More Than A Number

Most people avoid using sugar - and instead use natural sweeteners, artificial sweeteners, semi-natural sweeteners, sugar alternatives and so on. Composed of chemicals or natural compounds, they are chosen over sugar as they add sweetness without calories that come hand in hand with sugar. FDA approved artificial sweeteners are: saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame-K, and sucralose.
Saccharin
Used since 1879, it has been one of the most controversial sweeteners because in 1977 it was discovered that it caused cancer in rats. Later, the ban on saccharin was removed because rats were being given 800 diet sodas a day. A study revealed that saccharin posed no threat towards getting bladder cancer.

Aspartame
This is one of the most thoroughly studied artificial sweeteners. It has undergone over one hundred toxilogical and clinical studies, and was found to be safe for the general population. Pregnant women have to be careful with their intake of aspartame because it can potentially cause brain damage.

Acesulfame-K
Considered safe by the FDA, this artificial sweetener does not raise blood sugar levels. Some groups however, like the Center for Science in the Public Interest insists that more thorough research be carried out to evaluate its link to cancer.

Sucralose
This is perfect for diabetics and contains no calories. Over one hundred studies of Sucralose were found to contain no toxic effects, nor pose risks towards reproductive or neurological systems. Some critics insist that sucralose is linked to organ damage.
Remember, whether consuming real sugar or an alternative, moderation is the key!

America is probably one of the world’s largest consumers of coffee. Today, not only is it a habit it has turned in to an overwhelming addiction. Therefore in order to curb the downtime as a result of coffee breaks, the demand for office coffee services have become a business need. The coffee service market includes large scale national providers, some smaller vendors and even mom and pop set ups that provide different types of coffee at different prices.

First thing to do as with choosing any type of service is to shortlist several vendors of varying sizes and prices. Since the taste of the coffee provided will be critical, you will have to conduct several taste tests to ensure that the coffee being provided is on a good scale. You may also want to have the potential vendors conduct a coffee tasting event and obtain feedback from the testers as to how they feel about the coffee. If you make the decision on your own and your employees do not like the coffee, you may cause more trouble than you wished to solve. Choose a vendor who provides the right mix of quality and affordable pricing. Most low end vendors’ coffee quality may deteriorate over time and cause problems within your office. You may also run in to problems with regard to the service they provide. Turnaround time for the coffee vendor to set up their operation may also be critical. If you are expecting the company to set up operations the very next day, make sure you ask them if they are capable of doing so before you sign up with them.

If you talk to any veterinary assistant, they will tell you one thing about the fall: it is prime flea season for pets. The reason for this is simple: fleas breed during the spring and summer but die off during the colder winter months, meaning that they are alive in the greatest numbers in the fall. They are always looking for a place to stay, meaning that your dog or cat could be in danger.

Getting rid of fleas is something that any vet assistant can do, but those fleas could already be doing damage to your pet. As vet assistants know, fleas can be very difficult to get rid of, as most collars won’t stop an infestation from attacking your dog or cat. Most veterinary assistant schools recommend a topical medication like Frontline for dealing with fleas, along with vacuuming and washing clothes, rugs and bedding.

Last month, Columbine Health Systems in Colorado launched a telehealth monitoring system at its Fort Collins and Loveland facilities designed to help patients with recurring or frequent medical problems better deal with their health challenges and avoid serious and expensive emergency medical treatments down the road.

The customer support services program is designed to target senior citizens, with a goal of keeping the elderly in their homes and out of managed care situations.

“Our average age is around 85 years old,” said a company spokesperson. “It’s about helping them to better manage their health and doing it at home helps them be in charge of their life. They all want to stay in the least restrictive environment as long as possible.”

Each patient in the customer support solution receives a home monitoring system that allows them to check their own vital signs. These home units are hooked up to the telephone or an Internet connection, and feeds the basic information to a local call center, where nurses can monitor the results and call for emergency intervention if necessary or recommend appointments with doctors for less-serious conditions.

A new study conducted among parents reveal that mom and dad stretch the truth more often than thought. These instances include the existence of mythical creatures to odd consequences of kids’ behavior and actions parents come up with creative tales to shape a child’s emotions and behaviors.

Lee Kang, study researcher of the University Of Toronto, Canada stated that her team and she were surprised by how often parenting by lying takes place. She went on to state that even the parents who most strongly promoted the importance of honesty engaged in parenting by lying. The research team acknowledged that their work was still preliminary, however highlighted the fact that they have managed to bring to the forefront an issue that is rarely studied. Parenting by lying has its own consequences such as a child not learning certain rules like why they should do a certain task or why they should obey a certain rule, if the excuses given for these are lies. It was also noted that lying maybe preventing learning opportunities for the child.

In order to carry out the study researchers devised nine hypothetical scenarios that parents had to shape a child’s behavior or tell a lie to make the child happy. In one study about 130 undergraduates read each scenario and indicated on a defined scale whether their parents had said something similar to them. An alarming 90% of the students gave a positive answer indicating that they were told at least one of the lies given in the scenario.

Experts addressing the climate conference at Oxford University said that a rise of at least 2m in the world’s sea level is now unstoppable. Stefan Rahmstorf, a scientist at Germany’s Postdam institute said “The crux of the sea level issue is that it starts very slowly but once it gets going it is practically unstoppable.” He also went on to say that there is no way to stop the rise in sea levels.

Rahmstorf went on to say that even if the world managed to curb the rise in temperature 1.5 degrees Celsius sea level would rise by 2 meters and would probably cause a few island nations to be submerged. Speakers at the conference used history to reinforce their arguments. They noted that 3 million years ago the planet was 2-3 degrees warmer and sea levels 25-35 meter higher. 122,00 years ago, they said, it was 2 degrees warmer 10 meters higher.

In the last century sea levels have risen about 20 centimeters and the effect is accelerating. Robert Nicholls of the Southampton University brought everyone’s attention to the fact that about 40 million people live in flood plains. Statistics would state that this number is about 0.6 percent of the world’s population and about 5 percent of globally wealth because of the number of airports and infrastructure located in these areas.

One million guests who complete a day of volunteer work will be treated to a free day’s admission at Disney World. The programme titled ‘Give a Day, Get a Disney Day’ will give certified volunteers a one-day ticket to any Disneyland park in Anaheim, California or Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla next year.

Partnering HandsOn Network, Disney is attempting to connect people with projects and certify work done. The timely promotion aims to inspire one million people to volunteer in their communities , citing increased needs of non profits in the currently weak economy. The programme is also in line with President Obama’s national volunteering initiative.

The HandsOn Network has 70,000 affiliated agencies. Once a volunteer’s service is verified by HandsOn, they print out an online certificate which can be redeemed at a Disney park.

Kicking off the volunteer promotion last week Disney sent 1,000 volunteers, including employees from Disney and Southwest Airlines, to work on projects around the country. Volunteers must register online with Disney and be residents of the US, Canada or Puerto Rico to be eligible for the free admission. The work must be performed in 2010 and free admission is only granted upto December 15, 2010. Volunteers must be 18 or older to sign up for the programme, while work done by children aged 6-17 qualifies for a free ticket as if they are accompanied by an adult when volunteering. Any unused certificates would be donated to a charity desginated by Disney.
Duncan Dickson, teacher of theme park management at the University of Central Florida Rosen School of Hospitality Management, Orlando said the initiative was a very smart marketing move which would not only create a positive buzz for Disney for encouraging volunteerism, but also meant free publicity.

More Americans are selling their life insurance policies, reports the New Jersey Business News. While the strategy isn’t new, it’s become more popular during the recession as many people are strapped for cash.

Senior citizens especially who have a deadline to recover need to consider all of their assets in order to create liquidity. According to Eric Bachman, founder and chief executive of Golden Gateway Financial, people have lost 40 percent of the value of their home. People have also lost 40 percent of the value of their stocks. For these people, senior life settlements insurance is a good idea.

In addition to the state of the economy, there are many others reasons why life settlement investment opportunities are getting more attention these days. One reason is that due to the growth of the industry, the common person is able to enjoy the same benefits of someone who had a million-dollar policy.

Yet, according to the article, there is still a lot of talk about securitizing life settlements investment opportunities. Why is this topic attracting so much attention? According to Bachman, “The central argument here is really one of greed. Is it inappropriate to look at a financial instrument as an investment? No. Would it be wrong if they were doing things that lead to downfalls? Absolutely.” Bachman added that every other sort of long-term financial instrument gets securitized at some point. For more information, people are encouraged to meet with life settlement brokers in their area.

General Motors Co. said last week that it was ending its partnership with eBay Inc on which the automaker sold new cars through California dealerships. This move comes in the automarkers plans to shift focus on broader, national marketing programmes.The contract, which ended on September 30 was cancelled not due to lack of participation, according to the automaker and the auction website. Spokesperson for GM John McDonald said the programme on eBay had been a success as it helped the company improve strategies to reach car buyers who typically did not consider GM products. He said they would take their learnings from eBay and apply to their new digital and social media marketing strategies.

On eBay’s auto marketplace, California car shoppers were able to negotiate prices with a dealer or purchase vehicles at fixed prices and the pick it up from the dealership. Though General Motors and eBay did not disclose how many GM products were sold on eBay, its auto marketplace received around 1.5 million hits, generating around 15,000 leads for dealers. The programme had around 227 California-based dealerships participating.

GM’s spokesperson indicated that the company would focus on its new, national marketing campaign as well as its money-back guarantee programme, which enables dissatisfied customers to return vehicles within 60 days. One car dealer who runs four GM dealerships and sells used cars on eBay said he did not sell many new cars through the GM’s eBay programme. According to him, very few people chose the ‘Buy Now’ option, and opted to come down to the dealership to make the purchase.