WOW News – 30 April
April 30th, 2009 | 
Author: Hi Vivienne. Sorry … I’m really dragging my feet this week. But here’s this week’s news from The Web on Wheels!
In this issue we’ll look at:
- the worldwide health scare – Swine Flu;
- a brief look at searching on the web;
- article: Dance Your Way to a Better Body; and
- some funny photos – FAIL!
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Just a quick word about the content of this message.
Throughout this newsletter I have included various links to websites, and included some pictures. Sometimes those links don’t work.
It’s NOT you!
Sometimes your computer, or the system you’re using (eg. Hotmail, Outlook) decide to look after your security and block your ability to go straight to an outside website or to download pictures. Sometimes it’s simply that your computer is set to get only plain text messages. So no matter what you do, you won’t get the nice looking, easy-clicking tricks, your message will be just as it says – plain text without any of the fancy stuff.
If a link doesn’t work, try looking on your screen, usually toward the top of the email message and see if there’s some sort of message saying something about the link not being allowed. It might say, ”to protect your privacy downloads have been prevented” or “links have been disabled” – or something similar. Often in the same area there’s a messsage saying ‘Add to Safe Senders List’, or ‘Mark as Safe’. Go ahead and click that, then future messages will come through perfectly for you. (Let me know if things don’t work as you expect and I’ll get it sorted for you.)
Until next week, please take good care of yourself.
Viv
“A mistake is simply another way of doing things”
Katharine Graham 1917-2001
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This week’s problem
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everyone’s stars must have been aligned this week, as no-one’s let me know of any problems. So I’ll put this week’s problem as one that’s not technology-based, but a potential world health issue.
As you are no doubt aware, there’s worldwide concern about the Swine Flu virus. As you can imagine this has been ‘Googled’ millions of times.
If you care to do a search on Google for yourself – www.google.com, you’ll see that there are over 9 million results for Swine Flu.
If you do a search for the exact phrase “Swine Flu” – (with the words in double inverted commas) you’ll knock off a million or so results. That’s because, when you type in Swine Flu, the Google Search Engine (or Yahoo! or MSN or any other) will give the results of any website that mentions the word Swine, and also the word, Flu. When you put “Swine Flu” in inverted commas, the search engine gives the results where the term ‘Swine Flu‘ is used. And when you search for “Swine Influenza” (to give it its proper name), you get only 1,740,000 results. I guess most people just use ‘flu’, perhaps more official sites use the proper term, influenza.
|
As a side note, use this same technique when you’re looking for something specific on the web. For example, if you’re looking to find out all about the different types of putting irons, you could put * golf into the search field in Google. You’ll get 427 million results. Obviously you’re not going to trawl through all those, but at least the websites in this list will all have something about golf putters in them. |
So back to this week’s problem.
Now, I thought that the authorities had everything in hand, and I believe everything I hear about the vaccines etc.
Yesterday I received this article from Dr Mercola (I subscribe to his newsletter) which has a different perspective on the whole thing. Here is the link to the article. Now it’s a reeeeally long article, so you might need a cuppa. Here is the link, when you’re ready to read it:. The article will open in a new window.
Then for the official version of the situation, here’s an article from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention: which give a somewhat different angle to the situation.
There are all sorts of other websites with information about this – there are many, many news sites. They’re generally newspapers who have their articles online. So you can click on their link, and go straight to the article in their website. There are articles about a previous death from swine flu in 1976; there are videos about the subject.
If you want to be informed (or confused) about whether or not this is an overreaction, or a fantastic response that will keep people safe, then go right ahead and click on the Google links to read or see more.
And if you do care to dig around, you might let us know what you think – click on Reply and I’ll put any responses on our website.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How are you?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dance Your Way to a Better Body
I don’t know about you, but when I hear music with a great beat, my toes can’t help themselves – they get tapping.
There are many articles about the many health benefits of dance. One study by the Center of Aging, Health and Humanities says that dancing builds muscle strength, improves coordination and can boost the immune system.
Below is part of an article from MEDICAL NEWS TODAY.
The full article is here:
In part, it says:- Regardless of gender, generation or income group, more and more people are going to the dance floor for a workout versus a gym and an exercise physiologist at New York City’s Hospital for Special Surgery, a leading center for sports medicine, thinks she knows why.
“The best exercise program is one that is safe, balanced, promotes fitness and importantly, one people will do regularly because they enjoy it,” according to Polly de Mille, exercise physiologist at the Women’s Sports Medicine Center at Hospital for Special Surgery.
“The social aspects of dance help to make it very attractive for an increasing number of people versus, say, an elliptical training machine. Scientific studies are now also telling us that many things make dancing an excellent fitness regimen with attractive benefits,” de Mille said.
Dance is also very good for balance and posture, according to Beth Shubin Stein, M.D., an assistant attending orthopaedic surgeon in the Women’s Sports Medicine Center at Hospital for Special Surgery who is trained in sports medicine and shoulder surgery.”
Dance movements are weight-bearing and varied compared to a stationary bike. That is important for maintaining or improving bone density. Studies of recreational ballet dancers between the ages of 8-14 show higher bone mineral content in their hips and spine than in girls who did not dance
Dance requires agility and balance as well as various speeds of movement, skills that are generally not a focus of typical gym workouts. Studies of older populations who engage in dance-based exercise programs demonstrate improvement in balance and agility. This may be important in reducing risks of falls in this population.
Dance is mentally stimulating, requiring focus on coordination and learning movement patterns. Most people will read, listen to music, or watch TV to alleviate the boredom associated with most indoor exercise equipment. Dance requires being mentally engaged with physical movement, a constant mind-body connection.
One study showed that breast cancer survivors who participated in a 12-week dance and movement program not only improved their shoulder range of motion but showed improvements in measures of body image and quality of life.
For information about Hospital for Special Surgery: http://www.hss.edu/
So to the dance!
I’ve included a link here to a site that has free videos for beginners.
To see more videos, you will need to become a member, as it’s members only content (just like our members site). But it’s REALLY quick and easy to join. You just click on the button to sign up, type in your name, address, and make a password. Then your account is created. Click on the Beginners button (well, if you’re a beginner. They have intermediate and advanced levels too if you’re clever). They have a list of available videos, and it’s clear which ones are free. Click on the picture of your choice of videos to get some basics.
Here’s another site that has DVDs to purchase.
http://www.dancelovers.com/index.html
This site has DVDs which you can purchase, and use in your own home, any time you like. And if you’re stuck on a step you can call or email them for help!
How about doing a search on the internet and see if there are any dances held in your area? Or dance lessons somewhere local? Sounds like fun to me!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Humour me!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FAIL!!!!
We’ve got some funny photos to look at this week, as there’s been a lot of reading. My favourite is the school sign.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bye for this week,
Smiles and best wishes
Viv
********************************************************************
This is an e-mailing from the The Web on Wheels Community group.
To change your e-mail preferences for this group, visit
http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au/members/thewebonwheels+prefs+comm
********************************************************************
http://members.thewebonwheels.com.au
info@thewebonwheels.com.au
(03) 9787 7500
Helping you with your technology
Posted in Newsletters
 |
 |
 |
 |
