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2011-12-20T21:54:00.000-05:00

How to Turn Your Finances Around

2011-12-15T20:14:00.001-05:00

From Early To Rise

Coming from a background of little money has its advantages. My parents taught me how to save and invest my money and to avoid debt.

Today, guest author Mark Ford shows you what to do if you have debt, and how you can turn your finances around.

Craig Ballantyne

"As human beings, we are endowed with freedom of choice, and we cannot shuffle off our responsibility upon the shoulders of God or nature. We must shoulder it ourselves. It is up to us." – Arnold J. Toynbee

I had my first serious run-in with debt when I was 30 years old.

My wife K and I were renting a condominium in Washington, D.C. Our landlady came to us with an exciting opportunity: We could buy the condo for $60,000 with no money down. For just $100 a month more than what we were already paying for rent, we would be paying a mortgage. It sounded like a great deal, so we took it.

What we bought was a negatively amortizing mortgage with a three-year term and an 11% interest rate. That meant, every three years we were paying $19,800 in debt service and another $3,000 in closing costs.

We didn't realize what was going on because our monthly payments were only $550. I was too foolish then to ever ask myself, "What is the cost of this debt?"

I tried to find another bank to take me out of this scam but none would. The mortgage we had signed was not backed by the government (Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae), which meant that no other bank would touch it.

I learned that when banks make it easy to borrow money, it's not because you are a nice, deserving person. I learned that if you can get a loan despite poor credit (as ours was at the time), there is usually a scam involved. It also taught me to always ask the two critical questions about debt, "How much will it cost?" and, "Can I afford it?" It was an expensive lesson.

Many of us view debt as a necessity. We buy homes with it. And cars. And boats, and toys, and vacations. Some use it to buy the basics: clothes, food, and furniture.

Debt is not necessary. It is a luxury. Sometimes debt is useful. Sometimes it is wasteful. But debt is always dangerous.

It is unnecessary because there are always less expensive ways of getting what you want. And it is dangerous because it can sometimes be very expensive.

Let me give you two examples.

Let's say that, like most Americans, you are in the habit of buying things with credit cards. After a while, you notice that you have accumulated $30,000 in total debt. You decide to cut up your cards and repay your debt. You can devote $400 a month to paying it back. How long will it take, and how much will it cost you?

The answer may surprise you. Assuming an interest rate of 10%, it will take you 10 years to pay off the credit card debt. And your total payments will be $47,275. Of that, $17,275 will have been in interest payments.

Or let's take a $150,000 home on which you take a $120,000 loan with a 6.5% interest rate over 20 years. The mortgage payments are $894 a month, which you can afford. But how much will that house really cost you? Including interest payments? You will end up paying $244,725 for that house. Almost 40% of that – $94,725 – will have been to interest payments.

The commercial community (bankers and manufacturers) doesn't want you to be afraid of debt. And neither does the government. These institutions want you to like debt. They want you to use it. They want you to go into debt because it is good for them.

When you take out a mortgage to buy a home, or sign a lease on a car, or use credit cards to pay for your lifestyle expenses, the commercial community profits. The manufacturers make money on products you may or may not need. And the banks make money on your debt.

The mainstream financial media rarely talks about the dangers of debt. That's because they make their profits from the financial institutions and manufacturers whose advertisements support their publications.

And the government actually encourages its citizens to take on debt. This was the recommended strategy for getting us out of the Great Recession that the (second) Bush administration (and the Federal Reserve) advocated and it's the same scheme that Obama's people are advocating today.

Here's what you should know about debt:

As a general rule, you should live without it. You should find less expensive ways to acquire the things you need.

Unless you are wealthy, don't lease your car. Buy it. Buy the car you can afford, not the car you believe will make you happy. Any non-appreciating asset (such as a car) will never make you happy if you have to pay its debt service. I didn't buy my first luxury car until I was a multimillionaire.

Don't buy anything with a credit card. Keep only one credit card for renting cars. Use a debit card to buy clothes and groceries. If you don't have enough money in your bank account to use your debit card on a purchase, don't buy it. If you don't have enough money in the bank to buy something, it means you can't afford it.

If you can't afford the debt on your house, sell it (if you can) and buy something cheaper. In any case, start paying off the principle balance of your house (the amount you owe, not the interest you will owe) as fast as you can. Make it a goal to own your house free and clear as soon as possible.

If you have debt, pay it off as fast as you can, but not before you have filled up your bucket for emergency savings. By emergency savings, I mean money you will need to pay your bills if you lose your job. Six months' income is what some financial advisors recommend. I'd recommend a year. It may take you that long to replace your lost income.

Pay off your debt even if the interest rate is low. In theory, you should put your extra money elsewhere if you can earn more on it than you are paying in interest. If, for example, you can get 4% in municipal bonds and you have a student loan at 2%, it makes more sense to buy municipals bonds and pay your student loan off slowly. But in reality, the extra 2% you are earning on the spread is not worth the risk in carrying the debt.

When I started earning money, the first thing I did was get rid of that terrible loan on the condominium I told you about earlier.

The next thing I did was pay off the mortgage I took on a home. I paid it off in two or three years, even though it was a 30-year mortgage. I loved the idea of owning my home free and clear. So I put every extra dollar I had toward paying down that mortgage. The bank didn't like it, but the day I tore up that mortgage... I felt like I had been emancipated from financial slavery.

Finally, if you are troubled by debt, know this: you can get out of it just as I did.

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Getting on Track: Setting Goals for the Year that Aren't Totally Self-Centered

2010-08-24T12:39:00.000-05:00

by Gregg Krech

"It must be borne in mind that the tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal -- the tragedy lies in having no goal to reach." -- Benjamin Mays

In many of the workshops I conduct we begin by having people introduce themselves to someone else and as part of that introduction share the three most important things they've accomplished during the past year. For some people this turns out to be a very depressing inquiry. They scan the past months searching for something important they've done but find that they have little to show for the past year beyond "survival." Indeed, some participants will actually say that "getting through the year" was a major accomplishment.

Most of us would like to finish the year with some sense, in concrete terms, that we're further along the "road to a meaningful life" than we were last January. But what does that road look like and where is it headed? If we don't give some thought to that question at the beginning of the trip, we're likely to end up at some random destination (including one which is not very far from where we started) and then, after the fact, we find ourselves dissatisfied with the direction we've taken.

Though we're already checking days off our 2008 calendar, it's not too late to step back and reflect on where you've been and where you're headed.

Start with Self-Reflection

Before you grab a pen and paper and start listing goals for the year, take some time to reflect on your life. This not only gives you some perspective on your situation, but it allows you to identify goals that may go beyond your own self-interest. If our goals are purely self-centered, they are unlikely to be very satisfying in the long run. But goals which serve some purpose beyond our own happiness and welfare create meaning in our lives. They help us to feel useful and give us a sense of worthwhile purpose.

I recommend a method of self-reflection called Naikan. Naikan originated in Japan and was developed by Ishin Yoshimoto. His method asks us to consider three questions:

1. What have I received from _____?

2. What have I given to _______?

3. What troubles and difficulties have I caused ______?

You can use this framework for reflecting on a specific person for the past year. For example, you might reflect on your spouse, your best friend, your boss, a colleague at work or your mother. Yoshimoto recommended that we spend 60% of our time reflecting on the third question - the troubles and difficulties we caused the other person. This is the most challenging question and one that requires us to put ourselves in the other person's shoes. In essence, we are asking, "What is it like for my wife to be married to someone like me?" or "What is it like for my boss to work with someone like me?"

You can spend several days reflecting on your life or several hours. During a Naikan retreat you would spend an entire week doing this type of self-reflection -- all in all, over 100 hours. But most of us will be limited to what we can do in our own homes. So do what you can and then move on to identifying some goals for the coming year.

Write down your goals

Writing is a wonderful process for helping to crystalize your thoughts. So write down some goals and use the pages of notes from your self-reflection time as a resource. One idea that I have found useful is to identify key people who have been supportive and, after I have done Naikan on those individuals, to identify something I would like to do or give to each of those people.

For example, Steve (colleague) went out of his way to drive me to and from work the week my car was in the shop. Also let me use his woodworking tools to make my daughter's bed and gave me a dozen tomato plants for our garden.

Schedule a weekend to have his daughter stay with us so he and his wife can go to Boston.

I try to limit my list to no more than seven people to make this a realistic goal. Once I have completed my list and have an idea for each person I have my first goal:

To give to each person what I have listed next to their name.

Some of the people on my list were helpful in important ways this past year. Others provided support many years ago. When we're facing a challenge or dilemma and someone helps us, there is a moment when we are very aware of how important their actions were. We realize how challenging our situation would have been had they not stepped forward and supported us -- with time, money, advice or practical help doing what needed to be done. But that awareness fades rather quickly as our life moves forward and we no longer remember the impact of their help. Sometimes, it's just a matter of our memory fading. In other cases, there may be some tension or difficulty with that person, so we no longer see the earlier acts of support as very important.

Taking time to reflect and building a series of goals/gifts around that reflection reminds us of the support and care we have received from others and gives us an opportunity to reciprocate, at least in some small way, and show our gratitude.

Now come up with some additional goals. You may find it helpful to think about different categories. For example, you might have goals related to your family, career, finances, health, community, education, social life or spiritual development. In my book, A Finger Pointing to the Moon, I mentioned four characteristics of a good goal. They should be:

A. Specific

B. Controllable

C. Written

D. Time-Limited

Here are some other tips for coming up with useful goals:

1. Make sure your goals represent something that is really important for you to do. Sometimes people identify goals because they sound good. Perhaps you would like to write a book or take a trip to some exotic place. Then, down the road, you don't make the effort you need to accomplish your goal, because, well . . . you're just not willing to sacrifice the time and energy involved.

2. Setting goals is a time for vision and dreams. Don't handcuff yourself with boundaries that stifle dreams of what you really want to do. A good question to ask yourself is, "If I could do whatever I wanted to do, without any constraints, financial or otherwise, what would I do?" This may help you to think creatively about your life and your future. Ultimately, you have to work with reality -- we all do. But if you allow yourself to dream, you may find some creative strategies and paths that you hadn't considered.

3. In addition to the question "what do I want to do?" consider the question "what is needed of me?" This question helps you look outside yourself for a role and purpose in life. We see ourselves as servants to God/Buddha/Life and we find meaningful goals by going where we are needed. Years ago I was in Thailand and had an opportunity to visit a refugee camp on the border of Laos. I thought I could help best by offering workshops or ideas to the mental health counselors in the camps, but instead I ended up getting involved with a program that helped support orphan children. The kids didn't need counseling nearly as much as they needed toothpaste, medicine and clothing. So I went back to the U.S. and raised funds for these kids. I don't like doing fundraising and I'm not very good at it. But that's what was needed. In the long run, I received tremendous joy from my work and the time I spent with the children each year. Responding to the "need" that was right in front of me gave me a wonderful opportunity to do something worthwhile and rewarding.

Do We Really Need Goals?

There are some good arguments against setting goals. First, they can be nothing more than a strategy for procrastination. Some people confuse setting goals with actually working towards achieving them. Beware of using goal-setting as simply a way of putting off what you know you need to do. Second, some people take a very down-to-earth view that goals are unnecessary. Michele Pfeiffer, in the movie, The Fabulous Baker Boys, says she never makes New Year's resolutions because, "You do what you do, right?" On the other hand, "what you do" may be different if you take time to step back from your life and reflect on how you are living. That's why a retreat, or a long vacation, often gives you a different perspective on your life and work. And then there are those who prefer flexibility and spontaneity and don't want to be handcuffed by clear, identifiable goals. There's a story about Charlie Brown in which he is shooting arrows into a wooden fence and, after each shot he runs over to the fence and draws a bull's-eye around the arrow. Lucy comes along and says, "Hey, that's not how you practice. You're supposed to draw the target and then shoot at it." To which Charlie Brown replies, "If you do it my way, you'll never miss."

Ultimately, if you are satisfied with how your life has evolved and the direction you're headed, you may not need to set goals. But one of the advantages of a process grounded on self-reflection is that it gives us an opportunity to look at the impact of our actions on others. We may live very purposefully, and get a lot of things done, but in the process, we can step all over people and cause a great deal of suffering. Successful people don't always pay much attention to the cost of their success to others.

Whatever your goals and plans, life may not cooperate according to schedule. Life has a way of moving forward according to its own plans, even when those plans are a bit different from your own. So be prepared to make some adjustments, establish new priorities and have the flexibility to respond to what life sends your way. Not withstanding these inevitable surprises and unexpected events, you may still find it helpful to move forward through the year with some clear direction and one which, in part, recognizes that you have come this far thanks to the kindness of generosity of many people and things. This is a good year to reciprocate.

Gregg Krech is the Director of the ToDo Institute in Middlebury, Vermont and author of several books including Naikan: Gratitude, Grace and the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection (Stone Bridge Press, 2002) and A Natural Approach to Mental Wellness (ToDo Institute, 2000).

YouTube - Ode To Joy Performed by Kendrum Youth Steel Orchestra

2010-08-21T01:58:00.000-05:00

YouTube - Ode To Joy Performed by Kendrum Youth Steel Orchestra

Break the Bonds of this Secret Form of Captivity

2010-08-20T18:20:00.000-05:00

We go through life looking for approval from others. This unending search for approval runs deep inside of us as we unknowingly nurture a relationship with the idea that if we could just be accepted, then little by little we would come to know who we are. We actually buy into the notion that if we could get enough people to approve of us, then this ache in our soul that is always trying to figure out who we should be would finally come to an end.

To break the bonds of this secret form of captivity, we must ask ourselves: What happens to someone who is always looking for approval? The answer is clear: They sell themselves! This unconscious, self-destructive behavior has become so habitual to us that we don't catch it... but there is more than that, and you can see it when you watch people.

Just listen to a group of people talking over lunch and you can see that the casual conversations of human beings are really fencing competitions -- one person saying something and then another person trying to top it. There is this continual tug of war, a real competition going on. Lunches in a social situation can be exhausting! Then there are our families... at a family dinner, all the old business is brought up, and everybody is competing and trying to prove that they did better than we did. Why does that go on? Why do we take part in it?

What is it that is taking place inside of any of us when there is a continual longing for this acceptance by which we will then feel approved, and in feeling approved, feel like we've finally found our real self? The fact of the matter is, anyone can look askew at us, someone can say the smallest thing to us, and all the king's horses and all the king's men can't put us back together again! The smallest barb can sink our boat.

What is the root of this endless compromise that takes place in us where we want to be accepted, and to be accepted we have to gain approval -- and we sell ourselves no matter how we do it? And further, why is that if we are actually confirmed by someone, we need two someones to do it after that? Why is it never enough? Never enough possessions, power, authority, etc.... why is that?

The root of that which is forever seeking acceptance and approval in us is that which is forever telling us that we are unacceptable as we are. There is something figurative that lives in us that actually causes, by its very nature, that feeling in us that as we are, is just not enough.

Do you ever think to yourself, "I'm not enough. I need more money"? So you go out and make more money. Then something happens to what you had defined yourself by, and as soon as what defined you goes away, what happens to you? You go straight down. You crash. Then you have to find something new to define yourself by again!

Think of the definition of anything, and it doesn't exist without comparison, which means all definitions have their root in a form of comparison. You might wonder, "what's wrong with that?" Nothing, when it comes to practical thought, to hot and cold, and the natural things we need to do as human beings. But when you start talking about "who am I?" or "what's my life about?", if the only way I can know who I am, what my true nature is, is by comparing it to something else, then am I not the subject of whatever it is that I've compared myself to?

We want to be free, and to be free means to understand what the path of freedom is about. The path of freedom is not winning acceptance from the world around us; in fact the path of freedom, of coming to possess our own life, cannot be gained by anything we might imagine. If we are to be free then we must begin with discovering what it is within us that causes us to see ourselves as needful of those things we now sell our souls to win. And if we will agree to let go of whatever is found -- that binds us to the false idea that we are somehow incomplete -- then freedom follows naturally. It is done for us. And we will know that Life and Liberty for which our heart longs.
Guy Finley

Living Water

2009-01-29T14:20:00.004-05:00

Alexandersson - Living Water - Viktor Schauberger and the Secrets of Natural Energy (1990)

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Science & Engineerin Health & Medicine Science-Physics

Three Things You Must Do to Grow Your Business

2008-04-18T12:39:00.001-05:00

By Michael Masterton

To grow a business, there are three things you must do. First, develop a good, marketable product. Second, learn how to sell it. Third, keep doing the first two things even when you’d rather not.

In the beginning, when there is nobody in the office but you, all three responsibilities may be yours alone. Later, as the business grows, you may find someone or several people to take over one or two of them for you.

A perfectly balanced business might have three top executives: a pusher, an idea man, and a marketer. Each would be a master of his skill. The pusher would be relentless in moving the business forward and encouraging everyone to do a good job. The idea manager would know the product completely, understand how and why the market uses it, and make adjustments to it so that it would always be attractive to buyers. The marketer would sell the product at the right price, the right cost, and in sufficient quantities to keep the gross profit where it needs to be.

Think about your own business or profit center. Who is responsible for each of these critical functions? Is that person masterful /competent/adequate to do the job? If less than masterful, is he on his way to mastery?

Of the many businesses I work with, none has all three functions "mastered."

Typically, you have a mixed bag: a good marketer who is also a good pusher running the business himself. Or a masterful product developer (idea man) who partners with a good marketer but has no one to do the day-to-day pushing. I know of one business that has neither a good marketer nor a good idea person but gets by (somehow) by virtue of its CEO’s pushing inexperienced people to try mostly mediocre product and marketing efforts.

Imperfectly balanced businesses can succeed, but you’ll reach your maximum potential only when you have become masterful at generating good ideas, selling them, and pushing everyone to do a good job.

In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell says that social epidemics (including business breakthroughs) usually involve the input of three types of people: sellers, mavens, and connectors.

In Gladwell’s analysis, the maven equates to the idea man. He is the one who learns something — an idea, skill, technology, methodology. or even just a perspective — that the world finds valuable. If you need something done, he is the guy that can make it happen. The seller, of course, is the person who persuades the world to buy this new idea, skill, etc. And the connector makes it all happen by hooking up mavens to sellers to buyers.

There is an obvious similarity here between marketers and sellers; mavens and idea men, and (less exactly) connectors and pushers.

If you are in charge of a business or enterprise, assess the strengths and weaknesses of your executive leadership according to one of these two similar models. If you are an employee, think about which one of these "tracks" appeals to you.

To make your company grow and improve, make your three top leaders grow and improve. (And this includes you.) To accelerate the success of your own career, make sure you are on track to becoming a master of one of these functions.

By Michael Masterson

The Power of Price

2008-03-17T15:18:00.002-05:00

The Power of Price
by Paul Lawrence (03/14/2008)

When I was in college, I was desperate to find a way to make some money. And I wasn’t crazy about the idea of working at the usual part-time, minimum-wage jobs available to students. So I came up with a business plan and put it into action. One hot summer day found me trudging from door to door, passing out flyers and praying that I would get some customers from the effort.

By the time I returned home, I’d received my first inquiries. And those quickly resulted in my first customers. Within a week, I had a business that was earning more money than I needed. Within a year, that business earned over $100,000 in profits. Not bad for a college kid living at home with his mom!

That first successful start-up was a pool service. Since then, I’ve launched more than a dozen very profitable small businesses. When I analyze what made those businesses successful, I can pinpoint several reasons. But my pool service was successful because of one business strategy: price.

I got people’s attention by offering a monthly rate that was 20 percent lower than the competition. On top of that, I had an introductory "special."
Michael Masterson says that underpricing the competition may be "the most important secret a businessman can know, for it is the most powerful and most reliable way to make a small business grow." It’s also one of the best ways to enter a market and grab a share of the customer base.

When it comes to consumer merchandising, a small business can’t compete with giants like Wal-Mart. But a new service business can usually offer a better price than larger established companies providing the same service. That’s primarily because a small start-up can keep overhead low and sometimes accept a smaller profit margin. So if you can operate your small service business out of your back bedroom, without hiring a lot of employees or needing a lot of fancy equipment, you can almost certainly afford to underprice the competition.

But just because you enter the market with the lowest price in town doesn’t mean you stay there forever. For example, one of my entrepreneurial ventures later in my career was a ballroom dance instruction business. When I entered the market, I was a one-man operation, and I offered lessons at $29 when most studios charged $60. Sure, I made less money per lesson, but it was still pretty good money for me at the time. And once I had a nice little client base, I gradually inched up to the going market rate. That allowed me to hire other instructors to teach the lessons… and freed up my time to develop additional sources of income.

I already had considerable experience as a ballroom dancer - and teacher - before I decided to go into business for myself. But with the pool service business, the only "skill" I needed was the willingness to do the work. So let’s go back to that example so I can show you how well the underpricing strategy works.

Here in South Florida, where I live, the average monthly rate for pool service is about $65. In this particular industry, an account is generally worth six times the monthly gross. So an average pool account would be worth $390.

But let’s say you decided to get into the business by undercutting the competition by $15 a month. That means your average account would be worth $300. That’s a difference of just $90. Would you be willing to give up $90 a month to get a loyal, long-term customer?

And you’d only have to give up that $90 for the first six months. I can tell you from experience that if you do a good job of servicing your pool customers for six months and then raise your price by $15, at least 95 percent won’t drop you. In fact, most of them will feel that they got a bargain, because they enjoyed a very low price for a reasonable period of time. It’s not like you low-balled them and then jacked up the price right away.

And, let’s not forget that you were still making money on all those initial $50 accounts… just not as much.

Here’s how to use this strategy to start a small service business:

* Identify a service business where you see a chance to compete on price
Some of the easiest service businesses to get into are house cleaning, lawn maintenance, exterminating, and car washing. Services like these are often offered by big operations that have been in business a long time. But they tend to have big overheads, and aren’t hungry for new business, so their prices are somewhat inflated. Crunch the numbers and see if you can offer the same level of service at a better price.

* Create a marketing campaign that emphasizes the price savings
Whatever advertising medium you choose, make sure the discounted price is mentioned prominently. For the pool service business, I used flyers and direct-mail pieces. But for the ballroom dance business, I started with classified ads in newspapers and the local Yellow Pages.

A good way to emphasize the savings is to show how it adds up over time. For instance, in the pool business, I didn’t just tell prospective customers that they’d be saving $15 a month, I pointed out that they’d be saving $90 over six months.

One thing to keep in mind: Make sure your customers know they won’t be getting a lower standard of service from you. Explain that you can provide high-quality service with a lower price because, for example, you’re doing the work yourself and have practically no overhead.

* Be ready to begin operations immediately

When you launch a marketing campaign that offers a greatly discounted price, you can expect to get customers ready to do business with you in as little as a few hours. So make sure you’re prepared. Providing the promised service efficiently (and well) will assure your profitability.

[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is the creator of the Quick and Easy Microbusiness System, ETR’s program for starting a business for under $100. He is also the publisher of the Street Smart Business program, which has dozens of "no nonsense" tactics for the small-business entrepreneur. Check out the details here.]

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

Small Country Becomes First in South America to Offer GAC

2008-01-17T08:11:00.000-05:00

Suriname, a small country on the northeast coast of South America, has become home to the first Global Assessment Certificate® (GAC) program in the region.

“We are very delighted to be the Caribbean and South American leader in this critical and essential process of finding genuine leadership solutions for young international students who are college bound,” said Sean Taylor, principal of the AlphaMax Academy in Paramaribo, the capital city of Suriname.

GAC is ACT’s university preparation program that is taught and evaluated in English. It gives international students the skills they need to enroll in and succeed at English-speaking colleges and universities. Successful completion of the program guarantees entry into many GAC Pathway Universities in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. The program is currently offered at 38 locations in 12 countries.

AlphaMax Academy, a private, nonsectarian international English school, offers classes in grades K-12 to nearly 70 students. Staff consists of 15 teachers, including professors from the Anton de Kom University of Suriname, where students conduct laboratory experiments in physics, chemistry, and biology.

Choosing the GAC was a long process, said Taylor. “We took our time—at least two years—seeking out and researching various programs. In the end, after research, deep thought, and reflection, we selected the GAC based on our existing relationship with ACT.”

The academy has been an ACT test center since it was established in 1998. Eleventh- and twelfth-grade students can take the ACT at every international test date. Their average score has been 24 and their top score 31 (on a scale of 1-36).

The GAC program began in October 2007 with six of the twelve students who expressed an interest in the program. Ros Washington, ACT Education Solutions curriculum manager and regional academic manager based in Australia, was at the school early last fall to train faculty and staff and assist in program implementation.

“AlphaMax Academy officials are very serious about the value of the GAC,” said Washington. “They say the GAC program is just what the Caribbean area needs because it develops not only academic skills and strategies but also, most importantly, the soft skills students need to succeed in tertiary study abroad. These are not always addressed in the normal school curriculum.”

The academy, whose motto is “in diligent pursuit of excellence,” was founded by a group of academics who saw a need for an institution that could “provide students with an education that develops their innate qualities and gives them an edge in their future pursuits.” The school is dedicated to individual attention and has an average class size of six students. It offers an “interactive academic environment to ensure quality, good student retention, and an insistence on good performance on internationally accepted, external, American examinations.”

The academic program focuses on cultivation of solid classical, foundational learning skills within the wider context of plural, multicultural, developing societies. There are concrete plans to establish other sister institutions across the region.

Since the academy’s first graduation in 2001, 80 percent of graduates have gone to college—locally and abroad. The government of Suriname has awarded scholarships to several students for study in the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Holland, and Cuba.

Roughly the size and shape of the state of Georgia, Suriname lies on the northeast coast of South America, bordered by French Guiana in the east, Brazil in the south, and Guyana in the west. It is a multicultural and multi-religious country of 450,000 people. Though Suriname gained independence from the Netherlands in 1975, it retains a strong heritage of Dutch traditions and architecture. Given its rich ethno-cultural diversity, Suriname is often called the ‘mini united nations’ of the region. There are 20 distinct communities in Suriname – each with its own language – although Dutch remains the country’s official language.

Teach a Man to Teach, and You’ll Feed Him for a Lifetime

2007-04-01T06:14:00.000-05:00

"We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own."

Ben Sweetland

Teach a Man to Teach, and You’ll Feed Him for a Lifetime
By Paul Lawrence

Wouldn’t you like to make money doing something you love? And what if you could do that job on your own terms, with complete independence and control? Starting your own business giving private lessons is the perfect solution. I know that from experience, since I started mine about nine years ago.

You see, 10 years ago, I was training to be a ballroom dance instructor. Frankly, I’d gotten into ballroom dancing because I thought it’d be a good way to meet girls - but it turned out I had a knack for it. For close to a year, I worked as an apprentice without pay for about 40 hours a week. But the hard work and no pay seemed worthwhile because I enjoyed the teaching, I liked to dance, and I thought the job would eventually pay pretty well. (At that time, the studio got $60 an hour for a private lesson.)

Once I made it out of training, passed my teacher exams, and was deemed ready to be an instructor, I didn’t make nearly as much as I’d hoped. The studio only paid me $15 out of that 60 bucks. To make matters worse, I was only booking a few lessons a week.

It became clear to me that if I was going to make a living as a ballroom dance instructor, I needed to put out my own "shingle." But I had a problem: I didn’t have any capital to open a studio. I took a whack at seeking out some investors but, since I had no experience, I wasn’t able to find any takers.

That’s when I had a brainstorm! Maybe I could go into business without a studio. I suspected there were a lot of people out there who would like to have a teacher come to their home to give private lessons. And for those who didn’t like that idea, surely I could find some commercial space that I could rent by the hour.

Flash-forward one year to me driving home and listening to a Mariah Carey song - something about finally making it. I was really feeling those lyrics, because I’d just completed my first week of self-employment (and I was finally earning enough money to pay my bills).

If I told you it was a piece of cake to build my private-lesson business, that would be a lie. But I did build it - and with virtually no capital. It took a lot of trial and error, but I finally developed a system that worked reliably.

You’re probably not going to get rich just by operating your own private-lesson business. But if you want to be self-employed … if you want to do something you enjoy … if you want a job that gives you independence and pays decently … this type of venture is perfect for you.

Plus, working part-time at your own private-lesson business can be a steppingstone to even greater success. That’s how it worked for me. I was able to earn a modest living in a few hours each week, so I could spend time on other wealth-building activities that eventually greatly exceeded the earning power of my lesson business.

The private-lesson business is certainly not limited to ballroom dancing. You can create a business by teaching anything from martial arts to cooking to embroidery to day trading to yoga… or almost anything else you can think of. For example, my cousin used my system to build a business teaching clients how to speak Japanese. And a good friend used it to build a business teaching adults how to play the piano.

If the private-lesson business sounds like something you’d like to get into, here are the basic steps in my quick-start system:

1. Gauge the market for your business by studying the competition.

My favorite way to do that is by "shopping" them. Seek out their advertisements in your local Yellow Pages, on the Internet, and in local newspapers and shopper’s guides. Then, pretending to be a prospective client, call to find out what kind of services they offer and what they charge.

2. Devise a marketing strategy.

Get started with small, inexpensive classified ads and space ads in local newspapers. Focused mailings to your target market can also work well. And, naturally, you should have a basic website so you can get listed in search engines (like Google) that prospective clients are likely to use. As your business grows, try the Yellow Pages and other more expensive advertising vehicles.

3. Create a strong USP (Unique Selling Proposition) that will give you a competitive edge.

In my case, I had three big advantages. First, I offered the convenience of going to the client’s home for the lesson … which none of my competitors offered. Second, instead of the packages and programs being sold by my competition, I took a "one lesson at a time, pay as you go" approach that made it easy for prospective clients to book a lesson and give me a try. And, finally, without the overhead of a studio, I was able to charge about half what my competition charged. So, my USP was: "Get convenient ballroom lessons in your home at half the price charged anywhere else … without any pressure to buy expensive packages."

4. Test your marketing plan to make sure you can get enough customers.

5. Determine how you’re going to do business by figuring out where you’ll give lessons, how you’ll take payment, what credentials/licenses you’ll need, the kind of accounting system you’ll use, etc.

For quite a few years, I didn’t take credit cards - and it worked okay. But these days it’s so easy to take them with online services that I recommend giving clients that option. As for any licensing requirements, check state and local regulations to find out what (if anything) you need. Many kinds of lesson businesses don’t require a license, but some do. In Florida, there is actually a rule that dance studios have to be registered with the state (and there is an annual fee to do so).

6. Find suitable places where you can rent space by the hour when you need it.

Depending on the kind of lessons you’re giving, it might not work to do it in the client’s home. And even if it does work, as I said before, not every client is going to like the idea. I found several good spots for my ballroom dance business just by calling up studios and asking if they’d like to make some extra money with no work or hassle. If an office environment would work better for your lessons, you could try executive suites, real estate agents, etc.

This quick-start system will help you quickly and easily build a private-lesson business that can provide you with a steady income by doing something you enjoy. My ballroom dance business really changed the direction of my life - and there’s a good chance you can find similar success.

[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence’s ballroom dance business got him started on the road to success. If you’ve been searching for something that can do the same for you, consider getting into the private-lesson business.]

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com.

"I do...Now I Don't"--Innovative Business

2007-02-15T03:18:00.000-05:00

Here's how to turn heartbreak into gold. It's the story of how a spurned lover created a new online business. From,Mi David E. Williams CNN

(CNN) -- Joshua Opperman thought he'd met the woman he'd marry and spend the rest of his life with. But when they broke up a few years ago, he was left with a broken heart, an expensive ring and an idea that he's turning into a business.
Niagara Falls Getaway

Opperman said he was depressed after the split and even more depressed when he tried to sell the engagement ring he'd spent most of his life savings on.

"I tried to sell the ring back where I bought it and they wanted to give me 32 percent back," he said.
Long Distance Discount Plans

The 29-year-old real estate broker decided to open the online jewelry auction site "I Do ... Now I Don't" after reading an article about other people in the same predicament. He runs the site with his sister Mara and three employees.

"I wanted to make a safe venue for buying and selling diamond engagement rings," Opperman said.

Opperman didn't have any jewelry experience, so he teamed up with a jeweler in New York City's diamond district.

"When someone wins the (auction), the ring is sent to us and the money's sent to us so our in house jeweler can make sure the diamond is real, first of all and you're getting exactly what was offered," he said.

If the ring doesn't match the description, they send it back and refund the buyer's money. If the sale goes through, "I Do ... Now I Don't" keeps 5 percent of the price.

The jewelry ranges in price and quality -- from a pearl and silver ring the seller hopes to get $150 for to a 3 ct. Tacori platinum engagement ring with an $18,000 minimum bid.

Working with the shards of other people's shattered relationships might sound depressing, but Opperman said he's getting a lot of positive feedback.

"I feel good about it because they tell me the stories and then they say 'this is a great idea, I'm glad you came up with this Web site,'" he said.

He said he gets lots of e-mail from potential sellers and plans to add a "tell us your stories" page to his Web site.

One person, who wanted to sell a $1,200 engagement set wrote that "I need to find a way to get rid of them, I have way too many memories with them sitting around the house."

"I just want to say that there is a silver lining in some clouds," wrote a woman who said she was having her "nest egg" appraised.

Amanda Gizzi, a Spokeswoman for the Jewelry Information Center, says it's important to be able to contact the jeweler, especially when buying online.

"Buying jewelry is something that's very visual and when you can't actually see and feel the piece, you need to be able to ask those questions," she said.

She also recommended getting an independent appraisal when buying or selling jewelry.

"It's always good to have something that's independently appraised. You don't want to buy anything that has an appraisal coming from the person who sold it to you or is looking to buy it from you," Gizzi said.

Opperman said they'd only made a handful of sales so far, but things were picking up enough that he may have to quit his real estate job.

He said buyers don't seem to be superstitious about buying break-up diamonds; or at least not superstitious enough to pass up a good deal. Most rings sell for about 50 to 60 percent of their asking price.

"There really hasn't been any questions about whether they're buying a doomed engagement ring," he said. "It might be doomed for somebody and it might be better luck for someone else."

Michael Robertson's Response To Steve Jobs Call

2007-02-09T09:45:00.000-05:00

February 8, 2007

Dear Steve,

First let me say that your iTunes/iPod success is unprecedented and awe inspiring to me. Your impact on digital music is astounding. I read your open letter to the music industry and wanted to respond. It's great seeing the #1 DRM vendor in the world acknowledging that DRM is an issue. I've been talking about this since I founded MP3.com so it's nice to finally have someone with your prominence raising awareness on this topic (read You Own Nothing - the highest rated blog post I've ever written).
Rubbermaid

I want to challenge you to take actions to bolster your words to insure you are genuine and your letter wasn't simply a deflection shield to escape government scrutiny. In your letter you stated that currently "customers are being well served with a continuing stream of innovative products and a wide variety of choices." The incompatible chaos of digital music today is not serving customers or the music industry particularly well. I think you know this too which is why you posted your letter calling for change. I agree with your suggestion that the industry is already selling non-DRM files on CDs so it's not a big leap to selling them online (of course, as you know, non-DRM files are available online from many unlicensed sources so now it's just a question of whether the industry is going to put a price tag and make some money on this behavior). You mentioned that licensing your FairPlay DRM technology is problematic. Microsoft widely licenses its similar DRM technology and it doesn't seem to be any more or less secure than yours, so I'm not sure I agree with you. But instead of focusing on political posturing I want to focus on real solutions that can change the industry.

Read Full Letter

New Storage Device Promises To Rival Internal Combustion Engine

2007-02-06T14:28:00.000-05:00

A new storage device created by EEStor may replace the electrochemical battery in virtually every application, from fully electric cars and hybrids to laptop computers, with their battery-ultracapacitor hybrids.

Your First Home

EEStor, a Texas company, has been developing an energy storage device that has the potential to rival the supremacy of the internal combustion engine. According to a patent issued in April, the device is made of a ceramic powder with a barium-titanate insulator, coated with aluminum oxide and glass.It works as a combination of energy store and ultracapacitor. It can completely absorb and release a charge at high rates.

EEStor's astonishing ultracapcitor technology could usher in a revolution in car battery technology. According to EEStor's patent documents its EESU not only will outperform the best lithium-ion batteries, but will also be ten times more powerful than present lead-acid batteries. It estimates that it will have half the production costs of current batteries and will not use any toxic chemicals.

If EEStor's new device works as it is discribed, it will store enough electricity in five minutes of charging to drive 500 miles for about $9(or abour 45 cents a gallon for current gas cars).

Whether this new device will withstand the rigors of real life performance in cars will be soon seen as Canadian based ZENN Motor plans to put the EESU into their electric cars later this year.

Meraki: Promising Low Cost Wi Fi Mesh Network

2007-02-04T16:06:00.000-05:00

New directions for the internet lie in extending affordable broadband service to everyone’s doorstep. This is the famous last mile problem. Wi Fi looks promising but because Wi-Fi signals do not bend, and you can’t get much of a useful bounce from them there are obvious obstacles. Also Wi-Fi uses unlicensed bands of the radio spectrum and by law it must rely on low-power transmitters.This reduces its ability to penetrate walls.

One of the heavily backed solutions is WiMax.It comes in two aspects: mobile, which has not yet been certified, and fixed, which is theoretically well suited for residential deployment. Unfortunately, it’s not low price. Peter Bell, a research analyst at TeleGeography Research in Washington, said fixed WiMax would not be able to compete against cable and DSL service: “It makes more economic sense in semirural areas that have no broadband coverage.”

Coming on the scene is a new inexpensive alternative from Meraki Networks. This is a Wi-Fi network that is not top-down but rather ground-level, peer-to-peer. It relies on $50 boxes that serve, depending upon population density, more than one household and can be installed easily by anyone.

Meraki , a 15-employee start-up in Mountain View, Calif., has been field-testing Wi-Fi boxes that offer a very inexpensive solution to the “last 10 yards” problem. Rather than starting from outside the house and trying to send signals in, Meraki starts from the inside and sends signals out, to the neighbors.

Some of those neighbors will also have Meraki boxes that serve as repeaters, relaying the signal still farther to more neighbors. Meraki's boxes have software that maintains a “mesh network.” This network dynamically reroutes signals as boxes are added or removed. It also takes into account environmental conditions that affect network performance.

Last January two of Meraki’s co-founders — Sanjit Biswas and John Bicket — were still Ph.D. students at M.I.T., doing research on wireless mesh networks in the course of building Roofnet. Roofnet was an experimental network offering free service to one-third of residents of Cambridge, Mass. Later in the year Biswas gave a presentation about his experience to Google which was testing its first municipal Wi-Fi network in its hometown, Mountain View, Calif., using transmitters attached to street lamps.

After Mr. Biswas’s talk, a Google engineer told him that people using Google’s network said they could get online at home only by holding their laptops against a window. Mr. Biswas said he was not surprised. Using municipal Wi-Fi for residential coverage, he said, was “the equivalent of expecting street lamps to light everyone’s homes.”

Biswas and Bicket saw that their mesh-network gear designed for residential use could speed up the widening of Internet access everywhere. Along with a third co-founder, Hans Robertson, they moved to Silicon Valley and set up Meraki. Google and then Sequoia Capital, one of Google’s original venture capital backers, promptly invested in Meraki. Meraki’s products are still being tested, but word-of-mouth has attracted 15,000 users in 25 countries.

Meraki’s products are not yet for sale, and its networks have not been tested with extensive deployment across a large city. However, the advantages of its grass-roots approach, with miniscule expenditure for both equipment and operations, make it a a player to watch.

Meraki says it does not want to become an Internet service provider itself. Its goal is to equip any interested nontechnical person to become a “micro” service provider for his or her local community. .

This low-cost network model seems to be the way broadband service might reach many more home.

Milton Drepaul

New Music Social Interactive Site

2007-02-04T12:09:00.000-05:00

New site, www.newbandtv.com, boasts an ever-growing list of exclusive content, behind-the-scenes, music videos, and community aspect of the highly sought-after underground and independent music market. The features and content are at some of the highest quality flash video available anywhere on the web.
Discount Long Distance

Irvine, CA (PRWEB) February 4, 2007 -- Based on the premise that 90% of the world's best music never gets heard, PowerJam Entertainment announced the launch of New Band TV.com (www.newbandtv.com), a music first interactive social website targeting underground bands and fans looking for creative outlets.

This new concept gives signed and unsigned musicians a destination site to share songs and videos on the Web. In addition, fans who sign up are able to interact with robust video that features high quality full screen resolution, digital audio quality and a fully functional social networking environment.

The site incorporates the best of social networking with an emphasis on an expanding music video library, exclusive content consisting of original Webisode and Webumentary programming, interviews, in-studio performances and concert footage.

Fans can set up personal profiles and are encouraged to interact and network with each other. t, New Band TV.com founder, H. Eugene Fouchia says: "I am absolutely tired of the pre-processed Star Making Monopoly of Hollywood and the Major Record Labels. There is so much great talent out there that cannot fit through that tiny corporate portal.

New Band TV.com is about putting stardom and recognition on a level playing field. A place for bands and singers to showcase their talent worldwide! Think of all the bands you've seen over the years in local clubs, never to hear from again. Consolidation of the recording and media industries has constricted the music funnel into tiny boxes of playlists. Not any more. We are democratizing the music scene and bringing it directly to the people, permanently!"

New Band TV.com's team of experienced media executives and young, hip staff considers the company a natural extension of the boom in social networking for the 14-24 year old "Generation You." Intuitive graphics make the site easy to navigate, browse and upload video and pictures. It has already garnered a large library of music videos produced by independent labels, personalized band videos and even launched a pilot show, "NoiseLink," into syndicated television.
Milton Drepaul

Stephen King Writes First Marvel Comic Book

2007-02-02T11:06:00.000-05:00

Stephen King and Marvel Comics will premiere a comic book next week, "The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born,". King, an iconic novelist with a huge fan base will be debuting in a form traditionally associated with teenagers of another era.

I will be giving away my age when I recall how my bother and I lovingly received some 'Superman' comics from a school friend. Comics preceded TV for us and added a visual element to our reading. I haven't read one since the late sixties. I have noticed the growing movie stardom of some of Marvel's heroes. So King's entrance into this field arouses great interest. I understand that The Dark Tower's will get Harry Potter like treatment with about 150 retailers across the country having "midnight release" parties, as Tuesday turns to Wednesday, to celebrate the release of the first of a planned seven issues.

STEPHEN KING's "The Dark Tower," is a huge sprawling work about a haunted gunslinger on a quest for a mysterious spire. It has stretched out over 22 years, and seven novels.

"The Dark Tower" seemingly ended like a damp squid in 2004. Some readers felt letdown with the saga's final pages and the blurred fate of its hero, Roland Deschain.

"With the last novel's ending, there really was a sense of 'You must be kidding,' so that certainly adds to the anticipation for the comics," Marvel's Meyers said.

"This is Stephen King's first dip into this pop-culture medium, and there's a lot of excitement. You haven't seen anything like this in comics, so we're getting this 'Harry Potter'-style event.

Pet Grooming

King has promised promises plenty of shocks in the "Dark Tower" universe in the series, which will be drawn by fan-favorite comics artist Jae Lee.

The public appetite for King's works appear to be bottomless. He is reported to be working on three novels in various stages of completion (a resuscitated 1970s manuscript called "Blaze," a new work called "Duma Key" and another installment of "The Talisman" with Peter Straub. King also writes a column for Entertainment Weekly and keeps tabs on Hollywood adaptations of his work, like the current Frank Darabont film of "The Mist" and a TV miniseries of "The Talisman."

The End of Harry Potter-Out July 31

2007-02-02T09:20:00.000-05:00

The news is out. The final Harry Potter book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,"will be released at midnight July 21 this year.

J.K. Rowling and her British and U.S. publishers, Bloomsbury and Scholastic Inc. announced this today. Rowling will end the magical saga of the famous boy wizard ten years and a few hundred million book sales after the first Harry Potter book,

The news set off a booking frenzy. Almost instantly, like the waving of a magic wand, "Deathly Hallows" topped the bestseller lists on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com.Oprah's book selection, Sidney Poitier's "The Measure of a Man" sank into second place.
LONG DISTANCE DISCOUNTS

Sleep--The New Bottled Water?

2007-02-02T08:11:00.000-05:00

An article in the New York Times discribes Yelo a new salon on West 57th Street that sells anxious New Yorkers the promise of a brief but cocooning sleep.

Is it likely that a business in selling sleep could thrive?

Yelo 's model is seven private chambers that can be rented for 20- to 40-minute naps. Twenty minute naps cost $12.Each hexagonal pod has a beige leather recliner, dimmed lighting, a soporific soundtrack and a blanket of Nepalese cashmere. Clients may also book reflexology treatments, designed to lull the body to sleep, for their hands or feet starting at $65.

"Sleep is the new bottled water. Although it can be had free, it is increasingly being marketed as an upscale amenity. Nationwide, sales of prescription sleeping medications reached about $3 billion in the first nine months of last year, according to IMS Health, a healthcare research firm. That does not include the more than $20 billion spent on nocturnal accouterments like pillowtop mattresses, adjustable beds, hypoallergenic pillows, white-noise machines and monogrammed cashmere pajamas."--according to a quote from the article.

Read the Full Article and decide whether selling sleepis a great idea

Uniden's Cool Cordless Submersible Phone

2007-02-01T06:14:00.000-05:00

Uniden has released a cool yellow and black submersible (up to three feet) cordless phone-- the WX1477.

The 5.8-gigahertz cordless phone is completely sealed and the handset’s cradle recharges it by magnetic induction, so there are no exposed metal parts. You can use it in the pool or shower. One neat feature is that the WX1477 floats!

Other features are:a 100-name phone book, caller ID with a 100-number memory and 20 ring tones that can be assigned to your contacts so you know right away who is calling.

A phone with a base unit is $90. Additional handsets and chargers are $100, and the system can accommodate up to 10 handsets. The phones will be available this month from http://www.unidendirect.com/.

Milton Drepaul

The Winner is Nintendo Wii

2007-01-31T18:28:00.000-05:00

In this New York Times article it is argued that the Nintendo Wii has hit the top spot with gamers overtaking Sony's Playstation.

By MATT RICHTEL

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 30 — Some of the video game industry’s smartest minds thought that couch potatoes wanted richer graphics and more challenging virtual worlds. It turns out that a lot of potatoes simply wanted to get off the couch.

That may be the best explanation for the growing popularity of the Nintendo Wii, the new video game system that has players jumping, punching and swinging, giving them an aerobic workout right in front of their television sets.

The Wii, which uses an innovative wireless controller to translate the players’ motions onto the screen, has upset the order of the video game world. In electronics stores and elsewhere, there are growing signs that the Wii has taken the lead in buzz and sales over another new console, the Sony PlayStation 3, which offers new superlatives in processing power and graphics.

The competitive picture became clearer on Tuesday, when Sony reported disappointing profits that industry analysts attributed largely to the expensive and shaky rollout of the PlayStation 3 and lukewarm demand for the complex machines. By contrast, Nintendo said last week that its own third-quarter sales were up 40 percent from a year earlier, buoyed by Wii sales.

Both consoles were hard to come by during the holiday shopping season. This week, visits to stores in San Francisco, New York, Boston and Austin, Tex., turned up several with PlayStation 3’s in stock, while the Wii was sold out.

The PlayStation, reflecting Sony’s longstanding dominance, seemed destined to be the one that gamers would snap up. But the Wii is winning many converts who are playing games by moving not just their thumbs but the whole complement of limbs.

“You’re up and you’re moving, and it makes you feel more involved,” said Tracy Ciardiello, 28, a stay-at-home mother in Berkeley Springs, W. Va., who bought one of the last Wiis available at a Wal-Mart nearby on Sunday morning. “After an hour, a thing pops on the screen that says, ‘Why not take a rest?’ That just made me laugh.”

The Wii and the PlayStation 3 were both released in November and are competing with the Microsoft Xbox 360, also a more powerful game machine. It is a battle with immense stakes, given that the video game industry generated more than $12 billion in sales last year.

It is too early to declare a winner. Video game industry analysts said one question hanging over the Wii was whether it was a fad, or whether it would end up creating a new generation of more casual game players — or even become a viable alternative to more powerful machines.

But it appears that Nintendo has already created an unexpected three-way contest, while calling into question conventional wisdom that video games are the domain of testosterone-driven gadget freaks who can zone out for hours while conquering computer-generated foes.

“Nintendo came at things sideways — they made stuff that’s silly and fun,” said Jeff Gerstmann, senior editor of GameSpot, a Web site with video game news and reviews. “It has created a new style of gaming.”

Nintendo recently announced that during the holiday quarter, it shipped 3.2 million Wii consoles and sold 17.5 million games. Sony said it shipped 1.84 million PlayStation 3’s in the quarter, and sold 5.2 million copies of game software for the console.

Nintendo might sell more Wiis if it could make and ship more of them. Company officials said they are shipping around a million worldwide every month, half of those to the United States, but retailers say they cannot keep them in stock.

“The last time they were here, we had 40 and they sold out in 15 minutes,” said John Weeks, who works in the electronics department of the Target store at South Bay Center in Boston. The Wii was last in stock there on Sunday and sold out quickly, making the console physically demanding for shoppers as well.

“I heard there were people here at 5 a.m. waiting,” Mr. Weeks said.

Target shoppers in search of a PlayStation 3, however, were in luck. In addition to the handful out on the floor on Tuesday, there were at least 15 PlayStations in back waiting to be sold.

Retailers around the country said that while the PlayStations had been selling well, they were generally remaining on the shelves for a few days or a week.

Helping the Wii is its $249 price, compared with $499 or $599 for the PlayStation 3, depending on the model, and $299 or $399 for the Xbox. The competition seems to be benefiting all three companies by getting consumers interested in a medium that has languished a bit.

Dave Karraker, a spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment of America, said the Wii did not belong in the same category as the more powerful PlayStation 3. “Wii could be considered an impulse buy more than anything else,” he declared.

Mr. Karraker said Sony was selling out the 100,000 PlayStation 3 units it was shipping into the United States each week, albeit somewhat more slowly than before Christmas. “The frenzy we saw at the holidays has subsided a bit,” he said.

Besides, Mr. Karraker added, Sony thinks the Wii is attracting newcomers, while the PlayStation will be the console of choice for hard-core and committed gamers.

So is the Wii expanding the video game market, or is it stealing customers from Sony and Microsoft?

For Will Brazelton, 23, a student at San Francisco State University, the answer is both. An avid gamer, he said he planned to buy a PlayStation 3 eventually, but he was in a local EB Games store on Monday seeking a Wii. He said the system seemed especially fun. Also, his sister, even though she is not an avid gamer, had agreed to pay half.

Alas, the store had no Wiis, and the manager, Joe Conforti, told Mr. Brazelton that there was not any sure path to getting one.

It is “basically luck,” Mr. Conforti advised. He said the calls were coming in hourly from people interested in a Wii, and that when stock does come in, it lasts only an hour or two.

For some serious gamers, it is not a question of choosing among systems. Robert Davis, 29, a martial-arts instructor who lives in Canarsie, Brooklyn, and owns a PlayStation 3, an Xbox 360 and a Wii, said the Nintendo console was an enjoyable alternative but not a replacement for the more advanced machines. “It’s fun mainly because it’s different, but once that wears off, some people are just couch potatoes,” he said.

Perrin Kaplan, vice president for marketing at Nintendo of America, said the Wii was changing the perception of what kinds of games adults like to play. The console, she said, “has turned it all upside down.”

Ms. Kaplan bristled at Sony’s suggestion that the Wii only appeared to be in higher demand because there had been fewer shipments of it. “That’s absolutely inaccurate,” she said, adding that Nintendo was at least equaling Sony’s shipments.

Still, analysts said the challenges for the Wii included whether Nintendo and third-party developers would produce enough games to keep console owners and prospective buyers happy. GameSpot said developers planned to release some 76 games for the Wii in 2007, compared with 127 for PlayStation 3.

“At the end of the day, Wii is a terrific secondary system for hard-core gamers,” Mr. Gerstmann of Game- Spot said. But he added that many such gamers had not yet embraced PlayStation 3. “They’re waiting for the good games to come out,” he said.

Some gamers echoed that sentiment. “If I get the PlayStation 3, it would be after the price drops and I see what new games come out,” said Alex Chan, 23, a graduate student from Sacramento, who was with some friends at an EB Games store in the CambridgeSide Galleria Mall in Cambridge, Mass. He said he already had a PlayStation 2 and was interested in getting a Wii.

The Ciardiello family, in West Virginia, are converts to Nintendo, having made a transition from the PlayStation 2. Ms. Ciardiello, who has three young children, said her husband did some research about which console to buy. She said he liked the idea of getting started without spending a lot of time reading a manual — and, more fundamentally, being a bit active while they played.

That part, she said, has been borne out. “My husband broke a sweat playing golf on there,” she said.

Katie Zezima contributed reporting from Boston, Cassi Feldman from New York and Bill Kidd from Austin, Tex.

Bill Gates' Vision of How Technology is Changing Education

2007-01-31T18:18:00.000-05:00

Sylvia Carr, for News.com

EDINBURGH, Scotland--Technology will greatly impact the way people choose educational institutions, according to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

Speaking at the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum here Wednesday, Gates laid out his vision for just how technology is going to transform learning.

"We need to be humble in making predictions of how technology will affect education," Gates said, because people made big predictions about how TVs, video tapes and software would influence education that haven't come true.

Bill Gates

Still, Gates said he believes that the reasons people select great universities or schools--access to professors' lectures, the ability to discuss issues with other students and the need to attend classes to gain a degree--will all be changed by technology.

Lectures will be distributed for free over the Internet, students will hold discussions at a distance in chat rooms, and testing and accreditation will happen online for people anywhere in the world, Gates predicted.

"Technology allows for more specialization and improvement" in education, he said.

The role of the teacher is still fundamental to learning, Gates stressed, but more effort must be put into training teachers in IT, and more tools must be created for them--for instance, software that could help them create a curriculum from online sources.

As part of its educational efforts, Microsoft announced that it is expanding its Innovative Teachers program (which helps local partners modernize schools) into the United Kingdom, as well as into 11 other countries, including Brazil, Canada, Chile, Finland, Germany, Ireland and Sweden.

In the United Kingdom, Microsoft has been working with local authorities in Kent, Knowsley, Lewisham, Sandwell and Sheffield to integrate technology into educational institutions.

Damian Allen, executive director of children's services at Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, said Microsoft created "a clear road map to improve operations, learning, and communication between the classroom and home through the use of technology."

Also at the Government Leaders Forum, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, spoke about the role technology can play in improving education so the country can remain competitive in the face of globalization.

"Liberating technology makes it possible to say every person can and should enjoy the advantage of education," Brown said.

A global economy in which people are more connected than ever before is becoming more of a reality each day, he said, and to prepare, government must promote innovation.

"The answer is not protectionism," he said. "The answer is not turning back the clock...but to invest more in science, technology and creative industries."

Brown also stressed the need to include the whole population in this shift and not to widen the digital divide.

"How can we make technological innovation work for not just some of the people but all of the people?" he asked.

Sylvia Carr of Silicon.com reported from Edinburgh, Scotland.

Replica of Star Wars R2-D2 Available Later This Year

2007-01-25T14:41:00.000-05:00

A half-size replica of the Star Wars droid R2-D2 will go on sale in Britain later this year.
It is one of the top 10 toys for 2007 at London’s annual Toy Fair, opening today.

The robot, plays DVDs and CDs, has an iPod dock and uses a scale model of Han Solo’s spaceship, the Millennium Falcon, to house its remote control. It even projects movies in the same way that R2-D2 revealed the hologram of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars (1977) movie.

Peter Jenkinson, of toy consultancy Toyology, commented: "The lines between technology, gadgets and toys are becoming more and more blurred.
"It means that these bits of kit are appealing not just to kids, but to their techy older siblings, even their parents."

Three Inner Secrets of Internet Success

2007-01-24T11:28:00.000-05:00

By Yanik Silver
www.SurefireMarketing.com
===================================

In only a few short months I've achieved the ultimate
Internet "fantasy" of making a lot of money from a simple
(almost primitive) web site that runs itself virtually on
complete autopilot. Starting from scratch I banked over
$51,351.94 my first 6 1/2 months online, just working part-
time out of the corner of my living room.

Now today at age 31, I've gone on to earn over 7-figures.

How did I go from a standing start to banking mega
profits?

To do that, what I think you really need are these inner
secrets to mega internet success. This has nothing to do
with search engines, pay-per-clicks. It doesn't have
anything to do with any of the tactical stuff. It's all a
lot of stuff that goes on in your head.

* Secret #1: Cheerful Expectancy *

One of my biggest mentors is Earl Nightingale. He passed
away several years ago but you need to get everything he
recorded at Nightingale.com. He has a program called "Lead
The Field" and "The Strangest Secret." Just listen to
that thing over and over again. He talks about cheerful
expectancy.

There's a big difference between having expectancy versus
hoping or wishing something is going to occur. When you
have that cheerful expectancy, you know it's going to
occur. And that doesn't just come from being
"Pollyannaish" or having rose-colored glasses.

It comes from having knowledge. And you get that
knowledge from studying in your field whatever it is. It
could be Internet marketing or it could be neurology. That
means reading, studying and buying everything and
absolutely immersing yourself in it.

I learned from Earl Nightingale that if you want to be an
expert, you spend an hour a day reading on whatever
subject that you're interested in, that you want to be an
expert on. So I said, "Well, what would happen if I read
for three hours a day?"

I just started learning as much as I possibly could, and
that knowledge gives you the confidence to know that you
have that positive expectancy. Your expectations determine
your results.

* Secret #2: Do one proactive thing a day *

You don't need to do 100 things a day. Just get that one
proactive thing a day. So each little brick builds a big
wall for you. Trust me it's easy to be overwhelmed with
hundreds of tasks. You're like, "Oh, we need to do e-zine
ads and free-for-alls and pay-per-click search engines,
and I need to do all this other stuff." Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

But just relax and do one task a day.

Your action will create more and more and more action for
you. You simply need to make a commitment to do one
proactive thing a day no matter what. Even if you're dead
tired and worked a 14-hour day - come home and mail one
letter or send out one joint venture proposal. I'm telling
you - just these little tiny proactive things will have an
immense impact.

Most everyone has heard of the '80/20 rule' or the Pareto
Principle. It says that 20% of your actions produce 80% of
your results, and the other way around. 80% of your work
only creates 20% of your results.

So go back and look where your successes came from, and I
know that they're from a tiny little group of actions. So
if you just get that one proactive thing a day (from the
20% group) that is going to propel you further, that's
going to bring you to where you want to be.

Make it a point to focus on those "20% activities". In
Stephen Covey's famous work "7 Habits of Highly Effective
People" he calls these activities "important but not
urgent".

One of my Apprentices, Peter Woodhead, from the UK is a
perfect example of simply doing one proactive thing a day.
A lot of Apprentices bolted out of the gate during our one
year program but Peter was an Internet newbie and he also
had a full time job so he was a bit slower getting
started. However, he took my advice and simply managed to
do one proactive thing every single day. No matter how big
or how small. It could be writing one autoresponder
message or it might have been writing 50 headlines. No
matter the day - Peter was moving ahead. And not
surprisingly his project was completed before many of the
other Apprentices were finished.

* Secret #3: Decision *

This is such a big point. A lot of people have so many
problems with decision. That's because they don't like it
because it cuts off other options. But frankly that's
exactly what you want. You want to cut off other options.

One of our top apprentices, Cindy Kappler, WebAdMagic.com,
had no other option but to succeed because she quit her
job. Now I'm not encouraging you to do that if you still
have a real job but it does prove if you cut off your
options, you're much more motivated. Successful people
make decisions quickly.

There's a magic of attraction when you make your decision.
However, when you're hemming and hawing, you don't
experience this magic. I don't want to get into too much
woo-woo or metaphysical or spiritual stuff.

But there's this magic of attraction. I can't even
explain it. When you set your mind up that you're going
to do this, all of a sudden, at the next dinner party
you're attending you meet somebody that can help you get
to where you want to go. Is that luck or is that
something else?

I don't think it's luck.

It's like once the decision is made your mind is tuned
into the solution and all kinds of 'freaky' coincidences
and occurrences happen.

And that brings me to another important point about
decisions - fail quickly. Don't be afraid of failure. A
lot of people are so afraid of screwing up, or making a
mistake that they are forever frozen. Who the hell cares?
Screw up quickly! I screw up all the time. And you want
to fail quickly.

That's the great part about the Internet. You want to go
out there and find out if your dumb idea is going to work
right away. You can do it in days instead of months.
Sometimes hours and if it doesn't work, you move on. You
say, "Next!"

Look, I know a lot of people who are working on their
products for the last two, three, four years. Get the
damned thing out! You just make it better as you go
along.

InstantSalesLetters.com, our first product was not where it
is now. We've added a ton of stuff to it and made it
better. But I just wanted to see if the thing was going
to sell.

It wasn't complete and utter rubbish, as my British
friends say, but it was enough that it made the point. It
found out if there was a marketplace for it. So find out.

Some people like to go around at dinner parties and so on
and say, "I'm writing a book. I've been writing a book
for five years. I'm an author."

Uh huh...

I can show you 6 different ways to have your book done in
days. It's a cop-out and complete B.S. Bottom line - make
the decision to get the product out there. See what
happens and fail quickly.

Now get out there and do it!

(c) Surefire Marketing, Inc.

==========================================================
Yanik Silver is recognized as the leading expert on
creating automatic, moneymaking websites...and he still
doesn't know how to put up a website.

He is the author, co-author or creator of several best-
selling online marketing books and tools, including his
quickest and easiest way to create a product to sell -
http://www.PublicDomainRiches.com

Awesome Software Package

2007-01-24T11:08:00.000-05:00

Could this be the coolest site on the Internet?

Matt Callen is giving away an awesome software package
called HyperVRE. Basically what this software does
is create websites for you that contain the two
hottest things in marketing right now ALL ON THE
SAME PAGES. The best thing is...it is free.

I just downloaded my very own copy and it is awesome,
so I wanted to share it with you. The software is a breeze to
use and there is an endless amount of customizable features.

The owner of HyperVRE told me I could let a few people know
about the site before they start charging for the product, and I
thought you would be interested. :-)

Go ahead and check it out now.

==>

Enjoy this one!
Milton
HyperVRE.com

Most Mailed Direct Mail Letter

2006-12-23T05:29:00.000-05:00

Last Tuesday copywriter Martin Conroy died. He was 84 years old.Martin is renowned for creating what might well have been the most mailed direct mail piece of all time. With only minor changes this piece ran continuously from 1975 to 2003.

Barely two pages long, it was the major circulation builder for the Wall Street Journal.

See this letter in Ken Mc Carthy's blog

Story telling is perhaps the most powerful copywriting technique.
Easy Web Video Software

Website for Canadian Retired Workers

2006-12-21T15:00:00.000-05:00

These days, people are retiring younger and living longer. A newly retired 60-year-old may not want to work a 60-hour-week any more, but may still want to find employment. This is where Retired Worker comes in. This is a free site for job seekers and has several short term assignments.

http://www.retiredworker.ca/
Canadian Long Distance Discounts
Niagara Falls Accomodations

Cell phone pinpoints location

2006-12-21T07:24:00.000-05:00

Even if you are not making or receiving a call your cell phone (or mobile as it is called in the UK) can indicate where you are. The phone transmits a signal which enables investigators using cell site analysis technology to locate your call.

Cell phone companies maintain records of which beacon a particular phone was locked onto at any particular time. With this technology it is possible, if an ideal situation exists,to identify the location of an individual phone to within a few hundred yards.

In the UK this cell site analysis is said to have helped detectives solve a number of high profile cases like the 2002 Soham murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. Jessica Chapman's phone indicated where its signal died on the night the girls disappeared.

Niagra Falls Vacation

Soiling O..J. Simpson's Dirty Book

2006-12-19T08:44:00.000-05:00

Do you wonder about a hot news story after it has gone off the news radar? I do. I was curious to know what will happen to O.J Simpson 'Book of What Ifs'. If I Did It, was supposedly a description by O.J. of how things would have gone down in 1994 if he had killed his former wife and her friend Ronald Goldman. Since I am interested in publishing I know that all the hype surrounding his book probably meant that there were thousands of copies of his book already printed and waiting to bound out of warehouses as soon as enough of a frenzy was built up.

Well it turns out HarperCollins had printed some 400,000 copies of the book before Mr. Murdoch decided o kill the project. Now what do you do with all those books. You know they usually intone over your dead body ' Dust to dust. ashes to ashes'.In the end everything comes down to soil. So Harper Collins has by one estimate 200 tons of paper to get rid off.

Publishers normally,I found out go to professional shredding companies to get rid of books that no longer sell.Do you know that the association for these shredding companies actually call themselves the National Association for Information Destruction.

I wonder if George Bush knows about them. He could use them to dispose of any uncomfortable information in the run up to the Iraq war. Apparently, Random House recently purchased its own Bollegraaf system for shredding and baling at its own book-destruction facility in Indiana. After being professionally shredded the former books go to landfills. There it gracefully decomposes over years.

Walt Whitman, the great American poet, muses in "This Compost," :

Now I am terrified at the Earth, it is that calm and
123456patient,
It grows such sweet things out of such
123456corruptions …

Now Harper Collins,there's your idea. Out of your corruption to produce such a hideous book you can turn it into a sweet thing --lush, fragrant soil from compost. Here's a great way to save the earth and your tarnished reputation Harper Collins . Sell OJ compost!

There are probably at least 400,000 dedicated compost-makers among our 250 odd million Americans. Day after day, in good or bad weather these trusty folk leave their homes and throw kitchen and garden waste into a compost heap. They wait a few months before they harvest the matured rich, dark crumbly soil. Then they dutifully spread on their flower and vegetable beds.

My suggestion is that Harper Collins put out feelers to the nation's compost-makers and invite them to a national shred out of O.J's If I did It. Give out one copy apiece of If I Did It to individual organic gardeners . Get them to sign a pledge not to read the book or sell it on eBay. Or each person could collect a shredded copy and put it to work improving the nation's soil.

Haimdat Sawh - Business Consultant

2006-12-15T08:05:00.000-05:00

Haimdat Sawh is an accomplished, experienced business consultant working in Tallahassee, Florida. He specializes in Business Process Analysis, Negotiation and IT Technical Support. He is, however, also experienced in Document Management, Financial Analysis and Software Quality Assurance Testing. A self-starting, goal-oriented strategist, Haimdat is a confident, assured professional whose strengths are his reliability, perseverance and vision. With over two decades of experience both in the US and internationally he has consistently demonstrated his skill in organizing complex projects.

Haimdat's clients have universally praised his ability to put together professional teams and competently define and delegate individual team member tasks. As one former client observed, "Haimdat thoroughly understands the process of integrating technology into the office environment as well as the need to get people working quickly and harmoniously on the tasks that are critical to the success of any mission."

Since the late eighties Haimdat has kept on top of office software data management and he brings this cutting edge thinking to his business projects. Many clients have benefited from Haimdat's skill and experience in almost instant and accurate documentation of decision making. A love for writing and revision leads him to create precise task and job descriptions. This has made Haimdat invaluable to the success of the businesses in which he worked.

Currently working with Infinity Software, Haimdat has also worked with Price Waterhouse Coopers Tampa FL and the American University in Washington DC in the US. An advisor and project manager for the late President of Guyana, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, Haimdat Sawh served his government as Commissioner of Insurance from 1992 to 1994. In Guyana.He was also a Manager for Guyana's largest Commercial Bank.

Born in Guyana, Haimdat has had an international, multicultural life experience in four Caribbean and South American states (Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago). He has also lived and worked in Tampa and Tallahassee in Florida, Washington, DC and Amsterdam, Netherlands. The son of a well known Caribbean missionary, Haimdat also has a long and successful association with church groups both in the US and abroad.

Among his accomplishments while working for the Jagan administration were: collaborating with the Attorney General and Minister of Public Affairs to rewrite Guyana's Tender Board Legislation; sourcing power generation suppliers for the Guyana market and guiding the ideal nominee through the intricate bidding and acceptance process ; successfully managing the bidding process for the Guyana National Lottery and reviewing and processing foreign national applications for business enterprises

In the US, Haimdat started his career as Manager of the American University's customer service, records and data processing departments. His other career achievements include: serving as a Global Financial Systems Specialist for Price Waterhouse Coopers ; Project Administrator III for the Fresh Citrus Application System ; managing the Quality Assurance testing for Florida Residential and Property Joint Underwriters ePass system ; supervising and managing databases, software documentation, networks and communications for Florida Agency for Health Care Administration Area 2B Medicaid office ; and managing the maintenance of Florida's Primary Care Network

Sean Taylor, Director of Tropitaste International describes Haimdat as "the ideal project manager to have in your corner. He is tough, relentless in his pursuit of excellent work and someone who keeps the communication channels open all the time". President Cheddi Jagan had this to say about Haimdat, "He was one of the Guyanese who came back to rebuild his country ."

Haimdat's work experience since the late eighties have been challenging and high pressure but he has been able to maintain a zen like calm amidst the storm of this fast paced work environment. All his colleagues attest to his relaxed workplace style. His sense of humor and his willingness to listen and reflect have endeared him to both fellow workers and clients.

For relaxation Haimdat follows cricket, reads devotional literature avidly and enjoys interaction with his family. He also writes online in various blogs.

His personal philosophy is to seek to give of his talents unstintingly while being open to learn from all whom he meets whatever their station in life.

You can contact Haimdat Sawh for consultation by visiting his website http://hsawh.pbwiki.com.

Milton Drepaul

Cinnamon-More than a Spice

2006-12-13T14:38:00.000-05:00

We are coming to the end of Diabetes Awareness Month and I have a tip for those who want a simple way to lower your blood sugar level.

Adding some cinnamon to your daily routine will do more than just add more flavor to your cooking.

Recent preliminary evidence shows that cinnamon may help reduce blood sugar. This would definitely be a boon for diabetics.A December 2003 study in Diabetes Care reported on people with type 2 diabetes who were given differing daily amounts of cinnamon (1, 3, or 6-gram capsules).

Irrespective of the amount of cinnamon they received, the study group reduced their blood glucose levels by 18 to 29 percent compared to those receiving a placebo. In addition this group also showed a reduction in their LDL ("bad") cholesterol.So if you are diabetic, you may want to add one-quarter teaspoon of cinnamon to your diet twice daily. Then check to see if you also receive this positive effect. I have found success using cinnamon. I add to tea which is sweetened with stevia. Stevia also has positive benefits on the blood sugar level.
Sport Nutrition

Develop a Brilliant Memory

2006-12-13T11:57:00.000-05:00

Since I was a student in college I have been fascinated by the idea of having a good memory. I recall spending a few shillings (yes , in those days in Jamaica they used those) to buy a small booklet on memory.

Now that I am so much older I still hanker for that elusive system that gives great memory. Today I feel one reason why we do not remember is the fact that we hardly live in the now,the present. We are either recalling the past or being anxious about the future. I think if we are calm, centered and focused on what we are experiencing now we would remember more easily.As an EFT practitioner I often use EFT to deal with fears relating to memory. I recommend this simple but powerful technique.

Today I read about the latest book by Dominic O'Brien, eight times World Memory Champion.

Mark Tyrell of Uncommon Knowledge tells this anecdote about O'Brien's formidable skill . At a memory conference in the 80's he was given a list of all the attendees' names. After quickly scanning through the list he asked all of them to stand - all one hundred and fifty .O' Brien then recited each name, in the order it appeared on the list, and each person sat down as they heard their name. There was not a single mistake.

O'Brien's 1993 book 'How to Develop a Perfect Memory' , tells of his gambling exploits, where he used his own highly developed memory to card count in Black Jack in casinos here and abroad. Co-incidentally, this week I have been reading Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich

O'Brien's latest book is 'How to Develop a Brilliant Memory Week by Week' .O'Brien shows how developing your memory can enrich all aspects of life. Better memories give us more independence. We don't have to rely on notes, Friends, electronic PDAs to remember anniversaries, appointments, facts, figures. Giving speeches becomes much easier if we don't have to be chained to note cards.

This book is really a year long course broken down into 52 weekly lessons.The lessons are followed by self test exercises . As you progress you can monitor how well you are doing. This course gives reliable strategies to increase your mind's capacity.

Learn from a memory champion. Take the course and enjoy life more.

Water

2006-12-13T10:58:00.000-05:00

"In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it."

Lao Tzu, Chinese Taoist philosopher, b c.500 BCE

Despite being applied firmly , pressure, by itself,often does not work. A gentler approach over a longer period of time often gives more enduring results.

Even though gentle ,almost innocuous methods of attacking the toughest problems appear laughably weak at the beginning, they may well prove unbeatable over time.

Niagara Falls

Save Linny, save the world.

2006-12-13T07:24:00.000-05:00

Wendi Friesen, hypnotist and marketing genius sent me this. Read on.

"I try to avoid our storage room, but just a few days ago, I glanced at Linny gazing upon the shelves of our CDs.

I shook my head and could only sigh.

“Linny, what are you planning on doing with that hammer?”

She looked up at me sheepishly and replied “Well, Wendi my queen and master (they are required to address me that way) I was hoping to be able to give them to deserving people some day, at a very reduced price”.

“Linny, I do believe that this is a good idea, however, you know what happens when a staff member lets the shelves get piled up with scratch and dent merchandise, don’t you?”

She could only nod, and hang her head. She obediently went to get the duct tape and rope, returned promptly and sat herself down.
How does this story end?

Great Online Dictionary Resource

2006-12-12T10:57:00.000-05:00

Writers need good dictionaries. This is especially true
if you write on a wide range of topics.Many bloggers find
themselves commenting on medical articles or financial topics.

In the old days this situation could lead you into the expensive

'hobby' of collecting specialist dictionaries.Not only that, think

of the space those volumes would occupy.Also imagine the time

and hassle of looking up words in each volume.

Sport Nutrition

Well, I've found an elegant and simple solution. It's also free.
Just go to Onelook.com. This website has indexed 931 dictionaries.
Enter the word you want the meaning or translation for and enter
'search'.

Even if you are not quite sure of the spelling you can enter
partial search. Just follow their instructions for 
partial-word wild card search

The Secret Psychology of Wealth

The Best Experience

2006-12-09T09:22:00.000-05:00

Microsoft lost its way, Mr. Berkowitz says, because it became too enamored with software wizardry, like its new three-dimensional map service, and failed to make a search engine people liked to use.

“A lot of decisions were driven by technology; they were not driven by the consumer,” he said. “It isn’t always the best technology that wins. It is the best experience.”

From " Looking For A Gambit to Win at Google's Game" in New York Times