eConsultant - Usability - 15 Things That Really Annoy Most Web Users.
Learning From Lance
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMANThere is no doubt that Lance Armstrong's seventh straight victory in the Tour de France, which has prompted sportswriters to rename the whole race the Tour de Lance, makes him one of the greatest U.S. athletes of all time. What I find most impressive about Armstrong, besides his sheer willpower to triumph over cancer, is the strategic focus he brings to his work, from his prerace training regimen to the meticulous way he and his cycling team plot out every leg of the race. It is a sight to behold. I have been thinking about them lately because their abilities to meld strength and strategy - to thoughtfully plan ahead and to sacrifice today for a big gain tomorrow - seem to be such fading virtues in American life.
Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fullfillment by George Leonard
Quotable: What they're saying about Lance
'I always said the greatest time to retire for a professional athlete is when the public says, 'He could have went another year.' 'Wayne Gretzky
'... A great triumph of the human spirit, a testament not only to your athletic talent but to your courage.'
President Bush
'He is strong in the leg and the head, in the arm and the heart. He is strong inside and outside. He is so strong that there are no points or moments of weakness. He is a force of nature and of science.'
Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport
'Lance is the greatest American rider and the greatest Tour de France rider ever. Lance, he's past being a cycling person � he's moved to that superstar, rock-star status, which I think benefits the sport.'
Frankie Andreu
'He's dominated for seven years. He's a professional down to his fingertips. He's the champion of his generation, the last 10 years.'
Bernard Hinault
'With his physical and mental strength, his enthusiasm and will-power, nobody � me included � was able to hold a candle to him these past seven years.'
Jan Ullrich
'Lance brought a new level of professionalism, a different level of professionalism to the sport. ... In the way he trained, the way he paid attention to details, that would be what I would think of as Lance Armstrong's legacy to the sport of cycling.'
Bjarne Riis
Pineapple stem may combat cancer
Two molecules isolated from an extract of crushed pineapple stems have shown promise in fighting cancer growth.One molecule called CCS blocks a protein called Ras, which is defective in approximately 30% of all cancers.
The other, called CCZ, stimulates the body's own immune system to target and kill cancer cells.
It is hoped the research, carried out by Queensland Institute of Medical Research, could lead to new anti-cancer drugs.
The origin of many anti-cancer drugs can be found in nature
Dr Julie SharpThe extract studied by the scientists, bromelain, is a rich source of enzymes and is widely used as a meat tenderiser, to clarify beer and tan leather hides.
The Queensland team discovered that the extract also had pharmacological properties and could activate specific immune cells while, simultaneously, blocking the immune function of other cells.
Lead researcher Dr Tracey Mynott said: 'We suspected that different components of the crude mixture might be responsible for bromelain's biological effects.
'In searching for these components, we discovered the CCS and CCZ proteins and found that they could block growth of a broad range of tumour cells, including breast, lung, colon, ovarian and melanoma.'
New action
Both CCS and CCZ are protease enzymes, more usually associated with breaking down proteins, as in the digestive process.
Dr Mynott said it was the first time this class of enzymes had been shown to have a specific effect on the immune system.
'The way CCS and CCZ work is different to any other drug in clinical use today.
'Therefore, CCS and CCZ will represent a totally new way of treating disease and potentially a whole new class of anti-cancer agent.'
Dr Julie Sharp, at Cancer Research UK, said: 'The origin of many anti-cancer drugs can be found in nature.
'However, it's early days for t
Lance's rivals resigned to defeat
Posted: Tuesday July 19, 2005 10:21AM; Updated: Tuesday July 19, 2005 10:21AMPAU, France (AP) -- Ivan Basso is just 2 minutes, 46 seconds behind Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France. As far as the Italian rider is concerned, the race is over.
'It's not possible to beat him,' the second-place Basso said Monday as riders rested in Pau. 'I have done all I can.'
Armstrong holds a significant advantage over his closest challengers, who are running out of time with the race ending Sunday.
With a time trial on the penultimate day -- Armstrong's specialty -- Basso needs to make huge time gains in the four stages before that for an improbable comeback. Basso's Team CSC director, Bjarne Riis, also seemed resigned to finishing no higher than second.
'He has class, strength and talent,' Riis said of Armstrong. 'It's not easy to beat someone like that.'
Lance advances
Armstrong stretches lead with climb into Pyrenees
Posted: Saturday July 16, 2005 11:06AM; Updated: Saturday July 16, 2005 4:49PM
Lance fends off rivalsAX-3 DOMAINES, France (AP) -- As the Pyrenean peak loomed, the assault Lance Armstrong was bracing for finally came. Here, the six-time champion knew, was a Tour de France moment of truth.
'It's scary,' he admitted later.
Emotionless behind their wraparound shades, Armstrong's pink-shirted rivals from the German T-Mobile squad raced into the steep ascent at full pelt. The tactic was simple: Isolate Armstrong by riding so hard that his teammates would be unable to stay with the pace.
It worked. By the time T-Mobile's racers were spent, Armstrong's support crew were strewn down the road and his long-tormented challengers, including T-Mobile leader Jan Ullrich, finally had him were they wanted him -- alone on a climb. Now, it was man-to-man.
'In that situation you either fight back or you run away,' Armstrong said.
He fought, and end result was familiar: Armstrong came out on top of his main challengers in an epic stage 14, taking another step toward a seventh consecutive Tour victory.
The Diversity of the nude American Female
Retina Adapts To Seek The Unexpected, Ignore The Commonplace
Novel cues drive animal behavior; 'our thirst for novelty begins in the eye itself,' scientists say
Cambridge, Mass. - July 7, 2005 - Researchers at Harvard University have found evidence that the retina actively seeks novel features in the visual environment, dynamically adjusting its processing in order to seek the unusual while ignoring the commonplace. The scientists report in this week's issue of the journal Nature on their finding that this principle of novelty-detection operates in many visual environments.
'Apparently our thirst for novelty begins in the eye itself,' says Markus Meister, the Jeff C. Tarr Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. 'Our eyes report the visual world to the brain, but not very faithfully. Instead, the retina creates a cartoonist's sketch of the visual scene, highlighting key features while suppressing the less interesting regions.'
These findings provide evidence that the ultimate goal of the visual system is not simply to construct internally an exact reproduction of the external world, Meister and his colleagues write in Nature. Rather, the system seeks to extract from the onslaught of raw visual information the few bits of data that are relevant to behavior. This entails the discarding of signals that are less useful, and dynamic retinal adaptation provides a means of stripping from the visual stream predictable and therefore less newsworthy signals.
2005 Online Exhibition
The Origins and Common Usage of British Swear-words
Studies bolster evidence linking lots of TV with poor academics
By Lindsey Tanner
The Associated PressCHICAGO � Too much TV-watching can harm children's ability to learn and even reduce their chances of getting a college degree, three new studies suggest in the latest effort to examine the effects of television on kids.
Critics faulted the research for not adequately considering the content of the TV watched, but experts said it bolsters advice that children shouldn't have TVs in their rooms.
The separate findings were published yesterday in the July issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
One of the studies involved nearly 400 Northern California third-graders. Those with TVs in their bedrooms scored about eight points lower on math and language-arts tests than children without TVs in their rooms.
A second study, looking at nearly 1,000 adults in New Zealand, found lower education levels among 26-year-olds who had watched lots of TV during childhood.
A third study, by University of Washington researchers, found that children who watched more than three hours of television daily before age 3 scored slightly worse on academic and intelligence tests at ages 6 and 7 than youngsters who watched less TV.
The studies took into account other factors that might have influenced the outcome, such as household income.
But they largely ignored research that 'found positive associations between children's educational-TV viewing and subsequent academic achievement,' according to an Archives editorial.
'Reliable and valid estimates of viewing, including content-based measures, are critical to our understanding of the effects of TV on young children, especially children younger than age 2 years,' the editorial said.
Previous research has linked television exposure in young
Notes - Just read about Resistance and then Do Your Work
01. Resistance is invisible.
02. Resistance is internal.
03. Resistance is insidious.
04. Resistance is implacable.
05. Resistance is impersonal.
06. Resistance is infallible.
07. Resistance is universal.
08. Resistance never sleeps.
09. Resistance plays for keeps.
10. Resistance is fueled by fear.
11. Resistance only opposes in one dierction.
12. Resistance is most powerful at the finish line.
13. Resistance recruits allies.
14. Procrastination is the most common manisfestation of Resistance.
15. Resistance can become a habit.
16. Geeting ourselves into trouble is a sign of Resistance.
17. Self-dramatization is a sign of Resistance.
18. Self-medication is a sign of Resistance.
19. Victimhood is a sign of Resistance.
20. Resistance influences our choice of our mate.
21. Resistance feels like unhappiness; addiction; and then, clinical.
22. Resistance causes you to criticize outhers.
23. Resistance can take the form of wild self-confidence.
24. Resistance is experienced as fear.
25. Resistance is directly proportional to love.
26. Grandiose fantasies are a symptom of Resistance.
27. Workshops and support groups are Resistance.
28. Rationalization is Resistance's right-hand man.
29. Resistance can be beaten.
Famous Birthdays on July 03
John Singleton Copley was born on 3rd of July in 1738.
George M. Cohan was born on 3rd of July in 1878.
Franz Kafka was born on 3rd of July in 1883.
Ken Russell was born on 3rd of July in 1927.
Pete Fountain was born on 3rd of July in 1930.
Tom Stoppard was born on 3rd of July in 1937.
Betty Buckley was born on 3rd of July in 1947.
Dave Barry was born on 3rd of July in 1947.
Alan Autry was born on 3rd of July in 1952.
Montel Williams was born on 3rd of July in 1956.
Laura Branigan was born on 3rd of July in 1957.
Thomas Gibson was born on 3rd of July in 1962.
Tom Cruise was born on 3rd of July in 1962.
Taylor Dayne was born on 3rd of July in 1963.
Video gamers may have quicker eyes
By Amy NortonFri Jul 1, 2:57 PM ET
Video game players may spend a lot of time on the couch, but when they're ready to go out they can find their keys quicker than the rest of us, a study suggests.
Researchers found that gamers who devote much of their free time to Grand Theft Auto and Super Mario may be able to scan their environment and spot the target of their search more quickly than non-gamers can.
In experiments with college students who were either hard-core video game players or novices, the researchers found that players were quicker to detect target objects on a busy computer screen than their peers were.
The findings, published in the journal Acta Psychologica, suggest that the vigilant watchfulness video games require makes for quicker visual processing.
Gamers' brains don't appear to have any specialized search strategy, they're just faster, explained lead study author Dr. Alan Castel, a post-doctorate fellow in psychology at Washington University in St. Louis.
Specifically, both groups of students were similar when it came to the search principle of 'inhibition of return.' According to Castel, this means that when people look for their keys, they look in one place, and if the keys aren't there, they will look in a number of other spots before giving the original location a second go-around.
In the experiments, he told Reuters Health, video gamers used the same search strategy as non-gamers did. 'They just executed it faster,' he said.
What this means for real life is uncertain. The advantage video game players held over their peers was on the order of 100 milliseconds, Castel noted.
It's possible, though, that a gamer's speedier visual processing could make the difference between, for example, crashing a car and averting an accident, according
The Wisdom of Teams by Jon Katzenbach and Douglas Smith
Team : A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.
I think every project should begin with the Project Leader making sure that all team members understand this definition completely.
Famous Birthdays on July 02
Hermann Hesse was born on 2nd of July in 1877.
Thurgood Marshall was born on 2nd of July in 1908.
Dan Rowan was born on 2nd of July in 1922.
Wislawa Szymborska was born on 2nd of July in 1923.
Medgar Evers was born on 2nd of July in 1925.
Imelda Marcos was born on 2nd of July in 1929.
Carlos Saul Menem was born on 2nd of July in 1930.
Dave Thomas was born on 2nd of July in 1932.
Richard Petty was born on 2nd of July in 1937.
Vincente Fox was born on 2nd of July in 1942.
Helen Mirren was born on 2nd of July in 1946.
Ron Silver was born on 2nd of July in 1946.
Jose Canseco was born on 2nd of July in 1964.
Jos� Canseco was born on 2nd of July in 1964.
Michelle Branch was born on 2nd of July in 1983.
Lindsay Lohan was born on 2nd of July in 1986.
Starting July 2, Lance Armstrong goes for a record-breaking 7th consecutive Tour de France victory, and no one gets you closer to the yellow jersey than SIRIUS. 'The fans have been so supportive of me over the years,' says Armstrong, 'and having them along for my last race will make this experience that much more special.'
Throughout the Tour, SIRIUS will have exclusive behind-the-scenes reports from Lance himself and Armstrong Radio co-host Mark Higgins that you'll only hear on SIRIUS. You'll get a firsthand account of every aspect of the most demanding race in professional cycling as well as commentary from the man who has dominated the sport for the last six years.New Lance in France reports air at 4:00 pm ET every race day on SIRIUS Faction // Ch. 28 and are re-broadcast at 8:00pm and the following day at 8:00am and 12:00pm.
Famous Birthdays on July 01
George Sand (Amandine Lucie Aurore Dupin) was born on 1st of July in 1804.
Charles Laughton was born on 1st of July in 1899.
Olivia De Havilland was born on 1st of July in 1916.
Olivia DeHavilland was born on 1st of July in 1916.
Leslie Caron was born on 1st of July in 1931.
Jean Marsh was born on 1st of July in 1934.
Sydney Pollack was born on 1st of July in 1934.
Jamie Farr was born on 1st of July in 1934.
Jean Marsh was born on 1st of July in 1934.
Twyla Tharp was born on 1st of July in 1941.
Genevieve Bujold was born on 1st of July in 1942.
Karen Black was born on 1st of July in 1942.
Deborah Harry was born on 1st of July in 1945.
Dan Aykroyd was born on 1st of July in 1952.
Alan Ruck was born on 1st of July in 1956.
Carl Lewis was born on 1st of July in 1961.
Diana was born on 1st of July in 1961.
Michelle Wright was born on 1st of July in 1961.
Princess Diana was born on 1st of July in 1961.
Andre Braugher was born on 1st of July in 1962.
Pamela Anderson was born on 1st of July in 1967.
Pamela Anderson Lee was born on 1st of July in 1967.
Missy Elliott was born on 1st of July in 1971.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy was born on 1st of July in 1976.
Liv Tyler was born on 1st of July in 1977.
Thriving in 24/7 by Sally Helgesen
1. Start at the core.
2. Learn to ZigZag.
3. Create your own work (even if you stay in your job).
4. Weave a strong web of inclusion.
5. Build a clear brand.
6. Practice the rhythm of renewal.
