Infinitives Unsplit

Mitral Valves

2008-07-19T18:04:00.002+01:00

You know what the mitral valve is, yes? It's that all important part that allows your heart to pump.....it closes when it's pumping and then opens to let more blood in to be pumped and so on. And it's working 40-100 times a minute every hour of your life so you can imagine that it's one of those parts of the body which might go wrong.

Now there's several ways of doing this, several different forms of mitral valve surgery. Not just the difference between the old style, of cracking open the chest and then then diving in with both hands, and the new which is minimally invasive by laparoscopy.

But further than that, in recent years there's been a change in what is actually done once the surgeon gets in there. It used to be that the basic thought was mitral valve replacement. Hey, it's going wrong so let's put a new one in.

Nowadays though there's a move to mitral valve repair: let's only replace it if we have to. The benefit of this appraoch (where it can be used) is that the patient (that's you or I= doesn't then have to take blood thinning drugs for the rest of their (our) lives.

Fewer drugs sounds good to me.

Visiting Australia

2008-07-17T18:11:00.002+01:00

I'm pondering what I should do for my midlife crisis, something I know all too well is due sometimes soon. Getting a sportscar and toupee and chasing teenage cocktail waitresses, well, its just been so done, hasn't it?

So perhaps something a little different might be in order. Should I try and track down my Australian relatives? It's slightly odd, but gg grandmother emigrated *from* Australia in the 1860s. She'd gone there with her three sisters and brother under one of the Britiosh government schemes to populate the place and found she didn't like it. So she moved on.

But that of course means that there are the (possible) descendants of her siblings out there as distant cousins. Might be slightly fun to try and find them.

While I vaguely plan this (inbetween checking the ads for sports cars and teenage cocktail waitresses) I've been able to find an excellent site to help me plan my travel. Flights and international flights, of course. But more than that, Singapore Airlines flights (they do after all have the best service reputation of any long distance airline) as well as Jetstar for those internal to Australia flights.

I'm still not sure whether I'll actually go but checking up and dreaming about it sure is fun.

ShopWiki for Toys

2008-07-13T18:28:00.002+01:00

This is really rather a good idea, ShopWiki. We're all aware of the various price comparison sites but there's a problem with them. The rankings and the listings are determined usually by who pays the compilers of the site. So it's possible that you'll get directed to hte people who have paid the most to be recommended rather than who is offering the very best deal or selection.

ShopWiki.com operates rather differently: more like a search engine that a database. It cralws the net just like Google does and is thus able to find all of the people offering a particular item and then rank them according to what their offer is like.

Check out their classic toys section for example. They break the whole subject down into a series of sub units: retro toys for example. Umm, slightly disturbingly, the things I used to play with as a child are described as retro. Ahem.

Or perhaps you would prefer magic trick sets, or stuffed animals (yes, of course the have Pooh!).

They way they do it, by crawling the net, means you get to see all the very best offers: a tool well worth checking out.

Those Online Poker Sites

2008-07-08T17:41:00.002+01:00

Yes, we all know there are huge numbers of poker sites out there, but which ones should you in fact be using? Assuming that you are in fact in the free parts of the world, where you are in fact allowed to spend your time as you wish that is.

Further, how do you find out which of the good sites actually cater to people who use Apple Macs? Ah, now, there I can help. What you you want is Mac Poker. It's an excellent little site devoted to pointing out the good places where you can indeed use a Mac to play your poker.

As an example, have a look at their review of Poker Stars. That gives you a very good taste of what they're all about. Grading the site in respect of things like customer service, real money traffic and so on.

Or perhaps this review of Poker Bonus will give you a further idea? That's the listing of which sites (along with the associated necessary codes to get them!) will offer you a bonus for signing up or depositing money. Or a similar listing for the online casino bonuses.

All in all it's a very useful and informative site about where you might want to pay poker on your Mac: who can argue with or complain about that, it does exactly what it says on the tin.

Furnishing the Locker Room

2008-07-08T15:16:00.002+01:00

I have to admit that it's not something we've had to deal with yet in this refurbishment of this new to us house: but it will arrive, we will get there at some point. Around and about the time the pool goes in, actually.

We're going to need to have some lockers: for the pool will be large enough that it won't be just us as the family that use it. That's very nice for us, of course, but it does mean that if we've got a lot of people using it then they'll need somewhere to keep their stuff while they do so.

So, what do you think? Should I be thinking about steel lockers? That does actually sound a little over the top, doesn't it? I mean we're not exactly in a school lockers situation here are we? They don't so much need to be secure as we just need to have somewhere to put things.

Maybe the gym lockers or even the simple plastic lockers would suffice?

Finding the Best Digital Camera

2008-07-05T13:40:00.002+01:00

If you're out there trying to find the best digital camera you've actually got something of a problem. For there are so many variations that it's not possible to say that one is the best. The best for whom? For what purposes? What's the best digital camera for you?

Now it is true, you can go to one of the review sites and you can trawl through all of the reviews and try to work it out. Takes a lot of time but it can be done. Or you can click through any of the links and go to a review site that does it rather differently. They start with a real case: take a person and work out what it is that they want to use a camera for. Then use experts to do the searching ffor that use and person, the results being written up as a recommendation.

So, for example, we might have the best travel digital camera, or the best wide angle digital camera, or the best ultra compact digital camera.

It's an excellent idea: instead of you having to wade through reams of information, allow the experts to apply their knowledge on your behalf.

GPS Tracking

2008-06-28T15:07:00.002+01:00

This GPS tracking technology is like most new such technologies: we can think of the excellent and interesting ways that it can be used and also of ways in which it could be used to reduce our freedoms and liberties.

If GPS technology is used for asset tracking, for example, then we can all see the good sides of it. A company can keep an eye on where its trucks are, or a courier where the packages are. Quite excellent and there's no problems there for anybody: all good and no bad.

However, if GPS technology is used for personal tracking, then it's a little more problematic. Sure, it's nice to know where your teenage children are in the car, but do we really want people to start tracking where their spouses are?

Where GPs technology really becomes problematic is in law enforcement. Yes, sure, we can see the utility of it, being able to trace parolees, or suspects. But there's something that we need to balance with this, our own civil rights. And remember, these aren't to protect criminals at all, they're to protect us from the government.

So it's all something of a mixed bag: as is so often true with a new technology. There's good uses and bad uses possible and we'll not really get sorted out which are which and which we're going to allow people to use for a decade or two.

Gadget Reviews

2008-06-26T15:58:00.002+01:00

The problem with this never ending stream of gadetry that pours out of the manufacturers is that you never know when someone has released something you might actually want. Sure, there's 15 new phones every afternoon, but which, if any of them, are actually worth having?

Which is why I'm rather happy to have found this great site full of gadget reviews. Up to date, comprehensive, clear and simple in their evaluations. Sounds simple for them to do of course but there's a huge amount of effort that goes into trying to organise something like that and keep it up to date.

For an example of their latest gadgets have a look here. It gives you a very good idea of the sort of range of gadgetry they cover: it's not all just phones or laptops. There's also this page which allows you to access a series of top 10 reviews. The top 10 games consoles, the top 10 PC accessories, the top 10 robots....

And excellent site to go browsing through and a must visit one if you're thinking of adding to your stock of man toys and gadgets.

The Second Stage of the House

2008-06-21T18:38:00.003+01:00

As regular readers will know we've been working on this new (to us at least) house for some time now. We've got one half entirely finished and now we've got to decide what to do with what were the storage buildings for this small farm. Should we try to convert them as they are? Pull them down and rebuild in traditional style?

Or perhaps we might think of doing something a little more radical? I'm rather a fan of steel buildings....not least because we're in an earthquake zone and making sure that such metal buildings meet standards is really quite simple. It's not just metal carports or metal garages either, there's some really rather interesting things you can do with this building technique. In fact, if you're looking to get a high roof, or a large glass expanse in one wall, then this can be a great deal cheaper than more traditional bricks and mortar.

Fortunately I know the local guy for these products...I'll have to ask him over for a beer sometime....

The Kauffman Foundaton and Entrepreneurship

2008-06-19T17:40:00.002+01:00

If you're interested in entrepreneurship at all then you'll really want to check out this site of the Kauffman Foundation. For me the biggest interest is their scholarly work into entrepreneurs, what makes them tick and how to encourage more of them.

But what they actually do is a great deal more than that. Founded from the fortune of Ewing Kauffman (the founder of Marion Industries) they do a great deal more than just the dry and dusty scholarship.

For example, on campuses right across the country the encourage college entrepreneurship: if you're looking around for someone who might be able to help with a bright idea you've got that wouldn't be a bad place to start.

They've also created a network of angels and investors who will actually fund (obviously, some but not all) good ideas and good people.

But I think that the part that I like best is that they've noted that minority entrepreneurship is less common than in other groups, and theyre working to do something about that.

All in all they do education, outreach, funding, training and public advocacy on the subjects of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship: all good stuff for it's that next generation of them that's going to pay for all our retirements.

Auto Transport

2008-06-12T19:19:00.002+01:00

Recent events have made me start to think a great deal about auto transport. Yes, I know, an odd subject to be pondering, but the changes in gas prices around the world have led to some very different behaviour in different parts of the world. And, being the sort of globe trotting international guy that I am this might open up some interesting opportunities.

In the US the rise in gas prices has led to people ditching their large trucks and SUVs in favour of more economical vehicles. This is pushing down hte price of used versions of them, as basic Economics 101 would indicate. Now I also know people in other countries that don't have high gas prices: so if I could get decent car shipping to move used cars from the US to those countries then there could be a good profit to be made, don't you think?

Now the people I know outside the US are in Angola and Venezuela: both big oil producers and also places which subsidise the domestic price of gas. So the prices of used large cars in those countries haven't been hit in the same way.

Buy cheap, sell higher, that's the way to make money, isn't it?

And having looked around the web I've been able to find a company that does indeed deal with international car shipping. And at higly reasonable prices as well: now all I need to find out is whether my buddies are up for the challenge....

Wikis and Shopping

2008-06-12T19:10:00.002+01:00

Now here's an idea: one that I wish I had thought of first. Combine the technology of a wiki (like Wikipedia etc) and the functions of a shopping comparison engine. What do you end up with? Shopwiki. And excellent and interesting innovation to my mind.

So, imagine that you want to shop for something. Should you simply take the word of those who are trying to sell you something? Or perhaps a community populated site, where you can get the advice of those who have actually seen, bought or used the tiems would be better? Well, who is going to tell you more of the truth?

So, for example, look at this section on nursery furniture. You can drill down further to rocking chairs, to changing tables, to toy chests, whatever is your specific desire.

But over and above this great functionality (and it's a very clean and quick site as well) you've got one further great bonus. On hte more normal shopping comparison engines you only get shown (at least, in the first few pages of results) those people who have paid to be presented in those first few pages. Here, you get a real comparison of all of the different offers, making it much easier for you to find both what you want and the best deal on it.

Finishing Off The House.

2008-06-12T19:04:00.002+01:00

As regular readers will know we've been working on this new (to us) house for some time now. And while pretty much everything is now done as always, when you think you've finished, you haven't quite. With hte heat of the summer (finally!) upon us, there's some discussion about how we need to get some ceiling fans into the place to move the hot air around.

Fortunately, we know where to go for a great selection at great prices: these ellington fans look really good for example. Or maybe these casablanca fans would be better?

But from my point of view the best thing about being able to do all of this shopping on hte net is that I don't have to do it. Having found this great supplier, all I have to do is hand the mouse over to the wife and let her get on with it.....Dear? perhaps these hunter fans are more what you're looking for? I'm off for a beer while you look around.....

Reverse Mortgages

2008-06-08T18:49:00.002+01:00

OK, we're all familiar with the various permutations of a regular mortgage: you borrow money (in a variety of ways, to be sure) to purchase a house or apartment and then you pay back that loan over time.

Something that's becoming a great deal more popular as the population ages is (and especially in California for some reason) are CA reverse mortgages. The essential point here is that instead of using one of these California reverse mortgages to purchase a home you are in effect selling it.....but you get to stay in the home until you decide (or find that fate has decided for you) to leave it permanently. You might get a lump sum from such a program, but the more usual reason is to provide a regular income.

Yes, that's right, Ca reverse mortgages are about freeing up he equity in your home, but you get to stay living in it, and those offering the reverse mortgage are paying you regularly for the right to take possession of the house in the future.

It can be an excellent way for those asset rich but income poor to turn one asset into an income. Click through any of the links above to find out more about these programs.

Greek Gear

2008-06-04T17:34:00.002+01:00

It's one of those hugely important things about the university campus, of course: the fraternity and sorority houses. Which you belong to helps to define who you are on campus and with such a definition of course you want to be dressed the part as well.

Which is why you might want to go over and have a look at this page dealing with Greek Clothing: if you're going to dress the part then you might as well get the best quality Greek Apparel at the very finest prices, no?

Or perhaps you'd prefer a Greek Hoody Sweatshirt? And yes, you can add your own letters sso as to make up the name of your fraternity: it wouldn't do to have to take off the shelf clothing now, would it?

If noe of the clothing lines quite take your fancy why not show your loyalty with any of this set of Greek Gear?

Whatever it is you're looking for in terms of fraternity and sorority gear, that's the place you're going to find it so why not click through one of the links?

Exercising the Horses

2008-05-29T14:32:00.003+01:00

Now this is something I'd never really thought about before but now that I've seen it I think it's wonderful. It's a horse exerciser.

No, yes, I know what you're thinking....we keep horses to get exercise ourselves, don't we? So why would we want a horse walker that gives them that exercise automatically? And there's a point there, but when you look at how we actually live our lives today, you begin to see why. How many of us can actually ride our horse each and every day? Well, yes, quite. Plenty of us cannot manager to walk our dogs every day....

So that's the niche that horse walkers occupy: yes, we get to ride when we want to , when we can, but the horse himself (and let's not be sexist here, herself as well) gets the exercise that they want and need when we can't be there too.

All around, an excellent idea, don't you think?

Treating That Acne

2008-05-29T14:25:00.002+01:00

No, it's not true that acne is just something sent to try hormonal teenagers. Rather, it's something that can happen to any of us at just about any time. So it's good news that there are in fact acne products that can do something about it.

Do note though that it's something about it, not cureing it. That's as yet not possible, to simply take a treatment and it all disappears. But there is an acne product which will both treat it when it does occur and will reduce the liklihood and impact of any further flare ups. There are in fact many of them but most have one rather large problem.

They contain benzoyl peroxide, and while this can indeed help it can also in fact make both hte current symptoms worse and also dry out your skin too much. So why not click through to find out about the best acne products, those from Murad, which don't contain benzoyl peroxide?

Sorting out the Basement

2008-05-24T16:37:00.002+01:00

Regular readers will know that we've been getting this new (to us at least) house sorted out for some time now. We've got the external and interal parts just about finished now (a little tiling and grouting in the kitchen, not much more to go) and now we need to start getting the things that will keep it in shipshape fashion.

Like basement dehumidifiers. Being where we are, in a region that is both warm and humid (we're near the sea) one of the basement dehumidifiers is pretty much essential for us. During the day of course it's fine down there, but if we don't take care, as night falls and temperature drops, then the moisture will sink out of the air and we'll end up with who knows what funghi growing on the walls.

Yes, funghi, not fun guys. So, in my search for basement dehumidifiers I found this company and their web pgage on them. Looks pretty good to be honest, a good range and great prices. So, excuse me while I go and flash the credit card at them.

Getting Your Insurance Sorted Out

2008-05-21T11:54:00.002+01:00

It's one of those things that no one really likes to think about: that none of us will live forever. However, while the single with no dependents might simply have to accept this ugly fact about life and its end, those either married or with dependents do need to think a little more about matters.

If you were to die, would your partner be able to keep on living the life they are accustomed to? Would your children still have enough money for college and so on?

This is what the insurance business is all about, insuring against such risks. Here there's two major types of it. For example, 20 year term life insurance. This involves you paying a premium each month for the 20 year term and if you should be unfortunate enough to die in that period then your dependents get taken care of.

There's also with profits insurance, where in return for a higher premium you get not just he life cover but also a savings plan: some of the money you pay over is invested and comes back to you.

The real point about these forms of insurance is that if you're going to get it, you need to get quotes from a number of different suppliers. Like, say, AIG term insurance or Prudential term insurance. Only by looking at what the market has to offer can you be sure of getting the best deal.

Nanny Cameras

2008-05-20T17:58:00.003+01:00

Now here's something of a conundrum over the appropriate uses of a nanny camera.

Well, to start with of course there's the use for which a nanny camera was designed. So that you can see what said nanny is doing when you're out of the house. Is she entertaining her boyfriend upon the couch while your child struggles in the bath? Or is she taking care of the little darlings in the way you want?

But then we find ourselves wandering off into rather more controversial uses for a nanny camera. Let's imagine that she was rather hot and was indeed entertaining her boyfirend? Is this something you would then watch? And would that be with or without your wife then?

To get to really extreme uses, what if she was indeed hot and was willing to entertain you on the couch? Something to show the wife or not?

Hmm, these things can become a little complicated, can't they?

Marketing Programs

2008-05-16T15:57:00.002+01:00

It's a few years since I was involved in this industry but it's still true, the basics of it. The value of any marketing campaign depends upon how tightly you target your advertising. There's no point in your trying to advertise cars either to non-drivers or those too poor to afford one, no point in advertising diapers to those without children.

So the start of any campaign has to be the aquisition of a target list, for example, a marketing list. I recall one campaign we ran where our targets were solicitors (one of the two types of lawyer in England). The customer expected us to use the phone book and simply call every advert in it....we argued that to be a solicitor you had to, by law, be a member of the Law Society. So we shoud use the Law Society membership list, which is what we actually did.

Now not every list of mailing leads is as easy to discover as that: which is why for most such you'll probably want to go to a list broker, they collect and collate these for a specialty.

For example, there's no simple way of collating your own mortgage mailing list so why not click through any of the links and see what the specialists can do for you?

The Breast Form Boutique

2008-05-11T15:47:00.002+01:00

So here is something a little different for the discerning shopper. The Breast Form Boutique. It describes itself as all you need to "become the woman you've always wanted to be". Umm, no, it's not aimed at the female audience either. Rather, at those who are not female but rather wished they were.

Yes, it's a shop for everyone from the cross-dresser through to the pre-surgery transexual. Not quite my cup of tea but I do find it fascinating that they say that they've been catering to the cross dressing community since the early 1900's...it's been going on that long?

Still, an interesting selection of goods, many just what you might think of: buttock enhancers, emulating the feminine deposits of adipose tissue, and some you might not have. Who, for example, would have thought that someone made a prosthetic pudendum?

Still if that's what floats your boat, go for it.

Furnishing the House

2008-02-06T18:20:00.000Z

As regular readers will know we're in hte process of dealing with this new (to us) house and now that we've got most of it done we are approaching the final part of stage one. The final part of one half of the house that is.

We've got the builders coming in with the kitchen and utlitly room stuff! Yay!. Already bought almost all of the necessary bits and pieces, only one more to go. The washing machine. So given my dislike of going shopping (I've been known to walk into a store, see something and say "I'll have that", rather than bothering to compare things) I've been casting around the web for places that will sell me a washing machine.

And I've got to say, these guys at Wize seem to do a pretty good selection in the washing machine line. The prices are good as well: they compare very favourably with the other sites I've seen. Of course, there is still a gender difference in how these things work: I'm certainly not going to be allowed to simply buy one. That will be the decision of the wife. No, not because I'm a sexsist pig but because that's just the way things work around here. I'm not allowed to buy anything important without her say so: for precisely the reason mentioned above, I'll buy the first thing I see.

Still, at least I know where to point her now, which website she'll get to choose from.

Structured Settlements

2008-01-26T17:08:00.000Z

This is a little understood part of the financial world, the way in wihch you can sell a structured settlement. Another word for the same practice (although with subtle differences) is viaticals.

OK, so that's made no sense to anyone at all. Think of it this way. You get an insurance payout say, or have a pension being paid to you perhaps. But instead of that weekly or monthly check you'd prefer to have the money in one lump sum now. A more formal description is here.

Essentially what you're doing is trading a stream of payments for a lump sum now. The buyer of the stream of payments and the provider of the lump sum is doing the opposite of course. Again, you can click here for more details.

But if this is something that you want to do how do you actually go about it? How do you make sure that you're getting a good deal? One suggestion would be that you start with Settlement Quotes LLC. Click through there to see their site. If you tell them of the details of your structured settlement they'll be able to get you quotes on what the lump sum will be.

Thomas Delgado

2008-01-26T17:03:00.000Z

No, really, this is taking the piss. He cannot be serious about this, can he? Really?

A Spanish driver who collided with a cyclist is suing the dead youth's family $29,300 for the damage the impact of his body did to his luxury car, a Spanish newspaper reported on Friday.

Businessman Tomas Delgado says 17-year-old Enaitz Iriondo caused $20,500 of damage to his Audi A8 in the fatal 2004 crash in La Rioja region, the El Pais newspaper reported.

Delgado, who has faced no criminal charges for the incident, wants a further 6,000 euros to cover the cost of hiring another vehicle while his car was being repaired, El Pais said.

The youth had been cycling alone at night without reflective clothing or a helmet, according to a police report cited by El Pais.

I mean I laughed when I read it: but not that funny laughter, that one you get when someone tells you a good joke.

No, the disgusted kind, the "Awwww, noooo" and then a chuckle. It's not enough to kill the kid (and the driover has already been found at fault for driving too fast that night), he's claiming damages about the incident. He might even have a case in law but no, this is simply not the behaviour of a gentleman.