How to Clean Wood Floors ? DIY Wooden Flooring Cleaning Tips ...

Hardwood Floors look beautiful. When it comes to flooring, hardwood flooring is the first choice among many people. But, with hardwood floors, there is always a fear that they may get soiled. What to do if hardwood floor gets soiled? How to clean hardwood floors? What hardwood floor cleaners are available?

Many choices are available when it comes to flooring ? Wood Flooring,? Solid-Wood Flooring, Laminate Wood Flooring, Bamboo Flooring, Engineered-Wood Flooring , Vinyl Flooring etc.? Installing prefinished hardwood flooring is a good choice. Another good option is site-finished hardwood flooring.

Hardwood flooring looks beautiful and reflects warmth and comfort. If you arrange a party at your home, you can always expect your guests to praise your hardwood floors. It is a great feeling. But what happens when the party is over and guests are gone? What about all the dust and soil left of your beautiful hardwood floor? How do you clean such a delicate thing without ruining?

Let us now learn and understand how to clean hardwood floors and types of hardwood floor cleaners available.

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Hardwood Floors

Always buy hardwood floor from a reputed dealer. This will ensure that you get a good quality hardwood flooring material with some good wood finish on it. Wood floor finish does not ensure that it will protect your wood flooring from everything. Wood finishes are just precautionary measures to protect the wood against minor problems. Major hardwood floor cleaning problems will need good hardwood floor cleaners.

Wood Cleaners

Cleaning Hardwood Floor

Always consult your dealer to know exactly what kind of wood he has sold to you and what are its specific requirements to clean it. Different ingredients in cleaners are needed to clean different types of wood floors.

Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaning Products

Bona manufactures some of the best and most commonly used hardwood floor care and cleaning products. Bona is a reputed, trusted and well known brand floor cleaning supplies.

Bona may have the right solution to clean your floor irrespective of the type of wood you may have installed in your home.

Hard Floor Cleaning Products from Armstrong

Armstrong is another well known brand in hard wood floor cleaning products. They supply a complete range of products for wood cleaning, polishing and finishing products.

Other Wood Floor Cleaners

There are other hardwood floor cleaners available such as MOP & GLO?s hardwood floor cleaner, Swiffer WetJet hardwood floor cleaner, Mannington?s floor cleaners etc.

Another important thing to consider is whether you want to use mops or steamers for cleaning. Hardwood floor steamers are easily available in most home improvement and hardware stores. Some of the well known brands for floor steamers are ? Haan, Sharkand Bissell.

Tips for DIY Hardwood Floor Cleaning

Before applying any wood cleaner on the floor, make sure that you have cleared all the dust particles that may be lying on the floor. Dust particles must be removed using a vacuum cleaner. Mops can create scratches on your valuable wood flooring. Make sure that the cleaner you are using have low acid content and no ammonia at all. Ammonia leaves a terrible smell that lingers for a long time. Acidic substances in the cleaner will destroy the natural shine and finish of the wood making it look dull and older.

You can also use a solution of vinegar in water for cleaning hardwood floors.

Your hardwood floor is valuable and pride of your home. Make sure you use the best quality hardwood floor cleaners and cleaning methods to prevent any damage and make it look really clean and shiny.

Related Posts:

Source: http://www.freediyhomeimprovement.com/2012/11/30/how-to-clean-wood-floors-diy-wooden-flooring-cleaning-tips/

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Joss Whedon's 'Much Ado' Gets June 2013 Release Date

by Hannah Soo Park If you?re expecting Josh Whedon?s next project to be a spectacle like "The Avengers" or "The Cabin in the Woods,? you might be a little surprised to learn that the writer-director?s upcoming movie is actually a seemingly subdued modern-day take on Shakespeare?s comedy ?Much Ado About Nothing.? And now, the indie [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/11/30/joss-whedons-much-ado-gets-june-2013-release-date/

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Promotional Videos and Net Etiquette | Sphinx Web Design Experts

If you are a business owner who traffics in e-commerce, no doubt you?ve overheard a colleague ? perhaps an IT person, or a web guru ? tell you, ?Don?t do that on the web page. Nobody likes advertising videos. It?s poor form.?

It doesn?t matter that the worker is looking at the World Wide Web from a potential customer?s viewpoint rather than a business establishment?s perspective. Much too frequently, the harried business owner, insecure about his own grasp of Internet commerce, will succumb to these types of outcries. He is terrified of turning off and repelling potential customers. But, how is that different from a network executive determining to pull all of their advertising campaigns because ?folks hate marketing??

In one critical regard, Internet commerce is no different from face-to-face purchases that have definitely run human economies for millennia. It?s this: nothing sells like a real man or woman talking to another real person. The notion that a business may be managed based on the wishes and inclinations of the customer, surfing the Web at 3 a.m., is a myth. But wait, you say. What about Amazon? iTunes?

Fair enough, but these websites are exceptions, not the rule. Besides, Amazon didn?t turn a profit until 10 years after it kicked off.

And Apple, frankly, could afford to take the numerous risks it has made over its substantially lengthier existence.

Unsuccessful online companies think that it is much easier to generate profits on the Web rather than in a brick and mortar store. The truth is, it?s not much different. Business has not changed that much. It?s the means of communication at our fingertips that has streamlined, or alternatively amended the methods we employ to communicate with one another. Of these, video promotion is the most powerful, but may be overused. Business is a push-pull partnership. It relies on interaction, and it relies on getting a person to give something up (cash, momentary convenience, time), to obtain what you?re selling. Picture if companies looked at everything from the consumer?s point of view? Precisely where would we be then?

Let?s look at some examples:

? YouTube pulls all ads from its videos, because site viewers do not like to see them. YouTube soon cannot afford to give site visitors the experience they have come to enjoy because revenue dwindles.

? A car lot gets rid of its whole entire floor sales team, because no one likes to be bothered by pushy salesmen. Fewer vehicles are sold, which affects the car dealership?s bottom line. They may have to shut their doors permanently.

? Safeway declares every Sunday an ?everything?s free day.?

Do we need to go on with this?

It turns out online marketing is no different. No right-minded bricks-and-mortar small business owner would let the consumers determine the company?s marketing plans.

Nor should a small business owner whose presence is mostly online, allow customers on the Internet to establish the business? level of success. The point? Leave the marketing to the online marketers (including video marketers). They are the ones that have your profits as their key interest. Does that mean undertaking things that some individuals find annoying or undesirable is always advantageous for you, the business owner? Certainly not. But never forget that your needs are the opposite of the consumer?s needs. They might want your services or product, but they would rather not sacrifice their money. You want the consumer?s money, but it would be cheaper and easier for you not to have to sacrifice your services or product.

Your task is to convince the customer he or she is receiving the better end of the deal, while you know that you are ? and you have the annual report to confirm it.

---

Mike Sneed produces summaries on various facets of marketing video on the net.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Promotional Videos and Net Etiquette

Source: http://www.sphinxnow.com/blog/2012/11/30/promotional-videos-and-net-etiquette/

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UK Also Grapples with Wisdom of Government Flood Insurance ...

November 28, 2012

After Superstorm Sandy reopened a fiery debate over the wisdom of federal flood insurance in the U.S., flooding that inundated hundreds of homes in England and Wales this week has the United Kingdom searching for its own solution for personal flood cover.

Currently, flood insurance in the UK is privatized ? but that's based on an agreement under which the government promises to take aggressive measures to limit the impact of flooding. But insurers have criticized the measures as inadequate ??and local politicians of affected areas have joined in.

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The major thrust of the complaints are that other European countries, such as Denmark, have done a much better job mitigating flood. With the British measures seen lacking, some have even installed their own flood mitigation materials, but that doesn't lead to lower insurance premiums.

Further complicating the issue is that the agreement between the government and private insurers is set to expire next June. Now, the industry wants the government to agree to fund some of the cost of insurance while flood mitigation initiatives are developed and mature.

A Reuters article notes:

The increase in property values and the propensity to build in flood plains have increased risks for insurers. Higher flood-related losses incurred from the numerous flooding incidences in June, July and last weekend will contribute to a deterioration of underwriting margins for UK non-life insurers for their full-year 2012 results.

In the SoP, the UK insurers agreed to provide flood insurance to standard households and small businesses in areas of significant flood risk in return for the government taking action to reduce this risk to below a 1- in-75 chance of flooding within five years from July 2008. Frustrated by the slow pace of these improvements, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has made it clear that agreement would not be renewed.

What the ABI wants is a new agreement that continues the government's commitment to flood mitigation while also providing subsidies to high-risk insureds in the meantime. The government shot down that idea earlier this week, angering insurers. Fitch Ratings, however, says some sort of government-backed or -facilitated high-risk pool is likely the only solution to affordable flood insurance for UK citizens in the line of water.

More catastrophic weather events in areas that traditionally have not been affected by them is a major concern of insurers. Some, like Swiss Re and Munich Re, attribute the increased risk to climate change. Others, including Main Street America Group, are only willing to say that the events are expected to spike in the near future while being agnostic as to the causes. Still, it only takes one devastating event to cripple a region and its insurers ? as was demonstrated by Hurricane Andrew. Governments, insurers, and policyholders can't afford to waste much time coming up with solutions to cover financial losses. Nor can homeowners covert to floating houses overnight.

Source: http://www.insurancetech.com/regulation/uk-also-grapples-with-wisdom-of-governme/240142681

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Self-Defense ? The Best Ways To Protect Yourself ... - jackie's bazaar

Related eBooks

Self defense products like stun guns and pepper sprays and a foundation in self-defense techniques are the best ways to protect yourself against an assault. Read on to learn more.

Source:Self-Defense ? The Best Ways To Protect Yourself

Related Reading:

The Psychology of Self-DefenseWhether you are a stay-at-home mom, a police officer, or an experienced Martial Artist, this book will open your mind to a new way of thinking. Real, effective self-defense begins with a mindset. Here is your guide to developing that mindset. Learn what it takes to OVERCOME conflict, and PROTECT yourself and those you care about. In this book you will discover: what real-life self-defense actually is - and how to survive in today's world; why self-defense training should be a priority for everyone; the difference between self-defense and martial arts; and that's just the beginning! The information in this book has empowered people from all walks of life to be stronger, more confident, and safer. When self-defense is a MUST - nothing else will do. This book is written by Chris Sutton is an experienced law enforcement officer, Martial Arts school owner, and creator of the C.O.B.R.A. Self Defense System. C.O.B.R.A. is an internationally licensed Self-Defense Program founded in 2001. The Psychology of Self-Defense has been read by S.W.A.T. officers, military personnel, business owners, students, and people from every walk of life. This book is based on the author's 20-plus years of training, research and experience. It's a MUST for all! Common-Sense & Self-DefenceCommon-Sense & Self-Defence?Strategies & Techniques that Work!

Common-Sense and Self-Defence is an e-book designed to help women avoid the trauma of a sexual assault or rape. Simple, Powerful & Effective!

It is a handbook of Common-Sense and Self-Defence techniques that can be used effectively by females of all ages.

We do not propose to have an answer for every conceivable situation that may occur.

Every would-be assailant, every potential victim, and every environment where an attack takes place contains its own set of unique situational advantages and disadvantages.

However, we suggest that by adapting some Common-Sense Techniques into her life, and by becoming aware of her mental and physical potential, a women can, in many cases, protect herself from sexual assault and rape.

In this book, we have set forth some easy to follow guidelines that when adapted into her individual lifestyle, will help a woman completely avoid the possibility of an assault.

We realize though, that women are assaulted even under the most cautious of conditions, and it is for these situations that we offer Self-Defence alternatives.

The SAS Self-Defense Handbook

Essential self-defense training from the elite British SAS.

Barry Davies is one of the most widely respected experts on the techniques and training of the elite British Special Air Service (SAS). In The SAS Self-Defense Handbook, Davies reveals the self-defense techniques of the SAS. The handbook is fully illustrated with nearly 130 photographs and illustrations that explain how to properly use your body and use everyday objects such as desktop items and cigarette lighters to protect yourself. Learn how to avoid physical attacks from humans and animals, and handle those confrontations that cannot be avoided. 83 color and 39 black-and-white illustrations

Tags: self defense

Source: http://www.jackiesbazaar.com/womensinterests/self-defense/self-defense-the-best-ways-to-protect-yourself

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Self Improvement | Daily Positive Affirmations for Success ...

Posted On: Tue, November 27th, 2012 | Comments: 0 | Views 7 | Word Count: 606

What is success?

Human living, ever since evolution has transformed into complex societies through centuries, thereby making the human mind still more complex. Career, earnings and success are part of human living. No human life is possible without an effort to earn a living. This is where success comes to play a big role in our lives. Success is the abstract and objective result of an effort or purpose to accomplish or attain a sustainable living through a plan of human action. Success is a relative term and it varies from person to person in wealth, fame and social status etc.??

What are affirmations?

Affirmations are assertive statements to the subconscious mind to influence speech, behavior, attitude, actions and reactions. They help build up will power. This will power is achieved through self discipline and by nurturing sustainable actions. Positive mindset which is the most powerful life strategy is the basis to attain the required will power. Applying the law of attraction influence mental vibrations for creating positive thoughts and positive vision to achieve the set goals. If you think positively that you can achieve something - you can do it and this is an affirmation to set your path right. All positive adjectives or words or statements are affirmations to your ?self? to trigger the subconscious mind to plunge into positive actions. Success stories are also affirmations to serve as a beacon light to show the direction and help guide you on the path to success.

Why are affirmations required for success?

Human mind never ceases to function as long the human body is alive and it keeps reacting to every physical and mental feeling. It is here that self affirmations help condition the subconscious mind to develop positive perceptions of your ?self?. These self affirmations not only keep all harmful thinking and behavior not to get registered in the mind but they also help undo any damage caused by negative scripts or perceptions. Positive attributes namely, your best qualities, abilities, drive, dynamism and decision making are some of the important affirmations for success and to keep you always strong and steadfast.

How to use affirmations for success?

Successes are an essential aspect of our lives for achieving well being and earn a respectable living. There is no short cut to success. It comes with hard work, commitment, vision and direction. Affirmations truly motivate the morale in you and lead you to success, step by step. You think about your strengths and weakness and while doing so you have to be truly honest, as any falsehood in them would only weaken your self-confidence. Pretence cannot pull any wool over others eyes not to see your weaknesses. Then you have to draw a map of direction duly prioritizing the list of things to work on to reach the goal. Write down all positive attributes and keep a self check on them. You have to maintain a cool temperament in public relations and avoid sending wrong signals to adjudge you as a negative character. The best way to behave in public life is to wear a smile on your face even when encountering an adversary.

Conclusion:

?Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed.?? Abraham Lincoln

If you are determined to achieve a set goal, no potholes or bottlenecks can stop you. All you have to do is to find ways to overcome them. Disillusionment or discouragement should never enter even in the subconscious mind. And, when they are forced on you, use all your positive affirmations and get rejuvenated. After all ?Success is nothing but getting up one more time after you fall?. ?

Keywords:?Laws Of Attraction,the Laws Of Attraction,daily Affirmation,affirmations,affirmations For Success,the Law Of Attraction,

Source: http://www.freearticlesinc.com/view_article-id-82429-at-Daily-Positive-Affirmations-for-Success.html

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Source: http://ervinwheeler.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/self-improvement-daily-positive-affirmations-for-success.html

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Education \ iStart Spanish ~ Mirai Language Systems ... - iPhone apps

Current Version Info about jailbreak?/? Education?/? iStart Spanish ~ Mirai Language Systems
- Updated for iOS 6 and the iPhone 5?s taller display
- Removed Game Center
- Various minor UI changes and bug fixes

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?iStart Spanish? is a unique and widely acclaimed app that will teach you Spanish using a highly effective tutor-based approach.
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?iStart Spanish? is the premier tutor-based iOS application on the App Store. Aimed at beginner-level learners of Spanish, it contains over 5 hours of full audio tutoring. Unlike most other Spanish language apps which just have lists of vocabulary or flashcards, this app actually teaches you the basics of Spanish ? grammar, pronunciation, and the usage of words ? using an effective and clear methodology which you will thoroughly enjoy! There is simply no better way of learning Spanish!
This FULL version of ?iStart Spanish? contains:
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? thousands of audio files to help you understand
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? create your own vocabulary lists easily
? collect motivation badges as you progress
Each lesson builds on what was learned in previous lessons, enabling you to make gradual and consistent progress. Everything is explained in great detail, giving you confidence and mastery of the material. While designed for absolute beginners, this app is also great for those who have learned Spanish before, and need a quick refresher course.
This app is based on the very best in language learning methodology. Over a million language learners are using Mirai Language Systems apps.
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jailbreak created by , have iphone apps rating 7.81 / 2123. This App is available at the iphone apps Education.

Source: http://apps.su/program/18769/istart-spanish-mirai-language-systems.html

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Jon Gruden offered NFL ownership to become Tennessee's next football coach?

They call the college football coaching carousel the ?crazy season,? and they call it that with good reason: From the time the first coach is fired, straight up until the last one is hired, college football basically turns into one big high school cafeteria. Rumors all of a sudden become fact, innuendo becomes iron clad, and the only person?s word you can trust is? well, no one?s actually.

Still, as crazy as it gets, there is still the occasional rumor that is so far-fetched, so stunning, so gosh darn hard to believe, that everyone agrees on one thing: ?There?s no way that can be true.? ?

One of those rumors popped right after midnight on the East Coast Wednesday, involving the ex-NFL head coach of everyone?s dreams, Jon Gruden. It seems like just about every college program with an opening right now has their eye on Gruden, and each seems willing to top the last to get him.

Apparently though, the University of Tennessee has gone above and beyond everyone else, and has and not only offered Coach Chuckie the standard fare of cash, cars and women (well at least the first two, anyway), but also?

?are you ready for this?...

? Part ownership in an NFL team!!!!

It seems too crazy to be true, until you remember that one of Tennessee?s biggest boosters is a guy by the name of Jim Haslam, who also happens to be the owner of the Cleveland Browns. And apparently he wants Gruden so bad, he?s even willing to hand over a piece of Brown pie to get him.

The news was first reported by News Channel 3 in Memphis. Here?s their report:

Knoxville, TN-News Channel 3 has learned former NFL coach Jon Gruden has a contract offer in hand from the University of Tennessee and a decision could be made as early as Wednesday. Part of the offer is Gruden getting a piece of the NFL?s Cleveland Browns, who were recently bought by Jim Haslam, one of UT?s biggest boosters who played on the Vols? national championship teams in the early fifties. He?s also the father of Tennessee governor Bill Haslam. A potential hangup could be over money Gruden may be owed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from his stint as head coach there that ended in 2008. The NFL is looking into the conflict of owning part of one team while getting money from another. Gruden is currently working as an NFL analyst for ESPN. He started his coaching career in 1986 as a graduate assistant at Tennessee where he met his wife, a former UT cheerleader. Gruden?s two head coaching stints in the NFL were with Oakland and Tampa Bay. He coached the Bucs to a Super Bowl win in the 2002 season.

Again, this all seems to be too crazy to be true, until you start putting the puzzle pieces together.

Since it became clear a few weeks ago that Derek Dooley would no longer be back at Tennessee, Haslam?s name has come up as one of the big kingmakers in Knoxville. Haslam- whose son is actually the governor of Tennessee- might not have the clout to name the next head coach, but he did have the cash to lure a big name, such as Gruden?s to town.

Now we?ll see if Haslam is able to put his money where his mouth is.

If the report is true, Gruden should make some sort of final decision on Tennessee by Wednesday.

Our hunch?

Gruden is a lot more likely to be in the ESPN booth next season calling Browns games, then in the ownership box watching them.

For all his opinion, insight and analysis, be sure to follow Aaron on Twitter @Aaron_Torres.
?

Source: http://www.bloguin.com/crystalballrun/2012-articles/november/tennessee-football-jon-gruden-cleveland-browns.html

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The biggest struggle yet for Citi's repairman

(Reuters) - When Citigroup Inc's board of directors was looking for a chief executive in 2007, it called Michael O'Neill, who had turned around Bank of Hawaii Corp a few years before.

O'Neill spoke to a Citigroup board member on the telephone, but the board was reluctant to consider O'Neill seriously because he had never run a bank of Citigroup's size or complexity, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Five years later, O'Neill, 66, is effectively running Citigroup, which is more than 130 times bigger than Bank of Hawaii was last decade, as measured by assets. He joined the Citigroup board in 2009, became chairman this year and has played an increasingly powerful role, as most vividly shown by his ousting of Vikram Pandit as chief executive in October, after months of tension.

O'Neill, who hand-picked new CEO Michael Corbat, has an uphill task ahead of him. Citigroup is groaning under $171 billion of assets it wants to shed, has high expenses, and its profitability lags behind that of such competitors as JPMorgan Chase & Co.

And O'Neill faces the same question that kept him from being a contender for the Citigroup CEO spot: while he can fix a smaller bank, can he revamp a behemoth as complicated as Citigroup?

"It is an awfully complex situation," said current Bank of Hawaii CEO Peter Ho, who worked for O'Neill. "He relishes simplicity."

O'Neill, who declined to comment for this story through a spokesman, has provided some clues about his plan to turn the bank around. On a conference call with investors the day that Pandit stepped down, he said that he will follow his typical playbook.

A dozen people who have worked with O'Neill over the years say that plan usually involves the ruthless pruning of underperforming operations and deciding which ones are worth additional investment.

As he evaluates a bank, he delves deeply into details to look for value or risk that others may have missed. His decisions may differ from those of competitors, but he has a strong track record of being right, these people said. For example, when he was at BankAmerica in 1998, he exited a type of mortgage lending that brought heartburn to competitors a few years later.

Given Corbat spent three years after the financial crisis helping to dispose of Citigroup's bad assets, he may be a perfect chief executive - and ally - for O'Neill.

Still, it remains far from certain that O'Neill can use the methods he has previously used to turn Citi around. It not only dwarfs Bank of Hawaii but is also seven times as large as BankAmerica was in 1997, when O'Neill was that bank's chief financial officer.

Citigroup is also vastly more complicated and has been exiting businesses for years.

At this stage, O'Neill could still decide to shed a big business, like investment banking. But Citigroup executives who have considered such steps in the past decided that the damage to other businesses, like corporate lending, would be too great.

"Take the process at Bank of Hawaii, and multiply it by 10,000, and you've got what Citigroup will be like," said one former senior Citi executive. It may take years for O'Neill's effort to bear fruit, barring a major global economic turnaround, he added.

ALOHA SHIRTS AND BAR GRAPHS

In 2000, when O'Neill took the CEO's job at Bank of Hawaii, he had to fix a regional bank that was struggling after over-expanding around the Pacific Rim.

Employees, already bruised by deep cost-cutting, were wary of an outsider from the U.S. mainland, said Lori McCarney, the bank's former chief marketing officer.

But O'Neill listened to employees, laid out a strategy and put his own money behind it, investing $10 million in the bank's stock. The former U.S. Marine even starred in a series of commercials, dressed in a flowered aloha shirt.

At investor meetings in New York, O'Neill would show a chart with about 30 bars - about three-fourths represented businesses that were profitable, while the remainder were losing money or breaking even.

"It was a pretty clear graphic picture of what to expect," said Al Landon, a risk manager hired shortly before O'Neill's arrival and who later became his successor.

Within six months of being named CEO, O'Neill announced that the company would shed its holdings in California, Asia and most of the South Pacific.

O'Neill dug into various businesses to understand what was happening. He would suddenly show up in employees' offices or summon them for short discussions, recalls Ho, who was then a senior vice president fairly low down in the chain of command.

"He clearly understood the issues in my sphere, wanted to get my opinion on them, and wanted to make sure that I understood that he understood what was going on several layers down," said Ho, who became CEO of the bank in 2010.

It was in such no-nonsense meetings that O'Neill convinced Bank of Hawaii employees that the company would rationally sort out which of its businesses.

When O'Neill departed in 2004, he left the bank "with a very strong credit culture and they got through the credit crisis better than most banks," said Fred Cannon, who was director of investor relations at BankAmerica and is now director of U.S. research and chief equity strategist at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods.

Former colleagues say O'Neill also has a knack for seeing risks that other executives may miss.

In 1997, when he was chief financial officer at BankAmerica, he pushed the lender to auction off its manufactured housing finance business, which was then booking strong profits as the second-biggest lender in a booming market.

"It was a smart analysis of the numbers using good judgment," Cannon said. "Mike sold that business for a very good price." That deal happened in 1998, and two years later, most players in the manufactured housing finance industry suffered big losses.

BankAmerica, led by then CEO David Coulter, agreed to merge in 1998 with Charlotte, North Carolina-based NationsBank to form today's Bank of America Corp.

A CRAZY QUILT

At Citigroup, O'Neill will have to take these skills to an entirely new level.

Sandy Weill built the bank higgledy-piggledy over the course of decades, starting with a small consumer lender in the 1980s and ending with the largest bank in the United States.

But the bank was slow to integrate its many businesses into a single company, resulting in a crazy quilt of computer systems, overlapping operations and confusing organizational charts, making it hard to figure out whether any business was earning a meaningful return.

The bank has made progress but is still working on these issues, which would complicate a Bank of Hawaii-type analysis on profitability of various units.

Moreover, unlike Bank of Hawaii and BankAmerica, shedding assets will be much harder at Citigroup.

The bank has been disposing of extraneous and risky assets housed in its Citi Holdings unit for nearly four years. It had cut down assets to $171 billion by the end of September from $649 billion in mid-2009, but executives expect the pace of disposals to slow as few obvious buyers remain. What's left is likely to be a source of more losses in the future.

Despite these challenges, veteran bank analyst Mike Mayo said he can think of no better person than O'Neill to be chairman of Citigroup.

"He almost wrote the book on how to decide which businesses should be sold or kept," said Mayo, whose 2012 book "Exile on Wall Street" details his numerous arguments with senior bank executives, including former Citigroup leaders Chuck Prince, Robert Rubin and Pandit.

(Reporting By Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, North Carolina and David Henry and Dan Wilchins in New York; Editing by Paritosh Bansal, Martin Howell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/biggest-struggle-yet-citis-repairman-060731038--sector.html

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Add Facebook Notifications and Chat to Firefox's Toolbar

Firefox 17 added a hidden feature to enable notifications and chat from Facebook right in your browser. Here's how to enable it.

Update: There's actually a much easier way to turn this on. Just head to Facebook Messenger for Firefox's official page and click "Turn On." That's it! You can click the Facebook icon to hide the chat sidebar as well.

To check out the new feature, make sure you've updated to the latest version of Firefox, then type about:config into the address bar. Promise Firefox you'll be careful, then search for social.enabled using the about:config search bar. Double-click the social.enabled option to set it to True. You should find that you have Facebook notifications for friend requests, messages, and other posts in the upper right-hand corner of your browser. It may not be the best way to stay productive, but it's nice to have.

Unfortunately, it also adds a chat sidebar and mini-feed to the side of your browser, making this a deal killer for most people (including myself). If you spend a lot of time on Facebook chat, I could see it being handy to chat from any window you want, but you can remove this by going back to about:config and setting social.sidebar.open to false. Thanks to Stephen and Mark Molinyawe for sharing that second tweak!

How to Enable Facebook Integration in Firefox | How-To Geek

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/LxcQv0qiDiM/add-facebook-notifications-and-chat-to-firefoxs-toolbar-with-an-aboutconfig-tweak

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Quickly Find Your Chair's Ideal Height by Leveling It with Your Kneecaps

Setting up your office chair properly is key to maintaining an ergonomic workspace, but it's not always as simple as it sounds. Apartment Therapy suggests that the easiest way to quickly get your chair to the right height is to level the seat with your kneecap.

When you're sitting in your chair your feet should be flat on the floor with your knees at a 90 degree angle. So, it makes sense that a quick way to figure this out is to simply stand in front of your chair, and then adjust the seat so it's right below your kneecap. If you're sharing a chair with a few people who always adjust it up or down, this is an easy way to get it right quickly. It's also key if you're ergonomically optimizing your workspace.

Quick Tip: Finding the Ideal Height For Your Task Chair | Apartment Therapy

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/9uK8KuyTKbw/quickly-find-your-chairs-ideal-height-by-leveling-it-with-your-kneecaps

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U.N. chief says crises show need for interfaith amity

VIENNA (Reuters)- The violent crises in Syria, Gaza and Mali show how important it is for different religions to work together to promote understanding rather than sow hatred, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said on Monday.

Addressing the opening of a new Saudi-backed interfaith centre in Vienna, he said the Syrian conflict was "taking on troubling sectarian dimensions" and "unrest (continues) between Israelis and Palestinians."

Valuable religious monuments had been destroyed in Mali, he said, referring to the destruction of centuries-old Muslim heritage by the radical Islamist Ansar Dine movement.

Religious leaders "can unite people based on tenets and precepts common to all creeds" but at times have also "stoked intolerance, supported extremism and propagated hate."

"I fully support your vision of religion as an enabler of respect and reconciliation," he told about 800 religious officials and activists meeting in the Austrian capital to discuss how to promote better understanding among faiths.

Named after Saudi King Abdullah, the new centre is a welcome boost for bridge-building between faiths in an era of financial austerity but has drawn criticism because Saudi Arabia enforces a strict Islamic code and bans non-Muslim religious practice.

It plans to work first on improving how religions are presented in media and schoolbooks, involving faith leaders in children's health campaigns in poor countries and hosting religious leaders for fellowships at its Vienna headquarters.

"LONG MARCH" TO REFORM

The King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) is the latest step in what Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal called his country's "long march" towards cautious reform at home and improved relations with faith around the world.

"Religion has been the basis for many conflicts," he said.

Spurred into action by the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States - in which most of the militants involved were Saudi nationals - and radical Islamist bombings in Saudi Arabia two years later, the king has brought together Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims in Mecca to discuss how to counter extremism in Islam.

He hosted an interfaith conference in 2008 but had to hold it in Madrid because the kingdom is so conservative. However, Saudi officials at the Vienna conference stressed the dialogue message was being spread back home as well.

"The aim is to promote acceptance of other cultures, moderation and tolerance," said Fahad Sultan AlSultan, deputy head of a Saudi national dialogue effort launched in 2003. "There are problems but we have achieved some success."

KAICIID is managed by a board with three Muslims, three Christians, a Jew, a Buddhist and a Hindu. It aims to help religions contribute to solving problems such as conflicts, prejudice and health crises rather than be misused to worsen them.

"The prime purpose is to empower the active work of those in the field, whether in the field of dialogue, of social activism or of conflict resolution," said Jerusalem-based Rabbi David Rosen, representing Judaism on the nine-seat board of directors.

"WE ARE BEING WATCHED"

Unlike other interfaith projects run by churches or non-governmental organizations, KAICIID is an international body sponsored by Saudi Arabia, Austria and Spain, with strong backing from the Vatican as a "founding observer".

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican's top dialogue official, warned his partners they faced a huge challenge.

"We are being watched," he said. Public opinion expected the centre to be a forum for dialogue on "religious freedom in all its respects, for everybody, for every community, everywhere."

Tauran, who has in the past urged Saudi Arabia to allow Christians to open churches there, said the Roman Catholic Church was among those focusing on religious rights.

"The Holy See is particularly attentive to the fate of Christian communities in countries where such a freedom is not adequately guaranteed," he said.

Abdullah al-Turki, head of the World Muslim League that has spread Saudi Arabia's strict Wahhabi school of Islam around the world for decades, used the opening ceremony to revive an issue other Muslim groups had quietly abandoned as unattainable.

"We hope this centre will support the international effort to issue an international law criminalizing the abuse of religions and God's prophets," he said.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) admitted in September it could not win United Nations support to outlaw blasphemy despite years of effort and said it would no longer try. Western states oppose a ban as a violation of free speech.

AUSTRIAN CRITICS

Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger defended the establishment of KAICIID in Vienna, saying "it is my deep conviction that there is no alternative to this dialogue".

But the centre's Austrian critics kept up a drum beat of criticism. A group called Liberal Muslims held a small protest outside the Hofburg against Saudi human rights violations.

The Green Party said Austria was naive to think Saudi Arabia, which has financed many mosques espousing the austere Wahhabi form of Islam in Europe, had no ulterior motives in paying for the centre's headquarters and first 3 years' budget.

KAICIID officials say the centre is independent and would not be promoting any one religion.

(Additional reporting by Georgina Prodhan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vienna-interfaith-center-opens-saudi-help-172706194.html

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New hope for setback-dogged cancer treatment

ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2012) ? Several drugs companies have ineffectively tried to produce antibodies that bind to the IGF-1 receptor on the cell surface, which has a critical part to play in the development of cancer. Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have now ascertained how these antibodies work, and can explain why only some cancer patients are helped by IGF-1 blockers during clinical tests. The researchers also present a means by which drugs of this kind could help more cancer patients.

Every cell contains thousands of tiny receptors that help it communicate with other cells. These receptors are involved in countless physiological processes, such as taste and smell perception and heart rate. A couple of dozen of these receptors form their own family -- the kinase receptors (RTKs), which are implicated in cancer. The so-called IGF-1 receptor is particularly important for cancer cell survival, and as soon as this receptor encounters the right hormone (type 1 insulin-like growth factor, or IGF-1) into the cancer cell open a number of communication channels, helping it to grow, rapidly divide and protect itself against treatment.

Blocking this receptor with an antibody that binds to it and makes it inaccessible to IGF-1 has long been regarded as the key to a potential cancer therapy, the idea being that it will eventually lead to the death of the tumour cell. Several drugs companies have therefore been developing such antibodies in order to treat the most aggressive forms of cancer, and after some promising laboratory tests, have tested a number of these preparations on patients. However, the drugs have generally given disappointing results and helped only a small minority of patients (including children with Ewing's sarcoma), leading some companies to discontinue clinical trials focusing on the IGF-1 receptor.

The Karolinska Institutet team has now systematically analysed the different IGF-1-related triggered communication channels within a cancer cell. Their results show that the original idea is correct and that such antibody treatment does actually stop the channels from opening, with one very important exception: the MEK channel was actually powerfully stimulated by the treatment -- the antibodies being as effective in this as the hormone itself -- and actively helped the cancer cells to survive.

"This gives us a credible explanation why the antibody trials for the IGF-1 receptor weren't as effective as had been hoped," says principal investigator Dr Leonard Girnita, docent of pathology at Karolinska Institutet's Department of Oncology-Pathology. "So it's too early to give up on the idea of treating cancer like this -- it's still a very good way of attacking the cancer, provided we can close this final communication channel. If we can do this, antibodies for the IGF-1 receptor are likely to form an effective treatment not only for Ewing's sarcoma in children but many other cancers as well."

Drugs that are used to close this channel in other forms of treatments are already available. The researchers believe that a combination therapy using such MEK inhibitors with IGF-1 blockers can be the key to releasing the potential of this therapy model.

"We've seen in the laboratory that cell lines treated in this way no longer manage to divide," says Dr Girnita. "When they die of old age there is no regrowth, so we've seen in the laboratory environment how cancer cells die out of their own accord."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Karolinska Institutet, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/N3KnIlTmWrg/121126151047.htm

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Wal-Mart distances itself from fire in Bangladesh

A man takes photographs inside a garment-factory where a fire killed more than 110 people Saturday on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Bangladeshi workers protested blocks from the gutted fire Monday, demanding justice for the victims and improved safety. Some 200 factories were closed for the day after the protest erupted in Savar, a suburb of Dhaka, the capital. (AP Photo)

A man takes photographs inside a garment-factory where a fire killed more than 110 people Saturday on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Bangladeshi workers protested blocks from the gutted fire Monday, demanding justice for the victims and improved safety. Some 200 factories were closed for the day after the protest erupted in Savar, a suburb of Dhaka, the capital. (AP Photo)

Bangladeshis protest outside a garment-factory where a fire killed more than 110 people Saturday on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. About 15,000 Bangladeshi workers protested blocks from the gutted fire Monday, demanding justice for the victims and improved safety. Some 200 factories were closed for the day after the protest erupted in Savar, a suburb of Dhaka, the capital.(AP Photo)

Bangladeshi officials inspect a garment-factory where a fire killed more than 110 people Saturday on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Bangladeshis were Monday blocking the streets near Dhaka, throwing stones at factories and smashing vehicles, as they demanded justice for those killed in the fire. Saturday's blaze highlighted unsafe conditions in an industry producing for retailers around the world. (AP Photo)

A Bangladeshi man, right, reacts as he looks for his son's body outside a garment factory where a fire killed more than 110 people Saturday on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Bangladeshis Monday blocked the streets near Dhaka, throwing stones at factories and smashing vehicles, as they demanded justice for those killed in the fire. Saturday's blaze highlighted unsafe conditions in an industry producing for retailers around the world. (AP Photo)

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) ? The garment factory in Bangladesh where a weekend fire killed at least 112 people had been making clothes for Wal-Mart without the giant U.S. retailer's knowledge, Wal-Mart said Monday.

In a statement, Wal-Mart said that the Tazreen Fashions Ltd. factory was no longer authorized to produce merchandise for Wal-Mart, but that a supplier subcontracted work to it "in direct violation of our policies."

"Today, we have terminated the relationship with that supplier," America's biggest retailer said. "The fact that this occurred is extremely troubling to us, and we will continue to work across the apparel industry to improve fire safety education and training in Bangladesh."

The blaze on Saturday was one of the deadliest fires of its kind in Bangladesh and threw a spotlight on the way the country's garment factories often ignore safety in the rush to supply major retailers in the U.S. and Europe. More than 200 people have died over the past six years in garment factory fires in Bangladesh, including a blaze that killed 63 in 2006.

Survivors of the latest tragedy said that an exit door was locked, that fire extinguishers didn't work and apparently were there just to impress inspectors, and that when the fire alarm went off, workers were told by their bosses to go back to their sewing machines. Victims were trapped or jumped to their deaths from the eight-story building, which had no emergency exits.

On Monday, about 15,000 Bangladeshi workers protested blocks from the gutted building in the Dhaka suburb of Savar, demanding justice for the victims and improved safety. Some 200 factories were closed for the day after the protest erupted. Demonstrators blocked a major highway, threw stones at factories and smashed vehicles.

Labor leaders hope outrage over the latest disaster will prompt change. Tahmina Rahman, general secretary of the Bangladesh Garment Workers Federation, said government needs to do more to punish factories for safety lapses.

"The owners go unpunished and so they don't care about installing enough security facilities," she said. "The owners should be held responsible and sent to jail."

Wal-Mart did not say why it dropped the Tazreen factory. But in its 2012 Global Responsibility report, Wal-Mart said it stopped working with 49 factories in Bangladesh in 2011 because of fire safety issues. And online records appear to indicate the Tazreen factory was given a "high risk" safety rating after an inspection in May 2011 and a "medium risk" rating in August 2011.

For more than a day after the fire, Wal-Mart said it could not confirm whether it was still doing business with Tazreen, which was making T-shirts and polo shirts. The uncertainty illustrated how major retailers in the U.S. and Europe rely on a highly complex chain of foreign manufacturers and middlemen to keep their shelves stocked.

Tazreen Fashions Is a subsidiary of the Tuba Group, a major Bangladeshi garment exporter whose clients include Wal-Mart, Carrefour and IKEA, according to its website. Its factories supply garments to the U.S., Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, among other countries. The Tazreen factory opened in 2009 and employed about 1,700 people.

Neither Tazreen nor Tuba Group officials could be reached for comment.

Maj. Mohammad Mahbub, fire department operations director, said investigators suspect a short circuit caused the fire.

But the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association urged investigators not to rule out sabotage.

"Local and international conspirators are trying to destroy our garment industry," association President Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin said. He provided no details.

Mahbub said it was the lack of safety measures in the building that made the blaze so deadly. "Had there been at least one emergency exit through outside the factory, the casualties would have been much lower," he said.

He said firefighters recovered at least 100 bodies from the factory, and 12 more people died at hospitals after jumping from the building. Local media reported that about 100 injured people were being treated at hospitals.

The government was unable to identify many victims because they were burned beyond recognition; they were buried Monday in a grave outside Dhaka. The government said Tuesday will be a day of national mourning, with the flag lowered to half-staff.

Mohammad Ripu said he tried to run out of the building when the fire alarm rang but was stopped.

"Managers told us, 'Nothing happened. The fire alarm had just gone out of order. Go back to work,'" Ripu said. "But we quickly understood that there was a fire. As we again ran for the exit point we found it locked from outside, and it was too late."

Ripu said he jumped from a second-floor window and suffered minor injuries.

Another worker, Yeamin, who uses only one name, said fire extinguishers in the factory didn't work, and "were meant just to impress the buyers or authority."

TV footage showed a team of investigators finding some unused fire extinguishers inside the factory.

Bangladesh has some 4,000 garment factories. The country earns about $20 billion a year from exports of garments, mainly to the U.S. and Europe.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said it would stand by the victims' families and offered $1,250 to each of the families of the dead.

___

Associated Press video journalist Al Emrun Garjan contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-11-26-Bangladesh-Factory%20Fire/id-7be6defee48b4beb8cf572a8ea2b896b

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Sound Advice For Starting A Home Based Business | Kenny's MLM ...

TIP! Business trips can be helpful for you and your business. Business trips, unlike vacations, are at least partially deductible from your taxes.

There are very few people who have not thought about starting their own business at home. The capability to work at your leisure and to manage yourself is attractive. This is a good way to find a plan that works for you.

TIP! Make your home business look like a real, professional business. Unprofessional websites can quickly drive your clients away.

Taking a loan to start a home business is nothing something that anyone would recommend. Is it worth straining your relationship? You especially should not use your home as collateral against a loan to start your business.

Banner Links

TIP! Treat your clients to meals and entertainment, and you may receive tax breaks. When you treat your clients to a meal and discuss business, you are entitled to deduct the meal costs from your taxes.

Set aside a page on your site for banner links. This enables you to exchange different banner links with similar businesses. The method is simple, but it will effectively allow for increasing both party?s traffic and ratings among popular search engines.

Always use contracts when providing services to others. Contracts are used to lay out the terms of a deal; you will be protected in case it is breached.

TIP! Your business objective should only be a few sentences long and should be included on your site. The main idea is that you want to establish your company?s goals and purpose for existing.

You should start your business from home while keeping your old job. If you are opening a business it may take awhile to make any money, so stay with your day job for awhile. If you have money before you start you will always be ready for the next new thing.

Online Business

TIP! Making business cards is important. You can usually find many good deals on business cards, and sometimes you can even get them for free.

Promote your online business by using SEO techniques. Search engine optimization, also known as SEO, is a solid online marketing method that can help online business owners reach more people. Doing SEO on your own is possible since there are resources to assist you. You can also hire a professional to help.

TIP! Before choosing a home business idea, do some homework to make sure you completely understand what the business requires. It is important to consider all of the different aspects when deciding on a home business venture.

A basic yet effective tip for enhancing your home-based business is to educate yourself on SEO techniques and strategies and put them into effect to increase your website?s search engine ranking. This is vital in directing traffic to your website. Gather information on the tactics of search engine optimization from several sources to get a feel for which might work best for your application, because there are an extensive number of differing opinions on the topic.

If you?re not comfortable with taxes, you need to hire an accountant. This will allow you to spend more time growing your business rather than worrying about filing taxes.

TIP! Make sure to constantly be aware of the prices of the competition. Staying aware of their own prices can keep yours competitive.

Back up your documents on removable hard drives. Loss of your documents will cost you a lot of money and will make filing taxes difficult. Use a system like Mozy as an online backup.

Based Business

TIP! The more you know about how people perceive your business and products, the more you can enhance them. You can get this information from reviews, asking others or searching for yourself.

Remember that things take time. Set a realistic timeline for when you want your new home based business to show a profit. To be successful as a home-based business, you must put in the effort and wait for the results. Focusing on long term future income is the best way to run and build a profitable business.

TIP! Including an option for viewers to sign up for your mailing list on your website. Be sure to offer this option on each page of your website.

You should keep your focus set on the future. It is important to celebrate the successes that you achieved in the past, but it is even more vital not to lose focus on the present. Tomorrow and further in the future is where your focus should be. Keeping your mind on the future will make it easier for you to know what you need to capitalize on, and what obstacles may be coming. This way, you?ll avoid being surprised.

TIP! Keeping track of business expenses helps you stay organized, which will eventually lead to savings at tax time. For example, you might take note of your internet service expense, your car mileage, as it pertains to business, and so on.

You must be realistic in regards to your expectations when starting a business at home. Do you think that your product is good enough to gather the interest needed? Can you run your business on honest principles?

Business Enterprise

TIP! You must make sure that the work area for your home business is properly, safe. This is particularly important if there are children in the home.

Having a supportive group can be very beneficial to running a home business enterprise. You can start your own alliance or find one that exists locally. Even if you aren?t able to network with individuals in your own industry, other people that are home business enterprise owners too will have a lot in common with you.

TIP! You should think about what you use in your own life when you decide on a product that your home business will market and sell. For a product to sell successfully, it must fill a need consumers have that is not currently being met.

You should always take some risks and experiment with home based business if you want to continue to grow. Trying new ideas can draw new customers to your business, eventually leading to much higher profits. You will not know what strategies will improve your business if you only use one or two all the time.

TIP! Be sure to set aside a specific work area in your home. It is imperative that you keep things organized, so make sure you have the proper amount of space for your things.

As you can see, it will require a little bit of work and dedication to make the jump. If you can manage to pull through and stick to the plan, you will be able to accurately represent your dream in the company?s image and create something that is long-lasting and profitable over the years.

Share and Enjoy

Source: http://www.wahonline.com/sound-advice-for-starting-a-home-based-business/

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Internet Hosting Provider That Gives Domain Hosting Php Hosting ...

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Animals are already dissolving in Southern Ocean acid

In a small patch of the Southern Ocean, the shells of sea snails are dissolving. The finding is the first evidence that marine life is already suffering as a result of man-made ocean acidification.

"This is actually happening now," says Geraint Tarling of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK. He and colleagues captured free-swimming sea snails called pteropods from the Southern Ocean in early 2008 and found under an electron microscope that the outer layers of their hard shells bore signs of unusual corrosion.

As well as warming the planet, the carbon dioxide we emit is changing the chemistry of the ocean. CO₂ dissolves in water to form carbonic acid, making the water less alkaline. The pH is currently dropping at about 0.1 per century, faster than any time in the last 300 million years.

Lab experiments have shown that organisms with hard shells, such as corals and molluscs, will suffer as a result. To build their shells, corals and molluscs need to take up calcium carbonate from the water, but more carbonic acid means more hydrogen ions in the water. These react with carbonate ions, making them unavailable to form calcium carbonate.

Aragonite shortage

The most vulnerable animals are those, like pteropods, that build their shells entirely from aragonite, a form of calcium carbonate that is very sensitive to extra acidity. By 2050, there will be a severe shortage of aragonite in much of the ocean.

Aragonite is still relatively plentiful in most of the ocean, but Tarling suspected that some regions might already be affected by shortages.

He visited the Southern Ocean near South Georgia where deep water wells up to the surface. This water is naturally low in aragonite, meaning the surface waters it supplies are naturally somewhat low in the mineral ? although not so much so that it would normally be a problem. Add in the effect of ocean acidification, however, and Tarling found that the mineral was dangerously sparse at the surface.

"It's of concern that they can see it today," says Toby Tyrrell of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK.

Aragonite-depleted regions are still rare, but they will become widespread by 2050, says Tarling. The polar oceans will change fastest, with the tropics following a few decades after. "These pockets will start to get larger and larger until they meet," he says.

Tyrrell says the Arctic will become undersaturated with respect to aragonite before the Antarctic. Patches of undersaturation have already been seen, for instance off the north coast of Canada in 2008.

The only way to stop ocean acidification is to reduce our CO₂ emissions, Tyrrell says. It has been suggested that we could add megatonnes of lime to the ocean to balance the extra acidity. However, Tyrrell says this is "probably not practical" because the amounts involved ? and thus the costs ? are enormous.

Journal reference: Nature Geoscience, DOI: 10.1038/ngeo1635

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Relationship Columnist Ana Loiselle examines the Five Stages of ...

Many people have unrealistic and idealized expectations of love relationships. They believe that the excitement and emotional highs of new love will last forever. It comes as a huge shock when the euphoria wears off and disillusionment sets in. Couples often struggle with this change, believing they have ?fallen out of love? and wonder what to do next.

So why does love change from feeling great to feeling wrong once you take that step of commitment?? One reason is that relationships go through predictable stages, and by understanding these stages, couples can be better prepared to maneuver each stage successfully? be less likely to blame their partner or experience self-doubt about their relationship choice.

So let?s take a look at these stages:

There are 5 stages of love that have been identified by Dr. Susan Campbell. All couples move through the different stages at different speeds and will move back and forth from stage to stage but both will predominately be in the same stage at the same time:

? Romantic Love Stage

? Power Struggle Stage

? Stability Stage

? Commitment Stage

? Co-Creation Stage

Stage I ? Romantic Love

All relationships begin with this stage. The need satisfied here is love and belonging. This stage is characterized by its dream-like qualities, fantasies, hopes for the future, the possibilities and the asking of ?what if.? Everything is wonderful, beautiful, fun and exciting.? The pair unfortunately are brain dead! They focus on similarities and do things to please each other.

Differences are viewed as bad so are denied. The emphasis is on how to fit and move together and soon they look like they?re glued together at the hip. Each will do anything to get along. You deny part of yourself and the thinking is ?Now that I have this other person I am complete and happy.? This stage is short lived but does allow for the building of a foundation for the relationship in the future. However, real love cannot begin at this stage so paradoxically one must fall out of love to learn to love.

This stage lasts, on the average, two months to two years. Romancing takes up a lot of energy with all the courting and pretenses and trying to be the same ? eventually you begin to tire. As well, melding at the hip becomes uncomfortable. When the cost to your individuality becomes too great you begin trying to change the other person or make them conform.? Guess what you get? Resistance with a capital ?R?; but you try to insist and there is a fight, leading to the next stage, which is ?

Stage II -Power Struggle

In this stage both parties struggle for power and some freedom. There is an awareness now that you are different but the premise remains that differences are bad ? your differences are magnified. You seem to have nothing in common anymore and everything the other person does is wrong. There is a pulling away from each other, and a need for space ? all of which is quite normal.

This is a critical stage where divorce occurs most frequently and when couples seek counseling. The fight is for boundaries and clearly defining unacceptable bottom line behaviors.? There is a nervousness about the future and some questioning whether there will even be a future together. This stage is a prerequisite to readiness to relate to each other as whole people.

See this stage as a positive one, an opportunity to journey together, to learn how to negotiate, to equally care about your needs getting met as you do about your partners. It is possible to have one partner still in the romance stage while the other is into the power struggle stage. This can be painful when the one in the romance stage finds that what he or she does for love and belonging leaves the other feeling oppressed (i.e., he brings you flowers which was once okay but now you feel controlled by his actions and react by desiring even more space).

Stage III ? Stability

The needs satisfied in this stage is freedom and choice. You are now aware of each other?s personal world instead of just your own and the difference is okay. It is finally clear you are not going to reshape your partner. Clear boundaries are determined.

There is a sense of loss and a certain sadness at this time as your realize dreams aren?t reality. The power struggle was hard and has weathered you. You feel older and wiser. If you had not learned good relationship and coping skills as a child the power struggle stage was even harder than it had to be.

This is a resting time. The war is over and it?s time to relax. You breathe a sigh of relief. The danger at this stage is you may start to move apart as each does their own thing. There is a realization that each other?s? paths in life may be different. There may be a feeling of boredom, a sense of not being connected and having nothing in common.

This is the second most common stage for counseling or divorce. At first it feels good to agree to stop changing the other but life is not like that. Life is about growing and changing. The positive aspect is that at this stage you have history and it can be used to your advantage. Don?t throw away the relationship easily. At this time you either learn mutual respect or you go back to the second stage.

Stage IV ? Commitment

This is the only stage where there really is a readiness for marriage though people usually have already married in the romance stage. In this stage you are wide awake, making clear choices about yourself and your partner, based both on individual differences and those things you have in common. You see clearly who you are and what you want as well as who your partner is and what they want. This is the basis of a healthy relationship.

You now choose each other with awareness of past, present and direction to the future. The needs fulfilled here are a balance of love, belonging, connection, fun, and freedom. You don?t need each other, you choose to be with each other.

If one of you is in the stability stage and one ready for commitment, you will either both remain in stage three or could return to stage two. Both need to be ready for the commitment stage. Though parts of previous stages may reappear you probably would have done enough work to have developed strategies for dealing with problems. The statement can now be made to your partner, ?I choose to love you knowing all I know, good and bad.?

Stage V ? Co-Creation/Bliss

In this stage you are two people who have decided to be a team moving out into the world. This world may include children, a project, a church, a joint business venture, etc. You move beyond the relationship. The danger at this stage is over involvement with the outside world and relationship being neglected. The relationship must be continually nurtured along the way. There needs to be time for you, for me, for us and for them. This is difficult sometimes and choices must be made.

A test of where you may be in the relationship is: If your spouse and children are away for a while, who gets the first hug upon their return? If it?s the kids then maybe it?s time to take a better look at ?us.?

These stages are not a linear process; it is a circle spiraling upwards so when you hit a ?certain stage in the power struggle it becomes easier. You retain stages and bring them forward as you grow ? you are in one stage or another at any given time with bits of the others thrown in for good measure. Knowledge of the stages helps move through them.

adapted from the relationship coaching institute.

Source: http://albuquerquenmcounseling.com/archives/1248

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