Today the spectrum of laser types extends from those as large as football fields to others tinier than a pinhead.

As a bow stores energy and releases it to drive an arrow to a target so lasers store energy in atoms and molecules, concentrate it, and release it in powerful waves. The photons travel the length of the laser and bounce off mirrors–one a full mirror, one partially silvered–at either end. Photons, reflected back and forth, finally gain so much energy that they exit the partially silvered end, emerging as a powerful beam.

Point to the sun at noon on a clear summer day, and about one-tenth of a watt of solar power falls on your fingertip. Upon a piece of steel no bigger an industrial laser can easily concentrate ten billion watts.

Lasers are revolutionizing eye surgery. Sight saving shafts of light are able to enter the eye without injury. With microscopic focus, beams weld breaks in the retina or seal leaking blood vessels by photo coagulation. A painless 20-minute operation called an iridectomy relieves the excess fluid buildup of glaucoma.

Bloodless scalpels, lasers can make extremely delicate incisions, cauterize blood vessels, and leave tissue unaffected that are only a few cell widths away.

In women, an infected pelvis or perpetual menstrual bleeding usually prompted a hysterectomy–sterilization. Laser treatment now gives them a chance to have children, by preserving internal organs.

Laser beams can heal tumors in the brain and spinal cord, many of which were previously inoperable are proving particularly receptive to the laser’s delicate and healing touch.

Lasers are also valuable diagnostic tools. A laser blood flow meter can identify areas of critically poor circulation in a patient’s leg..

As a surveyor’s tool tunnels can be drilled by laser-guided machines. These tunnels are straight (like your teeth will be after Invisalign) within a centimeter or two. Compare that with tunnels not using lasers to complete. They are misaligned by several inches.

Lasers can cut through the toughest metal with unrivaled speed and accuracy.

When first discovered lasers were thought of as a solution in search of a problem. Now we are taking our problems to the laser for solutions.

The world’s largest chocolate company is Hershey Foods Corporation. The aroma of cocoa permeates their headquarters at Hershey, Pennsylvania. Milton S. Hershey in 1894 founded this company and made his chocolate-flavored bar an American icon.

For chocolate lovers and their families a must on your itinerary would be a visit to Hershey park, a park with chocolate as its theme that is also at their Pennsylvania headquarters. The family will enjoy the more than 60 exciting rides, attractions and live entertainment at this 110 acre park at Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Since 1907, the Hershey’s Kisses brand chocolates have been an American classic. The famous Hershey’s chocolate bar is the most well known of the candies and the line now includes Almond Joy, KitKat, Mr. Goodbar and many other favorites.

This leading snack food company is the largest North American manufacturer of chocolate and non-chocolate confectionary products. Revenues are over $4 billion and worldwide they employ 13,000 people

In 1876, Milton S. Hershey started his own candy business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After six year the business failed and he found a confectioner in Denver that taught him how to make caramels using fresh milk. He returned to the east coast and his second candy business in New York city also failed. Again he tried and his Lancaster caramel business netted him one million dollars which he used to found the Hershey Chocolate company.

This leading snack food company is the largest North American manufacturer of chocolate and non-chocolate confectionary products. Revenues are over $4 billion and worldwide they employ 13,000 people.

It is larger than Europe, without a native human population. It contains more than two-thirds of the world’s fresh water. Antarctica is the highest, coldest, most desolate place on earth. But it irresistibly draws visitors. Air traffic is growing and more than 3,000 tourists visit by ship each year to ski or mountain climb. There’s even a hotel (although it isn’t very luck like any of the Chicago hotels I visit).

Scientists use this giant outdoor lab to discover our planet’s history as well as discover the warning signs of global pollution. This was the first place where it was discovered that there was a hole in the ozone layer which shields the earth from harmful frequencies of solar radiation.

2,500 people are in the U.S. Antarctic research program. They are researching atmospheric physics and chemistry, astrophysics, and biology.

Comparing today’s atmospheric gases with those trapped in core samples of ancient Antarctica ice, researchers have found that the burning of fossil fuels has helped raise carbon dioxide to the highest level in history.

In this frozen land, the penguins dominate with more than one hundred million. Here penguins are at the top of the food chain without a predator. They feed on krill which is plentiful because they do not compete for krill with the whales who have declined in population.

Antarctica has no government. Various countries claim areas of it, but most countries do not recognize those claims. The area between 90 degrees west and 150 degrees west is the only land on Earth not claimed by any country.

Foods that stop oxidation and preserve brain function are anti-aging foods that one needs.

Heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, fatigue, and cataracts can be prevented or lessened with certain foods.

The antioxidant anthocyanin which is thought to be important for preserving brain function is found in blueberries, pomegranates ,and cranberries.

Consumption of vitamin E makes one less likely to develop Alzheimer’s . Wheat germ can be used as a topping and is loaded with vitamin E.

A diet rich in assorted fruits and vegetables also helps prevent the development of Alzheimer’s.

Fatigue and headaches may be attributed to iron deficiency. Meat, fish, and poultry contain the form of iron that’s the most easily absorbed in the body.

One can ward off stress and increase the amount of iron absorbed in a meal by eating kiwi fruits, strawberries, oranges, and tangerines. Tangerines and other citrus fruits are also an important protector against cataracts.

Heart disease risk can be cut almost in half with folate and B6. which is currently found in fortified cereals.

Several large studies have shown a 30 to 50% lower risk of sudden cardiac death and cardiovascular disease associated with eating nuts several times a week.

Erratic heart rhythms and prevention of blood clots can be accomplished by eating salmon.

A high intake of monosaturated fats such as found in avocados lowers heart disease risk.

It’s true that carrots to protect ones night vision with its high amount of vitamin A.

There is also a great deal of study about acne treatments with B5 vitamins.

Macular degeneration may be delayed in those that consume a glass of red wine every day.

In conclusion vegetables, fruits and nuts have properties that stop oxidation and preserve brain function

Every minute of every day wars rage within our bodies. The combatants are too tiny to see. Some, like the infamous virus that causes AIDS, are so small that 230 million would fit on the period at the end of this sentence.

Of all the body’s enemies, the virus is both the simplest and the most devious of all. A virus contains instructions for making copies of itself. When a virus enters one of our cells it issues its own instructions. The cell becomes a virus factory, producing identical viruses. Eventually they may rupture the cell, killing it. Viral clones fan out to invade nearby cells.

About one trillion strong, our white blood cells constitute a highly specialized army of defenders. The phagocytes, which are soldiers in this army, are the first to attack viruses. When they come upon a cell that has burst, they eat up the wreckage and in the process consume the viruses. But they aren’t able to destroy these foes enough to keep them from infecting nearby cells.

The T cells are a more sophisticated part of our immune system. They are trained to recognize invaders. They then send urgent chemical signals to killer T cells. The message is to multiply quickly. The killer T cells puncture the cell membranes bacteria or destroy infected cells before viruses have time to multiply.

During stress the body releases large amounts of a steroid called cortisol. When our soldiers the macrophage recognize and encounter cortisol they can no longer respond to infection.

Exercise may enhance the immune system. It stimulates the brain to release chemicals called endorphin and enkephalin. They also seem to reduce anxiety and cause a sense of well being.

Even more startling, some studies suggest that they affect macrophage and T cells. Exercise may also result in increased levels of interleukin-1 and interferon, both of which strengthens our defenses.

As we grow older, we start to lose calcium and bone and under the skin are fat pads which lessen. Two protein strands elastin and collagen are produced at lesser quantity. Those wrinkles come about because without enough of these two proteins the skin is not as smooth and elastic as it once was and therefore sags.

A product named AHA causes stimulation of mucin, which is a substance that fills in between collagen fibers. Over the counter creams with AHA help remove the outer layer of skin which has become dried and has damaged cells.

Botox when injected prevents the muscles from moving and therefore wrinkles are stopped. Wrinkles disappear for about four months. Not enough studies have been done to determine the long term effects of this treatment.

90% of all skin changes associated with ageing are really the result of sun exposure. Smokers are five times more likely to have wrinkles. Smoking reduces the blood supply and oxygen to the skin and it may affect collagen and elastin. Fast weight loss will be very noticeable as sagging skin in the face. Exercise works because it relieves stress and increases blood supply. Moisturizers will keep the skin from dehydrating although they will not lessen wrinkles.

Las Vegas, Nevada attempts to change itself and be a peddler of family-friendly activities caused it to stumble. The MGM Grand replaced its amusement park with two nightclubs with a third one opening soon.  All of the Las Vegas hotels are following suit.

Vegas has reinvented itself by returning to the biggest, nicest place to sin ever imagined. People come to Vegas to do what they can do at home but to do it in a more ostentatious way. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas is their town logo. The fact is that “What happens in Vegas” is bragged about at home for months afterward.

The reinvented Vegas has room rates up 40% in 2004 from the same period last year. It’s the fastest-growing major U.S. city. 7,000 people move to Clark County each month. The population is 1.6 million.

Vegas is the top tourist and convention spot with the city taking in $6.5 billion in conventions, which is more than the $6.1 billion taken in gambling.

A good chunk of this gambling money is received from the under 30 crowd. Young people seem to be better educated, have more disposable income and are less averse to travel than the typical Vegas customer.

If you haven’t been to Vegas within the year odds are you won’t recognize the place because Vegas literally transforms itself while you are away.

It all started with Frank Mars back in 1911 when he and his wife Ethel started making and selling a variety of butter-cream candies from the spotless kitchen of their home in Tacoma, Washington. In Tacoma, Washington, back in 1911, Frank Mars and his wife Ethel began a candy business by making and selling a variety of butter cream candies.

Then in 1920, Forest Mars and his son went to a local drugstore and Forest had an idea. Why not manufacture a candy bar using malted milk and a version of chocolate? This idea became the MILKY WAY bar.

In 1920, after visiting a local drugstore with his son Forrest, he thought what a good idea it would be if they could produce a version of chocolate, malted milk that could be enjoyed anywhere. The result was the MILKY WAY bar – known in Europe as the MARS bar. It was an immediate success.

In the 1930’s while working in Europe, Forest came up with another winning idea which was to prevent chocolate from melting by giving it a protective coating. The idea became M&M’s candies. Their famous slogan “It melts in your mouth not on your hands” solved a problem for the US forces of candy they provided in their rations melting before it got to the mouths of soldiers. Purchase of his M&M candies by the US government to be part of the rations of the forces during the war ensured the success of this new non melting candy.

In the same depression years of the ‘30s, Mars was the pioneer in the pet food industry in Europe. He employed nutritional science and modern manufacturing techniques to pet food. Fast forwarding to the present another innovation has been developed by Mars which was to put meat petfood in pouches. This product is sold under the brands of Pedigree and Whiskas

Modern manufacturing techniques were also employed for the first time to parboil rice in large quantities. In 1946 the new rice product Uncle Ben’s was launched and it became America’s top selling brand of packaged long grain rice.

Mars has a direct presence in over 60 countries over 100 countries have the Mars products available for sale.

200 years ago the resources of Pittsburgh of plenty of coal and rivers to carry the goods made it the place of choice for steel mills and other industries. But by the end of the early 1980’s, foreign competition and decreased demand for “raw steel” halted the many steel mills. In exchange for losing the steel industry, the city now has air that is cleaner and its waters run clear.

Pittsburgh has exhibited amazing adaptability in the wake of the steel industry’s collapse. The primary industries have shifted from steel manufacture and heavy industry to high technology, biomedics, banking, and service based fields

Pittsburgh is located at the center of a fairly expansive set of river valleys, and much of the city’s residential population is situated on or near the slopes of those valleys with certain neighborhoods (particularly south of the Monongahela) are inaccessible by car during the winter. As a result, Pittsburgh is widely believed to be right behind San Francisco as the “steepest” city in the United States

Wealthy area businessmen of the 19th century, including Andrew Carnegie, the Heinz family and Henry Clay Frick, donated large sums of money to local educational and cultural institutions. As a result, Pittsburgh is rich in art and culture. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is world-class. It owns and performs at Heinz Hall, which also plays host to a number of other events throughout the year. The Benedum Center and Heinz Hall provide venues for numerous musicals, lectures, speeches, and other performances.

The collection of the Carnegie Museum of Art is home to works by such luminaries as Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, and many others, along with galleries of sculpture, modern art, the Heinz Architectural Center, a large film and video collection, and various traveling exhibits.

Pittsburgh is home to many universities and research facilities. The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has over 2.1 million cataloged items available for circulation. The Health Sciences Department ([http://www.health.pitt.edu/]) at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center ([http://www.upmc.com/]) operate some of the finest hospitals in the world, and an advanced medical research center that performs pioneering work in organ transplantation, AIDS and cancer research, and many other fields.

After World War II, in 1946, it was Masaru Ibuka, an engineer, and Akio Morita, a physicist, who started a company with $845 and 20 employees. They began repairing electrical equipment in a bombed out Department Store in Tokyo. They called the company Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering. The name was changed to “Sony” which was chosen as a mix of the Latin word sonus, which is the root of sonic and sound, and the English word “sunny.” they wanted a name that did not limit the scope of what the company could become.

In 1954, they obtained a license to make transistors. Transistors had not been used in radios. Sony made the first all-transistor radio,

Their inventive and innovative products have included the Trinitron Color Televison, The Betamax VCR, the Walkman, the 3.5 inch micro floppy disk, the electronic camera, the first CD Player, and the first consumer camcorder.

Sony bought Columbia Records and Columbia Pictures. Sony got in the game product area with their Sony Play Station.

In the 45 years since the company began, it has grown from 20 employees to over 100,000 people around the world. The name Sony was a good choice since now the company is in so many fields that involve sound that a limiting name would not have fit all of the industries they now dominate.