Treating Skin That’s Singed

Treating Skin That’s Singed

Bring temperature down, but don’t use ice unless the injury is slight

Burns are classified as first, second, or third degree by how deeply the skin is damaged. It’s not always easy to tell how serious a burn is at first inspection. Electrical burns frequently look small, for instance, but they may be much deeper than suspected. You can’t always tell how bad a burn is from the pain, either, because really serious burns may destroy tissue nerve endings, leaving a victim with no feeling in the burn area. And burns whose severity is underestimated may end up needlessly infected. Here are the rules of the road when it comes to burns, from the American Red Cross:

First-Degree burn: A first-degree burn is on the skin’s surface. It turns the skin red and dry, may cause a swell, and can be quite painful. The damage should heal with a week without leaving permanent scars.

Second-degree burn: A second-degree burn affects several top layers of skin, and not only reddens the skin, but leaves blisters that may pop and leak clear fluid, making the skin look wet. Pain swelling are common with such burns, and the burned skin sometimes appears blotchy. Healing usually takes three to four weeks.

Third-degree burn: A third-degree burn not only destroys every skin layer but goes deep enough to destroy other underlying tissue such as fat, muscles, nerves, and even bones sometimes. The pain can range from very intense to relatively minor if nerve endings are destroyed. Unless quickly treated the risk of infection not only soars. But fluid loss can destroy the body’s thermostat and impair a victim’s breathing, making the situation potentially life-threatening.

Treating skin. Photo by Elena

Do’s and Don’ts for burns

To help you make the right first aid decisions when dealing with burns, the American Red Cross recommends the following:

Do’s

    Do cool a burn by flushing it with water.

    Do cover the burn with a dry, clean covering, such as a sterile dressing.

    Do keep the victim comfortable and keep him or her from getting chilled or overheated.

Don’ts

    Don’t apply ice directly to any burn unless it is very minor.

    Don’t touch a burn with anything except a clean covering.

    Don’t remove pieces of cloth that stick to the burned area.

    Don’t try to clean a severe burn.

    Don’t break blisters.

    Don’t use ointment on a severe burn. Although an antibiotic ointment can be used on a minor burn, ointments may exacerbate more severe burns by sealing in heat without providing pain relief

Flowers and More Flowers

The Wonders and Mysteries of Nature

From historians to witchcraft adepts, nature has fascinated mankind since times immemorial. According to evolutionary psychologists, humans evolved to adapt to their environments, and coping with natural forces was a prerequisite to reproductive fitness and long term survival.

Today’s fears and anxieties over global warming and environmental and climate change remain a chilling topic. The importance of recycling and going green can only be understated. In hopes of a greener future, the following images were compiled based on their common theme: plants or flora. Other thematic gallery groupings can be found on the art index page.

As people are walking all the time, in the same spot, a path appears (John Locke)

It is never too late to be what you might have been (George Eliot)

It is always the simple that produces the marvellous (Amelia Barr)

As knowledge increases, wonder deepens (Charles Morgan)

I love those who yearn for the impossible (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

A brunette woman with black irises, in a science fiction world where she looks like a blue flower. (Megan Jorgensen)

A compliment is something like a kiss through a veil (Victor Hugo)

When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves (William Arthur Ward)

Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start (Unknown)

Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit (Bernard Williams)

I’m not made for perilous quests. Stephen Baxter, Evolution

“What can I do for you, gentlemen?” said THE porter. “Get out of my way1” said Huth. (J.R. Tolkiien)

The Firm

The Firm

In business, the firm is defined as an organization, a partnership. For some reason the name calls to mind like-named film with Tom Cruise or the British rock band. Almost as if the human psyche is predisposed to associate with glamour more freely, appeal is often used to promote sales in business. To sum up, an old truth: ‘sex sells’. However, a marketing scholar would note that a product can be ‘sexy’ not in the Megan Fox sense, but in the way that a BlackBerry is stylish while practical.

Financial literacy is essential in this day and age. Ramifications touch everyone, not just finance professionals. Political turmoil overseas may lead to an investor losing money, as when the Nokia stock (NOK) plummeted in early 2011 due to unrest in Egypt.

Economic theory predicts that firms that save and invest have a better chance of becoming and remaining successful. Aside from start-up capital and business loans, capital can also be in the form of soft skills or knowledge. In this information-driven era, human capital in the form of skilled workers is ever more precious.

The theory of the firm rests on existence and production. Production explanations can take two paths, the Classical rationale asserts that costs determine prices, while the Austrian perspective maintains the reverse holds true. Views of the nature of the firm:

•     Neoclassical – firm as production function
•     Nexus-of-Contract – firm as legal fiction
•     Knowledge based – firm as stock of knowledge
•     Coasian – firm as ownership of assets

The divisions may be slightly superfluous; a combination of these definitions looks more appropriate. By the same token, the Austrian theory of imputation may also stand to benefit by acknowledging that both variants may be simultaneously valid.

A very old firm. Photo by Elena

Almeida & Carneiro (2008) examine the return on investment in human capital of a Portuguese sample of firms between 1995 and 1999.

The investment is defined as on the job training, a commonplace practice in many of today’s organizations, such as seminars designed to improve workforce performance. Training and internships are often paid. The estimated returns were 8.6% for those firms that were in the training supplied group. The findings prompted the researchers to conclude that the investment was a good one for these companies, in the same range as investments in material capital or schooling. A potential imitation of the study is that certain variables were absent from the analysis (e.g. who covers training costs, the employee or the firm?).

Reference:

    Almeida, R. & Carneiro, P. (2009). The return to firm investments in human capital. Labour Economics, 16 (1): 97-106.

Corporate Finance

Corporate Finance

Finance is defined as the management of large sums of money or as the financing of a business or other enterprise. Alternatively, a corporation's definition includes its legal status as a person but also means that it is a group of people or a company acting as a single entity. Additionally, an organization means two or more people working towards the same goal, much like a team. Interestingly, a team and a group exhibit the distinction that only a team works towards a shared goal. But the purpose of the present essay is to discuss corporate finance...

Thus, corporate finance centres on the financing or corporations, including how corporations raise the necessary capital to keep operating and growing, how managers maximize shareholders' value and how corporate resources are allocated. The particular field of finance also deals with corporate financial structure. A distinction is sometimes made between corporate finance and managerial finance, in that corporate finance focuses on financial management in corporations alone, whereas managerial finance includes all firms and businesses regardless of their size.

Hyatt Regency, Montreal, photo by Elena

Along these lines, corporate finance would be difficult to comprehend without understanding financial accounting and managerial accounting. Indeed, students of business, management and commerce more often than not have to complete introductory level courses for financial and managerial accounting. The main differences between the two subjects is that financial accounting is designed to elaborate on the financial aspects of the firm for external users (such as creditors, lenders, bankers and shareholders), while managerial accounting is designed for internal users (or employees and managers).

If one had to define accounting in one sentence, it would reflect the accounting equation, or Assets = Liabilities + Shareholders Equity. Obviously, the two sides of the equation must balance out for the firm to remain in the black and avoid falling in the red, common terms to describe a profitable company versus one that is crumbling under debt.

Party Time!

Party Time!

The entertainment industry rakes in several billions of USD per year for a reason – it is human nature to want to dissipate boredom. Often persons complain that they simply do not know what to do, or what to look for to get amused, as in the phenomenon of staring at Google search and simply lacking any idea as to which path to explore. Comedy is known to lift moods; the YouTube online community is great for that matter.

For example, Chick Comedy featured on YouTube is a virtually endless stream of short clips of female comics. For better-known women comedians there are the non-conservative Margaret Cho and Wanda Sykes. Interestingly, Margaret Cho has been previously romantically linked to Quentin Tarantino, while Wanda Sykes was deemed the 14th funniest person in the U.S. by Entertainment Weekly (McGruder, 2004). A note of caution, the styles and views expressed by these ladies could be judged as offensive. Among countries, Canada is the biggest Internet user, with approximately 85% of the population logging on to the World Wide Web on a regular basis (Pearson, 2009).

The social media, and most importantly the social networking websites, have transformed the way businesses operate and life in general.

Around 2010, there were even some advertisements on job search engines seeking to employ promoters as long as they had more than 2000 friends on a socializing utility. Increasingly, marketing firms are concentrating on social media to promote products, while the majority of large companies have corporate websites. Among the most popular hangout websites are Facebook, MySpace, Second Life, Bebo, Hi5, MyLife and Twitter. Some well-liked dating sites include Zoosk, PlentyOfFish, Mingles, Mingle2, Single & Mingle and Lavalife.

Most of the sites are in the free range, whereas famous matchmakers eHarmony, Match and True have fees attached. Business sites such as ZoomInfo and LinkedIn are designed specifically for professionals with career goals in mind. Facebook stresses the real life connections, while MySpace does much less so. Making new friends or pen pals can be best achieved with the help of sites such as NewFriends4U.

Other websites such as Craigslist are multipurpose: one can find a job, an apartment for rent, tickets to a gig, and even personal ads. MSN and instant messaging on gaming locations can also pass the time, distract or raise one’s spirits. A common complaint about online dating sites, from both men and women, is that many potential candidates just seem to want to e-mail ceaselessly and chat; other individuals are more serious about getting together.

The internet has no doubt brought people closer, but the anonymity it provides can also backfire, as in the cartoon where behind their respective computer screens, an obese balding woman with adult acne describes herself as a lingerie model to an out of shape very old man who tells her he is Madonna’s backup dancer. Probably as much, if not more, caution and common sense as in real life are strongly called for on the net.

Martinies  & Stilettos: Customarily welcome at a social gathering. Photo : Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Cyber bullying has followed the Web expansion, with Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl, committing suicide in 2006 over a rival’s mother cruel comments and doings. In another case in 2011, two teenagers are brought to justice for ridiculing a classmate through a fake profile. The net is far from always being the safest place to be.

On a more positive side, Facebook is the subject of a 2010 movie starring Justin Timberlake The Social Network and gaining in notoriety everyday. Failbook is a parody, a fun take on the original, featuring screenshots from Facebook of, sometimes, hilarious faux pas (usually protecting users’ privacy: photos and names kept unintelligible). Laughter has been said to be the best medicine, and enjoying good times with friends can serve as an antidote to many of life’s troubles. The psychological community defines loneliness as not the absence, but the dissatisfaction with social relationships, while social support has been consecutively linked to better psychological adjustment, cognitive functioning and even physical health. Making friends is a whole fascinating topic, but the basic tenet is that prospective companions must share interests. Such encounters are sometimes embedded in the structure of a resource, such as Friends Meet Up for (at least) Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

References:

McGruder, A. (2004). The best of the rest: We rank the 25 funniest people in America – Chris Rock may be our funniest comic, but he’s got some serious competition… Entertainment Weekly, 756.

Pearson, C. (2009). Grocery slotting fees deprive consumers and manufacturers of shelf-respect. Straight Goods, March 19.

Party time. Photo by Elena