Naturopathy

Concepts and Principles

Basic Concepts

In fact, Nature Cure is a way of life.

The whole practice of Nature cure based on the following three principles:

Accumulation of morbid matter

Abnormal composition of blood and lymph

Lowered vitality

Nature Cure believes that all the diseases arise due to accumulation of morbid matter in the body and if scope is given for its removal, it provides cure or relief. It also believes that the human body possesses inherent self constructing and self healing powers. The fundamental difference in Nature Cure with other systems is that its theory and practice are based on holistic view point whereas the later’s approach is specific. Nature Cure does not believe in the specific cause of disease and its specific treatment but takes into account the totality of factors responsible for diseases such as one’s un-natural habits in living, thinking, working, sleeping, relaxation, sexual indulgence etc, and also considers the environmental factors involved which on the whole disturbs the normal functioning of the body and lead it to a morbid, weak and toxic state.

For treatment it primarily stresses on correcting all the factors involved and allowing the body to recover itself. A Nature Cure physician helps in Nature’s effort to overcome disease by applying correct natural modalities and controlling the natural forces to work within safe limits. The five main modalities of treatment are air, water, heat, mud and space.

Principles

All disease, their cause and their treatment are one.

The basic cause of disease is not bacteria. Bacteria develops after the accumulation of morbid matter when a favourable atmosphere for their growth develops in body. Basic cause is morbid matter and not the bacteria.

Acute diseases are our friends not the enemies. Chronic diseases are the outcome of wrong treatment and suppression of the acute diseases.

Nature is the greatest healer. Body the capacity to prevent itself from diseases and regain health if unhealthy.

In Naturopathy patient is treated and not the disease.

In Naturopathy diagnosis is easily possible. Ostentation is not required. Long waiting for diagnosis is not required for treatment.

Patients suffering from chronic ailments are also treated successfully in comparatively less time in Naturopathy.

After emerging, suppressed diseases can be cured by Naturopathy.

Nature Cure treats physical, mental, social (moral) and spiritual all four aspects at the same time.

Nature Cure treats body as a whole instead of giving treatment to each organ separetely.

Naturopathy does not use medicines. According to Naturopathy "Food is Medicine".

Doing prayer according to one’s spiritual faith is an important part of treatment.

In short, Nature Cure includes all the available non-invasive treatments and diagnostic modalities which do not interefere with the body’s natural functional capacity and healing process and are in affirmity with Nature’s constructive Principles.

Introduction to Numerology

Numerology is perhaps the easiest of the occult arts to understand and use.

All you need is the birth date and the complete name of an individual to unlock all of the secrets that the numbers hold.

There are eleven numbers used in constructing Numerology charts.

These numbers are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 22. Larger numbers that occur from adding the numbers in the complete birth date or from the values assigned to each name, are reduced by adding the digits together until the sum achieved is one of the core numbers.

Merely add the components of the larger number together (repeatedly, if necessary) until a single digit (or the "master" numbers 11 or 22) results.

Each of these number represents different characteristics and expressions.

Master number are the only exception to rule of reducing to the single digit.

The master numbers 11 and 22 are intensified versions of the single digit number they replace (2 and 4).

These numbers suggest a potential for a high degree of learning and/or achievement very often in a more stressful environment.

In many individuals, the master numbers operate at a much more tangible or practical level, becoming essentially the same as the single digit parallel.

The first consideration of numerology is often the date of birth. This date, expressed numerically, as mm/dd/yyyy, is used to determine what is called the Lifepath Number and a variety of other factors in the numerology reading.


Here is a chart of the values assigned to each of the letters in the English alphabet:

1 A J S

2 B K T

3 C L U

4 D M V

5 E N W

6 F O X

7 G P Y

8 H Q Z

9 I R


The full birth name as recorded on your birth certificate is the name that must be used for all calculations involving name. Nicknames, changed names including marriage name changes do not delute the importance of the name given to by your parents.

Numerology Key Words

Meaning of the numbers in a nutshell:

1. Initiating action, pioneering, leading, independent, attaining, individual.

2. Cooperation, adaptability, consideration of others, partnering, mediating.

3. Expression, verbalization, socialization, the arts, the joy of living.

4. A foundation, order, service, struggle against limits, steady growth.

5. Expansiveness, visionary, adventure, the constructive use of freedom.

6. Responsibility, protection, nurturing, community, balance, sympathy.

7. Analysis, understanding, knowledge, awareness, studious, meditating.

8. Practical endeavors, status oriented, power-seeking, high-material goals.

9. Humanitarian, giving nature, selflessness, obligations, creative expression.

11. High spiritual plane, intuitive, illumination, idealist, a dreamer.

22. The Master Builder, large endeavors, powerful force, a leader.

You Wanna Dress Better?

Always look neat and clean

This just makes sense. Unless you're going for the just-rolled-out-of-bed rocker look, it's best to keep your jeans unfrayed, your shirt unstained and your shoes unscuffed. Grunge is over, so live with it.

Take good care of your clothes, making sure you follow directions like, "Dry clean only" and "Wash with like colors." Polish your boots.

De-fuzz your sweaters.

Even if you can't transform yourself into the world's snappiest dresser, you can always improve your appearance by looking well-kept.

Make sure your clothes fit

It's known as the "quadruple breast" syndrome, and we hear it's highly contagious. Never heard of it? It occurs when a woman chooses to wear a bra that is at least one size too small, resulting in cups that, well… runneth over. Ill-fitting clothes are a fashion no-no, whether it's pants that are too long, skirts that are too tight or jackets that are too short.

Resist the temptation to forgo buying one size larger simply because it's not the size you "usually" wear.

Sizes vary from designer to designer, so stick to what lays nicely on your body.

Repeat it like a mantra: Smooth lines, smooth lines, smooth lines. . .

Don't overdo trends

Let's say leopard print is "in." In an effort to look oh-so chic, you go out and buy a hat, blouse, skirt, bag and shoes-all in leopard print. Bad move. Experimenting with fads is fun, but head-to-toe isn't the way to go.

Similarly, don't saturate your wardrobe with any single style or silhouette. Cargo pants are cool, but not if they're the only kind of pants you own. Moderation is key.


Ignore lame clichés

Chances are, you've heard them all: "Don't wear white after Labor Day." "Make sure your shoes match your bag." "Never pair stripes with plaid." Well, we're here to say that it's all a bunch of hogwash. In today's "anything goes" fashion arena, it's important to be creative and open to new ideas. If this means ignoring old adages and overstepping traditional bounds, so be it.

Now we're going to directly contradict ourselves: even though we just told you to avoid clichés, there are some fashion mistakes that are always wrong. Take our word for it.

Never wear head-to-toe denim. (Silly, maybe, but true nonetheless. You'll look like a convict or a cowboy.)

Never wear sneakers with hose.

Never tuck your shirt into belted jeans.

Never wear pleated jeans.

Never match your makeup with your outfit.

Never wear black velvet in the summertime.

Never overdose on a single fabric (don't wear nylon bottoms with a nylon top).

Never wear large costume jewelry.

Never wear a coat that has big, gold buttons.

Never let your panty lines show.

What to wear for Air Travel?

People who travel frequently know that the best way to dress for airplanes is as comfortably as possible, especially if flying on an extended flight of more than four hours. It sounds logical enough but the truth is that some people get themselves in a state of flux trying to figure out what to wear on a plane. Here are some simple solutions to help with your decision.

Business Travelers:

Many professionals today travel four hours or more by plane just to attend a one-hour meeting. Quite often, they'll fly in the night before and attend a meeting in the morning before returning home that afternoon. In this scenario, it's best to fly in sweats or comfortable jeans and sneakers. An overnight carry-on will hold your business attire, which easily holds your casual clothes on the return. You can also switch into your sneakers for the return trip home for maximum comfort.

Our feet tend to swell on airplanes so wearing a comfortable pair of shoes that have the capability to expand, such as sneakers or moccasins, is the best bet. Swelling makes boots very difficult to remove after a long flight, and heels near impossible to get back on.

Vacationers:

People on vacation already are of the mindset to travel comfortably so they wear shorts, sleeveless shirts, and flip-flops. This may be too light for your personal safety. Airplanes tend to fluctuate in temperature; some can be very hot while others can be freezing. If you're dressed warmly you can remove items to adjust to a warm temperature, however, if you're dressed too lightly, you may end up shivering your way into a cold at the beginning of your vacation thus ruining it for yourself and your travel companions. Airplanes are a breeding ground for colds and flu; a 2002 study from the University of California at San Francisco reported that one in five passengers came down with a cold within one week of a flight.


More importantly is the danger of fire or unexpected landings. While these are both extremely rare, they do happen on occasion. With the current state of affairs in the world today it's not unthinkable anymore that something ominous could happen. If there's a fire onboard exposed legs are far more susceptible to heat and burns than are blue jeans. If there were a sudden dip in altitude, flying objects are more likely to cut bare skin than if it been protected by jeans or a jacket. If there were a sudden unexpected landing in a region colder than your vacation destination, would you be prepared to stay warm? And if you had to exit a plane quickly, wouldn't sneakers give you much more protection and traction to move briskly than a pair of flip-flops? Toes, ankles and foot bones injure easily in a stampede of panic.

It's always best to wear long pants, sneakers, and bring along a jacket when flying. Wear loose fitting clothes not only for your personal comfort but also for easy removal in the event a plane is forced to land due to mechanical failure or fire. Should your clothes catch fire, or get too hot, they should be easy to remove. If the case of a water landing in which you're forced to evacuate, clothes can become very heavy and restrictive when wet, weighing you down. Clothes that are easy to remove, especially over shoes, could mean the difference between life and death. Navy sailors wear bell-bottoms for this exact reason.

Women Travelers:

Avoid wearing nylons or panty hose when flying. Nylon attracts heat and burns very easily. In some cases in can melt to your skin. If you must fly in business attire, then wear socks and sneakers for the flight portion and change into your heels and nylons in the rest room at the airport. This is also great for getting your power walks in at the airports. You'll also keep your feet much warmer from the cool air ducts that line the floors of most planes, which can be very cold to bare feet. Since most women tend to have circulation problems with their feet, socks and sneakers provide one solution for many traveling issues. Swollen feet in heels at the end of the flight may send you limping to the meeting.

Comfort and safety is key here.

Not only do you want to be comfortable for your long trip you also want to be prepared for the worst case scenario. When freaky things happen in flight, no one is really prepared. Panic ensues and people behave in ways that are unimaginable. So the best possible solution is to prepare ahead as much as possible in ways that will keep you safe, just in case.

Luxury Brands

A luxury brand or prestige brand is a brand whose majority of products sold are luxury goods.

There are however certain products marques who despite their lack of luxury good sales still enjoy the prestige of a luxury brand.

The automobile manufacturer Hummer is an example of such a marque. Even though none of the vehicles in the Hummer line-up meet the requirements to be classified as a luxury car.

Another market charaterictic of luxury goods is their very high sensitivity to economic upturns and downturns, high profit margins as well as prices, and very tightly controlled brands.

Other guidelines may apply to certain luxury markets such as the luxury vehicle market.

For example, following a nearly crippling attempt to widely licence their brand in the early 1990s, the Gucci brand is now largely sold in directly owned stores.

The Burberry brand is generally considered to have diluted its brand image in the UK in the early 2000s by over-licensing its brand, thus reducing its cachet as a brand whose products were consumed only by the elite.

LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy) is the largest luxury good producer in the world with over fifty brands. It made a profit of €2bn on sales of €12bn in 2003.

Other market leaders in include the Gucci Group and Richemont.

Locations

Like other sectors of the retail market, luxury goods retailers like to cluster their stores closely together in order to create a shopping "destination."

In the case of luxury goods, these areas are generally perceived to be centers of luxury retailers.

* PC Hooftstraat, Amsterdam

* Newbury Street, Boston

* Magnificent Mile and Oak Street, Chicago

* Las Vegas Strip: The Forum Shops, Via Bellagio, Wynn Las Vegas; Las Vegas

* Sloane Street and Bond Street, London
* Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, California
(Los Angeles area)

* Via Montenapoleone, Milan

* Tretyakovsky Proyezd, Kitai-gorod,
Moscow

* Madison Avenue and Fifth Avenue, New
York City

* Place Vendôme and the Triangle d'Or,
Paris

* Via Condotti, Rome

* Santana Row, San Jose

* Myeongdong, Seoul

* Aoyama and Omotesando, Tokyo

* Star Hill and Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur

· Königsallee, Düsseldorf (Germany)

Current luxury car manufacturers

These are luxury car manufacturers whose models are currently on the market.

* Acura

* Aston Martin

* Audi

* Bentley

* BMW

* Cadillac

* Infiniti

* Jaguar (Includes Daimler)

* Land Rover (LR3, Range Rover)

* Lexus

* Lincoln

* Maserati

* Maybach

* Mercedes-Benz

* Rolls-Royce

Career: Fashion Designers

If you spend endless hours poring through fashion magazines or putting together your own new looks, you may want to consider a career in fashion design.

Using their flair for color and style, designers create trendy new fashions as well as practical garments, such as sportswear.

Fashion design is also a labor of love, requiring long hours and little chance of superstardom -- but for many, the work itself is the reward

Fashion designers use flair and know-how to create everything from hospital uniforms to the eye-popping outfits worn by rock stars and models.

“Fashion is architecture.”

Are You Ready To...?

* Choose fabrics

* Attend fashion shows

* Collaborate with a team

* Keep up with trends

* Work hard to build a career and keep it

* Invent new designs

It Helps to Be...

Full of drive and ambition: the glamorous allure of the fashion world draws a lot of competition. You’ll also need to have the talent and the artistic vision to back it up.

Make High School Count

* Study art. It will help you develop the eye for color, design, and proportion that you’ll need.

* Learn how to sew.

* Sharpen your math skills: measurement and proportion are fundamental to good design.

* Try your hand at costuming by working on the school play.

Did You Know?

* Fashion came into its own when Elias Howe invented the sewing machine in 1846, making it possible to reproduce garments cheaply and rapidly.

You are special!

Suppose you are a well known speaker.

You start off a seminar by holding up a $20 bill.

In the room of 200, you ask, “Who would like this $20 bill?”

Hands start going up.

You say, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.”

You proceed to crumple the dollar bill up.

You then ask, “Who still wants it?”

Still the hands were up in the air.

“Well,” you reply , “What if I do this?”

And you drop it on the ground and start to grind it into the floor with your shoes.

You pick it up, now all crumpled and dirty.

You say, “Now who still wants it?’ Still the hands went into the air.

You say, “My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20.”

Many times in our live, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special – Don’t ever forget it!

Fashion Tips

Buy Clothes to suit Your Shape.

Layout your clothes before putting them on and check the proportions.

Juggle jackets, scarves & belts to re-arrange the clothes to get the look you want.

Thinner fabrics are more slimming.

Tops and bottoms of one color will make you look thinner.

Wear clothes that fit.

Wearing too large clothes will exaggerate your figure not hide it.

Avoid belts unless you have a slim waist.

Use accessories carefully.

You can make your wardrobe impressive with mix and match jewelry.

Shoes depend less on you body shape than you height.

Do not buy clothes on impulse.

Plan before you buy a blouse or pants.

Be somewhat scientific about shopping, consider your body type, and colors.

Ask your self some questions

Do you have anything you can mix and match with it?

Does it match your lifestyle?

Will it be comfortable, nonchalant, and easy to wear?

Is it machine wash or dry clean only?

Will it fit your budget? Is it appropriate?

Is it a fad, can it be worn more than one season?

Is it of good quality? Quality counts, it is better to have four or five mix and match out fits of quality, than 8 or 10 'steals.'

Think in terms of outfits when you shop, and be practical.

When you buy a new dress, be sure you have shoes and other accessories to go with it.

Maybe a jacket or scarf to wear over it to give it a different look.

Clothes Styles and Body Shapes

High collars shortens necks.

Tight tops with short sleeves and breast pocket is detracting from your figure.

Shoes with straps shortens your legs.

The torso can be shortened or narrowed with seam lines, belts, bows, and collars.

A short necklace can shorten your neck.

A scarf or belt that hangs down toward the legs will make the legs appear longer.

Knitted texture, lace, floras, prints, and plaids can assist in creating an illusion.

Thicker vertical lines in plaids lengthens and slims.

Wear a larger print where you want people to look and smaller print where you do not want them to look.

An all over print can camouflage figure problems, but prints here and there can create a fuller you.

Prints around the neck and over the shoulder can make your shoulders appear wider.

Just wear prints near the parts of your figure's assets, because they are usually more eye catching than a solid color.

When buying pants be sure they fit well. Defects are emphasized in a pair of pants that may go unnoticed in a skirt.

Petite women.

Petite women need to keep clothes in line, slim narrow belts.

A slight contrast in colors and fitted lines will flatter you endlessly.

Also stay with fabrics that are soft and flowing that fits well.

Over powering prints should be avoided.

Tall women.

Tall women can indulge in wide belts, avoid tight clothes and skirts that are to short or to long.

Tall women play down their waist by wearing their blouses over the pants and skirts and avoid tight belts.

Hip heavy triangle woman.

A hip heavy triangle and round full figured women can use clothes with vertical lines to make an up and down illusion.

V-necks and skirts with slits up the sides are also good.

Clothes with small padded shoulders should be chosen . Too big of pads will make you look like a foot ball player.

Wear long tops that go passed your hips.

Choose jackets, tailored suits and shirtwaist dresses with straight, classic cuts.

Lighter colors on top can be worn, this brings eyes up.

Wear dark stockings and avoid patterns.

Select vertical, fluid patterns and avoid bulky fabrics.

Adopt the just below the knee look in dresses and skirts.

Choose accessories close to the same color clothes you are wearing including shoes. This gives your body an unbroken slimmer look.

Avoid very wide pinafore skirts.

Stay with straight or Aline skirts.

Top heavy woman.

The top heavy body types need to choose long jackets without shoulder pads.

Do not wear blouses with fancy details and ruffles.

Do not wear clingy fabrics on top.

Choose darker colors on top.

Do not wear tops that are to light.

Tops with dolman or raglan sleeves and ones that fit loose and slims down to hug the hips and waist are good.

Wear pants or skirts that are pleated to bring the eye down.

Choose thin materials like cotton, or cotton jersey.

One color dressing will also be thinning.

Flat shoes are best unless you are short, then wear heels.

If your legs are in good shape shorter hem lengths will draw attention away from your top.

Rectangular type woman.

The rectangular type can accentuate curves by wearing jackets or tops that hug the waist, feminine thick sweaters over skirts or pants.

Use patterns in your tops or bottoms to add dimension.

Round out the neckline with necklaces, scarves and other accessories, and use shoulder pads.

Will My Business Make Money?

Prepare a break-even analysis before spending time on a complete business plan.



How can you tell if your business idea will be profitable?

The honest answer is, you can't. But this uncertainty shouldn't keep you from researching the financial soundness of your idea. Preparing what's known as a "break-even analysis," or "break-even forecast," as well as several other financial projections, can help you determine whether or not your business will succeed.

What a Break-Even Analysis Tells You

A break-even analysis shows you the amount of revenue you'll need to bring in to cover your expenses, before you make even a dime of profit. If you can attain and surpass your break-even point -- that is, if you can easily bring in more than the amount of sales revenue you'll need to meet your expenses -- then your business stands a good chance of making money.

Many experienced entrepreneurs use a break-even analysis as a primary screening tool for new business ventures. They won't write a complete business plan unless their break-even forecast shows that their projected sales revenue far exceeds their costs of doing business. The good news is that a break-even analysis is part of every business plan, so if you start by doing a break-even analysis now, you'll have already started work on your business plan.

How to Prepare a Break-Even Analysis

To perform a break-even analysis, you'll have to make educated guesses about your expenses and revenues. You should do some serious research -- including an analysis of your market -- to determine your projected sales volume and your anticipated expenses. Business plan books and software can teach you how to make reasonable revenue and cost estimates.

You'll need to make the following estimates and calculations:

Fixed costs.

Fixed costs (sometimes called "overhead") don't vary much from month to month. They include rent, insurance, utilities, and other set expenses. It's also a good idea to throw a little extra, say 10%, into your break-even analysis to cover miscellaneous expenses that you can't predict.

Sales revenue.

This is the total dollars from sales activity that you bring into your business each month or year. To perform a valid break-even analysis, you must base your forecast on the volume of business you really expect -- not on how much you need to make a good profit.

Average gross profit for each sale.

Average gross profit is the money left from each sales dollar after paying the direct costs of a sale. (Direct costs are what you pay to provide your product or service.) For example, if Antoinette pays an average of $100 for goods to make dresses that she sells for an average of $300, her average gross profit is $200.

Average gross profit percentage.

This percentage tells you how much of each dollar of sales income is gross profit. To calculate your average gross profit percentage, divide your average gross profit figure by the average selling price. For example, if Antoinette makes an average gross profit of $200 on dresses that she sells for an average of $300, her gross profit percentage is 66.7% ($200 divided by $300).

Calculating Your Break-Even Point

Once you've calculated the numbers above, it's easy to figure out your break-even point. Simply divide your estimated annual fixed costs by your gross profit percentage to determine the amount of sales revenue you'll need to bring in just to break even. For example, if Antoinette's fixed costs are $6,000 per month, and her expected profit margin is 66.7%, her break-even point is $9,000 in sales revenue per month ($6,000 divided by .667). In other words, Antoinette must make $9,000 each month just to pay her fixed costs and her direct (product) costs. (Note that this number does not include any profit, or even a salary for Antoinette.)

If You Can't Break Even

If your break-even point is higher than your expected revenues, you'll need to decide whether certain aspects of your plan can be changed to create an achievable break-even point. For instance, perhaps you can:

find a less expensive source of supplies

do without an employee

save rent by working out of your home, or

sell your product or service at a higher price.

If you tinker with the numbers and your break-even sales revenue still seems like an unattainable number, you may need to scrap your business idea. If that's the case, take heart in the fact that you found out before you invested your (or someone else's) money in the idea.

Further Financial Analysis

If your break-even forecast shows you'll make more revenue than you need to break even, you can consider yourself fortunate. But you still need to figure out how much profit your business will generate, and whether you'll have enough cash available to pay your bills when they are due. In short, a break-even forecast is a great screening tool, but you need a more complete analysis before you start investing real money in your venture.

The following are additional financial projections that should also be part of your business plan, to round out your business's financial picture.

A profit-and-loss forecast.

This is a month-by-month projection of your business's net profit from operations.

A cash flow projection.

This shows you how much actual cash you'll have, month by month, to meet your expenses.

A start-up cost estimate.

This is the total of all the expenses you'll incur before your business opens.

DVD

DVD (sometimes known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc") is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. DVDs resemble compact discs as their physical dimensions are the same (12 cm or occasionally 8 cm in diameter) but they are encoded in a different format and at a much higher density. The official DVD specification is maintained by the DVD Forum.

History

In the early 1990s two high density optical storage standards were being developed: one was the MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD), backed by Philips and Sony, and the other was the Super Density Disc (SD), supported by Toshiba, Time-Warner, Matsushita Electric, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric, Pioneer, Thomson, and JVC. IBM's president, Lou Gerstner, acting as a matchmaker, led an effort to unite the two camps behind a single standard, anticipating a repeat of the costly format war between VHS and Betamax in the 1980s.

Philips and Sony abandoned their MMCD format and agreed upon Toshiba's SD format with two modifications that are both related to the servo tracking technology. The first one was the adoption of a pit geometry that allows "push-pull" tracking, a proprietary Philips/Sony technology. The second modification was the adoption of Philips' EFMPlus. EFMPlus, created by Kees Immink, who also designed EFM, is 6% less efficient than Toshiba's SD code, which resulted in a capacity of 4.7GB instead of SD's original 5GB. The great advantage of EFMPlus is its great resilience against disc damage such as scratches and fingerprints. The result was the DVD specification Version 1.0, announced in 1995 and finalized in September 1996.

The first DVD players and discs were available in November 1996 in Japan, March 1997 in the United States, 1998 in Europe and in 1999 in Australia. The first pressed DVD was the movie Twister in 1996. The movie had the first test for 2.1 surround sound. The first titles released in the U.S., on March 19, 1997, by Lumivision, authored by AIX Entertainment, were IMAX adaptations: Africa: The Serengeti, Antarctica: An Adventure of a Different Nature, Tropical Rainforest, and Animation Greats.

By the spring of 1999 the price of a DVD player had dropped below the $300 US mark. At that point Wal-Mart began to offer DVD players for sale in its stores. When Wal-Mart began selling DVDs in their stores, DVDs represented only a small part of their video inventory; VHS tapes of movies made up the remainder.

As of 2005 the situation is now completely reversed; DVD sales make up the bulk of gross sales and VHS is a slim minority. The price of a DVD player has dropped to below the level of a typical VCR(although DVD recorders are still significantly more expensive than VCRs); a low-end player with reasonable quality can be purchased for under US$50 in many retail stores and many modern computers are sold with DVD-ROM drives stock. Most, but not all, movie "sets" or series have been released in box sets, as have some entire seasons or selected episode volumes of older and newer television programs.

DVD rentals first topped those of VHS during the week of June 15, 2003 (27.7M rentals DVD vs. 27.3M rentals VHS). Major U.S. retailers Circuit City and Best Buy stopped selling VHS tapes in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

In June 2005, Wal-Mart and several other retailers announced plans to phase out the VHS format entirely, in favor of the more popular DVD format. However, blank VHS tapes are still commonly available due to the proportion of DVD video recorder owners still being low compared to DVD players.

According to the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), all DVD sales and rentals (films, television series, special interests, etc) totaled $21.2 billion in 2004. The sales portion of that was $15.5 billion. In comparison, the total 2004 US box office for theatrical rentals was $9.53 billion (per the National Association of Theater Owners or NATO). While the growth of theatrical films on DVD has cooled recently, that of television programs and music video has increased dramatically.

In 2000, Sony released its PlayStation 2 console in Japan. In addition to playing video games developed for the system it was also able to play DVD movies. This proved to be a huge selling point because the PS2 cost about the same as standard DVD players but could do a whole lot more. As a result, many electronic stores that normally did not carry video game consoles carried PS2s. In keeping with this tradition, Sony has announced that it will implement one of DVD's possible successors, Blu-ray, into its next PlayStation console currently known as the PlayStation 3.

Microsoft's Xbox, released a year after the PlayStation 2, also had the capability to play DVD discs with an add-on remote control kit, cementing the DVD's place in video game consoles.

"DVD" was originally an initialism for "Digital Video Disc." Some members of the DVD Forum believe that it should stand for "Digital Versatile Disc" to reflect its widespread use for non-video applications. Toshiba, which maintains the official DVD Forum site ], adheres to the interpretation of "Digital Versatile Disc." The DVD Forum never reached a consensus on the matter, however, and so today the official name of the format is simply "DVD"; the letters do not officially stand for anything

Technical information

DVDs are made from a 0.6 mm thick disc of polycarbonate plastic coated with a much thinner reflective layer of aluminium or gold. Two such discs are glued together to form a 1.2 mm disc that can be designed to be read from one side (single sided) or both sides (double sided). The substrates are half as thick as a CD to make it possible to use a lens with a higher numerical aperture and therefore use smaller pits and narrower tracks.

A single-layer DVD can store 4.7 GB, which is around seven times as much as a standard CD-ROM. By employing a red laser at 650 nm wavelength (compared to 780 nm for CD) and a numerical aperture of 0.6 (compared to 0.45 for CD), the read-out resolution is increased by a factor 1.65. This holds for two dimensions, so that the actual physical data density increases by a factor of 3.5. DVD uses a more efficient coding method in the physical layer. CD's error correction, CIRC, is replaced by a powerful Reed-Solomon product code, RS-PC; Eight-to-Fourteen Modulation (EFM) is replaced by a more efficient version, EFMPlus, which uses eight-to-sixteen modulation. There is no subcode as in CD. As a result, the DVD format is 47 percent more efficient with respect to CD-ROM, which uses a "third" error correction layer.

There are a variety of application types for DVD:

* DVD-Video (containing movies (video and sound))

* DVD-Audio (containing high-definition sound)

* SACD (containing high-definition sound)

* DVD-VR (containing recorded video and sound, usually from TV or camcorder)

* DVD+VR (a variation of DVD-Video used for recording on +R and +RW discs)

* PS2 DVD (containing games for PlayStation 2)

* Xbox DVD (containing games for Xbox)

* DVD-Data (containing data)

The disc medium can be:

* DVD-ROM (read only, manufactured by a press)

* DVD-R/RW (R = Recordable once, RW = Rewritable)

* DVD-RAM (random access rewritable)

* DVD+R/RW (R = Recordable once, RW = Rewritable)

* DVD-R DL (dual layer record once)

* DVD+R DL (double layer record once)

The disc may have one or two sides, and one or two layers of data per side; the number of sides and layers determines the disc capacity.

* DVD-5: single sided, single layer, 4.7 gigabytes (GB), or 4.38 gibibytes (GiB)

* DVD-9: single sided, double layer, 8.5 GB (7.92 GiB)

* DVD-10: double sided, single layer on both sides, 9.4 GB (8.75 GiB)

* DVD-14: double sided, double layer on one side, single layer on other, 13.3 GB (12.3 GiB)

* DVD-18: double sided, double layer on both sides, 17.1 GB (15.9 GiB)

There are also 8 cm DVDs (not mini-DVD, which usually refers to DVD-Video data on a CD) with a disc capacity of 1.5 GB. The capacity of a DVD-ROM can be visually determined by noting the number of data sides, and looking at the data side(s) of the disc. Double-layered sides are usually gold-colored, while single-layered sides are usually silver-colored, like a CD. One additional way to tell if a DVD contains one or two layers is to look at the center ring on the underside of the disc. If there are two barcodes, it is a dual layer disc. If there is one barcode, there is only one layer. Each medium can contain any of the above content and can be any layer type.

The DVD Forum created the official DVD-ROM/R/RW/RAM standards and the DVD+RW Alliance created the DVD+R/RW standards. Since DVD+R/RW discs are not technically DVDs as per the DVD Forum standards, they are not allowed to display the DVD logo; instead, they display an "RW" logo (even if it is not re-writeable, something some consider deceptive advertising). However, they are readable by most DVD drives, so they are referred to as DVD+R and DVD+RW.

The "+" (plus) and "-" (dash) are similar technical standards and are partially compatible. As of 2005, both formats are equally popular, with about half of the industry supporting "+", and the other half "-". Around 90% of DVD readers (drives and player) can read the recordable formats, with DVD-R having the best overall compatibility in independent tests. Almost all DVD writers can write both formats and carry both the +RW and DVD-R/RW logos.

Unlike compact discs, where sound (CDDA, Red Book) is stored in a fundamentally different fashion than data (Yellow book et al.), a properly authored DVD will always contain data in files readable by both the UDF filesystem and the ISO 9660 filesystem (often called UDF Bridge format).

The reference data rate of DVD is 11.08 Mbps (million bits per second). The data transfer rate of a DVD drive is often given in multiples of 1352 KB/s, which means that a drive with 16x speed designation allows a data transfer rate of 16 × 1352 = 21640 KB/s (21.13 MB/s). As CD drive speeds are given in multiples of 150 KB/s, one DVD "speed" equals nine CD "speeds," so an 8x DVD drive should have a data transfer rate similar to that of a 72x CD drive. In physical rotation terms (spins per second), one DVD "speed" equals three CD "speeds," so an 8x DVD drive has the same rotational speed as 24x CD drive.

Early CD and DVD drives read data at a constant rate. The data on the disc is passed under the read head at a constant rate (Constant Linear Velocity, or CLV). As linear (meters per second) track speed grows at outer parts of the disc proportionally to the radius, the rotational speed of the disc was adjusted according to which portion of the disc was being read. Most current CD and DVD drives have a constant rotation speed (Constant Angular Velocity, or CAV). The maximum data rate specified for the drive/disc is achieved only at the end of the disc's track (discs are written from inside). The average speed of the drive therefore equals to only about 50–70% of the maximum nominated speed. While this seems a disadvantage, such drives have a lower seek time as they do not have to change the disc's speed of rotation.

DVD-Video discs require a DVD-drive with an MPEG-2 decoder (e.g. a DVD-player or a DVD computer drive with a software DVD player). Commercial DVD movies are encoded using a combination of MPEG-2 compressed video and audio of varying formats (often multi-channel formats as described below). Typical data rates for DVD movies range from 3–10 Mbit/s, and the bit rate is usually adaptive. The video resolution on NTSC discs is 720 × 480 and on PAL discs is 720 × 576. A high number of audio tracks and/or lots of extra material on the disc will often result in a lower bit rate (and image quality) for the main feature.

The audio data on a DVD movie can be of the format PCM, DTS, MP2, or Dolby Digital (AC-3). In countries using the NTSC standard any movie should contain a sound track in (at least) either PCM or Dolby AC-3 formats, and any NTSC player must support these two; all the others are optional. This ensures any standard compatible disc can be played on any standard compatible player. The vast majority of commercial NTSC releases today employ AC-3 audio.

Initially, in countries using the PAL standard (e.g. most of Europe) the sound of DVD was supposed to be standardized on PCM and MP2, but apparently against the wishes of Philips, under public pressure on December 5, 1997, the DVD Forum accepted the addition of Dolby AC-3 to the optional formats on discs and mandatory formats in players. The vast majority of commercial PAL releases employ AC-3 audio by now.

DVDs can contain more than one channel of audio to go together with the video content. In many cases, sound tracks in more than one language track are present (for example the film's original language as well as a dubbed track in the language of the country where the disc is being sold).

With several channels of audio from the DVD, the cabling needed to carry the signal to an amplifier or TV can occasionally be somewhat frustrating. Most systems include an optional digital connector for this task, which is then paired with a similar input on the amplifier. The selected audio signal is sent over the connection, typically over RCA connectors or TOSLINK, in its original format to be decoded by the audio equipment. When playing compact discs, the signal is sent in S/PDIF format instead.

Video is another issue which continues to present problems. Current players typically output analog video only, both composite video on an RCA jack, as well as S-Video in the standard connector. However neither of these connectors were intended to be used for progressive video, so yet another set of connectors has started to appear, to carry a form of component video, which keeps the three components of the video, one luminance signal and two color difference signal, as stored on the DVD itself, on fully separate wires (whereas S-Video uses two wires, uniting and degrading the two color signals, and composite only one, uniting and degrading all three signals). The connectors are further confused by using a number of different physical connectors on different player models, RCA or BNC, as well as using VGA cables in a non-standard way (VGA is normally analog RGB—a different, incompatible form of component video). Even worse, there are often two sets of component outputs, one carrying interlaced video, and the other progressive. In Europe and other PAL areas, SCART connectors are typically used, which carry both composite and analog RGB interlaced video signals, as well as analog two-channel sound on a single multiwire cable, and which offer a reasonable compromise between video quality—which is superior to S-Video though inferior to progressive component video —and cost. HDMI is a new connection similar to SCART, but it carries High Definition, Enhanced Definition and Standard Definition video.

Along with video HDMI also supports up to eight-channel digital audio. Some HDMI-equipped DVD players can upconvert the video to higher definition formats such as 720p and, more rarely, 1080p.

DVD Video may also include one or more subtitle tracks in various languages, including those made especially for the hearing impaired. They are stored as images with transparent background which are overlaid over the video during playback. Subtitles are restricted to four colors (including transparency) and thus tend to look cruder than permanent subtitles on film.

DVD Video may contain Chapters for easy navigation (and continuation of a partially watched film). If space permits, it is also possible to include several versions (called "angles") of certain scenes, though today this feature is mostly used—if at all—not to show different angles of the action, but as part of internationalization to e.g. show different language versions of images containing written text, if subtitles will not do.

A major selling point of DVD Video is that its storage capacity allows for a wide variety of extra features in addition to the feature film itself. This can include audio commentary that is timed to the film sequence, documentary features, unused footage, trivia text commentary, simple games and film shorts.

Restrictions

DVD-Video has four complementary systems designed to restrict the DVD user in various ways: Macrovision, Content Scrambling System (CSS), region codes, and disabled user operations (UOPs).

Content-scrambling system

Many DVD-Video titles use content-scrambling system (CSS) encryption, which is intended to discourage people from bypassing the region control mechanism (see below). Usually, users need to install software provided on the DVD or downloaded from the Internet such as WinDVD, PowerDVD, MPlayer, or VLC to be able to view the disc in a computer system.

The CSS has caused major problems for the inclusion of DVD players in any open source operating systems, since open source player implementations are not officially given access to the decryption keys or license the patents involved in the CSS. Proprietary software players were also difficult to find on some platforms. However, a successful effort has been made to write a decoder by reverse engineering, resulting in DeCSS. This has led to long-running legal battles and the arrest of some of those involved in creating or distributing the DeCSS code, through the use of the controversial U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, on the grounds that such software could also be used to facilitate unauthorized copying of the data on the discs. But as U.S. law stops at the border of the United States, the rest of the world can enjoy de-scrambling software to bypass the DVD restrictions. A number of software programs have since appeared on the Web to view DVDs on a number of platforms.

The restrictions also prevent people from copying DVDs. In the past few years a large amount of software has been created to make copies such as DVD Shrink, DVD Decrypter and ShrinkTo5

Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach is a city located in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Originally incorporated as the city of Ocean Beach in 1915, the city changed its name to Miami Beach in 1917. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 87,933. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 89,104

Geography

Miami Beach is located at 25°48′47″N, 80°8′3″W.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 48.5 km² (18.7 mi²). 18.2 km² (7.0 mi²) of it is land and 30.2 km² (11.7 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 62.37% water.

Description

In 1979 Miami Beach's Art Deco Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Art Deco District is the largest collection of Art Deco architecture in the world and is comprised of hundreds of hotels, apartments and other structures erected between 1923 and 1943. Mediterranean, Streamline Moderne and Art Deco are all represented in the District. The Historic District is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the East, Lenox Court on the West, 6th Street on the South and Dade Boulevard along the Collins Canal to the North.

South Beach is one of the most popular areas of Miami Beach. Topless sunbathing is tolerated on the beaches in this area.

Lincoln Road is nationally known spot for great outdoor dining, bike riding, and, shopping.

Demographics

As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there are 87,933 people, 46,194 households, and 18,339 families residing in the city. The population density is 4,829.5/km² (12,502.1/mi²). There are 59,723 housing units at an average density of 3,280.1/km² (8,491.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 86.74% White, 4.03% African American, 0.23% Native American, 1.37% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 4.05% from other races, and 3.53% from two or more races. 53.45% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Neighborhoods

* Alton Road

* Biscyane Point

* Little Buenos Aires

* Little Tel Aviv/Midtown

* MiMo District

* Normandy Isle

* LaGorce, & The Sunset Isles

* South Beach

Points of interest

* Collins Bridge

* Miami Beach Botanical Garden

The Art of Confidence

Athletes have long recognized a relationship between confidence and performance. Sometimes it appears that only the greatest athletes have access to that magical confidence, while all other inferior beings can only wish for it. Fortunately, this is wrong! Everyone can increase their level of confidence and perform better.

Although confidence is difficult to define, it is usually described as thoughts, feelings and actions reflecting self-belief and expectations of success.

Thoughts

Confident athletes entertain a rich variety of successful thoughts. The notion of failure simply never occurs during competition.

Feelings

Confident athletes believe deeply in their abilities, love challenges, and feel strongly that they will prevail.

Actions

Confident athletes expect success and show it in their body language. They rarely give their opponent a confidence boost by appearing discouraged or threatened.

It is often asked what comes first, confidence or success? Although it is true that success breeds confidence, it is equally so that confidence increases one's probability for success. Success is never certain, but self-doubt, negativity, and low expectations guarantee failure.

Belief in oneself prevents harmful distractions such as anxiety, allowing for a more efficient performance focus. Confidence also adds security during slumps and helps the athlete sustain effort. Finally, self-belief prompts athletes to set higher performance goals, as greater achievements are expected and appear more attainable.

Athletes who lack confidence worry needlessly about mistakes, lose concentration, allow dangerous levels of arousal to intrude, and hasten failure by giving up. After all, there is nothing to gain by trying.

Although confidence is desired by all, there is no replacement for competence. The most confident athlete in the world still needs skill and experience to succeed. Confidence just helps make everything go more smoothly, often providing the decisive competitive edge.

Some describe the relationship between confidence and performance as an inverted U, similar to the relationship between arousal and performance. Maintaining an optimal level of confidence is important because overconfidence, or a false belief in one's ability, can also lead to reduced effort and performance.

Here are some techniques to help you develop and maintain confidence:

Frequently image successful performances.

Increase your level of physical fitness, as this will enhance your technique and self-image at the same time!

Beat up on players slightly below your level occasionally to keep confidence alive. Some players never learn to win or develop confidence because they are always overmatched.

Make a list of your strengths. Review this list regularly to remind yourself of how great you really are.

Eliminate negative thoughts and memories. When they occur, replace them with positive self-statements (e.g., "I'm at my best under pressure").

Have a general strategy going into each competition. Confidence will grow as your plan is executed.

Keep your head up and maintain positive body language regardless of the score. The way you act will often influence the way you and your opponent feel. Act confidently, be confident!

Improve on areas of weakness in practice so that you'll have more to believe in during competition.

Self Confidence

Self-confidence is characterized by:

assertiveness,

optimism,

eagerness,

affection,

pride,

independence,

trust,

the ability to handle criticism,

emotional maturity,

and the ability to accurately assess our capabilities.

What is Self Confidence?

Self-confidence primarily refers to us having a positive and realistic perception of ourselves and our abilities.

A lack of self-confidence, on the other hand, is characterized by:

self- doubt,

passivity,

submissiveness,

over-conformity,

isolation,

sensitivity to criticism,

distrust,

depression,

and feelings of inferiority and being unloved.

How Does a Lack of Self Confidence Develop?

Experience: We often develop feelings of inferiority and hopelessness through various negative life experiences at home, school, on the job, etc. For example, when you were growing up your parents might have been unable to provide a healthy and supportive environment. They were critical, demanding and/or overprotective of you. As a result, you develop negative perceptions of yourself.

Loss of a family member or close friend. For example: your parent's divorce, moving away from home for the first time (you are away from your friends and family), and breaking up with your boyfriend/girlfriend.

Dwelling unnecessarily on negative events such as failures and disappointment, instead of using the event as a learning experience.

Judging or criticizing yourself and your abilities too harshly. For example, you criticize and blame yourself for your failures and disappointment.

Evaluating the outcome of situations as much worse than they really are.

Experiencing too much pressure from your parents and/or peers to meet the demands and expectations that they set out for you deprives you of the opportunity to develop your own identity, independence and autonomy.

Setting unrealistic goals.

Fear of failure. For example, if you get a "F" on an exam you may think that you are a failure rather than that you are a perfectly ok person who has failed an exam.

How to Increase Your Self Confidence

Think positively about yourself.

Set goals that are realistic and will meet your expectations. For instance, set your goals at reasonable level so that what you accomplish is equal/almost equal to what you set out to accomplish. This can boost your self- confidence and self-satisfaction. William James, the father of psychology, said: "Self Satisfaction = What We Accomplish/What We Set Out to Accomplish"

Reward/praise yourself when you have done well.

Whenever something upsetting or disappointing occurs, be aware of your thoughts. Think logically about the situation instead of reacting merely on the basis of your emotions.

Dwell on your strengths not your weaknesses.

Realize that there are certain things that you are more adept and competent in than others, and that it is impossible to expect perfection in every aspect of your life.

Do not attribute your achievement and accomplishments only to luck. Instead, give yourself credit for your own personal achievement.

Learn to be assertive. That is, learn to express your feelings, opinions, beliefs and needs directly, openly and honestly, while not violating the rights of others. For example, learn to stand up for your rights and say "no" to unreasonable requests.

Assertiveness training can be very helpful in building self- confidence and discovering areas of negative self-image.

Make a list of what you feel are the major problems in your life. Then list ways to improve or change them. Chances are that not all of your problems can be dealt with easily or quickly. However, there are some areas where you can take immediate action.

Things to Remember for Improving Self Confidence

Count the good things, not the negative

Think positively about yourself

Learn from your experiences

Set realistic goals

Be courageous

Keep learning

Live usefully

Value simplicity

Welcome change

Flower

A flower (Latin flos, floris; French fleur), also known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms). The flower structure contains the plant's reproductive organs, and its function is to produce seeds through sexual reproduction. For the higher plants, seeds are the next generation, and serve as the primary means by which individuals of a species are dispersed across the landscape. After fertilization, portions of the flower develop into a fruit containing the seeds.

Flower anatomy

Flowering plants are heterosporangiate (producing two types of reproductive spores) and the pollen (male spores) and ovules (female spores) are produced in different organs, but these are together in a bisporangiate strobilus that is the typical flower.

A flower is regarded as a modified stem (Eames, 1961) with shortened internodes and bearing, at its nodes, structures that may be highly modified leaves. In essence, a flower structure forms on a modified shoot or axis with an apical meristem that does not grow continuously (growth is determinate). The stem is called a pedicel, the end of which is the torus or receptacle. The parts of a flower are arranged in whorls on the torus. The four main parts or whorls (starting from the base of the flower or lowest node and working upwards) are as follows:

Poppycalyx – the outer whorl of sepals; typically these are green, but are petal-like in some species.

corolla – the whorl of petals, which are usually thin, soft and colored to attract insects that help the process of pollination.

androecium (from Greek andros oikia: man's house) – one or two whorls of stamens, each a filament topped by an anther where pollen is produced. Pollen contains the male gametes.

gynoecium (from Greek gynaikos oikia: woman's house) – one or more pistils. The female reproductive organ is the carpel: this contains an ovary with ovules (female gametes). A pistil may consist of a number of carpels merged together, in which case there is only one pistil to each flower, or of a single individual carpel (the flower is then called apocarpous). The sticky tip of the pistil, the stigma, is the receptor of pollen. The supportive stalk, the style becomes the pathway for pollen tubes to grow from pollen grains adhering to the stigma, to the ovules, carrying the reproductive material.

Tulip - androecium and gynoeciumAlthough the floral structure described above is considered the "typical" structural plan, plant species show a wide variety of modifications from this plan. These modifications have significance in the evolution of flowering plants and are used extensively by botanists to establish relationships among plant species. For example, the two subclasses of flowering plants may be distinguished by the number of floral organs in each whorl: dicotyledons typically having 4 or 5 organs (or a multiple of 4 or 5) in each whorl and monocotyledons having three or some multiple of three. The number of carpels in a compound pistil may be only two, or otherwise not related to the above generalization for monocots and dicots.

In the majority of species, individual flowers have both pistils and stamens as described above. These flowers are described by botanists as being perfect, bisexual, or hermaphrodite. However, in some species of plants the flowers are imperfect or unisexual: having only either male (stamens) or female (pistil) parts. In the latter case, if an individual plant is either male or female the species is regarded as dioecious. However, where unisexual male and female flowers appear on the same plant, the species is considered monoecious.

Some flowers with both stamens and a pistil are capable of self-fertilization, which does increase the chance of producing seeds but limits genetic variation. The extreme case of self-fertilization occurs in flowers that always self-fertilize, such as the common dandelion. Conversely, many species of plants have ways of preventing self-fertilization. Unisexual male and female flowers on the same plant may not appear at the same time, or pollen from the same plant may be incapable of fertilizing its ovules. The latter flower types, which have chemical barriers to their own pollen, are referred to as self-sterile or self-incompatible.

Close-up of a Day lily flower showing six stamens and the stigma and style of a pistilAdditional discussions on floral modifications from the basic plan are presented in the articles on each of the basic parts of the flower. In those species that have more than one flower on an axis, the collection of flowers is termed an inflorescence. In this sense, care must be exercised in considering what is a flower. In botanical terminology, a single daisy or sunflower for example, is not a flower but a flower head—an inflorescence comprised of numerous small flowers (sometimes called florets). Each small flower may be anatomically as described above.

Floral formula

A floral formula is a way to represent the structure of a flower using specific letters, numbers, and symbols. Typically, a general formula will be used to represent the flower structure of a plant family rather than a particular species. The following representations are used:

Ca = calyx (sepal whorl; e.g. Ca5 = 5 sepals)

Co = corolla (petal whorl; e.g., Co3(x) = petals some multiple of three )

Z = add if zygomorphic (e.g., CoZ6 = zygomorphic with 6 petals)

A = androecium (whorl of stamens; e.g., A∞ = many stamens)

G = gynoecium (carpel or carpels; e.g., G1 = monocarpous)

x - to represent a "variable number"

∞ - to represent "many"

A floral formula would appear something like this:

Ca5Co5A10 - ∞G1

Flower function

Grains of pollen on stigma of a lilyThe function of a flower is to mediate the union of male and female gametes. The process is termed pollination. Many flowers are dependent upon the wind to move pollen between flowers of the same species. Others rely on animals (especially insects) to accomplish this feat. The period of time during which this process can take place (the flower is fully expanded and functional) is called anthesis.

Many flowers in nature have evolved to attract animals to pollinate the flower, the movements of the pollinating agent contributing to the opportunity for genetic recombinations within a dispersed plant population. Flowers that are insect pollinated are called entomophilous (literally "insect loving"). Flowers commonly have nectaries on their various parts that attract these animals. Bees and birds are common pollinators: both have color vision, thus selecting for "colorful" flowers. Some flowers have patterns, called nectar guides, that are evident in the ultraviolet range, visible to bees but not to humans. Flowers also attract pollinators by scent. In any case, pollinators are attracted to the plant, perhaps in search of nectar, which they eat. The arrangement of the stamens ensures that pollen grains are transferred to the bodies of the pollinator. In gathering nectar from many flowers of the same species, the pollinators transfer pollen between all of the flowers it visits.

Flower scent is not always pleasant to our sense of smell. Some plants, such as Rafflesia, the titan arum, and the North American pawpaw (Asimina triloba) are pollinated by flies, so produce a scent imitating rotting meat.

Other flowers are pollinated by the wind, and the flowers of these species (for example, grasses) have no need to attract pollinators and therefore tend not to be "showy". Wind pollinated flowers are referred to as anemophilous. Whereas the pollen of entomophilous flowers tends to be large grained, sticky, and contain significant protein (another "reward" for pollinators), Anemophilous flower pollen is usually small grained, very light, and of little nutritional value to insects, though it may still be gathered, in times of dearth. Honeybees and bumblebees actively gather anemophilous corn (maize) pollen, though it is of little value to them.

There is much confusion about the role of flowers in allergies. For example the showy and entomophilous goldenrod (Solidago) is frequently blamed for respiratory allergies, of which it is innocent, since its pollen cannot be airborne. Instead the allergen is usually the pollen of the contemporary bloom of anemophilous ragweed (Ambrosia) which can drift for many kilometers.

Flowers in the arts

The great variety of delicate and beautiful flowers has inspired the works of many poets, especially from the Romantic era. Famous examples include and William Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and William Blake's Ah! Sun-Flower:

Ah, Sun-flower weary of time,

Who countest the steps of the Sun,

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the traveller's journey is done:

Where the Youth pined away with desire,

And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow

Arise from their graves, and aspire

Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.

—William Blake, Ah! Sun-Flower

Flowers in everyday life

In modern times, people have sought ways to cultivate, buy, wear, or just be around flowers and blooming plants, partly because of their agreeable smell. Around the world, florists sell flowers for a wide range of events and functions that, cumulatively, encompass one's lifetime:

For new births or Christenings

Lilium hybrid "Stargazer" is extremely fragrant.

As a corsage or boutonniere to be worn at social functions or

for holidays

For wedding flowers for the bridal party,

and decorations for the hall

As brightening decorations within the home

As a gift of remembrance for bon voyage parties,

welcome home parties,

and "thinking of you" gifts

For funeral flowers and flowers for the grieving

Florists depend on an entire network of commercial growers and shippers to support this trade. To get flowers that are out of season in their country, florists contact wholesalers who have direct connections with growers in other countries to provide those flowers.

Flowers as symbols

Daisies symbolize innocence in Western culture.

Many flowers have important symbolic meanings in Western culture. The practice of assigning meanings to flowers is known as floriography. Some of the more common examples include:

Red roses are given as a symbol of love, beauty, and passion.

Poppies are a symbol of consolation in time of death. In the UK, Australia and Canada, red poppies are worn to commemorate soldiers who have died in times of war.

Irises are a symbol of death.

Daisies are a symbol of innocence.

Flowers within art are also representative of the female genitalia, as seen in the works of artists such as Georgia O'Keefe, Imogene Cunningham, and Judy Chicago.