Health Care for a Changing Work Force

Big institutions are often slow to awaken to major social transformations. Microsoft was famously late to grasp the importance of the Internet. American auto manufacturers were slow to identify the demand for fuel-efficient cars. And today, the United States government is making a similar mistake: it still doesn’t seem to recognize that Americans no longer work the way they used to.

Today, some 42 million people — about a third of the United States work force — do not have jobs in the traditional sense. They fall into a catchall category the government calls “contingent” workers. These people — independent contractors, freelancers, temp workers, part-timers, people between jobs — typically work on a project-to-project basis for a variety of clients, and most are outcasts from the traditional system of benefits that provide economic security to Americans. Even as the economy has changed, employment benefits are still based on an outdated industrial-era model in which workers are expected to stay with a single company for years, if not their whole careers.

The industrial-era model of employer-based health care no longer applies.

For most of the 20th century, it was efficient to link benefits to jobs this way. But today, more and more work falls outside the one-to-one, employee-to-employer relationship. Work is decentralized, workers are mobile, and working arrangements are fluid. However, the risks of life haven’t gone away: people still need protections. They just need a different system to distribute them. They need benefits that they can carry around, like their laptops. As things stand, millions of independent workers go without health and unemployment insurance, protection against discrimination and unpaid wages, and pension plans. It makes no sense.

One of the social innovators to recognize this problem early and act on it was Sara Horowitz, the founder of the Freelancers Union, which has more than 165,000 members across all 50 states. At Fixes, we highlight practical applications of ideas that have the potential to achieve widespread impact. That means looking at how ideas take root in institutions that become part of the fabric of society.

In the early 20th century, a landscape of new institutions — including the early labor unions and hundreds of civil society organizations like Rotary International, the Boy and Girl Scouts, and the N.A.A.C.P. — reshaped the American landscape. Today, the Freelancers Union offers a glimpse of the kind of social enterprise — mission-driven and pragmatic, market-savvy and cooperative — that is likely to proliferate in the coming years to meet the needs of a fast-changing work force and society.

Horowitz had been a labor lawyer and union organizer when, in the early 1990s, she recognized that the number of people turning to independent work was on the rise. It was also clear that institutions had not yet been built to represent them in any meaningful way. (On one occasion, Horowitz found herself misclassified by an employer as an independent contractor — and quickly discovered that she received no job benefits.) Horowitz had the idea to create an organization to bring freelancers together so they could wield their power in the marketplace and in the political arena, much like AARP does for retirees.

She quickly discovered that their biggest concern was the cost of health insurance. But there were other problems, too. Unlike traditional workers who receive unemployment benefits, independent contractors have to rely on their own resources to get through hard times. In 2009, Freelancers Union surveyed 3,000 members and found that more than 80 percent had gone jobless or underemployed during the year. More than 60 percent had used their credit cards or borrowed from friends and family to make ends meet, and 12 percent had to turn to food stamps. Close to 40 percent had given up, or downgraded, their health insurance protection.

Another problem was getting paid. Some companies, like Time Inc., actually charge freelancers penalties if they request payment within 25 days. Freelancers Union found that 77 percent of its members had been cheated by a client during their careers and 40 percent had had trouble getting paid in 2009. The average wage loss was $6,000. The Department of Labor protects traditional workers from unpaid wages, but freelancers have no equivalent recourse. Then there were difficulties obtaining mortgages, the lack of access to 401(k) plans, and other issues.

An insurance provider that stays viable by not seeking to maximize profits.

Horowitz saw that she could attract a large membership if she could figure out how to provide health insurance at lower cost. Health insurance companies don’t have much love for freelancers. They prefer to serve large groups because it’s easier to deal with one corporate benefits manager than a multitude of individuals. And because insurers often lack reliable information about independent workers, they tend to assume that they are risky. As a result, premiums in the open marketplace for health insurance are higher and more volatile than those for employees. (The Affordable Care Act is designed to address this problem beginning in 2014 by subsidizing private insurance, but it applies only to people with low and moderate incomes.)

Horowitz got the idea of grouping freelancers in New York State so they could purchase their health insurance together. It made sense in theory, but it had never been done. She worked closely with officials in Albany, notably Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, who was a strong ally, and Gregory Serio, the former superintendent of insurance for New York State, who had the authority to grant approval for “discretionary” insurance groups.

“A lot of health insurers have looked at individual and sole proprietors as very expensive and risky to underwrite,” explained Serio. “Sara was able to foresee a trend [in the rise of independent work] before a lot of other people did. She went and found out that these people were not bad risks. Her creativity was in using existing concepts of insurance risk sharing and applying it to a community that has been ignored by the marketplace and, in fact, almost vilified by the marketplace.”

Serio and Horowitz made an interesting team. “I was a conservative Republican from Nassau County working for George Pataki,” he told me. “And she was my liberal friend from Brooklyn.” But Serio found the idea of protecting freelancers appealing because his father had been a dentist who operated out of a second-floor walk-up office on Jamaica Avenue, in Woodhaven, Queens. “I grew up in a sole proprietor household,” he said. “If my father didn’t work, he didn’t get paid. And I knew what it was like seeing health insurance rates go up and up.”

Today, the Freelancers Insurance Company (F.I.C.), which is wholly owned by the Freelancers Union (a nonprofit), has revenues of roughly $100 million and covers 25,000 independent workers and their family members in New York State, offering them premiums that the company calculates are more than a third below the open market rate. Close to 60 percent of its clients were previously uninsured or on COBRA (a temporary extension of their previous insurance). The renewal rate last year was 97 percent. (Disclosure: I have purchased health insurance from F.I.C. for a number of years.) The company was financed with $17 million in loans and grants from social investors, including the Rockefeller Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the New York City Investment Fund. “Our freelancers have access to the best doctors and hospitals,” says Horowitz. “We have skilled human resource people, just like Fortune 500 companies. We’re able to watch out for our members.”

How can the F.I.C. undercut market rates and still be a viable enterprise? The key is that while it seeks to be profitable, it does not seek to maximize profits. Its executives receive salaries that are below industry averages, and it has only one shareholder (the Freelancers Union) to satisfy. Those are fundamental differences. Silver, who is the speaker of the State Assembly, notes that the success of the F.I.C. makes it more difficult for traditional insurers to contend that they can’t deliver insurance at lower cost. “Duplicating the model and showing the ability of [the F.I.C.] to keep costs under control is something that we will be looking at,” he adds.

Like many social goods, health insurance is often seen through a binary lens: either it must be handled by the government or it must be handled by the free market. But the F.I.C. is demonstrating that a middle way can work, too, and that it may be preferable to provide vital services like insurance through social-benefit companies, at least to certain customer groups. In fact, the Affordable Care Act has a provision to finance a new type of nonprofit health insurance company that would be run by its customers. It would be called a Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan (CO-OP). The Freelancers Union has proposed to establish CO-OPs in Florida, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington.

Because the F.I.C. has a close connection with freelancers, it can be more effective helping its members make good health care decisions. “We’re moving away from fee-for-service medicine to one where a primary care doctor aggressively coordinates care,” explains Horowitz. “We’re also trying to innovate with alternative care — promoting meditation, yoga, and nutrition which can have long-term beneficial effects.” In 2012, the organization will be opening up the Brooklyn Freelancers Medical Practice, a health center modeled on the medical-home approach and designed in partnership with a physician named Rushika Fernandopulle, who pioneered a team-based model of care that is attracting attention across the country.

For now, the United States government doesn’t keep an accurate count of the independent work force. This is an oversight. It appears likely that this way of working will continue to grow. In cities with concentrations of knowledge workers, you find a proliferation of co-working spaces designed specifically for freelancers. And online marketplaces for freelancers like Etsy, oDesk and Elance are expanding rapidly.

Source : http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/health-care-for-a-changing-work-force/?hp

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How to get a teenager to do your laundry... the invention that combines an arcade game and a washing machine

The time-consuming and mundane chore of laundry could soon be banished to history, with an invention that harnesses the power of our own competitiveness.

Lee Wei Chen, a 27-year-old student at Kingston University, London, has invented a fiendishly clever combination of a video game and a washing machine.

Housed in the classic arcade-game cabinet, the top half is a challenging coin-operated driving game, while the bottom half is a front-loading washer.



Even if it was just a novel way to pass the time as the washing machine ran through it's yle, Mr Chen's idea would be a worthy one.

But wait, as advertisers say, there's more.

Mr Chen, originally from Taiwan, has linked the circuitry of the two machines, so the washing cycle is dependent on the proficiency of the gamer.

Nail the game's various levels, with a decent score and without losing precious lives, and the laundry will be done in no time at all.

Washing away a chore: Lee Wei Chen, 27, a student at Kingston University, London, hopes his invention lands him a design job in the UK

But, if you stink at the game, your clothes will stink too.

The washing machine will stop wherever it is in it's cycle, and it will refuse to start up again until the gamer adds more money and continues to play.

The idea came to Mr Chen after he realised he had been wasting a good portion of his 27 years playing video games.

He said: 'I realised that the skills I had developed in the virtual world were useless in the real world. I wanted to make them useful.'

The gaming element of the machine might also be a clever away around the fact that, by his own admission, Mr Chen has no idea how to use a modern washing machine's programmes.

Despite its novelty value, Mr Chen takes his playable washing machine seriously, hoping it will snag him a job as a designer or engineer in the UK.

Colin Holden, Mr Chen's design course leader at Kingston, said: 'This is a big and original idea, examining the possibility of transporting the enjoyment and skills of electronic gaming into the more mundane world of practical electronic devices.

'He’s chosen two instantly recognisable objects - a washing machine and an arcade game - to illustrate this idea. Together the two objects produce a striking new electronic device.

'It’s an extremely well-executed design concept.'

Parents may have difficulty getting their children out of the laundry - but at least their clothes will be very clean.

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History 15 Interesting Women of Ancient Rome

Women in ancient Rome were not allowed any direct role in politics. Nevertheless, women often took on powerful roles behind the scenes, whether in the realm of their own family, or in the elite world of government. Here’s a list of some of the most influential and memorable ancient Roman women.

15. Aurelia Cotta

Aurelia Cotta, who lived from 120 to 54 BC, was the mother of Julius Caesar. Her husband died young, and before that, was away most of the time, so she was the one in charge of raising Caesar along with his two sisters (both named Julia – one the future grandmother of Augustus). She and her family lived in the Subura, a working class district in Rome, which was unusual for a highborn patrician family. She also raised Caesar’s daughter Julia after his wife Cornelia Cinna died. Aurelia was considered intelligent and independent. When Caesar was nearly executed at age 18 by the dictator Sulla, for refusing to divorce Cornelia Cinna, it was Aurelia who intervened. She headed a petition to Sulla that succeeded in saving her son’s life.

14. Lucilla

Lucilla was born around 150 AD, to the emperor Marcus Aurelius. She married her father’s co-ruler Lucius Verus at about age 14. After Lucius Verus died, Lucilla remarried, and traveled with her second husband and Marcus Aurelius during his Danube military campaign. It was during this time that Marcus Aurelius died, and Commodus became emperor. Commodus’ actions while emperor became increasingly disturbing, and an assassination plot was hatched by Lucilla, her nephew, her daughter, and two cousins. Lucilla planned to take over as empress afterwards, but the scheme failed. As her nephew attempted to stab Commodus, he shouted, “Here is the dagger the senate sends you!” This was ample warning to Commodus’ guards. The male members of the plot were immediately put to death, while Lucilla, her daughter, and cousin were banished to Capri. However, Commodus had them executed also a year later, in 182 AD. A character based on Lucilla appears in the movie Gladiator.

13. Cornelia Africana

Cornelia Africana was the daughter of Scipio Africanus, famous for his victory against Hannibal in the Second Punic War. She died at age 90 in 100 BC, and was remembered by the Romans as an exemplar of virtue. Out of the 12 children she had, only Sempronia, Tiberius Gracchus, and Gaius Gracchus survived. When her husband died, she did not remarry, and took over the education of her children. When Tiberius and Gaius became involved in controversy because of their populist political reforms, they never lost the support of their mother. Eventually, she lost both her sons when they were killed on different occasions at the hands of the conservative senate. When Cornelia herself died, a statue was dedicated to her. Over time, Cornelia became an increasingly idealized figure, with emphasis switching from her own education and rhetorical skills to her image as the perfect Roman mother.

12. Hortensia

Hortensia was an orator who made her biggest impact with a speech she gave before the Second Triumvirate (Mark Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus) in 42 BC. At this time, the Second Triumvirate was at war with Brutus and Cassius, among others of Caesar’s assassins. They killed the rich and confiscated their property to raise money, but still did not have sufficient revenue. To this end, they decided to impose a tax on almost 1500 wealthy Roman women. Not having any say in politics themselves, the women were furious at being taxed for a war they had nothing to do with. The women arrived at the forum with Hortensia as a representative to make a speech to the triumvirs. Here’s a quote from her speech:

“You have already deprived us of our fathers, our sons, our husbands, and our brothers, whom you accused of having wronged you; if you take away our property also, you reduce us to a condition unbecoming our birth, our manners, our sex. Why should we pay taxes when we have no part in the honors, the commands, the state-craft, for which you contend against each other with such harmful results? ‘Because this is a time of war,’ do you say? When have there not been wars, and when have taxes ever been imposed on women, who are exempted by their sex among all mankind?”

Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus, were not pleased by this display, but were unable to get Hortensia to leave the rostra. Eventually, they agreed to tax only 400 women and to borrow the rest from men.

11. Livilla

Livilla was born in 13 BC, and was the sister of the emperor Claudius. Just as Claudius was constantly derided by his mother, his sister was also extremely contemptuous of him. Livilla expected to one day become empress after she married Augustus’ grandson Gaius, but Gaius was killed. Livilla’s fame comes mainly from her affair with Sejanus, and attempt with him to take power. Sejanus was the praetorian prefect of the emperor Tiberius. When Tiberius abandoned Rome for his infamous island adventures at Capri, Sejanus began gaining more and more power, eliminating his opponents. Livilla was at this time married to Tiberius’ son Drusus. When he died, no one suspected anything, but it was later discovered that Livilla and Sejanus had poisoned him. The two planned to marry, but Livilla’s mother wrote to Tiberius that they were attempting to overthrow him. Sejanus was sentenced to death, and he along with his children and followers were murdered. As for Livilla, Dio says that Tiberius left her fate up to her mother Antonia the Younger, who chose to lock her daughter in a room until she starved to death. A “condemnation of memory” was voted for Livilla, so today it is difficult to identify possible portraits of her.

10. Helena

Helena was born around 250 AD. It is thought that she first lived in Drepanum, later called Helenopolis. Saint Ambrose said she was stabularia, which can mean either innkeeper or stable maid. It is possible that she met the future emperor Constantius while he was fighting a campaign in Asia Minor. The story goes that when Constantius saw that they were wearing the same bracelet, he decided it was a sign they should marry. Some sources refer to Helena as the emperor’s concubine, while others say they were officially married. In any case, Constantius eventually left Helena for a woman of higher birth. Helena’s son by Constantius was Constantine, who would become the first Christian emperor. Helena found what was believed to be the True Cross and other relics while in Jerusalem. She was famous for her kindness, and is considered today to be a saint.

9. Servilia Caepionis

The half sister of Cato the Younger, the mistress of Caesar, the mother in law of Cassius, and the mother of Brutus, Servilia was influential through her connections to many famous Romans. Her parents died when she was young, and she and her siblings were brought up by their uncle Livius Drusus. Unfortunately, he was assassinated for trying to gain citizenship for Italian allies. Servilia’s first husband – Brutus’ father – was killed by Pompey the Great. She eventually began an affair with Julius Caesar, and rumors circulated saying that her daughter Junia Tertia was actually Caesar’s. Cicero also made a remark about how Servilia was letting Caesar sleep with Junia Tertia (obviously, or should I say, hopefully, these pieces of gossip were not both true). It is also believed that Caesar’s daughter Julia was originally betrothed to Brutus (there is a bit of confusion here, since Brutus’ name temporarily changed when he was adopted by Servilia’s brother).

One amusing event involving Servilia and Caesar occurred when Caesar was handed a letter written by her during the debates over the Catiline conspiracy. Cato said that Caesar was receiving correspondences from the conspirators, and ordered that the letter be read out loud. Much to Cato’s embarrassment, it turned out to be a love letter by his own sister. Servilia’s relationship with Caesar in turn affected Caesar’s relationship with Brutus. For example, when Caesar was fighting Pompey in the Battle of Pharsalus, he ordered that Brutus, who was on Pompey’s side, not be harmed in any way. When Brutus and Cassius were plotting Caesar’s assassination, they met at Servilia’s house. It is unknown whether or not she knew about their plans. Servilia died of natural causes in 42 BC.

8. Porcia Catonis

Porcia lived from around 70 to 42 BC. Porcia was the daughter of Cato the Younger, but is most famous as the wife to Marcus Junius Brutus. Porcia was considered to be both kind and brave, and was a lover of philosophy. Her first marriage was to Bibulus, an ally of Cato. Quintus Hortenius requested that Bibulus let him have Porcia for his wife, but he would not let her be taken from him. Hortensius then made the unusual request that he allow Porcia just live with him until she produced a son. Cato divorced his wife Marcia and let Hortensius marry her instead, which was a strange solution since Cato by all accounts loved his wife. When Hortensius died, Marcia moved back in with Cato. Bibulus died after Pompey was defeated by Caesar, and Cato committed suicide by stabbing himself and pulling out his intestines when his friends tried to revive him. Left without a husband or a father, and still very young, it was around this time that Porcia married her cousin Brutus. This was not well-received by many (especially his mother Servilia who hated Cato) because Brutus divorced his wife without giving any reason in order to marry Porcia.

Only Cato’s supporters, such as Cicero, approved of the marriage. Porcia was very devoted to Brutus, and one of the only women, if not the only woman, to be involved in the conspiracy against Caesar. Plutarch writes that Porcia stabbed herself in the leg to show Brutus that she could be trusted with any of his secrets, even under torture. When the assassins had to flee Rome, Porcia stayed behind. Brutus said of her: “Though the natural weakness of her body hinders her from doing what only the strength of men can perform, she has a mind as valiant and as active for the good of her country as the best of us.” The circumstances of Porcia’s death are uncertain. One of the most common accounts is that she committed suicide after hearing of Brutus’s death, either by swallowing hot coals or burning charcoal in a room without ventilation.

7. Octavia the Younger

Octavia lived from 69 to 11 BC, and was the older sister of Octavian (later known as Augustus). Although Julius Caesar was her great uncle, she married one of his opponents, Marcellus, who she had 3 children with. After Marcellus died, she married Mark Antony. This was to help secure the alliance between Antony and Octavian who were, to say the least, not always on great terms with each other. However, Antony left Octavia for Queen Cleopatra, who he had an affair with in the past, and already had twins with. Octavia remained loyal to Antony, and she became a sort of negotiator between Antony and Octavian.

After Antony had received the money and troops he needed from Octavia to fight a campaign in the east, he divorced her. This was one of the many actions of Antony that Octavian used to paint him and Cleopatra in as bad a light as possible. Octavia never remarried, and after Antony’s suicide, she took in his 4 children by Fulvia and Cleopatra, and cared for them along with her other children. When her son Marcellus died, she remained in mourning until death. Octavia was highly respected by her brother, and was a role model for many Roman women.

6. Valeria Messalina

Messalina was born around 20 AD. She was a cousin of Nero and Caligula, and became empress when she married Claudius. Along with Augustus’ daughter Julia (who he had banished for sleeping with so many different men), Messalina is probably one of the most notoriously promiscuous women of Rome. In 37 AD, Messalina married Claudius, who was at least 30 years older than her. At this time Caligula was still emperor. Claudius doted on Messalina, and after he became emperor, Messalina used his affection for her to get whatever she wanted. Since Claudius was old, she realized how precarious her position was, and was ruthless to that extent. She ordered that Claudius exile or execute anyone who displeased her or who she felt threatened by.

Unfortunately, this was a good number of people. For all his good qualities as emperor, Claudius became known for being easily manipulated by his wife. The account of Messalina competing with a prostitute to see who could have sex with the most people in one night was first recorded by Pliny the Elder. Pliny says that, with 25 partners, Messalina won. Messalina’s most famous affair is the one she had with the senator Gaius Silius. She told Silius to divorce his wife, which he did. Silius and Messalina planned to kill Claudius, and make Silius emperor. While still married to Claudius, Messalina married Silius. Of course, this was all discovered, and Claudius had the two put to death.

5. Julia Domna

Julia Domna lived from 170 to 217 AD. She was the wife of the emperor Septimius Severus, and the mother of the emperors Caracalla and Geta. Born in Syria, her father was the high priest of the temple of Elagabal. Julia and Severus had a happy relationship, and she would often advise him politically. She traveled with him during his military campaigns, which was unusual for a woman. Many Romans felt she wielded an inappropriate amount of power over the empire whenever her husband was gone on a campaign. She often faced accusations of adultery or treason, but none of these were ever proven. After Severus died, Julia tried to help Geta and Caracalla rule successfully as co-emperors. Caracalla eventually had his brother killed. After that, things became a bit more strained between Caracalla and his mother, but she still traveled with him during his campaigns.

When Caracalla was assassinated, Julia committed suicide. Julia’s sister, Julia Maesa, was also an influential woman, and helped engineer the plot to overthrow Macrinus so that her grandson Elagabalus could become emperor. When Elagabalus turned out to be a complete and utter failure of an emperor, she began promoting her other grandson Alexander Severus. After Elagabalus was murdered along with his mother, Alexander became emperor. Julia Mamaea, another relation of Julia Domna’s, came to exercise power. Her son Alexander was barely 14, and she essentially had control over running the empire, until she was killed along with Alexander during a mutiny.

4. Agrippina the Elder

Agrippina the Elder lived from 14 BC to 33 AD. She was the granddaughter of Augustus, daughter of Augustus’s right hand man Agrippa, and the wife of the beloved general Germanicus. After Agrippa died, Agrippina’s mother married Tiberius. This was an unhappy marriage, as Tiberius had been forced to divorce Vipsania, who he was deeply in love with. Agrippina never saw her mother again after she was exiled for adultery. Germanicus and Agrippina had six children who lived to be adults, including Nero (not the emperor), Drusus, Gaius (later known as Caligula), Drusilla, Livilla, and Agrippina the Younger. Agrippina went with Germanicus on his campaigns, along with their children. They would dress their toddler in a little army outfit, and this is how Gaius got the nickname Caligula, which means Little Boots.

After Tiberius became emperor, he became jealous of Germanicus’ popularity, who was preferred by many for the position. It was believed by many that it was on Tiberius’ orders that Germanicus was poisoned in Antioch. Agrippina believed her husband had certainly been murdered, but the truth was never found out. She made her dislike of Tiberius clear, and accused him of trying to poison her as he did her husband. Tiberius didn’t trust her either, and had her elder sons Nero and Drusus arrested and then left to starve to death. Tiberius then banished Agrippina on false charges. Exiled to the same island her mother once had been, Agrippina was treated violently, and lost an eye while being flogged. Like her sons, Agrippina eventually died of starvation. As a side note to Agrippina’s tragic story, her youngest son Caligula was not only spared by Tiberius, but brought to live with him on Capri. I imagine that it would be slightly uncomfortable living with the man responsible for the deaths of nearly everyone in your family.

3. Agrippina the Younger

Agrippina the Younger, daughter of Agrippina the Elder, lived from 15 to 59 AD. Around age 13, she married Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus. Ahenobarbus had a reputation for dishonesty, violence, and traffic violations (he once ran over a child in the street). Agrippina and Ahenobarbus had a son named Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, who would later be called Nero and eventually become emperor. When Caligula became emperor he gave Agrippina, along with her sisters Drusilla and Livilla, many privileges and honors. When Caligula’s favorite sister Drusilla (who he often treated more like a wife) died, he was devastated, and also became colder to Agrippina and Livilla. The sisters became involved in a plot to assassinate Caligula, but it was discovered, and they were exiled. When Claudius was made emperor, he brought his nieces Agrippina and Livilla back from exile. After Claudius’ wife Messalina was killed, the freedman Pallas advised him to marry Agrippina. Agrippina and Pallas were having an affair, and he wanted to see his mistress gain power.

Other advisers presented different options to him, but Pallas argued that marrying Agrippina would help connect the Julian and Claudian sides of the family. Claudius decided to marry Agrippina, which was controversial in Rome, where it was not considered acceptable for a man to marry his niece. Just as Messalina had done, Agrippina worked to eliminate anyone who threatened her or Nero’s position. Even though Claudius had a biological son, Agrippina convinced Claudius to adopt Nero and make him his heir. Claudius seemed to begin favoring his own son Britannicus again, and this is the most likely motivation for Agrippina poisoning Claudius. After Claudius was dead, Nero became emperor, and Agrippina began exercising power through her son. Just as Agrippina was accused of incest with Caligula, she was also accused of using sex as a means of controlling Nero. Nero eventually began to resent his mother for the control she had over him. After many failed elaborate attempts on Agrippina’s life, Nero eventually resorted to the tried and true method of stabbing. When the assassins came to kill Agrippina, she told them to stab her in her womb.

2. Fulvia

Fulvia was one of the most politically involved women of the Roman Republic. She lived from 83 to 40 BC, and was the great granddaughter of Cornelia Africana. Fulvia’s first husband was Publius Clodius, who is probably best known for sneaking into the Bona Dea festival dressed as a woman in order to meet up with Julius Caesar’s wife. Clodius was a populist politician, and Fulvia was with him constantly. After Clodius was killed by his political opponent Milo, Fulvia dragged his body through Rome and incited a riot among Clodius’ followers. Fulvia gave a testimony during the trial of Milo, who was condemned to exile. When Clodius died, the power he had over many gangs in Rome transferred to her. Fulvia’s second marriage was to another popular politician, Scribonius Curio. Curio was also killed, while fighting for Caesar. Fulvia’s final marriage was to Mark Antony, who was also a good friend of Curio. In one of Cicero’s Philippic speeches, he goes on for some time about the nature of Curio and Antony’s relationship – whether completely true or not, it makes for entertaining reading. Cicero also derided the relationship between Fulvia and Antony, saying that he only married her because he needed her money. Fulvia defended Antony after Cicero’s many speeches against him, and helped her husband to gain power through the gangs of Clodius she still controlled.

After Caesar died and Antony joined the Second Triumirate, Fulvia was involved in the proscriptions. After Antony had Cicero murdered, Dio describes Fulvia stabbing his tongue with one of her hairpins. When Antony and Octavian went to fight Brutus and Cassius, Fulvia was essentially left in charge of Rome. Octavian, who had married and divorced one of Fulvia’s daughters, believed Fulvia was gaining too much power, and becoming too ambitious. Along with Antony’s brother Lucius, Fulvia raised legions to fight Octavian. Around this time Octavian wrote an epigram about Fulvia: “Because Antony fucks Glaphyra, Fulvia is determined to punish me by making me fuck her in turn. I fuck Fuliva? What if Manius [freedman of Fulvia] begged me to sodomize him, would I do it? I think not, if I were in my right mind. ‘Either fuck me or let us fight,’ says she. Ah, but my cock is dearer to me than life itself. Let the trumpets sound.” Eventually Lucius surrendered to Octavian, and Fulvia escaped to Greece. When Antony met her there, he was outraged that she had incited a war against Octavian without his permission. Soon after this, Fulvia died of unknown causes.

1. Livia Drusilla

Livia Drusilla, the first empress of Rome, lived from 58 BC to 29 AD. Livia was first married to Tiberius Claudius Nero, who she had her son Tiberius by. When Livia met Octavian, he fell in love with her, even though she was married and pregnant with Drusus, her second son. Octavian was also married at the time, to Scribonia. On the same day that Scribonia gave birth to Octavian’s daughter Julia, he divorced her, and then forced Tiberius Claudius Nero to divorce Livia. Awkwardly enough, Tiberius Claudius was the one to give away his ex-wife in Livia and Octavian’s wedding ceremony. Livia and Octavian (Augustus) would be married for over 50 years. Despite the fact that they both had children from previous marriages, they never were able to have children. During Augustus’ long reign as emperor, Livia was a constant adviser. Since Augustus had no sons of his own, Livia began promoting her own sons as heirs, and it was around this time that rumors began spreading about Livia’s habit of killing anyone who got in the way their accession, including Augustus’ nephew Marcellus and his grandsons. It was even said that she poisoned Augustus with figs, to prevent him from changing his heir from her son Tiberius to someone else.

The image of Livia as essentially a power mad serial killer was possibly common at the time because of the Roman idea of the evil step-mother figure. In modern times, people still often picture Livia in this way, such as in I, Claudius. In reality, despite her ambitions for Tiberius and the odd coincidental deaths of Augustus’ heirs, there’s no proof to support the murders. Perhaps there’s something morbidly appealing in the idea that Augustus – the man who not only survived illness after illness, civil war after civil war, but lived to reform the Roman Republic and rule over it for roughly half a century – ended up getting killed by some figs from his beloved wife. Augustus left Livia a third of his property, and also adopted her. In the biography of Augustus by Anthony Everitt, he writes that there is not a definite reason as to why Augustus adopted his wife. He suggests that it was an acknowledgement of all the work Livia did for him and counseling she gave him. Tiberius, who did not have any desire to be emperor in the first place, did not appreciate Livia’s political advice, and began to find his mother overbearing. When Livia died, he did not return to Rome from Capri, but sent Caligula to deliver her eulogy. There were many honors granted to Livia after her death, but Tiberius had them all vetoed.

Source : http://listverse.com/2011/10/20/15-interesting-women-of-ancient-rome/

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Online Music War: Samsung Vs Apple

Samsung has launched an attack on Apple's iTunes ecosystem with a new music streaming service offering unlimited access from $9.99 a month, but the music industry says it may not be enough to head off falling revenues.

While digital sales are growing - from $79m to $105m between 2009-10, according to ARIA - they are not growing fast enough to make up for declining physical sales, which dropped from $377m to $279m in the same period.

Samsung Music Hub and the recently launched Sony Music Unlimited are attempts to mimic the highly successful iTunes platform, which has helped spur on sales of all of Apple's devices. Samsung hopes that providing an easy, integrated way of obtaining content for its devices will benefit it in a similar way.

But John Watson, the prominent band manager for Silverchair, Missy Higgins, Cold Chisel and Pete Murray, amongst others, said it was "too early" to know whether there was a "genuine business model" for artists in any online subscription services.

"It's certainly too early to try to pick the likely 'winners'," he said in an email interview with Fairfax Media, publisher of this website.

"Income [for artists] from these services is still very small and there are still some outstanding issues about how to divide that revenue fairly between artists and labels," he said. "However, the much bigger battle is to get to a place where more consumers are actually willing to pay for music in one way or another."

Regardless, Mr Watson said services like Samsung's Music Hub, Guvera and other streaming music apps like Sony's Music Unlimited and Anubis.fm were all "potentially welcome additions to the music landscape".

For $9.99 Music Hub on the Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone offers access to three million songs. For a bit extra, $14.99, you can get access to music videos on a web browser and on smart TVs, home theatre and Blu-ray devices.

Dan Rosen, chief executive officer for the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), which represents the recording industry, and also CEO of the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA), which collects money for artists, welcomed Samsung's Music Hub.

Roddy Campbell, director of new channel development at record label EMI, said that the Australian digital market was "very much in need" of new services. "It's still growing at a good rate; we're 30 per cent up across the board last year in terms of digital sales. But I think the growth is really going to accelerate further as consumers migrate to a whole load of new ways of consuming music."

Subscription-based streaming music on the internet was attracting "a lot of followers" in overseas markets, Mr Campbell added. "So all of our focus is on that at the moment and we think Samsung has the potential to deliver something really game-changing in the local market. Our biggest challenge every day is to find new ways to make it easier for people to consume music. So we think that [Samsung's Music Hub] gives that to Australian consumers."

The launch of the new service comes as JB Hi Fi recently announced that it too would launch a subscription-based music streaming service in the second quarter of the 2012 financial year. JB intends "to have between 6 to 8 million tracks from 100,000 artists at launch". Its service will allow for unlimited access and listening to music from a Mac, PC or mobile device, according to CEO Terry Smart.

Music Hub was unveiled at an event last Thursday night in Sydney featuring bands Faker and The Potbelleez. Solo artist Pete Murray was also there, as was dance singer Zoe Badwi. Former Australian Idol presenter James Mathison hosted the event and boasted about the new service, which Sony, Warner, EMI and Universal have all signed up to, meaning at launch there will be three million songs available and 11,000+ music videos.

It will initially be available from October 17 on the Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone, which is a direct rival to the iPhone. From November 1 Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7" will also get access to the service, as will other Galaxy Android v2.2 devices and higher. Come "mid-December" web browsers and Samsung smart TVs, smart home theatres and smart Blu-ray devices will also get access.

It's important to note, however, that the $14.99 "premium" plan will be required for access on a web browser and on smart TVs, home theatre and Blu-ray devices. The premium plan gives access to the Music Hub on four devices and a web browser. It is what allows access to music videos on web browsers, smart TVs, home theatres and Blu-ray devices.

The entry-level $9.99 plan will get you access to the Music Hub on either a smartphone or tablet. That plan will also allow access on multiple smartphone or tablet devices, although only one device can be logged in at time according to Samsung Australia's vice president of telecommunications, Tyler McGee. It will only offer music - not music videos.

Asked whether Samsung's service would attempt to gain market share from Apple's iTunes, Mr McGee said he "wouldn't try to compare" what Samsung was offering to what Apple had in the marketplace. "I think our offering is very different to what they're offering."

Music is streamed at 128kbps on Music Hub - standard for most MP3 downloads - and the streaming music is protected by the record labels with digital rights management (DRM) so you can't copy it onto other devices. You can, however, download an MP3 using Music Hub for $2 and copy it onto whatever you like without DRM, EMI's Mr Campbell said.

The smartphone version of the app will allow caching of up to 500 songs, meaning even if you don't have access to the internet (say on a flight) you can still listen to music. "We think 500 is sufficient based on the capacity of most devices and based on people's music taste," EMI's Mr Campbell said.

He said the number of songs initially available - three million - would increase "week by week" as independent labels were added. "So it could well be double that by Christmas."

It's unknown whether Samsung will launch the Music Hub on its latest tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, in Australia due to an ongoing battle in the Federal Court in Sydney. Apple claims Samsung's tablet "slavishly" copied its iPad and is seeking an injunction to prevent it from going on sale in Australia.

While both parties wait for the judge presiding over the case to make a judgment on the injunction, expected this week, Samsung has agreed to hold off on selling the device. So as to whether the Music Hub makes it onto that tablet is still unknown.

From January 1 all new and existing Samsung Galaxy smartphone and Galaxy Tab customers will receive a one month free trial mobile level subscription to test out the service.

First impressions of a beta version of the software on a Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone by this reporter indicated it was still very buggy. However a spokesman for the company said bugs shouldn't be expected on October 17, when it launched officially.

Source : http://english.kompas.com/read/2011/10/12/01544499/Online.Music.War.Samsung.Vs.Apple

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20 Facts About Sleep

The science of sleep is a modern one – in fact most scientific information on sleep has been gained in the last 25 years. This is a list of 20 very interesting facts about sleep.

Facts 1 – 10

1. The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.

2. It’s impossible to tell if someone is really awake without close medical supervision. People can take cat naps with their eyes open without even being aware of it.

3. Anything less than five minutes to fall asleep at night means you’re sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you’re still tired enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.

4. Dreams, once thought to occur only during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, also occur (but to a lesser extent) in non-REM sleep phases. It’s possible there may not be a single moment of our sleep when we are actually dreamless.

5. REM dreams are characterised by bizarre plots, but non-REM dreams are repetitive and thought-like, with little imagery – obsessively returning to a suspicion you left your mobile phone somewhere, for example.

6. Certain types of eye movements during REM sleep correspond to specific movements in dreams, suggesting at least part of the dreaming process is analagous to watching a film

7. Elephants sleep standing up during non-REM sleep, but lie down for REM sleep.

8. Some scientists believe we dream to fix experiences in long-term memory, that is, we dream about things worth remembering. Others think we dream about things worth forgetting – to eliminate overlapping memories that would otherwise clog up our brains.

9. Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but be merely a meaningless byproduct of two evolutionary adaptations – sleep and consciousness.

10. Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain’s sleep-wake clock.

Facts 11 – 20

11. British Ministry of Defence researchers have been able to reset soldiers’ body clocks so they can go without sleep for up to 36 hrs. Tiny optical fibres embedded in special spectacles project a ring of bright white light (with a spectrum identical to a sunrise) around the edge of soldiers’ retinas, fooling them into thinking they have just woken up. The system was first used on US pilots during the bombing of Kosovo.

12. The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role.

13. The “natural alarm clock” which enables some people to wake up more or less when they want to is caused by a burst of the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin. Researchers say this reflects an unconscious anticipation of the stress of waking up.

14. Tiny luminous rays from a digital alarm clock can be enough to disrupt the sleep cycle even if you do not fully wake. The light turns off a “neural switch” in the brain, causing levels of a key sleep chemical to decline within minutes.

15. Humans sleep on average around three hours less than other primates like chimps, rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys and baboons, all of whom sleep for 10 hours.

16. Ducks at risk of attack by predators are able to balance the need for sleep and survival, keeping one half of the brain awake while the other slips into sleep mode.

17. Diaries from the pre-electric-light-globe Victorian era show adults slept nine to 10 hours a night with periods of rest changing with the seasons in line with sunrise and sunsets.

18. Most of what we know about sleep we’ve learned in the past 25 years.

19. The extra-hour of sleep received when clocks are put back at the start of daylight in Canada has been found to coincide with a fall in the number of road accidents.

20. Experts say one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet.

Source : http://www.thehiddenfact.com/top-20-facts-about-sleep/

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New Saturn-Like Planet Has Two Suns, NASA Says

NASA's Kepler spacecraft uncovered the new planet, dubbed Kepler 16b, as it transited—or crossed in front of—both its parent stars, causing the brightness of each star to dim periodically.

(Related: "Darkest Planet Found: Coal-Black, It Reflects Almost No Light.")

Kepler data first allowed scientists to see that the stars are what's known as an eclipsing binary system—a pair of stars that orbit in such a way that they eclipse each other, causing them to dim, as seen from Earth.

Based on the eclipses, the team calculates that the binary stars are just 20 percent and 69 percent the mass of our sun.

Sometimes, however, the system's overall brightness dipped even when the stars were not eclipsing each other—hinting at the presence of a third body orbiting the binary pair.

"By timing the stellar eclipses, we could determine how much the third body was perturbing the two inner stars," said study leader Laurance Doyle, an astronomer at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.

The extra, irregular dimming "turned out to be no stronger than a planetary gravitational pull would be."

Next: An Earthlike Planet With Two Suns?

Kepler's data suggest that the new planet is a Saturn-like gas giant without a solid surface.

Traveling on a nearly circular, 229-day orbit around both host stars, the planet lies outside the system's habitable zone—the region where liquid water, and thus life as we know it, could exist.

(Related: "New Planet May Be Among Most Earthlike—Weather Permitting.")

In fact, the new planet likely receives about the same amount of sunshine as Mars, which means that, even if it had a solid surface, the world would be far too cold to support life.

Still, as on Tatooine, "from Kepler 16b one would see a double sunset, but with the stars shifting position [and moving in relation to each other] while setting."

And while Kepler 16b may not have any sand dunes, it's theoretically possible for Earthlike planets to exist in similar binary star systems—an arrangement that Doyle says may be quite common. (See "Many Planets Could Circle Twin Suns, NASA Says.")

"I estimate that there may be about two million such systems in our galaxy," he said.

Source : http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/09/110915-nasa-new-planet-two-suns-star-wars-tatooine-space-science/

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Top 10 Incurable Diseases

Modern medicine has done much to erradicate and cure disease, but it has failed in some areas. Of those areas, at least one disease that cannot be cured is suffered by many people in the world every year – the common cold. This is a list of the top ten incurable diseases. As always, click the images for a larger view. NOTE: There are no graphic images in this post.

10. Ebola

Ebola is a virus of the family Filoviridae that is responsible for a severe and often fatal viral hemorrhagic fever; outbreaks in primates such as gorillas and chimpanzees as well as humans have been recorded. The disease is characterized by extreme fever, rash, and profuse hemorrhaging. In humans, fatality rates range from 50 to 90 percent.

The virus takes its name from the Ebola River in the northern Congo basin of central Africa, where it first emerged in 1976. Outbreaks that year in Zaire (now Congo [Kinshasa]) and The Sudan resulted in hundreds of deaths, as did another outbreak in Zaire in 1995. Ebola is closely related to the Marburg virus, which was discovered in 1967, and the two are the only members of the Filoviridae that cause epidemic human disease. A third related agent, called Ebola Reston, caused an epidemic in laboratory monkeys in Reston, Virginia, but apparently is not fatal to humans.

9. Polio

Polio is known in full as poliomyelitis – also called infantile paralysis. It is an acute viral infectious disease of the nervous system that usually begins with general symptoms such as fever, headache, nausea, fatigue, and muscle pains and spasms and is sometimes followed by a more serious and permanent paralysis of muscles in one or more limbs, the throat, or the chest. More than half of all cases of polio occur in children under the age of five. The paralysis so commonly associated with the disease actually affects fewer than 1 percent of persons infected by the poliovirus.

Between 5 and 10 percent of infected persons display only the general symptoms outlined above, and more than 90 percent show no signs of illness at all. For those infected by the poliovirus, there is no cure, and in the mid-20th century hundreds of thousands of children were struck by the disease every year. Since the 1960s, thanks to widespread use of polio vaccines, polio has been eliminated from most of the world, and it is now endemic only in several countries of Africa and South Asia. Approximately 1,000–2,000 children are still paralyzed by polio each year, most of them in India.

8. Lupus Erythematosus

Also often referred to simply as lupus, this is an autoimmune disorder that causes chronic inflammation in various parts of the body. Three main types of lupus are recognized—discoid, systemic, and drug-induced.

Discoid lupus affects only the skin and does not usually involve internal organs. The term discoid refers to a rash of distinct reddened patches covered with grayish brown scales that may appear on the face, neck, and scalp. In about 10 percent of people with discoid lupus, the disease will evolve into the more severe systemic form of the disorder.

Systemic lupus erythematosus is the most common form of the disease. It may affect virtually any organ or structure of the body, especially the skin, kidneys, joints, heart, gastrointestinal tract, brain, and serous membranes (membranous linings of organs, joints, and cavities of the body.) While systemic lupus can affect any area of the body, most people experience symptoms in only a few organs. The skin rash, if present, resembles that of discoid lupus. In general, no two people will have identical symptoms. The course of the disease is also variable and is marked by periods when the disease is active and by other periods when symptoms are not evident (remission).

7. Influenza

Influenza, also known as the flu, or grippe, is an acute viral infection of the upper or lower respiratory tract that is marked by fever, chills, and a generalized feeling of weakness and pain in the muscles, together with varying degrees of soreness in the head and abdomen.

Influenza is caused by any of several strains of orthomyxoviruses, categorized as types A, B, and C. The three major types generally produce similar symptoms but are completely unrelated antigenically, so that infection with one type confers no immunity against the others. The A viruses cause the great influenza epidemics, and the B viruses cause smaller localized outbreaks; the C viruses are not important causes of disease in humans. Between pandemics, the viruses undergo constant, rapid evolution (a process called antigenic drift) in response to the pressures of human population immunity. Periodically, they undergo major evolutionary change by acquiring a new genome segment from another influenza virus (antigenic shift), effectively becoming a new subtype to which none, or very few, of the population is immune.

6. Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a rare fatal degenerative disease of the central nervous system. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease occurs throughout the world at an incidence of one person in a million; however, among certain populations, such as Libyan Jews, rates are somewhat higher. The disease commonly occurs in adults between the ages of 40 and 70, although some young adults have been stricken with the disease. Both men and women are affected equally. The onset of the disease is usually characterized by vague psychiatric or behavioral changes, which are followed within weeks or months by a progressive dementia that is often accompanied by abnormal vision and involuntary movements. There is no known cure for the disease, which is usually fatal within a year of the onset of symptoms.

The disease was first described in the 1920s by the German neurologists Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt and Alfons Maria Jakob. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is similar to other neurodegenerative diseases such as kuru, a human disorder, and scrapie, which occurs in sheep and goats. All three diseases are types of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, so called because of the characteristic spongelike pattern of neuronal destruction that leaves brain tissue filled with holes.

5. Diabetes

Diabetes is a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism characterized by impaired ability of the body to produce or respond to insulin and thereby maintain proper levels of sugar (glucose) in the blood.

There are two major forms of the disease. Type I diabetes, formerly referred to as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and juvenile-onset diabetes, usually arises in childhood. It is an autoimmune disorder in which the diabetic person’s immune system produces antibodies that destroy the insulin-producing beta cells. Because the body is no longer able to produce insulin, daily injections of the hormone are required.

Type II diabetes, formerly called non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) and adult-onset diabetes, usually occurs after 40 years of age and becomes more common with increasing age. It arises from either sluggish pancreatic secretion of insulin or reduced responsiveness in target cells of the body to secreted insulin. It is linked to genetics and obesity, notably upper-body obesity. People with type II diabetes can control blood glucose levels through diet and exercise and, if necessary, by taking insulin injections or oral medications.

4. HIV/AIDS

AIDS is the byname of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome – a transmissible disease of the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV slowly attacks and destroys the immune system, the body’s defense against infection, leaving an individual vulnerable to a variety of other infections and certain malignancies that eventually cause death. AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection, during which time fatal infections and cancers frequently arise.

HIV/AIDS spread to epidemic proportions in the 1980s, particularly in Africa, where the disease may have originated. Spread was likely facilitated by several factors, including increasing urbanization and long-distance travel in Africa, international travel, changing sexual mores, and intravenous drug use. According to the United Nations 2004 report on AIDS, some 38 million people are living with HIV, approximately 5 million people become infected annually, and about 3 million people die each year from AIDS. Some 20 million people have died of the disease since 1981.

3. Asthma

Asthma is a chronic disorder of the lungs in which inflamed airways are prone to constrict, causing episodes of breathlessness, wheezing, coughing, and chest tightness that range in severity from mild to life-threatening. Inflamed airways become hypersensitive to a variety of stimuli, including dust mites, animal dander, pollen, air pollution, cigarette smoke, medications, weather conditions, and exercise. Stress can exacerbate symptoms.

Asthmatic episodes may begin suddenly or may take days to develop. Although an initial episode can occur at any age, about half of all cases occur in persons younger than 10 years of age, with boys being affected more often than girls. Among adults, however, the incidence of asthma is approximately equal in men and women. When asthma develops in childhood, it is often associated with an inherited susceptibility to allergens, substances such as pollen, dust mites, or animal dander that may induce an allergic reaction. In adults, asthma also may develop in response to allergens, but viral infections, aspirin, and exercise may cause the disease as well. Adults who develop asthma may have nasal polyps or sinusitis.

2. Cancer

Cancer refers to a group of more than 100 distinct diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. Cancer affects one in every three persons born in developed countries and is a major cause of sickness and death throughout the world. Though it has been known since antiquity, significant improvements in cancer treatment have been made since the middle of the 20th century, mainly through a combination of timely and accurate diagnosis, selective surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapeutic drugs. Such advances actually have brought about a decrease in cancer deaths (at least in developed countries), and grounds for further optimism are seen in laboratory investigations into elucidating the causes and mechanisms of the disease.

Owing to continuing advances in cell biology, genetics, and biotechnology, researchers now have a fundamental understanding of what goes wrong in a cancer cell and in an individual who develops cancer—and these conceptual gains are steadily being converted into further progress in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of this disease.

1. The Common Cold

The common cold is an acute viral infection that starts in the upper respiratory tract, sometimes spreads to the lower structures, and may cause secondary infections in the eyes or middle ears. More than 100 agents cause the common cold, including parainfluenza, influenza, respiratory syncytial viruses, and reoviruses. Rhinoviruses, however, are the most frequent cause.

The popular term common cold reflects the feeling of chilliness on exposure to a cold environment that is part of the onset of symptoms. The feeling was originally believed to have a cause-and-effect relationship with the disease, but this is now known to be incorrect. The cold is caught from exposure to infected people, not from a cold environment, chilled wet feet, or drafts. People can carry the virus and communicate it without experiencing any of the symptoms themselves. Incubation is short — usually one to four days. The viruses start spreading from an infected person before the symptoms appear, and the spread reaches its peak during the symptomatic phase.

Sumber : http://www.thehiddenfact.com/top-10-incurable-diseases/

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First Photo of Earth from Deep Space Snapped 45 Years Ago

The world's first view of Earth taken by a spacecraft from the vicinity of the moon. The photo was transmitted to Earth by the United States Lunar Orbiter I and received at the NASA tracking station near Madrid. This crescent of the Earth was photographed August 23, 1966 when the spacecraft was on its 16th orbit and just about to pass behind the moon. CREDIT: NASA

You think your vacation pictures are impressive? Try to imagine what it was like 45 years ago as scientists and engineers produced the very first images of our planet from deep space.

On August 23, 1966, NASA's Lunar Orbiter 1 took the first photo of Earth from the moon's orbit, and it forever changed how we see our home planet.

"You're looking at your home from this really foreign kind of desolate landscape," said Jay Friedlander, who started his NASA career 20 years ago as a photographic technician working on images including those from the Lunar Orbiter at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. "It's the first time you're actually looking at Earth as a different kind of place," said Friedlander, currently a multimedia specialist at Goddard.

The Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft took the iconic photograph of Earth rising above the lunar surface in 1966.

CREDIT: NASA

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Pictures of Earth from space had been taken before, by rockets in the 1940s, and satellites in the 1950s and 1960s. However, those pictures captured just parts of Earth, as opposed to a full-on view of the planet. But that was about to change.

In the summer of 1966, the Beatles were performing their last string of public concerts, the Baltimore Orioles were on the way to their first World Series championship, the National Organization for Women was founded, and the United States was preparing to send the first humans to the moon. But before NASA could send astronauts to our lunar neighbor, they needed to find a safe place to land. So from 1966-67, the Lunar Orbiter program dispatched unmanned reconnaissance spacecraft to orbit the moon.

"The basic idea was preparing to go to the moon for the Apollo missions," said Dave Williams, a planetary curation scientist at Goddard. According to Williams, NASA "needed high resolution pictures of the surface to make sure this is something they could land on and pick out landing sites."

NASA needed to map the moon quickly. As it turned out, they could call upon off-the-shelf technology: Boeing and Eastman Kodak had previously developed a spacecraft with an onboard camera system for the Department of Defense.

The first spacecraft, Lunar Orbiter 1, left Earth on August 10, 1966 -- 92 hours later it was orbiting the moon.

It was like a flying photography lab, according to Friedlander.

The Lunar Orbiter's onboard camera contained dual lenses that took photos simultaneously. One lens took wide-angle images of the moon at medium resolution. A second telephoto lens took high-resolution images in greater detail.

CREDIT: Courtesy of George Eastman House, International Museum of Photography and Film

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"The camera system itself took up at least a third of the spacecraft," said Friedlander. Just about everything else, he said, "was power and propulsion."

The Lunar Orbiter camera contained dual lenses, taking photos at the same time. One lens took wide-angle images of the moon at medium resolution. A second telephoto lens took high-resolution images yielding details as small as 5 meters in size. For every swath of real estate on the moon that the medium resolution lens imaged, the high resolution lens would take three snapshots of smaller areas within that swath.

The entire camera contraption would have made Rube Goldberg proud, exposing, developing, and processing photographic film onboard a moving spacecraft, traveling around the moon constantly between hot and cold temperature extremes anywhere from approximately 27 to 3,700 miles above the lunar surface.

"This thing is going around the moon in zero gravity and developing film," said Williams. "It was an amazing achievement that they could do this."

Williams said that the camera had "these big honking reels" of 70 mm film. The film would roll through, the camera would take pictures, and then move the exposed film to an automated developer. The automated film developer contained a mix of chemicals that would develop the film using a process similar to the method used by Polaroid cameras. An electron beam would then scan each developed image before transmitting the photos back to Earth using radio signals -- the same way television satellites would analog signals to TV stations.

Deployed one after the other, five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft produced a medium-detail map of 99 percent of the moon. Only in the last two years has NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter -- still actively circling the moon -- generated higher-resolution maps of the entire lunar surface.

NASA chart from 1966.

CREDIT: NASA

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In addition, the first three spacecraft took highly detailed photos of 20 potential landing sites that looked promising. Friedlander said that personnel receiving the images on Earth would make giant prints of these images "and lay them out so they could walk on top of them and look for landing sites."

But at some point during the Lunar Orbiter 1's mission, NASA contemplated pointing the spacecraft's camera at Earth.

"That wasn't planned originally," said Williams. "That only came up after the mission was already in operation."

Williams said that repositioning the satellite was a high risk maneuver. "If you turned the spacecraft maybe it wouldn't turn back again. You don't want to mess with a working spacecraft if you don't have to."

But there was a debate about whether they should even attempt this at all. In the end, Williams said that NASA decided it wanted the picture, and would not blame anyone if something went wrong during the repositioning maneuver.

So on August 23, the spacecraft successfully took a photo of an earthrise, the blue planet rising above the moon's horizon.

"NASA took the image and they created a poster of it which was given as gifts to everybody," said Friedlander. "Senators and congressmen would give it out as presents to constituents and visiting dignitaries."

More pictures followed, including the famous Blue Marble photo of the Earth taken from the window of the Apollo spacecraft. But this elaborate and complex camera system was never really used after the Lunar Orbiter missions.

"At the end of each mission, they did purposely crash the Lunar Orbiter," said Williams. "Ostensibly, [NASA] didn't want the radio signals from one lunar orbiter to interfere with the next lunar orbiter they put up."

But with presence of the Soviet Union, which was deploying lunar orbiters of its own, Williams speculates that national security precautions may have been a factor. Since the spacecraft and camera were originally based on defense technology, they may have been smashed to bits "so that no one could ever get to them," said Williams.

Some of the extra cameras and Lunar Orbiter spacecraft that were built but never used still exist today, stored at places such as the Smithsonian Institution and at the George Eastman House in Rochester, N.Y.

The Lunar Orbiter's mission may have been accomplished long ago, but its first image of the Earth continues to inspire.

"We're on this little Earth. We're only part of some grand solar system in some big galaxy and universe. That's why this picture is important, because this was the first time that anyone on Earth got this sense," said Friedlander.

Source : http://www.livescience.com/15706-earth-photo-snapped-45-years.html

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10 Tips for Self-Improvement

While I do not always end up managing to put each of the following tips into practice, I do make a big effort to do so each day. This is a list of my favorite tips to improving your life. All it takes is a little bit each day and you will see wondrous changes. Feel free to add your own tips to the comments.
10. Get off to a Good Start

This means getting up early and eating breakfast. You will have much more energy throughout the day to follow the rest of these tips if you do! If you are so inclined, you can even include a little exercise in your morning routine. If you live with other people you can try to use this opportunity to get everyone together at the table to eat in the mornings. This is a nice way to start the day and a good way to ensure open lines of communication in a very busy household.
9. Keep a Schedule

It is a very good idea to write down the tasks you need to achieve in each day. As you complete them, tick them off. You should not, however, feel like you are bound to your list. If you don’t manage to do everything, it doesn’t matter – move any incomplete tasks from today on to tomorrow’s list. This is also a great help if you are a procrastinator.
8. Take a Break and have Fun

If you spend too much time in front of the computer, at your desk, or doing whatever it is that your occupation requires, you should take a break. This doesn’t mean you have to take time off work – it just means you should try to make better use of your non-work time to do something fun. I always have difficulty pulling myself away from the computer and as a result I don’t go out as often as I should on the weekend or in the evening. But every time I do – I wonder why I haven’t done it sooner. This is a good way to develop new interests, and friends and to break up the monotony of everyday life.
7. Be Generous

Generosity has a tendency to come back. By generosity I am not referring only to money. You can be generous with your smiles, your advice, and many other things. Always try to find a way to help others. One day you may be in great need and people you know will be more likely to come to your aid when they know that you would do the same for them. You might know someone that could use help around the home from time to time – not only are you doing a good thing by helping them out, but you may also make a great new friend.
6. Accept the things you can’t Change

When something bad happens in our lives, we try to fix them or change them. But sometimes we can’t. Often this leads us to spend hours moping and falling in to depression. If you can make yourself accept the things you cannot change – you will become a much happier person. Acceptance of these situations also allows us to start finding a way to cope much faster. For example, you may realize that you have only $10 left in your bank account that has to last the next 2 weeks. Instead of getting down about it, accept that you have no money and work out a way to survive on that amount. You can save yourself from wasting hours in a bad mood by just getting on with life. You will find much more serenity in life following this tip.





5. Learn a New Language

Learning another language is one of the best ways to improve your grasp on English. In my own experience, learning French at high school taught me so much more about grammar than English class ever did. In addition, when I later started studying Ancient Greek, I learnt a lot about the roots of English words – something I have found very useful in writing in the years since. As well as improving your knowledge of English, if you learn a living language you increase the number of places you might like to visit – or make those holidays much more enjoyable by being able to speak to the natives in their own tongue.
4. Break the Chain

If you have a lot of patterns in your life, try breaking them – do something different every day. Let’s say you always order the same meal at your regular Friday night restaurant. Why not try something else this Friday? Not only do you get to broaden your experiences of life, you open up many doors for the future. Not long ago I would never eat oriental foods or seafood. Then one day I decided that I would just try it. Seafood is now one of my favorite foods and I would hate to be without it. Because I discovered that I love Thai and Chinese food, I can eat in any restaurant I want. That first step also meant that I am now willing to try absolutely any food (except maybe the ones on the Top 10 most Disgusting Foodslist). My disliking for those foods had a much greater impact as well – I would only holiday in countries that had foods I felt safe with. Since then I have been to Oriental countries and loved it.
3. Face the Fear

Every day you should do something you don’t want to do – or feel uncomfortable doing. This varies in degrees for everyone, but we all have little things we can start out with. For example, you may not go to the gym because you fear everyone looking at you – do it anyway! In no time you will be so much more confident that you abolish the fear entirely and can move on to the next fear – maybe even something bigger. Living a fearless life gives you a confidence that is visible to others. Instead of building walls around ourselves, we should be tearing them down.
2. Forget Goals – Live for the Now

Lists of this nature almost always tell you to set and write goals. I am going to tell you the opposite. A very wise psychotherapist once told me that if you set a goal, and achieve it, you are often left with an empty feeling because the goal is not what you thought it would be. Not only does it not satisfy, you inevitably end up missing out on so much life by striving to reach something in the future. Having said this, I don’t think you should ignore the future – it is worth having some idea of what you might like to one day achieve – but don’t focus all of your energy on getting it. A good example of the difference is this: I have a goal to live in France. I spend 10 years trying to save up all my money so I can acheive that goal. In the meantime I am so busy scrimping and saving, that I can’t afford to go out with friends, I can’t afford to live in a nice home, and I am miserable because I am not living in France. On the other hand, if I simply decide that one day I would like to live in France, the idea is in my mind, but I continue to live and enjoy my life. In living my life, I am happy now and not focused on a distant goal. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t happen, I haven’t failed at anything. But who knows what wonderful things may happen in my life in the meantime? A very good fictitious example of this can be found in the film American Beauty.
1. Don’t Procrastinate

This is one I struggle with a lot in my own life. This has been a great challenge for me as I work from home, but taking this job has really helped me to stop putting things off and take control of my life. The feeling after completing a task you would normally put off is a great high – and certainly a much healthier one than some of the other highs in our lives. When you put something off, you are putting yourself into time-debt. You have to pay that debt back and almost always you end up having to do that at the most inconvenient time. By putting off writing an article for the site, for example, I end up having to write one at 7 at night when I would rather be watching a movie and having a drink! Your life will become so much more organized if you follow this rule.

Sumber : http://www.thehiddenfact.com/top-10-tips-for-self-improvement/

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