Seven alternatives to consider before getting a reverse mortgage

Reverse mortgages are hot. Baby boom demographics, inadequate retirement funding, and problems in the traditional mortgage market (pushing brokers into alternate products) have combined to make marketing of reverse mortgage products to senior citizen homeowners one of the hottest niches in the mortgage business.

And the effort is paying off for marketers. Federally-insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) are the predominant type of reverse mortgage in the U. S. Recently, the number of HECMs originated has averaged about 9,000 per month, more than double the average in 2005. Moreover, about two-thirds of the total HECM reverse mortgages ever issued have been originated in the last two years.

Reverse mortgages are only available to homeowners age 62 and older who have paid off their mortgage or have only a small mortgage balance remaining. The sales pitch for these loans is enticing: tax-free retirement income for as long as you own the home - even for life; no monthly loan payments; no repayments until the home is sold, and payment options flexible enough to meet any need! In many cases a reverse mortgage is the ideal tool for senior homeowners.

But there is one big drawback with reverse mortgages: high up front closing costs that can sometimes reach $20,000 or more. Combined with the regular interest that accrues on the loan balance, the up front costs can make this an extremely expensive way to borrow. To spread these costs out and make the cost of borrowing reasonable, it is imperative that the borrower be confident in their ability to remain in the home for at least 5-7 years and, preferably, longer. Unfortunately, government data shows that most HECMs are paid off in seven years or less.

So, while a reverse mortgage may be a good fit for seniors in many situations, it is always important to carefully explore alternatives to see if a more cost-effective means to achieve your retirement financing goals is available.

We discuss below seven alternatives for you to consider:

1. Intra-Family Loan - Do you have a relative or friend with deep pockets and a good heart? An intra-family reverse mortgage loan can be an excellent way to gain the advantages of a reverse mortgage, but avoid most of the costs. The concept is straightforward: instead of a bank lending you retirement funds in exchange for a lien on the house, structure an arrangement with a relative or friend to lend you the money instead - collateralized with your home, of course. You can avoid most of the up front costs this way and have more flexibility to set interest rates and loan terms. There is even a company called Circle Lending ( circlelending. com/familyadvantage/reverse-mortgage. asp) that specializes in drafting these loans as "official" arms length transactions and then provides monthly loan servicing just as a traditional lender would do.

2. Price Appreciation Agreement - There are also firms that will give you money today in exchange for an "equity-share" in the future appreciation of your home's value. These programs are usually aimed at higher value homes (over $500,000) and may only be available in areas of the country with a track record of strong property value growth. The benefit of these programs is that you may be able to tap into your equity without the high up front costs of a reverse mortgage. The drawback is that it could cost you substantially more in the long run in the form of foregone home appreciation.

If you think this type of arrangement may be a good fit for you, here are two programs to look into to: Equity Key ( equitykey. com/) and, Rex Agreement ( rexagreement. com/)

3. Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) - As noted, reverse mortgages make most sense if the homeowner is able to remain the home for seven years or more. The reality, however, is that more than one-half of all HECM reverse mortgages terminate in less than seven years. To finance short and intermediate cash needs, a HELOC loan may provide a more cost-effective way to tap into your home equity. With a HELOC, closing costs are generally minor (sometimes zero). The downsides are two-fold: 1) there are monthly loan payments required and, 2) you will likely need to show the lender that you have adequate income to make the required loan payments.

An "interest-only" HELOC loan typically requires monthly payments equal only to the accumulated interest on the amount borrowed to date. With care it is possible to borrow an amount each month that provides cash for living expenses and is adequate to make the monthly interest-only payment. In this way the HELOC mimics a reverse mortgage with interest building up in the loan balance until the loan is repaid when the home is sold.

4. Delay Receipt of Social Security Benefits - The majority of Americans start their (reduced) social security benefit at the earliest possible age (62). While people may feel it is smart to "get the money while you can", the truth is that Americans are living longer than ever before and the decision to take early social security can cost you several hundred dollars per month for the rest of your life. People in their seventies and eighties often feel a reverse mortgage is needed to close a budget gap - a gap that might not exist if they were receiving full social security benefits.

5. Sell and Downsize or Rent - Using home equity to help pay for retirement is not a new concept. For generations, it was common for elderly homeowners to sell their homes and use the proceeds to buy or rent a smaller, more affordable dwelling. This remains a viable strategy and one of the best methods available to ensure you get full use of your hard earned home equity.

It is sometimes possible to sell your home to an "investor" and who will then rent it back to you. This provides you with needed cash while allowing you to remain in the home. Investors like this type of transaction since they get a "good" tenant who likely will take good care of the property.

6. Deferred Payment Loans - Many states, local governments and nonprofit organizations sponsor loan programs for the benefit of "house rich, cash poor" senior homeowners. Much like reverse mortgages, these programs lend money today that is paid back when the senior homeowner sells the home or dies.

The drawbacks are: 1) the use of loan proceeds is usually restricted to a specific purpose (e. g. home repair, payment of property taxes or special assessments, etc.) and, 2) eligibility may be restricted to seniors qualifying as lower income.

Deferred loan programs often have very low (even zero) closing costs and interest rates. This which makes them an alternative worth looking into before deciding on a reverse mortgage. To find out what deferred loan payment programs are available in your area, contact the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) for your region ( eldercare. gov/Eldercare/Public/Home. asp).

7. Other Assets - Home equity should be viewed as a financial asset on par with CDs, stocks, bonds, cash-value insurance policies or other investments you may own. Before deciding to "cash out" home equity with a reverse mortgage, compare this strategy to other possibilities like selling other financial assets you may own. Stocks and bonds can be turned into cash much more efficiently than home equity can.

Deciding whether to take out a reverse mortgage is an important financial step for both you and you heirs. Be sure to consider the alternatives before making a final decision.

The great portable storage dilemma for pc

In ancient times, a few megabytes were considered to be a considerable amount of storage. Transferring data between computers meant carrying around big, goofy floppy disks that weren’t very reliable compared to today’s storage standards. Next the 1.44 megabyte diskettes became the norm for portable storage, their hard plastic casing mocking the bendable floppy’s soft and dainty exterior.

Time marches on. Programs and files begin to demand more storage real estate. Burning CD’s get you a nice 650-700 megabytes of space, but CDR burning is cumbersome; it’s not like saving or manipulating files on a hard drive, as the flexibility just isn’t there, and it’s certainly not as fast.

Today we have USB hard drives and flash memory-based thumb drives. These portable drives pack gigs upon gigs of space and can fit comfortably in your pocket or on a key chain. IT department types have even been spotted wearing their USB storage devices around their necks as an elite badge of some sort; portable storage has never looked this good. Visit waterwheel. com to learn more about PC hardware.

USB Thumb Drives

USB thumb drives are an amazing piece of hardware. Shuttling large files to and fro has never been easier. USB ports are like Starbucks; they’re everywhere, and as long as your computer has one, you can interface it with a USB thumb drive.

One of the cool things about a thumb drive is its durability. They’re like a little army tank for your data. Your computer’s internal hard drive is one of the last components that has actual moving parts—the read/write head; giving your hard drive a good clout when the read/write head is in operation isn’t recommended if you care about your data’s integrity. Thumb drives don’t have this problem, as they use solid-state technology to store your precious data—no moving parts. This amounts to a durable little storage device that can take a trashing and still keep your treasured mp3s safe from demise.

For a large amount of storage on an itty bitty thumb drive, Kanguru offers a 16 GB flash drive for around $800.

USB Hard Drives

USB Hard Drives are a popular choice when you need portable storage. Like thumb drives, USB hard drives can be easily plugged into a USB port. USB hard drives differ from their thumb rivals in a few ways: they don’t employ the same sold-state technology as flash drives—which means you can treat them with utter disrespect like you would a flash drive—and they are a little too large to fit comfortably on a keychain.

A major plus with USB hard drives is that they provide a significant capacity advantage over thumb drives, and for less money; this is a compelling reason to opt for a USB hard drive if your storage capacity needs are massive.

Thumb drives appear to be faster than USB hard drives up to a certain capacity. When a thumb drive’s capacity grows over the 2 GB mark, USB hard drives pull ahead in sheer file transfer speed.

When drive capacity is paramount, USB hard drives may be the perfect solution, but when you want to transfer data on the ring of your keychain, a flash memory-based thumb drive is a great choice.

Web site design color for you

Colors can influence our behavior, feelings and psyche. In fact, colors are oftentimes used as treatment to psychotics and other mentally incapacitated persons.

However, when it comes to web designing, many designers overlook the enigmatic power of colors. It can bring life to any image, text or graphics. It can create the atmosphere needed in order to capture the viewer's decision and loyalty. These are the reasons why colors should be on our topmost list of things that need to be considered in mounting a web site. You don't want a drab looking site, do you? It will appear, melancholic, chaotic, plain and boring. Thus, colors must be chosen in order to complement the site's ambiance, feelings and purpose.

Web browsers only see 256 colors. However, there are times when the number may not appear as such because no browser shares the same 256-color pallet. Nowadays, web browsers are sharing 216 common colors. Thus, in order to complement to other web browsers, web designers must stick to the 216-color pallet. If they go beyond this color pallet, chances are the colors may not exist on other browser. In order for the browser to display that particular color, it will need tiny dots from the colors native to the browser. The process is called dithering. Unfortunately, this will result to the distortion of some tiny dots. Further, this will make the image appear speckled and without a solid color. In connection to texts, dithering will make them blurry and hard to read.

Verdict: Web designers must use browser safe color when using solid color as a design element. However, caution must be exercised.

There are times when we feel we are tricked by our eyes. In fact there is what we call mirage? An optical illusion and there is a long list of optical illusions that can otherwise trick us. But there are times when we are neither tricked or deceived in fact it is an act of science. How do this happen?

At the back of our eyes, there is a thin layer of tissue. This layer of tissue contains millions of tiny light-sensing nerve cells which are called rods and cones. Our eyes have ample decoding cones. These cones are the ones responsible for responding to specific wavelengths of light. Say, when you look at a red box, the cones that have detected the red wavelength become exhausted and fatigued. As a result, opposite cones in the eyes start to enter and different colors are made apparent.

Eye fatigue is one of the important considerations in designing a web site. Thus, avoid colors that are tiring to the eyes. It can result to disaster and can further result to giving of wrong notion or idea to the viewers. Colors like red and yellow, strains the eye faster than any other colors. Thus, limit the use of these colors. Use them on areas that need emphasis and focus. This will surely pull viewers attention. Other that those areas - a big no-no!

World cup 2006 review - last 16

The World Cup has been reduced from 32 to 16 participating nations as the knockout stages begin. This is how the last 16 faired as they battled for a place in the quarter finals.

Argentina were firm favourites to see off Mexico but Ricardo La Volpe’s side were not there to simply make up the numbers. Captain Rafael Marquez gave Mexico a shock lead after four minutes but Argentina hit back five minutes later through Hernan Crespo, although it is questionable whether the Chelsea striker touched the ball. With the 90 minute draw secured at 7/2, the match looked to be heading for penalties until Maxi Rodriguez produced what could be goal of the tournament to send Argentina into the quarter finals.

Germany set up a mouth-watering quarter final encounter with Argentina after seeing off Sweden. Lukas Podolski showed his Golden Boot credentials with two goals after three and 11 minutes to win the match for the hosts at odds of 8/11.

England were predictably short odds at 1/2 to beat surprise second round qualifiers Ecuador but their 1-0 victory wasn’t convincing. Ecuador should have scored early on when Carlos Tenorio's latched onto an error by John Terry, but his shot was deflected off Ashley Cole and on to the bar. David Beckham curled in a decisive free kick after 59 minutes to secure victory.

Portugal beat fancied Holland at odds of 23/10 through a solitary Maniche goal after 22 minutes but it was four sendings off and plethora of yellow cards that was the game’s main talking point. Maniche, Costinha, Petit, Figo, Deco, Ricardo and Nuno Valente were all booked, with Costinha and Deco also receiving their marching orders for Portugal, while Van Bommel, Boulahrouz, Van Bronckhorst, Sneijder and Van der Vaart saw yellow with Boulahrouz and Van Bronckhorst also seeing red.

Italy were odds on jollies at 4/7 to see off Australia but extra time looked likely until the Italians won it with a controversial injury time penalty. Lucas Neill was adjudged to have fouled Fabio Grosso and Francesco Totti swept home the resulting spot kick to send 10-man Italy into the quarter finals.

Switzerland and Ukraine were involved in possibly the worst match of the tournament so far, with first-time qualifiers Ukraine securing their place in the last eight. Both sides played out a goalless, 90 minutes draw at 2/1 and with no goals in extra time, the first penalty shoot-out took place. Switzerland were equally poor from 12 yards out with the Ukraine triumphing 3-0.

Brazil were unconvincing against Ghana, but the 3-0 scoreline will have pleased big hitters who took them at 2/7. Ronaldo and Adriano gave Brazil a comfortable half-time lead with goals after four and 45 minutes and Ze Roberto rounded off the win with a third seven minutes before the end.

Spain were favourites to beat France, but it was the 1998 winners who pulled off the victory at 11/5. David Villa’s penalty gave Spain the lead after 27 minutes, but Franck Ribery on 40, Patrick Vieria on 82 and Zinedine Zidane on 90 turned the match around in favour of the French.

Enjoy the technology of a voip usb phone

The advent of the Internet made communicating with the rest of the world extremely easy. Instead of having to pay through the nose for a long distance phone call that lasts five minutes, an individual could simply type out an email message and send it to his or her friend’s inbox in an instant. However, that technology has now gone one step further. You can now make actual voice calls over the Internet using a VOIP USB phone or headset. VOIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol and is one of the newer mediums of communication that involves opening a connection and dialling another VOIP user in order to have a conversation. It has revolutionized the way in which we communicate today and has made life easier for many businesses.

In terms of being able to make VOIP calls, you only need four pieces of equipment to get starter – a computer, VOIP software, the capability to connect to the Internet and a USB headset or phone. The latter is very important if you want to be able to talk to people on the other end! The majority of new computer operating systems have the ability to accept USB connectivity, thus making the USB device the device of choice.

A USB handset seems to be the choice of many a user for a number of reasons, including the following:

• They are relatively cheap – USB headsets and VOIP headsets can be relatively expensive when it comes to purchasing a way and means of talking over the Internet. They are extremely fashionable and extremely desirable for business owners because they promote efficiency. As a result, USB phones happen to be a lot cheaper. They can be purchased for next to nothing in various stores. They do not have the operating system attached to the phone like a landline does, and that is what pushes up the overall cost. A USB phone therefore is less in terms of cost but you can get just as much out of it!

• Tried and tested method of calling – Everyone knows how to use a phone. It is not difficult because the mechanism on every single phone is roughly the same. Sure, they have different features and can take a little figuring out as a result, but they are all basically the same. This makes the transition that little bit easier.

• Ease of connection and use – With a VOIP phone, you just plug it in to the computer’s USB drive, place the appropriate installation disk into the disk drive, follow the instructions and away you go! It really is that simple. If problems do occur, they can usually be solved b reading the troubleshooting section of the manual.

• Personal comfort – The majority of people prefer to have a phone than a headset at their disposal. As we actively rebel against change, the phone is the best VOIP option because it will make the process of Internet calling much simpler an easier to get used to as a result of the familiarity.

VOIP is definitely the new trend in terms of easy communication and the VOIP USB phone definitely has its advantages and benefits, but how do you decide between those available for purchase on the market? If USB phones are associated with all of the benefits above then surely the brand and model you choose cannot make that much difference to you calling experience? Believe it or not, they can!

There are a number of things that separate the individual USB phones from each other and make it that little bit easier to choose between them, including:

• The features – As with every technological innovation, some phones are better than others in terms of features. Some have the same functionality and capabilities as more advances telephones in that they have inbuilt volume controls, mute functionality, address book and so on. However, the majority of them do not have features quite this advanced yet and are simple to operate. Your choice would depend on how comfortable you are using a more complex USB phone. Consumer reviews may help you to decide what you do need and what you do not need, as well as how much you are willing to give up in terms of convenience and ease of use for features.

• The system requirements – Some USB phones have certain system requirements. The general rule is that older systems cannot sustain the new phone systems, but newer computer packages should give you access to the whole range.

• Visual appeal – Of course, the visual appeal of a VOIP phone always plays a part! If you like the look of a phone then you will be more likely to use it! As a race, humans are shallow so of course this will affect your choice.

• Pricing – Some USB phones are much more expensive than others. This may play a part in your decision if you happen to be on a tight budget. Always compare pricing before you choose your phone because the difference between the cheapest and the most expensive is vast!

Deciding on a VOIP USB phone may not be easy but making the right decision can make the difference between enjoying the experience and truly hating it. Of course, this could then be the difference between using VOIP and returning to your regular landline connection!

Las vegas academy s series of short plays showcases student talent in las vegas schools

Las Vegas Academy, one of the magnet schools of the Las Vegas Public School District, has prepared a series of student produced and student led theater performances.

The Five Plays

• You Want Freedom Fries With That?

“An original theater piece about being an American teenager in an increasingly small world, written and conceived by the Roncalli Drama Festival Ensemble, performed at the Roncalli Drama Festival in Poggibonsi, Siena, Italy, in the heart of Tuscany.”

• Mixed Babies

“Five teenage girls of color discuss life, love, relationships, and friendship in this compelling short play.”

• Coffee Con Carnage

“An original sketch conceived and performed by the students of the Mime and Improvisation Class.”

• Sorry, Wrong Number

“A classic one act thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.”

• The Intermission

“A playwright listens clandestinely to the reactions of the intermission crowd at the premiere of his new play: a surprisingly insightful look at how we perceive what others think about our art.”

History of the Las Vegas Academy

Established in 1992 by the Las Vegas Public School District and area universities, the Las Vegas Academy is committed to fostering student skills in the arts and communication. This magnet school includes students from all over Clark County at its campus in an historic urban shopping district.

Las Vegas Schools students pursue a major in one of the following fields: dance, vocal music, instrumental music, international studies, piano, theater, theater technology, and visual arts. The school operates longer than other schools in the area in order to pack in all the subjects that students need to study in this arts intensive program. Classes are organized on a block schedule, in which students take regular academic classes every other day and major classes every day.

This aggressive approach to education has earned the Las Vegas Academy many honors, both state and nationwide. Including awards from the White House, Senators Reid, Bryan, and Ensign, former Governor Miler and former Las Vegas mayor Jones, the Academy has also garnered attention from the International Network of Performing and Visual Arts schools and been labeled a STAR school. In addition to winning three Grammy Signature School awards, the Academy has been recognized by the U. S. Department of Education as both a New American High School and a U. S. Blue Ribbon School.

The Student Experience at Las Vegas Academy

Students of the Las Vegas Academy compete through a tough screening process just to attend, including an audition as well as maintaining a high grade point average in their regular academic subjects. While students at other area high schools attend class for 50 minutes a day, students at Las Vegas Academy go for 86 minutes. The school day also goes one hour longer overall. This hard work pays off with over sixty percent of graduates enrolling in four year universities. The series of short plays to be produced by the theater and theater technology departments will be just one of many ways in which Las Vegas Academy students present their hard work and dedication to the local community.

How to find public car auctions

Have you been looking for a new used car to buy? If you have, there is good chance that you have visited a number of local car dealerships and there is also a good chance that you have kept your eyes and ears open on the way to and from work. Unfortunately, finding and buying a good quality used car isn’t necessarily as easy at it once was. For that reason, you may have spent weeks or even months searching for the perfect used car, only to come up empty handed. If that is the case, you may want to think about attending a public used car auction.

Even if you have never attended a used car auction before, you likely already know what one is. A used car auction is when used vehicles are auctioned off in a public setting. A public used car auction is one that is open to the general public. It is an auction where just about anyone, including you, can walk into. While different public used car auctions vary, depending on who is running it, you will find that a large number of public used car auctions are free to attend.

Since a large number of individuals are able to successfully buy a used car from a public used car auction, you may want to think about attending one. When it comes to finding a public used car auction to attend, you will have a number of different options. A few of your options are touched on below.

Perhaps, one of the easiest ways to go about finding a local public used car auction is by skimming through your local newspapers. A large number of auctions, including used car auctions, are advertised in the classified sections of many newspapers. This advertisement is often done in the weeks leading up to a used car auction. What is nice about checking your local newspaper classifieds to get information on a public used car auction is that you likely already get a newspaper, whether you pick one up on your way from home from work or if you a have subscription.

Another easy way that you can go about finding a local public used car auction to attend is by using the internet. When it comes to using the internet, you will find that you have a number of different options. To examine these options, it is first important that you know how some public used car auctions work. There are some auction houses or facilities that host used car auctions on a scheduled basis, like once or twice a month. On the other hand, there are some auction houses that only choose to host an auction when they have enough used cars to auction off. If you are interested in finding a public used car auction that is held on a scheduled basis, you may be able to use an online phone book or an online business directory.

In addition to using an online phone book or an online business directory to find information on an upcoming public used car auction, you can also use a standard internet search. When it comes to performing a standard internet search, you will want to keep your location in mind. For example, if you are a Chicago resident, you will likely not want to travel to New York just to attend a used car auction. For that reason, your standard internet search phrase should be something along lines of “Chicago used car auctions.” Your standard internet search should lead you to the online websites of individuals or companies who run public used car auctions. Should you find one of those online websites, you will want to thoroughly examine it to see if information is given on the cars that will be auctioned off and so forth.

In your search for a public used car auction, you may actually come across a number of different public used car auctions to attend. If you live in or around the Chicago area, you may want to take the time to examine North Shore Auto Auction.

Living naturally - natural health and skincare

Today's lifestyle leaves us open to a daily chemical assault, from the air we breathe to the water we drink, and the skincare and haircare products we use on a daily basis. It is not known what the long-term effects of these chemicals will be, but one thing's for sure, it can't be good.

Some people are unaware of the huge amounts of additives in their food, water and personal care products. Some are too busy to care, and others have the attitude ' Yes I know, it's awful, but what can you do?'

The informed, wise people out there though, are taking a different view. Any species that fails to live in harmony with it's natural environment will eventually make itself extinct. Fact. It's nature. If human beings carry on the way they are going, they will indeed end up extinct..

For instance, 100 years ago, cancer affected approximately 1 in every 50 people. Now it strikes 1 in 3. It won't be long before it is striking half the population. It doesn't take a genius to realise that our lifestyle is the biggest factor influencing this increase.

Diet especially, is of paramount importance when it comes to maintaining good health, but so many people ignore this fact and fill their bodies ( and their kids ) with low-nutrient , chemical and additive filled junk.

When people eat meat, they are consuming the same chemicals and hormones that the animal ate. Obesity is on the sharp increase, and it's not surprising considering that the majority of obese people are meat-eaters. They eat the meat, the meat is full of growth hormones and chemicals, the growth hormones are absorbed into the human body, so the person gets fatter. Want my advise - if your are overweight and seriously want to lose weight - go on a low fat vegetarian diet.

If your body had a choice, it would ask for lots of fresh organic fruit and vegetables, preferably raw. Your body would choose clean , fresh water ( I mean pure bottled spring water, not the stuff that comes out of your tap at home). Think about how much fresh water you consume in a day, and by that I mean water thats not mixed with squash, tea , coffee or anything else. I bet it's not much. Do your body a favour, next time you reach for the fizzy drink, reach for the mineral water instead.

Tap water is just another way that we are being poisoned on a daily basis. It contains chemicals, hormones and in a lot of areas it also contains flouride. Yes, sodium flouride , that old favourite. The stuff they put in toothpaste is the same stuff they use to make rat-poison ! Surprised. What people get confused about is calcium flouride, which is the stuff naturally found in water which helps keep our teeth and bones strong. People think this is what goes into toothpaste and the water supply, wrong.

Sodium flouride is a by-product of aluminium smelting and other industries. It's nothing more than toxic waste. For years it was very expensive to dispose of, until someone decided to make up some rubbish about it being good for our teeth, so they could get away with disposing of it in our water supply. This of course was done without public agreement. Nice, thanks for that, I'll stick to the bottled stuff.

Sodium flouride builds up in the body over time, and it can cause cancer. It makes bones softer so they fracture more easily, and it doesn't protect your teeth, in fact it has the opposite effect. Sodium flouride is a main ingredient in anesthetic, hypnotic, and psychiatric drugs as well as military nerve gas.

Sodium flouride promotes mental disturbances. The Nazi's added it to the water supply at the concentration camps during the war, to help sterilize the prisoners and force them to be calm and submissive.

Sodium Flouride has a poisonous and narcotic effect on a certain area of the brain, which makes the person submissive and less able to resist those who wish to control him. It's a way of controlling of the masses. Hmmm, makes you wonder what the government have in mind for us today......

When we look at the skincare and haircare products we use daily, most contain sodium laurel ( or laureth ) sulfate. This is a foaming agent which is so harsh that it was first used as engine degreaser! Fancy that, washing your skin and hair in something harsh enough to strip oil off a garage floor. No wonder we're all spending a fortune on moisturisers! Hmmm, am I just paranoid or do you think there could be some method in their madness......

So they put this SLS in your shampoo, shower gel, bath foam, toothpaste etc, and then add moisturising ingredients to the same products to counteract the drying effects of the SLS. Why not just buy products without SLS? That's what the smart people are doing. That's what I do.

Since I stopped using commercial shampoos and skincare products, and switched to all natural, herbal skin care products, and natural hair care products, my skin and hair are gorgeous. My hair that was once frizzy and dry is now curly and shiny.

Since I began using organic, aromatherapy based skin care, my skin that was once so shiny from all the grease and additives from my previous moisturiser, is now so soft , much younger looking, and I don't need powder or foundation because my skin is great!

I use non-flouride toothpaste, and I take vitamin and mineral supplements every day. I always eat fresh, organic fruit and vegetables, and I always drink bottled, pure water. I am vegetarian so I eat a very natural , low fat diet, that's full of nutrients. I have never felt so healthy.

If you value your body, your health and your life, as well as your children and other loved ones, you owe it to yourself to change your lifestyle right now and start living more naturally.

Consolidate your government student loans

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One of the biggest burdens faced by today’s students is the repayment of expensive student loans. In a day where room, board, tuition, and books can push college bills up past 20, 30, even 40 thousand dollars per year, many students are finding themselves in serious debt upon leaving college. Even with a good job lined up, you may find that you will be repaying your loans well after leaving school, after you are married, and still be paying your student loan off as your children get ready for their college education! Who needs that? You certainly don’t! There may be a way for you to tackle your student loan debt in the form of a government student loan consolidation. Please keep reading for more details.

So, just what is a government student loan consolidation anyway? For starters, it is a type of loan which permits you to take several student loans, pay them off, and make monthly payments to a single lender. For example, if you have 3 outstanding loans with 3 different lenders that are due at 3 different times of the month, you may feel as if you are writing out checks just about every week. In fact, you probably are! Who needs that? You have enough to think about such as managing your hectic schedule; balancing work, family, friends, and the rest of life’s tasks is enough for any one person to handle -- wouldn’t it be simpler to pay a single payment each month? You bet it would!

Just where can you go to find yourself a government student loan consolidation? By searching online. Companies advertise their services to consumers and they are eager to do business with you. By shopping the internet you can locate the government student loan consolidation that is right for you. Please keep the following points in mind before selecting your loan:

Loan Rate. Will the loan be given to you at a fixed rate or at a variable rate? Can you lock in a long term fixed rate to make certain that your rate never rises?

Loan Amount. Exactly how much will the consolidator lend to you? Will the amount loaned cover the entire outstanding balance or will you have to pay the remaining funds off with a separate loan? Can you afford to do both?

Loan Term. How long will your loan take to be paid off? Will you be satisfied with making payments years after leaving college and with other responsibilities on your shoulders, i. e., new car loan, your marriage, a family, buying a home? Are there prepayment penalties if you decide to pay off your loan early?

Government student loan consolidations are fairly new and not for everyone. Make certain you understand all the “fine print” before agreeing to a new loan. You can reduce your debt to manageable levels with a government student loan consolidation if you shop wisely.

School shootings aren t caused by the type of student that the media tells you about

Teachers, principals and counselors: As most of you are aware, some of the recent school shootings were apparently committed by students who were not known for their acting - out behaviors, but instead for their relatively quiet withdrawal and depression. We have gotten quite a few calls asking for explanations. Youth professionals are often more accustomed to preventing and addressing violence from acting-out youth, and may feel less prepared to prevent or address violence from other types of youth.

Here are some of the questions we have been receiving at our office and in our workshop:

Question: Why are some depressed, withdrawn kids becoming suddenly violent?

Answer: Perhaps some of these kids are like pressure cookers that build up so much steam that they literally explode. Many professionals are used to seeing serious youth depression that includes withdrawal, lethargy, reduced verbiage, reduced activity levels, self-harm and/or threats of self-harm, and comments reflecting hopelessness and despair. But, some depressed youngsters may explode out of that "acting-in" into serious acting-out.

Question: Our staff has had a lot of training on preventing and managing violence by acting - out students such as conduct disorders. Is there much difference working with students who normally act in?

Answer: Yes, it is almost a completely different process. Perhaps the two most compelling difference are these: First, there may be fewer overt cues to help you spot the acting-in student before the violence occurs. Second, the way you work with the two sets of students should be completely different. So, no, you can't just extrapolate your training on conduct disordered youth, for example, to depressed students.

Question: How does my school or agency know if we are prepared as best as possible to avoid serious violence from acting-in students?

Answer: Your staff should be able to identify at least three types of students who may be at highest risk of extreme violence, and how they must work differently with each type. There is no substitute for gaining a more sophisticated understanding of your different populations and also learning which tools to use with each type of youth.

Question: Some states are now considering laws that will mandate how schools discipline bullies. Will that be a big help?

Answer: Not necessarily. Your depressed student doesn't always blow up over one single problem like being harassed by peers. A better solution might be to educate youth professionals to understand how the peer harassment affects the vulnerable youngster, but also teach all about that student, not just this one element. It is unlikely that there is a quick and simple fix to the serious and complex emotional problems that developed over the entire child's lifetime. The better solution would be to ensure that all youth professionals have a complete and sophisticated understanding of their different types of kids. Professional development classes like ours' are designed to efficiently do that. There may not be any easy shortcuts or bypasses to updating staff skills.

Question: So stopping bullying is not the whole answer to stopping serious violence by acting - in students?

Answer: That is correct. While it is a definite help, remember that it doesn't always take a "big thing" to set these kids off. Sometimes, the triggering event can be as simple as "that girl didn't look at me." Unfortunately, "the straw that broke the camel's back" phenomenon can often occur.

Question: Can you list at least a few key do's and don't's on preventing violence with depressed youth?

Answer: This list is absolutely no substitute for a thorough understanding.

Some DON'Ts:

Don't add to their burdens; Don't permit them to face unnecessary problems like endless peer harassment; Don't ignore the often quiet signs of major depression (many are noted above); Don't pressure them; Don't forget about them-- the quiet ones so often go unnoticed.

Some DO's:

Do involve them in talking out problems to avoid building up problems; Do involve them in exercise; Do have them evaluated for anti-depressant medication; Do teach them coping and social skills (including peer interaction skills); Do build a strong bond; and, in the words of one depressed youth, Do "make it safe, make it okay."

Want more information on depressed youth and violence? This isn't a topic that is widely covered-- especially if you are seeking practical tools, not just theory. The fastest, most thorough solution we know about is our Breakthrough Strategies Workshop (live or on tape). It is a very thorough resource that puts you in the depressed child's world, and gives you specific do's and don't's. It would hopefully reduce the "guess work" and guide you through your interactions with this student. Visit youthchg. com/live. html for more info.

Creating time with downloadable audio books

Are you wasting time commuting to and from work? Listening to music can be an escape but nowadays time is at a premium, so many people are choosing to use that valuable time for listening to audio books. Long commutes are definitely an ideal time to listen to downloadable audio books particularly for busy people that don't have the time to read books. Here is a list of some the other great times to listen to audio books:

*Commuting

*Biking

*Jogging

*Working Out at the Gym

*Traveling for Business or Pleasure

*Gardening

*Knitting

*Cooking

*Doing Housework

You can easily add to this list based on all the dead time you find in your day to day routines.

Why Listen to an Audio Book versus music?

Audio books and books in general expand your universe. Many times we don't have the time to get additional training at work or find the latest and greatest advice and tips on aging or parenting but you generally can find the time to listen. By listening you can grow, learn, and discover passions that you never dreamed of. With downloadable audio books you can learn a language, hear the latest biographies or the latest best selling thrillers. As a music lover I can tell you that there is room for both but learning to me has always been more important since I know we are in an increasingly competitive world where knowledge is not a luxury but a must.

Aren't Audio Books Expensive?

If you have not been exposed to audio books you may think that audio books are expensive. In some cases that may be true but they are available in a variety of different ways. Believe it or not some still come on cassette tape. Typically the ones you see sold in the stores are on CD. But the new trend is toward MP3 audio books. These are downloadable from the internet. Our audio book store specializes in downloadable audio books. Downloadable audio books tend to be less expensive than CDs since you decide whether you want to burn it on CD or whether you want to transfer it from your computer to your portable media player. Downloadable audio books are usually available in MP3 and WMA formats.

Searching audio books online can be confusing at first but once your find the store you like and are comfortable with the formats they offer you just then need to make sure they have the titles you want. Many sites have users sign up for a monthly fee similar to Netflix where they rent audio books. This works for some people if they are renting enough titles to make it worth the fees. Some stores like ours offer great deals and a wide selection without the commitment of paying a monthly fee.

Audio books are available across all interests. They are just not business or training types of books. Fiction typically is the most popular with the like of Dean Koontz and Stephen King. Many women like to listen to romances as they do their house work. A luxury that they can feel less guilty about since an audio book allows you to multitask.

In conclusion the convenience of listening an audio book can't be beat. Whether you prefer to have your audio books on a compact disc, on your computer, your pda or other portable media player, you are sure to find something to suit your needs online. You no longer need to trek down to your local library or bookstore you can buy an audio book and download it right your computer. The internet has truly transformed our lives. By allowing us to download an audio book that you can listen to instantly it opens the floodgates to a new path of productivity and multitasking.

Space saver binders

How many times have you wished that there is a way to prevent your in-tray from overflowing? Or do you often wish that family gatherings and reunions would happen less frequently because you're tired from scrambling around looking for your misplaced recipes? Do you hate school projects because looking for craft papers is a waste of your time? If you are a woman with a demanding career and an equally demanding home life, you know the value of being organized. And yes, there is an efficient but simple trick to being organized and it's very inexpensive. Do you remember those binders, book binders, loose leaf binders, and other binder clips you used in college? They are not just for school anymore. With a bit of creativity, use them to organize your home and office.

Let's start with your different odds and ends. Collect the photos you want displayed but had no time framing and put them between acetate sheets. Having them laminated is also an option. Clip on a binder clip at the base and you have an instant picture holder. Those binders, book binders, loose leaf binders, clear book pages, and loose leaf pages are good for preserving paper memorabilia, scrapbooking and making journals. Newspaper clippings you intend to keep (news about your son's team winning a Little League game, news about your father receiving an award) can be placed in a loose leaf binder with clear book pages. Another option is to paste them on scrapbook pages, add a few captions and bind the lot with a book binder. A great gift idea is a journal. Make it by binding colorful loose leaf pages with a loose leaf binder. Adding designs on the cover is an interesting option. Binders are also great for keeping magazines intact. Arrange them in piles according to title and bind old volumes together. Label binders with magazine names of the and publishing dates of the issues inside.

Moving on to more important matters; binders, book binders, loose leaf binders, and file boxes are great space savers. Old office documents which you think might be handy for future reference can be kept in file boxes. Remember to bind them first in a book binder and label them with the contract or project name. Brainstorming session results can be kept in loose leaf binders. Arrange current documents in book binders or loose leaf binders. These binders can also save you time and space at home. Collect your favorite family recipes and keep them in a file box in the kitchen. Placing them in binded clear book pages is another idea. Pasting them in a homemade album of loose leaf binder and scrapbook pages is also a great idea. Adding pictures and anecdotes will make your collection more personal. Another time saver is to keep all art supplies in a big file box.

Organizing need not be an expensive or time consuming activity. With a few binders, book binders, loose leaf binders and creativity, you can have more space in less time. The less time it takes you to find your stuff, the less stressful your life will be.

How to stop spyware

This is an additional method that should be used in conjunction with an anti-spyware product.

How can this method prevent spyware from "calling home" with your personal information? It works by letting Windows filter the IP addresses that you place in the hosts file.

What is the host file and how does it work?

The host file resides in the Windows folder on your hard drive and it loads into system memory each time the computer is turned on. For each IP address that is placed in the hosts file, it is cross-referenced with a saved domain name.

Siince the Internet only understands numeric IP addesses, this cross-referencing with domain names is required. These translations between IP addresses and domain names reside on various Domain Name Servers (DNS) that are distributed around the Internet.

IP addresses are in the form of a block of numbers arranged in quartets as in the following example: 125.0.48.220.

They way it works is, as you enter a domain name (URL) in your browser, the first thing that happens is that your computer will check for any IP addresses that are in your hosts file. If it finds the relevant domain name, it will not bother searching the external DNS servers on the Internet.

Before there was the current high-speed connections that we use everyday to connect to the Internet with, it was quicker to find an IP address that was stored on the local computer.

Once you activate a link that is associated with Spyware, by clicking on it, or sometimes just moving the mouse over it, the Spyware in most cases attempts to "call home" back to its server somewhere on the Internet. It can then create an ad server, scrape your personal data and send it back to its server.

Since we now have faster Internet connections, the need for hosts files have just about been eliminated.

Whenever you run into a malicious domain, just add it to your hosts file, and instead of cross-referencing it to a valid IP address, translate it to a fake IP address that connects to a void inside your computer. Then the Spyware thinks it is calling home to its servers, however the call goes nowhere.

The hosts file has entries in it with the following format:

#hosts file from windows directory

127.0.0.1 localhost

123.45.67.89 testsite1.com

51.126.0.189 testsite2.com

The # sign indicates comment lines that the computer will ignore.

In using the hosts file as a Spyware or adware blocker, you will always see the localhost setting in the first line of the file.

Notice that these IP addresses are all the same: 127.0.0.1 - this points only to your own local computer.

You will also see the all of the other IP entries will have the same address as the localhost, as in the following example:

# host file from windows directory

127.0.0.1 localhost

127.0.0.1 testsite1.com

127.0.0.1 testsite2.com

When an infected webpage tries to connect your computer to testsite1.com, the browser looks up the IP address for testsite1.com, and in this situation will find it in the hosts file. Since the IP address translates to 127.0.0.1, the call cannot go out back to its server out on the Internet.

This works simply because the domain is stored on the local computer in the hosts file and Windows will not try to resolve it on the external DNS servers.

Using this methodology will also reduce the time is takes to access normal web pages since it does not have to wait for all of the ads and images to download.

This should not be used as the only solution for Spyware. It should only be used with another proven Spyware product.

The steps with this procedure are not straight-forward as one might think. You have to:

a) detect each bit of Spyware

b) look up the domain name

c) modify the hosts file for each event

It is a constant struggle because not only are companies who produce Spyware and spam are always adding new domain names.

You should not be discouraged however, since you can download very detailed hosts files from the Internet that do not have any costs associated with them. You can visit specific sites that offer this service and download their files. Just remember to constantly check and download the latest updates to these files.

You can also let an anti-spyware program do it for you, such as SpyBot. It will automatically include these problem sites in your hosts file.

For more information on hosts files, simply search on the term in Google

Personal observations on karate after 25 years of training

If you have been studying karate for any length of time now, you have probably come to realize many important insights from your training. From my own study of karate, I have come to notice many interesting lessons. I would like to share some of these insights with you in this article.

1. The most talented students don’t always make the best instructors, nor do they even become black belts in many cases, whereas the averagely skilled but highly committed practitioner often makes it to the higher levels.

2. It is a mistake to judge yourself based on the performance and skill of others. Instead, do your best to honestly evaluate your performance in relation to how well you feel that you are fulfilling your potential in the art.

3. Never criticize others for not “getting it” because although they may be missing some of the things that you “get”, they may be gaining many other important insights that you haven’t yet begun to understand.

4. Don’t profess to know anything about karate other than superficial knowledge until you have been training for at least ten years and even then be very careful because as your own knowledge increases, rather than feeling that you know more, you instead realize more things that you do not yet know and the challenge becomes harder once again.

5. If you are a senior grade and a junior grade tells you that they now know a kata or a technique, don’t put them down or tell them that they don’t know what they’re talking about (even if that may be true), instead encourage them to keep training hard and congratulate them on their breakthrough.

6. There are different truths at different levels of training. Learning karate is a sequential process of breaking previous habits and beliefs, forming new habits and beliefs and then perfecting them until you reach the next breakthrough stage. Then repeat the process and find out that what was once clear now makes little to no sense. These are very confusing stages in your training but very important in your growth as a martial artist.

7. Try not to impose your values onto others in your training; try instead to be open-minded. Just because you think that kata is the greatest thing doesn’t mean that the die-hard sparring fanatic on the floor next to you agrees. It is important to respect and accept each other’s values rather than criticize and judge.

8. All of the above points can be directly applied to all aspects of your life in some shape or form and if you only practice them in the dojo then you are missing the wider picture and life lessons that karate offers.

These eight points can be further condensed into three core values of the martial arts:

· always try your best

· be honest in everything you do

· respect others

This is the essence of what I have taken from my karate training so far. How about you? What have you learned from your training? Why not share some of your insights and e-mail me at Paul@freekarateinformation. com.

I will look forward to communicating with you. For some valuable information on becoming a good instructor, read my FREE Report on “Instructor Mastery: How to Become a Great Instructor Right from the very First Lesson.” You can download it at freekarateinformation. com.

Good luck and best wishes to you on your honorable and noble role in teaching. Feel free to write to me at Paul@freekarateinformation. com with any questions you have on your practice or your teaching.

An overview of the stock market

When you are interested in investing in the stock market one of the first things you will need is a reliable and affordable stockbroker. At one point in time, a stockbroker was seen as a very high priced person that was extremely hard to understand. In today’s world, stockbrokers have become much different, they have begun to make their services cheaper to obtain and in such a way that is easier to understand. This is an extremely wonderful change for the simple reason that you will not be able to trade in any way, shape, or form without a stockbroker.

One of the major rules within the stock market is that no person is allowed to trade within the stock market unless they are a certified stockbroker. A stockbroker, within the United Kingdom twelve million investor’s trade in the stock market, performs every trade that occurs and each one has enlisted the services of a stockbroker.

So you are probably now wondering, what exactly can a stockbroker do for me? There is a wide range of abilities and services that any stockbroker can offer you, at the same time there are also various ranges of fees that will be collected from them. Typically, a stockbroker will charge a commission, a set fee, or some combination of the two. In regards to the services a stockbroker can offer you, there are three basic levels that include only execution, portfolio management, and advice.

When a stockbroker only deals with the selling and buying of particular shares, per the instructions you give them, this is generally called execution only or in softer terms dealing only. With this type of service, they do not offer you any type of advice on any action you want perform. Typically, investors that are experienced or novice in investing will use this type of service. Execution only is cheaper and extremely efficient the fees the stockbroker charges can range anywhere between Ј20 to hundreds of pounds, this will depend on the specific stockbroker you choose.

Portfolio management is extremely detailed and the most expensive type of service performed and dealing with advice is typically a little more expensive than execution only, because the stockbroker will offer advice and views on what is happening within the stock market. The stockbroker at this level of service will also take the time to explain anything you may not understand very well.

Within the portfolio management service, you can separate these into two other categories these are advisory and discretionary. When under the advisory category, the stockbroker will create a proposal of a portfolio for you; however, he or she will not take any action without express permission from you. Within the discretionary category, your stockbroker will completely run all aspects of your portfolio and will give you reports as needs on how the portfolio is working.

10 tips for choosing athletic shoes

There are 10 Tips for Choosing Athletic Shoes that people tend to consider very carefully, when purchasing athletic shoes at any reputable dealer, at any location throughout the country. The first tip in the advice list for choosing this special type of shoes is that, you must consider support. This if offered in the tightness in the sides of the shoes, when they are laced up through top-hole enclosures and tied together bindingly with cotton laces.

The second tip of 10 Tips for Choosing Athletic Shoes is that you must consider arch support when wearing these athletic styled shoes. With the great impact that these shoes receiving during sports events, there is tremendous pressure placed on the bottom of the foot. Without proper support, there is a likelihood of getting damage to the arch support on the bottom of your foot and at the Achilles heel area of the foot.

The third and fourth tip of 10 Tips for Choosing Athletic Shoes would have to be combined, with style and accessorizing complimenting each other. There are many athletes with their own designer branding on the sides of each shoes. The styling features can focus on such things as air that is pumped into the shoe for stability of the foot, or through air that is built-in to the solid bottom of the shoes for enhanced spring action ability. With accessorizing the shoes with designer brands, you will be a walking fashion statement.

The fifth tip of 10 Tips for Choosing Athletic Shoes would be comfort. There are many shoes that simply are not made to fit on everybody’s foot and if they are forced to fit the wear, the athlete will have less performance during games and they will simply be uncomfortable.

The sixth tip of the list of choosing this special type of shoes would be price. There are a variety of quality athletic shoes on the market to fit any type of style and budget. Another tip, the seventh, would be to consider each brand that is available on the market and make your own personal choice. The fabric content that each of these branded shoes are made of, should be considered the eight tip of the 10 Tips for Choosing Athletic Shoes. If it is cheap and shoddy fabric content they will fall apart in the washing machine. The age of the wearer should be considered at the ninth tip, with frequency of use being considered at the tenth tip in the 10 Tips for Choosing Athletic Shoes.

Adsense secrets more revealed

Professionals have their own adsense secrets to success. Some of them have the same while others have unique strategies.

If you will make a research on the web about Adsense secrets, you will only be guided by the different websites with their ads and they will most likely sell the answers to you. Since you are hoping to get answers to all your questions, you will do anything just to know their secret.

You may think of buying any solution that you are presented but understand that almost all the people who want to share their adsense secret are the same.

Now before you make any move, it will be helpful if you do some research on the different search engines. There may be a hundreds of forums that will be displayed on your search. It can be a good way to get valuable information that you can use on your site.

Reading articles written by professional internet marketers are also a good source. Some of the marketers share their own experiences and adsense secrets to help the beginners who wish to succeed in the field of marketing. You can read through hundreds of articles and you can surely get something out of reading them.

Although most of the answers that you can get will ask you to do a little bit of work, it will be worth the try if you really want to succeed. Everyone in the marketing field increased their profits without trying the different strategies.

The web service is a good source for adsense secrets. You can use good keywords to find advices and tips. You can use keywords in the search engines such as: adsense tips, increase adsense income, adsense experiments and adsense adsense tricks. You will be shown with a lot of good information that you can choose from.

If there are different strategies shown, you can choose one which you think will best work for you. But if you can use two or more at the same time, chances are you will be getting good results in a few days. However, these strategies need dedication and perseverance.

You also need to have your own sense of style to be applied on the adsense secrets.

The internet will be the best resource and its all in just one click and you are in for success. You just have to be patient in making your search.

If you want to increase the traffic of your site, you will obviously increase your income. The real adsense secret is to be on top of the search engines or have more and more visitors on your site.

In order to increase traffic to your site, you can have a fresh content into your site. It is necessary to post different articles every other time so that the visitors and readers will visit your site more often. Just make sure that the articles are relevant to the theme of your site.

You can find a lot of good authors who will offer services at a low cost provided that their names will be displayed in the author resource box.

The real adsense secret is to have a good site that your readers can benefit a lot while doing the same for you. it is important that you know your customers and you know what they exactly need.

Getting a loan when you re a tenant

Wherever we go these days we're bombarded with offers of credit, whether loans, credit cards, remortgages - there seems to be no end to the number of companies asking us to consider applying for finance through them. It's true that gaining credit is easier than ever before, a fact borne out by the record levels of personal debt we see revealed in survey after survey.

Whether or not you think borrowing is a good idea, a necessary evil, or to be avoided at all costs, in the modern world it's increasingly taken for granted and many feel that easy access to credit is almost a right.

The problem for many people is that getting approved for a loan is not as easy as it might at first appear. We've all heard about the problems encountered by people who have a poor credit rating for whatever reason, but there are millions of other people with no bad credit history on their files who nonetheless find it more difficult to arrange a loan.

Many of the loans advertised on TV, in the press and online are aimed solely at homeowners. These kind of loans are known as secured loans and are fairly easy to be approved for as the applicant agrees to put their home up as security for the loan. Indeed, with house prices at an all-time high, lenders are positively falling over themselves to extend credit to homeowners, knowing full well that the high equity levels enjoyed by people who took a mortgage out before the latest property boom make it very unlikely that the lender won't be able to recoup their loan somehow, even if the borrower fails to keep up with repayments.

This is of little help to people who don't own their home though, and for these people a different kind of loan is called for : a tenant loan.

A tenant loan is a different name for an unsecured loan, or a loan which is offered without the need for collateral to back up the repayments. This lack of collateral means that the loans are more risky for the lender, which makes them more difficult to be approved for.

The first difficulty tenants face in getting a loan is that the credit checks will be more stringent, and a higher proportion of people will be rejected. If you apply for an unsecured loan from a high street bank or one of the big name lenders, the chances are you'll need to boast a good to excellent credit record, with little or no history of missed payments, defaults, or recovery action. You'll also need a regular income from employment, and this income will need to be large enough to satisfy the lender that you'll have little trouble keeping up with the repayments.

Even if you satisfy these requirements, you may still find that you're offered a loan at a higher rate than the one you saw advertised.

But what's the outlook for tenants with less than perfect credit ratings? Are there loans available? It's best to be realistic and say that if you're not a homeowner and your credit rating is poor, then you're going to struggle to get an unsecured loan. There's still hope for tenants with a middling credit score though, and there are several companies who can help - do a search for 'tenant loans' on your favourite search engine and see what comes up.

The drawback in this kind of situation though is the price you'll have to pay for the loan. The interest rate or APR will be much higher than those you see splashed around in flashy adverts, and the amount you can borrow will probably not be as high as you'll expect either, but nevertheless if you're in urgent need of extra funds then a tenant loan may be worth applying for so long as you're aware of the downsides.

Prince edward island tourism offers genuine maritime experience

Prince Edward Island tourism is alive with all the sights and sounds that go into a genuine maritime experience.

While the smallest province in Canada, Prince Edward Island boasts the largest number of golf fans who come from across the country. In fact, this tiny island has been selected Canada’s number one golf destination not once, but twice in a row. No small feat for a tiny island - but with just one experience of the 26 Prince Edward Island golf courses, it’s not hard to see why! Resplendent and challenging with their rolling greens, sand and water traps alternating with woodlots and vistas that open up onto lively ocean waters, sandy beaches and red sandstone cliffs, these are golf courses to rival the world’s best.

For those in search of an island vacation, Prince Edward Island tourism and tourist attractions abound. Visit Confederation Bridge: an engineering marvel over 9 miles long – it is the largest bridge over ice-spanned waters in the world. Explore the home of Confederation in Canada with a visit to Province House in Charlottetown. Spend an evening at the theater enjoying Anne Of Green Gables – The Musical. Attend just a sampling of arts and music festivals during the summer month. And, last but not least, visit the artisan studios that pepper the province with their abundance of genuine island arts and crafts including pottery, weaving, knitting, handmade soaps, sand crafts, folk furniture, aboriginal works, quilting and much, much more.

And then there are the beaches. Miles and miles of them! In colors of white, champagne, pink and red they offer the quintessential Prince Edward Island tourism vacation experience. Discover a moment’s peace, fun for the whole family, rediscover a romance, or nature at its best over this network of natural beauty that extends from tip to tip on this gentle island. Don’t forget: Prince Edward Island boasts one of Canada’s foremost national parks, and no less than seven provincial parks.

There can be no talk of a tourism experience on Prince Edward Island without the mention of food. The ocean offers up wonderful and unique dining experiences - and, along with the lobster, world-famous Malpeque oysters and fresh island mussels, Prince Edward Island is also renowned for its chocolates, its jams and its jellies, and of course, renowned Prince Edward Island potatoes.

Tourism is a mainstay of the Prince Edward Island economy and with a wealth of things to see and to do including golf, shopping, camping, dining, culture, deep sea fishing or simply hanging out at the beach; it’s really not hard to see why.

Pain relief options natural and medical

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At some point in our lives, we will experience some sort of chronic pain that we positively hate and wish to go away. But as much as we seek pain relief immediately and despise the discomfort, the truth is that pain is useful to our survival as it alerts us to problems within our body. Pain also prevents a person from further injuring themselves and so it can be very useful. But, while useful, we all seek pain relief from time to time because-well, it hurts!

Oral Pain Relief

Now when most people think of pain relief, the first thing that comes to mind is aspirin or some other form of oral medication. In fact, we have been conditioned to believe that “you take something for the pain” and this usually involves a pill of some kind. For severe or chronic pain, opiates are most often prescribed. Morphine and heroine are two common opiates, and you will generally see cancer patients given these pain medicines as pain relief of last resort. Opiates are considered highly addictive and generally reserved for terminally ill patients.

Anti-depressants once were prescribed solely to treat depression and other mental illnesses. However, recent research has concluded that anti-depressants do relieve certain types of physical pain and are often used in pain relief applications to help a patient sleep.

Anti-seizure medications are prescribed to deal with sharp or acute pain caused by malfunctioning or damaged nerves. They most often deaden or numb the nerves themselves so pain signals do not reach the brain.

Less severe forms of oral pain relief generally come in the form of aspirin or ibuprofen. Ibuprofen are specifically designed to reduce inflammation and are therefore recommended for things like muscle aches while aspirin are more useful on headaches and fever reduction.

Pain Relief From Injections

One of the more severe but useful types of pain relief come in the form of injections. Cortisone treatments are common in athletes and involve an injection directly into the muscle or nerve causing the pain. This sort of pain relief is very effective, but it cannot be done on regular intervals due to tissue damage. Therefore, it is only recommended for temporary relief of acute pain.

Dentists also use this form of pain relief when they inject your mouth with Novocain-or, a local anesthetic. These injections will numb your nerves so that they are no longer sending signals to the brain. The inflammation or source of the pain will remain, but your body won't feel anything until the local wears off.

Nerve Block Pain Relief

This type of pain relief is related to injections but deals with specific nerve blocks within the body. Called a ganglion or plexus, a nerve block will affect a group of nerves relating to a specific organ or part of the body. The doctor provides an injection of a specific nerve blocker in order to temporarily relieve pain to that organ or part of the body. It is different than a local anesthetic in that it has been specifically designed to affect one type of nerve so it is specialized pain relief and tends to be more expensive than standard cortisone shots or Novocain.

Physical Therapy as Pain Relief

Physical therapy is often viewed as a means to rebuild damaged muscles and nerves after a trauma. However, physical therapy is also used as a natural form of pain relief. Whirlpool therapy, deep muscle massage, and ultrasound are all forms of physical therapy used in natural pain relief treatments.

Electrical Stimulation Pain Relief

Known as TENS, Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation is an alternative to more traditional pain relief treatments. Without using any needles or medicine, pain is relieved when tiny electrical impulses are applied to the skin. The electrical current then stimulates nerve fibers in other parts of the skin and has the affect of relieving pain. The effects are only short term but TENS has proven itself as a legitimate means of pain relief and is a standard component of many physical therapy programs.

Acupuncture Pain Relief

While not widely recognized by the medical community as a legitimate form of pain relief, this Oriental treatment has been around for centuries and is considered by its adherents as a very effective pain management tool. Acupuncture specialists use lots of thin, small needles on various pressure points of the body. The pressure points in which a practitioner applies the needles will depend on the source of the pain. Although not a proven form of pain relief, acupuncture does remain one natural alternative to more traditional and accepted forms of pain management.

Surgery

In very severe cases and when other forms of pain relief have failed, surgery may be the last best chance to end chronic pain. In most cases, a surgeon will go in and actually severe nerve connections so that pain receptors in the brain no longer receive signals. Again, this is a method of last resort because as we stated earlier-pain can be useful and necessary to our survival. Doctors don't like completely severing nerve endings as they will no longer be able to alert your body to problems-but when other forms of pain management fail, surgery may be the only viable alternative.

Topical Pain Relief

Finally, there are also topical ointments, creams, and liquids that can be directly applied to an affected area for temporary pain relief. Topical pain relief has the advantage of being quicker to reduce pain than oral medicines without being as invasive as the injections. While topical pain relief is not recommended for relief of chronic pain, it is highly effective with short term alleviation of minor aches and pains.

Pain relief is something we all must concern ourselves with from time to time. There are a wide array of medical and natural pain relief options available to you, and the one you choose will depend on the nature of the pain and your own comfort level with the treatment. For relief of minor, short-term pain, oral medication is most preferred, but topical pain relief options are growing in popularity and should be considered as a viable option in most cases.

For a topical and natural pain relief product, try ReliefMD to help manage and prevent any of your everyday aches and pains.

How to fix your credit permanently

Our treacherous financial situation in this country like the infamous sub-prime mortgage meltdown has consumers wanting to get physically ill just thinking about it. This financial epidemic has not affected just personal lives, but a huge portion of “mom and pop” small business owners as well.

Losing their homes and business to foreclosure, losing their jobs, and losing their financial dignity has become the norm all across the country, especially in the big cities and the suburbs surrounding them (west and east).

Throw in the ever-weakening dollar and rising food and fuel prices a we have, in the eyes of many Americans, a national crisis on our hands. Then what? Hire an over-priced debt consolidation company or an attorney to and fight for you credit’s survival. Sure, if you feel fine shelling out a small fortune from the money tree in your backyard.

Or, you could pay a company like Trade Line Solutions $5,000 (average cost) to attach you credit to a seasoned corporate revolving credit account(s). They say it will increase your credit score up to 200 points in 30 days, and it usually does. Although, how many people in a negative financial and credit situation, have that kind of money to lie out at their fingertips? Not many I would imagine. I guess that is where budget comes into play.

You could easily go out to your local book store like Barnes and Nobles or Walden Books and purchase a “How To” for Consumer Credit Repair. Unfortunately, for this inexpensive solution (about $25), you still run the risk of unintentional and indirect misinformation due to the fact that the credit laws are ever-changing. A publisher may not update the books as fast as the credit law changes. It takes time to research changes, make the correct changes and editing, publish new books, recall old books (off the shelves), and deliver new books to the bookstores. By that time the law may have changed yet again.

The one solution I stand by for the many consumers with a moderate budget would be a Credit Repair E-Book / E-Kit. There are many reputable Credit Repair E-Books on the internet such as Credit Bible Secrets ($69) and Consumer Victory Credit’s - Credit Restoration E-Book as well. The growing favorite by far is definitely the latter. Consumer Victory Credit’s E-Book is a growing favorite among the consumer base due to the fact that it’s Author is a seasoned Mortgage Banker and Private Real Estate Investor who has been feet on the ground in this field for over 10 years. In addition the book is constantly updated with the correct credit laws and more importantly, it will only set you back about $10 bucks! Implementing these credit tactics will most certainly ensure permanent credit repair if applied correctly. There is light at the end of this dark financial tunnel and for many it’s called ConsumerVictoryCredit. com. Don’t take my word for it, you be the judge. Good luck in you quest for perfect credit.

Projecting a strong image

Very popular in the late 16th century until the early 19th century, memento mori jewellery was used to remind the wearer of death and those who have died. It could take the most literal form such as a silver rendition of a human skeleton or skull, or maybe a coffin. It could be symbolic representations of death like the Grim Reaper or miniature busts of deceased loved ones. This provided a mystical approach to men’s jewellery that went beyond the functional and aesthetic value of jewellery.

Memento mori jewellery has evolved from the reminder of men’s mortality to something that aspires to the mystical aesthetic of things. A lot of people today wear skulls-and-bones inspired jewellery that appeals to men. It speaks of a beautiful horror that is death. This type of jewellery appeals to man’s inner quest for immortality or the reminder that we are not.

Artisans today of the highest calibre, craft the most intricate designs usually from silver, gold and even platinum which are the most pliable of metals. They can be twisted and pulled to form frightening skulls or fierce looking snakes that make up men’s rings. They can be used to make interesting details like human faces or a delicate flower to serve as pendants. They can even be made into hour hands and straps for watches. They also have the highest potential to be polished into shiny masterpieces.

The need today for highly decorative men’s jewellery is consuming. Men want object, symbol or human renderings in their jewellery to show people their personality and beliefs. This can be done easily. Customized men’s jewellery has been the rage lately. Like a tattoo, it can be done for any customer. Clients can go to specialty jewellery shop or internet sites that offer customized jewellery. They can search the catalogue or database for any design that they want and can add certain details that can be incorporated into the overall design. The personal touch is now the way to go in men’s jewellery. Customers can even sketch their own designs and take it to the shop for crafting. This may be a bit more expensive than ready-made piece of jewellery but it’s worth it.

Choosing the right design is also important for the person’s personality to show. A lot of men make the mistake of buying jewellery that doesn’t suit their personality. Some, in order to impress the ladies would pile on tacky pieces of gold necklaces or put a ring in each finger to project the godfather image. Men should remember that jewellery is an accessory. They are not meant to be the centre of attention. They should be worn to complement a man’s overall appearance. Their personality should not be covered by lots of jewellery but should shine through.

Like the memento mori jewellery of yesterday, men’s jewellery should represent something and not just as decorative objects. A man can project a stronger personality with the right jewellery; it all depends on his choice or the options available to him.

Tips for bloggers

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Blogging Tips:

Write the Best Possible Content even if it is not every day
Writing often is advice that most bloggers come across on other sites. The reason why it is popular advice is due to the fact that it is based on the assumption that posting often demonstrates that you are committed to what you do. This results in visitors and readers coming back to your blog to see and read about what you’re up to. Posting too often may sometimes have the opposite effect. Visiting a blog for the second time, readers might be looking for the same post to re-read or something similar. Forcing your readers to go through a bunch of new posts, 1, 2 sometimes 3 a day might be a deterring factor. In these cases I will just use a search engine to find what I am looking for. Furthermore, the 2nd and 3rd posts of the day are usually of lesser quality due to writers fatigue and therefore less interesting. Instead of posting several times a day just post once a day or just whenever you think you have something interesting or useful to write about. Put some though in your posts, give your readers a reason to come back and always avoid bombarding them with clutter. Focus your effort on a few good topics.

Optimize your Blog for Search Engines
Most bloggers out there start blogging the wrong way. After they start blogging they do so by relying primarily on social networks for traffic. Social network traffic is great but it rarely converts into money. The best traffic to make money is search engine traffic. A blogging tip everyone should get a chance to read and re-read is that search engine traffic will be the most profitable kind. Although Social networking is an easy way to generate traffic you should always spend some time to make sure your blog and posts are properly optimized to rank well in search engine result pages. Take a few hours a week and perform a few scheduled and simple search engine optimization tasks.
Blogging SEO
In your blog
Make sure your titles are relevant to your topic, make sure you refer to your topic keywords throughout your posts, and make sure you tag your posts properly. Also make sure to interlink your posts with older relevant posts. Always use keywords you are interested in ranking high for and keep these keywords concentrated around a specific topic.
From other sites
Get as many one way inbound links with anchor text as you can; by many I mean thousands. Think of your site or your blog as a property you acquired in the country side. After you start building you will need to make a road, get it hooked up with power and so one. Backlinks are the essentials your blog or site will need to prosper. Don’t only rely on other bloggers to link to you. Create backlinks to your blog by submitting articles in databases. Write a few 500 word articles on similar topics you write about in your blog, add back links with ancor text and start submitting. Ideally you should submit a few articles to thousands of directories for every post you write. There is software available to help you do this. Do the same thing for every post. You can easily create thousands of one way links your blog and particular posts in less than a few hours.
Social bookmarking also works great for this purpose. Make sure you get your posts bookmarked at as many bookmarking sites as possible.
Once a week or once every two weeks, use Google Webmaster Tools and see which posts of yours showed up in search engine result pages. Go back to them and optimize them. Add more keywords, make the title catchier, tag them better or even elaborate on certain things you wrote and think will help them rank better in searches.

How to plan your wedding

It's the big one. You want it to be right. You want everything to go smoothly. You want to remember it fondly…forever.

Something like that doesn't just happen. You have to dedicate time, effort and energy to create the perfect wedding. You can do it, but make sure you give yourselves enough time—and money!—to create the most memorable, beautiful, perfect wedding for each of you. After all, the memory will last a lifetime!

A year is the usual amount of time recommended to accomplish this. The budget is whatever you two decide upon, remembering that you do have a year to put aside money from time to time.

Use the checklist below as a guide for your perfect wedding. The items are listed in order, so that the first ones should be accomplished right away.

1-Church or Civil Wedding?

If it's a church wedding, talk to the appropriate church officials as soon as possible. There are lots of details to go through just to get this part right. Be patient! It'll be worth it!

2-The Reception

This may take a long time to arrange, so start arranging it right away. Talk to different caterers and go see the possible venues. Gather all the costs and information you can!

3-The Dress

If you haven't got a theme yet for your wedding, you may want to fix on one at this point. A Renaissance theme, for example, is a popular one, and it makes all your decisions easier, such as the type of Dress—and tux!

4-The Pictures

Some of the best wedding photographers book over a year in advance, so get right on it!

5-The Flowers

They can be as meaningful as you want. Set aside some time to research the meaning of flowers, as well as the cost.

6-The Rings

No single wedding-related objects are as important. Spend the time and money you must to get the rings that will express your love for a lifetime.

7-The Invitations

The guest list can make or break a wedding and reception celebration. Take your time on this one!

8-The Honeymoon

You can dream about it throughout the year, but at some point you will have to decide. Make it a place you both are crazy about, then book it!

If you've gotten this far, the rest is only logic. Follow through, and it'll be a piece of (many-tiered?) cake!

Business banking getting the right account for your business

While many people turn to their usual bank when opening a business account, it’s advisable to shop around. There can be some advantages to using the same bank for personal and business accounts – your manager may be more supportive if you are known to the bank and have a sound financial track record. However, each bank offers different services and has different bank charges.

Many banks are currently offering free business banking for a set period – six months or a year – as an incentive. There are also a variety of support packages, such as free business software and dedicated advisers to help with your business plan. Choose a bank that will give the best all round deal for your particular business – you may also want to consider corporate ethos and ethical banking when deciding which bank to take your business to.

Choosing Your Accounts

Depending on your business type and size, you may need different accounts. If you are likely to be making frequent transactions, for example, you may be better off with an account that charges a fixed monthly fee, rather than a fee per transaction. If you need to process debit and credit card payments, you will need a merchant account.

For overseas trading, you may want a foreign currency account. As with personal accounts, it may be worthwhile to hold more than one type of account – for example, a current account for day-to-day banking and a deposit account for investing profits. There’s nothing to stop you having different accounts with different banks – although you might get a better deal if you hold all your accounts with one.

Opening Your Account

You will need to set up a meeting with a business advisor to open an account. In order to prevent money laundering, you will need to provide certain information at this point – including proof of identity such as driving license or passport, plus proof of your address and signature. The advisor will want to see a business plan and details of your financial planning. There are many schemes that offer help with putting together a business plan. Make sure you have as detailed a plan as possible when presenting it to your advisor – this will help him or her to offer the best services for your needs.

You will also need an account opening mandate – the bank will provide this.

For limited companies you will need a certificate of incorporation.

Dangers of smoking

Almost everybody knows that smoking is bad for the health. Images of blackened lungs line school hallways and hospital waiting rooms, but despite this people continue to take up smoking. This may have to do with the pervasive romantic image of smoking -- an image that has nothing in common with reality.

There are many ways to take tobacco. You can chew it, inhale it through the nose, and smoke it in the form of cigars or cigarettes. No matter how it's taken it is dangerous, but because smoking is the most popular way to consume tobacco it has also received the greatest attention from the medical field and the media.

When a smoker inhales a puff of cigarette smoke the large surface area of the lungs allows nicotine to pass into the blood stream almost immediately. It is this nicotine "hit" that smokers crave, but there is a lot more to smoke than just nicotine. In fact, there are more than 4000 chemical substances that make up cigarette smoke and many of them are toxic.

Cigarette smoke is composed of 43 carcinogenic substances and more than 400 other toxins that can also be found in wood varnish, nail polish remover, and rat poison. All of these substances accumulate in the body and can cause serious problems to the heart and lungs.

Cancer is the most common disease associated with smoking. Smoking is the cause of 90% of lung cancer cases and is related to 30% of all cancer fatalities. Other smoking-related cancers include cancers of the mouth, pancreas, urinary bladder, kidney, stomach, esophagus, and larynx.

Besides cancer, smoking is also related to several other diseases of the lungs. Emphysema and bronchitis can be fatal and 75% of all deaths from these diseases are linked to smoking.

Smokers have shorter lives than non-smokers. On average, smoking takes 15 years off your life span. This can be explained by the high rate of exposure to toxic substances which are found in cigarette smoke.

Smokers also put others at risk. The dangers of breathing in second-hand smoke are well known. Smokers harm their loved ones by exposing them to the smoke they exhale. All sorts of health problems are related to breathing in second-hand smoke. Children are especially susceptible to the dangers of second-hand smoke because their internal organs are still developing. Children exposed to second-hand smoke are more vulnerable to asthma, sudden infant death syndrome, bronchitis, pneumonia, and ear infections.

Smoking can also be dangerous for unborn children. Mothers who smoke are more likely to suffer from miscarriages, bleeding and nausea, and babies of smoking mothers have reduced birth weights or may be premature. These babies are more susceptible to sudden infant death syndrome and may also have lifelong health complications due to chest infections and asthma.

It is never too late to give up smoking, even those who have smoked for 20 years or more can realize tremendous health benefits from giving up the habit.

Some tips to help shorten your daily workout

Does it seem from time to time that when you go to the gym and do your workout routine, it just takes too long? Maybe you’ve been noticing that you seem to be spending 20 to 30 minutes longer than you would like to. Well, what you need are some little things you can do that will not only shorten your time in the gym, but will still give you a good workout.

For openers, you can split body parts. Working the legs and arms one day, then working the chest and back one day, then working the shoulders and abdominals the next day is a good, effective way to shorten your exercise time and still give each muscle group a good, solid workout.

Another thing you can do is keep it down to one set. It is usually not recommended to do only one set during exercise despite claims made by other experts that one set can be as beneficial as 2 to 4 sets. But one set, as long as it is one good set, is better than doing nothing at all if time is the issue.

You can also do a circuit style workout with your weight training. All you do here is complete one set of one exercise, then move right along to the next exercise non stop until you’ve finished each exercise in your routine. Once done, you take a 1 to 1 Ѕ minute rest period for some water, and then start on set two until you’ve finished all of your sets.

If you haven’t done it before, a superset style workout can save a lot of time. This is where you work one muscle, and then work the opposing muscle or you do two exercises for the same muscle without a break. An example would be doing a bicep exercise followed by a triceps exercise. Another would be doing bench press followed by chest flies.

You will need to have a workout plan. A lot of people in the gym wander around looking lost like they are trying to figure out what to do next. That is one of the biggest time wasters there is. Have an exercise routine planned and written out on a log so you know exactly what exercises to do and in what order to do them.

Probably the one single thing that wastes more time in the gym above all is socializing. Either reduce or completely cut out “chewing the fat”. You may know people in the gym and they may have the time to approach you during a workout for conversation. If they do, just keep moving along while they talk or explain that you are on a time crunch and don’t have the time to talk right now. They usually will understand and leave you alone.

More often than not, you can save quite a bit of time by keeping these things in mind and remember to just keep moving. You get more from your exercise program by spending 40 minutes in the gym with 30 minutes exercising than you do by spending 90 minutes in the gym with 30 minutes exercising.