September 2003

Dental

I have seen this site DentalWisdom.com grow for a couple of years. Here is their Patient Guide index. Actually has explanations that even I can understand.

Morning Mouth  Everybody is aware of their mouth being dry in the morning. This is due to the reduction of salivary flow during sleep (Saliva is the fluid that naturally lubricates the mouth. This comes from 4 major salivary glands that drain into the mouth and many thousands of minor glands). "Morning mouth" may be significantly made worse by taking certain medications prescribed for treating depression or controlling blood pressure. Consumption of alcohol will also cause reduction in salivary flow due to dehydration. People who breath through their mouths cause excessive drying of the oral region; this may be due to difficulty in breathing through the nose. In the same way that stagnant water can emit offensive smells, so slow flow or stagnation of saliva will result in odours due to increase in bacterial activity (Saliva is the bodies natural defence against bacterial development). "Morning mouth" can easily be addressed by rinsing the mouth with clean water, drinking half to one litre of clean water (Especially if any significant amount of alcohol has been consumed !) and then eating some bread or cheese to stimulate natural saliva production. Citric fruit juices (Such as fresh orange juice) should be avoided early after waking due to slow saliva flow which is unable to neutralise and protect teeth from the strong acids in citric juice (Acids can erode tooth enamel).

Brit Castles

Castles have a long history thruout medievil times. This preservation society, Castles Unlimited was formed in recognition of the necessity to preserve these relics of history. They are dedicated to the promotion and study of British Castles. Explore the whole website. A page from the "Learning Center".

What is a castle? A castle is a properly fortified military residence. Why were castles built? Initially, they were designed and built to hold down conquered territory. They also served to intimidate and strike fear into the local peoples, were places of refuge, and places for the lords to live. They were also impressive symbols of the power and wealth of their owners. When were castles built? Norman castles were built from the 11th to 13th centuries.

Castles were brought to Britain by William the Conqueror, when he invaded England from his homeland in France. Known as the Duke of Normandy, William invaded England in 1066 and, due to his victory in the Battle of Hastings, William was crowned the King of England, and became King William I.

One of the most powerful ways for William to take control of his new kingdom, which included England, Scotland and Wales, was to have castles built throughout the land. At first, he ordered the construction of very simple castles, called motte and bailey castles.

Trivia

A few web pages of trivia:

BetaNews

Ever wonder what applications or upgrades are being released in beta version. Visit BetaNews. In FileForum you can view categories.

College Tour Pricing

ClearChannel is also in the field of celebrity college tour bookings. Here is a listing of artist availability and pricing per appearance. If the link takes you to a "no page found", from the index page - click "Sponsored Tours" and above search box to the far right "all". They have a variety of artists. Some artists pricing surprised me - Huey Lewis and LeAnn Rimes.

Destiny's Child - $250k
Dixie Chicks - $250k
Tool - $200k
Chris Rock - $150k plus
Creed - $150k plus
Adam Sandler - $100k plus
Dave Matthews (solo) - $100k plus
P. Diddy - $100k plus
Whoopi Goldberg - $100k plus
Drew Carey - $100k
Huey Lewis - $100k
Aretha Franklin - $75k
DMX - $75k

Here is a recent article from Northbay.com.

In a sense, it all started with scalpers. The year was 1994. Cake released the satirical ditty "How Do You Afford Your Rock and Roll Lifestyle?" "Show me the money" had yet to flood the popular lexicon. On its previous tour, Pink Floyd had discovered that the majority of its fans in the first 10 rows or so had paid scalpers $200 for $35 seats. But the band wasn't getting any kickback.

"Everyone in the industry knew that if you went and talked to the people sitting in those prime seats in front of the stage, they hadn't paid face value for those tickets. Most of them had bought them from a broker," said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of concert industry trade magazine Pollstar.

An article from 2001on the history of ClearChannel. Heartland Review has a good resource center for artists and songwriters.

In 2000 Clear Channel merged with SFX Entertainment, Inc., the world's largest diversified promoter, producer and presenter of live entertainment events, giving the company a serious lock on outlets for artists. Salon.com headlined a feature about the merger with the title "The Day the Music Died." As writer Mark Shapiro pointed out, "The new Clear Channel-SFX combine promises an unprecedented level of concentration in an industry that once thrived on the creative tension between radio programmers, concert promoters and artists. Clear Channel is taking over a company that has already destroyed the unspoken system of relationships and loyalties that long characterized the live music business. In the new world of one-stop concert production, booking agents have been castrated, already-successful bands are offered fantastic sums in return for centralized control and less well-known bands are left with fewer places to hone their sound."

Salaries

USA Today has a page of NFL salaries. You can sort by team, position or player. Unfortunately, it does not include this year. Lets view Quarterbacks for the year 2002.

Tone of Voice

Storybin.com is an intersting website. Classifies itself as an Internet Collection of Positive Thinking. Here is a snip from a poem on tone of voice.

The Tone Of The Voice

It is not so much what you say as the manner in which you say it;
It is not so much the language you use as the tone in which you convey it.

"Come here." I sharply said, and the child cowered and wept.
"Come here." I said--He looked and smiled and straight to my lap he crept.

Elvira

Cultsirens principal goal is to honor and give some deserving web space,famous or not, to more undeservedly obscure actresses of horror, sci-fi, euro-trash, B-Movies, Z-Movies, fantasy, etc. I remember Elvira hosting horror flicks in the middle 80's.

May 28, 1982, remains an important date for Elvira's popularity, as she was host to a 3-D showing of THE MAD MAGICIAN, starring Vincent Price. The film was really broadcasted in three dimensions, as was Elvira's bits. More than two million and a half special glasses were sold in the Los Angeles area. Were viewers more interested in an old and corny Vincent Price vehicle or in the sight of the charming hostess' ample chest? YOU TELL ME. This event would be followed by a first visit to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Movie Macabre would be now broadcasted across the country (excluding the State of New York!). Elvira recorded an album for Rhino and gave a short show in Times Square's Tower store. As Cassandra believed that no more than 10 persons would visit, a mob was involved in a riot and the police authorities were called to take charge. Elvira would next start a tradition to appear in popular TV shows, like CHiPS. At the end of 1982, she even was nominated for an Emmy for Best Local Show.