NATO Phonetic Alphabet

The NATO phonetic alphabet, more accurately known as the International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet and also called the ICAO phonetic or ICAO spelling alphabet, as well as the ITU phonetic alphabet, is the most widely used spelling alphabet. Although often called "phonetic alphabets", spelling alphabets are not associated with phonetic transcription systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet. Instead, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) alphabet assigned code words acrophonically to the letters of the English alphabet so that critical combinations of letters and numbers can be pronounced and understood by those who transmit and receive voice messages by radio or telephone regardless of language barriers or the presence of transmission static.

The 26 code words in the NATO phonetic alphabet are assigned to the 26 letters of the English alphabet in alphabetical order as follows: Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Golf, Hotel, India, Juliett, Kilo, Lima, Mike, November, Oscar, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Sierra, Tango, Uniform, Victor, Whiskey, X-ray, Yankee, Zulu.

Code words

The final choice of code words for the letters of the alphabet and for the digits was made after hundreds of thousands of comprehension tests involving 31 nationalities. The qualifying feature was the likelihood of a code word being understood in the context of others. For example, football has a higher chance of being understood than foxtrot in isolation, but foxtrot is superior in extended communication.

The pronunciation of the code words varies according to the language habits of the speaker. To eliminate wide variations in pronunciation, recordings and posters illustrating the pronunciation desired by the ICAO are available. However, there are still differences in pronunciation between the ICAO and other agencies, and the ICAO has conflicting Roman-alphabet and IPA transcriptions. Also, although all codes for the letters of the alphabet are English words, they are not in general given English pronunciations. Assuming that the transcriptions are not intended to be precise, only 11 of the 26—Bravo, Echo, Hotel, Juliet(t), Kilo, Mike, Papa, Quebec, Romeo, Whiskey, and Zulu—are given English pronunciations by all these agencies, though not always the same English pronunciations.

Letters

Letter	Code word	US Army standard
A	Alfa ATIS: Alpha	AL fah
B	Bravo	BRAH voh
C	Charlie	CHAR lee
D	Delta	DEL tah
E	Echo	EKK oh
F	Foxtrot	FOKS trot
G	Golf	Golf
H	Hotel	HO tell
I	India	IN dee ah
J	Juliett ATIS: Juliet	JEW lee ett
K	Kilo	KEY loh
L	Lima	LEE mah
M	Mike	Mike
N	November	NOH vem ber
O	Oscar	OSS car
P	Papa	PAH pah
Q	Quebec	keh BECK
R	Romeo	ROW me oh
S	Sierra	see AIR ah
T	Tango	TANG go
U	Uniform	YOU nee form
V	Victor	VIK ter
W	Whiskey	WISS key
X	X-ray or Xray	EKS ray
Y	Yankee	YANG kee
Z	Zulu	ZOO loo
- (hyphen)	Dash	DASH

Digits

Digit	Code word	Pronunciation
0	Zero	ZEE-RO
1	One	WUN
2	Two	TOO
3	Three	TREE
4	Four	FOW-ER
5	Five	FIFE
6	Six	SIX
7	Seven	SEV-EN
8	Eight	AIT
9	Niner	NIN-ER
100	Hundred	HUN-dred
1000	Thousand	TOU-SAND
. (decimal point)	Decimal	DAY-SEE-MAL
. (full stop)	Stop	STOP

The Best (and Worst) Times to Post on Social Networks

Here is an interesting infographic that displays the best and worst time to post on some of the biggest social media: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest.

From my experience, all of this is accurate except for Google+. I have consistently seen the best G+ post engagement late in the evening and early in the morning (10pm-1am ET). I do see some activity during the work day, but nowhere near what you see at night.

How about you? Do you agree with the times listed in this graphic? Leave a comment and agree or disagree with the findings.

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Don't overlook the fact that there are people all around the world and even if it is 2 A.M. where you live, there are still people online and occupying all time zones no matter what time you post. But for the sake of consistency, and satisfying your specific audience, keeping your posts times consistent can be very beneficial.

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Sleep Or Die [Infographic]

I know few people that dislike sleep, it is a beautiful luxury at times, but so many of us skimp on beauty sleep and it is having more impact than you perhaps might think. We are recommended to take around 7 hours of sleep a night, at a regular bed (and wake) time each day. Personally, I hate the idea of spending over one-third of my day not doing anything productive – but the studies that went into this infographic show that your productivity, creativity and alertness is heightened with sleep and could be a better opportunity cost after all.

Not getting the right amount of sleep each might can have serious health risks and can leave long-lasting effects on your body and mind.

Health Risks of not Sleeping

7 - 9 HRS The recommended amount; improves health and daily alertness
5 - 7 HRS The average amount that American adults sleep each night
0 - 5 HRS Puts you at high risk for a number of health problems.

•  2.5X Higher risk for diabetes
• 45% Higher risk for heart attack
• 12% Higher risk of death (under any circumstance)

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Insomnia on the Brain
 
Lack of sleep causes parts of your brain to slow or shut down completely.

Parietal Lobe
Math & Logic
Effect: Slower thought processes and difficulty forming logical conclusions to problems.

Neocortex
Memory/Learning
Difficulty learning new tasks and making novel connections.

Temporal Lobe
Language
Effect: Slurred Speech.

Frontal Lobe
Creative Thinking
Effect: Lack of imagination or originality, lack of focus, stuttering, use of cliches in speech.

Prefontal Cortex
Judgment and Visuals
Effect: Blurred vision and hallucinations.

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Your Body Without Sleep

Increased hunger for salty, fatty foods.

Lack of sleep activates your body's SNS system (Fight or Flight Response) causing it to store fat reserves and release hormones that keep you from winding down at night.

Less than 7 hours of sleep = Weight Gain
Reduced Leptin Production = Increase Appetite

Driving on Fumes.

In driving tests, adults who had been awake for long periods of time preformed on par with drivers who had consumed alcohol.

17 - 19 HRS Without sleep = .05 BAL
21 HRS Without sleep = .08 BAL - Legally Drunk

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How to get Better Sleep

Establishing a regular nightly pattern will help you get better sleep and improve your health.

Recommended 7 HRS of Sleep

60 MIN Window
Establish Natural Rhythms
Go to bed and wake up within the same 60 MIN windows everyday to establish natural circadian rhythms.

60 MINS Before Bed
Turn Off Distractions
Turn off the TC and computer, thurn down the lights and listen to soothing music or read a book for pleasure.

90 MINS Before Bed
Take a Bath
Heating up your body followed by slow cooling causes relaxation and drowsiness.

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No Stimulants
Even if you can fall asleep after drinking a red bull, stimulants interfere with melatonim production, whoch reults in low quality of sleep and morning sluggishness.

Turn Off Your Brain
Stay away from work-related activities, exercise, pr entertainment that overexcites your brain, like horror movies, for an hour before bedtime.

Lose Weight
Not only do rates of obesity increase with less sleep, so does the risk for adverse side-effects like sleep apnea and hypertension.

There is no record of anyone ever dying from lack of sleep...
Eventually they just pass out.

However, lack of sleep can make you unhealthy in a number of ways that will lead to your early demise.

Track Who Views Your Facebook Page Now

Hello,

There are still no apps, plug-ins, programs, tools, websites or anything else that will show you who has viewed your Facebook page. Security requirements and technology do not currently support any kind of visitor identification features. At best, I think using IP (Internet Protocol) logging and location verification, users could see house/company the computer visiting is located, but for seeing specific users you would need cookies, ideally engineered by Facebook but that would raise a whole host of controversy and as of Facebook going public they need to keep their reputation better than ever so the likelihood of an intrusive tracking cookie is smaller than before.

However, if I learn of anyway to see who views your Facebook profile I will share with you guys. So stay tuned and subscribe.


Regards,
Author Team.

New Job Interview?

Some points you should remember.

• Don’t enter salary negotiations without doing your homework.

• Do try to negotiate (employers may start at the lower end of a salary range to leave room for negotiation).

• Don’t be the first to bring up salary during the interview.

• Do ask about the pay range for a position if salary requirements are requested.

• Don’t overlook the value of benefits.

• Do get it in writing.

• Don’t let salary negotiations turn negative or burn bridges.

African Rock Python

Python sebae, commonly known as the African rock python, is a large, nonvenomous snake of Sub-Saharan Africa. The African rock python is one of seven species in the genus Python. It has two subspecies: one found in Central and Western Africa, the other in Southern Africa.

Africa's largest snake, specimens may approach or exceed 6 m (20 ft). The southern subspecies is generally smaller than its northern relative. The animal has a pattern of colored blotches on its body. It has dual lungs and vestigial hind limbs, which show it is less advanced in evolution than other snakes.

The snake is found in a variety of habitats, from forests to near deserts, although usually near sources of water. The African rock python kills its prey by constriction and often eats animals up to the size of antelope, occasionally even crocodiles. The snake reproduces by egg-laying. Unlike most snakes, the female will protect her nest and sometimes even her hatchlings.

The snake is widely feared even though it only very rarely kills humans. Although the snake is not endangered, it does face threats from habitat reduction and hunting.

The snake varies considerably in body size between different areas. In general, it is smaller in highly populated regions, such as in southern Nigeria, only reaching its maximum length in areas such as Sierra Leone, where the human population density is lower. Males are typically smaller than females.

The African rock python is found throughout almost the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, from Senegal east to Ethiopia and Somalia and south to Namibia and South Africa. Python sebae sebae ranges across central and western Africa, while Python sebae natalensis has a more eastern and southerly range, from southern Kenya to South Africa.

In 2009, the African rock python was found in the Florida Everglades. It is feared to be establishing itself as an invasive species alongside the already-established Burmese Python. In 2010, a 14 foot, 140 pound male was captured. Feral rock pythons were also noted in the 1990s in the Everglades.

The African rock python inhabits a wide range of habitats, including forest, savanna, grassland, semi-desert, and rocky areas. It is particularly associated with areas of permanent water and is found on the edges of swamps, lakes and rivers, The snake also readily adapts to disturbed habitats and so is often found around human habitation, especially cane fields.

Do you know the etiquette of your own county?

So this is a cool site I found called International Business Etiquette, Manners, and Culture (IBEMC) it has a bunch of information on the countries all around the world, starting with an introduction about the Country in questions. Like how Canada has just less than 30 million people twice the size of the United States.  Fun facts are also detailed. The Geert Hofstede Analysis goes over some neat data and compares the country to others in important detail. Next is the appearance criteria, for business, casual, dress for weather and more, this one is interesting to me, especially for someone who travels to new places.  Another cool one is the regional behavior, this part is great and has stuff I never knew. Also communication, this part is cool, like how in Canada a firm handshake and good eye contact  are so important in North America but in a lot of places in the world it is thought of as confrontational  or else. Lastly a list of Resources are given at the end, which is great for someone doing research for schools or business or what ever. And for the general information seekers such as myself I've spent loads of time reading on IBEMC.

Visit the IBEMC