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Electronics: Newer, Faster, Better

When it comes to electronics, newer, faster, and better models of everything from computer processors to cellular phones appear at least every six months. The evolution of technology means manufacturers are incorporating more features and more power into virtually every type of consumer electronics. When you're in the market for consumer electronics - whether for yourself or as a gift idea for someone else - the question becomes, do you need to buy the latest and greatest?

As an example, let's take a look at digital cameras. Virtually everyone is making the switch - if they haven't already - from film to digital. Seven mega-pixel digital cameras are everywhere, and single lens reflex digital cameras are poised to dramatically drop in price within the next twelve months. With the dozens, if not hundreds, of models from which to choose, does it make sense to buy a top of the line digital camera?

Not necessarily. The type of digital camera you need depends on how you're planning to use it. If you primarily use a camera on vacations or while traveling, the most important feature might be the weight of the camera. The ultra-thin, lightweight digital cameras now on the market may not have all of the features of their heavier counterparts, but they're perfect to stick in your shirt pocket and pull out at a moment's notice.

If you take most of your pictures outdoors, an LCD screen with backlighting - and a viewfinder - might be the most important feature for your needs. There's nothing more frustrating than not being able to see what you're shooting. On the other hand, if you primarily use your camera indoors, a red-eye reduction feature is a must-have. If you want to use your camera at your child's soccer games, a digital camera that allows you to take short movies might be perfect for you.

You also need to consider how you'll be using the camera when it comes to selecting the appropriate picture resolution. Most people don't really need a seven mega-pixel camera; and you definitely don't need one if all you're going to do with the pictures is view them on your computer monitor or post them online.

Unlike jewelry, where more is almost always better, consumer electronics don't need to have every single feature in order to be useful. Let's face it: most of us only use a fraction of the power and features in our computers and software. So, when we're buying consumer electronics, it's important to think through which features we'll use and which are extras that add to the price but not the value.

posted by aasdas38493 @ 10:50 PM 0 comments

Kids Are Professional Athletes - The Curse of Athleticism or the Big-League Myth

How much is too much?

For youth sports, the answer is apparently nothing. An average professional hockey, basketball, or soccer player might have 80 games a year. Eight- or nine-year old kids often play the same, along with practices and weekend tournaments.

So whats going on?

Whats going on is that adults are ruining sports from kids. Weve professionalized youth sports, organized the games kids used to play in the schoolyard or in parks. Instead of that endless and unstructured fun, parents drive their kids to games and practices, where coaches tell kids what to do and how to do it. This goes on five, six, even seven times a week. Sure, a precious few go on to superstardom as professional athletes, but theyre the one percent of the one percent. The rest burn out.

Is it really necessary to travel every weekend to yet another tournament? Is that third practice a week really adding to a young persons enjoyment? Has society forgotten about the Law of Diminishing Returns? Is there not something wrong about $30,000 budgets for a hockey team of 12-year olds?

More is not necessarily better. The magic number is three - one game and two practices a week. Until a kid is 13 or 14, that is enough of any one activity. Let them develop a number of interests - sports, reading, music, and maybe hanging out with friends once in a while. After that age, if the interest is still there, then it might be appropriate to let them focus on one sport or activity. Two- and three-sport athletes are going the way of the Dodo bird. We do no lack for great athletes, but we force our kids to specialize at an early age. Cross training is widely accepted by experts as an essentially part of an athletes development. Yet, I do not see many kids cross training at all.

Naturally, if any of my kids were a Michael Jordan or a Tiger Woods I would encourage them to focus. Unless yours belongs to that elite class, however, perhaps your kid would be better off playing a number of sports; and make sure they have time to play after school, without coaches and referees blowing whistles all the time.

There is also a worrying commercial side to this issue. Leagues and tournaments have become a big business, along with equipment sales and sports facilities. Ironically, all this money depends upon a constant stream of kids who play a whole lot of sports. The more they play, the more money is made. I find it hard to ignore this connection; and, also not to believe that business has been an active partner in fueling the belief so prevalent among parents and coaches that kids have to play their sport every day of the week.

We need to remember that youth sports are for kids - not for those watching from the sidelines, or tournament organizers, or equipment manufacturers. Professional athletes are paid millions to play 80 games a year; how much are our kids getting for becoming professional athletes at 8-years old?

posted by aasdas38493 @ 7:34 PM 0 comments

Child Care - When Is It Too Much? - Part I

In this article we're going to discuss the fine line between too much child care and just the right amount of it.

In today's economy it is a fact of life that it isn't always possible to survive on one income. All too often in a family, both parents have to work for a living. When children aren't involved in the mix this isn't too big a problem since even if just one of the couple were working they still wouldn't see each other until the worker came home. But in the case of a child it's a big difference. With both parents out of the house the child, depending on its age, needs to be cared for. Even a young teenager shouldn't be left all alone day after day. Teenagers can get into a lot of trouble unsupervised, even for just a couple of hours.

But what about your small child, the one who needs care all day? Certainly finding care isn't difficult, as there are many daycare centers available. But that isn't the issue of this article. The issue is the question, "Just how beneficial is constant child care to your child?" This isn't as easy a question as it appears to answer.

Sure, we can all agree that you can't leave a 2 year old home alone all day. Yes, the child needs to be cared for if both parents are out of the house working. What needs to be addressed is the pluses and minuses of both parents working, making it necessary for the child to be cared for on a constant basis.

While the psychology of how a child will react to a stranger caring for him as opposed to how that child reacts to his own parent is beyond the scope of this article, it can't be ignored. Studies show that children that grow up in a home environment with at least one parent caring for them, grow up better adjusted than children who are left to daycare for years on end.

"But we have no choice! We both have to work!" come the screams. Well, actually, you don't have to both go to work. You choose to both go to work. Big difference. In a democracy like the United States, which is also the worst offender in this case, you are free to work or not work. But that isn't the issue either. The issue is in doing what's best for the child.

There are arguments on both ends of the spectrum. There are those who say that if the child is financially provided for and thus has all the "essentials" in life, this will make up for the lack of time that child spends with his parents. Others say that there is no substitute for a mother's love and children who grow up in daycare centers grow up to be troubled teens.

The arguments will continue. But what the parents can do in order to help insure that their child does grow up to be well adjusted is to spend as much time with the child as possible, even if both have to work.

In the second part of this two part series we'll discuss several ways that the parent can provide daycare and still give the child the quality time he or she needs to be with at least one of the parents.

posted by aasdas38493 @ 5:03 PM 0 comments

Ancient Meteor Impact May Hold Key to Uranium Exploration Success at Cluff

I look at about 100 different projects a year, most of which go into the round filing cabinet on my floor, said Tony Harvey, the senior technical advisor to ESO Uranium (TSX: ESO), and formerly a senior manager of Wright Engineers-Fluor Daniels, which was involved with the design and construction of 14 mines worldwide. Harvey quickly ticked off what is necessary to attract his eye, I need to see history. I need to see signposts before I give it any credence. So why is he advising little-known ESO Uranium, after a long, prolific career?

I believe this one has a huge amount of history, Harvey argued. Not only have you got the Cluff Lake mine, which already confirms the presence of uranium, but you have got the Shea Creek drilling intercepts which validate it. We have the conductors streaming onto our property. We have the boulders, which is also another sign post. The boulders, of which Tony Harvey refers, are the six uranium-mineralized boulders near the ESO Uranium project on the companys Cluff property. Near those boulders, a promising drill hole from the 1970s indicated 0.85% U3O8 over 2.3 meters. It was all but forgotten until the recent explosion of exploration activity in Saskatchewans Athabasca Basin, an area which has helped Cameco (NYSE: CCJ) grow into a company with a market capitalization of nearly $12 billion.

What ESO Uraniums geological team will be looking for at the companys Cluff property are Cluff Lake style uranium deposits in basement rocks with the Carswell structure close to the unconformity with sandstones of the Athabasca group. That was allegedly created by the meteor's impact.

Drilling in the Meteors Wake

The value of the ore extracted at the Cluff mine, in todays terms, would be equivalent to $2.6 billion, explained Harvey. Thats how much was extracted at the Cluff mine. The companys vice president of exploration, Benjamin Ainsworth, who is both a senior geologist and a mining engineer, helped explain the Cluff structure. A meteorite probably impacted at this location and with sufficient force to break right through the layers of Athabasca sandstone on the surface. On rebound, basement rocks got lifted back up. In bouncing back out, it also lifted up the surrounding Athabasca rocks and tipped them up, if you can imagine, like an opening flower. As a result, the basement got lifted up to the surface and made it easier to find and mine the uranium at Cluff. Ainsworth added, The significance of that for me and our group is that shows very high grade uranium deposits in the western side of Athabasca.

Drilling a property helps the geological team better understand the area. Since the Cluff property was mined out, two decades ago, additional scientific study has opened up new doors. At the 67th Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting, University of Quebec Earth Science professors presented a paper entitled, A Re-Evaluation of the Size of the Carswell Astrobleme. The Montreal scientists concluded in the 2004 annual conference held in Brazil, The Carswell impact structure is therefore older and larger than previously estimated the central uplift considered to be under the annular dolomitic unit would suggest a crater size in the basement of 118 to 125 kilometers wide. While some believe the meteor hit about 478 million years ago, recent evidence suggests it may have been closer to 1.8 billion years ago.

Ainsworth warned there is a lot of risk in drilling for uranium deposits. The geometry of these things is damn small. ESO president Jonathan George pointed out that the worlds richest uranium deposit, McArthur River, hosting about 400 million pounds of uranium, had half of its deposit in an area about half the size of a football field. I think thats mind boggling, he said, that a $7 billion project would be on an area that small.

posted by aasdas38493 @ 4:18 PM 0 comments

Video Slide Show Productions

Slide show companies are popping up all over the internet. People are taking their pictures and placing them on CDs, DVDs, or VHS for personal use and for gifts for all occasions. People everywhere are hiring companies to make wedding slide shows for receptions, graduation slide shows, anniversary slide shows, birthday slide shows, memorial service slide shows, vacation slide shows, holiday slide shows, and just about anything you can think of slide shows. But how do you know which slide show company to choose?

It use to be that when we took our photos of our special occasions: weddings, vacations, reunions, birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, family, friends, pets and so on, that wed get the photos developed and place them in a photo album or a shoe box. A couple of our very favorites would be placed in frames. But, the photo album or shoebox would then sit on a shelf or under a bed or in a closet or somewhere where theyd be neglected and hardly ever looked at. In the meantime the photos themselves are drying out, cracking, and turning yellow. When we do go to look at them theyre never as good as we remember because theyve aged.

Placing our photos on CD, DVD, or VHS preserves the photos forever. They will never crack, fade, yellow, or get damaged. Future generations can enjoy the same quality in a hundred years as we can today.

Turning your photos into slide shows, video albums, or photo montages makes the photos fun to watch and more people will enjoy viewing them with you. So how do you know if you've found a quality slideshow company? An important rule of thumb to remember is, "If the price seems too good to be true, then it probably is". Creating slide shows is a service related industry; no real slide show creating company can give you quality work without putting quality time into it. The less the price, the less the amount of time going into it. You might as well go buy yourself the cheapest slide show software you can find and do it yourself.

A quality slide show creating company has invested thousands of dollars to be able to produce the highest quality work for the consumer. In addition, they will spend the time needed to clean up your photos and create a quality CD, DVD or VHS that you can be proud of. Although, like in any industry, you'll need to beware of those who overcharge, the bottom line is; the more time a company puts into creating your slideshow, the higher the cost of that slide show.

When comparing prices, don't forget to compare the contents of the package. This will make a tremendous difference in the pricing and the quality of the slideshow you receive. But don't fall for bogus charges such as transition charges. What are slide shows without transitions? So shop around, compare prices, packages, and view some slide show samples.

Viewing slide show samples is very important to choosing your video slide show production company. If youre satisfied with just the simple fade-in, fade-out photo montage style slideshows, then you have a lot to choose from. If you want something fun, exciting, emotional, creative and unique, then theres very little to choose from. The slide show company you choose should value your precious memories so much that it reflects in the slide shows they create. To a true slide show creator, creating quality slide shows is comparative to an artist who is creating yet another masterpiece: each one is unique, creative, evokes emotion, no two are exactly alike, and all are worthy of displaying to everyone you know. At Sands of Time Multimedia Creations, slide shows are works of art. Visit us today and experience the difference!

posted by aasdas38493 @ 1:58 PM 0 comments

Why Organic Cotton?

Organic cotton begins with living soil. This means the soil has not had any chemicals used in it for at least three years and it has been enriched with compost and other organic matter. Enriching the soil in this way ensures vigorous plants which in turn means they will be better able to be bug, weed and disease resistant. Cotton plants need huge amounts of nitrogen; so organic cotton farmers use chicken manure or plant cover crops of Vetch or Fava Beans all of which supplies the cotton plants with the desired nitrogen. These replace synthetic fertilizers that are harmful. Organic farmers also make sure they have good bugs in their fields. These dont harm the cotton; they prey on the bad bugs that would harm the cotton plants. These bad bugs are the reason that regular cotton farmers feel the need to use chemical sprays. How much better it is to use natural ways of controlling them! Weeds are managed by mechanical or hand-hoeing methods. When it is harvest time the cotton is handpicked!

The processing of organic cotton is done with potato starch instead of chemicals. No chlorine is used. When spinning the organic cotton fiber, natural easily biodegradable oil is used. No finishes are added! It comes to you pure! Being chemical free can be a life and death matter!

Cotton is a very versatile fiber and almost any type of fabric can be made from it. It conducts heat well and soaks up to 27 times its weight in water. It is also very comfortable and durable. Think how important all these qualities are when it comes to your bedding and clothing!

posted by aasdas38493 @ 1:04 PM 0 comments