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Archive for December, 2009

Technology and Coping with Disaster

Natural disasters come in many shapes. From the incomprehensible carnage of last weekends tsunami in the Indian Ocean, to hurricanes and typhoons, to tornadoes and drought, our world deals with the horror of disaster as a normal part of our lives. Throw in a bit of human influence through wars, terrorism, or the threat of weapons of mass destruction, and our need to deal with and overcome calamity almost becomes routine.

Watching CNN and the news channels gives a near real-time view of disasters. While some may find this a bit macabre, it also shows our ability to quickly respond to major events, on a global scale. The same technologies that allow us to view the aftermath of a tsunami also allow us to quickly gather factual data on the extent of a disaster, and use that for disaster planning and response.

Organizations such as the Pacific Disaster Center (http://www.pdc.org/), the Asia Pacific Area Network (http://www.apan-info.net/), try to assist regional nations to build better disaster planning models and response model through training and timely dissemination of critical information. Regional military organizations participate with each other on joint disaster planning (for other than wartime-related disaster) to organize their resources in response to a regional disaster, and can respond within hours to major problems.

While carnage on the scale of the Indian Ocean tsunami cannot be controlled within a day or a few days, the communications and real time information collection on the disaster will most certainly reduce the level of misery experienced by victims at a level that would not have been possible even 40 years ago. As aircraft and on-site persons (using satellite phones or other powerful mobile communicators) collect information on areas of Sumatra, Thailand, and other affected areas, the information is almost immediately being logged, evaluated, distributed, and prioritized among a number of emergency response centers operated by regional governments – as well as international relief agencies.

From the regional and international response centers coordination further occurs among members of organizations such as the Multinational Planning Augmentation Team (http://www2.apan-info.net/mpat/ ). MPAT holds frequent disaster response exercises among member nations to ensure coordination lines and pre-planned responses are quickly executed. All MPAT member nations have access to central databases of planning information, available resources, and a command center mobilized when a regional disaster occurs.

Telecommunications and information technology are key components in our ability to respond to disaster. As real time information is collected, it is available immediately to all participants in the relief effort. Other technology in particular military technology, can easily serve a duel use purpose in a disaster. The same troop transports designed to carry soldiers to war can carry refugees from a disaster. The same photo reconnaissance aircraft used to spy on enemies can provide a clear view of the extent of damage. The same technology used to collect electronic intelligence can locate attempts to use mobile phones, radios, and even audio signals of people stranded in remote areas. Infrared scanning used to identify enemy soldiers in a bunker or building can just as easily locate a family stranded in a jungle.

If you compare the current response to the Indian Ocean tsunami to the effects of tsunami damage following eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in 1883 (http://www.drgeorgepc.com/Vocano1883Krakatoa.html ), you can see the extent of damage from that disaster was not even known for several decades.

In most cases disaster cannot be predicted. We are making progress predicting earthquakes, hurricanes, and eruptions however science is no closer to effective disaster prediction than we are in fully understanding the human genome. Through effective use of communications, information technology, and duel use military/civilian technology transfer, we are getting much closer to reducing the level of pain following an event.

2005 will be a big year in further exploiting the potential of Internet and communications-related technology. Given the positive moves toward regional cooperation in activities such as MPAT, we should be encouraged our governments understand the need and role of technology in planning was well as responding to regional disaster.

Natural disasters come in many shapes. From the incomprehensible carnage of last weekends tsunami in the Indian Ocean, to hurricanes and typhoons, to tornadoes and drought, our world deals with the horror of disaster as a normal part of our lives. Throw in a bit of human influence through wars, terrorism, or the threat of weapons of mass destruction, and our need to deal with and overcome calamity almost becomes routine.

Watching CNN and the news channels gives a near real-time view of disasters. While some may find this a bit macabre, it also shows our ability to quickly respond to major events, on a global scale. The same technologies that allow us to view the aftermath of a tsunami also allow us to quickly gather factual data on the extent of a disaster, and use that for disaster planning and response.

Organizations such as the Pacific Disaster Center (http://www.pdc.org/), the Asia Pacific Area Network (http://www.apan-info.net/), try to assist regional nations to build better disaster planning models and response model through training and timely dissemination of critical information. Regional military organizations participate with each other on joint disaster planning (for other than wartime-related disaster) to organize their resources in response to a regional disaster, and can respond within hours to major problems.

While carnage on the scale of the Indian Ocean tsunami cannot be controlled within a day or a few days, the communications and real time information collection on the disaster will most certainly reduce the level of misery experienced by victims at a level that would not have been possible even 40 years ago. As aircraft and on-site persons (using satellite phones or other powerful mobile communicators) collect information on areas of Sumatra, Thailand, and other affected areas, the information is almost immediately being logged, evaluated, distributed, and prioritized among a number of emergency response centers operated by regional governments – as well as international relief agencies.

From the regional and international response centers coordination further occurs among members of organizations such as the Multinational Planning Augmentation Team (http://www2.apan-info.net/mpat/ ). MPAT holds frequent disaster response exercises among member nations to ensure coordination lines and pre-planned responses are quickly executed. All MPAT member nations have access to central databases of planning information, available resources, and a command center mobilized when a regional disaster occurs.

Telecommunications and information technology are key components in our ability to respond to disaster. As real time information is collected, it is available immediately to all participants in the relief effort. Other technology in particular military technology, can easily serve a duel use purpose in a disaster. The same troop transports designed to carry soldiers to war can carry refugees from a disaster. The same photo reconnaissance aircraft used to spy on enemies can provide a clear view of the extent of damage. The same technology used to collect electronic intelligence can locate attempts to use mobile phones, radios, and even audio signals of people stranded in remote areas. Infrared scanning used to identify enemy soldiers in a bunker or building can just as easily locate a family stranded in a jungle.

If you compare the current response to the Indian Ocean tsunami to the effects of tsunami damage following eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in 1883 (http://www.drgeorgepc.com/Vocano1883Krakatoa.html ), you can see the extent of damage from that disaster was not even known for several decades.

In most cases disaster cannot be predicted. We are making progress predicting earthquakes, hurricanes, and eruptions however science is no closer to effective disaster prediction than we are in fully understanding the human genome. Through effective use of communications, information technology, and duel use military/civilian technology transfer, we are getting much closer to reducing the level of pain following an event.

2005 will be a big year in further exploiting the potential of Internet and communications-related technology. Given the positive moves toward regional cooperation in activities such as MPAT, we should be encouraged our governments understand the need and role of technology in planning was well as responding to regional disaster.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Savageau is a managing director at CRG-West, responsible for managing operations and architecture for several of the largest telecommunications interconnect facilities in the US, including One Wilshire in Los Angeles

How can you buy a used car and avoid getting ripped off as you do? This is a question that a lot of people ask themselves since more people buy used cars than new cars every single day. Car dealers make a lot of money from people making mistakes that cost them money in the buying process too. So being prepared is essential to buying smart.

Of course, it’s only fair that a car dealer make some profit, as they have to in order to stay in business. But for many years the advantage has been mainly in the dealer’s hands as car buyers simply didn’t have most of the information necessary to stay in control of the buying process. And staying in control as you buy is absolutely vital to getting the best deal possible as you shop.

For instance, getting a clear picture of a car’s worth has been fairly difficult in the past, but today it’s as easy as making a few clicks online. By going to kbb.com and nadaguides.com you can easily get car pricing information in just a few minutes. This is extremely useful for both cars that you intend to buy and for knowing the value of the car you presently own if you plan on trading it in to the dealer.

Once you know what your car is worth, and what vehicle you want to buy and what it is worth as well, you can start shopping. Using the internet to find all available models that you want to buy within easy driving distance of where you live is a great way to shop. This expands the number of cars to choose from and therefore improves your chances of getting a great deal. Yahoo Auto and Edmunds.com are great places to search for your next car. Once located, narrow down your choices to a handful that seem to be the best buy for you and then arrange time in your schedule to visually inspect them. Be sure to call in advance of your visit to make sure that the car is still available before making the trip though.

Before your actual visit to the dealer or private party, make sure that you have your financing arrangements all taken care of in advance and know exactly how much you can afford to pay. Of course, if you plan on paying cash this is an unnecessary step, but the vast majority of folks will be using a car loan to pay for their next car, so do yourself a favor and save plenty of money over the life of the loan by arranging your own financing in advance with one of the online loan vendors that specialize in making auto loans directly to consumers.

This one simple step can often save you more money than anything else that you do in the buying process, as the success of your car buying deal often hinges on how simple you can keep the buying process. When dealers can introduce financing and monthly payments into the equation, true sales and trade-in figures get much harder to pin down, so having advance financing can keep the deal simple and save you money.

Be sure to read Part 2 of this article where it discusses how to negotiate the deal the smart way.About the Author

Find out more about used car buying tips and a used car buying guide by visiting our Auto Review website.

A successful organization works on a simple formula – happy employees create satisfied customers; satisfaction among customers induces customer loyalty; customer loyalty ensures long-term financial viability for the organization, which in turn promises its growth. The trick to successful entrepreneurship is to empower the employees with decision-making to give them a sense of belonging, which in turn, translates into loyalty for the organization. Here are some tips on how to inspire employees to take decisions that works a great deal for the benefit of an organization.

Commit To Relentless Pursuit of Goals:

A good leader needs to constantly engage its employees in setting and achieving service goals that are relevant, achievable, and measurable. To begin with, the management needs to do a careful study of the existing standard of services and then develop strategies to create higher levels of services by means of value-addition.
Employees who score the highest on the survey forms must be adequately rewarded. This would encourage others to show better performance, which inculcates commitment to provide the best service.

Empowering Employees with Ownership:

Communicate to your employees, the purpose of your organization, make them realize their job is worthwhile, and let them feel they are valuable because they are making a difference. Continuously interact with your employees, make daily rounds, and ask they what can be done to improve what they are doing. Encourage honest feedback on the organizational structure and help the employee who comes to you with a genuine problem.
Propagate positive comments on individual or group achievements and give them their due credit. This is an effective tool for creating autonomy in an organization.

Two Steps of Decision-Making:

It is very important for an organization to make sure that its employees do not make decisions emotionally. There are two steps of decision-making, which a company’s management needs to clearly separate for maximizing performance levels. Two separate managers must be appointed to enforce decision-making at the two distinct levels. The first step is assessment of the likelihood of failure and success and the second step is the responsibility of decision-making on the basis on a given set of assessments.

This kind of a separation ensures that the person who is actually making the decisions is emotionally detached from any possible outcome. A clear distinction between the two types of decision-making also takes care that the decision-maker will react rationally to all probabilities of the all the relevant possibilities.

Nurturing the workforce and celebrating the achievements create a real, solid, and measurable bottom-line pay-off. These gestures of the management encourage other staff members to raise their performance bars and keep them focused on their career objectives.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com – The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

Business Owners all across the country are joining “The Community of Small Business Owners? to receive and provide strategies, insight, tips, support and more on starting, managing, growing, and selling their businesses. As a member, you will have access to true Millionaire Business Owners who will provide strategies and tips from their real-life experiences.

“Boy! It’s about time you changed your attitude.”

That was really useful advice. Some chance.

How on earth could I change my attitude? I hated school and that was all there was to it. The teachers were gross, the lessons were gross, the classrooms were gross and I simply hated school.

Change my attitude – what rubbish.

“George,” said my supervisor at my first job, “you don’t seem to like your work. You don’t seem to like your work mates and you don’t seem to like me. Well, I’m sorry but your attitude stinks and you’ll need to leave. Pick up your pay on Friday.”

I couldn’t understand what my attitude had to do with anything. It was obvious to a blind man that the factory was dirty and untidy, some of the people there were morons and the boss – well, he was the boss and who ever liked the boss!

There were a few problems with girlfriends. Some of them seemed nice at first, then I would find out that they went to a different church to us and that obviously meant that they were not of the same standard as me. Or they lived in the common area of the town or they hated blue – which was my favourite colour, or they liked those long-haired louts; the Beatles.

My life seemed to be full of the wrong people, jobs, bosses, houses, colours, everything. My life was just one long misery.

“That George is a cynical, miserable son-of-a-bitch isn’t he?” I overheard at the lunch room one day. “He has the worst attitude I’ve ever come across in my life – if he doesn’t change it soon he will be a very lonely person.”

What an idiot, I thought. What right has he to make this assumption of me? It’s not my fault that everyone and everything stinks.

One day I was being driven to an off-site job with one of the morons from the sales office. He was trying to use his slimy sales talk on me when we got into the car. But I’m no fool. I could see that these friendly questions were just being asked so that he could feel superior.

So I showed him that I wasn’t that gullible. I just ignored him. He got the message nice and quickly. He stopped talking and shoved in one of those motivation tapes his type brainwash themselves with.

I tried singing to myself or counting the lamp posts as they sped by. Everything I could think of to blot out the ridiculous audio tape. It wasn’t easy but I was doing really well until one word slipped through my mental blockade.

“Attitude.”

This Yank was talking about attitude. I knew all about attitude. Everyone told me I had one. They also told me to change it.

I thought perhaps this Yank knew something I didn’t know about attitude. I doubted that he would but my interest was aroused.

“The greatest discovery of the 20th century according to many wise people,” he was saying, “wasn’t the T.V. or air travel or the combustion engine, but the discovery that every human being can completely change their life by changing their attitude. And changing your attitude is as simple as wanting to.”

This can’t be true I thought. My attitude is my attitude. Just like my nose, I was born with it. I’d like to change my nose (it’s a bit long and has a bump on the end) but I know that just wanting it to change won’t make a difference.

“An attitude is a habit or thought. It’s the knee-jerk mental reaction we have in every situation. It’s based on all of our programming as children. Experiences we have when we are growing up and when we are developing mentally, all play a part in forming our attitude to everything.”

This certainly sounded like common sense to me. I know sometimes, that although I knew that a certain girlfriend was, or seemed to be very nice, she did go to the opposite church to us. It didn’t sit right with me really. She seemed intelligent, kind, compassionate, understanding – so how could she be all that my parents told me her “type” were?

“A habit of thought,” the Yank continued, “is not necessarily the truth, it’s our opinion. It’s what we automatically think when confronted with people, places and things. It’s an opinion we have formed from other people’s opinions. Someone we trusted or believed in. Someone we respected or feared. Not by any measure THE TRUTH. Someone else’s truth we have accepted as our own or one we have formed because of an event – perhaps even now forgotten in the whirlpool of our memory. All that remains is our attitude.”

Gee! Could this be true? Was my whole miserable life due to other people infecting me with their tainted opinions? Did I have any opinions that were based on truth and an unbiased view point? My mind raced over memories of my parents’ heated discussions and arguments about all sorts of issues; particularly religion and race.

“It sounds simple,” he stated in a soft but convincing tone, “we can actually change our whole life by changing our attitude. If our attitude is merely a habit of thought all we should need to do, to change our life, is to break the habit.”

“Not all of our habits of thought are negative. Some are good habits – like saying thanks and please. It’s the ones that limit us from having a full and happy life and stop us from reaching our full potential that we need to seek and destroy.”

Wow! What powerful stuff I thought as the car slowed to a halt at our destination. This is going to need a lot of thought. I’m going to really look into this.

“Did you enjoy that tape?” asked the smart-assed – “No, that’s not right,” I thought – the friendly, smartly dressed and smiling driver.

“Yes, thank you. It was very informative. And thank you for your trouble,” I replied automatically.

About the Author

Colin Mackie is the C.E.O. of Enterprise 21 and has held this position since the inception of the business some 18 years ago.

Colin was born in Scotland and spent the first 30 years of his life there. He owned and operated a range of successful business from the age of 19 including; Restaurateur, Antiques, Fallen Stock Contracting and Mink Farming, to name but a few.

He discovered that he had a latent talent for seeing what was wrong with a b

Miami at Pittsburgh

Even though Big Ben is out, I still think the Steelers win this home opener. The Steelers defense is just too good. It will be close though.

PICK: Pittsburgh – Pick em

Atlanta at Carolina -6

A tough game against a division opponent, but the Panthers D wins out containing Michael Vick and Warrick Dunn. Gotta go with the home team here.

PICK: Carolina -6

Baltimore at Tampa Bay -3

Chris Simms shows up and proves to the Ravens that he is ready to be a starting QB. Both teams have quality defenses, but the Bucs have a better offense, especially when the Cadillac starts to run.

PICK: Tampa Bay -3

Buffalo at New England -9

To be honest, I’ve been a New England Patriot fan since elementary school. I’m never going to root or pick against them. So, in my completely unbiased opinion, they are going to knock the crap out of the Bills this weekend. Losman isn’t going to know what hit him, and Corey Dillon is going to be back in his old form.

PICK: New England -9

Cincinnati at Kansas City -3

Both teams have potentially explosive offenses, and this could turn out to be a high scoring game. Since both teams are evenly matched, I’ll take the team getting some points.

PICK: Cincinnati +3

Denver at St. Louis + 3 1/2

Even though the Rams have a new coach, they are still a quality team, at home, and getting points. This one is easy.

PICK: St. Louis +3 1/2

New Orleans at Cleveland -3

Charlie Frye may turn out to be a good NFL QB, but not this game. However I think it will be the Saints offense that wins this one. Reggie Bush shows his stuff and the signing of Drew Brees starts to look smarter. Cleveland claims they improved their defense by signing two aging veterans, Ted Washington and Willie McGinest. Someone comes marching in…

PICK: New Orleans +3

New York Jets at Tennessee -3

The Jets are going to struggle this year and it’s going to start in Tennessee. This is probably the worst game of the day and I have to watch it since I live in New York. Honestly, both teams suck, but I’ll go with the home team.

PICK: Tennessee -3

Philadelphia at Houston + 4

One of these teams is on the way up and the other is on the way down. As Donovan goes, so go the Eagles, but he doesn’t do much against the Texans, who are starting to show signs of life. Years of high draft picks do pay off.

PICK: Houston+4

Seattle at Detroit +6

The Seahawks are just too tough of a team for the Lions to handle, even though I think the Lions will be much improved this year with a new coaching regime in place. I’m not a big fan of taking an away team giving points, but I have to do it here.

PICK: Seattle -6

Chicago at Green Bay +3 1/2

The Pack just isn’t going to be very good this year, but I guess they always have a chance with Favre. In this game, they make the Bears look better than they really are.

PICK: Chicago -3 1/2

Dallas at Jacksonville -2 1/2

The Cowboys are going to be much improved this year fighting for the NFC East title. A few costly mistakes will wind up costing them the game. Leftwich shows why he was a 1st rounder.

PICK: Jacksonville -2 1/2

San Francisco at Arizona -7 1/2

The Cardinals will compete for the division this year, but giving more than a touchdown is too much. If Warner can keep his head on straight, this could be one of the most explosive offenses in football this season. However, things will start slow in the first game and I’ll take the slightly improved 49ers and the points.

PICK: San Francisco +7 1/2

Indianapolis at New York Giants +3

The Manning bowl kicks off Sunday night football on NBC. The Colts are the better team, but I’m going with the Giants to pull off the upset at the Meadowlands.

PICK: New York Giants +3

Minnesota at Washington -4 1/2

This isn’t the way to kick off Monday Night Football on ESPN, and I’m glad they are broadcasting a second game this week. Although this might appear to be a defensive struggle, the fact of the matter is that both offenses stink. The Redskins will probably be without Portis for at least a few weeks. I’ll go with the team getting a few points.

PICK: Minnesota +4 1/2

San Diego at Oakland +3

Both teams have new QB’s, so there are plenty of unknowns here. LT takes over this game and runs all over the Raiders.

PICK: San Diego -3

www.football-investing-gambling.blogspot.com

So now you’ve got your business and domain name registered what’s next?
1. What are you going to sell – - There are suppliers in Australia you can buy ink cartridges, toner cartridges, fax rolls, speciality papers, stationery etc from. Some of these suppliers sell original, some sell non original and some sell both so the first thing you need to decide on is ‘am I going to sell both original and non original products ?’. Then get in touch with your prospective suppliers and if possible go out and see their premises so you see for yourself their quality control processes etc.
To give you an idea of what one person can handle in terms of choosing your product range, I currently have approx 3000 products in total and that’s about maxed out for me time wise. This figure includes both original and non original items. Keep in mind that every time you add more products from a new supplier or from an existing supplier that means another pricelist you have to update monthly or however often they send their updates.
I would suggest you start with one or two suppliers and fairly small product range until you get the feel for your new business and are able to see whether you can handle more suppliers and the larger product range they will bring. There’s another good reason for this, you’re going to need to spend a LOT of your time promoting your business online so bottom line is you’re better off spending 80% of your time working ON your business with a modest number of products than spending 80% of your time working IN your business because you have thousands of items on your site.
2. Direct shipping & Tracking orders – This is pretty important so pay attention , all my suppliers have a facility available to directly ship goods to my customers for me meaning I don’t actually hold any stock whatsoever. Running my business this way means I hold no stock and therefore don’t have to employ anyone to run a warehouse.
There is a downside though, the big one is that if you do direct shipment this means your supplier immediately has access to your customers details so be careful which suppliers you pick as some of them also retail as well as wholesale so if you need to decide whether you trust them to not try and steal your customers from you. To be honest I haven’t found any suppliers yet who do wholesale and retail that I’ve had any cause to be concerned about but you do need to be aware of this.
When it comes to tracking orders you need to make sure that your supplier has an efficient system in place for tracking the inevitable orders that go missing in action from time to time. Id also suggest that you actually find out which courier companies they use as you will find ,as I have, that they are very definitely not all the same. Some suppliers use more than one and will allow you to choose the one you’d prefer if you don’t like the others they have on their books.
3. Supplier pricelists – You will need to ask them to send you their regular pricelist so you can keep your database up to date, if their pricelist isn’t in a spreadsheet its going to be much harder for you to do your updates so push them a little and they may just arrange to send you as a spreadsheet so that you can manipulate the data more easily.
If you can you want to use suppliers who send out their pricelist with the items that have changed since the last update somehow marked so that you can quickly see what has changed without having to go through the whole list. If you are starting out chances are you’re a one man band like me or perhaps two man band and this saves a lot of time.
4. Supplier Codes & OEM Codes – I’m going to discuss this more fully at a later stage in this series but I will briefly discuss something you should be aware of now. Basically every cartridge, fax roll etc you sell whether its an original or non-original will have two codes associated to it being an OEM code and a supplier code and usually they wont be the same. The OEM code is the original manufacturers code recognised and used in the industry by everyone. So for example if you’re selling a Canon BCI-24 ink cartridge the OEM code ‘BCI-24′ will be used by all everyone so we have a universal standard. Usually a supplier will have a different code (the supplier code) they use to track the item in their warehouse.
Now that you know basically how the codes work I’ve got some bad news for you. You will find that many of the non original suppliers don’t have very good compatibility lists of which OEM codes are compatible with the thousands of different printers out there so be careful ! Of course they have to abide by what their pricelist tells you but I prefer to get it right in the first place so I don’t have returns from my customer when they find that their cartridge doesn’t fit into their printer.
My best advice for you here is to find one suppliers compatibility charts you trust and use that as a foundation to build on. This is what I do and from there the only other sources I trust are the actual manufacturers themselves such as HP, Canon etc etc. After all if these guys don’t know which machines their cartridges fit into we’re in real trouble. Unfortunately not all the manufacturers websites have compatibility lists available and when you ring them seem to want to keep it all a big secret.
When you setup your website later on you can do as Ive done and allow customers to find their cartridges by code or the machine model or you can always just play it safe and get the machine model of the client and match that to the correct consumables.
Well that’s about it for now, good luck on finding your supplies and stay tuned for the next part in the series when we tackle setting up your pricelists and/or databases.
What have we done so far ?
1. Part 1
- Register a business name ($100.00)
- Register a domain name ($10.00)
2. Part 2
- Find your suppliers
About the Author
Mr James has owned The Cartridge Specialists (Melbourne) since 2004 selling ink, toner, fax rolls etc & regularly writes articles about his industry

Mauritius is a typical tropical paradise, Mauritius’ reputation for beach bliss is indisputable. Sun worshippers and water sport enthusiasts can make the most of the golden palm-fringed beaches, turquoise sea and coral reef that nearly surrounds the entire island through a great variety of activities. These include catamaran cruising, windsurfing, water skiing, diving, para-sailing, deep sea fishing, golf and adventure sports. Away from the beachfront, mountains; forests with unique flora and bird life as well as cultural, historical and natural sights like craters and giant lilies, mesmerize visitors. With all this to do, Mauritius will let you discover a different rhythm of life, the Sega rhythm…

CAPITAL:

Port-Louis

CLIMATE:

Tropical. Every month is rainy, but Dec-May are the wettest months. Cyclones occur Nov-May. A well-structured system of phased warnings exist. During the cyclone, visitors are not allowed to leave their accommodation and car insurance policies often cease to be valid.

CURRENCY:

1 Mauritian Rupee = 100 cents. Travel with Rupees or EURO traveller’s cheques. There is no restriction on foreign or local currency brought into the country. The export of foreign currency is limited to the amount declared on arrival. The airport bank will exchange Rupees into foreign currency on departure. Credit cards accepted are American Express, Diners Club, Visa and Mastercard. Main hotels will exchange traveller’s cheques and bank notes.

ELECTRICITY:

230 volts, 50Hz. Continental 2-pin plugs are most common, but 3-pin round and flat plugs have been noted. Take a travel plug.

HEALTH:

A yellow fever vaccination certificate is required from travellers over 1 year of age coming from infected areas. Visitors are advised to take pre-arrival precautions against malaria (exists in certain rural areas, no risk on Rodrigues island), hepatitis A, polio and typhoid. Other health concerns include high constant humidity (may affect persons with arthritic conditions); sinusitis and hay fever (Jul-Aug); influenza (risk throughout the year); and diarrhoea.

LANGUAGE:

English is the official language and understood throughout the island. French is also a principal language and Creole is spoken by all locals. Oriental and Indian languages are also spoken.

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS:

New Year’s Day (1 Jan); Day after New Year’s Day (2 Jan); Chinese New Year (22 Jan); Abolition of Slavery / Thaipoosam Cavadee (1 Feb); Maha Srivatri (18 Feb); Good Friday (9Apr); Labour Day (1 May); Assumption (15 Aug); Ganesh Chaturthi (18 Sep); All Saint’s Day (1 Nov); Arrival of Indentured Labourers (2 Nov); Deepavali (12 Nov); End of Ramadan (14 Nov); Christmas Day (25 Dec)

SHOPPING:

saris; silk shirts; Indian fabrics; basketwork; knitwear; hand-embroidered tablecloths; macrame work; wood carvings; pottery; model boats, diamonds, jewellery; casual wear. Low prices limit bargaining.

SOCIAL CONVENTIONS:

More than half the population is Hindu, so respect their traditions and religion. Dress appropriately when visiting religious shrines (no shorts, mini-skirts, etc.) and remove shoes when entering mosques and temples. Clothing is beachwear by day and casual wear at night.

TIME DIFFERENCE:

GMT +4

TIPPING:

A 10 percent Government Tax is added to all hotel and restaurant bills. Tipping is not compulsory and remains a gesture of appreciation left to the guest’s discretion. Tipping taxi drivers is not customary.

TOP TEN ATTRACTIONS DESCRIPTION:

Port-Louis:

Capital and main port of Mauritius; French colonial buildings e.g. the 18th century Government House and Municipal Theatre; Natural History Museum; market; Edward VII Avenue; Fort Adelaide; The Worldwide Masks Museum; the Caudan and Port-Louis Waterfronts.

Pamplemousses

The gardens are known to naturalists throughout the world for their large collection of indigenous and exotic plants, incl. the giant Victoria Amazonica water lilies and many species of palm trees; of particular interest is the talipot palm, which is said to flower once every sixty years and then dies.

Grand Bassin:

One of the island’s two natural lakes, resting in a crater of an extinct volcano and is the place of pilgrimage for Hindus, especially on the occasion of Maha Shivaratree.

Chamarel:

A mound of undulating land stretching in contrasting layers of colour; the patches of blue, green, red and yellow earth are believed to be the result of weathering; the nearby waterfall emerges from the moors and primeval vegetation and is startlingly beautiful.

Trou Aux Cerfs:

An extinct crater 85m deep and more than 200m wide; enjoy an extensive view of the island from the rim.

Souillac and Gris-Gris:

Small seaside resort with beautiful cliff scenery and no bathing; in the south is the popular viewpoint of Gris-Gris, where you can see the waves crashing into the dark, hollowed-out rocks.

Domaine Du Chasseur:

Near Mahebourg, a forest park with luxurious vegetation including wild orchids and animals e.g. stags, deers, wild boars and monkeys, covering 2000 acres.

Black River Gorges National Park:

Protects much of the remaining native forests and provides spectacular natural scenery and some of the unique endemic plants and birdlife; number of walking trails and viewpoints.

Beaches Grand:

Baie has many beaches and spots for safe bathing, sailing, windsurfing and water skiing; Blue Bay is one of the finest bathing spots of the islands, is close to Mahebourg and has a natural bathing pool; Le Morne & Tamarin are known for their surfing spots; Iles aux Cerfs is an island resort with 2 restaurants, a boat-house and beautiful beaches.

Rodrigues Island:

About 560 km east of Mauritius where you can be charmed by locals’ easy way of life; the nature lover will find several species of endemic tropical fauna and flora and can enjoy hiking, bird watching, angling and mountain biking; visits to the Caverne Patate and surrounding islets e.g. Ile aux Cocos (a haven to some rare species of sea birds) can be arranged.

Gerald Crawford was born in South Africa, studied electronics, telecommunication, eco-travel and african travel concepts. He taught responsible tourism in South Africa. If you have any questions or comments please e-mail me on. E-mail Address: southafricantravelarticles@12234455.co.za Website Address: http://www.12234455.co.za

With the pride of owning the perfect home, comes the hard work of it’s maintenance and furnishing – which is not always a very easy job. Transforming your house into a home or rather – your ?haven?, requires not only additional creativity and time, but also an outsized fraction of those saved finances. This may not always be possible with all the regular monthly bills, other debts, household expenses and chores and any additional urgencies that require financial attention. For those of us who feel that home improvements and enhancements are equally important and not just a luxury, but who are at the same time faced with a financial constraint, there is a solution – ?Secured Home Improvement Loans.?

Just as the name suggests, Secured Home Improvement Loans are loans or financial solutions taken to assist us in making certain required home improvements. Secured Home Improvement Loans are taken to beautify your home either for your own tastefulness or to add to the current value of your home. Improvement is usually a permanent addition or modification of real property. Home improvements could include house painting, redecoration, repair, refurnishing or renovation. It can also include adding a storey to the house or certain additional home developments to increase the capital value of the house in terms of real estate.

Secured Home Improvement Loans are usually given to home owners. Secured Home Improvement Loans are like regular personal loans where you have to be knowledgeable with regard to interest rates, credit history, collateral, etc. Being secured, this loan entails the presence of collateral. Collateral is some kind of security put up by a borrower that remains in the possession of the loan lender until complete repayment of the loan. Collateral can be in the form of a home, other property in the borrower’s name, a bank account, automobiles, jewellery or any securable asset of the kind. It is important to mention, here, that in case a borrower defaults in his monthly payments or makes incomplete repayments, a lender can pursue the borrower through the legal system, simultaneously seizing the collateral.

Secured Home Improvement Loans are ideally better off than their unsecured counterpart because of the interest rate. As we all know, interest is what makes a loan attractive and feasible. When loans are secured, as in the case of Secured Home Improvement Loans, the interest rate is comparatively lower. This is because the lender can be assured of repayment when collateral of sizable value is placed against it. The interest rate for Home Improvement Loans varies with the amount you wish to borrow, your credit history, the equity in your home and collateral.

With high value collateral, the amount that can be loaned to a borrower is raised, the repayment term is further extended and the repayment options are made more flexible. Good credit history will add impetus to all these benefits while bad credit can do just the opposite.

One of the key factors in availing an inexpensive Secured Home Improvement Loan is the equity of your house or real estate, which refers to a measure of how much of the mortgage on the property, has been paid. Thus, higher the equity better is your chance of locating a cheap Secured Home Improvement Loan and getting a decent amount of loan.

When in the turf to get yourself a good Secured Home Improvement Loan, remember to clarify all details before signing on the dotted line. After all – it’s your money and your home. Comparing interest rates offered on Secured Home Improvement Loans from different lenders gives you a good idea of how competitive they are and familiarizes you with interest rates. Finalize on a Secured Home Improvement Loan only once you are sure that you can meet it’s demands, in terms of interest, monthly payments and collateral necessities. These loans could take a little longer to process because Secured Home Improvement Loan necessitates valuation of collateral. But one thing is for sure, the time it takes is well worth the money saved on interest.

The B group of vitamins may be one of the most commonly misunderstood of the vitamins, simply because these are several distinct vitamins lumped together. The fact that the vitamins in this group are known by both letter and number becomes confusing to many people. It’s just often more difficult to remember numbers, meaning you may remember that it’s one of the ?B vitamins,? but not remember which number is associated with that particular one. It may help to find out that each of the B vitamins also has a name.
? B1 is also thiamin
? B2 is also riboflavin
? B3 is also niacin
? B5 is also pantothenic acid
? B6 is also pyridoxine
? B7 is also biotin
? B9 is also folic acid
? B12 is also cobalamin
You should note that there are four additional substances in the B complex group, though they are not known as vitamins because they are not necessary for normal body function. They are choline, lipoic acid, PABA and inositol. When you purchase B complex vitamins, these four will not be included, and at least one or two of the recognized B vitamins may also be omitted. B5 and B7 are so widely available in food that most people simply get enough of these vitamins, even if they aren’t eating a healthy diet.
Arguably one of the most commonly recognized uses of the B vitamins is an energy booster. Some health care professionals tout the advantages of taking B12 in large doses to combat tiredness, but most seem to agree that starting a regimen of B vitamins is only advisable in severe cases.
More recently, research suggests that some Vitamin B deficiencies may aggravate certain health issues or health risks, and that an increase of those vitamins will help relieve symptoms or lessen the risk. Notably, Alzheimer’s is one of those diseases and sufferers of this disease sometimes show improvement from added Vitamin B on a daily basis. Vitamin B2 has also been used to help some migraine patients.
The correlation between certain health issues and vitamin deficiencies is certain, though finding the right treatment may be tricky. One of the most common problems with using vitamins from the B complex group to treat health issues is the fact that many diseases and health issues have overlapping symptoms. Treating those symptoms may ultimately cause more problems than it cures. Talk to your health care professional before taking extraordinary steps toward a vitamin regimen, including those that include complex B vitamins.

About the Author: Bob Benson is the founder of Vitamins online. You can check out our website at http://www.diet-weight-loss-supplements.info

A sure path to good health now and tomorrow, is nourishing your body with multi vitamins. Your overall health can benefit from multi vitamins. Nevertheless, it is very difficult to separate the high quality multi vitamins from the poor quality ones.

Do you want to know the reason behind this? Read on

The first thing u need to remember is that a majority of the dietary supplements, including the multi vitamins, in the market do not actually comprise of the ingredients that they claim to, on their label. Even more surprising, they are all often contaminated.

All of this is true, but hard to believe. As a matter of fact, both private companies like consumerlabs.com, and government agencies have proven this as miserably accurate.
Many a times people tend to think that brand names ensure good quality. That is why; most people still stick with a brand name, and believe that they get a complete, good quality multi vitamin.
Nevertheless, this is not the fact. When it came to proving what is contained in the multi vitamin is exactly what is stated on the label, some of the well known brand names were amongst the worst offenders.

A lot of companies use contemptible constituents; this is one more reason for not being able to find high quality multivitamins. The quality of the final product entirely depends on the constituents; there could be a vast difference in the effectiveness of the multi vitamin based on this.

It is bitter but true that companies go on to spend most of their investment in marketing and advertising the product rather than the product and the quality of the product itself.
Bottom line, never settle for a supplement that is not the par.

The product we personally use called Total Balance – http://www.health-product-we-use.com is the most natural and effective supplement we have come across. We have been using this product for over 3 years with excellent health results.

We highly reccomend you learn more about our best natural nutritional supplement if you are interested in improving your overall health.

Jean Helmet runs a series of health websites, We offer a free health book for subscribers to our websites newsletter. We cover everything you need to know on nutrition and how to improve your general overall health. Check out our nutrition e-book, for more information on nutrition and the products we use.

There are a large number of vitamins that have been proven to help reduce the risk of a wide variety of diseases. Alzheimer’s, prostate cancer, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, anemia, and osteoporosis are just a few of the diseases that vitamins can help prevent. Aside from the disease preventive qualities of vitamins, the right amounts can also help you feel energized, improve your vision and strengthen your bones. This article will provide you with a few key vitamins that may just help you prevent some of the most common diseases.

Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s is a serious disease where one’s memory becomes impaired and the ability to learn new things or make rational decisions is hindered. Vitamin C and E have both been linked to the prevention of Alzheimer’s as well as reducing the rate at which the disease progresses once present. Folic acid has also been linked to the prevention of Alzheimer’s, but not real evidence has been revealed. Vitamin C is a common water-soluble vitamin found abundantly in oranges and kiwis and in adequate amounts in bananas, tomatoes, broccoli, blackberries, spinach, potatoes as well as a long list of other fruits and vegetables. Good sources of vitamin E include fortified cereals, apples, meat and poultry. However, if the onset of Alzheimer’s has been detected, consult a doctor to see if a vitamin supplement regimen is right for you.

Anemia

One of the most common vitamin deficiencies is an iron deficiency anemia. A lack of iron in your diet can result in listlessness, loss of appetite or headaches. The fastest way to cure this type of anemia may be with iron supplements. However, your diet should be analyzed to fill in with iron rich foods so you can avoid becoming iron deficient in the future.

Heart Disease

There are four main vitamins that are thought to reduce the risk of heart disease, vitamin E, C, A and B3. E, A and B3 are all fat-soluble vitamins, meaning that they are store in your body’s fat reserves. If you are taking or plan on taking any of these in large doses, it is important to consult a doctor as an overdose is possible and can be toxic to your body. Vitamin C on the other hand is water-soluble and any excess is excreted on a regular basis. These four vitamins are commonly found in multi vitamins that would give you the extra heart disease preventing dose you are looking for. However, they are all typically found in adequate amounts in a good balanced diet.

Cancer

A well-balanced healthy diet is the first thing to amend when trying to prevent cancer with proper vitamin intake. Artificial ingredients and carcinogenic foods such as charred burgers, mushrooms and overheated fried foods are all factors in the fight to prevent cancer. Once you cut out the undesirable foods, the next step is to figure out what cancer preventing vitamins you are lacking. Folic acid, vitamin A, vitamin B12 and vitamin E are all thought to be possible cancer preventing vitamins. Most of these vitamins can be found in a healthy well balanced diet that may include dark leafy green vegetables, oranges, beans and/or whole grains.

Alan Kintel is a writer that concentrates on helping people better themselves, for cutting edge information you NEED to know check out his website at http://someofthebest.info