Tips Umum Mencari Mobil Bekas

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Tips Umum Mencari Mobil Bekas (Penting bagi Pembeli & Penjual mobil)
Tips ini tidak hanya berguna bagi pencari mobil bekas, namun juga penting untuk diketahui oleh penjual mobil bekas agar Anda dapat menjual mobil bekas Anda dengan efektif.

1. Keinginan Anda untuk membeli mobil bekas bisa jadi merupakan keputusan yang cerdas. Anda sangat mungkin mendapatkan mobil bekas dengan harga lebih murah namun dengan kualitas hampir sama atau bahkan sama dengan mobil baru. Bahkan, Anda tidak akan mengalami penderitaan akibat penyusutan nilai seperti yang dialami oleh pembeli mobil baru, karena setelah mobil baru keluar dari showroom, saat itu juga mobil tersebut statusnya adalah mobil bekas dengan harga yang sudah menyusut.

2. Mungkin saat ini Anda telah memiliki bayangan akan mobil impian Anda. Berhentilah sejenak dan pikirkan apakah mobil bekas impian Anda sesuai dengan budget Anda? Jangan terpaku dengan satu merk atau model mobil. Contoh, jika Anda menginginkan mobil bekas Toyota Kijang Innova, cobalah mencari perbandingan dengan mobil sekelasnya seperti Nissan Grand Livina atau Panther Touring. Selain itu Anda dapat juga melakukan perbandingan mobil yang sama namun tipe yang lain, misal: jika Anda menginginkan Innova Tipe V namun budget belum cukup, cobalah bandingkan dengan Innova G dan Innova E, pertimbangkan kelebihan dan kekurangannya. Ingatlah bahwa Anda harus tetap rasional dan lupakan aspek emosional karena emosi Anda dapat cepat berubah.

3. Sebelum membeli carilah informasi sebanyak mugkin tentang harga mobil tertentu di wilayah tertentu. Ada beberapa website yang menyediakan info harga mobil bekas, salah satunya adalah Bursa Mobil Bekas Indonesia. Harga mobil bekas sangat tergantung dari banyak hal seperti kondisi mesin, interior dan interior, kilometer (jarak tempuh), kehandalan, serta popularitas. Di Indonesia mobil Jepang lebih populer dibanding mobil Eropa dan Amerika. Hal tersebut membuat harga mobil bekas Jepang relatife lebih tinggi dibanding mobil Eropa dan Amerika untuk kelas yang sama. Selain itu, mobil yang harga sparepartnya murah harga jual bekasnya cenderung lebih tinggi dibanding yang harga sparepartnya lebih mahal.

4. Jika Anda bermaksud membeli mobil bekas secara kredit, lakukanlah survey kepada bank dan lembaga-lembaga pembiayaan yang ada. Sekarang mayoritas bank memiliki program KPM (Kredit Kepemilikan Mobil (baik baru maupun bekas) dengan keungulan dan kekurangan masing-masing. Carilah informasi sebanyak mungkin dan tanyakan kepada Bank atau lembaga pembiayaan tentang kemungkinan terburuk yang akan terjadi jika Anda mengalami kesulitan pembayaran. Hal ini penting agar Anda siap mengantisipasi segala kemungkinan di masa yang akan datang dan menyiapkan strategi yang aman.

5. Jika Anda menemukan mobil impian Anda. Hubungilah penjual dan tanyakan kondisi umumnya seperti warna, harga, status kepemilikan, dll. Jika Anda merasa cocok buatlah janji pertemuan untuk melakukan pengecekan fisik dan test drive. Pengecekan fisik meliputi cat body, ekterior, interior, kondisi mesin, knalpot, sistem elektronik, nomor rangka dan nomor mesin. Ingat, saat Anda puas dengan hasil pengecekan fisik, persetujuan Anda baru 60%. Selanjutnya test drive wajib dilakukan untuk mengetahu performa mesin, akselerasi, steering, system rem, kopling dan transmisi, kondisi kaki-kaki, suara mesin, tenaga saat menanjak, dll. Cobalah berjalan di banyak variasi medan. Ajaklah teman/montir yang berpengalaman selama pengecekan dan test drive. Lebih baik Anda membayar montir untuk memastikan kelayakan mobil daripada menyesal di kemudian hari karena memperoleh mobil dengan kondisi buruk. Selain itu Anda bisa menanyakan catatan servise mobil (dan catatan garansi, jika ada) dan melakukan konfirmasi ke bengkel. Jika memungkinkan, Anda dapat meminta penjual untuk bersama-sama melakukan pengecekan ke bengkel resmi untuk memastikan kondisi mobil. Masalah waktu dan biaya, bernegosiasilah. Ingatlah, jika penjual mobil menolak test drive, segera tinggalkan dan carilah penjual lain.

6. Jika anda puas dengan hasil test drive, langkah selanjutnya adalah negosiasi harga. Ingatlah bahwa Anda harus tetap rasional untuk dapat memenangkan negosiasi. Berikut tips yang akan berguna untuk Anda:

* Bukalah harga rendah, namun jangan di bawah nilai terendah dari harga pasaran mobil bekas tersebut.Sebagian penjual tidak nyaman dengan penawaran yang di bawah harga pasaran terendah.
* Putuskan sejak awal berapa batasan harga maksimal yang sanggup Anda bayar untuk sebuah mobil.
* Bersabarlah. Rencanakan untuk bernegosiasi dalam waktu yan cukup lama (sekitar 30 menit atau lebih).
* Jangan terlalu terpukau dengan asesoris yang berlebihan. Yang patut Anda tanyakan justru orisinilitas mobil.
* Walk out adalah senjata terakhir Anda jika memang harga yang ditawarkan terlalu tinggi (ingat batasan harga maksimal).
* Jika telah deal, langkah selanjutnya adalah menyepakati besarnya DP dan system pelunasan pembayaran. Untuk keamanan lakukan pembayaran melalui transfer Bank/kliring.

U.S. Gives Pakistani Police $162 million in Fiscal Year 2009

U.S. Gives Pakistani Police $162 million in Fiscal Year 2009 - Washington Whispers (usnews.com)

They couldn’t find Osama bin Laden or practically any other major al Qaeda figure on the State Department terrorist list, but don’t blame a lack of money for the inadequacies of the Pakistani police. The Pentagon and State Department forked over $162 million in fiscal 2009 to aid Pakistani cops, second only to Afghanistan in the region. A new Government Accountability Office report says the cash was used to train and equip police and that 39 countries get Pentagon-State funds for counternarcotics, counterterrorism, and anticrime missions. The agency didn’t comment on the value of the Pakistan investment. It says the money supports activities by the Frontier Corps, Frontier Constabulary, and Antinarcotics Force on the Afghan border to combat the drug trade, crooks, and terrorists.

the zam zam well is polluted so its water could cause diseases

Saudis reject Mecca holy water scare - Yahoo! News

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) – Saudi authorities have rejected claims that holy Zamzam water from a spring inside the Grand Mosque complex of Mecca is polluted and stressed there were no health risks.

The Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques Affairs said in a statement Saturday it had no reports suggesting there was any issue with Zamzam water which was safe for drinking.

A spokesman for the presidency, Ahmad al-Mansuri, told AFP daily samples were being taken from the 31-metre (105-foot) deep well, and measures were taken to ensure it was safe.

According to Islamic tradition, the spring has never gone dry for over 4,000 years and pilgrims treat the water as sacred and having miraculous healing powers.

The British media had reported this week that the well was polluted and that drinking from it could cause diseases such as cancer.

Meanwhile, the Saudi embassy in London issued a statement insisting Zamzam water was "not polluted" and that analysis at European laboratories in March confirmed it to be safe.

King Abdullah inaugurated in September a 700-million-riyal ($187 million) factory capable of bottling 200,000 bottles a day in Mecca.

Worshippers at the Grand Mosque are able to drink Zamzam water from hundreds of scattered taps. Saudi authorities have banned any commercial exports of the water.

Muslims believe Zamzam came into being to provide Hagar, Abraham's wife according to Islamic teachings, and her baby Ishmael with water in the hot, dry valley of Mecca where God ordered Abraham to leave them.

In her desperate search for water for the baby, Hagar ran seven times between the hillocks of Safa and Marwa until she saw water running between the legs of her baby.

Part of the hajj pilgrim of Muslims is called "Saiy", a run between Safa and Marwa in commemoration of Hagar's run in search of water.

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens: 'I've always been insecure about what I do' – interview | Music | The Observer

Sufjan Stevens: 'I've always been insecure about what I do'

Sufjan Stevens is one of America's most restlessly creative musicians, his 2005 album, Illinoise, a dizzying masterpiece. Here he talks about his hippie childhood, his wilfully disorienting new sound and why, at 35, he's celebrating a 'second puberty'

Snaptu: Who will reshape the Arab world: its people, or the US? | Tariq Ali

Phase one of the Arab spring is over. Phase two – the attempt to crush or contain genuine popular movements – has begun

The patchwork political landscape of the Arab world – the client monarchies, degenerated nationalist dictatorships and the…

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Snaptu: Osama bin Laden killed by US forces

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind al-Qaida, is dead, President Obama announces from the White House

Osama bin Laden, the criminal mastermind behind al-Qaida and the world's most sought-after terrorist since the attacks of 11 September 2001, has…

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Princess Amira al-Taweel, who is married to global tycoon Prince Alwaleed bin Talal

royal wedding: princess ameerah of saudi arabia « Pink 2.55

And if she wore this “ladylike” outfit in public in her home country she would be stoned to death for “disrespecting” her husband.

princess ameerah wears a custom made zuhair murad. i absolutely love this look: a lace overcoat over a plain dress with a dainty belt and bow. it is so ladylike and sophisticated - just perfect for this occasion.  a gorgeous hat, clutch and satin pumps complete the look. i love the sideswept raven hair – it so exotic and glam.

is anyone else as surprised me to see a saudi princess wearing a skirt in a public domain?

'Atlas Shrugged': With America on the brink, should you 'go Galt' and strike?

"Atlas Shrugged" has finally reached the big screen and, especially
among tea partiers, Ayn Rand is being hailed a prophet. How could she
have anticipated, more than 50 years ago, a United States spinning out
of financial control, plagued by soaring spending and crippling
regulations? How could she have painted villains who seem ripped from
today’s headlines?

There’s Wesley Mouch, who in the face of failed government programs
screams like Rep. Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts for wider powers.
There’s Eugene Lawson, “the banker with a heart,” who like former
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke is ever ready with a bailout. There’s Mr. Thompson, who like
President Obama seeks to rally the country behind pious platitudes.
There’s Orren Boyle, who like President Bush says that we must abandon
free-market principles to save the free market.

Time to 'go Galt'?And in the face of this onslaught, what can you do?
Should you, like Rand’s heroes, “go Galt,” stop working, retreat to a
secluded valley, and try to rebuild only when the country has
collapsed?

Rand was asked these very questions in her own lifetime. Her answers
might surprise you. In the 1970s, America was in a deep financial
crisis (a new word, stagflation, had to be coined), urban violence was
rampant, and power-seeking politicians like President Nixon instituted
wage and price controls that led to, among other things, gas stations
with no gas. How, people wondered, could Rand have foreseen all this?
Was she a prophet? No, she answered. She had simply identified the
basic cause of why the country was veering from crisis to new crisis.

RELATED: The tea party will fail – unless it fully embraces
individualism as a moral ideal

Was the solution to “go Galt” and quit society? No, Rand again
answered. The solution was simultaneously much easier and much harder.
“So long as we have not yet reached the state of censorship of ideas,”
she once said, “one does not have to leave a society in the way the
characters did in Atlas Shrugged.... But you know what one does have
to do? One has to break relationships with the culture.... [D]iscard
all the ideas – the entire cultural philosophy which is dominant
today.”

Now, if you’ve only seen the movie, the fact that "Atlas Shrugged" is
not a political novel might surprise you. But the book’s point is that
our plight is caused not by corrupt politicians (who are only a
symptom) or some alleged flaw in human nature. It’s caused by the
philosophic ideas and moral ideals most of us embrace.

youtube

“You have cried that man’s sins are destroying the world and you have
cursed human nature for its unwillingness to practice the virtues you
demanded,” novel hero John Galt declares to a country in crisis.
“Since virtue, to you, consists of sacrifice, you have demanded more
sacrifices at every successive disaster.”

He elaborates: “You have sacrificed justice to mercy.” (For example,
calls to make homeownership “accessible” to those who could not afford
it and then bailouts and foreclosure freezes to spare them when they
couldn’t pay.)

“You have sacrificed reason to faith.” (For example, attempts to
prevent stem cell research on Biblical grounds or blind faith that Mr.
Obama’s deliberately empty rhetoric about hope and change will
magically produce prosperity.)

“You have sacrificed wealth to need.” (For example, Bush’s
prescription drug benefit and Obamacare, both enacted because people
needed “free” health care.)

“You have sacrificed self-esteem to self-denial.” (For example,
attacks on Bill Gates for making a fortune; applause when he gives
that fortune away.)

“You have sacrificed happiness to duty.” (For example, every
president’s Kennedyesque exhortations to “Ask not what your country
can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”)

The result? “Why ... do you shrink in horror from the sight of the
world around you? That world is not the product of your sins, it is
the product and the image of your virtues. It is your moral ideal
brought into reality....”

Must question our idealsThis is what "Atlas Shrugged" is asking us to
question: our ideals. Rethink our convictions and philosophy of life
from the ground up. Without doing so, it argues, we won’t escape
further crises.

Strike, the book urges us, but intellectually, since to strike means
to reject the fundamental terms of your opponents and assert your own.

This kind of thinking is difficult, Rand held, but necessary to enter
the Atlantis depicted toward the end of "Atlas Shrugged" – “at least
psychologically,” she wrote, “which is a precondition of the
possibility ever to enter it existentially.”

Onkar Ghate is a senior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, Calif.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20110429/cm_csm/380380_1

'Atlas Shrugged': With America on the brink, should you 'go Galt' and strike?

"Atlas Shrugged" has finally reached the big screen and, especially
among tea partiers, Ayn Rand is being hailed a prophet. How could she
have anticipated, more than 50 years ago, a United States spinning out
of financial control, plagued by soaring spending and crippling
regulations? How could she have painted villains who seem ripped from
today's headlines?

There's Wesley Mouch, who in the face of failed government programs
screams like Rep. Barney Frank (D) of Massachusetts for wider powers.
There's Eugene Lawson, "the banker with a heart," who like former
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke is ever ready with a bailout. There's Mr. Thompson, who like
President Obama seeks to rally the country behind pious platitudes.
There's Orren Boyle, who like President Bush says that we must abandon
free-market principles to save the free market.

Time to 'go Galt'?And in the face of this onslaught, what can you do?
Should you, like Rand's heroes, "go Galt," stop working, retreat to a
secluded valley, and try to rebuild only when the country has
collapsed?

Rand was asked these very questions in her own lifetime. Her answers
might surprise you. In the 1970s, America was in a deep financial
crisis (a new word, stagflation, had to be coined), urban violence was
rampant, and power-seeking politicians like President Nixon instituted
wage and price controls that led to, among other things, gas stations
with no gas. How, people wondered, could Rand have foreseen all this?
Was she a prophet? No, she answered. She had simply identified the
basic cause of why the country was veering from crisis to new crisis.

RELATED: The tea party will fail – unless it fully embraces
individualism as a moral ideal

Was the solution to "go Galt" and quit society? No, Rand again
answered. The solution was simultaneously much easier and much harder.
"So long as we have not yet reached the state of censorship of ideas,"
she once said, "one does not have to leave a society in the way the
characters did in Atlas Shrugged.... But you know what one does have
to do? One has to break relationships with the culture.... [D]iscard
all the ideas – the entire cultural philosophy which is dominant
today."

Now, if you've only seen the movie, the fact that "Atlas Shrugged" is
not a political novel might surprise you. But the book's point is that
our plight is caused not by corrupt politicians (who are only a
symptom) or some alleged flaw in human nature. It's caused by the
philosophic ideas and moral ideals most of us embrace.

youtube

"You have cried that man's sins are destroying the world and you have
cursed human nature for its unwillingness to practice the virtues you
demanded," novel hero John Galt declares to a country in crisis.
"Since virtue, to you, consists of sacrifice, you have demanded more
sacrifices at every successive disaster."

He elaborates: "You have sacrificed justice to mercy." (For example,
calls to make homeownership "accessible" to those who could not afford
it and then bailouts and foreclosure freezes to spare them when they
couldn't pay.)

"You have sacrificed reason to faith." (For example, attempts to
prevent stem cell research on Biblical grounds or blind faith that Mr.
Obama's deliberately empty rhetoric about hope and change will
magically produce prosperity.)

"You have sacrificed wealth to need." (For example, Bush's
prescription drug benefit and Obamacare, both enacted because people
needed "free" health care.)

"You have sacrificed self-esteem to self-denial." (For example,
attacks on Bill Gates for making a fortune; applause when he gives
that fortune away.)

"You have sacrificed happiness to duty." (For example, every
president's Kennedyesque exhortations to "Ask not what your country
can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.")

The result? "Why ... do you shrink in horror from the sight of the
world around you? That world is not the product of your sins, it is
the product and the image of your virtues. It is your moral ideal
brought into reality...."

Must question our idealsThis is what "Atlas Shrugged" is asking us to
question: our ideals. Rethink our convictions and philosophy of life
from the ground up. Without doing so, it argues, we won't escape
further crises.

Strike, the book urges us, but intellectually, since to strike means
to reject the fundamental terms of your opponents and assert your own.

This kind of thinking is difficult, Rand held, but necessary to enter
the Atlantis depicted toward the end of "Atlas Shrugged" – "at least
psychologically," she wrote, "which is a precondition of the
possibility ever to enter it existentially."

Onkar Ghate is a senior fellow at the Ayn Rand Institute in Irvine, Calif.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20110429/cm_csm/380380_1

Snaptu: Wedding says much about our fascination with royalty

The monarchy sidesteps the awkwardness of patriotism and allows us to feel a rare British pride

What memory will live on? For those who lined the Mall, painting their faces red, white and blue, or who just stayed home watching on television — what…

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Obama's birth certificate

Obama produces his detailed birth certificate - The Washington Post

The belief that Obama was born in another country, which the most recent CBS/New York Times poll suggests is embraced by about a quarter of Americans, has been used by some conservative critics of the president as a means to question his constitutional legitimacy to occupy the White House — and even his basic American-ness.

“The President believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn’t good for the country,” White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer wrote in a blog post on the White House Web site. “It may have been good politics and good TV, but it was bad for the American people and distracting from the many challenges we face as a country.”

Most recently, it has been raised in near-constant television appearances by showman and business executive Donald Trump, who is flirting with the prospect of running for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. As recently as Tuesday, Trump — who claimed to have a team of investigators looking into the issue in Hawaii — said he had heard that the certificate was missing.

Who are Deny Carmanita and Pepi Fernando?

To be honest, I seldom watch TV, so when people talked about this name, I have no idea whom they refer, until I google it. I found she is actually a terrorist together with his husband Pepi Fernando, had mastered bombing in churches, express way and some bombs sent personally to some individuals who are known for their moderate thoughts. Shame on them. I don't know why there are so many terrorist in this country. I feel unsafe....helpppppppp...

Lock Down Your Wi-Fi or the FBI Might Come Knocking

- Yahoo! News

A New York man learned the hard way that leaving your wireless router open to the general public can have some very negative consequences, and that the authorities tend to act first and ask questions second.

You might think it's no big deal to share your wireless network with your neighbors. But that altruism can bite you in the butt when a less scrupulous neighbor, or a random stranger connects to the wireless network and uses it for illegal activity. As far as the authorities are concerned, that illegal activity originates from your wireless router, so you are the primary suspect.

So, what happened? Well, this guy left his home Wi-Fi network unprotected, and a slimy neighbor piggy-backed on his "free" wireless network to access thousands of child pornography images. He's not the first to fall victim to this scenario, and, unfortunately, he won't be the last.

It is important that you lock your wireless network down. WEP (wired equivalent privacy) encryption has as many holes as Swiss cheese, and can be easily cracked in a matter of seconds, but even turning on such weak protection is better than nothing. If you scan any given neighborhood for wireless networks, you will find at least one that has no encryption turned on, and that low-hanging fruit is the network that will draw attention rather than a network that requires hacking to connect to.

But, to provide better security you should use WPA or WPA-2 encryption. With most home and SOHO (small office / home office) wireless routers, it is as simple as logging in to the Admin console, enabling the encryption, and setting a password. However, as this recent incident demonstrates, "simple" is relative, and enabling wireless encryption is easier said than done for many users.

The real answer, though, lies with the wireless router vendors. Unfortunately, convenience and simplicity trump security. Wi-Fi routers are designed to just work right out of the box. They live up to the claims in most cases--as long as your only concern is being able to connect to the wireless network and start surfing the Internet. But, if you also want your wireless network to be secure, they don't work so well out of the box after all.

Users who are not tech savvy, and want the convenience of a wireless router that "just works" are not likely to invest the time and effort to learn about the inner-workings of the router, or to understand and enable the security features. Wireless routers should be designed with encryption enabled by default, and part of the initial configuration should involve stepping the user through the process of establishing a unique SSID, and setting a secure password.

For now, though, that ball is in your court. Do yourself a favor and take the 15 minutes to figure out how to log into the admin console for your Wi-Fi router and turn on encryption to prevent unauthorized piggy-backing. If you don't, the next knock on your door might be the FBI--and they might not be there for pleasant chit-chat

Seven daily sins: Shower every day? Rinse after brushing teeth? These 'healthy' habits could be devilishly bad for you

Could your daily routine be ruining your health? We all know that smoking, drinking and bingeing on junk food are behaviours to avoid if we want to keep fit - but an increasing amount of research is emerging to suggest other seemingly benign habits could also be bad for us.

Here, MATTHEW BARBOUR asks the experts to reveal these seven daily sins, and what we can do about them... DAILY SIN: SHOWERING EVERY DAY

Using piping-hot water combined with harsh soaps can strip the skin of its oils, resulting in dryness, cracking and even infection

The modern preoccupation with personal hygiene could be to the detriment of our skin, according to Dr Nick Lowe, consultant dermatologist at the Cranley Clinic  in London. 

‘Most people wash far too much,’ he says. ‘Using piping-hot water combined with harsh soaps can strip the skin of its oils, resulting in dryness, cracking and even infection. 

‘For the majority of us, there is no need to have a thorough wash every day.’
If the prospect of skipping a daily shower horrifies you, at least make sure you wash with cooler water, he says.

If you have a tendency towards dry skin, use a soap-free shower gel or aqueous cream — an emulsifying ointment containing paraffin oils, water and preservative that can be used in place of soap.

DAILY SIN: SLEEPING EIGHT HOURS A DAY

A short four to 15-minute 'power nap' can be as effective as an extra hour at night

The notion of getting eight hours of solid sleep each night is a ‘modern convention’ that could leave you feeling more tired, says Professor Jim Horne, of Loughborough University’s Sleep Research Centre.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1380504/Seven-daily-sins-Shower-day-Rinse-brushing-teeth-These-healthy-habits-devilishly-bad-you.html#ixzz1KecuZusW

vitamin A and E shorten your life

Vitamin-takers more likely to gorge on fast food: Pills provide 'false sense of security' | Mail Online

A U.S. analysis of 67 studies concluded vitamins A and E may shorten life, not extend it, while other research linked the two vitamins to increased cancer risk.

And those who take fish oils as well as a multivitamin could be consuming too much vitamin A, raising their odds of brittle bones.

Brian Scott Dicksonz arrested in Chinese student webcam

Qian 'Necole' Liu murder: 'Womaniser' Brian Scott Dickson arrested | Mail Online

Canadian-born Brian Scott Dickson, who according to his father trawled dating sites for Asian women, is charged with the first-degree murder of Qian ‘Necole’ Liu.

Snaptu: Sea change: 10 quirky cruises

If a super-luxe liner isn't your thing, there are plenty of other fish in the sea – try pink dolphin-spotting on the Amazon or a trip round Vietnam's Ha Long Bay in a wooden junk

The small ship

Among tour operator Noble Caledonian's fleet of…

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Snaptu: The Tea Party and Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand is a cult figure for Tea Party types, but if a bad movie gets them reading, they may be surprised by her ideas

If Ayn Rand were alive today, would she be a member of the Tea Party?

The controversial writer – whose philosophy, Objectivism,…

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Does calcium boost risk? YES

Heart attacks| Mail Online

* High blood calcium link to hardening of arteries

Older women taking calcium supplements to improve bone strength could be at higher risk of heart attacks and strokes, claim researchers.

A new study adds to previous research suggesting extra calcium - with or without vitamin D - may do more harm than good.

Hundreds of thousands of women take supplements because they are recommended for preventing osteoporosis, or thinning bones.

But a research team led by Professor Ian Reid at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, says the practice should be reassessed as it may result in more heart attacks than fractures would be prevented.

Dental X-rays is absolutely NOT safe !

Hey, Indonesian health authorities! say something about this fact! British  Government has warned its people of the criminal dentists...Also, Indon govt should announce that dental X-rays is really dangerous for human health.   Honestly..it was kind of shocking when finding this article saying the dental radiology is not safe. So, why some dentists I attended said "it is very safe". How come they lie? Maybe this article's writer judgment is right that most dentist just want to line their own pockets...Oh, this is crappy..Then, one thing we can do as patients "speak up and sue them for making us doing an overtreatment"

Last week, the Government warned the public to ignore dentists who tell us to come for check-ups every six months. In fact, according to experts at the health watchdog, The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), most adults need to have a check-up only every two years.The experts at Nice first issued this advice seven years ago. But since then the dental industry has done much to obliterate this fact. It undoubtedly threatens to dent their incomes.

Are you seeing the dentist too often? Pointless X-rays and needless check-ups could be adding up to a rip-off | Mail Online

But even with the most morally scrupulous dentist, unnecessarily frequent check-ups may expose you to another danger. This is due to X-rays, which have long been a feature of routine dental checks.

The risk level is controversial, but British researchers warned last year that the more dental X-rays you have, the higher your risk grows of developing thyroid cancer. Their study of just over 300 thyroid cancer patients, in the medical journal Acta Oncologica, found that repeated X-rays significantly increased the risk of the disease, prompting the researchers to question the widely held belief that dental radiography is absolutely safe.


Certainly, the disease has become significantly more common in recent years. The researchers, led by Dr Anjum Memon, a consultant in public health medicine at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, report that the rates of thyroid cancer in the UK have doubled from 1.4 in every 100,000 people in 1975 to 2.9 per 100,000 in 2006.

A number of earlier studies have reported a link between dental X-rays and cancers of the thyroid, salivary glands and brain. It is known that dentists and their assistants are at higher risk of tumours. Dr Memon has called for a rethink on the use of X-rays as part of routine check-ups and for greater caution when using them on children.

A more positive reason for not traipsing to the surgery every six months is that we don’t have to worry about our wisdom teeth. Fashions have changed, so dentists should no longer be urging you to have them whipped out in case they cause trouble some day in the future.
The official guidance from Nice now is that unless your wisdom teeth are causing pain or pushing other teeth out of the way, they should be left exactly where they are. Around one in 100 people suffer serious nerve damage from wisdom-teeth removal, according to American Journal of Public Health. They can be left with no feeling in their lips, tongue and cheek.
Someone should have told that to the Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie, though. He was so convinced that his wisdom teeth were somehow responsible for a string of injuries that he had them pulled out in 2009. The expert advice now is that such fears are merely the stuff of tooth-fairy tales.
All of this should come as reassuring news to the many thousands of people who suffer extreme anxiety before they even enter a surgery. The Adult Dental Health (ADH) survey earlier this year found that one in five women, and one in ten men admit to being gripped by terror at the thought of the dentist’s chair.
It may also bring comfort to the growing numbers who guiltily fear that they can no longer afford to answer the dentist’s six-monthly summons. One in five of us have put off check-ups because of fear that the bills will be too high, according to the ADH survey.
Of course, common sense must prevail here. If you have problems such as inflamed gums, toothache, broken fillings and crowns or mouth sores that refuse to go away, then a prompt dental visit is a must. For the rest of us, aim to sit in the chair only once every two years. Quite simply, there is no good reason to put yourself through it any more often than that.