Online Fun and Business

If you are banking with one of the big four UK banks - Barclays,
Natwest, Lloyds TSB or HSBC then you will be earning very little
interest on your hard earned cash that is sitting in your
current account. Typically you will be earning just 0.1 %
interest through these banks. If you shop around, you will find
that you could be earning between 2% to 5% which is up to 50
times more interest! Some good rates can be found at Alliance &
Leicester, First Direct, Abbey National, Cahoot, Intelligent
Finance and Halifax.

If you find that you go overdrawn quite a lot of the time, then
rather than looking for the highest interest rate, you should
concentrate on finding the lowest overdraft rate. Again if you
shop around, you can find much better overdraft interest rates
sometimes less than half of what you might currently be paying.
Also some banks or building societies will even give you a 0%
overdraft for switching to them, now it can’t get any better
than that! Also watch out for special deals that some banks do
from time to time where they will give you anywhere between £25
to £100 just for moving your account.

Of course you may well be thinking that this is all very well,
but its going to be such a hassle changing banks with my
standing orders, direct debits etc.. Well the good news is that
it is much easier these days to move your bank account as the
banks will automatically move your standing orders and direct
debits for you.

One thing that you must remember to do is let your employer know
your new bank details so that your salary can be paid in to your
new account. Most banks will expect you to pay in a minimum
amount in each month usually between £1000 to £2000 a month.

Another way to lower your overdraft charges is to never exceed
your overdraft limit as this is definitely going to cost you a
lot, just stay within the limit or ask for an increase in your
limit if you need it.

The earliest arcade games were built on clear logic and were restricted to competition between the players. Therefore there wasn’t any A.I. system.

Peculiar algorithms have been used in the arcade games. A [popular method of controlling an NPC in the game was by scripting.

Path finding is another common A.I. system that has been used in the real time strategy games. Path finding works by calculating how to get an NPC from one place to another after considering the terrain and obstacles.

Games like Quake and Pursuit based all the enemy moves on particular stored patterns. The space invaders further refined this movement by adding in-game events which were dependent on the hash functions.

This resulted in more varied and complex enemy movements.

Pac-Man incorporated this technology at the same time jazzing it up by providing different personalities for each ghosts.

Even hough the ghost movements in Pac-Man felt random, in reality it was a scripted and disguised action.

1990s saw the arrival of finite state machines. The arcade racing games were powered by a ‘rubber banding’ A.I. system.

If the computer controlled the opponents “fall behind”, they received a superb boost allowing them to catch up.

The system is programmed to enable  human players to catch up if they fall behind. The arcade shooting games should ideally have a large rule base which is basically the list of NPC options like attack long range, call for help, flee etc.

The secret lies in using a random factor to choose from this base factor. This has provided an increased sense of intellect and developed the fun quotient.

Continue here - free web arcade games and arcade free games pac man.

Rather than focusing on breast cancer, Wise Women choose to concentrate on keeping our breasts healthy through wise lifestyle and dietary choices.

The following tips may amaze you, since the actions and foods they suggest run counter to many alternative views of cancer prevention. They are supported with strong research, however - from the lab, with animals, and in long-term human studies. Thus, each of these tips has a solid scientific basis, unlike the assertions made by those intent on selling you their opinions and products.

Embarking on even one of these suggestions will definitely lower your risk of breast cancer. Using them all is even better. And as a special treat, I have added three extras. Look for lots more tips for keeping your breasts healthy in my book Breast Cancer? Breast Health! The Wise Woman Way, recommended by many oncologists and breast health specialists including Dr. Susan Love. And please visit my special breast health website: http://www.breasthealthbook.com

1. Be more active

Evidence continues to accumulate that a vigorous lifestyle is one of the best ways to cut breast cancer risk. A study of 20,624 Norwegian women found those who exercised or worked out regularly cut their breast cancer risk by 72%. (NEJM, 5/1/1997)

For breast health I walk every day, take a weekly yoga class, and do tai chi twice a week.

2. Eat more unrefined seed foods

All seeds provide phytoestrogens. Women who eat the most phytoestrogenic foods are four times less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than those who eat the least. “No study has shown a degree of risk reduction similar to that found for phytoestrogens …” (Lancet, 10/4/1997)

Whole grains such as wheat, rice, corn, kasha, millet, and quinoa are unrefined seed foods. Beans such as lentils, black beans, pinto beans, lima beans, and chickpeas are unrefined seed foods. Nuts including peanuts, walnuts, almonds, and pecans are unrefined seed foods. And edible seeds such as sesame, sunflower, and pumpkin are unrefined seed foods. Fruits and vegetables that are eaten with their seeds - such as strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, kiwi fruit, summer squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers - count as unrefined seed foods. Even seeds used as seasonings count, such as cumin, coriander, caraway, anise, and dill seeds.

For breast health, I have replaced all refined carbohydrates - including white rice and white/unbleached flour products such as pasta, bread, cookies, crackers, pretzels, bagels, donuts, and cakes - with whole grain products.

3. Eat less vegetable oil; increase animal fat, especially from dairy products

“Diets high in corn oil leave animals especially vulnerable to chemically induced cancers” say researchers. (Science News, 6/24/89; 10/2/99) Frightening as this statement is, it is not true only of corn oil but of all vegetable (or seed) oils including those made from soy, sesame, sunflower, cottonseed, flax, and hemp.

If you are dubious about eating more animal fat and dairy products to reduce breast cancer risk, consider this landmark study reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine (1/12/1998). To determine if food affected breast cancer risk. The diets of 61,000 Swedish women between the ages of 40-76 were followed for four years. The results? For every 5 grams (about a teaspoonful) of vegetable oil consumed per day, breast cancer risk increased by 70%. In contrast, for each 10 grams of fat from meat and dairy products in the daily diet, breast cancer risk was decreased by 55%.

Another study, begun in the early 1970s, followed 4,000 Finnish women’s diets for 25 years. Results recently released found that those who “drank the most milk had only half the breast cancer risk of those who drank the least.”

American researchers agree. According to a report in International Journal of Cancer (2001), women who drank milk as children and continued drinking it as adults had half the rate of breast cancer of non-milk drinkers. (Yes, I do buy organic milk, but the studies used regular supermarket milk.)

Why? Galactose, the primary sugar in milk, slows ovarian production of estradiol, a cancer-promoting hormone. Additionally, milk is rich in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), a fat known to suppress breast tumors in animals.

For breast health I use yogurt, cheese, milk, butter, and olive oil daily, and eat meat occasionally.

Remember that olive oil is pressed from a fruit, not a seed. Women whose diets are high in olive oil, and who eat meat and dairy products regularly, have the lowest rates of breast cancer in the world. (Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 1/18/1995)

4. Eat less tofu and soy beverage; eat more miso and tamari

While it is true that if you begin eating soy foods as a child and continue throughout puberty the breast tissues you create during your adolescence will be highly resistant to cancer until after menopause. However, if you begin eating unfermented soy (tofu, soy milk, and the like) after puberty, your risk of breast cancer increases. (Science News, 4/24/1999)

The active ingredient in soy - isoflavone - when given to breast cancer cells in petri dishes causes them to grow rapidly. (Extracts of dong quai and licorice have a similar effect.)

Miso and tamari - fermented soy foods - are the exceptions. Both are strongly cancer preventative, no matter when you start eating them. Animal studies have found both miso and tamari highly effective in preventing cancer, even in mice genetically programmed to get breast cancer. And the more you eat, the more you lower your risk of cancer.

For breast health, I use miso and/or tamari every day. I occasionally eat tofu or edemame. I drink no soy milk, and eat no other soy products of any kind.

5. Eat foods rich in antioxidants; avoid supplements of vitamins C and E

A diet that contains plenty of foods rich in antioxidants definitely lowers breast cancer risk. But supplements seem to do the opposite.

Doctors in Stockholm observed that, among breast cancer patients, treatment failures were higher for women taking vitamin E supplements - and the failure rate increased with dose. Studying this effect, researchers found that the anti-cancer benefits of fish oils “disappeared when [we] gave … antioxidant vitamins”. In fact, when mice with breast cancer were given vitamin E supplements “the more we gave them, the bigger their tumors grew.” The authors conclude that vitamin E supplements “preferentially protect a cancer and even aid its spread.” (Science News, 4/29/1995 and 7/15/1995)

Supplements of vitamin C (synthetic ascorbic acid) are poorly used by body tissues. But cancer cells seem to thrive on it. (Cancer Research, 9/15/1999) One new “chemotherapy” links a lethal form of zinc to an ascorbic acid molecule; when the cancer eats the ascorbic acid, the zinc is set free to kill the cancer cell.

For breast health I eat 5-7 servings of dark green and bright red/orange foods daily.

Besides being active, choosing a diet high in phytoestrogens, eating one or more servings of dairy products daily, using miso and tamari regularly, and avoiding vitamin supplements, here are three more things you can do to help prevent breast cancer:

6. Sleep in the dark

Exposure to light at night increases the risk of breast cancer. The Journal of the National Cancer Institute (8/17/2001) reports that chronic suppression of melatonin - an anti-cancer hormone made only in the dark - increases breast cancer risk by at least 36%.

For breast health, be certain there is no light (except from the moon) in the room where you sleep. Not even a night-light. Not the light from a clock. Not the little lights on electronics.

7. Drink red clover blossom infusion

Red clover is a potent anti-cancer herb. It contains ten times more phytoestrogens than soy, and in a more complete form. I have seen it clear in situ cancers and pre-cancerous polyps hundreds of times. Since many breast cancers take 7-10 years to become big enough to be seen on a mammogram, I drink a quart of red clover infusion every week and skip the mammogram.

To prepare the infusion:

• Place one ounce, by weight (about a cup by volume), of dried red clover in a quart canning jar.
  
  
• Fill the jar to the top with boiling water and lid tightly.
  
  
• Let steep for four hours or overnight.
  
  
• Strain and drink.
  
  
• Refrigerate excess and drink within 24-36 hours.

For breast health, I drink red clover infusion regularly.

8. Eat seaweed as a vegetable

If the long-lived and cancer-free Japanese have a secret, it is seaweed, not soy. A sprinkling of kelp as a seasoning is nice, and so are nori rolls - but neither does much to prevent cancer. For that we must eat seaweed as a vegetable - at least a half-cup serving per week. Wakame, kombu, kelp, and alaria are especially effective, but sea palm fronds, hijiki, nori, and dulse may be used on occasion.

There is a rich variety of seaweeds available in Chinese grocery stores, health food stores, and by mail. Seaweed recipes are available in many books (including my herbal Healing Wise).

These eight tips - five easy ones and three more difficult ones - will vastly increase your chances of living to be a wild, wise old woman with healthy breasts. That’s the Wise Woman Way the world round.

Legal Disclaimer: This content is not intended to replace conventional medical treatment. Any suggestions made and all herbs listed are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease, condition or symptom. Personal directions and use should be provided by a clinical herbalist or other qualified healthcare practitioner with a specific formula for you. All material contained herein is provided for general information purposes only and should not be considered medical advice or consultation. Contact a reputable healthcare practitioner if you are in need of medical care. Exercise self-empowerment by seeking a second opinion.

Susun Weed

PO Box 64

Woodstock, NY 12498

Fax: 1-845-246-8081

Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging and often profoundly provocative.

Susun is one of America’s best-known authorities on herbal medicine and natural approaches to women’s health. Her four best-selling books are recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and cherished by millions of women around the world. Learn more at http://www.susunweed.com

A favorite method of communicating is the cat’s purr, which is unique to the feline species. You may already know that a cat purrs when he’s content. Animal behaviorists now believe that they also purr when they are in the mood to be sociable.

However, if you pay close attention to your cat, you’ll notice that he also purrs when he’s nervous, feeling a little uneasy or even if he’s in great pain. Some experts think it’s a feline form of “meditation” and that this action comforts them. If this theory is at all correct, the “purring” sound of the feline is the equivalent of our “Ohm” when we meditate.

Read more about Cat Behavior

What are the benefits to refinancing my mortgage? I’ve heard of the great money advantages in this, but it is really worth for me? I went to this website to find out. Yes, I want to go this route because I think it will give me the results I need to get my life together and even step it up a notch. I didn’t realize how easy it could be to fall in the traps so now that I am more prepared I am going to get what I deserve.

The answer is: no one knows. Many self-styled “gurus” and “pundits” - authors of voluminous tomes they sell to the gullible - pretend to know. But their “expertise” is an admixture of guesswork, superstitions, anecdotal “evidence” and hearsay. The sad truth is that no methodical, long term, and systematic research has been attempted in the nascent field of e-publishing and, more broadly, digital content on the Web. So, no one knows to say for sure whether free content sells, when, or how.

There are two schools - apparently equally informed by the dearth of hard data. One is the “viral school”. Its vocal proponents claim that the dissemination of free content fuels sales by creating “buzz” (word of mouth marketing driven by influential communicators). The “intellectual property” school roughly says that free content cannibalizes paid content mainly because it conditions potential consumers to expect free information. Free content also often serves as a substitute (imperfect but sufficient) to paid content.

Experience - though patchy - confusingly seems to points both ways. Views and prejudices tend to converge around this consensus: whether free content sells or not depends on a few variables. They are:

The nature of the information. People are generally willing to pay for specific or customized information, tailored to their idiosyncratic needs, provided in a timely manner, and by authorities in the field. The more general and “featureless” the information, the more reluctant people are to dip into their pockets (probably because there are many free substitutes).

The nature of the audience. The more targeted the information, the more it caters to the needs of a unique, or specific group, the more often it has to be updated (”maintained”), the less indiscriminately applicable it is, and especially if it deals with money, health, sex, or relationships - the more valuable it is and the more people are willing to pay for it. The less computer savvy users - unable to find free alternatives - are more willing to pay.

Time dependent parameters. The more the content is linked to “hot” topics, “burning” issues, trends, fads, buzzwords, and “developments” - the more likely it is to sell regardless of the availability of free alternatives.

The “U” curve. People pay for content if the free information available to them is either (a) insufficient or (b) overwhelming. People will buy a book if the author’s Web site provides only a few tantalizing excerpts. But they are equally likely to buy the book if its entire full text content is available online and overwhelms them. Packaged and indexed information carries a premium over the same information in bulk. Consumer willingness to pay for content seems to decline if the amount of content provided falls between these two extremes. They feel sated and the need to acquire further information vanishes. Additionally, free content must really be free. People resent having to pay for free content, even if the currency is their personal data.

Frills and bonuses. There seems to be a weak, albeit positive link between willingness to pay for content and “members only” or “buyers only” frills, free add-ons, bonuses, and free maintenance. Free subscriptions, discount vouchers for additional products, volume discounts, add-on, or “piggyback” products - all seem to encourage sales. Qualitative free content is often perceived by consumers to be a BONUS - hence its enhancing effect on sales.

Credibility. The credibility and positive track record of both content creator and vendor are crucial factors. This is where testimonials and reviews come in. But their effect is particularly strong if the potential consumer finds himself in agreement with them. In other words, the motivating effect of a testimonial or a review is amplified when the customer can actually browse the content and form his or her own opinion. Free content encourages a latent dialog between the potential consumer and actual consumers (through their reviews and testimonials).

Money back warranties or guarantees. These are really forms of free content. The consumer is safe in the knowledge that he can always return the already consumed content and get his money back. In other words, it is the consumer who decides whether to transform the content from free to paid by not exercising the money back guarantee.

Relative pricing. Information available on the Web is assumed to be inherently inferior and consumers expect pricing to reflect this “fact”. Free content is perceived to be even more shoddy. The coupling of free (”cheap”, “gimcrack”) content with paid content serves to enhance the RELATIVE VALUE of the paid content (and the price people are willing to pay for it). It is like pairing a medium height person with a midget - the former would look taller by comparison.

Price rigidity. Free content reduces the price elasticity of paid content. Normally, the cheaper the content - the more it sells. But the availability of free content alters this simple function. Paid content cannot be too cheap or it will come to resemble the free alternative (”shoddy”, “dubious”). But free content is also a substitute (however partial and imperfect) to paid content. Thus, paid content cannot be priced too high - or people will prefer the free alternative. Free content, in other words, limits both the downside and the upside of the price of paid content.

There are many other factors which determine the interaction of free and paid content. Culture plays an important role as do the law and technology. But as long as the field is not subject to a research agenda the best we can do is observe, collate - and guess.

This article is, of course, free content…:o))

APPENDIX - Types of Free Content

The experiment of online content is in its infancy. Content creators, providers and aggregators fall into seven categories, though hybrids and permutations abound:

I. Entirely Free Content

Unrestricted access to the entire body of content available through a central URL or database.

II. Registration Required

Access to the entire body of content available through a central URL or database conditioned on providing a few personal data and being assigned - or choosing - a user ID and password. But, subject to registration, the content is entirely free, as in (I).

III. Time Limited Free Content - New but not Archived

Unrestricted but time-limited access to some content available through a central URL or database. Access to new material is free and unrestricted. Access to archived material requires a subscription.

IV. Time Limited Free Content - Archived but not New

Unrestricted but time-limited access to some content available through a central URL or database. Access to archived material is free and unrestricted. Access to new material requires a subscription.

V. Time Limited Free Content - Rotation

Unrestricted but time-limited access to some content available through a central URL or database. Various parts of the Web site (desks, chapters, features, articles, stories, sections, etc.) become accessible at different times. Access is rotated between these sections periodically or thematically or arbitrarily.

VI. Teaser Content

Unrestricted - time unlimited or time limited - access to some content (selected articles, headlines only, etc.) available through a central URL or database. Access to the rest of the content requires a subscription.

VII. Subscription

Access to content subject to paid subscription or payment per item.

Sam Vaknin ( samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Global Politician, Central Europe Review, PopMatters, Bellaonline, and eBookWeb, a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent, and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

Visit Sam’s Web site at samvak.tripod.com