INFORMATION QUEST

Shedding body fat with minimum muscle loss: a better goal

2011-05-02T20:00:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaShedding body fat with minimum muscle loss: a better goal: "Shedding body fat with minimum muscle loss: a better goal"

Losing weight can actually be a bad thing, especially if you are doing it at the expense of lean tissue like muscle.

Your body’s total weight: includes body fat; lean tissue like muscle; your internal organs like the heart, lungs, and liver; the food and liquid currently passing through your digestive tract; water retained by body tissue; and skeletal material like bones and their connective tissue. In a healthy female of average weight, bones make up 12 percent of total body weight, muscle/lean tissue about 35 percent and body fat about 27 percent. The remaining body weight is skin, connective tissue, tendons, blood, organs and so forth. For health, a good percentage of body fat is around 15 to 20% for females. It's been determined a healthy body fat percentage between 17% - 24% for women is normal.

ncreasing your ratio of muscle to fat can make you look more in-shape, even though the scale may say you are heavier, as both vary in appearance. Muscle makes you appear leaner, while fat just makes you look fat. Extreme calorie restriction can leave you with little muscle mass, which translates into a flat, boney appearance.

Women often complain gain in weight with increase in age irrespective of a consistent dietary intake. The reason here is, as we age there is a natural tendency to lose muscle and we also are less vigorous in our physical activity, which results in further muscle loss. This loss of muscle tissue results in a decreasing metabolic rate. Lose 5 pounds of muscle and your calories burned per 24 hours decreases by about 250 calories. While this may not sound like much, it adds up. If you continue to eat like you did when you were younger, you will gain a pound of fat in about 14 days. Over a 20 week period you will gain 10 pounds. The key to getting rid of accumulated body fat is to get back your youthful metabolism by getting back your muscle. With a proper exercise stimulus that dormant muscle can be reclaimed.

10 cool add-ins for Office 2007 and 2010 | TechRepublic

2011-05-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia10 cool add-ins for Office 2007 and 2010 | TechRepublic: "10 cool add-ins for Office 2007 and 2010"

1: Everything

Although Office 2007 and 2010 have improved search capabilities, you still might want to take a look at Everything, by VoidTools.

2: E-mail Follow-up

E-mail Follow-up goes a step further. It lets you set a response time when you create the email; if the recipient hasn’t responded by the allotted response time, this nifty little add-in reminds you that you’re still waiting on a response.

3: More Add-in

More Add-in lets you quickly and easily hide Word text by creating collapsible sections. Anyone who creates long documents comprising the same blocks of text will find this add-in useful.

4: FreeFileViewer

FreeFileViewer lets you view a number of formats so you need only one viewer. Using FreeFileViewer, you can read a PDF, a Word document, an Excel spreadsheet, and more. You can even play music files.

5: ASAP Utilities

This Excel add-in is probably one of the most popular — and it has endured. ASAP Utilities is the turn-to application for both frequent and infrequent users

6: Proposal Pack Wizard

Using merge technology, Proposal Pack Wizard lets you quickly assemble documents. It comes with more than 800 templates and 1,300 pages of sample text.

7: VisualBee

VisualBee is a bit different. It lets you enhance an existing presentation. When you run VisualBee, it analyses the presentation’s text and structure and tries to improve what you’ve done on your own. It doesn’t get everything right, but it’ll generate a few keepers — and you can easily discard what you don’t like. The bank of images alone is worth the download.

8: iSpring Pro

iSpring Pro converts a PowerPoint presentation into an online Flash presentation (.swf files). For the most part, it converts everything in a presentation: animation, transitions, videos, audio, the works.

9: Pop-up Excel Calendar

Pop-up Excel Calendar lets you insert and configure a datepicker control without writing code. Simply click the Pop-up Calendar tab, which is added to the Ribbon, insert the calendar, check a few settings, and you’re done.

10: Fuzzy Duplicate Finder for Microsoft Excel

I’m often asked for easy ways to clean up Excel data, and I’ve finally found something I can recommend. Fuzzy Duplicate Finder works with Excel versions 2000 through 2007. It helps you find all those fuzzy duplicates — those mistakes that don’t always show up as mistakes.

Teen Boys Sent To Masculinity Camp In Malaysia

2011-04-26T13:23:00.001-07:00

“Malaysian authorities have sent 66 Muslim schoolboys identified by teachers as effeminate to a four-day camp where they will receive counseling on masculine behavior to discourage them from being gay, an official said Tuesday.

Gay rights advocates decried the measure as a symptom of widespread homophobia in this Muslim-majority country where gay sex is illegal.

The boys between 13 and 17 years old reported Monday for what is officially being called a "self-development course" after their schoolteachers in Terengganu state identified them as students who displayed effeminate mannerisms, said Razali Daud, the state's education director.

They will undergo religious and motivational classes and physical guidance, Razali said. He declined to give further details.

The camp is meant "to guide them back to the right path in life before they reach a point of no return," Razali told The Associated Press. "Such effeminate behavior is unnatural and will affect their studies and their future."

It is the first such program in Terengganu, a conservative state. Over the years, Terengganu's officials have held programs aimed at promoting Muslim morality, such as offering free honeymoons to save the marriages of couples considering divorce.”

Source

Well Chosen Keywords For Resume

2011-04-22T07:28:00.000-07:00

Keywords are specific words or phrases used to describe an applicant’s skills or experience. They are often specific buzz-words that are used in a particular industry. Most companies use applicant tracking software, which scans resumes for keywords relating to experience, job titles, skills, training, and degrees. Resumes WILL NOT show up in a search unless they contain the exact words or phrases that the employer is searching for. Most Fortune 1000 companies and many smaller companies now use these technologies.

How to Use Resume Keywords

Identify resume keywords. You can find buzz words that appear in job postings from newspapers, job boards, trade publications and employment ads with similar job description. Visit the web sites of professional associations in your field to look for current keywords. Talk to recruiters and human resources professionals. They are looking for resumes that match the key words contained in the job description and most likely the person who posted the job online is the one reviewing resumes for the position.
Add your keywords to the resume. Use your keywords and phrases throughout your resume to stand out in a database search for someone with your experience, skills, background, certifications, location and accomplishments. Focus on such areas as: skills, responsibilities, achievements, degrees, certifications, job-specific phrases, products and services. List your key words near the top so they would be quickly reviewed when looking for a match. Recruiters need to see those key words in first few seconds or you’ll be eliminated from consideration.
Use keywords in your cover letters too. Some employers include them in resume databases.
Keep updating your resume on a regular basis with new keywords. Looking at employment ads will help you get new ideas on what keywords you can add to get your resume even more attention.

Resume Key Words To Avoid:

The words like supported, contributed, and assisted are not very effective. They say that you helped, but do not say how. If you decided to use them follow these words with a more complete description of your role.
Successfully is another key word you should avoid in your resume. It is better to give a specific example of your accomplishments that prove your success at your past jobs.
Responsible for is another unnecessary phrase. It will look much better if you list your accomplishments rather than enumerate your responsibilities.

Few popular keywords:

Achievement keywords: achieved, completed, increased, improved, accomplished, performed, expanded;
Problem solving keywords: reduced, corrected, evaluated, utilized, simplified, analyzed, investigated;
Leadership keywords: developed, managed, inspired, organized, guided, directed, revitalized;
Initiative keywords: designed, launched, created, established, initiated, started, formulated;
Some popular phrases: oral and written communications, strategic planning, project management, performance and productivity improvement, business development, product positioning, team-building.
Resume keywords take an average resume and turn it into a power-packed marketing piece that cannot be ignored.

Syntax Highlighter

2011-04-21T19:43:00.000-07:00

Image by ZedZaP Syntax Highlighter by Alex Gorbatchev’s

Code in between the source code tags will automatically be encoded for display, you don’t need to worry about HTML entities or anything.

Configuration Parameters

The shortcodes also accept a variety of configuration parameters that you may use to customize the output. All are completely optional.

autolinks (true/false) — Makes all URLs in your posted code clickable. Defaults to true.
collapse (true/false) — If true, the code box will be collapsed when the page loads, requiring the visitor to click to expand it. Good for large code posts. Defaults to false.
firstline (number) — Use this to change what number the line numbering starts at. It defaults to 1.
gutter (true/false) — If false, the line numbering on the left side will be hidden. Defaults to true.
highlight (comma-seperated list of numbers) — You can list the line numbers you want to be highlighted. For example “4,7,19″.
htmlscript (true/false) — If true, any HTML/XML in your code will be highlighted. This is useful when you are mixing code into HTML, such as PHP inside of HTML. Defaults to false and will only work with certain code languages.
light (true/false) — If true, the gutter (line numbering) and toolbar (see below) will be hidden. This is helpful when posting only one or two lines of code. Defaults to false.
padlinenumbers (true/false/integer) — Allows you to control the line number padding. true will result in automatic padding, false will result in no padding, and entering a number will force a specific amount of padding.
toolbar (true/false) — If false, the toolbar containing the helpful buttons that appears when you hover over the code will not be shown. Defaults to true.
wraplines (true/false) — If true, line line wrapping will be disabled. This will cause a horizontal scrollbar to appear for long lines of code.

Here’s some examples of the above parameters in action:

[sourcecode language="sql"]
SQL> shutdown abort
ORA-01031: insufficient privileges
[/sourcecode]

OUTPUT:


1 SQL> shutdown abort

2 ORA-01031: insufficient privileges

Below code would start the line number from 10 and highligh line number 14 and 15

[sourcecode language="sql" firstline=10 highlight = 14,15]
C:\Users\ACE>sqlplusSQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Sat Mar 5 19:52:01 2011
Enter user-name: sys as sysdba
Enter password:
Connected.
SQL>  shutdown immediate
ORA-24324: service handle not initialized
ORA-24323:  value not allowed
ORA-01090: shutdown in progress - connection is not  permitted
[/sourcecode]

OUTPUT:

10C:\Users\ACE>sqlplus

11SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.1.0 Production on Sat Mar 5 19:52:01 2011

1213

14Enter user-name: sys as sysdba

15Enter password:

16Connected.

17SQL>  shutdown immediate

18ORA-24324: service handle not initialized

19ORA-24323:  value not allowed

20ORA-01090: shutdown in progress - connection is not  permitted

http://en.support.wordpress.com/code/posting-source-code/

New Scientific Research Looks at Why Humans Forget Stuff - PCWorld

2011-04-19T16:28:00.000-07:00

New Scientific Research Looks at Why Humans Forget Stuff - PCWorld

The next time you're told some important information, you might want to write it down. Or at least, that’s what German scientists would advise. Researchers from University of Göttingen and the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience have found that human brains actually forget information at a "surprisingly high" rate.

How high? Try one-bit-per-active-neuron-per-second high.

Looking at the processes of neurons in the brain, the scientists discovered that processes in thecerebral cortex are extremely chaotic, particularly when information enters the brain (known as a spike). Scientists originally believed that these spikes cause the electrically charged neurons to become active. (Neurons all work together to get the information from one neuron to another.)

Now, researchers have reason to believe an additional electric force acts on the cell membrane to make the neuron active. Thanks to this discovery, scientists could then answer the question of how long it takes for a human brain to forget things. Moreover, they may have to take a fresh look at how the cerebral cortex works.

So, as head of the research Fred Wolf points out, this means we can forget information just as quickly as we can gain it. So don’t feel too hard on yourself next time you forget to pick up the milk--blame your brain neurons.

Source

It’s official: Asia’s just run out of IPv4 Addresses | ZDNet

2011-04-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

It’s official: Asia’s just run out of IPv4 Addresses | ZDNet:

"It’s official: Asia’s just run out of IPv4 Addresses"

Rent camera, rent laptop, camera rental, laptop rental, electronics

2011-04-17T13:44:00.000-07:00

Rent camera, rent laptop, camera rental, laptop rental, electronics

Zilok Rental company

SAS Business Analytic Software

2010-07-09T21:58:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Using the data to make confident, fact-based decisions to increase revenue by 66%.

This is the latest mantra by SAS to the corporate world.

SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services. SAS is delivering solutions with improved performance since 1976. It has operations in more than 100 countries , including bulk of the top 100 companies on the 2009 Fortune Global 500 list. It deals with the greates asset of any company: data. Transforms , cleanse and make data about customers, performance in such an easy accessible format that it becomes the most valueable information and predictive insight for quality, profitable decisions.

SAS claims to be the Business Intelligence market leader whereas it competes with giants like Oracle, Cognos(recently acquired by IBM), SAP but its clearly a leader in Data Mining without any doubt.

SAS has its operations in Islamabad, Pakistan too and this shows that it leaves no oppurtunity unexplored.

Technorati Tags: Business Intelligence,Business Analytics,SAS,Analytics,Data Mining

American Revolution Silver Dollars Coins of Founding Fathers

2010-07-09T12:09:00.001-07:00

Coin collection is an old hobby and it still persists even in the modern era of Computers and Internet. I remember a recent movie “” which starts with the scene where hero is badly wounded and the first thought before going black out was about coins, his father was a coin collector.

In USA, particularly, people love to collect coins of all sorts. At least this is the impression i get from innumerable ads in magazines and on electronic media. Few coins just have some historical significance or connection to culture or main event, others do have their own value especially silver and gold coins.

In a single magazine, i found three full page ads of coins. One was claiming an act of Congress to protect America’s national treasures for future generations by issuing “America the Beautiful” quarter coin series five times a year at a very price of $15 along with some US historic stamps, color photography of national treasure with narrative.

The second ad was more interesting as it involves Silver dollar coins, each of 27 grams silver issued around 1783, the year America won the freedom. Although i seriously doubt that these silver coins were actually used by the founding fathers of America, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin but Silver has its own intrinsic value so this can be a more secure bet with something to boast about historical collection.

2 coin set of 1783 Silver dollar at $149

Promising Discovery for Detection of Alzheimer

2010-07-04T22:18:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

Technorati Tags: Alzheimer's,Alzheimer,FDA,Food and drug administration,short term memory,memory,brain scan

On July 11, Dr Daniel Skovronsky is going to present his surprising discovery of finding a dye and brain scan that can show the plague in the brains of people carrying this disease.

This has been reported on the front page of The New York Times today and if confirmed and approved by the Food and Drug Administration then this start-up company might have overcome one of the biggest obstacles in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease.

The disease is named after a German scientist Alois Alzheimer who discovered in 1906. This disease is not painful in usual manner for the affected person but actually makes the life of diseased person pure misery. It affects the brain and gradually weakens the memory of the patient whose short term memory is affected severely and the patient forgets to remember about the whereabouts, recent activities like eating, washing, sleeping even walking if taking bed rest for several days.

So far, no vaccine has been effective to cure Alzheimer’s disease and it seems a long road ahead before it could be cured through therapy and really efficient vaccine.

Approximately, there are 26 million patients of Alzheimer’s and they are believed to reach horrifying figure of 100 million by the end of 2050.

Record Decline in Home Sales

2010-07-03T22:36:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: housing sales,home sales,recod decline in home sales,tax credit,great recession,great depression,subprime,MBS,CDO,mortgage,fannie mae,freddie mac

Image via Wikipedia

Technorati Tags: Wall Street,invest banks,Adjustable rate mortgage,credit rating agencies,subprime lending,mortgage loan

New Homes sales has fallen to the historical lowest level since the government reporting started the figures back in 1963. New York Times

The sales has dropped 33 percent being the lowest on record according to the commerice department. The federal tax credit has helped to help the soaring home sales for some time and now its getting worse as the federal tax credit expireson 30 April.

The current on going recession also called the Great recession after the Great Deprssion is mainly due to the bursting of American housing bubble back in 2007. The housing sector saw an increase of more than 124% over the period 1997-2006. The housing bubble resulted in inspiring and convincing homeowners to refinance their homes at lower interests rates or getting bigger credit lines for consumer spending due to price appreciation. We heard the terms “subprime” and adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) which mainly refer to second borrowers and adjusting the mortgage rate when the borrower finds it difficult to pay the monthly installments. Loans on easy intial terms encouraged and motivated many borrowers to mortgage houses that they can refinance at lower interest rates in future and would benefit with the rising prices of houses which proved wrong.

Mortgage based securities (MBS) and collateral debt obligations (CDO) , financial agreements increased phenomenally during the housing boom as it derives the value from mortgage loans. MBS and CDO were introduced by Investment banks on Wall Street and they were assigned safe ratings by credit rating agencies.

The roots of this crisis are mostly attriubuted to government sponsored entities Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac mainly responsible for subprime lending.

Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott

2010-07-03T11:20:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: hotel,restaurant,inn,suites,marriott,fairfield,five star hotel,free wi-fi,free breakfast,free coffee,free tea,hotel service,work friendly

Image via Wikipedia

Going through Bloomberg business week third week magainze, i came across an ad from FAIRFIELD Inn & Suites by Marriott. I know Marriott as a five star hotel chain all over the world, actually i worked very close to the only Marriott hotel in Islamabad. The level of service in Marriott is extremely good and they know how to provide excellent service with the blend of local culture, still remember the waitresses in black Sari(traditional body wrap cloth in South Asia).

Coming back to FairField Inn & Suites by Marriott, the catching phrase is interesting

Staying is believing

Free Wi-Fi is listed even before free breakfast which is really hard to find nowadays. Quite emphasis has been laid on high speed internet in room and lobby to work freely and obviously relax on internet. Work area with ergonomic desk and chair is also attractive to professionals staying for few days. Conference room alongwith Business center with printing capabilities is again quite attractive for working professionals.

Sound sleep in spacious and modern rooms equippred with large Cable TV with premium channels and stereo system(sound conscious and caring customers). Fitness center and swimming pool for relaxing. complimentary newspaper for customers who want to stay current with the current affairs.

Mini refrigerator,, microwave for suites only but free coffee,tea and breakfast for everybody. Seems a pretty good deal !!

Kindle, Nook hitting rock bottom prices

2010-06-24T22:05:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: iPad,Apple,Kindle,Android,iPhone,Kindle 2,Nook,Barnes and Noble,Amazon,Sony,Kobo,Borders,E Ink,Vizplex

Image via CrunchBase

With the arrival of iPad from Apple and book reading applications coming quickly on iPhone and Android phones, competition is getting neck-breaking among E-reader devices.

Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook have apparently seem to hit the rock bottom prices for their e-readers and margin of profit is very sleek for e-readers. Only Sony e-reader has not cut down the price among the bigger players whereas smaller companies like Kobo( Borders ereader at $149), iRex,Plastc Logic and others have to work very hard to compete with the big guns like Amazon and B&N even with drastic cut in prices for their respective e-readers.

The price war started with Barnes & Noble’s introduction of Wifi only Nook for just $149 and Wi-Fi/3G model at $199. Amazon was quick to follow the lead by dropping 3G Kindle 2 price to $189.

Kindle and Nook both uses Vizplex E Ink for crispy paper like display which is superior at daytime compared to its counter part brighter and sharper LCD display used in iPad and smartphones.

After some search and reviews from authetic sites, i believe the main reason behind this critical price cut is due to the launch and popularity of iPad from Apple which has passed the 3 MILLLION mark. Barnes and Noble has openly admitted that they have to cut the price because an all purpose device at $500 is hard to compete with only book reader device at $249.

Brazil during FIFA Worldcup 2010

2010-06-23T18:50:00.001-07:00

Image by han Soete via Flickr

Fifa Worldcup 2010 is gaining momentum so is the down time in Brazil, five time World Cup champion which is also the highest number any nation reached so far to grab FIFA World Cup. Stores, restaurants are closed on game days even churches are hard to find open on a game day.

Brazilian passion for Soccer is well know but it has its cost which is no small amount, well above $1 billion dollars. This cost is based on initial round and can be way higher if Brazil makes it to the final which is more likely.

TV and electronic retailers are making good money along with clubs and pubs who have set up large Plasmas and LCDs.

Mexico and Germany are expected to hit hard by the employee downtime , estimate of close to $2 billion due to the on going craze of FIFA according to Newsweek.

Brazil is going to host 2014 Fifa World cup and it is expected to have a very positive impact on Brazilian economy, creating millions of jobs and more than $300 million in revenu if tourists stay happy and content.

China Eyes Hollywood with “Empires of the Deep”

2010-06-22T12:23:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

A Chinese real estate magnate is all set to establish china as a global movie maker power house, one that can create big budget English language movies that can compete Hollywood films.

The movie is produced using 3-D technology cameras and is a hot pot of ancient Greek warriors, pirates,nder water kingdoms, a villain called the Demon Mage and mermaids that kill men during sex. The film stars most of the American actors but it is shot on the world’s largest studio , north of Beijing.

The budget is $100 million , the biggest ever for a chinese movie.

There are many restrictions on Hollywood movies in chines to safeguard Chinese film industry. No more than 10 movies can be shown each year in China although American Lobbyist are trying hard to increase this number from 10 to 25 as China can prove to be the biggest market for Hollywood movies.

Mulan, an animated movie based on Chinese legend did not prove successful in China though it was quite a success outside China. Chinese rejected the movie because the character Mulan was foreign looking, different complexion and behaviour from authentic Chinese legend.

Lotus Latern is another successful animated movie primarily in China and if China continues to produce these kind of movies, it can grab global share of market.

Tesla Motors (Electric Car) $185 Million Public Offering

2010-06-21T16:35:00.001-07:00

Image by TheNickster via Flickr

Tesla Motors, the makers of electric cars are hoping to raise $185 million through their first public offering.

Due to the limited and costly oil supply, fuel transportation costs, the environment issues(recent BP disaster), the sales of electric cars are rising every year and expected to grow steadily for another 5-6 years.

According to J.D. Power analysts, sales of electric cars are expected to reach nearly 1 million this year which is around twenty five percent increase as compared with the previous year. The total sales of electric cars can jump to 3 million by 2015.

Mostly, the cars are hybrid having both conventional fuel source and plugged in with the battery but the momentum for pure electric cars is building up and it is expected that pure electric cars would be manufactured in more quantity than hybrid cars.

Father’s Day

2010-06-16T12:22:00.001-07:00

Today, i receive an email from IncrediMail(a graphical colorful email client with lot of customization available) reminding me that Father’s deserve an extra special day.

This day is celebrated on the third sunday of June in more than 55 countires of the world and is quite similar to Mother’s day celebration. The history of the day according to Wikipedia goes like this

The first observance of Father's Day is believed to have been held on June 13, 1910 through the efforts of Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington. After listening to a church sermon at Spokane's Central Methodist Episcopal Church in 1909 about the newly recognized Mother's Day, Dodd felt strongly that fatherhood needed recognition, as well. She wanted a celebration that honored fathers like her own father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran who was left to raise his family alone when his wife died giving birth to their sixth child. Father’s Day on Wikipedia

The event is now widely used by the merchants to sell their products by playing with the parenthood sentiments. It seems that every famous celebration has more to do with marketing and commercialization than culture or sentiments.

The dates for this event varies throughout the world but mostly it is observed with the US date. Like Father’s day, there are following relation days observed with similar passion and traditions

Mother’s Day
Children’s Day
National Grandparents Day

Flawed Spill Reponse Plan of BP

2010-06-09T11:39:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

BP presented a seriously flawed spill response plan for Gulf in 2009 which even listed a national wildlife expert who died in 2005. BP used incompetant and screwed methods to calculate spill volume that produced a lot lower spill volume that the internationally accepted formula. There are grave and ridiculous mistakes in the data provided by BP in the plan. Many marine mammals listed in the plan does not exist and many that exist are not listed in the plan. Names and numbers of marine life specialists are incorrect along with marine mammal stranding network offices in Louisiana and Florida.

One of the companies website that BP relies on for equipment to clean a spill directs to a Japanese-language page. It seems that most of the plan is made up without real data on assumption that nothing would go wrong ever that has resulted in on-the-fly measures to deal with the spill issue. Computer projections of oil reaching coasts have proven way off and oil even reached locales that were characterized as safely out of danger in BP's plan.

State prisoners who are given training to wash birds have never been mentioned in the plan and although 100's of birds have been treated and washed , dozens have died and been covered in crude oil. Countless fish, hundreds of turtles and several dolphins have also died due to the oil spill.

BP has tried many methods to stop the spill including pumping mud and debris in the pipeline. Placing containment cap,first a smaller and then a larger cap to seal and trap the oil on surface where natural gas is burned and oil is shipped to the shore .

Its almost seven week since the oil spill and the total amount of oil lost is betwwen 23 and 51 million gallons , the largest oil spill in the history of the nation.

According to BrassTV, 10-20 years of seafood has been destroyed in the gulf of mexico.

$42 Billion Lost to Pirated PSP and DSGames

2010-06-07T21:30:00.001-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

According to the study by the Computer Entertainment Suppliers Association, nearly $42 billion worth of Sony PSP(Portable Play Station) and Nintendo DS games were illegally downloaded from internet. This does not include peer-to-peer sharing methods and pirated CDs in Asia especially China, India , Pakistan, Bangladesh which could put the numbers at a significantly higher value. America is number one with the most servers hosting piracy sites, with China at number 2.

This figure is quite close to the approximate loss in software industry in 2009. Italy tops the list of countries with Video Games Piracy Losses followed by China, Spain , South Korea, Russia, Mexico, Taiwan, Brazil, Sweden, India (losses more than 100 Million) and so on.

TorrentFreak reveals that in 2009,the PC version of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 was downloaded 4.1 million times from torrent sites. The Xbox 360 version of the game was downloaded more than 970,000 times.

The figures are related to portable games and Console based games are yet to be comprehensively analyzed

WALL-E Masterpiece from Pixar Studios

2010-06-06T20:15:00.001-07:00

Cover of Wall-E (Single-Disc Edition)

WALL-E, does not seem to be the name of a cute visionary robot who is the only working robot on a devastated, barren earth full of mechanical debris. With the history of so many super hit animated movies, Pixar was bound to deliver another master piece to maintain their high profile of producing great animated movies and they did it with shining colors.

WALL-E which stands for Waste Allocator Load Lifter – Earth Class, pretty long name for a cute small robot that abbreviates beautifully as WALL-E and really sounds charming from EVE, the female heroine robot( yes, she is the heroine in this movie). WALL-E is probably the first robot whose got a heart and a heart lover EVE.

The film starts with the scenes where WALL-E is cleaning up the trash and is the only working robot left on earth. The humans have left the unhabitable toxicated planet earth on a spaceship habitat AXIOM created by Buy N Large corporation( who also created WALL-E). WALL-E wakes up everyday with the orchestral bells of Macintosh(Pixar paid tribute to its old founder Steve Jobs) and performs his duty with an amazing human touch. He does not trash everything that comes his way rather builds a treasure of his own containing a plastic dinosaur, light bulb, small seedling saved in an old boot. He concludes his day watching old video tape of Hello Dolly which shows his taste for music and dance, another humanly characteristic.

His lonely life changes dramtically with the arrival of futuristic probe robot, EVE, who is sent by Axiom to scan earth for any signs of habitual life instantly wins WALL-E’s heart. EVE and WALL-E become friends gradually and their courtship is brilliantly done without dialogues and words, only with the help of beeps and chirps which is remarkable achievement of sound directors. To impress beautiful EVE who is as beautiful and sleek as iPhone(according to NY Times), WALL-E presents her the seedling in the boot. EVE stores the seedling inside her body,sends a return message to ship and goes into hibernation due to her automated system. WALL-E does not abide her status and does everything to bring her back to life even going on a date with her to reactivate it. WALL-E clings to the ship that takes EVE back to space.

On the Axiom, humans have become extremely obese and suffered great bone loss after living in microgravity and relying entirely on ship’s automated system. The ship is controlled less by captain and mostly by the autopilot, AUTO. Captain learns that if EVE has brought a plant from earth then they can travel back to Earth as it has become habitable again but the plant is missing when EVE is opened which results in her dispatch to repair ward. WALL-E mistakenly takes it for torture on EVE and accidently releases malfunctioning robots. EVE gets angry and discovers the missing plant while attempting to send WALL-E back to earth. WALL-E manages to escape with the plant and EVE gives him an electric KISS before a overjoyed spacewalk around the Axiom.

The captain reviews EVE’s visual records and get convinced that humans need to return back to Earth. EVE also falls in love with WALL-E after watching her own visuals where WALL-E was lovingly taking care of her and cutely trying to saving her from harsh environment out of his humanly robotic love. AUTO electrocutes WALL-E and send him to a garbage store with EVE and declares to captain that it wont let Captain to activate the holo-detector.

EVE struggles with the help of malfunctioning robots and succeeds in placing the plant in holo-detector which activates the ship back to Earth. On reaching the Earth and fixing WALL-E, EVE gets hearts on finding that WALLE-E has lost his memory. EVE gives him a farewell kiss which dramatically brings his memory back and they reunite in humanly robotic way. Various forms of Arts are shown at the end of the film including Egyptian hieroglyphics, Grecian urns, Da Vinci sketches and paintings of Vincent Van Gogh۔

Its a true and unique story between two robots that teaches to stick to the love no matter how bleak and gloomy the situation seems. It gives an environmental message in a very subtle and beautiful way without a taunting and authoritarian style.

Andrew Stranton, who won Oscar in 2004 for Finding Nemo has achieved unimaginable heights with this master stroke of animation blended with elusive love.

Reviews

This film has approval rating of 96% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and score of 94 on metacritic.

The first 40 minutes or so, in which barely any dialogue is lspoken, and almost no human figures appear, is a cinematic poem of such wit and beauty that its darker implications may take a while to sink in. New York Times

The Hollywood Reporter declared that WALL-E surpassed the achievements of Pixar's previous eight features and probably their most original film to date. It had the "heart, soul, spirit and romance" of the best silent films.

Once again, the Pixar wizards have pushed the animation envelope in unexpected directions and come up with a winner. Wondrously inventive, funny and poignant, WALL*E is part sci-fi adventure, part cautionary fable, part satire and part love story, which may be the best and most improbable part of all. Newsweek

Awards and Nominations

WALL-E won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing at the 81st Academy Awards. ( Wikipedia)

from the Boston Society of Film Critics (tied with Slumdog Millionaire), the Chicago Film Critics Association,the Central Ohio Film Critics awards, the Online Film Critics Society, and most notably the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, where it became the first animated feature to win the prestigious award

TIME ranks WALL-E #1 in "Best Movies of the Decade"

It won all three awards it was nominated for by the Visual Effects Society: Best Animation, Best Character Animation (for WALL-E and EVE in the truck) and Best Effects in the Animated Motion Picture categories

It won Best Animated Feature Film at the 66th Golden Globe Awards, 81st Academy Awards and the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards 2008

(Source WALL-E Awards on Wikipedia )

Freedom Flotilla Attack Videos

2010-06-03T20:32:00.001-07:00

We have often heard that a picture is worth thousand words which is very true. What about a video then, million words.

A fleet of six naval ships Flotilla Freedom carrying aid to Gaza strip came under attack when Israeli troops raided it leaving 19 activists dead and several injured. Three Pakistani journalists including Talat Hussain(Director Aaj News) were taken captive along with many other journalists and human activists from all around the world.

There are two versions of this story, one from Israel Foreign Affairs and the other from The Free Gaza movement and people on board Flotilla Freedom.

The fleet was carrying aid to the area, which is under a naval blockade. Israeli troops were attacked with guns, knives and clubs when they boarded the ships after having given repeated warnings, the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs said. During the interception of the ships, the demonstrators onboard attacked the IDF naval personnel with live fire and light weaponry including knives and clubs," the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs. Guardian, UK

Both sides were well armed when Israeli commandoes attacked the “so-called Freedom Flotilla”. Both sides have released a blizzard of video clips as evidence that the other side was the aggressor in the conflict on Monday which left nine activists dead. New York Times

“Without an Israeli response, which came out later in the day and seemingly proved that the soldiers acted in self-defense, the media were full of one-sided reports based on Al Jazeera,” the newspaper stated. “What Israel needs to realize is that in today’s media world, every minute counts.” Jerusalem Post

Video Evidence By Israel against Activists

Now some excerpts from the sources who are blaming it all on Israel

Under darkness of night, Israeli commandoes dropped from a helicopter onto the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara, and began to shoot the moment their feet hit the deck. They fired directly into the crowd of civilians asleep. According to the live video from the ship, two have been killed, and 31 injured. Al-Jazeera has just confirmed the numbers. The attack has happened in international waters, 75 miles off the coast of Israel, in direct violation of international law. The Free Gaza Movement reported on Guardian, UK

The attack must be condemned by the international community. If the attack on South Korean ship is risking economic sanction on North Korea by some of the most powerful nations, I hope they will react the same towards Israel and its cowardice attack.

This is a black day when a humanitarian initiative is being attacked and suppressed.

Khoo Kay Peng from Malayasia on Global Voices Online

Videos of Israel Soldiers Attacking Flotilla

Interestingly, there was one Holocast survivor on Flotilla Freedom convoy.

Walk yourself Skinny

2010-06-02T19:50:00.001-07:00

Drop 5,10,15 pounds with an easy at home routine.

This is what i read today on the cover page of a magazine and before i could read in the details, the library time was over and i only succeeded in writing the first line with the heading

Walk yourself Skinny

Is there any real easy home routine to drop 5 to 15 pounds? i seriously doubt it because loosing pounds is the hardest thing in the world which reminds me of the easiest thing in the world, putting on pounds.

The usual stuff like eating fruits, vegetables, drinking 8-10 glasses of water , brisk walk and excercise for at least 30 minutes a day is effective and do bring results but i came across two really easy and workable home routines that everybody can follow.

1. Jumping on a mini trampoline during commercials which can be the best thing to do while watching commercials and this can make watching TV a healthy experience instead of becoming lazy,dull and obese.

2. Sucking in lower belly and holding it for 20 seconds for just five minutes a day. This really seems easy and fun.

Following are some good techniques for loosing weight

Stomach Excercise
Burn Stomach Fat
Belly Fat Excercises
Cellulite Excercise
Fat Sculpting

Sticking to a balanced diet is the golden rule in staying fit and slim.

Amazon Associate Program

2010-06-01T20:48:00.001-07:00

Today, I have registered Amazon Associate program to enhance my chances of earning some money from my blogspot blog. This post is going to take an overview of the Amazon Associate program, its main features, benefits and usage.

I am using blogger platform for blogging so this post is specifically targetted to integration between Amazon Associates and blogger. From blogger, its literally few clicks to enable Amazon Associate on your blog and start advertising Amazon products on your site with links, banners and widgets from Amazon.

Amazon claims that its associate program is one of the first online affiliate programs launched in mid 90’s. The associate program works when webmasters or bloggers create links and ads through which customers click, visit Amazon to buy prodcucts from Amazon and endless.com, as a result associates earn referral fees. The referral fees can go as high as 15% which is quite tempting.

Banners, links are available for refreshing and stylish ads to present Amazon products to targetted audience. Amazon also provides an option to create a professional online store in few minutes which can also be linked to an existing website.

Slideshow Widget, Deal Widget, Wish List Widget, MP3 Clips Widget , Amazon Video on Demand Movie and TV Preview Widget are few of the more popular widgets.

Reports can be tracked on daily basis and best of all, this amazon associate program is free.

INFORMATION QUEST

Shedding body fat with minimum muscle loss: a better goal

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