Monday, March 17, 2008
XM vs. Sirius
So you want to switch to satellite radio, but you aren't sure with which service to go with? Two of the biggest names in satellite radio today, XM and Sirius, both offer a large variety of music stations that you would never hear on regular commercial radio. And most of the music channels, for both services, are commercial free. Of course, nothing is truely free. Both Sirius and XM charge you a service fee to listen to their music channels - someone has to pay for those satellites!
So what is the difference between Sirius and XM?
First of all, Sirius and XM both offer the same commercial-free music service broadcasted via satellites. Sirius offers 120 channels, or feeds, of music, sports, and entertainment programming. For this service, Sirius charges a flat monthly subscription fee of $12.95 for residents of the continental US. XM currently charges, on the other hand, has 122 channels broadcasting similar content (68 of which are music channels), and charge a slightly smaller monthly fee: $9.95. XM currently has the largest share in the satellite marked with 2 million customers.
So why does Sirius charge more? Sirius claims to have superior sound quality thanks to their statistical multiplexing technology, which provides additional bandwidth across all SIRIUS streams. This is supposed to increase overall sound quality and resolution. There has been little feedback however, to verify whether or not this system really enhances sound quality to a noticeable degree. In addition, Sirius is offering free audio feeds through the internet to its paying customers, something XM charges a couple dollars a month extra for. So if you plan on listening to the radio via the net often, you can expect to pay about the same no matter which company you go with. Sirius also claims to have 24 hour customer service - something XM radio has yet to fully achieve. Oh, and one more thing. Sirius has 2 NPR channels, for you NPR fans out there: NPR Now and NPR Talk. Pretty cool.
So does that mean Sirius is better? Well, that depends. XM has some neat stuff too, like a bunch of cool XM Satellite Radio receivers and displays. They also have the biggest broadcasting network right now, and are probably the most likely to expand services significantly in the near future. Overall, they are just about equal, and you are better off going with either of these services than any other.
Bradley James is a senior editor at SciNet.cc, a website containing many helpful consumer electronics review articles. For more information on the Sirius and XM satellite radio services please visit our XM vs Sirius webpage.
Weight Machines or Free Weights?
Which is safer - using exercise equipment that stabilizes the weight for you or free weights, such as dumbbells and barbells? Would it surprise you to know that some weight machines can place a lot of stress on the discs of your vertebrae, stress which could injure your low back? Let's take a look.
Oftentimes when people join a healthclub, they are shown the weight machines, which are usually set up in a circuit where you can go from one machine to another. These people are often new to working out and sometimes a little older, as well.
The common thought is that these machines are easier and thus safer, because you don't have to stabilize and balance the weights, like you do with a dumbbell. There are a couple flaws in this thinking, however. First, pushing and pulling a weight while seated can place a lot of pressure on your discs.
Studies done in the 70's looked at different positions and how much pressure was placed on the spine. Sitting resulted in more pressure than standing. The position that resulted in the highest overall stress - sitting while holding weights. This created more pressure than standing and doing different exercises.
Think of how many healthclub exercises place you in a seated position while pushing or pulling a weight. Think of how many exercisers doing this are baby boomers and seniors, thinking that this is safer. How many of these people have probably had some previous back injury which could be irritated or reinjured?!
Makes you think that those free weights aren't so bad after all, doesn't it. This doesn't mean that these people should be attempting to pick up heavy barbells off the floor, but they should be doing more strength training on their feet.
After all, most people who need increased strength to make their activities of daily living easier, should be doing some strength or resistance training in a standing position, as this will have greater carryover to their activities.
One way of doing this, besides using dumbbells, is using weight machines with cables that allow you to push and pull while standing. This makes sure that your "core" - your abs, low back, and hips - can stabilize your spine, obviously very important to prevent back injuries.
These exercises can also be done with resistance bands, which are cheap, portable, and can be used at home, if desired. Doing strength training in this way is also more efficient as you work your midsection at the same time as you work your upper body, unless you enjoy spending more time exercising than you have to.
By the way, which gym exercise puts the most stress on the discs? The leg press. Many people load up as many weight plates as they can to strengthen their legs. But often, the pelvis comes off the support pad while lowering the weight and all that weight is going through your L5-S1 disc, enough stress to create injury at times.
I've heard therapist Paul Chek talk about more than a few bodybuilders who have blown a disc in this manner. Just keep that in mind while lifting weights - build strength without causing injury, but don't create more strength in your legs than you can stabilize with your core.
Brian Morgan is a strength and conditioning specialist and massage therapist. For more information on posture, mobility and flexibility training, go to http://www.brianmorganfitness.com
A Brief History Of Everything
I was wondering about how everything we know came together to be the way it is right now and what will happen to us as a species.
The story of everything started 15 billion years ago.
The universe, as we know it, was created by an enormous explosion of matter to create space-time. A fiery, dense universe started to inflate.
For three billion years, optically dense matter/energy decoupled and created an invisible universe.
It took another billion years for clusters of matter to form. As heavier nuclei synthesized they formed protogalaxies.
After more than 5 billion years after the big bang, galaxies formed. Later, new galaxies, more like our own, with heavier nuclei came into being.
Around the 10 billion year-mark, our solar system, with orbiting planets formed.
A billion years later, in the primordial oceans of earth, atoms combined to form macromolecules capable of self-reproduction and self-assembly. This was DNA, the basis of all life.
DNA is the alphabet of life. Two strands of a double helix are linked by pairs of bases. There are four bases: adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine. All living organisms are formed by these four bases.
DNA resembles a spiral staircase and the order of how the bases are arranged in it create a particular organism. This DNA assembles an organism around it and copies itself. This copying is not always accurate. In most cases, the new mutations result in those organisms dying out. In some cases, however, it increases the chances of the DNA surviving and becomes biological adaptation.
Around 3 million years ago, our first ancestors inhabited the earth. They became increasingly more sophisticated. From the first hominid to 8,000 B.C. was the Old Stone Age; from 8,000 B.C. to 6,000 B.C. was the Stone Age, and from 6,000 B.C. to 3,000 B.C. was the New Stone Age. From 3,000 B.C. to 2, 000 B.C. was the Bronze Age. And from 2,000 B.C. to the time the Christian calendar begins was the Iron Age.
The last millennium covered the Middle Ages to the Modern Age. The most critical stages came after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Dark Ages; the pestilence that spread from Asia all the way to Africa, the Black Death; and the two world wars, which has resulted in the new threat of nuclear proliferation.
Where will we go now?
The next 100 years will be the most critical. It is at this stage where the pressure of new changes will force themselves on us. Besides the obvious political and economic problems, there are new problems that threaten our survival as a species: nuclear proliferation, environmental disasters, the population explosion, and epidemics and famines.
One solution may be the creation of a world government because the problems will be too much for any one nation. Assuming that by sharing of resources, peace and stability is established and most of our critical problems are solved, there will still be an evolutionary thrust to push us to build civilizations under the sea and move towards space. The reason for this is that the world population will be around 36 billion people at the end of the century if it continues at its current rate of 1.9 percent, which means that it doubles every 40 years.
This will result in the creation of a new species of human beings to cope with building and inhabiting the new environments. Failure to do this will mean that by the year 2600, people will be standing shoulder to shoulder and the earth will literally be red-hot because of electrical consumption.
Over the past 10,000 years, there has been no significant change in human DNA, but it may all change dramatically over the next 1000 years as genetic engineering works on creating improved human beings. It will probably start with plants and animals, with many restrictions against it being used on human beings, but someone will break the taboo and start creating human beings outside the womb. These human beings will not be restricted by the size of the birth canal and will grow bigger brains. Our current brains are 3 pounds. Future brains may be around 5 pounds. They will also probably be bigger and stronger than we are now.
Overall, the entire thrust of everything, from our perspective, has been the evolution of matter from nothing, then life forms from apparent random permutations, and then the evolution of one particular species until it took over the entire planet.
It's an amazing story.
Of course there are many missing links to it--
What happened before the big bang? What banged? How did the atoms necessary for life sort themselves out to create the macromolecule that defined all life? How did one creature create a superior brain and nervous system?
One thing is for sure: the future is not going to be anything like the past. The prevailing wisdom that there is nothing new under the sun is in for a shock.
Saleem Rana would love to share his inspiring ideas with you. Hunting everywhere for a life worth living? Discover the life of your dreams. His book Never Ever Give Up tells you how. It is offered at no cost as a way to help YOU succeed. http://www.theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html Copyright 2004 Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass this article on to your friends, or use it in your ezine or newsletter. It's a shareware article.
Best Diets to Lose Weight
Some thing tasty and yummy and yet you lose weight...
All the best diet plans are based on restrictions on carbohydrates, fats and high calorie products. During diet plans you can take fruits, green leafy vegetables, roughages and foodstuffs having less calories.
Top Diet Plans:
The Cabbage Soup diet has been used by dieters for years. This diet includes many versions but the simple one is that if you eat cabbage soup when you are hungry it will fill you up and will help you stay on low calorie diet. While you are on cabbage soup diet you must not take oily, fatty foodstuffs. This diet has very low calories. Therefore cabbage diet is among the best diets to lose weight.
The Sonoma diet was first prepared by Dr. Connie Gutterson. This diet includes antioxidant vegetables, juicy fruits like blueberries, spinach, whole grains and little almond oil. You can even add a glass of red wine. Sonoma diet is also approved as one of the best diets to lose weight.
Slim Fast diet is very helpful in controlling hunger for more than four hours. Slim fast diet is balanced, nutritional and rich in calcium and proteins. The Slim-Fast Diet plan is planned for dieter to take six times in day. You can add fruits, yogurt and cottage cheese. Fresh vegetables, meats and nuts are also a part of slim fast diet. It is not only diet cautious but also gives you a good flavor and taste. It can be considered as the best diet plan to lose weight especially for teenagers.
Negative calorie diet is less of a diet and more like diet helper. It consists of a list of foodstuffs whose net calorie account is less than total calories taken to digest them. These include high roughages, low fats, fruits and vegetables. Roughage is key content of negative calorie diet. The calorie output here is negative thus it will help losing weight.
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