Something Smells Fishy

A German Online Casino

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Wed, 8 Oct 2008 10:01:00 +0800

Online casinos have carved themselves a piece of real estate in cyberspace these days. It is not easy to determine which casino is the right choice for you with so many sites to choose from. Casino.de, a German online casino is another site that reviews online casinos so you will be able to choose the right casino to meet your various needs.

Casino.de provides some useful tips that you can use not only for playing the game online but also at brick and mortar casinos too. The tips provided include betting tips and poker tips. It doesn't matter if you are already a professional player or just someone trying their hand in the game, their reviews and tips will still be able to help you in a certain way. The site is probably catered more to the German and European crowd as it is written in German but they have some articles in English too and you can always use an online language translator like Google Translate and Babelfish to help you understand the articles.

Casino.de also provides tutorials for games like blackjack, craps and roulette. There is just so much that a paid review is able to tell you. It is always best that you evaluate how useful the site is yourself.

Brand New Identity

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:01:00 +0800

Branding is of utmost importance in any business venture in this time of age. You can spend millions on marketing but without the right branding, your product will still fail to impress. As such, it is imperative that every business owner should consult a marketing company to evaluate and help build up the branding of their business and product lines. In this review, I would like to introduce to you Brand Identity Guru, a company that is able to help you do exactly that.

Their website is very useful and I really enjoy browsing through their beautifully designed and interactive website. It has just the right mix of eye design and information that is not only useful to the visitor but also keep the visitor interested to dwell deeper.

They have a tool that is able to evaluate the strength of your brand by just answering twelve simple questions on their website. After going through the evaluation, you can contact them either through phone or email to receive a consultation on how to improve your branding.

There is just so much information you can get from a paid review so I seriously recommend you to pay their website a visit. Who knows? They may be the ones to make your products shine!

The Art Of Moving Fine Art

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 00:01:00 +0800

Moving fine art is never an easy task. When it comes to dealing with such an expensive and precious possession, it is best to leave it to the experts and not take any chances at all. If you are in Connecticut and are in the midst of moving your invaluable masterpieces, you can seek the art moving services provided by Mind's Eye.

Budget commercial shipping companies who provide expedited parcel shipping are probably not the kind of shipper you're looking for if your art is precious. The shaking, rattling, and crushing forces that often happen during shipment are just a fact of mass transportation. Trucks, trains, and airplanes can provide a rough ride, and it only takes one handler a second to damage or lose your art package. You wouldn't want that to happen now, would you?

That is why it is important for professionals to handle your invaluables. Mind's Eye are an experienced company with clients that includes museums and collectors of all kinds. They offer an extensive array of the finest services and even if you're on a budget, they will customise the services to your needs.

There's just so much a paid review is able to reveal to you. I suggest that you jump right over to their website and judge them for yourself.

Improve Your Product Branding

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:01:00 +0800

Branding is one of the many important components that will determine if your product will be a success or a failure. That is the reason why every business owner should consider consulting a branding agency to help build up the right branding for their products. Fortunately, Brand Identity Guru is able to do just exactly that.

First impression matters a lot and Brand Identity Guru definitely projects a good impression of themselves through their website. Browsing their well designed website is a real pleasure. Not only is it nice to look at, it is also full of information which is of course very important.

On their website, they have a tool that is able to evaluate the strength of your brand by just answering twelve simple questions. With that evaluation, you can contact them either through phone or email to receive a consultation on how to improve your branding.

However, there is just so much information that you can get from a paid review. I would highly recommend you to pay their website a visit. Even if you don't feel that you need the services of a branding agency, there is no harm in finding out the strength of your products, right?

Rhode Island Art Moving Services

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:57:00 +0800

If you are ever thinking of moving, storing or displaying your masterpieces, you should never take any chances. There are many of our possessions that we regard as precious. However, few are as precious as fine art.

That is the reason why you should put your worries to rest and take advantage of the various services available to help you with your art moving needs. One company that offers such a service is Mind's Eye. They are known for their art moving services in Rhode Island and you need not worry about your invaluable items being mishandled by them since they employ only experienced and trained personnel.

They offer an extensive array of the finest services. If you are on a tight budget, don't worry. They will customise the services not only to your art but also up to your budget and needs which encompasses crating, transporting, storing and showcasing virtually any kind of fine art.

They have quite an extensive clientele which includes museums and collectors of all kinds, personal and corporate alike. In fact, you should take a look at their website. They also have a very interesting website. It is very cleverly designed, if you asked me. There's just so much a paid review is able to reveal to you. I suggest that you jump right over to their website and judge them for yourself.

New York IT Consulting

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:44:00 +0800

It is unthinkable that business owners nowadays totally disregard information technology from their business model. Information technology is vital for the success of any business. It can make you or break you.

Although they may recognise the need for embracing information technology, they may not know how information technology can actually help them. Fortunately, iCorps is able to help in that area. They are a company that provide NY IT services for anyone who requires it. Small and middle-sized enterprises may not have the resources to have their own IT department so they have to rely on the services provided by companies such as iCorps.

iCorps' IT consulting experts analyse and optimise your network's performance. IT outsourcing, consulting and management capabilities are offered ala carte or as a comprehensive program to outsource your IT department. iCorps takes the worry out of IT management, freeing you to focus on your business rather than technical network issues.

I find their website to be quite informative and I would recommend you to pay it a visit if you are looking for someone to help you integrate information technology to your business. There's just so much a paid review is able to tell you so browse through their website and judge them for yourselves.

Washington Mutual Checking Accounts

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:36:00 +0800

Although having a savings account is one of the simplest form of relationship you can start with a financial institution, it may not provide you with all the services you require. After learning how you can earn interest by putting your hard-earned money in the bank instead of under your mattress, let's move a step further and learn about another type of account provided by financial institutions.

Checking accounts is a useful account that you may consider having apart from a savings account. What is the purpose of a checking account then that sets it apart from a savings account? Well, first of all, a checking account will allow you to write cheques as a form of payment instead of you having to withdraw cash in the case of a savings account.

Although it will usually cost you a minimal amount for each cheque you issue, the convenience and security it provides more than compensates for it. Better still, there are some financial institutions which provides you with free cheques! One such financial institution is WaMu with their personal checking accounts.

There's just so much information you can get from a paid review so I urge you to visit their website or even pay one of their branches a visit to get more information about their product offerings.

10 Ways to Remove Clutter from Your Life

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Fri, 4 Jul 2008 12:15:00 +0800

We inevitably accumulate rubbish and clutter over time. It could be due to the lack of time or motivation to clear them up which will ultimately increase as time passes by. Here are 10 ways to remove clutter from your life to improve efficiency.

1 Your desk. If your desk is covered in paper and other clutter, clear it off to create a pleasing work environment. The steps here are the basic decluttering steps we'll follow for many of the other steps below:

* Clear everything off. Take everything off your desk and put it in a pile on the floor. Clear out the drawers too, if you have time. The only things that should be on your desk now are the computer, phone and other similar equipment.

* Clean. Wipe down your desk, and clean your drawers if you're decluttering them too. It's good to start with clean surfaces.

* Sort. OK, here's the meat of the process: sort through your stuff, one pile at a time. Toss out or route as much as possible, so that what you're left with is a relatively small amount of stuff. If you won't be using it again in the near future, or if you can access it on the computer, toss it out.

* Designate homes. Now you get to place everything back in your desk. Set up a simple alphabetical filing system, with one folder for each project or client. Have drawers for your office supplies and other stuff. With less stuff to organize, it shouldn't be too hard. Be sure to have a place designated for everything, and keep things in those places. Sometimes it helps to label, so you don't forget.

* Leave flat surfaces clear. Don't put stuff on top of your desk. Have an inbox for all incoming papers, and then sort them each day and either toss, delegate, do them immediately, or file all documents, so nothing remains on top of your desk. The only thing that should be on your desk is your computer, phone, inbox, perhaps a family photo, and the documents you're working on right now.

4 Computer. Purge your computer files, getting rid of stuff you don't need. Clear your desktop of icons -- they slow your computer down, create visual clutter, and are an inefficient way to access files, programs or folders. Set up hotkeys with AutoHotKey or similar programs. With online search tools (such as that in Gmail) and programs such as Google Desktop, you don't need to keep your files in a complex array of directories and subdirectories -- just archive, and search later. Purge old, unneeded files at least every month or two.

6 Rooms. Are the rooms in your house too cluttered? A few rules about simplifying a room: first, start with anything that's stacked on the floors; then work to the flat surfaces (tables, shelves, countertops, the tops of dressers, etc.) and clear them completely if possible; then do the larger stuff like furniture and other things that clutter the room; and finally tackle drawers and cabinets and closets. As much as possible, keep floors clear and all flat surfaces. Sort through everything in piles as in the first step above, tossing and donating as much as possible. Organize everything else in drawers and closets and cabinets, out of sight but still neat and uncluttered. Tackle one room at a time, going for a clean, uncluttered, simple, minimalist look in all cases. It can be helpful to continually edit a room once you're done decluttering -- you can always find little ways to make a room simpler.

8 Commitments. Aside from physical clutter, our lives are often way too cluttered by the things we need to do -- at work, at home, in our civic or religious lives, with our hobbies, with friends and family, etc. Go through each area of your life, and write down every commitment you have -- from things you've volunteered or agreed to do on a regular basis, to meetings and sports games and other things you do every month or week. It can be overwhelming. Now examine each one, and decide if it truly gives you joy and value in your life, and whether it's worth the time you commit to it. It can be useful to just choose a few of the commitments that your really love doing. Get rid of all the rest. Just call people and tell them your schedule is too busy, and you have to decline. Learn to say no! One by one, eliminate the commitments in your life that don't give you value, and you'll have more time to do the stuff that's really important to you -- stuff for yourself, or your loved ones.

Excuse me as I go remove some clutter in my life.

How to Find Motivation for the Things You Hate Doing

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Wed, 2 Jul 2008 12:06:00 +0800

There are just some things we utterly hate doing but we still have to. It could be some mundane work or some difficult task. Here's how you can find the motivation to do those tasks.

Make it an Art

Sometimes tasks can be unenjoyable simply because there is no quality in doing them. For me, writing an article is more enjoyable than cleaning dishes. While an article has incredible depth, ranging from complete trash to life affirming, dishwashing is a narrower activity. I either clean the dishes or they stay dirty. That on-off approach usually makes a task incredibly boring.

One solution I’ve found is simply to take that on-off task and give it more depth. See your boring activity as a previously unrecognized art form you can master. When you give an activity more depth, the interest level goes way up. More importantly, it becomes easier to focus on the task completely, making it easy to swallow.

Several years ago I did part-time work as a janitor. Although this wasn’t a glorious position, I found I was able to enjoy it by doing this step. Instead of seeing my job as being an on-off task, I gave it more depth. I saw that there were many ways I could increase the quality of what I did. Taking on those little steps made the work far more enjoyable.

Don’t Do the Work at All

The best solution is to simply not do the work you don’t enjoy. This may sound like a fantasy, but there are ways you can get away with avoiding the stuff that doesn’t interest you:

* Outsource or delegate it to someone else.
* Eliminate it from your project. (Is it really necessary?)
* Find a better way to do it. Technology and tricks can often help you shortcut boring steps into ones that are more interesting.

Ultimately, you should try to minimize the amount of work you need to do, but don’t enjoy. Productivity shouldn’t be about pushing through the muck, but enjoying work you love. However, if you can’t get yourself to stop procrastinating on an ugly task, these are a few ways to move through it.

14 Simple Ways to Super Charge Your Brain

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:33:00 +0800

Ever felt we could use a little more brain power? Well, here are some of the 14 very simple methods to super charge your brain that we can start doing right away.

2 Drink Apple Juice
Research from the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) indicates that apple juice increases the production of the essential neurotransmitter acetylcholine in the brain, resulting in an increased memory power.

3 Sleep well
Research indicates that the long-term memory is consolidated during sleep by replaying the images of the experiences of the day. These repeated playbacks program the subconscious mind to store these images and other related information.

8 Reduce Sugar intake
Sugar is a non-food. It’s a form of carbohydrate that offers illusionary energy, only to cause a downhill slump once the initial burst has been worn off. Excess intake of sugar results in neurotic symptoms. Excess sugar is known to cause claustrophobia, memory loss and other neurotic disorders. Eat food without adding sugar. Stay away from sweet drinks or excess consumption of caffeine with sugar.

10 Eat a light meal in the night
A heavy meal at night causes tossing and turning and a prolonged emotional stress while at sleep. It’s wise to eat heavy meal during the day when our body is in motion to consume the heavy in-take. Eating a light meal with some fruits allows us to sleep well. A good night sleep strengthens our brainpower.

11 Develop imagination
Greeks mastered the principle of imagination and association to memorize everything. This technique requires one to develop a vivid and colorful imagination that can be linked to a known object. If you involve all your senses - touching, feeling, smelling, hearing and seeing in the imagination process, you can remember greater details of the event.

Easy isn't it?

Breakthrough In Blocking Malaria Transmission

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:12:00 +0800

A team of researchers may have found a way to stop the transmission of malaria which will significantly prevent the spread of one of the deadliest diseases out there at the moment.

By disrupting the potassium channel of the malaria parasite, a team of researchers has been able to prevent new malaria parasites from forming in mosquitoes and has thereby broken the cycle of infection during recent animal tests.

By genetically altering the malaria parasite through gene knock-out technol-ogy, a research team consisting of scientists at the University of Copenha-gen and John Hopkins University, Baltimore, has prevented the parasite from going through the normal stages of its life cycle and developing a cyst (egg-like structure or occyst), which spawns new infectious parasites." As it is exclusively the parasites from these oocysts that can infect new individu-als, we were able to prevent the disease from being transmitted to the animals in our tests", explains Assistant Professor, Peter Ellekvist from the University of Copenhagen.

The findings have been published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, (2008 105: 6398-6402).

8 Medical Terms Your Doctor Uses to Insult You

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 10:23:00 +0800

Learn this list before you make a visit to a hospital or clinic. All that mumbo-jumbo medical talk which actually turns out to be insults made to sound like medical terms can be detected now after you read through this list!

#8. PRATFO
What It Means: Patient Reassured And Told to Fuck Off.

When It's Used:
When a patient comes into the ER more hysterical than ill, the doctor reassures the patient and asks them to leave. However, this acronym has gotten at least one doctor into trouble when he scribbled it in a patient's chart and then later was asked to explain it in court.

We're not saying you should ever lie in court, but in that situation you should at least consider it.

#6. Faecal Encephalopathy
What It Means: Shit-for-Brains.

When It's Used:
If you wind up in the emergency room because, say, you were trying to launch bottle rockets out of your anus, you can expect to hear this term thrown around. Latin, or pseudo-latin, is often used to convey unflattering terms and make it sound grandiloquent to the uninformed (or faecal-encephalopathic) ear.

Variations include Cranio-Rectal Syndrome and Cranial Rectosis, presumably for when the patient doesn't have shit for brains but merely has his head up his ass.

#4. SBI
What It Means: Something Bad Inside.

When It's Used:
When the medical staff encounters a strange complaint that doesn't meet any known diagnostic criteria. As much as you don't want to hear SBI as your diagnosis, it's still better than the alternate SVBI (Something Very Bad Inside) which means whatever it is appears to be killing you.

Either may be followed up with a "SWAG" (Scientific Wild-Ass Guess).

I think I'll be personally using #6 for awhile now. ;)

Humboldt Storage and Moving

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:16:00 +0800

Everyone will move at least once in their lifetime. You may be moving out from your parents' house, you may be moving to college, you may be moving to your newly bought home. Whatever the reason for you moving, you would require the services of movers. You don't expect to haul all your stuff alone now, do you?

Humboldt Storage and Moving is a Boston moving company that can cater to your moving needs. They are in the business of packing, storing, moving and unpacking people's lives. They can be trusted to take extra special care of your things and do not regard their responsibility as merely providing storage space, strong backs and trucks.

Humboldt is the oldest, most experienced Boston moving company in Massachusetts so you know they really can be relied on. They have professional movers not only for local moving assignments but they cater to your international moving needs too.

There is just so much information that you can get from a paid review. I find their website to be quite informative and would recommend you to visit their website if you're planning to move soon. If you find they provide exactly the service you are looking for, go ahead and hire them. If not, you can always continue searching for the right company for your moving needs.

10 Tips For Your Japan Trip

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:23:00 +0800

For those intending to study in Japan or even take a holiday trip there, here are ten tips that you should know before making that trip.

2. Table Manners

Some simple bullet points here:

- If you’re with a dinner party and receive drinks, wait before raising the glass to your lips. Everyone will be served, and someone will take the lead, make a speech, raise his drink, and yell “kampai!” (cheers).

- You will receive a small wet cloth at most Japanese restaurants. Use this to wash your hands before eating, then carefully fold it and set it aside on the table. Do not use it as a napkin, or to touch any part of your face.

- Slurping noodles or making loud noises while eating is OK! In fact, slurping hot food like ramen is polite, to show you are enjoying it.

- You may raise bowls to your mouth to make it easier to eat with chopsticks, especially bowls of rice.

- Just before digging in, whether it be a seven-course dinner or a sample at a supermarket, it’s polite to say “itadakimasu” (I will receive).

8. Bathing

Public bathhouses are alive and well in Japan.

Sento, or neighborhood bathhouses, can be found from the largest area in Shinjuku to a small town on the island of Shikoku.

Onsen, or hot springs, are very popular as weekend excursion resorts.

Unlike in western cultures, the Japanese bath is used after you have washed and rinsed, and feel like soaking in extra-hot water for 10, 20, 30 minutes. It’s an acquired taste to be sure, but can be very relaxing.

If you happen to be invited into a Japanese household, you will be given the honor of using the bath first, usually before dinner. Be extra careful so as to not dirty the water in any way; the sanctity of the ofuro (bath) is of utmost importance.

Take the time to visit a sento if you have the opportunity. These are places without barriers, without regard to skin color, age, or language… well, they are separated by sex with the exception of some mixed-bathing areas.

Lying in the hot water and slowly listening to my heart beat slow down is a time when I feel most attuned to Japanese culture.

Seriously, they have so many rules, I think I've to think a million times first before I do anything there!

IT Outsourcing

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:44:00 +0800

It is unthinkable that business owners nowadays totally disregard information technology from their business model. Even traditional businesses are jumping on the information technology bandwagon. If businesses shun information technology, it is only at their own loss since their competition will pull ahead with the help of information technology.

Although business owners may regard information technology highly, they may not know how to implement or integrate it to their business model. Fortunately, iCorps is able to help in that area. They are a company that provide New York IT Consulting services for anyone who requires it.

iCorps' IT consulting experts analyse and optimise your network's performance. IT outsourcing, consulting and management capabilities are offered ala carte or as a comprehensive program to outsource your IT department. iCorps takes the worry out of IT management, freeing you to focus on your business rather than technical network issues.

I find their website to be quite informative and I would recommend you to pay it a visit if you are looking for someone to help you integrate information technology to your business. There's just so much a paid review is able to tell you so browse through their website and judge them for yourselves.

Max Jordan Casinos

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:45:00 +0800

Online casinos are sprouting up like mushrooms in cyberspace these days. It is hard to determine which casino is most suitable for you with so many sites to choose from. Max Jordan Casinos is another site that reviews online casinos so you will be able to choose the right casino to meet your various needs.

Max Jordan provides tips that you can use not only for the online universe but also for the real world. Tips that Max Jordan provide include betting tips and slot machine tips. It doesn't matter if you are already a professional player or just a newbie, his reviews and tips will still be able to help you in a certain way. The site may not be the prettiest but it is the content that matters most, no?

Max Jordan even provides tutorials for games like blackjack, craps and online poker. With some useful tutorials and tips, you will lose that newbie tag in no time! Some may consider that I should know a little bit about the online casino business by now with the numerous reviews I've made thus far. However, there is just so much that a paid review is able to tell you. It is always best that you evaluate how useful the site is yourself.

5 Things You Didn't Know About Condoms

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:12:00 +0800

Think you know all about the protective rubber? Well, think again. Here are five things you didn't know about condoms.

1- Condoms have appeared in cave paintings
In Johnny Come Lately: A Short History of the Condom, author Jeannette Parisot claims the appearance of condoms in cave paintings are estimated to be 15,000 years old. Although Parisot notes that the condom is being used during sexual intercourse, that doesn't signify the condition for which the man was wearing the condom. This is another matter altogether, since the man in the cave painting could have been brandishing the condom for one of three reasons: some sort of ritual, as protection against pregnancy or as protection against an STD.

All three are reasonable possibilities. There is no cause to think that the clever minds behind cave paintings hadn't also discovered some connection between the sexual act and one of any number of outcomes, including pregnancy or a stretch of days featuring extremely painful urination.

5- Invisible condoms may be next
For all those folks forced to use leather, silk, velvet or rubber as thick as an inner tube, the invisible condom could only be a pipe dream. In this case, "invisible" actually means a gel that hardens according to increased temperatures.

Clinical trials on the invisible condom have been carried out by Quebec’s Laval University, in conjunction with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Centre Hospitalier de l'Universite Laval.

It is one of a number of products being developed which falls into the category of a female condom, some of which have received government approval. The Invisible Condom, however, is still awaiting approval.

Bet you didn't know those! :P

Top 10 Things Science Can't Explain

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:23:00 +0800

We like to think that science has the answer to everything. Well, unfortunately it doesnt'. Here are some of the ten things science has not been able to answer (yet).

8. Female Orgasms
After a whole lot of thinking, biology’s best minds are still confused.

6. The Speed of Light
Faster than a speeding photon: is it possible? Einstein stays no, but does everyone else?

5. The Placebo Effect
Take this pill and you’ll be cured, just as long as you believe me.

3. Yawning
Open your mouth and notice the shockingly fascinating mystery of the yawn.

1. What Came Before, What Will Come After
Wouldn't it be really boring if it was just blackness. However, anyone's guess is as good as ours.

Crazy Diseases

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Mon, 9 Jun 2008 11:11:00 +0800

There are seriously some weird and crazy diseases out there, so crazy they scare me shitless! Have a look at some of these crazy diseases that you may never knew existed, until now.

Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
Type of Disease: Nerve disorder
Crazy Because: Causes searing pain as if on fire
Cure: Complex; disease may spontaneously resolve, but treatment usually only lessens symptoms

Imagine being tormented every waking moment of every day by searing pain in your limbs. Your arms feel like they are on fire, they are swollen, hot to the touch, and you sweat excessively. These are just a few of the symptoms of reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), a poorly understood disorder defined by pain in the limbs that is way out of proportion from what is expected following a particular injury or harmful event, such as surgery or stroke. The disease is believed to be caused by an abnormal chain reaction of the sympathetic nervous system, the body system that regulates blood flow and other aspects of the skin. Experts liken the pain response to that of an engine revving out of control.

While the disease may spontaneously disappear on its own, many patients undergo intensive treatments for years just to lessen the pain. And for some patients, the pain can become so profound that they must undergo the most extreme and expensive of therapies -- being placed under a Ketamine coma -- to essentially reset the pain connections of the body. In 2003, under the guidance of German colleagues of renowned RSD specialist Dr. Robert Schwartzman, 14-year-old Lindsay Wurtenberg of the U.S. underwent Ketamine coma-therapy and successfully recovered from a particularly debilitating case of RSD that developed following a harmless spider bite. “I don’t think there is a worse pain problem,” said Dr. Schwartzman of Lindsay’s condition. He was probably right.

Trimethylaminuria
Type of Disease: Metabolic Disorder
Crazy Because: Causes patients to smell like rotting fish
Cure: None; limited treatment options

Trimethylaminuria (TMAU), also known as fish malodor syndrome, is a rare metabolic disorder that prevents affected individuals from properly breaking down trimethylamine (TMA), instead letting it build up in the body. TMA is then released in the breath, sweat, urine, and other body secretions, giving off a strong fishy odor that literally cannot be masked. For people with this crazy disease, frequent showering and the use of deodorants, perfumes and colognes are not enough; the smell remains, sometimes becoming so strong so as to fill entire rooms or even auditoriums. The result can be socially and psychologically devastating: "People think this disease is a laughing matter, but for the people who have it, it is not. This syndrome can be highly destructive to a person's personal and social life and to their work and career," Robert L. Smith, a molecular toxicologist at the Imperial College School of Medicine in London, told the Science News.

Currently, there is no cure for TMAU. Affected patients can only reduce the smell by restricting the diet to foods that are not converted to TMA -- a daunting task considering that everyday foods like eggs, legumes as well as certain meats and fish all contain the amino acid choline, a precursor molecule to TMA.

Seriously, if I had any of those diseases, I don't know how to live with myself.

7 Super Food That Boost Health

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Fri, 6 Jun 2008 12:25:00 +0800

Introduce these seven simple everyday foods into your diet to help boost your health.

1. Spinach
Popeye was right: Spinach should be part of your diet. It's low in calories and high in nutrients. Research has shown that spinach aids in the prevention of age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, some cancers and cardiovascular disease.

2. Walnuts
Nuts are an excellent source of protein, fiber and vitamin E. Walnuts are the only nuts that contain a significant amount of omega-3s, and are known for their high antioxidant activity.

3. Honey
Honey isn't just for tea. You've probably relied on honey in the past to soothe an aching throat, but did you know it has been used to treat wounds and gastrointestinal problems? Honey acts as an antioxidant, a substance that can prevent the effects of free radicals, which we're exposed to from environmental toxins such as tobacco smoke or radiation and which can contribute to disease. Honey also contains oligosaccharides, which increase the number of good bacteria in the colon. The color of honey is relevant: the darker the honey the more antioxidants it contains.

4. Salmon
Salmon is a tasty fish that's chock-full of omega-3 fatty acids, which are beneficial fats that can improve heart health. Salmon is also protein rich. Choose wild over farmed salmon, which has been shown to contain elevated levels of contaminants and is artificially colored.

5. Oats
Ten years ago, the FDA approved a label publicizing the association between a diet high in oat fiber and the reduction of cholesterol. Further research has proven this claim to be true: The fiber in oats lowers total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, or the bad type of cholesterol. With every 1 percent reduction in LDL cholesterol, heart-disease risk is lowered 1 to 3 percent. Oats also contain plant chemicals that have antioxidant properties.

6. Dark Chocolate
The good news: Dark chocolate is a potent antioxidant and can help reduce blood pressure. The potentially bad news: You should still keep your daily chocolate intake low, due to the fat and calories. Remember that darker is better because processing strips chocolate of some of its health benefits.

7. Blueberries
Sweet blueberries don't just make your smoothies and cereal taste better; they contain high levels of antioxidants. Some research has shown blueberries can slow degenerative diseases associated with aging and improve motor skills. Still other studies have shown the fruit to improve urinary tract health.

Don't overindulge on the dark chocolates though. ;)

Biology or Physics?

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Wed, 4 Jun 2008 11:43:00 +0800

Some of these images at this University of Cambridge website come from physical science, some from biological science. Can you guess which are which? I didn't get all correct but was just a little off. How would you fare? Are you able to correctly identify all objects physical or biological?

Online Bingo Sites

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Mon, 2 Jun 2008 12:29:00 +0800

Have you ever played Bingo before? It can be quite fun and addictive, don't you think so? Well, you can now play them online! Forget about those messy paper and pencil method. This is way easier. What else can't you do online these days, huh?

Before you embark on your quest to satisfy your bingo lust online, it is a good idea to find out where is the best online bingo sites out there. You wouldn't want to play in some horrible online bingo site, do you?

Online Bingo Sites.net is a haven for serious and casual bingo players alike. Not only will you find reviews of the best bingo sites online, but you will also have the opportunity to cash in on lucrative free bingo bonuses when you make a deposit. Playing bingo online is getting more popular every day just as the size of the online bingo jackpots are getting bigger by the day!

If you are worried about not being able to socialise the way you can at offline bingo sites, fret not. You can chat at the online bingo sites nowadays so you'll still be able to socialise like before! There's just so much that a paid review can tell you. My suggestion is for you to give the site a visit and you can judge its relevance yourself.

Top 10 Greatest Experiments

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Fri, 30 May 2008 11:54:00 +0800

Ever wondered what were the greatest experiments ever conducted? Well, here's some of the top ten for you.

1. Galileo Galilei (1564 to 1642)

Legend has it that in order to test how gravity worked, Galileo dropped two balls, a heavy one and a light one, from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, showing that they landed at the same time. Historians doubt this - because his actual experiment was much better.

The Italian carved a groove down the centre of a board about 20 feet long and 10 inches wide. Then he propped it at an angle and timed how quickly the balls rolled down the track. What he discovered was that the distance the ball travels is proportional to the square of the time that has elapsed.

But how, in an age before clocks, could Galileo measure this so precisely? He probably used music. Along the ball's path, he placed cat-gut frets, like those on a lute. As the rolling ball clicked against the frets, Galileo sang a tune, using the upbeats to time the motion and discover a new law.

3. Isaac Newton (1642 to 1727)

In Newton's day, Europe's great scientists believed that white light was pure and fundamental. When it bounced off a coloured object or passed through a tinted liquid or glass, it became stained somehow with colour - whatever "colour" was.

Newton, holed up in a dark room at his family farm in Woolsthorpe, turned the idea on its head. He cut a hole in his window shutter and held a prism in the path of the sun, spreading the light into an oblong spectrum. Then he funnelled the spectrum through a second prism. White again.

Finally, he allowed the colours to pass, one by one, through the second prism. Starting at the red end and progressing toward the blue, each colour was bent a little more by the glass. Light, Newton had discovered, "consists of rayes differently refrangible". It was white that was the mongrel - not just another colour, but a combination of them all, a "heterogeneous mixture of differently refrangible rayes".

6. Michael Faraday (1791 to 1867)

In his youth, Faraday had performed a suite of experiments showing the linkage between electricity and magnetism, inventing, along the way, the electric motor and the dynamo. But by the time he was 53, he had fallen into a deep depression.

Maybe it was a barrage of flirtatious correspondence from Lady Ada Lovelace, the daughter of Byron, that snapped him out of his funk: whatever the cause, he decided to push the unification a step further, and show that electricity and magnetism are related to light.

Using an Argand oil lamp, Faraday projected polarised light through a block of glass, alongside of which sat a powerful electromagnet. Holding a polarising filter, called a Nicol prism, to his eye, he rotated it until the light was extinguished. Then he switched on the current.

The image of the flame suddenly reappeared. He turned the magnet off and the flame disappeared. The magnetic field, he realised, was twisting the light beam - and if the polarity of the field was reversed, the light beam rotated the other way. Faraday had unified two more forces, demonstrating that light was actually a form of electromagnetism.

Anyone of you planning to be added to the list anytime soon? ;)

20 Ways To Change The World

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:57:00 +0800

Ever thought of lending a helping hand to make this place a better place? Here are some suggestions on how you could change the world for the better.

1 - Adopt - Adopting someone is one of the greatest things you can do. You’ll change your life and someone else’s. Adopt a baby, a child, or a teen. By being adopted they’ll always know that there is truly kind people in the world and they’ll pay it back to society.

2 - Just Be Nice - This is something EVERYONE can do, you don’t need any money or any talent. Hold the door for someone, smile, or say hello. You will change someone’s whole day, week, month, year, or maybe even life. Then they’ll be nicer to others, which will just continue the cycle and you won’t even realize that YOU changed THOUSANDS of lives.

3 - Donate - Donate blood, food, time, money, or whatever you can. Donate online, help entrepreneurs in developing countries on Kiva, lend to people on Prosper, or just play the simple game on FreeRice.

10 - Pick Up Trash - No one seems to do this. Just pick up trash that you see lying on the ground. Every little bit helps.

15 - Vote - Vote in your local elections and national elections. Choose a candidate that can truly follow through, not the one that promises all these grand plans that never seem to pan out.

Most are really simply things that we can easily accomplish and put into practice. Let's all be a part of making this world a better place.

20 Super Brain Foods

hanyir+feedburner@gmail.com (KS Lee) — Mon, 26 May 2008 11:57:00 +0800

We all need the best food we can eat, more so the super brain foods to replenish the dead brain cells due to our heavy usage in our line of work. Here are some super brain foods you should add to your diet.

4. Almonds

Phenylalanine, found in almonds, can do wonders for your mental and neurological health. Phenylalanine has the rare ability to cross the blood-brain barrier where it stimulates the brain to generate natural mood-boosting neurotransmitters called dopamine, adrenaline and noradrenaline. Additionally, almonds are high in riboflavin which is known to boost memory.

7. Strawberries

Antioxidant-rich strawberries can prevent age-related neurological declines by improving brain cell abilities to send and receive the ’signaling’ molecules. The brain uses these signaling molecules to communicate.

Remarkably, these same studies showed that the powerful antioxidants in strawberries, spinach and blueberries can improve the ability to communicate even among brain cells already showing signs of age-related damage.

10. Pumpkin Seeds

Amazingly, the most powerful part of the pumpkin lies in its least used part. The seeds of the pumpkin are a power food, rich in many nutrients including: Zinc, Vitamin A and E, and the precious Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids. The Zinc found in pumpkin seeds plays a vital role in enhancing memory and thinking skills.

16. Red Cabbage

Red cabbage is full of an antioxidant called polyphenol. Polyphenols reduce brain cell damage and is especially helpful in the prevention and treatment of Alzheimers’ disease.

20. Chocolate!!!

What better to end with? It’s hard to believe that anything as incredibly delicious as chocolate can actually be incredibly good for you as well. Dark chocolate has powerful antioxidant properties and contains several natural stimulants which increase the production of endorphins while enhancing focus and concentration. The stimulants found in dark chocolate also improve mood. It has high content of flavanols that facilitate blood supply to the brain and enhance cognitive skills.

Milk chocolate jump starts impulse control and reaction time. It has also been known to improve visual and verbal memory.

More isn’t necessarily better when it comes to chocolate. This is, unfortunately, one superfood that you have to indulge in in moderation.

Other brain foods include tomatoes, eggs and broccoli. Are you getting enough brain foods in your daily diet? Replacing all those food with chocolates does not count!