19:
For the more intrepid traveler, there are fewer and fewer places in the world where one can roll across the border on a bus or train and not be confronted by an established tourist industry. You could visit Antarctica but what’s the point apart from a stamp in your passport? The Amazon rainforest? It’s going to take a lot and time of money to do that properly.
This article is an attempt to extol the virtues of Central Asia, the gigantic region west of China, south of Russia, north of Afghanistan and Iran and east of the Caspian Sea. The countries which comprise this fascinating region are Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan (and others, depending on who you ask) and it’s the history of this area which draws visitors to it. The legendary Silk Road routes ran through this area from China and on into India, Turkey and further afield.
It’s also the location of one of history’s more secret wars; the ‘Great Game’ fought between the Russian and the British Empires in the 19th century for mastery of the region. Expansionist Russia was moving south, conquering Khanates and Sultanates with its eye on British India. The British wanted to create a buffer state between India and the aggressive Russians. The borders and the names have changed but cities such as Herat, Khiva and Bishkek live on for history buffs.
So if you want to get here before the gap year students and self-professed ‘travelers’ who currently swarm all over south-east Asia, India and Australia you’ll need to do a bit of preparation. A visa before you arrive is usually compulsory and they can be a bit pricey. On the plus side it’s a great opportunity to cross the continents by train. As an example, a week’s trip from London by train will get you to Moscow and then on south-east to Almaty in Kazakhstan via the capital Astana.
For the more intrepid, head to Baku in Azerbaijan then arrange a trip across the Caspian by boat to the bizarre country of Turkmenistan, then on to Uzbekistan. Neither are a trip you will forget in a hurry.
10:
The brand new Muppets film, a musical comedy, was released in North America in late 2011, but will hit the rest of the world sometime early in 2012. The question many found lingering over the entire production was simply, can the muppets still be relevant and funny in the 2010s?
The answer is yes and no, but you’ll leave the cinema feeling the former more than the latter – this is because director James Bobin adopts the right, perhaps the only, approach. A star-studded cast includes Jason Segel and Amy Adams as the main human protagonists set against a suitably hammy performance from Chris Cooper as the villainous Tex Richman, but the main character is new ‘muppet’ Walter, the brother of Gary (Segel).
Set decades after the last significant muppets show, the original cast are separated and essentially forgotten – save for by the brothers, who still avidly watch the old shows on tape. Walter’s feelings of isolation in the human world and desire to be among his beloved muppets drive this musical adventure on its whirlwind path to finally meeting Kermit and the gang, via the abandoned muppet studio and the tensions Walter’s quest cause between Gary and Mary (Adams). Then the reunited muppets must embark on an adventure to raise $10 million in order to foil Richman (Cooper) in his plans to drill for oil under the old studio.
The plot, the twists and turns, the music, it’s all been done before; but the film acknowledges this, and this is one of the keys to its considerable critical acclaim. At various points the characters nod to the length and budget, and the fact it doesn’t take itself too seriously is a massive relief in the cheesier moments. But of course the main reason it ultimately proves to be so watchable is the abundance of charm and nostalgia that still exudes from the original cast; the new additions also shine.
The only point of confusion is that it’s clearly a children’s film yet aimed at the age group which remembers the muppets show from childhood, which makes it ideal for parents with children, but perhaps slightly offputting for adults who harbour fun memories of a pre-Disney muppets franchise. Nonetheless, despite the fact that it’s hardly ‘masterpiece’ material, its successes certainly outweigh its weaknesses.
ACCA Past Papers
29:
To connect a satellite television signal to CCTV monitors requires a satellite receiver and coaxial cable. The receiver hooks up between the CCTV monitor and the satellite dish for receiving the extraterrestrial signal.
First, you need to turn off the power to the satellite receiver and the CCTV. Then, attach the cable coming indoors from the satellite dish to the input on the back of the receiver. Turn the cable connector clockwise to lock it onto the receiver.
And then hook up a second coaxial cable from the “OUT to TV” jack on the receiver to the RF input on the back panel of the CTV monitor. Turn on power to all components. Finally, press the “SAT/CABLE” input button on the CCTV or its remote control to connect with the receiver.
Article from: http://www.tomdepot.com/?p=338
20:
2011 has had it all. It started January 1st with Estonia becoming the seventeenth Eurozone country and taking the euro as its currency, and from there it’s been a rollercoaster of world events and change – some good, some bad. Let’s go over the main ones…
The biggest event early in the year was what the media has dubbed the ‘Arab Spring’, starting with the fall of the Tunisian government in January and then the crucial uprisings in Egypt that resulted in president Hosni Mubarak’s resignation. This then catalysed a string of similar revolts throughout the Arab world that are still continuing, or still resonate, even now in December. At last all kinds of countries long-oppressed by corrupt regimes voiced a universal sentiment – no more.
However, while one part of the world looked up, another suffered; on March 19 Japan was struck by the extraordinary 9.1 earthquake which even shook the world slightly off its axis. The terrible tragedy only escalated when as a consequence the nuclear reactors at Fukushima Daichi melted down with potentially catastrophic effects. Although now the situation is vastly improved, the lives lost or destroyed by the earthquake and resultant tsunami have had a lasting impact on the country.
Then in April some joy was returned to parts of world on Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding in London, the first royal wedding since the fated Princess Diana spectacle. And, people became yet more optimistic when in May public enemy number one, Osama Bin Laden, was found and killed in Pakistan, ending a decade of cat-and-mouse and bathing much of the US and even other countries with a sense of justice and satisfaction that the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks finally came to an end.
More tragedy occurred in July, this time in Norway as Andrei Behring Breivik is charged with a double terrorist attack, involving a car bomb and then a mass shooting massacre. The world reached out to all those affected by the unpredecented attack.
Another much-loathed dictator fell in October; Muammar Gaddafi, outlawed by his people and feeling the full force of NATO opposition, is eventually overcome and murdered by Libyan citizens, his body paraded through the streets to show all that Libyan freedom was finally won, and the Arab Spring continued its Zeitgeist-changing charge. Meanwhile, the European financial sector ran into severe difficulty and a series of emergency meetings were called to try to prevent Greece from defaulting and bringing the whole economy down. In December, David Cameron refuses to involve the United Kingdom in a fiscal union, reasoning that the British banks require financial security, much to the dismay of many European leaders.
Finally, in December the last of three dictators reaches the end of the line as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il suffers a heart attack, leaving an uncertain son as his heir and torrents of grief among his people.
Overall, the magnitude of change this year has been humongous, and here’s hoping for a quieter 2012… maybe!
12:
Details on the HP Slate 2 Tablet PC have been announced and include embedded security, enhanced multitasking, better touch screen functionality, and more flexibility for those who want to do their business on the go. In addition, HP also announced that they will be releasing a new notebook that will be focused on government, business, and education clients.
The new Tablet in particular offers instant programs for plenty of different mobile professionals that are often away from their desks including government, retail, education, and healthcare. It also offers Microsoft Windows in full scale and allows professionals to review, create, and edit content on the one device.
Vice President and general manager Dan Forlenza from HP’s Commercial Managed IT Segment stated that the HP Slate aims to address user’s business needs by offering a nice mixture of support for applications, many rich features, high connectivity, and the security that is needed for the highly competitive and fast passed business environment of today.
New features that are known about the HP Slate 2 Tablet PC are a multi-touch display that can be activated both by touch and with a stylus and a full Swype key board that helps make the touch experience even easier since it allows for one continuous swipe of the finger or stylus in order to type an entry.
Inside of the device is an Intel Atom processor that allows for great flash memory and high performance from the tablet that allows the Slate to quickly run applications without any problems and much faster than a normal PC is able to do.
Other software and hardware enhancements that come with the new HP Slate 2 include an embedded security chip that protects all data on the tablet including everything saved on the hard drive and even email. Also offered is embedded security for HP ProtectTools which offers management of the TPM chip that will help to improve the secure drive integrity, user authentication, digital certificates, and secure email all at one time.
To help prevent data theft the Computrace Pro is also built in to help protect users from data theft by allowing a user to wipe their files, operating system, or directory if they feel the need to.
In order to make connectivity easier, also offered on the Slate is the HP Connection Manager that operates over one user interface so that users can control their 3G mobile broadband, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Ethernet all from one easy location so that accessing internet or intranet is always a simple process.
Extra perks for business users that purchase the Slate 2 include the HP Retail Mobile Point of Sale Case that allows for easy POS and a HP Slate Dock that allows the device to easily be connected via an HDMI port and two different USB 2.0 points.
Article by Gizmophobe
22:
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The java instance was keep going down for the previous hosts that I tried, and frequently it was showing “503 server unavailable” errors while checking the website at times. I tried most of the so called reliable java webhosting companies, however their staff weren’t able to provide me with a good fix. After I transferred my java application to Onlinecares, I didn’t face similar problems again.
I like their hosting plan upgrade system which is very easy to purchase addon packages like dedicated IP, private tomcat and SSL certificates etc. Also, their staffs transferred my website from the previous host to their servers at a very reasonable rates as well. Currently, I have a private java tomcat hosting plan with them.
If you are looking for a java hosting provider, I would highly recommend Onlinecares.
17:
A professor argues that business schools must deliver executive education programs that get tangible results.
Money is tight everywhere, and executive education is certainly no exception. Pressure is mounting on business schools to show more direct and systematic evidence of a program’s impact on either the company or the individual manager. Promises no longer suffice; senior executives responsible for financing such programs want an objective assessment of what attending an executive education program actually achieves. They want to see tangible results.
To do that, stakeholders involved in these programs—program designers, business school professors, and human resources executives—must overcome some deeply ingrained habits. Today, the impact of executive education programs isn’t measured, because measuring it is difficult and risky—you could find out the programs aren’t working. But if business schools are going to deliver what the market wants—programs that deliver actual results—they’re going to have to step into uncharted territory and embrace that risk.
Determining the impact of sending top managers to an executive education program is notoriously difficult. And there’s very little incentive for HR executives to try. Once the board has signed off on the program, measuring the results—whether in efficiency, growth, or progress toward strategic goals—is a task that many in HR view as having little value.
That’s assuming such impact can be measured, and that’s a big assumption. Participants come from vastly different settings, face distinct business challenges, and have diverse learning styles and histories that shape their expectations and reactions to the program. Considerable costs are involved. And from the perspective of faculty, there is also an inherent fear that their performance would be measured against their ability to deliver a program with impact.
QUESTIONNAIRES AREN’T ENOUGH
While the individuals sponsoring executive education want to see direct results, many in the HR community are satisfied by simply observing the program development and participating in the learning process during the program itself. Many really on post-program evaluations by the executives who participated. As one human resources manager said: “Evaluations by participants at the end of a program remove any doubt about its impact.” As the literature shows, though, such questionnaires are at best poor measures of a program’s true impact.
For HR executives, the alternative is unthinkable. The impact of an executive education program depends on many pre- and post-program activities. Measuring that impact makes HR responsible for those activities, many of which are difficult to measure and outside of HR’s control—an uncomfortable situation for any executive.
However, theoretical evidence suggests that behavioral changes at the workplace require multiple points of reflection, multiple sources of feedback, linking a program’s learning to an organizational necessity such as project work, linking program learning outcomes to internal company systems, and providing a supportive technology infrastructure for networking and internal knowledge sharing.
Based on article written by Professor Bettina Büechel in May 2009
Bettina Büechel teaches Orchestrating Winning Performance at IMD
08:
Mid-way into November and winter is officially upon us! This is the time of year when we all start to think about nights in front of the fire, TV Christmas specials and a variety of take-away evenings leading up to the ultimate feast- Christmas Dinner. Now, whilst all of this sounds very lovely and cosy…it also sounds rather inactive and, dare I say it, lazy? A lot people seem to think that a bit of wind, rain or snow means that outdoor activities or off the table during the winter months. I am hoping this post will convince you to step away from the pizza and out of the front door- even if its just for a few minutes!
So, Ice Cycling! Sounds scary I know but its really not. It basically just means continuing to cycle cycling (whether purely for simple transport purposes or for fun) come rain/snow or shine. I shall share a few words of advice that I have built up over the years and hopefully you will find yourself a little more inclined to get your bike back out of hibernation.
I guess 2 of the main myths that need dispelling are: ‘it’s too cold’ and ‘Surely its not safe?!’ Well, starting with the whole temperature issue thing. Rather surprisingly, the main issue with ice cycling is keeping cool rather than keeping warm. It is common for us to take a look outside to check the weather and automatically reach for the layers- massive winter coat et al – forgetting that cycling in any weather is pretty energetic and…heated! It is only when temperatures dip to below Zero (F), (-20C) that being warm enough requires some planning. Even then, most winter cyclists keep right on riding until -20F and some to -40F without any problems.
As for the safety aspect- all cyclists can learn to handle their bikes so as not to induce sliding whilst cycling in icy conditions. In addition to this, it is actually possible to purchase studded bike tyres which provide traction. Even if you are unfortunate enough to take a spill (it happens guys!), then landing on a slippery or snowy surface in your winter clothes is likely to result in less of an injury than a bare-limbed cyclist grazing across a dry pavement.
This last little fact isn’t the only plus-side to winter cycling when put to the test with your average moderate-climate cycling. First of all, you will be treated much better by motorists in the winter as they are much more likely to give you a wider clearance. Secondly, so few people brave the the cycling world in winter that you will be the King/Queen of the bicycle lane. Lastly, expect it to be very satisfying! Whilst your friends are complaining about digging out their cars and minor dinting incidents you will be feeling healthy, alive and trouble free!
10:
Heads up to those of you who may have been away and might not know that The Knitting and Stitching Show 2011 is now on at Alexander Palace in London and runs until the 9th October. Doors open from 10am and the event finished at 5.30pm each day. I went today and had a great time, I didn’t get there until lunchtime and so hit the restaurant straight away. I can enjoy browsing and shopping when I have a full tummy and there’s nothing like some English lamb to warm you up. This versatile creature not only provides us with a amazing range of yarns for our projects but is also a sustainable British food source. OK I apologise to my vegetarian friends but for us carnivores this really is the Rolls Royce of meat. So back to the show after I’d stuffed myself with a perfectly cooked pink rack of lamb (and a sneaky glass of red) I was ready to check out the show.
A bit of info for those of you who haven’t heard or visited this annual show. This show is one of the best exhibitions for lovers of textiles in the UK and Ireland. Like the name suggests it covers knitting and stitching but also a whole lot more including; card and jewellery making, embroidery,
felt-making and well lots more. You’ll be pushed to see everything in a single day so it’s wise to get there early. Even though on the first day I only it by noon I plan to go again before it finishes. The core of the show features hundreds of exhibitors selling specialist supplies that you can’t find in the shops. I managed to track down some lovely crochet cotton and crochet hooks from a company who only sell online. There are also galleries from well known artists and tuns of workshops to introduce you to something new. It’s also a great place to meet like minded people, everyone is so friendly I always manage to bump into someone interesting and make a new connection. So get yourself down there if you can and if not put the date in your diary for next year (11th to 14th October 2012)!
Another event coming later in the month and ideal for those of you based in the Midlands is called Fibre Flurry. Being held in central Birmingham from 28th to 29th October 2011 this is another great event full of interesting suppliers and fun workshops.
05:
I have just come back from a trip to Sydney, Australia and was looking forward to the sunshine, sports and beer (until I realised that it’s actually winter there at the moment!) But the sports was a real treat. It is of course currently the Rugby World Cup and there is no better place to watch it than with a home full of Aussies, the sport’s best spectators. I was there for Australia’s recent domination of Russia. Whilst the game was going to be a clear win for the Wallabies there were still some tense moments.
However I really suffer from Sports-viewer’s curse… you know that feeling when you’re watching a sports match and you KNOW that as soon as you leave the room to get some chips, or a pizza you’re going to miss something important? Some call it Sod’s Law, or Murphy’s Law, or just pure bad luck. But my kitchen cravings have in the past made me miss crucial goals, penalties and tries. Luckily, my Aussie mates had found this new site called Delivery Hero that has just launched in Australia. Basically they could order any kind of takeaway food online. One of my mates has a smart phone and ordered a pizza without leaving the couch. He entered his postcode and saw a bunch of online menus from his local area. He could select food by cuisine type and check which takeaways in his suburb were open. The process was very quick and easy and nothing like the old days of scrabbling through cupboards for paper menus. We could even pay online so there was no need to count up the dollars. Before I knew it, we were munching on a Pepperoni and watching the Wallabies seal the deal. Even better is that I didn’t miss a single second of the match thanks to Delivery Hero. Summary? The Aussies clearly know how to play sports, watch sports and eat good takeaways!
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