Archive for June, 2008
Monday, June 30th, 2008
There’s been no slow down in the laptop business. So high demand but low supply according to what manufacturers are anticipating. Many have predicted laptop computers to be in demand but its incredible that theres been no slow down. It’s a rapidly changing industry that is witnessing new trends all the time.
With all the new advances in technology gaming notebooks have benefitted a great amount in my opinion. These laptops are also increasing in value because of the fierce competition faced from cheap laptops. I think notebooks are a adequate option for playing games. Maybe not exactly for the extreme but they’re excellent for the rest of us. A few of the obstacles like heat and noise still exist to a point but barely in the average models. The chassis’s are also pretty slick. Even though gaming notebooks have evolved in numerous aspects, in relation to raw power they still cannot contend with desktops. Gaming notebooks are the yardstick of speed for the notebook business and it will be interesting to see how the next technology performs.
Power laptops are normally custom built to the users spec. The major advantages here are the fact that you can commonly get higher performing third party components in custom notebooks. Specialist market benefit because they only have aquire what they require. Those laptops found in stores are for typical activities. For the hardcore consumers, custom notebooks fill the gap. You can find of manufacturers who sell direct so there is a lot of choice as well. Yet a further great point.
It’s exciting to see more powerful laptop computers being released every year. MiD’s look to be a growing market as of now. I was not predicting vast amounts of consumers to like the device. People would like to have large screen umpc’s if that sounds right. I’m sure that companies already have their designs made up. Laptops for gaming enthusiats will get sleeker, that’s for certain. Even though laptop technology follows plans theres always going to be a product that changes all that.
Rizeon sell a couple of the best laptop computers at this point in time.
Posted in Technology Hall | Comments Off
Saturday, June 28th, 2008
Ahhhh, the South Pacific! I have dreamed since I was a little kid to visit the islands, swim in the blue lagoon waters, bask in the sunshine, … This all came true recently. We spent a few weeks in French Polynesia. Our first stop was Moorea. We did not want to completely empty our bank account so we opted not to stay in one of the large resorts with over the water bungalows. One night at these places would have cost us more than our entire stay in Moorea. Here is what we though of Linareva ….
We arrived by plane from Tahiti early in the morning. We had previously organized transfer to Linareva. Upon our arrival we were immediately greeted with the wodnerful location of Linareva. The water was smooth as glass, there were more colorful fish here than in most aquariums and the backdrop with the vulcanic peaks amazed us. Our selection was for a room with air-conditioning (recommended). It can get hot here and some cool air is welcome. The hut or the Tahitian grass “fare”, as they call it, that we had was very basic. It did have all the ammenities we wanted but they were modest. At night, we were bothered by all sorts of bugs, like large cockroaches, spiders and the like. Sort of interrupted our sleep if you know what I mean … We did not mind the geckos … The small kitchen that was included proved valuable since around here there are no restaurants (apart from the one owned by Linareva). We opted not to have the breakfast included (it did not include much protein which we need). Instead, we would bike to the nearest grocery store, buy eggs, baguettes, cheese, milk etc. and prepare it ourselves. There is a small eating area outside the fare overlooking the Pacific. The beach here was not that great. We would paddle out to the reef and swim in the most wonderful blue waters there. There is a nice swimming area by the small pier. You will swim along side very exotic fish here. Kayaks and bikes at Linareva are free for guests. Bikes are really crappy though. The reception is on the restaurant boat. At night, there did not seem to be anyone there. This was a bit weird being usually used to having a 24 hour reception at your disposal.
Nature is beautiful around Linareva. Unlike most places on Moorea, here you might be the only person in the water, enjoying the scenery for yourself. There is a certain seclusion. Sunsets are some of the best anywhere I have been to in the world. If you like this and do not mind the bugs this is a place for you. We appreciated it more; the more we stayed here. It definitely felt like we were at least somewhat submerged in the South Pacific lifestyle … Recommended for people who would like to taste a bit of real South Pacific
Michael Philip is one of the editors and contributors for the SeeTheGlobe.com web site. SeeTheGlobe.com is a travel information web site and community. Reviews of restaurants, hotels, airlines and other travel resources are provided from first hand accounts.
Residence Linareva
1.5km North of Happiti
PK 34,5
Moorea, Tahiti
(689) 55.05.65
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Friday, June 27th, 2008
How often does your company make a quantum leap forward? My guess is that, on a scale from “frequently (10) – to – never (1)” the answer is much closer to “never” because few companies have a process to innovate or think creatively. Very few attempt to formally think through their business model, their relationships with staff, clients, and vendors, and their product / service offerings.
Most companies just follow the leaders in their industry. They continue to exist because they provide products and services in client-friendly, efficient manner. Without a culture and processes to foster innovation and creativity, they are stuck in a mode of growth based on population increase, customer loyalty, and inertia. They can’t leap forward because they are held back by their “stuckness.”
Leaping forward takes innovation, creativity, a culture of stretching boundaries, and a tolerance for limited risk. Innovation and creativity stretches the company and builds excitement within. The energy of that excitement is transformative. Great things can happen when a company becomes an innovative leader.
Unfortunately one cannot just “snap your fingers” and transform a “me too” company into one that grows and inspires by fostering creativity and innovation. It is a slow process in the beginning of the transformation. It starts when top management starts pulling the company into the realm of leaping forward by imagining the possibilities of an innovative future.
What would it take to make your company became an innovative industry leader? The obvious place to start is to ask whether you have an environment that supports innovation, a process for evaluating opportunities, and a system to implement change while minimizing risk. Start slowly by holding a series of short “innovative thinking” meetings on conceptual, long-term subjects to discover what you might accomplish if you innovate. Realize this might be a multi-year task. Then start developing that process towards the road of innovation, creative thinking, and ultimately, quantum leaps forward. The day to start towards those leaps forward is today.
Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the long-running (every Sunday since November 2001) business column, “Front Lines with Larry Galler” Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.larrygaller.com
Questions? Send an email to larry@larrygaller.com
Posted in Management Parlor | Comments Off
Friday, June 27th, 2008
There’s a new way to clean your toilet and you’ll never have to scrub it again. No matter if you are male or female no one likes cleaning the inside of that porcelain bowl, not even if it was already clean and shiny. Am I right? Cleaning toilets is a disgusting job, but now things got a whole lot more fun.
Kaboom has made a neverscrub toilet kit that will leave you happy and smiling once again. This kit comes with refillable cartridge that works for up to 5 months. You can easily snap this on the inside of your tank and never have to scrub the toilet again, well never as long as you replace the kit in five months. Basically it works like magic, you flush the toilet and it will clean it for you. Easy right? It even cleans the grim for those that forget to flush the toilet.
Oh and for those of you that get rust in your pipes and toilet you won’t have to worry, it takes care of that as well. The Kaboom neverscrub actually kicks the toilet’s butt when it comes to clean and makes life a whole lot easier for you.
Posted in Better Sales, Hall Of Shopping, The Zen Of Home Improvement | Comments Off
Thursday, June 26th, 2008
Play all the best bet betonsports.com sports games at our virtual tables.
Relate two of everybody’s ultimate leisure actvities and you have got is a trend termed a sportsbook bets web location. And really, what could be more resourceful? If you imagine a band of fellas clapping for a given preferred players, and almost always lays will be placed in addition to the din. Because they want to catch more of the exhilaration, spectators will regularly attempt to anticipate who is most likely to win the forthcoming meetup. Put together, this all boils down to a warmhearted meetup called sportsbook bets web location.
In order to bet, you should look up a sportsbook bets web location, i.e. a place that tenders sportsbook bets web location. In the US, there are no less than four states where to go for sports betting absolutely legally, but illegally you may go for it practically anywhere if you can pinpoint a bookie *and* happen to be of age. Included among the games you have a choice of betting on are professional and, likewise, college level basketball and football, pro hockey and baseball, and, likewise, dog and horse racing. You’ll be able to wager on the entire tally of a game, when any given contestant will go under, and even if a coin toss in a game will come down heads or tails.
You can get countless varieties of bets- straight bets, teasers, etc., the straight bets, where you have to pick the party you believe will make it or take a licking being the most typical in sports betting.
Why not try it out and enjoy the fun in tandem? But take pains to ensure that you won’t get overwhelmed and expend your total social security checks on a quirk! Because else could be you will end up in grief for the rest of your life!
Posted in Miscellany, Universe Of Gambling | Comments Off
Friday, June 20th, 2008
There is no doubt in my mind; Adobe Photoshop is the greatest Photo editing program in the world. Whether you are a novice or an expert Photoshop is the program for you. Photoshop is used by my children and by the movie making industry. So what exactly can I do with Photoshop? The better question is what can’t you do with Photoshop?
Today I would like to talk about the simple little function in Photoshop called ‘Levels’, the first step to improving the appearance of a photograph. There are 4 basic steps taken to enhance, brighten or retouch photos are Levels, Brightness, Variations, and Saturation, in that order.
“The Levels dialog box lets you correct the tonal range and color balance of an image by adjusting intensity levels of the image’s shadows, midtones, and highlights. The Levels histogram serves as a visual guide for adjusting the image’s key tones.” Adobe’s official description of levels
Screen example here: http://www.weprintcolors.com/screens/screen_ps_levels.htm
Use levels to set to darkest and lightest points or sharpen the picture. From the top menu select Image, then select Adjustments, then select Levels, or if you are a ctrl key fan click ‘ctrl l’. The histogram appears; the sliders at the bottom control brightness and contrast while the sliders above control tonal values. I said we were going to keep it simple so let’s use the sliders at the top. They appear as 3 small triangles. Start to play with them. Move them left to right and right to left while watching the changes you are making to the photograph. When you are satisfied the picture appears optimized click OK. Budda boom, you’re done. How long did that take?
That was really easy and effective. If you feel adventurous repeat the process above. This time when the levels menu appears double click on the eyedropper and target your tonal areas.
Here’s a couple of helpful tips while working with Adobe Photoshop:
Click the ‘tab key’ to clear all tool bars.
To save an image for the web click ‘cntrl, shift, alt, S’
Learn how to use the ‘automate’ feature and save valuable time.
About the Author
Robert is an online leader in graphic design and print. Online since 1999, Robert has spearheaded the success of http://www.weprintcolor.com by providing the finest online graphic design system on the web
Posted in Marketing Stuff | Comments Off
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
Like any other enterprise, casinos focus on profit. However, their undertakings are varied and diverse than any other organization. The various activities in which a casino indulges include gambling, restaurants, hotels. Gambling in itself is quite complex comprising of various card games, machines and table games. The conversion of money to chips, given the large inflow of cash and the threat of thefts, is an art in itself. Apart from all this there is a lot of manpower involved. Being a licensed body, it is subjected to tax as well. To add to all this there is periodical auditing which determines the continuance of the license. Thus, opening and monitoring a casino requires a lot of homework to be done.
Every casino, like any other organization, has a hierarchical structure. The top position in a casino can be of the owner or the Board of Directors. Generally, the casinos have some lower managers to take care of the various operations of the casino. These include the Manager of Finance, Manger of Food and Beverages, Manager of Casino Operations etc. the number of departments and managers depends on the size of the casino and the range of activities undertaken by it. Due to the huge cash flows, the accounting department of the casino is distinct from other departments. It has its own structure comprising of five levels which includes the clerks, cashiers, vault employees, financial managers, accountants and internal auditors.
An important aspect of the gambling world is law. Information regarding controlling bodies and legislations are very important while administering a casino. These enactments and regulations provide licensing procedures, gaming rules etc.
Like all other enterprises, accounting forms an integral part of the Casinos. Accounting, here aims at proper and exhaustive recording of all cash flows, prevention of theft while recording these transactions and analyzing the data for decision making. Fulfillment of all the above objectives is quite difficult as all the transactions are reported once a day and the bulk of this transaction is enormous. Fair accounting helps in an effective cost profit analyses of the casino, thus leading to better decision making. The revenue generated through the casino is an important source of income for the government. Tax acts as, both, a deterrent for gambling a source of income. Tax is imposed at the federal as well as the state level.
The accounting process of the casino is evaluated by means of auditing. While regular internal audits are important, statutory audits are also conducted by gaming control agencies. Internal audits primarily help the casino to prevent cheating. Fraudulent activities can cost a casino its license, not to mention the goodwill and customers. independent auditors check the functioning of the casinos, especially when the casino trades publicly in stock. Most of the financial activities of the casino involves certified public accountants.
Casinos are nowadays diversifying and evolving. Nevada and New Jersey are now becoming famous holiday spots for all and are no more mere gambling hubs. This diversification can prove to be profitable for the business only when the owners and proprietors are well aware of their decisions and their implications. Hence, thorough knowledge and information is a pre requisite for any profitable casino.
Mansi aggarwal writes about. casino business Learn more at http://www.casinobusinessnotes.com
Posted in Universe Of Gambling | Comments Off
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
Should the humanity be engrossed in the tragic Tsunami or should it be alert to evade further Tsunamis? No incident in one’s life is an accident. God wills and so it happens. But it doesn’t mean that God is to be blamed; we can only bow down to His will be it positive or negative. His will can’t always be pleasing to all beings. It might be a matter of happiness or sorrow.
Nature is beautiful and adorable when calm and when it is within its limits. But when it exceeds its limits and takes one step away from its routine, it is then any being hears the Earth’s grumble, Sky’s fearful dark shadow, Clouds’ shrieking transparent heavy fall, magnificent Mountain’s tilt, Fire’s silent expansion and Ocean’s growl. It is then man’s ego tends to evacuate from his being. It is then he realizes that nature ought to be revered. He begins to humbly show gratitude to the nature and in turn start praying to show mercy on the entire Life on earth.
It is difficult for an egoistic man to calm the nature and it is as well easy for a humble being to soothe it. Human being is the only being blessed with the greatest gift of Discrimination which helps him move from humanity to Divinity. When he prays to the nature to calm down, it will never remain deaf. Humility is all that matters to nature. Nature rebels in order to teach humanity how it is when he rebels and acts contrary to his conscience. If man acts deaf, nature wipes away endless lives until humanity learns the lessons of humility and gratitude. It is a lesson not only for the lives given up in the disasters but also for the ones who are alive not to exceed their limits.
It is tragic that human beings and many other creatures lost their lives in this viral Tsunami. Though they are gone, their memories will remain with us forever like eternal shadows. Peace is the only gift for any soul. So it is our in bound responsibility to pray for the peace of all the beings who lost their lives in this Tsunami.
Let us be more humble and let our hearts be filled with gratitude and love for nature. Let us not exceed our limits while living our lives. Let us not give Mother Nature a choice to rebel against her children. Let us bow down at her feet for her to show mercy on our lives. Let us pray to her so that the same nature which wiped away all the lives is tempted to give peace to the souls watching her from above. The only way humanity of any religion or faith can escape from these natural calamities is to fill the hearts with love for God and always meditate on the name and form of God. Let this Tsunami not take place anywhere, any time in any part of the globe. Let us always pray for the welfare of the whole world.
Oh Mother earth
Why did you tremble inside the ocean?
Was it for the limitless sins of humanity?
Was it for the endless ingratitude of humanity?
Was it to teach us unforgettable lesson in our lives?
Tell us oh mother earth and help us be in limits;
And don’t ever warn us any more.
Oh mighty Ocean
Why did you want to reach the rafters of the sky?
What was so tempting for you to reach higher and higher?
Why didn’t you rest on the earth habitually?
Are you also angry like mother earth who startled the humanity with its quiver?
Earth is your mother too; How ever mighty you are.
Child ought not to leave away the warmth of its mother;
And it ought to rest in the lap of its mother.
We are your children under your mercy O Mother Nature.
Forgive us this time and we shall live in gratitude all our lives.
Not until you forgive can we forgive ourselves.
Our sins have reached the sky
But let your anger not reach the sky.
Forget our sins and forgive us;
We shall forget to make mistakes and become your children once more.
If the mother scares her children,
Who else will be our resort?
Endorse peace into our lives
For us to dive deep into the ocean of Love.
“It is Nature’s nature to nurture and not to rebel. Let our nature be to nurture Nature to the fullest.”- Sharmila Sanka
About the Author
With pride that I have been blessed with a human form, I always craved to grab any opportunity in order to utilize this human birth to the fullest and at last I found the answer to my craving mind and it was no other than ‘Spirituality.’
My little heart panged for the desire to quench my thirst of ‘releasing the heaviness’ which resided inside of it since years. It hungered after the soul within asking to reveal more of life – Materialistic and Spiritual in the form of Articles and Quotations which had the sole purpose of sharing it with other human beings not for name or fame but to tame this little mind towards the higher goal of ‘Global Peace’ on this earth plane.
Sharmila Sanka
3910 SW Sycamore Street
Bentonville, AR 72712
USA
479-271-8278
sharmilasanka@yahoo.com
Posted in Miscellany | Comments Off
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
A SCIENTIST’S 20-YEAR UNFINISHED JOURNEY TO TREAT HBV MAY OPEN THE DOOR TO A NEW CLASS OF FLEXIBLE VACCINES
While preparing a lecture in biochemistry and virology for his graduate students at the University of Alberta in the early 1980s, Dr. Lorne Tyrrell ran across a study just published in the medical journal, Cell. The research by William Mason and Jesse Summers, entitled “Replication of Hepatitis B,” discussed their study of the hepatitis B virus in infected duck liver.
After studying their duck model theory, Tyrrell speculated if the hepatitis B virus (HBV) might be susceptible to antiviral agents, and consulted with a colleague, who specialized in nucleoside chemistry. Both medical professors became excited about the possibility of inhibiting the HBV virus with nucleoside analogues. Thus began the infectious disease specialist’s first leg of a journey, which led to the use of lamivudine as a therapy for chronic HBV infections.
More than 350 million people across the world, especially in Asia, now had new hope, some for their lifelong infections contracted vertically at birth from their mothers. In 2003, the Center for Disease Control estimated 73,000 Americans were infected with HBV, and about 5,000 die each year from sickness caused by HBV. It is reportedly 100 times more contagious than the AIDS virus. Many in North America, who had been infected with the virus from sexual transmission or intravenous drug use, were offered a potentially life-saving therapy.
Licensed in 1998, lamivudine is now used in 120 countries as a standard therapy for chronic HBV carriers. The compound is also used in combination with other drugs, such as protease inhibitors, for HIV therapy. Development rights were licensed to Glaxo Wellcome in 1990, which is now sold under the brand name Epivir®. For his pioneering efforts in developing the antiviral agent, Dr. Tyrrell was awarded the gold medal by the Canadian Liver Foundation and the Canadian Association for the Study of Liver in 2000. In 2005, he won the prestigious EnCana Principal Award for his development of the first effective oral medication for Hepatitis B.
HIS UNANSWERED QUESTIONS LAUNCHED A NEW HBV INVESTIGATION
Despite the awards and recognition, questions remained for Dr. Tyrrell about the shortcomings of lamivudine. He was troubled that some viruses would develop resistance to the compound. “I was disappointed the sustained viral response was not complete,” Tyrrell told us. In April 2003, the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy published a study in Japan showing, “long-term (lamivudine) therapy is associated with increased emergence of lamivudine-resistant strains of HBV.” Researchers concluded in this study, “The therapeutic challenge to effectively treat chronic HBV infection continues.”
Having screened lamivudine for use in Hepatitis B at Glaxo’s research lab at the University of Alberta, Dr. Tyrrell was able to observe the immune response of various HBV patients. “What really got me interested in doing more work in this area was that we noticed patients, who have an immune response to the virus and take lamivudine, will have a better sustained response rate,” Tyrrell explained. “A patient with elevated liver transaminases taking lamivudine had a higher probability of a sustained viral response,” Tyrrell said with excitement in his voice. “In a patient with normal liver enzymes, who gets lamivudine, the virus will go down, but as soon as you stop the therapy, the virus comes right back up.” He told us the sustained viral response is only about two to three percent. Only about 30 percent remain free of the virus, about one year after patients have stopped taking lamivudine.
“How do you break tolerance?” Tyrrell asked himself, hoping to develop a way to stimulate an immune response. All of the patients, he had observed, seemed to be tolerant of the hepatitis B virus. He pondered the dilemma, “Was there some way to break tolerance to hepatitis B by stimulating the immune response?” Tyrrell studied what others were attempting and wasn’t satisfied with the approaches others were taking to stimulate immune response. His ViRexx Medical research team brainstormed about different ways to target the antigen into the dendritic cells.
“That’s where we came in with the Chimigen technology,” Tyrrell said. “The dendritic cells have receptors on their surface that will bind the Fc portion of an antibody.” He pointed out a key feature of the Chimigen platform, “We used the Fc portion of a murine (mouse) antibody to hook onto our hepatitis B antigens. This would direct the viral antigens into dendritic cells in vivo.” Because the dendritic cells are the sentries of the immune system, they guard what comes in. Recognizing a ‘foreign situation’ in the murine antibody, it treats the whole molecule including the virus antigen as foreign.
LINK RECOGNITION MAY HOLD THE KEY
Dr. Rajan George, ViRexx Medical’s vice president of research and development, told us, “The dendritic cells chop up this protein into small pieces called peptides, also known as epitopes. The dendritic cells have a system where they put the T-cell epitope on another protein, MHC Class I, and bring it to the surface of the dendritic cell. They are presented as a complex on the surface of the dendritic cell to attract the T-cells.” When the T-cells arrive to inspect the foreign entity, the cytotoxic T-cells are activated. Then, they begin attacking and killing the virus-infected cells.
Research at Tokyo’s Cancer Institute Hospital, published in 1987 in Nippon Sanka Fujinka Gakkai Zasshi, suggested a feasibility of linked recognition of a virus antigen as a helper in tumor immunity with a target antigen. In the case of ViRexx Medical, Tyrrell’s team has created a new molecule, called “chimigen.” The term is shorthand for a chimeric antigen, meaning it is an antigen created from two different sources, part virus and part murine monoclonal antibody.
Dr. Tyrrell’s work at ViRexx Medical with Dr. George suggested the linked-recognition theory might be the key to breaking tolerance. Dr. George emphasized, “The new ‘chimigen’ stimulates an immune response to the antigen as well as the viral antigen. This is very important because the virus antigen was previously being ignored.” That brings us back to why lamivudine had limited success. The immune systems of some HBV carriers failed to recognize the viral infection as a threat to the body. Tyrell’s ViRexx Medical research team hopes the body’s immune system sees the threat, thus stimulating the immune system, and breaking tolerance. It appears Dr. Tyrell may soon find out whether or not the questions he asked will bring the answers he hoped for.
END OF PART ONE
James Finch contributes to StockInterview.com and other publications. Visit http://www.stockinterview.com to read all of his articles. Write to James Finch at jfinch@stockinterview.com
Visit http://www.virexx.com to find out more about the Chimigen(TM) platform.
Posted in Financing | Comments Off
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
Southern Africa is a fantastic country, the open landscapes buzzing with wild dogs and one of the smallest population ratios in the country. Zambia comes with some of the greatest natural scenery in Southern Africa, the lovely blend of beautiful fields, surroundings and marshlands makes the full country come to life. Not only can you be graced at the surroundings, you yourself will also be facinated at the impressive lakes and waterfalls. A real sanctuary on earth. Experience safaris in Zambia with the safari experts.
In Southern Africa one will be able to see the greatest waterfall of all, the Victoria Falls. This graceful waterfall has been a place for loads of wild dogs with lots of big cats and elephants coming to drink the cold waters that run here. Additionally make sure you see the snakes and hippos on the Zambezi River, & do not forget to book a safari guide as the river can be a little rough. you yourself may of course wish to book a photography tour in South Luangwa National Park & get yourself near with the different wildlife. On a driving tour one will view elephants & highly rare wild dogs. If you yourself are lucky enough you yourself might see a heard of giraffes with their young. The opportunity to be so close with these great animals is amazing.
Accommodation in Southern Africa should range from 5 star chain hotels right through to tents without any showers. Whichever accommodation type you yourself select you will be sure of an awesome time.
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