Intriguing Topic

Production Drops Causing Loss of Profit in Canadian Oil Sands

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 May 2012 06:54:00 +0000

According to the Financial Post, I found this to be an interesting article and maybe you will too. If so, please feel free to leave your comments. Thank you.

Canadian Oil Sands profit hit as production drops

Quarterly profit at Canadian Oil Sands Ltd., owner of the biggest stake in the Syncrude Canada Ltd. Oil sands joint venture, fell slightly as production dropped due to unplanned maintenance on a major processing unit, the company said on Monday.

The company, which owns 37% of Syncrude, reduced its production target for the year, blaming the outage of the coker unit, but raised its dividend by 17% to 35¢ a share, saying business fundamentals are strong. Canadian Oil Sands earned $321-million, or 66¢ a share, in the first quarter, down from year-earlier $324 million (67¢).

The results beat an average estimate among analysts of 54¢ a share, according to Thomson Reuters.
Cash flow, a glimpse into the company’s ability to fund development, was $454-million, or 94¢ a share, down 5% from $478-million (99¢).

During the quarter, Syncrude was plagued by the latest in a series of unplanned outages at its upgrading plant, which turns extra-heavy crude from the northern Alberta oil sands into refinery-ready oil.

The coker unit, called 8-1, was down for a month of repairs following what was termed as a minor fire.

That cut production in March, prompting the Syncrude partners to push back planned maintenance on another coker.

Canadian Oil Sands stated 8-1 restarted at full rates in April.

The company’s average sales price was $97.07 a barrel in the quarter, compared with $93.04 in the first quarter of 2011.

Sales volumes net to the company averaged.....read more at the original source: Financial Post.

Roundup Invention

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:27:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered who invented Roundup, the herbicide glyphosate?
I'm mind blown after finding out what I have about this intriguing topic.
Here's a write up on it which is quite intriguing.

The Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) is a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. It is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed in the Roundup brand of herbicides, and in other brands. Monsanto is also the leading producer of genetically engineered (GE) seed; it provides the technology in 90% of the genetically engineered seeds used in the US market.^[2] It is headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri.^[3]
Agracetus, owned by Monsanto, exclusively produces Roundup Ready soybean seed for the commercial market. In 2005, it finalized the purchase of Seminis Inc, making it the world's largest conventional seed company.
Monsanto's development and marketing of genetically engineered seed and bovine growth hormone, as well as its aggressive litigation, political lobbying practices, seed commercialization practices and "strong-arming" of the seed industry^[4] have made the company controversial around the world and a primary target of the alter-globalization movement and environmental activists. In 2009 Monsanto came under scrutiny from the U.S. Justice Department, investigating whether its activities in the soybean markets were breaking anti-trust rules.^[4]^[5]

Read more on the invention and everything about Roundup on Invention That Modify Everything.

Top Lies In The World

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:48:00 +0000

Top Lies in The World is absolutely mind bending. I have been slapping my head over it since my brother brought it to my attention. See for yourself and please comment about what you think.

I'm sure there's many more than just these top 20 lies in the world... but this is a beginning.... which will take lifetimes to figure out for many.

Anodyne Medical Therapy

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 10 May 2010 01:36:00 +0000

An interesting read. Developing new trend - Anodyne Medical Therapy.

Nurturing the mind/body connection
with new tools for relief of pain and anxiety
in emergencies and during medical and dental procedures.

Anodyne Awareness is a concise set of language and rapport techniques used by medical and dental professionals. As a new component of their practice, physicians, nurses, dentists, dental assistants and other health care professionals use Anodyne techniques to help patients very quickly relax and relieve pain and anxiety, regardless of the circumstances.
The specific Anodyne techniques have been refined through clinical use with hundreds of patients undergoing a wide variety of medical and dental procedures, and are successful with virtually every patient.
Because Anodyne is conversational and fluid, it accompanies any procedure without requiring extra time. In fact, Anodyne patients' greater ability to relax and cooperate saves time and enhances procedural efficiency.
The specific techniques of Anodyne Awareness are drawn from the fields of hypnosis, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), intuitive awareness, guided imagery, and conscious breathing. Anodyne is grounded in clinical experience of what works quickly and effectively in the acute, time-conscious domain of modern medical and dental practice.
Anodyne is useful in any procedure where patient comfort is an issue and serves especially well as a complementary alternative to pharmacological conscious sedation for relief of pain and anxiety. Anodyne is also used to quickly control physiological processes such as blood pressure, heart rate, bleeding, peristalsis, and rapid metabolizing of chemical anesthesia. Because it is fluid and conversational, the Anodyne interaction takes no additional time and most often saves time.
Although Anodyne is technique-based, it is not a modality or form of therapy. Rather, it is a new way of bringing higher awareness and mindfulness to every patient interaction. Medical professionals also trained as Anodyne practitioners have many more choices for successfully interacting with patients. Patients feel empowered as they learn relaxation tools they can use anytime.

How Anodyne Works

While interviewing the patient or preparing them for a procedure, the practitioner internally accesses Anodyne Awareness and uses instant rapport techniques and special language patterns to help the patient relax.
If the patient is experiencing anxiety or pain, the practitioner uses Anodyne imagery, relaxation, breathing or pain control techniques to quickly relieve the patient's discomfort.
With the introduction of a potentially painful stimulus such as an injection, tube placement or catheter, the practitioner helps the patient shifts their awareness to competing sensations (e.g. warmth, coolness or fullness). Patients remain conscious and cooperative, responding to the staff when necessary.

Can we Convict an anodyne with passion?

Benefits of Anodyne

Improves procedural safety
Reduces or eliminates the need for medication, recovery time, and associated costs
Decreases procedure time
Decreases recovery time
Mitigates or eliminates patients' fears and anxieties
Greatly enhances patients' cooperation
Enables physician or other team leader to more fully focus on managing the procedure
Fosters in patients a sense of self-empowerment, satisfaction and well being
Improves staff morale and enthusiasm
Promotes a more relaxed and efficient working environment
Provides a stress management tool for clinical staff

Monkeys Brains And Probabilistic Reasoning

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 07:45:00 +0000

A new study in monkeys has identified which part of the brain is likely responsible for probabilistic reasoning, work that may shed light on how humans weigh their options when making a decision.

Probabilistic reasoning is the process of reaching a decision based on incomplete information, where the choice may not result in a desired outcome. Scientists at the University of Washington in Seattle trained two rhesus macaque monkeys to choose which specific combinations of shapes on a computer monitor might result in a reward—in this case, juice.

The monkeys made their choice by looking at either a red or green light. The researchers ran thousands of trials a
day, making it virtually impossible for the monkeys to memorize patterns, says lead researcher Michael Shadlen.

During the experiment,
published online June 3 in Nature, Shadlen and colleagues recorded the activity of 64 neurons in the lateral intraparietal area of the brain, a region involved in vision and attention. The firing rate of the neurons corresponded to the probability that a specific shape combination would likely yield a reward.

Watching neurons in action allows scientists to better understand the biological underpinnings of cognition,
Shadlen says. “The next step is to understand how the brain knows that it’s finished deciding,” he adds.

I found this post to be quite interesting. Source: http://www.dana.org/news/brainwork/detail.aspx?id=8664

Aquatic Lifeforms - Rare Catches

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:19:00 +0000

Mantis Shrimp - This highly intelligent hunter with claws can lash out at prey with the force of a gunshot. Larger varieties have been known to shatter glass or sever human fingers. Most are either "spearers" (with sharp, mantidlike claws) or "smashers" (with blunt, clublike claws for cracking hard-shelled prey). Rare among invertebrates are the monogamous mating habits that several species demonstrate. Mated pairs share a burrow, and the male hunts for both his mate and young.

Lumpfish - The longest lumpfish so far recorded from the American coast measured 23 inches, and weighed 13 1/4 pounds; the heaviest weighed 20 pounds but measured only 21 1/2 inches (both from Orient, N. Y.), and the proportion of weight to length varies similarly in smaller fish.

Humpback Anglerfish - This black seadevil, of the size of a tennis ball, is one of the weirdest fish in the world. Female humpback anglers have an enormous head dominated by a cavernous mouth full of long slender teeth that can fold backwards when prey is being swallowed.

Source: http://mysterious-zone.blogspot.com/2009/05/27-aquatic-lifeforms-you-never-caught.html

Incredible Sidewalk Chalk Art

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:07:00 +0000

I'm completely baffled at these amazing works of art. This guy (Julian Beever) is absolutely incredible with sidewalk chalk. I can't imagine having such extreme talent. This sort of thing is totally intriguing to me. Absolutely awesome.

I got a lot of these pictures in e-mails and ended up looking for more. Here's where my search landed me. http://www.impactlab.com/2006/03/09/amazing-3d-sidewalk-art-photos/

Since 1908 Until Today

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 22:52:00 +0000

This is pretty intriguing (I find). Blows my mind to learn how far along we have come since 1908!

1908 FORD Model R

The year is 1908.
What a difference a century makes!
Here are some statistics for the Year 1908 :
*****************************************************

The average life expectancy was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles
Of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in 1908 was 22 cents per hour.

The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year .

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,
A dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births took place at HOME .

Ninety percent of all doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION!
Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which
Were condemned in the press AND the government as 'substandard. '

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used
Borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from
Entering into their country for any reason.

Five leading causes of death were:
1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars.

The population of Las Vegas , Nevada, was only 30!!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea
Hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 adults couldn't read or write.
Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, 'Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind,regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health'

Eighteen percent of households had at least
One full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE ! U..S.A. !

Now I forwarded this from someone else without typing
It myself, and sent it to you and others all over the world, in a matter of seconds!

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years.
IT STAGGERS THE MIND

Incredible Paper Art (Origami)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:41:00 +0000

I find it very intriguing that people can create such amazing art with a single sheet of paper. In particular, Origami.

Check out this amazing video of an Origami Koi being created. It's mind blowing.

By Artist: Sipho Mabona

Stand Up Roller Coaster

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:43:00 +0000

What a creative invention this roller coaster is. I never dreamed I'd see a stand up "skating roller coaster" that you could skate down on foot literally standing!

An adrenaline junkie has taken in-line skating to new heights and set a new world record after racing down a roller coaster at speeds of 56mph.

Dirk Auer decided to go where no sane man or woman had gone before and skated down an 860 metre track in just over a minute.

Wearing specially designed in-line skates, the German made the attempt on the Mammoth roller coaster at the Trips Drill theme park in Stuttgart.

Check out the full story at: www.dailymail.co.uk

Intriguing Things To Ponder - From The Year 1908

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:44:00 +0000

1908 FORD Model R

This will probably boggle your mind, I know it did mine!
The year is 1908.
What a difference a century makes!
Here are some statistics for the Year 1908 :
*****************************************************

1908 Ford Model

How To Prevent Altitude Sickness

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:42:00 +0000

When you climb a mountain, the air pressure will decrease, which can result in altitude sickness. First a headache will develop, which will likely worsen the longer you're exposed, but in cases can also cause death. To avoid this, walk back down the mountain and be sure to stop at intervals to allow your body to adapt to normal air pressure. Pressure and our human body's capability to adapt is amazing, but remember to take these steps to avoid altitude sickness.

Rebuilding The Human Body With Technology When It Fails

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:22:00 +0000

Our human bodies are amazing, as is the technology there is that enables us to make use of what body parts we do not have; that we would otherwise have in common with most humans. For instance, take Oxcar Pistorius; an amazing athlete who's manage to compete in able-bodied track and field competitions after trying out his incredible prosthetic legs called Ossur Cheetah Flex-Feet (AKA: "Blade Runner").

Even though Flex-Feet are used by several Paralympics, Oscar's the only double amputee to have ever participated in able-bodied track and field competitions. This caused a debate among other competitors as to whether or not Flex-Feet are actually better than using original flesh and blood human feet to run with.

Flex--Feet enables Oscar to run stride--for-stride with able-bodied sprinters. Does this mean he's got an unfair advantage? Let's see.

When the Flex-Foot hits the track, its J-shaped curve is like a spring, it compresses and stores potential energy and returns to its original shape and releases its stored energy like being pushed forward when the athlete moves forward.

Whether or not Flex-Feet grant an advantage over conventional limbs, is hard to say. Positively, though, the prosthetic allows the athlete to run using approximately 25 percent less energy. However, the spring effect of the Flex-Feet, which return 90 percent of the energy put into them, is much weaker than the push of real feet.

The Flex-Foot is made from lightweight material, carbon fiber, which has superior strength, flexability, durability.

Athletes can train longer with less impact on the knees, hips and lower back; which is also what the Flex-Foot offers by acting like a a shock absorber! Very Cool.

A Guy who Tought Himself Several Languages

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:12:00 +0000

This is really an intriguing topic. It came from this article on newscientist.com.

WHAT day of the week was 5 June 1963? Chances are you can't say without looking it up, but a calendar savant could name it in an instant.

It's just one of a multitude of uncanny abilities demonstrated by savants, who are often, but not always, autistic. Kim Peek, who inspired the 1988 film Rain Man (see picture), has memorised over 8600 books, can name all the US telephone area codes and city ZIP codes and can describe how to get from one city to any other in the US. Stephen Wiltshire, an architectural artist, can draw an entire landscape after seeing it just once and Derek Paravicini can play any piece of music after the first hearing.

Some have speculated that such savants are born with innate, uncanny abilities. Others claim that they are "made", through a combination of memory and dedicated practice. Now an 18-year-old girl with autism, who has been described as a "proto-savant", is allowing one of these theories to be tested.

The girl, from Connecticut, stands out because although she showed calendar savant ability early on in life, her mother discouraged her from practising, so she never fully honed her skills. Savant-researcher Marc Thioux at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands says that the girl, known as AVK, will enable him to study savant abilities quite literally "in the making".

Thioux, a proponent of the "made" theory, previously hypothesised that calendar-savant ability arises through memorising a large number of dates and applying certain rules to them, such as the fact that any two years 28 years apart will almost always have the same calendar. The rules allow the memorised dates to be transposed to any year, allowing any date to be calculated rapidly.

It was very difficult to test this theory, though, as a "full blown" savant who has learned these dates and rules would be indistinguishable from one with innate ability. What Thioux needed was someone who had learned some, but not all of the techniques, a kind of missing link.

He gave AVK a series of dates on a computer screen and asked her to name the corresponding day of the week, recording how long it took her to respond and any errors she made. He also asked her a series of questions designed to test her knowledge of calendrical rules.
He found that ... full article

How to Get Kids to Eat Their Veggies

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:05:00 +0000

Found a good way to get kids to eat their veggies. By showing kids how good their veggies look before attempting to eat them is a sure way to get them to nibble at least with these creative creations. Extremely creative art put all into making vegetables appear yummy.

Here are a a few pictures, and there are more right here if you want to see them all. They look very pleasing to me to eat... very clever as well.

Miracles Caught on Camera

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:23:00 +0000

Mind blowing pictures of miracles caught on camera. These raise hair all over my body whenever I look at them. Read more

Interested in the 10 Top Unsolved Mysteries of the World Are?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:40:00 +0000

The 10 top unsolved mysteries of the world today include:

1. Taos Hum - Read more
2. Bigfoot - Read more
3. Intuition - Read more
4. Mysterious Disappearances - How is it possible that people and other things vanish without a single trace? Read more
5. Ghosts - almost everyone has had some sort of ghostly encounter. Here are several to read about. Read more
6. Deja vu - I've had a lot of deja vu growing up and always wondered how it really happened to me and wished I knew how to understand it better or somehow utilize any future deja vu. It seems to have tapered off over the years, but still am fascinated on the power of it. Thought this was a good site to read more
7. UFOs - Ever wonder if UFO's are real? They claim there's evidence and lots of it. But why are they trying to cover it up? Would it cause world riots if the evidence got reached the public? Hmm... touchy, yet very interesting topic. Read more
8. Near Death Experiences/Life After Death - It's a question we all can't get away from thinking about; is there life after death? What is it like and how will we look? There's been reports of people who claim to have died and came back to life and remembered exactly what happened during their flat-lined moments. It's incredible. I read an article about a guy who was able to point out photographs of family members who he never met in his life after being deceased momentarily. He met them all on "the other side" and was able to pick them each out in their photos. It's amazing. This is an awesome site for more information on this interesting topic. Read more
9. ESP and Psychic Powers - We can barely deny the power of ESP and Psychic powers after we have heard and seen so many cases where it's proven to be real. We can't see it but it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. Here's a site where you could test your ESP and Psychic abilities. Or here's some more great content on ESP, etc.
10. The Connection between the Mind and the Body - Do you believe that only you yourself and your own experiences are real, and that nothing else, a physical object or some other person, is more than a figment of your imagination or consciousness? If you can know the answer to that, than you can know how to connect your body and mind. Read more

Real Monkey Cloned

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:01:00 +0000

How much do you enjoy reading about scientific breakthroughs? I'm totally fascinated by that sort of thing. I found an article about cloning a monkey and wanted to share it. Read whole article here.

Amazing Homes - Look at the Structures on These

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:51:00 +0000

I've never seen such incredible homes as these. Couldn't even imagine these would be possible to build!

Webcams of Interest

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 01:46:00 +0000

Most interesting webcams (2007) can be viewed at http://earthcam.com/top25/2007. This is pretty cool. You'll see they selected from 1000's of nominees of VIP judges by panel as well as EarthCam producers. Totally unique.

My Favorite Psychic And Spiritual Teacher, Sylvia Browne

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:42:00 +0000

Sylvia Browne is the most amazing psychic and spiritual teacher in the world! I am very skeptical of psychics and mediums, etc. but, Sylvia has proven herself to be of ultimate incredible truth and accuracy.

I've purchased most of Sylvia Browne's books, and I got to even go and see her live in concert here in Calgary, Alberta. She was stunning in person, but I felt like I didn't get to see enough of her. I really wanted to secure the opportunity to ask her a question, but it wasn't meant to be for me I guess.

It's funny because I even had a dream that I met Sylvia and I remember flash backs of us flying together on an airplane or something shortly before she came to Calgary.

Well, maybe some day, there will be a way to finally meet her in person, but if not, I will still cherish her and all that she's taught others about the "other side". She's been an inspiration.

There's an 8 years waiting period to secure a reading by Sylvia, but her son, Chris Dufresne is also doing readings along her side.

Totally Cool Dialect Conversion Tool

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:33:00 +0000

Wow, this is really cool. You need to check it out, it's a conversion of my website into "dumb" dialect. LOL

Visual Phenomena and Optical Illusions To Tickle Your Mind

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:09:00 +0000

Ever since I could remember, I loved to see optical illusions and other visual phenomena. It's just amazing how individuals can even create such illusions. Goes to show just how incredibly intelligent our minds really are.

There's tons of cool illusions you could see here, I know you will be wowed while these illusions stimulate your brain. Enjoy.

Challenge Your Mind

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:59:00 +0000

For those of you who enjoy brain teasers, mind bogglers and brain benders, here's a place to put your senses and smarts to the test. (That's of course, "if" you're up for the challenge)

Some Amazing Things to Check Out

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:51:00 +0000

Talk about really super cool. If you're into electric cars and even electric planes, you have to check this out. You could also read up on spaceships and significant, amazing hand crafted sandcastles and solar powered air planes. These sorts of things are so fascinating.