credit

Taiwan News hosted an AFP piece on how the Taipei Times'

2009-04-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

Taiwan News hosted an AFP piece on how the Taipei Times' wonderful parody on Apr 1 saying that the pandas in Taiwan were fake -- which received worldwide interest and acclaim (great work, guys) -- met a frosty reception among the pro-China crowd which accused the paper of lese majeste...toward pandas...However, Taipei zoo director Jason Yeh was not amused and demanded a correction of the report he said had "seriously damaged" panda conservation education."We urge the newspaper to correct this improper story as it sends the wrong message. The joke has gone too far which not only hurt its credibility but the conservation education," Yeh said yesterday.The zoo had received dozens of phone calls locally and from abroad complaining about the article, he said.Lawmaker Wu Yu-sheng of the ruling Kuomintang party also demanded the paper apologise for publishing an "untrue and baseless" report.The Taipei Times has defended its move, saying readers should be capable of telling a joke from the truth.Actually, the Taipei Times got the story wrong. It's not the pandas that are fake, but the feelings that sent them over._______________________[Taiwan] Don't miss the comments below! And check out my blog and its sidebars for events, links to previous posts and picture posts, and scores of links to other Taiwan blogs and forums!

Christian Group Calls For Boycott Over Titillating New Starbucks Logo [Logos]

2008-06-14T02:21:00.003-07:00

According to the Star Tribune, Starbucks recently decided to resurrect its original bare-breasted mermaid logo, much to the dismay of the Christian group, "The Resistance," who is calling for a national boycott. The logo, based on a 16th Century Norse woodcut, will be on Starbucks cups for at least a few more weeks and will be the permanent logo for Pike Place bags of coffee. According to the Christian group, the logo "has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute," and that "the company might as well call themselves Slutbucks." We didn't even know that mermaids had legs. More, inside...

The article says,

The image is a less-revealing version of what the chain used for many years, starting when it first opened in Seattle in 1971. That original logo was resurrected in its Northwest outlets for a time in 2006 to mark the chain's 35th anniversary.

Company spokeswoman, Bridget Baker said the newly revived logo was "modified a bit [from the original] based on feedback" from Starbucks customers during its 2006 appearance. "We feel it's appropriate," she said. Howard Shultz, Starbucks' founder, said in his book, "That early siren, bare-breasted and Rubenesque, was supposed to be seductive as coffee itself."

We seriously doubt this logo is obscene enough to deter anyone from their morning cup. From what we know of coffee drinkers, still photos from German scheissen porn wouldn't separate them from their hot liquid crack.

Group finds Starbucks logo too hot to handle [Star Tribune]
(Photo: Star Tribune)

Disgruntled Northwest Airlink Flight Attendant Sets Fire Inside Plane [Disgruntled Employee]

2008-06-14T02:21:00.001-07:00

According to the AP, 19 yr-old flight attendant Eder Rojas of Woodbury, Minn., was arrested on Wednesday for intentionally setting a fire inside a paper towel compartment in the rear bathroom of the plane. Rojas told officials that he was was upset at Compass Airlines for making him work that particular route. He allegedly boarded the plane that day with extra paper towels and a lighter. Details, inside...

The article says,

Compass is a subsidiary of Northwest Airlines. Northwest spokesman Rob Laughlin said Rojas has been fired.

Rojas made his initial court appearance in Minneapolis on Thursday and was ordered held without bail pending another court date Monday, prosecutors said. The charge of setting fire aboard a civil aircraft carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

His public defender did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Authorities said Rojas asked for extra paper towels and tissue before the plane left Minneapolis. He allegedly took a lighter from another flight attendant's home earlier that day and had it with him when he went through the security checkpoint.

"Rojas further stated that he was preparing his cart to serve the passengers, he set the cart up, went back to the lavatory and reached in with his right hand and lit the paper towels with the lighter," court documents say.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Lynn Jordheim, who is prosecuting the case in Fargo, would not comment.

Pilot Steve Peterka told authorities that an indicator light came on about 35 minutes into the flight, showing smoke in the rear bathroom.

The court documents say Peterka called Rojas, who was assigned passengers in the back of the flight, and asked him to check the bathroom. Rojas, another flight attendant and a passenger were credited with quickly putting out the flames with fire extinguishers, authorities said.

Investigators later found a lighter in one of the overhead bins.

FBI agent Ralph Boelter said Compass Airlines officials showed "extraordinary cooperation" in the investigation.

Ever hear of calling in sick??

Flight attendant accused of setting fire on airplane [AP] (Thanks to Jeffrey!)

McDonald's: Drink What We Say Or No Free Southern Chicken Sandwich

2008-06-14T02:20:00.001-07:00

Reader "Thunderpants" says that she was in McDonald's yesterday during their free chicken sandwich promotion. The deal: Buy a medium or large drink and the sandwich itself is on the house. For some reason, however, this particular McDonald's declared that only soft drink purchasers qualified for sandwiches. Nothing, not even a customer who claimed to have written the actual ad copy for the promotion, could convince them otherwise.

Yesterday, McDonald’s was giving away free southern-style chicken sandwiches if you purchased a medium or large drink. I went down to the location in my office building, where there were three lines. It was busy, but nowhere near riot status.

As I stood in line, I repeatedly heard the employees telling customers that purchasing a “Sweet Tea” didn’t count for the free sandwich. Some left, some rolled their eyes and ordered a “drink” instead, but all of them were pretty peeved about it.

As it happens, someone in the line ahead of me worked for the ad agency that McDonald’s uses and said she WROTE THE AD COPY. She asked to talk to the manager, because she said that Sweet Tea was part of the promotion.

They made her wait. By the time I had ordered and was waiting for my food, two managers came out from the back looking decidedly hostile. When the ad exec tried to explain the ad to them, they immediately cut her off and shouted “No, No, No” and pretty much told her to get lost.

My curiosity was piqued, so I called McDonald’s customer service hotline to find out who was right. Guess what? The managers were completely wrong. The CSR told me “you could buy a milk chug and get a free sandwich. Any drink!” She offered me free coupons for more chicken sandwiches, but I declined because I didn’t want to give my name and address, especially since I wasn’t directly involved.

So, BOO to the local franchise managers, but way to go Customer Service Rep.

Sincerely,

Thunderpants

Nice investigative reporting, Thunderpants. It's good to know that ad agency people are forces for justice, trying to keep McDonald's honest, but it's too bad they didn't listen to her.

Meet Crissy, The High Priestess Of Coupon Clippers [Coupons]

2008-06-14T02:20:00.000-07:00

Crissy Thompson (pictured left) is among the coupon clipping elite. 11Alive News followed her around one day to learn some of her secrets. At a local Publix, Crissy managed to get two-thirds off her grocery bill and at CVS picked up $140 worth of goods for $5. Often, she spends only $10 a week on groceries and that's with 3 kids and a husband. Check out some of her techniques and her favorite coupon web sites, inside...

Crissy's incredible results don't come without preparation. She usually spends an hour week getting prepared for her shopping trip which takes her 3 to 4 hours and includes 3 to 7 local stores.

Like any good soldier, Crissy starts by gathering her ammunition. She does this by buying 2 copies of the Sunday double paper which renders 4 sets of coupons. Next she hits her favorite web sites which include: gottadeal.com and hotcouponworld.com

Crissy decided to show the news crew a sampling of what she does and they proceeded to hit CVS and a Publix, two of her favorite stores.

At Publix, Crissy made good use of the buy 1 get 1 free coupons. Most grocery stores will also let you buy just one item and get 50% off. If you can then pair a coupon with that you can get the item for free or next to nothing.

Crissy also explained that when a coupon reads "1 coupon per purchase" you are not actually limited to using it only once. For example she took 2 boxes of cereal that were buy 1 get 1 free for $3.79 a box. Crissy also had 2, $3 off coupons to go with each of the boxes of cereal. Crissy made over $2 on the cereal. At checkout Crissy's total was $15.38, she saved $36.22.

Next they went to CVS. Crissy says the best deals there are coupons and Extra Care Bucks. Extra Care Bucks are given on specially marked items. You receive the bucks at checkout and use them on a following purchase. Most people would simply use these Extra Care Bucks the next time they came to the store, or forget about them altogether. However, Crissy uses them the same visit by splitting up her purchase into separate transactions.

They arrived at the checkout counter where Crissy proceeded to split her checkout into 5 transactions. She took the Extra Care Bucks from each transaction and applied it to each following transaction. Apparently, CVS has no problem doing this for Crissy. All said and done, Crissy bought approximately $140 worth of merchandise for under $5. Crazy, huh?

It looks like the Crissy-craze is catching on, she will even have her own website soon. What are your favorite little-known coupon tricks?

If I Didn't See It With my Own Eyes [11 Alive] (Thanks to Josh!)

CHAIRman Mao

2008-06-13T09:20:00.003-07:00

Artist Gerald Scarfe created this chair/sculpture that looks like Chairman Mao (by way of Jabba the Hutt), so you can be cushioned by the gentle curves of the Great Helmsman as you play on your Xbox. Link

Lost mechanical servant of 1961

2008-06-13T09:20:00.002-07:00

In July, 1961, Popular Mechanix brought its readers "a life-size, remote-controlled servomechanical robot built by Vienna engineer Claus Scholz. The MM47 can do almost anything from housework to handling radioactive materials or fighting fires from the inside while the operator stays at a safe distance. The 105-pound plastic robot cost about $760 to build."
Another one lost to the ages. Link

Really gonna miss you

2008-06-13T09:20:00.001-07:00

Really gonna miss you　　Its really gonna be different without you　　Time is gonna be hard and slow　　For the rest of my life　　Gonna be thinking about you (yes I am)　　Time came when you had to go　　　　I’ll miss you my buddy　　I’ll miss you my friend　　I promise my love for you will never end　　　　In your finest hour I was there with you　　And without you things wont be the same　　But there’s a higher power that we answer to　　And you heard him calling your name　　　　Really gonna miss you 　　Everything about you your smiling face　　I know you want us all to be strong　　　　Really gonna miss you　　I know your going to that magic place　　Singing you a brand new song　　　　I’ll miss you my buddy　　I’ll miss you my friend　　I promise my love for you will never end

Lai mot ngay nua troi qua.......

2008-06-01T16:38:00.001-07:00

Ngay hon nay that la cang thang qua,Cai do an nay lam Minhton tho mat.oi!met moi qua,thiet ke mai ma khong xong?Met moi that.Minh sap phat dien len mat.Hom truoc Ban MInh cho Minh muon mot to bao"Blog trai tim"That buon vi Minh chua kip doc ma da khong rhay dau roi ?BUon qua di mat Minh tim mai nhung khogn thay dau ...chan het cho noi.Nhuc het ca dau...Met qua,troi oi.

Chiec La Cuoi Cung

2008-06-01T14:36:00.001-07:00

Trong một quận nhỏ phia đông Washington, các con đường chạy ngoằn nghoèo một cách điên dại, cắt quãng thành những dải nhỏ gọi là "vùng". Những "vùng" này lọt thỏm trong những góc và đường cong lạ kì. Một con đương cắt ngang với chính nó một, hai lần. Một hoạ sĩ đã có lần khám phá là con đường có thể có giá. Ví dụ như khi một nhân viên thu ngân cầm hoá đơn của mầu vẽ, giấy và vải, sau khi đi dọc theo đường này bỗng thấy mình đã đi vòng lại chỗ cũ mà không hề thu được một xu nào cả!
Thế nên đám hoạ sĩ chẳng bao lâu đã kéo đến phường Greenwich, săn lùng phòng cho thuê có cửa sổ thông ra hướng bắc, góc mái kiểu thế kỷ 18, gác lửng kiểu Hà Lan, và giá thuê lại rẻ. Sau đấy họ mang vào vài lọ hợp kim thiếc, một hai cái chảo nấu ăn dã chiến, và thế là một "quần cư" thành hình.
Hai cô Sue và Johnsy cùng thuê chung một căn phòng đơn giản ở tầng trên cùng của một toà nhà ba tầng lụp xụp. "Johnsy" thực ra là tên thân mật của California. Họ đã gặp nhau tại một hiệu ăn trên đường Số Tám, và khám phá ra là họ có những sở thích tương đồng về nghệ thuật, rau diếp xoắn trộn dấm, và thời trang với tay áo giám mục. Thế là họ cùng thuê chung một căn phòng.
Đấy là vào Tháng 5 . Vào tháng 11, có một kẻ ngoại nhập mang theo giá lạnh nhưng vô hình, mà các bác sĩ gọi là Viêm Phổi, rình rập trong "quần cư", móng vuốt giá băng quệt vào đây đó. Tên giặc đã ngang nhiên hoành hành khu phía đông, hạ gục nhiều nạn nhân, nhưng hắn chỉ mới đặt chân chầm chậm qua các lối ngõ như bàn cờ của mấy "vùng" nhỏ hẹp phủ đầy rêu.
Bạn sẽ không xem Thần Viêm Phổi như một quân tử già đầy hào hiệp. Người con gái nhỏ vốn đã mất máu vì những trận gió ở Califỏnia thì lẽ ra không đáng cho một kẻ bất tài già nua bận tâm đến. Nhưng hắn đã tấn công Johnsy. Thế là cô nằm bẹp, không mấy cử động, trên chiếc giường sắt, xuyên qua khung cửa sổ kiểu Hà Lan nhìn ra bức tường trơ trụi của căn nhà gạch kế bên.
Một buổi sáng, vị bác sĩ đầy bận rộn mời Sue ra hành lang. Ông đang vẩy cái nhiệt kế thăm bệnh để mực thuỷ ngân trong đó hạ xuống.
- Cơ may khởi bệnh của cô ấy áng chừng chỉ một phần mười. Và cơ may này là tuỳ vào việc cô ấy có ý chí muốn sống hay không. Với cách con bệnh chỉ ngóng chờ công ty mai táng đến thì sách thuốc nào cũng vô dụng. Cô bạn nhỏ của cô đã bị ám ảnh là cô ấy sẽ không qua khỏi. Cô ấy có ý định gì không?
- Chị ấy... chị ấy muốn có ngày nào đó vẽ tranh phong cảnh vịnh Naples.
- Vẽ tranh à? Thật là điên rồ! Cô ấy có bận tâm nặng nề về việc gì không, chẳng hạn về một người đàn ông nào đó?
Cô Sue khịt mũi:
- Một người đàn ông à? Một người đàn ông thì có thể... mà không, bác sĩ ạ, không có chuyện như thế.
Vị bác sĩ nói:
- Thế thì là do cô ấy quá yếu rồi. Tôi sẽ cố làm mọi cách mà khoa học cho phép. Nhưng mỗi khi con bệnh của tôi bắt đầu nhẩm tính số lượng xe trong chuyến đưa đám của họ thì xem như hiệu lực của thuốc men chỉ còn một nửa. Nếu cô có cách khiến cho cô ấy hỏi han cô về thời trang mua đông thì tôi có thể đoán chắc cơ may là một phần năm, thay vì là một phần mười.
Sau khi vị bác sĩ đi khỏi, Sue đi vào phòng vẽ và khóc cho đến khi cái khăn giấy Nhật tơi tả thành bột giấy. Rồi cô đường bệ đi vào phòng của Johnsy với cái giá vẽ, miệng huýt sáo một điệu dân ca Mỹ rộn ràng.
Johnsy vẫn nằm bẹp, xem chừng không động đậy chút nào dưới tấm vải giường, mặt hướng về cái cửa sổ. Sue ngưng huýt sáo, nghĩ là bạn mình đang ngủ. Cô sắp xếp giá vẽ và bắt đầu dùng viết và mực để vẽ hình minh hoạ cho một truyện để đăng trong một tạp chí. Trong khi các hoạ sĩ trẻ tuổi phải dọn đường cho Hội Hoạ bằng cách vẽ tranh cho truyện ấy để dọn đường cho Văn Chương. Khi Sue đang phác hoạ cái quần bảnh bao và gọng kinh một tròng của một anh hùng (một tay cao bồi bang Idaho), cô nghe một tiếng nho nhỏ, lặp lại vài lần.
Cô đi vội đến bên mép giường. Johnsy đang mở mắt, nhìn ra cửa sổ, và đang đếm, đếm ngược: "mười hai", và ít lâu sau: "mười một", và sau đấy "mười", rồi "chín", rồi "tám" và "bảy" gần như liền nhau.
Sue nhìn chăm chú bên ngoài cửa sổ. Có gì ở ngoài đấy đâu mà đếm? Chỉ có một khoảng sân trống buồn nản, và bức tường trơ trụi của một căn nhà gạch xa hơn chừng mười thước. Một dây thường xuân thật già cỗi, gốc vặn vẹo mục nát, leo đến giữa bức tường gạch. Ngọn gió thu lạnh đã làm rơi rụng đám lá, phơi bầy các nhánh gần như trơ trụi bám vào mấy mảng gạch vụn vỡ. Sue hỏi?
- Cái gì vậy hở bồ?
Johnsy nói, gần như thì thầm:
- Sáu. Bây giờ rơi nhanh quá. Ba ngày trước còn gần cả trăm, đếm muốn nhức đầu. Nhưng giờ thì dễ rồi. Thêm chiếc nữa. Giờ chỉ còn lại năm.
- Năm cái gì, noi cho Sue của bồ nghe nào!
- Năm chiếc lá. Trên cây thường Xuân. Khi chiếc lá cuối cùng rụng thì mình cũng sẽ ra đi. Minh đã biết như thế ba ngày nay rồi. Bác sĩ không nói cho bạn biết à.
Sue càu nhàu, với giọng khinh miệt cao quý.
- Ô hay! Minh chưa bao giờ nghe có chuyện điên khùng như vậy. Mấy cái lá thường Xuân thì có liên hệ gì đến việc bồ khỏi bệnh đâu nào? Và bồ vẫn thích cái cây này, cô nàng hư đốn ơi! Đừng có ngốc nghếch. Sáng nay ông bác sĩ nới với mình là cơ may của bồ khỏi bệnh hẳn... xem ông ấy nói gì nào... ông ấy nói cơ may chính xácd là mười trong một! Đấy cũng bằng với cơ may chúng mình có ơ New York để đáp tầu điện hay đi qua một toà nhà mới. Bây giờ ăn một tí cháo, rồi mua ít tượu vang poóc-tô cho cô bé đang bệnh, và thịt lợn cho chính tác giả ăn.
Johnsy vẫn dán mắt ra ngoài cửa sổ:
- Không cần phải mua rượu vang. Thêm một chiếc nữa. Không, mình không muốn ăn cháo. Thế là còn có bốn. Mình muốn xem chiếc lá cuối cùng trước khi trời tối. Khi ấy mình cũng sẽ ra đi.
Sue nghiêng mình trên cô:
- Johnsy ơi, bồ có thể hứa nhắm mắt lại và không nhìn ra ngoài cửa sổ khi mình làm việc được không? Ngày mai mình phải đi giao mấy bức vẽ. Minh cần ánh sáng, nếu không mình phải kéo rèm xuống.
Johnsy hỏi, giọng lạnh tanh:
- Bạn có thể vẽ trong phòng kia được không?
- Mình muốn ở kề bên bồ. Hơn nữa, mình không muốn bồ cứ nhìn mãi mấy chiếc lá thường Xuân vô duyên đó.
- Cho mình biết khi nào bạn làm xong, vì mình muốn xem chiếc lá cuối cùng rụng xuống. Mình chán chờ đợi rồi. Mình chán suy nghĩ. Mình muốn buông xuôi tất cả, và thả người trôi xuống, xuống nữa, như là một trong mấy chiếc lá mệt mỏi kia.
Johnsy nhắm mắt lại, mặt tái nhợt, năm yên như la một cái tượng bị sập đổ.
- Ráng ngủ đi. Mình muốn kêu ông Behrman lên để ngồi mẫu cho mình vẽ một ông thợ mỏ già cô độc. Mình chỉ đi một phút. Đừng cựa quậy cho đến khi mình trở lại.
Ông già Behrman là một hoạ sĩ sống ở tầng trệt bên dưới phòng của họ. Ông đã quá sáu mươi, và có một chòm râu rậm như ông Moses hiện thân trên bức điêu khắc của Michael Angelo. Behrman là cả một sự thất bại trong nghệ thuật. Trong bốn mươi năm ông vung vẩy chiếc cọ mà không hề chạm gần đến vạt áo của Người Tình. Ông luôn luôn muốn vẽ nên một kiệt tác, nhưng chưa bao giờ bắt đầu. Trong vài năm nay ông không vẽ được gì ngoại trừ thỉnh thoảng ít nét quấy quá cho giới thương mại và quảng cáo. Ông kiếm tiền chút đỉnh bằng việc ngồi làm mẫu cho các hoạ sĩ trẻ trong quần cư khi họ không muốn trả theo giá của người mẫu chuyên nghiệp. Ông uống rượu gin lu bù, và vẫn nói đến kiệt tác sắp đến của ông. Còn lại thì Behrnam là một ông già nhỏ thó nhưng dữ tợn, hay chửi như té tát người nào tỏ ra yếu đuối, và xem mình như là con chó giữ nhà để bảo vệ cho hai hoạ sĩ trẻ sống ở tấng trên.
Sue tìm gặp behrman khi ông nồng nặc mùi rượu dâu trong căn phòng nhỏ tối tù mù. Trong một góc là cái giá vẽ với khung vải trống trơn, suốtt hai mươi lăm năm vẫn chờ đợi đường nét đầu tiên của một kiệt tác. Cô nói cho ông nghe về chuyện hão huyền của Johnsy, về việc cô nàng – quả thật nhẹ tênh và mỏng manh như một chiếc lá - sẽ trôi đi khi sự bám víu của cô vào trần thế vốn đã yếu sẽ yếu thêm.
Ông già Behrman, với cặp mắt đỏ sòng sọc, lớn tiếng kinh thường và chế diễu cho những điều tưởng tượng ngốc nghếch:
- Khốn khổ! ở đời sao lại có người ngu xuẩn muốn chết vì mấy cái lá rụng từ một dây leo vô duyên như vậy? Tao chưa bao giờ nghe có chuyện này. Không tao sẽ không ngòi làm mẫu cho một đứa ẩn cưa ngu ngốc như mày. Tại sao mày lại để ý tưởng khùng điên đấy đi vào đầu của nó? Ôi dào, cái con nhỏ Johnsy khốn khổ!
- Chị ấy đang yếu lắm, và cơn sốt làm cho đầu óc chị ấy trở nên bệnh hoạn đầy những mơ tưởng kỳ quái. Được rồi, nếu ông không muốn ngồi làm mẫu cho tôi cũng được. Nhưng tôi nghĩ ông là một ông già xấu tính – già vô tích sự.
Ông Behrman tru tréo lên:
- Mày đúng là đàn bà! Ai bảo tao không muốn ngồi làm mẫu? Đi lên đi. Tao sẽ đến. Cả nửa giờ đồng hồ rồi tao đã nói là tao sẵn sàng ngồi. Trời ơi! Đây không phải là chỗ cô Johnsy có thể năm bẹp dưỡng bệnh được. Một ngày nào đấy tao sẽ vẽ nên một kiệt tác, và bọn mình sẽ rời đi nơi khác. Trời ơi! Đúng là phải như thế.
Johnst đang ngủ khi họ lên. Sue buông cái rèm cửa xuống, ra dấu bảo Behrman đi vào phòng kia. Trong đấy, xuyên qua khung cửa sổ họ nhìn dây thường
Xuân với nỗi lo sợ. Rồi họ nhìn nhau một lúc, không nói lời nào. Một cơn mưa giá lạnh đang ập xuống dai dẳng, pha cùng với tuyết. Trong chiếc áo xanh cũ kỹ, Behrman ngồi làm mẫu, giả làm một thợ mỏ ẩn cư, ngồi trên một cái ấm lật ngược giả làm một tảng đá.
Khi Sue thức giấc vào buổi sáng sau giấc ngủ kéo dài một giờ, cô thấy Johnsy đang vô hòn nhìn cái rèm màu sậm đã buông xuống. Johnsy thì thào:
- Kéo rèm lên. Mình muốn nhìn.
Sue mệt mỏi làm theo bạn.
- Nhưng xem kìa! Sau trận mưa vùi dập và những cơn gió xoáy dữ tợn suốt một đêm dài, vẫn còn một chiếc lá thường Xuân dựa trên bức tường gạch. Đấy là chiếc lá cuối cùng. Vẫn còn có mầu xanh thẫm gần cuống, nhưng với phần rìa te tua pha mầu vàng của sự tàn tạ, chiếc lá vẫn dũng cảm bám vào cái cành cao dăm bảy mét cách mặt đất.
Johnsy nói:
- Đấy là chiếc lá cuối cùng. Mình nghĩ chắc chắn nó đã rụng đêm qua. Mình nghe tiếng gió. Nó sẽ rụng hôm nay, và mình sẽ chết cùng lúc với nó.
Sue nghiêng khuôn mặt tóp của cô kề cận cái gối:
- Cưng ơi là cưng! Nếu cưng không nghĩ đến chính bản thân cưng thì nên nghĩ đến mình đây. Mình sẽ làm được gì chứ?
Nhưng Johnsy không trả lời. Nỗi cô đơn cùng cực nhất trên thế gian là một linh hồn chuẩn bị tiếp tục cuộc hành trình bí ẩn, xa thẳm. Điều mộng tưởng dường như đã ảm ảnh cô mạnh mẽ hơn khi những dây nối buộc cô với tình bạn và với trần thế đã bị lơi lỏng.
Ngày dần trôi, và dù qua khoảng không xám xịt, họ vẫn thấy chiếc lá đơn độc bảm vào cuống của nó, dựa vào bức tường. Và rồi, khi màn đêm buông xuống, gió bắc lại thổi, trong khi mưa vẫn đập vào các cửa sổ, chảy ồng ộc xuống theo rìa mái nhà kiểu Hà Lan.
Khi đã có đủ ánh sáng buổi tinh sương, Johnsy, con người vô cảm, lại ra lệnh kéo cái rèm xuống.
Chiếc lá thường Xuôn vẫn còn đấy.
Johnsy nằm một hồi lâu nhìn nó. Và rồi cô gọi Sue, đang quậy nồi cháo ga trên cái bếp ga. Cô nói:
- Minh là đứa hư, Sue à. Có cái gì đó đã khiến chiếc lá vẫn ở đấy để cho thấy mình quả là độc ác. Muốn chết là một cái tội. Bây giờ bồ có thể mang cho mình chút cháo, và ít sữa pha chút rượu vang póc-tô, và... không, mang trước cho mình cái gương soi cầm tay, rồi chèn ít cái gối quanh mình, rồi mình sẽ ngồi lên để xem bồ nấu nướng.
Một giờ sau, cô nói:
- Sue à, một ngày nào đấy mình sẽ vẽ cảnh vịnh Naples.
Ông bác sĩ đến vào buổi xế chiều, và khi ông trở ra Sue có cớ để đi ra ngoài hành lanh. Ông nắm lấy bàn tay gầy, run rẩy của Sue đặt trong tay ông.
- Cơ may ngang bằng. Với công chăm sóc tận tuỵ của cô, cô sẽ thắng. Và giờ tôi phải đến thăm một ca khác ở tầng dưới. Người bệnh là Behrman – tôi nghĩ chừng đâu là một hoạ sĩ. Cũng viêm phổi. Ông ta già cả, yếu đuối, cơn bệnh lại là cấp tính. Không có hi vọng gì, nhưng tôi sẽ đưa ông đến bệnh viện để được thoải mái hơn.
Ngày kế, ông bác sĩ bảo Sue:
- Cô ấy qua khỏi cơn nguy rồi. Cô đã thắng. Bây giờ chỉ cần dinh dưỡng và chăm sóc – chỉ có thế thôi.
Buổi chiều ấy, khi Johsy đang đan một cái khăn quàng len mầu lam thật đậm và xem vẻ rất vô dụng, Sue đến bên giường cô, đặt cánh tay quanh cô và cũng quanh mấy cái gối.
- Mình có chuyện này nói cho bồ biết, cái con chuột trắng ơi. Ông Behrman qua đời hôm nay ở bệnh viện vì chứng viêm phổi. Ông ấy nhuốm bệnh chỉ trong có hai ngày. Người gác dan tìm thấy ông sáng ngày đầu tiên trong căn phòng tầng dưới, thất thủ với cân đau đớn. Đôi giầy và quần áo ông ấy bị ướt cả, lạnh như nước đá. Họ không thể hiểu nổi ông đã đi đâu trong một đêm kinh hoàng như thế. Và rồi họ tìm thấy cái đèn bão, vẫn cháy, và một cái thang đã bị rời khỏi nơi cất giữ, vài cây cọ tơi tả, và nghiên mầu mới ít mầu xanh và vàng, bồ nhìn ra ngoài cửa sổ xem, nhìn chiếc lá thường Xuân cuối cùng trên bức tường đấy. Bồ có đặt nghi vấn tại sao nó không bao giờ bay lất phất khi có gió thổi không? Cưng ơi, đó là kiệt tác của ông Behrman đấy - ông đã vẽ nó đúng vào đêm chiếc lá cuối cùng rơi rụng.

Story about sex (časť 1.)

2008-06-01T12:41:00.000-07:00

Do izby prenikalo mesačné svetlo. Na kraji postele sedel Richard a ostýchavo sa pozeral do zeme. Sedel tam mlčky už hodnú chvíľku a premýšľal nad svojou zajtrajšou svadbou. Nad svojím životným rozhodnutím, ktoré ho malo pripútať k žene. Malo ho pripútať k zodpovednosti. Nebál sa. Bol statný chlap, na tvári mal týždňovú bradu, ale v očiach stále nevinný a detský pohľad. Taký bol Richard – večné dieťa. Rodičmi milovaný a vychovaný. Trestaný i chválený. To veľké chlapisko bývajúce na okraji mesta v dome po svojich rodičoch. Otec umrel ako prvý. Na starobu, povedali lekári. Bol to prísny chlap. Bol politikom v mestskej rade a neustále požadoval od Richarda 'adekvátne správanie'. Tak to vždy vravieval. „Správaj sa adekvátne Richard!"
Aj po troch rokoch mu to vie ešte preblysnúť hlavou. Bohužiaľ, vždy v tých najnevhodnejších situáciach. Najčastejšie so ženami. Teda sa snaží dostať do ich prítomnosti a pozornosti, keď zrazu počuje túto kreténsku vetu a niečo sa v ňom pohne a on sa zodvihne a odíde. Richard je pekný chlap. Skutočne, nezavádzam. Je to predsa úspešný burzový maklér, budúci manžel a otec minimálne tridsiatich detí. Správal sa adekvátne. Mal uhladené vlasy i správanie. V spoločnosti jednička, v posteli jedna veľká nula. Krásny kontrast. Možno len čakal, kedy sa to stane zelenú a bude žiť svoj život. Veštci vlastne na to čakáme. Opona spadne a my môžeme ísť konečne vydýchnuť a žiť. Lenže ako žiť?

Takú istú dilemu zažívala i Matilde. Bývala asi o štyri ulice ďalej, ale Richarda stretla pred pol rokom na jednom benefičnom večierku. Jej telom prechádzali nekontrolovateľné vlny strachu a napätie zo zajtrajšieho dňa. Keď si Richard pred ňu minulý mesiac kľakol, skoro zamdlela. Nechcela sa vydávať, nechcela sa viazať. Jej matka sa od šťastím, ešte ten deň takmer zbláznila. Obtelefonovala všetky svoje kamarátky a oznamovala im tú úžasnú novinu. Matilde len plakala vo svojej izbe. Nikdy nepochopí, prečo povedala áno. Bola to scénka, ktorú nechcela pokaziť. Bol to omyl. Zodvihla sa z postele a otvorila šatník. Vyhodila zopár kusov oblečenia až našla starú ošúchanú krabicu, z ktorej vytiahla denník. Začala si ho písať už v sedemnástich. Na prvej strane bol zoznam toho, čo by chcela v živote dosiahnuť. Hneď prvá vec na zozname, bola najstaršia túžba našej Matilde, hrať sólo v národnom orchestri na husle. Chcela byť virtuózkou, chcela byť umelkyňou, ktorá má svoje sólo v orchestri. Nechcela byť úbohou ženou za šporákom a zásterou upackanou od múčnika. Chcela byť niekym a žiť svoje sny. Lenže ako žiť?

How to tie cravat .

2008-06-01T08:36:00.001-07:00

Mấy hôm trước đang đi học thì nhận được điện thoại của đứa bạn gọi về dự một buổi lễ quan trọng. Tưởng chỉ đến dự thôi ai ngờ lại phát sinh ra nhiều chuyện, đáng nói nhất là cái vụ thắt cà-vạt (cravat-tie). Hồi nhỏ đến giờ có biết thắt cravat bao giờ đâu, đi học toàn quần jean áo pull thôi, cùng lắm mặc áo trắng đóng thùng là là lịch sự lắm rồi, thế mà bây giờ . . . . :eyes: so confuse.
Chạy đến hỏi Omoni thì Omoni nói đến gặp Apochi mà hỏi, lúc này Apochi đang ngủ đánh thức Apochi thì hơi phiền, thế là lên Google search một hồi thì lạc vô cái diễn đàn kia chỉ cách thắt cravat :yikes: .... mừng húm :D down về liền :p . Chiều nay là đi rồi nên lấy cái cravat ra làm luôn, quả thật hơi bị khó, thắt xong nhìn lại thì y như vừa thực tập băng cổ bệnh nhân vậy :D . Tới phút thứ 89' thì mới thắt được tàm tạm thế là "tròng" vô cổ đi luôn. Thế là từ nay lại biết thêm skill thắt cravat :) so pround of me
Tiện thể mình up hình lên đây, ai muốn học thắt cravat thì go on nhé.

Good luck !

Alien intro to Earth culture movie mixed from old public-domain industrial films

2008-06-01T07:55:00.001-07:00

Stefan sez,

The Prelinger Archives is an incredible collection of old films, many of them accessible via its website.
In addition to old industrial films, quaint hygiene lessons for teenagers, and jaw-dropping things like footage of pre-1906 quake San Francisco, the site now features contributed mashups.
I particularly like "Planet Earth: Our Response," a dreamy mix of archive footage (assembled to look like an introduction to Earth culture) and shots of a guy mucking around with an alien probe.

Link

All-mechanical "digital" watch

2008-06-01T07:43:00.001-07:00

De Grisogono Meccanico DG is an all-mechanical "digital" watch that uses a wind-up mechanism to rearrange the "pixels" on its face to update the time. Only 177 will be made, which lets me out, but it doesn't stop me from drooling. Link (Thanks, Dan!)

Movie Plot Threat contest -- scare us into buying!

2008-06-01T07:16:00.001-07:00

Bruce Schneier's launched his annual "Movie Plot Threat Contest," in which he challenges his readers to come up with ridiculous threat-scenarios (think of blowing up an airplane armed with nothing but some optimistic misapprehensions about organic chemistry, Tang, and hydrogen peroxide). A condition of the competition is that your weird-ass threat has to be preventable by means of a snake-oil security product that you want to sell us (bonus points if deploying your product makes our lives hell -- shoe-removing, liquid-confiscating indiginities!).

There's a ton of great entries already -- I like this one, from R. Serrano:

PROTECT your family!, SERVE your country!
Would you LIKE some terrorist bombing your son's school with YOUR VERY OWN just stolen and filled with EXPLOSIVES car?
Don't let this happen with CURARE SHOTS! An easy to mount hypodermic syringe hidden beneath the seat of your car prevents burglars, thieves and TERRORISTS to MISUSE your car in ways YOU COULD NEVER IMAGINE by literally stopping them on the seat of your car while a wireless silent alarm* warns the closest police station and a text message is sent to your cell phone**.
PROTECT your family AND SERVE your country well with CURARE SHOTS.
* Alarm sold separately.
** Text message service only available with selected providers.

Link (Thanks, Bruce!)

Comic Book Legal Defense Fund pre-ComicCon events in NYC next week

2008-06-01T04:39:00.000-07:00

JahFurry sez,

CBLDF Presents New York Comics Week!
Next week the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund celebrates comics in New York City with a week of events leading up to the New York Comic Con!
Tuesday, April 15.
CBLDF's DRINK & DRAW! Tax Day is Over! Now drink up with NYC's best cartoonists and party for a good cause! Featuring Jeffrey Brown, Molly Crabapple, David Finch, Dan Goldman, Dean Haspiel, Alex Maleev, Paul Maybury, and dozens of NY's Finest Cartoonists. Sponsored by ComicSpace.com and Image Comics, premiering Paul Maybury's graphic novel AQUA LEUNG. Additional support provided by ACT-I-VATE, The Daily Crosshatch, SMITH Magazine & JahFurry
7:00 to 11:00 PM at Village Pourhouse
64 3rd Avenue at 11th St, Drink Specials all night!, $5 Suggested Donation; $20 for VIP Schwag Bag
Wednesday, April 16.
RASL Premiere Party! Come meet Jeff Smith in person at his only New York City appearance of the season, enjoy an open bar, and get a takeaway bag of tons of exclusive RASL goodies. Only 100 general admission tickets and 26 VIP tickets are available so get your ticket now!
8:00 to 11:00 PM at Coolture Spain, 409 W 39th St (between 9th and 10th),
Friday, April 18.
An Evening With Neil Gaiman! Experience the magic of Neil Gaiman at an exclusive reading to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Gaiman presents the reading at New York Comic-Con! Seating is limited and going fast.

I'm a proud donor to the CBLDF and I only wish I could make some of these boss events. Link (Thanks, JahFurry!)

Penn and Teller make thousands of bees appear out of "nothing"

2008-06-01T04:13:00.000-07:00

Scott sez, "This is a video of Penn and Teller subverting the old 'pull an animal out of the hat' trick by instead producing thousands of bees, including hundreds while ripping apart a stuffed rabbit--take that, kids! I thought of this after seeing the urban beekeeper post. If you want to see loads of bees stinging Penn and Teller, you won't be disappointed." Link (Thanks, Scott!)

Home movie of contest-winning family vacation to Disneyland in 1956

2008-06-01T04:12:00.001-07:00

Dan "Ride Theory" Howland sends in a link to a stupendous Internet Archive video entitled "Disneyland Dream," noting: "This would be interesting if it were merely a 1956 home movie of Disneyland, but it becomes great when the skinny, dorky, goofy dad (think Dennis the Menace's pop) not only documents the actual trip, but shows us how they got there -- by winning a Scotch Tape vacation contest. Highlights: the family's matching 1950's 'Wild West' fringe jackets with their names stitched between the shoulders, and the kids repeated insistence they have to change hats to enter different parts of the park."

Every second of this footage is pure gold, from the cornball jokes, the lingering shots of the "tickertape parade" the suburban Connecticut neighbors throw as the family gets into their gigantic land-yacht to drive to the airstrip, the runway footage from Idlewild, and the trips around Pasadena, Knott's Berry Farm and Universal Studios in 1956. The humor is pure "dad" -- loving and corny and just right.

In July 1956, the five-member Barstow family of Wethersfield, Connecticut, won a free trip to newly-opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California, in a nationwide contest. This 30-minute amateur documentary film tells the fabulous story of their fun-filled, dream-come-true, family travel adventure, filmed on the scene at Walt Disney's "Magic Kingdom" by Robbins Barstow.

Link (Thanks, Dan!)

Steampunk Star Wars modded action figures -- woah!

2008-06-01T03:44:00.001-07:00

Sillof (he of the badass Justice League of America steampunk action figure mods) has just unveiled his latest: a deeply awesome range of steampunk Star Wars action figures. Link (Thanks, Sillof!)

Hello Kitty sander

2008-06-01T03:08:00.001-07:00

The folks at Sanrio have achieved total Hello Kitty liftoff with this Hello Kitty Sander (unless it's a joke or a bootleg, in which case, it's time for Sanrio to copy the pirates and get into production). I don't have anything that needs sanding and I still want one.

Before the words were even completely out of my mouth, I knew I had guaranteed new depths of Hello Kitty Hell upon myself. Not only will my wife be looking for a Hello Kitty power sander, I'm sure I will also end up with a Hello Kitty tool set and Hello Kitty tool belt. My only hope is that I also receive a Hello Kitty nail gun (most likely with Hello Kitty nails included) that I can use to shoot nails into my head and put me out of my misery. It's only a matter of time before they end up on our doorstep and Hello Kitty Hell takes on deeper and darker dimensions…

Link (via Make)

Update:: it's a racing power-tool! It comes from Global Cat-astrophe's Flickr stream. Well spotted, Meerkat!

Michael Milken, Act II

2008-06-01T02:52:00.001-07:00

Michael Milken throws a helluva party. His Milken Institute global conference in LA last week attracted such luminaries as Nobel Peace prize winner Muhammad Yunus, human genome sequencer Craig Venter, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and no fewer than four winners of the Nobel prize in economics. Business guys Eric Schmidt, Sam Zell, Eli Broad, Steve Wynn and T. Boone Pickens all spoke, as did tennis great Andre Agassi, music legend Quincy Jones and comedian, writer and actor John Cleese. There was no way to see and hear it all, but here are some things that struck me as interesting…

On the U.S. economy: The four Nobel laureates in economics—A. Michael Spence, Myron Scholes, Gary Becker and Edmund "Ned" Phelps—more or less agreed that the economy, while slumping, is not nearly as bad as it might be, given the credit crunch, the massive losses on Wall Street and the ongoing housing slump. They vigorously disagreed with the bleak outlook voiced recently by Joseph Stiglitz, another Nobel laureate, who said this is going to be one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression.

"The American economy is performing remarkably well in light of the financial turmoil," said Spence. The Great Depression "was a horrible episode," Becker said. "We're nowhere near that." The unemployment rate is currently 5.1% and unlikely to top out any higher than 9%–compared with 25% levels during the 1930s. But housing prices are going to fall further, according to Spence, because homeowners who are waiting for prices to rise before selling "are going to lose their optimism after a while and throw in the towel." That with further depress home values.

The most serious consequence of the current slump may turn out to be the reputational damage done to big business and the financial markets. Top execs of the big Wall Street firms continue to enjoy fat paydays, despite their reckless behavior and the resulting damage to the economy. Said Phelps: "Our friends in the financial sector have given capitalism a black eye."

On the power of innovation: Yunus, Venter and Schmidt shared a panel, moderated by Milken, about the power of ideas and creativity to change the world. Venter talked about the genome, and about his current efforts to develop a synthetic biofuel to replace gasoline. "If we can't do something about the environment," he said, somewhat facetiously, "there's no point in trying to cure cancer. We have to come up with new sources of food, fuel and water to sustain human existence." For hist part, Schmidt talked about how Google is "chaotic by design" as it seeks to use the power of information to attach big problems in such fields as health care and energy. But it was Yunus who stole the show.

His brainchild—microcredit–has taken Bangladesh-based Grameen Bank to a scale where it has 7.5 million borrowers, about $1 billion a year in loans with an average loan of about $150 and, still, no lawyers or contracts with borrowers. Grameen America recently began operations in Queens, N.Y. Dozens of other microfinance institutions have followed his path.

Instead of worrying about whether "people are credit-worthy," Yunus told the group, we should ask whether banks and other credit institutions are "people-worthy." He talked about how Grameen recently began making loans to beggars, giving them about $10 or $12 each so they could but and then sell candy, snacks or small toys as they go from house to house. About 11,000 of them have been turned from beggars into door-to-door salesmen, and another 90,000 or so "are in the process of closing down their begging division," he said.

"It will take them a bit of time," he joked. "After all, begging was their core business."

On strategies to fight global poverty: Michael Spence, the Nobel laureate, began with an encouraging data point: Thirteen countries since World War II have managed to achieve sustained high growth—defined as 7% annual GDP growth over a period of 25 years. The result is that today nearly 4 billion people live above the poverty level; the number was closer to 1 billion in 1980. Success stories unfolded in countries that took advantage of "inbound knowledge transfer" (meaning they learned from the developed world) and capitalized on global demand. China's the classic example of a country that adopted western manufacturing techniques and then became the world's most productive factory nation.

But many other poor countries are moving in the wrong direction. Richardo Hausmann, an international development expert at the Kennedy School at Harvard, noted that all of the world's 24 rich industrial countries had their peak per capita income since 2000; they are, despite fits and starts, growing their economies. But only 58% of the 112 developing countries have had their peak per capita income in the 21st century. Others peaked in the 1960s, 1970s or early 1980s, often because they relied on an export product that fell out of favor. "Most growth collapses coincide with export collapses," he said. Countries need to aim for more "sophisticated" export packages to insure against commodity price fluctuations.

Maria Eitel, who runs Nike's Foundation, said the company, with help from Spence, thought through its role in fighting global poverty and decided to focus on adolescent girls. More education for girls means later marriage, fewer children, lower rates of HIV, more income that is returned to families than when men work. According to Nike, women do 66% of the work in the world, produce 50% of the food but earn 5% of the income and own just 1% of the property.

On green business: Thanks to my friend Betsy Zeidman, who works at Milken, I moderated a panel called "Green is Green" with Rand Waddoups of Wal-Mart, Eli Halliwell of Jurlique, Dave Haft of Frito Lay, Deborah LaFranchi of investment fund Strategic Development Solutions and Kevin Wall, the founder and CEO of Live Earth. Waddoups is yet another impressive Wal-Martian, obviously excited about the company's far-reaching efforts while acknowledging (as Lee Scott has) that WMT is far from a green company and has a long, long way to go to reach its goals of generating no waste and powering itself with 100% renewable energy. Haft talked about Frito-Lay's "net zero" plant in Arizona, which aims to get nearly all of its electricity from renewable sources. (That will enable the company to claim that its Sun Chips are made with solar power.) He also disclosed that Frito-Lay plans to dig into its supply chain to see whether its suppliers can be persuaded to grow, say, potatoes in ways that are less harmful to the environment. Since 1999, Frito-Lay companywide has reduced its water use by 38 percent, natural gas by 27 percent and electricity by 21 percent, cutting $55 million a year in utility costs, according to this report in The New York Times. To be sure, this is eco-efficiency (and not true sustainability) but it is a step in the right direction.

Dumping iron

2008-05-14T12:11:00.004-07:00

If you take the threat of global warming seriously, all potential solutions—nuclear power, so-called clean coal, even geoengineering—need to be on the table. That's why today's Sustainability column at fortune.com looks at the intriguing, albeit controversial, idea of ocean iron fertilization.

The question: Should we try to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere by sprinkling massive amounts of iron dust on the ocean? Dan Whaley is the founder and CEO of a startup company called Climos that wants to do just that. Here's how the column begins:

“Give me a half tanker of iron, and I will give you an ice age.”

So said a scientist named John Martin, after he discovered that sprinkling iron dust in the ocean could set off plankton blooms, suck carbon dioxide out of the air and cool a warming planet.

This was 20 years ago, and oceanographers have debated what’s called “ocean iron fertilization” ever since. Never mind that Martin, who died in 1993, later said he was only half-serious. The debate rages on, as a startup company called Climos prepares to build a business by fertilizing the ocean with iron.

Dan will speak next week at FORTUNE's Brainstorm: Green. We have more than 400 people coming to the first-ever Fortune conference devoted to business and the environment. We've got the most important leaders of the environmental movement in America, big-time CEOs, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, a brand-new electric car for people to test drive, the west coast’s hottest organic chefs, Shawn Colvin to sing and Chuck Leavell to play the piano and talk about American forests. It's going to be great!

Carbon finance comes of age

2008-05-14T12:11:00.003-07:00

Carbon finance may be the most interesting business that I've ever written about, and it is surely the most important. It is also incredibly complicated and hard to turn into a compelling story. I've spent the last few months trying to understand the business, and my first major story about carbon finance appears in the current issue of FORTUNE (cover date: April 28, cover boy: Warren Buffett), which includes a special section on "The Business of Green." The story was posted on fortune.com today and you can read it here.

There were many challenges in putting this story together, not the least of which was trying to explain the industry to those who know very little about it—most of the U.S. audience of FORTUNE, I'd guess—without dumbing-down the issues for more sophisticated readers. As usual, I would have liked more space but this is an industry that's still relatively small and Eurocentric. It will probably be reinvented when climate-change legislation passes Congress, most likely in 2009. There will, in other words, be many more opportunities to revisit the world of carbon finance.

In the months ahead, the challenge for corporate America will be to work with Congress and NGOs to make sure that we get climate-change legislation "right"—that means coming up with an effective way to create the economic incentives, by putting a price of greenhouse gas emissions, that are needed to move to the U.S. away from fossil fuels and towards a clean-energy economy.

Here's how the story begins:

If all goes according to plan, the business of buying and selling rights to pollute the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases - carbon trading, as it is known - will curb global warming and save the world. That is its only purpose. Along the way, a lot of people will get rich.

Last year traders bought and sold about $60 billion worth of emissions allowances, mostly in Europe and Japan, where governments regulate greenhouse gases. If, as expected, regulation comes to the U.S., this country’s carbon-trading market is expected to be worth $1 trillion annually by 2020. That’s why investment banks, utilities, industrials, and hedge funds - among them GE (GE, Fortune 500), Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500), J.P. Morgan Chase (JPNV.L), and AES (AES) - are rushing into the business of carbon finance. To succeed they will have to master what is surely the most bizarre, complicated, and controversial new industry of the 21st century. We’ll try to break it down, beginning with a couple of things any Fortune reader can understand: a pile of pig manure and a private jet.

You can read the rest here.

Loose Lips []

2008-05-14T12:11:00.001-07:00

Anthony Minghella's rep has announced that the writer/director died from a brain hemorrhage after undergoing a "routine operation" on his neck. So sad. • Mariah Carey comes across as shockingly down to earth in an interview with Allure. She says she knows people think she's a "ditzy moron" and, of her tumultuous love life, Mariah explains, "Not to quote Swingers, but 'we all have stories.' I got a freakin' miniseries in me." • Heather Mills has hired celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred to be her "advocate" in the United States. [TMZ, Us, DListed]

3 Great Ways to Set an Example for Your Children

2008-05-12T02:15:00.001-07:00

Image by freeparking.

Note: This is a guest post by David B. Bohl of SlowdownFAST.

Children are like little sponges. Without us even realizing it, they soak up every last thing we say and do. Much to our chagrin, they usually disclose the most embarrassing or intimate details to total strangers, at the most inappropriate moments. They seem to just have a natural gift for it.

If we pay attention to what our children say to us, though, we realize just how much they pay attention to us. They look to us to set the example, to be their guidance, and to teach them right from wrong. They want us to establish boundaries for them, and they learn from us how to behave, and how to treat others.

As we go about our busy lives it is important to ask ourselves what kind of example we are setting for our children. What we do and say shapes the people they will become, so we need to stop for a moment and take into account what kind of future adults we are creating.

The push to create work life balance has been gaining momentum. It is important to maintain this balance for the emotional well being of your children, as well as for yourself.

1. Take Time to Play.

Playing is a good thing. As responsible adults, we forget how to laugh and be silly, and our children teach us important lessons in enjoying life and cherishing simple pleasures.

Take the time to run, giggle, tickle, and be goofy. Put your adult self away for a while and allow your inner child to come out and play. You will develop a bond with your own child in a way that nothing else can accomplish. You will be building memories that both of you can cherish for a lifetime, and you will be tending your relationship with your child so that it remains healthy.

Playing also nurtures your own well being. It reaffirms your work life balance is being maintained, and allows your mind freedom from its daily chains to the working world. After all, how serious can you be when you are rolling around on the grass, being taken advantage of by a four-year-old in the world's greatest tickle fight?

2. Be Kind to Others.

Our children look to us to set the example in learning how to deal with others. You are directly responsible for teaching them manners, gratitude, acceptance, friendship, and a whole host of other behaviors that will determine their future success, both in the working world and in personal relationships.

Make sure you are teaching them habits that will serve them well as you interact with other people in your life. Telling your child to treat people a certain way does not carry nearly the same weight as demonstrating it.

3. Keep a Positive Outlook.

Your own mental outlook on life will carry over to your child's. If you view life as fraught with insurmountable challenges, bad luck, and impossible goals, that is likely how your child will grow to view life.

Why not start him out with a mindset that will lead him to success by teaching him to be positive, optimistic, and hopeful. Teach him that life is full of wonderful possibilities waiting to be explored, and that he can achieve anything as long as he believes in himself. Do this by practicing it yourself, and you will both experience tremendous fulfillment.

As we travel through life with our children, we become responsible for so much more than our own happiness and success. Our actions not only affect our childrens' lives right now, but will directly affect the outcome of their lives many years from now. Our children are our legacy, and what we leave behind when our turn here is done is precious.

Set the stage for their success, and leave a living legacy behind that you can be proud of. Invest in your children now, and every single day for the rest of your life. You will reap rewards in terms of a more satisfying life, and you will develop deeper bonds with your children. You will build a relationship that will sustain you both throughout the remainder of your days, and when you look back on your life, you will have no regrets.

David B. Bohl writes about living your vision at his own blog: SlowdownFAST. If you enjoyed this article, you may like to subscribe to his feed, or read one of his most popular articles, Conflicting Desires: Knowing That We Have Enough vs. Always Wanting to Better Ourselves.

If you like this article, please give it a thumb up in Stumbleupon. Thanks a lot! =)

Further reading:

- How to Improve Your Social Skills
- Stephen King’s Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer
- 16 Practical Tips for Solving Your Problems More Easily

How You Can Use Proposals to Achieve Your Goals

2008-05-11T21:41:00.001-07:00

Image by feverblue (license).

Note:This is a guest post by Loren Blinde of Writing Power.

The proposal format is one of the most formidable tools in the writer's toolbox. Although normally relegated to the professional/business realm, the proposal is also useful in many academic and personal writing situations.

Its variability aside, the proposal's real magic is that its effectiveness is not limited to written communication. With a little ingenuity, you can unlock the proposal format's power and use it to accelerate your progress toward dreams and goals. Master the logic of the proposal, and you'll get more out of your personal and professional interactions.

What is a proposal? At its most basic level, a proposal is an offer. You are offering something of value to a person or group in exchange for something you value, such as money or time.

Although specific proposal requirements can vary, they generally follow a simple structure. Let's consider each part of the proposal structure separately and analyze how we can apply a proposal-style approach to getting more out of life.

1. Introduction.

A strong proposal's introduction doesn't mince words. Rather, the introduction clearly and concisely states what you propose to do.

For example, if an employee writes a proposal designed to negotiate a remote working agreement with his or her employer, the introduction should state that aim.

Living Proposal Style – Be Direct

The lesson from the Introduction – be direct – is simple to state but difficult to do. Yet think about how much of our communication could be streamlined if we all worked to be more clear and concise. It would change modern life dramatically. For proof, try the following for one week:

State your precise reason for writing in each email's subject line. The key here is "precise." For example, instead of sending an email labeled "Party?" in the subject line, replace it with, "Invitation to Loren's Housewarming Party on May 3rd."
State an opinion or a preference each time someone asks for one. For example, when someone asks you what you want to do today, don't respond with, "I don't know. What do you want to do?" Instead, offer a suggestion. You'll be amazed at how much time this saves. (For an entertaining primer on this technique, see Tim Ferriss's book The 4-hour Work Week.)

2. Description of the Problem.

Before you can convince the reader to accept your proposed solution, he or she has to be convinced that there is a problem that needs to be solved. The problem section should vividly describe an undesirable condition; further, the problem section should highlight reasons why the reader should care about this problem.

Returning to our remote work proposal, the employer may not understand why the employee needs to work from home. To make the employer understand, the employee would explain the problems he or she has faced while working in the office: commuting stress, commuting cost, office distractions. But to make the employer take a serious interest in this proposal, the employee should also explain that these factors are decreasing his or her productivity and motivation. Considered from this angle, keeping the employee working in the office is actually costing the employer money.

Living Proposal Style – Adapt your Behavior to Suit the Situation

People can be stubborn creatures, intent on proving their perspective's validity at the expense of another's. Unfortunately, people also don't like to be proven wrong. This means that the more rigidly one person defends his or her position, the more the other person is going to dig his or her heels in. Often, taking a less rigid tack would be much more effective. When it comes down to everyday interactions like these, would you rather be right or happy?

3. Solution.

After reading the problem section, the reader should be concerned about the problem you have described and motivated to do something about it. In the solution section, you describe the solution you have proposed in detail. A strong solution section will assure the reader that the solution will fix the problem. Moreover, the writer should provide details to give the reader confidence in the solution's efficacy.

Continuing the above example, the employee should focus on how working at home will increase the employee's motivation and productivity in this section. The employee should also provide some specifics to increase the employer's confidence that the solution will work. The employee should not highlight how much more convenient or desirable it would be to work in his or her pajamas, even though that may be a significant benefit from the employee's perspective.

Living Proposal Style – Step Into Someone Else's Shoes

Writers in particular often struggle to communicate because they fail to step into their readers' shoes. They don't consider whether the piece meets the readers' needs, focusing instead on saying what they want to say. Writers don't always think about what would make it easier for readers to understand the message, and their writing suffers as a result.

There's a simple, yet powerful, psychological reason that considering another person's perspective works so well. People love to win. It doesn't matter whether they're winning an argument or a carnival prize. It just feels good.

When you highlight a plan's benefits for others rather than yourself, it demonstrates compassion. A compassionate gesture, in turn, builds goodwill. And if a person feels goodwill toward you, they're more likely to agree to your suggestion. And if they agree to your suggestion – that's right – you win.

4. Plan of Action.

This section flows naturally from your solution. Your reader has many questions about how you will implement the solution, and you must convince the reader that you have the knowledge, skills, and resources to turn the solution from a good idea into reality. For example, the employee might explain how he or she would attend meetings, complete projects, and meet with clients from home.

Living Proposal Style — Concreteness Inspires Confidence

What prevents people from making changes in their lives or environments when they know that their lives would be better if they made the change? A common problem is that their desires are too abstract. The sentence, "I wish I could get organized" They are much more likely to make changes if they have specific, actionable steps to complete. This is one reason that many of us (myself included) never seem to tire of reading organizing and decluttering tips.

A concrete plan not only tells what steps need to be taken, but it also provides a clear vision of the result. It's the vision that empowers change.

5. Costs.

Worry over how much it will cost to put the proposal into action is the major obstacle for most proposals. Like the other sections, this section needs to have specifics. Specific numbers give the reader needed information and help to convince the reader that your proposal is well researched.

But the crux of this section is rhetorical, not economic. Whatever the specific costs are, the cost section should aim to convince the reader that the proposal's benefits are well worth the implementation cost.

Living Proposal Style – Consider Both Absolute and Relative Costs

When considering an expenditure of any kind, it's easy to focus on the price tag alone. But this is only half of the information: you must also consider whether its cost is reasonable given its value to you. I am not suggesting that you use the concept of relative cost to rationalize unneeded expenditures or a wasteful lifestyle. But "frugal" and "cheap" are not the same thing. Being frugal means getting the maximum value, use, and joy from each dollar you spend.

6. Conclusion.

A strong proposal concludes with a stirring call to action. The writer wants to propel the reader out of his or her chair. Passion for the outcome is a proposal writer's secret weapon.

Living Proposal Style – Passion is Everything

Modern life can wear anyone down. Many of us have forgotten what it is like to have dreams. Too often, we trade the-sky's-the-limit dreams for five-year plans. If there is one thing to learn from the proposal, it's that it is never too late to recapture our excitement for life. The time is now. The proposal has concluded; now, get out of that chair.

This is a guest post by Loren Blinde of Writing Power. Loren teaches college English and helps people enrich their lives by improving their writing. Her recent articles include Seek And Destroy Your Writing Style Enemies and Well Dressed Writing: Tips For Effective Page Design. Feel free to contact her at loren@writingpower.net

If you like this article, please give it a thumb up in Stumbleupon. Thanks a lot! =)

Further reading:

- How to Improve Your Social Skills
- Stephen King’s Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer
- 16 Practical Tips for Solving Your Problems More Easily

Picasso’s Top 7 Tips for Creating an Exciting Life

2008-05-11T17:56:00.001-07:00

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web."

"Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun."

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor and creator in many creative fields. He's perhaps the most well-known painter from all of the 20:th century.

He also had some interesting things to say about life. Here are my 7 favourite tips from him.

1. You have to believe to be able to do.

"He can who thinks he can, and he can’t who thinks he can’t. This is an inexorable, indisputable law."

This is a great quote because it doesn't just say that you should "believe in yourself!". It explains why you need to believe in yourself and your ability to do something to actually do it.

The funny thing is that it's hard to see how much your beliefs control your performance and how you see your world when you are used at looking at things from just one perspective.

When you think you can do something instead of not your perception of that thing changes. And your perception of yourself too. Without those changed perspectives it will be hard to find the courage, motivation, enthusiasm and whatever else you may need. And then there are self-fulfilling prophecies.

If you think you'll fail you are likely to hold you self back or even trip yourself up (sometimes unconsciously). If you on the other hand think you can do something your mind will start to find solutions and focus on fixing things instead of whining about them. From all of the stimuli around you things, solutions and opportunities will just start to pop up. Without that focus on the right thing, on your ability to do, your mind may not find the resources and solutions that are needed.

2. Push your limits.

"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."

Pushing yourself and stretching is necessary to grow. And the more you push yourself the quicker you can grow.

But it can be scary. My best tip so far: stay present as much as you can while doing something you cannot yet do.

This can greatly decrease possible negative feelings that are holding you back. And with those feelings out of your mind and body it becomes easier to focus, to feel positive feelings and actually perform well and learn to do whatever you have set your mind upon.

For tips on that check out 8 Ways to Return to the Present Moment. My three favourites among that bunch are at the moment: focus on what's right in front of you, pick up the vibe from present people (I listen to Eckhart Tolle cds very often) and focusing on your breathing.

3. Don't wait for inspiration or the right moment.

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working."

Inspiration can show up on its own, waltzing in through a door or a window. But doing things that way makes work inconsistent – both in quality and quantity - and you spend a lot of time waiting.

I find that it's better to follow Pablo's suggestion and just start working. For the first minutes what you do may suck quite a bit and it's hard going. But after a while inspiration seems to catch up with you. Things start to flow easier and your work is of a higher quality.

If you feel inspired one day that's great. Use your inspiration. But don't limit yourself to the moments where you feel inspired or you feel like the moment is just right to do something. Act instead. A lot of the time you can find inspiration along the way. Or accomplish whatever you want to do despite the moment not looking just as you would like it to.

4. Act.

"Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone."

"Action is the foundational key to all success."

I know. If you have been reading this blog for a while you may have noticed that taking action is included in a lot of the articles. But that's because, as Picasso says, action is the foundation. Without taking action any information – no matter how useful – will be pretty useless. This is also the part of personal growth or just life that is often forgotten or perhaps avoided.

It's scary. It can feel difficult to do it. Or you may not feel like it's the right moment now. But developing a habit of taking more and more action can make a huge difference. Have a look at How to Take More Action: 9 Powerful Tips for help to develop such a habit. My favourite tip among those is the same as for when pushing your limits: stay present to decrease inner resistance to taking action.

5. Ask the right questions.

"Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not."

It's easy to ask yourself the wrong questions. To ask yourself questions that just will give you answers that confirm that you are incompetent, foolish, wrong and tell you that your future is limited. Questions that will sink you instead of help to lift you up.

So instead, ask yourself empowering questions.

When having a seemingly negative experience ask yourself: what is good about this? What can I learn from this? There is always something you can learn and have use for to create positive experiences later on.

When interacting with others ask yourself: How can I bring even more value (understanding, help, practical solutions, fun, excitement etc.) to this interaction?

In just about any situation you can always ask yourself: what's great about this situation/experience? This is a quick way to shift your mood and thoughts into more positive, resourceful and empowered forms through gratitude.

There are of course many more empowering questions you can ask yourself. I think the main point is to reframe the questions you ask yourself into positive questions that open up - instead of closes – the door to opportunities and possibilities.

6. See the hidden beauty by not judging.

"If only we could pull out our brain and use only our eyes."

One of big advantages of becoming more present in your everyday life is that you decrease the amount of analysing and labelling you do to the things/people in your surroundings. You don't judge as much.

This might sound strange but in the moments when you are present the ordinary world becomes more interesting and wonderful. Colors can seem brighter. Your see more aliveness in trees, nature and in people. You see the wonder of all your man-made gadgets and stuff. Things that most often seem common, routine and boring become fascinating and something you can appreciate.

It's like you are observing your world with more clarity and curiousness. Like a little kid again, discovering things while they still feel fresh. Before they have just become walking, talking and growing labels with years of associations and thoughts attached.

This is a bit like the first tip in this article. Before you actually use it – if you just think about it in your mind – it may not make that much sense. I highly recommend reading/listening to Eckhart Tolle to gain a deeper understanding of being present. He and Oprah are doing free 90 minute talks about his book A New Earth right now. Check out the book and those webcasts.

7. It's not too late.

"Youth has no age."

Don't let social conditioning tell you what you can or cannot do just because you are of one age or another. Age is most of the time just in your head anyway. Take tip #1 into consideration and choose for yourself what you can do. And use tip # 6 and ask yourself the right questions instead of ones that limit you.

And, remember, the present moment s all there ever is anyway. So don't get caught up in the past too much. Most of the time you really don't have to act consistently with what you have done before. If you do, then that's your choice. And you can decide to do something different too. Right now.

It is really only too late to change if you look at your life as a time-line. If you learn to become more present, if you learn to live more in the now, much of that thinking just falls away. You realize that you can consciously choose and do pretty much whatever you like in the present moment and built a future with new possibilities.

If you like this article, please give it a thumb up in Stumbleupon. Thanks a lot! =)

Further reading:

- How to Improve Your Social Skills
- Stephen King’s Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer
- 16 Practical Tips for Solving Your Problems More Easily

16 Things I Wish They Had Taught Me in School

2008-05-11T12:25:00.001-07:00

Image by foundphotoslj.

I am 28 now. I don't think about the past or regret things much these days.

But sometimes I wish that I had known some of things I have learned over the last few years a bit earlier. That perhaps there had been a self-improvement class in school. And in some ways there probably was.

Because some of these 16 things in this article a teacher probably spoke about in class. But I forgot about them or didn't pay attention.

Some of it would probably not have stuck in my mind anyway. Or just been too far outside my reality at the time for me to accept and use.

But I still think that taking a few hours from all those German language classes and use them for some personal development classes would have been a good idea. Perhaps for just an hour a week in high school. It would probably be useful for many students and on a larger scale quite helpful for society in general.

So here are 16 things I wish they had taught me in school (or I just would like to have known about earlier).

1. The 80/20 rule.

This is one of the best ways to make better use of your time. The 80/20 rule – also known as The Pareto Principle – basically says that 80 percent of the value you will receive will come from 20 percent of your activities.

So a lot of what you do is probably not as useful or even necessary to do as you may think.

You can just drop – or vastly decrease the time you spend on – a whole bunch of things.

And if you do that you will have more time and energy to spend on those things that really brings your value, happiness, fulfilment and so on.

2. Parkinson's Law.

You can do things quicker than you think. This law says that a task will expand in time and seeming complexity depending on the time you set aside for it. For instance, if you say to yourself that you'll come up with a solution within a week then the problem will seem to grow more difficult and you'll spend more and more time trying to come up with a solution.

So focus your time on finding solutions. Then just give yourself an hour (instead of the whole day) or the day (instead of the whole week) to solve the problem. This will force your mind to focus on solutions and action.

The result may not be exactly as perfect as if you had spent a week on the task, but as mentioned in the previous point, 80 percent of the value will come from 20 percent of the activities anyway. Or you may wind up with a better result because you haven't overcomplicated or overpolished things. This will help you to get things done faster, to improve your ability to focus and give you more free time where you can totally focus on what’s in front of you instead of having some looming task creating stress in the back of your mind.

3. Batching.

Boring or routine tasks can create a lot of procrastination and low-level anxiety. One good way to get these things done quickly is to batch them. This means that you do them all in row. You will be able to do them quicker because there is less "start-up time" compared to if you spread them out. And when you are batching you become fully engaged in the tasks and more focused.

A batch of things to do in an hour today may look like this: Clean your desk / answer today's emails / do the dishes / make three calls / write a grocery shopping list for tomorrow.

4. First, give value. Then, get value. Not the other way around.

This is a bit of a counter-intuitive thing. There is often an idea that someone should give us something or do something for us before we give back. The problem is just that a lot of people think that way. And so far less than possible is given either way.

If you want to increase the value you receive (money, love, kindness, opportunities etc.) you have to increase the value you give. Because over time you pretty much get what you give. It would perhaps be nice to get something for nothing. But that seldom happens.

5. Be proactive. Not reactive.

This one ties into the last point. If everyone is reactive then very little will get done. You could sit and wait and hope for someone else to do something. And that happens pretty often, but it can take a lot of time before it happens.

A more useful and beneficial way is to be proactive, to simply be the one to take the first practical action and get the ball rolling. This not only saves you a lot of waiting, but is also more pleasurable since you feel like you have the power over your life. Instead of feeling like you are run by a bunch of random outside forces.

6. Mistakes and failures are good.

When you are young you just try things and fail until you learn. As you grow a bit older, you learn from - for example - school to not make mistakes. And you try less and less things.

This may cause you to stop being proactive and to fall into a habit of being reactive, of waiting for someone else to do something. I mean, what if you actually tried something and failed? Perhaps people would laugh at you?

Perhaps they would. But when you experience that you soon realize that it is seldom the end of the world. And a lot of the time people don't care that much. They have their own challenges and lives to worry about.

And success in life often comes from not giving up despite mistakes and failure. It comes from being persistent.

When you first learn to ride your bike you may fall over and over. Bruise a knee and cry a bit. But you get up, brush yourself off and get on the saddle again. And eventually you learn how to ride a bike. If you can just reconnect to your 5 year old self and do things that way - instead of giving up after a try/failure or two as grown-ups often do – you would probably experience a lot more interesting things, learn valuable lessons and have quite a bit more success.

7. Don't beat yourself up.

Why do people give up after just few mistakes or failures? Well, I think one big reason is because they beat themselves up way too much. But it's a kinda pointless habit. It only creates additional and unnecessary pain inside you and wastes your precious time. It's best to try to drop this habit as much as you can.

8. Assume rapport.

Meeting new people is fun. But it can also induce nervousness. We all want to make a good first impression and not get stuck in an awkward conversation.

The best way to do this that I have found so far is to assume rapport. This means that you simply pretend that you are meeting one of your best friends. Then you start the interaction in that frame of mind instead of the nervous one.

This works surprisingly well. You can read more about it in How to Have Less Awkward Conversations: Assuming Rapport.

9. Use your reticular activation system to your advantage.

I learned about the organs and the inner workings of the body in class but nobody told me about the reticular activation system. And that's a shame, because this is one of the most powerful things you can learn about. What this focus system, this R.A.S, in your mind does is to allow you to see in your surroundings what you focus your thoughts on. It pretty much always helps you to find what you are looking for.

So you really need to focus on what you want, not on what you don't want. And keep that focus steady.

Setting goals and reviewing them frequently is one way to keep your focus on what's important and to help you take action that will move your closer to toward where you want to go. Another way is just to use external reminders such as pieces of paper where you can, for instance, write down a few things from this post like "Give value" or "Assume rapport". And then you can put those pieces of paper on your fridge, bathroom mirror etc.

10. Your attitude changes your reality.

We have all heard that you should keep a positive attitude or perhaps that "you need to change your attitude!". That is a nice piece of advice I suppose, but without any more reasons to do it is very easy to just brush such suggestions off and continue using your old attitude.

But the thing that I've discovered the last few years is that if you change your attitude, you actually change your reality. When you for instance use a positive attitude instead of a negative one you start to see things and viewpoints that were invisible to you before. You may think to yourself "why haven’t I thought about things this way before?".

When you change you attitude you change what you focus on. And all things in your world can now be seen in a different light.

This is of course very similar to the previous tip but I wanted to give this one some space. Because changing your attitude can create an insane change in your world. It might not look like it if you just think about it though. Pessimism might seem like realism. But that is mostly because your R.A.S is tuned into seeing all the negative things you want to see. And that makes you "right" a lot of the time. And perhaps that is what you want. On the other hand, there are more fun things than being right all the time.

If you try changing your attitude for real – instead of analysing such a concept in your mind - you'll be surprised.

You may want to read more about this topic in Take the Positivity Challenge!

11. Gratitude is a simple way to make yourself feel happy.

Sure, I was probably told that I should be grateful. Perhaps because it was the right thing to do or just something I should do. But if someone had said that feeling grateful about things for minute or two is a great way to turn a negative mood into a happy one I would probably have practised gratitude more. It is also a good tool for keeping your attitude up and focusing on the right things. And to make other people happy. Which tends to make you even happier, since emotions are contagious.

12. Don't compare yourself to others.

The ego wants to compare. It wants to find reasons for you to feel good about yourself ("I've got a new bike!"). But by doing that it also becomes very hard to not compare yourself to others who have more than you ("Oh no, Bill has bought an even nicer bike!"). And so you don't feel so good about yourself once again. If you compare yourself to others you let the world around control how you feel about yourself. It always becomes a rollercoaster of emotions.

A more useful way is to compare yourself to yourself. To look at how far you have come, what you have accomplished and how you have grown. It may not sound like that much fun but in the long run it brings a lot more inner stillness, personal power and positive feelings.

13. 80-90% of what you fear will happen never really come into reality.

This is a big one. Most things you fear will happen never happen. They are just monsters in your own mind. And if they happen then they will most often not be as painful or bad as you expected. Worrying is most often just a waste of time.

This is of course easy to say. But if you remind yourself of how little of what you feared throughout your life that has actually happened you can start to release more and more of that worry from your thoughts.

14. Don't take things too seriously.

It's very easy to get wrapped up in things. But most of the things you worry about never come into reality. And what may seem like a big problem right now you may not even remember in three years.

Taking yourself, your thoughts and your emotions too seriously often just seems to lead to more unnecessary suffering. So relax a little more and lighten up a bit. It can do wonders for your mood and as an extension of that; your life.

15. Write everything down.

If your memory is anything like mine then it's like a leaking bucket. Many of your good or great ideas may be lost forever if you don't make a habit of writing things down. This is also a good way to keep your focus on what you want. Read more about it in Why You Should Write Things Down.

16. There are opportunities in just about every experience.

In pretty much any experience there are always things that you can learn from it and things within the experience that can help you to grow. Negative experiences, mistakes and failure can sometimes be even better than a success because it teaches you something totally new, something that another success could never teach you.

Whenever you have a "negative experience" ask yourself: where is the opportunity in this? What is good about this situation? One negative experience can – with time – help you create many very positive experiences.

What do you wish someone had told you in school or you had just learned earlier in life?

If you like this article, please give it a thumb up in Stumbleupon or an upvote on Reddit. Thanks a lot! =)

How You Can Use Storytelling to Inspire Success

2008-05-11T11:29:00.001-07:00

Image by jared.

Note: This is a guest post by Andrew Rondeau of Great Management.

Remember the times you have been a member of an audience. It could be on a course, at a team meeting or on a night out. Which ones do you remember? The really great ones and, maybe the really bad ones.

Why?

It may be because you remember the presenters / speakers being dynamic, engaging, and inspirational. Alternatively, if they were bad the complete opposite. Didn't those engaging presenters who made everything simple and entertaining, with seemingly little effort, jump into your mind first? What was it that made them excellent presenters? How come they are making the presentations so engaging and fun? What are they doing that's different?

Tap Into Our Imagination

In my experience, the use of stories makes the difference between a really great speaker and a bad one. Stories bring things to life. They tap into our imagination to see and do things differently. They touch our emotions and help us understand. The best stories make us think – what would I have done in that situation? How could I do that? What would it be like here if we could achieve that? If they can do it, then why can't I?

All you need are some stories and the courage to tell them.

Bring your team meetings and workshops to life through telling stories. Coach people with stories to inspire them to find an answer.

Most of the best stories in life contain the same simple ingredients: good characters, a difficult problem or challenge, attempts to beat that problem and a powerful conclusion.

Identify the message you want to communicate and look for stories that you can tell which visualise your message and bring it to life.

4 Techniques to Improve Your Storytelling

1. Theatrical.

Get people’s attention and then hold their attention by varying your voice and you use silence effectively. Sometimes you will be talking very softly and then "PAY ATTENTION because I’m about to say something VERY IMPORTANT". If you talk in a monotone, it will be hard for people to pay attention.

And until you have their rapt attention, you’re not about to change their views on anything significant. So you need not their background attention, but part of their mind where they’re sitting on the edge of their seats and hanging on your every word. Until you have that kind of attention, you’re really wasting your breath.

2. Negative stories.

The kind of story that will get the attention of the audience is a negative story, a story that is unexpected and relevant to the listener. Studies have shown that we pay much more attention to things that are negative. So you can use this for attention by dwelling on the negative.

You can, for instance, tell a story about the audience’s problems if you know what their problems are and the things that they are currently worried about. Say, “Let me tell you about your problems. Those problems are worse than you think they are! Let me tell you how bad they really are! And if fact, they’re going to get worse. Let me tell how really bad they’re going to become!”

Now they are listening because you’re telling them a story about something that’s relevant to them. It’s unexpected, it’s relevant, and it’s negative. And so that’s a story that’s negative and it gets attention.

3. Positive stories.

To stimulate the audience's desire for change, another crucial step is you tell a story that’s positive in tone, particularly one that’s a true story that’s about something that’s happened, where the change has already happened. And it’s the positive tone of the story that can stimulate desire for positive change.

4. Reinforce the future.

Once you’ve got people wanting something to change, then reinforce that with stories about the future, about what the change will bring and how it will be implemented and why it will work. These are fairly neutral stories; they are neither negative nor positive.

Understand the difference.

And so it is understanding the different role of stories, negative stories to get attention, positive stories to stimulate desire, and these neutral future stories that reinforce the reasons for undertaking this change.

Andrew Rondeau writes about ways to eliminate the loneliness and fear of being a manager. You can benefit from lots more simple and effective ideas by subscribing to his feed, or read this article and receive numerous more practical tips from 14 top successful people.

If you like this article, please give it a thumb up in Stumbleupon. Thanks a lot! =)

Further reading:

- How to Improve Your Social Skills
- Stephen King’s Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer
- 16 Practical Tips for Solving Your Problems More Easily

J.C. Penney’s 7 Keys to a Smashing Success

2008-05-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

Image by ul Marga.

"Every man must decide for himself whether he shall master his world or be mastered by it."

"The thought in my mind was that I must be a good merchant. If I were a good merchant, the rest would probably take care of itself."

As you may know, John Cash Penney was the founder of the very successful chain of American department stores that bear his first two initials and last name. He founded the company in 1902 and everything went swimmingly until the big market crash in 1929 and the following Great Depression. Penney went into a big financial crisis and as a result of that a health crisis too but managed to work his way out of them both.

In his spare time he spent time on philanthropy with other positively minded people like Norman Vincent Peale – of The Power of Positive Thinking fame – and IBM-founder Thomas J. Watson.

Here are 7 of my favourite tips for success from J. C. Penney.

1. You receive the value you provide.

"We get real results only in proportion to the real values we give."

"A merchant who approaches business with the idea of serving the public well has nothing to fear from the competition."

The Penney chain of stores was actually first named The Golden Rule stores, and that rule was Penney's guiding principle.

So the key here is not to keep your main focus on the money.

The key is to focus on the value you can give your customers. By giving value you get value back.

And the more value you give the more satisfied and loyal customers you get. And the more money you make. There are exceptions of course, but generally I think this is how things work.

I also think that, for at least a whole bunch of people, it's important to focus on the value for motivational reasons. If you focus on the value you can provide you can maintain and even increase your motivation and keep going. If you focus on the money and it doesn't flow in as fast as you'd hoped it's easy to be discouraged and give up. Plus, money alone isn't always a strong enough long time motivator.

I think this is why many blogs/websites fail as the owners have been focusing too much on the money and too little the value they can provide. This makes the blogging less fun and if you are thinking about the money all the time then you're probably not thinking as much about your audience as you could. And so little value is received because little value is given.

The people that are really successful financially often seem to – a large degree at least - not care that much about the money. They love what they do and therefore provide a great amount of value to their customers and fans. And so they are richly rewarded.

2. Give more value than expected.

"It is the service we are not obliged to give that people value most."

One of the big reasons people get "normal" results is because they give a normal amount of value to others. But some people go beyond that. They give even more. And so they not only receive more value because they give more, but also because they stand out amongst the rest. And, as Penney says, it's that value that is most important because you don't really have to give it and few do.

I believe that the smashing success of personal development bloggers like Steve Pavlina and Leo Babauta is to a large degree because they give extreme amounts of value – practical or inspirational - to their readers on a consistent basis. Other factors like strategic thinking and who you know also play a part but without that value in the content you won't get that far.

3. How you treat people determines your success.

"Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement."

"The well-satisfied customer will bring the repeat sale that counts."

Here's one way how bringing the extra value pays off. The best promotion is said to be word of mouth recommendations from one friend to another. It is also one of the harder things to get because people only recommend really good and valuable stuff to their friends.

So you have to provide a big or, even better, an extreme amount of value to people to access this form of advertising and relationships. It is also the extreme amount of value that keeps people coming back over and over no matter if it's to your store, your blog or to just to hang out with you.

Now I'm not saying that I'm doing this consistently online or offline. Such a thing is quite difficult. But it's a rewarding and useful ideal to move yourself closer and closer towards.

How to bring this extreme amount of value is something everyone has to figure out for themselves depending upon who you are and what area of life we are talking about. In blogging an extreme amount of value may lie in very practical and useful tips or something very entertaining. In relationships between people some factors may be the amounts of fun, positivity, authenticity and support a person can bring to others.

4. Listen.

"The art of effective listening is essential to clear communication, and clear communication is necessary to management success."

People want to be understood. If you are just waiting for your turn to talk instead of listening then you'll often miss much of what is said (verbally or non-verbally). There will be a lack of genuine understanding.

One way to become a better listener is to stay present – you can find 8 tips for doing that here - while listening. This will help you to decrease the bad habit of thinking about the future and what you should say next while trying to listen. If you are present and really there while listening then that will also come through in your body language, which gives the person talking a vibe and feeling that you are really listening to what s/he has to say. Being present also improves your focus and allows you to better tune out possible interruptions or distractions in your surroundings.

And, if you really listen then that alone will often provide you naturally with a better and more genuine answer than a clever response thought up while trying to listen simultaneously.

A couple of other small tips are to keep eye-contact while listening and to be open to the possibility that whatever the person is about to say will actually be interesting. If you have already made up your mind that he or she will say something boring then it will be hard to pay attention.

Listening isn't just good to avoid miscommunications and improve understanding while managing people or working in groups. If you have a blog, company or a friend then listening to what your audience/clients/friend really want can help you to serve their actual needs. Instead of the ones that you just presume that they have.

5. Books are good. Experience is even better.

"The greatest teacher I know is the job itself."

"Theory is splendid but until put into practice, it is valueless."

To really learn you have put what you have learned into practise. You have to take action over and over. Try one thing, then another. Learn from your mistakes.

The more action you take, the more valuable feedback you'll receive. The amount of practical knowledge and results you get is largely decided by how much action you choose to take and how much you are able to learn from previous experiences. You can then use that real-life knowledge together with lessons from external sources to readjust your aim more accurately for the next attempt.

Check out How to Take More Action: 9 Powerful Tips for some pointers on how to develop a habit of taking more action.

6. Think for yourself. Prepare yourself.

"Determine to do some thinking for yourself. Don’t live entirely upon the thoughts of others. Don’t be an automaton."

"As a rule, we find what we look for; we achieve what we get ready for."

Social conditioning may not get you where you want to go. It will tell you to do certain common things and to provide adequate value.

But to fulfil more of your actual potential you have move beyond that. You can do that by educating yourself, by reading and talking to people who already are where you want to go. And, as the previous tip mentions, you must also do that by taking action over and over to learn, readjust your aim and to receive the rewards from the real world.

And to actually wind up where you want to go you need know what you are looking for. What is it that you really want? What is your mind focused on?

What you focus your thoughts on will generally be what you find amongst all the different shapes, sizes, people and information that is your world. Without being focused on what you want opportunities will pass you by like anonymous strangers on the street. And without the proper knowledge – both from external sources and from your own experience – you may not be able to grasp that opportunity and turn it into gold.

So you can build your view of the world upon the shoulders of giants and other people. On what you focus your mind on. Then you try. And you see what actually works for you out in the real world.

And so you refine your maps of the world to – over time - make them more and more accurate and useful for yourself and perhaps for others. Because, as J.C. Penney says in the tip that will end this article, to have continued success you must…

7. Improve.

"Change is vital, improvement the logical form of change."

"Success cannot come from standstill men. Methods change and men must change with them."

If you like this article, please give it a thumb up in Stumbleupon. Thanks a lot! =)

Further reading:

- How to Improve Your Social Skills
- Stephen King’s Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer
- 16 Practical Tips for Solving Your Problems More Easily

5 Kick-Ass Reasons to Give a Genuine Compliment, and How to Do It

2008-05-11T09:57:00.001-07:00

"A compliment is something like a kiss through a veil."
Victor Hugo

"Do not offer a compliment and ask a favor at the same time. A compliment that is charged for is not valuable."
Mark Twain

Compliments.

Some are sincere. Some are quite the opposite.

Some like to get them. Some feel a little uneasy and self-conscious about them.

And from time to time I think to myself that there is too few of them. They are underused and underrated and are often forgotten amongst gossip, negative self-talk and complaints about the boss, the job, the weather and milk prices.

Negative observations about reality are plentiful. Positive observations are much fewer.

So, here are 5 compelling reasons why it's a good choice to use more genuine compliments in your day to day life. And a bit further down, three tips on how to give them.

You can make someone's day. That's a nice thing to do.
Increased positivity. Keeping your focus on the positive parts in people expands your own positivity. You'll notice more positive things about yourself, your own life and other things in your surroundings. What you focus on in your everyday life you'll see everywhere, not just in other people.
You get what you give. Don't keep this in the forefront of your mind while giving a compliment. It may make the compliment seem insincere and like you are just out to get something from the other person. But still, people often have a strong feeling of wanting to give what they got. Perhaps not right away, but over time reciprocity and a positive relationship can build. And in general, what you give you tend to get back from the world around you.
Attractiveness. Positivity, appreciation and being able to genuinely express yourself are three attractive traits both in personal and professional relationships. People tend to want to hang around and work with people that have such traits.
It's fun. When you give a genuine compliment you ignite a spark of happy feelings inside of yourself.

Now, here are three tips for sharpening your compliment giving skills.

The compliment has to be genuine.

Otherwise you are just trying to take something from the one you are complimenting. And that will not work so well. Your insincerity will often shine through.

A compliment delivered with positive words but with a body language and voice tonality – the two most important parts of interpersonal communication – that aren't saying the same thing may often not go over so well. And the rule that you get what you give still applies.

What you feel when you deliver the compliment will come through. So make sure that there is a genuine feeling behind the words.

Cultivate a habit of appreciation.

This will let you discover all the genuinely nice things about people. With this filter closed it will be harder to see the positive things in people and to give compliments that are actually totally genuine. Try to appreciate the things around you - your home, friends, family, co-workers, computer, weather, food etc. - a few minutes a day to build this habit.

Compliment on something the other person feels is important to him/her.

It may be - at least in some cases - a good practise to not compliment on something that the other person doesn't have much control over. Or something that he or she has been complimented on a thousand times before. Looks and other more superficial stuff are examples of such things.

A compliment that is kinda expected will not be that powerful. And even though your compliment is genuine it may just be lumped together with all those other similar and not so genuine compliments the person has recieved.

Instead, observe what makes this person tick. What are his/her passions, qualities, interests and proudest achievements? What can you genuinely appreciate about those things?

And finally, remember, pretty much no matter what the response is you can still feel good about giving a compliment. As Seneca says in tip # 5: how the other person responds - what s/he says or feels - isn't your responsibility.

Image by *Zara (license).

If you like this article, please give it a thumb up in Stumbleupon. Thanks a lot! =)

Further reading:

- How to Improve Your Social Skills
- Stephen King’s Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer
- 16 Practical Tips for Solving Your Problems More Easily

Seneca’s Top 10 Fundamentals for Finding Happiness

2008-05-11T08:12:00.001-07:00

Image: Seneca taking his own life in a painting by Luca Giordano.

"Life, if well lived, is long enough."

"I don’t consider myself bald, I’m just taller than my hair."

About 2000 years ago a lived a man named Lucius Annaeus Seneca. He was a man of many talents. He was a philosopher, statesman, dramatist, humorist and tutor/advisor for the famous emperor Nero. Together with Nero and others he ruled Rome during the first nine years of the emperor's reign.

Only a few years later his influence over Nero and Rome came to an end. Nero suspected Seneca to be involved in failed attempt to assassinate the emperor. He ordered his former friend to take his own life. Which Seneca did.

But during his years on earth Seneca said some very useful things about life.

Here are 10 of my favourite fundamentals from Seneca on how to find happiness.

1. Happiness is optional.

"A man’s as miserable as he thinks he is."

What you think about most of the time you become. If you see the world and yourself through a lens smudged by negativity then you'll find much misery. If you look outwards and inwards through lens brightened by positivity you'll find much to be happy and appreciative about.

So being happy or miserable is seldom so much about the external circumstances at the moment. It's more about how you look at them, yourself and your world.

Now, thinking about things with a positive attitude is easier said than done. But you can shift a negative attitude into a more positive one. It will probably not happen like flicking on a light switch, but gradually you can spend more time with a positive attitude than a negative one.

A few starting points for adopting a more useful attitude are Take The Positivity Challenge! and Top 5 Ways to Live a More Positive Life.

2. You don't have to create anger and other negative feelings.

"A quarrel is quickly settled when deserted by one party; there is no battle unless there be two."

Sometimes it is of course necessary to bring up and resolve a conflict. Often though, conflicts or quarrels are just a waste of time and good way to create negativity within and in your environment. Perhaps someone wants to be right. Or release pent up emotions created elsewhere.

Avoid taking such bait by others or giving in to temporary negativity in yourself. Just let it go.

3. Grow and deepen.

"As long as you live, keep learning how to live."

Each day, month and year we can learn more about how to live in better way. Getting to know yourself and the world around you is simply an awesome way to find more depth in yourself and to handle and manage your life and happiness better and better.

How can you learn to live?

Learn from others. There is a vast selection of books, cds and dvds from all ages on what people have found out throughout their own lives. Make it a habit of exploring such material – you can find a selection of recommended products here – and talking to people around you about what they have learned about life.

Learn from yourself. What you learn from others can have a bad habit of not sticking so well. But if you are open to what you can learn from your own mistakes and successes then there is much to be found there. And lessons to revise over and over again as you discover new things and that your old assumptions may not have been as correct or useful as you believed.

4. Will more solve your problems?

"For many men, the acquisition of wealth does not end their troubles, it only changes them."

"It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor."

"What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more."

Society is to a large degree built on getting more.

Of course, to a degree this is very useful. But it may not be the thing that will solve all your problems.

You may not find your answer or happiness in more. It may just alter your troubles and problems. And/or give you more of them. What is already there inside of you perhaps gets highlighted and magnified when you get more. Instead of getting whatever you want when finally making all that money your wanted you may find that greed, jealousy and selfishness within you and in your world increases.

You may have thought that when you finally arrived at that place your problems would just disappear. But the ego always wants more and is never satisfied.

So trying to fill yourself up with more – money, power, smartness, prettiness, a feeling of being more enlightened than others – and then finally becoming happy may become like trying to fill a bucket with a hole in the bottom.

5. Give without wanting something in return.

"He that does good to another does good also to himself."

"It is another’s fault if he be ungrateful, but it is mine if I do not give. To find one thankful man, I will oblige a great many that are not so."

Shared joy is increased joy. And one of the best ways to become happier is simply to make others happier. When you do that positive feelings seem to be generated from within.

And when you make someone else happy you can also sense, see, feel and hear it. And that happy feeling flows back to you.

And since the Law of Reciprocity is strong there is another upside. People will feel like giving back to you. And so the two – or more - of you keep building an upward spiral of positivity and happiness.

Seneca has a very good point here about how it is your responsibility to give and the receiver's responsibility to be thankful. But just because s/he may not be thankful doesn't mean that you can't feel happiness or should stop giving.

I also think it's important to try and give without wanting something in return (something that is not always easy though).

Why?

Because if you give something but your mind and body says that you are just doing it to get something in return then that will often shine through. People will see and feel it in your reactions and your general vibe. And so they are less likely to be thankful or reciprocate. Giving, at it's finest and for maximum usefulness for all involved, has to be genuine.

6. Know what you are looking for.

"If a man knows not what harbor he seeks, any wind is the right wind."

If you don't know what you are looking for you probably won't wind up finding it. You'll just drift along with different currents and winds.

So you need to know what you actually want. Then set a direction and keep your focus on that direction. Then it will not only be easier to reach your destination but also to use the focus system in your mind – your reticular activation system – to help you filter out information and opportunities that can help you along and that previously may have just blended into the background of your world.

7. Laugh

"It is more fitting for a man to laugh at life than to lament over it."

"No one is laughable who laughs at himself."

Taking things too seriously can make life a lot harder and painful than it needs to be. It may be a common or "normal" way to look at things. But you are always free to choose how to view, react and think about things.

Taking things and yourself less seriously can really help you to decrease conflicts, anger, sadness and anxiety. And laughing at the life and yourself releases tension and tends to make you less susceptible to the gray and dreary clouds of negativity that may plague others. Check out Lighten Up! for more on this.

8. Excess may not be the key.

"It is quality rather than quantity that matters."

"It is the sign of a great mind to dislike greatness, and to prefer things in measure to things in excess."

I guess this one ties in to # 4: to seek happiness in more.

An excess of things may often look wonderful when you imagine it. But when you actually get it and are taking it all in then it loses the magic you imagined. So quality and moderation may bring more joy than an excess.

The first five pieces of candy always taste better than the rest. And if you eat the whole bag of candy you often wind up feeling a bit nauseous and sick.

One awesome gadget or tool is often better than five OK ones. One great looking shirt or skirt often brings more joy than five OK looking ones.

9. Be in charge of yourself and do a great job.

"Life’s like a play: it’s not the length, but the excellence of the acting that matters."

"Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power."

"Wisdom allows nothing to be good that will not be so forever; no man to be happy but he that needs no other happiness than what he has within himself; no man to be great or powerful that is not master of himself."

Just going along with whatever happens and just doing your job may not bring much happiness.

But taking control of your own life - instead of floating along - and doing a great job brings satisfaction and joy. Not just from the people around you but from within. When you feel like you are in charge of your own life and that you are doing your best there is an exhilaration and happiness that you create inside of yourself. Such a self-generated happiness makes sure that external circumstances – that always fluctuate – have less of an impact on how you feel.

10. Live in the present.

"There is no person so severely punished, as those who subject themselves to the whip of their own remorse."

"True happiness is… to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future."

"There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality."

What is there?

Tomorrow isn't here yet. Yesterday has passed. Now is the present moment. And all three of them are always the present moment when we are living in them.

So there is no real space where you and I can change or live in except the one you and me are in right now. And now. And now.

But still we insist to spend much time regretting yesterday. Or fearing tomorrow. That's normal. But it's isn't so useful.

We can't really do anything about the past. We can learn valuable lessons from it but after that it's not so important.

And most of the things we fear will happen in the future never really show up. A negative attitude can do wonders to create monsters within the mind to occupy much of your time. So, planning your future is very useful but over thinking it is seldom helpful.

So much time is lost thinking compulsively, over and over again, about things we have little control over. And it can create a huge amount of suffering inside that is projected and acted out into the world.

And it distracts us - blurs our vision and shatters our focus - and keeps us from fully enjoying what is really the most important time.

Now.

If you like this article, please give it a thumb up in Stumbleupon. Thanks a lot! =)

Further reading:

- How to Improve Your Social Skills
- Stephen King’s Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer
- 16 Practical Tips for Solving Your Problems More Easily

How to Take More Action: 9 Powerful Tips

2008-05-11T07:20:00.000-07:00

Image by goodsurfers2008 (license).

"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things."
Leonardo Da Vinci

To get things done you need to take action. Things seldom happen on their own.

But taking action can be difficult and hard. And so it's easy to wind up in Lazyville or Procrastinationland a lot. How can you break out of such behaviour and develop a behaviour of taking more action?

Here are 10 tips that you'll hopefully find useful.

1. Reconnect with the present moment.

This will help you snap out of over thinking and just go and do whatever you want to get done.

This is probably the best tip I have found so far for taking more action since it puts you in a state where you feel little emotional resistance to the work you'll do. And it puts you in state where the right actions often just seem to flow out of you in a focused but relaxed way and without much effort.

One of the simplest ways to connect with the present moment is just to keep your focus on you breathing for a minute or two. Check out 7 more tips in 8 Ways to Return to the Present Moment.

2. Be accountable to others.

If you tell a bunch of people that you are going to do something then it will be hard to not do it. You don't want to disappoint them. Or have to face up to them the next time you meet.

If you have a hard time getting going with something get some support. If you for instance workout, do it with a friend to motivate each other to take action - and actually go to the gym - when motivation runs low. Motivating each other and bringing enthusiasm when one of you is feeling low can really help to develop consistency and useful habits.

Think about how you can involve others to help all of you to take more action.

This tip works well. But it can put you in situation where you take action to avoid pain, to avoid judgement. And it can help you create pressure within yourself. Such a state may not always be the best one to be in to take action and perform well. One way to lessen such problems is to use this tip and then when you are about to take action you reconnect with the present moment to quiet negativity within yourself.

3. Be accountable to yourself.

In the long run a more consistent and perhaps healthier way to develop a habit of taking more action is to answer to yourself instead of others. To set your own standards and principles for how you will behave.

The problem with this one is that you are likely to cheat on yourself and rationalize how you don't need to take action or follow your principles. When the social pressure of having to answer to others isn't there it's easy to slip and fall into laziness or procrastination.

But over time you can become more and more consistent with acting according to your own standards. I believe that one of the keys to develop this kind of thinking is to get off a dependence on external validation and be more internally validated. You can read more about that at # 8 in 9 Great Ways to Make Yourself Absolutely Miserable.

If you can develop accountability to your own standards then it can be more consistent than the one you get from relying on being accountable to others. It comes from within so it doesn't have to rely on other, outer circumstances that may fluctuate.

It is also very useful to help you feel good about yourself and to help you grow. If you rely on being accountable to others and their validation then you may grow but also feel confined by what others expect from you. If you are accountable to yourself then you set your limits wherever you want them.

4. Lighten up.

One way to dissuade yourself from taking action is to take whatever you are about to do too seriously. That makes it feel too big, too difficult and too scary. If you on the other hand relax a bit and lighten up you often realize that those problems and negative feelings are just something you are creating in your own mind. With a lighter state of mind your tasks seems lighter and becomes easier to get started with. Have a look at Lighten Up! for more on this topic.

5. Use a limited to-do list.

A to-do list is a simple and great way to remember what you are about to do. But it's easy to get overly enthusiastic when writing it and putting in to many items. And then when you look at that big list you feel drained and an urge to procrastinate.

But do you need to do all those things?

Think about what the absolutely most important items on the list are. Just two or three. Then put them on a new to-do list. This list will seem less daunting and I have found that it makes it easier to actually take action and get those things done.

6. Choose instead of should.

Here's a small but useful tip. You don't really need to do anything. You always choose what to do. Thinking about things this way removes the "shoulds" and "need tos" that take your personal power away and make you feel like you aren't in control. When you think that you choose to do whatever you do then you regain the control and power. And it becomes easier to take action.

7. Focus on the how instead of the if's.

What if's can really mess with your mind. You can spend days, weeks or years thinking about what may happen if you take action. So instead of letting your mind get lost in what if's focus on the how. In a situation focus on how you can do something, how you can solve a problem or achieve a goal. Do some research if you need to. Or get support and help from other people.

Focusing on the how puts your mind to better use and creates a positive attitude within rather than a negative and uncertain one. This makes it easier to take action without too much hand wringing and time spent over thinking things.

8. Get enthusiastic.

Enthusiasm is great emotional state to be in to get going and take action. And if you aren't feeling enthusiastic then that's OK too. You can pretty much always create enthusiasm within yourself. Check out 4 Powerful Reasons to Up Your Enthusiasm, and How to Do It for tips on how you can do that from both me and you (there are some really good suggestions in the comments section of that article).

9. Start small.

To get from a state where you just feel like sitting on your chair and doing nothing much to one where you take action over and over you can do this: start small.

Getting started with your biggest task or most difficult action may seem too much and land you in Procrastinationland. So instead, start with something that doesn't seem so hard.

One of my favourites is simply to take a few minutes to clean my desk. After that the next thing doesn't seem so difficult to get started with since I'm now in a more of a "take action" kind of mode.

What is your best tip for taking more action?

If you like this article, please give it a thumb up in Stumbleupon. Thanks a lot! =)

Further reading:

- How to Improve Your Social Skills
- Stephen King’s Top 7 Tips for Becoming a Better Writer
- 16 Practical Tips for Solving Your Problems More Easily

Name For a Community-Owned Fiber Network?

2008-05-11T06:24:00.000-07:00

CleverMonkey writes "I'm a town representative to a newly created municipal group creating a new type of telco. This group has formed to build and operate a FTTH network, and provide both triple-play services and access to other providers, to over 20 mostly rural towns in East-Central Vermont. The project is novel because of the size of the network (a cable pass down every road within 600 square miles), the low-density of the area served, and the public-ownership/private-financing model that is being used. Some of the towns included in this group currently have nothing beyond 14.4 dial-up on a good day. This project began as a grassroots effort in a couple of towns and the name they chose was ECFiber — East-Central Fiber — or sometimes the East-Central Vermont Community Network. We hope that this network will grow beyond one corner of this state, and we would like a name that is both descriptive and flexible. What would you name a community-owned, cutting-edge, G-PON fiber-optic network covering every remote corner of two-dozen contiguous towns?"Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Asetek LCLC Takes Liquid Cooling Mainstream

2008-05-11T01:46:00.001-07:00

bigwophh writes "Liquid cooling a PC has traditionally been considered an extreme solution, pursued by enthusiasts trying to squeeze every last bit of performance from their systems. In recent years, however, liquid cooling has moved toward the mainstream, as evidenced by the number of manufacturers producing entry-level, all-in-one kits. These kits are usually easy to install and operate, but at the expense of performance. Asetek's aptly named LCLC (Low Cost Liquid Cooling) may resemble other liquid cooling setups, but it offers a number of features that set it apart. For one, the LCLC is a totally sealed system that comes pre-assembled. Secondly, plastic tubing and a non-toxic, non-flammable liquid are used to overcome evaporation issues, eliminating the need to refill the system. And to further simplify the LCLC, its pump and water block are integrated into a single unit. Considering its relative simplicity, silence, and low cost, the Asetek LCLC performs quite well, besting traditional air coolers by a large margin in some tests."Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Loose Lips []

2008-05-10T23:27:00.001-07:00

The Colbert Bump

2008-05-10T19:40:00.001-07:00

THE COLBERT BUMP....Is it really true that congressional candidates who appear on Stephen Colbert's show do better than candidates who don't? Or is it merely truthy? Henry Farrell summarizes the surprising researchy answer from actual political scientist James Fowler:

Democratic candidates who appear on the Report receive a statistically significant "Colbert bump" in campaign donations, raising 44% more money in a 30-day period after appearing on the show. However, there is no evidence of a similar boost for Republicans. These results constitute the first scientific evidence of Stephen Colbert's influence on political campaigns.

Indeed. Fowler explains his methodology here:

To evaluate absolute differences between Colbert candidates and others I use a Wilcoxon signed rank test. This test is non-parametric, which is a super-cool term that means I don't assume that a histogram of the data produces a nice, "normal" bell shape. In fact, I know the data doesn't look that way — it looks more like a skateboard ramp, starting high near zero and curving down sharply to become flat. For percentage differences, I use a related non-parametric (so cool) test called the Mann Whitney U. I'm sure Stephen will be pleased that there is a "man" in his statistical test (though what kind of a man calls himself 'Whitney'?).

And of course there are graphs. What kind of scientificy research would it be if it didn't have graphs?

Residual Force Update

2008-05-10T17:02:00.001-07:00

RESIDUAL FORCE UPDATE....Does Barack Obama secretly want to keep 60-80,000 troops in Iraq through 2010? That's what Colin Kahl, a "key adviser," recommends in an academic paper circulated privately at a recent workshop — "a plan," says reporter Eli Lake, "at odds with the public pledge of the Illinois senator to withdraw combat forces from Iraq within 16 months of taking office." But Marc Lynch, who was also at the workshop, calls foul:

Let's just reflect on the absurdity of all of this....Maybe a few dozen people even knew that Kahl had a role at all in the Obama campaign. This is "gotcha" reduced to absurdity. The paper in question was clearly an academic one, reflecting [Kahl's] own personal views. It wasn't even circulated to the campaign, and has nothing to do with Obama's "real" views on Iraq.

Point taken. Presidential advisors have lots of different views — and should have lots of different views. It's newsworthy what these views are, but nobody should jump to the conclusion that any one of them is controlling unless there's some good reason to think so. And anyway, Marc has other fish to fry:

The only really interesting question here is who in that small, closed workshop organized by Colin Kahl decided to screw his host by violating the non-attribution agreement and handing the paper over to Eli Lake? I was there, y'know. I know who was there. By my count, there's about three suspects... and one of them convincingly protests his innocence. I've got an inkling about which of the other two it is. Care to fess up?

Good luck with that!

Friday Butterfly Blogging - 4 April 2008

2008-05-10T15:58:00.001-07:00

FRIDAY BUTTERFLY BLOGGING....Inkblot and Domino are on vacation this week. (I know, I know. As if there's a difference.) Taking their place is my mother's cat William, roaming around in her new native-plant, water-friendly, climate-appropriate front yard garden. It's about three months old and coming in nicely. Not a single plant lost yet! And in one of those weird "small blogosphere" coincidences, the landscape designer who installed the garden turns out to be Jerome Armstrong's cousin.

And of course spring is now springing, which means the new garden is starting to attract lots of pollinating bees and fluttering butterflies. The bees are a little too small to catch on camera, but one of the butterflies is on the right. If you live out west, this should all put you in a nice springtime frame of mind. If you don't, it's a harbinger of pleasanter times to look forward to. In the meantime, you can always warm up by offering your cat a lap.

Mukasey Followup

2008-05-10T08:01:00.000-07:00

MUKASEY FOLLOWUP....Glenn Greenwald has a followup today on Attorney General Michael Mukasey's claim that the old version of FISA prevented us from intercepting a communication between Afghanistan and one of the 9/11 hijackers in 2001. Glenn finds a note in the 9/11 Commission report that might refer to the missed call Mukasey was talking about, but the report clearly states that FISA was not to blame:

Critically, the Report emphasized that FISA provided all of the authority needed to have intercepted that communication, to learn of its domestic origins and to disseminate it to the FBI and other domestic intelligence agencies. To the extent the NSA failed to do so, this had nothing to do with FISA or any other legal restraints or civil liberties, but rather, with poor intelligence practices....The pre-9/11 failures, as the Joint Inquiry itself concluded, were failures resulting from how the NSA used its legal authorities, not from insufficient legal authorities or excessive legal restraints.

And down the rabbit hole we go. Again: this deserves some followup from the press. Mukasey has spoken about this in public, so if he's claiming that FISA prevented us from intercepting a key call before 9/11 he also needs to defend that in public. Did this really happen or didn't it?

Economic Update

2008-05-10T05:28:00.001-07:00

ECONOMIC UPDATE.... Jobless claims spiked upward last week (see chart on right), the unemployment rate has risen to 5.1%, and nonfarm payrolls fell by 80,000 last month. Brad DeLong:

If you didn't think recession was on the way before, you need to think again.

OK, OK, I believe. Now can you please get off my chest? I'm having a hard time breathing.

So this makes — what? Three recessions in a row that were kicked off by an external shock of some kind? Four? Five? Oil shocks in 1973, 1979/81, and 1991, the dotcom bust in 2001, and the credit crisis (and a really slow-moving oil shock?) in 2008. I'm not sure about 1991, though. But if recessions are kicked off more by huge external shocks these days than by Fed-induced inflation fighting, shouldn't we all be thinking harder about how to control those shocks a little better? Time for the big brains to get to work on this.

The Law of Rules

2008-05-10T00:54:00.001-07:00

THE LAW OF RULES....Josiah Lee Auspitz is a rules geek. Party rules, that is: "I have written scholarly articles and op-ed pieces, testified, lobbied and litigated, presented maps, tables and charts, consulted, advised and given interviews on the topic....In other words, I am a complete party rules bore. I suppose it would be more dignified to present myself as a political scientist, but I have no illusions."

Three years out of four — and in most cases four years out of four — that would make Auspitz a lonely man. But party rules are unusually interesting this year, and not just for the Democrats. Did you know, for example, that John McCain quite possibly owes his victory this year to the fact that in 2000 the GOP reversed the "order of precedence" in Rule 15 between state party rules and state law? I didn't. But if you read "The Law of Rules," available exclusively online, Auspitz will tell you all about it.

And what about the Democratic side? Auspitz says everything there is going according to plan:

As designed, the competition quickly winnowed itself down to three and then two candidates with national rather than narrow sectional or racial/ethnic appeal. As designed, it greatly increased grassroots participation. And as designed, it has provided in advance that any deadlock will be settled by a pre-existing ex officio group of "party leaders and elected officials" (abbreviated as PLEOs in intra-party documents and called "super delegates" in the press, a term originally introduced with snide intent by those opposed to their creation).

There's much more about the Democratic rules and how they came about, as well as loads of detail about exactly how delegates and superdelegates are apportioned. Some of it is stuff that's already been hashed out quite a bit in the blogosphere, but a lot of it was new to me. It's a genuinely fascinating piece if being a rules geek appeals even slightly to you. Check it out.

Basra Update

2008-05-09T23:20:00.001-07:00

BASRA UPDATE....So how did the Iraqi security forces do in their battle against the Mahdi Army in Basra? Al-Zaman reported earlier this week that "thousands" of police officers and "at least two army regiments" had either defected or refused to fight, but I've seen no other confirmation of that until today. Here's the Washington Post:

A senior official in Iraq's Defense Ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to discuss military operations publicly, said Iraqi troops were overwhelmed by the second day of fighting.

....The official said he estimated that 30 percent of the Iraqi troops abandoned the fight before a cease-fire was reached. He also said that soldiers had been hindered by ammunition and food shortages and that some Iraqi police troops, who were supposed to be backing the Iraqi army, had actually supported the militias.

...."If the British and American forces were not there, the Mahdi Army would have gained a victory," he said.

That would put the number of nonperforming troops at about 4,000. Now here's the New York Times:

A senior American military official said that he understood that 1,000 to 1,500 Iraqi forces had deserted or underperformed....Three officials said that among those who had been relieved of duty for refusing to fight were Col. Rahim Jabbar and Lt. Col. Shakir Khalaf, the commander and deputy commander of an entire brigade affiliated with the Interior Ministry.

And this from CNN: "A closely held U.S. military intelligence analysis of the fighting showed that Iraqi security forces controlled less than a quarter of the city [of Basra], according to U.S. officials in the United States and Iraq. They said Basra's police units were deeply infiltrated by members of al-Sadr's Mehdi Army."

So anywhere from 1,000 to 4,000 troops refused to fight — and if I had to guess, I'd say that the real number is closer to the high end than the low — and by the time fighting was over the army controlled only a quarter of Basra. Not a good sign.

In related news, Muqtada al-Sadr is calling for a million-man march in Najaf to protest the American occupation; Maliki is apparently set to break the truce negotiated last weekend already; and the Sunni tribes are pissed off that Maliki is hiring 10,000 new security forces from local tribes even though he's been telling them for months that no more slots are available.

And the good news? Well, things are relatively calm for the moment and the Iraqi army, though bloodied, is still intact. Take that for what it's worth if you're the optimistic type.

Leverage and Exuberance

2008-05-09T17:18:00.001-07:00

LEVERAGE AND EXUBERANCE....A couple of days ago I read someone, somewhere, suggesting that the problem with Wall Street these days is that it's just too damn easy to make money. Practically anything you put your hands to generates wild truckloads of cash, and this promotes reckless behavior.

Thanks to my rapidly declining brainpower, I don't remember where I saw this. Which is too bad, because I wanted to write a post saying that I think it's wrong. In fact, I suspect it's 180 degrees wrong. It strikes me that the real problem is that in recent years markets have become so hyper-efficient that it's really hard to make lots of money from purely financial transactions. The competition is too good, spreads are too thin, computers are too powerful, and trading windows are too short. So what to do?

Two things. The first is to rely on absolute mountains of leverage. If a particular kind of hedge offers a potential spread of, say, 0.1%, then you need to invest a billion dollars to even begin to make any serious money. Obviously this makes the downside risk enormous if your bet turns out to be wrong.

The second is.....what to call it? Not fraud, certainly. Not that. Perhaps hocus pocus? Agressive salesmanship? Exuberance? Whatever.

Over at Calculated Risk, Tanta picks up on this theme, arguing that our current credit crisis isn't really due to the rocket-science complexity of CDOs and SIVs, but rather due to excessive leverage and excessive, um, exuberance. The problem is that Mortgage Backed Securities are, fundamentally, sort of boring and low yielding, so something had to be done about that:

The lurking concept here is "leverage." You want to make the big bucks investing in MBS? You leverage them. That's where those CDOs came from. A whole lot of this complexity is driven by the "need" to goose the yield, not by some essential opacity of the underlying credits....The complexity came in because you can't get a tranche paying 12% out of a bunch of loans that pay 8% unless you create complex cash-flow structures hedged by complex rate swaps leading to re-securitization of tranches in new vehicles (parts of the MBS become CDOs, for instance).

Of course, a mania for leverage is nothing new: the stock market crash of 1929, for example, was partly fueled by low margin requirements that caused investors to take huge losses when the market started to tank. (Margin requirements were eventually raised after the creation of the SEC in 1934.) More recently, the collapse of the hyper-leveraged hedge fund Long Term Capital Management in 1998 prompted the following warning from Alan Greenspan and Robert Rubin:

The events in global financial markets in the summer and fall of 1998 demonstrated that excessive leverage can greatly magnify the negative effects of any event or series of events on the financial system as a whole....Although LTCM is a hedge fund, this issue is not limited to hedge funds. Other financial institutions, including some banks and securities firms, are larger, and generally more highly leveraged, than hedge funds....The near collapse of LTCM illustrates the need for all participants in our financial system, not only hedge funds, to face constraints on the amount of leverage they assume.

Well, perhaps Wall Street did need to "face constraints" on their use of leverage, but it turns out that a stern talking-to wasn't enough to get their attention. And so we end up where we are today. We still need to restrain the use of leverage among our exuberant friends on Wall Street, and considering the price we're paying for all this leverage and exuberance, this time the restraint needs to be a little more concrete. This is why, at a minimum, we need new regulations requiring consistent capital requirements among all financial institutions.

And the "exuberance" part of all this? Well, that's where the rating agencies come in. For more on that, check out this post from Bruce Carruthers at Crooked Timber.

Leadership

2008-05-09T07:50:00.002-07:00

LEADERSHIP....Barack Obama says, "We can't just tell people what they want to hear, we need to tell them what they need to hear." But does Obama actually do that? Alexander Russo isn't so sure after taking a look at a late-90s controversy in Chicago over who should have the authority to fire school principals: local councils or reformist superintendent Paul Vallas?

Obama was uniquely well-placed to take the lead in mediating this battle. He had a relatively strong background in community and education issues. He was friends and pickup-basketball buddies with Arne Duncan, who was then in charge of magnet schools (and has since taken over Vallas' job). Obama also knew Vallas, who liked him. Then, as now, he was considered a politician who could unify people and resolve challenging conflicts.

....For several months, Obama didn't indicate clearly where his sympathies lay. He didn't join with protesters and other legislators who swarmed public events denouncing the Vallas proposal. He didn't talk to the press about the importance of community engagement for schools or the unfairness of diminishing the influence of the 5,500 elected LSC members. Obama kept tabs on the negotiations through his staff, met occasionally with local-control advocates, and, according to those who were involved, sometimes provided ideas and advice in private. But that was about it. Some local advocates weren't even sure whether he would ultimately be on their side or not. And many worried that without someone like Obama to stop it, the Vallas juggernaut would overrun any opposition.

....Only after [support for Vallas had collapsed] did Obama come out publicly in support of local school councils, making a brief speech (PDF) on the Senate floor to codify the final agreement preserving local councils' authority....In being so late to the debate, however, Obama didn't really have to stand up to anyone — not the groups he was affiliated with, not Vallas, not Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

This is only a tidbit, not an indictment. Maybe it just wasn't an issue Obama considered important enough to spend political capital on. Maybe he knew Vallas's effort to wrest control from the local councils was doomed from the start and saw no point in getting involved. Who knows? But it's still an interesting tidbit.

YouTube - Nas: Hip Hop is Dead: Album Release Party Speech (Episode 3)

2008-05-09T07:50:00.001-07:00

Hip Hop Is Dead - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaHip Hop Is Dead is a 2006 album by American hip-hop artist Nas that was released on December 19 , 2006 . The LP is Nas’ eighth album of all-original material, and his first album .

Nas Declares ‘Hip Hop Is Dead’The album is titled “Hip-Hop Is Dead, according to a Def Jam representative, who also confirmed the September release to Billboard.com. Nas capped off his roughly 15-minute set .

[link][more] Internet Game That Allows You To Be Crazy Like Heather Mills

Pacific Rim Mobile Technologies,PRMT,WCDMA, Air Protocol Analyzer,3G …

2008-05-09T05:58:00.001-07:00

Team Dynamics RacingWelcome to TeamDynamicsRacing.com

Pacific Rim Mobile Technologies,PRMT,WCDMA, Air Protocol Analyzer,3G .Pacific Rim Mobile Technologies (PRMT)- Pioneering 3G testing solutions. Our 3G Air Protocol Analyzer range of products provides the only solution for capturing the wireless .

Asustek Computers has gone ahead and broke the rules with the Eee PC, a small laptop with a five-inch screen and free open-source software. (Jan. 10) Tech Test: Eee Laptop PC Shreds the Rules

German astronaut Hans Schlegel floated out of the international space station for his first spacewalk on Wednesday, two days after an illness forced the shuttle Atlantis crew member to skip an outing to install a new European lab. (Feb. 13) Raw Video: Sick Astronaut Spacewalks

Rene Ayangma, a 20-year-old star athlete and full-time university student who was studying to become a doctor, died suddenly while training for a boxing match at a Prince Edward Island gym Tuesday. He was the second young athlete to die in Canada this week. On Monday, Windsor OHL hockey player Mickey Renaud, 19, collapsed and died at his home. Ayangma “had just started (mixed martial arts’) ultimate fighting and he was being trained to go in matches across Canada,” said friend Kayla Arsenault, describing Ayangma as a dedicated athlete who loved all sports and always won his matches. She said he had never taken drugs or steroids and rarely ever drank because “he didn’t have time with all his studying” to become a doctor. The province’s chief coroner is investigating and an autopsy was scheduled for yesterday. Mixed martial arts: 20-year-old P.E.I. athlete dies while training

It’s hardly surprising Timothy Strickland’s tenure with the Alouettes is over after six seasons. Nonetheless, the veteran strong-side linebacker is upset the organization kept him waiting this long before deciding his future.

Strickland cut, rips into Popp

Lobbying Against Cliche of Casino-Rich Tribes

2008-05-09T04:23:00.001-07:00

Though many lobby shops have found a successful niche as a subsidiary or a practice within a law firm, it’s not uncommon for lobbyists to chafe under law firm culture.
A New Lobbying Beachhead

Faced with the misconception that every tribe is casino-rich, 300 Native Americans went to Capitol Hill yesterday and today to lobby lawmakers to help turn around deplorable housing conditions in Indian Country. Lobbying Against Cliche of Casino-Rich Tribes

1994 BMW 5 Series 525I from South Africa - Comments (Carsurvey.org)“BMW at it’s best!” What things have gone wrong with the car? All of the following items of maintenance have been done during my ownership over about 22000KMs.

15mph speed limit to force people out of cars (Daily Telegraph)

2008-05-08T17:35:00.000-07:00

TOCA Race Driver 3 Cheats, Codes and Wallpapers for X-BoxTOCA Race Driver 3 cheat codes, TOCA Race Driver 3 cheats, TOCA Race Driver 3 codes, TOCA Race Driver 3 wallpapers, walkthroughs, FAQs, guides and trainers.

Watch where you’re going (Fort Wayne Journal Gazette)SUNNYVALE, Calif. For a solitary driver, the ebb and flow of traffic can be maddeningly unpredictable.

Questions And Answers Wednesday, 19 March 2008 (Scoop.co.nz)1. CHARLES CHAUVEL (Labour) to the Minister of Finance: What new economic initiatives come into force on 1 April this year, and what has been the reaction to them?

OVUM Summit: Virtualization delivers IT and business benefits for small and medium-sized businesses. This paper profiles the virtualization experience of two VMware SMB-size customers, and provides a window into the ‘real-life’ impact of virtualization for IT managers juggling the dual priorities of remaining competitive and keeping costs in check. Guide to Virtual Infrastructure Implementation

How many systems does it take to govern and control the delivery of IT changes? Far too many, incurring unnecessary expense and impeding the delivery of services to our users. This paper offers unified change management as a viable solution to automate software processes and unite frameworks such as ITIL and CMMI. Governing the Control and Delivery of Change in IT

LOST.COM Forums - Powered by vBulletin

2008-05-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

Lost Forums : Discuss Lost EpisodesFeatures clues, spoilers and episode chat.

LOST.COM Forums - Powered by vBulletinThis is a discussion forum powered by vBulletin. To find out about vBulletin, go to http://www.vbulletin.com/ . Welcome to the LOST.COM Forums. If this is your first visit, be .

MyMedia-Forum.comDiscuss and review Lost, Heroes, Galactica, Pushing Daisies, television, movies, books, gaming, sports, and music. Other bulletin board topics: Indiana Jones, Star Trek, Iron Man .

photo courtesy of PR Photos/www.prphotos.com

“At least I showed up to work on our video, unlike Amy Winehouse, who couldn’t even be bothered to do that.”

~Lily Allen slammed Amy Winehouse after they both released collaborations
with producer Mark Ronson. Sounds like someone is a little jealous.

Source Lily Allen Slams Amy Winehouse

BAY AREA BIZ (San Francisco Chronicle)

2008-05-08T14:36:00.001-07:00

ABU DHABI’S SOROUGH STRIKES ALLIANCE WITH MGM, RUBICON (Asia Pulse via Yahoo!7 Finance)Tourism / leisure Sorouh Real Estate, one of the largest real estate developers listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Market with a market cap close to AED 24 billion ($6.5 billion USD), today announced it has signed an agreement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM) and Rubicon, Inc. (Rubicon) to explore the development of entertainment opportunities within Sorouh’s real estate .

I love Shanghai (China Daily)Comfortable black velvet lounge couches, tastefully dim lighting, hip urban graffiti photography on the walls, a sleek bar surface imported from LA, and a selection of individual cocktails, I Love Shanghai is a welcome addition to Bund Life clubbing, and a great spot for a relaxing candle-lit cocktail before heading off to the main event at Attica or Bar Rouge.

A Japanese developer who reaches for the sky (International Herald Tribune)At a time when urban planners in the West frown on hulking high-rises, Minoru Mori presents a new Asian urban sensibility, where architecture reflects soaring economic ambition.

Leading Popular Culture Web Site Launches New Magazine on Amazon Kindle eBook Platform (PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance)

2008-05-08T12:45:00.003-07:00

Health tips by the Doctors Messer (ABC11 Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville)Local married medical doctors offer their insights and expertise.

Wright Medical Group steps to forefront in foot, ankle device field (Memphis Commercial Appeal)For many firms in the medical device world, feet just aren’t very exciting.

XM and QuickPlay Announce First Universally Available XM Radio Mobile Service for BlackBerry Smartphones (Broadcast Newsroom)LAS VEGAS , BUSINESS WIRE — XM (NASDAQ: XMSR), the nation’s leading provider of satellite radio with more than 9 million subscribers, and QuickPlay Media, the leader in mobile TV and video solutions, today announced that XM Radio Mobile has selected QuickPlay’s OpenVideo(TM) as the first media management platform to make XM Radio Mobile universally available on select BlackBerry (R) smartphones .

[link][more] Performances from Jessica Simpson, Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers from the Disney Parade Special

All Fool

2008-05-08T12:45:00.001-07:00

It really embarrassed me when I found this news from Ran's blog.

Minutes ago, I was totally a patriot, trying hard to strike back to those who hated China, who wanted to fuck us Chinese.

Now I feel like a dyed-in-the-wool idiot when I noticed that maybe what they want to fuck is The Communist Party of China.

I felt so angry when I know that a French journalist showed a black flag pictured with 5 handcuffs when the Chinese were trying to obtain The Olympic Flame from the site of the ancient Olympics, I thought they INSULTED US CHINESE.

How dare the stupid French insult us in such a sacred ceremony? They burnt our Royal Garden, went off with our most precious artworks, now the robber want to ruin our Olympics!

"He made a hit from this "brave" action just because he hated China and he pleased the public with claptrap to cater for the Anti-China Forces, then he could get promotion and make a killing", I got this conclusion naturally.

The official Xinhua news agency think what I thought makes sense, so they took the similar opinion to the public.

They said that the Olympics should not be politicised, it's ridiculous to threaten to boycott the Olympics.
But they do, they have changed the Game into a comprehensive eulogistic ceremony to the System. I was so bored with what they have done to guarantee this ceremony before I heard so many innocent people were brutally killed by the mother-fucker Tibetan mobs.

I know how stupid I was, so I wrote these above to get criticized, but there are still more donkeys in the world than I thought.

I still think the local Tibetan government should give those self-righteous monks a lesson, they are too naive and now they lose any possible sympathy from the inner citizens.

They thought their friends will help, but how many friend they need to meet the whole nation's angry?
They thought they have declared their independence in 1913, but who recognised? Even the British, who was then at the summit of its power, who initially instigated their stupid independence didn't think it's a great idea to provoke the weak Chinese into a brutal civil war.

It means a war, understand?
It means you will die, understand?
You damn Serfowner!

Lai mot ngay nua troi qua.......

2008-05-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

Chiec La Cuoi Cung

2008-05-08T12:38:00.001-07:00

Story about sex (časť 1.)

2008-05-08T12:17:00.000-07:00

How to tie cravat .

2008-05-08T11:28:00.001-07:00

Retail Cash Management Products FAQ

2008-05-08T09:54:00.001-07:00

Rating: 49 Posted By: dolmar
Views: 23187 Replies: 927

We will keep this thread to Retail Cash Management Products unless people want to learn about institutional ones also. Reason why I recommend sticking to retail ones for most people on this board is because they can be bought at many places with small min buy in. While institutional ones in general require either a Private Bank account or investment banking account and require much larger min buy in.

Retail Cash Management Products Defined:

An Auction Rate Security (ARS) is a debt instrument with a long-term nominal maturity for which the interest rate is reset through a dutch auction process, which resets the coupon rate (or dividend rate). Auctions are typically held every 1, 7, 28, or 35 days; interest on these securities is paid at the end of each auction period, or based on a separate schedule. In a dutch auction, a broker-dealer submits bids, on behalf of current and prospective investors, to the auction agent. Based on the submitted bids, the auction agent will set the next interest rate by determining the lowest rate to clear the total outstanding amount of ARS.
ARS holders do not have the right to put their securities back to the issuer; as a result no bank liquidity facility is required.
As bank liquidity has become more expensive, the auction market has become increasingly attractive to issuers seeking the low cost and flexibility of variable rate debt.

Pros and Cons of Auction Rate Securities

For issuers, ARS offer low financing cost, in some cases more attractive than traditional variable rate debt obligations (VDROs). No third-party bank support is required, and there are typically fewer parties to the financing process. ARS eliminates renewal risk and the risk of increased fees. There is no exposure to bank rating downgrades, and ARS offer the same flexibility found in traditional VRDOs.

For buyers, ARS provide a slightly higher after tax yield/ taxable yeild than money market instruments due to their complexity. Most securities are AAA rated as well as federal, state and local tax exempt but there are taxable version as well. They also provide an opportunity to diversify one's cash equivalent holdings. They require much lower min purchase amounts over VRDO's.

Some negative aspects of ARS include lower liquidity and potential drops in the coupon rate. Lower rate then VRDO's.

Auction Rate Securities Overview

The interest rate on ARS is determinded through a Dutch auction process. The total number of shares available to auction at any given period is determined by the number of existing bond holders who wish to sell or hold bonds only at a minimum yield. Existing holders and potential investors enter a competitive bidding process through broker/dealer(s). Buyers specify the number of shares, in denominations of $25,000, they wish to purchase with the lowest interest rate they are willing to accept.Each bid and order size is ranked from lowest to highest minimum bid rate. The lowest bid rate at which all the shares can be sold at par establishes the interest rate, otherwise known as the clearing rate. This rate is paid on the entire issue for the upcoming period. Investors who bid a minimum rate above the clearing rate receive no bonds, while those whose minimum bid rates were at or below the clearing rate receive the clearing rate for the next period.

Most places like Fidelity, Etrade, Scwaab, Citibank, BOA do not allow you enter a competitive bid unless your buying a large block normally over $1Million.

There are is something else called a Prefered auction rate securities theses are offered by Pimco, Nueven and Blackrock. I would stay away from these as you are buying debt from closed ended bond funds.

Just like anything else depending on where you buy your ARS from the rates will vary. I buy some from Citigroup and there rates tend to be ok. I have noticed some time Fidelity rates are better tho. And as the rate is based by demand rate leader can change from place to place. But both Citibank and Fidelity will tell you expected yeild so if you dont like what you hear you can always sell your position in 1 ARS and swap to another. I personally dont bother as I would be switching position more than likely every week.

Fidelity shows you there inventory online. You goto research then fixed income then under Muni hit resets to see current day offers. They only show you inventory tho durning market hours. Citibank requires you either call your assigned broker or an 800 number to get info on them.

Currently these instruments are yeilding taxable rates between 5.18-5.33% from Citibank. Remember bonds are quoted as a rate so you need to compound them yourself or compare them savings account APR and not APY which is compouded.

Fell free to ask any questions I will try to answer them as best I can.

BTW this are super low risk. In 20 years they have been offered there has never been 1 issue that has defaulted nor a failed auction. But I am sure either is possible.

More Online Coupons from Fatwallet.com.

Chase Freedom Credit Card

2008-05-08T09:52:00.000-07:00

Rating: 22 Posted By: runnerx
Views: 52384 Replies: 338

Chase Freedom

Switch from cash to points and back again without losing a thing.

You'll earn 3% Cash Back for every $1 in eligible Gas, Groceries, and Quick Service Restaurant purchases; you'll earn 1% Cash Back in purchases everywhere else.

Redeem your points for gift certificates, hotel stays, car rentals, travel on most airlines with no blackout dates, or merchandise. Choose a reward for as few as 1,000 points.

Reach $50 in rewards and redeem for a $50 check. Or, save up to $200 in rewards and redeem for $250 Cash Back!

When you reach $600 in spending in these categories in a billing cycle, you will only earn the 1% Cash Back for each $100 on these categories of net purchases.

0% introductory APR for 12 months. No annual fee.

No sign up bonus at this point.

More Online Coupons from Fatwallet.com.

Fidelity - no longer any fees, 5.21% Money Market, $100 bonus, Airline Miles

2008-05-08T09:12:00.001-07:00

Rating: 30 Posted By: timetosave
Views: 142071 Replies: 1454

I think this info has been posted on a few different threads, but I thought I would combine it all into one. Some of the changes Fidelity has made:

- No more annual fees
-0.1% expense ratio on Index Funds (min of $10k investment for non IRA accounts)
-They have a money market fund (US Government Reserves) currently yielding 3.6% (this changes every day, has been getting higher)
- $100 bonus for opening an account with $10k (after I opened an account they sent me an e-mail about this)
- I also received 25 free trades for the year (I think this has expired)
-They also have United Miles
- You can alse use your account as a checking account. I know that may be an issue for some of the threads I have seen on here, for transfering money between money market funds. Because of this, you could easily use this to pay credit cards, etc.
- and of course the 1.5% CashBack card!

My point is, one can consolidate much of their finances with Fidelity (I'm a huge fan of this). The 3.6% might not be 4% but the money is very easy to move and at the same time since its already with Fidelity you can easily use it to buy stocks/mutual funds. Plus, if you factor in the $100 bonus that helps.

I should mention the min investment for the money market fund above is $2500. However, with Fidelity you setup a "Core account" this is where the money sits when it has just been transferred in, or you made a sale of some other investment. You can set this to be a Municipal fund (no federal taxes) that is yielding 2.4%. They also have some tax-tree state funds so if you live in one of those states its even better.

If you have over $50k in assets you get $10.95 trades (same price as Ameritrade). But when your money is not in investments its sitting in the core account (2.4% tax free) instead of with Ameritrade (0.1% last time I checked). So while Fidelity might not be the absolute cheapest/ have the highest rates in all areas, it is very competitive.

Just thought some FWers would find this of interest.

More Online Coupons from Fatwallet.com.

Credit Card Application status check thread: Online / Phone

2008-05-08T07:42:00.001-07:00

Rating: 74 Posted By: skander
Views: 35151 Replies: 114

Just thought about having compilation of this information here.
Please rate this thread green if you like it

American*Express:
Online
Phone: 1-800-641-2400 Or 1-866-314-0237

Bank of America:
Online
Phone: 800-242-5772

Automated Update for BOA - AMEX, MLB, MBNA or Worldcard
Phone: 800-932-2775 - Select option #3

Bank One
Phone: 800-955-9900

Chase........
Phone: 800-480-1870 (MF 8AM-10:30PM S 9AM-8PM EST)
You can also call the "regular" Chase CS line (800-334-0601), wait through the "please enter your number" prompts and ask a regular rep about your application. For the Chase Signature Card: 1 888 894-9829

Capital One
Phone: 800 548-4593 (Press 3, Press 1 and Press your SSN)

CircuitCity
Phone: 800-937-1294

Citi----------
Phone: 888-201-4523 (7AM-7PM Central, Mon to Fri)
CitiBusiness Credit Card Status 800-288-4653 8:00AM-8:00PM EST
Discover
Phone: 1-800-DISCOVER (One of the options)

GM*Card :
Online

Juniper
Online

MBNA:
Online

Providian
Phone: 800-356-0023

Sony Card (Visa) :
Phone: 1-888-215-3049

Keep the information coming...

Skander

More Online Coupons from Fatwallet.com.

Luxury Week: Chanel

2008-05-08T06:01:00.000-07:00

Philippe Mougenot of Chanel says the key to success is innovation while remaining true to the brand.

China and UAE strengthen ties

2008-05-08T04:20:00.001-07:00

CNN's Eunice Yoon reports on how the United Arab Emirates is firming up its relations with China.

Colombia hostage freed

2008-05-08T00:04:00.001-07:00

Read full story for latest details.

Inside Zimbabwe

2008-05-07T21:38:00.000-07:00

A CNN correspondent offers a rare look inside Zimbabwe as voters grow ever more frustrated awaiting election results.

Diaper-wearing monkey caught

2008-05-07T17:52:00.001-07:00

Read full story for latest details.

Seeking Zimbabwe's future

2008-05-07T16:11:00.001-07:00

CNN's Jim Clancy visits an African oracle, seeking answers about Zimbabwe's political future.

Sunday wrap from Final Four

2008-05-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

CNN's Larry Smith previews the upcoming NCAA National Championship game between Memphis and Kansas.

Lending a helping hand

2008-05-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

Residents of Eldorado, Texas, react to the news that more than 200 people have been removed from a polygamist compound.

Strange science

2008-05-07T09:47:00.001-07:00

CNN's Hugh Riminton speaks to author Simon LeVay about plans for a particle accelerator and how it could end the world.

Torch incites heated exchanges

2008-05-07T07:58:00.001-07:00

Read full story for latest details.

China's growing luxury market

2008-05-07T07:13:00.001-07:00

CNN's John Vause reports from Shanghai on China's booming desire for all things luxury.

Partyers tear-gassed, arrested

2008-05-07T05:51:00.001-07:00

Read full story for latest details.

Johan Eliasch on 'Cool Earth'

2008-05-07T05:28:00.001-07:00

CNN's Todd Benjamin talks with Johan Eliasch, Chairman of the HEAD group, in this edition of ''The Boardroom.''

CNN Student News - 04/07/2008

2008-05-07T05:03:00.001-07:00

Pirates attack a luxury ship, two world leaders have a final meeting as presidents, and we tackle the topic of campaign finance.

Olympic torch relay protests

2008-05-07T04:36:00.001-07:00

Read full story for latest details.

Al-Maliki's Mehdi ultimatum

2008-05-07T02:48:00.000-07:00

CNN's Nic Robertson speaks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki about the Mehdi Army, Blackwater and other issues.

Luxury Week: de Grisogono

2008-05-06T23:56:00.001-07:00

CNN's Monita Rajpal speaks with Fawaz Gruosi, the CEO of de Grisogono, about his new mechanical digital timepiece.

From bottles to carpet

2008-05-06T23:05:00.001-07:00

A new breed of business is making both a profit and environmentally friendly goods. CNN's Miles O'Brien reports

Pilot injured in plane crash

2008-05-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

Read full story for latest details.

How much can you donate?

2008-05-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

CNN's Carl Azuz discusses the finer points of campaign finance and how much one can donate.

Student dies in Miami

2008-05-06T18:07:00.001-07:00

Read full story for latest details.

Hundreds out of jobs at Skyway

2008-05-06T15:52:00.001-07:00

Read full story for latest details.

Bush and Putin's final meeting

2008-05-06T13:00:00.001-07:00

In Russia, Presidents Bush and Putin have a last meeting as leaders of their countries. CNN's Elaine Quijano reports.

On the front line in Sadr City

2008-05-06T12:54:00.001-07:00

CNN's Nic Robertson sees the fighting in Sadr City and discovers the city isn't under government control.

Samsung's touchy F490 launches on Vodafone

2008-05-06T12:13:00.001-07:00

Filed under: Handsets, Samsung, Vodafone

As planned, Vodafone has launched the Samsung F490 -- you know, that full-screen touch piece for those of you that find themselves without need of the QWERTY keyboard afforded by the F700. The virtually button-free phone offers pretty much every feature a modern mobile warrior could be looking for -- save a smartphone operating system -- with a 5 megapixel camera, HSDPA, stereo Bluetooth, microSD slot, and that Croix interface Samsung spent a good deal of time touting when it was introduced last year. As is frequently the case with European carriers, there are creative ways to make even this high-end device free depending on the plan you choose, so go ahead and commit yourself to one bajillion minutes and texts per month if you want to keep your wallet stowed when placing your order.

[Via MobileBurn]

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Hard journey for Olympic torch

2008-05-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

The Olympic torch crosses London, sparking widespread protests. CNN's Emily Chang reports.

David Dorman appointed as Motorola non-executive Chairman

2008-05-06T09:24:00.001-07:00

Filed under: Motorola, ATT, Misc

We won't say that Motorola's on the up and up, but just after ridding itself of that pending litigation between it and Carl Icahn comes word that a fresh face will be succeeding Ed Zander as non-executive Chairman of the Board. David Dorman, former chairman and CEO of AT&T, has been selected by Moto's Board of Directors to take over Zander's chairman seat after he retires on May 5th. According to Greg Brown, president and CEO of the company, he feels that Dorman is "ideally suited to serve as Motorola's chairman," and he made known his excitement about working with Dave as it "moves forward with its plan to create two independent publicly traded companies and improve the performance of the Mobile Devices business." Good luck in there, Mr. Dorman.

[Image courtesy of USA Today]

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World Report - 'Technology' 1

2008-05-06T08:17:00.000-07:00

World Report takes you into space for a closer look at the International Space Station and NASA's mission to Mercury.

iPhone contacts search and meeting invite revealed

2008-05-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

Filed under: Features, Software, Apple, OS X

Remember that sweet little magnifying glass from the iPhone SDK demo? Well apparently we all weren't having a shared hallucination -- it's in the enterprise version of firmware 2.0. Thanks to a tipster, we've now got shots of the search bar clearly hanging out at the top of the contacts list. While we're unraveling mysteries, you'll be happy to know that the little drawer button -- which did nothing in the regular old firmware we had -- is actually a meeting invitations folder, which displays the number of requests just like the SMS and mail icons. Other changes? Enterprise users don't get the app store or iTunes store icons. Boo. Check out the gallery below to see just exactly what we're talking about. Now, on to finding JFK's real killer!

%Gallery-20167%

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World Report - 'Technology' 2

2008-05-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

World Report examines the dangers of overpopulating the internet, and new ways to use mobile networks.

Sidekick Slide turning red for round 2?

2008-05-06T05:36:00.000-07:00

Filed under: Handsets, Motorola, T-Mobile, Danger, GSM, EDGE

Boy Genius Report is reporting (it is the Boy Genius Report, after all) that the Motorola-sourced Sidekick Slide will be getting a second variation on T-Mobile come late May or early June, this time around in a lovely shade of red to compliment the same glossy black shell as the original. We can see how the purple might be a bit intense for some folks, so red should be a decent alternative; we don't think the picture's real here, but it gets the point across. With the iD out of the picture, it seems like T-Mobile has some ramping up to do in the palette department -- and really, how much longer can we go without a Dwayne Wade LX?

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World Report - 'Technology' 3

2008-05-06T05:14:00.000-07:00

World Report looks into a new generation of robots, and an exhibition featuring new Chinese designs.

(IT) SAP Project/Programme Manager - UK's Largest SAP Practice

2008-05-06T02:26:00.000-07:00

Rate: £80k - £110k Per Annum + Car + Benefits + 20% Bonus Location: City Of London

SAP Project/Programme Manager is urgently required to join one of the UK's Largest SAP Practice to help to lead a major £Multi-Million SAP Transformation, Implementation, Upgrade and Applications Management/Support Programmes. You will ideally have Project Managed at least 3 x full life cycle SAP implementation projects preferably with FTSE 250 clients in UK. You will ideally have worked for either a top-tier/big 4 Consultancy, niche SAP Consulting Partner or possibly for a global blue chip end user organisation. Applicants with experience working on major SAP programmes across Oil & Gas, Financial Services, Consumer Goods/Retail and Public Sector would be preferred. You will ideally have a good understanding across multiple functional areas of SAP such as Finance, Supply Chain, Logistics, HR, CRM, Netweaver etc. You will ideally have got involved in Business Development, Sales and Pre-Sales having worked on at least one successful bid with a major client. You will have experience of managing stakeholder relationships with Senior Executive & business representatives of major blue-chips. This is a fantastic opportunity to join the UK's largest and fastest growing Practice with excellent career prospects and great salaries offered. To apply, please email your CV to (see below) and we will call you to arrange an interview with a Consultant.

Rate:£80k - £110k Per Annum + Car + Benefits + 20% BonusType:PermanentLocation:City Of LondonCountry:EnglandContact:Consulting PointAdvertiser:Consulting Point Executive Search and Selection LtdEmail:Consulting.Point.BA2EE.9A351@mail.jobserve.comReference:JSSAPPM01

(IT) SAP FICO CONSULTANT IN THE LONDON AREA

2008-05-06T00:32:00.001-07:00

Location: London

A SAP FICO position has become available with one of Madison Blacks clients in the London area. The successful consultant will be from an FI background with at least 3 full project life cycles (Rollout experience will be an advantage). Experience with the Indian tax module CIN/Country version India is essential. This is a long-term contract with scope for future projects and a great chance to add value to your CV. If you are interested in this position or know someone who might be, please send back your CV or call Tim Wilson me 0207 469 5655. (Madison Black Ltd acts as an Employment Agency and an Employment Business)

Type:ContractLocation:LondonCountry:UKContact:Timothy WilsonAdvertiser:Madison Black (Contract)Start Date:14 AprilReference:JSIT MB2629 D0404TMWS12043101 AD00679180

(IT) SAP KM in UK

2008-05-05T22:34:00.001-07:00

Rate: Market Location: United Kingdom

SAP KM. K2 Partnering Solutions is a specialized recruitment consulting firm that operates within the SAP, Siebel, EAI and Oracle market. We are currently looking for a SAP KM (Knowledge Management) Specialist to work with SAP Enterprise Portal 7.0. We need a senior consultant with KM Configuration experience is to design a Web content management solution based on SAP's "Web Page Composer" Please, send us your availability and desired rate, as well as your updated CV.

Rate:MarketType:ContractLocation:United KingdomCountry:UKContact:Parisa AenehbandAdvertiser:K2 Partnering Solutions LtdEmail:Parisa.Aenehband.58EA6.F8F23@mail.jobserve.comStart Date:ASAPReference:JSSAPKM-PA/HK

Lens Reviews | Home | Review

2008-05-05T21:40:00.001-07:00

One of the most complete dinosaur mummies ever found is revealing secrets locked away for millions of years, bringing researchers as close as they will ever get to touching a live dino. (Dec. 7) Mummified Dinosaur Unlocks Old Secrets

Apple CEO Steve Jobs kicked off the annual MacWorld conference by giving fans the first look at the new MacBook Air, a laptop computer so thin it fits in a manilla envelope. AP correspondent Haven Daley reports from San Francisco. (Jan. 15) Behold the Three Pound Laptop

Camera lens reviews and SLR lens tests - PopPhotoOur database of digital camera reviews includes must-know information on today’s hottest digital SLRs, superzooms, compacts, and SLR lenses. Compare prices, zero in on the specs .

Outdoor Camera Lens Reviews - Digital Camera Lens Reviews .With a variety of camera lenses on the market, how do you choose the one that’s best for your outdoor camera? Check out our camera lens reviews, roundups and articles. From wide .

(IT) SAP Technical Architect

2008-05-05T19:44:00.001-07:00

Rate: Excellent Package + Flexible Benefits Location: United Kingdom + some travel

SAP Technical Architect - sought by our prestigious leading solutions provider/systems integrator consultancy for a continued expansion programme of their SAP Practice. This Consultant will be responsible for the design work and project leadership, working closely with clients to Architect and design technical solutions. Suitable applicants will have a solid SAP Basis background + Netweaver and have strong external consulting skills. A good understanding of SAP's ESA strategy, SOA & Web services are highly desirable in advising clients on best practice. The role will also entail pre-sales support, bid proposal development + the project delivery technical design. Strong presentation skills essential in this role. In essence, our client seeks a Consultant from a SAP Basis background who has progressed into a design/technical architecture position, or has the potential to grow into this role. This client offers unparalleled career progression and the opportunity to work on high-profile project work. Apply now for an immediate interview.

Rate:Excellent Package + Flexible BenefitsType:PermanentLocation:United Kingdom + some travelCountry:UKContact:Sap DivisionAdvertiser:Spheria RecruitmentEmail:Sap.Division.61EAC.B48FA@mail.jobserve.comStart Date:Immediate, ASAPReference:JSNCSPSAPTA

The Monster Makers - 866-521-(SPFX)7739 - Halloween Latex Mask Making …

2008-05-05T18:45:00.001-07:00

Work to begin this week on parking garage (Lancaster Online)Construction of a seven-story parking garage in the first block of South Prince Street will get under way Monday when crews begin

After years of fitful sleep, lab offers help (The Standard-Times)Almost a decade ago, my wife and I (and the Internet) put our brainpower together and determined that I had obstructed sleep apnea. I was overweight and had all the symptoms: wall-shaking snoring, gasping for air, tiredness after a full night’s sleep. No.

Mask MakingWorkshops: Mask Making. Mask making is a workshop that many people like to participate in. It’s fun and yet the process takes on a meditative quality.

Capturing meat in a bottle?

2008-05-05T17:45:00.001-07:00

Filed under: Beef, Food Oddities, Meat

Chewing taking up too much of your time? Wish you could find a way to get that vital, meaty protein in a gem-colored translucent beverage? Sadly, you're going to have to wait a little longer, as the appealingly packaged Meatwater, featured on the aptly named website "Dinner in a Bottle" is nothing more than a glossy prank. It rides the coattails of VitaminWater and does a masterful job of populating the website with near-convincing copy.

If you saw Meatwater before this post, were you momentarily convinced that it was a real product (I realize the severed arm on the front page is sort of a giveaway)?

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