For practical purposes, hot air balloons really can’t compete with airplanes and helicopters. They’re extremely difficult to steer, and they can only move as quickly as the surrounding winds. But as a recreational activity, hot air ballooning can’t be beat.

You’re outside, feeling the wind in your hair and the sun on your face, drifting serenely over the earth. If you’ve ever been in a hot air balloon, you know it’s an experience you won’t soon forget.

Hot air is less dense, and lighter, than cold air. Because it’s lighter, it tends to rise. If you’ve ever taken a dive into a pool, you may have felt this effect in water: the surface water is warm, but as you move deeper, the water gets cooler. That’s because warm water is lighter than cool water and tends to rise to the top, like air.

The air within a hot air balloon is heated, and as it rises, it takes the balloon-and anything attached to it-with it. A cubic foot of air within a balloon can lift about seven grams of weight. This isn’t a lot of weight, which is why the balloon has to be so big. The balloon itself is called an "envelope." It’s usually made of nylon, which is the perfect fabric for hot air balloons: it’s lightweight but sturdy, and it can withstand heat without melting easily.

Below the balloon, a burner is positioned to send a jet of flame upward into the envelope. The burner uses propane as a fuel. The fuel is stored as a highly compressed liquid in canisters attached to the burner with a fuel hose. Because it’s so highly compressed, the liquid fuel flows quickly through the hose to the burner when the pilot turns it on. There, it’s ignited by a pilot light. The flame heats up the surrounding metal of the burner, which turns the fuel to gas before it gets lit. This makes the flame stronger and the fuel usage more efficient.

If you look at a hot air balloon, you’ll notice a big hole in the bottom where the burner is. So why doesn’t the hot air escape through the hole at the lower end? Simple: buoyancy. Hot air is buoyant, which means it can only rise-it can’t sink and drain out the bottom of the balloon. As long as the air stays hot, it will continue to rise.

It won’t rise forever, though. The atmosphere thins as it goes up, and eventually the air within the envelope is too thin to support the weight of the balloon. The more air within the balloon, the greater the buoyancy-so bigger balloons can go higher than smaller ones.

A pilot can cause the balloon to rise by turning on the propane burner and heating the air within the envelope. To bring the balloon down, the pilot releases the parachute valve. That’s a vent in the top of the envelope that allows some of the hot air to escape, cooling the temperature of the remaining air within. This causes the balloon to sink gradually.

There are no horizontal controls in a balloon, but pilots can still control the horizontal movement by raising and lowering the altitude of the craft. Winds at different altitudes move in different directions. If a pilot has a good working knowledge of the wind currents in the area, she can raise and lower the balloon to catch a current moving in the right direction.

Still, piloting a balloon isn’t an exact science. It’s impossible to target the precise location where you’ll land. That’s why it’s usually necessary for someone on the ground to follow the balloon by car to meet the balloon where it lands and transport the equipment.

Launching and landing generally take more work than actually flying a balloon. The inflation process takes only about ten or fifteen minutes, and is done with a powerful fan. Once the balloon is full of air, it will still lie on the ground until the burner is fired, heating the air in the envelope and causing it to rise.

A balloon descends gradually, but can still land with a bit of a bump if the pilot isn’t experienced enough to know how to bump the basket along the ground to lessen the impact. The wicker basket helps absorb the force of the landing. Wicker is lightweight and flexible, and absorbs the energy of landing better than a solid, less flexible basket would. This way, riders aren’t jarred when the ride is over.

There’s nothing like soaring over the earth in a balloon. Hot air balloons are exciting, fascinating, and pure fun. If you’ve never taken a ride in one, you’re definitely missing out on an experience you’ll never forget.

source : articleflix

It is important to raise financially smart kids. If we want our children to be financially secure adults we need to make sure we raise financially smart kids now.

Most families don’t discuss money management and finances openly, which might explain why kids today grow up without knowing anything about balancing a checkbook, saving for the future or managing a personal or household budget. These steps will help you  to raise financially savvy children.

Consider giving your child a regular allowance.to make a financially smart kid you need to give them an allowance based on work they do. Don’t just give them money for nothing. They need to earn it. A financially smart kid understands they need to work to make money. A weekly allowance is a good way to start your kids on the path to fiscal fitness. Allowing them to start handling their own money can empower them with a sense of responsibility.

Set goals for your children.Make the kids use their allowance to buy things they want. I mean anything other than the basics. Let them understand what things cost and what the effects are of spending money on one thing and then not being able to buy something else they want. If your child wants a new toy or video game, don’t be afraid to say no. If you decide to make that purchase, figure out how he or she can earn the toy by doing a chore or helping clean up his room. This can help the idea that work produces results.  

Set a good example. Kids learn more than you realize by watching you, so the habits and ideals you embody will be passed on to them, whether you want to or not. So make sure you practice what you preach by not frittering money on frivolous, useless items (unless you get use or enjoyment out of them, in which case they’re not frivolous). Or better yet: Take your child with you when you make a deposit at the bank or withdraw money so they become accustomed to the idea of saving and spending money.

Encourage your children to save money. Find things they really want but can not afford and encourage them to start saving at least a part of their allowance each week so they will be able to buy it later. This will help you to raise a financially smart kid buy helping them to see that if they really want something sometimes they have to save for it.

This will raise a financially smart kid that understands the value of money.

Good teeth don’t just come about. They are the result of good oral hygiene and healthy eating habits. A balanced daily diet inclusive of calcium and vitamins A, C, and D will help develop healthy teeth which will be fully formed when a child reaches his or her late teens or early twenties.

Did you know that a fully developed tooth is a permanent record of the nutritional habits of the mother during pregnancy and during the infancy of the child as the teeth form beneath the surface of the gums?
From the womb to the time that teeth are fully formed, good eating habits will help in maintaining healthy teeth, but beware of a diet rich in sugar! It will increase the risk of cavities. Studies show that Streptococcus mutans is passed from parents to their newborn children, thus beginning the growth of these decay-producing bacteria in the child.

Plaque bacteria feed on sugar and convert it into harmful acids. Certain types of sugar are more easily turned into acids and or are more likely to adhere to the teeth, resulting in tooth decay. Plaque that is not removed can harden into calculus, or tartar, around the gum line, resulting in dental caries.

With sugar being the main culprit of dental caries, is there an alternative?

Have you heard of a sweetener called ‘Xylitol’? It is a natural sugar alcohol which helps prevent cavities, as damage causing bacteria can’t grow on this form of sugar. By regular use of this product, the quality of the bacteria in the mouth changes, resulting in less plaque formation due to the reduction of acid levels attacking tooth surfaces. It will also significantly reduce the cavity causing bacterial transmission from mother to child. Xylitol is found most often in chewing gum and mints. It is equal in sweetness and volume to sugar and the granular form can be used in many of the ways that sugar is used, including to sweeten cereals, drinks, hot beverages and for baking.

Reduce the intake of sugar and also vinegar based products as much as possible as the acetic acid contained in vinegar produces a sour taste in the mouth and causes one’s teeth to feel very sensitive. Acids are involved in the formation of dental caries or tooth decay by ‘demineralizing’ which means removing calcium from the enamel that makes up the outer layer of the tooth.
Eat balanced meals at the proper time. Gastritis results from improper meal timings, or skipping breakfast altogether, which in turn produces unhealthy stomach gasses and acids. These acids travel up to the mouth when sleeping, resulting in teeth erosion at gum level leaving an acidic taste in the mouth.

Contribute to your child’s oral health by speaking positively about dental care, reducing any fears to visit the dentist.

Teeth can heal themselves
Repeated acid attacks soften the tooth’s enamel surface. However, such lesions are being remineralized every day. How? It has been shown that fluorides continue to help prevent decay by helping in this healing process. Thus, while decay is an infectious process, it is also reversible if certain factors, such as fluorides, are present. Yes, teeth can heal themselves!

Daily Oral Hygiene, a must
The single most important thing that you can do to maintain the health and vitality of your teeth, gums and their supporting tissues is to brush your teeth, first thing in the morning and as the last thing at night, combined with flossing.

Wash your mouth after each meal and after eating sweets.

Visit your dentist at least once every 6 months.

Some guidelines for brushing your teeth

Clean the tooth brush by washing it under running water, using a bit of soap and with the aid of your thumb. Notice the bristles change colour from off yellow to white.

Use only a small amount of tooth paste when brushing teeth as it’s an abrasive material.

Use a toothbrush with soft, rounded bristles and a head that is small enough to reach all parts of your teeth and mouth.

You may also use an electric toothbrush of approved dental standards. Studies show that powered toothbrushes with a rotating and oscillating (back and forth) action are more effective than other toothbrushes.

Angle the bristles at approximately 45 degrees at the gum line. Gently brush from the gum line to the chewing surface in short strokes. Be sure to clean all inside and outside tooth surfaces.

Use short, sweeping strokes to clean the chewing surfaces of the jaw teeth

To clean the inside surfaces of the front teeth, hold the brush so that it is almost vertical. Brush from your gum line to the chewing surface of the teeth.

Brush your tongue and the roof of your mouth with a sweeping motion.

Replace your tooth brush once in every 3 months or prior, if the bristles are worn out.

]]> http://badusure.com/2010/09/protect-your-teeth-what-can-be-done/feed/ 0 http://badusure.com/2010/09/make-an-avocado-shake/ http://badusure.com/2010/09/make-an-avocado-shake/#comments Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:54:06 +0000 kinkini http://badusure.com/2010/09/make-an-avocado-shake/

Yummy, thick, creamy avocado shake. The perfect exotic drink for all occasions! Makes 1-2 servings.

Things You’ll Need:
1 large avocado
1/4 cup condensed milk
1 cup crushed ice
1 scoop vanilla ice cream

• Blend together avocado, condensed milk, and crushed ice until smooth.
• Add vanilla ice cream and blend again for about 5 seconds.
• Serve immediately.

******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

 How to Select a Perfect Creamy Delicious Avocado

If you don’t buy avocados often, selecting good ones at the market can be a challenge. Follow these steps to pick a creamy, melt-in-your-mouth avocado every time.

Look: A good avocado might be green or blackish-purple. Look for one that seems plump (no obvious dents or tears in the skin).

• Feel: Once you’ve identified a promising candidate, pick it up. It should feel relatively heavy for its size. The most important thing to feel for, though is softness. If you are planning to eat the avocado the same day, it needs to give a little when you squeeze it gently. At the same time, it shouldn’t feel gushy or hollow under the skin.
• Make sure to pay special attention to the top of the avocado near the stem. When avocados go bad, this is where it starts, so make sure yours isn’t too soft near the stem.
• 4 If you are planning a few days in advance, go ahead and pick out the harder avocados, then ripen them together in a paper bag on your countertop (don’t refrigerate!) They should soften up in a day or two and be perfect when the time comes.
  5 Enjoy your avocados!

A 30-year war which had hamstrung tourism ended in May 2009, and arrivals are up over 40 percent this year. Aiken Spence owns or operates 27 hotels with 2,020 rooms in Sri Lanka, Maldives, India and Oman.

The firm will refurbish and expand a 94-room hotel in Kalutara, formerly known as Golden Sun which it only managed at first but has since taken full control after a Singapore based shareholder sold out.

A hotel in Beruwala is being done up and will be relaunched as Heritance Mahagedera in early 2011 positioned as a 64-room specialized Ayurveda (a traditional South Asian healthcare system) resort.

Its premium hotels, branded Heritance, includes a 5-star resort next to a lake in Kandalama in central Sri Lanka, a former tea factory in the central hills and a beach resort in Ahungalle in the south western coast.

Perera said a 10 acre land next to Heritance Ahungalle was slated for development. Earlier reports have said the group was planning a venture there with the Six Senses leisure group.

"We have another seven acres next to Heritance Mahagedera in Beruwala. This is also under discussion," Perera said.

"In Nilaweli (in north eastern Sri Lanka) we have a little over 100 acres. It is also on the drawing board. We are looking at a fairly integrated development there."

Perera said the group was looking at Yala in the deep south of the country, where a popular national park is located and was also scouting for more opportunities in the north. In addition to Nilaweli it was also looking at more projects in eastern Sri Lanka.

The government recently gave land to developers in Pasikuda and another tourism zone in Kuchchaveli has also been opened. (LBO)

Development of wireless technologies and the speed of the internet has given birth to new kind of intelligent phones called “smart phones”. These phones are faster than computers that came out about 6 years back. They can handle things once you just dreamed of having on a handheld device. Connecting to the internet, checking email, motion & gyro sensors, built in cameras & videoconferencing, voice activation & navigation, multi-touch displays & handwriting recognition, GPS tracking & maps, shopping online, music and live video steaming, games, e-books, chat & social networking are some of the popular features that’s becoming standards.

Currently the Apple’s IPhone and Android phones are the ones who lead the market while Blackberry has a small but loyal percentage. And now we have a new player in the already crowded mobile phones market: Microsoft.

Microsoft have been developing their next smart phone OS for some time now. They have dropped the previous “Windows Mobile” brand name completely with good reason: you don’t want to associate a new OS with an obsolete name!

It will be an uphill task for Microsoft to play catch up with Apple and Google’s Android but the new windows phone 7 OS seems to be everything microsoft is NOT known for :

1. Fast and lightweight
2. Simplicity and ease of use
3. Robust performance (no annoying bugs or crashes)

Its really fast!

The new phone boots faster and executes programs without any delays. Its a breeze to use and the new “facebook” like Tile navigation has replaced the “Widgets” and is clean and precise. What’s more it gives more information on hover, when clicked on and what not, grabbing your attention when its supposed to.

Messaging & Contacts

Messaging and contacts is simplified. You see exactly what you need to do in big fonts and in simple English. Email setup and use is clean and uncluttered. Text messaging shows up as scrolling conversation bubbles.

Applications

Office is back and uses cloud features. Which is a good addition because you won’t be creating word files and doing spreadsheets on a tiny phone. So the stand outs will be online collaboration tools like One note and SharePoint. In case you want to do a presentation you’d be happy to know the PowerPoint files will retain all the custom effects (animations and transitions).

Like Iphone’s Apple Store and Android’s Market Microsoft will have its own online download store appropriately named as the “Marketplace”. You can buy various applications and games just like you would in any other smart phone store.

Maps, Games and Music

Maps will play a huge part in WP7 (Windows Phone 7). Find restaurants, driving directions all thanks to Bing Maps. Multi gestures will allow you to pinch and punch (zoom in and out) of maps with fingers. Exciting stuff indeed.

Games and entertainment will play a huge part in the device. In the previous windows mobile versions this always took a back seat and now it has been given a lot of thought. Expect to see a horde of absorbing games with top notch graphics & animations to hit the WP7.

Zune, Microsoft music device and store is integrated and will provide entertainment. Download and play music and movies is a breeze giving you non stop entertainment (and a lot of options).

Final words

The Windows Phone 7 seems to have the right stuff. Some might argue its a bit late to compete and Microsoft has already lost. But ultimately its fate will be decided by the consumer.

The state-owned operator had earlier built airports in Libya and Yemen.
"We are looking at bidding for an airport at Palaly in Sri Lanka. We have recently done the feasibility study for the airport," said AAI Chairman V P Agarwal.
The airport is near the city of Jaffna and upgrading the airport will include building a runway and the terminal building and the project would be worth Rs 400-500 crore.
AAI has been developing 35 non-metro airports across the country at a cost of around Rs 12,000 crore. The authority is also taking up the city-side development of Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Indore, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Guwahati and Jaipur airports through public-private partnerships.
During 2008-09, AAI had invested Rs 2,547.5 crore on modernising airport terminals, passenger facilities and air traffic and navigational aids — the highest capital expenditure incurred by it so far.
sify.com

Google has added free voice calls over the internet to its free email service Gmail in the US – although some UK users have found they can also use the service to make calls to the US for free. The service, unveiled on Wednesday night, will let users make free calls at least to the end of this year within the US and Canada. That presently undercuts Skype, which charges per minute for calls to landline numbers. It also threatens existing VOIP providers, and the recently introduced MagicTalk service from VocalTec.

But in using internet technology to carry the phone calls, Google is also positioning itself as a dangerous rival to US long-distance carriers, and telecoms companies carrying international voice traffic, which have seen their businesses being eaten into by calls carried over the internet. Many call centres, for instance, use voice-over-internet technology so that international calls can be handled more cheaply than with high-quality voice lines.

While computer-to-computer calling isn’t new, computer-to-phone services have been much rarer, with Skype – which in August said it has 8.1m paying customers – being the only one that has managed to crack it convincingly. Vonage, a US company, offers a service in which customers have standard phones but make calls through VOIP – though they still need a landline for the basic telephone connection.

Google hopes to make money from the service by charging for international calls – though those will vary widely, even within the same country. It has a chart of rates. People also will be able to receive calls on their PC if they obtain a free phone number from Google, or already have one through its Google Voice service.

The new arrival poses a threat not just to telecoms companies: Skype is planning a $100m flotation, but is burdened with debt and is also making significant capital investment. However, it dwarfs Google Voice for reach, having a total of 560m users, up 36% from last year, though the number of paying customers only rose 23% in the same time. In its SEC filing it noted that there could be competition from companies like Apple and BSkyB – and Google.

But Skype does make an operating profit, with income of $13m on revenues of $406m in the first half of this year. So far Google Voice – which was until about two months ago an invitation-only service as the company absorbed its acquisition of GrandCentral, the VOIP provider that underlies this function – has more than 1.4m assigned phone numbers. Those can then be used as the destination point for calls made to a home, office or mobile phone – like the 0700 "follow me" numbers used in the UK.

Google is also going to promote the service by setting up red phone booths in US universities and airports, letting them make free calls inside North America, and cheaper ones outside it. The company also wants to make it possible to transfer existing home or mobile numbers to Google Voice to broaden its appeal.

At present only users of the Gmail system inside the US are being offered the service. Business, military and government users of Google’s mail and calendar services are not yet being offered the service, but it may be broadened to them: "we’re working on making this available more broadly – stay tuned!" said Nick Foster, a Google Voice software engineer, in a blog post. - Gaurdian UK

If a man is overweight and carries that weight around his middle section, he is referred to as having a beer-gut. Recent research has shown that drinking alcohol does not make you fat.

Instead, this research shows that when substituted for carbohydrates in heavy drinkers, alcohol actually caused weight loss. If this seems contrary to your personal experience with alcohol and weight loss, then let me explain how the process works. What happens in your body when alcohol is ingested?

The body normally gets energy through glucose. Carbohydrates and fats that you eat are broken down in the digestive tract so that the body can retrieve the usable energy source glucose. Glucose is absorbed through the small intestine into to the bloodstream and moves to the various cells of the body to supply them with energy. Alcohol, on the other hand, is absorbed directly into the blood stream through the stomach without being broken down into glucose. In the blood stream, it waits for processing by the liver. In the liver, blood alcohol is changed to the end product of acetate not glucose. Excess fat and glucose is stored by the body as fat. Although glucose is not the end product of the metabolism of alcohol, alcohol does tend to hinder weight loss in at least three other ways.

First insulin sensitivity has been linked to consumption of alcohol. One such study of a large number of subjects performed showed a direct correlation between regular drinking of alcohol and lowered sensitivity to insulin.

People who are resistant to insulin have the tendency to pack on the pounds in their mid section, around the abdomen when they eat processed carbohydrates. They also have an increased chance of becoming a type 2 diabetic. If you increase your insulin sensitivity through consumption of alcohol, you may gain weight.

A second study has shown that alcohol may contribute to weight gain or cause difficulty in weight loss in that consumption of alcohol inhibits the release of ghrelin, the hormone that lets your body know that you are full. When you drink, you feel hungry. You attempts at weight loss may be sabotaged by overeating when alcohol makes you feel hungry.

A third study suggests that alcohol consumption may inhibit weight loss due to metabolism. When the liver is busy converting alcohol to acetate, it is less effective of burning fat. The fat from those greasy foods (and even their lower-fat substitutes) we like to eat when we drink do not get broken down by the liver but are simply stored in the body.
By way of summery of weight loss or weight gain as affected by alcohol, I would like to offer the following:

• Alcohol is not metabolized into fat, but into acetate.
• When alcohol is consumed instead of carbohydrates, it actually causes weight loss.

The primary concern of weight gain and alcohol consumption is that when alcohol is consumed with fats and carbohydrates, the result is weight gain.

Problems caused by alcohol consumption as related to weight loss/gain:

• Insulin sensitivity may be increased by alcohol consumption. This increase leads the body to store as fat carbohydrates eaten with alcohol.
• When processing alcohol, the liver is less effective at processing fat. Unprocessed fat is stored as body fat.

Can I have my drink and eat carbohydrates and fats?

You probably know by now that eating and drinking at the same time keeps you from feeling the effects of alcohol as quickly. You need to know that alcohol when consumed with food causes your body to store fats and carbohydrates as body fat. Here are some ways that you can continue to have a drink and not ruin your diet.

• Alpha lipoic acid mimics insulin when drinking. Carbohydrates are converted to glycogen rather than being stored as fat since your body does not think that it needs to produce more insulin.
• When you are drinking, limit your carbohydrate intake. This is a necessity in order to continue to lose weight.
• When you choose to drink, do not mix carbohydrates and fats. The best choice is to eliminate the fats.
• Hoodia is a supplement that helps to control hunger. It is useful when you choose to drink since alcohol suppresses the enzyme that tells your body when you are hungry.

Remember that drinking alcohol takes many nutrients out of your body. Be sure to replace those nutrients with supplements to remain healthy.

source : 101weightloss.com