Microchip Your Cat

A safe and effective way to keep track of your cat is microchipping. “Microchips” are small computer chips, approximately the size of a grain of rice. The veterinarian imbeds the chip under your cat’s skin, usually in the scruff of the neck, to give your cat a unique number that is used to identify your cat if it gets lost or goes missing. This minor procedure is as painless as an injection or vaccine and most cats have no reaction when they undergo microchipping. The number and information stored on the chip is used when your cat is lost and can be scanned by a microchip reader at veterinarian’s offices, animal shelters and animal hospitals.

The microchip reader functions much like a scanner at your local supermarket. The information stored on the chip includes your name, address, telephone number and your cat’s physical details. It is imperative that the owner keeps the information up to date so the cat can be returned safely home if it is lost. If an owner has a change of address or telephone number, this information should be reentered into the microchip and stored so your cat’s details are current. This is not a foolproof method, if your cat gets lost in an area where a scanner is not available, your best bet for identifying your cat is an ID tag and safety collar containing all necessary information. If your cat is wearing a safety collar and ID tag, this can help prevent your cat from going to an animal shelter when it is lost. The ID tag will ensure that your cat will not be considered a stray and the person who finds it can more easily return it to you.

Microchipping is not an expensive procedure, in most areas the cost of this safety precaution is $50 USD. The owner must pay an additional fee to register the cat’s microchip ID information. This registration fee is used to make sure your cat’s information is entered into databases at shelters in your area. If you get your cat from an animal shelter, it may already be microchipped and you will only have to pay the small registration fee. Contact your local animal shelter to find out if they provide a free microchipping service.

Each year, 10 million or more pets are lost in the United States. About 75% of cats have lost their collars by the time they reach an animal shelter. There is some controversy regarding the microchipping process used to identify your cat. Some microchips are scanned at a higher frequency than others, depending on the scanner. Find out more information from your veterinarian or local animal shelter about the frequencies used in the microchip that is provided for you and your cat. If a scanner cannot scan the information on your cat’s microchip then the microchipping process is futile. Shelter workers may assume there is no microchip in your pet and will not be able to contact you if your cat is lost and ends up at the shelter.

Eric Hartwell oversees “The World’s Best Homepage” intended to be a user-generated resource where YOUR opinion counts. Anybody can contribute and all are welcomed. Visit us to read, comment upon or share opinions on pets and visit our associated site articles for free

What Do You Want From Life?


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What do you want from your life as a student, professional, married? What do you want out of it in any of these stages? We would leave the married part, but student and professional we may definitely cater to.

As a student, you have not a choice, really, as you are either in a school studying or in a college; yet to shape your life. It is the professional we are most interested in, as his is a life which is either being shaped up or has shaped up. Are you really happy with your current state? Are you happy in your job? Or are you without a job at present?

If you have a job, and are not getting enough compensation for it, and have enough years of experience under your belt, why not go for a life experience degree and better your prospects? After all, a degree from a life experience college such as Almeda University is being accepted as valid by roughly 67 percent of the business.

If you do not have a job, but have prior learning due to which you are skilled at a job, you may give yourself a chance by checking your eligibility at Almeda university web site. The university offers a fully online life experience degree system and if found eligible, you are awarded the degree. No need of lessons and lectures. Why? There is no need of lectures, for experience can not be taught in classrooms.

During the process of eligibility, if your supplied documents are not enough for some reason, you are also required to write a thesis or dissertation to prove your worthiness (experience) for the degree. So you see, the degree and the university is not exactly a sham. It comes across as a slap on the face of those many diploma mills which take exorbitant fees and do nothing. Here you have a university which stands by its refund policies and is known for its customer care.

Try Almeda University and experience life from a new kaleidoscope.

Taking Care Of Your Cat

Cats are pretty self-sufficient pets but they need tender loving care just like you do! Here are some ways to improve the life of your clever companion.

Grooming - Cats are basically clean animals and have their own bathing routine, licking their fur and paws, with the wet paws reaching wherever the tongue can’t reach on their body. This eliminates the need for bathing your cat, barring some kind of extreme situation. Brushing your cat will help keep its coat shiny and clean. A daily brushing will decrease the incidence of hairballs and cut down on the amount of shedding.

Handling - We have all seen the tigress picking up her cub by the scruff of her neck. Do not do this at home!! Cats should never be picked up by their front legs or scruff. Instead, support the hindquarters with one hand and gently hold your cat with the other hand against the chest, under the front legs. Some cats love to be held and others don’t, so watch out for scratching and wriggling escape movements!

Housing - It is important for your cat to have its own sleeping and resting place. When it’s not sleeping with you, that is! Cats like to have a soft, warm towel or blanket in a cozy basket or other appropriate cat bed. Wash the bedding often.

Litter Box - Indoor cats need a litter box. You can place your cat’s litter box in a quiet location that is easily accessible for your cat. Good places to keep your cat’s box are bathrooms, utility rooms, laundry rooms or basements. If you live in a duplex apartment or multi-level home, it is advisable to add an additional box on each floor. If you need to move your cat’s box, please do so gradually, a little bit each day. Your cat becomes habituated to it’s litter box site and you don’t want it getting confused and eliminating on the floor in the box’s wake! Cats are sensitive to the condition of their litter box, preferring it clean and smelling good. The best way to ensure your cat has a fresh litter box (and will use it) is to scoop out solid wastes every day and, once a week, dump the stinky contents out, wash the box with mild soap, refill and your cat should be happy.

Playing - What you’ve heard is true, cats love to chase mice! To thrill and delight your cat, provide your cat with toys that resemble live prey. The best toys are those that jump around and dance and look alive, this way, your can will act out its natural predatory instincts on the toys rather than your wrists or ankles. Small laser beam toys are also great to play with, just don’t shine it in the cat’s eyes. This makes for hours of fun. Your cat will jump on walls, furniture or wherever you shine it, running after the moving spot of light all around the house. Another stimulant for a cat is the well known catnip plant which is sold at all pet stores stuffed inside toys and on its own. Catnip causes cats to be in a state of ecstasy, rolling around on the toy or leaves for ten minutes or so. 50-60% of cats react this way and they love it. Catnip causes no harmful or permanent effects and can be administered to kittens three months and older.

Eric Hartwell oversees “The World’s Best Homepage” intended to be a user-generated resource where YOUR opinion counts. Anybody can contribute and all are welcomed. Visit us to read, comment upon or share opinions on pets and visit our associated site articles for free

The Attacks on Online Life Experience Degrees


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It is not uncommon to find forums and discussion boards throwing huge balls of fire in the direction of life experience degrees. A person starts, and others follow suit like a herd. Truth is vastly stranger than fiction, someone once said.

Know what? He wasn’t lying. Truth is indeed much different from the general perception. The general perception of a life experience degree is a sham, and that of the providing institution, a diploma or a degree mill. This is because of the numerous other institutions who take thousands of dollars and then, too, the quality of education is nothing. Almeda earns a ‘diploma mill’ name plate on the sole premise that as this is also online, this offers a degree without any lectures whatsoever, so this must also be a scam - far from it.

Almeda does not conduct any examination because it does not need to conduct examinations to award a degree based on experience. Get a hang of it; how do you think you can measure practical experience in practical terms?

Being a fully online degree system, all the university can do is to verify the documents you submit to prove your worthiness. But Almeda goes a step further; Almeda University asks the candidate to write a thesis or dissertation before awarding the degrees. Again, if you write a thesis faking your cat’s credentials and somehow manage to get a degree for your cat, in effect, it would be only a human (you) who secured the degree - since your cat can’t write, you did - and most definitely NOT on your cat’s behalf.

So why attack EVERY online life experience degree institution? If you have so strong views, why not do something about it in a recognizable manner? Pluck out the bad from the good, can’t you? Nah! You’d better just sit in the confines of your computer table and opine like you knew all.

Life Experience Mystery

Life is a mystery. It presents us with so many challenges at every step, and it provides solutions to those very challenges to the wise. Experience in life teaches us a lot, teaches us the art of living, and teaches us the ways of the world. Believe me, I’m speaking from experience!

When you are small, you are touted as a kid who doesn’t ‘understand’. As you grow, you are expected to understand, and your naivete is taken with surprise. Why? It is because something inside you is expected to teach you about this world without any books, and something which no book may ever teach. This something is experience - familiarity which you gather all your life with all the events in your life.

Putting this perspective to education, a student studying from books suddenly appears naïve in front of the one who practically goes through the events daily - and he should be; for experience is the best teacher. Try teaching your child not to go near a hot iron, he will not stop until he practically experiences the result of it - that is experience, which he will never forget; and one day teach his own children.

What you study from books is futile until you practically apply it - and it is futile still if you do not apply it enough. Meaning? Meaning - theory and experience go hand in hand, never in isolation. A bookworm knows every detail of a good program, but faced with a compiler he may not be able to even start off if he hasn’t practiced compiling a program ever.

So what do you look for in life? Is it theoretical knowledge or is it practical knowledge? I suggest - go for both. Have an encyclopedic knowledge, and a grandpa-like experience.

Spay Or Neuter Your Cat


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You can avoid unwanted problems for your fluffy, furry friend when you spay or neuter your cat. There are surplus amounts of cats and kittens living in alleyways and wandering the streets, unhealthy, unclean and mean- all because an owner was not responsible and did not spay or neuter their cat. It is not necessary to wait until your cat matures in order to spay or neuter them. In fact, there are misconceptions about waiting to spay or neuter. A female cat does not need to have a litter of kittens or go into heat before being spayed. Both female and male cats should be spayed and neutered by six months of age. Both sexes undergo a surgical procedure to permanently remove the sex organs. In females, the spay or ovariohysterectomy is the removal of the uterus and ovaries and in males, a neuter is the removal of the testicles.

Having this procedure done by six months or even earlier will prevent the cat from developing annoying mating instincts such as spraying urine around your house and/or yard and decreasing the need for the cats to escape outside, looking desperately for a mate- which can cause them to get hurt, lost or disoriented. Neutering your male cat will lower his desire to fight with other cats and prevent unwanted litters of kittens. Female cats, when spayed, have a lower risk of developing breast cancer, which tends to be fatal in cats. When you spay your female cat, you prevent her from contracting pyometra, a painful and very serious infection of the uterus that affects older females and requires surgery and intensive medical care.

Of course, unwanted litters and difficult pregnancies in older cats are completely prevented if you spay your female cat early. In addition to all these health benefits, you will not have to listen to the awful, disturbing sound of a female cat in heat, slinking around the house with her tail in the air! Neither male nor female cats will gain weight after being spayed or neutered. Some veterinarians suggest early spay or neuter. This term refers to cats being altered at a very young age, between 6 and 14 weeks. This procedure has been in practice for 25 years in North America and is a safe operation for your kitten to undergo. Studies have shown that early spay and neuter does not affect the behavior of your cat in any way differently than spaying or neutering at six months.

What it provides is the absolute assurance that your cat will not breed unwanted litters. Humane societies all over the world are overrun with unwanted cats and other animals. It is imperative that a responsible owner take his or her part in helping to control the population of unwanted pets and reducing the stress on the Humane Society in your area from placing these animals in friendly, loving homes. Many pets are euthanized when the shelter cannot find a home for them. If you want to breed your cat, discuss birth control options with your veterinarian.

Eric Hartwell oversees “The World’s Best Homepage” intended to be a user-generated resource where YOUR opinion counts. Anybody can contribute and all are welcomed. Visit us to read, comment upon or share opinions on pets and visit our associated site articles for free

Life Experience Eye-opener

You thought life experience was a scam, a sham? What if I convince you it is not, it never was?

Life experience gained widespread criticism in the form of online life experience degrees. Universities like Almeda University propose to offer life experience degrees in various disciplines if you are able to prove to them your eligibility - all online. Why all online? Since there is no need to attend classes - how do you think you would benefit by attending ‘experience’ classes? Can you teach experience or can you learn experience? You can only LIVE experience YOURSELF.

So much for it being an all-online course. What about the fee setup? Fees do not cost a bomb, and if you are not satisfied, a full refund is what you may successfully claim. What about the course material? Course material is sent to you via mail. What about the degree acceptance? The degree is accepted in 67 percent of corporates, and growing.

So what do you get by ridiculing the degrees as scam? What do you get by portraying the university as bad? The university is not harmful to your existence, is it? The university is not harmful to your business. The university is just catering to a niche segment of the society - one which has the potential but which is not recognized. Why are you not understanding this? Or is it that you get some fun out of ridiculing and bad-mouthing someone or some business?

Try going deep into the crux of the system before blabbering next time. You will realize, things are not as bad as we thought them to be.

Translation And Pipelining Applied To End-User Programming


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This research involves using Semantic Web technologies to enable end user programming. This technology is applicable to any problem that involves user interaction, so can be applied in industries and home use for any task or subject area.

The work involves allowing non-programmers to model complex problems visually and without having to use programming languages. Information is created in a visual tree using an Ontology editor, the information is then transformed, and all calculations performed. Further transformations can be performed into any programming language or open standard information representation language, and this can be displayed on the web. This approach can be described as ‘pipelining’, which is explained by Gropp (2003) using the example of a project to convert Geography Markup Language (GML) to Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). SVG is explained by McKeown and Grimson (2000). Pipelining is also core to XML (eXtensible Markup Language) and XForms technologies (Bruchez, 2006), which are explained in this thesis. Pipelines are important for translation and Meta Programming techniques I use as they apply one program to the results of another. Also transformations can be performed between a tree representation and other styles of representation e.g. an interactive CAD style representation, using SVG. A major theme of the research is that of prototyping solutions to the problems raised, using web and other software technologies. These are then referenced from the thesis document to illustrate the solutions discussed.

The additional advantage is that of displaying the expressions in the appropriate context. Crapo et al (2002) explain that visualization helps the modeller to maintain a hierarchy of submodels at different stages of development and to navigate effectively between them, this is my reason for breaking down the models into a tree structure.

Semantic Web research has been developed from the work of Tim Berners-Lee (1997). Uschold (2003) defines the Semantic Web as being machine usable and associated with more meaning. Semantic web technologies and the use of agents and ontologies are explained by Hendler (2001) and Uschold who explains that “In order to carry out their required tasks, intelligent agents must communicate and understand meaning”.

Meta programming is the writing of programs that write or manipulate other programs (or themselves) as their data. The idea behind this technique is that instead of writing programs to do a task a person needs the program for, the meta program developer creates an environment which all domain experts, in this and similar fields, can use to create their own solutions. The developer then only needs to maintain and improve this programming environment, and can concentrate on this task; the domain expert can concentrate on solving the problem at hand without having to ask the developer to create the code on his or her behalf. This can prevent problems of misunderstanding, delay, and expense that often result from communication of difficult concepts between people who are experts in different areas (domain expert and programming expert).

References

Berners-Lee, T., Fischetti, M., 1997. Weaving the Web. Harper San Francisco; Paperback: ISBN:006251587X

Bruchez, E, 2006. XForms: an Alternative to Ajax?. In: XTech 2006: Building Web 2.0 16-19 May 2006, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Crapo, A. W., Waisel, L. B., Wallace, W. A., Willemain, T. R., 2002. Visualization and Modelling for Intelligent Systems. In: C. T. Leondes, ed. Intelligent Systems: Technology and Applications, Volume I Implementation Techniques, 2002 pp 53-85.

Gropp, E., 2003. Accelerating SVG Transformations with Pipelines. In: SVG Open 2003 - Conference and Exhibition 2nd Annual Conference on Scalable Vector Graphics - Vancouver, Canada.

Hendler, J., 2001. Agents and the Semantic Web. IEEE Intelligent Systems Journal.

McKeown, J., Grimson, J., 2000. SVG: putting XML in the picture In: XML Europe 2000 Paris France.

Uschold, M., 2003. Where are the semantics in the semantic web? AI Magazine Vol 24 (3) pp 25-36.

I am developing a project to provide free online collaborative modelling tools.

My Research - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/~phale/

My Blog - http://userdrivenmodelling.blogspot.com/

My SVG Page - http://www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/amrc/seeds/PeterHale/SVG/SVG.htm

I am a Researcher in the final year of my PhD. I specialise in applying Semantic Web techniques. My current research is on a technique of ‘User Driven Modelling/Programming’. My intention is to enable non-programmers to create software from a user interface that allows them to model a particular problem or scenario. This involves a user entering information visually in the form of a tree diagram. I am attempting to develop ways of automatically translating this information into program code in a variety of computer languages. This is very important and useful for many employees that have insufficient time to learn programming languages. I am looking to research visualisation, and visualisation techniques to create a human computer interface that allows non experts to create software.

Retail Shrink - Every Retailer’s Dirty Little Secret


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I want to share this staggering statistic. 1 in 12 people in the US is a shoplifter and a shoplifter will commit an average of 50 thefts before being caught. What is worse for retailers is that this represents close a 5 Billion dollar loss to shrink.

I think store shrinkage is that “dirty little secret” that no one wants to talk about but everyone knows it is happening. Most people feel that it is only the customer who is stealing. Unfortunately the latest statistics showed that dishonest employees stole as much as six times the dollar amount that shoplifters do.

In order to “shrink the shrink numbers”, I believe that organizations need to take ownership of the problem and train their employees to be more engaged at work.
Statistics have also shown that if an employee has a conversation with a customer, that customer will be less likely to steal from that store. It seems to me that one of the key ingredients to any good training program should be that of making a connection with the customer.

Here are 3 ways to connect and keep the attention of your customer.

1. Aware: Employees are expected and encouraged to multi-task. I always have said that any good employee has to be a magician, an actor, a diplomat and a teacher! Those terms are even more important as scheduling becomes a challenge for retailers. No matter how busy an employee becomes, it is very important that they are always aware of who is in the store and where they are at any given time. If it is a large store with a number of departments, then each employee should be aware of who is in their area of responsibility.

To be aware is to be actively engaged. What do I mean by that? I mean that personal technology devices are not allowed. As the employee is working they are making eye contact with customers in there area of influence. If they are text messaging or taking personal phone calls or chatting with other employees, they are not actively engaged in their job. Employees should be taught to notice bags that are brought into the store, heavy coats being worn when the weather is hot, overly large handbags and anything else that just looks suspicious. Offering to hold something at the register is a good way to help a customer who needs a hand but it can also make a “would be shoplifter” think twice.

2. Eye Contact: When teaching employees how to greet a customer, never overlook the power of eye contact. I always tell employees to look at them long enough to recognize their eye color. You may think that is strange, but by doing that you have made a connection and a recognizable impression of their face. I still believe in the use of name tags worn on the right hand side of the shirt so that there is a connection made between the eyes and the name and back again. For the customer, this is the best way for them to recognize the employee as the expert who can help them. For the shoplifter, it is a way to make them uncomfortable, which is what the goal should be.

3. Know Store Policies: Ongoing training programs that focus on store policies and updates or changes are very important. Each company has a list of policies, many of which are hard and fast rules that only a manager can override. Policies that refer to holds, returns, cash refunds and exchanges are important for employees to know. Not only is it important to know the policies but it is even more important for the employees to know their own merchandise. Frequently customers will try to return merchandise to a store other than where the merchandise was supposedly purchased from.

New, inexperienced employees can become flustered and choose making the customer happy over following the store rules. I know what you may be thinking…you were that person who actually had a legitimate return and the employee made the process painful at best! Yes, it situations like that happen everyday. The job of the employee is to use their “inner radar system” to decide if the return or complaint is legitimate or if the customer is looking for a way to “steal” from the store.

Being aware, making eye contact and having a strong working knowledge store operations should be an on-going requirement for any store employee. When any of those three is missing, companies open the door for potential thieves to steal their profits.

Anne M. Obarski is The “Eye” on Performance”. Anne works with organizations who want to focus on becoming CONTAGIOUS! Anne presents sessions on Contagious Customer Service, Contagious Communication Skills and Catching the Contagious Eye of GEN Y.

For her free ezine go to http://www.merchandiseconcepts.com,

to see her new video training tips go to http://www.merchandiseconcepts.net

or email Anne at anne@merchandiseconcepts.com

A Guide To The Dog Mind


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When I began this series, little did I know that it would strike a chord with so many readers. So I decided that I needed to expand into another realm; that of our canine friends. After all, they have feelings and personalities too. I have owned a virtual menagerie of pets from turtles to a rabbit and everything in between. Currently, I have a Shih-Tzu named Suzi and did devote one article to her last year. She’s in her senior years and typical of many dogs that I have known.

They share many traits and could be considered man’s best friend, except for all the female pet owners in the world. But I feel confident I could describe many of her characteristics which are common to other breeds fairly accurately and therefore shall share my attempt to do so here. Therefore, in no particular order, here are my thoughts on the mind of those happy hounds, playful pups, and pretty pooches:

  • As puppies, they are as about as darn cute as anything ever placed on this earth.
  • As adults, they can still be as cute as a puppy or as ugly as can be, depending on how they were bred .
  • They can laze around and do absolutely nothing for hour after hour.
  • They know exactly when it’s feeding time and will whine incessantly to prove it.
  • They can lick and lick and then, find new places to lick.
  • They love to have their belly’s rubbed.
  • They enjoy having the back of their ears rubbed.
  • They like to have their neck scratched.
  • In other words, they love to have anything rubbed or scratched.
  • They understand the word, “dinner” but not “stop” or “no.”
  • They like to sleep where it’s warm, like where the sun shines.
  • When they’re in the car, they want the window open so they can feel the breeze.
  • They love to go for a walk, anywhere, at anytime, with anyone.
  • They are faithful and friendly until someone else offers them a steak-bone to chew.
  • They have good hearing and can tell when someone approaches the front door.
  • They will bark for attention, when they want to be fed, when they see another dog, when they see a cat, when they are startled, when they are bored, when they are happy, when they are…
  • They hate sudden, loud noises they can’t understand.
  • They love to go to the park and sniff other dog’s poop.
  • They even love to smell their own poop, for some strange reason.
  • They enjoy fetching a stick or ball, until they’re bored or hungry or it’s time to lick themselves again.
  • Did I mention that they like to lick?

That should cover the major areas for now. If I can think of any more, I will add them into a follow-up article. For now, I have to go and see what the dog is barking at in the other room. It’s not feeding time and the mail man isn’t due for another few hours. So, what’s up with that?

Jeffrey Hauser was a sales consultant for the Bell System Yellow Pages for nearly 25 years.
He graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Advertising and has a Master’s Degree in teaching. He had his own advertising agency in Scottsdale, Arizona and ran a consulting and design firm, ABC Advertising. He has authored 6 books and a novel, “Pursuit of the
Phoenix.” His latest book is, “Inside the Yellow Pages” which can be seen at his website, http://www.poweradbook.com Currently, he is the Marketing Director for http://www.thenurseschoice.com a Health Information and Doctor Referral site.