My Blog Agent Blog

Where Does YOUR WATER Come From?

2006-11-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

A Fundraising Service of
WHF Marketing Group
"Wellness for Health through Fundraising"

Noah's Water Fundraising
The Mission:
Promote Individualized Wellness
and Raise Money for
Community Service Organizations

To promote Enhanced Personal Health ("Individualized Wellness") and Increased Earned Revenue by selling Noah's California Spring Water - A Sole-Source 100% Natural Spring Water from Adobe Springs - through Fundraising for Community Service Organizations.

The Need: To raise money in order to fund the organization and allow it to provide programs that allow the organization to function as it was planned.

Your Solution: Noah's Water Fundraising

Know Your Water Lingo

Grocery stores and restaurants offer varieties of water that are difficult to keep up with. Spring, flavored, artesian, mineral, sparkling -- what do these watery terms mean? Isn't water ... water?

The Food and Drug Administration has developed definitions for each of these types of water, and more:

Artesian water is a certain type of well water, collected without mechanical pumping. The well must tap a confined aquifer (an underground layer of rock or sand with water) that has water standing much higher than the rock, gravel or sand.
Mineral water contains standard quantities of minerals that must be naturally present, not added.
Purified water has been processed to remove minerals and other solids. (Purified doesn't mean it is better for you than any other kind.)
Sparkling water is water with a "fizz," either with added carbon dioxide or naturally carbonated. (Seltzer, tonic and club soda are not sparkling water, they are considered soft drinks.)
Spring Water comes from an underground source and naturally flows to the surface. It must be collected at the spring or through a bored hole that taps an underground source of the spring.

Where does water come from? Some 70% of the earth is covered with water. But nearly all is unavailable for human consumption without being processed first. The oceans make up for 97% and the polar ice shields hold another 2%. Only about 1% is soft water from lakes, rives and underground sources, but even from that tiny amount an increasing part is unsafe for human consumption.

All over the world, water is one of the most popular drinks. Its popularity with consumers increased over the last couple of years dramatically. This led to an explosion of available brands. So, keep on exploring the world of water, as it is the best drink for you.

URL: http://www.pmgeiser.ch/mineral/index.php?func=disp&parval=1827

"Where does Your Water come from?"

Adobe Springs

The Adobe Springs flow at a rate of 75,000,000 gallons per year, and contain 110 mg/Liter magnesium. Nearly all other American bottled spring waters contain less than 6 mg/Liter magnesium. This magnesium may prevent up to 40% of all heart disease.

Adobe Springs is bottled at the Seven-Up plant in Modesto, CA, under their label, Noah's California Spring Water, and distributed in the Central Valley of California.

The Adobe Springs are located in western Stanislaus County in an area so remote that there are no schools or delivery of U. S. mail. The area is so mountainous that no bottling plant can be built at the springs, so the water is trucked out in "doubles" carrying 6,000 gallons per load.

The owners are Paul and Janet Mason, who live at the springs with their three children.

The elevation at the Adobe Springs is 1,375 feet above sea level, which keeps the springs pure. At that elevation in such rocky terrain, there is no agriculture or industry using insecticides, herbicides, chemicals, no smog, or anything else. The area is a rugged wilderness, too steep for any development.

For more information on Adobe Springs, Paul Mason, The Health Benefits of Magnesium and The Healthy Water Association, go to: www.mgwater.com.

"Where does Your Money go when you buy Your Water?"

That's easy ... to the Retailer and the Freight Company, as a profit for services rendered. With Noah's Water Fundraising, Your Organization can earn over 30% of the gross revenue generated and Everyone - Scouts, Dads/Moms, Grandma/Grandpa, brothers/sisters, aunts /uncles, cousins, friends and people you don't even know - would be drinking a 100% Natural Spring Water.

Five (5) Sizes of Noah's California Spring Water

2006-10-14T16:06:00.000-07:00

Noah's California Spring Water from Adobe Springs

100% Natural • Sodium Free • Naturally Elevated Levels of Magnesium and Bicarbonate Over Other Spring Waters

Five (5) SIZES of Noah's California Spring Water
Prices Are Per Case
Per Unit Prices May Vary For Sales of Individual Cans or Bottles

Noah's Water Fundraising is pleased to announce the beginning of our

Water Fundraising Program!

[Click on the above image to view larger image]

Visist our web site:
www.NoahsWaterFundraising.com

Visit to Adobe Springs - September, 2006

2006-09-29T22:59:00.000-07:00

A few days ago we were invited by Paul Mason and his wife to come visit their Adobe Springs just west of Patterson, California. Adobe Springs is the sole source of Noah's California Spring Water.

We have posted some photos and short video clips on our site, Noah's Water Fundraising, at this link: http://www.noahswaterfundraising.com/media/Adobe_Gallery/index.shtml

Feel free to visit our site and view the photos of this pristine area. It will help you understand why we are so excited about the 100% Natural Spring Water that has naturally occurring high levels of magnesium and bicarbonate.

"Where does Your Water come from?"

Question: What Type of Water is Best for You?

2006-08-22T22:55:00.000-07:00

Answer: Noah's California Spring Water

100% Natural
A Sole-Source Functional Spring Water
Sodium Free
Naturally Elevated Levels of Magnesium and Bicarbonate

AND

You can Raise Money for your organization.

Noah's California Spring Water
In Plastic Bottles

Noah's California Spring Water
In Glass Bottles

For more information: info@noahswaterfundraising.com

Know Your Water Lingo

2006-08-19T09:26:00.000-07:00

Noah’s Water Fundraising

A Fundraising Service of
WHF Marketing Group
“Wellness for Health through Fundraising”

The Mission: Promote Wellness and Raise Money for Boy Scouts

To promote Wellness and Health by selling a Sole-Source Functional 100% Natural Spring Water through Fundraising to generate revenue for Boy Scout Programs.

The Need: Raise money in order to fund the organization and allow
it to provide programs that allow the organization to function as it was planned; thereby, achieving Financial Wellness and a greater capability for the Scouts to experience the benefits of Your Program.

Know Your Water Lingo

Grocery stores and restaurants offer varieties of water that are difficult to keep up with. Spring, flavored, artesian, mineral, sparkling -- what do these watery terms mean? Isn't water ... water?

The Food and Drug Administration has developed definitions for each of these types of water, and more:

Artesian water is a certain type of well water, collected without mechanical pumping. The well must tap a confined aquifer (an underground layer of rock or sand with water) that has water standing much higher than the rock, gravel or sand.
Mineral water contains standard quantities of minerals that must be naturally present, not added.
Purified water has been processed to remove minerals and other solids. (Purified doesn't mean it is better for you than any other kind.)
Sparkling water is water with a "fizz," either with added carbon dioxide or naturally carbonated. (Seltzer, tonic and club soda are not sparkling water, they are considered soft drinks.)
Spring Water comes from an underground source and naturally flows to the surface. It must be collected at the spring or through a bored hole that taps an underground source of the spring.

For more information: info@noahswaterfundraising.com

"Where does Your Water come from?"

2006-08-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

My Blog Agent announces the introduction of Noah's Water Fundraising, a new fund raising program developed to help organizations raise money by providing a Healthy and 100% Natural bottled water. The sole source of Noah's Water is located in western Stanislaus County, California in an area so remote that there are no schools or delivery of U. S. Mail. The area is so mountainous that no bottling plant can be built at the springs, so the water has to be trucked out.

The elevation at the source is 1,375 feet above sea level, which keeps the springs pure. At that elevation in such rocky terrain, there is no agriculture or industry using insecticides, herbicides, chemicals, no smog, or anything else. The area is a rugged wilderness, too steep for any development.

Noah's Water Fundraising is reaching out to charitable organizations large or small to invite them to investigate the benefits of this unique Healthy & 100% Natural bottled spring water program. Now these organizations can help themselves by offering a healthy product to their supporters!

Visit the Noah's Water Fundraising site or send an inquiry to: info@noahswaterfundraising.com

-> -> Watch This Space... <- <-

2006-08-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

My Blog Agent is very close to announcing our current major project...

The Peter Lupus Hydration Challenge

2006-04-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

The Peter Lupus Hydration Challenge

2006-04-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

The Peter Lupus Hydration Challenge

2006-04-25T09:43:00.000-07:00

The Peter Lupus Hydration Challenge

2006-04-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

The Peter Lupus Hydration Challenge

2006-04-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

The Peter Lupus Hydration Challenge

2006-04-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

The Facts of Hydration

2006-04-21T23:06:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-20T00:40:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-19T18:46:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-04-18T10:39:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

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."

Saturday

2006-04-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-14T12:40:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-13T18:02:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-09T11:26:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-07T11:44:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-03T10:02:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-02T10:27:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

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!

Marketing’s Biggest Challenge

2006-03-31T08:39:00.000-08:00

Just came across this article (originally published on August 27, 2003) and it inspired me to want to share it.

It is interesting to me to compare Marketing’s Biggest Challenge, as perceived in August 2003 to today.

AUGUST 27, 2003

KENTON'S CORNER
By Christopher Kenton

Marketing's Biggest Challenge

It's not a matter of jumping on the latest trend. Rather, it's the need to define a role and goals in a world transformed by technology

Some people collect salt shakers, some people collect vintage cars. I collect definitions of marketing terms -- the meanings of words like "marketing" and "brand" -- that I find in books, on the Web, and in conversations with colleagues and clients. I know, it's the kind of hobby that should come with a pocket protector, but it's one of the few ways you can track the evolution of the marketing concept and keep it grounded in a historical perspective. This is something marketing as a profession desperately lacks.

Take, for example, the definition of "brand". You can see important shifts in the meaning of the word, depending on the date and the source. Advertisers often describe brand as being "an image in the mind of the consumer," something to be influenced and manipulated.

Product marketers often talk about brand being "a promise of value to the consumer," something owned and safeguarded by the company. In more recent years, in part due to the rise of interactive media, brand has been increasingly defined as "an experience" and "a relationship" between the company and consumer.

SHIFTING SANDS. The shifting nuances of a word like branding may seem rudderless, subject to the rise and fall of various marketing specialties and mediums, such as the tremendous influence of advertising and television during the boom of mass markets after World War II. But if you follow the trajectory of words like "brand" and "marketing," you can learn a lot about where the concepts have already been, and where they may be headed.

About 100 years ago, marketing meant distribution.

It literally spoke of the process of getting your products to market and into the hands of the consumer. Over the years, as business trends have come and gone, marketing has also been understood to mean promoting, selling, positioning, targeting, branding, innovating, and much more -- as well as as all of these notions at once. It is this fluidity in the meaning of marketing that is both its source of power and its undoing--it can change rapidly to leverage changes in the business environment, but it can also become bogged down in dead-end paradigms that languish for years.

While many books have been written about the history of advertising and PR, I'm not aware of one good book on the history of marketing that has been written since the 1970s, before the modern age of database marketing and the Web. If you look at the way marketing is practiced today, you can see that lack of historical perspective reflected in its weakness for passing fads and gurus. In fact, it's become nearly impossible for many marketers to tell the difference between a fad and the kind of trends that reflect the deeper currents of marketing's evolution. You certainly couldn't take the pulse of marketing by looking at businesses -- the organizations, methodologies and frameworks are as fragmented as if marketing had been invented in the 1990s.

CONFLICTING PERSPECTIVES. This fragmentation is one of the main reasons marketing today faces such a credibility gap, and it highlights an ironic shortcoming of the marketing profession: It's inability to position itself effectively and compete for market share in the boardroom. You might think that marketers who dispense costly strategic advice on how to position businesses and create competitive advantage would be particularly adept at positioning the practice of marketing, locking down its taxonomy, and building the profession's credibility.

Unfortunately the cobbler's children have no shoes. While it's easy to find common ground in principle about the function of marketing, the actual practice of marketing belies a spectrum of beliefs. At either end of the spectrum you'll find two camps, the Big View and the Small View of marketing. The Big View of marketing is what you'll read in marketing textbooks, or what you'll hear from marketing consultants. It's marketing's view of itself as it stares lovingly at its own image reflected on the surface of the pond. In the Big View, marketing should have its hands in almost everything a business does, from establishing corporate strategy to building products and maintaining customer relationships. It's notable that in this view, sales is a subdomain of marketing, one small slice of the strategic customer life cycle.

Unfortunately, the Big View is what marketing should be, not what it has managed to become. If, one day, marketing can take up this mantle, it would be well for business. But the general failure of marketing to hold all of these reins and steer businesses to success supports the Small View of marketing. This is what you'll read in general MBA textbooks, or what you'll hear from most CEOs. It's the rest of the company's view of marketing, as marketing stares lovingly at its own image reflected on the surface of the pond. In the Small View, marketing is little more than lead generation and promotion. It's a general repository for creative types who live inside their emotions and believe in intuition. In this view, marketing is a support function for sales, providing leads -- which are rarely any good-- and support materials, which never include what the customer wants to hear.

RHETORIC AND REALITY. This is the dead-end paradigm in which marketing languishes today, and it's not only bad for marketing, it's bad for business. Amazingly enough, businesses know it. How many times have you heard a senior corporate excutive state that his outfit isn't a sales organization, it's a marketing organization? Sure, it's a marketing organization once a year, when it sets strategic goals to penetrate segmented markets in order to deliver customer satisfaction at a profit. The rest of the year, however, everyone still goes out and pursues whatever sale can be dragged over the doorstep -- even when that sale means the company will be blown off course by making commitments it isn't even remotely organized to fulfill.

You can blame businesses for this, but I lay the blame at the feet of my own profession. This is marketing's fault. This is the fault of a profession that has simply lost its bearings in a world that changed too rapidly. It can no longer provide effective leadership.

How can marketing find its bearings again?

Personally, I'm collecting definitions of marketing terms to get a breadcrumb view of marketing history and see where things might be headed. Here's an overview of what I've found so far.

The history of marketing shows very specific phases of growth, from distribution to merchandising, salesmanship, branding, advertising, database marketing, one-to-one marketing, and now, electronic marketing. There are a few clues in this history to the bigger pattern.

First, marketing has always had a symbiotic relationship with technology. From the early days when getting your product to market required new forms of transportation, to radio, television, databases and networks, marketing and technology have always worked hand in glove.

Second, the effect of this relationship between marketing and technology has been the steady reduction of the distance between the company and the consumer. In the early days, the company and customer might never cross paths, except by way of a physical product.

Today, customers can increasingly buy products, obtain support, and interact directly with the manufacturer.

THE CHALLENGES

If you look at these two trends together, it says a lot about where marketing is coming up short today. Marketing and technology are natural allies, but while technology is in a phase of rapid acceleration, marketing is lagging behind.

While some marketers have made effective use of new technology, far too many marketers are still just figuring out how to browse the Internet. There are many areas where they should be working together to reduce the distance between company and consumer, including the continuing evolution and deployment of effective customer-relations-management (CRM) tools -- an area still solidly in the hands of IT alone, just like a piece of software.

As the economy slowly stirs back to life, businesses need to examine their own definition of marketing. We need to understand the notion of profit as central to the meaning of marketing, and therefore demand greater accountability.

We must understand the historical dependence of marketing on technology and, therefore, demand closer ties between marketing and technology teams.

We need to understand that the tightening relationship between businesses and consumers is integral to success, and therefore demand a greater emphasis on customer experience as a core marketing function.

Most of all, we need to understand that marketing plays a critical role in the success of every business. When marketing doesn't measure up, simply limiting its charter doesn't solve the problem if the very definition of the concept is weak.

Christopher Kenton is president of the marketing agency Cymbic and a director of Touchpoint Metrics. He can be reached at ckenton@cymbic.com

CLUSTERED WATER™

2006-03-30T09:12:00.000-08:00

— RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Clustered Water™ has been found to be a specific form of water instrumental in key cellular functions. Research has shown that the lack of this specific form of water is responsible for cellular aging and cellular problems. When we are young, our bodies are full of clustered water. As we grow older, our clustered water becomes physically bound to other molecular structures and becomes unable to move freely through the cell walls.

Our body contains approximately 50 trillion cells. The water that sustains them is called clustered water. Unlike tap water, rain or mineral water, Clustered Water™ has a particular characteristic which allows it to pass freely through cell walls, delivering oxygen, nutrients, protein chains, enzymes and it removes the toxic buildup that accumulates in the cell.

The efficiency and speed of Clustered Water™ is due to the design and shape of the water molecules and the design and shape of the cell itself. Small water clusters fit into and through the hexagonal channels in the cell membrane and inside the cell.

Studies show that 2% loss of cellular water decreases energy levels by as much as 20%.
Over 99% of all chemical reactions in the cell are facilitated by water.

HISTORY OF DR. LEE LORENZEN

Dr. Lee Lorenzen has an impressive academic background; he received his BA in Biology from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Lorenzen went to UCI School of Medicine, Research Associate in the Department of Pharmacology; did his graduate studies in Biology at Cal State Fullerton and finished up with Doctorate studies in Nutrition at Metropolitan Collegiate Institute, London, UK. Along with these educational achievements, Lee also ventured into teaching before entered into research and development.

He is an active member of the American Preventive Medical Association and has been awarded 2 US Patents on Clustered Water™ technology (5,711,950 & 6,033,678).

Lee has written and narrated many video and audiotapes on nutrition and health care for the general public, and he has lectured extensively on the life sciences around the world. He has published articles in the Proceedings of the Western Pharmacology Society, Life Sciences (London), Food Technology Japan, up-to-date Food Processing and La Vie Japan.

HOW CLUSTERED WATER™ IS MADE

Clustered Water™ is designed for the human body. Dr. Lorenzen uses his proprietary Clustered Water™ Template Induction Process (U.S. Patent No. 5711950) to produce Clustered Water™ in his laboratory in California, USA.

These clusters are folded around proteins and the complex is subjected to high frequency vibration through the use of laser and ceramic systems. The protein base is then extracted.

Clustered Water ™ is a non-toxic solution that beneficially impacts the body’s entire systems by means of energy transference, through super hydration.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF CLUSTERED WATER™

Energizes the body
Hydrates cells and organs
Helps remove waste and toxins from cells
Helps boost nutrition absorption

The molecular structure of Clustered Water™ occurs naturally in only a few very special places on earth. In the few locations where these specific waters do exist naturally, the people are known to lead long, vibrant lives without many of the health problems that are prevalent in western society.

Clustered Water™ is an organized cluster of water molecules held together by shared hydrogen atoms. It is primarily found in three places:

BODY: We are born with this biowater.
NATURE: North Pole, Lourdes, France and other known healing springs.
LABORATORY: Produced by Clustered Water™ Template Induction Process.

Thanks to fifteen years of painstaking research, Dr. Lee Lorenzen was finally able to devise a process to mimic these special structures and stabilize them in such a way that they are now available to anyone who wants or needs them on a daily basis.

Click Here To Order Clustered Water™

Got Hydration?

2006-03-29T08:53:00.000-08:00

Eight (8) glasses of water a day may not be enough

Question:

Why is it so important and how much should I drink each day?

Answer:

Your body needs water to burn fat - to complete all of the chemical processes necessary to turn your fat into ATP (adenine triphosphate). Simply put, ATP is your body's gasoline.

Research suggests you should be drinking at least half your body wight in ounces of water a day. Remember, 60 to 70% of your body weight is water. If you weigh 180 pounds, then you should be drinking 90 ounces of water a day.

Keep water with you all day long - in the car, in your purse, in your gym bag, at your desk. It's very important to stay hydrated. Unintentional dehydration can lead to chronic pain and disease. When your body is dehydrated, it will scavenge water from your vital organs. Each dehydrated organ causes a side effect or symptom that you then experience.

Proper hydration can help lessen many problems including: constipation, heartburn, stomach ulcers, arthritis, headaches, low back pain, neck pain, fatigue, asthma, gastrointestinal upset, acne or skin rashes, sciatica and allergies.

Next time you go to grab a coffee, diet soda or any other kind of drink, think twice and make sure you have had half your body weight in ounces of water.

Water is truly the fountain of life and longevity.

Boy Scouts Broadens Appeal

2006-03-28T09:40:00.000-08:00

Organization increases membership in urban neighborhoods

Scouting has to be more than just camping and good citizenship.

The Boy Scouts of America ‘s 2005 membership for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts is 2.7 million Scouts.

To boost their numbers, the Scouts revived a policy this year requiring all first-class Boy Scouts to invite other boys to join up. To broaden their appeal, the organization also is reaching out to ethnic groups and urban neighborhoods. Last year, it began printing the Cub Scout manual in Spanish.

"No matter where you are, there's a need for Boy Scouts."

Scouting officials say political battles over gays and atheists aren't driving away members as much as the shifting culture. A more diverse population means some communities are unfamiliar with the program imported from England nearly a century ago.

In addition, today's Scouts must compete against ever-increasing youth programs for kids' time. The Girl Scouts say similar factors, along with population fluctuations, are behind their sagging numbers: from 3.2 million worldwide in 1970 to 2.7 million today.

Scoutreach, a program that targets kids in urban and rural communities, often waives membership fees and makes uniforms optional. Boys can skip meetings early if their parents need to pick them up or they just don't like the day's activity, like learning to sew badges.

Even if these boys don't plan to climb to the top rank of Eagle Scout, they'll still get some benefits of Scouting, officials say.

Boy Scouts needs to be flexible, but remain true to the core values.

The payoffs, he said, come in moments like watching the boys sit around a bonfire and toast marshmallows during camping trips, some for the first time ever. The boys relish the outdoor adventures.

Scouting teaches character development and teamwork.

Biometrics

2006-03-27T10:31:00.000-08:00

What is Biometrics?

Biometrics is the measurement and matching of biological characteristics such as finger images, hand geometry, facial recognition, etc.

Why is biometric security better than passwords?

Biometrics offers significant improvements in security over passwords. In fact, combining passwords with biometrics or combining biometrics (e.g. two finger images) improves security even further. A finger image cannot be found under the keyboard or in a desk drawer, where passwords are often kept. No one can look over your shoulder and observe you typing your finger image. Equally important, finger images are easier to use than passwords; you can’t forget them or lose them, and they don’t have to be changed every thirty or ninety days. Password maintenance can have a significant negative impact on a company’s productivity, and remains a growing problem with continued password proliferation
.

Technology

A biometric is a measure of a physical or behavioral trait that's unique to one person. Most authentication methods rely on "something you know" factors, like a password, or "something you have" factors, like a token or access card. The problem is, any one of those factors can be lost, stolen, counterfeited or forgotten. Biometric measures, on the other hand, are almost impossible to duplicate because they identify "something you are".

Our identity management solution relies on behavioral biometrics to quickly and accurately identify individuals as they engage in their normal routines. The technology quickly, accurately, and undetectably confirms identity of individuals attempting to use computing resources.

The human brain permits us to effortlessly identify and classify people based on a combination of sensory and behavioral cues. This ability it is one of our most basic and important skills that we possess.

Everyday, our brain uses a set of rules and conditions to perform a highly evolved form of biometric discrimination. For instance, when talking to someone on a telephone that you have not met previously, what clues to their identity can you gain from just their speech alone?

Based on frequency, cadence, tone, rhythm, pitch, inflection, and accent, you can generally tell:

The gender of the person
If they are young or old
If they have an accent, and depending on your familiarity with the accent, might reveal where they are from with a high degree of specificity
Emotional state, i.e. happy, excited, sad, or angry

NeoKinetics develops technology to digitally identify and classify unique behaviors that people exhibit in a digital environment. Our technologies enable our clients to deploy systems that use our identification and classification methodologies to:

Verify identity
Identify and classify groups
Identify and assess behavior

Our technologies are passive, where observed behavior is recorded, measured and evaluated using rules based on historical precedence in conjunction with systems security requirements. Our technology is completely undetectable by individuals that use the systems on which our technology is deployed resulting in increased acceptance and access.

A Principled Strategy for a Balanced and Practical Response

2006-03-26T08:59:00.000-08:00

My Definitions

Principled: The basis upon which others can determine a basis for truth, clarity and integrity.

Strategy: The plan for achieving success in defined goals and objectives.

Balanced: It’s a ‘Win-Win-Win’ situation; that is, everyone in the deal wins – the investors, the customers and the company.

Practical: Does the product or service serve a real need.

Response: What is put ‘out there’ for others to respond to.

Marketing is Storytelling

All marketers are storytellers because every product or service needs a story. Without a story, why would anyone be interested in the product or service? Marketers tell stories because investors and consumers insist on it. The facts are irrelevant. What matters is what the consumer believes.

Consumers buy what they want, not what they need. Needs are practical and objective, wants are irrational and subjective.

Truly great stories succeed because they are true, make a promise, can be trusted and agree with what we already believe.

My Bottom Line

I believe in incorporating principles, balance and practicality in every strategic positioning campaign to inspire a response that makes it work for everyone.

The Retrograde is Over Today!

2006-03-25T07:53:00.000-08:00

On March 2, 2006, Mercury, the cosmic magician, turns retrograde in Pisces, the sign of the Fishes, sending communications, travel, appointments, mail and the www into a general snarlup! This awkward period begins a few days before the actual turning point (as Mercury slows) and lasts for three weeks or so, until March 25, when the Winged Messenger reaches his direct station. At this time he halts and begins his return to direct motion through the zodiac.

Everything finally straightens out on April 14, 2006, as he passes the point where he first turned retrograde. Mercury turns retrograde three times a year, as a rule, but the effects of each period differ, according to the sign in which it happens (see box for Retrograde Periods in 2006).

A planet is described as retrograde when it appears to be moving backwards through the zodiac. This traditional concept arises in the illusory planetary motion created by the orbital rotation of the earth, with relation to other planets in our solar system. Planets are never actually retrograde or stationary, they just seem that way, due to this optical illusion.

Retrograde periods, although often problematic for us earthlings, are not particularly uncommon. Each planet retrogrades, except the Sun and Moon.

Fated Events

As a rule, retrograde planets presage a period of seemingly inevitable or fated events, which relate to their sphere of influence. They present us with a series of events over which we seem to have little or no control, relating especially to the sign in which the retrogradation occurs. For example, Mercury retrograde in Virgo presents quite different sets of circumstances from those generated when it retrogrades into Leo.

A retrograde period is best seen as a cycle, beginning when the planet begins to slow to a halt before travelling backwards through the zodiac and ending when the planet returns to the point where it first paused. However, during the cycle, the planet's energy is most powerful (and more likely to generate critical events of universal importance) when the planet makes a station, appearing motionless in the sky.

These stationary periods occur near the beginning of the cycle (when the planet first halts as it prepares to move backwards) and midway through the cycle when the retrograde planet slows to a stop before moving forward again. The "direct station" (when the planet halts before moving forward again) is the most powerful and can be used for maximum benefit.

Some astrologers consider that the "Mercury Shadow" begins some three weeks before the actual retro station (when Mercury passes the point of direct station for the first time), but I am more inclined to think that the really noticeable peculiarities begin when Mercury slows significantly, a few days before the retro station. This period of "Mercury Shadow" extends to the Return date, some three weeks after the direct station. Bear this in mind, because experience shows that the effects of the retro period are still marked during the "shadow" phase.

What does Mercury affect?

In general, Mercury rules thinking and perception, processing and disseminating information and all means of communication, commerce and transportation. By extension, Mercury rules people who work in these areas, especially people who work with their minds or their wits: writers and orators, commentators and critics, gossips and spin doctors, tricksters and thieves.

Mercury retrograde gives rise to personal misunderstandings; flawed, disrupted, or delayed communications, negotiations and trade; glitches and breakdowns with phones, computers, cars, buses, and trains. And all of these problems usually arise because some crucial piece of information, or component, has gone astray, or awry.

It is therefore not wise to make important decisions while Mercury is retrograde, since it is very likely that these decisions will be clouded by misinformation, poor communication and careless thinking. Mercury is all about mental clarity and the power of the mind, so when Mercury is retrograde, these intellectual characteristics tend to be less acute than usual, as the critical faculties are dimmed.

The Key Issue

The key issue here is one of focus. Mercury's retro phase tends to bring unforeseen changes and blockages, but the aggravation and frustration that many of us experience during these periods is often due to our own inability to roll with the punches. Is this due to our ego-fixation?

Mercury sets out to restructure our thinking processes and for many of us this is painful and frustrating. Moreover, these experiences reveal flaws in our internal organization as well as our external planning, which can make us feel foolish and inadequate.

Mercury retrograde, like any cosmic aspect, affects people differently, depending on where it hits their personal charts. Some people actually prosper under a retro Mercury, especially if Mercury is retrograde but otherwise well-aspected in their birth charts. It is also a time when matters begun under a previous retro period will come to fruition, or completion as the case may be. Firm decisions that have been previously made when Mercury is travelling normally through the zodiac may be implemented or finalised while Mercury is retrograde without too much worry, for experience shows that this can be done without undue problems arising.

Mercury Retrograde in Pisces

When Mercury is retrograde, everyone's thinking is more introspective and we tend to think about issues and concerns which relate to the sign involved. With Mercury retrograde in Pisces, people with this sign prominent in their charts will be especially prone to such introspection. There is little choice but to reconsider our personal views and opinions about life. There is, however, an opportunity to gain insight into our own ego.

Mercury retro in Pisces, the sign of his fall, creates mental and emotional confusion, with strange dreams and sometimes psychic experiences. Mental processes being entwined with emotions, we find it hard to separate ideas and opinions from passion and idealism. Our mental orientation can be unstable, unrealistic and overly-spiritual, but it also inclines to laziness and increases the urge to consume alcohol. Nervousness and stress, even unfounded fears and paranoia are stimulated, especially from working or living in a hostile environment. Maintain privacy and dignity in the working environment and don't try to read between the lines, when there is really nothing to find.

As Mercury turns in stressful square aspect to Pluto in Sagittarius, people tend to become too intense or place too much importance on relatively innocuous ideas or pieces of information, and the likelihood is that the intelligence will be confused or misleading, especially if concerned with foreigners, faraway places, or religious matters. Don't waste time looking for hidden motives in what others are doing, when their actions may be perfectly innocent. Others take your ideas or actions far more seriously than you had intended. Valuable time can be lost, or you can jeopardize a position of personal power if you manipulate a situation, or the information and ideas you get from others, to your unfair advantage. Maintain a patient, reasonable attitude and take rumors with a dose of salts.

All areas of communication are affected, especially in any cultural pursuits, overseas matters or anything to do with travel, religion, academic pursuits, trading partners, adventurers and foreigners in general. This period brings travel snafus and missed appointments of all kinds. Documents can go astray. Be sure to carry a diary and refer to it often.

Go The Distance

2006-03-24T08:13:00.000-08:00

What does ‘Go The Distance’ mean?

To me, it means doing everything you need to do and can do and then waiting until the time is right to proceed to the next level of activity.

In the movie ‘Field of Dreams’ – which I have watched over 24 times – there were four messages for me:

(1) Build IT and They will come.
(2) Ease Their Pain
(3) Go The Distance
(4) Detachment

Simply, ‘Go The Distance’ starts with the building process and defining what you are building for those persons that will become your customers; that is, users of what you are building. IT is a process and takes time, energy and dollars to build. By answering questions before they are asked (the essence of (2) above) people will get involved and help you build IT. Sometimes, things happen quicker than anticipated or projected and othertimes not. That is the essence of ‘Go The Distance’ ... waiting for the right time.

Detachment means that even after you build IT, They come, you ‘Go The Distance’, it isn’t yours. You must detach yourself from what you want your customers to do from helping your customers get the most out of what you have built for them.

Going The Distance can be stressful

IT isn’t done until IT is done. That’s the bottom line: We must ‘Go The Distance’ to get to the finish line and that can be stressful because most of the time, there’s nothing more we can do but wait and see.

Collective Intellect, Experience and Service

2006-03-23T09:24:00.000-08:00

Head the term ‘Collective Brain Trust’ on the radio and wrote it down. When I Googled it, came across an interesting company called Collective Technologies, a recognized leader in providing enterprise-class IT services and solutions to large and mid-size companies worldwide.

http://www.colltech.com/

Collective Intellect

– The Power of Many Minds

Total collaboration is at the heart of our culture. From our recruiting process to our compensation, knowledge sharing is emphasized and expected. We know it’s a dramatic shift from the industry norm, but it’s why we exist – to bring together the best minds in our industry and apply their combined talents to your critical IT issues.

We call this brain trust the Collective Intellect, and each member of our team participates in and benefits from it. Every Collective consultant has immediate access to the knowledge, resources and assistance of our entire team. If a problem requires input from a world-class expert in a particular technology, they are immediately available to virtually collaborate and quickly resolve even the most challenging problems. The result is a highly evolved approach to collaborative problem-solving that leverages the experience and intellectual power of our entire team.

Collective Experience

– The Best of the Best

We start with a recruiting and selection process that has been praised as the best in our industry. We screen thousands and thousands of candidates each year to find the handful that have the expertise, drive and personality to be contributors to our team. Collective consultants are carefully chosen from the very top of their field. Most hold multiple vendor certifications in the latest technologies. And with a corporate culture that stresses collaboration and professional development, we retain our consultants at a rate far above the industry average. It’s no wonder that Collective thrives at the intersection of today’s complex technologies.

Collective Service

– Above and Beyond

We hire not only the smartest but also the most dedicated people we can find. We live and breathe service at Collective. It’s a vital part of our entire culture and tradition. We know that our success is based on our commitment to build trusted relationships with all our customers and partners.

For a glimpse of what Collective service really means to our customers, read our Above and Beyond testimonials

The Impact of the World Wide Web On Society

2006-03-22T07:54:00.000-08:00

How Web Technology Has Changed Our Lives

What Is It?

The World Wide Web, in a very basic definition:

"The World Wide Web ("WWW", or simply "Web") is an information space in which the items of interest, referred to as resources, are identified by global identifiers called Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI). It is often confused as being analagous to the entire Internet, whereas in fact it is a major subset of it.
The purpose of the WWW is to allow users to view or make use of more than just text" (Wikipedia.)

The Web Community

The Web, officially launched as an offshoot of the Internet in 1989, has not been around that long. However, it’s become a huge part of many people’s lives; enabling them to communicate, work, and play in a global context.

The Web is all about relationships and has made these relationships possible between individuals, groups, and communities where they wouldn’t have been otherwise.

The Web is a community without borders, limits, or even rules; and has become a true world of its own.

The Original Intention of the Web

The Web is a giant experiment, a global theory, that has amazingly enough worked pretty well. Its history illustrates the ways that technological advancement and innovation can move along unintended paths.

Originally, the Web and the Internet were created to be part of a military strategy, and not meant for private use. However, as in many experiments, theories, and plans, this didn’t actually happen.

Human Fingerprints on the Web

The Web is a structure created by humans, and we find out about the world by surfing sites, checking email, instant-messaging and bulletin boards.

The guidelines of the Web are fluid. We never know what we’re going to find. The Web, created by humans with human biases and human failings, is a technologically neutral tool, but each pixel on this network is infused with as much human bias and personality as humanly possible.

The Web = Communication

More than any technical definition, the Web is a way that people communicate.

The Internet, which is what the Web is laid down upon, started in the 1950’s as an experiment by the Department of Defense. They wanted to come up with something that would enable secure communications between various military units. However, once this technology was out, there was no stopping it. Universities such as Harvard and Berkeley caught wind of this revolutionary technology and made important modifications to it, such as addressing the individual computers from which communications originated (otherwise known as IP addressing).

Snail Mail versus Email

More than anything else, the Internet made people realize that communicating just by phone or mail was going to be a dinosaur. The possibilities of world-wide communication were mind-boggling to people then.

Nowadays, we think nothing of emailing (and getting an answer back within minutes), or seeing the latest streaming video full of up to the minute news. The Internet and the Web have revolutionized the way we communicate; not only with individuals, but with the world as well.

How Has The Web Become So Popular

Could you imagine your life without using the Web - no email, no access to breaking news, no up to the minute weather reports, no way to shop online, etc.? Probably you can't.

We have grown to be dependent on this technology - it has transformed the way that we conduct out lives. Try to go one day without using the Web in some fashion-you'll probably be surprised at how much you depend on it.

The ‘Always Growing, Always Evolving’ Web

The Web can’t actually be tracked down, you can’t point at it and say “there it is!”

The Web is a continual, ongoing process. It never has stopped replicating itself or progressing since the day it began, and it probably will keep evolving as long as people are around to keep developing it.

It’s made up of personal relationships, business partnerships and global associations. If the Web didn’t have these interpersonal relationships, it wouldn’t exist.

Globalization and Convergence

2006-03-21T08:06:00.000-08:00

globalization
Definition: Name for the process of increasing the connectivity and interdependence of the world's markets and businesses.

convergence
Definition: The coming together of two or more disparate disciplines or technologies. For example, the so-called fax revolution was produced by a convergence of telecommunications technology, optical scanning technology, and printing technology.

Just read an article in the LA Times titled ‘Coping with Globalization’. Following are highlights of this emerging phenomena.

Globalization: Technological advances, liberalization of markets and the entry of low-cost competition.

The 5-year research program involved talking to 500 companies around the world to discover what specific approaches they were taking to meet today’s challenges.

What does globalization mean in practice? CONVERGENCE.

The challenge of globalization leads to reorganization and relocation.

We used to worry about products being “Made in America”, but with the “modularity” of modern business we will see “Made All Over.” It’s the combination of modularity and the break-up of the production system, together with the opening of the international economy that delivers globalization.

The challenge is “creating your own competitor.”

Women Working It Out

2006-03-20T09:31:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, March 15, 2006 the New York Times ran an article titled ‘Working It Out’ about women and business careers.

Of the 1.33 women graduating from college for every man, they do not “opt out” by getting married but rather “have it all” as 58% were never out of the job market for more than 6 months total in the 15 years following graduation.

Following are the selected statistics that I thought were interesting:

* 95% of women who graduated from an Ivy League school will never learn to play the harp.

* 15% of women who major in earth sciences will produce 4.2 fewer children while marrying 1.6% of the world’s carpenters than those who marry real estate developers.

* 91% of women with graduate degrees in biochemical engineering do not hold second jobs as cocktail waitresses.

* 81% of graphic designers who marry illustrators own 2.8 dogs that take 4.6 baths every 9.2 days.

* 38% of women who are not married by the time they are 64 are more likely to have chin implants before they are 71 than the 1.8% of women who earned a joint degree in medicine and denistry.

* 22% of women who read statistics about women are 48% more likely to be chronically depressed and are 1.5 times more likely to watch 8.2 hours of television.

World Day for Water

2006-03-19T09:28:00.000-08:00

March 22, 2006

Theme: Water and Culture

World Water Day (WWD) 2006 will be guided by the theme 'Water and Culture' under the leadership of UNESCO.
The UN body designated to coordinate activities is:

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
Division of Water Sciences
1 rue Miollis
75732 Paris CEDEX 15
France
E-mail: wwd2006@unesco.org
Website: World Water Day 2006

About World Day for Water

The United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/47/193 of 22 December 1992 by which 22 March of each year was declared World Day for Water, to be observed starting in 1993, in conformity with the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) contained in Chapter 18 (Fresh Water Resources) of Agenda 21.

States were invited to devote the Day, as appropriate in the national context, to concrete activities such as the promotion of public awareness through the publication and diffusion of documentaries and the organization of conferences, round tables, seminars and expositions related to the conservation and development of water resources and the implementation of the recommendations of Agenda 21.

Innovation and Positioning

2006-03-18T10:44:00.000-08:00

This week, Google, Microsoft and IBM announced plans to ‘Spend Big’ on innovation and positioning.

Google Increasing Innovation Spending in 2006

Google has said in a statement that they would be spending a lot more than usual to continue innovating in the market where they face serious competition from big players like Microsoft and Yahoo! This means that their revenue growth will continue to decline amid increasing competition. Google also notified this in its annual form filed late Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Our investments in property and equipment, including information technology infrastructure and land and buildings, will likely be significantly greater in 2006 compared to 2005.”

In 2005 Google spent $838.2 million dollars on capital expenditure compared to just around $319 million in 2004. They also added that their primary revenue source (online advertisement) faces increasing competition from the traditional sources of advertisements like on television and print media.
Posted 3/17/06 - http://www.searchenginejournal.com

Microsoft Plans Marketing Push on IBM

- (Highlights from news articles in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today.)

Microsoft announced a $678 million marketing initiative aimed at competing with IBM for corporate spending on information technology.

The $678 million is the largest business-oriented marketing campaign ever for the company. By comparison, Microsoft spent $270 million on a four-month marketing campaign when Windows XP was launched in 2001.

Up to three-quarters of Microsoft’s $54 billion of annual revenue comes from business customers. IBM had $123 billion in revenue last year, mainly from business customers.

The campaigns reflect the challlenge both companies face in convincing their most important customers to continue buying their products and services.

Microsoft’s marketing drive and its strategic assault on IBM comes as it prepares to roll out a series of new products in the second half of this year. The company is positioning the new desktop offerings as a kind of dashboard for managing businesses, especially when linked to other new Microsoft programs for worker communications and collaboration, searching company databases, business intelligence and customer relationship management.

St. Patrick’s Day

2006-03-17T09:23:00.000-08:00

The History of the Holiday

The First Parade

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, his religious feast day and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for thousands of years.

On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were waived and people would dance, drink, and feast—on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

The first St. Patrick's Day parade took place not in Ireland, but in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through New York City on March 17, 1762. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers to reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.

Over the next thirty-five years, Irish patriotism among American immigrants flourished, prompting the rise of so-called "Irish Aid" societies, like the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick and the Hibernian Society. Each group would hold annual parades featuring bagpipes (which actually first became popular in the Scottish and British armies) and drums.

No Irish Need Apply

Up until the mid-nineteenth century, most Irish immigrants in America were members of the Protestant middle class. When the Great Potato Famine hit Ireland in 1845, close to a million poor, uneducated, Catholic Irish began to pour into America to escape starvation. Despised for their religious beliefs and funny accents by the American Protestant majority, the immigrants had trouble finding even menial jobs. When Irish Americans in the country 's cities took to the streets on St. Patrick's Day to celebrate their heritage, newspapers portrayed them in cartoons as drunk, violent monkeys.

However, the Irish soon began to realize that their great numbers endowed them with a political power that had yet to be exploited. They started to organize, and their voting block, known as the "green machine," became an important swing vote for political hopefuls. Suddenly, annual St. Patrick's Day parades became a show of strength for Irish Americans, as well as a must-attend event for a slew of political candidates. In 1948, President Truman attended New York City 's St. Patrick's Day parade, a proud moment for the many Irish whose ancestors had to fight stereotypes and racial prejudice to find acceptance in America.

Wearing of the Green Goes Global

Today, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by people of all backgrounds in the United States, Canada, and Australia. Although North America is home to the largest productions, St. Patrick's Day has been celebrated in other locations far from Ireland, including Japan, Singapore, and Russia.

In modern-day Ireland, St. Patrick's Day has traditionally been a religious occasion. In fact, up until the 1970s, Irish laws mandated that pubs be closed on March 17. Beginning in 1995, however, the Irish government began a national campaign to use St. Patrick's Day as an opportunity to drive tourism and showcase Ireland to the rest of the world. Last year, close to one million people took part in Ireland 's St. Patrick's Festival in Dublin, a multi-day celebration featuring parades, concerts, outdoor theater productions, and fireworks shows.

Health is the Future of Food & Beverage

2006-03-16T08:28:00.000-08:00

Wellness is the key trend

The trend towards health cannot be doubted and health – or wellness – is becoming the new standard for the food industry.

Foods and beverages with health benefits can no longer be viewed as some special separate category – every product must have some positive nutritional values.

Wellness is the key trend and every company must have a clear view of how “wellness” is going to impact its products and how it will do business in a world in which wellness is the norm.

All Foods are fast Becoming Functional

Marketing the intrinsic healthfulness of the foods your company already produces. The role of the food industry in improving the health of society – and specifically its role in contributing to, and helping to remedy, the epidemic of obesity and other diet-related diseases – is the subject of stormy debate.

Individualized Nutrition

BASF, one of the world’s leading ingredient companies, and Fonterra, one of the world’s biggest dairy groups, were to jointly fund a multi-million dollar research program, called POSIFoods (Point Of Sale Individualised Foods) to create a system that will allow customers to choose a snack that meets particular health needs such as low-fat for calorie management, low cholesterol for heart-health, high calcium for osteoporosis, or low in sugars for diabetics.

In recent years, the trend to individual consumption has helped drive the rapid growth of nutritional bars and beverages. If you look at where the big growth in nutritional products has been over the last few years it’s in bars and single-serve beverages – products consumed by individuals who are on-the-go, in a hurry, and most often eating alone.

Asia for inspiration and health leadership

It’s worth reminding ourselves that the origins of many of the most successful functional brands and functional product concepts lay in Asia, and in particular Japan. Probiotic dairy drinks, energy drinks, enhanced waters – these have all been long established in Asia.

Red Bull, for example, was on the market in Thailand for many years before an Austrian company licensed the concept. And soy may seem like a high-growth wonder-food in the west but it has for centuries been part of the Asian diet.

The Kids Nutrition Crisis

The issue of what products the food and beverage industries market to children – and how they are marketed – has risen up the agenda of industry, parents and governments alike over the past two years and there’s every sign that the debate around the subject will intensify and the pressure to produce healthier options will only increase.

***********

The Centre for Food & Health Studies, an international organization based in the UK that provides research, analysis and forecasting of the global nutrition business.

Copies of the Ten Key Trends for the Functional Food Industry are available for a fee. For more information visit http://www.new-nutrition.com/ or email julian.mellentin@new-nutrition.com or call +44 (0) 207 533 6595.

Boy Scout Honor

2006-03-15T17:20:00.000-08:00

Read an article in the LA Times this morning titled ‘Scout’s dishonor’ and it inspired me to write today’s blog.

For over 11 years, our family has been actively involved in the Boy Scout program. Our son is an Eagle Scout. We are proud of him for what he has learned and what he has accomplished in his 19 years.

There are two issues that keep being raised about the Boy Scouts:

(1) Gays are not allowed to participate.
(2) Everyone must believe in God.

It is true that the Boy Scouts have established guidelines for (1) and (2) above. Personally, I have never been part of or know anyone in active Scouting that has actively been involved in identifying and persecuting anyone for their personal beliefs.

In my humble opinion, you can be gay and/or an atheist and be in Scouting. The key word here is ‘Scouting’, not gay or atheist.

So what is the so-called penalty for being gay or an atheist? Answer: You are not supposed to be able to earn the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest rank award of the Boy Scouts.

In Scouting ...

In Scouting, the Boy Scout Program is consistent throughout the world. That is, all Boy Scouts follow the same program to earn merit badges and rank advancement.

In Scouting, all Scoutmasters are trained. We do not label Scoutmasters; that is, Gay Scoutmasters, Black Scoutmasters, Catholic Scoutmasters, etc. ... as a Scoutmaster is a Scoutmaster.

In Scouting, we teach a belief in God. We do not teach how to believe in God or where to practice your belief in God. This is left up to the Scout.

Clustered Water®

2006-03-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

Clustered Water® is Hydration Water

1. I think I’ve heard of Clustered Water before. How long has this technology been around?
Lee H. Lorenzen, pioneer of the concept of structured water and inventor of the patented micro-clustering process, began his work nearly 20 years ago in 1985. The beverages he developed were originally introduced in Japan in 1988, and since that time his research has spawned an entire industry of functional water products around the world. Commercial distribution is now underway in the United States, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Europe.

2. How does Clustered Water differ from any other fitness-related beverages claiming to be “structured” or to “increase hydration?”
Other waters have begun to emerge claiming the same properties as Clustered Water, but there are no other beverages anywhere on earth that can legally claim more effective hydration than Clustered Water. CSI received the first patents on the Clustered Water Technology in 1998, long before other companies were ever even a thought. The Clustered Water production process is protected by United States patent numbers 5,711,950 and 6,033,678. Other companies cannot legally offer the same proven benefits offered by our process.

Clustered Water was the first on the market in the mid 1980’s, and since then other products claiming similar hydration effects have been introduced. Some companies use oxygen, sound, or ionization. Some have patents, but you will find that our name is usually referenced in their patent. None of these companies use our patented process because they are not allowed to use it. Many people use the term “clustered water” without our permission, even though it is our United States registered trademark.

Be sure to buy authentic Clustered Water® when you shop! Authentic products bear the Clustered Water logo.

3. So, how do you make Clustered Water?
All of CSI’s beverages are put through rigorous purification and filtration techniques including 0.2-micron filters, plus Ultraviolet and Ozone sterilization to assure you the highest quality and purity possible. Clustered Water processing involves changes in magnetic fields, intense light, temperature and pressure with trace minerals.

4. What proof do you have that Clustered Water is truly distinct from all other waters?
Independent laboratory analysis by Shin Etsu Chemical Company in Japan, Associated Laboratories in California, and the French Academy of Sciences have used Oxygen-17 NMR, Raman Spectroscopy, and RJL bio-impedance tests to prove that our solutions maximize hydration and improve cell function (increased phase angle). Additionally, the Chinese Health Care Society recently performed controlled hospital studies on elderly patients and found significant physiological improvements in patient health. If you would like to learn more, CSI has detailed information regarding these studies available upon request. Additional testing has also been completed in these independent laboratories in the United States, France and China using Raman spectroscopy and Oxygen-17 NMR.

5. Will Clustered Water ever expire?
Yes! Every product produced by CSI is heat-stamp dated and labeled with the lot number to assure the freshness and quality. Most of our beverages have approximately a fifteen-month shelf life if stored properly. However, it is recommended that Clustered beverages be stored under 75 degrees Fahrenheit and out of direct sunlight to insure maximum effectiveness.

6. Should Clustered Water be taken with food?
It is recommended that Clustered Water products be taken on an empty stomach for greatest absorption.

7. Are there any known side effects to drinking Clustered Water?
If a person is significantly dehydrated, the rapid rehydration by the solutions can sometimes cause a worsening of some symptoms such as fatigue. This reaction can be avoided by starting slowly with the solutions and building the amount taken each week. For example, rather than 2 eight ounce servings daily, an elderly or ill person might want to start with 3 ounces twice daily and build to 8 ounces twice daily over a period of 3-4 weeks.

8. Can Clustered Water be mixed with other drinks?
No. It is recommended that the solution not be mixed with other liquids; however, it is acceptable to take it with vitamin and mineral supplements in pill or capsule form.

9. Can Clustered Water be used topically?
Yes! The water can be sprayed on minor cuts and scrapes, soaked into the pads of bandages, or simply put in a spray bottle for refreshment on hot or dry days.

10. Can I take Clustered Water when I am sick?
Definitely. If there is any time that is beneficial to take Clustered Water, it is when our bodies are stressed and need that extra hydration.

11. What if I want to drink more than 16oz a day? Why is 16oz the magic number? Also, how are we suppose to feel? What are we suppose to notice?

We have found that it is easiest for people to stay on a routine of using one bottle (approx. 16 oz) per day. This routine is extremely important to assist with proper hydration. When your body is properly hydrated, it becomes more efficient, and may even not require the same amount of sleep. Therefore, we suggest that if you find that you are not sleeping well, lower your daily consumption.
By stimulating water turnover, you may feel your body respond in a multitude of ways. The most common praise from VIVO drinkers is that they notice increased energy. Click here to visit the testimonial section to read the stories of others who have responded! Due to FDA drug regulations our hands are tied in making any claims on beneficial effects, but we welcome all testimonials on how it has affected you!

12. Should children drink Clustered Water?
Absolutely! Children under 12 years of age can drink between 2 and 4 ounces daily. Those with health concerns should start with less.

13. What about my pets?
We have had wonderful reports regarding dogs, cats, birds, and horses (and especially older animals). Serve our product in a plastic or ceramic container. Please send us your stories and observations for our files.

14. Will Clustered Water interfere with my other supplements and medications?
Clustered Water® is a delivery system. IT SEEMS TO ENHANCE THE UPTAKE OF MANY FACTORS YOU TAKE WITH IT (as shown in nutrient absorption observations in Olympic athletes). To be prudent, we recommend that our products should NOT be taken with any form of medication at the same time. If you take medications, take them at least 30 minutes AFTER drinking Clustered Water. On the other hand, Clustered Water is the perfect compliment to nutritional supplements. It may help them to be assimilated more quickly and efficiently into the body.

15. Will Clustered water help my medical condition?
Due to US Government regulations, we are not allowed to discuss any of our clinical data. We are only allowed to report data/information pertaining to hydration. Hundreds of thousands of people in the Far East, Europe and North America have used our products since 1988 with no adverse affects. There has never been a report of any medical condition becoming worse when our products have been used.

We have performed clinical and safety testing on our products at universities, medical clinics and hospitals in China, Japan, Korea, France, Mexico and the United States.

16. Some people say the Clustered Water is not possible. How do you respond?
We welcome sceptics and understand that this is a new concept for people to comprehend. We have double blind independent clinical studies, a database of research accumulated and reports from hospitals, physicians and scientists showing that our solutions are safe, effective and hydrate more quickly. Look around this site and visit our research and technology site at www.ClusteredWater.com to learn more about our technology. If you still have questions we would be happy to furnish you with more information!

Please read what other renowned scientists have stated:

“Criticisms centered around the vanishingly small number of solute molecules present in a solution after it has been repeatedly diluted are beside the point, since advocates attribute their effects not to molecules present in the water, but to modifications of the water's structure. Simple-minded analysis may suggest that water, being a fluid, cannot have a structure of the kind that such a picture would demand. But cases such as that of liquid crystals, which while flowing like an ordinary fluid can maintain an ordered structure over macroscopic distances, show the limitations of such ways of thinking. There have not, to the best of my knowledge, been any refutations of memory that remain valid after this particular point is taken into account….it attests to the limited vision of the modern scientific community that, far from hastening to test such claims, the only response has been to dismiss them out of hand.”

BRIAN D. JOSEPHSON
University of Cambridge
Nobel Laureate, Physics

Dear Lee,

Regarding (critic’s name), I don’t know what area he is expert in, but a closed mind is a closed mind. Today, there is abundant data, both theoretical and experimental on the existence of clusters in water. A recent confirmation of Benveniste’s work, which was criticized in (the journal) Nature, has been presented from high quality people.

William A. Tiller
Professor Emeritus
Stanford University

Innovations in Beverage Packaging

2006-03-13T13:06:00.000-08:00

IP’s Beverage Packaging products for today’s consumers

The Challenge
There is an increasing need among on-the-go consumers for “single service” beverage packages that fit conveniently in car drink holders and are easy for kids to use.

The IP Innovation

To meet this growing need, IP developed Micro-Pak, a paper carton for beverages. Micro-Pak has a unique size and shape making it portable, easy to handle, convenient for on-the-go snacking and a perfect fit for car drink holders. It offers longer shelf life for high quality refrigerated products and makes life easier for families on the go.
Tru Taste Gold™, IP’s patented Barrier-Pak™ board, enables Micro-Pak to retain the true taste of the beverage and a higher level of vitamin C. It enhances the shelf life of the product and provides superior package integrity. The printability of the package drives brand recognition and shelf appeal, obvious key requirements in today’s marketplace.
Recent market research revealed that Micro-Pak's not-so-micro benefits drive its success in the marketplace. Children like it because they can open it without any help from mom or dad, since it doesn’t spill and using a straw is fun with its easy to open foil patch. Parents reported that Micro-Pak is easy for their children to drink from, stores well in the refrigerator and is the perfect size for lunch boxes. Micro-Pak is being used in single serve and multi-packs under a number of brand names.

The Challenge
- Packaging that betters protects freshness and qualty

With worldwide consumption of beverages, especially juices, on the rise, producers have to contend with longer, less advanced distribution channels that have sporadic refrigeration, sometimes called “broken cold-chain” distribution. As a result, they need packaging that better maintains the taste and freshness of their products.

The Challenge
– How to Manufacture limited quantities efficiently

Producers of seasonal beverage products (such as holiday drinks), as well as manufacturers developing line extensions or new product launches need special ordering and inventory flexibility for their short-run requirements.

The IP Innovation

To help manufacturers more economically produce short-run packages and reduce inventory requirements, IP made a major investment in High Definition Flexo printing technology to better serve our beverage customers.
High definition Flexo allows shorter print runs, complete digital workflow and accurate print registration. Five color print and varnish capability assure eye-catching, high quality graphics, to provide cartons with high brand impact capabilities.

Patent Overload

2006-03-12T16:52:00.000-08:00

Increasingly, patents of various ‘states of quality’ are ending up at the center of legal disputes. And when those disputes turn ugly, the results can hurt everyone, making all of us pay more for technology products and wasting our time through increased inconvenience.

Even IBM, which receives far and away the most patents, acknowledges the problems. As a result of patent fights, consumers have to pay more for software and hardware--"and ultimately there are fewer products in the market because companies decide not to make [them]," says David Kappos, IBM's vice president and assistant general counsel for intellectual property.

Patent Backlog

According to USPTO commissioner John Doll, the greatest number of new patent applications are for business processes or computer hardware and software innovations. And the former is one of the most difficult types of patent to evaluate. The USPTO started 2005 with a backlog of 500,000 new patent applications, and ended the year with a backlog of nearly 600,000.
Examiners are supposed to evaluate applications against "prior art"--similar, earlier inventions.

Patent examiners have a set amount of time--an average of 20 to 30 hours for computer software and hardware--to review a patent, handling any appeals and updates from the applicants as well, before issuing a final approval or rejection. To help alleviate the patent backlog, the USPTO plans to hire 1000 new examiners every year for the next five years, training each examiner for eight months before they're put on the job.

Other long-term solutions under discussion include shifting more of the burden of proving that an invention is unique onto patent applicants.

Creative Visualization

2006-03-11T13:37:00.000-08:00

I once read, “Man (and Woman) can do what they can think of.”

I believe that I can do what I can think of ... as long as it is possible that what I am thinking of can (realistically) be done.

Creative Visualization
- Part One
From Imagination To Reality –
Attracting Success With Mind Power
By Remez Sasson

Creative visualization is the ability to use the imagination, see images in our minds and make them come true.

If we add concentration and feelings, it becomes a great creative power that makes things happen. Used in the right way, visualization can bring changes into our lives. The thought is the matrix or blueprint; the feelings provide the energy, the "electricity".

Sounds weird? Not at all!

This is the power of creative visualization. This is the power that can alter our environment and circumstances, cause events to happen, attract money, possessions, work and love, change habits and improve the health. It is a great mind power.

It is the power behind every success.

By visualizing an event, a situation, or an object, such as a car, a house, furniture etc, we attract it to us. We see in our imagination what we want and it happens. It is like daydreaming. It resembles magic, though actually there is no magic here. It is the natural process of the power of the thoughts.

Some people use this power in an unconscious manner in their everyday affairs. They are not aware that they are using some sort of power. They visualize their goals in a positive way and attain success. All successful people in all fields use it consciously or unconsciously.

Creative Visualization and the Power of Thoughts

How does it work and why? Thought is a power and has its effect on the material world. Thoughts, if powerful enough, travel from one mind to another. If we keep thinking the same thought, people in our environment perceive it and act on it, furthering, usually in an unconscious manner, the materialization of our desires.

When I have to confront some unpleasant situation, I visualize myself handling the matter easily and comfortably. I see the involved people as cooperative and friendly. And you know what? They are pleasant, and they want to help without even being asked. It is so because people are responsive to our thoughts, feelings and behavior and react accordingly.

If you are naturally positive, then the way you approach and handle situations is such that attracts positive results. On the other hand, if you are fearful and negative, then you expect negative results, and behave, look, and talk accordingly. Then you reap troubles.

We are part of the Omnipotent Power that has created the universe; therefore we participate in the process of creation. Bearing this thought in mind, there is no wonder that thoughts materialize. Stop a moment and think. You are part of the great Universal Power! Whatever concentrated thought you entertain long enough in your mind tends to materialize.

Thought is energy. By having certain thoughts in our minds, and by concentrating on them and putting emotional energy into them, they become powerful. These thoughts induce some kind of pressure on the energy fields around us, causing them to move and act. The thoughts change the balance of energy around us, and in a natural way bring changes in the environment in accordance with them.

There is another explanation why visualization brings results. It may come as a surprise to most, but the theory of "Maya" - Illusion, which comes from the eastern philosophies, provides the explanation.

According to the Indian philosophy "Advaita- Vedanta" which in the West is called "Nonduality", the world is just an illusion and is not real. Thoughts arise which "create" our world. We constantly think and rethink our habitual thoughts, thus creating and recreating the same kind of events or circumstances.

This process reinforces our thoughts, which help to preserve the same "world" we believe live in. By changing the tape or film, that is by looking at a different scenario - different thoughts, we create a different "reality". For us it is a reality, though in fact it is just a dream we call "reality".

By changing our thoughts and mental pictures, we change our "Reality"; we change the "illusory" world we believe we live in. We are not employing magic or supernatural powers when creating and changing our life and circumstances. It is not something "Material" that we change; we only change our thoughts, which are the world.

It is like dreaming a very realistic dream and then switching to a different dream. We are not awakening, just changing the dream. This explanation has to be read and reread and pondered upon in order to understand its full meaning. The other articles in this website may help you understand the philosophy involved here.

Rest assured that you can employ the power of visualization, even if you do not accept what you have just read or it seems too complicated or far-fetched. Yet, understanding and accepting the above, at least in theory, will help you achieve results faster.

So why not change your dreams to something more satisfying?

For example, you are living in small apartment and need a larger one. Instead of brooding about your fate, that you haven't enough money, and that you have to continue living in a small apartment, change your thoughts. That is all that is necessary.

See yourself in your imagination living in the apartment of your dreams. It does not matter if you haven't enough money. Just imagine yourself living in your "new" apartment and see it as a reality. The opportunity or way will present itself. The power of thoughts will work for you too.

Many books and articles have been written on the subject, and each new book or article opens to the reader a new viewpoint. Each book may mention something that the other did not. In order to understand the subject fully, it is advisable to read several books.

Overcoming Limited Thinking
Creative visualization can do great things, but for every person there are some areas, which he may find hard to change, at least in the immediate future. This is a great power, but there are some limits to using it. These limits are within us, not in the power.

Very often we limit ourselves and cannot look beyond a limited circle. We limit ourselves by our thoughts and beliefs. The wider we can look at the world and ourselves, the greater are our possibilities. Any limits are within our minds, and it is up to us to rise above them.

It may take some time until things start to change. Simple, small demonstrations of this power may come fast, but bigger results may need a longer time to happen.

The time and effort put forth in this study are really worthwhile. Have faith and patience and results will start appearing.

A Personal Example of Creative Visualization

Sometimes what we visualize materializes fast, at other times it may take longer. There are various reasons why this happens.

Years ago, before I got married, I decided to visualize a date. I imagined myself sitting in a restaurant and talking with a girl. I concentrated on this image several times during the day, several minutes each time.

The next day, a girl working in the same place where I worked, asked me if I could come to her desk. I hardly ever spoke with her, maybe just saying good morning. I went to her desk and she asked me whether I had a girl friend. When she heard that I did not have one, she proposed to introduce me to one of her girl friends.

She gave me the phone number of the girl, whom I called the same day, asking her to meet me. We met and sat in a restaurant, exactly as I visualized. All this happened within about 24 hours. Surprising isn't it? This power can sometimes work real fast.

Oh, you are curious to know what happened with that girl? Well, nothing, because she was not the type of girl I was looking for. I rather used the power of visualization haphazardly, not thinking about the qualities, looks etc. I just thought about meeting a girl, a wish that came true.

Soda Sales Fall

2006-03-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

First time in two decades in the United States, hurt by bottled water as well as sports and caffeine drinks.

March 9, 2006: 1:06 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Soda sales have gone flat for the first time in 20 years in the U.S., according to a new report. 2005 was the first time since 1985 that the number of cases of soda sold in the United States declined from a year earlier, said Beverage Digest, an industry trade publication. The overall volume of soda sold sagged 0.7 percent to 10.2 billion cases last year.

John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest, said that consumers were making a permanent migration to noncarbonated drinks.

Consumers are migrating on an accelerating basis to other kinds of beverages -- mainly water and sports drinks.

"There's also growth in bottled teas and energy drinks. This is a migration from one category to several others, and I see this trend continuing over the next few years,” said Sicher.

He said he expected to see major sales growth in 2005 for bottled water, sports drinks and energy drinks when those figures become available later this year.

Market leader Coke (Research) fell 0.1 percent in volume, while runner-up Pepsi (Research) fell 1.2 percent. Number three Cadbury-Schweppes (Research) -- which owns Dr. Pepper, 7-Up and Canada Dry -- saw a 0.6 percent volume increase last year.

Bear Facts

2006-03-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

Here are ten facts about bears:

Bears are large animals.
They have very strong legs.
Bears have big heads and small eyes.
Bears live in all parts of the world except for Antarctica, Africa and Australia.
Most bears eat nuts, fruits, berries, plants, insects, honey, fish and other animals.
Bears eat a lot of food to get ready for winter. We would have to eat 50 hamburgers and 12 large orders of fries for many days to get as big as these bears.
Baby bears are called cubs.
When cubs are born, they are about the size of a squirrel.
Bears make or find dens in the winter.
They go to sleep in the den. They sleep all winter. This is called hibernation.

Marketing is Storytelling

2006-03-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

Everyone, including myself, loves a story. Stories help us to understand identify and remember a product or service. Marketers need to do their homework (research) and develop stories that people – primarily customers – can believe.

Stories differentiate products and services. We all need stories that inspire us to action – to buy the product or service – and tell our friends all about what we are doing and why. Marketers tell stories because their customers need a story to be their customer.

Elements of Storytelling

Following are highlights from Seth Godin’s book ‘All Marketers Are Liars’, which I think should have been titled ‘All Marketers Are Storytellers’:

* A great story is a true story.

* Great stories make a promise.

* Great stories can be trusted.

* Great stories are subtle.

* Great stories happen fast.

* Great stories don’t appeal to logic, but to the senses.

* Great stories are rarely aimed at everyone.

* Great stories don’t contradict themselves.

* Great stories agree with our worldview.

Blogging is Storytelling

For the past four months, I have been a blogger. Blogging is storytelling, my storytelling.

For me, it is like writing a piece of the overall (macro) story, one day at a time. When you put all the pieces together, you have ‘The Whole Story’

Changing Your Image

2006-03-07T11:04:00.000-08:00

Ask.com Updates its’ Image to Compete with Google, Yahoo and MSN

The end is the beginning of something new.

The beginning is the end of whatever came right before.

There’s no reason to feel sad when you’re waving goodbye.

Change

To cause to be different.

To give a completely different form or appearance to; transform.

To exchange for or replace with another.

To become different or undergo alteration.

To undergo transformation or transition.

The act, process, or result of altering or modifying.

How to Ride the Baby-Boomer Wave

2006-03-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

By Linda Stern, Freelance Writer

The baby boomers are starting to turn 60, and who wouldn't want to be selling whatever they're going to buy?

People approaching retirement buy second homes, cruises, investment products, health-care services, the occasional RV or (post) midlife-crisis motorcycle, and lots and lots of restaurant meals.

It seems like investors willing to place a few strategic bets might look at some of those industries. With the members of the boom numbering around 76 million, and entering -- or entrenched in -- their biggest earnings years, there's a lot of money to be spread around.

That is not to say that investors should throw all of their money after this demographic. The key to a successful investment plan is, after all, diversification, low fees and a steady, long-term view. But boomers will be aging and spending for a long time, and investors who want to spend a bit of time researching the companies and funds that might profit most from that will find a lot to like.

Here are some ideas for getting your piece of it.

-- Leisure.

Boomers love their fun, and fun-selling companies such as lodging and travel businesses, craft stores, publishers, fishing-rod manufacturers and casinos have profits to show for it. Four leading mutual funds that focus on leisure company stocks have returned 32.4 percent to investors in the six years since the stock market peaked in 2000, says Lipper analyst Don Cassidy. That gain is in comparison to a 0.7 percent loss for the Standard and Poor's 500 over the same period.

-- Financials.

With the biggest generation ever entering its investment-obsessed years, and money managers aiming at skimming a minimum of 1 percent off the top of those portfolios, it's worth a look.

-- Health care.

More than $3 billion in knees and hips are sold every year in America.

Increasing numbers of boomers are moving to the aspirin-a-day plan.

Diabetes, sleep apnea, hypertension are all at epidemic levels, or at least more carefully monitored, analyzed and treated than they ever were before.

Investing in health care in the face of an aging population seems a no-brainer. And companies that sell health-care supplies, run hospitals and make medical equipment have all been doing very well.

GM sees Hydrogen Cars on Market by 2010-2015

2006-03-05T09:50:00.000-08:00

General Motors Corp. has made major steps in developing a commercially viable hydrogen-powered vehicle and expects it can get the emission-free cars into dealerships in the next four to nine years, a spokesman told AFP. GM also expects it will be able to "equal or better gas engines in terms of cost, durability and performance" once it is able to ramp up volume to at least 500,000 vehicles a year, said GM spokesman Scott Fosgard.

GM has partnered with Japanese rival Toyota Motor Corp. for a number of years on developing the experimental fuel-cell technology. On Thursday, the automaker announced that while it will continue its tie-up with Toyota on other advanced technologies, it will no longer be sharing its fuel-cell research. "Because of the advances we made that type of technology is passing from the research phase to development," Fosgard said.

Fuel cells produce electricity through a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, leaving water as the only by-product. They are far more environmentally friendly than the currently popular hybrid gas-electric engines which merely reduce the amount of gas needed to power the vehicle.

There are still a number of barriers to the commercialization of hydrogen-powered cars. One is the infrastructure cost of building refueling stations. Another big challenge is reducing the cost of obtaining hydrogen itself, which has to be extracted from fossil fuels, such as carbon, or from water.

The International Energy Agency has said that if conditions were right, hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cells could play key roles in weaning energy users away from oil, gas and coal.

"In the most favourable conditions, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles would enter the market (in mass numbers) around 2025 and power 30 percent of the global stock of vehicles by 2050 -- the equivalent of about 700 million vehicles," the IEA said in a recent report.

"The oil saving would then be equivalent to some 13 percent of global oil demand, or five percent of the global energy demand."

GM and Toyota will continue to work together on technology that will help to save lives, Fosgard said. The world's largest automakers have been collaborating since 1999 on developing safety systems and advanced technologies. The partnership was set to expire at the end of the month and has been extended to March 31, 2008, GM said.

The latest agreement covers information exchange and collaborative research in areas such as energy usage and emissions, intelligent transportation systems, vehicle infrastructure integration and vehicle-to-vehicle communications. It also allows for joint research projects in other areas.

Patent Infringement & Resolution

2006-03-04T10:18:00.000-08:00

BlackBerry is Saved by a Settlement: The Maker of Email Device Agrees to Pay $612.5 Million to Resolve a Patent Challenge

Patent infringement claims are easy to make and difficult to disprove. Just ask Research in Motion (RIM), eBay, Amazon, Dell and a host of other technology companies currently up to their legal eyeballs in patent litigation.

To these tech powerhouses, the patent system simply isn't fair. As tech sees it, trolls are patent litigation firms that buy patents not to use and to license the technology, but to initiate infringement lawsuits against those companies that are using the technology in a predominately non-infringing manner, as these people [trolls] acquire portfolios of patents, there's been an explosion of cease and desist letters and actual litigation, lawsuits called "opportunistic litigation."

For years, permanent injunctions were a classic remedy for patent infringement. If Company A is infringing on Company B's patents, the courts were likely to shut down A to minimize the damage to B.

eBay’s “Buy It Now”

In a case that will be heard by the Supreme Court later this month, eBay is facing much the same dilemma. MercExchange, another Virginia patent holding company, successfully claimed in 2003 that eBay's "Buy It Now" system infringed on patents held by MercExchange.

A Norfolk, Va., jury awarded MercExchange $35 million in damages, but, significantly, the presiding judge decided an injunction against eBay was unnecessary. MercExchange appealed and a U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the company: a permanent injunction against eBay using Merc's "Buy It Now" process was in order.

The Appeals Court said the law dictates that a permanent injunction be issued once infringement and invalidity are established, except in cases of public safety. One small problem: the Patent Act does not require permanent injunctions. It expressly states that courts "may grant injunctions in accordance with the principles of equity."

In other words, judges have the option to impose an injunction, but they do not have the pull the trigger if money can make the litigation winner whole. If eBay prevails, those huge settlements may be considerably diluted. Courts would still have the power to impose an injunction, protecting legitimate claims, but only when the equitable situation demands

Your Searchable Brain

2006-03-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

Five Web Trends To Think About

Collaborative News

We have grown accustomed to a style of reporting--the good ol' inverted pyramid delivered via byline--which has served us well for the past several decades. But we're starting to see how social software is creating a new model in which several people can organically contribute to a story. As the controversies around Wikipedia and blog reliability suggest, we're going to occasionally stumble and fall for a while until we figure out how this works, but something will emerge to challenge our notions of how news is created and dispersed.

Vlogs

Video has been the "next big thing" on the internet for nearly a decade, but we've finally reached the point where enough people are producing their own material. Everyone from my grandma to large broadcasting outlets wants to get on board. As the TV and the computer get closer to merging (via things like TiVo and Slingbox and IPTV), the stigma of online video will go away, because the transition will become seamless.

Niche News

The fragmentation we saw decades ago with the introduction of niche magazines and cable television has only become more exaggerated online. What made the internet bubble burst in 2001 was the realization that you didn't need to be gigantic to make a great product. A new class of people who have four or five different blogs on disparate niche topics is emerging. It matches perfectly with a typical news diet that can now consist of an extreme mix: a favorite vlog about your community, podcasts supporting your anarcho-political beliefs, a news aggregator with biking news, and a blog about being a daddy.

Everything Becomes Searchable

Books, TV, geography...pretty soon, your brain will become searchable.

My Media

All sectors of the culture industry have been shaken by this basic idea: People are taking control of their media. Mashups in music, memoirs in publishing, blogs in journalism, first-person shooters in gaming, reality TV in broadcasting--all of these trends have one thing in common: the rise of the individual to become owners or participants in the creation of media.

Older Brains are Trained Processors

It seems Old Brains are a misconception. Older brains do process information more slowly and take a little longer to make decisions and judgments and assimilate complex information than their younger counterparts. Older brains are less nimble, taking longer to switch from one task to another. Since in “multitasking” you are actually switching among tasks in split-second jumps, older brains don’t handle simultaneous tasks as well.

It used to be thought that normal cognitive decline occurred because of loss of neurons throughout the brain, but new techniques show that most regions hold on to their neurons with little or no loss to where memories form.

Studies comparing old and young brains show that younger brains had better recall. One third of the older brains do just as well as younger adults and showed the same pattern of focused brain activity.

A basic change the brain undergoes with age may be reversible with training, suggesting that the brains of older adults remain relatively flexible in response to training.

Direct Selling's Annual Economic Impact Reaches $72 Billion

2006-03-02T09:31:00.000-08:00

Wednesday February 15, 11:11 am ET

American Retail Tradition Rises to New Heights

* Annual sales increase to $29.7 billion

* Industry's 10-year growth rate nears 80 percent

* Direct selling representatives enjoy significant social benefits

NEW YORK, Feb 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The direct selling industry contributed $72 billion to the U.S. economy in 2004, according to an economic impact study conducted by Ernst & Young and released today by the Direct Selling Association (DSA). The $72 billion includes direct, indirect, and induced impacts from $27.8 billion in wages, commissions, bonuses, and other compensation earned by the more than 13.6 million Americans who work in the direct selling industry, as well as impact from sales to customers, production activities, capital investments and tax revenue.

"The economic impact study confirms the ongoing growth of direct selling as a shopping option for millions of American consumers," said Neil Offen, DSA President and CEO. "In ever-increasing numbers, Americans are choosing direct selling because they enjoy personal contact with knowledgeable sales representatives. Consumers enjoy service, selection and social interaction that's hard to match with other shopping experiences."

Direct selling involves the sale of a consumer product or service, person- to-person, away from a fixed retail location. The industry includes global companies with household names, including Avon, Herbalife, Mary Kay, The Pampered Chef and Tupperware, as well as hundreds of small- and medium-sized businesses.

Direct selling offers a wide variety of products, ranging from cosmetics and wellness products to home decor and clothing. The largest categories of product sales are personal care products ($9.1 billion), home/family care ($9.1 billion), and wellness products ($4.8 billion). Direct selling companies also offer many other interesting products and services such as pet supplies, toys and children's accessories, in-home photo shoots and much more.

The study also found significant social benefits that flow to those who work as independent sellers. These include the flexibility that allows them to own and operate a business while caring for their families, higher self-esteem and confidence as a result of their direct selling experiences, and high levels of satisfaction (More than 89 percent described satisfaction with their direct selling experience.).

"A growing number of companies recognize the benefits associated with direct selling -- low overhead, robust cash flow, a highly motivated workforce and loyal customers among others -- and are diving into the direct selling market," said Offen. These companies include retailers and other companies such as Jones Apparel Group, Citigroup, Hallmark Cards, Lillian Vernon, Jockey, The Body Shop, and Vanity Fair.

Other key findings from the study, titled "The Social and Economic Contributions from Direct Selling -- Insight from the United States," include:

* Economic activity generated by the direct selling industry resulted
in $6.6 billion in total federal, state, and local taxes in 2004.

* Direct selling organizations gave an estimated $90 million to
charitable causes in 2003.

The study is part of a world-wide effort of the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA) to collect country-specific economic impact data.

Direct Selling Economic Impact Study

KEY FACTS

Industry Overview

* Direct selling is a large, growing and unique industry in the United
States. Sales have increased nearly 80 percent over the past 10
years, from $16.6 billion in 1994 to $29.7 billion in 2004.

* Direct selling provides significant economic and social contributions
to American families, and to the country as a whole. The industry
offers an alternative income source and schedule flexibility for
millions of households.

* Direct selling offers a wide variety of products, ranging from
cosmetics and wellness products to home decor and clothing.

The largest categories of product sales are personal care products
($9.1 billion), home/family care ($9.1 billion), and wellness
products ($4.8 billion).

Size of Industry

* In 2004, there were approximately 13.6 million independent sellers
who received compensation (commission, overrides or bonuses) from
direct selling companies.

Economic/Fiscal/Social Contributions

* About 80 percent of independent sellers are women. Most are
married with three or more people in the household, and many have
a spouse who is also involved in their direct selling business.

* Taxes generate $6.6 billion -- $2.2 billion direct, and $4.4 billion
indirect.

Benefits to Consumers

* Direct selling companies gave an estimated $90 million to charitable
causes in 2003. Eighty-nine percent of the independent seller
respondents said they contributed to human services and charities,
and 36 percent of respondents contributed to education.

Internet Households in the U.S.

2006-03-01T09:23:00.000-08:00

The vast majority of U.S. households that are not online have no interest in the Web. A survey of 1,000 U.S. homes showed that about 36 percent of U.S. households were not online and only 2 percent intended to subscribe to an Internet service this year. The percent of households without Web access extrapolated to 39 million homes.

Cost was a factor in only 4 percent of the households not connected to the Web. Thirty-one percent said they didn't need it because they had access to the Internet at work, 18 percent said they weren't interested in anything on the Web and 8 percent said they weren't sure how to use the Web. Based on the survey, the research firm projects only a 1 percent increase in overall Internet penetration this year to 64 percent of U.S. households.

In other findings, 42 percent of U.S. households currently have dial-up connections and 4 percent plan to upgrade this year. Eighteen percent of those households, however, said they do not intend to upgrade.

Rural America Internet Services

The use of high-speed Internet services is growing fast in rural America, partly closing the gap between country and city, a survey shows. The project surveyed 5,262 U.S. adults in September and December last year. The margin of sampling error was 3 percentage points in either direction.

Last fall, 24 percent of rural Americans had broadband Internet access at home, more than double the 9 percent rate reported in 2003, according to a survey released Sunday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. By comparison, 39 percent of urban and suburban dwellers had broadband last fall, up from 22 percent in 2003. The main reason for lower rural broadband adoption appears to be availability, the study said. But Pew also noted that country dwellers are on average older, less educated and poorer than urbanites and suburbanites, factors that are associated with lower levels of Internet use.

However, rural Americans who have broadband Internet are almost as likely as others to use it on a given day. Adding in people who use dial-up or access the Internet only at work, 62 percent of country dwellers use the Internet, compared with 70 percent elsewhere. Rural Internet users are slightly more likely than others to participate in online education and to download games, and less likely to bank online or buy travel tickets.

Pay Per Sale

2006-02-28T17:46:00.000-08:00

Definition

Online advertising payment model in which payment is based solely based on qualifying sales.

Information

In a pay per sale agreement, the advertiser only pays for sales generated by the destination site based on an agreed upon commission rate.

Paying per sale is often seen as the payment model most favorable to advertisers and least favorable to publishers. In such an agreement, the publisher must not only be concerned with the quality and quantity of his or her audience, but also the quality of the advertiser's creative units and destination site.

If possible, many publishers avoid sales-based agreements, preferring to stick to the CPM model. However, some publishers, facing weak ad sales, have little choice but to accept sales-based agreements to utilize remnant space.

For advertisers, pay per sale has some unique advantages compared to pay per click and pay per lead. There are fewer concerns about whether conversions are legitimate, and whether traffic is incentivized or of low quality.

“Hanging Out” Online

2006-02-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

One third of US Internet users "hang out" online

2/16/2006 1:02:30 PM

By Nate Anderson

Did you go online yesterday just for fun? If so, you're in good company. A new survey (PDF) out from the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that nearly one-third of all Internet users in the US regularly go online just to "pass the time."

While the Internet is still most often used with a purpose in mind, it is gradually becoming a primary recreation destination as well.

"Users have already folded purposeful Web activities into their everyday lives—communicating, gathering information or looking for answers.

Now, they have added Web surfing — going online without any particular purpose to that list. Many people have described the internet in terms of different purposeful places: a library, or a shopping mall, or post office.

Now we can add 'destination resort'—a place to go just to have fun or pass the time—to that list."

You might assume that things have always been this way, but in reality the numbers have spiked substantially in the last year alone. In November 2004, only 25 million people claimed to go online on any particular day just for fun. By the time the most recent survey was done in December 2005, that number had jumped to nearly 40 million people—and that's just in the US.

The survey also found, to no one's surprise, that young men make up the largest group of people who use the Internet simply for recreation. When broken down by gender, 34 percent of males and 26 percent of females passed time on the Web on any given day.

While the numbers are growing substantially for both genders, men are outpacing women and saw an increase of 10 percentage points in the last year. When broken down by age, the results also conform to expectations: younger Internet users more often surf without reason than their elders do, but it is worth noting that 20 percent of all American adults over the age of 65 use the Internet for fun on any given day.

The study attributes the growth in recreational Net use to two factors, the rise in broadband connections and the increase in Web content. It's not just broadband users who find themselves at homestarrunner.com, however; 63 percent of all dial-up users in the country surf for fun, too (so, while they may be wasting time, they're certainly learning patience).

The upshot of all this is that the Internet is in the midst of an evolution into a major recreational destination for Americans and a source for digital content that once was available only in the racks of your local electronics store.

Is this news another bit of evidence that we are Bowling Alone, or is the Internet providing new and different forms of community interaction?

Like most things in life, it depends on how you use it (it is interesting to note that books are never charged with destroying community, though they generally require solitude, quiet, and staring at a flat surface for long periods of time). Those who spend their online hours obsessively browsing for porn aren't doing themselves any favors, but it is unfair to suggest that online interaction is not capable of creating community in any way.

Still, if computer time is coming at the expense of face-to-face interaction with other people, it is certainly capable of causing problems. Will people remain as interested in working for the good of their physical community, for instance, when the "community" with which they most identify is only found in cyberspace?

Foreclosures: Bargain hunters beware!

2006-02-26T13:14:00.000-08:00

You might think that a slowing real estate market would make foreclosure investing a snap.

Don't bet on it.

By Cybele Weisser
MONEY Magazine staff writer

February 16, 2006: 12:08 PM EST
NEW YORK (MONEY Magazine) - Buying foreclosures once appealed mainly to the small group of hard-core real estate investors who were willing to dig into untouchable rehab projects and wrestle with deadbeat tenants.

But in recent years, scores of self-help books, Web sites, gurus and classes have sprung up, touting the notion that buying property from distressed homeowners is not only the surest path to real estate wealth but also within easy reach of anyone with spare time and gumption.

Now, with rising interest rates and softening prices threatening to derail homeowners who stretched to buy with risky loans, the message from this movement goes, this is the year for foreclosure bargains. Or is it?

Foreclosure investing has always been fraught with risks -- decrepit money pits, troubled tenants who refuse to clear out. But rather than creating more buys, the torrid market of the past five years has added a whole new level of risk by leaving fewer genuine deals available for thousands of eager new investors.

"It's a tough market today. The low-hanging fruit has already been picked," says Gary Eldred, author of "The Beginner's Guide to Real Estate Investing." "There are some nuggets of gold lying around, but you have to dig through a whole lot of dirt and rock to get to the good stuff."

Armed with the time and the temperament, you can make money buying and selling foreclosures. But now more than ever, it's important to steer clear of the common misconceptions and learn from seasoned investors who've done it right.

Myth no. 1: A big spike in foreclosures is right around the corner.

If you've been waiting for the McMansions in your town to start going on the auction block, your wait isn't over just yet. Many homeowners who took short-term adjustable-rate loans or home-equity lines of credit a few years ago are already grappling with higher monthly payments, and more will be doing so next year.

Despite that, the foreclosure rate -- currently less than 1 percent of all loans -- isn't expected to change much in 2006, says Alexis McGee, president of listings Web site Foreclosures.com.

That's because in most of the country, anyone who has owned a home for even a year or two is likely sitting on enough equity to sell or refinance if the loan payments become unaffordable.

Another brake on foreclosures is that banks are no longer playing hardball with strapped homeowners.

"Compared with the late '80s and early '90s, lenders use velvet gloves," says Eldred. "They've realized that giving people a six-month moratorium on payments, stretching out the term on the loan, reducing the rate -- it's still more profitable for them than going through a foreclosure."

Finally, the foreclosure process can be lengthy, ranging from a month to more than a year, depending on state law.

What would push more homeowners over the brink? Hard economic times have always been a catalyst, says Doug Duncan, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. For example, in states that have recently lost industrial jobs, such as Ohio and Michigan, foreclosures rose significantly in 2005. So if the national economy sours this year, expect a big jump in foreclosures in 2007.

Another catalyst is overbuilding. Regions that have enjoyed a boom in new condominium development -- South Florida, for example -- could soon suffer a spike in foreclosures if investors are unable to rent or unload their condos for a profit.

Myth no. 2: Foreclosed houses sell for far less than their market value.

In a study of foreclosure sale prices in more than 600 counties nationwide in 2005, Christopher Cagan of data provider First American Real Estate Solutions found that, on average, foreclosed properties sold for about 15 percent less than comparable homes in the area that were not distressed. But in states where real estate prices have risen the most, including Arizona, California and Virginia, foreclosed properties sold for within 5 percent of full market value.

"In general, you're not going to get a great discount in a great location, right where your job is, a place that you really want to buy," says Cagan.

Bear in mind that his study looked only at homes that went into foreclosure, not those in danger of being seized, where you can often find better deals. But Cagan's numbers also don't take into account the inevitable costs of repairing the property, which are often far higher than expected.

"At first blush a deal can look really good," says Dartmouth business school professor John H. Vogel, "but by the time you figure out why it's selling at such a discount, you often realize the price was very rational."

Myth no. 3: Anyone can make money in foreclosures.

If you've read one of the many books touting the benefits of foreclosure investing, or attended one of the increasingly popular seminars, you've likely come away thinking that it's a snap.

Wrong. There are three ways to buy foreclosures: directly from a homeowner in trouble (pre-foreclosure), from a bank that has repossessed the home (real estate owned, or REO) or at public auction.

Each involves a different set of rules and regulations -- and challenges. Whichever method you choose, the chance you take right now is that you will overpay for the property. Few foreclosures are on the market, while the number of interested buyers has grown faster than Brangelina's brood.

"Five years ago, there were the same five or seven people at every auction," says veteran foreclosure investor Roy Cloughen of Long Island, N.Y. "Now there are 75 to 80."

Most experts say there's little point in looking at REOs today; lenders aren't repossessing many properties, and the few REOs that come up for sale usually command full market price.

Auctions are by far the riskiest way to invest, says Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing at foreclosure listing site RealtyTrac.com. "You are buying the property sight unseen, and you will be responsible for any taxes, liens or second mortgages still on the property."

If someone is still living in the home, you must handle the eviction. Moreover, auctions tend to be frequented by the most experienced investors, who know plenty of tricks to confuse the novice bidder.

"I'll do a big jump in price and then a little jump, just to increase their confusion," says Cloughen, who has watched plenty of inexperienced auction buyers end up paying more for a home than it was actually worth.

If you want to try your hand at an auction, it's essential that you research state laws beforehand and come armed knowing what similar properties in the neighborhood are selling for. And don't forget the money. Most auctions require you to make a 10 or 20 percent cash deposit on the spot, with the balance sometimes due within a day. Finally, decide what price you're willing to pay and stick to it.

"You just can't get emotional and caught up in the bidding," says Jon Kaplan, who owns a contracting business in Cleveland and dabbles in foreclosure investing. "Overpay, you'll get killed."

If you're willing to knock on doors and ask embarrassing questions, you may find deals among pre-foreclosures. For a $15- to-$50 monthly subscription, you can get listings from Web sites that search court filings and other public documents for homeowners behind on their mortgage payments. You can then contact the homeowner and try to negotiate a deal.

Trouble is, the listings on many of the Web sites are out of date -- and a lot of people are reading the same lists. That's why Pamela Smith, a part-time flight attendant and real estate investor, taps a network of realtor contacts she's developed and checks listings of borrowers in default in her county paper for leads. Notes Smith, "You have to be aggressive."

Auctions are by far the riskiest way to invest in foreclosures. The public sales tend to be frequented by the most experienced investors, who know plenty of tricks to confuse the novice bidder.

Changing Visions

2006-02-25T20:48:00.000-08:00

Charter School Announces Partnership

- seeks more students, new location

BY LAUREN WILLIAMSON
Record Staff Writer

Sunday, February 19, 2006

CLAREMONT -- Craig Willis stands firmly behind the charter school philosophy: Offer smaller class sizes. Give students more individualized attention and instruction. They will succeed.

Willis is director of Visions Charter School in Claremont, Catawba County’s only charter school. The K-6 school is free and open to the public. Parents choose Visions because of the one-on-one attention the staff offers to students on all achievement levels, Willis said. “We try to meet the needs of every child, whether they’re gifted, average or challenged,” he said. “In lots of schools, they just try to meet the needs of the middle-level students.”

Enrollment numbers have dropped drastically in the past several years, though, he said. Currently, the school instructs 59 students. Willis hopes the number will increase, and soon. The school needs six students by the end of the school year or Visions will have to shut its doors. In December, the North Carolina Charter School Advisory Committee informed Willis the school’s charter could not be renewed since it does not have 65 students, a requirement for all state charter schools.

Willis hopes a partnership with Imagine Schools will help the school attract more students and provide more opportunities for them. An operating agreement was signed Tuesday. Imagine Schools is a nonprofit, national organization that runs charter schools across the country. Kestrel Heights School in Durham is the only other charter school in the state managed by the company.

The partnership will change the way the school looks and is managed, Willis said. “We hope to attract new people, improve test scores and possibly move our location,” Willis said. “We need to reinvent ourselves.”

Willis said the school is looking for property in the Hickory area, where he believes more students can be served.

lwilliamson@hickoryrecord.com | 322-4510 x5408 or 304-6915

SCHOOL FACTS

Director: Craig Willis
Grades: K-6
Number of students: 59

In the 2004-05 school year, Visions did not make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law. The school met one out of three AYP targets. The school was designated a priority school, since only 50 to 60 percent of its students were at grade level.

DETAILS

For more information about:
Visions Charter School - Call 459-2051 or go to www.visionscharterschool.org.
Imagine Schools - Call (703) 527-2600 or go to www.imagineschools.com.

This story can be found at: http://www.hickoryrecord.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=HDR/MGArticle/HDR_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834198669&path=!news!localnews&path=!news!localnews

Spark Plug Innovation

2006-02-24T13:37:00.000-08:00

The Key Factors Pushing Innovation in Spark and Glow Plugs Include Longer Service Intervals, Emissions Legislation and Engine Design

Monday February 20, 2006 - 11:00 am ET

DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 20, 2006--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c33066) has announced the addition of A Global Market Review Of Spark Plugs And Glow Plugs - Forecasts To 2010 - 2nd Edition to their offering.

In this second edition review of vehicle spark plugs, we extend the analysis in chapter two by forecasting market volume of OE glow plugs as well as spark plugs. The key factors pushing innovation in spark and glow plugs include longer service intervals, emissions legislation and engine design. Chapter three sets out some recent innovations. Chapter four provides brief profiles of the major spark and glow plug manufacturers, namely AC Delco, Autolite, Beru, Bosch, Champion, Denso and NGK Spark Plug.

Extract from the report - Chapter 1 Introduction

The spark plug is a key engine system component, playing a major role in fuel economy, efficient combustion and the reliable operation of engines and catalytic converters. Although the useful life of a spark plug has been extended, its basic function has not significantly changed since the early 1900s. What has changed, however, are the requirements for emissions and service life.

In 1902, Bosch was awarded the patent for the first spark plug. Designed to be combined with a high-tension magneto ignition system, the spark plug solved what Carl Benz had described as the most fundamental obstacle to early motoring. Together with improvements in production technology, the spark plug laid the foundations for the rapid increase in vehicle production over the decades that followed.

Early version spark plugs, used in low-speed, low-compression gasoline engines had a life of just 600 miles compared with copper alloy multi-ground electrode plugs lasting about 20,000 miles. In the mid-1980s, Bosch introduced the first platinum-tipped spark plug designed to help maintain a constant electrode gap thereby extending the plugs life by a multiple of three to four times.

Today, spark plug manufacturers talk of precious metal plugs lasting between 55,000 and 80,000 miles. Platinum can withstand temperatures of up to 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit and so less metal is lost during firing. It is also more resistant to corrosion and pitting than traditional copper and nickel-alloy electrodes.

Manufacturers Mentioned:
• AC Delco
• Autolite
• Beru
• Bosch
• Champion
• Denso
• NGK Spark Plug

List of tables

List of figures

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c33066

Contact:
Research and Markets
Laura Wood
Fax: +353 1 4100 980
press@researchandmarkets.com

Source: Research and Markets Ltd.

Study Finds How the Brain Interprets the Intent of Others

2006-02-23T12:45:00.000-08:00

Study Finds How the Brain Interprets the Intent of Others

Two Dartmouth researchers
have learned more about
how the human brain interprets
the actions and intentions of others.

Scott Grafton, professor of psychological and brain sciences, and Antonia Hamilton, a post-doctoral fellow, have learned that the brain's parietal cortex handles how we understand the goals of other people's actions.

Their study was published on January 25 by The Journal of Neuroscience.

"We were able to find the part of the brain involved in interpreting the goal of another person, even if no words are spoken," says Hamilton. "When you see another person reach for an object that they want, like a cookie, a bit of brain called the anterior intraparietal sulcus, which is found in the parietal lobe, is strongly activated."

She explains that their result is surprising because many would have predicted that the frontal cortex, normally associated with language and understanding, would be activated in this situation, not the parietal cortex, usually thought to be involved with space and movement. Also, Hamilton says that with this study, they have shown it's possible to localize abstract things, like goals, in the brain.

"So, as we learn more about how the brain responds to seeing other people do things, we can start to understand the neural basis of human social interactions. This may help us understand what goes wrong in impaired social interactions, like in children with autism, who sometimes fail to interpret actions correctly."

The study involved twenty participants who watched a series of short movies, shown in a random order, while their brain activity was measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The movies depicted a hand reaching, grasping, and taking one of two objects. For example, a hand takes a cookie or takes a computer disk. The participants then answered yes or no questions that elicited their understanding of the goals involved of the actions represented in movies.

Source: Dartmouth College

Key Signaling Molecule In The Brain That Appears To Trigger The Brain To "learn" A Craving

17 Feb 2006

Researchers have identified a key signaling molecule in the brain that appears to trigger the brain to "learn" a craving for cocaine. Their finding could offer an important target for drugs to treat addiction by short-circuiting that adaptive process.

In an article in the February 16, 2006, issue of Neuron, Antonello Bonci and colleagues established that a short protein, or peptide, called orexin A acts on a brain region central to the adaptation to addictive drugs. Specifically, they found in their studies with rats that orexin A induces an adaptation that is necessary for the development of behaviors associated with drug-craving in human addicts. The latest findings follow an earlier discovery by the same group that another molecule, corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), acts similarly.

Such adaptations are believed to create a need that is far more compelling than the simple memory of drug-induced pleasure and represent a "rewiring" of the brain into an addictive state.

In a preview article on the paper in the same issue of Neuron, NIH neuroscientist Roy Wise commented that "Inasmuch as arousal or stress can trigger drug-seeking in drug-free animals, the neuroadaptations discovered by the Bonci group are important not only for how rewarding the drug is after an animal starts taking it, but, perhaps more importantly, for how likely the animal is to initiate drug-seeking during periods of abstinence.

"Because it is during periods of abstinence, not periods of intoxication, that addicts seek treatment, the peptide signaling pathways for orexin and CRF may prove to be fruitful targets in the search for addiction medications."

Bonci and his colleagues based their experiments on past studies by other researchers showing that orexins are important regulatory peptides released by a brain center called the lateral hypothalamus. It was also known that orexins tend to activate circuitry in a region called the ventral tegmental area (VTA), known to be a critical site of neural adaptation, or plasticity, induced by addictive drugs. However, it wasn't known whether orexin actually induced such plasticity.

In experiments with rat brain slices, the researchers demonstrated that orexin A does increase activity of neurons in the VTA associated with such plasticity.

And in experiments with whole animals, the researchers found that orexin A was required for "behavioral sensitization" to cocaine. This sensitization shows itself as a long-lasting increase in activity by the animals when they receive the drug and is an indicator that the animals are experiencing an increased craving for the drug.

Importantly, when the researchers "microinjected" directly into the VTA region of animals a drug that blocks orexin receptors, they found they could block the development of behavioral sensitization.

"The findings presented here establish a potential mechanism for the role of orexin signaling in plasticity related to addiction," concluded the researchers. The researchers wrote that this orexin-induced plasticity in the VTA "is likely an important substrate of behaviors relevant to addiction, as we show that activation of [orexin] receptors in the VTA is necessary for the development of cocaine-mediated behavioral sensitization. Thus, orexin receptors may provide novel pharmacotherapeutic targets for motivational disorders such as addiction.

###

The researchers include Stephanie L. Borgland, Sharif A. Taha, Federica Sarti, Howard L. Fields, and Antonello Bonci1 of the University of California, San Francisco in San Francisco, CA. This work was supported by a NARSAD Essel Foundation young investigator grant to S.L.B., the State of California for medical research on alcohol and substance abuse through the University of California, San Francisco (A.B. and H.L.F.), The Wheeler Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction (A.B. and H.L.F.), the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institutes of Health 1RO1DA15096-01 (A.B.).

Borgland et al.: "Orexin A in the VTA is critical for the induction of synaptic plasticity and behavioral sensitization to cocaine." Publishing in Neuron 49, 589-601, February 16, 2006. DOI 10.1016/j.neuron.2006.01.016 http://www.neuron.org/

Contact: Heidi Hardman
hhardman@cell.com
Cell Press

www.internetnews.net/ec-news/article.php/3585576

Search With the Human Touch

By Susan Kuchinskas
February 16, 2006

A new crop of search engines bases relevance on the human mind instead of algorithms. On Thursday, PreFound.com said it would begin to share ad revenue with active users of its site.

PreFound is a community-oriented search engine that lets people search, tag and share their searches with others; it launched in January 2006. Members can create their own personal pages containing organized groups of links sorted by topic and sub-topic.

Experts known as "Featured Finders" who take the time to gather the most relevant and recent information on specific topics will receive 100 percent of the Google (Quote, Chart) AdSense revenue that their individual pages generate.

Featured Finders will be responsible for finding, tagging, and sharing organized sets of links and annotations on their expert topic areas that they have found on the Web. Searchers will be able to visit each expert's page and view the Featured Finder's PreFound selections. "Our plan is to reward experts in their fields along with regular users who've proven they can share useful and popular material," said Steve Mansfield, CEO of PreFound.com and its parent company, iLOR, in a statement.

According to Mansfield, paying people will help ramp up the site's content, while reducing the visibility of spammy or slopping pages. Experts interested in participating in the PreFound.com Featured Finders program can apply at www.profound.com. Other sites too are looking for the human touch in improving search results.

Dumbfind, a two-year-old search provider, also plans to offer an online community where users can submit and tag content to help determine search relevancy and discover new sites. Dumbfind combines tag search with keyword search to better refine results. Dumbfind automatically tags all the content in its database, groups them, determines which are most relevant, and displays them in clusters. Founder Chris Seline said the concepts of tagging and "folksonomies," wherein users create their own categories, are a good jumping off point. "We have a large seed database of tags," he said, "but it could benefit from user input. There may be certain ways people might describe things that our technology might not capture." Improving results could also improve ad revenue. PreFound's Mansfield pointed out that users of his site's topic-specific pages are more easily targeted by advertisers.

Eurekster recently launched Swicki, a search/wiki combo that lets Web publishers and bloggers offer topic-centric searches designed to give their communities of users more relevant results. Publishers can focus and train their Swickis by typing in keywords and relevant URLS.

Then, Swicki technology automatically learns from search behavior on the publisher's site, constantly refining search results in response to what site users clicked on. For example, a traditional Web search for the word "labor" might return results focused on childbirth, labor legislation and unions. On a site catering to pregnant women, searchers consistently clicking on links related to childbirth would eventually increase the relevance ranking of such links, so that only they would be shown to users.

In a statement, Eurekster CEO Steven Marder said, "Currently, publishers lose traffic to generic search engines because they don't offer their users a Web search with a differentiated or specialized value-add that retains them. Unique search results not only help build user loyalty, but also lead to greater search-driven advertising revenue, he said.

The idea of human editors is as old as Web search itself, of course. The original Yahoo was a simple, human-edited list of links to sites. About.com, founded in 1996 as The Mining Co., paid subject-expert Guides to create channels. About.com was sold to the New York Times Company (Quote, Chart) in February 2005.

iVillage Rebranding Women.com as Women’s Search Engine

2006-02-22T10:28:00.000-08:00

iVillage Rebranding Women.com as Women’s Search Engine

iVillage will be relaunching its Women.com domain as Women.com, “Search for Women”, taking vertical search to the sexes.

iVillage purchased Women.com for $47 million in 2001 and ran the site as an iVillage news spinoff of dating, beauty and romantic content until they decided to dump the site altogether and then just redirect the domain to iVillage.com.

paidContent picked up the info in the iVillage conference call transcript:

“We anticipate launching the new Search at the end of the second quarter 2006.

Our objective with Search for Women is to enhance and further customize our users and advertisers experience by participating in the so-called vertical search marketplace…this new product will allow us to promote iVillage brand by blanketing the Internet with add campaign promoting Search for the Women’s Intuition.”

Greg Sterling, Vertical Search Ninja, feels that iVillage may be taking the Vertical market place a bit far:

Let’s assume that this isn’t simply a marketing ploy and that the new Women.com is going to try to provide a better Web-search experience for women in general – a daunting task given how broad a category “women” is. And calling “search for women” vertical search almost renders the term “vertical search” meaningless. (I make the same argument when people say Local is a vertical.)

Yet women are arguably the most important constituency online. They are driving e-commerce and online shopping and they’re the ones writing the reviews on JudysBook and InsiderPages and engaging in the “social networking” activities, much more so than men.

So trying to grab the attention – and some of the wallet – of this group is wise. But what will Women.com provide (assuming again that it’s Web search for women) that Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, Ask or InfoSpace/DogPile cannot?

Greg goes on to note that iVillage may be working indeed with Eurekster, the social search sharing engine and that such a partnership targeted towards the vibrant female online community may indeed be a success.
— Loren Baker, Editor

Ask.com Dumping Jeeves . . .

New Focus on Search Technology & User Experience

Jeeves is ‘retiring’ from Ask.com in fashion as the IAC owned search company has taken a major step in rebranding its image. Ask.com will be taking a more integrated IAC technology and Web 2.0 route with their rebranding, and the loss of Jeeves may bring the arrival of Bloglines and other IAC owned services into the Ask.com search experience. Even as they give Jeeves the boot, Ask is showcasing the arsenal of search services they have added over the past two years including Desktop, Personal, Image, and Ask Smart Answers.

Saturday on the Ask Jeeves Blog, Jim Lazone gives a couple of paragraphs of heart felt goodbye to the symbol of the search company which helped differentiate its technology from Altavista, Infospace, Inktomi and Excite in the 90’s:

As many of you have heard by now, in the near future we’ll be saying goodbye to our corporate icon of 10 years… It’s funny, when you consider that he’s just a static drawing of a butler-ish figure on a website (and that he was very nearly a “wise owl” or a “wizard” rather than a butler), how much the Jeeves character has come to mean for people over the years.

Then Jim jumps right into the new Ask.com and its marketing message of usability, services, and relevant search as opposed to a cartoon character :

As we’ve said many times, and many of you have kindly said for us, the search engine today is leaps and bounds better than the old one. Not only are we solid on the basics, but we’ve also been one of the leading innovators in search. Beyond our differentiated algorithmic search, we have the most differentiated SERPs of the major engines, with Zoom related search, Binoculars, MyJeeves, and Smart Answers all integrated significantly into our pages. Heck, now we even have the fewest ads above the fold of the major engines. Per Keynote, this paid off with the most significant gains in search quality and brand perception between 2004 and 2005 among the major search engines. Per comScore, we’ve also had the largest percentage gains in market share year on year.
When it comes to our product, we’re continuously evolving and improving. Our brand deserves a clean break to open people up to seeing how good we are.
So, we’re going to take the leap and strike out for a fresh identity, one that fits more with who we’ve become than who we used to be. One that revolves more around the site, and what it does for our users, rather than around a character.
One thing that won’t change with our new brand will be our focus on making search better for real people, from heavy searchers to new searchers. Our best innovations have been inspired by this approach to usability. How do people really search and what tools do they really need to be more effective?

— Loren Baker, Editor

Better Hydration Needed for Diabetics

2006-02-21T09:58:00.000-08:00

A recent hydration study performed on diabetic patients in 5 different hospitals in China shows diabetics’ intracellular hydration increased by 13.4 times and improved their basal metabolism rate with Clustered Water® when compared to distilled water.

Diabetics were selected for this hydration research study because two of the most classic symptoms at diagnosis are increased thirst and urination. In China, diabetes is known as the Thirst Disease: It is a fairly common disorder in Asian countries, affecting one in ten to one in fifteen adults. The Chinese Health Care Science and Technology Society (CHCSTS) conducted the study.

“Proper hydration is critical for people with diabetes because water has to be organized around insulin – for every one insulin molecule, you need 440 water molecules,” states Dr. Zhi Y. Wang. “ We are excited with the results of this study because it proves that cell water turnover is critical to health, especially in diabetics.”

Research team Chairman Dr. Zhi Y.Wang recently presented the Clustered Water® hydration findings to the International Congress of Clinical Nutrition in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In addition, this study was recently published in the National Library of Medicine.

Zunami™ and Vivo™ are products made with clustered water technology that was invented and patented by Dr. Lee Lorenzen.

According to the American Diabetes Association’s clinical practice recommendations, there are several considerations that are particularly important and specific for individuals with diabetes. During exercise proper hydration is essential, as dehydration can affect blood glucose levels and heart function adversely. Exercise in heat requires special attention to maintaining hydration. Adequate hydration prior to exercise is recommended (e.g., 17 ounces of fluid consumed 2 hours before exercise).

Zunami™ and Vivo™ are produced through extensive purification and their patented Microcluster Template Induction Process (2 USA patents), in which water molecules are broken down into small, stable clusters. Independent laboratory analysis in California, Japan, China and France have used Oxygen-17 NMR, Raman Spectroscopy, and RJL bio-impedance tests to prove that Clustered Water® solutions are structured to maximize hydration and improve cell function.

Clustered Water™
Research and Development

Clustered Water™ has been found to be a specific form of water instrumental in key cellular functions. Research has shown that the lack of this specific form of water is responsible for cellular aging and cellular problems.

When we are young, our bodies are full of clustered water. As we grow older, our clustered water becomes physically bound to other molecular structures and becomes unable to move freely through the cell walls.

Our body contains approximately 50 trillion cells. The water that sustains them is called clustered water. Unlike tap water, rain or mineral water, Clustered Water™ has a particular characteristic which allows it to pass freely through cell walls, delivering oxygen, nutrients, protein chains, enzymes and it removes the toxic buildup that accumulates in the cell.

The efficiency and speed of Clustered Water™ is due to the design and shape of the water molecules and the design and shape of the cell itself. Small water clusters fit into and through the hexagonal channels in the cell membrane and inside the cell.
• Studies show that 2% loss of cellular water decreases energy levels by as much as 20%.
• Over 99% of all chemical reactions in the cell are facilitated by water.

History of Dr. Lee Lorenzen

Dr. Lee Lorenzen has an impressive academic background; he received his BA in Biology from the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Lorenzen went to UCI School of Medicine, Research Associate in the Department of Pharmacology; did his graduate studies in Biology at Cal State Fullerton and finished up with Doctorate studies in Nutrition at Metropolitan Collegiate Institute, London, UK.

Along with these educational achievements, Lee also ventured into teaching before he entered into research and development. He is an active member of the American Preventive Medical Association and has been awarded 2 US Patents on Clustered Water™ technology (5,711,950 & 6,033,678).

Lee has written and narrated many video and audiotapes on nutrition and health care for the general public and he has lectured extensively on the life sciences around the world. He has published articles in the Proceedings of the Western Pharmacology Society, Life Sciences (London), Food Technology Japan, up-to-date Food Processing and La Vie Japan.

How Clustered Water™ Is Made

Clustered Water™ is designed for the human body.

Dr. Lorenzen uses his proprietary Clustered Water™ Template Induction Process (U.S. Patent No. 5711950) to produce Clustered Water™ in his laboratory in California, USA.

These clusters are folded around proteins and the complex is subjected to high frequency vibration through the use of laser and ceramic systems. The protein base is then extracted.

Clustered Water™ is a non-toxic solution that beneficially impacts the body’s entire systems by means of energy transference, through super hydration.

History of the President’s Day Holiday

2006-02-20T05:37:00.000-08:00

The original version of the holiday was in commemoration of George Washington's birthday in 1796 (the last full year of his presidency).

Washington, according to the calendar that has been used since at least the mid-18th century, was born on February 22, 1732. According to the old style calendar in use back then, however, he was born on February 11. At least in 1796, many Americans celebrated his birthday on the 22nd while others marked the occasion on the 11th instead.

By the early 19th century, Washington's Birthday had taken firm root in the American experience as a bona fide national holiday. Its traditions included Birth night Balls in various regions, speeches and receptions given by prominent public figures, and a lot of revelry in taverns throughout the land. Then along came Abraham Lincoln, another revered president and fellow February baby (born on the 12th of the month). The first formal observance of his birthday took place in 1865, the year after his assassination, when both houses of Congress gathered for a memorial address. While Lincoln's Birthday did not become a federal holiday like George Washington's, it did become a legal holiday in several states.

In 1968, legislation (HR 15951) was enacted that affected several federal holidays. One of these was Washington's Birthday, the observation of which was shifted to the third Monday in February each year whether or not it fell on the 22nd. This act, which took effect in 1971, was designed to simplify the yearly calendar of holidays and give federal employees some standard three-day weekends in the process.

Apparently, while the holiday in February is still officially known as Washington's Birthday (at least according to the Office of Personnel Management), it has become popularly (and, perhaps in some cases at the state level, legally) known as "President's Day." This has made the third Monday in February a day for honoring both Washington and Lincoln, as well as all the other men who have served as president.

Numbers Tell A Story

2006-02-19T11:26:00.000-08:00

Just finished reading FAST COMPANY March 2006 and read through several pages of analytical and statistical information. Following are excerpts that can be used when asking, “Did you know ... ?”

A Wal-Mart for Every American

In 1995, there was one for every 100,000 Americans
In 2000, one for every 90,000 Americans
In 2005, one for every 78,000 Americans
In 2010, there will be one for every 70,000 Americans

Boomers Are Aging

The number of households in age-restricted senior communities in 2003 was 1.67 million, but they don’t want to live with old people. The estimated decline in age-restricted community residents by 2025 is 50%.

Hot Drug: Caffeine

Worldwide consumption of Red Bull in 2004 was 1.9 billion cans, an annual growth rate of 31.5%.

Percentage of Population with Internet Access

Sweden 75.2%
United States 68.7%
Greenland 66.6%
Japan 60.9%
Latvia 35.1%
Seychelles 24.0%
Mexico 16.4%
Brazil 12.3%
China 7.9%
Bolivia 3.9%
India 3.6%

We’re Going Wireless ...

9.4% - Percentage of US subscribers in 2005 who used their wireless phone as their primary phone.

37% - Projected percentage in 2009.

Robots Really Are Taking Over The World

Population of Industrial Robots by 2008:

Japan 400,000
Europe 350,000
North America 160,000
Elsewhere 150,000

Americans are Burning More Oil

In 2004, 20.7 million barrels per day.
In 2006, 21.1 million barrels per day.

Gas-Electric Hybrid Cars

Percentage of Total U.S. Vehicle Sales:

In 2002 .23%
In 2005 1.25%
In 2008 3.23% (estimate)
In 2011 4.23% (estimate)

“Pay For Performance” Business Model

2006-02-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, via snail-mail, I received an Offering Brochure for UpSnap ... a new tech company that has joined the Mobile Search Revolution; that is, search via cell phones.

They presented the following information regarding SMS – the abbreviation for Short-Message Service or Text Messaging:

* There are now more mobile phone subscribers in the world (2.5 billion) than there are landline phone subscribers and that number is expected to double to 5 billin by 2009. That’s about 2.5 times the number of current Internet users worldwide.

* There are currently about 100 million cell phone users in the U.S.

* The cell phone is quickly becoming a primary means of communication, not only for voice, but also for digital services, email, digital photos, GPS navigation ... and advertising.

* It is estimated that worldwide over 350 billion text messages are exchanged across the world’s mobile network every single month.

* U.S. cell phone users spend $2 billion every year on directory assistance.

UpSnap’s Text-Based 411 Directory Assistance calls are FREE to consumers. Merchants pay only for performance, customers who call them for their products and services. Merchants don’t pay for “advertising”, they pay only for results – calls that lead to sales that generate revenues.

It’s a No Brainer

Step 1: Send a message to UpSnap on your cellphone.

Step 2: Enter what you are looking for (“pizza”, “bookstore”, etc.) and your ZIP code, area code or local airport code.

Step 3: Wait for the results and punch in A, B or C for the vendor location of your choice and get connected.

When you place an order, the merchant pays for the results – not the advertising.

Viking Laws

2006-02-17T08:10:00.000-08:00

On a trip to the Land of the Vikings, I purchased a card with the following Viking Laws and feel it conveys some very good messages to live by.

Be Brave and Aggressive

* Be Direct
* Grab all opportunities
* Use varying methods of attack
* Be versatile and agile
* Attack one target at a time
* Don’t plan everything in detail
* Use top quality weapons

Be Prepared

* Keep weapons in good conditions
* Keep in shape
* Find good battle comrades
* Agree on important points
* Choose one chief

Be A Good Merchant

* Find out what the market needs
* Don’t promise what you can’t keep
* Don’t demand overpayment
* Arrange things so that you can return

Keep The Camp In Order

* Keep things tidy and organized
* Arrange enjoyable activities which strengthen the group
* Make sure everybody does useful work
* Consult all members of the group for advice

An Introduction to Functional Water Beverages

2006-02-16T18:04:00.000-08:00

An Introduction to
Functional Water Beverages

Whereas conventional water beverages attempt to make no substantial changes to the source water other than perhaps removing unwanted chemicals, minerals, biological contaminants, odors or tastes through selected water purification processes, Functional Bottled Water Beverages are quite different.

For at least two thousand years, water has been considered as the major facilitator of the development and sustenance of life on earth. Long regarded as the universal solvent, its molecular properties are unique and profound, yet water itself is rarely regarded as anything more than a benign, albeit necessary, adjunct to biological systems and human health.

For years water treatment specialists and a wide array of chemists and biologists have argued over what type of water was "cleanest" or "purest" for human and animal consumption as well as best for plant life.

These arguments are based on how much and what types of contaminants were being removed. What percentage of the dissolved solids were being removed? How about heavy metals? Were bacteria and other microbes being removed---and to what extent?

In other words, the issue in the past was one of water "PURITY" where the arguments, comparisons and controversies were all based on quantitative water quality measurements which could be resolved by a variety of laboratory test equipment which measured dissolved solids, bacteria content or volatile gasses from organic chemicals.

In Conventional Bottled Water Beverages, these attributes of purity and cleanliness are the very criteria that dominate the choice of source or process for a small format bottling operation.

However, recent developments and observations in both the scientific and industrial communities have attracted researchers and biotech firms to water PHYSICS and "functional" water beverages which possess very novel "altered" or "structured" water characteristics.

We address this business area of small format bottling because this is the direction in which we expect smart bottlers will proceed and where significant profits may be attainable because of the niche markets and specialty applications for the various types of successfully produced functional bottled water beverages.

One of the major categories of functional water-based beverages is the nutraceutical market where various types of fruit or herbal concentrates are added to water for nutrient value. At the present time, we will bypass this specific topic and concentrate instead on identifying a special portion of the functional water beverage market.

Creating "Functional", "Altered" or "Structured" Waters

Although this section may not provide a complete and thorough description of each of these "functional", "altered" or "structured" water technologies, it will provide enough information to begin understanding the basics of this rapidly evolving business area and identify which of the evolving Functional Water Beverage business areas may be good prospects for small format bottlers.

This area we refer to as "functional", "structured" or "altered" water beverages ironically remains an "unstructured" science with a wide variety of scientists, pseudo-scientists, wannabe scientists as well as various technology groups with their individual areas of research.

A definition of "altered", "functional", or "structured" water beverages might be as follows

"...any mechanical, electrical, optical or other process or combinations thereof which alters the physical or chemical characteristics of water, thereby creating a new form or species of water which when utilized by plants, animals or humans demonstrates measurable and repeatable benefits to chemical, enzymatic and general cellular functions".

Various technologists and scientists use terminology such as "clustered", "micro-clustered", "nano-clustered", "nano-clustered resonant water", "catalytically altered", "electrolyzed", "oxygenated" and other terms to describe the specific type or species of water which they are developing or producing and which they generally refer to as "functional", "altered" or "structured" water beverages.

HELPFUL HINTS (FREE) FROM AN ATTORNEY

2006-02-15T10:30:00.000-08:00

... that I received in an email from a friend and wanted to pass on to other friends.

A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company.

(1) The next time you order checks have only your initials (instead of first name) and last name put on them. If someone takes your checkbook, they will not know if you sign your checks with just your initials or your first name, but your bank will know how you sign your checks.

(2) Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put "PHOTO ID REQUIRED".

(3) When you are writing checks to pay on your credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the "For" line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.

(4) Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on your checks. You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have it printed, anyone can get it.

(5) Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place. I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a name, address, Social Security number, credit cards.

Unfortunately I, an attorney, have firsthand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieve(s) ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more.

Here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:

*** We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

*** File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., was stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

*** But here's what is perhaps most important of all: (I never even thought to do this.)

*** Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and Social Security number. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit.

*** By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks.

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, etc., has been stolen:

1.) Social Security Administration (fraud line): 1-800-269-0271
2.) Equifax: 1-800-525-6285
3.) Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742
4.) Trans Union : 1-800-680-7289

We pass along jokes on the Internet. We pass along just about everything. But if you are willing to pass this information along, it could really help someone that you care about.

Happy Birthday to My Niece Cybill ...

2006-02-14T16:48:00.000-08:00

A True Valentine Girl

Today, Valentine’s Day, is my niece’s birthday. The family celebrated at dinner last night (a day early), due to the fact that her Grandmother (my Mother) found out that the restaurant Cybill picked was not planning on serving lobster on Valentine’s Day.

Following is one version of The History of Valentine’s Day.

The History of Valentine's Day

Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. But who is this mysterious saint and why do we celebrate this holiday?

The history of Valentine's Day -- and its patron saint -- is shrouded in mystery. But we do know that February has long been a month of romance. St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. So, who was Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?

Today, the Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men -- his crop of potential soldiers. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.
When Valentine's actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they were often beaten and tortured.

According to one legend, Valentine actually sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself. While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl -- who may have been his jailor's daughter -- who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter, which he signed 'From your Valentine,' an expression that is still in use today. Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is murky, the stories certainly emphasize his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic, and, most importantly, romantic figure. It's no surprise that by the Middle Ages, Valentine was one of the most popular saints in England and France.

While some believe that Valentine's Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial -- which probably occurred around 270 A.D -- others claim that the Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to 'christianize' celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia festival. In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Houses were ritually cleansed by sweeping them out and then sprinkling salt and a type of wheat called spelt throughout their interiors. Lupercalia, which began at the ides of February, February 15, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would then sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification.

Thanks to American Greetings.

http://www.historychannel.com/exhibits/valentine/?page=history

Search Engine Traffic Soars

2006-02-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

Dan Nystedt, IDG News Service

People in the U.S. use the Internet for more everyday research than any other medium, a fact proven by the 55 percent year-on-year surge in online searches in December, according to market researcher Nielsen/NetRatings. And Google remained the most popular place for Americans to search cyberspace in December.

The number of online searches in the U.S. soared to nearly 5.1 billion searches in December from 3.3 billion a year earlier, despite just a slight uptick in the total number of Americans connecting to the Internet, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. The number of Internet users in the U.S. rose merely 3 percent year-on-year in December to 207 million people.

Shift in Behavior

"The double-digit increase in online search activity marks a significant milestone in the evolution of Internet consumer behavior," says Ken Cassar, senior director of analytics at Nielsen/NetRatings. "Online search is the primary tool most people rely on to do everyday research," he says.

Google not only ranked first out of approximately 60 search engines, it also widened the gap between itself and number two Yahoo by grabbing 48.8 percent of all search traffic in December, or nearly 2.5 billion searches, up from 43.1 percent during the same time a year earlier.

Search activity on Yahoo fell slightly to 21.4 percent of the total, down from 21.7 percent in December 2004. MSN saw the steepest drop-off as its share of searches fell to 10.9 percent from 14 percent, Nielsen/NetRatings says.

The New World of Marketing:

2006-02-12T13:45:00.000-08:00

Word-of-Mouth Campaigns Replace Traditional Tools

- (Wall Street Journal – February 7, 2006)

Today, people are overloaded with information and the tools of traditional marketing – print ads, catalogs, direct mail and television commercials – aren’t working. People are saying, “Don’t bother me with advertising. I’ll go talk to my friends.”

Twenty seven percent (27%) of all personal conversations include discussions of products or services. The new marketing builds on those relationships, by changing marketing campaigns into friendly, one-on-one encounters. Within an organization, the “friend” is called an evangelist and the tools of nontraditional marketing are Corporate Blogs, personalized e-mails or direct mail pieces about products you’ve said you were interested in (permission marketing) and personal or online conver- sations. What is new is the extension of targeted communications to huge databases of consumers who have indicated an interest in a product or service.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 646,000 people held jobs in advertising, marketing, promotions and public relations in 2004. Because the field is so new, there is no way to estimate how many of them use new marketing techniques.

The new world of marketing requires a different mentality than traditional marketing because it moves from a model of one-way communication to two.

Live Green, Go Yellow

2006-02-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

- GM Ad

Cars. Trucks. SUVs. What if they could run on E85 ethanol, a renewable fuel derived from corn, made up of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline?

America could move towards energy independence with a homegrown, renewable fuel source that actually reduces greenhouse gas emissions while it boosts your engine performance. Sound good?

Gets even better at LiveGreenGoYellow.com. Can every car in America run on yellow? Not yet. But GM has already put over 1.5 million FlexFuel Vehicles on the American road. And we’re just getting started.

Winning The Innovation Challenge

- Microsoft Ad

Elected officials from both parties are joining forces to address one of the nation’s key long-term challenges: Winning the innovation race.

America’s future competitiveness depends on scientific and techno- logical innovation. Innovation requires a well-educated, highly skilled workforce. America needs to expand and improve education, particularly in math, science and engineering. Innovation requires long-term investment in research and development. We must encourage innovation by strengthening and modernizing how we protect intellectual property.

IAC Will Rename Ask Jeeves to Ask.com

- (Wall Street Journal – February 9, 2006)

Ask Jeeves will be renamed Ask.com starting February 27, 2006. The company plans to invest millions of dollars to make Ask the core of its 60 online and retail brands; including, Ticketmaster, LendingTree, Match.com, CitySearch, Gifts.com and the television shopping network HSN. IAC spun out Hotels.com and the online travel service Expedia last year into a separately traded unit.

Chief Executive Barry Diller said that more than 200 million people use IAC’s businesses. Mr. Diller said Ask may offer an alternative to advertisers who want to reach users of search engines other than Google and Yahoo. Ask has increased its share of U.S. search queries to 6.3%, since it introduced changes. At the end of 2005, IAC had $2.6 billion in cash and marketable securities and $1.3 billion in debt, which includes $362 million in loans held by LendingTree.

Verizon Wireless to Add to Multimedia Offerings to Cellphone Customers

- (Wall Street Journal – February 9, 2006)

Verizon Wireless, as part of deal with Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. and News Corp.’s Fox, will allow certain Verizon Wireless customers to watch a variety of content on their cellphones. To get access to the new content, consumers must own a video-enabled phone and sign up for V-Cast, a $15-a-month service that is added to their regular Verizon Wireless subscription. The service is scheduled to become available in March 2006 and is the latest example of the push by wireless companies to integrate media content into their services.

So far, only about 1% of the nations’ roughly 200 million cellphone subscribers use mobile video services, but that number is expected to grow over the next few years.

The XX Olympic Winter Games

2006-02-10T10:49:00.000-08:00

The Winter Games begin today in Turin, Italy.

17 Days / 15 Sports / 84 Medals

Facts about the Olympics you might not know

* Pierre de Coubertin, a Frenchman, founded the modern Olympics and literally left his heart in Olympia, Greece (as decreed by his will).

* In wartime, the Games were cancelled (1916, 1940 and 1944). Germany and its World War I allies were not invited to the 1920 and 1924 Games. Germany and Japan were not invited to the 1948 Games.

* Major boycotts occurred in 1956, 1976, 1980 and 1984. The Soviet Union didn’t attend until 1952.

* The 1972 Games in Munich and the 1996 Games in Atlanta were playgrounds for terrorists.

* The Olympics have managed to take mere athletes and coaches and turn them into masters of international intrique, while exalting the purity of athletic competition.

* When the Olympic flame is lit, the world watches.

New Study Reveals Values of Americans

2006-02-09T10:48:00.000-08:00

A new Harris Interactive study shows that overall, Americans show a unique resiliency. During a decade in which Americans witnessed school shootings, terrorism, war, and the collapse of business ethics, they still have higher levels of satisfaction with their personal lives, American society, and the world than they did in 1995.

The Values of Americans - A Study of Ethics and Character, highlights the values held by society. The study is a follow-up to the 1995 Harris Interactive research The Values of Men and Boys in America and provides a look at the values held by youth and adults, as well as a comparison of current American values with those of 10 years ago.

Values such as family, country, personal responsibility, faith, and ethics continue to be of primary importance to Americans young and old. However, the study does indicate a decline in some measures of basic ethical beliefs and citizenship since 1995.

Measures of ethical beliefs that have declined include:

• Only 15 percent of men today, versus 25 percent in 1995, strongly agree that being honest with everyone pays off in the kind of world in which we live.
• Fifty-five percent of men today think it's absolutely wrong under all circumstances to smoke marijuana, versus 67 percent in 1995.
• This is accompanied by a slight increase in the number who say they've smoked marijuana (40 percent today versus 36 percent in 1995).
Measures of citizenship that have declined since 1995 include:
• Fewer men today think it is absolutely essential to show concern for their neighbor's property (29 percent today versus 42 percent in 1995)
• Fewer men say that keeping physically fit (20 percent today versus 26 percent in 1995) and keeping one's property clean and tidy (23 percent today versus 29 percent in 1995) are absolutely essential for good citizenship.
The study also shows some positive trends among current and former Scouts. An increasing number of men who were Scouts as youth say that:
• Scouting had a positive effect on their family life at the time they were a Scout (70 percent today versus 64 percent in 1995)
• Scouting had a positive effect on their school life in later years (57 percent today versus 49 percent in 1995); and
• Scouting positively influenced their career development and advancement (50 percent today versus 43 percent in 1995).

"For 95 years Scouting has developed values, character, and leadership skills in youth. The values and skills they learn help Scouts to make the most ethical, not the easiest, choice," said Roy Williams, Chief Scout Executive, BSA. "While some of the issues youth face have changed in the past 10 years, Scouting remains a relevant and positive influence to millions of Americans through exciting and challenging programs that teach moral character to today's youth."

Serving nearly 4.1 million young people between 7 and 20 years of age with more than 300 councils throughout the United States and its territories, the Boy Scouts of America is the nation's foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training.

Happy Birthday Boy Scouts of America

2006-02-08T15:09:00.000-08:00

BSA Celebrates 96 Years of Service

The Boy Scouts of America celebrates 96 years of service during Scouting Anniversary Week, February 5-11, 2006. In celebration, local Scouts across the nation will participate in special ceremonies and award presentations designed to highlight the service Scouts and Scouting volunteers provide in their communities.

"The purpose of the Boy Scouts of America is the same today as it was 96 years ago," said Chief Scout Executive Roy L. Williams.

"So many things have changed in our world—Scouting has remained constant and true to its mission of serving youth and helping them learn to make better decisions throughout their lives," Williams said.

The Boy Scouts was founded in Great Britain in 1907 by British military hero Lord Robert Baden-Powell. Two years later, William D. Boyce, a Chicago publisher traveling in London, became lost in a fog. A young boy helped him find his way. When Boyce thanked the boy for his aid and offered him a tip, the boy explained that it was his duty as a Scout to help others, and he declined the tip.

Impressed with the boy's actions, Boyce met with Baden-Powell and laid the groundwork to bring Scouting to the United States. With the help of Ernest Thompson Seton, Daniel Carter Beard, and James E. West, the Boy Scouts of America was established on February 8, 1910.
Today, nearly 3 million youth enjoy the fun and excitement of Scouting. For more information about the Boy Scouts of America, please contact your local Boy Scout office.
Boy Scouts of America—Celebrating 96 Years of Serving Youth and Families

###

The Boy Scouts of America

http://www.scouting.org

Boy Scouts of America (BSA) at a Glance

Purpose
The purpose of the Boy Scouts of America — incorporated on February 8, 1910, and chartered by Congress in 1916 — is to provide an educational program for boys and young adults to build character, to train in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and to develop personal fitness.

Chartered Organizations
Community-based organizations receive national charters to use the Scouting program as a part of their own youth work. These groups, which have goals compatible with those of the BSA, include religious, educational, civic, fraternal, business, and labor organizations; governmental bodies; corporations; professional associations; and citizens' groups.

Program
Tiger Cubs is a year-round family- and home-centered program that encourages the ethical decision-making skills for first-grade (or 7-year-old) boys. These boys participate in the program with their adult partners. The program emphasizes shared leadership, learning about the community, and family understanding.

Cub Scouts is a year-round family- and home-centered program that develops ethical decision-making skills for boys in the second through fifth grade (or who are 8, 9, and 10 years old). Activities emphasize character development, citizenship training, and personal fitness.

Webelos Scouts is a year-round family- and home-centered program that develops ethical decision-making skills for fourth- and fifth-grade (or 10-year-old) boys. Webelos Scouts participate in more advanced activities that begin to prepare them to become Boy Scouts.

Boy Scouting. A year-round program for boys 11 through 17 designed to achieve the aims of Scouting through a vigorous outdoor program and peer group leadership with the counsel of an adult Scoutmaster. (Boys also may become Boy Scouts if they have earned the Cub Scouting Arrow of Light Award and are at least 10 years old or have completed the fifth grade and are at least 10 years old.)

Varsity Scouting. An active, exciting, year-round program for young men 14 through 17 built around five program fields of emphasis: advancement, high adventure, personal development, service, and special programs and events.

Venturing. A year-round program for young men and women who are 14 (and have completed the eighth grade) through 20 years of age to provide positive experiences through exciting and meaningful youth-run activities that help them pursue their special interests, grow by teaching others, and develop leadership skills.

Volunteer Leaders
Volunteer adult leaders serve at all levels of Scouting in more than 300 local councils, 28 areas, and four regions, and nationally with volunteer executive boards and committees providing guidance.

Each autonomous local council is chartered by the BSA, which provides program and training aids along the guidelines established by the National Executive Board and the national charter from Congress.

National Activities

Cub Scouting is where it all begins. Ninety-five percent of all Boy Scouts participated in Cub Scouting at some time. Cub Scouting strengthens the family, encourages physical fitness, and teaches core values to live by through its program. A thrilling outdoor program starts in Cub Scouting with day camps, resident camps, council-organized camps, pack camping, and the fabulous make-believe themes of Cub World venues such as castles, frontier forts, pirate ships, and more.

Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts, and Venturers have many special activities available to them, such as camporees, summer camps, Scouting shows, and national jamborees.

The Order of the Arrow, Scouting's national honor society, recognizes those Scout campers who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives. The order has local lodge, section, and national meetings. Scouts who have become Eagle Scouts, the highest advancement award in Scouting, may join the National Eagle Scout Association.

All Scout camps are inspected and accredited annually by teams of trained volunteers to ensure the health, safety, and quality of program for campers.

Scouting Anniversary celebrations, during February, include observance of the BSA's February 8 birthday, Scout Sabbath, and Scout Sunday. Unit activities feature blue and gold banquets, courts of honor, and open house meetings.

National High-Adventure Bases

The BSA has three national high-adventure areas, and all three are unique. The Northern Tier National High Adventure Program offers wilderness canoe expeditions and cold-weather camping; the Florida National High Adventure Sea Base offers aquatics programs in the Florida Keys; and Philmont Scout Ranch offers backpacking treks in the rugged high country of northern New Mexico. Volunteer leaders may attend the Philmont Training Center each summer for a weeklong training conference.

Publications

The Boy Scouts of America publishes two magazines: 94-year-old Boys' Life, produced monthly for 1.3 million subscribers in three demographic editions (LOW demographic edition goes to all Tiger Cubs and Cub Scout subscribers through age 8. MIDDLE demographic edition goes to all Cub Scouts and Webelos Scouts 9 years and older and all adult Cub Scouting leaders who subscribe. HIGH demographic edition goes to all Boy Scout-age subscribers and all other subscribers); and 93-year-old Scouting, produced six times a year for all adults registered in Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, Varsity Scouting, and Venturing. In addition, unit leaders and commissioners receive special program inserts in Scouting.

The BSA publishes handbooks for all phases of the Scouting program, more than 100 merit badge pamphlets for Boy Scouts, leader books, training pamphlets, program helps booklets for unit leaders, and other literature for use by youth members, adult leaders, and parents.

Financial Support

The National Council is supported largely through annual registration fees paid by all members, charter and service fees paid by local councils, an Annual Giving Campaign among national employees and selected volunteers, income from the sales of Boys' Life and Scouting magazines and Scouting equipment, bequests, and special gifts. Local councils are supported by communities through an annual Friends of Scouting campaign, the United Way, special events, foundation grants, investment income, bequests, endowment gifts, and special contributions.

On the unit level, chartered organizations that use the Scouting program provide meeting places and often furnish program materials and other facilities. Youth members help to pay their own way by paying dues to their pack, troop, team, ship, or crew treasuries, and through approved money-earning projects, they can earn additional income for their units.

Membership and Units

Membership since 1910 totals more than 110 million. As of December 31, 2004, membership was:

Fact Sheets

What Americans Think About Aging and Health

2006-02-07T16:02:00.000-08:00

PARADE – February 5, 2006 – Page 15

PARADE and Research!America, the nonprofit organization that advocates for medical research, recently polled a cross-section of 1000 Americans on their attitudes about aging. Following are the concerns of Americans regarding aging and its effects on health.

Our Main Concern. More than a third of Americans (37%) said poor, declining health was their main concern about growing old. That was followed by financial concerns (23%).

Our Greatest Fear. More than twice as many Americans (62%) fear losing their mental capacity as they age as those who fear a diminished physical capacity (29%).

How Much of the Aging Process do we Control? The majority of Americans (84%) believe there are things they can do to control the aging process.

How Many of Us are Taking Action. A majority of Americans (83%) say they are taking action now to stay healthy as they age.

GM awards billions in tech contracts

2006-02-06T08:47:00.000-08:00

General Motors awarded about half of $15 billion it plans to spend over the next 5 years on information technology contracts.

GM’s 10-year contract with EDS ends in June, so the automaker began a re-bidding process two years ago. EDS will continue to have the most business, although somewhat less than under the old contract.

Contracts went to Electronic Data Systems (EDS), Capgemini, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Wipro and Covisint.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Technology

• Implanting Microchips to link the Body and the Computer

The future is now for radio frequency ID chips.

Implanting a chip is a relatively simple procedure.

People are already using their cellphones as an extension of their communications ability.

The tiny silicone device, which for years have been safely implanted in pets and livestock to identify their owners, come with an encoded string of numbers. They are read by a scanner two to four inches away, much like a bar code except that the chips don’t need to be visible to be read.

Digital visionaries have long foreseen a future when people and computers merge.

Digital products people use every day are becoming more integral to the human body.

Bluetooth wireless technology enables jackets and sunglasses to double as electronic devices.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration gave approval in 2004 to a Florida company, Verichip, to implant RFID chips in people as a means to retrieve medical information. The information is not on the chip; it is in a computer database that hospitals gain access to by scanning patients who carry a chip beneath their skin. In the last 3 years, Verichip has implanted more than 2,000 people around the world and 60 in the United States. Its chips are a proprietary technology and cost about $200 each.

• RFID Rolls Into NASCAR Race

Goodyear will provide racing teams with tires that have RFID devices embedded into the sidewalls.

Aiming to help manage a huge inventory of leased tires, the program gives a green light to auto racing’s first deployment of radio-frequency identification semiconductor chips and antennas embedded in the rubber.

Goodyear was asked by NASCAR to assist them in trying to cut the amount of testing that teams had been doing on their own. “The way to do it is to lease the tires so the tires are returned at the end of the race,” said a Goodyear spokeswoman.

Race teams used to buy tires and test them before the race. Now, NASCAR will test the tires and provide them to the teams, which will return them after the race for a partial rebate. RFID will assist in the implementation of NASCAR’s new controlled testing procedures.

The RFID scanning equipment will quickly read the information embedded in the sidewall of the tire. The tire identification is the first piece of data that will be available through the computer chip.

The Zen of Innovation

2006-02-05T08:42:00.000-08:00

Innovation: A hard-to-quantify, Zen-like force, an unexpected flash of lateral thinking, when we see what everyone else has been missing. And we know it can take an ‘Ocean of Sweat’ to bring it to life.

Seven key megatrends in technology today:

• Enabling Components – the devices that drive the systems we use.

• The Need for Speed – pushing systems and networks into the giga-hertz era.

• Mobility – the wireless nets and devices we take on the road.

• Digital Media – the era of digital music, movies, radio and TV.

• Beyond the Box – pioneering the software that fuels our systems.

• Pathfinders – defining what lies beyond the horizon.

• The Digital Frontier – digital technology that enables new medical, automotive and industrial applications.

Why So Stupid?

2006-02-04T11:19:00.000-08:00

How the Human Race has Never Really Learned to Think

By: Edward De Bono

This book was totally disjointed, jumping around continuously. If this is thinking, I’m happy with my way, thank you.

Following are ‘The Good Points’:

You can analyze the past but you have to design the future.

Humour is by far the most significant behavior of the human brain. Humor tells us more about how the brain works than any other human activity.

The Gang of Three was Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. The Renaissance rep-introduced into Europe and Western Civilization, the thinking of the Greek Gang of Three. This then became the standard ‘software’ of Western thinking and has remained so to this day.

The human brain is designed to form standard patterns for dealing with a stable world. The Gang of Three thinking emphasizes and enhances this natural behavior of the brain.

One day a fellow set his computer to figure out all the different ways of getting dressed with eleven pieces of clothing. The computer took forty hours of continuous processing. The total combinations with eleven pieces of clothing are 39,916,800 ways of getting dressed.

The brain is a ‘Self-Organizing’ Information System. This means that incoming information organizes itself into patterns, which form in our brain and determine our future perceptions.

To challenge our traditional concept of ‘truth’ does not mean that one is therefore in favour of ‘untruth’.

Perception is undoubtedly the biggest source of false truth. The trouble is that many different perceptions may all be equally right, valid or true. The danger is that those who hold one perception as true are reluctant to accept the possible truth of other perceptions.

‘Description Truth’ has always been extremely dangerous as a form of perceptual truth. There is no limit to the variety of descriptions and all of them are ‘true’ in the sense that they are valid.

There is a very big difference between description and action. Unfortunately, most of our attention to thinking has been in the form of description, analysis, reflection and philosophical examination. None of these approaches provide simple, practical and effective operational tools for thinking.

The big difference between ‘Parallel Thinking’ and ‘Adversarial Thinking’ (argument) is that at any moment every one is thinking parallel.

There is no mystery at all about ‘Idea Creativity’, which can be produced deliberately by using methods based on the behavior of a self-organizing information system that makes asymmetric patterns. There is close system relationship between humor and lateral thinking.

Every valuable creative idea will always be logical in hindsight. This is why we have never paid serious attention to creativity.

If 95% of an idea is valid but 5% is more doubtful, we focus on that 5%. If we did so in order to improve the idea by attention to that weak 5%, then that would be valuable. We do not do this. We focus on the 5% to suggest that if this 5% is weak then the whole idea is worthless.

We need simple ways of dealing with complexity rather than complex ways of dealing with simplicity.

‘Hodics’ is the study of paths and patterns. A challenge to the concept of cause and effect: because B follows A does not mean that A has caused B.

Ringling Bros. rolls out its greatest overhaul with new look, story

2006-02-03T09:52:00.000-08:00

The Greatest Show on Earth has gotten a makeover. The 136th edition of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus that opened in January had a completely new look – from the stage (no more three rings) to the costumes. It had been 50 years since major changes were made to the show.

People wanted more focused, interactive entertainment. They wanted something they can’t see anywhere else. “Let’s re-imagine the circus,” says Kenneth Feld, owner of Ringling Bros. The audience now experiences circus life through the eyes of an average American “family” who just happens to be actors. By the end of the show, the mom is a glamorous trapeze artist, the dad is a ringmaster, the teenage daughter a circus dancer and the young son a foot-juggler.

Retirees stay active by becoming Franchisees!

What do they have in common?

• Bored with retirement
• Come from a wide range of professions
• A desire to stay active
• Take advantage of opportunities
• Well-educated
• Physically healthy
• Have money to invest
• Want a new challenge

Basing Choice on Risk vs. Benefit

Women face difficult choices when contemplating treatment. There is no one-size-fits-all answers, doctors say. Each women must make hner own risk- assessment.

Patent Watch:

2006-02-02T23:42:00.000-08:00

Yahoo Awarded Patent, Microsoft Has Patent Application Published

Here's info about a one patent recently awarded to Yahoo on determining similarity between documents along with recently published patent application by Microsoft dealing with browsing info on the mobile web.

U.S. Patent Awarded to Yahoo

Title: Method and apparatus for measuring similarity among electronic documents

Awarded: Jan 24, 2006
Filed: June 14, 1999
Abstract:

A method and apparatus are provided for determining when electronic documents stored in a large collection of documents are similar to one another. A plurality of similarity information is derived from the documents. The similarity information may be based on a variety of factors, including hyperlinks in the documents, text similarity, user click-through information, similarity in the titles of the documents or their location identifiers, and patterns of user viewing. The similarity information is fed to a combination function that synthesizes the various measures of similarity information into combined similarity information. Using the combined similarity information, an objective function is iteratively maximized in order to yield a generalized similarity value that expresses the similarity of particular pairs of documents. In an embodiment, the generalized similarity value is used to determine the proper category, among a taxonomy of categories in an index, cache or search system, into which certain documents belong.

Microsoft Patent Application

Title: Mobile information services
Filed: September 15, 2005

Abstract:

Mobile communications devices display contextually relevant information based on the presence, status, and identification of a user. Lens templates control how the information is displayed and can be customized and designed for specific usage profiles. The lenses that are used can be updated at any time to accommodate changes in a user's presence. The granularity of the lenses and corresponding information can also vary to accommodate different needs and preferences. Lenses can also be specialized for different events or venues. The lenses allow a user to access contextually relevant information from a mobile communications device having limited display and/or browse capabilities without requiring a user to navigate through undesired information, wasting valuable resources in the process.

Posted by Gary Price on Jan. 30, 2006 | Permalink

Blogs, Podcasts Pushed As Enterprise Communication Tools

2006-02-02T15:29:00.000-08:00

By Laurie Sullivan
2:17 PM EST Thu. Jan. 12, 2006
[Article Link]

Corporate bloggers who want to communicate with select customers or colleagues to share information on niche topics can tie into contact lists already available in personal, enterprise resource planning (ERP) or customer relationship management (CRM) platforms.

At least that's the pitch from content management developer iUpload Inc., which on Thursday said it has integrated with NetSuite's on-demand business application and is working to provide access to Microsoft Corp.'s CRM and SharePoint products. Salesforce.com already is available.

"Information gets lost in e-mails, and corporate blogging sites have become an easy way for companies and customers communicate," said David Carter, vice president of strategy and chief information officer at iUpload, a content manager and corporate blogging software company. "We have about a dozen customers integrating the blog function with their CRM package or proprietary systems."

Integration into NetSuite is driven by iUpload's membership in the NetFlex Applications Program. The platform gives employees and customers the opportunity to collaborate. A check-off list managed within NetSuite's contact list allows companies to set access privileges. Carter said Cambridge Healthtech Advisors ties their blog site into the CRM platform.

In another scenario, a customer offering pharmaceutical research wanted to give all clients access to the corporate blog, but only some to related reports. An investment banking firm tied their blog to its membership software application to share spreadsheets and other documentation. As the blog is built out with additional content, it is personalized with bits and pieces of data specific to pre-assigned groups.

Along with PowerPoint and PDF file attachments, iUpload also lets bloggers link podcasts in their post. In October, iUpload built for McDonald's Corp. a "sister site" to its Intranet that give employees their own blog. It took about a month to bild. The employee blogs are listed on an internal home page by category, Carter said. "The first blogger they signed up is president and chief operating officer Mike Roberts, and he uses it for anecdotal information," he said. "He also uses the podcasting feature."

iUpload also is working with McDonald's to launch a "social responsibility" blog it will use to communicate information, such as the information on nutrition content in food.

Some research indicates more consumers turned to blogs, "social computing tools," for information in 2005. The percent of North American online consumers who visit social networking sites at least once a week grew from 4 percent to 6 percent last year, according to a survey on social computing conducted by Forrester Research Inc. of more than 5,000 North American online consumers in 2004 and 2005.

1/31/2006

Revenue Sharing Blogs, Forums, and Networks

With just about every blogger or web publisher having a Google AdSense account these days, one method of growing the reach of one’s ads is to participate in forums, blogs, and other sites which have implemented an AdSense driven content growth model.

By letting the writers of content, articles, forum threads and blogs benefit from the revenue earned via AdSense and other forms of contextual advertising, projects like Squidoo and Gather are attracting active writers. Such a revenue sharing model has gone beyond the blog network or forum arena, as Yahoo Answers is expected to share Yahoo Publisher Network revenue with its contributors and MSN is sharing Kanoodle driven revenue with MSN Spaces bloggers.

For those looking to expand their article distribution and linking campaigns while adding to the fatness of their wallets, AdMoolah has put together a list of Google AdSense Revenue Sharing Sites. The list includes such destinations as Digital Point Forums and Blogger Party. Some sites give 100% earnings while some rotate code for 50% earnings or 75%; AdMoolah has a nice rundown of the percentage earned on each site.

With search engines like Google giving a cold stare on paid linking and reciprocal campaigns, I wonder how search engines will react in the next 18 months over paid content via revenue sharing or paying an outright fee per contributed group blog or network article.

While duplicate content may lead to omited results, will articles posted for the sake of revenue sharing follow in the same direction? Then again, what’s the difference between this and hiring a copywriter, paying reporters, or contracting a freelance writer?

Posted by — Loren Baker, Editor @ 12:21 am

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=2851