Archive for April, 2009
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Studies Indicate Acupuncture Can Improve Quality of Life
Acupuncture is an ancient form of medical treatment designed in China. The skilled healthcare workers who supply this kind of treatment are called acupuncturists. Research has shown that acupuncture is successful in easing some types of pain, including the pain of arthritis. The National Institutes of Health concluded that acupuncture is a helpful addition to the treatment of osteoarthritis in 1997.
The word â??acupunctureâ? is European, the idea having been transported to Europe from Nagasaki by Willem ten Rhyne in 1683, but the treatment has most likely been used in China since around 1600 BC. During the Ching Dynasty (AD 1644-1911) acupuncture fell out of favor in China but has been more commonly used there since the Communist revolution and it is certainly very popular now in the West.
Acupuncture texts list over one hundred conditions that respond well to the therapy. Working in close accord with the International Acupuncture Training Center of the Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the World Health Organization in 2002 specified that acupuncture is useful in treating the following conditions: severe and persistent pain relief, migraine, tension cluster and sinus headaches, trigeminal neuralgia, bladder dysfunction, bed wetting, neck pain, upper and mid-back pain, lower back pain sciatica, osteoarthritis, sprains and strains, frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, post-operative pain relief, gastric problems, asthma, allergies, skin conditions, hemorrhoids, abnormal blood pressure, fatigue, anxiety, neurological syndrome, various eye problems etc. Given the back benefits, many chiropractors now offer Chiropractic Acupuncture in addition to traditional chiropractic methods.
In November 1999 scientists from the Research Center for Complementary Medicine at Technische Universitat in Munich assessed the usefulness of acupuncture in treating headaches by methodically reviewing 22 randomized controlled trials. Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that acupuncture â??has a role in the treatment of recurrent headaches.â?
A number of studies have pointed out that acupuncture might improve patients who have had a stroke. Johannson et al of Lund University Hospital in Sweden found major improvement in a group of stroke patients who received acupuncture during the acute phase, compared with an untreated group, regarding evaluations of walking, balance, activities of daily living, quality of life, mobility, and emotional state.
Practitioners of acupuncture and other forms of Chinese traditional medicine believe that attending to the cause of illness, treating the whole person, and focusing on balance of the immune system leads to significant benefits in long-term health management. For many, this can mean the end of struggles with different types of medication and their side effects.
Adam O’Connor
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/studies-indicate-acupuncture-can-improve-quality-of-life-80468.html
End of My Fears Have Become Phobias - For Eli
The end of My Fears Have Become Phobias by As Blood Runs Black with some variations in fills and improv on the very last part. oh, and trigger free =]
Have fun Eli
Duration : 0:1:17
sandwich ocd
oh boy!
yes we do have problems!
yes we will beat u for making fun and laughing!
yes we will end up laughing with you at ourselves for our stupid ocd!
Duration : 0:5:9
How a Rock Band Chart sounds on Real Drums / Panic Attack
It’s novel time…
It’s been requested a few times that I hook up my MIDI Hero mod to my Roland V-Drums. I had resisted in the past because I wanted to play on a “legit” setup so that I could post on Score Hero. My drumKat setup is legit because it’s “4 pads and a single bass drum”. I will not be posting any scores I get playing on the V-Drums setup, even though it’s actually harder this way, a LOT harder.
So, I’ve got my mod hooked up to my “real drums” for this one. And it’s a lot of fun. I have much more freedom to place the colors where they ought to be. For example, Blue is sometimes used for a tom-tom, and sometimes for a crash, ride, bell, etc. Now I can play Blue notes on the appropriate drum or cymbal. This song (Panic Attack by Dream Theater) demonstrates the different kinds of Blue and I try to play it as authentically as possible. I show the color mapping at the end of the video (which I leave up for a long time so you don’t have to pause :).
Not only that, I can now mix the sound of “real drums” over top of the Rock Band audio track. I can hear it when I play, and I record it separately so that I can mix it into my videos, like this one. It makes for better sounding fills since I can get all the dynamics and timing out of the V-Drums drums that I don’t have with the RB1 drum controller that my mod is simulating. I turned the “Instruments” setting all the way down so you can’t hear the in-game drums conflicting with my V-Drum sounds as much.
What’s interesting about this is that now you can hear what it sounds like to play the charted drum parts in Rock Band on a real drum set. If I were to play these songs on real drums without the game keeping track of all my hits and misses, I would surely play other things, different fills, ghost notes, improv, etc. But from what I’ve found, the drum charts in Rock Band are pretty good! If you play them as written, on the right drums and cymbals, with proper dynamics, it sounds (almost) like the original drum part! (Of course, overlooking any double bass parts). So to those of you who are wondering if you’re actually “learning drums” by playing Rock Band — I believe that you are.
I also got a new toy: video glasses. So I don’t have to hook up a monitor to my V-Drums to see the game as I play it. I just connect the 640×480 composite video signal from the Xbox 360 to these glasses (search “Myvu Crystal” on Amazon.com) and I can see it right in front of my eyes! What a geek! I can also see peripherally so I’m able to hit the drums I want. It’s similar to how you play normally, because you’re mostly watching the screen and your arms have the general feeling of where the drums are without specifically looking at them.
But it’s really weird using these things, because…
1) My eyesight sucks. They are calibrated so that people with normal vision can use them. They make it seem like you’re watching about a 24″ TV screen at arm’s length from your face. Pretty big. But I can’t see clearly at that distance. So I have to wear perscription glasses. And I hate wearing contacts. So I used pro-grade, ultra modern and cool looking twist ties to attach the video glasses a spare set of perscription glasses I have. Can you say NERD?
2) When you’re playing a rhythm game where you have to move around a bit (like drums on Rock Band), you’re used to focusing on a stationary TV screen. All slight movements made by your head, your eyes are used to making the reverse adjustment to stay focused on the notes coming down. Now, when I move my head, my TV moves with me! So it’s very strange when I move my head, that I have to keep my eyes always looking straight ahead. And it shakes a lot when you swing your arms around to hit drums. So it’s a bit difficult to concentrate on the notes coming down the chart.
Reasons why I don’t (yet) score very well using the V-Drums:
1) The video glasses reasons above.
2) Having to remember which colors map to which drums.
3) The feeling of playing “real drums” causes me to start improvising subconciously and lose my multiplier.
4) With the “Instruments” audio setting turned all the way down, you can’t hear the drum track in the game, so it’s hard to hear exactly where the beat is at times.
5) I didn’t practice this song long enough to be able to pwn it, and I was just too psyched about everything not to post a video. 
But I think I can get used to all of these things and get my scores back up, even playing on “real drums”. My high score on this is 340k, played on my drumKat setup. And that was days ago. I’m sure I could gold star it on my next attempt. And even after lots more practice since then, the best I can do on “real drums” is currently around 250k. It’s a lot harder and takes a lot more energy to play.
I hope you like the video. I love this song. Thanks for checking this out!
Duration : 0:10:0
Part 17 of 101 Ways to get rid of anxiety and panic attacks
http://panicbreaker.com Part 17 of 101 ways to end anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety and general anxiety disorder naturally. Loads of viable suggestions you can use now and not a drug in sight.
Duration : 0:2:17
Social Strategies a Social Anxiety Treatment gets grilled
http://panicbreaker.com Social Strategies the anxiety self help ‘cure’ is put under the microscope. Can it stand up to the ten crucial questions you should ask before you try any anxiety treatment
Duration : 0:8:15
It is Not Done Yet!
You mean to tell me another time extension is needed to get this done. Haven’t you already had two extensions and increased budget for this project asks the president.
Yes we have and there have been all kinds of problems that have come up, we are not getting the support from the other departments or executives and the team is not pulling together retorts the manager.
Have you ever delegated a project and found yourself in somewhat the same situation? Many leaders do and ask what they could do differently to avoid this?
We will cover six steps that will help one delegate more effectively to the right person for the right reason and get their total buy-in to the project. The steps have been proven effective by successful Fortune 100 Executives from around the world. 1..
In my last article, Frenzied Time Management we discussed six absolutes for top performance. It separated the idea of motivation from the deeper concept of willpower. Today we’ll take that idea into delegation and how to get more than just a job done, instead, let’s create a new leader!
6 Steps to Project Buy-in:
1.Visualize the Outcome: If we direct someone to pickup the litter on the ground and put it into the trash can, we accomplish a task. The worker may view it as a task and part of their job, but are they motivated much less inspired.
On the other hand, let’s create a vision of how the grounds could look like a well groomed park and how that will make the employee feel. Especially if they have a choice in how it is accomplished.
As we look at larger projects, new product introductions, corporate expansions or a completely new division, we may find it so huge that it is difficult to get one’s hands around it much less our minds. In these cases one needs to have the candidate break down the total vision into bite size parts so that they can start to visualize and relate to the project. The next step is combining the parts once more for a clear vision. Now the candidate can complete the next five steps.
2.Lay out the Obstacles: Far too often the hurdles and obstacles that we know will come up are glazed over in delegation. These later pop up on the unsuspecting candidate and immobilize some. For sure it causes delays, panic and tension.
By having the candidate take the vision in step one and layout all the obstacles they can anticipate, they have a balanced picture. They now mentally determine if they are up to the task and avoid setting themselves up for failure.
This also helps them plan how to overcome these potential obstacles and turn them into opportunities if possible. If this sounds similar to Outcome Based Thinking, it is.
We also need to deal with the personal side of obstacles as well. What personal issues or changes might this project cause for the candidate? What will they have to change? What will it cost them personally? What would they do instead of this project if given the choice? Why?
3.Create a Commitment: There is a difference between being motivated to do something and committed to doing something. Many managers use incentives such as trips, bonuses and awards to motivate and get results. Often these work well for the short term and for a percentage of the group.
But we want long term commitment, not just short term motivation. We need the candidates head and heart into the project! So how might we do this?
We need to engage the candidate in meaningful conversation. We need to ask them to reflect on their real feelings now that they have a clear vision as well as an understanding of the obstacles involved. Can they personally commit with their full head and heart?
I am not against incentives, yet when I talk to top performers that get most of the incentives, they indicate it was something bigger, more of a vision that drove their performance. They often looked at the incentives as the frosting, not the cake.
4.Choice is Needed: Far too many times I talk to frustrated people that feel they are handicapped by over policing or control from upper management. One capable young lady said, “I wish they would let me make my own mistakes so I could learn faster!” She later left the organization for a position with more responsibility and more freedom of choice.
Often delegation is like child rearing. We are concerned for the child and their abilities and want to protect them from hurt or failure. We overprotect the child, over control and restrict them. Yet, how does a young toddler learn? My two and three year old grandchildren learn by experience. They climb, they try, they fall and they get up and try again. Are the people we delegate to that much different?
In the book Think and Grow Rich, a story about Andrew Carnegie talks about an executive that had just started with US Steel. He blew a project and it cost US Steel one million dollars. This is 1920 so I would guess that’s about 100 million in today’s money. He reluctantly goes to Mr. Carnegie’s office expecting the worst. Fire you? says Mr. Carnegie, We just spent a million dollars training you! He became one of US Steels most productive executives.
Managers need to monitor, support and guide the delegation without policing or dictating. It is a balancing act.
5.Stop Loss: The delegation needs to include the ability for the candidate to determine their own stop loss. Any choice one makes can end up being a wrong choice. How it is handled can make a tremendous difference both long and short term.
The candidate needs to determine when the project is going the wrong way prior to accepting the project. How will they terminate the project if it surpasses the stop loss point? What mechanisms both quantitative and social will act as trip levers on the project? This needs to be a self-regulated system designed and operated by the candidate.
This may be one of the more difficult points for some mangers in delegating. One needs to be willing to watch, support and advise without crushing the candidate. Remember, the previous steps will tell you if the candidate is the right candidate and if they have bought in with both head and heart.
6.Build a Desire: A French philosopher, Antoine De SaintExupery, wrote: If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up your men to go the forest to gather wood, saw it and nail the planks together. Instead, teach them the desire for the sea. 1.
What is this project really about? How does its vision tie into the organizations objectives and culture? Can this become a mission for the candidate? Is the candidate challenged by the project?
If your candidate for the project is still saying yes and is stomping like a thoroughbred race horse, you have the right person. Like a pro jockey, let the horse run, just support and guide them around the track.
For more on management development, sales, customer service or personal development check out our web site at www.BusArc.com or www.Hgoergerassoc.com
References:
1. Heike Bruch Sumantra Ghoshal, A Bias for Action
Harlan Goerger
http://www.articlesbase.com/coaching-articles/it-is-not-done-yet-59165.html
How to Lose Weight With Self-Hypnosis
Self hypnosis has become a very popular technique for weight loss. Many people at a dead end for weight loss solutions that work have learned that hypnosis can help them lose weight. With a bit of understanding about hypnosis and planning you can do the same thing that hypnotherapy can do for you at almost no cost. One of the first things to do is determine what you want to explore or accomplish with hypnosis. What are your self-betterment goals?
For some it may be to alleviate stress, anxiety or problems with self-confidence and self-esteem. For others, it may be eliminating bad habits or improper thoughts, cravings or binging behavior. The best way to do this is to write out your plan and then examine the approach that you want to take.
There are millions of dollars spent on weight loss products and services every year. Many people find themselves spending a lot of money without getting the result they were looking for. Self-hypnosis for weight loss is free, easy to learn and it works if you are diligent and work at it.
Before you begin self hypnosis you will want to determine what you want to suggest and the script you want to use while under hypnosis. Scripts can be developed alone or you can purchase a book with pre-written scripts. Here we will give a basic weight loss script that you can use.
1. Find a comfortable place in your home that you can relax where you won’t be disturbed.
2. Find a point that you can focus on. Focus on this spot and repeat to yourself that you are feeling sleepy and your eyes are getting heavy. When you are ready, close your eyes.
3. Count to ten in your mind and imagine you are talking steps up a staircase to a peaceful place.
4. Once you reach your peaceful place begin to focus on repeating your memorized weight loss hypnosis script.
5. I am a beautiful person that will change my eating habits. Food has controlled my life for the last time. I will now consider cravings as a desire for water or exercise.
6. After you have completed your script you can wake back up by counting from 5 to 0.
Hypnosis is a truly successful therapy that can assist you with your weight loss goals. You will not get stuck in hypnosis and it is never dangerous. Take your time, practice and use as often as needed. Good luck!
David Wells
http://www.articlesbase.com/fitness-articles/how-to-lose-weight-with-selfhypnosis-114801.html
Need serious advice about obsessing/ocd problems?
I obsess over things i have no control over ie/ asteriods hitting the earth/global warming it all i think sums to be fear of the "end of the world" but i do not fear death,,this issue has been hendering me for 2 weeks my doc said once again i have "ocd" and now with this thought comes depression and i feel i will never not be afraid of this stuff again and be "me" again,,,anyways im asking if anyone else has dealt with such "worries" "obsessions" that it consumes them and have a hard time literaly "functioning" and what you/they did to help?? Im on anitanxiety meds/zolft therapy still need some "real" peoples advice…please no rude comments thanx
It might not necessarily be OCD. Do you perform compulsions in order to control your fears, or are you always just afraid that something bad is going to happen to you? If it's the latter, it could be Generalized anxiety disorder, which is obsessive worry over everyday things. OCD and GAD are related (they're both anxiety disorders), but they're not exactly the same. To give you an example of OCD, let's say you're at a doorway and you turn a light off. Then, a thought pops into your mind that says "If I don't turn that light on and then off again, I'll die/lose my soul to the devil/never be successful/etc." Convinced that this is true, you turn the light on and then off again. But the feeling doesn't go away, and you do it over and over again until it feels "just right." In that case, you likely have OCD. Now, I know that someone mentioned "pure O," but that doesn't sound like what you have (from what you've written).
Now, for an example of GAD, let's say you wake up one day and get out of bed. All of a sudden, you get this intense fear that you're going to get hit by a car today, or get kidnapped, or you'll be late for an appointment or meeting for work and you'll get fired. That's GAD.
I read that you're on Antianxiety medications (Likely Klonopin or Ativan, but if it's Xanax, go back and demand a longer acting benzodiazepine and an effective plan to taper it off when you're finished with it. Xanax should not be used for something like OCD or GAD because it's too short acting.) along with Zoloft, is that correct? If so how long have you been on them? The reason I ask this is because zoloft may take up to four to six weeks to work. That's (I assume) why you're on a benzodiazepine now (Klonopin, ativan, etc.), to give you time for your Zoloft to work. The reason for that is because Zoloft (an SSRI) is the primary medication for anxiety disorders like OCD or GAD. The benzodiazepine will likely be tapered off once the zoloft begins to work.
The next step after the zoloft starts working is therapy. It doesn't matter whether it's OCD or GAD, you'll still need therapy. If you have OCD, you'll likely do CBT as well as something called Exposure and response prevention, which is basically exposing you to a compulsion and then teaching you not to do the compulsion. Over time, it's supposed to help reduce the anxiety associated with OCD.
As for GAD, you'll also do CBT to help to think through your fears and help you function on a day to day basis.
In any event, the first a determining what anxiety disorder you have. Your PCP or family doctor is not the person that should be diagnosing this. You should go to a psychologist trained in anxiety disorders or, if you have to, a psychiatrist, who will diagnosis you with the correct disorder. Do not rely on anyone from Yahoo answers to give you an accurate diagnosis. What I'm telling you is simply my experience and knowledge from having an anxiety disorder.
It may seen bad now, but if you get the help you need from the right people, you should get better. It won't be overnight, but give it a couple months for the therapy and the medications to work. You'll be ok.
Sailing Tactics Revealed: Running Aground and Getting Off
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU RUN AGROUND
DON’T PANIC — doing the wrong thing can put you on harder. Now that you’re on the bottom, take a minute to evaluate the situation. Check the bilge to be sure that you haven’t holed the
boat and aren’t taking on water. What is the nature of the bottom? If it’s soft sand or grass, chances are good that the boat is undamaged, and that if you need to motor or kedge off you won’t grind a hole in the boat.Your objective is to get
safely into deeper water.
Motoring off — If you have a motor or engine your first inclination will be to start it up and try to back out. This may work, but be careful. In sandy or muddy bottoms you are likely to suck sand up into the cooling system and render the motor useless. A powerful engine in shallow water can actually push sand from the stern to under the keel, making the situation worse. If you’re on rocks and you reverse hard, you may drag the
hull along the rocks and damage or even hole the boat.
Set out an anchor. One of the first things to do is to set out an anchor to keep your boat from being pushed even farther onto the shoal. If you have a dingy you can use it to carry out an anchor. If you don’t have a dingy, and if conditions are calm, maybe someone wearing buoyant flotation gear can swim an anchor out. Be aware that this is not an easy task and a person can become totally exhausted very quickly. If your boat is a small one, your anchor is also probably small enough and light enough for you to be able to throw it far enough for it to work, but be careful if you do this. You don’t want to go overboard with it.
Keep as much tension on the anchor line as you can. This alone may help free you up, especially if you have a rising tide, or if passing boats create enough of a wake to raise you up
momentarily.
What is the state of the tide? If you’ve gone aground on a rising tide, you may just be able to wait a couple of hours until it rises enough to refloat the boat. If you’ve gone aground on a falling tide, however, you need to get into deeper
water fast, or you may be stuck where you are for an entire tide change. If this happens, and if the boat is likely to end up lying on its side, close up hatches and companionways to keep it
from flooding. If you’d be better off lying on one side than on the other, try to kedge off an anchor from what you want to be the low side. You may also be able to control which side ends up
high by shifting crew and gear weight.
Where is the deeper water? It may seem obvious that deeper water lies behind you,
but it might be even deeper beside you. Of course it’s not directly in front of you — if it were, you wouldn’t have run aground in the first place. To find where the deeper water is,you have some options. If you have a lead line you can lower it
off the boat from all sides to get a measurement of the depth.
You can make a lead line by taking a light line and attaching a weight to the end. You could also very quickly put a boat hook or an oar in the water.
How do you get there? If you have a centerboard, raise it. This will decrease the draft, possibly enough to free the boat. Can you sail off? If you were sailing down wind when you ran aground, harden up and try to go to windward. If you were sailing close hauled, tack immediately and move crew weight to leeward. If sailing off on a reach or downwind would put you
into deeper water, ease the sails and fall off toward the deeper water. Move crew weight around to heel the boat in the direction which is most likely to help it to slide off - this alone may
reduce the boat’s draft enough to free her up. If this doesn’t work, drop sails, as the wind on the sails will continue to push you harder onto the shallow water. Furl them out of the way. On deck they will become a slippery liability.
Kedging off — Once you’ve set an anchor in deeper water, you may be able to winch it in and pull the boat off that way. Again, moving crew weight around may help immeasurably. It may help to rock the boat by shifting crew weight back and forth as you winch in on the anchor.
Use a halyard — If you know that heeling the boat in one direction will help, hand a halyard to someone in a dingy who can then carefully motor off the boat’s beam and pull it over
farther. If you don’t have a dingy, a crew member can grab a halyard and swing out over the beam of the boat to try to increase heel.
Get off and push - This technique is obviously only safe and effective in very shallow water, and thus will only work with a very shallow draft boat, such as a day sailor or a multihull.
Before getting in the water, be sure to put shoes on. Make sure that the boat won’t sail off without you, and that you have away to get back onto the boat.
Accept tow? As a last resort, if all other options have failed. This may require a VHF call to a towing company. Be careful — a big powerful powerboat may be able to pull with more force than
the boat’s equipment can handle–the boat’s hull can be damaged. The boat must have a cleat strong enough to take the strain of a tow, which may be considerable. If there is no cleat strong enough, consider tying off to the base of the mast. If the mast is stepped through the deck it will take the strain, if it’s stepped on deck it may not. The line used as tow line also must be strong enough to take the strain of towing — if it breaks under the strain of the pull of a tow boat, it will become a lethal weapon.
When you may not want to refloat the boat — if you have a hole in the bottom you may be better off right where you are, at least until you’ve been able to carry out enough of an emergency repair to keep the boat from sinking.
Linda S Cullum
http://www.articlesbase.com/sports-and-fitness-articles/sailing-tactics-revealed-running-aground-and-getting-off-135100.html