Phone Card Buyers Guide - The Book of Tricks

I know a lot about buying phone cards. The reason I know so much is because I am the developer for the phone card price comparison tool on a website called Time Dial. If you don't buy many calling cards you might be surprised to know that calculating calling card prices is complicated and if you are experienced with them then you will know the calling card companies don't make it easy for you.

Phone cards have hidden fees. The degree to which they are actually hidden varies from site to site. As we develop the price comparison tool we are discovering more ways companies add fees and create different ways of determining price.

The most obvious charge is the rate per minute; this varies depending on whether you are calling a local number to access the service, using toll free access or a payphone. For one company we work with it is also more expensive if you are calling from a cell phone. Local access numbers have the cheapest rates but you will pay for calls to the access numbers which are not available in all areas where as toll free access is free from landlines and free from cell phones in some countries including the US.

Most phone cards do not have a payphone rate they charge a payphone fee. Often people reach our site by typing in Google something like "phone card no payphone fee". We have an option which allows users to find calling cards without a payphone fee so they have come to the right place. However if calling cards don't have a payphone fee they will usually charge a high payphone rate per minute or have a very high standard rate resulting in higher prices than those phone cards that charge a payphone fee. There are very rare exceptions to this rule for example the "Aussie card" from Cloncom has a good rate per minute which doesn't increase when used from a payphone and has no payphone fee. Cloncom are a good company to work with, have good customer service and good rates but it really best to go through our site to find the best possible deal.

Another important fee especially if you make a lot of calls is the connection fee this is a flat rate charged for every call that is made. The maintenance fee is charged the day after you make your first call then is continuously repeated after a given period... often monthly sometimes weekly or daily.

You can select an option on Time Dial for no maintenance fee but again the catch is usually higher rates per minute. No payphone fee and no maintenance fee options are in an advanced options section on the site; this section is really best left alone in most circumstances. All the phone cards on Time Dial charge maintenance fees (if they exist) to the cards balance so if there is no credit there is no charge. Some companies charge the maintenance fee to your bank account but only tell you about this in the small print so watch out for these if you only want to use the card for a limited time.

Taxes are another charge we discovered when developing the tool. These are not real taxes that go to the government as they are for none standard amounts usually ranging from 10% to 30%. They are charged on the rate per minute for the duration of the call; connection fees etc are not included in this calculation.

The final fee to talk about is rounding which varies usually from 1 second to 3 minutes. Good rounding terms comes at the price of higher rates.

All these charges discussed are dependent on each other a good value for one charge often means there is a bad value for another. The best phone card to choose depends on how many calls you make and how long you talk for. This is where our tool shines as you can simply answer 7 questions including estimated number of calls and estimated calling time for your chosen period and it will list the cheapest phone cards in order of total cost.

Each time we add a site to the comparison tool we have to ask many questions about the calling cards' charges. We are quite meticulous about it but still it demonstrates how they don't make it easy. For example one site lists local rates in the search results section labeled "rate per minute" but doesn't make it clear that you can find the toll free, mobile and payphone rates per minute 3 clicks away in a long list.

An important thing to mention is that you shouldn't use phone cards from cell phones in a foreign country. You will pay roaming charges. Phone cards can be used from any phone in your home country and payphones / other people's landlines whilst abroad. You make the biggest savings when calling from cell phones in your home country.

I hope I haven't bored you too much and that now you know what to look out for.

UK students lose out on Euro jobs

Students in the UK are missing out on top jobs in Europe because they do not have the skills or the right attitudes, a study suggests.

A survey of 5,000 students across Europe found that British students were less likely than most to speak a foreign language and were more likely to say they would not want to leave their friends to work abroad.

The study was carried out by the education and recruitment group Hobsons.

Researchers canvassed 5,000 students aged from 19 to 29 in 28 different countries.

Language gap

British students were the least likely to say they had the right skills to work abroad - only 36% said they had what it takes.

They were much less confident than their counterparts across the rest of Europe, where 63% said they were equipped to work abroad for their first proper job.

Going some way to explaining the lack of confidence perhaps, almost half of British students said they spoke no second language.

In Germany, Italy and Spain, about nine out of 10 students said they spoke English as a second language.

Only the Irish Republic fared worse than the UK, with 59% saying they had no second language.

Missing you

Chris Letcher, the managing director of Hobsons, said: "Our research shows that UK students do not view the European job market as a serious career option.

"This is worrying in the light of the fact that increasingly companies and universities are looking to recruit students across borders in Europe."

Half of the UK students questioned said they would seriously consider working abroad for their first job, but more than a quarter said they would miss their friends too much.

The Italians and Spanish were least likely to say their friendships would stop them working abroad. Only 4% of Italians said this and 5% of Spanish.

Chris Letcher says British students are holding themselves back: "UK students stand to miss out on tops jobs in Europe if they do not develop a European outlook and adapt their skill sets accordingly."

Gorgeous Disaster

Mrs. Flood uttered with terrible flamboyancy that they were touring Spain this year, and added to it imprudently that the previous summer vacation had been a kind of a sheer waste, since Barcelona was too very gloomy and serious to be a vacation spot that is supposed to be ideal for merry making, as she had felt; an old intelligent lady, her next-door neighbor, grinned and asked if Geography used to be a part of her course in her school days...

Well, we have just celebrated the 61th Independence Day and that was followed by some stunning and long awaited performances at Beijing, but all were evanescent; 'show time over' and we have got ourselves inclined back to the Singur~Tata conflict, trains have once again started going derailed and looting, arson have regained the reputation of almost regular affairs, not at all a wonder, after all we are driven by folks like Mrs. Flood, who happens to be striving for her PhD!

Sky scrapers and high rise buildings dot the landscape in the present scenario, we live in an age when humbleness, loyalty, simplicity and related nouns have lost their essence; a bit of idiocy amalgamated with worthless pride(in ignorance) is what one requires to bear the badge of the era on her shoulders. It seems we have learned everything, without having learnt the meaning of learning.

When Rushdie celebrates the launch of The Enchantress of Florence, there aren't many to participate in his frolic but as soon as he gets over his plans for the 4th marriage, we have newspapers and magazines blooming with his close-ups on their cover pages, this is what our learned men have always indulged in, the basic ideology hasn't changed much though scores of years have passed, it was the same with Solzhenitsyn when August 1914 had been brought to the market, the nation pounced on the poor wretched man, only because he hadn't compromised(even a bit) with what he had actually felt with the inauguration of the World war.

The property of oscillation fits better for the masses than the laboratory pendulum, they are always in a puzzled stature of mind, not really concerned with anything, but for the sake of their beggarly prestige (that is dangling in the middle of a chain built by puny, apocryphal strings of sincerity) and can get fragmented any moment, Sydney Porter had written this decades ago, what an unnatural analytical power, he had been blessed with.

I could have been brought up in an India which would be a glowing script of success and approbation, had my people known to live and love, alas they have somehow altered the word and have made it all the more vile; I presume, this is only the forecast, perhaps we still have time to save a gorgeous disaster heading our way.

http://manoshijanalyzing.blogvis.com/

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Herbal remedy shown to have anti-cancer effect

A widely used herbal supplement taken to aid digestion has been found to have powerful anti-cancer properties. Triphala, made from the dried and powdered fruit of three plants, is the most popular Ayurvedic remedy in India. It is used to stimulate the appetite, treat intestinal disorders and act as a laxative.

Indian scientists have claimed for years that Triphala has value as a detoxifying and anti-cancer agent. Now researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute say they have shown that it can prevent or slow the growth of pancreatic cancer tumours implanted in mice.

Millions of cancer patients turn to herbal supplements and vitamin pills in the hope that they can boost their immune systems and help fight the disease. Many take them out of disaffection with conventional medicine but doctors warn that exaggerated claims are being made for their effects.

The latest findings, presented to the annual meeting of the American Association of Cancer Research in Los Angeles yesterday, suggest some herbal preparations may have genuine anti-cancer action.

Mice grafted with human pancreatic tumours were fed one to two milligrams of Triphala for five days a week. By the end of the study, their tumours were half the size of those in a control group of mice fed saline (salt solution) only.

Sanjay Srivastava, the assistant professor in pharmacology who led the study, said: "We discovered that Triphala fed orally to mice ... was an extremely effective inhibitor of the cancer process. Triphala triggered the cancerous cells to die off and significantly reduced the size of tumours without causing any side effects."

Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death and is one of the most aggressive cancers.

The study found that the herbal remedy caused the pancreatic cells to die through the process known as apoptosis - the body's normal method of disposing of damaged or unwanted cells. Apoptosis is often disrupted in cancer cells with the result that they continue to replicate and grow, forming a tumour.

In a separate study published yesterday, researchers in the UK revealed that Chinese herbs can help women with breast cancer. A review of seven randomised trials involving 542 women with breast cancer found that the herbal preparations can successfully counteract the side effects of chemotherapy. The report from the Cochrane Library, which systematically reviews research findings, says 60 per cent of women experience side effects from chemotherapy, ranging from nausea and vomiting to inflammation of the gut lining and decreased numbers of red and white blood cells.

Interest in traditional Chinese medicine is growing in the West while it is declining in China. But doctors warn that many herbal remedies are untested in trials and can interact with conventional medicines in unexpected and sometimes dangerous ways.

Edzard Ernst, the professor complementary medicine at the Peninsula Medical School of the Universities of Exeter and Plymouth, said therapies such as massage, aromatherapy, reflexology and relaxation could improve the quality of life of cancer patients and some, such as acupuncture for the nausea caused by chemotherapy, could combat its ill effects. But others, marketed as cures, were dangerous. "Several of these alleged cures are associated with significant risks, including ... contamination [and] interaction with prescribed drugs," he said.

An aid to digestion

In India, the capacity for the Ayurvedic remedy Triphala to care for the internal organs of the body is compared to a mother's care for her children. A popular folk saying is : "No mother? Don't worry so long as you have Triphala."

Triphala is a combination of equal parts of amalaki (Emblica officinalis), bibhitaki (Terminalia belerica), and haritaki (Terminalia chebula). It is taken with water and is said to combine nutritional and cleansing actions. It works as a gentle laxative and boosts red blood cells and removes fat from the body. It is also claimed to clear headaches, maintain normal blood sugar levels, and improve skin tone and colour.

Each of the three herbal fruits from which Triphala is made is said to take care of the body by "gently promoting internal cleansing of all conditions of stagnation and excess" while at the same time improving digestion and assimilation.

Several reports from Indian universities have suggested that Triphala can reduce tumour incidence and promote cancer cell death. Antioxidant studies conducted at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai revealed that all three constituents of Triphala are active.

source

Google Stuff

I happen to be a Google fan-- I love visting Google Labs and trying out their new products as well as using sites that take advantage of the Google search technology to make things easier.

Who ever thought, when I was spending time in junior high on Friday nights watching my favorite television program, The Brady Bunch, that, thirty-six years later, I would be able to spend $1.99 and watch it on my computer? Ya gotta LOVE technology! This is my first try at using Google Video, and, although some of their programs run using Macromedia/Adobe Flash Player, some, like the Brady Bunch episode I downloaded, required an install of the Google Video Player.

My other favorite (and useful!) Google hack site is Cookin' With Google. Simply choose the type of recipe you want (General, Vegan, Crockpot, etc.), list the items you have in th cupboard, and you are presented with a recipe for dinner!

Skype Founders To Launch Web TV!

The founders of Skype, the internet calling powerhouse, and the old KaZaA peer to peer file trading service, are planning to launch an advertising-supported internet TV network in the coming months.

With shades of a higher quality, P2P YouTube, the project that’s code named “Venice” will allow amateurs and professionals to put their TV programs online for anybody to see. They haven’t said how they’re going to prevent copyrighted material from being placed on the service, which means people can most likely share actual TV programs from TV, just as they’re being shared on BitTorrent now.

If their track record is any indication - KaZaA was a major disruption for online music and Skype was a major disruption for traditional landlines - this Venice will be a kick in the nards for traditional broadcast networks. Will it be the thing that finally brings TV trading to the masses? We hope so.

Continental Phone Cards