Are you waiting to paint your masterpiece? More than the imagination and the interest that the artist finds deep down in him, there are other attributes that contribute to his picture’s quality. He needs to be careful and diligent with a hawk’s eye to choose the best of the art supplies that are available in the market. These will include easels, paint brushes and good quality paint. These art supplies might be the simple requirements but since these are what define the quality of the final picture that the artist paints, it is imperative that he chooses the best of the lot. Like they say, what you sow, so shall you reap, if the artist takes good effort to use the best easels, and other necessary hardware, it goes without saying that he will be able to get the best result out of this and he will be the proud owner of a beautiful art form. The best of the art supplies available in the market and the imagination of the painter can indeed form a beautiful end result – a beauty to the beholder’s view point, a blessing to every knowing eye, a real tribute to the creator of the art itself!
Archive for November, 2008
Paint your world
Thursday, November 27th, 2008E-Learning the Easy Way
Thursday, November 27th, 2008K Alliance is one of the lead organizations that have brought entirely new and evolving concept of e-learning. The innovative e learning course modules form the part of K Alliance training curriculum. This qualitatively helps the learner to achieve its goals in a more direct manner. Being interactive in nature, the powerful elearning strategies defined by the K Alliance also helps the learner to grasp the concepts of a particular domain or subject are right from the scratch. Different course curriculums are designed for explaining different concepts. Moreover, each of the course curricula is also designed keeping in mind the age as well as the scope of learning. The more the scope, greater will be the depth of e learning module.
K Alliance also makes use of advanced computer based training methodologies into practice. These methodologies take into account the learning environment; and also the target audience into purview. For K-12 learning, more emphasis is given on the graphical methodologies of teaching and explaining the things. For graduate, postgraduate and higher studies, altogether different learning approach is applied. K Alliance training is totally customized and optimized program that ensures that at the end what a learner gets is perfect and updated knowledge. And knowledge is the power of doing the things in a better way.
Just Sit Back and Relax
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008If you think that undergoing training is all-hassle and you will just end up getting a minimal amount of knowledge and skill, think again. Today, if you are familiar with the computer training videos, you can grab one of those if you want to learn and you want to be trained within the convenience of your own home. You will be the sole factor with the time, manner and the frequency on how bad you want it to have. The computer training CD enables you to be at par with all the necessary needs that you have on line so you will no longer be getting the old fashioned way. For this, it will really have you the peace of mind that you have been yearning for and you will really be getting the facts through respectable and reviewed materials that they have to offer to you. It will also be a great opportunity for you to hold a good cause so it will be easier for you to go through the learning process in a good and inevitable way that you possibly can so you have to be sure with what you are doing and what your abilities are.
Cheap Blu-ray players seen scarce in Europe
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008A scarcity of cheap Blu-ray video players combined with the effects of a recession are expected to delay take-up of the new, high-definition Blu-ray DVD format in Europe, according to media research firm Screen Digest.
Screen Digest said on Wednesday that supply problems early in the year had led to a shortage of affordable Blu-ray players, and most of those available were being channeled to the more developed markets of the United States and Japan.
“A shortage of cheaper Blu-ray players means that the sub-$300 machines that are already appearing on U.S. shelves are unlikely to materialize in Europe this Christmas,” Screen Digest analyst Richard Cooper said in a report.
“Combined with the recession, this means the format is unlikely to move much beyond the early adopter market this year,” he said.
Toshiba’s withdrawal of rival HD DVD video format early this year left the market exclusively to the Blu-ray camp, led by Sony, but caught Blu-ray components makers by surprise, leading to the shortage, Screen Digest said.
Sony said last week Blu-ray disc players would fall short of a worldwide target of 5 million units, most of which had been expected to sell in the United States, due to the tough economy.
Experts say electronics retailers are expected to slash prices of Blu-ray players, which sold for as much as $1,500 in 2006, to as little as $150 after Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.
Major film studios such as Time Warner’s Warner Bros or Sony Pictures relied on video sales for 41 percent of their movie-related revenues last year, Screen Digest said, with rentals generating a further 10 percent.
European consumers are expected to spend 11.4 billion euros ($14.8 billion) buying videos this year, the research firm said, with Blu-ray accounting for just 3 percent of that total.
But by 2012, Screen Digest estimates the European Blu-ray market will be worth 5.4 billion euros, as high-definition viewing gradually becomes the norm, helped by the increasing availability of HD programs from broadcasters.
Scientists shed light on causes of epilepsy
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008A breakdown in a reaction between immune cells and blood vessels in the brain appears to play a key role in epilepsy, Italian researchers said on Monday.
The discovery could mean that some modern antibody-based drugs designed to modify the immune system used in other diseases may one day help fight the debilitating disorder.
A study of mice showed how immune cells sticking to blood vessels in the brain caused inflammation that contributed to epileptic seizures, Gabriela Constantin of the University of Verona in Italy and colleagues reported.
The finding could lead to new treatments to prevent the condition that affects about 1 percent of the general population worldwide, said Constantin, who led the study with Paolo Fabene. Its findings were published in the journal Nature Medicine.
“This mechanism was not previously suspected in epilepsy,” she said in a telephone interview.
Epilepsy is considered incurable but medicines can control seizures in most people with the common neurological disorder, although sometimes they can have severe side effects.
Many seizures — which are caused by excessive electrical activity in the brain — involve loss of consciousness, with the body twitching or shaking. People who have more than one seizure are considered to have epilepsy.
The researchers found that during a seizure the brain released a chemical that caused the white blood cells, or leukocytes, to stick to blood vessels. The immune cells protect the body from threats such as bacteria, viruses, and infections.
But when these immune cells stuck to the brain blood vessels they caused damage by releasing molecules that caused inflammation and contributed to seizures in mice, Constantin said.
“We found a lot of inflammation in this process in the generation of a new seizure,” she said.
Mice that received monoclonal antibodies to block the immune cells from sticking to blood vessels had a dramatic reduction of seizures, in some cases 100 percent, Constantin said.
The treatment worked in a similar way to Elan Corp Plc’s multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri and Genentech Inc’s Raptiva for psoriasis, she added.
This means these kinds of drugs might also one day be used to treat epilepsy and the findings could also lead to new anti-inflammatory treatments for epilepsy, she said.
“We predict other inflammatory drugs can work and be discovered for use in humans,” she said. “We have preliminary data on other inflammatory mechanism.”
Positive environment can help treat drug addiction
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008A new study has shown that positive and stimulating environmental conditions make it easier to treat cocaine addiction.
This is the first time, researchers from the Institut de physiologie et biologie cellulaire (CNRS/Université de Poitiers) have shown that environmental conditions play a major role in treating drug addiction and in preventing relapses, reports Science Daily.
In the study, the researchers found that exposing mice to an “enriched environment ” during cocaine withdrawal removes abnormal behaviour related to addiction.
An enriched environment, for mice, is an environment, which stimulates their curiosity, providing social and physical activity as well as explorationAfter addicting animals to cocaine, the researchers then exposed them to an enriched environment made up of large cages with a small house, a running wheel, tunnels and other appealing toys, which were changed weekly.Three models of animal addiction were used – behavioral sensitization, which measures the progressive increase in the stimulating effects of cocaine after chronic administration; the location preference, which measures the ability of a context (associated with cocaine consumption) to lead to drug-seeking behaviour, and the renewal of this drug-induced location preference; measurements of cocaine’’s ability to lead to a relapse after a period of withdrawal.
The researchers found that after thirty days of exposure to an enriched environment, addiction behaviour typical of these three models had disappeared.
To identify the brain areas involved in the beneficial effect of an enriched environment, the researchers used an approach from functional neuro-anatomy.
They showed that the absence of relapse in “enriched” mice was associated with a decrease in the cocaine-induced activation of a set of brain structures involved in dopaminergic transmission and associated with relapse.
These findings suggest that the living conditions of drug addicts should be considered in determining their therapy.
Review: Spider-Man, Batman swing onto consoles
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008While superheroes may have taken over Hollywood, the video-game world has been harder for them to conquer. Sure, recent games featuring Iron Man and Spider-Man have sold well, but they haven’t fired up gamers the way that a typical “Grand Theft Auto” or “Madden NFL” release does.
Maybe that’s because video-game protagonists are already superpowered. A tough customer like Marcus Fenix (”Gears of War“) or Master Chief (”Halo”) could probably kick Batman all the way back to the Batcave. Gamers like their heroes homegrown — although comic-book stars are welcome in the virtual world, if the game’s done right.
_”Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe” (Midway, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, $59.99): Here’s one of those “what if?” scenarios that comic-book writers love so much: Who would win a fight between Sub-Zero and Superman? Or Kitana and Catwoman?
Yes, it’s 11 popular “Mortal Kombat” fighters vs. 11 of DC Comics‘ famous heroes and villains. Midway has added a few new twists: Characters can pound each other through walls and fight in midair, and the developers have toned down the violence to get a teen-friendly rating.
As always with this genre, it’s much more fun to play against a friend than against the computer. “MK vs. DCU” is decent fan service, but it won’t hold the interest of anyone who doesn’t care about both ends of its equation. Two stars out of four.
_”Spider-Man: Web of Shadows” (Activision, for the Xbox 360, PS3, $59.99; Wii, $49.99; PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, $39.99; Nintendo DS, $29.99): Remember the black-suited web-crawler from “Spider-Man 3“? He’s back in “Web of Shadows,” which allows Peter Parker to switch easily between his red (good) and black (evil) alter egos.
Unfortunately, the choices you make don’t have much effect on which missions you’ll fight — and those missions, which often require simply beating on a group of thugs or aliens, get repetitious fast. And the boss battles against third-string Marvel villains like Electro and Vulture go on forever. It’s fun to swing through the streets of Manhattan with Spidey, but the rest of “Web of Shadows” is a drag. Two stars.
_”Lego Batman” (Warner Bros., for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, $49.99; PS2, PSP, DS, $29.99): This lighthearted romp is a real treat for Batmaniacs of all ages. The Joker, the Penguin, Two-Face and other miscreants are on the loose (again) in Gotham City, and it’s up to Batman and Robin to stop their reign of terror.
The game is a mix of easy combat, clever puzzle-solving and an occasional ride in the Batmobile. And it’s always a kick to bust open a box of blocks and reassemble them into some goofy weapon. The developers need to sort out a few issues (static camera angles, crummy artificial intelligence), but “Lego Batman” makes the Caped Crusader fun again. Three stars.
SRK to officially receive Datukship on Dec 6
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008Indian superstar Shahrukh Khan will officially receive his Datukship on December 6.
The Bollywood hunk will be conferred the Malaysian title of ‘Datuk’, akin to the British knighthood, state secretary Datuk Omar Kaseh, in a statement, has confirmed.
And he’s expected to receive the honour in traditional Malaysian attire.
The actor will be arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 7.30am before making his way to the state.
Kaseh said that the actor will receive his Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka award at a ceremony at 10 a.m. at Dewan Seri Negri, Ayer Keroh, in the presence of 1,000 invited guests.
“He will be conferred the Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka (DMSM), which carries the title ‘Datuk’, by Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob in conjunction with his 70th birthday. Shahrukh will be wearing a black Baju Melayu for the ceremony. We will be inviting about 1,000 guests to the investiture,” the New Straits Times Online quoted him, as saying.
The actor is being awarded the DMSM for indirectly promoting the state to the world through six movies.
The actor is immensely popular among Malaysians and had shot the film “One 2 Ka 4″ and a song sequence from his blockbuster “Don” in Malacca.
EU closer to deal on CO2 emissions for cars
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008European Union governments moved closer on Monday toward a deal on cutting greenhouse gas emissions from cars, but failed to agree on details ahead of key negotiations with the bloc’s parliament, diplomats said.
The planned legislation must strike the right balance between the needs of the car industry hit hard by a global economic slowdown and the bloc’s commitment to fight global warming caused greenhouse emissions.
The lack of full agreement means the governments and the European Parliament were unlikely to clinch a final deal on car emissions during subsequent negotiations on Monday night. But a keenly awaited accord could still come later this week.
“The Council (EU governments’ envoys) agreed on political principles…, not all details. The meeting with parliament will be exploratory,” one EU diplomat said, adding the governments would probably debate the issue again on Wednesday.
On Monday, ambassadors of the EU’s 27 governments agreed to cut average carbon dioxide emissions from new cars by around 18 percent to 130 grams per kilometer, starting from 2012 for part of automakers’ output and with full compliance by 2015.
“There was agreement on a phased-in approach toward cutting CO2 emissions. But some countries wanted a higher initial level and others a lower initial level,” the diplomat said.
Crucially, however, EU envoys failed to agree on fines for companies exceeding the allowed emissions. Any deal needs to be backed by the parliament before becoming law.
Another diplomat said the majority of countries backed a French proposal on cutting CO2 emissions to 130 g/km in 2012 for 65 percent of each producer’s fleet, then for 75 percent in 2013 and 100 percent in 2015.
The compromise is to accommodate luxury car makers such as Mercedes and BMW, which generally produce big cars with high C02 emissions.
The governments also agreed in principle on an ambitious goal to slash CO2 emissions from cars to 95 grams per kilometer by 2020. This is to placate the European Parliament, where most legislators back stricter emission cuts.
The diplomat said some small car makers might be temporarily exempted from general rules under the deal.
The legislature’s environment committee has supported strict emissions cuts, but it remains unclear if the whole house would back the proposal in a final vote, especially as car makers are announcing production stops and lay-offs due to recession.
MoonLITE: UK’s maiden Moon mission
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008Britain is set to launch its maiden moon mission to study the phenomenon of mysterious moonquakes, weeks after India’s spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 successfully entered the lunar orbit.
The 100-million-pound unmanned mission ‘MoonLITE’ would aim to understand the cause of mysterious quakes that vibrate through the lunar rock and put it into the satellite’s orbit before firing a series of probes into the moon’s surface, the newspaper reported on Sunday.
The 100-million-pound unmanned mission ‘MoonLITE’ would aim to understand the cause of mysterious quakes that vibrate through the lunar rock and put it into the satellite’s orbit before firing a series of probes into the moon’s surface, the newspaper reported on Sunday.The report said that the launch of Moon Lightweight Interior and Telecommunications Experiment or MoonLITE, will be announced by Science Minister Lord Drayson next month after which engineers would work on the technical designs with an aim to launch the satellite between 2012 and 2014.
Backed by NASA, the spacecraft would also examine the chemical composition of the rocks and even search for water on the moon’s surface.
The existence of moonquakes has puzzled scientists as the moon does not have the tectonic plate activity that causes quakes on the earth.
“The moon still holds an awful lot of secrets. Most of what we know about the moon is from a relatively small area on the nearside of the moon and we have no samples or data from the far side,” the daily quoted Ian Crawford, from the school of Earth sciences at Birkbeck College, University of London.
Crawford was one of the scientists who first proposed the MoonLITE mission, which would fire four suitcase-sized penetrator probes into different points around the lunar surface. NASA’s Apollo mission had shown that there are several different types of moonquakes, some thought to be caused by earth’s gravitational pull on the moon and others which are caused by the expansion of rocks when heated by sunlight.
A third mysterious form of moonquake, which reach up to magnitude 5 on the Richter Scale, has raised the possibility that the moon may be geologically active just beneath its crust, the paper said.
“Knowing more about these moonquake events is quite important if we are going to build a lunar base that is susceptible to them…can withstand them,” Crawford was quoted as saying.
Nasa has already announced plans to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020 and the agency is also aiming to build a permanent base on the lunar surface that could provide a staging post for future missions to Mars.
According to the daily, China and Russia are also planning missions to the moon, raising expectations of a new space race.