The Lucky Cabin

Do You Want to Stop Smoking Easily and Quickly?
If you have tried using the willpower method, don’t beat yourself up because you are still smoking - the fact is, it’s not a matter of willpower.

The mind has two parts: the conscious and subconscious.

And so when you tried using the willpower method, you were in two minds whether to stop smoking or not - literally in ‘two minds’.

For example, here is a typical dichotomy; you might want to stop smoking because it’s bad for your health (conscious reason), but you’re still aware that smoking makes you feel good about yourself (subconscious reason).

Do You Have Subconscious Reasons?
When you try to stop smoking but get bad withdrawal symptoms, that’s a sure sign that your subconscious mind is resisting the change.

Here’s an example of how it feels when your subconscious mind makes you do something.

When you were young, did you ever try and hold your breath for as long as possible? Do you remember feeling that your lungs were going to burst?

Well, that feeling was generated by your subconscious mind.

Your subconscious mind is capable of exerting incredibly powerful pressure on your conscious mind if it feels that its needs are not being met.

This where all the extreme examples of withdrawal effects when people stop smoking come from.

“Climbing the walls”, “Tearing my hair out” and “Getting the shakes” are all typical examples of the withdrawal effects of someone with strong subconscious needs to carry on smoking.

Perhaps your subconscious wants to carry on smoking because it reminds you of a time of happiness or a time you felt powerful in your life; we all have fond memories of the time we spent growing up, and the emotions from our youth are vivid ones, and they stay with us all our lives.

Or perhaps your subconscious may feel that smoking represents your desire to thumb your nose at authority; everyone is saying you should stop smoking, and maybe you feel unwilling to let them have their way.

Maybe your subconscious feels that smoking represents freedom, or it might be simply that your subconscious fears the withdrawal of the nicotine.

Whatever the reason, the point is if you want to stop smoking, both your conscious and your subconscious need to be convinced that they will benefit from you becoming a permanent non-smoker.

Does Your Subconscious Need Convincing?
However, your subconscious mind doesn’t work the same way as your conscious mind, so the usual line of reasonable argument isn’t going to work.

The best way to convince your subconscious that it’s a good idea to stop smoking is to tell it a fairy story.

I am being serious.

You could make up a story about this beautiful princess, and a wicked witch put a spell on her, took all her money away and made her dress in rags.

I’m sure your conscious mind saw straight away that the wicked witch represents the smoking habit, but your subconscious mind soaks stuff like that up without your conscious mind noticing.

If you don’t believe me, try this little demonstration of how powerful this method is.

Read the following sentence which contains descriptions of three TV adverts, and try to stop the pictures coming into your head; here we go:-

The store where people pat their back pocket twice,
the insurance with the ‘Lucky’ dog, and
the product with the ‘friendly bacteria’.

You can see how powerful this method is because you know exactly which adverts I’m talking about.

People’s subconscious picks these messages up, and so they are more likely to shop at Asda, get their insurance from MoreThan, or buy
… that little drink thing … er, well perhaps that one doesn’t work as well as the others.

Companies spend billions of pounds each year on marketing because they know it produces results.

When people see an advert, the message goes straight into their subconscious without their conscious mind knowing it.

“All this talk of the subconscious is all very well”, I hear you say, “but isn’t nicotine an addictive drug?”

You’re right, it is …
Nicotine is an Addictive Drug, isn’t it?
Nicotine is a highly addictive drug; you can get hooked with just one puff of a cigarette.

Fortunately, the withdrawal effects are quite mild - the smoker gets a feeling that something is missing.

The withdrawal effects take time to build up, and this is why there is usually a gap between cigarettes.

Of course, the withdrawal effects disappear as soon as the smoker lights up again, and this usually misleads them into thinking that the cigarette makes them feel better.

We have all heard smokers saying that they are gasping for a fag.

The truth is that the relief they feel is relief from the withdrawal effects of the previous cigarette.

In other words they would be feeling better if they had never smoked the previous cigarette (and they would be feeling even better than that if they had never even started in the first place).

Each cigarette confirms the feeling that the smoker is gaining some benefit, but the truth is that it makes them more dependent.

More seriously of course, each cigarette makes their body increasingly unhealthy.

Although nicotine is probably the most addictive drug in the world in frequent use, its effects are mild and relatively short-lived.

For the smoker, the withdrawal effects are probably at their worst first thing every morning.

That’s right! That is as bad as it needs to get!

If your withdrawal effects are any worse than that, they are sure to be coming from your subconscious mind.

Have You Decided to Stop Smoking Easily and Quickly?
The easy way to stop smoking is to see a therapist. You should only need one session with a good therapist to understand and come to terms with your subconscious reasons for continuing to smoke.

Find someone in your local area who is qualified, belongs to a reputable organisation, is properly insured, and has a good success rate. You will find a therapist by looking on the Internet or in Yellow Pages in the Hypnotherapy or Therapy categories.

For a hypnotherapist, make sure they belong to the General Hypnotherapy Register as an absolute minimum.

Choose life! Be a happy and permanent non-smoker.

Copyright © 2005 David Allen. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David is a clinical hypnotherapist with a successful practice “Get the Life You Want!” in Hinckley, Leicestershire.
Visit his website at http://www.hypnosis-nlp-therapy.com

BBC Green is the superb and sustainable existence url from the BBC Worldwide. The BBC Worldwide is totally owned by the BBC. The provider makes its money from a range of jobs and companies that are related purely to the BBC’s main output. BBC Greens heavy weight want is to cut through the confusion that these days surrounds environmental and ethical questions.

The term green is meant to promote people to consider about taking an environmentally responsible method to using the natural resources that are situated round you. Quite a bit of incredible examples would be generating and having solar power. All this is to make a substantial contribution to a sustainable planet. The new solar panels use energy that is received from the sun to create electricity to run blenders and lighting. Solar PV additionally known as photovoltaic only requires day light in order to make all of this work; all this is exciting as it conversely means that it could create a little power still on a cloudy day. There are legions of benefits to using solar panel systems. Our people will often save up to 155 off your electricity bill also grid connected systems need really little maintenance. Your PV set ups produce absolutely no greenhouse gases and each respective kWp will often save near to 455g of carbon dioxide gas per annum. This calculates up to nearly just under 12 tonnes over a systems lifetime. Use the energy from the sun to generate electricity for your home using Solar Panels.

The great new BBC Green website is lovely at explaining things and contains all issues in Home & Garden, Food, Travel, Society and Family and Cash. The thing that makes BBC Green exciting is that the company love to think of themselves as different from any other resource green issue site our society might well have used. BBC World Wide site attempt to offer extra relevant results not primarily from BBC Greens very own climate change site, but also from other environmental sites that look and search on environmental living. When the public process a search you yourself will be taken to a results web page. This web page may have the primary three hyper links for BBC Greens results and for suggested sites results.

I was seriously thinking of calling this article The Pros’ and Pro’s of Business Broadband and T1 Service. I for one am an advocate of such service. The speed, reliability, extensibility coupled with great service can be an asset to any organization dependant on their communications infrastructure. Whether it’s voice, data or an integrated voice and data implementation, the advantages out weigh the cost. If you’re not currently using this technology in your business, it might be time to seriously consider it. Your competition is.

In order to provide an objective article, as objective as I can be given the preceding paragraph, I should point out both the pros’ as well as the cons’. As much of an advocate I am for the use of these technologies, the truth is that it’s not for everyone.

Let’s start with the cons’ of using business broadband and T1 service. First there’s cost. To implement any communications infrastructure takes money. So cost is the first factor.

Knowledge is the second. There is a varying degree of knowledge required in making informed decisions. There are many vendors out there who would be quick to oversell you or promise you cheap costs to gain your business. So knowledge is another factor.

Hardware is the third. This could easily be wrapped into points 1 and 2 above. Depending on the infrastructure you’re considering, it could be as simple as a modem and a router, it may be much more complex than that. We’ve separated hardware out from the two points above, but obviously there is a cost factor in purchasing the hardware and knowledge factor in the use of the hardware.

Let’s take a look at the other side of the coin, the pros’ of using business broadband and T1 service. Any business that relies heavily on it’s communications infrastructure, this technology is a must have. The speed alone quickens the pace within the office. Emails, downloads, research all play a factor in the productivity of each employee. No more waiting for a dial-up connection. No more getting the dial-up connection only to wait some more as web pages slowly populate your screen. Ever send that important email with an RFP attachment (Request for Proposal) or the product outline, or whatever, only to have your signal dropped? This can be very frustrating indeed. How about research? Are you researching for products or services to use within your office or perhaps wanting to check up on your competition? Looking for that information on the internet through dial-up? If that’s the case, you’re the type that REALLY knows how terribly slow dial-up can be. Broadband and T1 technology removes these issues all together with a fast, reliable and extensible infrastructure that can grow with you and your business.

What about cost? I think the real question is the cost of not having this technology. But alas, let’s take a look at cost. How much time do you spend on dial-up? How many times have you had to wait or resend a proposal (or any email for that matter)? What is your time worth in dollars? As a professional, I’m sure you value your time as well as charge for it, depending on your line of business. So, factor that into the picture. How many times have your customers or prospects not been able to reach you because your phone line was tied up? What does that add up to in dollars?

Knowledge? Let’s take a look here as well. Unless you’re in a technology business, no one expects you to become an expert here. You really just need to learn what’s available and even there, if you use a communications broker, you’ll get a person (or team) that listens to what your current needs are and what your growth plans are. Usually this is a free service offered by communications brokers, so you should take advantage of it.

Hardware? Here to, unless you’re a very large corporation, you can outsource this. It’s not as expensive as you might think. First off, your first line of support should be your vendor. They came out and installed the equipment and ran the required communications lines. This may mean learning a little about the hardware. Basically, reset a modem; reset a router, etc. certainly not that hard to do. So the vendor is your first line of support, but if you’ve used a communications broker to obtain your communications infrastructure then they are your second line of support. A broker tends to get the ear of a vendor quicker because of the amount of volume that broker does for the vendor. The end results is that when you’re having issues and your vendor seems unresponsive to you, your communications broker can generally get the attention of the vendor (and resolution to your issues) quicker.

So, cost, knowledge and hardware are but small points in the overall picture. Good business understands total return on investment. Good business knows how to make a purchase then leverage that purchase in a productive manner.

Unless you’re a very, very small business chances are this technology will benefit your organization. Even if you just want to get your feet wet, so to speak, then move up to business grade DSL broadband access. All these technologies are more affordable then you may think.

Get your information, get your quote from multiple vendors and make your decision. It’s just makes good business sense.

FullService Broadband Provider. Unbiased, informative information on broadband technology made possible through Try Right Technology, Inc. Copyright 2006

As I sit down at my laptop with thoughts of responding to Sunday’s Headliner, “Before Spring Break, The Anorexic Challenge” in the Style section of The New York Times (April 2, 2006), a banner flashes across my home page with news of the hunger challenge facing millions of women in Africa.

The juxtaposition frightens me.

Apparently, anorexia and bulimia, advocated by teen girls throughout the northern western hemisphere and affectionately referred to as “pro-ana” and “pro-mia” respectively, have taken our daughters by storm. Thousands of teens are forcing themselves to 300-calories-a-day diets in order to fit into string bikinis for spring breaks in resorts all over the Caribbean…while millions of young girls on the other side of the world are sent to school in order to get just one half-way decent meal within any 24-hour period.

As my own daughter and I were lunching with the family on Sunday, she asked me how many pounds I thought she could reasonably lose before she went to Florida to celebrate spring break with a girlfriend and her family. We chatted about the need for daily exercise (and she spelled out their plan for daily visits to the gym as well as for long beach jogs) and the forsaking of sugary snacks (my husband at this point adding his own two-cents worth of the need to stop eating ice cream and cookies as well as to check fiber content in white vs. whole wheat bread and his estimate that she could, indeed, expect to lose seven-and-a-half-pounds in the next two weeks pre-bikini season.) With his tongue clearly in cheek, my daughter, frustrated and a little angry at his underestimation screamed: “But Mooommmm! You said I could lose ten?!?”

So what’s a mom to do when her teen daughter gets regularly bamboozled by peers who post photos of super-skinny models on their home page of Facebook.com (called “thinspiration” or “thinspo” according to the Times article) and by hosting dieting marathons of their own; by celebrity advertising using the skinniest and prettiest of human creation; and by her own mom who is desiring to get back into bathing suit season with stringent expectations of her own? (I confess to verbally, i.e. in front of my own teen daughter, dreading my need to shed the unwanted seven L.B.’s picked up post-Christmas and hidden underneath layers of New England polar fleece; my own visit to Florida in two weeks to visit my “adopted” mom brings internal freaking out about not fitting into my cutest Lilly Pulitzer skirt unless I move and re-sew the waist button.) This sounds so bizarre, even as I write it, and yet I know I am striking a nerve (or cellulite dimple) as many moms have confessed to me (and to friends whose friends have confessed to them) that we could all stand to lose at least ten ugly pounds apiece.

The New York Times article goes along to quote Dr. Margo Maine, a clinical psychologist specializing in eating disorders: “Every year spring break seems to get bigger and bigger,” adding that “body-image pressure also rises…(sic) with expectation that you have to ‘party like a rock star and be over the top” including ‘looking like a rock star, that is, fashionably, even dangerously skinny.’” (*)

Let’s face it: cultural expectations demand leanness. I read a quote two decades ago in a magazine article apparently earth-shattering as it has stayed in my long-term memory all this time, that “the ultimate status symbol is a fit and thin body.” So times haven’t changed all that much, except in the intensity and extremes with which we move toward that end.

That said, and given the enormity of the problem (which might be better understood by reading the fascinating yet deeply troubling article in its entirety…see NOTE at end of this article) here are 7 Ways in which we are weighing in on spring in our own household:

1) Continue to stress radiant health rather than compulsive weight-checking and clothing size comparisons. Granted, this is easier said than done on some days, like on Friday when I had my annual OBGYN check-up. I half-jokingly asked the doc what the deal was with the stuff around my middle, grabbing a couple inches of ugliness and looking up quizzically at my doctor’s face. He picked up my chart and reviewed my own weight trend during the past three years. “Let’s see,” he dead-panned. “The first year you saw me you refused to get on the scale, and last year you were ten pounds lighter.” While I explained to him that this was not exactly one of my lighter weeksif you get what I meanand that these heavier weeks consistently carry with them an extra five pounds of pure water weight, and that I just ate breakfast and was fully clothed so that the delta was more like two to three pounds, he did affirm that I looked “great.” While that was clearly code for “don’t feel like you need to lose weight but if you’re asking me about your middle, it’s called ‘fat,’ he did place a premium on being fit and strong over being super-skinny. The fact that I had my tennis skirt and shoes on along with a scheduled game immediately following my check-up was good enough for him. And it’s what I stress over and over with my daughter: just keep exercising and eating in a healthy manner and the rest will take care of itself…even if some weeks are “fat weeks” and some weeks are “thin weeks.” (I realize this is a foreign concept to rocket dads, but trust me on this one.)

2) Strive for a diet that is as natural as possible. Avoid processed foods, refined sugars, refined flours, excessive sodium, and chemical additives. While this might make packing the kids’ lunchboxes more challenging (those cereal bars, juice boxes and mini-bags of chips are awfully convenient) it’s far healthier to pack a piece of whole fruit, some raw nuts and a water bottle. Try to cook as many meals from scratch as is humanly possible, avoiding packaged and prepared entrees that are loaded with preservatives and artificial flavorings and coloring.

3) Drink lots of water. Forget sodas and fruit juices loaded with unnecessary refined sugars. Train your kids to drink that proverbial eight to ten glasses a day. And add a squeeze of lemon or lime whenever possible as the health benefits of doing so are tremendous.

4) Eat several small meals a day or three solid ones, never skipping breakfast or eating on the run. If it means getting up in the morning a half-hour earlier in order to get some healthy food on the table, it’s important that you put this practice into play with consistency and longevity. Just because your kids are old enough to make meals on their own does not mean that you should give up on the practice of seeing them out the door in the morning without this wonderful foundation. Sliced fresh fruit or a protein fruit smoothie is far better than a sugary doughnut or processed fruit roll-up. Make sure that when you pack snacks into lunchboxes, too, that they’re as healthy as manageable. I tend towards organic nuts, yogurt and fruit, or dark chocolate chips or whole-grain, organic cookies. (My husband is still trying to decipher the “organic” in Paul Newman’s wonderfuland my personal favoriteorganic chocolate or ginger cookies, each crme-filled and especially delicious. “Does he use organic cream to make the icing or is it the flour that’s organic?” he wonders out-loud every time I open a bag. Who cares? They’re a great alternative to the junk that’s out there being peddled as food.)

5) Recognize clear genetic differences in body style. While I subscribe to the fruit theory of women’s body shapes (you really are an apple or a pear), your DNA plays a huge role in body shape, weight, clothing size and in what you will eventually look like. Stop obsessingand teach your daughter to do the sameabout the body-type that you or she will never have. My daughter is built almost exactly like me; I can teach her about my trouble spots, as I know they will be hers, too. But I also need to teach her to treat her body respectfully, which means that she needs to give it the right fuel as well as daily aerobic workouts and regular strength training. And, given that you know your areas of weakness, try not to dissect your body. Try not to say: “I love my waist but I hate my thighs” or “I’d like my body so much better if my hips weren’t so wide.” You can’t change your basic bone structure so learn to live with the genetic hand you’ve been dealt.

6) Practice proper skin care. Teach your daughter how to take care of her skin, especially her face, so that when she’s older, the habits are well-formed and firmly in place. (And she needn’t resort to botox or chemical peels while young.) Using a high-quality olive oil soap with warm water is still the best cleaning technique possible; don’t succumb to all of the expensive glamour-puss products on the market. I confess to perking up my ears when I over-heard a friend talk about a foundation make-up she uses that she jokingly refers to as face spackle, as it apparently covers up all of one’s skin imperfections. I’ve yet to really check it out, but the word picture of spackling my facesunspots and allwas tempting. Imagine how much more tempted your teen daughter is with the plethora of celebrity and rock star advertising for beauty products in magazines, MTV, movies and billboards everywhere.

7) Focus on shining eyes, hair, teeth and nails. You can’t hide good health. If you’ve got it, your body will show it. Your eyes will sparkle and your hair will shine in the sunlight. Your nails will be strong and your teeth will be white. These have always been hallmarks of radiant health…and they should be your family’s goals. Compliment your daughter when she exhibits these signs of glowing good health. Give these things your attention. Praise her for bouncing through the day with rosy cheeks and laughing eyes and always give priority to health and well-being rather than to weight or dieting or clothing size analysis.

Bathing suit season is upon us, whether we like itor careor not. Perhaps as we struggle through “the anorexic challenge” before our nation’s young girlsas well as our collective desires to be tan and thin and able to fit into a bikini (or one-piece or heck, even a pair of shorts), we can get a grip by getting our arms around the situation…and around our own daughter’s shoulders.

* NOTES: All references to the article “Before Spring Break, The Anorexic Challenge” by Alex Williams are found in The New York Times, April 2, 2006. The online edition can be found for a limited time at: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/fashion/sundaystyles/02BREAK.html?_r=1&8hpib&oref=slogin

Carolina Fernandez earned an M.B.A. and worked at IBM and as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch before coming home to work as a wife and mother of four. She totally re-invented herself along the way. Strong convictions were born about the role of the arts in child development; ten years of homeschooling and raising four kids provide fertile soil for devising creative parenting strategies. These are played out in ROCKET MOM! 7 Strategies To Blast You Into Brilliance. It is widely available online, in bookstores or through 888-476-2493. She writes extensively for a variety of parenting resources and teaches other moms via seminars, workshops, keynotes and monthly meetings of the ROCKET MOM SOCIETY, a sisterhood group she launched to “encourage, equip and empower moms for excellence.” Please visit http://www.rocketmom.com.

Since the creation of information technology, many remarkable things are gradually taking its technological advancement in an exceptional rate. Take for example the way television operates these days.

From the time cable television was launched, many tech-savvy geniuses are continuously looking for ways to compensate the growing demand of the market. Hence, they have created the so-called satellite TV.

And from the time this new technology was established in the market, the satellite TV is significantly making the cable television a run for their money.

Basically, satellite television works through the use of satellites, particularly communication satellites. These satellites are the ones responsible in delivering more television shows all over the world. It has wider reach compared to the cable television because it is not restricted and dependent on “terrestrial signals.”

Contrary to most popular beliefs, the use of satellite television is not actually new to this world. Its first discovery was in 1962 when the television signal was transmitted to the Telstar satellite from Europe, passing over North America.

However, the proliferation of satellite television only started in the modern world because of the continuous increase in the cable television subscription. Also, the lack of cable TV providers in some places of some countries prompted the consumers to opt to satellite TV.

The Technology

Basically, satellite television works just like any cable television that generates signals. The only difference is that the satellite television uses either geostationary orbit of about 22,300 miles way over the earth’s equator or through extremely oblique position with steepness of more or less 63.4 degrees with an “orbital period” of almost 12 hours.

However, some people still contend that cable television works better than satellite TV. This, in turn, created an endless debate on these two giant monsters in the world of broadcast media.

Hence, for those who wish to know if satellite TV is really a better choice over cable television, here is a list of some of its benefits over cable TV:

1. Quality

Satellite TV has better reception signals than cable television. Hence, it creates better quality of viewing. This is based on the theory that cable television has inadequate “bandwidth.” For this reason, it creates poor quality of signal reception.

On the other hand, satellite TV use digital signals, which creates better quality of images and sound coming from the station. In fact, some experts contend that images seen on a satellite TV have 2 to 3 times better resolution than the cable television.

2. More stations

Cable televisions usually have limited number of channels. This is due to the fact that cable television providers operate upon subscription. If a certain channel is no longer included in the subscription list, then, the viewer will not retrieve that channel.

On the other hand, satellite TV has more digital stations. This is because most of the channels taken from the satellite are transmitted directly by the television stations to the satellite, and from here, the stations are distributed to every home with satellite disc mounted on their roofs.

3. More access

The best thing about satellite television is that the subscribers can actually access any channels wherever they may be. This means that even if they are in the most remote part of the world, they can get access on the channels and watch their favorite TV show.

Indeed, it is pretty obvious why most people prefer satellite TV to cable television. However, only one thing is certain. Satellite TV will definitely cost more than cable television.

Nevertheless, even if it will even cost a million, as long as it provides quality pictures and resolutions, then, it is worth paying for.

Robert Thatcher is a freelance publisher based in Cupertino, California. He publishes articles and reports in various ezines and provides satellite TV resources on http://www.your-satellite-tv.info

“Stubborn Fat.” You know what I’m talking about - the kind of flab that sticks to you in those hard-to-lose places: The lower abs, the lower back, the “love handles,” the back of the arms, the upper-thigh/butt area - yeah, THAT fat!

How do the bodybuilders and fitness models do it? How does weight loss exercises works? I mean, how do they get that hyper-ripped, thin-skinned look that reveals every ripple and sinew and mound of chiseled muscle definition?

Well, There are many ways that you can do to lose
weight. You can lose weight thru dietry supplement or you
can lose weight naturally through excercises. Make your
CHOICE wisely & stick on to it day in and day out. Do not
give up your dreams halfway in the journey. Persistency is
the key to gain great results.

Use it as your leverage in order to find success in your life endeavour. Our great article below provide you with the latest & superb way to lose weight through weight loss excercises program. This program work for me & I’m very confident that it’ll work also for you. Millions of people are facing the “OBESE” epidemic.

Your battle to lose weight will be realize if you finally decide to stop making the same mistakes that have been holding you back and you diligently begin applying the weight loss excercises techniques that is reveal “FREE” in this article. Procrastination is a very serious problem to society. Make a wise decision NOW! to shed body fat permanently without muscle loss and without using drugs or supplements.

One thing to take note is that, losing weight too quickly is the biggest mistakes you could ever make because rapid weight loss slows down your metabolism and causes muscle loss. You may get instant gratification from quick weight loss programs, but you’ll damage your metabolism and always gain back the weight in the long run.

Always apply your weight loss excercises program slow & steady. Quick fix weight loss excercises is a short term solution for a long term problem. Please remember that!

Sam is the webmaster and author of http://www.herbalherbs.com, an online health & beauty provider that can help you live a healthy life…FOR LIFE!

No one wants to drown in debt, but there are many people who cannot avoid it. For those individuals who are having bill problems, debt and loan consolidation is one way that they can take back control over their finances. Debt and bill consolidation can help individuals deal with the debt that can occur through student loans, home ownership, education and medical bills. If you have not been able to avoid falling into debt, it is important to work on paying down your debt and can use bill consolidation programs to assess how much you actually owe before you find ways to pay it all off.

Debt and bill consolidation itself is simply the process of adding up all of your outstanding debts and then seeing how much you can reasonably afford to pay off each month. The simplest way to do this is to work out your disposable income and compare it to your monthly debt and bill consolidation total. You will find that the amount you have available to pay off your debt and bill consolidation total is not enough but there is no need to panic.

The next stage is to work out what percentage of your debt and bill consolidation total each of your creditors represent. It is important to do this to be able to come up with a realistic offer of reduced repayments to your creditors. For example, if your debt and bill consolidation total is $2000 and your repayment to X Creditor is $200 then you take 200, divided by 2000 and then multiply the result by 100 to give you a percentage. In this case the result is 10%. Therefore you know that 10% of your debt and bill consolidation total is due to X Creditor. Now you see what you can actually afford to pay X Creditor from your disposable income. Your disposable income is the amount you have coming in each month minus the essential bills such as mortgage, utilities and food. The amount that you will pay X Creditor is 10% of this disposable income. For example, you have calculated that your disposable income is $1200. To find out what 10% of this is simply take 1200, multiply it by 10 and then divide the answer by 100. The result is $120. Therefore you would be able to afford to pay the reduced rate of $120 per month instead of the $200 that it currently requires from your debt and bill consolidation

Once you have calculated the affordable amounts to pay each of your creditors on your debt and bill consolidation list you need to contact them to put forward your proposal. If you explain to most creditors that you are performing a debt and bill consolidation but do not want to take out a debt and bill consolidation to compound the issue they are more than likely going to work with you. A debt and bill consolidation loan should always be the last resort.

Jordan Dunham is an expert on consolidating student loans, visit www.students-loan-consolidation.org/ today for information.

While sleeping through a lecture recently I roused for just long enough to catch the lecturer saying that “Error messages should not try to be funny or amusing, they should be clear and concise”. This got me thinking about the ever-elusive goal of user friendliness. The concept has changed much over the years with packages such as DOS going from being one of the easiest packages on the market, to now being complicated, convoluted, and ignored. I have begun to wonder why I am being taught that computers have to be boring to be user friendly.

The predictable nature of computers is quite dull. I study computers and work with them, so I’m used to experiencing a certain number of faults every now and then. I find these dull and depending on how close my current deadline is, downright infuriating. On the Internet side of things there is little quite as irritating as running into a 404 page when you’re trying to find something. However, the other day I ran into a site that displayed random 404 Haikus and instead of being upset at the fact that my time was being wasted, I ended up typing in bizarre addresses just so that I could read all of the little poems. You can find a few lists of 404 Haikus from a simple search in Google. Humorous website Homestarrunner.com has an entertaining page when you get the address wrong that screams “Four-oh-foured!” and displays a very entertaining message. They have another 404 page on their site that is a hilarious cartoon you can watch.

In terms of applications, games occasionally have amusing error messages such as the one in ‘Escape From Monkey Island’ with the title “Congratulations, you have found a bug!” and concludes with “…get back to work”. There’s naturally a bit more leniency and tendency towards entertaining secrets in games. Easter Eggs used to be a lot more common in software applications. These are hidden sections of code that the average user will never activate but which provide an amusing result when they do. For a large list go to http://www.eeggs.com and search for a specific type of software program that you use. There may be a few minutes of hidden entertainment to be found.

Some of the greatest Easter Eggs came from Microsoft’s software stable. Word 97 used to have a great little pinball game built in if you followed the correct steps, while Excel 97 had a fun little ‘flight simulator’ built in. Unfortunately employees are apparently no longer allowed to include these after some offensive messages were once included in a program.

Companies now require a very professional image and software costs quite a lot to develop, so we’re likely to see all the amusing quirks removed from software that’s released making it nothing but functional. I think that this is unfortunate. I agree that error messages need to be functional and let the user know what’s gone wrong but there’s no harm in taking the edge off the fact that they’ve possibly just lost a few hour’s work by adding a little humor into the picture. As long as common sense is adhered to I don’t really see why my grey pop up boxes all need to say exactly the same thing and be filled with data that’s largely useless to me. Thank you, I realize that the program has encountered an error. I assumed this when it stopped working. Why not give me a reason to actually read error messages instead of having to dismiss them as soon as they appear?

I think the idea of user friendliness has become too clinical and precise. We have rules and structures defining what is or isn’t helpful. We put fancy, bubbly skins on the dull and mundane and think that we’re making it all more interesting. Just occasionally I’d like my computer to pop up and say “Human Error. Please replace user and try again.”

Daniel Punch
M6.Net Web Helpers
Daniel Punch is a writer working at M6.Net: ‘The web-hosting company for humans.’ M6.Net is working hard to help humanity experience the power and freedom to develop their own part of the Internet, to share their information and connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Successful online businesses start with strategically targeted marketing plans. If you have a specific market you want to serve, it’s easier to focus on that market with any marketing plan you may create. Strategic planning from start-up radically increases your success ratios; however, it’s never too late to get focused.

By incorporating a few simple success strategies into your marketing campaign, you can quickly develop a targeted marketing plan that will bring specifically targeted traffic to your site with the intent to purchase what you offer.

These 5 Low-Budget High Impact Marketing Strategies will take your online business exactly where you want to it to go.

1. Keyword association - including market specific keywords in your website, in your description, and in your meta tags enables your prospective clients to find you on the internet search engines.

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3. Refreshing Dynamic Content - IF your website content becomes stale, never changing, lacking in important updates and content changes, you lack impact. Keep your site fresh and up to date.

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Online marketing focuses on Targeted Traffic. A successful online business thrives in a realm of strategic marketing, high-impact sales, and viral links designed into the basic marketing plan. Low-budget guerilla marketing techniques targeted to specific client needs define your business, increasing traffic and profit margins.

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Cholesterol is a fatty substance produced by the liver. This substance has many important roles inside the body and in small amounts it is very important in helping the activity of the organism. In the presence of cholesterol, the body is able to synthesize vitamin D and hormones (testosterone and estrogen). The liver also uses cholesterol in producing bile, a substance used for the digestion of fat. Cholesterol covers the exterior membrane of blood cells and protects them from damage.

Although in normal amounts cholesterol is benefic for the organism, excessive amounts of this substance inside the body can lead to serious illnesses. High blood cholesterol levels are the main factor of risk in cardio-vascular diseases and can even cause heart failure. The surplus of cholesterol inside the body enters the bloodstream and deposits in different places of the body: arteries, soft tissues, organs. When cholesterol adheres to the inner walls of arteries, it obstructs the normal blood flow and prevents the oxygenation of the body organs.

Age, gender and internal dysfunctions are all considered to be factors that enable the accumulation of cholesterol inside the body. However, inappropriate diet also has a great contribution to blood cholesterol build up. A low cholesterol diet can help the body eliminate excess cholesterol and can prevent the accumulation of the substance in the bloodstream. A low cholesterol diet can also help you lose extra weight and improve your overall physical condition.

There are two main types of fat: saturated and unsaturated fat. Saturated fat facilitates the accumulation of cholesterol inside the body, while unsaturated fat reduces blood cholesterol levels and therefore minimizes the chances of developing cardio-vascular diseases. A low cholesterol diet should exclude foods that are rich in saturated fat and include more foods that contain unsaturated fat. Simple carbohydrates contained by sweets should also be excluded from your low cholesterol diet. In order to improve your digestion, you should increase natural fiber and complex carbohydrate intake.

A low cholesterol diet should minimize the intake of animal products. Fatty meats (pork, lamb), organ meats (liver, heart, kidneys) and some dairy products (fat-rich milk, cheese, butter) should be excluded from your low-cholesterol diet. Animal products not only contain a lot of cholesterol, they are also very rich in saturated fat! Eggs, bacon, salami, sausages are rich in saturated fat and they should also be excluded from your diet too. Replace fatty meats wish fish, as it is low in cholesterol and saturated fat. Your low cholesterol diet can include some dairy products, if they contain small amounts of cholesterol and saturated fat: skim-milk, light yogurts.

Your low cholesterol diet should contain plenty of vegetables and fruits, as they are cholesterol free and a rich source of vitamins and minerals. Consume plenty of green vegetables, soy, carrots, cabbage, beans, dried peas and potatoes and fresh fruits like apples, pears, oranges, nectarines, lemons.

The best thing to do is cook your own meals. A low cholesterol diet should include plenty of home-cooked meals like vegetable soups, mashed potatoes and salads. Avoid fried meals and consider grilling or boiling your food. Also, make sure that you drink enough water, as it helps in the elimination of body cholesterol.

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