Made Moon Blog

It appears that oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will not get the go- ahead this year thanks to the liberal Senate democrats. They have provided no alternative for ending our dependence on foreign oil other than not to use any. California is a prime example of life under the environmentalist whackos.

A tiny fraction of Alaska opened to drilling could go a long way toward relieving dependence on foreign oil. More than half of the nation’s oil supply comes from other countries. The liberals are the first ones to complain when the price of oil goes up, but of course do nothing to solve the problem. Instead, they point the finger at the Republicans. Oil exploration in the refuge might create over 30,000 jobs. The liberals would rather make the economy a political issue and somehow find a way to blame conservatives.

The environmentalist nut cases would rather save a tree cricket than people. Why is it they don’t complain about drilling in other places? Aren’t these other countries part of Planet Earth? The over protection of our forests has been credited with much of the out of control forest fires we have had in recent years. Millions of crickets slaughtered by simpleton environmentalist fanatics. I am sure all creatures of these once thriving forests are very thankful. I am sure they would understand that it is the SUV’s that are really destroying the environment. Yes, I am sure they appreciate liberal stupidity. After all, it is the hunters and loggers that hate wildlife, right? They are out to destroy nature. This is their mission in life. They like dirty air and polluted waters. This is what we must believe to go along with the liberal environmentalist agenda.

With a war with Iraq looming on the horizon, our need to be self-sufficient is once again very obvious. Regardless, the stonewalling goes on by the liberal democrats. At every turn they dig in and as a result, cause harm to those they claim to be trying to help. We need a sensible energy policy, not outdated liberal nonsense.

Gene LaBarge is the author of http://www.BlogChow.com.

Dusk was settling in; cold and drizzly damp, the kind of cold that just makes your bones ache. A single mom was bathing her toddlers before tucking them into bed for the night. Their bellies were full and their eyelids beginning to feel heavy as she hurried to dry them so that they wouldn’t chill while she was gone. She had to go to work and there was no one she could call on to keep her babies safe while she made a living for the four of them.

It didn’t used to be so bad. The neighborhood was a safe place when she was born here but now, three kids later, a lot more people had moved in and they weren’t good neighbors. Some of them were downright evil and she made a point to try and make herself invisible when she saw one of them coming.

Usually the bad ones were pretty easy to spot. They were bawdy, smelled of alcohol and cigarettes and drove noisy trucks with beds full of howling, chained dogs. As long as she kept to the shadows they were usually too drunk to notice her. As she quietly sang her babies a lullaby she shuddered at the thought of what would happen if one of these barbarians found her children alone.she couldn’t think about that; she had work to do and she had to keep her mind on the job. The family was counting on her.

When the last of the little ones had drifted off to sleep she stepped out into the moonlit chill. She was still trying to shake off the awful scenes that her imagination had just conjured up when she stepped on a twig, snapping her attention into the moment. As she looked up she found that she had caught someone else’s attention as well. She froze, hope against hope that she had not been noticed, but he was close enough she could see in his eyes that she had made a fatal mistake.

Her mind raced as she assessed the severity of the situation: He was big. He towered over her and she could smell the beer on his breath. She didn’t have to see the gun pointed at her to sense his lack of respect for life. She knew his kind and had witnessed the cavalier way they extinguished lives in their lust for blood. They killed the innocent and the unarmed to prove that they were men. He was too close. If she ran he would find the kids. Her love, a mother’s love, would not even think of saving herself and leaving her young ones in the hands of such a perverted mind.

But what could she do? Perhaps she could bluff her way out of this. She had learned enough about this kind of man to know that they are all cowards at heart. If she could make herself look fierce enough perhaps he would run. If he did, she resolved that home or no home, she would pack up her brood and leave town in the very next instant.

With all of the courage she could muster she raised her slender, 100 lb frame to look as commanding as she could and shrieked, with a sound that would make your blood run cold, her threats of what she would do if he came one step closer.

Laughing at her pathetic attempt to deter him, he fired the gun point blank into her. The impact at such close range spun her around and he fired again, dropping her dead on the spot. He didn’t see a single mom doing her best to raise a family in a hostile world.

All he saw was what a trophy her head would be hanging on his wall.

Pulling out his knife to sever her golden haired head from her shattered, bleeding corpse, he barely heard the mewing through his gleeful stupor.

The gun blasts had awakened her three sleeping kittens. Their eyes weren’t quite open yet, because they were less than two weeks old, and they could barely focus on the scene. What a horrible sight to be one of the first that these young innocents would ever see! Any right thinking person would be appalled to consider the horror that these little ones must have been experiencing, but the hunter didn’t think anything of it.

In fact, he was even happier at the thought of being able to raid this nest. His Neanderthal, pea sized brain was musing over how cool it was going to be to have three mountain lions on leashes. He would raise them with the dogs; maybe drown some of the bitches’ puppies so she could feed his little prizes for him. Then wouldn’t he be the center of attention? Women would probably do anything for him just to get a chance to pet his new cougar cubs. He would be the envy of his drinking buddies when he had the biggest, baddest pets in town.

He would have been singing all the way home with his new little pets in a bag and their mother’s head in the back seat if it weren’t for one of the babies who was crying hysterically. He pulled over, and in the drizzling, icy rain tossed out the crybaby by the side of the road near a farm house.

By the next day he had sobered up enough to see that raising two mountain lion cubs was not as easy as raising a couple of hunting dogs. The babies cried incessantly for their mother. They refused to eat. They were sick with grief and fear and wanted no part of this man and the lifestyle he had envisioned. Being the coward their mother had thought him to be, he had a relative turn the cubs in to the Idaho Fish and Game Department. He claimed that he had killed the nursing mother in self defense and no charges were pressed.

Just the night before the officers had gotten a call from a man who found a screaming baby puma on his front porch. When he asked what he should do for the kitten, the officers told him to leave it outside to die. Unwilling to treat any living creature so heartlessly, the man took the baby in and tried to offer food and comfort to no avail.

To spare the infant’s life the kindly farmer contacted the press with the story and once the news was out that the cub was to be left to die, the Fish and Game Department decided to pick up the kitten and place him and his two siblings, that had come in from the hunter’s family, with Mady Rothchild, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator working with the Animals In Distress Association. Now they were her problem and to make matters worse she was instructed to find a zoo that would take them or they would have to be killed because big cats are not allowed to go back to the wild in Idaho once they have been handled by humans. It might make hunting a dangerous sport if the hunted were not afraid of the hunter.

With twenty years experience in rescuing wildlife and returning them to their rightful home, Mady did not like the alternatives presented to her. She knew the dirty little secrets the zoos hid from the public and knew that if these siblings went to a zoo they would be used, split up and bred for more babies who would live out their lives in prison cells. When they didn’t attract a paying crowd anymore they would be sold out the back door to brokers who would sell them at auction to back yard breeders and canned hunts.

It is legal to kill a cougar in a cage in the U.S. and call it sport hunting. It is the only way most hunters would ever be able to hang a big cat head on their walls and they have viciously fought to protect their right to do so in the name of freedom. They don’t get much opposition from the public, because in most states the Fish and Game departments are staffed by hunters so there is a code of silence that is hard to penetrate. The zoos, an industry that proclaims to be the ark of the future, doesn’t want to talk about it either. No one would support a zoo if they knew what happened to last year’s babies and babies are what pay for all of the salaries.

Mady went online to see if there were any alternatives to zoos or death for these little ones. She found Big Cat Rescue online and played a slideshow that contrasted the legacy these magnificent animals were born to inherit and the pitiful prisons they are confined to when man intervenes. She concluded that there are some things worse than death and sending these cougar cubs to a zoo was one of them. But how could she snuff out the life from these newborns when they had already endured so much? She called and emailed the sanctuary with her story.

Scott Lope is the operations manager for Big Cat Rescue and knows that providing for the 150 big cats at the sanctuary is the primary task. He knows that hundreds of big cats are turned away every year because there just isn’t enough room and not enough resources to commit to a lifetime of care. He knows that the only way to stop the flood of unwanted exotic cats is to change the laws so that the breeding and dealing stops. He knows that every cat who is turned away was a victim and deserving of shelter and he knows that the fate that awaits them outside our gates will be tragic, so he approaches the Founder, Carole Baskin and President, Jamie Veronica and asks them to consider the situation.

It would appear that agreeing to take them would be an easy choice; they’re cute, they’re small and no one wants to be the one to say, “Go ahead and kill them.” But it is never that simple. How do you choose these over any other? When your main goal is to stop the flood of cats in the front gate how do you divert time and resources to building them an enclosure fit for three adult mountain lions? When the plan is to stop the breeding and selling of big cats so that twenty years from now there is no need for a place like Big Cat Rescue, how do you commit to provide lifetime care to cats who could live as long as Scratch, our 28 year old cougar?

And what about the quality of life for the kittens? While life at Big Cat Rescue would far exceed the quality of life in any zoo, it is still life in a cage for animals who have been selectively bred, through survival of the fittest, for life in the wild. They would be paying the ultimate price for this choice and Mady and Carole wrestled with this aspect because both of them wanted what would be best for the individual cats and best for the species, when these are usually mutually exclusive propositions.

During the emailed conversations between Mady and Carole their lives were continuing down the same paths as usual. Mady was pulling pets and wildlife from steel jawed traps and treating their mangled bodies. Carole was dealing with a hurricane demolished collection of 38 cats in Miami , and an owner who had ended up with a collapsed lung from trying to do all the clean up alone. His cats hadn’t eaten in a week, all the food was gone, no one knew if he was going to survive, or if there was power to run a freezers or wells, or if the cats had broken free when the trees all crashed down on their cages. .Life as usual for those left to clean up the messes caused by the irresponsible.

The cubs’ fate was decided for them and while that isn’t the way it should have been, it was a decision that had to be made for them due to the actions of others. Mady and Carole believed that if these adorable, blue eyed orphans could cause enough people to stop for a minute and THINK then perhaps the kittens would have chosen this path to save their cousins from a similar destiny. Their story would be told and their mother’s death would not have been in vain.

For the cats,

Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue
an Educational Sanctuary home
to more than 150 big cats
12802 Easy Street Tampa, FL 33625
813.920.4130 fax 885.4457 cell 493.4564
http://www.BigCatRescue.org MakeADifference@BigCatRescue.org

I imagine you are the type of person who really wants to make your idea a reality. I also think that you fall into one of two groups; the first is a person who WANTS to succeed but does not know how. The second is the person who has read so many books on great marketing and still can’t find the HOLY GRAIL so does not get of the ground.

Are you fed up of reading about everyone else’s success? What about you’re share of all this wealth flying across the internet?

Read on.

Times have changed, they always change; change is the only constant.

Internet marketing and E books covering subjects such as E commerce now rank amongst the highest growing movement towards work from home culture since the start of the industrial revolution. The birth of the internet has accelerated this culture now called the “new industrial revolution”.

Any search engine such as Google, AOL and Yahoo will almost always list companies like EBay and many other online auctions sites. The reason is simple; it allows a platform for you to make money from your home computer.

Most people start out as buyers on EBAY; then graduate to sellers and start to “trade”. At this end of the market the majority of internet commerce expansion is taking place. Broadband is now allowing more sophisticated mediums to send your message to potential customers. Multi-Media-Marketing

E Books?

E Books are sold in their thousands through online commerce sites every day. This clearly shows that the market expansion is now rising from what was once considered a consumer driven base is now in a position to become the global retailer!

How to sell anything to anyone; this is a very short look at important considerations when selling in writing or face to face. Some call it manipulation some call it marketing; you draw the line where ever you wish.

THE FIVE FINGER RULE

The five finger rule is so called because of how I teach it; it goes something like this.

You must lead your prospect five times before you make your statement. Let us assume that we are talking to a prospect face to face but remember this is even easier in writing.

We call it a “pacing formula” in terms of NLP (New Language Patterns). This is how simple it is to work…

Make four pacing statements

(What is a pacing statement?) A statement that requires the prospect to reply in the positive. If they told you their name (Jason) then your first pacing statement might be, “Did you say your name was Jason?” I have a friend who is called Jason (That reply had two pacing comments).

I know that sound a little basic but look what you did. You know everyone loves the sound of their name; you got it back to them twice! And you got them to say yes twice, in the first sentence.

Then we have the “leading” statement (which as you will see is your goal). A leading statement is a comment that gets around the conscious mind to place a suggestion in it, consistent with the previous mind set (all yes replies). The leading statement is normally something that you wish to make them see, feel or imagine happening.

Sometimes this simple formula is so powerful you can get a little too confident and start abusing it, we suggest you don’t.

Here is the full explanation for the first time.

Until you have got the correct order of doing things I would like to suggest you use your fingers to keep track of your conversation. You will understand why in a moment.

Using one hand spread the five fingers; each finger is going to represent a pacing or leading statement, so here are the basic instructions.

• We are going to make four pacing and one leading statement to start.

• Next we make three pacing and two leading

• Next we are going to make two pacing and three leading

• Finish by using one pacing followed by four leading statements.

Read that again if you did not fully understand it (please). It is important you fully comprehend what is happening above and why.

Using the above conversation or written hypnotic templates here is an example of what the above looks like in print and conversation.

Using this method you are giving a strong impression that everything we say can be verified without question. It “feels” real and logical to your prospect or clients. We set the tone because the pacing statements confirm what we say is REAL (In the mind of your prospect).

I will include in brackets below the letters “P” AND “L” to represent the part when you should use the two methods.

Let us assume we already know the name of our prospect, we will call her Julie and we are sitting in my office on a sunny day.

“Julie, we meet at last, (P1) I’m Jason,(P2) wonderful day isn’t it,(P3) I’m glad we managed to get together here in my office today(P4) so we can sort out that deal we want to close today(L1).”

“Julie, you may be wondering how we get the best of what we both want(P1), I know some people tell you what you want to hear (P2) I’m not a mind reader (P3) I think things have a way of feeling just right (L1) a way of removing the hurdles using instinct (L2).”

Shall we get straight to the point? (P1) I know you’re a busy woman (P2) and you have other people to see (P3), I believe this project has a fine future (L1) and with the combination of your knowledge and our skills we should make a great partnership (L2). I can see this good for all of us (L3).

“True, some people are excited about the prospect of this merger (P1) I am sure we will see (L1) we can make a great team (L2) your company (L3) and ours (L4) over the next two years (L5).”

I think we have explained enough for you to understand what is being said here. Use your five fingers to keep track of the pace and lead statements.

Each time you make a pace statement bend one of your fingers inward. When you get to the required number make a Leading statement. Using the fingers this way helps you learn faster.

Now sit back and see how easy it is to use the formula to make powerful conversations or printed ads for your product or service. Below is an example of the formula that was used in a printed email campaign.

Remember that the formula is in this ad but I am not going to place the pace or lead statements in obvious sight, see if you can find them. Test yourself on knowing why I am saying something the way I do.

Printed formula

New marketing ideas are rare, someone has almost certainly thought of it before. Yet there is an idea that has sat alone for years because few if any know how to use. Fortunately there are still a few teachers of covert communication left to show you how to make a profit from these methods.

Our book contains the basic structure of persuasion, it strips away all the buzzwords and hype to leave you with a solid foundation for your own profit

Your curiosity should be allowed to see what it is that can change the minds of many.

That went out a few months ago about an E book, the book here is not important. What is important is the formula that helps understand why some things work and some don’t.

I hope I have provided you with a sample of what you could learn from my other publications. From www.ArtofNLP.com

About the Author: Jason Rife 25 years in hypnotherapy and 5 years as senior lecturer at Kings College London on advanced hypnosis. Is the founder president of NLPology and editor of The NLPologist, a FREE newsletter on psychological mastery of marketing. A collection of websites which provides a wealth of informative articles, tips and resources on everything you’ll ever need to know about selling yourself, your service and products across the world using the internet. He is also a professional psychic entertainer based in the UK.
http://www.artofnlp.com

As the Internet becomes an increasing part of our lives there are a growing number of web sites which are run for dissatisfied customers to publicly air their complaints about bad service. See your name posted on these sites or get contacted by them and you know you have a problem!

How can you prevent your business from becoming ‘feature of the week’? Of all the skills small business owners need these days, the one least practiced is the ability to step back and look at your business from the customer’s perspective.

Having an effective complaint handling process is important but that is the equivalent of closing the stable door after the horse has bolted – it’s too late, your customer has already suffered.

It’s more effective to know what your customers could potentially complaint about and put it right before it happens.

So what are the common reasons for customer complaints? Mark Bradley of Customer Service Network (www.customernet.com), which facilitates in benchmarking, improving processes and implementing improvements to help reduce customer complaints, says,
“Financial loss is the obvious reason but the rest can be split into operational and emotional reasons.”

In this article we will look at some of the operational and emotional or human issues within your business which could give your customers cause to complain. Take a look at these and examine each part of your business. How do you stand up?

“You didn’t do what you promised.”

When did you last review your advertising material or web site? Do they contain service promises which sounded great at the time but have since been forgotten? For example, do you promise to deliver within 24 hours but changes in processes have meant that is no longer possible? No one may have complained yet but sooner or later someone will.

“Your product didn’t do what it’s supposed to do.”

When did you last undertake a quality check of your product? Random checks can help weed out poor quality workmanship before a customer spots it. When buying your stock or finished item do you test it?

“You’re never open when I need you.”

9 to 5, 5 days a week may have been acceptable when you first started out, but is this still what the customer wants? Check with your customers – they may want you to open later and close later.

“It’s a long time before someone answers the phone.”

Hanging on the phone while it rings and rings is very irritating. It conjures up images of staff sitting drinking coffee and chatting; not the impression you want to portray and not the way to put customers in a buying mood! Do your staff understand the importance of the phone being answered promptly?

“Whenever I ring in and get transferred to another person I often get cut off.”

Have your staff been trained in getting the best out of your phone system? Do all staff have a handy list of extension numbers to avoid annoying ’sorry wrong department’ answers? Ask a friend or business colleague to ring in and take note of what happens – good and bad.

Mark Bradley says, “We usually encounter a number of interesting correlations that fundamentally prove that operational accuracy leads to customer satisfaction.”

Take some time to look at your business from the customer’s perspective and you should be able to stop customer complaints before they hit your desk.

It’s not only the operational side of the business which can let you down; the human side of business can also generate complaints – your staff! No matter how good your product is one loose cannon in your team can upset everything. What actions can your staff take that can lead to a customer picking up the phone or putting pen to paper?

Bad Attitude

There’s no getting away from it – some people have a bad hair day every day! The way they speak to people is enough to turn the most mild mannered of customers against your company. They act as if the customer is an interference to their daily routine. A person with poor job skills can be taught the relevant knowledge or skills but a person with a generally bad attitude, the proverbial chip on the shoulder, is harder to bring into line.

These type of people are the ones who never acknowledge your presence when you are standing in front of them, or still chat away on the phone The solution? Get them away from your customers.

Not Willing To Seek a Solution

These people are the ones who may acknowledge a customer’s problem but just can’t be bothered to find a solution; it’s too much hassle. The stock answer is, “I can’t help. It’s company policy.” Their favourite words are “I can’t”, “Yes, but”, “won’t”, “shouldn’t”. They can find nothing positive to help the customer. If this happens, your customers walk away thinking you are a ‘can’t do’ instead of a ‘can do’ business.

Not Giving Full Product Explanations

Your product may be the best in the world, but if it doesn’t do what the customer wants then you have one unhappy purchaser. Lack of understanding of how the product or service meets the customer’s requirements could be down to your sales staff being too anxious for a sale – persuading the buyer that the product is just right when it clearly doesn’t fit what the client needs. This is partly down to sales training but also attitude. Do you want staff that are happy to sell to your customers on this basis?

Not Willing To Admit a Mistake

Isn’t it refreshing to hear someone say, “Do you know, you’re right. We really messed this up.” If you get this as an opening line when making a complaint, you immediately know you’re in business. However, sometimes getting a business to admit it has made a mistake is like pulling teeth. If you’re in the wrong, get your staff to own up and say, “Yes, we were wrong”, it can take away the emotion which sometimes blocks successful resolution of complaints.

Not Keeping You Up To Date

In any effective complaint handling process, everything can be done according to the book, but it can all be thrown away if the client is not kept up to date. A complaint, followed by days of silence, allows doubt and anger to bubble up again. It may be that the person handling the complaint had a bad time when taking the initial query; he’s not motivated to pick up the phone and engage in another torrent of abuse! However, not speaking to the client can only make matters worse, and so guaranteeing that the next call will be even more interesting! Get ’strong’ characters to front your complaints, people who are not intimidated and are happy to solve problems.

Broken Promises

This is probably the most frequent reason for human cause of complaint; ‘Yes, I’ll do that for you. Leave it to me.” What happens? Nothing! The impression given is that your staff just don’t care, or that the customer is not important. Impress upon your staff the importance of following through on their promises. Any broken promise will compound a complaint.

So, in what areas are your staff letting you down? Are you doing everything to ensure your staff are treating everyone as loyal customers? Listen to what your staff are saying, and listen to what your customers are telling you. Get the human side of your complaint process right and you have more chance of keeping your customers for life.

The art of complaint handling is not only resolving it to the customer’s satisfaction; it’s also about taking action on what you find out and being proactive in finding potential problems before they become problems.

© Robert Warlow
Small Business Success

Small Business Success is a resource dedicated to helping small business owners be more successful. If you are looking for a regular flow of ideas and tips then subscribe to Small Business Success a free newsletter, which provides you with quick tips, ideas and articles. Visit http://smallbusinesssuccess.biz

The end of another election once again brings into focus the problem of Washington politicians raising money and running for re-election as soon as they get into office. Many citizens and various government-accountability advocacy groups have done little more than complain from time to time. However, some of them, along with many members of the media, have been pushing for term limits as a solution. But is that really the solution we need? Even with term limits, we would still be left with the same old problems, only in smaller doses, i.e., politicians would still be playing the same old campa igning and fund raising games for whatever amount of subsequent terms they are allowed. Also, we would still be stuck with the situation in which sitting Senators and Representatives (even those with no remaining terms for the office they hold) spend their time running for higher office.

I say forget about term limits in Washington as I have a better solution. I call it ”term interruptions.” Here’s how it would work: No President/Vice President, Senator, or Representative could serve two consecutive terms in the same office and would have to sit out at least two years before being eligible for a different federal office although he/she could be elected to an unlimited number of terms in any number of federal offices. For example, a U.S. Representative could not succeed himself/herself in that office and would have to wait until he/she has been out of office for at least two years before being eligible for President/Vice President, a Senate seat, or any seat in the House of Representatives. In other words, a sitting President/Vice President, Senator, or Representative could not run for re-election and he/she could not run for any elective seat in the legislative or executive branches of the federal government. That way, they could all focus on serving their constituents rather than getting re-elected. They could use the two off-years for campaigning and raising money.

However, this proposal could be problematic for the U.S. House of Representatives, since its members currently serve only two-year terms. Under my plan, the House would see a complete turnover (all 435 members) every two years. Therefore, I would propose four-year terms for U.S. Representatives. Of course, we would still get a complete turnover in the House, only after every four years instead of every two years, so there would still be a problem.

To prevent a complete turnover every four years, terms could be staggered so that half the members of the House are up for re-election every two years. However, in the first House election under my plan, half of the House would get four-year terms, with the other half getting two-year terms. A way to determine who gets the four-year terms in the initial election would be as follows: The House member in each state with widest margin of victory in that election would get a four-year term. The 168 remaining members (on an at-large basis) with the next highest victory margins would also get four-year terms, for a total of 218. The remaining 217 members would get only two-year terms for that election only. For the next election only, members who got two-year terms would be allowed to run for re-election, without sitting out two years. Then, beginning with that election, they would all get four-year terms and the term interruptions rules would fully take effect.

Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, and trivia buff from Virginia, USA. He operates a website – http://www.commenterry.com – on which he posts commentaries on various subjects such as politics, technology, religion, health and well-being, personal finance, and sports. His commentaries offer a unique point of view that is not often found in meanstream media.

A durable and stylish kitchen faucet or bath faucet blends together function and aesthetics. The well made faucet makes life a lot easier. Excellent valve mechanism and more durable finishes boost longevity and looks.

Here are six steps in choosing the right faucet for you:

1. Two-handle designs, generally goes for as low as $50, allows you to regulate the temperature more accurately. Having independent control for the hot and cold water makes adjusting the temperature easier.

The single handle faucets also known as post-mount, generally goes for $75 to $200, operate from side-mounted lever or a top-mounted knob. Most single-handle faucets have pullout spouts.

The cross-shaped design and large wing levers are the more popular designs. However, most faucets have different handles that can be attached to a faucet body for a customized look.

2. If the style of the faucet is important, begin your choosing with the type of finish. The most affordable finish for a faucet is a chrome finish. Usually priced around $60. The chrome-finish has a long warranty on scratches.

The more colorful enamel coatings generally will cost you from $20 to $200 more, and are more susceptible to scratches and chipping. Add 25 to 40 percent more to the price of coated faucets for stainless steel faucets.

3. A PVD (physical vapor deposition) finish is better than usual plated finishes but add $150 to $750 more in costs. The PVD finish is done by vaporizing the metal and glazing it with a scratch-resistant and non-tarnishing film.

Look at brushed chrome, oil-rubbed bronze and satin nickel for a rustic appeal. The brushed finish and satin finish cleverly hides scratches.

4. There are more to spouts aside from the standard straight faucets. There are high-arching goose-like spouts, great for filling pots. A pull-out faucet can get you anywhere in a sink with three-bowls. You can go from a spray mode to a stream mode with a touch. There are also restaurant-type models for those extra long hoses.

5. Know that there are four kinds of faucets.

a. The compression valve:

The compression valve uses rubber washers. The compression valve type of faucet will eventually leak but they are typically easy to repair.

b. The ball valves:

The ball valve controls the flow and temperature of the water by using a steel ball. The ball valves are washerless and easy to maintain because of this. Replacing a ball valve is readily affordable and easy to do.

c. The ceramic disk

The ceramic disk is virtually a maintenance free water faucet. It is guaranteed not to wear out but is obviously much more expensive than the ball valve or compression valve.

d. The cartridge faucet

Much like the ceramic disk, the cartridge faucet usually does not need any maintenance. Just like the ceramic disk, it has a hefty price tag.

Regardless of the type of faucet you choose. Always check the warranty and the finish.

6. You may opt for filtering faucets, costing $200 plus, to bring in purified water. Several filters are placed under the sink while others are fitted inside the spout. To set the maximum water temperature, an anti-scald faucet can be used. An electronic faucet with an infrared sensor is also available. They save on water and allow for cleaner handles.

In general, you don’t need to hand over your hard earned money to pay for good quality. Most faucets have the same basic parts and sometimes even the same finish across several price lines.

To have a streamlined, urban look, choose a faucet that is mounted on the wall, this is often used with vanity bowls.

Be sure that your faucet connection matches your sink holes. If they don’t match, you’ll have to provide more drill holes or cover the unused holes using an escutcheon plate.

All faucets in general carry at least one year warranties. Even the low-end models carry at least one year of warranty. Many faucets carry a warranty by the manufacturer that is more than one year.

Good luck choosing the perfect faucet for you.

For more great faucet information and resources check out:

http://www.elegantfaucets.info

There is a phenomenon in the Japanese culture known as Karoshi. It literally means working yourself to death. It is what I and many others refer to as workaholism. We sometimes use euphemisms when describing workaholism such as, he/she is married to his work, he/she is committed, or he/she is passionate about their work. Workaholics work and keep themselves busy leaving little time to be alone with family and friends, or to develop themselves in other ways.

Are you a workaholic? Only you can answer that. Here are some of the signs. If you find you have trouble just sitting and being. Taking work to bed or losing a significant amount of sleep to do work. If you are “sacrificing” quality time with your family and friends due to work. Discussing only work when you are in the company of family or friends. If you get angry because people suggest that you work too much. Not being able to turn the work engine off.

There are many pathways into workaholism. Yet the toll on the individual’s life is usually the same. One pathway into workaholism is passion. This is someone who loves their work so much they can’t image doing anything else. They can be very underdeveloped individuals. Some workaholics claim they don’t like working so much, but convince themselves that their “overwork” is temporary. Some can’t set limits for themselves. Others are so disorganized and inefficient that everything takes double or triple the time to complete. For some it is because they never feel good enough while others define themselves by their external accomplishments. Some have such severely low self esteem that they can’t allow themselves to slow down in fear of what will bubble up.

Much like other types of addiction, identifying which pathway you are on is important. However, the first task to identify that it is indeed a problem. Left unattended, workaholism can take a toll on an individual’s heath due to chronic stress and exhaustion. Workaholics also find themselves to be isolated and lonely. A price they pay for not having spent the time to form and nurture meaningful relationships. Generally, as with other addictions, the distress gets greater over time. Also characteristic of other addictive patterns, the workaholic increasingly turns to compulsive activity as a means of escaping or avoiding emotions. This creates a vicious cycle for the workaholic of never being able to get enough of what they NEVER really wanted in the first place. Workaholics are usually clearer about what they don’t want than what they do want.

Regardless of the pathway into workaholism, there are some common pathways out. It ultimately means being able to be away from work, completely, for periods of time. This translates into no lap top, no e-mail, and no checking in at the office. As with any change program, you can start small. Then add on additional strategies over time.

Many of the strategies are related to time and priority management. Use that daily planner to schedule in time with your family and friends. Schedule in time to exercise. A cardiovascular workout is a great strategy for helping minimize the toxic effects of stress on the body.

Another pathway out of workaholism is to develop some powerful self care rituals to help you avoid losing yourself to work. In my work as an executive consultant, I have found that the most balanced and effective executives have a ritual in the morning to help them gear up for the day. For each unique individual the rituals they practice look very different. Some ideas in creating your own rituals include; prayer, reading the bible, meditating, reading some inspirational material, listening to self improvement tapes, exercise, affirmations, and visualization to name a few. Many use a combination of the above practices. It does make a difference. Many workaholics “hit the ground running” from the moment they wake up which only creates a mindset of overwhelm for the day.

A final strategy I will mention that can help you out of workaholism involves a change in how you think about your time. In prison you get “time off” for “good behavior”. Don’t use that strategy for managing your time and your life. I used to give myself “time off” for “hard work”. When I shifted to viewing time off as something that I absolutely needed to nurture myself, nurture my relationships, and further develop myself I noticed immediate positive results. I saw how my periods of creativity, productivity, and fulfillment increased when I began scheduling in regular periods of time off from ALL work. The final result is that I could get more done in less time.

Remember, your work is not your life. Your life is your life. Put your work in perspective, relative to your entire life. Enjoy your life. Romance your life. Live it in a more complete way. Develop yourself in a more complete way. You deserve that.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mike Davison
http://www.PartnersInPurpose.com
http://www.PartnersInPurpose.Blogspot.com

If you have any questions about individualized consultation or
coaching to help you live your big dream, please do not hesitate
to contact me at mike@PartnersInPurpose.com .

Copyright, 2006. http://www.PartnersInPurpose.com
All rights reserved. For more information, contact:
Dr. Mike Davison
3295 N. Arlington Heights Rd. Suite 103
Arlington Heights, IL 60004
Telephone: (800) 470-3257
mike@PartnersInPurpose.com

It is most important to keep your thumbs and hands visible when talking to a class. Practice holding your hands out with the thumbs pointing upwards until you can do it naturally. This is a very powerful dominance gesture, although it is one which does not come naturally to everyone.

If you find this is too difficult to do naturally, then try holding your hands at your sides, slightly curled, with the thumbs visible. This has less effect but is still powerful.

Hand movements should be calm and slow.
When you are having to wait too long for silence try closing your eyes, while using the hand and thumb technique above, and counting visibly. The more observant children will “Shhh” the class for you.

It is a good idea to have a “hot spot” where you always stand to tell the children off. After a very short time the children will become quiet as soon as you go there. The “hot spot” should be reserved for this purpose.

These techniques are taken as evidence of self-confidence by the children.
It is essential that you expect good behaviour at all times. Your expectations comes across in your subconscious body language. If you do not expect good behaviour then you will never meet it.

You can use body language and careful speech patterns to defuse many situations. It is always better to avoid confrontation wherever possible without losing face. It is important that you allow children to avoid losing face too. A child will often back down if they can do so without friends seeing it. This is why taking a child outside the room for a few words usually works much better than shouting at him or her in the class.

If you have the time, then wait until the class has gone, sit down and talk to the errant child, perhaps with a desk between you while s/he is standing. This removes the need that the child has to look “cool” by slouching, because you are looking more “cool” by sitting down. The child sees you as confident and in control. It means that you do not have to tell him or her off for bad posture and keeps the two of you a safe distance apart, reducing the likelihood of a flare-up. The worst that can happen is that the child storms off, and that can be dealt with on a later occasion, perhaps by a senior colleague

A few experienced teachers may be scathing about the use of body language in class control, even though they subconsciously use it themselves. You should be cautious in discussing body language with colleagues because there will be some malicious teachers who will tell the children about the “hot spot” or “raised thumbs” techniques. Once the children are aware of what you are doing the techniques become much less effective.

Pete Gallagher, taught Chemistry for 28 years in high schools. He has now left teaching to concentrate on writing. These articles are based on an expensive photocopiable resource that he sold to schools to use in staff training. Find more of Pete’s work at his EduBackup website.
Another source of information on education degrees can be found at www.only-education-degree.info/best-graduate-schools.html” >this specialist resource site.

Have You Considered The Power Of Email Marketing

Old vs. New

If we consider that not so many years ago when we were selling products or services it was usual to make the phone call, engage the prospect in conversation then send a brochure. Even today most telesales people will tell you that they make approximately 100 calls per day. It varies form company to company but only a small subset of these people are spoken to. At least when they are an appropriate email can be sent to them and they will be directed to the online brochure – vis–vis their website. The immediate communication is amazing and email takes immediate advantage as it can arrive even whilst the conversation is happening. No longer do you have to wait for the ’snail mail’ approach which will take on a good day 24hours but in reality up to 36 hours then arrange a follow-up.

Email Marketing

So what are the benefits of email marketing?

Email marketing is rapidly becoming the primary leader for contacting prospects and clients.

Here are the main reasons why email marketing is a high priority for many organisations:

1. It’s immediate – from idea to delivery can take less than 12 hours. Gone are the days when you had to get your creative agency to prototype a campaign, coming up with visuals that needed amending. These amendments alone took days to prepare. Once the artwork was completed you then had to wait for the finished item to go to the printers to be printed and then the finished mailer would then arrive some days afterwards. Once you had engaged the willing hands of people inside the companies they would then put all of the mailshot together and someone would be nominated to take it to the Post Office for the bulk discount. (I didn’t like the taste of the envelopes that had to be stuck down!) Not surprisingly the old way has now become – no way.

2. Cost – with the noted absence of production and postal costs email campaigns are sought after as they are just so cost effective. It is possible to email up to 2500 emails for a s little as $30 per month. Simply put being this cost effective method available to large and small companies has become a ‘no brainer’.

3. Personalisation – for every email campaign having a personalised mailshot means that you will get more attention. No longer is the Dear Sir/Madam or Dear Client an acceptable way to carry on. You can easily change and personalize mail shots either using titles or first name if appropriate.

4. Metrics – This is possibly the most powerful weapon that today’s marketer has. Understanding basics that would be impossible in the old days has proven to be very successful and appealing. Imagine that you can now establish:

a. who opened the mail,
b. what time they opened it,

c. if they clicked through to a web site and if so
d. which links were used.

Given all of these metrics you can now establish the ‘warm’ clients and where their interests lie. Additionally you could take a view that if a certain email marketing offer was opened up on a regular basis or several times during the day then this would indicate specific interest. Armed with this knowledge you could then easily target those people who were active.

5. Testing – Imagine that you can now test new ideas rapidly. Fortunately the feedback and open rate for each campaign can be understood and then adjusted easily before sending out a larger campaign.

6. Remain in touch – communication is vital and building brand loyalty is essential. Sending out a email campaign t inform (a newsletter), a press release or an offer will help you to remain in touch with your market.

7. No need to understand HTML – HTML is complex for most people, learning how to code before sending a campaign is not really going to grab the attention of most managers or marketers. Fortunately some highly customisable email templates can be used. Although there is a learning curve and it will take time becoming proficient in the technology should not be an inhibitor. Given that most people will pick up new skills quickly it shouldn’t be long before you can change the colour, layout and import logos and styles that your recipients will recognise and also look forward to

Given that it’s not about if you decide that email marketing is for you it’s about when you decide. The rapid growth that email marketing is enjoying is perfectly understandable – don’t get caught out and wait forever you could be enjoying a new way to market. We can show you how to create a campaign and maximize results allowing you to benefit from more business and generate happy clients.

Mike Palman http://www.thesalesacademy.com

The ETS, which contemplating the change in GRE, even announced the date of implementation once again given the relief of shy to the students by delaying its implementation for exactly a year. The highly anticipated and complex changes to the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) will begin in October 2007 rather than October 2006, a whole year later in the fall of 2007, company officials announce last week.

Another wave of changes has swept over the Graduate Record Examination according to the Educational Testing Service, which, beginning in October 2006 delayed until October 2007, will affect the approximately 400,000 U.S. students who take the test annually. “It will undergo its biggest overhaul from October 2007 in the 57 years of GRE history. ETS believes the delay will better serve test takers and graduate institutions across the country as ETS transitions from the current computer- and paper-based forms of the test to the new Internet-based (iBT) version.
“The higher education and graduate communities are excited about the revised GRE,” explains Mari Pearlman, Senior Vice President of ETS’s Higher Education Division. “They worked with us to create this revised test, and they are looking forward to using this test. The new launch schedule will enable us to complete the expansion of our Internet-based testing operations worldwide.”

The change was announced last year, but details have not been released until now. These changes will impact important aspects of the test such as score range; the type of questions asked how the officials will evaluate the scores, and more.

Madeline Hamblin, director of the Office of Graduate Affairs at the University, said that the delay was sensible. “I think it was a good move,” she said. “It would not be wise to start a new test before test centers were set up.”

Test development, design and field testing will continue for the new GRE test. The new iBT delivery platform is already being used to deliver the innovative new Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL®) exam worldwide. ETS plans to improve student access to its tests by adding thousands of testing sites worldwide in the next two years.

The GRE exam measures critical thinking, analytical writing, verbal reasoning, and quantitative reasoning skills that have been acquired over a long period of time and are not related to any specific field of study.

Changes to the exam included: greater emphasis on higher cognitive skills and less dependence on vocabulary, expansion of computer based tasks, on-screen four-function calculators with square root features, and more focused questions to ensure analytical writing.
Highlights of Changes which ETS Considering:

>>> The new GRE General Test will be slightly over four hours long, an increase from the current two-and-a-half-hour exam. It will also no longer be offered in a computer-adaptive format, where the difficulty of the test is determined by the test taker’s right or wrong answers. Instead, it will be offered in a linear format, in which every student takes the same exam.

>>> Unlike the current exam, each version of the revised GRE General Test will be used only once, and no test takers will encounter the same questions on different dates. Instead of continuous testing, the exam will be given 29 times a year worldwide. The number of administrations in any given region will depend on the test volumes in that region.

>>> The revised GRE General Test will be administered in the ETS global network of Internet-based test centers and through Thomson Prometric, the world’s largest computer-based testing network.
Changes in the Verbal and Quantitative Score Scales
The new score scales will have 40-50 scale points. The scales will increase in one-point increments and will be centered between 120 and 179. The actual score ranges will be finalized in 2006 based on field test results.

>>> A concordance table to compare old and new Verbal and Quantitative scores will be available.

>>> The analytical writing section will continue to be scored using a six-point holistic scale.’These changes are intended to make the GRE General Test a more accurate gauge of how qualified prospective students are to do graduate-level work,” David Payne, Executive Director of the GRE Program in ETS’ Higher Education Division explained recently to the Signal. “We’ll also offer more interpretive information to graduate deans and faculty, including providing access to test takers’ essay responses on the Analytical Writing section.”
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