Read and Learn!

Add one cap of fabric softener to 15 caps of water. Dip a rag into the mixture and give your household items a wipe - this keeps dust away longer than if you just use water!

Labels: Tips

You don’t have to be a pro to know and understand the music file formats you see today. From the widespread MP3s to MIDI files, here’s a low-down on the common music file formats and what you can use them for:

MP3 (.mp3)
MP3 is a way of compressing sound files into smaller sizes. By doing that, MP3 files can contain music and also hold considerable information about the piece of music such as the name of the artist and the song title. MP3 files have become an industry standard format that most computer music playing programs can play. The music files saved on your Nokia phones use the .mp3 file format.

MPEG-4 Part 14 (.mp4)
Mp4 is a file format specified as a part of the ISO/IEC MPEG-4 international standard. It is used to store media types defined by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group, and can be used to store other media types as well. It is, or will be, typically used to store data in files, though it will be used in data streams and possibly in other ways.

Windows Media (.wma)
WMA is a format similar to MP3. This is essentially a competing format created by Microsoft and used primarily in Windows Media Player and other compatible programs. Microsoft claims that Windows Media files are even better than MP3 files, but MP3 files are still much more prevalent on the internet.

Adaptive Audio Coding (.aac)
An audio coding standard used in digital television systems, AAC provides basically the same sound quality as MP3 while using a smaller bit rate. AAC is mainly used to compress music.

Musical Instrument Digital Interface (.mid)
MIDI is a kind of ‘language’ that allows computers and certain musical instruments to communicate. This language consists of instructions telling the instrument (or the MIDI synthesizer in your sound card) which notes to play, with what instrument, and when. MIDI is not compressed audio and can be used entirely within a computer, with no external instruments. MIDI files have a synthesized sound, and are quite small, around 30-60 Kb for your average song.

WAV Format (.wav)
WAV is the default format for digital audio on Windows PCs. WAV files are used to store digital audio data in raw form and is a standard CD quality audio format. They are usually coded in PCM format, which means they are uncompressed and take up a lot of space and requires a large amount of memory (10 MB for 1 minute). WAV files can also be coded in other formats, including MP3.

RealAudio (.ra)
A proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks, RealAudio is especially designed to conform to low bandwidths, and it can be used as a streaming audio format, i.e. played at the same time as it's downloaded. Many radio stations use RealAudio to stream their programming over the internet in real time.

Labels: Technology

One of those forwarded stories but good reminder:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) and just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food - while she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening. Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00pm, Ingrid passed away). She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead. It only takes a minute to read this...

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE
Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR . Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S *Ask the individual to SMILE.
T *Ask the person to TALK . to SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. . . It is sunny out today)
R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

{NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out their tongue... if the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke}

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 9-1-1 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

Labels: Health

Received this email 'Words of Wisdom' from my colleague:

1. Employment letter stated that working hour finishes at 6.00 pm
2. Work is a never-ending process, even you stay until next morning you will never finish it
3. Humans are not robots. Even machines have to rest or else it will breakdown
4. You love your career, but your family is even more important in your life
5. If you failed in your life, your boss is not going to be the one who gives you a helping hand whereas your family would definitely offer help
6. You do not want to make your life miserable because of your job
7. Monthly salary = work from 9 am - 6 pm. If 6.30 pm = $0 + 0 bonus + 0 appreciation + bad health + bad social life + poor family relationship. That = unproductive employee + performance drop + company reputation drops + retrenchment rate increases + resignation rate increases.
8. If a person disagrees with the above formula, we think he/she has no life, is heartless, a doomed workaholic and deserves the 'Best Employee of the Year Award'!
9. You do not care if your boss fires you
10. The chinese saying 'House in the east no longer keeps you, then just move to the west house'!

It was Jan 11, 2007. My office decided to have our lunch in. We will usually discuss about any subject that comes to mind and on that day, I raised a question on the differences between Squid, Octopus and Cuttlefish. They belong to a class of molluscs known as Cephalopods.

The group is characterised by

• A shell that is often modified or absent


• A well-developed head with large eyes


• Feet that are modified into funnels


• Tentacles


• A parrot-like beak for feeding


• Ink used for protection


• Capable of colour changes

We then had a very indepth analysis of the sea creature and even illustrated it on our whyte board! :) I wonder what would our boss think of it?!