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Copyright Victoria Elizabeth 2005.

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY!

– GET OUT AND CELEBRATE “THE YEAR OF THE ROOSTER” 2005 –

On February 9th, people all over the place will be ringing in another Asian Lunar New Year - THE YEAR OF THE ROOSTER!

It’s time to dance with Dragons, bang on the drums, light those fancy firecrackers (left over from Halloween), crack open the fortune cookies, and let’s have a bash - ’cause the “Rooster’s” back in town!

For those of you who haven’t got a clue what’s going on, the party animals are out in full force. This year, “Rooster” rules the roost! And, that means anyone born in 1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993 and of course, the newborn “Roosters” of 2005.

Yo there Chinese astrology fans, if you recall, “Rooster” is the third from the end of the 12-year Chinese Zodiac cycle of crazy critters including first the Rat, then Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, (Rooster — sometimes called Bird or Cock) followed by, Dog and Boar.

Actually “Roosters” are easy to spot. They’re perky, plucky, punctual creatures who don’t need alarm clocks or wake-up calls from the front-desk hotel clerk. These conventional critters have also been known to cut a mean tango, twist, or two-step on the dance floor at weddings, retirements and wakes.

Besides preening their feathers and admiring themselves way too long in the mirror every day, “Roosters” (as are “chicks”) flashy dressers. So, keep your eyes peeled for anyone wearing spiked heels, black fishnet stockings, sparkly mini skirt and matching halter-top with maximum cleavage. And, watch out for a buns-of-steel stud with a colorful rooster tattoo on his right bicep, wearing nothing but a shoe-string thong or skimpy loincloth. No, it’s not a figment of your vivid imagination …it’s just a “Chick” and a “Rooster” doing what comes naturally!!

For those interested in more far-flung fowl facts, take a wee peek below.

In the meantime, suffice to say that all those “lady” birds earn their keep by laying oodles of eggs for Farmer Brown. (Lord knows why these “lucky ladies” get a bad rap as “hen-peckers”; no doubt Farmer Brown had something to do with it). On the other hand, the clucking “cocks”, (who spend most of their time fluffing up their feathers or sidling up to the hens offering them the best bugs and worms in the barnyard), usually end up as “roasters” — on the supermarket shelf or in a KFC bucket!

“Roosters” tend be a tad eccentric, self-oriented, outspoken barnyard creatures, and why not. Who else is consumed with devising yet another bird-brained, “stroke of genius” scheme that no one else can pull off? When not doing dashing detective work, playing Doctor-Do-Little or Naughty Nurse Nellie, or rummaging around in people’s heads as a high-priced success coach (psychiatrist in another life), “Roosters” often get lost in a favorite pastime — deep-musing — which is second only to frolicking about in bucolic settings with pretty young chicks.

When it comes to choosing lovely libertines or life-time companions, “Roosters” are a rather discerning lot. Not any creature will do thank you. Just keep those fowl-challenged folk (like the rambuctious, twitchy-nosed “Rabbit”) well away from those ripsnorting Red “Roosters” — pleeease!!

The best mates for “Roosters” are “Snakes”. Just avoid talking about Adam and Eve, or the snake in the Garden of Eden apple; it spoils the Rooster’s appetite. And whatever you do, make sure you don’t introduce any snake oil sales associates, snake charmers, and snakes in the grass … or there will be hell to pay! If you don’t know any venomless serpents, try “Oxes”. Every “Rooster” needs to find a beautiful if not brave beast of burden willing to plod along affectionately, and not to complain too loudly about having to share a load of smelly organic material from the barnyard of life.

And as a final note, in order to keep your rooster happy, just follow these three things:

1. Let them be Cock of the Walk/Wok for one day. (Heck, that’s the least you can do; after all, they know how to keep time, do the runway thing, and cook stir fried meals for guests — you don’t)!

2. Listen to their cock and bull stories. (They desperately need an appreciative audience and besides, you don’t really mind being entertained by a Big Bad Rooster do you!)

3. Warm the cockles of their hearts like there’s no tomorrow; you’ll have a fabulous feng-shui friend to play with for at least the next 365 days, or possibly a lifetime and beyond — provided you blow sweet nothings softly in his/her ear. (And don’t forget, this advice also works well on February 14th, “Valentine’s Day”, another occasion to try out all the really neat adult toys, chocolate candy kisses, and little red hearts.)

May the Feng-Shui Force Be With You This Year, and before I forget …

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY!

WISHING YOU HAPPINESS AND PROSPERITY THROUGHOUT 2005!

About the Author

Victoria Elizabeth, contributes her pithy poppycock to anyone who will listen — especially her loyal, long-suffering subjects over in the Court of the Quipping Queen at www.quippingqueen.blogspot.com

Now then, the wonders of quagmires are a treat I have never encountered. I had the uncanny ability, as a youth, to attend Europe’s premier music festival twice, and both times I stumbled upon a West Country heat wave.

Yes, it’s true; yours truly enjoyed the warmth of the sun and the cider tent on both occasions whilst at Glastonbury.

For the purpose of what I have to say here, I am going to concentrate on just the one specific event that happened whilst I was there. I was in my early 20s, it was the Saturday of the festival and everything was just hunky dory … no, totally, it was so hunky dory as to warrant my starting a new religion, so I went back to the cider tent to calm down.

I imbibed several more pints of diesel, earthed myself, and as the sun began its descent, I smacked my chops, thanked the staff and wandered over to the main stage for what promised to be an enjoyable evening.

Yes, The Orb were playing, and their oft heard song Little Fluffy Clouds was sure to be a lovely ending to a quite lovely day.

So I trundled over to the said main stage, the colours of the sunset now taking shape and positioned myself so as to get a good view of the stage.

Sure, two blokes and a load of synthesisers isn’t the most spectacular stage show, but, well, I felt sure they’d put on a good light show to make up for the lack of stage presence.

I was pretty early, I don’t think they were due on ’til about half nine or something, and in the meantime, a bloke beside me nudged me, and when I looked round, he pointed behind me. He was grinning. I turned round to see what he was on about, and there, in the adjacent field, a firework display was just starting off. I smiled, thanked him, and got into the display.

It was a good one; it warranted me getting my pipe out of my back pocket, stoking it with draw and cranking my brain. Whoosh! That did the trick. The display was quite beautiful and I gave it my undivided attention, the rockets and their explosions every bit as important as my close shave with the new religion I mentioned earlier.

The display continued for quite sometime, the colours of the sunset now in full flow, it was nearly enough to make the poor boy cry with joy, but, I held on. Eventually, the display ended, and, it was time to settle down to enjoy the main event. Yes, The Orb.

There was just one wee problem. Whilst I had been enjoying the fireworks, the crowd had swollen. From craning my neck upwards to enjoy the fireworks for the last half hour, upon looking straight ahead again, I couldn’t see the stage at all. Now, I’m not the tallest boy, so, it was a case of standing on tip toes, but to no avail. Nothing. Not a jot. The ruddy stage had disappeared!

The Orb had taken to the stage, this much was patently obvious, as the crowd were roaring their approval, and if I looked up into the sky, the laser show was happening, but, Jesus, I couldn’t see a thing. Not to worry, Little Fluffy Clouds was being played and it sounded fantastic, so I didn’t care too much. What was important was the music, I kept telling myself.

Seemed odd though, ‘cos the bloke right in front of me was loving it. I could tell. He was facing me and he had a huge grin plastered all over his face. So was his girlfriend. She was by his side, also facing me, and, like him, was grinning broadly …

Well, eventually, all good things must come to an end. The set had been well over an hour long, my calves were aching from all the tip toeing, so I was kind of relieved, to be honest.

The Orb finished their set, and the crowd gradually began to disperse. I hung around for a bit, just relaxing, enjoying the night air, a bit knackered, but happy.

Finally, I decided it was about time I got back to my tent, whilst I could still remember what it looked like, and that was when it happened. I turned round, to head back, and there, only 20 yards or so away, was the fucking main stage.

I’d got so out of it, so into the firework display that I’d forgotten to turn back round after. No wonder that bloke and his girlfriend had been facing me, enjoying The Orb.

They’d been facing the stage.

© Copyright Holmes Charnley mmiv. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Freelance Journalist based in Devon-UK. For more examples of my work, please visit http://www.articles.me.uk. The two most recent pieces have been published in The Guardian (UK broadsheet.) Pieces also accepted by Jack magazine.

Way back in time, when men used to roam the earth with club in hand, women prayed that the man who knocked her out cold was “the one” - the caveman of her dreams.

Sadly though, many a headache and broken dream was the only result, as the majority of men in the day were not at all that good of a catch by today’s standards. It seemed they only concerned themselves with fending off saber-toothed tigers and really never had much time to hone their romantic skills. They were just the okay kind of a man according to modern ways, and in fact, all of them were like this. The good men - the romantic cavemen - were usually eaten by predators, and to this day, when a fossil is found of such a man, usually a prehistoric flower can also be found right next to him. Scientists figure stargazing at the moment of impact from the fangs of a large animal was the most common way of death for these sensitive characters.

In all the commotion of daily life three thousand years ago, protecting the home front from woolly mammoths and maintaining the sharpness of spears and such took up a lot of time, but supposedly good cavemen somehow managed to muster up enough romantic inclination and ten minutes of time to produce cave babies with their newly captured brides.

Once these cave babies were done crawling around in the dirt of the lair, it was the assumed duty of their cave moms to grow these missing links into strong law-abiding citizens. However, due to the shortages in manpower, and the ever-increasing size of predators grown fat from sensitive brethren lost; the young male cave teenagers had to go out and help the cave dads fight to protect the cave kingdom. Once again, missing out on another poetry lesson carved on the wall by mom.

It seems that in prehistoric days, romantic and sensitive natures were actually “not” what qualified a “good man”, but rather the qualities of strength to provide family safety and goods for survival were the prerequisites. If this were true, then in fact good men were all over the place, because human beings still live today long after extremely large carnivores.

Today however, the needs are different, and therefore the standards of what makes up a good man have changed. Survival is now a vote away, and instead of keeping an eye out for predators, women keep an eye for a straight guy. With brute strength fading behind beer-bellied monkey suits, and spines dwindling away, the sensitive man has been born. The cave men of old can now only be found riding motorcycles, fixing your car, acquiring the company you work for, fighting fires or running down criminals in between football games on tv. As a matter of fact, the day could soon come when it is men who are ruthlessly bashed over the head and taken home. However, and luckily for women, the question of whether to drag him by the hair, or by the feet, was solved by the invention of the wheel.

About The Author

Austin Culley has already been bashed over the head by a cave woman, but still possesses his spine as the Vice President of Oil-Net.Com Inc.

http://www.oil-net.com

First category we’ll examine is pricing. Dish Network has a slight advantage for pricing but will offer slightly less channels in their tiered packaging. For local channels Dish Network charges an additional $5 a month, DirectTV charges $3 a month.

Now we’ll take a look at Sports Programming, one of the most purchased additional packages to satellite TV. Both Dish Network and DirectTV offer sports programming packages at an additional cost. If you’re an avid NFL fan, and want the Sunday Ticket, your only choice is DirectTV, as Dish Network DOES NOT offer the NFL Sunday Ticket. Dish Network does have the Multi-Sport Package which includes most of the FOX regional channels. While very comparable, Direct TV has a slight advantage over Dish Network because of the NFL Sunday Ticket.

Our last category is Equipment, specifically DVR. Both Dish Network and DirectTV offer DVR equipment for free when you order their premium packages, the difference is DirectTV uses Tivo for their DVR equipment. With DirectTV’s TIVO, you can watch one channel, while recording another. Dish Network’s DVR systems do offer more recording hours though. The advantage again goes to Direct TV, because with TIVO you can watch one channel, while recording another.

Now that you’ve seen the differences, what does it all mean? If you need NFL ticket, DirectTV should be your choice hands down. You should also select DirectTV if you want a nicer interface for the DVR equipment.

If you’re on a tight budget, you can save a little each month with Dish Network, as their packages run slightly cheaper per month.

Martin Maness
DirectTV vs Dish Network

If you are searching for the best deal on satellite TV from DIRECT TV, you would think that one would obtain the best deal by ordering directly from the main provider… this is NOT so.

When ordering a DIRECT TV satellite system, it is actually better for the consumer to order online from an authorized DIRECT TV retailer as they will offer a much better deal than if you went directly through DIRECT TV themselves.

Why is that you may ask?

Well, it seems that DIRECT TV would prefer to use the services of authorized retailers to deal with the formalities involved with the actual order and installation of the satellite system.

Keep in mind that DIRECT TV services the entire USA and it would be an absolute nightmare for them to manage all of the orders and installation on their own.

Now, without going into great details as to why the DIRECT TV retailers are able to offer such fabulous deals, the fact is that the completion amongst them is so fierce that many retailers will actually set you up with a complete Satellite TV system absolutely FREE!

So before ordering a Satellite system from DIRECT TV we suggest you save yourself a pile of money by doing your home work first.

If you want a site that has the Best FREE Deals on DlSH NETW0RK or Direct TV take a look HERE.

Whenever someone mentions about satellite TV in United States, Dish Network and DirecTV will be the first two names people mention. Yup, Dish Network and DirecTV are currently the two biggest (or the ONLY two shall i say?) company in the satellite TV world.

The company of dish network tv and directv have been competing for the top spot for many years. As long as most can remember, it has always been dish network vs directv in the world of satellite television.When someone is looking for a satellite TV deal, comparing offers from Dish Network and DirecTV is almost a must-do proceduer.

Here are some common comparisons that potential satellite TV consumers interested:

1. General comparisons between Dish Network and DirecTV

Dish Network offers the most competative satellite TV price. They beat DIRECTV a little in pricing and beat cable TV a lot. Quite a number of the online Dish Network dealers are offering free DVD and DVR that records up to 100 hours of programming now in the promotion period. while DirecTV, although with a higher price, they offer some attractive premium packages like NFL Sunday Ticket that Dish Network doesn’t have. With Sports season pass feature on TiVo, DirecTV lets users record an entire season without re-runs.

2. Programming comparisons between Dish Network and DirecTV

Over 256 channels are available for Dish Network programming. Dish Network broadcasts as many as 231 NFL pre-season, regular season and post-season playoff games without having to purchase a costly season package subscription! (Game access subject to channel availability and programmer restrictions.) It has more comprehensive international programming with additional foreign language programming packages.

DirecTV supports up to 225 channels in their broadcast. DirecTV has exclusive rights to some sports channels, but you need to pay an extra fee to get these channels. Some of the sports packages include NHL Center Ice, MLB Extra Innings, NY Yankee Games, NBA League Pass and NFL Sunday Ticket which gives you access to almost every NFL game.

3. Customer services comparisons between Dish Network and DirecTV

Both Dish Network and DirecTV has a 24 hour customer service line. As Dish Network concerns a lot about their customer relationships and they monitor their dealers pretty well in term of customer satisfactions. VMCSatellite, one of the online Dish Network dealers, once won JD Power top customer satisfactions within two continuos year.

4. Satellite systems warranty comparisons between Dish Network and DirecTV

Most Dish Network dealers offers life time warranty for their basic satellite equipments. DirecTV dealers normally provide a 2 year extended warranty from the day of activation of their satellite systems.

5. Monthly cost comparisons between Dish Network and DirecTV

Dish Network base package starts from $19.99/mo. and DirecTV base package starts from $29.99/mo.

No matter which one you decide to go with, you’re sure to get a great deal with some really good service. Even though they are both good, the continuing war of Dish Network vs Directv will probably go on for many more years to come.

If you need some serious recommendation on which deals (DirecTV or Dish Network) to go for, i would suggest a quick 5 minutes browse on this website: http://www.satellitetvissue.com as they provide info and good recommendation on which broadcast service and dealers to go for.

Teddy L.Cc., an experienced freelance internet webmaster/writer, frequent writter on issue regarding Dish Network and DirecTV satellite deals, electronics goods as well as web hosting. More reference of his writings regarding satellite TV offers can be found at here.

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.

There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.

There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.

Masks and Trance

One useful import from the field of Improvisation is the concept of Masks and Trance to get people thinking in different directions.

Mask studies show that peoples character changes according to the perceived character of the mask they are wearing. Virtual masks (pretending) encourage people to think in radically alternate directions:

a) Businessmen scored low in creativity until they were asked to pretend to be happy go lucky hippies, when their creativity ratings skyrocketed.

b) People are more likely to express inappropriate ideas, as they believe they have less value.

c) People are more likely to express inappropriate ideas, as they are able to give the impression that it is not really what they would say.

d) People are able to quickly switch between personalities by putting on different masks - and instantly change their approach.

These and other topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop MBA, is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com/

The usual perception is that VoIP costs so little because everything costs less on the net. There’s fierce competition, and very low overheads etc. However you need to take into account the history of the telecommunication companies and how they relate to computer networks, and the way data actually gets around the net. An understanding of this is necessary to fully comprehend the mystery behind the VoIP vs. POTS pricing structure.

In the days before computer networks were pre-eminent telcos were using digital communication. At the start the very first digital voice circuit was used in Chicago in 1962 however ARPANET, the forerunner to today’s Internet, wasn’t in operation until 1969. The telecommunication companies used these digital circuits to make lots of voice connections over long distances something that analogue circuits did not have the capacity to do and they continue to use them for this purpose today.

Voice communication has a few unique characteristics. For one thing, it’s intrinsically real-time. You’d get annoyed if phone calls consisted of long periods of silence followed by several seconds of high-speed playback to catch up with the conversation on the other end. To keep this from happening digital voice circuits provide guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS). Once a connection is made, you’ll always get exactly the amount of bandwidth you need. It’s not just bandwidth though; latency is also taken care of by using small, fixed sized data packets. Essentially the infrastructure was specially designed to facilitate voice communication.

When computer networks began popping up in the late 1980s) the {telecommunication companies wanted in. They already had the infrastructure in place so they began looking at how they could send data over their existing phone lines. They came up with numerous technologies with different levels of success. But there was (and still is) an issue: data networks are essentially different from voice networks.

Data is transferred in packets, which can arrive out of order a long time after they’re requested, without causing problems. Internet Protocol (IP) was designed to provide best effort delivery. Telecoms companies had an expensive network in place, so there was a lot of incentive to use it. After a few misses Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) was created as a compromise technology that could carry both voice and data. However it’s much less efficient than a network intended purely for data. The overhead for data transfers on ATM is more than 10connection, compared to about one percent for an Ethernet running full-throttle.

Is it the dawning of the Age of Aquarius? For years, predictions have indicated that humanity is readying itself for a golden age, a so called new age that is right around the corner just waiting to roll in. According to these forecasts, the air we breath will be clean and our environment pure. Hunger, starvation and disease will be eliminated. Most importantly, we will finally experience the peace and harmony we all desire and we will live in the spirit of brotherly love.

I too long for these events to take place, however, the reality that currently exists on our planet is very different and the choices we are making are sending us down a road that does not lead to salvation.

When I think about where we are going and how we are getting there, it can be likened to a can of potted meat. For those of you that are unfamiliar with potted meat, it is a canned meat product that is found next to the Spam and Vienna sausages at the supermarket. Its primary ingredients include cooked beef fatty tissue, beef hearts, beef tripe, cooked pork fatty tissue and mechanically separated chicken. These tasty morsels are ground up into a paste-like consistency, mixed with lots of salt and chemicals, canned and sold for human consumption.

I’m sure by now your mouth is watering and you just can’t wait to sink your teeth into a forkful of this tempting delicacy. And while I make this comment in jest, the reality is that three major food manufacturers fight for shelf space at the supermarket each hoping to capture the potted meat market. The saddest or should I say scariest part of the saga is the fact that people buy it! It isn’t as if only one or two people get the urge to munch down on some good ol’ potted meat, there are thousands if not millions of people around the country why buy it, creating enough value, based on sales, to keep it on the shelf.

By now I know you’re wondering what potted meat has to do with our next step, but it has everything to do with it. Take a moment and look around. Every day, our air grows increasingly worse. Obesity in children is running rampant. The amount and quality of real, wholesome foods on the shelves at supermarkets are being overrun by prepackaged preprocessed chemically laden ones. We fear for our safety, distrust our neighbors and hide in our hearts and in our homes. And like the potted meat, even though we don’t really like it and know it isn’t good for us, we buy it anyway.

Let’s face it folks, we live in a chaotic world and in our haste we look for the easy answer. We let big business and big brother decide what we want, what we need and how much we can put up with. We’ve allowed the air we breathe, the foods we eat and the things we do to poison us and like pigs going to slaughter we do nothing about it, except perhaps complain.

Instead of working to bring in this new and golden age, many of us are sitting around waiting for it to show up. There are some who believe that if we pray hard enough, hope deeply enough or say enough affirmations that things will somehow magically change without any effort on our part.

There are others who believe that it can only be achieved after a major calamity falls upon the earth recreating balance in the imbalanced world in which we live. That it is only through the workings of karma that a profound shift can ever be achieved.

So how can we create this better world? The first step is it needs to become our number one priority. We must decide it is of utmost importance to us and let money, greed and personal gain take a back seat. It necessitates a change in consciousness from “what do I want” to “what do WE need”. Until there is a dramatic transformation in the hearts and minds of man, the goal of a new world, while a nice thought is unachievable.

Unfortunately, many of us have chosen to stand on the sidelines and wait for the tide of personal and planetary changes to occur around us. However, it is not until we stand as a unified whole and demand that change take place that anything will happen at all.

Is it going to be hard? Damn right it’s going to be hard. Tom Hanks in the movie A League of Their Own stated: “If it was easy, everyone would do it. The hard…is what makes it great”. Remember change doesn’t happen by hope or by prayer alone, it requires action. So take a stand, make a decision, let your voice be heard, your greatness shine. Don’t let karma rear its ugly head. Just say no to potted meat and choose to bring in the future you desire.

About The Author

Dr. Rita Louise, PhD is a Naturopathic Physician and a 20-year veteran in the Human Potential Field, and it is her unique gift as a medical intuitive that enlivens her work. Author of the newly released book “Avoiding the Cosmic 2×4″, Dr. Rita Louise, Ph.D. a can help you identify what is really going on and provide you with straightforward guidance and advice. She can be reached by calling 972-475-3393 or visiting her website at http://www.soulhealer.com.

rita@soulhealer.com

Unlike computer monitors, brightness is an important parameter in the choice of a LCD TV set. Since a TV set is viewed from a distance, a (measured) brightness of 220 to 250 nits is appropriate, where for a computer monitor, that would be too bright. When we talk about brightness here, we’re referring to the values we’ve measured ourselves, not the exaggerated, basically useless values claimed by the manufacturers. Some claim up to 800 nits of brightness, a level that would be like looking at a welding torch through a color slide.

Contrast is another story. A good contrast level is always preferable, but you have to be careful not to confuse contrast ratio and screen dynamics. Here’s an example to make that a little more clear.

Here I am trying to display concentric circles in shades of gray, from the lightest to the darkest. Screen A shows the shades correctly, but screen B shows only two shades. They have the same contrast ratio - that is, the relation between the whitest point on the screen and the blackest - but not the same dynamics. Screen A shows more details and more nuances than screen B. So as you can see, you need to be careful about manufacturers’ claims regarding contrast ratio.

Latency is a crucial parameter for users of LCD Televisions, because LCD panels are fundamentally slow. The latency measurement indicates the time it takes for a pixel to change from totally black to saturated white and back to totally black again. Unfortunately, that value is not very representative of reality, because pixels rarely make such extreme transitions. A pixel can change, for example, from dark gray to a lighter gray, and in that case the latency is much worse than what the manufacturers claim.

This curve shows the different latency values as a function of the gray level to be displayed. A change from black to white is shown on the curve as a point at 255 on the X-axis, a black-gray transition is 125 on the X-axis, an alternation between black and dark gray is 50, etc. The official ISO response time specified by the manufacturer is only for black/white transitions (0/255). While the value we measured is in agreement with the manufacturer on this point, it doesn’t mean much as far as the panel’s real-world responsiveness is concerned.

While computer applications are highly sensitive to latency, TV sets are a different matter. A TV doesn’t have a refresh rate of 60Hz by default - depending on the format, the rate is most often 30 Hz, or 30 images per second interlaced. That would seem to mean that a latency of 33 ms (1/30 Hz) would be sufficient, but that’s not so. It’s theoretically sufficient for an interlaced signal, but not for applications on a PC, like video games for example. And with PC/TV convergence the coming thing, 33 ms is not really enough. It would also rule out progressive video formats like 720P. And even for ordinary TV use, a 33 ms latency would be visible when sudden movements occur on-screen.