Any person that has attempted to get out of debt in past years has witnessed that there are some debt easing answers open for them to choose from. So how does a individual obtain which debt alleviation answers would be the easiest for them? The most efficient debt relief solution for a individual will depend on a number of different factors that may be unique to the person that is looking for debt relief.

A popular selection is debt consolidation. This choice can be best if you have numerous high interest rate credit cards with high revoloving balances. Debt Consolidation applies a loan to redeem your debts allowing you to make a single payment with a lower interest rate. This is a easy alternative for you if your credit is good and you can qualify for a loan.

Another frequent debt relief resolution practiced across the nation is the origination of a debt management program. A debt management plan is for people that have an uncomfortable, but not indomitable, load of debt that they would like to shrink or annihilate over a period of time. This method can be produced by the person or by a debt guidance company that the person has engaged to give them advice. A debt management program is only a resolution for debt relief when the person is truly serious about decimating their debt and work to finish the plan within a fair time frame.

Debt negotiation can be a good alternative if you owe a significant sum of money to your creditors and you are having trouble paying your monthly minimal payments. Debt negotiation is often referred to as debt settlement and can often times be the most cost efficient and quickest way to pay off your debts.

It is a fact to any observer that yawning flies like a butterfly and stings like a bee. Scientists and others studying yawning, seem to have reached that same conclusion. Yawning is indeed contagious. But why?

Yawning is thought to be a reflex act of opening one’s mouth wide and inhaling due to an increase of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream. By inhaling deeply – during yawning that is – a large amount of oxygen is breathed in and the accumulated carbon dioxide is expelled. Yawning usually occurs when one is bored or tired. During these periods of time, one’s breathing rate slows and this has as consequence to increase the carbon dioxide concentration in the bloodstream. An average yawn has duration of 6 seconds and this does have a significant effect to the heart rate, and thus the distribution and expelling of oxygen and carbon dioxide respectively. The heart rate in fact increases on average by 30% during yawning.

However to answer the question of “why yawning is contagious,” three leading theories have been put forward namely the physiology theory, the boredom theory and the evolutionary theory.

The physiology theory proposes that the infectious nature of yawning occurs as a result of an involuntary realisation that a deep intake and belching of oxygen and carbon dioxide respectively are needed. When Guy A sees Guy B yawn, it is a reminder to Guy A that he too may be feeling the lack of oxygen and this consequently makes Guy A to yawn as well.

The second theory – and possibly the most entertaining one – states that yawning is simply a way of showing others or ourselves that something is mundane or boring. But in this theory, yawning is not really contagious. Instead other people yawn because they too find that same thing mundane or boring rather than depending on one person to spread the yawns. However if the interviewed people found something dull, chances are that the others found it equally tedious. Therefore everybody opens his mouth wide and inhales some oxygen.

The third theory – which is the most appealing to me personally – is the evolutionary theory. According to this theory, yawning is a behaviour started by our ancestors, the cavemen. This theory puts forward that yawning was a sort of social signal to others. Therefore when one yawns, the others yawn back to return the call. This behaviour thus persists even today, according to the evolutionary theory, but it has faded away much. This explains why about 55% of people who see somebody else yawn will do too so as well within the following 5min.

In humans, the earliest yawns occur before a baby is born, in the mother’s womb, only 11 weeks after conception. This clearly seems to show that yawning is a reflex action above all. Those 3 other theories are pure suppositions up till now and have not been proven by any scientific study even empirically.

Also all 3 theories have major pitfalls. The most eye-catching one applies to the first theory, the physiology theory, which proposes that yawning occurs due to accumulation of carbon dioxide in the body and lack of oxygen. Studies have shown that receiving additional oxygen didn’t decrease yawning and people exposed to a lower amount of carbon dioxide didn’t stop yawning.

For the boredom theory, well, I am pretty sure that out of those people who do not regularly visit art galleries, only a fraction will yawn and yawn on their first visit to expositions even if they find the stuff boring.

The third theory seems to walk its way to the why of yawning, on playing cards. The evolutionary theory can easily crumble because we do not know whether cavemen were yawning first and foremost. As the theory builds itself on a very debatable fact, it may easily collapse.

For now though, I’ll keep my mouth wide shut. But by the way, how many times did you yawn while reading this column?

About the Author

Khalil A. Cassimally is currently Senior Columnist at BackWash.com and Columnist for bbc.co.uk h2g2 The Post where he writes ‘Not Scientific Science’ column.

Watches are classic. They are an essential part of every wardrobe, but they must also possess style and functionality to the wearer. For years, watches have been extremely popular gift ideas while remaining a constant self-indulging accessory.

In 1881, Kintaro Hattori opened a clock shop in Tokyo, which established a foundation for modern clock and watch making in Japan. This new brand was titled Seikosha. The store was the direct ancestor of the current Seiko Corporation, Tokyo, which is the parent company of Seiko Corporation of America. Eleven years later, Hattori opened a clock factory with ten employees. Two months after it is inception, the first dozen clocks were produced. In 1895, the production of pocketwatches began. Following that trend, the company began to produce alarm clocks in 1899, which was followed by the introduction of table and musical clocks in 1902. In 1912, Hattori began considering ideas regarding the production of a Japanese wristwatch. The following year, his company began working on the first Seikosha wristwatch to ever be made in Japan. In 1924, the Seiko brand was officially created. After 43 years of the company’s existence, the first Seiko wristwatch was made.

Since that time, there have been many modern advancements to the world of watches. But, throughout the changing times, Seiko has remained a powerhouse in the timepiece industry. In 1956, they produced the first self-winding wristwatch made in Japan. In 1964, Seiko released the world’s first quartz chronometers and became the official timer of the Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo. In 1968, they introduced the world’s first quartz wall clock. The following year, in 1969, Seiko released the first quartz watch. Also that year, Tiffany & Co. began selling the Seiko Astron 35SQ, which was encased in solid 18kt yellow gold. During the next several years, Seiko introduced many firsts to the world of watches, including the first multi-function digital watch and the first LCD quartz watch with six-digit digital display.

Seiko has served as the official timer for various athletic competitions and events. Among the collections offered by Seiko include the Tressia, La Grand Sport and Elite Collections, which includes the Sportura, Arctura and Coutura. Their line of technology timepieces include the Kinetic Perpetual, Kinetic Chronograph, Kinetic Auto Relay, Kinetic, Analog Digital, Chronograph, Flight Computer and Perpetual Calendar. The majority of Seiko timepieces are designed to be water resistant. The U.S. warranty for Seiko watches, which are sold by Seiko Corporation of America, is three years. The warranty for clocks is one year. Certain restrictions and exclusions may apply, so be sure to read your warranty information closely when purchasing any new timepiece and always retain a copy of all such warranties.

As with any timepiece, caring for your watch will promote a longer life for the product. If the battery is in need of changing, be sure to have this done immediately. Seiko advices that customers contact an authorized Seiko dealer for battery and other minor repairs. If the timepiece needs further repair or replacement parts not serviced by an authorized dealer, customers may return the watch to the address on their warranty card for proper handling. If the watch is under warranty, the repairs should be done at no cost. If the warranty has expired, however, the customer will be responsible for the cost of repairs and replacements.

A lawsuit was filed by a human-rights lawyers’ group seeking to release the more than 500 unnamed terror suspects held captive by the U.S. Government in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

February 16, 2005- A lawsuit was filed by a human-rights lawyers’ group seeking to release the more than 500 unnamed terror suspects held captive by the U.S. Government in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The suit filed for the release of the detainees on the premise that they are being “improperly held”. The filed case by the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights joins the list of more than 70 cases already pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The others were filed by family members of other detainees.

In a one-page order, a U.S. District judge granted lawyers permission to file the suit, citing that the petition is allowed to proceed under the fictitious names of “John Does”.

According to the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, foreigners from 40 different countries have been held in Cuba without being charged with any crime. Some were even detained for more than three years. They were mainly swept up in the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

“The vast majority of the detainees of Guantanamo have not been able to communicate with loved ones who have the ability to contact lawyers in the U.S.,” said the legal counsel.

On the other hand, the government states that the detainees were “dangerous enemy combatants” who are not entitled to the same constitutional protections as Americans because they are foreigners.

Just recently, two district court judges have issued different rulings regarding the rights of detainees to challenge their detention in federal court. The rulings however were conflicting on the legal basis for the detainees’ rights. The issue is being appealed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The legal director from the Center said this regarding the suit for the detainees, “For all those who remain unrepresented, today’s lawsuit is a giant step forward.”

About the Author

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