Pessimistic Brass

Peace in the Middle East. Praying in Secret.

2005-10-28T00:27:00.000-07:00

Alternative Energy - Understanding and Installing Solar Power

Peace in the Middle East - whoa that is a toughie.

You have millennia of sheople being led around by the nose while abusing their mothers and daughters on both (or all eight or nine) sides of the issue and then there is all that oil that corpserists backing the US are in need of.

I suspect there needs to be real ecumenicism and the religions must be forced (which will require Bush or someone also admitting all religions say the same things) to say so. And then it will take years of re-programming before the land so full of holes and ass-holes begins to deserve any recognition as a Holy Land rather than a playground for Holy Empires.

Then I would suggest that we use Free Energy or alternative energy sources and begin making it clear there is an abundance of energy all around us. If we had to we could simply get Helium III from the moon for some purposes that the Tesla (Newman, Farnsworth, Fleischmann-Pons, Solar, Bearden and Vacuum etc) energy did not find application suitable to match the requirements. This would diffuse the arbitrageurs who love unrest more than a little and be detrimental to the oil cartels (Bushco).

Finally and most unlikely if people continue to believe the history they are taught in school - We must remove special status for people who hide behind corporate or national veils. It was only recently that corporations were given superior rights to any individual. At the same time we must reduce national interests while increasing local autonomy. The futurists like Toffler have been right about this happening in Europe but they could have explained why the plan set in motion in the 19th Century would lead to the EEC.

This same plan might be necessary if Nations are to continue in their present sovereign (derived from Kings who were said to be Divine) status. I would hope that will not happen but it is apparent in the words of Woolsey and Bennett that it is the plan. It is in fact the way that Kissinger Associates have laid out the NSS document that George II calls a War on Terra.

On the other hand if people started learning the Hegelian Dialectic of history - then real change could occur. Then standing armies would be outlawed and women would be free. How can people be educated about all the lies of Nations and leaders and yet still have some hope for mankind?"

Author of Diverse Druids
Columnist for The ES Press Magazine
Guest 'expert' at World-Mysteries.com
Activist for ecumenicism

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." --Matthew 6:6

There was a time when I thought I could not turn to God. I became pregnant after a weekend with a friend, I thought this disqualified me from God's love and help. But my fear got the better of me, and I had nowhere else to turn. I've written about other aspects of this time in my life before, but what I want to focus on today is how God responded when I confessed my situation to Him and asked for help.

One of the things I was most concerned with in my initial fear was how this pregnancy would be received by those who knew me, and by those who didn't. Would I be judged? Would the baby be judged, perhaps be considered less of a person because of my marital status?

My Prayer Book - A Collection of Christian Prayers for Daily Life

So when in answer to my prayers for help I only felt God's great love, I gained the courage to bring up this question. What could I do to protect my baby from being hurt by my mistake?

And God's response was, "You made a mistake then, but you're not making one now."

I had decided to keep the baby, you see. In my heart of hearts, I felt this was the only option. I wanted my child from the moment I knew about the pregnancy.

And the passage above from Matthew came to mind. I think this was the first time I really had prayed to God in secret. I had told no one about the pregnancy yet, not even the father. I had thrown myself into God's care first, and He was strengthening me.

From this prayer, I got this clear comforting message that God could see into my heart. He knew how I really felt about this baby, and He knew my deep desire to do right. He knew the sincerity of my internal promise to stop the self-destructive behavior that had gotten me into this situation, and He accepted that as enough.

I felt the truth of the words, "Thy Father who seeth in secret shall reward thee openly."

To me, this meant that everything would be okay. I'd be able to support us, I'd be able to handle whatever came my way from friends and family, and I'd be able to make the changes I needed to give my child a stable, happy home. There would be open acknowledgement of my secret connection to God.

This is over 14 years ago now, and it's all come true. The self-destructive behavior dropped away, I don't even miss it. I couldn't now ask for a better life; each day brings new occasions for gratitude.

All because of that simple spiritual law that Jesus shared with us so long ago.

Laura Matthews is a spiritual healer in the US Northeast. Visit her Website at: http://www.lbmatthews.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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Toys For Your Pet That Are Safe and Fun. Sell More Products and Services with Testimonials.

2005-10-27T09:47:00.000-07:00

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There are plenty of toys on the market to keep your favorite pet entertained for hours on end, but there are also a number of factors to consider when purchasing toys for your pet. As with children's toys, safety should be first and foremost in your thoughts when considering a new toy purchase for your pet.

Be sure not to give your pet toys that can be broken up and potentially stuck in their throats! Dog toys, like dogs themselves, come in various shapes and sizes. Dog toys should be durable, fun, and safe. Hard rubber toys such as the "Kong" line of products can provide your favorite dog with endless hours of chewing fun.

The "Kong" can also be filled with a mixture of your dog's favorite treat and peanut butter! Please check with your veterinarian to ensure that it is okay to feed your dog peanut butter. Rope dog toys and rubber rings are always a bit hit with dogs that love to play fetch or tug-of-war. Playing "Frisbee" can also provide hours of entertainment for dogs and owners alike!

Dogs may also enjoy stuffed and furry toys, but be sure your pet cannot get at the stuffing inside as it can be a serious choking hazard. Toy birds and mice have traditionally proven to be very entertaining for cats. They especially seem to like the ones attached to string that you can pull and entice your furry feline to chase about!

They also seem to love simple cardboard boxes, tin-foil balls, and scrunched up newspaper! A recent favorite of cats and cat owners is the laser pointer. Cats never seem to tire from chasing that little red dot around, just be sure not to direct it at their eyes. The feather-and-pole type of toy is also very popular. Scratching posts are excellent forms of entertainment for cats, and they provide your cat something other than your furniture to dig their claws into! Hint: try sprinkling catnip on the post!!

There is also a series of catnip-stuffed toys and pillows that your cat will love. There are literally hundreds of pet toys on the market, just be sure to put safety first!

Christine Arbor is a pet lover who works as a contributing writer for http://www.topsellingpetsupplies.com - a site that offers information on pet supplies, dog beds, cat toys and more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Self Publishing - Direct Marketing - Reprint Rights - Instructional Videos - Online Seminars

Testimonials are all-important to sell anything. You may already have testimonials for your new book and service, but do you have testimonials for other promotional pieces?

Next time you check out a Web site, notice the testimonials. Testimonials imply approval and recommendation. It's great to have them for your product, even your service; yet, most professionals don't use testimonials for the most important marketing tools--the ezine, the article, and the teleclass.

The Ezine

Does "Subscribe to my ezine" motivate you? To draw your target market's attention, you need to title your ezine and add a short benefit-driven description. Just like a guru recommending a book, you'll reap far more subscriptions when you add a testimonial.

Ezine subscriptions doubled

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in just one month for "The Book Coach Says" when the Web site added a ezine testimonial from Dan Poynter, self-publishing guru, "Book writing and marketing nuts and bolts--definitely worth your time." This short line ran just above the place to collect ezine addresses for the ezine.

The Article

Those of you who send articles to opt-in ezines and other Web sites are probably increasing your ezine subscriptions as well as selling more products and service.

To take this one step further, add these articles to your own Web site with a navigation bar "free articles." People visit your site because they want free information.

After they get to your free articles, put a blurb at the top. When people compliment you on your article, use their blurb as a testimonial right above your articles. Here's one from a reader that added many new eBook customers: "You hit another one out of the park. I learn just what I need from your succinct, informative and original articles. Thank you."

The Teleclass

Just like a book, this product will pull far more participants when you add testimonials from past classes to your email sales letter.

"WOW! My Sales Letter worked!!!! Thank you for presenting your 3-session teleclass and eBook 'Create Your Homepage With Marketing Pizzazz.' You helped me focus on who my target market really is-- a major accomplishment. Knowing the difference between benefits and features helped me produce a sales letter that got me a sale the next day I put it up on my site."
-

Save time and money, learn how to travel on a shoestring budget and get free airline tickets

Harriet Meyerson, "Fire Up Your Staff On A Shoestring
Budget"
- http://www.confidencecenter.com

Web visitors don't want to take much time. They only want to spend time on what they know will assist them. Expand your use of testimonials to capture your potential buyer's interest. Then watch your sales grow!

Judy Cullins, 20-year book and Internet Marketing Coach, Author of 10 eBooks including "Write your eBook Fast," and "How to Market your Business on the Internet," she offers free help through her 2 monthly ezines, The Book Coach Says...and Business Tip of the Month at http://www.bookcoaching.com/opt-in.shtml and over 140 free articles. Email her at mailto:Judy@bookcoaching.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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Microsoft Great Plains Integration Manager: Using Continuum - Overview for Developer. How To Create A House Buying 'Wish List' For Your Dream Home.

2005-10-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

PubNIX Montreal

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has I'd say end user integration tool - Great Plains Integration manager. Integration Manager itself uses OLE functionality to validate text or ODBC integration files data through Great Plains forms behind the scenes. This sounds very promising and powerful - however the realities place the restrictions. We heard a lot of complains about Integration Manager slowness and inability to integrate data to multiple companies automatically - without operator intervention. This is probably true if you do not have IM expertise in your company. However there are Microsoft Great Plains maestros who could make magic things happen

�€� Great Plains Macros.

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Continuum could deploy Great Plains Dynamics macros, recorded to switch companies. This fact is almost unknown and the reason is - you can not have these macros to be replayed in the Great Plains itself

�€� Integration Manager Before Integration Script. This script is often used by third party software vendors to run their data manipulation routines. The challenge for integration automation is to automate modal dialog login screens, originated from third party applications

�€� Customization Site License. In order to enable custom integration you need to have this license - which costs $750 for Great Plains Standard. Please be sure that you do not have to have Modifier with VBA if you outsource the development.

�€� Drawbacks - unfortunately nowadays practice of service packs has the drawback if you plan to deploy Continuum- each service pack has a tendency to modify fields names in the code and this is where Continuum gives up - because it uses object calls

�€� Outdated Technology? Well - maybe. But you have to have work done. Continuum does the job

�€� SQL Cursor approach. The other way would be using SQL cursors with either eConnect or MS SQL Stored procedures calls. This will certainly allow you to switch companies, but this requires programming.

Good luck with implementation, customization and integration and if you have issues or concerns - we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew is a Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) - USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, New Orleans, Toronto, Montreal and having locations in multiple states and internationally

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

How To Create A House Buying '

OLD HOUSE DESIGNS Authentic Colonial Homes, Houses And Floor Plans

Wish List' For Your Dream Home

Buying a house is one of the most exciting things you will ever do. But there are LOTS of little details involved - details which can be very costly if they are overlooked.

Unfortunately, I made all 10 of these mistakes when buying my first house. Even though I thought I was very prepared. But with so much going on, I still missed them...and cost myself THOUSANDS of dollars!

Which is why I created www.HouseBuying-Tips.com. Now, you can learn ahead of time how to save yourself lots of money. So, here is the first mistake you should avoid when buying your next house:

#1: Know EXACTLY what you want before you start house hunting, AND put it in writing!

Owning your own home is a great feeling. It's the American dream. And it's one of the biggest purchases you will ever make!

So the more time you spend preparing, the easier your life will be.

One of the most important things you can do to get ready to buy your first house is to decide EXACTLY what you want - and write it down on paper.

Sounds simple.

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But over the next few months you'll see that the house buying process is one of the most intense, stressful, busy - and exciting - times of your life. So, BEFORE you start looking for a new house, it's a good idea to have a very clear picture of the type of house you want.

It's certainly helpful to have a picture in your mind. But as you get further into the process, you'll find it helpful to have a list you can refer to (especially when the "files" in your mind start getting overloaded!)

Of course, once you start looking at houses, your list can change:

...you'll find things you never thought of
...things you thought were important but may not be any more
...things you thought you could afford but can't
...and things you didn't think you could afford, but you can.

So don't be afraid to make changes.

When writing your list, think of all the qualities you want in a house...and in a neighborhood...and in a town (or city). Include EVERYTHING you think is important.

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While this won't guarantee that you will get everything you want, it will help you be able to prioritize what you think is most important.

Here are some of the items you should include on your list:

Town or city (which towns do you WANT to live in, which ones would you live in if you had to, which ones would you NOT live in no matter what!)
Area of town
School system
Type of neighborhood (With kids, without kids, close to highway or main road, out in the country, etc)
Type of house (Cape, Ranch, Colonial, etc)
Size of house (Square footage, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, etc.)
Size of rooms
Layout of house
Yard (Landscaped nicely so you don't have to do any work getting it in good shape, not as nicely landscaped so you might get a better deal but need to put in more work, etc.)
Price (Are you willing to pay less for an older house or one that needs more work?)
Anything else that is important to you (For example, I knew I did not want a house on a hill. But our first offer was for a house on a hill. Which left me feeling very uncomfortable. Luckily, the deal fell through, but without a list I got caught up in the excitement.)

If you're not sure what to put on your list, take a walk through the house or apartment you are living in now. Take a walk through the neighborhood. Visit a friend or neighbor. The more information you have, the better!

(NOTE: If you are buying your house with someone else, make sure you ask your spouse, partner, or significant other what they think is important as well. If at all possible, try to combine your list so you can work together.)

Once your list is ready, put the items on your list in order of importance, so when you have a million other little details in your mind, you can look at your list and not have to rely on your memory.

So, do yourself a favor and find a quiet place, take a few moments to write out your list, put it in order of importance, and save yourself a bunch of stress!

Kris Bickell is the owner of HouseBuying-Tips.com, a site that helps first time home buyers avoid the costly mistakes that many new homebuyers make. For tips on buying a house, getting a mortgage, finding a realtor, and getting out of debt, visit: http://www.HouseBuying-Tips.com, or sign up for the free "How To Avoid These 10 Costly Mistakes When Buying Your First Home" email course at: http://www.HouseBuying-Tips.com/course.html © 2005 HouseBuying-Tips.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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Improve Your Love Luck with Feng Shui!

Improve Your Love Luck with Feng Shui!

Are you tired of looking for love without success? If so, the layout, furnishings, and energy of your home and bedroom could be part of the problem. When the areas of your home affecting your love life are cluttered, missing from your floor plan, or suffering from sha chi (harmful energy) it can be difficult to find and maintain a good relationship.

A key principle of feng shui is that everything is connected energetically. This means that your thoughts, feelings, and behavior are influenced by your surroundings. A dark, untidy bedroom contributes to an atmosphere of fatigue and depression, which in turn makes it harder for you to find the energy to clean the place up. In feng shui terms, it also undermines your ability to attract and maintain a joyful and fulfilling romantic attachment. Feng shui problems can even affect your reputation, make it harder to meet new people, and lead to increased arguments and miscommunication -- all of which contribute to difficulties in your love life.

Improving your love luck with feng shui starts with understanding that attracting a partner is only part of the solution. For example, if a serious relationship has recently ended, you may need a period of healing and self-reflection before starting to date again, no matter how eager you are to connect with your next partner. Maybe you have no trouble finding dates, but can't seem to meet the right kind of person. Or perhaps you're seeing someone exclusively, but seem to be stuck just short of commitment.

Here are some quick ways you can apply basic feng shui principles to increase your chances of success in various stages of the relationship cycle:

When you need to recover from a break-up before moving on, your key task is to let go of the old relationship and reconnect with who you are as an individual. In feng shui terms, relics from past relationships - such as photographs, clothes, and mementos - hold you in the past. The stronger that old energy is, the harder it will be to move on to someone new. Remove anything that reminds you of a past failed relationship from your bedroom. This includes things that are out of sight in your closet, a dresser drawer, or under the bed. Pillows, mattresses, and bedding absorb your energy over time, so when a marriage or live-in relationship ends, it's a good idea to buy new sheets and pillows and even a new mattress if you can afford it, to help you make a fresh start. New bedding is also a good idea if you have been single and lonely for a long time. Pamper yourself during this stage, and try to do at least one thing every day just because it makes you happy.

When you are actively looking for a partner, your key task is to create space for a new romance. If your closets, dresser drawers, and bathroom shelves are filled up with your own stuff, there is no room on an energetic level for someone new to come in. That's why the best way to attract a new romance is to literally make space for it. Empty out at least one dresser drawer for your next partner's clothes. Make space in the closet, in the bathroom cabinet, and on bookcase shelves. Start with your bedroom, then move on to the rest of the house. Is there room for another person's DVDs and music in your CD rack? Where will your new sweetheart put his or her health supplements, exercise gear, notebook computer? Is there room for another car in your garage, or have you filled that space up with stuff? Make a list of all the areas of your home where your new partner might need some space, and try to free up at least 25 percent of it. If you can't clear 25 percent of the relevant spaces, just do the best you can; your strong intention to create room for a new relationship is the most important factor. When you do connect with your new love, you can look for a more spacious residence together!

When you have met a "likely prospect" and want to nurture that new relationship, your key task is to ensure that your bedroom supports romance. This is a good time to get rid of any clutter blocking the path from the front door of your home to the door of your bedroom. This will help keep the energy in your bedroom fresh and strong. In feng shui, the symbolism of what we see is very important, so make sure your bedroom says "romance" in some way. Focus on these areas: 1) what you first see when you enter the bedroom; 2) the wall across from the foot of the bed; 3) the relationship area of the room (the right-hand corner on the side of the room opposite the door, and/or the SW sector). Just about anything that means romance to you can be appropriate feng shui imagery for your bedroom. Traditional romantic symbols such as hearts, cupids, and pictures of happy couples always work well, as does a faceted feng shui crystal hung in the relationship area or over your bed. Look for opportunities to group objects in pairs, such as placing two pink or red candles or a bud vase with two red silk roses on your bedside table. Pale green is also a good color for new romance.

Although these simple steps are just a few of the many ways you can use feng shui to improve your love luck, they will do a lot to shift the energy of your home. As your environment becomes more welcoming to romance, your own energy will shift as a result. When you are clear in your heart about the kind of love you want, and take action to welcome it into your home, your dream of lasting happiness with a wonderful partner really can come true.

About The Author

Stephanie Roberts is the author of "Fast Feng Shui for Singles: 108 Ways to Heal Your Home and Attract Romance", now available in ebook format at http://www.fengshuiebooks.com and in paperback at Amazon.com or your local bookseller. For more feng shui tips and information, please visit Stephanie's feng shui website at http://www.fastfengshui.com.

stephanie@fastfengshui.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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Online Forum Debates. Financial Crime.

2005-10-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

Forum Fortunes - Make a living with online forums

When online in a forum you will notice that some folks just want to argue over semantics, as they take something written out of context and then attack a particular sentence or idea. Often they do this on something, which in fact is irrelevant to the topic of discussion. Suddenly you find yourself trying to defend some off subject issue. As a matter of fact believe it or not some governments pay people to promote misdirection this way to hide their deeds and often the individual typing in arguments or personal attacks is doing so under an assumed alias?

Other times it is just a prozac, insomniac who specializes in online debate for a hobby having nothing better to do who cannot jump out of the game long enough to see what is going on with their BS arguments? You can tell when you have someone like this as they attempt to spout party lines of industry, politics or subject matter as they understand it or from their clouded anti-social perspective. They often do this when they are discussing a new concept? They then get so caught up in the sound and fury, and need to be right, that they limit their thought thru defining everything that cannot be defined. Sometimes their own definitions, sometimes the industry definitions, sometimes you cannot even figure out what on Earth they are talking about or how that even relates. If you ask a question they feel slighted for some reason and start an array of personal attack on your character, knowledge, fidelity or where your head is stuck?

You cannot win an argument with a prozac, insomniac and psycho babble brain, but you might be able to use them to your advantage later against another such individual and then end the conversation complimenting them and they will go on and on fighting with the other person? Silly humans, online social interaction is quite hysterical indeed. Think on that.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Congress recently passed another new law that is supposed to outlaw financial crime.

Surviving Jail or Prison An Insider's Guide

Corporate officers will be sent to jail for "cooking the books" as it is called. Among other things it is taking the stockholders money and paying themselves huge bonuses for nonperformance. These guys are even worse than mutual fund managers who do the same thing - get paid big salaries yet continue to lose your money.

I can remember many years ago (I've got a few years on me) when they started building very fancy prisons with nice cells and tennis courts and nothing but a tiny fence around them.

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The story was these were being built for government officials who might get caught with their hand in the till and I have no reason to doubt it.

Today we have the new Sarbanes-Oxley Act that makes it a federal crime to commit financial fraud of various kinds. This new piece of legislation is going to be about as effective as the Brady Bill was in eliminating crimes committed with a gun. A crook is a crook is a crook. With or without a gun.

It seems that most of these high-priced executives that were convicted have been going to halfway houses. No bars, no fences, no cells. About 50% of inmates (?) in these "prisons" are those convicted of financial crimes. Most of the others are drug addicts and single moms. They can even get weekend passes to visit their palatial estates. Attorney General Ashcroft wants them to get the maximum sentences is a regular jail, but a group called the Sentencing Commission wants a lenient standard. I don't know who is behind this group, but it seems to be in line with my motto of "follow the money". The more money you steal the shorter the jail time will be.

We recently had Merrill Lynch and other major brokers fined $1.4 billion (yes, that's a B) for their lying to stockholders by giving out false information generated by their "analysts", read salesmen. Not one penny of this is going to the people who were cheated and none of the brokerage company executives will get any jail time.

Almost none of the individual company executives have been ordered to make even partial restitution to stockholders. Unless something is done this lenient policy will go into effect in the first week in January. If you have lost any money in the stock market these past 3 years I think it would be a good idea to let your Congressman know that you want those bums kept in jail until they give back as much as they have stolen or at least until they are as broke as their shareholders.

Many will agree that the punishment should fit the crime. Letting them serve their terms in halfway houses without repayment is not my idea of that. Maybe Washington should hear from you.

Al Thomas

Author of "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!"

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Never lose money in the stock market again.

http://www.mutualfundmagic.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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Trading Baskets II: The Crapolio, A Roll of the Dice in the Stock Market. The Rose.

2005-10-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

The Lazy Mans Way to DayTrade Stocks and Make a Fortune!

In a previously written article, we expanded the use of the term "Trading Baskets" to include stocks from different sectors or industries. Now I want to share with you an approach to day trading or swing trading that I had some success with back in the wild and woolly, pinnacle days of day trading that may still work today. Unfortunately, this basket of stocks was dubbed "The Crapolilo", a name it just could not shake. You'll see why.

The crucial element that traders are looking for in any stock, which makes it a good day trade or swing trade, is movement or momentum. There are any numbers of things that can cause movement in a stock. Usually it is news of some sort, either positive or negative. It doesn't really matter. You are only looking for movement, up or down. However, for this particular strategy we are looking for positive news. Keep in mind that it is not your job as a trader to totally understand why or what is causing the movement in a stock, beyond what it takes to make a quick profit.

If you spend enough time glued to a computer monitor with CNBC blaring in the background and are looking for a stock to make a quick buck on, sooner or later you will realize that there are some familiar names that just keep popping up over and over again. From these repeating names you may want to consider building your own Crapolio.

Start by tracking the stocks that keep coming up over and over again. In this scenario the stocks for which we are looking usually play out the same way every time one of the stocks has news of some sort. Traders will jump on the stock, causing a mad scramble to get in on the move, and the stock will run up in price for a nice gain. The challenge is to be as early as possible on the play, get into the money (profitable), and get out before the momentum turns and the stock retreats. Rest assured, they will retreat because that is one thing all of the stocks we are looking for have in common; they hardly ever hold their gains. If you're late to get in and even later to get out, you won't make a dime and will maybe even lose money. It is this phenomenon that the now famous Floyd's 4-Gets are based upon: Get In, Get Profit, Get Out and Get Away!

So here's what I did, but remember that this strategy may or may not be right for you. I set aside a percentage of my trading capital for a basket of stocks that became known as "The Crapolio". I picked a large number of the stocks I had been tracking, low cost stocks under $5-$10 for the most part, but not always. I charted every one of them as far back as I could, looking for the ones that were most likely to continue to repeat the scenario. I came up with what I thought was a recent low that was going to hold for some time; and I bought half the normal lot of shares I usually traded. (See link below to DTM:

Trading Secrets Revealed - Money Management

Decisive Trade Management and Trading Stops for lot sizes.) Then I waited.

The theory is that sooner or later these stocks will once again have some sort of news event that will move them to the upside. As soon as that news hit, I would be in an excellent position having already bought the stock at a recent low. I would then try to buy an additional half lot or a full lot once the new news event hit the street. Overall, I would be in the shares much earlier on average and be able to take advantage of the move and sell for a profit into the momentum. Being in the stock gave me the ability to lock in a nice profit without having to scramble to get in and scramble to sell before the momentum ran out.

Often, I would be in the stock and the news would hit over night, causing the stock to gap up significantly at the market opening in the morning.

However, this is not called "The Crapolio" without a reason. High quality stocks do not usually behave this way to the same degree. Those that do are much more expensive, usually $35 or more, making it cost prohibitive for all but the wealthiest traders to use this plan.

As previously mentioned, most, if not all, of these stocks were under $10 and for a reason. These were not high quality stocks; in fact, the opposite was the case. Most were high-risk speculative tech stocks or bio-techs. Many were dot-coms; remember this was in the hay-days of the dot-com boom. As we all know now, there were a lot more dot-bombs than there were successes.

Obviously, this was my own version of Swing Trading.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THESE WERE "NOT" BROKEN DAYTRADES. Each stock was chosen, charted and watched over a period of time before it was added to "The Crapolio".

I believe this strategy could still work today. However, it is to be considered extremely risky and should only be used with money you can afford to lose.

When trading this or any day trading strategy one should know and use DTM: Decisive Trade Management (see story at http://www.traderaide.com/index.html).

Happy trading!

No permission is needed to reproduce an unedited copy of this article as long the About The Author tag is left in tact and included. We do request that we be informed of where it is posted and reciprocal links will be considered. Email floyd@sbmag.org.

Floyd Snyder has been trading and investing in the stock market for three decades. He was on the forefront of the day trading craze that swept the nation back in the late 1990's both as a trader and as the moderator of one of the Internet's largest real time trading rooms. He is the owner of http://www.TraderAide.com, Strictly Business Magazine at http://www.sbmag.org

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Lifestyle is style over amount. And style is an art - the art of living. You can't buy style with money. You can't buy good taste with money. You can only buy more with money. Lifestyle is culture - the appreciation of good music, dance, art, sculpture, literature, plays and the art of living well. It's a taste for the fine, the unique, the beautiful.

Lifestyle also means rewarding excellence wherever you find it by not taking the small things of life for granted. With Valentine's Day approaching I wanted to illustrate this with a personal anecdote:

Many years ago my lady friend and I were on a trip to Carmel, California for some shopping and exploring. On the way we stopped at a service station. As soon as we parked our car in front of the pumps, a young man, about eighteen or nineteen, came bouncing out to the car and with a big smile said, "Can I help you?"

"Yes," I answered. "A full tank of gas, please." I wasn't prepared for what followed. In this day and age of self-service and deteriorating customer treatment, this young man checked every tire, washed every window - even the sunroof - singing and whistling the whole time. We couldn't believe both the quality of service and his upbeat attitude about his work.

When he brought the bill I said to the young man, "Hey, you really have taken good care of us. I appreciate it."

He replied, "I really enjoy working. It's fun for me and I get to meet nice people like you."

This kid was really something!

I said, "We're on our way to Carmel and we want to get some milkshakes. Can you tell us where we can find the nearest Baskin-Robbins?"

"Baskin-Robbins is just a few blocks away," he said as he gave us exact directions. Then he added, "Don't park out front - park around to the side so your car won't get sideswiped."

What a kid!

As we got to the ice cream store we ordered milkshakes, except that instead of two, we ordered three. Then we drove back to the station. Our young friend dashed out to greet us. "Hey, I see you got your milkshakes."

"Yes, and this one is for you!"

His mouth fell open. "For me?"

"Sure. With all the fantastic service you gave us, I couldn't leave you out of the milkshake deal."

"Wow!" was his astonished reply.

As we drove off I could see him in my rear-view mirror just standing there, grinning from ear to ear.

Now, what did this little act of generosity cost me? Only about two dollars - you see, it's not the money, it's the style.

Well, I must have been feeling especially creative that day, so on our arrival in Carmel I drove directly to a flower shop. As we walked inside I said to the florist, "I need a long-stemmed rose for my lady to carry while we go shopping in Carmel."

The florist, a rather unromantic type, replied, "We sell them by the dozen."

"I don't need a dozen," I said, "just one."

"Well," he replied haughtily, "it will cost you two dollars."

"Wonderful," I exclaimed. "There's nothing worse than a cheap rose."

Selecting the rose with some deliberation, I handed it to my friend. She was so impressed! And the cost? Two dollars. Just two dollars. A bit later she looked up and said, "Jim, I must be the only woman in Carmel today carrying a rose." And I believe she probably was.

Creating Relationship Magic Book... Filled with relationship Strategies that work

Can you imagine the opportunity to create magic with those around you, and all for the cost of a few dollars, some imagination and care.

Remember, it is not the amount that matters but the thought and care that often has the greatest impact upon those you love.

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

Reproduced with permission from Jim Rohn's Weekly E-zine. Copyright 2005 Jim Rohn International. All rights reserved worldwide. To subscribe to Jim Rohn's Weekly E-zine, go to http://Jim-Rohn.InspiresYOU.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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How to Expand Your Target Markets. Mexico: Expat Quiz.

2005-10-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

Target Marketing Plan and Online Promotion Tools

Are your products or services geared towards only one target market? You can increase sales and profits by increasing your target markets. Below are some creative ways to increase your target markets by using your existing products and services you're selling right now.

REDESIGN

You can increase your target markets by redesigning your products and services. For example: you're selling a book called "Internet Marketing Tips For Accountants" You could rewrite part of your book and call it "Internet Marketing Tips For Lawyers". You've now increased your target markets by redesigning your book.

ADD-ON

You can increase your target markets by adding on other product or service with your main one. For example: if you're selling a football magazine you could add a free football when someone buys a subscription. You're now targeting people who want the football magazine and those that want to play football out in the yard. Sometimes they buy stuff just to get the freebies.

TEAM-UP

You can increase your target markets by doing a cross promotion with a similar non-competeing businesses. For example: your business sells tennis rackets and you find another business to cross promote with that sells tennis balls. You could combine your racket and their balls in one package.

INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES,TENNIS TIPS, AND TACTICS TO IMPROVE YOUR GAME -

You are now targeting people that need tennis rackets and balls.

---------------------------------------------------------
Julia Tang publishes "Smart Online Business Tips", a fresh
and informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people
like you. To find out the best online business opportunities,
to discover hundreds more proven and practical internet
marketing secrets, plus FREE internet marketing products
worth over $200, visit: http://www.best-internet-businesses.com
----------------------------------------------------------

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The following

Mexican and South Western Recepies: <meta name="description" content="Ebook Cookbo...

is a quiz that every American expat wannabe to Mexico should be required by Mexican law to take. This will help you determine if moving to Mexico to spend the rest of your life here is right for you. It should be the basis whether Mexico issues you a visa to take one step onto Mexican soil.

1) The following will make you run screaming for the nearest taxi to get you to the airport for an emergency airlift back to the U.S.A.:

a. Large mountainous piles of dog poop on the sidewalks.

b. Pickup trucks parked in front of butcher shops with partially slaughtered, bloodied meat in the back.

c. Men, women, and children placing the snout of a pig onto a flour or corn tortilla, wrapping it, and then consuming it while making loud smacking and squishing sounds.

d. All the above.

2) The following will incite you to flapping your arms like a deranged windmill, cursing madly, and lecturing Mexicans in English (which they probably cannot comprehend):

a. Seeing a Mexican mother serving her child a taco for breakfast rather than Special K cereal with skim milk.

b. Seeing Mexicans eating a Styrofoam plate filled with refried beans, topped with the most virulent chilies, and chips morning, noon, and night.

c. Witnessing the rolling corn-on-the-cob shack woman slathering copious amounts of FAT FULL mayonnaise on corn on the cob and then stuffing it into the mouth of a 2-year-old.

d. None of the above since you come from America where more than 67% of the population is fatter than hogs and so what the hell do you know about good nutrition anyway!

3) You can tolerate the following without needing massive amounts of tranquilizers or an open-ended Prozac prescription:

a. Invisible marching drummer and bugle bands that you can hear every night starting at 7:30 p.m., playing the same hideously repetitive tune, from another dimension that is bleeding over into your reality (you hear them but they cannot ever be seen!).

b. Warfare-grade explosives being set off during the day or night for the advent of a fiesta which rattle windows, cause paintings to fall off the walls and jar you senseless.

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c. Banshee screaming men roaming the streets as soon it is daylight screaming the words, "gas" and "water".

d. Barking dogs, crowing roosters, quacking ducks and geese, screeching parrots, honking car alarms, all going off simultaneously outside your bedroom window at all possible hours of the day or night.

4) You find the following events thrilling:

a. Stores that never open (ever) at their posted hours.

b. Stores that never, ever post their hours.

c. Stores that will only carry a certain item once a year or never again as long as you both shall live.

d. Stores that play wild music so loudly that when your wife asks you something you can see her mouth move but hear nothing coming out of it.

5) You desire to move to Mexico is because:

a. You want to live in an established American expat community where Mexicans, like slaves, wait on you hand and foot for the rest of your life.

b. You want to help Americanize another Mexican town with all your American pathologies until the town is unrecognizable as Mexican.

c. You are on the lam from the law in more than one country for income tax evasion.

d. You want to help drive up the prices of real estate until no Mexicans living or who have ever lived could possibly afford to live in their own town.

Please answer all of these questions as honestly as possible and forward them to The President of the Republic of Mexico (whoever that turns out to be) in care of Mexico City, Mexico.

Your expatriation depends on it!

Expatriates Doug and Cindi Bower have successfully expatriated to Mexico, learning through trial and error how to do it from the conception of the initial idea to driving up to their new home in another country. Now the potential expatriate can benefit from their more than three years of pre-expat research to their more than two years of actually living in Mexico. The Plain Truth about Living in Mexico answers the potential expatriate's questions by leading them through the process from the beginning to the end. In this comprehensive guide, you will learn not only how-to expatriate but will learn what to expect, in daily life, before coming to Mexico. BUY BOOK HERE: http://www.universal-publishers.com/book.php?method=ISBN&book=1581124570

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Anxiety and Depression - Why Depression Drugs May Not Be Necessary - Fight Depression Naturally. How to Communicate Constructively.

2005-10-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

Anxiety

Non drug alternative, anxiety in children, teen stress, non drug alternative

and Depression - Why Depression Drugs May Not Be Necessary - Fight Depression Naturally

Millions of people, especially in the United States, are currently suffering the symptoms of depression, and have even gone as far as taking prescription antidepressants that may have harmful side effects and dampen the quality of their life in other ways in the hopes it will just go away.

The fact is, many prescription antidepressant drugs do have undesirable side effects that really can affect other areas of your life, but they are looked at by many as "the lesser of two evils". It's better to not be depressed and anxious, even if you do suffer side effects such as headache, nausea, and decreased sexual function, right?

Wrong!

Mental Health Support. Treatment For Depression, Anxiety and Stress with Zen.

There is a better way to manage stress, anxiety and depression - naturally and without man-made drugs or narcotics. This natural antidepressant remedy actually contains several pure botanicals, natural compounds and herbs that work in unison to balance mood, elevate our natural "antidepressant" chemicals in the brain, maintain even blood sugar levels (which believe it or not, has actually produced weight loss and belly fat loss in many who have taken it), and promote an overall sense of well being and peace.

This product is an excellent remedy for calming anxiety and depression. There are also lifestyle tips that will help you fight depression, anxiety and stress. Number one on that list is - you guessed it - moderate exercise. Now I don't mean you have to do aerobics until you drop, but a nice, steady flow of cardiovascular exercise like walking, jogging, biking, or another form of low impact exercise is an excellent way to manage these symptoms, while also promoting a healthy blood pressure level, a healthy heart, and bodily strength and endurance.

Yoga, forms of slow dance, tai chi, and other meditation-type exercise is also an excellent way to manage stress, anxiety and depression. These types of meditative exercises promote healthy bodily functions, a healthy state of mind, and mental focus, which are key factors in supporting a healthy sense of well being and peace.

If you have a desk job, make it a point to get up and walk around once every hour. Inactivity is one of the biggest perpetuators of depression and anxiety. The human body was designed to be in frequent motion, not to sit all day. So go, get a drink of water, walk some stairs, or take a little walk outside whenever you get the opportunity. You'll be amazed by what physical activity will do for your mental state.

Lastly, take some time for yourself. Every night, take a little time out of your schedule for yourself. Whether it is reading a book, writing in a diary or journal, taking a walk outside, or doing anything else you enjoy, just do it. Getting a little dose of genuine joy or peace in your day is key to being a happy and well-balanced person.

With these few lifestyle guidelines in mind, don't let depression and anxiety destroy your quality of life.

Fit Over 40 - Anti Aging - Life Extension - Senior Fitness - Masters Athletes - Longevity

Everyone deserves to live a happy, fulfilled life without the need for prescription anti-anxiety and antidepressant drugs. If you need help, but do not want the common side effects of depression medication, I highly encourage you to take a look at this effective new product.

Danna Schneider is the webmaster and founder of Herbal-Therapeutics.com, a nutraceutical information site focusing on the latest and most effective in natural life improvement and enhancement products. Visit her site at http://www.herbal-therapeutics.com/mood-enhancers.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Destructive communication erodes self-esteem and harms relationships. Such communication patterns may be destructive, but, sadly, plenty of people fall into the trap of indulging in them. If you and your relationship partners follow these rules and steer clear of the traps of destructive communication, you will almost certainly feel better about each other and your relationship.

1. Use I-messages instead of You-messages. You-messages sound blaming and accusing. With an I-message, you can convey the same message without sounding blaming. For example:

You-message: "You left the dishes in the sink again." I-message: "When you don't clean up after yourself, I feel taken advantage of."

2. Communicate the entire message.

1000 Questions for Couples - THE Book of Questions

According to McKay et al. in their excellent book Couple Skills (see Suggested Reading), complete messages include four components:

Observations: neutral statements of fact

Thoughts: your own opinions and beliefs

Feelings: descriptions of your emotions

Needs: a statement of what you need or want from the other person

Here is an example of a complete message: "The weekend is coming up. I hope we can go to the movies together. I would like to spend some time with you." An incomplete message leaves out one or more of these components. It might sound like this: "I hope we can go to the movies this weekend." There isn't really anything wrong with this statement, but the first one is more complete and will more likely result in the speaker getting what he or she wants.

3. Don't use your feelings as weapons. Just describe what you are feeling as objectively as possible, not aggressively. Be as specific as possible and keep your voice under control. For example:

Objective: "I felt really hurt when you said that I probably wouldn't pass the bar the first time."

Aggressive: (yelling) "You are such an idiot! How dare you insult me like that!"

4. Use specific language. When you have a complaint, be specific. For example, "I'm upset that you left the food out on the table" is clearer than saying, "Thanks for the mess you left me." The first statement is less likely to produce defensiveness and leaves little room for misunderstanding.

5. Focus on the problem, not the person. Consider how different these two statements sound:

"You are such a complete slob."

"I wish you would take your stuff upstairs."

Attacking someone's personality or character-rather than a specific behavior-is different from simply expressing a complaint. A complaint focuses on a specific action. Criticism is more blaming and more global. It sounds like this: "You always screw the budget up. Can't you do anything right?" Behavior like this is damaging to a relationship because:

�€� Criticism is destructive rather than constructive.

�€� It involves blame.

�€� Criticisms are global and tend to be generalizations (you always, you never, etc.).

�€� Criticisms attack the other person personally.

�€� It feels overwhelming to be on the receiving end.

6. Stop bringing up ancient history. It's more constructive to focus on the issue at hand, not bring up past hurts. When you are upset with your partner and add past issues to the discussion, it can only escalate the conflict. It feels unfair and can never be productive. If you still have feelings about past issues, it is important to resolve them and move on, not use them as weapons every time you have a disagreement with your partner.

7. Watch out for mixed messages. Keep your statements clean, avoiding the temptation to mix compliments and complaints. For example, let's say that you meet your friend at a cocktail party. You think she looks nice, but her dress seems a little too provocative.

Straight message: "You look very nice tonight."

Mixed message: "You look so pretty. I would never have the nerve to wear that."

8. Pay attention to your body language. Your words are only part of the message you communicate. If you say "How nice to see you" while frowning, your message becomes unclear. Think about what message you want to convey and be sure that your body is in harmony with it. Watch out for things like these:

�€� Rolling your eyes

�€� Crossing your legs and arms

�€� Tapping your foot

�€� Clenching your teeth

9. Pay attention to your emotions and keep from becoming overwhelmed. If you are calm, you are less likely to say things you'll later regret, things that could be destructive to your relationship. You will be less likely to become defensive and shut your partner out. Examples of ways to calm yourself and keep from getting carried away with emotion include the following: �€� Pay attention to your physical responses. Is your heart racing? Are you breathing faster? If you are, take a time-out. �€� Leave the room. Go for a drive. Do something relaxing. Listen to music or do relaxation exercises. �€� Make a conscious effort to calm yourself down. Say things to yourself like:

"I'm very upset right now, but it'll be okay. I still love her." "Even though we disagree, we still have a good relationship." "We can work this out. We're partners."

10. Resolve negative feelings. If you have bad feelings about your partner, take steps to resolve them. Don't let them grow into feelings of contempt. When you engage in behavior (verbal or nonverbal) that conveys a lack of respect, you are placing your relationship in serious danger. This includes obvious abuse, and also insults, making faces, and name-calling. Any relationship that is plagued by abusiveness and negativity will have a very difficult time surviving.

11. Don't be defensive. It is understandable to react defensively when you are in a conflict situation, but it can be dangerous to a relationship. Defensiveness tends to escalate the conflict and does nothing to resolve it. Some examples of defensive behavior include:

�€� Denying responsibility (I did not!)

�€� Making excuses (I couldn't help it; traffic was awful)

�€� Ignoring what your partner says and throwing a complaint back (Yeah, well, what about the mess you left yesterday?)

�€� Saying Yes, but...

�€� Whining

�€� Rolling your eyes or making a face

12. Don't shut down. In Why Marriages Succeed or Fail and How You Can Make Yours Last (see Suggested Reading), author John Gottman describes the dangers of shutting out the other person. He calls this behavior stonewalling and says that it means refusing to communicate, storming out of the room, or any kind of withdrawing. When a person is stonewalling, communication is impossible because he or she is refusing to participate. When it becomes a regular pattern of communication, stonewalling is very damaging to a relationship.

Garrett Coan is a professional therapist,coach and psychotherapist. His two Northern New Jersey office locations are accessible to individuals who reside in Bergen County, Essex County, Passaic County, Rockland County, and Manhattan. He offers online and telephone coaching and counseling services for those who live at a distance. He can be accessed through http://www.creativecounselors.com or 201-303-4303.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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Getting To The Root Of Unhappiness. Financial Crime.

2005-10-20T00:50:00.000-07:00

Fit Over 40 - Anti Aging - Life Extension - Senior Fitness - Masters Athletes - Longevity

Many people live in clutter, emotionally eat themselves into overweight, live in debt, hate their jobs and otherwise live unhappy lives, unable and seemingly unwilling to change. Why? What do these have in common? What is the core issue?

Fear, or rather an absence of love.

Fear, and not hate, is the "dark side" or opposite/absence of love, the way darkness is the opposite/absence of light.

Whether your self image is controlled by unhealthy or uncontrolled overweight or fanatic perfection, both stem from fear. In the first, food is used to comfort upset emotions and to retreat into - a true friend that never lets you down. In the latter (and sometimes the former), control over the body supplants a loss of control elsewhere in life, eventually taking over that life.

Clutter is almost always fear-based - fear of not having something and needing it, fear of getting rid of something important, fear of leaving oneself open to

new experiences (which can't come in because your house - and by extension your life - is already full) and fear of being alone with oneself and one's thoughts (clutter requires so much of our energy to deal with and work around, it can serve as a sort of mental static to keep us too busy to think about important things).

Debt is another symptom of fear - people get into debt for many fear-based reasons (like needing stuff to make themselves feel better, or for fear of not keeping up with the Jones' and being socially outcast). Another part to this equation is that many people will not get rid of their access to credit (cut up cards, etc) because there is always that "what if an emergency happens and we don't have cash on hand to pay for it?" which is made moot by the fact that most of their credit cards are maxed out anyway. Debt is also a symptom of the fear of doing without, even when carried to extremes. The fear of going without and the feelings of "being without" fancy clothes or expensive meals out is no less than the fear and experience of going without basic clothing and food, although the reality is different.

Working at a job you hate is nothing but fear - fear of not having enough, fear of quitting and not being

IntoThisMoment.com - Transform Your Relationship with Money; Energy healing helps release anxiety, f...

able to find other work (or finding it and being stuck with something even worse), fear of not being to keep up with your "stuff habit" or your debt, fear of failure, fear of success, fear of relying on yourself, fear of doing things differently or out-of-the-box (running your own business, running off to Mexico, etc), fear of letting the family down, fear of "wasting" your education, fear of what other will say, think, fear that your mom/dad/sister/evil art teacher were right and so on.

Fear is the basis for pretty much all human suffering, not counting natural disasters and other acts of God. And the opposite of fear is love. Love creates an ecosphere of calm and plenty, because you know there is enough (if only just enough) and so feel no need to "get mine before someone else does." Nor do you feel the need to hoard (clutter) or gather in more than you can afford (debt) to assure yourself of plenty. In a world of love, all are accepted and loved for their own personal strengths and forgiven their faults, therefore negating the need for drowning in the comfort of stuff and food (debt and overweight), or worrying about what others will think if you quit your job to become a Mexican portrait painter (toxic job). And on and on.

Learn to live with love, for yourself and for others, even when they don't meet your standards (even the rich and awful deserve your love, for they serve their purpose, too). Creating a world of love is up to each of us. We cannot wait to see if others take the first step. They are waiting for us.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Soni Pitts is the Chief Visionary Butt-Kicker of SoniPitts.Com. She specializes in helping others reclaim "soul proprietorship" in their lives and to begin living the life their Creator always intended for them.

She is the author of the free e-book "50 Ways To Reach Your Goals" and over 100 self-help and inspirational articles, as well as other products and resources designed to facilitate this process of personal growth and spiritual development.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Congress recently passed another new law that is supposed to outlaw financial crime.

Surviving Jail or Prison An Insider's Guide

I can remember many years ago (I've got a few years on me) when they started building very fancy prisons with nice cells and tennis courts and nothing but a tiny fence around them.

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The story was these were being built for government officials who might get caught with their hand in the till and I have no reason to doubt it.

Many will agree that the punishment should fit the crime. Letting them serve their terms in halfway houses without repayment is not my idea of that. Maybe Washington should hear from you.

Al Thomas

Author of "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!"

Google Untapped Profits - How To Make Money EVEN When Your Ads Are Losing Money!

Never lose money in the stock market again.

http://www.mutualfundmagic.com

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Have an Itchy Dog? Consider These Grooming Tips Before Turning To Chemical Treatments. Story of Solomon.

2005-10-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

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Many dogs today suffer from itchy skin caused by a variety of factors. Dogs actually have more sensitive skin than humans, and are often exposed to a variety of irritants in their environment. These grooming tips may help alleviate your dog's constant itching.

Brushing your dog daily will remove pollens, grasses, and other outdoor irritants as well as stimulating the skin's circulation and preventing matting. Brush carefully and down to the skin, taking care not to tug on tangles, and using a soft bristle brush on sensitive areas.

Bathing should also be done on a monthly basis, following a thorough brushing. Use a natural, low lather, low irritant shampoo, wet your dog down thoroughly with lukewarm water, and apply the shampoo using your hands. Avoid getting water or shampoo in his eyes and ears, and lather all over, right down to his skin, then rinse thoroughly. Shampoo residue is a major cause of skin irritation for dogs. After rinsing, towel dry your dog, and avoid using any coat finishers or blow dryers, which can also cause skin irritation in a sensitive dog.

Accelerated Dog Training Health Grooming

Grooming is essential for a dog's skin health, helps you identify skin problems early on, and is a great way for you to bond with your dog as well!

About The Author

Alexandra DeBoer is the creator of a low-lather shampoo line for sensitive dogs. You can learn more about her company at: www.barknbath.com.

bow-wow@barknbath.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Without

A Ministry of Grace and Peace, Free Online Bible studies from EternityNow Ministries, Keywords: gr...

question, the greatest story in the Bible of someone who sought after the knowledge and wisdom of God and actually received it was King Solomon in the Old Testament. What happened to this man was just about beyond belief.

When Solomon became King of Israel, he knew he did not have the knowledge and wisdom to properly rule his people. So what did he do? He went direct to God the Father and asked Him for His knowledge and His wisdom to rule the people. He admitted his weakness in this area and was not afraid to press in and start asking God for His knowledge.

So what did God do when he asked Him for His knowledge to help rule his people? God did not meet him halfway - He met him all the way! As you will see in the two verses I will list below - God tells Solomon because he did not ask for long life, riches or the death of his enemies for himself - but just asked for an "understanding heart" to judge his people and help with discerning between good and evil - God tells him that He will give him a "wise and understanding heart."

But then God takes it one more incredible step further. He tells Solomon that the knowledge and wisdom that will be given to him will be like what no man has ever had before him and what no man will ever have after him! In other words - God will make this man the smartest man in God that has ever lived, and that there would never be another man in the course of human history that would ever have the knowledge that he would be given.

Just stop and ponder on what an incredible thing that this was - to have been given so much knowledge and wisdom direct from God Himself - that no man would ever be his equal in this gift!

Then God goes one more extra step in order to put the icing on this man's cake. He then tells Solomon that since he did not ask for riches for himself - but just for the knowledge of God to rule his people - that he will now be given incredible riches and honor to go along with the knowledge and wisdom to rule his people. Then God adds the final touch on the riches and honor he will be given - telling Solomon that there shall never be another king like him all the days of his life and that he will surpass all the kings of the earth in "riches and wisdom." In other words - God ends up making this man the smartest and richest man in all of the earth at the time that he was living!

If Solomon was really not asking God for wealth and riches - but just for the knowledge and wisdom to rule his people - why would God go so overboard in blessing this man with this kind of wealth - especially if he was not asking for it and possibly not even desiring it?

I believe the main reason God rewarded Solomon with this kind of maximum wealth was not only to show him, but

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the rest of His people that would come later on, the extreme importance that each and every person seek after the knowledge of God for their own lives. By blessing Solomon with this kind of wealth - God is telling all of us the extreme importance that we seek after Him and His knowledge for our lives.

In other words - seeking after the knowledge of God has to be a major priority in a believer's life. We cannot spiritually grow and develop in the Lord unless we have His knowledge worked into us that will cause this spiritual growth to occur in the first place. And you can't get this knowledge worked into you unless you are first seeking after it!

Seek and then you will find. But the reverse is also true - don't seek, and you will not find. And if you don't find the knowledge of God for your life - then the Holy Spirit will not have anything to work with to start the transformation and sanctification process within you.

Grab a hold of these two verses and the statements that God is making to Solomon - all because he got this ball rolling by simply asking God for His knowledge to help rule his people.

"Therefore give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?"

And the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked for this thing.Then God said to him: "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you.

And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days. So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days." (1 Kings 3:9-14)
"So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart." (1 Kings 10:23)

If King Solomon was able to receive this kind of knowledge and wisdom from God - simply because he asked and really pressed in for it - then what can God do for you in this realm if you are willing to expend the time and energy to seek after it?

The Victorious Network - Christian Articles, Books, Bible Studies and Sermons

Article written by Michael Bradley of Bible Knowledge Ministries. Their website is a resource of Bible knowledge. They currently have over 100 Bible articles. All free of charge.

The article was an excerpt from Michael's E-book titled, Seeking After the Knowledge of God You can go to their site and download the book free of charge.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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The Territorial Web. A Kilt is More than Just a Skirt for Men!.

2005-10-18T20:52:00.000-07:00

The

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Net was supposed to dissolve anachronistic national borders and cultural boundaries. It was expected to vitiate distance - both physical and mental. It was hailed as the invention that will unify Mankind and harmonize (though not homogenize) civilizations, east and west.

Yet, this was not to be. As dot.coms bombed, their more veteran and more experienced brick and mortar rivals took over the Net, transforming it in the process into a giant content delivery, marketing, supply chain management, and customer relationship management platform. This evolution all but demolished the non-local nature of the early Internet. It has also brought it into the remit of existing national laws.

Moreover, governments throughout the world have become more assertive in exercising territorial jurisdiction over the hitherto ostensibly extraterritorial Net. A French court has prohibited Yahoo! from making certain content on its Web sites available to French citizens. An American court advised Yahoo! to ignore this decision. A Russian programmer was arrested by the FBI for offering a decryption software for sale in Russia (where it is perfectly legal). Governments from China to Saudi Arabia filter Web content regularly. Following the September 11 attacks, restrictive anti-terrorist legislation the world over targeted cyberspace.

But the real territorialization of the Internet - the redrawing of its internal contours and the withdrawal of its libertarian foundations - is more pernicious, all-pervasive, quotidian, and surreptitiously gradual. This is not the outcome of legal revolutions and court-driven evolution. It is piecemeal, quiet, unnoticed, often inadvertent and unintended. It is an "afterthought" rather than a premeditated "plot". It happens e-tailer by e-tailer, one Web site after the other, like the spread of a virus.

Consider these two - by no means exhaustive - examples.

Amazon and Geocities (now, Yahoo!Geocities) are two Internet establishments, two gigantic communities of users that, between them, represent a sizable chunk of all the activity on the Internet.

It has long been impossible for a non-US publisher to sell its wares (books, for instance) through Amazon or to Amazon directly. Amazon works exclusively with US publishers and distributors. To

United States bank account for non US citizens

collaborate with Amazon - one of the members of a duopoly as far as B2C e-commerce goes - a non-US publisher (no matter how substantial) has to work with a US distributor and thus forgo a large portion of its revenues (payable to the distributor as commissions). Moreover, said publisher cannot even open a ZShop (Amazon's version of mom and pop store). One has to be a US resident to do so. Amazon is closed to the outside world, despite its (false) global image. It sells all over the world - but it only buys American.

This discriminatory behaviour is partly profit-motivated. It is logistically easier and cheaper to deal only with US businesses. But Barnes and Noble works directly with foreign publishers and they preceded Amazon in the book business by decades.

Yahoo!Geocities has lately instituted a new policy. It limits the size of downloads from the free home pages of members of its community. If the downloaded content from a given home page exceeds 3 Gb (extrapolated based on hourly usage) - the "offending" member's page is shut down for an hour. The member is then prompted to pay a monthly subscription fee for a Premium Service in order avoid a recurrence of this unfortunate event. This "marketing drive" is intended to compensate Yahoo!Geocities for a precipitous drop in online advertising revenues.

The "Premium" package includes "Premium Mail". But only US citizens or residents can subscribe to it. And, you guessed it right, without the Premium Mail component, one cannot complete the subscription process. Though not stated explicitly anywhere, the Premium services are closed to the outside world and are the exclusive reserve of Americans. One can get around this virtual ethnic cleansing by providing false data while registering, but this is besides the point.

The Internet is a reflection of the outside world. As economies contract, unemployment soars, personal safety vanishes, the social fabric disintegrates, and consumption slumps - countries tend to isolate themselves politically, react aggressively, and protect their national economies. Protectionism, unilateralism, and isolationism are scourges the Internet was supposed to be immune to. Little did we know.

About The Author

Sam Vaknin is the author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited" and "After the Rain - How the West Lost the East". He is a columnist in "Central Europe Review", United Press International (UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com. Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

His web site: http://samvak.tripod.com

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Home Planning Guide... Plan, Organize, Build Your New Home Design w/Ease!

The Kilt has been the target of many a joke and ribald comment for more years than it can probably remember!

But is it fair for it to be the butt of so many jokes?

After all, not only is the Kilt a recognised fashion item in it's own right, it's also more importantly a world recognised symbol of a country and the fierce national pride contained within!

Many a soldier has shuddered and shaken in fear in centuries gone when faced with a Scottish Warrior, kilt swirling in steadfast defiance of normality, broadsword or other razor sharp lethal weapon cutting huges scythes in the air as he charged.

Indeed, many fields of war were won purely by the arrival of Scotsmen dressed in their tradional tartan kilts. To many, the knowledge that the wearer wore nothing underneath was cause enough to panic! Add to this the ferocity of such a warrior and not many would stand up in front of them.

But ever since those heady days of hand to hand combat and battles fought face to face, some of the mystery and folklore of the Kilt remains. Ideas that you can only wear a Tartan Kilt if you are a member of that clan still abide today, wrongly in many cases.

Maybe this stops some people wearing a kilt?

Or does the fear of society's view of a man effectively wearing what many still describe as a skirt also play a strong part?

But then what of those men among us who are recognised as being the manliest of men? Does wearing a kilt reduce their appearance and reputation at all? Famous celebrities such as Sean Connery, Billy Connely, Ewan McGregor or Mel Gibson?

How many women did - and still would - swoon clean away to see Mel Gibson walking towards them, kilt swaying in time to his steps? I strongly suspect - most! It would not be a swoon induced by dislike or scorn neither, more of one where they're opinion has been enhanced as to the character and strength of the man involved.

I had the great pleasure of wearing a kilt many, many years ago when I was 6. The occassion was as a Page Boy for my Uncle and Aunts wedding. White ruffled shirt, red and blue tartan kilt with sporran and shoes. the only thing missing was the Dirk. For some reason never suitably explained by my parents, they seemed very nervous of letting their 6 year old offspring walk around with a small dagger shoved into the top of his sock! Spoilsports!

Even now, looking back at the old black and white photos - yes, it WAS that long ago - I get a thrill of seeing myself dressed like that.

Why?

Because it was different, unique and - dare I say it - I looked damn good! (I seem to remember it made a huge impression on my fellow official for the occasion, the bridesmaid called Candy, a curly blonde haired girl a year older than me. I have a misty memory of her asking her mom why i was wearing a skirt!)

A kilt nowadays plays a much larger part. Beyond the more well known kilts of Scotland with their heritage of history behind each unique Tartan design, comes the Kilts of Ireland and Wales in family crests or solid colors.

With society relaxing it's own strict and nonsensical ideas of what is right and what is wrong, more men are coming to wear kilts, enjoying the uniqueness and freedom such a garment gives.

It is now more common to attend company dinners, awards and opening nights and spot one or two men dressed in kilted splendour.

Indeed, a whole new industry is beginning to grow - assisted by the internet with it's ease of ordering and choosing - where new styles, designs and ideas of the traditional kilt are being tested and reworked.

For example, you can now buy kilts in camo pattern or kilts with pockets either side as opposed to the standard requirement for a sporran.

As for me and the kilt - as I get older and less worried about what other people think of me, the thoughts do stray to when I was 6 years old and how proud I felt dressed in such regal splendour. With the hot weather getting hotter each day a cooling breeze would certainly be more welcome as well!

Now then, where did I put that sporran and dirk?

Rufus Steele is a long time write-a-holic who now adds to his fun by writing for various websites.

You can read more of his kilts based articles on Good-Kilt.com

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Emerald is May's Birthstone. The Surefire Way To Getting A Pay Raise.

2005-10-18T07:45:00.000-07:00

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you're still young enough to remember your birthday, you probably also remember the special birthstone assigned to it. But at your age, we bet you don't really know the SIGNIFICANCE of your birthstone and what power the ancients felt would be bestowed about you by wearing it.

May's Birthstone: Emerald
Birthstone Properties: Symbolizes serenity and peace of mind.
Alternative Birthstone: Sapphire

Emerald is the birthstone for May and also the anniversary gemstone for the 20th and 35th years of marriage. Some people believe wearing an emerald brings wisdom, growth...patience. It is perhaps this last attribute that may explain why a gift of emerald for an anniversary -- or any occasion -- is symbolic of love and fidelity.

All Eyes on Emeralds

Emeralds were once prescribed for eye diseases because the green color was believed to be soothing to the eyes. Early stone cutters kept emeralds at their tables to gaze upon as a way to give their eyes a break. Even 21st Century color specialists agree that green is soothing, restful, and relaxing for the eyes.

Today's versatile emeralds continue to be "easy on the eyes," used in earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and other body adornment.

The Color of Spring

An emerald shines like green lightning, filling us with the same wonder as the civilizations that came before us. Ancient Egyptians mined emeralds in the eastern desert region 2,000 years before Cleopatra's birth, yet today recent finds in North Carolina may provide a new source for quality emeralds in the U.S. Colombia, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Russia are where most emeralds are mined in the 21st Century.

May's birthstone seems perfectly suited to the rites of Spring, matching the colors of the season with its own bottomless green. In fact, the Egyptians engraved emeralds with symbols for Spring foliage to represent eternal youth, and then buried the jewels with their dead. Elsewhere in the ancient world, the Romans associated emeralds with fertility and the rebirth brought about each Spring. Nero, it's said, watched the gladiators through emerald glasses

The Incas worshiped emeralds...as long as they could. In the 1500's, they were invaded by Spanish Conquistadors who stole their gemstones and pillaged their mines. As a result, many of the world's most magnificent emeralds were lost at the bottom of the sea inside shipwrecked Spanish galleons.

It's Not Easy Being Green

The word "emerald" is a variation of the Greek word "smaragdos," which means "green stone"...perfectly appropriate for a gemstone that is, in fact, the green variety of the mineral beryl. Emeralds range from strong bluish-green to green hues, although some emeralds have a slightly yellowish green. If the hue is too yellow...or too blue...it loses its "emerald" status and is simply a different variety of beryl.

Colombian emeralds are generally agreed to be among the most beautiful gemstones in the world, with a grass-green coloring highlighted by a touch of blue.

Learn How To Buy Jewelry And Gemstones Without Being Ripped Off.

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This informative Special Report reveals little-known facts and insider trade secrets that many jewelers would prefer you didn't know. To get your FREE copy please go to http://www.morninglightjewelry.com.

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Andy Lai's eBook of eBusinesses - Be your own boss online! www.CyberStuffs.com

If you are working for someone else, it is important to remember this fact: No one gives you a raise, you must earn it. You've got to prove you are worth the additional money you are asking for. And, you must do this in a professional, business-like, and diplomatic way. You do this by completing salary research and having the facts straight in terms of your worth and the additional value you bring to the table. This may mean that you are not ready to ask for a raise tomorrow. But, taking the extra time, preparation, and effort necessary to ensure that you are eligible for a raise is really the only way you are going to get one. Also, when asking for a raise, it is best to stick to business, rather than personal, reasons. It is not fair to your employer to ask for a raise "because Sally needs new braces" or "because you need to pay for Billy's trip to Europe next summer." Stick to the business facts of why you deserve the raise. Following is an effective three-step process to getting the raise you deserve.

Step 1: Do your homework

The surest way to not get a raise is to throw out some arbitrary or random number to the decision maker. You'll be better off to do some research on what the industry standard of pay is for your position.

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There are many salary calculators and web sites online such as the salary wizards at HotJobs.com, Monster.com, or Salary.com. Keep in mind, such calculators provide industry averages and may not be adjusted for the cost of living in your particular part of the country. The average salary for an accounting clerk in New York City, New York is going to be slightly higher than for the same position in Deer Lodge, Montana. Check with your company's compensation department on what the exact salary range is for your position. Most companies are obligated to provide this information to you on a confidential basis. With both of these pieces of data, the industry standard pay range and your company's specific pay range; you are now armed with fact-based information to proceed with your strategy.

Step 2: Review your past performance appraisals

Be realistic. In looking over your past performance, do you really merit a raise? Have you exceeded expectations on the job or merely met them? What, if anything, have you done to set yourself apart from the other people in your department?

If you have been a constant top achiever and star performer, then by all means proceed directly to Step 3 and set up a meeting with your boss and ask for the raise. However, if your performance has been less than stellar, do the following before asking for the raise.

a) Develop a great track record at work. For the next three months, put in as much extra effort as possible. Come in a little early, stay a little late. Cut your lunch hour by 15 minutes. Take on extra assignments. Do your absolute best.

b) Meet with your boss. Let your boss know that you like your job but you are interested to know what you can do to earn more money. Modify your current performance plan (or create a new one) to document exactly what you need to do to earn a raise. Also set and document a time when the future review date and meeting will occur.

c) Set goals and expectations. Make a plan for doing what your boss said was needed to make more money. Then do it.

d) Document everything. Keep a record of your meetings with your boss - when you met, what you discussed, what you agreed on, etc.

e) Record your accomplishments. As you meet (or exceed!) each goal, keep a record of specific activities such as the date you completed the goal, the steps you took to accomplish the goal, concrete dollar or time savings and increases in efficiency, etc.

Step 3: Set up a review meeting with your boss

Once you have successfully met each goal and expectation, meet with your boss again. Review what you agreed on, how you have successfully accomplished each goal, and determine exactly what the next steps will be to move you forward and to make more money.

It is important to remember that no one owes you a pay raise or gives you a pay raise - you must earn a pay raise. By being professional, reasonable and fair; you will stand a much better chance in obtaining the pay raise you deserve.

Dr. Dan Strakal has been an expert on the changing workplace, job transition, and career development for nearly 20 years. He acts as a trusted client advisor and consultant within the corporate sector, government agencies, civic organizations, small businesses, and educational institutions.

Inventory management and reduction, sales pipeline management, cost reduction, consulting services, ...

He also provides business, executive and career consulting, coaching and workshops for individual clients and is the coauthor of and contributor to two books, Better Job Search in 3 Easy Steps and Better Job Skills in 3 Easy Steps. Dan is often called upon by the national and international media as an expert and has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Self Magazine, SmartMoney.com, Computerworld, Diversity Inc. Magazine, Chief Information Officer (Australia's Magazine for Information Executives), the Radio America Program: News You Can Use, KBS Radio Canada and many other media outlets. He is on the Board of Directors of the Career Planning and Adult Development Network and is a Platinum Member of the Career Masters Institute. More info at http://www.capable-consulting.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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Get Hemorrhoid Relief from Herbal Remedies. Relationship Advice: After the Break Up - Creating an Exit Door in Your Heart.

2005-10-15T22:14:00.000-07:00

Here are four different herbs that can give you hemorrhoid relief and help to get rid of your hemorrhoids.

Cure your Vertigo, Dizziness and Motion Sickness Symptoms

Using these herbs is a convenient and cost effective way to treat your hemorrhoid symptoms.

Use these herbs just long enough to give you hemorrhoid relief. Once you see that your symptoms have disappeared, stop using these herbs. Using herbs longer than necessary will make you less sensitive to the power of these herbs, if you have to use them again.

Comfrey root powder

Comfrey powder comes from an herbal root that has plenty of allantoin. This herb is a powerful acting herb that is anti-inflammatory and stimulates the formation of new skin. It can also cause hemorrhoids that are outside on the anus to shrink and pull back. This makes comfrey powder an effective hemorrhoid remedy.

Here's how to use it.

Buy the powder and not the liquid.

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Make a paste by mixing it with olive, fish, or flaxseed oil. Apply the paste directly onto your anus and surrounding area. You can apply it at night and your morning shower will remove it.

Fresh comfrey leaves or roots are the best to use. However, you can get precut and dried comfrey root and leaves from a health food or herb store. If you use the dried leaves, you can put them into a coffee grinder to create a powder. Use this powder to create a paste with oils.

Gotu Kola

Gotu Kola is an Indian herb that is a hemorrhoid remedy. Use an extract that has 70% triterpenic acid since this is the active ingredient.

Take 30 mg of Gotu Kola 3 time a day. Gotu kola extract reduces pain, swelling, fatigue, and sensation of heaviness from hemorrhoids.

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Horse Chestnut

Horse chestnut comes from the bark of a tree and has been found to be useful in treating hemorrhoids. It contains the chemicals "aesculin" and "aescin", which strengthen your blood vessels and which help to reduce hemorrhoids. It also helps to reduce inflamed areas.

Here's how to use it.

You can make a tea and apply it directly to your hemorrhoids. However, do not drink the tea since it contains tannin, which tightens mucus and tissue and would cause constipation. Use it in powder form and mix it with oil to produce a paste and apply it to your anus area.

Plantain Herb

Plantain also has plenty of allantoin just like comfrey root powder.

Here's how to use it.

Use it just like comfrey powder by mixing it with oil and applying it directly to your anus.

You can also combine equal parts of the plantain and comfrey powder. If you only have plantain leaves, put them in a coffee grinder to create a powder. Now you can make a mixture with oil and both of these herbs.

Rudy Silva has a Physics degree from the University of San Jose California and is a Natural Nutritionist. He writes a newsletter called "natural-remedies-thatwork.com" and he has written an ebook called "How to Relieve Your Constipation with 77 Natural Remedies." You can get more information on this ebook and more hemorrhoid remedies at this site. http://www.hemorrhoid-remedies.for--you.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Counselling resources for divorce, marriage, relationships

Q. It's been over a year since the guy I thought I would be married to broke up with me. He said he was just scared to make the commitment. I felt like I tried really hard and did the best I could in this one. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday. I can't seem to get over this no matter how hard I try. I'm afraid that there will never be anyone else that I can get that close to or who will understand me. I keep trying to figure out where I went wrong.

A. A year is a long time to feel bad, and usually much longer than is necessary.

I'm going to guess about a few things that might be going on here.

Reliving the relationship

Many times when a person is still feeling as bad as you do more than a year later, it's because you've spent the last year reliving the relationship. This comes in the form of trying to figure out exactly what went wrong, fueled by the inaccurate belief that if you could just figure out exactly what went wrong, then you could let go.

The reality is that spending so much time trying to figure out what went wrong keeps you attached to the relationship and prevents you from moving on.

Relationships are messy things, and many times we can never really know exactly what went wrong.

Our brains are very obedient at times. If you keep asking your brain to figure out what you did wrong, it's going to search for all kinds of reasons, and you are going to wind up feeling like a failure.

My guess is while the relationship failed, you did not.

If you are with someone who is just not ready to commit, you cannot fail.

This is because when there is no possibility of success, you simply cannot fail.

Differences between men and women

I'm about to speak in general about the differences between men and women, which is always a dangerous thing. But here goes: In general, men have two doors to their hearts, one marked enter and one marked exit. Women don't have an exit door to their hearts, which makes getting over someone much more difficult.

Creating an exit door

You need to create

Why Women Dump Men - Find Out Why She Broke Up With You

an exit door in your heart and then show this guy, and the pain and hurt, right out the door.

Relationships end.

If the desired outcome and measure of success is a committed marriage, then all the other relationships before marriage are failed relationships.

But if you handled yourself well, feel good about your behavior and choices, and even used what you learned in other relationships in this one, then you were successful.

Consider what you learned in this relationship that you can use to make the next one(s) better.

If you learned what a commitment-challenged guy looks like and that these relationships don't work out, then it was time well spent.

Make a list of all the things you learned from this one that will help you in the future.

Since this guy was too scared to commit, then he did you a favor by breaking up with you. Marriage to a commitment-challenged person is a disaster and a divorce looking for a place to happen.

Here's a fun little trick to help show this guy out the exit door of your heart:

Imagine a picture of the relationship in your mind. It feels like it's right out in front of you, a few inches from your face, and difficult to see past. Take that picture and imagine moving it off to the side of you, out of view. Feels better, doesn't it?

Practice this and you will be able to show him the exit door to your heart, and soon, you will picture it behind you altogether.

And then you will be ready to move on.

Leading relationship expert Jeff Herring is a Relationship Coach, Speaker, and Nationally Syndicated Relationship columnist.

You can read more practical tips, common sense relationship advice and occasional humor at his website SecretsofGreatRelationships.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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RSS Support in New Microsoft Windows Vista. What You Should Know About Bankruptcy.

2005-10-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

Wedding Cakes: Wedding Cake Pictures - Photo Gallery

Microsoft Corp. says that the next version of its Windows operating system will have built-in support for RSS, an increasingly popular way to get news and other information channeled straight to a computer.

RSS, short for Really Simple Syndication, hasn't broken into widespread use yet, but the world's largest software maker believes it will become a mainstay.

"We really believe that RSS is key to how people will be using the Internet in the future," said Megan Kidd, a Windows product manager.

In the long-delayed Windows upgrade, code-named Vista and expected to be released late next year, an RSS icon will appear in the Internet Explorer Web browser to make it easy for people to find, much like Apple Computer Inc. has done with its Safari browser.

Vista will store all data downloaded to a computer via RSS in a single place. It will maintain a central list of all of a computer user's RSS subscriptions, from Web log entries to photos pulled from an online family picture gallery.

It will include a feature called simple list extensions that will let Web sites use RSS to publish lists of content that users can subscribe to, like a weekly run-down of chart-topping songs or an online gift registry.

Microsoft will make the list extensions technology available for free through a "creative commons" license, which lets the company retain some intellectual property rights while encouraging broader use of the technology.

Joe Wilcox, an analyst with Jupiter Research, said Microsoft's foray into RSS is reminiscent of its rush to capture its share of the burgeoning Web browser market in the mid-1990s.

"With the World Wide Web, we had this vast informational system that came along where Windows was not required," Wilcox said. "That posed a potentially serious threat to Microsoft's Windows franchise. They responded by making Internet Explorer part of the operating system."

Microsoft may argue that its RSS push is about improving technology for developers, content providers and consumers, Wilcox said, but "it's also, I believe, responding to a potential competitive threat."

Having RSS built into Vista could pose a serious threat to companies that sell RSS readers that siphon data from the Internet. But Kidd contends that Microsoft isn't out to put anyone out of business.

Ken Savage is a Webmaster employee who writes about what is going on in the Tech industry usually days before it breaks to the rest of the world. He can be found at http://www.kensavage.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

TaxAid.net -- IRS Tax Debt Reduction Guide

Filing bankruptcy is not only a last resort legal action; it is also a very complicated legal action that definitely needs the expertise of a lawyer. When thinking about bankruptcy, you first need to decide if bankruptcy is right for you. If it is, then you need the help of an attorney to decide which type of bankruptcy is required for your particular situation.

The decision to file bankruptcy can be brought on by many different circumstances. The most common circumstances are divorce, medical hardships and credit card troubles. In cases of divorce, bankruptcy is often inevitable. The sudden change in financial level and the added burden of court costs, extra expenses and child support often cause one or both parties to get behind on their financial obligations.

In the case of medical hardships, high medical bills can sometimes overburden people even if they have insurance. This is even more likely to happen if the person experiencing the medical emergency is also the family breadwinner.

The most common case of financial hardship is incredibly high credit card balances. After carrying numerous high credit balances for a certain period of time, many people find themselves unable to make anything but the minimum payment and sometimes not even being able to make that. Then, when the high interest rates are added in, people find themselves in a situation where repayment is often impossible.

Whether your situation arose from one of the above financial problems or not, sometimes bankruptcy is the only answer to your monetary problems. Once you have decided that bankruptcy is the answer for you, you will need to enlist the services of a lawyer to decide which type of bankruptcy to file and to help you navigate the many complex bankruptcy laws and regulations.

There are four main types of bankruptcy, Chapter 7, Chapter 13, Chapter 11 and Chapter 12. Chapter 7 is the most common form and can be used by businesses and individuals. Chapter 13 is the second most common form, but it limited to use by individuals only.

In a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a debtor's property is divided into to categories, exempt and non-exempt. Exempt properties include things that the debtor will be allowed to keep like their home and automobile. In the case of exempt properties, the debtor is allowed to keep them as long as he or she continues to pay for them. If a person cannot continue to make payments, the owner of the loan may repossess the property, even after a bankruptcy has been finalized. Any non-exempt or unsecured property will be sold to cover the debtor's financial obligations. Debts such as credit card debts and medical bills can be written off with this type of bankruptcy, but other debts like school loans and taxes cannot be.

In Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the debtor is required to come up with a way to repay his or her debts, but these debts usually do not have to be repaid in full. In most cases, a creditor will agree to take a small percentage of the owed debt as opposed to losing all repayment all together. This form of bankruptcy is preferable for those individuals that wish to keep all of their possessions and just need a chance to catch up on their financial obligations. It does not, however, excuse a debtor from priority debts like taxes and child support.

In order to qualify for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, an individual must have a yearly income level that allows for repayment of each of his debts within three to five years. After three to five years of consistent repayment, the debtor's obligations are released.

After you have researched bankruptcy and decided that it is right for you, you need to contact an attorney that specializes in bankruptcy to help assure that you follow all legal guidelines and are protected from further collection activity.

You can find a bankruptcy lawyer in your home city at Lawyer Vista

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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Communicating CEOs. Where Should We Eat? A Review of Pigeon Forge Restaurants.

2005-10-10T06:06:00.000-07:00

I see a

Get paid for taking survey - mystery shopping programs - paid on line survey

PR firm has done a survey on the amount of time Canadian CEOs spend on communication, and found they spend almost half of their time on communication.

I think we're supposed to be impressed that CEOs spend that much time on communication. But, quite frankly, what else does a CEO do? And, if you consider both direct and indirect communication, wouldn't that be more like 90%?

So, what do CEOs do, and how much of that involves communication of one kind or another?

Well, they make decisions. But before they make them, good CEOs get information from specialists in their organization. They also may check other options by reading newspapers and magazines, attending conferences, and talking to their peers. All of which involve communication.

For example, let's say a CEO must decide whether or not to launch an important new product line. Before she makes that decision, our CEO will have had discussions with, and reports from, senior members of the sales department. She will also consider the country's economic outlook in the coming months and years, talk to others about what competitors might do, and review the financial implications with the VP of corporate finance.

It's all about gathering, distilling, and transmitting information: what we call communication.

Turning to another CEO function, what about envisioning a new future for the organization and developing a strategy based on it? Again, communication can't be taken out of the mix.

After all, you can't just pick a vision out of the air. It's the outcome of reflective thinking combined with information, knowledge, and insight. All of which come from communicating.

And, there's often a kaleidescope effect before a vision emerges. All sorts of information tumbles around in the mind, over and over, like clothes in a dryer, until eventually a new and promising pattern reveals itself.

For example, suppose the Vice President of Human Resources has just been promoted to Chief Executive Officer, and the board made it clear it expects him to put his own, unique stamp on the company.

He might retire to his office and spend a lot of time inside trying to think of a new direction. But, it's far more likely he'll reach out, rather than withdraw. He'll talk to staff on the front lines as well as managers. He'll read everything relevant he can find in books and magazines.

As that information pours into his mind -- as the communication process enriches his imagination and knowledge -- he'll start to envision possibilities. Some will be more promising than others, and he'll talk about them with others in the organization. Eventually, some sort of consensus will likely emerge about the most promising vision.

Those are just a couple of examples from the work of CEOs, but you can see why I'm skeptical about the 50% figure: There's not much about a CEO's job that does not involve communication of some kind.

In summary, CEOs may do more than communicate, but almost everything they do will be driven or influenced by communication processes inside and outside the organization.

Robert F. Abbott writes and publishes Abbott's Communication Letter. Learn how you can use communication to help achieve your goals, by reading articles or subscribing to this ad-supported newsletter. An excellent resource for leaders and managers, at: http://www.communication-newsletter.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

RestaurantNews.com - The Essential Resource for Online Restaurant News

The South is known nationwide for its hearty and delicious food. No Southern tourist destination would be complete without some world- class restaurants. There are several Pigeon Forge restaurants that will have visitors asking for seconds.

The Alamo Steakhouse is popular with both locals and tourists. It features aged black Angus steaks cooked to order over a wood fire. The Alamo Steakhouse also serves chicken, seafood, and other delicious items. This restaurant has won several local awards, including best overall restaurant and best new restaurant for 2002.

Huck Finn's Catfish is another Pigeon Forge restaurant worth mentioning. It serves some of the best catfish, chicken and steak in the city, and has all-you-can-eat portions available on most sides and even with some dinners.

Christian Finn's Facts About Fitness

Huck Finn's Catfish also has an extensive kid's menu, making it a perfect destination for the whole family.

The Old Mill Restaurant is located on what is called Old Mill Square, which has not been changed since 1830. The square has candy, grains, pottery, and other items created the same way as they were back in the old days. The Old Mill Restaurant uses the grains produced in the mill to cook some of the best, most authentic food the region has to offer.

Duff's Smorgasbord is a buffet-style restaurant offering something for everyone. All you can eat is the norm here, and they serve excellent breakfast, lunch, and dinner items. Their made to order omelets are considered by many to be the best in the city.

There are unique Pigeon Forge restaurants. Besides the restaurants local to the area, the same fast food is available in Pigeon Forge that can be found anywhere in the country.

Pigeon Forge Cabins Info provides detailed

Reservation software for Hotels, Motels, Bed and breakfast

information on Pigeon Forge cabin rentals, chalets, hotels, motels, campgrounds, vacation packages, attractions, restaurants, real estate, and more. Pigeon Forge Cabins Info is the sister site of Gatlinburg Cabins Web.

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Improving Your Golf Balance. Buying Wholesale Scooters.

2005-10-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

The need for balance

Chakra balancing creativity manifestation self-esteem personal power This is chakrativity

for golf just sounds so simple and easy. As a golfer, you know that maintaining proper golf balance is a key to a good golf game. And it's more than just having the correct stance.

Optimum golf balance depends on three aspects: your visual perception, the signals from the inner ear, and signals from your muscles and joints. Sometimes these aspects get out of sync, causing a balance disorder. Most of which can be easily fixed with some simple ideas.

A lack of balance usually occurs when your head position changes, which is a good reason to keep your head still during your swing! How many times have you been told or noticed yourself that you looked up during your swing? Everybody wants to see where their ball is going and when you move your head and throw off your balance, the ball doesn't usually go anywhere. At least not where you wanted it to go. So, keep your head down and still and let your playing partners watch for your ball.

Migraines can attribute to a balance disorder. So if you have frequent migraines, seek medical attention. These headaches can affect your golf game in ways you may never have thought of. Not to mention being just plain painful and debilitating.

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Also, don't go spending a fortune on new golf equipment hoping for better play before you check your medicine cabinet to see if any drugs you're taking affect your balance. The condition "ear poisoning" seriously affects your balance. Ear poisoning is usually caused by side effects of some medications. Always be aware of the possible side effects of any prescription drugs you may be taking. This is just good advice all the way around, let alone it having an effect on your golf game.

Diuretics can pose a problem as well. So if you're taking any of these and you start feeling dizzy, get medical help! Sometimes the dizziness can literally become a lifelong problem, so don't delay in seeking help.

If your golf balance is a little off in your game, you may want to do some simple exercises to improve it. Just kicking a ball around your backyard can help. You can also set up a little obstacle course and weave in and out of it to improve your balance. If you have kids, they will have fun with the course, too! Actually, they may even set up one for you!

You can also buy a balance board to help you with your center of gravity. You can easily make one yourself out of some scrap wood or you could find a nice one online or at a local fitness equipment store. These boards are challenging and fun to use. Once you can balance for an extended period on one, pick up a golf club. Then practice your backswing while balancing yourself. This will dramatically improve you golf balance.

In addition, working with flexibility exercises helps increase your golf balance by releasing muscle tension. Try some simple yoga stretches to help with loosening up tight muscles. Yoga or pilates can be a real benefit for the golfer. These types of exercises tend to create long lean muscles and promote flexibility. Just what the golfer needs for the right golf balance and a fluid swing.

Another useful item is a yoga ball or exercise ball. Even just sitting on one of these balls requires balance - so try using one for part of the day. Work up gradually until you can sit on the ball for 30 minutes at a time. These ball exercises can help you develop proper posture, increase the mobility of your lower back, and develop overall control of your body core. Improving your core strength and flexibility will help you develop the correct golf balance.

Since balance is fundamental to every aspect of your golf game, spend some time each day working on developing it. Who knows? You could find your swing and your score improving significantly, and who couldn't use that!

About the Author: Jason Griffin is a regular golfer who loves playing golf and trying to help other typical golfers, hackers and weekend players get more enjoyment out of the game. He is the guide behind the Guide to Golf Equipment - Your Information Source for Equipment Used for Golf. Get a little help finding the right golf equipment at http://www.guidetogolfequipment.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Catch Your Cheating Spouse -- How To Find Out If Your Husband, Wife, Girlfriend, or Boyfriend are ch...

Wholesale scooters can be difficult to find if an individual is looking for a great price on a single purchase. Online retailers can often offer a better price, since they have less overhead than a brick and mortar store that specializes in the sale of scooters.

Scooters have experienced a revival in the American market over the past several years. Initially, scooters were a child's vehicle that dates back to before 1920. Technology and mass production has created a new market among the younger generation and adults who are concerned about the high costs of using a car for short trips. Today's mass-produced scooters come in a variety of styles and can be sold at a reasonably low cost.

Competition among scooter manufacturers has led to unique design features as well as miniature low-powered motorcycles. It is easier to find low prices similar to wholesale scooters from vendors at flea markets and other open market areas, but be aware the scooters are frequently of an inferior quality.

Scooters can be easily found in the retail market, however not all retailers may carry all styles. Major discount or department stores may only carry a couple of models that they believe will be the most popular among their shoppers. A scooter store could either specialize in a variety of recreational scooters, while another store will specialize in the mobility scooters. Retailers also offer scooter accessories to enhance the experience as well as replacement parts and service. Any style of scooter can be purchased online for retail pricing. The current market demand for scooters makes it hard to find them at wholesale for an single purchase, but there are many opportunities for an individual to become a scooter dealer.

Scooters Info provides detailed information about scooters, including motor, electric, gas, mobility, push, and wholesale scooters, as well as scooter stores, parts, and accessories. Scooters Info is the sister site of Electric Wheel Chairs Web.

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Painted country furniture - How to tell the difference between reproductions and antiques. MySQL Database Handling in PHP.

2005-10-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

Painted country furniture - How

Stop drawing and painting figures the hard way!

to tell the difference between reproductions and antiques

Can you tell the difference between a real painted antique and a painted reproduction? Good quality reproductions serve their purpose. You just want to make sure that you know what you are getting. Here are some tips to help you tell them apart.

Why paint? Mass produced reproductions come from India, Indonesia and Mexico. But antique country furniture was handcrafted by rural furniture-makers as utilitarian furniture - kitchen tables, chairs and cabinets. It was painted for several reasons. An assortment of poor quality woods was often used. Plus, paint hid a multitude of sins - the knots, coarse grain of the wood and the fact that several types of wood might be used on a single piece. And, paint protected the wood.

Where to paint. It simply made no sense to furniture makers to paint the insides of drawers and bottoms of tables because no one would see them. So, why waste the time and paint? You should be on the lookout for paint on hidden areas when you're assessing a piece because you'll often find reproductions with paint on the inside of drawers, chair bottoms etc. It's a tip-off that you could be looking at a reproduction.

Does crazing mean it's old? Crazing (tiny cracks in the paint that occur over many years) can be artificially produced on new furniture. One tip-off is that new furniture will often be crazed all over and with the same consistency. Crazing on old furniture happens from the accidents of regular use - spills and exposure to heat, fire or smoke damage that occurs over the life of furniture. There are two types of crazing: crazing to the paint or to the varnish. Over time varnish gets brittle and develops very tiny fine lines as wood expands and contracts. A similar effect happens to paint. Paint cracks as the wood expands and contracts and dirt fills into the tiny cracks. On reproductions, this look is achieved by painting fine dark lines to imitate dirt.

Is the paint old? Old paint is very hard and breaks off into irregular pieces because it is very brittle. If you try to scrape it off with a knife, it'll come off in jagged pieces. New paint is soft. When scraped with a knife, it will come off in curls. New furniture is painted with water based acrylics that were invented in the 1940s. Old furniture would be painted with milk or oil based paints.

Natural wear. Do the signs of wear make sense? A painted antique chair will show increased signs of wear at the end of the arms where the hands would naturally rest and rub off the paint more than underneath the arm. If the wear is consistent through the piece, it's likely a reproduction that has been distressed to appear old. If there are gouges or dents, you should see bare wood. Paint over gouges or dents means that it has been repainted.

Construction details. Phillips screws, staples and fiberboard are all tip-offs of any reproductions -whether it's painted or not. What makes painted furniture unique is that these tip-offs can be hidden with paint. On antiques with large surfaces (tables, trunks, armoires), furniture makers used wide boards with an uneven width. Reproductions use narrow boards with an even width.

Martin Swinton lives in Toronto, Canada and owns Take-A-Boo Emporium, a popular local antique shop. He has appeared on a variety of television programs and teaches courses on antiques. Contact him at www.takeaboo.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Most interactive websites nowadays require data to be presented dynamically and interactively based on input from the user.

PpMailer - Transform Your PayPal History Log into CA$H !!

For example, a customer may need to log into a retail website to check his purchasing history. In this instance, the website would have stored two types of data in order for the customer to perform the check - the customer's personal login details; and the customer's purchased items. This data can be stored in two types of storage - flat files or databases.

Flat files are only feasible in very low to low volume websites as flat files have 3 inherent weaknesses:

The inability to index the data. This makes it necessary to potentially read ALL the data sequentially. This is a major problem if there are a lot of records in the flat file because the time required to read the flat file is proportionate to the number of records in the flat file.
The inability to efficiently control access by users to the data
The inefficient storage of the data. In most cases, the data would not be encrypted or compressed as this would exacerbate the problem no. 1 above

The alternative which is, in my opinion, the only feasible method, is to store the data in a database. One of the most prevalent databases in use is MySQL. Data that is stored in a database can easily be indexed, managed and stored efficiently. Besides that, most databases also provide a suite of accompanying utilities that allow the database administrator to maintain the database - for example, backup and restore, etc.

Websites scripted

Web Hosting, Domain Name Registration, Inexpensive, Low Cost, Affordable, Reliable Provider, Reselle...

using PHP are very well suited for the MySQL database as PHP has a custom and integrated MySQL module that communicates very efficiently with MySQL. PHP can also communicate with MySQL through the standard ODBC as MySQL is ODBC-compliant, However, this will not be as efficient as using the custom MySQL module for PHP.

The rest of this article is a tutorial on how to use PHP to:

Connect to a MySQL database
Execute standard SQL statements against the MySQL database

Starting a Session with MySQL

Before the PHP script can communicate

PHP Scripts - Instant Download on Quality PHP Script

with the database to query, insert or update the database, the PHP script will first need to connect to the MySQL server and specify which database in the MySQL server to operate on.

The mysql_connect() and mysql_select_db() functions are provided for this purpose. In order to connect to the MySQL server, the server name/address; a username; and a valid password is required. Once a connection is successful, the database needs to be specified.

The following 2 code excerpts illustrate how to perform the server connection and database selection:

@mysql_connect("[servername]", "[username]", "[password]") or die("Cannot connect to DB!");

@mysql_select_db("[databasename]") or die("Cannot select DB!");

The @ operator is used to suppress any error messages that mysql_connect() and mysql_select_db() functions may produce if an error occurred. The die() function is used to end the script execution and display a custom error message.

Executing SQL Statements against a MySQL database

Once the connection and database selection is successfully performed, the PHP script can now proceed to operate on the database using standard SQL statements. The mysql_query() function is used for executing standard SQL statements against the database. In the following example, the PHP script queries a table called tbl_login in the previously selected database to determine if a username/password pair provided by the user is valid.

Assumption:

The tbl_login table has 3 columns named login, password, last_logged_in. The last_logged_in column stores the time that the user last logged into the system.

  
  // The $username and $passwd variable should rightly be set by the login form
  // through the POST method. For the purpose of this example, we're manually coding it.
  $username = "john";
  $passwd = "mypassword";
  // We generate a SELECT SQL statement for execution.
  $sql="SELECT * FROM tbl_login WHERE login = '".$username."' AND password = '".$passwd."'";
  // Execute the SQL statement against the currently selected database.
  // The results will be stored in the $r variable.
  $r = mysql_query($sql);
  // After the mysql_query() command executes, the $r variable is examined to
  // determine of the mysql_query() was successfully executed.
  if(!$r) {
  $err=mysql_error();
  print $err;
  exit();
  }
  // If everything went well, check if the query returned a result - i.e. if the username/password
  // pair was found in the database. The mysql_affected_rows() function is used for this purpose.
  // mysql_affected_rows() will return the number of rows in the database table that was affected
  // by the last query
  if(mysql_affected_rows()==0){
  print "Username/password pair is invalid. Please try again.";
  }
  else {
  // If successful, read out the last logged in time into a $last variable for display to the user
  $row=mysql_fetch_array($r);
  $last=$row["last_logged_in"];
  print "Login successful. You last logged in at ".$last.".";
  }

The above example demonstrated how a SELECT SQL statement is executed against the selected database. The same method is used to execute other SQL statements (e.g. UPDATE, INSERT, DELETE, etc.) against the database using the mysql_query() and mysql_affected_rows() functions.

About The Author

This PHP scripting article is written by John L. John L is the Webmaster of The Ultimate BMW Blog! (http://www.bimmercenter.com).

The Ultimate BMW Blog!

daboss@bimmercenter.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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The 7 Stages of a Romantic Relationship. When Someone You Love is Moving.

2005-10-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

There are

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seven stages in a romantic relationship: avoidance, meeting, dating, breaking up, establishing exclusivity, commitment, and keeping the love you find. Each of these stages vary in length and intensity. At each stage, there are thoughts and feelings telling you what to do and when to do it. You need to learn to listen to your intuition in each stage, so that you can make smart decisions.

It is important to note that the breaking up stage can happen at any time within the other stages; i.e., at any time you or the other person decides to exit the relationship for whatever reason.

In all seven stages, you always have these choices:

1. Continue moving forward

2. Stagnate

3. Slow down or go backwards

4. Exit

By taking notice of the signals from your head and heart, you will be better able to interpret what your intuition is telling you. At each stage, consider, "What am I thinking and feeling?" Are you receiving conflicting messages? Is your head saying one thing and your heart another? This is often the case, particularly in romantic relationships. What happens is there is an agreement error, a contrast between your thoughts and your feelings. This is perfectly normal. Just remember that you have your very own internal system of checks and balances. This system was designed to keep you safe. For the moment, it is temporarily out of order, probably due to stimulation overload. So, before making any decision at this time, go somewhere quiet' the answers will come with reflection and focus.

Once the answer comes, you should act quickly so you do not have time to doubt your decision. You should never feel trapped or unable to choose what is right for you. If at any time you do feel this way, then that is a good sign that something is not right with the relationship. You then need to examine what it is that is holding you back. If it turns out to be the other person, you are probably better off leaving the relationship.

A smart way to make important stage decisions is to mutually agree on what to do next. After all, "if it is meant to be, it will be," so you may as well start out making important decisions together. Couples who have good relationships know that it takes time to build their love. They make a conscious effort to progress slowly and purposefully through each stage, enjoying the process, while allowing their love to develop naturally.

Communicating with each other is essential to this process. You should be open and honest about your concerns and fears, so that you can trust that everything has been said and understood by both parties. Even if you find that things aren't what you would have hoped for, at least you know what is going on and then you can work on making it better.

Levels of Love

Most of us have experienced love blindness. We either think we love someone or do not realize until it is too late that we actually did love someone. You do not have to be blinded by love. You have the power to recognize it, but you must use smart decision-making skills to avoid making fatal relationship mistakes. In this section, work on waking up your awareness so that you will act in "knowing." The first step is to become familiar with the stages of relationships and the corresponding levels of love that you or your partner will most likely experience.

Relationship Avoidance Stage

"I do not desire love"

Goal: to prepare yourself for love

Characterized by non-interest

Meeting Stage

"I am open to finding love"

Goal: to prospect for the possibility of love in others

Characterized by anticipation

Dating Stage

"I hope to find love"

Goal: to pre-qualify for a potential partner

Characterized by uncertainty

(These three stages represent being single and the importance of using the "Screen-out" process.)

Breaking Up Stage

"I no longer have love with this person"

Goal: to let go of the person/love

Characterized by disappointment/relief

(Breaking up is a transitional stage.)

Exclusivity Stage

"I think this is love"

Goal: to further qualify the person to see if she/he might be a good match

Characterized by excitement

Commitment Stage

"I know this is love"

Goal: to close the deal

Characterized by confidence

Keeping the Love You Find Stage

"I want to keep this love"

Goal: to preserve the love you have found

Characterized by continuous commitment

(These three stages represent being involved and the importance of using the "Screen-in" process.)

The key is to consciously place yourself in each stage. For example, if you decide you want to be in the "dating stage" then be fully present and make a true effort to make yourself available for dating. If, however, you find that your heart isn't in it, and that you would rather avoid relationships, then you need to stop and consciously put yourself back in that stage. This will help you to stay clear on what you want and enable you to honestly communicate to others "where you are at." Each level and stage of the relationship is a transition and involves psychological and emotional energy. As you progress through each level, you will no doubt experience excitement and anxiety, hope and fear, arousal and dis-arousal, certainty and uncertainty, along with a myriad of other feelings. You will need to work hard at balancing the messages that you are receiving from both your head and your heart to most accurately interpret the incoming, overwhelming information-it is very easy! to be misled.

***This article is adapted from the book, Get Smart! About Modern Romantic Relationships:

Psychic Readings,Spiritual Coaching,Online Tarot Courses,Online Dream Interpretation - Courses,Tarot...

Your Personal Guide to Finding Right and Real Love by Michelle L. Casto

About The Author

Michelle L. Casto is a whole life coach, speaker, and author of Get Smart! About Modern Romantic Relationships, Get Smart! About Modern Career Development, and Get Smart! About Modern Stress Management. Her coaching practice is Brightlight Coaching, she helps people come up with bright ideas for their life and empowers them to freely shine their bright light to the world. Contact her for a free 30 minute coaching session: www.getsmartseries.com and www.brightlightcoach.com

coach@getsmartseries.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

NAVetsUSA Home Port

Your best friend moves a thousand miles, your aunt retires or your brother's family gets transferred. They're moving from Boise to Boston and you live in San Diego.

Moving is traumatic and you want to help, yet you may not know what you can do. Don't be shy. Your friend needs you! Here are tips from my book, Making the Big Move

* Before they move, kindle enthusiasm by finding positive things to say about the destination city.

-- "I've always wanted to live there."
-- "You'll be near the beach! I'm jealous."
-- "

Secrets of the Big Dogs!

You can have a big dog."

* Think they're making a mistake? It's like talking to someone who's getting married. Before they're engaged, you want to be frank. Once they set the date, it's a love feast.

* Give gifts that make the transition easier. Ideas? Gift certificates to shops in your friend's new city. Subscriptions to entertainment, cultural or sports events.

* If someone's really nervous, of if they're starting a new job after the move, give the gift of growth. Many coaches and counselors accept gift certificates, if the client is enthused about doing the work.

* Call on packing day and moving day. Call when your friend is due to arrive in his new home.

Love Letters Now - Instantly Send Love Letters Without Writing A Single Word!

Send letters and cards -- more tangible than email.

* If you visit, help your friend see what's good: "Terrific shopping." "No traffic!"

* Don't be judgmental. Some places really are toxic to some people.

Bottom Line:

Relocation is like setting out alone on an ocean voyage with no Coast Guard available if you encounter a storm. A ship carries sophisticated communication equipment and remains in touch with home port.

When a friend moves, you're the home port. Help your friend and, if storms erupt, find specialists who can help. Your friend will change and grow and, believe it or not, your friendship will be richer and more satisfying after she lands safely on the other shore.

Read more articles and subscribe to my free weekly ezine to receive weekly tips and insights. Visit my career and business website.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Free Content Option: You may use this article in any mediium if you include my resource box (below). No charge if you normally do not pay authors. If you pay contributors, I expect to be paid, too!

About The Author

Goodwin1

Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker and career/business consultant, helping midlife professionals take their First step to a Second Career. http://www.cathygoodwin.com.

"Ten secrets of mastering a major life change" mailto:subscribe@cathygoodwin.com

Contact: cathy@cathygoodwin.com 505-534-4294

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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Sit Back and Relax on a Crewed Yacht Charter Vacation. When Someone You Love is Moving.

2005-10-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted to really put yourself to the test and teach yourself how to sail and guide a yacht? On a crewed yacht charter voyage, you can do just that - and more - while taking turns at the helm and seeing the sights of your specially planned destination.

Used boats buy sell charter yacht boat luxurious chartering sailing broker yachts worldwide director...

Unlike other ocean yachts, a crewed charter yacht vacation allows you to be more independent and make more choices about your trip. For example, you'll set your own pace by choosing your itinerary and the activities you prefer, instead of going along with the crowd; you can even decide to go "off chart" and head in a new direction.

This kind of yacht vacation includes, of course, the boat, its captain and crew, the chef, who will prepare your favorite meals at your request; and a standard bar, with your choice of wines or liqueurs readily available. With all the freedom you want on the wide-open ocean, the price, starting generally around $1300 per person per week, is a really good deal when you consider that everything is set up entirely to suit your preferences.

You can be alone, or you can mingle with the crew.

It's all up to you - it's your own private yachting trip, whether you choose crewed yacht charters on a sailboat, motorboat, or a yacht.

Also, you'll need to plan where you want to go, of course! Popular destinations for crewed yacht charters are to the South of France or to the Cannes Film Festival; the Mediterranean; the Caribbean, Alaska, New England, or even Canal Barge Yacht Cruises in France! Closer to home, Florida and the Bahamas are also excellent choices.

Whatever you decide, a crewed yacht charter vacation will be one you and your family or friends will remember for years to come. Pick up a travel brochure, choose a spot, and sail away for a week of pure, hedonistic FUN!

David Dunlap is the owner and founder of Only For Yachts, an online resource for everything related to yachts. Visit http://onlyforyachts.com to get information on yacht charters, yachts for sale and also sign up for the free yachting newsletter.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

NAVetsUSA Home Port

Your best friend moves a thousand miles, your aunt retires or your brother's family gets transferred. They're moving from Boise to Boston and you live in San Diego.

Moving is traumatic and you want to help, yet you may not know what you can do. Don't be shy. Your friend needs you! Here are tips from my book, Making the Big Move

* Before they move, kindle enthusiasm by finding positive things to say about the destination city.

-- "I've always wanted to live there."
-- "You'll be near the beach! I'm jealous."
-- "

Secrets of the Big Dogs!

You can have a big dog."

* Think they're making a mistake? It's like talking to someone who's getting married. Before they're engaged, you want to be frank. Once they set the date, it's a love feast.

* Give gifts that make the transition easier. Ideas? Gift certificates to shops in your friend's new city. Subscriptions to entertainment, cultural or sports events.

* Call on packing day and moving day. Call when your friend is due to arrive in his new home.

Love Letters Now - Instantly Send Love Letters Without Writing A Single Word!

Send letters and cards -- more tangible than email.

* If you visit, help your friend see what's good: "Terrific shopping." "No traffic!"

* Don't be judgmental. Some places really are toxic to some people.

Bottom Line:

Read more articles and subscribe to my free weekly ezine to receive weekly tips and insights. Visit my career and business website.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Free Content Option: You may use this article in any mediium if you include my resource box (below). No charge if you normally do not pay authors. If you pay contributors, I expect to be paid, too!

About The Author

Goodwin1

Cathy Goodwin, Ph.D., is an author, speaker and career/business consultant, helping midlife professionals take their First step to a Second Career. http://www.cathygoodwin.com.

"Ten secrets of mastering a major life change" mailto:subscribe@cathygoodwin.com

Contact: cathy@cathygoodwin.com 505-534-4294

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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How What We Drink Can Affect Our Weight and Health. Parents/Teens and Money - 5 Ideas for Keeping the Peace.

2005-09-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

Weight Loss Program-Health and Weight Loss Tips

Hello Everyone,

I thought that I would talk about what we drink. Everyone loves a long cool drink, but often we forget to think about how many calories and nutrients are in what we drink. The warm weather can leave us dehydrated, and it is important that we are all drinking lots of water, especially before we go to a class. There should be no risk to a healthy person of exercising in hot weather providing you make sure that you drink before, during and after exercise (water that is).

Often we exercise and watch what we eat, but forget to add in the amount of calories that we consume through drinks. Someone left a delicious bottle of lemonade in my fridge last week, and as I haven't had a fizzy drink in ages, I got very excited and drank the lot over the course of the day. I was horribly shocked as I glanced at the label as it went in the bin to realize that I had consumed over 1000 calories! That is at least 3 aerobics classes worth of calories, and yet it looked harmless and tasted so delicious. From now on I am back on the sparkling mineral water. As I look around me on the street and in our sports centers I see children walking along drinking from cans and cartons. A2001 report in The Lancet warned of a 60% risk of obesity for every can of high-sugar drink a child consumes each day. An average child in the UK consumes 15 high-sugar drinks each week. The best way to cut down the amount of simple sugars in your child's diet is to cut out these unhealthy drinking habits. Try dilute fruit juice (you can change the dilution slowly to give your child a chance to adapt) or fizzy water with a little fruit juice. Good quality squash should be saved for treats, and kept very weak. The best drink for your child is water, and you will be surprised how quickly they adapt to enjoying it. It is useful to note that even fresh fruit juice is high in natural sugar and can add to weight problems, also the body has difficulty digesting fruit juices and they should be watered down.

Alcohol is high in calories (1g = 7kcal where as 1g of fat =9Kcal). In a perfect world, none of us would touch it, especially whilst following weight loss goals. However, in reality we all like a drink. It is important to keep your intake of alcohol under control - moderation is the key. While a 5 oz glass of wine per day at 100 calories may seem harmless enough, over two and a half weeks that's approximately an extra 1,700 calories. This is equivalent to about a half a pound of body fat. That's about 10 pounds of body fat, per year.

The Royal College of Physicians recommends that alcohol consumption be no more than 21 units a week for men; 14 units a week for women. It is better for health to spread alcohol units (up to the maximum recommended) throughout the week, than to drink large amounts in a single day or weekend. Therefore women should aim to consume no more than 2 units a day; men 3 units a day.

One unit of alcohol is the amount in half a pint of beer, a single (25ml) measure of spirit, a small glass (120ml) table wine, or a small glass (50ml) of fortified wine, such as sherry.

It is easy to see how even a "moderate" consumption of alcohol can have a very serious impact on your daily calorie quota: 3 units of beer could amount to a total 345kcal, 2 units of wine 160kcal.

How Many Calories in Various Alcoholic Drinks?

Calorie content
1 Pint/568ml Lager 230
1 Pint/568ml Beer, Bitter 182
1 Pint/568ml Cider, Sweet 240
1 Shot/25ml Spirits, 37.5% Volume 48
1 Bottle/275ml Alcopops (Calculated Estimate) 200
1 Glass/120ml Wine, Red 80
1 Glass/120ml Wine, White 77
Calories in Popular Mixers

Calorie content
1 Glass/250ml Tonic Water 83
1 Glass/250ml Cola, Coca Cola* 105
1 Glass/250ml Cola, Diet, Coca Cola* 1
1 Glass/250ml Lemonade 53
1 Glass/250ml Diet Lemonade 3
1 Glass/200ml Orange Juice, Unsweetened 72
1 Shot/25ml Lime Cordial 28

Ways to Reduce the Calories

�€� Try alternating alcoholic drinks with low calorie non-alcoholic drinks or water.

�€� Ask for low calorie / diet mixers where possible.

�€� Make your wine into a spritzer (a longer drink), or your lager into a shandy - both have fewer calories.

�€� Substitute your "alcopop" for a shot of spirit and a low calorie mixer - about a quarter of the calories!

�€� To add a healthy slant, try a single shot of spirits with some fresh fruit juices.

Don't be tempted to skip meals to allow for drinks, alcohol won't satisfy your hunger. In fact, alcohol lowers blood sugar levels (it prevents sugar that is normally stored in the liver, as glycogen, from breaking down). A drop in blood sugar levels sends signals to the brain you are hungry. With alcohol in your system, willpower can go out of the window and the snack attacks kick in. Eating a proper meal before you go out will line your stomach and slow the rate at which alcohol absorbs into your bloodstream. Keeping you in control of how much you eat and drink.

So the message is to enjoy a drink or two if you wish, but to support your body by eating before hand, drinking plenty of water, and not over-doing it.

Vikki Scovell BA(hons) PG DIP is a fully qualified Personal Trainer and Fitness Coach. She is a qualified Nutrition Adviser and runs successful Community Exercise classes. Vikki is a consultant in Healthy Eating and Exercise initiatives to schools in the independant sector. Visit her website on http://www.getfitter.net or http://www.corporatechill.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

Moral Development Education for Young People

Children and teenagers are relentlessly bombarded with merchandise that entices. It can be difficult to find contentment when a newer, better, faster gizmo of the moment hits the market every day. What's a parent to do?

First, try to put yourself in your child's shoes. The pressure to fit in and to belong is particularly strong for young people. Part of that belonging involves having the latest "it" item or article of clothing. It makes sense that you feel frustrated at times.

Money Does Grow On Trees

Perhaps you've even reminded your teen that money does not grow on trees or that you are not an ATM.

With a little patience, planning and compassion you can stop fighting with your teen about money.

To start, set aside some time for a family meeting and bring some of the following options to the table (your teen may also have some ideas about how to balance saving and spending). Look for options that you are both comfortable with and willing to try.

Involve your teen in family budgeting. It may be difficult to understand what the limits are if you have no idea of the fixed expenses and income for the household.

Agree on spending limits. This method works well with expenses such as clothing.

Non drug alternative, anxiety in children, teen stress, non drug alternative

If you are shopping with your teen, establish non-negotiable spending limits well in advance of your trip. This will give your young person time to plan how best to use the allotted funds and cut down on frustration and wheedling later. Remember, the spending limit is non-negotiable - no whining or brooding allowed. It is also important to let your teen live with his or her spending decisions. If your child decides to buy two high cost designer items rather than ten more reasonably priced items you must give them the space to own the choice.

Listen to your teen. There will be many times when you will have to deny a "must have" request. If you have not previously established a spending limit be sure to say no with compassion and offer to explore other alternatives for purchasing the item or doing without. If you have previously agreed on a spending limit try to honor the agreement unless you have new information or another compelling reason to change your mind. Again, it must be compelling - the idea is to help your teen develop the discipline for responsible money management (after all, you can't go to your boss if you spend all of your money before pay day!).

Give a regular allowance - A weekly or monthly allowance helps your teen plan for both anticipated and unanticipated expenses. Some parents and financial experts have suggested the three-thirds plan: one-third of the allowance is earmarked for spending, one-third for short term savings (such as school clothes or the class trip, and one-third for long term savings (such as a car). If this is the plan that you and your teen agree to try allow your teen to be responsible for the money decisions he or she makes by refusing to rescue. Educate your child/children on the benefits of saving with a credit union. Find a local credit union at www.creditunionrate.com and open a savings account.

Encourage alternative sources of income - your teen may want to start a small business or find a job. This can be a great way to make up the difference if money is misspent or if your teen is working toward a big dollar goal.

Learning to manage money responsibly is an ongoing process; be patient with yourself and your teen. Revisit your goals and progress at least once each quarter and make adjustments as needed.

Nicole Soltau
President and Founder
http://CreditUnionRate.com/
The Leading Online Credit Union Directory

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

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E-Gov Strategies to Reduce Government Costs. Navigating the Amazon Sales Ranking.

2005-09-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

Turning

The Website Marketing Bible - one of the best Internet marketing strategy e-books

basic jobs of government over to web based solutions when possible and where applicable is a good strategy to reduce costs. By implementing a hiring freeze in many areas of government and using attrition methodology to cut down the incredible payroll costs of the government, we can begin to slow the ever increasing "Blob" or "Bureaucratic Goo" clogging the nation, wasting tax payers dollars and costing our citizenry in promised benefits for their participation in the system, for which they receive so little.

E-Gov has gotten a bad rap from the media, GAO and pundits of the old slow wasteful bureaucracy of which many seem to have a vested interest in, probably since they created it. If you look at the current trend with let's say Wal*Marts online strategy you see a trend, this year it is up some 115% over last year.

#9654; The Complete Online Guide to Free Government Grants, Business Grants and Government Loans

Wal*Mart of course being the only business in the world, which has more employees than the Federal Government and because of it's size shows that things take time. Wal*Mart is number two second only to Amazon.com in online sales as of this date. They will pass Amazon.com in approximately 13.3 months. So how did they do it? They did it thru strong adherence to their strategic plan and good promotion. E-Gov needs a PR Consultant Big time.

http://www.gcn.com/vol1_no1/daily-updates/28113-1.html

We must reduce the time it takes to get things done, filed and the wasteful time to the citizen and business for approvals, permits and receiving of vital and important information. The Internet is completely set up for this. It is made for efficiency. Government on the other hand is inherently inefficient, this is not good or bad, but it is a reality. By increasing the ability of citizens and businesses to interact with our government the entire system gains efficiency and when this can be duplicated in all agencies and departments, the economies to scale and the productivity, which will be achieved and the compounding effect will be a whirlwind and breath of fresh air.

With the digital divide now being all but completely conquered under the Leadership of the Bush Administration we have a unique opportunity to take the E-Gov plan to the step. Such a system saves time and helps the citizen know what they are paying for and it's purpose. It saves trees and paper and its all good. I propose hiring Peggy Noonan to put together a team to:

A.) PR the ever living crap out of E-Gov in all Media

B.) Put together a bombardment plan to keep this topic hot.

C.) Promote this new ability in the schools and Colleges

D.) Review all the government websites, survey users, recommendations.

E.) Start today.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

First, the

Top 10, 20 Google Search Engine Ranking Placement Secrets Revealed

disclaimers: Since the algorithm Amazon uses to generate its sales ranking is proprietary, the details contained herein are extrapolated from research and field tests. The resulting consensus finds Amazon's system to provide marginal sales data at best.

To whit, read Amazon's own definition of its system, slightly paraphrased from their FAQ: "The Sales Ranking system exhibits how books are selling. The lower the number, the higher the sales. The calculation is based on sales and is updated each hour to reflect recent and historical sales of every item sold. We hope you find the Amazon.com Sales Rank interesting!" This last sentence seems to indicate Amazon's own perspective on the importance with which the sales rankings should be viewed.

You're not supposed to find the sales rankings informative or helpful. You're supposed to find them interesting.

In actuality, the process is somewhat more convoluted than they let on. Only the top 10,000 books are updated every hour and the ranking does not depend upon the actual number of books sold, but rather, on a comparison against the sales figures of the other 9,999 books within that same hour. Simultaneously, a trending calculation is applied to arrive at a computerized sales trajectory. So, hypothetically,

Get Higher Search Engine Ranking Increase link popularity

a book that held a ranking of 2,000 at 2pm and 3,000 at 3pm, might hold a 4,000 ranking at 4pm, even if it actually sold MORE books between 3-4 than it did between 2-3.

Books with rankings between 10,000 and 100,000 are recalculated once a day, rather than once an hour. Current projections, as well as historic sales information play a key role in these calculations. In fact, the predictive nature of the Amazon ranking system is what makes it possible for a newly-released book to outrank an older established title, even though the actual sales figures for the latter far exceed the former.

Books with rankings over 100,000 are also recalculated every day and applied with historic sales information and projections, although in the case of these books, history takes a back seat. Sales projections and trending take an active role here, which is why a book's ranking can leap from 900,000 to 200,000 in the span of 24 hours or less. Does this mean the book has sold 700,000 copies in 24 hours? Absolutely not! What it does mean is that recent activity (i.e. purchases) for that book is trending higher than those 700,000 books it just surpassed. But, don't get excited just yet; since the activity of those 700,000 other books range from slow to stagnant, one or two orders are sufficient to catapult a ranking.

If a book's ranking breaks into the top 100,000, the sales history calculation starts to rear its head, which is why a "phenomenon" book has a hard time maintaining a high, legitimate ranking. A phenomenon is defined by a book that leaps from the high hundred-thousands into the lower thousands (or better) in the span of 24 hours or less, usually due to some concentrated marketing initiatives. Since Amazon's sales history for that title doesn't support the leap, the spike occurs and then quickly drops again.

HOW DOES ALL THIS TRANSLATE TO ACTUAL SALES FIGURES?

Since the data is recalculated every hour and/or every day (depending upon a book's current ranking), it's impossible to get cumulative sales figures, although those figures are applied to the algorithm during the calculation.

Insiders Guide To Selling Books On Amazon: Discover How To Sell Books Online At Amazon

No, to get a very rough idea of the actual number of books being sold, the sales ranking has to be dissected dynamically, with the same immediacy as the ranking being calculated, (hourly for top 10,000 books or daily for top 100,000 books). Chart the ranking of a top 10,000 book every hour for 24 hours and divide by 24 to arrive at its average daily ranking. In the case of a top 100,000 book, take its ranking every day for 7 days and divide by 7 to arrive at its average weekly ranking.

Bear in mind that this next piece of information is extremely arbitrary, based upon sales ranking/sales figure comparisons and data received from third party sources. In other words, it's probably completely wrong. But rather than disclaiming this chart until the cows come home, I'll just say this: It is difficult to make sense of something that doesn't make sense. But it sure is interesting, and now, perhaps, even slightly helpful.

If the book's average ranking is: 2,000,000-plus, then perhaps a single inventory/consignment copy has been ordered.

1,000,000-plus, the current trends indicate total sales will most likely be under 40.

100,00-plus, then current trends indicate total sales will most likely be under 200.

10,000-plus, you can estimate between 1 - 10 copies are being sold per week.

1,000-plus, you can estimate between 10 - 100 copies are being sold per week.

100-plus, you can estimate between 100 - 200 copies are being sold per week.

10-plus, you can estimate between 200 - 1000 copies are being sold per week.

In the top 10, you can estimate over 1,000 copies are per week

Brent Sampson is the President & CEO of Outskirts Press Publishing at OutskirtsPress.com and author of Publishing Gems:

The Insider Secrets To eBook Self Publishing

Insider Information for the Self-Publishing Writer. Information at http://outskirtspress.com/publishinggems

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