Archive for March, 2010

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An Idiot’s Guide To Resolving Conflict In Marriage

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

by Ruth Purple

disagreement

Marital conflict is an unavoidable element of any marriage. A marital union that has not been afflicted by discord is like a teabag that has not been dipped in hot water-you really don’t know how strong a tea it would make to make. While conflict is often seen negatively, not all conflicts are detrimental.

In the work environment, for example, clashes in opinions allow two people to see things from the other’s point of view, resulting in a fresh perspective. This leads to a dialogue that provides a venue for brainstorming which, in turn, could lead to resolution of the disagreement. Change can take place, and with it, growth.

Rocky Coast

Similarly, marital discord is essential to keep the marriage from stagnating. The manner in which a couple handles dissension spells the difference between a shaky marriage and a sturdy one. What are some constructive ways to approach marital conflict? First, recognize that your spouse is a unique individual with a different set of values, needs, styles, perceptions, and goals.

When some of these are not met, dissatisfaction sets in; dissatisfaction, when not addressed, is a breeding ground for quarrelsome thoughts. Whenever a conflict arises, perceive it as your partner’s way of communicating his or her discontent. Strive to see beyond the tantrum and really listen to what is being said.

By doing this, you gain an understanding of the situation and avert irreparable damage caused by fighting fire with fire. Second, let the steam out. While mulling it over can be helpful in organizing your thoughts and expressing them better, letting conflict simmer for too long is just asking for trouble.

A pot left on the stove, even on the lowest of fire, will eventually boil over and the resulting spillage may burn seriously. A helpful strategy is to set an agreed moment to sit down together and tackle the problem. On the other hand, take care not to let every single differences in opinion escalate into discord-that would just be a waste of precious time and effort.

Third, do not bury it. Most women-ok, some men too-take the silent treatment into new depths. They loathe confrontation and would rather wallow in their resentment preferably in the sanctuary of the marital bed. Asking them what the matter is will only be met with a blistering “nothing”, or worse, dagger looks.

It would be best for the reasonable spouse to let a ‘tomb-er’ lie in the grave for a while; any effort to draw her out will prove futile if she is not ready to be resurrected. After a while, try coaxing her out with little acts of kindness-a cup of tea usually does wonders.

A truffle or two from Dan’s Chocolates with the tea couldn’t hurt!

Fourth, learn the art of compromise. Giving up the prerogative to be always right is better if it means harmony between spouses. When you take time to really listen to your spouse, you might be astonished to find that his point of view is just as valid as your own.

tea and chocolate

Seeing things from a different angle can foster new ideas and makes you more receptive to various ways of resolving the issue at hand. So, now and again, try getting off the moral high horse-you may just like the view from the ground. Last, resist the temptation to be a chronicler.

It is so easy to resort to mucking around with the muddy past. Nit-picking on your spouse’s previous shortcomings will only complicate matters and postpone resolution of the current marital conflict. Stick to the problem at hand, seek to resolve it, and once resolved, put it in the bin-reduce but don’t recycle.

As we can see, conflicts can do good for a marriage. Handled right, it can cultivate honesty and understanding between spouses which deepen the relationship. So, the next time you feel like boiling over, boil the kettle instead and see how strong a tea your marriage makes.


Dan's Chocolates

About the Author:

The author of this article, Ruth Purple , is a Relationship Expert who has been successfully coaching individuals and couples in their relationships. Get A Copy of her sensational ebook on Winning Over Infidelity. Experience a Happier Love Life.

Article Courtesy of: Go Articles

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Why Did Bernie Go to Jail?

Sunday, March 28th, 2010

Why did Bernie Madoff go to prison? To make it simple, he talked people into investing with him. Trouble was, he didn’t invest their money. As time rolled on he simply took the money from the new investors to pay off the old investors. Finally there were too many old investors and not enough money from new investors coming in to keep the payments going. Next thing you know Madoff is one of the most hated men in America and he is off to jail.

Some of you know this .. but not enough of you . Madoff did to his investors what the government has been doing to us for over 60 years with Social Security. There is no meaningful difference between the two schemes … except that one was operated by a private individual who is now in jail, and the other is operated by politicians who enjoy perks, privileges and status in spite of their actions.

Do you need a side-by-side comparison?  Well here’s a nifty little chart.

BERNIE MADOFF SOCIAL SECURITY
Takes money from investors with the promise that the money will be invested and made available to them later Takes money from wage earners with the promise that the money will be invested in a “Trust Fund” and made available later.
Instead of investing the money Madoff spends it on nice homes in the Hamptons and yachts. Instead of depositing money in a Trust Fund the politicians use it for general spending and vote buying.
When the time comes to pay the investors back Madoff simply uses some of the new funds from newer investors to pay back the older investors. When benefits for older investors become due the politicians pay them with money taken from younger and newer wage earners to pay the geezers.
When Madoff’s scheme is discovered all hell breaks loose. New investors won’t give him any more cash. When Social Security runs out of money they simply force the taxpayers to send them some more.
Bernie Madoff is in jail. Politicians remain inWashington.


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John, The Chicken Farmer

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

The following is a fable.  It is not intended to reflect badly on any one person, especially not any elected official.

John was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young layers (hens), called ‘pullets,’  and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs.

He kept records, and any rooster not performing went into the soup pot and was replaced.

This took a lot of time,  so he bought some tiny bells and attached them to his roosters.

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Each bell had a different tone,  so he could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing.

Now, he could sit on the porch And fill out an efficiency report by just listening to the bells.

John’s favorite rooster, old Butch,  was a very fine specimen, but this morning he noticed old Butch’s bell hadn’t rung at all!

When he went to investigate, he saw the other roosters were busy chasing pullets,   bells-a-ringing, but the pullets, hearing the roosters coming, could run for cover.

To John’s amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn’t ring.

He’d sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one. John was so proud of old Butch,  he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.

The result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well.

Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making.

Who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren’t paying attention.


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Wisdom from Maxine

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
maxine

Let me get this straight……

  • we’ve  passed a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it
  • passed by a Congress that hasn’t read it but exempts themselves from it
  • to be signed by a president that also hasn’t read it and who smokes
  • with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes
  • all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese
  • and financed by a country that’s broke

What could possibly go wrong????

That would make a good Tee Shirt, don’t you think?
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Did The Bank Bailout Work?

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

by Marquis Codjia

Banking Header

A few months ago, the crumbling global economy was atop the agenda of many G20 leaders. Social unrest, banking sector meltdown, global growth conundrum, and stock market yo-yos were the main discussion topics among the planetary leadership.

Governments the world over addressed the most imperative issue, the banking pandemonium, with massive cash inflows into a sector that hitherto epitomized capitalism at its best (and worst), with a modus operandi more akin to central intervention in communist economies.

The global tab ranges from 4 to 5 trillion US dollars according to the most optimistic estimates, but the overall costs may run higher in the future.

Cartoon

The financial rescue of the ailing banking sector, in principle, was the right course of action and various experts across the political spectrum saw eye to eye on its criticality, including the staunchest free-market theorizers who routinely treat as leftist energumens out of the antediluvian era those who dare buck conventional wisdom regarding the role of government in social economics.

It was flummoxing, however, to observe how lenient authorities were vis-à-vis banks throughout the bailout process on top of the very favorable terms under which funds were disbursed. Hence, financial institutions that benefited from state largesse were able to quickly use monies received to regain profitability and reimburse their respective governments.

Other parts of the economy didn’t experience so swift a recovery. Unemployment is still high; the mortgage sector is still in a shambles. Banks have been reluctant to lend, creating an underperforming productive sector and a lethargic private consumption. The stock market may be up but, debatably, the “real economy” is still down.

Banks played a crucial role in the current economic malaise but anti-bailout commentators were wrong to vilify them and to affirm that such guilt should have precluded public rescue. Financial intermediaries are an epochal pillar of our post-modern economies and it would have been socio-economically ruinous and politically unpalatable to let them sink.

Admittedly, a majority of banks are today more cash awash and profitable than a year ago albeit some pockets of the industry are still comatose owing to the liquidity hemorrhage that has devastated them since the recession erupted.

Regrettably, nothing has changed. These institutions are resorting again to the erstwhile practices that wrought havoc to the economy in the first place, under the aegis of a regulatory body eerily blind, deaf and tongue-tied.

Banks, evidently, should be encouraged to pursue and make profits as any private concern. But when such a financial quest comes at the expense of an entire system or poses a systemic threat to the productive sector of the economy, the argument in favor of tougher regulation becomes of preeminent import.
Companies need to utilize hedging for exposure control; yet, speculators lately seem to use derivatives to bet against their very benefactors. Although outrageous to vast swaths of the populace, such practices are explicable if one considers that the speculating camp only furthers private interests of elites (their investors) who seldom factor morality into the profitability equation.

Case in point: Greece. The Hellenic government bailed out its banking sector with billions of dollars only to see their country downgraded a few months later because of an perceived default risk.

At this moment, elected officials and central bankers should ponder the following question: did the bailout work? Or, stated differently, did the mammoth cash infusion into banks and the associated supplemental initiatives reach the initial goals?

Money

Seasoned economists and social scientists will grapple amply with issues regarding program effectiveness and efficiency in the future, but prominent experts currently believe the answers to such interrogations are negative. George Mason University economist Peter Boettke posited that bank bailouts have created a “cycle of debt, deficits and government expansion” that in the end “will be economically crippling” to major economies, whereas Barry Ritholtz, famed author of Bailout Nation and CEO of research firm FusionIQ, thinks the rescue programs could have been conducted better.

It can be argued that the initial rescue phase of the bailouts program was effectual in that it helped avert a domestic and global banking hubbub. But, contrary to popular credence, that was the easiest part. The courageous headship of political leaders and regulators cannot be underrated in the process, but it is indisputably far facile for a powerful central bank, like the US Federal Reserve, to make journal entries to the credit of targeted institutions and replenish their corporate coffers via the much celebrated “quantitative easing”.

The Fed, just like other G8 central banks, is in an enviable position because it can create money ‘out of nothing’ by increasing the credit in its own bank account.

Regulation is where actual political bravery need be shown from authorities, and so far the lack of sweeping reforms in the financial sector may obliterate the latter’s plodding recovery.

At present, there are five distinct reasons explicating the mediocre results obtained so far from the bailout scheme.

First, the much needed financial overhaul is taking longer to move up the legislative ladder and reach US President Barack Obama’s desk because not only financial lobbies – such as the über-powerful American Bankers Association – are exerting strong pressure, but the political agenda is also crowded with the healthcare reform and the geostrategic concerns linked to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The fact that Senate Banking chief Chris Dodd, D-Conn., wants to introduce reform in the sector will probably change little in the short-term.

Second, President Obama’s own senior level financial staff is composed of former Wall Street alumni and lobbyists, and many skeptics are incredulous that a clique so tied to financial interests can spearhead true reforms in an industry that was previously munificent to them.

Piggy Bank

The next two factors are endogenous to the banking industry. One is the past experience of regulation and deregulation cycles that usually make laws dissipate over time, and the other stems from the idiosyncratic ability of financial engineers and investment bankers to design new products and techniques to counter existing laws.

Finally, the regulatory endeavor should be global in scope, and the present lack of geographic cooperation and the practical difficulty to track systemic risk within the industry are currently handicapping further advances.

(Article initially published at http://wp.me/pMqmW-8y)


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About the Author:

I’m a finance professional with a solid, varied risk management experience in the financial services arena. I have been involved in capital markets for a few years now, in the course of my work but also as a trader.
I’m an MBA graduate from Rutgers University Graduate School of Business at New Brunswick, New Jersey, and a CPA (Certified Public Accountant).
Read expanded bio at http://marquisc.wordpress.com/about/


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Sale Explorer Online Shopping Directory With Hot Deal and Sales on Top Products

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

Sale Explorer (SaleExplorer.com) is a new online shopping directory that presents online and store coupons, deals and sales on top products around the U.S.

The directory presents seven categories:

Homepage – selection of the best of the best. Keep in mind that featured deals change every day, so make sure to check the homepage frequently.

Hot Deals – this category presents a detailed overview of all hot deals you can find on SaleExplorer.com. This category and all other Sale Explorer categories have several subcategories – Most Popular, Our Favorites, Less than $30, and Free Shipping.

Coupons – here you can find online and store coupon codes, such as search and print FREE grocery coupons, save up to 75% off the retail price on products, and more!

Apparel – in this category you will find clothing sales and deals for all seasons for men and women, kids, shorts, dresses, T-hirts, and more. You can save $85 and more, so don’t miss this opportunity!

Electronics – looking for a cell phone, TV set, or camera? Here is where you will find all that and much more at sale price. Just to give you an example, some of SaleExplorer.com’s most recent deals include: Save $150 on a 42″ LG Plasma HDTV at CircuitCity.com, Save 50% on a Samsung Flight with AT&T, $299.99 (Was $599.99) Cambridge SoundWorks Newton Series HT5.

Computer and Office – this category lets you save hundreds of dollars on computer and office equipment with hot deals on laptops, USB hubs, GPS navigators, and more.

Kids – young families can save money with deals and products on sale for their kids. Here you can find kids’ clothing, strollers, shorts, skates, and more!

Sports and Outdoors – find deals on all the equipment you need for sports and outdoor activities. Some of Sale Explorer’s recent deals include $169.99 (Was $245.00) Save 31% and Free Shipping on Mountain Hardwear Supernatural 55 Backpac, $59.95 (Was $205.00) Forum Destroyer Snowboard Boots, $99.97 (Was $154.95) Mountain Hardwear Nemesis Jacket and much more.

At Home – Looking for bedroom, living room or garden furniture? It is all here.

More Deals – where you will find a little bit of everything and miscellaneous discount deals.

In short, Sale Explorer (SaleExplorer.com) online shopping directory has seven main categories: Home – where you will find featured best deals; Hot Deals – a category dedicated to the hottest deals and discounts you can possibly find on the Web; Coupons – where you can find online and store coupon codes; Apparel – featuring plenty of clothing options on sale; Electronics – where you can find TVs, cameras, and more on sale; Computer and Office – featuring cheap laptops, GPS navigators, office supplies and more; Kids – featuring kids’ products from clothing to toys; Sports and Outdoors – where you can find hot deals on mountain bikes, fitness gears, camping supplies and more; At Home – featuring discount furniture supplies; and More Deals – where you will find a little bit of everything and products that are not listed at the main categories.

Happy Shopping!

Author Bio: Sale Explorer is a frequently updated online shopping directory for hot deals , sales, discounts and coupons.

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China’s 30 Years of Changes in Fabric

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Rigorous tunic, monotonous blue dark gray, and the “new three year old for three years sewing for another three years,” the big patch … … This is a three decades ago the Chinese people dressed in a simple sketch. Now, from the tight low waist jeans, halter top, Lu Qizhuang, to personalized advanced customization, Europe and the United States wind, Japan and South Korea wind, Ethnic, globalization, fashion, and diversification of the dress code is becoming the Chinese people a new dress fashion standard.

Changes in three decades China’s fashion clothing
Thirty years of reform and opening up, in the achievements of China’s sustained and rapid growth of GDP, while the glorious achievements, but also a another round of changing Chinese people’s dress sense, style and aesthetic level.
70′s, the material is still relatively poor, the Chinese people wear nothing more than the old three kinds of colors: blue, gray, black, blue gray black in a world where a grass green military uniform to become the most fashionable attire. At that time, blue, gray, black, green and almost all of the Chinese color of clothing. As the material slowly rich, there is a known as “really cool” and chemical fiber fabrics, generally used for short sleeved shirt, Tinggua, smooth, bright, dull life of the Chinese people has brought touch of color brilliance This fabric popular until the 80′s, with the “Crimp” and other fabrics with the swept the country.

With the changing times, the market appeared more advanced and better looking fabrics and clothing. 80 years, bell bottoms, elastic fit pants, bat shirt, jeans, embody the people’s pursuit of fashion, the pursuit of individual ideas of fashion clothing. Access to 90 years, the Chinese women’s clothing replacement faster during this period, the Chinese women from long term focus on price and style into a more focused brand. Luxury, luxury, expensive, high income people to become part of the pursuit of life goals, to the worship of a high quality brand name performance. In addition, the garment a bold challenge to the Chinese people have begun to measure the eye, underwear Waichuan, Lu Qizhuang Kazakhstan Korea clothes such as stood in front pop.

And into the 21st century, the Chinese people’s aspirations of clothing trends from the chase, then as the piercing personality, clothing is no longer the main role of the cold, but a manifestation of personal charm, high end apparel custom is quietly becoming a city Shares of new popular trend.

Chinese elements penetrate the international fashion industry
With China’s opening up and economic rise of 5,000 years of history and culture sediment are also being concerned about the global fashion industry and recognition, “nationalism is also the world’s” The clothing, cheongsam, Chinese red, Chinese knots, blue and white porcelain, Xiangyun … … and so on, Chinese elements are referred to as a new fashion elements, such as the 2001 Shanghai APEC summit, 20 world leaders wearing uniform large red or royal blue Chinese Dui Jin Tang suit, sometimes set off in the global heat Tang suit.

At the same time, Chinese designers are also with Chinese elements are trying to absorb the international trend of thought in the international market activities, to emerge from Paris Fashion Week on the “useless”, “Giffen”, New York Fashion Week on the “carbene” Milan Fashion Week on the “Shanghai Silk”, “Guangdong Silk”, “Shanshan”, “Guangdong FAMORY”, “Shokichi”, “Lee Lang,” etc., London Fashion Week on Wang Wei, the Chinese clothing brand again and again on the world’s top fashion event, and demonstrated the traditional and modern, East West cultural harmony arising under fashion works.

Among them, Ma, but a very potential of China’s local designers. 37 years old, he has become the first in mainland China debut at the Paris Fashion Week, designer, her fashion brand “useless” fashion show in Paris Fashion Week debut in 2007. Mark’s original works in the overseas fashion 1:00 off a layer of waves.

In addition to the four International Fashion Week debut, China is a costume designer Qiu Hao has also won the 2008 Australian Merino Woolmark Prize (TheWoolmarkPrize), this is the designer for the first time titles and captured the prize Qiu Hao will KarlLagerfeld, YvesSaintLaurent, DonnaKaran, RalphLauren, RomeoGigli, Dolce & Gabbana, and GiorgioArmani great masters such as design, together with the White Woolmark Award Hall of Fame.

Author Bio: I’m a professional editor fromChina Manufacturers,and my work is to promote a free online trade platform.http://www.cheaponsale.com/contain a great deal of information aboutaluminum atv ramp,hair removal machinesstreet racing motorcycles,welcome to visit

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Tentatively Ascribed to Natural Rubber is Expected to Re-up

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

At present, natural rubber has been the main contract of 1001, the key to an integer points close to 20,000. The author believes that the basic trend of rising natural rubber has not changed, the fundamentals are still the better, if effectively break through 20000, this will usher in a wave of accelerating the highs.

The financial tsunami, after the baptism, our country has taken a series in order to stimulate economic recovery for the purpose of macro policies, in a positive fiscal policy and loose monetary policy, appropriate support, in the first half of China’s economy has shown a steady recovery trend. Judging from the recent official release in July focused on the major economic data we can see that China’s economy in the second half of the “start” in stabilizing the momentum continues, and this trend becomes clear. Of natural rubber as an important industrial raw materials, the positive economic environment at home and abroad to the good background, the market demand, the price steadily rising.

Rubber in the automotive industry’s largest consumer groups, which flourish and bring the tire manufacturing progress. This year, China has taken the auto industry, including the car tax reduction, auto go to the countryside, speed up old car is scrapped, car “trade in” and a series of initiatives, effectively promote the sales of China’s booming auto industry, is also a strong impetus to the rapid recovery of the tire industry.

In previous years, relatively light vehicle sales in July this year, in July, car sales in previous years, a change the tunnel, out of a strong off season is not short market, the third consecutive month, sales remained at 5 months more than 1 million level. July, automotive production 1.1096 million, a decline of 3.77%, an increase of 52.15%; auto sales 1.0856 million, a decline of 4.95%, an increase of 63.57%. From January to July, auto sales reached 7.1009 million, respectively, and 7.1844 million, an increase of 20.23% and 23.38%. Tires, tire production in China in July rose 6.5%, reaching 5,718 million. From January to July’s 4.9% increase in tire production, reaching 365.6 million. The above figures show that China’s rubber consumption demand has continued to rebound.

In addition, the current popular interest in Sino US tire “special security case” continues to heat up. Tire in the face of China’s rapidly expanding U.S. market situation, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) once again moved out of the magic weapon of tariff barriers, put forward China’s passenger car, light truck tire with the Chinese system of special tariffs imposed three year program, its proportion respectively 55%, 45% and 35% high. If the above mentioned “special protection case” passed, China’s tire companies will face huge losses. At present, China’s government and industry associations to provide sufficient defense, and a resolute attitude, a positive appearance at all costs, to win this trade “special protection case” a great possibility.

In the spot, the suspension tight spot supplies, as well as strong demand impact of buyers entering since August, Thailand, No. 3 tobacco piece rubber (RSS3) shipment price of 198 208 cents kg range shock; domestic e commerce center spot Quote in 17900 18010 yuan ton fluctuated between positive macro face frequent, emotion fueled speculation the spot market, “rise in the price,” 1. In addition, according to Singapore, sources said, the main producing countries affected by affected by switching to planting of the original production in the region will be reduced by 2011 is expected to reduce the world’s natural rubber production, which also raised expectations on rubber prices.
The recent Typhoon “Morak,” is expected to affect Vietnam and southern China’s natural rubber production, which gives some support Hujiao prices, boost the confidence of investors have a certain effect.

Meanwhile, the international crude oil and the dollar will have an impact on the trend of rubber. Because of natural rubber to synthetic rubber alternatives to crude oil as the main raw material, two types of tire rubber in the production ratio is almost accounted for about half of the total volume, therefore, natural rubber and crude oil has a strong linkage between the nature. Crude oil stabilized at around 70 dollars, to support the formation of rubber prices. In addition, if the dollar index, as expected, general long term into the downstream channel, will increase inflation expectations, promoting commodity prices.

Furthermore, since 2009, investors tend to the stock market as a leading indicator of economic performance, from which oil demand was informed that the position, most of the time by the crude oil price movements, influenced by movements in the stock market. U.S. two day meeting on interest rates, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced that the maintenance of 0 to 0.25% range of the current benchmark interest rate unchanged, and that interest rates will remain low over an extended period. U.S. stocks rose sharply and the dollar fell, which together contributed to sharply higher crude oil, but, EIA released last week, stocks rose 2.52 million barrels of crude oil of the report, oil prices rose slightly reduced, the follow up continue to focus on the U.S. crude oil trend.

“Little Lotus was exposed sharp corner”, rubber Quotes triggered the first wave to start the market sought after emotions, is expected to do more restless kinetic energy savings, the re opening speed up space.

Author Bio: I am a professional editor fromChina Manufacturers,and my work is to promote a free online trade platform. http://www.cheaponsale.com/ contain a great deal of information aboutbluetooth auto adapter,bubble wrap toy,automotive timing chain, welcome to visit

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Green Living Tips – What We Can Do to Make a Difference

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Did you know that there are lots of small changes you could make in your life in order to reduce your impact on the environment? You could incorporate the principles of green living to your daily life with remarkable consequences.

Our planet Earth is getting to the point where green living is no longer an option exercised by a few individuals but a necessity. Our planet is getting poisoned at such a fast pace that our next generation might find themselves at a point of no return.

It is now common knowledge that our over dependence on fossil fuels as well as our use and throw culture has brought us to this point.

The popular misconception about green living is that we are expected to lead a deprived existence. Yes, it certainly helps if all of us reduced our consumption levels so that industrial pollution could be reduced. There are lots of things we could do to reduce our consumption on non-renewable natural resources without really reducing the quality of our life.

You might be more inclined to go green if you realized the huge benefits it could have on your health as well as your bank balance.

Car pooling and public transportation are great ways to show your support for the green movement. This has benefits for everybody concerned and your commute time could actually reduce if more people followed this practice and reduced the pressure on the road transport system. Many Europeans walk or cycle to work and the health benefits are obvious.

We have become so used to taking our cars for even short errands in the neighborhood that this is fuelling an epidemic of obesity. Added to this is our preference for a meat based diet which has a very high impact on the environment. There have been a lot of studies devoted to the amount of greenhouse gases caused by herds of cattle maintained for dairy and meat purposes.

You do not have to give away your car or become vegetarian. All that is required of you is that you reduce your consumption of these things. Increase your consumption of organic fresh fruits and vegetables as well as whole grains and you will quickly see a change in your overall health and fitness levels as well.

Were you also aware that how you do your laundry affects the environment? Always remember to do full loads of your washing machine so that you do not waste water. Don’t waste hot water on your dark clothes, instead saving it for your whites. Your clothes dryer takes up a lot of energy as well. See if you could dry your clothes on a line in the fresh air. The one thing to avoid using is chlorine based bleaches because of its link to cancer and the depleting ozone layer. Use a bleaching agent that is hydroxy powered. Likewise use vinegar instead of fabric softeners.

If you are really interested in knowing more about living in an environmentally conscious manner, you could get lots of information on the internet that can help you make a difference to the planet.

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How to Buy a Kiddush Cup

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Observant Jews say a blessing (Kiddush) over the wine that opens festive meals each Sabbath and on holidays. The Kiddush is also recited at the closing of the Sabbath in the Havdalah ceremony. This blessing may be said using any cup that holds at least a revi’it (about 76 ml) or according to other authorities, 150 ml. However, it is customary to use a specially decorated Kiddush cup made for this purpose. The cup may be made of porcelain, pewter or silver. Silver or silver-plated cups are generally washed with gold on the interior. Observant Jews need at least two such cups, since it is best to use a special cup for Passover. Some also use a separate Havdalah cup that may be part of a Hadvalah set.

What is a Kiddush ?
Kiddush is performed at the beginning of Jewish Sabbat and Jewish festival meals. The purpose of the kiddush is to remind Jews of the sanctity of the day, one must “remember it” by making arrangements specifically through the kiddush ceremonty.
It is customary to put the wine or grape juice used in the kiddush ritual into a decorated goblet called a kiddush cup. Kiddush cups are often given as gifts at a child’s bris, bar-mitzvah, bat-mitzvah or wedding.

Friday night kiddush (english trasnlation):
The sixth day. And the heavens and the earth and all that filled them were complete.

And on the seventh day God completed the labor He had performed, and He refrained on the seventh day from all the labor which He had performed. And God blessed the seventh day and He sanctified it, for He then refrained from all his labor – from the act of creation that God had performed.

Permit me, distinguished ones, rabbis and colleagues:

Blessed are You, the Lord our God, King of the universe, Creator of the fruit of the vine. (Amen)

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who sanctified us with His commandments, and hoped for us, and with love and intent invested us with His sacred Sabbath, as a memorial to the deed of Creation- a day preceding even those sacred occasions commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. For You chose us, and sanctified us, out of all nations, and with love and intent You invested us with Your Holy Sabbath.

Blessed are You, Sanctifier of the Sabbath. (Amen)

Selecting a Kiddush cup

1. Find a Judaica store online or offline. It should be a store that has a good reputation. Ask your rabbi or other knowledgeable people for recommendations. Compare prices between stores for cups of the same quality and weight.

2. Ensure the cup holds at least 150 ml or 76 ml according to your practice. 150 ml is an average sized cup.

3. Choose a distinctive and decorative kiddush cup. Select a special cup that does not look like an item you would use during the week.

4. The Kiddush cup should come with a matching coaster or base. This is important in the Havdalah ritual at the end of the Sabbath..

5. Try to select a quality cup that doesn’t tarnish easily. Ordinary silver cups tarnish easily and need to be cleaned and polished.

6. You will probably want additional cups for Passover use, for Havdalah and to use as gifts.

7. Several online stores such as aJudaica.com offers wide selection of quality kiddush cups in low prices.

Author Bio: Researcher and writer working for Jewish gifts store, offering unique selection of kiddush cup and Judaica gifts.

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