The Radio....

Rabu, 21 Januari 2009

Mesothelioma Lawsuit

A mesothelioma lawsuit is filed by a victim of mesothelioma in order to recover damages associated with their development of this asbestos related cancer. A mesothelioma case can help a victim seek reparations for medical expenses, lost income and pain and suffering. Mesothelioma develops almost exclusively as a result of toxic exposure to asbestos. This disease can remain latent in a victim for up to forty years; therefore people who were exposed to asbestos in the environment in the 1950s may still be at risk for developing this disease.

Who Is At Risk?

Asbestos has been used to make more than 5000 products in the last few hundred years. Asbestos is a naturally occurring group of minerals that is used to make products such as vehicle brakes and building materials. Asbestos is added to these products because it aids in heat and corrosion resistance. The deadly effects of asbestos have been known for over sixty years, though it continues to be used in a variety of industries. People in the construction, automotive, factory, railroad, shipyard, and custodial industries may all be at risk for the serious health consequences resulting from toxic exposure to asbestos.

What Is Mesothelioma?

Mesothelioma is a rare but fatal cancer that is caused by this harmful exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma affects the mesothelium that surrounds and protects the internal organs of the body and can affect any organ in the body including the brain, heart and reproductive organs. Pleural mesothelioma is the most common and affects the lining surrounding the lungs. This lining can become cancerous when asbestos is inhaled at toxic levels. Many times the disease is asymptomatic, though symptoms may include a persistent cough, pain in the chest area or shortness of breath.

Mesothelioma also affects the peritoneal lining of the organs in the abdominal cavity. This type of mesothelioma can also remain latent and asymptomatic for several years. If symptoms do develop they might include pain and swelling of the belly, nausea, bowel problems, weight loss, swollen feet, and anemia.

More Common in Men

Mesothelioma affects men three to five times more often than it affects women. It is diagnosed in patients at an average age of 50 to 70 years. Once diagnosed, mesothelioma is fatal. The average survival time after diagnosis is only one year, because the cancer is usually in its advanced stages by the time it is discovered. For people who are diagnosed earlier, about one half survive for two years and twenty percent make it to five years.

Why File a Mesothelioma Lawsuit?

A mesothelioma lawsuit can be filed in the legal system in order to seek reparations for medical expenses, loss of income and pain and suffering associated with the development of this disease. Employers and manufactures of asbestos containing products can be held liable for the injuries that develop as a result, especially when they were aware of the risks associated with the level of exposure they caused or permitted. Contacting a qualified lawyer is often the first step in discovering what your legal rights and options might be in a mesothelioma lawsuit. For more information on a mesothelioma lawsuit, please Contact a Mesothelioma Attorney who is familiar with other mesothelioma cases.



Article Source : http://www.asbestosnews.com/html/lawsuit.html

Selasa, 20 Januari 2009

Red Cliff 2 teaser



Twitch have the new teaser for the second part of RED CLIFF, the Chinese-language John Woo epic about the Three Kingdoms period in Ancient China. The film stars Tony Leung (2046) and Takeshi Kaneshiro (HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS) and is currently the most successful movie ever in China. Check the teaser out HERE.

I'll be honest, I made my girlfriend come and see the first part of RED CLIFF with me and despite the subtitles, she loved it. And that chick can barely read. And I know that doesn't sound like much of an endorsement but I swear to god the girl has a reading age of maybe a three or four year old bear. That she didn't fall asleep or try to eat my hand is achievement enough on John Woo's part.

by: James Thoo

Senin, 19 Januari 2009

Harmonics

author: ZeGuitarist

Introduction

A. Problem:

Like in my last lesson (Economy picking), I will start by pointing out a problem that has occurred to me on UG.com, and then I will come up with a solution. The problem is again the lack of useful and clear explanations on a certain guitar technique: harmonics. The available lessons all handle one single aspect of harmonics, but nobody seems to get the bigger picture. How can you fully understand harmonics, if you only learn one aspect of it? For example, what’s the use of knowing how to produce an “artificial harmonic” if you don’t understand the whole concept of “harmonics” first?

B. Solution:

In this lesson, I will try and explain the concept of harmonics in all its varieties. To do this, I will make use of the information available in the lessons that are currently up on UG.com, and organise it in a logical order, so that everybody can understand easily what harmonics really are, and how you can use them in your playing. (I will not copy any information used in these previous lessons! I respect the work of the authors, so I will only use and adapt parts of information that I need, and explain them to you in my OWN way...)

What Are Harmonics?

To fully understand the concept of harmonics, I should begin with an explanation about what a “harmonic” in fact is. It’s a little music theory, you can skip this if you really hate this but I advise that you read it anyway, it’s easier to understand the rest of the lesson if you do.

A. Harmonics = Sound Waves:

As you probably know already, sound consists of sound waves. (Logic, isn’t it?) The guitar produces sound because the strings vibrate and produce waves, which means sound.
But a guitar string (or any other string) doesn’t just produce any wave. A sound wave consists of different waves, which vibrate at different frequencies; the mathematical sum of all those frequencies results in the actual sound that we hear. This means, when you pluck a guitar string, you hear one tone, but there are in fact more tones sounding at the same time.

I will try to explain it more clearly with an image (I just got it off the first URL on Google, so sorry to the owner, I hope I’m free to use it...). On the image, you see an open E string (the thick, low string) which is now vibrating. You can see several vibrations on the image; I will now explain to you what they mean.

The uppermost image is the string, vibrating between the bridge and the nut. You can see that the amplitude of the vibration is the greatest in the middle (this means, the motion up and down that the string makes is the greatest in the middle). You can also see that the string doesn’t vibrate at all right above the bridge and the nut. Logic, because the bridge and the nut keep the string in place!

The middle image shows the same string vibrating, but not in the same way. This time, the amplitude of the vibration is not the greatest in the middle, but at ¼ and ¾ of the string. You can see that in the middle of the string, there is a point where there is no vibration at all! From now on, we will call these points “nodes”. They will be very important in the rest of this lesson, so remember! “Nodes” are points where the string does not vibrate. On either side of the node, the string DOES vibrate, so there’s still a sound!

The bottom image shows the same string, vibrating in yet another fashion. This time, there are two nodes, and the string is vibrating around them at yet another frequency. So now we have one string, vibrating at three different frequencies! And there are a lot more frequencies that the image doesn’t show! “What does this all mean”, a lot of you might ask by now…? I will explain it to you now!

As I said before, a tone produced by a guitar actually consists of more tones sounding at the same time. This is because a guitar string doesn’t vibrate at one frequency, but at more frequencies at the same time! The mathematical sum of these frequencies results in the tone that you hear. All of these frequencies are called “harmonics”.

The top image on the picture above shows the “first harmonic” of the string. It has two nodes, one on every end of the string. The string just vibrates in between the nodes. The first harmonic is the most important harmonic, because it produces the exact note that we hear when we play the string (in this case, E). You only hear the first harmonic and not the other ones because the vibration of the first harmonic is much stronger than those of the second, third, … harmonics. The first harmonic is in fact the fundament of the note we hear: it defines the actual pitch of the note. We call it the “fundamental”.

The middle image shows the “second harmonic”: this time, there’s a node in the middle of the string, dividing the string in 2 equally long parts, vibrating at a higher frequency than the first harmonic. Therefore, it produces a higher sound (one octave), which you can’t hear because it is dominated by the fundamental. The bottom image is the “third harmonic”: again, the parts of string in between the nodes vibrate at a higher frequency, resulting in a higher tone. There are even more harmonics: fourth, fifth, … All of them vibrate at a higher frequency and add a certain percentage of tone to the fundamental tone. All of these harmonics are called “overtones”: they add a certain amount of a different pitch to the fundamental tone. That is why a guitar string doesn’t sound the same as a piano string, or a harp string. In every string, the percentage of sound that every harmonic adds to the fundamental differs; so you can play the same note on a guitar and a piano string, they will sound different. (This is called the “timbre” of an instrument.)

B. Producing Harmonics:

I will now explain how you can make the subtle sound of the harmonics (which you normally don’t hear) instead of playing the fundamental note of the string.
The trick is to “cancel out” the vibrations that you don’t want to hear, to make the sound that you want stand out. This means, you can hear the harmonics if you somehow succeed in muting the fundamental note. The problem with this is that you only need to mute the fundamental vibration of the string, but not the entire string, because then you will have no sound at all! I will now try and explain how this is done.

Remember the “nodes”? In every harmonic vibration, there are certain points where the string doesn’t vibrate at all. We can use these if we want to cancel out certain vibration frequencies; in fact, they are the key to producing harmonics!
An example: on the E string, we will now try and produce the second harmonic, so we are going to mute the fundamental vibration. How do we do this? Notice that the amplitude of the fundamental vibration is the greatest in the middle (right above the 12th fret), while in the second harmonic vibration, the middle is a node, so it doesn’t vibrate at all. If you touch the string lightly with your finger right above the 12th fret (don’t press it down, just touch the string very lightly), and pluck the string, the fundamental note will no longer be heard. That’s logic, because your finger mutes the string in a place where it would normally vibrate the hardest! On the other hand, you will notice that there’s still a bell-like, subtle sound produced by the string. This is the second harmonic you hear: it was not affected by your finger, because at the point where your finger is “muting” the string, the harmonic didn’t vibrate anyway. The vibration on either side of the node can therefore still continue, so the harmonic sound can still be heard!

(NOTE: do remove your finger from the node immediately after you have produced the harmonic, because otherwise you WILL mute the harmonic note in the end!)

What we have done now is quite simple: we muted the fundamental note, but allowed the second harmonic to continue vibrating, so that we can now hear the harmonic note. You can do the same with the third harmonic: touch the string above the nodes of the vibration (see image: fret 7 or 19), pluck it, and you will hear only the third harmonic, because you cancelled out the fundamental and the second harmonic. This goes for any other harmonic!

That’s it for the theory, I will now continue with the practical side of harmonics.
So now we know that we can produce harmonic sounds by touching the string in the correct place with your finger; that is where the node of a certain vibration is. Now you all want to know how to use this knowledge in your playing, of course!
I will now explain how you can produce harmonics in practice, both “natural” and “artificial” harmonics.

Natural Harmonics

What “natural harmonics” are, you already know. Natural harmonics are harmonics produced on an open string, just like the example I just gave. We produce natural harmonics by touching the string lightly in the correct place, cancelling out certain vibrations, leaving the harmonic note to stand out. Where can you find these nodes on the string? Below is a diagram of the most common natural harmonics (also just found on Google):

Fig. 1 shows the fundamental, which we don’t need now. Fig. 2 shows the second harmonic, with a node right above the 12th fret. This means, to produce the second harmonic, you just touch the string lightly right above the 12th fret. You will hear a note one octave higher than the fundamental.

For the 3rd harmonic, you can either touch the string over the 7th or the 19th fret: the note you hear will be one octave higher, plus the fifth note. (It’s not important if you don’t know what this means, just remember that the note you hear will be higher for each number of harmonic.) For the 4th harmonic, there are 2 possible locations: the 5th fret and the 24th fret. The 4th harmonic also has a node on the 12th fret, but if you touch the string there, you will not cancel out the second harmonic, so the 4th harmonic will not stand out.

There are more harmonics then the image shows, but they are less common because they are less strong. It’s difficult to make them stand out because they produce so little sound. With an electric guitar however, you can amplify the sound of these harmonics using gain/distortion. This way, it’s possible to produce harmonic notes over the 4th fret, right below the 3rd fret, in the middle of the 2nd and 3rd fret, … And a lot more! Experiment a little, try to produce more harmonics using distortion to amplify them.

Artificial harmonics

“Artificial harmonics” is actually a bad name, because they are just as “real” as natural harmonics. The only difference is: artificial harmonics aren’t played on open strings, but on strings that are fretted (pressed down with your left hand). Pressing a string down behind a certain fret actually alters the length of the string (which is why it produces a different note than the open string!); this also means that the nodes of the harmonics will be in a different location now!

This results in two problems:

1. We don’t know the exact location of the nodes anymore, so we don’t know where to touch the string to produce a harmonic note.
2. Even if we would know, how do we touch the string in that location? Because your left hand is busy, pressing down strings, you can’t use your left hand for both actions…

For each of these problems is a solution. II will first explain the two techniques that are used to touch the string to produce the harmonic note, using your pick hand. This solves problem number 2. I will then give a very simple answer to problem number 1.

A. Right Hand Technique: Pinch

Say, you are fretting the 3d string on the 5th fret. I just choose randomly, because artificial harmonics can be produced on any position! Let’s say you know exactly where the node for the second harmonic is (in fact, it should be right in the middle of the 5th fret and the bridge). What we do to produce this harmonic, in several steps:

Tips on Playing Guitar Solo

Guitar solos revolve around the improvisation of scales. Hence, knowing the scales very well will help you in learning guitar solo. I feel that the major, minor, harmonic and pentatonic scales are the most useful. Not only does it increase your overall movement, it also makes sure you use the correct fingering. Of course another important way to master guitar solos is to practice. The more you practice, the better you get, it is the law of nature.

Soloing is more than just a couple of scales, and patterns. It is used to express feelings. The pentatonic scales give a rather sad feeling. So, if one is looking to make a sad solo, he or she can improvise on one of the pentatonic scales.

I am going to give you an example, the Harmonic Minor Scale and the pentatonic minor; both are awesome and unique scales. Gary Moore used the Harmonic minor scale for blues sound, in the song 'I still got the Blues'. Hopefully, you can clearly see that solo are improvisation of scales.

If you don't improve your soloing with a bend, a pull-off, etc. Your solo may still sound like a scale. So what can you do in order to play a good solo? First of all, you must know the key of the song. Mostly the key of a song is the first note you start playing on it. Always make use of techniques like bending, tapping and such to add colors to your solo. Take a look at dragon force 'inside the winter storm' or practically and dragon force songs, played by Herman Li, you will realize that his solo is filled with different techniques such as power chords, sliding, tapping and palm muting.

So, the bottom line is, master your scales before learning any guitar solo. Then, try to improve the solo using various types of guitar techniques.

For additional information about electric guitars, please pay a visit to http://dabunny-electricguitarfreaks.blogspot.com/

Weight Gain Diet Tips for Vegetarians

Written by Editor in January 5th, 2009 Under: Current Health Articles, Gastro-Intestinal Diseases, Medications & Supplements, Nutrition, Women's Health & Pregnancy Tags: ,

Nutrition Problems in Vegetarians

The vegetarians have nutritional problems, which can be different from non vegetarians. This is due to the fact that vegetables lack certain nutrients and pure vegetarians may be victim of that. So a vegetarian may face more difficulty in trying to gain weight than others.

Reasons for Low Weight in Vegetarians

The low body weight of vegetarian may be due to:

  • deficiency of nutrients in food (iron, vitamin B12, poor quality proteins etc.)
  • worm infestation
  • malabsorption syndrome
  • poor dietary habit, low appetite

Why a Vegetarian May Refuse Food?

A. Food Related Causes

A vegetarian may refuse food for the following reasons:

  • always having same type of food and there is lack of variety
  • if vegetable is produced with excess fertilizers the vegetables are not tasty so a vegetarian may not get the taste of the food.

B. Body Related Causes - Low Appetite

The causes of low appetite may be as below:

  • anemia (due to iron deficiency, deficiency of vitamin B12, as iron of vegetable origin is not absorbed properly and vitamin B12 is found only in foods of animal origin)
  • worm infestation that compromise intestinal absorption
  • psychological and psychiatric diseases like anorexia nervosa, depression
  • excess alcohol intake can cause low appetite
  • infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, pneumonia, influenza, hepatitis, kidney infection
  • serious illnesses like cancer, liver diseases, kidney diseases, hypothyroidism, pancreatitis to name only a few
  • antibiotics and chemotherapy, many medications like anti diabetic (metformin), narcotics etc.

How to Prepare for Appointment With a Doctor?

A vegetarian can expect following questions:

  • current diet to evaluate calorie intake and vit B12 and iron intake (if the person is a pure vegetarian, pernicious anemia from vit B12 deficiency may develop, since vitamin B12 is available only in foods of animal origin)
  • appetite
  • doctor may enquire about worm infestation

Recommended Tests Before Starting a Diet?

Some laboratory investigations should be done before going for treatment of weight gain by a vegetarian. First the cause of not gaining weight or weight loss should be investigated. Foods of vegetable origin do not contain vitamin B12 (vitamin B12 is available only in foods of animal sources), so if the vegetarian is not consuming even fresh milk (pure vegetarian) than he may be suffering from vitamin B12 deficiency and deficiency of vitamin B12 cause pernicious anemia or megaloblastic anemia. There should also be investigations for other causes of anemia like stool for ova and cyst of worms (hookworm infestation is common cause of anemia), routine investigations like hemoglobin percentage, TLC (total leukocyte or white blood cell count), DLC (differential leukocyte count), peripheral blood smear for study of blood cell morphology.

Vegetarian Foods That can Help Gain Weight

There are very large varieties of vegetables that are available for vegetarians that are very rich in quality (calorie, proteins, fats, carbohydrate rich).

The rich source of protein of plant origin include:

  • Soya bean (the richest source of plant protein)
  • pulses
  • lentils
  • grams
  • drumsticks
  • cereals
  • beans, etc.

The rich sources of fats of plant origin include:

  • nuts
  • peanuts (contain high quantity of EFA or essential fatty acids)
  • cashew nuts
  • oil seeds
  • olives
  • almonds, etc.

The rich sources of carbohydrates of plant origin include:

  • cereals (rice, wheat, corn, millet etc)
  • pasta (macaroni)
  • potato
  • all root vegetables
  • raisins, bananas,

Green leafy vegetables, cabbage, cauliflower, okra, spinach, asparagus, etc. are rich sources of vitamins and minerals. Fruits are also rich sources of vitamins and minerals and also rich in antioxidants that help to fight cancer. Regarding eating of fruit and vegetables we should follow one golden rule that is “The locally grown fruits and vegetables are the best” because they are the cheapest and suitable for that particular environment and weather. Costly and imported fruits and vegetables are less valuable than the locally grown fruits and vegetables, because they are not fresh and preservative chemicals are used.

Foods to Avoid During Gaining Weight Attempt

Which food to avoid by the vegetarians depends on the person trying to gain weight. If the person is a diabetic than he should avoid or restrict foods with high glycemic index like potato, rice etc. While trying to gain weight one should avoid foods with high fiber contents like salads, leafy vegetables to prevent excessive bloating and gas. One should avoid taking excess tea or coffee, excess drinks, carbonated drinks and smoke (smoking reduce appetite). One drink per day is helpful in increasing appetite and should be taken to improve faster weight gain.

Meals Proposals for Skinny Vegetarians

While trying to gain weight the breakfast and lunch/dinner should be like this:

Breakfast

  • 200-300 gm of bread (2-3 slices or 2-3 chapatis for Indians)
  • About 100 gm of sprouting beans/grams
  • A glass of milk (250-300 ml) with 10-15 gm of sugar or a cup of tea/coffee
  • High calorie fruits like bananas 2-3 big size

Lunch/Dinner

  • 200-300 gm of rice or wheat (roti)
  • 50 gm of leafy vegetables
  • 75-100 gm of other vegetables
  • Pulses about 50 gm
  • cooking oil like (sunflower oil, ground nut oil, safflower oil etc.
  • milk or curd 100 gm/ml

Snacks

In between major meals few servings are advisable.

Drinks to Try and to Avoid

Alcoholic drinks should be preferably avoided, but 1 drink per day is good for health and also it increases appetite. More than one drink per day is not recommended. There is no advantage of one type of drink over another (e.g. wine, beer, scotches are all same for improving appetite).

Vitamin B12 and Iron Supplements

In vegetarians there may be problem of iron (iron deficiency anemia) and vitamin B12 (megaloblastic or pernicious anemia), because the iron from vegetable sources are not absorbed properly and vitamin B12 is available only in animal sources. Iron absorption is better if iron is present as ferrous fumerate, sulphate form (which is the form in animal source) and also there are some chemicals like oxalates which are available in vegetables that hamper the absorption of iron (normally less than 5% of iron is absorbed from diet). Vitamin B12 has to be supplemented as tablet, liquid or injection form (our daily requirement of B12 is about 10 micrograms).

General Dietary Advice to Vegetarians

Diet should be balanced diet. Balanced diet for vegetarians is different from that of others. The protein for vegetarian should be from at least two different sources; because vegetable or plant proteins are not “biologically complete” (all essential amino acids are not available) so to get all the essential amino acids vegetarian has to depend on at least two sources. For balanced diet of vegetarian first and foremost is protein requirement (10-15% of energy) and it can be met from cereals like rice, wheat, maize etc. and pulses and nuts like peanut, almonds etc. Next important is fats (15-30% of energy) and it should contain large percentage of unsaturated fats including essential fatty acids. Carbohydrates (remaining energy requirement) are the next and it can be met from cereals like rice, wheat and maize. Than vitamins and minerals requirements should be met from vegetables (all types of vegetables including leafy vegetables, roots & tubers) and fruits.

5 Tips on Electronic Contracts

  1. Take note: federal law now makes electronic contracts and electronic signatures as legal and enforceable as those on paper.

  2. Consider what advantages e-contracts might have for your business. Some companies will be able to conduct their business entirely on line, often with great savings.

  3. Be aware that if you start using e-contracts, you have to let customers know whether paper contracts are available and what fees might apply for the paper agreements.

  4. Proceed with caution. The law does not define what an electronic signature is, and e-signature technology is still evolving.

  5. Visit these Web sites for more legal information: the American Bar Association , or www.nolo.com, a site that specializes in legal issues.

Brought to you by SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business."
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5 Tips for Effective Business Planning

  1. Clearly define your business idea and be able to succinctly articulate it. Know your mission.

  2. Examine your motives. Make sure that you have a passion for owning a business and for this particular business.

  3. Be willing to commit to the hours, discipline, continuous learning and the frustrations of owning your own business.

  4. Conduct a competitive analysis in your market, including products, prices, promotions, advertising, distribution, quality, service, and be aware of the outside influences that affect your business.

  5. Seek help from other small businesses, vendors, professionals, government agencies, employees, trade associations and trade shows. Be alert, ask questions, and visit your local SCORE office.

Brought to you by SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business."
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