Video games are not an addiction’

Doctors backed away from a controversial proposal to designate video game addiction as a mental disorder akin to alcoholism, saying psychiatrists should study the issue more.

Addiction experts also strongly opposed the idea at a debate at the American Medical Association’s annual meeting. They said more study is needed before excessive use of video and online games — a problem that affects about 10% of players — could be considered a mental illness.

“There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn’t get to have the word addiction attached to it,” said Dr Stuart Gitlow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Mt Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

A committee of the influential physicians’ group had proposed video game addiction be listed as a mental disorder in the American Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, a guide used by the American Psychiatric Association in diagnosing mental illness. Such a move would ease the path for insurance coverage of video game addiction.

Even before debate on the subject began, the committee that made the proposal backed away from its position, and instead recommended that the American Psychiatric Association consider the change when it revises its next diagnostic manual in five years. The psychiatrist group has said if the science warrants, it could be considered for inclusion in the next diagnostic manual, which will be published in 2012.

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Early online games: Video game

Online games refer to video games that are played over some form of computer network, most commonly the Internet. The expansion of online gaming has reflected the overall expansion of computer networks from small local networks to the Internet and the growth of Internet access itself. Online games can range from simple text based games to games incorporating complex graphics and virtual worlds populated by many players simultaneously. Many online games have associated online communities, making online games a form of social activity beyond single player games.

Early online games
Online games started in the 1980s with MUDs, simple multiplayer text-based games, often played on a BBS using a modem. These games were frequently based on fantasy settings, using rules similar to those in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Other styles of games, such as chess, Scrabble clones, and other board games were available.

Browser games
As the World Wide Web developed and browsers became more sophisticated, people started creating browser games that used a web browser as a client. Simple single player games were made that could be played using a web browser via HTML and HTML scripting technologies (most commonly JavaScript, ASP, PHP, and MySQL). More complicated games would contact a web server to allow a multiplayer gaming environment. read more…….

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How to Flirt Online?

What can you say in an email to entice someone to get to coffee talk? You are trying to get to the first date level. So what are the tricks to flirting online?

Are you ready to jump into the online dating game? With 50 million active subscribers to dating services in the U.S., you just can't overlook this opportunity if you are single.

Once you enter this wide web of daters, what can you write in emails to entice your top picks to share coffee talk with you? What are the secrets to flirting online?

When jumping online, use these 3 Online Flirting Success Keys and 10 Email Enticers that can help you get to first dates faster.

These advice tips are based on hundreds of interviews with active internet daters for my book, SMART Man Hunting -How to Get Out There, Get Dates, and Get Mr. Right (or Ms. Right).

Three keys to online flirting success:
1. Humor is your ally. A 35-year-old male film editor told me, "It depends on the person. You need to be able to read the person to tell what kind of humor you can get away with. Humor is definitely sexy Humor is definitely sexy, and so is confidence because girls pick that up."

2. Keep it simple. Use light-hearted emails with an upbeat tone to attract dates online. A 40-something female painter shared, " Make your responses simple and use easy questions in your emails to flirt." There is no need for long emails either. A 42-year-old accountant told me, "I can tell if I am interested in three or four sentences."

3. Hand out compliments. One of the best ways to flirt online is to extend a sincere compliment. One guy told me, "I always try to say something subtle but sincere
try to say something subtle but sincere try to say something subtle but sincere." You might say to someone who plays the piano, "I think it is awesome that you play piano." He added, "Be sincere and don't throw out phony baloney."

Some email flirting questions
Based on interviews with hundreds of active daters for my book, "SMART Man Hunting," here are 10 proven questions that can help you ignite sparks online:

Where did you get that fantastic smile?
What is your favorite ice cream flavor and why?
What is the most romantic place that you've been on a date?
What would you do if we got stuck in a snow storm in the mountains?
If you were going to take me out for a romantic evening, what would we do?
What is your favorite thing to do with a partner for fun?
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
How long have you played guitar? (Ask about something in their profile.)
Wow, is that your cute golden retriever? (Compliment something in their photograph.)
When are we going to meet to find out whether we would ever want to kiss each other?
Have some fun -- use humor and good will. Keep it simple when you're using these email flirting questions. You will have better luck using levity and sincere compliments online.

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Is it that time of the month for her?

You know its coming; it happens every month without fail. And what happens depends on the girl. It could be crying, fits of anger, yelling, pizza consumption or chocolate obsession. Regardless, you’ll have to agree that it is in your best interest to keep your head down, figure it out and take it like a man. PMS (Pre Menstrual Syndrome)- inflicted women have been given license to run amok, and survival should be your main goal. There are ways to make it easier on the both of you — the focus needs to be on reducing her irritation and discomfort.

Don’t point out her PMS symptoms
Women can be touchy about being labelled as a raving lunatic for a few days a month, and very few will admit that they’re affected. If you notice her behavior getting out of control and you feel the need to mention it, just don't blame the PMS. Assuming that her behavior is strictly due to her raging hormones, it will discount the possibility that her feelings are valid, and will therefore only make her angrier. You might consider yourself to be a pretty funny guy, and some women do provide plenty of fodder for entertaining comments when under the influence of PMS. Save the commentary for your buddies, well out of earshot of the lady in question. The last thing you should ever do is make jokes about her symptoms, whether its acne, an attitude reminiscent of Adolf Hitler, or eating binges. It’s best to pretend like nothing is any different than usual.

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Work out the distance in your relationship

How couples cope with being apart largely depends on how they feel about the separation. Here are some common interpretations:

What’s the big deal?
if you were brought up in a family where absence was the norm, it may be that periods apart are no problem. So, you can relax.

It’s the thin end of the wedge:
Perhaps in your past someone left saying it was temporary, but didn't come back. You may see a period of separation as the beginning of the end. You need to talk it out with your partner.

If you loved me, you’d say it:
Love is linked to being physically near and any threat to that is also a threat to your emotional security. Counselling each other can really help.

But it’s not for long:
It might be your nature to look at life in the long term and see a bigger picture and, therefore, you may find it easier than your partner to see this as a temporary phase of your relationship.

It’s just not right:
If your parents were together nearly all the time, then absence may simply be beyond your experience. Being a couple means being together. But mindsets can change.

On top of your personal interpretations:
About the absence, each of you will have a different perspective depending on whether you're the one leaving or staying. Try and work it out, chances are the relationship. will work.

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Sudoku

Sudoku is a logic-based number placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9x9 grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3x3 boxes contains the digits from 1 to 9. The puzzle setter provides a partially completed grid.

Completed Sudoku puzzles are a type of Latin square, with an additional constraint on the contents of individual regions. Leonhard Euler is sometimes cited as the source of the puzzle, based on his work with Latin squares.

The modern puzzle was invented by an American, Howard Garns, in 1979 and published by Dell Magazines under the name "Number Place"[2]. It became popular in Japan in 1986, when it was published by Nikoli and given the name Sudoku. It became an international hit in 2005.read more....

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PlayStation 2 is Sony's second video game

The PlayStation 2 is Sony's second video game console, the successor to the PlayStation and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3. Its development was announced in March 1999, and it was first released in Japan on March 4, 2000, in North America on October 26, 2000 and in Europe on November 24, 2000.

The PS2 is part of the sixth generation era, and has become the fastest selling and arguably the most dominant home console of video game history, with over 115 million units shipped worldwide by December 2006.

Only a few million people had obtained consoles by the end of 2000 due to manufacturing delays. The PlayStation 2 was so popular after its release that it was difficult to find units on retailer shelves. Another popular option was purchasing the console online through auction websites.

Many analysts predicted a close 3-way matchup between the PS2 and competitors Microsoft's Xbox and the Nintendo GameCube (which was the cheapest of the three consoles and had an open market of games). However, the release of several blockbuster games during the 2001 holiday season pushed the PS2 in order to maintain momentum and hold off its rivals.

Games
The brand strength has led to strong third-party support for the system. Although the launch titles for the Playstation2 were unimpressive in 2000, the Christmas season of 2001 saw the release of several best-selling and critically acclaimed games. These games helped the PS2 maintain and extend its lead in the video game console market, despite increased competition from the launches of the Microsoft Xbox and GameCube. In several cases, Sony made exclusivity deals with publishers in order to pre-empt its competitors. read more…..

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Top 10 Children’s Museum

Children's museums are institutions that provide fun informal learning experiences for children. Traditional art and natural history museums typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits. Exhibits are designed to be viewed from a distance, and are considered to be too valuable for physical contact with the visitor.

Children's museums, on the other hand, feature interactive exhibits that are designed to be manipulated by children. The theory behind such exhibits is that, especially in early childhood, activity can be as educational as instruction. Most children's museums are nonprofit organizations, and many are run by volunteers or by very small professional staffs. Over a hundred children's museums have been founded since 1990.

The Association of Children's Museums, or ACM, is the trade association for children's museums, representing museums in 21 countries. The largest children's museum in the US is The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Many museums that are members of ACM offer reciprocal memberships, allowing members of one museum to visit all the 299 others for free.

Founded in 1899, the Brooklyn museum was the first museum in the world to cater specifically to children. It was originally a part of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, founded in 1823.

1. Brooklyn Children's Museum - Brooklyn, NY

2. The Center for Puppetry Arts - Atlanta

3. Chicago Children's Museum

4. Children's Discovery Museum - California.

5. Children's Museum of Houston - Texas

6. Children's Museum of Indianapolis

7. Exploratorium - San Francisco

8. Liberty Science Center Jersey City, N.J.

9. Please Touch Museum Philadelphia,

10. Science Museum of Minnesota

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TV show: Days of our Lives

Days of our Lives (Days or DOOL) is an American soap opera. It debuted on November 8, 1965, and can still be viewed weekdays on NBC. Originally, the show revolved solely around the Horton family, and has since expanded to tell the stories of other families, such as the Black, Brady, Carver, Deveraux, DiMera, Kiriakis, Lockhart and Johnson clans. The series is set in the fictional town of Salem.

However, this first golden period for NBC daytime proved to be short-lived, as Days' ratings began to decline in 1977. Much of the decline was due to ABC's expansion of its popular soap "All My Children" to a full hour, the last half of which overlapped with the first half of Days.

In recent months, the show's producers have begun to focus more on the past, as they've shifted focus back onto Jack and Jennifer as well as restocking the Horton family tree by way of SORAS. Abby was rapidly aged to a teenager. Abby (Ashley Benson)'s best friend Chelsea Benson (Mandy Musgrave, then Rachel Melvin), lost her parents in a car accident and was taken in by Patrick and Billie. She was later revealed to be Bo and Billie's presumed-dead daughter, Georgia Brady. read more.......

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Karaoke

Karaoke pronounced [karaoke]; listen is a form of entertainment in which an amateur singer or singers sing along with recorded music on microphone. The music is typically of a well-known song in which the voice of the original singer is absent or reduced in volume. Lyrics are usually also displayed, sometimes including color changes synchronized with the music, on music video to guide the sing-along.

What is thought of as karaoke today was popularized by the Japanese singer Daisuke Inoue in Kobe, Japan in 1970. After becoming popular in Japan, karaoke first spread to East and Southeast Asia during the 1980s and subsequently to other parts of the world.

It has been common to provide musical entertainment at a dinner or a party in Japan, as in the rest of the world, for a long time. This tradition appeared in the earliest Japanese mythology. For a long time, singing and dancing remained one of the few adult entertainments in rural areas. Noh was initially played at a tea party and guests were welcomed to join in for a cheer or a shout of praise. Dancing and singing was also a part of a samurai's education. It was expected that every samurai have a dance or a song they could perform. During the Taisho period, Utagoe Kissa, (literally song coffee shop), became popular and customers sung to a live performance of a music band. read more….

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Paris Hilton gets 45 days in jail

Paris Hilton is one of the most photographed women in the world well known for her participation in The Simple Life reality series and also for 1 Night in Paris, a homemade sex video of her with then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, which leaked onto the Internet in late 2003.
Hilton is again in light, a judge sentenced a shocked and tearful Paris Hilton to 45 days in jail on Friday, ruling that the celebrity hotel heiress violated her probation for an earlier alcohol-related traffic offense.

Los Angeles superior court judge Michael Sauer sternly rejected Hilton’s story that she did not knowingly disobey the law by driving while her license was suspended and ordered the 26-year-old socialite to report to a county detention facility on June 5, or face 90 days in jail.
Hilton wept and her mother, Kathy, yelled at the prosecutor, “You’re pathetic,” as the packed courtroom cleared.

The stunning decision capped a two-hour hearing in which prosecutors argued that Hilton was thumbing her nose at the court and seeking to be placed above the law, while defense lawyers said she was being singled out for harsh treatment because of her celebrity status. Taking the witness stand in her own defense, the star of the reality TV show ‘The Simple Life’ testified that she was unaware her driving privileges had been completely suspended at the time police stopped her and impounded her car on February 27.

Hilton said she had relied on information conveyed to her by her publicist, Elliot Mintz, who she said told her that she was permitted to drive for work-related reasons after the first 30 days of her license suspension late last November.

But the judge said he disbelieved Hilton, declaring that the “smoking gun” in the case was a notice she had received from a police officer, and had signed, during an earlier traffic stop in January.

He said Hilton had “completely ignored” that notice, which she had carried in her glove box for weeks, and another license suspension notice sent to her office address by the department of motor vehicles that Hilton said she never saw.
“In my opinion, there’s not doubt that she knew that her license had been suspended,” the judge said. “She doesn’t look at her mail, her personal assistant never goes through it either. ... I think she just wanted to disregard everything that was said and continued to drive no matter what.” In a final statement before she was sentenced Hilton denied that she sought to flout the law. But the judge was unmoved.

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Music video

A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos go back much further, they came into their own in the 1980s, when MTV (Music Television)'s format was based around them. Now channels like MTVI or MTV Hits show music videos all day long in present-day.

Music videos are often called promo videos or simply promos, due to the fact that they are usually promotional devices. Sometimes, music videos are termed short-form music videos to distinguish them from full length movies pertaining to music. In the 1980s, the term "rock video" was often used to describe this form of entertainment, although the term has fallen into disuse.

Music videos can accommodate all styles of filmmaking, including animation, live action films, documentaries, and non-narrative, abstract film. read more…

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Paris Hilton

Paris Whitney Hilton (born February 17, 1981) is an American celebrity and socialite. She is an heiress to a share of the Hilton Hotel fortune, as well as to the real estate fortune of her father Richard Hilton.

Hilton is well known for her participation in The Simple Life reality series and also for 1 Night in Paris, a homemade sex video of her with then-boyfriend Rick Salomon, which leaked onto the Internet in late 2003. She has also launched a variety of careers, as a model, singer, actress, and writer.

At one point, it would have been hard to define Paris Hilton. "Career heiress" doesn't cut it nor does "party girl" or "high-ranking socialite-cum-model-cum-actress," and "American royalty" was arguably too dramatic a label for a woman whose true breakout role cost less to film than a night in a budget room at the neighborhood Hilton hotel. read more…

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How to Save a Life

This article is about the album. For the song, see How to Save a Life (song). How to Save a Life is the first full-length studio album from Denver-based band The Fray. Released in North America and Oceania on September 13, 2005 by Epic Records, the album became a top 15 hit on the Billboard 200 and sold over 2 million copies. It became the best-selling digital album of all time in January 2007.Three singles have been released from the album, and two of them have hit the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. "Over My Head (Cable Car)" peaked at number 8 and was also a top 25 hit in several other countries, while the song "How to Save a Life" hit the top three in the US. The album was recorded over six weeks in Echo Park Studios in Bloomington, Indiana, and was produced by Aaron Johnson and Mike Flynn. read more…

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