Schizophasia Blog

Internet Marketing and making money on the internet is a process that is closer to a run away snowball than a financial revolution. Momentum can be defined as the “Impetus of a nonphysical process, such as an idea or a course of events”. Making money online requires momentum.

When I started my first e-commerce web site back in 2002, I expected sales to just pour in without any effort. Do you remember the old commercial that showed the launch of a new internet business and almost immediately they had their first order, and then the next came, and before they knew it they had thousands of orders? That never happens with a new business in a competitive environment. For sure people launch new products on the internet every day and make millions overnight. But that success did not happen overnight. In most cases they are taking advantage of someone else’s or internally created momentum, before they launch their new product. It may appear as overnight success, but it was really the result of a lot of time, planning, execution and excellent momentum.

So if you are brand new and no one knows you exist, how do you create momentum? You’re eager, you’re excited and you want results NOW. Temptation to jump on board a dozen marketing guru’s paid plans or participate in shaky traffic schemes is very strong, but my best advice is to slow down, don’t spend any serious money and build your own momentum. How do you do this? It’s called work.

Start going to every forum you can find about internet marketing, and read, read, read. Don’t allow the hype of some of the marketers to get you so excited you start dropping money. Most of these programs do work, but they require some effort on your part before you will see results, and in many cases you can do more harm than good. There are thousands of people that are looking to score a fast buck off an internet newbie, don’t fall prey to your ambition. Be prepared and knowledgeable.

Now the beauty of internet marketing is that once you start to see income, it compounds and builds quickly, like a snowball rolling down a hill. It may be small at first, but it will grow with time. And then it starts to grow exponentially, like a snowball. Most people quit before they get to this point, or simply run out of money before they figure out what works. Your biggest allies are persistence and time. Like your money, don’t waste them.

Bill McRea is the publisher of Free Marketing Information Free marking information from a successful marketer that has created a wide range of legitimate and profitable businesses on the interent.

Comments Off

This time of year is always financially hard for families who
may have over spent between Christmas and the New Year. Last
year house repossessions in the 1st half of the year were 33%
higher than at the end of the year. The Council of Mortgage
Lenders stated that “The number of properties taken into
possession rose from 3070 in the second half of 2004 to 4640 at
the start of 2005″

Don’t fall into the trap of taking
out credit to avoid mortgage arrears

Many home owners
with debt problems are lured by attractive short term 0% balance
transfer rates on new credit cards as a solution to their debt
problems. Jennifer Brumby from the Newcastle branch of the CCS
(Consumer Credit Counselling Service ) said, “People are now
taking out credit to pay off their credit. But when you get that
far into debt, you are really on a slippery slope. People will
take out a loan to pay off their credit card and then find they
haven’t got enough money to survive on so they start running up
their credit card bill again and the whole cycle starts over.”


For most families their house is the largest purchase
decision that they ever make and while the UK property market
can provide an excellent long term investment opportunity, if a
household is experiencing debt problems, especially mortgage
arrears it is vital to address the problem before the threat of
house repossession becomes a reality.

A quick
property sale can provide an alternative to repossession of you
home

If your mortgage is in arrears for more than a
few months, your mortgage provider will usually take legal
action to gain possession of the property. House repossession
enables the lender to recoup the outstanding mortgage, arrears
and redemption fees (where applicable) in full. In addition they
will charge legal costs and court costs which can add up to
several thousand pounds. Your credit rating will be badly
affected following a house repossession, making obtaining credit
in future - and in particular, another mortgage - much more
difficult. For many people however, the worst aspect of
repossession is the upheaval caused by having to find somewhere
else to live at short notice, particularly when they have
children settled at local schools.

So if your family
spending has been overstretched and your home is under threat it
makes a lot of sense to consider a company such as They will
offer a quick house sale to any homeowner in the UK. They will
guarantee to complete the purchase within 10 working days and
you can even continue to live in your home for up to 6 months
whilst finding a new property, or rent back the property until
you are financially back on your feet. They can sometimes also
offer a buy-back option to enable you to repurchase the property
at a future date, at a pre-agreed price.

Many people
struggle to understand how A Quick Sale makes money - this is
explained better on A Quick Sale’s FAQ
page.

Struggling to sell your property after
several months on the market and facing the financial threat of
a bridging loan

The other time when considering
having a specialist company buy your house may be appropriate is
when you are moving up the property ladder and have bought your
next home ahead of selling your current house. Many people who
buy their homes in autumn find that the housing market is less
buoyant for sellers as winter approaches. For this reason a
quick house sell can provide a hassle free solution to the
stress of being stuck trying to get an offer. Best of all A Quick
Sale will pay all legal costs and no estate agents fees will
be charged for the quick purchase of your property.

Comments Off

Cisco CCNA Certification:

Should you take the one-exam or the two-exam approach?

One question I’m often asked by CCNA candidates is whether to take the “one big exam”, or take the two separate exams required by Cisco to achieve the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) exam.

The question comes up because there are now two separate paths to the CCNA certification. Candidates may take a single exam, 640-811, or two exams, 640-821 and 640-811.

What’s the difference? The two-exam approach involves exams with different topics and therefore different preparation techniques. 640-821 is the Introduction To Cisco Networking Technologies exam. This course does introduce the candidate to Frame Relay, PPP, and other WAN technologies, but goes into little detail. Emphasis in the Intro course is placed on knowing how Ethernet behaves, how different types of cable are used for different purposes, and knowing what cable to use in a certain situation. The candidate should expect some questions involving binary math as well, but they will involve fairly simple conversions.

The 640-811 exam, Interconnecting Cisco Networking Devices, goes into much more detail on WAN technologies. Routing and switching behavior are covered, and the candidate is expected to answer difficult questions involving binary math and subnetting as well. The candidate may also have to demonstrate ability to configure a router or switch via a simulator. Since the ICND exam goes into more detail, it’s generally considered the more difficult exam.

The approach I recommend to a CCNA candidate depends on their background. If the candidate is a relative newcomer to networking, or hasn’t taken a certification exam before, I recommend they take the two-exam approach. This allows the candidate to focus only on the Intro topics, and gives them a strong sense of confidence after passing the Intro exam. That confidence flows over into the ICND exam.

For those who have networking experience, and are very familiar with Ethernet behavior and cable types, I recommend the one-exam approach. This allows the candidate to focus on the more advanced topics they’ll be seeing in the single exam, while spending just a little time reviewing their Intro-level knowledge.

Regardless of the approach you choose, the path to true CCNA success remains the same. Get some real hands-on experience, either by renting rack time online or by putting together your own home lab. Understand what’s going on “beneath the command”; don’t use router commands when you don’t understand what they’re doing. Add to that a true mastery on binary math, and you’re on your way to having the magic letters “CCNA” behind your name!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (http://www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages. Video courses and training, binary and subnetting help, and corporate training are also available. Pass the CCNA exam with Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933!

Comments Off

The United States government criticizes China to resolve its rapidly growing trade deficit.

Deputy US Trade Representative Karan Bhatia said that their rival country can receive penalizing trade measures from the US government if they do not open up their market to American companies and if they do not treat US firms fairly. However, Bhatia did not imply that the US government would limit China’s access to their market.

On the other hand, US Trade Representative Rob Portman has a different take on United States-China trade situation. Last week, he expressed that the US government will set up a task force that will monitor China’s compliance with global trade policies. These policies focuses on implementing of intellectual property rights, easing up local industries, and carrying out vows to open the market to US companies.

According to Karan Bhatia, China has very much profited from their access to the US market, yet China is not doing their share as they continue in not giving US companies a level playing field in their markets. Furthermore, as said by some critics, low-priced Chinese products has already flooded the United States, which resulted in financial struggles of US competitors and job insecurity in the industrial parts of the country. The Chinese government is also reported to keep the yuan currency weak in order to increase their exports.

Last year, the trade deficit went to a record low of $725bn (£414bn) because oil prices rose and demand for imports of every kind increased.

In order to pacify US citizens who might lose their jobs because of the trade deficit, US legislators have proposed laws to lower trade relations with China. The US government also gave stern warnings to China to revalue its currency, and impose tariffs on Chinese products that is already flooding the country.

Analysts say that United States government has limited options and they could not afford to get even with China because these actions could backfire at them.

In response to United States’ stern warnings and criticisms, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang expressed that the US plan to impose penalizing trade measures on them will not help ease their trade relations. He also said that such impositions will not also be favorable to the business interests of the United States.

At the moment, people are anticipating a resolution to this problem when Chinese President Hu Jintao visits Washington for talks with the US President in April.

By Vasily Klimko
Global B2B Directory http://TOBOC.com - leading importers exporters database

Comments Off

First of all I have to say that for getting to any reasonable club in Bremen you need at least 25-30 minutes (That is, the time to need to get to Bremen Hauptbahnhof). If you turn right and you go past the Cinemaxx for about 600m you will get to Gleis 9, situated at the old Guterbahnhof. This is mostly a House Club, but it also has Hip-hop and a bit of Latino House. People are pretty select, mostly students and people with an average age of 22-25. It has got one dancing floor, stools, tables and armchairs and you can have a drink even on the top floor. The place is famous for various motto parties (Allegria, Ibiza, etc. when they also have movie projections). Usually, the club gets full between 1 and 2 o’clock in the night and dancing starts at about 1 o’clock. Entrance costs about 6-8 euros but you usually get a free drink included in the price.

If instead of turning to right at Hauptbahnhof, you go straight and cross the tramlines and you get to Rembertistrasse (the street under the autobahn) you will find the Tower Club (on Herdentorsteinweg). This is a place decorated in a Gothic Style with old walls and little light. It has two floors: downstairs one can also dance and upstairs one can play some table football. As I was told by one of the bodyguards, the music is better upstairs, but there’s a dancing floor only downstairs. This is the perfect place for rock (softer, not very hard…), alternative, new wave, crossover, and hardcore music genres fans. Sometimes it also has house parties. The place is especially popular among students because on Tuesdays it has Student parties with free entrance and Foster’s beer at half price. Even if you are not a gothic fan you might want to drop by if you do not have anything important to do on Wednesday morning and have a chat with some students.

The first club on Rembertistrasse is Rosige Zeiten. This is again a mostly house club, but on some occasions they also have 70’s parties. It has got a pretty impressive reddish decoration. Unfortunately in the last years the club has lost it’s popularity and if you go there before 1:30 you will find very few people. Entrance costs about 5 euros and it is useful to ask how many people are in (because sometimes there are quite many, especially when DJ-s from London come there).

The next club on Rembertistrasse is Neue Welt also known as nine-nine-one (on Fridays). On Fridays the main genre played is trance and other non-commercial techno genres (but not house). The atmosphere is not spectacular and there are not too many people on Fridays. On the other hand, the club seems to be totally different on Saturdays when the music played is varied (mostly charts). The place even seems too crowded and small and the people seem a bit too immature (starting from 14 year old people). Personally, when I was there on a Saturday with Akhil, Azim and Timur we felt that it was not the place for us…but maybe it’s not like that every Saturday… From 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning the place reopens for the Morning Beats trance party (Sunday morning, entrance 5 euros). So, if trance is your religion you might want to try this.

Walking further on Rembertistrasse, you will get to Woody’s. They put all kinds of music, anything that is in vogue for any taste (less house). The entrance is 3 euros, the average age is 18 (it means there are also people who are 15 and people who are 25) and the drinks are pretty cheap. It has got one floor and nothing too spectacular.

The most famous club on Rembertistrasse is Stubu/Coconut. This is the club about which you will hear most things from the other pioneers. Some of us went there so many times that we are disgusted when we hear the name of the place but we still go there…I don’t know why but the place is a magnet. It probably owes it’s popularity to the fact that it is open all week, entrance is only 3 euros on Friday and Saturday night and free on the other days. You won’t believe but there are actually parties everyday there. The student party is on Thursday when the place gets sometimes as full as in the weekends (also because of the happy hour- drinks at price till 10 o’clock). It has two floors: Stubu-mixed, charts, techno, German Schlagers and Coconut-hip-hop, RnB. There’s a great variety of people you can meet here: from students to factory workers, all races and different nations.

On the other side of the Hauptbahnhof if you are a trance fan you could go to Schlachthof and if you like house more you might want to try Swutch Club.

Closer to the city center, near the banks of River Weser (on Schlachte Street) there are several good clubs and restaurants with foreign food. One of the good clubs is Rio where they occasionally have Latino parties, like the one called “36 Grad” (the place to practice your salsa, merengue, cha-cha-cha, mambo and rumba skills).

On the same street you may find on the Weser a boat where they hold parties: Shark Lounge. It is mostly famous for the student “pa:ti”-s which take place about once a month. The main genres played are house, UK Garage, Hip-hop, Latin House and some house/RnB mixes. People are also very select, clean and decent. The entrance fee ranges between 5 and 7 euros (might be up to 10 for very, very special occasions). A small advice: Check online if the place is open on the day you want to go there because it is not open every weekend.

The biggest multi-taste disco inside Bremen is Modernes. This is the place for many motto parties (Studio 54, Heartbreaker’s ball, Robbie Williams Night, etc.). These motto parties are guaranteed to bring more fun because people are dressed up, there are movie projections, games, live stage entertainment. The entrance costs from 4 to 9 euros. The dancing floor is among the biggest I have seen in Bremen, although there are much bigger places outside the city.

There are also two very big clubs in the Sebaldsbrck area, close to the Mercedes-Benz factory but these ones are more specialized. Their names are Aladin and Tivoli and they are right one next to each other. This is a big advantage on special occasions when the walls between them are removed and everything transforms into a huge 4-floor party complex (with a yard where one can breathe some fresh air). During normal weeks (weekends and some working days) Aladin hosts parties for rock, hardcore, alternative, hard rock, heavy metal, punk and related tastes while Tivoli hosts parties for Trance & Techno fans (entrance 10 euros). However, Tivoli does not get full during normal weekends. One can have the best time partying in Bremen at the big Jungle, Old Skool, 2step, Drum ‘n’ Bass and House events. These happen about once a month or once in two months. This is when the two clubs (each one having two floors) unite giving birth to an impressive complex with floors for all tastes.

Usually at these parties there are about 15 to 20 DJs and 5-6 MCs (famous ones, from Germany and England) and also 2-3 LJs (for all the lasers, vortexes and projections). This is why the entrance price is situated around 20-25 euros (depending on the number of celebrities), but one can get a 3-5 euro rebate if the tickets are bought before the event (Vvk. i.e. Vorverkauf). Even before opening at 10 o’clock one can see long cues at the entrance and the place gets full in about one hour. Dreamland and Junglemania are two famous events that take place several times a year. Personally, I have had my best clubbing time at these parties, so if you enjoy the genre you should not miss it! Remember a thing: Good parties don’t take place too often! (That’s why it might be a good idea to put some money aside some time before.)

To sum up, I may say that Bremen is not a huge night-life center like Frankfurt, Berlin or Hamburg but still for a busy IUB student trying to forget for a few hours a week about assignments, study and student jobs, there are enough places to acquire new memories and experiences. I am telling you this because after you will graduate you will have less free time than you have now. We will all be preoccupied by career and then family, we will be really mature people and we will be fully responsible for our actions. And then we will ask ourselves: Didn’t I miss anything from the beauty of being young and restless? So, my advice would be study hard and learn well but don’t forget to chill out a bit because Bremen is not a village after all J!

So, Viel Spass!

Article written by a student from Bremen. More information and detalis available at http://clubbingpocketguide.blogspot.com.

Comments Off

Medical billing services are companies that take the pain of collecting money out of the doctor’s office. A good service will maximize a doctor’s receivables, while keeping their cash flow consistent. The key is choosing the right medical billing service.

A great service will submit insurance claims timely (preferably electronically), track the payments, follow up on unpaid claims and deal with all denials. They will not let any claim go unpaid.

Representatives of the service will attend insurance company seminars, advise the doctor of changes in their field and provide them with regular financial reports. They should not only handle the billing needs, but should act as consultants for the doctor, advising of fee structure, coding practices, and other ways to improve the office.

An obvious way a doctor can save money by outsourcing his billing is in the savings he will generate thru payroll, equipment, software support, updates, postage, forms, etc.

Outsourcing medical billing produces more than cash savings. A good service can maximize what the doctor actually brings in by collecting more money than an in-house staff can. In most offices, the in-house staff does not have the time, or the knowledge to handle the problem claims and the doctor ends up not getting reimbursed anything for those services.

By outsourcing, a doctor is hiring a professional. Medical billing services have the expertise to submit claims accurately, collect on all claims, even those that have been denied by the insurance carrier. This helps the doctor’s patients by avoiding billing the patient for a claim that should have been paid by the insurance carrier.

A doctor should avoid choosing the wrong service by carefully checking references. A doctor should call several other doctors who might be using a particular medical billing service.

When a doctor interviews a potential service, what is his overall impression of the people who will be handling his income? During the interview, he should pay attention to how they answer his questions. Are they confident in their answers? Are they correct in their answers? Does what they offer make sense?

Like many other fields, there are good and bad billing services. But medical billing services can be a great resource for a doctor if they are careful to choose the right one.

Michele Redmond is co-owner of Solutions Medical Billing and has been in business since 1994. She has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Science and is responsible for the electronic claims submissions for over 50 providers. For more information on clearing houses and other alternatives for electronic claims submissions visit her website at http://www.solutions-medical-billing.com

Comments Off

February and March is the time to repot just about all your overwintered plants. The days are getting longer and the plants are beginning to wake up from their winter dormancy. Potting them into larger containers now means that those stretching roots will have the ability to grow and produce a larger plant. And, as we all know, larger plants produce more flowers. Use a pot that is one or at most, two sizes larger than the current container. The accepted garden wisdom is to move from a four inch pot to a five or six. I broke that rule with some plants this week but in this case, the citrus trees were seriously under-potted and while it would have been better to move them up one size, the larger size will work better to balance the heavy top growth and I will not have to repot them in another few months.

Even your normal houseplants will benefit from being repotted now. If they have grown well over the past year, reward them with a larger pot. My bay tree didn’t do all that well over the winter as it resented the lack of sunlight and missed its greenhouse setting so I’m not going to repot it. It will probably make another year in its eight inch pot. But the new Trachelospermum ‘tricolor’ (Variegated Star Jasmine) with its pink and green variegated leaves has done well so it is going to get a larger pot. This award-winning plant is a sure-fire winner and should be available this spring at better garden centres. Its vine-like habit grows to five feet tall and has fragrant flowers to boot. Mine will live in its pot outside this summer and will come back indoors as it is a bit too tender for my outdoor garden. Repot! The time is nigh.

Doug Green is an award winning garden author who answers gardening questions in a free newsletter at http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com

Comments Off

Look After Your Health. The threat of a Bird Flu Pandemic. The
threat to the world from Bird Flu is more serious now, than it
was when I wrote my first article on the subject in May, 2005.
entitled “Will Avian Flu Become Pandemic” since then it has
spread to numerous other countries, but, thankfully at this
stage it has not, as yet, mutated to a strain that can transfer
from Human to Human.

It is so easy for this virus to mutate, it can happen as simply
as a person catching Bird Flu from poultry or birds, when that
person, has already caught one of the more common strains of
Influenza. This could enable the Bird Flu virus to then cause a
pandemic outbreak of this deadly disease throughout the world.

History of the Bird Flu and its Spread.

It first started in South Korea at a chicken farm in 2003, a
couple of months or so later, it was detected in Vietnam, then
an outbreak was found in chickens in Indonesia, Thailand
confirms the death of a six year old boy, this was the first
known death from Bird Flu. China also has problems and Malaysia
has found the virus in chickens, near the Thailand border.

This year, 2005, Bird Flu has been found in ducks in the
Philippines, Japan has had an outbreak in chickens, then it was
also found in Russia. In October, 2005 it was discovered in
Turkey and Romania, so you can see that it is spreading across
the globe, slowly but surely. The very latest is that it has now
been discovered in Greece.

It is spread at this stage by birds, mainly migratory birds that
fly north or south from the Asian region, where they can take it
to Russia and Europe, or in the other direction, south to
Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific region.

The European Union has warned that there should not be any
panic, though it has told the 25 nations that make up the Union
to start stockpiling supplies of anti viral drugs. It has been
confirmed in nearly all cases the strain of virus is the highly
virulent and lethal H5N1.

In London, it has been confirmed that Britain is at risk and
they have suggested that all people that could be vulnerable,
should consider having normal Flu injections. The United States
Senate, on September 29, 2005, voted to provide almost $US4
billion to purchase a stockpile of the two anti viral drugs.

Future Prospects

Professor Ian Frazer of Brisbane, Australia, who with his
research team, after many years of heartache, trials and
tribulations, have announced that they have now perfected a
vaccine that will prevent Cervical Cancer and this vaccine
should be available in 2006, this is a world breakthrough and a
historic discovery, he now is thinking of turning his talents to
the H5N1 virus, he and many of his colleagues are convinced that
it is only a matter of time before this virus will start
attacking humans and cause a pandemic.

It has been estimated that the death toll throughout the world,
if this pandemic should start, could be as high as 40 million
people. Currently, humans are catching the virus from birds that
have the infection, through their saliva or faeces, which when
dry can be inhaled by humans. The authorities state emphatically
that it can not be transmitted through eating poultry.

What Can You Do

It is recommended by a number of authorities that you should
consider having the normal human flu vaccine.

There are two drugs available that can help, but are in short
supply, also they are quite expensive, Tamiflu and Relenza, very
recent reports, even suggest that they might not be good enough
to help if the situation becomes pandemic, because they have not
yet been tested. We can but hope that they are more efficient
than the predictions.

Take all the sensible normal precautions. There are a lot of you
out there that are bird lovers, myself included, but remember
that birds can carry the virus in their gut, without any ill
effect to themselves, so, don’t get up too close and personal
with birds, never mind how much you love them.

Your Immune System, this is your natural defence against all
illnesses and diseases. Try to ensure that you Immune System is
functioning as efficiently as possible. Make sure that what you
eat and drink is natural and as nutritious as you can make it.
More information is available from my website.

Comments Off

When my firstborn arrived into this serene and peaceful household, my entire world was transformed into a warzone and funfare at the same time. He became the focus of my attention throughout the entire day and I live to make sure he is alright. I made sure his food contained just the right amount of nutrients, helped stimulated him with playtime, read to him, slept with him.

You see, offering cuddles and hugs is not the usual reward or privilege we got when me and my siblings were kids. Infact, it was quite unheard of. Sure, we had the usual dosages of “Good girl” and a hug but me and my parents never hugged as much as I hug with my kid. We can even go into a hug-athon when we want to. Hugging, kissing, hugging, kissing, hugging….etc.

Sleeping with my child came naturally to me and my husband. It felt so good to hold his hand or drape a careless arm over his tummy while we slumber. It’s so comfortable and proves to be a suitable and close-to-perfect setting for us.

Sure, I was warned about not being able to make him sleep in his own bed later on and stuffs but my need to sleep with my child supercedes those warning. I didn’t mind getting kicked in the face once too many times in the night. I didn’t mind getting jumped on in the morning.

Now, the problem is not my son. It’s me. My son can sleep perfectly fine without me. It’s me who can’t sleep without him beside me! I know, I am so terrible at this. I need to feel that he is near me in order to even have a short shut-eye.

Now who’s dependent on whom?

I tried placing him on our bed, lulling him to sleep and then moving him onto the crib before I sleep. Didn’t work cause NOW I CAN’T sleep. I’d make a very calculated guess that my husband feels the same way about the sleeping arrangement although I would say he feels a little less committed to the approach. He sure could sleep when he needed to. But of course, I have been the one who had to consistently put the child to bed and I have gotten accustomed to the feeling of that little body and those tiny fingers intertwined with mine.

A little basics here for sleeping with a baby nearby.

If you don’t like it, stop it. Try getting your baby to sleep on his own as soon as you possibly can. If you’re unlike me, it’s best to make sure you can get as much rest as possible. Sleeping in another room or in another bed is as possible as sleeping WITH baby. Besides, there’s been many reports about sleeping with baby in bed, which includes the possibility of snuffling baby or rolling over the slumbering tot while the adults are in deep sleep.

If you’re sleeping with baby in the middle (that means between you and your partner), try moving baby to the other side of the bed. That means, to one side. The bed would have to be leaning against a wall or something concrete in order to prevent baby from falling off the bed. This sleeping arrangement could help you and your partner bond better, especially when you need an adult cuddle in the middle of the night, instead of a baby one.

If you like sleeping with your child, then you might have to endure some unwanted advice from others who have already helped their toddlers to sleep alone in their own beds. Every set of parents have different expectations and standards of raising their children and your friend/relative is not any different. Their advices are probably made in good will and they think what they’re doing is the absolute right thing. Never squabble with your friends/relatives about issues like this one. The best way is to smile and react as little as possible by saying things like, “He’s thriving and we love the arrangement now. Thanks anyway”.

I have once heard this saying which goes like this, “Once you give birth to a child, you will henceforth spend the rest of your life seperating yourself from him”. That is so so so so true. I couldn’t agree more with that. You see, I can’t sleep alone (without my child) because I don’t want to seperate myself from him. He gives me security and I know he is safe sleeping with me. I am a breath away from saving him in “life threatening” situations. I want to know that he’s so close I can breathe his scent. I can’t seperate myself from him. I know I will have to someday.

The most important thing for me to do, is to slowly ease myself out of this habit and this need. For one, I am being selfish when I choose an arrangement which fits me best. I need to follow my child’s lead if he appears to WANT or is READY to sleep on his own.

Marsha Maung is a freelance graphic designer and writer who is working out of her home in Selangor, Malaysia. She lives in PJ with her husband, Peter and 2 sons, Joshua and Jared. Marsha is the author of “Raising little magicians”, “No Products to Sell” and other books. For more information on Marsha, visit http://www.marshamaung.com and to find out mroe about her books, visit http://www.lulu.com/marshamaung.

Comments Off

Case modding is the artistic modification of a computer chassis (often just refered to as the case), often also involving peripheral components. Many people, particulary hardware enthusiasts use case mods to illustate a computers power. The terminology “mod” is short for “modification.”

Computer Cases History

When personal computers hit the mainstream, most of them came in a case in the color of beige. This functional design was often called a beige box Although this served the purpose of containing the components of a personal computer, as time wore on, many users found their computers to be “tacky” or “dull” due to the lack of originality in the case design. So to solve this, some users began to modify their existing chassis or build their own.

Later, Case Modification became mainsteam when the Apple iMac was released, which went against the beige box design around at the time. Since then many computer manufacturers began selling cases that lack the dull beige base color. Case Modification has also opened up a new market for 3rd party computer cases to continue the break from the average case. Beige cases are now becoming harder to find since users enjoy the larger variety of colors and styles of current OEM cases.

LED technology and Computer Modding: Things you should know when lighting your computer

Physical function
An LED is a special type of semiconductor diode. Like a normal diode, it consists of a chip of semiconducting material impregnated, or doped, with impurities to create a structure called a pn junction. Charge-carriers - electrons and holes flow into the junction from electrodes with different voltages. When an electron meets a hole, it falls into a lower energy level, and releases energy in the form of a photon as it does so.

LED Light emission
The wavelength of the light emitted, and therefore its color, depends on the bandgap energy of the materials forming the pn junction. A normal diode, typically made of silicon or germanium, emits invisible far-infrared light, but the materials used for an LED have bandgap energies corresponding to near-infrared, visible or near-ultraviolet light.

Considerations in use of LED lights in computer cases
Unlike incandescent light bulbs, which can operate with either AC or DC, LEDs require a DC supply of the correct electrical polarity. When the voltage across the pn junction is in the correct direction, a significant current flows and the device is said to be forward-biased. If the voltage is of the wrong polarity, the device is said to be reverse biased, very little current flows, and no light is emitted. Most LEDs have low reverse breakdown voltage ratings and will be damaged by an applied reverse voltage of more than a few volts.

Because the voltage versus current characteristics of an LED are much like any diode, they can be destroyed by connecting them to a voltage source higher than their turn on voltage. A good LED driver circuit is either a constant current source or an approximation to a current source made by connecting the LED in series with a current limiting resistor to a voltage source. The voltage drop across a forward biased LED can change significantly based on current flow.

Parallel operation is generally problematic. The LEDs have to be of the same type in order to have a similiar forward voltage. Even then variations in the manufacturing process can make the odds of satisfactory operation low. For more information see Nichia Application Note (http://www.nichia.co.jp/specification/appli/electrical.pdf).

Some LED units contain two diodes, one in each direction (that is, two diodes in inverse parallel) and each a different color (typically red and green), allowing two-color operation or a range of apparent colors to be created by altering the percentage of time the voltage is in each polarity. Other LED units contain two or more diodes (of different colors) arranged in either a common anode or common cathode configuration. These can be driven to different colors without reversing the polarity.
—
Paul LoIacono is the president and owner of ATX Cases. You can see a wild array of computer case shapes, sizes and designs by visiting http://atxcases.com.

Comments Off