Desk-Trainer is a series of 3 to 6 minute interactive exercise programs designed to relieve Repetitive Strain Injury pain and to protect against computer injuries like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, back pain, neck pain and Computer Vision Syndrome. The exercises are a proprietary application of the Anat Baniel Method which is based on the work of Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais. The Desk-Trainer program was developed by Israeli company Desk-Trainer, Ltd and first introduced in early 2006. Clinical trials on the efficacy of the program have not been performed, but statistics on user feedback have been continuously collected. These user ratings show 83% of users rating the exercises as 5 out of a possible 5 points on a subjective feedback scale. The average rating of all users giving feedback is 4.78 out a maximum of 5 points (as of Jan 16, 2007).
Anat Baniel, a brain and movement expert, was the assistant and protégé of Dr. Feldenkrais, an Israeli physicist who pioneered a method designed to improve human functioning by increasing self-awareness in movement. Ms. Baniel developed the Anat Baniel Method (ABM) as an extension of the original Feldenkrais Method. The ABM works with the human brain and its remarkable capacity to form new connections and patterns to replace patterns that create pain and limitation of movement. Ms. Baniel's work has focused in two major areas: helping developmentally disabled children and working with adults to reduce pain or improve performance. Her remarkable results with children have been reported in the June 2003 issue of [http://www.cerebralpalsymagazine.com/PDF/PDF%20FILES%202003%20-%202005/CP%20MAG%202003/CP%20MAGAZINE%20JUNE%202003.pdf Cerebral Palsy Magazine] and the December 2006 / January 2007 issue of .
Using the lessons learned from her work with children and adults, Anat Baniel developed the Desk-Trainer exercise programs. Each exercise is designed to generate new information for the brain to work with and create new possibilities for more efficient, pain-free movement. These exercises have been turned into interactive Flash animations which guide the user through the approximately five minute long series of movements. The exercises are available through a web site, as a download playable on cellular telephones or , as video on demand, or over corporate networks for those companies which provide the program for employee wellness.
The program allows the user to specify an area where they are experiencing discomfort. The system remembers the complaint so each time the user logs in they will be offered the next exercise in the series. Users who suffer no pain, but wish to keep fit, are offered a special series. There are also exercises recommended for the over-50 population geared to improve wellness, and vitality. Users may also select individual exercises from a list of over 25 choices.
The user determines the pace of the exercise, and the level of intensity that best suits them. They are invited to rate the quality of the exercises they complete, they can schedule training reminders, and they can access statistics on the exercises they have done to help track progress. for the exercises are calculated and posted on Desk-Trainer's web site.
Anat Baniel, a brain and movement expert, was the assistant and protégé of Dr. Feldenkrais, an Israeli physicist who pioneered a method designed to improve human functioning by increasing self-awareness in movement. Ms. Baniel developed the Anat Baniel Method (ABM) as an extension of the original Feldenkrais Method. The ABM works with the human brain and its remarkable capacity to form new connections and patterns to replace patterns that create pain and limitation of movement. Ms. Baniel's work has focused in two major areas: helping developmentally disabled children and working with adults to reduce pain or improve performance. Her remarkable results with children have been reported in the June 2003 issue of [http://www.cerebralpalsymagazine.com/PDF/PDF%20FILES%202003%20-%202005/CP%20MAG%202003/CP%20MAGAZINE%20JUNE%202003.pdf Cerebral Palsy Magazine] and the December 2006 / January 2007 issue of .
Using the lessons learned from her work with children and adults, Anat Baniel developed the Desk-Trainer exercise programs. Each exercise is designed to generate new information for the brain to work with and create new possibilities for more efficient, pain-free movement. These exercises have been turned into interactive Flash animations which guide the user through the approximately five minute long series of movements. The exercises are available through a web site, as a download playable on cellular telephones or , as video on demand, or over corporate networks for those companies which provide the program for employee wellness.
The program allows the user to specify an area where they are experiencing discomfort. The system remembers the complaint so each time the user logs in they will be offered the next exercise in the series. Users who suffer no pain, but wish to keep fit, are offered a special series. There are also exercises recommended for the over-50 population geared to improve wellness, and vitality. Users may also select individual exercises from a list of over 25 choices.
The user determines the pace of the exercise, and the level of intensity that best suits them. They are invited to rate the quality of the exercises they complete, they can schedule training reminders, and they can access statistics on the exercises they have done to help track progress. for the exercises are calculated and posted on Desk-Trainer's web site.
A Political Traffic Exchange (PTE) is a type of manual traffic exchange designed specifically for increasing traffic to political and opinion/editorial websites and blogs. The first such PTE was designed by Triple Crown Limited, with three (3) PTEs, which are Republican Surf, Democrat Surf, and Independent Surf. The corporate website for Triple Crown Limited is
The Perpetual Harvest Greenhouse System (PHGS) is a system that incorporates different innovative, but proven techniques for creating the best possible greenhouse. The goal is to create a greenhouse system that produces much more food than a conventional greenhouse and in the process being enviromently friendly as well.
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This article provides a list of allusions in The Big O anime series. According to the series creators, The Big O is filled with "inside jokes" and homages to other anime, manga and tokusatsu series as well as western works. Thus, such allusions make up a crucial aspect of the show and reveal much about the show's meaning and influences.
First Season
From Act:03 onward, the first season opening featured the Queen-inspired song "Big-O!" composed by Rui Nagai. The title sequence was an homage to the Ultraseven TV series, featuring black silhouettes of the eponymous Big O and his operator, among others.
Roger The Negotiator
* Dorothy 1 looks very much like the Ultraman monster, Baltan.
Dorothy Dorothy
*The character of R. Dorothy is compared to The Nightingale of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.
* The 'R.' prefix to R. Dorothy's name is a reference to the naming convention for humaniform robots in Isaac Asimov's Robot/Foundation Series.
Electric City
Underground Terror
Bring Back My Ghost
A Legacy of Amadeus
*R. Instro teaches R. Dorothy how to play Chopin's "Prelude No. 15 (D-flat major, Sostenuto)".
*Gieseng's profile consists of a biography of Nikola Tesla.
The Call From The Past
* Chiaki Konaka is known to add references to the Cthulhu Mythos in his works. This episode references H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Dagon, the Sea Titan, is named after the deity of Lovecraft's novella and its "servants" are inspired by the Deep Ones, the frog-men worshippers of Dagon.
*Dagon is really just a megadeus. In its first appearance, it did look like a creature from the outside.
Missing Cat
*R. Dorothy's questioning of her ability to remember a melody ("Whose Memory do you think this song belongs to? This song inside me?") strongly echoes that of Blade Runner's Rachael. ("I didn't know if I could play. I remember lessons... I don't know if it's me, or Tyrell's niece.")
Beck Comes Back
Winter Night Phantom
Daemonseed
*The license plate on Norman's motorcycle reads "".
===Enemy Is Another Big!===
*Big Duo is the air megadeus, analogue to Giant Robos GR-3.
*The battle between Big O and Big Duo contains scenes similar to those seen in two of the Angel battles in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Big Duo grabs Big O's head in a manner similar to Sachiel grabbing Eva-01's head, and Big O assaults Big Duo in a manner similar to Eva-01 attacking Eva-03/Bardiel.
R.D.
* Roger mentions the R.D. cannot harm humans in this episode. It seems that androids follow Asimov's 3 Robotic Fundamentals. Unfortunately, R.D. seems to defy these laws.
Second Season
For its second season, the show sported a brand-new opening sequence, this one an homage to Gerry Anderson's UFO, right down to the song "Respect" composed by Toshihiko Sahashi.For the American broadcast, the original opening was used.
Roger The Wanderer
**As Roger wanders the alternate Paradigm City as a homeless man, he looks up at a pair of gargoyles perched on the side of a building. These two statues closely resemble Brooklyn and Broadway, two gargoyles of the series Disney's Gargoyles.
Negotiation with the Dead
The pillars in Roger's sitting room have a pattern consisting of repeated upper-case W's followed by lower-case O's, forming WoWoW, possibly a reference to one of the show's networks.
Day of the Advent
Leviathan
* Schwarzwald's leaflet is printed on the back of a copy of William Blake's Behemoth and Leviathan.
* Schwarzwald's quote "Imagination and memory are but one thing, which for diverse considerations have diverse names" is lifted from Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan.
The Greatest Villain
* The color of the suits Beck and his henchmen wear - yellow, red, and greenish blue - are likely (made much more clear during the RX-3 scene) a reference to the classic Super Sentai colors.
* Roger's use of the O Thunder to quickly and anti-climatically end the battle is a probable homage to a similar scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Eyewitness
* While Roger is walking through a parking complex, the nose of a vehicle sticks out from behind a support beam--the design of the front is of the Batmobile from Batman: The Animated Series, albeit purple instead of jet black.
Stripes
The Third Big
* Big Fau's name was probably derived from the name Faust.
* Big Fau is the sea megadeus, analogue to Giant Robos GR-2.
Hydra
*The three-headed electrical Hydra is probably based on Godzilla's King Ghidorah. Its name could also be a reference to mythological Lernaean Hydra.
Twisted Memories
The Big Fight
The War of Paradigm City
*Schwarzwald quotes William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (Plate 16) when he says "The Giants who formed this world into its sensual existence, and now seem to live in it in chains, are in truth the causes of its life & the sources of all activity; but the chains are the cunning of weak and tame minds, which have power to resist energy."
*The character of Gordon Rosewater paraphrases from William Shakespeare's As You Like It when he says "if it's true about this world, if it's one enormous stage, then we're just merely actors playing out our roles on it. We don't need to have any memories. But I've always wondered why can't there be those who can change their roles?"
The Show Must Go On
*Big O, Big Duo, and Big Fau represent the legendary creatures Behemoth, Ziz, and Leviathan. In Jewish belief, there is a legend that the Behemoth and Levithan will have a battle at the end of the world, which is enacted by the fight between Big O and Big Fau.
*Big Fau may have a reference to Frankenstein's monster, due to its long head, the objects on the sides of its head that resemble the bolts on the head of Frankenstein's monster, and the nature of its reconstruction.
Musical Allusions
In an interview with AnimePlay, designer Keiichi Sato said "Yes, some songs go beyond the realm of 'showing respect.' I asked Mr. Sahashi to create a musical score that integrated musical homages that can be recognized by viewers over the age of thirty. We chose Mr. Sahashi because he has a frightening amount of musical knowledge about TV dramas overseas."
One of the main battle themes, Stand a Chance is a reworking of Vangelis' end titles theme for the movie Blade Runner, with a more orchestral sound, while the bombastic and brassy False has more than a hint of John Barry's James Bond work to it, and the eerie and spectral Touch betrays a Twilight Zone influence.
First Season
From Act:03 onward, the first season opening featured the Queen-inspired song "Big-O!" composed by Rui Nagai. The title sequence was an homage to the Ultraseven TV series, featuring black silhouettes of the eponymous Big O and his operator, among others.
Roger The Negotiator
* Dorothy 1 looks very much like the Ultraman monster, Baltan.
Dorothy Dorothy
*The character of R. Dorothy is compared to The Nightingale of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.
* The 'R.' prefix to R. Dorothy's name is a reference to the naming convention for humaniform robots in Isaac Asimov's Robot/Foundation Series.
Electric City
Underground Terror
Bring Back My Ghost
A Legacy of Amadeus
*R. Instro teaches R. Dorothy how to play Chopin's "Prelude No. 15 (D-flat major, Sostenuto)".
*Gieseng's profile consists of a biography of Nikola Tesla.
The Call From The Past
* Chiaki Konaka is known to add references to the Cthulhu Mythos in his works. This episode references H.P. Lovecraft's The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Dagon, the Sea Titan, is named after the deity of Lovecraft's novella and its "servants" are inspired by the Deep Ones, the frog-men worshippers of Dagon.
*Dagon is really just a megadeus. In its first appearance, it did look like a creature from the outside.
Missing Cat
*R. Dorothy's questioning of her ability to remember a melody ("Whose Memory do you think this song belongs to? This song inside me?") strongly echoes that of Blade Runner's Rachael. ("I didn't know if I could play. I remember lessons... I don't know if it's me, or Tyrell's niece.")
Beck Comes Back
Winter Night Phantom
Daemonseed
*The license plate on Norman's motorcycle reads "".
===Enemy Is Another Big!===
*Big Duo is the air megadeus, analogue to Giant Robos GR-3.
*The battle between Big O and Big Duo contains scenes similar to those seen in two of the Angel battles in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Big Duo grabs Big O's head in a manner similar to Sachiel grabbing Eva-01's head, and Big O assaults Big Duo in a manner similar to Eva-01 attacking Eva-03/Bardiel.
R.D.
* Roger mentions the R.D. cannot harm humans in this episode. It seems that androids follow Asimov's 3 Robotic Fundamentals. Unfortunately, R.D. seems to defy these laws.
Second Season
For its second season, the show sported a brand-new opening sequence, this one an homage to Gerry Anderson's UFO, right down to the song "Respect" composed by Toshihiko Sahashi.For the American broadcast, the original opening was used.
Roger The Wanderer
**As Roger wanders the alternate Paradigm City as a homeless man, he looks up at a pair of gargoyles perched on the side of a building. These two statues closely resemble Brooklyn and Broadway, two gargoyles of the series Disney's Gargoyles.
Negotiation with the Dead
The pillars in Roger's sitting room have a pattern consisting of repeated upper-case W's followed by lower-case O's, forming WoWoW, possibly a reference to one of the show's networks.
Day of the Advent
Leviathan
* Schwarzwald's leaflet is printed on the back of a copy of William Blake's Behemoth and Leviathan.
* Schwarzwald's quote "Imagination and memory are but one thing, which for diverse considerations have diverse names" is lifted from Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan.
The Greatest Villain
* The color of the suits Beck and his henchmen wear - yellow, red, and greenish blue - are likely (made much more clear during the RX-3 scene) a reference to the classic Super Sentai colors.
* Roger's use of the O Thunder to quickly and anti-climatically end the battle is a probable homage to a similar scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Eyewitness
* While Roger is walking through a parking complex, the nose of a vehicle sticks out from behind a support beam--the design of the front is of the Batmobile from Batman: The Animated Series, albeit purple instead of jet black.
Stripes
The Third Big
* Big Fau's name was probably derived from the name Faust.
* Big Fau is the sea megadeus, analogue to Giant Robos GR-2.
Hydra
*The three-headed electrical Hydra is probably based on Godzilla's King Ghidorah. Its name could also be a reference to mythological Lernaean Hydra.
Twisted Memories
The Big Fight
The War of Paradigm City
*Schwarzwald quotes William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (Plate 16) when he says "The Giants who formed this world into its sensual existence, and now seem to live in it in chains, are in truth the causes of its life & the sources of all activity; but the chains are the cunning of weak and tame minds, which have power to resist energy."
*The character of Gordon Rosewater paraphrases from William Shakespeare's As You Like It when he says "if it's true about this world, if it's one enormous stage, then we're just merely actors playing out our roles on it. We don't need to have any memories. But I've always wondered why can't there be those who can change their roles?"
The Show Must Go On
*Big O, Big Duo, and Big Fau represent the legendary creatures Behemoth, Ziz, and Leviathan. In Jewish belief, there is a legend that the Behemoth and Levithan will have a battle at the end of the world, which is enacted by the fight between Big O and Big Fau.
*Big Fau may have a reference to Frankenstein's monster, due to its long head, the objects on the sides of its head that resemble the bolts on the head of Frankenstein's monster, and the nature of its reconstruction.
Musical Allusions
In an interview with AnimePlay, designer Keiichi Sato said "Yes, some songs go beyond the realm of 'showing respect.' I asked Mr. Sahashi to create a musical score that integrated musical homages that can be recognized by viewers over the age of thirty. We chose Mr. Sahashi because he has a frightening amount of musical knowledge about TV dramas overseas."
One of the main battle themes, Stand a Chance is a reworking of Vangelis' end titles theme for the movie Blade Runner, with a more orchestral sound, while the bombastic and brassy False has more than a hint of John Barry's James Bond work to it, and the eerie and spectral Touch betrays a Twilight Zone influence.