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Knocking The Infinite house

2009-08-10T20:13:00.001-07:00

Knocking The Infinite house,
While expectancy wall beginning falls over,
Faith wink that gets myopia,
In leaden nighted hush,
Desert, knocked over by anxiety.

Knocking The Infinite house,
Faithful, waiting answer..
Its time is upcoming,
Why you falter?
My heart is murmuring, is not is The Infinite just a only invocation?

Knocking The Infinite house,
What Extant expectancy?
Congested, rather it was beginning capacious..
In my somnolent soul says,
God never forget to hear.

Knocking The Infinite house,
Door everlastingly being opened..

Example Of Java Philosophy

2009-08-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

Now, Javanese culture, particularly Javanese Philosophy, nearly gets lost of society life. Our free life have ignored that Java philosophy. Eventually, in that philosophy contain glorious teachings that really good for society life.

Javanese philosophy basically gets universal character. So, Javanese philosophy is not just be destined for Java society, but also for any individual that wants to study it.

Severally Javanese philosophy for example:

Memayu hayuning bawana (protect for whole world life)

Sukeng tyas yen den hita (want to accept advice, criticism and rebuke)

Jer basuki mawa beya (someone success is gotten with sacrifice)

Ajining dhiri dumunung ing kedhaling lathi (point self of someone lays in utterance of tongue)

Ajining sarira dumunung ing busana (point warms up someone lay in dress)

Amemangun karyenak tyasing sesama (make delicate other people feel)

Kridhaning ati ora bisa mbedhah kuthaning pasthi (Soul distortion can't revamp certainty)

Budi dayane manungsa ora bisa ngungkuli garise Kang kuwasa (human power can't settle Lord destiny)

Sura dira jayaningrat lebur dening pangastuti (resentment and dislike will be erased and gets lost by bland attitude)

Tan ngendhak gunaning janma (don't scorn man cleverness)

Big nation is not just nation that modern, but nation who can live modern without leave teaching and cultures glorious point.

Young Men

2009-08-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

Let to ask

On the level, let again we ask

With what we will rebuild consciousness

Already don't recollect, and even was unrecognized

Effect of big oversight that arranged by dainty a few person

For pride and for …

Once more strictly for …

With what and where awareness of we find

Already been buried, most devours by blood by wound

We, epoch, earth, water and Indonesia air

Flop in, in really

Until can't be remembered, until can't be known

Washing head, veering history

If needs, ask by piece

On every head, on soul

To is have once issued blood

One that wound and wilt

And is now is at earth basic,

Stay bone, stay …

Just leaves void

Don’t know, now they where

What do have once you expect

How is blood mean, tear and sweat that has once been douched

To one word, Indonesia

Cardiac beat, breathing swoosh, soul and resentment wail

They that have once been cluttered and are forgotten

By you the rider and history loser

Will remain nuzzle input in sleeping, in remembering

As dream which frighten

One that coming without invited

And at call can switch off

This nation big nation

Let humanitarianisms idealistically beginning from here

This nation abundant nation

All life can live here

At aboveground, above the waters and up the stairs air

With candidness with wisdom

Dowse life

Let, I, you and another one, let us say

While extant one we can say

Price life, love humanitarianism

For soul and of soul that bargains for

See, crawl, clefting nighted desert

Unlocking leaden dumbness

With candidness, with wisdom

With them that buried

They that most clutter

They who pine and they which are forgotten

Build, embrace to find

Time thread culturists already flying get lost

Jointly this is still please

Back history consciousness that has once been slept

Independent at aboveground, independent above the waters and independent upon air

Get goal for civilization to outgrow and glorious

Since there position of struggle righteousness for populist humanitarianism
JUVENILE!!!

The Use of Force

2009-07-10T01:07:00.000-07:00

The Use of Force
William Carlos Williams

They were new patients to me, all I had was the name, Olson. Please come down as soon as you can, my daughter is very sick.

When I arrived I was met by the mother, a big startled looking woman, very clean and apologetic who merely said, Is this the doctor? and let me in. In the back, she added. You must excuse us, doctor, we have her in the kitchen where it is warm. It is very damp here sometimes.

The child was fully dressed and sitting on her father's lap near the kitchen table. He tried to get up, but I motioned for him not to bother, took off my overcoat and started to look things over. I could see that they were all very nervous, eyeing me up and down distrustfully. As often, in such cases, they weren't telling me more than they had to, it was up to me to tell them; that's why they were spending three dollars on me.

The child was fairly eating me up with her cold, steady eyes, and no expression to her face whatever. She did not move and seemed, inwardly, quiet; an unusually attractive little thing, and as strong as a heifer in appearance. But her face was flushed, she was breathing rapidly, and I realized that she had a high fever. She had magnificent blonde hair, in profusion. One of those picture children often reproduced in advertising leaflets and the photogravure sections of the Sunday papers.

She's had a fever for three days, began the father and we don't know what it comes from. My wife has given her things, you know, like people do, but it don't do no good. And there's been a lot of sickness around. So we tho't you'd better look her over and tell us what is the matter.

As doctors often do I took a trial shot at it as a point of departure. Has she had a sore throat?

Both parents answered me together, No . . . No, she says her throat don't hurt her.

Does your throat hurt you? added the mother to the child. But the little girl's expression didn't change nor did she move her eyes from my face.

Have you looked?

I tried to, said the mother, but I couldn't see.

As it happens we had been having a number of cases of diphtheria in the school to which this child went during that month and we were all, quite apparently, thinking of that, though no one had as yet spoken of the thing.

Well, I said, suppose we take a look at the throat first. I smiled in my best professional manner and asking for the child's first name I said, come on, Mathilda, open your mouth and let's take a look at your throat.

Nothing doing.

Aw, come on, I coaxed, just open your mouth wide and let me take a look. Look, I said opening both hands wide, I haven't anything in my hands. Just open up and let me see.

Such a nice man, put in the mother. Look how kind he is to you. Come on, do what he tells you to. He won't hurt you.

At that I ground my teeth in disgust. If only they wouldn't use the word "hurt" I might be able to get somewhere. But I did not allow myself to be hurried or disturbed but speaking quietly and slowly I approached the child again.

As I moved my chair a little nearer suddenly with one catlike movement both her hands clawed instinctively for my eyes and she almost reached them too. In fact she knocked my glasses flying and they fell, though unbroken, several feet away from me on the kitchen floor.

Both the mother and father almost turned themselves inside out in embarrassment and apology. You bad girl, said the mother, taking her and shaking her by one arm. Look what you've done. The nice man . . .

For heaven's sake, I broke in. Don't call me a nice man to her. I'm here to look at her throat on the chance that she might have diphtheria and possibly die of it. But that's nothing to her. Look here, I said to the child, we're going to look at your throat. You're old enough to understand what I'm saying. Will you open it now by yourself or shall we have to open it for you)

Not a move. Even her expression hadn't changed. Her breaths however were coming faster and faster. Then the battle began. I had to do it. I had to have a throat culture for her own protection. But first I told the parents that it was entirely up to them. I explained the danger but said that I would not insist on a throat examination so long as they would take the responsibility.

If you don't do what the doctor says you'll have to go to the hospital, the mother admonished her severely.

Oh yeah? I had to smile to myself. After all, I had already fallen in love with the savage brat, the parents were contemptible to me. In the ensuing struggle they grew more and more abject, crushed, exhausted while she surely rose to magnificent heights of insane fury of effort bred of her terror of me.

The father tried his best, and he was a big man but the fact that she was his daughter, his shame at her behavior and his dread of hurting her made him release her just at the critical times when I had almost achieved success, till I wanted to kill him. But his dread also that she might have diphtheria made him tell me to go on, go on though he himself was almost fainting, while the mother moved back and forth behind us raising and lowering her hands in an agony of apprehension.

Put her in front of you on your lap, I ordered, and hold both her wrists.

But as soon as he did the child let out a scream. Don't, you're hurting me. Let go of my hands. Let them go I tell you. Then she shrieked terrifyingly, hysterically. Stop it! Stop it! You're killing me!

Do you think she can stand it, doctor! said the mother.

You get out, said the husband to his wife. Do you want her to die of diphtheria?

Come on now, hold her, I said.

Then I grasped the child's head with my left hand and tried to get the wooden tongue depressor between her teeth. She fought, with clenched teeth, desperately! But now I also had grown furious--at a child. I tried to hold myself down but I couldn't. I know how to expose a throat for inspection. And I did my best. When finally I got the wooden spatula behind the last teeth and just the point of it into the mouth cavity, she opened up for an instant but before I could see anything she came down again and gripping the wooden blade between her molars she reduced it to splinters before I could get it out again.

Aren't you ashamed, the mother yelled at her. Aren't you ashamed to act like that in front of the doctor?

Get me a smooth-handled spoon of some sort, I told the mother. We're going through with this. The child's mouth was already bleeding. Her tongue was cut and she was screaming in wild hysterical shrieks. Perhaps I should have desisted and come back in an hour or more. No doubt it would have been better. But I have seen at least two children lying dead in bed of neglect in such cases, and feeling that I must get a diagnosis now or never I went at it again. But the worst of it was that I too had got beyond reason. I could have torn the child apart in my own fury and enjoyed it. It was a pleasure to attack her. My face was burning with it.

The damned little brat must be protected against her own idiocy, one says to one's self at such times. Others must be protected against her. It is a social necessity. And all these things are true. But a blind fury, a feeling of adult shame, bred of a longing for muscular release are the operatives. One goes on to the end.

In a final unreasoning assault I overpowered the child's neck and jaws. I forced the heavy silver spoon back of her teeth and down her throat till she gagged. And there it was--both tonsils covered with membrane. She had fought valiantly to keep me from knowing her secret. She had been hiding that sore throat for three days at least and lying to her parents in order to escape just such an outcome as this.

Now truly she was furious. She had been on the defensive before but now she attacked. Tried to get off her father's lap and fly at me while tears of defeat blinded her eyes.
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Dry September

2009-07-10T00:48:00.000-07:00

After reading the story Dry September we know about all of the characters. There were many characters in this story. The first are the barbers, (the first barber, the second barber and the third barbers who have some play to spread out the vague news about Ms. Minnie Cooper and a Negro. The second is Will Mayes (a man of middle age, thin, sand colored and mild face). The third is Butch (a youth man that with his braveness attacked the barbers). The fourth is Jack (a youth that encourage his friend, Butch). Butch and Jack are the clients of barber’s shop. The other character is Mc Lendon. He is a ladder of troops in French who always could make his dream come true by doing everything he want and do not care with the other (egoist). He was arrogant soldier, snobbery, cruel and temperament. The others are the soldiers. They are cruel as pleaders of Mc. Lendon. The other one is Mrs. Minnie Cooper or Mc. Lendon’s wife. She is haggard, patient, kind, tender, and vivacity in her life.

The story of Dry September is actually interesting to read, because the story tells us about the differences of two races, white men and black men or Negro (who commonly called niggerlover) that always discriminated each others. From this, we can take advantages that in this life must be no differences in everything, because we have the same degree as human in front of God. We just need a corporation in surviving this life and keeping in help to each other.

The big break event is begun from a small problem. It is just their self-defense, moreover about their differences of skin color. Mc. Lendon had been offended by barber’s saying which told that just little white man who live in those places (country). This way is also caused by one case of white woman’s ripping that was done by a black man on St. Jefferson.

Sometimes this story plot of story tends to bewilder the reader because the plot is difficult to follow. We need comprehend understanding in reading this story. For the word it is no much difficulty. This story have nice ending because it has clear explanation, and the reader could gives themselves about the place or the person because each of objects have been descript.
The story itself happened in the barber’s shop, St. Jefferson, and in Mc. Lendon’s house. The barber’s shop is crowded by many people, so is the street, while Mc. Lendon’s house is made so quiet. The kidnapping event is done around the barber shop.

Game: “Special Force 2” Made by Hizbullah

2009-07-10T00:42:00.000-07:00

Glad news for game lover. One expert of game maker from Hizbullah (Islamic military organization one gets station at Lebanon) make one game 3D one figure wars among Hisbullah's fighter with Israel soldier.
Game that gets title "Special Force 2" this, taking setting their war one year last. In that martial, Hizbullah's fighter declares for that they successfuling to kill 158 Israel soldiers, meanwhile on one's side Lebanon 1.200 deads which largely islandic civil.

This is constitute Hizbullah's resistance and struggle in style that innovative and smart. "This game represent resistance culture in the future for our the rising generation, that colonization shall be defied and state has to be protected”, such revealed by Hizbullah's official. Player also have chance to catch Israel soldier, attacking Israels martial vehicle those are on South Lebanon and shoots off rudal towards Israel cities.

This game is designed to give a lesson on the rising generation about combat trick against enemy. Are not just in term utilize weapon only, but, preparation, stock, strategy, concentration and tactics also indispensable to win this game.
This game is sold at the price USS 10 in Lebanon and will at production by volunteers. Hizbullah estimates available tall requisition to this game, from Lebanon and also of abroad.

Indonesian Hell

2009-07-03T21:41:00.000-07:00

An Indonesian citizen passes away and make towards hell. over there, he sees available many hells that variably for each one state.

First, he gets to come over to German hells, and asks: "Hey...! what do you do in here?"

German answer: "firstly, we are seated up the stairs electric chair up to one hour, then we are fallen down up the stairs spike cot up to one hour again. then Germanic Devil appearance and canes us up to day rest"

Since heard inconvenience, therefore that Indonesian people visit goes to other place.

Then he sees how situation at united states of America hell, and asks: "What do you do in here?”

They answer: "firstly, we are seated up the stairs electric chair up to one hour, then we are fallen down up the stairs spike cot up to one hour again. Then american devil appearance and canes us up to day rest"

Since gets same answer, then he goes to japan hell, russian hell and another hells. but, he gets answer that equals German and American hell.

Finally, he gets in at her hell, Indonesian hell. Over there he see very long queue. They wait go for entering.

With surprise face, he asks: "What do be done in here?"

"Firstly, we are seated up the stairs electric chair up to one hour, then we are fallen down up the stairs spike cot up to one hour again. Then Indonesian devil appearance and canes us up to day rest"

"But it equals that happening other hells! Why here happens length queue?”

"Herein miserably preserve, electric chair doesn't blaze, there is that bone all spike of spike cot, and its devil is former public servant, so, he just coming, absent signature, then goes to canteen, then goes home after their belly be full".

An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge

2009-07-03T21:23:00.000-07:00

An Occurance at Owl Creek Bridge

Ambrose Bierse

A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck. It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack fell to the level of his knees. Some loose boards laid upon the sleepers supporting the metals of the railway supplied a footing for him and his executioners--two private soldiers of the Federal army, directed by a sergeant who in civil life may have been a deputy sheriff. At a short remove upon the same temporary platform was an officer in the uniform of his rank, armed. He was a captain. A sentinel at each end of the bridge stood with his rifle in the position known as "support," that is to say, vertical in front of the left shoulder, the hammer resting on the forearm thrown straight across the chest--a formal and unnatural position, enforcing an erect carriage of the body. It did not appear to be the duty of these two men to know what was occurring at the center of the bridge; they merely blockaded the two ends of the foot planking that traversed it. Beyond one of the sentinels nobody was in sight; the railroad ran straight away into a forest for a hundred yards, then, curving, was lost to view. Doubtless there was an outpost farther along. The other bank of the stream was open ground--a gentle acclivity topped with a stockade of vertical tree trunks, loopholed for rifles, with a single embrasure through which protruded the muzzle of a brass cannon commanding the bridge. Midway of the slope between the bridge and fort were the spectators--a single company of infantry in line, at "parade rest," the butts of the rifles on the ground, the barrels inclining slightly backward against the right shoulder, the hands crossed upon the stock. A lieu tenant stood at the right of the line, the point of his sword upon the ground, his left hand resting upon his right. Excepting the group of four at the center of the bridge, not a man moved. The company faced the bridge, staring stonily, motionless. The sentinels, facing the banks of the stream, might have been statues to adorn the bridge. The captain stood with folded arms, silent, observing the work of his subordinates, but making no sign. Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him. In the code of military etiquette silence and fixity are forms of deference.

The man who was engaged in being hanged was apparently about thirty-five years of age. He was a civilian, if one might judge from his habit, which was that of a planter. His features were good--a straight nose, firm mouth, broad forehead, from which his long, dark hair was combed straight back, falling behind his ears to the collar of his well-fitting frock coat. He wore a mustache and pointed beard, but no whiskers; his eyes were large and dark gray, and had a kindly expression which one would hardly have expected in one whose neck was in the hemp. Evidently this was no vulgar assassin. The liberal military code makes provision for hanging many kinds of persons, and gentlemen are not excluded.

The preparations being complete, the two private soldiers stepped aside and each drew away the plank upon which he had been standing. The sergeant turned to the captain, saluted and placed himself immediately behind that officer, who in turn moved apart one pace. These movements left the condemned man and the sergeant standing on the two ends of the same plank, which spanned three of the cross-ties of the bridge. The end upon which the civilian stood almost, but not quite, reached a fourth. This plank had been held in place by the weight of the captain; it was now held by that of the sergeant. At a signal from the former the latter would step aside, the plank would tilt and the condemned man go down between two ties. The arrangement commended itself to his judgment as simple and effective. His face had not been covered nor his eyes bandaged. He looked a moment at his "unsteadfast footing," then let his gaze wander to the swirling water of the stream racing madly beneath his feet. A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. How slowly it appeared to move, What a sluggish stream!

He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thoughts upon his wife and children. The water, touched to gold by the early sun, the brooding mists under the banks at some distance down the stream, the fort, the soldiers, the piece of drift--all had distracted him. And now he became conscious of a new disturbance. Striking through the thought of his dear ones was a sound which he could neither ignore nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil; it had the same ringing quality. He wondered what it was, and whether immeasurably distant or near by--it seemed both. Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell. He awaited each stroke with impatience and--he knew not why--apprehension. The intervals of silence grew progressively longer, the delays became maddening. With their greater infrequency the sounds increased in strength and sharpness. They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared he would shriek. What he heard was the ticking of his watch.

He unclosed his eyes and saw again the water below him. "If I could free my hands," he thought, "I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. By diving I could evade the bullets and, swimming vigorously, reach the bank, take to the woods and get away home. My home, thank God, is as yet outside their lines; my wife and little ones are still beyond the invader's farthest advance."

As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were flashed into the doomed man's brain rather than evolved from it the captain nodded to the sergeant. The sergeant stepped aside.

Peyton Farquhar was a well-to-do planter, of an old and highly respected Alabama family. Being a slave owner and like other slave owners a politician he was naturally an original secessionist and ardently devoted to the Southern cause. Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with the gallant army that had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of Corinth, and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction. That opportunity, he felt, would come, as it comes to all in war time. Meanwhile he did what he could. No service was too humble for him to perform in aid of the South, no adventure too perilous for him to undertake if consistent with the character of a civilian who was at heart a soldier, and who in good faith and without too much qualification assented to at least a part of the frankly villainous dictum that all is fair in love and war.

One evening while Farquhar and his wife were sitting on a rustic bench near the entrance to his grounds, a gray-clad soldier rode up to the gate and asked for a drink of water. Mrs. Farquhar was only toe, happy to serve him with her own white hands. While she was fetching the water her husband approached the dusty horseman and inquired eagerly for news from the front.

"The Yanks are repairing the railroads," said the man, "and are getting ready for another advance. They have reached the Owl Creek bridge, put it in order and built a stockade on the north bank. The commandant has issued an order, which is posted everywhere, declaring that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, its bridges, tunnels or trains will be summarily hanged. I saw the order."

"How far is it to the Owl Creek bridge?" Farquhar asked.

"About thirty miles."

"Is there no force on this side the creek?"

"Only a picket post half a mile out, on the railroad, and a single sentinel at this end of the bridge."

"Suppose a man--a civilian and student of hanging--should elude the picket post and perhaps get the better of the sentinel," said Farquhar, smiling, "what could he accomplish?"

The soldier reflected. "I was there a month ago," he replied. "I observed that the flood of last winter had lodged a great quantity of driftwood against the wooden pier at this end of the bridge. It is now dry and would burn like tow."

The lady had now brought the water, which the soldier drank. He thanked her ceremoniously, bowed to her husband and rode away. An hour later, after nightfall, he repassed the plantation, going northward in the direction from which he had come. He was a Federal scout.

III

As Peyton Farquhar fell straight downward through the bridge he lost consciousness and was as one already dead. From this state he was awakened--ages later, it seemed to him--by the pain of a sharp pressure upon his throat, followed by a sense of suffocation. Keen, poignant agonies seemed to shoot from his neck downward through every fiber of his body and limbs. These pains appeared to flash along well-defined lines of ramification and to beat with an inconceivably rapid periodicity. They seemed like streams of pulsating fire heating him to an intolerable temperature. As to his head, he was conscious of nothing but a feeling of fulness--of congestion. These sensations were unaccompanied by thought. The intellectual part of his nature was already effaced; he had power only to feel, and feeling was torment. He was conscious of motion. Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of which he was now merely the fiery heart, without material substance, he swung through unthinkable arcs of oscillation, like a vast pendulum. Then all at once, with terrible suddenness, the light about him shot upward with the noise of a loud splash; a frightful roaring was in his ears, and all was cold and dark. The power of thought was restored; he knew that the rope had broken and he had fallen into the stream. There was no additional strangulation; the noose about his neck was already suffocating him and kept the water from his lungs. To die of hanging at the bottom of a river!--the idea seemed to him ludicrous. He opened his eyes in the darkness and saw above him a gleam of light, but how distant, how inaccessible! He was still sinking, for the light became fainter and fainter until it was a mere glimmer. Then it began to grow and brighten, and he knew that he was rising toward the surface--knew it with reluctance, for he was now very comfortable. "To be hanged and drowned," he thought? "that is not so bad; but I do not wish to be shot. No; I will not be shot; that is not fair."

He was not conscious of an effort, but a sharp pain in his wrist apprised him that he was trying to free his hands. He gave the struggle his attention, as an idler might observe the feat of a juggler, without interest in the outcome. What splendid effort!--what magnificent, what superhuman strength! Ah, that was a fine endeavor! Bravo! The cord fell away; his arms parted and floated upward, the hands dimly seen on each side in the growing light. He watched them with a new interest as first one and then the other pounced upon the noose at his neck. They tore it away and thrust it fiercely aside, its undulations resembling those of a water snake. "Put it back, put it back!" He thought he shouted these words to his hands, for the undoing of the noose had been succeeded by the direst pang that he had yet experienced. His neck ached horribly; his brain was on fire; his heart, which had been fluttering faintly, gave a great leap, trying to force itself out at his mouth. His whole body was racked and wrenched with an insupportable anguish! But his disobedient hands gave no heed to the command. They beat the water vigorously with quick, downward strokes, forcing him to the surface. He felt his head emerge; his eyes were blinded by the sunlight; his chest expanded convulsively, and with a supreme and crowning agony his lungs engulfed a great draught of air, which instantly he expelled in a shriek!

He was now in full possession of his physical senses. They were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert. Something in the awful disturbance of his organic system had so exalted and refined them that they made record of things never before perceived. He felt the ripples upon his face and heard their separate sounds as they struck. He looked at the forest on the bank of the stream, saw the individual trees, the leaves and the veining of each leaf--saw the very insects upon them: the locusts, the brilliant-bodied flies, the grey spiders stretching their webs from twig to twig. He noted the prismatic colors in all the dewdrops upon a million blades of grass. The humming of the gnats that danced above the eddies of the stream, the beating of the dragon flies' wings, the strokes of the water-spiders' legs, like oars which had lifted their boat--all these made audible music. A fish slid along beneath his eyes and he heard the rush of its body parting the water.

He had come to the surface facing down the stream; in a moment the visible world seemed to wheel slowly round, himself the pivotal point, and he saw the bridge, the fort, the soldiers upon the bridge, the captain, the sergeant, the two privates, his executioners. They were in silhouette against the blue sky. They shouted and gesticulated, pointing at him. The captain had drawn his pistol, but did not fire; the others were unarmed. Their movements were grotesque and horrible, their forms gigantic.

Suddenly he heard a sharp report and something struck the water smartly within a few inches of his head, spattering his face with spray. He heard a second report, and saw one of the sentinels with his rifle at his shoulder, a light cloud of blue smoke rising from the muzzle. The man in the water saw the eye of the man on the bridge gazing into his own through the sights of the rifle. He observed that it was a grey eye and remembered having read that grey eyes were keenest, and that all famous marksmen had them. Nevertheless, this one had missed.

A counter-swirl had caught Farquhar and turned him half round; he was again looking into the forest on the bank opposite the fort. The sound of a clear, high voice in a monotonous singsong now rang out behind him and came across the water with a distinctness that pierced and subdued all other sounds, even the beating of the ripples in his ears. Although no soldier, he had frequented camps enough to know the dread significance of that deliberate, drawling, aspirated chant; the lieu. tenant on shore was taking a part in the morning's work. How coldly and pitilessly--with what an even, calm intonation, presaging, and enforcing tranquillity in the men--with what accurately measured inter vals fell those cruel words:

"Attention, company! . . Shoulder arms! . . . Ready! . . . Aim! . . . Fire!"

Farquhar dived--dived as deeply as he could. The water roared in his ears like the voice of Niagara, yet he heard the dulled thunder of the volley and, rising again toward the surface, met shining bits of metal, singularly flattened, oscillating slowly downward. Some of them touched him on the face and hands, then fell away, continuing their descent. One lodged between his collar and neck; it was uncomfortably warm and he snatched it out.

As he rose to the surface, gasping for breath, he saw that he had been a long time under water; he was perceptibly farther down stream nearer to safety. The soldiers had almost finished reloading; the metal ramrods flashed all at once in the sunshine as they were drawn from the barrels, turned in the air, and thrust into their sockets. The two sentinels fired again, independently and ineffectually.

The hunted man saw all this over his shoulder; he was now swimming vigorously with the current. His brain was as energetic as his arms and legs; he thought with the rapidity of lightning.

The officer," he reasoned, "will not make that martinet's error a second time. It is as easy to dodge a volley as a single shot. He has probably already given the command to fire at will. God help me, I cannot dodge them all!"

An appalling plash within two yards of him was followed by a loud, rushing sound, diminuendo, which seemed to travel back through the air to the fort and died in an explosion which stirred the very river to its deeps!

A rising sheet of water curved over him, fell down upon him, blinded him, strangled him! The cannon had taken a hand in the game. As he shook his head free from the commotion of the smitten water he heard the deflected shot humming through the air ahead, and in an instant it was cracking and smashing the branches in the forest beyond.

"They will not do that again," he thought; "the next time they will use a charge of grape. I must keep my eye upon the gun; the smoke will apprise me--the report arrives too late; it lags behind the missile. That is a good gun."

Suddenly he felt himself whirled round and round--spinning like a top. The water, the banks, the forests, the now distant bridge, fort and men--all were commingled and blurred. Objects were represented by their colors only; circular horizontal streaks of color--that was all he saw. He had been caught in a vortex and was being whirled on with a velocity of advance and gyration that made him giddy and sick. In a few moments he was flung upon the gravel at the foot of the left bank of the stream--the southern bank--and behind a projecting point which concealed him from his enemies. The sudden arrest of his motion, the abrasion of one of his hands on the gravel, restored him, and he wept with delight. He dug his fingers into the sand, threw it over himself in handfuls and audibly blessed it. It looked like diamonds, rubies, emeralds; he could think of nothing beautiful which it did not resemble. The trees upon the bank were giant garden plants; he noted a definite order in their arrangement, inhaled the fragrance of their blooms. A strange, roseate light shone through the spaces among their trunks and the wind made in their branches the music of Æolian harps. He had no wish to perfect his escape--was content to remain in that enchanting spot until retaken.

A whiz and rattle of grapeshot among the branches high above his head roused him from his dream. The baffled cannoneer had fired him a random farewell. He sprang to his feet, rushed up the sloping bank, and plunged into the forest.

All that day he traveled, laying his course by the rounding sun. The forest seemed interminable; nowhere did he discover a break in it, not even a woodman's road. He had not known that he lived in so wild a region. There was something uncanny in the revelation.

By nightfall he was fatigued, footsore, famishing. The thought of his wife and children urged him on. At last he found a road which led him in what he knew to be the right direction. It was as wide and straight as a city street, yet it seemed untraveled. No fields bordered it, no dwelling anywhere. Not so much as the barking of a dog suggested human habitation. The black bodies of the trees formed a straight wall on both sides, terminating on the horizon in a point, like a diagram in a lesson in perspective. Overhead, as he looked up through this rift in the wood, shone great garden stars looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange constellations. He was sure they were arranged in some order which had a secret and malign significance. The wood on either side was full of singular noises, among which--once, twice, and again--he distinctly heard whispers in an unknown tongue.

His neck was in pain and lifting his hand to it found it horribly swollen. He knew that it had a circle of black where the rope had bruised it. His eyes felt congested; he could no longer close them. His tongue was swollen with thirst; he relieved its fever by thrusting it forward from between his teeth into the cold air. How softly the turf had carpeted the untraveled avenue--he could no longer feel the roadway beneath his feet.

Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking, for now he sees another scene--perhaps he has merely recovered from a delirium. He stands at the gate of his own home. All is as he left it, and all bright and beautiful in the morning sunshine. He must have traveled the entire night. As he pushes open the gate and passes up the wide white walk, he sees a flutter of female garments; his wife, looking fresh and cool and sweet, steps down from the veranda to meet him. At the bottom of the steps she stands waiting, with a smile of ineffable joy, an attitude of matchless grace and dignity. Ah, how beautiful she is! He springs forward with extended arms. As he is about to clasp her he feels a stunning blow upon the back of the neck; a blinding white light blazes all about him with a sound like the shock of a cannon--then all is darkness and silence!

Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge.

A Journey

2009-07-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

A Journey

After reading the story of A Journey, we know about the characters. In this story there are a couple of wife and husband. The husband is a strong man, active, masterful and temperament while the wife is patient, lenient, careful, and a loyal wife. In this story, the names of characters are not mentioned. Because of his temperament, the husband often stuck on his wife while the wife is always patient of it.

The other characters are the porters (the servant in the train). They serve the passengers faithfully and contented. They make and fold the bed and offer the passengers such as a glass of milk and other drinks. Another one is the old lady. She is the passengers who give advice to the wife how to face her husband sickness.

A Journey tells us about a journey from Colorado to New York that was done by a couple of husband and wife while the husband got hard sickness in their journey. The story is good enough to read, because the plots of the story bewilder the readers. It needs more time to get the understanding, because there are many difficult words. From the story, the readers could take the advantage of the characters experiences. A patient of a wife in facing her husband’s condition could bring their family in steady. Life is like a journey that everybody should run in. there would be much challenges in this journey, so we must prepare our future to reach the top of our life. It is better for us to give goodness instead of badness and we should be patient in facing this life.

The story of A Journey takes a place in train from Colorado to New York. The train is crowded by man passengers.

A Girl I Knew

2009-07-03T21:05:00.001-07:00

A Girl I Knew
J. D. Salinger

Good Housekeeping 126, Feb 1948, pages 37, 186-196
Originally to be titled Wien, Wien

AT the end of my freshman year of college, back in 1936, I flunked five out of five subjects. Flunking three out of five would have made me eligible to report for an invitation to attend some other college in the fall. But men in this three-out-of-five category sometimes had to wait outside the Dean’s office as long as two hours. Men in my group—some of whom had big dates in New York that same night—weren’t kept waiting a minute. It went one, two, three, the way most men in my group liked things to go.
The particular college I had been attending apparently does not simply mail people’s grades home, but prefers to shoot them out of some kind of gun. When I got home to New York, even the butler looked tipped off and hostile. It was a bad night altogether. My father informed me quietly that my formal education was formally over. In a way, I felt like asking for a crack at summer school or something. But I didn’t. For one reason, my mother was in the room, and she kept saying that she just knew I should have gone to see my faculty adviser more regularly, that that was what he was there for. This was the kind of talk that made me want to go straight to the Rainbow Room with a friend. At any rate, one thing leading to another, when the familiar moment came for me to advance one of my fragile promises really to apply myself this time, I let it go by unused.
Although my father announced the same night that he was going to put me directly into his business, I felt confident that nothing wholly unattractive would happen for at least a week or so. I knew it would take a certain amount of deep, constructive brooding on my father’s part to figure out a way of getting me into the firm in broad daylight—I happened to give both his partners the willies on sight.
I was taken a little aback, four or five evenings later, when my father suddenly asked me at dinner how I would like to go to Europe to learn a couple of languages the firm could use. First to Vienna and then maybe to Paris, he said unelaborately.
I replied in effect that the idea sounded all right to me. I was breaking off anyway with a certain girl on Seventy-Fourth Street. And I very clearly associated Vienna with gondolas. Gondolas didn’t seem like too bad a setup.
A FEW weeks later, in July of 1936, I sailed for Europe. My passport photograph, it might be worth mentioning, looked exactly like me. At eighteen I was six feet two, weighed 119 pounds with my clothes on, and was a chain-smoker. I think that if Goethe’s Werther and all his sorrows had been placed on the promenade deck of the S.S. Rex beside me and all my sorrows, he would have looked by comparison like a rather low comedian.
The ship docked at Naples, and from there I took a train to Vienna. I almost got off the train at Venice, when I found out just who had the gondolas, but two people in my compartment got off instead—I had been waiting too long for a chance to put my feet up, gondolas or no gondolas.
Naturally, certain when-you-get-to-Vienna rules had been laid down before my ship sailed from New York. Rules about taking at least three hours of language lessons daily; rules about not getting too friendly with people who take advantage of other, particularly younger, people; rules about not spending money like a drunken sailor; rules about the wearing of clothes in which a person wouldn’t catch pneumonia; and so on. But after a month or so in Vienna I had most of that taken care of: I was taking three hours of German lesson every day—from a rather exceptional young lady I had met in the lounge of the Grand Hotel. I had found, in one of the far-outlying districts, a place that was cheaper than the Grand Hotel—the trolleys didn’t run to my place after ten at night, but the taxis did. I was dressing warm—I had bought myself three pure-wool Tyrolean hats. I was meeting nice people—I had lent three hundred shillings to a very distinguished-looking guy in the bar of the Bristol Hotel. In short, I was in a position to cut my letter home down to the bone.
I spent a little more than five months in Vienna. I danced. I went ice skating and skiing. For strenuous exercise, I argued with young Englishmen. I watched operations at two hospitals and had myself psychoanalyzed by a young Hungarian woman who smoked cigars. My German lessons never failed to hold my unflagging interest. I seemed to move, with all the luck of the undeserving, from gemutlichkeit to gemutlichkeit. But I mention these things only to keep the Baedeker straight.
Probably for every man there is at least one city that sooner or later turns into a girl. How well or how badly the man actually knew the girl doesn’t necessarily affect the transformation. She was there, and she was the whole city, and that’s that.
Leah was the daughter in the Viennese-Jewish family who lived in the apartment below mine—that is, below the family I was boarding with. She was sixteen, and beautiful in an immediate yet perfectly slow way. She had very dark hair that fell away from the most exquisite pair of ears I have ever seen. She had immense eyes that always seemed in danger of capsizing in their own innocence. Her hands were very pale brown, with slender, actionless fingers. When she sat down, she did the only sensible thing with her beautiful hands there was to be done: she placed them on her lap and left them there. In brief, she was probably the first appreciable thing of beauty I had seen that struck me as being wholly legitimate.
FOR about four months I saw her two or three evenings a week, for an hour or so at a time. But never outside the apartment house in which we lived. We never went dancing; we never went to a concert; we never even went for a walk. I found out soon after we met that Leah’s father had promised her in marriage to some young Pole. Maybe this fact had something to do with my not quite palpable, but curiously steady disinclination to give our acquaintanceship the run of the city. Maybe I just worried too much about things. Maybe I consistently hesitated to risk letting the thing we had together deteriorate into a romance. I don’t know any more. I used to know, but I lost the knowledge a long time ago. A man can’t go along indefinitely carrying around in his pocket a key that doesn’t fit anything.
I met Leah a nice way.
I had a phonograph and two American phonograph records in my room. The two American records were a gift from my landlady—one of those rare, drop-it-and-run gifts that leave the recipient dizzy with gratitude. On one of the records Dorothy Lamour sang Moonlight and Shadows, and on the other Connee Boswell sang Where Are You? Both girls got pretty scratched up, hanging around my room, as they had to go to work whenever I heard my landlady’s step outside my door.
One evening I was in my sitting room, writing a long letter to a girl in Pennsylvania, suggesting that she quit school and come to Europe to marry me—a not infrequent suggestion of mine in those days. My phonograph was not playing. But suddenly the words to Miss Boswell’s song floated, just slightly damaged, through my open window:
“Where are you?
Where have you gone wissout me?
I sought you cared about me.
Where are you?”
Thoroughly excited, I sprang to my feet, then rushed to my window and leaned out.
The apartment below mine had the only balcony of the house. I saw a girl standing on it, completely submerged in a pool of autumn twilight. She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together. The way the profile of her face and body refracted in the soupy twilight made me feel a little drunk. When a few seconds had throbbed by, I said hello to her. She then looked up at me, and though she seemed decorously startled, something told me she wasn’t too surprised that I had heard her doing the Boswell number. This didn’t matter, of course. I asked her, in murderous German, if I might join her on the balcony. The request obviously rattled her. She replied, in English, that she didn’t think her “fahzzer” would like me to come down to see her. At this point, my opinion of girls’ fathers, which had been low for years, struck bottom. But nevertheless I managed a drab little nod of understanding.
It turned out all right, though. Leah seemed to think it would be perfectly all right if she came up to see me. Entirely stupefied with gratitude, I nodded, then closed my window and began to wander hurriedly through my room, rapidly pushing things under other things with my foot.
I DON’T really remember our first evening in my sitting room. All our evenings were pretty much the same. I can’t honestly separate one from another; not any more, anyway.
Leah’s knock on my door was always poetry—high, beautifully wavering, absolutely perpendicular poetry. Her knock started out speaking of her own innocence and beauty, and accidentally ended speaking of the innocence and beauty of all very young girls. I was always half-eaten away by the respect and happiness when I opened the door for Leah.
We would solemnly shake hands at my sitting-room door. Then Leah would walk, self-consciously but beautifully, to my window seat, sit down, and wait for our conversation to begin.
Her English, like my German, was nearly all holes. Yet invariably I spoke her language and she mine, although any other arrangement at all might have made for a less perforated means of communication.
“Uh. Wie geht es Ihnen?” I’d start out. (How are you?) I never used the familiar form in addressing Leah.
“I am very well, sank you very much,” Leah would reply, never failing to blush. It didn’t help much to look at her indirectly; she blushed anyway.
“Schön hinaus, nicht wahr?” I’d ask, rain or shine. (Nice out, isn’t it?)
“Yes,” she’d answer, rain or shine.
“Uh. Waren Sie heute in der Kino?” was a favorite question of mine. (Did you go to the movies today?) Five days a week Leah worked in her father’s cosmetics plant.
“No. I was today working by my fahzzer.”
“Oh, dass ist recht! Uh. Ist es schön dort?” (Oh, that’s right. Is it nice there?)
“No. It is a very big fabric, with very many people running around about.”
“Oh. Dass ist schlecht.” (That’s bad.)
“Uh. Wollen Sie haben ein Tasse von Kaffee mit mir haben?” (Will you have a cup of coffee with me?)
“I was already eating.”
“Ja, aber Haben Sie ein Tasse anyway.” (Yes, but have a cup anyway.)
“Sank you.”
At this point I would remove my note paper, shoe trees, laundry, and other unclassifiable articles from the small table I used as a desk and catchall. Then I would plug in my electric percolator, often commenting sagely, “Kaffee ist gut.” (Coffee is good.)
We usually drank two cups of coffee apiece, passing each other the cream and sugar with all the drollery of fellow pallbearers distributing white gloves among themselves. Often Leah brought along some kuchen or torte, wrapped rather inefficiently—perhaps surreptitiously—in waxed paper. This offering she would deposit quickly and insecurely in my left hand as she entered my sitting room. It was all I could do to swallow the pastry Leah brought. First, I was never at all hungry while she was around; second, there seemed to be something unnecessarily, however vaguely, destructive about eating anything that came from where she lived.
We usually didn’t talk while we drank our coffee. When we had finished, we picked up our conversation where we had left it—on its back, more often than not.
“Uh. Ist die Fenster—uh—Sind Sie sehr kalt dort?” I would ask solicitously. (Is the window—uh—Are you very cold there?)
“No! I feel very warmly, sank you.”
“Dass ist gut. Uh. Wie geht’s Ihre Eltern?” (That’s good. How are your parents?) I inquired regularly after the health of her parents.
“They are very well, sank you very much.” Her parents were always enjoying perfect health, even when her mother had pleurisy for two weeks.
Sometimes Leah introduced a subject for conversation. It was always the same subject, but probably she felt she handled it so well in English that repetition was little or no drawback. She often inquired, “How was your hour today morning?”
“My German lesson? Oh. Uh. Sehr gut. Ja. Sehr gut.” (Very good. Yes. Very good.)
“What were you learning?”
“What did I learn? Uh. Die, uh wuddayacallit. Die starke verbs. Sehr interessant.” (The strong verbs. Very interesting.)
I COULD fill several pages with Leah’s and my terrible conversation. But I don’t see much point to it. We just never said anything to each other. Over a period of four months, we must have talked for thirty or thirty-five evenings without saying a word. In the long shadow of this small, obscure record, I’ve acquired a dogma that if I should go to Hell, I’ll be given a little inside room—one that is neither hot nor cold, but extremely drafty—in which all my conversations with Leah will be played back to me, over an amplification system confiscated from the Yankee Stadium.
One evening I named for Leah, without the slightest provocation, all the Presidents of the United States, in as close order as possible: Lincoln, Grant, Taft, and so on.
Another evening I explained American football to her. For at least an hour and a half. In German.
On another evening I felt called on to draw her a map of New York City. She certainly didn’t ask me to. And Lord knows I never feel like drawing maps for anybody, much less have any aptitude for it. But I drew it—the U. S. Marines couldn’t have stopped me. I distinctly remember putting Lexington Avenue where Madison should have been—and leaving it that way.
Another time I read a new play I was writing, called He Was No Fool. It was about a cool, handsome, casually athletic young man—very much my own type—who had been called from Oxford to pull Scotland Yard out of an embarrassing situation: One Lady Farnsworth, who was a witty dipsomaniac, was being mailed one of her abducted husband’s fingers every Tuesday. I read the play to Leah in one sitting, laboriously editing out all the sexy parts—which, of course, ruined the play. When I had finished reading, I hoarsely explained to Leah that the play was “Nicht fertig yet.” (Not finished yet.) Leah seemed to understand that perfectly. Moreover, she seemed to convey to me a certain confidence that perfection would somehow overtake the final draft of whatever the thing was I had just read to her … She sat so well on a window seat.
I FOUND out entirely by accident that Leah had a fiancé. It wasn’t the kind of information that stood a chance of coming up in our conversation.
On a Sunday afternoon, about a month after Leah and I had become acquainted, I saw her standing in the crowded lobby of the Schwedenkino, a popular movie house in Vienna. It was the first time I had seen her either off the balcony or outside my sitting room. There was something fantastic and extremely heady about seeing her standing in the very pedestrian lobby of the Schwedenkino, and I readily gave up my place in the box-office queue to go to speak to her. But as I charged across the lobby toward her over a number of innocent feet, I saw that she was neither alone nor with a girl friend or someone old enough to be her father.
She was visibly flustered to see me, but managed to make introductions. Her escort, who was wearing his hat down over one of his ears, clicked his heels and crushed my hand. I smiled patronizingly at him—he didn’t look like much competition, grip of steel or no grip of steel; he looked too much like a foreigner.
For a few minutes the three of us chatted unintelligibly. Then I excused myself and got back on the end of the line. During the showing of the film, I went up the aisle several times, carrying myself as erectly and dangerously as possible; but I didn’t see either of them. The film itself was one of the worst I’d seen.
The next evening, when Leah and I had coffee in my sitting room, she stated, blushing, that the young man I had seen her with in the lobby of the Schwedenkino was her fiancé.
“My fahzzer is wedding us when I have seventeen years,” Leah said, looking at a doorknob.
I merely nodded. There are certain foul blows, notably in love and soccer, that are not immediately followed by audible protest. I cleared my throat. “Uh. Wie heisst er, again?” (What’s his name, again?)
Leah pronounced once more—not quite phonetically enough for me—a violently long name, which seemed to me predestined to belong to somebody who wore his hat down over one ear. I poured more coffee for both of us. Then, suddenly, I stood up and went to my German-English dictionary. When I had consulted it, I sat down again and asked Leah, “Lieben Sie Ehe?” (Do you love marriage?)
She answered slowly, without looking at me, “I don’t know.”
I nodded. Her answer seemed the quintessence of logic to me. We sat for a long moment without looking at each other. When I looked at Leah again, her beauty seemed too great for the size of the room. The only way to make room for it was to speak of it. “Sie sind sehr schön. Weissen Sie dass?” I almost shouted at her.
But she blushed so hard I quickly dropped the subject—I had nothing to follow up with, anyway.
That evening, for the first and last time, something more physical than a handshake happened to our relationship. About nine-thirty, Leah jumped up from the window seat, saying it was becoming very late, and rushed to get downstairs. At the same time, I rushed to escort her out of the apartment to the staircase, and we squeezed together through the narrow doorway of my sitting room—facing each other. It nearly killed us.
WHEN it came time for me to go to Paris to master a second European language, Leah was in Warsaw visiting her fiancé’s family. I didn’t get to say good-bye to her, but I left a note for her, the next-to-last draft of which I still have:
“Wien
“December 6, 1936
“Liebe Leah,
“Ich muss fahren nach Paris nun, und so ich sage auf wiedersehen. Es war sehr nett zu kennen Sie. Ich werde schreiben zu Sie wenn ich bin in Paris. Hoffentlich Sie sind haben eine gute Ziet in Warsaw mit die familie von ihre fiancé. Hoffent- lich wird die Ehe gehen gut. Ich werde Sie schicken das Buch ich habe gesprochen uber, ‘Gegangen mit der Wind.’ Mit beste Grussen.
“Ihre Freund,
“John”
Taking this note out of Jack-the-Ripper German, it reads:
“Vienna
“December 6, 1936
DEAR LEAH,
“I must go to Paris now, and so I say good-bye. It was very nice to know you. I hope you’re having a good time in Warsaw with your fiancé’s family. I hope the marriage goes all right. I will send you that book I was talking about, Gone with the Wind. With best greetings.
“Your friend,
“John”
But I never did write to Leah from Paris. I never wrote to her again at all. I didn’t send a copy of Gone with the Wind. I was very busy in those days.
Late in 1937, when I was back in college in America, a round, flat package was forwarded to me from New York. A letter was attached to the package:
“Vienna
“October 14, 1937
“DEAR JOHN,
“I have many times thought of you and wondered what is become of you. I myself am now married and am living in Vienna with my husband. He sends you his great regards. If you can recall, you and he made each other’s acquaintance in the hall of the Schweden Cinema.
“My parents are still living at 18 Stiefel Street, and often I visit them, because I am living in the near. Your landlady, Mrs. Schlosser, has died in the summer with cancer. She requested me to send you these gramophone records, which you forgot to take when you departed, but I did not know your address for a long time. I have now made the acquaintance of an English girl named Ursula Hummer, who has given to me your address.
“My husband and I would be extremely pleased to hear from you frequently.
“With very best greetings,
“Your friend,
“LEAH”
Her married name and new address were not given.
I carried the letter with me for months, opening and reading it in bars, between halves of basketball games, in Government classes, and in my room, until finally it began to get stained, from my wallet, the color of cordovan, and I had to put it away somewhere.
ABOUT the same hour Hitler’s troops were marching into Vienna, I was on reconnaissance for geology 1-b, searching perfunctorily, in New Jersey, for a limestone deposit. But during the weeks and months that followed the German takeover of Vienna, I often thought of Leah. Sometimes just thinking of her wasn’t enough. When, for example, I had examined the most recent newspaper photographs of Viennese Jewesses on their hands and knees scrubbing sidewalks, I quickly stepped across my dormitory room, opened a desk drawer, slipped an automatic into my pocket, then dropped noiselessly from my window to the street, where a long-range monoplane, equipped with a silent engine, awaited my gallant, foolhardy, hawklike whim. I’m not the type that just sits around.
In late summer of 1940, at a party in New York, I met a girl who not only had known Leah in Vienna, but had gone all through school with her. I pulled up a chair, but the girl was determined to tell me about some man in Philadelphia, who looked exactly like Gary Cooper. She said I had a weak chin. She said she hated mink. She said that Leah had either got out of Vienna or hadn’t got out of Vienna.
During the war in Europe, I had an Intelligence job with a regiment of an infantry division. My work called for a lot of conversation with civilians and Wehrmacht prisoners. Among the latter, sometimes there were Austrians. One feldwebel, a Viennese, whom I secretly suspected of wearing lederhosen under his field-gray uniform, gave me a little hope; but it turned out he had known not Leah, but some girl with the same last name as Leah’s. Another Wiener, an unteroffizier, standing at strict attention, told me what terrible things had been done to the Jews in Vienna. As I had rarely, if ever, seen a man with a face quite so noble and full of vicarious suffering as this unteroffizier’s was, just for the devil of it I had him roll up his left sleeve. Close to his armpit he had the tattooed blood-type marks of an old SS man. I stopped asking personal questions after a while.
A few months after the war in Europe had ended, I took some military papers to Vienna. In a jeep with another man, I left Nϋrnburg on a hot October morning and got into Vienna the next, even hotter, morning. In the Russian Zone we were detained five hours while two guards made passionate love to our wrist watches. It was mid-afternoon by the time we entered the American Zone of Vienna, in which Stiefelstrasse, my old street, was located.
I talked to the Tabak-Trafik vendor on the corner of Stiefelstrasse, to the pharmacist in the near-by Apotheke, to a neighborhood woman, who jumped at least an inch when I addressed her, and to a man who insisted that he used to see me on the trolley car in 1936. Two of these people told me that Leah was dead. The pharmacist suggested that I go to see a Dr. Weinstein, who had just come back to Vienna from Buchenwald, and gave me his address. I then got back into the jeep, and we cruised through the streets toward G-2 Headquarters. My jeep partner tooted his horn at the girls in the streets and told me at great length what he thought of Army dentists.
When we had delivered the official papers, I got back into the jeep alone and went to see Dr. Weinstein.
IT WAS twilight when I drove back to Stiefelstrasse. I parked the jeep and entered my old house. It had been turned into living quarters for field-grade officers. A red-haired staff sergeant was sitting at an Army desk on the first landing, cleaning his fingernails. He looked up, and, as I didn’t outrank him, gave me that long Army look that holds no interest or curiosity at all. Ordinarily I would have returned it.
“What’s the chances of my going up to the second floor just for a minute?” I asked. “I used to live here before the war.”
“This here’s officers’ quarters, Mac,” he said.
“I know. I’ll only be a minute.”
“Can’t do it. Sorry.” He went on scraping the insides of his fingernails with the big blade of his pocketknife.
“I’ll only be a minute,” I said again.
He put down his knife, patiently. “Look, Mac. I don’t wanna sound like a bum. But I ain’t lettin’ nobody go upstairs unless they belong there. I don’t give a damn if it’s Eisenhower himself. I got my—” He was interrupted by the sudden ringing of the telephone on his desk. He picked up the phone, keeping an eye on me, and said, “Yessir, Colonel, sir. This is him on the phone…. Yessir…. Yessir…. I got Corporal Santini puttin’ ‘em on the ice right now, right this minute. They’ll be good and cold…. Well, I figured we’d put the orchestra right out on the balcony, like. Account of there’s only three of ‘em…. Yessir…. Well, I spoke to Major Foltz, and he said the ladies could put their coats and stuff in his room…. Yessir. Right, sir. Ya wanna hurry up, now. Ya don’t wanna miss any of that moonlight…. Ha,ha,ha!…Yessir. G’bye, sir.” The staff sergeant hung up, looking stimulated.
“Look,” I said, distracting him, “I’ll only be a minute.”
He looked at me. “What’s the big deal, anyhow, up there?”
“No big deal.” I took a deep breath. “I just want to go up to the second floor and take a look at the balcony. I used to know a girl who lived in the balcony apartment.”
“Yeah? Where’s she at now?”
“She’s dead.”
“Yeah? How come?”
“She and her family were burned to death in an incinerator, I’m told.”
“Yeah? What was she, a Jew or something?”
“Yes. Can I go up a minute?”
Very visibly, the sergeant’s interest in the affair waned. He picked up a pencil and moved it from the left side of the desk to the right. “Cripes, Mac. I don’t know. It’ll be my skin if you’re caught.”
“I’ll just be a minute.”
“Okay. Make it snappy.”
I climbed the stairs quickly and entered my old sitting room. It had three single bunks in it, made up Army style. Nothing in the room had been there in 1936. Officers’ blouses were suspended on hangers everywhere. I walked to the window, opened it, and looked down for a moment at the balcony where Leah had once stood. Then I went downstairs and thanked the staff sergeant. He asked me, as I was going out the door, what the devil you were supposed to do with champagne—lay it on its side or stand it up. I said I didn’t know, and left the building.

A Girl I Knew

2009-07-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

A Girl I Knew
J. D. Salinger

Good Housekeeping 126, Feb 1948, pages 37, 186-196
Originally to be titled Wien, Wien

The Black Cat

2009-07-03T00:30:00.001-07:00

The Black Cat

Edgar Allen Poe

FOR the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not - and very surely do I not dream. But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburthen my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events. In their consequences, these events have terrified - have tortured - have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to expound them. To me, they have presented little but Horror - to many they will seem less terrible than barroques. Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place - some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects.

From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions. I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them. This peculiarity of character grew with my growth, and in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure. To those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog, I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus derivable. There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man .

I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own. Observing my partiality for domestic pets, she lost no opportunity of procuring those of the most agreeable kind. We had birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat .

This latter was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree. In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise. Not that she was ever serious upon this point - and I mention the matter at all for no better reason than that it happens, just now, to be remembered.

Pluto - this was the cat's name - was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets.

Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for several years, during which my general temperament and character - through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance - had (I blush to confess it) experienced a radical alteration for the worse. I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others. I suffered myself to use intemperate language to my wife. At length, I even offered her personal violence. My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition. I not only neglected, but ill-used them. For Pluto, however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him, as I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog, when by accident, or through affection, they came in my way. But my disease grew upon me - for what disease is like Alcohol! - and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish - even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper.

One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him; when, in his fright at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound upon my hand with his teeth. The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame. I took from my waistcoat-pocket a pen-knife, opened it, grasped the poor beast by the throat, and deliberately cut one of its eyes from the socket! I blush, I burn, I shudder, while I pen the damnable atrocity.

When reason returned with the morning - when I had slept off the fumes of the night's debauch - I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, at best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched. I again plunged into excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed.

In the meantime the cat slowly recovered. The socket of the lost eye presented, it is true, a frightful appearance, but he no longer appeared to suffer any pain. He went about the house as usual, but, as might be expected, fled in extreme terror at my approach. I had so much of my old heart left, as to be at first grieved by this evident dislike on the part of a creature which had once so loved me. But this feeling soon gave place to irritation. And then came, as if to my final and irrevocable overthrow, the spirit of PERVERSENESS. Of this spirit philosophy takes no account. Yet I am not more sure that my soul lives, than I am that perverseness is one of the primitive impulses of the human heart - one of the indivisible primary faculties, or sentiments, which give direction to the character of Man. Who has not, a hundred times, found himself committing a vile or a silly action, for no other reason than because he knows he should not? Have we not a perpetual inclination, in the teeth of our best judgment, to violate that which is Law , merely because we understand it to be such? This spirit of perverseness, I say, came to my final overthrow. It was this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself - to offer violence to its own nature - to do wrong for the wrong's sake only - that urged me to continue and finally to consummate the injury I had inflicted upon the unoffending brute. One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree; - hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; - hung it because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence; - hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin - a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it - if such a thing wore possible - even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God.

On the night of the day on which this cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire. The curtains of my bed were in flames. The whole house was blazing. It was with great difficulty that my wife, a servant, and myself, made our escape from the conflagration. The destruction was complete. My entire worldly wealth was swallowed up, and I resigned myself thenceforward to despair.

I am above the weakness of seeking to establish a sequence of cause and effect, between the disaster and the atrocity. But I am detailing a chain of facts - and wish not to leave even a possible link imperfect. On the day succeeding the fire, I visited the ruins. The walls, with one exception, had fallen in. This exception was found in a compartment wall, not very thick, which stood about the middle of the house, and against which had rested the head of my bed. The plastering had here, in great measure, resisted the action of the fire - a fact which I attributed to its having been recently spread. About this wall a dense crowd were collected, and many persons seemed to be examining a particular portion of it with very minute and eager attention. The words "strange!" "singular!" and other similar expressions, excited my curiosity. I approached and saw, as if graven in bas relief upon the white surface, the figure of a gigantic cat. The impression was given with an accuracy truly marvellous. There was a rope about the animal's neck.

When I first beheld this apparition - for I could scarcely regard it as less - my wonder and my terror were extreme. But at length reflection came to my aid. The cat, I remembered, had been hung in a garden adjacent to the house. Upon the alarm of fire, this garden had been immediately filled by the crowd - by some one of whom the animal must have been cut from the tree and thrown, through an open window, into my chamber. This had probably been done with the view of arousing me from sleep. The falling of other walls had compressed the victim of my cruelty into the substance of the freshly-spread plaster; the lime of which, with the flames, and the ammonia from the carcass, had then accomplished the portraiture as I saw it.

Although I thus readily accounted to my reason, if not altogether to my conscience, for the startling fact just detailed, it did not the less fail to make a deep impression upon my fancy. For months I could not rid myself of the phantasm of the cat; and, during this period, there came back into my spirit a half-sentiment that seemed, but was not, remorse. I went so far as to regret the loss of the animal, and to look about me, among the vile haunts which I now habitually frequented, for another pet of the same species, and of somewhat similar appearance, with which to supply its place.

One night as I sat, half stupified, in a den of more than infamy, my attention was suddenly drawn to some black object, reposing upon the head of one of the immense hogsheads of Gin, or of Rum, which constituted the chief furniture of the apartment. I had been looking steadily at the top of this hogshead for some minutes, and what now caused me surprise was the fact that I had not sooner perceived the object thereupon. I approached it, and touched it with my hand. It was a black cat - a very large one - fully as large as Pluto, and closely resembling him in every respect but one. Pluto had not a white hair upon any portion of his body; but this cat had a large, although indefinite splotch of white, covering nearly the whole region of the breast. Upon my touching him, he immediately arose, purred loudly, rubbed against my hand, and appeared delighted with my notice. This, then, was the very creature of which I was in search. I at once offered to purchase it of the landlord; but this person made no claim to it - knew nothing of it - had never seen it before.

I continued my caresses, and, when I prepared to go home, the animal evinced a disposition to accompany me. I permitted it to do so; occasionally stooping and patting it as I proceeded. When it reached the house it domesticated itself at once, and became immediately a great favorite with my wife.

For my own part, I soon found a dislike to it arising within me. This was just the reverse of what I had anticipated; but - I know not how or why it was - its evident fondness for myself rather disgusted and annoyed. By slow degrees, these feelings of disgust and annoyance rose into the bitterness of hatred. I avoided the creature; a certain sense of shame, and the remembrance of my former deed of cruelty, preventing me from physically abusing it. I did not, for some weeks, strike, or otherwise violently ill use it; but gradually - very gradually - I came to look upon it with unutterable loathing, and to flee silently from its odious presence, as from the breath of a pestilence.

What added, no doubt, to my hatred of the beast, was the discovery, on the morning after I brought it home, that, like Pluto, it also had been deprived of one of its eyes. This circumstance, however, only endeared it to my wife, who, as I have already said, possessed, in a high degree, that humanity of feeling which had once been my distinguishing trait, and the source of many of my simplest and purest pleasures.

With my aversion to this cat, however, its partiality for myself seemed to increase. It followed my footsteps with a pertinacity which it would be difficult to make the reader comprehend. Whenever I sat, it would crouch beneath my chair, or spring upon my knees, covering me with its loathsome caresses. If I arose to walk it would get between my feet and thus nearly throw me down, or, fastening its long and sharp claws in my dress, clamber, in this manner, to my breast. At such times, although I longed to destroy it with a blow, I was yet withheld from so doing, partly by a memory of my former crime, but chiefly - let me confess it at once - by absolute dread of the beast.

This dread was not exactly a dread of physical evil - and yet I should be at a loss how otherwise to define it. I am almost ashamed to own - yes, even in this felon's cell, I am almost ashamed to own - that the terror and horror with which the animal inspired me, had been heightened by one of the merest chimaeras it would be possible to conceive. My wife had called my attention, more than once, to the character of the mark of white hair, of which I have spoken, and which constituted the sole visible difference between the strange beast and the one I had destroyed. The reader will remember that this mark, although large, had been originally very indefinite; but, by slow degrees - degrees nearly imperceptible, and which for a long time my Reason struggled to reject as fanciful - it had, at length, assumed a rigorous distinctness of outline. It was now the representation of an object that I shudder to name - and for this, above all, I loathed, and dreaded, and would have rid myself of the monster had I dared - it was now, I say, the image of a hideous - of a ghastly thing - of the GALLOWS ! - oh, mournful and terrible engine of Horror and of Crime - of Agony and of Death !

And now was I indeed wretched beyond the wretchedness of mere Humanity. And a brute beast - whose fellow I had contemptuously destroyed - a brute beast to work out for me - for me a man, fashioned in the image of the High God - so much of insufferable wo! Alas! neither by day nor by night knew I the blessing of Rest any more! During the former the creature left me no moment alone; and, in the latter, I started, hourly, from dreams of unutterable fear, to find the hot breath of the thing upon my face, and its vast weight - an incarnate Night-Mare that I had no power to shake off - incumbent eternally upon my heart!

Beneath the pressure of torments such as these, the feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed. Evil thoughts became my sole intimates - the darkest and most evil of thoughts. The moodiness of my usual temper increased to hatred of all things and of all mankind; while, from the sudden, frequent, and ungovernable outbursts of a fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas! was the most usual and the most patient of sufferers.

One day she accompanied me, upon some household errand, into the cellar of the old building which our poverty compelled us to inhabit. The cat followed me down the steep stairs, and, nearly throwing me headlong, exasperated me to madness. Uplifting an axe, and forgetting, in my wrath, the childish dread which had hitherto stayed my hand, I aimed a blow at the animal which, of course, would have proved instantly fatal had it descended as I wished. But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan.

This hideous murder accomplished, I set myself forthwith, and with entire deliberation, to the task of concealing the body. I knew that I could not remove it from the house, either by day or by night, without the risk of being observed by the neighbors. Many projects entered my mind. At one period I thought of cutting the corpse into minute fragments, and destroying them by fire. At another, I resolved to dig a grave for it in the floor of the cellar. Again, I deliberated about casting it in the well in the yard - about packing it in a box, as if merchandize, with the usual arrangements, and so getting a porter to take it from the house. Finally I hit upon what I considered a far better expedient than either of these. I determined to wall it up in the cellar - as the monks of the middle ages are recorded to have walled up their victims.

For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted. Its walls were loosely constructed, and had lately been plastered throughout with a rough plaster, which the dampness of the atmosphere had prevented from hardening. Moreover, in one of the walls was a projection, caused by a false chimney, or fireplace, that had been filled up, and made to resemble the red of the cellar. I made no doubt that I could readily displace the bricks at this point, insert the corpse, and wall the whole up as before, so that no eye could detect any thing suspicious. And in this calculation I was not deceived. By means of a crow-bar I easily dislodged the bricks, and, having carefully deposited the body against the inner wall, I propped it in that position, while, with little trouble, I re-laid the whole structure as it originally stood. Having procured mortar, sand, and hair, with every possible precaution, I prepared a plaster which could not be distinguished from the old, and with this I very carefully went over the new brickwork. When I had finished, I felt satisfied that all was right. The wall did not present the slightest appearance of having been disturbed. The rubbish on the floor was picked up with the minutest care. I looked around triumphantly, and said to myself - "Here at least, then, my labor has not been in vain."

My next step was to look for the beast which had been the cause of so much wretchedness; for I had, at length, firmly resolved to put it to death. Had I been able to meet with it, at the moment, there could have been no doubt of its fate; but it appeared that the crafty animal had been alarmed at the violence of my previous anger, and forebore to present itself in my present mood. It is impossible to describe, or to imagine, the deep, the blissful sense of relief which the absence of the detested creature occasioned in my bosom. It did not make its appearance during the night - and thus for one night at least, since its introduction into the house, I soundly and tranquilly slept; aye, slept even with the burden of murder upon my soul!

The second and the third day passed, and still my tormentor came not. Once again I breathed as a freeman. The monster, in terror, had fled the premises forever! I should behold it no more! My happiness was supreme! The guilt of my dark deed disturbed me but little. Some few inquiries had been made, but these had been readily answered. Even a search had been instituted - but of course nothing was to be discovered. I looked upon my future felicity as secured.

Upon the fourth day of the assassination, a party of the police came, very unexpectedly, into the house, and proceeded again to make rigorous investigation of the premises. Secure, however, in the inscrutability of my place of concealment, I felt no embarrassment whatever. The officers bade me accompany them in their search. They left no nook or corner unexplored. At length, for the third or fourth time, they descended into the cellar. I quivered not in a muscle. My heart beat calmly as that of one who slumbers in innocence. I walked the cellar from end to end. I folded my arms upon my bosom, and roamed easily to and fro. The police were thoroughly satisfied and prepared to depart. The glee at my heart was too strong to be restrained. I burned to say if but one word, by way of triumph, and to render doubly sure their assurance of my guiltlessness.

"Gentlemen," I said at last, as the party ascended the steps, "I delight to have allayed your suspicions. I wish you all health, and a little more courtesy. By the bye, gentlemen, this - this is a very well constructed house." [In the rabid desire to say something easily, I scarcely knew what I uttered at all.] - "I may say an excellently well constructed house. These walls are you going, gentlemen? - these walls are solidly put together;" and here, through the mere phrenzy of bravado, I rapped heavily, with a cane which I held in my hand, upon that very portion of the brick-work behind which stood the corpse of the wife of my bosom.

But may God shield and deliver me from the fangs of the Arch-Fiend ! No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, than I was answered by a voice from within the tomb! - by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman - a howl - a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the dammed in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.

Of my own thoughts it is folly to speak. Swooning, I staggered to the opposite wall. For one instant the party upon the stairs remained motionless, through extremity of terror and of awe. In the next, a dozen stout arms were toiling at the wall. It fell bodily. The corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of the spectators. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman. I had walled the monster up within the tomb!

The Black Cat

2009-07-03T00:30:00.000-07:00

The Black Cat

Edgar Allen Poe

A Dark Brown Dog

2009-07-03T00:24:00.000-07:00

A Dark Brown Dog

Stephen Crane

A Child was standing on a street-corner. He leaned with one shoulder against a high board-fence and swayed the other to and fro, the while kicking carelessly at the gravel.

Sunshine beat upon the cobbles, and a lazy summer wind raised yellow dust which trailed in clouds down the avenue. Clattering trucks moved with indistinctness through it. The child stood dreamily gazing.

After a time, a little dark-brown dog came trotting with an intent air down the sidewalk. A short rope was dragging from his neck. Occasionally he trod upon the end of it and stumbled.

He stopped opposite the child, and the two regarded each other. The dog hesitated for a moment, but presently he made some little advances with his tail. The child put out his hand and called him. In an apologetic manner the dog came close, and the two had an interchange of friendly pattings and waggles. The dog became more enthusiastic with each moment of the interview, until with his gleeful caperings he threatened to overturn the child. Whereupon the child lifted his hand and struck the dog a blow upon the head.

This thing seemed to overpower and astonish the little dark-brown dog, and wounded him to the heart. He sank down in despair at the child's feet. When the blow was repeated, together with an admonition in childish sentences, he turned over upon his back, and held his paws in a peculiar manner. At the same time with his ears and his eyes he offered a small prayer to the child.

He looked so comical on his back, and holding his paws peculiarly, that the child was greatly amused and gave him little taps repeatedly, to keep him so. But the little dark-brown dog took this chastisement in the most serious way, and no doubt considered that he had committed some grave crime, for he wriggled contritely and showed his repentance in every way that was in his power. He pleaded with the child and petitioned him, and offered more prayers.

At last the child grew weary of this amusement and turned toward home. The dog was praying at the time. He lay on his back and turned his eyes upon the retreating form.

Presently he struggled to his feet and started after the child. The latter wandered in a perfunctory way toward his home, stopping at times to investigate various matters. During one of these pauses he discovered the little dark-brown dog who was following him with the air of a footpad.

The child beat his pursuer with a small stick he had found. The dog lay down and prayed until the child had finished, and resumed his journey. Then he scrambled erect and took up the pursuit again.

On the way to his home the child turned many times and beat the dog, proclaiming with childish gestures that he held him in contempt as an unimportant dog, with no value save for a moment. For being this quality of animal the dog apologized and eloquently expressed regret, but he continued stealthily to follow the child. His manner grew so very guilty that he slunk like an assassin.

When the child reached his door-step, the dog was industriously ambling a few yards in the rear. He became so agitated with shame when he again confronted the child that he forgot the dragging rope. He tripped upon it and fell forward.

The child sat down on the step and the two had another interview. During it the dog greatly exerted himself to please the child. He performed a few gambols with such abandon that the child suddenly saw him to be a valuable thing. He made a swift, avaricious charge and seized the rope.

He dragged his captive into a hall and up many long stairways in a dark tenement. The dog made willing efforts, but he could not hobble very skilfully up the stairs because he was very small and soft, and at last the pace of the engrossed child grew so energetic that the dog became panic-stricken. In his mind he was being dragged toward a grim unknown. His eyes grew wild with the terror of it. He began to wiggle his head frantically and to brace his legs.

The child redoubled his exertions. They had a battle on the stairs. The child was victorious because he was completely absorbed in his purpose, and because the dog was very small. He dragged his acquirement to the door of his home, and finally with triumph across the threshold.

No one was in. The child sat down on the floor and made overtures to the dog. These the dog instantly accepted. He beamed with affection upon his new friend. In a short time they were firm and abiding comrades.

When the child's family appeared, they made a great row. The dog was examined and commented upon and called names. Scorn was leveled at him from all eyes, so that he became much embarrassed and drooped like a scorched plant. But the child went sturdily to the center of the floor, and, at the top of his voice, championed the dog. It happened that he was roaring protestations, with his arms clasped about the dog's neck, when the father of the family came in from work.

The parent demanded to know what the blazes they were making the kid howl for. It was explained in many words that the infernal kid wanted to introduce a disreputable dog into the family.

A family council was held. On this depended the dog's fate, but he in no way heeded, being busily engaged in chewing the end of the child's dress.

The affair was quickly ended. The father of the family, it appears, was in a particularly savage temper that evening, and when he perceived that it would amaze and anger everybody if such a dog were allowed to remain, he decided that it should be so. The child, crying softly, took his friend off to a retired part of the room to hobnob with him, while the father quelled a fierce rebellion of his wife. So it came to pass that the dog was a member of the household.

He and the child were associated together at all times save when the child slept. The child became a guardian and a friend. If the large folk kicked the dog and threw things at him, the child made loud and violent objections. Once when the child had run, protesting loudly, with tears raining down his face and his arms outstretched, to protect his friend, he had been struck in the head with a very large saucepan from the hand of his father, enraged at some seeming lack of courtesy in the dog. Ever after, the family were careful how they threw things at the dog. Moreover, the latter grew very skilful in avoiding missiles and feet. In a small room containing a stove, a table, a bureau and some chairs, he would display strategic ability of a high order, dodging, feinting and scuttling about among the furniture. He could force three or four people armed with brooms, sticks and handfuls of coal, to use all their ingenuity to get in a blow. And even when they did, it was seldom that they could do him a serious injury or leave any imprint.

But when the child was present, these scenes did not occur. It came to be recognized that if the dog was molested, the child would burst into sobs, and as the child, when started, was very riotous and practically unquenchable, the dog had therein a safeguard.

However, the child could not always be near. At night, when he was asleep, his dark-brown friend would raise from some black corner a wild, wailful cry, a song of infinite lowliness and despair, that would go shuddering and sobbing among the buildings of the block and cause people to swear. At these times the singer would often be chased all over the kitchen and hit with a great variety of articles.

Sometimes, too, the child himself used to beat the dog, although it is not known that he ever had what could be truly called a just cause. The dog always accepted these thrashings with an air of admitted guilt. He was too much of a dog to try to look to be a martyr or to plot revenge. He received the blows with deep humility, and furthermore he forgave his friend the moment the child had finished, and was ready to caress the child's hand with his little red tongue.

When misfortune came upon the child, and his troubles overwhelmed him, he would often crawl under the table and lay his small distressed head on the dog's back. The dog was ever sympathetic. It is not to be supposed that at such times he took occasion to refer to the unjust beatings his friend, when provoked, had administered to him.

He did not achieve any notable degree of intimacy with the other members of the family. He had no confidence in them, and the fear that he would express at their casual approach often exasperated them exceedingly. They used to gain a certain satisfaction in underfeeding him, but finally his friend the child grew to watch the matter with some care, and when he forgot it, the dog was often successful in secret for himself.

So the dog prospered. He developed a large bark, which came wondrously from such a small rug of a dog. He ceased to howl persistently at night. Sometimes, indeed, in his sleep, he would utter little yells, as from pain, but that occurred, no doubt, when in his dreams he encountered huge flaming dogs who threatened him direfully.

His devotion to the child grew until it was a sublime thing. He wagged at his approach; he sank down in despair at his departure. He could detect the sound of the child's step among all the noises of the neighborhood. It was like a calling voice to him.

The scene of their companionship was a kingdom governed by this terrible potentate, the child; but neither criticism nor rebellion ever lived for an instant in the heart of the one subject. Down in the mystic, hidden fields of his little dog-soul bloomed flowers of love and fidelity and perfect faith.

The child was in the habit of going on many expeditions to observe strange things in the vicinity. On these occasions his friend usually jogged aimfully along behind. Perhaps, though, he went ahead. This necessitated his turning around every quarter-minute to make sure the child was coming. He was filled with a large idea of the importance of these journeys. He would carry himself with such an air! He was proud to be the retainer of so great a monarch.

One day, however, the father of the family got quite exceptionally drunk. He came home and held carnival with the cooking utensils, the furniture and his wife. He was in the midst of this recreation when the child, followed by the dark-brown dog, entered the room. They were returning from their voyages.

The child's practised eye instantly noted his father's state. He dived under the table, where experience had taught him was a rather safe place. The dog, lacking skill in such matters, was, of course, unaware of the true condition of affairs. He looked with interested eyes at his friend's sudden dive. He interpreted it to mean: Joyous gambol. He started to patter across the floor to join him. He was the picture of a little dark-brown dog en route to a friend.

The head of the family saw him at this moment. He gave a huge howl of joy, and knocked the dog down with a heavy coffee-pot. The dog, yelling in supreme astonishment and fear, writhed to his feet and ran for cover. The man kicked out with a ponderous foot. It caused the dog to swerve as if caught in a tide. A second blow of the coffee-pot laid him upon the floor.

Here the child, uttering loud cries, came valiantly forth like a knight. The father of the family paid no attention to these calls of the child, but advanced with glee upon the dog. Upon being knocked down twice in swift succession, the latter apparently gave up all hope of escape. He rolled over on his back and held his paws in a peculiar manner. At the same time with his eyes and his ears he offered up a small prayer.

But the father was in a mood for having fun, and it occurred to him that it would be a fine thing to throw the dog out of the window. So he reached down and grabbing the animal by a leg, lifted him, squirming, up. He swung him two or three times hilariously about his head, and then flung him with great accuracy through the window.

The soaring dog created a surprise in the block. A woman watering plants in an opposite window gave an involuntary shout and dropped a flower-pot. A man in another window leaned perilously out to watch the flight of the dog. A woman, who had been hanging out clothes in a yard, began to caper wildly. Her mouth was filled with clothes-pins, but her arms gave vent to a sort of exclamation. In appearance she was like a gagged prisoner. Children ran whooping.

The dark-brown body crashed in a heap on the roof of a shed five stories below. From thence it rolled to the pavement of an alleyway.

The child in the room far above burst into a long, dirgelike cry, and toddled hastily out of the room. It took him a long time to reach the alley, because his size compelled him to go downstairs backward, one step at a time, and holding with both hands to the step above.

When they came for him later, they found him seated by the body of his dark-brown friend.

Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award

2009-07-03T00:19:00.000-07:00

Each year, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy confers the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award on one individual or organization that has made significant contributions to the advancement of democracy and human rights through peaceful means in Asia. As the first national democracy assistance foundation in Asia, the TFD is committed to supporting courageous individuals and groups who build democracy, stand up for justice and defend human rights, especially those in our home region.
The Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award is presented to the laureate at a ceremony in Taipei on December 10th, International Human Rights Day. The Award consists of a sculpture and a US$100,000 grant to support the ongoing work of the laureate. The TFD also pledges to deepen its relationship with each Award laureate to help sustain and increase the impact of their work.
After an open call for nominations, the Award laureate is chosen by a rigorous review process that spans several months and adheres to strict principles of fairness and confidentiality. A preliminary board of domestic reviewers shortlists five candidates for the final review, which is then conducted by an international panel of distinguished experts.
Nominations are now open to the public and due by 30 June 2009. For more information, please write to award@taiwandemocracy.org.tw or call the TFD at +886-2-2708-0100 ext. 211.
Nomination Form Word / PDF (click to download)

Selection Criteria and Review Process
The Taiwan Foundation for Democracy’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved the Guidelines for the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award on 21 March 2006, pursuant to TFD’s Bylaws, and with the enthusiastic support of Chairman Wang Jin-pyng.
According to the Guidelines, nominees for the Award shall be individuals or institutions that have demonstrated outstanding leadership and made significant contributions to the advancement of democracy or to the improvement of human rights in the Asian region, regardless of race, religion, nationality, class, or gender. The nominees, as individuals or institutions, are selected based upon the following criteria:
1.The nominee shall have made concrete and significant contributions to the advancement of democracy or human rights movements.
2.The nominee shall have a high level of integrity that is respected by others and should possess a strong spirit of altruism.
3.The nominee shall have made creative and unique contributions to foster the development of regional democracy or human rights protection.
Nominations are open to the public, and each nominee must be nominated in writing by at least two credible organizations or individuals from the field of democracy or human rights. The nomination form is available for download from the TFD’s website, and all pertinent documents must be received by the TFD no later than June 30 of each year.
The review of nominees includes two stages: preliminary review and final review. Preliminary review is conducted by a Preliminary Review Board (PRB), of which the TFD president presides as chair. Together with six experts from Taiwan, the PRB verifies the validity of the submitted information regarding the nominees’ qualifications and achievements, and shortlists five candidates for the final review.
Final review is conducted by a Final Review Board (FRB), of which the chairperson and president of the TFD are ex officio members, and the TFD chairperson presides as the chair. Five prominent international personages are invited to serve on the FRB and make the final selection of the Award laureate.
All members of both review boards shall abide by strict ethical standards and the principles of impartiality and confidentiality, and avoid conflict of interest. Review board members are not eligible to nominate candidates for the Award. The TFD’s Board of Trustees and employees are also not eligible for nomination.
Information regarding the nominees, review process, and all relevant information shall be kept strictly confidential.
More info: http://www.tfd.org.tw/english/HTML/ADHRA_2009_main.html

Simple And Successful SEO Strategies - On Page Optimization

2009-07-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

Simple And Successful SEO Strategies - On Page Optimization

SEO doesn't have to be complex and by following these simple on-page optimization techniques you can give your SEO campaign the perfect start.

SEO is often seen as being a difficult and in-depth process, but the reality is that by following some reasonably common sense guidelines it is possible to get good rankings. That's not to say that optimization is a simple or quick process; there are, unfortunately, no short cuts. Your SEO efforts should be a concerted and long term effort in order that you will enjoy the best possible results and should incorporate both on-page and off-page optimization techniques. By following the on-page SEO strategies below you can set a strong foundation to all your SEO work.

Keyword Research

Before you begin penning content and writing title and meta tags you first need to research the keywords you will use on each of your pages. Using the wrong keywords can negatively impact your entire campaign, causing you to lose untold hours and days of work and eventually forcing you to concede that you made the wrong decision and start all over again.

The most appropriate and most beneficial keywords are popular enough that they will enjoy regular searches but without being prohibitively competitive or overly generic. A number of keyword research tools exist and your competitors' websites are a good place to start your early research. Ensure keywords are targeted specifically to the type of content you will provide as well as the service or product you will be selling. More targeted keywords will result in more targeted visitors and targeted visitors mean greater conversion rates and an improved return on your efforts.

Niche And Semantically Related Keywords

A good strategy is to incorporate a reasonable list of competitive keywords with less competitive ones. The more niche keywords will serve you well during the early days of your website and over time you should be able to start competing for the more challenging of the keywords you use. Also incorporate semantically or topically related keywords into your keyword list because the search engines are placing more and more emphasis on those pages that use related keywords as well as primary keywords.

Accessibility And Standards

Site accessibility is an integral part of good website design but it should also be considered an important factor in any SEO strategy. Using standards based code for your website will help to ensure that anybody that wishes to access and view your website will be able to do so. It will also mean that the spiders used by search engines will be able to access and index your pages effectively ensuring that you get the full credit for your site.

Navigation And Intra-Linking

Your navigation menu and internal links should be prominently placed, easy to see, and easy to follow for the spiders. It is good practice to include a text link from the home page to a compliant sitemap on your site, alleviating any potential problems that might arise from broken links or the use of graphical or flash based navigation menus. You can also consider adding links into the main body of your content, although too many will make the page difficult to read and therefore diminish the overall effectiveness so don't get too carried away.

Title And Meta Tags

While search engines do not specifically use the meta tags to help assess the value of a page like they once did, meta tags are still critical to good SEO performance. The title and description tags that you add at the top of a page are used in various ways including in the compiling and display of Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). This is the first thing a potential site visitor will see from your site so this mini listing needs to be as effective as any paid advert or PPC ad. Poorly written titles and descriptions can put many readers off viewing your pages so a little time and effort here can have a very positive effect.

Using your keywords in the title and the description is good practice because these will be highlighted in the search results if they were used in the search query itself. This will make your result more prominent and instantly identify your page as being relevant to the user. Don't needlessly use keywords, however, and don't throw extra keywords into the description at the cost of a well written, short ad.

Other Formatting Tags

On-page content should always be written with the visitor in mind, although obviously it can still be optimized for search engines. As such, proper page structure is important to your reader as well as to the engines. H1 and H2 tags are an effective way of breaking up page content, and give readers the chance to skim through a page and determine its relevance.

A page should only contain a single H1 tag at the top of the content but can include multiple H2 and H3 tags. Alt tags on images should also be included and these as well as the actual file path to the image itself can include important keywords (but do make sure that they actually make sense and are more than just a keyword thrown in for the sake of SEO).

Page Content Optimization

Finally, we get to the heart of the page - the content itself. Use the keywords you researched for a page including semantically related keywords. Write as naturally and appealingly as possible while keeping those keywords in mind and don't get carried away stuffing or cramming them into the body of the text. Not only is this unappealing to readers but is seriously frowned upon by the search engines.

The reader really is the most important aspect of your content. If the majority of your visitors are coming from the search engines remember that they arrived using specific keywords. This means that they are searching for equally specific information relating to those keywords - make sure you deliver on the promise that you made in your title and description tags.

About the Author: Matt Jackson - WebWiseWords is a content writing service enabling website owners and online business owners to buy web content tailored to their needs. Services include affordable and high quality SEO content writing and more.

What Makes a Website Design a Good One?

2009-07-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

What Makes a Website Design a Good One?

A lot of people can recognize good design when they see it on the web. But most people don't really know what makes that design good.

How do you define "good design?" Is it subjective, like your favorite flavor of ice cream? Although there is some subjectivity within good design, there are artistic principles that good design is built from. Here are a few that form the foundation of good design.

1. Proximity

Because items that are in close proximity to one another become one visual unit, items that are related to one another should be grouped together. Laying out related items on a website page this way helps the eye associate the information and enables the viewer to mentally categorize the information easily. The flip side of this principle is that items that are not related should not be placed in close proximity to one another.

The purpose of the principle of proximity is to organize information in a way that enables viewers to quickly and easily comprehend. When information is organized, people are more likely to read it and respond. People are also more likely to remember information that is organized.

How can you determine if items form a visual unit? Squint your eyes and look at the page on a website. Now count the number of times your eye stops as it views the page. On a page that is using the principle of proximity well, your eye will stop three to five times. In other words, there will be three to five groups of information for the eye to comprehend separately.

2. Alignment

You've seen website page layouts where the text and graphics are placed wherever there happens to be space. The effect is messy, with no impact. Nothing should be placed on a page arbitrarily. There should be a visual connection between each item and something other item on the page. When items are aligned, it creates a cohesiveness that the eye appreciates.

The purpose of alignment is to unify the website page. Imagine a well-organized kitchen. All the pots and pans are stored in the organizer, the fruit is nicely displayed in a basket on the counter, the spices are all on the rack-everything is in its place. A page layout needs the same thing.

Look at a website page that you feel is good design. Now focus on the main visual element. Where does your eye go from there? Do you see how other elements are aligned with that one main element both vertically and horizontally?

3. Repetition

Good design repeats some aspect of the website design throughout the site. It's this repetition that makes all the pages in a site look like they belong together. Color scheme, graphic elements, typefaces-all of these elements should be repeated-used consistently-throughout.

The purpose of repetition is to create consistency and to add visual interest. Repetition creates a professional, polished look that the eye is drawn to. When a website design uses repetition and is consistent, it is more likely to be viewed and read.

Here are some was you can create repetition beyond simple consistency in typefaces and colors: Use some element in your logo as a major graphic element in the design. If you are using a ruled line, make the line more interesting visually by perhaps making it with tiny dots or dashes, then repeating the line element throughout the design. Create patterns that are repeated throughout the design. Take a small element and place it somewhere on each page for a whimsical look. Just be careful not to overdo the repetition, or viewers will be annoyed rather than pleased.

4. Contrast

The principle of contrast states that if two items are not the same, then they should be different-very different. Contrast creates an organizational hierarchy of the information and graphics on a webpage. When using contrast, you can't be a wimp! The contrast must be strong to be effective.

The purpose of contrast is two-fold: to create interest on the page, and to organize information. A page that is interesting to look at is more likely to be read. And contrasting elements will help a reader understand the way the information is organized.

Contrast can be created in many ways. You can contrast large type with small type, a serif font with a sans-serif font, bold with light, smooth texture with rough texture, a small graphic with a large one, a dark color with a light one.

A design that integrates these principles will automatically gain a professionalism and polish that it would otherwise lack. Next time you stumble across a website design that makes you say "wow", cheek for these principles-you'll find them quietly working to make that design a good one!

About the Author: Laura MacPherson - Creative director at Northstar Creative, a website design studio located in Greenville, SC. Her company, Northstar Creative Web Design, approaches website development differently than many web companies. Northstar Creative combines the use of marketing psychology with top-notch web development to create truly exceptional custom sites for its clients.

The Big Trends To Watch Out For In Search Engine Optimisation

2009-07-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

The Big Trends To Watch Out For In Search Engine Optimisation

If you know anything about the fundamentals of search engine optimisation, you will know that the experts' opinions on what to do, what is now considered redundant and recommendations of the absolutely necessary elements you must put in place on your website, change with mind-spinning frequency.

However, the bigger trends in search engine optimisation are easier to keep up with and most seem to be here to stay, as business owners become more attuned to just how important SEO is to their success.

SEO Trends 2009 And Beyond

The industry and 'bigger picture' trends have become relatively easy to identify as the SEO world becomes more established - increased awareness of SEO in general being the first major trend.

Search engine optimisation used to be an exclusive world, with only those practising it really knowing what it entailed and how it boosted a website's visitor stats.

Now, most people know what it means, and most business owners are aware of just how important the internet is and how SEO can help them gain more customers.

The next major trend and one which is definitely here to stay, is the rise and rise of Google - they have dominated the world of search engine optimisation for years, and their lead over competitors such as Yahoo and MSN is only getting bigger.

When Google speaks, SEO consultants listen and if your business is not being found on Google, it's almost certain it's not being found at all - around 70% of user searches are done using Google.

SEO tools and automated processes are becoming an important part of the reporting of website results - individuals are focusing on developing these tools for companies to buy, who may be struggling to find or afford a good search engine optimisation agency. Such tools can offer good basic data, but it's worth remembering that it's still what you do with the data that's important.

Dipping into the actual technicalities of good SEO practice, good content has been king for a while and remains so.

As a business owner, if you write, or employ an SEO copywriter to write good quality articles and press releases, this will benefit your search results hugely, encourages links to and from your website - and links are extremely important as the 'currency' of good quality SEO.

Finally, a trend clear to all - not just those operating in the search engine optimisation world - is the rise and rise of social networking sites.

Facebook and now Twitter are educating people to communicate in a whole different way, and business owners should be engaging these people in order to develop a whole new audience.

Keep Up With SEO - Your Business Will Benefit

There are many more trends in search engine optimisation, too many to mention here, but one thing remains clear - business owners small and large cannot afford to ignore SEO and must become well-versed in good SEO practice if they want to keep up with the ever-changing world of consumer web behaviour.

About the Author: Harvey McEwan writes to bring you the very best search engine optimisation advice.

What Core Values Are And Why You Need Them

2009-06-30T00:02:00.002-07:00

“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.” - Stephen R. Covey

Have you ever felt like your ladder is not leaning on the right wall? I have, and it is because I’ve somehow veered off track. This happens because I simply forgot where I was going in the first place. I have also found out that this occurs because I am making decisions that aren’t in alignment with my core values.

The difference between success and merely surviving is the ability to define and recognize your core values and then integrate them into every aspect of your personal and professional life. Core values are the foundation that creates more of what you do want and less of what you don’t want in your life. They must be present in your daily actions if you want to be truly at peace with yourself and achieve the success you desire.

What are core values? Core values are who you are right now, not who you think you should be, can be or might be. They define who you are on the ‘inside’ - your core. These values help you define what matters most to you in your life and they are the basis for making better choices for taking better care of yourself. We all have our own personal values that define who we are as individuals. You may not have written your core values on paper as such, but they are definitely present in your life.

How many times have you made a decision and one minute later you knew you had made the wrong the decision? In all probability, you made a choice that was not in alignment with your core values. And you probably made that decision to please someone else – not you. This is a People Pleaser No More™ NO NO!

Let me give you an example. If one of your core values is believing in strong family connections, yet you are always working and not spending quality time with your family, then the decision to constantly work is inconsistent with your core values. This will probably have you end up feeling guilty for having ‘abandoned’ your family and paying more attention to your work instead of them.

If you want to get your ladder back on the right wall, take some time this week to get clear about what your core values are. Here are some People Pleaser No More™ Action Exercises to help you figure things out.

1. Make a list of all the things that matter most to you in your life. These are the things that you know in your heart of hearts must be present in order for you to feel truly peaceful and successful. Here are some examples: freedom, family connection, personal development, health, fun, honesty, communication, adventure, and respect. Make your Top 10 list of those that are the most important to you and write them down. Then go back and pick out 5 values that really speak to you – you know, the ones that get you all excited when you say them out loud.

2. When you have your list of 5, take a look at where you are in life right now. How many of your current decisions and choices reflect your Top 5 core values? You may be surprised to find out that some of the choices you’ve made recently have taken you away from your core values. It’s okay because this exercise is about creating awareness. The good news is that you can now use this information to make changes and implement new choices that better take care of you (and those around you).

Defining your core values is one of the first steps to becoming a People Pleaser No More™. How else are you going to keep your ladder on the right wall? I’ve included the written exercise about this important step and Audio CD in my People Pleaser No More™ System. Go to www.SuccessSource.biz and click on Success Source Store, then choose People Pleaser No More ™ System. This could very well be the best present you give yourself this year.

Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=223957&ca=Career

Resume Etiquette

2009-06-30T00:02:00.001-07:00

With employers receiving hundreds of resumes, it is important to make your resume standout from all of the others. One way of ensuring that you catch the eye of a potential employer is to make sure your resume contains the proper etiquette.

Type of Job: Do not apply for a job that is not related to your background and education.

It is a waste of your time and the employer’s time when you submit a resume that does meet the requirements of the position being offered. State the job you are applying for and make job titles and skill headings relate to the position.

Cover Letter: Including a cover letter will give you a competitive edge over the resumes that do not have a cover letter. Cover letters are a great way to draw attention to the qualities that make you an ideal candidate.

Job Objective: A job objective highlights your perceived strengths and how these strengths will make you the hest candidate for the job. A job objective is useful for the following situations: recent college graduates without a work history, the objective can be used to let the potential employer know what type of work they are interested in, those whose career goal is not that clear, and those who know exactly what kind of job that they want.

Education: Employers will value real work experience, but they also value education. List all of the degrees or diplomas that you have gained and also list other college coursework that might not have led to the degree. List some of your school accomplishments such as making the Dean’s list.

Priorities: Make sure that you state the most relevant information pertaining to the position. This includes your work experience. This will help the potential employer acquire you qualifications much faster. It will tell them that you have the skills to instantly contribute to their business. The most important things should be highlighted and placed at the top of the resume. It is important not to go back too far when listing your employment experience. If you are older, employers do not want to read about what summer job you had in high school.

Highlight Your Qualities: Do not make your resume look like a long essay. Highlight your relevant qualities. You can even bold them. Making them stand out from the rest of your resume will catch the employer’s attention.. Boring sentences will make employers think the candidate is boring. Expand sentences to give employers something enjoyable and interesting to read.

Volunteer Experience: Many people neglect to state volunteer experience on their resumes. Many employers are interested in finding people who are willing to help others. Volunteer work is an excellent way to show that money is not your only concern.

Salary Expectations: Resumes for higher paying jobs should use different wording than low-paying resumes. If you expect a high salary, make sure that your resume makes that expectation clear. The resume should also list potential skills that are high paying skills.

Follow -Up: If you do not hear back from the employer within two weeks, it may be useful to follow-up. Employers may prefer a follow-up email. If there is no listed email address, send a note or call. If there is no email, address or a phone number listed, or if there is a posting that states not to contact the employer, do not follow-up.

Because job opportunities are becoming much more competitive, it is important that you have the best resume to make you stand from the other job applicants. It will help you land a job interview and possibly your dream job.

Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=380092&ca=Career

Turning a “Loser” Cover Letter Into a Winning One

2009-06-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

When applying for a job, it’s not uncommon to send in a cover letter with the resume. In fact, many experts suggest that even if one is not requested, it be sent anyway to show professionalism and enthusiasm for the job.

However, not all cover letters are good cover letters. In fact, it is possible to send one that makes you look like a not-so-great candidate. To avoid writing a losing cover letter, let’s take a look at some tips to consider that’ll make you a winner in the hiring manager’s eyes.

Keep Your Job Accomplishments Simple

Okay, so there are many job candidates guilty of submitting a carbon-copy cover letter that tells nothing specific about the job they want and how they can contribute, which is why you get a pass for wanting to disclose a lot about why you want the job. However, there’s a such thing as disclosing too much information. In other words, you want to tell enough, but not everything.

For instance, if you’re applying for a job as a sales rep, you want to include the time you were able to sell a record number of products, catapulting the company’s profits into a new stratosphere. That’s great information to share. But if you also feel the need to disclose that as a result of this accomplishment, all of the other sales reps hated you and left you in a position to be the “bigger person,” you may find that the hiring manager could become just as turned off by your success as impressed by it.

Keep Personal Activities to Yourself Unless Otherwise Necessary

Another mistake that job candidates often make that can turn their cover letter into a losing one is disclosing too much about personal activities. For instance, a candidate who is looking to work as a manager may not want to disclose that she’s a model on the weekends. While this may be a great activity that brings on many rewards personally, the picture that it puts in the hiring manager’s head may very well contradict they ideal candidate they’re looking for. It’s for this reason that personal details should likely be avoided unless they apply directly to the position. If you are a star soccer player in your league, enter your poodle in dog shows, or are the star parent on your child’s PTA, this information is probably best left for cooler talk after you’ve been hired.

Display Confidence, Not Cockiness

A major turn off to any hiring manager – and just about any person on earth – is a display of arrogance. You may feel great about the role you played in your previous company, but if you display yourself as the next best thing since sliced bread, the hiring manager might just slice your cover letter into several pieces before throwing it away.

It’s good to engage the hiring manager with great details about who you are and how you can make a difference in the company for which you’d like to work. But there’s a fine line between engaging the reader and annoying the reader. When writing your cover letter, it’s good to lean towards engaging.

Published At: Isnare Free Articles Directory http://www.isnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=379808&ca=Career

6 Steps to Rejuvenate Your Slow Computer

2009-06-30T00:00:00.002-07:00

You don't have to be a computer professional to get more life out of your creeping, crawling PC. You will need a basic knowledge of computers though and be able to log in as an Administrator. You should be familiar with the My Computer (Windows Explorer) program. Other than that, if you can read, click on buttons and links and follow directions, then you can get your computer running faster and more efficient, without spending hundreds of dollars doing it.

There is no one program that will solve all of your computers problems, so it will take a few different ones to get things working nicely. Before you start, there are a couple of things that will prevent these procedures from working properly. First, if your computer has a hardware problem, then you're better off replacing the hardware or just getting a new computer. Second, if your computer is loaded with Viruses and your Virus Protection programs can't get rid of them, then you are better off reformatting your hard drive and starting from scratch. Both of those issues are beyond the scope of this article and you will need to seek professional help to resolve them.

Having the proper tools to help you with these steps will drastically effect how long it takes to complete the processes, but know that this is a time consuming endeavor. It will take a few hours to completely clean out your system, but the results will be most worth your time and effort.

The following steps sound more complicated than they really are. That is assuming that you have the proper software to do the job and we will recommend the best tools that we have found for each step.

1. Clean Out the Registry

2. Uninstall Software that is Not Needed or Used

3. Delete Temporary and Non-Essential Files

4. Run Virus/Adware/Malware/Trojan Removal Software

5. Clean out the Registry - Yes, Again

6. Defragment Your Hard Drive

Step 1: Clean Out the Registry - WARNING: The Registry is the place where Windows stores a list of all the hardware and software in your computer and the default settings for them. It actually does more than this, but that is the general idea. Messing around with the Registry IS dangerous, if you don't know what you are doing. That is why choosing the RIGHT software for this is crucial. See the bottom of this Step for a link to a list of recommended programs.

It is actually not necessary to perform this step first, but I have found that this will immediately increase the performance enough to get things moving quicker than if we didn't do it. The software that you use for this step should automatically save the Registry in its current state before ever making any changes. That way, if something does go wrong, it can be reset to its former state. The program should be easy to use and be backed by a Customer Support team. Go ahead and acquire one of the programs, in the recommended link below, if you don't already have a program that can do this, that you trust. Install it and follow the directions.

For a list of the top 5 programs that we have reviewed, check out this link: http://bit.ly/12GyYZ

Step 2: Uninstall Software that is Not Needed or Used - Over time, software gets installed onto your computer. You may use those programs for a while and then they lose their appeal and just sit there unused and taking up space on your hard drive and your Registry. If you no longer use those programs, then they should be removed. By taking up space in your Registry, they actually cause it to run slower. By uninstalling these programs, you will regain space and increase the responsiveness of your computer. To uninstall these programs, you will need to open up your computer's Control Panel. This can be found by opening the My Computer (Windows Explorer) program and selecting it from the Drive list on the left side of the screen. If you don't see the Drive list, then you can enable it by pressing on the Folders icon or by clicking the View menu, selecting Explorer Bar and choosing the Folders option. Once you click on the Control Panel, you will be presented with many items in the right pane of the screen. You will want to select the "Add or Remove Programs" or the "Programs And Features" entry, depending on your Operating System. This will open another window that will list the programs that are installed on your computer.

WARNING: If a program listed here does not look familiar to you, then you may want to leave it alone as it might be a needed program for your particular system. Such as drivers for your graphics card or crucial Windows updates. Look only for programs that you know of and no longer need. Select the program you want to uninstall and click the Change/Remove button. Follow the default prompts.

Step 3: Delete Temporary and Non-Essential Files - Many programs, that you use every day, create additional files that help them to run faster and more efficient. That, in and of itself, is not a problem and is in fact desirable. The problem comes when these programs can't or just don't clean up after themselves. These additional files are only needed while the program that created them is running. After that, they can and should be removed from your system. Also, while you surf the Internet, your computer stores various information and images from them in a cache. This is also somewhat desirable, because if you frequent those pages often, it helps them to load up more quickly, since your computer only needs to look locally to find the information rather than downloading it every time you visit the site. The Recycle Bin on your computer also holds wasteful files that need to be removed. So, with all of that said, how do we do it?

There are much better programs than what Windows provides, but we will use their built in abilities to do this job. Open up the My Computer program and locate the C: drive in the Folders panel on the left. Right-Click on the C: drive and choose the Properties option. There are several tabs on the window that pops up. Look through the tabs for the button that reads Disk Cleanup. Press that button and wait for Windows to finish scanning your computer for removable files. When completed, you can select which locations you want to clean up and then click the OK button to start. We are still working on a preferred list of programs that do a far better job than the above Windows option and will write another article when we've made our determinations.

Step 4: Run Virus/Adware/Malware/Trojan Removal Software - Viruses are programs written by malicious users designed to cause all sorts of problems for your computer. You should already have Virus software installed on your system to battle these little monsters. If you don't, then you need to get something fast. Most top of the line virus protection software programs are well known nowadays, so I don't really have a list of the best ones, although we will do an exhaustive study of some of the lesser known, less expensive programs out there. For now, you may want to take a look at AVG or Avast. A Google search will bring you to their respective web sites. Adware and Malware programs are yet another species of little beasts that can be aggressive or passive, but definitely clog up your computer, slowing it down tremendously.

For a list of the top 5 programs that we have found, check out this link: http://bit.ly/cFoJP

As stated before, go ahead and acquire one of the programs, in the recommended link above, if you don't already have a program that can do this and that you trust. Install it and follow the directions.

Step 5: Clean out the Registry - Yes, Again - Why do this step again? Simply because, now that we have removed more programs from your system, via steps 2 through 4, there are more unneeded and wasteful entries in the Registry. You would think that when you uninstall programs, that they would clean out their Registry entries too and some of the better programs will do that, but not all of them do, which makes this step necessary. You might be surprised at just how much more waste the program finds this time around. See the link in Step 1 for a list of the top 5 Registry cleaning software products.

Step 6: Defragment Your Hard Drive - Your hard drive stores all of your computers programs and the Registry. OK, you knew that. What you may or may not know, is that the hard drive stores information in blocks of spaces that are a particular size. Each block holds all or a portion of an installed program. For instance, lets say that it is setup to hold blocks in 4k chunks. One program may take up hundreds or thousands of these little blocks, depending on how big the program is. Logically, the programs should be installed sequentially in block 1, block 2, block 3, etc. When your computer is new, that is pretty much how it happens. Over time, as programs are installed and uninstalled, programs will use up any available block, no matter where it might be, so if the program takes up more space than there is available sequential blocks, your computer will break up your program and install it anywhere it finds an available block. For example, lets say that you install a program that takes up 100 blocks of space. All is well until you uninstall that program and install another program of a different size. If the new program is smaller, then it takes what it needs and all is still well. If the program is bigger than the one it replaced, then the computer will use up the 100 blocks and install the rest of the program in the next set of available blocks which could be many blocks away. Now this new program is fragmented. Meaning that some of it is installed here and the rest of it is installed on another section of the hard drive. Now we have two fragments, which still isn't bad, but can you see if the program had to be installed in several to hundreds of fragments all over the place? That's right, your computer has to look in all of those locations to get at your one program. The more fragmented programs you have on your computer, the more work your computer has to do to find it and the slower and slower it becomes. This last step reconfigures your hard drive in a way that moves these files around into the sequential order that is the most efficient and fastest for program retrieval. In this step, we will again use the Windows built in program. There are several alternatives to this, but the Windows version works just fine. To find it, click on your Start button and choose the All Programs option. Locate the Accessories folder and then look in the System Tools folder. The Disk Defragmenter program should be one of the available choices. Run this program and choose the Defragment button.

When this completes, which could take well over an hour depending on how bad the fragmentation is, you are done. It's probably not a bad idea to reboot your system at this point, just to get a fresh start, but once you do, you should notice quite a difference in performance, if you haven't already. If you don't, then it is quite possible that you have an impending hardware issue that may need to be addressed.

Thank you for reading and enjoy your rejuvenated computer.

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Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=379781&ca=Computers+and+Technology

Plenty of Bandwidth, Not Enough Power: Responsible Data Center Power Allocation

2009-06-30T00:00:00.001-07:00

Having enough bandwidth for your servers won't do you any good if there isn't enough power at your data center. Power allocation in data centers is becoming an increasing problem these days with rising oil prices and increasing power costs. In the past it was enough to simply supply equal power throughout the racks, with little or no concern for the distribution. But as times are changing, there's a need to rethink the way the power is allocated in data centers. Costs of cooling and supplying power make it necessary to implement a new strategy for distributing power throughout the data center.

Start by Measuring

The first step in an effective energy management solution and power allocation is to start by measuring the current power consumption and needs of the data center. To do this, the data center will need to have both hardware and software components working hand-in-hand to address the following areas:

• wasted energy

• overuse of power by certain applications

• overheating

• "hot spots"

• air conditioning

Responsible Power Allocation

Once these issues are addressed, measured and monitored, the data center can create an effective plan for allocating their power usage. An effective solution should include the following components:

• Integrated Information- Data centers should start by having a consolidated view of the power requirements including those of regulating the temperature and allocating the power to all applications with the data center.

• Flexible power management- The ability to manage power within a data center is useless if it isn't flexible. Part of responsible power management is the ability to change with changing needs. The data center should have the ability to either manually or automatically re-allocate power needs to servers or groups of servers. These changes should be based on the needs and power usages of the facility such as air conditioning, power and equipment.

• View system usages- The ability to look at how the power is being used is crucial to effectively managing it. This way the data center can make sure that all components of the center are being used efficiently before any new systems are added. Components to look at include: air conditioning, power and space requirements.

• Management of processors and resources- The ability to manage these two components allows the data center to make the most efficient use of power consumption in order to achieve the maximum efficiency in the data center.

• Proper power allocation for each server- Not all servers require the same amount of power and energy. Depending on the size, usage and bandwidth some servers require more bandwidth than others. An effective power management solution recognizes this need and has the ability to allocate more power to servers that need it and less to those that do not.

• The ability to feed energy-use information to chargeback applications- In this way, the data center has the ability to monitor which servers are using what. That is to say, which servers are using the most power, creating the most heat and requiring the most air conditioning. This way, individual servers can be held accountable for their consumption and it allows the data center to find creative ways to monitor and effectively allocate resources.

When taken as a whole, all of these components are important in order to create an effective energy solution. When a data center takes these steps to allocate their power responsibly, they not only help the daily operations of the data center, but they also help the end users as well as take responsibility for the environmental factors involved. Cost savings that come with responsible power usage are passed on to the customers. Additionally customers can feel assured that their servers will receive the amount of power that is needed, without taking away power from other servers. This is an important factor when choosing a data center to host your servers.

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Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=379660&ca=Computers+and+Technology

Stuck With You, But Don’t Want To: Avoiding Cramped Data Centers

2009-06-29T23:58:00.000-07:00

When it comes to hosting your servers, the number of other servers located in the facility is a very important consideration. Some people find themselves being in the position of having started hosting at a data center when it was brand new and not many people knew about it yet. Then, as time went on, the data center began to fill up. But with more servers in the data center, this also created more problems. If you stayed with your data center, watching it fill up and are fed up with the problems that a cramped and over-crowded data center brings, or if you're looking for a colocation facility for the first time, it's imperative that you know the risks involved with hosting in a crowded facility.

Pulling your Plug

With so many servers hosted in one area, it can be hard to tell which plug goes to which server. Tangles are never easy to navigate, especially for novice technicians and people with little experience in the industry. Even the seasoned professional might not be able to get through the mess of chords. Regardless of whether you're confident in your own abilities, you can't count on other people to always be precise. Accidents happen all too frequently, and if someone accidentally pulls the plug on your server instead of theirs, it spells disaster.

Power Outages

More servers mean more power being used. With so many servers filling up the outlets, it's more likely that there's going to be a power-outage. Even when a data center has redundancies and power-generators, frequent power-outages are not something you want to have happen. The more the power goes out, the more likely it becomes that the generator will fail or other associated problems will occur.

Over-heating

Servers generate heat. There's no denying that. The more servers you have, the more air conditioning you need to pump into the data center to compensate for the heat generated. But air-conditioning has its limits. Even with the AC on full-blast all the time, it won't necessarily counter the heat generated in a cramped data center.

Scary to Navigate

Crowded data centers mean lots of racks and lots of servers. But it's not like there are wide hallways between each row. Rather, racks are placed close together and the aisles in between are small, at best. Knocking down other people's servers is a major concern in this situation. If you accidentally knock over someone else's server, you could be responsible for repairing the damage or replacing the entire server. The reverse is also possible. If someone bumps into your sever and inadvertently pulls out a chord or knocks it to the ground, you could be down for a long time until someone notices. This, of course, could be detrimental to your business if your server is down for long enough.

Hot Pockets

Cooling systems in data centers are not always even. When there is too much air coming out of one server, the AC will kick in at that spot in order to cool down the rack. However, this creates a problem for other servers- there’s not enough air conditioning to go around, leaving certain areas of the data center without any cooling at all. If your server happens to be located in one these hot pockets, it could overheat. And unfortunately, there's no way to tell where one of these hot pockets is going to occur.

Security

Large and overcrowded data centers are open to a host of security breaches. With so many customers going in and out on a daily basis, it's easy for the wrong person to enter the data center. In fact, it's happened before. In one such data center, someone came into the data and stole expensive components out of someone else's server. No one in the facility thought a thing of it because they just assumed that the person was a customer working on their server. It was later discovered that this was not the case and that he had in fact stolen parts of the server.

It's easy to avoid these and other problems that could arise from hosting at a crowded data center. Switching to a newer facility that hasn't filled up yet is the best way to prevent these problems. Newer and more spacious data centers automatically eliminate these problems, giving you peace of mind that your servers are always safe and free from the hazards of over-crowded data centers.

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Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=379653&ca=Computers+and+Technology

The End of Reason

2009-06-29T23:57:00.000-07:00

I can't think of anything to write about. I thought I would say the stuff that needed to be said and that would be it. People would say, thanks, I was wondering about that and what I should do - now I know. Then I would spend my life playing in the dirt - like I've always wanted to. But that didn't happen. Nothing much happened. I got a couple of "way to goes" and some gold stars and people went back to arguing about the bailout. The bailout. I tried to explain that there was no bailout - but - I guess people need a stupid argument and there's none better at the moment than an imaginary bailout.

You got my article about the bailout being impossible didn't you? Maybe I didn't write it. Maybe I just burnt out making comments to the New York times, Huffington post and...Oh it hurts me to even think about it but...change.org. I think the people at change.org have finally driven me to the wall. Them and Democrats dot calm yourself have just about put me in a coma. I feel like I'm dreaming. Every time you go there ( I get there news letters just so I'll always have somebody to yell at ) they're trying to make no change look like a change so they can feel like they were right. I watched the celebration, after the presidential concoction, at that park in DC. It was the second most creepiest thing I've watched on TV. The 1st place going to Fox news's coverage of the pulverization of Baghdad. The first and second nights of "murder by bomb" I just sat and stared. I was shocked and I was in awe at the insanity of my fellow humans. In fact I started wondering if we are all from the same stack. Maybe the stories of different extraterrestrial races influencing and manipulating our development is true. Maybe it's not that some of us are just nuts. Maybe we will find out - if we survive our own goofiness.

The thing that's got me stuck, at the moment, is the emotionally directed humans. I tend to look at emotions like guilt. Some is OK. If you feel guilty, as you're sneaking off after raiding the neighbor girls panty drawer because, contrary to the original plan, you took every pair of panties she had - that's good. You should never take the whole pile. That's just greedy. So you sneak back and try and fold them properly. Keeping your favorite. There, guilt has led you to doing the right thing. If you feel horribly guilty because you want to get a pair of panties - because it's probably a sin - and you just know you're going to hell, that's not helping anybody. It's out of proportion. Same with the emotional driven life. If you are so emotionally involved with saving the animals that you don't see the people starving then you're out of balance. Out of touch with reality. Not helpful, not useful, just goofy. How this plays out on the political activist stage is that a lot of people have an emotional attachment to being right. They aren't all that interested in evidence or reality. They have been sold an idea, that there is a good political party and a bad political party, and they spend their lives consumed with supporting their chosen team. Here again, it's very crucial to any type of usefulness, to be in balance. If you can't look at the evidence - which in this case would be words said and deeds done - then you've lost touch with reality. Emotions have clouded the senses. Blocked off the brain and put an end to reason.

What is the evidence that Democrats are different from Republicans? I'm not talking about what someone says the difference is - on TV or in the Newspaper - I'm talking about the evidence. In fact why would any thinking human being think that a congressman or president has our best interests at heart? The fact is that thousands of people swarmed in to a park and shed tears because a total stranger had been placed in the office of the presidency. They didn't even know who he was. And they cried. We have a nation of fans. I have been thinking about writing an article titled "Brittany Spears is not your friend". Or Janet Jackson, Hilary Clinton or a hundred other people. What does this mean? It just means that you/we don't know these people. I don't know who is reading this but the chances of you knowing these people is fairly astronomical. So why would someone be a fan of someone they don't know? Do you think if you had to live with Janet, or Hilary for a month you'd feel the same way? They are people. Like all the other people you've met in your life. Who would you choose, from the people you truly know, to be the president? How about a senator? Who would you trust with your money? How long would it take to build that trust? We "allow" people to be put in office. Then we support them guided by a set of emotional rules.

Here is the bottom line in the "will we kill ourselves" game. We have to get over our need to be right. Our need to feel a part of. Our need to fit in. Not that there is anything wrong with those things as long as we decide what is right, what to be part of and where we will fit in based on some evidence. We need to look at the evidence and make decisions based on that evidence. Making choices, picking sides, promoting, standing up for or defending anything based on "what someone says" is just plain stupid. I am not going to shy away from that word. It is my word of choice for what I see going on today. Keep in mind that doing stupid stuff doesn't mean you're a stupid person. People who make wise decisions in business, personal health and friendships can behave like dopes when it comes to politics and religion. Because they get emotional. It's OK to be wrong. In fact you have to get good at being wrong. Knowing when you've been had. The smartest people turn being wrong into a good thing as fast as possible. Being wrong should not produce any emotion - except maybe a sense of relief. Hey, it means you can stop acting stupid. That's nothing but good. Should make us happy.

Lets say you are one of those people who is emotionally attached to the Democratic party. What is the "party" agenda? I'll just pick one thing I've noticed - disarm the populace. Confiscate the nations firearms. Is that not happening? Is the evidence not right up in your face? You'd have to really be in a trance not to see it. Here's a statement from a democrat, "If you're on the no fly watch list you can not own or buy a firearm". What gets you on the list? If you are suspected of "maybe" being associated with terrorist activity. Suspected of maybe? Associated with? Seeing any evidence? Want to be on the team that disarms the populace? If you do that means one of two things. One - you're just believing what someone tells you, regardless of the evidence. Two - you want the population to be defenseless. Why would anyone want a population that couldn't defend itself? Lets bring it down in scale. If I want your stuff it would behoove me to disarm you. When you get it down to that level there is no one that would say - maybe I have a good reason. If we only look at evidence - there is no good reason to make you defenseless. What countries have disarmed their populations? What happened them? Examine the historical evidence. It's always accurate. It's never emotionally driven. You disarm people so they can't protect themselves - period. Who is the only party that has something to gain? The party that disarms the other. Why? They are planning to take something from you that you being armed would get in the way of. All evidence points to this. There is no evidence to the contrary.

So what's the latest "big deal" in the news? AIG. Why? Its a distraction. Disarm the population, continue the take over of other nations, continue to bury citizens in debt, continue to ignore the destruction of the constitution and the bill of rights, continue to illegally imprison people, expand the definition for "a terrorist", basically just keep on doing the same thing that has been going on for a hundred years or so. All the things that got us to where we are today. How is this possible? It's simple really, people refuse to see the evidence that's shoved in their faces day after day after day. It's there, there is no denying it. You can only "argue" that it's not. You can only choose to not see it. You can focus on climate change, animal rights, a few million or a few billion in monopoly money and thereby ignore the overwhelming stink of imperialism, elitism and collectivism. But no matter what you choose to do. No matter how you manipulate the facts to fill the need in yourself - it doesn't change one ounce of evidence. Never has - never will.

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Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=367033&ca=Politics

Federal Agent and Intelligence Agency Analyst Jobs Move Toward a Southern Border Focus

2009-06-29T23:56:00.000-07:00

Recent media reports have brought attention to the U.S. border with Mexico and the crisis brought about by an exploding and increasingly dangerous drug trade. Examples of this crisis include countless reports of local Mexican officials being murdered by those associated with the drug trade in Mexico. While much of the intelligence focus in the U.S. for the past seven years appears to have been upon the Middle East and South Asia, a crisis does exist on the U.S. southern border with Mexico and requires dedicated intelligence analysts and federal agents to ameliorate the situation. This article explains the current border crisis along with the Obama administration plan to address this situation, as well as some analysis on how intelligence agency –related jobs might be affected by this recent legislation.

The Crisis

The deterioration of security along the U.S.-Mexico border has increased significantly over the past year. Drug cartels, bolstered by the increasing U.S. demand for illegal drugs as well as the ease with which sophisticated weapons can be purchased in the U.S., are growing in influence throughout the border region. One report indicates that over 90% of drug cartel weapons originate from the U.S. and that around 90% of illegal drugs that come into the U.S. enter through Mexico.1 The “drug war” has been linked to around 7,000 deaths in the past sixteen months in the border region.2

U.S. Response

In early March, President Calderón of Mexico ordered over 7500 soldiers and 1700 federal officers into Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican city across the border from El Paso.3 In addition to the Mexican military bulking up its border presence, U.S. authorities are becoming more prominently involved in this crisis. The Obama administration recently announced a number of steps which would be taken to address this crisis:

- The Obama administration will spend close to $700 million in 2009 to work with Mexican law enforcement; around $30 million in stimulus funds will be applied to local and state law enforcement agencies along the border.

- The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that 360 agents will be sent to both Border Patrol and ICE units on the U.S./Mexican border, along with 100 ATF agents.

- DHS, the Department of Justice, and the Treasury Department are increasing efforts and personnel along the southwest U.S. border. This plan includes doubling border security task force teams, increasing the number of local law enforcement officers and intelligence analyst positions, tripling the number of DHS intelligence analysts working along the southwest border, and increasing ICE staff in the U.S. embassy in Mexico.

- The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) will now allocate 29% of its domestic agent positions to southwest border field divisions, along with an increase in ATF agents. Furthermore, the FBI is creating a Southwest Intelligence Group, which will become a clearinghouse of all FBI activities related to Mexico.4

Southern border crisis effects upon Intelligence Agency Analyst and Federal Agent Jobs

Given the increase in attention and funding for southwest border security initiatives, intelligence agency jobs and federal agent job opportunities will be increasing significantly. This could mean that in the coming year, more openings for intelligence agency jobs and federal agent jobs that focus on border security will be available for qualified individuals that have the education and/or work experience to help this cause. Those individuals with a Spanish language background, regional experience, or specific functional experience or advanced education, such as a master’s degree in a security-related field will be in demand. Despite the current global economic crisis, U.S. government agencies such as DHS, FBI, and DEA, among others, will continue to hire individuals to fill intelligence agency-related jobs such as intelligence analysts as well as federal agent positions in order to mitigate the crisis brought about by illicit drug trade.

1 “U.S. Taking Steps to Control Violence on the Mexican Border,” New York Times, 25 March, 2009.

2 “Clinton Visits Mexico as Strains Show in Relations,” New York Times, 25 March, 2009.

3 “Mexico Bulks up Border Forces in Drug War,” USA Today online, 3 March, 2009.

4 “Obama Lays Out US-Mexico Border Strategy,” The Boston Globe, 24 March, 2009.

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Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=367081&ca=Politics

The G20 Forum and the Interests of Working People

2009-06-29T23:50:00.000-07:00

Watching the protests and riots staged to coincide with the G-20 Forum in the United Kingdom might tempt you to view this as another battle in the long-running war between capital and labor. But, that's not true.

Working people, through their pension funds and mutual funds, now own a majority of stocks in most big corporations. And when these corporations pay out their profits, much of that profit goes toward funding the pensions and other retirement income of middle class people who would call themselves working people.

In fact, among working people with a stake in big business, through their pension funds and mutual funds, members of trade unions are among the biggest owners. They enjoy that status because they not only contribute to pension funds themselves, but also because their employers often match their contributions. That means they have either bigger pensions, or that they have extra disposable income they can invest in mutual funds.

The demonstrators at the G20 Forum, including the labor people who've taken to the streets of London, would have you believe otherwise. But, they're sadly out of date, protesting in support of a separation between business and labor that's disappearing rapidly.

This disappearing separation, through ownership of corporations, began in a small way in a handful of countries after World War II. Since then, the growth of worker ownership through pension and mutual funds had both expanded and accelerated. Now, literally hundreds of millions of working people around the globe participate.

The health of big business now matters, despite what you might hear from protestors at the G20 Forum. Even in these difficult days, corporate earnings add significantly to the retirement incomes. Few of us would want to retire on just government pensions, and thanks to our investments in big business, few of us have to.

We might now argue that what we’re now seeing is an increasing convergence between the interests of working people and those of business. After all, if a company doesn’t earn profits, it will not pay dividends or otherwise increase the wealth of the working people whose funds invested in it.

In the past, we saw a limited convergence based on their shared survival, as is now the case with General Motors and the unions representing its employees. But, as we know from history, without threats to their common survival, unions and businesses fought with each other, often bitterly. And it’s that history you see reflected in the streets of London, outside the G20 Forum.

In the new order of labor and business relationships, though, the two sides also share the profits. And that leads to a different dynamic than the one we see at the G20 Forum.

So, the ownership of big corporations has been good for working people, including members of unions. However, it hasn't been so good for left-wing politicians, activists, and the union people who support them. It's essentially robbed them of their most meaningful reason for existing. But, we can hardly expect them to grasp that any time soon, especially if they spend their time raging at events like the G20 Forum, rather than reading in their local libraries.

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Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=367139&ca=Politics

Catching Spyware to Avoid Identity Theft

2009-06-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

Arming your computer against spyware is an important move to make to protect your personal security and private information. Statistics on the number of identity theft victims continue to rise as do the number of computers being infected with spyware. Some numbers have shown nine out of ten computers are affected by spyware, many on computer whose users are unaware of the infection. Identity theft and spyware are connected in that spyware has become a common method for intruders to gather your personal information and bank numbers so they can commit identity theft.

Spyware installs itself or comes installed with freeware and shareware programs. Once embedded in your computer it tracks your internet and software usages, records sent and received email and instant messages and logs keystrokes to identify passwords and credit card numbers. The information is sent out to advertisers or other intruders who will use it to bombard your computer with ads or at worst steal and use your accounts.

You will often lose complete control over your computer once spyware has been installed. The spyware can cause browser crashes and other unauthorized changes in your computer. The unwanted pop up ads that result from spyware can cause the computer to work slower and possible destroy some programs from being able to run. Spyware specific tools are needed to rid of and protect against spyware because normal anti-virus software is not designed to detect spyware, as it is unique from viruses. Spyware programs should also be able to detect adware, a similar application that runs on your computer by sending a constant stream of pop ups. Adware can be dangerous to the proper functioning of your computer.

About the author:
Mitch Johnson is a successful freelance author that writes regularly for , a site that focuses exclusively on spyware removal software, as well as tips on how to prevent spyware from popping up on your computer. This site articles on has spyware guard, as well as spyware scanner,

Checking for Spyware on your Hardrive.

2009-06-29T23:44:00.000-07:00

The spread of spyware and adware for advertising purposes has gone beyond the privacy limits because distributors of the invasive software see no harm in installing the surveillance programs without your knowledge. One way to check for spyware intrusion is by going to the tools menu in Internet Explorer. Go to the security tab and click on the custom level button.

Next to the Download ActiveX control if your computer does not have the disable or prompt button then you most likely have been infected with spyware.

A spyware infection means your internet surfing is being tracked and your personal information is being transferred to a third party. Those that gather the information sell it to companies who utilize the private information for advertising purposes.

This in turn results in a continuous stream of pop up ads and email advertisements. Lavasoft software has a free spyware and adware scan and removal tool that uses a database of known spyware programs to determine if your computer is infected. Lavasoft�s AdAware program will detect and remove any spyware infected files located on your system. You can download AdAware and it will install on your computer with a desktop icon that you then click on to run the scan. The program recognizes spyware objects, files and registry key alterations and it then repairs them upon your
command.

AdAware will give you a comprehensive list of found spyware along with a detailed description of each infected application. AdAware�s initial version is free for all personal computer users and their plus version costs $27 and it adds real-time protection against spyware and adware.

About the author:
Mitch Johnson is a successful freelance author that writes regularly for , a site that focuses exclusively on spyware removal software, as well as tips on how to prevent spyware from popping up on your computer. This site articles on has spyware guard, as well as spyware scanner,

Control of kidney stones with herbs and diet

2009-06-29T23:43:00.002-07:00

Question : I AM a diabetic aged 63. Recently, I had severe backache and a K.U.B. x-ray showed stones in the urethra/bladder area. Is there any herbal remedy to get rid of these stones?

Answer : BLADDER stones, or urinary bladder calculi comprises calcium oxalate or calcium phosphate crystals. In a small percentage of cases, uric acid or cystine crystals may be present. Small ones may be passed without symptoms, but a large stone can cause excruciating pain in the lower back, abdomen or pubic area, as well as blood in the urine and a sudden interruption in urinary flow.

Herbalists recommend a tea made from uva ursi (bearberry) leaves to treat bladder stones and other urinary disorders. Other herbal remedies include teas made from goldenrod, watermelon seeds or marshmallow roots.

Increase water intake to more than three litres in the day. Drink water even at night before going to bed. Avoid cola drinks. Deficiency of B6 and potassium leads to stone formation, hence eating foods such as barley, potatoes, wheat flour, cauliflower and banana may be helpful. Avoid foods high in oxalic acid such as tomatoes, wheatgerm, spinach, carrots, peas, beef, strawberries, raspberries, almonds, cashew nuts, and chocolates.

Salt intake should be restricted. Avoid sodium-rich foods such as pickles, tamarind etc. Sugar is to be restricted. Eat high fibre foods such as sweet corn, fruits and vegetables. Avoid meat and consume more vegetarian proteins as they make the urine alkaline. Avoid alcohol tea, cocoa and caffeine.

About the Author

www.medical-explorer.com

Measuring Water Weight Gain

2009-06-29T23:43:00.001-07:00

It can be frustrating to step on the bathroom scale and register a sudden 5 pound weight gain. Often this can be caused by water retention, but it can still be discouraging none the less. So, how do you know when it is legitimate weight gain or loss? Fortunately there have been some technological advances in bathroom scales that can make it easier to get a true reflection of your body composition. BIA (which stands for Bioelectric Impedance Analysis) measures the resistance of electrical current through your body. When you step on the scale a small electrical current is passed through your feet to obtain a reading. The current cannot be detected by the person using the scale, however people with a pacemaker or similar electrical implant must not use a BIA scale. It can calculate not just your weight, but also the percentage of body fat and also the proportion of water in your body as well. Many BIA scales can be programmed to track your weight and body composition over time.

To reduce water retention make sure that you are staying well hydrated. Many diet programs recommend 8 glasses of water a day to avoid water retention and to help rid the body of toxins and by-products of fat burning. Reducing your salt intake can help too.

Of course if you have sudden swelling or bloating that is unusual for you, see your doctor to rule out medical conditions.

This article is supplied by http://www.iwanttoloseweightnow.com where you will find valuable information and news on current weight loss and exercise programs.

Looking for a Holiday with a Difference?

2009-06-29T23:42:00.002-07:00

Fancy holidaying somewhere unusual? How about a 7 day tornado chasing safari? Care for a camping safari across the desert? How about a night in an Igloo? Or perhaps you may want to attend a winter driving school and receive your reindeer license!
Chloe Lim goes in search of holiday spots with a difference. You will reach areas that are totally remote, stunningly beautiful, rich in history and heritage, away from mainstream tourism and not in any guide book.
For those seeking an energetic adventure, complete relaxation, a romantic interlude, or a holiday that combines all of these elements, the following holiday packages are particularly appealing. Offering inspiration for travellers, each itinerary is a complete package. The accommodations may not have satellite TV or air-conditioning - but they offer an unforgettable experience.
By way of a taster, here are just a few of the unusual holiday packages on offer...

6 Day Ayers Rock Adventure
Duration: 6 days / 5 nights
Commences: Perth, Western Australia and concludes Alice Springs, Northern Territory
For those adventurous travellers who wish to travel overland through Central Australia, this is the 6 day camping safari for you. This is a classic outback adventure that passes through some of the most isolated and beautiful parts of Australia. Journey by 4WD vehicle from Perth to Alice Springs, along the Gunbarrel Highway and across the Great Victoria Desert. Camp under the desert stars as you travel to one of Australia's most famous outback destinations - Ayers Rock.
This tour is designed for those who are looking for adventure and who want to experience the beauty of Central Australia whilst enjoying the reward of camping and meeting new friends.
For more information and booking details visit http://www.hotelclub.net/extra/attractions/AyersRockAdventure.htm
7 Day Tornado Chasing Tour
Duration: 7 Days / 8 Nights
Commences: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

F5! Tornado Chasing Safaris are chasing tornadoes with clients on-board. Their approach to chasing storms is extremely personal and focused on comfort and safety. With no more than FOUR clients in each GMC Suburban, every seat is considered first class!
For more information and booking details visit http://www.hotelclub.net/extra/attractions/TornadoChasingTour.htm
A Night in an Igloo
Duration: 4 days / 3 nights
Commences: Ivalo, and concludes in Ivalo

A night in an igloo - what more could you ask for!
Step inside, come into the heart of snow, the warmth of its blue lap. Come alone, with someone special or with a group, there will be a soft and comfortable bed for you in one of the 15 Igloos in Saariselk�, the Heart of Lapland. A reindeer hide and a woolen rug will provide you excellent insulation against the snow and keep you warm. The padded sleeping sacks will keep you warm. Although surprisingly comfortable inside the igloos, the temperature does hover between -3 and -6 degrees Celsius!

After your night in igloo you'll feel so exhilarated you will want to take on the world!
For more information and booking details visit http://www.hotelclub.net/extra/attractions/NightInAnIgloo.htm
Lycksele to Ekorrsele
Duration: 2 days / 1 night
Commences: Ekorrsele, Sweden
Be pulled along by a team of 10-14 dogs on a dogsled. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the vast expanses of this gorgeous landscape that will unfold before you. Because you are travelling so quietly, there's some great opportunities to spot elks/moose, reindeers or other Swedish wild animals. The tour takes you over lakes, through forests and frozen wetlands. The light, the colors, the fresh air and the silent are something you have to experience in person. It can't be explained in words.
All warm clothes and boots are provided and at the end of the day you can reminisce about the adventures in a hot tub before feasting on a delicious dinner - pure indulgence!
For more information and booking details visit http://www.hotelclub.net/extra/attractions/LyckseleToEkorrsele.htm

Continuous Male Orgasms

2009-06-29T23:42:00.001-07:00

Several years ago I learned that by getting extremely close to the threshold of ejaculatory inevitability, then halting all stimulation, then getting "close" again repeatedly, I would achieve a continuous plateau stage with frequent partial orgasms. The resultant intensity of pleasure is possibly one half that felt in a full ejaculatory orgasm but potentially unending. Furthermore, the associated sexual organs exercise, and the learned ability to better control those organs mentally, has greatly increased the scope and persuasiveness of my sexual pleasure. It is my opinion that I have learned to enhance and maintain indefinitely the physical events and associated pleasure of an absolutely imminent ejaculatory orgasm. Feelings of pleasure are augmented by greater loin vasocongestion, and sexual organ fluid fullness and readiness. The following discussion attempts to teach men how to achieve a continuous orgasm, and to explain the physiological basis of this phenomenon.

My discovery of the continuous orgasm was accidental, but recounting the event may help others separate their orgasm and ejaculatory experiences. The first time I experienced the potential of this technique I was masturbating while stoned on pot. Stimulation to my penis felt somewhat dulled. I got close to cumming but sensed that my orgasm was going to be weak, so I stopped all stimulation, knowing that I could build up to a better orgasm. When I was able to resume penile stimulation I noticed the pleasure of touching my penis was greater...so I came close to cumming again and again...and it felt better and better. Possibly five "close calls" later, my prostate had swollen and my seminal vesicles hardened and discharged but no semen flowed into my urethra. Pot seems to broaden the threshold between my orgasm emissions phase and the ejaculatory reflex. Intense pleasure emanated from my testes, which were swollen and drawn under the tissue aside my penis. Possibly forty minutes into this routine my loin muscles began to ache, so I proceeded to the most intensely pleasurable orgasm and high quantity ejaculation I had ever had! Long afterward my loins continued to radiate an enjoyable ache. I had given all my sexual organ muscles a hearty exercising. I eagerly anticipated my next masturbation session, with delay dictated by my need to reload with semen.

I no longer use, nor do I advocate the use of pot because of its damaging effect on the lungs. Possibly marijuana brownies will do the trick. Again, pot use helped me control and broaden the threshold of ejaculatory inevitability, thus facilitating the learning of the continuous orgasm. Pot use also has a strong aphrodisiac effect when I entertained myself in this pre-ejaculation orgasm stage. Feelings of pleasure (sex munchies) are enhanced. For several months, without pot, I rarely achieved intense orgasm feelings without eliciting a few spasmodic pumping throbs and ejaculating small amounts of seminal fluid. With practice though, use of pot is not necessary to enjoy an orgasm without ejaculation. Practice results in discoveries of higher degrees of sexual pleasure and sensations, so it is easy to exercise!
The entire lesson can be found:
http:www.str8junk.com/sexualinstruction.html

About the Author

Hans W. lives in Munich and is part of the dDawg collective.
http:www.str8junk.com/sexualinstruction.html

Financial Management

2009-06-29T23:39:00.001-07:00

Article Entitled: Financial Management

Financial Management: How To Make a Go Of Your Business

by Linda Howarth Mackay

Produced in cooperation with the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges

Charles Liner, SEA Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative Judy Nye, Project Director, AACJC Martha McKemie, Senior Writer-Editor, SEA Amelia Harris, Graphics, SEA

Contents

About the Author

Introduction

I. The Necessity of Financial Planning

What is Financial Management? Tools of Financial Planning

II. Understanding Financial Statements: A Health Checkup for Your Business

The Balance Sheet The Statement of Income

III. Financial Ratio Analysis

Balance Sheet Ratio Analysis Income Statement Ratio Analysis Management Ratios Sources of Comparative Information

IV. Forecasting Profits

Facts Affecting Pro Forma Statements The Pro Forma Income Statement Comparison with Actual Monthly Performance Break-Even Analysis

V. Cash Flow Management: Budgeting and Controlling Costs

The Cash Flow Statement

VI. Pricing Policy

Establishing Selling Prices A Pricing Example The Retailers Mark-Up Pricing Policies and Profitability Goals

VII. Forecasting and Obtaining Capital

Types and Sources of Capital Borrowing Working Capital Borrowing Growth Capital Borrowing Permanent Equity Capital Applying for Capital

VIII. Financial Management Planning

Long-Term Planning

For Further Information

About the Author

Linda Howarth Mackay has many years’ banking experience gained working in a rural community bank and two large regional banks. Her expertise is in commercial and agricultural lending and in correspondent banking. She is also knowledgeable in the regulation of commercial bank lending practices, with an extensive background in the establishment of policy and procedures and in portfolio administration.

A graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, and numerous banking, accounting, and lending seminars, she is now president of Howarth Mackay, Incorporated, a company providing financial consultation to businesses, financial institutions, and professional individuals.

Introduction

This booklet was designed to equip instructors of the National Small Business Training Network course 'Financial Management: How to Make a Go of Your Business' with the information required to acquaint the small business owner/manager with the basic tools of sound financial management. It supplements the course guide materials; it is not intended to replace their use by the instructor.

The booklet may also be used by anyone interested in learning the concepts of financial management.

I. The Necessity of Financial Planning

There is one simple reason to understand and observe financial planning in your business--to avoid failure. Eight of ten new businesses fail primarily because of the lack of good financial planning.

Financial planning affects how and on what terms you will be able to attract the funding required to establish, maintain, and expand your business. Financial planning determines the raw materials you can afford to buy, the products you will be able to produce, and whether or not you will be able to market them efficiently. It affects the human and physical resources you will be able to acquire to operate your business. It will be a major determinant of whether or not you will be able to make your hard work profitable.

This manual provides an overview of the essential components of financial planning and management. Used wisely, it will make the reader--the small business owner/manager--familiar enough with the fundamentals to have a fighting chance of success in today’s highly competitive business environment.

A clearly conceived, well documented financial plan, establishing goals and including the use of Pro Forma Statements and Budgets to ensure financial control, will demonstrate not only that you know what you want to do, but that you know how to accomplish it. This demonstration is essential to attract the capital required by your business from creditors and investors.

What Is Financial Management?

Very simply stated, financial management is the use of financial statements that reflect the financial condition of a business to identify its relative strengths and weaknesses. It enables you to plan, using projections, future financial performance for capital, asset, and personnel requirements to maximize the return on shareholders’ investment.

Tools of Financial Planning

This manual introduces the tools required to prepare a financial plan for your business’s development, including the following:

* Basic Financial Statements--the Balance Sheet and Statement of Income

* Ratio Analysis--a means by which individual business performance is compared to similar businesses in the same category

* The Pro Forma Statement of Income--a method used to forecast future profitability

* Break-Even Analysis--a method allowing the small business person to calculate the sales level at which a business recovers all its costs or expenses

* The Cash Flow Statement--also known as the Budget identifies the flow of cash into and out of the business

* Pricing formulas and policies--used to calculate profitable selling prices for products and services

* Types and sources of capital available to finance business operations

* Short- and long-term planning considerations necessary to maximize profits

The business owner/manager who understands these concepts and uses them effectively to control the evolution of the business is practicing sound financial management thereby increasing the likelihood of success.

II. Understanding Financial Statements: A Health Checkup for Your Business

Financial Statements record the performance of your business and allow you to diagnose its strengths and weaknesses by providing a written summary of financial activities. There are two’ primary financial statements: the Balance Sheet and the Statement of Income.

The Balance Sheet

The Balance Sheet provides a picture of the financial health of a business at a given moment, usually at the close of an accounting period. It lists in detail those material and intangible items the business owns (known as its assets) and what money the business owes, either to its creditors (liabilities) or to its owners (shareholders’ equity or net worth of the business).

Assets include not only cash, merchandise inventory, land, buildings, equipment, machinery, furniture, patents, trademarks, and the like, but also money due from individuals or other businesses (known as accounts or notes receivable).

Liabilities are funds acquired for a business through loans or the sale of property or services to the business on credit. Creditors do not acquire business ownership, but promissory notes to be paid at a designated future date.

Shareholders’ equity (or net worth or capital) is money put into a business by its owners for use by the business in acquiring assets.

At any given time, a business’s assets equal the total contributions by the creditors and owners, as illustrated by the following formula for the Balance Sheet:

Assets = Liabilities + Net Worth

(Total (Funds (Funds funds supplied supplied invested in to the to the assets of business business the by its by its business) creditors) owners)

This formula is a basic premise of accounting. If a business owes more money to creditors than it possesses in value of assets owned, the net worth or owner’s equity of the business will be a negative number.

The Balance Sheet is designed to show how the assets, liabilities, and net worth of a business are distributed at any given time. It is usually prepared at regular intervals; e.g., at each month’s end but especially at the end of each fiscal (accounting) year.

By regularly preparing this summary of what the business owns and owes (the Balance Sheet), the business owner/manager can identify and analyze trends in the financial strength of the business. It permits timely modifications, such as gradually decreasing the amount of money the business owes to creditors and increasing the amount the business owes its owners.

All Balance Sheets contain the same categories of assets, liabilities, and net worth. Assets are arranged in decreasing order of how quickly they can be turned into cash (liquidity). Liabilities are listed in order of how soon they must be repaid, followed by retained earnings (net worth or owner’s equity), as illustrated in Figure 2-1, below, the sample Balance Sheet for ABC Company.

The categories and format of the Balance Sheet are established by a system known as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). The system is applied to all companies, large or small, so anyone reading the Balance Sheet can readily understand the story it tells.

Figure 2-1 ABC Company December 31, 19- Balance Sheet

Cash $ 1,896 Notes Payable, $ 2,000 Bank

Accounts 1,456 Accounts 2,240 Receivable Payable

Inventory 6,822 Accruals 940 ------- ------- Total Current $10,174 Total Current $ 5,180 Assets Liabilities

Equipment and 1,168 Total Liabilities 5,180 Fixtures

Prepaid Expenses 1,278 Net Worth 7,440 ------- ------- Total Assets $12,620 Total Liabilities $12,620 and New Worth

Balance Sheet Categories

Assets: An asset is anything the business owns that has monetary value.

* Current Assets include cash, government securities, marketable securities, accounts receivable, notes receivable (other than from officers or employees), inventories, prepaid expenses, and any other item that could be converted into cash within one year in the normal course of business.

* Fixed Assets are those acquired for long-term use in a business such as land, plant, equipment, machinery, leasehold improvements, furniture, fixtures, and any other items with an expected useful business life measured in years (as opposed to items that will wear out or be used up in less than one year and are usually expensed when they are purchased). These assets are typically not for resale and are recorded in the Balance Sheet at their net cost less accumulated depreciation.

* Other Assets include intangible assets, such as patents, royalty arrangements, copyrights, exclusive use contracts, and notes receivable from officers and employees.

Liabilities: Liabilities are the claims of creditors against the assets of the business (debts owed by the business).

* Current Liabilities are accounts payable, notes payable to banks, accrued expenses (wages, salaries), taxes payable, the current portion (due within one year) of long-term debt, and other obligations to creditors due within one year.

* Long-Term Liabilities are mortgages, intermediate and long-term bank loans, equipment loans, and any other obligation for money due to a creditor with a maturity longer than one year.

* Net Worth is the assets of the business minus its liabilities. Net worth equals the owner’s equity. This equity is the investment by the owner plus any profits or minus any losses that have accumulated in the business.

The Statement of Income

The second primary report included in a business’s Financial Statement is the Statement of Income. The Statement of Income is a measurement of a company’s sales and expenses over a specific period of time. It is also prepared at regular intervals (again, each month and fiscal year end) to show the results of operating during those accounting periods. It too follows Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and contains specific revenue and expense categories regardless of the nature of the business.

Statement of Income Categories

The Statement of Income categories are calculated as described below:

* Net Sales (gross sales less returns and allowances)

* Less Cost of Goods Sold (cost of inventories)

* Equals Gross Margin (gross profit on sales before operating expenses)

* Less Selling and Administrative Expenses (salaries, wages, payroll taxes and benefits, rent, utilities, maintenance expenses, office supplies, postage, automobile/vehicle expenses, insurance, legal and accounting expenses, depreciation)

* Equals Operating Profit (profit before other non-operating income or expense)

* Plus Other Income (income from discounts, investments, customer charge accounts)

* Less Other Expenses (interest expense)

* Equals Net Profit (Loss) Before Tax (the figure on which your tax is calculated)

* Less Income Taxes (if any are due)

* Equals Net Profit (Loss) After Tax

For an example of a Statement of Income, see Figure 2-2, the statement of ABC Company.

Figure 2-2 ABC Company December 31, 19- Income Statement

Net Sales $68,116 Cost of Goods Sold 47,696 ------- Gross Profit on Sales $20,420 Expenses Wages $6,948 Delivery Expenses 954 Bad Debts Allowances 409 Communications 204 Depreciation Allowance 409 Insurance 613 Taxes 1,021 Advertising 1,566 Interest 409 Other Charges 749 ------ Total Expenses $13,282 Net Profit 7,138 Other Income 886 ------- Total Net Income $ 8,024

Calculating the Cost of Goods Sold

Calculation of the Cost of Goods Sold category in the Statement of Income (or Profit-and-Loss Statement as it is sometimes called) varies depending on whether the business is retail, wholesale, or manufacturing. In retailing and wholesaling, computing the cost of goods sold during the accounting period involves beginning and ending inventories. This, of course, includes purchases made during the accounting period. In manufacturing it involves not only finished-goods inventories, but also raw materials inventories goods-in-process inventories, direct labor, and direct factory overhead costs.

Regardless of the calculation for Cost of Goods Sold, deduct the Cost of Goods Sold from Net Sales to get Gross Margin or Gross Profit. From Gross Profit, deduct general or indirect overhead such as selling expenses, office expenses, and interest expenses, to calculate your Net Profit. This is the final profit after all costs and expenses for the accounting period have been deducted.

III. Financial Ratio Analysis

The Balance Sheet and the Statement of Income are essential, but they are only the starting point for successful financial management. Apply Ratio Analysis to Financial Statements to analyze the success, failure, and progress of your business.

Ratio Analysis enables the business owner/manager to spot trends in a business and to compare its performance and condition with the average performance of similar businesses in the same industry. To do this compare your ratios with the average of businesses similar to yours and compare your own ratios for several successive years, watching especially for any unfavorable trends that may be starting. Ratio analysis may provide the all-important early warning indications that allow you to solve your business problems before your business is destroyed by them.

Balance Sheet Ratio Analysis

Important Balance Sheet Ratios measure liquidity and solvency (a business’s ability to pay its bills as they come due) and leverage (the extent to which the business is dependent on creditors’ funding). They include the following ratios:

Liquidity Ratios.

These ratios indicate the ease of turning assets into cash. They include the Current Ratio, Quick Ratio, and Working Capital.

Current Ratios. The Current Ratio is one of the best known measures of financial strength. It is figured as shown below:

Total Current Assets Current Ratio = ------------------------- Total Current Liabilities

The main question this ratio addresses is: 'Does your business have enough current assets to meet the payment schedule of its current debts with a margin of safety for possible losses in current assets, such as inventory shrinkage or collectable accounts?' A generally acceptable current ratio is 2 to 1. But whether or not a specific ratio is satisfactory depends on the nature of the business and the characteristics of its current assets and liabilities. The minimum acceptable current ratio is obviously 1:1, but that relationship is usually playing it too close for comfort.

If you decide your business’s current ratio is too low, you may be able to raise it by:

* Paying some debts. * Increasing your current assets from loans or other borrowings with a maturity of more than one year. * Converting noncurrent assets into current assets. * Increasing your current assets from new equity contributions. * Putting profits back into the business.

Quick Ratios. The Quick Ratio is sometimes called the 'acid-test' ratio and is one of the best measures of liquidity. It is figured as shown below:

Quick Ratio = Cash + Government Securities + Receivables ---------------------------- Total Current Liabilities

The Quick Ratio is a much more exacting measure than the Current Ratio. By excluding inventories, it concentrates on the really liquid assets, with value that is fairly certain. It helps answer the question: 'If all sales revenues should disappear, could my business meet its current obligations with the readily convertible `quick’ funds on hand?'

An acid-test of 1:1 is considered satisfactory unless the majority of your 'quick assets' are in accounts receivable, and the pattern of accounts receivable collection lags behind the schedule for paying current liabilities.

Working Capital. Working Capital is more a measure of cash flow than a ratio. The result of this calculation must be a positive number. It is calculated as shown below:

Working Capital = Total Current Assets - Total Current Liabilities

Bankers look at Net Working Capital over time to determine a company’s ability to weather financial crises. Loans are often tied to minimum working capital requirements.

A general observation about these three Liquidity Ratios is that the higher they are the better, especially if you are relying to any significant extent on creditor money to finance assets.

Leverage Ratio

This Debt/Worth or Leverage Ratio indicates the extent to which the business is reliant on debt financing (creditor money versus owner’s equity):

Debt/Worth Ratio = Total Liabilities ----------------- Net Worth

Generally, the higher this ratio, the more risky a creditor will perceive its exposure in your business, making it correspondingly harder to obtain credit.

Income Statement Ratio Analysis

The following important State of Income Ratios measure profitability:

Gross Margin Ratio

This ratio is the percentage of sales dollars left after subtracting the cost of goods sold from net sales. It measures the percentage of sales dollars remaining (after obtaining or manufacturing the goods sold) available to pay the overhead expenses of the company.

Comparison of your business ratios to those of similar businesses will reveal the relative strengths or weaknesses in your business. The Gross Margin Ratio is calculated as follows:

Gross Margin Ratio = Gross Profit ------------ Net Sales (Gross Profit = Net Sales - Cost of Goods Sold)

Net Profit Margin Ratio

This ratio is the percentage of sales dollars left after subtracting the Cost of Goods sold and all expenses, except income taxes. It provides a good opportunity to compare your company’s 'return on sales' with the performance of other companies in your industry. It is calculated before income tax because tax rates and tax liabilities vary from company to company for a wide variety of reasons, making comparisons after taxes much more difficult. The Net Profit Margin Ratio is calculated as follows:

Net Profit Margin Ratio = Net Profit Before Tax --------------------- Net Sales

Management Ratios

Other important ratios, often referred to as Management Ratios, are also derived from Balance Sheet and Statement of Income information.

Inventory Turnover Ratio

This ratio reveals how well inventory is being managed. It is important because the more times inventory can be turned in a given operating cycle, the greater the profit. The Inventory Turnover Ratio is calculated as follows:

Inventory Turnover Ratio = Net Sales ------------------------- Average Inventory at Cost

Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio

This ratio indicates how well accounts receivable are being collected. If receivables are not collected reasonably in accordance with their terms, management should rethink its collection policy. If receivables are excessively slow in being converted to cash, liquidity could be severely impaired. The Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio is calculated as follows:

Net Credit Sales/Year = Daily Credit Sales --------------------- 365 Days/Year

Accounts Receivable Turnover (in days) = Accounts Receivable ------------------- Daily Credit Sales

Return on Assets Ratio

This measures how efficiently profits are being generated from the assets employed in the business when compared with the ratios of firms in a similar business. A low ratio in comparison with industry averages indicates an inefficient use of business assets. The Return on Assets Ratio is calculated as follows:

Return on Assets = Net Profit Before Tax --------------------- Total Assets

Return on Investment (ROI) Ratio.

The ROI is perhaps the most important ratio of all. It is the percentage of return on funds invested in the business by its owners. In short, this ratio tells the owner whether or not all the effort put into the business has been worthwhile. If the ROI is less than the rate of return on an alternative, risk-free investment such as a bank savings account or certificate of deposit, the owner may be wiser to sell the company, put the money in such a savings instrument, and avoid the daily struggles of small business management. The ROI is calculated as follows:

Return on Investment = Net Profit before Tax --------------------- Net Worth

These Liquidity, Leverage, Profitability, and Management Ratios allow the business owner to identify trends in a business and to compare its progress with the performance of others through data published by various sources. The owner may thus determine the business’s relative strengths and weaknesses.

Sources of Comparative Information

Sources of comparative financial information which you may obtain from your public library or the publishers include the following:

Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios, Leo Troy, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632

Annual Statement Studies, Robert Morris Associates, P. O. Box 8500, S-1140, Philadelphia, PA 19178

Expenses in Retail Business, National Cash Register Corporation, Corporate Advertising and Sales Promotion Dayton, OH 45479.

Key Business Ratios, Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., 99 Church Street, New York, NY 10007, ATTN: Public Relations and Advertising Department

IV. Forecasting Profits

Forecasting, particularly on a short-term basis (one year to three years), is essential to planning for business success. This process, estimating future business performance based on the actual results from prior periods, enables the business owner/manager to modify the operation of the business on a timely basis. This allows the business to avoid losses or major financial problems should some future results from operations not conform with reasonable expectations. Forecasts--or Pro Forma Income Statements and Cash Flow Statements as they are usually called--also provide the most persuasive management tools to apply for loans or attract investor money. As a business expands, there will inevitably be a need for more money than can be internally generated from profits.

Facts Affecting Pro Forma Statements

Preparation of Forecasts (Pro Forma Statements) requires assembling a wide array of pertinent, verifiable facts affecting your business and its past performance. These include:

* Data from prior financial statements, particularly: a. Previous sales levels and trends b. Past gross percentages c. Average past general, administrative, and selling expenses necessary to generate your former sales volumes d. Trends in the company’s need to borrow (supplier, trade credit, and bank credit) to support various levels of inventory and trends in accounts receivable required to achieve previous sales volumes

* Unique company data, particularly: a. Plant capacity b. Competition c. Financial constraints d. Personnel availability

* Industry-wide factors, including: a. Overall state of the economy b. Economic status of your industry within the economy c. Population growth d. Elasticity of demand for the product or service your business provides e. Availability of raw materials

Once these factors are identified, they may be used in Pro Formas, which estimate the level of sales, expense, and profitability that seem possible in a future period of operations.

The Pro Forma Income Statement

In preparing the Pro Forma Income Statement, the estimate of total sales during a selected period is the most critical 'guesstimate.' Employ business experience from past financial statements. Get help from management and salespeople in developing this all-important number.

Then assume, for example, that a 10 percent increase in sales volume is a realistic and attainable goal. Multiply last year’s net sales by 1.10 to get this year’s estimate of total net sales. Next, break down this total, month by month, by looking at the historical monthly sales volume. From this you can determine what percentage of total annual sales fell on the average in each of those months over a minimum of the past three years. You may find that 75 percent of total annual sales volume was realized during the six months from July through December in each of those years and that the remaining 25 percent of sales was spread fairly evenly over the first six months of the year.

Next, estimate the cost of goods sold by analyzing operating data to determine on a monthly basis what percentage of sales has gone into cost of goods sold in the past. This percentage can then be adjusted for expected variations in costs, price trends, and efficiency of operations.

Operating expenses (sales, general and administrative expenses, depreciation, and interest), other expenses, other income, and taxes can then be estimated through detailed analysis and adjustment of what they were in the past and what you expect them to be in the future.

Comparison with Actual Monthly Performance

Putting together this information month by month for a year into the future will result in your business’s Pro Forma Statement of Income. Use it to compare with the actual monthly results from operations by using the SBA form 1099 (4-82) Operating Plan Forecast (Profit and Loss Projection). Obtain this form from your local SBA office. You will find it helpful to refer to the SBA Guidelines for Profit and Loss Projection. Preparation of the information is summarized below and on the back of the form 1099.

Revenue (Sales)

* List the departments within the business. For example, if your business is appliance sales and service, the departments would include new appliances, used appliances, parts, in-shop service, on-site service.

* In the 'Estimate' columns, enter a reasonable projection of monthly sales for each department of the business. Include cash and on-account sales. In the 'Actual' columns, enter the actual sales for the month as they become available.

* Exclude from the Revenue section any revenue not strictly related to the business.

Cost of Sales

* Cite costs by department of the business, as above.

* In the 'Estimate' columns, enter the cost of sales estimated for each month for each department. For product inventory, calculate the cost of the goods sold for each department (beginning inventory plus purchases and transportation costs during the month minus the inventory). Enter 'Actual' costs each month as they accrue.

Gross Profit

* Subtract the total cost of sales from the total revenue.

Expenses

* Salary Expenses: Base pay plus overtime.

* Payroll Expenses: Include paid vacations, sick leave, health insurance, unemployment insurance, Social Security taxes.

* Outside Services: Include costs of subcontracts, overflow work farmed-out, special or one-time services.

* Supplies: Services and items purchased for use in the business, not for resale.

* Repairs and Maintenance: Regular maintenance and repair, including periodic large expenditures, such as painting or decorating.

* Advertising: Include desired sales volume, classified directory listing expense, etc.

* Car, Delivery and Travel: Include charges if personal car is used in the business. Include parking, tolls, mileage on buying trips, repairs, etc.

* Accounting and Legal: Outside professional services.

* Rent: List only real estate used in the business.

* Telephone.

* Utilities: Water, heat, light, etc.

* Insurance: Fire or liability on property or products, worker’s compensation.

* Taxes: Inventory, sales, excise, real estate, others.

* Interest.

* Depreciation: Amortization of capital assets.

* Other Expenses (specify each): Tools, leased equipment, etc.

* Miscellaneous (unspecified): Small expenditures without separate accounts.

Net Profit

* To find net profit, subtract total expenses from gross profit.

The Pro Forma Statement of Income, prepared on a monthly basis and culminating in an annual projection for the next business fiscal year, should be revised not less than quarterly. It must reflect the actual performance achieved in the immediately preceding three months to ensure its continuing usefulness as one of the two most valuable planning tools available to management.

Should the Pro Forma reveal that the business will likely not generate a profit from operations, plans must immediately be developed to identify what to do to at least break even--increase volume, decrease expenses, or put more owner capital in to pay some debts and reduce interest expenses.

Break-Even Analysis

'Break-Even' means a level of operations at which a business neither makes a profit nor sustains a loss. At this point, revenue is just enough to cover expenses. Break-Even Analysis enables you to study the relationship of volume, costs, and revenue.

Break-Even requires the business owner/manager to define a sales level--either in terms of revenue dollars to be earned or in units to be sold within a given accounting period--at which the business would earn a before tax net profit of zero. This may be done by employing one of various formula calculations to the business estimated sales volume, estimated fixed costs, and estimated variable costs.

Generally, the volume and cost estimates assume the following conditions:

* A change in sales volume will not affect the selling price per unit;

* Fixed expenses (rent, salaries, administrative and office expenses, interest, and depreciation) will remain the same at all volume levels; and

* Variable expenses (cost of goods sold, variable labor costs including overtime wages and sales commissions) will increase or decrease in direct proportion to any increase or decrease in sales volume.

Two methods are generally employed in Break-Even Analysis, depending on whether the break-even point is calculated in terms of sales dollar volume or in number of units that must be sold.

Break-Even Point in Sales Dollars

The steps for calculating the first method are shown below:

1. Obtain a list of expenses incurred by the company during its past fiscal year.

2. Separate the expenses listed in Step 1 into either a variable or a fixed expense classification. (See Figure 4-1, below, under 'Classification of Expenses.')

3. Express the variable expenses as a percentage of sales. In the condensed income statement (Figure 4-1) of the Small Business Specialties Co. (below), net sales were $1,200,000. In Step 2, variable expenses were found to amount to $720,000. Therefore, variable expenses are 60 percent of net sales ($720,000 divided by $1,200,000). This means that 60 cents of every sales dollar is required to cover variable expenses. Only the remainder, 40 cents of every dollar, is available for fixed expenses and profit.

4. Substitute the information gathered in the preceding steps in the following basic break-even formula to calculate the breakeven point.

Figure 4-1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE SMALL-BUSINESS SPECIALTIES CO. Condensed Income Statement For year ending Dec. 31, 19-

Net sales (60,000 units @ $20 per unit)..........................$1,200,000 Less cost of goods sold: Direct material.............................$195,000 Direct labor................................ 215,000 Manufacturing expenses (Schedule A)......... 300,000 -------- Total....................................................... 710,000 ---------- Gross profit..................................................... 490,000 Less operating expenses: Selling expenses (Schedule B)...............$200,000 General and administrative expenses (Schedule C).............................. 210,000 -------- Total....................................................... 410,000 ---------- Net Income.......................................................$ 80,000 ---------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Supporting Schedules of Expenses Other Than Direct Material and Labor

Schedule C Schedule A Schedule B general and manufacturing selling administrative Total expenses expenses expenses

Rent.................$ 60,000 $ 30,000 $ 8,000 $ 22,000 Insurance............ 11,000 9,000 1,000 1,000 Commissions.......... 120,000 ....... 120,000 ....... Property tax......... 12,000 10,000 1,000 1,000 Telephone............ 7,000 1,000 5,000 1,000 Depreciation......... 80,000 70,000 5,000 5,000 Power................ 100,000 100,000 ....... ....... Light................ 60,000 30,000 10,000 20,000 Officers’ salaries... 260,000 50,000 50,000 160,000 -------- -------- -------- -------- Total...........$710,000 $300,000 $200,000 $210,000 -------- -------- -------- -------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Classification of Expenses

Total Variable Fixed

Direct material...................$ 195,000 195,000 ....... Direct labor...................... 215,000 215,000 ....... Manufacturing expenses............ 300,000 100,000 $200,000 Selling expenses.................. 200,000 50,000 General and admin. expenses....... 210,000 60,000 150,000 ---------- -------- -------- Total........................$1,120,000 $720,000 $400,000 ---------- -------- -------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

where: S = F + V (Sales at the break-even point) F = Fixed expenses V = Variable expenses expressed as a percentage of sales.

This formula means that when sales revenues equal the fixed expenses and variable expenses incurred in producing the sales revenues, there will be no profit or loss. At this point, revenue from sales is just sufficient to cover the fixed and the variable expenses. In this formula 'S' is the break even point.

For the Small Business Specialties Co., the break-even point (using the basic formula and data from Figure 4-2) may be calculated as follows:

S = F + V S = $400,000 + 0.605 10S = $4,000,000 + 6S 10S - 6S = $4,000,000 4S = $4,000,000 S = $1,000,000

Proof that this calculation is correct follows:

Sales at break-even point per calculation $1,000,000 Less variable expenses (60 percent of sales) 600,000 ---------- Marginal income 400,000 Less fixed expenses 400,000 ---------- Equals neither profit nor loss $ 0

Modification: Break-Even Point to Obtain Desired Net Income.

The first break-even formula can be modified to show the dollar sales required to obtain a certain amount of desired net income. To do this, let 'S' mean the sales required to obtain a certain amount of net income, say $80,000. The formula then reads:

S = F + V + Desired Net Income S = $400,000 + 0.60S + $80,000 10S = $4,000,000 + 6S + 800,000 4S = $4,800,000 S = $1,200,000

Break-Even Point in Units to be Sold

You may want to calculate the break-even point in terms of units to be sold instead of sales dollars. If so, a second formula (in which 'S' means units to be sold to break even) may be used:

Break-even Sales = Fixed expenses (S = Units) ----------------------------------------- Unit sales price - Unit variable expenses

S = $400,000 = $400,000 --------- -------- $20 - $12 $8

S = 50,000 units

The Small Business Specialties Co. must sell 50,000 units at $20 per unit to break even under the assumptions contained in this illustration. The sale of 50,000 units at $20 each equals $1 million, the break-even sales volume in dollars calculated in the basic formula. This formula indicates there is $8 per unit of sales that can be used to cover the $400,000 fixed expense. Then $400,000 divided by $8 gives the number of units required to break even.

Modification: Break-Even Point in Units to be Sold to Obtain Desired Net Income.

The second formula can be modified to show the number of units required to obtain a certain amount of net income. In this case, let S mean the number of units required to obtain a certain amount of net income, again say $80,000. The formula then reads as follows:

S = Fixed expenses + Net income ---------------------------------------- Unit sales price - Unit variable expense

S = $400,000 + $80,000 = $480,000 ------------------ -------- $20 - $12 $8

S = 60,000 units

Break-even Analysis may also be represented graphically by charting the sales dollars or sales units required to break even as in Figure 4-2, below.

Remember: Increased sales do not necessarily mean increased profits. If you know your company’s break-even point, you will know how to price your product to make a profit. If you cannot make an acceptable profit, alter or sell your business before you lose your retained earnings.

Figure 4-2 +---------------------------------------------------_Revenue (Sales) � _ � � _ � + _ � Total � _ � Costs � Potential Profit-----_---X _ ----- + _ _ � _ � _ _ � � � _ _ � � + _ _ � Variable � _ _ � Costs & � _ _ � Expenses + _ _ � � �-- -- -- -- -- -- -_Break-Even Profit � � � _ � � + _ _ � � � � _ _ � � � _ Loss _ � Fixed Cost Line � _------_--------------------------------------------� ----- � _ � � Fixed � Costs Sales Volume

V. Cash Flow Management: Budgeting and Controlling Costs

If there is anything more important to the successful financial management of a business than the thorough, thoughtful preparation of Pro Forma Income Statements, it is the preparation of the Cash Flow Statement, sometimes called the Cash Flow Budget.

The Cash Flow Statement

The Cash Flow Statement identifies when cash is expected to be received and when it must be spent to pay bills and debts. It shows how much cash will be needed to pay expenses and when it will be needed. It also allows the manager to identify where the necessary cash will come from. For example, will it be internally generated from sales and the collection of accounts receivable--or must it be borrowed? (The Cash Flow Projection deals only with actual cash transactions; depreciation and amortization of good will or other non-cash expense items are not considered in this Pro Forma.)

The Cash Flow Statement, based on management estimates of sales and obligations, identifies when money will be flowing into and out of the business. It enables management to plan for shortfalls in cash resources so short term working capital loans may be arranged in advance. It allows management to schedule purchases and payments in a way that enables the business to borrow as little as possible. Because all sales are not cash sales management must be able to forecast when accounts receivable will become 'cash in the bank' and when expenses--whether regular or seasonal--must be paid so cash shortfalls will not interrupt normal business operations.

The Cash Flow Statement may also be used as a Budget, permitting the manager increased control of the business through continuous comparison of actual receipts and disbursements against forecast amounts. This comparison helps the small business owner identify areas for timely improvement in financial management.

By closely watching the timing of cash receipts and disbursements, cash balance on hand, and loan balances, management can readily identify such things as deficiencies in collecting receivables, unrealistic trade credit or loan repayment schedules. Surplus cash that may be invested on a short-term basis or used to reduce debt and interest expenses temporarily can be recognized. In short, it is the most valuable tool management has at its disposal to refine the day-to-day operation of a business. It is an important financial tool bank lenders evaluate when a business needs a loan, for it demonstrates not only how large a loan is required but also when and how it can be repaid.

A Cash Flow Statement or Budget can be prepared for any period of time. However, a one-year budget matching the fiscal year of your business is recommended. As in the preparation and use of the Pro Forma Statement of Income, the projected Cash Flow Statement should be prepared on a monthly basis for the next year. It should be revised not less than quarterly to reflect actual performance in the preceding three months of operations to check its projections.

In preparing the Cash Flow Statement or Budget start with the sales budget. Other budgets are related directly or indirectly to this budget. The following is a sales forecast in units:

Sales Budget--Units For the Year Ended December 31, 19__

Territory Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter East....................26,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000 West....................11,000 2,000 2,500 3,000 3,500 ------ ----- ----- ------ ------ 37,000 7,000 8,500 10,000 11,500 ------ ----- ----- ------ ------

Assume you sell a single product and the sales price for it is $10. Your sales budget in terms of dollars would look like this:

Sales Budget--Dollars For the Year Ended December 31, 19__

Territory Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter East......................$260,000 $50,000 $80,000 $ 70,000 $ 80,000 West...................... 110,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 -------- ------- ------- -------- -------- $370,000 $70,000 $85,000 $100,000 $115,000 -------- ------- ------- -------- --------

Say the estimated per unit cost of the product is $1.50 for direct material, $2.50 for direct labor, and $1.00 for manufacturing overhead. By applying unit costs to the sales budget in units, you would come out with this budget:

Cost of Goods Sold Budget For the Year Ended December 31, 19__

Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Direct material......$ 55,500 $10,500 $12,750 $15,000 $17,250 Direct labor......... 92,500 17,500 21,250 25,000 28,750 Mfg. overhead........ 37,000 7,000 8,500 10,000 11,500 -------- ------- ------- ------- ------- $185,000 $35,000 $42,500 $50,000 $57,500 -------- ------- ------- ------- -------

Later on, before a cash budget can be compiled, you will need to know the estimated cash requirements for selling expenses. Therefore, you prepare a budget for selling expenses and another for cash expenditures for selling expenses (total selling expenses less depreciation):

Selling Expenses Budget For the Year Ended December 31 19__

Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Commissions.............$46,500 $ 8,750 $10,625 $12,500 $14,375 Rent.................... 9,250 1,750 2,125 2,500 2,875 Advertising............. 9,250 1,750 2,125 2,500 2,875 Telephone............... 4,625 875 1,062 1,250 1,437 Depreciation--office.... 900 225 225 225 225 Other................... 22,250 4,150 5,088 6,025 6,983 ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- $92,500 $17,500 $21,250 $25,000 $28,750 ------- ------- ------- ------- -------

Selling Expenses Budget--Cash Requirements For the Year Ended December 31, 19__

Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Total selling expenses..$92,500 $17,500 $21,250 $25,000 $28,750 Less: depreciation...... expense--office......... 900 225 225 225 225 ------- ------- ------- ------- ------- Cash requirements.......$91,600 $17,275 $21,025 $24,775 $28,525 ------- ------- ------- ------- -------

Basic information for an estimate of administrative expenses for the coming year is easily compiled. Again, from that budget you can estimate cash requirements for those expenses to be used subsequently in preparing the cash budget.

Administrative Expenses Budget For the Year Ended December 31, 19___

Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Salaries.................$22,200 $4,200 $5,100 $ 6,000 $ 6,900 Insurance................ 1,850 350 425 500 575 Telephone................ 1,850 350 425 500 575 Supplies................. 3,700 700 850 1,000 1,150 Bad debt expenses........ 3,700 700 850 1,000 1,150 Other expenses........... 3,700 700 850 1,000 1,150 ------- ------ ------ ------- ------- $37,000 $7,000 $8,500 $10,000 $11,500 ------- ------ ------ ------- -------

Administrative Expenses Budget--Cash Requirements For the Year Ended December 31, 19___

Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Estimated adm. expenses...$37,000 $7,000 $8,500 $10,000 $11,500 Less: bad debt expenses... 3,700 700 850 1,000 1,150 ------- ------ ------ ------- ------- Cash requirements.........$33.300 $6,500 $7,650 $ 9,000 $10,350 ------- ------ ------ ------- -------

Now, from the information budgeted so far, you can proceed to prepare the budget income statement. Assume you plan to borrow $10,000 at the end of the first quarter. Although payable at maturity of the note, the interest appears in the last three quarters of the year. The statement will resemble the following:

Budgeted Income Statement For the Year Ended December 31, 19___

Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Sales...................$370,000 $70,000 $85,000 $100,000 $115,000 Cost of goods sold...... 185,000 35,000 42,500 50,000 57,500 -------- ------- ------- -------- -------- Gross Margin............$185,000 $35,000 $42,500 $ 50,000 $ 57,500 -------- ------- ------- -------- -------- Operating expenses: Selling................$ 92,500 $17,500 $21,250 $ 25,000 $ 28,750 Administrative......... 37,000 7,000 8,500 $ 10,000 $ 11,500 -------- ------- ------- -------- -------- Total................$129,500 $24,500 $29,750 $ 35,000 $ 40,250 -------- ------- ------- -------- -------- Net income from operations........$ 55,500 $10,500 $12,750 $ 15,000 $ 17,250 Interest expense....... 450 150 150 150 -------- ------- ------- -------- -------- Net income before Income taxes...........$ 55,050 $10,500 $12,600 $ 14,850 $ 17,100 Federal income tax..... 27,525 5,250 6,300 7,425 8,550 -------- ------- ------- -------- -------- Net income..............$ 27,525 $ 5,250 $ 6,300 $ 7,425 $ 8,550 -------- ------- ------- -------- --------

Estimating that 90 percent of your account sales is collected in the quarter in which they are made, that 9 percent is collected in the quarter following the quarter in which the sales were made, and that 1 percent of account sales is uncollectible, your accounts receivable budget of collections would look like this:

Budget of Collections of Accounts Receivable For the Year Ended December 31, 19___

Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th (net) Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter 4th Quarter Sales 19-0...$ 6,000 $ 6,000 1st Quarter Sales 19-1... 69,300 63,000 $ 6,300 2nd Quarter Sales 19-1... 84,150 76,500 $ 7,650 3rd Quarter Sales 19-1... 99,000 90,000 $ 9,000 4th Quarter Sales 19-1... 103,500 103,500 -------- ------- ------- ------- -------- $361,950 $69,000 $82,800 $97,650 $112,500

Going back to the sales budget in units, now prepare a production budget in units. Assume you have 2,000 units in the opening inventory and want to have on hand at the end of each quarter the following quantities: 1st quarter, 3,000 units; 2nd quarter, 3,500 units; 3rd quarter, 4,000 units; and 4th quarter, 4,500 units.

Production Budget--Units For the Year Ended December 31, 19___

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Sales requirements........... 7,000 8,500 10,000 11,500 Add: ending inventory requirements...... 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 ------ ------ ------ ------- Total requirements..........10,000 12,500 14,000 16,000 Less: beginning inventory................... 2,000 3,000 3,500 4,000 Production ------ ------ ------ ------- requirements............... 8,000 9,000 10,500 112,000 ------ ------ ------ -------

Next, based on the production budget, prepare a budget to show the purchases needed during each of the four quarters. Expressed in terms of dollars, you do this by taking the production and inventory fires and multiplying them by the cost of material (previously estimated at $1.50 per unit). You could prepare a similar budget expressed in units.

Budget of Direct Materials Purchases For the Year Ended December 31, 19___

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Required for production........$12,000 $13,500 $15,750 $18,000 Required for ending inventory.. 4,500 52,250 6,000 6,750 ------- ------- ------- ------- Total........................$16,500 $18,750 $21,750 $24,750 Less: beginning inventory...... 3,000 4,500 5,250 6,000 ------- ------- ------- ------- Required purchases.............$13,500 $14,250 $16,500 $18,750 ------- ------- ------- -------

Now suppose you pay 50 percent of your accounts in the quarter of the purchase and 50 percent in the following quarter. Carryover payables from last year were $5,000. Further, you always take the purchase discounts as a matter of good business policy. Since net purchases (less discount) were figured into the $1.50 cost estimate, purchase discounts do not appear in the budgets. Thus your payment on purchases budget will come out like this:

Payment on Purchases Budget For the Year Ended December 31, 19___

Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter 4th Quarter Sales 19-0...$ 5,000 $ 5,000 1st Quarter Sales 19-1... 13,500 6,750 $ 6,750 2nd Quarter Sales 19-1... 14,250 7,125 $ 7.125 3rd Quarter Sales 19-1... 16,500 8,250 $ 8,250 4th Quarter Sales 19-1... 9,375 9,375 ------- ------- Payments by Quarters $58,625 $11,750 $13,875 $15,375 $17,625 ------- ------- ------- ------- -------

Taking the data for quantities produced from the production budget in units, calculate the direct labor requirements on the basis of units to be produced. (The number and cost of labor hours necessary to produce a given quantity can be set forth in supplemental schedules.)

Direct Labor Budget--Cash Requirements For the Year Ended December 31, 19__

Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Quantity................ 39,500 8,000 9,000 10,500 12,000 Direct labor cost.......$98,750 $20,000 $22,500 $26,250 $30,000

Now outline the items that comprise your factory overhead, and prepare a budget like the following:

Manufacturing Overhead Budget For the Year Ended December 31, 19___

Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Heat and power..........$10,000 $1,000 $2,500 $ 3,000 $ 3,500 Factory supplies........ 5,300 1,000 1,500 1,800 1,000 Property taxes.......... 2,000 500 500 500 500 Depreciation............ 2,800 700 700 700 700 Rent.................... 8,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 2,000 Superintendent.......... 9,400 2,800 1,800 2,500 4,300 ------- ------ ------ ------- ------- $39,500 $8,000 $9,000 $10.500 $12,000 ------- ------ ------ ------- -------

Figure the cash payments for manufacturing overhead by subtracting depreciation, which requires no cash outlay, from the totals above, and you will have the following breakdown:

Manufacturing Overhead Budget--Cash Requirements For the Year Ended December 31, 19___

Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Productions--units...... 39,500 8,000 9,000 10,500 12,000 ------- ------ ------ ------- ------- Mfg.overhead expenses...$39,500 $8,000 $9,000 $10,500 $12,000 Less: depreciation...... 2,800 700 700 700 700 ------- ------ ------ ------- ------- Cash requirements.......$36,700 $7,300 $8,300 $ 9,800 $11,300 ------- ------ ------ ------- -------

Now comes the all important cash budget. You put it together by using the Collection of Accounts Receivable Budget; Selling Expenses Budget--Cash Requirements; Administrative Expenses Budget--Cash Requirements; Payment of Purchases Budget; Direct Labor Budget--Cash Requirements; and Manufacturing Budget--Cash Requirements.

Take $15,000 as the beginning balance, and assume that dividends of $20,000 are to be paid in the fourth quarter.

Cash Budget For the Year Ended December 31, 19___

Total 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quarter Quarter Quarter Quarter Beginning cash balance $ 15,000 $15,000 $ 3,850 $ 13,300 $ 25,750 Cash collections 361,950 69,000 82,800 97,650 112,500 -------- ------- ------- -------- -------- Total $376,950 $84,000 $86,650 $110,950 $138,250 -------- ------- ------- -------- -------- Cash payments Purchases $ 58,625 $11,750 $13,875 $ 15,375 $ 17,625 Direct labor 98,750 20,000 22,500 26,250 30,000 Mfg. overhead 38,700 7,300 8,300 9,800 11,300 Selling expense 91,600 17,275 21,025 24,775 28,525 Adm. expenses 33,300 6,300 7,650 9,000 10,350 Federal income tax 27,525 27,525 Dividends 20,000 20,000 Interest expenses 450 450 Loan repayment 10,000 10,000 -------- ------- ------- ------- -------- Total $376,950 $90,150 $73,350 $ 85,200 $128,250 -------- ------- ------- ------- -------- Cash deficiency ($ 6,150) Bad loan received 10,000 10,000 -------- ------- Ending cash balance $ 10,000 $ 3,850 $13,300 $ 25,750 $ 10,000 -------- ------- ------- ------- --------

Now you are ready to prepare a budget balance sheet. Take the account balances of last year and combine them with the transactions reflected in the various budgets you have compiled. You will come out with a sheet resembling this:

Budgeted Balance Sheet December 31, 19___ Assets 19___ 19___ Current assets: Cash $ 10,000 $ 15,000 Ac

Fixing Financial Affliction

2009-06-29T23:38:00.001-07:00

Article Entitled: Fixing Financial Affliction

FIXING FINANCIAL AFFLICTION

By Dr. John E. Russell

Failing finances are a common problem now-a-days. How does one extricate himself from a heavy debt load? There are ads that offer to do that ... for a price. It may be the answer for some. However, there are things one can do for himself.

The first step to relieve debt is not to make any more. There are very creative ways to save money. Ben Franklin said, 'A penny saved is a penny earned.' Bill Gothard said several years ago, 'A dollar saved is a dollar sixty earned!' In other words, taking into account the multitude of revealed and hidden taxes, working expenses, etc., one then needed to earn $1.60 in order to have $1.00 to spend! How much do we have left today?! One of the best and most practical resources for saving money is Dr. Alfred W. Munzert’s book Poor Richard’s Economic Survival Manual (Franklinville, NY: Hemisphere Publications, 1982). Dr. Munzert raised a large family on a teacher’s salary and his children received a college education. I am still amazed by many of the strategies he used. Buy the book, or request it at your library.

Making arrangements for a reduced payment to each creditor is one alternative to get rid of debt. If you need help, call the National Foundation for Consumer Credit at 1-800-388-2227.

Bankruptcy is another alternative. In their anguish, some have chosen to use this law that provides protection from creditors. You can file for bankruptcy yourself, but it is probably best to hire a competent bankruptcy lawyer. I went through a chapter 7 bankruptcy and did the filing myself, since I could not afford a lawyer at the time. The best resource that I found was Kenneth J. Doran’s book, Personal Bankruptcy and Debt Adjustment (New York: Random House, 1991). It is written in plain English, with legal terms explained. Be sure to use up-to- date-forms (I had to re-submit some forms because of this). The new forms were expensive, so I copied them from Clark, Boardman and Callaghan, Bankruptcy Code, Rules and Official Forms (New York: The Lawyers Cooperative Publishing Company, 1991). A friend paid my filing fee. I made it with God’s help and you can, too! Avoid bankruptcy if possible by solving financial problems early on. Financial stress will make you sick--I know from firsthand experience.

For a copy of my new book, essays exposing the myths of political correctness, send me two dollars. Read it. Then, if you want to keep it for reference, send an additional three dollars. You will not see much of this documented material in the media. This is IBM shareware written in ASCII and on 5 1/4 inch computer disk. Please refer to the name of this publication. Your comments are welcome.

Best wishes in your mailorder endeavor!

Russell Communications P O Box 27<>F Highway at Third Garden City, MO 64747-0027

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Secrets Of The Richest People

2009-06-29T23:36:00.000-07:00

Article Entitled: Secrets Of The Richest People

SECRETS OF THE RICHEST PEOPLE

Would you like to realize your goals? Maybe you’d like to run your own business, expand your material possessions, or succeed in the arts. There is no one path to the pot of gold, but many people of all backgrounds have successfully found it.

Whether you want to follow the ways of the great financiers, the famous politicians, or the dynamic movie stars, there are common modes of behavior each of them followed. And in many cases, they have shared their secrets so YOU CAN FOLLOW THEIR FOOTSTEPS.

'If you wish to know the road up the mountain, ask the person who goes back and forth on it,' said the ancient sage, Zenrin. What better way is there to know the secrets than to ask those who made it?

What goals do you want to achieve? And what amount of effort can you commit? You may want money for the extra things in life, money to build a corporate empire, or money to support yourself while you pursue the fine arts.

Perhaps you’d like to take the risk to start something new in your life. You may want to open your own business, devote your energies to an artistic career such as acting, or reap the benefits of your yearly endeavors with fabulous vacations several times a year.

What will bring you happiness? The satisfaction of success takes many forms. Not only are people seeking financial fortunes, but also the ancient goal of peace of mind.

Do you worry? You might be concerned about your health or your family’s well-being. You may be anxious about the added expenses of education, medical bills, or the steady increase of cost of living. There are ways out of the endless cycles of worry, stress and anxiety. Right now, you can rise above the whirl of survival to achieve the accomplishments you dream of. When you’re ready to put your whole effort into realizing your goals, YOU WILL SUCCEED.

WHAT ARE RICHES

'Had I but plenty of money, money enough to spare,' wrote Robert Browning. And money is the greatest attribute of riches. A universal desire, money is the materialization of riches, the stuff that makes the rest possible.

Are you looking for financial security? For retirement, for education or leisure? Riches are the overflowing abundance of material possessions - houses, cars, boats, furnishings - everything you ever wanted.

Centuries ago, Horace wrote, 'By right means, if you can, but by any means, make money.' For many people it is a path towards happiness, a cure-all for worry and peace of mind.

For others, riches come in the form of satisfaction and personal independence. Satisfaction comes from accomplishment in employment or attaining goals. It is that feeling of contentment and confidence from a good task well done. Riches are closely linked with success. And with that comes fame and acknowledgment of position. Success might be the feeling of well-being from the rewards of good effort. Or the enthusiasm and vitality triggered by recognition.

'Success is how well I enjoy the minutes,' said producer Norman Lear.

Throughout history, the people who lived with riches often achieved them by hard work, diligence and a belief in themselves. For some people, it took courage, genius and stamina.

But for many others, it took nothing special but the desire to turn dreams into reality. Whether you want millions of dollars, recognition as an artist, or personal freedom, you have the ability to make your life as rich as you want.

Think about what you most desire. It may not be hard cash, but what it can buy. Or it may be those feelings of inner satisfaction, from creating something beautiful or strong.

You may want personal independence from the work week, or freedom to live anywhere you want. You may be looking for something meaningful and significant in life - something other than things money can buy. Whatever your goals, and however difficult they seem to be to accomplish, you have the ability to become who you want. Take a look - can you see yourself surrounded by riches?

Picture the world open and in front of you, ready to become the form of your dreams, ready to stage your desires. 'Why then, the world’s mine oyster,' wrote Shakespeare, 'which I with sword will open.'

WHO IS SUCCESSFUL?

Many people who achieve fortune in the world are not born rich. But they accomplished it through hard work and a plan of action.

Every type of person on earth can become successful. There are saints and scoundrels; philanthropists and thieves; poets and politicians; young and old. There are no limitations or physical boundaries for success.

Success comes to those who think about success and strive for it. Although many rich financiers at the turn of the century had no formal education, they overcame that and went on to great fame.

Some people strive towards a single goal from early in life, and often attain that goal while still young. Others are willing to risk new adventures later and still attain success.

'It’s never too late to learn,' wrote Malcolm Forbes, the money magnate. 'I learned to ride a motorcycle at 50 and fly balloons at 52.'

Whatever your task, whatever your obstacles, you can be as successful as anyone else. Study the people who accomplished recognition in the areas of your pursuit. How did they achieve their goals?

And don’t be afraid you don’t have what it takes. As Daniel Webster wrote, 'There is always room at the top.'

FORMING CONVICTION

The single attribute that every successful person has is the one-pointed devotion to attain a goal. 'There in the sunshine are my highest aspirations,' wrote Louisa May Alcott, 'I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.'

What are your desires? How can you form them into definite goals that you can attain? Lawrence Peter wrote, 'If you don’t know where you’re going, you’ll probably end up somewhere else.'

Maybe you’re studying a craft or skill. Perhaps you’re caught in a rung of the corporate ladder. Or, you might feel constricted by your family and the environment around you.

Which star are you reaching for? 'Ours is a world where people don’t know what they want and are willing to go through anything to get it,' wrote Don Marquis.

Take the time to think about your own aspirations. Look inside to find what feels right. Almost everyone entertains the notions of fame and fortune, but put on the costume that fits you.

Conviction requires certain qualities of action. You must be sincere and be willing to assume responsibility. And you need the self-discipline necessary to work towards your goals.

Are you prepared to achieve your dreams? Can you form their reality in your mind? Will you devote your entire being to attaining what you want?

ON YOUR OWN

Most millionaires are non-conformists. So are the most famous actors and actresses; and the most prominent artists. Writers are known for their individual traits and eccentricities.

Your convictions and goals are your own business, even when you find help along the path. Mentors often take people under their wings to nourish and teach. Or spiritual guides will show you the path to attainment. But you’re on your own to achieve.

Cultivate a sense of justice and an ability to make decisions. Cooperate with everybody and develop your own self-respect. And follow good criticism and advice after you’ve judged carefully. J. Paul Getty said, 'I advise young millionaires to be skeptical of advice. They should advise themselves; they should form their own opinions.'

Lord Byron wrote, 'There is rapture on the lonely shore.' And if you attain your goals with poise and sincerity, you’ll find warmth and love at the top - not the cold loneliness pictured by the jealous.

Put on blinders to negative comments and criticism meant to hurt you. About the people who criticize, Voltaire wrote, 'Never having been able to succeed in the world, they took revenge by speaking ill of it.'

SEIZE THE DAY

People are judged by what they think and what they say. But the true measure of their character is what they do. Anyone who has achieved success and fortune in the world has done it by action.

William Jennings Bryan wrote, 'Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.'

The choice of the path you follow is often put before you as opportunity. 'Few people recognize opportunity,' said Cary Grant, 'because it comes disguised as hard work.'

Don’t let opportunities slip past while you’re still considering them, and create new ones as you see them. 'Wise people make more opportunities than they find,' said Francis Bacon.

What opportunities can you act upon? Woolworth saw a need for small inexpensive items and opened the chain of stores that grossed billions. Wrigley started giving gum away as a bonus from a supplies wagon he sold from, and saw the opportunity to make money from the gum that became in high demand.

All successful people the world over have found the opportunities for their own special talents and acted upon those ways to achieve. Why wait for the time to pass? There’s never a better time than now.

'Sometimes,' wrote Lewis Carroll believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.' Take your own impossible dreams and make them become reality.

HOW THEY THINK

Thousands of potential millionaires are born every year. And making a million dollars is coming closer to everyone’s pocket. What advice did the money-makers follow?

Aristotle Onassis worked eighteen hours a day to maintain his fortune. He started as a welder and aimed for the top. 'You have to think money day and night,' he said, 'you should even dream about it in your sleep.'

John D. Rockefeller, Jr., said, 'I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes every person an opportunity to make a living.'

And J. Paul Getty acknowledged his hard work: 'I have no complex about wealth. I have worked hard for my money, producing things people need.'

Even Proverbs advises: 'In all labor there is profit.'

Richard Bach, the author of the best selling 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull' wrote, 'You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however.'

The Empress of the British Empire, Queen Victoria, admonished, 'We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat.'

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?

There are qualities of endeavor and achievement that are common to many people who make it to the top. The following questions are a guideline to self-enterprise and attaining your goals.

1. Do you prefer to work for yourself than for others?

2. Are you well-informed on current business and political affairs?

3. Are you a leader?

4. Do you take advantage of opportunities?

5. Do you pay attention to what other people say?

6. Can you finish a job even when it is difficult or unpleasant?

7. Are you challenged by problems?

8. Do you have a goal you want to achieve?

9. Do you consider other people?

10. Do you strive to attain?

11. Can you obey commands?

12. Can you bounce back after defeat?

13. Do you believe in yourself?

14. Can you stand by your actions in spite of criticism?

15. Can you follow instructions?

16. Can you respond to the needs of others?

17. Will you give credit to other

18. Can you make your own decisions?

19. Are you determined?

20. Are you ready for success?

ESTABLISH A GOAL

What do you want? Are you looking for financial security, professional acknowledgment, spiritual attainment? Do you want to fit better socially, or become more expressive creatively? Establish the goal that’s right for you.

Then turn that goal from a dream into a desire. You want to realize that goal, not just wish for it. Aesop said, 'Beware that you do not lose the substance by grabbing at the shadow.' Know exactly what you want, then go for it.

Don’t be tricked by your own procrastination - especially if you want to achieve something artistic. The writer Thomas Wolfe wrote, 'I had been sustained by that delightful illusion of success which we all have when we dream about the books we are going to write instead of actually doing them. Now I was face to face with it, and suddenly I realized that I had committed my life and my integrity so irrevocably to this struggle that I must conquer now or be destroyed.'

Can you see what you want? If you want the abundance of material wealth that money provides, what goal will give you that money? Do you want the prestige of owning your own business? What business do you want to begin?

Where are the opportunities for you? Talk to everyone in the business you want to join. Make friends in the literary or art societies in your area. Read books and articles about your field of endeavor. How can you attain your goal?

'If you don’t want to work, you have to work to earn enough money so that you don’t have to work,' wrote Ogden Nash. And isn’t that the way' Money makes money; success breeds success. But not always. How can you break through those thoughts to help yourself to the rewards?

Henry David Thoreau wrote, 'I have learned this at least by my experiment: that if you advance confidently in the direction of your dreams, and endeavor to live the life which you imagine, you will meet with success.'

Think big and visualize success. Do you see yourself in a big house? Maybe you picture your artwork hanging in a gallery. Can you feel your book in print and in your hands? How does it feel to be a person of success? Believe that you are; believe that it is in your grasp. That’s what the others did, and that’s how people make it to the top.

Then get down to basics. Be precise. Exactly how much money do you want, and by what date? And exactly what are you going to do to earn that money? Be realistic, but give yourself short-term goals.

Write it down. In six months or one year, you will have how much money. And repeat it until it feels good. Then repeat it twice a day until it swirls in your subconscious, until it becomes your one-pointed goal.

'The goal stands up, the keeper stands up to keep the goal,' wrote A.E. Housman.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Make people feel at ease. They will respond to your needs as you respond to theirs.

Share the spotlight. Give credit to those who deserve it - and to those who strive. Don’t grab praise away from other people.

Have confidence in your own value. Don’t do anything that won’t credit your own self-respect. Follow up your actions as they reflect your own self-worth.

Listen well to others’ comments. Then weigh your own actions. Cultivate relationships with people who have good and important things to say.

Participate in life. Be active in business meetings and endeavors; volunteer to be part of organizations and groups. Social interaction will boost your sense of well-being .

Feel worthy of your own goal. Know that you can attain it and that it is right for you.

Grasp your own challenge. Don’t give yourself impossible goals, but always reach higher.

Relax and be yourself. Each person is different and just as wonderful as the next. Don’t be plagued by what you think others think of you.

Don’t bathe in success - use it. Once you achieve your first goal, go on to others. Use the money you earn for the rewards you look for. Then go on to the next endeavor.

Be slow to criticize others’ achievements. Find out how they did it and learn from them.

Never use subterfuge. Don’t go behind someone’s back. Speak your mind and earn respect.

Banish negative thoughts and traits. Restructure your life to exclude bad habits.

Believe in yourself and what you are to accomplish. All the power in the world is within you to achieve.

WORK TOWARDS YOUR GOAL

'To get profit without risk, experience without danger, and reward without work, is as impossible as it is to live without being born,' wrote A.P. Gouthey. Every person who has attained something worthwhile has worked for that goal.

Cary Grant said, 'I do believe that people can do practically anything they set out to do if they apply themselves diligently and learn.'

Which path is the right way towards your goal? Do you need more education? Do you need a few years experience in your field of business? Maybe you need a teacher or guide to help you practice.

'I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached, as by the obstacles which are overcome while trying to succeed,' wrote Booker T. Washington.

What obstacles are in your way? Consider them as easy to pass through as hurdles are to a champion runner. Take each obstacle as a special challenge placed especially for you. Approach it with intelligence and courage, then learn what it has to teach.

'Success is a journey,' said Ben Sweetland, 'not a destination.' For some, the process of attainment is the attainment itself. They move on, keep growing and expanding. There is no still water at the top.

'The message from the moon is that no problem need any longer be considered insoluble,' wrote Norman Cousins. And you can attain anything that seems impossible.

If you have a problem that needs to be solved, sit calmly and consider it with a clear mind. Observe all the consequences of the actions - both good and bad. Ponder the paths and actions and contemplate the core of the problem. The solution will appear.

'Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you for everyone who asketh, receiveth. He that seeketh, findeth and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.'

Tap the inner self and encourage positive actions. With each outgoing breath, release the impossible; at each incoming breath, inhale the attainable. Demand the best of yourself, but don’t despair from an overused sense of perfection.

What can you learn? And who can teach you? Can you attend classes and seminars from universities near home? Check out books from the libraries and absorb the material. Find a master and become an apprentice.

'Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty,' said Henry Ford. 'Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.'

Never stop learning; never stop growing and expanding as a person and in your personal endeavor.

ASK YOURSELF

As you consider the success you desire, you need to affirm its possibilities and develop the self-confidence necessary to attain the goals. Learn to do things well. 'If you know how to do one thing well, you can do everything,' wrote the philosopher Gurdjieff.

Are you ready for success?

Is what you are doing now helping you to achieve your goals?

Do you weigh the consequences before making a decision?

Is this the best use of your time?

Do you cooperate with everyone and help cultivate their best potentials?Are you warm and sincere?

Do you have the courage to succeed?

Do you have the self-discipline necessary to achieve your goals?

Do you have a realistic sense of self-worth?

Do you give more than you take?

Do you have the courage to fail, and then pick up and try again?

Can you assume responsibility without blaming others if things go wrong?

Are you strong?

Can you be sympathetic to life and its sufferings?

Can you say no?

Will you follow your convictions and plans to achieve?

Do you sincerely want to achieve the goals you have chosen?

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

'The price of greatness is responsibility,' wrote Winston Churchill. Are you willing to take the responsibility once you attain the success you desire?

'The deepest personal defeat suffered by human beings is constituted by the difference between what one was capable of becoming and what one has in fact become,' wrote Ashley Montague. And the greatest tragedy is to become less than your full potential, using less than the abilities you have to work with.

Are you waiting for something to happen? Maybe you’re waiting for a job offer, or a promotion. Perhaps you’re waiting until you get good enough at a craft or skill. Or are you waiting for the inspiration of creativity to strike your life?

It is up to you to take the actions and be responsible for their consequences. 'Our responsibility: every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty,' wrote John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Inspire yourself. Read books that will spurn you to action; talk to people who have the vitality you admire. How would you like to lead your life? And make the changes necessary to be like that. 'There is nothing permanent except change,' wrote Heraclitus. What changes do you want to make? What are you waiting for?

ACCOMPLISHMENT

What actions will take you closer to your goals? Decide upon the steps and write them down. Review them until you feel comfortable with those steps. Then repeat them at least once a day, crossing them off as you accomplish them.

'I believe there is no escape from the rule that We must do many, many little things to accomplish even just one big thing,' said James Dupont. 'This gives me patience when I need it most.'

The most rewarding accomplishments are those that take long to achieve and present difficulties. It is only through these difficulties that a person can rise above the rest to be the unusual, the outspoken and the well-deserved.

As if building a kit, follow your own instructions. Decide your best courses of action and achieve their benefits. Whether the steps are small or large, make them achievable and then do them. Don’t commit yourself to things that you never intend to do.

'Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there,' said Will Rogers. Don’t be paralyzed by inaction; rather act upon your own convictions.

Set yourself up for rewards. Don’t give yourself goals that have no feeling of satisfaction or no monetary rewards. If you want to be an artist, be the best and learn from the best. Don’t dwell on imperfections or the awkwardness of unpolished skills.

If you go into business, do it for profit or reinvestment. 'In business, the earning of profit is something more than an incident of success. It is an essential condition of success. Because the continued absence of profit itself spells failure,' said Justice Brandeis.

Marchant wrote, 'To be a success in business, be daring, be first, be different.' Think of ways to achieve the best; formulas to increase productivity or decrease overhead. Profit is your drive.

'Profitability is the sovereign criterion of the enterprise,' wrote Peter Drucker. And, profitability is the core of any achievement - whether financial or artistic.

Once you achieve your goals, think of ways to benefit others. 'Money-getters are the benefactors of our race,' said P.T. Barnum. 'To them we are indebted for our institutions of learning, and of art, our academies, colleges and churches.' How can you benefit humankind and still keep enough to fulfill your own desires?

THE HIDDEN ASSET

Not all success can be counted in dollars; not all richness is measured by money. 'The great secret of success is to go through life as a person who never gets used up,' said Albert Schweitzer. 'Retire upon yourself and look for the ultimate cause of things inside you.'

Look within yourself for the ultimate inspiration, and follow the true feelings you discover. 'One of my favorite methods is to whisper,' said Alfred Hitchcock. 'I’ve discovered the best work is done with sweet reason.'

Act upon your own conscience -that guides; that judges your actions and signals your behavior. 'Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone may be looking,' wrote H.L. Mencken.

Accomplish what you desire; fulfill your inner yearnings. But don’t compromise your deepest feelings.

'We do our best that we know how at the moment, and if it doesn’t turn out, we modify it,' said F.D. Roosevelt.

Follow the paths that life offers you and live the fullest existence you can.

TAKE A LOOK

Look at yourself and look at those who have succeeded throughout history. Do you have what it takes? Even if you have only a few of the qualities of the other great people, you can achieve your heart’s desire.

Reach for the highest, then reach higher. Accomplish your steps one by one on a daily basis, always moving forward, always making progress. Encourage yourself. Insist that you can succeed and affirm these thoughts daily.

Keep a sense of proportion and judge for yourself. Then keep busy at the tasks you’ve set out to accomplish. What’s keeping you? 'Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration,' said Albert Einstein.

Find inspiration wherever you can. Talk to people; read about people; learn your business or craft. Believe that you can do it and you will. The only way to dispel the doubt that you can do something is to finish it.

Always be the best you can be. Never fall short from fatigue or lethargy. Don’t attempt to do anything that you can’t give your all to.

There is no way to inner satisfaction without appealing to the higher consciousness. Search within and without to find the paths that are meant for you and follow them with conviction and a steady heart. And, you will succeed to become as rich and full as you ever desired.

Harold Ickes wanted the 'freedom to live one’s life with the window of the soul open to new thoughts, new ideas and new aspirations.'

And Woody Allen looked for a clear path. 'If only God would give me some clear sign' he said. 'Like making a large deposit in my name at a Swiss bank.'

Finally, Sophie Tucker sums up everyone’s worldly outlook: 'I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor,' she said. 'Rich is better.'

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What's in Your Blind Spot?

2009-06-29T23:34:00.001-07:00

We frantically search for our "lost" keys that are lying in plain
sight on the kitchen counter. We don't we see the keys. Why not?
Because we already decided "the keys are not there." And once we make
that decision, we create a blind spot in our awareness. The result is
that we don't see the keys where we don't expect them to be.

If we miss seeing keys out in the open because we decide the keys
aren't there, what else could we be missing because we decide it's
not there? Could we be "blind" to other possibilities and
opportunities that are right under our nose?

What's New, Pussycat?

A mind-blowing scientific experiment reveals how the early physical
environment of kittens determines what they are able to see-and not
see-as they grow up. Two-week-old kittens are placed in a room with
walls painted with vertical stripes and kept there as they mature.
Almost from the moment they are able to see, the kittens live in an
environment of vertical stripes. Later, the cats' world changes. They'
re removed from their vertically striped surroundings and placed in a
room painted with horizontal stripes. Surprisingly, our furry felines
don't see the horizontal stripes. Bang! They run right smack into the
walls painted with horizontal stripes, time and time again. Why?
Scientists discovered that because the cats don't have horizontal
stripes in their environment as they grow up, the brains of the cats
don't develop the neurons that recognize horizontal stripes. So when
elements they've never been exposed to appear in the cats' world,
their brains don't register the new elements in their environment.
Yikes! Could we be unable to recognize elements in our current
environment because those elements were missing when we grew up? Yes,
we could! But before we look for aspects of life we might not be
seeing, let's look for aspects we might not be hearing as well.

What'd You Say?

Studies with babies reveal how the early auditory environment of
babies determines what they are able to hear-and not hear-as they
grow up. Research shows that young babies have the ability to hear
the full range of vocal sounds produced by the speech of all the
human languages in the world. But then, babies are raised hearing
only the narrow range of speech sounds within their social
environment. Eventually, because they hear solely the speech sounds
found within one culture, babies lose their ability to distinguish
the full range of vocal sounds found in all human cultures.

This explains why Japanese children are unable to pronounce the
English "r" sound that does not exist in their native language. "The
common result," according to a researcher at the University of
California, "is essentially that if perceptual experience is limited,
one will not be able to perceive things outside that experience."
This is why, in everyday life, we're not able to recognize-or "hear"-
concepts that we weren't exposed to in our upbringing.

Casting a Spell of Limitations

We all grow up in families and societies where we are only exposed to
a limited view of life-like kittens only viewing vertical stripes and
babies only hearing speech sounds from their social environment. Our "
stripes" consist of a limited range of cultural patterns of sights
and sounds. These cultural patterns give signals to the brain that
tell us "the way life is" within that limited environment. And the
brain mistakenly "thinks" it knows "the way life is" outside of that
narrow-minded environment.

Growing up in a limited environment has a comparable effect to being
hypnotized. For example, when people are hypnotized, they can be told
that certain elements exist or don't exist in their environment. With
hypnotic suggestion, a person can be told that there are no red books
in a bookstore. And, even though many of the books are red, the
person won't see any red books. The hypnotic suggestion creates a

Give Them a KISS Ad, or Traffic Exchange Programs - Ideas, T

2009-06-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

I like traffic exchange programs! But you probably already knew that if you read my first article about this theme: Traffic Exchange Programs � Are they worth your time?.

�Why do you like them?�, you might ask. They are not the most effective way of advertising, they are not all quite cheat proof and they sure are not very targeted; 3 mayor flaws they share with most other types of free advertising. And yes, that�s all very true, BUT traffic exchange programs are free (mostly), you can do things to make them more effective and what if your target group is prone to use traffic exchange programs as well and it fits your business strategy? What if you are a beginner and you just need to start somewhere? What if you have a new site that just needs some initial traffic?

Of course your strategy should not be entirely build upon the use of traffic exchange programs, but if you have the time, why not take some advantage of them? Use a multi page browser, take heed of the following advise and if you enjoy surfing, these programs are right for you!

Strategic considerations

Questions you should ask yourself are: What is your business strategy? What is your target group?

A good strategy for beginners is to try to sell high ticket products in a niche market. The efforts and costs of selling a high ticket product are quite the same as trying to sell a low ticket, cheap product, so why not start with high ticket products? If this is your strategy, you would be wasting your time with traffic exchange programs.

I believe that most people that are surfing these programs are not interested in this kind of products. They are more likely interested in low ticket products and free offers. They are most likely interested in marketing tools (auto responders and such), free traffic, downline builders, new opportunities and programs.

My business strategy is largely build around getting downlines and targeted at people with lots of time but who are not willing to invest a lot of money. This is a very slow and long term strategy and does not involve a lot of actual selling. Traffic exchange programs are a good place to start recruiting. People who surf these programs expect to see ads for new opportunities and programs, downline builders, free ebooks, tools etc.

Normally I do not promote the idea of using your home page for traffic exchange programs or to use auto surf programs, but there are exceptions. When you have a new site and want some initial traffic, sign up for a few programs and benefit from the start bonuses. When you have a new page (offer) or site and you are not interested in Page Rank, you could use auto surf programs to get your ticker starting and get some traffic (but never do this with your main site!).

How long do you need to surf?
How much do you need to surf for credits? Well, there are people saying that you need to surf at least one hour per day! That would be the people who are in your upline I suppose. Actually, I do not have a recommendation for the time you should spend, that's totally up to you, but can I tell you how I do it? At this very moment, writing this article, I have 4 programs running and I am playing a bit of solitaire. Point is that I am running a special offer at this moment and I need some extra credits, so when I stop writing for a while, I continue surfing for credits.
Mostly I surf when I feel like it and have no other urgent matters at hand. Or when I am doing something and need something else to distract me for a little while or when I need some fresh ideas. I surf in bursts, only with a few programs at the time and try to get the credit ticker running to get some of the bigger bonuses. surfing too many programs at the same time isn�t that effe

Who Are The Fastest Broadband ISPs??

2009-06-29T23:29:00.002-07:00

It can be very frustrating when you want to find out just how well your ISP really performs....or prospective ISP if you're shopping around. You really don't want to take their word for it (the usual marketing drivel). But how do you become the educated consumer.... so you can operate from a position of knowledge (sic strength) rather than ignorance (sic weakness)?

Well ... to start you can look over the speed test review table at BroadbandReports.com. The table lists over 100 ISPs with number of tests that week, domain (DNS look-up), type, down kpbs, upload kpbs, other details....and rates them in order of performance (based on average over last 7 days). The table is updated daily so check back as often as you need to.

Interested in testing the packet loss of your line, comparing your ping time with other users, modifying your TCP stack, checking for bad routers, scanning for open ports and windows exploit points, testing if your computer is setup correctly for broadband TCP connectivity, tracking your connectivity with weekly reports, and much more? You'll find more tools to help you do all that at BroadbandReports.com. They're a great resource and I strongly suggest you take advantage of everything they make available to the public....for no charge.

About the Author

Michael is the owner of FreedomFire Communications ....delivering choices to business consumers for voice and data broadband services. Michael also authors BroadBand Nation Broadband Nation where you're always welcome to drop in and catch up on the latest BroadBand news, tips, and ramblings for the masses.

Home Business Guide To Easy Money

2009-06-29T23:29:00.001-07:00

Article Entitled: Home Business Guide To Easy Money

HOME BUSINESS GUIDE TO EASY MONEY

Because tens of thousands of people all across America want to know how they can work at home and earn enough money to run a household, there is a special need for this report. Today the need for women to work out of the home is stronger than ever. According to recent surveys, almost 70% are married and contribute up to 50% and more to the family income. Because family responsibilities play such an important part in the lives of men and women, millions of individuals and couples are seeking ways to make money at home.

In the past decade money-making, home-based opportunities that match a person’s skills, interests, abilities, and ingenuity have become almost limitless. The purpose of this report is to show you that it’s simple and easy to join the ranks of success-minded people by choosing a work-at-home program that suits your interests and needs. Business histories have shown over and over again that the rewards and advantages of working at home can go far beyond a person’s wildest dreams! In fact, it’s perfectly possible to launch a small business in your garage, backyard, basement, or a room in your home, and become a giant corporation.

Your first step will be to study the company listings in this report, and then contact those that interest you. It’s possible that you may not be interested in many of those listed in this brief report. But others may serve as that great motivator that makes you look further with a renewed determination. Once you develop that mind-set, persistence will follow and the nothing will stop you from achieving your goals.

When you write to any of the companies listed in this report, you should include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. That will give the impression you are serious and insure that you receive a speedy reply.

BECOME A GOAL SETTER!

If you expect any level of success you must set goals. If you expect to be successful, you must determine what that means to you and the best way to achieve it. There are two basic steps you can take to convert goals into achievements: 1) You can decide on a specific dollar amount; and 2) You can set a time frame for obtaining the dollar amount you want. Your goal should be specific and indicate What, When, and Where. After making a list of every possible way you might accomplish a goal, select the method that best suits your situation.

IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS YOU MUST ASK YOURSELF

1) 'How can I support my family while I build up by business?' This question must be worked out according to each individual’ circumstances. Many people start out on a part-time basis after their regular jobs to see how much they can handle. Then when their incomes reach a certain level they will switch over and go full time.

2) 'What are my abilities?' To determine your abilities you will have to take an inventory of yourself. Decide what you enjoy doing the most and what you 'feel' you would be good at. Examine every possibility and include every skill you have no matter how slight.

3) 'Is there a market for the produce of service I have chosen?' Be cautious before you invest any money! Check it out by making inquiries directly to the company, competitors, or firms who are marketing a product similar to the one you are interested in. Test it on a small scale. Check it out thoroughly.

4) 'How long will it take this business to reach the financial goal I must have?' It’s really a question of knowing how much time you can dedicate to your business, and what your profits are for that time. From there, a little simple addition will tell you how long it might take to reach a particular financial goal.

SUCCESS IS HAVING THE COURAGE TO BEGIN!

Starting a business at home is a economical way to start a small business that can easily grow into a larger one. Many entrepreneurs have proven that you don’t need a huge manufacturing plant to develop a successful business. Some of the most successful businesses in existence today started in a spare room or garage. It isn’t how you start out that is important. What really matters is, do you have the courage to begin.

SELECTING THE RIGHT PRODUCT OR SERVICE

Take a close look at your interests and abilities, and then decide what type of marketing you want to do. For example, do you want to assemble items and sell them back to the manufacturer; do you want to sell directly to people; or would you prefer selling wholesale to retail outlets? If you prefer doing piecework or assembling items for manufacturers, make certain it’s something you enjoy working with. If you enjoy one-on-one-sales, then test the product out on your friends, relatives and neighbors. The object is to find out what has the most appeal.

DEVELOP A GOOD MARKETING TECHNIQUE

A good marketing technique is one part of a business plan that is absolutely essential to its success. In fact, the ability to properly market a product or service is actually more important than the product itself. Even an inferior product can be a financial success if marketed properly. Seek out the advice of everyone in your field. Explain your needs and ask them questions. Experience is the best teacher. With good advice and a salable product, you should be able to develop a winning marketing plan.

FINANCING YOUR HOME-BUSINESS VENTURE

The first place to look for financing is right at home. Take an inventory of items you don’t need and have a garage sale. Most people are pleasantly surprised a how much cash they can raise in a single weekend. Next, turn to members of your family or close friends who have faith in you and want to see you succeed. Offer to repay them through profit-sharing. Go to individuals in your community who believe in your personal worth. If you have a good credit history, your banker should consider you a good financial risk. Two other excellent sources would be your local Small Business Administration (SBA) and Chamber of Commerce.. SBA has low-interest loans available for qualified applicants and your Chamber of Commerce can assist you with referrals and other helpful information.

WORK-AT-HOME OPPORTUNITIES ARE EVERYWHERE!

Anyone who is serious about work-at-home opportunities need only look around them. There are thousands of options everywhere! There are employment opportunities that involve becoming an independent contractor; working on a commission basis; working for a salary; freelancing for pay; getting paid by the hour, receiving pay for each piece assembled; getting paid by the project, or a combination of any of the above. No doubt, what you finally decide on will depend on your particular needs and interests.

Read the following listings carefully, and when you’re ready contact any that interest you. Don’t become discouraged if the company you contact isn’t hiring right at the moment. Often circumstances change rapidly. Use your imagination to convince an employer there are great advantages to giving you work! Be a self-motivator and continue moving forward towards the goals you want and deserve. Do it starting NOW!

DIRECTORY OF HOME WORKER INCOME OPPORTUNITIES

LITTLEGUY’S, Box NFP, Winkelman, AZ 85292. If you enjoy making craft items but hate selling them, or are looking for a way to sell more, look no further! This company says they will purchase home-made items from you, or refer you to other companies who are buyers. All types of hobby crafts are considered. Enclose a $0.29 postage stamp when writing for more information.

ELITE ENTERPRISES, P.O. Box 31577, Chicago, IL 60631-0577. Get your share of the billion dollar popcorn market! Elite Enterprises has put together an incredible program for making money that involves the distribution of one of America’s favorite foods - Popcorn! 56 gourmet flavors of popcorn, to be exact. Write to Robert Doncaster for more information.

SUITCASE BOUTIQUE, 12228 Spring Court Place, Maryland Heights, MO 63043. Suitcase Boutique is a home party. This company buys many types of hand-crafted items including stuffed animals, wood crafts, toys, soft sculpture, framed pictures and cross stitch.. Crafters should send a photo an description of their products.

ARBONNE INTERNATIONAL, INC. Direct sales of European cosmetics and skin care products. Representatives build customer bases using any direct sales method that work for them. Training and ongoing managerial support is provided. Pays commission.

CAMEO COUTURES, INC., 9004 Ambassador Row, P.O. Box 47390, Dallas, TX 75247. Home party sales of lingerie, cosmetics and food supplements. Training is provided. Pays commission.

OLSTEN HEALTH CARE SERVICES, Staffing Coordinators. Olsten now has over 300 offices nationwide in its health care services division. Each office has a minimum of two home-based staffing coordinators job-sharing on a seven-days-on, seven-days-off schedule. The jobs consist of taking calls during the day, evenings, and on weekends to dispatch the appropriate personnel for hospital and home health care positions. Some staffing experience or medical background is required. Write to locate the office nearest you then apply directly to that office. Pays weekly salary plus placement bonus.

DREAMCAPES, 2140 E. 7th Place 1, Los Angeles, CA 90021. Put yourself in an exciting new profit picture with this company’s original Dreamscapes, a unique picture of sand and colored liquid that when turned over creates an endless variety of beautiful landscapes. Create mountain, desert,, and beach scenes. It’s fascinating, irresistible, mesmerizing, and profitable. Sell them at flea markets, fairs, and anywhere people gather. Write for more details

HANKINS MARKETING CORP., P.O. Box 16B1, Salisbury, NC 28144. Aching feet is America’s No. 1 medical complaint. Air-Flo Insole is a revolutionary breakthrough that helps. Its patented vacuum principle allows air to enter the insole when the foot is lifted and gradually releases it when the wearer steps down. It’s like walking on air! Learn how you can make up to 160% profit selling this item to individuals, retail and chain stores. Write for details.

NATIONAL COLLEGE OF APPRAISAL & PROPERTY MANAGEMENT, 6065 Rosewell Road, Suite 2232, Atlanta, GA 30328.. Become a professional real estate appraiser with this home study course. Study at your own pace. Enjoy excellent income potential, and become financially independent! Write for more information.

PICNIC PROJECTS, P.O. Box 87, Towanda, PA 18848. You can make up to $600 a week or more, building and selling high quality picnic tables. If you enjoy working with wood, contact this company for more details.

VON SCHRADER COMPANY, 1600 Junction Avenue, Racine, WI 53403. If you have ever dreamed of owning your own business, this company may have the perfect opportunity for you. Carpet, upholstery, and wall cleaning are in high demand and the profits are huge! You can offer all three of these services for a fraction of the price a franchise would. Write to them for more information.

CAJUN COUNTRY CANDIES, PO Box 53549, Lafayette, LA 70505-3549. Whoever invented the word 'Delicious,' was probably eating Roy Babineaux’s 'sweetest ever yet' Cajun Country Candy! This product is a leader when it comes to 'selling itself.' One taste and you’re hooked. You could be the first to introduce Roy’s world famous products into your area. Roy has a marketing plan that can make you rich! No inventory is required.

BADGE-A-MINT, 348 North 30th Road, Box 800, LaSalle, IL 6130l. You have seen them worn by people, each with a different message, but have you ever considered the huge profits that are made from button sales? Write for details.

HOLIDAY MAGIC, P.O. Box 882314, San Francisco, CA 94188. This company offers three different products that can be assembled at home. 1) The Christmas Oven Mitt, 2) Crystal Splendor (a Christmas Ornament), and 3) a Valentine Heart Mini-Pillow. They pay supply costs.Write for Free Details.

SATIN DOLL ENTERPRISES, 78 Water St., Beverly, MA 01915. Earn up to $100 per day with doll lingerie that sells itself. Write for startup information.

TV PROJECTOR COMPANY, 2410 Orchard Road, McHenry, IL 60050. New TV Projector kit turns any TV set into a life-size 7-foot screen! This is a product that sells on sight for only $20! You make 400% profits fast! Write for more details.

RECOGNITION SERVICES, P.O. Box 30288, Indianapolis, IN 46230. Every business, corporation, institution, church, school and organization is a potential customer of recognition awards. As a representative of this company, you can provide jewelry and custom-made embroidered emblems that include: Lapel pins, medals, medallions, and cloth emblems that are custom made in any shape or color. Write for details.

NAVAJO MANUFACTURING CO., 5801 Logan St., Denver. CO 80216. Navajo Manufacturing is a source of products for retailers that includes fashion and authentic American Indian Jewelry, sunglasses, toys, plush animals, and many other novelties. Write for more details.

POLISH MASTERS, 364 Ramble Ridge Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91360.. Polish Masters will help you become part of the hottest new concept ever to hit the auto appearance industry. With their system you can earn up to $400 per day cleaning and polishing autos, boats, RV’s and airplanes. There is no franchise fee to pay, and they will work with you every step of the way. Write for free details.

CADIE PRODUCTS CORPORATION, 100 Sixth Ave., Paterson, NJ 07524. Involves packaging small items produced by the company. No machinery or experience is required. Pays piece rate.

LUCKY HEART COSMETICS, INC., 138 Hurling Ave., Memphis, TN 38103. Lucky Heart Cosmetics, Inc. carries a line of cosmetics for Black Women. Independent distributors are wanted. Commission plus bonuses Management opportunities available.

NICHOLS BRONZE SUPPLY, 389 Sebring Airport, Sebring, FL 33870. Bronze baby shoes at home and make $250 per day. A free brochure will show you how to start making money immediately by preserving baby shoes, sports items, and many other types of keepsakes, in bronze, gold, and chinakote pearl. This company claims to be the world’s largest supplier of elegant cultured marble mountings.

DICRENS MATSON U.S.A., 21023 Gratiot Ave., East Detroit, MI 48021. This company is looking for people to assemble clowns from their home. The work is fun and easy. Write for free details.

ARBITRON RATINGS, INC., 3312 Marshall Ave., Laurel, MD 20707. This company hires telephone interviewers for market research surveys. Positions require communication skills and private phone lines.

NOWCO INTERNATIONAL, INC., 1 George Ave., Wilkes-Barre, PA 18705. Work at home and cash in on the gift basket boom! This company sells gift basket packaging to the champagne and caviar trade throughout the country. Writ for more details.

CENTRAL-SHIPPER, INC., 46 Star Lake Ave., Bloomington, NJ 07404. Involves manual assembly of color cards, inserting and mailing. Home workers receive piece rates for putting swatch cards together.

THE LYNETTE CO., 4251 Mentor Park, Mentor, OH 44060. This company will show you how to start making money with plastercraft, manufacturing sculptured art at home. They will show you how to make a wide variety of wall plaques and other fast-selling items. Write for details.

Get Free Content at http://www.ContentMart.com

How To Turn Newspapers Into Cash Dollars

2009-06-29T23:26:00.000-07:00

Article Entitled: How To Turn Newspapers Into Cash Dollars

HOW TO TURN NEWSPAPERS INTO CASH DOLLARS

Scan your newspapers every day for headlines and advertisement layouts that contain catchy or interesting phrases in bold, well-printed type. Clip these and file them. You may use printing that is either black and white, or red and white.

The next step is to use these headlines on circulars. Start the circular with your clipped headlines, finish the body of your circular with your typewriter. You can make some really fine 'camera ready' copy by doing this+and they look professionally done.

Clip cartoons and 'cute' drawings and incorporate them into your ads. Practice at this and you will soon have the expertise to compose ads and paste-ups for other dealers. Sell this service and you can make good money. This plan can soon grow into a well-paying career.

Get Free Content at http://www.ContentMart.com

Working at Home Isn't All Fun and Games

2009-06-29T23:25:00.000-07:00

By Jan K., The Proofer

Do you often daydream about working at home? Before you hand in your letter of resignation, please read what Jan K., The Proofer has to say about the pros and cons of being your own boss. These are points to ponder before you begin your pursuit of a work-at-home job.

Working at Home Isn"t All Fun and Games

I enjoy telling people that I "work at home." I can see that wistful look in their eyes, and I can hear it in their voices when they say, "That must be nice." And then for about five minutes, they do a little daydreaming about what it would be like to "work at home." I never explain to them about the measure of self-discipline it takes, and how great are the temptations to take a "break" and reorganize my sock drawer when I find myself faced with working on a project that is less than interesting (or worse yet, "not as profitable" as other projects). Why burst their bubble? Let them daydream awhile�.

Working at home can be all the wonderful things that those people daydream about. Setting my own hours, working at my own pace (project deadlines permitting), running to the market at 1 o"clock on a Wednesday afternoon when there"s nobody there---these are just a few of the plusses of working at home. For parents (whether it is the mom or dad, or both working at home), being able to adjust their working schedule to school schedules, being able to take the kids to the orthodontist or to soccer practice, working at home is a definite plus. For people who don"t work at home and who want to work at home, it is probably hard to think of even one minus. But the fact of the matter is, the minuses do exist---in abundance.

It is not my purpose here to ruin all your hopes or plans to establish yourself as a work-at-homer. In fact, I do encourage you to follow that dream and be your own boss. However, I want you to take just a few minutes to take stock of your situation and once and for all decide if working at home really is in your best interest.

First, and obviously, you have to have a job skill that is amenable to the at-home environment. If you trim poodles on the weekend and think you can turn it into a full-time at-home business, then look around. Do you live in a two-bedroom apartment on the second floor and just do your neighbor"s poodle once a month (but you do it really well)? Or do you live a four-bedroom ranch house with a three-car garage that can be made over into "Donna"s Clip Joint" and happen to live in an urban neighborhood where everyone has pets? And even if you do, what about all the permits that you will need? Will you be able to pursue this type of work at home, and do so legally?

The most applicable work-at-home job skills involve the use of a computer, the Internet, phone, fax, and other small business/office machines. You can hardly drive from home to the grocery store without seeing those signs nailed to telephone poles: "Got a Computer? Earn up to $2000 at home!" Of course, you can, but can you?

For the sake of argument, let"s presume then that you have a computer and an assortment of small business machines, and that you do indeed have some skill that you believe can be marketed. Let"s focus on you for a minute: Are you self-disciplined? Are you organized? Do you have the proper workspace where you can work undisturbed? Are you able to face a workday where you have no supervision or guidance? Can you work at home, day after day, without having the people contact that you would typically find "on the job"? When you have overlapping projects, will you be able to cope with the necessary prioritizing so that you get the time-critical job done on time without jeopardizing the next job in line?

The list of questions goes on. And this doesn"t begin to address the "what ifs" that go hand-in-hand with working at home. What if you don"t have any work this week? What if work doesn"t come in the we

Keeping Track of Your At-Home Business Expenses

2009-06-29T23:24:00.001-07:00

By Jan K., The Proofer

This is one of several articles that are geared toward the new at-home worker who needs help with self-employment taxes: the forms needed and how (and when) to file. This article will assist you in not only recognizing what are �business expenses,� but also how to track them so that filing your self-employment income will be a snap! You don�t need to know any accounting in order to record your business expenses---all you need is a good old, ordinary file folder and a pencil.

Keeping Track of Your At-Home Business Expenses

If you are new to working at home, then you might not be aware that you can legally deduct many types of valid business expenses, such as paper supplies or the second phone line you install for your business, on your self-employment income tax return (and thereby reduce your taxable self-employment income). This article concerns only general expenses and will not deal with how to determine and deduct expenses that relate to your in-home office space or depreciable office furnishings/equipment. That is a conversation for another day (and will be covered in a future article).

First, let me congratulate you on the fact that you are working at home! Whether it is part-time, full-time, or just a little something you do on the side for extra money, working at home and being your own boss is the lifelong dream of many people. Be proud that you have achieved what so many do not.

Second, let me be very clear that this article is written on the assumption that you report your self-employment income---all your income---and that you pay the self-employment taxes that are due on that income. This article is also based on tracking and recording legitimate business expenses. Even if you have very modest income and are using your kitchen table a few nights a week as your office space, there are still legitimate business expenses that you can use to help reduce your self-employment taxable income. The purpose of this article is not to help you find ways to pad your deductions or to dodge paying your taxes.

Last, this article is aimed at those who are either new to working at home or who need a simple explanation of a subject that may seem twisted and tangled. Business expenses and tax deductions don"t need to be scary monsters that live with the dust bunnies beneath the box spring of your bed. You don"t even need a complicated method of data storage in order to track your expenses and have quick and easy numbers ready when it comes time to file your taxes. In fact, you don"t really need much more than a notepad and a nice box. Of course, if you live for spreadsheets and bar graphs, you can get as high-tech as you like. Personally, I have a very simple Excel spreadsheet and four large file folders (one for each quarter of the year).

OK, let"s get started.

It is important to know what qualifies as a "business expense." Well, that"s simple. A business expense is money that you pay out of your pocket in order to maintain your at-home business. An easy example would be a business phone line. If you had a second phone line installed as your business line, then you can legally deduct 100% of the cost of that phone line as a business expense. You can also deduct the cost of equipment, installation, and hook-up (for the tax year during which you installed the line). Business expenses do not have to be related to office equipment or furniture, or even the actual work that you do. Legitimate business expenses also include office supplies like computer paper, ink cartridges, pens, notepads, paperclips---literally anything that you buy specifically for conducting your business.

I use this rule of thumb: If I wouldn"t have purchased it otherwise, then it is a business expense.

Now, I do understand that at some time during your life, you would probably have some reason to pick up a package of paperclips or buy a couple of ink pens. What I"m talking about are the things that you find that you use regularly in the course of your business. As an example, I have two clients for whom I

Ilmu adalah Pemimpin Amal

2009-06-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

oleh Muhammad Abduh Tuasikal

Alhamdulillah wa shalaatu wa salaamu ‘ala Rosulillah wa ‘ala alihi wa
shohbihi wa man tabi’ahum bi ihsaanin ilaa yaumid diin.

Mu’adz bin Jabal –radhiyallahu ‘anhu- mengatakan,
“Ilmu adalah pemimpin amal dan amalan itu berada di belakang setelah
adanya ilmu.” (Al Amru bil Ma’ruf wan Nahyu ‘anil Mungkar, hal. 15)

Bukti Bahwa Ilmu Lebih Didahulukan daripada Amalan
Ulama hadits terkemuka, yakni Al Bukhari berkata, “Al ‘Ilmu Qoblal Qouli
Wal ‘Amali (Ilmu Sebelum Berkata dan Berbuat)“. Perkataan ini merupakan
kesimpulan yang beliau ambil dari firman Allah ta’ala,
“Maka ilmuilah (ketahuilah)! Bahwasanya tiada sesembahan yang berhak
disembah selain Allah dan mohonlah ampunan bagi dosamu” (QS. Muhammad
[47]: 19).

Dalam ayat ini, Allah memulai dengan ‘ilmuilah’ lalu mengatakan ‘mohonlah
ampun’. Ilmuilah yang dimaksudkan adalah perintah untuk berilmu terlebih
dahulu, sedangkan ‘mohonlah ampun’ adalah amalan. Ini pertanda bahwa ilmu
hendaklah lebih dahulu sebelum amal perbuatan.
Sufyan bin ‘Uyainah rahimahullah berdalil dengan ayat ini untuk
menunjukkan keutamaan ilmu. Hal ini sebagaimana dikeluarkan oleh Abu
Nu’aim dalam Al Hilyah ketika menjelaskan biografi Sufyan dari jalur Ar
Robi’ bin Nafi’ darinya, bahwa Sufyan membaca ayat ini, lalu mengatakan,
“Tidakkah engkau mendengar bahwa Allah memulai ayat ini dengan mengatakan
‘ilmuilah’, kemudian Allah memerintahkan untuk beramal?” (Fathul Bari,
Ibnu Hajar, 1/108)

Al Muhallab rahimahullah mengatakan, “Amalan yang bermanfaat adalah amalan
yang terlebih dahulu didahului dengan ilmu. Amalan yang di dalamnya tidak
terdapat niat, ingin mengharap-harap ganjaran, dan merasa telah berbuat
ikhlas, maka ini bukanlah amalan (karena tidak didahului dengan ilmu,
pen). Sesungguhnya yang dilakukan hanyalah seperti amalannya orang gila
yang pena diangkat dari dirinya.“ (Syarh Al Bukhari libni Baththol, 1/144)

Ibnul Munir rahimahullah berkata, “Yang dimaksudkan oleh Al Bukhari bahwa
ilmu adalah syarat benarnya suatu perkataan dan perbuatan. Suatu perkataan
dan perbuatan itu tidak teranggap kecuali dengan ilmu terlebih dahulu.
Oleh sebab itulah, ilmu didahulukan dari ucapan dan perbuatan, karena ilmu
itu pelurus niat. Niat nantinya yang akan memperbaiki amalan.” (Fathul
Bari, 1/108)

Keutamaan Luar Biasa Ilmu Syar’i
Setelah kita mengetahui hal di atas, hendaklah setiap orang lebih
memusatkan perhatiannya untuk berilmu terlebih dahulu daripada beramal.
Semoga dengan mengetahui faedah atau keutamaan ilmu syar’i berikut akan
membuat kita lebih termotivasi dalam hal ini.

Pertama, Allah akan meninggikan derajat orang yang berilmu di akhirat dan
di dunia
Di akhirat, Allah akan meninggikan derajat orang yang berilmu beberapa
derajat berbanding lurus dengan amal dan dakwah yang mereka lakukan.
Sedangkan di dunia, Allah meninggikan orang yang berilmu dari hamba-hamba
yang lain sesuai dengan ilmu dan amalan yang dia lakukan.
Allah Ta’ala berfirman,
“Allah akan meninggikan orang-orang yang beriman di antaramu dan
orang-orang yang diberi ilmu pengetahuan beberapa derajat.” (QS Al
Mujadalah: 11)

Kedua, seorang yang berilmu adalah cahaya yang banyak dimanfaatkan manusia
untuk urusan agama dan dunia meraka.
Dalilnya, satu hadits yang sangat terkenal bagi kita, kisah seorang
laki-laki dari Bani Israil yang membunuh 99 nyawa. Kemudian dia ingin
bertaubat dan dia bertanya siapakah di antara penduduk bumi yang paling
berilmu, maka ditunjukkan kepadanya seorang ahli ibadah. Kemudian dia
bertanya kepada si ahli ibadah, apakah ada taubat untuknya. Ahli ibadah
menganggap bahwa dosanya sudah sangat besar sehingga dia mengatakan bahwa
tidak ada pintu taubat bagi si pembunuh 99 nyawa. Maka dibunuhlah ahli
ibadah sehigga genap 100 orang yang telah dibunuh oleh laki-laki dari Bani
Israil tersebut. Akhirnya dia masih ingin bertaubat lagi, kemudian dia
bertanya siapakah orang yang paling berilmu, lalu ditunjukkan kepada
seorang ulama. Dia bertanya kepada ulama tersebut, “Apakah masih ada pintu
taubat untukku”. Maka ulama tersebut mengatakan bahwa masih ada pintu
taubat untuknya dan tidak ada satupun yang menghalangi dirinya untuk
bertaubat. Kemudian ulama tersebut menunjukkan kepadanya agar berpindah ke
sebuah negeri yang penduduknya merupakan orang shalih, karena kampungnya
merupakan kampung yang dia tinggal sekarang adalah kampung yang penuh
kerusakan. Oleh karena itu, dia pun keluar meninggalkan kampung
halamannya. Di tengah jalan sebelum sampai ke negeri yang dituju, dia
sudah dijemput kematian.
(HR. Bukhari dan Muslim). Kisah ini merupakan kisah yang sangat masyhur.
Lihatlah perbedaan ahli ibadah dan ahli ilmu.

Ketiga, Ilmu adalah Warisan Para Nabi
Nabi shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam bersabda,
“Sesungguhnya para Nabi tidak mewariskan dinar dan dirham, mereka hanyalah
mewariskan ilmu. Barangsiapa yang mengambilnya, maka dia telah memperoleh
keberuntungan yang banyak.” (HR Abu Dawud no. 3641 dan Tirmidzi no. 2682.
Syaikh Al Albani dalam Shohih wa Dho’if Sunan Abi Daud dan Shohih wa
Dho’if Sunan Tirmidzi mengatakan bahwa hadits ini shohih)

Keempat, Orang yang Berilmu yang Akan Mendapatkan Seluruh Kebaikan
Rasulullah shallallahu ‘alaihi wa sallam bersabda,
“Barangsiapa yang Allah kehendaki mendapatkan seluruh kebaikan, maka Allah
akan memahamkan dia tentang agama.” (HR. Bukhari dan Muslim)
Syaikhul Islam Ibnu Taimiyah mengatakan,
“Setiap orang yang Allah menghendaki kebaikan padanya pasti akan diberi
kepahaman dalam masalah agama. Sedangkan orang yang tidak diberikan
kepahaman dalam agama, tentu Allah tidak menginginkan kebaikan dan
bagusnya agama pada dirinya.” (Majmu’ Al Fatawa, 28/80)

Ilmu yang Wajib Dipelajari Lebih Dahulu
Ilmu yang wajib dipelajari bagi manusia adalah ilmu yang menuntut untuk
diamalkan saat itu, adapun ketika amalan tersebut belum tertuntut untuk
diamalkan maka belum wajib untuk dipelajari. Jadi ilmu mengenai tauhid,
mengenai 2 kalimat syahadat, mengenai keimanan adalah ilmu yang wajib
dipelajari ketika seseorang menjadi muslim, karena ilmu ini adalah dasar
yang harus diketahui.
Kemudian ilmu mengenai shalat, hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan shalat,
seperti bersuci dan lainnya, merupakan ilmu berikutnya yang harus
dipelajari. Kemudian ilmu tentang hal-hal yang halal dan haram, ilmu
tentang mualamalah dan seterusnya.
Contohnya seseorang yang saat ini belum mampu berhaji, maka ilmu tentang
haji belum wajib untuk ia pelajari saat ini. Akan tetapi ketika ia telah
mampu berhaji, ia wajib mengetahui ilmu tentang haji dan segala sesuatu
yang berkaitan dengan haji. Adapun ilmu tentang tauhid, tentang keimanan,
adalah hal pertama yang harus dipelajari karena setiap amalan yang ia
lakukan tentunya berkaitan dengan niat. Kalau niatnya dalam melakukan
ibadah karena Allah maka itulah amalan yang benar. Adapun kalau niatnya
karena selain Allah maka itu adalah amalan syirik. Ini semua jika
dilatarbelakangi dengan aqidah dan tauhid yang benar.

Penutup
Marilah kita awali setiap keyakinan dan amalan dengan ilmu agar luruslah
niat kita dan tidak terjerumus dalam ibadah yang tidak ada tuntunan (alias
bid’ah). Ingatlah bahwa suatu amalan yang dibangun tanpa dasar ilmu malah
akan mendatangkan kerusakan dan bukan kebaikan.
‘Umar bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz mengatakan,
“Barangsiapa yang beribadah kepada Allah tanpa ilmu, maka dia akan membuat
banyak kerusakan daripada mendatangkan kebaikan.” (Al Amru bil Ma’ruf wan
Nahyu ‘anil Mungkar, hal. 15)
Di samping itu pula, setiap ilmu hendaklah diamalkan agar tidak serupa
dengan orang Yahudi. Sufyan bin ‘Uyainah –rahimahullah- mengatakan,
“Orang berilmu yang rusak (karena tidak mengamalkan apa yang dia ilmui)
memiliki keserupaan dengan orang Yahudi. Sedangkan ahli ibadah yang rusak
(karena beribadah tanpa dasar ilmu) memiliki keserupaan dengan orang
Nashrani.” (Majmu’ Al Fatawa, 16/567)

Semoga Allah senantiasa memberi kita bertaufik agar setiap amalan kita
menjadi benar karena telah diawali dengan ilmu terdahulu. Semoga Allah
memberikan kita ilmu yang bermanfaat, amal yang sholeh yang diterima, dan
rizki yang thoyib.

Alhamdulilllahilladzi bi ni’matihi tatimmush sholihaat. Wa shallallahu
‘ala nabiyyina Muhammad wa ‘ala alihi wa shohbihi wa sallam.

Obama Ejek Ahmadinejad

2009-06-29T23:03:00.000-07:00

Sabtu, 27/06/2009 11:35 WIB
Obama Ejek Ahmadinejad
Rita Uli Hutapea - detikNews

Washington - Hilang sudah kesabaran Presiden AS Barack Obama terhadap Presiden Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Obama kini melontarkan ejekan terhadap pemimpin Iran itu. Padahal sebelumnya Obama memilih bersikap hati-hati mengenai krisis politik di Iran.

Namun kini Obama tak bisa membendung kekesalannya pada Ahmadinejad. Gara-garanya, Ahamadinejad meminta Obama untuk minta maaf karena telah mengkritik respons pemerintah Iran terhadap para pendemo.

Dicetuskan Obama, rezim Iran seharusnya lebih memikirkan jawaban apa yang akan diberikan kepada para demonstran yang ditangkap, disiksa dan dibunuh.

"Kekerasan yang dilakukan terhadap mereka adalah keterlaluan," cetus Obama. "Kami melihatnya dan kami mengutuknya," imbuhnya.

"Saya tidak menganggap serius pernyataan Ahmadinejad soal permintaan maaf, apalagi mengingat fakta bahwa AS telah bersikap untuk tidak ikut campur dengan proses pemilihan di Iran," tegas Obama.

"Saya sarankan Ahmadinejad untuk memikirkan baik-baik tentang kewajibannya pada rakyatnya sendiri," tutur Obama seperti dilansir kantor berita Reuters , Sabtu (27/6/2009).

"Dan dia mungkin ingin mempertimbangkan untuk melihat keluarga mereka yang telah dipukuli atau ditembak atau ditahan," tandasnya.

Obama bahkan kini terang-terangan menyatakan dukungannya pada Mirhossein Mousavi, yang dikalahkan Ahmadinejad dalam pilpres Iran 12 Juni lalu. Padahal sebelumnya Obama pernah berujar bahwa antara Ahmadinejad dan Mousavi tak banyak berbeda. (ita/ita)