How I lost A million Dollars In A Bank Robbery

The Million dollars was my life-savings earmarked for prime the pump money for my biotech start-up. I am the Gerald Armstrong the owner of Gen Cells Cures…Gen Cells Cures is focused on private medical research for the individual. Searching for cures for incurable diseases and aging. Of course, with the best scientific technologies on the planet! With President Bush trying to ride the middle of the road on stem cell research and his rejection of therapeutic cloning. I packed my bags and went offshore. A great place to go, but leave your money at home. I transferred the money to a carribean island and the local banker stole every last penny.

The local government gave me back the money, but in their currency then devalued the currency almost 100% and I walked away almost flat broke. The banker also robbed 2.2 billion dollars of the local folks money. He bought himself out of the scandel and is enjoying my million along with the other billions he robbed and his new helocopters and yahts in his home-country! I am pretty sure he will show up on the Forbes billionaire list next year. Not a bad business…Robbing banks, if you have the conscience for it! Don’t worry about the country, the International Monetary Fund stepped in to replace the stolen money, no questions asked. The American Embassy screamed for justice in the scandel but to no avail.

After the electric company cut my lights for non-payment I lost all of my cell lines and had to shut down the lab. Chris Reeve had expressed an interest in helping me get back on track before his untimely passing. I had to give up my small scale philanthropy of giving food to the poor people that I had met on the island. My favorite individual charity was a young lady and her three children whose husband had died of cancer in his early 60’s. She and her children are on the street. I have discontinued her support because I don’t have the $200 monthly it takes for her food and housing costs. I have contacted several billionaires for help in opening my doors again (the biotech and my food charity) while at the same time looking for their future cures. I was turned down flat by the Annenberg’s from Pennsylvania, Jeff Skoll, Pierre and Pam Omidyar and Carl and Eloise Pohlad from Minnesota. James and Virginia Stowers never answered my letter. I was hoping for maybe some hand me down michroscopes from their biotech.

Hey but Jim Pattison the owner of “Ripley’s Believe It Or Not” from Canada is considering us, and Kirk Kerkorian appreciated it, and Richard Branson is keeping us in mind in the event that he needs our services, however, Richard Branson probably has some of the best genes that any one could ever want …living life like a teenager at 54 with all of his famous stunts. I wouldn’t be surprised if he lives to be over 100 years old without Gen Cells Cure’s help. But a little help from Gen Cells Cures medical scientists could guarantee that he sees 100 plus! Plus! But let’s wait to see what Donald has to say about the idea…That is Donald trump. So far not one penny is back in the Gen Cells Cures coffers.

Article by Gerald Armstrong- scientist0707@yahoo.com Gerald is the owner of Gen Cells Cures- [http://www.msnusers.com/cures]

Visit his site for information on cures for incurable diseases and aging.

You have my permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

Shield A Business By Protecting The Public And Its Employees

Businesses tend to think of responsibility in a selfish manner. After all, moral issues aside, self-interest is what fuels the engine of capitalism. However, what many companies, particularly small businesses, do not realize is that there are reasons beyond altruism for protecting the public and employees. The simplest way to see this in action is in the efforts companies make to limit their own risk.

Limit Risk

For a business, the proper approach to any potential legal responsibility extends beyond the financials. A company that simply accepts risk and does nothing but set enough money aside is being wasteful. That money is resources that the company is essentially planning to give away. The smart business is proactive and looks for ways to limit its long-term, potential financial obligation.

Protecting Them

Employees, and in some scenarios the public, are an extension of the business, and this is a point that many small businesses overlook when determining how to protect themselves. Would you purchase health coverage that did not extend to your arms or legs? Of course not, which highlights why protecting the public and employees is so vital.

Awareness

A mistake that so many businesses make is that they treat employees as if they are the enemy. While it is true that employees themselves can be a great source of risk, a business will find its greatest success by having an open and honest relationship with the employees. Make them aware of the risk, the potential loss, and the solutions.

Training

Protecting the public and employees goes beyond just awareness. They often require training, from basic knowledge to hands-on learning. Ongoing training can be expensive, but consider it an investment in tomorrow. That money spent today can save a lot of money in the future and reduce the amount of resources the business needs to have reserved.

Safety as a Process

For most businesses, limiting risk is not a one-time endeavor. In order to have ongoing success, the business must be proactively involved in a performance management cycle. With a cycle of planning, implementation and analysis, a business can protect its people and greatly limit future risk.

Special Needs

Even companies that proactively protect their employees come up short, and this usually happens concerning special needs. Special needs are protection that is necessary due to unusual risk. For instance, employees going overseas for a business meeting will undoubtedly have special needs.

Conclusion

Employees, and in some cases even the public, are a crucial extension of the business itself. A good policyholder will recognize this and help the company to account for it. It is vital, however, not to assume that this is the case. A small business should be proactive about protecting itself, its employees, and the public that it touches.

Podcasting How To - What Plugins Do I Need to Optimize My Blog?

Let's have a look at some of the plugins you need to have to effectively market and promote your podcast on a blog.

First of all, lets have a look at plugins and what they actually are just in case you have not heard the term. A plugin is an addon (very simple, as simple as plugging it in!), that makes your Wordpress Blog more functional- making it work better.

Better, meaning more effective at being seen in the search engines- 'cos you want people to see what you are doing online don't you- otherwise you are winking in the dark, you know you are doing it but no one else does.

You can download the plugins by googling the names- they may well come in zipped up form, you just double click on the zip file, and you can open it, interestingly, once you have opened it you can discard the zip file, it is just a shell- it is the yellow file inside you want.

All plugins are loaded into the folder "plugins", which you will find in the "WP-content" folder.

Once the plugins are installed, you need to configure them, this is done by logging in to your blog, and clicking "Activate" in the section for plugins.

OK, on to plugin number one for your Podcasting How To.

1. All in 1 SEO pack- This effectively simplifies the process of optimizing your posts for the search engines. You just fill in the title, and a short description, and the all important keywords. Then, when you update, you get the

2. Podpress- This would make sense of course being that we are talking about Podcasting How To. Once configured, this clever little plugin will allow podcasts to appear on your blog posts when you put in the command [display_podcast]. It is rather clever to be honest. It detects all the necessary components of your podcast that is has to.

3. Max Blog Press- Psychic Search- this plugin will let you know what phrases people are typing in to view your blog... what a useful thing to know!

4. Asikmet- All blogs worth their salt would have this plugin. It stops spam, and we could all do with a bit less of that.

There are many other plugins, hundreds actually, but for our purposes- making a podcast these are the primary ones you need. It can be worth researching other ones though as we all have different needs and desires.

Car Insurance Savings Ideas

Are you getting the best deal possible for car insurance? How would you know if you were not? Is there anything you can do to get a better price than you are getting right now?

These are all very good questions and need to be asked by more consumers. Many are happy with what they have now because they have not had any problems with their current company. Many of those same people have never even used their car insurance. Nothing wrong with never making a claim, but being loyal to a company that has only taken your money efficiently is not good common sense. The other problem with that mindset is that you could be throwing away hundreds of dollars a year for nothing. There are plenty of good companies out there that provide excellent service for a fair price. Below are 3 things you can do today to make sure you are getting the best deal on your car insurance.

1. Shop around. Independent agencies provide a wide range of options for your car insurance. With multiple carriers to choose from, independent agencies can provide you with multiple quotes. With so many options you can usually find the right coverage at an excellent price. You can also get quotes from other carriers, besides independent agencies, just to make sure you are getting the best bang for your buck.

2. Be a discount hunter. There are discounts that many consumers know nothing about. For example, there are companies that provide discounts for the following non-driving factors: education level, type of employment, grades of your teenager, homeownership, multiple cars, years with previous insurer, and more. Contact your current insurer to make sure you are getting all the discounts you deserve. And if you get quotes from other carriers, make sure you give them all the information that they request.

3. Take care of your finances. Most insurance carriers will use an insurance score as part of the rating process. An insurance score is similar to your credit rating. If you are not paying your bills on time, your rates could suffer. If you want the best possible price, you'll want to have an excellent credit score.

Follow these 3 steps and you'll be well on your way to getting the best deal on your car insurance. Remember: start the process by contacting an independent agent and then go from there.

Overview Of Umbrella Excess Insurance

We know by now that an umbrella insurance policy is so important for people all over the globe. Most experts would advise the individuals to purchase umbrella policies so as to secure themselves against any of those unforeseen events and incidental accidents. However, people often make the mistake of not purchasing the perfect umbrella cover, which would normally solve all of their problems and worries. Now there are even personalized umbrella insurance schemes and policies, which will provide the individuals financial and legal assistance against their personal injuries and damages. However, people also want something more effective than any of those financial devices. One such thing is known as umbrella excess liability insurance. This may seem a bit complicated to understand. Complicated or not, it is necessary for people to wholly understand the concept and facilities of umbrella excess liability insurance.

The excessive umbrella insurance cover sounds like a variation of the average excessive insurance cover. Many insurance companies provide the latter. However, the normal excess insurance cover is often found to be insufficient and inadequate to solve the problems arising out of many unforeseen events and situations. These may include fraudulent actions, accidental injuries and so on. The excess insurance is only a slight extension of the regular insurance. The umbrella excess insurance would provide legal and financial cover for a number of unexpected damages and losses. Thus, the coverage of the excess of umbrella insurance is significantly greater and more varied than the regular excess insurance. It would be somewhat of a bare essential to empower oneself with an umbrella excess insurance policy.

Similarly, the surplus advantages of the umbrella insurance policy would suit a range of needs, urgencies and immediate requirements. The firms and entrepreneurial business enterprises could benefit from the additional protection against the incidents of losses, calamities, frauds and artificial shortages. Also, the entrepreneurs can secure themselves by settling their legal and financial insurance. Lastly, the surplus advantages could suit the regular and common people just as well. They could use their umbrella insurance policies as they would use any of the regular accident and health insurances.

Just the same, the major benefit of the umbrella excess insurance seems to be in its approach to the common individuals. There could be plenty of times, when you may face personal injuries, and you may lodge complaints in the court. To seal a victory, you can gain the help of the umbrella insurance. It would give you most efficient legal facilities and provisions.

How to Capture Your Kids Memories - Digital Scrapbooking for Parents

I remember becoming a parent in 2001 for the first time. Was I elated. Actually I was on a big high all throughout my pregnancy like I had done the greatest feat in the world. But when my daughter was born, I wanted to capture every smile of hers, every inch of her growth. I wanted to be able to keep a record of how many times she does pee and poo in a day. I did what I could best at the time - jot it all down in a paper journal.

I did it earnestly for first few years and then the process became tedious and I started journalling once in a few months. Soon it was only on her birthday that I wrote her a letter.

With my second one born in 2004, I had no time to even click picture forget about writing anything down on paper.

I was discussing this with a fellow mom the other day (These days all I seem to discuss with other people is school, hobby classes, kids, and maids anyway.) She suggested that I try Digital scrap-booking. I had never heard of the term and decided to Google it and understand more.

Digital Scrapbooking is a way for you to highlight your precious photos and memories by overlaying these photos and memories on beautifully designed professional templates. You can also decorate your templates with alphabets, embellishments like buttons, ribbons and stickers and try out different textured papers - all digital in nature and all FREE. Some sites require that you download a software and then create scrapbooks while others allow you to do so online without any downloads. All you have to do is upload the picture and write a journal entry. That's it! Your online memory gets created and can be shared online instantly with friends and family.

Best part is that some of these now have mobile apps and sms integration so I can capture the unique moments in my kids' lives as soon as it happens, even while I am on the move, or while I am waiting for them in an after-school class.

I am really having the time of my life digging up the old pictures and chronicling my memories to preserve them for ever. Every time my daughters say something beautiful, it gets rare when they are over ten years, I capture it using my phone in my online digital scrapbook. I wish I had had this option when my girls were still little and the innocent words were easy to come by.

So if you are a parent who is busy and want an easy way to keep a record of your parenting moments, Digital scrapbooking is your answer.

Strengthen Your E-Commerce Store With Magento

In this world of innovative web technologies, you can find various options for building a robust online shopping portal. The abundance of dependable content management systems is baffling online vendors in choosing the right web technologies to build their e-commerce stores. In this situation, Magento is emerging as the best option for online retailers. It is an innovative and online shopping favored open source content management system, which is known for default payment gateway integration feature. Thus, it has become the most preferred CMS tool for building e-commerce portals that is giving a rise to Magento development services.

Top features of Magento based E-commerce portal are mentioned below:

Customer Driven Features: In this new business environment, it has become essential to have customer-driven features in your e-commerce website. Since, it will help you in catering your customers in a better way. There are some client-centric features in Magento that are mentioned below:

Customer Segmentation: With the help of this feature, you can divide your targeted customers in various segments like age, location, and buying behavior. Such customer segmentation will let you showcase your products in an impressive manner.

Targeted Promotions: This feature of Magento ensure the better results of all e-commerce store promotional activities.

Product Suggestion Tool: It is a useful feature of Magento that makes shopping easy and comfortable. Your customers can choose the best products from the pop up suggestions.

Reviews and Ratings: This is the best tool to showcase the best products of your site. Your customers can rank and review the showcased products as per their personal experience. The recent research over online shopping behavior indicates that online buyers prefer to read the reviews of a product before purchasing. Thus, it is going to help you greatly in showcasing your products with valuable ratings and reviews.

Easy search capability: This feature helps your customers in finding the needful products from your wide ranging product lines.

Brand Development Aspects: There are some special brand development features in Magento that will help your store in gaining a feat in online shopping arena. These aspects increase the brand loyalty among your customers.

Customer Rewarding Points: With the help of this feature, you can reward your constant customers by providing discount coupons and gifts. It will develop a responsive image of your e-commerce brand among your customers.

Wish List: This feature of your e-commerce store will help your customers in creating a wish list of products, which can be used in future. This wish list will work like the future buying list of your customers.

Gift Cards: It is a useful feature for keeping in touch with your customers. You can send gift cards to your regular as well as first time customers for passing a thanking note through internet or via post.

Owing to all such growth friendly features, Magento is gaining a high demand for its community edition as well as for its enterprise edition. Though, some of the above mentioned features are available with enterprise edition, but you can approach Magento Development Company for installing Magento extensions. Such features will help you in growing your e-commerce store speedily.

Knee Deep in Asbestos

When I was 17 old I started working at an asbestos mine in the Yukon. I had the excitement of youth and looked on the thing as a big adventure.

The mine was located about 7 miles from the Alaska border on the banks of the Forty Mile River, which emptied into the Yukon River some 5 miles or so north.

I first arrived in August and started working on the Surface Crew. This was the group responsible for outside maintenance of all things on the surface. This was fine when we had those few relatively warm days in summer, but later it was a bit more difficult to be working outside in minus 55F.

One of my first duties was to keep clear the conveyor that took the unused asbestos out to the tailings piles. Tailings piles are basically the dregs of what's left over after milling the asbestos and is run out of the mill on conveyor belts to large piles behind the mill. At that time they were about 100 feet high.

I was given a shovel, and a small mask (kind of like the little paper ones that painters use) and told to go shovel off the conveyor belt on the tailings piles. Dutifully I climbed up with my little shovel to clear any blockages of asbestos from the conveyor. I remember clearly at one point standing literally knee deep in asbestos on top of this 100 foot high pile and looking inside my very poor quality mask and seeing the inside (where it's not supposed to be) all grey from the asbestos dust. I then took out my hankerchief (yes, I carried one) and blew my nose. Sorry for the rude, graphic description, but it was all grey. And that was my introduction to work at an asbestos mine.

Even back in the early 1970's it was becoming known that asbestos caused problems. Working in the mine we'd get brochures handed around periodically with propaganda about how it was never proven that asbestos was actually harmful. They were beautiful glossy brochures. I wish I'd kept one.

Though I had occasion to go into the mill for various reasons I was glad I didn't work there. There were employees that worked in the mill whose sole job was to sweep up the dust that fell on the floor. There was so much of it that this was a constant ongoing job. The asbestos dust in the mill actually fell almost like snow and covered the floor completely. Without sweepers there would probably have been several inches of asbestos dust on the floor within an hour or so. In fact, I remember seeing sweepers go by pushing their wide brooms and the new dust settling onto the floor behind them as they walked.

The Yukon itself was absolutely beautiful. Stunning in fact. I had many great experiences there and saw some natural wonders I couldn't have seen anywhere else. I had hitchiked up the Alaska Highway with a friend. In those days the highway was unpaved. Most of the trip was provided by a nice family who were travelling in an old converted school bus. Rattle and dust. Rattle and dust. But we made it finally to Whitehorse, and then on to Dawson City. I loved Dawson. It was like stepping into the past. Not just the architecture and homes but the people had that old fashion friendliness and charm, though tempered by a resolve that one must have to live in such a fierce environment.

The Yukon has a peacefullness to it. Almost a serenity that one can feel. I've found that only those who have been there and experienced it fully understand what I mean by this.

In all of this beauty I suppose the asbestos mine was a blight, or cancer on the environment. Fortunately closed down now for many years nature is recovering it's territory, but unfortunately asbestos mining has left a legacy of asbestosis and Mesothelioma with some of it's previous employees. There are many resources available with information, legal, and personal (www.mesothelioma-listings.com) but one shouldn't let something that consumes the body, also consume the soul. Being human is to be somewhat fragile to the vagarities of life as it is. There's plenty of 'drama' going on without us spending all of our energies on blame. Be calm. Remember your duty in life is to help others. Be happy and try to improve life around you.

As I type this I am looking out the window, watching my grandchildren learn to fish off the seawall out back. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Risk Management - Sub-Contractors

Risk management and assessment of sub-contractors and suppliers must start early in the life of a bid. As soon as the need for bought in items is identified and a list of potential sub-contractors created, the risk management process kicks in.

Risk assessment of sub-contractors becomes more essential, the more complex the item of supply and the fewer suppliers there are to choose from.

The amount and importance of risk management goes in this order, starting with the most difficult:

If the system requires a complicated piece of modified software based on an existing proprietary software, then due to copyright issues, only the original owner of the code can be approached to change it as required. This is a sole source supply involving software development, which is notoriously difficult, and needs to be micro-managed in order to succeed.

Equally, if a complicated bespoke software is needed, even given that there are a number of sub-contractors capable of doing the work, it is a very risky business and needs careful management.

Items of hardware which will be designed and manufactured specifically for this project or which require special manufacturing processes need a high degree of careful risk management.

Next down the chain in terms of risk are specialist items of proprietary hardware. Again, this is likely to be a sole-source item, which in itself carries risk.

Alternatively, the risk involved in buying standard commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) items of either hardware or software where there are various similar products to choose from, is fairly low, but still exists and management will be required.

In a nutshell, the order of risk, starting with the highest is:

Sole source software development

Multiple source software development

Sole source complex COTS software requiring system integration

Sole source hardware development and manufacture

Multiple source hardware development and manufacture

COTS Software supply

COTS Hardware supply

Each of these scenarios carry different types and quantities of risks, making individual plans for their management absolutely essential.

In our next article we'll look and the management of risk associated with selecting potential sub-contractors.

Fees for Selling on eBay - Learn the Facts About the Insertion, Final Value, and PayPal Fees

Many people and businesses use eBay to sell products on a regular basis. Most full-time sellers know that selling products on eBay comes at a price! It is critical for even the occasional seller to know the true costs of selling an item on eBay. Those who do not are often surprised over the PayPal cost, eBay insertion fee, and eBay final value fee.

PayPal Fees for Selling on eBay

PayPal works closely with eBay to accommodate both buyers and sellers in easy online transactions; however, they are not free to use! Count on paying PayPal 2.9 percent and 30 cents per transaction each time any sales are made. It does not matter if you are selling an item for 99 cents or 1,000 dollars, it works the same! PayPal charges a fixed amount for each exchange of money.

To be clear, this 2.9 percent and 30 cents per transaction is taken from the final value of the item being sold, including the shipping too. For example, if you were to selling a product for 100 dollars and charge 15 dollars in shipping, you will be charged 2.9 percent of 115 dollars plus 30 cents on top. In this case, your total PayPal fee would be 3 dollars and 64 cents.

eBay Insertion Fee

Each time a product is listed to be sold on eBay, a charge could be incurred; it all depends on how you list the item! Currently, if you were to start your listing at any price as an auction, your first 50 listings have no insertion fee. Once you go over that amount, you will be charged an insertion fee, depending on the price you begin with for your auction. Currently, this amount ranges between 10 cents and 2 dollars.

If you were to list your item as a "Buy it Now" or fixed-price listing, you will be charged a rate of 50 cents flat, no matter where you choose to start your listing price.

In addition, you must be careful with the number of eBay "upgrades" you choose for each listing. If you were to have your title bold, have your listing duration increased to 10 days, use a subtitle, and many more add-ons, you will be charged small increases to your insertion fee.

eBay Final Value Fee

The eBay final value fee is a percentage of the total selling price plus shipping fee. This often is the most expensive portion of the 3 eBay fee types, so you must make sure to be careful and not forget this one!

The eBay final value fee is determined by whether you list your item as an auction or "Buy it Now" price. If you choose an auction-style listing, you will be charged a flat 9 percent fee with a total charge of no more than 250 dollars. If you instead list your item at a fixed "Buy it Now" price, your fee is based on what category of product you are listing. Here are the current categories: (1) electronics (2) clothing, shoes, and accessories (3) books, DVDs, movies, music, and video games; (4) and all other categories. Your total final value fee what be determined by what you choose to sell!

My eBay Fee Advice

Regular eBayers must know the eBay fees so well that they rarely need to refer to them on eBay's website. It's advised to use an eBay fee calculator to get a fast and accurate fee estimate. In addition, be able to "eyeball" an item and quickly run the numbers in your head. Often, if you take 10 percent as a rough estimate for all listings, you can quickly guess at the fees. I refer to this as the "10 Percent Rule," which enables sellers to quickly get a rough estimate of what all the eBay and PayPal fees will be for any item sold. In most cases, you'll only be a percentage point or two up or down in your estimate!

Presidential Debate Number 2: Who Won?

The tension was palatable as the 2012 Presidential Town Hall meeting concluded. Following the debate, both men greeted their families and then continued campaigning - signing autographs and having their picture taken. Neither candidate turned to greet the other, neither acknowledged the others family. To me, this was a natural reaction to the animosity that was expressed during the debate. And in fact, if they had greeted each other I would have questioned the authenticity of the gesture. At the same time, last night's debate made it crystal clear that Obama and Romney are very different when it comes to both their vision, policies and how they see their role as Commander and Chief.

The Score

So who won this debate? It depends on who you ask. Interpreting the behaviors of the candidates - ignoring each other and continuing to woo the American voter - suggests that each man believed he emerged as the winner.

Then again, some might say that since Obama raised his game in comparison to his first debate performance, he is the winner.

As a speaker coach, I was listening for clarity of thought as well as how each man expressed himself. I relied on my Presidential Debate ScoreCard, (I hope you did as well) to guide the assessment of each candidate, focusing on his confidence and credibility in his communications. For me, while it was close, Romney won.

Body Language: Appearance and Stance

Both men looked sharp with strong erect posture, even when sitting on the stool. When they stood, they stood tall and proud, looking comfortable in their surroundings.

However, Obama didn't come across as optimistic as he did four years ago. He looked tired, perhaps even a little "beaten up", clearly not as refreshed and vital looking at Romney.

The assessment: Romney 1

Movement

Both men stood immediately when it was their turn to answer a question. In fact, Romney would stand when Obama's time was up; alerting the moderator that it was "his turn". I had to laugh at one point when the moderator, Candy Crowley of CNN, asked both men a follow-up question on wages and job growth and they moved almost in unison - standing, taking six steps forward, stopping and assuming the same stance. It couldn't have been any better if they rehearsed it.

Approaching people asking questions - moving around freely and comfortably and void of any distracting mannerisms both men "owned the room".

The assessment: Draw

Eye Contact

Eye contact is all about inclusion and the rule of thumb is a minimum of 90% direct, roving, continuous eye contact. And while both men had direct eye contact, Obama made more of an effort to look at and include the entire audience when he spoke.

The assessment: Obama 1

Gestures

Both aligned what they were saying with how they expressed themselves - their words, and gestures in-synch. In addition, their gestures were plentiful, varied and spontaneous. Obama's gestures were small, tight to his torso - waist high. Romney's gestures tended to be "larger", more expressive with the movement coming from his shoulder. One wasn't necessarily any more effective than the other, just different.

The assessment: Draw

Vocal Delivery

If you recall, during the first debate, Obama said "ah" whenever he paused. This made him sound uncertain, struggling for words. There were no fillers this time allowing the pauses to be less defined or used to punctuate what he was saying.

What got in the way this time was Obama's tone of voice - in an effort to sound passionate and more assertive, he could come across as dogmatic.

While both men had a conversational tone most of the time, Romney did tend to have more fluidity to his talk (avoiding a repetitive vocal pattern) and varied his pace with more vocal inflection.

The assessment: Romney 2

Messaging

Romney's messaging offered assurance to the American voter saying, "I know how to make it happen". However, something happened that threw Romney off his game responding to the question about the terrorist attack in Libya. Following Obama's response Romney looked as if he had been ambushed and wasn't sure how to recover. For the first time in the debates, his response included "ah's" - clearly a nervous reaction.

Obama's messaging was more aggressive than in the first debate and he nailed the final question by "closing the sale" when he asked for another four years.

The assessment: Draw

Round Two Results

Last night both men were in it to win it! While it was close, my assessment was Romney won by a slim margin. What was yours?

A Good Domain Name Is Prime Real Estate

This is the first in a series of articles that will attempt to demystify important seo factors by drawing direct correlations between the steps you'd take to open a store on main street and the steps you'd take to launch a website to do business online.

In this installment, we'll be discussing why choosing a good domain name is the same as picking out the perfect address for your new retail store, office building, or manufacturing facility.

Location, Location, Location

You want a prime location for your new business. Some place that's easy to find and easy to give directions to. Your clients should have no trouble locating you in the busy retail/office/industrial space where you're setting up shop and they should be able to easily guide their friends and family there when they tell them what a great experience they had doing business with you.

In online terms, this is your domain name. In other words, this is what people type into the address bar to get to your website.

The trick here is deciding whether you want your domain name to reflect your brand or your business. In almost every case, I recommend you choose a domain name based on your industry rather than your name.

For example, "Grass Masters" might be an appropriate and catchy name for a lawn care company, but GrassMasters-dot-com tells the search engines absolutely nothing about what you actually offer. A better choice would be LawnCare-dot-com. But, of course, that address is already taken, as is just about every imaginable iteration of that name.

So you'll have to find a compromise. One good way to do that is to include the name of your city or state in your domain name. After all, when people are looking for someone to mow their yard and trim their hedges, they are most likely to search for something like "lawn care company in... " So why not make that your domain name?

Of course, even then you may find that many good domain names with your city or state and your business already belong to someone else. Don't let that discourage you. With a bit of thought, you will be able to register a domain name that reflects who you are, where you're at, and what you do.

In some cases, you may find that it makes sense to secure a good domain name first and then let that dictate your business name. That's precisely how I approached it when naming my internet marketing firm. Just be sure to choose a name that is easy to remember while making it pretty clear (to both people and search engines) what service you offer and where you do business, if that's applicable. In other words, find a name that feels like a good location to set up shop.

Brand Over Business

There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. And I'm certainly not going to be the guy tell Jeff Bezos that naming his online bookstore after the Amazon river is a bad idea domain name because a river in Central America has nothing to do with selling books and CDs.

Thus, I offer you "The Amazon Exception," which states quite simply: If you have Jeff Bezos' budget and marketing savvy, you can name your company and your website anything you want.

For the rest of us, the simple recipe of where we are and what we do tends to offer the best search engine rankings and the corresponding website traffic.

Ask An Expert

If you're at all anxious or stressed out over selecting a domain name, good. It's no small decision and it can be costly and difficult to undo once it's done. For that reason, you should seriously consider consulting an internet marketing expert to help you make this decision and to lay out your online marketing strategy.

Getting International Insurance for Your Travels Abroad

There is no debating the fact that we occupy an age of abundance, when put in the viewpoint of history. Compared to one hundred years ago, folks are now ingesting more, living longer, gaining greater levels of education and learning, delighting in even more travel, and typically leading healthier lives. In numerous locations of society in the developed world, the excesses induced by excessive consumerism has even generated weight problems and overindulgence-- kids receiving too many presents for Christmas-- and the phenomenon of instant gratification, where folks come to expect things right here, immediately. One of the potentially more forgotten aspects of this new age is the matching perks brought with it by the fact that we now occupy a more globalised globe. This is specifically so for folks looking to internationalise their professions, with reports indicating that there are more options than ever before for folks looking to work abroad.

New analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has shown that the number of individuals working outside their home nation is set to increase by 50 % in the next decade. Their study, performed by evaluating the expectations of 4,200 graduates, shows that 80 % of respondents would like to work abroad. The study further exposed that 94 % presume to work throughout geographical borders more than their mother or fathers, and an incredible 70 % expect they 'll wind up using a non-native language at work-- largely English. The study even notes that with the new rising financial powers (called the E7) set to overtake the conventional huge economic climates (of the G7), the concentration of multinational companies' expatriate assignments will definitely shift from traditional centres such as London and New York to brand-new burgeoning metropolises consisting of Shanghai, Jakarta and Delhi.

Research by ECA, who specialise in handling intercontinental assignment of employees for their commercial clients, have shown as a result of inspections that for businesses headquartered in Asia, the top-notch location for assigning workers was China, followed by Hong Kong and India. For those companies with headquarters in further parts of the globe, the top three destination countries were the USA, the UK, and then followed in 3rd spot by China. For those seeking some work experience in the world's largest emerging economic climate, now could be the best time. Countless China watchers are recommending that now is the apex in China's growth, beyond which the fee of development and the corresponding possibilities brought with it will definitely begin to decline, relatively speaking. ECA mentions in their report that "There are no indications of companies decreasing when it concerns sending personnel into China". Western companies have been investing heavily there and expatriating more workers to Shanghai, Beijing and further major Chinese towns in the face of economic downturn in their own residence markets.

When transferring overseas to work, there are a whole host of issues that have to be sorted out, including private health insurance, accommodation, visas, shipping of belongings and so on. Several companies will certainly organise all or most of these problems on behalf of their expatriate staff members, yet not always-- and in some instances, expatriate employees may favor to arrange options to some of these problems on their own. Expatriate health insurance being a requirement for any sort of expatriate residing abroad for beyond 3 months, it's important that you do your research and find the right degree of cover that suits your circumstances. For detailed details on the expatriate health insurance items from InterGlobal.

Understanding and Utilizing Colorado Probate Laws

Whether you're currently dealing with the legal matters that follow the death of a loved one or if you just want to make sure that when you're gone your family can take care of the legal matters of your estate in your absence, you really need to have at least a basic understanding of Colorado probate laws. Having such information and preparing for the inevitable ahead of time will save you and your family from unnecessary stress.

What Colorado Probate Law Is

Probate law is essentially the process of, or the way a person's estate is handled when that person passes away. For legal purposes, when a person passes away they are referred to as a decedent. A decedent's estate is basically everything that they have had full ownership of. This can include (but is not limited to) real estate, furniture, automobiles, assets in bank accounts and insurance policies. As part of the estate all these things are considered property assets.

Colorado probate laws involve the process flow of two things: First, making sure the decedent's creditors are paid what they are owed and second, making sure that the decedent's property assets are distributed to the decedent's "heirs," or descendants.

The decedent most like will have had a will written up in advance by an attorney or paralegal and that document will likely state how their assets are to be distributed to the heirs or descendants. You do not necessarily have to have your assets distributed to family members; anyone of a person's choosing can be heirs but most of the time it is family members.

Colorado Probate Laws in Action

When someone passes away, a person acting as the executor of the estate (usually an attorney or a relative) files a petition or a legal request in a court to have the estate "opened" and have a judge formally recognize the person who is the executor (or executrix) of the estate. There is no difference between the two titles, other than one is male and the other female.

For the sake of simplicity we'll use the term executor here. The executor is designated ahead of time in the decedent's will. Colorado probate laws designate that the next step is for the executor to have a Notice of Creditors printed in a local newspaper (usually in the classified ad section). A Notice of Administration is then sent to creditors. This advises them that the decedent's accounts are now in probate and the creditors have a specific amount of time to file a claim in court against the estate if they are owed money.

One of the protective aspects of Colorado probate laws are if the decedent owes a lot of money and has no assets to speak of that can be sold for cash (if there is no money to pay the creditors), the descendants and family members of the decedent are protected from legal action by the creditors and the creditors cannot sue them for the money owed.

Once creditors' claims have been satisfied either by the executor paying them from the decedent's assets and any other assets have been distributed to the decedent's heirs in accordance to their will, the executor files a petition before a judge in court asking for the estate to be discharged. Assuming that is done so without any conflicting legal issues, at that point the estate is officially closed.

Having an Attorney Is Essential

The way they are described here Colorado probate laws may sound simple and sometimes it can be relative simple. But the act of the executor carrying out the act of settling the decedent's estate is not always so easy. The executor must follow certain laws pertaining to settling one's estate. And a conflict can arise if the decedent's will is not in line with probate law.

For example: A decedent may state in their will that they wish for none of their bills to be paid and instead have all their assets liquidated or transferred to their heirs. The executor is in a bind in this situation because they are sworn by law to adhere to the personal wishes of the decedent and Colorado probate law at the same time. This is an example of why it is essential to have an attorney either act as the executor or at least be retained to act as the legal counsel to the executor in court.