The Refresh Orlando Heirs

Since December 1st 2004, I have written one article or potential article a day for my motivation web site. One or two of these have been upgraded versions of previous articles but so far, I have not missed a day.

I feel reasonably proud of this mainly because I am doing what I planned to do by making a daily effort. Occasionally I am extra proud of an article which I think contains some really useful or valuable ideas.

It is easy to check whether I have achieved my goal or not. I have either written the article or I haven’t. Because of the daily effort I have now written at least 100 articles. Today is the 13th March 2005.

If I had sat down to write a 100 articles all at once, I would never have achieved that goal but with daily effort, a target of 100 is easily reached. I had not even realized that I had reached a hundred until I added up the number just now.

Heather Small, the singer and songwriter, was interviewed on TV in February 2005. She admitted to being nervous before the interview because she hates mediocrity and raises the bar high in everything she does.

She is always looking for the hero inside herself as in her song “Search for the hero inside yourself.” We all have hero potential but this might take some looking for.

Her songs are full of motivation and encouragement to make the most of yourself. One of her songs is being used in association with the London Olympic bid. This song is already world famous. She sang it after her interview. It is called ‘Proud’. The words go as follows:

“What have you done today to make you feel proud?
It’s never too late to try.
Still so many answers I don’t know.
To question is to grow.
So I step out of the ordinary.
I can feel my soul ascending.
Can’t stop me now and you can do the same.
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
You could be so many people.
Just make a break for freedom.
What have you done today to make you feel proud?”

The song stresses daily action to make yourself feel proud. This may sound corny to some but it is pure wisdom to others. It is the daily actions which create the habits and then the character which is extraordinary and even heroic.It is also the daily action which gets huge amounts of work done.

The interviewers asked her how she motivates herself when writing songs on her own.

Again she admitted that on some days she did not feel like getting up let alone creating music but then some small thing like a smile from her son would make her day.

She feels that at the end of every day you should be able to look back on some good experience that makes you feel that life is worth living.

It is a great relief to hear motivating, tuneful, music and inspiring lyrics instead of the sentimentality, self pity, negativity and tunelessness of some modern music.

Heather was born and raised on a West London council estate. She battled with shyness and a desire to sing from an early age. She was captivated by the fire and inspiration of gospel music and was also influenced by ’70s reggae and soul.

She joined her first group, the blues band ‘Hot House’ while still in her teens. Although their potential was never fully realised, Heather later joined a Manchester group called M People. They would go on to sell over 10 million records worldwide.

Now she is a solo artist. She has already made a great contribution to both the world of music and the world of motivation. She has done plenty to make herself and her family proud.

What have you done today to make yourself feel proud? Like King Arthur and his knights, who would not eat before some one had done a great deed, you and I could do something daily which would be worth mentioning at the evening banquet!

About the author

John Watson is an award winning teacher and martial arts instructor. He has recently written two books about achieving your goals and dreams.

They can both be found on his website http://www.motivationtoday.com along with a daily motivational message.

The title of the first book is “36 Laws To Ignite Your Inner Power And Realize Your Dreams Now!” The book can be found at this URL http://www.motivationtoday.com/36_laws.php

The book uses acronyms, stories and pictures to help readers remember 36 laws that can gradually transform your life.

You are welcome to publish the article above in your ezine or on your website so long as you do not alter it and keep in the words about the author and the 36 Laws.

PCB’s are a major threat to world health yet their hardly dicsussed in terms of major world problems. Lets look at the facts

PCB – or PolyChlorinated Biphenyls was a great step forward for industrial chemistry. They were widely marketed in the 1930s onward and have been used as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors, and other electrical equipment because they don’t burn easily and are good insulators.

Products made before 1977 (in the United States and Europe) that may contain PCBs include old fluorescent lighting fixtures and electrical devices containing PCB capacitors, and old microscope and hydraulic oils. The manufacture of PCBs was stopped in the US in 1977 because of massive evidence that PCBs build up in the environment and can cause harmful health effects.

The truth is that PCBs are extremely stable in the environment and do not biodegrade. They are a pollutant without equal.

PCBs were used because of their special qualities, such as:

• low vapor pressure

• EXTREME stability, non-biodegradability

• high boiling point: 278 to 415 C

• low solubility in water: 20 C, 15 ppb

• good solubility in many organic solvents and in lubricants

• good thermal conduction

• high dielectric constant

• high-temperature resistance

However, as an environmental pollutant it is unequalled, and it accumulates in animal tissue with resultant pathogenic and teratogenic effects. It is unquestionably carcinogenic, and under certain conditions converts to dioxin, a highly toxic poison.

PCBs were used (and are still used) as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors, and other electrical equipment because they don’t burn easily and are good insulators. But the transformers (you can see transformers on electrical transmissions poles, or at any generating or electrical transmission location), will “leak” after a time, and the PCBs make their way into the environment. But not only.

PCBs will enter the air, water, and soil during their manufacture, use, and disposal. They can enter the environment from accidental spills during the transformers servicing or their transport.

PCBs can still be (and are) released to the environment from normal or hazardous waste sites; from the illegal or improper disposal of industrial wastes and consumer products. PCBs commonly enter the environment by the improper burning of old electrical transformers containing PCBs in municipal incinerators

Perhaps the worst form of entering the environment is from illegal dumping. In countries like Greece, the Army, Navy and even the Public Power Corporation would dismantle the old transformers and dump the PCBs into the sea, or shallow pits in desolate areas. How many other countries have been also guilty of this activity?

There Goes the Sushi!

PCBs once into the environment will bind strongly to soil. PCBs exposed to the air can also travel long distances and be deposited in areas far away from the pollution site (polluters seem to know this phenomenon).

If dumped in the water, only small amounts of PCBs may become dissolved. The rest usually bind to organic particles and bottom sediments. As a natural process then, the PCBs are ingested by small organisms and fish in water. They are naturally then ingested by other animals that eat these smaller animals as food.

Its is an established fact that PCBs accumulate in fish and marine mammals tissue, and reach levels that may be many thousands of times higher than in water. A test on any fish caught in the wild (or farmed for that matter) will show levels of PCBs now, and is proof of contamination of the sea.
What Does PCB do to you?

Due perhaps to its wide negative political effect, PCB damage is not as studied or reported as it should be. Dioxin (which PCB can revert to) is a highly toxic and poisonous chemical damaging the liver and easily causing death.

There are many studies which show that PBCs cause cancer, birth defects, and other debilitating illnesses. Damage to the liver is a given effect.

It is in your food chain and cooking will not purge it from the food. It is in vegetables and fish, meat and chicken.

And some countries still use it, and some industrialized countries wish to send their old PCB to underdeveloped countries for easy disposal.

For more FREE articles

On a variety of issues including features downloads and magazines visit

http://www.net-planet.org

With the growing availability of high bandwidth internet connections getting a webcam and staying in touch with friends and family has never been easier.

What is a Webcam

A webcam is a small video camera that takes still or moving images and sends them to your PC via a USB cable. The quality of image capture is determined by the webcam’s lens, optical sensor and the frame rate the camera can transmit.

The best available resolution is 640×480 and the frame rate is almost always 30 frames per second. If your looking to take movie clips then you will need a camera with a high resolution and frame rate. If you want to use your video camera for video conferencing, you could go for a cheaper, lower-spec camera but with the ever increasing availability of high bandwidth internet connections and VoIP software such as Skype, I would recommend going for a good quality camera.

PC specification and your Webcam

At this point it would be a good idea to check the minimum specification required to run the webcam of your choice, and whether your PC meets that specification. The majority of current webcams require at least Windows 98 Second Edition to work properly. Minimum processor requirements generally vary from 350MHz to 700MHz but I would suggest a processor speed of at least 1000MHz. RAM specifications vary from 128MB to 512MB. Manufacturers of webcams will generally state a wide compatibility specification, however, a good rule of thumb would be to take the top specification mentioned for your webcam and use that as your minimum specification requirement.

Ok your PC has met the minimum RAM and Processor specification for your webcam, the next thing to think about is the kind of port your webcam is going to plug into. The majority of webcams manufactured in the past five years plugs in to a USB port. However, there are two kinds of USB ports older USB1.1 ports (12Mbit/s) and the more recent USB2.0 ports (480Mbit/s). These two types look identical and you can plug a USB2.0 port into a USB1.1 socket and you can plug older USB1.1 devices into a USB2.0 port, however, only a USB Hi-Speed device on a USB2.0 port will transfer data faster than 12Mbit/s.

Upgrading your PC to meet your webcam requirements

Before you undertake any upgrade, you need to compare your PC’s specifications to the minimum requirements of the webcam you want to install. Check out the need to know below before you take the plunge.

A webcam’s manufacturer will specify certain minimum requirements that your PC should meet if it is to work successfully with the device. These generally include the version of Windows on your PC, your processor’s speed and the amount of RAM fitted.

Some webcams use a USB Hi-Speed connection. Before you buy one of these cams check to see if your PC has USB2.0 ports. If your PC runs a version of Windows older than XP then it almost certainly doesn’t have USB2.0 ports.

Most current webcams come with a built-in microphone, but a few don’t. Before you buy, check to see if your webcam has a microphone, if it doesn’t you’ll have to buy one that plugs into your sound card.

John Wright is an IT professional specialising in internet marketing and computer systems. For more information and articles go to Raidens hardware articles.

When it comes to registering your domain name and establishing
your presence online, there are fundamental aspects that need to
be taken into consideration in order to prevent unnecessary
hurdles from affecting both you and your customers.

Whether you are a small or large company, or simply interested
in setting up your own personal website, what you need are
effective solutions and the correct business tools at a
respectable price to offer you peace of mind. I would strongly
recommend not looking for cheap imitations of registrars
offering you the best quality at ridiculously cheap prices as
they don’t tend to go hand in hand. You should be looking for a
registrar that will provide you a service that offers guaranteed
performance, support, reliability, user-friendliness and, above
all, SECURITY.

“But surely security is offered by all, right?”, I hear you ask.
Although this statement is generally correct, this security
aspect is often neglected by some registrars, even the top dogs
in the business. Below are some key areas that you should
consider regarding registration security, and will hopefully
explain - without all the technical jargon - and assist you in
deciding which registrar company suits your needs and
expectations.

Why is security so important? Security issues adopted by the
principal registration companies guarantee that your domain is
safeguarded against domain highjackers or others who want to
transfer your domain(s) to another registrar without your
specific authorization. The knock-on effects will not only imply
loosing your domain name but will also result in a costly
downtime of yours and your customers´ websites. Furthermore, you
could even look at it as a direct attack on your online
identity, the traffic base you have worked so hard to attract on
the reputation of your service and products.

Password based security Let us take the example of Anakena.com,
a leading European registrar whose company policy places an
important emphasis on security, real-time customer support and a
multilingual service. They use a system whereby all your
communications are encrypted, which means that when you access
your Anakena personal account page you are automatically
transferred to a secured connection using the secured protocol
https. This measure has been put in place to prevent possible
uses of ’sniffers’ in your online connection. Furthermore, their
security procedure also prevents anyone using your email to
reset your password. The procedure is simple, and requests that
all those clients who have forgotten their password need to
answer 2 questions before receiving an email to reset their new
one. If that security hurdle isn’t enough to keep the most
demanding client satisfied, then knowing that his/her password
is then encrypted on the Anakena servers, where nobody is able
to see it, is just another reassuring and preventive measure. As
the saying goes, it is always better to prevent than to cure
(especially if the curing period comes too late!).

Payment Payment has always been a soft spot, due to the fear of
your bank details, access codes and personal information falling
into unknown hands. Not only this, but the majority of people
who purchase a product or service over the web also want to know
exactly how much it will cost (be sure to read the small print),
what alternative payment methods exist and when you will get
invoiced. This equation might simplify this:

Consolidated Payment Options* + Secure & Automated Invoicing
= RELIABLE PAYMENT PROCESS YOU CAN TRUST

* Direct Debit, Wire Transfer and PayPal

On another note, you probably ask yourself, “Who keeps records
of my credit card details?”. Well, Anakena, for example,
doesn’t. Every payment is made with your bank directly and they
do not have access to your card details. For them, there is
nothing safer that your own bank processing your personal
banking needs.

Account Lock Another important factor you should consider when
choosing the right registrar for you is the option of locking
your account. The top players in the registration business may
not even offer this feature in their service, resulting in
greater exposure of your site to “domain predators” and
infringing on the safety elements that a registrar might
promise. A lock on the account allows only the website owner to
modify features, personal information, and even transfer domains
to another registrar/customer. This locked status will remain
until the owner wishes to remove it. The only downside to this
is that a registrar cannot modify illicit signups where a
customer doesn’t include valid information. In the case of
Anakena, for example, this information is screened upon
registration and the company will contact the customer to
request further information in order to complete the signup
process. Not only is the company looking out for the interest of
the customer but also the partnership it hopes to consolidate in
the future.

Email notification The leading registrar companies, and the vast
majority of service providers online, have automated email
notification systems set up that send you relevant news or
updates to the website, your account interface, etc. However,
there have been examples in the past where companies or
individuals have not been informed instantly of technical
aspects or modifications to the service they receive from the
particular registrar. It may even be a question of days before
they actually realise that something has been modified, caused
by a failure to communicate effectively with their customers.
But those companies who do, and devote paramount importance to
keeping their clients informed are consolidating themselves in
the market thanks to growing customer loyalty and a healthy
increase in their customer base.

Simple guide in sending fax through Internet: learn more about Email faxing
There is lots of Internet faxing services that enable you to send your faxes through the Internet. It is a type of online services that provide subscribers with the ability to send and receive faxes without a fax machine. Instead, Internet access and an email account are all the necessary. Internet faxes are received or sent in form of email attachments or normal fax machine copies.

Some of these Internet faxing services are free while others require you to pay a certain amount of money on a monthly basis. Some of the examples of Internet faxing services includes: eFax, Call Wave Internet faxing, Green Fax, Trust Fax, Fax it Nice, Fax Mate, Inter Fax, Air Com email fax, and My Fax.

How Internet fax normally works?

To send an Internet fax, the subscriber creates an email account. The fax content can be written in the body of the email, and attachments are normally permitted. The destination fax number is entered in the ‘To’ field, along with the Internet fax service name (efax for example). For example, if the fax number were 1-555-234-5678, the email would be addressed to 15552345678@efax.com. In the subject・field, user will need to input the recipient name, for example: Attn: Mr. Fax.

Receiving Internet faxes is easy; you do not need to be familiar with faxing software nor fax machines neither to use the Internet faxing interface. Normally, the email faxing services will install a small tools (toolbar or window box) into your PC as a plug-in inside the email program. Upon receipt, an automated program converts the email to a fax format, then faxes to the number supplied in the fax-header. The recipient receives the fax normally, through fax machine.

Why Internet fax?

There are numerous reasons to start implementing Internet faxing services in your business or personal usage. If you have ever owned a fax machine then you can understand how frustrating it is when it jams, cuts off page text, stops in the middle of a transmission, or the receiving machine is constantly busy or out of paper. Eventually you might ruin your own business because of all those communication troubles caused by the traditional fax machines. Life with Internet faxing (or sometimes known as email faxing) will be much easier- 24 hours ready, no more engage tones, and no more paper jamming. Faxes will always sent out and arrived smoothly via your email account.

Perhaps you have never owned a fax machine because of the initial investment and ongoing maintenance was far too costly. Think about it — the cost of the machine, the installation of a separate phone line to avoid conflicts with your answering machine, and the ongoing cost of replacement toner cartridges. With the invention of eFax services, now you never have to worry about these headaches with the soon-to-be extinct fax machine device.

Some get Internet faxing services because of their additional advantages. Let’s take eFax (owned by J2 Communication) for example. They are offering more than just Internet faxing solutions nowadays. With the recent introduction on their new product: eVoice, you can even get voice messages sent to your email accounts or forward it into your private number. With eVoice, even the smallest of businesses can benefit with a professional answering service today and save costs on answering machine and extra phone lines.

Wrapping things up, Internet services are one of the online services that can beneficial greatly to your business or personal expenses. However in order to get the best from it, one must be careful and review more on the faxing services that’s available in the market. Different Internet faxing packages are meant for different categories of users. If you only need to receive faxes, you can try out eFax Free which will cost you nothing; if you send faxes frequently and needs a toll-free number for your business, eFax Plus might be something you want to look at. If you are always on the road and need to send email faxes via mobile portal, Call Wave faxing services is recommended. To view more regarding on CallWave services: http://www.downloadcallwave.com; to view more on eFax services: http://www.myinternetfax.biz

Learn more about the services details when you are shopping for the right Internet faxing services: the reputation and customer feedbacks on the services, the ability to send to more than one fax number at a time, the faxing page capacity, the send/receive page amount-limit and the hidden cost of sending extra faxes are some factors that you do not want to miss out.

The author, Claudia Walters, is one of the expert writers in office tools and technology. People are not aware that they can send fax via internet, thus a website is built promoting top rated online faxing services.

In 2002 thirteen-year-old Christina Long, a Connecticut suburbanite, became the first confirmed murder in the U.S. by an Internet predator. Unfortunately she has not been the last. Fortunately, recent media attention is finally making parents aware of dangers linked to Internet use.

A study performed by National Institute for Missing and Exploited Children concluded that in the past year one in five minors were subjected to sexual solicitation through chat rooms and instant messengers. 5% received aggressive sexual solicitation in the form of phone calls, mail, money, or gifts, as well as being asked to meet. Almost 70% of all solicitations occurred in the home, yet less then one-quarter of minors told a parent. Shockingly, by an average age of just eleven years most minors have been exposed to Internet pornography.

Internet predation is an issue that cannot be ignored. The Long family did not realize their children were in peril until it was too late. We must learn from their loss and take action before more children suffer a similar fate. Amazingly, many responsible parents who wouldn’t dream of letting their children cross the street without teaching them to look both ways, or under the supervision of a crossing guard, will let their kids play on the Information Super-Highway without any safeguards!

There are several excellent resources designed to provide education to both parents and children. One of the best is the National Institute for Missing and Exploited Children (http://www.missingkids.com). Here you will learn how to identify dangers and how to effectively address them. As an example, one of the easiest changes that can be made is moving the family PC to a highly visible area, making it easier to watch for risky behavior. There are other valuable tips, such as how to pick chat room and instant messenger user names that draw less attention from predators and what type of chat rooms to avoid.

The most important thing you must teach your children is that the Internet is not always a safe playground where they can let their guard down. Children often have a false sense of security on the Internet because they believe its anonymous nature will protect them, even from behavior that would make them run in real life. Children must be taught that behavior that would make them uncomfortable in person must not be tolerated online either. Most minors would be afraid of a stranger who starting talking to them with sexual innuendo or talking about their sexual fantasies, but fail to be afraid when they are approached online. In fact many children will even engage in conversations when approached, perhaps because the Internet gives the illusion of personal safety.

Children must be taught that giving out personal information is extremely dangerous. Teach your children that even the smallest piece of information, such as what softball team they are on, is enough for a predator to find them. Also teach them that a stranger online is not always who they say they are. Predators will often masquerade as children themselves to obtain information they can use to identify and find victims. Your child may think they are talking to someone their own age, when in fact they may be talking to someone intent on doing them harm.

In addition to education you must put in place parental controls and monitoring tools to add a second layer of defense. Even the best child will break the rules on occasion, and even the smartest child will fail to identify every dangerous situation. Quality parental control software should allow filtering of web sites and permit monitoring of which sites your children are visiting, allowing you to identify risky behavior before it is too late. Instant messenger controls that permit conversation monitoring, as well as permitting limits on which contacts your kids can have conversations with, are invaluable since predators often use these messengers to meet and entice their victims. Another option that is vital, although often overlooked, is a means of block peer-to-peer file sharing programs. These programs are typically used to download music, but can also serve as a portal for pornography, including the most insidious forms of child pornography. Finally, a quality monitoring tool to that allows you to watch everything your kids do will help identify and address risky behavior. The most typical tool for this is a keystroke logger, which logs every keystroke your child makes. Perhaps the greatest value of installing good parental controls and monitor tools is the positive effect it will have on your children’s behavior. They are less likely to break the rules if they know you are watching.

Educate yourself, educate your children, and invest in the tools to make sure they’re safe. Don’t let your family be the next saying they never thought it could happen to them.

Visit http://www.css-software.com for more resources and tools to help protect your children before it’s too late.

Kevin Whynot
CSS Software
www.css-software.com

Microsoft Windows Vista, the next version of Windows, is scheduled to arrive in H2 2006. Vista is loaded with new technologies, the most visible being an enhanced graphical user interface. Vista’s user interface improves rendering of text, allows smooth, eye-pleasing window transition effects, and utilizes high-resolution icons.

Icon in Windows Vista Explorer

Windows Vista Explorer makes use of high-resolution 256×256 icons. While 256×256 pixels seem to be too much for current displays, Vista is able to dynamically downscale images to any size. By using large icons, Vista Explorer is already prepared for future displays with higher resolution [DPI].

The image size is controlled by a slider control in Windows Explorer. This slider replaces the discrete view modes in Windows XP. Vista makes it possible to assign different view mode and different icons sizes to each folder.

Support for high resolution icon is not limited to system icons. Our test showed that a custom icon with a large image is accepted and used by Windows Explorer without problems.

PNG Compressed Vista Icons

A typical Vista icon contains 12 images:

• 16×16 pixels in 16 colors, 256 colors, and truecolor+alpha
• 32×32 pixels in 16 colors, 256 colors, and truecolor+alpha
• 48×48 pixels in 16 colors, 256 colors, and truecolor+alpha
• 256×256 pixels in 16 colors, 256 colors, and truecolor+alpha

The ability to put 256×256 pixels image inside an icon is not new. This feature was available in Windows XP and in previous systems. The problem is that an icon with all 12 formats requires more than 400kB. This is considerably more than a typical Windows XP icon needs (approx. 25kB). Microsoft solved this problem by extending the icon format.

Vista icons store the images in icons using PNG compression. With PNG compression, the size of an icon is reduced. Because PNG is loss-less and supports 8bit alpha channel, the quality of icon is maintained.

Current Vista icons use compression for the large 256×256 formats only. This makes the icons backwards compatible with previous systems. Windows XP will ignore the high resolution images and load the standard 48×48 pixels images.
It is possible to compress all images in an icon. Such icons will occupy even less space and they will work without problems in Vista. They will of course fail under Windows XP.

Creating and Converting Compressed Icons

Vista compatible icon editor is needed to work with Vista icons. Icon editor authors are adopting the Vista enhancements to the icon format and some of them have already managed to release new version of their software. A Vista icon is created by simply adding a high resolution images and by selecting the Vista format when saving an icon.

Some editors allows extracting Vista icons from executable files and converting them to XP icons (e.g. saving them without compression).

Conclusion

Microsoft improved the visuals of Windows delivered a future-proof solution compatible with high-end system as well as with lower definition screens. The 256×256 icon images allow icon authors to add more details and make the icons more appealing under wide range of conditions.

The information in this article is relevant for Windows Vista Beta 1. Vista icons specifications are preliminary and subject to change.

Copyright 2005 Vlastimil Miler / RealWorld Graphics

More resources: Vista icons screenshots and example icons

RealWorld Icon Editor 2005.2.1 - first Vista-compatible icon maker