Surety Bond
This process is a contractual undertaking, which involves a bail bondsperson, an indemnitor, and the court. The courts tend to favor this form of release, because it guarantees that if the defendant fails to appear in court, someone (the bail agent) will make an immediate effort to find the defendant, apprehend him or her, and bring him or her back to the court of proper jurisdiction. By involving family and friends of the defendant, a bail bondsperson and the courts are reasonably assured of the defendant's appearance.
Cash Bail
Cash bail means that the person who is trying to obtain the release of the defendant must deliver the full amount of bail in cash to the jail facility where the defendant is being detained.
Property Bonds
Property bonds involve the placing of local real estate (homes only, no raw land or out-of-state homes) with the courts as security for the release of a defendant. This process typically takes 1 to 2 weeks, because it requires a judge's approval, a property appraisal, a comparable sales comparison, and the clerk's acceptance. However, most states do not accept property bonds.
ROR
Release on One's Own Recognizance is another method of release. It is given to defendants who have been in the community for many years, have solid jobs, strong family and community ties, and present little or no risk of flight. This release program is usually administered by a county agency or through a local law enforcement agency. A criminal history background check is performed, and a recommendation is given to the court based on those findings. This form of release is common only for first-time offenders and non-violent offenses. Since there is no financial or other security placed with the court to insure the defendant's return to court, there is little incentive for them to appear.
ELMO and Pre-trial Services
ELMO stands for Electronic Monitor, and it is usually a condition of release in addition to a regular bail bond. The ELMO program is administered either by the local Pre-trial Services Agency or the local law enforcement agency. This device is usually in the form of an ankle bracelet. It sets off an alarm if a person strays too far from its base located within the defendant's home.
How Bail Works
Posting of a bail bond. This process involves a contractual undertaking guaranteed by a bail agent and the individual posting bail. The bail agent guarantees to the court that the defendant will appear in court each and every time the judge requires them to.
For this service, the defendant is charged a percentage of the bail amount. Before being released the defendant or a relative or friend of the defendant, typically contacts a bail agent to arrange for the posting of bail. Prior to the posting of a bail bond, the defendant or a co-signer must guarantee that they will pay the full amount of bail if the defendant does not appear in court.
Typically, a family member or a close friend of the defendant will post bail and cosign. Collateral is not always required for a person to be bailed from jail. Often a person can be bailed from jail on the signature of a friend or family member. Cosigners typically need to be working and either own or rent a home in the same area for some time.
After an agreement is reached, the bail agent posts a bond for the amount of the bail, to guarantee the defendant’s return to court.
If the defendant "skips", the cosigner is immediately responsible for the full amount of the bail. If the defendant is located and arrested by the bail agent the cosigner is responsible for all expenses the bail agent incurs while looking for the defendant, apprehending and transportation.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Greater Ft. Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Greater Ft. Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
ADVANCE Healthcare Job Fair & Career Event
Tuesday March 24, 2009 from 8:00am - 3:30pm
Miami Beach Convention Center
1901 Convention Center Drive
MIAMI BEACH, Florida Get Directions
FREE Job Fair
9:30 AM - 2:30 PM
FREE Classes
8:00 AM - 3:30 PM
Enjoy a full day of prizes, fun, shopping and more!
SPEND THE DAY
Come early and stay late to play fun games, catch cool giveaways and to WIN during each prize drawing! Prize winners are announced at 11:00 AM and 2:15 PM in the exhibit hall.*
WIN PRIZES
Everyone who registers early will be entered into multiple prize drawings including the grand prize...a $400 Visa gift card!* Visit exhibitors for more exciting prize opportunities.
SHOP & SAVE
Find fun & functional healthcare gear, gifts and more on-site at the ADVANCE Healthcare Shop. SAVE 20% on entire order with coupon in the Program Guide that you receive on-site. Plus, receive a FREE Prestige Medical Penlight on any purchase of $30 or more!
PLAY GAMES
Stop by and play PLINKO where everyone wins and don't forget to FIND NANCY by visiting exhibitors throughout the hall - You could win $75 cash.
COLLECT FREE GIVEAWAYS
Receive a free tote bag at registration while supplies last! Plus, you could collect any number of great giveaways just be visiting each exhibitor!
TAKE A BREAK
Enjoy free coffee in the morning plus great refreshments in the afternoon.
*You must attend the event and be present at the time of each drawing to win.
Deadline for online pre-registration is Monday, March 09, 2009.
Website: http://health-care-job-fairs.advanceweb.com/Attendee/Heal
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Nationwide Payment Solutions
Nationwide Payment Solutions was established in November of 2002 and offers more than 100 years of combined industry experience. The principals of the organization had a unique opportunity to bring together a motivated and talented management team to form an organization dedicated to meeting the needs of medium-sized business owners.
Our approach to sales and support is based upon the concept that our merchants are our most important asset. Whether you are a bank association, reseller or merchant, you can depend on our outstanding customer service and certified technical support team.
Our staff is diligent, ethical, professional and committed to addressing even the most challenging needs. Our mission is to treat our merchants, affiliates and employees as true partners in our quest to become the standard of ethics in the processing industry. In 2007, the company processed more than $3Billion in credit cards and experienced a growth rate of more than 50%.
Nationwide manages all aspects of electronic payment processing today. We are eager to be your business partner as well as solutions provider. With extensive industry knowledge and strong merchant support, we help merchants maximize the benefits while minimizing the cost of accepting non cash payments so they can focus on what's most important... running their business.
By continuing to listen to and meet the needs of our merchants, we feel the company will continue to thrive long-term. We pride ourselves in providing superior products, reporting, training and support to our merchants. Knowledge and expertise in identifying and providing solutions for your business needs is our commitment to you. Choosing Nationwide Payment Solutions as a business partner will allow long-term stability, mutual growth and endless opportunities for your company.
Call Basil today (954) 830-5771
network solutions merchant accounts
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2-business solutions computer programming services
3-synergy business solutions computer services
4-enterprise business solutions computer services
5-business software solutions computer services
6-wireless credit card terminals
7-credit card machines
8-used credit card terminals
9-free credit card terminals
10-merchant services
Family own bussiness we come to you for free consultation !! Call today (954) 830-5771
2-business solutions computer programming services
3-synergy business solutions computer services
4-enterprise business solutions computer services
5-business software solutions computer services
6-wireless credit card terminals
7-credit card machines
8-used credit card terminals
9-free credit card terminals
10-merchant services
Family own bussiness we come to you for free consultation !! Call today (954) 830-5771
FREE! Merchant Account Application
Card issuers are competing for your business and want to keep it once you sign up. He says the companies spend $150 to $300 to attract each new customer, and will lose that money if the customer doesn't use the card.
They want you to keep spending. "Card companies would love for you to max out the card and pay over time (preferably at a high interest rate)," Randall says. "To this end, you get the incentives above" (plus those funny blank checks they send in the mail that carry an even higher interest rate).
They want you to use the card all the time. "By replacing cash with credit card use, the card companies get to charge the merchant fees for usage, sometimes as much as 3% to 4% of the purchase," Randall writes. "Of course, what no one sees is that those fees come back to the consumer through (invisibly) increased prices."
They want you to keep spending. "Card companies would love for you to max out the card and pay over time (preferably at a high interest rate)," Randall says. "To this end, you get the incentives above" (plus those funny blank checks they send in the mail that carry an even higher interest rate).
They want you to use the card all the time. "By replacing cash with credit card use, the card companies get to charge the merchant fees for usage, sometimes as much as 3% to 4% of the purchase," Randall writes. "Of course, what no one sees is that those fees come back to the consumer through (invisibly) increased prices."
Venezuelan Consulate in Miami, United States
Venezuelan Consulate in Miami, United States
Consulate General of Venezuela in Miami, USA send edits
1101 Brickell Ave. Tower Norte Suite 901
City: Miami
Phone: (305) 577-4214
Fax: (305) 372-5167
Email: consulado@miami.embavenez-us.org
Office Hours: Office hours: 9:00 am -4:00 pm Monday to Friday Consular Services: 9:00 am- 1:00 pm Monday to Friday Documents Drop-off: Monday through Friday from 9:00am
Consulate General of Venezuela in Miami, USA send edits
1101 Brickell Ave. Tower Norte Suite 901
City: Miami
Phone: (305) 577-4214
Fax: (305) 372-5167
Email: consulado@miami.embavenez-us.org
Office Hours: Office hours: 9:00 am -4:00 pm Monday to Friday Consular Services: 9:00 am- 1:00 pm Monday to Friday Documents Drop-off: Monday through Friday from 9:00am
DR Sven E Mathura Sven Mathura Mandal, MD
Colds and Flu: Time Only Sure Cure
It's not chicken soup. Believe it or not, a much more unorthodox therapy of warm-and-cold showers has recently been proposed--though not proven--for the prevention of the common cold. Shower therapy joins an ever-growing spectrum of suggested preventers and treatments for the common cold--among them, hand washing, vitamin C, interferon, seclusion, and various over-the-counter cough and cold medications.
"An efficient, practical and inexpensive prophylaxis [preventive measure] against one of the most frequent (and 'expensive') diseases has been identified at last," claims water therapy researcher Edzard Ernst, M.D., in the April 1990 issue of Physiotherapy. Though some may doubt his shower theory, Ernst is right about one thing--the common cold is a frequent and expensive disease, striking some people as many as 12 times a year and leading to some 15 million days lost from work annually in the United States. Influenza, or flu, likewise, is a frequent and expensive disease, reaching epidemic levels in the United States each year.
Identify the Enemy
Flu is like the cold in many ways--most basically, they're both respiratory infections caused by viruses. If a cold is misdiagnosed as flu, there's no problem. At worst, a cold can occasionally lead to secondary bacterial infections of the middle ear or sinuses, which can be treated with antibiotics. But if the flu is misdiagnosed as a bad cold, potentially life-threatening flu complications like pneumonia may be overlooked.
Typically, colds begin slowly, two to three days after infection with the virus. The first symptoms are usually a scratchy, sore throat, followed by sneezing and a runny nose. Temperature is usually normal or only slightly elevated. A mild cough can develop several days later.
Symptoms tend to be worse in infants and young children, who sometimes run temperatures of up to 102 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius). Cold symptoms usually last from two days to a week.
Signs of the flu include sudden onset with a headache, dry cough, and chills. The symptoms quickly become more severe than those of a cold. The flu sufferer often experiences a "knocked-off-your-feet" feeling, with muscle aches in the back and legs. Fever of up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) is common. The fever typically begins to subside on the second or third day, and then respiratory symptoms like nasal congestion and sore throat appear. Fatigue and weakness may continue for days or even weeks.
"The lethargy, achiness and fever are side effects of the body doing its job of trying to fight off the infection," according to Dominick Iacuzio, Ph.D., influenza program officer with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Influenza rarely causes stomach upset. What is popularly called "stomach flu"--with symptoms like nausea, diarrhea and vomiting--is technically another malady: gastroenteritis.
Cold and flu-like symptoms can sometimes mimic more serious illnesses like strep throat, measles, and chickenpox. Allergies, too, can resemble colds with their runny noses, sneezing, and general miserable feeling.
If symptoms persist, become severe or localized in the throat, stomach or lungs, or if other symptoms such as vomiting and behavioral changes occur, consult your physician. "With the typical symptoms, it's not necessary to contact your physician immediately," Iacuzio says.
The Treatment Arsenal
There is no proven cure for colds or flu but time. However, over-the-counter medications are available to relieve the symptoms.
"OTC cough-cold products can make you more comfortable while you suffer," says Debbie Lumpkins, a scientist with the Food and Drug Administration's division of over-the-counter drug products. "They are intended to treat the symptoms of minor conditions, not to treat the underlying illness."
Don't bother taking antibiotics to treat your flu or cold; antibiotics do not kill viruses, and they should be used only for bacterial complications such as sinus or ear infections. Overuse of antibiotics has become a very serious problem, leading to a resistance in disease-causing bacteria that may render antibiotics ineffective for certain conditions.
Children and teenagers with symptoms of flu or chickenpox should not take aspirin or products containing aspirin or other salicylates. Use of these products in young flu and chickenpox sufferers has been associated with Reye syndrome, a rare condition that can be fatal. Because cold symptoms can be similar to those of the flu, it's best not to give aspirin to people under 20 with these types of symptoms.
The active ingredients FDA considers safe and effective for relieving certain symptoms of colds or flu fall into the following categories:
Nasal decongestantsopen up the nasal passages. They can be applied topically, in the form of sprays or drops, or taken orally. But using sprays or drops longer than three days may cause nasal congestion to worsen.
Antitussives, also known as cough suppressants, can quiet coughs due to minor throat irritations. They include drugs taken orally, as well as topical medications like throat lozenges and ointments to be rubbed on the chest or used in a vaporizer.
Expectorants, taken orally, help loosen mucus and make coughs more productive.
Until recently, another category of over-the-counter drugs called "antihistamines" was approved only for use by sufferers of hay fever and some other allergies. In October, clemastine fumarate, the active ingredient in products such as Tavist-1 and Tavist-D, was approved to treat cold symptoms. The effectiveness of other OTC antihistamines for this use is still being studied.
Most nonprescription cough-cold remedies contain a combination of ingredients to attack multiple symptoms. These combination products often contain antipyretics to reduce fever and analgesics to relieve minor aches, pains and headaches.
Users of OTC medicines should carefully follow the labeling instructions and warnings. Under a new FDA rule, all OTC products will soon have labels with a standardized format and simplified language to help consumers understand the information.
http://www.healthcare.com/profile/sven-mathura-mandal-/
It's not chicken soup. Believe it or not, a much more unorthodox therapy of warm-and-cold showers has recently been proposed--though not proven--for the prevention of the common cold. Shower therapy joins an ever-growing spectrum of suggested preventers and treatments for the common cold--among them, hand washing, vitamin C, interferon, seclusion, and various over-the-counter cough and cold medications.
"An efficient, practical and inexpensive prophylaxis [preventive measure] against one of the most frequent (and 'expensive') diseases has been identified at last," claims water therapy researcher Edzard Ernst, M.D., in the April 1990 issue of Physiotherapy. Though some may doubt his shower theory, Ernst is right about one thing--the common cold is a frequent and expensive disease, striking some people as many as 12 times a year and leading to some 15 million days lost from work annually in the United States. Influenza, or flu, likewise, is a frequent and expensive disease, reaching epidemic levels in the United States each year.
Identify the Enemy
Flu is like the cold in many ways--most basically, they're both respiratory infections caused by viruses. If a cold is misdiagnosed as flu, there's no problem. At worst, a cold can occasionally lead to secondary bacterial infections of the middle ear or sinuses, which can be treated with antibiotics. But if the flu is misdiagnosed as a bad cold, potentially life-threatening flu complications like pneumonia may be overlooked.
Typically, colds begin slowly, two to three days after infection with the virus. The first symptoms are usually a scratchy, sore throat, followed by sneezing and a runny nose. Temperature is usually normal or only slightly elevated. A mild cough can develop several days later.
Symptoms tend to be worse in infants and young children, who sometimes run temperatures of up to 102 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius). Cold symptoms usually last from two days to a week.
Signs of the flu include sudden onset with a headache, dry cough, and chills. The symptoms quickly become more severe than those of a cold. The flu sufferer often experiences a "knocked-off-your-feet" feeling, with muscle aches in the back and legs. Fever of up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) is common. The fever typically begins to subside on the second or third day, and then respiratory symptoms like nasal congestion and sore throat appear. Fatigue and weakness may continue for days or even weeks.
"The lethargy, achiness and fever are side effects of the body doing its job of trying to fight off the infection," according to Dominick Iacuzio, Ph.D., influenza program officer with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Influenza rarely causes stomach upset. What is popularly called "stomach flu"--with symptoms like nausea, diarrhea and vomiting--is technically another malady: gastroenteritis.
Cold and flu-like symptoms can sometimes mimic more serious illnesses like strep throat, measles, and chickenpox. Allergies, too, can resemble colds with their runny noses, sneezing, and general miserable feeling.
If symptoms persist, become severe or localized in the throat, stomach or lungs, or if other symptoms such as vomiting and behavioral changes occur, consult your physician. "With the typical symptoms, it's not necessary to contact your physician immediately," Iacuzio says.
The Treatment Arsenal
There is no proven cure for colds or flu but time. However, over-the-counter medications are available to relieve the symptoms.
"OTC cough-cold products can make you more comfortable while you suffer," says Debbie Lumpkins, a scientist with the Food and Drug Administration's division of over-the-counter drug products. "They are intended to treat the symptoms of minor conditions, not to treat the underlying illness."
Don't bother taking antibiotics to treat your flu or cold; antibiotics do not kill viruses, and they should be used only for bacterial complications such as sinus or ear infections. Overuse of antibiotics has become a very serious problem, leading to a resistance in disease-causing bacteria that may render antibiotics ineffective for certain conditions.
Children and teenagers with symptoms of flu or chickenpox should not take aspirin or products containing aspirin or other salicylates. Use of these products in young flu and chickenpox sufferers has been associated with Reye syndrome, a rare condition that can be fatal. Because cold symptoms can be similar to those of the flu, it's best not to give aspirin to people under 20 with these types of symptoms.
The active ingredients FDA considers safe and effective for relieving certain symptoms of colds or flu fall into the following categories:
Nasal decongestantsopen up the nasal passages. They can be applied topically, in the form of sprays or drops, or taken orally. But using sprays or drops longer than three days may cause nasal congestion to worsen.
Antitussives, also known as cough suppressants, can quiet coughs due to minor throat irritations. They include drugs taken orally, as well as topical medications like throat lozenges and ointments to be rubbed on the chest or used in a vaporizer.
Expectorants, taken orally, help loosen mucus and make coughs more productive.
Until recently, another category of over-the-counter drugs called "antihistamines" was approved only for use by sufferers of hay fever and some other allergies. In October, clemastine fumarate, the active ingredient in products such as Tavist-1 and Tavist-D, was approved to treat cold symptoms. The effectiveness of other OTC antihistamines for this use is still being studied.
Most nonprescription cough-cold remedies contain a combination of ingredients to attack multiple symptoms. These combination products often contain antipyretics to reduce fever and analgesics to relieve minor aches, pains and headaches.
Users of OTC medicines should carefully follow the labeling instructions and warnings. Under a new FDA rule, all OTC products will soon have labels with a standardized format and simplified language to help consumers understand the information.
http://www.healthcare.com/profile/sven-mathura-mandal-/
Friday, February 6, 2009
How to Make Apple Pie
How to Make Apple Pie
Summary: What's better than homemade apple pie? Not a lot of things. This is a dessert that you can serve year round and it is always popular. Use tart apples for your pies - Granny Smiths and pippins are good choices. This recipe makes one 9-inch pie.
Summary: What's better than homemade apple pie? Not a lot of things. This is a dessert that you can serve year round and it is always popular. Use tart apples for your pies - Granny Smiths and pippins are good choices. This recipe makes one 9-inch pie.
How To Be A Better Person
Be the change you want to see occur in the world around you. We can't make other people be more considerate, helpful, honest, etc., but if everyone were to work on themselves and develop these attributes, our world would be a better place.
Don't be judgmental.
Look for and recognize the good in yourself and in others. We are all capable of so-called "good" and "bad" behaviors and we all have our "good" and "off" days. We are all unique and it is wonderful that we are different and not all the same - in our appearance, our thoughts, our opinions, our likes and dislikes. Being different is not threatening, it is not "bad", it is just "different". Embrace the differences and be happy for the variety. Likewise, forget the concepts of "right" and "wrong". People are not good or bad or right or wrong; they just are. If you were in "their shoes" maybe you would act differently, or maybe not. Being judgmental wastes time and cuts you off from opportunities and meaningful relationships - because you are not perfect either, and your judgment might be worse than the person's you are judging!
Respect.
Don't make the mistake of thinking your rights are the only ones that count. Don't ignore the other person's rights. Our fundamental right is to be respected. Being wealthy does not make a person more deserving of respect and neither does a high-flying career with a fancy title. Respect is not about material issues or where one sits on the social ladder. Respect is acknowledging another human being's dignity and treating them how you wish to be treated yourself. We all came on to this earth equal and we're all checking out as equals. What happens in between is just a series of different life experiences. The poor man who lives in a slum, who cares for strangers, volunteers assistance without expecting anything in return and lives a clean, honest life is more deserving of respect than a wealthy businessman who dresses in fine clothes, lives in a huge mansion, and treats everyone like pond amoeba, cheats on his wife, swindles his shareholders and has forgotten how to tell the truth.
Be a Good Listener.
How often do you really listen to other people? How often do you plan what you are going to say next while they are talking, or allow your mind to drift off onto something else instead of concentrating on their every word? It takes practice to be a good listener, but in being one, you are showing respect and in a position to better comprehend the real message being given to you. You avoid misunderstandings and missed instructions. Furthermore, the other person will appreciate your attention and return the courtesy.
Be interested - not interesting.
This goes hand in hand with being a good listener. People love to talk about themselves and will delight in the opportunity to do so, so ensure you ask questions and take an interest in what they are telling you. Don't worry about them hogging the limelight - you can have your turn during the conversation. Have you ever met someone who only talks about themselves? Count the number of times you use "I" in your conversations. Judging, arguing points, interrupting the conversation, and using "I" a lot are sure signs you need to review your communication skills.
Respond from Your Heart.
We tend to respond to others using our head, not our heart. We formulate stories about us, we defend our ego, or we judge other people or what they have said. If we respond from our heart, we can respond with understanding and a sense of connection. Find something good to say about people and to people. Build people "up" - don't knock them down. Go with your gut instincts.
Be truthful.
There is a good reason for the saying "honesty is the best policy." Nothing good ever comes from lies, and there is a difference between being diplomatic and telling an outright lie. Nobody trusts a liar. If you've made a mistake, well, welcome to the human race! You don't have to lie to cover it up. You don't have to tell your truth "brutally", there are gentle and tactful ways of delivering truths and you should think carefully before you speak. But don't try to be deceitful because it has a habit of coming back to haunt you, and in those situations you are worse off than if you had just come clean in the first place, as uncomfortable as that may seem at the time.
Be helpful.
When you need a helping hand, don't you just love the person who comes up and offers that to you? Wouldn't you love the opportunity to repay them? You can be that person that others look to respectfully with gratitude in their hearts, who will, one day, repay the gesture. What comes around, goes around. If you want people to be helpful to you, you must be helpful to others. It doesn't matter whether this is assisting your boss with a special project you can see he needs help with, or a co-worker who is struggling with a large workload, or an elderly neighbor struggling up the stairs with her arms full. People do remember kindness.
Maintain Your Integrity and Your Dignity.
People with their integrity intact are easier to deal with in work or personal situations. They know where they stand and you know where you stand with them. You will feel better about yourself when you set your standards and stand by them and you will attract those who respect your standards and who have standards of their own. Being a doormat is disrespectful to yourself and to the person 'walking all over you'. It does not allow them to grow and learn to do something for themselves. Learn to say no gracefully. You have as much right as everyone else on the planet to have your own opinion and your own way of doing things, and reminding you of point (1) above, nobody has the right to make you feel 'bad' if you think, feel or dress differently. Remember, "to thine own self be true."
Go the Extra Mile.
I mean this in a couple of ways. First, whether you are either asked to do something, or you are offering to do something, remember that if something is worth doing in the first place, then it is worth doing well. And while you are at it, what little touches can you offer to improve it? For example, who would you rather go to for your shoeshine… Mr. A does a wonderful buff and polish and is timely and not too expensive. Mr. B also does a wonderful buff and polish, he is also timely and not expensive, but he is also cheerful and interested in you and whistles while he works, so after your polish, you go on your way feeling on top of the world! Mr. B just went the extra mile for you. He didn't just polish your shoes, he lifted your spirits and made you feel good. If you are offering a co-worker assistance with copying some documents, go the extra mile and ask if she needs a hand stapling them or collating them. Going the extra mile need not involve a large expense of time, energy or money, but it's value to the recipient is often priceless, and one day, it will be reciprocated.
Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say.
Neither beat around the bush being evasive, nor make promises you can't keep. On the other hand, if you say you are going to do something, do it. Be known as a reliable person. Honor your promises and agreements wherever possible - this stems back to integrity. Prepare to be flexible if need be, but know that you don't have to bend over so far backwards that your back snaps. Being assertive and being aggressive are two entirely different things, and you do not need aggression to be assertive. In fact, you are better off without the aggression! If you are wishy-washy and allow people or circumstances to be unconcerned for your position, you will develop that reputation and find more and more people willing to walk all over you and more situations in which it occurs. Being like this does not prove you are valuable to anybody - it just means you are a 'pushover'.
Don't be judgmental.
Look for and recognize the good in yourself and in others. We are all capable of so-called "good" and "bad" behaviors and we all have our "good" and "off" days. We are all unique and it is wonderful that we are different and not all the same - in our appearance, our thoughts, our opinions, our likes and dislikes. Being different is not threatening, it is not "bad", it is just "different". Embrace the differences and be happy for the variety. Likewise, forget the concepts of "right" and "wrong". People are not good or bad or right or wrong; they just are. If you were in "their shoes" maybe you would act differently, or maybe not. Being judgmental wastes time and cuts you off from opportunities and meaningful relationships - because you are not perfect either, and your judgment might be worse than the person's you are judging!
Respect.
Don't make the mistake of thinking your rights are the only ones that count. Don't ignore the other person's rights. Our fundamental right is to be respected. Being wealthy does not make a person more deserving of respect and neither does a high-flying career with a fancy title. Respect is not about material issues or where one sits on the social ladder. Respect is acknowledging another human being's dignity and treating them how you wish to be treated yourself. We all came on to this earth equal and we're all checking out as equals. What happens in between is just a series of different life experiences. The poor man who lives in a slum, who cares for strangers, volunteers assistance without expecting anything in return and lives a clean, honest life is more deserving of respect than a wealthy businessman who dresses in fine clothes, lives in a huge mansion, and treats everyone like pond amoeba, cheats on his wife, swindles his shareholders and has forgotten how to tell the truth.
Be a Good Listener.
How often do you really listen to other people? How often do you plan what you are going to say next while they are talking, or allow your mind to drift off onto something else instead of concentrating on their every word? It takes practice to be a good listener, but in being one, you are showing respect and in a position to better comprehend the real message being given to you. You avoid misunderstandings and missed instructions. Furthermore, the other person will appreciate your attention and return the courtesy.
Be interested - not interesting.
This goes hand in hand with being a good listener. People love to talk about themselves and will delight in the opportunity to do so, so ensure you ask questions and take an interest in what they are telling you. Don't worry about them hogging the limelight - you can have your turn during the conversation. Have you ever met someone who only talks about themselves? Count the number of times you use "I" in your conversations. Judging, arguing points, interrupting the conversation, and using "I" a lot are sure signs you need to review your communication skills.
Respond from Your Heart.
We tend to respond to others using our head, not our heart. We formulate stories about us, we defend our ego, or we judge other people or what they have said. If we respond from our heart, we can respond with understanding and a sense of connection. Find something good to say about people and to people. Build people "up" - don't knock them down. Go with your gut instincts.
Be truthful.
There is a good reason for the saying "honesty is the best policy." Nothing good ever comes from lies, and there is a difference between being diplomatic and telling an outright lie. Nobody trusts a liar. If you've made a mistake, well, welcome to the human race! You don't have to lie to cover it up. You don't have to tell your truth "brutally", there are gentle and tactful ways of delivering truths and you should think carefully before you speak. But don't try to be deceitful because it has a habit of coming back to haunt you, and in those situations you are worse off than if you had just come clean in the first place, as uncomfortable as that may seem at the time.
Be helpful.
When you need a helping hand, don't you just love the person who comes up and offers that to you? Wouldn't you love the opportunity to repay them? You can be that person that others look to respectfully with gratitude in their hearts, who will, one day, repay the gesture. What comes around, goes around. If you want people to be helpful to you, you must be helpful to others. It doesn't matter whether this is assisting your boss with a special project you can see he needs help with, or a co-worker who is struggling with a large workload, or an elderly neighbor struggling up the stairs with her arms full. People do remember kindness.
Maintain Your Integrity and Your Dignity.
People with their integrity intact are easier to deal with in work or personal situations. They know where they stand and you know where you stand with them. You will feel better about yourself when you set your standards and stand by them and you will attract those who respect your standards and who have standards of their own. Being a doormat is disrespectful to yourself and to the person 'walking all over you'. It does not allow them to grow and learn to do something for themselves. Learn to say no gracefully. You have as much right as everyone else on the planet to have your own opinion and your own way of doing things, and reminding you of point (1) above, nobody has the right to make you feel 'bad' if you think, feel or dress differently. Remember, "to thine own self be true."
Go the Extra Mile.
I mean this in a couple of ways. First, whether you are either asked to do something, or you are offering to do something, remember that if something is worth doing in the first place, then it is worth doing well. And while you are at it, what little touches can you offer to improve it? For example, who would you rather go to for your shoeshine… Mr. A does a wonderful buff and polish and is timely and not too expensive. Mr. B also does a wonderful buff and polish, he is also timely and not expensive, but he is also cheerful and interested in you and whistles while he works, so after your polish, you go on your way feeling on top of the world! Mr. B just went the extra mile for you. He didn't just polish your shoes, he lifted your spirits and made you feel good. If you are offering a co-worker assistance with copying some documents, go the extra mile and ask if she needs a hand stapling them or collating them. Going the extra mile need not involve a large expense of time, energy or money, but it's value to the recipient is often priceless, and one day, it will be reciprocated.
Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say.
Neither beat around the bush being evasive, nor make promises you can't keep. On the other hand, if you say you are going to do something, do it. Be known as a reliable person. Honor your promises and agreements wherever possible - this stems back to integrity. Prepare to be flexible if need be, but know that you don't have to bend over so far backwards that your back snaps. Being assertive and being aggressive are two entirely different things, and you do not need aggression to be assertive. In fact, you are better off without the aggression! If you are wishy-washy and allow people or circumstances to be unconcerned for your position, you will develop that reputation and find more and more people willing to walk all over you and more situations in which it occurs. Being like this does not prove you are valuable to anybody - it just means you are a 'pushover'.
What Makes Men Fall in Love?
Judging from the kind of mail we get at Men's Health from men seeking relationship advice, I can tell you this definitively about men: When a man falls for a woman, he falls hard. Men love to be in love. While men often get stereotyped as single-minded sex-seekers, the truth is that a man's stomach churns like a slushy machine when he's in those initial stages of the perfect relationship
When you consider that half of men say that they're currently not with their soul mates, that means a heck of a lot of slushy machines are waiting to be turned on. What are they waiting for? What makes a man fall in love? After you rule out the obvious intangible laws of chemistry, attraction, and being in the right place at the right time that kick-start many a relationship, I think the question really becomes this: What makes a man fall -- and stay -- in love? About 60 percent of men deem friendship the most important thing in a relationship (sex comes in at a skimpy 8 percent, according to a national Harris Interactive poll), but let's delve a little deeper. What exactly does that mean, and what kind of woman does a man really want? With full acknowledgement that men's tastes in women are as unpredictable as the plotline of "24," these are some of things that many men value in "the one."
A Woman with a Passion in Something Other Than Him
Yes, it's nice to be doted over. Yes, it's nice to be pampered. Yes, it's nice to be with a woman who showers you with compliments, neck kisses, and all of her attention. But there's a virtual Great Wall of China between a fleeting, flirtatious glance and the kind of attraction that can last a lifetime. Many men say they like a woman who's immersed in something else other than the relationship -- be it her work, or her sport, or whatever her "thing" is. Why? The passion she shows for something else confirms her inherent goodness, her personal drive, her independence. All pluses in the woman we're hoping to spend a few decades with.
A Woman with No Problem with Guy Time
Every relationship has to choreograph the time-together dance. Once a couple elevates from casual to serious, it goes through that period when most waking and sleeping minutes are spent together. But at some point in the dance, one person will call a time out from the music of coupledom, and try to spend more time with his or her friends -- while still being careful not to step on any feet in the process. Even when they're with the most perfect woman, men still crave the occasional space to spend golfing or drinking or doing whatever (64 percent of men are happy to have the time to themselves when their wives or girlfriends have plans). Men love, appreciate, and are thankful for women who respect and endorse (and not complain about) his need to have a few testosterone mixers. Don't worry, March Madness will be over in just a few weeks!
A Woman with a Strut
Her strut in the bar may have been part of his initial attraction. The strut from the bedroom to the bathroom after the first night together may have been pure visual ecstasy. But the strut that happens day in and day out is one of the major attractors for a man. What do I mean by the strut? It's that attitude, that sassiness, that confidence, that charisma, that charm that shows she can be a little bold and little daring. In a recent post I talked about the line between a woman being confident and a woman being so aggressive that she turns men away, but the truth is that in certain aspects of relationships, men want women who have the strut. Men want to be with women who challenge them, who push them, and who take the lead some of the times. And that's as true in the bedroom as it is in planning their next weekend getaway. The danger? While it can be insanely attractive, that strut of confidence can also swing a man 180 degrees -- if she uses it in other places, like to flirt with other guys, to become a relationship dictator, or to pick a fight with his mom in front of the whole family. He'll point that kind of strut right out the door.
A Woman with a Good Taste in Ties
Okay, so we don't really care about the ties per se. But what we care about is a woman's ability to give us a little-and this is a key word-gentle guidance. I know Freudian followers will say that it's a man's need to be mothered, but it's more than that. Every relationship is a give and take, and guys will definitely take women who can warn us when our new soul patch looks stupid, who can guide us to the perfect suit and shirt combo for an upcoming job interview, who can help them make decisions without being harsh or judgmental. Guys like to project that they know what they're doing and that they don't need any help. Women who can help steer us, without aggressively grabbing the wheel, are the most treasured copilots.
Have your own ideas about what makes us fall -- and fall hard? Share them here.
When you consider that half of men say that they're currently not with their soul mates, that means a heck of a lot of slushy machines are waiting to be turned on. What are they waiting for? What makes a man fall in love? After you rule out the obvious intangible laws of chemistry, attraction, and being in the right place at the right time that kick-start many a relationship, I think the question really becomes this: What makes a man fall -- and stay -- in love? About 60 percent of men deem friendship the most important thing in a relationship (sex comes in at a skimpy 8 percent, according to a national Harris Interactive poll), but let's delve a little deeper. What exactly does that mean, and what kind of woman does a man really want? With full acknowledgement that men's tastes in women are as unpredictable as the plotline of "24," these are some of things that many men value in "the one."
A Woman with a Passion in Something Other Than Him
Yes, it's nice to be doted over. Yes, it's nice to be pampered. Yes, it's nice to be with a woman who showers you with compliments, neck kisses, and all of her attention. But there's a virtual Great Wall of China between a fleeting, flirtatious glance and the kind of attraction that can last a lifetime. Many men say they like a woman who's immersed in something else other than the relationship -- be it her work, or her sport, or whatever her "thing" is. Why? The passion she shows for something else confirms her inherent goodness, her personal drive, her independence. All pluses in the woman we're hoping to spend a few decades with.
A Woman with No Problem with Guy Time
Every relationship has to choreograph the time-together dance. Once a couple elevates from casual to serious, it goes through that period when most waking and sleeping minutes are spent together. But at some point in the dance, one person will call a time out from the music of coupledom, and try to spend more time with his or her friends -- while still being careful not to step on any feet in the process. Even when they're with the most perfect woman, men still crave the occasional space to spend golfing or drinking or doing whatever (64 percent of men are happy to have the time to themselves when their wives or girlfriends have plans). Men love, appreciate, and are thankful for women who respect and endorse (and not complain about) his need to have a few testosterone mixers. Don't worry, March Madness will be over in just a few weeks!
A Woman with a Strut
Her strut in the bar may have been part of his initial attraction. The strut from the bedroom to the bathroom after the first night together may have been pure visual ecstasy. But the strut that happens day in and day out is one of the major attractors for a man. What do I mean by the strut? It's that attitude, that sassiness, that confidence, that charisma, that charm that shows she can be a little bold and little daring. In a recent post I talked about the line between a woman being confident and a woman being so aggressive that she turns men away, but the truth is that in certain aspects of relationships, men want women who have the strut. Men want to be with women who challenge them, who push them, and who take the lead some of the times. And that's as true in the bedroom as it is in planning their next weekend getaway. The danger? While it can be insanely attractive, that strut of confidence can also swing a man 180 degrees -- if she uses it in other places, like to flirt with other guys, to become a relationship dictator, or to pick a fight with his mom in front of the whole family. He'll point that kind of strut right out the door.
A Woman with a Good Taste in Ties
Okay, so we don't really care about the ties per se. But what we care about is a woman's ability to give us a little-and this is a key word-gentle guidance. I know Freudian followers will say that it's a man's need to be mothered, but it's more than that. Every relationship is a give and take, and guys will definitely take women who can warn us when our new soul patch looks stupid, who can guide us to the perfect suit and shirt combo for an upcoming job interview, who can help them make decisions without being harsh or judgmental. Guys like to project that they know what they're doing and that they don't need any help. Women who can help steer us, without aggressively grabbing the wheel, are the most treasured copilots.
Have your own ideas about what makes us fall -- and fall hard? Share them here.
How to Secure Your Home
SOME GENERAL SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
There is no absolute way to protect your home from break-ins. Locks and other safety devices serve primarily to prevent entry by the amateur thief and to slow or deter the professional.
Another deterrent is to avoid regular routines that make it obvious you are away from home at specific times of the day or night. This may be unavoidable, but try to vary your routines of departure and arrival when possible.
Never chat with a stranger about leaving your home for a vacation, a visit, etc. You never know who may be watching for an opportunity for a break-in.
Alert your local police if you are leaving for an extended period. Stop the delivery of newspapers, mail and other items that could be telltale signs that you are away from home.
Arrange for someone to mow your lawn in the summer or remove snow from your drive in the winter when it's necessary for the family to be away. This gives the appearance that someone is at home. Such precautions could be well worth the cost.
Work out an arrangement with your neighbors for mutual alertness when anyone in the neighborhood will be away.
Use any other precautions to make it appear that someone is at home at all times.
There is no absolute way to protect your home from break-ins. Locks and other safety devices serve primarily to prevent entry by the amateur thief and to slow or deter the professional.
Another deterrent is to avoid regular routines that make it obvious you are away from home at specific times of the day or night. This may be unavoidable, but try to vary your routines of departure and arrival when possible.
Never chat with a stranger about leaving your home for a vacation, a visit, etc. You never know who may be watching for an opportunity for a break-in.
Alert your local police if you are leaving for an extended period. Stop the delivery of newspapers, mail and other items that could be telltale signs that you are away from home.
Arrange for someone to mow your lawn in the summer or remove snow from your drive in the winter when it's necessary for the family to be away. This gives the appearance that someone is at home. Such precautions could be well worth the cost.
Work out an arrangement with your neighbors for mutual alertness when anyone in the neighborhood will be away.
Use any other precautions to make it appear that someone is at home at all times.
10 Ways to Prevent Identity Theft
) Secure your business premises with locks and alarms.
Alarm systems are effective deterrents to criminals thinking of breaking into your business, including those intent on identity theft – especially alarm systems that are monitored by a security company. Make sure external doors have deadbolts and that exposed windows are secured with security film, bars, screens or shatter-proof glass
) Secure your business premises with locks and alarms.
Alarm systems are effective deterrents to criminals thinking of breaking into your business, including those intent on identity theft – especially alarm systems that are monitored by a security company. Make sure external doors have deadbolts and that exposed windows are secured with security film, bars, screens or shatter-proof glass
Alarm systems are effective deterrents to criminals thinking of breaking into your business, including those intent on identity theft – especially alarm systems that are monitored by a security company. Make sure external doors have deadbolts and that exposed windows are secured with security film, bars, screens or shatter-proof glass
) Secure your business premises with locks and alarms.
Alarm systems are effective deterrents to criminals thinking of breaking into your business, including those intent on identity theft – especially alarm systems that are monitored by a security company. Make sure external doors have deadbolts and that exposed windows are secured with security film, bars, screens or shatter-proof glass
Credit Card Processing
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Small Business to Save Money in this Economy
With the economy struggling, every business is trying to cut costs to make ends meet. Small businesses, which have fewer resources, especially feel the burn.
Not to fear. We’ve come up with a mega-list of ways to trim the fat off your enterprise so you don’t become a casualty of the latest economic downturn.
Technology
Go green! Energy-efficient technology will save you money over the life span of your computers, phone systems and other tech tools. There are often tax benefits to green technology, too. Not to mention it'll help out the environment.
Switch to open-source software. An open-source solution isn't the scary, "You're on your own!" proposition that larger software providers lead you to believe. Open-source software costs a fraction of the price as commercial products while still offering all, if not more, of the features.
Consider a smaller ISP. If you don’t have a big-business budget, smaller ISPs offer good value for their cost. Check out The List to compare prices.
Check out VoIP. VOIP is basically a phone service that uses the Internet. Many small businesses are opting for this cheaper alternative that can save them up to 60% over their traditional telecom costs.
Get a cheaper business phone service. Try a hosted PBX system, like Virtual PBX. Unlike a standard PBX, there is no hardware or software to buy or maintain, so costs start low and stay low.
Switch from a merchant account to an online payment service like Paypal. Say goodbye to statement fees and monthly fees. These services, however, do have a higher "per transaction" cost, so do some number crunching to see if making a switch will really save you money.
Reduce the number of phone lines. You could accomplish this simply by configuring office PCs to send and receive faxes. The Windows XP operating system and Small Business Server both make it easy to set up fax services.
Look for cheap or free web hosting. Check out this list of free Web space or read the reviews of hosts at Web Hosting Unleashed to see which providers have saved businesses money.
Buy recycled printer cartridges. Printer ink is one of the most expensive liquids on the planet. Much of it is margin, so find low-cost sources.
Reassess your phone plan. Even if you don't switch to VoIP, you can get service for cents per minute depending on your call volume.
Not to fear. We’ve come up with a mega-list of ways to trim the fat off your enterprise so you don’t become a casualty of the latest economic downturn.
Technology
Go green! Energy-efficient technology will save you money over the life span of your computers, phone systems and other tech tools. There are often tax benefits to green technology, too. Not to mention it'll help out the environment.
Switch to open-source software. An open-source solution isn't the scary, "You're on your own!" proposition that larger software providers lead you to believe. Open-source software costs a fraction of the price as commercial products while still offering all, if not more, of the features.
Consider a smaller ISP. If you don’t have a big-business budget, smaller ISPs offer good value for their cost. Check out The List to compare prices.
Check out VoIP. VOIP is basically a phone service that uses the Internet. Many small businesses are opting for this cheaper alternative that can save them up to 60% over their traditional telecom costs.
Get a cheaper business phone service. Try a hosted PBX system, like Virtual PBX. Unlike a standard PBX, there is no hardware or software to buy or maintain, so costs start low and stay low.
Switch from a merchant account to an online payment service like Paypal. Say goodbye to statement fees and monthly fees. These services, however, do have a higher "per transaction" cost, so do some number crunching to see if making a switch will really save you money.
Reduce the number of phone lines. You could accomplish this simply by configuring office PCs to send and receive faxes. The Windows XP operating system and Small Business Server both make it easy to set up fax services.
Look for cheap or free web hosting. Check out this list of free Web space or read the reviews of hosts at Web Hosting Unleashed to see which providers have saved businesses money.
Buy recycled printer cartridges. Printer ink is one of the most expensive liquids on the planet. Much of it is margin, so find low-cost sources.
Reassess your phone plan. Even if you don't switch to VoIP, you can get service for cents per minute depending on your call volume.
Merchant Account Solution
Basil Mathura
Area Manager
Direct: (954) 830-5771
Fax : (954) 385-7264
www.nationwidepaymentsolutions.com
90-Day Price Match Policy
No Middleman, No Contracts or Early Cancellation Fees
Wholesale Pricing For Your Business
Hassle Free Credit Card Acceptance
Easily accept major credit cards including Visa®, MasterCard®, American Express®, Discover®, bank ATM, debit cards, corporate cards, and even checks. Bypass the usual hassles and stringent guidelines imposed by other credit card companies and local banks who are simply "middlemen" up-charging you every step of the way.
Unemployment report worse than expected
About 626,000 Americans filed for jobless benefits last week, the highest weekly level since the fall of 1982, the government reported Thursday.
With the weekly filing coming in worse than expected, roughly 4.8 million Americans are receiving unemployment benefits, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration.
“In my view, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better,” said Vernon M. Briggs Jr., professor of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University. “Every indicator in the labor market is deteriorating and the big concern is how fast they are deteriorating.”
Forces are driving the market in ways not seen before, he said. “This is the first time we’ve had a recession in the era of globalized economics. Things are far different now.”
Georgia’s job market has weakened even faster than the national average.
In the past 12 months, the state’s unemployment rate has jumped from 4.5 percent to 8.1 percent. Jobless claims, too, have paralleled the national trend —- only faster.
Nearly 129,000 Georgians filed first-time claims in December, a 174 percent leap from the number filed during the month a year earlier.
Atlanta’s first-time claims were up 139 percent during the year.
Nationally, new claims have not come close to the 1982 record of 695,000 in one week, but they have been steadily rising. Claims nationally have averaged 582,000 for the past four weeks, up about 60 percent from a year ago.
The number of claims is generally seen as a guide to the overall labor market in two ways.
First, the spike in the number of new filings shows companies laying off workers as they scramble to cut costs. Second, the rise in the number of people with continuing claims is a sign that those who are laid off are having trouble landing another job.
On average, job seekers outnumber openings four to one, the Labor Department said.
The current recession is 13 months old, three shy of the longest downturn since World War II, and optimists say the economy could bottom out by mid-year.
However, if the jobless claims do not crest soon, it will be hard to hold that rosier view, wrote economist Andrew Gledhill in an online post for Economy.com. “Should continuing claims persistently rise at their current rate over the next several weeks, it would be a warning signal that the recession may be deeper than already forecast.”
Thursday’s jobless claims came on the cusp of today’s much-anticipated report on January jobs.
The December report showed the economy shedding an estimated 524,000 jobs while the official unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent. Earlier this week, two surveys hinted that today’s report will reveal another month of large job losses and a higher jobless rate.
In its monthly survey, Automatic Data Processing estimated that more than 500,000 jobs were lost in January. And the outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray and Christmas recorded a 45 percent jump in the number of announced job cuts.
Still, as bad as the numbers have been, they are not as painful as during some recessions of the past when the work force was smaller.
In the past four weeks, more than 2.3 million people have filed new claims for jobless benefits. That represents about 1.5 percent of all workers with jobs.
Those numbers are worse than in 2001. But during one four-week period during the 1991 recession, just under 2 million people filed new claims, representing 1.6 percent of all people with jobs.
And in one four-week period during the 1982 recession, nearly 2.7 million people filed first-time claims —- 2.4 percent of all people with jobs.
Proportionally, that amounts to 50 percent deeper pain than the layoffs do now.
Similarly, the official jobless rate now is higher than in 2001 but lower than in 1991. The highest jobless rate since World War II came as the economy was emerging from recession: 10.8 percent.
Joblessness has not hit double-digits since then.
With the weekly filing coming in worse than expected, roughly 4.8 million Americans are receiving unemployment benefits, according to the U.S. Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration.
“In my view, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better,” said Vernon M. Briggs Jr., professor of industrial and labor relations at Cornell University. “Every indicator in the labor market is deteriorating and the big concern is how fast they are deteriorating.”
Forces are driving the market in ways not seen before, he said. “This is the first time we’ve had a recession in the era of globalized economics. Things are far different now.”
Georgia’s job market has weakened even faster than the national average.
In the past 12 months, the state’s unemployment rate has jumped from 4.5 percent to 8.1 percent. Jobless claims, too, have paralleled the national trend —- only faster.
Nearly 129,000 Georgians filed first-time claims in December, a 174 percent leap from the number filed during the month a year earlier.
Atlanta’s first-time claims were up 139 percent during the year.
Nationally, new claims have not come close to the 1982 record of 695,000 in one week, but they have been steadily rising. Claims nationally have averaged 582,000 for the past four weeks, up about 60 percent from a year ago.
The number of claims is generally seen as a guide to the overall labor market in two ways.
First, the spike in the number of new filings shows companies laying off workers as they scramble to cut costs. Second, the rise in the number of people with continuing claims is a sign that those who are laid off are having trouble landing another job.
On average, job seekers outnumber openings four to one, the Labor Department said.
The current recession is 13 months old, three shy of the longest downturn since World War II, and optimists say the economy could bottom out by mid-year.
However, if the jobless claims do not crest soon, it will be hard to hold that rosier view, wrote economist Andrew Gledhill in an online post for Economy.com. “Should continuing claims persistently rise at their current rate over the next several weeks, it would be a warning signal that the recession may be deeper than already forecast.”
Thursday’s jobless claims came on the cusp of today’s much-anticipated report on January jobs.
The December report showed the economy shedding an estimated 524,000 jobs while the official unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent. Earlier this week, two surveys hinted that today’s report will reveal another month of large job losses and a higher jobless rate.
In its monthly survey, Automatic Data Processing estimated that more than 500,000 jobs were lost in January. And the outplacement firm of Challenger, Gray and Christmas recorded a 45 percent jump in the number of announced job cuts.
Still, as bad as the numbers have been, they are not as painful as during some recessions of the past when the work force was smaller.
In the past four weeks, more than 2.3 million people have filed new claims for jobless benefits. That represents about 1.5 percent of all workers with jobs.
Those numbers are worse than in 2001. But during one four-week period during the 1991 recession, just under 2 million people filed new claims, representing 1.6 percent of all people with jobs.
And in one four-week period during the 1982 recession, nearly 2.7 million people filed first-time claims —- 2.4 percent of all people with jobs.
Proportionally, that amounts to 50 percent deeper pain than the layoffs do now.
Similarly, the official jobless rate now is higher than in 2001 but lower than in 1991. The highest jobless rate since World War II came as the economy was emerging from recession: 10.8 percent.
Joblessness has not hit double-digits since then.
Miami, Florida
Today
Partly Sunny
Hi: 69°
Partly sunny. Warmer. Highs in the upper 60s. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Lowest wind chill readings 34 to 39 in the morning.
Tonight
Partly Cloudy
Lo: 54°
Partly cloudy. Not as cool. Lows 51 to 56. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph.
Saturday
Partly Sunny
Hi: 71°
Partly sunny. Highs in the lower 70s. East winds 10 to 15 mph.
Saturday Night
Partly Cloudy
Lo: 60°
Partly cloudy. Lows around 60. East winds 10 to 15 mph.
Sunday
Partly Sunny
Hi: 75°
Partly sunny. Highs in the mid 70s. East winds 10 to 15 mph.
Sunday Night
Partly Cloudy
Lo: 62°
Partly cloudy. Lows 59 to 64.
Partly Sunny
Hi: 69°
Partly sunny. Warmer. Highs in the upper 60s. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Lowest wind chill readings 34 to 39 in the morning.
Tonight
Partly Cloudy
Lo: 54°
Partly cloudy. Not as cool. Lows 51 to 56. Northeast winds 10 to 15 mph.
Saturday
Partly Sunny
Hi: 71°
Partly sunny. Highs in the lower 70s. East winds 10 to 15 mph.
Saturday Night
Partly Cloudy
Lo: 60°
Partly cloudy. Lows around 60. East winds 10 to 15 mph.
Sunday
Partly Sunny
Hi: 75°
Partly sunny. Highs in the mid 70s. East winds 10 to 15 mph.
Sunday Night
Partly Cloudy
Lo: 62°
Partly cloudy. Lows 59 to 64.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Advice For Selecting Moving Companies
Moving in and of itself can be a real nightmare. From the packing to the unpacking and everything in between, there are difficult decisions to be made at every bend.
One of the biggest decisions that many have to make is selecting a winner among moving companies. It can be very hard to decide who to trust and who to turn away from. With a lifetime worth of possessions on the line, this might be an even bigger decision that opting to move was to begin with.
GoMovers.com has a wonderful article that points out what people should look for when examining moving companies. These companies are not all alike and the process to hire one should be handled with care.
The article on moving companies offers some steps to follow for eliminating the competition and also provides some common sense advice on how to make the selection.
Moving might not be easy, but the article can help make at least one aspect of the process go more smoothly.
Labels: moving, moving companies, selecting moving companies
One of the biggest decisions that many have to make is selecting a winner among moving companies. It can be very hard to decide who to trust and who to turn away from. With a lifetime worth of possessions on the line, this might be an even bigger decision that opting to move was to begin with.
GoMovers.com has a wonderful article that points out what people should look for when examining moving companies. These companies are not all alike and the process to hire one should be handled with care.
The article on moving companies offers some steps to follow for eliminating the competition and also provides some common sense advice on how to make the selection.
Moving might not be easy, but the article can help make at least one aspect of the process go more smoothly.
Labels: moving, moving companies, selecting moving companies
AMSA
How to Plan Your Move
Plan Ahead
Summer time is the busiest time of the year for movers. In addition, the beginning and end of each month are traditionally busier than mid-month, regardless of the season. If you are planning to move during one of the times, plan well in advance so your mover's schedule will fit yours.
Now it is time to contact the movers on your list. Inform them of your destination and the timing of your move. Ask movers to provide you with a written estimate, and have them explain the services listed in the estimate in detail. Carefully compare each estimate to see which company best suits your needs and budget.
Check out our Moving Countdown Calendar planner, to be sure you don't forget anything.
Packing
Proper packing by a trained packer using specially designed cartons and materials is crucial to a good move. Schedule packing with the mover a day or two before the moving van is loaded. If you are packing yourself, it is never too soon to start. While packing yourself can save money, movers will not usually accept liability for damage to items packed by owners.
Be present when your goods are packed. An inventory of your goods will be made and it is important to resolve any disagreements prior to signing the inventory. Make sure all copies are legible and all items are numbered. Have valuable items listed separately. Some appliances may require servicing prior to the move. Your mover can schedule these services for you.
There are several options for insuring your goods. All household goods shipments move under limited liability. However, you may purchase additional liability coverage from your mover.
Planning Your Moving Day
Your mover may ask you to select several consecutive days during which your goods can be loaded and a second series of dates during which your goods can be delivered to your new home. A spread of days gives you and your mover the flexibility needed to keep your move on schedule. Remember that summer months are the busiest, and some movers offer lower prices between the months of October and April.
Moving Day
Be on hand when the movers arrive
Discuss the delivery arrangements fully with your mover.
Have beds stripped and ready to be packed.
Save your energy - let the moving crew disassemble goods.
Read the Bill of Lading before you sign it.
Tell your mover how to reach you at your destination.
Keep in contact with the mover's agent at your destination while you are in transit.
Delivery
Generally, your belongings will be transported in a van along with those of other families in the same general direction. This helps to keep your costs down. Delivery is made on any of the several consecutive days agreed upon before the move began. Make sure the mover knows how to contact you to schedule actual delivery. If you cannot be reached at destination, the mover may place your shipment in storage to avoid delaying other shipments. This can mean additional charges for storage and handling.
Upon delivery, check your goods for damage. Do not sign the inventory until you have inspected your furniture and the exterior of the cartons.
Claims
If any of your household goods are damaged or lost, report the facts promptly and in detail on the van driver's copy (original) of the inventory sheet before you sign it. If you notice damage after unpacking, a claim must be filed within nine months after delivery. However, it is to your advantage to report damage as soon as possible. The mover must acknowledge receipt of your claim within 30 days and must deny or make an offer within 120 days of receipt of your claim. When making a claim or considering a settlement offer, keep in mind the amount of liability that you declared on your shipment. For example, if the value declared on your shipment was $5,000, the mover's maximum liability for loss or damage to the articles in your shipment is $5,000. Claims for more than this amount will be declined because they are in excess of the mover's liability that you declared on your shipment.
Miami Advertising Agencies CEO Sven E Mathura
Miami Advertising Agencies
Advertising agencies Miami
Tip #1--
Be certain that the Miami Advertising Agencies realize that advertising is only a small portion of marketing. The Miami Advertising Agencies must demonstrate that it knows there are many other marketing weapons and that it is capable of using (or directing the use of) all the appropriate ones in your potential marketing arsenal. Guerrilla businesses deserve guerrilla advertising agencies. Don't settle for less.
Miami Advertising Agencies
Advertising agencies Miami
Tip #2 --
Ascertain that your account will be considered special and deserving of the Miami Advertising Agencies top talent. Be sure that you meet and talk to the people who will actually be doing your advertising - creative, media, research, the whole works. See what else the creative people have created. Ask about the results. Avoid agency figureheads and get to know the troops who will be serving on your front line. Is the chemistry right between you? Don't underestimate the immense power of good chemistry.
Advertising agencies Miami
Tip #1--
Be certain that the Miami Advertising Agencies realize that advertising is only a small portion of marketing. The Miami Advertising Agencies must demonstrate that it knows there are many other marketing weapons and that it is capable of using (or directing the use of) all the appropriate ones in your potential marketing arsenal. Guerrilla businesses deserve guerrilla advertising agencies. Don't settle for less.
Miami Advertising Agencies
Advertising agencies Miami
Tip #2 --
Ascertain that your account will be considered special and deserving of the Miami Advertising Agencies top talent. Be sure that you meet and talk to the people who will actually be doing your advertising - creative, media, research, the whole works. See what else the creative people have created. Ask about the results. Avoid agency figureheads and get to know the troops who will be serving on your front line. Is the chemistry right between you? Don't underestimate the immense power of good chemistry.
Fortune 50000 Sven Mathura
For 45 years, Fortune Magazine has been ranking the largest companies in the United States. The result is their annual Fortune 500 list. Sometimes people will refer to the top 100 companies on the list as the "Fortune 100." Essentially, the magazine lists the U.S.-based corporations with the largest revenue in the past year. Fortune calculates revenue using publicly available data, therefore private companies (those whose stock is not traded on a public market) are excluded. U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies are also excluded.
Fortune 500 companies are among the biggest, most profitable, and most powerful companies in America. We're talking serious blue-chips with vast holdings, like Exxon Mobil (ranked #1 on the Fortune 500 for 2001), General Electric (#5), and Philip Morris (#10). Talk about profits -- the top company on the list made over $210 billion in revenues! But even the bottom end of the Fortune 500 list isn't too shabby. Newspaper conglomerate Knight-Ridder (ranked #499) and wireless technology company Qualcomm (#500) pulled in over $3 billion each. That's still a respectable sum, especially in a weak economy.
While the Fortune 500 is limited to American companies, the magazine also publishes the Global 500, which ranks publicly held companies from around the world. Of course, because the U.S. dominates so much of the global economy, many Fortune 500 companies rank high in the Global 500 too. In fact, the first four Global 500 companies of 2001 are the exact same as in the Fortune 500. At #5, the German-American hybrid, DaimlerChrysler, is the first company on the list not based in the U.S.
Fortune 500 companies are among the biggest, most profitable, and most powerful companies in America. We're talking serious blue-chips with vast holdings, like Exxon Mobil (ranked #1 on the Fortune 500 for 2001), General Electric (#5), and Philip Morris (#10). Talk about profits -- the top company on the list made over $210 billion in revenues! But even the bottom end of the Fortune 500 list isn't too shabby. Newspaper conglomerate Knight-Ridder (ranked #499) and wireless technology company Qualcomm (#500) pulled in over $3 billion each. That's still a respectable sum, especially in a weak economy.
While the Fortune 500 is limited to American companies, the magazine also publishes the Global 500, which ranks publicly held companies from around the world. Of course, because the U.S. dominates so much of the global economy, many Fortune 500 companies rank high in the Global 500 too. In fact, the first four Global 500 companies of 2001 are the exact same as in the Fortune 500. At #5, the German-American hybrid, DaimlerChrysler, is the first company on the list not based in the U.S.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
CEO decides to adopt an ecologically responsible
A chief executive officer wields an awesome power over his companies’ policies, employees and principles—and just how sustainable each will be. So when a previously ungreen CEO decides to adopt an ecologically responsible agenda, the effects can be wide-reaching, and exceptionally inspiring. Here’s a list of the top 5 formerly environmentally oblivious business execs who’ve changed their tune for the greener.
Photo courtesy of the New York Times
1. Ray Anderson He may be chairman now, but while he was the CEO of Interface, the world’s largest producer of modular carpet tiles, Ray Anderson made one of the most massive reversals of attitude towards sustainability in history so far—he’s one of the most memorable personalities in the popular documentary “The Corporation” because of his inspiring about-face.
After running Interface on a strictly business agenda for twenty years—one that included the regular dumping of tons of waste in landfills—he read Paul Hawkens’ book The Ecology of Commerce while trying to prepare for a sustainability conference. It literally changed his life.
The thesis of the book is that businesses, more than anything else, are responsible for the future of the environment. Either they could profit by finding ways to renew resources, or they could destroy themselves along with the earth as they maintained a plunderer’s attitude towards creating profits.
Shortly after, he vowed to move his company towards complete sustainability—no easy task for a billion-dollar-a-year factory based company. But by implementing intensive recycling programs, turning to energy-efficient computer controlled boilers, using corn to create carpet, and utilizing solar and wind power, Anderson has made some serious strides towards his goal. And the conserved energy and reused materials have helped Interface’s profits rise.
Just as important, Anderson showed the business world that even an international, multi-billion dollar company can go green without dipping into the red.
Photo courtesy of Time
2. Sir Richard Branson Thanks in part to his gasoline gorging Virgin Airlines, Richard Branson is one of the most famous billionaires in the world. So why would he say something like skyrocketing oil prices “are the best thing that has happened to this world”? Seems contradictory, sure. But it’s never too late to come around.
Branson started the Virgin brand with a successful record label and built it into an empire that includes an international airline, cell phones, and even spacecraft. Yet he never seemed to show too much concern with the environment that his jets were spewing tons of emissions into.
That is, until he decided to initiate one of the largest biofuel investments in the world, under his Virgin Fuels division. Virgin Fuels has since morphed into the Virgin Green Fund, which currently has investments in companies working in biofuels, desalination plants, energy efficient lighting, and solar power.
Additionally, Branson’s also launched an environmental consultancy in the UK, done humanitarian work with Nelson Mandela, invested $3 billion to fight global warming, and pioneered fuel efficient electric trains in Europe.
So what turned him around? A single breakfast with Al Gore. Seriously—Branson has said that he was a global warming skeptic before he sat down with Gore for a breakfast meeting.
3. Brad Hole Brad Who? You probably wouldn’t recognize Brad Hole if you saw him on the street—he’s not a green celebrity CEO or an infamous international magnate. But it’s worth including a lower-profile CEO who has nonetheless given up an unsustainable company to place running a green one as a top priority.
Brad Hole is the CEO of Sustainable Group, a fast-growing company that deals in recyclable home and office supplies. Before he ran Sustainable, he owned a barcode and data collection company called Eversio for 12 years. According to Hole, the “business wasn’t green, nor were the products. We actually just brokered hardware and consumables and drop-shipped them to clients.”
But five years ago, he and his business partner had an idea to create a binder out of recycled materials, noting how many PVC binders they sent to the landfill every year. So he created the Rebinder, and its strong sales blazed the trail for the environmentally conscious Sustainable Group. The company now has multiple product lines—and all are made from recycled materials—and is growing at a clip of 300 percent a year.
Hole recently sold the barcode business, and completed his 180 degree turn to green.
Photo courtesy of Time
4. Rupert MurdochI know you're thinking 'You've got to be fracking kidding me!' but there he is. One man you likely never expected to see TreeHugger congratulate: Rupert Murdoch, CEO of the global media goliath News Corp. He’s probably best known for his news outlets: Fox News, the Star tabloid, and The New York Post, to name a few.
What makes him so unlikely for placement on any green CEO list is the fact (among other things) that most of his news outlets are notorious for being vocally skeptical about climate change. And that’s putting it lightly.
Fox News especially has been renowned for giving credence to global warming denial, and one of his latest acquisitions, the Wall Street Journal still regularly runs op-eds calling climate change a hoax.
So how is it that Murdoch has made a public decision to make News Corp. carbon neutral by 2010, saying “Climate change poses clear, catastrophic threats”?
Call it a change of heart, maybe. While he once admitted to being "somewhat wary of the warming debate" according to the Independent, now he’s actively advocating environmental action. He’s going to attempt to use his ‘global reach’ to encourage climate change action, he says. And he’s already begun using recycled paper in some of his companies, and building sustainable studios.
However, the gap in ideologies between his news organizations and his personally stated beliefs continues to be an issue, since neither FOX nor the Wall Street Journal has yet adopted a productive view of climate change. And while there are certainly plenty more CEOs out there who’ve done more for the environment, perhaps no convert to the environmental movement was as unlikely and attention grabbing—and potentially inspiring to his peers.
Put it this way—it’s one thing when the CEO of Google announces his new green initiative; it’s something else when the owner of FOX News does.
Photo courtesy of the Independent
5. T. Boone PickensT. Boone Pickens of the infamous ‘Pickens Plan’ rounds out the last spot on our list. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Pickens is that his plan is birthed from pure capitalistic incentive—Pickens has stated on more than one occassion that his green motivation has more to do with money than the environment—and it’s brought him through maybe the most dramatic 180 of any of these CEOs, at least in terms of business focus.
In the course of a few years, Pickens went from spending millions to fund the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in their attacks on 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry and donating huge sums to George W. Bush himself, to soft peddling his Republican affiliation and spending time working on his energy plan with Democrats.
So that’s a political 180, how about the environmental one? Well, he built his fortune as an oilman—growing Mesa, the company he founded, into one of the largest oil companies in the world. And he continued its growth through a series of acquisitions of other petroleum companies until last year, when he proclaimed that the United States had to become more energy independent, that peak oil was a reality, and he unveiled one of the now most hyped plans for developing alternative energy in the USA—the Pickens Plan. What?
Whether or not you agree with the plan’s strategy, which is to curb reliance on foreign oil by developing wind power and using more natural gas, the massive publicity the plan has generated has brought wind power (and the general notion of widespread alternative energy usage) into a very public forum.
In the end even if the Pickens Plan doesn’t come off exactly as planned, and considering some of Pickens' recent statements regarding slowing the project due to current world financial conditions, there is some doubt about that, the dialogue alone T. Boone's generated (especially coming from a wealthy, conservative oil baron) is noteworthy in itself.
Photo courtesy of the New York Times
1. Ray Anderson He may be chairman now, but while he was the CEO of Interface, the world’s largest producer of modular carpet tiles, Ray Anderson made one of the most massive reversals of attitude towards sustainability in history so far—he’s one of the most memorable personalities in the popular documentary “The Corporation” because of his inspiring about-face.
After running Interface on a strictly business agenda for twenty years—one that included the regular dumping of tons of waste in landfills—he read Paul Hawkens’ book The Ecology of Commerce while trying to prepare for a sustainability conference. It literally changed his life.
The thesis of the book is that businesses, more than anything else, are responsible for the future of the environment. Either they could profit by finding ways to renew resources, or they could destroy themselves along with the earth as they maintained a plunderer’s attitude towards creating profits.
Shortly after, he vowed to move his company towards complete sustainability—no easy task for a billion-dollar-a-year factory based company. But by implementing intensive recycling programs, turning to energy-efficient computer controlled boilers, using corn to create carpet, and utilizing solar and wind power, Anderson has made some serious strides towards his goal. And the conserved energy and reused materials have helped Interface’s profits rise.
Just as important, Anderson showed the business world that even an international, multi-billion dollar company can go green without dipping into the red.
Photo courtesy of Time
2. Sir Richard Branson Thanks in part to his gasoline gorging Virgin Airlines, Richard Branson is one of the most famous billionaires in the world. So why would he say something like skyrocketing oil prices “are the best thing that has happened to this world”? Seems contradictory, sure. But it’s never too late to come around.
Branson started the Virgin brand with a successful record label and built it into an empire that includes an international airline, cell phones, and even spacecraft. Yet he never seemed to show too much concern with the environment that his jets were spewing tons of emissions into.
That is, until he decided to initiate one of the largest biofuel investments in the world, under his Virgin Fuels division. Virgin Fuels has since morphed into the Virgin Green Fund, which currently has investments in companies working in biofuels, desalination plants, energy efficient lighting, and solar power.
Additionally, Branson’s also launched an environmental consultancy in the UK, done humanitarian work with Nelson Mandela, invested $3 billion to fight global warming, and pioneered fuel efficient electric trains in Europe.
So what turned him around? A single breakfast with Al Gore. Seriously—Branson has said that he was a global warming skeptic before he sat down with Gore for a breakfast meeting.
3. Brad Hole Brad Who? You probably wouldn’t recognize Brad Hole if you saw him on the street—he’s not a green celebrity CEO or an infamous international magnate. But it’s worth including a lower-profile CEO who has nonetheless given up an unsustainable company to place running a green one as a top priority.
Brad Hole is the CEO of Sustainable Group, a fast-growing company that deals in recyclable home and office supplies. Before he ran Sustainable, he owned a barcode and data collection company called Eversio for 12 years. According to Hole, the “business wasn’t green, nor were the products. We actually just brokered hardware and consumables and drop-shipped them to clients.”
But five years ago, he and his business partner had an idea to create a binder out of recycled materials, noting how many PVC binders they sent to the landfill every year. So he created the Rebinder, and its strong sales blazed the trail for the environmentally conscious Sustainable Group. The company now has multiple product lines—and all are made from recycled materials—and is growing at a clip of 300 percent a year.
Hole recently sold the barcode business, and completed his 180 degree turn to green.
Photo courtesy of Time
4. Rupert MurdochI know you're thinking 'You've got to be fracking kidding me!' but there he is. One man you likely never expected to see TreeHugger congratulate: Rupert Murdoch, CEO of the global media goliath News Corp. He’s probably best known for his news outlets: Fox News, the Star tabloid, and The New York Post, to name a few.
What makes him so unlikely for placement on any green CEO list is the fact (among other things) that most of his news outlets are notorious for being vocally skeptical about climate change. And that’s putting it lightly.
Fox News especially has been renowned for giving credence to global warming denial, and one of his latest acquisitions, the Wall Street Journal still regularly runs op-eds calling climate change a hoax.
So how is it that Murdoch has made a public decision to make News Corp. carbon neutral by 2010, saying “Climate change poses clear, catastrophic threats”?
Call it a change of heart, maybe. While he once admitted to being "somewhat wary of the warming debate" according to the Independent, now he’s actively advocating environmental action. He’s going to attempt to use his ‘global reach’ to encourage climate change action, he says. And he’s already begun using recycled paper in some of his companies, and building sustainable studios.
However, the gap in ideologies between his news organizations and his personally stated beliefs continues to be an issue, since neither FOX nor the Wall Street Journal has yet adopted a productive view of climate change. And while there are certainly plenty more CEOs out there who’ve done more for the environment, perhaps no convert to the environmental movement was as unlikely and attention grabbing—and potentially inspiring to his peers.
Put it this way—it’s one thing when the CEO of Google announces his new green initiative; it’s something else when the owner of FOX News does.
Photo courtesy of the Independent
5. T. Boone PickensT. Boone Pickens of the infamous ‘Pickens Plan’ rounds out the last spot on our list. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Pickens is that his plan is birthed from pure capitalistic incentive—Pickens has stated on more than one occassion that his green motivation has more to do with money than the environment—and it’s brought him through maybe the most dramatic 180 of any of these CEOs, at least in terms of business focus.
In the course of a few years, Pickens went from spending millions to fund the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in their attacks on 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry and donating huge sums to George W. Bush himself, to soft peddling his Republican affiliation and spending time working on his energy plan with Democrats.
So that’s a political 180, how about the environmental one? Well, he built his fortune as an oilman—growing Mesa, the company he founded, into one of the largest oil companies in the world. And he continued its growth through a series of acquisitions of other petroleum companies until last year, when he proclaimed that the United States had to become more energy independent, that peak oil was a reality, and he unveiled one of the now most hyped plans for developing alternative energy in the USA—the Pickens Plan. What?
Whether or not you agree with the plan’s strategy, which is to curb reliance on foreign oil by developing wind power and using more natural gas, the massive publicity the plan has generated has brought wind power (and the general notion of widespread alternative energy usage) into a very public forum.
In the end even if the Pickens Plan doesn’t come off exactly as planned, and considering some of Pickens' recent statements regarding slowing the project due to current world financial conditions, there is some doubt about that, the dialogue alone T. Boone's generated (especially coming from a wealthy, conservative oil baron) is noteworthy in itself.
All people on real estate-related sites reaching at least 100K US people
Site Name
Target People
US People
Coverage
%
Index
Category Affinity
unitedcountry.com
303,389
303,389
0%
100%
100
276
ziprealty.com
1,473,242
1,473,242
1%
100%
100
275
ucoffices.com
114,232
114,232
0%
100%
100
274
tenmanagement.com
142,916
142,916
0%
100%
100
272
williamsauction.com
182,360
182,360
0%
100%
100
268
cyberhomes.com
195,746
195,746
0%
100%
100
268
manufacturedhomesource.com
108,346
108,346
0%
100%
100
267
redfin.com
188,664
188,664
0%
100%
100
260
hotpads.com
294,206
294,206
0%
100%
100
260
lennar.com
141,439
141,439
0%
100%
100
257
point2.com
598,453
598,453
0%
100%
100
257
rentalhomesplus.com
391,914
391,914
0%
100%
100
249
ushomeauction.com
360,208
360,208
0%
100%
100
244
rentalads.com
139,526
139,526
0%
100%
100
242
realtystore.com
453,391
453,391
0%
100%
100
242
rentalhouses.com
310,332
310,332
0%
100%
100
241
fnismls.com
326,868
326,868
0%
100%
100
240
mris.com
380,293
380,293
0%
100%
100
237
listingbook.com
129,842
129,842
0%
100%
100
237
fanniemae.com
143,923
143,923
0%
100%
100
235
rapmls.com
804,078
804,078
0%
100%
100
234
mlxchange.com
933,849
933,849
0%
100%
100
233
thatrentalsite.com
267,015
267,015
0%
100%
100
227
industrybrains.com
232,522
232,522
0%
100%
100
224
marketlinx.com
635,375
635,375
0%
100%
100
223
rentals.com
876,284
876,284
0%
100%
100
218
vflyer.com
200,341
200,341
0%
100%
100
217
housevalues.com
376,604
376,604
0%
100%
100
214
edinarealty.com
106,150
106,150
0%
100%
100
213
mortgageloan.com
168,508
168,508
0%
100%
100
213
Previous
Next
Monthly audience past 30 days as of: December 31, 2008
Target People
US People
Coverage
%
Index
Category Affinity
unitedcountry.com
303,389
303,389
0%
100%
100
276
ziprealty.com
1,473,242
1,473,242
1%
100%
100
275
ucoffices.com
114,232
114,232
0%
100%
100
274
tenmanagement.com
142,916
142,916
0%
100%
100
272
williamsauction.com
182,360
182,360
0%
100%
100
268
cyberhomes.com
195,746
195,746
0%
100%
100
268
manufacturedhomesource.com
108,346
108,346
0%
100%
100
267
redfin.com
188,664
188,664
0%
100%
100
260
hotpads.com
294,206
294,206
0%
100%
100
260
lennar.com
141,439
141,439
0%
100%
100
257
point2.com
598,453
598,453
0%
100%
100
257
rentalhomesplus.com
391,914
391,914
0%
100%
100
249
ushomeauction.com
360,208
360,208
0%
100%
100
244
rentalads.com
139,526
139,526
0%
100%
100
242
realtystore.com
453,391
453,391
0%
100%
100
242
rentalhouses.com
310,332
310,332
0%
100%
100
241
fnismls.com
326,868
326,868
0%
100%
100
240
mris.com
380,293
380,293
0%
100%
100
237
listingbook.com
129,842
129,842
0%
100%
100
237
fanniemae.com
143,923
143,923
0%
100%
100
235
rapmls.com
804,078
804,078
0%
100%
100
234
mlxchange.com
933,849
933,849
0%
100%
100
233
thatrentalsite.com
267,015
267,015
0%
100%
100
227
industrybrains.com
232,522
232,522
0%
100%
100
224
marketlinx.com
635,375
635,375
0%
100%
100
223
rentals.com
876,284
876,284
0%
100%
100
218
vflyer.com
200,341
200,341
0%
100%
100
217
housevalues.com
376,604
376,604
0%
100%
100
214
edinarealty.com
106,150
106,150
0%
100%
100
213
mortgageloan.com
168,508
168,508
0%
100%
100
213
Previous
Next
Monthly audience past 30 days as of: December 31, 2008
Top 10 website re-design mistakes - and how to avoid them
Finally my new site is *almost* up and ready to go, however in the process I was tempted to fall into the typical mistakes that are done while re-designing a site. I read a very good article at which explain them nicely. I am listing them here so you will never go down that path.
Launching before the new design is cross-browser tested. Seriously, sometimes you’ll stumble onto a redesign by a what you thought was a serious website, and it breaks in Safari, isn’t tested in IE7, or whatever.
Launching without giving your readers a heads up. You should definitely inform your readership that a new design is coming, or have a really good explanation ready when you’ve launched. Chock-launching can work, but in today’s very open and transparent web I think you really should let people know that they might see another design next time they pop by.
Removing all key recognition elements in one swipe. Don’t just null out your previous visual identity, make sure there are some elements left, updated perhaps but recognizable, so that your readers can tell that they’re visiting the correct site.
Making everything harder to find. Let’s face it, you might want to move around elements in your design and that’s fine. Just don’t change everything at once, or if you do, make sure that everything is in the second most obvious place (the first being your old design’s locations of course).
Jumping onto the popular style bandwagon. It’s easy to get caught up in the flavor of the day, being rounded corners or pastels. By all means, take the parts you like into your designs, but remember what you’re redesigning, maybe the style doesn’t fit at all, or maybe it just doesn’t benefit the site. If you really want to do the design of the day, then by all means do, but consider carefully where you use it.
Launching too early. I know, I know, it’s very easy to launch early and say “I’ll fix the rest later”. Well, if you’re gonna do a beta launch, be sure you don’t pull a Google and stay in beta forever. Make sure you’ve got a list of features and additions ready, and plan them, so that your premature launch won’t come back and haunt you. Ideally, your design is done when you’ll launch, or at least appear done, then you can add to it and make it look like tasty bonuses!
Redesigning too often. A new design, again? You should commit to your designs, give them time to exist. Maybe they turn out to be “bad” for your site, then fine, go ahead and fine-tune, but watch out for getting caught in the redesign loop.
Removing features without an explanation. Some features and functions should never disappear of course, like the search box on most sites, but some might not seem necessary anymore. Well, that might be true for you, but you should make sure that it goes for your readership as well. I like to ask the readers, or at least post about why something was removed, with alternate (better) functionality for them to use instead. That way, they’ll complain if I’ve been stupid and ignorant in my feature-slashing, and the site benefits.
Too drastic monetizing changes. This is a tricky one. On the one hand, you need to make money on your site, but on the other you don’t want to make the ads too obtrusive. Every change in advertising on your site, be it contextual text links, image ads, or whatever, should be made with caution. This is one point where the chock treatment will not work.
Pushing too much new stuff. This goes for design in general of course, but adding too many things to a page makes it cluttered and that’s ugly. Since a lot of redesigns are pushed because of the urge to add new functionality, nifty new stuff you have to push out there, this is a common mistake. Don’t clutter it, prioritize, and be wary of what you remove to make room for the new things.
Launching before the new design is cross-browser tested. Seriously, sometimes you’ll stumble onto a redesign by a what you thought was a serious website, and it breaks in Safari, isn’t tested in IE7, or whatever.
Launching without giving your readers a heads up. You should definitely inform your readership that a new design is coming, or have a really good explanation ready when you’ve launched. Chock-launching can work, but in today’s very open and transparent web I think you really should let people know that they might see another design next time they pop by.
Removing all key recognition elements in one swipe. Don’t just null out your previous visual identity, make sure there are some elements left, updated perhaps but recognizable, so that your readers can tell that they’re visiting the correct site.
Making everything harder to find. Let’s face it, you might want to move around elements in your design and that’s fine. Just don’t change everything at once, or if you do, make sure that everything is in the second most obvious place (the first being your old design’s locations of course).
Jumping onto the popular style bandwagon. It’s easy to get caught up in the flavor of the day, being rounded corners or pastels. By all means, take the parts you like into your designs, but remember what you’re redesigning, maybe the style doesn’t fit at all, or maybe it just doesn’t benefit the site. If you really want to do the design of the day, then by all means do, but consider carefully where you use it.
Launching too early. I know, I know, it’s very easy to launch early and say “I’ll fix the rest later”. Well, if you’re gonna do a beta launch, be sure you don’t pull a Google and stay in beta forever. Make sure you’ve got a list of features and additions ready, and plan them, so that your premature launch won’t come back and haunt you. Ideally, your design is done when you’ll launch, or at least appear done, then you can add to it and make it look like tasty bonuses!
Redesigning too often. A new design, again? You should commit to your designs, give them time to exist. Maybe they turn out to be “bad” for your site, then fine, go ahead and fine-tune, but watch out for getting caught in the redesign loop.
Removing features without an explanation. Some features and functions should never disappear of course, like the search box on most sites, but some might not seem necessary anymore. Well, that might be true for you, but you should make sure that it goes for your readership as well. I like to ask the readers, or at least post about why something was removed, with alternate (better) functionality for them to use instead. That way, they’ll complain if I’ve been stupid and ignorant in my feature-slashing, and the site benefits.
Too drastic monetizing changes. This is a tricky one. On the one hand, you need to make money on your site, but on the other you don’t want to make the ads too obtrusive. Every change in advertising on your site, be it contextual text links, image ads, or whatever, should be made with caution. This is one point where the chock treatment will not work.
Pushing too much new stuff. This goes for design in general of course, but adding too many things to a page makes it cluttered and that’s ugly. Since a lot of redesigns are pushed because of the urge to add new functionality, nifty new stuff you have to push out there, this is a common mistake. Don’t clutter it, prioritize, and be wary of what you remove to make room for the new things.
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A secure, encrypted, SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Authorize.Net Payment Gateway that will allow you to accept credit card payments in real-time over the internet.
Virtual Terminal for processing off-line credit card orders.
Accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover credit cards.
All funds wired into the checking account of your choice.
Online reporting and management of all your transactions.
No Application Fee.
No Set Up Fee.
No Paperwork.
No Hassle.
No Long term Contract.
No Cancellation Fees.
FREE Shopping Cart.
FREE Search Engine Submission.
FREE Online Sales Tracking and Reporting.
FREE Fraud Screening and Protection.
FREE American Express Setup.
FREE Discover Setup.
FREE Internet Check Software.
FREE 24/7 Technical Support.
FREE Instant Online Approval.
FREE Retail Credit Card Terminal with Printer.
FREE Re-Programming if you already have a Retail Terminal
FREE Real Time Online Payment Gateway Software.
Incredibly Low Merchant Account Rates
Get your Merchant Account within Minutes
With our Internet Merchant Account Application, you can Instantly Setup Online Credit Card Processing FREE!
Top 10 website re-design mistakes - and how to avoid them
Posted on December 3, 2008
Finally my new site is *almost* up and ready to go, however in the process I was tempted to fall into the typical mistakes that are done while re-designing a site. I read a very good article at Devlounge which explain them nicely. I am listing them here so you will never go down that path.
Launching before the new design is cross-browser tested. Seriously, sometimes you’ll stumble onto a redesign by a what you thought was a serious website, and it breaks in Safari, isn’t tested in IE7, or whatever.
Launching without giving your readers a heads up. You should definitely inform your readership that a new design is coming, or have a really good explanation ready when you’ve launched. Chock-launching can work, but in today’s very open and transparent web I think you really should let people know that they might see another design next time they pop by.
Removing all key recognition elements in one swipe. Don’t just null out your previous visual identity, make sure there are some elements left, updated perhaps but recognizable, so that your readers can tell that they’re visiting the correct site.
Making everything harder to find. Let’s face it, you might want to move around elements in your design and that’s fine. Just don’t change everything at once, or if you do, make sure that everything is in the second most obvious place (the first being your old design’s locations of course).
Jumping onto the popular style bandwagon. It’s easy to get caught up in the flavor of the day, being rounded corners or pastels. By all means, take the parts you like into your designs, but remember what you’re redesigning, maybe the style doesn’t fit at all, or maybe it just doesn’t benefit the site. If you really want to do the design of the day, then by all means do, but consider carefully where you use it.
Launching too early. I know, I know, it’s very easy to launch early and say “I’ll fix the rest later”. Well, if you’re gonna do a beta launch, be sure you don’t pull a Google and stay in beta forever. Make sure you’ve got a list of features and additions ready, and plan them, so that your premature launch won’t come back and haunt you. Ideally, your design is done when you’ll launch, or at least appear done, then you can add to it and make it look like tasty bonuses!
Redesigning too often. A new design, again? You should commit to your designs, give them time to exist. Maybe they turn out to be “bad” for your site, then fine, go ahead and fine-tune, but watch out for getting caught in the redesign loop.
Removing features without an explanation. Some features and functions should never disappear of course, like the search box on most sites, but some might not seem necessary anymore. Well, that might be true for you, but you should make sure that it goes for your readership as well. I like to ask the readers, or at least post about why something was removed, with alternate (better) functionality for them to use instead. That way, they’ll complain if I’ve been stupid and ignorant in my feature-slashing, and the site benefits.
Too drastic monetizing changes. This is a tricky one. On the one hand, you need to make money on your site, but on the other you don’t want to make the ads too obtrusive. Every change in advertising on your site, be it contextual text links, image ads, or whatever, should be made with caution. This is one point where the chock treatment will not work.
Pushing too much new stuff. This goes for design in general of course, but adding too many things to a page makes it cluttered and that’s ugly. Since a lot of redesigns are pushed because of the urge to add new functionality, nifty new stuff you have to push out there, this is a common mistake. Don’t clutter it, prioritize, and be wary of what you remove to make room for the new things
Finally my new site is *almost* up and ready to go, however in the process I was tempted to fall into the typical mistakes that are done while re-designing a site. I read a very good article at Devlounge which explain them nicely. I am listing them here so you will never go down that path.
Launching before the new design is cross-browser tested. Seriously, sometimes you’ll stumble onto a redesign by a what you thought was a serious website, and it breaks in Safari, isn’t tested in IE7, or whatever.
Launching without giving your readers a heads up. You should definitely inform your readership that a new design is coming, or have a really good explanation ready when you’ve launched. Chock-launching can work, but in today’s very open and transparent web I think you really should let people know that they might see another design next time they pop by.
Removing all key recognition elements in one swipe. Don’t just null out your previous visual identity, make sure there are some elements left, updated perhaps but recognizable, so that your readers can tell that they’re visiting the correct site.
Making everything harder to find. Let’s face it, you might want to move around elements in your design and that’s fine. Just don’t change everything at once, or if you do, make sure that everything is in the second most obvious place (the first being your old design’s locations of course).
Jumping onto the popular style bandwagon. It’s easy to get caught up in the flavor of the day, being rounded corners or pastels. By all means, take the parts you like into your designs, but remember what you’re redesigning, maybe the style doesn’t fit at all, or maybe it just doesn’t benefit the site. If you really want to do the design of the day, then by all means do, but consider carefully where you use it.
Launching too early. I know, I know, it’s very easy to launch early and say “I’ll fix the rest later”. Well, if you’re gonna do a beta launch, be sure you don’t pull a Google and stay in beta forever. Make sure you’ve got a list of features and additions ready, and plan them, so that your premature launch won’t come back and haunt you. Ideally, your design is done when you’ll launch, or at least appear done, then you can add to it and make it look like tasty bonuses!
Redesigning too often. A new design, again? You should commit to your designs, give them time to exist. Maybe they turn out to be “bad” for your site, then fine, go ahead and fine-tune, but watch out for getting caught in the redesign loop.
Removing features without an explanation. Some features and functions should never disappear of course, like the search box on most sites, but some might not seem necessary anymore. Well, that might be true for you, but you should make sure that it goes for your readership as well. I like to ask the readers, or at least post about why something was removed, with alternate (better) functionality for them to use instead. That way, they’ll complain if I’ve been stupid and ignorant in my feature-slashing, and the site benefits.
Too drastic monetizing changes. This is a tricky one. On the one hand, you need to make money on your site, but on the other you don’t want to make the ads too obtrusive. Every change in advertising on your site, be it contextual text links, image ads, or whatever, should be made with caution. This is one point where the chock treatment will not work.
Pushing too much new stuff. This goes for design in general of course, but adding too many things to a page makes it cluttered and that’s ugly. Since a lot of redesigns are pushed because of the urge to add new functionality, nifty new stuff you have to push out there, this is a common mistake. Don’t clutter it, prioritize, and be wary of what you remove to make room for the new things
Sven Mathura from patriot
Venezuela Bars Stanford Bank Directors From Leaving (Update1)
Email Print A A A
By Daniel Cancel
Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- A Venezuelan court prohibited the directors of Stanford Bank Venezuela SA from leaving the country after the government took control of the bank yesterday.
The commercial bank is owned by R. Allen Stanford, who this week was accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of defrauding investors through the sale of certificates of deposit from an Antigua-based bank.
Eight directors from Stanford Bank Venezuela SA will be prohibited from traveling abroad while regulators complete their investigation, according to an e-mailed statement from the office of Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz. Venezuela’s banking superintendent took control of the bank after the company was forced to use 75 million bolivars ($34.9 million) of its reserves to cover withdrawals.
Stanford’s Venezuelan bank has seen “massive” withdrawals and was beginning to have liquidity problems after the SEC accused the Texas billionaire of running an $8 billion fraud through his group of companies, Venezuelan Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez told reporters yesterday.
Rodriguez said the local bank was being affected by external factors and that it was financially healthy.
Venezuelan clients of Stanford Group Venezuela Asesores de Inversion CA, a company that is separate from the Stanford-owned bank, may have bought as much as $3 billion in investments from the Stanford bank in Antigua.
Stanford Bank Venezuela will be auctioned “soon,” Rodriguez said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Cancel in Caracas at dcancel@bloomberg.net. anyone know Sven Mathura from patriot? he tried to recruit me to his network of companies, when I told him that I don't do business with his type and the companies that advertise on their sites moving.bz firstlocal and so... he acted all surprised and said that they scan all of the companies... bulls### this is taken from the contract he emailed me first "1stLocalMoverDirectory.com reserves the right to reject, cancel or remove any advertisement (and any url link therein) deemed inappropriate at any time in its sole discretion" I don't think they ever rejected anyone... more from his email: How is bussiness .
'
Email Print A A A
By Daniel Cancel
Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- A Venezuelan court prohibited the directors of Stanford Bank Venezuela SA from leaving the country after the government took control of the bank yesterday.
The commercial bank is owned by R. Allen Stanford, who this week was accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of defrauding investors through the sale of certificates of deposit from an Antigua-based bank.
Eight directors from Stanford Bank Venezuela SA will be prohibited from traveling abroad while regulators complete their investigation, according to an e-mailed statement from the office of Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz. Venezuela’s banking superintendent took control of the bank after the company was forced to use 75 million bolivars ($34.9 million) of its reserves to cover withdrawals.
Stanford’s Venezuelan bank has seen “massive” withdrawals and was beginning to have liquidity problems after the SEC accused the Texas billionaire of running an $8 billion fraud through his group of companies, Venezuelan Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez told reporters yesterday.
Rodriguez said the local bank was being affected by external factors and that it was financially healthy.
Venezuelan clients of Stanford Group Venezuela Asesores de Inversion CA, a company that is separate from the Stanford-owned bank, may have bought as much as $3 billion in investments from the Stanford bank in Antigua.
Stanford Bank Venezuela will be auctioned “soon,” Rodriguez said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Cancel in Caracas at dcancel@bloomberg.net. anyone know Sven Mathura from patriot? he tried to recruit me to his network of companies, when I told him that I don't do business with his type and the companies that advertise on their sites moving.bz firstlocal and so... he acted all surprised and said that they scan all of the companies... bulls### this is taken from the contract he emailed me first "1stLocalMoverDirectory.com reserves the right to reject, cancel or remove any advertisement (and any url link therein) deemed inappropriate at any time in its sole discretion" I don't think they ever rejected anyone... more from his email: How is bussiness .
'
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
LavidadeSvenamathura
Sven Eduardo Mathura is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Caribean International Trading one of the pillars of Internet e-commerce. Sven Mathura graduated from Florida International University in 2009 with degrees in Marketing and Advertising. After a few years in Miami FL as a Vice President of Marketing , Sven Mathura moved to Weston FL and founded Caribbean International Trading in 2005. Through innovation and sheer business savvy, Sven built up Cari bean International Trading and became one of the world's richest people in the process. Named Conexiones Marketing Man of the Year in 2006, Sven Mathura became a celebrity entrepreneur, known for his buoyant personality as much as his financial know-how. With Sven at the helm, Caribbean International Trading weathered financial ups and downs and expanded from selling Marketing web site .
Extra credit: In 2006 Sven Mathura Helped donate $ 10.000 to the Irc Foundation a non profit organization .
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