Drinking Water: Bottled or From the Tap?

If your family is like many in the United States, unloading the week’s groceries includes hauling a case or two of bottled water into your home. On your way to a soccer game or activity, it’s easy to grab a cold one right out of the fridge, right?

But all those plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment. In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufactueres use 17 million barrels of crude oil. That’s enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.

Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle.

So why don’t more people drink water straight from the kitchen faucet? Some people drink bottled water because they think it is better for them than water out of the tap, but that’s not true. In the United States, local governments make sure water from the faucet is safe. There is also growing concern that chemicals in the bottles themselves may leach into the water.

People love the convenience of bottled water. But maybe if they realized the problems it causes, they would try drinking from a glass at home or carrying water in a refillable steel container instead of plastic.

Plastic bottle recycling can help—instead of going out with the trash, plastic bottles can be turned into items like carpeting or cozy fleece clothing.

Unfortunately, for every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin. The rest are sent to landfills. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to disintegrate.

Water is good for you, so keep drinking it. But think about how often you use water bottles, and see if you can make a change.

Betty McLaughlin, who runs an organization called the Container Recycling Institute, says try using fewer bottles: “If you take one to school in your lunch, don’t throw it away—bring it home and refill it from the tap for the next day. Keep track of how many times you refill a bottle before you recycle it.”

And yes, you can make a difference. Remember this: Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours.

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DID YOU KNOW??

Mondays Can Be Dangerous for Your Health
from National Goegraphic
The most common time for a heart attack to occur is Monday morning. The reason? Many workers have a significant increase in blood pressure when they go back to the office after the weekend. The stress of commuting could also be a factor.

About the Heart

The heart is the body's engine room, responsible for pumping life-sustaining blood via a 60,000-mile-long (97,000-kilometer-long) network of vessels. The organ works ceaselessly, beating 100,000 times a day, 40 million times a year—in total clocking up three billion heartbeats over an average lifetime. It keeps the body freshly supplied with oxygen and nutrients, while clearing away harmful waste matter.

The fetal heart evolves through several different stages inside the womb, first resembling a fish's heart, then a frog's, which has two chambers, then a snake's, with three, before finally adopting the four-chambered structure of the human heart.

About the size of its owner's clenched fist, the organ sits in the middle of the chest, behind the breastbone and between the lungs, in a moistened chamber that is protected all round by the rib cage. It's made up of a special kind of muscle (cardiac muscle) that works involuntarily, so we don't have to think about it. The heart speeds up or slow downs automatically in response to nerve signals from the brain that tell it how much the body is being exerted. Normally the heart contracts and relaxes between 70 and 80 times per minute, each heartbeat filling the four chambers inside with a fresh round of blood.

These cavities form two separate pumps on each side of the heart, which are divided by a wall of muscle called the septum. The upper chamber on each side is called the atrium. This is connected via a sealing valve to the larger, more powerful lower chamber, or ventricle. The left ventricle pumps most forcefully, which is why a person's heartbeat is felt more on the left side of the chest.

When the heart contracts, the chambers become smaller, forcing blood first out of the atria into the ventricles, then from each ventricle into a large blood vessel connected to the top of the heart. These vessels are the two main arteries. One of them, the pulmonary artery, takes blood to the lungs to receive oxygen. The other, the aorta, transports freshly oxygenated blood to the rest of the body. The vessels that bring blood to the heart are the veins. The two main veins that connect to the heart are called the vena cava.

Blood Delivery

Since the heart lies at the center of the blood delivery system, it is also central to life. Blood both supplies oxygen from the lungs to the other organs and tissues and removes carbon dioxide to the lungs, where the gas is breathed out. Blood also distributes nourishment from the digestive system and hormones from glands. Likewise our immune system cells travel in the bloodstream, seeking out infection, and blood takes the body's waste products to the kidneys and liver to be sorted out and trashed.

Given the heart's many essential functions, it seems wise to take care of it. Yet heart disease has risen steadily over the last century, especially in industrialized countries, due largely to changes in diet and lifestyle. It has become the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, claiming almost 700,000 lives a year, or 29 percent of the annual total. Worldwide, 7.2 million people die from heart disease every year.

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Putus Asa....

Pasien Tumor Gagal Dapatkan Hak Mati
Chantal Sebire menderita tumor ganas yang tak dapat disembuhkan

PARIS- Putus asa, itulah yang kini tengah dirasakan Chantal Sebire, perempuan asal Prancis berusia 52 tahun. Betapa tidak, penderitaan lahir batin harus terus dialami ibu tiga anak ini akibat tumor ganas yang membuat wajahnya berubah drastis menjadi sangat menyeramkan.

Tumor yang terbilang langka ini memang belum dapat disembuhkan dan malah semakin mengganas sehingga membuat para dokter angkat tangan. Tak heran bila kenyataan itu makin membuat Sabire menjadi sangat putus asa sehingga ia mengambil keputusan kontroversial untuk segera mengakhiri hidupnya.

Mantan guru sekolah yang tinggal di kawasan Bourgogne ini telah mengajukan hak untuk mati kepada pengadilan di Dijon, wilayah utara Prancis. Ia meminta pihak pengadilan mengeluarkan izin kepada para dokter untuk mengakhiri hidupnya.

Namun begitu, walaupun Pemerintah Prancis telah membuat peraturan tentang suntik mati atau euthanasia, pengadilan Dijon pada Senin (17/3) menolak mengeluarkan izin kepada dokter untuk mengambil tindakan mengakhiri hidup Sabire.

Kasus Sabire ini telah menimbulkan perdebatan dan simpati dari banyak pihak. Pada saat kemunculannya di sebuah stasiun televisi bulan lalu, Sabire mengatakan sebagian panca inderanya sudah tidak berfungsi. Ia tak dapat melihat, mencium atau mengecap dengan normal. Ia juga menggambarkan betapa hatinya terpukul ketika anak-anak berlari ketakutan setelah melihat wajah seramnya.

"Pada tahun 2000, saya kehilangan indera penciuman dan rasa ... dan saya lalu tak bisa melihat pada Oktober 2007," ujarnya dalam wawancara dengan telev0

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Judge the Book by It's Cover, Please

Tanda-tanda pada alis dan mata

Alis
Alis mata berkaitan dengan energi kreatif, mental dan seksual, serta jumlah motivasi yang dimiliki. Alis mata juga merupakan petunjuk bagaimana kita berhubungan dengan orang lain, keluarga, dan masyarakat.

- Tebal dan lebar. Mengindikasikan pribadi yang bersemangat, aktif agresif, dan dinamis.
- Alis mata tipis. Menunjukkan seseorang yang sensitif dan memiliki kesehatan yang tidak terlalu kuat.
- Gelap berbentuk bulan sabit. Menunjukkan orang yang mempunyai intuisi tinggi dan suka bekerja sama dengan orang lain.
- Alis mata runcing. Memiliki karakter inovatif, tegas, independen, dan senang menjadi yang pertama dalam setiap pekerjaan mereka.
- Seperti pedang. Cenderung agresif, proaktif, dan keras kepala. Mereka juga sering kali terlibat perdebatan.
- Seperti bulan baru. Memiliki peruntungan bagus, kecerdasan, dan bakat. Mereka sangat perhatian pada keluarga dan saudara-saudaranya. Alis mata ini membawa kesuksesan yang dapat mendatangkan kekayaan dan ketenaran.
- Dua alis berdekatan. Orang tipe ini sering kali terburu-buru dalam melakukan sesuatu.
- Panjang dan indah. Menggambarkan orang yang penuh gairah, elegan, dan lemah lembut dalam berbicara. lni juga merupakan tanda kekayaan.

Mata
- Bulat. Mudah percaya, cenderung mudah marah, aktif, dan tidak terlalu banyak bertanya.
- Oval. Mempunyai karakter yang bagus.
- Sempit. Menggambarkan karakter yang penuh curiga.
- Bulat besar. Menandakan pribadi yang sensitif, terbuka, dan bersahabat.
- Kecil. Cerdas, cerdik, humoris, lucu, dan mudah bergaul.
- Besar. Bentuk mata yang besar menandakan dia seorang yang lembut dan penyayang. Namun, buruk dalam hal konsentrasi dan pemikiran-pemikiran logis dan sistematis.
- Mata kucing (miring ke atas). Mereka mengetahui cara mendapatkan apa yang mereka inginkan.
- Mata miring ke bawah. Terkadang suka meremehkan kekuatan sendiri dan sulit mengatakan tidak.

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What is Forex??

"There are so many ways to earn money, and this time for you that haven't heard anout this way, feel free to read and take the information from this article"

FOREX - the foreign exchange market or currency market or Forex is the market where one currency is traded for another. It is one of the largest markets in the world.

Some of the participants in this market are simply seeking to exchange a foreign currency for their own, like multinational corporations which must pay wages and other expenses in different nations than they sell products in. However, a large part of the market is made up of currency traders, who speculate on movements in exchange rates, much like others would speculate on movements of stock prices. Currency traders try to take advantage of even small fluctuations in exchange rates.

In the foreign exchange market there is little or no 'inside information'. Exchange rate fluctuations are usually caused by actual monetary flows as well as anticipations on global macroeconomic conditions. Significant news is released publicly so, at least in theory, everyone in the world receives the same news at the same time.

Currencies are traded against one another. Each pair of currencies thus constitutes an individual product and is traditionally noted XXX/YYY, where YYY is the ISO 4217 international three-letter code of the currency into which the price of one unit of XXX currency is expressed. For instance, EUR/USD is the price of the euro expressed in US dollars, as in 1 euro = 1.2045 dollar.

Unlike stocks and futures exchange, foreign exchange is indeed an interbank, over-the-counter (OTC) market which means there is no single universal exchange for specific currency pair. The foreign exchange market operates 24 hours per day throughout the week between individuals with forex brokers, brokers with banks, and banks with banks. If the European session is ended the Asian session or US session will start, so all world currencies can be continually in trade. Traders can react to news when it breaks, rather than waiting for the market to open, as is the case with most other markets.

Average daily international foreign exchange trading volume was $1.9 trillion in April 2004 according to the BIS study.

Like any market there is a bid/offer spread (difference between buying price and selling price). On major currency crosses, the difference between the price at which a market maker will sell ("ask", or "offer") to a wholesale customer and the price at which the same market-maker will buy ("bid") from the same wholesale customer is minimal, usually only 1 or 2 pips. In the EUR/USD price of 1.4238 a pip would be the '8' at the end. So the bid/ask quote of EUR/USD might be 1.4238/1.4239.

This, of course, does not apply to retail customers. Most individual currency speculators will trade using a broker which will typically have a spread marked up to say 3-20 pips (so in our example 1.4237/1.4239 or 1.423/1.425). The broker will give their clients often huge amounts of margin, thereby facilitating clients spending more money on the bid/ask spread. The brokers are not regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (since they do not sell securities), so they are not bound by the same margin limits as stock brokerages. They do not typically charge margin interest, however since currency trades must be settled in 2 days, they will "resettle" open positions (again collecting the bid/ask spread).

Individual currency speculators can work during the day and trade in the evenings, taking advantage of the market's 24 hours long trading day.

Compiled using Wikipedia materials.
For more information you can click on my buissiness and investasi page

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Optimal band imaging detects early gastric cancer

A new study has shown that a technique designed to enhance images obtained during endoscopy could help to diagnose early gastric (stomach) cancer.

Survival rates for gastric cancer increase by nearly 90 per cent if the disease is caught early on, highlighting the importance of early diagnosis.

Scientists at the Jichi Medical University in Japan have found that optimal band imaging (OBI) - which was developed to enhance the patterns of lesions in endoscopic images - can be used to clearly identify a form of the disease called 'depressed-type' early gastric cancer, which is particularly difficult to spot as it appears as subtle changes in colour and shape.

Researchers used OBI on 27 patients who had been diagnosed with depressed-type early gastric cancer.

The ample light intensity of the technique allowed the scientists to observe the entire stomach without magnification and easily enabled them to identify 26 of the 27 cases of gastric cancer.

The images showed a clear contrast between the reddish cancerous areas and the yellowish areas of healthy stomach lining, and even medical students without much endoscopy experience were able to identify the edges of cancerous lesions.

Lead author Dr Hiroyuki Osawa said that the study, which is published in the journal Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, is the first to report optimal band images for early gastric cancer.

He confirmed: "In our comparative study, the optimal band imaging system with endoscopy showed contrasting images that could delineate the depressed-type early gastric cancers more easily than conventional endoscopy."

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The Stomach Cancer

The stomach is part of the digestive system. It is located in the upper abdomen, between the esophagus and the small intestine. Stomach cancer is also called gastric cancer.

Most (85%) cases of gastric cancer are adenocarcinomas that occur in the lining of the stomach (mucosa). Approximately 40% of cases develop in the lower part of the stomach (pylorus); 40% develop in the middle part (body); and 15% develop in the upper part (cardia). In about 10% of cases, cancer develops in more than one part of the organ.

Stomach cancer can spread (metastasize) to the esophagus or the small intestine, and can extend through the stomach wall to nearby lymph nodes and organs (e.g., liver, pancreas, colon). It also can metastasize to other parts of the body (e.g., lungs, ovaries, bones.

Incidence
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), approximately 760,000 cases of stomach cancer are diagnosed worldwide and more than 24,000 cases are diagnosed in the United States each year.

Incidence is highest in Japan, South America, Eastern Europe, and parts of the Middle East. Worldwide, stomach cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths.

Stomach cancer occurs twice as often in men and it is more common in people over the age of 55. In the United States, incidence is higher in African Americans than in Caucasians.

Changes in diet and food preparation have led to a recent decrease in the incidence of cancer of the lower stomach (distal gastric cancer). However, incidence of cancer of the upper stomach (proximal gastric cancer) has increased, primarily as a result of the prevalence of obesity and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

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