daily blog

This mysterious cat is originally from the country of Siam, now known as Thailand. Siamese cats were highly esteemed by generations of Siamese monarchs,
even to the extent that they resided in the royal palace. You wanna talk about the royalty of the cat world! They were trusted to protect the palace as well as monasteries from evil spirits and were also thought to bring good fortune.

In the year 1884, the first Siamese cats made their way to England when the current Monarch of Siam decided to gift them to a top general in the British Army. They made their way from there to America. The Siamese cat is now one of the most
recognized domestic cat breeds around. According to the Cat Fancy Association they are the single most popular shorthair cat and the 3rd most popular breed of cat overall.

Although this breed features a variety of different colors, there are some disagreements concerning what makes a true Siamese cat and what does not Still, these delightful felines are well known for bodies that are mostly light in color with darker areas called points. The darker points are generally (but not always) around the face, legs, feet and the tail.
Weighing in at between about 8 and 15 lbs, this blue eyed sensation of the cat world has 2 distinct body types.

The modern Siamese have long and elegant bodies with very refined tapering lines and wedge-shaped heads to match.

Conversely the traditional Siamese cat is a robust and round-headed creature with a muscular physique
These particular cats are as well-known for their distinct personalities as for their color points. They have a great talent for communicating with people that other cats simply do not have. If you like to come home to peace and quiet, then you may want to consider another cat altogether. These are the most social cats in existence.

Since Siamese cats believe the world revolves around them, they want lots and lots attention. They are also quite dependant on their human owners. They crave interaction and they really love their games! These cats are simply not meant to be left alone for too long.

While this cat may be high maintenance emotionally, they are generally not in any other area. For example they need only a minimum of grooming.

Because their coats are so close as to appear painted on, a gentle weekly brushing is usually enouph. Like all other types of cats, they have a few minor genetic faults, such as occasional crossed eyes and kinked tail, which are primarily cosmetic concerns.

In terms of life expectency, these cats are blessed with above-average life spans compared to other cats, generally between fiften to twenty years and sometimes longer. The reward for such a cat is well worth it as you can have a staunch supporter for a substantal amount of time.

Just imagine having a cat that can help teach your kids on the art of speech and then live long enough to see them go to college. For information on cats and cat nutrition visit Premium Cat Food from Life’s Abundance and learn more.

Ryan Joseph is a writer researcher. For more information visit http://www.dog-food-nutrition.com/

From early childhood and throughout the schooling system, we learn the “3R’s”: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic – the science of numbers. (Nowadays, you need to add a fourth “R”- gRaphing!).
Later, we reach a certain level in our education where were may feel rightly or wrongly (often complacently) that our levels of mastering reading and writing are satisfactory.

However… What about numbers? Generally, we do not fully realize the extent to which numbers control and regulate our lives. We are all identified by innumerable numbers from birth to the very last moments of our lives. Just reflect only on some of our important dates: birth, starting school, finishing primary school, finishing secondary school, the admission to university and then also with every stage of our education imprinted with our marks, marks and marks (percentages!). Then other numbers: the first love (the date, some of us remember!), dates of: marriage, birth of children, the first work, salaries, divorce, then blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels, the first operation, the passing away (not yet?) and so on. These numbers are unique to you and unique to me. They all identify you and identify me.

Some numbers quantify information. These are essential to understanding facts, events, processes, laws etc… The US novelist, Nathanel West, 1903-1940, stated aptly: “Numbers constitute the only universal language”.

Studies have shown that even rhesus monkeys can understand the relation between numbers 1 to 9 i.e., they are able to judge whether the specified number is smaller or bigger than the other number.

So, what is the present state of arithmetic? Unfortunately, most of the people satisfy themselves on a very low level of its cognizance. (As an anecdote, I may tell you that I was approached by a lawyer who asked me: “I have to assign a plaintiff 15% of the amount demanded by defendant; how much is it?”). Most people fear numbers if they require any further calculations: making fractions, multiplying, using proportions or inverse proportions, converting to percentages or substituting to formulas. What are the implications of this fact? It often leads to impaired judgement of the average citizen regarding handling their home economics, investment and, as the case may be, the events in their own country and on our globe. As the citizens of a “global village”, we are all affected by events not only in our place or country but even in far-away-countries. Consider these numbers: people affected by HIV, bird flu, tsunami, price of a barrel of oil, tsunami in financial markets, increasing ozone hole, decreasing shoals of fish in oceans, decreasing number of polar bears, the increase in the average yearly temperature, increasing extinction of species of animals and plants. One can present endless number of examples.

The numbers can be puzzling, depressing, shocking, fascinating, mystifying or upsetting. Well, they can be… An educated, intelligent and honest person will perceive them this way. A Polish film director Jerzy Konwicki (renown for his “Ashes and Diamonds”) used to say: “only a cow does not care”.

True, a cow does not know, for example, about the “mad cow” disease and does not understand what it means that a certain percentage of cows are affected by foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue virus. There are however, unfortunately, also some examples among educated as well as decision making persons, institutions and governments who do not care. They have dubious motives to ignore some numbers (and related facts) they do not like. What will be the consequences of their arrogance to human beings in the future? A Japanese proverb says that more intelligent are those who see further…

Below there are several examples of numbers compiled from the Internet, Time and Trumpet. They may not be exact; however you may find them interesting and worthy of your attention:

65 000 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhinos in 1970
3 600 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhino in 2007
2 000 000 000 000 USD – US cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so far

3 500 000 – Jews murdered in Poland by German Nazis

32 000 000 – population of Poland before II WW; 24 000 000 after the war

1500 – new HIV infections a day in South Africa

1 000 000 – Americans killed yearly by heart attacks (cardiacnetwork.net)

7:2 – ratio of average number of TV sets to children in the USA

1500 – number of hours, the average USA teenager spends watching TV

67% – percentage of Australian and USA men are overweight

1 in 12- South Africans who had access to the Internet in 2007

15-30 000 000 – men suffering from erectile dysfunction (NIH, USA government statistics)

690 000 000 – number of Asians living on $1 or less per day (Asian Dev. Bank)

142.8 – number of women raped per 100 000 in South Africa; 150 per day

66 000 000 – number of people in the USA suffering with arthritis, the most common chronic health problem in the USA

3% – rate of the green gas increasing per year

7 600 000 – number of cancer death worldwide in 2007

5 200 000 – Americans suffer from full-blown diabetes and don’t know it…yet.

14 000 – dolphins killed annually in Japan

400 000 000 – number of people in the world suffering from depression and mental disorders (WHO).

Look again at the numbers. They alone are meaningless. However, together with the descriptive information, they carry powerful information, obviously to those who are intelligent enough to understand them. Unfortunately, it does not mean yet, that those who understand them and have authority to make decision/s to change some of the numbers/trends are willing to act…

Are you already feeling depressed? You should be… You are intelligent…
Till the next time… (2).

P.S.: While proofreading, my wife counsels me that I have omitted three other important R’s. During a whole life one should learn: Respect for self, Respect for others and Responsibility for your own actions. She is absolutely Right!

Wacek Kijewski is the author of stimulating and entertaining resource material on experimental science: “SI Units, Conversion and Measurement Skills” (the 2007 edition, IBN 0629340584, 186 pp, USD97. The book is recommended for students and lecturers science and engineering courses. Visit website: http://www.wacek.co.za and http://www.wacek.co.za/review.html Read seven reviews: UNESCO, UK, South Africa, Botswana, United States, Hungary. His other ezines:”The Travellers Temperature Tips”, “Is IQ a Metric Unit of Intelligence and…Stupidity”, “Al-Gebra and Illuminati Links Discovered”, “How to Measure Cultural Differences in Metric Units”, “The Traveller’s Temperature Predicaments (2). NB: The book is being sold by Amazon and other booksellers illegally.

Have you ever wondered how much a part of your investments will be worth 10 years from now? How about 20 years? You can easily figure it out without using a financial calculator. Just use the Rule of 72, your financial calculator in investment.

Let’s say you invested $10,000 in a fixed annuity earning 6% a year. In 24 years, your assets will be worth about $40,000. Then how does it work?

And the Rule of 72: Divide the number 72 by the interest you earn, and it will give you the number of years it will take for your money to double. Using the above example, 72 divided by 6 equals 12 years for doubling. Pretty simple-hah! Since there are two doubling periods in 24 years, the original $10,000 would be worth $20,000 in 12 years, and $40,000 in 24 years.

Using this same Rule, an investment earning 8% would double in about 9 years, and a 12% investment would double in 6 years.

You need to remember that a 6% interest rate in a Certificate of Deposit would not work as well as a 6% annuity. A CD earning 6% would leave an investor approximately 4% after taxes. The Rule of 72 would only apply to an after-tax yield. A 6% annuity would be tax-deferred; therefore, the entire 6% would be counted.

The Rule of 72 works best with fixed investments, or those with a fairly stable return. Also, it only works if you reinvest your assets. The Rule does not apply if you withdraw any funds.

You can even use this Rule in reverse. For example, you are 38 years old, and you’d like to know how much you’d have to invest today to retire a millionaire.

Using the same Rule, assuming a retirement age of 65, and an average annual return of 8%, here is how it would work:

Step One: 72 divided by 8% would signify that your money would double every 9 years.

Step 2: At age 65, you want your assets to be worth $1,000,000, so…

Step 3: You work in reverse, going back 9 years for every doubling period.

$1,000,000 at age 65 (your goal)

$500,000 at age 56 (9 years earlier)

$250,000 at age 47,

$125,000 at age 38 (lump sum)

If you invest $125,000 at 8% until age 65 (before taxes), you would have about $1,000,000 at retirement. This amount would change, of course, if you invested more than $125,000, or if the interest were higher, or better still, you started investing a little sooner than age 38.

Depending on your goals, and your age, you could retire earlier or later than age 65. You don’t have to invest a lump sum to retire comfortably. Just have a goal, and a systematic investment plan, and your retirement needs will be accomplished.

Kaushik Adhikary operates http://www.myinsuranceinsiderinfo.com, a blog all about fresh and quality content on personal line of insurance and finance field. He loves giving away Free Stuffs and now giving away Free Memberships to his Newsletter,Special Reports,E-Course,E-Books et. all absolutely free.

For more more valuable informations, Click Here-http://www.myinsuranceinsiderinfo.com

Christmas is responsible for more waste and consumption than any other holiday. North American’s trash contributions to the landfill increase by 25% during this time of year – which equates to a minimum of 25 million extra tons of garbage going to the landfill. By recognizing the incredible waste that is generated the urgency to do something becomes apparent.

A truly useful or environment friendly gift that provide some convenience or financial benefits is a better ecological choice. At the same time, you can help alleviate the guilt you might feel during this period of high consumption and travel activities. Here is a brief list of frugal and environmentally sound ideas to inspire you.

For the homeowner – A thermostat control that automatically turns the heat down at night; low flow showerhead attachment; draft cozy (placed in front of doors to prevent drafts) and tubes of caulking or weather stripping. Dimmer switches, compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL’s) or hot water tank and hot water pipe insulation kits are also excellent ideas. Yellow CFL’s are perfect for exterior lighting because they attract fewer insects. Consider making an eco-package combining some of these items for the homeowner.

For the gardener – A subscription to an organic gardening magazine or a membership to a seed organization is always an interesting gift idea. Bird, bat and butterfly houses, baths and feeders – or the patterns to build them – are a wonderful optional gift. Alternatively consider composting worm bin, gift certificate to a nursery or a membership with an environmental group.

Give Services – Rather than giving an item that must be wrapped, consider purchasing tickets to a performance, restaurant gift certificates or services such as lawn care, diaper, cleaning, music lessons, exercise or dance classes, tune-up or tire rotation services. Don’t forget to look at dog walking, babysitting, and massage, spas or gyms when looking at gift certificates. All of these ideas will help you support local businesses that you believe in while giving something that the recipient can truly benefit from.

Give Food – Home preserves such as dehydrated or canned foods make excellent gifts. Those that find cooking tasks cumbersome treasure frozen meals. Snack foods and deserts are appreciated by most anyone; keep in mind that purchasing Brazil or cashew nuts supports a tropical rainforests. Baskets of healthy foods are another wonderful idea to consider – especially if it contains samples from local producers.

Books – Most of us realize the benefits of literacy and supporting local businesses. You can do both by choosing to purchase books as gifts this year. However, we can also leave a legacy with a book of our own. This could be a journal, a collection of our poetry, a family tree that you’ve researched or even a family recipe book. Perhaps you might consider including quotes from family members or people you admire and possibly a few favorite family photos.

Alternative gifts – A reusable coffee filter and whole organic coffee beans makes a nice gift for coffee lovers. Consider slippers and sweaters – the recipient is less likely to turn up their thermostat. Toys and games with positive environmental or education values and those that emphasize cooperation, exploration or creative thinking. If you choose to purchase electronics, consider those powered by solar or rechargeable batteries.

The Tree: Give or purchase a living tree for yourself this year (it removes carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, ozone and nitrogen oxides). A living Xmas tree can be donated to individuals with space on their land, the city, schools or parks when the season is over. Alternatively, plant it in your own yard for privacy, summer shade or soil and water erosion control.

The Photos – For holiday photo memories, avoid disposable cameras. Instead use a digital camera and load directly to your own computer and CD burner. Alternatively, use a normal camera using 36 exposure film rolls and have the pictures put on CD’s at the development outlet. Choosing these options reduces chemicals, paper and waste, while you save some cash.

~ Dave Brummet: co-author of the books Trash Talk, Purple Snowflake Marketing and Towards Understanding; co-host of the Conscious Discussions radio show (http://www.brummet.ca)

So you want to host a wine tasting? Make it fun! Wine tasting doesn’t have to be a stuffy affair. After all, wine is first and foremost about pleasure. So even if you are trying to organize an education tasting, you should keep it enjoyable. One of the best ways to keep your guests interested and focused on the wine while having a great time is to plan a fun wine tasting theme. A cohesive theme helps keep the tasting focused and helps to get guests involved, drawing them out to comment on and discuss the wines. After all, the discussion is what is really the most fun and educational, not just tasting the wines. Otherwise you could just have wine tastings all alone at home!

Some of the themes listed below are not mutually exclusive. Mix it up, make it interesting in any way that seems entertaining to you and your guests. You can even throw in some wine tasting party games to really turn up the excitement.

Blind Wine Tastings:

A blind wine tasting is a fun way to get everyone involved and keep your guests guessing. In a blind tasting, the tasters are blinded to the wines. Generally, the bottles are covered with a brown bag to hide their identity and then numbered with a marker. That way your guests are not biased based on the label, producer, price or anything else. You can share your unbiased thoughts and impressions about the wines. You can have random wines or they can all have some theme, such as a vertical or horizontal tasting (see below). It can even be fun to incorporate a game such as scoring each wine to see which wine gets the most votes. Or you can award prizes for the person who guesses the the most wines correctly (vintage, producer, region, grape varieties, etc.). At the end you reveal the wine and can discuss further once you know what the wines were. It is a good idea to reveal the wines while everyone still has a bit of each wine left to taste so they can go back and reassess their impressions after finding out what they were drinking.

Vertical Wine Tasting:

A vertical tasting is an assortment of the same wine, from the same producer and vineyard, across several vintages. It is a great way to begin to understand both the style and specific characteristics of a producer or vineyard as well as the subtle differences that result from the different growing conditions of different vintages. While this can be difficult to arrange for someone new to wine, who only has access to the newest wines that are on the current market, if you have friends who collect wine and can help source the bottles this type of tasting can be very educational.

Horizontal Wine Tasting:

A horizontal wine tasting theme is much easier to put together. It is a tasting of various wines from the same vintage. Ideally, wines from the same region and general style are tasted from one vintage to compare the different producers and vineyards. This helps to learn about the characteristics of the vintage as well as the differences between the various producers or vineyards the wines come from. This type of tasting is much easier to put together than a vertical tasting because the wines all come from the same vintage. If you stick to a current vintage then you will have many options you can find in the marketplace. While it is generally best to stick to one region or style of wine, if you really want to challenge your guests you can include several wines from the same vintage but from different regions, grapes or countries to help learn about the, sometimes dramatic, differences between them.

Wine Region Theme:

A great way to learn a lot about a particular wine region is to host a tasting where the theme is just one wine producing area. Choose several wines produced in that region, from different producers, vineyards and sub-regions within the area. As you and your guests taste through them, pay attention to the similarities as well as the differences. Can you identify any characteristics that unify the wines? What sets them apart? Ask these questions to your guests. If you draw people out to talk, discuss and argue, your tasting will be more fun and educational.

Wine Scoring Party:

Another fun way to get your guests all personally involved is to ask everyone to score each wine. While most tasters find it easy to say if they like or don’t like a wine, it requires much more attention to the details of the wine to give it a specific score. There are different ways to do this. One of the best is to supply your guests with a wine tasting score sheet which serves as a template to score wines. You can have sections with room for notes on the wine name, color and appearance, aroma, flavor and mouthfeel and overall impressions and conclusions. For the standard 100 point score they can give up to 5, 15, 20, and 10 points each for the color/appearance, aromas, flavors and overall impression/finish, respectively. The scores for each are added and added to 50 to create the final score between 50 and 100. You can then compare scores across guests and figure out how the wines ranked.

Wine and Food Pairing Dinner Party Theme:

Traditionally, wine is not meant to be enjoyed alone. Throughout history wine has accompanied food and many people believe that alongside food is where you should enjoy and judge wine. While tastings of wine alone is a lot of fun, a full dinner can really make the food and wine shine, bringing out nuances of each that were missing before. If you or your friends love to cook, pairing wine with each dish or course is a great way to both learn about the wines but also to learn about what types of wines work with specific foods. You can serve several wines alone with a given course and vote on which paired the best with the food. A fun way to do this is to choose a country or region and pair that area’s cuisine with the wines produced there. For example, you can pair traditional Spanish cuisine with Spanish wines. The cuisine and wine of these old cultures grew up alongside each other over centuries and therefore they often create some of the most profound food and wine pairings. There are so many other options, from the general (like French wine with French food) to the specific (like Provençal cuisine with Bandol wine or Southwestern French cuisine with Bordeaux). If you are really enthusiastic you can even decorate the room and table in the style of that region to get everyone in the mood. Get creative and make it fun!

Josh Dusick is the editor of the Wine Tastings Guide at http://www.wine-tastings-guide.com where you can get information about how to host a wine tasting party, how to serve and taste wine and even about pairing wine and food.

I love it when I read forum entries from people suggesting trading strategies along the lines of:

- Enter long when the RSI(14) is above 50, the stochastic (14,5,3) has crossed positive, and the Williams %R(14) is rising from the oversold area
- Enter short when the RSI(14) is below 50, the stochastic (14,5,3) has crossed negative, and the Williams %R(14) is falling from the overbought area

(Disclaimer: I just made up that strategy, so don’t trade it without testing it first – the fact is though – I seriously doubt it works)

Look, there are many problems with calling something like this a strategy, but the one I want to discuss today is simply that each of these indicators belongs to the same class of indicator. The RSI, the stochastic and the Williams %R are all oscillators.

An oscillator is a momentum based indicator that moves above and below a horizontal axis representing a position of neutral momentum.

Now each of these three oscillators measures momentum slightly differently. RSI measures it through comparing the magnitude of higher closes to lower closes over a set period of price bars. The stochastic measures it showing where the current close fits relative to a high/low range over a set period of price bars. The Williams %R works on the same concept as the stochastic, showing the relationship between the current close and the high/low range set over a period of price bars, however it does so through a different formula.

Basically, all are measuring the same thing. Quite likely, you’ve added some extra complexity to your strategy that serves no useful purpose at all.

Is there ever a need for more than one oscillator? Possibly, yes. It depends on what you’re trying to achieve. You might use one for indicating oversold or overbought price areas, and a different one for indicating increasing or decreasing momentum. You might even use one indicator twice, with different parameters, to represent momentum over both a shorter and longer time period. In this case, it’s fine.

However, I suspect many traders when developing their trading approach don’t really think about it to this degree. I suspect most just slap an indicator on their chart for no other reason than their platform provides it, and then look through the price history to see whether it shows potential for profits.

In this case, they can probably benefit from removing any redundancy.

So, what indicator classes are there? With some exceptions, the majority will fit within one of these four classes:

1. Trend indicators, such as moving averages, directional movement or trendlines.
2. Volatility indicators, such as bollinger bands, average true range or standard deviation.
3. Oscillators such as RSI, stochastics and Williams %R.
4. Volume / Market Strength indicators, such as volume, on balance volume or money flow index.

Generally you shouldn’t need more than one indicator to determine trend, one to determine volatility, one to determine momentum, and one to measure volume. In many cases, through a study of price action, you can even eliminate those single indicators and determine trend, momentum and volatility through price alone. Of course, that’s not for all people.

What I encourage you to do is to look carefully at the indicators you’re using. Do you have more than one indicator from any of the indicator classes? If so, is there a valid reason for it, or is it simply redundancy that has slipped unnoticed into your trading strategy? More often than not, I’d suggest your strategy could benefit from removal of that extra redundancy. Trading is one business where ‘simple really is best’.

Happy trading,
Lance Beggs

Would you like to learn more about how I trade the forex and equity index markets? Check out the articles, videos and trading resources on my website right now at http://www.YourTradingCoach.com

This mysterious cat is originally from the country of Siam, now known as Thailand. Siamese cats were highly esteemed by generations of Siamese monarchs,
even to the extent that they resided in the royal palace. You wanna talk about the royalty of the cat world! They were trusted to protect the palace as well as monasteries from evil spirits and were also thought to bring good fortune.

In the year 1884, the first Siamese cats made their way to England when the current Monarch of Siam decided to gift them to a top general in the British Army. They made their way from there to America. The Siamese cat is now one of the most
recognized domestic cat breeds around. According to the Cat Fancy Association they are the single most popular shorthair cat and the 3rd most popular breed of cat overall.

Although this breed features a variety of different colors, there are some disagreements concerning what makes a true Siamese cat and what does not Still, these delightful felines are well known for bodies that are mostly light in color with darker areas called points. The darker points are generally (but not always) around the face, legs, feet and the tail.
Weighing in at between about 8 and 15 lbs, this blue eyed sensation of the cat world has 2 distinct body types.

The modern Siamese have long and elegant bodies with very refined tapering lines and wedge-shaped heads to match.

Conversely the traditional Siamese cat is a robust and round-headed creature with a muscular physique
These particular cats are as well-known for their distinct personalities as for their color points. They have a great talent for communicating with people that other cats simply do not have. If you like to come home to peace and quiet, then you may want to consider another cat altogether. These are the most social cats in existence.

Since Siamese cats believe the world revolves around them, they want lots and lots attention. They are also quite dependant on their human owners. They crave interaction and they really love their games! These cats are simply not meant to be left alone for too long.

While this cat may be high maintenance emotionally, they are generally not in any other area. For example they need only a minimum of grooming.

Because their coats are so close as to appear painted on, a gentle weekly brushing is usually enouph. Like all other types of cats, they have a few minor genetic faults, such as occasional crossed eyes and kinked tail, which are primarily cosmetic concerns.

In terms of life expectency, these cats are blessed with above-average life spans compared to other cats, generally between fiften to twenty years and sometimes longer. The reward for such a cat is well worth it as you can have a staunch supporter for a substantal amount of time.

Just imagine having a cat that can help teach your kids on the art of speech and then live long enough to see them go to college. For information on cats and cat nutrition visit Premium Cat Food from Life’s Abundance and learn more.

Ryan Joseph is a writer researcher. For more information visit http://www.dog-food-nutrition.com/

From early childhood and throughout the schooling system, we learn the “3R’s”: Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic – the science of numbers. (Nowadays, you need to add a fourth “R”- gRaphing!).
Later, we reach a certain level in our education where were may feel rightly or wrongly (often complacently) that our levels of mastering reading and writing are satisfactory.

However… What about numbers? Generally, we do not fully realize the extent to which numbers control and regulate our lives. We are all identified by innumerable numbers from birth to the very last moments of our lives. Just reflect only on some of our important dates: birth, starting school, finishing primary school, finishing secondary school, the admission to university and then also with every stage of our education imprinted with our marks, marks and marks (percentages!). Then other numbers: the first love (the date, some of us remember!), dates of: marriage, birth of children, the first work, salaries, divorce, then blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar levels, the first operation, the passing away (not yet?) and so on. These numbers are unique to you and unique to me. They all identify you and identify me.

Some numbers quantify information. These are essential to understanding facts, events, processes, laws etc… The US novelist, Nathanel West, 1903-1940, stated aptly: “Numbers constitute the only universal language”.

Studies have shown that even rhesus monkeys can understand the relation between numbers 1 to 9 i.e., they are able to judge whether the specified number is smaller or bigger than the other number.

So, what is the present state of arithmetic? Unfortunately, most of the people satisfy themselves on a very low level of its cognizance. (As an anecdote, I may tell you that I was approached by a lawyer who asked me: “I have to assign a plaintiff 15% of the amount demanded by defendant; how much is it?”). Most people fear numbers if they require any further calculations: making fractions, multiplying, using proportions or inverse proportions, converting to percentages or substituting to formulas. What are the implications of this fact? It often leads to impaired judgement of the average citizen regarding handling their home economics, investment and, as the case may be, the events in their own country and on our globe. As the citizens of a “global village”, we are all affected by events not only in our place or country but even in far-away-countries. Consider these numbers: people affected by HIV, bird flu, tsunami, price of a barrel of oil, tsunami in financial markets, increasing ozone hole, decreasing shoals of fish in oceans, decreasing number of polar bears, the increase in the average yearly temperature, increasing extinction of species of animals and plants. One can present endless number of examples.

The numbers can be puzzling, depressing, shocking, fascinating, mystifying or upsetting. Well, they can be… An educated, intelligent and honest person will perceive them this way. A Polish film director Jerzy Konwicki (renown for his “Ashes and Diamonds”) used to say: “only a cow does not care”.

True, a cow does not know, for example, about the “mad cow” disease and does not understand what it means that a certain percentage of cows are affected by foot-and-mouth disease and bluetongue virus. There are however, unfortunately, also some examples among educated as well as decision making persons, institutions and governments who do not care. They have dubious motives to ignore some numbers (and related facts) they do not like. What will be the consequences of their arrogance to human beings in the future? A Japanese proverb says that more intelligent are those who see further…

Below there are several examples of numbers compiled from the Internet, Time and Trumpet. They may not be exact; however you may find them interesting and worthy of your attention:

65 000 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhinos in 1970
3 600 – estimated population of Africa’s black rhino in 2007
2 000 000 000 000 USD – US cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so far

3 500 000 – Jews murdered in Poland by German Nazis

32 000 000 – population of Poland before II WW; 24 000 000 after the war

1500 – new HIV infections a day in South Africa

1 000 000 – Americans killed yearly by heart attacks (cardiacnetwork.net)

7:2 – ratio of average number of TV sets to children in the USA

1500 – number of hours, the average USA teenager spends watching TV

67% – percentage of Australian and USA men are overweight

1 in 12- South Africans who had access to the Internet in 2007

15-30 000 000 – men suffering from erectile dysfunction (NIH, USA government statistics)

690 000 000 – number of Asians living on $1 or less per day (Asian Dev. Bank)

142.8 – number of women raped per 100 000 in South Africa; 150 per day

66 000 000 – number of people in the USA suffering with arthritis, the most common chronic health problem in the USA

3% – rate of the green gas increasing per year

7 600 000 – number of cancer death worldwide in 2007

5 200 000 – Americans suffer from full-blown diabetes and don’t know it…yet.

14 000 – dolphins killed annually in Japan

400 000 000 – number of people in the world suffering from depression and mental disorders (WHO).

Look again at the numbers. They alone are meaningless. However, together with the descriptive information, they carry powerful information, obviously to those who are intelligent enough to understand them. Unfortunately, it does not mean yet, that those who understand them and have authority to make decision/s to change some of the numbers/trends are willing to act…

Are you already feeling depressed? You should be… You are intelligent…
Till the next time… (2).

P.S.: While proofreading, my wife counsels me that I have omitted three other important R’s. During a whole life one should learn: Respect for self, Respect for others and Responsibility for your own actions. She is absolutely Right!

Wacek Kijewski is the author of stimulating and entertaining resource material on experimental science: “SI Units, Conversion and Measurement Skills” (the 2007 edition, IBN 0629340584, 186 pp, USD97. The book is recommended for students and lecturers science and engineering courses. Visit website: http://www.wacek.co.za and http://www.wacek.co.za/review.html Read seven reviews: UNESCO, UK, South Africa, Botswana, United States, Hungary. His other ezines:”The Travellers Temperature Tips”, “Is IQ a Metric Unit of Intelligence and…Stupidity”, “Al-Gebra and Illuminati Links Discovered”, “How to Measure Cultural Differences in Metric Units”, “The Traveller’s Temperature Predicaments (2). NB: The book is being sold by Amazon and other booksellers illegally.

Fall is without doubt my favorite time of the year. As a gardener you may be considering planting trees for beauty and sustainability. If you are thinking about planting deciduous trees, fall color is one factor you might want to consider.

Here it is late September and it won’t be long before the fall leaves color the mountains with vibrant tones of red, yellow and green. You can even be given fall color alerts through the various national weather channels!

Colors usually peak around the last half of October with the higher elevations changing color first and then trickling down into the valleys.

If you have a child, you’ve probably been asked why trees leaves turn yellow, orange, or red in fall. Although you might not think of it as a color, brown is another color of fall. You have to understand a little about botany to get a better grasp on fall colors.

As the chlorophyll breaks down in the leaves, the green color disappears, and the yellow to orange colors become visible and give the leaves part of their fall splendor. Some mixtures give rise to the reddish and purplish fall colors of trees such as dogwoods and sumacs, while others give the sugar maple its brilliant orange. The autumn foliage of some trees show only yellow colors such as our local polars here in the Pacific Northwest.

Autumn leaf color is a phenomenon that affects the normally green leaves of many deciduous trees and shrubs by which they take on, during a few weeks in the autumn months, one or many colors that range from red to yellow. Autumn colors (especially red) are not just due to the breakdown of chlorophyll; in fact anthocyanins (red-purple) are actively produced in autumn. Autumn weather conditions favoring the most brilliant colors are warm sunny days and cool, but not freezing, nights. The amount of rain in a year also affects autumn leaf color. A warm, wet period during fall will lower the intensity, or brightness, of autumn colors. As sunlight decreases in autumn, the veins that carry sap into and out of a leaf gradually close. The brightest colors are seen when late summer is dry, and autumn has bright sunny days and cool (low 40′s Fahrenheit) nights.

Now this is interesting: University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists have a new theory about why autumn leaves turn scarlet and why the hues are more vibrant some years than others. They say that the red pigments — called anthocyanins — in plants such as maples, oaks, dogwoods and viburnums act like sunscreen. “The pigments shade sensitive photosynthetic tissue in fall while trees reabsorb nutrients from their leaves,” says horticulturist Bill Hoch. “Trees need to store as many of those nutrients as they can before the leaves drop.”

Here is my interpretation of Autumn: Autumn is warm lazy days with crisp nights whispering of the winter to come. The days are shorter and our gardens are shutting down for a long winter’s nap. Even human beings respond to the changing season. Fall weather signals us to get our crock pots out and make wonderful steamy soups and stews. I love autumn!

The way leaves change color is, in its own way, no less miraculous, the result of a complex shift in chemistry as a tree prepares itself for its winter dormant period. Through fallen leaves, Nature has provided the decaying leaves to help replenish and add to the fertile forest floor. And the cycle of life goes on!

Thank you for reading this article on fall leaf color changes. It was fun to put together for you!

This is the second book in the Rich Dad series. Robert introduces the four quadrants and shares with the reader how each person in each quadrant operates. He goes on to explain the changes needed for a person to get from the E or S side of the quadrant to the B and I side. He cited the benefits which come from being on the B and I side which will lead to financial freedom compared to being on the E or S side. The last seven chapters illustrate how you and I can get onto the financial fast track through constant and consistent actions recommended by Robert.

After reading this book, I am well informed of the type of changes I need to undergo and what it takes to get to the B and I side of the quadrant. It’s a total mindset and behavioral change as I myself operate out of the E quadrant. The activities carried out by a person on the B and I side will not make any sense to the person on the E or S side. Some of the many new ways of thinking emphasized in the book that I have to adopt are:

• Working for free: There will not be any positive cash flow coming in during the initial period of a startup.
• Delayed gratification: Many people want to solve their money woes instantly. But it’s only through patience and diligently increasing our financial intelligence that we will be rewarded later on by taking small steps each day.
• Investing is not risky: Without the proper knowledge and skill, many people will find investing risky as they have lost money previously in the stock market or mutual funds through some unreliable source. To them investing is like gambling.
• Finding mentors: They are there to guide you through your journey. They are people who you can turn to when you run into trouble.
• Making mistakes: Expect things to go wrong and learn from the mistakes made. Losing is part of winning.
• Time is your most valuable asset: The rich spend money to save time whereas the poor and middle class spend time to save money.

This book is a must read for people who are thinking of embarking on the process of becoming financially free. I would also like to recommend that you read Rich Dad Poor Dad first if you have not done so. Rich Dad Poor Dad provides the financial basics and fundamental concepts needed for Rich Dad’s Cash Flow Quadrant Get it now!

Raymond Heng specializes in system testing, internet marketing, investment & Stocks/options trading. He writes articles during his free time and contributes them to ezines to share his knowledge with others. He loves travelling too. To read his most sought after articles and tour adventures, visit his web site: http://web.singnet.com.sg/~raindeer