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I R.E.M. di nuovo in studio

joolio — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:31:57 +0000

A pochi giorni dall’uscito dello splendido Live At The Olympia arriva la notizia del rientro in studio di registrazione dei R.E.M. La leggendaria band di Athens, Georgia, sta infatti lavorando all’album numero 15 della propria carriera insieme con Jacknife Lee, già dietro al mixer per Accelerate e il succitato disco dal vivo.

Sul sito del gruppo sono intanto apparse due clip che Michael Stipe, ora barbuto, sta girando durante le sessioni. Le potete vedere qui sotto.

Business Intelligence: Accelerate Your Business Performance

harry5599 — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:35:48 +0000

Business intelligence is the process of gathering the information from the industry. The information

Webinar Questions 1/3: Ten Ways Fast Companies Accelerate Strategy Execution

Forum Corporation — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:01:52 +0000

by Steve Barry

For a recording of the North America and Europe Webinar, click here

I recently co-hosted, along with my colleague Henry Frechette, a Forum webinar for North America & Europe entitled “The 10 Ways Fast Companies Accelerate Strategy Execution.” The topic of Acceleration seems to be a hot button topic – participants had more questions than we had time to answer. We’ll use this blog to answer these questions over the next week. The first question was: Can you expand your message to include how to be successful in resource constrained firms?

Though Henry answered this question on the webinar, here is a bit more food for thought regarding resource constrained firms. Consider the following equation from Bigler & Norris’ book, The New Science of Strategy Execution:

Cycle time = Actions in progress / processing speed

In the webinar, we talked a lot about the denominator (processing speed). But simply reducing the numerator (the # of strategic initiatives you have in place) may actually be a good place to start for resource constrained firms. Take a thoughtful approach to reviewing the strategic initiatives you have in place. Does the estimated cash benefit outweigh the time and resources they are using? Are they truly helping your firm improve or innovate? Prioritize them. Are there any “pet projects” that can be eliminated? This should help to free up resources and enable you to be more strategic and successful.

For a recording of the North America and Europe Webinar, click here

Smallville: Season 2 Episode 21 - Accelerate

watchsmallvillesuperman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:57:35 +0000

Have You Seen Smallville: Season 2 Episode 21 – Accelerate?

Episode Synopsis:

Lana sees the impossible: a friend named Emily Eve Dinsmore, who died six years earlier in a fatal accident at age 10, and still appears that age. Clark Kent believes Lana and searches for the truth. Emily’s father Mr. Dinsmore has an accident provoked by Emily and Lionel Luthor visits him in the hospital. Lana and Clark eventually discover that Emily is the result of a Luthor Corp experiment in accelerated cloning. But problems in her chromosomes have caused her to be a flawed copy, resulting in a bad temper, with the power of super-speed and telekinesis. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor plans his wedding with Helen, while Lionel gives Lex a free airline ticket for a honeymoon in the Caribean, and to tie up some loose ends over the Emily cloning matter, and to take control of the old cave away from Lex.

So what do you think of this episode?

If you missed it, you can watch it here.

Team Accelerate take on World Adventure Racing Championships

vividlondon — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:37:19 +0000

Our client Accelerate are up to their old tricks! This time they’re competing in the World Adv

New, More Dangerous Hindu Extremist Groups Emerge in India

Particular Kev — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:05:22 +0000

Christians concerned as rightwing factions splinter to form militant outfits. PUNE, India, October 2

The Kindness of God

justmccarty — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:08:00 +0000

I’m up late after a powerful Accelerate session where Pete led us through several different things that have the potential to rob of us of our destiny as called, covenanted, accelerated leaders in the Kingdom. It was hard-hitting and exposing — if anyone was really listening then there was no room for shadows. God was loving us enough to tell us the truth about the territory we’re in. He’s seen the enemy and He’s seen what that enemy can do to ordinary people like us if we aren’t alert. Potential train wrecks lurk in seemingly small decisions; we are not in the same territory anymore. At the same time it was a sober call up, it was so full of love and grace. Thank God that anyone is even telling us this stuff! How else would we ever be prepared?

What’s keeping me up right now is the kindness of God. Pete walked through 6 different spiritual enemies — some ancient & some modern — that are each capable of destroying a leader’s heart, life and impact. Listening, I was undone to realize that all 6 have been major enemies in my life… as if I was targeted and ganged up on. Only it wasn’t just the plan & work of the enemy — at some level, I allowed them to attack & pillage my life. As we walked through them, I was so aware that I really could have been taken out. These things had plenty of opportunity to swallow my life whole. But somehow the grace & kindness of God preserved my heart and then rescued me from the work of the enemy & sin in my life.

I’m not wrecked by these things! Despite the scheme of the enemy and the weakness of my own flesh, Jesus has raised me up into a dangerous, Kingdom-advancing leader. How in the world did this happen? I can only point to the kindness of God… the pursuing love & unparalleled power of Jesus. He has rescued me from so much! I can hardly believe how loved I am. It also means that He’s got plans for this life… something that’s just getting started. Given the amount of resistance stacked against it, I would say that He intends for it to make an impact that changes the world.

I owe everything to the kindness of God.

Photographing cars / Fotografiando coches / Photographiant voitures

sartenada — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:04:02 +0000

Can cars been photographed interesting way? / ¿Puede coches fueron fotografiadas con manera interesante? / Peut des voitures été photographiées avec la façon intéressante?

I say yes, if we use nice backgrounds, different seasons of the year and when lying on the ground. / Digo sí, si utilizamos fondos bonitos, temporadas diferentes del año y al estar acostados en el suelo. / Je dis oui, si nous utilisons des fonds jolis, difereéts saisons de l’an et en étant couches par terre.

My car / Mi carro / Ma voiture

ACDSee Pro 3 Final - Full Version

trulysoft — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:00:47 +0000

Accelerate your photography workflow with ACDSee Pro 3. Manage, view, process and publish your images with speed and ease. ACDSee Pro 3 is the photography software with the flexibility to adapt to the way you work; helping you optimize every aspect of your workflow. ACDSee Pro 3 is one of the most comprehensive image viewers you’ll find. Elegant and full of features, it’s an essential for anyone working regularly with images. View, develop, catalog, and publish your photo collection with the precision and control demanded by pro photographers.

Why Does Everyone Want Annoyance

v02468 — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:18:38 +0000

There’s a “feature” introduced on the latest iPod nano, touch, and phone that allows it to turn your image sideways when the phone is sideways. Mozilla also is apparently attempting to introduce this “feature” for future versions of Firefox. The latest generation Kindle from Amazon also has the ability.

I hate this feature.

Why would I hate it? Isn’t it so helpful to be able to turn your mobile device/laptop sideways to fit your aspect ratio better? In theory yes.

What happens though when you are playing games or watching videos while lying on your side in bed? Or perhaps you’re on a car ride and laying down. Or maybe you want to look at a photo from a different angle. Or perhaps you are just moving around and the device is flat with slight rolling to either side. Take an object and lay it flat, then tilt it slightly left or right – which way should the screen orient? Maybe you didn’t mean to tilt it at all.

There are ways to work around the most obvious abuses: Perhaps making devices resistant to easy screen change (for instance when rolling to the side you need to hit 70° rotation but then you need to go at least 50° in the other direction before it would switch back again. This allows a 50° buffer between rotates to minimalize accidental movement. There would also need to be a timed delay based on acceleration speed and how long it has been rotated). Perhaps also having the granularity to tell your device what software is allowed access to acceleration data. It may be really irritating to have a video game flipping 90°, but what about CD covers? Problem: probably not. Perhaps also having the ability to easily disable completely the accelerometer. Now you can lay on your side and enjoy the device without it rotating incorrectly, ever.

So why do I hate the feature if there are so many ways to work around it?

1) Using someone elses device could be extremely frustrating.

2) Just because workarounds exist does not mean common sense will be incorporated.

3) It has been hyped multiple times in the past few years as a ridiculously awesome feature and it is not. It is a nice feature, but it is a minor one with great potential for annoyance.

House price growth to accelerate

tellmenews — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:13:37 +0000

ADELAIDE’S housing prices will increase 23 per cent by the middle of 2012, the biggest rise in values of all the capital cities, and nearly twice the growth rate of Perth and Canberra, according to a new report…. From The Australian. Full story

This site may contain information about: nebraska city. The blog is also related to: man city.

The ABC’s On How To Achieve Your Dreams – Lesson X

healingartforms — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:04:10 +0000

Welcome back again to learning your ABC’s on how to achieve your dreams. This article is talking about our letter X lesson.

The letter X stands for:

Xcelerate your efforts!

Ok, now I know accelerate is spelled incorrectly, but it was the appropriate work for the article, so spelled this beginning with an X. There aren’t to many X words out there that would fit, so had to work with this one.

Accelerate your efforts is a big one when nearing the end of your work with achieving your dreams and goals. This is something you can do in many different ways, as it all depends on what you are working towards. For example, you are wanting to get that new promotion at work, so start putting in some extra time and doing those odd little things around the office that no one else seems to want to do. These things will give you that extra little boost to get noticed for that promotion.

Accelerate your efforts just means to go faster with them or speed them up a bit. If you want to see results a bit faster, put a bit more time and effort into them. Show the Universe that you are there for the long haul and you are not going to quit or give in. Show it that you are here to put forth that extra effort, that you are wanting with the core of your soul and are going to give it your all, and even them some. All of your efforts will pay off they always do. This is where your faith comes back into play as well. Remember it is always darkest before dawn, so stay focused, have faith and speed things up to let the Universe know you are ready, willing and able!

For more information, online courses, programs, healing and much more visit us at http://www.healingartforms.com

Many Blessings

and Love and Light

Nicole Lanning

Socio-Economic Development Acceleration

drvsrs — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:35:51 +0000

SED = oci-Economic Development

Geometric Model of the author proves that Domestic technology (latest modified to suit local conditions) should be manned by Domestic labour & Domestic investments should be from Domestic savings. This will accelerate & sustain the development status of all developed, developing & under developed nations. an unique aplication of Geometry to the faculty of Economic Science. You can buy this Book “SED BY DRVSRS” from the Book Store at http://drvsrs.com/store/page1.html#9 Also see http://www.drvsrs.com/sedslides.htm & http://www.drvsrs.com/sedfull.htm)

Intuitive Leadership and Sound Business

Asif Mir — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 03:29:26 +0000

Intuitive Leadership is a term that has come into vogue only recently. In fact, tough-minded male executives have confessed to using intuition in their decision-making. Intuitive leadership is more than simply old-style leadership with some intuition added in to guide the corporate decision. It is leadership that takes into account both (a) the executives’ appreciation of their inner resources that are available but often not used and (b) the changes in institutions and society that are accompanying the “awakening” of employees and the public at large. The term “awakening” is used to describe the general phenomenon whereby people are becoming aware that they no longer have to accept their adopted beliefs, beliefs that they developed or accepted throughout most of their lives. These beliefs can include belief in the inderiority of certain ethnic or gender groups, beliefs in the sacrosanctity of economic customs and business practices (even if they are demonstrably not good for people or the planet), belief in powerlessness before the “big system,” or belief in the limited extent of one’s own ability to create what one wants.

In view of these changes, what is sound business for the future? What do these changes mean to business people? Of one thing we can be sure: business life will be replete with challenges. Some of these challenges will stem from the global dilemmas, with growing recognition of the role business has unwittingly played in accelerating modern society’s race towards self-destruction. Some of these challenges will stem from the changing attitudes of employees and the general public—the customers. The new environment for business will emphasize innovation and will be highly competitive. To prosper in such an environment, a business firm will need to attract and hold its most creative people. To do that, businesses will have to provide a work environment that fosters creativity development.

Developing intuitive leadership in the future will not be a luxury or a passing fad; it will be the heart of business. The challenges will be great. It will be necessary to deal effectively with the increasing complexity, interconnectedness, and systematic nature of the economic system. There is both good news and bad news. The bad news is that there will be persistent problems of mediocrity, debt, trade balance, global dilemmas, and worker morale. The good news is that we have inner resources we haven’t been using—untapped resources that are quite capable of dealing with these problems.

Thus “intuition” is not just a new gimmick in management decision making. Intuition is a code word for a necessary transformation of business—indeed, of global society.

My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir - Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, Lectures, Line of Sight

Microsoft blows hard

Peter Wahlberg — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:56:54 +0000

My friend Amy sent me an article by the indefatigable Charlie Brooker today. To be honest, I’m not sure what it is he does, other than that I’d rather like it, thanks.

The topic of his opprobrium this week were Apple users and their pathological, borderline sexual relationship with their computers, contrasted with the hateful battered-wife feeling anyone with Windows Vista (or XP or that giant chocolatey fudge dragon ME) knows all too well. While bemoaning the constant evangelism of Apple users he does point out that, for better or worse, they do honestly believe. Microsoft has been forced to resort to a series of propaganda videos in an attempt to promote their new OS, the cryptofascistically-named Windows 7.

(As an aside, maybe the problem is that Windows keeps trying all these crappy names. I don’t know who would want anything called XP, much less 7. I think they’re trying to subliminally appeal to Star Trek fans.)

Microsoft: resistance is futile

Nerditry aside, upon reading Brooker I actually tried to watch the Windows 7 video he talked about. It depicts a group of people – a group Microsoft unsubtly suggests you should emulate – throwing a party. But it’s not just any house party. It’s a Windows 7 launch party. In it, explained the bespectacled hipster, you and your friends who have the opportunity to get together and try out all the new features of the Windows 7 OS in a safe, fun and it’s implied consequence-free environment. And they were here to help.

I got about a minute in. It was insufferable. It was awful. If the Apple people are the kids who always got the Tamogatchi or Airwalks or Nintendo DS before you did, then this Microsoft ad featured your parents, six months later, ostentatiously showing off whatever bauble it was that vaguely tingles your memory as having been cool back before it was so downmarket even old people could have them. But it was something else, too, somehow more sinister. Like your bachelor uncle has the Tamogatchi, but he has no idea what it is, he’s just using it to get close to you even though your parents privately warn you to stay away from him for reasons that were never clear until now.

I shut off the video. I think maybe I was sweating. But then my long-suppressed Nixonian tendencies creeped in. I’m no quitter, no matter how sadistic and reprobate the subject matter. I have a college education. I took a class in propaganda with a guy who kills people for the Shin Bet. I know who Derrida is. I can handle this.

Gettin’ this party started (I’m comin’ out)

Pink? Anybody? No? Okay.

I go first to Microsoft’s designated YouTube page, cleverly titled LaunchParties. True to form, it has nearly 120 videos, all of them titled in that spastic mashed-together way thatadmitsabsolutelynospacesorpunctuationwhichhasbeenMicrosoft’sspecialtyforsomanyyears. I’m surprised they let us have capital letters to differentiate the titles. This must be the kinder, gentler Microsoft.

HostingYourParty

The screen starts all blurry with the caption “Hosting Your Party” in big white letters, because all social interactions generally begin with both title card and a load time. (Mine do, anyway.) After a few seconds, it fades away, and we have a scene of four people in a kitchen.

“H-ey! Welcome to the party,” says a young blonde-haired woman holding a cutting board with what looks like cheese. Right off the bat, I’m not sure about this. Cheese Lady welcomes me kind of like you do when you’re expecting someone and you realize someone arrives but you’re turned around and you start to greet them as you’re turning to face them and only realize about halfway through that not only isn’t it who you expected but it’s also no one you’re happy to see. I, the viewer, am a door-to-door insurance salesman who happened to stumble into this party.

But that won’t stop the kinder, gentler Microsoft from shoe-horning me in anyway. Gee thanks.

After what looks like a moment’s hesitation Cheese Lady decides what-the-Hell-he’s-here-anyway and the camera pans out to show Cheese Lady’s friends: Old Lady, Hipster and Colorful-Polo-Wearing-Therefore-Both-Hip-and-Respectable-Black-Guy. For short I’ll call him Kanye.

My new friends

Now instantly I’m put at ease by Kanye. These people have black friends, and as someone who has black friends himself this is crucial to me. I don’t want to be involved with some racist operating system. I really don’t want to be involved in an operating system that isn’t cool. So Kanye serves two crucial purposes. His is a comforting presence.

Cheese Lady tells me all about how they’re launching Windows 7 with house parties and how you can actually use Windows 7 to organize it. Metaphysically I have a problem with this, as I thought the purpose of a launch party was that you didn’t have something before and now you do. I think Ocean’s Thirteen dealt with this issue. Anyway I can organize it with some special software, upload pictures – “That’s his favorite,” she says, placing a suggestive hand on the Hipster’s arm. He kind of mumbles “That’s my favorite” and they all laugh at him, even the Old Lady, whose relationship to this group of “friends” is not yet clear.

“In a lot of ways, you’re just throwing a party with Windows 7 as an honored guest,” Kanye says. “Sounds easy – and it is!” But I thought this was supposed to tell me how to throw the party, Kanye. If it were so easy, I’d know how to throw a party without Windows 7. And I don’t. That’s why you’re here. Kanye’s getting on my nerves.

He redeems himself a moment later, though: maybe I want to know “how some hosts want their party to flow.” Oooh! Flow. That’s a cool word that’s generationally-appropriate. I’ve seen it on TV!

The camera is panning back and forth and zooming wildly at this point and I start to feel an epileptic seizure coming on. It’s not helped when Hipster says, “Now the first thing you want to do is install Windows 7,” prompting a series of ‘D’uhs’ from the other guests. Man, they really don’t like him. He’s so put down by this that he had to go back and redub his next couple lines afterwords to edit out the sobbing. Other guests appear unaffected.

Old Lady says we should choose the activities that are the most fun. You’d know, Grandma. She starts going on about some “host notes” that have bonus activities on them. “Right?” says Cheese Lady enthusiastically-sarcastically. You know? I didn’t know. I feel a little stupid. In fact I feel bad for Hipster now. I totally know how he feels.

Hipster’s party started out “like any good party,” with drinks and mingling. And Sir Harold Pinter showed up. I love his plays. I’ve never seen any of them, but I like the idea of his plays. I can’t believe Hipster got him to show up. “And you know what was great?” Cheese Lady says, plowing nervously through my digression about Sir Harold. “It was totally informal, like, everyone just kind of crowded around the computer in the kitchen.” Wow! Just like us now! I’m a part of something.

But Cheese Lady still seems to have had an excessively authoritarian style to her party. When she says she led everyone in an activity immediately after producing the computer (which she stole? How she got it isn’t clear), Old Lady is taken aback. “Oh well I let everyone fool around with a Snap for a little while.” “Me too!” Kanye shouts. What’s Snap? Is that a thing? This is getting tense and I feel stupid again. I’m getting the sneaking feeling these people aren’t going to buy any insurance.

Now there’s a cockfight over how many activities we did. “I did three!” Hipster shouts pompously. No wonder they don’t like you. “When you’re close to the end -” Cheese Lady begins, only for Grandma to but-in with “Wanting everybody to leave,” provoking general laughter and shushing now that she’s got drunk on her Long Island Iced Tea and telling our secrets. When you’re close to the end,” Cheese Lady grits her teeth, we should go to Help. It’s a great way to tie everything together. So is a call to the emergency services, which I am placing now.

“Make something you’re doing personal to someone at the Party,” Kanye enjoins me. “Like the way I made Chip’s files get transferred by Windows Easy Transfer.” Ooo there, Kanye. Too personal. Way over the line. “I also found it really helped to name the first person to be first with the hands-on activity, and have them pick the next person.” Oh, like you did with poor Chip? So we can all join in on the torture, and dip our hands in the blood? You’re sick. You’re a sick fuck.

Everybody thinks this is all sunshine and raindrops, though. “On a more serious note,” Grandma says with a mock frown – this Edward Albee horror show apparently not being serious enough – “Decide what activities you want to do a day or two in advance. Some activities require -”

She stumbles for a word here. Is she lying to me? What does she want? “Modest set-up.” Phew. Thought it was serious. “Like you need two computers to do the webchat,” says Kanye. Hahahaha say all. Obvi. “None of the set-up is too hard.”

“It helped me to remember that I’m not a salesman,” Kanye chips in. But I am a salesman. Northwestern Mutual Li – “And part of the fun of a launch party is seeing what you already know.” I know how to use Vista. I knew how to use XP. Why are you replacing them, again? For that matter why is no one answering my questions?

“Can you believe that they put the launch of Microsoft 7 in our hands?” Kanye asks. “They must be crazy!”

“Crazy to let you be involved, maybe,” Hipster shoots back. He gives an all-in-good-fun smile. But they’re totally gonna have it out in the parking lot afterwards.

“Well it does make sense,” Cheese Lady intervenes, trying to save her shitty party from the indignity of violence. “Windows 7 is all about the computer user!” I think they used to call us people.

“It ought to be a party! Have fun out there!” They’re letting me leave? Oh my God. I rush to grab my bag and brochures and bolt out the house as Hipster makes some trendy devil-symbol at me with his hands. Or maybe it’s “call me”. Does he want insurance after all? Was he hitting on me?

Win7AcceleratorAndSlices

All right, fine. Let’s see how your parties actually went. Here Hipster is hosting in a party in his dingy little apartment with his hipster friends. All the men are in open-necked collared shirts; all the women are minorities. So far, so good.

He wants to show me something new about Internet Explorer 8. He turns to “Frank” – “Hi-iii,” he crows. He’s probably related to Cheese Lady. Or maybe he just wants the Cheetos coming around the room, which have been seized by the interracial girlfriend perched on his lap. This is called web slices. Now I can keep in touch of websites on my favorites all day long.

“Oh yeah,” Frank says like LL Cool J. I think the guy sitting in the chair backwards has a mustache. How passé.

Frank shops for t-shirts on “auction sites” a lot. Do they mean Ebay? It’s the only one I know. And then we cut to the screen – I’m sorry, I move over to see the screen better at the house party – and it has Ebay on it. Frank wants a Van Halen 1984 t-shirt. Wow. Van Halen. Maybe time to move on, man.

Frank decides not to buy it and delete the page from his “slice,” which looks exactly like a favorites page. (An AC/DC poster won out – a dubious choice, but whatever.) Now Hipster takes me to show me the “Accelerator,” which clicks directly from an address that doesn’t include a map to a mapping system, shaving literally seconds off of my web time and conveniently avoiding the use of certain heretical websites which I could have just put in my “slices” anyway. Phew.

“I want the rest of you to pick a word or phrase and accelerate it, leaving a new page for the next guest.” You can do the stupid map thing here, too, apparently. I’m nervously fingering the life insurance brochures in my pocket. This doesn’t feel right. The guy sitting behind Hipster just gasped with amazement at his electronic version of telephone. “Is that a hamster?” he asks. I’m outta here.

MyMicrosoftWindows7HouseParty

I try to watch a couple more but – oh, what the hay, I’m so excited to have my own house party I can’t stand it. Let’s go!

(doorbell rings)

Me: Oh h-ey, welcome to my Microsoft Windows 7 launch party!

Doritos Girl: Thanks! I brought Doritos!

Me: Awesome! Everybody’s just inside!

We enter a room with Old Man from Bus Stop, My Mom, and Environmentally-Conscious Co-Workers and Drinking Buddies.

Me: Everybody, this is *voice trails off*

All: Oh hi!

Me: I’m super-excited to introduce Windows 7 to you. This is, like, totally a killer app.

All: Yeah! All right!

Drinking buddies high five.

Me: And what’s best about it is it’s designed for us computer users!

Co-Workers: It’s almost like we’re people again!

Me: That’s right.

(looks around)

Me: There’s something wrong.

My Mom: What, honey?

Me: There’s, uh… there’s no black people here.

My Mom: Well I didn’t know you knew any -

Me: That’s not the point, Mom! God, nobody wants to use some racist operating system.

Co-Workers: That’s right! Yeah!

Me: Look, I’ll just go online and e-mail some.

Old Man: Don’t use that!

Me: Why not?

Old Man: That’s the search engine whose name must not be spoken!

Me: Oh, right. I’ll use accelerator – what the fuck is that?

My Mom: Honey, language.

Me: My computer’s shaking.

Co-workers: Why, that’s Aero Shake, the feature that let’s you clear away all your clutter!

Drinking buddies: YEAH!

Me: You mean like minimizing?

(they frown)

Co-workers: No.

Me: Well why won’t it stop?

Old man: Charlies! In the trees!

Me: That’s irrelevant. Stop it old man, or you won’t get your $20.

My Mom: Honey, respect your elders!

Me: The computer’s on fire!

My Mom: Why that’s Windows 7’s new Burn feature. It’s designed to detect awkward social situations and start a distraction!

Me: Somebody call the fire department!

Doritos Girl: My hair’s on fire!

Drinking buddies: YEAHHHHHH!!!!

(they urinate on the rapidly-advancing flames)

My Mom: Oh, I’ll get some paper towels.

Co-workers: You know, this is really irresponsible. Fires like this contribute to the greenhouse effect, which is killing our Earth.

Doritos Girl: AAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

(she runs away, chased by Drinking Buddies and my Mom with a paper towel)

Me: But – my launch party!

Drinking buddies (outside): The roof! The roof! The roof is on fire!

Me: You guys better stay here. I’ll get help.

Two hours later.

Me: Whelp… Windows 7 burned my house down.

My Mom: Oh honey, I’m sorry.

Me: Too bad about my co-workers.

My Mom: Oh you’ll make new ones.

Me: Yeah. But so will Microsoft.

Insurers accelerate business strategies

Bao Viet Nam — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 08:51:32 +0000

HA NOI — Life insurance companies have developed business and marketing strategies as the economy begins to show signs of recovery.

French life insurance company Prevoir Viet Nam, through an agreement with the Viet Nam Post and Telecommunications Group, is exclusively providing life insurance products over a 10-year period through the nationwide network of post offices and banks.

The service is designed to create greater access to life insurance products.

“Although the new insurance system has not been easy to introduce, Prevoir Viet Nam remains optimistic that the personal insurance market will develop in the near future,” said Le Thuy Binh, general director of Prevoir Viet Nam.

The company had strongly invested in training sale officials for future growth, she added.

Korea Life joined the Vietnamese insurance market in March this year, and is now accelerating its growth and branding countrywide.

The company will focus on developing a strong network of specialists, said Pham Truong Khanh, marketing director of Korea Life Viet Nam.

To help promote its work, the company has paid attention to supporting community projects, including supporting poor patients at Paediatric Hospital 2 in HCM City and the Ha Noi Paediatric Hospital. In addition it has organised programmes to support Agent Orange victims in Hoa Binh (Peace) Village in Ha Noi.

According to Korea Life Viet Nam, a large amount will be spent on developing their corporate social responsibility programmes.

AIA Viet Nam and ACE Life are focused on developing the quality of their services.

Along with opening the first customer service centre, AIA Viet Nam has made high-quality service the centre of their business strategy.

With a population of more than 85 million people, encouraging economic growth figures and a decreasing poverty rate, Viet Nam remains an attractive market for life insurers. Less than 10 per cent of the population currently have insurance. —

Source: vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Core4 voted 2009 weight loss product of the year! Source: 2009.CNIGlobal.com

cheatwithcore4 — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:05:06 +0000

Core4 voted 2009 weight loss product of the year!

Source: 2009.CNIGlobal.com

I am so excited for this company and what it has done for me personally.

I know that I said in the last post I would submit pictures and on October 1st I will post my after pictures!

Learn more about Core4 and then contact me if you have questions or want to know more.

Watch this Great video of The Weight Loss Product of The Year!

R.E.M – Accelerate

Ashkan — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:39:23 +0000

Artist : R.E.M

Album : Accelerate

Released March 31, 2008

Length 34:39

Quality 320Kbps

Download This Album From Here

R.E.M

Ashkan — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:34:08 +0000

R.E.M. is an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by Michael Stipe (lead vocals), Peter Buck (guitar), Mike Mills (bass guitar), and Bill Berry (drums and percussion). R.E.M. was one of the first popular alternative rock bands, and gained early attention due to Buck’s ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe’s unclear vocals. R.E.M. released its first single, “Radio Free Europe”, in 1981 on the independent record label Hib-Tone. The single was followed by the Chronic Town EP in 1982, the band’s first release on I.R.S. Records. In 1983, the band released its critically acclaimed debut album Murmur, and built its reputation over the next few years through subsequent releases, constant touring, and the support of college radio. Following years of underground success, R.E.M. achieved a mainstream hit in 1987 with the single “The One I Love”. The group signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing large arenas worldwide.

By the early 1990s, when alternative rock began to experience broad mainstream success, R.E.M. was viewed as a pioneer of the genre and released its two most commercially successful albums, Out of Time (1991) and Automatic for the People (1992), which veered from the band’s established sound. R.E.M.’s 1994 release Monster was a return to a more rock-oriented sound. The band began its first tour in six years to support the album; the tour was marred by medical emergencies suffered by three band members. In 1996, R.E.M. re-signed with Warner Bros. for a reported US$80 million, at the time the most expensive recording contract in history. The following year, Bill Berry left the band amicably, while Buck, Mills, and Stipe continued the group as a three-piece. Through some changes in musical style, the band continued its career into the next decade with mixed critical and commercial success. In 2007, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

———————————-R.E.M. discography————————-

Discography

Murmur (1983)
Reckoning (1984)
Fables of the Reconstruction (1985)
Lifes Rich Pageant (1986)
Document (1987)
Green (1988)
Out of Time (1991)
Automatic for the People (1992)
Monster (1994)
New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996)
Up (1998)
Reveal (2001)
Around the Sun (2004)
Accelerate (2008)

BT presses the accelerator for broadband speed

rockbandfan24 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:58:20 +0000

BT offers millions of customers the chance to boost their broadband speed for free with the launch of faster headline speeds of up to 20Mb/s and the BT Broadband Accelerator .

BT Retail broadband customers already enjoy download speeds of up to 8Mb/s, but in enabled areas that will leap to up to 20Mb/s to deliver consistently faster broadband all day and night even at peak times. Upload speeds will also increase from up to 448Kb/s to up to 1Mb.

Unlike other broadband providers, BT Retail is offering the faster speeds at no extra cost. The cheapest broadband option is just £7.78 a month for the first three months.

Faster speeds will initially be available through 549 exchanges serving 10 million – or 40 per cent – of the UK’s homes and businesses. Coverage will increase to 55 per cent by March 2010.

The BT Broadband Accelerator – a speed booster pack worth £15 – will be free for BT Total Broadband customers who order it online, with postage of just £1.20. The BT Broadband Accelerator includes a small plate that customers, who have more than one phone socket, can easily insert into their main telephone socket to reduce the impact of electrical interference; this may increase broadband speed by 1.5Mb. It also comes with an easy self-install guide as well as a comprehensive 10-step guide on how to optimise broadband speeds and will help customers get the most out of their broadband connection.

BT research shows that one of the main causes of slow broadband is customers’ home wiring. The BT Broadband Accelerator plate, also known as the I-Plate, isolates a redundant wire in the socket which can slow connections. Although speed improvements are likely, they cannot be guaranteed. Even if it does not improve speed the device can help stabilise broadband lines making them even more reliable.

John Petter, managing director of BT’s Consumer division, said: “The BT Broadband Accelerator can make a big difference to the speed of your broadband. We think it is so important we’ve taken the decision to offer it to our customers for just the cost of the postage.

“Between that and us more than doubling headline speeds for millions of homes and businesses, most customers should start to see a rapid boost in the performance of their connection. We have a track record of not charging customers any more when we increase the speed and this time is no different. BT broadband customers won’t have to pay any more to get higher speeds.

“These two moves demonstrate our commitment to helping the UK move closer to the kind of widely-available speeds published in the Digital Britain report.”
ADSL2+ – BT Consumer

New customers or re-contracting BT Total Broadband customers in an enabled exchange area will automatically be eligible for up to 20Mb/s broadband service from as little as £7.78 per month. Customers will be able to order or simply find out when they can get up to 20Mb/s and what speed they can expect via BT.com. Existing customers will be asked to sign a new contract.

The BT Broadband Accelerator will be offered free to BT Total broadband customers who order it online.
ADSL2+ – BT Business

New or re-contracting BT Business Broadband customer in an enabled exchange area will automatically be eligible for the up to 20Mb/s service. Orders can be placed by customers direct online, or via any offline business sales channel. Customers will not pay any more for the new service, which offers up to 20Mb/s downstream speeds. The upstream (customer to exchange) line speed will improve to 1Mb/s.

The BT Business Total Broadband tariff also remains the same and includes BT Openzone Wi-Fi minutes. BT Business Option 3 customers also receive free mobile broadband and other business services worth over £750. BT Business Total Broadband is available from £12.50 (ex VAT) per month including 24/7 UK freephone business support. Businesses also have the flexibility to build their own communications package by bundling their broadband with calls to UK landlines, mobiles and international numbers from only £27.50.

The BT Broadband Accelerator will be offered free to customers in instances where BT believes performance can be improved.

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BT presses the accelerator for broadband speed

headquartersucks — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:58:08 +0000

BT offers millions of customers the chance to boost their broadband speed for free with the launch of faster headline speeds of up to 20Mb/s and the BT Broadband Accelerator .

Unlike other broadband providers, BT Retail is offering the faster speeds at no extra cost. The cheapest broadband option is just £7.78 a month for the first three months.

Faster speeds will initially be available through 549 exchanges serving 10 million – or 40 per cent – of the UK’s homes and businesses. Coverage will increase to 55 per cent by March 2010.

“These two moves demonstrate our commitment to helping the UK move closer to the kind of widely-available speeds published in the Digital Britain report.”
ADSL2+ – BT Consumer

The BT Broadband Accelerator will be offered free to BT Total broadband customers who order it online.
ADSL2+ – BT Business

The BT Broadband Accelerator will be offered free to customers in instances where BT believes performance can be improved.

BT presses the accelerator for broadband speed

perfectsky521 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:51:42 +0000

BT offers millions of customers the chance to boost their broadband speed for free with the launch of faster headline speeds of up to 20Mb/s and the BT Broadband Accelerator .

Unlike other broadband providers, BT Retail is offering the faster speeds at no extra cost. The cheapest broadband option is just £7.78 a month for the first three months.

Faster speeds will initially be available through 549 exchanges serving 10 million – or 40 per cent – of the UK’s homes and businesses. Coverage will increase to 55 per cent by March 2010.

“These two moves demonstrate our commitment to helping the UK move closer to the kind of widely-available speeds published in the Digital Britain report.”
ADSL2+ – BT Consumer

The BT Broadband Accelerator will be offered free to BT Total broadband customers who order it online.
ADSL2+ – BT Business

The BT Broadband Accelerator will be offered free to customers in instances where BT believes performance can be improved.

BT presses the accelerator for broadband speed

cactuskat — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:50:55 +0000

BT offers millions of customers the chance to boost their broadband speed for free with the launch of faster headline speeds of up to 20Mb/s and the BT Broadband Accelerator .

Unlike other broadband providers, BT Retail is offering the faster speeds at no extra cost. The cheapest broadband option is just £7.78 a month for the first three months.

Faster speeds will initially be available through 549 exchanges serving 10 million – or 40 per cent – of the UK’s homes and businesses. Coverage will increase to 55 per cent by March 2010.

“These two moves demonstrate our commitment to helping the UK move closer to the kind of widely-available speeds published in the Digital Britain report.”
ADSL2+ – BT Consumer

The BT Broadband Accelerator will be offered free to BT Total broadband customers who order it online.
ADSL2+ – BT Business

The BT Broadband Accelerator will be offered free to customers in instances where BT believes performance can be improved.

BT presses the accelerator for broadband speed

leasepig — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:50:33 +0000

BT offers millions of customers the chance to boost their broadband speed for free with the launch of faster headline speeds of up to 20Mb/s and the BT Broadband Accelerator .

Unlike other broadband providers, BT Retail is offering the faster speeds at no extra cost. The cheapest broadband option is just £7.78 a month for the first three months.

Faster speeds will initially be available through 549 exchanges serving 10 million – or 40 per cent – of the UK’s homes and businesses. Coverage will increase to 55 per cent by March 2010.

“These two moves demonstrate our commitment to helping the UK move closer to the kind of widely-available speeds published in the Digital Britain report.”
ADSL2+ – BT Consumer

The BT Broadband Accelerator will be offered free to BT Total broadband customers who order it online.
ADSL2+ – BT Business

The BT Broadband Accelerator will be offered free to customers in instances where BT believes performance can be improved.

How Exercise Helped Weight Loss

cheatwithcore4 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:21:22 +0000

Exercising has always been a struggle for me. I mean, I don’t know what the problem is. I am the first person to get up in the morning and that should be the perfect time to do exercise, right? No, I make a pot of coffee, eat a healthy breakfast and then sit down at the computer to do my work while everyone is still asleep. The hardest part is getting up from the computer, stopping the house work and/or getting lost in the news on the TV, while I’m on the computer or doing house work!

Well, two weeks ago, I made a challenge to myself. That I needed to give myself at least a week of exercise. Whether it was walking the dog, riding the new bike I bought myself, using the FREE Bow flex sitting in my dining room or using the brand new Treadmill (2 years old, used 5 times) sitting in my dining room. By the way, we took out our Dining Room Table 3 months ago, so we would use it and help us get motivated.

Anyways, I gave myself that week of exercise and I haven’t stopped since then. I knew that if I could just start something and stick with it for a week, I knew I wouldn’t stop. It was just getting myself up and out the door for the hour or so to make myself feel alive again.

I could eat as good as I wanted, but I still wasn’t feeling great. I lost 20 lbs. without exercising on Core4 Products, which is wonderful and I have never felt so wonderful in a long time. But I still have 55 lbs. to go and exercising helps so much more. Not just physically, but more so emotionally!! Here are some ways exercising has helped me!

Increased my energy
Increased my self-esteem
Provided a distraction from my worries
Improved my health and body, which lifted my mood
Helped myself get rid of built-up stress and frustration
Helped myself sleep better

Check out Core4 Products and read the Testimonials on the next page. It’s free to join and look around.