Archive for September 2011

 
 

First Rule When Starting an Online Business – Create a Business Plan

o Which direction is your business heading?

o Can you tell others where your business is heading?

o Do you have a sense of commitment, as you tell others your business objectives?

o Do you have a sense of achievement, as you see your business progressing in the way you had envisaged?

You know you have never created a business plan, and now you are wondering where you should start. You have a blank piece of paper or a new page open on your computer and writing the opening sentences will always be the hardest. What do you do next?

You know you can make the plan as complicated as you want, but there are really four elements that all business plans need to cover.

When you write the plan using these four elements you will be able to extend them naturally.

o Why do you have a business?

o What direction do you see your business going?

o How are you going to achieve your goals?

o How much will it cost to reach your goals?

How do you write your plan now? Well, the secret is to keep it short and sweet. If you can’t sum up in a sentence or two what the purpose of your business, then you’ll need to go away and consider what your business is about. You’ll need to keep working at it until you reach the stage where you know exactly what your business is about.

Imagine this situation, when you are trying to explain what you do to friends and family. It is worth sitting someone down and trying to explain to them your business.

The problem is they become bored or worse think you are a scammer, because you are still trying to explain it and it is making no sense to them. It’s time to stop and think again about what you are doing. The solution will be to keep fine tuning what you are saying, until you reach the stage where they understand what you are doing online. That doesn’t mean they won’t think you are mad, but at least they understand the principles involved in what you are trying to do.

Do you know, what a lot of people say their goals are with trying to have a presence online? It is to make money. Now the bad news is that all businesses want to make money, but that is not a good reason to have a business. If your goal is only to make money, then you should take a job. Many jobs will pay you more than you are earning online, especially if you are just starting out.

You see, there has to be another motivation for you to run your own business.

o You might want to be your own boss.

o You want to work at home to be around the family.

o You might want to be able to do some charity work.

Whatever, your goals you need to know what that is, to be motivated when you go through the difficult time. These times will come when you run your own business.

What direction do you see your business going?

Yikes, this is the six million dollar question, because at the moment, you are barely making any money online. If only you knew where your business was heading then you could answer the question.

The simple solution is to start to put more information into your business plan.

You need to know that the secret is to write your business plan the SMART way.

o Specific

o Measurable

o Actionable

o Realistic

o Timed

All good businesses have a solid foundation. You’ll need to have a good foundation for your business plan. Without it, your whole business will tumble and fall.

So your plan is to stop working in a job. Not good enough, you need a specific plan which would say you want to quit that job in 1 year’s time. You need to have something to aim for, in other words a GOAL.

Your plan is to earn money online. Yet, the specific plan says, you want to earn $100 per day and you will reach that goal within 3 months.

Measurable

You’re going to make money but you have no idea when you will reach your goal, because you don’t know what your goal is. The answer will be to have a time scale to reach your goals.

But, you say, you might not reach your goal within that time, what do you do then? Simple solution to this, you move your time scale or your goal. The one thing you don’t do is QUIT.

You set a goal to earn $100 a day in 3 months. 3 months is now over, and you only earned $90 a day. Is that bad? No, it is $90 a day more than if you had never tried. Now aim for that extra $10 a day.

Actionable

You are going to take action now to see your goals fulfilled. Regardless, of the goals, you need to have a plan and then you need to follow that plan through with action.

The bad news is that a lot of people fail online. They tried this product, and that system. Today they try one idea, and tomorrow they move onto the next idea. Everything they do is a failure.

You see there is a moral to this story, and that is unless you have a plan, and you take action then you will fail.

Now read that again.

Unless you have a plan, and you take action then you will fail.

Each person will have different goals, and you should keep updating your goals and carry on taking action.

Realistic

I have some news for you, and that is you are not going to be a millionaire overnight, unless you have a relative who leaves you a fortune.

But, you say, my bills need paying at the end of the week, and I heard that you can earn money overnight, in your sleep online.

The secret here is to be realistic in your goals.

Being realistic is not for a lot of people. Are you someone who has never earned any money online? How long have you been trying to earn and being failing? Do you know the big secret that we are keeping from you? It is this; you will not make a fortune overnight. If you don’t set realistic goals, then you will quit and be a failure. Being realistic is important and you need to start right now. Yes, this is the time to be real, and see what you need to do to earn that money.

Timed

You know, this is going to be excellent training for you, because you need to set your goals with a time for seeing those goals achieved.

But, there is more to it than that. Time management is essential for any business. If you are providing a service you need to know how long a job is going to take. You see, if I ask you to write me some articles, and you think I can do that in a couple of hours, you will charge me for a couple of hours work. Now, listen carefully, because the problem is this, you had to take twice as long to research and then write them, than you first thought. That means you worked twice as long for the same amount of money.

The answer is to learn to manage your time, and be able to estimate how long a job is going to take.

If you are going to be serious about your business, then knowing how long every job is going to take will be important.

There is an added bonus here, and that is once you know how long it takes to do a job, you will know how long you have to surf the web, and visit your favorite websites.

Need some help with questions, try these.

o How much turnover and net profit do you want to achieve and by what date?

o You want to be the top of your niche by what date? How would you like to see that achieved? This needs to be included in both the long term and short term plan.

o You need to increase your products and services to what? When is that going to happen? Creating your own products then be realistic, it might not be possible (unless you outsource) to write 100 ebooks each month.

o Increase in traffic to your website is something we all want. How much extra traffic do you want to see and what date would you like to achieve that by? Do you need to change you marketing to get this extra traffic?

Now, you want to have a business which is selling to other Internet Marketers, and this is the problem you are new and nobody knows you. Guess what, the way around this is to do some research. It is a simple solution, but if you can do this, you will learn lots of secrets that you thought were hidden.

o What motivates them to buy?

o What are the trends in Internet Marketing?

o Who are your competitors?

o Why would these people buy from you?

o What are you offering that is different from the rest?

You see, you need to ask many questions as you research and then you should analyze all the research material you have. You see, there is no point in spending valuable hours researching if you are not in a position to use that information.

SWOT

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunity

Threats

You see, you as you analysis your research you need to consider three questions.

Who is my market?

Why will they buy from me?

How will I provide the products for them?

One problem you face when you start a new business is being in direct competition with other established businesses. You will be trying to sell your product alongside well known Guru’s. Your name isn’t going to be well known and people will want to know they can trust you.

All around you people will be asking questions even if they are only in their mind.

o Is it a new or unique product?

o Is the price cheaper than other people’s products?

o What is the guarantee with the product?

o Is it a better quality product?

Summary of Your Business Plan

By now your business plan should be focused on two periods of time. You have the present time and the future which should be between one or two years only.

You have included some good information into the plan.

o What type of business you have, and include both the products and services you have available.

o Include information about your business, how many employees, turnover, profit margins and location of any offices you have.

o What is the growth and expansion of your business?

o What niche do you market?

o Have you identified your competitors?

o Do you know how long it will be before your plan will become a reality?

Three Stages to Preparing Your Plan

Do you realize there are only three simple stages to be used when you prepare your business plan?

o Research

o Draft the Plan

o Action

Research

You see, you will need to do thorough research. This isn’t only true when you start your business but you should do research at different stages during your time in business.

Why is this important? It is only important if you want to stay at the top.

“But it is time consuming,” you say. Well, it can be, and you might need to take a couple of days away from the business to do this. If you are running your business single-handed then schedule the time into your day to day routine. It might take time, but think about the benefits to you and your business.

Now, yes right now, take a good look at where your business is today; be honest with yourself because if you are not making any money then you will need to know why that is happening.

You see, there is no benefit for you to inflate your earnings to what you want them to be, because only you are seeing them at the moment. If you want to reach your goals then you need to know where you have been; where you are; and where you are going.

Now if your business is selling digital products, then evaluate which ones sell well and which ones are not making you any or very little profit. If you look at each product carefully, you might find that a certain niche isn’t selling well. Dig as deep as you need to go to find out where your business is at.

You see now you are making progress, you now know where you want your business to be, in the next quarter, or year. You know you need to give yourself a time scale.

Ah! But what if you discover the business is doing badly, you might want to have the challenge of turning it around quickly. The solution will be not to set the deadline too far in advance. If you do, then you might fail to take any action until the last minute.

Look at every area of your business, and see if it is producing the best results possible. Is there a new niche you want to add to your business?

And finally, you’ll need to find a way to get from where you are today to where you want to be in that allotted time period. It might mean dropping some products; updating others or even find new products to market. You’ll need to know exactly and clearly what you need to do and how you will achieve those goals.

You see, this is what a business plan is all about; it will give you the map for your business to follow.

Just imagine you’re taking a car journey and you’re going to somewhere new. Nobody in the car knows the way either. You see most motorists would look on a map or use their computer to get the route needed to be taken. But, you are not like most people, because you don’t want to be told what to do. You know you can find your own way there without any help from anyone else.

Well, you might but it is likely you will get lost many times, and you might never reach your destination. However, if you do reach your destination you will find you have spent many more hours on the road than you needed to get to the destination.

Listen carefully here, only if you are stubborn will you say you don’t need a business plan. You know you can make that decision because it is your business that will be affected, and you will get lost time and time again. You’ll be the one who is trying to get to a goal and not reaching it. You’ll be the one who won’t make any money and be able to run your own business. You’ll even get added to the statistics of businesses that fail.

We all like to know secrets, well here is another one for you, if you don’t want to be a failure with your business, then you will start to plan today what you business is going to be like in twelve months time. Not only that but you will have your route map and you will follow it until you see the goals achieved.

You see all the time you need to consider where you are going because without a destination, you will keep going around and around in circles.

You’ll need to consider how you are going to sell your product before you spend hours creating it, and then you need to decide how to deliver that product.

Draft the Plan

Let me tell you there is no format for writing your plan. You should find your bank or financial institute have ones available for people starting out in business. But, you’ll need to find what works for you and your business.

You see, as you start to write the plan you’ll realize what needs to be added which is exclusive to your business and strategy. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Always, give yourself room to expand the plan as you find out more information from your research.

Listen, you might start to do a basic financial statement and realize that you have to change your opinions about certain areas of the business, based on what you are now seeing. That is a good way to progress your plan.

Keep in mind these points.

o Where your business is today?

o Who works for your business?

o What are the turnover and the profit?

o How does you business compare to your competitors?

o What is your profile like?

o Where will your business be by a given date?

o What is the vision of the company?

o How many people do you need to fulfill the vision?

o What turnover and profit do you need to achieve?

o How can you improve your business to overtake your competitors?

o What do you want your profile to be like?

o How you are going to get there?

o If you need staff, do you have any idea whom will you hire?

o How can you increase both your turnover and profit?

o How can you change your marketing and image?

o How can you increase your profile?

You see, keeping the plan simple is all that is needed. You can use these bullet points and add in any other information as necessary.

Now, you might think the more complicated the plan the better it is, but that isn’t true. The more complicated the plan the less likely you’ll implement it.

Action

You see, there is no point in spending time analyzing and researching your business if it ends there. Too many will do the groundwork and then quit. You know what will happen then, these businesses will fail. The best business plans are from those people who take action.

Here is the real secret of any successful business, whether that is online or offline, you need to take action.

You know, there is nothing worse than talking with a person who has a problem, who doesn’t want to take any action. How many times have you seen a person ask a question on a forum, only to come a week later asking the same question? At some stage, another person will ask did you read and act on the advice given.

Now if you are dealing with a person on a one to one basis, and they ask for your advice and come back time and time again with the same problem, what do you do? You ask if they put into practice what you suggested. They then say, “No!”

You are frustrated because you are unable to help them. But until they are prepared to do anything to get out of the situation, they will remain in exactly the same state that they are in. Until the person puts into practice what they have learnt they will never, ever leave that situation behind.

Now you know that this is true with some people who want a business. They want the financial benefits without having to do any work, and because they don’t want to work, they won’t take any action.

As your business expands, you’ll need to have a good idea who is going to do each task, or know what type of person you are looking to employ. You might need to find a good writer for articles and ebooks. You could have a target of a certain number of articles which need to be written each week. You’ll need to set the tasks, the deadlines, and the person to do the job.

Now this is important, as you build your business, you will come across people of excellence and you’ll want to hire, employ or outsource to them.

You should keep a record of their details, name; email; phone and any other details you might have. When you need to have a job done you already know which people you’ll want to work with.

And finally, you should keep you plan handy and use it on a regular basis. Let it influence everything in your business especially as you expand.

Can you see you business rapidly expanding, do you really want to have to spend time writing a business plan or trying to work out how the business should run?

Now, if you have the plan written, then it is simply putting it into action. If you need to expand, then add to your existing plan.

Always, remember to review your plan on a regular basis. Don’t wait until a crisis comes to try and work out what you should do. Be prepared before the crisis happens. You business plan will keep you on track to remain in the group of people whose business survive.

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Career Clusters, A Bridge Between Education and Career Planning

Since 1960s, career cluster resources have been used as career exploration and planning tools in schools, learning communities, and organizations across the nation. Career Clusters is a system that matches educational and career planning.

Step 1: Identifying Career Cluster Interest Areas

Career clusters are groups of similar occupations and industries. When teachers, counselors, and parents work with teens, college students, and adults, the first step is to complete career cluster assessment. The assessment identifies the highest career cluster areas. Career assessments show teens, college students, and adults rankings from one of the following 16 Interests Areas or Clusters:

1. Agriculture, Food, & Natural Resources

2. Architecture & Construction

3. Arts, A/V Technology & Communication

4. Business, Management & Administration

5. Education & Training

6. Finance

7. Government & Public Administration

8. Health Science

9. Hospitality & Tourism

10. Human Services

11. Information Technology

12. Law, Public Safety & Security

13. Manufacturing

14. Marketing, Sales & Service

15. Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics

16. Transportation, Distribution & Logistics

Step 2: Exploring Career Clusters and Related Careers

After pinpointing the highest career clusters, teens, college students, and adults explore the different careers and create education plans. Career cluster tools used in career and educational planning include:

  • LISA: A comprehensive career cluster database
  • Models
  • Brochures
  • Pathways
  • High school plan of study
  • Interest and Skills Areas
  • Crosswalks

After completing a career cluster assessment, teens, college students, and adults look at web sites, career models, brochures, pathways, and high school plans. One of the most unique comprehensive career cluster resources is the Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA), an Internet program. LISA lets you explore career clusters, careers, abilities, training requirements, and more. There are 3 steps in the LISA program:

STEP 1: Click here to select a Career Cluster

STEP 2: Click here to select a Career Group

STEP 3: Explore Occupations within this Career Group

In Step 1, when you choose a career cluster, you will see a description of the cluster. When you select a career group in Step 2, you see different careers. Finally, in Step 3, you see a wealth of information:

  • Job descriptions
  • Educational and training requirements
  • Crosswalks, for example ONET, DOT, GOE, and other codes
  • Abilities
  • Knowledge
  • Skills
  • Tasks
  • Work Values
  • Labor Market Information

Even though LISA is an awesome program, in classroom or workshop settings, you need printed materials. When using printed materials, the career model is the best place to start. Models provide excellent overviews listing the cluster definitions, sample careers, pathways, knowledge, and skills. Visual models show career clusters, the cluster subgroups, and related careers. Models are an excellent way to introduce career clusters.

For presentations, workshops, and group discussions, the career cluster brochures provide additional information. Adults and teens read about the different careers that are available in each career cluster. Teachers, counselors, and parents use the brochures to solidify adults’ and teens’ potential career or educational decisions. The brochures cover topics such as:

  • Definition of career clusters
  • Careers
  • Career pathways
  • Employment outlooks
  • Skills
  • Credentials

Teachers, counselors, and parents use career pathways for more detailed information. The career pathways are subgroups or areas of concentration within career clusters. Each pathway contains career groups. The career groups have similar academic skills, technical skills, educational requirements, and training requirements. Career pathways are plans of study that outline required secondary courses, post secondary courses, and related careers. The career pathways are essential tools that teachers, counselors, parents, and other adults use to give educational planning advice.

Several web sites feature High School Plans of Study. These study plans show required, elective, and suggested courses for each grade level. The school plans also match the career clusters to related careers, career pathways, and post-secondary options. Teachers, counselors, and parents find that these school plans are guides for selecting the right high school courses to match potential careers. Beyond high school, the Utah System for Higher Education has created a College Major Guide. Parents, teachers, and counselors can use the guide to match college majors to Certificate and Degree Programs.

Additional Resources for Counselors and Teachers

For planning curriculum and educational programs, there are detailed Knowledge and Skills Charts and Cluster Crosswalks. The knowledge and Skills expand upon the information listed on the career cluster models. For each knowledge and skill area, there are performance elements and measurement criteria. Crosswalks show the relationships between career clusters and other career models:

Career clusters build a bridge between education and career planning. Different types of career cluster resources are available: videos, web sites, booklets, brochures, activity sheets, and workbooks. Teachers, counselors, and parents use career cluster resources to successfully complete career and educational planning.

Resources:

American Careers Career Paths, Career Communications, 6701 W. 64th St., Overland, KS 66202, 800-669-7795

Career Click, Illinois Department of Employment Security,33 South State Street, Chicago, IL 60603, (312) 793-5700

CIP Code Index by Career Cluster, Adult & Postsecondary CTE Division, Bureau of Career and Technical Education, 333 Market Street, Harrisburg, PA 17126, (717) 772-0814

Cluster and Career Videos, Career One Stop, U.S. Department of Labor, Frances Perkins Building, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20210, 866-4-USA-DOL

College Major Guide Utah System for Higher Education, Board of Regents Building, The Gateway, 60 South 400 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84101-1284, (801) 321-7100

Find Careers (Videos), iSeek Solutions, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, Wells Fargo Place, 30 7th St. E., Suite 350, St. Paul, MN 55101-7804

High School Plans of Study, New Hampshire Department of Education, 101 Pleasant Street

Concord, NH 03301-3860, (603) 271-3494

Introduction to Career Clusters, Career Education, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, P.O. Box 543

Blacklick, OH 43004-0544,

Louisiana Integrated Skills Assessment (LISA), customized Internet version of OSCAR, a product of the Texas Workforce Commission/Career Development Resources, TWC/CDR, Austin, TX 78753

Maryland Career Clusters, Maryland State Department of Education 200 West Baltimore Street Baltimore, MD 21201,

Rhodes Island’s Career Clusters, Rhode Island’s Career Resource Network, 1511 Pontiac Avenue, Cranston, RI 02920, 401-462-8790

School to Career Clusters, State of Connecticut, Department of Labor, Job Bank, 645 South Main Street, Middletown, CT 06457, (860)754-5000

States’ Career Clusters Initiative (SCCI), 1500 W. Seventh Avenue, Stillwater, OK 74074

Career Pathway Plans, Career Cluster, Knowledge and Skills Charts

VTECS Cluster Frameworks, VTECS, 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, GA, 30033,404-679-4501 ext 543

What are Career Clusters? Career Prospects System, New Mexico Career Resource Network, CAREER TECHNICAL AND WORKFORCE EDUCATION BUREAU (CTWEB), Education Building, 300 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, NM 87501, (505) 827-6512

Dr. Mary Askew specializes in Holland Codes, career cluster, and transferable skills career tests, websites, and books for adults, high school students, college students, and teens. Find easy to use, yet comprehensive career resources. Move towards your career potentials at http://www.hollandcodes.com Contact Dr. Askew at learning4life@qwest.net

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Quick And Easy Guide To Picking The Best Sleepaway Or Overnight Summer Camp

Overnight summer camp is also known as a sleepaway camp when campers spend their nights at the camp; some camps do allow both daytime and overnight campers. Beyond the traditional sports – baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, tennis, football, and more – there are camps for outdoor enthusiasts that can offer horseback riding, hiking, camping, fishing, and even rappelling. There are overnight summer camps that are co-ed camps, boy’s camps, girl’s camps or brother-sister camps where boys and girls may have separate venues and activities.

Each summer, more than 10 million children and counselors attend day camps and overnight summer camps across the country. There are camps with activities as traditional as model rocketry and riflery, to those nontraditional as aviation, computers, language studies, golf, martial arts or community service. Camps often focus on specialties that include: adventure, art, computer, dance, music, religion, horse riding, sports, theatre, and many others.

Special needs camps meet the needs of a wide range of children with disabilities; these camps provide an outdoor summer camp experience along with a therapeutic environment. Basically, if you can think of any subject of interest, there’s probably a camp that specializes in it. An overnight summer camp is a supervised program for children and teens conducted during the summer months in most countries; children and teens, called campers, who attend camp, participate in a variety of activities, many of which are special interest.

Weight loss camps are for children and teens in order to help them learn about how to lose weight and how to keep it off while having a great overnight summer camp experience. Children will get more individual attention and supervision with a lower number of campers per counselor. Is there a special topic (e.g. religion, sports, educational, performing arts, arts and crafts) that you hope your child will gain ability and experience in?

Do you think, if you have more than one child, they would they benefit from attending the same summer camp together? The reputation of an overnight summer camp can also be determined by asking what percentage of counselors returned from the previous year. There are many types of overnight summer camps with a focus on education that cater to students with differing ages and academic interests.

Check the camper-counselor ratio to determine the number of campers for each counselor. The best overnight summer sports camps do much more than just improve a camper’s soccer, tennis, lacrosse, or wrestling skills – they help each child become a more skillful athlete, a more gracious competitor, a more committed team player, and a more confident person. College credit courses are very popular at overnight summer camps that typically offer students the opportunity to explore a pre-college experience; usually, students entering grades 10 through 12 stay in college dormitories and attend summer classes run by the college faculty.

Camps should have at least a 40% to 60% return staff ratio, which shows that the camp is seen as a good place to spend a summer. Specialty overnight camps can range from $500 to $1000 per week depending on the program. Most camp counselors are in their late teens or early twenties and are high school and college students on their summer break.

Typically an overnight summer camp experience will leave a lot of wonderful memories for the child or teen camper. Think about what you and your child hope they’ll get from going to camp. Look over and evaluate the brochures and promotional materials; read the fine print. If you spend the time needed to research your options and include your child in all the decisions, he or she will most likely have a memorable experience that provides opportunities to grow while having a lot of fun and making new friends.

For more information on choosing the best overnight summer camp and finding the best sleepaway or overnight summer camp online and offline go to http://www.OvernightSummerCamp.biz a nurse’s website specializing in overnight summer camp tips, help, facts, free tuition resources, including information on overnight summer camp reviews

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Learn How To Buy A Car And Car Insurance Without Breaking Your Budget

Do you ever wonder why different cars cost you different amounts for auto insurance premiums? Why is it that a new Corvette may cost you $1,600 dollars a month in auto insurance and an older Buick Regal may only cost you $90 per month? The new car insurance cost versus the old car insurance cost is a subject that you must review before you buy any car. Review insurance costs before you buy and you will not get caught in a financial trap.

New cars cost more to insure than old cars for three reasons. First, an auto theft of a new and exotic car costs much more than the auto theft of an older and average style car. This is because of the large value difference of the new car versus old car. For example, a new Chevy Caprice is much more costly to insure than an older Chevy Caprice. It simply costs more money to replace a new, expensive car than an older, less expensive car.

Second, the cost to repair a new car is much more than the cost to repair an old car. As such, this fact shall also increase your insurance premium cost for a new car. For example, if a new Chevy Caprice is damaged in an accident, the auto repair shop will charge you much more money for repairs than if the subject car were a ten-year old Chevy Caprice. For this reason, your insurer will charge you much more insurance premiums on a new vehicle than an older vehicle because of such repair costs.

Third, the style and type of car also shall greatly affect the cost of automobile insurance premiums that your car insurance company will charge you. Insurance companies use actuarial statistic tables which show them the past loss experience on particular styles and types of cars. They use these tables, to help calculate what premiums to charge their customers in the future. Statistical tables show these insurance companies that owners of certain styles and types of cars, such as sports cars, engage in more risky driving behavior than owners of cars that are of average type and style.

For example, insurance company statistical tables show that the insurer has experienced more losses with sports cars than with average cars. It is because the owner of a Corvette will probably drive such car faster and riskier than the owner of a Toyota Camry. With such speed and risk also comes along more losses for the insurance companies. With such risk and loss increase, the insurance company must then increase their return and charge more for auto insurance premiums.

Another example of how the type and style of vehicle may present an insurance company with more risk is the off-road style vehicles such as the Hummer line of vehicles. These vehicles are designed to perform in the off-road type environment. They are raised up off the ground more than regular automobiles for under carriage clearance. Additionally, they also have four-wheel drive capability.

With such design capabilities, the statistical tables show that the insurance company has experienced more losses with these types of cars than regular cars. This is because the owners of such vehicles will engage in off-road driving which is both risky to the vehicle and driver. In fact, some insurance companies may bar recovery for such damages, when the owner of the insured vehicle was damaged while any engaging in risky, off-road driving. Again, with more risk, the insurance company will increase return and thus auto insurance premiums. Now that you know that certain styles and types of cars cost more to insure than others, you have to be smart about what kind of vehicle you are going to buy.

Rather than take a guess at what you believe a vehicle’s insurance costs are, call your car insurance company and ask your insurance agent for a free car insurance quote for the exact type of vehicle that you are interested in buying. You can get a definitive answer to your question of whether or not you can afford both the car and the insurance premiums required to cover your car against insured losses.

The time to make such assessment is not after you purchase a vehicle. At that point in time, it is too late. The time to make such assessment is way in advance of your purchasing an automobile. You definitely want to be able to make both car payments as well as insurance premium payments. Get a free auto insurance quote ahead of time and avoid financial problems.

By receiving affordable auto insurance you will be able to get the right car for you and your budget.

You may click the following link to learn more about Alaska auto insurance. There, you may also get a free auto insurance quote by entering your zip code in seconds!

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A Guide To Camping For Beginners

If you have ever driven through a campground and seen families having great fun camping together and thought, “that looks that a great family activity”, you are right! Camping is one of the most wholesome, fun, affordable and bonding experiences a family can get into. But if you have driven along looking at all the equipment and skills needed to learn camp and thought, “I can never learn to do all of that”, you are wrong. It really isn’t that hard to learn to camp and every step along the way is lots of fun for everyone.

So how do you get started learning to camp? There is no question that there is some equipment involved and learning to set up a camp, use your gear to enjoy a night of eating and sleeping in the open spaces and then get home safe and sound requires a bit of a learning curve. For many parents that want to start camping to give their children those experiences, the idea of buying all that equipment is intimidating. And you don’t want to get the wrong equipment and then have to buy it all over again. Those kinds of mistakes can kill your enthusiasm for expanding your camping hobby into a passion for camping.

So one of the best ways to learn to camp and to try out camping equipment is to camp with someone who is good at it. Many experienced camping families have excess equipment or know other families who will loan you equipment to try out on your first camp out. If one of your friends or friends of your children are experienced campers, you will find them to probably be evangelistic about it and happy to let you tag along on their next camp out to show you the ropes. If they can help you borrow some equipment, you can learn to use it and try out different camping options so when you are ready to buy your own equipment you already know what you like and don’t like.

Another great way to get some camping experience without buying a thing is to get involved in camping organization. If you have children, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are organizations geared for building life skills in children and who are heavily dedicated to camping. Most scout troops have an extensive arsenal of camping gear and the leadership are almost always seasoned campers with a flair for teaching.

It is the mission of the scouts to train new recruits in the fine points of camping so you can tag along on some camp outs and learn some great camping skills. Also scouts actively encourages parent involvement so dad and mom can learn to camp right along with their children. Who knows but you may get involved with the scouts just to harvest some camping skills and find yourself hooked and becoming life long Boy or Girl Scout enthusiasts. There are worse things children or a whole family can be involved in for sure.

After getting some exposure, you will want to think through what kind of tents, sleeping bags and other camping gear you will want to buy as you launch your family camping hobby. Many two-man tents are economical and easy to transport, put up and break down. But if you are going to have the entire family in one tent, you may want to look into a larger family tent that mom and dad can stand up in and that provides plenty of room for gear and children as well. But look ahead in your camping life. As the children grow older, they may want to move out into their own tents to think of how your first starter tent will fit into the larger scheme of camping as you grow in your camping ambitions.

Another consideration is whether you will need electricity and water facilities at the camp grounds you visit or if you will provide for those things yourself. Many beginning campers prefer to use electricity and water hook ups to make it easier on parents who are learning the tricks of the trade of camping. But remember to take extension cords and water hoses so you can bring those resources into camp and even right into the tent with you.

Also think about the space in your vehicle for camping gear and how you will transport your new gear to and from camp. You probably don’t want to buy a vehicle just for camping at first so learning to pack light and only take what is needed will be an important skill for you throughout your camping career.

Take it slow as you learn each new method of camping and begin to use new tools that you see other campers use. One way to slowly expand your camping gear is to plan to buy one new piece of camping equipment each season so you find your knowledge and skills at using that new gear grow at a steady pace as well.

Take it slow in how ambitious you get in your camping plans. Don’t drive two days to the deep mountains and take on a primitive camping adventure if you are new to the sport. Start out with one night camp outs close to home. Yes, your first camp out may even be in your back yard so you can do a trial run with your equipment but be close enough to run inside if things go wrong. Then slowly expand the number of nights you are out and how far away from home you get.

You will find camping to be an addictive passion and it’s an addiction that you will be glad your family got hooked on. By using some common sense and developing your skills steadily, you can expand your vision and take on more and more aggressive and ambitious camping adventures over time. Then when you have graduated from beginner camper to seasoned old pro, you will look back at your progress and get some real gratification that you took on something new and made it your own. You will be proud of yourself and your kids will be proud too because they will have a love of camping that will serve them for the rest of their lives.

Gray Rollins is a featured writer for CampingEarth.com – your complete resource to camping. If you’d like to learn more camping basics, please visit us. Also, be sure to check out our comprehensive guides such as the complete guide to popup campers.

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Pet Wellness – Veterinary Medicine Loses to Big Pharma

Well it’s confirmed. The takeover of veterinary medicine in the US and other first world nations is confirmed. Big Pharma has finally made it to the finish line. Should pet owners and their pets be happy about this take over? Well, I wouldn’t start planning the party just yet because according to many vets out there this is not something to be happy about. What does this mean for pet wellness and natural pet health care?

Because of the massive profits that can be generated through pets, these drug companies for decades have spent much time and effort in an aggressive campaign to rewrite vet school curricula, influencing veterinarians and brainwashing pet owners into thinking their pets need drugs in order to thrive and be healthy. Thanks to advertising funded by greedy uncaring drug companies, most consumers already show a cult like belief in pharmaceutical medicine. So, for Big Pharma it was easy to convince pet owners that their animals need the same.

It is common practice nowadays for vets in the US to practice chemical based medicine on pets. Immediately upon diagnosis, the pet owner is given a prescription of an expensive patented pharmaceutical – a so called instant fix to be given to their pet. If this is not enough, the FDA has given approval for Prozac, a super mind altering drug prescribed to dogs, as well as many common drugs for people are now being used on pets. This includes chemotherapy drugs for cancer treatment. Alongside this, common pet ailments such as arthritis, diabetes, heart disease and depression are also being treated with harmful medications without even the mention of natural pet health care as a healing property.

Needless to say, pet wellness is now in rapid decline and pet owners really need to be vigilant in their pet wellness practices, and look for a better option to heal their pet’s illness. Any vet practicing for more than ten years will tell you that the result of the Big Pharma take over is that dogs and cats and other animals are sicker than ever. These vets have seen an increase in the rate of liver disease, nervous system disorders, cancers and diabetes. This is because pets are being regularly poisoned by bad pet food and medicines. Even popular flea and tick medication on their own are highly toxic to your pet’s liver.

Big Pharma influence has turned veterinary medicine into a joke, right alongside the conventional medicine system for humans. No longer is the goal of medicine to heal anyone. The goal now is to profit by treating managing diseases without actually curing or preventing them. Why would they do this? Connect the dots. To benefit from repeat business and a lucrative one at that! Let me not even touch on the rates veterinarians are charging these days particularly in emergency care. The fees are outrageous! And the audacity of pet clinics who are taking advantage of people’s kindness when they rescue a pet charging $500. for saline solution! These pet clinics are exploiting human kindness for high profit. How many people do you think will now have no choice but to think twice before they rescue a wounded or helpless animal?

So what do pet owners do when faced with a situation where their precious pet needs medical help? Thankfully there is another route for pet wellness with holistic practitioners in veterinary medicine. These practitioners are more plentiful in veterinary medicine than in human medicine.

Why the pet wellness route of pet natural health care is the direction to go.

1. Holistic veterinarians understand nutrition, herbs, homeopathy and other natural modalities.

2. Holistic veterinarians prescribe solutions and treat animals in ways that are outlawed in human medicine – because these solutions have a silver lining – they work!

3. Holistic vets are more often in their line of business for the love of animals and the belief in a natural system of medications for ailments. This makes them human as opposed to donkeys that are always trying to pave their financial future by exploiting sick animals and the love pet owners have for their pets.

My dog’s holistic vet, Dr. Andrew Jones once made a statement that I have never forgotten. “Any vet who thinks a dog is depressed and needs antidepressants should frankly have their license revoked and banished to a distant island over populated with sexually aggressive baboons!” I wish I could somehow show you the expression on his face when he said this and how although I laughed from his choice of words I also thought – this guy is seriously angry about the situation. Not surprising as he is one those vets who do what he does for the love of animals and his belief in natural medicine.

When we look at the horrifying toxicity in pet foods in combination with pharmaceutical medicine, the future of mainstream pet wellness is quite dim. Many brands of pet food claiming to be “scientific” brands are really just crap. Only specialty pet food companies offer genuinely healthy, toxic free pet food.

Mainstream veterinary practices amount to nothing more than chemical abuse of dogs, cats and other animals. Sadly, this industry has swiped ethics for profit and no longer has any interest in helping to improve the quality of life of our pets. Nutrition has been dismissed and replaced with a system of chemical invasion leading to worsening long term health. The same has been taking place in human health care for years now, which is why holistic practitioners in human and pet health care are speaking out and giving us another avenue of hope for ourselves and our pets.

The proper use of pharmaceuticals

Pet wellness practices tell us it is important to understand the other side of the coin for just a minute. Some chemical medications do have a role in quality veterinary care. For example:

1. Pain killers – have a useful but limited role.

2. Antibiotics – can be helpful in certain situations.

Be careful because antibiotics, even in human medicine are massively abused around the world.

Be wary that treating dogs and cats with antidepressants, chemotherapy, diabetes drugs, statin drugs, osteoporosis drugs and other such chemical agents is absurd.

Make no mistake that most pet health conditions can be prevented and cured with good nutrition. More problematic health ailments can be economically and safely solved with herbal therapies and naturopathic modalities best known as natural pet health care.

Pet Wellness Things to Do – Right Now!

1. Switch to a healthy, natural, holistic pet diet. Make fresh meals from scratch whenever possible. Dr. Jones told me that pets should not be raised to live regularly on processed foods. Read the report: Pet Food Ingredients Revealed

2. Take an appointment with a holistic vet to investigate how he is a more suitable practitioner for your pet. Because state authorities are trying to de-license naturopathic vets, holistic or naturopathic animal care experts often do not have the same licensing credentials as regular vets. This is happening because Big Pharma owns state licensing boards and naturopathic animal care experts pose a threat to their newly found gold mine. You will most likely have to seek out naturopathic animal care experts on your own and ignore the state licensing boards. Dr. Jones explained to me that in his experience he has found that licensing credentials are essentially useless. Often times the more credentials a vet has the more deeply he is brainwashed into a pharmaceutical approach to veterinary medicine. Please consider replacing your regular vet with a holistic or naturopathic animal care expert once you have completed your investigations.

3. Go back to basics. Nutrition, exercise, disease preventing and natural pet health care.

Just like in the dieting world, don’t be suckered in by the “miracle pill.” What animals need, just like people, is strong nutrition and natural medicine from nature. Pet wellness means utilizing natural pet health care solutions, raw food diets, and naturopathic animal health care.

Mike Adams makes some interesting points.

The main thrust of his article is to get YOU to think about what is happening conventionally, and question why.

1. Take matters into your own hands. Whether or not you use a holistic Vet- question advice..then be aware of all of the treatment options.

2. Get yourself educated on Natural Pet Health Care.You can go to school or take a home study course.

3. Vary your pet’s diet- some Raw, some Home-Made and Kibble. Add a quality supplement.

4. SPEND time being WITH your Dog and Cat. We all to often forget the more important mental aspect of health..

5. The Vaccine thing again… as little and as infrequently as possible!!

Michel’s family and pets live on the wellness side of life. She carries out her mother’s tradition of people and pet wellness including natural home remedies, home cooked healthy meals, and an all around healthy lifestyle. People and pet wellness is life’s passion for Michel, who relies on natural pet health care for healthy, happy, long life pets. Plus get an all natural raw dog food recipe from Michel’s Holistic Vet at The Kissable Kitchen – toward a steamy, seductive, vibrant, healthy lifestyle.

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The 10-Step Resume Critique

Your resume will generally receive a 15- to 30-second scan upon first review by an employer. With that in mind, it is critical that your resume — your “paper handshake” — makes a positive first impression and compels the reader to put your resume in the “yes” pile and possibly call you in for an interview.

Before you circulate your resume, you will want to ensure it incorporates the basic characteristics of a powerful, interview-generating resume. When evaluating your resume you can follow the same basic steps as professional resume writers. This will increase the chances not only of having it placed into that “yes” pile, but also of helping it rise to the top of the stack.

STEP 1: Ask yourself, “Is my resume in the correct format to best showcase my career history?”

Is your resume the appropriate length, format, and formality for the position you are targeting?

Length: For someone with five or more years of experience, a resume will typically be one to two pages. It isn’t at all uncommon for executive-level resumes to be as long as three or four pages. If you are a recent college graduate one page may suffice, but don’t be afraid to go two pages, particularly if you have some work, internship, or volunteer experience under your belt.

Format: There are three common types of resumes: chronological, functional, and combination. A chronological resume calls attention to your employment history in reverse chronological order. It is most effective when your job listings are notable (position titles and/or company names) and are directly relevant to the job target.

A functional resume de-emphasizes positions, job descriptions, and employment dates. It organizes qualifications by related skills or experience. Job seekers who have gaps in employment or who are making a career change commonly use functional resumes. Think carefully before using this format as feedback from hiring authorities suggests that they don’t like them — they know that functional resumes can be used to minimize, or even hide, periods of unemployment and other flaws in your history.

A typical combination resume is just that — a blend of the other two formats. It begins with a powerful Qualifications Summary or Professional Profile that clearly communicates your functional skills. This allows your resume to be focused toward particular positions and/or industries, and provides a platform to communicate the your best qualifications. A reverse-chronological listing of employment experience (including responsibilities and, more importantly, relevant accomplishments) follows. The combination format is a popular choice among professional resume writers as it is particularly effective in selling their clients to employers.

A fourth type of resume, which won’t be discussed at length here, is the Curriculum Vita. A “CV” is a conservatively written and designed document that emphasizes educational credentials, academic research and projects, publications, presentations, awards, and honors. This format is typically used in scholastic, medical, and scientific fields.

Formality: A good rule of thumb is to write using the same level of language that you would be expected to use in the job you are targeting. An entry-level resume can include brief sentences. If you are a manager or executive your resume will be more narrative — to draw a complete picture of your career successes and contributions — and include vernacular expected at your level of accountability.

STEP 2: Ask yourself, “Is my resume visually appealing and easy to read?”

Have you incorporated appropriate font type and size selections throughout your resume? Depending on the font choice, the size should fall somewhere between 9 and 11 point, 12 point at most. Section headings can be larger, of course. As for font type, the higher your level of responsibility, the more likely it is that you will use a serif font (such as Times New Roman, Garamond, or Palatino). It is acceptable to combine fonts, but never more than two (for example, Times for the section titles and Arial for the content).

Does your resume contain sufficient white space? Your challenge is to draw the reader’s attention to essential information. Using white space effectively can help you do just that. You’ll need to become familiar with some features of your word processing software that you might not normally access (such as the paragraph, line-spacing, and tab settings).

Does your resume implement appropriate design elements? Conservative use of lines, bolding, italics, and bullets can be very effective. When used consistently, they will help the reader along in your thought process and crystallize the organization of your resume.

For great ideas on contemporary formats, check out one or more of the recently released resume resource books at your local bookstore. One of the best out there is Resume Magic–Trade Secrets of a Professional Resume Writer by Susan Britton Whitcomb (JIST Works). For executive-level ideas, Wendy Enelow’s Best Resumes for $100,000+ Jobs (Impact Publications) or Donald Asher’s Bible of Executive Resumes (Ten Speed Press) are both outstanding.

STEP 3: Ask yourself, “Does my resume contain a powerful opening section that draws the reader in?”

Is the most relevant information you want to communicate showcased in a powerful Qualifications Summary or Professional Profile in the top 1/3 of your resume? At a minimum, you’ll want to include your total years of experience and encapsulate your core competencies and related hard and soft skills. Keep in mind that the remainder of your resume must substantiate what you include in this section.

Does your resume make clear what position, industry, or career you are targeting? Employers don’t have time to guess what you want to be when you grow up.

Step 4: Ask yourself, “Does my resume effectively communicate my value to the prospective employer in one or more of the following ways?”

Does your resume demonstrate how you can help an employer make money? Save money or time? Solve a specific problem? Make work easier? Build relationships? Be more competitive? Attract new customers? Retain existing customers?

Regardless of your level of accountability or industry these are things that all organizations want their employees to help them accomplish. Communicate your abilities to contribute in one or more of the areas mentioned and employers will want to talk with you.

Step 5: Ask yourself, “Does my resume contain powerful, concise, accomplishment-oriented writing designed to increase the reader’s interest and stimulate a request for a job interview?”

Is your entire resume targeted? Does it support your job or career goal? Does it speak the reader’s language with relevant industry-specific keywords? Did you use persuasive, high-impact statements that sell your qualifications as a superior candidate? Does your resume include specific accomplishments that highlight challenges, action taken, and results (quantifiable, if possible)?

Most importantly, do the accomplishments support your target? In other words, do they represent observable behaviors that are associated with the best in your field?

Step 6: Ask yourself, “Is irrelevant information excluded?”

There is no need to include any of the following: personal information (e.g. marital status and age), full address of employers (city and state is sufficient), personal pronouns (“I”, “He” or “She”), reasons for leaving jobs, reference information, and unrelated hobbies or interests.

Step 7: Ask yourself, “Does my resume present relevant content in an organized fashion?”

As a general rule, you’ll only need to cover the last 10 years of employment in detail, 15 years at the most. Anything prior can be summarized, but do attempt to keep the information relevant and accomplishment oriented.

Are your employment dates presented appropriately? There is no need to get specific — months and years are sufficient in most cases.

Did you include more than one source of contact information? At a minimum, list your home phone number and e-mail address. By the way, if you don’t have an e-mail address, get one…now! Listing it on your resume tells employers that you are technologically savvy.

Is your experience arranged in reverse chronological order? Are all other sections of your resume applicable to the types of positions you are pursuing?

STEP 8: Ask yourself, “Is my resume free of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammatical, and syntax errors?”

Feedback from hiring authorities is unanimous — a resume with errors is likely to be immediately discounted. They assume that your performance on the job will be sloppy and that you don’t pay attention to details. Proofread your resume. Ask a friend or colleague to proofread your resume. Ask your mother to proofread your resume.

Step 9: Repeat step 8.

Step 10: Repeat step 8 again!

Your resume is a material representation of you. It is a marketing document — not a simple work history — that tells organizations how you can contribute to their success. Ask yourself the questions above as you review your self-written resume. If you’ve covered everything, you are well on your way to getting companies interested in you.

© Copyright 2004 Peter Hill, CPRW — Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.

About The Author

Peter Hill is a Certified Professional Resume Writer. He owns and operates Distinctive Resumes, a Honolulu-based consultancy for managers and executives. Peter can be contacted via his website, http://cbmallone.blogspot.com

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How Should You Go About Writing a Good Code in PHP Programming?

PHP application development is quite in demand these days by virtue of its proven success record of generating dynamic web pages for infusing the required dose of interactivity. PHP also enables applications to run smoothly thereby giving the end users a delightful web experience.

A PHP developer has a crucial role in custom PHP programming. Hence, a lot of focus must be placed on writing code. A good PHP code is one that is well structured, robust, safe and consistent. A voluminous code can be conveniently broken into a number of functions, and a simple code thus generated can accomplish different sub-tasks. Also, a clear-cut distinction must be made between the front-end JavaScript/HTML code and the server side logic.

A good PHP code must be safe, which is absolutely in the control of a developer. A developer must have a thorough knowledge of XSS, CSRF and other potential security holes. Also, consistency matters a lot. A good PHP code ought to be consistent i.e., the names of variables and functions must be decided according to a specific set of rules, resorting to typical approach for solving complexities and error handling. You must also ensure that your code must be framed consistently so that it becomes easy to read.

In PHP programming, the code must be portable. A weak code can be easily fragmented when certain features of PHP are switched on/off. A good PHP code adepts to the environment accordingly. It’s also important that you comment your PHP code with a standard approach as it makes the code more readable, which motivates PHP developers to consider the aspects, which might otherwise get ignored. Also, this permits document generators to generate easily comprehensible documentation. In addition, it facilitates interpretation of variables and offers enhanced debugging and code finishing.

While making use of control structures in code writing, you must think about alternative syntax since characters like closing brackets make the code confusing to read. PHP short tags must be avoided since these tags are sometimes switched off on some host servers. In case, you decide to switch your website, there exists possibility of your PHP opening tags getting replaced. Also avoiding PHP short tags gets you away from the confusion that you may have with the XML declaration. Further, the forthcoming PHP versions are not likely to support these PHP short tags.

Get started with writing a good PHP code today!

Adam George is a well known writer. He has written many articles on various topics including outsourcing, Presently writing on Software services, Offshore Software Development, PHP Development, PHP Application Development and other Software testing services.

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Challenges in Introducing Value Education at Higher Education in India

Value Education is the much debated and discussed subject in the plethora of education in India. Of course it is true that the main purpose of any education will go with Value orientation. More concentration on Value education has been given at the primary and secondary level of school education than in higher education in India. Values could be effectively imparted to the young minds rather than to the matured ones. It may be the important reason for this prime importance given at the school level. There are so many modules designed with the help of agencies like NCERT and others for effectively imparting the value education to the school students. In this context, many innovative educational practices are being identified by the experts. Good number of experiments and studies are being conducted in the recent days on the effectiveness of teaching value education at school level. Some schools have very innovative and radical course designs to impart the values.

Effective teaching practices in imparting value education ranges from story telling, exhibitions, skits, one act play and group discussions to various other formats. New methods have been evolved by educationists to create an effective learning sphere. The usage of electronic gadgets also gains importance in the teaching-learning practices of value education. But at the higher education level, due to various reasons, the importance given to value education is not as much as it is given at the school level. The curriculum and the teaching methods also could be subjected to scrutiny. It is true that colleges are meant for a kind of specialization in some field of education. But in the Indian social context, the youth require direction and counseling at this stage. They have been exposed to various challenges at this stage which demands the intervention of educationists for his/her betterment. His/her character building also strengthens at this juncture. Students’ perception on various life factors and events are getting shaped at this stage. On the whole they evolve their own philosophy of life. Their sensitivity and knowledge are getting direction at this stage. Hence, an effective value orientation becomes inevitable to the students of colleges. Keeping this requirement in mind, States like Tamilnadu introduced a compulsory paper/course on value education to undergraduate students of all colleges in the State under the choice based credit system. Though this kind of effort is made with the good intention of imparting values to the youth, many limitations in bringing out the expected outcome could be identified.

The problem mainly begins with the definition of values. Defining the term ‘value’ poses a challenge to all scholars. The term value is loaded with varieties of meaning. Each meaning reflects its own philosophical position. Generally the term value is spontaneously associated with religious values. It is believed by many Indians that values are nothing but the religious and spiritual guiding principles of life. Hence, it is supposed that the path is already been laid for the life journey. But in the context of modernity and modernism there rises a fundamental question of whether value education is required at all in a modern state. There are those who argue that modern life is based on science and technology, and both are value neutral. They view that the values are bugbear held out by people living in the past, glued to outdated religious principles that have no relevance to the 21st century. At this point, there is also another group of modernist who propagate the necessity of value education at learning centres in order to safe guard the democratic state and its values. The values they wish to cultivate are modern secular values such as honesty, respect to other, equality, collectivity, democracy, respecting the human rights, sharing equal space in the public sphere and so on. These values are considered as the products of enlightenment period. Hence, four positions could be arrived at on the basis of the above understanding. The are:

1. There are religious values which are very much essential for every one and must be included in the curriculum.

2. The religious values should not find place in the educational system. They may operate at the private sphere.

3. There are non-religious secular values and they must find space in the education.

4. There is no need for teaching value education in the academics because they cannot be cultivated through formal learning and such value cultivation will make the individual biased.

In consequence to these positions, following questions arouse.

1. Whether value education should find place in the educational system?

2. If it is required, then what sort of values should be given preference in the curriculum?

3. What is the importance to be given to the religious values which are primarily developed on the basis of scriptures?

4. Can modern values alone are sufficient enough or is there any possibility of blending the values of modernity with religious values?

5. If religious values are to be given importance in the curriculum, which religion will find prime place? If there are contradictory propagation on a single virtue by two religions, then how are they to be handled?

6. Similarly religions differ on the practices also. Right from eating patterns, dress mode, marriage systems, war tactics, killing, punishments to various other aspects, religions differ on their outlook. In this situation, what sort of perceptions need to be taught?

Besides these questions, another billion dollar question would be raised on the methodology of effectively imparting those values. Then again as it is mentioned earlier, the school education can very well include this education easily because the system itself is advantageous for it to accommodate. But at the college level, the system finds it very difficult to work out. So this study could analyse the theoretical problems relating to the identification of values to be included in the curriculum at the one side and the problem of effective designing of the curriculum and imparting those values on the other side.

II

The necessity for imparting values to the students of all levels has been felt by everyone. The world today is facing unprecedented socio-political and economic challenges. Problems of life are becoming increasingly intense and complex. Traditional values are decentered. ‘An environment of strife pervades all countries and broken homes have become common. An insatiable hunger for money and power, leads most of people to tension and absence of peace of mind and all kinds of physical and mental ailments have become common place” 1. In the present day context of frequent and often violent social upheavals, we have to look at the problem of restlessness of the youth, their frustration born out of futility of their search for meaning of life and the purpose for which they are living, often leading to evil and wickedness. This calls for a new approach to, and a new vision of education. It is obviously felt that the present educational system promotes rat race and keep the student community in a sense of insecurity. Educational institutions have become the pressure cookers building pressures in the minds of youth. Also a loft sided educational pattern which insists on instrumental and technical rationality for the successful life in terms of gaining money and power has invaded the educational system of India. The person who is deemed to be unfit for this survival race becomes disqualified and ineligible to live in this market economy based life. The spate of industrialization and economic growth in developed nations has brought about a perceptible change in this scenario. And developing countries including India are feeling the ripple effects of this development. Values earlier considered essential by all societies have been eroded and have given way to unethical practices around the globe. Where honesty and integrity were loved and appreciated, greed, corruption and red tapism have come in, bringing in their wake, unethical responses which have pervaded all walks of life and are thwarting efforts of a few enlightened individuals to promote value based society.2 Hence, implementation of well structured education is the only solution available with all states. With growing divisive forces, narrow parochialism, separatist tendencies on the one hand and considerable fall in moral, social, ethical and national values both in personal and public life on the other, the need for promoting effective programmes of value orientation in education has assumed great urgency. Development of human values through education is now routinely seen as a task of national importance. Value education though supposes to be the part and parcel of the regular education, due to the market influences, it could not be so. Hence, it has become an inevitable need to include an exclusive curriculum for value education at all levels.

Now the next question would be about the nature of value education. What sort of values should be given preference in the curriculum is the prime problem in the introduction of value education. This problem surfaces because we can find varieties of values prescribed on the basis of various scriptures and theories. Sometimes they are contradictory to each other. This issue has been thoroughly discussed earlier. But the solution to the problem of the nature of value education is primarily dependent on the social conditions that prevail in the state. There need not be an imported value educational pattern to be prescribed in India. The burning social issues would demand the required value education. Though India is considered to be the land of divinity and wisdom, the modern value system throws challenges to the ancient value pattern. Right from the Gurkula pattern to the varna ashrama values, all values are under scrutiny by modern rationality. Hence, the relevance of the golden values prescribed by the then society is questionable in the present situation. On the other hand, the so called modern values which have been listed earlier also subjected to criticism by philosophers like post modernists. They question the very nature of the rationality of the enlightenment period. Because critics of modernity strongly declare that the modern rationality is the reason for the deterioration of human concern in the world and they paved the way for inhuman killing and escalation of values. The reason of the modernism is considered as the root of power politics which leads to inhuman behaviour of the power system, according to them. Hence the modern values like democracy, civil rights, environmental ethics, professional ethics, discipline and all such values are found useless in bringing harmony in the society. The values like discipline, tolerance, peace bears the negative connotation in this context. Hence, what sort of modern values are to be included in the curriculum is a challenge thrown towards the educationists. At one side the fanatic and fundamentalist features of religious values and on the other side the modern values based on the market economy and other factors are to be excluded and a well balanced curriculum with genuine worthy values suitable to the society has to be identified and included in the educational system. In this context, it becomes obvious that there cannot be any universal pattern of values to be prescribed in the system. When a suitable blend of religious and modern values is to be done, the designing of such course demands an unbiased, scrupulous, intelligent approach on the part of the academician who designs such course. Thus the spiritual values of sensitizing the youth for happy world and rational values for a just world are very much required. Religious values can be taken but not with the label of any particular religion, democratic values are to be included but not with its dogmatic inhuman approach. Thus there need a perfect blend of both. This is the real challenge thrown to the Indian academicians.

After the identification of these values, they need to be inculcated not to be informed to the students. Mostly listing the values is done very easily, but imparting them effectively requires genuine spirit and innovative educational practices. In the Vedic period, the gurukula system prevailed in which the student has to thoroughly undergo a pattern life with the guru shishya hierarchy. Whatever the guru declares are the values of life. But in the modern context, which is supposed to be the democratic sphere, a sense of equality and freedom has to prevail the learning situation. Also the values identified cannot be preached on the basis of the religious faiths. So the teacher has to find effective working module to internalize the values in the minds of the youth. The teachers’ understanding about the values prescribed and his/her commitment in imparting them also play a crucial role here. How to sensitize the teacher before carrying the values to the students is also a challenge to the educationists. The value education class room, if it is dealt with full seriousness and sincerity would be very interesting and challenging sphere for students and teachers. At times they need to sail at the same level with the students. The hierarchy may get disappeared. Value education demands a total responsibility from the teachers. They become more accountable. On the other side, a teacher who is committed to a set of values would always like to preach and impose them on the young minds. That extreme should also to be avoided with a balance of mind. Value education cannot be done by just delivering lectures and screening films. It requires a strong interaction between the students and the society. A lot could be experimented at this sphere. For which the supreme value ‘integrity’ is expected from the educator.

It is observed that many modules of teaching values have been designed and tested. Some are seemed to be very effective. In Tamilnadu, especially in aided colleges, with all good intention the government has introduced the value education as a compulsory scheme at the undergraduate level. But each university has its own syllabus for the same. The scrutiny of those syllabi also reveals a lot of variations in conceiving the value education. In some universities, some religion based institutions are given the responsibility of designing and even carrying out the course. Similarly the teachers who have not been exposed to any such type of training in value education are given the responsibility of teaching values. The introduction of value education for all under graduate courses is done at the cost of a core paper of that course. The teachers who have been handling their hardcore subject papers had to meet the shortage of workload due to this programme and to solve this problem, they have been entrusted with the job of teaching value education paper. This is done with the aim of avoiding the workload problem of existing teachers. The most valuable and sensitive part of education has been made like a mechanical dogmatic part. At this juncture, the fate of value education at the college level could be imagined. How to solve this issue is again a challenge to the educationists of Tamilnadu. The same fate could be observed in many other states of India. Hence, two important problems surfaces here, one at the syllabus level and the other at the teaching level. As it is discussed earlier the syllabus could be designed by way of paying attention to all aspects but imparting the same requires not only innovative teaching methods, but also innovative training method of the educators. It is as good as training the driver to drive the car; the teacher needs to be trained in imparting the values. The technical education employs teachers with sound knowledge in the subject, similarly it is essential to have teachers with sound mind and creative teaching skill to teach value education. Value education is definitely not to be dealt with compartmentalization but it should be taken as a part of the whole educational system. As Nietzsche puts it, the society requires masters to create and impart values, not the slaves who accept all the values imposed on them without any critical understanding.

If education fails to impart necessary values to its citizens, it will definitely have a telling effect on the society. All efforts to bring just and peace in the world will become futile if proper value education is not imparted.

Notes:

1. Kireet Joshi, Philosophy of Value Oriented Education Theory and Practice, ICPR

Publications, New Delhi,p.217.

2. Ibid., p.218.

Murali_phil@hotamil.com

Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Royam_Murali

Weight Loss and Team Sports

Many people have the misconception that the major concern of people engaged in team sports is gaining weight. The image of the three hundred pound player leads many people to see it from this perspective. The truth is that most athletes are more concerned with weight loss than with weight gain. The reason for this is fairly simple. It is very easy to gain weight. It is a little harder to get those pounds off you once you have gained them.

Athletes have ideal playing weights, and they spend a great deal of time in weight rooms. Of course, much of this time is devoted to building strength and muscle tone, but often times it is spent shedding pounds. The fact that muscles actually weigh more than fatty tissue makes this an ongoing problem. As fat is replaced by muscle, the total weight will actually spike upwards at first. Although being heavier due to excess muscle seems to be the goal for an athlete, most often just the opposite is going to be true.

Team Sports that involve a great deal of running like basketball, soccer, rugby, and even track are good examples of this fact. Although weight and muscles might be good for the center on the basketball team when he is trying to push people aside to get a lay up inside the paint, he is going to have to carry that excess weight up and down the length of the court, too. Unless the player in soccer or hockey is wearing the goalkeeper gloves and staying in front of the goal, he is going to have to run or skate from end to end as well. This is where the concept of ideal weight comes into play.

Ideal weight can be best defined by the exact weight at which an athlete can gain the most advantage from his weight without it becoming a handicap to the ideal performance and level of fatigue involved in participation in a team sport. In order to maintain this ideal weight and at the same time to insure maximum athletic ability, it is not wise to use dieting for weight loss. The subsequent loss of energy that dieting could produce is not going to help the athlete perform to expected standards. A well balanced and energy rich diet is going to be much better. Weight loss must be accomplished by exercise and diet should refer only to the selection of the healthiest foods rather than to not eating food at all.

Natalie Aranda writes on weight loss and fitness. Team Sports that involve a great deal of running like basketball, soccer, rugby, and even track are good examples of this fact. Football balls are gift ideas for men and boys. Although weight and muscles might be good for the center on the basketball team when he is trying to push people aside to get a lay up inside the paint, he is going to have to carry that excess weight up and down the length of the court, too. Unless the player in soccer or hockey is wearing the goalkeeper gloves and staying in front of the goal, he is going to have to run or skate from end to end as well. This is where the concept of ideal weight comes into play.

Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Natalie_Aranda

Overcoming Public Speaking Fear and Anxiety

1. What is Public Speaking Fear?

And what are its causes?

­­Public Speaking Fear can be paralyzing… Standing in front of a crowd… You probably know the feeling. You can work weeks, learn the materials, prepare the presentation. You try to ignore the anxiety. And then it’s the moment… You go to the stand… Your throat is dry, you begin to stutter… Your brain feels empty.

What is happening to you? This frustrating phenomenon is called Public Speaking Fear.

You are not the only one to suffer from this fear, or phobia. In fact, According to recent studies, about 40 percent of the population, were found to have a serious fear of public speaking. Almost everyone has some degree of fear regarding public speaking.

Whether it is in front of 10 people or a full auditorium, the fear of public speaking seems to affect nearly everyone at one point or another. Even the most professional public speakers can become nervous before an important speech.

This impacts of this anxiety vary from just ‘not being your best’ during the speech,,to not being able to even begin the speech, and in some cases even suffering from horrors and general feeling of incompetence.

Symptoms of this fear might be:

  • Rapid heartbeats
  • Shaky hands
  • Shortness of breath
  • Blank mind
  • Feel of freezing
  • Sweaty hands
  • Dizziness

Although you might hear and read about various reasons and factor that cause and affect Public Speaking Fear, I will divide the causes of this “fear” into 2 categories: Historically-based and Experience-based.

1.1 Historically-based factors

Imagine human beings in past times, when we used to live in small tribes. Those times encoded in us all kinds of fears, that helped humans survive. A human tribe would include between 30-100 members, usually with a single (male) leader. This leader was vital for the survival of the tribe and used to be the authority. Now imagine that one simple member of the tribe would arrange a speech in front of the tribe. The leader of the tribe would see this as an attempt to gain authority over the tribe. A common penalty for that could be death.

Public speaking used to be extremely dangerous in the past.

This historical reason is considered according to researches as the main reason why we are so afraid of public speaking.

There is a branch of psychology called “Evolutional Psychology”, which discusses matters like this. The most important thing that you should remember is that a major cause for your fear is irrational. You can’t explain it with the terms of our world. Only imagining the world as it was 10,000 years ago carries the real answer.

1.2 Experience-based factors

Now, in addition to the psychological reasons that cause this fear of public speaking, there are of course also factors from you own life that create it.

The way we use language in our life is called “conversation”, because when we speak, we do it with someone else. Our neurological system is so used to having conversations, that we just don’t pay attention to all the internal processes that happen when we’re speaking. Because it’s done automatically, we can focus our whole attention on the conversation itself.

Now, every new and unknown activity that we try to do, will seem intimidating, just because we are not experienced enough. We don’t know how to use our voice. We don’t know how to look at the people, how to stand, how to move our hands. We are even not used to the specific language patterns that we need to use during speech – and there is a different way to use language during a speech.

Another aspect of experience-based causes is a fear, caused by our past experiences. An embarrassing or painful experience while speaking to a group in the past can also create a fear.

So, let’s summarize so far. Public Speaking fear is this negative feeling that causes us not to be at our best during public speaking. It might even prevent us from making the speech at first place. We’ve discussed 2 main reasons for this fear. The first is based on our past as human beings, and that is the reason why we are sometimes so terrified about public speaking. The second reason is based on our own experiences of the world, that also create fears and beliefs.

1.3 Rational and irrational fears

Before moving on to dealing with public speaking fear, we need to understand how to view our fear.

Rational fears are fears that we can explain rationally, and the fear is of something that could cause real harm (physically or emotionally).

In general, examples of rational fears include:

  • Dangerous people (a person holding a knife, murderer etc.)
  • Dangerous situations (fire, earthquake, floods etc.)
  • Dangerous activities (Skiing, walking on a rope etc.)

Now, we can see that fear of some activities is considered rational, because it consists of real danger. Some fears are good to have. The fear itself is something positive, it helps us survive.

Irrational fears, on the other side, are fears that don’t help us survive, but on the contrary, prevent us of being our best.

For example, if we were bitten by a dog once, we might get the fear of dogs for our whole life. If someone frightened us during a dark night, we might get a fear of darkness.

As you can see, our mechanism of fear in not perfect, and we need to do some work to deal with our fears.

Rational fears should be kept and maybe even encouraged. Irrational fears, instead of preventing harm, in many cases can cause us harm. It’s normal to try and overcome irrational fears.

1.4 Is fear of Public Speaking rational or not?

Can public speaking harm you? As we said above, in past times, public speaking could definitely cause you harm. It used to be extremely rational to be afraid. Because this fear was rational for hundreds of thousands of years, it was delivered to us during what we call “Evolutional Psychology”.

Is Public Speaking fear today is still rational? Well, I could give you some hypothetical examples when public speaking could cause harm. If you speak in front of a hostile crowd, it might cause you emotional fear. If you’re a gangster and you try to speak in front of your gang members, you might event have physical harm.

However, in most cases, public speaking is completely harmless. There is no rational reason to be afraid of speaking in front of your class members; and what about presenting your new product in front of your clients?

Therefore, in today’s world, Public Speaking is completely irrational.

2. In short, How to overcome the fear?

In order to overcome the fear of public speaking, it’s vital to understand, remember, and believe, that the fear is irrational.

In this manual, we will discuss 2 approaches to overcoming the fear:

Subconscious- working on the processes that happen in our brain that we are not aware of, our belief system, etc. Those methods are meant to reduce or even completely abolish the fear.

Techniques- Specific techniques and methods to help you with public speaking, even if you still have the fear.

To tell the truth, if you just use techniques, get more experience, try to find the confidence and so – you will get better. You will desensitize your fear. However, every time, before a speech, you will still feel the fear. It will be weaker, but it will be always there.

Imagine that your mind is a computer. A very complicated one, but yet a computer. It runs so many programs that we just can’t count. Some of them are in our awareness – they are conscious processes. The rest, most of the processes, are out of our awareness – they are subconscious processes.

Now, when you go public speaking, there are 2 opposite processes in your head. The first one is positive, and tells you : “Go, give a speech”, and the second one is negative, it tells you “No, you cant”.

Working to eliminate the fear, can be done! It can be done using methods to eliminate fear. Because it’s a subconscious process (unless you consciously choose to be afraid…), it involves dealing with your subconscious mind.

In the next chapter, I’ll discuss the common methods. They include: Hypnosis, NLP (Neuro-Linguistic-Programming) and working on you belief system.

The other way, that will not eliminate the fear but will help you deal with it, is using learning techniques. It works on the positive side, I makes you better in public speaking, and therefore deal better with the fear. I will never eliminate the fear, but it will make it easier to do public speaking.

Personally, I recommend that you use it in addition to working on the subconscious side. Just learning the techniques will never make you speak at your best, and every speech will continue to be an effort.

3. Working on your subconscious mind

3.1 Using NLP Techniques

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a behavioral technology, a set of guiding principles, attitudes, and techniques about real-life behavior.

It allows you to change, adopt or eliminate behaviors, as you desire, and gives you the ability to choose your mental, emotional, and physical states of well-being.

I will not tell you here too much about NLP, because it’s a complete theory. Personally, I prefer NLP to work on subconscious processes, mainly because unlike other methods that I will discuss in the book, NLP can be learned and used by almost everyone. There is no need to understand psychology or medicine.

According to NLP, our mind is in some way like a computer. It has all kinds of programs running. Although many of them are unconscious (fear, for example), it teaches us methods to eliminate or at least weaken those processes, if we want to.

What are these processes? Our mind works with 3 senses (we actualy have 5, but only 3 of them are really important) – visual (eyes), auditory (ears), or kinesthetic (feelings). Every person primarily uses just one of the 3 during processes.

Some people are visual – they see the world through their eyes. Others are auditory, they mainly use their ears to hear voices. And other people are mainly kinesthetic, they understand the world through feelings.

For example, if you are a visual person, this means that you see the world mainly through your eyes. Therefore, there is a visual process (or processes) that create the fear of public speaking inside you.

Now, I’ll tell you a quick story about a friend of mine. He used to have a serious fear of public speaking. His hands would shake, his voice would change, his heart beat would skyrocket. When I tried to check with him what caused the fear, he told me that he would visualize himself giving a bad speech.

In those visual pictures, he saw people laughing at him, He saw himself standing without remembering what to say, etc. He couldn’t control those pictures. He couldn’t make them disappear.

What is happening? His mind is kind of “screening” a movie in his head. Do you remember a really scary movie that you saw? There were moments in that movie that you really felt afraid? Even though it was just a movie and you knew it was just a movie?

The same thing happened with my friend. What created the fear was the movie, the pictures. Our subconscious mind reacts the same way whether the movie is a reality or not.

Traditional psychology tries to find the “roots” of the fear. It tries to see what past effects created it. Instead, NLP provides an easy and short treatment. As we discussed in the first chapter, the reason might be even in our past as humans, so we can’t eliminate the root.

So, let’s see how we deal with our fear.

For visual people

If you’re a visual person, you probably have a movie running in your head. Try to understand what exact movie you see:

- is it black and white? Or do you see colors?

- is it smooth or not?

- is it going in slow motion, or quickly?

- do you see it in details?

- do you see it from a first position or third position?

Let’s go back to my friend’s example:

He used to see himself making a speech, and he saw people in the crowd laughing. he saw himself embarrassed…

Now, I asked him to sit silently in front of me, and we began understanding together what exactly he saw.

When he saw himself standing and giving a speech, it was from his own eyes, what we call “1st position”. He saw it black and white, and in great detail. He could see faces in the crowd; he could exactly understand what was happening.

When you see this movie running again and again in your head, your mind creates a great fear. Like a movie, even if you know it’s just a movie, it still creates the same effect.

A great basis in NLP is that you can’t fight your thought. You can’t just say: “No! I’m not afraid”. Your mind won’t accept it and you will continue seeing the movie.

However, what you can do is to make changes in the movie, add effects, even change angles. It might sound fantasy to you, but it’s possible.

So, what I did next is that I told him to change the movie into a 3rd position. I told him to see the movie as if he was standing near the scene, from the side.

That way, he was seeing himself there, and he saw the crowd. Now, I told him to make the movie a bit in a distance from him, As if he sees it on a television. I told him to begin moving the movie away from him, so that this “television” looks far away from him. Now, he saw himself somewhere in a great distance. He couldn’t see details anymore, because the picture was so far…

Do you understand what we did here? We can’t fight the movie, but we can do manipulations. Now, the movie was much less frightening. Almost like some pale thought…

The next time he was about to do a public speech, I told him this process again. After a few times, this movie didn’t disturb him anymore. The fear was almost gone.

When he now goes to speak, he can concentrate on the words, on the message. The fear is gone.

For visual people, NLP gives us a quick solution, and that is to make the visual process less dominant and less clear. Make it something in the distance that doesn’t bother you.

What if you are Auditory?

For auditory people

So, now that we understand how to deal with public speaking fear for visual people, you may ask the question – what if I’m an auditory person?

Well, for auditory people, we need to weaken the auditory process that creates the fear. What is that auditory process? It’s usually a sound or a voice. For example, you might be telling yourself: “No, I can’t do that…” or “Those people are going to laugh at me…”, or you might hear the people laughing, or shouting at you.

We can’t make the sound “smaller” as we did with the visual process, but we still can make it weaker. There are a few options. The one I will discuss here is making some differences in the voice: Instead of hearing it in its regular way, make it sound funny. Give it a childish voice, for example. I also like giving it a sex-flirting voice.

When you convert the voice to a different way, it doesn’t sound frightening anymore. On the contrary, you might find yourself laughing and smiling instead! Try this now, make a serious, frightening voice inside you, sound funny, childish or sexy.

How can you learn more of NLP

We only discussed some examples of using NLP to overcome fear. There are of course some more ways – for example, you can add effects to your internal movies, you can add background music and whatever you find useful in overcoming those internal processes that create your fear.

However, NLP can be used in many other ways and techniques to really improve you skills. You can become a better communicator, better lover, increase you income, be more efficient. It’s a set of techniques and methods to improve your life in general, and allow you to control your mind effectively.

If we are discussing Public Speaking, you can use NLP to make you message more clear, understood and acceptable by people.

NLP was created in the recent decades, and it’s still under development. I personally suggest that you find time to learn more of it. You can check our page to discover how we suggest to learn NLP.

3.2 Belief Systems

In many cases, our fear is caused by our belief system. Belief is stronger than knowledge, and our perception of the world is actually created according to our belief system.

Belief is usually something we can’t really prove. Belief in god is a good example, but almost all beliefs we have in life are not absolute.

There are certain beliefs that we can’t prove they are true or not. However, we CAN tell if they benefit us or not – or whether they help you achieve your goals.

When regarding Public Speaking Fear, there are a few a beliefs that might cause the fear. According to studies, the most common belief that directly causes the fear is the following:

Limiting Belief- “It is normal to have a fear or anxiety of Public Speaking”.

Think to yourself… Do you accept this? Do you believe that it’s normal, that it’s OK to have a fear of public speaking?

You probably do.

Why? Probably because of your own experience, because that is what society teaches.

However – are you sure it’s “Normal” to be afraid? Why? It’s just your belief. And that belief is actually causing the fear – because you kind of expect it.

It will be much more empowering to change this belief. Instead, you should understand that there is nothing “Normal” in public speaking fear. You know it’s an irrational fear. Nothing is Normal here.

Empowering Belief- “Public speaking makes me feel relaxed and energetic”.

Do you understand how changing your belief changes the way you respond and view life? Instead of believing that you are supposed to be afraid – you choose an empowering belief.

Is this empowering belief “True”? Many people around the world don’t have any fear of public speaking. Instead – they enjoy it. You can choose what to believe. I personally recommend you to choose the empowering one.

Here are some more beliefs that you should consider loosing:

“It’s good to be nervous”- What the hell? Why is that good? It’s good to be relaxed. That’s a totally limiting belief.

“Public Speaking is something you are born with, or not”- A terrible belief that unfortunately many people possess, not only regarding public speaking. Almost every skill can be learnt and improved. This belief only prevents you from improving. Nobody was born as a public speaker.

“Public speaking fear is something you can’t overcome”-I can give you so many live examples (including me) of people who successfully overcame public speaking fear.

“Your audience wants you to fail”- On the contrary, because most of the people are afraid to death of public speaking and many of them have tried it before, they will only appreciate your “courage” to stand and speak. People came to hear you – they want you to succeed.

A great way to succeed in life is by building an empowering belief system. The secret is understanding that you can CHOOSE what to believe. If this makes you feel interested, I suggest that you read my articles regarding belief systems.

3.3 Hypnosis

Hypnosis is considered a powerful tool to help with overcoming fears. It works directly with the subconscious mind, making the right “changes” to teach your mind not to be afraid.

Hypnosis can be done either with a therapist, or as it becomes common today, using an audio or a video that makes a similar job.

Hypnosis can be a good tool, but the problem that I have with Hypnosis is the fact that you don’t really know and can’t control over what the treatment is about.

Unlike NLP, you can’t do it alone and you can’t choose and decide what exact treatment to make.

On the other hand, you can feel free and not really care about learning and mastering technique. You just get the treatment, never care what it really does. If it works – you don’t have the fear anymore. For some people – this is the perfect solution.

If that sounds and feels good for you, you can check my review of available products (some of them are totally free).

4. External work – dealing with the fear effectively

In the previous chapter, discussed methods how to overcome and eliminate fear of public speaking.

Therefore, there is no use for this chapter, is there? Well, maybe there is…

  • Even If you use the techniques we discussed (As I said, I recommend NLP), you might still have some public speaking fear.
  • Many people can’t accept the fact that self-work can eliminate fear. I don’t agree, but I can honor their belief. If you believe that the way to make achievements is via hard work, then I accept that and will show you ways to practice in order to deal with the fear.

In this chapter, I will give you tips to quickly help you dealing with the fear. I will divide them into 2 categories: What to do before the speech; and what to do during the speech.

Remember – Practice makes Perfect. As you implement what I tell you here, you’ll improve, sometimes even rather rapidly. However – You Still Need Practice.

Unlike other guides, I will not give you a full list of tips. No one can’t use so many. Just the best ones.

4.1 What to do before the speech

You don’t have to be perfect

People are afraid of public speaking because they fear of mistakes during the speech. However, anxiety over mistakes only makes it more likely that mistakes will occur.

The best way to deal with mistakes is to accecpt the fact that youare not perfect, and mistakes are supposed to happen. Now, instead of being afraid, you can use mistakes to get feedback for future improvement.

Visualize the positive outcome

A good reason for which we are so anxious before the speech is because we visualize the speech, presuming that something terrible will happen. We may even do this subconsciously.

So, a good way to deal with our anxiety is to visualize the speech, this time in a positive way. Imagine the moments before the speech, how you feel secure and prepared. How you move slowly toward the podium. How you begin the speech. Try to hear your own words.

Visualizing will work on you internal fears and signal to your brain that everything is under control.

Put the past behind

Some people have speech anxiety because of past events. It could be even some humiliating event in the past. The way to deal with such incidents is the following:

If you can learn from it and improve – do it. If you can’t, just forget about it and focus on the future.

Use mistakes to learn and improve, not to increase your fears.

Practice your voice and tonality

Speaking involves using your voice. If you use your voice and practice it before the speech, you will be used to speaking and will feel more confident about how your voice sounds.

Don’t write a speech

One of the worst things you could do is to write a full speech. It will make you concentrated on the written words instead of on the speech.

Instead – only write highlights, know what your speech is about and what your main messages are.

This way, the page you are holding will only be a guidance, and you will be concentrated on the speech.

4.2 What to do during the speech

Remember to breath

Anxiety tightens the muscles in the chest and throat. With a restricted airway and without enough oxygen, your voice can come out as a squeak. Deep breathing, on the other hand, sends oxygen to the lungs and brain and expands the throat and chest, promoting relaxation. As you approach the platform, take a deep breath and relax. It will also improve your thinking processes. During the speech, whenever you feel anxious – remember to take a deep breath – It will immediately make you calmer.

Focus on friendly faces

During the speech, you might look at the crowd and see them as a large group of people. That may confuse you. Instead, focus on specific faces, you should prefer the friendly ones. This way your subconscious mind will feel as if you are having a conversation with a specific person. During the speech, move your eyes slowly and look at different people. It will also make the audience feel that you are talking with them instead of just giving a speech

Make Stops

Making a stop sounds something hard to do? You stop speaking, making a silent pause.

That is just great! It makes you look relaxed and confident, and gives you time to relax and remember exactly what you wanted to say.

Speak slowly

Speaking quickly and swallowing words is a mistake done by many speakers. It might be because you want to finish your words and have it all over fast. It might also be because you don’t want to be interrupted by the crowed if there is a pause. Your quick heart bit is also a factor.

Anyway – speaking rapidly just makes you more anxious and gives you less time to think. Just speak S-L-O-W-L-Y. Relax, give yourself the time.

5. What to do next?

In this article, I gave you the reasons and factors that cause your Public Speaking Anxiety. I showed you the options available to deal with it.

We discussed methods to eliminate or at least weaken the fear and anxiety that are created in our subconscious mind.

To eliminate fear, I personally suggest that you learn NLP. That is a set of techniques and skills to work on your mind and develop excellence. It also gives you control and full understanding of what you are doing (Unlike psychological treatment or hypnosis).

I gave you the basics of how to use NLP to eliminate your fears. To be really perfect and find many more techniques – I suggest that you learn and master NLP.

In addition, we discussed belief systems and hypnosis.

For those of us who prefer the “hard work”, I gave my tips on what to do before and during the speech to effectively deal with you anxiety.

If you want more guidance, I personally recommend you a book that was written by Benjamin van Spijck. It’s called “Overcoming the fear of public speaking”. It’s written as a 21-days tutorial and will guide you step-by-step to eliminate the fear.

I wish you all the best, hope that you find the way to get rid of this frustrating feeling of fear and anxiety forever.

If you liked my article, you can get it in PDF and read more on my website:

http://www.bebetterarticles.com/overcoming-fear-of-public-speaking/

Tom Slavoda.

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Election Year Politics and Office Talk – Protocols For Workplace

Most are familiar with the old adage cautioning against discussing religion or politics in polite company, but a recent survey indicates that many are not heeding this advice when it comes to talking politics at the office.

According to a 2007 survey by Vault, 66% of respondents say that their co-workers discuss politics at work, while 46% have witnessed a political argument at the office.

With election season in full swing, impassioned political debate has the potential to escalate into conflict of a deeply personal nature, some of which may create bad will among co-workers that can far outlast the current issues of the day.

While a certain amount of political discussion at work is unavoidable, it’s not surprising that such talk often leads to heated and emotional argument. Political viewpoints often serve as umbrellas that cover a spectrum of deeply held personal beliefs that are informed by an individual’s religion, culture, upbringing, economic class and other influences.

Appropriateness: When and how much?

Best practice dictates that employees avoid political discussion of any form during the regular conduct of business. Interjecting political commentary into meetings, work-related email and/or other official communication is highly unprofessional and grossly inappropriate. Doing so drags down productivity, creates unnecessary distraction, and can potentially alienate fellow employees and/or clients.

While the line is clear in the conduct of official business, it’s not as clear when socializing with co-workers while on the job. The following are a few guidelines to help you steer clear of any unintended harmful side-effects that may come about when expressing your political views.

Be mindful of those around you:

While a boisterous political discussion may seem to you to be the perfect way to spend your lunch break, others may not share your enthusiasm for politics. Never take an individual’s silence as agreement. It is equally likely to signal discomfort.

Before launching into a political discussion, ask all within earshot two questions:

1. Are you comfortable having a political discussion with me?

2. Do you mind overhearing me talk about politics?

If the answer to either of these questions is no, then it is not appropriate to continue.

Remember that others may feel as strongly as you:

While it can be frustrating when someone refuses to be swayed by your

seemingly reasonable arguments, it’s important to remember that others have deeply and honestly held convictions as well. Bullying and/or pestering others until they come around to your viewpoint is inappropriate behavior and will likely create conflict, workplace disruption, and hard feelings.

Avoiding escalation always begins with the respecting the rights of others to believe differently than you. When in doubt, it’s best to “agree to disagree” and drop the issue.

Never make it personal:

People of good faith can disagree on all manner of things. A particular political viewpoint is nothing more than a set of ideas and has no bearing on an individual’s integrity or intelligence.

Never allow political disagreement to become personal. Always take care to avoid inflammatory language, personal insults, and sweeping generalizations.

Allow your sensibilities to be guided by basic courtesy. A good rule of thumb is to follow the same conversational etiquette that you would follow if you were a dinner guest in your co-worker’s home.

Handling Harassment

No employee should feel compelled to agree with or remain silent in the face of aggressive political advocacy. Attempts to embarrass, ostracize, harass or punish employees for their political ideologies can create a hostile work environment.

If you are uncomfortable with the discussion of politics at your workplace, it’s recommended that you make your feelings known and politely assert your wish to avoid political discussion at the office. If met with resistance or retaliation, report your discomfort to a supervisor or a Human Resource representative.

Distributed by http://www.workexcel.com

Free workplace wellness and mental health fact sheets on topics that include stress management, making the holidays more positive, planning for a great New Year, safety prevention, resolving workplace conflicts, helping teenagers stay safe in summer, and topics of sudden national, seasonal, or economic concern to employees and employers.

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Reasons To Change Your Car Insurance Company

1. Paying too much for Car Insurance, its time to seek change.

2. When you must think of a new car insurance company.

Auto insurance is not a luxury but a necessity. And in order to get the maximum advantage experts recommend that you should shop around for auto insurance every 2-3 years. As policies change and newer players enter the market there are so many new attractive auto insurance schemes that you could benefit from. You should consider changing your auto insurance when:

o You are availing a huge mortgage to buy property and the bank or institution offers you a lower interest rate on home and auto insurance through their tie -ups.

o You have moved to another state where the auto insurance rules are different and you will make a saving by transferring your insurance to a new car insurance company. Or when your old car insurance company does not offer service in your new state.

o You want to cut costs and are trying to run your life on a budget. Shop around online for competitive auto insurance rates and change the car insurance company to one who offers the best deal.

o You have purchased a new car and the dealer is offering free insurance for three years. New cars have lower insurance rates so it is best for you to do a comparative study and find a car insurance company that offers a great deal. Car insurance rates vary greatly between car brands and types; find out which car insurance company offers the maximum coverage for the lowest rate.

o You are getting married and now will have two cars. Think about cancelling your individual car insurance policies and getting a joint one for both cars. Similarly if your family is growing and you have many cars used by adults as well as kids, ask auto insurance companies about group insurance schemes that will cover all the cars and drivers in your home. Most companies offer great discounted rates for combining car insurance policies.

o You are retired and now a senior citizen. Car insurance companies offer discounts to those who are 55 and above. There are a great many discounts available for a car that has a good insurance claim record, a car that is not driven every day, and a car that is single driver driven and well maintained.

o You are eligible for coverage through your new job. Many large companies have facilities like auto insurance schemes at premium rates lower than the market. If you are working in such a firm then you must consider cancelling your old policy and taking a new one with the car insurance company chosen by your workplace.

o When the rates being paid by you are high and your car insurance company shows no inclination to offer you a competitive rate. If you are paying too much for car insurance its time you changed your car insurance company to one that is offering you great facilities and rates.

Whatever the reason to change your car insurance company, the World Wide Web has sites where you can compare offers as well as quotes. Sites like LowerMyBills.com give quote comparisons in a click. So, read all you can about car insurance and the companies and determine which car insurance company offer will suit you best.

Aaron Brooks is a freelance writer for http://www.1888carinsurance.com/, the premier website to find Car Insurance Quotes including auto insurance quote, online auto insurance quote, free car insurance quote, cheap car insurance quote, on line car insurance quote and more. He also freelances for the premier Cars site http://www.1866cars.com

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Dog Aggression: How to Recognize & Respond

Many dog owners are bewildered when they hear their dog growl, bark, or take an aggressive stance. Unfortunately, many of these animals end up in shelters because the owners could no longer live with the dog. Would you give up on your child that easily?

Of course not! When a baby is brought home to his new family, everyone understands that the baby is learning your language and teaching you his. We begin to understand our child?s cry or garbled sounds because we focus on trying to understand him.

Your dog has his own language as well. Understanding dog aggression and your dog?s language will help prevent undesirable behavior and dog bites. Let?s begin our understanding of dog aggression with the acronym DOG BITES:

Dominant

Opportunity

Game

Boy/Girl

Injury

Territorial

Escape

Dominant aggression is also known as competitive aggression. It is brought on when one dog feels challenged for his social position by another dog (or human). Dogs are pack animals. Social order helps feed and protect the pack.

The dog with the highest social order is called the ?alpha? dog. The alpha dog gets all the perks such as eating whatever he wants, sleeping wherever he wants, and dictating to the others in the pack. He decides when the others get to eat and sleep.

Even owners of a single dog may observe dominant aggression since the dog sees the owner as a member of his pack. An example of this type of aggression is demonstrated by the dog who lays on a favorite chair and growls at the owner when told to get down.

The aggression is a challenge for social position and dibs for the seating arrangement. How the owner reacts to the challenge determines whether the dog becomes more aggressive or submissive in the situation.

Here?s a less obvious challenge to an owner?s dominance in the pack?

You are sitting in the living room watching television. Your dog comes up to you and slides his head under your hand. You think your dog is adorable and wants your attention, so you pet him as requested.

Here is the punch line to this situation. Petting is similar to licking. Submissive, less dominant dogs in the pack lick the more dominant dogs. In other words, you were challenged and responded with an ok to be the submissive of the challenge.

Petting (or licking) behavior does not always signify submissiveness. There are other situations when dogs lick, but we will not pursue that topic here. What we will offer here is a suggestion on how to respond to the situation above.

Gently cup your hand over your dog?s muzzle. Rub behind his ears with a little pressure. These actions closely resemble social order biting. Dominant dogs bite the ears, nose, and neck areas of less dominant dogs to keep them in line. Just watch a mother dog with a litter of pups! You?ll see the behavior right away.

Opportunity aggression is aggression that is intended for another dog or person; however, it is redirected to a closer dog or person because the opportunity to attack is better. An example of this type of aggression is demonstrated when trying to break up two fighting dogs. Sometimes, the person breaking up the fight gets bit.

Caution is the best approach to take with opportunity or redirected aggression. If a dog is agitated, it is better to maintain a safe distance until the dog feels less vulnerable and relaxes.

Game aggression is predatory in nature. A dog will chase anything that moves away from it. The dog is a natural hunter of small game. When something runs from a dog, the dog?s chase, hunt, capture, and kill instinct takes over.

A human cannot out run a dog. If a dog attacks, the best course of action is to lie down and play dead. This action is a submissive move.

You have probably seen a dog lie down and bear his vulnerable belly to a more dominant dog. He is communicating to the more dominant dog that he is not a threat to the more dominant dog.

Boy/girl aggression is all about the hormones! This type of aggression is also known as sexual aggression. The male dog protects his female from other dogs and potential threats to his progeny.

Female dogs, however, also display this sexual aggression when they are pregnant, nursing, or in heat. Even the most docile female may growl or attempt to bite anyone who dares to pick up one of her pups too soon!

Sexual aggression is reduced through spaying and neutering. Most veterinarians recommend spaying or neutering your dog during the 6-12 months of age.

Injury aggression is aggression brought on by injury or pain. You might easily see this type of aggression in a dog that has been hit by a car or one who is suffering from age-induced arthritis.

Injury or pain aggression is best handled by seeking medical care for the dog. Try not to touch the painful areas unless absolutely necessary for therapy or to get your dog to safety. Diet, activity, medications, and bedding may help alleviate the pain and therefore, the aggressive behavior.

Territorial aggression is aggression displayed to protect the pack?s territory. The dog?s territory may be much different from your thoughts of the house and backyard. Indeed, if you take him on any walks, he may even consider the whole neighborhood his territory!

When a dog is in a new environment, he may be ?territorial? because he isn?t sure of his surroundings. This is why a dog that is boarded may be ?cage aggressive.? The dog is protecting the small territory of the cage from intruders.

When this is the case, let the dog have his space. He is stressed out and will feel protected in his own area.

Territorial aggression may also be used to protect the pack from perceived external threats. A protective dog is one that shows aggression toward other animals or people when he perceives a threat to his owner or other members of the pack.

A dog may also show territorial aggression with possessions. He will protect anything that he perceives as his. This includes food, bedding, toys, affection, and anything else that is part of his world.

Escape aggression is also called fear aggression. A dog that is afraid will often shake. The ears will probably be all the way back on the head and the tail will be low. He feels powerless and puts up a fight because he feels trapped like he has no where to escape.

This type of aggression may also be brought on by the fear of punishment. Imagine someone standing much taller than you with his hand raised above his head. Is he going to hit me?

n

Walking straight toward a dog, giving direct eye contact, or makig sudden movements can trigger fear aggression. Always move slowly around dogs that are afraid. Never give direct eye contact or move right towards a fearful dog.

About the Author: Julie Butts is a Kennel Manager and author of http://www.all-about-small-breed-dogs.com, an online guide for selecting, owning, and raising a small breed dog. Her website is dedicated to small breed dog lovers and includes information on breeds, training, behavior, grooming, supplies, books, gifts, and more.

Read more about dog behavior and dog aggression.

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One of the First Fashion Design Schools Online- Milan Fashion Campus

Do you dream of making it big in the fashion world someday?

I have good news for you! Your dream is now just a click away – may it be to become a fashion designer, a web fashion designer, an image consultant, a fashion magazine stylist, a TV program stylist, an event stylist, a fashion journalist, or a personal shopper – with the Milan Fashion Campus Online Fashion Design Course.

The Creator

Angelo Russica, a seasoned fashion guru who has more or less 20 years of experience in the fashion world, created the course with his aim of not only coming up with an Internet-based fashion design school that will teach the history, aesthetics, and skills required of Italy’s fashion, but extending the Italian fashion sense to the world as well.

With more than 15 years of collaborative experience as a creative assistant to different companies the world over, like Versace, Gruppo Max Mara, Marzotto, Miroglio Vestebene in Italy; Induyco and El Corte Ingles in Spain; and Fujii, Chori, King Company, and World Company in Japan, Russica was able to talk to numerous young students from an array of famous fashion design schools who complain about having spent lots of money on more or less three years of study, only to find out in the end, that it is hard to find a job and almost impossible to make a name. This is also one reason why Russica developed the first online fashion design school in Italy – he wants Milan Fashion Campus to give many aspiring fashion students a chance to learn about the wonders of Italian fashion without having to spend so much.

The Course

This one of a kind fashion design course provides students with the opportunity to be professionally in touch with Italy’s Fashion Design Learning Method. The intensive online fashion design course of Milan Fashion Campus also serves as a venue for the realization of dreams – may it be to become a professional figure or the famous designer of the future.

The lessons are sequenced in such a way that the students can easily follow them. The course requires active student participation since lessons are geared toward teaching learners how to do market analysis, how to locate valuable sources of information, and how to discover inspiration. Students of Milan Fashion Course will also learn the tricks of the trade, just like what professional fashion designers do: examining the streets, examining fashion stories, examining the music world, and examining the opinion of fashion leaders.

The Milan Fashion Campus Online Fashion Design Course, which can be downloaded through http://www.fashioncampus.it, has seven sections, 27 chapters, almost 200 pages, and more than 170 exercises that will serve as guidance for students from their first sketch to their first fashion show. The course also gives a chance to students to specialize on different areas, like celebrity and men fashion design, handbag design, color and rendering technique, and fashion figure template.

One may buy the course chapter per chapter, too, especially if you just want to try out the course first.

The course is in English and downloadable once you have paid the amount stated in http://www.fashioncampus.it, may it be through Paypal or money transfer. This also means that you may start with the course anytime you want.

For more information regarding fees and FAQ’s, just visit http://www.fashioncampus.it.

You will not only improve your fashion taste and sensibility, but also open opportunities for a wonderful career in fashion.

Tim Yu
http://online-fashion-sch.blogspot.com

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Masai Mara National Reserve Luxury Camps-Top Ten Luxury Safari Tented Camps In Mara National Park

Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp

Kichwa Tembo Tented Camp nestles below the Oloololo Escarpment on the western boundary of the Masai Mara overlooking the endless, game filled plains shaded by dense forest canopy.

Each of the spacious tents affords total privacy and the privilege of sweeping views of the greatest grassland system on earth

Sarova Mara Tented Camp

Sarova Mara Camp has an impressive entrance with exotic gardens and a high thatched lobby with ethnic decor.

The camp’s buildings are attractive and airy with a big dinning area that includes a big terrace with wide-angle views and a swimming pool.

There are seventy-five tents through sizeable grounds offering differing views and many paths winding through lawns and gardens and wooden walkways over wide lily ponds. All tents have a concrete addition for private bathrooms.

Siana Springs Intrepids Tented Mara Camp

Fringed by marshes and surrounded by ghostly Fever Trees, Siana Springs is situated on the eastern edge of the Maasai Mara National Reserve.

Perfectly recapturing the romance of the early pioneers, the camp possess a tranquil atmosphere, with spacious tents and shaded trees offering complete privacy in the lush, unspoiled setting.

All tents have en-suite bathrooms. A convivial dining area offers fine cuisine and the swimming pool is an irresistible oasis on hot days.

Bird life is prolific up to 100 different species can be seen in a day.

Rokero Tented Camp

Rokero Tented Camp is set amidst the teeming mass of wildlife in the Masai Mara area.

Rekero’s tented camp is currently inside the Masai Mara Game Reserve, very close to the confluence of the Mara and Talek rivers.

This mobile camp is ideally situated for the annual migration, which is the movement of nearly a million wildebeest and other animals from the Serengeti through the Masai Mara in Kenya.

The camp is set up seasonally (June -October, December – March) and caters for between four and twelve guests.The spacious canvas tents are equipped with hot showers and toilets together with a large dining tent

Kicheche Mara Tented Camp

Located in the northern Koiyaki Lemek region of the Mara, Kicheche Mara Camp is hidden in a groove of wild cotton trees in a prime wildlife area.The camp is a luxury bush camp with no permanent structures and can accommodate a maximum of 20 guests.The tents have spacious rooms with adjacent private bathrooms with hot water. There are director’s chairs and hammocks slung nearby trees to relax in

Olarro Camp

Olarro Camp is perched on a vantage point in the scenic Loita Hills, offering superb views of the Masai Mara plains.Situated on 150,000 acres of private land. It provides the freedom to walk in the hills and enjoy game drives in open-top land rovers and sip a sundowner in the African wilderness.The camp comprises of 8 African-style cottages tucked amidst the bush with en-suite bathrooms. Olarro camp offers a personalized service in an intimate and homely atmosphere.

Mara Porini Tented Camp

Porini Camp has been set up in the exclusive wildlife conservancy of Ol Kinyei, one of the most beautiful wilderness areas in the Serengeti-Mara eco-system. It is in a pristine wilderness with open savannah plains, riverine forest, springs, streams and rivers, rolling hills and spectacular views across the Mara. Ol Kinyei belongs to Maasai communities who have recently set aside the conservancy as a sanctuary for wildlife.The Camp has 6 guest tents sited in the shade of Yellow-barked Acacia trees along the banks of the Laetoli, a permanently flowing watercourse within Ol Kinyei . The tents are spacious and each has an en-suite bathroom with flush toilet and safari shower. The camp accommodates a maximum of 12 guests, giving the experience of real camping in the bush in an exclusive private wilderness but with all the comforts required by discerning travellers. Food is excellent with home baked bread, fresh salads and high quality meals prepared by the camp Chef.Large Safari tents with a double and single bed, solar electric lights, en suite bathrooms with flush toilet and safari shower.All meals and picnic lunches, free mineral water, sodas, gin, beer and house wine.

Mara Camp

Mara Camp is located on Koyiaki Group Ranch adjoining the Masai Mara National Reserve – west of Nairobi.Mara Camp is a seasonal tented camp. There are 6 spacious double tents with ensuite toilet and shower. Each tent has a private veranda.Here they have re-created the safari camp of “Out of Africa”. Where guests are looked after by attentive staff who bring steaming hot water for your canvas showers, prepare sumptuous meals and offer your favourite “sundowner” cocktail. Every comfort is assured, your every need catered for.

Little Governors Tented Camp

Little Governors Camp was built in 1976 with its own independent structure around a small watering hole that teems with birds and wildlife.It is an intimate camp with 17 tents, all which, are tucked away amongst trees. The tents have en-suite facilities with hot showers and bidets.Verandas in each tent provide constant views of the beautiful rolling plains and wildlife.

Bateleur Camp de luxe Mara

Bateleur Camp is situated on the western border of the Masai Mara, in the South-Western Kenya.

The camp lies at the foot of Oloololo Escarpment on the fringe of the riverline forest looking out over the plains of the Mara Reserve.The camp falls directly on the path of the famous annual migration of the wildebeest and zebras and the central area for guests include a comfortable lounge with viewing decks and a tree shaded swimming pool.The tents have en-suite facilities, spacious area with shingle roofs, wooden doors and hard wood floors and a private veranda.

Joe Mwangi is a Tour consultant based in Nairobi Kenya with http://www.landmarksafaris.com We are able to organise every aspect of planning your Kenya safari ,Kenya business travel, complete with hotel bookings, car rentals, air/rail bookings, activities transfers plus provide you with an itinerary that suits your personal requirements. http://www.landmarksafaris.com takes the hassles out of planning and booking your Kenya vacation.For Mor info Contact landmark safaris http://www.landmarksafaris.com for more info contact landmark safaris info@landmarksafaris.com

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Hybrid Sports Car – The Revolution in Sports Cars

Are you looking for a car, with a sporty look, but don’t want to spend buckets of cash on a sporty automobile that tends to be very expensive for the pocket, then you should think about a hybrid sports car. These vehicles are very different from a normal sports vehicle. The normal sports car is not very fuel efficient and after spending a fortune to own a sporty car, you also have to spend heavily on the fuel as well. To overcome all your problems, various companies have invented hybrid sports cars. Generally it is believed that hybrid cars are not very fast on the road, but these hybrid cars were designed keeping all these factors in mind.

The hybrid sports car was made by taking various important factors into account. The first factor is the fuel efficiency factor. There are people who wish to buy a trendy automobile, but the factor that refrains them from doing so, is the heavy amount of expenditure of fuel and insurance. Most sporty vehicles have large motors and a sleek body to support their extreme output for high speeds. The reason for this is these automobiles use enormous amount of fuel because their engines are very heavy. But a hybrid sport car was designed to overcome this drawback. These hybrid cars have a comparatively light body and smaller engines. With this kind of structure and engine the hybrid cars prove to be very efficient fuel users. Again the other factor which would concern the prospective buyer is the comparative slow speed of hybrid cars. This factor has also been given consideration and hybrid sports cars have a feature of fine speed attached to it. The hybrid sports cars are also eco- friendly, this means these cars do not emit harmful gases which cause global warming. By using such cars we can assure a better future and a cleaner environment for the coming generation. The fact that hybrid cars are half battery operated makes these cars a good option with people opting for fuel efficient automobiles.

It is believed, that the biggest drawback with hybrid sports car is the cost factor, but if we compare the cost and fuel efficiency then we see that these vehicles would provide us with more long term benefits then a non hybrid car. There are many advantages attached to these hybrid cars. This is a car which can fulfill all your dreams. The car of tomorrow is here. This car holds all the aspects of a good sporty vehicle. It will provide you with assurance of quality and money. There are very limited manufacturers like Toyota, Honda etc which are manufacturing hybrid sports cars. The fact is that, if more of these cars would be in demand then the supply would also increase which would eventually reduce the cost factor. It is very important for the people to know the various positive aspects of these cars. Every now and then there are more features added to these cars. They are not only beautiful, trendy, smart and elegant but also hold all the attributes to be called the car of the next generation. There is a car available in the market which would satisfy all your desires of owning a sporty car and that is hybrid sports car.

If you have been looking into buying a Hybrid Sports Car. Feel free to have a look at our definitive guide to hybrid cars. Be sure to go here if you want to turn your current vehicle into a Hybrids Sports Car.

Visit Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology for more free information on hybrid cars.

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The Emerging Internet Marketing Boom

Internet Marketing is currently one of the fastest growing professions in the world. When I talk about Internet Marketing in this article, I am going to deal with Internet Marketing that is done by people that are marketing other people’s products and services in order to earn a commission from the sale.

You can get started as an Internet Marketer for FREE, if you are marketing an MLM type opportunity, you will have to pay an ongoing monthly fee for the service or purchase products on a regular basis.

The job of the Internet Marketer is to expose the products and services of a company to people across the world that are likely to buy the product or service. Once someone buys a product or service, the Internet Marketer earns a commission from the company.

Your success as an Internet Marketer lies in targeted marketing and building trust with the people that you are marketing to. Most successful Internet Marketers are experts in PPC search engine marketing, they also utilise ezine advertising and have a opt-in email list of subscribers to their newsletter or ezine.

The top Internet Marketer also have a well designed website that is optimised for search engines that helps in branding their service on the Internet.

There are a large number of products and services to choose from as an Internet Marketer. Most Internet Marketers choose a niche market to target and look for products and services that will be of benefit to this market.

Most people get started as Internet Marketers because it’s FREE and they can do it part-time. These people are looking to earn an extra income as Internet Marketers. Internet Marketing also offers time freedom, you can market whenever you choose to, you can also automate your marketing.

Some people build full-time careers as Internet Marketers. Internet Marketing can be a rewarding career for the people that develop their skills and start building the skills that will make them visible as professional Internet Marketers.

Internet usage is growing daily worldwide, the opportunities for Internet Marketers are expanding every day. You can live anywhere in the world and build a successful Internet Marketing business.

Take some time to study the marketing methods and tools that successful Internet Marketers are using across the world.

The only tool that you need to get started as an Internet Marketer is a connection to the Internet and a willingness to learn the marketing skills necessary.

You can get started for FREE as an affiliate, selling products and services for other companies on a commission only basis. Some of the top affiliates are earning in excess of $10,000 monthly. If you have the desire and the commitment to succeed you too could be earning this kind of money. It takes time and effort, but the rewards are excellent.

Mujibur Rahman was inspired by Bob Proctor and Jack Canfield after watching the “Secret” DVD. He has studied various material by Bob Proctor and Jack Canfield. He is currently following “The Science of Getting Rich” course by Bob Proctor and Jack Canfield – http://globalincome.thesgrprogram.com

You can get 7 FREE Lessons on “The Science of Getting Rich” by Bob Proctor and Jack Canfield at: http://globalincome.thesgrprogram.com

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Individual Health Insurance vs. Group Health Insurance

Individual health insurance is very different from group health insurance in some respects. Many people have had group health insurance from a large corporate group plan and that is all that they have ever known. Many have never had to actually pick and choose between different insurance companies and different health plans as all of the decision making was done on their behalf by their employer. Here are a few quick things to keep in minding when searching for individual health insurance.

The underwriting for individual health insurance is different than the underwriting for group health insurance.

This is great news if you, your spouse and kids are healthy as individual health insurance rates are much cheaper than a comparable group health insurance plan. It could be a cause for concern if you have some health issues in your past as there is the possibility that the application will be declined due to what is called “pre-existing conditions” in your medical history. Most individual health insurance companies will look back into your health history going back about 10 years. If the application is on a fully underwritten basis and there are major health issues such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc. then the application will be declined. (What do you do at this point? Make sure that you keep your current coverage and elect COBRA benefits or any other form of continuation coverage and when that coverage expires you will want to look for a HIPAA eligible health insurance plan).

Individual health insurance is much cheaper than group health insurance.

Think of it kind of like; in individual health insurance the insurance company gets to pick and choose who they will extend coverage too. They choose those who are healthy and have the lowest risk to the company. Therefore, the rates are much lower than in a group health insurance plan where no matter who applies for coverage, whether healthy or unhealthy, they are offered coverage (and of course everyone that is unhealthy wants health insurance – this principle is called the law of adverse selection if any super technical people just love knowing the actual name of insurance principles). A good way to think about it is if you are healthy and on a group health insurance plan then you are in a sense subsidizing the cost of all of the unhealthy people on the group health insurance plan.

Getting quotes for individual health insurance is very easy.

Obtaining group health insurance quotes is sometimes a long drawn out process of filling out a census form with all of the employee information and other administrative time consuming tasks. With the ease of the Internet and the simplicity of individual health insurance rates all it takes is a few moments to enter in basic health insurance information and you can view individual health insurance rate quotes online.

Compare student health insurance quotes from multiple health insurance companies, learn how to find California low cost health insurance, and get free Texas health insurance quotes.

Take a few moments to learn about the different health insurance plan options in your area so that you can be better equipped to find the most appropriate health care coverage for you and your family!

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