Archive for the ‘science fiction’ Category

The Stop Smoking Pill: Fact Or Fiction?


In this day and age where everything is a mere mouse click away, convenience is everything. Everybody is in a hurry, even in getting rid of his or her addiction – including cigarette smoking. The availability of several remedies has smokers in a quandary in choosing the most effective and fastest means to loosen the grip of nicotine. The stop smoking pill is one cure. But is this really so?

Warring Pills

The stop smoking pill is here. This is a prescription drug that provides relief from nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms that plague smokers during their break from cigarette smoking. The stop smoking pill medications in the market today are Zyban and Rimonabant. Pfizer has recently come up with Champix. What makes stop smoking pill products ahead of the nicotine patch are their nicotine-free formulation.

Neurobiology and Stop Smoking Pill Products

Neurobiology is the science that studies the brain and the nervous system of humans and animals. A specialization of this science focuses on the brain and the nervous system. Stop smoking pills were engineered to work on these systems to curb nicotine dependence; hence, its relation to the science.

Stop smoking pills work on the endocannabinoid system which impacts on the tobacco dependence. These work on the brain to reduce the degree of cravings and the withdrawal symptoms. These wreck the release of the pleasure chemical or dopamine. Champix from Pfizer reduces and eventually takes the gratification out of smoking. Zyban increases the levels of dopamine and norepinephrine the way nicotine does. The increased levels of these brain chemicals give people a sense of well-being and vitality. During the cessation treatment, people experience a vast reduction of the urge to smoke and the easing of nicotine withdrawal.

How Are Stop Smoking Pills Taken?

The stop smoking pill therapy is helping millions quit smoking by easing nicotine withdrawal pains and lessening the cravings for nicotine. The first to be marketed was Zyban. This drug gained a following after reports of successful smoking cessation treatments. Zyban was joined by other brands, the latest being Champix from Pfizer.

The Champix clinical runs showed that 44% of the men participating in the trials were able to quit after three months, a very impressive figure. The men in the clinical study were given the pill twice daily and they found relief from withdrawal symptoms. Their cravings also lessened during the weeks they stopped smoking. The first three days daily dosage of Champix is 0.5 mg. On the fourth and seventh day, the same dose is given but this time, twice daily. On the 8th day until the last day of treatment, the dose remains at 1 mg. twice a day.

Zyban is the oldest stop smoking pill, being developed in 1996. Patients are prescribed 150 mg once daily for the first three days. The dosage is increased to 150 mg. twice a day. Zyban is taken about 7 to 12 weeks for best results.

Side Effects

Zyban has had reported side effects, like dry mouth, headaches, insomnia, agitation, and change in appetite. Champix side effects run from nausea, headaches, abnormal dreams, dizziness, dry mouth, diarrhea, flatulence, mood swings, tremor, and heart palpitations. Stop smoking pills can also trigger skin reaction, increased blood pressure, indigestion, and constipation.

You should not self-medicate, nor take an extra dose of the pill to make up for a missed dosage. These can have serious implications on your health. Before taking these pills, you must see your doctor to avert damage that may stem from complications. Stop smoking pill medications are for real and are getting better. When taken right, these are indeed a boon for desperate smokers desiring to stop smoking.

Online Paid Survey: Fact Or Fiction?

Paid surveys are not new, but many people are discovering them as the Internet makes them more popular. Have you ever wondered exactly how the whole thing works? We have collected a few questions which we have provided answers to, in order to help you better understand how online paid surveys work.

What is a survey?

A survey is a “gathering of data or opinions to be representative of a whole.” This is a good description if you want to better understand what you will get from an online paid survey. A survey is basically several questions which are designed to tell the surveyor more about a specific topic. For example, product satisfaction surveys generally are made up of questions intended to determine your opinion about a product: how useful you find it, whether you consider it expensive or reasonably priced, how often you would buy it, how you would use it, and more.

Who needs surveys?

Surveys are a standard market research tool, and are used throughout many industries and for many different topics. Surveys are preferred by marketing companies to gather and evaluate consumers’ opinions, which help them further refine and target their marketing activities.

Why do marketing companies pay consumers for their opinions?

One of the reasons marketing companies pay consumers is because they get better information. Think about free surveys you’ve been asked to take. Most people don’t take those seriously and may give incomplete or incorrect answers. Paying for their opinions is one way to get consumers to give better, more serious information. They don’t mind paying for this information because it helps them better reach their target audience, and that is well worth the small expense of buying some information.

How can I start receiving online paid surveys?

Thanks to the Internet, many marketing companies and consumer companies are paying for online surveys to be filled out. This has become a way for the average Joe to make extra cash with little to no effort. Once you have registered with the survey companies, you will begin receiving surveys. How frequently you receive them will depend upon your profile and the type of survey the company is sending out.

How much can I earn doing online paid surveys?

Each paid survey that you do online can bring a different amount of money. Some surveys may bring you a dollar or two while others may pay up to $50. Some will give you credits towards future purchases or other non-monetary gifts. Your total earnings will depend on the kind of surveys you complete and how many you complete. If you want to make more money, it is obviously better to sign up with more survey companies.

How do I get paid?

Although each survey company may have a different method of payment, the most popular options are PayPal, check, and credit card payments. If you have an option, be sure to select which one will be best for you. Also be aware of how many surveys you need to complete, or what balance you need to achieve before receiving a payout.

What should I watch out for?

As with any other moneymaking business online, you need to carefully select the sites you will work with. There are several legitimate sites, but there are many more fraudulent ones that only want to spam you in the hopes of making some quick cash. Check any contract agreements, and be sure you understand completely what you are being offered, the costs involved, and what your obligations are.

Be sure you are dealing with a real business and not just some fly by night .com scheme. Some signs that it’s a real company are: visible address, phone, and e-mail contact details, as well as the ability to speak to a human representative. Testimonials, while they can be forged, generally indicate a real and respectable company. You can also search for reviews online for the particular company you are looking at, and see what other people may have said about them.

Free Online Surveys That Pay – Fact Or Fiction?


Are there really free online surveys that pay, or are they a legend like leprechauns and Bigfoot? Many online survey companies promise to pay real money for what most people would do for free in their spare time. Filling out opinion surveys is not new, but the idea of taking surveys for money surprises a lot of people. They are even more surprised when they find out how much money they can potentially make.

It’s true that there are actually free online surveys that pay. We, as consumers, look for opportunities to share our knowledge of products and services with the corporations that sell them to us and those corporations are even more interested in what we consumers have to say. It helps them build better products, market those products better, and improve their overall profitability.

The classic example of fish flavored cough syrup in plastic bags is a good one. It’s just something that no one is going to buy. Making a product without thorough market research on real consumers can end up costing a business millions of dollars, so giving gifts or paying a fee to get a valid opinion can save companies a lot of money and time.

Free online surveys that pay that are available in a variety of places online. Be very careful however, because along with those free opportunities are less reputable survey companies. There are companies that will offer a list of free surveys, but to get the list is not free. They charge you money for the “convenience” of having already done the free online survey research for you.

The companies that try to sell you lists are basically middlemen who have done the research you can do yourself and packaged it for resale. The companies that are interested in getting consumer opinions try to make that information available to consumers for free. Still, if you feel that a fee is warranted because it will save you time, go ahead and buy a list.

There are a number of Internet sites where you can find discussion forums that will to you the stories of stay-at-home moms to fill out surveys in their spare time or blue-collar workers that gave up their full-time jobs just to take surveys. Discussion forums are a good place to research the validity of online survey programs, and to get the opinions of other people who have tried different programs.

Getting involved in free online surveys that pay can be a family affair. Most companies have surveys for children, because they are interested in children’s opinions on many products. Children are actually the most frequent consumers of things like snack foods, TV dinners and video games. As long as a responsible adult is in the home while a child is on the computer, there is no reason your children can get involved in taking free online surveys that pay.