Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Sneeze with Your Eyes Open

One of the most impractical things is sneezing with your eyes open wide. Sneeze is very common reflection of a human body to allergy or some unwanted stimulation inside your nose.

When you sneeze air particles from your mouth and nose come out at a rate of around 100 miles per hour. When something unwanted enters your nose, it stimulates and irritates the nerve cells present in your nose. Immediately the irritating sense is sense is sent to brain which activates tracheal and pharyngeal muscles. They create a large opening in the nasal cavity and release air with a powerful acceleration. Thus resulting in a sneeze.

There are certain people called photic sneezers who sneeze as soon as they get exposed to bright light.

Many hate to sneeze when they are in crowd because it is considered as bad human morale. The fact is that sneeze has possibilities to transfer microbes from one person to another.

When you have a sneezing sensation in crowd, try tickling the upper part of your mouth with tip of your tongue, to stop it.

Thursday, October 30, 2008

New Atlas to Size up The Earth

We have now the world’s biggest book. This giant book is an atlas with just 580 pages. But this book weighs around 30 kilos. This atlas named Earth is published by an Australian Company.

I wondered what information or how much information they could fit in just 580 pages. But the publisher assures it as the best atlas ever produced. In its 580 pages they have encrypted 154 maps and 800 photographs. This giant book measures around 6X4 feet and weighs around 30 kilos, making it hard to anyone that wants to roam around with this book.

This book is available in only 3000 copies and the publisher promises to destroy printing plates after publishing all the 3000 copies. But the cost of this book is as big as its weight. It costs you around $3500 to buy a leather back book and if you want to buy it in golden version you will have to spend, around $5500. Thus this book is more luxury than a knowledge parting book.

Monday, October 13, 2008

A Submarine of World War 2 Found

USS Grunion was a Gato-Class submarine that was sunk at Kiska, Alaska during World War-2. The specialty of Gato-Class submarines was that they were specially designed to aid US during the World war. They were very strong and have a record f sinking around 1,700,000 tons of Japanese shipping. Grunion started its services from 22 December 1941. Just in a week it helped US in rescuing 16 survivors of USAT jack, which had been torpedoed by a German U-boat. It also conducted a fruitless search for 13 other survivors presumed in the vicinity. Grunion received a battle star for WWII service. One day US Navy lost Grunion without any trace. They never had any clue on what happened to it.

Recently, US Navy was reported to have found a wreckage of a sunken vessel. When they started trying to find about the vessel, they came to it is nothing but the great Grunion. It has appeared after so many years of its mysterious vanish in a poor condition under waters of Bering Sea, about 1000 meters beneath. The reason for her sinking is still a mystery.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Superga Air Disaster

The Superga air disaster took place Wednesday, May 4, 1949, when a plane carrying almost the entire Torino AC football, popularly known as La Grande Torino, crashed into the Superga hill near of Turin killing all 31 aboard including 18 players, club officials, journalists accompanying the team, and the plan 's crew. The team was returning from a farewell match for José Ferreira against Benfica in Lisbon. The Italian Fiat G212CP Airlines carrying the team visited a storm at the approach of Turin and the conditions encountered by low clouds and poor visibility. After descending to be able to fly the aircraft visually clipped a wall near the Basilica of Superga and crashed. Italian authorities have cited low clouds, poor radio and a navigation error as factors contributing to the accident. The emotional impact of the accident on the Italian sports fans has been profound, as it has claimed the lives of actors in a legendary team that won the last Serie A title before playing the league was suspended in 1944 by World War II and then returned after the conflict to win four consecutive titles (1946-1949).

At the time of the accident Torino AC led Serie A with four games left to play in the season. The club carried on the ground by his team of young (Primavera), and a sign of respect their opponents in each of these meetings (Genoa, Palermo, Sampdoria, Fiorentina) also sent their youth sides. Primavera won each of their matches. The disaster has seriously weakened the country’s national side which has included up to 10 players to Turin. Turin itself does not claim to another title until 1976. On the whole squad only one player has remained: Sauro Toma missed the trip to Portugal because of injury. The Hungarian star Ladislao Kubala, who was to give a guest performance in Lisbon, has been re-united with his wife and son. The boy was ill and remained Kubala Back to help care for him, the absence of death per trip. The son of the captain Valentino Mazzola, Sandro, has become an internationally acclaimed actor in his own right in the years 1960, playing with Inter Milan. Both father and his son were wearing the number 10 jersey.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Will Microsoft be aimless without Bill Gates?

Bill Gates will step away from the day-to-day activities at Microsoft in about a month to focus his admirable intellect and energy on his nonprofit work, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He will remain chairman of the company. As the figurehead, spiritual leader and most forceful personality at the company he founded in 1975, Gates will be missed in some of the daily skirmishes and debates over technology issues and how Microsoft wages its battles with Google, Apple, Oracle, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the European Union. But, Gates gave up the CEO title to Steve Ballmer in January 2000 and his chief software architect title to Ray Ozzie in June 2006.

In her new book, Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era, Mary Jo Foley wrote that "a Gates-less Microsoft is going to be a directionless Microsoft at least for the near term. The existing set of to managers is too mired in old thinking and old ways to turn the Redmond ship quickly." "If Microsoft were still the company it was 10 or 20 years ago, with the simultaneously ruthless and cautious Gates at the helm, I'd have no qualms predicting that the Redmond vendor will be successful in its next decade-plus transition. But can a company that is becoming more and more MBA-heavy (not to mention employee heavy, with a workforce approaching 100,000 when/if the Yahoos are added) be guaranteed of continued success in an ever more technology-driven, nimble and Web-centric world.

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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Parties To Corporate Governance

Parties involved in corporate governance contain the regulatory body. Other stakeholders who take part include suppliers, employees, creditors, customers and the community at large. In corporations, the shareholder delegates decision rights to the manager to act in the principal's best interests. This division of ownership from control implies a loss of proficient control by shareholders over managerial decisions. Partially as a result of this separation between the two parties, a system of corporate governance controls is implemented to assist in aligning the incentives of managers with those of shareholders. With the major increase in equity holdings of investors, there has been an opportunity for a reversal of the separation of ownership and control problems because ownership is not so diffuse.

A board of directors often plays an important role in corporate governance. It is their responsibility to support the organization’s strategy, develop directional policy, appoint, supervise and remunerate senior executives and to make sure the accountability of the organization to its owners and authorities. The Company Secretary, known as a Corporate Secretary in the US and often referred to as a Chartered Secretary if qualified by the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA), is a high ranking professional who is trained to support the highest standards of corporate governance, effective operations, compliance and administration.

All parties to corporate governance have an interest, whether direct or indirect, in the efficient performance of the organization. Directors, workers and management receive salaries, benefits and standing, while shareholders receive capital return. Customers receive goods and services; suppliers receive compensation for their goods or services. In return these individuals provide value in the form of natural, human, social and other forms of capital. A key factor in an individual's decision to participate in an organization e.g. through providing financial capital and trust that they will get a fair share of the organizational returns. If some parties are receiving more than their fair return then participants may choose to not continue participating leading to organizational collapse.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Is Online Advertising Agency helps Growth Of Brands?

Any businesses establish and promoting brands is a tough task because it takes years of excellence work and word of mouth publicity to get praise or there is one smart way out. So every one look for an expert online advertising agency because these proficient agencies will helps you to promote the brands in an effective way. They usually use internet for promote your brand because the internet usage has increased with over 1.15 billion regular Internet users. The growth of brands is fairly dependable upon the wide awareness and it requires efforts and intelligent approach to target the right audience. So a professional Internet advertising agency does the same and it understands the products and goals of the organization. Generally they give the plans according to our budget and also they work on media planning and branding strategies. Then need based solutions are developed by them.

Generally the solutions of online advertisement agency are based on high end technology platforms, which appear attractive to the users. The common solutions include banner ads, rich media ads and flash video ads, these ads are displayed across the online advertising network. This system is teamwork of publishers and agencies that provide the advertisers in promoting their brands. Today business was spent $35 billions on internet ads. The advertisers are getting more tending towards Internet as an advertising medium. This lean will need an association with online advertising agency for exploiting opportunities. So these agencies will develop suitable interactive advertising and publish it cleverly. Now the online advertising agency obtains the metrics of publisher websites and portals. Today many professional SEO companies are offers these advertising agency services along with your website Increase search engine ranking.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Health insurance in the United States

The health insurance is generally used in the United States to explain any program that helps pay for medical expenses, whether through privately purchased insurance, social insurance or a non-insurance social welfare program funded by the government. Synonyms for this usage include "health coverage," "health care coverage" and "health benefits." In a more technical sense, the term is used to describe any form of insurance that provides protection against injury or illness. This usage includes private insurance and social insurance programs such as Medicare, but excludes social welfare programs such as Medicaid. In adding to medical expense insurance, it also includes insurance covering disability or enduring nursing or custodial care needs.

The US market-based health care system relies a lot of on private and not-for-profit health insurance, which is the main source of coverage for majority of the Americans. According to the United States Census Bureau, about 84% of Americans have health insurance; some 60% get it through an employer, while about 9% purchase it directly. Various government agencies provide coverage to about 27% of Americans (. In 2006, there were 47 million people in the US (16% of the population) who were without health insurance for at least part of that year. The percentage of the non-elderly population who are uninsured has been normally increasing since the year 2000. There is significant debate in the US on the causes of and possible remedies for this level of uninsurance as well as the impact it has on the overall US health care system.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Electronic Business

Electronic Business, commonly referred to as "eBusiness" or "e-Business", may be defined broadly as any business process that relies on an automated information system. Today, this is mostly done with Web-based technologies. The term "e-Business" was coined by Lou Gerstner, CEO of IBM.

Electronic business methods enable companies to link their internal and external data processing systems more efficiently and flexibly, to work more closely with suppliers and partners, and to better satisfy the needs and expectations of their customers.

In practice, e-business is more than just e-commerce. While e-business refers to more strategic focus with an emphasis on the functions that occur using electronic capabilities, e-commerce is a subset of an overall e-business strategy. E-commerce seeks to add revenue streams using the World Wide Web or the Internet to build and enhance relationships with clients and partners and to improve efficiency using the Empty Vessel strategy. Often, e-commerce involves the application of knowledge management systems.

E-business involves business processes spanning the entire value chain: electronic purchasing and supply chain management, processing orders electronically, handling customer service, and cooperating with business partners. Special technical standards for e-business facilitate the exchange of data between companies. E-business software solutions allow the integration of intra and inter firm business processes. E-business can be conducted using the Web, the Internet, intranets, extranets, or some combination of these.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Get your security deposit back when you move out from apartment

When you move out of your apartment austin, the landlord must return your security deposit, state laws determine when a landlord must return the security deposit and how it must be done. This means, of course, that it varies from state to state. However, if there is damage to your either at Austin or at sacramento apartment, the landlord can use part or all of your security deposit to cover the costs of repairs. The landlord cannot deduct for normal issues. The landlord can use your security deposit to pay for damage for which you, your roommates or your guests are responsible for broken windows, Large holes in the wall, burn marks, pet stains etc, your security deposit cannot be used to repair or replace parts of the apartment that have deteriorated due to normal wear-and-tear. Such things are: if the paint gets faded, if the carpet gets worn out or if there is any dust in the apartment

Because the definition of normal wear-and-tear is vague, disputes will arise from time to time over what falls under that category. If you disagree with your landlord over a deduction, you can dispute it in court. Sometimes, also, a landlord will charge you for damage that was already there when you moved in. This can and should be disputed as well. Your chances of winning your case depend on whether you can prove that the damage was there before. In such circumstances you have an option to resolve the issues created by landlord that can be through small claims court. If you disagree with your landlord over any deductions made to your security deposit, in the United States, you can file a lawsuit in small claims court.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Excellent reasons for drinking water

Drinking too much water can lead to a condition known as water intoxication and to a related problem resulting from the dilution of sodium in the body, hyponatremia. Water intoxication is most commonly seen in infants less than six months of age and sometimes in athletes. A baby can get water intoxication as a result of drinking several bottles of water a day or from drinking infant formula that has been diluted too much. Athletes can also suffer from water intoxication. Athletes sweat heavily, losing both water and electrolytes. When too much water enters the body's cells, the tissues swell with the excess fluid. Your cells maintain a specific concentration gradient, so excess water outside the cells draws sodium from within the cells out into the serum in an attempt to re-establish the necessary concentration. As more water accumulates, the serum sodium concentration drops -- a condition known as hyponatremia. The other way cells try to regain the electrolyte balance is for water outside the cells to rush into the cells via osmosis. The movement of water across a semi permeable membrane from higher to lower concentration is called osmosis. It's Not How Much You Drink, It's How Fast You Drink It. The kidneys of a healthy adult can process fifteen liters of water a day! You are unlikely to suffer from water intoxication. As a general guideline, most adults need about three quarts of fluid each day. Much of that water comes from food, so 8-12 eight ounce glasses a day is a common recommended intake. You may need more water if the weather is very warm or very dry, if you are exercising, or if you are taking certain medications. The bottom line is this: it's possible to drink too much water, but unless you are running a marathon or an infant, water intoxication is a very uncommon condition.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Good Decision Making

There are some people who find it really easy to make decisions. If you can learn to make timely and well-considered decisions, then you can often lead your team to spectacular and well-deserved success. However, if you make poor decisions, your team risks failure and your time as a leader will, most likely, are brutally short. Good decision-making is an essential skill for career success generally, and effective leadership particularly.

Good decision-making comes from: -

  • Good training
  • Good information in the first place.
  • Management skills in analyzing information and handling its shortcomings.
  • Ability in decision-making.
  • Anticipating the Risk and attitudes to risk.
  • Human factors: that is people and their emotional responses.
  • Good Management Self-Assessment.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Recent Price History Of Petroleum

A recent low point was reached in January 1999 ($11 per barrel), after increased oil production from Iraq coincided with the Asian financial crisis, which reduced demand. The prices then rapidly increased, more than doubling by September 2000 (35 dollars per barrel), then fell until the end of 2001 before steadily increasing, reaching US $40 to US $50 per barrel by September 2004. In October 2004, light crude futures contracts on the NYMEX for November delivery exceeded US $53 per barrel and for December delivery exceeded US $55 per barrel. Crude oil prices surged to a record high above $60 a barrel in June 2005, sustaining a rally built on strong demand for gasoline and diesel and on concerns about refiners' ability to keep up. This trend continued into early August 2005, as NYMEX crude oil futures contracts surged past the $65 mark as consumers kept up the demand for gasoline despite its high price. Crude oil futures peaked at a close of over $77 a barrel in July 2006, and in December 2006 at about $63. That is just about where they began the year 2006.

On August 1, 2007, US crude reached a new intra-day high of $78.77 a barrel after the
Energy Information Administration announced that oil stocks in the US were below market expectations and refinery output had increased. Following further reflection the price later slid backwards.

On September 14, 2007, US crude (WTI) reached a new intra-day high of $80.36 a barrel. Multiple factors have caused this high price. OPEC announced an output increase lesser than expected. US stocks fall lower than experts predicted and a leftist group in Mexico attacked six pipelines.

On October 16, 2007, US light sweet crude rose to a new record of $87.97 on the news that non-OPEC oil producers were expected to reduce daily output by approximately 110,000 barrels.

On October 19, 2007, US light crude rose to $90.02 per barrel due to a combination of ongoing tensions in eastern Turkey and the reducing strength of the US dollar. Prices fell briefly on the expectation of increased US crude oil stocks, however they rose again rapidly to a peak of $92.22 on October 26, 2007 when stocks were revealed to have instead fallen. This was repeated on October 31, 2007, when an expected 100,000 barrel rise in US crude oil stockpiles turned out to be a 3.9 million barrel fall, pushing US light crude oil prices to another new record of $96.24. Prices continued to rise to a peak of $98.62 on November 7, 2007 before starting to fall.

On January 2, 2008, oil prices rose to $100 per barrel on the combined effect of violence in Nigeria, Algeria, and Pakistan, the weak US dollar and the threat of cold weather, however this price was a one off deal and the only time oil has been sold for more than $100. The trader who paid $100 almost immediately sold the contract for less than $100, and took a loss. Therefore, this one $100 trade for oil remains in question, as some believe this trader might have had other motives for the purchase and subsequent loss.

On January 3, 2008 oil again hit an intra-day high of almost '$100 due to higher than expected decline in crude oil supplies.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Where Does BTM (Business Technology Management) Fit?

Business Technology Management (BTM) is a management science that seeks to unite business and technology decision-making at every level in an organization. BTM delivers a set of guiding principles, known as BTM Capabilities. These capabilities are combined to form BTM solutions, around which a company's practices can be organized and improved. BTM also defines the expected characteristics of an organization according to five levels of a maturity model.
Most companies employ a number of methodologies and techniques to improve business and technology alignment. While many of these methods have acknowledged strengths, they typically represent piecemeal solutions. Disparate islands of practice exist within the technology management domain, particularly in the areas of operations and infrastructure. These range from the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) and Balanced Scorecard to the Software Engineering Institute’s Capability Maturity Model (CMM). However, none of these approaches focuses on integrating and enabling the capabilities necessary to achieve strategic business technology management and the sustainable value that follows. The danger of relying solely on “downstream” technology management methodologies is that by the time alignment problems become apparent they may be irreversible. Furthermore, when methodologies are borrowed from the business domain, there are often deficiencies with respect to focus, goals/objectives and adaptability. For example, Balanced Scorecard is a performance measurement methodology originally designed for the HR function, and Six Sigma is a quality improvement methodology first applied to the manufacturing function. These methodologies are often applied to technology operations with varying degrees of success, but they may not be comprehensive enough to address the unique needs of business-technology integration.
BTM addresses this challenge by providing a set of guiding principles around which a company’s practices can be organized and improved. It harmonizes and integrates and elevates previously isolated tools and standards for “IT” management to deliver a seamless strategic management approach that begins with the concerns of Board and CEO and connects that all the way through business technology investment and implementation.
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Friday, January 4, 2008

Purchasing Power Parity

The purchasing power parity (PPP) theory uses the long-term equilibrium exchange rate of two currencies to equalize their purchasing power. Developed by Gustav Cassel in 1920, it is based on the law of one price: the idea that, in an efficient market, identical goods must have only one price. A purchasing power parity exchange rate equalizes the purchasing power of different currencies in their home countries for a given basket of goods. It is often used to compare the standards of living between countries, rather than a per-capita gross domestic products comparison at market exchange rates. Market exchange rates tend to fluctuate much more wildly than PPP exchange rates. Aside from this volatility, consistent deviations of the market and PPP exchange rates are observed.

The PPP exchange-rate calculation is controversial because of the difficulties of finding comparable baskets of goods to compare purchasing power across countries. Estimation of purchasing power parity is complicated by the fact that countries do not simply differ in a uniform price level; rather, the difference in food prices may be greater than the difference in housing prices, while also less than the difference in entertainment prices. People in different countries typically consume different baskets of goods. It is necessary to compare the cost of baskets of goods and services using a price index. This is a difficult task because purchasing patterns and even the goods available to purchase differ across countries. Thus, it is necessary to make adjustments for differences in the quality of goods and services. Additional statistical difficulties arise with multilateral comparisons when (as is usually the case) more than two countries are to be compared.

When PPP comparisons are to be made over some interval of time, proper account needs to be made of inflationary effects. Using market exchange rates to compare countries' standard of living or per capita Gross Domestic Product can give a very misleading picture. The exchange rate only reflects traded goods in contrast to non-traded ones. Also, currencies are traded for purposes other than trade in goods and services, e.g., to buy capital assets whose prices vary more than those of physical goods. Also, different interest rates, speculation, hedging or interventions by central banks can influence the foreign-exchange market.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Membership And Qualifications For US House Of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress; the other is the Senate. Each state receives representation in the House proportional to its population but is entitled to at least one representative; the most populous state, California, currently has 53 representatives. Public Law 62-5 of 1911 currently fixes the total number of representatives at 435, though Congress has the authority to change that number. Each representative serves for a two-year term. The presiding officer of the House is known as the Speaker, and is elected by the members. The present House delegations by state are shown in the article List of U.S. states by population.

Under Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of population, as determined by the census conducted every ten years. Each state, however, is entitled to at least one Representative.


The only constitutional rule relating to the size of the House says "The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand." As the population of the
United States increased, Congress regularly increased the size of the House after the census to account for growth; but the limit became obsolete when Congress fixed the size of the House at 435 seats in 1911. The figure was temporarily increased to 437 in 1959 to reflect the admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states (seating 1 representative from each of those states without changing existing apportionment), and returned to 435 four years later, after the reapportionment consequent to the 1960 census, prior to the 1962 election).

The Constitution does not provide for the representation of the
District of Columbia or of territories. However, Congress has passed legislation permitting them to elect non-voting delegates or Resident Commissioners. One delegate each represents the District of Columbia and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico elects a Resident Commissioner, who holds the only office in the House with a four-year term; other than the longer term, the Resident Commissioner's role is identical to the delegates from the other territories. The Northern Mariana Islands do not currently elect any sort of representative to Congress, although former Rep. Richard Pombo of California that would have allowed them to do so introduced legislation. Delegates and Resident Commissioners are permitted to participate in debates and vote in committees. On 24 January 2007, the House changed its internal rules (by passing H. Res. 78 to permit the non-voting delegates and Resident Commissioner to vote in the Committee of the Whole when their votes would not be decisive.

On 19 April 2007, the House of Representatives passed HR 1905, the DC House Voting Rights Act of 2007, a bill "to provide for the treatment of the District of Columbia as a Congressional district for purposes of representation in the House of Representatives, and for other purposes" by a vote of 241 - 177. That bill proposes to increase the House membership by two, making 437 members, by converting the District of Columbia delegate into a member, and (until the 2010 census) grant one membership to Utah, which is the state next in line to receive an additional district based on its population after the 2000 Census. The bill is under consideration in the U.S. Senate during the 2007 session.