What's In Your DNA - A Book Review

It seems that every day in the media we read something about DNA research, and the medical advances in science in this venue. People talk about gene therapy, getting rid of hereditary diseases, and even prolonging life. This has been one of the greatest discoveries in human history, and we keep learning more and more every day. Watson and Crick deserved to win the Nobel Prize, and Craig Venter has done an incredible amount to move this science and technology forward. Okay so let's talk shall we?

You see, just the other day on October 25, 2012 there was an interesting article the Wall Street Journal titled; "DNA Switch Boosts Disease Fight,"Guatam Naik which discussed how "scientists have replace bits of defective DNA in a human egg with the equivalent DNA from a healthy egg, a technique that could prevent women from passing on several rare and potentially deadly disorders to their children." Now can you see what I'm talking about? And as I peruse the science news each and every day, I see articles like this constantly.

Maybe it's time that you started thinking about this, and reading up on the topic. If so, there is a book that I own that I can recommend to you, and it is one which sits on my biotech shelf in my own personal library. The name of the book is;

"Drawing the Map of Life - Inside the Human Genome Project" by Victor K. McElheny, Basic Book Publishing, New York, NY, 2010, 361 pages, ISBN: 978-0-465-04333-0.

Interestingly enough this author also wrote the book; "Watson and DNA" many years the prior. The book explains how the building blocks of life were discovered, how the scientists got started, and what an overwhelming task it was once they figured out what they were looking at. The task was daunting, and trying to scale up their efforts to sequence the DNA was extremely tough. The more they learn, the more they realize they didn't know, but each day they discovered more and more surprises.

Isn't it interesting that this has spawned an entire new sector of the biotech industry? This book explains the future relevance, and potential applications of DNA research. It appears that we are just scratching the surface as we speak. Indeed it's amazing how far they've come, but also how far they have to go.

Perhaps it's time that you learn more, so that you are not caught off guard by future discoveries and surprises as they hit the science news. This is something that all citizens should know, and your children should know as well. Wouldn't it be great if you could explain it to them? Please consider all this and think on it.

How to Make Pizza Healthy For You

This article may come as a surprise to you...

Pizza. It's the weakness of many, many people including me. I love pizza- always have. I eat it in moderation, but it's still one of my favorite foods.

There's now good news for pizza lovers.

According to Men's Health magazine, research concludes that pizza can be good for you. We're talking about, however, real pizza- not the kind you get from Pizza Hut, Dominoes or the frozen food section of your supermarket. By real, I mean pizza made with real tomato sauce and olive oil.

According to Men's Health, scientists writing in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating pizza can reduce your risk of a heart attack. In a 4-year study of nearly 1,000 Italians, those who ate pizza at least once a week were 30 percent less likely to experience a heart attack than the folks who didn't partake of the pie.

This is contributed to pizza's cardio protective ingredients, including olive oil and tomato sauce. Here's the secret: top the pizza with vegetables, part-skim cheese and thin crust and you've got a meal that is actually good for you.

Can you get this kind of a pizza in a pizzeria? Most likely not. Instead you'll have to buy the ingredients at your local grocery store and make the pizza yourself. Speaking from experience, however, this can be a fun thing!

Enjoy the experience of making your own pizza and savoring a nutritious meal. After all, feeding your body with nutritious meals is the number one thing you can do for better health.

The Importance of Alternate Fuel Sources

With the depletion of the traditional fuel sources, the alternate fuel sources available nowadays become more and more important. Although there are lots of different fuel sources, gas for example is nearly out, so the more we use any alternate fuel source the better it is both for environment and for our fellow men. Extracting the gasoline pollutions is already too expensive and in addition its supplies are almost exhausted, however there are alternate fuel sources. And in case we plan their consumption effectively they will soon take the place of the traditional ones, maybe even before the time when the crisis will come.

A lot of the alternate fuel sources are actually being extracted from different kinds of plants. And this is much better because these resources are at least partly renewable. There is such an alternate fuel source called E85 or biodiesel. It actually consists of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline and even not totally renewable it is still a lot better than burning only gas. Unfortunately those alternate fuel sources are not the best solution. Yes, they do pollute less than traditional fuel sources and have some other advantages - chiefly that they are renewable, but actually they still do pollute and in addition they require growing of such vast amounts of corn, that it means a lot less land left to feed people from.

One of the best alternate fuel sources is electricity. Electric cars are very efficient because all the electrical power that they need is being produced in one location situated centrally, instead of a small and inefficient combustion motor situated internally. The electric cars use electricity, no matter how and where it was generated. It can be coming from any power plant be it a wind, a hydro-electric or a coal one. That makes such cars really good alternate means of transportation. There is another alternate fuel source and that one is actually the best. It consists of your own two legs on the pedals of a bike.

It has actually become unexpectedly popular option lately, as the other alternatives still haven't proved to be successful. Biodiesels availability is very limited and electromobiles are still not in serial production, while the bike is already a widely spread, perfectly working machine, suitable for both short and medium commutes. Unlike the more expensive alternatives, walking or riding your bike to your destination will simultaneously maintain your figure and keep you fit, save you some money and of course will help to protect the environment as well.

Are Your Undergarments Ruining Your Look?

You're ready for that special date, appointment or interview and you want to be sure that you look great. Here is a checklist that will help alleviate some stress and help you gain confidence.

1. Make sure there are no runs in your stockings. Take an extra pair with you before leaving home for added security.

2. Never wear dark undergarments under light clothing (bras or panties). Beige is a great colour to wear under whites because it can't be seen. Keep the vibrant colours for darker clothes.

3. Don't wear bras too tight or too low. Tight bras will create bulges that will not look attractive no matter how large or small you are. Go to a lingerie store to get a bra that fits properly. When you get older or you have a large bust you will need extra support. A drooping bust will make you look older instantly and is something that can be avoided by proper fit.

4. When wearing a top with smooth material choose a seamless bra. Don't wear decorative bras with such tops.

5. Bras straps should never be seen sticking out from under your tops. Keep them hidden by wearing a racer back (this type criss-crosses your back) or a strapless bra.

6. Panty lines that show will ruin your look. Keep panty lines from showing by wearing a G-string or pants that aren't too tight.

7. Don't wear your clothes too tight. It looks unprofessional and will make you appear larger.

If you don't have a full-length mirror, please get one. It will give you that last chance to see how you look from head-to-toe before you leave home.

Dealing With Violence, Creating Structure For Spontaneity And The Perils Of Being A "Jam Idiot"

Some fellow students have reported to me that their combatives training is actually making them feel less confident and more fearful!

Sounds crazy. But is it?

I had the same thing from studying RBSD/ Combatives... I really only got into it about two years after I had stopped being on the doors as a doorman or "bouncer" and getting into regular fights. I found the more I studied and the deeper I got into the subject the more nervous and less confident I felt.

Has your training made you feel more fearful?

You may well want to look at what is going on at your behavioural level and your internal dialogue... now look at your RBSD training... where are you doing it? who with? what do actually spend time focusing on in your sessions? Is there an IMPLIED feeling of incompetence? are you being hypnotised into feeling the world is a threatening place and that its a struggle to deal with? (just rhetorical questions for you to ponder )

This can be the kind of thing that happens in group therapy/ AA groups... the unspoken, implied assumption that are reflected in the language patterns are much more powerful than any specific explicit commands... beliefs like "you ARE an alcoholic" or "once an alcoholic always an alcoholic" etc

In some RBSD/combatives circles I start to get the impression by listening to their discourse that everyone who might want to have a disagreement with you WILL want to beat you up and they WILL be a "STREETFIGHTER" and that means they will be FEROCIOUS and use frighteninig prison biting tactics that you have never heard of... etc

That is just one reason studying this subject can make you more scared where it should be making you more confident.

Another is that intellectualising and frontal lobing the subject invites you to think in terms of consequence and that imagining of what MIGHT happen can drive you crazy. I personally found after 6 months of study of "how to do violence" I was less confident than I had been 3 years previous to the study when I KNEW far less but I was doing violence much more regularly!

Now thats not to say I don't think what Ive learned is useful and that I don't think I'm more skilled now than I was back then... but knowing more and being more skilled does NOT necessarily make you feel more confident.

I started to feel like my ultimate nightmare: "the RBSD nerd".

From Macolm Gladwell's book "Blink", chapter four which is about "creating structure for spontaneity":

"There are I think two important lessons here. The first is that truly successful decision making relies on a balance between deliberate and instinctive thinking... The second lesson is that in good decision making, frugality matters... overloading the decision makers with information, makes (performing a skilled task) harder, not easier. To be a successful decision maker, we have to edit."

Gladwell also references in this section a former Marine called Paul Van Riper who was called out of retirement by the Pentagon in 2000 to play the role of a rogue anti american Commander in a quarter of a billion dollar war game called Millenium Challenge.

"Van Riper didn't believe you could lift the fog of war.... from his own experiences in Vietnam... Van Riper became convinced that war was inherently unpredictable, messy and non linear... It wasn't that Van Riper hated rational analysis. Its that he thought it was inappropriate in the midst of battle, where the uncertainties of war and the pressures of time made it impossible to compare options carefully and calmly... nurses and firefighters would size up a situation immediately and act, drawing on experience and intuition and a rough kind of mental simulation. To Van Riper that seemed to describe much more accurately how people make decisions on the battle field."

Van Riper's Rogue Red Team played the "War by the book" Blue Team who obeyed every established principle of military strategy... and gave them a kicking!

"Had Millenium Challenge been a real war instead of just an exercise, twenty thousand American servicemen and women would have been killed before there own army had even fired a shot."

I say: You cant do violence by numbers, you have to develop an intuitive ability to improvise given the circumstances and then trust it, thats where real confidence comes from.

There is so much good material in Gladwell's book relevant to self protection Im struggling to edit myself ... here is my last point:

Jam Idiocy

In chapter 5 Gladwell describes an experiment performed by Psychologist Jonathan Schooler, who came up with the term Verbal Overshadowing

(... if I ask you to remember someones face, you can do it effectively, but if I ask you to describe that face in words your visual memory actually becomes impaired by that process! thats "verbal overshadowing")

In the experiment a group of food experts were asked to rank the quality of 24 different jams. Schooler took a group of college students and asked them to rank the jams too. How close was the students ranking to the experts?

"Pretty close" says Gladwell "What this says, in other words, is that our jam reactions are quite good: even those of us who aren't jam experts know good jam when we taste it."

BUT

What happened in the experiment when students were given a questionnaire and asked to explain their choices of jam? Total disaster... there was little correlation at all with the experts choice of jam.

"This is reminiscent of Schoolers experiments I described in the Van Riper story (about verbal overshadowing) in which introspection destroyed peoples ability to solve insight problems. By making people think about jam...Schooler turned them into jam idiots."

In your Combatives training, beware the "Jam Idiocy" Effect.

You cant think your way out of a problem that you acted your way into... so if you want more confidence: stop thinking so hard about everything and take action!

Microscope Incubator - Environmental Control for Live Cell Imaging

Background:

During live cell imaging, environmental parameters, such as temperature, CO2 and humidity, should be controlled to optimize experimental results. A well- controlled environment not only provides cells the best condition they need to grow, but also minimize the focus drift caused by thermal fluctuation.

Types of microscope incubator (also known as environmental control chamber):

There are two main types of microscope incubators-

A. Cage incubator: An acrylic chamber which encloses the whole microscope. It provides stable temperature across the chamber. As it needs to warm up the air inside whole chamber, it usually takes 30 minutes for the temperature to stabilize at preset temperature.

B. Stage incubator: A compact metal chamber which can be mounted on the microscope stage. As the stage chamber can be easily removed from the stage, it's convenient for shared microscope facility. On the other hand, inhomogeneous temperature distribution is usually a trade-off for this kind of incubator.

Temperature Control:

Typically, the temperature in the microscope incubator can be set from ambient to 50°C. The control accuracy depends on the design and type of incubators. For example, without advanced control, a typical stage incubator might have a 2 °C difference in temperature across the sample. On the other hand, a well-designed cage incubator yields a control precision of ± 0.2 °C.

Humidity Control:

During the time-lapse imaging, cell culture medium might evaporate and thus change cell conditions dramatically. To minimize medium evaporation, a small chamber connecting a water reservoirs is usually used to cover the sample. Passing through the water reservoir, the air gets humidified and then enter the small chamber. This technique should keep the relative humidity inside the small chamber between 90-100%

CO2 Control:

For live-cell imaging, 5% CO2 is usually supplied to a small chamber to keep the PH of culture medium constant. Most labs use 5% CO2 gas cylinder directly, while some others use 100% CO2 cylinder with a CO2 controller.

Temperature Sensor Setup:

The closer the distance between sensor and the sample, the better the temperature control. However, putting the sensor directly into the medium might alter the characteristics of the sensor and it will need calibration later on.

Microscope Incubator Customization:

As the microscope configuration varies widely, the microscope incubators usually need to be customized for individual setup.

Other considerations:

Heat sources like mercury lamps should be isolated from the environmental control chamber to ensure optimal temperature control

Video Production Business Tips - Make More By Doing Less In the Video Production Edit Suite

In your video production business, there are only a few ways to make more money in the edit suite. Charge more per hour, sell more projects or become much more efficient in your editing processes. We'll ignore the first two for now and focus on the third.

How can you become more efficient in the edit suite resulting in more profit? Here are a few tips:

1.The edit process begins when you are writing the script.

Intentionally write the script to make things easier for you in the edit. A few things to watch out for in the script are areas where you won't have any video or pictures to use to cover the narration or sound bytes from the person being interviewed. Not having enough b-roll will mean you'll have to create motion graphic sequences and that can take hours or even days to accomplish.

Instead of relying on graphics to save your tail, work hard to make sure you have enough b-roll, photography or stock footage so that you don't have to spend a huge chunk of your budget filling holes in the video with time-consuming graphics. If you have control of the scriptwriting process, shame on you if you don't write it so you can be more profitable in the edit process.

If your client writes the script, demand that you either have the budget necessary to capture enough shots or that they will provide you with stock footage or photography so that you don't have to spend an inordinate amount of time in the edit process creating graphics to fill the holes. If you stick to your guns, they will either pay you more to create the extra material or they will work harder to get you what you ask for. You win either way.

2. Remember that after your client has selected you to do their project, you are no longer competing with other video production companies.

This means you don't have to change your style or the way you approach the project. Now you can focus on what you do best along with providing excellent customer service. The client obviously thought the creative work represented on your demo reel was enough to satisfy their needs so now all you really have to do is communicate their message using your current technical and creative abilities. Now is not the time to figure out a new effect or to learn a new piece of software.

Do that in your spare time or when you don't have any projects to work on. It is certainly noble to give clients more than they expect but you can't lose money in the process. A client will prefer a technically perfect edit with special effects sprinkled throughout much more than a project that is loaded with special effects but doesn't do a great job telling their story.

3. Focus more on being technically perfect than on being creatively perfect.

Your clients will appreciate the timing of your edits much more than how fancy you transitioned in and out of a segment. Simple dissolves, fades and cuts still go a long way in pleasing the customer. I will make sure an edit is technically sound before any graphics are added. Then, I'll take a minimalist approach to adding graphics before showing it to the client for the first time.

I'll spend a few hours building an open, keep lower thirds and title pages appealing but simple to execute and will recycle these graphics for any other part of the video that requires additional graphics. The closing animation is usually something very similar to the introduction. This does a nice job ending the video and it makes sense in the client's mind.

4. Embrace third-party graphics packages and template and learn how to incorporate them into your work flow immediately.

The cost to purchase these packages is very affordable considering what you get and the time you will save trying to recreate something similar. Your clients will love how these graphics make their videos look and they won't care or even know that you didn't create them from scratch.

5. Finally, get your client involved early in the creative process.

See how they react to a creative treatment that looks good but didn't take you a long time to create. If they are excited about it, ask them if they'd like you to apply the same treatment the rest of the video. If they say yes, do it! You'll save a ton of time, which results in more money for each hour you work in the project.

If they aren't happy, tweak it in their presence until they are happy. It usually doesn't take much more than you showed them in the first place to make them happy. The only caveat here is that some clients will have a huge expectation as to how the creative visuals will be represented in their video. It's your job to make that determination early on and to budget accordingly on the front end of the project.

Technical proficiency, great storytelling and enhanced focus on customer service will get you where you want to be faster than out-of-this-world graphic animations or multi-layered composites. Your video production business will benefit more on this process. That's a fact.

Don the Beachcomber - A Founding Father of Tiki Culture

Those who know tiki know Don the Beachcomber restaurants. His restaurants popped up around the country at the very beginning of tiki craze, and were among the most popular tiki-themed bars and restaurants in the nation. In fact, he has been called the founding father of tiki restaurants, and today the style of most Polynesian or tiki-themed restaurants is a direct descendant from his creations. Who was Don the Beachcomber?

Born Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt in Texas in 1907, he left home at the age of nineteen to travel around the world on his own. In these trips he visited countless islands in the Caribbean and in the South Pacific, surely the inspiration he would later draw upon for his tiki-style restaurants. As the legend goes, he was a bootlegger during prohibition before settling in Hollywood, where he opened the Don's Beachcomber bar in 1934. It was followed by the very first Don the Beachcomber restaurant in 1937. Built during the later years of the Depression, this escape from everyday life quickly gained popularity, especially with the Hollywood elite.

Don the Beachcomber restaurants were known not only for their unique ambience, but also for the drinks, strong rum cocktails served at a distinctively decorated bar. There, Don the Beachcomber created Tahitian Rum Punch, Navy Grog, The Zombie, and other cocktails that are now well-known. A competitor's attempt to copy his Zombie rum cocktail was even served during the 1939 New York World's Fair. He also claimed to have created the Mai Tai, though his claim was disputed by Victor Bergeron, founder of the competing Trader Vic's tiki-style restaurant chain, who also claimed to have created the drink. In all, Don the Beachcomber is said to have concocted over 80 unique drink recipes.

At Don the Beachcomber's restaurant, diners ate what seemed like exotic cuisines. In actuality, they ate standard Cantonese and other Asian dishes served with flair. It is widely believed that the first "pu pu platter" (Polynesian-style appetizer plate) was probably served at a Don the Beachcomber restaurant.

Don the Beachcomber, then still known as Gantt, served in the United States Army during World War II. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star while serving in Italy. While Gannt was serving in the war, his restaurants flourished. Under his wife's management, the single Don the Beachcomber restaurant was transformed into a chain with 16 locations. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the tiki fad gave his restaurants a tremendous burst of popularity, and Don the Beachcomber restaurants opened nationwide. Besides the popular restaurant chain, he also opened a "Polynesian Village" at his ranch in Encino, California, where he entertained Hollywood celebrities.

Once his restaurants became popular, many people began calling him Don the Beachcomber. As a result, he changed his name several times, from Donn Beach-Comber to Donn Beachcomber. He finally settled on the name Donn Beach, and eventually divorced his wife and moved to Hawaii, where he founded the International Marketplace in Honolulu. He passed away in Honolulu in 1989 at the age of 81.

Adding On a Deck Has Many Benefits

By adding a deck to your home, you'll be adding additional living space for your family, adding value to your home, and encouraging your family to spend more time outdoors. A deck can offer you a place of quiet and solace or offer a new location for gathering friends and family together. It gives you more living space to entertain company.

If the square footage of your home is a bit tight for the size of your family, then the deck will help gain some elbow room between each other.

One of the most exciting steps you go through when adding a new deck to your home is planning out the design. You will be limited only by your imagination and pocketbook. Your local zoning laws will also have to be considered. Your contractor will help steer you to a design that is practical, meets local requirements, and that you will be pleased with. If the thought of designing your deck leaves you lost as to where to begin, think about buying deck design software. This will help you get your creative juices flowing.

Although an outdoor area is limited by the weather conditions, if you sink some additional money into your project, you can expand your deck's usefulness. Adding a permanent roof or awning over your deck will give you the opportunity to use it rain or shine. With a covering, plans don't have to be ruined because of the weather. You might be saying to yourself that adding the cost of a roof to your project just isn't within your budget. Not to worry. It doesn't have to be added immediately. Build the patio or deck one year and add a roof when your finances allow. Different types of covers will have different price tags. You can add a permanent roof, a stationary awning, or a retractable awning. For sun worshippers, a retractable awning may be the best choice.

Adding a covering also increases the value of the deck and therefore increases the value of your property. And although this is an important point to adding a wooden deck, the best part is the enjoyment you will get from it over the years.

Adding a deck leads to more family togetherness. Setting up a gas grill and having a cookout can become an everyday occurrence in the summertime. Cooking up dinner on an outdoor grill will help keep your kitchen cooler by avoiding heating up the stove. Your kids will enjoy dinner because of the novelty of eating outside. This is also a great way to remove ourselves from the electronic overload we usually have in our homes. Keep the cell phones inside and enjoy a family dinner together!

Fraud and Capital Gains Tax in Spain

The recent property boom has revealed a dark underbelly in the sale of property in Spain. A lot of lawyers, constructors and various middlemen have been exposed as negligent and even fraudulent and have thus caused misery for those seeking a dream home in the sun. One of the many ways in which a person may be deceived in the purchase of a home in Spain is with regard to the taxes that are due. The fraud in this case is usually carried-out by making a person liable to pay the tax where they are not legally obliged to pay at all.

The bottom line is that a sale of property in Spain can function differently from other states therefore it is important to be cognizant of the assumptions that the law makes with regard to responsibilities and the burdens for the settlement of contributions and charges that affect property ownership.

The important duties and charges that affect property ownership include the following:

Plusvalía (Capital Gains Tax),

IVA or ITP (VAT on new or second-hand homes)

Comunidad Charge (If in a shared building or urbanisation),

IBI (Council Tax),

Any mortgage on the property.

Utility bills.

In this particular article we shall analyse briefly Plusvalía or Capital Gains Tax.

Tax on Sale of Property in Spain

This tax is generally the liability of the vendor as they have prospered from the growth in the price of the home since it had previously been purchased. This is not obligatory nevertheless and if the two parties agree it can become the obligation of the buyer to discharge this duty. In fact, when the seller is a non-resident this liability actually moves to the buyer. It is on this basis crucial to investigate the legal documents to establish that there is no condition that states that the capital gains tax liability deviates from that which has in fact been agreed between the two parties

Of course where the vendor is resident in Spain and reinvests the capital gain in another primary residence then there is no liability for plusvalía or capital gains tax. That said, the assignment should still be reported in the annual tax return to avoid any difficulties further down the road.

When however the vendor is a non-resident then the purchaser is compelled to hold on to 3% of the purchase price and pass on this to the Spanish tax department. Evidence of payment of the levy is illustrated with a stamped copy of form 211 and the vendor can then reduce the same amount from the purchase price.

Educational School Supplies: Classic Children's Books

Every one has that book that loved the most when they were a child. Most of the ones we come across tend to be in our elementary school libraries, or sitting in the bookshelves in the back of the classroom. Reading is important no matter what age and these stories and characters have lasted for years. There are quite a few classic children books that should be part of every school's educational school supplies.

For simple books for the younger set, there are plenty of classics that are light on words but big on beautiful pictures. Goodnight Moon, while a bed time classic, is also great in the classroom to read to kindergarten kids before nap time. Published in 1947, it's been going strong decades later. It's large illustrations are a favorite for the little ones.

Harold and the Purple Crayon is a great book to encourage creativity, though Harold does take his artistic journey onto walls, so make sure you provide plenty of paper for your students inspiration so they don't do the same! If you have kids who are less artists but love words, Tiki Tiki Tembo is a great read-aloud book with tongue twisters and a very fun Chinese folktale at the heart of it.

As kids get older and can start to read books with a bit more depth to them, you'll want to look for more wordy and intricate stories to add to your educational school supplies. A great one to get them into is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. Beyond his other poetry anthologies that work well to teach structure and rhyme, The Giving Tree is a deeper story about what it means to have someone take care of you and the consequences of taking them for granted.

You can also move into classics that even adults love, like The Wizard of Oz or Mr. Popper's Penguins. These books are longer, with full chapters and multiple characters. Once kids are in the later elementary years, these are a great way to get them introduced to story basics like plot, characters, conflict, and resolution.

It's important to consider various picture books and novels when stocking educational school supplies. Building classes around these classic stories and using them as a way to entertain as well as educate is going to make all the difference in your students' learning. These stories are the kind that will stick with them forever, ones they will pass down to their children in the future.

Organized Day Trip Excursions on Cruise Vacations

What makes cruise vacations amazing is that they offer the opportunity to see and explore areas that might not be possible on a non-cruise vacation. With the usual two-week vacation, little time is left for visiting those far-off, remote, and highly inaccessible regions. Not so with a cruise ship vacation, as each remote stop is simply a day away. Once the ship docks in a port, you're free to explore the area up to 10 or 12 hours. One of the best ways to explore and really get to know a location is through one of the many organized ship activities. Here are some of the many advantages of booking day excursions with your cruise line.

Go with the experts Cruise lines have the experience you need. With perhaps hundreds of voyages to specific destinations, these cruise ship companies know what works and what doesn't. If whale watching is a favorite, then it will be offered again and again. On the other hand, if a particular open-air market is just one big tourist trap, it won't be scheduled on the day trip. The same goes for restaurants. If one particular local restaurant serves excellent food each and every time, that's where the group will dine. It takes out the "hit and miss" of eating out.

No problem with the language Some of these cruise vacations visit the more remote and exotic places like the Galapagos Islands, where English may not be spoken. If you're on your own, that can present a problem with planning even the simplest tour. With an organized outing, that communication problem no longer exists since the tour guide would be fluent in the native language.

No problem with getting in trouble With an organized tour, you won't have any problems with broken down rental cars or getting lost in the rainforest. You're always with a group of people and an experienced guide who knows the lay of the land. That could be especially helpful if you're visiting a third world country where crime, etc., against non-natives is common.

Don't have to hassle with booking reservations Booking the reservations at the various ports of call takes a lot of time and effort. With a cruise's organized tours, you simple show up and are ready to go.

6 Steps to Having Computer Forensic Examination Done

A computer forensic examination consists of the preservation, identification, extraction, and interpretation of documents that have been at one point stored on a computer. Whether you are looking for evidence from a crime or are simply looking to find information about your spouse, a Certified Computer Forensic Examiner can perform such an examination with six steps.

The first step the examiner will take is establishing some chain of custody. It is important that examiner knows where any items related to the investigation will be located at all times. Many times places like a safe or cabinet is best to secure the items.

Next, the examiner will catalog all relevant information including active, archival and latent data. Any kind of information that has been deleted can be recovered if at all possible and any encrypted information or information that is password-protected will be identified. During this process, an exact copy of the hard drive image will be made and the image is then authenticated against the original to ensure it is the exact copy.

From there, additional sources of information will be obtained depending on how the computer forensic examination is going and what the circumstances are. Some additional sources of information that may need to be obtained include firewall logs, proxy servicer logs, Kerberos server logs or sign-in sheets.

The fourth step during the examination is analyze and interpret all of the information in order to determine what can be used as evidence. The examiner will look for both exculpatory and inculpatory evidence to solidify a decision. In order to ensure the accuracy of the decision, encrypted files and password protected files will be identified.

After collecting all of the necessary information and evidence needed with the case, a written report will then be submitted to the client with whatever findings and comments the investigators have.

Finally, the investigator will provide expert witness testimony at a deposition, trial, or some other form of legal proceeding. Keep in mind that you cannot perform a computer forensic examination on your own. A certified examiner uses licensed equipment that will prevent tainting the evidence and ultimately ensure its validity in court.

When looking for a computer forensic examination, make sure you look for help from a certified examiner. They will be able to help you with whatever problem or evidence you are looking to attain. When performing the examination, the examiner will go through the six steps listed in this article in order to do so legally and efficiently.

Copyright (c) 2009 Ed Opperman

Contact Center on Demand a Second Chance to Outsource

The popularity of outsourcing certain parts of the operation has not only become an accepted norm but a necessity for survival in today's businesses. Vertical Integration and Control of business processes is no longer the key to financial success. But is it really the management dream to give a 3rd party vendor a part of your operations? For many these has proven to be a serious miscalculation. Losing valued time and capital resulting in loss of profits and jobs.

Is the Idea absurd? Overrated? Or the idea is sound and the execution is not perfect. Either way lots of people have done it using the original wheel. Reinventing the wheel may be the answer to those who have failed with the original one.

Here's the original idea for contact centers. Given someone with the correct core competency, the phone system, time tested quality control, and dedicated escalation procedure. Then it should be foolproof. Lot's of ways have been done to improve the process. Specialized CRM, VCC, offshore, and now CCOD.

Contact Center On Demand is cross idea between implementing a VCC using company personnel. Saving tons of cash on infrastructure meanwhile keeping the personnel under their control. Moving the operation offshore with a company representative has worked. Control of personnel, cheaper competent labor and less infrastructure has paid off for most people who tried to out.

They say that "Once bitten, twice shy." It's not a bad concept. But offshore CCOD is a whole different ballgame. Implementing several myself for outbound and inbound operations each with it's own complication yet the hassles are definitely a lot less then setting up a brick and mortar contact center or hiring an established one not knowing if they really perform as advertised.

Having your people work on it will perform as you expected them to, if the loss of discipline due to telecommuting is an issue, it's your own HR that committed the error and can be corrected. If the phone system doesn't work as reliable as it should then change vendors. If the person in charge of it doesn't work as well as expected, everyone is expendable.

CCOD may not be perfect, but having vendors who provide contact center technology and uses the same technology themselves, having a your own trusted manager to run it and having your own HR take care of personnel should be as close to perfection as it could ever get, for now.

Outsourcing in control. By definition CCOD is not outsourcing anymore. It's an offshore operation. If the model works with manufacturing, the model will work with the right implementation.

Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers 2010 - Pitchers

Everybody is looking for a sleeper in their fantasy baseball draft. Whether you win the fantasy baseball league or not, having bragging rights for finding that rookie sensation is a nice consolation prize, even if you don't end up winning the pennant.

While finding that unknown diamond in the rough is great for your ego, you're more likely to find a dud than a stud.

4 Seamer: Brian Matusz will earn a rotation spot for the improved Orioles.Here's a look at some of the top 2010 fantasy baseball pitcher sleepers and fantasy baseball pitcher prospects for your 2010 fantasy baseball draft.

Stephen Strasburg, SP, Nationals -- Its hard to say Stephen Strasburg is a sleeper, but he is a newcomer. Probably the most highly-touted pitcher to ever put on a uniform, Strasburg will likely start the season in the minors, although the hype has never been higher for a first year pitcher. We've been writing about Strasburg for almost two years now and his potential is clearly unprecedented. Strasburg will have some rough patches along the way, but he's clearly the future of the Nationals along with Ryan Zimmerman. With an improved lineup in Washington, he may actually win some games too once he's called up in May or June.

Aroldis Chapman, SP, Reds -- We have already told you a lot about Aroldis Chapman in previous articles, as he was negotiating and ultimately signing with the Cincinnati Reds in what may have been the most surprising signing of the Hot Stove season. In Chapman's debut, he hit 102 on the radar gun in front of less than 2000 Spring Training fans. Chapman is the Cuban pitcher who defected in the off-season and signed a lucrative 5-year deal with Cincinnati. It's a signing that is making Reds fans feel like they have a legitimate shot of winning a mediocre NL Central title this year. Expect Chapman to start 2010 in the minors, but only be there for a month before getting the call to Cincy.

Brian Matusz, SP, Orioles -- Brian Matusz is 23, left-handed, and went 5-2 with a 4.63 ERA in 2009. He has a mid-90's fastball to go with a nasty slider and a solid curve. He just needs to work on improving his change up. Matusz is the fifth ranked prospect, according to the MLB web site, was the top pitching prospect out of UC-San Diego in 2008, and is part of an improving Orioles pitching staff. Look for Matusz to open as the Orioles # 4 starter and to compile some solid numbers in 2010.

Neftali Feliz, RP, Rangers -- Feliz held opposing minor league and major league batters to a microscopic.140 batting average in 2009. He fanned over 11 per 9 IP. Feliz came to Texas in the Mark Texeira deal and he did not disappoint in his major league debut in August when he struck out the first four hitters he faced; that's the first time that has happened since 1962. Feliz was 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA in 31 IP while fanning 38. He gave up just 14 hits in those 31 innings and earned two saves. Frank Francisco is pegged as the Rangers' closer for 2010, but don't be surprised if Feliz takes his job by year end.

Madison Bumgarner, SP, Giants -- The Giants may soon have somebody to add to the best 1-2 pitching punch in the majors in Lincecum and Cain. The 6' 4" lefty has a 27-5 record and 1.65 ERA in his two seasons since being the number 10 pick in the 2007 draft. Madison Bumgarner has a fastball in the high 90's with a great tail on it. He is working to improve his curve and slider and has just started throwing a change up. His work ethic is top notch. The Giants gave Bumgarner a call late in the 2009 season, despite being of the tender age of 19. For the Giants, they must consider him to be untouchable and he won't spend the entire season in the minors; expect him to be a mid-season addition.

Kyle Drabek, SP, Blue Jays -- He was the first round pick of the Phillies in the 2006 draft and has an impressive bloodline being the son of Doug Drabek, NL Cy Young winner in 1990. He throws in the mid-90's and possesses a sharp curve. Last year, mostly with Reading, Drabek was 12-3 with a 3.19 ERA. He's never pitched at Triple-A, but could fit into the Jays rotation this year as a fourth or fifth starter. More likely, however, he'll start in Triple-A this year and be a late season call-up as the Jays allow him to spend another season in the minors to develop since Toronto isn't going to compete this year anyway. The Phillies hated to give up on Drabek and it took the best pitcher in baseball to get the Phillies to bite when Philadelphia tossed him to the Jays in exchange for Roy Halladay. During Spring Training, Drabek has a baseball card of Halladay hanging above his locker to remind him of the enormous expectations being placed on him in Ontario. Drabek may not start the year with the Jays, but he'll be active at some point in 2010.

Wade Davis, SP, Rays -- Wade Davis came up last year for one spot start and had the Tampa fans talking thanks to an electric curve ball. He's a workhorse and is the possible # 5 starter for the Rays this season if he can beat out Andy Sonnenstine. Davis doesn't rank with the elite prospects, but could end up as a consistent performer. He'll get his chance to earn a rotation spot for the Rays this season and one fantasy baseball site actually thinks he could become the ROY.

Ian Kennedy, SP, Diamondbacks -- Ian Kennedy, 25, was a first round pick in the 2006 draft. With the #4 and # 5 spots in the D-Backs rotation up for grabs, Kennedy has a chance to win one of those. Kennedy is more famous than most pitchers with 12 lifetime MLB starts, but that's because he's spent parts of the last three seasons as a Yankees emergency call up pitcher. This should be Kennedy's first legitimate shot at being a permanent major leaguer.

Carlos Carrasco, SP, Indians -- Carlos Carrasco came to the Indians from the Phillies in the Cliff Lee deal. He was the Phillies #1 pitching prospect, just ahead of Kyle Drabek. Carrasco is said to already be major league ready, but his 2009 stats did nothing to impress. In 22 IP, he was 0-4 with a 8.87 ERA and a 2.28 WHIP. Yuck!

Aaron Poreda, RP, Padres -- Aaron Poreda came to the Padres in the Jake Peavy deal. He pitched in 14 games last year and compiled a 1-0 record with a 2.70 ERA. His WHIP (1.73) has to be a concern with 13 walks versus just 12 strikeouts. Poreda will likely start 2010 in the minors, but he has a plus fastball to go with a plus curve and has potential to be a solid setup man or starter for the Padres late in the 2010 season and will be with the club for keeps in 2011.

Jeremy Hellickson, SP, Rays -- It looks like Jeremy Hellickson has been beat out for a chance at the Rays rotation in 2010 by another prospect, Wade Davis. His WHIP over 114 innings last year in Double-A and Triple-A was an inconceivable 0.89! While playing in the rugged AL East is no picnic for any pitcher that has to face the Red Sox and Yankees so often, the real value of Hellickson in keeper leagues might be the fact that the 22-year-old righty is top notch trade bait. The ace of the Durham Bulls staff in 2009 should be ready for the Show full-time in 2011, but with the young Rays staff, Hellickson may be used as a tantalizing lure for veteran players for Tampa Bay which is stocked with young pitching talent. Hellickson is only an injury away from a 2010 call up.

Casey Kelly, RP, Red Sox -- Casey Kelly is the # 14 prospect on the Baseball America list for 2010. Kelly has a fastball that he cutely moves at different speeds and his curve is his best pitch. His 2.08 ERA and 0.85 WHIP raised eyebrows for Sox fans last year. Kelly will likely spend a full season in the minors in 2010 and be ready full time in Fenway for 2011 if he continues to impress. Expect to see him on this list again next season.