Bin Laden Videos: Translated

Don't ask me how I got this info. If I revealed my source, I'd have to come and kill everyone who reads this. But it's not the source that's important.
It's what the recently-released bin Laden videos had to say. This is why they removed the audio.
"Say there, fellow Islamist Extremist! Want to be taken seriously, not only by your seven wives but all the other hot Islamic babes? Then ask yourself. Would you rather look like THIS?


Or THIS?

That's why the Sheik (Osama) uses "Just for Islamic Extremists" hair coloring for men.

Everyone knows that the appearance of youth is important for Terrorist Leaders who REALLY want to score — not only with their followers who will listen to your every word, but with the Islamo-hotties when you want to get into their burkas!
Do you want to be seen as an old man sitting at home alone, watching yourself on TV, or do you want to be viewed as young, vibrant, the virile stud the infidels fear?
JUST FOR ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS!  For that youthful, vigorous, jihad all day and boogie all night look.

"Bin Laden: Don't be a loser!  Be a user!  'Just for Islamic Extremists!'  Death to America!"
DON'T BELIEVE?  Check out the video!

Can Being on Facebook Land You a Job?

I was once told by a friend that no good can come from Facebook or Twitter. There is certainly a lot to support that statement. These are the two biggest entities in social media today. They can make a private person public, turn a faithful person unfaithful, and introduce one to a sexual predator. No, but wait… now it can do more.
Apparently, social media is not only for the tired, run down, listless, those who pop out at parties, and are unpopular. Now those who have dedicated minutes upon minutes and sometimes hours on their favorite social media sites playing games, posting music videos, and some of my favorite random thoughts can now get a job. That’s right.
It seems that in the ever growing power that social media demonstrates, recruiters have turned their eyes to it. Your Facebook or Twitter page can now get you a job. According to a recent survey in the Montreal Gazette, 58% of employers check out Facebook, 42% check Twitter and 23% look at industry specific websites. Overall, 95% of recruiters are actively checking out profiles on social media sites. This idea can potentially produce great results or just as equally negative results.
How do we feel about that? When MySpace was popular, there was a controversy regarding the fact that major corporations were investigating potential employees by seeing how they conducted their personal lives outside of work. This was a tremendous dismay to those who considered their privacy valuable. All of the social media sites give everyone the capability of having private pages that only allow friends and family to view it. These companies had found a way to penetrate that, of course everyone rightfully viewed that as a violation of privacy. However, everyone should ask themselves the following question: How much privacy does one truly have on a social media internet site?

There is a saying; what goes on the Internet stays on the Internet.
Now, that we have been made re-aware of the impact that our Facebook and Twitter pages can affect our professional lives, how will we respond? I conducted a small survey amongst friends, co-workers, and professional acquaintances. Many of them are on Facebook. I told them of these facts and asked them how they would respond with their Facebook pages. 76% said they would temporarily deactivate their profiles until after they were hired. 20% said they would scramble to change their profiles, delete tagged images or others of a questionable nature. 4% said they would have nothing to worry about at all.
Whether or not a potential employer is checking out our social media profiles we should be taking considerable care of our public images. There are a large number of people who make spectacles of themselves on Facebook every day. If it’s not through distasteful pictures then it would be what they put up on their walls every day. We should take care in not posting anything that we could one day regret. You never know if you may have just ruined your chance at becoming the next CEO of a major company just because of that one picture you have on your Facebook page. Think about it, because it makes sense… and you know this.

7 Essential Blogging Tips for Beginners

Do you feel that you are at the level of blogging for beginners and need help getting started? Have you been trying to streamline your blogging efforts? Then these 7 essential blogging tips are just what you need to get started.
When you first start blogging, begin with the end in mind regarding how successful you want your blog to be. As you apply the tips below, you will find that your efforts will be rewarded with a blogging audience that really cares about your writing, connects with you, and communicates by leaving comments.
Streamlining your blogging efforts is important to being a successful blogger. Beginners will find the following list very helpful especially since it uses the word “blogging” as an acronym to help you remember the tips:

• Become your audience. Get to know your blog’s audience and what that want to read.
• Learn from others. Always be open to being taught by others in your industry to help increase your knowledge.
• Organize your blogging efforts. Create a blogging calendar that will help you plan out your blog content regarding topics and when you will post to your blog.
• Gift your readers with tips, tools, and techniques that can help them grow their business.
• Gather research to support your content. Review blog writings of others from your industry to see what they are writing about.
• Invest in yourself. Continuously education yourself about your industry and others that impact your industry.
• Nurture relationships with potential guest bloggers. Then ask them to provide content for your blog only after you have built a relationship.
• Grow your audience. Use social media such as Twitter and Facebook to connect with potential website visitors and to drive traffic to your website.

You can go to the next level in your blogging efforts as you start from where you are and apply the tips above. Remember, to monitor your progress so that you can determine what is working for you and what needs to be revamped.

Twitter Turd of the Week, May 1-8, 2011

This may be the fastest elevation yet for someone going having 0 followers, following 2 people, and having a grand total of 9 tweets. But all nine of this moron's tweets are so foul, vile and offensive that he HAS to be our choice for "Twitter Turd of the Week."

Meet "@HansGruber_". Don't forget that underscore at the end. See, "Hans Gruber" is a popular handle for all the 16-year old knuckleheads who want to play "badass" on the Internet before Mommy calls them downstairs for cookies and milk. It was the character name for the villain in the first "Die Hard" movie. All the bad little boys who secretly want to blow up buildings with their mommies and daddies and bratty little sisters and their social studies teacher in side like to pretend on the Internet that they're scary, bad men who say scary, tough things until they hear the knob rattle on their bedroom door and they quickly change computer screens to whatever homework assignment they're working on.
We don't have much to work with here with "Hans." I did some research on the "lickenzeedickens" remark and came up with some other bad boy's My Space page and a page about movie quotes. But if that's the sort of thing "Hans" thinks about when he's not playing "badass racist tough guy" on the Internet, who am I to judge?
Here are 8 of his 9 Tweets.


I did some research on the name, and can't find anyone who I can definitely tag with this guy's moniker. Like I said, "Hans Gruber" is a favorite handle for bad little boys. Sometimes, even bad OLDER boys, like this 27-year old "gentleman" who uses a dating service designed to help people with sexually-transmitted diseases find love, even THEY use the name.

So, whether our "Hans" is a herpes-infested, gonorrhea-dripping 27-year old, or (as I suspect) just a naughty, naughty little boy who thinks saying "niggerniggernigger" makes him a badass, we salute you, @HansGruber_ for YOU are the Twitter Turd of the Week.

BTW: Anyone recognize the character "Hans" uses in his avatar? I'm guessing it's a movie bad guy played by someone who looks like Martin Short in old-man makeup.

Ireland Facing Economic Ruin

A new article from Morgan Kelly published on the Irish Times is describing the series of mistakes the Irish government has perpetrated in the last 3 years and which brought the country on the brink of bankruptcy.
A small excerpt below:
WITH THE Irish Government on track to owe a quarter of a trillion euro by 2014, a prolonged and chaotic national bankruptcy is becoming inevitable. By the time the dust settles, Ireland’s last remaining asset, its reputation as a safe place from which to conduct business, will have been destroyed.
Ireland is facing economic ruin.
While most people would trace our ruin to to the bank guarantee of September 2008, the real error was in sticking with the guarantee long after it had become clear that the bank losses were insupportable. Brian Lenihan’s original decision to guarantee most of the bonds of Irish banks was a mistake, but a mistake so obvious and so ridiculous that it could easily have been reversed. The ideal time to have reversed the bank guarantee was a few months later when Patrick Honohan was appointed governor of the Central Bank and assumed de facto control of Irish economic policy.
If the current prediction can sound bleak the reality is that Ireland is by no way the only European country facing a reality check after decades of unchecked greed and excesses. It is definitely worth a read to find out how both banks and politicians have sold the country to cover the insane gambling of the Irish banks and the losses of foreign investors. Major corrections all over Europe are coming due and we can only hope that other European countries will learn from the Irish disaster when it will come to choose between saving banks or the welfare of the people.

Manchester United vs Chelsea Live

Now there is the Biggest match is going to be playedbetween both the strongest team Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday 8th May.
This is ultimately the Big game of this season so far Manchester united ranked top in the English premier league .
At Wednesday they qualified to their Final Fourth champion’s League and can make it memorable if they sustain their position at the top of the premier league.

Click the Link below to watch the match stream:

Manchester United vs Chelsea Live
Presently both the teams plus 38 points However if Chelsia would get a victory at old Trafford then he would forward to the upper level of goal difference.
In recent 37 played premier league titles between these two giant teams ,United have got triumph in 10 matches whereas Chelsea have won 13 matches with 14 matches drawn..In old Trafford stadium Chelsea have got victory in five matches and drawn seven .
In the last season Chelsea have won with 2-1 at old Trafford .Joe Cole and Didier Drogba favoured Chelsea with 2-0 lead before Federico Macheda made a goal for Manchester united.
When both of the teams confronted at Stamford Bridge in March Chelsea got victory with 2-1 to It might known to be a most worthy triumph.
Wayne Rooney who priveledged to united But Chelsea exaggerated a shaking fight with David Luiz leveled before Frank Lampard ‘s strife penalty conserved three non-price points after Chelsea replaced Yuri Zhikov conflict with Chris Smalling.
In the recent champion’s league conflictions Manchester United have won with 1-0 at Stamford Bridge and 2-1 in Old Trafford..
United at old Trafford ,they were undefeated in two matches out of their last three,have two points receded and have accredited nine goals.
.
Man United vs Chelsea Match Details:
Cup: English Premier League
Date: 8.5.2011
Kick off Time: 16:10 PM BST
Stadium: Old Trafford

Edgar Allan Poe’s Buried Alive! (1990) Now on DVD

In a bizarre adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe, a beautiful, blonde, unstable teacher heads to Ravencroft Hall, a residential school for girls after attending a conference featuring a charismatic speaker (Robert Vaughn) who owns the facility. Obviously no one told Janet (Karen Witter) that only bad things happen at places named Ravencroft. Her first night there, lights flicker and creepy noises reverberate through the halls.
Ravencroft is a school for delinquent girls (i.e., scantily-clad females with cigarettes, high heels, and bad attitudes) that is so liberal it doesn’t lock down the facility at night. The result of such neglect is illustrated in the opening scene of Buried Alive! in which a student runs away only to be abducted by Ronald Reagan (or at least someone in a Ronald Reagan mask prototype), forced through the earth’s crust into a seemingly endless tunnel, and then sealed behind a brick wall. If that’s not bad enough, Ravenscroft has an ant problem, a black cat patrols the buildings and grounds, some of the walkways are alarmingly thin, and Janet is prone to hallucinations—visions?—of brick walls. And let’s not get into the horrifying big hair and Flashdance outfits all the students sport.
Any doubt that Buried Alive! is a horror film is dispelled by the presence of Donald Pleasence as the weird, hair-netted, former-loony Dr. Schaeffer (German accent included), and John Carradine as Jacob, a man who may desperately need help. Nia Long appears as “Fingers,” a beautiful but somewhat naïve “inmate,” who might be a tiny bit too curious.
 One by one, the girls are disappearing, walled up in basement tombs. Although everyone thinks they are runaways, the doors to the facility remain unlocked.
Buried Alive! is another of many titles being offered in “MGM’s Limited Edition Collection.” Periodically, Twentieth Century Fox releases collections of vintage titles that utilize “manufacturing on demand,” and are offered through online retailers, anticipating that there may be an audience for movies like Buried Alive, but not counting on it.
Filled with dark corridors, PG violence (Buried Alive! is actually R-rated), hysteria, ants, and girls doing silly things (ever tried styling your hair with an electric hand mixer?), Buried Alive! serves up a deliciously evil atmosphere, with a side of smooth in Robert Vaughn’s portrayal of the manipulative, lecherous, obsessed headmaster and Donald Pleasence’s enigmatic Dr. Schaeffer. It’s a recipe for hokey fun—disturbed characters, sinister location, and a story that bears little resemblance to Poe’s “Premature Burial,” “Telltale Heart,” and “The Cask of Amontillado.”

Queen of Blood (1966) Is Back and She’s Still Thirsty

Isn’t it reassuring when a DVD begins with a title that reads, “This film has been manufactured using the best source material available?” What does that mean? Does it refer to the screenplay, costumes, film stock, sets, and all the other things that go into making a film? Or does it refer to the plastic used in the manufacturing of the DVD and its case? Either way, isn’t it good to know that Queen of Blood was “manufactured using the best source material available?”
Noting that John Saxon stars, viewers are already tipped off that the best talent in Hollywood was not corralled for the making of the film. His presence, however, is offset by Basil Rathbone, Dennis Hopper, and the redoubtable Forrest J. Ackerman who has been dead since 2008 but still maintains a presence on Facebook  and My Space, posting updates.
Queen of Blood is dated, but not much more than the original Star Trek television series. Wikipedia describes the plot as, “After aliens contact Earth via radio to inform humans of an impending visit, their ambassador spaceship crashes on Mars. Astronaut rescuers recover only one green-skinned survivor - a female with insatiably vampire-like appetites,” and that pretty much sums it up. One might add, though, that she is the prettiest green-skinned, exsanguinating alien ever seen on the silver screen.
Slow moving with laughable science and special effects, Queen of Blood doesn’t have a pulse until the vampire/alien (Florence Marly) begins sucking around, and then it's barely thready. Some of the best scenes are of Paul Grant (Hopper) attempting to communicate with and socialize the alien queen. To simplify production, the story is moved along with the help of newspaper headlines, eliminating the need to stage scenes more complicated than people standing around talking. To be fair, there are scenes of people sitting around talking, too.
Queen of Blood is not as sappily made as Plan 9 from Outer Space, much to its detriment. Ironically, the production values, acting, and screenplay are not bad enough to be good. It’s not unwatchable, but it isn’t exactly stimulating either.

 

The Third Reich from A & E and The History Channel

I jumped down from the last step of the school bus and ran into the yard. My sister was waiting for me dressed in red tights and leotards. She had a single feather in her headband. She had spent the day at freshman initiation in college while I had spent the day in first grade. She turned and pointed at our mother who was holding something. “Don’t stop!” she shouted, “This is a movie camera!”

Abraham Zapruder had nothing on my parents. The whole family enjoyed our Bell and Howell for years. We even learned how to splice film together for longer home movies. Apparently civilian Germans were enthralled with home movies, too. Enough home movies and amateur film survived the Second World War that Nicole Rittenmeyer and Seth Skundrick were able to assemble enough footage to fill two DVD’s with previously unseen footage.
The film‘s narrator warns, “Some of what you are about to see has never been shown on American TV before, and some of it can not be shown in Germany even today. These are their words, their films.” In addition, we hear from at least a half dozen speakers (many of whom shot the film being shown) voicing their concerns, emotions, and points of view. Most segments began with the narrator suggesting that, “If you were German in 1937...etc.” or, “If you were Jewish living in Poland…etc.” as a way of setting up the clip about to be shown.
Walter Lenger and his family appear in several segments as loyal citizens doing their part to support the cause. A German society journalist (Bella Fromm) offers a contrasting point of view as she wept with joy upon entering the U.S. Embassy with passport. “I’ve got to get out before it’s too late.” Scenes from Hitler Youth camps with voiceovers from teens, who had pledged their loyalty to the Fuhrer, illustrate the fanaticism so prevalent at the time.

Lenger’s film was a notch better than amateur and likely made with better equipment. Recent discoveries of unfinished film in vaults along with these clips brought out of Germany by Russian soldiers provide insight into what really was going on in Nazi Germany. Some clips include scenes of the victorious allies along with the terrifying results of the destruction of Germany.
The Third Reich was released on April 12, 2011 and is available from The History Channel and Amazon.

How the Golden Rule Applies in Social Media

We all know the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto to you." And if you didn't know it before, you do now.
While this is certainly a good way to live your life, it's especially true in the universe of social media.
One of the many benefits of social media is finding people who share your interests, and good manners are just as important here as they are when you’re in the same room with someone. So for those who need a lesson in how the Golden Rule applies on-line, here are a few simple guidelines to help you when you post on Facebook and Twitter.
BASICS
You want nice, be nice. You want followers, follow and friend people you respect. Be mindful of your audience when you post and tweet by keeping harsh and potentially offensive opinions to yourself. Give credit where credit is due by attributing your source. And of course, be polite because good manners count for a lot.
TWITTER
When you tweet, post items that will appeal to a wide audience, retweet good tweets, and give credit by attributing your source.
If you want your tweets retweeted, post items that are interesting to others so your followers will send them out to their followers. You just might pick up a few new followers this way. But this can only happen if your followers attribute your item with a retweet. If someone just posts your tweet as if it were their own good idea, it won’t do you any good. Set a good example by attributing and hopefully, they’ll get the message and do the same.
When someone has retweeted something of yours, thank them for the boost it gave to your original tweet. That’s good manners and builds your relationship with that person.

FACEBOOK
Similar thinking about good manners also applies to posting on Facebook.
Is anyone out there? If people don’t comment on your posts, it can feel like posting on Facebook is like sending a message into a black hole in space; energy is sucked in and nothing comes back. On Facebook, if people don’t comment, you don’t know if your posts have been read.
When you read something that you enjoy, post a comment on your friend’s wall; it’s a nice acknowledgement and develops your relationship. It also encourages them to reciprocate by commenting on your posts.
While freedom of speech is one of the privileges we enjoy in this country, posting a comment that could be offensive to others isn’t good manners. This is especially true when someone sees that comment posted on the walls of their friends. Why? Because there’s nothing that they can do about it. Yes, an offensive comment can be removed from their own wall, but not from their friends’ walls, so don't do it.
At the risk of being repetitive, good manners is part of what makes the universe of social media work so well. When you’re polite, people will remember you well for it and your friendships will grow because of it. So go out there with kind words and good manners. You’ll be the better for it, and so will the social media universe.

From the MGM Limited Edition Collection: Daughters of Satan (1972)

The box art and information for Daughters of Satan lists producer Aubrey Schenck, director Hollingsworth Morse, and writer John S. Higgins, but there’s no mention of the cast. Viewers will undoubtedly be delighted to find that none other than American superstar Tom Selleck starred as the bedeviled husband, James Robertson, in this eminently forgettable film that opens with a nude torture scene.
Selleck is unbelievably young (has anyone ever been that young?) in this silliness. Robertson is an antiques buyer looking for relics in Manila. In an antique shop, he finds an old painting of a witch-burning that features a witch who is a dead ringer for his wife, Chris (Barra Grant). As soon as his wife sees the painting, spooky music begins to play. How does Chris know so much about the historical event it represents? (Note to men: if you would like to feature in your own horror story, give your wife a painting of a witch that you think looks just like her.)
Chris’s reaction is about what one would expect from a woman whose loving husband thinks she looks like a witch, and that night she begins to hear far-off voices calling her name and there’s a—gasp—strong, unexpected breeze. Daughters of Satan leaves no cliché unturned. It is pure seventies, and in a nod to hippies, Chris wears a hideous granny dress which prompted me to burn my “vintage” wardrobe items.
After brooding over the painting, Chris meets a large black dog named Nicodemus whose outrageously-spiked collar advises that he lives at 666 Calle Revelacion (I swear to you, I’m not making this up). This is the scene where you seriously start throwing the popcorn. When Old Nic runs away, Chris runs after him. At this point the audience is convinced that there’s something not quite right about Chris.

Despite his wife’s displeasure and discomfort at the sight of the painting, James hangs it in the house, and realizes the big black dog in the painting has suddenly begun to fade away. At this point, I am horribly disappointed that I chose to watch Daughters of Satan alone—it’s so bad, it begs to be shared.
You know what’s coming…a spooky housekeeper who looks just like one of the other witches in the painting, covens, devil worship, a painting that changes daily, an unbalanced wife, and a nasty little knife that looks like it could do a lot of damage. Thank heavens Chris’s crucifix is always displayed prominently… well, almost always…until…

Daughters of Satan is absolutely awful in such a good way. Tom Selleck’s name is probably not on the box because he’d likely sue to have it removed. I don’t think the dog wanted to be credited either. This is the kind of movie that is memorable only because it just gets more and more preposterous (I purposely haven’t mentioned the singing photographer/mortician taking pictures of nude corpses who is an expert at semantics and dog names). Fight scenes are badly choreographed, the script is lame and predictable, and there’s nothing to redeem this film except—maybe—Tom Selleck’s appeal (not to be sexist or anything, but he had great legs). Combine those factors with a few friends and six-packs, pop enough corn to eat and throw, and enjoy thoroughly.
Sure, Daughters of Satan is all downhill after the first sub-basement scene. Those interested in high-quality films with good production values and talented casts should avoid it, but for those of us who love wallowing in the best of the bad (which is probably the worst of the worst), it is a day at the beach.

 

The Social Media Dilemma

It seems like celebrities just can't catch a break. At least not on Facebook.
Sure, they may have lavish homes, fleets of luxury automobiles, high-paying endorsement deals, personal assistants, perks wherever they go, the ability to conjure money out of thin air due to their status, adoring fans, yachts, and one or two other minor comforts that most of us don't, but when it comes to things like social media, they just can't do a darn thing right!
The latest celebrity to be flagged for misuse of social media is tennis player Maria Sharapova. Her crime, "Giving (fans) the chance to directly buy products she endorses" on her Facebook page (Source: CNN). While this caution may seem laughable, it raises a serious question to be asked by small businesses and large corporations alike:
Is it ok to use social media as a sales tool?
Many believe that the answer is "absolutely not," including Ilana Fox of British news outlet New Media Source. She recently wrote, "Facebook shops are a flash-in-the-pan trend that won’t increase revenues for retailers. They’re a social commerce quick-win that’s as effective as any other pared-down, (poor) version of an etail site." And it seems she is not alone in her stance.
Sport Industry Group's Drew Barrand agreed in a recent interview with CNN, adding "It remains to be seen whether social media can be harnessed as a separate revenue source. It's in its infancy so no-one has really worked out how to use it from a sponsorship point of view. In terms of gathering support and exposure, it's clearly a very valuable tool. But how do you use that for commercial purposes?"
The truth is some companies have been utilizing their Facebook page to sell their products for months now, and I'm not just talking about pasting a link on the page wall.
Back in October of last year, Social Media Examiner reported that many companies were already making great use of the ability to showcase their online catalogs to Facebook "fans" using custom apps. They even pointed out two examples (1-800-Flowers and Delta) of online brands that were allowing for sales to be made inside of the Facebook browser (Delta's is especially impressive,) allowing fans to shop and purchase without ever leaving the page. Since that time, Facebook has adopted new, aggressive changes to make it easier for companies large and small to sell within their fan pages. This tells me that selling through social media is hardly "in its infancy" and is much more than a "flash-in-the-pan trend." It is here to stay

Is There a Place for God in Social Media?

A lot of people are hesitant to enter brick and mortar houses of worship these days. They’re tired of the rigid rules that define one place of worship from other places, and they’re fed up with being told what to think.
The real problem is this: people walk away, still hungry for spirituality.
Until social networks, attending traditional churches, mosques, or synagogues was the only place people could explore their spirituality. But many of us leave these traditional places of worship feeling like:
• It’s a club where everyone thinks, believes, and prays the same thing
• If you don’t agree with the rules of the club, you’re not part of it
• There is no place to talk intelligently about spiritual issues that are important to us
Social media is changing the way we find God and explore our spirituality. Why? It is one of the few places that people can be anonymous and speak freely about their faith—or lack of it. Social media provides safe places where we can engage in real conservations about our doubts, fears, and desires. There is no worry about church, synagogue, or mosque leaders looking over our shoulders and criticizing us because we haven’t interpreted the Holy Book to their liking or listened to their religious teachings.
Social networks provide a place where people can find others who think and feel the same way about important issues in their life. Shouldn’t that also include God?
Shut Down By Their Own Communities
We often do not speak out in the communities in which we live because we’re afraid of being censored by peers or leaders.
As a former FBI counterintelligence agent, my job was to recruit Russian spies trying to steal economic and military secrets from the U.S. I found that one of the biggest obstacles to communicating with the foreign spy was their fear of censor—that somehow their actions would be observed by others and misinterpreted—and then they would be judged, before given the opportunity to explain the situation.
The attraction of using social networks for spiritual conversations is that it doesn’t matter which faith tradition a person comes from, or what area of the world, or background. It provides a forum outside their church, synagogue, or mosque and gives them permission to explore beyond the confines of their own religious experience.

Biblica
Biblica is a large international bible publisher. They recently started a virtual community to read the New Testament during Lent. The group consisted of people around the world, in 5 different time zones, and from 12 different churches. The reason for the virtual meetings was not to discuss the church; it was to discuss how the readings had impacted them and to share these experiences with one another.
Virtual conversations allow people to express their thoughts without being constrained by the groupthink that holds so many of us back in our local communities. A great advantage of social is that it can international, interfaith, cross-cultural, and cross-generational. Face-to-face communities will always be important, but many people feel too intimidated to express opinions or feelings that don’t tow the line within that community. Diversity also exposes people to different ways of observing how the Holy moves in lives.

No Extremists, Please
Meaningful conversations about our spiritual lives do not include extremists who refuse to listen to any brand of religion except their own. There are already enough of those types of websites and they promote hate and intolerance.
Traditional churches, synagogues, and mosques have created on-line chat rooms for their followers in an attempt to modernize. These can be helpful tools. However, religious leaders may fear God showing up in social media because it means they may have less influence over the way we think and view our relationship with the Holy. They could have less control over how we spend our money and time as well.
On-line chats created for—and by—traditional houses of worship miss the real value of social media. Social media introduces us to people in other countries as well as those who live down the street, to people who believe as we do and to those from a completely different faith tradition, to those who look like us and those who look very differently.
What a great conversation!
Thanks to social networks, we can all join the conversation.

April Showers Bring Financial Advice for May

With gas prices soaring, the economy crawling forward, and uncertainty regarding the federal budget, there’s never been a better time to get your personal finances in order. No longer can we rely on the government for help, we have to take matters into our own hands.
Here are three money saving tips you can begin to implement in May to better your finances and life. Which ones are you going to work on?
Fill your vehicle’s tank half way or less. This is one of the best ways to save money on gasoline prices. Why? Your vehicle will have to pull less weight when your tank is half full. While you’re at it, clean out your car and unload any unnecessary weight that could be pushing up your fuel consumption. It’s also important to keep fuel prices in perspective with the rest of the world: there are many countries that far exceed the gasoline pricing of the United States.

Create a responsible budget. It’s easy to forget to reconcile all your financial transactions. Grab as many receipts as you can from merchants and write down how much you are actually spending. Subtract these receipts from the budgeting categories you have created, and do this frequently! You’ll have better control over your money and won’t be creating a deficit. By reviewing your spending behaviors you’re sure to find some leaks in your wallet.

Take advantage of fresh cut spring flowers for gifts. You’ll save so much money by cutting flowers from your own garden or finding great deals at your local markets. Now is also the time to stock up on seed for your very own garden. By investing a little bit of time now, you’ll save money by not having to purchase produce later on, and eat healthier too.
May is a great time of year. The sun is starting to show itself and warm summer days are just around the bend. Make this month healthy all around by following these tips and you’ll have more money to spend on what matters most. While you’re at it, learn a few more ways to save money in unusual ways.

Return from the Ashes Returns to the Small Screen (on MOD)

Michelle has money, Stan does not. She loves him; he loves her money. A match made in heaven, don’t you think? A film that sounds like it would be horror (wife returns from the dead) turns out to be film noir—1965’s Return from the Ashes .
Maximilian Schell is cast as Stanislaus Pilgrin, a broke chess master with expensive tastes. Pilgrin meets Dr. Michele Wolf (Ingrid Thulin) over a chess board and is quickly smitten with her cash flow. Dr. Wolf is a radiologist and the widow of a man that left her more than comfortable. They live together in pre-World War II Paris; when the Nazis invade Poland, lily-livered Stan proposes to Michelle—more to spite the Nazis than out of love, for he is Polish and Michelle is Jewish. As they leave their wedding ceremony, Nazis drag Michelle off to Dachau.
Fast forward to the liberation of France, Michelle eventually finds her way back to Paris after being hospitalized for some time and rents a flat under an assumed name. She is still in love with Stan, but--knowing how shallow he is--wants to work a bit on her looks before meeting him; he believes she is dead. In the meantime, Stan has gotten himself involved in an affair with Michelle’s beautiful, greedy step-daughter, Fabi (Samantha Eggar) who has a plan to recoup the 300 million francs Michelle had before she “died.” The goofy scheme just might work...if Fabi and Stan had a brain between them.
Stan, coward that he is, figures his only choice is to kill both women, get the money, and retire from his hectic life of doing nothing. He embarks on double-crossing his lover (Fabi) and devises a plan to rid himself of his wife, Michelle. Fans of film noir know that there is always that one little thing that goes wrong—that little piece of evidence, an exchanged greeting, an unexpected guest. Perhaps Stan should have spent more time at the cinema with Fabi instead of in bed.

Slow at times, Return from the Ashes is a neat piece of noir that focuses on cunning, avarice, and duplicity. Maximilian Schell is smooth and appealing as Stan; we can see why women might fall for him, but we still think they should have more sense. Samantha Eggar is luminous as the bratty-but-clever Faby, and Ingrid Thulin succeeds at making the transition from beautiful woman to concentration camp refugee and back.
There is one marvelous scene early in Return from the Ashes where a very annoying little boy falls off a train (who cares?), included to illustrate Michelle’s lack of emotion when she first returns. It doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of the deliberately paced film. It was designed to shock, and it succeeds, but—really—if that kid didn’t fall off the train, someone would have thrown him off.
Return from the Ashes is one of MGM’s Limited Edition titles, manufactured on demand (MOD) and available from on-line retailers. It was released March 29.

Waiting for Star Wars: Lore and the Codex

Is there an MMO without lore?
At the very least, every MMO has some backstory explaining the reason why your characters are fighting and what's happening in the world.
Better MMOs tend to have richer lore. While rich, detailed lore doesn't guarantee success, it does help engage players and draw them deeper into the MMO.
Games such as Star Trek, Warhammer, and Age of Conan were able to depend on large audiences at release partly due to their pre-existing stories and lore. Players were drawn to the games because they wanted to be part of the story.
As those games demonstrated, lore alone is not enough - you still need to deliver a good product - but lore is important to an MMO's success. Why? Because most players want a story. Players revel in a game's lore. They want to discover it all, know as much about the story as they can.
Are you an MMO explorer? Do you want to uncover, learn, and greedily consume every detail of your MMO's lore? Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) looks like it's ready for you.
On his latest blog entry, Damian Schubert, Principal Lead Systems Designer on SWTOR, talks about the SWTOR codex.
Looking to Dragon Age and Mass Effect for guidance, the SWTOR design team has taken the best of both, combining the story-telling elements of the Dragon Age codex with the encyclopedic codex of Mass Effect.
"For The Old Republic, we took the best of both systems, using our codex to not only elaborate on the settings you fight in and the creatures you kill, but also to plant seeds of knowledge relating to key personages and concepts from your class story and long-lost lore..."
"Current estimates of our codex are around 120,000 words of text. By comparison, the average Star Wars novel comes in at around 100,000 words."
It sounds like the BioWare team is hard at work, striving to provide gamers with a rich storyline.
Will SWTOR be a lore aficionado's paradise? You'll have to wait until the MMO release to be sure, but all signs are encouraging.

The Jakarta ASEAN Summit 2011 was Opened by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono

ASEAN (Association of South east Nation) is an organization of cluster nations in Southeast Asia that aims to build cooperation in the economy, social and culture among its members. The ASEAN summit is held every year to strengthen the cooperation among its members.
This year the ASEAN summit is held in Jakarta and Indonesia is appointed to be the chairman for the next five years. ASEAN summit was opened by Indonesian President Yudhoyono in Jakarta, Saturday 7 May 2011 and attended by leaders from 10 countries. The Sultan of Brunei Darussalam Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Laos Thongsing Thammavong, Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato 'Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Myanmar Thein Sein, Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and Senior Minister S Jayakumar representing Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong attend the Jakarta ASEAN summit 2011.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono asked the ASEAN leaders to respond to the dynamics of conflict that can affect the sustainable peace in the region. The President said ASEAN should be able to facilitate diplomatic and open dialogue forum to solve the conflicts among its members.
"All the efforts to manage conflict we have outlined in the Blueprint of the ASEAN Security Community Politics. Our obligation is to implement the joint agreement, "said President SBY in his speech when he was opening The 18 ASEAN summit in Jakarta Convention Center last Saturday.

Plainly Refreshing...New Advertising Campaign Avoids the Lowest Common Denominator

I'll be honest, I'm generally disappointed by most of today's advertising.
When I was growing up, Advertising Executive was a sexy profession. Everyday people knew where Madison Avenue was and Thirtysomething (the characters worked in advertising) was the Gray's Anatomy of the time. That was the Golden Age of Super Bowl commercials (Bud--Wise--Errrr was one of the last campaigns of the age.)
Today's advertising is all over the place. Sometimes I think they're not even trying anymore. Who could blame marketers? Since the explosion of the internet and the proliferation of cable channels, Americans have been inundated with focused advertising, product placement (yuck!) and Beyonce singing "Lemme Upgrade Ya!". We're almost completely inoculated against original ideas.
Some advertisers have combated this with shock attempts that are too much (the Long John Silver's husband and wife shrimp who mistakenly eat their own children comes to mind).
So it was very refreshing to see the visually stunning new 45 second spot for Fage Greek Yogurt. The "Plainly Plain" poem voiced over by Willem Dafoe is fitting and interesting, but the stark white slow motion liquid movement broken by shocks of fruit inspired color coupled with alabaster biological forms awakening from within is what makes this spot so beautiful.

Digital Hollywood Spring - Interview With Moving Interactive President and Founder Howard Tiersky And Application Review

Recently, I attended the Digital Hollywood Spring conference in Marina del Rey, California. While there, I had the opportunity to speak with the President & Founder of Moving Interactive, Howard Tiersky. A long time media and entertainment executive who previously worked at Capgemini, a global consulting firm where he led the company's digital media capabilities. He, also, is a teacher at New York University, and is a regular speaker at industry events.



Moving Interactive is a company that does marketing for entertainment and leisure companies, and helps them find ways to maximize opportunities in media. Their web-site adds this:

Moving Interactive partners with leading media, entertainment, and hospitality brands to create new business capabilities that maximize the opportunities of the digital age. The evolution to a digital industry is the largest transformation the media world has seen in decades – and the old rules and ways of launching new products no longer apply.
To address this critical need, a group of senior executives from the leading digital and innovation firms came together to craft a new approach to digital product development – one that is smart, nimble, insightful, and drives to meaningful and predictable business results.

"Our primary goal is to help companies identify opportunities," said Tiersky. "When we started, we were primarily focused on strategy and marketing for specific components of digital product. As time went by, we continued to encounter breakdowns in the process because of limitations of other companies servicing our clients. The more this happened, the more we realized we needed to manage all components."
Moving Interactive produces a bevvy of products for the their customers. This includes things like:
-Web & Mobile Based Ads
-E-Commerce solutions

-Content Distribution
-Set-top and mobile applications
Applications are of particular interest for two reasons. The first was the sheer number of panels at this conference as well as the number of times I heard people talking about them. Whether the topic was creating them for entertainment or as business tools for companies. And, the numerous times content owners conveyed how interested in exploiting their content through new applications was staggering.
The other reason was the official Digital Hollywood Application that was created exclusively for  this event. I learned about it the day before the conference started and down-loaded it to my iPhone. "We've been getting good feedback on the app," said Tiersky. "The app is designed to down-load all of the pertinent information so if there is a lack of internet access, the user will still have everything that he or she would need."
Which was a good thing because internet access was pricey at the event.  Using the application was a mostly positive experience. It was organized and easy to navigate through a clean interface. Some minor quibbles included the lack of ability to add events to the phone's calendar, not every panel had a description, and the lack of location of the meeting rooms. Additionally, panel participants weren't always correct.

To be fair, I'm fairly confident this was more the show organizer's fault then Moving Interactive. The printed materials suffered from those same problems, except for the calendar issue, so Moving Interactive can only do what they do with the information they were given. And, it's unclear what the reason was that you couldn't add panels to your calendar.
Still, the prior week I had attended the LA Games Conference and they didn't have an app so I do give Moving Interactive and Digital Hollywood big props for this. And, after my meeting, I felt that Tiersky was an energetic and forward thinking technology executive and I expect to experience the fruits of their labor in the near future

The Days Of Easy Money From Commodities Is Over

I've watched investors pour money into commodities as speculators continuously bid up the price. Gold and silver have hit all-time highs, and were showing no sign of slowing down. With gold trading at over $1,500 an ounce, and silver over $45 an ounce, anyone on the outside could see these numbers wouldn't last. Speculators had created a bubble within commodities, and that bubble would soon burst.
Silver had the largest one-day drop in 3 years as prices fell by 8% on Thursday. If this isn't enough to scare investors away from commodities, I don't know what will.
The jobs report was released this morning, showing higher-than-expected gains in the private sector, which has driven the stock market back up. With 59,000 more jobs created than expected, the Dow opened up almost 130 points today, gaining back much of what it lost, and temporarily halting the commodity bubble bursting. But news is only temporary, and speculator will continue to bet on the other side now, driving commodity prices down.
Investors buy commodities (especially gold and silver) as a hedge against inflation, since a rise in prices in imminent with the Fed completing its full complement of $600 billion from QE2. But I believe now is the time to get out of commodities, and focus your money elsewhere.
Where should you be looking? Financial companies. They took one of the hardest falls during the 2008 financial crisis, and many of them are still trading well under what they're worth.

Adsense Tips for Bloggers 1

How do you make money from the Google Adsense Program? What AdSense Tips can you share with us?
I have been asked this question so many times in the past few weeks that I thought I should write something on the topic. It seems increasingly bloggers want to try to cover their hosting and ISP costs with some revenue from their blog – and increasingly they’re doing it and are able to make a few (or quite a lot) dollars on the side. Many are turning to Google’s Adsense program.
Covering costs of my Digital Photography Blog is why I originally signed up with Google Adsense – blogging can get expensive when you have high levels of traffic and a lot of pages.
Whilst the agreement you sign with Google stresses that you are not allowed to give specific information about your earnings from the program I can say that I’m glad I’ve signed up because its well and truly covered my costs – and then some. In fact I think its quite feasible to expect that Adsense coupled with other strategies for making money from Blogging could quite easily generate a decent living. It takes time and hard work, but I think its very doable. (Update: Since writing this series I’ve revealed that I am now looking at making over a six figure income this year in 2005 from blogging).
So how do I make money from Google Adsense? Let me share some AdSense Tips that heve helped me.
This will be the first in a series of posts on this topic. Let me say up front I’m no expert – there are a lot of people out there making a lot more money than I am using Adsense – however most of them are not telling their secrets – well not for free anyway. I’ve got no secrets to hide and am willing to share what I’ve learnt since I signed up for the program 8 months ago. If you want a REAL expert’s opinion on Adsense I’d recommend buying Joel Comm’s What Google Never Told You About Making Money with Adsense E-Book. Joel earns $15,000 per month from Adsense and has some good things to share.
I know some bloggers are put off or offended by the idea of making money from blogging so I’ll try not to let these posts dominate my blog – however if you are not interested in the topic, simply skip over these posts.

I am going to assume a few things in this series to cut down the amount of introductory comments I have to make. Here is what I am assuming:

• You have a blog. Whilst most of the following tips will apply to other types of websites I run Adsense on blogs and will speak from that experience.
• You have (or will) read a basic overview of Adsense and have some understanding of what it is.
• You have(or will) read the program policies as outlined by Google. These give details of site eligibility, ad placements and other requirements for using the system.

Enough introductory comments – lets get stuck into the Adsense Tips for Bloggers!

Reduce your Bouce Rate and earn Millions

I hope you all have installed Google Analytics in your blog. If not then quickly do so. The information and means to do it are available here. If you do not already know then you should know that Google Analytics is a tool that provides vital statistics about your website like how many people are visiting it and what time do they spend there etc. As you see above the Google Analytics gives information such as Visits, Page Views, Bounce Rates, Average time spent on the website, new visitors etc.

The most important parameter given above is the Bounce Rate. This is the percentage of people who come to the website and go back without going to any other page on the website. The higher this number the greater number of customers you are losing everyday. The endeavor on the webmaster's part should be to reduce this to bare minimum. In fact the ideal bounce rate should be 0. Any number more than zero is totally unacceptable.

To reduce the bounce rate the following steps must be taken immediately.

1. Targeted keywords: If your website is lacking targeted keywords, then the visitors will not find it relevant to their search results and will therefore move out. The website should not waver from the niche topic. Targeted audience is hard to get if the website covers a wide variety of topics. Your keywords should be there in titles, articles, and all other parts of your website.
2. Get the right look: Make your website look like it should be. If your recipe site looks like an auto review site then the potential audience of chefs will desert it like mice in a drowning ship. The look and feel of the site is therefore, very important. The color scheme and the images used should match the theme of the site.
3. Images in articles: Always insert images in the articles. Bland articles are not binding enough to catch hold of the visitors. Always insert relevant images, illustrations, diagrams in the articles to get the desired visitors to spend more time at your website.

I hope you will benefit from this article of mine and get a good traffic to your website/blog.

If you liked this post then please do subscribe to the RSS feed and give your valuable comments for the post.

After iPhone, Here's The PaperPhone

If you thought that the iPhone was the game-changer, here's something to prove you are wrong.
A bunch of Canadian researchers have invented a a smartphone prototype which is paper-thin, flexible and has a low-powered e-ink touchscreen display (Amazon's Kindle also uses an e-Ink display). The phone can be rolled up to fit into your pocket.
So, we won't have broken glass on our phone anymore and no extra weight in our pockets.
The PaperPhone will be officially be unveiled at the Association of Computing Machinery's CHI 2011 in Vancouver, Canada by Roel Vertegaal—an associate professor of Computer Science and director of the Human Media Lab at Queen's University in Canada.

In an exclusive interview, Vertegaal said, "This is the future. Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years. The computer looks, feels and operates like a small sheet of interactive paper. You interact with it by bending it into a cell phone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen. This is not a maybe. This is a definite. This is what your phone will look like."
The prototype developed does absolutely everything a normal smartphone can do. It can store e-books, play music, make phone calls, etc. This futuristic phone is as thin as a credit card and is much more flexible than one! It has a 9.5 cm diagonal screen and is one-sixth the weight of Apple's latest iteration of the iPhone. The smartphone is very robust ("You can hit it with a hammer," Vertegaal says) and uses less electricity to charge itself.
Instead of pushing buttons, the user has to bend the phone to navigate. If the phone is bent on both sides, an application is opened up. If you dog-ear the top right corner, the next page will come up.
But, along with such next-gen features, there are a few problems, as well. While the flexible board circuit was used for the bendable input and power, the processor and other rigid electronics had to be attached via an external handle to the phone. The next factor is the price. The prototype alone costs about $7000-$10000 to produce.
But, Vertegaal says that price won't be an issue in the next 10 years or so since the product will eventually go mainstream and cost of production will eventually decrease for a normal, middle-class consumer.
This invention marks a whole new era in the history of computing. Computers that are lightweight, flexible and that use absolutely no power when not being used is an idea a geek could only think of in his dreams.

Is GE Gaming the System Or Simply Playing The Game?

The spotlight is on GE, a multibillion dollar conglomerate which markets everything from toasters to jet engines to television shows. Last year, in 2010, GE posted a gross profit of about $75 Billion and earnings (EBITDA) of approximately $27 billion. Net income applicable to common shareholders was listed at $12 billion, and according to many sources, paid nothing in US Federal taxes.
This no way infers they did anything illegal. They did, however, take advantage of the highly complex US corporate tax code (including a myriad of loopholes), allowing a company which earns so much, to pay so little. So the question is, as a shareholder, should I be happy or sad, pro business or pro regulation? The questions are black and white, whereas the answers are often in a gray area. Yahoo Finance lists the following notables for GE's key statistics.

GE 2010 Income Highlights

• Revenue: $150.21 Billion
• Gross Profit: 75.49 Billion
• EBITDA: 27.44 Billion
• Net Income: $12.32 Billion

It would seem reasonable to expect all profitable corporations to be their fair share of federal taxes, my company paid a fair sum of taxes for the year ending 2010 (and just to be clear, we didn't net $12 Billion in profits). Of course fair is arguably an ambiguous term, some might think GE and other US corporations should be allowed to play the tax game, the ante paid dictated by the rules of the game. After all, they are merely playing the cards dealt by Congress, and are doing so legally. GE does have an obligation to shareholders to optimize profits, and it is something shareholders have a right to expect. That said, it is concerning to see a profitable mega corporation like GE engaging in extensive offshore outsourcing while simultaneously reaping federal tax breaks.
How can this convoluted situation happen? Under the tenet that everyone should pay their fair share, it would seem the culprit is the code. If the tax laws allow a company like GE to legally circumvent their ethical tax obligation, the laws must be changed, that responsibility ultimately residing with Congress. And herein resides the problem. Congress is influenced, by the influential. And mega corporations with their army of lobbyists and lawyers, and highly paid Fortune 500 executives are very influential. Can Congress find a fair balance? Can our President help execute a plan to simplify the tax code and share the tax burden? If incentives are to be created, cannot they be created to reward companies for domestic job creation and reduced offshore outsourcing (at least until such time as the US sees improved employment)?


In a recent article entitled How You Can Pull a GE on Taxes by Brett Arends of the Wall Street Journal, WSJ GE Tax Article, Arends postulates how a small corporation can emulate GE and legally pay no taxes by utilizing the same techniques that giant corporations use. It was written on April 1st, but it didn't seem like a joke to me, as many of the tax incentives mentioned are utilized by both small corporations and giant corporations across the US. Many would argue that corporations, just like hard working people, should pay their fair share. And if GE and other giant corporations can pay little if any taxes, that's just not happening. That's a call to action if I ever heard one. In this writer's humble opinion, Congress (that's both Republicans and Democrats) needs to cut out these tax loopholes ensuring any incentives have a clear and simple correlation back to job growth. We can't blame GE for playing the game, but we can and should change the rules of the game.

F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Beginning to Power Lockheed’s Earnings

As the first quarter results for the various large defense contractors role in their have already been some surprises. Raytheon (RTN) failed to meet expectations and suffered a decline in earnings and revenue compared to last year and had to adjust its guidance downwards. Lockheed Martin (LMT) on the other hand reported a good quarter.
Earnings came in at $1.55 a share well above analysts’ predictions of $1.51 and increased 17 cents from last year. This has led the defense giant to raise its guidance twenty-five cents to $6.95 to up to $7.25 in earnings per share on steady sales figure of the $46 billion range.
There are concerns that the defense industry as a whole will begin to see declining revenues and earnings as pressure builds to reduce spending not only in the United States but also in Europe. This means that the contractors will be fighting among themselves for a smaller total amount of money reducing the chance of broad growth in this sector. So far this has translated to results like Raytheon’s where the United Kingdom cancelled a program and the U.S Navy reduced spending on another which affected the company’s performance as a whole. If there are large scale reductions in such spending then more of these effects will be realized.
Lockheed despite the good quarter did have some issues within their different sectors. Two of their four groups, Information Systems and Global Solutions and Space Systems, did see decreases in sales. These were offset by growth at Electronic Systems and most importantly Aeronautics.
Electronics produces radars and missile systems and the U.S.’s continued investment in missile defense including programs like the Army’s PATRIOT PAC-3 which Lockheed make’s the missile for led to some of the growth. The group also made money off of a logistical support contract.

Women's Health: Survey Highlights Illnesses, Care and Prevention

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation recently published their Women's Health Care Chartbook--Key Findings from the Women's Health Survey. This report provides a snap shot of women's health in the U.S. Chapters in the Chartbook cover a Profile of Women's Health, Health Coverage, Delivery System, Prevention and Screening, Access and Affordability and Work, Family and Caregiving.
Here are some of the highlights from the report:
The most common chronic health conditions reported by women in the survey include: arthritis 22%, hypertension 22%, high cholesterol 20%, obesity 16%, asthma/other respiratory disorder 15%, thyroid disorders 11%, diabetes 9%, and heart disease 5%.

Depression and anxiety problems are common. Twenty six percent of women in the survey report being diagnosed with depression or anxiety in the past five years by a physician. Depression and anxiety diagnosis is highest in women between 45 and 64, white women and women at less than 200% of the poverty income level.
The leading causes of self-reported stress by women include: financial concerns 26%, job/career 23%, health problems of family member 16% and managing own health needs 13%.
Rates of not having health insurance for at least the past four years rose to 27% of all women in 2008 compared to 20% in 2004.
Use of mental health care in the last year was endorsed by 12% of all women in the survey. This rate increased to 21% in those who reported their health status as fair or poor.
Seventy five percent of women reported receiving a mammogram in the past two years. Pap smear, blood pressure screening and blood cholesterol screening were also reported by a majority of women. However, only 40% of women over age 50 reported receiving colon cancer screening in the last two years.
Women commonly reported delaying or going without care due to a variety of reasons. The most commonly reported reasons for delaying or going without care were: couldn't find the time 23%, couldn't take time off work 18%, no insurance 15%, child care problems 13%, and no doctor 13%.
A significant number of women (19%) spend 40 or more hours per week providing care for a sick or disabled family member. Thirty two percent of women report they feel a lot of stress from their caregiving responsibilities.
This report is a great source of information about the most recent data on women's health and health care needs. 

Spring and Summer Fashion Trends for 2011

If you are going to shop for new clothes this summer, make sure you know what style suits you. Buying clothes based on the main style themes helps you to get proper and gorgeous outfit matches. Have bold stands with your main style, rather than just simply buying cute pieces without thinking of the mix and matching possibilities. Below are  the current main style themes for spring and summer fashion 2011.
This year styles are full of color. You can  pick a color blocking style that focus on strong colors and bold colors selections. Stripes and dot motifs are now becoming a style favorite. Another popular style for summer fashion is retro 70's with hippy details in high-waisted skirts, jumpsuits and pant suits. For must have accessories, buy wedges shoes, and wide belts.
For the young lady who loves  feminine looks, collect adorable cute sexy dresses and cute skirts. Ruffles and layered tops with cheerful colors like pink, soft blue, and tosca can be good options. Floral prints and chiffon with pastel colors are also good choice for a casual occasion, like a picnic simply hanging out with your friends.

Electric cars for the masses

Electric cars are quickly climbing the popularity ladder. More and more people are starting to rely on the clean alternative for all their transportation needs. Car manufacturers are taking notice of this and offering up some solid options for those looking to “plug-in”. Elon Musk, cofounder of PayPal and Chairman of Tesla Motors, predicted that eventually all cars will be electric. He shared his opinion after the screening of the documentary “The Revenge of The Electric Car” at the Tribeca Film festival April 23. However, it is not all gravy for those who would like to leave gasoline behind. At the same Tribeca event, Carlos Ghosn who is Chairman and CEO of Renault and Nissan, stated that at this point “20,000 out of 73 million cars sold in 2010 ran on electric batteries”. This number is much lower than advocates would like to see, but the electric cars are selling as fast as they are put out.
Nissan is so confident in the future of this alternative; it has invested $5 billion to launch the electric powered Leaf car. At this point purchasing this innovative car will require being on a waiting list as Nissan is unable to keep up production with current orders. The Leaf goes for about $30,000 and is 100% electric, with zero emissions. In many cases you may qualify as well for a federal tax savings of up to $7,500. The Leaf, http://www.nissanusa.com, is a step towards a new beginning in the car game with approximately 250,000 waiting to get theirs already.
Along with 80% of the planet’s drivers most of the leaf owners will drive less than 50 miles a day. For those who would like a longer range, another option would be the Tesla Motor Model S, which is an all-electric sedan with a 300 mile-per-charge range and is set to hit the sales market in 2012. Taking just 45 minutes for a full charge, you could easily recharge while grabbing a bite to eat along the way. Or if you really wanted to travel the distance, you could swap out your batteries in less than 60 seconds.
Most drivers will find no need for such a long range as this, in fact most drivers can easily make due with less than 50 miles a day. No matter where you would like to drive, or what green you have in your wallet, electric cars are becoming more available to the masses. Electric vehicles have come a long way from where they were and they can only get better from here.Original photo courtesy of cjansuebsri.

Electric cars for the masses

Electric cars are quickly climbing the popularity ladder. More and more people are starting to rely on the clean alternative for all their transportation needs. Car manufacturers are taking notice of this and offering up some solid options for those looking to “plug-in”. Elon Musk, cofounder of PayPal and Chairman of Tesla Motors, predicted that eventually all cars will be electric. He shared his opinion after the screening of the documentary “The Revenge of The Electric Car” at the Tribeca Film festival April 23. However, it is not all gravy for those who would like to leave gasoline behind. At the same Tribeca event, Carlos Ghosn who is Chairman and CEO of Renault and Nissan, stated that at this point “20,000 out of 73 million cars sold in 2010 ran on electric batteries”. This number is much lower than advocates would like to see, but the electric cars are selling as fast as they are put out.
Nissan is so confident in the future of this alternative; it has invested $5 billion to launch the electric powered Leaf car. At this point purchasing this innovative car will require being on a waiting list as Nissan is unable to keep up production with current orders. The Leaf goes for about $30,000 and is 100% electric, with zero emissions. In many cases you may qualify as well for a federal tax savings of up to $7,500. The Leaf, http://www.nissanusa.com, is a step towards a new beginning in the car game with approximately 250,000 waiting to get theirs already.
Along with 80% of the planet’s drivers most of the leaf owners will drive less than 50 miles a day. For those who would like a longer range, another option would be the Tesla Motor Model S, which is an all-electric sedan with a 300 mile-per-charge range and is set to hit the sales market in 2012. Taking just 45 minutes for a full charge, you could easily recharge while grabbing a bite to eat along the way. Or if you really wanted to travel the distance, you could swap out your batteries in less than 60 seconds.
Most drivers will find no need for such a long range as this, in fact most drivers can easily make due with less than 50 miles a day. No matter where you would like to drive, or what green you have in your wallet, electric cars are becoming more available to the masses. Electric vehicles have come a long way from where they were and they can only get better from here.Original photo courtesy of cjansuebsri.

Electric cars for the masses

Electric cars are quickly climbing the popularity ladder. More and more people are starting to rely on the clean alternative for all their transportation needs. Car manufacturers are taking notice of this and offering up some solid options for those looking to “plug-in”. Elon Musk, cofounder of PayPal and Chairman of Tesla Motors, predicted that eventually all cars will be electric. He shared his opinion after the screening of the documentary “The Revenge of The Electric Car” at the Tribeca Film festival April 23. However, it is not all gravy for those who would like to leave gasoline behind. At the same Tribeca event, Carlos Ghosn who is Chairman and CEO of Renault and Nissan, stated that at this point “20,000 out of 73 million cars sold in 2010 ran on electric batteries”. This number is much lower than advocates would like to see, but the electric cars are selling as fast as they are put out.
Nissan is so confident in the future of this alternative; it has invested $5 billion to launch the electric powered Leaf car. At this point purchasing this innovative car will require being on a waiting list as Nissan is unable to keep up production with current orders. The Leaf goes for about $30,000 and is 100% electric, with zero emissions. In many cases you may qualify as well for a federal tax savings of up to $7,500. The Leaf, http://www.nissanusa.com, is a step towards a new beginning in the car game with approximately 250,000 waiting to get theirs already.
Along with 80% of the planet’s drivers most of the leaf owners will drive less than 50 miles a day. For those who would like a longer range, another option would be the Tesla Motor Model S, which is an all-electric sedan with a 300 mile-per-charge range and is set to hit the sales market in 2012. Taking just 45 minutes for a full charge, you could easily recharge while grabbing a bite to eat along the way. Or if you really wanted to travel the distance, you could swap out your batteries in less than 60 seconds.
Most drivers will find no need for such a long range as this, in fact most drivers can easily make due with less than 50 miles a day. No matter where you would like to drive, or what green you have in your wallet, electric cars are becoming more available to the masses. Electric vehicles have come a long way from where they were and they can only get better from here.Original photo courtesy of cjansuebsri.

Brits Put Dental Health On Hold Due To Rising Costs

It is alarming to note that 40% of people in the UK regularly skip routine visits to the dentist as a consequence of rising costs. A research was conducted in this regard by the private medical insurance provider, Simplyhealth. Apparently, about one in four Brits consider the dental care a “luxury” rather than a necessity. The study also revealed that people not only avoid the dentist due to the fact that it is expensive, but that they are also ignorant about what exactly a dentist can do for them and therefore do not take their children for dental check-ups often enough.
The research study came up with some shocking and disturbing statistics that definitely calls for some immediate attention and review of the dental health reforms by the British health services department.
The study was carried out among 10,000 adults and the findings of the survey were as follows: -

• One in four have dodged the dentist’s chair for 18 months
• One in nine hasn’t been to a dentist for more than nine years
• The rise in treatment costs led to four out of ten people claiming that they simply cannot afford regular dental check-ups.
• One in two parents admitted to taking their children too late to the dentist, with more than one in ten children requiring a dental filling before the age of five.
• About one-third of the children have had to make an emergency visit to the dentist in the past five years.
• The poll also found that men were least likely to visit their dentist with over a third giving the excuse that dental treatment was “not essential”.
• Surprisingly, 19% of those surveyed said that they were capable of managing their own dental health without any intervention from their dentist.

James Glover from Simplyhealth said: “It’s surprising that so many people see visiting the dentist as a luxury. “We’re not talking about a holiday, or a new car, but protecting your dental health, which is an everyday health need.”
Simplyhealth’s dental advisor, Michael Thomas, said: “It’s really important that individuals take the time to brush their teeth twice a day and regularly visit their dentist. This isn’t just important for the health of their teeth, but also for other health issues. For example, research suggests that poor oral health is associated with a greater risk of a stroke and heart disease.”
Going for private dental treatment can be a very expensive affair and therefore the cheapest option is to go to the NHS, if you are able to get it. The NHS offers free dental treatment to pregnant women, new mothers, children up to 18 and some living on benefits. But, unfortunately the NHS increased the dental charges from the 1st of April 2011, and there is a general feeling among the people who visit the NHS for dental treatment, that they do not receive the same level of treatment as they once did.
Simplyhealth's Dental Advisor Michael Thomas said: "The perceived drop in the quality of treatment that patients receive is really unfortunate as the NHS is doing such a good job of increasing the number of people its dentists see. However, we are advised that the issue is not being ignored and is included within the Government's on-going reform plans.”

Image Courtsey: Wikimedia Commons

Phillies 2B Chase Utley Takes Next Step In Rehab From Knee Injury

Chase Utley, injured All Star 2nd Baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies, saw his first action of the season today, albeit in extended spring training in Florida. And well... he looked like Chase Utley.

Utley has been sidelined since the season began with patellar tendinitis in his right knee. There hadn't really been any good news, and hardly any news at all on Utley until he finally started running a couple of weeks ago. Since then, Utley has taken huge steps in his rehab. Those steps forward led the Philadelphia Phillies to send him to Clearwater to participate in extended spring training. Utley had been taking part in simulated games for the past week.
In his first action, Utley played the field in alternating innings, while batting in every inning. Rules in extended spring training are pretty loose, which is why the Phillies opted to send him there rather than to the minor leagues. In EST, the Phillies can better control what Utley does and doesn't do.

Utley went 5-for-7 with 2 Home Runs and three singles. Utley even beat out an infield single during the game. More importantly, he was able to run the bases and field with little sign of his injury.
From here, Utley's progress will depend largely on how his knee responds to the activity of playing baseball. For now, the five-time All Star was just happy to be playing on a field again. "It felt pretty good just to get back out between the lines." Utley said after the game. "We'll see how it responds tomorrow and go from there."

High-performance Keyword Research

High-performance Keyword Research

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In no time at all, you’ll have plenty of ideas to work with. 

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To help you understand your market better, Cash Keywords Pro provides easy access to your keywords’ trends, demographics, and the most frequently asked questions people have for them.  Having access to this information will help you get into your prospects’ heads and make more sales.

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google adsense

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search engine marketing

As the toll booths on the information superhighway, search engines have come to dominate the daily research tasks of most Internet users. With their billions of daily search requests by hundreds of millions of users, the search engines have aggregated an audience that is both useful and attractive to online marketers.

Search engine marketing (SEM) has developed to take advantage of this wide audience reach. It includes subspecialties such as search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click keyword advertising, and strategic consulting to companies interested in leveraging the technical intricacies enabled by massive data capture and analysis.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving a website’s ranking in the free “organic” results that search engines offer to their users in response to user search queries. While there is a large industry of consultants who specialize in helping companies improve their search results rankings, the search engines themselves do not charge for SEO. Their rankings of websites in search results are based on proprietary algorithms for determining the most relevant websites for each customer’s search query.

Paid search, however, is a revenue-generating business for search engines. They offer advertising on their search results pages. Market leaders are Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing. The placement of such ads is dependent on the payment by advertisers. Selection of cost-effective keywords that trigger targeted advertisements in search engine results page ads for advertisers is a very active specialty of many SEM consultants.

The Perfect Gift for Mom

First and foremost...Happy Mother's Day.
You would be hard pressed to miss this day. The news is everywhere from TV ads, Newspaper Flyers to retail promotions. The fact is Mother's Days is everywhere. I don't really see how a sale on lawnmowers can be related to Mother's Day, but I digress. It's a whopping great guilt trip if you ask me.
It seems to me like everyone is on a mission to find the perfect Mothers Day gift. It is as if your ability to find the exact present is somehow tied to the love you have for her.
The one that just stings the most is the cards. CARDS! Walking into a card store the first week of May is an assault on the eyes. Pink, purple and yellow for as far as the eye can see. I do not profess to speak for all the Mothers out there, but I can make a fairly educated statement when I say that not all Mothers are enamored with pink. Just saying. I also stand firm in my belief that a Mother's day card, regardless of the sentiment typed inside, should not cost $10. I think that $10 would be better spent by going towards a nice bottle of wine. I guess with the cards you are paying someone to say something to your mother that you either have difficulty expressing or feel guilted into expressing.
Not going to lie, gifts are nice. However, I have been thinking about it recently when my husband asked me what I want for Mother's Day. I don't really want anything. Honestly I don't. Yes, I would like my children to appreciate me. A nice simple gift they could give would be to behave themselves when we are in the presence of others so I would appear to have a slight idea of what I am doing in this messy business of Motherhood. But can you wrap that?
My own Mother is one of the giving people I know. Her selflessness knows no bounds. This year, I had my children pick out small tokens for Grandma to wrap up. What did I do? I wrote my Mother a letter. In the letter I told her all the things that I should have said over the past year (and otherwise) but never did. The hundred million thank yous that I owed her. The thousands of apologies I owed her. There are very few people in this world who will still support you when they don't agree with you. Mothers are those people. Yet, despite the fact that we know all that, I sometimes think we take our mothers for granted. I guess I didn't realise that until I became a mother myself.


From the second children are born, mothers do two things. They love and they worry. They love you so much that they will endure years of sleep deprivation just to make sure you have a good nights sleep. They worry about whether the decisions they make will affect the people we grow up to be. It's endless.
When I wake up on Mother's day, I know that my children will give lots of hugs and messy kisses and tell me they love me. It will take all of my willpower to stay in bed "sleeping in" when I hear them rattling around in the kitchen to make me breakfast no doubt creating an epic mess that will have to be cleaned later. But that's the gift. The frustrations, the worry and all of the struggles Motherhood arrives with is far outweighed by the heaping portion of enduring, sticky love that children give. You definitely can't wrap that.
Again, Happy Mother's Day. Regardless of what you have in store for your Mother this year, make a point of actually telling her what she means to you. It will make the day all the more meaningful to you both.

 

The Google Acquisition Machine: What Does It Do With All Those Properties?

Google is one of several big companies operating today that has a penchant for buying up many unexpected properties in cyberspace. The company spends billions purchasing companies and technologies and then, to all appearances, doing nothing with them.
Here's the skinny on some of the big-dollar purchases that Google has made recently and where they are now.
Aardvark
You may have heard of this one or you may not have. It's a social question-and-answer forum where users can ask questions and other users can respond if they have an answer. Originally, it was a small startup with a website, a couple of employees, and not much else. When Google purchased them in 2010 for $50 million, the news hardly even made a blip.
Today, the only changes that seem to have happened since the purchase is that Aardvark was absorbed into Google Labs and is now integrated with Gmail Chat. Otherwise, it's just sat for 18 months with little change or improvement.
Jambool
A sort of social-centred version of PayPal, this services was bought up for $70M in 2010. Google has now announced that it will be shutting the service down in favour of its own in-house development that works along the same lines. It's likely that Google only purchased this property for its intellectual ownership of some payment system patents.
Like.com
This is a visual search platform that paralleled some of the technology that Google was rumoured to be working on in-house. Immediately after paying $100 (or more) million for the company, Google sent the Like.com development machine off to work on women's fashion portal Boutiques.com. Huh?
dMarc
This was a 2006 acquisition that Google paid a huge $102 million for. Many in the industry questioned the relevance of purchasing a grandpa-generation technology (a system for placing ads on radio networks) and what Google could possibly gain from it. Turns out, the critics were right on this one and Google shut it down without making a cent from it in 2009.


Have There Been Winners?
Yes, Google has purchased a lot of property that has turned out to have been a huge success, with some even becoming defining technologies for the search giant. YouTube, Applied Semantics (AdSense), DoubleClick, Android, Postini (which made Gmail what it is today), and FeedBurner were all purchases Google made that have paid off big time.
In fact, compared to other acquisition giants like Microsoft and Apple, Google has been downright frugal with their purchases of new tech companies and startups. Both of these companies have squandered billions on acquisitions that washed out with no return quickly.
In fact, quite often when two or all three of these big boys get together in an eBay-style bidding frenzy of a property, it can be quite entertaining to watch. The recent bidding war over Groupon is a great example of that in action.