Sabtu, 03 Maret 2012

Why Can't We all Just Get Along?

It seems that there must be some fundamental problem with human communication. Wherever you turn it is not hard to find people having an argument, a conflict or one person angry or frustrated with another for some reason. But why is it like that?

I think one of the key problems for us human beings is that our way of communicating through the use of language is very limited. When one considers that we all have a different picture in our minds of how things are and how they should be, it's a bit easier to realize the basis for so much conflict. The use of the spoken word and its lack of ability to fully convey meaning creates communication barriers for people.

For example, I have a picture about something in my mind. I try to convey that picture through words to another. That person must hear those words and then put them together into a picture in his mind. One problem lies in the fact that we create different pictures. The picture I started with might be entirely different than the one he has constructed from listening to my words.

Couple that with the way that many view life as a chess game, where they must out maneuver their opponent and one can see where problems creep in. Mistrust, greed, selfishness and paranoia are like weeds in our minds that we must exert conscious and constant effort to remove or risk unnecessary conflict, hurt and disappointment.

When two people talk to each other, these conflicting pictures or perspectives come into play. One person's words may be kind, compassionate and forged with good intentions. Yet, the person receiving the words may think that the other is being mean, rude, manipulative, overbearing, spiteful or any other of a number of negative factors. A conflict results based on false or partially inaccurate notions. Some conflicts are obvious. Others fester in the mind of a person and come out in passive-aggressive ways. In either case, these situations can make people miserable.

Another problem stems from the simple fact that for as many people as there are in the world, there are as many different levels of awareness of any given situation. Some may have more information to work with than others. I can't count the number of times when I thought things were one way, when in fact they were another. I can't count the number of times that I blamed someone for doing wrong when there was some factor that I wasn't aware of. A person’s range of knowledge is limited.

Multiply that by all the people on Earth having similar experiences and it's easy to see how conflicts start. Is there a solution? It's difficult to say. Without having a basic communication form that stems beyond the use of the spoken word, communication is always going to be a quagmire of complexities between any two or more people.

I feel that the situation would be better if we had a way to communicate our entire mental picture at any given time to others, complete with the emotional background and the history of what made us get to that state of mind or perspective. That is far more information than the spoken language of human beings seems capable of conveying.

One thing is for sure, in order to rise above the limitations of human language one must employ a strong character, tempered with endurance and tolerance, along with compassion and a desire to get closer to the truth of any matter. Only then can one live more harmoniously with others.

Jumat, 02 Maret 2012

Safety Tips For Construction Workers

Working in the construction industry can be dangerous. The nature of the work carries risks, and accidents can result in serious injuries or even death.

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) law requires employers to provide a work place that is safe and free from hazards. Yet, everyday construction workers face dangers that threaten their health and lives. According to OSHA, each year

- A 1000 workers die in construction related accidents
- A quarter of a million workers suffer injuries resulting in lost work days
- Construction accidents cost the industry $13 billion in workers compensation cost alone

OSHA statistics also show that 90% of the fatalities occur in four categories

- Caught between objects
- Struck by objects
- Electrocution
- Falls

These accidents are, therefore, preventable and can be avoided with the proper safety training, precaution, and common sense.

Construction work can indeed be dangerous. The line between a near miss and a fatality is thin. Although, the government will enforce safety and health laws and employers have an obligation to provide a safe and healthy workplace, it is still your responsibility, and you owe it to yourself and your loved ones, to stay safe and out of harms way.

Government regulators and inspectors cannot be present at construction sites at all times and, due the nature of the construction business, employers cannot guarantee a 100% safe work place. Simple things such as a change in the weather or the momentary inattention of a fellow worker can lead to a dangerous situation in an instant.

With the proper safety training, awareness of your rights and responsibilities, and vigilance against hazardous work conditions you can reduce, if not eliminate altogether, your risk of being injured at work. Here are some things you can do.

- Take advantage of training programs provided by your employer, your union, and your safety society.
- Observe safety rules and regulations at all times.
- Know your equipment and use them correctly.
- Wear and use the right personal protective equipment at all times.
- Use proper barriers and guards always.
- Don’t take short cuts with fire, electrical, or fall protection safety equipment.
- Be sure to crib, block and secure all loads as soon as possible.
- Take the time to do the job correctly.
- Report unsafe work conditions.
- Refuse to work in unsafe conditions.
- Watch a free construction safety video online by visiting http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/video/constructionsafety/video.html
- Above all, be alert. It's your life and health that is at risk.

If you notice a hazardous situation at work you should bring it to the immediate attention of your employer, your craft steward, or OSHA.

To report an emergency, fatality, or imminent life threatening situation to OSHA call 1-800-321-OSHA (6742), TTY 1-877-889-5672.

To report other unsafe work conditions contact your local OSHA regional office. You can file a report online or by fax, mail, and telephone. You can request anonymity and OSHA will respect your request. Here are some useful links.

File online: http://www.osha.gov/pls/osha7/eComplaintForm.html
Complaint form: http://www.osha.gov/oshforms/osha7.pdf
OSHA Regional Offices: http://www.osha.gov/html/RAmap.html

Kamis, 01 Maret 2012

How to Find a Book Using Online Bookstores

Looking for improving your gaming skills by reading some of the best books on professional gaming that are around? That is a good idea, but, and as you may have already noticed, it is easier said than done. Once you go online to one of the many online bookstores such as Amazon and Barnes and Ruble and can type in a phrase you get a long list (if you are lucky) of potential books.

What do you do then? How do you know which book suits you? And if you even could figure that out, how do you know the book is worth anything? Many of the authors are pros, but, then, you can also easily land up on amateur writers who are just trying to make a buck. Exactly for this, we have compiled a list of five practical suggestions to help you.

1) Reviews and Opinions Matter.
One of the most interesting methods of screening authors and books is by reading what other readers have to say about those literary objects. Look up one of the many forums online that focus on books and either ask a direct question or read what others have said. Another option is to look up the book at different online bookstores such as Barnes and Noble and Amazon but also others such as The Literary Guild and Pickabook. (Look them at this list compiled by the World Wide Web Virtual Library: http://archive.museophile.org/bookstores) The reasons for doing this is that for every book you can read reviews from different sites. Do this and you are reducing the chances of reading only promotional material. It goes without saying that opt for those books that receive good reviews. Generally, a book will receive some bad reviews, but look at the majority viewpoint. Note that if the book you wish to buy is new, you will not find reviews. In such a case, you will just have to take a risk.

2) Be Specific.
One of the methods of searching for a book that interests you is by narrowing down the search by typing a long search term and not just one name. For instance, type down how to play Texas holdem in an online tournament instead of just Texas holdem. Such a search will result in only a few book options. First, look up reviews and views on it and then look at its size and focus of interest.

3) Check the Experience of the Author.
Buying a book is just like buying a car. Would you be willing to pay more for a Mercedes? Likewise, check the author or editor. If the author is unknown, tread very carefully. The book might be useless. But remember that its not enough that the author is well known or has years of professional expertise, they must be experienced in the exact field of the subject of the book.

4) Check the Printing History of the Author.
After checking the authors personal biography and his scope of knowledge as pertains to the issue in question, you should, then, check his style of writing. You will not want to fall asleep on the second page, do you? If their style of writing pleases you, try reading parts of their work. Read articles or portions of other books they have read. Do this to get an idea of whether they can write and whether they are capable of handling complicated issues and putting them across in easy to understand language.

5) The Price Factor.
When looking at books, the first thing (or the second) we tend to look at is the price. Yes, you should know whether you can afford to buy it or not, but do not make you decision based on whether a book is cheap or expensive. First, check whether the book is what you are looking for. Then, decided whether you can afford it and not vice versa. Likewise, do not just buy a book because its on sale. Remember that if a book is on sale it means that no one is buying it!

What Am I Doing Wrong In Relationships?

They say breaking up is hard to do. Break-ups are very common in fact sadly enough, it happens to everyone at some point in time. For many women, relationships coming to an end are hard due to lack of closure. So very often, they are left wondering what they did wrong.

While I can't be a miracle worker this area I can provide some very common mistakes that women tend to make. It’s not complete, but it's definitely a good insight. Continue to read and evaluate how you’ve been doing on the dating game.

1. Thinking you can change who he is.

Many women get involved with men with undesirable habits, and cling to the relationship hoping that he’ll improve with time. They tend to feel like the man requires the woman's help in order to change.

Well, that's actually not how it works. You see, women are attracted to a man not by how nice or good he is, but by gut feelings. She 'feels' that her man is nice and good deep inside, and that they can remedy the shortcomings if they tried hard enough.

Sadly, this gut feeling doesn’t exactly translate to a deep connection with him. In other words, trying to change him is like trying to teach a pig to sing - it wastes time, it doesn’t work, and it annoys the pig.

Gut feelings are well and good, but it’s better to trust your intuition instead.

2. Assuming good looks are enough.

Women tend to think that men only care about an attractive physical appearance. Also, many women think that men aren't very verbally communicative. Therefore many women resort to using provacative body language to gain a man's attention which gives off the wrong impression.

It’s not that simple. Looks may be most obvious way to get the train started, but it's hardly the best way. The right thing to do is to use a combination of verbal communication and body language. It takes practice, but a man is less likely to be smitten by a beautiful woman than by a beautiful woman who can also carry a good conversation.

3. Acting like someone that you are not.

I may be stating the obvious, but it's worth repeating: Men aren't happy in a relationship if the woman isn't happy herself. A woman should never lose herself by trying to satisfy a man's every need and desire. A man can't have respect for a woman that isn't confident of who she is. Acting like a prostitute or a slave won't get you anywhere.

4. Being too honest too fast.

Almost all successful,physically attractive, and single guys have healthy dating lives. So women who raise the most red flags are the ones that give too much information on the second or third date. For example: women who say, 'I really feel like I'm falling for you', too easily and too early. It gives off an idea that she’s a clingy type who rushes into relationships.

The smartest thing to do would be to ease up and let the relationship mature on it's own.

5. Not seeing the signs.

Men subconsciously show signs that indicating how evolved your relationship is. The signs give clues on how ready he is to go further in your relationship. BY watching him closely and accurately judging what he says, you may find out where he is coming from.

(a) The Social level - he talks about life in general, what he's up to and how he's doing. (b) The Emotional level - he starts giving clues that he's ready to be emotionally available to you. (c) The Physical level - he begins to tell you what and why in reference to the things he likes about you whether it be your body or clothes, etc.. (d) The Love level - he lets you know that he is in it for the long run.

Well, here are the signs. So learn them and know how to answer them for a better relationship next time.

Silicon Wristbands - Enhance Your Personality

Wristbands/bracelets are encircling strips that are worn on the wrist to enhance the personality of a person. The term is used to refer to bracelet-like bands of a wristwatch, worn to the cuffs or to the sleeves that cover the wrists. They are also used to decorate the wrists or act as functional bands worn over the wrists by both men and women. One of the best types of wristbands includes the loops of plastic that are placed on the wrists for identification purposes.

With the hype of charity spreading far and wide, silicon wristbands/bracelets are much in vogue in today’s world. The bracelets are worn to demonstrate the wearer’s support for a cause or charitable organization and are similar to awareness ribbons. Silicon bracelets/wristbands were first made by charitable organizations as a way to demonstrate support for a cause. That particular silicon wristband was yellow “Livestrong wristband” created in 2004 by the Lance Armstrong Foundation.

Silicon web wristbands/bracelets

The other type of silicon wristband/ bracelet is called web band. It is basically an online band that can be purchased through Internet. Although the band evokes a sense of surprise, yet the cause of purchasing the bracelet is noble. Just the moment you make an online purchase of the web band, the price goes to the cause in question. Not only do the silicon bracelets establish the world of fashion, but they also contribute to the charitable missions of today.

Depiction of colors in silicon wristbands/bracelets

The companies of today make custom bracelets for small organizations that are interested in raising funds for awareness purposes. The most interesting part of silicon bracelets is their color significance.

Following are some of the different colored bracelets depicting different thoughts and ideas:

§Black – denotes mourning on someone’s death
§Black/white – denotes anti-racism [stand up and speak up]
§Dark-blue – denotes anti-smoking, anti-child abuse, colon cancer awareness, pro-peace, diabetes cure and catholic relief services
§Electric-blue – cystic fibrosis awareness, anti-drunk driving, organ transplantation, anti-drugs, pro-tolerance, got guts, pro-life, Ford Fan day, and stand strong against wrong day
§Camouflage – support our troops
§Light blue – autism awareness, arthritis awareness, hurricane relief, prostrate cancer awareness and fight hunger/cultivate peace
§Lavender – epilepsy awareness
§Green/blue – anti-sectarianism
§Dark green – better hearing awareness
§Gold – children’s cancer awareness
§Light green – rainforest preservation, pro-ecology, kidney disease awareness, organ donation, ovarian cancer awareness, army support, genocide ending mission
§Orange – self harm awareness, leukemia awareness, and bowel cancer research
§Pink – diabetes awareness, breast cancer awareness, chronic pain awareness
§Purple – animal rescue awareness, asthma awareness, pancreatic cancer awareness
§Red- AIDs awareness program, anti-tobacco, labor party, cystic fibrosis band together campaign, love/hope support program
§White – chastity/abstinence, innocence and peace
§Yellow – work safe week, Parkinson’s disease awareness and all cancers day

Silicon wristbands/bracelets are simply wonderful and add a lot of meaning to the personality of the person.

Psychic and astrology – how does it affects our daily lives

Psychic is a term used in the field of parapsychology which refer to the ability to perceive the things that is hidden to ordinary senses through means of extra-sensory perception, or though the use of other techniques such as cold reading,prestidigitation and a lot more. While the term astrology is define as the study of the relationships between people and events on earth, and the cycles, movement of the planets and how they influence the live of peoples. This parapsychology and astronomical matters affects our daily lives in the way it influence the beliefs of many from generation until now. It also depicts the life of a person, events and other phenomena that makes many peoples lives much more interesting and comfortable through the years. Psychic and astrology are all part of people's lives, this are the aspects of life that affects once decision through love or career, it depicts and steadily point to the part of every peoples journey.

Nowadays many people used astrology and psychic for business, households and even in other establishments for it's well known used, some other used it for their personal needs. Astrology is a method predicting events based upon the assumption of celestial bodies particularly planets, moon, sun and even stars that depicts the events to a persons existence. In psychic,our physical five sensory world we are often not aware of the entourage of spirit that accompanies us through our every day life. Our senses will pick up smells and sounds, and we may even see things – and we often put it down to logical reasoning. It is easy to explain away these things. Yet sometimes we do question the relevance of this things that we commemorate. Psychic and astrology makes an enormous impact to every peoples live, even though many people accept this facts that this kind of matter are present and can be useful to others who believe in it, the misconception and clarity of this things is still unknown to many.

It affects our lives in so many way, like communicating to elemental spirits and love ones that pass away using proper psychic techniques which develop and implemented through decades of research and formulation that is proven and tested by so many psychic experts, while astrology depicts love life, career, luckiness, and even bad luck and wrong misconception of life using astrological symbolism. We cannot deny that all this kind of things is really happening and present to our daily lives, that conclusively affects our beliefs and faith through generations. Being open minded to this type of phenomena and being to cope to the changes of nature makes a person lives much more better.

Becoming aware to your inner potential to connect with your highest self, and to know that you are at one with all around you. You are a spiritual being having a human experience; therefore your spiritual being is still connected to spiritual experience – including communication to the spirit world. This is a natural part of life!

Serial killers and social anxiety

The Countess Elizabeth Bathory is known in history for being the ruthless noblewoman who had hundreds of slave girls sadistically poked, cut, and bled. She did this out of the belief that their blood would sustain her youth indefinitely. While modern analysis can only begin to scratch the complex psyche of one of history's most prolific and cruel serial killers, Elizabeth Bathory is suspected by some to have had a rather bad case of social anxiety. This, some theorize, combined with her malignant narcissism and her high social status, had combined to from the figure that many would know as the “Blood Countess.”
Serial killers, according to most recent profiling techniques and psychological developments, tend to suffer from social anxiety. While by no means the only mental condition that marks the mind of a serial killer, social anxiety is nonetheless considered to be one of the more common problems of such people. Other factors, such as signs of sadism, particularly towards animals, are also cited as factors. However, there are elements in the community that believe societal pressures also exert a large effect.
Of course, social anxiety is not entirely uncommon in modern times. In fact, to some degree, most experts believe that everyone has experienced a moment of social anxiety. However, that does not make everyone in the world a potential serial killer. Social anxiety helps make a serial killer, but it is by no means the definitive sign of one. Indeed, there are several psychologists contended that while modern serial killers tend to suffer from this condition, it is arguable whether or not historical killers such as Bathory and Jack the Ripper suffered from it. After all, the fear of society in general, in theory, is a fairly recent phenomenon.
Another point here is that social anxiety may manifest differently in serial killers than from others, especially if combined with a number of other psychological disorders. For example, it was possible that Elizabeth Bathory suffered from a twisted sense of social anxiety as she was frequently obsessing over her appearance. Some recent analysts have theorized that it was not so much her actual appearance that concerned her, and more her standing amongst her fellow aristocrats at the time.
In addition, while there are hardly any pieces of evidence to support this assumption, a small group of people are starting to theorize that Jack the Ripper suffered from a form of social anxiety. There is hardly enough evidence on the Ripper's psychology to even ascertain whether Jack really was male, much less ascribe his actions to some sort of psychological disorder. Proponents of this assumption put forth that it was possible the Ripper suffered from social anxiety and had difficulty approaching more respectable women. While this is entirely plausible, it is arguable whether someone who could not approach a woman of good social standing would be able to lure a prostitute to her demise without alarming said individual.
In the end, serial killers with social anxiety are claimed to feel powerless amidst modern society's power structures and individual networks. Perhaps, in the act of capturing, killing, and mutilating their victims, the killers gain some sense of control over their lives and their place in the world. In the end, isn't knowing where one belongs in the grand hierarchy of things something that everyone seeks? Perhaps, in the end, serial killers are only seeking what everyone else is seeking, albeit in a way that the average person is unable to truly comprehend.