libsecondlife - Past, Present, and Future

Posted by admin - 23/10/08 at 08:10:00 am

The libsecondlife SL4B event schedualed yesturday was pushed back to Sunday, June 24th because the sim was at capacity and almost nobody could get in to attend.

libsecondlife - Past, Present, and Future - June 24th, 1:30pm PST

This event is an open discussion about libsecondlife. It will start with a short introduction and background information and then everyone will be free to discuss any aspect of libsecondlife.

absent healing

Posted by admin - 22/10/08 at 01:10:16 am
absent healing

absent healing

the power of healing by distance

Absent or distance healing is performed in a patient’s absence. Healers use prayer, meditation and visualisation to link themselves with the patient chanelling healing energies and giving patients the power to heal themselves. The patient may be unaware they are being healed, however most healers only send healing energy when requested to do so.
Most healers discover their ability by accident, and most see it as a gift to use to help others. The majority of healers see themselves as channels or links between a healing energy force and the patient, they do not see themselves as personally able to heal. Healers may work alone or in groups and some may work speciffically within spritual groups and churches. These bodies often help the healer develop their gift.
Who can it help?
Absent healing can benefit anyone suffering from mental, spiritual or physical distress although it is thought to work best on those who are relaxed and have an optomistic postive attidude to the treatment. Becasue the patient does not have to be present or to be active in the treatment, absent healing is thought to be particullay suitable for babies, young children, animals, those who are very ill and unable to travel, unconscious patients and mentally disordered patients. Additionally there is thought to be a special benefit to those with chronic condtions in which a patient’s own energy is exceptionally depleted.
Consulting a healer
Healers working within the Confedertaion of healing Organistaions and most solo healers do not to diagnose patients and definately do not not try to examine patients. However animal healing differs as some animal healers also provide animal communication services (see animal communication article for more details). Healing is usually a gradual process as the healing energy helps pateitnst heal themselves. Instant cures are not claimed and should not be expected espcially when illnesses are due to long term factors like stress. Healing is never offered as a replacemmt for medical therapy. Progress can be slow and a pateint may experinec worsening of symptoms before they get better. Healing can encourage many patients and have a positive psychological effect many patients finding it extremely relaxing and finding inner harmony.
Here comes the science
A few doctors may suggest healing along with other forms of treatement provided that the doctor remains in charge of the patients overall treatment and care. A code of conduct written between the Conferderation of Healing Organistaions and the Royal College of Medicine prohibits healers belonging to affiliated groups claiming cures or promsing results. Other healers who do make claims for themselves may not be charlatans they may truly believe in the energies they work with. Most medical authorities are sceptical about the benefits of absent healing and doctors may argue that positive results could be explained as temporoary psychological effects as the patient beleives the treatment will help them. This however does not explain possible positive effects seen on patients unaware of having the treatment or on animals. However doctors agree absent healing can do no harm as long as the healing does not take the place of medical treatment, the healer acts in an orthodx manner and the patient’s hopes are not raised unrealistically.
Find a practicioner
Healers can be contacted through our database and through the World Federation of Healing website http://www.wfh.org.uk/. Alternatively some churches have healing sessions and it may be worthwhile to look out for such meetings in the local paper. Many healers offer their services for free or accept only voluntary donations.
Find a healer on our database
Comment on this article…
Have you received absent healing? Why not write an article and share your experience with other readers?
Are you a practicioner of absent healing and would like to add yourself to our database?
Alternatively why not write an article about your experiences of being a healer?
We’d love to hear from you!!!
Best wishes
Jillie

Geographical Webservices in Costa Rica

Posted by admin - 20/10/08 at 05:10:59 am

http://www.geonames.org/export/ws-overview.html

http://ws.geonames.org/countryInfo?lang=en&country=CR&style=full

The Geonames Webservices collection provides live XML information that can be integrated into a web application.

TCT Daily Podcast - Episode #227 Kung Fu Cows!

Posted by admin - 19/10/08 at 03:10:58 am

Today’s Totally Cool Tech: Chinese Cancer Fighting Cows

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Chinese scientists announced that they have bred a genetically altered cow capable of producing cancer fighting proteins for humans.

Try GotoMyPC free for 30 days! For this special offer, visit www.gotomypc.com/podcast

Email: tctpodcast@gmail.com
Voice Mail: (206) 888-6672

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could this be any easier?

Posted by admin - 16/10/08 at 03:10:40 am

Talking Points Memo | How The Obama Camp Should Respond:

Just as John McCain bought his ad time for right after Obama’s speech last night, they should get their own for right after Palin.

And here’s the ad: A one-minute spot featuring Hillary Clinton herself, talking to the camera and laying into Palin on the issues, her complete lack of qualifications, and the temerity of the McCain campaign to think they could get away with this. Then she urges anyone watching who might have supported her to get out there and support Barack Obama.

Then it closes simply with Obama walking on to the set to shake Hillary’s hand: “I’m Barack Obama, and I approved this message.”

That could be what we call a “crusher.”

Maintain Forward Tension

Posted by admin - 15/10/08 at 12:10:44 pm

One principle in Wing Chun is the maintaining of forward tension. To explain, I’ll draw the distinction between Tension and Energy and show how this principle in Wing Chun can be applied to Change Management.

Tension is a type of Energy

A Wing Chun maxim goes as follows:

soft and relaxed strength will put your opponent in jeopardy

That maxim means that forward tension is not necessarily using force, or forcing through a barrier or “pushing through”. But, there is soft force, or tension, such that when a gap presents itself, then the hand or arm shoots forward like a spring. The “shooting forward” is not done with force, but is an unleashing of potential energy.

Using that definition, then, Forward Tension is much different than the overly-used business term “Breakthrough.” In the context of Forward Tension, the notion of “breakthrough” is ridiculous, because it connotes a forcing of oneself or of one’s ideas. Forcing anything only invites resistance and rebellion, not conversion.

So, in sum, tension is really potential energy and when a gap presents itself, that potential energy becomes kinetic energy. Forward Tension works with the current context in such a way that does not invite rebellion or resistance or eventual back-biting. It is open, but straightforward.

Application to Change Management

Don’t force things on people. The most humane approach to change management is to treat those involved in the change as human beings; this means having a dialogue — listen, speak, listen some more, argue a little, and steadily deposit goodwill.

As much as I like love data, I also fully understand that data does not soften hearts or change people’s minds: true change happens when people feel heard, have given their opinion, are willing to try something new, and are part of the change. The challenge in change management is largely an emotional one; a psychological one; a relational one.

Hold The Tension

Without forcing or pushing of people, maintaining the tension encourages discussion, debate, and invites people to inquire and become curious about the topic of change. That is the key: behave in such a way that it invites people to learn, argue, debate, and eventually try it out.

Tension in Wing Chun

The video below shows Sifu Grados in Chi Sao (Sticky Hands). This sensitivity exercise demonstrates the principle of holding the tension and visually explains the principle of transformation of potential energy to kinetic energy very well.

NOTE: none of the movements are rehearsed. What is taught and practiced are the principles and how those principles are applied during Chi Sao depends on the situation.

Articles on Ethnography and Design:

  1. Feature? What Feature?
  2. Simplify The Product
  3. Ask Aza Raskin
  4. Aza Raskin on Poka-Yoke & The Humane Interface
  5. Aza Raskin on Quasimodal Design and The ATM
  6. Aza on Feature-Bloat and Site Clutter
  7. Aza on Google Search Results Page
  8. Aza on Cooperation and Team Size
  9. Design Thinking in Medicine
  10. On Designing a Watering Can for Little Hands
  11. Queueing Theory and Visual Management
  12. An Interview with the Inventor of “Clocky”
  13. Bad Breath but Good Design
  14. What is Ethnography

Articles on Leadership:

  1. Overmanaged and Underled
  2. Colin Powell on Leadership
  3. Team or Staff?
  4. Tipping-Point Leadership
  5. Abraham Lincoln on Leadership
  6. How to transform an Organization: Chime-in Before Buy-in

Articles on Queueing Theory:

  • Queueing Theory: Part 1
  • Queueing Theory: Part 2
  • Queueing Theory: Part 3
  • Queueing Theory: Part 4
  • What is Waste?
  • On Time-Traps and Waste
  • Call Centers as Queueing Systems
  • Travel Time & Waste
  • Little’s Law for Product Development
  • YouTube’s Queueing Properties
  • Psychology of Queueing and Disneyland
  • Queueing, Disneyland, and FastPass
  • Multi-Tasking Leads to Lower Productivity
  • Queueing Theory and Terrorism
  • On Queueing Theory and Elevator Mirrors
  • Psychology of Queueing, Haunted Houses, and Halloween
  • The Variability Tree
  • Attitude and the Psychology of Waiting - The Psychology of Queueing

Articles on Operations, lean and six sigma:

  • Managing Constraints Under Peak Volumes
  • Order Pipeline of Events
  • On Game Theory
  • Applied Regression Analysis
  • 5S
  • Click-to-Ship Processes
  • Kanban Sizing and “Pull”
  • Lean at Krispy Kreme
  • Theory of Constraints and Camping
  • Lean for Software Development
  • Don’t Waste the Customer’s Time
  • Featuritis and the Focus on the Customer

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RSS awareness day

Posted by admin - 13/10/08 at 07:10:48 am

RSS Awareness Day

Daniel Scocco over at DailyBlogTips had an admirable idea of entitling 1st of May as the “RSS Awareness Day”. He wrote about his initiative and invited everyone to get involved. Though I found out about this quite some time ago I didn’t had time or I wasn’t in the mood to write about it. However today I’ve said to myself that it’s better later than never.

I think that the best definition for RSS out there is over at Wikipedia so I’m going to quote them:

RSS is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines, and podcasts. An RSS document (which is called a “feed” or “web feed” or “channel”) contains either a summary of content from an associated web site or the full text.

RSS keeps you updated with the latest news from your favorite blogs, sites and other web hosted entities that support RSS. Information is a very powerful asset. For example I have a feed list containing about 50 subscriptions. Every day I take some time off and read new articles from different blogs I’m interested in. It is a very effective way of being connected to the news stream. I find RSS way better than e-mail subscriptions (or newsletters) because it helps keeping my e-mail address for private use. Also you have better chances at keeping your Spam folder a little emptier because you don’t go on every blog or site and fill in your e-mail address. Basically you are just an anonymous reader out there and there is nothing that could link you to the articles you read. That, right there my friends is just a terrific possibility.

Related to feeds that display only a preview of the article. That is, in my opinion, a very bad practice. Hoping your subscribers will visit your blog to see all of the post content you forget about what is RSS all about. Provide full feeds of your articles and let your readers choose whether to visit your blog or not.

As you probably noticed the link that takes you to the RSS content of a blog or site is almost every time accompanied by the well known RSS icon. Different RSS icons are available every day as they are relatively easy to design. Check out the following resources links:

  • Feed Icons
  • Free Glass Style RSS Icons
  • RSS: Best design practices and icons
  • Free RSS Feed Icons
  • Over 35 Different Styles of RSS icons
  • 60 Great RSS Icons for your blog
  • All the RSS Icons You’ll Ever Need
  • 51 Top RSS Buttons for your blog
  • Free RSS Icons & Buttons for your Website

Hopefully the above links will take you to some relevant RSS related icons so you’ll can achieve a seamless RSS integration on your blog or site.

Home Inspectors and the Re-inspection

Posted by admin - 12/10/08 at 12:10:59 pm

Eric Badgely asked:

On the surface, it sounds simple enough. But, in fact, the simple re-inspection of a previously inspected home or property is very high liability to the working home inspector. A synopsis of the complexities of the re-inspection process, and why it worries home inspectors, is provided below.

Frequently a home inspector is asked to re-inspect repairs at a house where that inspector had previously performed an inspection. This is typically done at a fraction of the cost of the original inspection. On the surface, this process sounds simple enough but, in fact, home inspectors are often very uncomfortable doing re-inspections. While this might seem strange to the casual observer, the reasons for this reluctance on the part of the inspector are described below.

An inspector, and this is the primary role of the position, is expected to go in to a home and find visible defects — some of which might be subtle. The inspector should recommend that the repair work be done, and that the system be evaluated for upgrades, by a qualified party: a licensed electrician, a licensed plumber, a licensed contractor, a licensed roofer, a licensed HVAC professional, etc. So far, it seems simple enough but then reality sets in. The seller or a friend, or someone free, cheap or casual labor, will end up doing all the work at a fraction of the cost one would pay to a qualified professional. While that might be satisfactory for some smaller maintenance or cleanup jobs, the big problem comes in when this same party works on complicated repairs, projects or systems. For example, let us assume that the inspector initially found melting insulation on solid-strand aluminum wiring in the main electric panel. The inspector later comes back to re-inspect and finds that somebody has snipped off the charred ends and put the same wires back in the same panel on the same terminals. Even if some better than average amateur repair was done at the melted wires, chances are that the aluminum wires are also corroded, melted and unsafe at the terminals at the other end where they connect to the wall outlet. The non-electrician, who did the work, had no clue that the problem in the panel was merely the tip of the iceberg. He or she missed the big picture which is equally, or even more, dangerous. Similar situations, where defects can be concealed by shoddy work, occur in plumbing, roofing, HVAC and other parts of the home.

Home inspectors are generalists, who know a fair amount about many different systems. The inspector is not, usually, an expert on any one area. Inspectors work hard to detect problems but then will, to make sure the repair is done correctly, refer work to specialists: licensed plumbers, electricians, contractors or HVAC technicians. That way the component or system called out as faulty, and anything more complicated in that system, will be detected and repaired by the specialist and that leads to an extra margin of safety for the consumer.

Trying to discern if work is done correctly is actually harder than finding the initial problem, especially if anyone involved in the repair is sneaky. That is the reason an inspector wants to see specialized work done by qualified and licensed parties. That policy, of recommending professionals, protects the inspector to some degree and is a kind of insurance policy. If it ends up that a licensed electrician, plumber or contractor did a lousy job, in a concealed area, that company is responsible for the problem that remains. On the other hand, if some fly- by-night worker with no skill or license only half does the work, then that can get an inspector into hot water. Take for instance, a worker who replaces visible galvanized steel supply pipe but replaces none of the rusted pipe that runs inside the walls. Six months later, as water begins to gush through holes in the pipes, the buyer is mad at the inspector for not guessing that the handyman didn’t replace the rusted pipes that were hidden inside the walls. If a professional plumber had been in that equation, and did such poor work, the buyer would be able to complain to the plumber. But since the repair was done by an unlicensed party, who might have even vanished into thin air, the easiest person to get mad at is the inspector who is still around, insured but certainly could not see inside those walls.

Obviously, in a re-inspect, a wise inspector uses defining and exclusionary language. Also, a number of inspectors just flat will NEVER sign off on any electrical, plumbing, roofing or structural work unless invoices prove that all of the work was done by a qualified and licensed party. That policy applies regardless of how good the work might look on the surface. This kind of strict, and non-flexible policy, is always frustrating to the sellers or the realtors involved. Regardless, agree or disagree with this kind of policy, now you know why home inspectors feel that they have extremely high liability during re-inspections.

Recycle old cell phones

Anthrax Could Terrorize Again

Posted by admin - 11/10/08 at 07:10:13 am

Professor Francis Boyle, a bio-weapons expert spoke with radio host, Alex Jones August 21. This is an edited, excerpted transcription of that interview.

Francis Boyle: “I had drafted the United States biological weapons anti-terrorism act of 1989 that was passed unanimously by both Houses of the United States Congress and signed into law by President George Bush Sr.”

After realizing that the anthrax attacks looked like a domestic job, Boyle called a high-level official in the FBI who deals with terrorism and counter-terrorism, Marion “Spike” Bowman. Boyle and Bowman had met at a terrorism conference at the University of Michigan Law School.

“I told Mr. Bowman in October 2001, the only people capable of the anthrax attack would be those individuals working at either United States government labs or private contractors. Obviously it seemed to me it was US government related. I told Agent Bowman, ‘It’s also been reported this summer that the CIA was engaged in anthrax work as well.’ He said he would take that information to the proper channels and we hung up.

Then it occurred to me I had such a list going back to when I tried to get that legislation through and so I called him back and I told him, ‘You could get the CIA list from the CIA.’ He said ‘The FBI was working with Ft. Detrick,’ and I said, ‘Fort Detrick could very well be the problem here.’

At that point, I assumed good faith on the part of the FBI in this investigation because it had killed several people. It had shut down the United States Congress–which I think was probably the greatest political crime ever inflicted on our republic in its history. But then I read that the FBI had authorized the destruction of the US government Ames-Strain data collection in Ames, Iowa. Ames-Strain was the anthrax strain responsible for US bio-warfare programs. Everyone knew that. And indeed that’s all been confirmed. You can read it in today’s New York Times. When I read about the Ames-Strain destruction I knew a cover-up was under way. Legitimate scientific researchers could have taken that collection and used it to genetically reconstruct precisely how, when and where the the weapon come from, and they destroyed it.

This clearly was a federal crime in its own right–destruction of evidence. That evidence should have been preserved as evidence of a crime. It was obvious they were covering-up–and have been covering up ever since.

In today’s New York Times the FBI admits that Bruce Ivans submitted a culture to the FBI, which they promptly destroyed. So there you have–yet again, an instance of destruction of evidence and obstruction of justice by the FBI.

The important issue to realize is this: there is today in existence a stockpile of super, weapons-grade, anthrax that is under the control of the original perpetrators of the Anthrax attacks of October 2001 and that stockpile can and will be used against-when their masters decide that it would be politically convenient to scare and terrorize the American people. They could launch another attack on US–including the Congress, the Judiciary, and the media.

I believe the first anthrax attack was designed to ram through the PATRIOT act because Senator Tom Daschle and Senator Patrick Leahy who were targeted victims of the attacks were holding the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act up and once the anthrax attack occurred, it rammed right through. Indeed, the renewal of the USA P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act Senator Russ Feingold was holding it up and all of a sudden–out of nowhere, some white powdered substance appeared at one of the Senator’s office buildings. It was an anthrax scare, and then all of a sudden–renewal of the PATRIOT Act went through. It wasn’t real anthrax, but it didn’t have to be real anthrax this time.

I think people in Congress-they’re smart intelligent people. I think they know who were responsible. I don’t think they believe the cock and bull FBI explanation. But of course, they’re afraid. Their lives are on the line.

I think what we have to do now is insist on a full-scale Congressional investigation along the lines of the Watergate hearings-open public hearings by a joint committee of Congress because this attack was designed to shut Congress down–which it did. It succeeded for the first time in the history of our republic when congress was actually rendered inoperative. The Supreme Court was also shut down. And our media were attacked–our fourth estate.

The Presidency and the Executive branch was not attacked. I’ll leave that to you to figure out, but we do know that the White House was on Cipro [a drug designed to protect people who have been exposed to anthrax spores.]

Sometimes, things really do just happen

Posted by admin - 07/10/08 at 05:10:16 am

I talked recently about how little other people typically think about you, and how that should be a freeing things. Also, just how difficult it can be to accept that because, let’s face it, we all see the world through our own perspective, and that perspective is utterly and completely focused on ourselves. So, it’s easy to begin to question what we’ve done or not done when a friend doesn’t respond the way we think they should.

Case in point, recently I had sent a couple of emails to a good friend of mine, and gotten no response at all. One of them even included a very simple question that didn’t require more than a yes or no answer, yet there was none forthcoming.

I actually did start to wonder what I had done or said to her that caused her to try and avoid me like this. We’ve been friends for years, and I was worried that maybe something had happened to suddenly make her uncomfortable with me.

I shrugged these concerns off and tried to continue on like normal, but it still left me wondering.

Turns out, her workplace email system had flagged my messages as spam, and she didn’t even see them until a few days or a week after I had sent them. There was no conflict, no nothing, just someone who was going about their days not really thinking about checking her spam folders for emails from people she hadn’t heard from lately.

So you see, sometimes, people aren’t trying to avoid you, they really are busy, or really don’t get your message. It happens, lighten up. :)

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