The Peter Lupus Hydration Challenge

From:

BE Alive! Ultra Wellness LLC
A Peter Lupus Fitness & Wellness Program Focused on Hydration, Wellness and Fundraising

Mission: Possible Hydration KITS

Hydration For Wellness Kit and Emergency Hydration Preparedness Kit

"Supporting the Personal Fitness and Individualized Wellness Goals of Youth, Faith and Educational Organizations through Fundraising Campaigns focused on Hydration and Emergency Hydration Preparedness."

For more information... email info@MyBlogAgency.com

The Peter Lupus Hydration Challenge

From:

BE Alive! Ultra Wellness LLC
A Peter Lupus Fitness & Wellness Program Focused on Hydration, Wellness and Fundraising

Mission: Possible Hydration KITS

Hydration For Wellness Kit and Emergency Hydration Preparedness Kit

"Supporting the Personal Fitness and Individualized Wellness Goals of Youth, Faith and Educational Organizations through Fundraising Campaigns focused on Hydration and Emergency Hydration Preparedness."

For more information... email info@MyBlogAgency.com

The Peter Lupus Hydration Challenge

From:

BE Alive! Ultra Wellness LLC
A Peter Lupus Fitness & Wellness Program Focused on Hydration, Wellness and Fundraising

Mission: Possible Hydration KITS

Hydration For Wellness Kit and Emergency Hydration Preparedness Kit

"Supporting the Personal Fitness and Individualized Wellness Goals of Youth, Faith and Educational Organizations through Fundraising Campaigns focused on Hydration and Emergency Hydration Preparedness."

For more information... email info@MyBlogAgency.com

The Peter Lupus Hydration Challenge

From:

BE Alive! Ultra Wellness LLC
A Peter Lupus Fitness & Wellness Program Focused on Hydration, Wellness and Fundraising

Mission: Possible Hydration KITS

Hydration For Wellness Kit and Emergency Hydration Preparedness Kit

"Supporting the Personal Fitness and Individualized Wellness Goals of Youth, Faith and Educational Organizations through Fundraising Campaigns focused on Hydration and Emergency Hydration Preparedness."

For more information... email info@MyBlogAgency.com

The Peter Lupus Hydration Challenge

From:

BE Alive! Ultra Wellness LLC
A Peter Lupus Fitness & Wellness Program Focused on Hydration, Wellness and Fundraising

Mission: Possible Hydration KITS

Hydration For Wellness Kit and Emergency Hydration Preparedness Kit

"Supporting the Personal Fitness and Individualized Wellness Goals of Youth, Faith and Educational Organizations through Fundraising Campaigns focused on Hydration and Emergency Hydration Preparedness."

For more information... email info@MyBlogAgency.com

The Peter Lupus Hydration Challenge

From:

BE Alive! Ultra Wellness LLC
A Peter Lupus Fitness & Wellness Program Focused on Hydration, Wellness and Fundraising

Mission: Possible Hydration KITS

Hydration For Wellness Kit and Emergency Hydration Preparedness Kit

"Supporting the Personal Fitness and Individualized Wellness Goals of Youth, Faith and Educational Organizations through Fundraising Campaigns focused on Hydration and Emergency Hydration Preparedness."

For more information... email info@MyBlogAgency.com

The Peter Lupus Hydration Challenge

From:

BE Alive! Ultra Wellness LLC
A Peter Lupus Fitness & Wellness Program Focused on Hydration, Wellness and Fundraising

Mission: Possible Hydration KITS

Hydration For Wellness Kit and Emergency Hydration Preparedness Kit

"Supporting the Personal Fitness and Individualized Wellness Goals of Youth, Faith and Educational Organizations through Fundraising Campaigns focused on Hydration and Emergency Hydration Preparedness."

For more information... email info@MyBlogAgency.com

The Facts of Hydration

Staying hydrated during the course of exercise is crucial because water is what delivers oxygen to the muscles, fueling them in the course of your work-out. Without adequate fluids, the cardiovascular system is strained, the probability of heat injury skyrockets, and performance is impaired.

The most serious effect of dehydration during exercise is the inability to adequately sweat and cool off. This is more serious than it sounds since the body's chief method of heat loss in a hot-dry temperature can be life threatening. In fact, 80% of heat loss happens through perspiration.

Add to this the fact that it is common for a person to dehydrate by 2%-6% of their body weight during exercise and that as little as 1% weight loss during exercise begins to impair performance. Unfortunately, feeling thirsty isn't an adequate indicator that it's time to drink. By the time a person feels thirsty they are usually dehydrated. Studies show that the average person does not drink nearly the amount of fluids required to prevent dehydration. If water or some other fluid is available, most people will drink only enough to replace 2/3 of the fluids lost.

It's surprising how quickly dehydration affects your performance. With vigorous exercise in hot or humid conditions, you can lose 2-3 liters of water per hour. For a 150 pound person, a 1% body weight loss equals slightly less than one liter. This means a dehydrated state in less than one half hour, serious effects in an hour, and a possible threat to your life and safety in two hours.

There are several ways to ensure proper hydration, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. First, start with a large drink, about 16oz., 2 hours before going out to exercise. This gives your body plenty of time to regulate its fluid levels prior to exercising and helps delay or avoid the effects of dehydration during exercise. Second, during exercise it is very important to drink before becoming thirsty and to drink at frequent intervals to replace fluid lost through sweating. It takes approximately eight fluid ounces of fluid to replace each pound of body weight lost. Third, studies show that people drink more if the drink tastes good. In other words, using a sweetened or flavored drink, such as an energy drink, decreases the likelihood of dehydrating.

Finally, and probably most important, is bringing adequate amounts of fluids with you when you exercise. Unless someone exercises in an area where drinks are available every 15 minutes or so, it's important to carry water with you. Finding a system that is comfortable and works for the sport is becoming easier all the time. Water bottles, easy to use water filters, products like the Fuel Belt, and fanny packs designed to carry water are all readily available; it's important to find a drinking system that works for you and your sport and to use it regularly. Select a drinking system that keeps water cool. The 45-55 F. range is optimal for quickest absorption and cooling of your core temperature.

Be alert to the signs of heat illness and stop exercising until you can get enough to drink and lower your body temperature. Nausea, headaches, dizziness, and a stoppage of perspiration are all indications of heat injury. The good news is that, because 60% of body weight is water, the simple act of drinking 8oz. every 15-20 minutes during exercise prevents dehydration, the resulting heat injury, and increases efficiency and performance.

Good Hydration

To keep your body full of energy and performing at its best, Good Hydration is essential

We all need around two liters of fluid a day to keep our bodies properly hydrated. Water is the medium in which most of body processes take place, and makes up about two thirds of body weight. We lose it via breath, sweat and urine.

The recommended daily two liters of fluid can come from any drinks: tea, coffee, coke, fruit juice - even beer, though we don't recommend drinking two liters of beer each day! We also get approximately half a liter from food eaten each day, about a quarter of daily needs, mostly from fruit and vegetables.
Of course, alternatives to water do tend to have more calories, so it makes sense to get at least some of our daily fluid needs from water. Also, some studies have indicated that drinking plenty of water is beneficial to the immune system; good for the skin; alleviates constipation and can reduce the risk of kidney stones.

Dehydration can make you feel tired and lethargic, and will decrease your capacity for exercise. Extra fluid is needed in hot weather and when you exercise. For each hour of exercise you should drink an extra litre of fluid. If you have an illness that is causing sickness, diarrhoea or sweating, you will need to up your fluid intake to make up for the extra loss.

Making sure you are properly hydrated is an important part of general well being - both feeling and looking good - drink up!

Clustered Water

The Story of Clustered Water

It all began in 1976. Lee Lorenzen was a graduate student doing research at a University in California. Like so many aspiring researchers, his vocation was chosen because of his desire to make a difference in the health and happiness of others, but what he found was a model that wasn’t always working. Over and over again he saw that the medications he was researching appeared to be causing more harm than good.

“I remember saying to myself, over and over, in those days,” recalls Lorenzen, “Something is missing with this model.” Then it happened - a chain of events which ultimately led him to the discovery of water clusters and a method of stabilizing them.

During research using experimental rats, he was bitten and contracted a serious illness. Shortly thereafter, his wife was hospitalized with double pneumonia, and she began a downward spiral into chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, arthritis, Epstein Barr virus, and severe immuno-suppression. With Lee ill and his wife bedridden, taking care of their two toddlers became almost impossible. For the first time in their lives, they got on their knees and prayed for help. And slowly, the answers began to come.

“I went to the UCLA library, one afternoon.” says Lee. “As I walked down an aisle, I noticed a little red book which was sticking out from the shelf - a book which was written in 1962 by the Nobel Prize laureate, Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi. As I read it, things began to make sense about cell water.”

Months of research eventually led Lorenzen to the healing Spring of Lourdes, France. There, he found evidence of natural water clusters - something that had escaped decades of scientific scrutiny. He found the same phenomenon in ten other healing springs around the world and also found geologic similarities in the places where these healing springs were located. As he continued to research and more pieces of the puzzle came together, Lorenzen learned how to duplicate the natural conditions which produce water clusters. He and his wife became guinea pigs - drinking the solution he called Clustered Water™. Slowly, their health began to improve.

Lorenzen took his discovery to institutions he thought would be interested; however, after presenting his research, they did not grasp the implication of his findings, and continued to ask, “How could water make such a profound difference?” The shift in thinking was too great for them to comprehend.

Dr. Lorenzen then went to Japan, where the potential of Clustered Water™ was recognized. For the next 15 years, he worked with a group of doctors and researchers to study and document the effects of Clustered Water™ on thousands of patients in different clinics. Many of the results and conclusions were published in nine books in Japan. To date, more than 300,000 people in Japan drink clustered water solutions.

In 2004, Dr. Robert I. Bender, Chairman of the Lexxus International Medical Advisory Board, work alongside Dr. Lorenzen as he developed 180° Life System™ Cluster Plus™, a liquid concentrate formulated to mix with distilled water to achieve the stable water clusters that Dr. Lorenzen began research over 20 years ago.

HYDRATION IS EVERYTHING!

The capacity of any drinking water to hydrate is the key to understanding whether it is 100% healthy.

To the degree that any given drinking water causes dehydration instead of hydration then a lower state of health will be created along with faster aging of the cells. Therefore, optimum hydration is the fundamental marker to evaluate whether or not a person should be using a functional water product or rely solely on any type of bottled water or from the tap that is purified in some way.

When a water product does not provide optimum hydration then the body is much more prone to a vast array of health issues and the cells will age much, much faster. Without optimum hydration there will be some level of dehydration, which leads to survival type reactions in the cells to conserve water.

With any level of dehydration the body will increase its production of cholesterol and histamine in order to stop water from leaving the cells. Cholesterol creates a dam in the cells to stop water transport and histamine and its subordinates causes vascular constriction to stop water from leaving the cells. This leads to all kinds of inflammatory reactions and vascular health issues. In addition to these two fundamental reactions by the body to conserve cellular water many other negative reactions take place. For example: a decrease in pH in the stomach, small intestines and body as a whole to a more acidic state, decreased pancreatic function and sugar imbalance, ionic imbalance that includes the potassium and sodium relationship, cell mutation, loss of cellular oxygen, disruption of mitochondria to create energy for the cells, and the build up of toxins. With any level of dehydration there will be a disruption of integrated brain function that leads to lack of mental clarity and emotional imbalance. Also, it has been proven that dehydration over the life span of any individual causes a dramatic increase in the aging of cells, which has been tied to the break down in the mitochondria in terms of the energy producing mechanisms of the cell

When there is any level of dehydration in the body, even if a person is drinking plenty of water that does not hydrate effectively or functional water products that simply don’t work, it is common for people to be chronically fatigued. When this happens most people don’t realize that loss of energy and vitality is first and foremost about hydration. Without optimum hydration the ionic transfer mechanisms in the mitochondria of the cells will be disrupted in their role to produce cellular energy. Also, with dehydration there will be a lack of glucose transported into the cells and the lack of water movement in and out of the cells, which will decrease energy production as well. The disruption of energy production due to any level of dehydration is also a key issue in terms of accelerated aging, with optimum hydration literally slowing down the aging process simply because the cells have enough energy to activate the chemical pathways to fight off disease.

If the reader is drinking a functional water product that has not been proven to increase cellular hydration, then this is like shooting in the dark. No matter what else is claimed and no matter what type of scientific study has been done it doesn’t matter if there are no clinical studies validating cellular hydration. Based on what was discovered in the Winter of 2004 Clinical Study it is more likely that most functional water products actually cause some level of dehydration. This is because the cell membrane will recognize any give water taken into the body as either 100% acceptable or less than acceptable to some degree. To whatever degree that any given water is not 100% biocompatible then there will be less than optimum hydration and therefore some level of dehydration.

What many people don’t realize about water is that any added substances (solid or gas) or electrons will slow down cellular hydration. Increased levels of minerals and added oxygen or electrons added through ionization will result in the cell membrane requiring more time and energy to remove any substance or electrical charge. This is a well known fact based on the discovery of the aquaporin (received the 2003 Nobel Prize for Chemistry), which is a narrow channel in the cell membrane that allows only one H20 molecule at a time to enter the cell. Therefore, if the reader is drinking water with any added solids, a mineral water or water that has been ionized there is a guarantee of causing more dehydration than before these kinds of products are used. This will result in weakening the body to encourage disease and accelerate aging of the cells.

No matter what is claimed about a water product or any natural source of water from the environment, if it has not been tested and validated in terms of optimizing hydration, then there is no way to know whether any other claim is accurate. Any water source that does not optimize hydration completely is causing some level of dehydration, which also means that there will be an increase in disease and accelerated aging.

If a water product is recommended to the reader it is important to ask this one question: "Has this product been scientifically validated with clinical studies to prove that it optimizes cellular hydration?"

If the answer is no, you are risking your health and life by taking such a product. The information in this short article makes it clear why it is absolutely essential to validate optimum hydration for any given water product. Water is so absolutely important because you are taking care of the foundation for health and anti-aging, which is all based on hydration.

No matter what other information is provided about a functional water product or even water from a natural source it simply does not matter if the issue of hydration is not presented as the most important.

Microclustered Water and Hydration

Wang ZY, Zhou ZC, Zhu KN, Wang X, Pan JG, Lorenzen LH, Zhou MC.

Center for Bio- signalling & System Research, New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJ 07102, USA.

In 2003 the Chinese Health Care Science and Technology Society organized an international cooperative research project on "Hydration and Health" to compare distilled water (DW) and a US patented microclustered water (MW), called "VIVO", which was awarded by US National Nutritional Foods Association as the "Best Nutritional Beverage in Year 2002".

Recent bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) studies also showed that diabetics had a lower ratio of intracellular water (ICW) / extracellular water (ECW). A total 336 type-2 diabetics (plasma glucose level =7.0 mmol/L) from five hospitals were recruited in a randomized, double-blind trial. All the subjects received 250 ml of MW or DW twice daily for 4 weeks. To avoid over-dose absorption, subjects were advised to not take medications within 30 minutes after consumption of the test waters. BIA (RJL, USA) and other clinical markers were performed weekly. It was observed that MW consumption improved cell water distribution (ICW/ECW), basal metabolism rate (BMR), phase angle (PA) and cell capacitance (CP) during the 4 week testing period.

In comparison with the rate change from baseline, the P value (MW vs DW) of ICW/ECW, BMR, PA and CP were 0.04, 0.003, 0.005 and 0.003, respectively. In this study, about 45% of subjects had higher plasma glucose level >8.3 mmol/L). In comparison with the means of above four BIA measurements at the end of experiment, the P value (MW vs DW) were 0.025, 0.022, 0.007 and 0.009, respectively. Two repeating NMR analysis showed that the half-width of the oxygen (17) NMR spectrum were 64 and 67HZ, respectively, approximating normal saline, plasma and fresh natural spring water, while NMR values of DW and most purified waters exceeded 100 HZ. The relative small size of the water cluster may be one of the mechanisms which lead to improve cell structure and function.

PMID: 15294671 [PubMed - in process]

Sunday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sunday is the first or seventh day of the week, between Saturday and Monday, and the second day of the weekend in some cultures. It is considered a holiday in lands of Christian tradition, the day Christians most commonly attend Church (Saturday is the other day that some consider to be the Sabbath).

In India, Sunday is Ravivar. It is based on Ravi - Vedic God of Sun.

In the Gregorian calendar, no century can start on a Sunday. In the Hebrew calendar, no year can start on a Sunday. Any month beginning on a Sunday will contain a Friday the 13th.

The Name Sunday

In English, Sunday gets its name from Sunna, or Sunne the Germanic sun goddess.

In ancient Jewish tradition Saturday is the sabbath. Christians in Seventh-day Adventist, 7th day Church of God, and Seventh Day Baptist churches (among others), and many Messianic Jews believe that Saturday remains the Sabbath (Hebrews 4:9).

Many languages lack separate words for "Saturday" and "sabbath". Eastern Orthodox churches distinguish between the sabbath (Saturday) and what they call the Lord's Day (Sunday). Roman Catholics put so little emphasis on that distinction that many among them follow — at least in colloquial language — the Protestant practice of calling Sunday the sabbath, though this is not a universal Protestant practice. Quakers traditionally refer to Sunday as "First Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the name.

The first historical reference to "the day called Sun" by any involved with Christianity was by Justin Martyr around 150 A.D. However, the Christians in Smyrna, still observed the seventh day Sabbath later than that as can be found in the letter known as the Martyrdom of Polycarp.

Sunday was declared the day of worship by the Council of Nicea circa 325 A.D. Groups that accepted the authority of that Council have kept Sunday ever since.

Position During a Week

In many countries, including most of Europe, Asia, and South America (except Brazil), Sunday is held to be the last day of the week. In others, including the United States and Canada, it is seen as the first day, a traditional view derived from ancient Jews, Egyptians and the Holy Roman Empire. ISO 8601 defines Monday as the first day of the week, making Sunday the seventh.

Common Sunday Occurrences

Among Christians (with the exception of seventh-day sabbatarians, such as the denominations listed above) Sunday is considered holy and often a day of rest and church-attendance.

In orthodox Christian families and communities some activities are not done, e.g. working, doing something that requires somebody else to work such as buying goods or services (including the use of public transport), driving a car, gardening, washing a car, etc. Exceptions which are allowed are making use of religious services, and, usually, using electricity, and urgent medical matters.

In the United States, professional football is usually played on Sunday, although Saturday and Monday (via Monday Night Football) also see some professional games. College football usually occurs on Saturday, and high-school football tends to take place on Friday night or Saturday afternoon. It is not uncommon for church attendance to shift on days when a late morning or early afternoon game is anticipated by a local community.

Also in the United States, many federal government buildings are closed on Sunday. Privately owned businesses also tend to close or are open for shorter periods of the day than on other days of the week.

Many American and British television networks and stations also broadcast their political interview shows on Sunday mornings.

Many American and British daily newspapers publish a larger edition on Sundays, which often includes color comic strips, a magazine, and a coupon section.

In Ireland, Gaelic football and hurling matches are predominantly played on Sundays, with the second and fourth Sundays in September always playing host to the All-Ireland hurling and football championship finals, respectively.

Radio stations often play specialty radio shows such as Casey Kasem's countdown or other nationally syndicated radio shows that may differ from their regular weekly music patterns on Sunday morning and/or Sunday evening.

Named Days

• Easter Sunday, the day in the Bible on which Christ rose from the dead, celebrated across the Christian world and regarded as the most important day in the Christian calendar.
• Low Sunday, first Sunday after Easter, is also known as White Sunday, Quasimodo Sunday, Alb Sunday, Antipascha Sunday, and Divine Mercy Sunday.
• Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter.
• Passion Sunday, formerly denoting the fifth Sunday of Lent, since 1970 the term applies to the following Sunday also known as Palm Sunday.
• Septuagesima Sunday, before 1970, was the third from the last Sunday before Lent.
• Stir-up Sunday, is the last Sunday before Advent.
• Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost.
• Laetare Sunday
• Gaudete Sunday
• Whitsunday
• Super Bowl Sunday
• Bloody Sunday

Sunday in Popular Culture

• In the popular rhyme, "The child born on Sunday is fair and wise and good and gay". Another version of the rhyhme was "And the child born on Sabbath Day is bonny and blithe, and good and gay."

See also

• Blue laws
• Bloody Sunday
• Black Sunday
• Cold Sunday
• Sunday shopping

Saturday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Saturday is the seventh (sixth in some countries) day of the week, between Friday and Sunday. It is the only day of the week to retain its Roman origin in English, named after the Roman god of time Saturn, calling it dies Saturni, "Saturn's Day". Many of the other days of the week adopted names of Saxon gods in Northern Europe, in Anglo-Saxon. There exists a possibility that the modern English form derives from Anglo-Saxon 'sater daegv'.
In India, Saturday is Shanivar. It is based on Shani, the Vedic God manifested in the planet Saturn.

By tradition derived from ancient Jews, Saturday is the last day of the week. That convention remains universally standard in the United States. In Europe, for several decades, many people have considered Saturday the sixth (penultimate) day of the week, and Sunday the last. This current European labour-orientated convention has been formalized by ISO 8601. However, the three monotheist religions are in agreement that Saturday is the last day of the week. In Islamic countries, Fridays are holidays, however they are considered as the sixth days of the week.

In many countries where Sundays are holidays, Saturday is part of the weekend, and is traditionally a day of relaxation. Many parties are held on Saturdays, because it precedes Sunday, another day of rest. It is common for clubs, bars and restaurants to be open later on Saturday night than on other nights.

Saturday is the usual day for elections in Australia and the only day in New Zealand on which elections can be held.

In ancient Jewish tradition Saturday is the sabbath. Many languages lack separate words for "Saturday" and "sabbath". Eastern Orthodox churches distinguish between the sabbath (Saturday) and the Lord's day (Sunday). Roman Catholics put so little emphasis on that distinction that many among them follow – at least in colloquial language – the Protestant practice of calling Sunday the sabbath. Quakers traditionally refer to Saturday as "Seventh Day" eschewing the "pagan" origin of the name.

In Scandinavian countries, Saturday is called Lördag or Löverdag etc., the name being derived from the old word laugr (hence Icelandic name Laugardagur), meaning bath, thus Lördag equates to bath-day. This due to the Viking usage of bathing on Saturdays.

The modern Maori name for it, Rahoroi, means "washing-day".

Saturday in Popular Culture

• Saturday was also the preferred day to hunt vampires as that was the day they had to remain in their coffins. It was also believed that someone born on a Saturday could see a vampire when it was invisible.
• Saturday morning is a notable television time block aimed at children while airing generally animated cartoons.

Friday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Friday is the fifth day of the week, falling between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt a Sunday-first convention, it is commonly considered the sixth day of the week. (see Days of the week for more on the different conventions.)

The name Friday comes from the Old English frigedæg, meaning the day of Frige, the Germanic goddess of beauty. Frige replaced the Roman god of beauty, Venus, as the namesake of the fifth day of the week after the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Britain. This is why the word for Friday in most Romance languages is derived from the name of Venus (vendredi in French, venerdi in Italian, viernes in Spanish, vineri in Romanian etc.), while in Germanic languages it is named after Frige (Freitag in Modern German, vrijdag in Dutch, fredag in Swedish etc.) .

In India, Friday is Shukravar. It is based on Shukra - Vedic God of Venus.

In most countries with a five-day work week, Friday is the last workday before the weekend and is therefore viewed as a cause for celebration or relief. In some offices, employees are allowed to wear less formal attire on Fridays, known as Casual Friday or Dress-Down Friday.

Friday in History

In Alaska in 1867, Friday 6 October was immediately followed by Friday 18 October due to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar and shifting of the International Date Line after the United States acquired it from Russia.

Friday in Religion

In Islam, Friday is the day of public worship in mosques (see Friday prayers). In some Islamic countries, the week begins on Sunday and ends on Saturday, just like the Jewish and Christian week. In most other Islamic countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq, the week begins on Saturday and ends on Friday. In Islamic countries such as Saudi Arabia, Friday is also the day on which criminals are punished, including the punishments of mutilation and death. This is contrary to the assertion of jailed persons in the United States, who claim to be Muslim, that they cannot appear in court on Fridays and must receive other special treatment.

The Jewish Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday and runs until sunset on Saturday.

Some Catholics and Prayer Book Anglicans will refrain from eating the meat of warm blooded animals on Fridays, and will often choose fish instead.

Quakers traditionally refer to Friday as "Sixth Day" eschewing the pagan origins of the name.

An old English tune once stated that "Friday's child is loving and giving," or that a child born on Friday is generous and kind.

Astrology

In astrology Friday is connected with the planet Venus. This associates Friday with love, peace and relaxation yet also can be a day of emotional intensity and quashed dreams.

Unlucky Friday

In some cultures, Friday is considered unlucky, especially regarding Friday the 13th. This is particularly so in maritime circles; perhaps the most enduring sailing superstition is that it is unlucky to begin a voyage on a Friday. In one (probably untrue) story a Royal Navy ship HMS Friday was laid down on a Friday, launched on a Friday and captained by a Captain Friday and was never heard of again.

However, this is not universal, notably in Scottish Gaelic culture:

"Though Friday has always been held an unlucky day in many Christian countries, still in the Hebrides it is supposed that it is a lucky day for sowing the seed. Good Friday in particular is a favourite day for potato planting—even strict Roman Catholics make a point of planting a bucketful on that day. Probably the idea is that as the Resurrection followed the Crucifixion, and Burial so too in the case of the seed, and after death will come life." (Reference: Dwelly’s [Scottish] Gaelic Dictionary (1911): Di-haoine)

Friday in Popular Culture

The phrase TGIF is a popular acronym for Thank God (or Goodness) It's Friday, expressing relief at the end of the working week and anticipation of relaxing or partying over the weekend. The phrase has spawn several variations and corruptions, see TGIF.

Another phrase in pop culture has come out, "Happy Friday".

In the popular rhyme, "Friday's Child is loving and giving".

Man Friday / Girl Friday - A man Friday is: "An efficient and devoted aide or employee; a right-hand man." Friday is a character in the novel Robinson Crusoe. The protagonist Robinson Crusoe rescues a young native man, and calles him 'man Friday' because he met him on a Friday. 'Girl Friday' is a term, now frowned upon, for a resourceful female assistant, made popular by the classic 1940 comedy adaptation of 'The Front Page' (His Girl Friday) starring Rosalind Russell as an ace reporter and Cary Grant as her cynical editor and ex-husband.

Friday is a book by science-fiction author Robert A. Heinlein.

Friday is also a movie featuring rapper Ice Cube and has spawned several sequels.

Freaky Friday is the name of a 1972 children's novel made into three films.

Friday is a Hong Kong based weekly magazine.

Named Days

• Good Friday is the Friday before Easter in the Christian calendar. It commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus.
• Black Friday refers to any one of several historical disasters that happened on Fridays. Black Friday is also the nickname of the day after Thanksgiving, the first official day of the Christmas shopping season when most commercial businesses gain enough profit to come out of overall loss ( out of the "red" and into the "black") for the year.
• Casual Friday is a relaxation of the formal dress code employed by some corporations for one day of the week.

Thursday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thursday, by international standard, is the fourth day of the week, falling between Wednesday and Friday. In countries that adopt a Sunday-first convention, it is commonly considered the fifth day of the week. (see Days of the week for more on the different conventions.)

The name Thursday comes from the Old English _unresdæg, meaning the day of _unor, commonly known in Modern English as Thor, the Germanic god of thunder. Thor replaced the Roman god of thunder, Jupiter, as the namesake of the fourth day of the week after the Anglo-Saxon invasions of Roman Britain.

By some conventions (see ISO 8601), the Thursdays of a year determine the week numbering: week 1 is defined as the week that contains the first Thursday of the year, and so on.

Astrology

In French, Thursday is "Jeudi" and in Spanish, "Jueves", a surviving connection between the day and the astrological energies of Jupiter. This connection links Thursday to business but also to jollity and humour.

Note: Most linguists accord to say that "Jeudi" actually doesn't refer to the planet Jupiter: in French, the name of each day of the week corresponds to a Latin god, except Dimanche (Sunday). Jeudi is the day of Jupiter, god of the thunder, equivalent to Thor or Zeus.

Thursday in Religion

In the Hindu religion, Thursday is guruvar or the Guru's day.
Quakers traditionally refer to Thursday as "Fifth Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the name "Thursday".

In the Christian tradition, Holy Thursday is the Thursday before Easter - the day on which the Last Supper occurred.

In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is an annual holiday celebrated on a Thursday in November, currently the fourth Thursday.

Thursday in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, all general elections since 1935 have been held on a Thursday, and this has become a tradition, although not a requirement of the law – which only states that an election may be held on any day "except Saturdays, Sundays, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, bank holidays in any part of the United Kingdom and any day appointed for public thanksgiving and mourning". An explanation sometimes given for the choice of Thursday as polling day is that it was, in most towns, the traditional market day, although it has also been observed that the choice has practical advantages – with the outcome of the election being known by Friday, the new or continuing administration then has the weekend to organize itself in preparation for the "government shop opening for business" on Monday, the first day of the new week following the election.

Additionally, local elections are usually held on the first Thursday in May.

The Thursday before Easter is also known as Maundy Thursday or Sheer Thursday in the United Kingdom, traditionally a day of cleaning and giving out Maundy money.

Thursday in Popular Culture

In the popular rhyme, "Thursday's Child has far to go".

Gabriel Syme, the main character was given the title of Thursday in G. K. Chesterton's novel "The Man Who Was Thursday."

In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the character Arthur Dent says "This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays". A few minutes later the planet Earth is destroyed. Thor, for whom the day was named, also appears later in the Hitchhiker's series and in other Adams books.

Thursday is commonly humorously referred to as "Friday Eve" in anticipation for the end of the work week on Friday.

Named Days

Black Thursday refers to October 24, 1929 when stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange fell sharply, with record volume of nearly 13 million shares. Five days later, the market crashed on volume of over 16 million shares - a level not to be surpassed for 39 years. In popular imagery, the crash has come to mark the beginning of the Great Depression.

Wednesday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia











The god Woden, after whom 'Wednesday' was named. "Odin, the Wanderer" 1886 by Georg von Rosen (1843-1923)

Wednesday is considered either the third or the fourth day of the week, between Tuesday and Thursday. The name comes from the Old English Wodnesdæg meaning the day of the Germanic god Woden who was a god of the Anglo-Saxons in England until about the 7th C. AD.

When Sunday is taken as the first of the week, the day in the middle of each week is Wednesday. Arising from this, the German name for Wednesday has been Mittwoch (literally: "mid-week") since the 10th Century, having displaced the former name: Wodanstag. The Finnish name too is of a fairly functional kind: Keskiviikko (literally: "center of the week").

According to the Bible, Wednesday is the day when the Sun and Moon were created.

Wednesday is also in the middle of the common 5-day working week from Monday through Friday. However, see also Thursday and ISO 8601.

In Spanish, miércoles is used to mean Wednesday. It originates from the roman god Mercury, which was believed to be the fastest of all roman gods as if to get over this day quickly.

An English language idiom for Wednesday is "hump day", a reference to making it through the middle of the work week as getting "over the hump". It is also unofficially (and with some irony) referred to as "the peak of the week".

Quakers traditionally refer to Wednesday as "Fourth Day", eschewing the pagan origin of the name "Wednesday". Most eastern languages also use a name with this meaning, for much the same reason. Faithful Orthodox Christians observe a vegetarian / fish-only fast on Wednesdays (and Fridays) in some countries.

Wednesday in Popular Culture

In the popular rhyme, "Wednesday's Child is full of woe".
The film Angel Heart includes a scene where Harry Angel refers to Wednesday as "Anything Can Happen Day," in reference to the original Mickey Mouse Club television program.
The term "hump day" was first used by the media on a Minneapolis, Minnesota radio station in 1965. It was thought to have been originated by an employee of Pako Corporation.

In the 19th century, Wednesday sometimes comprised of a day off from work for those in northern counties in England, particularly Yorkshire. The English Association Football team, Sheffield Wednesday was formed, according to the day on which they played their matches. The team was officially known as The Wednesday until in 1929, when under the stewardship of manager Bob Brown, the club was renamed to Sheffield Wednesday.

On TV's The Addams Family, Wednesday (Lisa Loring) was the pale-skinned, black-haired daughter of Morticia and Gomez Addams.

In Neil Gaiman's American Gods, the god Odin (Woden being the origin of the word Wednesday) refers to himself as Wednesday.

Astrological Sign

The astrological sign of the planet Mercury represents Wednesday -- Dies Mercurii to the Romans, with similar names in Latin-derived languages, such as the French Mercredi and the Spanish Miércoles. In English, this became "Woden's Day", since the Roman god Mercury was identified with Woden in northern Europe.

Named Days

• Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, occurs forty days before Easter, not counting Sundays.
• Spy Wednesday is an old name given to the Wednesday immediately preceding Easter, in allusion to the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot. It is the last day of Lent, because the Triduum and Sundays are not counted as days of Lent.

Tuesday

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tuesday is considered either the second or the third day of the week, between Monday and Wednesday. The English and Scandinavian names are derived from the Nordic god Tyr (in Old English, Tiw, Tew or Tiu. In Swedish, Tisdag, Danish: Tirsdag, Finnish: Tiistai).
Quakers traditionally refer to Tuesday as "Third Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the English name "Tuesday".

Tuesday is the usual day for elections in the United States. Federal elections take place on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November; this date was established by a law of 1845 for presidential elections (specifically for the selection of the Electoral College), and was extended to elections for the House of Representatives in 1875 and for the Senate in 1914. Tuesday was the earliest day of the week which was practical for polling in the early 19th century: citizens might have to travel for a whole day to cast their vote, and would not wish to leave on Sunday which was a day of worship for the great majority of them. Many American states hold their presidential primary elections on "Super Tuesday".

In the Greek world, Tuesday (the day of the week of the Fall of Constantinople) is considered an unlucky day. The same is true in the Spanish-speaking world, where a proverb runs En martes, ni te cases ni te embarques (On Tuesday, neither get married nor begin a journey). Also in the Spanish-speaking world, the 13th of the month is considered unlucky if it falls on Tuesday, instead of Friday.

Tuesday in Popular Culture

In the popular rhyme, "Tuesday's child is full of grace".

Astrology

In French, Tuesday is "Mardi", associating it with the planet Mars. This marries Tuesday with ideas of strife, battles to be won and pressing issues and jobs to get sorted. It is not a day to relax. This same meaning can be seen in the Spanish "Martes" and the English "Tuesday" ("Tyr's day.")

Named Days

• Shrove Tuesday (also called Mardi Gras - fat Tuesday) precedes the first day of Lent in the Western Christian calendar.
• Black Tuesday, in the United States, refers to October 29, 1929, part of the great Stock Market Crash of 1929. This was the Tuesday after Black Thursday. The crash is said to have marked the start of the Great Depression.
• Super Tuesday is the day many American states hold their presidential primary elections.
• Patch Tuesday is the second Tuesday of every month when Microsoft releases patches for their products. Some system administrators call this day Black Tuesday

Monday

Monday is considered either the first or the second day of the week, between Sunday and Tuesday. It gets its name from Mani (Old English Mona), the Germanic Moon god.

Monday is often held to be the first day of the week. This is the case in most of Europe, Australia, parts of Africa, and South America. In Asia – because the western calendar system was introduced only during the 20th century – many languages refer to Monday as the "day of the beginning". For example, Monday is xingqi yi (___) in Chinese, meaning day one of the week. The wage labour orientated, international standard ISO 8601 also defines Monday as the first day of the week.

In most other areas of the world, Monday is the second day. This is the traditional view in Canada and the United States. The name for the day in Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew and Portuguese is "second day". Quakers also traditionally refer to Monday as "Second Day" eschewing the pagan origin of the English name "Monday". Just like do it as well the official liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church where the Monday is always called Feria II.

Modern culture usually looks at Monday as the beginning of the workweek, as it is typically Monday when adults go back to work and children back to school after the weekend. Thus, Mondays are often seen as a misfortune. In Middle Eastern countries, however, the beginning of the workweek is usually Saturday (Thursday and Friday are observed as the weekend). In Israel, Sunday is the first day of the workweek. Friday is half a work day and Friday Night and Saturday are the Sabbath.

In 2002 the professional services firm PwC sold off its management consulting division. For a brief period the newly independent firm was to be called "Monday". According to the advertising campaign that supported the launch this name was associated with "crisp, white shirts", and "fresh coffee"; a clean, fresh, ready-to-work image. The proposed name was greeted with derision in the media; fortunately for the employees, computer giant IBM stepped in with a winning offer one week later, and the firm became IBM's own consulting division.

Mondays are also attributed to the colloquial "illness" Mondayitis (also known as having a case of "The Mondays"). A possible cause of Mondayitis is that human circadian rhythms are incompatible with the normal 35 to 40-hour working week.

Monday in popular culture

In the popular rhyme, "Monday's Child is fair of face".

Mondays are considered "enemies" of the comic strip cat, Garfield.

Manic Monday by the Bangles

I Don't Like Mondays by The Boomtown Rats

Named days

• Black Monday
• Blue Monday
• Easter Monday
• First Monday
• Handsel Monday
• Manic Monday
• Miracle Monday
• Plough Monday
• Wet Monday
• Whit Monday
• Bloody Monday

Palm Sunday

The week we now call Holy Week, started with Palm Sunday. Why was this week so important that three of the gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, andLuke) devote a full third of their contents to reporting this week, and
The Fourth (John) dedicates its entire last half?

Jerusalem, which had a normal population of about 50,000 at this time, had at least tripled in size because of the influx of pilgrims celebrating the Jewish holiday Passover.

Early Sunday morning Jesus made his baldly public entry into the city. This was the end of all privacy and safety, and the beginning of what would be an inevitable collision course with the religious and political authorities. Crowds began to gather to see the rabbi from Galilee. The procession began accompanied by shouting and singing from the throngs as they threw down their garments on the pathway to cushion his ride - an Oriental custom still observed on occasions - as well as palm fronds, the symbol of triumph.

The Old Testament prophet Zechariah had foretold the arrival of the Messianic king in Jerusalem via the humble conveyance of a colt. Here the crowd hailed Jesus as "the son of David", a loaded name used at a loaded time.

The priestly establishment was understandably disturbed, as the
palm was the national emblem of an independent Palestine. These were
Jewish flags. What if Jesus should claim to be the heir of King David?
(Recent archiological excavations have turned up Roman coins, which have the head of Tiberias (idolatrous to the Jewish subjects) but overstamped with a palm.)

The "conspiracy" against Jesus had been building for at least 3 years,
and the sources record seven instances of official plotting against
him, two efforts at arrest, and three assassination attempts before
this time. This intrigue was no spur of the moment idea. A formal
decision to arrest Jesus had in fact been made several months earlier.
The Jewish religious officials were afraid that if Jesus were to
continue performing his signs, he would win over the people and the
Romans would come in and destroy the Temple and nation. According to
legal custom at that time, a court crier had to announce publicly or
post an official "wanted" handbill in the larger towns of Judea about
forty days prior to a trial. Small wonder that there was some debate
over whether Jesus would dare appear in Jerusalem for the next
Passover. This discussion ended abruptly on Palm Sunday.

There were political reasons for dealing with Jesus. There had been a
dozen uprisings in Palestine in the previous 100 years, most of them
subdued by Roman force. Another Messianic rebellion under Jesus would only shatter the precarious balance of authority, break Rome's
patience, and might lead to direct occupation by Roman legions.

Religiously, Jesus was a dangerous item. The people were hailing the
Teacher from Galilee as something more than a man, and Jesus was not
denying or blunting this blasphemous adulation. Personally, the
Pharisees had been bested by Jesus in public debate, being called
vipers, whitewashed tombs, and devourers of widow's houses.
Humiliated, they would be only too happy to conspire with the scribes,
elders, and chief priests. There were economic motives for opposing
Jesus as well. Seeing the commercialization of the Temple, Jesus had
driven the dealers and animals out, as well as turning over the tables
of the moneychangers causing a major disruption in business. There
were many reasons for dealing with Jesus.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com/holidayhistory

Marketing Affects Efficacy

Study finds marketing affects product performance

Thursday, January 26, 2006
last updated January 26, 2006 1:11 AM

The results of an experiment conducted by a Stanford professor and published in the Journal of Marketing Research could have a significant impact on current perceptions of how marketing and pricing affect the efficacy of products.

In a study entitled “Placebo Effects of Marketing Actions: Consumers May Get What They Pay For,” Graduate School of Business Marketing Prof. Baba Shiv concluded that that “consumers who pay a discounted price for a product... may derive less actual benefit from consuming this product...than consumers who pay its regular price.” Shiv conducted the study during 2004 and 2005 in cooperation with Ziv Carmon, associate professor of business at the European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD), a prestigious business school with campuses in Singapore and Fontainebleau in France, and Dan Ariely, a professor of management science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Previous experiments had already demonstrated that marketing and product presentation have a significant effect on consumer perceptions of such subjective qualities as taste. For example, previous studies found that meat packaged as “75 percent fat free” tasted better than the same meat labeled “25 percent fat,” and beer that had a favorite-brand label was found to taste better than the same beer in a generic bottle. The new study, published in November of last year, sought to provide an answer to the question of whether “the beliefs and expectations that marketing actions evoke... can also influence the actual efficacy of the marketed product?”

In three experiments, Shiv, Carmon and Ariely tested over 400 students and found that those who had paid full price for Sobe Adrenaline Rush were able to solve more word-jumble puzzles than students who paid a reduced price. The potential ramifications of these findings may be widespread, the researchers found.

For example, the study suggested that if the effectiveness of over-the-counter medicines could similarly be linked to price, both health policy and the marketing of these drugs could be affected. Shiv, Carmon and Ariely reported that a small-scale study of 29 students over the course of a semester found that those who purchased national-brand cold medicine at full price rated it more effective than those who purchased the same type of medicine at a discount.

Shiv had this potential link in mind as he planned the experiment. “[My pursuit of this experiment] began with my purchasing a medication on sale for my son, my son not feeling better, and my wife complaining that I should not have purchased the medication on sale,” he wrote in an e-mail to The Daily.

Some found the study’s findings — that unconscious beliefs about price could alter the efficacy of products — alarming. “That’s surprising,” said sophomore Eric Frenkiel, who expressed willingness to pay more for medicines if he knew they would perform better than a similar national brand on sale. “But then again, I’d probably go with the more expensive one... people are willing to spend a lot for the perceived effect.”

Other students said they were not so willing to abandon sale products. “I don’t intend to stop buying products on sale,” said freshman Danny Berring. “First, price is not always the best indicator of effectiveness. Second, because oftentimes I don’t need the best performer. Like a T-shirt. I don’t buy Gucci T-shirts, because my $8 cotton T-shirt will do just as good a job.”

According to Shiv, the effect of unconscious perceptions on pricing can be neutralized, “by drawing people’s attention to their broad price-quality beliefs to make them realize that these beliefs may not apply all the time.” However, the advertising blitz that defines American society can make this possible change a difficult one to make.

Virgin Hotels in Space

Hotels in Space: Another Giant Step for Branson

By Richard Orange

SIR Richard Branson is taking a giant leap for mankind by drawing up plans to build the worlds first space hotels, his space flight company Virgin Galactic has told The Business. Alex Tai, its operations director, who will pilot Virgins first commercial space flight in 2008, has held talks with US hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow about the project, Virgin Galactics president Will Whitehorn confirmed.

Bigelow Aerospace is developing inflatable pods it believes could receive the first space travellers by the end of the decade. Branson, Virgin Galactics chairman, revealed the space hotel discussions in Dubai last week.

Branson said: We are talking to people who are developing hotels for space. We are also talking to people who are developing launch craft to get hotels into space. People know that we can turn something that might seem a bit bizarre into a commercial reality. Personally, I think there’s a demand for space hotels.

Space hotels have also long been an interest of Burt Rutan, the engineering brain behind Virgins SpaceShipTwo, the company said. Branson last week announced that the Spaceship Company, the 70:30 joint venture between Virgin Galactic and Rutans Scaled Composites, was set to begin construction of its first space craft, SpaceShipTwo, within six weeks.

Virgin Galactic is keeping the design of SpaceShipTwo secret. It spent $25m (E20.6m, Pounds 14.4m) on the design and will spend $100m on construction. The plane, about the size of a Gulfstream jet, is modelled on SpaceShipOne, a design by Rutan which won the $10m Ansari Xprize in October 2004 after completing its second voyage into space. It travelled to 50,000 feet on the back of a carrier aircraft. It then accelerated from 140 knots to supersonic speeds within 11 seconds. It has a feather design which allows the plane to float to earth safely like a shuttlecock.

Passengers on SpaceShipTwo will spend 15 minutes in space. They will be able to undo their seat buckles and float weightlessly around their cabin. Around 444 people have travelled to space so far. Virgin aims to take that many within the first year and 10 times that amount within the first three years. Whitehorn said the Spaceship Company would not start work on SpaceShipThree until after 2010. It is intended to be the worlds first commercial orbital spacecraft with potential to dock with space hotels. He said: SpaceShipTwo will be the testbed for a future spaceship which will be capable of orbital flight.

Commercial orbital flight will allow passengers to travel from the UK to Australia in half an hour.

Of the 100 places for founders on SpaceShipTwo, 75 have been filled, each paying $200,000 upfront. Virgin Galactic has already raised a total $13.1m in deposits. Virgin hopes to bring the price down to $100,000 within 10 years. Branson hopes to plough back any profits into more magnificent journeys into space. He said: I think this can be a commercially successful venture as well as an awesome adventure.

Story from REDORBIT NEWS:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/display/?id=454736

Published: 2006/04/03 06:00:00 CDT

Seven Steps to Optimal Wellness

By Leonard G. Horowitz, D.M.D., M. A., M.P.H.

When negative events affect how you think and feel at any moment, it's easy to lose sight of your personal power. After all, when difficult people are acting up, it's easy to become a helpless victim-blaming others for the sorry state of affairs. It's harder to take responsibility for overcoming your daily obstacles to maintaining optimal well being on the job. The fact is, quality of life is contingent upon your willingness to take responsibility for each process and every outcome at any given moment.

What might life be like if you were to realize and express your optimal potential? How much easier would it be to master each and every challenge you face? What might you need in order to overcome on-the-job obstacles to self-esteem and professional success? Can you transcend the uncomfortable circumstances of your life and career to rejoice in your health, happiness, and greater stress-free productivity?

This article provides the nuts and bolts-- knowledge and skills -- to do just that; rejoice in your personal power.

A NEW BEGINNING

Believe it or not, you already have everything you need for career enrichment and life fulfillment. You have an incredible mind, body, emotions, imagination, intuition, and will to make positive choices for better health and living. You even maintain a spiritual nature which automatically empowers your state of well-being.

Now it's up to you to use your innate endowment for the benefit of all. You have the ability to constantly experience love, create happiness, be productive and fulfill your greatest goals. It's all a matter of choice, and the choice is yours right NOW! It's actually very easy once you learn the basics to help yourself and others move through fear, frustration, and limitation to love, faith, and creative self-expression. It takes time to master the dynamics, but miracles are possible and readily available.

Self-discipline is what's needed to achieve more than you ever dreamed possible. The following seven steps will assure your success in life, a more enjoyable career in dentistry, and support you on your way to achieving self-mastery, career-enrichment, life-fulfillment, more love, health, happiness, optimally satisfying relationships, and the power to be all you can.

SEVEN MAGIC STEPS

1. First Clarify your values, goals and purpose -- What's really important to you? List your first, second and third most valued desires and why you feel so strongly about them. Pray and meditate on these as your most precious goals to be achieved. Visualize them daily, ideally while relaxed and focused.

Endeavor to determine your unique purpose in life. What heart-felt yearnings inspire you? Everyone longs to be productive in some meaningful way. Certainly, promoting health, serving the needs of others is very important. Are there any other social service crusades to which you long to subscribe? Clarify these and set personal goals for life-long learning, career-enrichment, and life-fulfillment based on this knowledge and motivation.

2. Develop an action plan -- After considering your values and goals, establish priorities. Develop a step-by-step action plan to achieve your goals. Record on paper, or better yet, in your ongoing journal, what you will need to have, do, or be to manifest your dreams. For every need or action step, seek mentors or experts in the field to emulate. There's no need to reinvent any wheels. Do what successful people are doing and you will succeed.

Your individuality will automatically be expressed along the way.

3. Develop your personal awareness and self-observation skills -- Take stock in your physical, mental, emotional, imaginative and intuitive abilities. Assess your intra-personal assets and liabilities. Which of these parts of you are optimally healthy and which are imbalanced, over or underutilized? A part of you is capable of observing your body sensations, mental thoughts, emotional feelings, imaginative visions, and intuitive insights.

Realize you are greater than the limitations posed by any of these subordinate parts of yourself. Endeavor to develop optimal self-awareness and self-regulation skills.

4. Develop your strength of will and power of choice -- Begin to choose your fate by affirming your power to control your intra-personal dynamics-- especially negative thoughts. Shape your social outcomes by asserting your will with the intent to heal and be helpful. Use your personal power to master the challenges you face every day.

Progress is made each day; one step at a time. Progress may appear slow but is forthcoming. Nurture the virtue and value of patience within you.

5. Always take action based on your highest good and goals-- You already clarified your highest values and greatest goals in step number one. Act consistently in support of these, in your best interest, and for the purpose of nurturing your own and other people's personal development and spiritual growth. Turn conflicts into opportunities by realizing the perfection in every situation and all of life. When problems arise, ask yourself, "What's good about this problem?... What's not ideal yet?... How can I make it more ideal, and how can I have fun doing it?" Always seek to determine your role in creating and resolving each "crisis" as an undeniable "opportunity". Remember, you choose to see every glass as half empty or half full.

6. Pay special attention to feedback -- Look up the word cybernetics in your dictionary if you don't know what it means. Life continues as a result of communication and feedback. You feel pain and negative emotions whenever you violate your natural state of homeostasis and health.

Negative social experiences likewise are created for a purpose, and always by choice. To remain happy and productive, your personal choices must comply with a higher purpose, spiritual order, and/or God's will in order to maintain personal power; social and/or environmental health.

Realize every negative is positive feedback for better health, living, and decision making. Take responsibility for every negative you experience. Learn to resolve each problem by assessing your role in creating it, then take affirmative action for correcting it.

7. Always be grateful, thankful, and forgiving -- God's universe is forever giving. All living and non-living systems are constantly empowered, revitalized, and rebalanced just for the sake of being.

Unconditional love reflects this same power in each of us. You are capable of giving and worthy of receiving unconditional love. With this, the entire force of the universe supports you and your cause.

Be eternally grateful for everything you have, for all your gifts, abilities, and possessions. Start each day by giving thanks for all of life's (big and little) blessings.

Finally, forgive yourself and others for any past wrongs and/or harm done. You lose yourself in the present by being angry and/or resentful about the past. Every moment is an opportunity to experience life anew, and create it to be the way your heart desires. As Winston Churchill said, "Free will and predestination are identical". You have the power to let go of the past and choose your future. Give thanks for this awesome power and all your possessions.

CONTRIBUTING TO OTHERS

These seven steps to personal empowerment are the keys to career-enrichment and life-fulfillment. They are guaranteed to help you on your way to achieving more than you ever dreamed possible. Greater health, happiness, wealth, career and social success are all waiting for you.

Clearly, you are a magnificent human being capable of manifesting any and all of life's pleasures. As a powerful human being, you have a unique role to fulfill in society and a major contribution to make to people's lives. Start by making a contribution to yourself for your own health, happiness, and personal empowerment.

The healthier, happier, more self-mastered and inspired you become, the more you will be able to contribute to others.

About the Author

Dr. Leonard G. Horowitz is one of health care's most inspiring motivational speakers. He has authored numerous books and articles including his recent exposé on the Florida AIDS tragedy, Deadly Innocence, and his exposé on the world's most feared and deadly viruses--"Emerging Viruses: AIDS & Ebola" published by Tetrahedron, LLC. (1996; $29.95 hardcover). Dr. Horowitz welcomes your communications and invitations.

His e-mail address is: tetra@tetrahedron.org.

AskMen.com

AskMen.com is the best site on which to target men:

By The Numbers:

• 6.8 million unique readers a month
• 65 million page views
• 1 million monthly queries using search feature
• 11,000 articles archived on website

• DEMOGRAPHICS
The average AskMen.com reader is 28 years old, has a college degree, is white-collar, and has a household income of $72,546. Nearly 90% of AskMen.com’s readers are men -- the remaining 10% are curious women seeking to discover more about men, and their habits and needs. 80% have a college education and 93% of AskMen.com readers have purchased something online in the past 6 months.

• MARKET SHARE
AskMen.com's market share in the men's lifestyle category is 34%. Traffic stands at over 6.8 million readers/visitors a month, which produces 65 million page views. Its average user spends nearly 4.5 minutes on the site every visit, browsing through over 10,000 features
.
Partnerships with some of the leading companies on the Internet, such as AOL, MSN, SI.com, Lycos, Univision, Netscape, Infospace, Google, and AT&T, have helped AskMen.com's growth.

AskMen.com has also benefitted from enormous media coverage via Time magazine, VH1, FOX News Channel, MSNBC, Washington Post, LA Times, New York Post, National Post, ABC News, and many more.

Intelligent Solutions

Understanding the Three E's of Integration: EAI, EII and ETL

by Claudia Imhoff

Remember the story of Humpty Dumpty? All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty together again. Many IT professionals tell me that they often feel like they live in Humpty Dumpty land. Ever since the first two computer programs were written, IT has struggled with the resulting disintegration - putting the data and applications together again. Integration of data and applications across the enterprise has been the long-standing goal of many organizations; however, until recently, we have been limited in the technological help to achieve this goal.

Fortunately, we have three technologies to help with this. I call them the three E's - enterprise application integration (EAI), enterprise information integration (EII) and extract, transform and load (ETL) software.

These technologies range from the need for real time versus batch integration and from the need for the integration of data versus the integration of applications. Figure 1 demonstrates where the three technologies reside in terms of these two spectra. If your needs are for real time data integration, then EII is the best bet. If you need batch data integration, then ETL is a better fit. And, if your need is for batch or real time application integration, EAI is the most appropriate tool.










Figure 1: The Integration Landscape Today

With any new technologies such as these, there are always substantial amounts of confusion regarding what each technology really does and when it should be used. To avoid this, you need to develop a clear definition of these technologies and then determine where and when you would use them. Let's start with definitions. After talking to a number of vendors such as Composite Software and Celequest, and to several clients, I came up with the following:

• EAI: a framework by which an organization centralizes and optimizes application integration, usually through some form of push technology that is event-driven. The target for this technology is usually an application.
• ETL: a framework that assimilates data, usually through batch processing, from the operational environment of heterogeneous technologies into integrated, consistent data suitable for consumption by the decision support processes. The target for ETL technology is a database such as a data warehouse, data mart or operational data store.
• EII: a framework for real-time integration of disparate data types from multiple sources inside and outside an enterprise, providing a universal data access layer, using pull technology or on-demand capabilities. The target for EII is a person, via a dashboard or a report.

Let's focus on where each of these technologies fits into your architecture. Figure 2 shows the best place to use each of the three E's. EAI integrates transactions between two or more applications; ETL integrates data between your operational systems and your decision support components; EII creates virtual data integration between various sources of data.










Figure 2: Where EAI, EII and ETL Fit Into Your Architecture

For you to use these technologies optimally, you must understand where each one is best positioned to be most practical.

EAI is most useful when you need to connect applications in real time for business process automation. Another practical use for EAI is in making a change (typically to a small set of records) in one application and reflecting it elsewhere in other applications. This technology is very good at ensuring that the change is captured and delivered reliably to the appropriate application or system.

You will find ETL to be most useful when you need to produce a data warehouse of well-documented and reliable data for historical analyses such as time series analysis or multidimensional queries. The tool is also used to integrate key master data. ETL shines for activities such as removing duplicate data, invoking data quality processes and so on. These tools are also used to build discrete data marts to serve a functional or departmental area and to serve a unique long-term purpose. ETL tools allow the implementer to put a repeatable process in place for consistency and reusability, which includes the creation of accurate technical meta data, supporting the overall integrity of the business intelligence (BI) environment.

EII is most useful when you need to create a common gateway with one access point and one access language to disparate data sources. These tools provide more flexible and ad hoc access to data by end users or applications without requiring permanence or a long-term purpose. They are able to access XML, LDAP, flat files and other non-relational data in addition to traditional relational databases, and they can publish relational data as XML/Web services data. EII is particularly useful in supplementing master data warehouse (DW) data with additional or real-time detail (e.g., combining historical data with the current situation).

In addition to understanding these cases of when to use these technologies, you should also understand some challenges that go along with all of them. First, they require that your implementers have a thorough understanding of the data requirements for both strategic and tactical decision making. With ETL, this ensures that the appropriate data is extracted, transformed and loaded, ready for use by the analysts directly or for consumption by an EII server. With EII, it ensures that the views you design and build meet the analysts' reporting requirements. In all cases, understanding your data sources and requirements is a necessary step and is worth the significant time it can take.

It also must be recognized that bringing these tools into your overall architecture requires a commitment from both the business and IT to develop a data and application management strategy that creates an ongoing process. Part of this strategy must be the recognition that your archiving mechanisms become quite important and that audit trails must be established from the start. These are needed to ensure consistency and reliability of the integrated data or applications.

Finally, it is important to constantly monitor the performance and efficiency of these technologies in your particular infrastructure. Their performance will be greatly influenced by the archive duration, data size and granularity, and overall load performances. Performance also includes the impact these tools may have on your operational applications and systems. Be sure you constantly monitor what, if any, impact they have on these systems.

Claudia Imhoff, Ph.D., is the president and founder of Intelligent Solutions (www.intelsols.com), a leading consultancy on CRM and business intelligence technologies and strategies. She is a popular speaker and internationally recognized expert and serves as an advisor to many corporations, universities and leading technology companies. She has coauthored five books and more than 50 articles on these topics. Imhoff may be reached at cimhoff@intelsols.com.

Copyright 2006, SourceMedia and DM Review.

A Moment in Time

Time out !

On Wednesday, April 5, 2006 at two minutes and three seconds after ONE 0'Clock in the morning,

The time and date will be:
01:02:03 04/05/06

This won't ever happen again (at least not in our lifetimes).

You may now return to your normal life.

Kinetic Energy

Basic Terminology and Concepts

Kinetic energy is the energy of motion. An object which has motion - whether it be vertical or horizontal motion - has kinetic energy. There are many forms of kinetic energy - vibrational (the energy due to vibrational motion), rotational (the energy due to rotational motion), and translational (the energy due to motion from one location to another). To keep matters simple, we will focus upon translational kinetic energy. The amount of translational kinetic energy (from here on, the phrase kinetic energy will refer to translational kinetic energy) which an object has depends upon two variables: the mass (m) of the object and the speed (v) of the object. The following equation is used to represent the kinetic energy (KE) of an object.





where m = mass of object

v = speed of object

This equation reveals that the kinetic energy of an object is directly proportional to the square of its speed. That means that for a twofold increase in speed, the kinetic energy will increase by a factor of four; for a threefold increase in speed, the kinetic energy will increase by a factor of nine; and for a fourfold increase in speed, the kinetic energy will increase by a factor of sixteen. The kinetic energy is dependent upon the square of the speed. As it is often said, an equation is not merely a recipe for algebraic problem-solving, but also a guide to thinking about the relationship between quantities.

Kinetic energy is a scalar quantity; it does not have a direction. Unlike velocity, acceleration, force, and momentum, the kinetic energy of an object is completely described by magnitude alone. Like work and potential energy, the standard metric units of measurement for kinetic energy is the Joule. As might be implied by the above equation, 1 Joule is equivalent to 1 kg*(m/s)^2.

April Fool's Day

Unlike most of the other nonfoolish holidays, the history of April Fool's Day, sometimes called All Fool's Day, is not totally clear. There really wasn't a "first April Fool's Day" that can be pinpointed on the calendar. Some believe it sort of evolved simultaneously in several cultures at the same time, from celebrations involving the first day of spring.

The closest point in time that can be identified as the beginning of this tradition was in 1582, in France. Prior to that year, the new year was celebrated for eight days, beginning on March 25. The celebration culminated on April 1. With the reform of the calendar under Charles IX, the Gregorian Calendar was introduced, and New Year's Day was moved to January 1.

However, communications being what they were in the days when news traveled by foot, many people did not receive the news for several years. Others, the more obstinate crowd, refused to accept the new calendar and continued to celebrate the new year on April 1. These backward folk were labeled as "fools" by the general populace. They were subject to some ridicule, and were often sent on "fools errands" or were made the butt of other practical jokes.

This harassment evolved, over time, into a tradition of prank-playing on the first day of April. The tradition eventually spread to England and Scotland in the eighteenth century. It was later introduced to the American colonies of both the English and French. April Fool's Day thus developed into an international fun fest, so to speak, with different nationalities specializing in their own brand of humor at the expense of their friends and families.

In Scotland, for example, April Fool's Day is actually celebrated for two days. The second day is devoted to pranks involving the posterior region of the body. It is called Taily Day. The origin of the "kick me" sign can be traced to this observance.

Mexico's counterpart of April Fool's Day is actually observed on December 28. Originally, the day was a sad remembrance of the slaughter of the innocent children by King Herod. It eventually evolved into a lighter commemoration involving pranks and trickery.

Pranks performed on April Fool's Day range from the simple, (such as saying, "Your shoe's untied!), to the elaborate. Setting a roommate's alarm clock back an hour is a common gag. Whatever the prank, the trickster usually ends it by yelling to his victim, "April Fool!"

Practical jokes are a common practice on April Fool's Day.

Sometimes, elaborate practical jokes are played on friends or relatives that last the entire day. The news media even gets involved. For instance, a British short film once shown on April Fool's Day was a fairly detailed documentary about "spaghetti farmers" and how they harvest their crop from the spaghetti trees.

April Fool's Day is a "for-fun-only" observance. Nobody is expected to buy gifts or to take their "significant other" out to eat in a fancy restaurant. Nobody gets off work or school. It's simply a fun little holiday, but a holiday on which one must remain forever vigilant, for he may be the next April Fool!