha of Kamakura (Daibutsu in Japanese) is a monumental outdoor bronze statue of Amida Buddha in the city of Kamakura, Japan. Seated serenely in the grounds of Kotokuin, a Buddhist temple of the Pure Land sect, the Great Buddha is one of the icons of Japan. Photo by Greg Moore.

"Infatuation needs mere seconds,

Love needs more than seconds and patience."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Tolerate Anything But Ignorance

Holocaust in Nazi Occupied Germany. Photo courtesy Dailymail.co.uk.


"Any disease you can tolerate, but you cannot tolerate ignorance,
Unlike other diseases, ignorance doesn't affect self but everyone else."*

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.



* This disease has caused more misery and death than any other suffered plague in this world.

Scientists use helmet therapy to treat Alzheimer's

Researchers from England have developed a special helmet which can be used to treat Alzheimer’s disease. It delivers infrared beams which stimulate the growth of brain cells.

Researchers at the University of Sunderland in England have come up with a novel method for Alzheimer’s treatment. The other treatments available for Alzheimer’s delays the progression of the disease but doesn’t reverse memory loss, whereas this new method does accomplish that difficult task.

The experimental helmet is currently being tested in England" it delivers low levels of infrared light at the brain area, stimulating the growth of brain cells that were degraded by Alzheimer’s.

The infrared therapy was originally developed to treat cold sores. But when they tested it further they found it stimulated growth of cells and may have applications in other conditions such as Alzheimer’s.

The researchers have tested this in mice and the rodents have showed marked learning ability.

Dr Gordon Dougal, a GP and director of Virulite, a medical research company based in County Durham that is testing this helmet therapy, said to the BBC:

In tests in people with dementia using infrared lasers, eight out of nine people showed some improvement

Since prolonged exposure to infra-red might have its own side effects, Dr. Dougal developed this helmet that will deliver low levels of infrared and for a shorter period less than 10 minutes a day. This procedure seemed to be effective to treat Alzheimer’s.

They plan to extend this experiment on humans and want to see whether the results found in mice can be replicated in humans.

Dr Dougal said as cells age they lose the ability to repair and regenerate themselves, which in the brain leads to loss of memory.

With helmet therapy they can not only stop the rate of decay but also regenerate the cells and improve the memory.

The Alzheimer's Society said it was a potentially interesting technique:
"A treatment that reverses the effects of dementia rather than just temporarily halting its symptoms could change the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people who live with this devastating condition…We look forward to further research to determine whether it could help improve cognition in humans."

This technique seems to be simple and non-invasive, so I hope it does the same job on humans as it did on the mice. Many treatments are being developed to combat Alzheimer’s but there is no magical cure for it yet, but with diligent researchers like Dougal, hopefully they will be able to deliver a great solution soon.

1st Class Wedding Invitations Cards

Silver Ring Wedding Invitation. Photo courtesy of
1st Class Wedding Invitations

My friend S is marrying this summer, he is very excited about his wedding. And he has already started plans to arrange the wedding. I don’t blame him, there are too many details. It is better to start early than rush later. One of the things he asked my help was to suggest any 1st Class Wedding Invitations that I know. I recommended him 1^st Class because in my network one of my friends suggested it and I checked it. I loved the designs they have and the variety for various occasions for wedding, such as invitation, reception, thank you cards etc., One such design I liked it shown here, which looks brilliant. I passed it to S he is very happy and he is going to talk with his fiancé and choose the best one for them. I think they probably would choose an entire set.

First you select the invitation, then you can choose the custom sentences they have or have your own words in it and have all the personalization you need such as type of font, color etc. Then you can add the item to the cart after entering the quantities. Once you place the order it takes them 2 to 4 days to ship it to you.

The prices are excellent at 1^st Class Wedding Invitations site and are much better than what you get locally from stores here. You can search for invitations either by theme or by color, there are so many choices for various tastes. Or if you have a custom request or some special details in your invitation cards, you can contact them here by e-mail.

Starbucks tests $1 coffee and free refills

With McDonald’s planing to create new coffee bars and Dunkin' Donuts selling premium coffee inexpensively, Starbucks want to fight back by offering small cups of coffee for $1 with free refills. Will this tactic help boost sales at the chain?

Starbucks competitors Dunkin' Donuts and McDonald’s sell coffee at just above $1, and Starbucks wants to do the same by offering drip coffee for just a buck. It is offering this price on a test basis at its hometown Seattle and will expand to other areas if it becomes popular, according to Wall Street Journal.

Previously, Starbucks minimum price for an 8 oz. cup was $1.50 plus taxes. The new pricing is a considerable discount with free refills thrown in, too.

Starbucks didn’t say exactly when this test marketing began, how many stores are involved and whether the discounts are available for other brews. Starbuck spokeswoman Bridget Baker said it is not a new business strategy. They will deny it until it becomes official.

Instead Baker said in a statement: "Testing is a way of life for us, as we are constantly looking for new ways to connect with the customer and provide the best Starbucks experience.”

It is a complete change in policy compared to last year, when Starbucks raised the price of coffees and other drinks by 9 cents. The reason given at that time was rising costs of dairy products, which has remained high even now.

Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz, who recently returned as chief executive after the company fired CEO Jim Donald, has acknowledged the faltering economy appears to have contributed to the decline.

Schultz said the reason for the decline in sales was they were concentrating more on growing the company and less on customer service. He wants to reverse that trend.

Starbucks has more than 15,000 coffee houses worldwide.

The price will help boost coffee sales and may lure the buyers to purchase other items at Starbucks. It is a good strategy provided they are able to make some profit margin at this price.

Will this price compel you to buy Starbucks coffee over its rivals?

Comparison of Weight Loss Diet Plans

America is facing severe overweight problems, though we may not see the impact right away but it will show in the long run with adverse health effects. It is better to be fit and proper weight to have a healthier long life.

There are a variety of weight loss diet plans on the web but which ones to choose is a big problem. So sites like Weight Loss Diet Help.com help immensely. They have a variety of articles on dieting that gives plenty of information and options to choose from, what are the exercises to choose, what foods to eat, fitness programs, and plenty of tips to choose a healthy diet plan. It is a good place to start.

Weight Loss Diet Help compares some of the top leading diet plans in the nation such as Medifast, Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers, Diet To Go, South Beach Diet, Jillian Michaels and eDiets.com. So you can choose one that matches your weight loss needs and requirements.

Plus it offers plenty of coupons once you choose the right diet plan for you for example, they have 25% off Weight Watchers Online coupon here. Please note that this coupon expires on January 31, 2008.

There are plenty of articles that offer tons of tips, which you may find informative and useful at Weight Loss Diet Help. It is a link you should bookmark it or read it in your RSS reader like Google Reader.

This is a paid post for Payperpost.com.

National Institutes of Health: Too Much Cola Can Cause Kidney Problems

Researchers from the National Institute of Health claim colas are linked to kidney stones and other renal problems. Drinking two or more cola drinks a day causes a twofold risk of chronic kidney disease.

Many studies have been done before connecting colas to diabetes and obesity (because of high sugars present in the drinks) and now researchers from National Institutes of Health claim colas pose a high risk to the kidney’s health.

Researchers compared the diet habits of 465 people with chronic kidney disease and 467 health people. They found that drinking two or more colas a day (either regular or diet colas) poses a twofold risk of developing chronic kidney disease.

The work has been published in the journal Epidemiology. The authors however have said more research is needed to confirm this claim.

Researchers believe the phosphoric acid present in colas pulls the calcium from the bones and this seems to influence kidney stones, renal failure and other conditions affecting the kidneys.

I couldn't read the main article in Epidemiology journal. Here is the abstract from the article:

Carbonated Beverages and Chronic Kidney Disease.

CHRONIC DISEASE
Epidemiology. 18(4):501-506, July 2007.
Saldana, Tina M. *; Basso, Olga *; Darden, Rebecca +; Sandler, Dale P. *

Abstract:
Background: Carbonated beverage consumption has been linked with diabetes, hypertension, and kidney stones, all risk factors for chronic kidney disease. Cola beverages, in particular, contain phosphoric acid and have been associated with urinary changes that promote kidney stones.

Methods: We examined the relationship between carbonated beverages (including cola) and chronic kidney disease, using data from 465 patients with newly diagnosed chronic kidney disease and 467 community controls recruited in North Carolina between 1980 and 1982.

Results: Drinking 2 or more colas per day was associated with increased risk of chronic kidney disease (adjusted odds ratio = 2.3; 95% confidence interval = 1.4-3.7). Results were the same for regular colas (2.1; 1.3-3.4) and artificially sweetened colas (2.1; 0.7-2.5). Noncola carbonated beverages were not associated with chronic kidney disease (0.94; 0.4-2.2).

Conclusions: These preliminary results suggest that cola consumption may increase the risk of chronic kidney disease.

(C) 2007 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

Do you see this connection?

Free Live Online Drag Racing Game

A typical interactive Window in Nitto Legends Drag Racing Game.

If you like car racing games then you would love this Nitto 1320 Legends - Free Live Online Drag Racing Game, a free live online drag cars racing game. You play against other members and not just play against a computer like you do in other software games. It is easy to join, just visit here and download this free tool to enjoy full features of the game.

The Nitto Legends has vehicles from top manufacturers such as Honda, Ford, Scion and Mitsubishi. Users can purchase vehicles and buy part from a vast database to specially customize the vehicles. You can participate in tournaments or challenges with other races like real drag racing. Plus you have a social network type of interaction here and you can talk with other racers and friends about the game you are playing.

The online drag racing game in Nitto Legends has more than 250,000 users. I think it will become even huge something like Second Life, but this one is more fun and action and you can participate in the thrill like real racing.

Here is the forum where you can discuss about racing and if you have any questions, others can chip in and help you. Here is the most important thing for all newbies as well as experienced users, the guides you need to understand various aspects of the game.

There is also a premium version which has a slew of features such as the following:

• 15% Discount on ALL the parts in the game!
• VIP access, eliminates the traffic block!
• Exclusive first access to new vehicles!
• Entry into members only tournaments!
• Green chat text!
• Member only badge!
• Special license plates!
• View horsepower and torque figures on the UCL!
• Discounts on the UCL!
• Access to members only body kits and graphics!

You get all this for a yearly $49 membership fee. They also have other memberships starting from $19.99. With membership you can get your own access without having to wait for a free slot and get the latest cars in action and many other features you would love to have in racing.

If you want more special parts for your car or get the latest cars then you can buy points here for a reasonable price.

Give it a try you would love it, great action game online.

This is a review for Payperpost.com.

Mobile YouTube now includes most YouTube videos

Google’s Youtube launched a mobile version June of last year on a limited basis with selected videos, now it offers full range of videos that are available online. If you have unlimited data plan, then you can watch plenty of videos in your mobile.

Youtube launched a mobile version of its site last June, but it had only limited videos, either most popular ones and sponsored videos. Now, Youtube seems to show almost the entire collection it has available online.

But before you watch these videos in your mobile you should make sure that you have unlimited data plan, otherwise it will become cost you plenty because the videos will consume lots of data. Youtube posts a warning before you see their videos:

“YouTube Mobile is a data intensive application. We highly recommend that you upgrade to an unlimited data plan with your mobile service provider to avoid additional charges.”

My Palm mobile service has unlimited data plan, so I can watch them without any problem. So does iPhone, Blackberry devices.

To see these videos on your mobile phone, the phones should be able to play streaming videos like (RTSP/3GP with H263/AMR).

When you visit the site, you will see something like the following:


Mobile Version of Youtube. Photo Youtube.com.

One good feature is you can watch all your favorite videos you have stored in your Youtube site and share it with friends and family anywhere. Since Youtube has all types of videos, you can use it for educational purposes also. Check it out and leave comments how you like this new addition in Youtube mobile site.

Also launching today is a beta version of a YouTube for mobile Java application for a select number of mobile devices, including the Sony Ericsson K800 and W880 and the Nokia E65, N95, N73, 6110 Navigator, and 6120 Classic. Through this downloadable application (currently available in U.S. and U.K. English), you can access the entire YouTube for Mobile catalog. The application includes a super slick interface (with a carousel view of video tiles), as well as full community and uploading features.

Watch the video below to see product managers Dwipal Desai and Andreas Tuerk demo today's YouTube for Mobile releases. As always, let us know what you think by leaving comments below. And, feel free to leave these guys video comments as well!

Overstock.com’s Game O Love Contest

Game O Love

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. You might have already some special plans for your love; why not add more to it with a simple contest called Game O Love from Overstock.com.

Overstock.com has been in the business for a long time ever since Internet became available. It is one of the leaders in Internet shopping has plenty of brand names at incredible prices usually 40 to 80% off than what you get from other stores. They also have cars, auctions you can browse and shop. I have been shopping at Overstock.com for a long time and I am a satisfied customer

Back to the contest how does it work? Just visit Overstock.com’s Game O Love (http://www.gameolove.com) and enter your e-mail address. You can then browse the various tabs in Overstock.com and also the contest area. You can then pick out any items you like to give as a gift for your love and then just enter the contest with your e-mail address for notification purposes only. If you are selected as winner you will get that item also and surprise your love.

I would love to buy this 14k Cultured Black Pearl Strand (6.5-7mm/18in) for P, she would love it and I hope I can win this at the contest.

Tell your friends about this Overstock.com's Valentine's Day Game, there is no cost to it. The contest will run from January 25, 2008 to February 11, 2008.

World's First Phone With Fold-Away Screen

A Dutch company has unveiled the world’s first fold-out phone with a flexible polymer screen. The original screen, the size of two business cards, folds into a standard mobile phone with no change in properties.



The product produced by Polymer Vision (owned by Philips) uses a 5 inch (13 cm) screen, which itself is the largest screen size of any comparable phone or PDA on the market. This large screen is flexible unlike other screens, and easily folds into a mobile phone as shown in the video above.

The gadget is currently in production and will be on the market later this year. The reader has a unique display screen that rivals Amazon’s Kindle book reader.

Philips' Readius Foldaway phone. Photo Courtesy: Philips.com

Karl McGoldrick, chief executive of the venture capital-funded firm, in which Philips has a 25 percent stake said to Reuters:

"You get the large display of e-reading, the super battery life of e-reading, and the high-end connectivity ... and the form factor and weight of a mobile phone…We are taking e-reading and bringing it to the mobile phone."

McGoldrick didn’t give the price for this model but said it will be comparable to high-end mobile phone price tags. It could also be up to phone companies who may charge based on subscription or data plans.

The Readius has an electronic paper screen and the text and images that appear on its screen looks like they are printed on paper.

As Reuters reports:

Users will be able to set up their email accounts, news sources, podcasts, audio books and blog feeds at home on their computer, and the data is then pushed to the device whenever it is updated.

Other than the screen size, the device will be just like any other mobile phone on the market. However, because it has a larger screen and designed well, text will be easier to read and the device will require less power to operate.

The first model won't come with too many features, but McGoldrick said more functions and features will be added in future models.

Atlanta a must see place in the US

Coco-Cola in Atlanta

I and my few of my classmates visited Atlanta during the 90s; it was one of the best places I had visited. The city was wide and populated but it was so clean compared to other major cities. We visited the baseball stadium, Georgia Tech University and few other hot spots. But I missed quiet a bit of spots in Atlanta and I plan to make sure see them next time I visit there soon via Trusted Tours and Attractions sightseeing tours.

Trusted Tours and Attractions provides comprehensive information for tourists. They provide, tickets for Museums, events, city pass, hotels, information about the city, photos of tourist spots, map information and weather of the city. So, it will be a great place to start your travel plans, rather than trying to find all these information at various places.

One memorable moment I had was, me and my classmates were lost near Georgia Tech and couldn’t find the place, so were really frustrated. One local stranger seeing our plight quickly came to us and asked us whether he can help us. And not only he helped us find the right place, he took us there in person. That is what they call “Southern Hospitality”. Very few places you will find such hospitality, Atlanta is one such place.

I would like to get Atlanta City Pass for $64 only and get see many of Atlanta's most famous attractions for one great price and for 9 days in total. I will be able to see the following places: Georgia Aquarium, World of Coca-Cola, High Museum, Inside CNN Atlanta, Zoo Atlanta, Botanical Gardens, Atlanta History Center & more. If you had to pay for each one of them, you will end up paying more. For Children, the prices are even lower only $45.

If you are planning for your next vacation either to Atlanta or any other city in the US and want to get great tips, places to see and discounted ticket information for tours, events and museums, then you can sign up for the Trusted Travels eNewsletter. This is a simple web form you can enter your details and a bonus part is you are automatically entered to win a handheld GPS. This e-mail newsletter will have plenty of travel tips and information about the city you are planning to see. Wish I had one when I visited Atlanta the last time, but next time I won’t miss it.

If you need more information about any particular city, you can contact them at 1 800 213 2474.

MacBook Air: Just Hot Air?

Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced MacBook Air as one of the premium products at MacWorld this year. But despite its overall sex appeal, it has many limitations and it won’t be easy on your wallet according to ZDNet.



Steve Jobs was very proud to introduce MacBook Air at MacWorld 2008 and was gushing with pride about its many advantages such as its size (it's the thinnest laptop in the world), its touch screen features (like iPhone), its an environmentally friendly product and more. But ZDNet points out a number of compromises Apple had to make in manufacturing the MacBook Air, and so it has the following disadvantages:

1.) The hard drive only has an 80GB memory capacity. This is similar to an iPod hard drive, which they say won’t be enough for today’s needs; when we have to use many applications and download large files from the internet, this 80GB will run out quickly. It will also be difficult to use Apple’s iTunes services such as downloading music or watching movies. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at ZDNet says this 80GB drive is inadequate for a portable computer.

2.) Many people prefer a Solid State Hard Drive (SSD) for their laptops because of its durability, and the fact there are no moving parts. But if you want to add a 64GB SSD drive, it will cost you an additional $999 on top of the original price of $1,799 for the MacBook Air.

3.) The expandable memory is limited to 2GB. This memory will not be sufficient if you try to run many programs at the same time or if you try to use Boot Camp or Parallels in MacBook Air.

4.) The battery is not replaceable. Following its success with iPhones and iPods, Apple is making money by charging a large sum of money to replace batteries. It requires them opening up the device and switching it out. This is silly for the consumer space, because few people actually have trouble doing this on their own but can't when Apple doesn't sell extra batteries. On a laptop, it's just plain inexcusable. So, expect to pay more when you replace the laptop battery. Adrian said he doesn’t "like the idea of the locked-in battery acting as a ticking obsolescence time bomb."

5.) There is only one USB port. When you are using too many gadgets at home or at the office, one USB port won’t be sufficient unless all devices work in a wireless environment. We are not there yet.

6.) MacBook Air doesn’t have built-in Ethernet or a modem. So, to use them you need to add more gadgets to the MacBook Air. This adds weight and bulk to the laptop and also adds to the cost.

7.) There is no HSDPA/3G/GPRS support so you have to physically connect more peripherals to the MacBook Air to use them. However, there is only one USB port to work with.

8.) No built-in microphone.

9.) Processors: Intel specially designed a larger 65nm core with a specially designed package that's 60 per cent smaller (for Apple). This means instead of using the latest 45nm processors that are faster and more energy efficient, and are already that small without any fancy packaging, Apple got a "special" 65nm chip. This is a problem because Apple might have received a special price from Intel to make them, but it's certainly not a special price for consumers.

Adrian said there are other laptops which may not be as thin as MacBook Air but thin enough. For example: the Fujitsu Q2010, which is only 0.5 thicker than the MacBook Air and weighs 1 kg but has plenty of features the MacBook Air lacks.

MacBook Air has its advantages too (as you can see in the video above) but these disadvantages are serious for some users. Will you buy MacBook Air over other laptops on the market?

NASA considering making a virtual world game

NASA's virtual game world in Second Life. Photo courtesy of Hobbyspace.com.

NASA wants to create a virtual world to stimulate students’ interest in space. The virtual world will simulate real NASA engineering and science missions. NASA is currently seeking vendors to create programs.

According to the BBC, NASA wants to generate interest for space among students by creating a virtual world where participants can be involved in missions that mimic real NASA space missions.

The main idea behind this multiplayer online game is to help train future scientists and nurture interest in space among students.

NASA already has a similar virtual game in Second Life.

Simon Worden, director of the project in NASA spoke to BBC and said: "We at NASA are working hard to create opportunities for what I might call participatory exploration…We are looking at how this island can be a portal for all to fly along on space missions."

The US Army also has similar virtual world games that mimic combat missions to generate interest among new recruits.

With NASA’s huge resources and database records about space, I would imagine they could create wonderful games that could teach a lot about space.

Tippman A-5 Marker Gun for Paintball Games

paintball supplies

One time my friend, J, took me to a paintball game. He is an avid fan and plays Paintball games a lot. I just loved the game; it was loads of fun and plan to go again with my own set of toys from Ultimate Paintball, that’s where he gets the gear.

Ultimate Paintball has the best set of gear and paintball supplies for Paintball games. I doubt you will find such a wide variety of paintball gear anywhere either online or at offline stores. Their top selling guns are the following: Tippmann A-5, Tippmann 98 Custom, Smart Parts Ion and Spyder Pilot ACS. They sell many top brand paintball gear such as Tippmann, Spyder, Smart Parts, Dye, Draxxus plus many more brands. If you need accessories you can choose from the following: Tippmann paintball, Ion Upgrades, Air Systems, Paintball Gun Cases, Harnesses, Paintball Tactical Vests, Barrels, Gloves, Mask, Hoppers, Sights, Tubes, Paintballs, Safety Gear, Cleaners and Oil.

J recommended me to get this set, Tippman A-5 Marker Gun Package from Ultimate Paintball, so I will be fully ready for the next paintball game. This package also shown in the above figure has the following in the package:

• New Tippmann A5 Marker
• Cyclone Ammo Hopper
• A5 Flatline Barrel and Standard Barrel
• A5 WAS Board Egrip
• Tippmann A5 Double Trigger
• A5 Tactical 6 position Adjustable Stock
• UFD Heavy Duty Coiled Remote with Quick Disconnect On/Off
• Padded Gun Case
• GXG Stealth Mask with Visor & Anti Fog Lens
• New PMI/Spyder 20 oz CO2 Tank with pin valve
• Aluminum Thread Protector for Tank
• Black 6+1 Deluxe Paintball Harness
• 6 - 140 Round Heavy Duty Pods
• Premium 1oz Oil
• PhyscoBallistics Heavy Duty Jerk Squeegee
• Allen Wrenches
• Standard Gun Oil
• Tippmann Barrel Condom
• 2 Cleaning Cables for Flatline and for Standard
• Operators Manual
• Full One Year Warranty From Tippmann

This new Tippmann A-5 is a high performance paintball marker with the patented Cyclone Feed System, so you get the best performance for any paintball gun in the market. The Cyclone Feed System hooks the Feeder Sprocket to the Air System. So, when you shoot faster, the Tippman A-5 feeds faster. The whole package costs only $469.95 with a special promotion 50% off for a limited time. Also, they have Free UPS Shipping for all orders over $99.00.

If you have any questions, you can contact them at 877-WWW-PNTBALL.

This is a paid post for Payperpost.com.

Google invests $25 million for philanthropic projects including solar thermal energy

Google so far has involved in minor charity projects, but now it plans to contribute one per cent of profits for philanthropy. It is investing $25 million for solar thermal energy and other noble projects.

Google will contribute to charities via its newly formed philanthropic arm Google.org, and will allocate 1 per cent of equity and 1 per cent of profits for philanthropy.

It pledged last year that it wanted to use some of its profits for renewable projects such solar energy and develop renewable energy cheaper than coal. As promised it will invest more than $10 million dollars for eSolar, a solar thermal energy-producing company based in California.

Solar thermal energy, unlike other solar projects, doesn’t involve silicon. Heated mirrors transfer the energy to boil water or molten salt (the efficient of the two) and runs steam turbines to generate electricity. This solar thermal installation can be easily built worldwide without any need for silicon panels and can be set up with minimum requirements.

eSolar says if their solar projects are used in 1 per cent of Sahara desert area, it will be able to power the entire world.

With Google’s investment, eSolar will extend their projects worldwide for developing countries, too.

Al Gore, the former U.S. vice-president who last year took on a partnership at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB), the Silicon Valley venture capital company, has also made solar thermal technology a key focus. Gore is also on the board of directors for Google.

KPCB last year backed Ausra, another Silicon Valley solar thermal start-up, with $40 million.

With Google profits soaring every year, expect more investments like this in the future.

Boston Sightseeing Tours

I had a call from my old friend when we used to live near New Bedford, Massachusetts. I want to narrate a funny experience I had with him. We went on a vacation, four day trip, just one month after he came from India, classmates from the same school for a trip to Boston. He is from India and had a darker complexion. We saw a Newport Creamery restaurant; they have the finest ice creams in New England. The guy who served us asked my friend, where he is from, he quickly answered New Bedford. We all laughed and wondered how quickly he has adjusted to America. Now he is going back to India, isn’t it ironic?

Boston is a terrific vacation place and it has plenty of sightseeing tours from Trusted Tours & Attractions. They offer plenty of packages for tourists, you can get excellent offers to see museums, historic buildings, get great tickets for shows, etc. For example you can get a Boston City Pass for $39 dollars and get Free admission to the Museum of Science, New England Aquarium, Skywalk Observatory, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Harvard Museum of Natural History, and John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum. If you try to buy the tickets yourself it will cost much more.

Just signup for a newsletter here, and you can get great travel tips for Boston city and plenty of other cities. This way you can plan better than going blindly there. Also, you can check out their past newsletters free.

There are plenty of things to see in Boston, if you go during the season you can watch Red Sox play or New England Patriots or Boston Celtics games, they are all hot tickets. But if you are in a romantic mood, you have to try the Boston Harbor Dinner Dance Cruise, you and your mate will thoroughly enjoy and get the best of Boston trip.

If you sign up for the Trusted Travels eNewsletter, you are automatically entered to win a handheld GPS. This newsletter will have plenty of travel tips, I am sure you will find it worthwhile.

Study: 61 Per Cent of Internet Use Same Password for Every Website

A study by a digital communications agency shows that 61 per cent of Internet users use the same password for all of their online accounts. The survey says many experience password fatigue in remembering multiple passwords, so they stick with just one.

The Guardian reports this study done by @www, a digital communication agency. The survey found that 1 in 10 users use more than 50 online accounts where they face problems remembering passwords. Their fix? Use the same password on the majority of the websites they visit.

Because of the potential dangers of using the same password on multiple sites (and the difficulty remember multiple passwords), this is one reason why many sites are pushing for the adoption of OpenID. Using this service, a user only needs to remember one password an all websites employ the OpenID login. Rather than every site using its own login process, OpenID is a standard they could adopt to make it easier on users.

I personally use VeriSign OpenID as I believe it gives the best option and also has a Firefox extension to identify OpenID sites. It also allows you to enter your details in a secure environment.

Yahoo has also now joined the OpenID forum, so it will give a big boost for widespread adoption across all websites.

For users who don't like the idea of OpenID but still want to protect your passwords, you can use a service called AI Roboform, which does a great job of creating tough passwords but it also remembers them for the next time you visit the site. Personally, I try to use a password that is more than 10 characters long with alpha and numeric keys, along with capital letters.

The Guardian also suggests writing your passwords in a separate notebook, but to disguise the words and use codes if possible. More good advice: Make sure you change your passwords at least once a year so you are not vulnerable to being hacked.

So what about you: Do you use the same password on every site? If not, what do you do to remember a variety?

Valentine’s Day Shopping Offers

Valentine’s Day is just one month way and I want to make it special this year for my family and friends. I have already planned for a few in my family; my niece loves Hannah Montana so I plan to get her either a DVD or toys from Amazon.com. But there is a bonus offer if you go to Amazon.com via Coupon Chief. For every DVD we purchase, we also get a free TV show download, my niece will be thrilled to have this DVD plus the show also.

CouponChief.com is a wholly owned subsidiary of Coupon Chief, Inc. They provide coupons from all the major online retailers and more, instead of navigating and finding the coupon deals yourself you can find it here at couponchief.com. No need to remember the codes, Coupon Chief will automatically enter the codes when you shop at any of the retailers from its site. Isn’t that an awesome feature? With this we can shop conveniently.

And I have to treat my friend, I have made some plans already but I want to order some special chocolates and flowers. What better place to go but Proflowers.com, they have an offer “18 assorted roses + free vase and chocolate $19.99!”at Coupon Chief, and many more offers.

So give it a try, you will find hundreds of coupons that will save you money. Don’t miss great offers; make your friends and family happy this Valentine’s Day.

This is a paid post for Payperpost.com.

Charge Your Cellphone Just By Moving With M2E Kinetic Power

Cell phones are ubiquitous everywhere and they use considerable battery power and contribute enormous environmental waste. But thanks to M2E, the kinetic energy (movement) gets converted to electrical energy and powers the device.

M2E (Motion 2 Energy) has developed a technology based on Faraday’s principle of electromagnetic induction in 1831 when he demonstrated that a moving magnet could induce an electrical current in a wire coil. The M2E’s technology will convert the kinetic energy from minor movements to an electrical charge to power the mobile or other electronic device.

M2E will help by eliminating the bulky chargers and frequent charging of cell phones, the movements during the course of the day would be sufficient to power the device.

This kinetic energy principle has been widely used in flash lights, wrist watches, and even the OLPC laptops which get powered by hand crank movements. Whereas with M2E, the movements alone will charge the phones, no need of hand cranks to charge it.

Regular Battery Vs M2E battery technology

M2E applies the same principle as Faraday’s, but with their patent pending innovations in the physical structure of their battery chargers, they are able to deliver more power by a factor of 3 to 7 times compared to the competing energy solution. Thus they will be able to keep the device powered for a longer period.

M2E is also an eco-friendly, clean tech solution that can significantly reduce carbon emissions. It may completely eliminate the need for battery chargers unless the movements are limited or the usage of the device is more, so it will reduce the impact on the environment. Since M2E batteries requires less toxic heavy metals (30 percent less) than regular batteries and doubles the battery life, it will also aid the environment with less waste.

Currently M2E products are not available for the public; they are working with military, so the soldiers can recharge the electronics without the need of batteries or rechargers in the battlefield.

Hope to see this product in the market soon.

Refinancing in Florida

If you are in Florida and looking for great refinancing mortgages, then you should try DollarBlvd.com, they have excellent Florida Refinance. In a few minutes you can get rates from the best lenders and help you provide with the best refinancing rate that matches your requirements. You can either get a fixed or adjustable rate mortgage with no obligations. So keep browsing and get the best rates there.

Some of the unique advantages from DollarBlvd.com are:

• Get up to 5 Free Quotes with no charges.
• Free and fast – within minutes you will get different loan options from various providers.
• No Credit Check and No Social Security Number required for our matching service.

If you need more information, you can contact them here.

This is a paid post for Payperpost.com.

The more the wine costs, the more people enjoy it

California researchers say higher wine prices make people enjoy it more. New research suggests people depend more on price and less on taste when it comes to wine. A part of the brain that registers pleasure gets more excited when it's costly.

Researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the California Institute of Technology studied 20 adult test subjects and made them sample wines at different prices and recorded their reactions.

They found that higher wine prices usually meant people enjoyed the wine more. At the same time, the part of the brain responsible for pleasure showed significant activity. Researchers believe people expect wines that cost more to be of higher quality than cheaper wines. Therefore it tricks the mind into being satisfied.

As Reuters reports: "Their study, published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says that expectations of quality trigger activity in the medial orbitofrontal cortex, the part of the brain that registers pleasure." Their study also found at the same time, the part of our brain that interprets taste is not affected by prices, but gets dominated by the pleasure experience.

Those in marketing have known some products sell well if they are expensive because people equate price with quality, but researchers didn't know why. This study, however, shows it can be directly related to the brain’s activity.

Baba Shiv, an associate professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and one of the authors of the study said to Reuters:"We have known for a long time that people's perceptions are affected by marketing, but now we know that the brain itself is modulated by price." Shiv says marketers will now have to think twice before they mark down prices.

The study says if the experience of a product is pleasurable, then the brain will use it to make a buying choice. So, if a product is enjoyed by a test subject, price is not a stumbling factor.

In my opinion, this may work for wine because it's tied to opulence in ads and movies, but enjoyment of other products is also associated to the quality of the product, brand name, previous experience and peer reviews. For example, if a company provides a good overall experience based on these factors, then price will not be an overwhelming factor (just look at sales of the Apple iPhone or a Sony digital camera).

Do you experience the same reaction when drinking wine?

Professional Covers and Binding for a Successful Enterprise

Quality Binding Provides a Professional Look.

Just like the first impression is important of how you look for an interview, the same thing holds true if you want to provide a quality presentation to your customers, clients, managers. A Good cover binding will add significant value to your presentation, so never underestimate it and remember “Don’t judge the book by the cover” doesn’t hold true in a business presentation. Quality matters most.

To have such a quality binding for your company, check out the scrapbooking paper by Coverbind Corporation. They have a range of covers and binding machines ready to use for your company either in your office or for a print shop. So, you can churn out 100s of professional covers and binds for special exhibitions and conferences.

Coverbind Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bindomatic A.B., a Swedish corporation currently doing business in 40 countries worldwide. Most of their covers and binding machines are patented and have been supplying to customers in North America and South America for more than twenty years. Coverbind has their headquarters office in Wilmington, North Carolina and includes corporate offices, production facilities and warehouse space.

They have the following characteristics:

* In-Line, Near-Line and Off-Line Binding Machines

* Bind documents from 1 to 500 sheets

* Bind single documents or large production runs

So, you can purchase any of those machines based on your requirements.

You may ask, why do you need expensive cover and binds compared to getting generic covers from Wal-Mart and other stores? Because from the saying, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression" makes absolute sense in a professional environment in business. If you want to make an impact, you should have the best materials on hand. This will not be a cost for you, it will be a valuable asset for the profitability and survival of your company.

You can see the Print on Demand product here with a demonstration video.

For additional information and details either you can call (910) 799-4116 or contact them via a simple online form here.

This is a paid post for Payperpost.com.

Black is the new black in science

The existing standard is shown on the left and the new material is shown on the right. Photo courtesy Reuters.

US researchers have made the darkest material in the world, is thirty times darker than the previous black standard. It will absorb 99.9 percent of incident light and could be an ideal material for solar cells with less sunlight loss.

Pulickel Ajayan, who led the research team at Rice University in Houston worked with a team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, developed this new material.

The material is made from tiny tubes of carbon is 30 times darker than the current carbon substance standard used by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The theoretical pure black material is one which absorbs all the colors of light and reflects none, but this one is almost close to it with 99.9% purity.

The substance has a total reflective index of 0.045 per cent - which is more than three times darker than the nickel-phosphorous alloy that now holds the record as the world's darkest material. In comparison, the black paint used at home has a reflective index of 5 to 10 percent.

After this discovery, they are sure to be in the Guinness Book of World Records, but that is not their ultimate aim because of its high potential use in solar energy, infrared detection and in astronomy field.

In solar energy, this dark material will absorb all the sunlight that falls on the cells leading to higher energy conversion.

Ajayan said this material got its blackness from three things:

• The material is made from carbon nano-tubes, tiny tubes of tightly rolled carbon that are 400 hundred times smaller than the diameter of a strand of hair. The carbon structure helps absorb more light.
• These tubes are arranged like a patch of grass and trap the light between the tiny gaps.
• They made the surface of carbon nanotube irregular and rough, so there is minimum reflection (Silk has high reflection because of a smoother surface).

Shawn-Yu Lin, a professor of physics at Rensselaer, who helped make the substance said such an arrangement will reflect light weakly and absorb light strongly.

The researchers want to test the material beyond visible light in infrared and ultraviolet regions to see whether it will show similar behavior. If it does perform similarly, it could be used to make the outer layer for aircrafts and avoid detection from enemy radars.

The work was released online last week and will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Nano Letters.

Love Keeps You Fresh

I am writing a book of quotes which I will publish soon, I will add the most recent ones here. Please give your thoughts and what do you think of this quote. Most of my quotes are "truth" inspired. It is all around us and God shows us at various times of our lives.

View of Lagoon, Bora-Bora, French Polynesia, 1996. Photograph by Jodi Cobb. National Geographic Magazine.

"Keep hating, hate will make you tired soon,

Keep loving, love will keep you fresh."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Do Good

Angkor Vat Temple. Photo link. Ojodigital.com.

"If you do good, you will go further than you are now.

If you do bad or nothing you will go further back than you are now."

- Chris Veerabadran from “All Are One”.

Rats Laugh When You Tickle Them

Bowling Green State University Scientists analyzed rats’ high frequency sounds and realized it must be laughter. So they tested it and found that rats do have the ability to laugh.

Dr. Jaak Panksepp, Neuroscientist, Bowling Green State University and his team of researchers listened to rats playing and realized the sounds they made looked like laughter. These sounds can’t be heard in the audible range only at high frequencies.

They wanted to see whether the sounds are laughter or not. So, they tested it by tickling the rats as shown in the video and recorded the sounds with the help of transducers, which can bring down high frequency sounds to audible range. And it proved the sounds were laughter after all.

The rats seemed to enjoy very much this tickling and seem to want more. This looks like a typical response behavior after a laugh similar to children’s.

About 90 percent of the estimated 25,000 to 30,000 genes in rats have counterparts in humans and mice. So, who knows what other human characteristics they may possess. Because of the similarity in gene structure, the rats are widely used for medical testing purposes, they deserve a laughter or two sometimes.

Free Domain For Life and Great Starting Offer for DreamHost Customers

Did you hear about the DreamHost.com fiasco? They billed their customers wrongly due to a glitch and billed their customers with debits and charges up to $9,000 for 2 years in advance. Imagine the outrage from their customers. I am not sure they have fixed it by now. But if you are in one of those stuck in a hosting contract then try this Lunarpages Offer for DreamHost Customers.

Lunarpages have an excellent hosting contract and have been in business more than 8 years for now. I have read some good reviews about them, so seem to be a great offer. They are offering a special coupon code for DreamHost disgruntled customers, a $40 off hosting with Lunarpages.com and also provide up to 9 months of paid contract with DreamHost.

This offer is incredible so you can switch it quickly and start operating your sites right away.

If you want to host your blog instead of hosting at blogger, WordPress and other sites and want to host it yourself, then you should try Lunarpages.com offers. You can get up to 15,000GB data transfer, 1500GB storage space, free domain name and 10 add on domains for only $6.95 per month.

They also offer a variety of hosting options, beginner (LP Quicksite), basic, business, Windows, Linux, VPS and dedicated hosting service. Their plans support Ruby on Rails, JSP/ASP, PHP5 & MySQL5 servers and come up with unlimited databases, email accounts, FTP accounts and parked domains.

So, they have a whole range of options for any type of hosting solutions for you. They will bill fairly unlike others, so get started with Lunarpages.com. You can read their customers’ reviews, all have high praises for them.

Here are some hosting solutions they have from which you can choose. One unique thing they have is a free domain for life option, which is great.

They also offer excellent Affiliate Program, my hosting company only gives $10, whereas Lunarpages Affiliate program rewards you $65 base commission rate if you refer someone. You can read about more of this program here and start referring your friends, family, clients, coworkers etc.,

This is a paid post for Payperpost.com.

Commercializing Solar Power with Molten Salt

Solar Power Farm using Molten Salt for energy storage and transfer. Photo courtesy Inhabitat.com.

One of the drawbacks for solar power it that it can't generate electricity at night. But now, thanks to a new technology involving molten salt, solar power can be generated even during cloudy days or at night.

Solar power critics complain that it can’t generate electricity during night or under cloudy skies, but SolarReserve wants to change that view with their unique technology involving molten salt. Their technology will store the captured solar energy in molten salt and use that energy during the day and at night also because of high heat-retaining capacity of the salt.

A solar plant made by SolarReserve will be able to produce up to 500 megawatts of peak power comparable to a regular coal power plant without harmful greenhouse gas emissions. A typical one megawatt energy unit will be able to supply more than 1,000 households.

The concept used by SolarReserve is similar to the one in Seville, where its solar power tower gathers the heat generated by hundreds of solar panels and heats the water inside the tower. This steam then passes through a series of turbines to generate electricity. Instead of the water, SolarReserve uses commonly available salt in the towers.



The hundreds of arrays of mirrors around the tower will focus the heat onto the tower and will heat the salt inside. At, 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the molten salt is then pumped into a steam generator that will turn a turbine to make electricity. After the process is complete, the cooled salt is sent back to the tower again for reheating by the solar arrays.



Lee Bailey, managing director of US Renewables Group, SolarReserve's parent company, told Inhabitat, "Due to the unique ability of the product to store the energy it captures, this system will function like a conventional hydroelectric power plant, but with several advantages…This product is more predictable than water reserves, the supply is free and inexhaustible, and the environmental impact is essentially zero.”

The reason they are using molten salt (mixture of sodium and potassium nitrate) instead of water is because molten salt stores the heat efficiently for a longer time without loss of heat compared to water and other liquids.

The National Solar Thermal Test Facility conducted several studies and concluded that molten salt is the most efficient fluid when it comes to transporting sun’s heat. The study states:

Molten salt is used in solar power tower systems because it is liquid at atmosphere pressure, it provides an efficient, low-cost medium in which to store thermal energy, its operating temperatures are compatible with today’s high-pressure and high-temperature steam turbines, and it is non-flammable and nontoxic.

We will hear more about this technology in the coming years and now the critics can’t complain too much about solar power. It offers considerable advantages compared to coal power. SolarReserve hopes to build 10 plants over the next 10 to 15 years.

New Gmail Features for the iPhone

Google released a new interface for iPhone yesterday and added some new features for Gmail in iPhone such as preloading e-mails and auto-complete feature. This will make getting e-mails in iPhone faster and easy.

Google launched a new interface for iPhones yesterday and will announce more details later today at the MacWorld. It will launch a separate operating system called “Grand Prix” specific for iPhone. One of those applications optimized will be the Gmail and will have new features such as prefetching new mails and auto-complete feature.

Gmail in iPhone will now use AJAX to make the web pages more responsive. When you use Gmail in iPhone, it will pre-load all the recent messages for you instead of reloading your browser and waiting for the response.


Gmail in iPhone. Photo courtesy Gmailblog.blogspot.com.

The other feature “auto-complete” which is very handy online, you will be able to use this one in iPhone as well. So, when you start to type the e-mail address in the contact box, Gmail will automatically enter the addresses from your contact list. So, within a few key strokes, you will be able to enter the full e-mail address.


Auto-Complete Feature. Photo courtesy Gmailblog.blogspot.com.

In order to make this Gmail look the same as the functions in iPhone, the size in the “To” box will be the same as the virtual buttons in the iPhone.

You don’t have to type Google’s mobile address to access the above features. As soon as you type Google.com at iPhone, Google will recognize it automatically and optimize its site for iPhone.

You can also access Gmail if you use Google Apps with custom domains, but you have to point the iPhone to the following web address, http://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com. Replace “yourdomain.com” with your domain name.

The above features however doesn’t work with other mobiles, there is no auto-complete feature for Palm users and it doesn’t preload the new e-mails, you have to reload your mobile browser to get new e-mails.

Earn Money by Posting Audio Ads in Blogs and Websites

Most of the website earns income via Google Ads and similar ads from Yahoo, Microsoft and others. But most of the ads require your customers to click on the ads to get some residual income, whereas with the new Net Audio Ads, you can generate income even without clicking the ads.

NetAudioAds Pay-Per-Play advertising is an Audio-only advertising channel backed by one of the BIG 5 search engines. The advertisers bid just like the Google AdWords and will compensate the publishers just like the Google Adsense, but only major difference is website owners will earn revenue on 100% of their traffic, no additional clicks necessary.

The ads will have a 5 second audio advertisements for your website visitors, and NetAudio Ads will post ads depending on specific interest areas, demographics of your visitors and geographic locations.

The campaign has been run successfully so far, and has been running for 2 and ½ years, has more than 66,000 advertisers and over 550,000 websites participate in this. There have been more than 43 million streams of advertising so far on a monthly basis.

Wall Street Journal also have a posted a good review about this site, so check it out.

I just added to this new service, I am going to add NetAudio codes very soon to my site.

The unique advantages are:

• 100% Free Opportunity
• Paid Weekly
• Earn off of your own website(s)
• Earn by referring others
• Limited Opportunity
• Breakthrough technology
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Click here to hear this simple and innovative program.

This is a paid post for Payperpost.com.

New Gmail Features for the iPhone

Google released a new interface for iPhone yesterday and added some new features for Gmail in iPhone such as preloading e-mails and auto-complete feature. This will make getting e-mails in iPhone faster and easy.

Google launched a new interface for iPhones yesterday and will announce more details later today at the MacWorld. It will launch a separate operating system called “Grand Prix” specific for iPhone. One of those applications optimized will be the Gmail and will have new features such as prefetching new mails and auto-complete feature.

Gmail in iPhone will now use AJAX to make the web pages more responsive. When you use Gmail in iPhone, it will pre-load all the recent messages for you instead of reloading your browser and waiting for the response.


Gmail in iPhone. Photo courtesy Gmailblog.blogspot.com.

The other feature “auto-complete” which is very handy online, you will be able to use this one in iPhone as well. So, when you start to type the e-mail address in the contact box, Gmail will automatically enter the addresses from your contact list. So, within a few key strokes, you will be able to enter the full e-mail address.


Auto-Complete Feature. Photo courtesy Gmailblog.blogspot.com.

In order to make this Gmail look the same as the functions in iPhone, the size in the “To” box will be the same as the virtual buttons in the iPhone.

You don’t have to type Google’s mobile address to access the above features. As soon as you type Google.com at iPhone, Google will recognize it automatically and optimize its site for iPhone.

You can also access Gmail if you use Google Apps with custom domains, but you have to point the iPhone to the following web address, http://mail.google.com/a/yourdomain.com. Replace “yourdomain.com” with your domain name.

The above features however doesn’t work with other mobiles, there is no auto-complete feature for Palm users and it doesn’t preload the new e-mails, you have to reload your mobile browser to get new e-mails.

Google Launches new iPhone interface

At Macworld today, Google unveiled a new interface that will make most of its applications work seamlessly with Apple's iPhone. This announcement followed last week's introduction of iGoogle customization for iPhone.

To access the new interface, visit any Google application from iPhone or iPod Touch, and you will be able to see customized versions of it for iPhone. These programs look much better suited for the iPhone than for the Web or other mobile phones.

Google launched some applications customized before for iPhone but now it wants to do the same for all applications. The standard mobile version of Google, made available just over a month ago, is still available at google.com/m, (with Gmail, Notebook, Calendar, and Reader) but it’s more limited and is available only in the U.S.

According to Garret Rogers from ZDNet.com, the following features will be available for iPhone users by Google.

• Improved UI: The applications look and feel slicker, and they are easier to activate, navigate and use via a touch-screen.
• Customization of default tabs: Now Google users can have easy access to their favorite applications by customizing the applications that appear on the Google.com menu bar. Users simply choose their favorite Google applications to bring them to the front menu, ensuring that they’ll be close at hand whenever they’re needed. Switching between applications is effortless, as users only need to sign in once to access their Gmail, Calendar, Reader, Docs, and Picasa accounts.
• Speedier Gmail: New emails will automatically show up so there’s no need to manually refresh inboxes. And the new auto-complete feature for contacts makes composing emails faster than ever.
• Speedier Calendar: With new month view, users can glance at an entire month of appointments.
• iGoogle: Now Google users can access their iGoogle gadgets on the iPhone. Everything they’ve customized on their iGoogle homepage including weather, stocks, and news feeds now appear on their iPhones. To go to iGoogle, simply click on the iGoogle link on the Home tab. You can customize your iGoogle page on your computer at www.igoogle.com.


The new Google Calendar look in iPhone

Google is also doing a similar thing with their Android operating system for mobiles. But creating a separate one for iPhone makes sense, since it has become a very popular mobile phone. Google also plans to use a similar web engine, used on the iPhone, for its Android.

Cnet reported that Google received more web queries from iPhone than any other Symbian based phones (used by Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and others) for the first time, despite having less than 1 per cent share in the mobile market. This shows how the users prefer easy Web surfing on iPhones compared to other mobile phones, though many mobiles have offered Web browsing for a number of years.

With the new iPhone interface, Gmail will be easier to read, and it will automatically show the new messages. The Google Calendar will work faster and with iGoogle, and all the gadgets will be optimized for iPhone use.

Power station harnesses Sun's rays in Seville, Spain

A giant tower in Seville, Spain collects reflected concentrated lights from solar reflectors and converts to steam for power generation.

This solar thermal power plant is situated in the outskirts of Seville in southern Spain. In this thermal power plant there are 600 huge mirrors (120 square meters in size) shown in the picture and they reflect the rays of sunlight to a concrete tower 40 storey high. It illuminates the tower shown below:



The 600 mirrors are also called heliostats; they track the sun and focus its rays to a heat exchanger (receiver) at the top of the tower. This receiver converts this energy into steam. The steam is then stored in tanks and used to drive turbines and create electricity in the process. It powers up to 8,000 homes in a year.

This is one of the Europe’s first operating power stations that harnesses solar energy by the above process and converts it into electricity. It is operated by Solucar and claims it generates 11 Megawatts (MW) of electricity with no greenhouse gas. They say ultimately the entire power plant can generate enough power to support the current the city of Seville population, 600,000 people.

Michael Geyer, an international director of the energy giant Abengoa, which owns this plant, was asked a few questions. Like any solar power concerns, how will this power plant operate when there is no sun or cloudy skies? He said that enough heat is stored in steam tanks in order to generate electricity after dark, but can store steam only for one hour of power generation for now, but more capacity to store steam will be added soon. He said mostly the solar power is necessary only in the summer periods when air conditioners are widely used and has a mild winter in Spain.

Currently this solar power generation is expensive compared to conventional sources because of high installation costs, but Geyer said with cheaper solar cell prices the costs will come down and improved technological advances will reduce the costs further. But compared with existing coal or gas during peak time period, this solar power generation is cheaper.

U.S. also worked with one similar project like this undertaken by Sandia National Laboratories:



It is another good use of solar power, there are lots of developments recently, and researchers are finding better solar products and materials to harness more energy from the Sun. We will be seeing more of this solar technology in Europe and other places with reduced solar cells prices. Its one advantage over other power generations methods is that it has zero greenhouse gas emissions.

All eyes on Apple at Macworld 2008

Steve Jobs at Macworld 2007 unveiling iPhone. - File photo courtesy of Apple

Apple has a tough act to follow at the upcoming Macworld 2008 after their highly successful Macworld last year, when Steve Jobs introduced the extremely successful iPhone. Will Jobs be able to give the world an outstanding encore?

In last year's Macworld, Steve Jobs introduced to the world the new iPhone and it became a highly popular product in the U.S. Thanks to its success, Apple’s stock almost doubled in 2007. Its computer share has increased to nearly double digits and its iPods sales still remain high. Jobs also introduced other products such as Apple TV set-top box and others but iPhone was the most successful.

How will Steve Jobs and Apple fare at the Macworld Conference & Expo, 2008?

Charlie Wolf, analyst at Needham & Co said to the Associated Press: "All I can say for certain is that Macworld 2008 is not going to top 2007. That was the Macworld of Macworlds."

It is going to be tough for Apple to replicate its success, but Jobs will not disappoint, he will have something special for Apple fans and users.

Jobs will likely discuss its iTunes movie rental service, an iPhone with a faster connection 3G to the net and an ultra-portable laptop, according to MSNBC.com.

Apple has planned to sell 10 million iPhones by end of 2008 equivalent to one per cent of cell phone market; already it has sold 5 million. If there is a new announcement for the iPhone and if it releases iPhones in bigger markets such as China, Canada, Japan and India, it will easily sell more than that estimate.

Financial analysts believe Apple will have record sales this year and expect their stocks to go even higher. Wall Street predicts Apple will earn $5.09 per share for its fiscal 2008, up nearly 30 per cent from $3.93 per share last year, on annual sales that will grow 32 per cent to $31.7 billion, according to a poll of analysts by Thomson Financial.

Also, Apple is slowly gaining market share from PC. Apple in the last quarter ending September sold 2.16 million Macs up 34 percent from the previous year. This growth rate is twice the growth rate of PC sales.

A halo effect from iPods has helped. Since the iPod debuted in 2001, more than 119 million have been sold, propelling Apple's market capitalization from $6 billion to $155 billion.

Analysts credit the boom to the popularity of iPhones, and many are switching to Apple computer products. Its market share has grown to 7.6 per cent in 2007 from 6 per cent the previous year.

In Macworld 2008, Apple will announce movie rental availability at their iTunes store for $3.99 a movie (for a 24 hour-window). The same rates are offered by satellite and cable providers. Whether this rate and movie selections will make them popular, we have to wait and see.

[Apple has reportedly secured deals with 20th Century Fox and Disney studios, and may be close to signing deals with Warner Bros. and Paramount.

If customers have Apple TV, then they can watch their movies on the big screen, so Apple TV might sell more because of this movie rental distribution. They expect to sell 2.9 million units this year.

According to American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu, Apple might release a slimmer “MacBook Mini” computer priced at $1,500 to $2,000 and will boast a flash memory drive instead of a hard drive to reduce weight, boost battery life and make it more rugged.

Apple may announce a faster version of iPhone, likely loaded with more features and application. Its partner AT&T revealed that a 3G iPhone is planned for 2008.

Macworld runs Tuesday through Friday at the Moscone convention center in San Francisco.

It may not create as much buzz like last year, but still Apple may have great products to showcase. Apple wouldn’t want to disappoint fans and others, so expect great announcements this week.

User Generated Videos and TV Show

YawpBox Logo

TV even before the writer’s strike has become boring, thanks to sites YouTube and other video sites; we are able to get a wide variety of entertainment in shorter duration videos. Some of the videos are very unique you won’t find it in local TVs. Of course there are some bad ones, but when it is screened by other members, only the cream rises to the top. It is just not YouTube is making a buzz, there are plenty of video sites that are on the rise and doing great and one such video site is YawpBox.

YawpBox is a video site but with social interaction in mind, so it is a pretty cool experience for video enthusiasts to show off their experiences with others video enthusiasts. You can upload all your videos free to your own profile and share it with other Yawpers, who can vote and rate your videos and leave comments.

The best videos will be highlighted and film a television show in March 2008. If you have great videos to share, it may make the cut and be on live TV.

Here is a video serious one about a police officer giving a simple order but the lady doesn’t listen and ends up in trouble. So, whatever you find interesting and want to share with others you can easily do that.

I browsed the YawpBox; it has a great number of videos you may find it interesting. It has a broad range of videos.

Then there is a Lex & Terry Challenge. If your videos are good it will make the cut and showed on YawpBoxTV, which is a 30 minute weekly "magazine style" show, filmed before a live studio audience in Dallas, Texas. YawpBoxTV will be the first television show where the content is completely generated by the users of a social networking site according to YawpBox.

So give it a try and share your experiences with other Yawpers.

The membership is free and you can join here.

Rain and Shine Hit Google Maps and Google Earth

The Weather Channel joins forces with Google Maps and Google Earth to add customizable weather layers on the virtual maps. The maps will now come with the latest weather details and forecast for the cities and other points of interest.

Google Maps has quite a bit of information in addition to just directions. With the help of Mapplets, users are able to get more information on the maps such as the following:

• Movies
• WWF Conservation Projects
• The 7 Ancient Wonders of the World
• The New 7 Wonders of the World
• Wikipedia Mapplet
• AccuWeather.com Weather Snapshot
• Google Real Estate Search
• Chicago Transit Map
• Gas Prices by GasBuddy.com
• Google Real Estate Search
• Photos from Picasa Web Albums
• Gas Prices from GasBuddy.com
• Distance Measurement Tool
• Browse Popular Maps

For more mapplets click here. But now, users can add “The Weather Channel” information on maps with the newly-announced Weather Mapplet as shown below.



The Weather Channel also offers this feature on Google Earth. Using this new service, you can see the clouds, radar data, current temperature, humidity, wind speed, UV index and forecast details.

To access this feature, just visit Google Maps and click the “My Maps” section and you will find this Weather Channel in the featured section. In Google Earth, you can find this in a weather layer section.

When you choose the Weather Channel in maps, you will see the weather information for corresponding cities. You can also enter your zip code and it will provide weather data.

According to Cnet.com, the weather information combines data from Doppler radar, satellite, lightning strike detection, computer models and climate profiles.

I think this is a great utility for Google Maps and soon you can access this on the mobile phones as well. The above features work for Canada, the U.S., Mexico, South America, most major cities in Europe, Northern Africa, some of the Middle East, China, India and parts of Asia, Australia and the South Pacific.

Shampoo Your Hair in a Hurry

Spray Powder Shampoo. Photo courtesy: Salongrafix.com.

I wanted to give something nice to my friend, T, she always like makeup and hair care products especially hair spray to keep her blonde highlights shiny. Her natural color is black, but she likes light blond color for her hair. I was browsing the web and I came across this unique shampoo product by Salon Grafix called Spray Powder Shampoo.

The product is something like a hair spray but only it is a powder shampoo product that one can use between regular shampooing or when they are on the go say for a party or a meeting. Imagine your hair looks dry in the middle of the day and would love to have a fresh look, this product would be ideal.

And this dry shampoo has color match formula for various hair shades such as brunette, blonde, black and also for silver shades.

Salon Grafix Spray Powder Shampoo has the following features:

.

• Easily brushes off

• Leaves hair revitalized

• No white powder

• No oil residue

• Clean and shiny hair

T would love this product, she is always busy on the run, if it makes the hair a fresh shampoo look, she would love to have this product. Maybe I will surprise her with one of these products. It will be definitely help her protect the color match, so she won’t feel the need to dye her hair again.

You can buy these products at Duane Reade and Rite Aid stores or you can buy from the Salon Grafix directly for $8 and shipping.

Have you used this product before, if so, please let me know your experiences about this product. I wonder whether Salon Grafix has this one for men also.

NASA's Messenger Readies For Close Encounter With Mercury

NASA Messenger Spacecraft to Mercury. Credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington

NASA's Messenger will make its first visit to Mercury planet after almost 33 years. It will pass by the planet very soon and revisit permanently in 2011. Its core mission is to take high-resolution images of the entire planet.

The Messenger spacecraft was designed and built at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. The name “Messenger” is an acronym for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging. It was launched from Earth on Aug. 3, 2004.

Most of its flight is controlled by gravity from planets Earth, Venus, Mercury and the Sun, so it has to take a circuitous path to Mercury. It has completed five orbits of the Sun, has orbited Earth once and Venus twice -- all this just to ensure it reaches Mercury on Jan. 14, 2008. Messenger will pass by Mercury again in October 2008 and September 2009 before it will settle into orbit with Mercury in 2011.

The encounter on Jan. 14 will be the first visit to Mercury since Mariner 10’s last mission to Mercury, when it flew by the planet in 1974 and made its last approach on March 16, 1975. The image shown below is Mariner 10’s first image of Mercury in 1974.



Mariner was able to capture only half of the planet, so Messenger’s main mission will be to take images of the entire planet’s surface and beam them back to earth.

The cameras on board Messenger were tested successfully; the images below were taken on Aug. 2, 2005 via its Dual Imaging System’s wide-angle camera. The image to the left is what we will see with the naked eye, and in the image on the right uses near infrared colors to capture elements not seen by the human eye.



The images from Messenger will help astronomers immensely. It will probably allow for a better understanding of history from features seen on the planet.

Mariel Hemingway Fights Depression With The Sedona Method

Thanks to my friends in blogs, I come across many interesting books that I will never come across with my friends outside blogdom. I learned from my blog mate Theresa about “The Sedona Method”. The Sedona Method is a self-help technique developed by the late physicist and successful businessman Lester Levenson after a serious heart attack nearly ended his life. Doctor said he will die very soon, when he was 42 years old, but he was able to come out of the negative experience with the highly successful “The Sedona Method” and was able to live another 42 years. Lester regained his health and attributed his renewed positive outlook to a process of self-inquiry of one's beliefs and related emotions and this belief forms the basis for “The Sedona Method”.

Since there are plenty of books about “The Sedona Method”, my friend suggested me to read Marci Shimoff’s book “Happy for No Reason”. Marci Shimoff is a Sedona Method graduate, featured teacher from the mega bestselling book and movie, The Secret. She said she learnt about the “The Sedona Method” mainly from Hale Dwoskin, who was one of the students of Lester Levenson.

And now, Marci is teaching us with this book “Happy for No Reason”. Marci quotes this beautiful poem of how to get rid of our negative thoughts that causes wreck not only on the relationship level but also emotionally and physically it affects us.

If you let go a little
You will have a little peace.
If you let go a lot
You will have a lot of peace.
If you let go completely
You will have complete peace.

—The Venerable Ajahn Chah, 20th century Buddhist monk

Marci Shimoff in this book highlights one example in Chapter Four about renowned actress Mariel Hemingway’s experience with The Sedona Method and how she has used it successfully in her life. You can read the excerpts about this chapter in the book here.

Mariel Hemingway is the granddaughter of the famous writer Ernest Hemingway. Even though she was born in a incredible famous family, yet she and her family were beset with drinking and drug problems as well as psychological problems that led to four members of the family committing suicide. Mariel also was going in that path but luckily she encountered “The Sedona Method” and since then she has changed her life completely by “Letting Go” the negativity. She said in Marci Shimoff’s book:

The simple process of asking myself the Sedona Method questions, “Could I let go of this feeling?”, “Would I let it go?” and “When?” seemed to pop the bubble of tension I felt around whatever problem I was facing. As I continued to practice, something loosened up inside. It was a relief to stop fighting my need for control and begin to accept myself the way I was. Though I’m not sure why it works, I know it does, and that’s all that matters.

Since then Mariel is living a happy life and not have those negative thoughts fill her constantly. Marci says many of us suffer the same fate and if we just practice the simple techniques of “The Sedona Method”, we can change our lives to a better and happier direction as well.

Fill out this free form and you will get a “Free DVD and CD” about “The Sedona Method”.

This seems like a must read book. If you have read this book “Happy for No Reason” then please leave a comment.

Virgin Galactic to Offer Space Cruise through Aurora Borealis

Virgin Galactic Spaceport in New Mexico.

Richard Branson’s upcoming project, the New Mexico Virgin Galactic Spaceport, will be completed by 2010 but already the billionaire is planning to send commercial flights into the heart of the Aurora Borealis very soon.

The ambitious Branson wants to create the first commercial airline offering space flights and he is building a Virgin Galactic Spaceport in New Mexico, which is scheduled to be completed by 2010. The Virgin founder has another plan in mind and wants to send passengers to see the Aurora Borealis by sending spaceships to its center.

The Virgin company will build an Arctic launch pad located in the small town of Kiruna in the northern part of Sweden. The town of Kiruna offers one of the best views of Aurora Borealis, so it will be an ideal location for this Virgin project.

Aurora borealis often appears as a greenish glow (or sometimes a faint red), as if the sun were rising from an unusual direction. The aurora borealis is also called the northern [polar] lights, as it is only visible in the North sky from the Northern Hemisphere. The aurora borealis most often occurs from September to October and from March to April.

Auroras are produced by the collision of charged particles, mostly electrons but also protons and heavier particles found in the magnetosphere, with atoms and molecules of the Earth's upper atmosphere (at altitudes above 80 km). These particles originate from the sun and depending on the solar winds that reaches the magnetosphere the Aurora Borealis shows varying light patterns in the sky.

They will use a spacecraft something like SpaceShipTwo and its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo. The latter will be used to launch the SpaceShip Two into space.



It will accommodate 6 passengers and two pilots.

Is it safe to see this at close proximity? The answer is yes, according to Dr. Olle Norberg, Esrange base’s director. He claims they have done enough research and they have found out that the spacecraft and its passengers will cope with the build-up charges and radiation effect from the aurora borealis. The Esrange base is located in Kiruna.

Only the affluent can afford to go see the aurora borealis with Virgin spacecraft for now. Scientists and nature lovers would love to see this in person. Are you ready for this space cruise?

Prescription Eye Glasses Online At Incredible Price

I have to visit my eye doctor for an annual visit. Have to check my contact lenses as well as prescription glasses, both might need to be changed especially the last one, which I am using it for some time now. I checked online and saw this Great Discovery: www.ZenniOptical.com.

ZenniOptical.com they sell prescription eye glasses online for unbelievable prices starting as low as $8, no gimmick. They have a huge selection of frames, with single vision lens, photo chromatic lens, tinted sunglasses, bifocal lens and progressive lens. Try to get the glasses from Lens Crafters, just the frame alone costs $100.00.

ZenniOptical says the secret for their low prices is they manufacture it themselves and sell it directly and there is no middlemen. In this link I found eyeglasses for only $8.00, plus they have free UV protection on the glass, including shipping it costs only $12.95. That’s a great deal, once I get my prescription, I am going to buy this and will add more comments soon.

This is a paid post for Payperpost.com.

Memory Card sends images wirelessly from Cameras to Computers

Eye-Fi Secure Digital Card. Photo: Amazon

A memory card get rids of USB cables and cradles to transfer pictures from the Digital Cameras to the Computer with a Wi-Fi option built inside the card. It transfers images wirelessly from the card directly to the computer.

Eye-Fi Inc.’s new wireless card technology won the prize at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for the top spot in the traditional Last Gadget Standing session. The contest is conducted by Yahoo Inc.’s technology section. The winner is announced by the volume of the audience applause, which the Eye-Fi wireless card won handily.

The Eye-Fi card is currently available in major online stores like Amazon.com for $99.00, has 2GB memory capacity and uses Wi-Fi to send pictures to computers and photo-sharing web sites (probably via an intermediary desktop application).

The technical details of this card from Amazon.com are as follows:

• Uploads photos automatically from Eye-Fi Card inside your camera. Built-in Wi-Fi connects to your home network
• Provides free and unlimited photo uploads to your computer and your favorite photo or social networking website. Photo transmission is secure and private
• Supports sharing and printing websites, including Fotki, Shutterfly, dotPhoto, webshots, phanfare, Picasa Web albums, flickr, TypePad, Wal-Mart, snapfish, VOX, smugmug, facebook, photobucket, Kodak Gallery, and Sharpcast
• Handles full-resolution jpeg images and intelligently re-sizes photos if limited by your chosen photo or social networking website
• Fits digital cameras that use SD memory cards and offers 2 GB of memory to store photos on the card.

Eye-Fi seems to work with all standard cameras that accept SD memory card. I hope they bring this technology to other memory card types including the various SD memory card types such as the Micro SD and Mini SD cards.

Eye-Fi had good competition at the CES and it beat out rivals such as a golf simulator, a wireless projector from Toshiba Corp., the Sansa TakeTV, a USB memory stick from SanDisk Corp. that transfers video from the Internet to the TV and the Looj, a $99 gutter cleaning robot from iRobot Corp (which won the contest in CES 2002 for its Roomba Vacuum).

Other previous winners include General Motors Corp.’s OnStar GPS service. This win doesn’t automatically make them a winner in the market but will give bragging rights. This Eye-Fi technology, consumers would love to have and get rid of cable and cradle connections. If they transmit data also, it will be great, then users can transmit their mobile, Palm, iPhone and Blackberry data to their computers.

Edmund Hillary dies

Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay. Photo: Koaching.com.

The legend Sir Edmund Hillary died this morning at the age of 88. His death news was announced today by the New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark. He and Tenzing Norgay were the first ones to climb the Mt. Everest.

Sir Edmund Hillary may have died but his achievements will never die. He became the first person to reach Mt. Everest along with his sherpa Tenzing Norgay on June 2, 1953. The New Zealand Prime Minister announced his death today.

Sir Hillary was chosen for the 1953 British expedition led by former commando Colonel John Hunt to climb Mt. Everest because of his agility and speed climbing. The expedition was done very secretly, they were announced only after the duo Hillary and Tenzing finished climbing the top.

Since then, many have climbed the 8,848m tallest Summit in the world, but he will always be remembered fondly.

Ms Clark said today that the passing of Sir Edmund Hillary was a big loss to New Zealand. She said in a statement.

My thoughts are with Lady Hillary, Sir Edmund's children, wider family, and close friends at this sad time…Sir Ed described himself as an average New Zealander with modest abilities. In reality, he was a colossus. He was a heroic figure who not only ‘knocked off' Everest but lived a life of determination, humility, and generosity.

She also said:

The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived. But most of all he was a quintessential Kiwi. He was ours - from his craggy appearance and laconic style to his directness and honesty. All New Zealanders will deeply mourn his passing.

She said Sir Hillary will also be remembered for his charity work, he helped support the development for the Sherpa people of the Himalayas region. He helped build the Himalayan Trust in the early 1960s and helped raise funds and builds schools and hospitals in the mountains.

He remained humble despite being popular in the world.

Ms. Clark said:

The legacy of Sir Edmund Hillary will live on. His exploits continue to inspire new generations of New Zealanders, as they have for more than half a century already,"

He is not only an icon in New Zealand but also through out the world, he is and will be adored by all for a long time to come. Rest in Peace, Sir Edmund Hillary.

The Best Weight Loss Surgery?

Are you conscious about being over weight? If so then you should check this simple non-invasive weight loss surgery called Lap-Band® System from JourneyLite. It is the safest, proven weight loss surgery technique in the market today. All the diet plans offered in the market promise to do an effective job, but they usually work only for a short period. By the time you finish the diet plan, your weight resurfaces. Whereas this Lap-Ban offers a simple surgery and you can walk out of the clinic the same day and help control the weight effectively for a long period. Besides, it is completely reversible and adjustable for life.

You can check the working process of this Lap-Band weight loss surgery with a movie animation here.

Enroll in the free Lap-Band Surgery seminar here. They offer a ton of tips and you can clarify any doubts you have there.

This is a paid post for Payperpost.com.

Everex debuts $399 ultramobile PC at CES

Everex released a low-cost PC for $199 during the holiday season, and the company is now unveiling an ultramobile version at the Consumer and Electronics Show for $399. The Linux system has a wireless Internet connection and many free programs.

The Everex PC launch during the holiday season was a big hit at Walmart.com -- it sold out very quickly.

The company is now reportedly planning to launch a cheap ultramobile version computer for $399. They displayed this model at CES and will launch it later this year.

The ultramobile PC called Everex CloudBook will use the open source Linux Operating system and will have gOS based on Ubuntu 7.1 Linux desktop. Though it is called a Google Operating System, it is not endorsed by Google. It will use Linux with all the free Google programs pre-installed on the computer.

The CloudBook has a 1.2GHz C7-M ULV processor, the same as the PC version the company released earlier. The CloudBook will be mainly used for Internet browsing and won’t be suitable for heavy-duty graphic applications.

The ultramobile PC will use the following software or links to the programs' websites: FireFox, gMail, Meebo, Skype, Google Documents & Spreadsheets, Google Calendar, Google News, Google Maps, Wikipedia, Google Product Search, GIMP, Blogger, YouTube, Xine Movie Player, RhythmBox, Faqly, Facebook and OpenOffice.org 2.3.

If you add to the thousands of free programs available on the Web, you can do almost anything that your current computer does without investing heavily on either the operating system or software programs from Microsoft or Apple.

As ZDNet reports:

The unit weighs 2 pounds and is 9.06 x 6.73 x 1.16 inches. It has a 7-inch TFT screen with 800 x 480 native resolution, and has a 30 GB drive and 512 MB of DDR2 533MHz SDRAM. The CloudBook averages 5 hours of battery life with its lithium-ion battery, according to the company, and also includes a 1.3-megapixel Webcam.

For input and output, the Cloudbook includes a DVI-I port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a RJ45 Ethernet port, headphone/line out jack, microphone/line in jack and 4-in-1 media card reader. For connectivity it offers 802.11b/g and Ethernet.

Apple is also reportedly planning to launch an ultramobile PC, but their version will likely be expensive so companies like Everex and Asus will be doing well in this product area.

Asus is already selling a similar version for $382 at Amazon and it has earned great reviews. This article about Asus shows the direction in which this ultramobile market segment is heading.

I think this ultramobile PC is excellent for families who would like to have an additional computer that won't break the bank, and also for users who would like to carry a PC with them wherever they go.

End Times Prophecy for Islam and Jews

My friend recommended reading this book, Islam in the End Times by Ellis Skolfield, talks in detail about the prophecies in Daniel and Revelation and how it clearly correlates with current events and end times prophecy for Islam and Jews. He expertly maps ancient prophecies with current events and how Islamic aggression (from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Islamic terrorists) against the World and Israel relates to the exact year of the beginning of the end. They pose major problems for the Christianity world than other forces according to Skolfield.

I checked the book review in Amazon.com; so far it has positive reviews. I will be getting this book from the local library soon and leave my unbiased comments here. If you have already read this book please leave a comment.

Increase your productivity with Google Search - Part 1

Google search provides more options than we ever use and this article will help to understand how we can use Google to improve our life and be more productive. You maybe using some of these techniques already, if you want to add more please do so in the comments.

Since this will be a large article with a number of steps, I will write this in parts. I wrote the first one here, how you can find your flight information very quickly without calling the airlines or your travel agency or airports.

Instead of doing all the steps at the Google site, try to use Firefox and Google Toolbar, but if you are comfortable with Internet Explorer, then no problems you still have Google Toolbar for Explorer. Because using a Google Toolbar eliminates the need to go to Google Search page (http://google.com) every time.

To get Local times: I use a Firefox extension called FoxClocks to find the local times of major cities, but you can also get it quickly from Google. Just enter “Time in Hong Kong” at the Google Search Box in Google Toolbar or at Google site. Google will give the results the top of the page and show the time in Hong Kong. This way you get the time faster.

Google Clocks

To find flight Information: Just type the Flight name and number in the search box, e.g. Qantas 73, it will give you the current status of the flight. Read more about it here.

Google Checks Flight Status

To use it as a Calculator: With Google search you can convert currency, units and other information. For example you want to find the latest currency rate for a dollar in pounds, then just type “1 Dollar in British Pounds”.

Google Calculator

ID People with Image Search: Since almost everyone is dealing internationally either for business or personal reasons, most blogs, social sites are international in nature. Some times we come across names and not sure whether they are male or female. So a simple way to find it is via Google Image search. For example you want to know the name “Sandhya” is male or female. Just go to image search and type “Sandhya” you will see images of Sandhya that will give you an idea whether it is a female or male’s name. I have frequent problems, hopefully this solution will help in the future.

Google ID Search

Find Movie Information: Do you want to find quick information about the movies, show times, details, ratings, etc., then you can do a quick Google Search. Type any movie in Google Search and it will provide search results tailored to your local area. For example if you type National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

Google Movies Search

Hope you find these tips useful, I will add more tips in the coming days. With Google Search you eliminate an additional step or link. If you use Google Toolbar, then you can eliminate two steps, one going to Google Search and then going to another link.

China Invests $1.4 Billion on Nuclear Fusion

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. Photo: Iter.org

China has invested a big chunk of funds for the joint International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor worth $1.4 billion dollars and a 10% stake in this project. China's main reason for this investment is to switch to a cleaner power source.

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is a joint international research and development project to develop a nuclear fusion reactor. The major partners for this international project include European Union (represented by EURATOM), Japan, USA, India, Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation and the new entrant China.

This ITER fusion reactor will be constructed in Europe at Cadarache in the South of France. Once it is successful, the technologies will be transferred to the participating countries.

China wants to be involved deeply in this process, so it has committed in a big way by investing $1.4 billon dollars. China is one of the leading polluters in the world, so moving to nuclear fusion from coal power makes sense.

The Sun and the stars are powered by the nuclear fusion process and able to provide unlimited energy. If the ITER is able to replicate it on Earth and run the process well without any difficulties, then it will be able to provide a clean and cheap form of unlimited energy and help rely less on petroleum.

Nuclear fusion is more efficient than nuclear fission processes that are used now in nuclear industries and also produce less nuclear waste. However, creating a nuclear fusion process is not easy and has been a major challenge for a number of years. But investments like China’s will help the research and development and hopefully create commercial nuclear fusion reactors soon.

Here is a good video about Nuclear Fusion process.

Magellan Partners With Google On GPS Device

The new Magellan GPS Device will have Google services. Photo ZDnet.com

Magellan Navigation Inc. is working with search giant Google to add Google services to its new GPS device. The user will be able to see live traffic data and search local business listings via the device.

The new Magellan Maestro Elite 5340 + GPRS will be unveiled at next week’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Magellan will partner with Google to provide many of Google’s services for this device.

The Magellan device will have GPRS cellular capability through which the customers can get up to date information from the web such as real time traffic conditions, location of the food place etc.,

In previous devices, all the data is already embedded so the user will be restricted to the available choices only, whereas with the new one, they will be able to look for new and specific business information.

When the user types “Pizza” on Google in Magellan, they will be provided with relevant results near their current locations including web based recommendations. Users can also send information wirelessly to their devices, the places they see from other computers.

However, these features doesn’t come cheap, the users have to shell out $1,299 for this Maestro Elite 5340 + GPRS and a monthly fee for the GPRS service.

This will help both the Magellan and Google; Magellan will be able to add services such as live traffic services and updated business information, that it can’t do it by itself, while Google can improve its Maps and local search services with this partnership.

If they add this service for other Magellan devices, GPS devices also, it will be a good one combining the best of worlds, GPS and the web.

Sky Farm Proposed for Downtown Toronto

A Sky Farm is proposed for downtown Toronto's theatre district. It will have 58 floors with 8 million square foot of growing area. It can produce as much as a thousand acre farm.

A Sky Farm designed by Gordon Graff is being proposed for downtown Toronto’s theatre district. It will have 58 floors with 2.7 million square feet of floor area and 8 million square feet of growing area. It can produce as much as a thousand acre farm, feeding 35 thousand people per year and providing various vegetable such as green beans, soybeans, spinach, carrots, lettuce etc.,



With this indoor farming, there are no worries of weather related crop failures, diseases spread by livestock or polluted water being fed to plants. If every city has such Sky Farm, then it can eliminate food transportation from other cities. In New York for example, gets all the fresh vegetables and fruits from other cities, with no room for growing them inside the city. With Sky Farms they can produce on their own.

Skyscraper farms can operate year-round with artificial lighting, so, on an average, one indoor acre is the equivalent to between four and six outdoors, and companies are vying to reap the financial rewards that come from this increased efficiency.

New York is also planning to do a similar system called “Vertical Farming” producing fruit, vegetables, and grains and also generating clean energy and purifying wastewater.



In New York, waste water is taken from the city’s sewage system is treated through series of filters, then is sterilized yielding gray water. This water is not drinkable but can be used for watering the plants and irrigation. It is estimated that the city throws away 1.4 billion gallons of treated waste water into the river, so this water can be used for irrigation in Vertical Farming. Thus they consider farming indoors not only to grow fresh vegetables and fruits, but also it is an urban battery, takes waste water and solar energy and produces food, clean water and electricity.

It is a novel concept, I think it will solve a lot of urban problems in the city. It can be done in rural areas also on a smaller scale.

Florida’s Northeast Coast – a Great Diverse Vacation Place

For winter vacation, everyone chooses to go to either Florida or Las Vegas including Southern California coasts. But Florida is a much better vacation place than the others, especially the Florida’s Northeast coastline from Amelia Island, southward through Jacksonville, Clay County and on to St. Augustine. You will find so many things to do; just one week wouldn’t be enough. After you read this article you will know why.

This Florida’s Northeast Coast is so diverse; it will take many pages to describe it. The coast area combines America’s oldest European Settlement with one of the nation’s leading modern seaports. Plus it has a number of small towns each has a distinct flavor from the migrants from various parts of the world, each bringing their cultural flavor to Florida. One such area is St. Augustine Beach, that place alone will take three, four days to experience the various museums, arts, festivals etc.,

Here are my top 10 reasons you should visit Florida’s Northeast Coast. They are:

1.) Music: A Tribute to Louis Armstrong in Clay County on May 10, 2008- On this day, the most famous Louis Armstrong songs will be played by Marcus Belgrave and his eight member band in the Trasher-Horne Center as a special tribute to the great musician.

2.) Flagler County – You want to unwind and you need a good place to relax, then you can have come to the right place, there is a beautiful beach in Flagler County you can just relax.

3.) St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park is another must see place, there are more than 23 species of crocodiles here. It is a fun place for families as well as couples. See some of the rare alligators there.

4.) Bulow Plantation Ruins State Park, it has some of the 18^th and 19^th century sugar mill, slave cabins etc, has rich history one should revisit.

5.) Historic Fernandina Beach. There are plenty of beaches in Florida’s Northeast coast, but this one is a must see in Amelia Island.

6.) The Colonial Spanish Quarter is a living history museum, Costumed interpreters relive a time when St. Augustine was a remote outpost of the Spanish Empire. The Colonial Spanish Quarter shows the life of Spanish soldiers and their families in 1740 St. Augustine.

7.) Jacksonville's Beaches, it has almost twenty miles of wide, beautiful beaches. You can have loads of fun at Mayport, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach and Jacksonville Beach.

8.) Springing the Blues Annual – If you love Blues, then this is a must see one, it is on April 4th - 6th, 2008 and has the largest free outdoor blues music festival in the Southeast.

9.) Museums, there are hundreds of Museums in Florida; they are just not the museums every city has. They have nature, history, science, fine and contemporary art type of Museums.

10.) What is Florida without Gourmet food? You should visit Matthew's Restaurant at San Marco, it is one of Jacksonville's most distinctive, gourmet restaurants.

It is just not Disney World and coastal area in Florida, there are more, one should experience it, than reading about it. Click Here For More Information on Florida's Northeast Coast.

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Treecycling Christmas Trees Made Simple

Recycle Christmas Trees Logo. Photo Earth911.org

The Christmas season is over, and instead of dumping the tree with other trash in the dumpster, Earth911.org recommends a simple recycling method. It provides more than 4,000 tree recycling options nationwide.

When your Christmas tree is dumped in trash takes a long time to biodegrade in a landfill due to lack of oxygen, so Earth911.org suggests alternate and simple recycling options that are available all across the United States.

You can search the nearest location for drop off centers, pick-up programs and other treecycling events here. It provides a list of addresses, phone numbers and maps for easy access.

It also provides tips and tools for a sustainable season here.

Earth911.org doesn’t recommend artificial trees for recycling, since some of them might contain lead. Instead, they suggest disposing of them with other household hazardous products.

Christmas trees are recycled for a number of uses such as wood chippings (which can be used as Mulch in the garden), beachfront erosion prevention, shoreline stabilization, fish habitat and sedimentation management.

According to Earth911, for every Christmas tree turned in, they plant at least three seedlings in its place for the following year.

For more information, please contact:
Trey Granger, Earth911.org
tgranger@earth911.org
(480) 337-3326

You can use the above links not only to recycle Christmas trees but all other trees in your backyard or garden as well.

Equipment Financing for Small and Medium Businesses Made Simple

My friend has incredible ideas and I am sure it will be a best seller not only in the US but worldwide, but the only problem he has is financing his operation. And it doesn’t require major finance. He is contacting various banks and I hope he succeeds in this venture.

For a small and medium business, Financing is the single most concern they have to overcome. And trying to get financing from the banks is a hassle, especially if they need equipment financing like my friend to kick start their business. That is where Crest Capital financing steps in and assist such companies to concentrate more on their businesses and less on financial worries.

Crest Capital makes the whole application process simple and less cumbersome, and you will get the decisions right away and not have to wait impatiently for weeks. They are in operation since 1989, so have excellent experience and provide financing in various areas such as equipment financing, vehicle financing, furniture and software loans for a variety of industries.

You can get a quick instant quote here and judge for yourself how effective they are. If you are a small and medium business, you will find this Crest Capital financing very helpful especially at the early stages, where you want a quick start and fewer obstacles.

This is a paid post for Payperpost.com.

Suggestions for Google Services

Google provides the following links where you can make your suggestions or improvements. In most cases they implement these features very soon. They also take a poll from the users which features they need the most and use the feedback to implement them in the next version. The lists also provides hints about the future updates according to Google Operating System.

• Google Docs
• Gmail
• Picasa
• Picasa Web Albums
• Google Talk
• Google Calendar
• Google Apps
• Google Groups
• Google Pack
• Google Desktop

Ref: Google Operating System.

10 Most Magnificent Trees in the World

Magnificient trees of the World.

This is a compilation of some of the best trees that are thriving in the world, locations and details about these trees. They look great, some of the tree's locations are not displayed so as to prevent the vandals from destroying. I will just list a few so as not too occupy too much space. You can click the link above for more pictures and details:

10. Lone Cypress in Monterey



Cypress tree, Pebble Beach, Monterey Peninsula. Just the isolation makes this tree more beautiful.

9. Circus Trees

This tree is the work of the nature as well as the bean farmer Axel Erlandson, he pruned, grafted this tree from six sycamore trees. His circus trees was secret, he didn't tell anyone how he made them, so no one knows how he did this.



8. Giant Sequoias: General Sherman



These are Giant Sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum), grow in Sierra Nevada California, are the world's biggest trees in volume, one tree General Sherman shown here is approximately 2,200 years old.

7. Coast Redwood: Hyperion and Drive-Thru Trees


These are Redwood trees, the tallest trees in the word, some measure over 370 feet tall.
Chandelier Tree.

6. Chapel-Oak of Allouville-Bellefosse


Chapel-Oak of Allouville-Bellefosse

The Chêne-Chapelle (Chapel-Oak) of Allouville-Bellefosse is the most famous tree in France, it is a building and religious monument in one.

In 1669, l’Abbe du Detroit and du Cerceau decided to build a chapel, a 500 years old Oak (Quercus robur) tree made hollow by a lightning bolt.

5. Quaking Aspen: Pando (The Trembling Giant)


Quaking Aspen in winter

Pando or the Trembling Giant in Utah is actually a colony of a single Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides) tree. All the trees in this colony are all part of a single living organism with an enormous underground root system.

4. Montezuma Cypress: The Tule Tree


Full width of the Tule Tree

El Árbol del Tule ("The Tule Tree") is an especially large Montezuma cypress (Taxodium mucronatum) near the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. Local legends say that you can make out animals like jaguars and elephants in the trunk, giving the tree the nickname of "the Tree of Life"

3. Banyan Tree: Sri Maha Bodhi Tree

The Banyan tree is named after "banians" or Hindu traders who carry out their business under the tree. The shape of the giant tree is unmistakable, it has a majestic canopy with aerial roots running from the branches to the ground.


Banyan tree

2. Bristlecone Pine: Methuselah and Prometheus, the Oldest Trees in the World.


Methuselah Grove

This Bristlecone Pine is the oldest living tree in the world is a White Mountains, California, bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) named Methuselah, after the Biblical figure who lived to 969 years old. The Methuselah tree is 4,838 years old, it is not only the oldest tree but also the oldest living non-clonal organism in the world.

1. Baobab

The amazing baobab (Adansonia) or monkey bread tree can grow up to nearly 100 feet (30 m) tall and 35 feet (11 m) wide. The most interesting feature is its swollen trunk are water storage tanks. It can store upto 31,700 gallon (120,000 liters) of water under harsh conditions. Their defining characteristic: their swollen trunk are actually water storage - the baobab tree can store as much as 31,700 gallon (120,000 l) of water to endure harsh drought conditions. They are native to Madagascar, Africa and Australia.



There are more pictures in the links, they are just amazing to see, what nature holds, I learned a few lessons about them today.

Do you have any local trees or know about special trees that should be in this list?

Ref: neatorama.com

Baby planet spotted near faraway sun

This computer graphic shows the newly discovered young, massive planet around the its host star TW Hydrae. The planet orbits its active host star inside the inner hole of a dusty circumstellar disk. Credit Johny Setiawan/MPIA. Photo Courtesy Space.com

Astronomers have discovered the youngest planet so far circling a sun like star. Scientists hope to understand how planets are formed by studying this ten million years old planet.

The planet named TW Hydrae b was discovered by Johny Setiawan of the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany and his colleagues. The planet’s age is estimated to be 8 to 10 million years old. Earth is 4.5 billion years old, so they consider this TW Hydrae B as a baby planet.

Till now the youngest planet, scientists were able to find were either 100 million years old or more, so this discovery will help them understand how the planets are formed (and how our Earth was formed).

The newly found world is so infantile that it resides in the star's "protoplanetary disk," a ring of gas and dust circling the star.

Alan Boss, a planet-formation theorist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is excited with the discovery and said it will lead to focus on young stars and find more planets in the process.

The Hydrae b planet weighs nearly 10 times the weight of planet Jupiter and circles at a distance of 0.04 Astronomical units (AU, where 1 AU is the average distance between the Sun and the Earth) from its parent star. It takes the planet about 3.56 days to orbit the star according to Setiawan and his associates.

They have published their work in the Thursday's issue of the journal Nature. They say their work demonstrates that planets can form within 10 million years, before the disk has been dissipated by stellar winds and radiation,.

Astronomers believe planets are formed within disks of dust and gas around newly born stars. So identifying a young star will help them understand the crucial process of planet formation.

Planets are thought to form within disks of dust and gas around newly born stars. Catching a planet in its childhood can give astronomers lots of information about how planets materialize.

Johny Setiawan of the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany told Space.com:

The discovery shows that what we always call as 'protoplanetary' disks are indeed protoplanetary; they form planets…There are many 'protoplanetary' disks detected around young stars, but no planets so far have been detected within such young systems."

Others have studied young stars and have found signs of planet by noting lanes of dust within disks. They think the planets are scooping up the dust and form as planets eventually but so far they haven’t detected planets in young stars until now.

Setiawan and colleagues discovered their new world by measuring a wobble in the host star due to the gravitational tug from the orbiting planet. This so-called radial-velocity method is great at detecting extrasolar planets, but it also can produce false positives — suggesting a planet is there when in fact the data owe to some other object or phenomenon.

When the star is just forming, there will be disturbances in it from a number of sources besides the planet that is creating the wobble, so one has to eliminate those sources before confirming the source as a planet. Boss who analyzed Setiawan’s work believes that they have done a credible job by eliminating extraneous sources and discovering this planet Hydrae TW b.

Hopefully in the next century mankind will be advanced enough to send satellites to study such planets.

Protect your valuable iPod with a Cover and a Screen Protector

The iPods and iPhones have become quite popular last year and I am sure it will continue strong this year as well. I plan to buy iPod Touch very soon. I use a Smartphone but I use Leather case and a screen protector, but many of my friends who have iPods, don’t have either a case or a screen protector. I could see how their iPods has scratches and nicks, and their screen with thumb prints all over.

If you pay a high price for a device, you should also buy some basic stuff like a cover and a screen protector to protect your device from accidental bumps, nicks, scratches etc., You should have an ipod case like this shown below.

InvisibleSHIELD cover for iPod.

It is called invisibleSHIELD™, a tough clear film that will shield your iPod from scratches and since it is durable, your iPod will look brand new like the one you bought it the first time even after prolonged use. The invisibleSHIELD will take up bulk of the hit and safeguard your iPod.

It seems this technology originated from the military use, which was used to protect the leading edges of helicopter blades from getting scratched by rocks and debris. Your iPod will not go as much stress as the Helicopter but you can be rest assured it will protect your iPod.

Plus it is not bulky, it is custom made for your iPod and will fit perfectly with it. And the size of the invisibleSHIELD is only 0.2 millimeter in thickness, so it won’t add bulk to your iPod. It has a lifetime warranty and if it breaks down, they will replace it for free. They have both a cover as shown in the picture above and a screen protector for your iPod.

Here is a demo of how this invisibleSHIELD works.

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JK Rowling may write another Harry Potter novel

JK Rowling says she is tempted to write an eighth Harry Potter book, but she said it may take years before it is released and Harry Potter may not be the main character in it.

After Rowling released her seventh book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, she said that she will no longer write any more Harry Potter novels. Recently, Rowling released a limited edition hand written book, “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” with characters based on Harry Potter books. But now she seems to have changed her mind and may write an eighth Harry Potter book.

She told Times magazine she is feeling tempted to write this eighth book:

There have been times since finishing, weak moments, when I've said: 'Yeah, all right' to the eighth novel,"

Rowling said if she ever ends up writing this eighth novel, Potter may not be the central character in it. She said Harry Potter’s story has already been narrated enough. She probably wants to focus on other characters.

She is not planning to write this book anytime soon and said it may take her 10 years to write it.

The article says she is currently involved in writing an adult novel.

Harry Potter fans will be pleased about this news, but I doubt they can wait 10 years for it, they may demand Rowling to release it sooner. Also, she should release the handwritten book “The Tales of Beedle the Bard”, for the general public, why keep it exclusive only for a few?

Secure Connectivity Practices for Businesses

I work for a company and I assist web design on a daily basis as well as for my own website. We primarily use FTP as the only method to transfer the files, databases and other files. And most of the small and medium enterprises uses FTP as well, mainly because it is readily available, very inexpensive, simple to use and no advanced technical requirements necessary. But do you know FTP is also most vulnerable?

Hackers can easily monitor or sniff the data and put your company in trouble. There are many packet sniffing technology that are available, an intruder can easily get access to sensitive financial information about your employees and clients. They can easily capture username and password and other details that are transmitted without any secure encryption process. That is why any company should use a secure server such as the SSH Server from Pragma Systems.

Pragma Systems is a privately help corporation based in Austin, Texas. They use FortessSSH Server, which has a Secure FTP server built in to transmit files and data. You can use any Windows, Apple, Workstation, PDA and Laptops to securely send data and FTP from one source to another. That way you can protect your company’s data and stop worrying about hackers and instead focus your energy in building your company. I have recommended this server to my boss, let us see whether they will accept it or not.

If you need more details about the SSH Server, you can contact them here or call them at 800.224.1675.

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