What is the Best Home Business?

What is the Best Home Business?
By Alan S Thomas

One of the main ingredients to succeeding in a home based business is to choose one that you enjoy and feel comfortable with. Unfortunately, many people ignore this area, and as a result they struggle to achieve the results they dreamed about.

1. Before you begin investigating home-based business opportunities, you should sit down and write out a mission statement. This will help clarify in your mind exactly why you want to start an enterprise like this on your own. Oftentimes money is not the primary factor, and knowing why you want to do it will help you zero in on the correct type of business to achieve this goal.

2. Use the Internet to its full capabilities. There are many other ways to research home businesses beyond just Google searching these words.

There are a great number of social networking sites available today. Go take a look, join a few to get the feel of how they work, and see how other people can make money at home online. Social networking is an excellent way to make contacts and do research.

3. A great option is to choose a niche market in which you have a strong interest, and base your home opportunity around this area. Blogging and affiliate marketing make this possible to do.

The best home based business can be one where you make money doing something you enjoy. If more people were able to do this they would stick with their businesses longer, even when they are not making money.

4. Determine how much money you want to make, and how you are going to do it. As an effective business model, affiliate marketing has enabled many people to double and triple their full time salary offline.

Others use network marketing as a vehicle to build a very large income. Still others choose to sell information products, and develop websites in multiple niches making a lot of money that way.

5. Today the Internet must be a part of any work at home business for it to succeed. However, ones that grow beyond a person's wildest dreams contain elements that allow it to become worldwide, without leaving your front door. It is an important point to bear in mind while searching for your own best home based business.

If you use these five areas during your search for the best home based businesses that apply to you, you will not go far wrong. There is much more to it than just making money, and considering the big picture will help you get started with a better chance of succeeding.

source : http://ezinearticles.com/?What-is-the-Best-Home-Based-Business?&id=1804248

Home Business : Make More Money With Your Internet

Home Business : Make More Money With Your Internet
By Tanny Lahav

Many people start a business online to make more money. They want to create better life for themselves and for their family and starting an internet home business is the easy step. However only few businesses succeed and most of them fail.

There are many reasons for an internet business to fail to make money. This article will give you five tips on how to create a successful home business and make more money from it.

Tip number 1: Your costumers need to see the benefits and not the features. When you are trying to sell, showing the benefits is important. Yes, your costumer wants to know what the features of your product are, but the costumer also wants to know how this product is going to benefit him, what makes this product better than others and this is the only thing you need to show him.

Tip number 2: Try pre selling your products. It is important because you need to give your future costumers enough information on the product before they buy it. Many internet marketers try to sell the products directly without pre selling - they fail. Those who succeed are those who used the pre sell and gave costumers enough information on the products. These costumers didn't leave the website and did buy the products.

Tip number 3: Try to start your new business in a niche with high demand products. The higher the demand is for the products, the better chances you will have to sell it. After you have some experience in internet marketing you can go ahead and start working in different niches with lower demand.

A little research will help you find the best niche for you, do the research and see what's in demand. Search the internet; see what is being advertised on TV and in the newspapers. One good resource to search is Google Trends, where you can view what people are searching for with top search engine in the world.

Tip number 4: Try to offer your costumers multiple ways to pay. PayPal is one way you must offer them, as this is a fast way to process payments and they accept major credit cards too, and they also offer your customers protection.

However you can use other services that are just like Pay Pal. Another way is to allow people to pay you by check or COD if your product lends itself to this type of payment processing. If you want to make money online with your internet home business, you must make it easy for people to do business with you.

Tip number 5: This is the last tip and the most important one. You need to do something for your business. It is one thing to join affiliate programs and starting a home business and it is another thing to help it succeed.

An online business is not different from any other business and it needs work. Your website needs traffic. You need visitors to come to your website, learn about it, see your products and buy them

source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Make-More-Money-With-Your-Internet-Home-Business&id=1819478

Know More About Health Insurance

Know More About Health Insurance

Health insurance is generally used to express a form of insurance that pays for medical expenses.

Getting to know more about health insurance is significant as health is an indispensable feature of everyone’s life. Therefore, you have to to have the right health insurance for you and your family.

There are health insurance options out there that are within your means, and you really just need to know where to go for it.

There are a number of different companies nowadays that are providing health insurance, and which you may be interested in going through for yours and your family’s insurance needs.

Getting a health insurance for you and your family is not a choice but rather a necessity. Definitely, all of us would like our family to be safe and secured meaning keeping them covered by health insurance.

What is Out There?

The first thing you should do if you are looking for health insurance is learn about your different options. Find out what different health insurance providers are out there so that you know what you have available to you and what you have to choose from. This is important if you want to find the best healthcare provider for you, because everyone has different needs.

Once You Go…

Once you have narrowed it down to a few select healthcare providers, you are going to need to get ready to go through the process. While going for a health insurance policy you will need to decide between private and government insurance, and just keep in mind that private health insurance is often much more luxurious than government insurance.

If you ever need help with any of this, one of the first things you should do is speak to someone who knows what they are talking about. You really need to be educated on something like this so that you come out of it all with the best results and have the most success.

Having a big family is happy, however it is also your responsibility to assure that they are going to have the protection they need in terms of their health and this simply means one thing, looking for the right health insurance as well as the company for them.

We don’t know what lies ahead of us, so living without the right health insurance for you and your family is not wise. Take time to look for the right insurance for you and your love ones.

By: Immotna Marketing

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Environmental Policy

Environmental Policy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Environmental policy is any (course of) action deliberately taken (or not taken) to manage human activities with a view to prevent, reduce or mitigate harmful effects on nature and natural resources, and ensuring that man-made changes to the environment do not have harmful effects on humans.

Definition

It is useful to consider that environmental policy comprises two major terms: environment and policy. Environment primarily refers to the ecological (ecosystems) dimension, but can also take account of social (quality of life) dimension and an economic (resource management) dimension.

Policy can be defined as a "course of action or principle adopted or proposed by a government, party, business or individual". Thus, environmental policy focuses on problems arising from human impact on the environment, which retroacts onto human society by having a (negative) impact on human values such as good health or the 'clean and green' environment.

Environmental issues generally addressed by environmental policy include (but are not limited to) air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem management, biodiversity protection, and the protection of natural resources, wildlife and endangered species.Thus, environmental policy focuses on problems arising from human impact on the environment, which retroacts onto human society by having a (negative) impact on human values such as good health or the 'clean and green' environment.

Environmental issues generally addressed by environmental policy include (but are not limited to) air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem management, biodiversity protection, and the protection of natural resources, wildlife and endangered species.


Rationale

The rationale for governmental involvement in the environment is complex but could be divided into four key reasons: public/voter pressure, awareness of the need to halt biodiversity loss, maintenance of ecosystem services for the good of the public and market failure.

There are three types of market failure that justify government action: negative externalities, the free rider problem, and the tragedy of the commons. An example of a negative externality is a factory that pollutes the water of a river.

The negative cost of such action is paid by society-at-large when they must clean the water before drinking it and is "external" to the costs of the factory. Air pollution is another common example of a negative externality. The free rider problem is when the individual cost of taking an action to protect the environment is greater than the individual benefit. For example, installing an anti-pollution device on a car may cost several hundred dollars and only reduce the air pollution by a little.

The rational individual decision is to not buy the device and benefit from the actions of others. Such individual rationality however, can lead to collective irrationality. Finally, the tragedy of the commons is the problem that, because no one person owns the commons, each individual has an incentive to try to exploit common resources as much as possible.

Without governmental involvement, the commons may become overused, producing a worse result for everyone. Examples of tragedies of the common are overfishing and overgrazing

Abstract

Objectives. This article examines environmental policy attitudes, focusing on the differences in preferences across issue type (i.e., pollution, resource preservation) and geographical scale (i.e., local, national, global). In addition, we study whether an individual's trust in government influences environmental policy attitudes.

Methods. Analyzing data from the 2007 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we estimate a series of OLS regression models to examine the public's environmental policy attitudes.

Results. We find stronger public support for government action to address pollution issues than resources issues, and stronger support for local and national pollution abatement than dealing with global problems. We also find that Republicans and ideological conservatives are less likely to support further government effort to address the environment, and that more trusting individuals are more favorable to government action to address pollution and global issues.

Conclusion. Environmental policy attitudes vary by the nature of the issue; however, political ideology and partisan affiliation are consistent predictors of preferences across issues, even when controlling for an individual's level of trust in government

Environmental policy instruments

Environmental policy instruments are tools used by governments to implement their environmental policies. Governments may use a number of different types of instruments. For example, economic incentives and market-based instruments such as taxes and tax exemptions, tradable permits, and fees can be very effective to encourage compliance with environmental policy

Voluntary measures, such as bilateral agreements negotiated between the government and private firms and commitments made by firms independent of government pressure, are other instruments used in environmental policy. Another instrument is the implementation of greener public purchasing programmes.

Often, several instruments are combined in an instrument mix formulated to address a certain environmental problem. Since environmental issues often have many different aspects, several policy instruments may be needed to adequately address each one. Furthermore, instrument mixes may allow firms greater flexibility in finding ways to comply with government policy while reducing the uncertainty in the cost of doing so.

However, instrument mixes must be carefully formulated so that the individual measures within them do not undermine each other or create a rigid and cost-ineffective compliance framework. Also, overlapping instruments lead to unnecessary administrative costs, making implementation of environmental policies more costly than necessary

In order to help governments realize their environmental policy goals, the OECD Environment Directorate studies and collects data on the efficiency of the environmental instruments governments use to achieve their goals as well as their consequences for other policies.

The current reliance on a market based framework is controversial, however, with many prominent environmentalists arguing that a more radical, overarching, approach is needed than a set of specific initiatives, to deal coherently with the scale of the climate change challenge.

For an example of the problems, energy efficiency measures may actually increase energy consumption in the absence of a cap on fossil fuel use, as people might drive more efficient cars further and they might sell better. Thus, for example, Aubrey Meyer calls for a 'framework based market' of contraction and convergence examples of which are ideas such as the recent Cap and Share and 'Sky Trust' proposals.

source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_policy

Causes Of Leukemia

Causes Of Leukemia

eukemia causes are still unknown. In present, medical science isn’t able to establish the specific leukemia causes. However, a strong connection between certain genetic factors and the development of the disease has been revealed.

Leukemia occurs on the background of genetic failure that causes the excessive production of incomplete, partially matured blood cells. Also, leukemia has a hereditary character, allowing the transmission of genetic predispositions to disease from one generation to another.

Although many factors are known to contribute to the development of leukemia, they alone can’t be considered leukemia causes.

The cause of acute leukemia is unknown. The only thing that one can say for certain is that some people are at a higher risk of getting the disease than others.

People who are exposed to radiations or certain chemicals have the highest chance of contracting the disease. In addition, there is the hereditary factor.

It has been seen that children receive the defective gene from their mother and this gene may lead to acute leukemia. People who have leukemia tend to bruise easily or bleed easily from the nose and gums.

In addition to weak immune system, there is a general feeling of fatigue and unexplained weight loss. The disease by itself does not have any specific symptoms.

In normal condition, these stem cells develop either into red blood cells, white blood cells or platelets, into a controlled way. Leukemia perturbs the normal development of blood cells and causes the accumulation of partially developed cells, that aren’t able to fulfill their role inside the organism.

Judging by the speed of development and the persistence of the disorder, there are two types of leukemia: acute leukemia and chronic leukemia.

Acute leukemia differs from chronic leukemia by the levels that stem cells are able to reach in their development (stem cells that present anomalies still manage to partially develop and either resemble immature cells or complete, normal white blood cells).

Leukemia is a bone marrow disorder that arises when one abnormal white blood cell begins to continuously replicate itself. Leukemia, which literally means "white blood" in Greek, occurs when there is an excess of abnormal white blood cells in the blood.

The disease usually starts in the white blood cells. The blood-forming (hematopoietic) cells of the bone marrow make leukocytes to defend the body against infectious organisms, such as viruses and bacteria.

If the cells reach the central nervous system and build up in the cerebrospinal fluid that support s the brain and spinal column, they can cause headaches and seizures.

Chances of survival are better with the combination of ATRA and hemotherapy than chemotherapy alone. This is because ATRA combined with chemotherapy accounts for a slightly higher rate of complete remissions while allowing significantly fewer relapses.

Maintenance cure with ATRA, and possibly with low-dose chemotherapy, further reduces the occurrence of relapse.

The advent of ATRA therapy has revolutionized the treatment of promyelocytic leukemia and clearly enhanced the prognosis.

A certain cause of Leukemia is not yet known as it can affect persons of all ages and both sexes. A link however between leukemia and benzene prolonged exposure or high doses of radiations could be established. But most cases cannot be rationally explained.

The main target of the Leukemia treatment is to annihilate all existing abnormal cells in blood and bone marrow.

A complete remission means no left trace of cancerous modifications. Some of the treated cases show a reoccurrence of the disease with other signs and symptoms.

By: greenherbal

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A Christmas Story (dvd) Review

A Christmas Story (dvd) Review

Adapted from humorist Jean Shepherd's hilarious memoir In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, A Christmas Story has climbed the ranks of the annual holiday classic films list to claim its spot among the hallowed elite of the genre.

If you’ve ever tried to lick a frozen telephone pole, or found yourself in a ridiculous bunny outfit on Christmas morning, then A Christmas Story is one comedy you won’t want to miss…

A Christmas Story focuses on one central character, fifth grader Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) and his all-encompassing quest to receive a Daisy Brand Red-Ryder BB rifle for Christmas, although I don’t think he realizes he could put an eye out with one of those things…

Thwarting Ralphie at every turn are his mother (Melinda Dillon) and father (Darren McGavin) who seem absolutely oblivious to their young son’s dream.

Unable to come right out and say what he wants, Ralphie drops subtle hints around the house such as placing clipped-out magazine ads for the gun in his parents’ nightstand reading material.

When prodded for his true Christmas wish, Ralphie blurts out that he wants a Daisy Brand Red-Ryder BB gun, but his mother’s only reply is, “You don’t want one of those. You'll shoot your eye out!”

A Christmas Story is filled with memorable scenes and highlights that have helped built a cult following around the life of a young boy obsessed with Christmas who is surrounded by a varied cast eccentric friends and family members.

When Ralphie’s father beams with pride at his ability to win a newspaper contest, his proudly displays his prize in the front window of the family home, a three-foot lamp with a woman’s long, stocking-covered leg as its base.

Embarrassed, Ralphie’s mother “accidentally” breaks it, sparking a war of words with her husband. Meanwhile, Ralphie dreams of saving the whole family with his Red-Ryder BB gun, thus earning the family’s undying gratitude.

One of the best sequences in the film involves a family trip to the local department store, where Ralphie and his little brother Randy meet with the store Santa Clause near closing time.

Following a long, extended wait to reach the front of the line to see Santa, Ralphie is so brimming with anticipation to tell Santa what he wants that he can’t speak.

So, Santa convinces Ralphie that he wants a football. But before Santa’s helper can push Ralphie down the North Pole slide, Ralphie blurts out his true wish, only to hear Santa’s reply, “You’ll shoot your eye out with that, kid!”

One of the best Christmas comedies ever made, although few come close to National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story is a memorable holiday classic the entire family can enjoy.

Much like It’s A Wonderful Life, the film has only grown in popularity in the years since its release. The timeless nature of its subject matter lends itself well to annual holiday viewing, and it remains one of a handful of “must see” films for the Christmas season…

By: Britt Gillette -

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Eternity Diamond Rings To Stay Forever And Tie You In Eternity

Eternity Diamond Rings To Stay Forever And Tie You In Eternity

A diamond ring is close to heart of any woman with all its 4 C cardinals including cut, clarity, carat and color. It all began way back in earlier Egyptian days, when the vow to marry a woman is made by placing a ring on lady’s finger.

Diamonds took their place slowly with European culture spreading across representing faithfulness, strength and prosperity. Today, it is the most alluring fashion element.

Diamonds push the creativity of an individual, team or company to its excellence and hence designer jewelry studded with diamonds find its way to every corner of the world. It is the diamond rings that hold special significance with its extraordinary brilliance and suppleness when it comes to occasions like engagements, weddings or wedding anniversaries.

As diamond rings are timeless, to create this stone that would reflect ultimate brilliance, so many people, starting from gemologists to craftsmen work together to deliver a stone with high levels of blended fire and beauty. And, when we speak of an engagement, diamond engagement rings could be of many varieties such as 1 carat diamond rings, pear diamond rings and eternity diamond rings.

It is; however, the pear diamond rings that just draw so much attention, as they refract light the most. Besides, they look awesome with beautiful combination of marquise and oval cut. Resembling a teardrop, it is the choicest collection of any jewelry box.

The eternity diamond rings; however, symbolize eternal love conveying a message that love has no end, as if the ring binds and reminds it often. Again, there are different variants of 1 carat diamond rings depending on shape, size and brilliance that signify bonded love forever.

There are certain facts that you need to know before you set off to purchase the diamond engagement rings because as a layman it is tough to evaluate a diamond, so it’s better to be knowledgeable before purchasing one.

The cut of a diamond is very important, as its radiance is directly related to how perfect the cut is. Again, carat of diamond does not imply it’s the best, as its shine is dependent on cut and proportion. Just so you know it is not necessary that 1 carat diamond ring will have more brilliance than a 0.75 carat diamond ring.

Look for clarity and color that are again important. Diamonds are generally graded on a color scale of D to Z. It is believed that less tint in a diamond, superior it is in quality.

Diamonds that are graded D, E and F are considered to be colorless. However, it is suggested that if you purchase diamond engagement ring, you can take anywhere from D through G. Additionally, being very expensive, ensure that your diamond engagement ring is accompanied by authentic certificate from jewelry houses where quality is hallmark.

To buy a uniquely designed diamond engagement ring, take time to go through the different varieties such as the pear diamond rings or eternity diamond rings available with the store. There are also in-house designers who can give a perfecto shape to your thought of men’s diamond rings. After all, you want to let him know he is loved to eternity.

By: Abdul Quddoos

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Which Are The Best Ab Exercises?

Which Are The Best Ab Exercises?

There are a variety of exercises designed to train the abdominals or abs. The kind of exercises that is appropriate for you will depend on the level of experience and training you have attained.

While everyone is born with abdominals, not everyone goes through life with noticeable, firm abs. The best ab exercises are those that can make the abdominals visible again after being covered in excess fat for the longest time.

The abdominal region contains three important muscles, namely the rectus abdominis, the external obliques, and the internal obliques.

Once you commit yourself to an abs training regimen, your main goal is to build up the rectus abdominis muscles before the others because they are the ones found in the front and are thus the ones that will be noticed first.

The lateral sections, which are the oblique muscles, work as stabilizers and will respond better to more specific exercises that you will perform as you move up the training ladder.

If this is your first time to engage in an abs training regimen, then your best bet as a beginner is to go with the king of all abdominal exercises, which is no less than the famous crunches.

Exercise experts consider crunches and reverse crunches as the best ab exercises for beginners because they are effective mass builders and are necessary for conditioning the abs before moving on to strengthen them rigorously. Toning the abs will also come later on.

If you have been working on your abdominals for some time now and already have results but still want more that you can proudly show off, then you are considered as an advanced abs trainer.

The best ab exercises for you are those that use more force and pressure and can work on both the rectus abdominis muscles and the oblique muscles.

These exercises include the more complex crunches such as the twisting crunches, leg trucks, and leg twists. These exercises hit both the upper and the lower abs, keeping the tension in all the abdominal muscles constant.

If your reason for engaging in an abs exercise regimen is so you can compete in official sports contests, you should consider going for competition training that makes use of bodybuilding techniques, not only mere abs strengthening and toning.

Abs trainers that enter competitions are known to work out with a much higher intensity and with sessions in weak point training and resistance training.

The best ab exercises for you are those that are customized - with appropriate modifications as to the intensity, duration, and frequency - to suit your needs and match your limits.

No matter what level of abs training you require, an important factor that will help you get even results is proper body positioning.

Many fitness experts have stressed the significance of proper body positioning in all kinds of exercises that target the abs, as well as those that train other parts of the body. Crunches are a must in any abs exercise training, but not all abs trainers know the right position to take when they perform crunches.

Any crunching movement that goes beyond 30 degrees puts too much stress on the muscles and can lead to back injury and abdominal pain.

There are secret exercise techniques that you should research on and follow in order to get the most out of the best ab exercises for you. A proven program for training the abdominals is recommended.

By: Kelly Purden

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The Aztec Journey Across The Mexican Territory

The Aztec Journey Across The Mexican Territory

If you have a close look at the Mexican flag, you will see that in its central area lies the figure of an eagle eating a snake in the top of a cactus. This is a very representative image of the Mexican National identity, which can also be seen at one side of the Peso coins circulating today in the country. But where does this particular image come from? The answer lies in the Aztec Migration which took place between the XIIth and XIVth centrury of our time.

The legend says that the Aztec people, also known as Mexicas, originally came from the place of Aztlán "Place of the Herons". The actual location of this site is still a subject of debate among archaeologists, but most scholars place its location in what is today the Mexican state of Nayarit, in the Pacific coast of the Mexican territory. The legend narrated by the Aztec codices narrates the commandment by the God Huitzilopochtli that the Aztec people were to start a pilgrimage until they could find an eagle eating a snake in the top of a cactus. The site where they could see this heavenly sent signal was going to be the place from where they could start their empire, and where they should build the city of Tenochtitlan.

According to the Codice of Azcatitlan, this Aztec pilgrimage took over 165 years. During that time, the Aztec people were a tribe of hunters with a nomadic way of living. The codices suggest that the Aztecs used to have certain necrophillic practices as part of their religious beliefs. These practices were not shared by many of the local tribes from Central Mexico and caused the constant expulsion from many of the sites where the Aztecs settled temporarily. This gave rise to political tensions in the central area of Mexico, between the Aztecs and some of the local tribes.

The legend of the Aztec migration says that the Aztecs finally saw the signal of the eagle on a small island in the middle of the shallow Texcoco lake. It is for this reason that they settled their city literally in the top of a lake surrounded by inhospitable swamps. Taking aside their religious beliefs, It is hard to understand the actual reason why the Aztecs chose this difficult location as a place to settle the city of Tenochtitlan.Personally, I tend to share more the idea that the political tensions caused by the Aztec practices forced them into a territory that was not wanted by any other of the local tribes, and that it was not so much a heavenly sent signal, but the constant expulsion from different locations what led to the foundation of one of the largest Prehispanic cities, the city of Mexico-Tenochtitlan.

In the next article, I will discuss the daily Aztec life in the city of Tenochtitlan during the XIIIth and XIVth century, their social classes, marriage, slavery, traditions and religious beliefs which helped largely the spanish conquest of the Mexican territory.

By: Armando Martinez

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5 Tips For A Healthier Thanksgiving

5 Tips For A Healthier Thanksgiving
By: Randi Cestaro

In just a few short weeks we’ll gather together to give thanks for the unlimited good that surrounds us. You know what I mean: nature, prosperity, love, faith and an incredible planet that provides so much to us. Wouldn’t it be a shame to upset the balance of it all by overeating on the big day?

When it comes to gobbling up the goodies on turkey day, I encourage you to follow these suggestions for feasting:

Exercise at some point on the day of Thanksgiving
It’s very important that you exercise on Thanksgiving day. You may want to engage your family in going for a walk with you to enjoy the fresh air, the foliage, and time away from the kitchen so you can all just relax together.

And there’s another payoff: by exercising on this big day, you will eat less that night. And you will be more conscious of what you’re putting in your mouth.

Eat a protein-rich breakfast the day of Thanksgiving
Don’t fall into the trap of “Well, I am going to have a big dinner tonight so I will save my appetite for dinner”. That’s not correct and it won’t work. But, by having a protein- rich breakfast, you’ll stabilize your blood sugar levels, and that means fewer sugar cravings.

Drink at least 10 glasses of water during the day
By drinking at least 10 glasses of water today (starting as soon as you wake up), you will thoroughly and totally hydrate your body. That’s a good thing. Do it. This is another way to reduce sugar cravings because those in the know realize that often times, when your body appears to crave sugar, it’s because you are dehydrated. Who knew? But now you do, so drink up!

Portion control your plate
This is so crucial to not overstuffing your belly. Think of it as a secret mission to better health. When your hostess begins passing tempting trays of appetizers, grab a small plate. Don’t see one? Ask for one and use it. Placing appetizers on a plate assures that you take only the ones you really want and avoid adding unnecessary calories by trying everything in sight. And make sure the majority of items on that plate is lots of fresh vegetables. Yum!

Make a turkey and vegetable soup with the leftovers
So how did you do? At the end of the day you most likely have leftovers. Now what? By using the leftover turkey and vegetables, you can make a wonderful soup to nourish you. Soup gives your digestive system a break the next day. Just use a nice broth and add the turkey and veggies. Make some natural corn muffins and you’ve got a treat for everyone in your home.

Incorporating these healthy tips for Thanksgiving will free you of all the guilt that we normally put on ourselves when we eat too much. Make this the year that you truly enjoy the holiday season and remain healthy and happy.

All the best to you and yours this Thanksgiving day. I am grateful for your interest in this article and would love to hear how well you did in managing your Thanksgiving meal.

By: Randi Cestaro

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Social Engineering As Economic Policy

Social Engineering As Economic Policy

What we are witnessing today is not a failure of the free market. It is the failure of social engineering as economic policy. And it's a disaster of epic proportions.

Nobody's disputing that this disaster was precipitated by irresponsible lending practices, or that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were at the root of the whole debacle, though the ramifications have now spread far beyond them. What people are arguing about is the interpretation of the events that led us here, what should have been done differently, and what should be done to contain the fallout now that the pyramid scheme has blown up.

Hard core free market proponents, like me, will say that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were a mistake from the beginning. The government should have kept its nose out of the home mortgage industry, and not attempted to manipulate the market to enable people who couldn't afford houses to buy them. On the other hand, proponents of the "government is good" and "more is better" philosophy will say the problem was that there wasn't enough government manipulation. (Could there ever be?)

But, curiously, in 2005, when Alan Greenspan told Congress that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were "placing the total financial system of the future at a substantial risk,'' and the Senate Banking Committee proposed a reform bill requiring tighter regulation of those two entities, the Democrats opposed it, on a strict party line vote, crushing the bill before it got out of committee. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Christopher Dodd all voted against it. (John McCain, incidentally, was one of the co-sponsors of the bill.)

Huh? Democrats voting against more regulation? Republicans voting for it? One would expect Republicans to favor less regulation, as regulation is antithetical to a free market. But, in this case, it already wasn't a free market. A free market has its own natural checks and balances. Once the government has removed or impaired any of those natural checks and balances, the market loses its equilibrium and bad things can happen. What the Republicans were attempting to accomplish by proposing tighter regulations on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was to artificially restore the natural constraint that had been removed by shifting the risk from the lenders to the taxpayers.

In a free market, the desire for profit is counterbalanced by the aversion to risk. If the risk incurred by an investment or loan outweighs the profit potential, it's not in the investor's/lender's best interest to participate, so the transaction doesn't occur. However, when the government removes the risk associated with a bad transaction, by assuming the risk itself, then the natural constraint of risk aversion that would apply in a truly free market is eliminated, and investors will take risks that would otherwise be unacceptable. That's what happened in the case of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The taxpayers assumed the risk, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made unsound investments.

In today's mortgage industry, mortgages are always packaged up and sold to aggregators, who sell them to bigger aggregators, with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at the top of the pyramid as the granddaddies of all aggregators. Because Fannie and Freddie had no risk aversion, lenders further down the chain were free to take risks they wouldn't otherwise take, knowing the aggregators would buy up the high risk (subprime) mortgages anyway. This was intentional.

Affordable housing is a euphemism for making home loans available to people who would not qualify for a loan under a free market system. The reason someone would not qualify for a loan in the free market is because they present too high a risk. In other words, they can't afford to pay off the loan. Fannie and Freddie represented a wide scale experiment in social engineering. It was an attempt to use federal policy to "level the playing field" so anybody could "afford" to buy a home whether they could actually afford to pay for the home or not.

When the Republicans wanted to tighten the reins on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and preclude them from making excessively risky investments, it would have meant they could no longer fulfill the mission of making homes "affordable" to those who couldn't afford them. That's why the Democrats opposed the bill. And that's why we're where we are today.

The great experiment in social engineering has now failed. Dramatically. And, because the experiment was backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. taxpayer, it is our money, and our future, that is getting called in as collateral for this grand social experiment.

Anybody who blames this failure on the free market is either dishonest or naive. It was liberal social policy masquerading as economic policy that got us into this mess. If you want to see more of the same in the future, there are plenty of Democrats still in Congress. And there's one running for president, too.

By: NotYourDaddy

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Qualities in Being a Great Friend

Qualities in Being a Great Friend
By Jeanine Anderson

Are you the greatest friend you can be? What does being a great friend mean to you? In this article, I will give you great ways that will help you be the great friend you were meant to be.

We all have friends in our lives. Friends that we hang out with on weekends. Friends that we know through our children. Friends that we work with. Friends that have been life long. And friends that we tell everything to. Our secrets, deepest thoughts, our dreams, and even our frustrations. But what qualities make up a great friend? Here are some qualities that make up a great friend and then you can decide if you qualify as being a great friend.

First and foremost: The greatest quality of being a great friend is honesty. Honesty is something a lot of people take for granted. And if you can be honest with yourself first, then being honest with everyone else will come easy. Sometimes we think that if we just lie to save ourselves that it will get us out of an argument, or a sticky situation. However most likely that will come to bite you and you spend more time saying your sorry and making up excuses to why you lied in the first place. That's wasting to much negative energy. Honesty is still the best policy.

Second: Be YOU! So many people today are still trying to keep up with the Jones's. What's the point? Your friends love you for what's inside you, not the car you drive, or the home you live in, or the vacation spots you go to. Being yourself and loving yourself is the greatest thing you can do for you, and your friends. No one wants a friend that is half fake and half real. Friends will appreciate and respect you more if you are being you 100% of the time.

Third: Forgive your friends when they hurt you. Lets face it, we are not perfect. We all have bad days. We are all human. Being a great friend gives us the ability to know that when our friends hurt us they really don't know that they are doing it. And isn't that what being a great friend is all about,knowing that they can take their frustration out on you? When it's all said and done you are the one still standing there with open arms for comfort and advice. Forgive them even if they don't ask for forgiveness. The greatest thing about true friends is that we see beyond their imperfections, and love them anyway.

Fourth: Be a Giving friend. And give with no expectations of anything else in return. It's one thing to give, and another to give with anticipation of something in return. Being a great friend is someone who will help without the other friend asking for it. Give a gift that comes from your heart and not your ego. So many times we give because we want a pat on the back for helping someone. When we give from the heart it will feel a thousand times better.

Fifth: Don't Judge your friends. Who are we to judge anyway? We all have skeletons in the closet. We may think we know everything there is to know about our friends, but do we really? Probably not. You may sit and wonder why your friend did this or that, but until we have walked in their shoes and know what is really going on behind closed doors, don't judge them. I'm sure you have done things that you would not really want everyone to know about. So give the same respect to those who you call friends.

In the end what makes up a great friend is what you put into your friendship. Being a true friend is not something that is part time. However it's being all of these qualities all of the time and not just when you feel like it.

Your friends will ultimately love you and respect you if you put these qualities to use and be the friend you are meant to be!

source : http://ezinearticles.com/?Qualities-in-Being-a-Great-Friend&id=1683709

Clamato

Clamato
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clamato (a portmanteau of "clam" and "tomato") is a trademark of the Mott's company which denotes a drink made primarily of reconstituted tomato juice concentrate and reconstituted dried clam broth, with a dash of high fructose corn syrup, and USDA Red 40 to maintain a 'natural' tomato colour. It is also referred to colloquially as "clamato juice".

Mott's Clamato contains MSG. Clamato was produced in its current form beginning in 1966 by the Duffy-Mott company in Hamlin, New York, by two employees who wanted to create a New England type cocktail by combining tomato juice and clam broth with spices. They also named the new cocktail Mott's Clamato and secured the trademark for the new brand.

The Duffy Mott company began marketing Mott's Clamato as a refreshing New England style cocktail without alcohol. Mott's Clamato was discovered by a group of Canadian Foodservice Distributors in 1970, including Irving Glasnor from Vancouver, B.C., looking to use this unique cocktail in one of their favorite new cocktails in Canada called the Caesar. In 1969, a new Canadian Cocktail was created in Calgary, AB by Walter Chell who was the head bartender for the Calgary Inn (now the Westin Hotel). They were opening up a new restaurant called Marco's and the Bloody Caesar was created to celebrate the new opening.

The original recipe for the Caesar Cocktail began with tomato juice and clam broth mixed with Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco sauce. The glass was rimmed with celery salt and garnished with a stick of celery. Walter modelled this recipe after his favorite spaghetti sauce Spaghetti Con Vongole. Irving Glasnor began importing Mott's Clamato into Canada from the USA and started with 500 cases in 1970 for use in the Caesar Cocktail in bars throughout Alberta then across Western Canada.

He signed an agreement with the Duffy Mott company to produce and distribute Mott's Clamato across Canada. Today the Mott's Clamato Caesar is one of the top selling cocktails across Canada and is considered a true Canadian success story. The brand is now owned by Cadbury-Schweppes when Mott's was bought out in 1982.

Cocktail base

Clamato is a popular mixer for mass-market American and Canadian beer which is known in Canada and parts of the northern US as a Red Eye. The Caesar is commonly regarded as the national cocktail of Canada. The Caesar has become so popular that Mott's now markets multiple varieties of pre-mixed Caesars in 341 ml (12-ounce) bottles, in addition to non-alcoholic Caesar blends such as "extra spicy" and "all-dressed" (including Worcestershire, tabasco and horseradish) as a more convenient mixer.

The Caesar is Canada's most popular cocktail, with over 250 million selling every year. 82% of the Caesar-drinking households in Canada use Mott's Clamato as the base. In late 2007, Budweiser released Bud Chelada, a blend of Budweiser or Bud Light and clamato juice for national sale.

Generic tomato-clam beverages

The success of Clamato has led to the introduction of several imitation beverages, usually marketed as tomato-clam cocktail. The generic beverages are often considerably cheaper than Clamato and have cut into Mott's market share. Many people do not distinguish between Mott's product and those of its competitors and will refer to any tomato-clam beverage as clamato, thus threatening Mott's trademark with genericide.

The subject is further confused by the fact that in the United States and Latin America the product is labelled simply "Clamato" but in Canada the product is always labelled "Mott's Clamato".

Mott's has taken steps to protect its trademark, running print, radio and television advertisements which attempt to distinguish Mott's Clamato from generic tomato-clam beverages.

source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clamato

Theory of relativity

Theory of relativity

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, refers specifically to two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, "relativity" can also refer to Galilean relativity.

The term "theory of relativity" was coined by Max Planck in 1908 to emphasize how special relativity (and later, general relativity) uses the principle of relativity.

Special Relativity

Special relativity is a theory of the structure of spacetime. It was introduced in Albert Einstein's 1905 paper "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies".

Special relativity is based on two postulates which are contradictory in classical mechanics:

1. The laws of physics are the same for all observers in uniform motion relative to one another (Galileo's principle of relativity),
2. The speed of light in a vacuum is the same for all observers, regardless of their relative motion or of the motion of the source of the light.

The resultant theory has many surprising consequences. Some of these are:

• Time dilation: Moving clocks are measured to tick more slowly than an observer's "stationary" clock.
• Length contraction: Objects are measured to be shortened in the direction that they are moving with respect to the observer.
• Relativity of simultaneity: two events that appear simultaneous to an observer A will not be simultaneous to an observer B if B is moving with respect to A.
• Mass-energy equivalence: E = mc², energy and mass are equivalent and transmutable.

The defining feature of special relativity is the replacement of the Galilean transformations of classical mechanics by the Lorentz transformations.

General relativity

General relativity is a theory of gravitation developed by Einstein in the years 1907–1915. The development of general relativity began with the equivalence principle, under which the states of accelerated motion and being at rest in a gravitational field (for example when standing on the surface of the Earth) are physically identical.

The upshot of this is that free fall is inertial motion: In other words an object in free fall is falling because that is how objects move when there is no force being exerted on them, instead of this being due to the force of gravity as is the case in classical mechanics.

This is incompatible with classical mechanics and special relativity because in those theories inertially moving objects cannot accelerate with respect to each other, but objects in free fall do so.

To resolve this difficulty Einstein first proposed that spacetime is curved. In 1915, he devised the Einstein field equations which relate the curvature of spacetime with the mass, energy, and momentum within it.

Some of the consequences of general relativity are:

• Time goes more slowly in higher gravitational fields. This is called gravitational time dilation.
• Orbits precess in a way unexpected in Newton's theory of gravity. (This has been observed in the orbit of Mercury and in binary pulsars).
• Even rays of light (which have zero mass) bend in the presence of a gravitational field.
• The Universe is expanding, and the far parts of it are moving away from us faster than the speed of light. This does not contradict the theory of special relativity, since it is space itself that is expanding.
• Frame-dragging, in which a rotating mass "drags along" the space time around it.

Technically, general relativity is a metric theory of gravitation whose defining feature is its use of the Einstein field equations. The solutions of the field equations are metric tensors which define the topology of the spacetime and how objects move inertially.

source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_relativity

Insomnia Treatment, Insomnia Causes And Symptoms

Insomnia Treatment, Insomnia Causes And Symptoms
By: Dave Patrick

As a twentieth century affliction, chronic sleeping disorders or insomnia, is more common now than ever. In the U.S alone, tens on millions of people suffer from this life debilitating affliction.

Insomnia Causes

As far as causes go, insomniacs are often plagued with a variety of problems and preoccupations. Some of them are related to physical pain or discomfort, which in turn will keep them awake at night. While others suffer from mental or emotional stresses or disorders.

Trying to sleep when your mind is racing at a hundred miles an hour is surely a recipe for insomnia. To some, the worry of an upcoming week of hard work or stressing over unpaid bills will be enough to keep them awake. To others, an unresolved issue between friendships or relationships can cause them to lie in bed wide eyed throughout the night.

Insomnia Symptoms

The classic symptoms of insomnia and sleeping disorders are; feeling tired, exhausted, and irritable upon getting up in the morning. Not feeling rested or feeling unable to make decisions or being able to concentrate for any length of time. The feelings of being 'thick headed' or punch drunk can be quite common also.

One's inability to operate machinery or drive safely is seriously impaired as any split second decision making can become a problem. Double vision or blurred vision is not uncommon and in extreme cases, the world can seem to slow down around you.

Insomnia Treatments

Some of the tried and tested methods for helping alleviate the symptoms of insomnia work best. Avoid eating a heavy meal before bed, leave at least three hours between your last meal and bed time. Try taking a long hot bath; this can work wonders as your body is completely relaxed.

Always always avoid caffeine in its many forms, not just before bed time but throughout the entire day. If you are suffering from insomnia, leave off all drinks containing caffeine for the immediate future, tea, coffee, soft drinks, energy drinks etc. There are too many to mention here but you get the point.

Allow yourself as long as it takes, laying perfectly still, breathing slowly and gently, observing your whole body feeling more and more numb as the muscles give up the fight and relax. Getting yourself in a relaxed state before attempting to sleep is important. If you try and force yourself to go to sleep while you are still stressed then it stands to reason you’re in for a hard time.

By: Dave Patrick

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Health Solutions: Heart Health

Health Solutions: Heart Health

By: Dr Arien van der Merwe

We often say: my heart’s not in it anymore; my heart is sore; my heart is breaking. This is much more literal than we thought! In all cultures and religions, the experience of peace, love, healing and harmony are seated in the heart and thymus (responsible for immunity) region in the chest. Feelings of love also have a positive influence on the immune system, hormones and cognitive brain function.

Healing ideas for your heart

Ø Opening your heart to healing your physical body to release cell memories, optimise physical health and use the body to connect you to your mind, emotions and soul essence

• Identify body signals of severe stress: feel the pain, anxiety, restlessness, insomnia, depression
• Breathing exercises to open the chest area, expand the lungs, increase oxygenation of cells: belly or diaphragmatic breathing, bellows breathing, alternate nostril breathing
• Progressive deep muscle relaxation
• Specific yoga exercises: head, neck and shoulder stretches and rotations; cobra pose; half locust pose; head-to-knee pose; forward bending pose; shoulder stand, even if you simply lift your feet onto the seat of a chair; chest extension or fish pose; spinal twist; sun salutation; dead man’s pose to end
• Work with arms – reaching out, drawing in with dance movements such as Nia technique, and slow, mindful movement like Tai ‘chi.
• Following a heart health eating plan
• Using heart health food supplements and herbal remedies

Ø Opening your heart to healing your emotions or feelings towards yourself and others

• Work on releasing past emotional injuries and hurts
• Forgiveness of self and others
• Work on relationships, release of sorrow, guilt, acceptance of self and others
• Anger management: learn how to acknowledge the intense energy of anger and allow it proper expression

Ø Opening your heart to healing your thoughts

• Use heart centered positive affirmations and directed visualisations to sense feelings of love, joy, peace and happiness within the heart. Also using the image of the sun, placing it in the heart and then allowing the moon to place itself over the heart. This allows for a balance of male and female energies within the heart.
• Go on a journey of self discovery: deeply ingrained unconscious patterns of behaviour that do not serve you any longer, through journaling, psychotherapy, free hand writing

Ø Opening your heart to connect to your soul

• Meditate regularly: mindfulness, witnessing, visualization meditations work well for the heart
• Releasing the shadow deep inside the unconscious mind through transpersonal and soul based psychotherapy
• Quiet time, soul reflection and contemplation

The most important nutrients and herbal remedies for heart health
• An antioxidant combination with enough vitamins A, E, C and minerals zinc, selenium, chromium
• High dosages (50-100mg each) of the B-complex vitamins B1, 3, 5, 6, choline, inositol; 50 microgram of B12 & biotin; 400 microgram of folic acid
• Magnesium and calcium in therapeutic quantities
• Co-enzyme Q10 in therapeutic quantities
• Hawthorn (Crateagus oxyacantha) berry in therapeutic quantities
• Essential fatty acids, especially omega 3 found in cold water fish
• Ginkgo biloba in therapeutic quantities
• Garlic – eat crushed garlic in your food – at least 3 cloves a day, with parsley for the smell, or take garlic capsules
• Phyto (plant) estrogens, e.g. soybeans, chick peas, lentils, linseed

Homocystein:
- Have your homocystein (a sulphur containing amino acid) risk measured together with your regular lipid profile tests
- High levels mean high risk: accumulated homocystein damage the inner lining of the arteries, and encourages the formation of atherosclerosis
- A study done at Ohio State University in the USA, showed a link between high homocystein levels and an attitude of hostility and anger – finally science has caught up with the mind-soul-body link! The stress associated with hostility and anger may elevate homocystein levels, accelerating damage to the inside of the arterial walls (atherosclerosis)
- The treatment is cheap, simple and extremely effective:
i. 400 IU’s vitamin E
ii. 50mg vitamin B6
iii. 50 microgram B12
iv. 400 microgram folic acid
- These nutrients ensure the conversion of homocystein into beneficial antioxidants. People with a genetic tendency for high homocystein levels, often have a deficiency of these nutrients.

The heart’s language and Mediterranean countries

The countries around the Mediterranean Sea have a daily siesta time after their phyto (=plant) nutrient, fish and olive oil rich lunch as part of their cultural habit – this lowers stress levels by allowing the parasympathetic nervous system to re-balance the sympathetic or stress nervous system response. Soy based food forms the staple in Japan.

Heart centred meditation

Sit comfortably on the floor or in a chair, in a quiet place, with soft pink candle light, rose quartz crystal and soothing music if you prefer. Hold your back straight, chin parallel to the floor, hands relaxed in your lap, eyes closed. Breathe deeply and slowly and feel yourself relaxing with each exhalation. Do this until you’re completely relaxed. In your mind’s eye, imagine a bright, healing light shining into your heart. The light becomes softer, changing to hues of pink or green, associated with feelings of love, peace, reassurance, forgiveness and acceptance. The light dissolves all tension from your heart and chest. Feel all heaviness, sadness, regret, pain and seriousness lift and release, leaving you light hearted and joyful. Feel your heart developing its own radiance as though an inner flame is being rekindled. Allow this light from inside your heart to spread to every part of you, into the far reaches of every cell, molecule, thought and emotion. Imagine yourself filled with this light’s purity and wonder; your body, mind, emotions and soul healed by the radiance inside your own heart. Sense this light spreading into your feet and eyes to illuminate your path with love. Repeat the positive affirmations: my heart is light and free; I am always being guided in love; my life is filled with love, laughter and infinite wisdom; my heart opens with love, peace and forgiveness. Bathe in love’s feelings and light for as long as you can. Then slowly become aware of your body, move your limbs, notice your breathing, experience the calm and peace inside. Gently come back to normal awareness.

Heart centred wellness is an example of energy medicine and science combining in a healing dance where fact, mystery, imagination and soul exploration create an aspect of wholeness

By: Dr Arien van der Merwe

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The Roadmap to Success

The Roadmap to Success
By Pauline Canas

The world we live in today is far different from yesterday. Our existence is not isolated from anything or anyone.

We are now a global community that affect each other and requires accountability, responsibility, sensibility, and the entire abilities one can muster to keep this world safe and sane.

The worldwide leaders although experienced need to be responsive to the woes of its own constituents.

It is interesting to note that people react to events in a similar fashion and that strong leadership and high ethical values make this world a safer place.

Behind all this global talk is our responsibility to nurture the very young. They are the future and therefore require our guidance if we even expect to have a better tomorrow.

There are tons of afflicted and abandoned children. Even parents who wish the best for their own children are not free from the dangers that are lurking just outside their home.

The prevalence of drugs and corruption are hard to break. The children of today need strong education to succeed in the end in order to offset problems or setbacks that are common in today's environment.

The roadmap to success is through preparation and discipline.

The setting of goals goes with preparation. One needs to be clear of the goals in order to obtain the desired outcome.

Discipline on the other hand is a tough one but having a strong desire to perform a task can be the factor that can help our children.

Therefore, we need to inspire our children in some way that is meaningful for them.

We are yet to discover the very talents that our children can produce if we only try and devote our time in creating a roadmap to their success

source : http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Roadmap-to-Success&id=1634546

Kerry Collins Biography

Kerry Collins Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kerry Michael Collins (born December 30, 1972 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania) is an American football quarterback for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Carolina Panthers with the fifth overall pick of the 1995 NFL Draft (The first ever draft choice in team history). He played college football at Penn State, where he was a Heisman Trophy finalist during his senior season in 1994.

Playing career

Penn State

Kerry Collins played college football at Penn State University, where he earned many awards. As quarterback, he was named All American in 1994 by the Associated Press, United Press International, The Football News, Football Writers Association of America, Walter Camp and The Sporting News.

Collins also captured two of college football’s major postseason prizes — the Maxwell Award, presented to the nation’s outstanding player, and the Davey O'Brien Award, which goes to the nation’s top quarterback.

Collins finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting that year. In addition, he was chosen UPI Back-of-the-Year and garnered Player-of-the-Year honors from ABC-TV/Chevrolet and the Big Ten Conference. Collins made a serious run at the NCAA season passing efficiency record, falling just four points short (172.8), the fourth-highest figure in NCAA annals.

He broke Penn State season records for total offense (2,660), completions (176), passing yardage (2,679), completion percentage (66.7), yards per attempt (10.15) and passing efficiency (172.86). He had 14 consecutive completions at Minnesota, another Penn State record. Collins was the linchpin of an explosive offense that shattered 14 school records and led the nation in scoring (47.8 ppg.) and total offense (520.2 ypg.).

With 5,304 career passing yards, Collins ranks No. 3 in Penn State annals and is one of only three quarterbacks to top 5,000 yards through the air. Through his passion and leadership, the 1994 Nittany Lions completed an undefeated season, the fifth under coach Joe Paterno, capped by a Rose Bowl championship over Oregon. His team was awarded the NCAA Division I-A national football championship by the New York Times. Collins was also a member of Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity.

Carolina Panthers

Collins was selected as the Carolina Panthers' first round pick (fifth overall) in the 1995 NFL Draft. He was the first player ever chosen by the Panthers in the annual college draft, though other players—some free agents, as well as players from the expansion draft—had previously signed with the team.

In his three seasons with the Panthers, he threw for 7,295 yards, 39 touchdowns and 49 interceptions. His completion percentage was 52.6% and his quarterback rating was 65.6. In his second season, he led the Panthers to the NFC Championship Game

Battles with alcoholism

Before the 1997 season got underway, Collins' private battle with alcoholism started to make public headlines. Collins threw 21 interceptions during the 1997 season and the Panthers finished 7–9, just one season after advancing to the NFC Championship.

Collins was placed on waivers by Carolina during the 1998 season and subsequently signed by the New Orleans Saints. On November 2, 1998 Collins was arrested for drunk driving in Charlotte, North Carolina. He finished the 1998 campaign in New Orleans and signed with the New York Giants as a free agent on February 19, 1999


Offensive Language/Drunken Incident

In a highly publicized incident, on the last night of Carolina Panthers training camp in 1997 Collins used the offensive racial slur "nigger" in reference to Black teammate Muhsin Muhammad while in a drunken state at a bar in Spartanburg, SC. Supposedly, Collins also inadvertently slurred offensive lineman Norberto Garrido, who is of Hispanic descent.

This resulted in Collins being punched in the eye by Garrido. Collins had stated, in an intoxicated state, that he thought the use of the racial epithet would help him and his teammates bond.
When Collins was a member of the New York Giants he revealed that for four of his five years there he remained in therapy to deal with that issue and others.

As a member of the Tennessee Titans he said that "The guys were talking to each other that way, and I was trying to be funny and thought I could do it, too. I was so upset by it. It was bad judgment. I could have been labeled a racist for the rest of my career.

I had to live with the way I used that word with a teammate. Extremely poor judgment. I was naïve to think I could use that word in any context."[1]

Rehabilitation

Not long after signing with New York, Collins decided to seek treatment for his alcoholism. He entered a rehabilitation clinic in Topeka, Kansas. No sooner did Collins get his personal life back on track than his professional career followed. Collins started the 1999 season as the Giants' second-string quarterback, but soon claimed the starting job.

In the 2000 season Collins led the Giants to Super Bowl XXXV, where they lost to the Baltimore Ravens. During the 2001 season, Collins set a single-season NFL record with 23 fumbles[1] (Collins' record was tied in 2002 by then-Minnesota Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper). After five seasons, sixty-eight starts and 16,875 yards in New York, Collins was released by the Giants in 2004. The team had already signed former league MVP Kurt Warner and traded for 2004's #1 draft pick, Eli Manning. After his release, Collins signed a three-year, $16.82 million contract with the Oakland Raiders.

Collins began the 2004 season as the team's backup to Rich Gannon, but took over the starting role when Gannon suffered a neck injury in the third week of the regular season.

Collins was the team's starting quarterback for the 2005 season, subsequent to Gannon's retirement.[2]

The 2005 Raiders season started off well for Collins, but he was benched after a Week 13 loss to the San Diego Chargers. However, he regained his starting job two weeks later against the Cleveland Browns (a 9–7 loss at home). After two seasons and a 7–21 record with the Raiders, Collins was cut on March 10, 2006 in what was at least partially a move designed to free space with the salary cap


Tennessee Titans

On August 28, 2006, Collins agreed in principle to a deal of unknown length and money with the Tennessee Titans. After three games, all losses for the Titans, Collins had completed less than half his passes, and had thrown one touchdown and six interceptions. Vince Young, who played extensively as a substitute in the second game, started the fourth through sixth games while Collins saw no playing time in any of them. On March 5, 2007 he re-signed with the Titans.

After Titans quarterback Vince Young was pulled from the game on September 14, 2008, Collins finished the game and was named the Titans starting quarterback for the rest of 2008 later in the week. On September 21, 2008, Collins became just the 15th player in NFL history to pass for more than 35,000 yards.

Coming into the game against the Houston Texans, Collins needed only 90 yards to eclipse the mark. On his 9th completion of 13 attempts, Collins completed a 17 yard pass to Justin McCareins to give him 107 yards on the day and 35,007 yards for his career.

Awards

Won the 1994 Maxwell Award (Nation's top college player)
Won the 1994 Davey O'Brien Award (Nation's top college quarterback)
Selected to the NFL Pro Bowl following the 1996 season

Charity

Throughout his career, Collins has been one of the NFL's most charitable players. Immediately upon signing his rookie contract with the Carolina Panthers, he donated $250,000 to the Penn State athletic department to permanently endow the quarterback position.

He has donated over 2 million dollars to charities such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Harlem Boys Choir. In 2001, Collins donated $120,000 to Manhattan's Ladder 5/Engine 24 Family Relief following the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center.

Through the KC for Kids Fund of the Kerry Collins Foundation, Collins has donated more than $500,000 for the renovation of the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, a children's unit within the NYU Medical Center. Previously Collins donated $100,000 to the Institute, to establish the Kerry M. Collins Computer Center and Classroom, with specially modified equipment for infirmed children.

During the 2005 season, Collins pledged $1,000 for every touchdown he threw and every game the Raiders won to the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina relief fund. On March 24, 2006, Collins was honored by The Second Mile Foundation in recognition of his commitment to others

References

1. George, Thomas (2008-09-25). "Young's mentor is right next to him, if only he'd reach out", NFL.com. Retrieved on 2008-09-25

source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Collins

Protecting the Environment - Reducing Carbon Emissions

Protecting the Environment - Reducing Carbon Emissions
By Simon Jay-Cee

Carbon emissions are one of the leading causes of damage to the Earth's atmosphere. Global warming has become a grave problem in today's society and these emissions into the Earth's atmosphere need to be put into consideration.

Global warming can be devastating to the Earth because it leads to a rise in temperatures which further leads to the melting of ice and the elevation of water levels and the death and at times the extinction of animals and plant life.

Such activities have been theories to the explanation of the great tsunami that hit Indonesia and devastated the area.


Carbon emission is possible to at least detain. The effects cannot not be reversed and it is near impossible to stop all emission but just a slight reduction can save the human population years from the devastating hurricane effects.

Below, there is a list of suggestions to help reduce carbon emissions.

The first suggestion is to "go green". "Going green" means to use sources of energies such as wind and water instead of basic energies which include energy derived from coal, oil and gas.

Try to find an electric company that provides "green energy" rather than nuclear energy because they do exist. This will greatly help decrease the carbon emissions that are dispersed in the atmosphere of the Earth.

The next suggestion is to reduce the amount that you drive. Going along with saving on fuel, try to make as few trips as possible. Try to do all of your driving for chores once a week.

If you live by the stores try walking there. Another resource that helps are buying or leasing hybrid cars. You will save money on a hybrid car even if the initial cost is more expensive, due to the amount of fuel that you will free from buying. Plus, you will be able to decrease carbon emissions.

The third suggestion is to limit meat consumption that is imported. Due to the importation of meat, these products need to be transported which means there are a lot of emissions of carbon into the atmosphere of the Earth.

This is the same for fruits and vegetables. If they are not locally produced, they are transported from long distances which are harmful to the Earth and leads to Global Warming.

A great idea is to produce your favorite vegetables and fruits in your garden so that you do not need to travel and cause more damage to the atmosphere with the carbon emissions from burning fuel.

You will also be able to save a few dollars by cultivating your own products.

The final suggestion to diminish the addition of carbon emission to the Earth is by recycling.

You can also buy products which are only made from recycled products. Therefore, say good bye to Styrofoam!

These are just a few suggestions. You can follow one or two or all of them.

The more you do, the more you will reduce carbon emissions from entering the Earth's atmosphere

source  http://ezinearticles.com/?Protecting-the-Environment---Reducing-Carbon-Emissions&id=1532730

Gina Carano Biography

Gina Carano Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nickname : Conviction

Height : 5 feet 8 inches (173 cm)

Weight : 144.5 lb (65.5 kg) (weigh-in May 30, 2008)

Nationality : American

Born : April 16, 1982 (1982-04-16) (age 26)

Fighting out of : Las Vegas, Nevada

Town of birth : Dallas County, Texas

Team/Association : Xtreme Couture

Fighting style : Boxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Early Life

Gina Joy Carano (born April 16, 1982) is an American mixed martial arts fighter; her specialty is Muay Thai. Carano also appears as the Gladiator "Crush" on American Gladiators. She has been referred to as the "face of women's MMA".[1]

Carano was born in Dallas County, Texas, the middle daughter of Glenn Carano and Dana Cason. She has two sisters, one older and one younger.[2][3] Her father played for the Dallas Cowboys as a backup quarterback from 1977-1983 and for the USFL Pittsburgh Maulers as a starter in 1984, their only year of operations.

She graduated from Trinity High School in Las Vegas, NV where she led the girl's basketball team to a state title.[4] She attended the University of Nevada, Reno for a year and then University of Nevada, Las Vegas for three, where she was a psychology student.[5]

Martial arts career

After achieving a Muay Thai record of 12-1-1, Carano received an offer to participate in the first-ever sanctioned female MMA bout in Nevada. She was invited to the World Pro Fighting show in Las Vegas to fight Rosi Sexton from the United Kingdom.[6]


She fought on the February 10, 2007, Showtime EliteXC card, defeating Julie Kedzie via unanimous decision in what was called "the fight of the night".[7]

Her scheduled bout against Jan Finney at the EliteXC/K-1 Dynamite!! USA event on June 2, 2007 was canceled due to illness. The Fight Network and other organizations reported that she was rushed to the hospital via ambulance due to dehydration while attending a World Extreme Cagefighting event as a spectator.[8]

Carano fought on the September 15, 2007, Showtime EliteXC card, where she defeated Tonya Evinger via rear naked choke for her first career win by submission.[9]

Carano defeated former Hook N Shoot champion Kaitlin Young on EliteXC: Primetime on May 31, 2008.[10] A day before the fight, Carano failed to make weight for her fight (140 pounds (63.5 kg)) after weighing in at 144.5 (65.5 kg). Although most MMA organizations set weight classes at 135 (Bantamweight (MMA)) and 145 (Featherweight (MMA)) pounds (61.2 and 65.8 kg, respectively), EliteXC opted to create a women's weight class at 140 pounds.[11] Carano agreed to forfeit 12.5% of her "show" purse to Young, and the fight remained on the card.[12]

Her next fight is scheduled for October 4, 2008 at EliteXC: Heat at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. Her opponent for that fight will be Kelly Kobald.[13]

Outside martial arts

Along with Lisa King, Carano served as a mentor to aspiring female fighters in the Oxygen reality series Fight Girls. She currently appears as "Crush" on the NBC show American Gladiators. She will also be featured in the new Michael Jai White film Blood and Bone slated to be released sometime in 2008.[14]


She was profiled in a feature story for the ESPN series E:60, and was voted "Hottest Woman In America" by Big Biz Magazine in the Spring of 2008 issue.[15] On May 13, 2008, "Gina Carano" was the fastest-rising search on Google and third most searched person on Yahoo!.[16][2] She is set to appear in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 as Natasha.[17]

MMA record

Footnotes

^ http://mmajunkie.com/news/5335/gina-carano-refutes-position-as-face-of-womens-mma.mma

1. ^ a b Kevin Iole (May 28, 2008). Carano wants to be fighter first, star later. Yahoo Sports. Alt: [1]. Accessed 2008-08-01.
2. ^ "interview GINA CARANO". mat-magazine.com. Retrieved on 2008-09-16. 
3.  ^ Jack Sheehan (September 1, 2007). Don't let her good looks fool you Stunning Gina Carano has a near-perfect record in mixed martial arts. Las Vegas Sun. Accessed 2008-01-01.
4. ^ "interview GINA CARANO". mat-magazine.com. Retrieved on 2008-09-16.
5. ^ "World Pro Fighting - Las Vegas, September 15, 2006". WPFight.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
6. ^ "EXC live coverage from Southaven, MS". WrestlingObserver.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-16. 
7. ^ Sick Carano Off EliteXC Card (May 17, 2008) Sherdog.com. Accessed 2007-05-17.
8. ^ http://sports.yahoo.com/box/news?slug=dd-091607excnotes&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
9. ^ Ariel Helwani (May 28, 2008). Carano: 'I just didn't really want to stay out of the ring' Fox Sports. Accessed 2008-05-29.
10. ^ Luke Thomas, Bloody Elbow [2]
11. ^ Carano Misses Weight. (May 30, 2008) Sherdog.com. Accessed 2008-08-01.
12. ^ http://mma.fanhouse.com/2008/08/04/gina-carano-vs-kelly-kobold-gavin-fight-shows-elitexc-is-lookin/
13. ^ "Gina Carano N Michael Jai White Kick ass in Blood and Bone". Retrieved on 2008-01-23.
14. ^ http://www.mmachump.com/2008/07/gina-carano-hottest-female-fighter/
15. ^ Google trends - Gina Carano (May 13, 2008) Google. Accessed 2008-08-01.
16. ^ Gina Carano as Natasha in Red Alert 3. (May 30, 2008) IGN. Accessed 2008-08-01

source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gina_Carano