Glycerine, Europe and Senses

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower Drives my green age;

Dylan Thomas’s powerful portrayal of the universal life force is an apt symbol for the activity of glycerine. For what normally preserves dead tissue will usually harm life (e.g. formaldehyde, alcohol) and what generally promotes life will typically contribute to decay in the inanimate (e.g. moisture, oxygen).

Not so with glycerine. In interesting research published in the December 2003 issue of The Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Dr. Wendy Boilag and Dr. Xiangjian Zheng, researchers at the Medical College of Georgia, found that glycerine makes skin look, feel and function better by attracting moisture and by helping skin cells mature properly.

The researchers discovered glycerine’s role in skin cell maturation while studying phospholipase D, an enzyme that converts fats or lipids in the external, protective membrane. All cells have this layer, but skin cells secrete extra lipids to form a protective barrier. Says Dr. Boilag, “Think about it. If there was not some sort of barrier, when you took a bath, all the water would go into you and you would blow up like a balloon.”

This research is not news to natural soap makers who for years have been extolling the virtues of real soap over mass-produced chunks of chemicals that are cheap, but not skin-friendly. For while natural soap makers return the glycerine that is a normal by-product of the soap making process back into the soap, and often add even more, usually from vegetable oils such as coconut or other nut oils, commercial soap manufacturers remove the glycerine to add to more profitable products such as hand creams and other cosmetics.

It wasn’t until 1889 that a viable way to separate out the glycerine from soap making was discovered. In those days the primary use of glycerine was to make nitro-glycerine, which was used to make dynamite. Suddenly, commercial soap making became a lot more profitable, which gave birth to the mass manufacture of cheap soap, to the detriment of the small local soap maker.

But what exactly is glycerine? It is a sweet-tasting, colourless, viscous liquid, which can be dissolved in water or alcohol, but not oils. It is a trihydric alcohol with the chemical formula C3H5(OH)3. Glycerine (sometimes spelled “glycerin”) makes a good solvent and is highly “hygroscopic,” which means that it absorbs water readily.

Glycerine was first discovered in 1779 in the saponification (the conversion of fats into soap via the addition of an alkali such as lye) process of olive oil. Today, glycerine is found in and sourced from animal fats, vegetable oils and synthetically from petrochemicals.

The uses of glycerine are many. In addition to soap and cosmetics it is used in medicinal ointments, sometimes thickened with finely powdered starch. It is lubricating, emollient, soothing and healing to the skin. When mixed with floral waters (e.g. rose or lavender water) and borax it makes an effective wash for chapped skin. In this form glycerine is toning and astringent. When added to pills, suppositories and lozenges, glycerine will prevent them from becoming hard and mouldy. Glycerine suppositories are an excellent remedy for consistent constipation and haemorrhoids. Glycerine is antibacterial and is a valuable food preservative, being used extensively in the food processing industry. Although not quite as effective as alcohol for extracting the active ingredients in herbal tinctures, glycerine based tinctures are recommended for children or anyone wishing to avoid alcohol. Finally, to bring us back full circle to the Dylan Thomas quote, glycerine is fabulous for preserving flowers, enabling them to maintain pliability and avoiding the brittleness of air-dried flowers. Dye can be added to the glycerine solution to retain or change the original plant colour. It can take up to a week for the plants to absorb the solution, but they will then last for years. Check with your local craft supply store, bookstore or library for information on how to do this effectively. Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station has some excellent online instructions on how to preserve flowers using glycerine. The information can be downloaded from http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/hort2/mf2446.pdf. One word of caution: If you’re adding dye to the solution, don’t place the flowers in a bathroom, kitchen or any other area susceptible to moisture. The glycerine will attract this moisture. The plants will weep and you’ll have an indelible mess on your hands.

Bruce Burnett is a chartered herbalist who has also won four Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Gold awards for travel journalism. Read more of Bruce Burnett's writing on his websites:
1. http://www.globalramble.com
2. http://www.bruceburnett.ca
3. http://www.herbalcuisine.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bruce_Burnett

"Europe for the Senses: A Photographic Journal" by author, traveler, and photographer Vicki Lanes is a breathtaking collection of full-color photographs from around Europe. Images range from wildflowers to the Leaning Tower of Pisa juxtaposed against an aerial view of flying to Pisa, to Luxembourg's American Military Cemetery, and much more. Most photographs have a brief commentary in the form of text, printed in a handwriting-style font and reminiscing fond memories as well as recounting historical facts about the images that portray classic locations.
ISBN 1419629441

World traveler, Vicki Landes, portrays Europe in the most delightful way one can imagine.
I imagined the smell of the water blooms, and almost heard the pipe organ in the Fraumunster Church.
"Pisa a collection of clay-colored roofs being interrupted by a pallid square of marble structures. Contain a smirk when you ponder Pisa’s only claim to fame is an engineering failure; imagine the perplexing mixture of pride and embarrassment for its creator, knowing the world remembers you for this crooked tower too unstable to ring its own bells."
To me, Austria is one of the most beautiful countries I’ve ever been to. The photos of garden urns and fountains are magical.
Secondly, I love the Netherlands, and of course Landes added a wonderful section. She explains "Rows of colorful tulips as far as the eye can see"it’s tulip time in the Netherlands. As each flower greedily reaches for the sun, countless visitors at the Keukenhof Gardens snap pictures and purchase bulbs and seedlings." It is obvious that Landes was one of those snapping pictures. The rainbow of colors that are portrayed in the photos of "Europe for the Senses" is spectacular and the hyacinths are so true to form that I feel like putting my nose into the picture. In fact, I’m sure I can even smell the flowers!

http://www.readerviews.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Irene_Watson

"Europe for the Senses: A Photographic Journal" by author, traveler, and photographer Vicki Lanes is a breathtaking collection of full-color photographs from around Europe. Images range from wildflowers to the Leaning Tower of Pisa juxtaposed against an aerial view of flying to Pisa, to Luxembourg's American Military Cemetery, and much more. Most photographs have a brief commentary in the form of text, printed in a handwriting-style font and reminiscing fond memories as well as recounting historical facts about the images that portray classic locations.

Official Google Reader Blog: Some of our engineers don't work at Google

Official Google Reader Blog: Some of our engineers don't work at Google
Thanks God! Some of engineers don't work at all in Romania!
Blogs are public notes about one subject and particular for me, my computer face! I'm using for each computer, that have a specific job, one blog and entries mirror the operator position.
Google Reader is the tool for news until my read4me is ready. I want to post direct on the blog that article!
Great job Google team this year (please include and this)
Let's search!

SEO Plan

Basic SEO Plan includes the following:

Project Initiation Report; this includes opening the communication channels, identifying the communicators mode/ etc. Team introduction, Introduce Search Engine Marketing in detail

Site Analysis Report: This includes analyzing the client site for: Site Overview, Home page stats, to check the Links and indexes at time of project initiation, is the Page Design/s marketable, is the content on pages good enough for conversions, do site follows what Search Engine usually likes.

Competitor analysis, how they are performing so to understand the basic required thrust for Optimizing the site

Understanding client business, Services and products

To do keywords Analysis, touching the extra mile effort to bring up most relevant keyword list

Adding keywords on pages, optimizing Meta Tags Titles, descriptions and keywords

To identify pages for Text optimization

Implementing proper Site map and navigation scheme

Spotting problematic areas which Search Engine generally avoids and dealing with frames, flash and script languages

Doing Directory submissions, starting with main and open directory, category wise submissions

Reciprocal link generation with sharing value based links, following the links stats and maintaining it

Plan 2
Intermediate SEO Plan includes a proper step-wise procedure for better efficiency. It involves:

Step 1-Project Initiation Report
This includes:

A welcome Note
Introduction to Project Manager (experience, qualification (if) – for trust building)
Mention the scope of project
Introduce SEM
Communication details, like, email id’s, Chat messengers, phone numbers,
concern relation manager/personnel, call time etc.
Process flow


Step 2-Initial Site Analysis Report
This includes:

Site Overview
Nature of business
Home page
Site Dimensions, number of pages
Product/Services categories
Phrase-Specific Pages
Keyword Density
Google PageRank
Yahoo
Link Popularity
Positioning with respect to SE’s
Identifying Page Characteristics: Frames, J Scripts, Dynamic pages etc
Site Map/ Navigation Tracking
Analyzing internal links, broken links etc
Content Review (Only with reference to Optimization Procedure)
Page Design – Is the page Marketable
Checking Relevancy
Projections: give idea to client when he can expect results/activity wise
Conclusion/Summary

Step 3-Recommendations
Analysis Report is immediately followed by the Recommendations Report and is
supported by the Detailed Analysis Report.

Step 4-Project Plan for SEO Implementation
According to the Detailed Site Analysis, Recommendations, SEO team outlines the
project plan. It includes:

Project Component Time Esitmation

1) Keywords Analysis As per Site Dimensions
2) Competitor Analysis One Day
3) Initial Traffic Analysis One Day
4) Directory Submission to Major ones One Day
5) Dealing with Recommendations As per Plan/Site dimensions
6) On Page Optimization Implementation As per plan/recommended/dim
7) Link Building Campaign Ongoing Process
8) Optimize Text As per site dimensions/plan
9) PPC Bid Management (as per scope of project) As per project scope
10) Newsletter Campaigns Management
(as per scope of project) As per project scope
11) Blogging (As per scope of project) As per project scope
12) Usability and conversion As per Site Dimensions/plan
13) Analyzing Logs Ongoing
14) Monthly Progress Reports Month Ends

Step 5-Implementation of Planned Project Details

Keyword Analysis
KWA as per first approach -- As per site pages, services/products
As per client business recommendations
As per SEO point of view -- traffic, intitle, competition, etc
Page wise Keyword Analysis
KWA using SEO tactics -- spellings, small/caps, stemming, keyword combination,
removing ambiguity, KEI analysis, singular/plural, etc.
Preparing final keyword list.

Competitor Analysis
Site wise analysis
On business basis
On demographic
SEO point of view, Links, Indexed Page, Positioning on Different SEs.

Initial Traffic Analysis
Request for log files or any software
Traffic Initial Status with respect to Search Engines
Reporting (ongoing--monthly in MPRs).

Directory Submission to Major Ones
DMOZ, Yahoo, Google and MSN
Paid Submissions (if applicable)

Onpage Optimization Implementation
Meta & Description Tags
Navigation, Sitemap
Text Optimization
Page Maintenance (Ongoing)
Links
Placement of different objects/options etc.
Page updations as on requirements

Link Building Campaign
Reciprocal Links
Process of explanation
Monthly links update--reports through MPRs
Directory Submission
Category wise, as per business importance
Suggestions for paid submissions (subject to client recommendation/interest).

PPC Bid Management (as per scope of project)

Newsletter Campaigns Management (as per scope of project)

Blogging (as per scope of project)

Affiliate Program (as per scope of project)

Analyzing Logs

Usability and Conversion (it includes a meticulous eye on all details)

Dealing with Search Engine advance nature/changes
Dealing with New Search Engines, updates versions, beta versions
Implementing SEO Advance Strategies
Localized SEO (as per applicability of project scope)
Multilingual SEO

Step 6-Monthly Proegress Reports
Monthly Progress Report
Traffic Analysis
Report on Link Building status
Reports for Newsletters, Blogging, PPC, etc (as per scope of project)
Recommendations for next month

Step 7-In House Project Review
Project Manager prepares Review for in-house usage and, Client Relation Manager.
Project Audit
In-house Planning and Implementation for project handling as per Audit.

Plan three

Site Analysis
Competitor Analysis
Site Overview
Nature of business
Home page
Site Dimensions, number of pages
Product/Services categories
Phrase-Specific Pages
Keyword Density
Google Page Rank
Yahoo
Link Popularity
Positioning with respect to SE’s
Identifying Page Characteristics: Frames, J Scripts, Dynamic pages etc
Site Map/Navigation Tracking
Analyzing internal links, broken links etc
Content Review (Only with reference to Optimization Procedure)
Page Design Is the page Marketable: Checks
Checking Relevancy
Projections: give idea to client when he can expect results/activity wise
Recommendations Analysis Report immediately to be followed by Recommendations
Report, supported by detailed analysis Report.
Project plan for SEO Implementations According to Detailed Site Analysis,
Recommendations, SEO team shall outline the project plan.
Some Keyword Checking Tools: TheDowser--Overture Keyword Tool, Google Keyword Sandbox, Keyword Harvester, Google AdWords report analyzer, Google AdWords Optimization Tool, log file analyzer, conversion tracking and optimization tool.
Click , for some really useful SEO tools.

Keyword Suggestion Tools: A handy little tool will show you the results of your query from both Wordtracker and Overture for determining which phrases are searched most often. Enter a search phrase below to see how often it's searched for, as well as get suggestions for alternate (but similar) keywords.

Keyword Ranking Tool: This utility can be used to check search engines for keyword ranking and track search engine ranking for your various keywords over time, which, as you probably know, is critical when doing search engine optimization.

Topword Tool - Topword Tool is a free online tool that analyzes a complete web page and counts keyword occurrences, as well as keyword phrases (number in brackets), equal to or above that set in the Minimum Occurrences setting. It supplies a list of keywords and keyword phrases which are most likely to achieve the highest rankings on a major search engine. The tool will also analyze your meta description/keyword and title tags and then, through color coding, inform you of words/phrases which should be included. The main use for this tool is checking your optimization and tweaking existing web sites to rank well.


Tracking and analyzing logs of sites, to give you clear view of visitor movements

Sending you Daily Status Report of your project work done details

Sending Monthly Progress Reports which includes Month Progress Report about what has been done, Traffic Analysis, Report on Link Building Status and Recommendations for next month.

Get Suggestions For Phrase: Brought to you by Digital Point Solutions

comments open 21 days

Explore Your Possibilities: Chemical Nano Engineering

Explore Your Possibilities: Chemical Nano Engineering
First the obvious (that is, if you're not brainwashed by economic orthodoxy): the economy doesn't reach equilibrium. It isn't static—it's dynamic, constantly changing. And changes can happen suddenly and non-linearly. In other words, unlike a ball that you might push on a flat surface, the economy is more like pushing a ball into a series of curved surfaces and connected bowls of different heights. The track is always changing and different balls might be at different heights at different times. More on this in a bit.

Second: While most economic theories presume people will optimize and take all available information into account—we, err, I mean they—don't. We use rules of thumb: heuristics. There are volumes covering the various kinds of cognitive biases from which we suffer. And while most economists assume we are rational agents—it just ain't so. People are irrational. Whether its information cascades, fads or cults (dot-com bust, pet rocks, Jonestown massacre) for every rational person you show me, I'll dig out five irrational ones from the graveyard of folly and foible. Of course as has been said, it ain't the things we don't know that get us into trouble—it's the things we know that just ain't so.

Next: networks. All the people and all the companies interact in networks and those networks are in themselves hard to predict. Have you ever met someone you judged to be of average intellect and ability but turned out to be connected to another of great power and influence? People always wonder, "how did HE meet HIM, and how are they still friends?" Small worlds indeed and when networks morph, merge into larger ones and break-off into sub-networks, it's even harder to predict.

Once you have these networks, interesting and unpredictable things can happen. In a sand pile there is a network of potential energy, "fingers of instability" where a small input can trigger an avalanche. And that network—like a market—can change quickly and suddenly. You can also get the emergence of a phenomenon known as "emergence". Emergence is a fancy way of saying that the whole is greater than the some of the parts. Ant colonies, brains, cities, behavior in markets all exhibit this phenomenon of emergence where the constituent components give rise to higher order.

The last key principle is this: evolution. Organisms, technologies, business models, social structures all evolve. And this is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. There are a few key aspects in the process of evolutions—whether in life, inventions or ventures.

First is "variation". In life: it's via random mutation. In technology: it's via accidental discovery, intentional invention, trial and error and combination of already existing technologies.

The second aspect: once there are a variety of things, it's clear that some are better than others.

The third feature is that there's some process or algorithm of "selection". And of course the fore mentioned "better" depends on what environment or landscape the thing is performing or competing in. The fancy name for this is "fitness landscape". Think of climbing a mountain: you try to scale a local peak. When you get to the top, you might see a new peak which could even require you to descend, move to the new base and then climb again. Tiger Woods did this years ago to perfect his swing—so did IBM. And so it is with technology adoption, startup companies and even incumbent companies that can adapt and reinvent themselves.

The last key feature is amplification. Good biological designs—or good technologies or businesses benefit from positive feedback effects and get dialed up. They get amplified, attract capital, get more adopted and spread through the proverbial (or literal) gene pool. Conversely, bad ones get dialed down. They get negative feedback, lose prominence, suffer from decreased population size or even extinction.

You can use all the above to see patterns that might be emerging, note when the wisdom of the crowds breaks down and leads to information cascades with people parroting other people. You can also see how a collection of new technologies can come together to create applications that weren’t predicted.

There's one key part of this framework that I've found frustrating. Feynman famously said that for a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled. But I've realized to the unfortunate happenstance of investors: that people can be fooled—namely by other people.

Most short investors are right to predict the eventual demise of a company run by a manipulator rather than an operator. But in the short-term, under the captive spell or so-called "reality distortion fields" of such promoters, frustrating as it may be, I must admit that the promoter has economic value. He can lower the company’s cost of capital. How do you quantify that? What' that guy worth? The same thing goes with countless private ventures. Imagine a market mechanism for shorting private companies…

OPINION: NANOTECH BLOG

Keep up with me by reading my personal opinions posted to this website covering issues about the money, markets, science and undiscovered trends behind

nanotech: just click on the link below:

http://www.forbeswolfe.com

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Comments and/or information for analysis: nanotech@forbes.com Subscription and customer service issues: nanotech@forbes.com Media services and trade show requests: nanotech@forbes.com

JAN.19.2006 by Josh Wolfe (email: nanotech@forbes.com)

Pareto Principle of Optimality presume that equilibrium is at that point where don't appear more losers Real life is permanent battle on limited resources. When I'm using theories the results appear for public something like "... the probability is..."

Social Media Optimization vs. Social Media Marketing

Social Media Optimization vs. Social Media Marketing
"
In Social Media
Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Social Media Optimization (SMO) are two new phrases that popped up last year to define marketing through social media and social networking sites. There seems to be a lot of confusion about what each of them mean and what exactly they define, which is bound to happen with any new phrase.
Even when potential clients contact us there seems to be a lot of confusion between the two. I see them as two different emerging marketing techniques. When the phrase Social Media Optimization was first invented by Rohit Bhargava, some people didn't agree with the phrase and instead suggested that we rename it to SMM.
I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone though, even I am guilty of making the same mistakes; when I jumped on the original SMO meme-wagon and added some rules of my own I added one about creating viral content. I would no longer classify that rule as SMO and instead would now classify it as SMM. In my opinion creating something new is more about marketing than it is optimization. In light of this confusion, I am going to make an attempt at clarifying the two phrases.
SMO refers to the process of refining a website (optimizing it) so that it's awareness and content are easily spread through social mediums and online communities by users and visitors of the website. This can include anything done "on-page" such as improving the design and usability of the website so that it becomes more compelling to users, in an effort to help them spread it through social media sites. The simplest example of SMO is represented by all the "digg this" and "add to delicious" icons and links that are all over the web today.
SMM on the other hand plays more of an active role in relation to social media by referring to the creation and distribution of content and other messages through the social web by some form of viral marketing. This can be anything from creating compelling content that gets bookmarked and even hits digg's homepage to spreading a viral video by putting it on YouTube and other social media websites. It's about the things that are done off-site, for example, participating in online communities where your customers hang out would be an active role that falls under SMM.
In some ways the two remind me of the differences between push vs. pull marketing. But only a little bit, and I have to be careful what I say here. In a way with SMM you are actually pushing your message out there, but that's usually where the pushing stops. Once you push that message out there it should not require any more pushing. A true viral marketing campaign is so good that it spreads on it's own and people actually want to spread it, so the push usually ends with the creation and initial "planting" of the campaign. SMO is all about pulling people in with an "optimized" site and encouraging visitors to spread your content without any effort on your part. I think the clear difference between the two is that SMO refers to on-page modifications (on your website) while SMM refers to activities that take place outside of your website (on other websites). As I see it, SMO can be one of the ways to encourage SMM activities by users and visitors of your website.
I would love to hear what other people think about these ideas about social media optimization and social media marketing, does my explanation make sense to you, or do we need to go back to the drawing board?

Back in Business

For successful B2B marketing in 2007, there are three “ingredients” to keep in mind:
Paradigm shifts in the planning of marketing strategies and budgets (search engine marketing anyone?)
Establishing proper metrics to track
Studying analytics as part of the lead generation process
Paradigm Shifts in the Planning of Marketing Strategies and Budgets
I’ve already touched on this, but as B2B marketers we need to take advantage of online opportunities. A well rounded search marketing strategy involves a sponsored and organic component. Part of your marketing budget should be directed at search marketing (whether you will be outsourcing or performing it in-house). Organically speaking a site that is well optimized and ranking in the search engines can prove very effective as organic results are longer lasting. With the B2B arena involving a much more complex web of interactions between prospects and vendors, having your organization represented in the prime real estate of a search engine results page will help ensure that you are on the list of potential vendors during the selection process. The point is planning of a dedicated search marketing budget is becoming more important that ever. Still not sold on a dedicated search marketing budget? Well you can bet that your competition is doing is as search continues to gain popularity and enter the mainstream.

Establishing Proper Metrics to Track

Another key in B2B marketing in 2007 is establishing the proper metrics to track. With B2B marketing, the actual transaction represents only a small part of the entire purchase process. As a result, establishing proper metrics to track along the way is key to determining your success. These metrics can be established from:
a) Your Organization’s KPIs – the key performance indicators for your company as a whole can help determine the proper metrics that you should be tracking. Lead generation sites may have different KPIs than would an information type site.
b) Online Goals – may or may not be the same as your organization’s goals. You may have an online goal to increase traffic to your site by 20% every quarter for two years. In order to measure your site’s success, you may want to use online goals such as these to determine if your SEM strategies are returning the results that you expected.
c) Competition – Know your competition and visit their websites. They may disclose some information as to how they are measuring their success. From here you may be able to establish key metrics that you should be tracking as well.
If you are unsure whether you are tracking the proper metrics for your online success you may want to revisit the metrics and evaluate your analytics to determine if improvements are necessary.

Studying Analytics as part of the Lead Generation Process

With B2B companies, lead generation is a vital cog in the wheel that turns. It’s no secret that B2B transactions have a longer selling cycle and usually involve a higher end purchase. The amount of time a potential client researches a solution for their need can take weeks, months and even years. Therefore studying analytics as part of the lead generation process may help uncover areas of improvement for your lead generation process. Analytics can offer a wealth of knowledge providing you take time to ensure that your analytics is set up correctly and is tracking proper metrics. With proper analytics you can review items such as:
Number of repeat visitors to conversion pages
Sponsored search cost - broken down by products/services, keyword, source and campaign
Length of time spent on site
Where search visitors go on your site after leaving the ‘landing’ page or your site entirely
Search visitor form requests drop-out behavior and rates
Path analysis as an indication where potential leads are leaving the site
Geo region where the majority of site visitors are coming from (this can help you define new markets to enter or existing markets to focus on)
There is so much more that you can track though your analytics providing that you have an analytics package that is robust enough to measure what you need to measure. That in itself is the trick, “measure what you need to measure.” This recipe may not guarantee success but it will sure contribute to it. I see B2B marketing in 2007 incorporating the use of search marketing as not only a tool for promotion, but as a necessary means to improve ROI.
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