HOT INFORMATION CENTRE

In Death, Ex-Dictator Elicits Grief and Tributes

2008-01-29T07:55:00.000+07:00

SOLO, Indonesia — _ Former President Suharto was buried in a family tomb on a sacred hillside here on Monday, one day after his death in Jakarta, embraced by many as a great leader despite his reign as a brutal and corrupt dictator.

In a ceremony that mixed Javanese, Islamic and military traditions, his body was placed in a marble tomb in a family mausoleum, beside that of his wife, Siti Hartinah, who died in 1996, and those of three other relatives.

President Susilo Bambamb Yudhoyono and other leading figures attended the funeral, arriving here in central Java in a fleet of military aircraft.

Television stations maintained live coverage through much of Sunday afternoon and Monday, filling the pauses with sentimental documentaries that could have been filmed during his 32 years of strongman rule, one of them titled, “Farewell, Great General.”

Surging, shouting crowds had mobbed the ambulance that drove his body from a hospital to his home in central Jakarta, where he had lived since being ousted from power 10 years ago.

Mr. Yudhoyono, who like many of the country’s current leaders owes his career to Suharto, declared a week of mourning and addressed the nation in something close to a whisper.

“I invite all the people of Indonesia to pray that the deceased’s good deeds and dedication to the nation may be accepted by God the almighty,” he said. “Suharto has done a great service to the nation.”

He then joined mourners at Mr. Suharto’s home in central Jakarta, where the president was shown on television praying at the coffin, which was draped with a white sheet.

Mr. Suharto, 86, died Sunday after three weeks in the intensive care ward of a Jakarta hospital, where doctors said he had been suffering from multiple organ failure.

His long illness was the occasion for a national debate over his legacy and over calls to drop corruption charges against him, but the negative voices were mostly quiet on Sunday.

Mr. Suharto was ousted by a popular uprising in May 1998. He had brought his nation from poverty to development, but he was one of the most brutal dictators of his time, responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people. The United Nations also lists him as the most corrupt leader of his time.

When his death was announced, as if fulfilling the predictions of mystics, wind and heavy rain lashed the hillside where he was to be buried.

“The tears of Indonesia are raining on me,” said an Indonesian photographer by telephone from the hillside.

Soon after that a small earthquake struck near Yogyakarta, close to Mr. Suharto’s birthplace.

The emotional heart of the day was the appearance at the hospital of Mr. Suharto’s oldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, at a news conference where his death was announced.

Mr. Suharto’s chief doctor, Marjo Subiandono, spoke first, opening with a phrase from the Koran, “To God we belong, and to God we shall return.” He gave the time of death as 1:10 p.m.

Mr. Suharto’s daughter, known by her nickname, Tutut, wearing a black Muslim head scarf in mourning, took a microphone, leaned forward and coughed back tears before speaking.

“In the name of the family, I ask forgiveness for any mistakes my father made,” she said in a tiny, barely audible voice. “I hope his spirit is accepted by God.” Her pale face was a blur in the flashes of the cameras.

“I cannot bear the sadness,” she said, putting down the microphone.

Mr. Suharto’s six children are among the wealthiest people in Indonesia, accused along with their father of enriching themselves through graft and manipulated business deals.

At one point during Mr. Suharto’s illness, the attorney general was reported to have offered to settle the only outstanding corruption case against Mr. Suharto. But there were conflicting reports over whether the idea was initiated by the government or by his family.

The civil case, which seeks $1.4 billion in compensation for money said to have been stolen through a charitable foundation, could proceed against his heirs, said legal scholars quoted in the news media.

Mr. Suharto had avoided trial on corruption charges because his lawyers argued that a series of strokes had weakened his mind too much for him to participate.

He had spent the past decade living quietly, sidelined in the vigorous democracy that almost immediately filled the vacuum left after his downfall.

The decline of his health revived his place in the public eye and reinvigorated debate over his legacy.

Indonesia was transfixed by sometimes lurid daily reports of his fluctuating health —one day an “amazing recovery,” the next day “very critical.” As recently as Saturday, doctors were talking about the possibility of moving him from the intensive care unit and beginning rehabilitation exercises.

Alongside the coverage of high-ranking officials praying at his coffin on Sunday, television documentaries presented Mr. Suharto to the nation in a way that he had not been seen for a decade.

There he was, on one station after another, as he used to be: visiting farmers, catching a fish, playing golf, meeting foreign leaders, receiving applause — a benevolently smiling father figure.
By SETH MYDANS

A President Like My Father

2008-01-29T07:47:00.000+07:00

OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.

My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.

Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.

We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn’t that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country — just as we did in 1960.

Most of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences. However, the candidates’ goals are similar. They have all laid out detailed plans on everything from strengthening our middle class to investing in early childhood education. So qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual.

Senator Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities, taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people — known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics — to become engaged in the political process.

I have spent the past five years working in the New York City public schools and have three teenage children of my own. There is a generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future. Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents’ grandchildren, with that sense of possibility.

Senator Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign. He has spoken eloquently about the role of faith in his life, and opened a window into his character in two compelling books. And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.

I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.

I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.
By CAROLINE KENNEDY

Suharto: Twilight of the God

2008-01-28T08:05:00.000+07:00

The modern-day visitor to the thousand-year-old temple complex of Prambanan in central Java may be surprised by sculptures with a familiar face or, rather, a familiar smile. And suddenly comes the revelation: the slightly bemused yet severely serene expression on every face of the antique gods of Java, the heart of what has become Indonesia, was perfected by a 20th century general who would rule the country for more than 30 years, as if he himself were a god with the right to parcel out prosperity and peace, a heaven-sent arbiter of life and death. Even after he was forced to relinquish power, Suharto dwelt among his countrymen as if invulnerable to mortal retribution, as if Indonesia could not act against the man who was once its infallible, singular autocrat. When he died on Sunday, January 27 in Jakarta, at the age of 86, the islands of Indonesia shuddered.
The years since a popular uprising forced him to resign the presidency have not brought Indonesia quiet. The predominantly Muslim country's Islamic extremists, long repressed by Suharto's military, came roaring to life, some finding common cause with al-Qaeda, fomenting attacks not once but twice on Indonesia's paradaisical enclave of Bali — the last refuge of the islands' old Hindu gods.

Stability had been Suharto's gift to his country. He had come to power at the head of a junta of generals in 1965, overthrowing the country's flamboyant and charismatic first president, Sukarno, whose friendship with Beijing and predeliction for Communists in the government had brought the country to the brink of economic collapse and civil war. Ensconced in power, Suharto proceeded to purge the country of Communism and anyone suspected of Communist sympathy. No one knows how many died. One estimate has it at 500,000 — among them many Indonesians of Chinese descent. The Communist Party was outlawed and Indonesian citizens banned from having Chinese names.

The result was a cowed and pacified country ruled by a new President —Suharto — with a practiced beatific smile, anti-Communist credentials which a Cold War–obsessed America would reward, a secular philosophy that tamped down religious extremism, and a military that no one could question. He brought an end to the hyperinflation of Sukarno's reign and eradicated the country's widespread hunger by establishing Indonesian self-sufficiency in rice. Stability attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment. "Suharto built Indonesia and we have him to thank for modern buildings, ports and harbors," says Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, a former mines and energy minister under Suharto. "He has made mistakes, and there were consequences for many, but he used that centralistic form of government to build things as fast as possible."

But the new Indonesia also made it possible for a small group of Suharto family members and cronies to earn billions of dollars from monopolies on everything from cars to cloves. Foundations set set up during the New Order regime, as his reign was known, are alleged by anti-corruption watchdogs to have amassed billions of dollars. The Suharto family's wealth was estimated by TIME in 1999 at $15 billion. Transparency International, a group monitoring government corruption around the world, reported his personal wealth at closer to $35 billion.

Meanwhile, the regime brooked no opposition. Behind the President's smile were very sharp teeth. Student activists would vanish, dissident writers and journalists jailed. Thousands were killed in Aceh, where a separatist rebellion simmered for 29 years; and more than 200,000 are believed to have perished in East Timor after Indonesia invaded the tiny Portuguese enclave in 1975. (East Timor has since established its independence from Indonesia.)

But economic cataclysm struck in 1997 and, in spite of all of Suharto's soldiers and all of his money, Indonesia was inundated by the Asian financial crisis. Currency speculation had led to the collapse of Thailand's currency, which started a chain of events that swamped Indonesia's rupiah. The devaluation sent company profits dramatically downward; Jakarta's stock market crashed. Food prices spiked upwards, leading to rioting in the streets and the death of perhaps hundreds of people clamoring for food in the capital. The country's divisions re-emerged: Muslims vs. non-Muslims; Malay-Indonesians vs. Chinese-Indonesians; secular Muslims vs. orthodox Muslims. The ghosts of the old Indonesia that Suharto thought he had exorcised had returned to haunt the country.

Instability now led the repressed opposition to gain an audience not just with the besieged middle class but among the military and Suharto's own ruling Golkar party as well. He exacerbated the crisis by hubristically reminding the country of his mandate, running for reelection in March 1998 — unopposed, as was his practice. The country would have none of it. Once street demonstrations and riots started, Suharto could not stay in power without causing bloody chaos. He resigned in May 1998.

After the overthrow, Suharto spent most of his time living at home with his family in an upscale neighborhood in central Jakarta even as allegations of ill-gotten wealth percolated through the press. Citing declining health and diminished mental capacity, Suharto managed to stay out of court despite a 1998 legislative decree ordering an investigation in all corruption, collusion and nepotism charges involving Suharto. He was constantly in and out of hospitals after suffering strokes and undergoing kidney dialysis.

When it became clear that he would not survive the latest hospitalization, the new rulers of the archipelago came to pay homage and to pray for his recovery. The Golkar party, which Suharto founded and retains the largest bloc in parliament, called for all pending graft charges —pending for a decade now — be dropped. As the ex-strongman lay dying, the health minister instructed all hospitals to provide their best equipment to Pertamina hospital, where Suharto was being treated. But after three weeks, he died of multiple organ failure. He will be buried next to his wife in the central Java city of Solo. It is not clear what will happen to the civil suit brought against him by Indonesia's attorney general for allegedly siphoning off more than $1.4 billion from one of the many foundations set up during his rule.

An era of democracy has now replaced Suharto's despotic rule. And yet, he leaves behind an edifice as sturdy as that millennium-old temple in Prambanan. The way things are done in Indonesia is the system of patronage he set up and it remains firmly in place to this day.
With Howard Chua-Eoan/New York
By JASON TEDJASUKMANA/JAKARTA

Suharto was charming, but lethal

2008-01-28T08:00:00.000+07:00

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Responsible for shaping modern Indonesia, Haji Muhammad Suharto was known as the "smiling general," but his legacy as one of the great Cold War era strongmen was built on corruption and a reign of violence that left hundreds of thousands dead.
He died on January 27 in hospital at the age of 86 after being treated for liver, heart and lung disease. He had been admitted to hospital on January 4 suffering from anemia.

He had already been weakened by strokes in recent years that gave him brain damage and impaired speech but prevented him from being put on trial.

Suharto rose to power by crushing an alleged communist uprising in 1965 after his political rivals were mysteriously eliminated.

His iron-fist rule went unchallenged until widespread protests in 1998, when his downfall ushered democracy into the world's fourth largest nation.

Born into a poor rice-farming family on Java island in 1921, Suharto received military training first in the Dutch colonial army and then in a collaborationist unit set up by Japanese occupiers in World War II.

He later joined the Indonesian army that resisted Dutch efforts to regain control over its former colony.

After Indonesia became independent in 1949, Suharto climbed the ranks as a favorite of founding President Sukarno, eventually becoming a five-star general.

A murky military rebellion in 1965 saw his fellow senior officers killed, allowing Suharto to assert his control of the armed forces before easing Sukarno from power.

It was during that period that Suharto embarked on a nationwide purge of alleged communists overseen by his powerful military. Human rights groups estimate anywhere between 500,000 to a million people were killed.

Although Indonesia is still struggling to come to terms with the bloodletting and graft of the Suharto era, many ordinary people also remember the drastic improvements in quality of life experienced under their "father of development."
Before financial meltdown put the brakes on the country's booming economy, Western-educated financial experts helped transform Indonesia from a Southeast Asian backwater into a key regional player, replete with gleaming skyscrapers and soaring toll roads.

But the price of success was high.

In 1975, his troops invaded the territory of East Timor -- with the tacit support of Western allies keen to prop up an anti-communist leader.

The ensuing occupation lasted more than two decades and killed more than 100,000 people, according to human rights groups. His aim was to keep the sprawling Indonesian archipelago together.

Separatist rebellions were quickly crushed, while democratic elections were rigged to re-elect Suharto year after year. Political opponents were routinely kidnapped and tortured.

As billions of dollars of foreign investment poured in to oil-rich Indonesia's transformed economy, huge sums were siphoned off by Suharto's cronies and family, who became lavish spenders in a poor country -- oblivious to growing resentment among its 210 million people.

The Asian financial crisis of 1997 plunged Indonesia into economic free fall and unleashed a wave of anti-Suharto violence. Students led a massive popular uprising, storming parliament, before the dictator finally stood down in May 1998.

In his final years, Suharto lived to witness the dismantling of his regime. Far-flung regions once subdued by force, erupted into violence. East Timor gained independence in 2002 and two years later Indonesians appointed their first democratically elected president.

Many hoped Suharto's wrongs would be exposed in court. Instead, his children were prosecuted. Tommy Suharto, the youngest and the most flamboyant, was jailed for corruption.

Suharto himself never stood trial. Indonesia's Supreme Court decreed that the former strongman, who suffered from strokes and heart problems in his final years, was permanently ill and unfit to stand trial.

Indonesian ex-dictator Suharto dies

2008-01-28T07:52:00.000+07:00

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Former Indonesian dictator Suharto -- the "smiling general" who ruled his country with an iron fist for three decades -- died Sunday at a hospital in Jakarta, said his doctor. He was 86.
He was rushed to Pertamina Hospital on January 4 for treatment of a failing liver, heart and lungs, his doctors said.

He had been suffering at home for five days.

His death comes just a day after his doctors said he appeared to be making a remarkable recovery.
"My father passed away peacefully," cried Suharto's eldest daughter, Tutut, according to The Associated Press. "May God bless him and forgive all of his mistakes."

A week of national mourning was declared by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is taking charge of a state funeral after Suharto's body is flown by Air Force planes to the family mausoleum.

In a televised address, Yudhoyono called on "the people of Indonesia to pay their last respects to one of Indonesia's best sons and national leader who has done very great service to his beloved nation."

Suharto, who, like other Indonesians, only has one name, was president of Indonesia from 1967 until he was forced to resign -- amid immense political pressure and mass street protests -- in 1998. Poor health kept him from court after he left office.

Suharto was vilified as one of the world's most brutal rulers and was accused of overseeing a reign of corruption and, later, economic decline.

Most of the political killings blamed on Suharto took place in the 1960s. Later about 300,000 people were killed, disappeared or jailed in the fight for independence in East Timor, Aceh and Papua, human rights groups and the United Nations say.

But he is also credited with shaping modern Indonesia, a mainly Muslim country of 235million people, by boosting its economy and making the sprawling archipelago a regional power.
"He was known as the smiling general. He could be very charming, but behind that smile was this streak of steel," said Richard Woolcott, Australia's former ambassador to Indonesia.

"In the short term, he'll probably be judged fairly harshly by Australian critics and others in the West, but in the longer term, I suspect historians will see his contributions to Indonesia in a very positive light," Woolcott told CNN.

But Jeffrey Winters, associate professor of political economy at Northwestern University, told AP corruption effectively robbed "Indonesia of some of the most golden decades, and its best opportunity to move from a poor to a middle class country."

"When Indonesia does finally go back and redo history, (its people) will realize that Suharto is responsible for some of the worst crimes against humanity in the 20th century," Winters added.

Starting a Small Business 101

2008-01-08T13:03:00.000+07:00

Starting a small business requires determination, motivation, and know-how. Here's a list of available resources to provide you with the know-how to have a successful small business startup.

Identify Your Business Opportunity: Choosing what kind of business to start can be an immobilizing task when confronted with the multitude of opportunities. Here at About, we have identified the hottest business opportunities to give you a few ideas. It's important to determine where your passions lie and to understand your entrepreneurial personality type. So you think you have found the one business opportunity that will bring you freedom, fame, and plenty of profits? Does it meet the 8 simple rules?

Build a Business Plan: For the majority of start-ups, a business plan allows you to gain a better understanding of your industry structure, competitive landscape, and the capital requirements of starting a small business.

If business planning is beneficial, why do so few startups use business planning? Learn the critical steps to writing a business plan.

Name Your Business: What's in a business name? Everything and nothing. The right business name will help distinguish you from a sea of bland competitors, provide your customers with a reason to hire you, and aid in the branding of your company. Apply these 10 commandments when choosing a name for your business.

Choose a Business Structure: Find the best ownership structure for your small business. The most basic of all business legal structures is the sole proprietorship. Other possible structures include the popular limited liability company, a partnership, or an S corporation.

Register Your Business: Starting a small business requires the usual paperwork and regulations. Secretary of State offices register corporations, LLC's, partnerships, and articles of dissolution. Setting up your small business may require an employer identification number. The EIN is also used by state taxing authorities to identify businesses.

Find Start-up Money: Contrary to popular belief, most small business start-ups aren't funded by grants, venture capitalists, or banks. Your seed money will come from your personal savings, friends, family, and any other creative means such as bartering.

Determine Your Business Location: A 2001 Inc 500 survey revealed over 56% of the fastest growing companies were started at home. Discover what you need to make your home office design more productive. If home business isn't for you, learn how sharing office space can aid your startup. Don't forget to review the pros and cons of office space leasing vs. buying.

Get Business Insurance: As a new small business owner, you have the responsibility to manage the risks associated with your business. Don't put your new start-up at risk without getting the proper small business insurance to protect your company in the event of disaster or litigation.

Create an Accounting System: Unless you're a number person, the accounting and bookkeeping aspect of running your business can't be avoided. Setting up your accounting will help you understand the financials of running a business.
Darrell Zahorsky

The Key to Great Romantic Relationships

2008-01-02T17:26:00.000+07:00

I've been engaged 3 times - only married once. The first time was to my high school sweetheart - a few short weeks before the ceremony - right before his college graduation - he broke my heart. He left me for another man. Uh-huh, you heard that right. Suffice it to say, we made our way back to each other six years later and have maintained a platonic friendship for many years (we send birthday and holiday cards to each other).

The second time was a rebound off of the previous situation - what was I thinking???

This time there was a wedding - and just as I was about to divorce the guy 2 years later, I found out that my marriage wasn’t legal to begin with - so I got an anullment for sixty bucks.

I spent the next 10 years of my life dating a few guys but I never felt empowered in my relationships with them. Right before I moved out west, I was dating a guy who was 20 years older than myself. One Sunday afternoon, he sat me on his knee (like a daughter) and gave me the talk that I wish my own father had given me around age 14 or so. He taught me what I needed to know about how men think and how to maintain my own standards and self-esteem regarding dating relationships. (By the way, he’s a published author on relationships).

Let me tell you, my whole world changed after that afternoon. I learned that I now had the key to attract the types of relationships I desire - be they of a personal or of a business nature. No longer did I feel like a victim of romantic circumstances! I felt like a caterpillar who had just metamorphed into a monarch butterfly. To this day, when I remember to follow this advice, things always turn out great.

When you truly understand and apply this key to great relationships, the world will treat YOU right.
Holly Stabin

Get an MIT or Yale Education Free

2008-01-02T08:26:00.000+07:00

You can finally get that MIT, Yale, or University of Tokyo education you've always wanted without spending a cent. All it takes is an Internet-connected computer and a little familiarity with skills like downloading programs and unzipping files.

A growing number of universities are posting entire courses—often including audio or video lectures, notes, reading lists, homework assignments, and exams—on the Web. Professors won't grade the digital students' work, so the schools won't give credit. But you still get access to an elite education, and you don't even have to apply for admission. Now anyone can watch an MIT professor shoot a bullet in a Physics 1 course to demonstrate velocity or listen to a short Stanford course on the Future of the Internet. For the hundreds of online courses that just consist of notes and reading lists, your local public library can lend the books and articles you're "studying." While most of the courses are in English, there are a growing number of translation sites offering the materials in Chinese, Thai, Spanish, Portuguese, and other languages.

MIT has the most impressive catalog of online offerings, with several dozen complete college courses that can be found here. MIT has also posted reading lists and syllabuses for nearly every course it has offered in the past five years—about 1,800 classes. To get students ready for college, MIT this year even launched a sub-site aimed at high schoolers. It offers fun how-to courses on building stereo speakers and guitars as well as help for students taking AP science and math courses.

Yale earlier this month launched complete videotaped versions of seven of its most popular courses, including astronomy, poetry, philosophy, and psychology. The university plans to add at least 30 more of its courses to its new website.

The Open Coursework Consortium serves as a clearinghouse for dozens of free courses from the University of Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins, and many overseas schools. And those who speak languages other than English can visit the site to find out how to audit remotely college classes given in China, France, South Korea, Mexico, Japan, and other countries.
Kim Clark

Six Reasons to Make a Career Change

2008-01-02T08:22:00.000+07:00

Should a Career Change Be in Your Future?
The average person can expect to change careers three to five times in his or her lifetime. One reason for all these career changes is that people often don't make informed choices. While making an informed decision regarding your career is a good way to help insure that the career you choose is right for you, it doesn't guarantee it. Even if you follow all the prescribed steps and choose a career that is right for you, it may not remain your best choice forever. Here are some reasons to consider leaving your current career for a new one.
You Should Consider a Career Change If ...
Your Life Has Changed:
When you chose your career your life may have been different than it is today. For example you may have been single then and now you have a family.

The crazy schedule or the frequent travel that is typical of your career may not suit your new lifestyle. You should look for an occupation that is more "family friendly."
The Job Outlook in Your Field Has Worsened: Things looked promising for your field when you entered it. Due to changes in technology, the economy, or the industry you work in, job opportunities are no longer plentiful. You should look for an occupation that has a better outlook.
You Are Experiencing Job Burnout:
Once upon a time you loved going to work everyday. You no longer feel that way. You can't stand doing your job anymore and changing employers hasn't helped. It could be time to find a career that will inspire you.
Your Job is Too Stressful:
Some occupations are inherently stressful. After a while the stress can become too much to handle. To preserve your mental and physical health, you may have to find a career that is less stressful.
You Find Your Work Boring:
When you did your initial research, the occupation you ultimately chose had a lot of advancement opportunities. Now that you've been working in that field, you've climbed as far up the ladder as you can go, and you miss the challenges you once faced. A career change can provide you with the challenge you crave.
You Want to Earn More Money:
You may be surprised to learn that money isn't at the top of the list when it comes to job satisfaction. Therefore, don't be surprised if a career that will bring you higher earnings isn't one you will find particularly satisfying. That said, if other reasons are leading you to consider a career change, higher earnings should be something you consider when you choose a new career.
Dawn Rosenberg McKay.

2008-01-02T08:13:00.000+07:00

Behavioral Interviewing - Tips for Candidates
Behavioral interviewing (or behavioral event interviewing, BEI) is a standardized method of interviewing designed to measure how you will perform on the job. The principle behind the technique is the belief that the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior.

The Traditional Interview

In a traditional job interview, the interviewer will run through the applicant's resume using open-ended questions to gain more information. Many of the questions a job applicant will be asked can be anticipated in their own mind beforehand. For example:

Tell me more about your last job?
Why did you leave your last job?
Why are you interested in this job?
Behavioral Interviewing

During a behavioral interview, you will be asked a series of standardized questions designed to get you to talk about how you handled or responded to certain situations in the past. With each answer, you'll be expected to describe situations from your past and your feelings and observations about them. The interviewer will use this information to assess your proficiency in one or more job-related areas, which may include anything from adaptability to leadership to problem solving.

Behavioral questions may be 'dropped' into a 'chatty interview' or you may be formally required to answer a set list. You can expect interviewers to have several follow up questions and probe for details that explore all aspects of a given situation or experience.

What are the questions like?

Behavioral questions usually begin with a statement like: 'Tell me about a time when...' or 'Can you a describe a situation where...'.

The following are some examples of typical behavioral questions and the competencies they demonstrate:

Describe a difficult problem that you tried to solve. How did you identify the problem? How did you go about trying to solve it? (Demonstrates problem solving)
Describe a time when you tried to persuade another person to do something that they were not very willing to do. (Demonstrates leadership)
Describe a time when you decided on your own that something needed to be done, and you took on the task to get it done. (Demonstrates initiative)

Preparation Tips for a Behavioral Interview
Preparing for a behavior based interview can be daunting. Here are some tips to get started:

Be familiar with the job for which you're being interviewed. Read the advertisement or job description to identify which personal attributes and behaviors are likely to be key success factors for the role. For Client interviews it is advised that you research the company's website and any external information about them from business directories etc.

Make a note of two or three examples for each personal attribute that will best illustrate your suitability - you may want to bring these into the interview with you as prompts. Remember that different companies and industries may require different personal attributes, even for the same position.

For example, 'self-managing' can mean very different things to different companies.

Be able to draw from a variety of experiences that demonstrate your skills and abilities. A good story can also combine work experience with a non-work experience (shows you can use the skill in a variety of settings). Examples may be from your work experience, your personal life or some social or other situation. Of course a unique work situation story (unless otherwise specifically requested) should take priority. Be as open, expressive and succinct as possible about each experience.

Let others help you out - use examples of quotes from bosses or customers, i.e., "My boss gave me a good performance review, they liked the way I stepped in to get the job done without being told to." This demonstrates your willingness to accept contribution, your flexibility and teamwork skills.

Think 'STAR' - Situation or Task, Action and Result. There are several variations of this acronym in the recruiting industry, but all of them are intended to provide structure and focus to your answers. When asked about a type of situation, the interviewer is looking at how you responded to it by via a specific example. Using the STAR model you would break your answer into the three segments of; description of the task, then the action you took, and the final measurable result.

This makes it easier for the interviewer to visualize and record your specific behavioral responses to specific events and so gain the best impression of your potential future performance. Prepare at least one STAR response for each personal attribute you may be questioned on. Make sure you don't use the same example for all the attributes.

Use recent examples. As you will be probed for detail around the situation, it is better to use events in the last 12-18 months as the detail will be clearer in your mind. Be specific as possible about your contribution and the quantitative results achieved. Specific absolute or relative (%) gains in areas such as cost or time savings will give you the interviewer a clearer picture of your abilities. If specific measurable results don't apply to your example, you might explain how it streamlined processes, empowered others or resolved communication or productivity issues.

Practice telling your stories until they are vivid and concise, one to three minutes long. An interview can be likened to a marketing activity, where you are the brand. You will only get an interview because your resume and past roles suggest that you have the appropriate technical skills set (your attributes). Often what separates you from the other candidates at the interview stage is the interviewer's belief in how you will fit into the company's culture and specific IT team (your personal benefits).
Remember, you are selling your technical AND personal skills. Being able to communicate your adaptability and relatedness at an interview is essential to becoming the leading candidate. This 'story telling practice' is an important preparation tool to assist you in creating a natural flow to your stories so that the interviewer can focus on your potential benefit to the client.

Ask to come back to the question. If you are stuck for an answer to a particular question, it is reasonable to ask the interviewer if you may move on to the next one and you'll come back it.

More Sample Interview Questions:

Think of a problem person you had to deal with, describe the situation and tell me how you handled it.
Describe a situation in which you felt it was necessary to break company policy or alter procedures to get things done.
Can you give me an example of when you came up with a clever way to motivate someone?
Tell me about an important goal you've set in the past and how you accomplished it.
The following is a list of typical questions that you may be asked at a BEI Interview. Do not attempt to learn answers off by rote but be prepared for these types of questions, usually (but not always) mixed in with technical ones.

Think of a problem person you had to deal with, describe the situation and tell me how you handled it.

Give me an example of a colleague/ vendor/ customer who was hard to communicate with and tell me how you handled it.
Describe a situation in which you felt it was necessary to break company policy or alter procedures to get things done.
Give me a general description of your responsibilities in your current or last job.
Tell me about something you've done in your job that was creative. Think of a specific example. Tell me exactly how you handled it.
Tell me about a time you made a quick decision you were proud of.
Tell me about an important goal you've set in the past and how you accomplished it.
Do you know the expression 'to roll with the punches'? Tell me about a time when you had to do that.
When you had to do a job that was particularly uninteresting, how did you deal with it?
Tell me about a time when an upper level decision of policy change held up your work. How did you handle it?
Describe a situation in your last job where you could structure your own work schedule. What did you do?
Tell me about a time when you've stuck to company policy or procedure, when it might have been easier and more effective not to.
Think about a problem you might have had in being decisive, and tell me how you handled it.
Describe a time when you had to communicate some unpleasant feelings to a supervisor.
What's been your experience of dealing with poor performance of subordinates? Provide an example.
In your current position, what sort of decisions do you make without consulting your boss?
Can you think of any major obstacles you had to overcome in your last job? How did you deal with them?
What types of things have made you angry, and how did you react to those situations?
You've told me a lot of your strengths for this job. But I need to get a balanced picture and get some knowledge of where you might need some improvement. Describe for me a time when you made a mistake that illustrates your need to for improvement.
This guide was created to maximize your effectiveness at a behavioral interview to ensure that your skills are clearly communicated. We wish you well in utilizing this information and your ensuing successes!
Bruce Dwyer

BEST CAREERS

2008-01-02T08:08:00.000+07:00

Best Careers for a Changing Job Landscape

It has only been a year since U.S. News published Best Careers 2007, yet much has changed. As a result, in Best Careers 2008, we've dropped five of the 25 profiled careers and added 11 new ones.

We've also added a new section on Ahead-of-the-Curve Careers. These 12 careers are too nascent or narrow to justify inclusion as a Best Career, but they are currently viable and promise to grow further in demand and importance to society. If you'd enjoy being on the cutting edge, they're certainly worth a look.

The factors that prompted changes in the list of Best Careers have implications for all career seekers. Here is a glance at some trends and a word on how to search for your best career:

Even college grads might want to consider blue-collar careers. Last year, because U.S. News readers tend to be college educated, we included only careers that typically require at least a bachelor's degree. This year we've added four careers that don't. Why? More and more students are graduating from college at the same time that employers are offshoring more professional jobs. So, many holders of a bachelor's degree are having trouble finding jobs that require college-graduate skills. Meanwhile, society has been telling high school students that college is the way, so there's an accelerating shortage of skilled people in jobs that don't require college. (Why else do you think you have to pay $100 an hour for a plumber?)

The four noncollege careers we added would be rewarding even to many college graduates, especially because college grads are likely to stand out against the competition. Those added careers are: biomedical equipment technician, firefighter, hairstylist/cosmetologist, and locksmith/security system technician. Other skilled blue-collar careers that scored well on our selection criteria: machinist (manufacturers report a shortage), nuclear plant technician (few people are entering the field, yet plans are on the books for building more plants), and electrician/electronics tech (above-average pay, and it's easier on the body than many other blue-collar careers). The takeaway: Many college graduates should consider skilled-trade careers.

Government is becoming an employer of choice. Corporations, fueled by pressures to compete globally, continue to get ever leaner. Nonprofits are increasingly strapped because of donor fatigue and continued scandals. Government, beneficiary of increased tax revenues in good times and often able to raise taxes in bad times, has the luxury of continually paying employees well, whether it's an economically sound practice or not. As the last bastion of job security, government offers good pay, ample sick days, holidays, vacation days, health insurance, and retirement benefits. With signs pointing to the Democrats taking control of the White House plus both houses of Congress, government hiring of nonmilitary personnel can be expected to increase. So, we have added government manager to the list of Best Careers.

Consider a career's resistance to offshoring. Well-publicized failures of offshoring may have led the public to think that companies are reducing its use. In fact, companies are quietly increasing offshoring efforts, even jobs previously considered to be better left in the United States: innovation and marketing research, for example. So, we have added offshore resistance to the criteria we used in selecting the Best Careers. Offshore resistance was one of the factors that led to adding these careers to this year's list: curriculum/training specialist, genetic counselor, ghostwriter, investment banker, mediator, and usability/user experience specialist.

Status may be the enemy of contentment. It seems the pursuit of status is greater than ever. People are flocking in greater numbers to such careers as medical research, medicine, and architecture. Yet recent surveys and other indicators of job satisfaction in those professions paint a less-than-rosy picture. So, we've added those three careers to our list of Most Overrated Careers, which includes other high-status but often unrewarding careers such as attorney and chef.

A list of careers is a great place to start. We've tried to identify careers likely to be enjoyable to many people and to write short profiles that will give you a real feel for what each career is like. But these profiles, like any, should be only a starting place for your career search. If a career's profile appeals, read the recommended website or book.

If the career still turns you on, visit a few people in the career to get a balanced view. Ask questions like: "Would you walk me through your career from the moment you chose it up to today? What's good and bad about the career that might not appear in print? In the end, what ends up being key to being good at this career? Why do people leave this career?"

Next, browse textbooks used in training for this career. Would you be good at that stuff? Finally, volunteer to work alongside someone in this career for at least a week. If you're still excited, you've probably found a career in which you'll be happy and successful. Congratulations.
By Marty Nemko

Faith Equals Happiness

2007-12-27T13:16:00.001+07:00

What are we all searching for in our lives? Life is not a search for happiness. You don't have to search for happiness, live your life the right way and happiness will be your reward. True happiness is always the by-product of a life well lived. We will also find happiness when we learn to get quiet and listen to our inner selves. We find happiness when we focus less on our personal problems and more on the needs of others. Try this simple one liner. I will let someone in today and feel the rush of happiness.

Faith grows with in our hearts. Life's difficulties are eased when we have faith. Faith is also the ability to grow and change. The way of faith is the way of everybody who really wants to live. This may help from one of the Hazelden Books: "I pray that my faith may be strengthened everyday. I pray that I may find confirmation of my life in the good things that have come into my life".

Also one from Joel Osteen's ~Your Best Life Now. "Choose to be happy. Choose to keep a good attitude. Remember, happiness is a choice you have to make. And even when you don't understand it, know that God is at work in you and He's working through you. Make up your mind that from today forward, you are going to bloom where you are planted and enjoy every single day of your life."

Good luck and may God bless on your daily ventures.

Marketing or Sales - Which is More Valuable?

2007-12-26T13:13:00.001+07:00

It may come as a surprise to you but most great salespeople are terrible salespeople! I know that is confusing but it couldn't be more accurate. The one common thread that ties all great salespeople is the fact they are great marketers. If you are a great marketer you can be a lousy salesperson because great marketing makes you a great salesperson. You could have great "talent" for sales but if your marketing is off you will always fail.

It never fails to make me laugh when I hear from a salesperson that all they want to do is sell! It is a sign they haven't a clue how sales really works. This approach to selling is weak and has no chance for long term success. This approach to selling makes firms that provide pre-set appointments flourish. These salespeople will always constantly look for the next best way to lead generation and always be a sucker for a marketing scam.

Using an outsourcing marketing plan will cause nothing but long term grief and it makes the salesperson lazy and totally out of contact with how the marketing world works. If an agent concentrates on marketing and obtaining leads using a system then the sales become easy and natural. By concentrating on marketing first you become the manager of your own success and you will control your own destiny.

How do you learn to become a marketer? First, never use pre-set appointments or anything you do not have total and full control of. Options for obtaining leads are numerous and available with just a little work and investigation. Direct mail, seminars, referrals, the internet, radio and other media are just some of the available sources.

Once you select your marketing method, the one service you do outsource is the telemarketing. I fully believe and agent should see people and generate marketing leads. The telephone should be outsourced and be handled by someone who is trained to make the calls. Remember, the purpose of the phone call is to make an appointment and nothing else. Keep the telemarketer in their box and don't allow yourself to make any phone calls for the initial appointment. Pay the telemarketer by the hour or appointment and NEVER share any compensation with them, it show only weakness to your side of the equation. If a bonus is necessary, pay it as a bonus and make it on the small side. If a telemarketer could sell, they would.

The secret to successful selling is becoming a marketer. Marketing will always win and once you accept the fact that marketing is the key to long term success the sooner you will become a great salesperson.

Affordable Disney Vacation - The Magic Kingdom And Cinderella Castle

2007-12-26T13:09:00.002+07:00

Spending a day watching Cinderella and her lavish castle will make the holiday memorable and one that the child will cherish all their life. Located in the middle of the two theme parks, this has been around since 1971, giving every visitor something new to look forward to.

During your stay at the magical Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, you and you family members can take a walk through the Cinderella's castle, which has mosaic murals narrating the tale. Each of these is made of Italian smooth glass and rough ones that are made especially by Italian craftsman. One can make out the emotions playing across the faces of Cinderella and her evil step sisters right down to the ball, after which she tries on the glass slippers. There is an attached shopping arena called Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique where young girls can get anything they desire.

In order to enjoy all this, you will need to book your journey way ahead, and this can be done either online or through an agency that will plan your entire itinerary. There is even a Cinderella Suite on the top of the castle which today can house upto 6 guests; this was once intended for Sir Walt Disney and his friends to reside in. Staying here would leave you feeling like a real princess, with the fluffy queen sized beds and rich castle like walls and view from your room. And as you get out of your castle, you can stroll through Mickey's Toontown Fair, where you can shake hands with Mickey Mouse and gang who live right there. A latest addition to the Disney World, this is sure to make your Walt Disney World vacation better.

You can take the train from anywhere in the park and watch the various splendors of their park come alive. What child would not like to check out the various castles and palaces home to their favorite characters? In the Magic Kingdom section, you find Fantasyland, filled with princesses, pixies and little boys who don't grow up. A play area where you spend time with Winnie the Pooh or what looks like scenes from the 20,000 leagues under the sea book is what awaits you.

When you get bored of these, you can take the train to Pinocchio's village which is near the fair lands. You will go through numerous tunnels that take you from Adventureland to the Liberty Square. Housed within these walls are the finest restaurants and souvenir stores for you to indulge in. A fun filled, learning experience is what you take back when you wind up for the day in your comfortable bed on tip the Cinderella's castle.

The Orlando area is famous for its condos and villas that you can pick up to add a bit of spice to your vacation. Fitted with all the amenities and services you could dream off, these make for ideal getaways from the crowd and close enough to spend time during your Walt Disney World Resort vacation.

We Swam With Wild Dolphins

2007-12-26T13:09:00.001+07:00

Once in a while one's karma or destiny lines one up for an experience of a lifetime. In this case we felt it was more like divine intervention than anything else.

Believe it or not in planning a trip to Tasmania and South Australia last year, I had heeded my daughter's pleas to swim with dolphins by forking out a large amount of money to have us all go out in a boat on a tour, be tethered to a rope, and hope that dolphins would approach us. No guarantees, but money up front; this was to be in Adelaide, after our Tasmanian interlude. It was perhaps the one single planned event that we looked forward to more than anything else. We made our momentous journey over three days, in three planes, and one ferry (great excitement for the kids) over to Tasmania, then to pick up a car and ride across the island to Hobart. Long, but delightful and, yes, I would do it again, frankly.

Meeting up with the cousins in Hobart was no less of an exciting moment that anything up until then. A few days into the holiday, kids mooching around one hot afternoon, my sister-in-law calls out loudly from her deck overlooking Blackman's Bay. Dolphins in the water. Sixty seconds later, cousins, kids were on the beach and wading into the surf. I followed sensing this was going to be something special.

I soon realised we were all slightly out of our depth. Two of the children: my Antonie and cousin Julia could swim less efficiently than the others. Sadly Julia was ahead of me and calling for assistance. Antonie, now behind, wanted my attention also. I knew he could swim towards me easily, and he was closer to shore, so I made for cousin Julia. As I reached her they got to us. At least three swam in and around our legs. I could feel them "brushing" against my skin, yet without touching me at all. The kids were shrieking and all I could think of doing was diving down below the surface to get a glimpse of one, and to perhaps touch one. They were not going to have that happen and their agility and speed simply astounded me, notwithstanding many dolphins shows and demonstrations since a child: nothing can prepare you for the force and power of their physical presence when so near you, and in the water.

Two sped past and around me, deftly ducking from my outstretched arms. They made straight for Antonie. One must have touched him, albeit gently, and he decided this was just too much. He cried out and made for the shore. My daughter Maria, more or less level with me, saw her brother was in mild distress and forfeited a possible closer encounter with her favourite creature and helped him to the beach. My excuse was to stick with Julia, but I must be honest in saying I was more intent on my own personal encounter with a dolphin than going to Antonie's rescue, my main justification being that he had just won his first gala at school that year. All was resolved as Antonie could relate his story to his mother on the beach as she nervously aimed the video camera at our shrieks.

Maria was rewarded by being able to return the our pod of humans, while the dolphins repeatedly visited the children by swimming in and around them. I had taken Maria's goggles from her before she swam to shore, and for those precious, brief few minutes I had been able to focus somewhat on the larger than imagined, highly agile bodies of the dolphins beneath the water surface.

It was breathtaking and humbling. I was constantly aware that these creatures are very much in control beneath the water. And that I was not. As the two that made for Antonie passed me so quickly, they both cocked their heads to check me out. I noticed them swim past him, towards the shoreline. In fact had they not turned when they did, they might have been washed onto the beach. Not likely. I have an indelible memory of their sleek bodies powerfully thrusting forward in order to accelerate madly into the rushing, crashing waves that flowed over them. A sight I shall not ever forget.

My wife stayed faithfully on the beach, until we came out of the water, the dolphins having swam back out to sea. I suggested she swim out and see what would happen. Amazingly, as I filmed her, five dolphins spotted, or sensed her lonely presence from more than five hundred metres out. Even now the sight of them rushing towards her to investigate, filmed from far away, is breathtaking in its sheer moment of excitement and anxiety. She kept her ground and for more than five minutes they swam around and beneath her, before giving a gymnastic display and then disappearing.

Needless to say we cancelled the booked tour in Adelaide.

Rolex Economics and New Model Marketing Strategy

2007-12-26T13:02:00.002+07:00

Rolex has just released for public sale a new model watch called the Milgauss to the public with a MSRP of $6,400. However, you will have little chance of acquiring one from an authorized dealer(AD)for possibly years unless you are one of the select few preferred customs. On the other hand, you can buy one from a auction forum such as E-bay for $15,000. It is a bit of a shock to the system, but that seems to be the price people are prepared to pay for this new model. The price is a function of supply and demand. Demand for the new Milgauss with its unique green tinted crystal is high and the number of pieces released for sale by Rolex are much lower than the demand.

The precise point in time a new model is released for sale is within the sole discretion of Rolex. Rolex can wait until they have 10,000 pieces manufactured and in stock and then release the new model in an orderly fashion to cope with demand. Alternatively, Rolex can release say 100 pieces world wide so that the model is very scarce and demand far outstrips supply.

So what are the real world consequences of a release of sufficient supply V. a small insufficient supply: to the public of a new model such as the Milgauss?

A plentiful supply of a new model to the market means:

(a) all enthusiasts, grey dealers and joe average gets to buy one from an AD

(b) the grey dealers cannot ask outrageous prices (like 1-200% margins above retail) as supply does not permit that to occur.

(c) there will be a quantity of pieces for sale on e-bay and possibly at or a little below MSRP which will not please AD's who will not be able to extol the notion of 'exclusivity' or 'rarity' and who are also under increasing pressure to discount the new piece and reduce their profit margin.

(d) there will not be a false perception that the new model is 'exclusive' or 'limited' or 'rare' and dealers will not be able to tell their big spenders how fortunate they should feel having received such a 'rare' item.

(e) Rolex is still perceived as a luxury brand but when the 'exclusivity' of the new model is lost, it becomes less desirable to those who want something that Mr. Jones doesn't have a few doors down the road.

A scarce or very limited supply of a new model to the market means:

(a) many enthusiasts will miss out the opportunity to purchase from an AD for some considerable time, possibly years or otherwise spend a large sum buying it from a grey market dealer who makes more profit than Rolex;

(b) grey dealers and others who have a quantity buying relationship from an AD will get preference to buying the new model only to put it on the market for at least 100% margin eg ebay;

(c) AD's who favour their big spending customers can use the rarity of the model to illicit additional purchases from their big spenders (not necessarily Rolex) so AD's can use it to increase their total sales volume and profits;

(d) Joe Average has no chance to acquire this model from an AD for what may be a considerable time being possibly years down the track.

(e) Rolex and AD's cannot get any advantage of calling the model 'rare' or 'scarce' and able to promote an image of exclusivity to bump up price and procure collateral sales i.e. you buy a Patek and you can have a Green Milgauss.

(f) Once the item is sold on Ebay for a massive premium and ADs start to foster the orchestrated believe in the rarity of scarcity of the model, they too charge a premium for the sale of the new model.

(g) The enthusiast suffers buy now for 100% above retail or wait for an indefinite period.

Conclusion: Although Rolex does not approve of the selling of new models on ebay sales by unauthorized re-sellers, the notional exclusivity generated by limited numbers and sale prices of more than 100% above retail suits Rolex's marketing strategy and exclusive image positioning. At the same time such unauthorized sales keeps authorized dealers happy by letting them pick and choose who they sell to for to procure their own substantial gain to maximize profits. The Rolex Forums www.rolexforums.com discusses the world of Rolex

Is Your Mattress Making You Sick?

2007-12-26T13:02:00.001+07:00

Imagine sleeping for eight hours per night, all the while breathing in dangerous and toxic chemicals that have been proven to be toxic and carcinogenic to human beings. Does this sound far fetched and crazy?

Yes, it does. But it is also true.

A new law was just put into effect, on July 1, 2007, that requires all mattresses sold in the United States to be flame proof. This was spearheaded by the ISPA (International Sleep Products Association) with a stated purpose of making mattresses more safe from fires.

At least, that is their stated position. But on closer inspection, it appears as if there is a sinister motive. Sadly, it appears as if this is merely a farce, and the real reason is to limit competition, by effectively pitting smaller mattress companies out of business, because they cannot comply with this new law.

Mattress sales are big business. Over 37 Million new mattresses are sold each year, and smaller, specialty mattress manufactures and imports have been taking away a large share of the Big three sales (Serta, Sealy, Simmons).With this new law, many smaller companies will be forced out of business.

The challenge with making mattresses flame proof is that large quantities of harsh chemicals are needed, such as Boric Acid, which is the active ingredient in Roach Killer. Now, you may be thinking that this is somehow different than the roach killer you can get at the local hardware store, but its not. I checked, and it's the exact same chemical. And there is up to two pounds of boric acid (as finely sprinkled dust) in the average mattress.

As you can imagine, this has caused a consumer backlash, as many people are experiencing symptoms such as severe allergic reactions. The most common ones include rashes, itchy skin, runny nose, difficulty breathing, and light headedness. The long term effects of many of these chemicals have not been determined, and could prove to be deadly by causing various forms of cancer.

There is one caveat, however. People who are adamantly opposed to sleeping next to these chemicals have a way out. The law allows anyone to claim an exemption, as long as they have a prescription from a doctor. And there is only one mattress manufacturer that will still make these types of chemical free beds. That company is Strobel Technologies.

Many mattress manufacturers have been in compliance with this law for the last 2 years, so if you purchased a mattress in that time frame, you could have been affected. Of course, you will never know because there is no labeling requirement. The ISPA made sure of that, as they don't people to know what they are sleeping with.

The solution is either live with it (and risk your health), or purchase a chemical free mattress by getting a prescription from your doctor.

Dr. Masood Kureshi is a chiropractic specialist, and has spoken against the use of flame retardant chemicals in mattresses for many years. He has prescribed chemical free mattresses for hundreds of his patients.

The Benefits Of Owning A HDTV

2007-12-26T12:59:00.000+07:00

A High Definition Television (HDTV) is a digital format for broadcasting and viewing TV programming. Clearer images are received with HD at a much higher resolution than that viewed on a home screen. Due to its clarity, widescreen format, and CD quality sound, it will give you the feeling that a movie theater has been placed in your living room.

There are a wide variety of benefits to owning or purchasing a HDTV. Some of the reasons as to why you should certainly consider making the change to an HDTV are:

• Digital Audio.
• A wider viewing area,
• Increased quality DVD playback,
• Amazing detail,
• Digital superiority,
• Progressive scanning,
• Elimination of ghost images,
• The FCC mandating a switch, and many more.

Listed below, in detail, are the main reasons why a HDTV is enormously beneficial.

Quality of Sound

HDTV's have 5.1 channels of CD quality surround sound:

• left,
• right,
• center,
• left rear,
• right rear, and
• low frequency effects - AKA bass.

It is these multiple channels that supply you with a true surround sound at an excellent quality.

Resolution

An NTSC TV's normal resolution displays 525 scan lines with only 480 actually being visible. A normal TV can only display a resolution of approximately 210,000 pixels per image. HDTV's can reach up to 1920 (horizontal) pixels x 1080 (vertical) pixels, with an impressive total of 2,073,600 pixels per image. As you can see, this is an astounding ten times better resolution and picture quality.

No More Ghost Images

Signal quality is not something that is always perfect when viewing a normal television. This is what is called 'ghost images'. An example of this is when you can see two of the same person next to each other, as if there were a ghost of that person present.

A perfect image is something that will always be received with a digital signal, as long as the television is receiving a quality signal. This results in their being no more fuzz, snow or ghosts.

Progressive Scanning

The signals of an NTSC television are shown as interlaced signals, which means that every other horizontal line on the monitor is shown in one frame, and the other half are drawn in the next frame of the picture. This works by the eye being deceived and believing that only one picture is being shown.

Progressive scanning, however, shows the entire picture in one frame. It is this reason that there is supplied a sharper picture, which is much better than that of an interlaced image with the same resolution. There are two progressive formats available for broadcasters, the 480p and 720p.

The 480p provides a much sharper image than a normal NTSC broadcast. However, it is considered as only a DTV signal and not a true High Definition signal.

The 720p is made up of 720 horizontal scan lines, and is considered to have a true High Definition.

Aspect Ratio

The aspect ratio of current televisions is 4:3, which means that a television with an aspect ratio of 4:3 is three feet in height and four feet in width. The aspect ratio of a HDTV is 16:9, which makes it a considerable amount wider than a normal television.

The new screen is 33% wider, which enables you to view the television as if you were sitting in a theater. Your peripheral vision is being used when viewing a 16:9 screen television, which can make you truly feel as if you are a part of the program.

Sony PS3

2007-12-26T12:56:00.000+07:00

The new PlayStation 3 is the third home video game console from Sony Computer Entertainment and is a successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. This model game console comes to compete with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles.

Sony launched its third version of PlayStation first on November 11, 2006 in Japan, on November 17, 2006 in North America and Asia, and Europe. The Sony PS3 is capable of playing back content from a Blu-ray Disc(BD) at a rate of multiplex 48Mbps, the maximum bit rate defined in BD standards. It is the third generation of the Sony PlaySation that is making waves now.The official unveiling of the Sony PS3 to the public was held on May 16, 2005, during the E3 2005 conference. A functional version of the system was not present there, as a working system was not readily available due to power failures and hardware problem. On September 6, 2006, Sony declared the delay of the launch of the PlayStation 3 until March 2007 due to a shortage of diodes used in the Blu-ray Disc drive. Later, the release of the PlayStation 3 in Japan was held on November 11, 2006. The PS3 from Sony created a record by making a sale of approximately 600,000 units in its first two days of launch in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Sony later announced that the 80 GB PlayStation 3 would be launched in South Korea on June 16, 2007, in one configuration featuring an 80 GB hard drive. It was for the first time that the Sony PS3 was released with an 80 GB hard disk.

Sony discontinued the 20 GB PlayStation 3 model in North America on September 2007. It was after citing "lack of consumer demand" although the 20 GB model is still on sale in Japan. It is widely speculated that the removal of the 20 GB model from the North American market was to save manufacturing costs, as there is a difference in cost between the two aforementioned models of around $30.

How To Get Rich Online

2007-12-19T13:04:00.001+07:00

Can you really get rich online? The answer to that question would have to be a resounding YES! Thousands of people make a healthy income from online ventures on a daily basis - some of them to the tune of monthly six-figure pay-cheques. Do you want to be one of them? Read on....

The internet is a goldmine! There's no limit to the amount of opportunities to make money online. Sometimes, what you'll find is gold dust or grains of gold. At other times you could come across a gold nugget or two. With a bit of luck - you may even find a gold vein.

There is a possibility as well though that what you'll find is fools gold. Just as it's the case in the real world, there's scammers online, who will happily take you for a ride, and leave your dreams in tatters.

The aim of this article is to point you in the right direction. While I make no claims I've got every base covered - I can promise you this: what ever you find in this article works! It has worked for a lot of people online - myself included!

Now - making money online is no exact science. As I said before - there's a great number of opportunities. Some of them will fit well with your personality - others won't. So where do you start?

Take a minute to think about what you want to achieve. Think about your personal strengths - and how you can best utilise them to achieve your goals. Then - make a plan of how you're going to reach your goals and how? Setting goals and making plans are crucial to your success - so while you shouldn't ignore this step - don't dwell on it so long that you're not going anywhere.

So - what are the opportunities for making money online? Well - I couldn't possibly outline them all to you - but I can point out a few!

Sell something online. If you had a clearout - and everyone should sometimes - maybe you can sell some of your unwanted stuff? Maybe you have your own product you can sell? The internet is your playground!

Build your own membership website. If you have some specialised information - and you know people want it and would be willing to pay for it - set up a website where paid members get special privileges. If you're really good - you can charge monthly subscription fees.

Build an AdSense Empire. Have you ever noticed the Ads by Google sign on any pages you've been surfing lately? Did one of them catch your attention? Did you click the link? Then the website owner made money - and you can too! It's easier than you think!

Become an affiliate marketer. This is possibly the most common way of making money online - and one of the easiest too - but it's not for every one! Basically - what you need to do is to find people interested in buying certain product - find a supplier of that product who will pay you a commission on the sales you make for them - and bring those two groups together.

Start blogging or squidooing. Building a presence on blogging and social network websites can be an extremely profitable - more often than not in a combination with the above mentioned methods.

See? There's enough opportunities - and I haven't even covered 10% of them - just the most common ones.

The main thing though is to take action. Some say knowledge is power. I say knowledge and taking action is power! You need both - not one or the other. Now you know that you can get rich online - act on it - and take the first step on your journey!

Internet Marketing Tips

2007-12-19T13:00:00.000+07:00

Internet Marketing Tips - Maximize Strengths, Minimize Weaknesses

You know what drives me totally nuts? People who bang their heads into stone walls and expect it not to hurt. I see this behavior everyday. And the part that drives me crazy is that they don't even realize that they're doing it. You'd think after a while they would notice the blood dripping from their skull. Okay, you have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm not surprised. Well, don't worry, by the time you're done reading this article, you'll know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. So buckle your seat belts and get ready for a ride.

I can't count the number of things that are essential for running a successful business online. There are just way too many. You've got web site design, ad writing, copywriting, article writing, advertising strategies, blogging, technical aspects and the list goes on and on. If I were to look at all the things I do to run my business on a piece by piece basis, I think I'd lose my mind.

And that's pretty much what happens to most marketers...they go crazy.

The reason is because they eventually DO figure out that there are a lot of things necessary for running a successful business online. The problem rears its ugly head when they realize that there are a few things that they just can't do. For example, some of the greatest writers don't have a clue how to ftp a file to their server. And then you have some techno geeks who can't write their way out of a paper bag. Hey, let's face it...not everybody is a great writer like me.

All kidding aside...very few people can do it all. And where they get into trouble is when they try to do it all. I'm talking about the writer who really can't put up a great looking web site but still goes and sinks $700 into Adobe Photoshop thinking that maybe a great tool will turn him into a graphic artist. Guess what? It's highly unlikely that it's going to happen.

But here is what happens when they DO try to do it all. They end up with a site that is either lacking in content or design and the end result is that they have a failed business because their weaknesses destroy whatever strengths they have. It's sad, but it's true and it happens way too often.

Okay, so how do you maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses? The answer is very simple, so if you're looking for some complex reply, you're not going to get it here.

Your strengths? Work on making them even stronger. If you're a good writer, work on becoming a great writer. There is always room for improvement. In the meantime, concentrate on those strengths for running your business. That's where the majority of your time should be spent...not doing things that you're poor at or fair at best.

Your weaknesses? Let somebody else do them. That's right. If you can't design a web site to save your life, hire somebody to do it for you. The money you spend will ultimately pay you back in the profits you make from a really great looking site. If you can't write, outsource your writing. Get a professional article writer to write your articles. No, please don't contact me. I have WAY too much work to do as it is.

The point is, none of us can do it all. If we recognize that and have others do for us what we can't do, we stand a much better chance of being successful.

So I want to say a personal thank you to my graphic artists and web site designers.

Who are YOU going to thank tomorrow?

Vegetarian Recipes - A Way To Eating Healthy

2007-12-18T19:38:00.002+07:00

More and more people are choosing to eat a vegetarian diet because they know that veggies are healthful food. Using low calorie and vegetarian recipes is one of the most important things you can do to protect your heath and the health of your family since obesity is now an epidemic in the United States and other developed countries. Cooking them is still better than the alternatives to a vegetarian lifestyle or a vegan lifestyle, but we receive the most nutritional benefit from ingesting whole and organic raw foods. They will often include many of the vitamins, minerals, and sources of nutrition that every body needs. These low calorie recipes, usually high in fiber, protect against digestive disorders such as diverticulosis and may offer protection from colon and lung cancers. Many low calorie and vegetarian recipes use soy, tofu, dried beans and peas to add protein to meals. Using low calorie recipes will provide a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, grains and legumes, adding high amounts of all the essential vitamins and minerals. Subscribing to vegetarian magazines, scouring newspaper food sections, and visiting veggie websites will bring you a respectable number of recipes, but it's more convenient to have hundreds and hundreds in one place.

Including a few vegetarian recipes into your diet can quickly improve how you feel and can be part of an overall health plan that will improve your life. And contrary to popular belief, these recipes are full of the taste and enjoyment of many other foods you eat. Incorporating vegetarian recipes into any diet will bring variety and give healthy eating options. Plus, vegetarian cuisine is chockfull of dishes that are robust and flavorful, and a match for any standard meat dish. Such treats as squash with tofu, vegetarian paella, and baked figs with dried fruit and anisette may well convert some confirmed carnivores to part-time vegetarians. Many of these recipes cook faster than those made with meat.

As more people juggle trying to eat healthier with their busy lifestyles, they may find that Vegetarian slow cooking provides an answer. What I like best about slow cooker Vegetarian recipes is that the long, slow-cooking process enriches the flavor of the dish in a way that other cooking methods can't match. The gentle slow-cooking process actually draws more flavor out of the ingredients. In addition to convenience, slow cooking also scores high marks for taste and nutrition since the long cooking time allows both flavors and nutrients to concentrate in the food. While the slow cooker was once synonymous with cooking pot roasts and other meat dishes, just as my friend discovered, the Vegetarian cook will find a vast number of ways to use it.

Exploring vegetarian recipes is great simply to spice up the kitchen with something new. Whether you are choosing to eat vegetarian dishes as a permanent diet or as part of a healthier lifestyle, Vegetarian Recipes is packed with ideas to tempt the most committed carnivore.

Online Reputation Management

2007-12-18T19:38:00.001+07:00

Within days of registering our new website www.reputationfixer.com we were contacted by large and small companies as well as individuals, who had suffered from a negative search result on Google. One caller described how his reputation was being threatened by an article written over 15 years ago which had recently reappeared in a search for his name. He is concerned that when his job performance is under review, this derogatory news item could serve as a basis for dismissal or hamper his chances for advancement.

His concerns are well founded. It has become common practice for people to surf the web for news and information about people, places and companies. Researching new products and services is commonplace. It is expected that a prospective employer will conduct a thorough online search of any serious candidates for employment. Google has become the online manifestation of Orwell's imagined "Big Brother". If the algorithm has dealt you a bad hand, it is best you learn how to confront it rather than hoping it will disappear by itself.

As a service to the companies and individuals for whom a search yields negative results, or may suffer from this precarious condition in the future, we offer insights into the world of online reputation management.

You are Not Alone

With the advent of bloggers, RSS feeds and web sites, anyone can define a person's or company's identity and challenge a website's reputation and integrity. The rise and expansion of consumer generated media offers the public an opportunity to express their views. And this is being done at an unprecedented rate. People are expressing their views unabashedly, often with no regard for the consequences of what they are writing, and with little for concern for the veracity of their comments.

The more a product, brand or company is exposed to public attention and scrutiny, the greater the likelihood that someone will want to challenge its reputation. This can include dissatisfied clients, customers and competitors, who may have legitimate complaints or rumor mongers and vindictive web site wizards, whose sole purpose is to challenge another website's integrity. For example, 29 of the Fortune 100 Companies have at least one negative postings when "Googled". These postings range from bad business practices and discrimination, to accusations that companies are connected to paramilitary death squads.

Negative postings are not only surfacing on large or even medium corporate search results. Stories, rumors and press accounts that date back a decade or more are also traumatizing ordinary people. Seemingly innocent pranks and mischievous adventures that college students may have engaged in, have appeared in top positions of search engine listings seriously damaging their reputations, careers and lives.

You Can Take Charge

Combating the tribulations of a negative Google listing means taking charge of the search results that come up for your name, company, etc. If left to the vagaries of the search engine's algorithm, you can easily fall victim to the whims of arbitrary conjecture, opinions and rumors. When you decide to take charge, you need to confront the search engines in a proactive and forthright manner, rather than adopting a passive or defensive posture.

Online reputation and search engine optimization professionals will tell you that it is no longer an issue of "if" you should be managing your online reputation, the question is "how" you should be managing it. And don't assume that just because you are happy with the results of your own personal search today, that situation will continue indefinitely. Being on guard means:

1. knowing that the situation can turn against you and
2. having the ammunition to combat the rumor mongers when they strike.

Like the proverbial lawyer who, when deciding to represent himself, discovers has a fool for a client, most people, even those who are comfortable in the world of the internet, are not competent to deal with the major league players when it comes to online reputation management. When you are up against a challenger that has Google on its team, you don't want your teammates to be from the minor league, even if they can boast a relatively high batting score.

Working With a Pro

Successful ORM, focuses on having sufficient links to blogs, articles, press stories and allied web sites so that when a search is run for your name, all of the material you have positioned appears. The problem starts when a stubbornly entrenched negative press story or blog, appears on your page, and it overpowers all of the listings you have put in place, how do you dislodge it?

That's when working with a pro makes a real difference. The team at Reputation Fixer has an aggregate of decades of hands-on experience in working in the Google environment, managing successful web site optimizing campaigns in fiercely competitive markets dealing with the complexity and unpredictability of Google's algorithm. Reputation Fixer is the major leagues when it comes to ORM. They are the kind of teammates you want when your reputation is at stake.

Measuring Success

Regardless of who actually manages your ORM campaign, what is required is distribution of positive content and strategic participation in online discussions which results in the creation and posting of positive content on your site. A successful search engine reputation management program ensures that those looking for information about you or your company will see favorable content wherever your name or your company appears as search results.

New Energy was Found

2007-12-18T08:33:00.000+07:00

JAWA POS Jumat, 30 Nov 2007
Penemu Blue Energy Warga Nganjuk (BBM Air Laut akhirnya ditemukan)
Berbahan Dasar Air, Dipamerkan dalam Konferensi PBB

NGANJUK- Tak banyak yang tahu, penemu bahan bakar blue energy yang sedang dikampanyekan Presiden Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) ternyata berasal dari Nganjuk. Dia adalah Joko Suprapto, warga Desa Ngadiboyo, Kecamatan Rejoso. Kemarin, tim uji coba kendaraan berbahan bakar tersebut mengunjunginya. Mereka dipimpin staf khusus Presiden SBY, Heru Lelono. Rombongan itu dalam perjalanan dari Cikeas, Bogor menuju Nusa Dua, Bali, tempat digelarnya United Nation Framework Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 2007. "Luar biasa. Ini mobil Mazda Six punya Patwal Mabes (Polri) yang bisa berkecepatan 240 kilometer per jam ini kami coba lari 180 kilometer per jam tanpa ada persoalan. Jadi, moga-moga apa yang kita uji coba ini benar-benar bermanfaat. Insya Allah," ujar Heru begitu turun dari Ford Ranger B 9648 TJ.
Untuk diketahui, pertemuan kemarin berlangsung di salah satu hotel di Nganjuk. Rombongan Heru tiba sekitar pukul 09.00. Mereka mengendarai lima unit > kendaraan untuk menguji bahan bakar berbahan dasar air tersebut. Yakni, dua pikap double cabin Ford Ranger, satu sedan Mazda 6, satu bus, dan satu truk pengangkut blue energy. Sebelumnya, rombongan dilepas oleh Presiden SBY, Minggu lalu, dari kediaman pribadinya di Cikeas, Bogor. Rencananya, blue energy itu juga akan dipamerkan kepada dunia dalam UNCFCCC atau Konferensi Kerangka Kerja PBB tentang Perubahan Iklim di Nusa Dua, Bali .
"Kita ingin membuktikan kepada dunia internasional bahwa kita bukan bangsa kere yang terombang-ambing harga minyak dunia. Bangsa Indonesia bisa menemukan (bahan bakar, Red) sendiri," tandas Heru bangga.
Kepada puluhan wartawan yang sejak pagi menunggu kedatangan rombongan, Heru mengungkapkan bahwa bahan bakar hasil penelitian belasan tahun Joko itu sangat irit. "Sekitar satu lima belas (1 liter dibanding 15 kilometer, Red). Tadi kami mencatat, untuk menempuh 374,5 kilometer, hanya butuh 25 liter," tutur staf khusus Presiden bidang otonomi daerah itu.
Selain hemat dan mampu meningkatkan performa kendaraan, lanjut Heru, keunggulan bahan bakar tersebut adalah rendahnya emisi karbon yang dihasilkan. Ini sesuai dengan pesan UNFCCC yang digelar 3-14 Desember mendatang.
"Sudah dicoba sendiri oleh Bapak Presiden. Beliau kemarin sempat duduk di belakang knalpot bus ini sambil menciumi asapnya. Paspampres (pasukan pengamanan presiden) sempat kerepotan takut Presiden karacunan, tapi tidak. Coba saja," tantangnya.
Penasaran, Wakil Bupati Nganjuk Djaelani Ishaq yang kemarin ikut menyambut kedatangan rombongan langsung mencoba mencium asap dari moncong knalpot bus. "Sama sekali tidak ada baunya," kata Djaelani setelah berkali-kali setelah mengisap
asap tersebut. Ditemani Joko, Heru kemarin juga mengungkapkan bahwa untuk memakai blue energy, mesin tidak perlu dimodifikasi. "Sama sekali tidak perlu ada modifikasi apa-apa. Ini kami bawa mobil berlainan tahun, semua bisa pakai," tandasnya. Bahkan, lanjut Heru, ada yang sebelumnya menggunakan solar dan di tengah jalan langsung diganti 100 persen dengan blue energy. "Mobilnya malah semakin tidak ada getaran," lanjutnya bangga.
Sementara itu, Joko Suprapto yang selama ini terkesan misterius soal kedekatannya dengan SBY, kemarin mulai blak-blakan. Terutama soal aktivitasnya sebagai peneliti dan penemu blue energy. Dia bahkan sempat sedikit membeber teknologi yang mulai ditelitinya sejak 2001. "Intinya adalah pemecahan molekul air menjadi H plus dan O2 min. Ada katalis dan proses-proses sampai menjadi bahan bakar dengan rangkaian karbon tertentu," terang peneliti yang mengaku mengambil ide dari ayat2 Alquran itu.
Untuk mesin dengan bahan bakar premium, solar, premix, hingga avtur, Joko mengaku telah menyiapkan bahan bakar pengganti sesuai dengan mesinnya. "Tinggal mengatur jumlah rangkaian karbonnya. Mau untuk mesin bensin, solar, sampai avtur ya sudah ada," kata ayah enam anak itu.
Yang menarik, bahan dasar air yang digunakan adalah air laut. "Kalau air tanah bisa menyedot ribuan atau jutaan meter kubik. Kasihan masyarakat, paling bagus nanti bahannya air laut," terang pria yang selalu menyembunyikan identitasnya, termasuk almamater tempatnya meraih gelar insinyur, itu. (jie)

Make Money Online

2007-12-17T12:56:00.001+07:00

Make Money Online by Marketing Info Products - Guide and Tips

If there is one bit of advice I can ever give you, whether it be about marketing or business success in general, it is a quote from Russell Crowe in Gladiator:

“On my mark, unleash hell.”

Yes, you might have heard one or two other marketers quoting this very same line. And with good reason. That one line epitomizes the very core of what all marketing programs teach you. Here’s a break down:

Find your target
Pick a market that is favorable for approach. It doesn’t have to be the perfect idea, just one that works on paper, and most importantly, something that you know you can do while maintaining interest. Also you should do some online research to find out the demand level of your target market. You certainly do want to sell in a market that is poor in demand.

Prepare your approach
Mark out the main spots – what sort of advertising mediums can you use? What is your budget? What is your exact strategy for each medium? No need to go into excruciating details, but you should know, for example, your allocated monthly budget for your PPC campaign, your target keywords and the expected cost-per-click for each keyword. This will at the very least help you monitor your advertising and tune it based on the results.

Intense marketing
There are two different approaches in this regard.

Use the first one if you can afford to spend a lot of money on traffic, use the second if most of your advertising budget will be paid for by your business even at the start.

- All-out marketing, pulling out all the stops at once, complete blanketing of your target market.
- Slow build-up, tackling different advertising mediums one by one, building to crescendo effect where at the end, you replicate the effect in the ‘all-out marketing’ technique.

Taken by itself, the term ‘unleash hell’ is also used to describe another valuable business lesson:

If you have a product, or a business idea, or a service to sell, get it out there! Take your business to the market first, worry about refining and managing later.

Essentially, don’t wait months to find the perfect idea. Pick an idea that’s good enough, and launch your business. If you are a resume writer and want to sell your services online, throw up a website, put up your basic contact and payment information and begin promotion.

Too often people wait too long until they have the ‘finished’ product before starting their marketing campaigns. A newcomer shouldn’t waste their time like that. The product will be developed along the way through customer interaction anyway. On the other hand, there is no way you’ll make any money without traffic. So go get that traffic, and ‘perfection’ will come in due time.

Sales Skills

2007-12-17T12:47:00.000+07:00

Guidance On Sales Skills

A strong sales skills training course may be just the thing that your company needs to increase profits. A program such as this can propel you to the top of your industry and assure you as a leader in your field. Try a sales skill training program and become the business leader you have always dreamed of becoming.

Participation in a sales skill training course can certainly be the recipe for accomplishment for many companies, large or small. They provide skills that produce excellent salesmen and business leaders today.

The programs can also facilitate the development of strategies to separating you from the rest of the pack. This may include innovative marketing ideas and sales techniques for you and your staff to try.

Another skill that is modeled is that of selling your product.

By this it is meant how to show someone what a valuable product or service that you have and how someone will benefit by using this tool.

Leadership skills are further taught during these types of sales skill training sessions. To be a great employer and coworker, one must be a leader. A program such as this can show you how.

Problem solving is critical when running a company. This is another reason why sales skill training can be valuable. Sales professionals can exemplify many of the tools necessary for breaking down problems and designing the best possible solutions.

Critical thinking and problem solving skills will also be taught. It is essential that you learn to dissect problems and make wise decisions for your company in order to lead it to profitability.

Sales skill training can certainly be beneficial for any company. It is a wise choice for anyone looking to increase business revenues and train more diligent and effective employees.

Management of Life

2007-12-17T12:44:00.000+07:00

Ada empat tingkatan, bagaimana orang memanage hidupnya, baik dari segi
perolehan harta maupun perolehan ilmu. Dari aspek perolehan harta :

Ada orang yang memandang bekerja sebatas sebagai bekerja. Pekerjaan
apa nggak penting, yang penting bekerja.

Ada orang yang bekerja atau berusaha, pusat perhatiannya adalah pada
mengumpulkan hasilnya. Keuntungan usahanya selalu ditabung, dan setiap
hari ia melihat dengan senang pertambahan angka-angka pada buku
tabungannya. Saking senangnya melihat uangnya ngumpul, sampai ia
kikir, bukan saja untuk orang, bahkan untuk keperluan dirinya. Jika
sakit ia tidak ke dokter karena takut mahal, berpakaian juga sangat
sederhana karena ia sayang mengeluarkan uang untuk membeli pakaian
yang layak. Puncak kebahagiaan type orang ini adalah pada melihat
jumlah tabungannya.

Ada orang yang bekerja keras, dan pusat perhatiannya adalah untuk diri
sendiri. Berapapun harganya jika untuk kepentingan dirinya maka ia
akan membayarnya. Tetapi jika untuk orang lain, bahkan untuk isteri
dan anaknya, ia kikir. Seluruh usaha dan pekerjaanya dimanage untuk
kesenangan dirinya.

Ada orang yang bekerja dan berusaha keras sepanjang usianya, karena ia
terpanggil untuk berbuat bagi orang banyak. Ia sangat tersentuh
melihat banyak anak-anak tidak bisa melanjutkan sekolah, banyak orang
sakit nggak bisa berobat, banyak orang makan dengan gizi rendah, maka
obsessinya adalah ingin membangun sekolah, membangun rumah sakit,
melakukan budidaya pertanian, yang kesemuanya diperuntukkan bagi
kemaslahatan orang banyak. Ia selalu merindukan untung besar dalam
usahanya, sejalan dengan kebutuhannya yang besar membantu masyarakat
luas. Sedangkan untuk diri sendiri ia mengkonsumsi sekedar memenuhi
standard kebutuhan universal.

Are You Paranoia or Pronoia ?

2007-12-17T12:42:00.000+07:00

Apakah Anda Manusia Paranoia atau Pronoia

"Anda menciptakan semesta Anda sendiri saat Anda memulainya."
(Winston Churchill)

Perasaan takut dan khawatir itu lumrah dalam hidup. Tapi, kalau
setiap saat selalu dihantui oleh rasa takut, itu namanya sakit.

Ada orang yang selalu dihantui rasa takut. Sejak bangun pagi, yang
ada di dalam benaknya selalu kekhawatiran. Rentetan persoalan seolah
sudah ada di depan mata. Hidup dirasakan sebagai beban. Tak heran,
jika orang macam ini tidak pernah tersenyum di pagi hari atau
bersyukur atas hari baru. Nah, orang yang selalu dihantui oleh
perasaan cemas dan khawatir bisa bisa digolongkan dalam tipe manusia
paranoia.

Orang-orang seperti itu bisa kita temui di banyak tempat. Di tempat
kerja, kita pun bisa melihat banyak sekali manusia paranoia ini.
Mereka selalu bertanya-tanya dalam dirinya, "Masalah apa yang akan
saya temui hari ini?" Orang paranoid selalu disibukkan dengan pikiran-
pikiran negatif.

Orang ini selalu memikirkan masalah. Bahkan, menganggap hidup adalah
serangkaian masalah yang tak kunjung purna. Hidupnya pun tidak
bersemangat. Keluhan selalu ada di mulutnya. Kreativitasnya pun
tumpul. Termasuk, ia bisa menjadi orang yang sakit-sakitan lantaran
psikosomatis.

Apabila masalah akhirnya menghampiri, pikiran orang paranoid akan
segera mengamini. "Nah, apa saya bilang. Pasti ada masalah." Lantas,
saat hari berlalu dan saat orang lain menyapanya, dengan lesu orang
paranoid selalu berkata, "Seperti biasa. Banyak masalah yang tidak
pernah selesai." Padahal, segala yang negatif itu datang karena
pikiran negatif orang itu.

Dalam DVD dan bukunya The Secret, Rhonda Byrne menegaskan, pikiran
mempunyai frekuensi dan daya timbal balik. "Pikiran yang sedang Anda
pikirkan saat ini sedang menciptakan kehidupan masa depan Anda,"
katanya. Nah, pikiran negatif akan menarik hal dan kejadian negatif.
Demikian juga sebaliknya.

Anda tetaplah manusia merdeka. Anda berhak memilih. Anda bukan budak
dari pikiran-pikiran Anda itu. Nah, Anda pun bisa mengubah pikiran
negatif menjadi sebaliknya. Lawan kehidupan penuh paranoia adalah
pronoia. Rob Brosny mengembangkan gagasan ini dalam bukunya berjudul
Pronoia. Beda dengan orang paranoia, orang pronia selalu memfokuskan
hidupnya pada hal-hal baik. Ia selalu menguasai pikiran positif.

Menyukuri karunia

Saat bangun pagi, orang pronoia akan memikirkan, "Hal menarik apa
yang akan saya alami hari ini? Kejadian menyenangkan seperti apa yang
akan kujumpai?" Orang pronia selalu mengamini pergantian hari. Ia
selalu tersenyum setiap hari baru tiba.

Hidupnya penuh syukur. Hidup adalah rangkaian keajaiban yang
menyenangkan. Orang pronia juga menyadari masalah akan datang. Tapi,
ia melihatnya secara positif. "Kalau ada masalah, baguslah. Ini akan
menjadi pelajaran berhaga bagiku. Tapi, ada hal yang jauh lebih
berharga ketimbang masalah itu, yakni mensyukuri karunia-karunia
sepanjang hari ini," ungkapnya.

Orang pronoia selalu memandang semesta alam ini yang senantiasa
mewujudkan kebutuhannya. Ia memandang alam semesta secara positif.
Lisa Nichols, seorang penulis buku Chicken Soup for the African
American Soul, mengatakan, "Biarkan semesta mengetahui apa yang Anda
inginkan. Semesta selalu merespons pikiran-pikiran Anda," katanya.

Apa yang ada yang kita pikirkan akan terpancar ke alam semesta untuk
direspon. Karena itu, memandang semesta sebagai yang patut disyukuri
adalah hal positif. Orang pronoia senantiasa mensyukuri apa yang
sudah disediakan semesta. Matahari pagi yang menghangatkan tubuh.
Udara segar yang masih bisa dihirup. Transportasi yang mengantar ke
tempat kerja. Air minum yang menyegarkan dan sebagainya. Bila ada
masalah, orang pronia pun akan dengan bijak menyikapinya dengan
optimis.

Mari kita lihat cerita berikut. Ada dua orang pelancong asal Swiss
yang melakukan pendakian di sebuah gunung. Saat pulang, mereka
terpaksa menumpang sebuah mobil rombeng. Jalannya tersendat-sendat
karena mesin tuanya.

Sepanjang jalan, pelancong pertama sibuk mencemaskan kondisi mobil.
Ia terbekap rasa khawatir kalau mobil itu mogok di tengah jalan. Ia
khawatir kalau bensinnya habis dan tidak ada pom bensin di sana.

Sementara, pelancong kedua tampak santai-santai saja. Ia begitu
menikmati pemandangan indah bukit-bukit di negeri cokelat itu. Bukit-
bukit yang pucuknya dihiasi salju putih. Beberapa kali ia
mengabadikan keindahan itu dengan kamera poketnya.

Setelah satu jam berlalu, akhirnya mobil uzur itu pun tiba di kota
yang dituju. "Kok kamu sempat-sempatnya ambil gambar pemandangan itu?
Apa kamu tidak cemas?" tanya pelancong pertama. "Apa yang perlu
dicemaskan. Seandainya ada masalah, pasti ada jalan keluarnya. Aku
suka dengan perjalanan tadi," kata pelancong kedua.

Kisah tadi memperjelas pemahaman kita tentang pronoia. Benar sekali
kata seorang guru kebijaksanaan, "Kekhawatiran tidak akan menambah
sejengkal pada usia kita." Memang, banyak orang hidup dalam emosi
kekhawatiran dan cemas mengenai apa yang belum terjadi. Orang sering
takut dan tidak tahu apa yang ia takuti. Akhirnya, orang yang seperti
ini tidak bakalan menikmati kehidupan. Hidup hanya menjadi milik
orang-orang yang mampu menikmatinya dengan penuh syukur.

Sumber: Apakah Anda Manusia Paranoia atau Pronoia
oleh Anthony Dio Martin, Managing Director HR Excellency

Bullying Art in the Office

2007-12-17T12:38:00.000+07:00

Mengenali budaya bullying di kantor

Pernahkah anda mengalami rasa enggan yang teramat sangat saat hendak berangkat ke kantor karena anda sudah membayangkan akan mengalami 1 hari yang menyeramkan di kantor. Pernahkah anda merasa mual saat menunggu bos datang dan jantung anda serasa hendak copot saat ajudan bos datang ke kantor dan membawa tas kerja bos anda. Pernahkah anda merasa gembira luar biasa saat mengetahui bahwa bos anda harus menghadiri suatu meeting di luar dan tidak dapat datang ke kantor satu hari penuh.

Jika anda menjawab “ya” untuk semua pertanyaan di atas berarti anda sedang menjadi korban bullying yang dilakukan oleh bos anda.

Atau anda merasa bahwa semua orang mendadak menundukkan kepala dan tidak berbicara dengan jujur saat bicara dengan anda. Di suatu saat, anda merasa bahwa bawahan anda sedang membicarakan keburukan anda di belakang. Atau anda selalu memberikan instruksi dengan suara keras sehingga bawahan tidak mampu untuk memberikan pendapat berbeda.

Jika anda menjawab “ya” untuk semua pertanyaan tadi, mungkin anda sedang menjadi pelaku bullying di kantor.

Bullying yang saat ini sedang ramai dibicarakan karena perilaku beberapa siswa sekolah favorit di Jakarta sebenarnya juga rawan terjadi di kantor. Di beberapa kantor yang mempunyai budaya yang kaku, praktek tekanan terhadap karyawan jamak terjadi.

Praktek menekan yang dilakukan oleh atasan biasanya akan diimbangi oleh budaya gossip di antara bawahan. Praktek gossip ini dilakukan untuk menetralisir suasana hati yang buruk saat menghadapi tekanan atasan. Untuk menambah runyam suasana, yang umum terjadi adalah adanya mata mata yang disusupkan oleh atasan yang merasa bahwa dirinya sedang dibicarakan oleh anak buahnya.

Tiga budaya yang tidak produktif dan saling berkaitan ini (bullying – gossip – espionage) pada akhirnya akan menghancurkan kerjasama tim dan membuat suasana kantor menjadi tidak nyaman untuk bekerja. Produktifitas yang tercapai adalah produktifitas semu yang nampak di peningkatan dan pencapaian target , namun menghabiskan komponen lainnya yaitu turn over pegawai.
Seorang pegawai tidak akan bertahan lama di suasana seperti ini, dan hanya orang orang yang dekat pada atasan saja yang akan survive. Jika atasan pelaku bullying adalah pemilik perusahaan, maka bawahan yang survive akan menjadi orang kepercayaan. Sedangkan jika atasan pelaku bullying hanyalah seorang pegawai yang dapat dimutasi, maka orang yang menjadi mata mata atasan biasanya akan tersingkir dari pergaulan saat terjadi mutasi atasan.

Apakah kantor anda mempunyai suasana yang tidak menguntungkan seperti ini? Jika ya, berarti anda telah terjebak dalam suasana kantor yang tidak menguntungkan. Ada baiknya anda segera menentukan akan berada di posisi mana untuk menjamin karir anda di perusahaan ini.

Atau anda memilih untuk melanjutkan karir di tempat lain?
Oleh Loys Gunawan

Top 10 Steps for Success

2007-12-17T12:35:00.000+07:00

The Top 10 Steps for Success and Fulfilment

"You attract not what you want but what you are."

Break through your blocks, unleash your potential, find peace of mind and freedom, and make a difference by using these top keys for success and fulfilment. If you're really serious about change, follow these 10 key steps:

1) Develop personal discipline
It takes discipline --commitment, effort and time -- to learn and grow and change. We often know what is best for us, but then stay with old ways because they are familiar. Change requires that we pass through a stage of discomfort until we adjust to new ways of being. Learn to focus your mind and your time on your goals, and to persevere until you succeed. Master willpower and you can master anything.

2) Master time management principles
Get the very most from your time. Continually evaluate whether what you are doing serves your greatest purpose. Value your time and your life as priceless commodities. Own your power to live your life your way.

3) Tap the power of daily journaling
All you need to know -- all the answers and the wisdom you could ever need -- lies within you. And journaling offers the best tool to access that wisdom.

4) Set meaningful goals
Goals help us identify what we want, set priorities, create action plans and attain results. As you plot targets and achieve them, you will take control of your life. Your self-esteem, happiness and fulfilment will grow. Success breeds success.

5) Stimulate your creativity to expand your options
Every mind is creative. All you need is the training and practice to get your mind working in new and different ways. With enhanced creativity, you will solve problems faster and more easily, and have more fun doing it!

6) Develop your awareness and intuition
When we depend solely on rational thinking, we lose access to a valid and highly valuable source of knowledge within us – our intuition. With simple awareness exercises, you can significantly expand the information available to you for improved decision-making. You can work through the blocks and connect with imagination and inspiration.

7) Empty your mind regularly
Only when you have a quiet mind can you truly be stress-free, creative and intuitive. With rest and recreation, you can let go of worldly pressures and connect with the essence of who you are. Practice meditation or periods of relaxation daily. Do not compromise your holidays. Allow your mind to take a break.

8) Know your life purpose
As we align with our life purpose and unlock our inner power, life becomes easier and more meaningful. We become more focused and energetic, and we attract synchronicities and gifts of abundance that help us fulfil our mission.

9) Track your growth and success
It's so easy to get caught in busyness, doing what's urgent rather than what's important. Tracking tools help you focus on what's most important. They offer measuring sticks so you can monitor your growth and successes. With this regular discipline, each year will just keep getting better!

10) Accept yourself fully
It's only when we truly accept who we are right now that we can change. Why do you want change? If it's because you think you aren't good enough now, this lack of self-worth will undermine your efforts to grow and achieve success. Love who you are, with all of your strengths and weaknesses. This gives you a solid foundation to make your life even better! You will turn your dreams into reality!

Simple Promises Of Your Life

2007-12-17T12:31:00.001+07:00

Seven Simple Promises That Will Change Your Life

Worth reading….

Monday's Promise: Responsibility
I will take complete responsibility for my health, my happiness, my success, and my life, and will not blame others for my problems.

Tuesday's Promise: Accountability
I will not allow low self-esteem, self-limiting beliefs, or the negativity of others to prevent me from achieving my authentic goals and from becoming the person I am meant to be.

Wednesday's Promise: Determination
I will do the things I'm afraid to do, but which I know should be done. Sometimes this will mean asking for help to do that which I cannot do by myself.

Thursday's Promise: Contribution
I will earn the help I need in advance by helping other people now, and repay the help I receive by serving others later.

Friday's Promise: Resilience
I will face rejection and failure with courage, awareness, and perseverance, making these experiences the platform for future acceptance and success.

Saturday's Promise: Choice
I will have faith that, though I might not understand why adversity happens, by my conscious choice I can find strength, compassion, and grace through my trials.

Sunday's Promise: Faith
My faith and my gratitude for all that I have been blessed with will shine through in my attitudes and in my actions.

Get the Broadband Now

2007-12-15T12:11:00.001+07:00

Broadband: Understanding the Jargon and How to Get the Best Plan

If you find yourself reading this article online, then odds are you are no stranger to the vast wilderness that is the internet. Uploads, downloads, blogs, videos, podcasts, pictures, forums, games, news, email, animation, flash, webmail, webcams and music can all make for a vast and limitless real-time environment that is constantly changing. It is often the seemingly inexhaustible amount of resources that has many net users tearing out their hair due to strolling performance and extended loading time for content. However, in many cases, the real culprit is not the content or the website itself, but rather the combination of an ill-equipped connection speed and an internet plan that does not adequately address specific user needs.

Before roaming free in the World Wide Web, every internet user must first choose a connection plan and connection speed that will be able to accommodate both their budget and their user needs. The following article seeks to outline some of the basic areas that novice users should address when deciding to connect to the internet. For some, it may seem like commonsense, but for those suffering easily avoidable headaches and long load times it may just make a world of difference.

Connection Speeds

Before beginning it would first be wise to explain the two types of connection speeds and how they fundamentally differ. All methods of internet usage around the globe only use either one or the other of these types of connections.

Kbps: Is the common acronym for ‘Kilobits per second’. A Kilobit is one thousand bits of data – a ‘bit’ being the most fundamental form of binary code that makes up all information available both online and on your home PC. Essentially, a ‘bit’ is the building block of all computer technology and communication. In layman’s terms it is simply the combination of 1s and 0s that form the language of computers.

Mbps: A much larger unit of data, Mbps refers to the term ‘Megabits per second’. A Megabit is one million ‘bits’. This form of data transference is used by every internet connection above Dial-Up speed.

Types of Connection

Dial-Up: The most basic connection available, a Dial-Up connection uses the existing phone line in a business or household to transfer data at around 56Kbps. This is the slowest connection currently available in Australia and is in the process of steadily being outdated due to faster connections being more widely and readily accessible for a lower cost.

ISDN: Is anIntegrated Services Digital Network and is twice the speed (at 128Kbps) of Dial-up. It can be difficult to obtain due to its reliance on what is fast becoming outdated technology. ISDN was essentially the technological stepping stone between Dial-Up and ADSL.

ADSL: Stands forAsymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, also most commonly referred to when the term ‘broadband’ is used, and is a one-way connection where the download speed is much faster than the upload speed. This is a common trap for the average consumer because the speed of the connection is always referenced in terms of the maximum download speed (i.e how fast a page loads up / time it takes to save a file), rather than the much slower upload speed (i.e how long it takes to send an email / send a file to another computer)

Cable: The fastest connection available for both business and residential use (Fibre Optic connections, which are the next level up, are currently exclusive to business due to the high cost of installing and maintaining). Cable internet uses a similar system of connections to most pay television providers. It is completely separate to the household phone line and connection speed is substantially faster for both uploads and downloads. However, speed can be compromised by the number of separate households located in close proximity that use the same cable as only one cable is generally provided for a whole neighborhood. Generally cable runs at around 1.5 – 6 Megabits of bandwidth which is substantially faster than ADSL.

Connection Plans and Common Traps

To maintain a steady and consistently fast connection you need to take care in the selection of your plan. Having selected the telecommunications company with which you wish to subscribe for the service you then need to select a plan based on the cost of installing and maintaining your connection, the type of connection you wish to have installed, the speed of the connection, the download limit, if any, and the consequences if that download limit is exceeded.

The download limit or ‘shaping’ of your plan dictates how much information you can access from the internet within a month before being subjected to either additional costs (which can be significant) or slower connections (usually Dial-up).

According to Miles Humphrys, IT Manager for Corporate Executive Offices, one of the largest international chains of serviced offices throughout the Asia Pacific Region, a common pitfall when deciding on your internet plan is, “not knowing what it is that you, or your business, wish to use the connection for”. According to Mr Humphrys, “Before connecting the business or user must first decide what their primary methods of usage will be. Will they be sending a substantial amount of emails? Downloading live videos or music? Or simply surfing for information? All these factors must be weighed up before signing up to a limited connection or one with a capped amount of usage. Nothing is more frustrating for a business, or home office, than being crippled by an incredibly slow connection because they have gone over their download limit during the day-to-day requirements of the business or user.”

If you are unsure of the amount of data which you are likely to download in a month make sure you select a plan that gives you sufficient download capacity to enable you to then monitor your usage without fear of exceeding your limit. Make sure that your plan is flexible enough to then change if your download requirements are either substantially less or more than you expected.

“The one piece of advice that I would give for anyone looking to connect to the internet either now or in the future, above all, is to - read the fine print! The things to look out for are capped plans, download limits, shaping and especially ‘extra charges’. If you see anything that looks a little odd, always ask questions or consult an IT Professional”, concluded Mr Humphrys.
by: Karen Vosjan

Health and Delecious Food

2007-12-15T12:06:00.000+07:00

Fun, Healthy, Delicious Food – Can You Really Have it All?

Is there really such a thing as food that is fun, healthy, and delicious? So many people think grub that’s good for you automatically takes all the fun out of eating. After all, healthy food can’t possibly taste good, can it? Of course it can!

I have been busy gathering some ideas for fun, healthy, delicious foods to share with you. If you have kids, these are recipes I think they’ll like too. And here’s another bonus – they are all easy to make:

• Have you seen those “Flatout Mini” soft wraps? I love these! They are small-size wraps that are low in calories, convenient, and very versatile. Try this easy recipe – all you need are the wraps, cooking spray, Mrs. Dash, and Parmesan cheese. Cut each wrap into 16 wedges and place on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with a little Mrs. Dash and a bit of Parmesan. Bake at 350-degrees for about ten minutes or until lightly brown and crisp.

• Fruit kabobs – This is a fun alternative to a plain old bowl of fruit. Just pick a few of your favorites – maybe apples, pineapple, bananas - and cut them into chunks. Slide the fruit onto a skewer. Next, roll the skewer in a plate of nonfat yogurt… then roll again in a plate of shredded coconut. Voila! A fun, healthy, delicious snack!

• Sandwich kabobs - Cut whole-grain bread, low-fat cheese, and your favorite deli meat into cubes. Slide them onto skewers along with some veggies like grape tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, and olives. Dip into fat-free or low-fat Italian dressing.

• For a quick mini-pizza, top an English muffin (go for the whole grain ones) with spaghetti sauce and a little shredded low-fat mozzarella. Broil until the cheese melts.

• Pop a frozen waffle or pancake into the toaster and top it with warm applesauce and cinnamon. Too easy, huh?

• Freeze some grapes, bananas, cherries, or maybe peaches and blend with yogurt for a fruit smoothie.

• Yogurt pops – fill paper cups with your favorite non-fat or low-fat yogurt and put a popsicle stick in each cup. Freeze and enjoy!

• Creamy Coolwich (from Nabisco World) - put 2 tablespoons of sugar free Cool Whip in between graham cracker squares. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze for three hours or until firm. Yum!

• Blueberry Cracker Bites (from Kraft Foods) – spread 1 teaspoon light cream cheese on a reduced-fat Ritz cracker and top with 5 frozen blueberries. Too fun!

So, you see – healthy foods can be fun and delicious.

Now, I am a firm believer that the key to a successful, healthy lifestyle is to choose fun good-for-you foods and exercises when you can. It’s a tough enough fight out there whether you’re trying to lose or maintain weight. But enjoying the journey is half the battle.
by: Sahar Aker

Preparing to College

2007-12-15T11:58:00.000+07:00

Basic Steps in Preparing for College

Maybe you or your child or just someone you know is still in high school or even in middle school. It is never too early to prepare to receive and higher education to further your success in life. Have a better education usually means a higher salary and studies have proven that those with a college degree earn more than those with just a high school diploma or a G.E.D.

So now that we are clear that more education means more money down the road in life, what do you need to make that happen? First off we need to make sure we clear up some misunderstandings. Not all colleges are the same, each and every college or university is the same. Each one has their own strengths that they excel in, so before you decide where to attend you first need to decide on what you wish to major in. Once you've decided on what you want to be in your future then you can decide on which campus you wish to attend. And don't limit yourself to just 1 school. Try to pick a variety of places that you might want to attend because the more you try to shoot for, the more chance you will have into being accepted into some college or university.

As mentioned before, not all colleges and universities are the same. This also applies for how much attending a certain university or college charges a student to attend their classes. Some places like community colleges charge a very low amount for their classes and private universities charge extremely high priced amount for just a quarter. But don't get discouraged, there are still ways to pay for them. By applying for scholarships, student aid programs or getting student loans, you can pay for an education that you could have only dreamed of.

So now that you've decided on what you wish to learn about, which campus to attend and how to pay for that education, what's left? Everything else. Before you can even go and get that Bachelor's you first need to quality before your application is to be even reviewed by the committee. And that means your high school education. High school is usually where the acceptance committee will usually start looking at. From your academics to your extra curricular activities they will account into everything that you may have done during your high school year to see if you are even eligible to attend their most prestigious place of learning.

Academics usually mean your grades that you received in your high school classes. From math to English, you first need to learn the basics before you can try and learn the higher forms of these subjects. Academics also include the tests that just about most universities require like the SATs and ACTs. There are after-school programs for students to attend to learn and how to analyze these tests so they can score higher for these exams.

Colleges and universities also pay attention on what activities you may have been involved in during your high school year. From school clubs to after-school community service programs that you may have volunteered for, they will take into account on what kind of activities you participate in to have a much better understanding of you.

So now that you understand the gist of what needs to be accomplished, get out there and jump start your brain of yours so that you can make a better person of yourself.
by: James Freman

A Small Piece of Paper

2007-12-15T11:56:00.000+07:00

More Than Just A Small Piece of Paper

Whether you use them as reply cards, notices, announcements, newsletters, or even greeting cards, your color postcards have many benefits compared to other marketing collaterals.

As a matter of fact, your postcard is more than just a small piece of paper. It is a strong little piece of print marketing material that gets your message to your target clients without having to spend so much on postcard printing and even mailing.

With your postcard design and message already there in plain sight, your target clients are more than likely to read them. No more envelopes to open before they could even get a glimpse of your first sentence. What’s more, your color postcards are more convenient to fill out and return than any other need-response forms.

Postcard printing have been very valuable in more ways than I can count. In many aspects, custom postcard designs can be used to complement other promotional materials such as newsletters, magazines and other published periodicals. They can also be made to support order sheets and subscription forms for any type of merchandise.

Postcards can even be made to become newsletters themselves with articles and features that could really entertain your target clients. They can also enhance and emphasize your call-to-action in your surveys, notices and announcements.

To optimize your results from these marketing postcards, here are some of the techniques that can be applied to your print postcards:

Provide a prepaid return postage. Make it easy for your readers to respond to your call-to-action. If you need them to fill up and return your form, then pay for the postage yourself.

Pre-addressed card or envelope. And don’t make your audience look for your address. If you can provide a prepaid return postage, you definitely can also include a return pre-addressed return card or an envelope, if you happen to have one.

Colored paper. Instead of paying for a more expensive full color postcard, cut costs by using colored paper. They usually attract attention, more than the usual white paper.

Quick-fill order forms. Not only should you have plenty of room to fill in the necessary information from your target clients (e.g. name, address, phone number, etc.), your color postcards should also have easy-to-answer forms or surveys. You can always use tick-boxes for filling out the forms.

FREE. People are generally attracted to anything they can acquire for free. If you want your readers to return your custom postcards immediately, include free gifts or prizes that they can have in exchange.

Consistency. Whatever marketing campaign or message you have in your print postcards. Be sure to repeat them in the rest of your marketing collaterals. Consistency is the key to get your readers to remember you.

The last time I looked, my custom postcards were able to have the results I wanted. I hope your color postcards would be as successful.
by: Lynne Saarte

America's Profiles

2007-12-15T11:54:00.000+07:00

America: The Presidents, The Politics And The Wars

The United States of America used to pride itself on a reputation for diplomacy and integrity. The world's largest economy, land of the capitalist dream. Immigrants would flock to America looking for their chance in life, looking to make a go of it all for their family. Then something went wrong. The global perception of the US changed, and suddenly the ethical and moral high ground was destroyed by needless bloodshed and political interference beyond the scope of their global role.

The Vietnam war - a tragedy of greed and senseless aggression. Vietnam wasn't an American war, yet it was this involvement that started the cycle of distrust and negative feeling towards the United States and everything it stood for. And that's not to mention the horrendous loss of life, and the destruction of lives caused by politically motivated violence. You'd think we'd learn our lesson, huh?

In 2003, George W. Bush with the support of Tony Blair sent hundreds of thousands of troops to invade Iraq on the premise of 'illegal weapons programmes' and 'imminent threats'. A chip off the old block, some would say. George H. W. Bush's invasion of 1990 failed to overthrow the regime or gain control of the wealth of oil in Iraq. His son was more fortunate.

One of the most controversial American authors of our time, Bob Miller has been a staunch campaigner against the Bush administrations of now and then, since back in 1976. A Veteran of the Vietnam war, Miller has been cast as a pariah, a renegade, and has even been taken into custody by the US Secret Service for his outspoken approach to American politics. Nevertheless Miller has continued his relentless attack on the Bush regime and everything it stands for, traveling the country to deliver his opinions on the real motives of the Bush family.

A Republican himself, Miller is no stranger to the world of political activism. Yet his controversial branding in the mainstream media has seen him cast aside as yet another extremist, unpatriotic and senseless. However, with his latest book "Kill Me If You Can, You SOB", Miller aims to express the true horrors of the Vietnam war, without descending into the same old 'this and that' of the Bush dynasty and their own brand of extremism.

Without forming opinions for the reader or giving a blow by blow account of the war and the politics behind it, Miller's latest effort is based on diary entries from his time in the war, telling the tale more graphically than could otherwise be possible of the horrors behind the wars and foreign policy of the Bush administrations.

As Miller was quoted as saying, "Bush has spent the lives of thousands of young Americans and billions of dollars for oil, not terrorists, and everyone knew it. To have participated in this needless savagery in any way is not only hypocritical, it's blasphemous. And to blame the son, and not the father, is like blaming the puppet, not the puppeteer. Like his father Prescott Bush, George H.W. Bush's epitaph should read, 'Here lies incomprehensible evil.'"
by: Nick Carter

News of Bali Bombings

2007-12-15T11:50:00.000+07:00

Bali Bombings Cover-Up: New Documentary

Released on Youtube and Googlevideo this week, FOOL ME TWICE, exposes the cover-up of the Bali bombings and provides evidence that it was a Falseflag Operation.

The film begins by documenting the Australian government’s prior knowledge of the Indonesian military’s plan to use violence to maintain autonomy over East Timor. Contrary to The Howard Governments claims they argued against peacekeeping forces allowing the Indonesian Special Forces to carry out their campaign of fear and suppression.

Within 24 hours of the 2002 Bali bombings a team of FBI, UK special agents and Australian federal police started arriving in Bali. The investigation team continuously claimed different explosive devices were responsible for the main blast. Days after the attacks, Indonesian Police Chief, General Dai’ Bachtier, announced that the FBI had discovered C4 pointing the blame towards Jemaah Islamiah, JI (“SE Asia wing of Al qaeda”). Eventually, investigators concluded that the main explosive device was a potassium chlorate car bomb. C4 was never included in final reports.

The main explosive device was so powerful it seriously damaged buildings in a 2/400 metre radius and left a 1 metre deep, 10 metre wide crater. 202 people perished in the blasts, the majority incinerated from the main explosive device. Investigators quickly excavated the crater contents and dumped the remaining debris off the coast of southern Bali, including completely stripped concrete reinforcing bars. Potassium chlorate is a low velocity explosive and does not have the overpressure force to create a 1 metre deep crater or completely incinerate humans, let alone strip concrete. Only a high-tech explosive device has the power to strip concrete.

FBI claims of C4 announced by General Dai’ Bachtier, ensured Jemaah Islamiah was immediately blamed for the Bali bombings. All prior intelligence of the Bali bombings came from so called JI leader, Omar Al-Faruq. Omar Al-Faruq was secretly handed over to the US by Indonesia months prior to the bombings under the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program. Australian intelligence agencies reported that intelligence obtained from captured “JI suspect”, Omar Al-Faruq, warned of possible terrorist attacks in Bali. After the attacks the Bush administration denied access to Al-Faruq for questioning in the Bali bombing trials. When Omar Al-Faruq was suddenly called by US court to provide evidence in a trial of another terrorist suspect – he had “escaped high security prison”. No JI leaders have ever been brought to trial.

Prior to the Bali bombings the Indonesian government denied the existence of terrorists within Indonesia and opposed US anti-terror operations in Afghanistan. After the bombings President Megawati signed a joint statement – “Agreeing that terrorism poses a continued threat to international peace and security, and that the two Presidents are committed to enhancing their bilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism”. The Bush administration provided funds to the Indonesian police and military and setup a national terrorism unit under the control of national police chief, General Dai’ Bachtier.
by: Glen Clancy

Make Money Without Scammed

2007-12-15T11:49:00.000+07:00

Making Money Online Without Getting Scammed!

When I evaluate a company, I look for these key points. Keep in mind, when I join a company, my #1 goal is to make money and to do it legitimately. I do not want to hurt anyone or rip anyone off. This is what I've learned and these guidelines will help you determine what company is right for you.

1. If you are not making at least 75% of the upfront commission when you make a sale, forget it. This means that you are doing all the work and the company and/or the person above you is making all the money. Guess what that is called having....a JOB!

2. If you have to have 1000, 10,000 or 20,000 people in your organization before you make any real money, DO NOT Join. Most people will NEVER get there.

3. If they teach you to hold home parties and invite all your friends. Run away fast. Trust me I have been there done that. Now when my friends and family see me coming they scatter!

4. If they have a sales pitch 2-3 times a day and only 2-3 training classes per week.

This means that the company is more interested in selling you than training you how to make money long term

5. If you can't break even or get into profit with 3 sales, forget it.

6. If you can't speak with the owners or the corporate office via phone or web-in-ar,

Forget it. I like to know whom I'm doing business with before I will do business with them.

7. If it is a start up or in pre launch, forget. The chances of these companies becoming the next Amway are about as good as winning the lottery. At least with the lottery, you have a chance to win once or twice a week. You might as well go to Vegas and blow your money on a good time. At least you'll have some great memories, see a great show and have a great meal.

These are not all the rules for success on the internet, but this is a great guideline to follow when evaluating an internet company. Use these guidelines to help you narrow down your choices for choosing a company that best fits yours goals.
by: Gary Lamb

Get Money with AdSense

2007-12-13T20:02:00.000+07:00

Making Money With Your 1st Or 50th Website Using Google Adsense

If you are just starting online with your first website, you have quite a learning curve in front of you. I know that your learning curve is still long, because I have been making money online for years, and I am still learning new stuff everyday.

Every year, more people are coming online. And every year, people struggle to figure out how to tap into the economic engine powered by the Internet. The one thing that newcomers to the Internet frequently fail to realize is that those of us, who are making the most money online, spent years learning our trades.

The good news is that Internet newcomers have one major advantage that my mentors and myself did not have when we started our online enterprises. The newcomers have people like us who are willing to teach others what they have learned.

First And Most Important Lesson To Learn

There are three kinds of commercial websites on the Internet: product/service merchants, advertising providers, and non-profit websites.

Now, the Red Cross and the United Way are non-profit websites by choice and mission. But, the majority of non-profit websites on the Internet were designed to be for-profit websites, but the website owner will have been lucky to have earned enough to pay their web hosting costs.

By the end of this article, I hope that I will have provided you enough information to be able to turn any non-profit website into a profit generating machine.

Merchants sell services. They also sell products made by others or themselves. Some merchants produce their own informational books and e-books, on a wide variety of topics.

Many people make the mistake of assuming that they do not know anything of value that other people would want to know. But, that just isn't true. Call me an optimist if you will, but I believe everyone knows something that other people would be willing to pay a certain amount of money to learn.

Ii is a fact that some of the smartest online entrepreneurs I know make a lot of money by writing and selling books and e-books, on topics ranging from cryptograms (http://www.cryptogramsbylouise.com/), to how-to cure acid reflux (http://www.refluxgoneforever.com/), to finding the hero within (http://www.herosoul.com/), to how to be more successful with an online business.

I have bought many e-books and I have to say that some were better than others, but all of them helped me to learn what I needed to know in order to be successful with whatever endeavor I was undertaking.

Advertising Providers build websites with the intent of attracting a huge and loyal audience, so that advertisers will consider their website to be a good place to spend their advertising dollars.

In those dark days before Google Adsense (http://adsense.Google.com) and Yahoo's Publisher Network (http://publisher.yahoo.com/), we little guys were just tough out-of-luck if we wanted to sell our advertising space through a larger network of advertisers.

I remember having a website that was finally serving one thousand unique page views per day, or 30,000 page views per month. I remember thinking that it was time for me to see whom I could sell advertising space. So, I started doing my research.

I looked at one advertising network, and then another, and another. Without fail, most advertising networks required one million page views per month in order for a website to participate in their network. I was just poop out of luck.

So, I started advertising space on my site to my visitors. I sold some advertising, but I did not make a living doing it. The main issue here is that the people on my site are looking to learn about travel and other things, and advertisers generally spend their time on sites learning about doing business online.

Then in 2003, it all changed with the rollout of Google Adsense. Suddenly, all I needed to do was to apply to participate in Google's program. On approval, I could add one little piece of javascript code to my website, and I could start earning money from Google immediately, by making their client's advertising available on my own website.

Finally, my information website had a method for earning money that did not require for me to spend all of my waking hours chasing one sale after another.

Some Background

When I started my first online business, I had set up an Yahoo store (http://www.yahoo.com). I did very well with it, but after a couple years, I realized that I did not want to keep doing the same thing for the rest of my life.

Three rooms of my home were committed to storing merchandise that I was buying for resale. When I made a product purchase, I had to take photos and then sit down to my computer, upload the image and make an appropriate product description. Then I had to spend all of my spare time, making new listings at Yahoo and running to the post office to ship the merchandise I had sold.

One day I realized that the reason I had started my business is to provide my family a better standard of living. I had accomplished that goal, at the cost of time with my family. I was literally working from the moment I got out of bed, until I collapsed into my bed at the end of the day.

After parting ways with Yahoo, I researched other profit models and settled on a membership site. In order to be successful with a membership website, one must be willing and able to add new good quality content to the website at least three or four times per week. That is a job in itself.

While my membership site did well monetarily, I found myself in a position similar to when I had my Yahoo store. I was spending all of my spare time with my business and not my family.

Finally, I Wrapped My Head Around The Solution

What I needed for myself was a website where I could sell other people's products and services, then let the other person handle the entire process of collecting the money and delivering the product or service. I needed to build my business in such a way that I could build my website, when I wanted to invest the time, and I could collect my checks at the end of the month.

The advertising website is the best kind of site to have when your goals are the same as mine.

So, I embarked on building a website that had information on a wide variety of topics.

Three years after I started my current website, Google launched their Adsense program. I applied to Google's Adsense program and was accepted within just a few days. I then applied my Google Adsense code to my website.

Over the years, I have been building links to my website so that people could find me. The articles and directory links have produced good traffic results for me on a consistent basis, since I started the process of building them.

The Next Lesson Can Literally Double And Triple Your Income

When you undertake to design a website that will host advertising, don't be shy about it!

• Don't stick your advertising in a corner somewhere; • Don't design your advertising to look like something other than an advertisement; • Don't be afraid to test your advertising placement; • Don't be afraid to tell people that they can buy advertising on your website; • Don't be afraid to charge good money to advertisers to have a placement on your website.

Don't be afraid and don't be shy. Your reason for putting advertising on your website is to give YOU a way to make money from your work. But, in order to keep your advertisers happy, you need to make sure that they get a good return for their investment.

When you can help your advertisers make money, then you will by extension earn money from your website. It is a beautiful concept; when I help put money in my advertiser's pockets, they put money in my pocket.

Specific Tips To Maximize Your Advertising Click-Through Rates (CTRs)

The default link color on the Internet is blue; so make the links in your advertising blue.

The default text color on the Internet is black; so make the text in your advertisement black or whatever color is the default text color on your website.

Make your advertisement block stand out from the rest of the content on the page. Putting your ads directly in your visitor's face is good. Within a text block, I have found the 300x250 to be the most effective ad block size. To see an example of the 300x250 text block in action, view my blog here: http://www.clintondouglasiv.com

Other ad block sizes that we have seen good results include: the 728x90 leaderboard, 468x60 banner, and the160x600 wide skyscraper.

Be The Next Advertising Success Story

I advised a friend of mine to make these kinds of changes on his own website. He already had great traffic, but he was not making as much money as I thought he should be making.

On my suggestion, he changed his Google ads from the bottom of his left sidebar to the main part of his pages. He told me that his CTR increased from 0.8% to 2.4%. I told him to change his ads from the 468x15 link unit to the 468x60 banner ad. He told me that his CTR increased from 2.4% to 4.7%. Then I told him to change his links from black to blue. Within just a few weeks, he reported back to me that his click-through rates jumped again, this time from 4.7% to 7.8%. He even reported that on some individual days, his new layout generated as high as 11.4% CTRs.

On my friend's website, his CTR jumped from 0.8% where it had been for a couple years, since he started using Google Adsense, to 7.8% on average. While most webmasters will see an average increase of two- to three-times, my friend has experienced a nearly tenfold (+9.75%) increase in his advertising revenue through that website.

What could you do with ten times more advertising revenue from your website? You will never know until you implement these kinds of changes on your website to increase your own advertising revenue.

Save Our Earth from Global Warming

2007-12-13T19:59:00.000+07:00

"Can I Save the World?" Easy Solutions to Global Warming at our Fingertips

With so much information out there about global warming and the effects that are causing natural disasters, is there anything we as individuals can do to make a difference? Yep! You don't need to move mountains, but a small pebble can really make ripples that can create positive changes world wide. Here's a few "pebbles" you can use today!

We all feel we have a purpose in life. As more of us become aware of the damaging effects of global warming, we are also concerned about practical solutions to the problem. Most importantly, how can we fit in as part of the solution, instead of the problem?

Unfortunately, many of us become overwhelmed when we watch the ever-increasing natural disasters and it starts to feel like the world is crashing around us. I remember watching the plane hit the World Trade Center over and over and over again. I remember being completely paralyzed to the television. Sleep was optional, but only in between important news breaks. I felt helpless. I wanted to understand the reasoning behind the attacks to ease my fears of possible future attacks, but I mainly wanted a sense of control back into my life.

I do not like to focus on the doom of global warming because that's not the best mindset for me to find solutions and implement actions. I truly believe we all can make a difference in our lives, in the lives of our families, friends and community. I also am a firm believer that every single action taken produces a ripple effect throughout the world. When we take a simple action such as changing a light bulb to a compact fluorescent bulb, a positive motion is set in place.

Just for fun, let's see what can happen: (this will show how the action affects others)

o That old bulb in the living finally goes out. You go to your local hardware store and see miles of shelves of light bulbs! OY! (production of CFL bulbs)

o Someone comes over to help and maybe suggest a CFL. "A what?" you ask. The assistant tells you that even though the bulb is more expensive than a basic tungsten bulb, it will last years longer, it will not burn hot, uses way less energy, thus saving you money every month AND prevents the release of more than 450 pounds of emission from a power plant normally used to light the old style bulbs into the air! (increased sales and more potential advertisement of a green product, decreased amount of carbons released into the atmosphere)

o You read the advertisement and glimpse the familiar EnergyStar sign. So, you think, "Why not!" (increased awareness of a great program)

o You go home and your kids ask you about the funny looking bulb. (educates the kids and tell their friends how smart their parents are!)

o Your friends come over for dinner and recognize the bulb, but never really considered buying one until now. (increased awareness through word-of mouth [extremely powerful!!!] and more potential sales, advertisement, decreased emissions)

o You get the electric bill the next month and notice you really did use less electricity AND saved a little money. ($$$)

o You go to buy more CFL bulbs and realize the prices dropped a bit due to increased sales! (supply and demand of a product that improves our world)

That's just for changing one bulb! Just one action really can make an impact. Just because we do not always see the immediate results don't mean they aren't there!

So what are the best solutions of global warming? Can we help save the world? Yep. I would first suggest do whatever feels right for you. The level of comfort will be different for everyone. To me, it can be summed up as: AWARENESS and ACTION

AWARENESS

My first exposure to environmental issues came about while working at Home Depot. I watch as a person chained himself to our lumber shelves and awaited the local police. His actions, maybe a bit extreme to some, created awareness to the customers, Home Depot and the media. Many of those same actions ultimately changed the way Home Depot purchased and sold lumber.

For me, my level of comfort was turning off the lights. The more I learned, the more I did to help the environment. Learning about basic, easy-to-do home repairs really made a difference and increased my confidence as well as the confidence of my customers.

Now, years later, I must say living in Thailand has taught me a lot about saving energy as well as joining together for what you believe in. I've seen Thais go to the employment office and march because wages were too low. I have witnessed the ousting of a political figure because the Thais felt betrayed.

I have greater respect for Thais and for others I've met from different countries. Their views and actions have taught me so much about global warming. I also have greater appreciation for our abilities as Americans to make changes worldwide.

So to further answer people's question - "What are the best solutions to global warming?" My suggestions are all easy to do, but the main factor lies with what is comfortable for you. If I am given a great idea, but is too time-intensive, I probably won't do it. But if it's as easy as hitting the enter key, now you got my attention!

Ok. We are much more aware of what's going on. We understand we have a problem. Now what?

ACTION

I started with small steps. As I learned more, I found the bigger steps easier than I realized. I discussed my views with others and listened to their ideas.

My friends in Alabama recently installed solar heaters and a tankless water heater. Businesses are seeing the advantages of doing the right thing and stepping up their environmental cleaning efforts People from all walks of life have created petitions requesting a more proactive government. Even the 2008 Presidential Candidates are listening. Many are now including global warming as their primary issue.

Need some ideas to get your creative green juices flowing? OK! Here you go! Enjoy!

o Get the family involved - make it fun and educational.

o Make it a project during your child's science fair.

o Chat with your friends - they may have some unique ideas.

o Add a signature tag to your emails. I have a personal account with Yahoo. Whenever I send someone an email, my signature message or quote is at the end of the page. I create the signature once and forget about it. If you see a quote you like or have a message to share with others - signature it!

o Find out what tax incentives or refunds are available to you, i.e. hybrid car tax incentives, toilet replacement rebates, deduct the costs of energy-saving appliances and energy renovations in your home.

o Support greener businesses. Our money dictates what businesses sell. Our support encourages businesses to continue doing the right thing.

o Want to invest in the stock market? What companies are moving forward in clean-up? Researching new technologies? Contributing portions of their profits to support environmental organizations?

o Vote. What candidates are fighting for positive changes in the environment? Who seems to be making global warming a primary focus in their campaign? How does the candidate balance global warming and the economy? Does the candidate understand the threat and what solutions does he or she offer?

o Join others online and become a part of something bigger. In the past, petitions involved going door-to-door or standing near the mall entrance. Thanks to the internet, a letter to Congress has never been easier - or more effective! Read the letter already prepared. If you agree with it, type your name and hit ENTER !

o Submit your ideas to websites. I would love input from you! Your ideas can be just what someone else needed! Many websites would also benefit from your thoughts and appreciate the communication!

o Start a discussion group in your community. Barnes and Noble or Borders are excellent meetings spots. It's a great way to meet others and bounce around ideas.

o Help improve your neighborhood. In Tampa, there's a wonderful community group that has a Project Lottery. Each participant chooses a project they need completed on their house. A name is pulled every month. The neighbors spend one weekend on the project. The lucky owner provides drinks and snacks to the neighbors volunteering.

o Create a website of your own! Everyone has a voice. Today, websites are effective communicators and very inexpensive. Get the kids or the community involved. Let your voice be heard too!
by: Helena Jackson

One Step to Success

2007-12-13T19:52:00.000+07:00

Second Step In The Journey To Success

Money is an Idea

“Money Talks,” they say, and certainly everyone talks about money. Money is so popular a subject because it represents a great many things to so many people – food, clothing, freedom, a home, care, etc.

Before money, people traded goods for someone else's goods or service. Now, people use money as a trading medium. It's simply a concept. As long as people have confidence in the system, then money will retain a certain value. You do one hours work in exchange for so much money. You in turn take that money and trade it for a product or service. A portion of that is called on to return back to the Government to do public works. The more you earn the more you return to expand the social infrastructure. And another plus is the more money you have the more people you can help; let me assure you, there is no virtue in being poor.

What is money anyway? Money in itself is worthless it's only worth is that which society places on it. People must believe and have faith in its purpose before they can accept it as tender. People are willing to trade good, services and labor for nothing more than an idea because the Government places a guarantee of value on it. Look what happened after the Civil War. Confederate money became worthless overnight. In short, money is to the individual exactly what he/she intends to do with it. Because money has no value in of itself, it is only as valuable as what it is exchanged for Money is only a representation of something else.

Why chase something that is worthless?

The fact is, money is the fuel that runs the world. Sound strong? Then why is there a need for a world bank? Why are third world countries in such despair? Why do people kill for money, and why do so many people risk everything just for the chance of having wealth? You don't have to look any further than the Internet as an example of how far people will go for money. Some of the most outlandish claims I have ever heard in my life are on the Internet. $30,000.00 in one week? Give me a break! Six figures in two months, maybe, if you have $50,000.00 to spend doing it. The reality is, if you are going to become wealthy, you have work for it. Dedicated hard work! No setting around on the beach, no playing on the yacht! No BS all work. Unless your rich Uncle leaves it to you or you hit the lottery, you have to work. I don't mean work at the local fast food place, I mean get down and devise a plan to make your time pay off big time. Wealth – for some it's only a dream and for others, it's a lifestyle.

There are no mysterious secrets or magical incantations for gaining wealth. There is no witchcraft or voodoo involved. In fact, it is quite the contrary. There is no evil in the gaining of wealth. Money is just a tool to be used at the discretion of its' holder. It's the love of money that gets people in trouble. When people put money first, they have made it their master.

Develop A “Life Plan”

Live the plan, stay the course and don't loose sight of your objective. Let's face it, how many years do you expect to be around, sixty, seventy eighty and beyond? Of course no one can rightfully say how long they will live but they can devise a plan to minimize risk and accentuate the productive years so they will take care of the nonproductive ones. The first half of life is caring for the business of making money, the second half the money takes care of you.

Let's say you go to work in some capacity at the age of twenty you can plan at what year you will leave the workplace and enter retirement. Retirement now days has a different meaning than a few years ago. Now it's called “active retirement” because retirees are found more and more on the golf course, traveling and perusing the arts than ever before. A retirement has become a new life style for the thousands who took the time to plan their life early on.

Keeping active retirement in mind, and assuming you want to be active, how much assists must you have and at what age to sustain you? You will have gotten used to a certain lifestyle at retirement, will you be able to maintain it? Say you set your retirement at fifty that give you thirty years to gather enough assets to keep you in comfort for to another thirty plus years. I have good friends in their late eighty's and a couple who are well into their nineties. If you're twenty now chances are with the advancements in medicines, you will live to be one hundred or beyond. So, you may have to accumulate enough to last for fifty years. Half of life working to pay for the other half, seems reasonable, and why not? Now days there are all kinds of financial planners who will be glad to assist you in your endeavor.

Another consideration is, what happens if you fall ill and require care or have large medical bills? Medical bills have been known to wipe out complete life assists leaving the ill person at the mercy of the state or relatives. How can you protect yourself against such a disaster? There are several ways, all starting at your earliest age possible. First is insurance. In today's world, medical insurance is a must. Life insurance is also recommended for any one who has a family. Take my word for it, you will be treated according to who you are and the value of your insurance policy. Sound harsh, it is, but it is the truth. In the United States the better your insurance the better is your chance of surviving a catastrophic illness. Your life depends on your ability to pay – it's that simple. The earlier you are able to purchase insurance the less it will cost.

Ok, Ok so much for piddling around, How do you get started? First things first and the first thing you have to do is evaluate where you are now. Most people have no idea where they stand. They might know how much they are bringing in every week and how much the rent is, but they don't have a clue as to how to live life. They're lost, why, because everyone around them is lost. They go to work every day and work their rears off, and don't get anywhere. They come home and are faced with payments up to their ears. They try to keep up with the neighborers and friends but it takes more than they make. They don't realize their friends and neighborers are doing the same thing. They're caught in a never ending cycle of paying the man for a lifestyle built on false dreams and illusions. They get sick way to often from the stress, they drink to escape and their relationships crumble from lack of commutation. The plod on year after year,. dissatisfied, dejected and ridden with the guilt of failure. It's no wonder so many mental disorders are beginning to emerge in today society. We want freedom but we don't know how to go about getting it.

No matter what is going on in your life, you can't make a plan until you have established a starting point, and it's just as important to know where the ending point is also. By the way, it is the responsibility of every mature adult to assist the very young in a workable life plan. Make it a game, here is Go, and how many places do you pass before you hit the finish line? Moms, Dads, set your kids down and talk to them of the importance of planning. You can be the factor that gives them a well prepared and enjoyable life experience. Show them how to engage life and love it. A high priority for young people is to prepare for and obtain a higher education. The education process is simply a preclude into a career. A career may be working for someone else or working for your self, it depends on which will best suite your needs.

Working for someone else has its benefits. Once you are off the clock your time is yours and you leave your work at the office. The problem is, there are limitations on how much you can make; money wise. You have to find the highest bidder for your time and determine if it is enough to fill your needs. Then you have to take some money earned and make it earn money. How about happiness, will you be happy working for xyz company? Happiness and fulfillment are important for a good life experience, it effects your relationships and health.. How about relationships, will xyz company provide you with the needed time to satisfy your personal relationships? For many people this is an ideal solution. Work for the man, paycheck in hand. What is the big drawback with this way of thinking? There are no guarantees! XYZ company may belly up after you have been there for twenty years. Then what? What happens if the company executives run off with the bankroll and skip town? Then what? See the pattern, you have no control over the situation, and therefore you don't have control over your life.

How about setting your own conditions by taking control and mapping your own destiny? Sound like a better plan? Not so fast! We're talking about self-employment and how to find self in employment? You either become a one person operation or an employer responsible for others. How do you become self-employed? First planning, second preparation, third activation. There are a number of avenues you can take. There are franchises, business opportunities, inheritance and self creations.

Franchises are tried and proven packages. A franchiser provides all the business expertise needed (marketing and advertising plans, management guidance, financing assistance, site location, administrative support and training) to expedite the business. This is valuable business information that would otherwise not be available to businesses starting from scratch. A franchise could be either a product or service where the franchiser owns the right to the name or trademark and leases or licenses that right to a franchisee. Example, Mc Donald, The UPS Store, Chem-Dry and thousands of others. This type of business in usually confined to a geography area and subject to the franchiser's rules and regulations.

Licenses or granting rights to the distribution of a product of service. This type of franchise provides a full range of services, including site selection, training, product supply, marketing plans, and even assistance in obtaining financing. Distributes are give exclusive rights to sell a product as long as certain conditions are met. They must withhold the integrity of the products company but are not liable for any mishaps directly linked to the product. They must maintain certain sales levels and provide material safety data sheets to the customer. A distributorship may be selling cars, airplanes, boats, chemicals, food, etc.

The there is being a Representative, or what's commonly called Repping. This is where a person is given the rights to represent a particular product or service. Reps usually are confined to a area in which they make sales and training calls. Reps are independent contractors and are paid on a commission plus expenses bases.

Business opportunities are turn key package businesses that allow the entrepreneur freedom to be creative. There is little difference between a franchise and a business opportunity. The biggest difference is, the business person does not have to purchase all his/her products from one supplier. Also, the business opportunely offer cannot include a business plain or define a market area. It also cannot define work hours, dress or sales strategy. The offer usually will strongly suggest procedure but it cannot demand it.

These are only a few package type business that are available. Most come with a hefty price, running into millions of dollars. Some can be had for only a few thousand but the more known he branding is, the more expensive the business offer will be.

An inherited business is one you take over from some one else. You have to be careful here, you might inherit someone else's bad reputation. If you take over Tony's Dinner, make sure you know how to cook. You will have to know how to service people, order supplies, do bookkeeping, local laws and regulations as well as know your responsibilities toward employees and government.

The entrepreneur is a creator. They look for and find niches to fill. They are the carpet cleaners, painters, plumbers, contractors and thousands of other ventures. They are the risk takers that can carve a empire out of making snuff or ice cream. They are the thinkers and doers that bring excitement into our everyday lives. Look back in time and it was entrepreneurs like Rupert Murdoch, Warren Buffet John Rockefeller, These and many other entrepreneurs were the captains of industry that shaped the American landscape to bring us the lifestyle we enjoy today. How about the thousands of men and women who brought us little things like, TV, radio, automobiles, airplanes, ice cream, electricity in the home and most of all indoor plumbing. Now we don't have to poop in the woods. Some failed but saw their dreams live on; like the Hoover vacuum. DOS for the computer propelled Bill Gates into being the richest man in the world, but it was originally developed by someone else and sold to Bill Gates for almost nothing. But it was Gates and his cohorts who took the product and convinced IBM to use DOS as an operation system for their computer, and the rest is history.
There must be more to come as we tackle the nitty-gritty of becoming successful.
by: Donald Yates

Be a Positive Thinking

2007-12-13T19:51:00.000+07:00

The Value of Thinking and Feeling Positive

Thinking and emotion go hand in hand. A negative mood activates negative thinking and a positive mood calls forth positive thinking. Does it matter if you are in a negative mood thinking negative thoughts or in a positive mood thinking positive thoughts? Is one better than the other? Is there value in thinking and feeling positive?

Emotions Have Evolutionary Value

Negative emotions have evolutionary value. Negative emotions like fear, loss, and aggression activate the flight or fight response. When we experience negative emotions, we have a feeling of aversion, which sets us on course to identify what is wrong and eliminate it. Negative emotions and thinking are associated with a survival alert that activates a reaction to fight, flight or conserve - each reaction with obvious evolutionary value.

Positive emotions also have evolutionary advantage. They "broaden and build." Experiencing positive emotions increases our survival chances because positive emotions broaden our intellectual, physical, and social resources and build reserves for us to draw upon.

Experiencing positive emotions increases our drive for exploration and discovery and provides the basis for positive social interactions. When we experience positive emotions, we become more tolerant, expansive, and creative. The more positive emotion we experience the more open to new ideas and new experiences we become.

Negative emotions narrow our perspective to focus only on the immediate threat. When negative emotions are experienced, we withdraw, freeze, or protect. As we experience positive emotions, we feel safe and engage in active, playful exploration, and discovery. Negative emotions contract and positive emotions expand.

Positive emotions form the experiential foundation for mentally healthy people. Positive emotions provide a foundation for growth and exploration and build the intellectual, social, and physical capital for further growth and development.

When we experience negative emotions, they tell us to deal with what is wrong and eliminate it. When we experience positive emotions, we start looking for the virtues of what is happening. We become constructive, generous, un-defensive, and open to seeing possibilities.

Experiencing positive emotions gives us an entirely different way of thinking from a negative mood. A negative mood makes us attentive to threats in our environment and focuses our thoughts on protection. A positive mood moves us into thoughts about growth and development, exploration and discovery.

Positive Emotions Build Resources and Capital for the Future

Positive emotions build the resources and capital that will become the basis for growth and development in years to come. When we feel and think positive, we reach outward and broaden our resources through exploration and discovery. We are more creative, think quicker, and do not succumb to premature closure or other forms of superficial intellectual processing.

Depressed people experience what is called a "downward spiral" of negative emotions. Depressed emotions call forth negative memories that feed more negative thoughts, that feed more negative memories, that feed more depressed emotions. Breaking this downward spiral is crucial to stopping the depression.

Psychologists have found what they call an upward spiral of positive emotion. Positive emotions produce a different way of thinking and acting. The thinking becomes creative and broad-minded, and the actions become adventurous and exploratory. This increased creativity and exploration results in greater expansion.

Often negative emotions and thinking are taken more seriously because traditionally they have been believed to be the evolutionary backbone of human motivation. It was believed that people are motivated primarily to avoid experiencing negative emotions and that positive motivation was merely superficial.

But positive emotions are just as real, authentic and important as negative emotions and are equally important for development, growth, and success.

Positive Emotions Lead to More Successful Interactions in the World

Experiencing more positive emotion results in more friendships, stronger love, better physical health, and more successful interactions in the world accompanied by a sense of mastery. Growth, positive development, and creative and successful interactions in the world (i.e. mental health) may have their foundations in the experience of positive emotions and thinking.

Happy people tend to view themselves subjectively as more successful in the world. Happy people remember more good events than actually happened and forget more of the bad events that happened Happy people see success as lasting, personal and pervasive and failure as impersonal, temporary and specific. Happy people may lose a bit of realism but this does not lock them into ineffective functioning. Happy people are more likely to switch tactics when involved in a task that appears to be failing. In the normal course of events, happy people rely on their tried and true positive past experiences while less happy people are more skeptical. However, when events are threatening, happy people, more readily than less happy people, switch tactics and adopt a skeptical and analytical frame of mind. Happy people can deal better with adversity.

Happier people are markedly more satisfied with their jobs than less happy people. Happiness inceases productivity and results in higher income. Happiness also makes gainful employment and higher income more likely. Both adults and children who are in a good mood select higher goals, perform better, and persist longer on a variety of tasks.

Happy People Are Healthier

Positive emotions result in better physical health. Positive emotions are predictive of health and longevity and protect people from the wear and tear of aging. Positive emotions strongly predict who lives longer, who dies earlier, and who will become disabled. Happy people are more likely to seek out and make use of health risk information. Happy people have better health habits, lower blood pressure, and stronger immune systems than less happy people. They endure pain better and take more health and safety precautions when threatened. Positive emotions and thinking prolong life and improve health.

Happy People Are More Connected With Others

Very happy people differ markedly from average people and from unhappy people in one principle way - a rich and fulfilling social life and more secure relationships. Happy people have more close and casual friends, are more likely to be married, and are more involved in group activities than unhappy people. Happy people are also more altruistic. When we are in a good mood we are less focused on ourselves, we like others more and we want to be kinder and share our good fortune with others. However, when we are experiencing negative emotions and thinking we become distrustful, turn inward and become defensive about our own needs.

Focusing on Positive Emotions

Positive emotions undo negative emotions and reduce the negative physical and psychological stresses of negative experiences. Negative emotions tell you that you are facing a win-loss encounter and need to take steps to engage with the obstacles. Positive emotions and thinking allow you to see a potential win-win situation.

Positive emotions and thinking guide you to be more expansive, tolerant, and creative and maximize the social, intellectual, and physical benefits of the situation. Positive emotions and thoughts provide both the fuel and the raw material for experiencing more growth and development, more exploration and discovery, more mastery and successful interactions in the world. So, yes, there is a great deal of value in feeling good and positive thinking. Go for it!
by: Mary Ann Copson

BEWARE TO MALAYSIA

2007-12-13T19:48:00.001+07:00

*LADIES - BEWARE WHEN YOU GO TO THE MALAYSIAN ISLANDS*

Please Forward The Story To Everyone You Know:

I stayed in Pulau Redang and Pulau Perhentian In Terengganu for 2
weeks due to my research and I observed a lot of things done by the
local male youngsters to the ladies who visited there.

The VICTIMS were those who came alone or with group of girls only,
most of them came with one female friend.

The guys acted as a normal driver of the boat for the resorts but they
selected the lone girls mostly the dumb Chinese girls and western ladies.

But if the girls were accompanied by guys, they will not dare to touch.

When they reached the snorkeling area, they will 'HELP' the ladies by
holding their hands to snorkel here and there. Most of the Chinese
ladies wear exposed and sexy swim wears and they will peeped at their
nipples and underwears from behind.

The worst part was they bring along their local friends to join the
club, to get one or two victims everyday. They gathered on jetty
eyeing at their prey.

Then, they will guided the girls to plastic containers with fresh
water to wash them up, sometime trying to 'help' them by touching
their body parts.
They girls thought they were friendly and helpful but they have other
intentions.

After the girls were so busy to wash and clean up, the locals will at
that time handed them mineral water (with something inside), the
girls are not aware at the time and drank it. It happened everyday and
I watch it everyday. Then suddenly the girl will allow them to hold
her hand and walked to the boats and go away to the resort and finally
to the rooms, with the other local 'friends' following behind 'TO JOIN
THE PARTY' !!!

Sometimes they will ask the local or western ladies do they like to
have some sun block cream. Then they will apply some on their skin.
Once, to my surprise the lady naked her breast and let them 'played'.
Then I knew what they applied was actually the 'Minyak Dagu or Corpse
Oil', one type of 'Jampi or Curse Oil' so that you will love them.
They kissed her until she was brought to her room.

Please remember Terengganu state, the Black Magic is strong over there.

Remember, I observed these for 2 weeks but cannot stop them, they have
many many friends around. If I questioned them, I will be in
trouble...over there.

I hope every lady will take precaution on this matter and forward this
to everyone. Just let them know that if the drivers are so friendly,
they will take advantage of them, they have to beware. I was so
frustrated because the girls are so dumb to have trusted them. I asked
one of the victim and she said she didn't remember anything but she
said she have some DREAM that she had sex with the locals. SEE ! ! !

There are insufficient evidence to prosecute them cause they cleverly
done their job including dressing up victim nicely to original & don't
leave any traces behind even ejected externally. And when the victims
awakened they were told they had a short nap. Salt water further makes
it difficult for them to discover on the spot until perhaps later.

This happened in Pulau Tioman and can happened any other places.
Victims include Italian, American Japanese, Chinese, Arabian & even
Malays.

Please pass this message on to all the world.

Taxes & Accounting

2007-12-13T19:44:00.000+07:00

8 Essential Tips for Personal Taxes and Accounting

A very important part of personal financial planning is tax planning. This article will help you take the mystery out of personal tax Planning by providing a financial planning perspective for your overall tax situation.

1. Be aware of the different types of taxes

Many people are not aware of the different types of tax systems that we have. Income: Federal, State and Local. Real estate tax. Tax on Investments: Dividends, interest, capital gain, and passive income on stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and investment real estate. Estate or Inheritance Tax: Federal and state tax due on the estate or the inheritor. Gift tax: tax on giver of large gifts. Entitlement Tax: Social Security and Medicare (FICA), Federal Unemployment (FUTA). Sales, self employment, and corporate taxation.

2. Consider working with a Qualified Tax Professional

Tax planning can be complex for many people, therefore it may be wide to work with a trusted professional tax advisor.

Tax advisors not only prepare your taxes but can help make decisions that will affect your future. They can serve as advisors for a whole host of matters and they can represent you if you face the dreaded audit. Consider the following when selecting a tax professional:

- Local: Someone that you can easily meet with face to face

- Personable: Someone that you can interact with and who cares about you

- Proactive: Some tax preparers simply look at your previous year's return and plug your current numbers into last year's format. This of course assumes that last year's preparer knew what he/she was doing. Try to find a preparer who knows your situation. A proactive professional will ask questions that will help you anticipate changes in your tax situation to help you properly plan in advance

- Reputable: Find a professional with a good reputation. Ask people you admire for a referral.

- Skilled: Look for an accountant that is very competent. You have to be smart to obtain a degree in accounting or law.

Fees: Find out up front what they estimate their fees to be, what they charge to file electronically and whether they will represent you in an IRS audit. Avoid any 'early refund' ploys. Some well known tax preparation companies 'provide' this service which charges a hefty fee (with a lot of small print) and a lot of advertised hype for you to get your refund 'early'. It is basically a high-interest loan. Just waiting for your actual refund will save you a lot of money.

3. Remember, tax preparation entails both art and science

The science involves the mathematical calculations that in most instances can be figured using calculators and software, and the infinite number of complex tax laws.

The art of tax planning comes into play with interpretation of any special circumstances. There are some areas of tax law that leave the government's intentions unclear. No law can completely anticipate each person's situation. You could call a dozen different IRS agents with the same question and get as many different answers. A proactive planner will research any unusual circumstances you may have and help you plan a course of action.

4. Doing Your Taxes Yourself?

I firmly believe in getting professional tax assistance. However, I realize that many people prefer to do their own taxes perhaps to save money, or perhaps you have cleaned up the mess a 'store front' preparer made of your taxes and vow to do your own. It has been my experience that often the professional tax preparer has saved us the amount of their fee in our taxes. The peace of mind that the taxes are done right has a value all its own.

However, people who have prepared their own taxes at least once with paper and pencil or software usually understand taxes much better. If you self-prepare your taxes, consider having a qualified accountant review them before you send them in. They may find things you or the software might have missed.

If you made less than $54,000 in 2007, you can file your taxes electronically for free through the irs.gov website www.irs.gov/efile/. If you use tax software and wish to e-file be aware of the fees so that you can budget and compare prices properly. For example, a download of Turbo Tax Home and Business Federal and State for 2006 cost just under $100 and the filing fees cost around $30. Some States allow you to 'phone in' your State return for free.

If you choose to mail your return, go to your local post office and send it 'Certified Return Receipt' mail to insure that you have a record that the IRS received your paperwork. This will cost around $10 or less and will be worth every penny should the IRS contest the receipt of your return.

5. Keep great records

If you are already very organized you may read this section just to feel great about your organization skills or skip to the next section. If, however you have heard 'get organized' many times before and if you are the type of person who balks at the idea of organizing that mess of receipts just remember how you felt last year as tax time approached. You could become organized in only one evening of television viewing with the right tools. Arm yourself with an accordion file with at least 16 sections. Label them according to your situation or use the following sections: Auto, Bank, Business, Credit Cards, Dental, Medical, General Receipts, Grocery, Income, Insurance, Mortgage, Utilities, School, and Taxes. Now sort your receipts into these sections. Organizing your receipts will help you "Take the mystery out of..." your financial situation. Use a new accordion file every year. Not only will this help you find needed information, it will also help you find a receipt in case you need to return an item you purchased. . Your tax professional will be sending you a tax organizer the end of December or the first of January. In this organizer will be a list of information that you will need to gather. Becoming organized will help you easily gather the information you need to fill out your tax organizer.

6. Start early

Do not procrastinate on your taxes. Tax professionals are unbelievably busy January through April. Firms who prepare business returns also have a crazy March 15 business deadline. We are providing this information because we want you to get the most attention from your preparer during their craziest season. As soon as you get your organizer, begin gathering the needed papers. If you are only missing one or two pieces of information return the organizer to your accountant with a note that says what is missing. They will begin entering the information in their software. Try to get a January or February meeting with your accountant. These months are the best to meet because they will have more time to spend with you and they will be able to think proactively. If you are looking for a professional, start looking now.

Another reason to start early is allowing yourself time to look for records, ask financial institutions for copies of lost information, or calling investment companies for statements.

7. Judicious Paycheck Tax Withholding

Many people like to overpay their taxes, so that they get a nice refund in time for vacations or other wants and needs - Kind of like a forced savings. Overpaying taxes is like a giving the government an interest free loan of your money.

Good financial management involves developing savings habits so that you set aside money in an interest bearing account from each paycheck for future needs, wants and emergencies. This helps you to avoid using credit cards for those things and not having to wait until refund time. Secondly it then allows you to manage how much you can afford or are able to put into 401(k) plans at work. This accomplishes two things, first you are managing your money better and you are saving for retirement. Saving for retirement in tax deductible retirement plans like 401(k)s will also lower your taxes, enabling you to save more for retirement and everyday needs and wants.

If you want to lower the taxes that are being withheld from your paycheck, file a new W-4 form with your employer to claim an additional withholding. Make adjustment for getting married, divorced, having children and for increasing contributions to tax deductible retirement plans. Your accountant will help you estimate this.

8. Tax planning is not the tail that wags the dog

Taxes consume a large if not the largest single percentage of your income, therefore good financial planning should strive to lessen them, by whatever means possible as allowed by law.

However, tax planning is not the only core issue of good financial planning. Tax planning works in concert with your overall goals and your individual situation.
by: Kent Irwin

Single..??? Whats wrong...

2007-12-13T13:14:00.000+07:00

Single? What's WRONG with Him?

One of the many interesting things about being a life-long, single male in his early forties is people's reactions to that single-ness (yep, a word). Everyone has an opinion on it. Depending on the person's thinking, it can place me anywhere on the scale from 'complete social outcast', to 'coolest bloke on earth' and 'luckiest man alive'. And elicit responses ranging from pity and ridicule, to envy and admiration. Or in the case of my mother, complete devastation. My darling mum (mom) sees me essentially as a means to a grandchild and to be honest, I have been a bitter disappointment. Sure, she wants me happily married, but what she really wants... is that kid!! And yes, she lets me know it.

I love the mentality that says "single at that age, must be something wrong with him!"
Yep, had plenty of that.
"He's how old?.. and no woman, must have a lot of issues."
"Poor thing."
Interesting psychology that. Yet, very common.

It's like they have a picture in their mind of me sitting at home every night in my underwear, in a room lit by candles, eating meatloaf flavoured ice-cream from a paper plate, with my pet rat Eugene on my shoulder, my feet in one of those foot spas, a little 'Enya' playing in the background and some strategically placed cushions with images of my ex-girlfriends embroidered on them, lying around the room.
That's okay right?
If I had said tuna flavoured ice-cream, now that woulda been weird.
Waddya mean the cushion thing is creepy?
Oh well.

We all know that married people have no issues and that if, per chance, they do enter into their matrimonial journey with a few problems, the marriage ceremony will alleviate those instantly and forever. Great how that works isn't it?

What people think about me being single doesn't bother me at all, but it does interest me. For some bizarre reason, my single-ness is fascinating to some. I personally don't think it's interesting at all, but you would be shocked by the number of people who want to interrogate me regarding my 'lack of wife' status, in an attempt to discover what's wrong with me. "There's gotta be something, it's not normal" someone told me not too long ago. I wonder if I wasn't single, whether people would say "so Craig, why are you married?"

Apparently, as a Personal Development speaker and writer I should be married. It's a rule. People have suggested that my career would benefit from my extrication from the world of single-dom. Doesn't matter if I'm happily married or not, as long as I'm married.

A woman said to me recently, "I thought someone as evolved as you, would have found your soul-mate long ago." I actually laughed out loud at her. "Clearly, I have a way to go", was my response. Her friend (in the same conversation) suggested that I was probably gay but didn't know it, or want to admit it. "Oh, I'm pretty sure I'm not", I shared. "You think you're sure", she said. "All the pretty girls you meet, and not one wife?" I didn't realise 'pretty' was the determinant for a life partner. Missed that memo. Okay, note to self: if she's hot, marry her. There's my big mistake; stupidly, I've been looking beyond appearance. Idiot.

Apparently, my single-ness is some kind of indicator of dysfunction. That's it, I'm gettin' married this week. That'll fix me. Weirdo that I am.

I would never have thought to write an article on this topic, but some people seem to be fascinated by the whole single verses married discussion and in my little world, the conversation seems regularly to be directed back towards me. Of course there is no wrong or right, only opinions, so that's what I'm sharing. People often want to hear my thoughts on marriage because I'm single. Don't know why.
"Do you have marriage issues", I got asked last week. No, I love the idea of marriage and maybe I will be happily married one day, but if I don't get married, that's cool too. What I do have a problem with is, marrying someone who I'm not desperately, hopelessly in love with; marriage for the sake of not being single - seen it a million times.

For some people it's like...
"Yep, he (she) ticks all the right boxes, definitely a candidate. Let's see, money - check, good family - check, career - check, looks - check... marriage it is"
"Er, yeh but I don't really love him."
"Stop being unrealistic, your thirty four, your biological clock is racing, you won't do any better."

Over the years I have had many people say to me, "Hmm, you'd be a good catch... you need to meet my sister/daughter/cousin/girlfriend!" And their reason for saying that I'm a 'catch' is not because of my values, personality, integrity or all-round good-bloke-ness (a word), it's because they see me as being moderately successful and financially secure. A safe bet.
I find that sad.
"Yes, he ticks enough boxes, put him on the list Sally."

To me, some people seem to be more in love with the 'idea' of marriage than the actual person they're marrying or are married to. I see this as a catastrophe in waiting. It's also apparent that some people are so petrified of being single, that finding their 'soul mate' gets compromised down to "is he or she breathing? Wouldn't have been my first (or tenth) choice but hey, I have limited options, so giddyup cowboy(girl), get me that ring."

I have had literally thousands of conversations over the last three hundred years (you know I'm immortal right?) with people who are miserable in their marriage, yet amazingly, do nothing to fix it, or change the situation. For many people, marriage is something to be endured, tolerated even and of course for others, it's the best thing that will ever happen to them.

Okay, here are some random thoughts on the matter. Feel free to correct me or teach me a lesson - I am just a single bloke...

1. I am not against marriage in any way. Most of my friends are married and I know it can be an incredible part of the human experience. Given the opportunity with the right person, I would love to share my life with someone but, I'd rather be single forever, than married for the sake of it. And yep, I've been close a few times.

2. I don't believe that people need to be married to be fulfilled, functional, balanced or happy; those things are not dependant on marital status. You don't need to be a researcher to discover that marriage doesn't (automatically) equal happiness, just open your eyes. People seem to struggle with the thought of me being single and happy. They think I'm lying. It bothers them.
"You're not really happy, you only think you are... you're just trying to convince yourself."
"Er, okay. I didn't realise how miserable I am - thanks".

3. Some people are so terrified of being alone that they will compromise themselves to the point of actually losing their identity. "I'll be whatever you want me to be.." You've seen it. Maybe you've been it. Misery and frustration is always the result. It's important (for many reasons) that we learn to be comfortable and secure on our own before we launch into a life partnership.

4. A person who really gets to know themself and is truly comfortable with their own company, will be more attractive to a potential partner.

5. Too many people enter into marriage wearing those rose coloured glasses, only to have them ripped off by about day three. They spend a year planning how to have a great wedding and zero time planning how to have a great marriage.

6. People who have that sense of urgency to get married are less likely to find marital bliss and less likely to appeal to a potential partner. Note to all wanna-be brides and grooms: Desperation - not attractive.

7. While I'm open to the idea of marriage, and I would love a little Craig or Craigette one day, I love my life right now and I gotta say, singledom... not as horrible as some would have you believe!!!

Okay, now that I've opened that can of worms, I'll let you play with them.
I'm off to finish my meatloaf ice-cream and revel in my dysfunction.
Hey, where's Eugene gone?
by: Craig Harper

Learning Motivation

2007-12-13T13:12:00.000+07:00

Strategies for Motivating Students to Learn

As an adjunct education professor I am often asked, "How do I motivate students to learn?"

Motivating students to learn is a struggle that all teachers face.

Since I also teach middle school social studies it is the challenge I personally face everyday.

The truth is motivating students to learn is one of the key components of effective teaching AND classroom management.

If students are not motivated to learn then they are most likely not involved in the lesson and if they are not involved in the lesson they are much more likely to cause classroom management problems.

Therefore, it is critical for teachers to increase student motivation to learn and the best way to do this is for teachers to spark student interest at the beginning of every lesson.

Here are six effective strategies for motivating students to learn I do at the beginning of lessons:

1. Use critical thinking questions ~ The great thing about using these types of questions is that they don't necessarily have a right or wrong answer so students are allowed to express their own opinions as opposed to simply being told to memorize facts.

Here's a quick example. Let's take a social studies lesson on the use of the atomic bomb to end World War II. To spark interest at the beginning of the lesson the teacher can ask students to all write down an answer to the following question... "Do you think President Truman was justified in dropping the atomic bomb to end WWII? Why?"

Teachers can then let students share their answers for a quick class discussion and then take a class poll. Now that the students are interested in the topic it is much easier for the teacher to start the lesson.

Then, at the end of the lesson, the teacher can take another poll to see if the student's opinions have changed.

2. Use music to teach ~ Music is one of the most underrated learning tools and is a great way to spark student interest. For example, when teaching a lesson on the slave trade and the Middle Passage I introduce the topic by playing the Bob Marley songs "Buffalo Soldier" and "Catch a Fire".

3. Use video ~ Video is one of the most misunderstood teaching tools and is often abused. However, if used correctly video can be a great tool increase student motivation to learn. The key is to use short clips from movies and documentaries at beginning of lessons rather than the end. Hollywood movies are great for this, but you can also use unitedstreaming.com to download short clips from documentaries on any subject for any grade level.

4. Relate what students are learning to what is going on in the "real world". This is obviously easier done with some subjects than others, but it can be done. Students need to know "why" they are learning something.

5. Relate what students are learning to what is important to them. The trick here is to get to know your students and learn about their own interests.

6. Use technology...or rather, have the student use technology to learn. Have them create podcasts, videos, web sites, brochures etc.

Increasing student motivation to learn can be challenging, but it is an essential element in being an effective teacher. The added bonus is you will also find yourself enjoying teaching much more when it doesn't feel like you are pulling teeth trying to get your students involved.
by: Adam Waxler

UFO Meanings

2007-12-13T08:50:00.001+07:00

UFO Simply Means "Unidentified" Flying Object

What comes to mind when someone talks about a UFO? Do you think about the cover of a science fiction novel and the image of mysterious bluish lights beaming down from it? Do you think about a time when you were out late at night and you saw a flash of light, wondered what it was only to realize a moment later that what you saw wasn't a UFO - it was just the lights of a plane that was beginning its descent. Do you think of movies, or little green men, cartoons, or do you just turn away shaking your head?

A lot of people discuss UFOs as flying saucers - it seems to be the best description that they can come up with. Others suggest, rather dismissively, that UFO simply means unidentified flying object and that the light that someone saw flashing in the sky was either a plane, a helicopter or a reflection of light off of a cell phone tower or another metal object.

Reflections of light from a cell phone tower do little to explain away "mysterious materials" found in Roswell, New Mexico in the late 1940s. While the United States military has always stood their ground that these materials were merely fragments of a research balloon, a top secret test that ended badly, others offer another explanation. They assert that the materials were fragments of a UFO, an alien craft that crashed rather than safely landing. They believe that the "flying disc" - as it was called by military personnel - that was recovered could not be something from this world, and so began one of the most talked about UFO encounters in the world.

Many who believe that the UFO in Roswell, New Mexico deserved more attention than it was being given, believe that it wasn't something that could just be dismissed. In part, this is likely to have something to do with other stories surrounding the flying saucer. A farmer talked about having found materials miles away from Roswell, and the story was picked up by newspapers, accompanied by photos of the strange find - strips of rubber, something like aluminum foil, sticks. It's a story that has gained so much attention around the world that it has influenced many people's sense of alien life and alien visitations to earth.

If the Roswell, New Mexico story had never become so widespread, UFO and flying saucer may not be so common in our language, in our experiences and in novels, television programming and films. How common is it for people to see a UFO?

It's hard to say, really, because many people who see an unidentified flying object in the sky are reluctant to report it. Either the person who saw a UFO believes that there is a far more logical explanation or merely thinks that no one would believe them if they were to say anything about it. And yet, there are UFO sightings that are shared and that become the topic of conspiracy theories by those who believe that beings from other planets and galaxies have visited the earth.

One such incident occurred in 1980 in Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, England. Those who saw the UFO all claimed to have seen flashing lights coming from an unidentified flying object that was descending towards the woods - a UFO that was roughly the size of a car and seemed to float on a beam of light. After reports were made about the object, it was discovered that trees were damaged, radio frequencies became nothing but static and soil samples later showed radioactive activity.

Similarly, in Gulf Breeze, Florida in 1987 tales of a UFO began to circulate when a man saw a strange light coming from his lawn. When he saw the flying saucer, he grabbed a camera and started shooting photos as proof of what he had seen. Of course, in this situation, the story was not just of a UFO sighting, but about repeated experiences and of the man's being beamed up onto the craft.

Though discussions of these UFO sightings continue, and there has been audio recordings and photo documentation, it is still difficult to know whether or not the unidentified flying objects were indeed from space. Many claimed, in regard to the Gulf Breeze, Florida UFO sightings, that the man had manipulated the photographs and fabricated the story.

In each case, both sides - the believers and the skeptics - find evidence to support their claims. Those who believe in UFOs and alien visitations cite facts that they claim cannot otherwise be explained. Those who are skeptical offer their own explanations along with their own supporting evidence. Which side is right? For now, that's up to you to decide
by: Turner Rover

Download to PSP

2007-12-13T08:30:00.000+07:00

How to Download to PSP

So, you'ree a PSP game and music fan. You've got a Sony PSP and you want to play more than just games. You are probably wondering big time how you download music and films etcetera to your Sony PSP. To be honest it is amazingly easy to do. It takes only a few minutes to do each song. You could be listening to all your faves in no time at all. Plus the coolest games available.

Firstly you cannot connect your PSP direct directly to the web unless you own a wireless router. You can however, download the PSP MP3 files from special PSP download websites, these include many great games, ebooks, videos and lots of other stuff. After you have saved each file to your computer hard drive you must then transfer it over to your PSP. PSP music must be in the proper format or it will not play properly, even if you use a file that is a standard mp3 one. It still must be in the specific MP3/PSP format.

You need a special USB cable that will connect from your computer to the PSP plus a ripper program that copies mp3 music files to the Sony PSP format. A good standard software program is the CD MP3 Ripper, and this will be able to do pretty much anything you need to do. Once you have saved the mp3 files, all you need do is select from the options menu the "PSP Audio Format", and the file will be saved correctly.

There is an infinitely easier alternative to doing this manually! There are many websites who specifically target PSP downloads. They are offering ready formatted PSP music, videos and games all immediately downloadable. Some of these are free of charge (with usually quite limited choices) but the better ones have usually a single one off charge, subsequently you can download songs to your PSP, as many as you want! In addition, you get PSP videos, games and all the extras. When you join a PSP download club they will always supply all software instructions to convert normal files to PSP compatible formats. A complete step-by-step instruction showing how to convert Sony MP3 files from normal mp3 files and then put them on your PSP.

I know this for sure, I've attempted to do this manually and it took me quite some time before I got anything to work properly, and after seeing how long this entire process was taking, I just gave up and joined a PSP download site! You can do 1 song quickly, but if you want a hundred tunes, foirget it.

So, do you want to begin downloading cool things to your PSP?
by: Eddie Wolfe

Start Blogging Now

2007-12-13T08:20:00.000+07:00

Get Yourself Started In Blogging - The Right Way

As of September 2007, more than 106 million blogs have been tracked which makes one wonder just what blogging is.Blogging is that wonderful world where you can write your personal thoughts about what you think on any subject imaginable, whether good or bad, with or without anonymity, although in reality anonymity really doesn’t exist when it come to the Internet. Your website, your email has an ISP address which is easily traceable to any given computer.

In general, blogs are articles you write and post on the web for the entire world to see. Your blog puts you, your thoughts in the forefront, which lets others see your brilliance or idiocy. You can have your own website dedicated to your thoughts, or you can respond to a particular article that has been written which allows you to voice your opinion about the subject or article, although use tact when responding. Most news media allowing you respond to a written article requires you to provide a valid email address in order for you to make a comment.

Most subscribers to the Internet post there blogs on personal web pages or websites their ISP provides. Other bloggers post their comments on the multitude of websites available for posting their thoughts, usually indexed by subject. To find a blog site, simply type “blog/s” in any search engine and behold you will find thousands of blog sites you can read or post.

Methods for blogging vary which you should consider before doing any posting. Blogging in response to a particular article, as well as posting on dedicated blog sites are permanent blogs, in that they can not be changed once posted. With that in mind, you really need to think about what you want to say before posting your thoughts. It’s somewhat like making a comment, once spoken it can’t be undone.

The other side of posting on an open blog site is the libel issue. At present, blog sites are not libel for what you say, so use caution when blogging.

The other method of blogging is to have your own website or page where you write your own blog. Using this method, you can edit your blog, write about another subject or simply delete the blog entirely. This method in my opinion is perhaps the safest method of blogging, but there is a caveat to this method. When you write something on your computer using a word processor and save the document, even if you delete the article, or document, it still resides on your computer and unless you completely reformat or destroy the hard drive, it remains on you computer forever. If someone wants to prove you wrote the article, with the proper software they can retrieve it.

You may wonder if blogging is without peril. That depends. If you are blogging about your Aunt Tilly’s super fruit cake recipe, you’re safe, but if you’re blogging about a politician, an organization, the government, religious leaders, a company, an individual, you need to be careful about what you have to say, as you just might be libel. Presently, in the US, the courts are undecided about blogging, weighing in on the free speech side of the argument, however; individuals have been imprisoned and/or fined for their blogs.

To be safe when blogging, it’s important to use the correct adjectives, or follow the method the news media use when writing an article. Words like; alleged, subject to, suspected of, and the like may keep you out of trouble. Although, innuendos you make can been seen as an attack, an accusation, by some very sensitive people and they just might decide to take action against you.

Even when using safe words, that doesn’t mean you’re not going to suffer the consequences for your big mouth. Many states have what is known as; “The Right To Work Law,” which simply means employers can fire an employee for any reason, or for no reason. Individuals have been fired from their jobs for posting blogs about their company.

Many blogs are instructional in nature from how to grow a tree, wash a cat to building an explosive device. Here again you need to be careful. Those blogs about explosive devices just might cause a visit from a federal agency. Unfortunate as it is, when it comes to blogging, “Big Brother Is Watching!”

By: James L. Herman
Edited By: Bruce A. Tucker

Writing a Business Plan

2007-12-13T08:11:00.000+07:00

And the Necessary Sections of the Business Plan

A business plan is a devise used to develop or define business initiatives. It is often compared to a blueprint or road map. Planning a business and mapping out its course can prevent serious mistakes and uncover fatal defects. Errors made on paper are less devastating and, in most cases, can be easily corrected. Errors made during the actual operation of the business, however, can prove detrimental to its future existence.

A business plan outlines where a company currently stands, where it anticipates to be in the future and how it intends to get there. The plan details who is or who will be controlling all decisions made within the organization. It describes the product/service being offered. It provides background information on the industry, a description of the market in terms of size and growth, a profile of the target consumer, an analysis of existing competition, methods for distributing products, defined pricing strategies, and all promotional vehicles intended to be employed. The business plan also provides details on the company's selected suppliers of materials, the production process, licenses and permits required, capital asset requirements, proprietary information, facility specifications, and details regarding research & development.

One of the most important areas of a business plan is the financial projections. The financial projections forecast the potential profitability and capital requirements of the proposed enterprise. Well developed business plans include a three year forecast of the income statement, balance sheet, cash-flow statement, break-even analysis, sensitivity analysis, and ratio analysis.

A business plan is not a magical tool ensuring success. Moreover, the act of creating a business plan does not create financial stability for its author. A business plan, on the other hand, is a tool used to help determine the feasibility of a new venture, to determine the visibility of an expansion for an existing business, or to determine whether a newly developed initiative will provide profitable results.

The remaining topics to be addressed under this topic include the following:

PART A. Three Types of Business Plans

PART B. Sections of a Business Plan

PART A. - THREE TYPES OF BUSINESS PLANS:

The three (3) types of business plans include a Full Business Plan, a Brief Business Plan and an Operational Business Plan.

The Full Business Plan is prepared by entrepreneurs or organizations requiring large amounts of financing. In addition, aspiring entrepreneurs usually develop a full business plan to add credibility to themselves and to their proposed venture. Furthermore, these entrepreneurs usually have little business experience and therefore must prove to investors that they have "schooled" themselves in the activities of the industry and are aware of what they are getting into.

Depending upon the complexity of the proposed business, a Full Business Plan can range between forty and eighty pages in length. The format provided under the "Writing a Winning Business Plan" section outlines how to develop a Full Business Plan.

A Brief Business Plan is much shorter; generally between twenty and thirty pages in length. It summaries all major functional areas of a business. It is usually created by an existing business who requires an increase in their operating loan or require a loan for a planned expansion. Furthermore, since a banker usually has a basic knowledge of the existing business (from prior visits or loan applications), fewer details are required and focus tends to be placed on the company's past ability to repay loans or other debt. A Brief Business Plan can also be used to stimulate an investor's interest and/or to monitor their reaction to the existing/proposed product or service.

An Operational Business Plan is used by existing businesses to forecast their upcoming year's revenues, expenses, cash inflows & outflows, break-even point, sensitivity analysis etc. This type of business plan is often developed on an annual basis to keep key employees focused on the organization's goals, objectives, and strategies. Furthermore, an Operational Business Plan generally is prepared for internal purposes only - it's not used as a tool to apply for bank loans or acquire capital from investors.

PART B. - SECTIONS OF A BUSINESS PLAN

All business plans have a basic format or structure. Below outlines and briefly describes each component of a business plan.

THE TITLE PAGE

The title page of a business plan depicts the company's name and address. The name and contact number of the owner/CEO is also provided in a standard title page. Additionally, some business plan writers include a confidentiality and proprietary statement along with a disclaimer of securities. As you may suspect, the title page is one page in length.

THE TABLE OF CONTENTS

The table of contents outlines a chronological listing of all sections and subsections of your business plan. Page numbering is used to reduce the reader's search for specific information. Most business plan writers place the table of contents on one or two pages; three pages are too many.

THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The executive summary highlights the most crucial aspects of each major business plan section. Its purpose is to entice readers (investors) so that they continue to read the entire plan. The length of an executive summary usually ranges between two and five pages.

THE MISSION & STRATEGY STATEMENTS

Your mission statement details where your business is currently and where it intends to be in the future. The strategy statement usually outlines the tactics you intend to employ in order to achieve your company's missions, objectives and goals. The average length of this section generally ranges from one to four pages.

MANAGEMENT & STAFFING SECTION

This section of the business plan details your company's planned or existing management team, outside supporters, strategic alliances and staffing requirements. The Management & Staffing section must prove to investors that you have developed or intend to develop, a Team that will produce the results outlined throughout your business plan.

THE OPERATIONS OF YOUR COMPANY

The operations section of the business plan will provide basic information on the company's current situation and/or background information for existing businesses. Other topics addressed under this section include direct material requirements, the production process, facility specifications, permits & licenses, research & development initiatives, capital asset requirement, milestones, and external influences just to name a few.

THE MARKETING & PROMOTIONS SECTION

The Marketing and Promotions section of your business plan provides background information on the industry, a description of the market in terms of size and growth, a profile of your target market, an analysis of your competition, distribution channels, your pricing strategies, and the promotional vehicles you intend to employ. The marketing & promotions section of the business plan is one of the most important sections and therefore, great consideration should be given to its structure and level of detail.

THE FINANCIAL PLAN

The Financial plan is possibly the most scrutinized section of any business plan. It usually consists of three parts, namely 1) an introduction, 2) the forecasted financial statements, and 3) notes to the forecasted financial statements.

The introduction tells the reader what he/she is expected to find under the financial plan. The forecasted financial statements consist of projections over a three year period of the following items; forecasted income statement, balance sheet, cash-flow statement, break-even analysis, sensitivity analysis, and ratio analysis. The Notes to the Financial Statements summarize or explain the "assumptions" made by the entrepreneur when creating the forecasted financial statements.

THE APPENDICES

The appendix provides information and/or documents that support any claim made throughout the body of the business plan. Letters of intent from suppliers & customers, supporting charts & diagrams, resumes, patent or trademark documents, quotations, financial budgets, floor plans, facility layouts, and demographic charts are common examples of items appearing in an appendix of a business plan.

There are some strict guidelines to follow when structuring your business plan. The title page always appears as the first page of the business plan. The table of contents will then follow. The executive summary must follow the table of contents. Appearing after the executive summary will be your mission and strategy statements.

The sequence of the next three sections is left up to the entrepreneur. Moreover, placement of Management & Staffing section, the Marketing & Promotion section, and the Operation's section usually depends on the flow of the business plan. The Financial Plan will be the next section to appear. Finally, the Appendices will ALWAYS appear as the final section of your business plan.
by: Karl Johnston

What is Islam?

2007-12-13T08:05:00.000+07:00

This short article is the first in a seven part series called Islam 101. As the name indicates, this series of articles is meant to, Insha Allah, give a brief, succinct overview of some of the basic beliefs of Islam.

So what exactly is Islam? The name itself comes from the root word “salam” which means “peace” in Arabic. “Islam” actually means “submission”, which is understood as submission of the human being’s will to the will of God. So, a complete definition for the word Islam would be “submission to God in order to obtain peace.” And a Muslim, coming from that same root word s-l-m, is a person who submits himself to God in order to obtain peace.

How do we submit ourselves to God? The answer is that it is not easy, it is extremely difficult. To submit yourself to God means putting your own natural human desires on the back shelf when they conflict with God’s desires. It means caring more about the next life than this one. It means desiring the intangible good of the hereafter more than the material things of this world. It means conquering our inner pride, loving the things that God loves and hating the things that He hates. It’s a tall order for a mere human.

Islam is more than just a religion that one should think about once a week; Islam is an entire way of life. Islam gives guidance for every aspect of a person’s life, including what food to eat, what clothes to wear, and how to act as a mother, father, brother, sister and member of society in general. It’s all inclusive, or at least it should be. If all people perfectly submitted their wills to God’s we would have a near utopian society.

Human beings need structure in their lives, which is observable in day to day activities. There are 5 pillars of Islam which provide that crucial structure to a person’s life. These 5 pillars are the foundation of an individual’s religion, without them there can be no Islam, but they are only the bare minimum requirements.

The first is the shahada, or the declaration of faith. It is when a person says and believes that there is no deity worth of any type of worship except for God, and that Muhammad is His messenger. The second is the prayer which should be performed a minimum of 5 times each day. The third is zakat which can be thought of as a tax to feed the poor and purify your money. The fourth is fasting for the entire month of Ramadan from sunrise to sunset each day. Last but not least, the fifth is the hajj which is the pilgrimage to Mecca. The hajj should be performed at least once in a person’s life if they are able.

There is so much more that can be said on this topic, but we will leave it here until next time. Thank you for reading and God bless!

Get Profit from Auctions

2007-12-13T07:36:00.000+07:00

How to Profit from Public Auctions

What I'm about to reveal cannot be accomplished every time and at every auction. At most auctions you can do well for yourself, but not make out like a bandit. But at some auctions you can make out like a bandit if you use your wits. If you attend auctions half a dozen or more times a year, your chances will come.

For Newbies: It's Not Rocket Science

Don't be intimidated by live auctions if you've never been to one. Just go and observe for awhile. Within an hour you'll understand the dynamics well enough to jump into the bidding.

The first thing to do upon arriving is register and get a bidder number. The auction company may require you to show a driver's license. This prevents people from (a) winning an item, changing their minds, and leaving without paying; or (b) using the "controlled chaos" as cover to shoplift their winnings.

Once you have your number, hang loose and observe for a few minutes. At first you may find the speed of the auction and the auctioneer's chant confusing. Don't worry about it. Within a short time it will all fall into place.

One final word for newbies: Find out if there's a "buyer's premium." A buyer's premium is a mark-up you pay in addition to your winning bid. It's part of the purchase price before sales tax is added. For example, if the auction has a 10% buyer's premium and you win something with a $90 bid, your price at check-out will be $99 plus tax.

Check the fine print of auction ads or flyers. Notice of a buyer's premium will be spelled out ("10% buyer's premium") or abbreviated ("15% BP). There should also be signs on display at the auction site announcing the buyer's premium if there is one. If in doubt, ask when you register.

Exploit Auction Circumstances

Just as no two auctions will offer exactly the same merchandise or draw exactly the same crowd, so no two auctions will be carried out under identical circumstances. I'll show you some ways to legitimately take advantage of an auction's flaws and weaknesses.

Examples of auction flaws or weaknesses: A lazy or mediocre auctioneer...a disorganized auction staff...too much inventory being sold in too short a time...a low turn-out or a crowd that starts drifting away early. These are factors that put pressure on the auctioneer and determine how well or poorly the sale progresses. By exploiting the auctioneer's disadvantages, you can turn him from your financial adversary into your reluctant financial benefactor.

The first strategy, therefore is to (a) be aware of the importance of auction flaws and weaknesses, and (b) learn to recognize and exploit them. Now I'll give you specific examples of how this is done.

Divide and Profit

About three years ago I attended a regular monthly antique auction held at an auctioneer's warehouse. At this event he was overloaded with inventory and was trying to move as many lots as possible before his crowd began to drift away. The auctioneer's excess inventory and his haste to move as much merchandise as possible in a single day were weaknesses that I could exploit (and did).

One item I bought was a 1920's-era dining room suite in very good condition. It consisted of a table, eight chairs, and a china cabinet. Take notice of this: I didn't want the dining room. I didn't need it. I had no intention of taking possession of it (and I didn't). Yet I bid for it, won it, paid for it -- and profited from it! Here's how...

Normally the auctioneer wouldn't sell a valuable old dining room like this as a complete set. He'd get a better total price by dividing the set into three "lots" (the table, the chairs, and the china cabinet) and selling each lot separately. By doing this he forces people who want the whole set to bid not only against each other, but also against those who want just parts of the set. And once a "whole-set" bidder has won part of the set, he or she will bid aggressively to get the rest.

But on this day the auctioneer offered the complete dining room "all for one money" (as we auctioneers say) because he just had too much merchandise to move. So I bought it.

I paid $1300 for the set (only one other person was interested in the entire set, so I had little competition). I left this furniture in the auction barn and called the auctioneer a couple of days later. I told him I wanted to re-consign the dining room for his next sale one month later. I specified that he should sell it in three separate lots. At the next auction my dining room sold for $2400 total. Less his commission, I pocketed about $500 without so much as even touching the furniture. Not a huge windfall, but then again I didn't have to do anything except bid, pay, and make a phone call to the auctioneer. (And that was just one transaction among half a dozen that I profited from!)

Right Merchandise, Wrong Market

Remember that antique baby grand piano I got for $1,000? I bought that to keep, not to resell. It's worth at least $5,000. So how did I get it so cheap?

The piano was the right item being sold at the wrong place and to the wrong crowd.

The auction was held in a little Southern town of about 300 people. Just a post office, a railroad track, and this auctioneer's warehouse (not the same place that I bought the dining room). This auctioneer was well-established and drew his crowd from many bigger outlying communities. But his average crowd was between 100 and 150 people, most of them rural people with no interest in grand pianos. (Plus there was the additional problem of moving it. Once again, I was one of only two bidders.

Here's another example. This time I was buying to resell, and this was a smaller and more common-place type of transaction:

I was at an estate auction being held onsite at the deceased person's home. The auctioneer had a tent set up in the yard, and all the household goods were displayed inside the tent. Once again, this took place in a small town (about 5,000 people).

The auctioneer offered a cardboard box full of bric-a-brac. I had already spotted the box and knew I would bid for it. Among the assorted junk in the box was a pair of small Black Forest wall shelves. The shelves were supported by carved deer heads with glass eyes. As it turned out, neither the auctioneer nor the crowd knew what they were or their value. I bought the box for $65 and resold the shelves on eBay for $235 (i.e., right merchandise at the right marketplace). The rest of the junk in the box I tossed (yard sale type junk).

Buying to Resell

== eBay ==

You have to be careful when buying anything to resell on eBay. As a marketplace eBay has become a victim of its own success. It's overly crowded and competitive. I'm not a frequent seller on eBay, but when I do list items I have about an 80% success rate. And I only list items that I feel sure will sell. Yet I still have about 20% no-sales.

Other eBay hazards include the hassle of non-paying bidders and the risk of selling-but-not-profiting. You can sell-but-not-profit if your merchandise only attracts one or two bids. When this happens, the eBay and Paypal fees (not to mention the time and gas required to ship your items) can erode your gains.

But some items are consistently reliable sellers. If you know something about auto parts, jewelry, china, or any other product line with a niche market, you might be able to convert live auction purchases into eBay sales.

== Antique Booth ==

You can get started in the antique business on a strictly part-time and absentee basis. All you have to do is rent a booth in a local antique mall. The mall management will mind the store and make the sales. You only have to keep your booth stocked with inventory from estate sales, garage sales, and antique auctions.

If you already know something about antiques or collectibles, that's great. Because you already know more than I did when I started. I knew next to nothing. I only knew what I liked. Everything I've learned about antiques and collectibles is the result of going to antique malls and attending auctions.

== Flea Market ==

With a flea market booth you're not limited to antiques and collectibles, and you don't have to know anything about the merchandise except what it will sell for.

If you go the flea market route, estate auctions are still very good sources -- but you can probably do exceptionally well for yourself at business liquidations, storage unit auctions, and surplus or salvage auctions.

As you can see, the potential to profit from public auctions is limited only by your time and ingenuity!
by: Dale Hartley

HOT NEWS BBM

2007-12-12T13:04:00.000+07:00

Harga Bensin Baru Rp. 6,250.- / per liter - Maret 2008

Harga Bensin Baru Rp 6.250 Per Liter
Kendaraan umum dan sepeda motor harus pakai smart card untuk beli
premium

JAKARTA. Pemilik mobil pribadi bersiaplah menghitung ulang jatah belanja
BBM. Sebab mulai Maret tahun depan, pemilik mobil pribadi hanya boleh
membeli bensin jenis baru yang harganya sekitar Rp 6.250 per liter.
Itupun kalau pemerintah tidak menyurutkan niatnya memberi subsidi Rp 500
per liter.

Itulah buah program hemat BBM mulai tahun depan. Dalam program tersebut,
mobil pribadi hanya boleh membeli bensin beroktan 90. Selama ini,
seliter bensin bersubsidi yang beroktan 88 harganya Rp 4.500.

Seharusnya, harga bensin jenis baru beroktan 90 itu sekitar Rp 6.750 per
liter. Tapi, pemerintah berniat masih memberi subsidi Rp 500 seliter.
"Rencananya, pemerintah akan menyiapkan BBM ini sebanyak tiga juta kilo
liter buat uji coba," kata Direktur Jenderal Migas Departemen Energi dan
Sumber Daya Mineral, Luluk Sumiarso kepada KONTAN.

Badan Perencanaan Pembangunan Nasional (Bappenas) merencanakan uji coba
penjualan bensin jenis baru beroktan 90 itu di Jakarta. "Baru di Jakarta
saja, program ini bisa menghemat Rp 6 triliun. Tentunya penghematan
subsidi akan semakin besar jika program ini sudah berlaku secara luas"
kata Kepala Bappenas Paskah Suzetta.

Kelak, hanya angkutan umum dan sepeda motor yang berhak menikmati bensin
bersubsidi. Guna mengawasinya, pemerintah telah menyiapkan kartu pintar
atau smart card untuk pembeli BBM bersubsidi. Kartu itu berfungsi untuk
mengontrol sekaligus membatasi pembelian BBM bersubsidi. Rencananya,
ujicoba pemakaian kartu pintar ini mulai berlangsung pada Maret 2008.

Jadi, setiap pengemudi kendaraan umum dan sepeda motor wajib memiliki
smart card yang yang mencantumkan batas volume pembelian premium. Kalau
jatah pembeliannya dalam satu hari sudah habis, maka petugas pengisi BBM
berhak untuk menolak melayani orang tersebut.

Usul penggunaan smart card datang dari Badan Pengatur Hilir Minyak dan
Gas (BPH Migas). "Nantinya akan kami uji coba dulu untuk mengetahui
efektivitasnya, " ujar Anggota Komite BPH Migas Ibrahim Hasyim.

Ibrahim mengatakan, untuk mengurangi penyelewengan, pemerintah akan
membentuk lembaga pengawasan. Lembaga itu yang menentukan siapa saja
yang boleh pakai BBM murah.

To Become a Good Leader

2007-12-11T12:34:00.000+07:00

5 Ways to Gain or Regain Credibility as a Leader

When I was new to leadership at the tender age of 23 I messed up big time. I went about being a leader in all the wrong ways. How many of you got promoted to your role in leadership because you were a great 'doer? That was me!
The challenge with promoting a doer to a leader is that the skill sets are completely different. A doer quite literally gets things done. You are given a task, you figure it out and you just get er done. Easy right?
The skills of a doer are action oriented, take instruction, fast learner, results oriented, likes to see the outcomes of their efforts. Now transfer those skills over to a leader and you would think those skills would make you a naturally gifted leader. Not so fast.
The skills of a great leader or multi faceted and include the skills of a doer and they also include the skills of a socializer, a empathizer and a detailer. This is why training is crucial when you are promoted to a leadership role. Let me take that further and say that even leaders who have been on the job for years- they too need to engage in ongoing learning in order to grow as a leader.
Credibility is a huge component of leadership success. If your team does not see you as credible they will not support you or your efforts to lead. If you are new to leadership there are five things you can do to gain instant credibility and if you have been in leadership for a while but feel you need to re-gain credibility then the following five steps will help you move forward.
5 Ways to Gain or Regain Credibility as a Leader
#1- Begin with you. Do a self assessment of your skills and ask yourself the following questions:

- Why was I selected to be a leader?
- How do my skills fit in with the role of leader?

- What do I need to learn to be a better leader?

- What did the leader before me do well?

- How am I unique as a leader?
#2- Have a face to face with your team ASAP- You need to establish or re-establish who you are, what your skills are and your role with the team. It is never too late to do this by the way. Use the answers to your questions above as the content for this meeting. For example:

Hey team, I called this meeting as a chance for you to get to know me as a leader, my style and how we can best work together. Here's what you need to know:
- I was selected as your leader because I am a doer, a decision maker and I am not afraid to take risks.

- My skills are in seeing what needs to be done and in finding solutions.

- I have lots to learn too and I am an avid lifelong learner so I look forward to learning from each of you as we work together.

- What did you enjoy about your previous leader?

- What would you enjoy about me as your leader and working together?

- I am unique as a leader in that I want to focus on fun while gaining results and I want to hear your feedback to help me do the best job possible for you and the company.
#3- Involve your boss to elevate your credibility instantly- Many leaders are promoted without any fanfare or announcement from upper management. Insist that your boss announce your position/promotion via internal communication if that is not regular practice in your company. Take it one step further and in your very first meeting with your team have your boss promote you to the team. Ask your boss to tell the team why you were chosen as their leader, what he or she sees as your gifts that you bring to the department or team. Have your boss reiterate his or her complete faith in you. In addition have your boss state the chain of command so that your team knows you are fully supported by upper management. If you want to re-establish credibility involve your boss to show your team he or she has �got your back and supports the direction or decisions you made.

#4- Don't just talk it- Do It!- Put your words into action and show your team that you are a lifelong learner, recognize their skills and tell them when you have learned something from each of them. In meetings be open about what you learned from a specific team mate. This demonstrates your commitment to being a leader who learns not a leader who supposedly knows everything. Although you stated that you are solution oriented guide and coach your team to be solution providers. Encourage them to come to you with a few solutions to any of the challenges they may present to you. Then facilitate the solutions, congratulate them on bringing solutions forward. Let your team know you are a �facilitator of solutions.
#5- Share your knowledge- Generation X and Y workers want to learn as much as they can from each of their bosses. If you are unwilling to share your knowledge you will lose credibility rapidly as you will be seen as a hoarder of information, a negative control freak and an insecure leader. Have regular training meetings where you share information from upper management and on the goings on within the company. Encourage your team to �knowledge share, with each other at these meetings. Have monthly mentoring/coaching meetings with each member of your team that allows them to ask you whatever they want to know.

The good news for me at the age of 23 was that I had a fantastic boss who realized I needed support and training to be a great leader. Even though I was a lousy leader for the first three months of my first leadership role I quickly became a well respected leader once I was given the tools and support to succeed. Age is not a barrier to great leadership the only barrier is skill development. A great leader knows their skill set, where the gaps are and where to go to get better. It's never too late to gain or regain credibility as a leader.

This article may be reprinted in your company newsletter or publication as long as you use the following:
Cheryl Cran, CSP (certified speaking professional) is the author of a new book published by Career Press called, The Control Freak Revolution and 50 Ways to Lead & Love it as well as Say What You Mean- Mean What You Say. Cheryl works with top performing organizations and their leaders to help them boldly grow a workplace of choice.

Through keynotes, seminars and coaching Cheryl provides solutions and ideas for increased results.
Find out more at http://www.cherylcran.com/

Health Insurance Plan

2007-12-11T12:19:00.000+07:00

10 Areas of a Health Insurance Plan

What do you really need to know when deciding which health insurance plan is appropriate for you? While the information is most times segmented into individual, family or group coverage, there are many other factors that impact your insurance selection. Selecting the wrong plan can leave you under-insured and resulting in catastrophic loss when hit with a major medical issue. Review these 10 areas to know what to look for in your health insurance plan.

1) Prescription drug coverage, Depending upon the type of insurance plan you select, you will want to know if you will be adequately covered. Especially if you are already taking prescription medication on a regular basis, you will want to know which drugs are covered. In most cases, you will want a plan which includes co-pays and includes the ability to choose between generic or brand name. If you are prescribed a newer or experimental drug, you will need to do some research as many companies won�t cover these costs.

2) Preventive services costs, these include services like annual exams, tests and screening including routine immunizations. Many times services like these are also on a co-pay system. Besides knowing what type of service is covered, you'll also want to know how much you'll have to pay.

3) Office visits, these include visits that are not covered under preventive services. One thing you�ll want to find out is if you'll be able to use your regular doctors. If you currently use an HMO, you may only have the choice of participating providers. If you are using a PPO, you are normally free to consult with any doctor. In most cases, you can check to see if your doctor is covered under your plan before you buy.

4) Imaging and laboratory services , these include testing and interpretation of results for services like CAT scans, MRIs and x-rays. Many plans include a discount program where you get these services at a discount rate when used by an independent company such as Lab One.

5) Outpatient services , these include in-and-out services that do not typically require a hospital stay. They cover facility costs and the costs of supplies that you would need during your treatment.

6) Emergency room services , these include the use of services and supplies for the emergency room. This may or may not include ambulance services and supplies. Most plans charge an access fee to use the emergency room unless you are admitted.

7) Health care practitioner services , these include the services of a specialist such as surgeons, anesthesiologists, assistants and nurses. Besides costs, you'll also want to know how easy it will be to see a specialist. Will you have the flexibility of choosing a doctor on your own or will you need to have a referral

8) Outpatient physical medicine , these include things like physical, speech and occupational therapies as well as rehabilitation services including chiropractic care.

9) Inpatient hospital , these include the use of hospital care , room and services as well as supplies and equipment.

10) Other services , these vary greatly from plan to plan and carrier to carrier. These services may include dental, vision, other specialized care and surgery, behavioral health and substance abuse and home care.

One other major factor that wasn't mentioned earlier was that of the overall plan costs. These costs include annual premiums, umbrella deductibles as well as embedded deductibles. When planning for your annual medical expenses, you�ll need to estimate the cost of your premiums as well as any co-pays or non-covered payments that you might have to make. In addition, you'll also need to keep track of the umbrella and embedded deductibles to make sure you still have adequate coverage throughout the year.

Review these 10 areas to insure you properly review your health plan coverage. You'll also want to review your plan at least annually to ensure it provides what you need.

Success College from Home

2007-12-10T17:44:00.000+07:00

How to Succeed in College by not going to Class

Getting through college is hard enough, but you need to sit down and decide what you really want out of life. If you chose a computer science major, are you really going to be happy programming calculator chips for the rest of your life? My advice to you is to enroll in college, but don't go to class. And here's why:

Forget about your grade point average. In high school, the only thing that mattered was grades. When you get to college, you'll most likely be used to this and force yourself to study hard and memorize 150 pages of notes to get a passing grade in Phych 101. Make your goal of college to actually learn. Take courses that interest you and you'll be a lot more motivated.
Don't do homework. Most students complain that homework takes away their social life. Most of the time, this is absolutely true. Without any social life, school will only seem more stressful. Make your friends priority. Because one day, you might have a high paying job, but without friends, you'll have no reason to be making money in the first place.
Never take a nap. Unless you've been taking naps for years, don't start now. You're young; you can handle staying up late and waking at sunrise. If you're having trouble staying awake, it's probably because you don't have a cycle. Getting to bed at 3am every single night is better for you than getting to sleep early only every once in a while.
Don't make goals. College is all about figuring yourself out. Don't believe that it's bad to not declare a major. Take time to decide what you want to do with your life because, well, it's your life. Goals are a recipe for disappointment and failure (unless you're a soccer player).
Make your bed. Spend that extra minute and a half to clean up after yourself. It�s better to be late to class because really, it's going to be stressful either way. And coming home to a pigsty will only cause more stress. Just don�t over clean or your friends will be sure to make fun of you.
Find a study place. Having a good place to study that's distraction-free is always a good idea. Find an old willow tree in a secluded clearing behind the library. If you don't feel like studying, at the very least it's a good place to take your girlfriend. And if you tell her it's your secret study place, trust me; she'll think you're cute.
Don't go to class! Unless you get to sit next to that cute brunette that twirls her hair and always drops her pencil, it's better just to forget about going to class at all. Instead, go to the west wing of the library's third floor and sit in the aisles reading books.
The point of college is to learn. Ultimately, down the line, not a soul is going to care if you got an A in linguistics or a C- in anthropology. Focus on being happy in life. Do whatever it is that you want to do. Only then will you be able to succeed.