Category Archives:Roman’s Rant

Conscious awareness about health and social issues with solutions.

Apr. 16.

Is Technology Terrifying?

Does the New Flying Car Scare You As Much As It Scares Me?

Technology has always been something that terrified me.

Not in the way that you’re thinking. I’m not afraid to use tech. If anything, I’m the first to embrace the newest thing and to marvel at it’s implications. The world is changing faster than is ever has before in human history, and it has been a lot of fun to be present for.
Flying-car-324x205I often think about how incredible it must be for the oldest among us who saw the world change from a time when a horse and buggy were the primary forms of transportation to the world as it is today, where transference of information between anywhere in the world is almost instantaneous. I envy how incredible that journey must have been for them, but I’m equally as excited about my own journey and optimistic that I will see something just as incredible, if not more so. I just hope that I live to be old enough to see what the future holds.

 

Today I saw the video for a new flying car that could potentially be on the market in the next few years, and I am petrified by the thought. See, technology scares me because it changes everything. The internet and the personal computer have completely changed the way the world communicates, and we will never be able to go back to the way it was before. Could a flying car do the same thing for the way we travel? In a few years could we be driving to a sky-way exit instead of a free way exit? Could getting across the country take only a few hours instead of a few days?

The idea of a vehicle we can back out of our drive way, drive to a run way and then take off and fly it where we want is, for me at least, a simultaneously exciting and scary thing. I think about the exciting possibilities of people being able to travel great distances in much shorter spans of time. I think about families who live in different parts of the country and will be able to see each other more often, about business people who will spend less time traveling, about the tourism that could be generated by making a cheap, easy way to travel great distances.

Flying-ferrari

All of these things are incredible advances, and surely everyone will benefit from them. What am I afraid of? But then I think about what could disappear from our lives. What will happen to the airline industry? Where will those jobs go? Stewardesses, pilots, airport security personnel, I’m sure the jobs won’t disappear entirely, but I imagine if this flying car thing becomes a consumer level product there certainly wont be as many of them. I even think about the cultural affects.

The thrill of air travel will leave us. What will happen to all of the classic airline food jokes we all love to hate? All of these changes scare me, because I think that the hardest thing to remember about life is that if you stand still you fall behind. I do not want to fall behind, but I’m afraid that I wont be able to keep up.

What do you think? Am I being paranoid? Are flying cars going to be awesome, or are they going to change things for the worse?

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Jan. 22.

Medical Alert Direct Response Via TV Although it’s…

Medical Alert Direct Response Via TV

Although it’s one of the veteran companies in its category, Medical Alert had never used direct-response television advertising before choosing Kre8 Media Inc. as its new agency. Medical Alert’s new TV campaign from Kre8 Media debuted last August and new leads and orders have spiked.

Medical Alert’s in-home personal alarm system lets people who are experiencing a medical emergency summon help by pushing a button on a wristband or pendant.

The campaign from Kre8 Media is aimed both at senior citizens who live by themselves and the people who care for them. This represents a combined audience in excess of 10 million people. Previously, Medical Alert, a unit of Connect America, had relied on print and online advertising.

Kre8 is using two of its trademark tactics to increase Medical Alert’s market share: telephone numbers that are unique to the networks on which the commercials run and the single Internet URL use www.medicalalert.com. Much of Kre8’s growth and success since its founding is the result of its ability to track Internet responses to the commercials that generated the responses with the aid of sophisticated metrics and modeling.

 
Medical Alert is a natural for direct-response TV advertising,” said T. Lee Cutler, founder and president of Kre8 Media. “Their dual audience now has two ways of responding to the company’s offer: an 800 number for the seniors and an Internet address for their younger caregivers. Using this new approach, we’ve already seen an increase at this early stage in the TV campaign.” Kre8 Media’s DRTV Buying tactics have proven to be extremely effective.

 

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Jan. 01.

Most Memorable List For 2011

2011_banner

 

What was the most memorable list in 2011 to you? Let us know in the comments.

According to Nielsen, the top web brands in 2011 (in the U.S.) were:
1. Google
2. Facebook
3. Yahoo
4. MSN/WindowsLive/Bing
5. YouTube
6. Microsoft
7. AOL Media Network
8. Wikipedia
9. Apple
10. Ask

 

For social networks and blogs (in the U.S.) the list was:
1. Facebook
2. Blogger
3. Twitter
4. WordPress
5. MySpace
6. LinkedIn
7. Tumblr
8. Google+
9. Yahoo Pulse
10. Six Apart TypePad

 

The Top online destinations for video (in the U.S.) were:
1. YouTube
2. VEVO
3. Facebook
4. Yahoo
5. MSN/WindowsLive/Bing
6. AOL Media Network
7. Hulu
8. The CollegeHumor Network
9. CNN Digital Network
10. Netflix

 

Twitter

Twitter’s most tweeted events (tweets per second):
6,939 – JAN 1 – New Years
4,064 – FEB 6 – Super Bowl
5,530 – MAR 11 – Japanese earthquake and tsunami
3,966 – APR 29 – UK Royal Wedding
5,106 – MAY 2 – Raid on Osama bin Laden
6,303 – MAY 28 – UEFA Champions League
5,531 – JUN 13- NBA Finals
6,436 – JUN 27 – BET Awards
4,995 – JUL 11 – Home Run Derby
7,166 – JUL 17 – Brazil eliminated from the Copa America
7,196 – JUL 17 – End of FIFA Women’s World Cup
5,449 – AUG 23 – East Coast earthquake
7,064 – AUG 25 – Steve Jobs resigns
8,868 – AUG 28 – MTV Video Music Awards
7,671 – SEP 20 – Troy Davis executed
6,049 – OCT 6 – Steve Jobs passes away

 

The top hashtags of the year were:
1. #egypt
2. #tigerblood
3. #threewordstoliveby
4. #idontunderstandwhy
5. #japan
6. #improudtosay
7. #superbowl
8. #jan25

 

The top topics were broken down by category

 

TV:
1. Pretty Little Liars
2. Two and a Half Men
3. The Craigslist Killer
4. Golden Globe Awards
5. People’s Choice Awards

 

Movies:
1. Thor
2. The Dark Knight Rises
3. X-Men: First Class
4. Fast Five
5. Green Hornet

 

Music:
1. Rebecca Black and Friday
2. Nate Dogg
3. FEMME FATALE
4. Gerry Rafferty
5. Gil Scott-Heron

 

Actresses:
1. Elizabeth Taylor
2. Mila Kunis
3. Anne Hathaway
4. Raven Symone
5. Natalie Portman
6. Elisabeth Sladen
7. Jennifer Lopez
8. Nina Dobrev
9. Emma Watson
10. Fernanda Vasconcellos

 

Actors:
1. Charlie Sheen
2. Macaulay Culkin
3. Ryan Dunn
4. Ricky Gervais
5. Pete Postlethwaite
6. Tracy Morgan
7. Jake Gyllenhaal
8. Ashton Kutcher
9. Colin Firth
10. James Franco

 

Soccer:
1. Wayne Rooney
2. Fernando Torres
3. Howard Webb
4. Wembley Stadium
5. Colo Colo

 

Football:
1. Dallas
2. Green & Yellow
3. Superbowl MMXI
4. Jim Harbaugh
5. Pittsburgh Steelers

 

NBA:
1. Rashard Lewis
2. Ray Allen
3. Derrick Rose
4. Jason Terry
5. Dallas Mavericks

 

Baseball:
1. Texas Rangers
2. Bert Blyleven
3. Roberto Alomar
4. Vernon Wells
5. Justin Verlander

 

Food and Drink:
1. McLobster
2. Fried Kool-Aid
3. Starbucks Trenta
4. Devassa Beer
5. Guinness
6. BBQ
7. Mac & Cheese

 

World News:
1. Mubarak’s resignation
2. Raid on Osama bin Laden
3. Japanese earthquake and Fukushima nuclear disaster
4. Shooting of Gabrielle Giffords
5. Gaddafi’s death
6. Swine Flu outbreak
7. WoW Gold Guide

 

Cities and Countries:
1. Cairo
2. Egypt
3. Japan
4. Libya
5. Tokyo
6. Dallas
7. Vancouver
8. Hawaii
9. Joplin
10. Austin

 

Tech:
1. Mac App Store
2. Sony NGP
3. Guitar Hero
4. Mozilla Firefox
5. Duke Nukem Forever
6. iPad
7. iPhone
8. Nintendo 3DS
9. Mortal Kombat
10. iPod

 

Facebook

 

Facebook’s top games:
Gardens of Time (Playdom)
The Sims Social (EA)
Cityville (Zynga)
DoubleDown Casino (DoubleDown Interactive)
Indiana Jones Adventure World (Zynga)
Words With Friends (Zynga)
Bingo Blitz (Buffalo Studios)
Empires & Allies (Zynga)
Slotomania-Slot Machines (Playtika)
Diamond Dash (wooga)

 

Facebook topic lists for 2011

US Top 10 status trends
1. lms (like my status)
2. tbh (to be honest)
3. Death of Osama bin Laden
4. Charlie Sheen
5. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
6. Casey Anthony found not guilty
7. Packers win the Super Bowl
8. Hurricane Irene
9. Insidious (movie)
10. Death of Amy Winehouse

 

Fastest growing areas of interest on Facebook globally

 Entertainment:
Actors and TV Personalities
1. Megan Fox
2. Vin Diesel
3. Adam Sandler
4. Selena Gomez
5. Will Smith
6. Taylor Lautner
7. Jackie Chan
8. Ashley Tisdale
9. DJ Pauly D
10. Kim Kardashian

 

Movies
1. Harry Potter
2. The Twilight Saga
3. Toy Story
4. Avatar
5. Jackass
6. Shrek
7. Saw
8. Pirates of the Caribbean
9. Fast &Furious
10. Titanic

 

TV Shows
1. House
2. Two and a Half Men
3. The Simpsons
4. Family Guy
5. South Park
6. Grey’s Anatomy
7. SpongeBob SquarePants
8. CSI: Miami
9. iCarly
10. The Big Bang Theory

 

Fictional Characters
1. Dr. House
2. Dory
3. Patrick Star
4. Mr. Bean
5. Upin & Ipin
6. Bob Esponja
7. Mario
8. Doraemon
9. Ari Gold
10. Sue Sylvester (GLEE)

 

Music:
Musicians
1. Rihanna
2. Bob Marley
3. Avril Lavigne
4. David Guetta
5. Enrique Iglesias
6. Usher
7. Lady Gaga
8. Metallica
9. Green Day
10. Black Eyed Peas

 

Most Listened To Songs
1. We Found Love – Rihanna and Calvin Harris
2. Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) – Katy Perry
3. Sexy And I Know It – LMFAO
4. Titanium – David Guetta and Sia
5. First of the Year – Skrillex
6. Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites – Skrillex
7. Without You – David Guetta and Usher
8. Stereo Hearts – Gym Class Heroes featuring Adam Levine
9. Pumped Up Kicks – Foster the People
10. Someone Like You – Adele

 

Sports:
Athletes
1. Leo Messi
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
3. John Cena
4. Ricardo Kaka
5. David Beckham
6. Michael Jordan
7. Sachin Tendulkar
8. Andres Iniesta
9. Kobe Bryant
10. Cesc Fbregas

 

Sports Teams
1. FC Barcelona
2. Real Madrid C.F.
3. Manchester United
4. LA Lakers
5. Chelsea Football Club
6. Liverpool FC
7. A.C. Milan
8. Arsenal
9. Galatasaray
10. Fenerbahce

 

News:
News Outlets
1. CNN
2. Fox News
3. NPR
4. The Onion
5. The New York Times
6. Al Jazeera Channel
7. Yahoo! News
8. The Times of India
9. BBC World News
10. PBS

 

Most Shared Articles
Satellite Photos of Japan, Before and After the Quake and Tsunami (New York Times)
What teachers really want to tell parents (CNN) No, your zodiac sign hasn’t changed (CNN)
Parents, don’t dress your girls like tramps (CNN)
(video) – Father Daughter Dance Medley (Yahoo)
At funeral, dog mourns the death of Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan (Yahoo)
You’ll freak when you see the new Facebook (CNN)
Dog in Japan stays by the side of ailing friend in the rubble (Yahoo)
Giant crocodile captured alive in Philippines (Yahoo)
New Zodiac Sign Dates: Ophiuchus The 13th Sign? (The Huffington Post)
Frugal Dad put out this infographic comparing the year in review through the eyes of Twitter, Facebook and Twitter.

 

StumbleUpon
Top topics from StumbleUpon’s explore box:
1. love
2. funny
3. tattoo
4. games
5. diy
6. wedding
7. harry potter
8. hair
9. recipes
10. food

 

Blogs
Pingdom ranked the top blogging services in terms of downtime:
1. Blogger
2. WordPress
3. Typepad
4. Posterous
5. Tumblr

 

YouTube
Most popular videos of the year:
1. Rebecca Black – Friday
2. Ultimate Dog Tease
3. Jack Sparrow (feat. Michael Bolton)
4. Talking Twin Babies (pt. 2)
5. Nyan Cat
6. Look at me now – cover by @KarminMusic
7. The Creep (feat. Nicki Minaj & John Waters)
8. Maria Aragon – Born this way cover
9. The Force – Volkswagen commercial
10. Cat mom hugs her baby kitten

 

Most viewed videos from major record labels:
Jennifer Lopez – On The Floor ft. Pitbull
LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem ft. Lauren Bennett, GoonRock
Bruno Mars – The Lazy Song [Official Video]
Nicki Minaj – Super Bass
Pitbull – Give Me Everything ft. Ne-Yo, Afroj

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Dec. 28.

Drawing and Painting Art Classes : Classical Atelier Techniques

Drawing and Painting Art Classes in Bucks County.
Visit http://www.goldlightstudios.org
Enroll online for portrait painting, oil painting, or atelier life drawing classes. (more…)

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Oct. 17.

Restaurant Online Ordering System

Learn how to add menu items with the free restaurant online ordering system.

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Aug. 29.

Whiplash – Which Treatment Method Is Best?

neck_pain-nj-pain-managementWhiplash, or better termed, cervical acceleration-deceleration disorder (CAD) is primarily an injury to the soft tissues of the neck – that is, the muscles, their tendon insertions, and the ligaments that hold the joints firmly together. Neck pain is a very common health problem that affects between 10–15% of the population and drives people to all types of health care providers. We have previously discussed the reasons why whiplash /CAD injuries occur, the examination process and the prognosis aspects but the argument continues as to what treatment methods work the best when managing patients with CAD.

In the May 21, 2002 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, a group of medical doctors and PhD’s reported on neck pain treatment comparing traditional medical and physical therapy approaches verses spinal manipulation. In the study, they compared three common neck pain treatment approaches in a group of 183 patients with chronic neck pain (patients who had neck pain for more than 3 months). The 3 methods included traditional medical care which included medication utilization and rest, manual therapy (chiropractic adjustments) and physical therapy (active exercise training).

After 7 weeks of treatment, the percentage of patients who felt either totally resolved (cured) or much improved were 68.3% receiving manual therapy / chiropractic care, 50.8% receiving physical therapy, and 35.9% receiving medical care. The author, Jan Lucas Hoving, PhD reports that manual therapy / chiropractic was found to be more effective than the other 2 methods “…on almost all outcome measures,” not just a few! Further, although PT scored better than traditional medical care, “…most of the differences were not statistically significant,” meaning, not that much better. The authors appropriately reported that further study was needed to better understand the differences between methods.

In 2008, the “Decade Task Force” reviewed 10 years of studies on the treatment of neck pain and found similar results and referenced many studies that indicated spinal manipulation for neck pain, headaches, whiplash, and other neck related conditions was one of the most effective methods and that patients with neck pain should be given the option of receiving manual therapy / chiropractic before other approaches as it was found to be less expensive, faster in obtaining satisfying results (shorter course of disability), and most effective in terms of long-term benefits. This comparison discussion is by no means meant to minimize the importance of medical and PT care.

However, there appears to be a bias among patients with neck pain to seek medical care first when the studies clearly show chiropractic care is the preferred method. Hence, the purpose of this article is to educate the reader that their choice in treatment for neck pain should favor chiropractic care FIRST, not last. In fact, the sooner manipulation can be applied to the injured joints of the neck, typically the faster the results. For example, long term disability and chronic neck pain can occur from prolonged use of a cervical collar as the structures tighten and stiffen up from being immobile – unable to move because of the collar. Unless there is some unstable condition to the neck (fracture, grade 3 ligament tear, progressive neurological loss, etc.), studies support manipulation / early mobilization of the neck joints after injuries like whiplash verses wearing a cervical collar and rest.

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Aug. 26.

Social Media Is the New SEO

Social Media Integration for SEO

Social Media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media supports the human need for social interaction, using Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM). If you have a business website, you should be utilizing Twitter, Digg, Linked-In, and Facebook. Today, these websites can be categorized as the bare necessities in social media marketing along with your company or personal blog to effectively Search Engine Optimize your site organically online.

Background Information

Social media can be said to have three components:

1. Concept (art, information, or meme).
2. Media (physical, electronic, or verbal).
3. Social interface (intimate direct, community engagement, social viral, electronic broadcast or syndication, or other physical media such as print).

Common forms of social media:

• Concepts, slogans, and statements with a high memory retention quotient, that excite others to repeat.
• Grass-Roots direct action information dissemination such as public speaking, installations, performance, and demos.
• Electronic media with ‘sharing’, syndication, or search algorithm technologies (includes internet and mobile devices).
• Print media, designed to be re-distributed.

Facebook Integration

Facebook has become a staple of the business scene these days. Millions of online users still frequent Facebook. Why? Simply put, people want to be in the know and/or want to feel connected to their “Friends” who will share their same interests. Through social network sites, you can link to our database of “Friends” directly onto your site. Within the matter of a few hours, you could have hundreds of new people on your Facebook site. And dont forget about Facebook advertising- getting an accurate quote today will require testing the waters so to speak, since Facebook is one of Googles big competitors in online advertising. Up until a year ago, you could buy Facebook ads roughly half the price of the Google PPC campaign.

Facebook Advertising:

Facebook Advertising Chart

 

 

Facebook members view and click on your ad on their profile, in-box, friend’s page every time they log in. Promoting ads on Facebook can build a significant client-base. By using CPM impressions or PPC campaigns, your websites have an unlimited potential to reach your customer-base, especially when they land on your lead generating page. Recently, Facebook also has raised their pricing for advertising. Gone are to the good old days of paying $10 a day and getting 10 to 15 worthwhile leads. Don’t worry… Facebook is still the common grounds for consumption, so getting your cost per conversions down to its minimum should be your primary focus, remember this – in the beginning of any campaign, breaking even is a realistic goal to attain.


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Aug. 26.

Natural Ways To Treat Infection

Did You Know?

tea-tree-plantAmong the many natural ways to treat infection, tea tree oil is one of the very best. Tea tree oil is an essential oil taken from the leaves of the melaleuca alternifolia, a plant native to Australia. It has a wide variety of uses with strong antiseptic, antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal properties. The aborigines in Australia used tea tree leaves to heal skin infections, wounds, and burns by crushing the leaves and holding them in place with a mud pack. Tea tree oil effectively treats a variety of conditions. If you choose to try tea tree oil, it is good practice to do a patch test on your skin first, as undiluted tea tree oil can irritate the skin. If the skin is sensitive, then it is necessary to dilute it. A good tea tree oil solution can be made by mixing 5 parts of tea tree oil with 95 parts of water. Please note: tea tree oil should never be taken internally, even in small amounts.

Here are just some of the many ways to effectively use tea tree oil:

  • Acne – Tea tree oil kills the skin dwelling bacteria that cause acne. Dilute the tea tree oil as directed above and apply to lesions. Another way to apply it is by diluting it with aloe vera gel. To begin with, mix one or two drops to one ounce of the gel.
  • Athlete’s Foot – Every morning and evening, saturate a cotton ball with tea tree oil (you may need to dilute it) and apply to the affected and surrounding areas. Also, you may want to apply a tea tree oil enriched moisturizer. Tea tree oil is also very effective when treating nail fungal infections.
  • Insect Bites – Apply full strength to the bite area. Tea tree oil is also an effective insect repellent.
  • Wound Healing – Moderately apply tea tree oil (at a strength of 70% to 100%) on the wound at least twice daily.

Lastly, putting a few drops of tea tree oil in bathwater has a relaxing and rejuvenating effect. It will also soothe sore muscles and eliminate persistent body odor.

 

Quick Video: Tea Tree Oil

What Is Tea Tree Oil? — powered by ehow

 

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