Show 579

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Computer Games Genres — Something For Everyone
By Gabriel J. Adams

Just like songs, movies and basically any other form of entertainment that you might imagine, video games are divided into different categories, commonly referred to as genres. Not surprisingly, the bounds and criteria that apply for each genre are not strictly defined; thus, it is not uncommon that genre types might overlap or that a game belongs to more than one genre. Considering all the above, it is still possible to define some standard genres; below you will find some of the most popular ones along with their main characteristics.

Fighting games: Have you ever had the chance to play Street-Fighter? Well, if so, then this is the perfect sample to be used when describing what fighting games are all about. In fighting games you usually have to destroy your opponent (either human or computer) using martial arts, superpower movements or even handheld guns(less commonly). Some of the most popular fighting games are Street-Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Virtua Fighter, Soul Calibour and Tekken.

First Person Shooters (FPS): This is one of the most popular game genres. In FPS games you are usually impersonating a game character and you are navigating through a virtual world from the point of view of the character. This means that usually your screen is located to the position where your characters head is supposed to be; usually, you can only see the hands of your character. FPS games have a great emphasis on guns and action; whether it is a futuristic plasma blaster, a knife, a grenade or a common AK-47, chances are that if you play an FPS game you will also be holding something that kills. Apart from that, FPS games also show a great emphasis on online multiplayer modes; there is almost no FPS game nowadays that doesn’t support some type of multiplayer mode. Some popular FPS games are Half-Life/Counterstrike, Quake4, DOOM3, Painkiller etc.

Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG): Those are games aimed at creating a virtual environment where thousands of players are able to play and interact with each other in real time, inside the virtual world. Popular games of this genre are: World Of Warcraft, Lineage, Neverwinter nights etc. Simulations: Those are games where you are usually handling a vehicle; whether it is a car, an aircraft or a space rocket, you are usually assigned with special tasks that you need to accomplish in order to advance to the next levels. Popular simulation games are Falcon 4.0, Ace combat, MS Train Simulator, Trainz etc.

Finally, Strategy games are games where (as the name suggests) you have to use your strategic abilities in order to defeat your enemy. In most strategy games, you can create new buildings build new troops and research new technologies. Although there are games that fall into this category that do not really require much brains, some titles require some really sophisticated movements in order to win. Popular strategy games are StarCraft: Brood War, Warcraft3 and Age of Empires.

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Show 578
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Something From Nothing
By William Frank Diedrich

To make something from nothing is what visionaries do. In the 1970′s few entrepreneurs were looking for opportunities in Bangladesh. What opportunities could be created with millions of poverty stricken people? Yet one man saw something in what appeared to be nothing to most people. His name is Muhammad Yunus, and he founded the Grameen Bank. Dr. Yunus, an economist, and his bank have been awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. How and why did a banker win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize? He won the award because he made something from nothing.

Dr. Yunus began Grameen Bank by loaning $ 27 to a poor bamboo stool maker and 41 other desperately poor villagers in Bangladesh in 1975. A whole new industry of micro credit, loaning small amounts of money to poverty stricken people, was born. As of August, 2006, Grameen has loaned over 6 billion dollars to over 6.6 million borrowers, 96 percent of them women. Interest rates on Grameen’s loans are about 16 percent, and 98 percent of them are repaid. (Typical independent money lenders in poor countries charge 50 percent.) Grameen now employs over 17,000 people.

As Grameen has grown, hundreds of other micro credit institutions have been created to serve the world’s poorest people. This year 3110 institutions have made loans to 82 million of the poorest people in the world.

This bottom up economic growth in Bangladesh has had an impact on other factors. CCN Matthews News Distribution reports “…the 20 largest micro finance institutions in Bangladesh reach 21 million clients affecting 105 million family members in a country of 140 million. According to UNICEF, the number of deaths of children under five per 1,000 live births has fallen from 239 per thousand in 1970 to just 77 per thousand in 2004 and the fertility rate in Bangladesh has fallen from 6.4 in 1970 to 3.2 in 2004.”

Grameen has proved that money can be made when lending to the poor, thus giving the world’s banks incentives to focus on the weakest links in society. This approach ensures inclusive growth so that virtually everyone may have access to finance.

The Grameen model is based on peer pressure. Money is loaned to individuals in groups. If one person defaults, the whole group is cut off from further credit. If someone is behind in their payments, the group members apply social pressure or help the person pay in order to keep the group’s credit standing high.

Grameen Bank is an example of a business that truly serves its customers through loans and other programs that help people to gain prosperity, end poverty and suffering, and increase the quality of life for the community at large. Less poverty and suffering decreases the tendencies toward violence, terrorism, wars, and disease often found rampant in poorer countries.

Dr. Yunus teaches us the power of a vision. He envisioned that he could help millions of people who had no collateral to develop and grow their visions. As a result tens of millions have started businesses, gone to school, and purchased housing that never would have been available to them without Grameen and the micro credit movement. While much of the world dismisses poor people as a problem to be solved someday, Dr. Yunus envisions real people with dreams and abilities. “I believe in the capacity and capability of human beings,” he states. “Handouts take away initiative and help maintain poverty. If you give a woman a loan worth about $75 to buy a cow, she can start selling the milk. She might make about $2.50 a week. Her installment payment on the loan would be about 50 cents. So the other $2 could be used to buy food and other necessities. As amazing as it sounds to people in the world’s rich nations, $2 a week can mean a lot in Bangladesh.”

Poverty is a problem that social programs have been unable to solve. In 1975 Bangladesh had recently fought a civil war and experienced a famine. It’s future looked bleak. Poverty was rampant. Dr. Yunus came up with a solution to poverty for millions of people that cost no tax money, required no government programs, and that inspired people to take personal responsibility. He created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity.

Every individual has an imagination. Every employee has an imagination. There are ideas, solutions, and possibilities, some small, and some great. We are quick to dismiss people who seem unimportant and ideas that seem impossible or not sensible. Instead of thinking of all the reasons why something cannot happen, how about asking the question: “How can it happen?” How about asking: “What are the possibilities here?”

In summary, Dr. Yunus shows us the following:

• Everyone is important and has something to offer.

• Your ability to see someone as capable and successful can uplift them.

• Something can be made from nothing. Thirty years ago poverty stricken people had no access to credit except through usurious money lenders. Today millions are thriving because of micro credit. Where others saw hopelessness and despair, Dr. Yunus envisioned growth.

• People are motivated by meaning. Dr. Yunus has treated each “poor” person as “someone”. His actions have created meaning in the lives of millions of people.

• Tendencies toward conflict and violence are reduced when people find meaning in what they do and who they are. Graneen and micro credit are a positive influence for peace.

• Believing in your self and in your vision combined with courageously taking action can lead to great success. Dr. Yunus did what no one had done before. He broke through the prevailing assumptions of the financial world (that poor people are not good credit risks) and consequently created a positive impact on the lives of millions of people.

• This is great leadership–doing well while doing good.

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Show 577
Brad is still freezing his buns off in Wisconsin. So Jill and Chaz take the mic.

Jazz gets a little cross ways about speed traps and holiday traffic.
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- Two Blind Squirrels

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Many law enforcement agencies are stretched too thin with not enough officers. Much of the reason is because after 9/11 many new federal agencies and existing ones went on a hiring binge. This made it tougher on local law enforcement agencies to hire people at the same standards. In fact, it even made it tough on security guard companies to hire people, because anyone who was able to pass the TSA or federal tests went to go get a job with the federal government at a much higher pay scale with great benefits.

This meant that there was competition in law enforcement agencies for the amount they had to pay to attract the caliber of person that they needed to do the job. Since 9/11 the problem is still there and recently if you’ll recall the federal government set out to hire at another 10,000 to 12,000 Border Patrol Agents.

The United States Army was able to meet its recruiting goal this year because Americans want to help the country. However, many of the people that were hired by the United States Army and the United States military may have also been candidates to work in law enforcement at the local, state and federal levels.

Another issue is the shortages that are in the correctional facility category. Most state and federal prisons note that they need more people. In fact you will notice that there are plenty of job openings for highway patrol, prison guards, police departments, Department of Justice, border patrol and many other federal agencies right now.

The law enforcement agencies are stretched very thin for labor and it is very hard for them to make up the demand. If you are looking for a job in law enforcement you might find yourself with a very good pay scale and excellent benefits as well. Perhaps you might consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” – Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance in the Online Think Tank and solve the problems of the World; www.WorldThinkTank.net/Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow

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Show 576
Do you prefer big big news (pregnancy, new house, moving, divorce) before, on, or after Christmas ?

Interesting Websites:

• http://www.adventures.org/
• http://annebarron.myadventures.org/index.asp?filename=community-living&bookmark=true#comments
• http://www.raisethisup.com/
• http://briennacaldwell.theworldrace.org/
• http://www.wayofthemaster.com/

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How to Feed Your Mind
By Mazen Al-Angary

If you read most of your daily news over feed readers or RSS aggregators, then skip this article and go do something else.

The reason why I am writing about RSS feeds, is because of how great I personally think this way of keeping your self on top of thing is. If you think that reading newspapers is the best way to get news, think again, you have to keep in mind that newspapers provide readers with news that are a day or at best a couple of hours late, so it’s stale news by the time you read it.

In the US, some magazine publications have shrank there copy sizes dramatically, removing the news sections, simply because their readers know about the news before the publication hits the news stands. Now most publications provide their own take and opinions on those news articles instead of running the headlines, simply because it’s a waste of ink, paper, and time.

I have been using feed aggregators for years now, and people tend to get a shock to see how updated I am when it comes to the latest news, I would surprise anyone when I start talking about the latest tech news, a day or two later they call me up telling me, “you’re right, I have just read this in the newspaper”.

You see man-kind is advancing in numerous ways, ways we never even dreamt of, take blogs and the way they have evolved, or listening to podcasts, and how much fun and informative they became. But I will address both on a later article, now let’s focus on RSS.

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Show 575

• Chaz looses the ability to read more than two sentences at a time
• Plate of nuts

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Analyze the Product Mix Just Like a Bowl of Nuts
By Larry Galler

While at a party I found myself next to an intriguing bowl of delicious mixed nuts cashews, walnuts, peanuts, and pistachios. As long as I can remember, I have been addicted to those tasty morsels yet they conflict with my dietary goal, so I grabbed a handful and moved away quickly while congratulating myself on my discipline. My favorites are the cashews and pistachios. The next time I looked at that bowl I estimated that about 40% of the nuts were cashews and 5% pistachios so, in the interest of scientific inquiry, I grabbed another handful and moved away quickly. Instead of ingesting the whole handful at once, this time I opened my hand, counted and found my estimate was correct and then ate them all (after all I had touched them).

Since business issues are always on my mind I started thinking about the concept of product mix and wondered how the nut company developed their formula for putting the most attractive mixture together to entice prospects yet balancing the cost of the various varieties to create a profitable product. This, of course, led me to think about the product mix in a business.

Every business has some products (or product categories) that return higher profit, greater sales volume, greater sales per sq. ft., or sales per hour. Others do far less for the bottom line. Some may be complete losers, costing the business because of low sales, high support expense, or the need for extra effort in sales or production. They should be removed from the product mix unless there is a compelling reason to retain them.

Unless the product mix is analyzed frequently a business will often keep the losing products or product categories and profitability is lost. The solution is to develop a method of analyzing sales and profits against costs and effort and then remove or minimize the investment in those that do not perform to a minimum standard. That way you have more cashews and pistachios (more profitable products) in the product mix and a more addictive, tastier snack (profitable business).

Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the long-running (every Sunday since November 2001) business column, “Front Lines with Larry Galler” Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.larrygaller.com Questions??? Send an email to larry@larrygaller.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Larry_Galler

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