ALIFIA E-CLIPPING AND REVIEWING

"Effect" vs. "Affect"

2008-04-14T00:08:00.000-07:00

by preciseedit

These two words, with such different meanings, are frequently interchanged in writing. The problem is that they sound so similar, which causes many writers to use the wrong one. A little basic knowledge of English grammar will help you know which one to use--and why.

1. Common uses

"Effect" is most commonly used as a noun and refers to something that happens because of some action or event. A good synonym is "result." For example, pretend that you are watching a fireworks display, and one rocket makes a really big boom. The person next to you, deafened by the blast, turns to you and shouts, "That was a really great effect." That person is referring to the blast that occurred when the rocket exploded, i.e., the result of the explosion.

"Affect" is most commonly used as a verb and refers to the action of influencing something else. In fact, "influence" (the verb) is a good synonym. For example, when the person just mentioned has finished shouting about the effect, you might respond, "Yeah, it must have affected your hearing."

Here are a few more samples:
1. What will be the effect of winking at her? Will winking affect her opinion of me?
2. When she smiles at me, my whole day is affected. It's a strange effect.

2. Less common uses"

"Effect" is sometimes used as a verb, though we don't like this use. It is too "new-speaky" for us, like using "dialogue" as a verb, which it isn't. When "effect" is being used as a verb, it refers to the action of causing something to occur. An example of this is: "My wink effected a change in her attitude about me."

"Affect" can be correctly used as a noun. As a noun, this refers to emotions or an emotional response. You will find many examples of this in psychology documents. An example is: "Her affect was strange when I winked at her."

3. Quick Summary

Effect: Noun, means result
Affect: Verb, means influence; Noun, means emotional response

Since so many writers mistake these two words, editors at Precise Edit usually do a search for them when editing. We examine each occurrence and make sure the correct word is being used. Correct word choice, after all, is a sign of being a professional writer.

About the Author
David Bowman is the Owner and Chief Editor of Precise Edit (http://PreciseEdit.com), a comprehensive editing, proofreading, and document analysis service for authors, students, and businesses. Precise Edit also offers a variety of other services, such as translation, transcription, and website development.
Source: ArticleTrader.com

Hair Loss in Woman- What Can Be Done?

2008-04-12T07:25:00.000-07:00

by tim98205

Today it’s almost as common for woman to experience hair loss as men. Since looks are usually much more important to woman then men. Hair loss can have a severe psychological effect. For men, it can be a relatively normal part of life; however it’s almost impossible for woman to be socially acceptable when they have no or thinning hair.

There are many reasons why some women experience hair loss. Some of these reasons can be the same as men. For example, certain medications can have an effect on hair loss. Often times, just like with men, hair loss can be hereditary. Pattern baldness can be passed down from one generation to the next and isn’t gender specific.

However there are a few reasons that are very specific to woman only. For example menopause, can be a cause of hair loss in women. Unlike some things that are preventable, menopause is a natural part of a woman’s life cycle.

Often times people don’t notice hair loss in woman as much as they do in men. It’s much more fashionable for woman to wear hats and scarves, while men generally don’t do so. Woman can also run into psychological problems, related to losing their hair. Because of this counseling becomes something else that women need to be aware of. However it may be a good thing to see a counselor if the trauma because too great.

So what can you do? It’s importance to understand that, while many times it’s unpreventable. There are steps that you can take to minimize the impact of hair loss. It’s a good idea to see a doctor. If they feel that it’s necessary they can refer you to a specialist. Keep in mind that there may be side effects to any treatment options. However with the help of your doctor or specialist you should be able to choose the treatment that’s right for you.

About the Author
For more hair loss prevention tips, please visit: Hair Loss Solutions a website that specializes in combating hair loss and Hair Loss From Menopause
Source: ArticleTrader.com

Refining your writing process is key to your writing success

2008-04-12T07:17:00.000-07:00

by deannamascle

Many struggling writers are convinced there is a secret to the success of more confident writers. There is in fact a secret but it is one that you too can embrace to improve your writing. The simple truth is that refining your own personal writing process to your unique strengths and weaknesses can not only make writing easier it can also improve writing as well. Every writer's writing process includes the same basic five elements: inventing, organizing, drafting, revising, and editing; however, in order for the writing process to improve writing that process must be tailored to fit the individual writer's strengths and weaknesses.

Invention is one area that many beginning and struggling writers simply do not spend enough time on. Many beginning writers believe any time not spent writing is a waste of time. However, experienced writers know that the more time spent thinking about and preparing for the writing task then the less time that will need to be spent on actually writing. Invention might simply include thinking but writers can also use various methods to brainstorm from free writing to clustering. Experiment with many types of brainstorming and invention to determine which methods work best for you.

Organization is also a key part of writing preparation that many novice writers do not give proper attention. Depending on the length and complexity of the writing task this can take a lot of time or very little time, but do not overlook this important element.

Writing is of course an obvious part of the writing process, but many struggling writers simply overlook the fact that multiple drafts can make a big different in the quality of the work produced. The more time a writer allows between drafts then the more effective the drafting process can be.

Many poor writers believe that proofreading is the same as revising and editing, however experienced writers understand that revision is the reworking of content so that all ideas are fully expressed, transitions are clear between topics, and organization is effective. Experienced writers know that proofreading is more closely associated with editing but even then editing is more than simply proofreading for the simple surface errors of spelling and punctuation. Editing is looking at the structure of sentences and paragraphs as well as looking at grammar and word choice. Revision and editing should include at least two more draft but may require more depending on the writer's weaknesses.

It is quite simple. Creating an individual writing process can improve writing and make writing easier as well. Scratch the surface of any successful writer and you will find an individual writing process.

Source: ArticleTrader.com

Media Training Magic

2008-04-05T20:20:00.000-07:00

Whether you’re doing your first interview or your fiftieth, you can never prepare enough for a radio or TV appearance. If you’ve never been media trained or coached before and you’re seeking a steady stream of broadcast media, then you might want to consider this valuable component.

AME talks with producers across the US regularly, and they reveal that authors are not typically the best interviewees. Usually they are timid, shy, even less than forthcoming with the information they are asked to present. What’s more, some novice authors lack one big thing: enthusiasm!

Who’s kidding whom? If you’re not enthusiastic about your book, how can you expect the audience to give one iota of their attention to you? Passion sells. Exhibit your passion for your book or topic and your book will fly off the shelves. But, sit back, shy and somewhat indifferent, and even with the best book in world, chances are no one will be intrigued enough to buy it. This is true no matter how big the show or how great your book. Even an appearance on Oprah has been known to bring dismal sales when the author is a sleeper. You invested enough time to craft your story, and now is the time to share your zeal, joy, and message with the world. The fun is just beginning. Boast a little; be proud!

Next, you’ll want to ask yourself a few questions. Your own questions that is--you know the ones you included in your media kit. Do these questions make sense? Are they still relevant today and for this audience/show? Are they fresh and interesting? Think “Tom Brokaw” if you have a topic with the potential for controversy you can bet the interviewer is going to tap into this. Be prepared, or be prepared to be taken by surprise.

During the interview, the interviewer may or may not follow your questions. Often, they’ll flex their own interviewing skills and throw you a curve-ball or a sinker. We’re not talking controversy here, but just enough of a curve ball to get you off-track. Before you start any interview, make sure you know your three most important points—cold, backwards and forwards. What’s your mission/Why did you write your book? These are the points that, in the absence of anything else, you want to make sure you make—the points that are designed to make the audience remember you and [hopefully] buy your book. Also, keeping your end goals in mind will help you stay on track and realign an interview that’s been derailed.

Never expect that the interviewer has read your book. In fact, you’ll be lucky if they even received their copy even a half hour prior to the interview. Still, it will be your job to make the interviewer look good, it’s the host’s show and it’s your job #1 to be a good guest and make the host look like a hero for inviting you to appear on the air. Even if the host asks you a question completely unrelated to your topic, acknowledge it, answer it if you can and get them back on track without “showing them up.” If you can’t answer the question, say, “I don’t know but I can certainly check on this and get back to you.”

Finally remember that you’re going to make mistakes—everyone does, even the pros. Just smile right through them, and promise yourself to do better next time. Keep in mind when you’re planning your media campaign to get your feet wet regionally first before dipping your toe into the national media pool. Why? No self-respecting producer will feature a “green” author. In other words, if you haven’t paid your dues regionally or spent some serious money getting media-trained you won’t attract the attention of a major show. Media draws media. The more you do, the more you’ll do.

Penny C. Sansevieri The Cliffhanger was published in June of 2000. After a strategic marketing campaign it quickly climbed the ranks at Amazon.com to the ##1 best selling book in San Diego. Her most recent book: From Book to Bestseller was released in 2005 to rave reviews and is being called the “roadmap to publishing success.” Penny is a book marketing and media relations specialist. She also coaches authors on projects, manuscripts and marketing plans and instructs a variety of coursing on publishing and promotion. To learn more about her books or her promotional services, you can visit her web site at To subscribe to her free ezine, send a blank email to: mailto:subscribe@booksbypen.com Copyright ã 2005 Penny C. Sansevieri

[Source:ArticleTrader.com]

Why Jerks Win At Direct Marketing

2008-04-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

Have you ever noticed that some very successful direct marketers go out of their way to be cantankerous? Have you ever wondered why? Today we're going to discover their secret? It makes many of them millions!

Studies have shown that people buy on emotion and then justify it with logic. We buy new BMW convertibles because we know we'll look good in them. Then we rationalize that "BMW makes a very good car that will prove to be a great long-term investment."

Those direct marketers that come across as cantankerous, or even total jerks, are deliberately tapping into the emotional side of their market. They're doing something called polarization.

Polarization is the art, or science, of getting members of your market to take an emotional stance. You want to get them to either really like you - or dislike you. Those who are neutral rarely buy your products. Remember, people buy on emotion, even though they're often not conscious of it. Getting people emotionally charged INCREASES your chances of making a sale!

One marketer that understands this concept and uses it brilliantly is copywriter Gary Halbert. Gary will tell you that he is the greatest copywriter alive, and he charges for his services accordingly. If you visit Gary's site at:
http://TheGaryHalbertLetter.com you'll see that he is very politically INCORRECT. Gary goes out of his way to insult his audience, delivering smack after smack as he educates you on what good copywriting is.

Gary understands that not everyone is his market. So he creates strong feelings, and this drives away those who would never buy from him... and really endears him to those who appreciate his work. This tactic is very effective, and Gary has no shortage of customers making him rich.

Another marketers who understands this concept very well is Jay Abraham. I watched Jay Abraham, Stephen Pierce, and Rich Schefren orchestrate a teleseminar in 2004. Leading up to this teleseminar, they sent out a barrage of emotionally charged, very informative emails.

Their numerous joint venture partners also sent out a tightly orchestrated barrage of emails to their lists.

Those who saw the tremendous value in the free information provided in all those emails were charged up. They were so charged up that many could hardly wait for the teleseminar to take place. I was one of those nudged to sign up for this $497 teleseminar through all of those emails :-)

A final example of a marketer brilliantly employing polarization is a guy who calls himself "The Rich Jerk." I won't reveal his identity, but will tell you that coming across as a jerk is making him millions on the Internet. He is a very good marketer in his own right (he recently sold a website on Ebay for $379,000).

This "Rich Jerk" uses emotionally charged copy on his websites and it's very effective. Part of what makes his copy so effective is that he also incorporates proof of what he says. Reading this copy, you get emotionally charged up, and at the same time, you realize that you've encountered someone who can really help you succeed. You can see how he does this by reading his copy at: http://WhyJerksWin.com

By studying the examples above, you see that using polarization, or even coming across as a jerk, can be a very powerful marketing tactic. It can touch your reader at a deeper psychological and emotional level than many other marketing techniques. However, don't forget that another reason this works in the examples above is that these marketers also deliver tremendous value to their customers. They also PROVE their points.

Without also incorporating proof into their copy, this tactic probably wouldn't work. Without proof they would just turn prospects off. So now you know... jerks win at direct marketing because they employ polarization and proof.

Willie Crawford has taught PROVEN Internet marketing techniques to thousands of successful Internet entrepreneurs since late-1996. Subscribe to his free weekly ezine, which helps you cut through the clutter and time-wasting hype. Subscribe now by visiting:

[Source:ArticleTrader.com]

8 Great Journaling Tips

2008-04-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

Mix a martini, don't forget the olives, or pour yourself atea, relax and enjoy!

There are no hard-set rules for keeping a journal. How oftenyou write, time you spend, and how rigorously you maintain aregular journaling schedule are matters of personal choiceand circumstance. Therefore, it is important to find whatworks for you. Here are nine guidelines to assist you.

1. Allow for regular writing times. Find a time of day thatworks well for you and use this time every day. As much aspossible, control interruptions during this time.

2. Give yourself an inviting writing environment. If youneed quiet space, find a time that you can write withoutnoise and interruption. If the hum of the world around youis soothing rather than distracting, plan to write during atime when other people will be engaged in their own work andnot looking over your shoulder.

3. Develop a centering ritual. Associating journaling withanother pleasurable habit can guide to strengthen theroutine and create an atmosphere of self-nurturing. When youare ready to write in your journal, consider pouringyourself a cup of tea or coffee. Play relaxing music. Take amoment for meditation, deep breathing, or prayer.

4. Prompt your writing with a routine self-reflectionquestion: Triggers such as "What are you feeling right now?"or "What's on your mind?" Anais Nin suggests asking "whatfeels vivid, warm, or near to you at the moment?"

5. Write because you desire to write, because you know it’sa comfortable place to be you. Don't allow journaling tobecome an obligation or chore. Remember not to demand moreof yourself than you can give. If you have missed a day, orseveral days, accept that journaling, like life, isimperfect and go on. Write the next time you have a chance.

6. Create a positive feedback loop. As you continue to usethe journal as an opportunity to be with and learn aboutyourself, you will find that the practice gains a momentumall its own. Discovering your own hidden depths piques yourcuriosity and stimulates you to continue, setting up apositive feedback loop between your conscious andunconscious mind.

7. Emphasize process rather than product. An importantpurpose of journal writing is simply expressing andrecording your thoughts and feelings. Concentrate on theprocess of writing -- keeping the flow of words rather thanworrying about the result. If your goal is to have specificaudiences read your piece, go back to it later and edit it.Use your journal as the raw material for more polishedwriting.

8. Learn from your own experiences. It is always good toreread your entries a month or so down the road. Itdemonstrates your growth -- a nice pat on the back for allof us. Look for patterns and correlations. What improved,what stayed the same? Learning from yourself is so muchmore gentler on the self-esteem. Use objectivity to reviewyour life from a different perspective with hindsight.

Relax, have fun, and don't forget to laugh! Journal writingis its own reward. Once you get started, your journal willbecome another one of your good friends -- one who is alwaysavailable and never presents a deafening ear. Your journalloves you for being you. [Source:ArticleTrader.com]

Catherine Franz has taught journaling for the last 15 years, including two US Presidents and First Ladies, and hundreds of workshops internationally. She currently has two informational documents available on journaling at:

The Key Ingredients for Internet Success

2008-04-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

The Internet has opened a whole New World of opportunity for even the smallest home-based business owner. There are countless numbers of new self-made millionaires that achieved their newfound success on the Internet. These new millionaires are no different from you and I. They started their Internet businesses from the ground up, found a niche and built their success one day at a time.

“Can I really make money on the Internet?” The fact of the matter is that you really can make money on the Internet --a lot of money. You simply must take the necessary steps to make it happen. You must have a sincere desire to succeed and the attitude for success.

If you are sincerely passionate about your success, you will succeed -- it's that simple.

The true secret to creating a successful Internet business, is pure determination. Most people fail just at the moment they are about to succeed. Why? -- Because they give up. They lack the true passion that it takes to succeed. As long as you keep trying, you'll never fail.

Below, is list of what I feel are the most important ingredients for Internet success:

Sincere Passion

In order to be successful, you must be completely passionate about your business and your success. If you don't have a "sincere" passion, you won't have the necessary personal drive that it takes to succeed.

Your Own Domain (www.yourdomain.com)

Businesses hosted on a free server are not taken seriously and are generally considered to be unprofessional. If a company doesn't care enough about its business to get its own domain name, potential customers may not feel comfortable doing business with them. A company with its own domain name and a professional looking website will have a much higher rate of success when compared with most business sites hosted on free servers.

Professional Website

Your website is a direct reflection of you and your business. Creating a professional website designed to sell will take a great deal of time and effort, as there is much more to take into consideration than design. You must look at a much broader picture and specifically design your website to sell.

Quality Content

In order to create a steady stream of traffic to your website, you must give your visitors a reason to visit and continue to visit in the future. You must provide your visitors with fresh content on a continual basis.

Targeted Traffic

No matter how great your website is, unless you're receiving quality, targeted traffic, it will be useless. Your website may receive hundreds of visitors each day. However, if they aren't interested in the products or services you're offering, your web traffic won't mean a thing. You must drive a continuous stream of targeted traffic to your website.

Opt-in List (Ezine)

Having your own publication is an absolute essential part of your success. They not only provide you with a direct line of communication with potential customers and enable you to promote your products or services, but they also build credibility.

Your Own In-Demand Product

Although marketing affiliate programs can provide you with a nice income, true Internet profits come from marketing your own in-demand product.

Killer Sales Copy

Your words are the entire foundation of your business. Your product, website and marketing strategies all depend upon your words. You must learn how to write persuasive words specifically written for your targeted customer. You must feel your customers needs and write your copy with passion, excitement and benefit.

Killer Marketing Strategy

Developing a successful marketing strategy is an essential part of your online success. In order to succeed, you must develop and implement a strategic plan that includes all of the following:

- A great product - A website specifically designed to sell - A killer marketing strategy

Each step plays an important role in your overall strategy and must be developed to its fullest potential. If even one step fails, your chances of success will be minimal.

Instant Product Delivery (downloadable, instant access, etc.)

Internet users are starving for information, as that is what the Internet is all about. They have a sincere desire to learn and want the information they desire right now.

The best products to sell on the Internet are those that can be instantly delivered over the Internet.

Accept Credit Cards

If you're doing business on the Internet, accepting credit cards is an absolute must. You must provide your visitors with an easy online ordering process and the ability to pay for their order right online.

Credibility

As an Internet entrepreneur, it is your personal responsibility to ensure that your visitors feel very comfortable with you and your website. In order to gain your visitors' trust and confidence, you must build your credibility.

Your attitude is the MOST important factor in determining your success. You MUST think positively and be willing to tackle any obstacle that comes along. The fact is, you CAN do whatever you put your mind to. You simply have to believe you can and believe in yourself above all else.

Shelley Lowery is the author of the acclaimed web design course, Web Design Mastery. And, Ebook Starter - Give Your Ebooks the look and feel of a REAL book. Visit Web-Source.net to sign up for a complimentary subscription to Etips and receive a copy of the acclaimed ebook, "Killer Internet Marketing Strategies."
[Source:ArticleTrader.com]

How to Jumpstart your Next Writing Session

2008-04-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

I have always enjoyed writing. Sometimes it’s a problem for me to just sit down and write something. There are days when I choose “procrastinating” over “proactive.” Putting things off is common with everyone. I am very gifted in this area. ;)

Here are 4 areas to focus on to jumpstart your next writing session.
* Concentration
* Preparation
* The First Word
* Use your notebook

Concentration:
There are way too many distractions. Cell phones ringing, blaring car alarms and unexpected visitors are just a few things that can disrupt your concentration. It then becomes easier to justify not writing today.

The best thing to do to encourage creative writing is to make it a ritual. Find a nice spot to write, maybe, in a quiet room in your home where you will be left undisturbed for a period of time. Set a time to work; a scheduled time to write. Stick to it.
Keep reference books and materials close to hand.
Focus on one idea at a time.
View your next writing session as an opportunity; an opportunity to do something you enjoy. It can be fun. And when you are having fun nobody ever has to tell you to “concentrate!”
Preparation
Once you have your topic: Google it. Read everything you can online and offline related to your idea. Search the net for testimonials, reviews and articles about your topic. Brainstorm related sub-topics.
Give it a rest. Let your subconscious mind percolate and play with the information you provided. Get some exercise. Some of my best ideas come to me while I am out walking around in the evening.
Getting Started

Where to begin? That blank page staring back can be intimidating.
Just dive right in there!
Type the word “The.”
Type the next word (the first thing that pops into your mind) and the next word.
At this point, quality is not important. You just want to create a “flow” where the words come easily.
Don’t stop to edit. Save all your corrections for the second draft. Resist the impulse to rewrite. That will only interrupt the flow and is another way to avoid the task at hand.
If you are like me you will have a 2nd, third and fourth draft. You have to get your first draft completed before your have anything to rewrite! Stay focused.
Carry a Notebook
As a creative writer, you will be “hit” by odd ideas and notions in the oddest of places.Maybe you are stuck in traffic or brushing your teeth when inspiration strikes.
You could wake from a dream and have a killer idea.
“ I’ll remember that.” We say to ourselves, but when next we write there is no access to that memory file.Just use a notebook. Jot those things down as they come to you. It only takes a moment.
Capture all your of your ideas as they transpire. Who knows? One of them may be the “Next Big Thing!”

- David Parton
David Parton:Helping others and myself Improve their income and boost their health and energy levels with Tahitian Noni Juice.___________________________________________ NOTE: Feel free to “reprint” this article online as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including my "resource box" at the end). Please send me a copy of your reprint to d_parton@telus.net

Hurricane Katrina Donations Could be Many Millions More - eBay Sellers Try in Vain to Help

2008-04-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I saw a mention in someone’s email ezine about a kind person who had an eBay auction with the proceeds going 100% to help victims of the horrible Hurricane Katrina.

It struck a chord with me because I had wanted to set up something similar, but found that the “eBay Giving Works” charity program seems to be terribly flawed for us small sellers. I had researched it the day before, eBay goes through Mission Fish to handle the administrative tasks and distribution.

Here in a nutshell is how I understand it works. You set up an eBay auction and pledge a percentage of the proceeds to go to a charity. You pick the one you like. If the auction sells, the buyer pays you, and Mission Fish charges your credit card, taking out $3.00 per transaction for their fees, plus 3% to cover credit card fees. That’s reasonable, they need to cover their overhead and payroll expenses. Then Mission Fish sends the balance to the charity.

The minimum donation per item has to be $10.00. Again, so far so good, I can understand that.

Now, I noticed in the auction that I visited that the seller had set up a dutch auction, with 1000 “lots” available, each for $1.00 each, with the proceeds going 100% to her favorite charity that would get food to the Katrina victims. I was about to place a bid for several $1.00 lots (a dutch auction lets you “win” as many of the item as you like, all at the same price).

Then it hit me, why couldn’t I do the same kind of dutch auction, maybe she had found the way to get around the $10.00 per item restriction, and found that it was a minimum $10.00 per auction. It would only make sense that it would work that way, since Mission Fish charges the seller’s credit card, if all 1000 lots sold, that would be $1000 for the charity, Mission Fish would take $3.00 plus 3%, the seller would collect (hopefully) the $1000 from the buyers, and all she would be on the hook for would be the eBay fees. Those fees, plus her hard work, would be her personal contribution.

So I went back to eBay and Mission Fish and researched the deal again. I found out that sure enough, in a multiple item auction, Mission Fish requires a $10.00 donation from the seller for EVERY ITEM that sells in a multiple-item auction (dutch auction).

So, if the seller had 1000 lots at $1.00 each, and they all sold, Mission Fish would have charged her credit card on file for $10.00 for each lot, a total of $10,000.00! And they would have taken their $3.00 + 3% fee for each of those 1000 lots, more than $3,000.00 for their trouble!

At that point, I realized the seller either had deep pockets and was matching contributions 10 to 1, or she misunderstood what would happen to her. I sent her an email, and to end a long story, she indeed misunderstood, was obviously fairly upset at the prospect of paying $10,000, and ended the auction early.

Now, I’d like my readers to do one of two things. If you think that eBay and Mission Fish are mishandling the charity program, as I do, please contact one or both and point them to this blog entry, or just write your own letter with your thoughts.

You can contact Mission Fish here:

http://www.missionfish.org/Help/contactus.jsp

eBay is always more difficult to contact, but you can try starting here:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/contact_us/_base/index.html

The other thing you could do is support the eBay seller’s cause, she had to end the auction but she took the trouble to set up a web page for donations, you can access and support it here:

http://www.flipidy.com/secondharvest.htm

Perhaps with enough pressure on Mission Fish, they’ll get together with eBay and allow dutch auctions to be counted as a single donation, instead of multiple individual items, and encourage more charity in the future.

For those with homes, families, relatives or friends in the devasted area, my hearts and prayers go out to you. I hope this information will in some small way help someone somewhere.

Dennis Becker is author of a regular blog about different ways of earning money on the Internet, titled appropriately enough "Success On The Internet". You can find it at:

[Source:ArticleTrader.com]

Thomas Edison Teaching Tip

2008-04-05T19:53:00.000-07:00

Do you know who invented the talking doll? How about the electric vote-recorder? Would you be surprised to learn it was the same man who invented the phonograph and the electric incandescent light bulb? None other than Thomas Alva Edison, whose birthday was February 11, 1847. Here are some tips for celebrating his accomplishments:

1. Make a list of some of his 1100 patented inventions. What would the world be like without them?

2. Create an invention timeline beginning with Edison's inventions and ending with what we use today. For instance, wax records, cassettes, CD's...

3. Choose one of his inventions and add improvements of your own. Describe the changes you think will take place by the next century.

4. Read about Thomas Edison's life. How much formal education did he have (the answer will shock you!)? What caused him to become deaf? Why did he receive the Distinguished Service Medal? Ask other who, what, where, when, and why questions.

4. Edison is quoted as saying that "Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration." What do you think that means? Do you agree with it? How did he live his life by that motto?

5. When your students are frustrated and want to give up, relate that Edison tried 10,000 unsuccessful experiments on a storage battery. Did he give up? No! He said that he had "found 10,000 ways that won't work." Just change your approach and keep trying!

6. Have your children invent something of their own and write about it from inception of the idea to the finished results. Put the inventions around the room and have class presentations.

I hope these ideas have been useful and have ignited your own creativity.

And remember...Reading is FUNdamental!!

Freda J. Glatt, MS, retired from teaching after a 34-year career in Early-Childhood and Elementary Education. Her focus, now, is to reach out and help others reinforce reading comprehension and develop a love for reading. Visit her site at Reading is FUNdamental!

Great Resume Writing Tips

2008-04-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

by articleresource8

Your resume provides the potential employer, a commanding message about what kind of employee you would have been. Before you write, seize time to do a self-assessment on paper. Chalk out your skills and aptitude, in addition to your work experience and extra-curricular activities. This will make it easier to prepare a scrupulous resume.

In order to highlight your wide-ranging skills, you need to make the most of your resume. The function of the cover letter and resume is to get you to the next step, i.e.--interview, so make sure you don’t commit any slip-up in this. In order to avoid such blemishes, go for these fundamental guidelines--

By means of word processing software, make sure that you have test out the spellings before putting your resume forward. Once you have finished off with that, give it a reality check for the rest assurance element.
When writing a resume, provide an exact view of your skills by giving the sufficient details of it. This is not to say, to elaborate the list of your each project but be comprehensive by abridging it.
In short, devise you resume so that it articulates most about you in the smallest number of words.
You should boast resumes of two versions, one to be sighted at online and other when going for an in-person interview.
Whatever thing you send or propose online, take care that it should be in basic formatting, such as-- spacing and paragraph breaks, because fancy formatting does not leave good domino effect nearly in all the computers.
By incorporating relevant keywords, you come up with the powerful resume.
Encompass the degrees you have finished or you are working on, as well as your credentials.
Dwell on those things that are most upbeat about you and get rid of the more off-putting. For instance, if your GPA is 3.5 you should yearn for highlighting it, but if it is 2.5 you must rule out it. Refer to your GPA (Grade Point Average) only if it is very elevated.
Make them known about your past experience, you have been worked on. Write with the most current.
Technology Summary: List only the technologies you know well.
If you are in more than one position or have proficiency that may fit more than one role, you should have multiple versions of your resume available that emphasize those skills.
Make use of job titles and skill headings that go with the jobs you want. This will hooks the attention of the employer in a first glimpse.
Employing numbers and quantifying makes a flamboyant image in their mind whereas general statements are easy to neglect comparatively.
While writing the resume, take the level of job and salary into the consideration, you crave for.
Don’t apply the word “Resume” at the top of the page or mention the date when you have prepared the document.
Ensure that your name emerges at the top of all pages.
Stay apart from the usage of verbs such as--"assisted", "helped", "aided", "participated" or "involved" because they do not assert exactly what you did and the employer will not know what your input was.
Institute with the strong verbs such as--wrote, presented, advised, etc.
Shun the use of expressions such as "responsible for" or "duties included" as your actions might not be understood.
Evade excessive reiteration
Keep away from the weak verbs such as "did", "had" and "handled".
Do not create any section if you have only one piece of information; in its place, incorporate another apt section named-- Summary of Qualifications.
Before giving names to the potential employer about any references, inquire people if they are ready to dole out as references. Do not include your reference information on your resume. You might have observed at the base of your resume-- "References provided on the request."
Lots of company finds e-mail address helpful. Make a note that your e-mail sound professional.
Integrate your web site address only if the web page reflects your professional ambitions.
Be sturdy with your form--margins, underlining, and capitalizing. To draw the reader’s eye down the page, make use of white space, bold type, italics, etc.
Keep it relevant. Just barred yourself from including--Salary requirements, abbreviations, glitches, reasons for leaving jobs, and personal opinions.
Be explicit about dates, accomplishments, job titles, employers and interests.
Use what is entitled-- the telegraphic style. Pass over all personal pronouns --I, we, etc.

Before you furnish your Resume to any potential employer, make it proofread to be reviewed and critiqued by a career counselor. Source: http://www.itmatchonline.com/article/Great_Resume_Writing_Tips.php

How To Turn Your Personal Stories Into Profit

2008-04-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

by xomba

So you've jumped on the bandwagon, or should I say the "blogwagon"? You've joined the ranks of those writers who log in daily to share stories about everything from the burger they had for lunch to the indi film they saw last night. By now you've figured out that what they say is true: write what you know. But if what you know merely stems from your personal experiences, is it possible to actually profit from your writing?

The answer is yes. You don't have to write hard news just to make your words make cents, but to make dollars, you've got to be smart.

If you are accustom to writing stories about your experiences and that works for you, continue to do so, but ask yourself "so what?" Aside from its entertaining value, why would someone want to read your article? It is usually possible to take a personal experience and turn it into something others will benefit from. Think of your articles as fables - they tell a story, but finish up with a moral or lesson. For example, if you have a story about missing a flight at an airport, follow it up with tips for preparing for a flight. Maybe you'd suggest certain attire so that passengers aren't wasting time unbuckling belts and retying shoes in the security line. And surly those zip-lock bags could be a topic of discussion all their own!

You can also use keyword research tools like Yahoo's "keyword selector tool". If you had a bad experience with a waiter while dining last night, type in a phrase like "poor service" and you'll get a list of related terms like "proper tipping etiquette" and you have the added bonus of knowing that there is existing search traffic for these topics. Write your story about the waiter that failed to bring you silverware until your date started eating with his hands just to prove a point, and then lead in to how one should handle a situation like this and what the resulting tip should be. Readers love stories, so don't stop writing them. Just remember not to leave them hanging. You'd never want a reader to say, "so what's your point?". Tell your story, make a point, and you're sure to make a profit. [Source:ArticleTrader.com]

Translation Services and Technology

2008-04-05T19:41:00.000-07:00

by armando

"A renewed international effort is gearing up to design computers and software that smash language barriers and create a borderless global marketplace."- Steve Silberman

The rate at which technology is growing in virtually every sphere of human activity today is mind boggling to say the least. During a video conference, you can see people located at the other end of the globe on screen, and it will appear just as if they are located right across the table from you in the very same room! The possibilities are endless. So it's not hard to imagine a situation where your speech or written document, gets instantly translated into different languages so that the rest of the globe is able to instantly understand what you communicate. Machine translation services using appropriate software is aimed at just such an objective.

As Gary Anthes says in the Computerworld issue of August 13, 2007: "Language translation software isn't likely to allow you to lay off your bilingual staffers -- at least not right away. But applied with discrimination and lots of preparation, translation service tools can be fantastic productivity aids." Applying computers to the task of translating texts between language pairs has been the endeavor of tech wizards in recent years. They have perhaps found the technique to be useful in certain specific domains like software, where text is repetitively used throughout the document, but this cannot easily extend to many other fields like literature and the sciences, the legal and financial areas.

If only it were possible to achieve that ideal match of phrases and idiomatic expressions between languages, it would be a boon to businesses and to scientific thought as there would be an infinite number of resources available to people from every walk of life.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the likelihood of this ever becoming a reality can only be a distant dream. The reason for this is that language has been developed over centuries of usage, and each human has his or her own unique way of using language to express ideas. The use of software in language translation services is limited because the output is always based on the input received and no two persons would even by accident use the exact same words or phrase to describe a situation or give expression to a thought.

Even dictionaries are being constantly being revised and updated as languages evolve. Thus the prospect of building and constantly updating a database with trillions of exceptions to the regular usage and rules of any given language, and then cross matching them between hundreds of languages and thousands of dialects that now exist, can only be in the realm of wishful thinking!

The creativity of the human mind is so limitless that to attempt to bring in figurative and literal accuracy to a translation service project requires a thinking human mind that applies itself diligently to the task. Today, the demands of business, science, technology and even philosophical thought, are so exacting that the essence of the text must be captured in its entirety by the translator so as to be able to render a faithful interpretation of the original thought.

Translation service providers who offer quality services are generally mindful of this requirement and have on their panel subject experts who can deliver the best possible translation results between the given language pairs. The context, the subject matter and area of expertise are all important factors that a translator will take into account while using his special talents to perform a translation services job to the complete satisfaction of the client. [Source:ArticleTrader.com]

Armando Riquier as a freelance translator and writer has been working with Tectrad for over a decade. Tectrad as a translation agency specializes in translation services of all corporate and business matters.

Translation Services: Trans-Coding your Multi-Lingual Site Content

2008-04-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

by armando

So you've decided to go multi-lingual with your website. It's a great idea, and a sure fire way to gain instant access to a global audience and market. One of the first things that will likely engage your attention at this point is that of finding a good business translation service provider who will deliver a faithful representation of your web content in the target languages. As a matter of fact, you will have to go a step or two further than that. To publish your website in another language, you need the expertise and all the elements that go into creating content for a completely new website. You will want people who have expertise in writing and can even think in that language.

As anyone who uses the Internet frequently would be aware, content is the most crucial part of a webpage. You might have the best graphics, nifty animation, and other web page design elements, but remember that your visitors are looking for some key information, in a language they can understand. The sooner they find it, the greater will be the motivation to navigate through the rest of your site and read what you have to offer.

Your corporate website has its reputation to keep up. Its foreign language translations should sound as professional and crisp in delivering the message as does the original one in English. It's important to have the website translation service done by an experienced person who is capable of 'thinking' in the foreign language, not merely applying text-book knowledge or a dictionary to deal with the job. An IDC survey has found that visitors are four times more likely to purchase from a site that communicates in the customer's language. It stands to reason that when the content in your English language web page is rendered in French, you must put it in a way that appeals to the French audience, as the customer must feel comfortable with the language. The same goes for German, Mandarin or any other language version/s that you choose for publishing your website in.

Culture is a deep rooted facet of the people of every nation or region, and the way to communicate effectively will be built around these cultural practices and beliefs, of which language usage forms an integral part. As Forrester Research has found, visitors tend to stay tuned for twice as long when browsing a website is in their own language, as compared to a foreign language website. Clearly, the nuances of the language will have to be well understood if the effort expended in putting together a multi-lingual website is to have its targeted result. Carefully rendered business translation services which capture the essential meaning of the original text both in letter and in spirit as also deliver the missive in a way that appeals to the reader is a complex process, involving translation, trans-coding and localization.

When reading through a web page that has been constructed with the care it deserves and culture-centric translation services, the visitor would never suspect that the website was ever translated at all! This is because the translator's wizardry is evident in the way he has adapted the text to the culture, style and language of the target audience. [Source:ArticleTrader.com]

Blog Images are Worth a Thousand Users

2008-04-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

by Celestial

Images help blogs with organic traffic, which is why I don’t understand why more bloggers don’t use this resource. The concept behind it is fairly simple to why images help with traffic. But I think that finding images and loading them might is probably where the problem lies. A lot of bloggers have enough trouble trying to find a topic to write about, let alone images to go with.

The reason why blog images bring traffic is because of two factors, the first is design and the second is discovery. Having images on a blog extend a blog from just words to visual as well. This gives a blog more opportunities to being discovered on the web. Of course it’s not the image itself, but the name of the image that really helps in this.

When naming an image, it is best not to just keep the original name your camera gave it, but rename it with a good description. Rename the image to something that applies to the post as well as the picture itself. This can be tied into keywords relating to the post or blog.

The design comes in with visual stimuli. Images give blogs a more visual appealing look. Instead of users being overwhelmed with pages upon pages of text, images can be used to break up the words. It also makes the post more interesting, creative and original.

Usually the only colour on a blog is the header and maybe the side bar. By having images spotted around the posts, it gives the blog more colour and feeling to it. Images should be well balanced in the post and have space around to still maintain a clean look and feel in the post.

Users will appreciate the creativity and effort gone into the design more than if it was just letters put together to make an interesting topic. With thousands of blogs for users to read, you need to make yours as interesting as possible to stand out. Images are one way to assist with that and taking a picture isn’t that difficult. [Source:ArticleTrader.com]

Article Marketing

2008-04-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

by angelina444

Article marketing is one of the best ways to make money online. It is a wonderful tool to gain attention to your business, and is also a highly effective tactic to attract free targeted traffic to your website.

Article Marketing is the process of writing an engaging, informative article, and submitting to a number of article directories on the Internet. It is a perfect way to focus your website marketing on the full range of your most important search phrases, and is one of the best but low cost way of generating traffic to your web pages and sites.

Article marketing is one of the best ways to pre-sell a product because it allows you to gain enough credibility with your reader that they are more apt to click on your resource box link to find out more. Article marketing is the practice of posting keyword-focused articles on article sites that then syndicate your content, and is a cost-effective method of marketing your Web site and services, and driving up your search engine ranking in the process. Article marketing is one of the top ways to get people to visit your website, become an expert, and to make money on the internet. It is also an excellent way to create one-way backlinks to your site.

Article marketing caters to the thousands of websites on the internet that are looking for original content, and content is by far the life blood of the Internet. Every webmaster needs it and every website needs fresh content to keep Google and the other Search engines coming back regularly. Content articles are an essential part of search engine marketing and when done properly they can have a tremendously positive and long term effect to your web site business.

Well written content articles released for free distribution have the potential of gaining the author business credibility within his or her market, as well as new clients. When you are able to produce numerous content that matches online searches, search engines will drive interested traffic to your site that can lead to increased page views and higher page engine ranking. The keys here are focusing on your content and being consistent in delivering excellent articles on a regular basis.

Article marketing is a critical part of any successful internet business plan. Article marketing is just one tool you should have in your website promotion toolbox. This type of marketing is not as difficult as it sounds, and is considered a viral marketing method because from a single article one can obtain dozens or even hundreds of references to their name and website, which is why article marketing is regarded as a highly effective marketing tactic.

Article marketing is a great tool that can promote you from being a bottom feeder to being one of the larger fish in the pond. It is one of the best ways to build free traffic, build your link popularity, build your contact list. Article marketing is a simple step-by-step system that you can benefit from by using these breakthrough formulas to build your own affiliate marketing empire. Article marketing is considered to be a permanent and free marketing method.

Article marketing is not yet fully understood as being one of the best ways to advertise your website: even better than pay per click advertising. It is one of the best traffic generating strategies and it’s easily picked up by the search engines if you chose the right topic, keywords and of course the correct site to submit. Article marketing is one method you should definitely try if you haven't already.

If your looking to funnel hordes of traffic to your sites, get ranked on the first page of Google and dominate just about every niche, try Josh Spaulding's "Article Marketing Domination". I personally have been using Josh's Article Marketing methods, and their fantastic. So if Article Marketing is your cup of tea, give this ebook a try, and be assured that it comes with a 100% "Risk Free" Money Back Guarantee.

Article Written bY J. Foley

An Easy Way To Create and Get Unique Articles For Your Site And Blog

2008-04-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

by jsolochek

There are a lot of marketers out there that will give you PLR articles as a bonus with something else you have bought. Changing several of the paragraphs is not enough. If you leave just one paragraph intact then you have committed plagiarism and Google and several other search engines may see this as duplicate content. However, there is a way to make sure the articles are 100 percent unique. Imagine a traffic accident which is witnessed by many different people at the same time. Each person will tell a different story about what happened.

The easiest way is to just read each article you have and write each one in your own words as an article. Everything always has a different meaning to each person who hears it. To do this you are maybe looking at just 15 minutes of your time for each article. Do the math, How many would you then be able to write with just an hour of your time? How many with an entire day?

There are still some people who are not able to do this if it means missing a sporting event or a favorite show on TV. For these people there is still a way. Is there a local college or school near you? Then make a contest or game out of it and ask some students to read an article and re write it in their own words. Make sure that each student forfeits all rights to whatever they write though.

I have seen hundreds of marketers who use one of the above 2 techniques. They are doing this because each site that they submit these articles to will no be a one way link back to them. These one way links are vitally important if you want to achieve a high page rank for your site or blog. Now you can try the other route which would be to pay money for these types of links but most of us do not have this kind of money to just throw a way.

Jeffrey has over 2 decades experience in the business world. When he writes he blends his unique wit and humour into every article which if you rread his blog you can see all of his many works. http://www.nosugarcoating.info/facts
Source:ArticleTrader.com

Q&A with Dr. Ken Atchity, Literary Agent, Film Producer & Writer

2008-04-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

by jminar777

The Interview

WB: Describe your ideal client.

My ideal client is someone who’s focused on his work, not on himself, and who will do anything to improve both its quality and marketability. Who’s cautious, but not paranoid. Who’s obsessed by making his own time productive, and equally respecting of ours. Who doesn’t call and say ‘what’s going on’? Who doesn’t have a lazy bone in his body, and who ‘considers the source’ when he hears something different from what we’ve been telling them. Who understands that before he can have the market follow his stories, first he must tell stories the market WANTS to hear.

WB: At AEI, are you more likely to sign an author whose work can be easily adapted to the screen? Also, what are some ways of recognizing whether a book has film potential?

Yes, our favorite client is someone whose writing works for both publishing and the screen. A book has film potential if it’s written following the laws of drama—which will also make it a better, more readable book.

WB: You've mentioned that AEI receives roughly 15,000 submissions a year and accepts about 50 of them. What specifically about your selections stand out to you?

What stands out is a clearly marketable concept—‘high concept’ if possible—that is as well executed as it is well conceived.

WB: Some writers who I’ve interviewed claim that even with multiple book sales, it's difficult to make a decent living. Others tell me that they've landed extremely lucrative deals--and I know this to be true of many of your clients. What are some of the main factors that play into whether a writer is offered a lucrative deal?

The most lucrative deals go to writers whose work (a) ‘stands out from the pack,’ usually because of its ‘high concept.' And (b) whose forceful and compelling writing serves the reader, not itself.

WB: As a writer and a manager who works with many writers, what advice would you give about dealing with the rejection every writer will inevitably face during their career?

Ignore rejection, other than to compile as many as you’re going to get as quickly as you can compile them. I always say there’s a big blackboard in the sky with a list of all the no's you’re going to get on a given project—and the final yes. The only problem is that the blackboard is invisible. Since that’s the case, obviously the only way to stay sane is to get through all those no's as quickly as you can—never wasting time trying to change a no to a yes. A yes from the wrong person is much worse than a no.

WB: What are some characteristics of a writer who will have "staying power" in the industry?

A writer with staying power is always trying to make sure his craft and skill stays at the level of his ambition and vision. For that reason he values criticism more than praise, because only through criticism can an artist learn. We always point out that even the smallest remark was, after all, a reaction to something you wrote.

WB: I always recommend that writers read A Writer's Time from cover to cover if they want to learn how to "harness" their time and become more productive. For the purpose of this interview, can you give us one tidbit from the book?

A huge one: Never sit down to write without knowing what you're going to write before you sit down.

WB: Does this mean that you shouldn't outline first? Or, take notes?

Many writers ask, 'How can you outline without having written?' I think an outline is most useful when you’ve written at least a third of your book or script, then need to make sure you 'have the rest of it' before you risk writing off in a wrong direction. The more professional you become, however, the more you’ll follow the advice in Writing Treatments That Sell: How to Create and Market Your Story Ideas to the Motion Picture and TV Industry, writing a treatment of your book or script before you commit the time and emotional energy to the work itself.

WB: You've also said that having too much time to write is much more dangerous to getting the story out in an exciting way than having too little time to write. Please explain.

The most dramatic writing comes from pressure, and there’s no better pressure than the pressure of self-imposed discipline focused on time. Limiting the time you’re actually at the computer produces the strongest results. While you’re NOT there writing, ‘the back of your mind’ will be working overtime to make that writing time more productive when it comes around again.

WB: I've heard many writers rave about your book, How to Publish Your Novel. After reading it myself, I now understand what an amazing resource it is for those who are looking to have their novels published. What inspired you to write it?

I was inspired by answering the same questions over and over again, and hearing my partner and staff do the same. Since nothing annoys me more than wasted time, I figured it was time to put all we know into the book—for the same reason, I wrote A Writer’s Time, Writing Treatments That Sell and How to Escape Lifetime Security and Pursue Your Impossible Dream: A Guide to Transforming Your Career.

WB: You've worn many hats. What have you most enjoyed doing and why?

I most enjoy reading a fabulous new manuscript that I KNOW I can develop into a successful book and film.

WB: What, in your opinion, are some of the best ways for a writer to hone his skills?

Almost nothing is better than reading successful books or scripts in the same genre as you are writing in. Next is getting professional editorial guidance from a company that knows what it’s doing like the Writer’s Lifeline, Inc.

WB: What are some misconceptions you think those who aspire to write fiction full-time have about the writer's life?

That it’s easy. That it’s sexy. That all you do is lounge around most of the time doing nothing.

WB: Do you have a favorite quote, or words to live by?

Go for it!

How to Write a Bibliograpy

2008-04-05T19:17:00.000-07:00

by sverdlow

What does Bibliography mean? Webster's Dictionary describes it as the history, identification, or description of writings or publications. It can be anything E-book, journals, Comics etc.

Making a Bibliography might look very simple but it requires a great attention to minute details. It will become a bad publicity to your book in case it is not made first time right.

When making a Bibliography make sure we read the documents for which the bibliography is needed. And a thorough reading will help all the better.Steps that can be used:

. Make a List, First, of all the sources that the author has used.. Collect all the titles, references etc that has been used in the book.. When more than one reference is used, make sure to arrange it in alphabetical or any other preferred order based on the content of the body.. Make sure the information that comes from the bibliography comes from the Title page of each book, and not from anywhere else.

. Cover all the dates of publication, for each reference.. If any special references to web pages etc, find out the credibility of the data contained in the same. For example like who is the author, his other works etc.. Include the most relevant information always. Extra information might tend to mislead the readers.

Tips for writing good articles

2008-04-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

by sverdlow

Writing articles on the web is the best form of expression in this internet centric era. The power of web has allowed us to reach millions of users surfing internet at any given point, and there is a tremendous potential to put forward your views to this audience. This is a great way to promote your website or blog as well. I personally prefer writing travel & tourism articles and following are a few tips for writing good articles which I follow.

1. Title is the most important part of any any article. A good attention grabbing title will certainly welcome users to your article. For example if you are writing an article on travel tips for Brazil tourism, you may decide to go with a simple title of "Brazil travel tips", but I would personally prefer a title like "Going to Brazil - Important Brazil travel tips", this will grab better attention and interest.

2. Use bullet points or numbers to break your article into several sections. It is a very good idea to bold certain words and sections of your article. Put pictures if you can, for example while writing a travel article, include maps, points of interests and other useful contact information.

3. Length of article: There is no rule but an article between 300 to 500 words is usually considered the best.

4. Search engine optimization: Optimal keyword density, using H1 tags for headings and specifying keywords in meta tags are some of the good rules to follow. Also do not forget to put the ALT tags on images.

5. Submitting your article: Try to submit articles on a website which have the same niche as your article, or at least the article is placed in the section which shares the same theme. For example if you are writing an travel article there is no point in submitting it to a site which has a niche of technology or finance.

6. Submit articles frequently: If you are a website owner then write articles often. This will encourage readers to browse your other posts and eventually visit your site for additional information.

7. Good content: Always publish original content and present facts to the best of your knowledge, regardless they are good or bad. Your article should provide unique information to the user. Specify a date when the article was written.

8. Using examples to describe your point or a situation, is also a great way to present your perspective.

9. If your article gets long, then put headings on the top and provide internal hyperlinks to rest of the article. A great example of this is wikipedia encyclopedia.

10. Social bookmark sites: After your article is published on the web, it is a good idea to bookmark with sites like Delicious and Stumbleupon. This should also help to attract additional web users to your article.

Buzzing Blogs for Business

2008-04-05T00:16:00.000-07:00

by genster

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last several years you’ve heard of weblogs or blogs. Today the blogosphere is gigantic. There’s a blog for everyone including politicians, stay at home moms, and entrepreneurs. As acceptance of blogging continues to skyrocket, businesses are increasingly tapping into this valuable resource.

So how would a business benefit from blogging?

For one, blogging allows a quick way to hear from your customers. What used to take weeks and many thousands of dollars through market research can now be accomplished for a fraction of the time and money. That’s not to say market research doesn’t have its place because it certainly does, but now we have a compelling new tool. Business blogs allow a new dynamic in the way companies communicate with customers and visa versa.Improving your search engine rank is another reason to start blogging. Search engines favor sites which “live”. A site which is continually growing and which contains consistent content is going to rank higher because of its perceived relevancy. If a wedding planner put up a blog where topics related to weddings (and all the other associated words) then the whole site would benefit from a high relevancy score on Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.

Another reason is to show credibility and availability. A site which allows customer feedback is saying that it believes in its own product or service. We’ve seen examples of executives blogging on a daily basis and the enormous positive customer response which takes place – people are so shocked that C level principals would get engaged to that level.

The only drawback is the time it takes but in our experience it’s well worth the investment!

Article Directory : Increasing Your Site Cash Flow

2008-04-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

by Daiv

Who else wants more people to their web site? If you're blogging, your income requires a constant flow of patrons and attracting as much as available. Now, how do you invite more readers to your site cheaply and quickly? How can you advance your search engine position on your website's most sought topics and get readers to find your site?

An article directory is a great site to demonstrate your wit, comedy, flair, and skill.

The article directory, aka free reprint directory, is a repository of articles that ezine editors may reprint at no expense. The only catch is that each author's name and backlink to their site must remain attached to the article.

Since these are free reprints, how exactly does an article directory serve you? Article directories assist you by drawing traffic to your website. Webmasters reprint one of your articles to add vital content for their existing readers.Visitors to the website then click on your link and are taken back to your site.

As a result, article directories are a win-win situation - you increase your page views, and the editors using your articles increase their page views.

Articles of any size, purpose, or subject matter may be submitted to an article directory. The process is as effortless a mouse click. The article directory displays your name and site with your article, and everyone who downloads the article has to do likewise. You end up with more readers when people read your content at the free reprint directory, and again as your article is used on another web site and read by viewers og that website.

Even if you choose not to publish your articles, have you thought about using some articles written by other bloggers and writers? Article directories hold a vast array of articles about every imaginable subject, quite a few of them are intentionally authored to be keyword dense. Realize that the care with which you lace keywords into your writing will result in increased search engine traffic!

Since using these articles is free, there's zero risk. Most free reprint articles are written by talented bloggers and writers like you. Don't forget that you can of course select only the free reprint articles you feel pass your quality standards.

If you choose to publish articles on a article reprint directory, take advantage of the endless content available, or maybe even a little of both, you are assured an increase in traffic to your website - and best of all, it's free!

It’s only Wastewater, so why is Grit Removal Important?

2008-04-05T00:09:00.000-07:00

by Leaftech

When it comes to wastewater in industry, removing particles is probably one of the last things that you are concerned about. After all, this water is marked for waste, it is going to be treated accordingly, so why is there a need to remove any grit that is hanging in suspension? After all, the settling process should take care of it, right?

Actually, as we will see in this article, there are a few different reasons why your industrial wastewater treatment option needs to include grit removal among the first steps of a process to treat the water. The reasons vary from the legal to the financial to the chemical, so let’s take a look!

The legal

Depending on the type of industry in which you work, it might be that local, provincial, or federal laws require the removal of certain types of grit before the water is treated. Remember, not all grit is just dirt; it can include many different elements and materials that can’t be removed through the pooling process. Therefore, it may be that you are required to remove grit as a part of the treatment process.

The financial

Every piece of grit that remains in wastewater has the potential to cause damage to the methods by which the water is transported. This ranges from the pipe through which the water is carried right up to the filtration equipment you use in the next steps of water treatment. Solid particles forced along by water pressure, thousands of them each day, can really start to wear on many different areas of the water system. The inevitable result of this wear is increased costs to the business in terms of maintenance and replacement equipment.

The scientific

Remember not all grit is just dirt. In fact, no grit is just dirt, it is always made up of certain elements and ions that may be harmful not only to living processes, but also to the rest of the treatment process! Excess particles of certain natures may mean that absorption is hindered during the rest of the treatment process. Getting rid of the grit, then, will mean that the whole system functions as it should.

When it comes to wastewater treatment, every step must be followed in order to ensure that the entire process goes as it is supposed to. Grit removal is usually one of the first steps, because if it is not done right it may compromise the effectiveness of the entire system!

Lighten Up the Landfills!

2008-04-05T00:07:00.000-07:00

by IC

More landfills are opening up each year in order to handle all of the garbage people are throwing out. The more garbage we send to these landfills, the more chances we have of increasing the greenhouse gases that are affecting the environment.

The best way to become eco-friendly and help protect our environment is by recycling.

Recycling is the process of taking some of our garbage and reusing it again and again. This helps to eliminate the problem of landfill areas becoming filled with junk that could harm the soil as well as the environment.

Here are some simple tips to get you started on the right track with recycling your goods:

Check with your local recycling center and see what items they take. The most common items recycling centers take are paper products, plastic, glass, aluminum and tin cans. Designate an area in your home that can easily be reached to store your recycling products. Keep the items separated by using recycling materials like paper or plastic bags.

Some cities will pick up your recycling for you, while others have a center that you have to take your products to. If there’s pick-up available, make sure you know what day it’s on and don’t forget to place the recyclables on the curb for them to pick up.

If you take your products to a center, pick a day each week or every other week to get them there. If you forget to take care of the products, you’re more likely to just throw them away to get rid of them.

If your city doesn’t have a recycling pick-up option or a center to take your products to, then talk to your city officials. If you can get enough people interested in recycling their products to save the environment, they can contact the local recycling centers in nearby cities to find out how they can arrange a pick-up of your city’s recyclable goods.

Recycle some of the products yourself. Some craft items and even bird feeders can be made from materials you may already have at home. A plastic liter bottle can make an excellent bird feeder. Check your local library for books on making crafts and things from recycled material.

Donate some of the items you want to get rid of. Libraries may take some of those old books you have, if they’re in good condition. Donate the good clothes to places like the Salvation Army. What may be junk to you, would be a nice treasure for someone less fortunate than you.

If you’re not one to use the grocery store bags for other purposes, consider purchasing some nice sturdy canvas bags to take to the store with you when you shop for groceries. They can be reused for a long time and you won’t have to worry about the room the plastic and paper grocery bags take up in your home – or in the landfills!

Easing Into the Green Living Lifestyle

2008-04-05T00:03:00.000-07:00

by IC

As global warming continues to be a major concern for the future of our planet, people are starting to turn to green living practices to help save it for future generations. Green living involves every aspect of our daily lives - from driving to work to mowing our lawns.

Making the switch to green living all at once might scare most people away from implementing those earth-friendly changes. There are many ways to ease into this practice and still help save the earth’s environment.

Air pollution is a major problem for some cities. A lot of it comes from the factories, but that’s not the only avenue contributing to global warming. Automobiles give off a fair amount of pollutants into the air.

When you have a lot of cars driving around on the city streets, you’re multiplying the amounts of pollutants being emitted by each car that’s destroying our ozone. If you want to save the environment, you can start by either car pooling, walking more instead of driving or even purchasing hybrid models that don’t do as much damage.

This small change can bring much relief for the environment for future generations. There are many ways to adapt green living into your life by taking a look at your home. What kind of bulbs are you using?

The standard bulbs we use only contribute to higher electricity bills and more carbon dioxide. If you switch at least some of your standard bulbs with the compact fluorescent bulbs, you can save the environment while saving on your electric bill.

Make sure to seal any gaps around windows and doors to keep any cold drafts from blowing into the house, which can cost you more money. Make sure the house is well insulated to help cut down on those costs in the wintertime. The less the furnace or heater has to run, the better off everyone will be.

Take a look at your appliances. Are they devouring too much energy? If they’re older models, the answer is probably yes. While some of the changes are in the appliances that you use, other ways to go green involve your own habits and actions.

Do you open the oven door several times to check and see if something is done? The harder an appliance has to work, the harder it is on the environment. If you keep opening the oven door, the temperature will drop almost 25 degrees. It will then have to work harder to get back to the original temperature.

Recycling is an excellent way to save our environment. Try to buy as many products as you can that can be recycled. Avoid the non-recyclable items such as Styrofoam cups. The less trash that has to be burned - or buried into our soil - the better off our planet will be.

These small changes may seem like they couldn’t help much for the environment, but they can help tremendously. Every little bit we do is a much-needed step toward reserving natural resources for our future generations. Get involved with the environment and start to make a difference in the practice of green living for our earth.!

Creating New Life a Little Like God

2008-04-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

by jasonwitt

When you are sealed God gives you new life. He creates you anew as if you were a new variation of your old self. That is what scientist Craig Venter is doing--creating new species of life to solve the world's problems.

Craig Venter is known as a pioneer in human genome mapping and he is the first person to have published his own genetic code on the internet. He has also published an autobiography.

But what Craig Venter is doing now is something remarkable. He has created an organism that is basically a new species. It is a single-celled organism, certainly nothing so complex as a human.

He has not created any life forms from scratch. That is left to God to do. What he has done is created an alteration in the genetics of the organism so distinct that the resulting living creature could be considered a new and different species.Venter and his team created a chromosome to put in the cell of an organism already living. When the cell divided, the resulting parts were a new breed, a new chemically altered life form.

And he has big dreams for what his created organisms could do for people. These organisms could be bred in great amounts and used to rid the sky of greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

Other organisms could become an energy supply, heating your home and fueling your car. That would be quite an accomplishment--cleaning up pollution while giving you a renewable form of energy.

In an interview with ABC TV, Craig Venter says he envisions the ability to produce electricity and clean water with his organisms. What would you use to "fuel" the production of electricity and water? Human waste!

This could be one way the poor people of the world are lifted out of poverty. All the poor have an abundance of certain kinds of resources like human waste wherein is locked a great amount of energy waiting to be released.

Of course this all comes with a caveat. "Knowledge," Venter said in the interview, "can be dangerous in the wrong hands." Someone will always come along and pervert breakthroughs meant to benefit people.

One of the concerns with genetic mapping is health insurance. Some people have a predisposition to certain medical conditions they inherited in their genetics. If the insurance people could know a person was likely to get sick they could deny them coverage.

And many companies are now privately insuring their employees. So people could qualify or disqualify for employment according to their genetic code. Venter calls for protection against abuses like these that come with knowledge of the genetic code.God knows what is in your genetic code. And He is willing to make you a new creature. Then you can be used for the benefit of mankind. You may not fuel their home or clean their skies but you can be a blessing to them.

When God puts the Seal on your forehead He calls you by His own Name. When God refers to you as Himself, the boundaries between you and Him are blurred. You have attributes of the Divine just by reason of association.

And you may not become a new species. But when you are sealed you will become new. And you will see yourself as a completely different person. It will not all happen overnight but you will change as years go by when you receive the Seal.

New Liquid Condom In the Works

2008-04-04T23:58:00.000-07:00

by Superkevbo

There is a new type of condom that could soon be on the market. This is a condom that begins as a liquid. Like the gels and lubricants used during sexual encounters, this liquid could be administered in the same way. When the condom comes into contact with another surface – that of the woman – it solidifies and becomes a protective condom.

Not only that, but this is a smart condom. It stays liquid until there is the presence of something else – something that it has been designed to kill. When semen is present, the condom goes back to being liquid, and releases a substance that kills the semen. Antiviral chemicals are released, the semen is killed, along with anything else that might be present – such as the HIV virus.

It is called a molecular condom, and it is in the works at the University of Utah. Another name for this invention, according to researchers, is Microbicide. In short, microbicides are chemicals that are applied to the vaginal area in order to protect against HIV and other diseases. These chemicals have been in development for almost twenty years. Yet this one is different. It isn't simply a chemical that you can apply in order to protect yourself. It is actually a condom that begins as a liquid, changes to a solid, and goes back to being a liquid when it is actually needed.

The condom would be applied in the liquid form by the woman prior to having sex. As the temperature rises, the liquid solidifies, and turns into a solid barrier to protect her. The tissues would be coated by this barrier. It would stay solid until semen was present. At this time, the less-acidic semen would melt the solid gel, and release anti HIV chemicals that would kill any strains of that virus before they reached the woman.

The downfall to this type of condom is that what is currently being developed is only used to fight HIV. The actual semen would still be alive, and therefore would still be able to cause pregnancy in the woman. However, if this type of condom is used and is popular, researchers say that they could also work on a condom that works in the same way but also has a protection against pregnancy. They would be able to put a contraceptive into the gel, and allow it to be delivered in the same way that the anti-viral drugs are delivered.

This brand new research isn't really that new. The gels and other types of chemicals that have been used to counter the HIV strains have been being developed for a long time. It is just recently that the notion has come to light of having them act as a condom-type barrier at the same time. The gel that is currently being developed is also something spectacular, because it could be a gel that is applied to a woman once, and lasts for several days at a time. This could lead to it being much easier to use, and much more effective in the fight against HIV.

For more information visit: New Liquid Condom In the Works
Source:ArticleTrader.com

Effect of introducing alien species into an ecosystem

2008-04-04T23:53:00.000-07:00

by wildthings

Introduction

The alien species means an organism which is not indigenous to the place and they have been introduced either accidentally or intentionally transported to these new location human activities

The great increase in the introduction of alien species that people are importing for economic, aesthetic, accidental, or even the complex reasons is leading to more species invading native ecosystems, which bring about results: they become invasive alien species (IAS) that have significant harmful effects on both ecosystems and economies.

The impacts on the ecosystems to this world continue to grow due to the increasing population and expanding levels of consumption, mean that more people are demanding more of nature's goods and services, hence pushing against the limits of sustainability. One serious aspect in this economic globalization is the movement of organisms from one part to another through trade, tourism or any other transport, many of these movements of organisms into new ecosystems where they become alien are generally beneficial or interested by the individual or specific group of the people, but the majority meet many and serious impact. And in a few cases, especially disease organisms and pests of forests or agricultural crops, the alien species is clearly harmful to all, or nearly so. Similarly, those who have been responsible for accidentally introducing species into new habitats may not have been willing to make the dealings necessary to prevent such accidents from occurring. They may not have understood the dangers, and in any case the dangers would be unlikely to have much economic impact on their own welfare, instead, the costs of such accidents are bear excessively by people other than those who are permitting the accidents to happen.

However the problem of introducing the alien species is on the man and it is caused by the following reasons. A/ People are largely responsible for moving the eggs, vegetative part, and the whole organism from one place to another, especially through modern global transport and the travel. B/ while some species are capable of invading well-protected ’intact’’ ecosystem, IAS more often seem to invade habitants altered by the humans, such as the agriculture fields human settlement, and the roadways. C/ Many alien species are intentionally introduced for economic reasons, a major human Endeavour .D/ The dimensions of the problem of invasive alien species are defined by people, and the response is also designed and implemented by people, with differential impacts on different groups of people.The fauna and flora which are found in any particular location have been greatly influenced by past human activities, and people are likely to have an even greater impact in the future. This leads to the reflection of whether the current experience of globalization might lead to increased diversity in at least some places after the dust settles on the current extinction contraction. As one example, New Zealand has twice as many plants today as it did when humans first arrived, as well as a whole collection of new mammals; one tragic cost was the loss of an extensive unique fauna of birds. Further development of biotic communities as climates change will depend on organisms invading into origin habitats, sometimes hybridizing with the native species, sometimes replacing them, and sometimes adding to the diversity of the ecosystem with new species interactions. Through introducing species, humans are creating their own ecosystems, often more or less by accident, and disturbing ecosystems that had evolved over millions of years.

Humans apparently evolved in Africa, and then Homo sapiens spread to Europe and Asia over 100,000 years ago, Australia 40-60,000 years ago, the Americas about 15-20,000 years ago, and the far reaches of the Pacific less than 1000 years ago. Our species is a good example of a naturally invasive species, spreading quickly, modifying ecosystems through the use of fire, and driving other species too furthermoreFor at least several thousand years, armies have been an important pathway for moving species from one region to another, with at least some of these becoming invasive (like the armies). The spread of new diseases by armies is well known. For example, measles were carried into the Americas from Europe by the early conquistadors and perhaps syphilis went in the opposite direction a virus that is a close relative of measles is native to the Steppes of Central Asia, but it frequently swept through Europe, being carried by cattle moved to feed armies during military campaigns. Africa remained free of this disease until 1887, when it appeared in Eritrea at the site of the Italian invasion, spreading through Ethiopia in 1888 and conquering the entire continent in less than a decade. In some parts of Africa, rinderpest was followed by wars and cattle raids as the tribal pastoralists sought to maintain their herds. Another result was that rinderpest led an ecological revolution against people and cattle and in favors of wildlife species that were resistant to the disease.

In general there are some mostly impact of introducing alien species this is that it destroy the nature of the ecosystem, it cause the spreading of disease organism such as small pox, syphilis, etc, also in other way it introduce the new species which can be more importance than the previous species to the eco system such as the introduction of a certain type of fishes (sangara) in the lake Tanganyika which become more famous than the previous specious.For more information on visiting Tanzania contact Wild Things

For more information on visiting Tanzania's mountains contact Mountain Kingdom
Source:ArticleTrader.com

Hand Made Perfume Bottles

2008-04-04T23:50:00.001-07:00

by IC

Blown glass is definitely one of the oldest ancient techniques of creating hand made perfume bottles. It is believed that the ancient Egyptians are the original inventors of the glass making technique. The production of the metallurgy and the faience contributed a great deal in the manufacturing of glasses for a perfume bottle. The earliest Egyptian glass that was introduced to us came in a form of small beads and other pendants that were found in the area way back in the 3000 B.C. Glass was made by melting a combination of lime, soda and silica sand. The glass is formed through the chemical reaction and interaction of the heated sand and soda which produces a transparent flowing liquid. When the liquid is cooled down, the glass is formed instantly.

The first glass vessels first appeared in Egypt during the middle of the 2000 B.C. They were made by molding on a core that is made of sand and mud to form the interior of the vessel. The core is then submerged to a very viscous molten glass; the core will then be scraped out when the vessel has cooled down. During that time, the glass was referred to as an artificial semi-stone which was quite a costly novelty item. The aristocrats during that time did not own any glass workshop since it was a royal monopoly. When the decline of the royal power ended, the New Kingdom ended prompted a stop on the production of glass for a certain period of time. The revolutionary invention of the blown glass then took place in Syria in the 1st century B.C. However, the technique was not able to reach Alexandria until the later half of the the 2nd century B.C where the glass blowing was introduced by the Romans. The newest discovery gained an increase in production.

Blown glass perfume bottles were made by sticking a piece of molten glass to the end of a blowpipe and introducing pressurized air the other end of the pipe. This was entirely done by the blowing of the mouth. The artistic transformation of the shapes of the perfume bottles begins to emerge. The shape will then be cut using a copper wheel and then ground using an emery powder. When the perfume bottle has already took its shape, fine embellishments and other decorations were added by pinching the hot glass, adding handles and other features. The simple straight patterns could be transformed into a more intricate and complex shapes that adds up to the beauty of the perfume bottle. When the shape is already formed, coloring and hand painting takes places. It is then followed by placing the perfume bottles in a furnace that has a very hot temperature in order for the color to set in the glass making it permanent. After which, the bottles are left to cool down before they are used.

Today, the blow glass products still undergo the same process the way the ancient create them. No other primitive tools were added to the original ones.
Source:ArticleTrader.com

Skin Care Diet - Enemies of Good Skin

2008-04-04T23:46:00.000-07:00

by alien82

Stress

You've had a bad week - or maybe a bad month. You've been working overtime, your child is going through a difficult phase, your boyfriend's eyes have started wandering, your boss seems to hate you, and you have insomnia. In other words, nothing in your life is going smoothly and you are feeling more stressed than ever. Chances are a few obvious pimples have sprung up since your life got so hectic. How do I know that? What do you think my face does when I'm feeling frazzled?

The reason for a spotty complexion is simple: When the body is under stress, it releases adrenal hormones, which are known generally as "stress hormones." These hormones generate a number of changes in skin, including breakouts, oily patches, dry patches sallowness, dark circles under the eyes, and rashes. Obviously, you can't avoid all forms of stress, but you can learn how to deal with them. Deep breathing, visualization, a professional or at-home massage, or even a spa-night at home can help relieve some of the tension.

Exercise boosts circulation, which in turn delivers oxygen-rich blood to the skin's surface. The short-term result is a beautiful glow. According to some skin-care experts, the long-term benefit of exercise is improved skin elasticity and more efftcient new cell growth.

Rough treatment

As resilient as skin is, it also has a delicate side. Aggressive handling can make skin appear worn, abused, and just plain old. What qualifies as rough treatment? Picking pimples, which can cause scars; using overly hot water, which can break small capillaries and make skin dry; tugging at skin, which can break down collagen and elastin fibers and lead to slackness; and using harsh skin-care products, which can cause sensitivities and redness.

Skin and your diet

Severe diets that skimp on calories and on one or more nutrients are detrimental to your skin, and so are eating habits that include plenty of complexion-spoiling fast food. Here's a rundown of common nutrient deficiencies and how they affect your complexion:

A lack of protein can lead to a dull, dry complexion and poor wound-healing.

A shortage of iron can result in a pale complexion.

A lack of vitamin A can produce dry skin or unexplained breakouts.

A deficiency in vitamin B Complex can result in cracks at the corners of the mouth, unexplained breakouts, impaired wound-healing, and pallor.

A lack of vitamin C can cause poor wound-healing, dullness, and easy bruising.A shortage of vitamin E can lead to poor wound-healing and dry skin.

A lack of vitamin K can result in weak, broken, or distended facial capillaries.
Source:ArticleTrader.com

Conditioner Basics - Conditioners for Dry or Damaged Hair

2008-04-04T23:43:00.000-07:00

by alien82

Do You Need a Conditioner? Not every hair type requires it but most of us do. Conditioner adds moisture to the hair - some of the product may even sneak under the protective cuticle layers to infuse the inner strands with a temporary surge of moisture. It lubricates strands, helping to reduce static electricity, keeping hair from getting dry and brittle, and making locks easy to brush.

Conditioner acts as a temporary spackle that fills in chinks in the cuticle layer. This keeps strands from tangling around each other as you brush and style your hair. Conditioner also forms a protective seal around hair, which forces the cuticle to lie flat - this flat surface reflects light and makes hair shine.

Lubricants and emollients are used in conditioners. They attract and lock in moisture. These can include vegetable oils, mineral oil, plant oil, and vitamin B derivatives. Proteins are popular conditioner ingredients and can include collagen, elastin, and amino acids, which are small, natural building blocks of hair that penetrate the cuticle to strengthen strands. Some conditioners contain shine enhancers such as dimethicone, which helps to smooth cuticles.

Choosing an after-shampoo conditioner

Because there is a wide variety of hair types and hair needs, there is also a wide variety of after-shampoo conditioner formulas. Sometimes called rinse-out, regular, everyday, or instant conditioners, these products are the ones you apply after every shampoo, leave on for 1 to 5 minutes, then rinse out.

Detanglers are very light conditioners. Their main purpose is to smooth strands and keep hair from tangling. Because they are not moisturerich, detanglers are best for fine hair, oily hair, or for use whenever you don't need a lot of moisturizing but still want hair to behave.

Body-building conditioners are great for fine, lank hair. Because they are so light, they don't add a lot of moisture. Instead they detangle hair and leave strands looking firmer, thicker, and fuller. Balancing or normal hair conditioners are middle-of-the-road conditioners that are not too light, not too heavy. This makes them ideal for normal hair. For those of you who can't give up your blow dryers, look for thermal formulas.

Low pH products cause the hair's cuticle layer to clamp tightly shut, which protects the inner strand from moisture loss and creates terriftc shine. For the glossiest results, look for a conditioner with a pH of 3.0 to 3.5.

Conditioners for dry or damaged hair

Conditioners for dry or chemically treated hair are heavier than those for normal hair and take into account the special needs of moisture-starved dry or chemically treated hair. These conditioners leave a bit of residue to lubricate and protect strands.

Conditioners for damaged hair use high concentrations of lubricants and proteins to nurture hair that is fragile, frayed, ultra-dry, or injured by color, permanent waves, or relaxing services. Damaged hair formulas leave some protective residue on strands to keep locks moisturized and insulated from further damage.

Spray-on conditioners are great for those of you with dry, damaged, wavy, curly or frizzprone hair. Just mist on craggy looking spots whenever needed.
Source:ArticleTrader.com

Nail Tips and Art - Enhancing Your Nails

2008-04-04T23:37:00.000-07:00

by alien82

Gel nails

Gel nails, or gel systems as they are also called, are a newer type of nail enhancement that are created by applying layers of resin to the nail; these layers combine and harden to form a solid nail. Depending on the formula a particular nail technician uses, nails are hardened with an ultraviolet curing light or under ordinary room lighting. Gel nails are among the most natural-looking of the nail enhancements - something to keep in mind if you want nails that look like your own, only longer and stronger.

Using nail tips

Nail tips are one of the oldest forms of nail enhancements. Preformed plastic nail shapes are applied to the natural nail plate with nail glue. Sometimes they cover the nail from the cuticle to the end, but more frequently they are applied midway down the nail plate. To get a smoother finish, some nail techs may apply acrylics, gel, or wraps over either the natural "untipped" nail or both the natural nail and the newly affixed nail tip. The entire shape is then sanded and filed into the length and shape you want.

Nail art

Perhaps you're a showy type, someone who loves to express herself through her appearance. For you, a shockingly bright, trendy-colored nail isn't enough. You want to set yourself apart from the manicured crowd. From the sound of it, you are a nail art kind of gal. Nail art is not so much a way to augment nails' length as it is a way to enhance their appearance.

There are several ways you can dress up nails. Decals - much like the decals you got from boxes of sugared cereal, and stuck on windows or your own body as a kid - are an easy way to add whimsy to your nails. Most nail salons have a selection of seasonal (jack o'lanterns, snowflakes) as well as standard (roses, stars) designs. These are embedded in slightly sticky nail color. When nail color is dry, a swipe of top coat keeps decals secure.

Decorative nails

Nail jewelry can be expensive 14-karat gold, but it is usually made of cheaper silveror gold-colored metals. Most nail jewelry comes in simple designs, such as initials, stars, and hearts; it is applied just like nail decals. For those with very long nails, there is another type of nail jewelry: earrings for nails. If you're interested, your nail technician will actually pierce one of your nails and install a stud or a small hoop. Nail detailing, sometimes simply called nail art, uses extra-fine paintbrushes and several colors of nail polish, which your nail technician uses to paint scenes onto the nail. The finished product depends greatly on your nail technician's skill as a fine artist.
Source:ArticleTrader.com

Brushing - Using Combs and Picks

2008-04-04T23:03:00.000-07:00

by alien82

Combs and picks aren't necessary for everyone: some people use them, others simply rake gently through hair with their fingers. If you are a comb or pick user, look for a model with rounded, widely spaced teeth - these are gentler on hair than pointytipped, fine-toothed combs. Furthermore, make sure each individual tooth is smooth, without cracks or burs that can catch hair and rip away strands' cuticle layer. Hard rubber, hard silicone, and polished wood are the most hair-friendly materials

Brushing techniques There are two reasons to brush your hair. The most obvious one is grooming - your coif looks messy, so you brush it into submission. For this type of brushing, work gently and do as little as possible: too much brushing can upset your style: The other reason for brushing is sclap and hair health too much brushing can upset your style. The other reason for brushing is scalp and hair health. Now I realize that a bit of controversy surrounds this type of hair brushing. Some people believe the less you brush your hair, the healthier it will be; other folks claim that faithful brushing keeps the hair and scalp healthy by clearing away debris from the scalp and strands, massaging the scalp, and distrbuting moisturizing sebum through hair.

Regular brushing gives hair a natural shine and is said to create locks that are healthier, more manageable, and easier to style.

My own opinion is what I call "moderately pro-brushing." Through experience I've found a thorough brushing not only makes my hair look prettier, it dissuades oil from pooling around my roots and lifts dry flaky skin cells off my scalp. The best time to give your hair a thorough brushing is right before you hit the shower. I'll admit this is a bit arbitrary so if you want to give yourself a thorough brushing in the middle of the day or before going out at night, go ahead. However, be aware that intense brushing loosens dead scalp flakes, which gives your hair a "dandruffy" look. Also, if you have wavy or curly hair, an in-depth brushing can create an electric, high-frizz finish. (Now you see why I like to hit the shower after brushing!)

Handy hints

You've been brushing your hair for years - do you really need someone to tell you how to do it? Maybe not, but I'm nonetheless going to tell you what I've picked up from several dozen hairdressers. Before you whip out the brush, take a wide-tooth comb or use your fingers and gently go through the ends of your hair to remove tangles, knots, snarls, and so on. Bend over at the waist. Start at one ear and, working around the neckline, brush in long strokes from scalp to tip.

I do not believe in giving tresses 100 strokes a day - after all, too much of any good thing can, with time, create damage. Each section needs only two or three "rake-throughs" before you move on.

After you've finished working the neckline, remain bent over and separate your hair from nape to crown as if you were creating two ponytails. Starting at the nape and working toward the crown, brush strands on one side of the horizontal part. Repeat with the hair on the other side of the part.

Only dry hair should be brushed. Damp or wet hair is weak and vulnerable to breaking. If you must detangle wet hair, do it in the shower while you have conditioner in your hair. Work gently and use a wide-tooth comb or hair pick.

Stand up. Brush hair around the hairline by starting at one ear, moving toward the opposite ear, and directing hair back off the face. When you've finished, part hair in the center. Brush the hair on one side of the part. Repeat on the other side. Note: Those of you with curls or very thick hair may have to create a few more sections to ensure that every part of your scalp and hair gets brushed.

Those of us with longer hair, fragile hair, or hair that we're trying to grow must be more mindful of how we handle our strands.
Source:ArticleTrader.com

Benefits of Yoga

2008-04-04T22:50:00.000-07:00

by juliet

Yoga as we all know it is aimed to unite the mind, the body, and the spirit. Yoga is a science that has been practiced for thousands of years. Yoga is practiced by over 20 million Americans daily. Everyday people are reporting their wonderful experiences with Yoga. The most important benefit of yoga is physical and mental therapy. The aging process, which is largely an artificial condition, caused mainly by autointoxication or self-poisoning, can be slowed down by practicing yoga. To get the maximum benefits of yoga one has to combine the practices of yogasanas, pranayama and meditation.Yoga is all about feeling good; feel the blood surging through your veins.

Yoga profound respiration extends the oxygen consumption to the system cells, including the plump cells. Yogic exercises cause more continual and deeper respiration which gradually burns. The loosening and drill components of yoga have a leading character to beat in the handling and prevention of higher blood force (hypertension. Yoga is believed to cut pain by helping the mind's pain centre govern the gate-controlling mechanism located in the spinal cord and the secretion of normal painkillers in the system. Breathing exercises used in yoga can too cut pain. Yoga's inclusion of loosening techniques and meditation can too assist cut pain.

Part of the effectiveness of yoga in reducing pain is due to its focus on self-awareness. Regular rehearse of asanas, pranayama and meditation can help such various ailments such as diabetes, digestive disorders, arthritis, arteriosclerosis, chronic fatigue, asthma, varicose veins and heart conditions. Yoga practice also results in greater reduction in anxiety scores than drug therapy. Back pain is the most common reason to seek medical attention. Yoga has consistently been used to cure and prevent back pain by enhancing strength and flexibility. Both acute and long-term stress can lead to muscle tension and exacerbate back problems.

Practicing yoga can specify chronic pain sufferers with useful tools to actively cope with their pain and help counter feelings of helplessness and depression. Yoga is apt for all, regardless of age, color, caste, creed or religion; from the healthiest to the sickest, from the richest to the poorest, from the whitest to the blackest. Regular yoga practice can help in weight management. There are several asanas, such as the shoulder stand and the fish posture, which are specific for the thyroid gland. Fat metabolism is also increased, so fat is converted to muscle and energy. Yogic practices that reduce anxiety tend to reduce anxious eating.

Source:ArticleTrader.com

Indonesian activist jailed for life

2008-04-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

The leader of a secessionist group in Indonesia has been sentenced to life in prison for waving a separatist flag in front of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the nation's president.

The incident was a major embarrassment to the president as he was attending a government ceremony in Maluku in June last year.
bodyVariable350="Htmlphcontrol1_lblError";
A court spokesman said the leader of the separatist group, Johan Teterisa, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday in the provincial capital of Ambon after being found guilty of treason.

The harshness of the punishment reflects Indonesia's sensitivity to separatist movements.
bodyVariable300="Htmlphcontrol2_lblError";
At least 19 others were convicted of treason and sentenced to between 10 and 20 years for their involvement in the protest, court officials said.

Aides described Yudhoyono as being "livid" over the flag-waving incident.

Laying blame

Indonesia's military blamed the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) for not anticipating the incident, while military and police chiefs in the province offered to resign.

The outlawed South Maluku Republic (RMS) group, which was behind the flag-waving protest, emerged in the 1950s soon after Indonesia won its independence from Dutch colonial rule.

Indonesian military forces defeated the group, which was mostly Christian but had some Muslim members, and its leadership fled to the Netherlands.

It was largely forgotten until the eastern province of Maluku erupted in Muslim-Christian violence in 1999 that killed an estimated 9,000 people.

The Muslims labelled their Christian foes as separatists, a charge that helped give their cause legitimacy among the country's mostly Muslim leadership and media. An overwhelming majority of Christians in the province insist they do notwant a separate state.
Government-sponsored peace talks in the region in 2002 failed to end the violence, and sporadic clashes persist.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6FA6464D-627B-4C9C-A0C9-823E2299275E.htm

Boost Your Child's IQ: Techniques to Increase Intelligence Quotient Today

2008-04-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

By: Ion Stivenson

It is possible to enhance your intelligence quotient in a matter of 10 minutes. Some techniques to do so are discussed below.

Don't you want to enhance your IQ? Of course, you can use the brain power exercises and techniques. But these are long term and you would need to regularly practice them. What if you want to boost your IQ now, when you don't have more than 10 minutes. You would need all your IQ for any important meeting, or a test or any other major event in your life. If you really need some concrete results and not argue about intelligence, try the following techniques.

Breath To Increase Intelligence Quotient

Breath deeply through your nose. This will relax you immensely and help you remain calm and composed. Deep breathing infuses oxygen into your blood and therefore into your brain and enhances its functioning. A relaxed brain will be far more efficient. Also nose breathing uses the diaphragm more, so lungs draw more air. This is the simplest and shortest way to enhance your intelligence quotient immediately.

Another level of relaxation through breathing is meditation. Sit in whatever posture you are comfortable and concentrate on your breathing. With eyes closed, breath through your nose initially and this will truly calm and relax you. you will have thoughts interfering but just ignore them and keep your focus on your breathing. Do this for a few minutes.

Posture and exercise can improve your IQ

The posture you take while at any problem will surely affect the intelligence at your disposal. Just observe the difference when you solve a math problem slouching and sleeping while you do the same sitting upright. The latter posture will definitely be better since you can think a lot better like that.

You need to exercise, but not a very hectic regime as such. Exercise just enough to pump blood into your brain. Walking works for many but a better alternative to boost your IQ is aerobics.

Sleep also is very crucial for proper brain functioning. But the quality of sleep is also important apart from the duration of sleep.

Diet to Boost IQ

One tree whose leaves do certainly increase blood flow into brain is ginkgo biloba tree. You can use its leaves either in tea or in form of capsules. It also helps improve your memory power and concentration. The effect is immediate and it lasts long if regularly used.

Caffeine is certainly a IQ booster. It has been proved that any test taken after consuming caffeine in some form or the other does increase your scores. But do remember, that the effect is only temporary and caffeine if used longer can have adverse side effects too.

Give up sugar. Any carbohydrate if taken beyond a limit, can blur your thinking. Insulin gets injected into your blood stream after you have sugar and thus diminishes your ability to think. Avoid all carbohydrates like white flour, sugar, potatoes if you want to think clearly.

Results matter in the end

Experts will endlessly debate if the above techniques can really boost one's IQ. But there are times when it is very crucial for you to score high in a test. The above techniques if are found to be IQ booster, why not use them rather than wasting time in thinking if IQ really gets boosted or not. What matters is the score you get in the IQ test. So if you sleep well, have coffee and think sitting straight and if all this boosts IQ, there is no harm in doing the above techniques. These will prepare you better to face any task. Hence, be wise and don't debate any more on IQ and its definitions.

I am sure you all know Henry Ford. What was his IQ, any idea? Why bother? He was the most creative thinker of the last century and he was so because he was always in the company of intelligent people. That alone is a direct 20 point in IQ. I hope you get the point I state here.

You are concerned about results. Hence if you want to be creative resort to such techniques of finding a solution. There are techniques available to try out anything. Try your hands at speed reading and you will have double the grasp on the subject you read. What the world will see are the results or achievements you garner in your lifetime. The Monalisa, the Empire State building, etc, are what the world will remember and not your score in IQ tests.

Evgheny Stivenson, Ph. D., author of numerous IQ tests and personality tests

Thinking Baby Shower Gift? For Baby's Sake, Think Organic. Think Phthalate-Free

2008-04-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

By: Victoria Loveland-Coen

I know it’s a mouthful…phthalates. In fact, it’s almost like the sound one makes when one sticks one’s tongue out to give someone a “New York Raspberry.” And isn’t that appropriate? Phthalates are nasty chemicals found in many popular baby shampoos, lotions and powders. That’s right. All those brands you see on your local drugstore shelf…those brands we’ve trusted for decades to be safe for our babies…contain phthalates. Shame on you Johnson & Johnson

You may have heard something about this mentioned briefly on nightly news, but it bears reiterating and highlighting. A new study reported in the Journal of Pediatrics found that 81% of the 163 infants they tested had measurable levels of phthalates in their urine.

Dr. Sheela Sathyanarayana from the University of Washington, who was one of the researchers working on the study was quoted as saying, “At this time, we do not know what the potential long-term health effects might be, but there is a large body of animal studies to suggest developmental and reproductive toxicity from phthalates and a few human studies with changes in health outcomes as well.” Yikes!

Her recommendation to us mothers? Decrease our use of lotions, shampoos and powder for our babies. No joke.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I could suddenly stop washing my child’s hair or neglect her dry skin. Luckily there is a viable and quite lovely solution….organic, phthalate-free baby lotions and shampoos. There are more and more of them appearing every day in heath food stores, hip baby boutiques and online. Companies such as Earth Mama Angel Baby and Little Twig take great pride in claiming they’ve never had phthalates in their products.

Even luckier, some website, like ours at LoveBlessings.com, and a few others, combine these organic lotions and shampoos with organic baby clothes and create baby shower gift baskets suitable for every new baby. When shopping for baby shower gift baskets, read the list of contents carefully. Many companies use chemical-laden drugstore brands.

When chosen well, a gift basket for a new mom filled with organic and nurturing product makes a perfect gift for mama and baby and introduces them to an alternative to the toxic chemicals found in typical baby products. Many women are still unaware of the health risks of these chemicals and their babies may, unfortunately, pay the price of that lack of knowledge.

We can also demand that manufacturers remove these, and all toxic chemicals, from all products that come into contact with our most precious possession…our children.

Victoria Loveland-Coen is an author, mother-of-twins and founder of www.LoveBlessings.com, a site that offers women a combination of free parenting tips and articles along with artfully created baby shower gift baskets, organic baby clothes, lotions and shampoos.

Large wall maps - bring the world to your home

2008-04-04T22:05:00.000-07:00

By: Robert Klien

Planning to do up your home? Doing up the interior of your home can be a rather time consuming and challenging task. You would definitely like each and every room to have a distinct look reflecting the personality of those who live in there. For instance the kid’s room should be lively and vibrant just like your kids. It must also be child safe and cater to all their requirements.

The regular decorating ideas are what you generally see around you in many homes. Why not be a little experimental with your interiors and include items that would make a value addition to your home. You would definitely love to have a home that you are comfortable in and makes an impression with your guests.

For a different and lovely look to your home the children wall maps are a good option worth considering.You could either have the kids wall map on one of the living room walls or then it could be used in the children’s bedroom. A new looks to your home with kids wall maps is something that you and your family would love. It would prove to be a great value addition to your interiors perfectly matching with the rest of your decor. The wall maps for kids can also be used for all the fun learning activities with your kids. You could play fun games with kids and have spent some quality family time. Both you and your kids are going to feel great with the fun time you would have together with the wall map for kids.

There are several options to choose from as regards wall maps for children. You could have USA wall maps or world wall maps for your walls. There are also children’s maps of the solar system that are available. The solar system wall map children have a detailed colorful representation of the solar system with all details like planets, stars, meteors. A lovely look to the room and a fun way to learn new concepts is what the wall maps offer.The kids world wall map like the solar system maps have a laminated surface and are markable and washable. The maps come with a lot ofinformation about the different countries like the flora and fauna, the explorers and flags to name a few. There are many fun games that you could play with these maps.

The wall maps come in a number of materials. There are kids felt wall map that are available. Fabric and paper wall maps are the other options. These wall maps are very easy to install and also take down. Kids would really have fun with the illustrated and colorful learning experience. Ordering online has made it very simple to have a wall map for your home. With the online sites offering facilities of ordering and payment online, the wall map would be right at your doorstep in afew days.

Have fun with your kids, it is a wonderful way to discover the simple pleasures of life.

Robert Klien reviews maps for kids, wall maps, USA wall maps, laminated wall maps, large wall maps, world wall maps, framed wall maps, world wall maps, fabric maps, country wall maps, detailed wall maps, children wall maps, kids wall map, wall maps for kids, kids wall maps, wall map for kids, wall maps for children, kids world wall map, wall map children, kids felt wall map

Tan It Up In Bequia

2008-04-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

By: Jonalyn B. Saplala

Looking forward to a more exciting Caribbean tour this summer desiring to see one-of-a kind white sand beaches and experience the beauty of nature together with your special loved ones? Why don't you try look for inviting Bequia resorts that you will see within the beautiful island of the Caribbean. It will surely take your breath away.

In addition to this, if you also long for a break and want to relax a little bit giving your body a taste of heat from the smiling sun Bequia apartments are available within your reach to satisfy your needs whenever you feel like you need a break from the busy world you got yourself into.

You would not to spoil your relaxing moments so better choose the best service you can get during your vacation. Better see and inspect every Bequia accommodation available that best fits your personal needs especially if your going on a beach outing together with your family.

Taking into mind that there a lot to choose from, making sure of the kind of service you will get is a plus while surfing the different accommodation services available within Bequia island carribean.Here are some tips that you can use as guidelines to make your getaway the best from your previous trips. Remember, every moment counts. First, pick the resort you want to visit along with your loved ones. It will ease the difficulty of getting confused from the various beach resorts you see on television or the Internet.

Second, find one that will definitely satisfy your likings where you will have the chance to do different activities that you would want to try out like snorkeling, jet sky, diving and the likes to make your summer getaway memorable for everyone. Each activity will be a bonding moment for you and your family, it will develop a stronger bond amongst you. It will also make each and every individual more productive as each activity will introduce new things and explorations for each.

Third, avail the accommodation service that fits the whole family to assure the comfort of every family member. It is a vacation right? So, why not avail the type of room and lodging that fits your desires while staying for the rest of your Bequia vacation . Fully furnished rooms will do good during you relaxing pleasures. Always keep an eye on those details to make your vacation worth every penny.

Also, you will definitely want to get served from head to toe so why not make the most out of it and get full services which includes full meals for the whole day in your cozy and relaxing suite. Give yourself a chance to savor those new delicious cuisines that you might encounter. Exploring those exotic cuisines alongside with the new culture that you might also encounter during your stay will and serve as a learning experience not only to you but to your family as well.

Finally, look for accommodations that gives other services which includes spa areas to get a body massage after the whole day activities you did. Getting a massage while experiencing a cool breeze coming from the beach will certainly make our body more relaxed until you doze to sleep without you noticing it.

Furthermore, it is still your call to have a good time during vacation. Just make sure to prepare everything before going and also keep in mind to always bring extra money for you never know what to expect during your stay. Enjoy and let yourself embrace fun and excitement under the hot summer sun.

For more information, check out this site on Bequia accommodation.
http://www.articlewisdom.com

Tips on Buying Baby Slings and Baby Carriers

2008-04-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

By: Carol Oliver

The baby sling has been used for centuries, and has recently gained great favor among modern mothers. It's felt that a small infant has more privacy with a sling (Actress Keri Russell says her sling is her baby's "paparazzi shield"!), and it's especially useful for nursing mothers.

There are several important things to consider when choosing a sling or front carrier. First, check the sling to see what size / weight it is rated for. Is the sling padded? Padding is excellent for protecting toddler's sensitive legs. When debating between baby carriers and baby slings, keep in mind that front carriers are designed for infants from 8 to 25 pounds, while baby slings can be used for preemies all the way up to toddlers at 35 pounds.

For soft carriers, make sure that it's washable and has adjustable straps. This allows you to keep the same great fit as your baby grows. Your baby should fit snugly, and have good head support, and their weight should be evenly distributed. Only use a carrier to move the baby about when you are walking. Never use it to transport the baby on a bike, in a car, or any other means of transportation. Check the carrier from time to time for any damage: things like a ripped seam, a missing or loose snap or strap, or a place where the fabric has worn through and a sharp edge is protruding.

Some car seats convert to lift-out-and-carry baby carriers. While these can be heavy and bulky, some mothers prefer them to traditional carriers. Many are designed to snap into a car seat base, or into a stroller. Only use those types of models together. Never take a base from one model (maybe that someone has given you) and try to rig up something to hold your carrier in it. In an accident, the carrier will break free, and your baby will become a projectile! If you own a new car, never put your baby's carrier / car seat in the front. In the event of an accident, the airbags could cause serious injury to your child.

In the case of a backpack carrier, consider getting one that can be worn on your back, side or front. It gives you more options depending on the age and temperament of your child. Some carriers provide a sun shield (which doubles as a rain guard) as an added bonus. Remember, the heat of the sun is much more damaging to an infant's head than an adult's. You want your baby's weight evenly distributed, so get a backpack carrier that's adjustable. Make sure the fabric is washable, and easy to remove; filthy cloth is a breeding ground for germs. Follow these tips, and your baby will stay safe and healthy and so will you.

For more information check out Mamma's Milk wide range of baby carriers and baby slings.
http://www.articlewisdom.com

Meerkat Manor - The Cutest Faces On TV

2008-04-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

By: Candice Carlson

Usually I don't like soap operas, but when I saw Zaphod face the camera in the list of characters for MEERKAT MANOR I was smitten.

These are really charming animals. They have an involved social network in their colony named The Whiskers. The relationships that develop each episode always leave you wondering what will happen next.

One rule that causes never ending problems is the limits allowed for reproduction. The alpha female is usually the only one who is permitted to have pups, and with the alpha male. In the Whiskers group, Flower is the lucky lady who can have a litter of pups four times a year. Zaphod is the male who grooms her, guards her when she's fertile, and tries to be her number one. It seems to be female meerkat nature for the others to give-in to the marauding Carlos, becoming pregnant. Then Flower, followed by the others, punishes the errant female. The cost of the crime is not always the same. And that's when you can't wait to see what will happen next. The offender could be ostracized from the group, the pups could be killed by Flower, or the mother could just get a scolding.

Another continuing battle is with the other colonies that border the Whisker's territory. As the group increases, so does the need to expand the feed lot. This also causes more rivalry between the border groups, which often ends in a fight with injuries.

This soap has as much drama as any other, but with the captivating meerkats. It has continued for three seasons, with a feature film to be released this year.

Candice Carlson helps consumers with the latest technology news and reviews. A tech writer for over 3 years, Candice offers guidance through the confusing world of digital entertainment and discovers the best consumer friendly deals out there. If you're thinking about subscribing to a cable television service make sure you read Ms. Carlson's articles before choosing a cable tv provider.

The Slaves of Solitude

2008-04-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

By Patrick Hamilton
Introduction by David Lodge

England in the middle of World War II, a war that seems fated to go on forever, a war that has become a way of life. Heroic resistance is old hat. Everything is in short supply, and tempers are even shorter. Overwhelmed by the terrors and rigors of the Blitz, middle-aged Miss Roach has retreated to the relative safety and stupefying boredom of the suburban town of Thames Lockdon, where she rents a room in a boarding house run by Mrs. Payne. There the savvy, sensible, decent, but all-too-meek Miss Roach endures the dinner-table interrogations of Mr. Thwaites and seeks to relieve her solitude by going out drinking and necking with a wayward American lieutenant. Life is almost bearable until Vicki Kugelmann, a seeming friend, moves into the adjacent room. That's when Miss Roach's troubles really begin.

Recounting an epic battle of wills in the claustrophobic confines of the boarding house, Patrick Hamilton's The Slaves of Solitude, with a delightfully improbable heroine, is one of the finest and funniest books ever written about the trials of a lonely heart.

Reviews
Gritty, real, tough, and sardonic.... If you were looking to fly from Dickens to Martin Amis with just one overnight stop, then Hamilton is your man.— Nick Hornby

A welcome opportunity for contemporary readers to discover [Patrick Hamilton]...The author sketches the everyday with a deft, often comedic touch, yet never loses sight of the ultimate pathos of the human condition.— Los Angeles Times

The author sketches the everyday with a deft, often comedic touch, yet never loses sight of the ultimate pathos of the human condition.— Newsday

I enjoyed every page of this novel, and have never had the pleasure of seeing the panoply of loneliness and depression employed to such brilliant comic effect.— Katherine Powers, The Boston Globe

The Widow

2008-04-04T21:27:00.000-07:00

By Georges Simenon
Translated from the French by John Petrie
Introduction by Paul Theroux

The Widow is the story of two outcasts and their fatal encounter. One is the widow herself, Tati. Still young, she's never had an easy time of it, but she's not the kind to complain. Tati lives with her father-in-law on the family farm, putting up with his sexual attentions, working her fingers to the bone, improving the property and knowing all the time that her late husband's sister is scheming to kick her out and take the house back.

The other is a killer. Just out of prison and in search of a new life, Jean meets up with Tati, who hires him as a handyman and then takes him to bed. Things are looking up, at least until Jean falls hard for the girl next door.

The Widow was published in the same year as Camus' The Stranger, and André Gide judged it the superior book. It is Georges Simenon's most powerful and disturbing exploration of the bond between death and desire.

Reviews
Simenon's romans durs are extraordinary: tough, bleak, offhandedly violent, suffused with guilt and bitterness, redolent of place . . . utterly unsentimental, frightening in the pitilessness of their gaze, yet wonderfully entertaining.— John Banville

[Further] examples of M. Simenon's ability to grasp entirely dissimilar milieux and to demonstrate the universality of the tragedy to be founding both of them...There is a harsh, almost Biblical intensity to M. Simenon's catalogues of punishment: he is a believer in original sin.— The New York Times

Simenon's novels of suspense…unfold with a relentlessness, a sense of compulsion, that is as chilling as the deeds to which his people are driven by the quirks of character within them…One of the greatest and most prolific of the modern French creators of fiction, the author is notable for the clean economy of his writing style.— Philadelphia Inquirer

Strong, terrible, splendid stuff her, by one of the world's strangest, most notable talents.— Houston Chronicle

Marked by a brutal and earthy realism…Extremely readable.— Eerie Times

Georges Simeon is not only a master of suspense, he knows also how to probe so deeply into the minds of his characters as to reveal with remarkable fidelity the more evasive of human motives.— Cleveland Press

As the New York Review of Books Classics series publishes Simenon after Simenon at a rate the novelist would envy, it's tempting to read them all in a lump, as an extensive, though still partial, psychological portrait of the writer.— The Nation

These books…are not mysteries…They are hard, blunt, frequently punishing studies of human beings driven by circumstance and personality to the ends of their tethers, forcing them to extreme measures…They are acute, compact, remarkably varied, and as lapidary as great pop songs.— Bookforum, Luc Sante

Molehill Politics

2008-04-04T21:17:00.000-07:00

By Elizabeth Drew

The Democrats didn't expect so much pain. The assumption was that out of a patch of good candidates one would emerge to take on an inevitably weak Republican—the field was seen as lacking and George Bush as a drag on the party—and defeat him in what everyone knew was a Democratic year. But this has been the year of the unexpected. Now, anguished Democratic Party leaders fear that the increasingly bloody struggle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will continue until the end of the primaries or, worse, play out further at their convention in late August—which could only benefit the Republicans' putative, and unexpected, nominee, John McCain.
The Democrats' contest has changed from simply a fierce fight for "pledged delegates," who are elected in the primaries and caucuses, which Obama is winning, into a battle to convince the as-yet-uncommitted superdelegates which candidate would be stronger in the general election—regardless of who has won the most pledged delegates. This is an issue injected into the contest by the Clinton campaign. Mathematically, there now appears to be no way for Clinton to catch up to Obama in pledged delegates; the final decision will be made by the superdelegates, who are under extreme pressure from both sides.
In this fight, the Clinton camp is the more aggressive of the two, and it's adept at what might be called molehill politics: making a very big deal in the press about something that's a very small deal—such as a single word in a mailing or a slip-up by an aide. Clinton's strategists pounce on whatever opportunity presents itself to attack Obama, and try to knock him off his own message, and his stride. Clinton's approach resembles her tactics in the White House, in which her inclination was to attack (which caused a number of problems, and was one of the reasons her health care bill was defeated). The Obama camp has sometimes been slow, and even reluctant, to respond, because if he attacks her personally (which the Clinton campaign would like him to do), he's not Barack Obama anymore. Moreover, Obama takes care not to come across as the "angry black"—a stereotype he does not fit, but that could be imposed upon him by others.
While it's true that the two remaining Democratic candidates have few substantive differences, they have very different approaches to campaigning, which give us clues about the differences in how they would govern—and that, after all, is what this whole thing is, or should be, about. It's useful to try to imagine these people in the White House, and, from their campaigning, to try to figure what they will be like there: how they will use power; how well they would sustain their appeal over a considerable period of time.
It's been long said among politicians that "the Clintons will do anything to win." Unfortunately, they are increasingly proving the point. As the primaries in Texas and Ohio approached, the Clinton campaign, which has a tendency to announce its next steps, said that it would use a "kitchen sink" strategy against Obama—and so it did: with the famous and apparently effective "red phone" ad questioning his fitness to be commander in chief; and in frequent and heavy-handed conference calls to reporters (an innovation), in which Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson makes charges against Obama, raises questions about him, or moves "goal posts" designating what Obama has to do to win. (Obama "has to win Pennsylvania," which few think is likely.) This propaganda makes its way onto cable and other news outlets. But where does, or should, a "kitchen sink" strategy belong in a presidency?
Hillary Clinton is employing conventional politics, while Obama is trying to create a new kind of politics. Similarly, as they respond to the country's desire for change, they have very different concepts of what "change" means: briefly, for Obama it means changing the very zeitgeist of Washington, creating a new way to get things done by building coalitions that transcend longstanding political divisions. For Clinton it means passing bills—though sometimes she has suggested that it means electing a woman president. ("I embody change," she said in a debate in New Hampshire.)
That Obama's style didn't work so well in Ohio and Texas, on March 4, is not surprising, although he is likely to end up with more delegates in Texas, thanks to the caucuses that followed the traditional primary voting. (The Clinton campaign is now challenging the outcome of the caucus voting.) Ohio in particular was not a welcome place for him. It's a meat-and-potatoes state (I grew up there) whose voters demand practical solutions and are not given to the romance or the leap of imagination that Obama's campaign involves.
The demographics there were not in his favor: it's older and whiter than most other states, and has a higher population of women (to whom Clinton played heavily) than any other state the two candidates had contested. A declining rust-belt state, it also has a larger number of discontented blue-collar workers than any other state in which the two candidates had campaigned before. And unlike, say, Iowa, it has a higher percentage of blacks and a history of racial conflict. Obama had had a streak of eleven straight victories, but there was always a question of how he would fare when he hit the industrial states.
Obama's victories in Maryland and Virginia on February 12, and then Wisconsin a week later, showed him gaining voters among Clinton's constituency of women, white men, and blue-collar workers, which suggested a major reshaping of the race; but that trend stopped in Ohio and in Texas—where Bill Clinton warned the voters that they had to keep his wife in the race. Obama did poorly with Hispanics, gaining only 30 percent of their vote in Texas to Clinton's 63 percent. If Obama could not win the votes of blue-collar workers and Hispanics in the general election—and this is not to say that he couldn't—that could seriously damage his chances.
That the presumed neophyte Obama has stood toe-to-toe with the Clintons (for all of Hillary Clinton's complaints about being "ganged up on," Obama has had to face both Clintons every day), has beaten them more often than not, and still might prevail is in itself remarkable. But in one important way his campaigning has fallen short. A great many people who follow politics closely simply don't "get" Obama, and can become quite angry about him. (This election is dividing friends and families like no other I've seen.) They see him as offering empty rhetoric, as simply building a movement, even a cult; the huge crowds he has drawn, his rock-star appeal, have only reinforced these suspicions. Actually, Obama is a serious student of policy—even, in the words of one adviser, a "geek"—and highly informed as a result. In Wisconsin, in some frustration—as Clinton was calling him "a talker, not a doer"—Obama said:
Everybody has got a ten-point plan on everything. You go to Senator Clinton's Web site, my Web site, they look identical.... The problem is not the lack of proposals. The question is, who can bring Democrats, independents, and Republicans into a working majority to bring about change. That's what we're doing in this campaign. This is what a working majority looks like. That's how we're going to move the country forward. That's what I offer that she can't do.
Obama has a big idea: he believes that in order to change Washington and to get some of those ten-point programs through, and to reduce the power of the lobbies and "special interests," he must first build a large coalition—Democrats, independents, Republicans, whoever—to support him in his effort to change things. He has figured out that he cannot make the kinds of changes he's talking about if he has to fight for 51–49 majorities in Congress. Therefore, he's trying to build a broader coalition, and enlist the people who have come out to see him and are getting involved in politics for the first time because of him. If he can hold that force together, members of Congress, including the "old bulls," according to a campaign aide, "will look back home and see that there is a mandate for change." Thus, Obama talks about working "from the bottom up" to bring about change. When he says he will take on the special interests and the lobbies, to him it's not as far-fetched as most jaded Washingtonians think: he intends to do that with the army he's building.
To understand Obama, one has to recognize the importance to him of his days as a community organizer in Chicago: he worked with churches, and "in the streets," to organize people to take on the powers-that-be in order to improve their living conditions and get jobs. An Obama adviser told me, "His being a community organizer is the fundamental insight and philosophy of his campaign." Thus, Obama has a fresh, even revolutionary idea about how to govern. The inspiring speeches have a far-sighted and pragmatic goal.
Being an organizer at heart—though he also practiced law in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago for ten years—in the first quarter of his campaign Obama focused on setting up campaign organizations in many states and raising money, mainly through small contributions via the Internet. The Clinton campaign, by contrast, raised money from the top, so that many contributors "maxed out" early.
Obama's ability to inspire people, to draw tremendous crowds, has carried him a long way, but even though he began to season his speeches with talk about programs, he failed, in Ohio in particular, to clearly connect what he was saying to individual people's lives. He didn't bring the rhetoric down to earth, translate it into something real that voters could understand. And I think this is one reason he lost. Clinton, by contrast, got across that she was "a fighter" (her new self-description) who would produce "results for America" (her new theme) and would improve the lives of many Ohioans; she talked in specifics about what she would do, and made it all seem real. Since then, Obama has been dealing much more in specifics.
Obama's wonkish side led him early on to steep himself in position papers on numerous issues, from defense policy to health care to climate change, and from April to December of 2007 he gave speeches describing in detail how he would approach various issues. It was at this time that the press was describing him as "flat." And then he lit up the political world by giving an extraordinary speech at the Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner in Des Moines, Iowa, on November 10, 2007. The last to speak, he roused the audience, and made some subtle digs at Clinton:
This party—the party of Jefferson and Jackson; of Roosevelt and Kennedy—has always made the biggest difference in the lives of the American people when we led, not by polls, but by principle; not by calculation, but by conviction; when we summoned the entire nation to a common purpose—a higher purpose. And I run for the Presidency of the United States of America because that's the party America needs us to be right now.
Obama has been accused of being all flash, and of not having done much in the Senate. His record in the three and a half years he has been there suggests someone serious about the job: he worked on a nuclear nonproliferation bill that passed and backed a number of policy changes to help veterans, including more medical care for those with post-traumatic stress disorder, assistance for homeless veterans, and the extension of tax credits for military families. He pushed through the Senate a major bill on ethics reform; and introduced legislation in January 2007 to stop, or if that failed, limit funds for the surge. He also worked with the conservative Republican Tom Coburn in a successful effort to get Congress to impose transparency on government expenditures so that anyone can look them up. The criticism that he hasn't done more also overlooks the fact that during his first two years in the Senate, he was ninety-ninth in seniority and in the minority party. Already a celebrity when he reached Washington, he was in fact careful to be humble, and to seek the advice of his elders. (Just as Hillary Clinton did when she got to the Senate.)
As for Obama's often-questioned record as an eight-year Illinois state senator, James Warren, a managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, says,
The caricature of him as a neophyte legislator with a modest record is unfair. He was very hard-working and effective, often against significant political opposition and amid scant media attention. Through forging coalitions, he got bona fide, important legislation through on taping of police interrogations, racial profiling, ethics reform, and the earned income tax credit.
The Clinton campaign's false assumption—based on a 350-page, state-by-state study in the summer of 2007 by key strategist Mark Penn—that Clinton's victory was "inevitable" led to a series of mistakes: (1) presenting herself as the "inevitable" nominee; (2) prematurely running a general election campaign; (3) assuming that the race would be over on February 5—Super Tuesday; and (4) believing that a number of small states that held caucuses could be skipped. And if Penn's strategy didn't work there was no Plan B. It's never a good idea to have a pollster in an important policy position in a campaign, since he or she can design the polling to get the answers he or she wants, as some believed Penn had done in the Clinton White House. (Hillary Clinton brought him in after the electoral disaster of 1994.) The Clinton campaign has been divided and sometimes almost paralyzed by internal feuding among outsized egos. By contrast, this hasn't happened in the Obama campaign: Obama deliberately picked congenial people and instructed his staff that he wanted "no drama."
In early March, Clinton went from, in a debate, "I'm honored...to be here with Barack Obama...absolutely honored" to, a day and a half later, angrily, shouting, "Shame on you, Barack Obama." In that instance, she was engaging in molehill politics: a flyer on trade that the Obama campaign had sent out quoted her as saying that the North American Free Trade Agreement had been a "boon" to the United States' economy. The use of the word "boon," an accidental error, was taken from Newsday, which put in quotes the gist of her remarks.[1] Obama replied calmly. "Senator Clinton has...constantly sent out negative attacks on us, email, robo-calls, flyers, television ads, radio calls, and we haven't whined about it because I understand that is the nature of these campaigns."
Clinton's frequent switching of tactics and personas raises the question of who she is and why she's so changeable: employing a Southern accent in a Selma, Alabama, church; dropping her g's while touring in Appalachia; sounding something like a cowboy in Wyoming ("concerns that keep ya up at night"), and then back to a Southern accent in Mississippi. Clinton's variability does not mean that she lacks her own core belief about the need to help improve people's lives. But it suggests that she is not a natural politician and is willing to try almost anything, while her feuding staff gives her conflicting advice. As a result, her campaign has had no overall message, and her themes have shifted almost by the week. The disorder within her own campaign team raises questions about how she would govern.
Clinton believes that the issue of health care—in which there is one substantive difference between them—works to her advantage. She brings it up often and even harped on it in the last debate, in Cleveland, on February 26, where she came across as the dinner guest who just won't drop a subject. She argues that for health care to be universal, people must be required to participate in the plan. Obama argues that if the cost of the new insurance is low enough, people will participate. But the great debate on this issue is phony, for Clinton has refused to say how she would enforce her plan (and states that have tried enforcement programs have failed); moreover, everyone knows that campaign plans change once they reach the White House, and political compromises are made.
In debating NAFTA, the other big issue in the Ohio campaign, both candidates pandered to hard-up workers, whom the labor left has convinced that the treaty is the cause of their woes. Both pledged to renegotiate the treaty, which could cause large problems with numerous other countries, and may not even be possible. Clinton tried to disavow the treaty, despite her several past comments praising it—it had been one of her husband's major triumphs—while Obama chided her for being selective about which of her husband's achievements she wants to take credit for. But then the Clinton campaign was blessed by a report on Canadian television that one of Obama's advisers had met with a Canadian official and told him, in effect, not to worry about the heated rhetoric that Obama was using about NAFTA. Exactly what happened in this meeting—many foreign governments get in touch with campaigns to find out what's going on—remains unclear (though if the adviser did say this he was probably speaking the truth). But the Obama campaign mishandled the affair by denying for a few days that there had been a meeting. Meanwhile, Clinton pounded away, to her great benefit.
Hillary Clinton's ten-point victory in Ohio was a testament to her exceptional resilience (she sometimes went on only three hours of sleep, yet most of the time managed to look fresh and enthusiastic) and her determination when her back is to the wall. She seemed a more confident campaigner, and it helped her, as it had in New Hampshire, that before the voting there was much press babble to the effect that if she didn't win in Ohio and Texas she'd have to get out of the race. Such talk serves to bring out her followers, especially women, to rescue her. Also, race had a part in the Ohio results. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that race mattered more in Ohio than in any other primary thus far.
From the beginning, the Clinton campaign has suggested—first in whispers by Clinton aides and then, starting earlier this year, heading into the Iowa caucuses, aloud by Clinton herself, and it continues—that Obama hasn't been "vetted." This smear is intended to suggest that there are "things there" in Obama's past (left unspecified) that could cause him real problems. Yet despite their own efforts—every campaign has "oppo" (for opposition) research—thus far the Clinton campaign has turned up nothing new about Obama. Warren, the Tribune editor, says, "His life has been very rigorously inspected by the Chicago papers, and they've been pretty tough on him. The idea that he needs to be vetted a lot more by a heretofore compliant press is baloney."
In fact the Tribune had already revealed in November 2006 something that the Clinton campaign makes much of: that Obama made arrangements in 2005 with Tony Rezko, a Chicago businessman, which yielded the Obamas extra yard space for a house they were buying—an action that Obama has numerous times described as "a mistake," and "bone-headed." At the time of the Obamas' purchase, Rezko was under grand jury investigation, and Obama has admitted it showed poor judgment on his part to do business with him because Rezko was a contributor and Obama himself was in politics. Obama recently told the Tribune that Rezko had raised more money for his earlier races than he had previously disclosed: about $250,000 in all. Rezko has not contributed to Obama's presidential campaign; but unfortunately for Obama, Rezko's trial began on the day before the Ohio and Texas primaries. Wolfson had a field day with this in his conference calls, and the press showed a renewed interest in Obama's dealings with Rezko.
On 60 Minutes the Sunday before the March 4 primaries, Clinton said that Obama was not a Muslim, "as far as I know." And on the morning after the Ohio and Texas primaries, Clinton said, icily, that now there were "new questions" about Obama, which the superdelegates should know or should have known about. She did not specify which questions she had in mind.
Shortly after that, the issue of race, which had emerged only around the margins of the Democratic contest, exploded. Some reporters felt the Clintons were making sure that Obama, who is of mixed race, was known as the black candidate. Hillary Clinton commented in a debate, "isn't it wonderful" to have a woman and an African-American in the race. (Obama could only smile gamely.) She has made similar remarks elsewhere. And there had been Bill Clinton's comments in South Carolina, such as his saying, after Obama won by a huge margin, that Jesse Jackson had won the state, too. Also noticeable was the series of Clinton allies making what could most kindly be put as racially insensitive remarks—among them Bill Shaheen, husband of the former governor of New Hampshire and co-chair of Clinton's campaign (he stepped down); BET founder Bob Johnson; and Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania.
And then, along came Geraldine Ferraro, Walter Mondale's running mate in 1984, saying that Obama was "lucky" to be black, because that's how he'd gotten where he had. With Obama not running as the "black candidate," and not belonging to the civil rights generation, many people, perhaps naively, had thought that the issue of race could be avoided. But now this most painful subject in American life was squarely before the country.
Clinton, who had at first given a tepid response to Ferraro's comment, saying, "Well, I do not agree with that," and tried to equate both campaigns in "veering off" into the personal, had to go further. At a meeting on March 12 with a group of black publishers, someone brought up Bill Clinton's South Carolina remark and asked her how she could regain the trust of the African-American community. Mrs. Clinton replied that she was "sorry if anyone was offended," and then added, "We can be proud of both Jesse Jackson and Senator Obama."
Right on top of the Ferraro episode came—not coincidentally, some observers think—the release on television of some particularly inflammatory statements by Obama's pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright—"No, no, no. Not God bless America. God damn America." Such preaching is not uncommon in black churches and Wright's is milder than some others. That Obama attended Wright's church—the biggest and most influential black church in Chicago, a church that had done a lot of civic good—does not at all signify that he shared these particular pastoral views. Obama has had no part in the angry-black world. The controversy over Wright was not a new issue, and Obama had dropped him from giving the convocation speech at his announcement that he was running for president.
But, as always, pictures made the difference, as did the reality of what Wright had been saying. Obama's speech on race, in Philadelphia on March 18, was both a necessity and an opportunity. His description of his background as Kansas white and Kenya black, of being raised by white grandparents, and his frank and searing description of the anger of both blacks and whites over the subject of race enabled him to define himself as not simply the "black" candidate, and to forcefully restate his position as the candidate of unity. His explanation that he found some of Wright's fiery sermons "not only wrong but divisive," while he refused to "disown" him, made both moral and political sense. "This time," he said repeatedly, the country must grapple with the issues that set the two races apart. He took on a big burden.
Many Clinton people feel that it was a disastrous mistake to skip so many caucuses, which allowed Obama to rack up delegates—this was in part a result of Penn's planning; in part it reflected the fact that Obama's campaign is better at organizing than Clinton's; and in part it was because Clinton herself, since her big loss in Iowa, has made it clear she dislikes caucuses, even portraying them as somewhat illegitimate. So, out of necessity, she and her husband campaigned hard for the Wyoming caucus on Saturday, March 8, and Obama beat her 59–40.
Particularly shameless after all their attacks on Obama, including the charge that he was unfit to be commander in chief, were the unsubtle hints by the Clintons, just before the Mississippi primary on March 11, that Hillary Clinton might put Obama—the front-runner—on her ticket. Their remark was demeaning to Obama, but also meant to suggest to Mississippi blacks and others that they could have it both ways. Obama made fun of their ploy, and sought to make it clear that this was a no-go.
In any event, Obama won 90 percent of the black vote in perhaps the most racially divided state in the country. Seeking not to undermine Obama's claim to be a new kind of politician, his campaign has so far been cautious in its response to kitchen-sink politics. His campaign leaders have called for the release of Clinton's tax returns and her White House records, but there is plenty of other material that could be telling, including Bill Clinton's pardons (the National Archives says that he is holding up the release of papers about them) and the contributors to his library and his foundation. There are also questions of Bill Clinton's curious business deals since he left office.[2] (So much for having been "vetted.")
Members of the Obama team have also been raising questions about Hillary Clinton's assertions of her "experience," particularly in foreign policy. They point out that she didn't have security clearance in the White House, and could not attend National Security Council meetings. They have also been taking apart her claims of specific foreign policy successes, for example her assertion that "I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland," a claim that even Northern Ireland officials debunked recently. Or her claim that "I negotiated open borders to let fleeing refugees into safety from Kosovo." Of this Greg Craig, an Obama adviser and former director of the State Department Office of Policy Planning in the Clinton administration, who is now for Obama, has said that the borders were opened the day before Hillary Clinton arrived in Macedonia where she would have conducted such negotiations.
In her efforts to paint Obama as unfit to be the commander in chief, Clinton has recklessly gone so far as to argue that she and McCain are readier than Obama is: "Senator McCain will bring a lifetime of experience...I will bring a lifetime of experience. Senator Obama will bring a speech that he gave in 2002." Thus she dismisses Obama's claim that he had shown better judgment in 2002 by opposing the Iraq war. She has never come up with a plausible explanation of her vote to authorize the war because there isn't one. It won't do to say, as she has, that "if I would have known then what I know now," because there was ample reason to know then. Senator Bob Graham of Florida, the then chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, knew enough to strongly urge his colleagues to vote against the resolution; and he was one of twenty-two Democratic senators to do so. It was widely understood that Bush was intent on going to war. Clinton is known to have wavered on how to vote, and, like other Democrats, was advised by Democratic consultants to play it safe—to not cast a vote that might damage her political future. The irony is, of course, that she did just that.
Clinton took other steps, such as joining the Armed Services Committee, to protect herself from the sexist notion that a woman might be soft on national security. Early this year, Maureen Dowd reported that Clinton's aides were telling people that she would be a tougher leader than her husband, and "less skittish about using military power." A number of people, including former Clinton White House aides, worry that if elected Hillary Clinton might turn out to be a "Warrior Queen."
As of this writing, the Democrats are still trying to figure out what to do about the renegade voting in Michigan and Florida. A solution is complicated by Clinton's insistence on breaking Democratic Party rules by seating the delegates in those states, particularly in Florida. When I asked a close Clinton ally and adviser about this matter recently, he replied, "Rules? Rules? The rules are what people say they are. This isn't law. This isn't the Supreme Court."
At this point, Obama has about 150 more pledged delegates than Clinton, and the election expert Tad Devine says that even if Clinton wins Pennsylvania, on April 22—as she is expected to—and whatever happens in Florida and Michigan, when all the voting is done, in June, Obama will probably still have at least one hundred more pledged delegates. (Michigan is closer to settling the matter; several strategists are suggesting that Florida delegates be given a half vote, netting Clinton nineteen delegates rather than none—instead of having a civil war.)
Clinton leads in the superdelegates—having an estimated 248 to Obama's 212 (several of Clinton's signed on when she was "inevitable"); but she still lags behind Obama overall. A consensus is forming among leading Democrats that the nomination should be decided on the basis of who has the most pledged delegates; their main concern is that the outcome appear fair. If Clinton has won the popular vote, which is a possibility but difficult (at this point Obama is ahead by 700,000 votes), or most of the big states (including, presumably, Florida and Michigan), the Clinton campaign will argue, those factors should prevail. The Obama people argue that most of the "big states"—New York, Massachusetts, California—will vote Democratic in the general election anyway, and that Obama has won some important "swing states," such as Iowa, Missouri, and Virginia, as well as more states overall.
Most of the leading Democrats want to avoid a situation in which Clinton somehow wrests the nomination from Obama while he is ahead in delegates. This would leave the hundreds of thousands of people whom he has brought into the political system for the first time disillusioned—and an uproar could ensue. On March 16, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who will chair the convention, said firmly, "It's a delegate race." According to Pelosi, "The way the system works is that the delegates choose the nominee." This translates into a preference, shared with many House Democrats, for Obama to head the party ticket. Pelosi was clearly unfazed by the recent storm over race.
The superdelegates, especially the elected politicians, are worrying that the party might be cleaved in two. A large number of them favored Obama early on, and still do. A senior House Democrat told me that support for Obama is based on three things: concern that the animosity of Republicans toward Hillary Clinton would motivate them to go out and vote against the Democrats; that Obama attracts independents, which the national ticket will need; and that Obama gets the votes of blacks in overwhelming numbers, which can help in many districts as well as nationally.
Being politicians, the Capitol Hill Democrats who hadn't already committed themselves waited to see what would happen on Super Tuesday; then they waited to see what would happen in Ohio and Texas on March 4; now they are waiting to see what will happen in Pennsylvania, and also Michigan and Florida. They are hoping that the delegate race will somehow resolve itself so that they won't have to deal with a messy situation.
—March 18, 2008
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21231Volume 55, Number 6 · April 17, 2008