The Skyline View : The J-Spot ? Communication!

By Daniel Chee/The Skyline View

Justine Abellana, TSV Features Editor
November 29, 2012 ? 52 views
Filed under Features, The J-Spot

Communication is one of the most important things in a relationship, in any relationship actually. To be frank, I?ve had a difficult time writing this article for multiple reasons. It?s a topic that?s a lot easier said than done and has a lot of aspects that go into it. Everybody miscommunicates, and yes, it is even important for those couples with fairy tale endings. (Shoot, that?s probably how they got to that point.)

There are so many reasons as to why communication is hard. We tend to not want to hurt our partners? feelings, or we know we can do it too easily. We have a hard time finding the words to put to our emotions, or someone gets misinterpreted in the process and all hell breaks loose. But these are all reasons to why we should communicate.

A lot of the time, the effort isn?t even there to do so. I know many people that tell me ?Why should I have to tell them, they should know!?. Get real, nobody is a mind reader. Put your pride aside and talk, don?t yell, scream, don?t demean, talk.

If there is no communication, then you and your partner are lacking a connection needed to be successful together. And yeah, I?m not one to talk. I?m not saying me and my girlfriend communicate perfectly, but we do recognize the importance of communication between the two of us.

The best relationships are the ones that two people can talk openly between each other. When you?re comfortable with your man or woman is when communication is a lot easier.

Comfort reflects in each aspect of a relationship, physically, sexually, and emotionally. I?ve come to learn that the difference between dating girls I just meet and becoming randomly attracted to someone I?ve known are two different things. I?m a huge advocate for dating someone you know you can be friends with.

I?ve been in a relationship that I jumped into, and her feelings were a lot less important to me than my girlfriend?s feelings are now. My relationship now started primarily as a friendship, eventually we became best friends. Her feelings are important to me because of our friendship.

Communication is important to build a foundation of trust and comfort.

It also helps you understand your partner, and can strengthen any relationship. What?s most important
is knowing how to handle a discussion.

It?s easy to talk about an issue, but it?s not easy to not argue about the issue. Warning: this is what takes a lot of patience. If you don?t like something they say to you, try to be empathetic. They are obviously having negative feelings about something and whether its wrong or right, true or false,
you have to understand.

Let your partner talk and in the end reassure them on the facts. Talk to your significant other. Please,
please, please do this. Always communicate, it?s the only way you can keep a relationship healthy. A lot of young people play games.

It?s the whole he said, she said stuff. The ?I won?t call him because he hasn?t called me.? Even if they
are 3 years deep into a relationship. It?s not hard to be open, and if you can?t be comfortable enough to not play games, maybe this particular relationship isn?t for you.

I know a lot of people always worry about what to criticize and what to hold back when it comes to
sharing with their partner. I believe the way to have a healthy relationship is to always speak our mind, but you of course have to speak it in a respectable manner. Always approach a sticky topic carefully. I?ve recently found an easy way to do it.

Go into the conversation saying that its nothing needed to argue about, just an issue you?ve been having and want to find a solution that works for the two of you. Compromise is the easiest way to avoid conflict, and if you state in the beginning that that is what you want in a resolution then it?s easier for your partner to not be on the defense so much. They wont feel attacked or reprimanded.

Lastly, sex is a big thing to communicate about. If you want to experience something new in the bedroom,
you better had tell our partner what you want or you?ll never be pleased the way you need, or think
you need it. Or if something doesn?t work, you most definitely need to speak up. You can?t get choked and
not like it and just let it happen.

That?s bad for everyone! Talk about your turn on and turn offs, what gets you going and expect a heightened sexual experience. If you can?t talk about sex, maybe the two of you shouldn?t be having it. It?s normal, and a great part of your relationship, so why not make it better?

Communication is the same all around. It may appear in different aspects of a relationship, but in the end it?s the key to make yours prosper.

Source: http://www.theskylineview.com/features/2012/11/29/the-j-spot-communication/

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Powerball: Can Money Buy Happiness?

Nov 28, 2012 1:02pm

Can money buy happiness? If you?re clutching several?Powerball tickets in one hand as you thumb through yacht and pony catalogs with the other, you?re probably betting yes.

We?re all told the odds of winning are abysmal ? about 1 in 175 million ? but let?s assume you win the $500 million jackpot. Experts say the initial euphoria will wear off relatively quickly and you?ll be left with pretty much the same dismal outlook on life?you?ve?always had.

?Winning will release some pleasurable chemicals in your brain over the short term,? said Scott Bea, a clinical psychologist with the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. ?Unfortunately, your brain will likely revert back to the same old same old before too long.?

Bea conceded that the extra bushels of cash would ease any anxiety over paying the bills, and you?d probably get an additional rush of those joy-boosting neuro-hormones when you went on a shopping spree, but ultimately the basal ganglia, the part of your brain that tends to dwell on the negative, will kick in and you?ll be back to your usual miserable self in no time.

Why? Because in its dark little heart, the brain is a pessimistic organ. Studies show bad memories tend to be far stickier than pleasant memories. And as Bea pointed out, complaints are the topic of nearly 70 percent of all conversation. So according to this logic, you?re less likely to relive the glory of your jackpot moment than you are to grouse about all the fifth cousins suddenly friending you on Facebook to ask for a handout.

Bea also said big winners who?aren?t?careful to cultivate happiness skills such as optimism, a charitable attitude and savvy money management habits often wind up in more wretched circumstances than where they started. History is certainly littered with such examples.

Back in the 1980s, Evelyn Adams won the New Jersey lottery not once, but twice. She quickly gambled away all $5.4 million and today she?s flat broke, living in a trailer park. Then there?s Billy Bob Harrell Jr. a Pentecostal preacher who was working as a stock boy in 1997 when he scored a cool $31 million in the Texas lottery. The stress of winning so overwhelmed him that he divorced his wife and committed suicide.

Does this mean you should hope the odds work against you when they draw those lucky numbers at 10:59 ET tonight? According to Bea, not at all.

?For most people, purchasing a ticket and fantasizing about what life will be like once?you?ve?won is the most pleasant part of the lottery experience,? he said, ?You could probably flush the same amount of money down the toilet and get much the same result ? but then you?wouldn?t?have the dream.?

SHOWS: Good Morning America

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/11/28/powerball-will-winning-buy-you-happiness-probably-not/

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Big Tobacco uses trade pacts to thwart new laws

A pack of Marlboro Menthol cigarettes intended for sale in Australia. As of Dec. 1, all cigarettes sold in the country must be sold in plain packaging with graphic warnings covering 75 percent of the front and 90 percent of the back of the pack under a groundbreaking law.

By Myron LevinFairWarning

As countries around the world ramp up their campaigns against smoking with tough restrictions on tobacco advertising, the industry is fighting back by?invoking international trade agreements to thwart the most stringent rules.

A key battlefront is Australia, which is trying to repel a legal assault on its groundbreaking law requiring cigarettes to be sold in plain packs without distinctive brand logos or colors. Contesting the law, which takes effect Dec. 1, are the top multinational cigarette makers and three countries ? Ukraine, Honduras and Dominican Republic ? whose legal fees are being paid by the industry.

The dispute underlines broader concerns about trade provisions that enable foreign companies to challenge national health, labor and environmental standards. Once a country ratifies a trade agreement, its terms supersede domestic laws. If a country?s regulations are found to impose unreasonable restrictions on trade, it must amend the rules or compensate the nation or foreign corporation that brought the complaint.

---

In the case of Australia?s plain packaging law, the tobacco industry and its allies are challenging the measure as a violation of intellectual property rights under trade agreements the nation signed years ago.

Public health advocates fear the legal attack will deter other countries from passing strong measures to combat the public health burdens of smoking. The ?cost of defending this case, and the risk of being held liable, would intimidate all but the most wealthy, sophisticated countries into inaction,? said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in Washington D.C.

The advocates also say countries should be free to decide how best to protect public health, without being second-guessed by unelected trade panels. Moreover, they argue, tobacco products, which kill when used as intended, should not be afforded the same trade protections as other goods and services.

Worldwide, nearly 6 million people a year die of smoking-related causes, according to the World Health Organization, which says the toll could top 8 million by 2030. With fewer people lighting up in wealthy nations, nearly 80 percent of the world?s 1 billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries.

Marlboro, the world's top-selling brand, is shown packaged under labeling laws of, clockwise from upper left, the U.S., Egypt, Djibouti, Hungary.

Countries have been emboldened to pass more stringent measures by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. In effect since 2005, the treaty has committed about 175 nations to pursue such measures as higher cigarette taxes, public smoking bans, prohibitions on tobacco advertising, and graphic warning labels with grisly images such as diseased lungs and rotting teeth (The U.S. has signed the treaty, but the Senate has not ratified it. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ordered graphic warnings for cigarette packs, but an industry court challenge on 1^st Amendment grounds has stalled the rule.)

Cigarette makers say they acknowledge the hazards and the need for regulations. ?We actually support the vast majority of them,? said Peter Nixon, vice president of communications for Philip Morris International, which has its headquarters in New York, its operations center in Switzerland, and is the biggest multinational cigarette maker with 16 percent of global sales.

Bans on cigarette ads spread
But the industry has watched with growing concern as more than 35 countries have adopted total or near-total bans on cigarette advertising. Its big profits depend on consumer recognition of its brands. Yet in many countries, the once-ubiquitous logos and imagery are receding, leaving the cigarette pack as a last refuge against invisibility.

Now the pack, too, is under attack. Along with plain packaging laws such as Australia?s, countries are weighing retail display bans that keep cigarette packs out of view of consumers, and laws requiring graphic health warnings so large that there is barely any room for trademarks. Tobacco companies contend that countries enforcing such rules are effectively confiscating their intellectual property and must pay damages.

The industry also claims that measures like plain packaging are counterproductive. ?We see no evidence ? none at all ? that this will be effective in reducing smoking,? Nixon of Philip Morris International said in an interview. In fact, he said, generic packaging likely will increase sales of cheap, untaxed counterfeit smokes, thus increasing consumption.

Todd Rosenberg / Philip Morris

Louis Camilleri, chairman and CEO of Philip Morris International.

Louis C. Camilleri, chairman and CEO of Philip Morris International, drew a line in the sand in remarks to Wall Street analysts in November, 2010. The company would use ?all necessary resources and?where necessary litigation, to actively challenge unreasonable regulatory proposals,?? Camilleri said, specifically mentioning plain packaging and display bans.

Up to now, tobacco-related trade disputes have mostly involved quotas or tariffs meant to protect domestic producers from foreign competition.??

The key issue now, though, isn?t traditional trade barriers, but whether health regulations unduly restrict the movement of goods. In challenging anti-smoking rules, the industry has drawn on global treaties, such as the 1994 pact known as TRIPS (the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of International Property Rights), that include broad protections for intellectual property and foreign investment.

In the hands of aggressive corporations, such long-standing provisions have become ??the ticking time bomb for this century as governments tackle problems like tobacco, the environment, obesity, access to essential medicines,? said Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.

Two recent legal decisions showed that such cases are no slam dunk for the industry.? In September, a court in Oslo, Norway, rejected a lawsuit by Philip Morris Norway AS that challenged the country?s retail display ban. The company had claimed that in enforcing the ban, Norway had violated the European Economic Agreement by failing to adopt the least trade-restrictive measures to achieve its public health goals.

The court, siding with Norway?s government, found that other measures would not be as effective in insuring that ?as few as possible youngsters begin to smoke.??

Australia also triumphed in the first round of its legal defense of plain packaging. Rejecting a lawsuit by the four top global companies -- Japan Tobacco Inc. and Imperial Tobacco, along with British American and Philip Morris International ? Australia?s High Court upheld the law as legal and constitutional.?

The law requires that all cigarettes be sold in drab olive-brown packs, with pictorial warnings covering 75 percent of the front and 90 percent of the back.

The goal is to reduce ?the attractiveness and appeal of tobacco products to consumers, particularly young people,? a spokeswoman for Australia?s Department of Health and Ageing said in an email to FairWarning.

But two major challenges remain.

Australia law challenged under trade pacts
In one, Philip Morris Asia has accused Australia of violating a 1993 bilateral trade pact between Hong Kong and Australia. Such agreements, known as investor-state treaties, allow a foreign investor by itself to bring an arbitration claim for damages against a country.

The case is before an arbitration panel of the U.N. Commission on International Trade Law.

In the other, Ukraine, Honduras and the Dominican Republic earlier this year brought their challenges before the World Trade Organization.

The complaint in March by Ukraine was a striking paradox. Its trade ministry filed the challenge within hours of Ukraine?s president signing a ban on tobacco advertising, and its parliament voting to ban public smoking ? revolutionary moves in chain-smoking Eastern Europe. Trade officials took the action despite Ukraine having no tobacco exports to Australia, and therefore no apparent financial interest in its anti-smoking policies.

But prodded by the tobacco industry, the trade ministry branded the plain packaging law as a violation of intellectual property rights that Australia was bound to protect.

Honduras and the Dominican Republic soon joined the attack on Australia, filing similar complaints with the WTO.

Cigarette makers are paying for heavyweight lawyers to represent the three countries.?

As company representatives have told FairWarning, Philip Morris International is paying the firm of Sidley Austin to represent the Dominican Republic, while British American is picking up legal expenses for Ukraine and Honduras.?

?We are happy to support countries who, like us, feel plain packaging could adversely affect trade,? said British American spokesman Jem Maidment.?

It?s not unusual in trade disputes for corporations to give legal assistance to governments with mutual interests. In this case, however, the three countries appear to have little, if any, direct stake in Australia?s tobacco control policies.

While tobacco exports from Ukraine to Australia are nonexistent, exports from Honduras and Dominican Republic in the past three years have averaged $60,000 (U.S.) and $806,000, respectively, according to figures from Australia?s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Responding in April to an inquiry from Ukrainian journalists, the country?s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade said it had ?a policy of supporting Ukrainian producers and protecting their interests in the internal and external markets.? In this case, the ministry said, it had ?received concerns? about Australia?s law from the Ukrainian Association of Tobacco Producers, made up of the top tobacco multinationals, and from the Union of Wholesalers and Producers of Alcohol and Tobacco Association.?

Konstantin Krasovksy, a tobacco control official in Ukraine?s Ministry of Health, told FairWarning the countries had allowed themselves to be used. ?Honduras, Dominican Republic and Ukraine agreed to be a prostitute,? he said.

Honduran officials, in an April press release, said Australia?s law ??contravenes?? its trade obligations. It noted that the tobacco industry ?employs several hundred thousand people directly and indirectly throughout the supply chain in Honduras.?

The Dominican Republic, a major cigar exporter, also said plain packaging ?will have a significant impact on our economy.?? In a written statement to FairWarning, Katrina Naut, director general for foreign trade with the country?s Ministry of Industry and Commerce, said that if other countries join Australia in adopting plain packaging, it will lead to falling prices for name-brand tobacco products and ?an increase ? rather than a decrease ? in consumption and illicit trade.??

Uruquay vs. Philip Morris
Among supporters of Australia, none is more vociferous than the government of Uruguay. It recently told the WTO?s Dispute Settlement Body that the global trading system ?should not force its Members to allow that a product that kills its citizens in unacceptable and alarming proportions continues to be sold wrapped as candy to attract new victims.?

Uruguay?s stance reflects its own high-stakes battle with Philip Morris.

The tobacco giant has challenged Uruguay?s requirement of graphic warnings on 80 percent of cigarette packs. Philip Morris is also fighting a rule that limits cigarette marketers to a single style per brand, making it illegal to sell Marlboro Gold and Green along with Marlboro Red.

The challenge by Swiss units of Philip Morris cites a 1991 bilateral treaty between Switzerland and Uruguay. Since filing the complaint in 2010, the tobacco company has also closed its only cigarette factory in Uruguay.

The regulations ?are extreme, have not been proven to be effective, have seriously harmed the company?s investments in Uruguay,? according to a statement by Philip Morris International.

Uruguay, with a population of less than 3.5 million and an annual gross domestic product of about $50 billion, seems a poor match for the tobacco giant, which had sales of $77 billion in 2011.

Amid reports that government officials were seeking a face-saving settlement, Bloomberg Philanthropies announced in late 2010 that it would fund the legal defense of Uruguay?s anti-smoking laws. New York Mayor and businessman Michael R. Bloomberg, an ardent tobacco foe, affirmed the support of his namesake charity in a call to Uruguayan President Jose Mujica.

Advocates fear other countries may have a harder time standing their ground. ?Bloomberg has been very generous, but his resources are not unlimited and he can?t pay to defend every tobacco regulation in every country,? said Chris Bostic, deputy director for policy for the group Action on Smoking and Health.

The Uruguay case could be pivotal, said Dr. Eduardo Bianco, president of the Tobacco Epidemic Research Centre ?in Uruguay. ?If they (Philip Morris International) succeed with Uruguay they would send a clear message to the rest of the developing countries: ?take care about us, you can be next.?"

FairWarning (www.fairwarning.org) is an online, investigative news organization based in Los Angeles that focuses on safety and health issues.

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Source: http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/29/15519194-tobacco-industry-uses-trade-pacts-to-try-to-snuff-out-anti-smoking-laws?lite

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50 Cent, Adam Levine Bring 'Life' To 'The Voice'

Fif visits the show to perform 'My Life' with Levine before the top eight took the stage in a fierce performance round.
By Natasha Chandel

50 Cent and Adam Levine perform "My Life" on "The Voice"
Photo: NBC

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1697955/50-cent-adam-levine-the-voice.jhtml

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Improve Sleep & Health With Android Mobile Phone Technology

The following interview was conducted with the programmer of "Sleep as Android" -- an "app" or application (program) which runs on Android phones and helps you to get to sleep, have a better quality of sleep, and then helps you to wake up refreshed and at the right time.

Louis Szondy: First, I'd like to let you know how much the Sleep as Android app has helped me, and I've only had it a few weeks. Before this I have had trouble sleeping early, getting enough sleep, and I've been functioning badly as a result. I have to admit I did not know about the importance of waking up during "light sleep".

I am sure this application will be of help to most people, since I suspect very few people these days get either enough nor the right type of sleep. Already I've been getting more and better sleep since using your app: I am taken to sleep gently by nice sounds that slowly decrease in volume and woken up during light sleep phase close to alarm time by music of my choice slowly increasing in volume.

What I find really amazing too is that I can see a graph of my light and deep sleep, as well as listen to recordings of any talk, snoring or other sounds that took place while sleeping. So I have many questions and I'm sure that most of our readers will benefit from better sleep if they have an Android or iPhone. This app is available for iPhone users too, is that correct?

Petr Nalevka: Currently we only have an Android version "Sleep as Android", although there are alternatives for IPhone from other parties such as "Sleep cycle tracker".

Q: Please tell me, how is it that a mobile phone on the mattress can know when we are in deep sleep and light sleep with such accuracy, and give us the times and graphs of our sleep cycles as they occurred?

A: In medicine there are different applications where accelerometers are very useful to deduce various conditions of a patient based on his movement patterns. This method is called actigraphy and has proven to be useful also for measuring sleep cycles. It is not as precise as EEG for example, but it delivers comprehensive results and it is much simpler to use in home conditions.

Contemporary smartphones have accelerometers built-in mostly for screen orientation changes, gaming or augmented reality. But they are quite precise ? on par with some medical devices ? and may also be used for actigraphy and sleep cycle tracking.

During your sleep your body is going through various phases. To simplify, light sleep and deep sleep phases are taking turns. Deep sleep phases are followed with limited muscle activity up to fully relaxed muscles toward the end of each deep sleep phase. This allows us to assume your sleep cycles from your movement based on accelerometric data delivered to your phone through the mattress.

Q: This is something many people may not realize, thinking that the phone is relying on *sound* not movement. So it relies exclusive upon movement, and can even notice the slightest movement?

A: Yes, sleep cycles are estimated based on movement exclusively. You may start Sleep as Android in the "test sensors" mode and see the accelerometer is really precise so that even the slightest movement gets captured. The curve in the graph is never flat, even when you leave the phone on the table.

There may be some relation between sound and sleep cycles but it is probably very much individual and not as straightforward as movement. Still capturing sound during your sleep may be another good idea to do. It may reveal some other characteristics of your sleep such as snoring or sleep talking. Also different serious sleep disorders may be detected using the audio information. For some people even common snoring may have serious consequences and may for example lead to further development of sleep apnea if not treated.

LS: Yes, and this is a part of the app that many may find useful or interesting: that the app records any noises during the night, so if you sleep talk or snore, this can be played back later.

We spend perhaps a third of our lives asleep. Assuming that when we are awake we are really awake :-) And that time is really important. It determines much of our health and productivity as well as state of mind during the following day(s). Waking refreshed, and not groggy from a deep sleep phase, is so important, and yet, your app which helps us to do exactly that, costs only $2?!

Q: Why is the price so low, how do you manage to constantly develop and bring in new features, and also answer questions and support mail? You do a really great job of customer service, how many of you work on this project?

A: Exactly as you say, Sleep as Android is not only measuring sleep cycles, but it is trying to make maximum use of this information to help you improve your sleep experience. This includes: finding an optimal moment for your wake up to feel better in the morning, advice on your sleep habits (SleepStats) ? e.g. what is a good time for you to go to bed, measuring sleep quality (deep sleep %) etc.

The price may be so favorable (just ~$2) for two main reasons. First, the incredible progress in mobile technology and devices we achieved recently - basically all you need to track and improve your sleep is already in your pocket and its called the smartphone.

Second, the great idea of app markets and the progress in micro payments which allow to offer the app to a great amount of people and divide your development costs among them.

Those two factors allow us to offer the app at minimal cost and still keep improving it. We do release a new version roughly each 2 weeks and beside bug fixes and more device compatibility we try to introduce new features in each release. For example the most recent improvements include: nature sound lullabies, experimental lucid dreaming support, backup alarm or ringtone playlists.

We take our support task very seriously and we try to answer vast majority of the requests, even we are getting around 30-50 requests a day. We are two guys doing the job mostly in free time.

Q: You mentioned "lucid dreaming support", can you say something more about that?

A: Regarding lucid dreaming, currently this feature is not well documented and it is really for the enthusiasts to play with and give us feedback. In general it plays some audio hint which you train yourself for during your deep sleep phase to allow you to realize you are dreaming. The idea is you can than control your dreams and have a lot of fun :).

That's why I say it's really for enthusiasts as people mostly want to have a calm sleep rather than having some audio triggers during the night.

Q: What actually made you start this project to make this "app" (application/program)?

A: Several years ago I got interested in the use of actigraphy to enhance a telemedical project which became the base of my dissertation thesis. I did want to test actigraphy myself and was looking at some single-purpose sleep cycle alarm clock devices which appeared on the market. But those devices were quite expensive and I was thinking, why should I buy such a device when I already have an Android smartphone with accelerometer (it was an Android 1.6 at that time). And that's how we started to code "Sleep as Android".

LS: Looking at the reviews by other users, I see mostly either five stars or one star. I see five stars from those who are clearly using the application correctly, and one from those who seem to be making mistakes such as putting the phone under the pillow, or not having it plugged into a charger, or unable to dim the screen and leaving it face up. Yet others who write in for help are happy though as they then get the answers how to use it correctly.

Q: What are the reasons or limitations of use?

A: I agree the app is not yet as user-friendly as it could be. On our website we have a quick start guide, explanation of sleep tracking principles, a FAQ and a forum with over 500 topics all answered. We are working to improve this aspect and we are preparing a tutorial and help within the app itself.

Also the app is accessing all soft of hardware functions of the phone (mic, accelerometr, flash light, audio playback...) which makes it hard to keep all aspects functional on the huge zoo of Android devices out there. According to the Play store, our app may run on more than 2600 devices (and there are unofficial devices not listed). We are supporting up (down) to Android 1.5 and 1.6 where we still have thousands of users.

To make it even more complicated we are suffering from a bug in the Android system introduced in Android 1.6. It was partially fixed in 2.3.5 but it is still present on several >4.0 devices. The bug causes the accelerometer to stop providing data when the screen turns off. For the affected devices we need to keep the screen on all night (at minimal level) and we need a sophisticated detection system to recognize whether it is an affected device or not.

Those issues may be the source of some negative ratings, but we are trying hard to deliver a functional app on most devices out there and our average rating is now 4.53 stars out of 5.

LS: I am not one of those who normally has to be up at a certain time, my main worry is falling asleep, and waking up after enough sleep, not before. But I found Sleep as Android makes me go to bed earlier by alerting me when it is time to sleep, gently and persistently even if my wife often tells me the same thing. It helps me get to sleep faster by playing the right sounds. It then gently wakes me in the morning at optimal time during a light sleep phase with nice music of my choice slowly rising in volume. But others set it to make sure they have really woken up in the morning, those heavy sleepers who have to wake up by a certain time, no matter what, or they'll miss the train to work, for example.

Q: Can you tell us about those features that make sure that someone is really awake and does not either keep hitting the snooze button, or even switch off the alarm and fall back asleep?

A: We call this feature CAPTCHA. Even though we are not using it for telling apart spam bots from people but we are recognizing people who are fully woken up and ready to go to work from sleepy "zombies" whose only concern is to dismiss the alarm as quickly as possible and continue sleeping even they will miss their work and get into a lot of troubles later!

Apparently there is a numerous group of people with real difficulties to get out of bed in the morning and Sleep as Android may help here.

The basic concept of all our CAPTCHA's is: the alarm won't stop ringing before you solve a little task which proves you are fully awake. Simple Math CAPTCHA was the first we introduced. To dismiss the alarm you had to solve a very simple mathematical equation. But some people did not like math in the morning so we introduced "Sleeping sheep" where you have to find an open-eyed sheep in a herd of sleeping ones.

Than we also have CAPTCHAs where you need to do some physical activity to stop the alarm. For example shake your phone for a while.

For the heaviest sleepers we have a QR code CAPTCHA. You print out any QR code you like and put it on your bathroom mirror for example or on your fridge. Later when the alarm rings the only way to stop it is to get out of the bed and scan the QR code in your bathroom or kitchen.

Q: As your price is so low, as soon as the 2 week trial expired, I purchased the license. I also bought the extended stats ($2 also?). What happens if someone does not buy the license and opts to continue to use it for free, I saw some advertising on the app, and I think it would only work every two days?

A: By the way thank you very much for purchasing our app and to all our other users who did that too. We use your contribution to bring you new features and to make the app available on as many devices as we can.

Anyway, if you decide to not purchase the unlock you are free to continue using the app but as you said sleep tracking will only work every second day. Still the alarm clock will wake you up in the morning with all the other features (CAPTCHA, gradual volume, time to bed etc.) but will not use smart wake up at that particular day. Also some lullabies and nature sound ringtones are available in the full version only.

Q: And what of the extended stats? I've only had those for a day, so can you tell us what they do and how they can help us improve our sleeping habits or patterns, or what purpose they serve?

A: SleepStats provide you with more inside into your sleep data. It provides several visually rich and informative charts. You can see how does you average sleep length and average deep sleep develop over time. You can see your actual and cumulative sleep deficit visualized. Sleep patterns show your wake up and fall asleep hours in a range-bar chart.

The highlight of SleepStats is definitely sleep advice. We apply a polynomial regression model to your sleep data history to see which sleep characteristics lead to best sleep results. Based on that we can advise you on the best sleep length and fall asleep hour.

Q: Can I ask, how old are you, and what is your background and where are you located?

A: I'm 32 years old, I have a PhD in computer science, I'm working as an IT consultant but most of all I'm a technology geek. I really enjoy all the new possibilities technology has brought to our lives. I'm located in Czech republic, Prague.

Q: How do you use the App yourself, if that is not too private to ask... do you listen to recordings, use the go to sleep sounds, if so which one, do you use the "time to sleep" alarm, and which of the waking methods do you use? And how has the App helped you?

A: I'm a big fan of the app myself :). I use it every day and so does my girlfriend. She likes especially to accuse me of snoring using the recording feature as evidence.

During the work week I use a 30 minutes smart wake up period. On the weekend I use 2 hours. I use a playlist of nature sounds to wake me up and recently I really enjoy lullabies as I fall asleep very fast when I listen to "diving with whales". This lullaby is really calming me down although I also like "thunderstom" or "fireplace".

As I'm a bit of a workaholic the app especially helps me to keep my sleep deficits low. I use an insistent "time to bed" notification with an ideal sleep duration of 8 hours (although 7 and 7.5 may be more preferable for others).

During the work week I use the math CAPTCHA which not only gets me out of bed, but also it is a small exercise to get my brain started in the morning.

Q: What else do you do of interest, or is this a full-time job? It sure sounds like it!

A: I'm working in business IT on short-term projects. Beside Sleep as Android we have a small but interesting portfolio of other Android apps such as Dock4Droid, AppReactor or Apps Watchdog. In Czech republic we are running probably the biggest public fuel price database (www.pumpdroid.com) allowing our users to save money on gas using their smartphones. Recently I had a lot of fun presenting our app's at various local tech conferences.

Q: When did you start making this App, and what is now in the works? I see some people complain about the look of the interface, but personally I love the existing look.

A: We started 2.5 years ago.

One of the things in front of us is the migration to the Android new Holo-look where we face backward compatibility issues, but we already have a holo-styled version which is now available to anyone who is willing to test it on our website.

In addition we have many other plans on our task list. For example we would like to introduce sleep graph tagging and do a data mining analysis to provide you with more detailed advice on your sleep, improve snoring detection and noise recording quality, implement proper REM sleep phase detection, more cloud synchronization possibilities and many more. Also we are starting to cooperate with a few sleep researches where Sleep as Android may help collect sleep data.

Q: I notice that sometimes the "lullaby" to help me to sleep, goes back to louder volume when I've been a bit restless. Does it respond to me not falling asleep by restarting so that I get more time?

A: Yes, currently the lullaby feature uses accelerometric data to adjust volume and the idea is to turn the volume down as you land in the first deep sleep phase. If we recognize you are still in light sleep we get the volume back.

Q: How can we find out what our optimum sleeping length is? I thought mine was 8 hours, but now realize I never seem to get that, perhaps 7 is closer. Is it possible I became accustomed to too little sleep, and can increase my sleeping duration over time, and that this App can help me to do that?

A: There are several studies on this topic. For a long time 8 hours was suggested but more recently it gets more toward 7 hours. We thing that this figure is individual and Sleep as Android is a tool to get advice on that. For example you can rate your sleeps in the morning and than use advice in the stats add-on which tells you what sleep length maximizes your sleep rating.

Q: What happens if two people are in the bed, and go to sleep and get up at different times?

A: In some cases the other person in the bed may cause interference with your sleep tracking. This depends on the mattress, on the position of the phone. From our own experiments I can say that interference may be eliminated if you have a separate mattress or if you keep the phone on your side of the bed. Also using a smartphone armband will solve this issue. You may need to do a few experiments and find proper settings in your home conditions to eliminate this issue.

Thank you very much. I highly recommend our readers, if they have either an iPhone or an Android phone, to download and try this App. Also, the information on your web site is very much worth reading, it is not to long, and very informative. Here is a link to it.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mathaba/latina/~3/GrSOE4jfeCM/

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How Businesses Can Benefit from Online Training

Guest Post by Author William Bancs

The Internet has revolutionised many aspects of modern life. From broadening communication channels and making entertainment more accessible to opening up entrepreneurial opportunities, it is central to everything that we now do. While it has been impactful on an individual basis, the biggest shifts have been seen in the way businesses now operate and reach out to their customers.

Brand visibility isn?t just measured in column inches or minutes on television these days; it has spread to search engine rankings, pay-per-click advertising and social media coverage. Consequently, businesses need to be savvier about how they engage with their audience and the channels used during this process. Ignoring the Internet and its bountiful potential could prove to be a huge mistake. However, knowing where to get started and how things work online can be a bit of a muddle. This is where online training can really help.

The Changing Face of Marketing

In days gone by clear signage, strong customer service and an advert in the local newspaper were enough for smaller businesses. At the other end of the scale, larger companies may have invested in television advertising campaigns, broadsheet pieces and billboards to spread the word. Now though, everything has changed. Businesses of all sizes use Twitter to interact with customers, develop a fanbase on Facebook and optimise their websites to appear in Google. The conventions are changing, but the underlying principles remain the same.

Knowing what you should do and understanding how each platform works is half the battle. This is why many businesses are seeking training to assist staff and inform their own strategies moving forwards. As in any discipline, education can provide you with the basis for future growth and development. While some may attempt to give it a go and see what they can achieve without much in the way of guidance, this can prove to be risky. After all, it is a completely new and often ruthless environment.

A few misguided tweets on Twitter and you could find yourself at the centre of a negative publicity storm. Equally, a little misconstrued SEO advice could see your site kicked off of Google and require twice the effort to get back to where you once were. In short, online marketing can be decided on the finest margins, so you need to know which side of the line to tread before you can start striding off confidently.

Increasing your in-house Marketing Skill

As well as an abundance of companies offering SEO, PPC and social media management services, training courses are also available for those that prefer to keep things in-house. The major potential benefit of this is that you can grow your team?s skills and continue to manage all marketing efforts from within your business. This means that you won?t be reliant on others when looking to expand or adjust your strategies, plus you will always maintain control.

This is a clear benefit to modern businesses and the best thing about online marketing training is that you can scale it to fit your needs. So whether you?re a two-person team operating out of a small store or a multinational outfit, you can use the knowledge acquired to create campaigns that will have optimal impact with minimal input. Essentially, training is about providing you with the tools to achieve your online goals and avoid the many pitfalls that lie in wait for unsuspecting marketers.

It would be extremely foolhardy to start marketing your business online without any prior training or experience; just as it would be if you were to create a television advert on basic equipment and attempt to distribute it. While success is possible, your chances will be greatly improved if you have the knowledge to back up your enthusiastic endeavours. Anybody can achieve great results online; however, you need to walk before you begin to run.

William Bancs is a professional freelance writer, bloggin on behalf of?GBO Training, a website dedicated to helping businesses expand and grow online.

Source: http://beatechelette.com/how-businesses-can-benefit-from-online-training

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Why you should write your own blog | ABC Copywriting blog

What a week! My head was spinning with half-remembered remarks, half-formed thoughts and half-baked ideas. I knew there was only one way to get it all straight: I had to confide in my diary.

Everything was set. I was tired, yet not overly so. I?d enjoyed a fine dinner. A little red wine had pleasantly loosened the bonds of reason. As I drew up a chair and lit the lamp, the universe itself seemed hushed, holding its breath for the act of creation.

But I couldn?t be arsed. So I phoned some guy who does diary entries for ?10 each and told him what I wanted. He sent me something a couple of days later and all I had to do was paste it in. Sorted!

If that last paragraph seemed fine and natural to you, you might want to stop reading right here. But if it didn?t, you?re already down with my theme: blogging, like keeping a diary, is something you can?t really outsource.

Well, how did I get here?

Blogs, or ?web logs?, evolved from online diaries, and the classic format for a post reflects this ancestry: a few hundred words long, date-stamped, written in the first person, reactive to events and coloured by opinion.

Original blog daddy

A blog as a whole is made, not born. Its themes, style and structure coalesce gradually rather than being imposed or decided at the outset. Instead of appearing as a fait accompli, it emerges in fragments, its overall shape only becoming clear over time.

Like the rings of a tree, a blog shows where you?ve been, and how far you?ve come. In the early days of this blog, I barely knew what I was writing about, or who for. (The answers were ?not much? and ?almost nobody?.) So while it?s embarrassing to look back at me-too potboilers like this, it makes any progress I?ve made since then all the more gratifying.

The whole story

But it?s not all onwards and upwards. An honest blog documents self-doubt as well as self-development. If you?ve changed your mind, or can see both sides, your blog can reflect that too. Witness the way I?ve come down both pro and anti the movement for Plain English, or maintained that copywriting is an art while admitting to my own lack of creativity.

Up close, such inconsistencies do make you look a bit of a prat. Being generous, though, they show willingness to follow your ideas wherever they lead, and to share opinions you?re not completely sure of. Over time, a blog develops into a true reflection of its author (or authors), with all their contradictions, frailties and failings.

In other words, it tells a story. An individual, human story. Indeed, for most of us, our blog will be the most enduring cultural artefact we create. Your blog is the book of your life, and since work is a part of life, that?s true of business as well as personal blogs.

Vocational therapy

However, a blog isn?t just a record. It can also be a powerful force for change. Just as writing down your travels, your diet or your dreams can make a big difference to the way you think and act, so recording your deskbound thoughts can transform your working life. Blogging is a kind of vocational therapy.

Although it can be fiercely challenging, putting business ideas into words is an excellent intellectual workout. Writing clarifies ideas, chases out woolly thinking and (as noted) exposes inconsistency. It calls your bluff if you?re hedging your bets. Basically, it helps you get your head straight.

More subtly, blogging helps you know thyself. Sometimes, to write your opinions is to discover them ? maybe even to be surprised by them. And that deeper self-knowledge can easily lead to new directions in your work.

Sense of purpose

This is why blogs are special: they embody the human thoughts and feelings that give life to a business. Organisations are made of people, and blogs answer the big questions about them. Why should anyone, inside or outside it, care about this business? What makes people want to be part of it, or put part of themselves into it? Why does it do what it does, and not some other thing that might make more money? What, in the deepest sense, is its purpose?

Short of physically speaking with the people in a business, shaking their hands and looking into their eyes, you?ll find your best answer on their blog. And it?s this human dimension that distinguishes a blog from other forms of commercial writing.

Arguably, Twitter does something similar, but it?s too ephemeral and fragmented. Most tweets aren?t even seen by most followers, and only the most unhinged cyberstalker reads a Twitter feed right through, like a book. Facebook is perhaps more permanent, but it?s also less pure in a textual sense: writing is only one aspect of the experience, and it?s still more about comment and conversation than extended narrative or reflection. If reading a blog is like taking a look at someone?s diary, following them on Twitter and Facebook is like meeting them in a crowded pub.

Defining quality

Blogging, then, is a Very Good Thing. But clearly, some blogs, and some posts, are better than others. What makes a ?good? blog post?

I put ?good? in quotes because the definition, in recent years, has been very much up for grabs. If you believe everything you read, you?ll probably conclude that good blogging is about information, opinion, entertainment, search-engine prominence, frequency, relevance, uniqueness and ?shareability? ??ideally, all at the same time.

Some of these aims have not come from bloggers, or their audiences, but have been imposed by the middleman who stands between them. Because Google is the gatekeeper of the web, it?s skewed the idea of ?quality? towards its chosen proxy measures for that elusive concept: keyword density and any old backlink in the early days, social profile and human-curated backlinks more recently.

As Google tried to reflect human values in its algorithm, it placed new obligations on website owners. Suddenly, everyone had to have a blog and update it regularly. So people started blogging for the sake of blogging ??not because they necessarily had anything to say that week. Blogging became less human, more mechanistic, as businesses looked for the parameters and processes that would deliver an effective blog. Having been like painting a picture, blogging was now more like painting a fence.

Welcome to the machine

Naturally, some firms resent this new drain on their resources, so they reach out to suppliers who can take the problem away.

Those who ?get it?, and do not expect straw to be spun into gold, hook up with thoughtful, professional copywriters who will give their blog the time and attention it deserves ? which is the next best thing to doing it yourself.

The rest, I imagine, end up somewhere like the site I found by Googling ?blog writing service?, which promises ?original blog posts that are specifically designed for your company and your industry? that will deliver ?a strong, stable, and consistent rise in your page rank?. ?See our system in action? is the call to action on the green button.

Personally, I?ve seen quite enough of this ?system? in ?action?. From this wretched, utterly materialist perspective, writing is just a cog in the machine. Words are a fungible commodity that can be counted out and traded, like sugar beets. Once bought, such ?content? is expected to perform, to deliver value, to yield returns like any other asset. But words aren?t rivets; they?re the thread that links us together. They?re not just valuable, they?re precious.

Beyond gaming

Clearly, people doing low-rent content marketing couldn?t care less about the soul of language. But their approach isn?t just heartless ? it?s pointless too.

Many of the oft-quoted aims of blogging are ferociously hard to achieve in practice. Original information? Takes time, and can cost money too. Search ranking? Tough, and getting tougher, for anything but long-tail terms. Social popularity? Hit-and-miss at best, impossible at worst (especially for intrinsically dull or ?necessary evil? brands like Anusol or Rentokil). As for uniqueness, it?s practically unobtainable unless you?re writing for an insanely narrow audience. And the truth is that most off-the-peg blog posts will not deliver against these exacting targets, despite the pedlars? promises.

Instead of trying to game the system, businesspeople could consider how their own writing could help. Not by rocketing them to page one, or going viral Gangnam style, but by opening a conversation with the people who are visiting and leaving their site without picking up the phone. And as Google Analytics will readily tell you, there are always far more of those people than you might want to admit.

Sincerity, enthusiasm and understanding

Imagine you are looking for a driving tutor for your son or daughter. You find a guy through Google and click through to his site. You notice he has a blog. You start reading.

Now, you are not expecting him to write like Seth Godin. In fact, such incongruence of tone would probably raise suspicion. Instead, you?re looking for someone who understands. Someone who?s already thinking about the things that are important to you. Someone who?s sincere about what they do, and enthusiastic about the benefits they can offer you.

In this case, thoughtful posts about putting the learner driver at their ease, alternative teaching techniques and handy aides-memoires for students might go a long way.

The odd spelling slip or grammar howler doesn?t matter. You?re not marking an essay; you?re getting to know a human being. Conversely, there is no need for the blogger to try and impress you with Martin Amis-style verbal sorcery; this is a situation where simple truths beat technical mastery.

The blogger?s mindset

Creating a blog like that is all about cultivating ?blogger?s mind?. This is a sort of ambient attunement to potential subjects, encompassing everything from current affairs and industry developments to something you saw on TV. Like volatile chemicals, ideas react when mixed, and before you know it you?re writing ?Why learning to drive is like going on a first date?.

Chance favours the prepared mind. To get better ideas, just keep the question ?could I make a blog post out of this?? always at the back of your mind. Believe me, it works a whole lot better than sitting down to try and generate ideas for posts by force of will. And it?s something that can only really be done by someone within the business rather than a third party.

Blogger?s mind gave me this post about Denis Waterman. I saw the story about Waterman?s domestic abuse on the Guardian. His quotes clicked with something I knew about language. I wrote the post quickly, over breakfast, and posted it within an hour. And people liked it. (Sorry for using so many examples from my own blog, but I can?t know the thought processes behind other people?s.)

Through their eyes

When I have blogged on behalf of clients, the process has been most enjoyable and productive when I?ve got into their ?blogger?s mind?. I?m sure those writers who provide a thoughtful, high-quality, non-commodified blog writing service aim for the same thing. Over time, it is possible to develop an approximation of the client?s worldview, allowing you to have their ideas for them.

Interviewing is by far the best way to do this. But, because it?s still like writing someone else?s diary, the results are 80?90% at best. Like digitised models of human beings, ghostwritten posts can fall into the ?uncanny valley? where near-perfection is somehow more unsettling than something honestly artificial. That last 10% makes all the difference.

Arguably, a better approach than writing for the client is to induct them in the way of ?blogger?s mind?, so they can build up their own blogging muscles. Teach someone to fish, and they eat for life, as they say. But this requires some initiative and commitment on their part, and some clients aren?t prepared to ante up. In a way, it?s hard to blame them ? after all, they hired someone to write for them, not chivvy them to do it themselves.

Perhaps the most compelling reason for them to make the effort is to manage the conversation that a good post can generate. Given the right process of drafting and approval, a good writer can do a reasonable job of standing in for the client within the boundaries of the post itself. But as Han Solo observed, ?Good against drones is one thing. Good against the living? That?s something else.? Responding to questions and challenges off the cuff, when you don?t really know what you?re talking about, is hair-raising for the writer and reputationally risky for the client. (It?s the same problem that plagues those who run Twitter accounts on behalf of clients.)

Copywriter required

So, if bringing the personal touch to a blog is so cool, shouldn?t business people write all their stuff? Should they, perhaps, write their own websites, brochures and ads as well?

The answer is an emphatic ?no? ? and not just because I have a vested interest.

As I?ve argued, blogging is a very particular type of writing, and the points I?ve made here don?t apply to other formats. When we look at a website or an ad, we?re not expecting to talk to a human, but to see the benefits of a product or service communicated in the most vivid and engaging way possible. And not just expecting ??hoping. In this case, a bit of the copywriter?s magic is exactly what we want.

That?s why I?m still delighted that people choose me to give voice to their product or brand. But I?m increasingly uneasy about doing the same for their blog. They really might be better off doing it themselves.

Tagged with: blogging, Denis Waterman, Gangnam Style, Google, Han Solo, Martin Amis, Seth Godin

Source: http://www.abccopywriting.com/blog/2012/11/26/why-you-should-write-your-own-blog/

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Yahoo's stock hits $19 for 1st time since 2010

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Yahoo's shares touched $19 Monday, the first time they have traded that high in more than two and half years.

The latest gains extend a rally that has been gaining momentum in recent weeks as Yahoo Inc. buys back its own stock and more investors bet on CEO Marissa Mayer's ability to turn around the long-struggling company.

Mayer, a former top executive at Internet search leader Google Inc., became Yahoo's fifth CEO in less than a year when the company hired her in July. Since her arrival, Mayer has vowed to make Sunnyvale, Calif., company a better place to work, refine its online services and roll out more products tailored for smartphones and tablet computers.

Yahoo has also been trying to boost its stock price by spending most of money that it received from a recent deal to buy back its own shares.

After taxes, the company pocketed $4.3 billion by selling half its stake in Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group Ltd. Mayer has pledged to spend $3.6 billion buying back Yahoo's stock, including $600 million that had gone toward share repurchases before the Alibaba deal closed in mid-September.

Yahoo had spent $212 million buying back 13 million shares from Oct. 1 through Nov. 8, according to a recent regulatory filing, with $928 million spent so far this year.

Since Mayer made the buyback commitment, Yahoo's stock has climbed by nearly 20 percent. The shares hit $19 in Monday's early trading for the first time since April 2010.

Goldman Sachs analyst Heath Terry believes Yahoo's stock will climb even higher, as more investor enthusiasm builds for Mayer's turnaround strategy and the value of the company's remaining holdings in Asian Internet companies becomes clearer. Besides retaining a 24 percent stake in Alibaba, Yahoo also owns 35 percent of Yahoo Japan. He also thinks Yahoo's stock will get a boost from future buybacks planned by Yahoo.

In a Monday research report, Terry raised his price target for Yahoo's shares to $24 from $22. The price targets of 15 other analysts surveyed by FactSet range from $16.50 to $22.

After climbing to $19 in Monday's early trading, Yahoo shares closed at $18.75, up 18 cents.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-11-26-Yahoo-Stock/id-d504f29fccb0446588741e5007eba095

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The McGill Daily ? World music re-mixed

The music industry is too often a closed world: the mechanics behind albums and live performances are, by and large, backroom affairs. As our generation becomes more and more drawn to smaller local and indie acts, the uncertain origins of the widespread commercial success that some artists achieve becomes a more important question for consumers. How do members of the industry decide to sign their artists? Who makes these decisions? What is changing about the music scene, and who or what drives such changes?

I was lucky enough to acquire access to the Mundial Montreal world music conference and festival for its first anniversary. The conference started in 2011 as a forum for music industry insiders and artists to interact and exchange their work. Guillaume LaJois, a volunteer producing a promotional ?rockumentary? for the festival, explained: ?[the attendees are] mostly world music artists and industry representatives. They watch the bands, sign them on, and invite them to other festivals.? Alfredo Caxaj, one such delegate, described his role: ?I produce the Sunfest world music and jazz festival in London, Ontario. So this is a showcase of Canadian talent so that we can sign them on.?

Despite being a relative newcomer, Mundial Montreal is nonetheless a major event, showcasing more than thirty artists over four nights, with more than 150 delegates in attendance. Though most tickets required an industry pass, the festival also featured three free public showcases at venues across the city. Showcases were formatted such that each artist would play four or five songs at one stage, then, as festival-goers would quickly shuffle to an adjacent venue for the second act, the first band would pack up and a third band set up in their place, ensuring a rapid transition from band to band, and allowing attendees to cherry-pick their favourites for with whom to follow up after the show.

Perhaps most interesting about the festival is that through its partnerships, sponsors, and participants, the attendee is given a crystal-ball vision of industry goals and trends. Though participants came from all over the world, certain common patterns were nonetheless on display. For example, rather than presenting artists who epitomize a given genre or sub-genre, there was a major tendency for artists whose work pushed the boundaries of genre and style, both between and within songs. Marco Calliari, a Montreal artist born in Italy and a performer at the festival, said, ?I?m a big fan of world music, but I love mixing: mariachi with Dixieland, Quebecois rigodon with Brazilian tarantela.? A Louisiana group, the Soul Rebels, created an infectious mix between classic New Orleans brass band sounds and contemporary hip hop beats, but as though to demonstrate their flexibility, they managed a seamless cover of the eighties synthpop hit ?Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)? by Eurythmics. After a set of folk-fusion with Arabic instrumentation, another act, The Sultans of String, concluded with an eerie ballad dedicated to Vancouver celebrity Luna the orca whale, with softly screeching violin modified through a distortion pedal to mimic echoing whale songs.

Several other acts were characterized by dedication to political and social causes in their music. Quique Escamilla, a musician from the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico, who is now based in Toronto, was especially vocal on this front.? Introducing his song ?Un Tiro? (?One Shot,? in English), he told the crowd: ?We had some bad politics in Mexico this summer with the elections; many people were angry, I was angry, and so this song is about that.? Escamilla was referring to the election of Enrique Pe?a Nieto of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) to the office of President, and subsequent protests among students and other groups alleging media bias and election rigging in favour of the PRI. After the show, he explained the common thread he sees between the student movement in Quebec and the student protests in Mexico City: ?Today we?re born in hard times, and when the young people are involved in a good cause, it makes me want to support them.? The youth in Mexico have also joined forces for a good cause, and this was an inspiration for much of my music.?

From the outset, Mundial Montreal placed cross-cultural exchange as first among its priorities. The festival?s opening night on Tuesday, November 13, was wholly sponsored by Louisiana Entertainment, a state government initiative. The event was meant to highlight the potential for cultural cross-pollination between historically francophone populations, especially given the festival?s other sponsors, which included the Montreal, Quebec, and Canadian governments, as well as the Canada Council for the Arts. The night was divided between two outstanding Louisiana acts, Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole and the aforementioned Soul Rebels, plus three Montreal bands, C?cile Doo-Kingu?, Canailles, and Marco Calliari. After the show, Kyle Gambino, a saxophonist with Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole explained: ?We got friends here, and the French-speaking culture, it?s a lot like coming back home. There?s a lot of Cajun influence in this band.?? Eric Evans, mandolin player with Canailles, seemed to reciprocate Gambino?s feelings of affinity and kinship. ?We were in Louisiana last spring, and since nobody knew us there, we didn?t know if people would enjoy it. It turned out it was such a party, and the crowd was so welcoming. We were inspired by a lot of music, but Louisiana is a great inspiration to us,? he said.

On the whole, world music is but one facet of the diverse music industry, and this year, organizers of Mundial Montreal evidently felt it necessary to contextualize the festival in relation to other contemporary music. In advertising the festival?s town hall style World Music Forum on their website, Mundial Montreal anticipates future interplay between world music and other contemporary genres: ?Twenty five years into the ?world music? brand, this session will explore marketing and outreach strategies that we have been learning as we mix diverse communities. Laptop beat production and cultural collisions are defining what is being called ?World Music 2.0.?? It was thus no coincidence that the last day of the festival saw Canadian DJ and former McGill student Kid Koala perform a ?silent disco?-style event, ?Kid Koala?s Space Cadet Headphone Experience.? Such earnest embrace of electronica, a genre that most might find incongruous with world music, is evident of the dynamic and evolving situation in the music industry. Producing material is less and less a matter of competition or commercialization, but increasingly an act of collaboration and boundary-pushing.

Mundial Montreal proves that while success is still down to talent and skill, of which the festival had plenty, the tried-and-true styles of yesterday are not so important.? From the perspective of world music, the most coveted skill is the power to communicate through music: bridging cultures, broadening fan bases, and inciting change.

Source: http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2012/11/world-music-re-mixed/

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Risk aversity visible in the brain

ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2012) ? Some people live their lives by the motto "no risk -- no fun!" and relish risks. Others are clearly more cautious and focus primarily on safety when investing and for other business activities. Scientists from the University of Bonn in cooperation with colleagues from the University of Zurich studied the attitudes towards risk in a group of 56 subjects. They found that in people who preferred safety, certain regions of the brain show a higher level of activation when they are confronted with quite unforeseeable situations. In addition, they do not distinguish as clearly as risk takers whether a situation is more or less risky than expected.

The results have just been published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

"We were especially interested in the link between risk preferences and the brain regions processing this information," says Prof. Dr. Bernd Weber from the Center for Economics and Neuroscience (CENs) at the University of Bonn. First, the researchers tested a total of 56 subjects for their willingness to take risks. "In an economic game, the test subjects had a choice between a secured payout and a lottery," reports Sarah Rudorf from CENs, the study's principal author. Those who showed a strong preference for the lottery in this test were categorized as risk takers. Others preferred the secured payout even if the lottery's odds of winning were clearly better. They were put in the risk-averse group.

In risk-averse individuals, certain regions of the brain are activated more strongly

Then the test subjects played a card game in a brain scanner to study their risk perception. Cards carrying numbers from one to ten were shown on the video glasses in front of their eyes. Each time, two cards were randomly drawn. Before the subjects were shown the cards, they were asked to place bets on whether the second card would have a higher or a lower number than the first one. "The statistical probability for either case to occur is always the same: fifty-fifty," says Prof. Weber. "This is important so that all subjects, whether they are risk takers or not, experience risky situations inside the scanner." They were not able to assess their probability of winning their bet until they saw the first card. Here, the researchers found that in the subjects who tended to avoid risks, two specific regions of the brain were activated more strongly than in those who were willing to take risks. These areas are the ventral striatum and the insular cortex. The ventral striatum reacts both to the probability of winning, as well as to how well an individual can predict the outcome of the bet. The insular cortex is particularly sensitive to the risk a situation carries, and for whether it is higher or lower than anticipated.

Risk seekers adjust their strategy after lucky streaks

Sarah Rudorf summarized the results, "Individuals in whom these regions of the brain are activated at a higher level seem to perceive risks more clearly and assess them as more negative than those who are willing to take risks." Risk-averse individuals seem to overestimate the con?sequences of risk, and they did not distinguish as clearly between situations that turned out to be more or less risky than expected. In contrast, the test subjects who tended to take greater risks also focused their behavior more towards the wins and losses, and more clearly changed their strategy after negative situations.

Study is first to show the neurobiological mechanisms

"This study is the first to show the neurobiological mechanisms of how individual risk preferences determine risk perception," says Prof. Weber. "This also has effects on behavior in the areas of finance and health." In a next step, the researchers want to study the consequences these results have on economic decisions such as in the stock market. "This might even allow improving the advising process for investors with regard to their individual risk behavior," says Prof. Weber. And he considers health another important area. Smokers know that what they do is very dangerous, and yet they smoke. "If we learned more about smokers' attitudes towards risk, we might be able to provide information for developing better anti-smoking campaigns."

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Journal Reference:

1. S. Rudorf, K. Preuschoff, B. Weber. Neural Correlates of Anticipation Risk Reflect Risk Preferences. Journal of Neuroscience, 2012; 32 (47): 16683 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4235-11.2012

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/86WubHUIM4o/121126110651.htm

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The unappreciated Jay Cutler

Reuters

If you don?t like Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, you?re not alone. A poll of fans conducted last season found that Cutler was one of the Top 5 most disliked players in the NFL.

And if you?re looking for reasons not to like Cutler, you saw one when the Bears beat the Vikings on Sunday: Cutler committed one of the dumber penalties of the day when he ran out of bounds and then threw the ball at Vikings cornerback A.J. Jefferson. Throwing the ball at an opponent is an automatic 15-yard penalty, as every NFL player should know. Yes, Cutler can be an idiot sometimes.

But if you don?t think Cutler is a good quarterback, well, you?re wrong. Cutler?s abilities were on display in Sunday?s 28-10 win over the Vikings, but they were even more on display in the way the Bears completely fell apart without him a week ago against the 49ers. And Cutler?s importance to the Bears is on display in every game he misses: In the last three years, in games Cutler both started and finished, the Bears are 26-9. In games Cutler either missed entirely or was knocked out because of an injury in the first half, the Bears are 1-8.

No, Cutler doesn?t put up the kinds of numbers that the NFL?s elite quarterbacks produce, but Cutler doesn?t have anywhere near the kind of offensive talent surrounding him that the NFL?s elite quarterbacks have. The Bears have had one of the NFL?s worst offensive lines for Cutler?s entire tenure in Chicago, and they only got a high-level wide receiver for the first time this year, when they traded for Brandon Marshall.

I believe it?s that Chicago offensive line and that Chicago receiving corps ? as well as, yes, acting like a jerk at times by doing things like throwing a ball at an opponent ? that has made Cutler one of the most underappreciated players in the NFL. This is a good quarterback, playing on a team that appears headed toward the playoffs, in the NFL?s second-biggest media market, and he should get more credit than he does.

Cutler has a great opportunity, however, to change the way he?s regarded over the next couple of months. With the Bears right in the thick of the NFC playoff race, Cutler has the chance to do what he didn?t do when a knee injury knocked him out of the NFC Championship Game a couple years ago, and play the best football of his career on the biggest stage. I think Cutler is going to open some eyes in December and January. And maybe by February, he won?t be unappreciated anymore.

Here are my other thoughts on Sunday?s games:

Robert Ayers was the toughest player in the league on Sunday. Ayers, a backup defensive end for the Broncos, found out late on Saturday night that his father had died suddenly. But instead of heading home right away, he decided to stay in Kansas City to be there for his team against the Chiefs. Ayers played and played well in a 17-9 win in which the Broncos? defense shut down the Chiefs? offense, then was awarded a game ball in the locker room afterward and headed home to tend to his family.

Jared Allen got away with a brutal cheap shot. While his teammate Antoine Winfield was returning an interception, Allen launched himself directly into the head of Bears offensive lineman Lance Louis, delivering a hit that knocked Louis out of the game. Allen said after the game that he thought the hit was legal, but he?s wrong. That?s a blatant penalty that the officials somehow missed, but the league office won?t. Allen is in for a big fine.

The Chiefs got too cute. Kansas City?s opening drive against Denver was running smoothly, with an emphasis on running: Out of the Chiefs? first nine offensive plays, eight of them were runs, and those eight runs produced 48 yards. So what on earth were the Chiefs thinking with the play they called on third-and-3 in the red zone? Instead of running it again, the Chiefs called a bizarre trick play on which running back Peyton Hillis took the snap, ran to his right, then turned around and threw it to quarterback Brady Quinn. Hillis?s pass showed that there?s a reason he?s not a quarterback: He threw an ugly duck that didn?t even get close, falling to the ground a few feet in front of Quinn. That was a dumb play call that stopped a promising drive.

Something has to be done about the officials, Part 1. Everyone saw the horrendous call on Thanksgiving in which the officials somehow ruled that Texans running back Justin Forsett had run 81 yards for a touchdown, even though he was obviously down after just eight yards. But on Sunday not as many people noticed that the opposite mistake was made in the 49ers-Saints game: San Francisco receiver Michael Crabtree caught a pass, got hit, put his hand down to steady himself and kept running, about to break a big play ? except that the officials whistled the play dead, wrongly thinking Crabtree had been down. If we can?t count on the officials to get it right on a call as fundamental as whether or not a player was down, what can we count on them to get right?

Something has to be done about the officials, Part 2. Remember during the lockout, how everyone complained that the replacement refs were dragging out the games by taking way too long to make their rulings? No delays from the replacement refs were as bad as the ridiculous delay late in Sunday?s Ravens-Chargers game. After Ray Rice made an amazing play to turn a short pass into a first down on fourth-and-29, the officials delayed the game by a whopping 10 minutes to watch a replay and re-measure the spot of the ball, only to discover that it had been correctly ruled a first down on the field all along. A 10-minute delay late in the fourth quarter of a close game takes all the energy out of the building. Make the call and move on, refs.

Anyone want to help Charlie Batch out? With Batch, the Steelers? 38-year-old third-string quarterback, pressed into duty on Sunday, the Steelers needed to get big games from their running backs. Instead, Pittsburgh?s four running backs ? Rashard Mendenhall, Jonathan Dwyer, Isaac Redman and Chris Rainey ? combined for just 49 yards on 20 carries, while fumbling six times. Mendenhall and Rainey had two fumbles apiece, while Dwyer and Redman each had one. The Steelers? eight turnovers were the most for any NFL team in one game since 2001, and the Steelers were upset by the Browns.

Jim Harbaugh made the right decision. Colin Kaepernick is a better quarterback than Alex Smith, and if anyone doubted it before, no one should doubt it after Kaepernick led the 49ers to a big win at New Orleans on Sunday. Harbaugh was wise to bench Smith in favor of Kaepernick, who is now 2-0 as a starter with wins over the Bears (playing without Cutler) and Saints. With Kaepernick under center, the 49ers are going to be a tough team to beat in January. Although if they meet again in the playoffs, I like the Bears? chances with a healthy Cutler.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/26/nfl-morning-after-the-unappreciated-jay-cutler/related/

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