Isolated tribe spotted in Brazil

Over half of the world's 100 uncontacted tribes live in either Brazil or Peru. These pictures were taken to help prove that these tribes do in fact exist and to help efforts to protect their land.

BBC NEWS Americas Isolated tribe spotted in Brazil

Cheers...

First Ever England Football Team Picture

By Nick Britten
Last updated: 6:38 AM BST 08/05/2008

The earliest known photograph of the England football team has been unearthed, 132 years after it was taken. Taken before England�s fifth international match on March 4 1876, it shows a line-up, featuring the early superstars of the game. The Football Association said the photo, showing 10 England players and the �umpire� - the early term for a refere - was of �major historical importance� and an �extraordinary find�. Officials, who have a team sheet from the match, are now trying to put faces to names to identify all those in the picture.

The FA�s official historian, David Barber, said: �Until now the earliest England team picture I have seen is from 1893 so to come up with one taken 17 years earlier is extraordinary.
�The photograph seems genuine and certainly people here are very excited.�
The picture was unearthed by Peter Seddon, a football fan researching the Derby County player Steve Bloomer. Mr Seddon, from Littleover, Derby, was scanning newspaper microfiches at his local library when he came across the photo which had been printed in the Derbyshire Football Express in 1926.

It emerged that it had been sent to the paper by the England defender Edgar Field, who lived in Derby and featured in the photo. He lined up with his colleagues before a match against Scotland at Glasgow�s West of Scotland Cricket Ground, the home team winning 3-0 in front of 15,000 spectators. Nine of the England players were making their debuts. However, the FA have always been unaware of its existence until now.

Included in the team that day were Hubert Heron, a striker and captain, and his brother Charles, who both played for the Wanderers team, Mr Field, a defender with Clapham Rovers, and Arthur Savage, the Old Crystal Palace goalkeeper. The team on the day was made up of players from Crystal Palace, Wanderers, 1st Surrey rifles, Clapham Rovers, Swifts, Cambridge University and Notts County. At the time - 12 years before the football league was invented - Wanderers and Clapham were the country�s two best sides. Wanderers were given their name because they did not have a home ground, although many of their matches were played at Kennington Oval. Goalposts were two thin poles with no nets and supporters were allowed, even in their thousands, to stand around the touchlines.

The FA�s Cris Freddi (cor), who is trying to identify the players, said: �I haven�t ever seen pictures of most of these players so all I�ve got to go on is the caption. It really is fascinating stuff.� Mr Seddon said: �This is something of huge national significance because of course it was the English who invented the game of football. �At the time I was trawling through articles in the local studies library, looking through pictures to do with Steve Bloomer, and just happened to stop at the picture of the 1876 team. I thought 'hang on, this could be quite big�.�

Story from Telegraph News:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1937050/First-ever-England-football-team-picture.html

Cheers...

The Seven Responsibilities of Leadership

In his fascinating book,

VICTORY! Applying the Principles of Military Strategy to Achieve Greater Success in Your Business and Personal Life (AMACOM 2002), Brian Tracy discusses the importance of decisive leadership: "The key to success in business or warfare is singleness of vision, complete clarity with one set of instructions and one person in charge making the strategic decisions. A confusion of visions leads to misunderstanding, ineffectiveness and defeat in warfare and in business." Tracy, a motivational speaker and best-selling author, believes that although business success is due to the efforts of many, it is essential that there be one person who is in charge of each goal and at each point of responsibility. He cites Jack Welch, Lou Gerstner and General Norman Schwarzkopf as examples of business and military figures who have achieved success due to their clarity of purpose and decisive course of action. In VICTORY! Tracy outlines seven "responsibilities of leadership," defined as "areas where you must perform consistently well to become an excellent executive and fulfill your responsibilities to yourself and your organization." Following is a brief outline of these principles.

1. Set and achieve business goals.

In warfare, a military commander is given the responsibility of achieving victory against the enemy. In business, each executive at every level is given the responsibility to achieve specific, measurable business victories or goals. The inability to get the required results, and to achieve the goals in a timely fashion, is the primary reason for failure, frustration and firing at every level, in every company, large or small.

2. Innovate and market.

Apply the "CANEI Strategy" to your sales and marketing efforts. CANEI stands for "Continuous and Never-Ending Improvement." Never be satisfied. Look for new, better, faster and cheaper ways to market and sell your products, every day, every hour of the day.

3. Solve problems and make decisions.

Whatever title appears on your business card can be crossed out and replaced with the words, "Problem-Solver." This is your real job. In solving problems, think and talk exclusively in terms of solutions. Focus all your attention on the specific actions you can take to solve the problem. Forget about the past and who is to blame. Focus on the future and what actions you can take now.

4. Set priorities and work on key tasks.

One of your key responsibilities is to be working on your most vital task all the time and to assure that everyone who reports to you is also working on their key tasks. Always ask yourself, "What are my highest value activities?" If you could only do one thing all day long, what one task would that be?

5. Concentrate single-mindedly on the one activity that can make the greatest difference.

Write down everything you have to do before you begin. Set priorities using an "ABCDE" system. An "A" task is something very important. An "E" task can be eliminated altogether. You can only get your time and life under control to the degree to which you stop doing certain things. Practice "creative abandonment" with tasks that no longer contribute to accomplishing your most important goals.

6. Perform and get results.

Your ability to get results determines your pay, your promotion, your success and the respect and esteem in which you are held by the people around you. Ask yourself continually, "What results are expected of me?" Whatever your answer, work on these specific results single-mindedly. They are the major determinants of your success.

7. Be a role model for others.

This is perhaps the most important responsibility of leadership. One of the marks of superior executives is that they conduct themselves as though everyone were watching them even when no one is watching.Top people set higher standards for themselves than others would set for them. Perhaps nothing contributes more to unity of command than for subordinates to work under someone they greatly respect and admire. Your commitment to becoming a great person, and to demonstrating your values in your every act, is perhaps the most important quality of leadership.

Google Health

Google launched an ambitious initiative Monday, May 19th, that aims to give people a central place online to store their health records and then share them with health-care providers.

The public can now go to www.google.com/health and create profiles that include basic medical information such as existing medical conditions, allergies and any medicines being taken, Google officials said.

People who sign up at Google Health may also import medical records from U.S. pharmacies and medical facilities that have signed on as partners, which so far include Longs Drug Stores, Walgreens Pharmacy, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and several others.

"Google Health is all about pulling together documents from your doctor's office, labs and pharmacies to provide a holistic picture of your health," said Google Vice President Marissa Mayer, who was joined by health industry professionals to launch the project at a press conference at Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California.

So I'm sure it won't be long until we won't have to fill out that basic information form every time we visit the same doctor.

Cheers...

101 Twenty-Minute Snacks

Okay, so I'm digging through some archived stuff from last December and came across these, which don't need to wait until next December to enjoy. In fact, I'll probably whip up some of these for the Indy 500 this weekend and no one - no one - will ask, "Hey, aren't these Christmas snacks?"

NY Times Article & Slideshow

Cheers...

The Safest Place In The World!

Well, okay, maybe not the safest place, but certainly in the top ten, has to be shower room "A" in the Travelers' Lounge at the Hong Kong International Airport. I was using this shower during a recent 8 hour layover and I noticed that there were two showerheads in the stall - one in the wall and one in the ceiling. Then I realized that the one in the ceiling wasn't a showerhead but a sprinklerhead as in fire protection sprinklerhead. I guess they're prepared in case someone spontaneously combusts while lathering or in case you've shut off the water to the shower and a fire spreads into the wet, tiled room? And I thought the U.S. had strict building codes.



Cheers...