June 16, 2007
Thinking about buying a used car? How do you know which car is
right for you? It’s all in asking the right questions.
First, ask yourself what you really need in a car. Who will be
driving it most of the time? Where will you be driving in? Over
what sort of terrain? Do you need a lot of storage space and
lots of seating? Are you going to be traveling back and forth
over long distances?
What features are an absolute must? Air conditioning, adjustable
controls, cruise control?
What safety features you are looking for? Anti-lock brake
systems, head injury protection, or child protection equipment?
How much are you willing to spend?
What kind of down payment can you make?
Realistically, what can you afford to pay monthly?
It’s important to know this amount before you even start
looking. Then do your research. Check websites, dealerships, and
Consumer Reports magazine. Look for reliability and repair
ratings as well as safety advice. The website www.edmunds.com
offers pricing information and advice on buying a used car.
Go exploring for that perfect car. Gather as much info as you
can on the different makes and models. Check out the retail
value, available options, performance, and track record for
repairs.
No matter where you buy your used car, be prepared to stand
firm. There are a bazillion other cars you could fall in love
with. Be willing to walk away from the car if the deal doesn’t
meet the criteria you laid out earlier. Your ability to
negotiate a great deal will increase by leaps and bounds.
Always know the market value of any car you’re considering and
make your first offer lower. You want a little room to negotiate.
Ask for a detailed vehicle history report and service records
from the seller. This report can identify major problems
including past accidents, flood damage, and odometer
discrepancies. When you decide to buy a car, make sure you get
it checked out by a trusted mechanic before you hand over any
money. That’s absolutely crucial.
Buying a used car can be one of the most exciting purchases you
ever make. Following a few guidelines will ensure that it’s also
one of the wisest!
Comments Off
So there you are, parked on the couch, feeling like it’s time to make a change, making an abstract list of goals for a new you. You’re determined not to let opportunity pass you by, but honestly you’re feeling a little stuck. Here are seven simple steps to help you get unstuck and on the way to success.
1. Pick a goal you’re passionate about. Identify something that would make you happier or your life easier every single day. Maybe it’s something you’ve always dreamed of doing or something that really annoys you on a daily basis. If you’re really passionate about your resolution you’re more likely to stick to that goal for the long haul.
2. Take action today. Right now, absolutely right now, write down three actions you can take to help you meet your new goal. Taking immediate action will not only get you off the couch, but it will help you feel in control of your destiny.
3. Get yourself an expert. Find a coach, buy a book, research the Internet, get an instructional CD, or ask a friend. Find someone who knows more about the topic of your goal than you do and learn as much as you can. Information really is power.
4. Take baby steps. Often we are so anxious to get to our goal that we have unrealistic expectations. Most people overestimate what they can get done in a week, but underestimate what they can accomplish in a year. Break your goal down into baby steps and get started. Just like learning to walk, once you get your footing your confidence will increase and you will naturally gain speed.
5. Do your best impression of a tortoise. Not only should you take baby steps, but just keep taking them over, and over, and over. There are moments when you’ll be discouraged; hang in there. Always keep moving towards your goal. When it comes to getting unstuck, slow and steady really does win the race.
6. Keep your goals visible and visualize your goals. Write down you new goal and put it somewhere where you can see it on a regular basis. (I print my goals out in a caligraphy font and put them in a beautiful gold frame in my office.) Every time you read the note, visualize yourself in a specific situation having achieved your goal. Imagine how excited you will feel when you’ve finally arrived. It’s no coincidence that 90% of medal-winning Olympic athletes practice visualization of their goals. If it works for them, it can work for you too.
7. Surround yourself with a support network. Tell family and friends about your new goal. Make sure you only tell people that you think will be supportive, not “doomsday” friends. Successful people surround themselves with other successful people. It’s a positive cycle you can use to your advantage.
Okay, so back away from the computer, pry yourself off the chair, get started with #1 and just keep on going. Just keep on chipping away and don’t stop until you’ve accomplished your goals and created your own personal vision of success!
Valerie Hayes is one of the country’s most sought after interviewing communications experts. She teaches small business owners, coaches, consultants, and solo-entrepreneurs to use interviewing communications skills and techniques to better market themselves and their businesses. She has been featured several times on national television as an interviewing communications expert. Please visit her website at http://www.HayesSuccess.com
Comments Off
The best Adsense make money ideas are not as far and distant as you may think. They are just a click away (my apologies for using this tired worn out cliché of statement, but the temptation was irresistible.)
To start with, the best Adsense make money ideas are plentiful on free web sites and blogs all over the World Wide Web. All you have to do is test every idea you come cross before fully implementing them right across your site or several sites. This applies no matter how much good, excellence and common sense there seems to be in the idea.
The truth is that there are plenty of the best Adsense make money ideas widely available all over the net. The problem is separating the sheep from the goats or the duds from the jewels.
One shortcut tip you can use in searching for the best Adsense make money ideas is to take a careful note of the sites where you find the “jewels” and “gems”. In most cases there will be plenty more where your initial gem came from. This will also save you a lot of time, because using a search engine to dig out this sort of information is a very time-consuming exercise.
Of course there is always the short cut or great leap forward you can take of purchasing somebody’s course or information product where all the hard work has already been done. Just remember that in taking short cuts, you’ll miss all the fun of picking the best Adsense make money ideas from “trees” and verifying whether they are “good to eat” or are “poison.” But then admittedly this method of finding the best Adsense make money ideas is not for everybody.
Find out how you can learn more about the best Adsense make money secrets from an expert who makes over $19,000 a month from Adsense. Or grab my ezine on Adsense secrets for free by sending a blank email now to clickaffiliatesecrets-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Comments Off
When digital cameras first hit the news, I thought, “Wow! Never to have to buy film again!” This much has remained true, but it took ten years for digital cameras to come up to the quality performed by film cameras. At first, the pixels were too few to enlarge to 3 by 5 much less an 8 by 10 with any quality. Today, pixels are not a problem and every feature adorning the film camera is now available on a digital camera.
I spent many months researching the available models and weighing the cost versus the features until I came up with a digital camera that pleased me. The camera is the Konica Minolta Dimage A200. While some functions are not as sophisticated as their film cousins, the advantages far outweigh its short comings.
In 2004 a decent SLR costs from $900 to $1500. I use an SLR as a comparison because they are the only type camera that shows exactly what the lens sees. The K/M A200 sells for about $600. Its 8 megapixels allows enlargements up to 13 by 19 inches with a sharpness equal to a fine 35mm photo from an SLR. The features I like best are the manual zoom ring (motorized zoom controls are slow and cumbersome), the stabilization chip (which produces sharp images even with slow shutter speeds) and the control over white balance (even custom balances). Another terrific advancement is the flip out rotating LCD viewer. Never again will I be held to an eye level view. With computer enhanced perspective control, all angles are possible.
To be fair, there are a couple of areas that can be improved, but can be lived with.
One is the delay after pressing the button to take the picture while the camera focuses and sets aperture and speed. It’s only a tenth of a second, but you’d better get used to it or you will miss your shot. A remedy is to take a series of pictures and pick the best one. Another is inherent in all digital cameras and that is the artifacts that appear in the image at higher ISO settings. Artifacts are like the grain in fast film that appears like little dots in the picture. If you use the slower ISO settings like 50 or 100 ISO, then the artifacts are practically invisible. If ISO 200, 400, or 800 are needed to get the picture, then additional processing through PureImage or similar software will solve the problem nicely.
A word about the lens is in order. A zoom range of 28mm to 200mm (35mm equivalent) covers just about any focal length an advanced amateur could need. No
other 8MP EVF (electronic view finder) has this wide an angle. The lens is custom made for a digital camera and is very sharp edge to edge. Only a very slight barrel distortion (1%) is visible at the 28mm focal length. Some software can correct this if perfection is demanded. You never have to worry about dust getting on the CCD sensor since the lens is not detachable. If wider or more telephoto effects are needed, there are accessory lenses that will make the wide end 50% wider and the telephoto twice as long. The A200 also has a 4x digital zoom but I recommend that this only be used as a last resort since the number of pixels are halved when you double the zoom. The auto focus works very quickly except in extreme low light.
A manual focus is available with a nice auto 4x enlargement of the center for critical focusing.
No Compact Flash card is included in the package, so I bought a 512 80x CF card for $69.00. The 80x refers to the fact that it unloads to your computer in a jiffy and the 512 Megabytes allows 81 pictures of the extra fine quality JPEG that I always use. The pop up flash lights up subjects at 12 feet away at 100 ISO. For more versatility I bought the Vivitar DF 200 slave flash ($69.00) that works to 50 feet at night.
This camera is a joy to use and has everything I could ever want in the way of features. In the six months I have owned it, I have created dozens of 13 by 19 images for the two Digital Art Shows I have had. Viva la digital generation!
I have been a professional photographer for 36 years and retired for three.
Comments Off
Have you heard the phrase The Wreck of the Hesperus? How about Ivan Skivinsky Skivar?
The first, The Wreck of the Hesperus is from a poem by Longfellow. Longfellow was a New Englander born in 1807 and died in 1882. He was a Mayflower descendent. (I am too. So are a zillion other Americans.)
The poem describes a sea captain that took his young daughter to sea. They died in the wreck during a hurricane. Read about Longfellow and his poem at: http://eclecticesoterica.com/longfellow.html. You should read The Song of Hiawatha and The Village Blacksmith too.
Americans love Longfellow because his poems are easy to understand and many like his simple Solomon-Seesaw cadence.
The second, Ivan Skivinsky Skivar, is from the song Abdul Abulbul Ameer. It was written by the Englishman Percy French (1854-1920). Read the lyrics to this humorous song at: http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/3243.html.
Percy was an engineer but considered himself to be an artist. He never received one dime for his songs and they were often published without even a name credit.
If you like Abdul Abulbul Ameer, you will also enjoy Robert Service, the Canadian poet that wrote about the Yukon. My favourite is The Cremation of Sam McGee. Read it at: http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1841.html.
Have fun!
The End
John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com, a retired VP of R&D for Lenox China, is author of detective & western novels, nonfiction (business, scientific, engineering, humor), poetry, etc. Former editor of Ceramic Industry Magazine, Jones is Executive Representative of International Wealth Success. He calls himself “Taylor Jones, the hack writer.”
More info: http://www.tjbooks.com
Business web site: http://www.bookfindhelp.com (IWS wealth-success books and kits and business newsletters / TopFlight flagpoles)
Comments Off
The ability to get your free full movie download has finally come around. Broadband internet has opened a Pandora’s Box for movie and music downloads. You can now get a free full movie download in a few hours. Thanks to video compression you can fit an entire movie on a couple of CDs or a single DVD.
Now that they have DVD burners people are looking for ways to get DVDs for free. There are tons of DVD rips all over the net. You just have to know where to look. These are high quality rips that give you the exact same performance as regular DVDs. You can download all this and more at little to no cost.
There are a lot of sites out there that you can use to get a free full movie download. You could be a couple clicks away from never paying for a movie again. Imagine never having to dish out 20 bucks for a DVD.
When you download free full movies always make sure you do it safely. You don’t want to end up getting in trouble by the law. I recommend trying out one of these sites that insures safety by blocking your IP or by another means of anonymity. These are your best bet and they don’t cost much at all.
Shared Movies
Movie Download World
Ultimate Movie Download
iMovieSearch
Full Movie Downloads
About the Author
John Rivers has been involved with music for over 30 years as a student, performer and teacher. His site The-NetGuide-for-MusicDownloads.com helps individuals to find safe and legal Music and Movie download sites. Subscribe to “NetMusic News” and receive Free music downloads each month.
Comments Off
When A Good Man
Becomes A “God-Man”
By Doug Krieger
“And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had
two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. And he
exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence.
And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the
first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. And he performs great
signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the
earth in the presence of men. And he deceives those who dwell on
the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform
in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the
earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the
sword and has come to life. And there was given to him to give
breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast
might even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image
of the beast to be killed. And he causes all, the small and the
great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the
slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand, or on their
forehead, and he provides that no one should be able to buy or
to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the
beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has
understanding, calculate the number of the beast, for the number
is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six”
(Revelation 13:11-18).
The Funeral And Legacy Of Pope John Paul II
The past several weeks have witnessed the adulation, adoration,
and funeral extravaganza orchestrated by the hierarchy, viz.,
the College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, on behalf
of Pope John Paul II. Indeed, it represents the world’s
ecumenical capstone to the life and legacy of this one entitled
the “Supreme Pontiff.”
The funeral was attended by 5 kings, 6 queens, 28 prime
ministers, 53 presidents, countless dignitaries and religious
leaders.
“The late Pope had made ‘Christian Unity’, healing the
sometimes-bitter ties with the non-Catholic Christian world, a
central tenet of his Papacy. The results of those efforts were
clearly displayed in the very sincere and heart-felt sorrow that
colored the faces of the array of Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran,
Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist and sundry other church
leaders and delegates in attendance.” (Anthony Smith, 8 April
05, Tiscali.europe)
Numerous editorialists and historians are calling the funeral
the largest in history; while the press speculates the impact of
the man and the Church he represents, to wit:
“With the experience of two millennia, the Catholic Church is a
past master at ceremony. But no-one could have predicted the
extraordinary way in which the funeral of Pope John Paul II
dominated the attention of the whole world. It is not just the
millions of Catholic faithful who have poured through St Peter’s
Square. Or even the global billions watching on television. Over
200 of the world’s leading statesmen, including George W. Bush
and two former American presidents, dropped everything to attend
the Pope’s internment. What does this extraordinary event
signify?
“In the last generation, the historic divisions inside
Christianity have suddenly weakened, in self-defense against the
increasing secularization of western culture. Even the
fundamentalist evangelical sects in the United States find
themselves making common cause with the Catholic Church -
America’s biggest denomination - against abortion rights. As a
result of this melting of the sectarian divisions, Rome is again
recovering its status as de facto leader of the Christian
world.” (April 9, 2005, Scottsman.com - Pope’s funeral a
reminder that institutions can be revived)
Pope John Paul II is most noteworthy in championing the cause of
human rights, tearing down the iron curtain of communism in
Europe, traveling to some 129 nations, and in spite of former
President Clinton’s “mixed legacy” left by Pope John Paul II,
has been, and will be considered, one of the greatest popes of
all time. No wonder that the millions gathered at St. Peter’s
squares and adjoining promenades and porticos chanted in unison
SANTO SUBITO – “Immediate Sainthood” for Pope John Paul II, THE
GREAT!
In contrast to Clinton’s remarks, President Bush heralded the
praises of Pope John Paul II, to wit:
“I think John Paul II will have a clear legacy of peace,
compassion and a strong legacy of setting a clear moral tone,”
Bush said, later asking reporters to amend his remarks to insert
“excellent” to describe the legacy.” (April 10, 2005, Seattle
Times)
The world and US media committed excessive coverage of the
Pope’s death and funeral proceedings juxtaposed to that of the
Presidential race (ten times more coverage); likewise, this
coverage was at the expense of a great deal of significant
issues and news throughout the planet of 6 billion souls.
The veneration and nearly four hour funeral of this mortal man,
whose claim as the Vicar of Christ (i.e., “holding the delegated
authority of Christ on earth”), was perhaps the most
ostentatious display of grandiose religiosity ever portrayed,
and certainly, ever-conveyed to the world as a result of
Twenty-first Century technological advancements.
“That They All May Be One”
The Catholic world, yea, the world in general, was transfixed
upon this man, his legacy, and the Roman Church’s pomp and
circumstance for days on end—let alone the spectacled of
choosing a new Pope. Indeed, leading American evangelicals as a
result of this Pope’s 1995 encyclical, “Ut Unum Sint” (That All
May Be One) became the hallmark of his papacy for Protestants
who yearn for “unity” and moral clarity against the
encroachments of secularism and relativism sweeping the West,
especially the European West.
Here was one whose title as Pontiff (“The Bridge”) demonstrated
Rome’s determination to gather her wandering chicks beneath her
wings; and, even sought to unite the world’s disparate religions
under Rome’s ecumenical umbrella, alleging that diversity of
faith could be tolerated and understood in the context of the
Lord’s high priestly prayer found in John 17. Listen to John
Paul II’s convincing exhortations:
“There I stated that believers in Christ, united in following in
the footsteps of the martyrs, cannot remain divided. If they
wish truly and effectively to oppose the world’s tendency to
reduce to powerlessness the Mystery of Redemption, they must
profess together the same truth about the Cross. The Cross! An
anti-Christian outlook seeks to minimize the Cross, to empty it
of its meaning, and to deny that in it man has the source of his
new life. It claims that the Cross is unable to provide either
vision or hope. Man, it says, is nothing but an earthly being,
who must live as if God did not exist.
“With the grace of the Holy Spirit, the Lord’s disciples,
inspired by love, by the power of the truth and by a sincere
desire for mutual forgiveness and reconciliation, are called to
re-examine together their painful past and the hurt which that
past regrettably continues to provoke even today. All together,
they are invited by the ever fresh power of the Gospel to
acknowledge with sincere and total objectivity the mistakes made
and the contingent factors at work at the origins of their
deplorable divisions. What is needed is a calm, clear-sighted
and truthful vision of things, a vision enlivened by divine
mercy and capable of freeing people’s minds and of inspiring in
everyone a renewed willingness, precisely with a view to
proclaiming the Gospel to the men and women of every people and
nation.” (Ut Unum Sint)
Toward Pope John Paul II’s conclusion and final exhortation he
implores:
“When I say that for me, as Bishop of Rome, the ecumenical task
is ‘one of the pastoral priorities’ of my Pontificate, I think
of the grave obstacle which the lack of unity represents for the
proclamation of the Gospel. A Christian Community which believes
in Christ and desires, with Gospel fervor, the salvation of
mankind can hardly be closed to the promptings of the Holy
Spirit, who leads all Christians towards full and visible unity.
Here an imperative of charity is in question, an imperative
which admits of no exception. Ecumenism is not only an internal
question of the Christian Communities. It is a matter of the
love which God has in Jesus Christ for all humanity; to stand in
the way of this love is an offence against him and against his
plan to gather all people in Christ. As Pope Paul VI wrote to
the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I: ‘May the Holy Spirit
guide us along the way of reconciliation, so that the unity of
our Churches may become an ever more radiant sign of hope and
consolation for all mankind.’” (My Emphasis)
I present this material to demonstrate the intensity and the
irrevocable commitment that the Roman Catholic Church, through
the efforts of Pope John Paul II, has toward the ultimate
“unity” of all believers who claim the Christian label and
towards the “outward manifestation of the Kingdom of God” here
on earth.
Thus, the death of Pope John Paul II, and his drive to unite the
world’s religions (especially the “Christian religion”) could be
summed up in these remarks:
“John Paul II ushered in ‘the globalization of religion,’ said
John Esposito, founding director of the Georgetown University
Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in Washington. ‘He
increased exponentially the dialogue with . . . people of all
faiths.’” (Louis Meixler, the Buffalo News, April 8, 2005,
Unprecedented Number of Faiths Drawn to Funeral)
Thus, before us this past week was the death and burial of the
world’s greatest religious proponent of ecumenism—ecumenism on a
scale heretofore unknown within the confines of Christendom and
the greater religious communities of the planet. His universal,
Catholic legacy abides . . . the perpetuation on behalf of
“manifested Christian unity” and the embrace of all who affirm
faith—even outside the bounds of Christianity!
In The Later Times . . . Some Will Apostatize
“But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will
fall away from the faith (i.e., “Apostatize”), paying attention
to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the
hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a
branding iron, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining
from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by
those who believe and know the truth” (I Timothy 4:1-3).
We initiated this conversation by quoting passages from the
Revelation,….
Due to space limitations, please click on the link below to go
directly to the article. Or copy and past it into your browser.
Comments Off
