What's up?

Did Anthony Weiner Tweet a Picture of His Weiner?

2011-06-07T12:27:00.002+07:00

Max Read — Did liberal hero and would-be Mayor of New York Rep. Anthony Weiner (D - N.Y.) Tweet a picture of his own, underwear-clad erection last night? Conservative bloggers sure seem to hope so!

The pic, according to BigGovernment.com writer "Publius", was posted last night to Weiner's official account on yFrog, the Twitter picture service, and sent out on his Twitter feed. It was apparently quickly deleted, but not before Publius grabbed what he says is a screenshot of the yFrog page. (The original Tweet still exists on archiving site Tweet Congress.)

Weiner (pictured above with his wife, Huma Abedin, and the only other man in Congress whose name would make a sex scandal twice as fun) quickly Tweeted that his Facebook was hacked, which — even though the picture was, as far as we can tell, not posted to Facebook — seems to be a reference to the dickshot Tweet; today, he Tweeted "Touche Prof Moriarity. More Weiner Jokes for all my guests!#Hacked!" Stranger things have happened, we suppose!

But conservative bloggers are positive that the picture is evidence that Weiner is having an affair, and doing their best to track down the woman to whom the Tweet was addressed — they seem to think she's a journalism student in Seattle who once referred to Weiner as "her boyfriend" on Twitter. (Needless to say, many men and women refer to Anthony Weiner as their boyfriend. Aspirationally, we suppose.) She's since deleted her Twitter, and what's purported to be her Facebook account, maybe because she was exposed as Weiner's mistress, or maybe because she or a friend was responsible for the hack.

Of course, all caveats regarding Andrew Breitbart's accuracy-challenged BigGovernmentapply — but Weiner seems to be acknowledging that the pic was posted, even if it was a hack, as he claims.

[BigGovernment.com]

Why Swiss Women Can’t Work After Winning Votes to Lead Nation

2011-05-20T16:07:00.000+07:00

The election in October of Simonetta Sommaruga, a trained concert pianist who is now Justice Minister, was a watershed as women for the first time held more cabinet posts than men. Photographer: Georges Gobets/AFP/Getty Images

(Bloomberg).....Since women won the right to vote in the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden in 1990, females have risen to rule Switzerland’s politics, making up four of the seven- member cabinet. Combining a career and motherhood in the Alpine nation presents a steeper climb.

Parents can end up spending almost a third of their wages on childcare, with Zurich nursery schools charging as much as 1,500 francs ($1,700) a month. Those costs, coupled with poor maternity benefits, banish many mothers to the home, said Clivia Koch, the former chief executive of an 8 billion-franc pension fund who now heads the non-profit Swiss Business Women group.

A second revolution is needed in the workplace to ensure more businesswomen emulate people like Panalpina Welttransport Holding AG (PWTN) Chief Executive Officer Monika Ribar and Isabelle Welton, International Business Machines Corp.’s general manager in Switzerland, Koch said. Less than 10 percent of Swiss families with children aged up to 14 years have both parents who work full-time, compared with more than 70 percent in the U.S., the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

“The first women who wanted freedom to choose their career path, the fighters, the pioneers, had to do it through politics, there was no other way,” said Koch, 53, in an interview at her organization’s Zurich headquarters. “Now we need fighters in business too.”

Of Swiss directors, 8.3 percent are women, down from 9 percent in 2004, management recruitment company Egon Zehnder’s most recent annual figures show. About 37 percent of Swiss couples with no children have both partners working full time. This drops to 8.7 percent after they have children, according to government figures.

Watershed Election

Voting rights for Swiss women came 54 years after females in the former Soviet Union won the right to vote. All women in the U.S. were first permitted to cast a ballot in 1920.

Energy Minister Doris Leuthard, who was Swiss President in 2010, remembers her mother’s joy when female suffrage finally arrived in her country.

“She had given up her professional life when she got married,” she said in an interview. “For her, political rights were a form of recognition and vital for her self-esteem.”

Female Parliamentarians

Early female leaders like Josi Meier and Elisabeth Blunschy, among Switzerland’s first female parliamentarians, “were a great influence on me,” Leuthard said. “They influenced and encouraged many other women to become more active themselves.”

In the world’s fourth-richest nation, according to the International Monetary Fund, child care can cost parents 30 percent of their net income, the second-highest rate in the developed world behind the U.K., data from the OECD show. That compares with a global OECD average of 13 percent, and 19 percent in the U.S. and 4 percent in Belgium.

Switzerland didn’t introduce paid maternity leave until 2005, awarding mothers 14 weeks. Norwegian and German women are entitled to 47 weeks.

“We’re too rich,” Koch said. “There has never been a great necessity for women to work. We have to reassess our social security systems. In other countries, there is much better child care and society is more open to women pursuing a career.”

Population Decline

Swiss women have an average 1.33 children, government statistics show. That compares with 2 in France, Norway and the U.S., and a global average of 2.5, according to the Population Reference Bureau’s latest figures.

One third of over-45 year-old Swiss men and women say they would have liked more children, according to a recent poll for the L’Hebdo magazine. Sixty-six percent see women’s employment conditions as a brake on parenthood and 38 percent cite the lack of childcare as holding back the birth rate, the survey showed.

“The price we’re paying is population decline,” said sociologist Franz Schultheis, a professor at the University of St. Gallen. “It sounds paradoxical, but countries where more women work and state childcare is better actually have a higher birth rate.”

The Federal Commission for Family Affairs, a government body, proposed an initiative to extend maternity leave from 14 to at least 24 weeks, including for the first time an option for fathers to take four of those weeks.

A parliamentary vote won’t come for another year or two, said Juerg Krummenacher, the commission’s president.

Unique History

“We have to do more in Switzerland to combine family and career,” said Sommaruga. “I hope in my office I can contribute to that.”

The men of Appenzell Innerrhoden, whose chalets and cheese- making are among the country’s biggest tourist attractions, clung on until 1990 before a Supreme Court ruling forced them to let their female counterparts go to the polls.

One reason why Switzerland lags so far behind other nations when it comes to equality and women’s rights is its unique history and geography, said Dominique Grisard, a gender studies expert at the universities of Basel and Chicago.

With its natural mountain defenses, the country hasn’t faced a foreign invader since Napoleon, while neutrality in two world wars let the Swiss escape the “ruptures” that brought the rest of Europe’s women into factories to replace men drafted onto the battlefield, Grisard said.

‘Status Symbol’

When peace returned to the continent in 1945, Swiss governments preferred to fill a prospering jobs market with labor migrants, mostly from Italy, rather than encourage Swiss women to work, said Fabienne Amlinger, a historian at the University of Bern.

“In the 1950s, working men could increasingly afford to keep their wives at home,” Grisard said. “It became a status symbol.”

With a lower chamber in Parliament that is 19 percent female, Switzerland ranks 25th in the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s rankings, between Trinidad and Tobago and Timor-Leste.

“There’s still a long way to go,” said Leuthard.

To contact the reporter on this story: Leigh Baldwin in Zurich at lbaldwin3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Angela Cullen at acullen8@bloomberg.net.

Muriel Nude Beach

2011-05-06T21:16:00.001+07:00

Muriel Nude Beach

Video: 'Glee' Star Heather Morris Shows Off Her Smokin' Dance Moves

2011-05-06T01:44:00.000+07:00

Heather Morris is best known for the odd one-liners her character Brittany recites on 'Glee,' but her first passion is dance and she's pretty freaking good at it. Morris shows off some of her smokin' hot moves for Esquire's '50 Songs Every Man Should Be Listening To.'

Morris, clad in a skin-tight, partially sheer leotard, shakes her groove thing to the likes of 'Heart Attack' by Raphael Saadiq, 'Rock N Roll' by Raekwon and 'Sofi Needs a Ladder' by Deadmaus in a seductive rock 'n' roll shoot that's a far cry from her days as a cheerleader.

What many may not know is that Morris was never supposed to be part of the 'Glee' cast. A dancer since she could walk, Morris served as a 'Single Ladies' backup dancer for Beyonce and the show's producers brought her her in to teach the cast the signature dance in 2009.
Those running the show obviously liked what they saw, and Morris has been entertaining viewers with her dance moves and one-liners on the small screen ever since.

Source: popeater.com

Facebook a top cause of relationship trouble, say US lawyers

2011-04-06T16:22:00.003+07:00

Social networking site becoming primary source of evidence in divorce proceedings and custody battles, lawyers say

Photographs taken from social networking sites are a rich source of evidence, divorce lawyers say. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

When Facebook gets involved, relationships can quickly fall apart – as Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi have discovered. But dictatorships are not the only ties being dissolved by social networking sites: now Facebook is increasingly being blamed for undermining American marriages.

Even though the rate of divorce in the US has remained largely stable in recent years, American divorce lawyers and academics have joined Middle East analysts in picking out Facebook as a leading cause of relationship trouble, with American lawyers now demanding to see their clients' Facebook pages as a matter of course before the start of proceedings.

"We're coming across it more and more. One spouse connects online with someone they knew from school. The person is emotionally available and they start communicating through Facebook," said Dr Steven Kimmons, a clinical psychologist and marriage counsellor at Loyola University Medical Centre near Chicago.

Yet while the US media has been quick to trumpet any evidence of Facebook as the country's leading marriage-wrecker, the truth is "It's complicated," as the site's relationship status would have it.

A 2010 survey by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) found that four out of five lawyers reported an increasing number of divorce cases citing evidence derived from social networking sites in the past five years, with Facebook being the market leader.

Two-thirds of the lawyers surveyed said that Facebook was the "primary source" of evidence in divorce proceedings, while MySpace with 15% and Twitter with 5% lagged far behind.

Those statistics included not just evidence of infidelity but other legal battles, such as child custody cases in which parents deny using illicit drugs but boast of smoking marijuana on their Facebook pages.

Photographs harvested from social networking sites – including those posted by friends or colleagues on their own pages – are a particularly rich source of damning evidence, according to divorce lawyers.

"This sort of evidence has gone from nothing to a large percentage of my cases coming in," Linda Lea Vicken, a member of the divorce lawyers' group from South Dakota, told the Associated Press.

Marlene Eskind Moses, president of the AAML, said the openness and sharing of social networking sites left their users' public and private lives more exposed.

"If you publicly post any contradictions to previously made statements and promises, an estranged spouse will certainly be one of the first people to notice and make use of that evidence," said Moses.

Statistics for January from online analysts Nielsen showed 135 million people in the US visiting Facebook during the month – nearly 70% of the country's internet users. On average, users spent more than seven hours a month visiting the site, far longer than the less than half an hour spent on visits to Amazon or the average of two hours and 15 minutes on Google, America's most popular web destination.

The overall rate of divorce, however, appears to be unaffected by the advent of social networking. The most recent published data – from 2009 – shows the overall divorce rate declining, slightly more slowly than the shrinking percentage of Americans who get married every year.

A spokesperson for Facebook said: "It's ridiculous to suggest that Facebook leads to divorce. Whether you're breaking up or just getting together, Facebook is just a way to communicate, like letters, phone calls and emails. Facebook doesn't cause divorces, people do."

But given its popularity, it is little wonder that negotiating "Facebook divorce" status updates has become another unhappy event for failed romances, over when to launch the site's broken-heart icon out into the glare of the world's news feed.

Irreconcilable Claim: Facebook Causes 1 in 5 Divorces

2011-04-06T16:15:00.001+07:00

Upon further review, Facebook and marriage aren't incompatible.

In the past two weeks, the idea that the popular social-networking site plays a role in one in five divorces was reported by many news organizations. This wasn't the first time that surprising number has surfaced—it has appeared in news reports periodically for the past year and a half.

Some lawyers do say that they see Facebook and other social media playing a role in divorce these days, as people rediscover old flames online or strike up new relationships that lead them to stray from their marriage vows. But lawyers and marriage researchers say there isn't much evidence to support the notion that social-networking sites actually cause marriages to sputter.

In fact, both the marriage and divorce rate in the U.S. have declined as Internet usage has risen, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. An annual survey of U.K. matrimonial lawyers by the accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton has found that during the Facebook era, infidelity's role as the primary cause of around one-quarter of divorces has been stable. In an email, a Facebook spokesman called the notion that the site leads to divorce "ludicrous."

Yet the 1-in-5 number has thrived in part because it helps fill a vacuum: There isn't much reliable research about what does cause divorce. Academic researchers don't even agree on how to approach the question. Some have searched for predictive demographic factors, such as age and income. Others have studied married couples' relationships to see which characteristics presage a split. Determining whether a couple is likely to break up, though, is different than identifying the actual cause.

Only a few studies have surveyed divorcees directly at the time of their divorce. One by two Pennsylvania State University researchers used as its data source 2,033 married people who had agreed to be tracked in 1980. By 1997, barely half were still reachable and amenable to interviews; of those, about one in five had gotten divorced and would discuss it. That left 208 people to be studied, a relatively small sample. And the rates of reported reasons differed between men and women. Some 9% of women ascribed their divorce to mental or physical abuse, while no men did; conversely, 9% of men said they didn't know the cause, while none of the women said this.

Even numbers on overall U.S. divorce rates are spotty. NCHS reclassified its divorce statistics as "provisional" in 1996, reflecting budgetary constraints at the agency that hampered data collection and the lack of reporting from California and a few other states that stopped tracking divorce. The figures for 2009, for example, exclude California and five other states that together contain 21% of the U.S. population.

In 2008 the Census Bureau began asking Americans in an annual survey whether they have been divorced in the last year, which is allowing researchers to start filling in gaps in state data. But so far there aren't enough data to identify trends.

"To do this kind of research requires a huge amount of persistence," says George Levinger, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Massachusetts.

Still, the widespread circulation of the supposed Facebook divorce link shows how a catchy number can take on a life of its own.

The 1-in-5 number originated with an executive at an online divorce-service provider in the U.K. Mark Keenan, managing director of Divorce-Online, which allows Britons to file uncontested divorces at low cost, had just launched the company's Facebook page and wondered what role Facebook has in precipitating divorces. After determining that the word "Facebook" appeared in 989 of the company's 5,000 or so most recent divorce petitions, he had Divorce-Online issue a news release in December 2009 stating "Facebook is bad for your marriage."

The Numbers Guy Blog

Divorcing Hype From Reality in Facebook Stats

Mr. Keenan acknowledges that his company's clients aren't necessarily representative of all divorces, and he adds that his firm never claimed that Facebook actually causes 20% of divorces. "It was a very unscientific survey," Mr. Keenan says.

A few months later, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers announced results of a survey of its 1,600 members, 81% of whom said they had seen an increase in cases using social-networking "evidence" in the last five years. These results weren't surprising, given Facebook's phenomenal growth. But the survey drew widespread coverage that often resuscitated the 1-in-5 divorce figure.

The confusion crested last week when Perry Drake, senior manager of media relations for Loyola University Health System in Chicago, put together a news release touting a Loyola psychologist's expertise on relationships and social media. Finding the 1-in-5 figure online, Mr. Drake led the news release with the headline: "Don't let your marriage be among the 1 in 5 destroyed by Facebook." By the time Mr. Drake became aware of the error and alerted the news release's recipients, news articles had appeared around the world.

"A little sloppiness on my part has made for a bad two weeks," says Mr. Drake.

Write to Carl Bialik at numbersguy@wsj.com

Women who post lots of photos of themselves on Facebook value appearance, need attention, study finds

2011-03-10T21:46:00.001+07:00

Putting more photos of yourself on Facebook translates to valuing physical appearance. (Dan Kitwood / Getty Images)

By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times

March 10, 2011

A study on how people use social networking websites such as Facebook confirms what many of us suspected. Women who post loads of photos of themselves on their sites are conveying some strong personal characteristics, according to new research. These women are more likely to base their self-worth on appearance and use social networking to compete for attention.

The study involved 311 men and women with an average age of 23. In order to better understand aspects of social networking behavior, the researchers looked at the amount of time subjects spent managing profiles, the number of photos they shared, the size of their online networks and how promiscuous they were in terms of “friending” behavior. The participants completed a questionnaire designed to measure self worth and were asked about their typical behaviors on Facebook.

There were differences between women and men. Overall, the results suggest that, compared with men, females identify more strongly with their image and appearance and use Facebook to compete for attention, said the lead author of the study, Michael A. Stefanone, an assistant professor of communications at the University of Buffalo.

The women who had the largest social networks and posted more photos of themselves were more highly vested in their appearance.

“The results suggest persistent differences in the behavior of men and women that result from a cultural focus on female image and appearance,” Stefanone said in a news release. “[I]t is disappointing to me that in the year 2011 so many young women continue to assert their self worth via their physical appearance — in this case, by posting photos of themselves on Facebook as a form of advertisement. Perhaps this reflects the distorted value pegged to women’s looks throughout the popular culture and in reality programming from ‘The Bachelor’ to ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians.’ ”

The authors also speculated that posting a lot of photos of oneself in the company of other people “may serve to communicate the importance of particular relationships because these bonds may provide security regarding ones appearance and self worth.”

The people who tended to base their self worth on things like academic competence, family love and support, and being a virtuous or moral person spent less time online and showed less interest in attention-seeking through social media.

The study was published this week in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking. Here's a You Tube explanation of the study.

Related: Are you so awesome you'd friend yourself? Facebook found to be a great esteem builder

Are you so awesome you'd friend yourself? Facebook found to be a great esteem builder

2011-03-04T21:49:00.000+07:00

March 03, 2011|By Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times

Need a pick-me-up? Try updating your Facebook profile.

Spending just a few minutes on the social networking site can enhance your self-esteem, according to a new study from a journal called Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. (Yes, that’s a real academic journal.)

According to a leading theory from social psychology (objective self-awareness), exposure to mirrors, photos and recordings of one’s voice encourages people to view themselves the way others see them. This, in turn, is thought to promote “pro-social behavior” and diminish one’s self-esteem.

However, another prominent theory (the hyperpersonal model) among those who study online communication holds that when people have the opportunity to put their best face forward online – by posting flattering photos and emphasizing certain aspects of their personality – they can give their self-esteem a boost.

RELATED: Facebook profile reflects the true you

To test what happens in the real world, psychologists from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., gave a 10-item self-esteem test to 63 undergrads, divided into three groups. One group took the test after spending 3 minutes on Facebook, another group took the test while able to view themselves in a mirror and a control group had no exposure to anything that would evoke self-awareness.

Using a statistical test, the researchers showed that the Facebook students had greater self-esteem than students in the other two groups. And it wasn’t just a fluke, they wrote. The students who looked at their own profiles for the entire 3 minutes had higher self-esteem than students who spent some of that time clicking around on other people’s Facebook pages. In addition, students who made changes to their Facebook profiles also had higher self-esteem than students who didn’t. Both of those observations support the hyperpersonal model, the authors wrote.

“By allowing people to present preferred or positive information” about themselves, Facebook allows people to ehance their awareness of the optimal self,” the researchers concluded. Some of the self-esteem boost may also be traced to being reminded of how many “friends” one has, they added.

You can read the full study here.

First Valentine: Lasting legacy of 500-year-old love

2011-02-14T15:03:00.004+07:00

By Anna Browning
BBC News

Love it or hate it, even the most hardened anti-Romeo will be hard pressed to avoid Valentine's Day this year. But as an exhibit at the British Library currently on show is testament to, there is a first for everything - even on Valentine's Day.

It is a letter, written from a young woman to her love, and is the first mention of the word Valentine in the English language. And, for the first time, the descendants of Margery Brews and her betrothed John Paston have been traced.

“Start Quote

The letter shows they were no different to us. They had the same loves, desires and financial problems”

End Quote Julian Harrison British Library curator

In 1477 Margery wrote a letter to her John pleading with him not to give her up, despite her parents' refusal to increase her dowry.

Addressing her "ryght welebeloued Voluntyne" (right well-beloved Valentine), she promised to be a good wife, adding: "Yf that ye loffe me as Itryste verely that ye do ye will not leffe me" (If you love me, I trust.. you will not leave me).

Her beloved might have had his mind on business, driving a hard bargain for her hand in marriage, but Margery still had her sights on romance, and so secured her place in English history.

"It might not necessarily be that nobody had used Valentine in any context before, but this is probably one of the first times it was written down," says British Library curator Julian Harrison.

And for Cambridge historian, Dr Helen Castor, the importance of Margery Brews' letter and the light it sheds on relationships at that time is hugely important.

"One of the wonderful things about this particular letter is that it is so private," she said.

"It gives a real sense of the relationship between a young man and young woman wanting to marry.

"Without this letter we wouldn't know that this was a love match," she said.

The family, from Coalbrook Dale, Shropshire, had no idea of their link to the Norfolk Pastons

While romantics 534 years later might celebrate Valentine's Day with fine dining, chocolates and flowers, Margery is left pleading with her love not to leave her while pledging her heart over all "earthly things".

She promises her undying love: "Myne herte me bydds ever more to love yowe truly" (My heart me bids ever more to love you truly), and speaks of her ailing body and heart over her fiance's continuing silence.

However, modern-day lovers be reassured, like any self-respecting fairytale romance the heart did (finally) rule the head and, despite her father's stubbornness over her dowry, Margery did marry her knight.

The couple had a son, William, in 1479. Margery died in 1495, John in 1503.

The Pastons and their letters

Written between 1422-1509, the personal letters between the Norfolk family are the oldest record of private correspondence that survive in Britain.

The bulk are in the British Library, others are in the Bodleian Library, Oxford and the Norfolk Record Office.

The letters offer a unique insight into a medieval family on the make - one that rose from peasantry to aristocracy in just two generations.

They show first-hand testimony of the social benefits the plague brought to the peasantry, the chaotic effects of the Wars of the Roses on the general populace and the individual impact that the Black Death could have on a family.

The family died out with William Paston, Second Earl of Yarmouth, in 1732. His wife Charlotte was an illegitimate daughter of Charles II.

Their 16th and 17th generation descendants - by way of a king's illegitimate offspring - were traced via the website myheritage.

Living in Shropshire and until then unaware of their genetic link to a Valentine milestone, Sir Charles Buckworth-Herne-Soame, his wife Lady Eileen, their son Richard, his sister Mary Edwards, husband Keith and son Rob recently saw the missive for the first time.

For historians, the Paston Letters have long been a fascinating insight into the soap opera lives of gentry in the Middle Ages.

Most documentation which survives from medieval times are legal and governmental records, financial accounts and property deeds. Few personal letters exist and even fewer are written by women.

The archive of more than 1,000 letters - most in the British Library - is written by three generations of the Norfolk landowning-family over a period of 70 years.

Family fall-outs, parents nagging, clashes with the aristocracy and parties while mother's away are all detailed.

But Margery's letter, as the first English Valentine, has added significance for scholars and is currently part of a British Library exhibition on the evolution of the English language.

Dr Castor says it sheds invaluable light on such relationships at the time.

"We tend to assume that marriages in this class at this time were arranged for dynastic reasons, but Margery's letters show that everything else was slotted in around the fact that this was a couple who really loved each other."

For archaeologist Rob Edwards, 38, and great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of the couple, the letter is a link to the past he relishes, particularly as he works in history.

"It really reminds you that the people you are studying are very much like ourselves. They have the same feelings and the fact that they are related really does add an extra dimension.

"You can imagine it, trying to get a bit more towards the wedding from your parents. This money is going to set you up."

Julian Harrison agrees.

"The letter shows they were no different to us. They had the same loves, desires and financial problems."

The medieval writer also had other things in common with their modern counterpart.

Margery and John

John Paston III tried until he was 33 to find the "right" wife: she had to be of a good family, reasonably good-looking, and above all, rich.

However, in later letters to his elder brother his standards have dropped - he would settle for "some old thrifty draff wife" (ale wife) if she had enough money.

But this all changed when he met 17-year-old Margery, daughter of Sir Thomas Brews. Although from a good county family, she was not an heiress and her father had other daughters, so her dowry would be small.

However, despite John's emotions being engaged, the Paston family demanded a higher dowry - a dispute which appeared to have reached stalemate until the couple's mothers intervened and the marriage went ahead some time in 1477.

Don't think the advent of mobile phones and e-mails is the first time abbreviations have littered correspondence, they often abbreviated a word or two in the Middle Ages - Margery used wt for with, for example.

And while her letter is also written on paper, there is one key difference. She didn't write it herself. It would have been dictated to a man who would have written it for her.

However, says Julian Harrison: "The fact that she isn't writing the letter doesn't mean she can't write, it means she can afford someone to write for her.

"People have assumed that people in the past were illiterate, but actually levels of literacy may have been higher than we think."

Richard Buckworth-Herne-Soame, 40, recognises some but not all family traits in the letter, while his mother, Lady Eileen, notes time have changed. She admits she brought no dowry to her marriage.

"No he didn't drive a hard bargain," she says of Sir Charles.

But, Richard adds: "We still have the stubbornness."

Egypt Blocks Access To Facebook

2011-01-27T10:19:00.001+07:00

Egyptian authorities are blocking access to Facebook within the country in an effort to quell anti-government demonstrations organized via the social network.

Egypt’s blockage was confirmed by Jillian York, a project coordinator at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society that oversees the Herdict service, who sent an email to Reuters.

However, the group We are all Khaled Said appears to be accessing Facebook via a proxy server, as a status update went up to the organization’s wall around when I started writing this post, saying “Situation can be summarized as street fighting across Cairo with focus in Central Cairo.” A YouTube video posted on the group’s wall about two minutes later shows protesters jumping on an armed police vehicle trying to stop a water cannon.

The group’s explanation of its mission on the social network contains a possible clue about possibly getting around censorship by the Egyptian government — the address for the page includes a U.K. extension:

“Khaled Said, 28 years old, was tortured to death by 2 Egyptian Policemen in the street. The incident has woken up Egyptians to work against the systematic torture in Egypt and the 30 years running emergency law. We need international supporters to help us stand against Police brutality in Egypt. We invite you to support our cause. Join our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/elshaheeed.co.uk to see how you can help.”

Some are comparing Egypt’s demonstrations to recent protests in Tunisia that led to the nation’s president stepping down from office, and given how the Tunisian uprising has been called a Facebook-powered revolution, one could see why the Egyptian government would want to block access to the social network.

Egypt’s blockage of Facebook today follows a similar move against Twitter yesterday, TechCrunch has reported, as the microblogging site has also helped protesters organize themselves.

Will the Egyptian government’s efforts to block access to social media ultimately strengthen protesters’ resolve and possibly strengthen support for the demonstration outside of Egypt?

www.allfacebook.com

STUDY: Facebooking Leads To Sex, Faster

2011-01-27T10:12:00.001+07:00

Skip the flowers, guys: If you want to better your chances of getting a woman in the sack, maybe all you have to do is Facebook her.

Shape and Men’s Fitness found that 58 percent of men surveyed by the magazines said flirting over Facebook, texts, and chat helps them get women into bed sooner. Likewise, 80 percent of the women surveyed said that relationships lead to sex quicker today because it’s easy to stay connected.

There’s evidence that both genders are satisfied with the end result of techie flirting — almost half of the 1,200 women and men who participated in the survey describe their sex lives as amazing compared with 21 percent last year.

But there’s a caveat to all this, and I’m sure it’s something you’ve probably experienced yourself : The intimacy you have on Facebook with a potential mate can be pretty short lived. A virtual poking war is fun at first, but doesn’t necessarily translate into a healthy relationship if you never move beyond that.

I remember playing Facebook scrabble with a guy I liked, and would get excited when he’d respond right away to a word I played. Now keep in mind, I never dated this guy, and we didn’t actually speak to each other. The extent of our relationship never went beyond the word game online.

Psychologist Dr. Dorree Lynn echoes that sentiment. She says social media is actually “fostering a sense of faux intimacy” among couples. She told ABC News:

It’s easier to hop into bed than have a relationship. It’s all a function of the fast-paced world we live in, where communication skills, genuine communication skills, which means face-to-face communication, are quickly going by the wayside.

I agree with Lynn that Facebook and social media in general can make someone feel like they share a deeper connection with the object of their affection, but I think this happens only if they are communicating more online than in real life. There are plenty of examples where Facebook has helped bring couples closer together. Plus, Facebook statuses seem to be increasingly used by couples to “publicly” display feelings of affection. How is that faux intimacy?

Do you think Facebook has helped or hurt your sex life? Do you find yourself more active on Facebook when you’re in a relationship, or single?

www.allfacebook.com

The rise of the dead: How many ghosts are on Facebook?

2010-11-20T14:01:00.000+07:00

What is the fastest growing group on Facebook? One of the most surprising phenomena of 2010 is the encroachment of death onto Facebook. Just like Toy Story 3, the blissful youth of Facebook is suddenly faced with the passing of time and the first inklings of mortality. However, beyond the anecdote of an awkward experience, surprisingly few facts exist about the prevalence of death on social media. Is this an occasional curiosity or a looming tidal wave for which existing social media sites are unprepared?

We decided to do the math and estimate how many of these “social media ghosts” are living on long beyond their real-life equivalents.

Mostly the old...

The numbers suggest that 2.6 million Americans will die in 2010 [1]. The simple math that one third of Americans are now on Facebook would suggest that just over 1 million Americans will pass away on Facebook this year. The real math is a bit more complicated, of course. On Facebook, college kids sharing their drunken travails are over-represented, and the far-more-likely-to-die old, under-represented.

For a better answer, 1000Memories compared the CDC distribution (yes the best people to ask about death are the Center for DISEASE control!) with the CIA’s statistics on the American population at large. Based on this we calculated that the probability of dying this year by age. The graph looks like the ‘hockey-stick’ that social media start-ups dream about (see Chart 1).

...while the young while away their days online

Facebook, the all-conquering social, sociological and now Hollywood phenomenon often seems ubiquitous. With over 500 million users it would be the third largest country in the world (and Twitter would be the 5th, LinkedIn the 13th, and 1000Memories wouldn’t be the smallest!) [2]. That said, I am always surprised how many people are not on Facebook. The Facebook-phobic include not only my grandmother, my 1-year-old cousin, and also my dad. Market estimates suggest that more than 80% of Americans between the ages of 20 and 29 use Facebook, while only 8% of those 65 and older have been sucked into social media’s black-hole like grip (see Chart 2) [3].

1,000,000 Facebook ghosts this year...

At this point, the math calculates that less than 400,000 of American Facebook users will die in 2010 [4]. Facebook hasn't commented on how many of these accounts are “memorialized” (a special state that removes status updates and disable new friendships — for more details see our forum). Anecdotal evidence suggests, however, that most accounts are not “memorialized” — they patiently await the next status update that will never come like faithful Hachikō [5].

Extrapolating globally (1 in 4 Facebook users is American and non-US users tend to be younger and hence have a lower death rate) suggests that 1 to 1.5 million Facebook accounts will outlive their users this year. That’s more than 1 million deaths on Facebook in 2010. 1 million — that’s 1,000 times more people than Mark Zuckerberg has friends [6].

...and 50 million ghosts in 2015

Of course, 2010 isn't the first year that someone has died on Facebook, and as much as I may hope, it won’t be the last. Facebook's own blog chronicles the team’s shock and reaction when an early employee died in a bike accident in 2006 [7]. However the recent aging of Facebook means that accounts whose owners have passed away are a relatively new phenomena. In fact, seven times as many people will die on Facebook this year than have ever died on Facebook. Projecting this forward we foresee over 50 million accounts whose owners have passed away in 2015 [8] (see chart 3).

The impact on Facebook and beyond

So what does this all mean? As social media grows and the time we have left shrinks, death on the Internet needs to, and will, become more normal. The temporal and ephemeral tweet about “eating cereal for breakfast” needs also to be a part of something more substantial, helping our family, friends and future generations remember us not just from our “status” and activities but in the full richness of the photos, stories and relationships that capture our lives. Combining the scattered and temporal into something more substantial — and hopefully more meaningful — is exactly what we’re hoping to achieve with 1000Memories.

Footnotes

1. Based on 2010 population and death rate estimates from the CIA.
2. Twitter reports 175 million users and LinkedIn reports 85 million. 1000Memories doesn’t publish user numbers but the Vatican City has just 800 residents so we are a long, long way ahead.
3. Note that officially you are required to be 13 years of age to use Facebook which shapes our distribution here
4. Assuming that using Facebook doesn’t positively or negatively affect your mortality.
5. The faithful Japanese dog which patiently waited for its human companion long after his death.
6. Vanity Fair reported Mark Zuckerberg has 879 friends (on Facebook).
7. http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=163091042130.
8. For this extrapolation we have pieced together Facebook’s historic user numbers and project forward that the site will grow to 2 billion users in 2015. We assume historically a constant second derivative of the Facebook death rate (based on our 2009 and 2010 analysis) and that this will level our to match the population death rate in 2015

Source: The rise of the dead: How many ghosts are on Facebook?

Video: David and Victoria Beckham Find Love in an Elevator

2010-09-19T17:28:00.003+07:00

By The Editors of StyleList

A few spritzes of the new Intimately Beckham Yours fragrances have the stunning couple getting frisky in a steamy new commercial for their his-and-her scents.

In the clip, Victoria Beckham, clad in a sleek black pants suit, joins husband David Beckham, looking dashing in a tux, in an elevator, and that's when things get interesting. As the door closes the British power duo gets passionate and a lot of kissing, grabbing and clothes shedding ensues.

When the Beckhams reach their desired floor, the door reopens and viewers are treated to one disheveled-looking pair, although the Mrs. seems to have fared better than her partner in crime as her bold red lipstick and slicked back hair are still intact. She'll have to thank her glam squad for that one.

The steamy ad seems perfectly fitting for fragrances that are "designed to capture the essence of David and Victoria Beckham's passion and the power of their relationship." Watch It Below

What do the Beckhams -- or rather, their scents -- smell like? StyleList reports that Intimately Beckham Yours For Him is spiked with blood mandarin, frozen lemon, crushed leaves, sage, lavender, frozen basil, tonka bean, sandalwood and vetiver to create an "elegant and sexy Oriental Citrus Aromatic."

While Intimately Beckham Yours For Her lends itself to be "radiant, warm and captivating" with notes of freesia, bergamot, pear leaves, orange blossom, frangipani, lily, orris, sandalwood and vetiver.

Tags: david beckham, victoria beckham

http://www.popeater.com/2010/09/11/david-victoria-beckham-fragrance-ad/?ncid=txtlnkusnews00000001

The Only Path To Tomorrow by Ayn Rand

2010-09-18T00:42:00.001+07:00

Readers Digest, January 1944, pp. 88-90

The greatest threat to mankind and civilization is the spread of the totalitarian philosophy. Its best ally is not the devotion of its followers but the confusion of its enemies. To fight it, we must understand it.

Totalitarianism is collectivism. Collectivism means the subjugation of the individual to a group — whether to a race, class or state does not matter. Collectivism holds that man must be chained to collective action and collective thought for the sake of what is called ``the common good.´´

Throughout history, no tyrant ever rose to power except on the claim of representing ``the common good.´´ Napoleon ``served the common good´´ of France. Hitler is ``serving the common good´´ of Germany. Horrors which no man would dare consider for his own selfish sake are perpetrated with a clear conscience by ``altruists´´ who justify themselves by-the common good.

No tyrant has ever lasted long by force of arms alone. Men have been enslaved primarily by spiritual weapons. And the greatest of these is the collectivist doctrine that the supremacy of the state over the individual constitutes the common good. No dictator could rise if men held as a sacred faith the conviction that they have inalienable rights of which they cannot be deprived for any cause whatsoever, by any man whatsoever, neither by evildoer nor supposed benefactor.

This is the basic tenet of individualism, as opposed to collectivism. Individualism holds that man is an independent entity with an inalienable right to the pursuit of his own happiness in a society where men deal with one another as equals.

The American system is founded on individualism. If it is to survive, we must understand the principles of individualism and hold them as our standard in any public question, in every issue we face. We must have a positive credo, a clear consistent faith.

We must learn to reject as total evil the conception that the common good is served by the abolition of individual rights. General happiness cannot be created out of general suffering and self-immolation. The only happy society is one of happy individuals. One cannot have a healthy forest made up of rotten trees.

The power of society must always be limited by the basic, inalienable rights of the individual.

The right of liberty means man's right to individual action, individual choice, individual initiative and individual property. Without the right to private property no independent action is possible.

The right to the pursuit of happiness means man's right to live for himself, to choose what constitutes his own, private, personal happiness and to work for its achievement. Each individual is the sole and final judge in this choice. A man's happiness cannot be prescribed to him by another man or by any number of other men.

These rights are the unconditional, personal, private, individual possession of every man, granted to him by the fact of his birth and requiring no other sanction. Such was the conception of the founders of our country, who placed individual rights above any and all collective claims. Society can only be a traffic policeman in the intercourse of men with one another.

From the beginning of history, two antagonists have stood face to face, two opposite types of men: the Active and the Passive. The Active Man is the producer, the creator, the originator, the individualist. His basic need is independence — in order to think and work. He neither needs nor seeks power over other men — nor can he be made to work under any form of compulsion. Every type of good work — from laying bricks to writing a symphony — is done by the Active Man. Degrees of human ability vary, but the basic principle remains the same: the degree of a man's independence and initiative determines his talent as a worker and his worth as a man.

The Passive Man is found on every level of society, in mansions and in slums, and his identification mark is his dread of independence. He is a parasite who expects to be taken care of by others, who wishes to be given directives, to obey, to submit, to be regulated, to be told. He welcomes collectivism, which eliminates any chance that he might have to think or act on his own initiative.

When a society is based on the needs of the Passive Man it destroys the Active; but when the Active is destroyed, the Passive can no longer be cared for. When a society is based on the needs of the Active Man, he carries the Passive ones along on his energy and raises them as he rises, as the whole society rises. This has been the pattern of all human progress.

Some humanitarians demand a collective state because of their pity for the incompetent or Passive Man. For his sake they wish to harness the Active. But the Active Man cannot function in harness. And once he is destroyed, the destruction of the Passive Man follows automatically. So if pity is the humanitarians' first consideration, then in the name of pity, if nothing else, they should leave the Active Man free to function, in order to help the Passive. There is no other way to help him in the long run.

The history of mankind is the history of the struggle between the Active Man and the Passive, between the individual and the collective. The countries which have produced the happiest men, the highest standards of living and the greatest cultural advances have been the countries where the power of the collective — of the government, of the state — was limited and the individual was given freedom of independent action. As examples: The rise of Rome, with its conception of law based on a citizen's rights, over the collectivist barbarism of its time. The rise of England, with a system of government based on the Magna Carta, over collectivist, totalitarian Spain. The rise of the United States to a degree of achievement unequaled in history — by grace of the individual freedom and independence which our Constitution gave each citizen against the collective.

While men are still pondering upon the causes of the rise and fall of civilizations, every page of history cries to us that there is but one source of progress: Individual Man in independent action. Collectivism is the ancient principle of savagery. A savage's whole existence is ruled by the leaders of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.

We are now facing a choice: to go forward or to go back.

Collectivism is not the ``New Order of Tomorrow.´´ It is the order of a very dark yesterday. But there is a New Order of Tomorrow. It belongs to Individual Man — the only creator of any tomorrows humanity has ever been granted.

Source: are.tunes.org

One's a virgin, another has slept with 50 men... can you guess how many lovers these women have had? You may be surprised...

2010-08-12T14:02:00.000+07:00

NO LOVERS - THE MEDICAL STUDENT

Waiting till she's married: Nellie Wong

Nellie Wong, 25, is a medical student at St George's University and lives with friends in Tooting, South London. She has a boyfriend, Andrew, 24, also a medical student.

People are often shocked to hear I'm still a virgin at 25 - even more so when I tell them I've had a boyfriend for five years. But I can honestly say it isn't an issue for us.

It's not that I don't feel desire, I do, but waiting until we're married is a priority for us both.

I had a strict upbringing and wasn't allowed a boyfriend until I was 18. My parents, who are originally from China, said if a woman has sex outside marriage she is cheap, and a good man wouldn't expect her to anyway.

I've only had one other boyfriend, who I met during my A-levels. It was all innocent; we just held hands and kissed.

Thankfully he didn't try to take things further. My boyfriend, Andrew, is understanding too. His parents are more conservative than mine, so we have the same attitude to sex.

He's living in Malaysia, so we only see each other a few times a year. But we do email every day and speak on the phone. We hold hands and kiss.

Sometimes I'm tempted to do more, but since he's not tried to initiate anything more I wouldn't dare. It does make it easier that we have a long- distance relationship. We've never shared a bed.

We've spoken about marriage and both sets of parents approve of our relationship. Although I've not yet met anyone who has made fun of me being a virgin, some people don't believe me, probably because I do modelling (promotional work, to raise money for my studies) and even got to the finals of Miss University GB.

They seem to think just because you're attractive you should be having sex. Others respect my decision and then there are those who try to persuade me to have an affair or a one-night stand because they think my boyfriend sounds boring.

I am curious about sex - particularly as it's a topic I've had to study as part of my degree. During one lecture, we had to teach men how to put on condoms. I didn't feel embarrassed, I'm going to be a doctor, after all. But I hope I'll be able to ignore my curiosity until I marry - however long away that is.

ONE - THE OFFICE BOSS

Catholic up-bringing: Keren Curren

Keren Curren, 40, is an office administrator and lives in Preston, Lancashire, with her partner of 20 years Gary Wilson, 41, a housing officer.

I lost my virginity to Gary when I was 23. I'd had a strict Catholic upbringing, so I was quite prudish - when you're raised like that it's imprinted on you for life.

Admittedly we're not married, but we've been engaged for six years and have just never got around to organising a wedding.

Before Gary, I dated one other man for seven months but we never made love because I didn't feel ready.

After we split up, I met Gary through work. He lived in Ireland, but after a year he moved to England to be with me.

We bought a house in Preston and that's when we made love for the first time.

Even though I knew he was 'the one', I did feel guilty because I'd been brought up to believe sex should saved for marriage.

Gary had only a couple of sexual partners before me, which is quite unusual for a man. We learned about sex together.

As for my Catholic background, these days I live the life that's right for me, rather than adhering to my father's beliefs - and that includes using contraception.

We don't have children and the reason is because I worry about world we'd be bringing them into. Besides, we are happy it being just the two of us.

We've been together 20 years and we still have a healthy love life. I don't regret not having slept with any other men.

The honeymoon period is long gone, but we know each other well enough to tell if the other is in the mood and we act on it.

These days I see so many young girls pushing prams when they're barely adults themselves - that is the reality of promiscuity.

Those who have sex so young or who have lots of sexual partners have more self-respect.

More...

Why men get better at love and relationships as they get older

FIVE - THE BUSINESSWOMAN

Teenage pregnancy: Antonia Kime

Antonia Kime, 34, runs her own business, Queen of Cupcakes, and is married to Hugh, 50, who owns a carpentry firm. They live in Bury St Edmunds with their four children.

I was rather prim when I was growing up - I didn't have a sexual relationship until I was 17.

That was a classic holiday romance - he was a Turkish student and I met him when I was on holiday in Turkey with my sister. He fished my shoe out of the sea, and we got chatting.

We spent the entire week together and slept together after a few days.

To me, sex meant commitment and I convinced myself I was madly in love. But like all holiday romances, it fizzled out.

My parents were traditional in their views. I went to a girls' boarding school and there was no peer pressure.

But when I was 18 I started dating a boy who was the same age as me, and fell pregnant by accident.

I was at midwifery college, he was a student too, and we were both terrified. My parents are very middle class and they were shocked and upset rather than angry. It was a really difficult time for all of us.

There was no question of me having an abortion. I took time off from college to have my son, but split with his father before the birth because he couldn't handle the commitment.

I lived with my parents at first but it was still really tough financially. Eventually, I moved out and went back to college. It meant I never had a chance to have a 'wild' time in my teens, instead I concentrated on work and tried to be a good mum.

In two years I slept with two boys - who were fellow students. Both relationships lasted a few months and I ensured I waited a few weeks before making love.

I met Hugh when I was 20. I fancied him like mad. It took him more than a month to persuade me to sleep with him - I wanted to make sure he was the right one for me, as I could not be carefree with a young child.

We went on to have three children. I'm rather glad I haven't had lots of sexual partners, because I think sex is so special and shouldn't be cheapened.

25 - THE MARKETING EXEC

Numerous short relationships: Jodie Taylor

Jodie Taylor, 26, works in marketing and lives in East London. She is in a relationship with Jonny, 27, who works in the music industry.

I'm quite mature for my age and don't like going out, getting drunk and partying any more - I feel like I did all that in my teens and early 20s.

Now, I prefer quiet nights in with my boyfriend, Jonny. We've actually known each other for eight years, but only started going out together eight months ago.

Because we'd known each other for so long we did sleep together after our first date at a comedy club, but I wouldn't normally have done that.

I was 16 when I lost my virginity to a friend. It was neither a good nor a bad experience - it was a typical first time.

I was glad it happened with a friend and I was relieved to get it over and done with.

I started dating another friend soon after that, but we broke up after a year when he went away to university.

After that I had a handful of one-night stands. I wasn't looking for a relationship at the time and I always made sure I was careful.

During my early 20s, I had numerous short relationships, which all lasted between three and four months, and various one-night stands.

Now I do wish I hadn't jumped into bed with some of them. There were some I really liked and hoped to get to know better, but after sex they just disappeared. I did feel a bit hurt by that.

I'm grateful that I'm in a loving relationship. Sex is more special when you have strong feelings for each other.

There's a time and a place for casual flings and they can be a lot of fun, but I have done all that.

Jonny and I haven't really talked about how many sexual partners we've had because we both take the same view that it's the here and now that's important, not the past.

I don't think he will be concerned when he reads my tally. He doesn't judge me and I don't judge him.

50 - THE MEDIA WHIZZ

One night stands: Shelley Tomes

Shelly Tomes, 31, is a partner in a media company and is married to Olly, 22, who is a musician. They live in North London.

Some people might balk at the fact I've slept with 50 men, but I'm not ashamed or regretful.

They were all consensual, safe experiences which felt like a good idea at the time.

I was 15 when I lost my virginity to a boy I'd known since junior school. Most of my friends also lost their virginity between 15 and 17.

I'm very fortunate that I grew up in a loving family and could talk openly about sex with my parents - Mum was a housewife and Dad an inspector in the manufacturing industry.

We had basic sex-education at school and I understood the importance of practising safe sex.

Between the ages of 17 and 19, I had about half-a-dozen sexual partners. They tended to be friends and definitely weren't drunken conquests.

Then I was in a serious relationship for five years with a man from back home in the North-East and we moved to London together for work.

While my friends went to university and had lots of sexual experiences, I went straight into work and didn't sleep with anyone else until the relationship broke down.

This time round, being single was different. I had a good disposable income - earning more than £35,000 - which meant I could afford a great social life in London. It was easy to meet men and have short flings or one-night stands.

It's hard to have a long-term relationship when you're focused on your career. You're working such long hours that you don't have the capacity for a serious relationship. But you still have basic human desires and a need for sex.

I learned to compartmentalise my emotions. If you're going to have one-night stands, you need to be able to walk away without emotional attachment. I don't think they're for everyone.

As soon as I met Olly, I knew he was the one. We married after a four-month romance last November.

He's nine years younger than me, but I had no doubt when he asked me to marry him - perhaps that's one benefit of having dated a lot of men.

We have broached the subject of partners, but haven't discussed numbers. I'd be surprised, given the age gap, if he's slept with more people than I have.

Stylist: ANNIE SWAIN using PHASE EIGHT, ALDO, JOHN LEWIS, MANGO, M&S, MODA IN PELLE, TED BAKER, HOBBS

dailymail.co.uk

Meet Britain's most jaw-droppingly ostentatious tourists who have supercars flown from the Middle East to UK by private jet

2010-08-10T13:39:00.001+07:00

A sunny Thursday afternoon in August and the cars circling Harrods need to be seen to be believed. Million-pound Bugatti Veyrons - normally a rare sighting, even on the well-heeled streets of Central London - are, around here, about as common as Ford Fiestas.

Other cars, in a display that could rival anything in Monaco or Goodwood, drive round and round the block, pausing at the rear each time to see if their masters are ready for collection.

In the cafes surrounding the department store, every single table is taken by people from the Gulf states and the Middle East — Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Dubai.

A young Arabic man leaving his vehicle outside the Berkley Hotel in Central London

Welcome to Knightsbridge — or, as it is better known to locals, ‘Little Kuwait’.

For British residents, the summer is all about anescape to the sun; a fortnight in the South of France, the Italian Riviera or Spain. We Brits want sand, sangria, heat and a swimming pool. Anywhere but the sticky, filthy city.

For the mega-wealthy billionaire families of the Gulf states over here this summer
will tell you that they come to London because, unlike in the U.S. or France, they are made to feel welcome,’ says Hussam Baramo, the Syria-born features editor at Al Quds newspaper, a daily paper widely-read by Middle Eastern people in London. ‘They like London because they think it’s safe and friendly.’

And here, they can bring their cars with them. Around the corner from Harrods, I
saw one Veyron with every inch of its bodywork coated in gold; another, chromed all over.

Behind it, I watched a Veyron in pearlised white with shiny chromium wings making a noise like a scalded Rottweiler.

The Saudi number plate on this car was ‘999’. I watched the driver get out. He was around 25 and dressed like an off-duty Lewis Hamilton. I complimented him on his car and asked how he got it over to London. ‘In my plane,’ he said, grinning.

The car was parked in a pay-and-display’ bay, but its driver did neither. The auto show continued with a Rolls-Royce Phantom customised with a stainless steel bonnet. The number plate on this car is simply ‘1’. Later that day I Googled this vehicle and discovered that a couple of years ago its Dubai-based owner paid £9 million for the registration number alone.

Ajman Crown Prince Sheikh Ammar

A long Maybach limousine, painted in distinct orange and matt black, purred through the melee. The letters ‘RRR’ are picked out on the vehicle’s boot in a diamond-studded font.

A handsome young man and his friend, both dressed like aspirant R&B pop stars (faded jeans, Hermes belt, one of those Ralph Lauren polo shirts with the over-sized horse logo, pastel suede Hermes driving shoes, and bronze tint sunglasses) got out.

This is Crown Prince Sheikh Ammar bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, the incredibly glamorous and fun-loving son of the multi-billionaire HRH Sheikh Rashid Bin Humid Al Nuaimi of Ajman.

Ajman, in case you didn’t know, is the smallest emirate in the United Arab Emirates, but has grand plans to become a mini Dubai. RRR is the banner
for the Crown Prince’s vast portfolio of orange and black super cars — the
letters stand for Rich in Real Estate Resources.

‘How do you go about writing tickets to these guys?’ I asked a traffic warden
in Basil Street. ‘It’s impossible,’ he shrugs, showing me the computerised ticket machine he wears around his neck.

'My machine only has numbers and letters on it. Their number plates are just . . .’ He tailed off, struggling for the right word.

‘Squiggles?’ I suggested. ‘Yes. There are no keys on my machine for those.’

Last week, the wardens seemed to arrive at a solution to the problem of ticketing cars with squiggles for number plates; they started clamping them instead.

Early victims were a£1.2 million Koenigsegg CCXR (one of only six ever made) and a £350,000 Lamborghini Murcielago LP670-4 SuperVeloce which were illegally parked outside Harrods.

But the traffic wardens aren’t the only ones ruffled by the fleet of supercars flooding the area.

Residents living near the Knightsbridge store say their night-time peace is being shattered by the owners racing their sports cars through the streets, describing it as being ‘like the starting grid at Le Mans’.

They have now forged a campaign group and aired their grievances to Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, claiming that police and council have failed to act.

Some of the Middle Eastern visitors keep summer-houses in London — there are said to be more than 100 billionaire Saudi families with second homes in the Knightsbridge area alone— while others prefer out-of-town locations such as Bishops Avenue in North London (also known as ‘Millionaires Row’), Coombe Hill in Kingston and St George’s Hill in Weybridge, Surrey.

Next summer, many of them will take up residence at the new Knightsbridge development One Hyde Park that occupies a plum position opposite Harvey Nichols and next to the Mandarin Oriental hotel, where appartments cost up to £100 million.

Here, Arab summertime residents will be able to enjoy the super-luxe environment of heated floors and chilled ceilings, personalised entry systems that can include six levels of access, and a secure underground car park for their Rolls-Royces and Ferraris.

Eyecatching: The £1.2m Koenigsegg and £350,000 Lamborghini clamped outside Harrods

‘Our Middle Eastern customers are usually looking for flats with between three to five bedrooms and a 24-hour porter service, usually with a view of Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens,’ says Paul Hyman, sales manager at Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward’s Bayswater branch.

‘Properties of this type are hard to come by, but wealthy Arab businessmen can generally pay over the asking price.’

During August, whole floors of hotels around Hyde Park are block-booked for Middle Eastern oligarchs, while staff up their game by flying in topnotch Arabic entertainers for private shows in the biggest suites, adapting
restaurant menus and parking the guests’ flashest cars out in front.

During the days, the men sleep in, while the women have their drivers drop them in Hyde Park where they walk in giggly groups, stopping to soak up the coolness and cloudy skies on the benches or lying on the grass in large circles with their friends.

To them, London is a welcome vacation from the restrictive, repetitive, stultifyingly predictable drudge of blandly luxurious life back home.

Many of the younger, more frustrated Saudi girls strip themselves free of the restrictive burka altogether, whooping and shrieking with delight as they change into tight jeans and vertiginous heels on the plane, as soon as Gulf state airspace
is cleared.

Once in London, the girls go round either in large groups or chaperoned by Mum, who is normally clad in a headscarf and big shades — think Joan Collins does Jumierah Beach (one of the most exclusive resorts in Dubai).

The boys like to sit outside Knightsbridge cafes all gussied up in Arabpreppy finery, two or three mobile phones each, keys to Ferraris and Lamborghinis chucked down next to their napkins.

The young females from the more liberated countries, such as Bahrain and Dubai, are dolled up like big-eyed, honey-skinned Jennifer Lopez lookalikes.

The girls who choose to keep wearing their burkas — mostly Saudi Arabians — I am told often sport the kind of make-up that hasn’t been in fashion in the West since the end of the silent movie era. Bright red lipstick, generous helpings of cranberry rouge, eyes kohl-lined in the style of Dusty Springfield.

A spokesperson for luxury concierge service Quintessentially says: ‘About 20 per cent of our clients are from the Middle East. ‘One member requested Quintessentially Travel arrange a weekend break to Ibiza on a private jet, with a fully chartered yacht waiting for their use. Another wanted a personal shopping experience requesting that two designer stores be closed for their private viewing.’ Many others prefer to shop at home.

‘During August, we will often be asked to take a selection of our most expensive diamond necklaces, rings and bracelets to a suite at a hotel in Knightsbridge,’ says jeweller Stephen Webster, whose shop is on Mount Street, in nearby Mayfair.

‘Arab customers like to shop late, but our store isn’t permitted to have late-night opening . . . so we are happy to take the store to them.’

Another famous London jeweller, who would not be named, said: ‘They like big pieces and coloured stones. The sums they are prepared to pay for them are incredible. It is not unusual for Middle Eastern customers to spend £20 million in a single visit.’

When they are not shopping or tearing around in their cars, the Arab billionaires go to the Derby, Royal Ascot and the Berkshire Festival of Falconry, sponsored by the Abu Dhabibased Emirates Falconers’ Club and attended by His Highness Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan.

Of course, London — especially during these credit-crunched times — falls over itself to court Arab business.

Middle-Eastern shoppers are expected to spend £250 million in London this summer, an increase of 11 per cent on last year.

When the people at Harvey Nichols discovered that the amount of money Middle Eastern people in London were spending was rising so dramatically, the department store decided to start using Arabic advertisements
in-store. Summer opening hours were extended to 9pm all week, and all cafe menus were modified to
include Arabic translations and a Halal food offering.

Harvey Nichols’ Fifth Floor food hall now even offers a smoking terrace for customers that comes with the shisha pipes so beloved of Middle Eastern people. One Harvey Nichols advert showed a picture of a single Lanvin shoe. The words, written in Arabic, read, ‘The English are known for having bad teeth, that is why they need beautiful shoes’.

It doesn’t matter. Very few Londoners can read Arabic, and very few Middle Eastern people fraternise with British people anyway. They’re just here for August, then they disappear, like ghosts.

mailonline

The Key to Attracting Men

2010-08-09T14:02:00.000+07:00

Most of us know that women want to be treated like ladies, we feel drawn to men who make us feel feminine. What we don't all know, however, is that men want to be treated like men, just as much as women want to be treated like ladies. "When a woman makes a man feel masculine, his body is filled with the fire of desire to get close...he wants to be with her, to get to know her, and, in some magical manner, his life suddenly has more meaning.", says John Gray, author of Mars and Venus on a Date (HarperCollins Publishers, 1997). To the degree that a woman makes a man feel masculine, he will be attracted to her.

The key to making men feel like men is our feminine energy. Just as women feel more feminine in the presence of a man who has a strong masculine energy, men feel drawn to women with a strong feminine energy. This woman makes them feel like more of a man.

I believe that all women are capable of possessing this feminine energy and radiance. For some it is merely a matter of getting in touch with the feminine characteristics they already have within themselves.

A feminine woman will ask for a man's help when she needs it and appreciate the support he gives, she is open to dating and getting to know men, she will let a man take care of her while on a date and not worry that she will seem 'weak' or 'passive', she lets men treat her like a lady and expects respect from everyone. Ultimately this feminine energy says: "I am open to getting to know you, you could be the one to make me happy."

A man wants to be our knight in shining armour, he wants to cheer us up when we are sad and support us when we need help. The woman who gives him this golden opportunity is most attractive in his eyes.

What Men Want from Women

2010-08-09T13:57:00.000+07:00

It's no secret, men want sex and companionship. And, when a man is in a relationship he wants his partner to be both his sexmate and soulmate. In order to understand what a guy thinks a sexmate and a soulmate are, you have to stop thinking like a woman.

Soulmate:
Remember, he's looking for companionship not competition. He wants someone he can have fun with. A woman who will, like his dog, accept him unconditionally.

Women have lots of best friends. Most men don't. A man wants his partner to be his best friend. Like all best friends, you listen to his stories, laugh at his jokes, and compliment his good qualities instead of criticizing his faults.
Let him know he can depend on you, that you're there when he needs you.
Men love to talk about themselves. So ask questions that will give him the opportunity to talk about his favorite subject-him.
Want to connect with a man? Don't try to impress him. Let him impress you. Ask him questions that will give him the opportunity to impress you. Shut up and listen! You'll be amazed at how much being a good listener works.

Sexmate:
Sex first takes place in a guy's mind. So capture his mind and his imagination.

Men have vivid imaginations. And since most men are visual, you want to capture that imagination visually. There is nothing more attractive to a man than a woman who is self-assured, but vulnerable and feminine. Men are more attracted to a woman's attitude than her looks. Of course, who are we kidding, being gorgeous never hurt.
The reason men love confident women is because they bring out their hunter instinct. Men love to chase, confident women love to be pursued. So let yourself be pursued and captured. Just remember to let yourself be caught S-L-O-W-L-Y.
Men love a challenge so be challenging in the following wonderful womanly ways: Girl, be the goddess that you are. And here's how:
- Be playful
- Be seductive
- Be sexy
- Be foxy
- Be captivating
- Be delightful
- Always be feminine

10 Signs He`s Into You

2010-08-09T13:53:00.000+07:00

What’s a sure-sign that he’s absolutely crazy about you? When he showers you with flowers? When he gets jealous the minute you look at other men? Or when he stays at your place every night for a week? Actually - none of the above. If you’d like to be sure you’re not kidding yourself when you imagine the two of you together in the future - look to the little things he does, not the big showy romantic gestures. Here are the most 10 obvious signs that he’s serious about the relationship.

He Calls for No Reason

“Hi, what are you up to?”; “I thought I’d let you know I made a reservation for dinner as I said I would and it’s at 8 o’clock like we agreed” are the kind of comments that give away the real motive for this kind of call; he misses you; is head over heels for you and; can’t go one more second without speaking to you. While you talk he ignores all incoming calls and signs off “I can’t wait to see you again.” Give him extra points for thoughtfulness if he calls you at work and is sensitive enough to realise you can’t chat so he says “I won’t keep you because I know you’re busy but I just needed to hear your voice.”

He Turns Up On Time

When he says he’s going to be there on the dot at 8pm, he’s never more than a few minutes late. And on the rare occasion he is held up he pays you the courtesy of calling so you don’t have to needlessly rush to get ready. This kind of punctuality might seem an insignificant thing - but it speaks volumes about his respect for you. It shows that he cares about what you think of him so he wants to demonstrate he’s reliable.

He Tunes In To Your Every Word

When you’re in a mid conversation at the cafe he doesn’t play with the fork nor is he distracted by the conversation at the next table. His eyes barely leave your face because he is hanging on every thing you say. He doesn’t dominate the discussion by interrupting, finishing your sentences or taking the conversation in a new direction. He is genuinely listening! It is clear in the way he laughs sincerely when you tell him something funny and responds to what you are saying by giving you is opinions on the subject, making helpful suggestions and sharing his own similar stories.

His Friends Know All About You

And it’s not just the usual body talk like how gorgeous you are or what bra size you wear. They know what car you drive, what you do for a living, that you love japanese food but can’t drink red wine because you get a rash. It’s not like thay’ve been asking for these details - it’s just that he can’t stop talking about you 24/7!

He Brings Up the “F” Word

Not that one - the other F word - fidelity. Just when you’re worried that he might think you’re dating with no strings attached he says “I want to be clear what we’re doing here - I want us to be boyfriend and girlfriend and to me that means being faithful to each other. Do you feel the same way?” With an enormous sense of relief and elation you say “yes” to being his girl and as you kiss passionately and each pledge fidelity, your mutual trust and intimacy immediately grows. It’s official: He considers you a couple.

He Takes an Interest in Your Interests

When a guy falls for you in a big way he’ll want to know everything about you and that includes a full understanding of your likes and dislikes. If your hobby is collecting retro furniture he’ll have the good grace to feign interest when you spend all afternoon scouring second hand shops - although he’d rather be home working on his car. Don’t worry - he’s not becoming a “yes” man - he’s simply trying to get closer to you in every part of your life - and sharing your interests is an obvious way to do it.

He Gives You a Key to His Place

Not only does this gesture shout “I trust you” it also shows that he’s certain you’re going to be in the picture for a long time to come. Men are often very protective about their domestic domain. They may hold off taking a new girlfriend to their flat in case she thinks the decor is daggy or starts thinking that maybe he’s hinting he’d like her to move in when that’s the last thing on his mind. In light of this, being given the key to his place is like passing an intimation ceremony - now that your relationship has graduated to the next level he is letting go of his bachelor ways and saying “what’s mine is yours”.

After Sex He Wants to Cuddle and Chat

No rolling onto his side the second he climaxes and no quick descent into snoresville after a perfuntory cuddle. Instead, the afterglow of sex is charged with emotion, touching and intimate disclosures. He wants to know if you had a great climax and wants to tell you how the earth moved for him as well. Chances are he’s already desiring to make love to you again. Or if he’s too tired to he’ll hold you, stroke your face and nuzzle your neck while the conversation is incredibly intimate.

He’s Nice to Your Friends

From the moment he met your friends he made an effort to remember all their names. Now that you’ve been dating a while, he’s considered one of the gang. He talks to your pals about everything from boy troubles to cramps and makes an effort to say all the right things. He’ll also hassle your shy single friends to get up and dance with the two of you so they can enjoy a spin on the floor without feeling like fair game. Don’t presume that being such a SNAG is his second nature - any man who makes an effort to win over his girlfriend’s posse wants to keep her happy and to be around her as much as he possibly can.

He Asks for Your Opinion

In just about every decision he makes - from which shirt to wear to a job interview to which kind of car he should buy, he solicits your opinion. This indicates that he respects what you have to say and that he believes you not only have good judgment but have skills, abilities and insights that can help him, improve his life.

What Not To Wear to Work

2010-07-30T16:06:00.001+07:00

They say that appearance is everything. And in a world where jobs are few and far between, never has office attire been as important as it is now. But office dress codes have never been more confusing.

Sharon Napier, chief executive of Partners + Napier, a Rochester, N.Y., advertising company, recently called two interns into her office--one was wearing short shorts and the other had piercings in her nose and mouth. She told them outright to go home to change what they'd worn to work. "I [said to] them, 'I'm not making judgments about your fashion choices, but you need to look professional if you want your talents to be recognized. I can't put you in front of clients the way you're dressed now." She advised the interns to look at what the supervisors at her firm were wearing before they went home, so they'd know how to alter their appearances.

Instances like this one are more common than you'd think.

10 Office Fashion Don'ts

Napier's company, like many others these days, allows employees to choose between traditional and business casual attire and doesn't have a formal dress code. But more choices have led to greater confusion about what's proper to wear to work and how to communicate this to employees. Does business casual mean neatly pressed pants and a collared shirt or cut offs and T-shirts? If bare legs and bare arms are allowed, what about bare backs or bellies? Where's the line between business casual and weekend casual? And just how short or clingy is unprofessional?

"The problem is business casual means something different to employees at different levels of every company and in every industry--and 'dress down Friday' has become dress down every day in many workplaces," says Marion Gellatly, president of Powerful Presence, a Pebble Beach, Calif.-based image consultancy. "It was easier when the suit was the business uniform because everyone knew what it looked like."

Some companies, especially financial services and law firms, have written dress codes that offer precise guidelines. Barclays Capital, for instance, requires employees to wear suits or traditional business attire when they are meeting with clients. Barclays also defines "inappropriate casual dress" as "denim items of any color, shorts, T-shirts, sweatshirts, any sports footwear such as training shoes, any items of clothing with slogans and beach style footwear." Appropriate casual dress at Barclays includes "blazers, sports jackets, collared shirts, pressed trousers, casual skirts and smart casual trousers," among other items.

But who's to say exactly what constitutes a "casual skirt" and when said skirt crosses the line? This means, at many companies these days, it's up to individual managers to set fashion guidelines and enforce them--or hire consultants like Gellatly to offer counsel. "I'm called in when companies have a problem that they don't know how to deal with," she says.

The problems she sees most often are employees who dress in clothes that are too revealing or too sloppy. She cringes when she sees a woman at a business meeting whose cleavage is showing or whose mini-skirt is exposing most of her thighs, or a woman whose hemline is torn, or a man with a crumpled shirt that isn't tucked into his trousers.

"Even though there aren't many hard and fast rules anymore, you need to scrutinize your image because that's the memory you leave behind when you leave the room," she advises employees who want to get ahead or just keep their jobs. "I ask employees, 'do you want to be remembered as credible and authoritative, or sexy, or disheveled? If your sweater is cut so low that everyone can see your bra, how seriously are you going to be taken? That's a problem not just for your company but for you," she says.

Napier says she must speak up more often and remind employees to dress professionally in the summer when the line between business and weekend casual often blurs. She tells women who wear sundresses to the office to keep a cardigan or jacket at their desk that they can throw on if they have a client meeting. And when a male employee once showed up in flip flops and cut-off shorts, she told him he shouldn't come to work looking like he was about to cut his lawn.

Her employees listen, she says, because they realize that what's good for the company is also good for their careers. The intern who had a lot of piercings removed them after Napier talked with her, and later wrote her a thank you note. The intern who'd worn short shorts started wearing slacks and skirts.

And when Napier's 21-year-old daughter landed a business internship in New York this summer, she gave her the same guidance that she'd offered to her interns. She took her daughter shopping and helped her choose a few basic office fashions: a black suit, black dress, a gray skirt and a few solid colored shirts.

"I told her 'if you wear open-toed shoes or sandals, make sure your toes are manicured.' I said, 'no matter how good a job you are doing, looking the part is very important. People will never forget if you look sloppy,'" she says.

While some fashion faux pas--such as flip flops or see-through shirts--apply to all workplaces, each company has its own fashion culture. "It's important to learn what that is because you don't want to stick out, you want to be part of the team," says Jill Wiseman, who until recently was a director in the brand management group of American Express Co. "If you're working in an image-conscious industry such as advertising or fashion, you have to make sure your wardrobe is up to date," she says. "If you're on a trading floor of a bank, you're going to have to dress more conservatively."

Wiseman is glad women are no longer expected to dress like men in boxy suits with floppy bow ties, as they were when they first began climbing the corporate ladder 30 years ago. But she consciously dresses differently for work than she does on weekends or for evenings out with her husband and friends. In the winter she opts for navy, gray and black suits--often wearing them as separates. Come summer, she wears brightly colored shirts and jackets. "Within the confines of dressing professionally, I like to express who I am by wearing clothes I love and playing with colors and accessories," she says.

Gellatly advises women who want to be perceived as strong and capable at work to choose a dark navy over a peach-colored jacket. "Dark colors project more authority," she says. So do lightweight wool or cotton fabrics that are firm, vs. soft and pliable jersey fabrics, she believes. "If you take a monochromatic sleeveless dress and throw a solid-colored cardigan over it, you'll look a lot more professional than if you wear a flashy, floral pattern," she says.

forbes.com

Travel Magazine Tags Bangkok As Top City

2010-07-29T19:28:00.002+07:00

Travel magazine Travel + Leisure has just awarded its “Top City” honor, inspite of recent civilian unrest and violence there. Bangkok city officials acknowledged and welcomed the award, coming in the heels of violent protests and riots organized by Thailand’s political opposition.

The August issue of the magazine placed Bangkok at the top of the list. Almost 16,000 readers and voters were asked to name their favourite cities, islands, hotels, and airlines.

The poll was made before the recent riots in Bangkok, and may not accurately represent the current sentiments of tourists.

Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra said it was like a nightmare for the whole country when tourists departed hastily amid the riots. He assured incoming tourists that authorities are under control and the security situation has stabilized.

“What we have in our hands is very precious,” said Sukhumbhand. “We must prevent troubles and any more losses from happening in our beloved city. We should not damage it any further.”

Despite the reassurance, some incidents of violence continue to happen in the capital. On Sunday, a grenade exploded in a crowded area, killing one, and wounding ten people. Officials downplayed the incident as isolated and refused to tie it to the violent riots.

Thailand and its capital Bangkok is a famous tourist destination known for drawing huge numbers of tourists year after year. However, political strife and violence has also plagued the country with the riots the recent one in a string of incidents over the years.

empowerednews.net

A dam big project: Incredible images of construction work on 1,900ft-long Hoover Bridge

2010-07-26T20:02:00.000+07:00

It is one of the planet's newest awe-inspiring superstructures - the Hoover Dam Bridge.

Now the giant construction project which is on schedule to be completed in September can be seen in all its glory in a series of stunning photographs.

Twelve years in planning and five years under construction, the development - known officially as the 'Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge' - is finally taking shape.

Spectacular structure: The Hoover Dam Bridge rises from the river banks in the middle stages of the £160million project. This image, which was taken in April this year, shows how the new bridge will replace the old road which crossed the top of the dam

Rising 890 ft above the Colorado River, when finished, its total length will be 1,900 ft, with its longest supported span running to 1080 ft.

Built in the shadow of the iconic Hoover Dam, which powers most of states Nevada and Arizona, the construction is the first concrete-steel composite arch bridge built in the United States.

With costs estimated to run to £160 million, the bridge is designed to take the pressure off the congested US Highway 93, which connects Las Vegas, Nevada, in the west with Arizona and the Grand Canyon in the east.

The bridge is expected to carry 17,000 trucks and cars every day and will allow the roadway that runs on top of the Hoover Dam to close.

Having long been the most accessible river crossing between Nevada and Arizona, the dam is thought to be at risk of a terror strike, with trucks already banned from crossing.

In November, cars will no longer be able to cross the dam which was built in 1936.

Don't look down: Workers use a crane to construct the top of the bridge's arch during the large-scale project. The picture, taken in August, 2009, shows how engineers anchored the structure in the canyon's sides

Let there be light: Night work on the Hoover Bridge continues unabated thanks to huge lighting towers in September last year. The bridge is due to be completed later this year

Designed by T.Y Lin International, the bridge will be four lanes wide and is designed to match the style of the dam shadowing it, which holds back artificial Lake Mead.

Around 3,000 workers have helped construct the bridge using 2,300 feet long steel cables held aloft by a 'high line' crane system.

The distinctive arches are made up of 106 concrete and steel arches, each one 24ft-long.

The bridge has been named after Mike O'Callaghan, a former Nevada Governor and Pat Tillman, the American Football player who left the NFL and joined the army after the 9/11 attacks.

Tillman was killed in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan in 2004.

Documenting the last 18 months on camera has been Santa Fe resident Jamey Stillings, 38.

Patriotic: The new bridge will provide much needed relief for cars and lorries using U.S. Highway 93. The road provides a scenic link betweej the Grand Canyon, to the east and Las Vegas to the west

Enlarge

'I was driving on a road trip through Nevada across to Arizona when I took in the Hoover Dam as a tourist,' said Jamey, who has been photographing the Bridge since March 2009.

'I came across the construction of the bridge without warning and it captured a piece of my imagination.'

Deciding to stay for a night nearby, Jamey set about forming a project to photograph the bridge as it's put together step-by-step.

'I fell in love with it and wanted to begin a photographic project immediately,' said Jamey.

'I have been a photographer working in environments such as war zones in Nicaragua and in advertising and corporate work, but this was a chance to return to my roots.

'I have made ten trips in total to the bridge. I have spent 26 days and nights at the site with the workers and have taken over 12,000 frames.'

High and mighty: The bridge nears completion, providing a four-lane highway crossing from Arizona to Nevada and on to Las Vegas

The Hoover Dam, seen in the background, was started in 1931 and completed in 1936. It spans the Black Canyon and uses the Colorado River in a giant hydroelectricity project

Relief from congestion: A satellite image showing how the bridge will connect US Highway 93 at the top of the picture with the road towards the bottom

dailymail.co.uk

It seems there's nothing the stars won't try to look good - but could a celebrity diet work for YOU?

2010-07-25T12:58:00.000+07:00

As Naomi Campbell’s bizarre maple syrup and cayenne pepper diet proved last week, celebrities have some strange ideas about what constitutes a decent meal. Here, we enlist Ursula Arens, from the British Dietetic Association, and Professor Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, to give their opinions...

Baby food cleanse: Jennifer Aniston

JENNIFER ANISTON

Super-skinny celeb trainer Tracy Anderson is apparently responsible for Jennifer Aniston's latest diet, which has seen her drop half a stone.

Dubbed 'The Baby Food Cleanse', the idea is that throughout the day you consume 14 portions of puréed food.

All the purées are free of oils, spices and salt, and can range from fruit smoothies and oatmeal to soups containing dandelion greens.

In the evening, a normal dinner of lean meat and vegetables is allowed.

Tracy apparently believes that the easier it is for your body to process food, the swifter you'll lose weight.

URSULA SAYS: This seems totally counter-intuitive to me.

If your food is easier to digest, it means the calories are more readily available to your body.

It's the reason why eating an apple actually gives you fewer calories than if you drink the juice of one apple.

STEVE SAYS: Human beings need roughage.

Eating lots of green veg and food that bulks out the bowel prevents bowel cancer, so by liquidising your food, you run pointless and unnecessary risks with your long-term health.

Naomi Campbell: Advocates the Maple Syrup Diet

NAOMI CAMPBELL

Alongside a host of other celebrities - including Beyonce, who used the plan to shed 22lb in ten days - Naomi has admitted to being a fan of the Master Cleanse, also known as The Lemonade or Maple Syrup Diet.

This diet involves drinking between six and 12 glasses a day of a maple syrup, lemon juice, water and cayenne pepper mixture.

She told Oprah last week that she tries to do the cleanse three times a year and the longest that she's ever done it for is 18 days.

She believes it's important to 'clean your body out once in a while'.

URSULA SAYS: If this mixture is all you are consuming, you are going to lose weight because it is an incredibly low-calorie diet, but you're not going to keep the weight off when you stop.

The only way to lose weight that will last is slowly and sensibly.

STEVE SAYS: The human body is brilliant at detoxing itself. The liver and kidneys are all that you need.

To suggest that you need to give your digestive system a break is just nonsense.

Cheryl Cole: Theories behind her Blood Type Diet are unproven

CHERYL COLE

Cheryl insists that she changed her diet to feel better rather than to stay slim, and she's convinced that it has increased her energy levels.

The Blood Type Diet was developed by Peter D'Adamo and is based on the idea that your blood group indicates physiological differences that make certain foods easier for your body to digest.

According to the plan, if you are blood type O, you should follow a high-protein, low-carb diet, cutting out most grains. If you're blood type A, you should eat a mainly vegetarian diet low in fat and high in carbs.

Type Bs should eat a varied diet, including meat and dairy, while type AB can eat most foods recommended for both A and B blood types.

URSULA SAYS: It might sound as if it's rooted in science, but there's no strong evidence to suggest that differences between blood types have a noticeable effect on digestion.

Some people have allergies and sensitivities to certain foods, but there's nothing to suggest that this is related to blood groups.

STEVE SAYS: Cutting entire food groups out of your diet arbitrarily could result in you being deficient in certain essential vitamins and minerals, so a diet like this, which has no credible basis, is not advisable.

Complicated diet plan: Cindy Crawford

CINDY CRAWFORD

The supermodel is a fan of The Zone Diet, when everything you eat is in the ratio of 40 per cent carbohydrates, 30 per cent protein and 30 per cent fat.

The diet bans sugar, bread, pasta, rice, alcohol and caffeine.

It also recommends you restrict high-sugar fruit and vegetables, such as papaya, mango and carrots.

And alongside your three main meals, you have two mini-meals to maintain blood sugar levels.

URSULA SAYS: Three meals and two snacks is a sensible way to eat, as long as it is nutritious.

The diet demands that you keep the proportions for every meal and snack.

Calculating something like this is a bit of a faff if you don't have your own personal chef.

STEVE SAYS: If things are complicated, you're more likely to fall off the wagon.

There are far better ways to spend your time than measuring out exact ratios of food.

Cuts out alcohol: Claudia Schiffer

CLAUDIA SCHIFFER

Unlike many irritating celebs who insist they eat whatever they like, Claudia admits she has to work hard for her body.

She doesn't drink alcohol, steers clear of caffeine and exercises regularly. She doesn't believe in dieting as it messes up your metabolism, but has her own rigid healthy eating plan.

She eats only fruit and vegetables before noon, has a light lunch of salad, vegetables or soup, and for dinner has a chicken or tuna salad, or grilled chicken and steamed veg.

URSULA SAYS: There's something to be said for sticking to a regime rather than yo-yo dieting, as studies in animals suggest that fluctuating weight can have an adverse effect on health.

Cutting out alcohol stops you taking in calories that aren't accompanied by any nutritional benefits.

STEVE SAYS: This isn't a diet I'd advocate for most people because if you're only eating fruit in the mornings, you might not get enough fibre and carbs, and could find your blood sugar levels dropping in the afternoon.

Whole fruit is far preferable to fruit juice - the former provides fibre while the latter is really just sugar.

Strict regime: Heidi Klum

HEIDI KLUM

The supermodel is a fan of a strict regime called the Ultimate New York Body Plan, which she used to get back into catwalk shape six weeks after the birth of her second child.

Alcohol, bread, starchy carbs, caffeine, dairy, sweets, fruit and most fats are totally forbidden. You consume no more than 1,200 calories a day in the form of lean protein, vegetables, and healthy fats, such as flaxseed oil, olive oil, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds.

You eat every three hours to boost your metabolism, and you must exercise for 90 minutes a day. The plan is meant to be a two-week kickstart.

To keep her motivated, Heidi apparently photographs herself naked once a week.

URSULA SAYS: On such a calorie restricted diet that's also low in carbs, there's no question that you're going to lose weight and lose fat.

Eating little and often helps keep blood-sugar levels steady, but it's unlikely to boost your metabolic rate significantly.

STEVE SAYS: High-protein, low-carb diets can put a lot of strain on the kidneys, as they have to excrete high concentrations of urea. If someone unknowingly has poor kidney function, this could cause problems.

Dukan diet fan: Gisele Bundchen

GISELE BUNDCHEN

Gisele is a fan of the latest diet from France which is the brainchild of nutritionist, Dr Pierre Dukan.

The four-phase diet starts with the seven-day Attack Stage, which is a stricter version of Atkins and South Beach, where you choose from 72 protein-rich foods.

In the second Weight Loss Stage, you alternate days of the high protein diet with days of a low-carb vegetarian diet. When you reach your target weight, you move to the Consolidation Stage, when you gradually add carbs.

They suggest that for every pound you have lost you stay on this stage for 4.5 days.

Finally, you get to the Stabilisation Stage when you can eat what you want except one day per week when you revert to the Attack Stage.

URSULA SAYS: This sounds very similar to the South Beach diet which has three phases.

It's an appealing formula and you will lose weight in the initial stage.

TODAY'S POLL

All polls

Cutting your calories one day of the week will keep your weight stable if you have an occasional slip.

STEVE SAYS: It's just not healthy to exclude vegetables and carbs from your diet, even if it's just for one day a week.

Sensible approach: Kate Moss

KATE MOSS

Kate decided to overhaul her health with something she dubbed The Vibrancy Diet.

Based on three sensible meals a day, she kicked off with probiotic yoghurts, fruit and toast and then had two meals of grilled fish, or chicken and veg.

She had lots of iced water to keep her appetite down, and it was also said she ditched beer, wine and champagne and only drank vodka with fresh lemon.

Rumour has it that the plan required her to clean her face with boiled milk.

URSULA SAYS: While some studies suggest that drinking a pint of water before meals can reduce how much you eat, it's not proven in the long-term.

As for probiotics, although they're not going to do you any harm, a recent European review of food labelling rejected every health claim made by foods containing them.

STEVE SAYS: Overall, this looks like a sensible approach to eating. The biggest thing she can do in terms of health is stop smoking.

It has a negative effect on the entire body.

Kale soup and exercise: Gwyneth Paltrow

GWYNETH PALTROW

Tracy Anderson is the brains behind Gwyneth's diet for her movie Ironman 2. This plan includes an exercise regime that includes 45 minutes of cardio, 30 minutes of legs and 30 minutes of arms. She did this every day, to lose her 'extra winter weight'.

It is an intense five-day diet. Breakfast is a protein bar or shake. After a workout you get kale juice, and lunch is grilled chicken and vegetables.

Dinner is turkey kale soup and a salad.

URSULA SAYS: You'll definitely see a difference after five days, but you're unlikely to lose fat.

If you do any diet, the first place the body goes for energy is your glycogen, the form in which the body stores glucose.

Glycogen binds water to it, so when you use up glycogen, you also get rid of stored water, which can make it look like you're losing weight.

As soon as you start eating carbs again, your body replenishes carb stores, and the water you've lost.

STEVE SAYS: Calories aren't a bad thing, especially if you're exercising a lot, and restrictive diets with intensive workouts can make people tired, irritable and ultimately depressed.

dailymail.co.uk

The World's Happiest Countries

2010-07-22T11:51:00.004+07:00

In the wake of their World Cup loss, residents of the Netherlands may be feeling depressed. But there's reason to believe they won't be done in by the agony of defeat: According to a recent poll, the country is one of the happiest in the world.

Championship-winning Spain, on the other hand, was swept with euphoria and national pride, but that may have been an unfamiliar feeling. The country ranks No. 17 of 21 European countries in terms of happiness.

The fact is good times probably have more to do with the size of your wallet than the size of your trophy shelf. The five happiest countries in the world--Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands--are all clustered in the same region, and all enjoy high levels of prosperity.

In Depth: The World's Happiest Countries

"The Scandinavian countries do really well," says Jim Harter, a chief scientist at Gallup, which developed the poll. "One theory why is that they have their basic needs taken care of to a higher degree than other countries. When we look at all the data, those basic needs explain the relationship between income and well-being."

Behind the Numbers
Quantifying happiness isn't an easy task. Researchers at the Gallup World Poll went about it by surveying thousands of respondents in 155 countries, between 2005 and 2009, in order to measure two types of well-being.

First they asked subjects to reflect on their overall satisfaction with their lives, and ranked their answers using a "life evaluation" score between 1 and 10. Then they asked questions about how each subject had felt the previous day. Those answers allowed researchers to score their "daily experiences"--things like whether they felt well-rested, respected, free of pain and intellectually engaged.

Subjects that reported high scores were considered "thriving." The percentage of thriving individuals in each country determined our rankings. For a complete list of countries surveyed, including the percentages thriving and their daily happiness scores, click here.

Money Matters
The Gallup researchers found evidence of what many have long suspected: money does buy happiness--at least a certain kind of it. In a related report, they studied the reasons why countries with high gross domestic products won out for well-being, and found an association between life satisfaction and income.

If you liked this story, read:

World's Most Expensive Cities

Guide To Worldwide Travel

World's Best Places To Live

"Money is an object that many or most people desire, and pursue during the majority of their waking hours," researchers wrote in the report. "It would be surprising if success at this pursuit had no influence whatsoever when people were asked to evaluate their lives."

Indeed, Denmark, the world's happiest country, had a per-capita GDP of $36,000 in 2009, according to the Central Intelligence Agency. That's higher than 196 of the 227 countries for which the CIA collects statistics.

But there's more to happiness than riches. The Gallup study showed that while income undoubtedly influenced happiness, it did so for a particular kind of well-being--the kind one feels when reflecting on his or her own successes and prospects for the future. Day-to-day happiness is more likely to be associated with how well one's psychological and social needs are being met, and that's harder to achieve with a paycheck.

Take Costa Rica. The sixth-happiest country in the world, and the happiest country in the Americas, it beat out richer countries like the United States. That's because social networks in Costa Rica are tight, allowing individuals to feel happy with their lot, regardless of financial success.

"Costa Rica ranks really high on social and psychological prosperity," says Harter. "It's probably things systemic to the society that make people over time develop better relationships, and put more value on relationships. Daily positive feelings rank really high there."

Inhabitants of some rich countries are bound to feel happier. But happiness is elusive to define, and money isn't the only thing that influences it. Harter explains that the more abstract sense of happiness to which wealth contributes has a different effect on one's life than daily happiness.

"Each of us is two different people. We evaluate our lives periodically; we sit back and reflect and summarize things that have gone on in our lives to date," Harter says. "Another side is how you experience things daily. Daily experience affects your stress and your psychology. How you evaluate your life affects your decisions. It's important to think about how you can leverage that well-being."

In Depth: The World's Happiest Countries

If you liked this story, read:

World's Most Expensive Cities

Guide To Worldwide Travel

World's Best Places To Live

forbes.com

The World's Hottest Young Royals

2010-07-22T11:48:00.002+07:00

The wedding of Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria was the invitation of the season. Dozens of royals descended on Stockholm in June to help celebrate the country's first royal wedding since 1976. Among the guests were Monaco's Prince Albert, the Netherlands' Queen Beatrix and Jordan's Queen Rania (who tweeted about the event).

Princess Victoria married former gym owner Daniel Westling in a lavish ceremony estimated to have cost $2 million. The ceremony had both pomp--the princess' 16.5 foot train dress was topped with a cameo tiara made of gold, pearls and cameos that her mother had worn to her own wedding--and pop as two Swedish singers performed "When You Tell The World You're Mine." And it had style watchers around the globe dissecting what the world's royals were wearing.

After the ceremony, hundreds of thousands of well-wishers lined the streets to get a glimpse of the newlyweds as they rode through the capital in a horse-drawn carriage. It capped a two-week celebration leading up to the wedding dubbed "Love Stockholm 2010," which hosted free events around town.

In Pictures: The World's Hottest Young Royals

Sweden's crown princess is one of 13 young royals who have captured our attention this year, and she comes in at No. 3 on our list. Indeed, one YouTube clip of Princess Victoria's wedding day has been viewed over 235,000 times so far. Even toy giant Mattel jumped in, introducing a Princess Victoria doll this year.

Topping our list is Britain's Prince William, who has over 8 million Google hits and numerous fan sites feverishly speculating whether the second in line to the British throne will or won't ask long-time girlfriend, Kate Middleton, to be his wife. Royal watchers would love a redux of the famed 1981 nuptials of his parents, Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana.

Prince William's cousin, Zara Phillips (No. 7), is also talking about marriage to her live-in boyfriend, rugby player Mike Tindall. She is reportedly waiting for the palace's blessing, and timing may depend on when and whether Prince William intends to marry.

Monaco's Prince Albert, the playboy prince who once dated Brooke Shields and Claudia Schiffer and made headlines when he acknowledged fathering two illegitimate children, is settling down, too. In June he announced his engagement to Charlene Wittstock after he presented the former South African Olympic swimmer with a ring reportedly worth $100,000.

Wittstock (No. 4), who has been increasingly covered by the press since she moved to Monaco in 2006 and began being seen with the Prince, will be closely followed as she plans the royal wedding, rumored to be next summer. She will become the principality's first crown princess since the death of Princess Grace in 1982.

Sports have also shone a spotlight on certain royals. The World Cup--which had an estimated global TV audience of 125 million per game--brought thousands of soccer fans to the tiny Royal Bafokeng Nation, which spent $70 million upgrading its 39,000-seat stadium and building a special sports training complex for the U.K. team. King Leruo Tshekedi Molotlegi (No. 13) hopes to use sports to help boost the living standards of the nation's population of 300,000.

Meanwhile, the U.K.'s Princess Beatrice (No. 6), granddaughter of England's Queen Elizabeth, completed the London Marathon, apparently the first royal to do so, while also setting a new Guinness World Record by taking part in a "human caterpillar," a chain of 30-plus runners led by Sam and Holly Branson, the son and daughter of billionaire Sir Richard Branson.

But perhaps the most unforgettable sports moment for a royal this year was when Prince Harry fell off his horse at a polo event on New York's Governor's Island in June. It was a moment memorialized in local tabloids, proving that royals may live a glamorous, high-end lifestyle but it is one that offers little chance of escaping the media glare.

To compile the ranking, Forbes counted international Web and media buzz determined by Google and Factiva mentions, family wealth, as well as newsworthy activity over the past year. Only royals, or in one case, Charlene Wittstock--a soon to be royal--under the age of 45 were considered.

forbes.com

How do you find time to build the Big Society?

2010-07-21T23:05:00.003+07:00

By Jon Kelly
BBC News Magazine

The prime minister wants to build a "big society" by getting volunteers to run services. With our work-life balance already under pressure, how do those with busy jobs and families find the spare time?

OK, so you'd like to give something back to the community. You want to improve the lot of your fellow citizens. Well done.

But first you have to commute to work, put in a shift and trudge back home.

Then the kids need feeding, the dog needs walking and the house needs a clean... and already, the day is almost over.

David Cameron says he wants to rebuild Britain by harnessing "people power" - getting volunteers to run post offices, libraries, transport services and shape housing projects.

But if surveys are to be believed, it may be that the biggest obstacle to his plans may not be his political opponents, but the 24-hour clock.

A 2007 survey for the Cabinet Office (PDF) found that 41% of those who had stopped volunteering had done so because they did not have enough time.

Likewise, a 2009 poll by the Hansard Society asked people who did not feel that they have an influence in decision-making - but who wanted to be involved - what was stopping them. Some 40% cited lack of time as the main reason.

But is the issue really lack of time - or lack of time management?

Certainly, it is hardly surprising that people blessed with an abundance of free afternoons and a lack of financial pressures - that is, those who tend to be both older and better-off - find it easiest to be good citizens.

One recent study (PDF) concluded that those who participate in local decision making "generally are more likely to be white, older, better educated, richer, middle-class males" while volunteers were typically "women, of higher social grades, in managerial positions, degree educated, and middle aged".

However, there are many who face the normal pressures of work and family - yet still manage to devote hours each week to their communities.

Finding time for a big society
Jenny Wood		Patrick Hall

	PA, 46, of Hoddesdon, Herts, volunteers for Girlguiding UK		Rail signaller, 34, of Scunthorpe, Lincs, volunteers for Samaritans
In an extremely busy week I'd give up six hours on a Saturday and three evenings for two hours each - usually it's not as much as that, but it's just a question of balancing and prioritising. My family will always come first - I have three children. But I know what a positive impact I'm making on these girls' lives and that's what drives me. Essentially, you've got to love it. There's no point doing it otherwise. If you're not enjoying yourself, the girls won't be having fun. I'm very fortunate because my family are very supportive - my husband is a volunteer canoe lifeguard, so he understands. And I think my family has got so much out of it because we've met such a wide range of people. I think the big society is a good idea. There are always people who can come forward and help their communities. However, there needs to be more recognition of what they do. Too often parents do not understand the word "volunteer" and believe that we are actually paid. Guiding is something I've given a lot to, but I get so much back from it as well.		My job involved a 24-hour rota, and I do most of my volunteering at night - typically, three or four hours a week. Obviously, the Samaritans always need someone to be there to pick up the phone and it's more convenient for me. It's a very straightforward way to make a big difference. You're listening to people who are going through very distressing episodes in their lives and it really does help them. People say they don't have time to volunteer, but if they sit down and think about it they probably do. Most of us spend a couple of hours a week not really doing anything. The main thing is that you have to be realistic about what you can manage. There's no point taking on more than you can cope with. When my partner met me I was already volunteering so it's never been an issue between us. Everyone around me has always been supportive and that's crucial. I think there's always been a big society out there. There's so many people doing so many wonderful things.
Laura Leaper		Rob Beard
	Marketing executive, 26, from London, mentors with TimeBank		Computer engineer, 31, of Torquay, Devon, helps volunteer IT scheme
I work up to 10-hour days and have quite a busy social life but I incorporate volunteering into my routine. I'm not saying it's easy - it's still difficult to fit in. But the benefits far outweigh the time I spend and it's an incentive to do it. I never walk away thinking it was a waste of time. I mentor another young adult who is recovering from mental health issues. We meet up once a fortnight for a couple of hours in the evening or longer if it's a weekend. I've been doing it for nine months and I can already see that I've made a positive difference. One of the things we've done is build up her comfort levels visiting new places on public transport - it's simple to me and you but for her it's a big deal. I had a couple of friends and family members who had been affected by mental health issues - I wanted to contribute something. It's given me a lot of fulfilment and satisfaction. A lot of people sit at dinner parties and talk about causes they believe in, but I'm doing something about it.		The project I'm currently involved with is in Exeter, which is about an hour away on the bus - my car is out of action at the moment. We got funding from a local charitable trust and were able to provide six computers to a community centre. This meant we could provide access to the internet as well as things like computer training and after-school groups for kids. A lot of these youngsters don't have computers at home - as well as giving them something to do, they're learning skills that will help them in later life. Obviously, all this takes time. It helps that my wife volunteers at Sure Start centres, so we understand where we're both coming from. We can divide up childcare between us so that someone's always at home with the kids - it's just a question of being organised. I don't know what the politics of the Big Society are all about. But I think anything that encourages volunteering and makes the most of people doing things for their community has got to be positive.

Their capacity to volunteer begs the question: how can the government motivate those who are not currently volunteering to do so?

Recent schools of academic thought have suggested that individuals can be gently coaxed into doing so if they are given the right frameworks.

The writer Clay Shirkey has evangelised for the collaborative and collective potential of the web through crowdsourcing.

The book Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, which argues governments need to give people better incentives to do the right thing, has been cited as a major influence on Cameron's Conservatives.

Manchester University's Professor Peter John has been involved in a project to road-test this theory - for instance, increasing book donation in libraries by 22% after publicly displaying donors' names, and attracting 63 volunteers in one community by asking everyone who rang a call centre if they wanted to help out.

"I think it's all about giving people a nudge in a way that recognises how they live their lives," he says.

"Very often, it's not that people don't want to volunteer - it's that they haven't been asked."

Whether the government can successfully harness this approach in its bid to build the big society is, of course, one of the key criteria on which it will be judged.

Add your comments using the form below

I think it's great to see such examples as above. I volunteer as a special constable and also spend a lot of time helping run an amateur theatre company, as well as my job. I admit the pressure on my time is starting to tell after a couple of years, but I could easily manage one or the other! One day a weekend is all it needs, or even once a fortnight. I'd encourage everyone to get out and volunteer, it's added so much to my life (and it's how I met my wife!).

Bas, London

I found the case studies interesting but they are all of a like mind and no-one seems to be putting the opposing point of view. Time IS tight and while it's easy to talk about the big society, the communities that used to make it up have all but disappeared. Village life is fantastic because you know your neighbours, but how many people living in towns and cities actually know other people who live in their flats, on their street, or in the neighbourhood. At the moment it's all talk and it's failing to address the root cause of society's breakdown.

TiggerUSM, Essex

I currently volunteer for about four hours each fortnight and I find it reasonably easy as I work flexitime. If employers were encouraged to allow flexible working for volunteers in the same way they do for carers and parents, then more people would be able to find the time to volunteer.

Antonia, Watford

Anything that gets people volunteering more is great. But core services shouldn't be run by volunteers - that leads to an uneven quality of service. It also takes us back to the time when people treated those less fortunate as charity cases, to be picked up and put down according to their time and interest. We shouldn't go back to treating people with unpopular disorders such as learning disabilities as if services to support them and their families are an act of charity.

Kriss, York

I'm retired and have worked for the last year donating one day a week to a local hospice. The problem I've found with volunteering is that often managers don't know how to use us productively. I'm well-educated, have good computer and organisational skills, but all I've been asked to do is very mundane repetitive jobs such as envelope filling, simple data-processing etc. I appreciate that these things have to be done, but I also would like something more constructive to do for part of my time - after all, I am giving up a day of my week.

Kathryn Coddington, Whitchurch, Shropshire

The Big Society is a Big Con - all it means is that government expects people to work for free where previously it was a government service, run to government regulations. The Big Society means services will become patchy and less reliable, and standards will decrease. But then who cares? Those affected are least likely to have a strong lobby to defend them. Shame on you, Mr Cameron, and let's hope you won't one day depend on volunteers yourself.

Paulina Smid, London

Voluntary activity in recent years has decreased not because of lack of time but because of the overbearing weight of regulation and responsibility now loaded on to the shoulders of volunteer groups. I am an active member of a small local sailing club and like many of my fellow club members give generously of our time (and money) to teach adults and youngsters alike to sail. However the weight of responsibility and the associated costs now make our club look more like an administration centre with a sailing club attached rather than the other way round. Big Society would be given a huge boost simply by reducing the weight of burdensome bureaucracy.

Will Patterson, Dumfries

I pay money to have people do these jobs for me so I can get on with my life. I call the money "taxes" and the people a "government". It works fine for me - maybe David Cameron should try it.

Steve Goodall, Sheffield, UK

As usual there seem to be a lot of people going off at the deep end and complaining vociferously about the idea of doing something for free, we've got so used to the state stepping in we've forgotten how to be self-reliant. The Big Society doesn't have to be about BIG costly projects or volunteers doing work which was previously paid. It could just be something simple like asking an elderly neighbour if they need any shopping done while you do yours, getting together to do a bit of guerrilla gardening to turn a waste spot into something beautiful or lending your professional expertise to a local group.

Diana, Bristol

When I was a full-time housewife I was involved in a range of voluntary activities. If I'm absolutely honest, however, it was more for my own benefit than for the benefits of others. Whilst in principle this is a win-win situation, we have to be careful that less popular causes do not get abandoned. We also need to be aware that some people will become volunteers in order to take up roles that they are not qualified to do. David Cameron's mother was a JP. Perhaps this is where he got his "big idea" from.

Maggie Linnell, Emsworth

Why foreign accents make speakers seem less honest (...it's just too hard for us to try to understand)

2010-07-21T21:33:00.001+07:00

A foreign accent makes a person seem less honest, researchers have found.

Listeners are less likely to regard what the speaker says as truthful, and the problem increases with the strength of the accent, according to a study from the University of Chicago.

To test the impact of accent on a person's perceived credibility, participants were asked to judge the truthfulness of trivia statements by native or non-native speakers of English, such as: 'A giraffe can go without water longer than a camel can.'

The researchers tried to minimise the effect of prejudice by telling participants the statements were prepared for the speakers, and were not based on their own knowledge.

But despite knowing they were simply reciting from a script, the participants judged as less truthful the statements coming from people with foreign accents.

On a truthfulness scale prepared for the experiment, they gave native speakers a score of 7.5, those with mild accents 6.95 and those with heavy accents 6.84.

Professor Boaz Keysar, of the University of Chicago, said: 'The results have important implications for how people perceive non-native speakers of a language, particularly as mobility increases in the modern world, leading millions of people to be non-native speakers of the language they use daily.'

'The accent makes it harder for people to understand what the non-native speaker is saying,' Prof Keysar added.

'They misattribute the difficulty of understanding the speech to the truthfulness of the statements.'

'Accent might reduce the credibility of non-native job seekers, eyewitnesses, reporters or people taking calls in foreign call centres, said Shiri Lev-Ari, lead author of Why Don't We Believe Non-native Speakers? The Influence Of Accent On Credibility,' written with Prof Keysar and published in the current issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

In a second experiment, researchers tested whether awareness reduces the impact of accent on perceived truthfulness.

Researchers told participants that they were being tested to see if accents undermine credibility.

That experiment was conducted with identical recorded statements, but with different results.

While participants rated statements with mild accent just as truthful as statements by native speakers, they rated heavily accented statements as less truthful, Lev-Ari said.

Accent is one of the factors that influences people's perception of foreigners in a society, Prof Keysar pointed out.

But its insidious impact on credibility is something researchers had not previously known, he added.

dailymail.co.uk

Expression & Seeing Quotes

2010-07-16T16:41:00.001+07:00

I shut my eyes in order to see. Paul Gauguin

Sophocles: Inspirational Quotes on Expression
Much wisdom often goes with fewer words.

Benjamin Disraeli: Inspirational Quotes on Expression
Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth.

Martin Luther King: Inspirational Quotes on Expression
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

Pablo Picasso: Inspirational Quotes on Expression
Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.

Percy Bysshe Shelley: Inspirational Quotes on Expression
Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.

Euripides: Motivational Quotes on Expression
Time will explain it all. He is a talker, and needs no questioning before he speaks.

Ralph Waldo Emerson: Motivational Quotes on Expression
Who you are speaks so loudly I can't hear what you're saying.

Brian Tracy: Motivational Quotes on Expression
Your attitude is an expression of your values, beliefs and expectations.

Zig Ziglar: Motivational Quotes on Self Expression
Remember, what you say comes back to you.

George S. Patton: Motivational Quotes on Self Expression
Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Aristotle: Quotes on Self Expression
Happiness is an expression of the soul in considered actions.

Edward Hopper: Quotes on Self Expression
If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.
Mother Teresa: Quotes on Self Expression
Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless.
Joseph Chilton Pearce: Inspirational Quotes on Seeing
Seeing within changes one's outer vision.
Publilius Syrus: Inspirational Quotes on Seeing
The eyes are not responsible when the mind does the seeing.
Jack Kerouac: Quotes on Seeing
Don't think of words when you stop but to see the picture better.
Samuel T. Coleridge: Quotes on Seeing
My eyes make pictures when they are shut.
Ayn Rand: Inspirational Quotes on Seeing
The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see.
Jonathan Swift: Motivational Quotes on Seeing
Vision is the art of seeing things invisible to others.
Robert Creeley: Motivational Quotes on Seeing
What has happened makes the world. Live on the edge, looking.
John Lubbock: Motivational Quotes on Seeing
What we see depends mainly on what we look for.
Carl Jung: Motivational Quotes on Seeing
Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.
Charles H. Perkhurst: Inspirational Quotes on Seeing
The heart has eyes which the brain knows nothing of.
Henry David Thoreau: Inspirational Quotes on Seeing
The question is not what you look at, but what you see.
Aristotle: Motivational Quotes on Seeing
The soul never thinks without a mental picture.
Never let any mistake cause you to stop believing in yourself. Learn from it and go on." Norman Vincent Peale
Failure is nature’s plan to prepare you for great responsibilities.” – Napoleon Hill

Orison Swett Marden: Inspirational Quotes on Seeing
The golden rule for every business man is this: Put yourself in your customer's place.

I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. William Ernest Henley

INSPIRATIONAL OR ENTERTAINING QUOTES AND SAYINGS

2010-07-16T16:38:00.000+07:00

Winning isn't everything, but wanting to win is. Vince Lombardi
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Eleanor Roosevelt
Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. Rabindranath Tagore
Life can be pulled by goals just as surely as it can be pushed by drives. Viktor Frankl
I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. Thomas Jefferson
Be yourself....you're better at it.
Those needing proof refuse to see it. (Walter Bartoo)
The time-travel convention will be held two weeks ago.

Every hard-boiled egg is yellow inside.
Everything starts as somebody's daydream (Larry Niven)
The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.
The arm of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. (M.L.King)
Mondays are the potholes in the road of life. (Tom Wilson)
Change starts when someone sees the next step. (William Drayton)
At the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet. (Plato)
Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.
The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it. (Richard Bach)
Sometimes the fool who rushes in gets the job done. (Al Bernstein)
Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time. (Steven Wright)
A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.
Spring appears and we are once more children.
In the race for quality, there is no finish line. (David T. Kearns)
Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them.
A true friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be anywhere else.
Money is a good servant, but a bad master.
Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope (B.Cosby)
A leading authority is anyone who has guessed right more than once.
Make no judgments where you have no compassion.
Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain - and most do. (Dale Carnegie)
It takes a long time to grow an old friend.
If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it!
Communication is the universal solvent.
You can't act like a skunk without someone getting wind of it.
Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response. (Mildred Barthel)
Cherishing children is the mark of a civilized society. (Joan Ganz Cooney)
Statistics are no substitute for judgment. (Henry Clay)
Just remember, when you're over the hill, you begin to pick up speed.
The hours that make us happy make us wise. (John Masefield)
186,000 miles per second isn't just a good idea - it's the law!
Wherever you go, there you are. (Buckaroo Banzai)
You can drag a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
When God created Man she was only kidding.
Any problem, to be a problem, must contain a lie
The more adapted you are, the less adaptable you tend to be.
The enemy's cold heart summons the arrow to it. (Zen saying)
Touch the hole in your life, and there flowers will bloom. (Zen saying)
If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Averages: head in the oven, feet in the freezer, on average I'm comfortable
1 hour is the time it takes to move 1 liter of boiling water 1 kilometer
The race is not always to the swift but to those who keep on running
What do women want, my God what do they want? (Sigmund Freud)
The sooner you fall behind, the more time you have to catch up.
Good cooking takes time. If you are made to wait, it is to serve you better.
Add little to little and there will be a big pile
Practice is the best of all instructors
Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn from no other.
There is nothing in this world constant but inconstancy
None love the bearer of bad news
Life is tough, and then you die
What we do not understand we do not possess
Always keep a record of data - it indicates you've been working.
On a clear disk you can seek forever
There is no problem a good miracle can't solve
Reach out and byte someone
The future isn't what it used to be - Arthur C. Clarke
The later you arrive at work, the earlier you can leave
We can get better ideas in 2 hrs of 'creative loafing' than in 8 hrs at work
The subconscious mind is a mental fireless cooker where ideas simmer & develop
Without wind, grass does not move. Without Software, Hardware is useless.
A well-used door needs no oil in its hinges
A swift flowing-stream does not grow stagnant
Neither sound nor thoughts can travel through a vacuum
I want to live forever, or die in the attempt.
Siberia is a winter wonderland
An investment is anything that costs more than you can possibly afford.
The tower in Pisa is straight - the rest of the world is crooked.
I am only visiting this planet
Never talk to strange men
To gain a good reputation, endeavor to be what you desire to appear. -Socrates
"Easy to use" is easy to say.
Here's to looking at you, kid!
If music be the food of love then play on
Life is the only thing worth living for
You didn't walk out on me Mama, you just beat me to the door
The other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intention
I thought my window was down, but found it was up when I put my hand through it
The telephone pole was approaching fast
To avoid hitting the bumper of the car in front, I struck the pedestrian.
My car was legally parked as it backed into the other vehicle
An invisible car came out of nowhere, struck my vehicle, and vanished.
Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.
When we are back from backing up the backups the system will be back up.
The first step of handling anything is gaining an ability to face it
Man thrives only in the presence of a challenging environment
Happiness is the overcoming of not unknown obstacles toward a known goal
If man cannot face what he is, then man cannot be free
Be true to your own goals
Life is a game. A game consists of freedom, barriers and purposes.
Probably the most neglected friend you have is you
Any information is valuable to the degree that you can use it
An sane person has difficulty in insane surroundings
There is no greater curse than total idleness
The supreme test of a person is his ability to make things go right
Insecurity exists in the absence of knowledge
Without order, nothing can grow or expand.
A group is as capable as it contains capable individual members
Confusion is contagious
If a person lacks problems he will invent them
Man will endure a lot of pain to obtain a little pleasure
To give you must be willing to receive. To receive you must be willing to give.
There is no liar lying like an angry man
Anything which is not directly observed tends to persist
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? -- T.S. Eliot
Open the Pod bay doors Hal...
The end is only the beginning...
The price of liberty is eternal vigilance -- U.S.A.F.
When machines go wrong they remind you of how powerful they are
The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain
The Empires of the future are the Empires of the mind - Winston Churchill
Of all the gin joints in all the towns of the world she walks into mine
What is true for you is what you have observed yourself
Never regret yesterday. Life is in you today, and you make your tomorrow.
The only richness there is is understanding
Ideas, and not battles mark the forward progress of mankind.
All the happiness you ever find lies in you
On the day when we can fully trust each other, there will be peace on Earth.
Never give a sucker an even break. (W.C.Fields)
Never desert a comrade in need, in danger, or in trouble.
Never withdraw allegiance once granted.
Every time I kiss you I'm still not certain that you really love me. (Elvis)
How many programmers to screw in a light bulb? None, it's a hardware problem!
Solution to software problems: wait and while and they might just disappear
Solution to hardware problems: throw it away and buy a new one
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How it got into it, I don't know.
God gave me this illness to remind me that I'm not #1; he is. (Muhammed Ali)
All answers are basically simple
A civilization is as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamt by artists
When in doubt, communicate!
I can't be overdrawn, I still have some checks left.
Good taste is the enemy of creativity. Picasso.
Old too soon, smart too late.
If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting it off.
Workaholics Unanimous Myth #5: There is only one best way
I don't care about money, I just want to be wonderful. M.Monroe.
If you have to be liked, you are spiked.
If all things you eschew, they are glue.
If you don't have a datum, create it.
If you want to last, just move fast.
If your vision is all blurry, you've got another worry.
What you resist you become. (Taoist saying)
There is a sucker born every minute.
People with dogs are cowards who don't dare bite people themselves.
Some people give their worries swimming lessons in stead of drowning them.
Difficult things take long time, impossible things a little longer.
Flatter is healthy, if you don't inhale. A.Stevenson
You don't grow rich by a big income, but by small expenses.
Life is a riddle. The solution is written on the backside.
When you speak badly about others, you are telling who you are yourself.
What I learned I don't remember. What little I know I have guessed. N.Chamford
Do you love life? Then don't waste your time, 'cause that's what life is made of
The biggest mistake you can make is to always be afraid of making one.
A man who makes a mistake and doesn't correct it, is making another. Konfutse
To fail to do good is as bad as doing harm. (Plutarch)
Life consists of little short moments.
Truth is owned by everyone.
There are 3 kinds of men who don't understand women: young, old, & middleaged.
Let's live in a way so that even the undertaker gets sad when we die. Mark Twain
A billion here, a billion there - pretty soon it adds up to real money.
Do you think the person next to you knows everything you don't know?
Never let a fool kiss you, never let a kiss fool you.
Never kid a kidder.
Make it as simple as possible but no simpler. (Albert Einstein)
God is not playing dice with the universe. (Albert Einstein)
The map is not the territory. (Alfred Korzybski)
The meaning of a communication is the result you get. (R.Bandler)
People are basically good.
Disappointment requires adequate planning. (R.Bandler)
You can't solve a problem with the same kind of thinking that created it. (A.Einstein)
Imagination is more important than knowledge. (A.Einstein)
Belief is not the beginning of knowledge -- it is the end. (Goethe)
Speech is hard, but who can keep quiet?
Act as if you'll live forever. Plan as if you would die tomorrow.
Everything the government gives out it has taken from someone else.
A word is a word, and a man is a floor rag.
The sixth sheik's sheep's sick.
There are no failures -- only feedback. (R.Bandler)
We gotta keep up with the Joneses
Great spirits often encounter violent opposition from mediocre minds. (Einstein)
Wake up - the time is Now!
You are much too intelligent to be affected by flattery
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Don't be fooled by appearances, but be a master of illusion.
Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous. (Albert Einstein)
If you are a hammer everything looks like a nail.
Almost anything is easier to get into than out of.
There is a 50 percent chance of anything -- either it happens or it doesn't.
Keep cool, but do not freeze.
If anything can't go wrong, it will.
Anything adjustable will sooner or later need adjustment.
People are more likely to believe a quote if it is anonymous. (Anonymous)
You always find something in the last place you look for it.
If at first you do succeed -- try to hide your astonishment.
Traffic increases to fill the road space available.
Do not speak more clearly than you think.
It's deja vu all over again
Secrecy is the enemy of efficiency, but don't let anyone know it.
The less you know about an opportunity, the more attractive it is.
He who laughs first laughs last .. if nobody laughs in the middle.
Nothing is impossible for the man who will not listen to reason.
Double negatives are a no-no
Matter cannot be created or destroyed, nor can it be returned without a receipt.
If it weren't for Edison we'd be watching TV by candlelight.
A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg.
When the smoke alarm goes off, dinner is served.
Principles become modified in practice by facts.
A pessimist is a person who mourns the future.
Start every day with a smile and get it over with. (W.C.Fields)
It's not what you know, it's how fast you can find it out.
The longer the patient lives, the greater his chances of recovery.
The chief enemy of good is better.
Life is a do-it-yourself project.
The tedium here is relieved only by the boredom.
Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening at once.
When your work speaks for itself, don't interrupt.
Dividing 100% responsibility between two people gives 10% for each of them.
You never know until you find out.
Good enough isn't.
I don't know. I'm making it up as I go along.
Computers are stupid -- they do exactly what you tell them to do.
Keep your feet close to the ground.
Every time you lend money to a friend you damage his memory.
If nobody minds, it doesn't matter.
If it weren't for lawyers, we wouldn't need them.
Any attempt to adjust the air conditioner will make it worse.
Obviously crime pays, or there'd be no crime. (G.Gordon Liddy)
He who laughs last .. thinks slowest.
Blessed is he who has nothing to say and cannot be persuaded to say it.
Too much ain't enough.
Successful people never have to go to the bathroom.
They -- whoever they may be -- can do whatever they want.
The purpose of organizations is to stop things from happening.
All men/women have ten faults. Pick ten faults you can live with.
Go ahead, rock the boat. The only people who care are the ones who can't swim.
You are totally unique, just like everyone else.
If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would get done.
Anything with teeth sooner or later bites.
A difference to be a difference must make a difference.
All machines have an innate sense of irresponsibility.
The best things in life are messy.
Do not judge other people, just snicker at them.
Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday.
The worst whistlers whistle the most.
If you need four screws for a job, the first three will be easy to find.
Any idea that was not put in by reason cannot be taken out by reason.
The older I get, the better I used to be.
Minds at rest rust.
There is so much apathy in the world today .. but who cares?
One hologram is worth 1,000,000,000 words.
The secret of life is that there is no secret of life.
In order to finish first, you must first finish.
How long you live has nothing to do with how long you are going to be dead.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. (Theodore Roosevelt)
If it succeeds, it is right; if it fails, it is wrong.
The person who has all the answers understands none of the problems.
Never mistake activity for progress.
If you don't make waves, you're not under way.
Only fools can be certain; it takes wisdom to be confused.
Sit at the feet of the masters long enough, and they'll start to smell.
You want it bad, you'll get it bad.
The floor moves further away when you bend over.
You can't make a fact out of an opinion by raising your voice.
If we weren't all a little crazy, we'd go nuts.
It is far better to get nowhere fast than to get nowhere slowly.
Never get in a battle of wits without ammunition.
Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities.
If you talk about someone behind their back, their back will be right behind you
If you're asked to join a parade, don't march behind the elephants.
If you work on a nonexistent problem there are much fewer obstacles to overcome.
And on the Eighth day God said the world was funny, and She created Laughter.
Thou shalt not practice mirth control.
When you find a sacred cow, milk it for all it is worth.
If the fit wears, shoo it.
The journey is more important than the destination.
Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
Never clarify tomorrow what you can obscure today.
A myth is an effeminate moth.
The universe rearranges itself to accommodate your picture of reality.
On a clear day you can see forever.
Money is far more persuasive than logical arguments. (Euripides)
Welcome to the next level!
Look at me, I worked myself up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty. (Groucho Marx)
You say you love me? Well, that and a nickel might buy me a cigar.
Here's a dollar, go buy yourself a clean shirt.
You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough. (Wm.Blake)
If you need a helping hand, the best place to look is at the end of your sleeve.
Fear knocked on the door, Faith opened it, and there was no one there!
As long as you have a window, life is exciting.
Although fate presents the circumstances, how you react depends on your character.
Trust everybody, but cut the cards yourself. (W.C.Fields)
We can only appreciate the miracle of a sunrise if we have waited in darkness.
Next to power without honor, the most dangerous thing in the world is power without humor.
When you help someone up a hill, you're that much nearer the top yourself.
The more I encourage a child to think for himself, the more he will care what I think.
The one thing worse than a quitter is the one who is afraid to begin.
May I never miss a rainbow or a sunset because I am looking down.
Life is a song. Love is the music.
When you've boxed yourself in, there is no sunshine.
Each day slowly shapes our lives, as dripping water shapes the stone.
Time, like a snowflake, disappears while we're trying to decide what to do with it.
Most of today's worries are like puddles: tomorrow they will have evaporated.
Being alive is loving being alive.
Too many folks go through life running from something that isn't after them.
Nobody really finds out what he believes until he begins to instruct his children.
Love doesn't make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile.
If I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant an apple tree.
People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges.
The heart must have its time of snow .. to rest in silence, and then to grow.
Be careful how you live; you may be the only Bible some people ever read.
If the world seems cold to you, kindle fires to warm it.
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within.
The best gifts are tied with heart strings.
Take care of the minutes, and the hours and years will take care of themselves.
Love arrives on tiptoe and bangs the door when it leaves. (Robert Lembke)
To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides. (David Viscott)
To hande yourself, use your head. To handle others, use your heart.
I do not feel any age yet. There is no age to the spirit.
I did not hear to words you said, instead I heard the love.
Never close your lips to those to whom you have opened your heart. (C.Dickens)
Life is an adventure in forgiving. (Norman Cousins)
Happiness is made to be shared.
A friend is a gift you give yourself. (Robert L. Stevenson)
You don't know where your shadow will fall.
Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it. (Churchill)
Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved.
Gather the crumbs of happiness and they will make you a loaf of contentment.
Minds are like parachutes -- they only function when open.
Some people think they are generous because they give away free advice.
How to levitate: throw yourself to the floor and miss it.
The answer to the question: "What is the meaning of life and the universe?" is: 42.
Believing is a find thing, but placing those beliefs into execution is a test of strength.
Everybody wants sympathy, but nobody wants anybody feeling sorry for them.
If you love someone you must be strong enough to allow them to be.
Children need love, especially when they don't deserve it.
Failure is not defeat until you stop trying.
It isn't what happens, it's how you deal with it.
The mind forgets, but the heart always remembers.
Live, Love, Laugh, and be happy.
Habit is like a soft bed, easy to get into but hard to get out of.
Man prefers to believe what he prefers to be true. (Bacon)
I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which have never happened. (MarkTwain)
Earth laughs in flowers.
Taking a moment to take it easy is being a friend to yourself.
Why not go out on the limb? That's where all the fruit is.
Time flies, but remember: you are the navigator.
People who do things that count, never stop to count them.
When spring is dancing among the hills, one should not stay in a little dark corner.
When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not. (Mark Twain)
Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life. (Immanual Kant)
Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew.
Peace is not a season, it is a way of life.
We forfeit three fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people. (Schopenhauer)
Do what you can with what you have where you are. (Teddy Roosevelt)
Have you hugged someone today?
A laugh is just like sunshine. It freshens all the day.
Life is like an onion; you peel off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.
Life is hard by the yard, but by the inch, life's a cinch.
Love sought is good, but given unsought is better. (Shakespeare)
When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
Soft is the heart of a child; do not harden it.
You cannot build a reputation on the things you are going to do.
You cannot push anyone up the ladder, unless he is willing to climb himself.
The way to learn is to begin.
Make your life an act of love.
It takes both the sun and the rain to make a beautiful rainbow.
All the wonders you seek are within yourself. (Sir Thomas Brown)
Take a little time to do whatever makes a happy you.
When the outlook is poor, try the uplook.
Giving makes living more loving.
Happiness is like jam. You can't spread even a little without getting some on yourself.
An apology is a good way to have the last word.
I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
Patience is the ability to put up with people you'd like to put down.
If you are willing to admit when you are wrong, you are right.
Make your life an act of love.
It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.
In my garden love grows.
We may give without loving, but we cannot love without giving.
Friends multiply joy and divide sorrow.
The only reason some people listen to reason is to gain time for rebuttal.
Beware what you set your heart upon, for it surely shall be yours. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
A yawn is a silent shout. (G.K.Chesterton)
Lift where you stand.
Anyone bored these days is not paying attention. (Bill Copeland)
Try not to become a person of success, but rather a person of value. (Albert Einstein)
Some things have to be believed to be seen. (Ralph Hodgson)
My conscience doesn't keep me from doing things. It does keep me from enjoying them.
The reward of a thing well done is to have done it.
You have achieved success if you have lived well, laughed often and loved much.
Let there be spaces in your togetherness.
Experience is the best teacher, but the tuition is very costly.
To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of is the only end in life.
Refusing to ask for help when you need it is refusing someone the chance to be helpful.
A good rule for going through life is to keep the heart a little softer than the head.
Cheerfulness is the atmosphere under which all things thrive. (Jean Paul Richter)
Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing. (Schweitzer)
A little smile adds a great deal to your face value.
Years wrinkle the skin, but lack of enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. (N.V.Peale)
There is no thrill quite like doing something you didn't know you could.
Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.
For every problem there is an opportunity.
Duty is a matter of the mind. Commitment is a matter of the heart.
The first duty of love is to listen.
You create your own reality.
I can alter my life by altering the attitude of my mind.
May you live all the days of your life. (Jonathan Swift)
Aim at the sun. You may not reach it, but you will fly higher than if you never aimed.
The true vocation of man is to find his way to himself. (Hesse)
Liberty is always unfinished business.
Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest. (Mark Twain)
Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. (Kierkegaard)
A fault recognized is half corrected.
Time is like the ocean, always there, always different. (Ogden Nash)
Time is nature's way of preventing everything from happening at once.
What the heart knows today the head will understand tomorrow. (James Stephens)
The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work.
The grass is greener on the other side, but it is just as hard to mow.
A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle.
We must constantly build dikes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.
You must believe to achieve.
We should be patient with everyone, but above all with ourselves.
The happiness of your life depends on the quality of your thoughts.
Life is there for the taking .. or the refusing.
Friendship is the only cement that can hold the world together.
Be a living expression of God's kindness. - Mother Theresa
Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.
A person's life is dyed with the color of his imagination. (Marcus Aurelius)
Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes. (Thoreau)
Happiness is not always measured in smiles.
Deal with the faults of others as gently as with your own.
To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are.
Do not follow where the path leads. Rather go where there is no path and leave a trail.
The true art of memory is the art of attention.
He who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must himself pass.
Think all you speak, but speak not all you think.
Success depends on your backbone, not your wishbone.
We are all ignorant about different things. (Will Rogers)
Your dreams come true when you act to turn them into realities.
A person who aims at nothing has a target he can't miss.
Some people give and forgive; Others get and forget.
A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.
Go often to the house of a friend, for weeds choke the unused path.
The man who rows the boat seldom has time to rock it. (Bill Copeland)
Goodwill is earned by many acts; it can be lost by one. (Duncan Stuart)
If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it.
The control center of your life is your attitude.
Sadness is but a wall between two gardens. (Kahlil Gibran)
A man of peace does more good than a very learned man. (Thomas a'Kempis)
Happiness is acceptance.
If you must worry - worry BIG!
Most of all - let love guide your life. (Colossians 3:14)
Wealth is not what we have, but what we are.
The darkest hour is only 60 minutes long.
You can save yourself a lot of trouble by not borrowing any.
Love is what dreams are made of.
When you love others you aren't nervous. (Mary Martin)
Live in peace in a time of stress.
Words should be weighed - not counted.
Work is love made visible.
No matter what your lot in life may be, build something on it.
Gentle words work better than hard ones.
Children have more need of models than of critics.
We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.
The gift of happiness belongs to those who unwrap it.
You are never fully dressed until you wear a smile.
Our best preparation for tomorrow is the proper use of today.
People who like others are people others like.
There's always room for improvement; It's the biggest room in the house.
Make one person happy each day, even if it's yourself.
Believe that you have it, and you have it.
He who has no fire in himself cannot warm others.
You cannot sit on the road to success for if you do, you will get run over.
You won't even get started if you wait for all the conditions to be "just right."
Where there is an open mind there will always be a frontier.
It is far better that we should err in action than completely refuse to perform.
A different world cannot be built by indifferent people.
Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.
A man can't ride your back unless it's bent. (M.L.King)
Improvement begins with "I".
To love something is to give it room enough to grow.
It's not a matter of growing old, it's getting old if you don't grow.
A happy memory is a joy forever.
A candle loses nothing of its light by lighting another candle. (Kelly)
Sometimes you already have what you pray for.
The person who makes no mistakes usually does not make anything.
To enjoy life we must touch much of it lightly. (Voltaire)
The only thing worse than watching a bad movie is being in one. (Elvis Presley)
The world is more alive at night; it's like God isn't looking. (Elvis Presley)
Visualize the type of person you want to be. Then act as if you already ARE that person.
Cashews are nuts.
Guillotine operators get severance pay.
Refrigerators are frigid.
This is your slum - keep it clean.
War is good business.
Lincoln is alive and living in Disneyland.
Do I have the party to whom I am speaking?
Love yourself, love the Earth, respect life.
Destiny is not a matter of chance. It's a matter of choice.
Believe you can, believe you can't - either way, you're right.
Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off your goals.
Winners expect to win in advance. Life is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.
If you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.
Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.
Well done is better than well said.
Success is a journey, not a destination.
Bravery is not a lack of fear. It's proceeding in spite of it.
Even if on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.
All things are difficult before they are easy.
The price of greatness is responsibility.
Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left over by those who hustle.
A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.
Chance favors the prepared mind.
Success is simply a matter of luck. Ask any failure.
Luck is what happens when preparation and opportunity meet.
Consistency isn't a necessary aspect of life. The universe is unfinished, you know.
The threshold of insult is in direct relation to intelligence.
A mistake proves that at least someone stopped talking long enough to do something.
Well the trouble with being a good sport is that you have to lose to prove it.
Before borrowing money from a friend, first decide which you need more.
The world owes you nothing -- it was here first.
One way to stop people from jumping down your throat is to keep your mouth shut.
If there's something I can't stand, it's a person who talks while I'm interrupting.
If hard work is the greatest thing on earth, I'll try Mars.
The shortest answer is doing.
It is better to wear out than rust out.
One doesn't get chances -- one takes chances.
Imagination is real.
Everything is true.
On Western civilization: "I think it would be a good idea." -- Mahatma Gandhi
We are all just crash dummies on the information highway -- Steve Worona
If we do not succeed, then we face the risk of failure. -- Dan Quayle
It's difficult to work in a group when you're omnipotent. -- Q (from Star Trek)
Money - the root of all evil... Man needs roots.
If you're happy and you know it, clank your chains!
My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness. - The Dalai Lama
We do not remember days, we remember moments. - Casare Pavese
Do every act of your life as if it were your last. - Marcus Aurelius
The purpose of life is a life of purpose. - Robert Byrne
The heart that breaks open can contain the whole universe. - Joanna Macy
Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself. - Erasmus
Keep on sowing your seed, for you never know which will grow - perhaps it all will.
Experience praises the most happy the one who made the most people happy.
Each small task of everyday life is part of the total harmony of the universe.
It is in the shelter of each other that the people live. - Irish proverb
Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless. - M.Theresa
Let the beauty we love be what we do. - Rumi
It is better to give and receive. - Bernard Gunther
When strangers start acting like neighbors, communities are reinvigorated. - R.Nader
Do everything with a mind that lets go. Do not expect praise or reward. - Achaan Chah
Always try to be a little kinder than is necessary. - Sir James Barrie
If you stop to be kind, you must swerve often from your path. - Mary Webb
Wherever there is a human being there is an opportunity for kindness. - Seneca
There must be more to life than having everything! - Maurice Sendak
Kindness is the noblest weapon to conquer with.
We may have all come on different ships, but we are in the same boat now. - M.L.King
Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.
There is nothing wrong with you that some prozak and a polo mallet wouldn't handle.
If you can explain it, you aren't experiencing it.

The first prerequisite of an advanced being is a sense of humor. - Richard Bach
The only thing worse than not getting what you want is getting what you want.
The reason we have time is so everything doesn't happen at once.
Oh, you actors on the stage of life, playing the parts of that which you are not. - The Bible
Zenmaster to Hotdog Vendor: "Make me one with everything"
The designer of the path is the guy standing at the end of it. - Amos Jessup
DARE to get the CIA off drugs.
The fire of adversity will melt you like butter, or temper you like steel. The choice is yours.
It's easier to apologize afterwards than getting something allowed in the first place. - Clifford Stoll
There is never any need to worry. We have enough shovels to bury everybody.
The quickest way to kill the human spirit is to ask someone to do mediocre work. - Ayn Rand
"A stand can be made against invasion by an army; no stand can be made
against invasion by an idea." --Victor Hugo, _Histoire d'un Crime_
Refuse Novacaine... Transcend Dental Medication

Quotations about Hope

2010-07-05T16:42:00.000+07:00

And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. Kahlil Gibran

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for. Joseph Addison

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tunes without the words and never stops at all. Emily Dickinson

Hope springs eternal in the human breast. Alexander Pope

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, / and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that/ which has been your delight. Kahlil Gibran

The setting of a great hope is like the setting of the sun. The brightness of our life is gone. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Hope, deceitful as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of our lives by an agreeable route. ~François Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Once you choose hope, anything's possible. ~Christopher Reeve

Hope is the only universal liar who never loses his reputation for veracity. ~Robert G. Ingersoll

Things which you do not hope happen more frequently than things which you do hope. ~Titus Maccius Plautus

Hope is some extraordinary spiritual grace that God gives us to control our fears, not to oust them. ~Vincent McNabb

In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs man's torments. ~Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human, 1878

When the world says, "Give up,"
Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
~Author Unknown

There is nothing so well known as that we should not expect something for nothing - but we all do and call it Hope. ~Edgar Howe

Hope itself is a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords; but, like all other pleasures immoderately enjoyed, the excesses of hope must be expiated by pain. ~Samuel Johnson

Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops... at all. ~Emily Dickinson

Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. ~Anne Lamott

The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope.
~William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure

The road that is built in hope is more pleasant to the traveler than the road built in despair, even though they both lead to the same destination. ~Marian Zimmer Bradley

You've gotta have hope. Without hope life is meaningless. Without hope life is meaning less and less. ~Author Unknown

Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not permanent. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

Lord save us all from... a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms. ~Mark Twain

Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark. ~George Iles

When hope is hungry, everything feeds it. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

Hope is putting faith to work when doubting would be easier. ~Author Unknown

If one truly has lost hope, one would not be on hand to say so. ~Eric Bentley

The sudden disappointment of a hope leaves a scar which the ultimate fulfillment of that hope never entirely removes. ~Thomas Hardy

Hope is independent of the apparatus of logic. ~Norman Cousins

Sanity may be madness but the maddest of all is to see life as it is and not as it should be. ~Don Quixote

It's all one thing - both tend into one scope -
To live upon Tobacco and on Hope,
The one's but smoke, the other is but wind.
~Sir Robert Aytoun of Kincaldie, "Sonnet on Tobacco"

Hope is necessary in every condition. The miseries of poverty, sickness, of captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable. ~Samuel Johnson

Hope is the physician of each misery. ~Irish Proverb

Hope deceives more men than cunning does. ~Vauvenargues, Reflections and Maxims, 1746

Take hope from the heart of man and you make him a beast of prey. ~Ouida

It is the around-the-corner brand of hope that prompts people to action, while the distant hope acts as an opiate. ~Eric Hoffer

To eat bread without hope is still slowly to starve to death. ~Pearl S. Buck

Hope is but the dream of those who wake. ~Matthew Prior

Hope is grief's best music. ~Author Unknown

There is no hope unmingled with fear, and no fear unmingled with hope. ~Baruch Spinoza

He that lives upon hope will die fasting. ~Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack

When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you're slamming the door in the face of God. ~Charles L. Allen

Hope never abandons you, you abandon it. ~George Weinberg

Some see a hopeless end, while others see an endless hope. ~Author Unknown

Hope is patience with the lamp lit. ~Tertullian

Hope is like a road in the country; there was never a road, but when many people walk on it, the road comes into existence. ~Lin Yutang

Hope is the poor man's bread. ~Gary Herbert

Hope is the word which God has written on the brow of every man. ~Victor Hugo

To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it. Mother Teresa

We judge a man's wisdom by his hope. Ralph Waldo Emerson

We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. Martin Luther King, Jr.

We must have hope or starve to death. Pearl S. Buck

We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears. Francois De La Rochefoucauld

We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes. John F. Kennedy

We'd never know how high we are till we are called to rise; and then, if we are true to plan, our statures touch the sky. Emily Dickinson

Were it not for hope the heart would break. Scottish Proverb

When it is dark enough, you can see the stars. Charles A Beard

When one door of happiness closes, another opens. Helen Keller

Joy is not in things; it is in us. Richard Wagner

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. It's what sunflowers do. Helen Keller

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. Unknown Author

Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation. John F. Kennedy

Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change. Bertrand Russell

Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. Dale Carnegie

Never talk defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith, victory. Norman Vincent Peale

A leader is a dealer in hope. Napoleon Bonaparte

Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment. Napoleon I

Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that. Norman Vincent Peale

Entertain great hopes. Robert Frost

Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes

2010-05-06T15:17:00.000+07:00

A celebrated people lose dignity upon a closer view.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A Constitution should be short and obscure.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A leader is a dealer in hope.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A man cannot become an atheist merely by wishing it.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A man will fight harder for his interests than for his rights.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A picture is worth a thousand words.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A revolution can be neither made nor stopped. The only thing that can be done is for one of several of its children to give it a direction by dint of victories.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A revolution is an idea which has found its bayonets.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A throne is only a bench covered with velvet.
Napoleon Bonaparte

A true man hates no one.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Ability is nothing without opportunity.
Napoleon Bonaparte

All religions have been made by men.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Ambition never is in a greater hurry that I; it merely keeps pace with circumstances and with my general way of thinking.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Among those who dislike oppression are many who like to oppress.
Napoleon Bonaparte

An army marches on its stomach.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Courage is like love; it must have hope for nourishment.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Death is nothing, but to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Doctors will have more lives to answer for in the next world than even we generals.
Napoleon Bonaparte

England is a nation of shopkeepers.
Napoleon Bonaparte

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6

brainyquote.com

100 Quotes from The Secret

2010-03-28T18:25:00.000+07:00

For anyone who poo-poos The Secret movie and says it’s rubbish, all I can say to you is… “YOU’RE WRONG!” :-) Once you know something, you see it everywhere. Like when you buy a new car and suddenly start noticing all the other cars of the same type about…
One of the first ’spiritual’ books I ever read was Meditation by Eknath Easwaran and it had enormous influence on me. Well I just happened to be visiting his organization’s website the other day—by the way, I say “his organization” because Eknath is actually no longer ‘with us’, you know, in the body, he’s a ‘legend’ so to speak. Ok… I didn’t want to say it but you made me… he’s dead :-)
But anyway—wow! Get this—this is the very opening statement in the bit on meditation…

“The principle of meditation is simple: You are what you think.
By meditating on words that embody your highest ideals, you drive them deep into your consciousness. There they take root and begin to create wonderful changes in your life—changes you have wanted to make, but have not known how to bring about.”

You are what you think

Think about that! What about if we all went around saying really positive stuff to ourselves all day long—could be good eh? This is a guy who spent his whole life dedicated to studying and teaching spiritual wisdom and his main message is “You are what you think.” Interesting wouldn’t you say?
Anyway I’m not going to ramble on about how good The Secret is because I already did that (see my article about the common truth behind The Secret). But I came across this compilation of quotes from The Secret and I thought It’d be great to have this quick scannable list as a constant reminder about the truth that is the one law.
The more I think about it, the more I see this law everywhere—especially in the teachings of all the religions and wise guru type people. Get this…
Mark 11:24

“Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.”

Amazing.

Good vibrations

The Secret would explain this by saying that by putting ourselves in the ‘vibration’ or state of having a thing or circumstance, we actually bring that into reality—sooner or later. I see the concept of karma as unresolved states, thoughts and feelings, things that you’ve asked for, consciously or unconsciously that have not yet come about. Every thought is a creation, be very careful what you think!
The above quote by Jesus is set amongst the story of Jesus withering the fig tree because it had no fruit. There’s a lot of supposed meaning behind this story but to me it’s a pure demonstration of what can be achieved if you know how to do it. After all, there are no miracles—either something is possible or it isn’t!
Thinking about meditation—consistently putting yourself in a state of deep peace and joy would have profound effects on your life as your outer reality comes into line with the inner.
Thinking about anger, which all religions and spiritual traditions say we must guard against. You can see why they are saying it—such a passionate negative state is bound to bring mass turmoil in the life of the angry person.
So anyway, WISE up yourself, and memorize this list :-)

We all work with one infinite power
The Secret is the Law of Attraction (LOA)
Whatever is going on in your mind is what you are attracting
We are like magnets — like attracts like. You become AND attract what you think
Every thought has a frequency. Thoughts send out a magnetic energy
People think about what they don’t want and attract more of the same
Thought = creation. If these thoughts are attached to powerful emotions (good or bad) that speeds the creation
You attract your dominant thoughts
Those who speak most of illness have illness, those who speak most of prosperity have prosperity and so on
It’s not “wishful” thinking
You can’t have a universe without the mind entering into it
Choose your thoughts carefully. You are a masterpiece of your life
It’s OK that thoughts don’t manifest into reality immediately (if we saw a picture of an elephant and it instantly appeared, that would be too soon)
EVERYTHING in your life you have attracted. Accept that fact, it’s true
Your thoughts cause your feelings
We don’t need to complicate all the “reasons” behind our emotions. It’s much simpler than that. Two categories – good feelings, bad feelings
Thoughts that bring about good feelings mean you are on the right track. Thoughts that bring about bad feelings means you are not on the right track
Whatever it is you are feeling is a perfect reflection of what is in the process of becoming
You get exactly what you are FEELING
Happy feelings will attract more happy circumstances
You can begin feeling whatever you want (even if it’s not there).. the universe will correspond to the nature of your song
What you focus on with your thought and feeling is what you attract into your experience
What you think and what you feel and what actually manifests is ALWAYS a match — no exception
Shift your awareness
“You create your own universe as you go along” ~ Winston Churchill
It’s important to feel good ( ( ( (((good))) ) ) )
You can change your emotion immediately by thinking of something joyful, or singing a song, or remembering a happy experience
When you get the hang of this, before you know it you will KNOW you are the creator
Life can and should be phenomenal. It will be when you consciously apply the Law of Attraction
The universe will re-arrange itself accordingly
Start by using this sentence for all of your wants: “I’m so happy and grateful now that…”
You don’t need to know HOW the universe is going to rearrange itself
LOA is simply figuring out for yourself what will generate the positive feelings of having it NOW
You might get an inspired thought or idea to help you move towards what you want faster
The universe likes SPEED. Don’t delay, don’t second-guess, don’t doubt
When the opportunity or impulse is there – ACT
You will attract everything you require – money, people, connections. PAY ATTENTION to what’s being set in front of you
You can start with nothing and out of nothing or no way — a WAY will be provided
HOW LONG??? No rules on time. The more aligned you are with positive feelings the quicker things happen
Size is nothing to the universe — unlimited abundance if that’s what you wish. We make the rules on size and time
No rules according to the universe. You provide the feelings of having it now and the universe will respond
Most people offer the majority of their thought in response to what they are observing — bills in the mail, being late, having bad luck and so on
You have to find a different approach to what is, through a different vantage point
“All that we are is a result of what we have thought” — Buddha
What can you do right now to turn your life around? Gratitude
Gratitude will bring more into our lives immediately
What we think about and THANK about is what we bring about
What are the things you are grateful for?? Feel the gratitude. Focus on what you have right now that you are grateful for
Play the picture in your mind — focus on the end result
VISUALIZE! Rehearse your future
VISUALIZE! See it, feel it! This is where action begins
Feel the joy, feel the happiness :o)
An affirmative thought is 100 times more powerful than a negative one
“What this power is, I cannot say. All I know is that it exists.” ~ Alexander Graham Bell
Our job is not to worry about the “How.” The “How” will show up out of the commitment and belief in the “what”
The “Hows” are the domain of the universe. It always knows the quickest, fastest, most harmonious way between you and your dream
If you turn it over to the universe, you will be surprised and dazzled by what is delivered. This is where magic and miracles happen
Turn it over to the universe daily, but it should never be a chore
Feel exhilarated by the whole process – high, happy, in tune
The only difference between people who are really living this way is they have habituated ways of being
They remember to do it all the time
Create a Vision Board — pictures of what you want to attract. Look at it every day and get into the feeling state of already having acquired these wants
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” ~ Albert Einstein
Decide what you want. Believe you can have it, believe you deserve it, believe it’s possible for you
Close your eyes and visualize having what you already want — and the feeling of having it already
Focus on being grateful for what you have already. Enjoy it! Then release into the universe. The universe will manifest it
“Whatever the mind of man can conceive, it can achieve” ~ W. Clement Stone
Set a goal so big that if you achieved it, it would blow your mind
When you have an inspired thought, you must trust it and act on it
How can you become more prosperous? INTEND IT!
“Checks are coming in the mail regularly”… or change your bank statement to whatever balance you want in there… and get behind the feeling of having it
Life is meant to be abundant in ALL areas
Go for the sense of inner joy and peace then all outside things appear
We are the creators of our universe
Relationships: Treat yourself the way you want to be treated by others. Love yourself and you will be loved
Healthy respect for yourself
For those you work with or interact with regularly – get a notebook and write down positive aspects of each of those people
Write down the things you like most about them (don’t expect change from them). Law of attraction will not put you in the same space together if you frequencies don’t match
When you realize your potential to feel good, you will ask no one to be different in order for you to feel good
You will free yourself from the cumbersome impossibilities of needing to control the world, your friends, your mate, your children…
You are the only one that creates your reality
No one else can think or feel for you. Its YOU and ONLY YOU
Health: Thank the universe for your own healing. Laugh, stress free happiness will keep you healthy
Immune system will heal itself
Parts of our bodies are replaced every day, every week and so on — within a few years we have a brand new body
See yourself living in a new body. Hopeful = recovery. Happy = happier biochemistry. Stress degrades the body
Remove stress from the body and the body regenerates itself. You can heal yourself
Learn to become still. Take your attention away from what you don’t want, and place your attention on what you wish to experience
When the voice and vision on the inside become more profound and clear than the opinions on the outside, then you have mastered your life
You are not here to try to get the world to be just as you want it. You are here to create the world around you that you choose
Allow the world as others choose to see it, to exist as well
People think that if everyone knows the power of the LOA there won’t be enough to go around. This is a lie that’s been ingrained in us and makes so many greedy
The truth is there is more than enough love, creative ideas, power, joy, happiness to go around
All of this abundance begins to shine through a mind that is aware of it’s own infinite nature. There’s enough for everyone. See it. Believe it. It will show up for you
So let the variety of your reality thrill you as you choose all the things you want. Get behind the good feelings of all your wants
Write your script. When you see things you don’t want, don’t think about them, write about them, talk about them, push against them, or join groups that focus on the don’t wants. Remove your attention from don’t wants and place them on do wants
We are mass energy. Everything is energy. EVERYTHING
Don’t define yourself by your body. It’s the infinite being that’s connected to everything in the universe
One energy field. Our bodies have distracted us from our energy. We are the infinite field of unfolding possibilities. The creative force
Are your thoughts worthy of you? If not – NOW is the time to change them. You can begin right where you are right now. Nothing matters but this moment and what you are focusing your attention on.

Many thanks to the original compiler of the 100 quotes.
*habitguide.com

Has Twitter reached its peak?

2010-03-12T23:05:00.000+07:00

Barracuda says that Twitter's user growth has almost stopped

Twitter's growth seems to have lost its momentum, according to a new study.
Growth in the micro-blogging service's number of users peaked at nearly 20% last April, but had dropped down to 0.15% in December 2009, says a study by Barracuda Networks.
Recent web analytics had already suggested that Twitter had reached its peak, as Twitter.com recorded a traffic high in July 2009 and has never reached that level since. According to Compete, Twitter reached 23.5 million users in August 2009 and stayed put. However, as Twitter client applications have grown and have become a bigger percentage of Twitter's user base, the numbers didn't necessarily reflect the actual situation of the micro-blogging service. By using the growth in Twitter users, instead of the site's traffic, the Barracuda study now puts things into perspective.
Strong growth in user numbers of 21.17% in April dropped to 10.95% in July and to 0.82% in September, and has ever been under 1% since – 0.58% in October, 0.34 in November and finally 0.15 in December. The accounts deleted by month also was growing, from 3.36% in April to 12.03% in October from which they peaked off to 8.48% and 8.14% percent in November and December.
To get these figures, Barracuda analysed more than 19 million Twitter accounts for frequency and content of tweets, user-to-user interactions, and each account's overall activity level. "We have been monitoring Twitter for more than one and a half years and keep track of the public timeline, and any new account of the public timeline," says lead researcher Nidhi Shah.
The concentrated growth of users reached its peak in April 2009, according to Barracuda Barracuda's chief research officer, Paul Judge, explains the stagnation of Twitter with the end of "The Red Carpet Era". Twitter shows "a very concentrated growth spurt during the early part of 2009 – a period that we define as the 'Twitter Red Carpet Era'. Twitter users came online to follow their favorite celebrities. The most famous people have already joined Twitter, so I don't think they'll see another growth spurt like that," says Judge. From November 2008 to April 2009, several big celebrities, including Ashton Kutcher, Oprah Winfrey and John Mayer, joined Twitter.
In comparison, the number of Facebook users has been rising continously. According to Facebook, today 50% of the 400 million active users log on to Facebook in any given day, with more than 35 million users updating their status and more than 60 million status updates posted each day.
Another Twitter study published by US web analytics company RJMetrics last month seems to confirm Barracuda's report. It says that Twitter has 75 million users, with a large percentage of accounts being inactive.
Another study by RJ Metrics says Twitter is still gaining new users, but has lost 20% of its growth since July According to RJMetrics' data, about 80% of all Twitter users have tweeted fewer than 10 times, about 40% of accounts have never sent a single tweet, and 25% of accounts have no followers.
Barracuda concludes that "the past six months have shown steady decline in the number of new account registrations", but the number of new users a month is currently at about 6.2 million. Their report doesn't say anything on the number of deleted accounts.
Twitter, which has not yet commented on the reports, recently announced that it had hit 50 million tweets a day. According to Barracuda's report, users are becoming more active on Twitter, with the most active users being those with about 1,000 followers.
According to internal documents leaked to TechCrunch, the company's forecast that it would go "from 25 million users at the end of 2009 to 1 billion in 2013".
Until now, Twitter itself has not released precise figures on its growth. Recently, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone posted an email newsletter saying that it had recorded 1,500% growth in the number of registered users but did not specify the timespan.
The reports certainly will prompt several questions. Has Twitter reached its peak? Is Twitter a micro-blogging service where only marketing people tweet to each other? Was it overhyped? How relevant is it anyway?
One thing is certain, the days of micro-blogging might not look as rosy as they did last spring, but they are far from over.
Google is giving tweets a visibility they never had before. After the launch of Google's real-time search in December, Twitter's traffic rose 9% from December 2009 to January 2010, according to ComScore.
Twitter's number of users may not have grown, but with the Google deal it became more important than ever.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2010/mar/12/twitter-growth

Quote: Walt Disney’s Four C’s

2010-03-07T16:59:00.002+07:00

Somehow I can’t believe that there are any heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making his dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C’s. They are curiosity, confidence, courage, and constancy, and the greatest of these is confidence. When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way. – Walt Disney

Chinese Proverbs II

2010-03-06T23:28:00.001+07:00

Without rice, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook.

Add legs to the snake after you have finished drawing it.

An ant may well destroy a whole dam.

It is easy to dodge a spear that comes in front of you but hard to keep harms away from an arrow shot from behind.

One cannot refuse to eat just because there is a chance of being choked.

A book holds a house of gold.

Distant water won’t help to put out a fire close at hand.

A good fortune may forebode a bad luck, which may in turn disguise a good fortune.

Once bitten by a snake, he/she is scared all his/her life at the mere sight of a rope.

A smile will gain you ten more years of life.

Of all the stratagems, to know when to quit is the best.

Vicious as a tigress can be, she never eats her own cubs.

You think you lost your horse? Who knows, he may bring a whole herd back to you someday.

One monk shoulders water by himself; two can still share the labor among them. When it comes to three, they have to go thirsty.

You can’t catch a cub without going into the den.

Only when all contribute their firewood can they build up a strong fire.

Paper can’t wrap up a fire.

There are always ears on the other side of the wall.

Regular feet can’t be affected by irregular shoes.

Your fingers won’t be of the same length.

Shed no tears until seeing the coffin.

Flowing water never stale.

You won’t help shoots grow by pulling them up higher.

If you do not study hard when young you’ll end up bewailing your failures as you grow up.

An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can’t buy that inch of time with an inch of gold.

A Jade stone is useless before it is processed; a man is good-for-nothing until he is educated.

You can’t expect both ends of a sugar cane are as sweet.

A tiger never returns to his prey he did not finish off.

The longer the night lasts, the more our dreams will be.

Even a hare will bite when it is cornered.

Do not want others to know what you have done? Better not have done it anyways.

Donkey lips do not fit onto a horse’s mouth.

Dream different dreams while on the same bed.

Even a hare will bite when it is cornered.

Flies never visit an egg that has no crack.

Have a mouth as sharp as a dagger but a heart as soft as tofu.

How can you expect to find ivory in a dog’s mouth?

Chinese Proverbs I

2010-03-06T22:51:00.003+07:00

Don't add legs to the snake after you have finished drawing it.

Do something that is totally unnecessary and spoil what you already have done.

An ant may well destroy a whole dam.

If a small problem is overlooked, it could develop into a big disaster. An ant can makemany holes in a dam to allow water to soak in and consequently bring it to a collapse.

A book holds a house of gold.

It is a motto adults use to encourage youngsters to study. If you study hard,you'll have a good job and a chance to make good money.

Dream different dreams while on the same bed.

It is a reality that even the closest people, husband and wife, will dream different dreams. That means that people are never alike in their minds.The connotation is that you got to bewary of even the people you trust the most.

Even a hare will bite when it is cornered.

A fall into a ditch makes you wiser.

Fight a wolf with a flexible reed.

You can fool the wolf into thinking that the reed is a hard stick.

A flea on the top of a bald head.

A crane standing in a flock of chickens.

A camel standing in a flock of sheep.

A crane is too obvious when it stands among a flock of chickens and looks very

awkward. It is also true with a camel amidst a flock of sheep and a flea when it stands on top of a hairless head. They all carry a pejorative tone: the thing that stands out among others is something awkward if not necessarily bad.

Flowing water never goes bad; our door hubs never gather termites.

It means that people have to renew their knowledge so as not to stay behind

A frog in a well shaft seeing the sky.

A bird that stopped at a well to drink had a discussion with a frog that lived in the well. The bird had a better view of the sky. The frog has a limited view of things.

Flies never visit an egg that has no crack.

Bad company finds bad people.

Have a mouth as sharp as a dagger but a heart as soft as tofu.

Have one's ears pierced only before the wedding ceremony starts.

This means to put off what must be done until the last minute.

An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can't buy that inch of time with an inch of gold.

Money spent or lost can be earned; time lost is lost for good.

It is easy to dodge a spear that comes in front of you but hard to keep away from an arrow shot from behind.

Bad allies are more dangerous than enemies.

A Jade stone is useless before it is processed.

A man is good-for-nothing until he is educated.

Like ants eating a bone.

Slow steady work on a big job. La gota horada la piedra.

Lift a stone only to drop on your own feet.

The longer the night lasts, the more our dreams will be.

Mend the pen only after the sheep are all gone.

No wind, no waves.

Of all the strategies in war, to know when to quit is the best.

Prudence is the better part of valor.

Once bitten by a snake, he/she is scared all his/her life at the mere sight of a rope.

Once on a tiger's back, it is hard to alight.

Once you are in trouble or involved in a problem, it is hard to get out of it.

One cannot refuse to eat just because there is a chance of being choked.

Only when all contribute their firewood can they build up a strong fire.

In unity there is strength. (This proverb contradicts the following one.)

An overcrowded chicken farm produce fewer eggs.

Too many cooks spoil the soup. (This proverb contradicts the preceding one.)

Pick up a sesame seed but lose sight of a watermelon.

Play a harp before a cow. ºQué sabe el burro de chocolates?

Paper can't wrap up a fire.

Some tasks are impossible.

Shed no tears until seeing the coffin.

Keep hope alive.

A smile will gain you ten more years of life.

A sly rabbit will have three openings to its den.

Some prefer carrot while others like cabbage.

One man's meat is another's poison. People's preferences differ. Different strokes for different folks. De gustos y sabores callan los doctores.

Steal a bell with one's ears covered.

He wants to catch a rabbit by waiting for it to kill itself by running into a tree.

A lazy person waits for good luck instead of working.

We are not so much concerned if you are slow as when you come to a halt.

A weasel comes to say "Happy NewYear" to the chickens.

When you are poor, neighbors close by will not come; once you become rich, you'll be surprised by visits from distant relatives.

Without rice, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook.

You can't catch a cub without going into the tiger's den.

You can’t do anything important with taking a risk.

You think you lost your horse? Who knows, he may bring a whole herd back to you someday.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

You won't help the new plants grow by pulling them up higher.

Awatched pot never boils.

The New Science of Feeding the World by Bill Gates

2010-03-04T22:23:00.000+07:00

By Bill Gates
www.thegatesnotes.com

Agricultural biotechnology is controversial but essential, Bill believes, to ease the plight of the 1 billion impoverished people who live with chronic hunger. He reviews a provocative book on the realities of farming today – and its future.

While traveling last week to Antarctica, I had a chance to read a book recommended by our foundation’s agricultural development group, Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food by Pamela Ronald and Raoul Adamchak.

This is an important book for anyone who wants to learn about the science of seeds and the challenges faced by farmers. It’s only 167 pages, and includes personal stories that give you a sense of the authors as people and how strongly they feel about farming, food and the environment. I think anyone who reads this book will be convinced of the authors’ sincerity and intelligence – even if, like me, you never try any of the cool-sounding recipes.

Whenever I read about farming, I’m reminded how tough it is. Between the weather, weeds, viruses, insects and other pests, farming is a constant struggle, always posing new challenges. A city boy like me can think of it as putting a seed in the ground and waiting for nice stuff to grow. Wrong.

Tomorrow’s Table is a real education on the many choices farmers today must make regarding seeds. It’s very good in explaining genetically engineered seed, how it’s used today (mostly to help plants fight off insects and tolerate herbicide) and how it will be used in the future (to increase disease resistance, drought tolerance, vitamin content and crop yields, for example). The book separates out clearly the issues of how to make sure new seeds are safe, how to price them and how to treat them as intellectual property.

I gained an understanding of the history of organic farming and learned about some of the very clever ways organic farmers control pests. Compared with conventional agriculture, many organic techniques can be more cost effective for poor farmers. I agree with the authors that we will need the best ideas from "organic" thinkers and from scientists – including genetic engineers – to feed the world and help the poorest.

Of course, there are more approaches available to farmers than just organic or biotech. Most of the world’s food is grown with conventional agricultural techniques such as improved seeds, fertilizer and irrigation. The trick is finding the best combination of all of these approaches.

I certainly recommend this book to people who are curious about the future of agriculture and the controversies around it. Many other food books exalt localism and tradition (i.e., lack of new science) as almost religious values. I think some go overboard with their negative views of modern farming, giving very little thought to the productivity increases that poor farmers need - and that the world needs - in order to feed itself, while coping with climate change and evolving threats from plant disease and pests.

I wish Tomorrow’s Table discussed the problem of underinvestment in agricultural research. But the authors’ personal involvement in what they do write about gives the book a note of deep sincerity. That may help get people who are skeptical or confused about new science, including biotechnology, to see that it has an important role to play.

Tags: North America, Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, Agriculture, Books/Courses

Jack Welch Quotes

2010-03-02T21:43:00.003+07:00

An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.
Be candid with everyone.
Change before you have to.
Control your own destiny or someone else will.
Don't manage - lead change before you have to.
Face reality as it is, not as it was or as you wish it to be.
Giving people self-confidence is by far the most important thing that I can do. Because then they will act.
Globalization has changed us into a company that searches the world, not just to sell or to source, but to find intellectual capital - the world's best talents and greatest ideas.
I was afraid of the internet... because I couldn't type.
I've learned that mistakes can often be as good a teacher as success.
If GE's strategy of investment in China is wrong, it represents a loss of a billion dollars, perhaps a couple of billion dollars. If it is right, it is the future of this company for the next century.
If you don't have a competitive advantage, don't compete.
If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings and put compensation as a carrier behind it you almost don't have to manage them.
My main job was developing talent. I was a gardener providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people. Of course, I had to pull out some weeds, too.
Strong managers who make tough decisions to cut jobs provide the only true job security in today's world. Weak managers are the problem. Weak managers destroy jobs.
The 1980s will seem like a walk in the park when compared to new global challenges, where annual productivity increases of 6% may not be enough. A combination of software, brains, and running harder will be needed to bring that percentage up to 8% or 9%.
The essence of competitiveness is liberated when we make people believe that what they think and do is important - and then get out of their way while they do it.
The Internet is the Viagra of big business.
The team with the best players wins.
We bring together the best ideas - turning the meetings of our top managers into intellectual orgies.
We've only been wealthy in this country for 70 years. Who said we ought to have all this? Is it ordained?
Willingness to change is a strength, even if it means plunging part of the company into total confusion for a while.

Top 10 Authors:
1. Stephen Covey
2. Wayne Dyer
3. Mother Teresa
4. Dalai Lama
5. Barack Obama
6. Tony Robbins
7. Buddha
8. Albert Einstein
9. Maya Angelou
10. Thomas Jefferson

*brainyquote.com

Abraham Lincoln Quotes

2010-03-02T21:38:00.002+07:00

A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have.
Abraham Lincoln

A house divided against itself cannot stand.
Abraham Lincoln

A woman is the only thing I am afraid of that I know will not hurt me.
Abraham Lincoln

All I am, or can be, I owe to my angel mother.
Abraham Lincoln

All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind.
Abraham Lincoln

All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.
Abraham Lincoln

Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure.
Abraham Lincoln

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
Abraham Lincoln

Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?
Abraham Lincoln

America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Abraham Lincoln

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.
Abraham Lincoln

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.
Abraham Lincoln

As our case is new, we must think and act anew.
Abraham Lincoln

Avoid popularity if you would have peace.
Abraham Lincoln

Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets.
Abraham Lincoln

Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
Abraham Lincoln

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.
Abraham Lincoln

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all.
Abraham Lincoln

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
Abraham Lincoln

Common looking people are the best in the world: that is the reason the Lord makes so many of them.
Abraham Lincoln

Die when I may, I want it said by those who knew me best that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.
Abraham Lincoln

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.
Abraham Lincoln

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.
Abraham Lincoln

Don't worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.
Abraham Lincoln

Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.
Abraham Lincoln

Every one desires to live long, but no one would be old.
Abraham Lincoln

Everybody likes a compliment.
Abraham Lincoln

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Abraham Lincoln

Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
Abraham Lincoln

God must love the common man, he made so many of them.
Abraham Lincoln

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.
Abraham Lincoln

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.
Abraham Lincoln

He who molds the public sentiment... makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to make.
Abraham Lincoln

Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible.
Abraham Lincoln

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg? Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg.
Abraham Lincoln

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.
Abraham Lincoln

I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have. I must stand with anybody that stands right, and stand with him while he is right, and part with him when he goes wrong.
Abraham Lincoln

I can make more generals, but horses cost money.
Abraham Lincoln

I care not much for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it.
Abraham Lincoln

I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end... I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside of me.
Abraham Lincoln

I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.
Abraham Lincoln

I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.
Abraham Lincoln

I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end.
Abraham Lincoln

I don't know who my grandfather was; I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.
Abraham Lincoln

I don't like that man. I must get to know him better.
Abraham Lincoln

I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
Abraham Lincoln

I hope to stand firm enough to not go backward, and yet not go forward fast enough to wreck the country's cause.
Abraham Lincoln

I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him.
Abraham Lincoln

I never had a policy; I have just tried to do my very best each and every day.
Abraham Lincoln

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.
Abraham Lincoln

I walk slowly, but I never walk backward.
Abraham Lincoln

I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.
Abraham Lincoln

I was losing interest in politics, when the repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done since then is pretty well known.
Abraham Lincoln

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.
Abraham Lincoln

I'm a slow walker, but I never walk back.
Abraham Lincoln

If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my ax.
Abraham Lincoln

If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business.
Abraham Lincoln

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?
Abraham Lincoln

If once you forfeit the confidence of your fellow-citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem.
Abraham Lincoln

If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance.
Abraham Lincoln

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.
Abraham Lincoln

If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could then better judge what to do, and how to do it.
Abraham Lincoln

If you call a tail a leg, how many legs has a dog? Five? No, calling a tail a leg don't make it a leg.
Abraham Lincoln

If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.
Abraham Lincoln

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.
Abraham Lincoln

In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong.
Abraham Lincoln

In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.
Abraham Lincoln

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.
Abraham Lincoln

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Abraham Lincoln

Knavery and flattery are blood relations.
Abraham Lincoln

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.
Abraham Lincoln

Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.
Abraham Lincoln

Lets have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.
Abraham Lincoln

Marriage is neither heaven nor hell, it is simply purgatory.
Abraham Lincoln

Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.
Abraham Lincoln

My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.
Abraham Lincoln

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.
Abraham Lincoln

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln

Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this.
Abraham Lincoln

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.
Abraham Lincoln

No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent.
Abraham Lincoln

No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens.
Abraham Lincoln

Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.
Abraham Lincoln

People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.
Abraham Lincoln

Public opinion in this country is everything.
Abraham Lincoln

Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.
Abraham Lincoln

Republicans are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict the man before the dollar.
Abraham Lincoln

Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.
Abraham Lincoln

Some day I shall be President.
Abraham Lincoln

Some single mind must be master, else there will be no agreement in anything.
Abraham Lincoln

Stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong.
Abraham Lincoln

Surely God would not have created such a being as man, with an ability to grasp the infinite, to exist only for a day! No, no, man was made for immortality.
Abraham Lincoln

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.
Abraham Lincoln

That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.
Abraham Lincoln

The assertion that "all men are created equal" was of no practical use in effecting our separation from Great Britain and it was placed in the Declaration not for that, but for future use.
Abraham Lincoln

The ballot is stronger than the bullet.
Abraham Lincoln

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
Abraham Lincoln

The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.
Abraham Lincoln

The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.
Abraham Lincoln

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.
Abraham Lincoln

The highest art is always the most religious, and the greatest artist is always a devout person.
Abraham Lincoln

The Lord prefers common-looking people. That is why he makes so many of them.
Abraham Lincoln

The people themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse their own deliberate decisions.
Abraham Lincoln

The people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them.
Abraham Lincoln

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.
Abraham Lincoln

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.
Abraham Lincoln

The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of liberty.
Abraham Lincoln

The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.
Abraham Lincoln

The time comes upon every public man when it is best for him to keep his lips closed.
Abraham Lincoln

The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him.
Abraham Lincoln

There is another old poet whose name I do not now remember who said, "Truth is the daughter of Time."
Abraham Lincoln

There is nothing true anywhere, The true is nowhere to be seen; If you say you see the true, This seeing is not the true one.
Abraham Lincoln

These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people.
Abraham Lincoln

These men ask for just the same thing, fairness, and fairness only. This, so far as in my power, they, and all others, shall have.
Abraham Lincoln

Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.
Abraham Lincoln

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.
Abraham Lincoln

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.
Abraham Lincoln

To give victory to the right, not bloody bullets, but peaceful ballots only, are necessary.
Abraham Lincoln

To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men.
Abraham Lincoln

To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men.
Abraham Lincoln

Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored.
Abraham Lincoln

We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it.
Abraham Lincoln

We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.
Abraham Lincoln

What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself.
Abraham Lincoln

Whatever you are, be a good one.
Abraham Lincoln

When I am getting ready to reason with a man, I spend one-third of my time thinking about myself and what I am going to say and two-thirds about him and what he is going to say.
Abraham Lincoln

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion.
Abraham Lincoln

When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.
Abraham Lincoln

When you have got an elephant by the hind legs and he is trying to run away, it's best to let him run.
Abraham Lincoln

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
Abraham Lincoln

With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds.
Abraham Lincoln

With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.
Abraham Lincoln

With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.
Abraham Lincoln

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Abraham Lincoln

You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence.
Abraham Lincoln

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.
Abraham Lincoln

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
Abraham Lincoln

You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was.
Abraham Lincoln

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Stephen Covey Quotes

2010-03-02T21:36:00.000+07:00

A cardinal principle of Total Quality escapes too many managers: you cannot continuously improve interdependent systems and processes until you progressively perfect interdependent, interpersonal relationships.
Stephen Covey

Effective leadership is putting first things first. Effective management is discipline, carrying it out.
Stephen Covey

Every human has four endowments- self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change.
Stephen Covey

In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.
Stephen Covey

It's a fact that more people watch television and get their information that way than read books. I find new technology and new ways of communication very exciting and would like to do more in this field.
Stephen Covey

Live out of your imagination, not your history.
Stephen Covey

Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.
Stephen Covey

Our character is basically a composite of our habits. Because they are consistent, often unconcious patterns, they constantly, daily, express our character.
Stephen Covey

Public behavior is merely private character writ large.
Stephen Covey

The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.
Stephen Covey

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
Stephen Covey

There are three constants in life... change, choice and principles.
Stephen Covey

We are not animals. We are not a product of what has happened to us in our past. We have the power of choice.
Stephen Covey

We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.
Stephen Covey

We are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish those goals.
Stephen Covey

Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations

2010-02-27T22:38:00.001+07:00

Drawn from the Speech and Literature of all Nations, Ancient and Modern, Classic and Popular, in English and Foreign Text.

Compiled by J.K. Hoyt & K.L. Roberts

The 21,700 quotations in this standard reference bible, organized by major category, feature original language with translations alongside the classic English and American authors.

CONTENTS

Bibliographic Record

NEW YORK, LONDON: FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, 1922
NEW YORK: BARTLEBY.COM, 2009

List of Subjects: Directory of 917 Quote Classifications
Most Popular Quote Categories: Age, Authorship, Beauty, Books, Character, Death, Eating, Epitaph, Fate, Fear, Folly, Fortune, Freedom, Friends, God, Government, Happiness, Heaven, Honor, Hope, Judgment, Justice, Kisses, Knowledge, Labor, Laughter, Law, Learning, Liberty, Life, Love, Lying, Man, Matrimony, Memory, Mind, Money, Music, Nature, Patriotism, Peace, Pleasure, Poets, Politics, Poverty, Power, Prayer, Proverbs and Popular Phrases, Punishment, Religion, Rose, Royalty, Silence, Sin, Slavery, Sleep, Soldiers, Sorrow, The Soul, Speech, Stars, Success, Sympathy, Teaching, Tears, Thought, Time, Toasts, Truth, Tyranny, Vanity, Victory, Virtue, War, Wealth, Wine and Spirits, Wisdom, Wit, Woman, Wooing, Words, Work, World, Youth

Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.

2010-02-27T22:26:00.002+07:00

Politics


I consider biennial elections as a security that the sober, second thought of the people shall be law. Fisher Ames—Speech. Jan., 1788.	1
Man is by nature a civic animal. Aristotle—Polit. I. 2.	2
All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies. Attributed to John Arbuthnot, M.D. In “Life of Emerson.” P. 165.	3
Listen! John A. Logan is the Head Centre, the Hub, the King Pin, the Main Spring, Mogul, and Mugwump of the final plot by which partisanship was installed in the Commission. Isaac H. Bromley—Editorial in the New York Tribune. Feb. 16, 1877.	4
It is necessary that I should qualify the doctrine of its being not men, but measures, that I am determined to support. In a monarchy it is the duty of parliament to look at the men as well as at the measures. Lord Brougham—In the House of Commons. Nov., 1830.	5
We are Republicans, and don’t propose to leave our party and identify ourselves with the party whose antecedents have been Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion. Samuel D. Burchard—One of the Deputation visiting Mr. Blaine. Oct. 29, 1884.	6
You had that action and counteraction which, in the natural and in the political world, from the reciprocal struggle of discordant powers draws out the harmony of the universe. Burke—Reflexions on the Revolution in France. Vol. III. P. 277.	7
Of this stamp is the cant of, not men, but measures. Burke—Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontent. Earl of Shelburne quotes the phrase in a letter, July 11, 1765, before Burke’s use of it.	8
Protection and patriotism are reciprocal. Calhoun—Speech delivered in the House of Representatives. (1812).	9
Away with the cant of “Measures, not men!”—the idle supposition that it is the harness and not the horses that draw the chariot along. No Sir, if the comparison must be made, if the distinction must be taken, men are everything, measures comparatively nothing. Canning—Speech against the Addington Ministry. (1801).	10
The Duty of an Opposition is to oppose. Quoted by Randolph Churchill.	11
One of the greatest of Romans, when asked what were his politics, replied, “Imperium et libertas.” That would not make a bad programme for a British Ministry. Randolph Churchill—Speech. Mansion House, London. Nov. 10, 1879.	12
Here the two great interests IMPERIUM ET LIBERTAS, res olim insociabiles (saith Tacitus), began to incounter each other. Sir Winston Churchill—Divi Britannici. P. 849. (1675).	13
Nam ego in ista sum sententia, qua te fuisse semper scio, nihil ut feurit in suffragiis voce melius. I am of the opinion which you have always held, that “viva voce” voting at elections is the best method. Cicero—De Legibus. III. 15. Philippics. IV. 4. Tacitus—Agricola. Ch. III.	14
It is a condition which confronts us—not a theory. Grover Cleveland—Annual Message. (1887).	15
Party honesty is party expediency. Grover Cleveland—Interview in New York Commercial Advertiser. Sept. 19, 1889.	16
Laissez faire, laissez passer. Let it alone. Let it pass by. Colbert, according to Lord John Russell. See report of his speech in the London Times, April 2, 1840. Attributed to Gournay, Minister of Commerce, at Paris, 1751. Also to Quesnay. Quoted by Adam Smith—Wealth of Nations.	17
Free trade is not a principle, it is an expedient. Benj. Disraeli—On Import Duties. April 25, 1843.	18
The Right Honorable gentleman [Sir Robert Peel] caught the Whigs bathing and walked away with their clothes. Benj. Disraeli—Speech. House of Commons, Feb. 28, 1845.	19
Party is organized opinion. Benj. Disraeli—Speech. Oxford, Nov. 25, 1864.	20
Principle is ever my motto, no expediency. Benj. Disraeli—Sybil. Bk. II. Ch. II.	21
Information upon points of practical politics. Benj. Disraeli—Vivian Gray. Ch. XIV. Given by Walsh as first appearance of the phrase “practical politics.”	22
All the ten-to-oners were in the rear, and a dark horse, which had never been thought of, and which the careless St. James had never even observed in the list, rushed past the grand stand in sweeping triumph. Benj. Disraeli—The Young Duke. Bk. II. Ch. V.	23
Damned Neuters, in their Middle way of Steering, Are neither Fish, nor Flesh, nor good Red Herring. Dryden—Duke of Guise. Epilogue. Phrase used by Dr. Smith. Ballet. Ch. IX. In Musarum Deliciæ.	24
What is a Communist? One who has yearnings For equal division of unequal earnings. Ebenezer Elliot—Epigrams.	25
All political power is a trust. Charles James Fox. (1788).	26
Oh! we’ll give ’em Jessie When we rally round the polls. Popular song of Fremont’s Supporters in the Presidential Campaign of 1856.	27
I always voted at my party’s call, And I never thought of thinking for myself at all. W. S. Gilbert—H. M. S. Pinafore.	28
Measures, not men, have always been my mark. Goldsmith—Good-Natured Man. Act II.	29
Who, born for the universe, narrow’d his mind, And to party gave up what was meant for mankind. Goldsmith—Retaliation. L. 31.	30
Who will burden himself with your liturgical parterre when the burning questions [brennende Fragen] of the day invite to very different toils? Hagenbach—Grundlinien der Liturgik und Homiletik. (1803). “Burning question” used by Edward Miall, M.P., also by Disraeli in the House of Commons, March, 1873.	31
He serves his party best who serves the country best. Rutherford B. Hayes—Inaugural Address. March 5, 1877.	32
The freeman casting, with unpurchased hand, The vote that shakes the turrets of the land. Holmes—Poetry. A Metrical Essay. L. 83.	33
Non ego ventosæ plebis suffragia venor. I court not the votes of the fickle mob. Horace—Epistles. I. 19. 37.	34
Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James G. Blaine marched down the halls of the American Congress and threw his shining lance full and fair against the brazen foreheads of the defamers of his country, and the maligners of his honor. Robert G. Ingersoll—The Plumed Knight. Speech in nomination of Blaine for President in the Republican Convention. Cincinnati, June 15, 1876.	35
Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct. Thos. Jefferson—Letter to Coxe. (1799).	36
If a due participation of office is a matter of right, how are vacancies to be obtained? Those by death are few; by resignation, none. Usually quoted, “Few die and none resign.” Thos. Jefferson—Letter to Elias Shipman and Merchants of New Haven. July 12, 1801.	37
Of the various executive abilities, no one excited more anxious concern than that of placing the interests of our fellow-citizens in the hands of honest men, with understanding sufficient for their stations. No duty is at the same time more difficult to fulfil. The knowledge of character possessed by a single individual is of necessity limited. To seek out the best through the whole Union, we must resort to the information which from the best of men, acting disinterestedly and with the purest motives, is sometimes incorrect. Thos. Jefferson—Letter to Elias Shipman and Merchants of New Haven. July 12, 1801. Paraphrased, “Put the right man in the right place” by McMaster—History of the People of the U.S. Vol. II. P. 586.	38
We are swinging round the circle. Andrew Johnson—Of the Presidential “Reconstruction.” August, 1866.	39
I have always said the first Whig was the Devil. Samuel Johnson—Boswell’s Johnson. (1778).	40
Skilled to pull wires he baffles nature’s hope, who sure intended him to stretch a rope. Lowell—The Boss. (Tweed.)	41
Free trade, one of the greatest blessings which a government can confer on a people, is in almost every country unpopular. Macaulay—On Mitford’s History of Greece.	42
Factions among yourselves; preferring such To offices and honors, as ne’er read The elements of saving policy; But deeply skilled in all the principles That usher to destruction. Massinger—The Bondman. Act I. Sc. 3. L. 210.	43
Agitate, agitate, agitate. Lord Melbourne. In Torrens—Life of Lord Melbourne. Vol. I. P. 320, and in Walpole’s History of England from Conclusion of the Great War. Vol. III. P. 143.	44
Every time I fill a vacant office I make ten malcontents and one ingrate. Molière. Quoting Louis XIV, in Siècle de Louis Quatorze.	45
Those who would treat politics and morality apart will never understand the one or the other. John Morley—Rousseau. P. 380.	46
Car c’est en famille, ce n’est pas en public, qu’un lave son linge sale. But it is at home and not in public that one should wash ones dirty linen. Napoleon—On his return from Elba. Speech to the Legislative Assembly.	47
Better a hundred times an honest and capable administration of an erroneous policy than a corrupt and incapable administration of a good one. E. J. Phelps—At Dinner of the N. Y. Chamber of Commerce. Nov. 19, 1889.	48
The White Plume of Navarre. Name given to N. Y. Tribune during the Civil War. See Wendell Phillips—Under the Flag. Boston, April 21, 1861.	49
A weapon that comes down as still As snowflakes fall upon the sod; But executes a freeman’s will, As lightning does the will of God; And from its force, nor doors nor locks Can shield you; ’tis the ballot-box. Pierpont—A Word from a Petitioner.	50
Party-spirit, which at best is but the madness of many, for the gain of a few. Pope—Letter to Blount. Aug. 27, 1714.	51
Old politicians chew on wisdom past, And totter on in business to the last. Pope—Moral Essays. Ep. I. L. 228.	52
Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few. Pope in Thoughts on Various Subjects, written by Swift and Pope. Evidence in favor of Pope.	53
A mugwump is a person educated beyond his intellect. Horace Porter—A Bon-Mot in Cleveland Blaine Campaign. (1884).	54
Abstain from beans. Pythagoras. Advice against political voting, which was done by means of beans. See Lucian Gallus. IV. 5. Vitarum Auctio. Sect. 6. The superstition against beans was prevalent in Egypt however. See Herodotus. II. 37, also Sextus Empiricus. Explanations to abstain from beans from lost treatise of Aristotle in Diog. Laertes. VIII. 34. Beans had an oligarchical character on account of their use in voting. Plutarch gives a similar explanation in De Educat. Ch. XVII. Caution against entering public life, for the votes by which magistrates were elected were originally given by beans. Pythagoras referred to by Jeremy Taylor—Holy Living. Sect. IV. P. 80.	55
I will drive a coach and six through the Act of Settlement. Stephen Rice—Quoted by Macaulay—History of England. Ch. XII. Familiarly known as “Drive a coach and six through an Act of Parliament.”	56
There is a homely old adage which runs: “Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” If the American nation will speak softly and yet build and keep at a pitch of the highest training a thoroughly efficient navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far. Roosevelt. Address at Minnesota State Fair, Sept 2, 1901.	57
The first advice I have to give the party is that it should clean its slate. Lord Rosebery (Fifth Earl)—Speech. Chesterfield. Dec. 16, 1901.	58
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Hamlet. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 90.	59
Get thee glass eyes; And, like a scurvy politician, seem To see the things thou dost not. King Lear. Act IV. Sc. 6. L. 174.	60
O, that estates, degrees, and offices Were not deriv’d corruptly, and that clear honour Were purchased by the merit of the wearer! Merchant of Venice. Act II. Sc. 9. L. 41.	61
Persuade me not; I will make a Star-chamber matter of it. Merry Wives of Windsor. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 1.	62
When I first came into Parliament, Mr. Tierney, a great Whig authority, used always to say that the duty of an Opposition was very simple—it was to oppose everything and propose nothing. Lord Stanley—Debate, June 4, 1841. See Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates.	63
Who is the dark horse he has in his stable? Thackeray—Adventures of Philip.	64
As long as I count the votes what are you going to do about it? Say. Wm. M. Tweed—The Ballot in 1871.	65
Defence, not defiance. Motto adopted by the “Volunteers,” when there was fear of an invasion of England by Napoleon. (1859).	66
The king [Frederick] has sent me some of his dirty linen to wash; I will wash yours another time. Voltaire—Reply to General Manstein. CXI.	67
The gratitude of place expectants is a lively sense of future favours. Ascribed to Walpole by Hazlitt—Wit and Humour. Same in La Rochefoucauld—Maxims.	68
I am not a politician, and my other habits air good. Artemus Ward—Fourth of July Oration.	69
Politics I conceive to be nothing more than the science of the ordered progress of society along the lines of greatest usefulness and convenience to itself. Woodrow Wilson. To the Pan-American Scientific Congress. Washington, Jan. 6, 1916.	70
Tippecanoe and Tyler too. Political slogan, attributed to Orson E. Woodbury. (1840).	71

*www.bartleby.com

Global economic crisis is the focus of 'child-friendly budgets' forum in New York

2010-02-25T15:38:00.000+07:00

Global economic crisis is the focus of 'child-friendly budgets' forum in New York

NEW YORK, USA, 24 February 2010 – UNICEF and Fordham University, with the support of the European Commission, hosted a two-day policy forum and workshop – Child Friendly Budgets for 2010 and Beyond.

Al Gore Joins Richard Branson in Backing GreenRoad

2010-02-23T14:13:00.001+07:00

What do a trucker, an Israeli entrepreneur, Al Gore and Richard Branson all have in common? Proof that the real goldmines are old, neglected industries.

The name of that proof is GreenRoad. While so many entrepreneurs bang their heads against a Web and social media advertising brick wall, GreenRoad has applied common technology to an industry technology has largely passed by and—voila—they’ve got a business that’s growing and saving lives, money and the environment.

Driving is the third most deadly profession after deep sea fishing and working in a coal mine. Not only does driving more safely save lives but research shows it can also save 10% on annual fuel costs, and alleviate a good chunk of the $230 billion professional fleets spend on crashes each year. Enter GreenRoad: a system that helps professional drivers drive more safely and as a result save their company a lot of money.

The GreenRoad system looks simple from the outside: There’s a two-inch device on the dashboard that starts the day with a green light. If a driver brakes hard, swerves or turns recklessly, the light turns yellow. If the driver continues to drive erratically the light stays yellow. If it gets worse the light turns red. That’s it. But like a lot of apparently simple ideas, there’s a lot more going on under the hood.

GreenRoad was the brain-child of an Israeli entrepreneur who was run off the road one night by some wild kids. “If only their parents knew how they were driving…” he muttered to himself and the work on the company began. It morphed over the years from a consumer product to one aimed at commercial fleets. While the device is made up from mostly off-the-shelf products like a GPS chip, accelerometer, a CPU, mashed up with Google maps and a dashboard-like management portal, it took a good three years of hardcore R&D to build.

While you want the system to work well enough that aggressive driving tactics are caught, avoiding false positives are a must if drivers are to trust GreenRoad and accept its results. The algorithms can crunch more than 120 different driving maneuvers and the map on the dashboard helps provide context, both for the driver, and for a supervisor looking at the results later. For instance, a lot of harsh right turns could be the result of a hairpin turn in the road, not carelessness on the part of the driver.

There’s also a good deal of psychology worked into the device. Drivers don’t want to feel spied on, so video and audio surveillance products haven’t been popular. It’s also not a good idea to have something distracting, which is why early models that had icons to describe the offending aggressive move were nixed for the three simple lights. The dashboard, too, helps pull natural competitive levers by showing your performance, relative to your peers. And don’t underestimate things as simple as starting each day with a green light: The key is holding drivers to a high enough standard, while letting them know they can succeed if they work at it and concentrate as well.

GreenRoad has raised less than $40 million to date from Richard Branson’s Virgin Green Fund, Balderton Capital in London, Benchmark and DAG Ventures. On Monday the company will be announcing another $10 million from Generation Investment, a fund started by Al Gore and David Blood, a former CEO of Goldman Sachs asset management.

Sound like a lot of money? Consider how much the company saves. Fuel savings just from driving less aggressively can save a company some $300 per vehicle per year, and when you factor in crash savings it’s more like $1000 to $4000 in savings per vehicle per year. That makes it a very easy ROI sale for a company’s CFO, environmental officer or safety officer.

Now consider how much GreenRoad makes. It has 80 customers so far, and more than one of those customers have installed the technology in 20,000 of their cars. The three-year license goes for $1,000 per car, which the fuel savings alone cover. That’s right: We’re talking about $20 million contracts. And there’s more where that came from. GreenRoad Senior VP Eric Weiss says there are 80 million professionally driven cars in the US and the EU. That puts GreenRoad in the middle of a $80 billion market. I haven’t seen many companies like these since the good old days of enterprise software. And GreenRoad doesn’t have a lot of competition.

Weiss himself came from the enterprise software and mobile space. At first he wasn’t sure about a tech company in such a weird, forgotten market, but pretty soon he got excited. “There are very few problems left of this size to solve,” he says. “Besides, the world doesn’t need another gadget for my phone or another ERP company.

And he’s right. GreenRoad proves what a lot of smart investors have been saying for a while now— that the best tech deals are no longer in a much picked over “tech sector” per se, but rather in applying technology to old-world industries.

*techcrunch.com

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Global economic crisis is the focus of 'child-friendly budgets' forum in New York

Global economic crisis is the focus of 'child-friendly budgets' forum in New York

Al Gore Joins Richard Branson in Backing GreenRoad