13/01/2008

Health problems?

Does your back hurt or you have the nose blocked? You do not worry more. You will find useful information in the next pages:

§ Aetna Inteli Health

§ Global Medic

§ Personal MD

We can find accurate information about different diseases. The one that most I liked is the Global Medic since you can visit something like a virtual doctor. But I think that the best solution when we are ill is to go to the doctors.

London news are calling !

I have decided to compare and contrast the most important newspapers read in London: The Telegraph and The Times.

The Telepgraph

The most important news title is “ Organs to be taken without consent”. Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, the Prime Minister says that such a facility would save thousands of lives and that he hopes such a system can start this year. But patients' groups said that they were "totally opposed" to Mr Brown's plan, saying that it would take away patients' rights over their own bodies.

The Times

In the case of The Times the most important news is that “ Dirt begins to fly to Obama”.

I think that bouth pages are very well organised with useful searching toolbars, the news are clasified… So I am not able to say that one page is better than the other. Try yourself!

Weather & Sports

Weather forecast

Have you already red, listen or watch the statement of what the weather is likely to be for the next days? In the Web there are two wonderful pages: Intellicast and The Weather Channel. Thanks to them you will plan easily your trips. Just in case I let you know that the weather for the next days in Miami will be:

§ 24º

§ 85% humidity

§ 220º wind at 7mph

§ 30.18 inn presure

§ 0% snow probability

Sports

If you are interested in sports I assure you that you will spend long hours in the Web page of The Official Website of the Olympic Movement. It’s an amazing Web page full of us interesting information. My favourite sport is football and in this site I have read interesting information:

While the modern game of football started with the foundation of the Football Association of England in 1863, its roots extend to opposite ends of the earth. The ancient Chinese, Greeks and Romans played a similar game, long before English kings in the 1300s and 1400s were trying to outlaw the violent sport. While professionals are allowed in the men’s tournament, rules restrict teams to players under 23 years old with the exception of three over-age players. ’No age restrictions apply for the women’s tournament. For the Beijing 2008 Games the number of women’s teams has been increased to 12. The men’s tournament is set at 16 teams.

10/01/2008

The fate of the enviroment

The Center of a New American Dream is an interesting Web page about how to protect the planet. Also it gives us useful information and some tips to get rid of junk mail. This is an important action to take due to some facts such as:

  • 100 million trees are need to produce all the junk mail sent in a year to the American mail boxes.
  • In 2005, 5.8 million tons of catalogues and other direct mailings ended up in the U.S. municipal solid waste stream – enough to fill over 450,000 garbage trucks.
  • Less than 36% of this junk mail is recycled.
  • The production and disposal of direct mail consumes more energy than 3 million cars.
  • Hundreds of millions of dollar are wasted per year to collect and dispose of all the mail.

It may be hard to believe but it is quick and easy to stop the junk mail you receive. You can complete this simple form and automatically they will generate ready-to-send "please remove me" letters matched to the mailing lists you chose from the list.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID)

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method, relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using devices called RFID tags or transponders.

An RFID tag is an object that can be applied to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification using radio waves. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader.

Most RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information, modulating and demodulating a (RF) signal and can also be used for other specialized functions. The second is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal. A technology called chipless RFID allows for discrete identification of tags without an integrated circuit, thereby allowing tags to be printed directly onto assets at lower cost than traditional tags.

Today, a significant thrust in RFID use is in enterprise supply chain management, improving the efficiency of inventory tracking and management. However, a threat is looming that the current growth and adoption in enterprise supply chain market will not be sustainable. A fair cost-sharing mechanism, rational motives and justified returns from RFID technology investments are the key ingredients to achieve long-term and sustainable RFID technology adoption

Can Computers think?

To answer the question, “Can computers think?” personally I think computers today cannot think. Computers require programs which are compromised of software that include "if and then" statements "else" statements, and so on. The computer is doing its purpose based on the instructions it was given. But that may also raise another question, “Will there be instructions for a computer to think and be conscious?” I will not say it’s impossible, but I do not see this happening in my lifetime. I don't want to say that computers will never have the ability to think because I do have a small feeling that believes that in the far future, very advanced programs could indeed be written to work with other programs in analyzing and interpreting information much like our brains. Advanced artificial intelligence with thousands and thousand of programs working simultaneously could probably record or store its actions, so that it can be used again if it was useful.