Health - Lowering Blood Pressure

Ten ways to go beyond low-sodium.

You can’t see it, you can’t feel it, and unless you get checked, you won’t even know you have it. That makes high blood pressure, or hypertension, a quiet killer, one that slowly damages your blood vessels, heart, and eyes while simultaneously increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia, and kidney disease. High blood pressure results in stiff, inflexible arteries that are virtual magnets for cholesterol and other blood components that form the gunk known as plaque. If you already have this gunk, blood rushing past at high force is just what it takes to nick the “cap” off mounds of plaque, setting the dominoes in motion for a heart attack.

One in five Americans have high blood pressure, and nearly a third don’t know they have it. Many of the rest of us are at risk, as blood pressure slowly creeps up with age. Regardless of where your blood pressure lies along the spectrum, the following tips will help lower it if it’s high, and keep it from rising if it’s where it should be--guaranteed.

1. Every morning, take a brisk 15-minute walk.
Amazingly, you don’t need a lot of exercise to make a difference in your blood pressure. When Japanese researchers asked 168 inactive volunteers with high blood pressure to exercise at a health club for different amounts of time each week for eight weeks, blood pressure dropped almost as much in those who exercised 30-90 minutes a week as in those who exercised more than 90 minutes a week.

2. Write “take medication” on your calendar every day.
Twenty-five percent of the time, when your blood pressure hasn’t dropped after you’ve started medication, the reason is that you forgot to take your pills.

3. Buy a home blood pressure kit.
A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that home blood pressure testing provides a better overall picture of blood pressure than measurement in a doctor’s office. In the study, office measurement failed to identify 13 percent of patients who had high blood pressure only in the office but not at home (called “white-coat hypertension”). It also failed to identify 9 percent of people who had high blood pressure at home but not in the doctor’s office. Another study, this one presented at the 2004 European Society of Hypertension meeting, found that people who monitored their blood pressure at home had lower overall blood pressure than those who only had their pressure taken at the doctor’s office. A good home blood pressure kit costs under $100, a small price to pay for peace of mind.

4. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons flaxseed over your yogurt in the morning
and mix 2 tablespoons into your ice cream, spaghetti sauce, or other food later in the day. One small study found that adding 4 tablespoons of the crunchy stuff significantly lowered systolic blood pressure (a strong predictor of heart disease) in postmenopausal women with a history of heart disease. Flaxseed is rich in many nutrients and in fiber. Its effects on blood pressure are likely due to its high content of omega-3 fatty acids.

5. Substitute tea for your morning (and afternoon and evening) coffee.
An Australian study found that every one-cup increase in daily tea consumption decreased systolic blood pressure (the top number) two points and diastolic pressure one point. The benefits ended after four cups, however.

6. Dip your chips into guacamole.
Why? Avocados have more bloodpressure-lowering potassium than any other fruit or vegetable, including bananas. We should get about 4.7 grams a day of potassium, but most Americans get just half this amount.

7. Turn to dark chocolate when your sweet tooth asserts itself.
Unlike milk chocolate, dark chocolate is rich in flavonoids that keep your arteries flexible, preventing the increases in pressure that come with stiffer blood vessels. That’s thought to be one reason for the normal blood pressure of a tribe of Panamanian Indians who eat a high-salt diet but also consume massive amounts of cocoa. In addition, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that three ounces of dark chocolate a day helped to lower blood pressure in older people with isolated systolic hypertension (a type of high blood pressure in which only the upper number of a pressure reading is high). Other good sources of flavonoids include tea and wine, as well as many fruits and vegetables.

8. Snack on roasted soybeans.
These make a crunchy, nutrient-packed munch that’s as yummy as any bag of chips. Studies show that people with high blood pressure can lower their systolic readings by an average of 10 points by eating one ounce of roasted soybeans (also called soy nuts) a day for two weeks. The beans are available at some supermarkets, as well as specialty and health food stores. Just look for unsalted beans.

9. Flavor your food with lots of ground pepper.
Why? Pepper is a strong, dominant flavor that can help you reduce your interest in salt. In fact, your tongue is easily trained away from its salt addiction. When you switch to low-salt foods, your meals may taste bland for a couple of days. Bring in the pepper. And if that doesn’t appeal to you, try garlic, lemon, ginger, basil, or other big-punch flavors you like. After a week, your old favorite foods will taste dreadfully oversalted and your blood pressure will be singing your praises.

10. Eat a banana or a quarter of a cantaloupe at each breakfast.
That’s because both are rich in potassium. Potassium is sometimes called the “un-salt” because if you don’t get enough of it, your blood pressure is likely to rise. It’s easy to slide potassium into your diet. Other high-potassium foods include spinach, lima beans, sweet potatoes, and the aforementioned avocados.

Source: Reader's Digest

Travel - Pagudpud White Sand Beach, Ilocos Norte

[Click the Picture to Enlarge]









In the Northern part of the Philippines is a beach reputed to have the longest contiguous white sand with mighty waves and strong winds that can compare to Hawaii. Wind and wave surfing are the outstanding activities that Pagudpud beach offers its very discriminating clientele. Not to mention the inviting views, clear blue waters, and white sand. Pagudpud promises its visitors a magnificent experience in a secluded paradise.

Place: Pagudpud White Sand Beach
Province: Ilocos Norte
Country: Philippines

Source: mukamo.com

Free Download - Spybot Search and Destroy

Spybot - Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications. Spyware silently tracks your surfing behavior to create a marketing profile for you that is transmitted without your knowledge to the compilers and sold to advertising companies. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you haven't intentionally installed, if your browser crashes inexplicably, or if your home page has been "hijacked" (or changed without your knowledge), your computer is most probably infected with spyware. Even if you don't see the symptoms, your computer may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm giving it a try to see if something has invaded your computer.

License: Free
System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista
Size: 7.12MB
Source: PepiMK Software

Download Here + Updates

Free Download - AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 7.5

AVG Free Edition is the well-known antivirus protection tool. AVG Free is available free of charge to home users for the life of the product. Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy to use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements. Highlights include automatic update functionality, the AVG Resident Shield, which provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run, free Virus Database Updates for the lifetime of the product, and AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files.

License: Free
System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/Vista
Size: 29MB
Source: Grisoft

Download Here + Updates

How To - Change A Selected Text To All Caps, Small Caps In MS Word

Well here's the trick for you:

Select the text you want to change and press SHIFT + F3 key.

Press again. And again

How To - Protect Your PC Files From External Attack

Essential to peace of mind is protecting the PC and your online privacy. When connected to the web, your work and data is open to attacks of various kinds including harmful downloads. A simple game, picture, or program may be the vehicle for malevolence. So, you need to check whether every file that you download, open, or save, is safe or whether there are irregularities of any kind.

Protect your PC by:
• Blocking hackers and viruses by installing the latest firewall and antivirus software. It is advisable to install a software firewall even if you have a hardware firewall in your system. A software firewall is designed to query whether or not it should permit “X,” access. The user can specify which applications can access the port and which cannot. A bi-directional firewall such as ZoneAlarm3 and Personal Firewall 5 will monitor both inbound and outbound traffic preventing Trojans and backdoor programs from functioning.

• Block downloads that install unwanted programs by using the options in Internet explorer to block all software from source X specified by you.

• Install software programs that will constantly scan your PC for spyware, adware, dialers, and web bug traces which can create a nuisance and cause crashes, slow down systems, or steal financial information. By adding a schedule you can instruct NoAdware to automatically scan your PC at set times for in-filtrations.

• Immunize your PC and prevent malicious add ons to your system.

• Configure your PC browser to protect you when you are working online. Use a ‘real time shield’ and prevent intrusions. Be sure to click the “protect IE Favorites” box and ensure that no thief can add an URL without your permission to your browser’s favorites list. This will block offensive and dangerous websites from entering your PC environs.

• Say “no” to any web address or site that instructs you to download specific software to view their pages. Such software can contain a virus, Trojan horse, or auto dialer.

• Create a regular back up schedule for your work. Once a week is ideal if you are a virtual worker or running a business. This will minimize any damage should problems arise.

• Be sure to update your software with the latest patches and bug fixes. Then use the updated or enhanced security settings provided by the updates. There are in built ways which you can operate to block damaging viruses, stamp out cookies, and keep unwanted visitors away from your computer system. The method is easy for example if you are using Internet Explorer just go to Tools-Internet Options-Privacy tab. Click the edit button to accept or reject a specific cookie. Go to the advanced settings and check block third party cookies.

• Scan all downloaded files before use. Never launch executable or scriptable files namely those that have dot.exe; .bat ;.doc; .vbs extensions. Do not access attachments of any kind before they are certified as safe.

• Remove file sharing and windows printer options these increase vulnerability of the PC.

• Encrypt your e-mail and embed an identifying key.

Better be sure than sorry. Preventing snoops is easier than trying to recover after an attack. Take informed steps to protect yourself and your PC

How To - Download & Save Flash Animation Files in Firefox or IE

There's a good chance that the animation or cartoon game you want to download was created using Flash. Use these tips for downloading Flash files from the Internet to your hard drive. You save all Flash animations from web pages, including Flash websites, Flash game, Flash Animations, Flash Tutorials, Flash Movie Trailers, Flash Advertisements, or what ever Flash files you find in the web.

Shockwave Games, Website elements, Screencasts (software demos) created in Macromedia Flash (swf) always fascinate me. I generally like to save these flash files embedded in webpages to my hard-drive for offline viewing.

But saving flash animations from websites is not so easy. Macromedia Flash player context menu has no option to download or save the Flash movie from the web browser. The right-click context menu of most browsers won't work on Flash objects. So I will share some techniques (work-arounds) to save flash files from Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer (IE), Opera or MyIE2 web browsers.

1. Saving Flash files from Firefox

Firefox for Newbies
a. Click Tools - Page Info
b. Click the Media Tab on the Page Info Windows
c. The media tab has a complete list (with preview) of Images, CSS Files and Shockwave Flash files that were downloaded by the Firefox browser while rendering (loading) the page.
d. Scroll down the list and locate the swf file.
e. Click the "Save As" button. Select some directory on your hard drive and save the file (No need for a third-party plug-in)

Firefox for Geeks and Power Users
a. Type about:blank in the Firefox address bar
b. Now click List cache entries or directly type about:cache?device=disk (Disk cache device)
c. Press Ctrl+F and try to location the flash file by typing some part of website URL or the flash file name or just .swf. After some hit and trial, you should be able to locate the swf file URL
d. Click the SWF URL to open the Cache Entry Information page. Right click on the link and choose "Save link as"

2. How to save flash in IE browser

a. Click Tools - Internet Options
b. In the General Tab, click the Settings button available in the Temporary Internet Files group.
c. Click View Files to open your Temporary Internet Files folder. Depending upon your IE settings, the Temp. folder can contain tens of thousands of files.
d. Click View - Details. Now click View - Arrange Icons By - Internet Address. Depending upon the webpage, there could one or more Flash files (Shockwave Flash Object) under the Inernet Address.
e. Once you find the right flash file, right-click and choose Copy. Then paste the swf file in any other directory. Be sure to
keep the page and IE open to avoid purging of the cache file.

For newbies, I suggest the following approaches:
1. Get a download accelerator like Flashget and tell it to automatically download the shockwave extention (*.swf)
2. Or download a free IE plug-in for saving flash files.

3. How to save Flash files from Opera browser
Just like IE, Opera stores the flash files in the browser cache.

4. Save flash in MyIE2
Either follow the exact procedure for Internet explorer or download the free Flash saver MyIE2 plugin.

Joke - Please Take Time To Read This, It Might Happen To You

My wonderful girlfriend and I had been dating for over a year, and
so we decided to get married. There was only one little thing
bothering me. It was her beautiful younger sister. My prospective
sister-in-law was twenty-two, wore very tight
miniskirts, and generally was braless. She would regularly bend
down when she was near me, and I always got more than a pleasant
view. She never did it when she was near anyone else.

One day "little" sister called and asked me to come over to check
the wedding invitations. She was alone when I arrived, and she
whispered to me that she had feelings and desires for me that she
couldn't overcome. She told me that she wanted to make love to me
just once before I got married and committed my life to her
sister. Well, I was in total shock, and couldn't say a word. She
said, "I'm going upstairs to my bedroom, and if you want one last
wild fling, just come up and get me." I was stunned - frozen in
shock as I watched her go up the stairs. She pulled off her
panties and threw them down the stairs at me.

I stood there for a moment, then turned and made a beeline
straight to the front door. I opened the door, and headed
straight towards my car. Lo and behold, my entire future family
was standing outside, all clapping!

With tears in his eyes, my future father-in-law hugged me and
said, "We are very happy that you have passed our little test ...
we couldn't ask for a better man for our daughter. Welcome to the
family."

And the moral of this story is:

Always keep your condoms in your car.

How To - Microsoft Word Amazing Discovery

Follow the following steps:

1. Open Microsoft Word and type the following

=rand (200,99)


2. and then HIT ENTER


This is something pretty weird.. worth a check..! try it..!

At Microsoft the whole team couldn't answer why this happened and they add a prize of $100,000 to the person who could answer
this...

Try it out yourself...

Bill Gates still doesn't know why it happens

Technology - Facts About Lithium-ion Battery

The Lithium-ion Battery

* LI-ion stands for Lithium-ion.
* Is superior to nickel and lead-based chemistry.
* Most research company focuses on lithium today.
* New chemicals are still getting tested with Lithium
* Lithium-ion battery will provide 300 to 500 discharge/charge cycles in its lifetime.
* Better to do frequent partial discharge than full discharge.
* Full discharge too frequently should be avoided.
* Memory is not an issue with the LI-ion battery.
* Low Maintenance and the lightest battery you can find today.
* Largest energy content
* The negative pole is named anode
* Overcharging the battery is not possible.
* High heat levels inside some laptops also cause the lithium-ion to fail prematurely.

The lithium-ion is memory-free in terms of deterioration; batteries with fuel gauges exhibit what engineers refer to as "digital memory". The short discharges/charges does not provide any calibration for the 0-100% gauge of the PPC or mobile unit. It is recommended to do a full discharge and recharge every +/- 30 charges to adjust and calibrate the internal battery power gauge. If this is not completed the battery power gauge will give you wrong readings. Lithium-ion based batteries have a lifetime span of 2 to 3 years. This timing starts after the battery gets off the production line even if the battery is not getting used.

When the battery gets charged for the first time and it shows fully charged after 3 hour it is only at around 70% as more chemical reaction is needed to reach it full potential. The reason for this full charge reading is that the peak voltage has been reached but don’t get fooled by it.

Safety mechanism allows the battery to drain itself if one of the following is reached:

* Charge voltage of any cell reach 4.30V
* Cell temperature reach 90º C (210º F)
* Pressure inside reach a threshold
* If the battery reach a low 1.5V per cell during storage it will not recharge again as excessive discharge create copper plating that can create short circuit in the cell.

A faulty safety circuitry battery will become extremely hot during the charge. The plastic cover may even bulge or burn.

Battery analyzer can be use to monitor and find the cause of short run. It also has the ability to read the internal battery resistance. The higher the resistance is, the less power you get from the battery.

Conclusion
The Lithium-ion battery is a very good performer and reliable. Most mobile devices use Lithium-ion battery today. Lithium-polymer system is being tested today. This new technology when in full production will cost less than today Lithium-ion as the packaging can be of any shape and size. This new technology may be shaped in the casing holding your new device.

Free Download - Clean up Empty Folders with Remove Empty Directory

Usually, PC users love organizing their files into various folders. Sometimes we move our files from one folder to another, but we forget to delete the empty folder. In other cases, you install an application and then uninstall it, but it leaves behind some empty folders. Your system probably contains hundreds of dozens of folders, without a single byte of data in it. This is exactly where Remove Empty Directory (RED) comes into action.

This free application does exactly what the name says. It scans your drives or directories for empty folders and removes it. By default, it scans hidden folders, but ignores system folders to prevent any harm to your PC. It is also possible to integrate RED into Windows Explorer.

As a productivity junkie, I hate seeing too many empty folders, so I regularly delete unused files and empty folders. RED was still able to find 496 empty folders out of 15150 folders, which is quite a shocking number to me!

Download Here

How To - View Live Webcams Anywhere In The World

Thousands of webcams and security cameras around the globe broadcast live images from offices, street corners, and other public and private areas thru the internet. Since many cameras use known protocols to transmit live video streams over the web, it's quite easy to search for publicly accessible webcams. Sometime, you can even possibly control the cameras online.

You can search for this live streaming videos via Google search engine,( some publicly-viewable webcams whose operators may not be fully aware that said webcams are publicly viewable.)

Here are the keywords to search for.Just copy and paste to Google search bar..


inurl:/view.shtml
intitle:”Live View / - AXIS” | inurl:view/view.shtml^
inurl:ViewerFrame?Mode=
inurl:ViewerFrame?Mode=Refresh
inurl:axis-cgi/jpg
inurl:axis-cgi/mjpg (motion-JPEG)
inurl:view/indexFrame.shtml
inurl:view/index.shtml
inurl:view/view.shtml
liveapplet
intitle:”live view” intitle:axis
intitle:liveapplet
allintitle:”Network Camera NetworkCamera”
intitle:axis intitle:”video server”
intitle:liveapplet inurl:LvAppl
intitle:”EvoCam” inurl:”webcam.html”
intitle:”Live NetSnap Cam-Server feed”
intitle:”Live View / - AXIS”
intitle:”Live View / - AXIS 206M”
intitle:”Live View / - AXIS 206W”
intitle:”Live View / - AXIS 210″
inurl:indexFrame.shtml Axis
inurl:”MultiCameraFrame?Mode=Motion”
intitle:start inurl:cgistart
intitle:”WJ-NT104 Main Page”
intext:”MOBOTIX M1″ intext:”Open Menu”
intext:”MOBOTIX M10″ intext:”Open Menu”
intext:”MOBOTIX D10″ intext:”Open Menu”
intitle:snc-z20 inurl:home/
intitle:snc-cs3 inurl:home/
intitle:snc-rz30 inurl:home/
intitle:”sony network camera snc-p1″
intitle:”sony network camera snc-m1″
site:.viewnetcam.com -www.viewnetcam.com
intitle:”Toshiba Network Camera” user login
intitle:”netcam live image”
intitle:”i-Catcher Console - Web Monitor”

Try also this

http://www.camhacker.com
Cam Hacker search engine can be used for finding unprotected real live public streaming webcams around the world found through a variety of clever search techniques and is built with the Google Co-op custom search engine tool (CSE).

How To - Accessing Block Website Using Calculator

1) Get its IP address (66.94.234.13), by pinging the name e.g. yahoo.com by using accessing your DOS command prompt

2) start your PC's calculator, and change it to scientific mode (using the "View" menu)

3) enter each of the four IP octets, one by one, converting them to binary (enter number and click on the "Bin" radio button)

Thus 66.94.234.13 becomes

66 = 1000010

94 = 1011110

234 = 11101010

13 = 1101

Notice how any binary numbers less than 8 digits long have had leading zeroes added to pad them out. Reassembled into IP address order, you get 1000010.1011110.11101010.1101

4) Remove the dots, so you get one huge line of binary, thus:
10000101011110111010101101

5) Copy this binary string

6) Go to your scientific calculator, and hit the "Bin" button FIRST (as you are about to enter binary), THEN paste in the binary string.

7) Click on the "Dec" button on your calculator, and you will get the converted value of 34991789

8) Add the hypertext protocol prefix and paste into your browser's address bar: http://34991789

Wuntoo adds: I used to be in a place that had websense, where both website names and their corresponding IP addresses were blocked. However was able to get limited access by converting the IP address to decimal, which websense (at the time) did not know about. This might have changed since, or if your school runs an old version it might still work. Note that if you surf away from the page you might hit websense blocks again unless you manually reconstruct the next address you want to get to.

Joke - The Polite way to Pee

During one of her daily classes,a teacher trying to teach good manners,asked her students the following question:

Teacher: 'Mario, if you were on a date having dinner with a nice young lady, how would u tell her that u have to go to the bathroom?

Mario: Just a minute I have to go pee.

'The teacher responded by saying, That would be rude and impolite. What about you Denis, how would u say it?

Denis said,'I am sorry, but I really need to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back.

Teacher: That's better, but it's still not very nice to say the word "bathroom" at the dinner table. And you, little LITO, can you use your brain for once and show us your good manners?'

Lito: Madam, 'I would say: Darling, may I please be excused for a moment?I have to shake hands with a very dear friend of mine, whom I hope to introduce you to after dinner

Joke - Woman a sign of problem?

This is a mathematical calculation to prove why girls are mens problem.



Please post your comments and reaction to this picture. Thanks!

Funny Video - Joseph the Beatbox Part 2

Watch this clip, you gonna love this...



To watch clip click the picture

Joke - Funny Public Signs

I discovered some funny public signs a I walk with my boarding house school 3 days ago.

How To - Useful Windows XP DOS Commands & Tricks

Typing DOS commands on the Windows Command Line prompt is a most efficient and faster way of doing things in Windows XP. Here's a run-down of the most useful DOS commands available in Windows XP. Some of these DOS commands even do not have an visual alternative.

DOS Command-line tools must be run at the prompt of the Cmd.exe command interpreter. To open Command Prompt, click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.

ipconfig - Windows IP configuration
Useful for troubleshooting your internet connection. Displays the current IP address of your computer and the DNS server address. If you call your ISP for reporting a bad internet connection, he will probably ask you to run ipconfig.

fc - Free BeyondCompare in XP
FC is an advanced DOS Command that compares two files and displays the differences between them. Though the file comparison results are not as interactive as BeyondCompare or Altova DiffDog, fc is still very useful. You can even set fc to resynchronize the files after finding a mismatch.

type - open text files sans Notepad
Similar to Unix cat command, Type is my favorite DOS command for displaying the contents of a text files without modifying them. When used in combination with more switch, type splits the contents of lengthy text files into multiple pages. Avoid using the type command with binary files or you'll hear alien PC beeps and see some greek characters on your PC.

ping - Say hello to another computer
Ping network command followed by the web-address or IP address tells you about the health of the connection and whether the other party is responding to your handshake request. Ping tool can also be used to convert the web address to a physical IP address.

tree - visual directory structure
You often need to take prints of your physical directory structure but XP has no simple "visual" commands for printing directory contents. Here, try the Tree DOS command and redirect the output to a text file.

tree > mydirectory.txt
print mydirectory.txt

attrib - make hidden files visible
Attrib lets you change attributes of System files and even hidden files. This is great for troubleshooting Windows XP. Say your XP doesn't boot ever since you edited that startup boot.ini file (Hidden), use attrib to remove the Hidden attibute and edit the file using EDIT dos command.

assoc - which program will open that .xyz file
The assoc DOS command can be used to either isplay or even modify the file name extension associations. The command assoc .htm will quickly tell you the name of your default web browser (see picture)

move - more flexible than copy-paste
Say you got a lot of XLS and DOC files in you MyDocuments folder and want to move only those XLS files that have their name ending with 2006. In XP Explorer, you have to manually select each file and then cut-paste to another folder. However, the DOS move command make things much simpler. Just type the following at the command prompt:
move *2006.xls c:\2006Reports\

find - advanced file search with filter
Find is the most powerful DOS command and even more useful than the Windows Desktop Search tool or the Windows Find Wizard. The find command searches for a specific string of text in a file or files. After searching the specified file or files, find displays any lines of text that contain the specified string.

To search your hard disk to find and display the file names on drive C: that contain the string "Google" use the pipe (|) to direct the results of a dir command to find as follows:
dir c:\ /s /b | find "Google"

Quick tip - Drag to avoid typing: When your command acts on a file or folder, you must type the path to that folder after the command. You can save typing time by dragging the file or folder from Windows Explorer into the command window.

To view help at the command-line, at the command prompt, type the following:
CommandName /?

Source: Blog from labnol

Funny Video - Scare Tactics

What's In The Box
He's dude friend was shaken, he think he gonna die.