Wait! Don’t Touch That!

Have you noticed that everyone seems to be carrying sanitized wipes or bottles of sanitizer these days? A lot of health care offices even have dispensers in their exam rooms. Not to make you even more paranoid, but here’s some other places that germs may be lurking that you may not have thought of.

Restaurant menus-think about it. All the customer’s handle the menus, pass them back to the waitress who then stacks them back up. Are they even wiped off? Never let a menu touch your place setting or your silverware. Also wash your hands after placing your order since you’ve touched the menu.

Lemon wedges-Now I love lemon in my water and squeeze it in every chance I get. However, did you know that in a study done by the Journal of Environmental Health about 70% of lemon wedges hanging on the edge of glasses in a restaurant contained about 25 different micro organisms, including E. coli and other fecal bacteria? If you want lemon, use it at home or bring your own.

What about that ketchup bottle sitting innocently on your table? A lot of people don’t wash their hands before eating, so their germs are on that bottle just waiting to pounce. Holding the bottle with a napkin won’t help because napkins are porous. Use a disinfectant wipe or squirt hand sanitizer on the outside of the bottle and clean it off.

It’s not just the restroom door that you have to be concerned about, what about the soap dispenser? Most of the dispensers are rarely cleaned so bacteria grows on the soap scum build up. The bottoms are touched by dirty hands so the germs and bacteria have a free-for-all. Be sure to scrub your hands thoroughly with plenty of hot water for 15-20 seconds and if you have a alcohol based sanitizer, use of squirt of that too.

When you see the disinfectant wipes at the grocery store for shopping carts, use them. There are more bacteria on the handle of a shopping cart than in an average public restroom. Most of the grocery stores have them right in front of the store for easy access.

Then there’s the doctor’s office, the germ exposure there is off the charts. It just isn’t the coughing and sneezing but it’s all the magazines that have been handled by other people, most of them sick, and you’re picking them up to read. Take along your own book or magazines. Bring your own tissues. While you’re waiting, try to keep two chairs between you and the next person. Germ droplets from coughing and sneezing can travel about three feet unchecked before diving for the floor.

Make sure that your hand sanitizer and wipes are at least 60% alcohol to be effective. People may think you’re a germ-a-phobe, snicker and make jokes. However, you’ll have the last laugh when they’re sick and coughing and you’re sailing through flu season in the best of health.

By Linda Lee Ruzicka

Linda Lee Ruzicka lives in the mountains of Western PA , happily married and with her 8 cats and three dogs. She has been published in Twilight Times, Dark Krypt, Fables, Writing Village, June Cotner anthology, The Grit, Reminisce , the book, Haunted Encounters: Friends and Family. She also does freelances work for Beyond and Healthcarejobsite. You can read more of her blogs on Healthcarejobsite blog.

4 Tech Tricks To Improve Your Life

Create some new habits that can save you time and make you more productive.

Technology makes things a whole lot easier, but sometimes it can still be a pain to sort through loads of data and emails just to realize that the file you were looking for isn't there. It might seem like the technology is making things more difficult when you are struggling to sort through hundreds of emails and getting stuck doing repetitive tasks for what feels like an eternity.

Getting the most out of your technology will make you more effective and productive at work. And, as you probably know, staying organized and having access to your data is much more important when you are looking for a job. But, there are plenty of tips and tools that can help make you life easier and keep you working more efficiently.

Many of us are still learning how to make the most of the technology we have access to and aren't aware of some of the brilliantly useful shortcuts that are built right into our computers. To help you out, here are some tech tips to improve your life:

• Work faster without your mouse – Keyboard shortcuts are a lifesaver. They may not feel comfortable at first, but once you get used to them, they will save you tons of time. My favorite shortcuts are:
  • Ctrl-S to save a document.
  • Ctrl-T to open a new tab, or Ctrl-Click to open a link in a new tab.
  • Ctrl-C to copy
  • Ctrl-V to paste
  • Alt-Tab to cycle through all open windows
  • Windows-F launches the search tool
  • Windows-D minimizes all windows to show the desktop

• Use your camera phone as your personal photographic memory- Just about everyone has a camera in their cell phone these days. You may not have thought of it, but you can use the camera to help you remember everything. For example, you can take a picture of the sign in the parking garage so you will remember where you parked, take a picture of the item in the store you want to research later, take pictures of ads in sales papers before you go shopping or even snap photos of business cards, receipts and phone numbers. It is easier than writing them down, you don't need a pen and you won't lose the information.
  
  
• Consolidate email addresses with Gmail – Managing multiple email addresses can take up a lot of time. Consider creating a Gmail account. Gmail works as an email client and as an email host. It has a built in email fetcher, and can monitor the inbox on up to 5 additional email accounts. The best part is that you can even send email from your non-Gmail accounts directly from the Gmail compose screen. Just toggle the “from” address and the email will route from the selected account.
  
  
• Use Google Calendar to keep up with appointments and birthdays – The Google calender is easy to work with and will send you reminders about upcoming events via SMS text messages or email messaging. When you get emails in your Gmail account inviting you to an event or confirming an appointment, Google even prompts you to add the event to your calender.

Source:

PC World

What are your favorite time saving tech tricks? Let me know in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for PhillyJobsBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

Jin Shin Treatments May Reduce Pain, Nausea After Stroke

by Alex A. Kecskes

Stroke is a debilitating disease that affects one person every 45 seconds. It's a major cause of serious, long-term disability and a leading cause of death in the U.S.

Alternative medicines are often used in conjunction with traditional medicine to help stroke victims improve their quality of life.

Among the many alternative treatments is Jin Shin, which is based on the ancient art of bringing body, mind and spirit into unison. Through gentle, non-invasive touch methods, the body's energy systems are brought into balance. Hand placement techniques apply slight touch pressure to 52 energy centers or “Safety Energy Locks” (26 on each side of the body) to restore harmony to body, mind and spirit. Specific acupressure points and areas of the body, are held and pressed to channel the healing energy and balance the underlying causes of physical and emotional disharmonies.

Research has shown that when Jin Shin is combined with conventional medical treatment, it may help reduce pain, nausea and vomiting after surgery, and improve recovery from certain cardiac procedures.

A pilot study revealed that Jin Shin treatments could improve motor function after patients suffered a stroke. In the study, seven post-stroke individuals who suffered from chronic mobility problems for at least 19 months were randomly assigned to receive eight weeks of Jin Shin treatments. After their treatments, the participants were able to significantly increase their levels of physical activity.

During a typical one-hour Jin Shin treatment, patients remain fully clothed on a cushioned treatment table. The patient's pulse is taken at the beginning of the treatment to reveal any blocked energy pathways. Using the finger tips, the practitioner lightly contacts various body points in specific combinations for several minutes until they feel a pulsation.

Results are not always immediate. Several sessions may be necessary for some chronic conditions. That said, patients usually feel better after just one or two sessions.

Note: Jin Shin is not a substitute for medical care and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Consult a medical doctor before undergoing any Jin Shin treatments.

For an added perspective, check out this video:

For more information on health careers, visit http://www.healthcarejobsite.com/

Alex A. Kecskes has written hundreds of published articles on health/fitness, "green" issues, TV/film entertainment, restaurant reviews and many other topics. As a former Andy/Belding/One Show ad agency copywriter, he also writes web content, ads, brochures, sales letters, mailers and scripts for national B2B and B2C clients.

In The Hot Seat: Drive

The key to finding the right job in Philly is acing the interview. Don’t make this mistake when you’re In The Hot Seat.

Are you looking for a job in the Philadelphia area? Be sure to visit PhillyJobs.

By Heather Fairchild - Heather is a multimedia developer with experience in web, film, photography and animation as well as traditional fine arts like painting and sculpting. In addition to writing for PhillyJobsBlog.com, she is co-founder of design and promotion company, Creative Kazoo with fellow Beyond.com blogger, Staci Dennis. Heather’s spare time consists of making puppets, teaching Sunday School, building Legos and doing science experiments with her children.

Could The Cure For Cancer Be In The Stars? Astrobiology Has New Ideas For Cancer Research

Last month, I wrote about how medicine had finally been able to actually cure a man of HIV. Although medical research is typically the job of people who work in the Healthcare field, other scientist have recently been collaborating with medical experts to bring new ideas to the table. Now, it looks as though researchers in the fields of cosmology and astrobiology have made a new breakthrough in cancer research.

Paul Davies, the director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Arizona State University and Charles Lineweaver, from the Australian National University have worked together to publish a new cancer research theory in the journal Physical Biology.

Although they aren't primarily medical researchers, they had the idea to step back and take a larger look at the big picture in an attempt to trace the origins of cancer. Their thought is that finding out where it came from and how it started would be a way to find new approaches to treatment and prevention.

The astrobiologists, working alongside American oncologists, are suggesting that on a molecular basis, cancer resembles ancient forms of life. By looking at the type of multicellular lifeforms that flourished 600 million years ago, they are trying to find ways to help the oncologists discover new ways to approach cancer research. The problem with the disease is that the cancer cells themselves are very difficult to eradicate completely and are constantly changing and coming up with new defenses.

According to their paper, the scientist suggest that the genes that control the behavior of these types of organisims are still inside our own bodies, it's just that we have developed more recent genes that keep them from growing unchecked. The researchers speculate that cancer cells emerge when our newer regulatory genes become damaged or mutated.

If their theory is right, it would help explain why cancer cells are so quickly able to defend themselves against attacks by chemotherapy. In the paper, Lineweaver said:

"The number of genes that can cause cancer are limited. They have evolved very early, and they're very sophisticated. They're very good at surviving. It's no mystery that cancer knows when it's attacked by a chemical, and that it knows how to get rid of it.
"How does it know how to do that? Because we knew how to do that a billion years ago. And the cells have essentially reverted to an earlier stage of only partially differentiated life forms."

The researchers hope that their theory will be able to help oncologist unravel the origins of cancer and will be able to come up with better ways to combat it. The problem is that cancer is sort of a “moving target” in regards to treatment because it appears to be continually changing. This breakthrough will open doors to changing the treatment protocols and researching ways to strengthen the natural suppression mechanisms we all have that keep these genes from becoming active. By changing the focus of their research from finding newer, more aggressive ways to directly attack the cancer cells themselves to ways to boost the bodies natural suppression, oncologists may be able to find a way to treat cancer and cure patients of the disease completely.

Sources:

LifeScientist

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for Healthcarejobsiteblog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

Down and Out in Holland

If you haven't yet, you probably will hear about Gregg Rosen. He has become the most visible spokesperson for the "99ers" - the people who still have yet to find suitable work after running through not only all of their state's unemployment benefits but all four tiers of Federal emergency unemployment compensation. (For those of you who don't know this term - and I'd be surprised that you don't if you're a job-seeker - the designation comes from the maximum number of weeks of unemployment compensation available under both the Federal and state UC programs in most states; in some states with less generous state programs, this number is lower).

Their ranks are larger and more diverse than one might expect, and Rosen himself illustrates the point, for on the face of it, he doesn't look like he is doing all that badly. He still lives in a spacious, well-appointed home in the Bucks County community of Holland. From the reports I've seen about him so far, the biggest adjustment he has had to make is in foregoing medicines he needs to treat a chronic condition. He certainly wasn't living on the edge of disaster after losing his job as a six-figure-a-year marketing executive three years ago -- or at least wasn't until he found out that Bernie Madoff had blown his nest egg along with those of thousands of other well-off clients in a giant Ponzi scheme. But even now, almost two years after Madoff's scheme collapsed, he does not appear to be breaking a sweat over things like making the mortgage payment or where his next meal will come from. Yet to hear him tell it, he faces plenty of challenges trying to survive after the end of unemployment benefits.

Some commenters on the PBS NewsHour website complained in response to a recent interview with Rosen that he is not a terribly sympathetic figure because he still lives in comfortable surroundings. Actually, Rosen is all the more useful as a symbol of long-term unemployment because he is not visibly destitute. He reminds us that this time around, persistent unemployment is not the exclusive province of the unskilled, the talentless, or the downtrodden. Among the 5 percent of all college graduates who are unemployed are people like Rosen who, despite having knowledge, skills and experience galore, find themselves still jobless after all these years.

By Sandy Smith

Sandy Smith has been blogging for PhillyJobs.com since 2010. In addition to launching award-winning newspapers and newsletters at the University of Pennsylvania and Widener University, Sandy is a veteran writer whose articles and essays have appeared in several local and regional media outlets, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia CityPaper, and PGN, and on several Web sites. He is also an active participant on several discussion boards, including PhiladelphiaSpeaks.com, where he posts as “MarketStEl.” He has been supporting himself through a combination of freelance and part-time work and unemployment compensation since early 2009 and is himself an active job-seeker. Read more of his posts on PhillyJobsBlog.com and follow him to Beyond.com for more job opportunities.

Top Schools for EMTs

by Alex A. Kecskes

EMT and paramedic professionals typically treat patients who are in life-or-death situations—people seriously injured in an automobile accident or those suffering from a heart attack, for example.

The job is both challenging and rewarding, since it involves saving lives with sometimes only minutes to spare. The job outlook is good, since people will always need emergency help. For those who enjoy working in a fast-paced intense environment, EMT work certainly fits the bill.

If you're interested in pursing a career as an emergency medical technologist (EMT) or paramedic, you'll need specialized training in the field. Certification is required, and those who complete the highest level of EMT training are called paramedics. There are a number of schools, colleges and universities that offer both training and certification as an EMT or paramedic. The top schools for Emergency Medical Technology/Technician include:

Drexel University. Students are given the option of obtaining an Associate's Degree or Bachelor's Degree in emergency medical services. The faculty to student ratio is approximately 1:10. Tuition runs about $23,250.

Drury University. Here the faculty to student ratio is approximately 1:12; Tuition runs about $14,669.

University of Maryland, Baltimore County. A top research university, the faculty to student ratio is 1:19; Tuition runs $8,520 for in State students and $16,596; for out of State students.

In most states, EMTs must be re-licensed every 2 to 3 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This calls for additional education courses or an exam.

For an added perspective, check out this video:

For more information on health careers, visit http://www.healthcarejobsite.com/

Alex A. Kecskes has written hundreds of published articles on health/fitness, "green" issues, TV/film entertainment, restaurant reviews and many other topics. As a former Andy/Belding/One Show ad agency copywriter, he also writes web content, ads, brochures, sales letters, mailers and scripts for national B2B and B2C clients.

How to be More Organized at Work

We all know that not being organized at work can cost us both time and money. Moreover, a lack of organizational skills can induce unhealthy stress levels – which of course are not good for your health. Thus, it makes perfect sense that you should try to be more organized at your place of work. Read on to discover some helpful organizational tips!

Always Make Lists

On a daily basis, you should make lists of the tasks that you need to complete each day. Then of course you should prioritize these tasks – all the while keeping your long-term goals in mind. A good idea is also to complete the most difficult tasks first – in order to save you from any potential procrastination issues down the line.

Utilize a Daily Planner

In order to keep further organized, it is a good idea to utilize a day planner of some sort. After all, writing down events and deadlines is an excellent way to keep track of these tasks. However, you should always make sure to update the day planner on a regular basis in order for the day planner to be effective.

Decrease the Clutter

By keeping your desk and workspace clean, you will be that much more organized and efficient as a direct result. One way to minimize the clutter on your desk is to have an effective filing system in place. If you do not have an efficient filing system in place, you should implement one as soon as possible. Further, as clutter will inevitably begin to accumulate on your desk regardless of your filing efforts, it is advisable to “de-clutter” your desk on a regular basis – once a week for example works.

Check Email and Voicemail at Designated Times

Instead of wasting time and checking your email every five minutes, you should designate certain times of the day when you check your email. For instance, first thing in the morning, after lunch, and towards the end of the workday are great times to check your email if your schedule permits. Along similar lines, you should also check your voicemail at designated times as well.

All in all, if you utilize these tips, you should be well on your way to becoming a more organized and efficient worker.

Larisa Redins is a full time writer and editor with degrees in both Arts and Biological Science. She writes about career issues for PhillyJobsBlog.com and other topics for a variety of international websites and magazines. Please visit her other blogs at PhillyJobsBlog.com and view job posting at PhillyJobs.com.

New Face of Drug Testing

Arguably the biggest challenges within the field of drug development is testing. There are really only two choices available -- animal testing which is both expensive and raises ethical concerns, and human testing. 'Human testing' usually means performing tests on microscopic human cells found in tissue cultures which have been altered to live forever. Because of these alterations these cells bear little relation to actual living and breathing people so this option isn't ideal either.

Recently a new technique has been making waves in the scientific community: microchips that simulate the activities and mechanics of entire organs and organ systems. These “organs on a chip,” as they are called, are typically glass slides coated with human cells that have been configured to mimic a particular tissue or interface between tissues. Developers hope they could bring drugs to market more quickly and, in some circumstances, perhaps even eliminate the need for animal testing.

The ultimate goal with this new technology is to make chips that mimic more complex systems—perhaps even entire humans, says Donald Ingber, director of Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and co-creator of the organs-on-a-chip. Scientists could build chips contain­ing cells from patients with specific genetic mutations, which could predict drug responses in specific populations, as well as personalized chips that predict an individual’s drug response. “Essentially this would be analogous to human clinical trial design, but all on inexpensive chips,” Ingber says. “This is the whole point of bio-inspired engineering. You don’t have to re-create everything—you just have to get the salient features in.”

Bambi Blue is a freelance writer, editor, and social butterfly living in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. When she's not blogging her little heart out for HealthCareJobsite.com, she moonlights as a jazz musician and most apparently a weisenheimer. Loves to cook, hates to clean, and can easily be found on Twitter. To read more of Bambi's posts, head to HealthCareJobsite.com and see additional job postings at Beyond.com.

Apple Alienates Publishers With Their New App Subscription Service - And Google Offers an Alternative

The war between Apple and Google heats up as Apple offers subscriptions for apps and alienates many of its partners, Google steps in and offers alternatives.

Earlier this week, Apple announced that it had come up with a plan for companies to be able to sell subscriptions to their services, magazines, newspaper, music and video content on the iPad, iPhone and iPod through iTunes.

The catch is that the new plan is going to cost them. Apple is asking for 30% of the profits from the subscriptions and it will keep ownership of all subscriber data like email addresses and names if the subscription happens through the App Store. This new arrangements is upsetting many of the companies who offer apps for their existing customer base like Netflix and Kindle.

Many companies in the publishing world are also upset by the changes, as they want the option of offering subscription based services along with single issue purchase capabilities. Additionally, they want to know who is buying their content. That information helps them sell advertising, which is the way that most magazines generate revenue.

This new plan will also have a huge impact on other companies who offer Apps for their services. Companies like Amazon, Netflix and Pandora will have to start sharing income with Apple. Up until now, when users added their free Apps, they were able to click a link to visit the company's website to subscribe or log into their existing accounts to access content. Under the new plan, the companies won't be able to redirect users to their websites and any new subscriptions will be made through Apple's App Store, and Apple will collect its 30%. If the subscribers sign up outside of the App Store, Apple wouldn't be entitled to a cut of the profits.

For example, I have a Kindle and a Kindle App on my iPhone. If I were to purchase a book on my iPhone, Apple would be entitled to 30% of the cost of the book and my iTunes account would be charged for the purchase. However, if I were to buy the same book from Amazon using my Kindle, or by visiting Amazon's website, the book purchase would be processed through my Amazon account and Amazon would keep 100% of the money. The book would, of course, still be accessible through the Kindle app on my phone either way.

Apple's CEO Steve Jobs released this statement about the changes:

“Our philosophy is simple — when Apple brings a new subscriber to the app, Apple earns a 30 percent share; when the publisher brings an existing or new subscriber to the app, the publisher keeps 100 percent and Apple earns nothing.”

The bigger problem is that since Apple will no longer allow Apps that redirect users to their websites, customers will have to either purchase the subscriptions from the App store or find their way to the websites on their own.

Coincidentally, shortly after Apple announced their new changes, Google announced a new service that will allow publisher to have more control over the prices and terms of their digital content. Google One Pass is an e-commerce system that can be embedded into Android apps and websites. The service offers publishers the ability to sell subscriptions, free access to existing subscribers, premium access or just sell individual copies or articles, giving them complete control over how, when and for how much they sell their content. In addition, Google will share subscriber information with publishers.

Although Google didn't disclose what sort of revenue share they would be asking for, the service is expected to be popular among publishers. That being said, it may not be the answer, because Google isn't able to offer the same degree of client base and multi-platform packaging in a moblie app as Apple can. Apple has the client base and the apps that can be used on many more types of devices.

It remains to be see what the fall out of the announcement will be. Some experts are worried that it may be the end of Apps for content providers like Amazon and Netflix.

What do you think of Apple's announcement? Let me know in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for PhillyJobsBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

Are You SAD? (Seasonal Affective Disorder)

Do the long winter nights leave you feeling depressed? Do you have trouble concentrating? Are carbs calling your name in a loud voice? Are you grouchy, irritable and gaining weight? You may want to talk to your health care provider about Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD.

SAD occurs mostly in the winter months when the days are shorter. The normal circadian rhythm of the body is disrupted when not enough light has entered the eyes. When it’s dark, the pineal gland produces melatonin which is responsible for the drowsiness we feel at dusk. During winter’s shorter days, people go to work when it’s still dark and come home after sunset. This can cause normal rhythms to become disrupted which can produce the symptoms of SAD. There’s also evidence linking SAD to a reduced amount of serotonin. When serotonin levels are decreased, it can cause some of the symptoms of SAD, such as depression and carb carvings.

Since there isn’t a lab test for SAD, it’s diagnosed on a person’s symptoms history. In order for your doctor to diagnose you for SAD, you have to meet all the criteria for a major depression episode. Some of the symptoms for SAD are listed below:

*increased need for sleep
*increased appetite and carb carvings
*weight gain
*irritability
*interpersonal difficulties (arguments and rejection sensitivity)
*a heavy leaden feeling in the legs or arms.
*increased desire to be alone

There are different treatments for Seasonal Depression. There is light therapy which uses a full spectrum bright light that is shined directly into the eyes. When using light therapy, you sit about 2 feet away from a special bright light-about 20 times brighter than normal. You start out with one 10-15 minute session until you work up to 30 to 45 minutes. Some people recover within days of using light therapy; others may take longer. People who respond to light therapy are encouraged to keep using it until they can be out in the sunshine again. Another form of treatment is antidepressant medications to help boost the serotonin levels.

If you do have SAD, here are a few things you can do to try to prevent it from reoccurring:

*Try to spend some time outside everyday, even when it’s cloudy.
*Begin to use a light box when fall starts before the effects of SAD even set in
*Eat a well balanced diet. This will help you fight the food cravings for carbs and give you more energy.
*Exercise for 30 minutes a day, three times a week
*Stay involved with friends and family. Support is important for people with mood disorders, especially during the winter months.

It’s important the you do not diagnose yourself with SAD. If you have symptoms of depression see your doctor for a through checkup. Sometimes depression is caused by a physical problem. Your doctor should be the one to determine exactly what you have and the treatment that you need. Talk openly to your doctor about how you’re feeling. Follow the doctor’s recommendation for any lifestyle changes and or treatment if you have SAD. Remember, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

By Linda Lee Ruzicka

Linda Lee Ruzicka lives in the mountains of Western PA , happily married and with her 8 cats and three dogs. She has been published in Twilight Times, Dark Krypt, Fables, Writing Village, June Cotner anthology, The Grit, Reminisce , the book, Haunted Encounters: Friends and Family. She also does freelances work for Beyond andHealthcarejobsite. You can read more of her blogs on Healthcarejobsite blog.

Google Takes Street View Indoors - Introducing the Google Art Project

Do you want to visit the world's greatest art museums and take a look at famous masterpieces, but don't have the budget for a world tour? Don't worry, The Art Project by Google can help.

Have you always wanted to visit the New York's Museum of Modern Art, or tour London's Tate Britain or have the urge to stroll through Florence, Italy's Uffizi, but don't want to take time out of your job search or the money out of you budget? Now you can. Google's new Art Project can get you there with just a few clicks of your mouse.

The Art Project takes the idea of street views into the museums themselves to allow users to tour many of the greatest Museums in the world. The new program, which was released earlier this month, gives users the experience of actually walking through any of the 17 participating museums and lets them navigate with street view type controls.

According to a blog post on the Google Blog, the Street View team designed a brand new vehicle, simply called “Trolley”, that they set up to 360-degree images of the interiors of the galleries. After capturing the images, they stitched them together, mapped out their location and enabled smooth navigation of the various rooms in the museums.

Visitors to the Art Project can also choose to zoom in on specific pieces of art and see extremely high levels of detail. The detail is so close, in fact, that each museum selected one piece of art to be photographed using “gigapixel” photo technology. This technology delivers amazingly high resolution and each picture contains around 7 billion pixels. To put it into perspective,a photo taken with gigapixel technology is around 1,000 times more detailed than one taken by a typical digital camera. Additionally, the site offers a special microscope view using Google's Picasa to display the photos.

Stunning detail on van Gogh's Starry Night

The whole idea of bringing masterpieces out of the museum and into the living room is commendable. For the average person, the idea of being able to view iconic and historical works of art has always been financially out of reach. It was an experience reserved for wealthy, international travelers or adventurous explorers. With the Art Project, these masterpieces become accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

And while the idea is commendable, the execution has its critics and it certainly has some rough spots to smooth out. For one, not all of the artwork can be displayed in high-quality. The museums selected which works were important enough to be viewed and not all of the rooms in the museums are accessible. Also, the Street View navigation hasn't been fine tuned for indoor use. For example, when you are looking at Street View on the map, the experience is rough and it is easy to over shoot your mark. It doesn't matter so much when you are looking at buildings but when trying to view the inside of a gallery, it can get a bit frustrating.

The Telegraph recently criticized the Art Project for its many flaws. One being that since the museums are deciding which pieces are worthy of being displayed in high resolution, it takes away the ability to chose which paintings to linger at and to discover works that speak to you, even if they aren't the most popular ones in the gallery. They also criticize the project for the lack of participating museums. For now, there are only 17 museums in the Art Project.

Personally, I think that the Art Project is an amazing idea. Although it won't replace the experience of actually standing inside a museum and feeling the art, I feel strongly that great works of art should be accessible to anyone. For too long, masterpieces have been the realm of the rich. But, an idea, a feeling, the emotion of art and the best in human creative expression throughout history belongs to every human being, no matter where the live or how much money they make. It is a part of who we are, as people, as a species, as a culture.

The Art Project is still in its infancy, and I believe that as the bugs are worked out, other museums will want to participate. The navigation controls will get better and more art will be displayed in high definition. For now, I think that Google did the very best it could with the tools and technology it had, and when you are trying to change the world, you have to start somewhere.

What do you think about the Art Project? Let me know in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for PhillyJobsBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

Yvette Freeman ("E.R's" nurse Haleh Adams) Reveals Her Struggle with Obesity

by Alex A. Kecskes

Yvette Freeman, best known as "E.R's" straight-talking nurse, Haleh Adams, recently shared her battle with obesity with fans.

Freeman's dramatic 125-pound weight loss made her a spokeswoman for exercise and healthy eating, even after ER aired its final episode. The accomplished actress now speaks at a variety of venues on the strategies for managing diabetes and heart disease.

Freeman appeared in 185 episodes of the top rated medical drama series, from the pilot to the series finale. While her weight was never an issue for the show's producers, it had become a serious health risk. She noted that she had become pre-diabetic, her blood pressure was way up, and she found it difficult to walk any reasonable distance. In her words, "I was going downhill fast."

The death of a friend convinced her to enroll in a UCLA obesity program. Her weight loss was so dramatic that "E.R." had to issue a statement reassuring fans that Freeman was not ill. She has since become a spokesperson for the dangers of obesity, stressing such strategies as finding a support network and avoiding crash diets.

Freeman still struggles with "roller coaster" weight—having regained almost 80 pounds, then losing weight again. Said Freeman, "I'm down now, but it's a fight."

For an added perspective, check out this video:

For more information on health careers, visit http://www.healthcarejobsite.com/

Alex A. Kecskes has written hundreds of published articles on health/fitness, "green" issues, TV/film entertainment, restaurant reviews and many other topics. As a former Andy/Belding/One Show ad agency copywriter, he also writes web content, ads, brochures, sales letters, mailers and scripts for national B2B and B2C clients.

Can You Really Make People Happier, Just By Acknowledging That They Aren't Happy?

In any job, it is important to know how to make people happy and how to manage opposition. This is especially true in the healthcare field. Often, you have to get patients to do things that they don't want to do, that may be uncomfortable or embarrassing to them in order to help treat their problem.

I ran across a great article at PsychologyToday that presents a novel way to make people happier, just by acknowledging the fact that they are unhappy. It seems simple, right? Well, it is, and the funny thing is that it actually works.

The idea is to acknowledge the reality of other people's feeling instead of reacting to them with denial, anger and irritation. By restating their concerns, you can validate them and move on to getting the job done. When you think about it, oftentimes people will say that they don't feel like doing something and the reactions they receive are all designed to negate the persons feelings and even contradict them.

For example, if I said “I don't think that I want to go to this party. It just seems like a lot of trouble.” My friends would probably say, “Oh, come on, don't be a spoil sport. Besides, you like parties.” This only serves to contradict my feelings and make me feel bad about not wanting to go. If instead they said, “I know you don't feel like going. But, we really want to spend time with you and you make parties a lot of fun.” I would feel better about going because I felt that my concerns had been heard. The end result is the same; I end up going to the party. The only thing that changed is that a whole lot of arguing was prevented.

The experts all seem to agree that denying someone's bad feelings only serves to intensify them. As adults, when our feelings aren't validated, we often resort to childish behaviors like whining and complaining in order to get the attention and validation we crave. Sometimes, all it takes is acknowledgment and a little bit of encouragement or a pat on the back, to change an attitude of resistance into one of compliance.

This technique can be used to manage your child's behavior and can even help in the workplace. When a patient expresses reluctance to prepare for a procedure or states that they don't want you to do the things that you know are best for their treatment, you can use this tactic to make them feel validated and to get them to do what you need.

Give it a try the next time you are faced with reluctance and see if it works for you.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for HealthCareJobSiteBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

Interview Failure: When you know you've blown it

The way of the job-seeker requires devotion, dedication, and discipline, along with a good helping of mental and physical fortitude. It is not for the timid, the faint of heart, or the inexperienced, which is why there are so many spriritual masters out there offering counsel, advice, and testimony to those who would follow the path.

The advice many of these masters offer is strikingly similar in tone and content. Indeed, this is so because many of the errors seekers make are common, frequent, and in most cases easily avoided with proper thought and preparation.

And yet even the advanced seeker who has gone through the rituals required of those dedicated to the path many times over occasionally wanders off it. One of the places where many go astray is in the job interview or its followup.

If you are like me, fellow seeker, you have probably strayed from the path yourself, unaware you are doing so at the time. It's only in hindsight, after you replay the encounter or incident, that you come to the realization that you just talked yourself out of consideration.

One of the more common missteps people make is to bring up money too soon. I recall one interview some time back for a communications position at a local university. Given my professional background, I was an excellent match for the position. There was also a staff member in the office who knew me from an organization we both belonged to, respected my work there, and put in a good word for me.

So I walked into the interview with the planets all aligned. Then, when it came my turn to ask the questions, I knocked them out of line by asking, "So what does this job pay?"

While there is a time and place to talk salary in the interview process, the initial in-person interview is usually not it. Seekers who do this get branded as money-hungry and are dropped from further consideration. As I was, it turned out.

Of course, the realization that I had just blown my interview didn't come until a few days later, when the euphoria had worn off. But I'm much more careful now never to act as though I have a job in the bag going in, even if I have reason to believe I might.

There are second chances after an interview failure. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and go get another helping of job postings from PhillyJobs.com.

By Sandy Smith

Sandy Smith has been blogging for PhillyJobs.com since 2010. In addition to launching award-winning newspapers and newsletters at the University of Pennsylvania and Widener University, Sandy is a veteran writer whose articles and essays have appeared in several local and regional media outlets, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia CityPaper, and PGN, and on several Web sites. He is also an active participant on several discussion boards, including PhiladelphiaSpeaks.com, where he posts as “MarketStEl.” He has been supporting himself through a combination of freelance and part-time work and unemployment compensation since early 2009 and is himself an active job-seeker. Read more of his posts on PhillyJobsBlog.com and follow him to Beyond.com for more job opportunities.

Cancer Cells May Have Built-In Self-Destruct Signal

by Alex A. Kecskes

Researchers recently discovered that many cancer cells have a built-in "self destruct" signal. This signal appears as a protein on the cell's surface that invites immune cells to attack and destroy it. The goal is to "turn on" this self-destruct signal as soon as possible in those suffering from cancer.

Cancer cells emit the self-destruct signal by displaying the protein calreticulin. What keeps these cells alive is another molecule, called CD47, which allows most cancer cells to avoid destruction by sending out a no-destruct signal.

Many of the body's normal cells have CD47, but these cells are not affected by the anti-CD47 antibody. The anti-CD47 antibody treatment selectively kills only cancer cells without being toxic to most normal cells, but researchers have yet to determine why this occurs.

New research has revealed that calreticulin exists in a variety of cancers, including some types of leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and bladder, brain and ovarian cancers. Most normal cell populations don't display calreticulin and are not depleted when they are exposed to a blocking anti-CD47 antibody.

The big challenge is to determine how calreticulin works, how it contributes to the disease process, and what happens in the cell that causes the protein to move to the cell surface. These are the mechanisms that will allow oncologists to ultimately treat cancer.

For an added perspective, check out this video:

For more information on health careers, visit http://www.healthcarejobsite.com/

Alex A. Kecskes has written hundreds of published articles on health/fitness, "green" issues, TV/film entertainment, restaurant reviews and many other topics. As a former Andy/Belding/One Show ad agency copywriter, he also writes web content, ads, brochures, sales letters, mailers and scripts for national B2B and B2C clients.

Show me the “Perks”!

These days, it seems that more employers are offering “perks” in lieu of higher salaries in order to keep employees happy and content. After all, “perks” are much more cost-effective than the cost involved with hiring and training new workers. Instead of employees leaving their current places of work for “greener pastures” so to speak, these same employees receive perks and other incentives as rewards. Some of the perks that are currently offered at various organizations include:

Free Career-related Development and Training Perk

Besides personally enriching each employee, this educational “freebie” also creates a more educated workforce – which can only help the company’s bottom-line in the long run. Along similar lines, mentor programs are also offered by many organizations. Again, both employee and employer benefit from this type of arrangement as an employee will most likely learn new skills and tips from a mentor - that will likely benefit both the employee and the employer.

Flexible Schedule Perk

One of the more popular perks that employers offer employees is flexibility over their work schedules- in situations where this perk is feasible. For instance, employers can offer work-from-home days, flexible work hours and other related work-life balance incentives.

Volunteer Service Days Perk

Some progressive workplaces allow employees to volunteer – with pay – with local organizations of their choosing. As employees may not otherwise have this type of opportunity to volunteer due to family obligations and time constraints, these volunteer service days are quite popular as it allows these workers to give back to their community.

Free Lunch Perk

Yes, there “sometimes” is such a thing as a free lunch! For instance, select companies make it a policy to buy lunch for their employees once a week or once a month – depending on the organization. Similarly, other companies buy their employees a continental breakfast – complete with muffins, bagels, coffee, juice and other popular breakfast items on certain designated days.

Discounts Perk

While larger companies are in a better position to give substantial discounts to their employees, small to mid level businesses also offer this type of perk. Some group discounts include good deals on computer and technology equipment and a reduced cost gym membership for instance.

Overall then, as employers realize the benefits that perks bring to a workforce, an increasing number of organizations utilize these types of incentives.

Larisa Redins is a full time writer and editor with degrees in both Arts and Biological Science. She writes about career issues for PhillyJobsBlog.com and other topics for a variety of international websites and magazines. Please visit her other blogs at PhillyJobsBlog.com and view job posting at PhillyJobs.com.

Can an Ad Really Make a City Feel Better? Chrysler's New Ad For The Motor City

Advertising has a lot of power. It can make us want to buy something, make us change the way we think about a product and it can even influence our culture. But, it seems that now it can even make a city feel better about itself.

The new ad Chrysler aired during the Super Bowl has certainly caused a stir. The advertising group of Wieden + Kennedy created the ad for Chrysler as a way to both advertise their new cars and to revive Detroit's image. Take a look:

The city of Detroit, of course, is famous for automotive manufacturing. Although it is often called “Motor City”, the city of Detroit has had an awkward relationship with America's car companies over the past few years. For decades, Detroit has been the home of Chrysler, GM and Ford. The car companies discouraged the city from branching out into other fields of industry. They wanted the city to themselves and for a long time it was a great relationship.

But the people in Detroit can tell you that the automotive industry really just stood by and watched as the city went downhill. The factories laid off workers, the unemployment rate soared, the school systems couldn't support themselves, violence went rampant and the city government basically collapsed due to so much corruption. When you look at pictures of Detroit today, it is heartbreaking to see a city filled with so many hard working Americans end up like this.

The spot was for the Chrysler 200, and and it was a great commercial. It had opening shots of factories and some wonderful shots of downtown Detroit and the architectural details reminding the audience that Detroit was once America's richest city. The car drives down Woodward Avenue and stops outside the Fox Theatre. What really got the audience exited was when you realized that Eminem was driving the car.

Although Eminem has been a supporter of the city, the artist most closely associated with the revival of the city is Kid Rock. Kid Rock has sponsored several charitable events for the city and has two companies based in Detroit. With the pulsing beat of “Loose Yourself” in the background, it was clear that Wieden +Kennedy made an excellent choice, because Eminem doesn't typically do commercials and the spot drew some power from that. All in all, I thought it was an excellent commercial and it gave Detroit natives from across the country another reason to be proud.

The only complaint I had was that the ad stated that Detroit is a city that has been to “hell and back”. I would disagree and say that Detroit isn't back yet, and it is the Automotive industry that is the most to blame for the hell that the good people of Detroit have been going through. Maybe instead of spending millions on a commercial, they could have spent it on raising up the city that it turned it's back on rather than just raising its spirits.

What do you think about the commercial? Let me know in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for PhillyJobsBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

How Tired Is Too Tired?

The alarm rips through your sleep and you fumble to shut it off. You blearily look around and realize it’s time to get up even though you feel as if you haven’t even slept. Your muscles ache, your head is starting to pound and is that another sore throat starting? You make a note to call your healthcare provider because this has been going on too long. You make your way into the bathroom to take a hot shower to start your day wondering what on earth is wrong with you?

You may have Chronic Fatigue syndrome. This illness is difficult to diagnosis and affects people in different ways. Because there isn’t any one test that will discover if you have the disease, it’s a process of elimination. However, the main symptoms are fatigue or tiredness that’s overwhelming, lasting at least 6 months and not relieved by sleep. Some other symptoms are the following:

-Fatigue lasting more than 24 hours after a normal amount of exercise.

-Sleeping an adequate amount of hours and still feeling exhausted.
-difficulty concentrating, forgetfulness, confusion or being irritable
-headaches different from any you’ve experienced before
-painful joints, without swelling or redness, moving from joint to joint
-tenderness of the lymph nodes in the neck or armpit
-mild fever
-unexplained muscle weakness all over
-reoccurring sore throat

A diagnosis of CFS must include the following: Absence of other causes of chronic fatigue (excluding depression), at least four of the symptoms listed and extreme long term fatigue. CFS often follows a course of alternating between periods of illness and well-being. Some people experience a partial or complete remission of symptoms during the illness but the symptoms often reoccur when they overdo it when feeling better.

No one really knows what causes CFS but doctors do feel that chronic stress is a factor. Other factors such as age, prior illness, environment or genetics can also be a factor. This disease commonly occurs in women ages 30-50.

Unfortunately there isn’t a treatment for CFS; instead the symptoms are treated. People with depression and other psychological problems can be treated with antidepressant drugs. Eating a healthy diet and using sleep management techniques can also be useful. You can take medication that will help reduce the pain, discomfort and fever. On days that you’re too tired, avoid doing too much. Try breaking your time down to activity, rest and sleep. You can take large tasks and break them into smaller tasks that are more manageable. You can try biofeedback, deep breathing exercises, massage therapy or muscle relaxation techniques.

The long term outlook for people with CFS varies with each person. Some people recover completely after 6 months to a year and others may take longer. Unfortunately some people never regain their former health and well being. Studies do show that people who seek treatment are more likely to recover than people who ignore the symptoms and hope they’ll just go away.

Catching CFS in the early stages and getting treatment can increase the likelihood of improvement. So if you’re feeling persistent, severe fatigue with or without any of the other symptoms, contact your doctor. You can get your life back!

by Linda Lee Ruzicka

Linda Lee Ruzicka lives in the mountains of Western PA , happily married and with her 8 cats and three dogs. She has been published in Twilight Times, Dark Krypt, Fables, Writing Village, June Cotner anthology, The Grit, Reminisce , the book, Haunted Encounters: Friends and Family. She also does freelances work for Beyond, and for Healthcarejobsite. More of her blogs are at Healthcarejobsiteblog.