Archive for October, 2008

Dealio is a rather aggressive and very nasty piece of adware that infects your computer when you are least expecting it; unfortunately some people offering useful software decide that it will be better packaged with adware such as Dealio.

Ares is one such piece of useful software tainted by the color of this nasty disease.

And I didn’t realize until too late.

The first thing that you will likely notice about Ares is that the website is clean and professional looking; the next thing will be that it is entirely free of cost; the third that the download process works quickly and the fourth that the installation process is surprisingly painless. So far so good, you may be thinking.

And indeed that is what I thought. Even to the point where I was downloading and sharing music with others all over the world. I’d seen other versions of Ares around but Ares Destiny was the first one I’d notice that was free. I’d even started to recommend Ares Destiny to some of my friends.

Oh dear: what a mistake. It was only after a while that I noticed the popups ads appearing all over my computer. It was a little while after that that I tied these popups to Dealio which in turn I managed to tie to Ares Destiny. This is definitely no longer on my recommended software list.

What benefits does owning and running your own home based business bring? This short article will try and enumerate the immense pleasure and freedom that a home based business can bring you. But remember: it does not come by itself. Every home based business requires a lot of hard work and attention, just like any other business.

First you have the freedom that working your own hours can bring. If you want to pop out to pick up your kids or your wife (or husband) then you are free to do so. If you want to work nights then you can do that too. If you want to work 20 hours a day or just 4, a home based business can be the answer, too.

Another very real benefit is the fact that you work for yourself. No more pandering to the whims of “the man” in the office. No more making coffee for ungrateful coworkers who make no attempt at being sociable.

Then there’s the commute. Set off at 8.59 and be in your office at 9.00. Magic. This really can be a reality with a home based business.

Whatever your reasons for wanting a change in lifestyle, a home based business could well be the answer to your prayers.

This article is going to take a very brief look at Salvia Divinorum and why the hell it has suddenly got so unpopular with politicians and lawmakers in the US. This is a question that needs to be answered, because just a few years ago these very same politicians and lawmakers would never have heard of Salvia or its hallucinogenic effects.

Which is odd, because now they all talk as it has been the scourge of humanity for a generation; if you were to judge Salvia purely by what has been written about it by over zealous journalists and over eager politicians then it is Satan’s own drug, and potential users are lured to their inevitable and instant death.

Of course this isn’t the case… at least we hope that Satan isn’t involved somehow.

The fact is that politicians and, subsequently, media types have picked up on Salvia as an easy target. They can punish those who enjoy Salvia because the public perception of those involved in any kind of hallucinogenic drug is one of evil bottom-feeders who pick on kids coming out of school. This is a minority drug and they’re not going to get any major opposition to its ban. The fact that both alcohol and nicotine are both far more widely used and far more damaging seems to have conveniently passed them by.

Naturally if politicians go on the warpath then the journalists are not far behind. What is an easy vote for politicians is an easy story for the media.

So the answer to the question of why Salvia is hated so much is simple: it isn’t, really. There are just a lot of people who are willing to use it as a scapegoat simply because they have no other ideas about decent policy or decent stories.

Nobu just released a new inwall touchscreen computer that will be shipping by mid-December. The unit features a 1.0GHz fanless Intel processor, a revolutionary 4GB solid state disk drive.

Here is an excerp from the folks from Nobu:

The new 8″ panel is a fully functional inwall touchscreen PC with all necessary input/output ports to control any subsystem or automation hardware in your home or office. Our goal with the new design is to satisfy a large demand for a smaller inwall touchpanel as well as to create the most robust, powerful, and visually appealing touchscreen computer on the planet. We designed the N8 without a fan because we wanted to eliminate noise and also to eliminate possible points of failure which is also why we will offer the high performance industrial Embedded Disk Card (iEDC) hard drive as an alternative to a standard 5400RMP hard drive. The N8 touchscreen PC will have a fanless 1.0 GHz Intel Celeron M processor. The N8 will be available with Windows XP Professional. We can also sell the N8 without an operating system for special applications.

Acai, Anthocyanins, and the French paradox

Have you ever seen beautiful purple flowers? How about a deep red grape or a bright red Fuji apple? If you answered yes (and if you said no – stop reading this article and go out and enjoy nature more!) then you have seen anthocyanins. Anthocyanins are flavonoid pigments that plants and fruits synthesize. Anthocyanins give plants and fruits their beautiful pigmentation – but it is not all about looks. Anthocyanins can acts as a sunscreen for plants and in fruits the bright color attracts animals which feast on the fruits and in the process disperse the seeds. However, the aspect of Anthocyanins that is of most interest in regard to the Acai fruit is their antioxidant properties.

Fruits (like the Acai Berry Fruit) that are exposed to strong sunlight face a tremendous amount of ultra violet light stress. This UV light triggers free radicals to form in the fruit. Fruits, such as the Acai berry, develop high levels of anthocyanins because they have very strong antioxidants properties and can quench the free radicals. Here is the interesting part – the antioxidant properties of anthocyanins are maintained even after they are eaten by another organism. This is why fruits with bright pigmentation tend to have the great ORAC values – they are loaded with anthocyanins! Yes, you guessed it – Acai berries have a tremendous concentration of anthocyanins.

The French have a diet very rich in cheese, sugar, coffee, nicotine, sugar and white flour. With this type of diet you would expect the French to have a very high rate of heart disease, however, the exact opposite is true. The ability of the French to consume a heart clogging diet and yet have a very low rate of heart disease has been labeled the French Paradox.

Researchers now believe they have the reason for the “French Paradox” – anthocyanins! The French drink a significant amount of red wine and the the red wine grape, due to its anthocyanins is what is believed to be responsible for the very low incidence of heart disease. While red wine has a good quantity of anthocyanins, the Acai berry has over 30 times the anthocyanins as red wine.

Scientific tests on Salvia Divinorum – Sally D or Magic Mint – the legal and totally natural wonder drug that is gaining popularity across the country, have shown an interesting array of reported effects. A Paper released three years ago took the results from the comments of 500 regular Salvia users who reported effects including:

A warm or hot body, improved concentration, increased sweating, decreased sweating, improved mood and decreased self confidence.

Increased insight and connection with the Universe topped the bill with a massive 47% of people declaring that this was one major effect. Calmness and improved mood also came in in over 40% of the replies. 12% of people had difficulty concentrating resulting from their use of Salvia.

Weird thoughts was, perhaps predictably, high on the list with 36.4% of people claiming that this was a short term effect that they had experienced. One has to think that if these people didn’t get weird thoughts when taking Salvia then they were doing something wrong!

Overall the results show a distinct trend of positive reactions to Salvia, with only a few minor complaints showing the potential negative side to the hallucinogenic drug. This backs up (not so) popular opinion that there is simply nothing dangerous about taking or using Salvia as a drug.

The positive effects felt by Salvia users mirror the beliefs of scientists who want to test the drug to see its effects on mental illnesses like Alzheimer’s and Schizophrenia. Research in these areas is inconclusive so far but it is a young area of research and scientists and medical researchers are quietly optimistic that their efforts will bear fruit.

They will bear fruit, that is, if the Government doesn’t continue its run to ban Salvia. Over ten states have now banned or restricted the use of Salvia in some way and the future does not look rosy for users or researchers alike.

I was on one of my missions to scour the web for yesterday: my friend had asked me where the best place to download Ares Vista was. I said I didn’t know but, being a little bit more web savvy than him, I would do a quick search and take a look. Despite being quite a technically minded chap I am actually a filesharing virgin. So is my friend. I was looking for something on the web that would guide the two of us gently into the word of filesharing and to help us download Ares Vista without a hitch. Fortunately I found OfficialAres.com which, I have to say, is one of the better sites I have come across all week.

I didn’t know much about the whole P2P filesharing controversy before I read the news articles on the sites. What a bunch the RIAA! I thought that I all I wanted to know was how to download Ares Vista and how to install the thing once I got it on my computer. Well, I was gripped by what they had on there; I’ll definitely be heading back!

Whether you are in the market to download Ares Vista or not, this is a site that you can easily spend an hour or so on.

Finding real, reliable and unbiased on home based business opportunities like Wealth Masters International is difficult. There is just so much in the way of biased and incentives reviews and ‘discussions’ on the web that it can become almost useless. Almost, but not quite, and there is some information to be had that should enable with the knowledge to be able to make up your own mind about an opportunity like Wealth Masters International.

Making up your own mind about the business opportunity like Wealth Masters International is the only real way to decide whether to move forward or not. If you are swayed by pictures of money and cars, and videos of sharp suited people showing you around their beautiful homes, then perhaps the web isn’t the research tool for you.

You see these people really do want you to invest your time and money in an opportunity like Wealth Masters International but not because they believe in the product: the truth is they don’t care a jot. They also don’t care whether Wealth Masters International is the right thing for you, which is a little more disturbing. They do care about your wallet, though.

The web is a wonderful place but it requires taking with a little pinch of salt.

The startling ‘revelation’ in one incredibly badly written opinion in a NYU Local publication released last week was that Salvia was only used by “dumb” teens. I suspect the ‘author’ (and I use that word very cautiously) meant the word dumb to mean stupid, rather than mute. Either way he does his case very little justice indeed (and it didn’t have a lot of merit to start with) with his rambling narrative and shockingly prejudice observations.

One of my favourite sections of the article is the bit, towards the end, where he quotes someone as saying:

“I am against a salvia ban from a purely Darwinian perspective. Seriously, this drug could single-handedly kill more idiots than even the most aggressive eugenics program ever could. Let it work its course.”

The pure idiocy of a comment like that shocks me, honestly. For a start here is someone who is willing to judge and wish death upon anyone who uses Salvia (does he include the Mazatec Mexican tribes who have been using Salvia for centuries). Secondly, the author of that quote simply ignores the facts: Salvia has known to have been responsible for precisely zero deaths.

The babble continues. The author describes Salvia as being ‘just like Marijuana’ and then announcing that he is surprised that it is not banned yet. This being just a few sentences after he admits he’d never heard of the stuff before he got a second hand report from a newspaper.

I’m not singling out this author for any reason other than the fact that his quick to judge views and prejudices do not do anyone any favours. If only there were some journalists who were able to form an unbiased view of what was happening in the world of Salvia. Lively and measured debate would surely help everyone understand the dangers and benefits much better.

The long-threatened house bill HB 4434 banning the use of Salvia in Massachusetts has passed the House of Representatives. It now heads over to the state Senate where another pass is likely. We reported last week that the bill was about to pass, and we were right. The relevant part of the bill reads:

SECTION 2. Subsection (e) of Class C of Section 31 of Chapter 94C of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2006 Official Edition, shall be amended by inserting the following items:

(16) Salvia Divinorum

(17) Salvinorin A

(18) Catha Edulis

Salvinorin A is the active hallucinogenic ingredient in Salvia Divinorum. Catha Edulis — Khat — is an amphetamine-like drug originating in East Africa and the Arabian peninsula.

At the same time as this news was hitting the wires, we heard that lawmakers and politicians in South Dakota are considering banning Salvia. Their North Dakotan cousins banned the drug in 2007 and the first arrest for possession of Salvia came in this state: a 47-year old North Dakota man was the first person in the country to be arrested for possessing Salvia. Naughty. Apparently the fact that one person has been found by police to possess the drug in South Dakota has put Salvia ‘on the radar’ as far as South Dakota officials are concerned. Passing new laws relating to Salvia would be easy as Gene Abdallah, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says that if law enforcement asks for him to introduce legislation then he would be happy to do so.

Over half the US states have now taken a look at the drug with a view to banning or restricting its use as an hallucinogenic aid. At least nine states have actually taken the crucial step of banning it. I have said it before and I will say it again: if you’ve never tried Salvia then you may be running out of time. Give it a go now, if you are interested!