Clean van results in better driving

11/04/13

By Daniel Machin

Van drivers are better drivers when their van is clean, so suggests a new report by Nissan.

The automaker's first ever detailed report into the modern day professional driver also reveals that van drivers prefer to listen to Radio 2 while a packed lunch is their food of choice.

Some even take a nap when they are stuck in a traffic jam, while the majority of them are over 45 years old.

The official launch of the Nissan Van Report comes as Nissan debuts the widely anticipated 100 per cent electric eNV200 at the CV Show.

It also shows that 48 per cent of van drivers are driving 100 miles or less per day, with 26 per cent racking up over 200 miles on a daily basis.

Van cleanliness is not a laughing matter, with 92 per cent of drivers saying they feel better when driving a clean vehicle. A further 72 per cent believe it actually makes them a better driver.

Just 3 per cent are aged between 16 and 24, suggesting a need for companies to start recruiting young blood to replace an ageing workforce.

The poll also took into account the role of fleet managers, with managing rising fuel prices, vehicle purchase and running costs, and protecting vans from future regulation among their key priorities.

Half of them said driver training is the most popular measure to reduce fuel use, along with technological interventions such as speed limiters (37 per cent) and telematics (35 per cent).

Costs are clearly a big driver for respondents adding vans to their fleet, with whole life costs (25 per cent) and front-end prices (18 per cent) major considerations.

Contract hire monthly rates (12 per cent) and strong residuals (8 per cent) are also important but vehicle reliability is only listed by 7 per cent of fleet managers.

"Our research gives an insight into what modern day van drivers and fleet managers are thinking and the challenges they face as part of a modern van fleet," said Jon Pollock, Nissan's corporate sales director.

"With almost half of van drivers questioned driving less than 100 miles a day, the research further supports our decision to build an electric van and we are excited to be showcasing the new zero CO2 emission eNV200 in the UK for first time at the CV show, which also responds to the need for reduced fuel costs."

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IMDA: Togther We're Better

Being the owner of a small, entrepreneurial company can be exhilarating.  You write your own ticket, set your own direction.  But it can also be daunting. After all, there are no corporate coffers or even expertise on which to draw.  While the rewards are big, so are the risks.

One of the most challenging parts of being such an owner, though, is the fact that you're alone.  You may not have colleagues with whom you can share your questions and experiences.  You don't have much clout in the marketplace either.  The learning curve can be long when you're the only one on it, particularly in a business as challenging as specialty medical sales and marketing.

Most of the members of IMDA find themselves facing such challenges.  IMDA is an association of specialty medical sales and marketing companies that bring innovative medical devices to market.  Our sales reps are technologically sophisticated individuals who pride themselves on detailing new devices and training clinicians on how to use them effectively.  It's a niche that the large distributors-big box-movers can't touch, since the reps with the box-movers carry hundreds if not thousands of products, and are more concerned with the logistics of medical products distribution than on introducing new devices and technologies.

Our association was founded in 1978 by a group of orthopedic products distributors who were concerned that a major manufacturer was preparing to terminate all of them.  The organization quickly grew beyond that objective, however.  At the very first meeting, for example, the members of the fledgling organization came to understand the value of the collective experience and knowledge that resided in that one room.  They shared-and continue to share today-best practices in training and compensating their sales reps, improving accounts receivable, dealing with group purchasing contracts, drawing up equitable contracts with manufacturers, and many other business issues.

Approximately 10 years ago, IMDA began sponsoring its annual Manufacturers Forum, which is the only venue in the industry in which manufacturers of innovative medical devices can meet with the owners of companies that can help them build their markets.  More recently, the Association's members hashed out their concerns about vendor credentialing.  The upshot was IMDA's active participation in an industrywide effort to draw up suggested standards for vendor credentialing, which were presented to the Joint Commission in March 2009.

For years, our members have struggled with the rising cost of professional and product liability insurance.  For some of us, the cost involved made coverage simply unaffordable.  We brought our problem to the attention of Alliant Insurance Services and Medmarc, and in 2007, were able to make available to our members a group program for product and professional liability insurance.  By banding together, IMDA members were able to obtain more favorable pricing than most of our members could ever hope to achieve on their own.

IMDA members are passionate about what they do.  Yes, we face some uphill battles.  Hospitals are watching their spending, Group Purchasing Organizations GPOs are raising the barriers to entry, and the big national distributors keep growing.  But we continue to have confidence and pride in our mission of introducing innovative medical devices that will become tomorrow's standard of care.  It's what we did with such technologies as pulse oximeters, patient warming systems and mechanical heart valves.  It's what we'll keep doing.

At IMDA, we have a saying: "Together we're better."  Indeed, IMDA brings us together, makes each of us better and we continue to believe that IMDA makes healthcare better.

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American drivers turn to smaller, better engines

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
DETROIT (AP) — Back when gas was cheap, Americans bought cars with V-8 engines like the Big Block, Cobra Jet and Ramcharger. Acceleration was all that mattered, even in family cars that never made it to full throttle.

The 427-cubic inch Chevrolet Tri-Power was the siren song of the gearhead, sending Corvettes roaring down the highway at up to 140 mph.

But now, thanks to government regulation and gas-price gyrations, the motors that move the nation's cars and trucks are shrinking.

Whether they drive hulking pickups or family sedans, Americans are increasingly choosing smaller engines that use less fuel, especially four-cylinder models that offer more horsepower than was possible just a few years ago.

More than half the new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. through May had four-cylinder motors. That's up from 36 percent in 2007, and it's the highest sales percentage since 1998, when the J.D. Power and Associates consulting firm started keeping track.

The smaller engines are helping to change America's gas-guzzling ways. The government now requires automakers to build more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. Drivers are eager to save money on gas, which recently flirted with $4 a gallon and is still pricey at an average of $3.53. Also, people have embraced cars with downsized engines because new technology has made them just as fast as older cars with bigger motors.

"You can take away my V-8, but don't take my acceleration," said IHS Automotive analyst Rebecca Lindland. "We're willing to embrace a technology that doesn't make us compromise performance."

In general, car shoppers can pick from three types of engines: four-, six- and eight-cylinders. More cylinders usually produce more horsepower but also burn more fuel.

Until recently, each engine type had dedicated fans. Pickup drivers, who tend to haul heavy loads, favored brawny V-8s. Sedan drivers generally opted for six cylinders if they wanted snappy acceleration or four cylinders if they preferred fuel savings.

Decades ago, when gas was cheap, buyers usually went for bigger engines to get more power. Back then, noisy "fours" clattered down the highway inside compacts or wimpy midsize cars. Some drivers complained that four-cylinder cars didn't have enough power to merge safely onto busy highways.

That began to change in the 1990s, when Honda and Toyota refined their fours, making them quieter and more powerful. In 2005, gas prices spiked after Hurricane Katrina knocked out refineries. The steeper prices made fuel-efficient cars more popular and forced Detroit's truck-obsessed automakers to spend more money improving their smaller engines.

Small engines got another boost in 2007, when the government began raising gas mileage minimums, eventually requiring new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. to average 54.6 mpg by 2025. The shift toward smaller engines gathered more momentum in 2008, when gas spiked again — above $4 a gallon.

Because of technology advances, many four-cylinder engines are more powerful than V-6s from only a few years ago. For example, today's Hyundai Sonata midsize car has a 2.4-liter four with 198 horsepower, 45 more horses than the base V-6 in a 2006 Ford Taurus.

Mileage was important for Meagan Sherwood of Milan, Mich., when she bought a new four-cylinder Hyundai Veloster. The property manager traded a V-6-powered Jeep Wrangler for the funky hatchback, which gets up to 32 mpg in city and highway driving. The Jeep, she says, got around 13.

"I was filling up twice a week on a 15-gallon tank with the Jeep," Sherwood said. "Now I fill up once a week with a 10-gallon tank."

Sherwood said she would only go back to a larger engine if she and her husband start a family and need more space.

To boost the efficiency and power of small engines, companies have introduced all kinds of technology:

— Direct fuel injection is more common. It mixes air and gas in the chamber that surrounds the piston, helping produce more power, more efficiently.

— Many small engines now have turbochargers, which force high concentrations of air into the piston chamber, allowing more gas to be sent in and offering extra acceleration or hauling capacity whenever drivers step on the pedal.

— Engineers have made cars more aerodynamic. Also, some vehicles shut off their engines automatically at stoplights. They can run pumps and other devices off the battery rather than a belt that sucks power from the engine.

Even as they become more powerful, smaller engines are helping lower gas consumption. So far this year, consumption is down 5 percent from the same period a year ago, according to government data.

Part of the drop is because people drive fewer miles in a weak economy. But engines play a key role. The average new car goes about four miles farther on a gallon than in October 2007, said Michael Sivak, a research professor at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute.

In March, the average mileage of new cars hit a record 24.1 mpg, dropping slightly since then.

The improvements become more striking when drivers compare engines. Four-cylinder engines averaged 26.4 mpg this model year, compared with an average of 16.1 mpg for eight-cylinders, Sivak said. If gas were at $4, the average driver would save roughly $1,300 a year by switching to a car with the smaller engine.

Hyundai was so confident in its four that it stopped offering a V-6 in the 2011 Sonata. Chevrolet and Ford are doing the same on the new Malibu and Fusion, which go on sale later this year.

In fact, eight out of 10 midsize cars sold this year had four-cylinder engines, according to the Edmunds.com automotive website. Just a decade ago, the majority of midsize cars — normally the biggest segment of the market — had V-6 engines.

In the heyday of the muscle car, automakers tried to stuff the biggest engine they could into smaller cars. Now it's the opposite. Companies are putting smaller engines in larger vehicles, even in Ford's F-Series pickup truck, the nation's top-selling vehicle.

In 2011, Ford began offering V-6s, including a turbocharged engine, in the F-150 after years of selling only V-8s. Now nearly 60 percent of F-150s are sold with V-6s, and Ford expects that to increase. The V-6 turbo gets 18 mpg in combined city-highway driving. The V-8 gets 14.

It didn't take long for Colorado real estate agent Dan Murphy to switch to a smaller truck engine.

A year ago, he bought a Ram pickup with a V-8, only to find that the mileage was awful when towing his 19-foot boat through the mountains. The Ram, he said, got only 4 mpg at one point, costing him a fortune.

So he traded it for an F-150 with a turbo V-6. On a recent trip pulling the boat to Utah, his Ford got over 17 mpg.

"Once you drive this, there's no way you're going back to a V-8," he said.

At Fiat of South Atlanta, the trend toward smaller engines is driving up sales of the 500 mini-car, which until February had been selling slowly.

"We've had several people trade in Ford Tauruses, not a bad mileage car," said sales manager James Tharp. "People will say in a heartbeat, 'These gas prices are killing us.'"

View the original article here

How to Beat Jetlag and Sleep Better on the Go

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

By Janene Mascarella

What is it about traveling that often has us tossing and turning under those crisp, white hotel sheets? Even in the most luxurious accommodations, it can be hard to get a restorative, restful night's sleep. To help you rise and shine on the road, we asked Ph.D nutritionist and author of How to Stay Healthy and Fit on the Road, Joanne Lichten, (known as Dr. Jo) to shed some light and share her secrets on how to catch some zzz's.

Dr. Jo: Just got back from Ireland where we succeeded in having no jet lag in either direction—and there's a science to it. It takes roughly one day for your body to adjust naturally to each hour of time change. So, if you're traveling across 5 time zones and staying 7 days, by the time your body adjusts it will almost be time to leave! To hasten the recovery:

1. Consider the zeitgebers. These are external cues that reset the body clock. The strongest zeitgebers are light and dark. A dark environment will help your body naturally produce melatonin which makes you feel sleepy. And daylight will help you feel alert (get at least 30 minutes of daylight upon arriving in the daytime hours). So, get out in the light before heading inside. And, please don't go right to sleep!

2. Pre-set your watch. Upon leaving your hometown set your watch to the new time zone and start living accordingly. For example, when boarding on an eastbound flight at 8pm local time (1am in your new location), put on an eye mask and neck pillow and try to get some sleep.

3. Use naps judiciously. If trying to adapt to the new time zone is proving to be dangerous, feel free to take a daytime nap of about 90 minutes (as long as it's before 3pm local time). A short nap may prove to be difficult because when you're sleep deprived (such as sleeping just a few hours on an overseas flight), you're much more likely to fall into a deep sleep stage immediately and trying to wake up in 15 minutes will make you feel lethargic.  Consider that our sleep cycles (light sleep to deep sleep and back to light sleep) takes about 90-100 minutes.

Dr. Jo: Yes! Go for the carbs! It's important to eat protein at breakfast and lunch because meals rich in protein help the body to produce dopamine which can help you feel alert. Meals rich in carbs increase the release of serotonin which make you feel relaxed. In addition, you should never go to bed on a full stomach–that will disturb your sleep. Alcohol, while it might make you feel sleepy can interfere with your sleep, while both caffeine and nicotine are stimulating.

Dr. Jo: Give yourself a stopping point. Caffeine has a half-life of four hours. That means if you drink a very large cup of coffee with 400mg, 200mg will still be floating around in your bloodstream four hours later. And, 100mg 8 hours after you drank it. Most people sleep better by limiting their caffeine after the lunch hour.

Dr. Jo: Make it dark. When it gets dark, the pineal gland at the base of our brain secretes melatonin which helps us feel sleepy. Help the process by establishing a night-time routine including dimming the lights, turning off stimuli like computers and TV, using an eye mask, covering the bright light of the alarm clock, laying a towel in front of the door, and clipping the drapes shut (inside tip: pack a few binder clips!).

Photo credits: Hotel Room via Shutterstock; Airplane via Shutterstock

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Economic Scene: Leaving the Euro May Be Better Than the Alternative

AppId is over the quota AppId is over the quota What took economists some time to understand was that Europe’s leaders didn’t much care what they thought.


“The European Commission did invite economists to present their views. It was a Darwinian process,” said Paul De Grauwe, professor of European political economy at the London School of Economics. “I was invited, but when I expressed my doubts I wasn’t invited anymore. In the end only the enthusiasts were left.”
The single currency served an overriding political objective. Like the single market before, it was conceived primarily as glue to bind Europe more closely together, tie Germany’s prosperity to that of its neighbors and prevent a third world war from the Continent, which had brought us two. A few engineering flaws wouldn’t be allowed to get in the way of such an important project.
A little over a decade since the first euro bills hit the shops in Madrid and Berlin, the euro’s design flaws have pushed much of the European Union into a deep economic pit. And political imperative is again being deployed as a major reason to stick to the common currency. “This enormously important motivation is often underestimated by outsiders,” argued the Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf, the most sober analyst of Europe’s economic maelstrom.
Yet for a project intended to draw Europe together, the euro did surprisingly little to build solidarity. German voters endured a recession two decades ago after bringing in their brethren from the Soviet bloc. They now appear unwilling to spend a pfennig to help the Greeks, Spaniards, Portuguese, Irish or Italians. Click Here!
Conceived as a tool for integration, the euro could, instead, tear Europe apart.

The longstanding political order in Greece, a country in an economic tailspin and dependent on the International Monetary Fund and its European partners to pay its debts, imploded on May 6. Voters punished the main parties for agreeing to a budget-cutting strategy that has contributed to an unemployment rate above 20 percent. With no party able to form a governing coalition, Greece is headed to new elections in June.
Turmoil — the economies of about half the countries in the euro area are shrinking — has spawned political crises across the Continent. Eleven euro area governments have fallen in just over a year. Extremist political parties are on the rise. Almost two-thirds of the population in euro zone countries still support the euro, according to the latest Eurobarometer poll taken last November.
Yet angry nationalism and mistrust are overpowering Europe’s sense of common purpose. Trust in the European Union fell to a low of 34 percent in November from 48 percent in the fall of 2009.
“The paradox would be that the monetary union that was supposed to be a steppingstone to more union becomes a steppingstone to less union,” said Mr. De Grauwe, who is also a former member of the Belgian parliament.
Social upheaval across the euro area suggests that it may be time to call it quits and try to work out an orderly process to re-establish national currencies throughout the bloc.
Europe would be in much better shape if the euro didn’t exist and each member country had its own currency. Monetary union has shackled together nations with vastly different economies, depriving them of an independent monetary policy that can help them through rough times. The interest rate and exchange rate that serve Germany also have to serve Spain, though that country has more than four times Germany’s joblessness.
The main problem is that while leaders eagerly embraced the monetary bond, they rejected its necessary complement: a central budget that would transfer money from successful regions to underperforming ones, as the United States government sends tax dollars collected in Massachusetts to pay for unemployment benefits in Nevada.
The euro fed the illusion that Greece, Spain and Italy were as creditworthy as Germany or the Netherlands, propelling a decade-long credit boom in Europe’s less-developed periphery. And it was spectacularly ill-designed to deal with the shock when capital flows to those nations suddenly stopped. Weak countries not only had to rely on their own devices; they had to do so without a currency or a monetary policy of their own to absorb the blow.
E-mail: eporter@nytimes.com
Twitter: @portereduardo
E-mail: eporter@nytimes.com Twitter: @portereduardo

Japanese banks project better than expected year

Three of Japan "megabanks"-Mitsubishi UFJ financial group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, is already expected to see heavy Bond trading gains and low levels of write-offs of bad loans, which have raised profits in recent years.
Since Japan's long battle against deflation persists, loan demand in the home is likely to remain slow, adding to pressure banks to move to expand abroad and compensate their prospects for lack of internal growth.
"We want to see if they can generate solid gains on loans under the current situation of low interest rates," says Chikako Horiuchi, Director of financial institutions of Fitch Ratings. "The driver will be overseas loans, so we must see how the banks to increase the volume in overseas loans. This will be key to determining the profit Outlook for the banks, "it added.
On Tuesday the second largest lender of Mizuho, Japan by assets, forecast net profit of ¥ 500 billion, or $ 6.26 billion, for the financial year ending in March 2013, this is well above the expected profit of 374.2 billion ¥, but to only 3.1 per cent of the year casts. The improvement is mainly due to expectations that its investment banking arm, Mizuho Securities, will swing to profit in the current year, after the loss of booking last year.
Sumitomo Mitsui expects net profit for the year, beginning on 1 April of ¥ 480 billion, down 7.4 percent last financial year, but the consensus estimates of analysts for the remuneration of 441.2 billion ¥. Mitsubishi UFJ, the largest creditor of Japan, forecast net profit of 670 billion ¥. This would represent a reduction of the rate of 31.7 of the year casts – when profit is removed from a hefty one-time accounting gain on the value of its investment in Morgan Stanley 22%-and is in line with analysts forecasts.
With limited exposure to the troubled debt of Europe Japanese banks enjoy solid income a year, which throws. Their results have been removed from trading profits of the bird Government bonds, while their large equity portfolios I have these adjustments during the January-March quarter, since the criterion high stock market index rose 19.3 percent.
Exploiting the retreat by European rivals in Asia and other markets, the Japanese banks have benefited from the sharp growth in overseas lending and an active search is based on a series of recent acquisitions. In January Sumitomo Mitsui agrees to purchase the lease of the aircraft business of the Royal Bank of Scotland, in a transaction value 7.3 billion. Mitsubishi UFTJ, whose unit is UnionBanCal says, will buy based on California Pacific, Capital Bancorp for about 1.5 billion dollars, said it may spend more than 1 trillion ¥ over the next three years, foreign acquisitions.
But forecasts for the growth of entries in the books of overseas borrowing of the largest banks in Japan is not sufficient to compensate for a fall in their home market, which still accounts for 70% to 80% of the profits. The outstanding loans of large Japanese banks fell to 30-straight month in April, down 1.3% from a year earlier, according to data from the Central Bank.

"Take what you need and leave the rest, but never should have taken better"

"Take what you need and leave the rest, but never should have taken better" is a refrain from "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down", one of the best-known songs of The Band.

Levon Helm, the revered drummer and singer of the band the Band has retained the core band for more than three decades, "peacefully" died on 19 April.

From CNN:

Born in Elaine, Arkansas, in 1940, the son of a cotton farmer, Helm rose to fame in the late 1960s and 1970s as a member of The Band, a folk rock band.

His voice, Soul, drawling highlighted many successful recordings, such as "The Weight", "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Up on Cripple Creek".

Helm, 71, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998. He fell on hard times as the cancer took his voice and medical expenses threatened his home.

"You got to choose one-pay medical bills or pay the mortgage. Most people cannot do both, and I am no different, "said CNN in 2010.

So The Barn, as the residence is known around Christmas foster helm of Woodstock, New York, became the setting that calls a "last celebration". Not at all. Instead, The Barn became the Centre of an unlikely and unrivaled rock 'n roll revival.

It was there that Helm regularly hosted the midnight ramble, weekly concerts, which attracted sell-out crowds and media all-star. The result not only paid the Bills but also led to a recrudescence creative helm, with his collaborations with Grammy winning album produced back to back: "Dirt farmer" and "the 2007 Electric Dirt" of 2009.

"If I had my way about it, we probably would do it every night," said helm. "I'm not tired of it."

From Wikipedia:

Helm remained with The Band until their 1976 farewell performance, The Last Waltz, which was recorded in a documentary film director Martin Scorsese (an excerpt is embedded above). Many music fans know Helm through his appearance in the concert film, a performance notable for the fact that Helm's vocal tracks appear substantially as they sang during a grueling concert.

In the 1990s, the helm was diagnosed with throat cancer suffering hoarseness. Advised to undergo laryngectomy, helm instead underwent an arduous regimen of radiation therapy at Memorial with Cancer Center in New York City. Although the tumor was successfully removed, the rudder's vocal cords were damaged, and his powerful tenor voice and has been replaced by a quiet RASP. Initially Helm only played drums and relied on guest vocalists at the Rambles, but Helm's singing voice became louder. The January 10, 2004, she sang once again of his ramble sessions. In 2007, during production of dirt farmer, Helm estimated that his singing voice was 80% recovered.

The midnight ramble was an outgrowth of an idea Helm explained to Martin Scorsese in The Last Waltz. Earlier in the 20th century Helm explained, traveling medicine shows and music shows which Assassinators of F.S. Walcott rabbit, featuring African-American blues singers and dancers, would put futile performances in rural areas. This was turned into a song by the band, "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show," with the name altered so the lyric was easier to sing.

"After the finale, which would have the midnight ramble," Helm told Scorsese. With young children off the premises, picked up the show: "the songs would get a bit more juicy. Jokes would get a little more fun and the best dancer would really get down and shake it a few times. A lot of rock and roll duck walks and moves came from that. "

Helm refused to play "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down" by 1976, though he continued to perform "Midnight rambles" several times a month in his private residence in Woodstock, New York.

References:

Fans remember Levon Helm as he tackles the final stages of cancer. CNN.
Levon Helm, co-founder of The Band, died at 71. CNN.
Levon Helm, an icon of American music, is in the final stages of cancer ". Guardian.
Fauquier ENT Blog: Levon Helm, singer/drummer for The Band, dies of throat cancer http://goo.gl/tDgxL
Levon Helm. Wikipedia.

 

"Take what you need and leave the rest, but never should have taken better"

"Take what you need and leave the rest, but never should have taken better" is a refrain from "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down", one of the best-known songs of The Band.

Levon Helm, the revered drummer and singer of the band the Band has retained the core band for more than three decades, "peacefully" died on 19 April.

From CNN:

Born in Elaine, Arkansas, in 1940, the son of a cotton farmer, Helm rose to fame in the late 1960s and 1970s as a member of The Band, a folk rock band.

His voice, Soul, drawling highlighted many successful recordings, such as "The Weight", "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Up on Cripple Creek".

Helm, 71, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998. He fell on hard times as the cancer took his voice and medical expenses threatened his home.

"You got to choose one-pay medical bills or pay the mortgage. Most people cannot do both, and I am no different, "said CNN in 2010.

So The Barn, as the residence is known around Christmas foster helm of Woodstock, New York, became the setting that calls a "last celebration". Not at all. Instead, The Barn became the Centre of an unlikely and unrivaled rock 'n roll revival.

It was there that Helm regularly hosted the midnight ramble, weekly concerts, which attracted sell-out crowds and media all-star. The result not only paid the Bills but also led to a recrudescence creative helm, with his collaborations with Grammy winning album produced back to back: "Dirt farmer" and "the 2007 Electric Dirt" of 2009.

"If I had my way about it, we probably would do it every night," said helm. "I'm not tired of it."

From Wikipedia:

Helm remained with The Band until their 1976 farewell performance, The Last Waltz, which was recorded in a documentary film director Martin Scorsese (an excerpt is embedded above). Many music fans know Helm through his appearance in the concert film, a performance notable for the fact that Helm's vocal tracks appear substantially as they sang during a grueling concert.

In the 1990s, the helm was diagnosed with throat cancer suffering hoarseness. Advised to undergo laryngectomy, helm instead underwent an arduous regimen of radiation therapy at Memorial with Cancer Center in New York City. Although the tumor was successfully removed, the rudder's vocal cords were damaged, and his powerful tenor voice and has been replaced by a quiet RASP. Initially Helm only played drums and relied on guest vocalists at the Rambles, but Helm's singing voice became louder. The January 10, 2004, she sang once again of his ramble sessions. In 2007, during production of dirt farmer, Helm estimated that his singing voice was 80% recovered.

The midnight ramble was an outgrowth of an idea Helm explained to Martin Scorsese in The Last Waltz. Earlier in the 20th century Helm explained, traveling medicine shows and music shows which Assassinators of F.S. Walcott rabbit, featuring African-American blues singers and dancers, would put futile performances in rural areas. This was turned into a song by the band, "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show," with the name altered so the lyric was easier to sing.

"After the finale, which would have the midnight ramble," Helm told Scorsese. With young children off the premises, picked up the show: "the songs would get a bit more juicy. Jokes would get a little more fun and the best dancer would really get down and shake it a few times. A lot of rock and roll duck walks and moves came from that. "

Helm refused to play "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down" by 1976, though he continued to perform "Midnight rambles" several times a month in his private residence in Woodstock, New York.

References:

Fans remember Levon Helm as he tackles the final stages of cancer. CNN.
Levon Helm, co-founder of The Band, died at 71. CNN.
Levon Helm, an icon of American music, is in the final stages of cancer ". Guardian.
Fauquier ENT Blog: Levon Helm, singer/drummer for The Band, dies of throat cancer http://goo.gl/tDgxL
Levon Helm. Wikipedia.

 

"Take what you need and leave the rest, but never should have taken better"

"Take what you need and leave the rest, but never should have taken better" is a refrain from "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down", one of the best-known songs of The Band.

Levon Helm, the revered drummer and singer of the band the Band has retained the core band for more than three decades, "peacefully" died on 19 April.

From CNN:

Born in Elaine, Arkansas, in 1940, the son of a cotton farmer, Helm rose to fame in the late 1960s and 1970s as a member of The Band, a folk rock band.

His voice, Soul, drawling highlighted many successful recordings, such as "The Weight", "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Up on Cripple Creek".

Helm, 71, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998. He fell on hard times as the cancer took his voice and medical expenses threatened his home.

"You got to choose one-pay medical bills or pay the mortgage. Most people cannot do both, and I am no different, "said CNN in 2010.

So The Barn, as the residence is known around Christmas foster helm of Woodstock, New York, became the setting that calls a "last celebration". Not at all. Instead, The Barn became the Centre of an unlikely and unrivaled rock 'n roll revival.

It was there that Helm regularly hosted the midnight ramble, weekly concerts, which attracted sell-out crowds and media all-star. The result not only paid the Bills but also led to a recrudescence creative helm, with his collaborations with Grammy winning album produced back to back: "Dirt farmer" and "the 2007 Electric Dirt" of 2009.

"If I had my way about it, we probably would do it every night," said helm. "I'm not tired of it."

From Wikipedia:

Helm remained with The Band until their 1976 farewell performance, The Last Waltz, which was recorded in a documentary film director Martin Scorsese (an excerpt is embedded above). Many music fans know Helm through his appearance in the concert film, a performance notable for the fact that Helm's vocal tracks appear substantially as they sang during a grueling concert.

In the 1990s, the helm was diagnosed with throat cancer suffering hoarseness. Advised to undergo laryngectomy, helm instead underwent an arduous regimen of radiation therapy at Memorial with Cancer Center in New York City. Although the tumor was successfully removed, the rudder's vocal cords were damaged, and his powerful tenor voice and has been replaced by a quiet RASP. Initially Helm only played drums and relied on guest vocalists at the Rambles, but Helm's singing voice became louder. The January 10, 2004, she sang once again of his ramble sessions. In 2007, during production of dirt farmer, Helm estimated that his singing voice was 80% recovered.

The midnight ramble was an outgrowth of an idea Helm explained to Martin Scorsese in The Last Waltz. Earlier in the 20th century Helm explained, traveling medicine shows and music shows which Assassinators of F.S. Walcott rabbit, featuring African-American blues singers and dancers, would put futile performances in rural areas. This was turned into a song by the band, "The W.S. Walcott Medicine Show," with the name altered so the lyric was easier to sing.

"After the finale, which would have the midnight ramble," Helm told Scorsese. With young children off the premises, picked up the show: "the songs would get a bit more juicy. Jokes would get a little more fun and the best dancer would really get down and shake it a few times. A lot of rock and roll duck walks and moves came from that. "

Helm refused to play "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down" by 1976, though he continued to perform "Midnight rambles" several times a month in his private residence in Woodstock, New York.

References:

Fans remember Levon Helm as he tackles the final stages of cancer. CNN.
Levon Helm, co-founder of The Band, died at 71. CNN.
Levon Helm, an icon of American music, is in the final stages of cancer ". Guardian.
Fauquier ENT Blog: Levon Helm, singer/drummer for The Band, dies of throat cancer http://goo.gl/tDgxL
Levon Helm. Wikipedia.

 

Better business solutions for Microsoft software

Today's unique challenges in order to stay competitive in the market the company to overcome. Now, high-tech companies to make informed decisions and adapt to ever-changing market and trends so that they can become an essential tool for increasing business opportunities. Companies understand their customers, reach new customers, streamline operations, and identify new business opportunities and risks of computer skills. Microsoft challenges and new business to meet the needs of businesses to maintain a competitive advantage right now is a business software.

Microsoft has a variety of business software requirements. Microsoft provides business software such as, for example, Office Professional, Office 2010, Project: Office Visio Professional, Office Web apps, Office Live Meeting, Office Live small business, Office Live Workspace, Windows Small Business Server, SQL Server 2008 R2, Dynamics CRM, Dynamics GP, Dynamics NAV, Dynamics RMS, Dynamics SL, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft SharePoint.

Whether small, medium or large business, Microsoft software towards the same goal, to achieve a faster and more efficient companies: business decisions by gaining a better business acumen, real-time access to business information more efficiently and better get the ability to analyze the project. In addition, companies can effectively monitor the sales, accounting management improvement, reducing inefficiencies, improve inventory monitoring, communication, and production of better management and simplifies the operation.

Microsoft business software, business operations, reduced costs, and application management on desktops much easier inventory management cost reduction it staff resources more efficiently and improve customer service, the operating system and the service interruption is a dynamic and cost-effective business infrastructure. As a result of improved business efficiency, reduce operating costs, improved profitability and tighter management.

Microsoft business software integration for easy access to all business data in the database to companies to analyze information more productively and business information in real time, so that you can make informed decisions for business. Their software is an extensible, user defined unique business process automation and it is much faster to achieve success is designed to be about the company.

Microsoft's software for more efficient reporting, infrastructure costs, ongoing support costs, improves worker productivity and improve their bottom lines by strengthening the capital to businesses. Improved inventory management as well as business management products on the market, trim down overhead costs and reduce the cost of communicating and training employees to reduce costs and reduce the amount of time it takes.

In today's competitive business environment, effective business software companies to quickly identify new market trends and to take action and learn and adapt to new business opportunities. Business solutions help companies leverage their resources to address today's business challenges for Microsoft software. Key relationships and identifying and implementing appropriate strategies and applications, the business is profitable and is better able to compete in a highly competitive market. Microsoft software is designed to achieve better business solutions is essential.

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The Surefire Steps Towards Better Stock Investing

Investing in the stock market is full of risks and compared to the real estate market is a gamble of your money and wealth! Nevertheless, many people have built tremendous wealth from the stock market. They did it because they knew what they were doing. They knew the investing basics and the economic indicators and used it to read the world economy and make sound investments. In a nutshell; that's really what it takes to succeed in the stock market. The world economy however isn't an open book! It is a big ambiguous mystery novel full of twists and turns to drag your mind away from the real ending. Those who know how to interpret the world economy and translate its twists and turns into plausible clear indications, will cut through the clutter and win.

The thing that everybody has to understand about the stock market is that this market is not bounded by the walls of the trading center or the limits of the big cities or even the oceans. Literally, anything that happens in the world affects this market and the more any incidence makes people fear the future the more the stock indicators are going to jump up and down like crazy. Fortunately, if there is a well there is always a way. Even nowadays with the dwindling economy, a lot of people are making a lot of money from the stocks market! Why? Because while it does matter what the economy looks like when it comes to stocks, that still doesn't mean that all the stocks will be worthless. For example, if technology stocks drop, energy or real estate stocks will go up for a couple of reasons connected to the world events and economy! You just have to read the world economy!

These are the surefire ways towards better stock investing:-

1- Read the world economy: - For example, gold was at its cheapest prices back in 1999. That's because the world was living in a state of relative political calm and the U.S. economy was booming. Oil supply was abundant and there were no fears of shortages or sudden increases in demand. After the events of September 11, the world has changed considerably. Terrorism has become a serious threat. Security measures have shot costs to the roof. The wars that followed in Iraq and Afghanistan have created a new chapter of instability. We outsourced many jobs and opened many factories in China, India, Mexico etc. without knowing that while this reduces manufacturing costs, it created a boom in demand for energy in those countries, which translated to a boom in demand for oil. As a result of all of this, gold and oil prices have shot up, the dollar devalued, inflation soared and the real estate market collapsed because of the rising interest rates of adjustable mortgages. This should give a clear picture of what kind of companies to invest in right now. These are: oil companies, alternative energy companies, Gold mining companies and finally weapon manufacturing companies! I don't want to be pessimistic, but recovering from this weak economy will not be easy and we have a long way to go in this dark tunnel.

2- Do your due diligence: - Don't take my words for granted and go ahead and invest in every oil and alternative energy company. Even though you will not regret it, still before investing, technical analysis must be done on any company before you invest. There are certain indicators to look at like: - how much debt to equity ratio this company has, what's their future expansion plans, how stretched their assets are compared to revenues, what is their real worth in the market (also called book value), what is their P/E ratio, which is the value of the stock compared to its earnings and much more. Put all of these together and draw a picture of how well this company will do. Don't forget to read the world economy too! A good resource for all of this analysis is CNBC website. They have amazing analysis reports where they have done most of the tough technical analysis hard work for you. You just have to read the world economy and make decisions.

3- Always watch the insiders: - one of the very important ways to succeed in the stock market is to have extra knowledge resources to vaguely or specifically know what is happening inside the office walls of companies. One way to do this is by continuously reading the quarterly reports or called 10-Q reports of companies. What to look for is the stocks selling and buying activity of the company board of directors or the private shareholders. Think of it this way, if the people who know best about what's happening in their own company are day after day selling large volumes of their stocks, what kind of indication you will get from that. Yes; dump your shares before the stock tanks! Another way is to have good relations with some of the senior managers in the company that you want to invest it. Believe me; this kind of friendship is very valuable.

4- Don't put all of your eggs in one basket: - as simple as this rule is, you would be surprised how many people are doing it in the stock market in a daily basis. Diversify in your portfolio by investing in different winning sectors and in multiple companies. Even if you know the CEO of a company and he tells you that the stocks of his company will triple in the next week, still don't take all of your money and buy the stocks of this company.

5- Don't borrow excessively to create wealth: - Suppose you diversified and did your due diligence, but 80 percent of your money is borrowed and you lost half of it. Financial recovery in this situation is a very hard thing to do. Even if you don't have a lot of money, start small, build your wealth and take it a step by step. If you don't have a lot of money, start investing in small capital companies and a lot of good ones are available in the NASDAQ stock exchange. The good thing about small cap companies is that they have a tendency to shoot up in value more than big cap companies in terms of percentage growth. So it will be really worth while your investment if you found that gem in the crowd.

6- Practice, practice and practice: - Even if you have read a lot about using financial indicators, you did a lot of technical stock analysis and you have many insiders, practice before doing the real thing. Start a fictitious portfolio containing real stocks, but with imaginary investments. After a month or two check how well are you are doing. If you are not doing well, go back and see what where you doing wrong because you must've did something wrong to choose bad investments. Correct your mistakes and retry. There are free imaginary portfolio tools available by the big online stock brokers like E-trade or Ameritrade. You can use these tools to buy stocks and track stock movements and calculate your earnings and losses instantly. You can also set up a simple Excel sheet to do this tracking.

I personally like the stock market and I think it is the most lucrative and the fastest way to wealth. Real estate is good, but it delivers results over extended periods of time. As long as you know what you are doing, you should have no problems. Read some reports and books about stock investing, practice it a little bit with small amounts of money and learn from your mistakes. Stocks are not risky, they are calculated risks!

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