Archive for November 6th, 2008
Social networking Websites
Business Networking Events can be one of the best ways to expand your business. If you’ve ever been to networking events you know that they come in all shapes and sizes. Some are very abrasive (everyone selling everyone else). Some a very stand-off-ish and it seems that as their guest that you’re crashing the party. And yet others are friendly, but you’re left wondering how any business will ever get done.
The easiest way to find a BNI Chapter, a Chamber of Commerce Event, a Networking Event “for Women” or a list on business networking sites is the new Networking Event Finders Web Site. You can find networking events, rate networking groups and ask questions in their business forums anytime night or day!
Selecting New Business that host high quality networking events, is a challenge. The cost of making a mistake is both time and money. Spending half a day and $20 to $40 to attend a bad event can ruin your day. Networking Event Finders allows you to rate networking events, networking groups and networking venues. More importantly you can see the ratings from others.
Selecting the best small business network events to fits your personality and your business needs requires time and energy when both seem to be in very short supply.
Start Business Networking by finding networking events in Temecula. . When you find an event that works for your calendar plan to attend 3 meetings for each group and actively interview 3 to 4 members of each group.
What to look for in a Networking Group:
Do they return your calls?
Are the members complaining?
Are you welcomed?
Does it feel like High School? (different clicks)
Is there a clear method to join and participate?
Will you reveice a Mentor Member?
Business Networking requires a commitment of both time and money. Most small business people can’t afford to squander either. So visit several groups to see which business networking group will bet meet both your business needs and you personality. There’s nothing worse that driving to a networking event dreading having to go!
Posted: November 6th, 2008 under relationships.
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Educational games and toys
Playing and learning are so closely related that they often can’t be distinguished at all. In one way or another, most games are educational - even if it were only in educating the player up to a higher level of competition. That’s quite often overlooked, I believe… but it’s true: even your very own recreational game of tennis, on a sweet summer afternoon with a frefreshing drink witin hands reach, is an educational game!
But let’s be realistic: when talking about educational games, more often than not we refer to learning objects for our children. Especially in the last decade or two, an astonishing number of educational “tools” have been developed for children of all ages, and even for grown-ups. The latter may or may not be intentional, but a fact is that many of the more ingenious educational or learning systems, like those dealing with science and nature, are enthusiasticaly enjoyed by the parents of the children for whom the gift was originaly intended!
This will less easily happen with educational toys for very young children, like alphabet blocks or ABC blocks. And then there’s the enormous range of educational games/toys for all other ages! Looking back on my own youth in the post-war years I am truly amazed by all the educational tools that are available now! On the other hand I believe that our childrens own development of their creativity suffers from those pre-chewed and bite-sized chunks. I used to be very happy with the almost proverbial cigar box from my grandfather, from which I created houses, factories and garages - the box that is, not my granddad.
So it’s all a matter of relativity, I reckon. Some things are lost, others are gained. But at least, to the considerable relief of often desperate parents, buying educational games and toys is now easier than it was ever before. Generally speaking, this is an improvement.
Posted: November 6th, 2008 under relationships.
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Leptin Supplements and Weight Loss
Since the discovery of leptin in 1994, many have hoped that the hormone would be a promising weight-loss treatment for humans. Leptin acts as a signal to help the body decide when it has eaten enough food to feel full. The amount of leptin in the blood has been directly linked to body fat.
After receiving leptin replacement therapy, research subjects with a recessive mutation in the obesity (ob) gene - a population both deficient in Leptin and morbidly obese - lost about half of their body weight while regulating their own food intake. (Medical news Today 4/5/2005).
If you take it at face value, it seems as if the research is saying that more leptin will help you lose weight. This research refers to subjects with a genetic basis for obesity who were deficient in leptin. But obese individuals tend to have more and larger leptin-producing fat cells than thinner people. They simply are not getting vital chemical signals to their brains that tell them to stop eating.
To illustrate my point:
Despite an assiduous search, scientists have found only a half-dozen people in the world who make no leptin. These people eat voraciously - one 3-year-old girl consumed 2,000 calories at a sitting. When several of these people were treated with leptin, they lost their appetites and their weight plummeted. (The New York Times 31/10/1999).
Don’t get me wrong, if it helps those who cannot make leptin, then this is a major breakthrough for them.
A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, goes a long way toward proving to me that more leptin does not equal less weight in very overweight people in the general population.
To make things worse, a hormone called leptin that was supposed to be the magic bullet for obesity, making people effortlessly lose fat while retaining muscle, looks like a bust. In a preliminary study reported last week, most people who took leptin lost little or no weight - one fat person who took the highest dose actually gained 20 pounds. (The New York Times 31/10/1999).
Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston say lean, physically active people have low levels of leptin, which is produced by the body’s fat cells and is believed to be a major culprit in causing obesity. The study finds that when couch potatoes start exercising regularly, their leptin levels decrease.
“As you get fatter, your body makes more leptin,” says Eric B. Rimm, Sc.D., associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health, and a co-author of the study. “But when you exercise, the amount of leptin in the blood decreases. Most of the time, you also lose weight, which means your risk of heart disease decreases too.” (Science Daily 7/3/2000).
Normally, when leptin levels in blood go up, the brain signals us to stop eating. But since obesity isn’t the result of a lack of leptin, it is a lack of response to leptin, and obese individuals tend to have more and larger leptin-producing fat cells (leptin is a hormone secreted by fat cells) than thinner people, their leptin levels increase substantially with every pound of additional weight gain.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but there appears to be no logic in the idea of taking more leptin to reduce weight if you have an impaired response to leptin.
It is important to keep in mind that the study that showed that raising leptin levels in people who have already lost weight helps them to keep the weight off. It does not help people to lose weight in the first place. It prevents the yo-yoing that most dieters go through as their leptin levels drop and the brain tries to compensate by increasing hunger.
Weight loss lowers levels of leptin, which in turn can restore an impaired response to leptin signaling.
Disclaimer: The information and opinions in this article is for information purposes only and is believed to be accurate and sound, based on the best judgment available to the author. Readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well-being. Readers who fail to consult appropriate health authorities assume the risk of any injuries.
Posted: November 6th, 2008 under relationships.
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