Monthly Archives: February 2009

Homemade Pimple Treatments – Does it Beat OTC?

Posted by gisbert on February 5, 2009 None comments

Rather than treating your pimples with harsh commercial products that can contain harmful chemicals, you can get rid of your pimples with a few simple ingredients from your kitchen.

Because OTC (over the counter) pimple remedies contain chemicals foreign to the skin, you can do more harm than good while using them. Your skin works hard to maintain the proper pH and OTC products often upset the complexion’s delicate balance. When this happens, your glands often produce even more oil, resulting in more pimples. It’s a vicious cycle that can usually be broken only by abandoning the medicines that keep your acne under control. But you have to do something, right? Look to your kitchen for everything you need to treat your pimples, gently and naturally!

Banishing pimples can be as easy as reaching for breakfast-oatmeal! Plain oatmeal mixed with water is a great facial scrub. It will exfoliate dead cells that clog the pores but is so gentle that it won’t damage the skin or leave it raw as many commercial scrubs do. When you combine oatmeal with plain yogurt and honey, it becomes a good spot treatment for pimples. Simply leave it on the site until it dries and wash it off with warm water. The healing properties of oatmeal are actually good for your face and won’t over-dry it.

A very effective treatment for pimples is to dab on some apple cider vinegar and let dry before rinsing it off with warm water. This is also good for the entire face. It will leave your complexion clean, soft and supple while making the pimples disappear.

Tea is wonderful beverage but also good for treating pimple. A few teabags steeped with two teaspoons of basil is an excellent way to rid yourself of pimples. After the mixture cools, apply it with cotton balls to the affected areas and let dry. Store the remainder in the refrigerator for future use. Using this treatment a few times a day will quickly rid your face of pimples.

You may be wondering how to keep your face clean if you abandon the commercial products you’ve been using. Salt water is the best cleanser for your skin! One half teaspoon of salt in a quart of water is the right mixture for most skin; use it at lukewarm temperature for a healthy, well-balanced complexion. The salt will rinse away excess oil and dry the skin just enough to discourage pimples while not over stimulating oil glands.

Vegetables are not only good for your body but also for your pimples. Rubbing a tomato wedge on your pimples will make them disappear, sometimes in less than twenty-four hours. Cucumber slices do the job a bit more slowly but are a less acidic method. You can also use potato slices. Raw garlic rubbed on the pimples a few times a day will also banish them just as well as the tomato but can be unpleasant unless you enjoy the scent of garlic.

Day Trading and the Mind

Posted by infomktjv on February 4, 2009 None comments

What impact your mind frame has on your day trading activities will in part be determined by how emotionally tuned you are. In some cases, if you happen to blow with your emotions, your day will be heavily affected by other things in your life, frustration, or a few bad trades. In other cases, you may have a high tolerance for emotional strife before you believe it affects your daily dealings. In either case, the mind frame you enter the day with counts.

Because day trading is a solo activity, only you get to determine how your day goes and how you handle the events of the day. Because of this solo activity, you may also need to develop a higher level of self awareness. Your mood can become your monkey on your back even during a good trading day. If you allow a downcast mood to factor into your decisions, you are no longer making objective decisions. Using emotion through the trading day is a definite sign of potential loss. Being objective helps you make objective decisions and the introduction of emotion into that equation is a good recipe for loss.

On top of the unexpected emotional ups and downs of every day life, you also need to take into account the typical rhythm that your body goes through. Some people are morning people with clarity of mind and others just don’t perk up until later in the day. Know yourself, and your own natural biorhythms, and you will be more readily capable of determining the best time to lay out your plan for the following day. In some cases, you are going to need to learn to trust your clear conceptualizing because when you go to execute your trades, your mental cloudiness may want to over rule the clearly thought out plan.

If you are a morning person with the wind at your back all the way until noon, use that time wisely. During your natural down time, rely on your good judgment from the morning. If you are a natural night owl, use your morning to execute trades that were well thought during your peak times the day before, again trusting your earlier clarity. This is a process that takes some traders a couple of years to really get down. They allow their own poor judgment of their fatigued time to get in the way of what was otherwise a perfectly awesome plan.

Developing self discipline is a necessity. Learn everything you can about yourself, the way you make certain decisions at certain times of the day, and learn to trust your most clearly thought out plans. Some traders keep a notebook beside them and note their mood and their overall energy level as they make decisions, and then they go back and keep track of the quality of those decisions to help figure out what time of the day they make the clearest and most profitable decisions.

This requires a dedication and a time commitment, but those who have successfully tracked themselves are successfully happier with their results from this exercise. Should you choose to follow the exercise, you can not pick and choose which decisions you keep track of. You must keep account of every single one and the shortest amount of time that is recommended is two weeks, with most people finding the best results between one and three months.

Well defined plans are vital to creating wealth over time and executing intelligent and profitable trades. Defining those plans during the times of the day when you are most apt to make the best decisions is only logical. Creating an environment that is healthy enough to allow you to leave your emotional issues at the door when you sit down to trade is also a vital part of keeping a clear trading head and trading without emotional involvement. These are easier said than done, but just like everything else, with practice comes better.

Making Top Movies in Malta

Posted by babyjoe on February 3, 2009 None comments

Filming in Malta began in the 1970s. One of the earliest movies filmed in Malta is “Orca: Killer Whale.” The 1977 film starred Richard Harris as Captain Nolan and Charlotte Rampling as Rachel Bedford. The movie brought attention to the plight of the killer whale and introduced movie viewers to the beautiful Mediterranean Sea and parts of Malta.

Popeye Village

In 1980, Sweethaven Village was created on Malta. The Robin Williams movie was filmed in Malta, and the Sweethaven Village still stands today. Though it is not being used to film movies, it still serves the island well as a tourist attraction. The village is open to tourists seven days per week and offers a variety of family activities.

A Previous Engagement

The latest movie to be filmed entirely on the island of Malta was “A Previous Engagement” starring Juliet Stevenson and Daniel Stern. The Canadian-Maltese co-production was released in the U.S. in May 2008. In conjunction with the movie’s opening, a contest has been organized. One winner will receive an all-expenses-paid vacation to Malta and stay in the Xara Palace in Mdina where the movie was filmed.

Other movies that have been filmed in Malta include:

* “Midnight Express.” Some scenes were filmed at Fort St. Elmo in 1978.

* “Raise the Titanic” in 1980.

* “Cutthroat Island.” The popular Geena Davis and Matthew Modine film was shot primarily near Vittoriosa. Some scenes were filmed in Mdina, Fort St. Elmo and the Dingli Cliffs. Water tanks were provided by the Mediterranean Film Studios.

* “White Squall.” The violent storm experienced in this movie was filmed at the Mediterranean Film Studios in 1996.

* “U-571.” The star-studded cast included Matthew McConnaughey, Jon Bon Jovi, Harvey Kitel and Bill Paxton. The tanks used in the movie are the property of the Mediterranean Film Studios. One night-time scene was filmed in the city of Valletta at the Grand Harbor in 2000.

* “The Count of Monte Cristo.” In 2002, Valletta and Vittoriosa were temporarily transformed into Marseille for the filming of this movie. The lovemaking scene was filmed on the rocks near Fort St. Elmo. St Mary’s Tower on Comino served as the Chateau d’If.

* “Pinocchio.” The 2002 production of Pinocchio included scenes filmed in the Mediterranean Film Studios.

* “Swept Away.” The 2002 creation of Madonna and Guy Ritchie was filmed on both Comino and Malta. Madonna’s snorkeling scene was filmed at the Blue Lagoon on Comino.

* “Helen of Troy.” The 2003 mini series was filmed at Fort Ricasoli and on Comino at the Blue Lagoon.

* “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.” This 2003 hit starred Sean Connery and was filmed on Gozo at Xlendi. The submarine scenes were filmed at the Mediterranean Film Studios.

* “Troy.” The 2004 blockbuster hit starring Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom was filmed at Fort Ricasoli. Parts were filmed in Mellieha and on Comino Island. The movie’s producers used Malta’s natural beauty and ruins to enhance the authenticity of the movie.

* “A Different Loyalty.” Starring Sharon Stone, this movie was filmed in 2004 at Fort St. Elmo, which gives a visual representation of the city of Beirut. Parts of the movie were filmed on the Golden Sands Beach.

* “Alexander.” In 2004, Valletta’s Grand Harbor doubled for the ancient port city of Alexandria. The movie starred Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins and Colin Farrell.

* “Gladiator.” The Russell Crowe movie was shot at a replica built at Fort Ricasoli with a night time scene being filmed just outside Vittoriosa at Couvre Port.

How to Optimize Windows XP

Posted by brian_w on February 2, 2009 Comments Off

Windows XP is one of the most current operating systems, and as such it is one of the most popular operating systems available. Millions of users around the world use Windows XP every day, and this operating system is one of the best and most powerful you can find. There are some errors that can occur, however, and there are some things you can do to prevent errors and optimize the performance and speed of your system. By following these steps you can keep your Windows XP system running great and error free.

Install an anti virus program on your PC to detect and remove any harmful programs which can cause problems. This step is important because some viruses not only harm your files and data but can actually cause physical damage to your hardware, causing it to need replacement which can be expensive. Make sure the program you choose offers updates, so your definitions stay current and you are protected against the latest PC threats. It is recommended that you scan your PC daily, or at least three to five times weekly.

Use a good anti spyware program, as well as an anti virus program, because spyware is one of the biggest causes of Windows XP errors and system problems. These programs run quietly in the background, so that you are not even aware that they are there. Spyware usually installs without the user’s knowledge or consent, and can cause serious problems and risks. Some of these programs can even record any keystrokes you make, giving others access to private and confidential information such as account passwords and sites visited.

Only keep one window or application open at a time, and this will optimize your system performance. When you have more than one thing open at a time, it can create errors and system slowdown. It is also advisable to remove any unnecessary or unwanted programs from your PC, so that these resources can be used somewhere else. This will help to increase the Windows XP system speed and performance as well as stop some of the errors.

Windows XP and Registry Cleaners

Keeping your registry clean will take care of any Windows XP errors that occur. This step is recommended by the computer experts to stop error messages and optimize your system performance and efficiency. You could manually edit the registry by hand, but this is not a good idea because there are serious risks involved and it can take an extensive time to do, not to mention a massive amount of effort. Instead use a registry cleaner, so that you can clean your registry quickly and efficiently without any of the risks.

A registry cleaner comes with a simple interface that is easy to use, and only requires a minimum of effort to start. You simply download and install the program, and then run it. The software knows which entries to remove and which entries are needed by the operating system and installed programs, so there is no risk of any mistakes being made. Using a Registry Cleaner will help optimize Windows XP and keep things running great.

Brian Williams is a self-confessed PC fiddler dedicated to ‘spreading the word’ when it comes to fixing PC errors and helping people make the most use of their PCs.