Archive for March, 2009
March 16, 2009 at 12:38 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Pause for a second, you’re looking for a web hosting provider, this is an important decision. We’re going to show you what you’ll want to look for and what you’ll want to avoid.
There are certain things you need to find that will give you comfort when you locate your web hosting service. For example, most cheap hosting companies will have to cut back on their customer support or the speed of their hosting. One of the best deals you can find is when you have a combination of all of the benefits. Here’s a list of benefits you should look for:
-Cpanel: This is a feature that easily allows you to install tools like shopping carts, blogs, discussion forums, handling MySQL databases and support centers, all for free. This allows for testing of these tools to be possible without paying anything extra.
-24/7 Support: At first you may not realize the importance of having someone there for you even if you’re having a midnight crisis to setup a new page, but this is a critical feature you may want to have just in case anything happens.
-Email Accounts: Web hosting is a competitive market, and those that get cheap with important things like email accounts are meant to be left behind. Look for a company that gives you unlimited email accounts.
-Speed: It’s very important to know your server conection to the internet. If your website will have a nice flow of trafic, you need something around 15-45 GB of bandwidth. This way your visitors are navigating comfortably without any unnecesary delays.
Why doesn’t every company offer free Blogs and Shopping Carts? Why don’t they provide 30 day money back guarantee? And why isn’t it cheap? The main reason most companies don’t offer these things is because they are just starting out. These things cost money and to offer them they already would need many customers. It’s good to find an established a web hosting service.
However, there are a few companies that are able to offer all of these things for their customers. It’s possible because they have been around for some time and have earned a large customer base that allows them to offer all these things for you.
When you’ve found a great company, you can feel it immediately. You are paying a low price, you are getting the benefits you want and you are getting great customer support. These are the companies that are worth keeping.
After reviewing many web hosting companies, we found that some of the ones that offered the cheapest prices actually offered the most benefits, so be sure to look for something that is cost effective since the competition is bringing down the costs and improving quality.
From the entire internet, we have reviewed the top web hosting companies and narrowed it to the top 3. Check out which are these companies at my site (http://www.web-hosting-review-central.info). HINT: Their Web Hosting is Cheap
March 16, 2009 at 6:40 am · Filed under Uncategorized
To begin with, my children already lived here with their mother and stepfather. The varsity football team, the Stephenville Yellow Jackets, was the winningest Texas football team in the 90’s and my sons, along with their stepfather, urged me to come and see these kids play. “They are phenomenal!” I was assured. I went to watch them play as they won the Texas State Championships in 98 and 99. They WERE phenomenal! My youngest son played football at Stephenville High. His underclass teams won district and he played Varsity ball on a team that went to the Bi-District finals his Senior year. This was enough to get me to criss-cross the wide open spaces of Texas from Arlington, chasing after my son’s football games for four years, including quite a few contests right in his home town of Stephenville.
Game by game, the town was growing on me.
Some unusual things were happening there that caught my attention from my apartment in Arlington. For starters, on a Christian radio show I used to listen to, the host, Dawson McAllister, mentioned he would soon be speaking at a rally in…where else? Stephenville! Hmm. Intriguing. Turns out, my kids attended that rally. I found out later, most EVERYBODY’s kids attended.
Another happening that the Holy Spirit used to lure my attention to Stephenville was the war against prayer in the schools, particularly at sporting events and graduations. The reports were on virtually every nightly newscast. I noticed during my brief visits to town that there were many kids wearing a bright yellow t-shirt with the words “I Pray before I Play” emblazoned boldly upon the front. Following are some pieces of articles I found on the Internet, the likes of which I seemed to be hearing regularly back in the late 90’s. They speak for themselves, painting an accurate picture of the climate of those days:
“…the athletic field is rapidly turning into a culture war battle zone, as it did Friday night at a game in Stephenville, Texas, over the issue of school prayer. Education boards and school principals across Texas are struggling with federal guidelines on religious activities, including the ban on official school prayer. Earlier this year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that some religious references were permissible at school events like graduation ceremonies, but were inappropriate — not sufficiently sacred — during other activities like athletic contests. Jurists ruled that the hootin’ and hollerin’ of a down-home football standoff lacked the “singularly serious nature” of other functions, such as a graduation event.
“That didn’t stop a small group of 15 students on Friday night, though, from smuggling a portable public address system into a high school game in Stephenville, Texas, to lead supporters in public prayer…
“One of the “prayer warrior” students at Friday night’s game told the Stephenville Empire-Tribune paper, “This was not about football, it was about God. We decided to pray for God (sic).” According to an Associated Press report, local high school superintendent Larry Butler said that the impromptu prayer rally did not have support of authorities from the district. “With that being said,” added Butler, “I applaud them for doing something that they feel really strongly about. I think the entire community of Stephenville believes in school prayer.”
“So far, there are no other reports of spontaneous prayer outbreaks at weekend football games. News accounts suggest that most school district throughout Texas are abiding by the Circuit Court guidelines…”
FROM ANOTHER ARTICLE…
“A number of “spontaneous” protest at football games have taken place in Stephenville. Last week, the Board of Trustees of the Stephenville Independent School District grappled with a policy which would permit a student selected by popular vote to deliver a pre-game “message,” provided certain rules were observed. The local Empire-Tribune newspaper noted: “The rules are that the purpose of the message is to encourage good sportsmanship and student safety and to promote the proper environment for the competition… The message may also be used to welcome or greet fans and the opposing team and/or to commend them for their achievements.
“While one board member mused that the new policy “would legally create an open forum for a period of time designated for the message and designate a place for the student message,” another member saw through the obfuscation. Referring to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court decision disallowing pre-game prayer, he told fellow board members: “This is the law today whether we like it or not. Until this is cleared up, I personally think we go against the law if we allow student prayer, or any prayer, before the game…” “
HERE’S ONE MORE FROM ‘99…
Students Defy Federal Judge on Prayer at High School Game
Stephenville, TX – The August 27th football season opener for the Stephenville High School Yellow Jackets was not only memorable for the lop-sided victory they had, but also for the courage shown by the student body and the fans in the crowd. A district federal judge had issued a decision forbidding prayer at public school gatherings, even if initiated by students. The students of Stephenville High believe this is a violation of their constitutional right to freedom of religion. The student body not only takes pride in being the defending 4A state champions, but in exercising their constitutional rights.
Before the opening kickoff, one of the students of Stephenville High grabbed a microphone and led a “spontaneous” prayer. Several students joined the young man on the sidelines, but what was even more powerful was the fact that not some, but all of the people in the stands stood up, removed their hats and joined in the prayer. Local news stations were there to cover the game and questioned the police and high school administrator as to what they planned to do about the “illegal” praying. There was no response from the police, but the high school administrator simply said that no actions were to be taken against the students. School officials also pointed out that since the school had not officially sanctioned the action, it could not be held legally liable for what happened.
The federal judge, upon hearing about the public prayer, said that the prayer was in violation of the constitutional separation of church and state. Some supporters of the students pointed out that the Constitution does not demand separation of church and state, but guarantees that there will be no laws made establishing any official religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion. Students interviewed said that they planned to pray publicly at their next game.
One thing that most local reports on the event failed to mention was that it was not just the Stephenville students and supporters, but their football adversaries as well that stood up to be counted. The Weatherford High School Kangaroos, and all their fans, honored the brave individuals that dared to challenge the edict of a federal judge by standing with them during the prayer. With reporters scouring the crowd for an opposing view, not one person was found whom the prayer offended. Still the judge finds this act illegal and irresponsible!
What happens going forward from here depends on how determined the judge is to force his will on the people, and how determined the citizens of Stephenville are to defend their constitutional rights. For one night at least, this was seen as a victory for Texans in the exercise of their rights. As for Weatherford High, it was the one bright spot in a night that resulted in a 34-7 loss to the Yellow Jackets.
AND ANOTHER…
MORE SCHOOLS IGNORE FOOTBALL PRAYER BAN
North of Dallas, Celina high school football fans prayed before a football game with a Christian school. The apparently coordinated prayer by fans, football players, cheerleaders, and band members violates the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ban on school football prayers because football is not properly solemn enough for God.
Rev. John Mark Arrington, pastor at Lighthouse Full Gospel Church in Garland distributed 250 T-shirts with the slogan, “Celina Bobcats Pray Before They Play.” Arrington want students to obey “God’s law,” which justifies the growing rebellion of evangelicals against the U.S. Constitution.
In Stephenville, students brought their own sound system to football games and delivered a religious message using the equipment. There was no report that school officials took any action to prevent it.
In Midland, student-led prayers at football games still happen. School officials said the prayers would continue until someone filed a lawsuit to make them stop.
FINALY, THIS FROM U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT…
To pray–or not to pray” by Robert Bryce.
U.S. News & World Report, Sep 13, 1999 (Vol 127, No 10). Page 26.
Joel Allen and Alan Ward, two Stephenville, Texas, high school students, refused to be denied the tradition that surrounded their school’s football games. So to circumvent a federal court order barring use of a school’s public address system for prayer before high school football games, the two students borrowed a small speaker system and led the crowd in prayer, much to the fans’ delight.
The court ruling that affects Stephenville, Texas, handed down in February 1999, by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has revived a national furor over the place of prayer in public school events. The court’s decision stated that student-led prayer during graduation ceremonies is allowed, but prayer during events such as football games is not since they do not represent a “solemn” enough occasion.
This latest ruling is one of several conflicting federal decisions on school prayer in recent years. In July 1999, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an Alabama school district could not ban student-initiated prayer at school activities, even when attendance of the event is mandatory.
The Fifth Circuit Court’s decision will most likely be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the meantime, some school districts in Louisiana and Texas say they will hold a moment of silence in lieu of prayer. Others vow to ignore the ruling altogether.
YOU GET THE PICTURE.
I was fascinated, waiting with baited breath for the next act of civil disobedience to come from the kids from this li’l ol’ town in Texas I’d never heard of until my kids moved there.
Finally, I became very ill and was faced with a difficult decision. I had to leave Arlington, a place I’d lived for 14 years and a Church of which I was a Charter Member and Assistant Pastor as well as a good-paying job where I held a prestigious position. But I couldn’t bend over to load my dishwasher, walk a flight of stairs or carry groceries to and from my car. I needed my children’s help.
Stephenville, here I come!
Crippled and in pain, finding a job was nearly impossible. I came very close to filing Medicaid papers and becoming a ward of the state. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Where God guides, He provides and He regularly sent ravens to take care of my needs. My old college roommate lived in Dublin just 12 minutes away. He directed a publishing company to contact me as they needed an illustrator for a series of children’s books. That job alone, a job I could do from my kitchen table or even from propped -up pillows, was enough to help me make ends meet. Between chapters, recipients of my weekly email Bible broadcasts would occasionally come through with a love offering.
I was living from miracle to miracle until I received a call from my old college pal informing me that the local Chamber of Commerce was in need of a receptionist. I did not even know what a Chamber of Commerce actually did but I was feeling miraculously better, well enough to have applied for work at a local dairy reading the ear tags on cows just the day before. Funny, I can’t recall a job interview where a prospective employer asked if I’d mind occasionally getting “splattered with manure.” (I replied that it sounded like my last job. He didn’t laugh.) Any way, I went right to The Chamber and I’ll be there 5 years this July 7th. It’s a great job and the Lord has allowed me numerous opportunities to tap into the spiritual roots of the community from my position.
UNITY IN THE COMMUNITY
At the Chamber, I’ve been privileged to work for and with wonderful Christian people. Several years back, one lady I worked with had the idea of putting on an event that would give teens something to do after school ended in may. as we brainstormed, the event evolved into “The Extreme Thing.” In no time, other church members and ministers jumped on board. In the end, we had 29 churches involved, 9 bands, bouncy toys, organized games, 1,000 attendees and several ministers. The event was closed by a wonderful Church of Christ choir and their pastor. It was awesome!
In 2002 and 2003, I organized a July 4th parade entry which I called “The Declaration of Dependence.” I designed a T-shirt and matching banner and about 50 Christians suited up and took part. The next year, over 150 Christians took part from 11 different churches – including Hispanic Churches. We had the largest entry in the parade that year.
One day, a man from the Assembly of God Church took me to lunch. He had an idea for a door to door prayer ministry he called “Operation Jesus.” I designed a logo for a T-shirt and, in the past two years, hundreds of participants have prayed for virtually every dwelling place in town. We’re about to start over and the numbers of participating churches is increasing every time we go out.
A young Youth Minister from the Disciples of Christ had the vision to organize an event he called “The Unity Conference.” In the end, hundreds of believers attended from various denominations to listen to seven different ministers speak on a variety of subjects and worship together in song with several church worship teams. I was honored to have been one of those who ministered. Just a few months ago, I actually preached the Sunday morning services in that same church on two consecutive Sundays.
My own ministry has expanded to include opportunities to speak at the high school and the local college where I recently participated in a panel discussion on homosexuality in a grad level counseling/psych class. Last Sunday, I completed my 6th and final week of teaching at the First United Methodist Church. I’ve been invited back. The Pastor called me at work just today to thank me for “sharing my gift” with his congregation. Nice man.
The pastor from the local Cowboy Church – a Baptist group that has blossomed to 500 members in its first year – has asked that I come and teach the Cowboys about the cults. Though I’m not Baptist, I have taught too many times to count at the Sunday meetings of the local Baptist Ministry. I attend a weekly house church meeting that includes several Pentecostals, some Baptists and a couple of Catholics. We’ve prayed together and ministered to others and have seen miracles and spiritual gifts in operation.
Jesus prayed that we would be one as He and the Father are one. Unity commands a Heavenly blessing.
THAT’S MY STORY…
That’s how I got to town and what God’s shown me in the mean time. Has it been without its trials? Hardly. Aside from hate mail via my computer, I once visited a woman in the county jail and even helped arrange her release. She later accused me of a crime and filed a restraining order against me. Not only did that case never make it to trial, but that woman has been sent to the state jail for another crime. On top of that, there have been a few people who wouldn’t allow their kids to sit under my teaching because they learned I’ve been divorced. At least no one’s shooting.
Oh, one last bit of good news is this: I moved to a cabin in the woods and, when I met my wonderful wife, Barbara, we not only moved here and love it, but we bought a Victorian home in town that my parents moved into from Las Cruces, New Mexico and are managing as a rooming house. We call it Vanderbilt Place. Barb is a registered nurse and got a job at the hospital located just 2 blocks from my downtown office at The Chamber. I see all 4 of my kids, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren regularly. I can recall the times that I was always so all alone and sickly.
I’m not sure what it is the Lord is doing here in this wonderful little town but, knowing Him, I know it’s gonna be great! I encourage anyone reading this now to grow where you’re planted, regardless of circumstances. I’ve learned that anything we can see with human eyes is subject to change. Even at my sickest, I was mailing Christian Gospel tracts to Middle Eastern-sounding names from the phone book on the chance the recipients might be Muslim. I made it to the letter “J” as I recall. My stamp-licking tongue wasn’t broken, after all. Later, a dear friend gave me a good used computer and my email ministry was on its way. I STILL only type with one finger (40 wpm, not bad, huh?).
Now, scroll down and FORWARD the message. Rate it if you like.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pastor Michael is founder of t.e.a.m. ministries (team1min@aol.com). His eMail broadcasts, known as “Your Town for Jesus” (SEARCH it!) are reaching tens of thousands WEEKLY. He ministers by way of email and Instant Message, too. Write him at team1min@aol.com if you’d like to SUBSCRIBE to receive his messages directly.
Michael’s mission is to bring Discipleship and Encouragement to the Body of Christ. Michael is the author of numerous booklets on a variey of subjects that will interest the thinking Christian. Since 1999, he has written and broadcast hundreds of inspirational articles and a dozen booklets, all designed to accelerate the process of spiritual development in God’s people.
March 12, 2009 at 5:31 am · Filed under Uncategorized
On Dec 2008 e-lotto added the Spanish lottery to it’s product range, giving players globally a immensely improved opportunity of sharing in this massive Spanish lottery prize fund.
If this is the first time you have come across the Spanish Lotto, let me highlight just how crucial this lottery is to the big majority of the Spanish population. The Spanish lottery has been a public obsession in Spain for a long time with immense interest generated by the Christmas draw every year. It’s a fact that 98 per cent of the population play this Spanish National lotto every Christmas.
There are a few central reasons why so many Spanish subjects join in the Christmas Elgordo lottery draw.
First Of All, on that point is the incentive of the biggest lotto prize fund of any world-wide lotto game – with over 2 Billion Euros! Secondly, there are in excess of thirteen thousand money prizes to be won. Last, the chance of picking up a money prize on the Christmas lottery draw are a extremely attainable – one : six.
With the amount of interest that is presented to the Christmas El Gordo lottery draw, a great deal of individuals are unaware that there is five extra Spanish Lotto draws annually too. These lotto games happen on January, March, May, July and November. Despite the fact that these five lottery games don’t boast the whopping prize fund of the Christmas draw, they are large however, ranging from seventy eight million Euros to six hundred and sixty six million Euros. In addition, these lotto games provide almost 3 times as many prizes as the Christmas lotto draw plus betting odds of picking up a cash prize of an staggering one in three.
The Spanish Christmas Lottery operates in a different way to almost all other worldwide drawings. A full ticket ‘billete’ is really pricey, costing two hundred Euros. However, these tickets are broken up into 10 ‘decimos’ (tenths) costing 20 Euros apiece.
When buying your tickets you have the choice of purchasing 1 decimo, a complete lottery ticket, or a share of a lottery ticket. If you don’t buy the whole ticket, someone else will buy the rest of your lottery ticket. E.g., if you buy 2 decimos, somebody else buys three decimos and someone else purchases five and your lottery ticket wins 1000 Euros, then you will receive two hundred Euros, three hundred Euros and five hundred Euros respectively. Owing to the expense of purchasing an entire lotto ticket, it is not unusual for families and acquaintances to amalgamate their lottery cash and all buy a separate ‘decimo’ (tenth).
March 11, 2009 at 7:37 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Writing articles for redistribution through free article directories and announcemnet lists is a great way to promote your business. By doing it properly you have a good chance of getting increased search engine traffic. More importantly if you do it right you articles can and will be picked up and published by large ezine publishers. This can mean having your article sent out to literally tens of thousands of people all waiting to read information like you are publishing.
However you need to do it right. Website managers and ezine publishers have a lot at stake when they publish content or send out ezine to their client and subscriber lists. They can’t afford to risk sending out junk that provides little or no value to their clients. They certainly can’t afford to risk sending out incorrect or non-functional advice. So, if you expect to have your articles picked up and published, you need to make sure you do one thing very well.
You need to write articles that directly address the needs of a very specific audience.
That may seem very simple, but getting it right is critical to your success in publishing reprintable articles.
Using this article as a quick example, you will see that there is a very specific audience in mind, with a very specific concern being addressed.
Audience: People looking to promote their business via free reprint article distribution Problem: How to get the best possible distribution – specifically getting published in large ezines and busy websites.
The goal of this article then is to help all of you fine folk understand how to better your chances of getting picked up by major players in your industry.
The first step is getting to know your market. Do this by participating in blog and forum discussions relevant to your market area. Note common questions and problems people are asking about. Browse through online market places like ebay and clickbank to get a sense of what products are available in your market already and see what problems they are claiming to solve.
You also need to get on the mailing lists of your competitors. See what it is that they are promoting and advising. This will give you valuable information about your market and what others feel are active trends.
Of course you should also subscribe to the RSS feeds or email announcement lists of free article directories. You should be able to choose to get updates on only the categories that interest you. This will give you a very clear idea of what is being published and targetted in your market on a daily basis.
http://www.reprint-content.co m for example provides real-time & weekly email announcements of new articles as well as continuously updated RSS feeds for every category in the directory. These are readable in any popular email program or RSS reader.
As you do your ongoing market research keep clear notes about how your business, service, or product can help people deal with their concerns and problems. These notes will be the core of many of your future articles.
Once you have a better understanding of who and what is in play in your market, then you can begin to target your articles to a very specific audience and for a very specific purpose. The actual type of article you write will vary depending on who your audience is and what you are trying to give them. Tip-sheets, how-to guides, explanations, opinions, and advice style articles can all be very effective when targetted properly.
In sum, you must take time to write your articles for a very specific audience. Do simple ongoing market research to find out what are important issues for people in your market. You need to understand who is consuming your information and then write articles that they need and want. Be very sure to provide relevant and useful information and solutions for these people. The better you do this, the more likely ezine publishers and webmasters will pick up the article and use it in their publications.
March 11, 2009 at 7:20 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Baldness is undeniably one of the most difficult conditions men and women have ever had to bear. People look upon their hair as; a significant ingredient of one’s charisma, a key ingredient of one’s self. Hair in conjunction with baldness is regularly measured as symptoms of one’s actual age. That is obviously why people are regularly concerned at any time they are faced with the odds of balding. Therefore people continuously do all they can and believe everything they hear in order to guarantee that they save that amazing hair of theirs as lush & as strong as can be.
Hair loss is not unlikely in females & is more frequent after the menopause; yet; alopecia will not take place in each and every case. Instead, in many cases the victim will simply witness increased hair loss & thinning of the head, specific treatment programs can improve the effect. Even though alopecia is usually tolerable in males it’s undesirable in women and in a great deal of cases it can have shocking impact on the sufferer’s emotional state & self-confidence. Nevertheless you should not be concerned – hair loss can be cured & stopped as soon as you know what causes it & what you need to do.
The most widespread form of hair loss seen in ladies is androgenetic alopecia, also known as female pattern alopecia or baldness. This is seen as hair thinning principally over the crest & sides of the cranium. It is reported to concern approximately thirty-three percent of all at risk women, however it is most usually seen after menopause, though it may perhaps begin as early as puberty. On average hair fall is essentially one hundred to one hundred & twenty-five hairs per day. Luckily, these hairs are replaced by the mechanisms in the body. It is without a doubt true that baldness occurs when lost hairs are not replaced or when the daily hair shed goes above one hundred and twenty-five hairs. Hereditarily, hair loss can come from either of your parent’s division of the family. If you are scared that your hair might fall out, then a free hair check would be a great thing. Take a look at the Advanced Hair Studio website to find more information.
March 11, 2009 at 3:56 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Yesterday I met a 13-year old boy with a devilish grin who told me he “makes a little money off his classmates sometimes.”
“How so?” I asked, intrigued.
“I sell them candy,” he said. “Mom buys the Twizzler economy boxes from Cosco and then I mark them up to like 50 cents each.”
“Get out!” I said. “Kids actually buy them?”
“Yeah,” he said. “And I also smash up Lifesavers into little bits and put them in Ziplock baggies and sell those too. People like the fact that the candy is in a different form. I convinced them that it feels kinda funky in their mouths and they pay for it!”
“Wow,” I said. “You were born to be in sales!”
So, article marketers, why am I telling you this story?
Because that kid already knows something that every one of us should be thinking about and putting into practice every single day:
That in order to make something re-marketable, all you have to do is “transform and repackage it” a little bit.
Then, go out and convince people that what you have is pretty neato, and watch them become dazzled – and actually BUY IT for more money than they could get it elsewhere.
Can you transform and repackage your articles, recycle old ideas, and then re-market your valuable brand name, over and over on the internet?
Why of course you can.
One article categorized under one single topic has the potential to take on hundreds of different forms!
Be like that 13-year-old kid with a natural mind for marketing.
Take your article content and smash it up into little tasty bits of info.
Put little piles of info bits into article baggies…
and then sell some newly packaged article candy to your hungry buying prospects.
Dina Giolitto is the author of ARTICLE POWER: Create Dynamite Web Articles and Watch Your Sales Explode… a comprehensive 49-page manual covering every aspect of article marketing on the web. Learn about article marketing, copywriting and more at http://www.wordfeeder.com
March 10, 2009 at 8:27 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Beyond three and four act story structure, lies the Hero’s Journey.
The Hero’s Journey is the most usable story structure consisting of at least 106 stages and the template for successful contemporary stories, from Star Wars to Al Pacino Scarface to The Incredibles to War of the Worlds to The Dirty Dozen to Midnight Cowboy.
The Hero’s Journey is a valuable template because:
a) It attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.
b) It gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.
c) Interpreted metaphorically and symbolically, it allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created.
One (usually critical) stage of the journey is the Supernatural Aid.
The Supernatural Aid encompasses the Meeting with a Mentor as well as the receiving of Magical Potions or Gifts. Writers often mistakenly believe that this is a straightforward affair.
Often the Hero has left his Ordinary World knowing that he has broken an Interdiction. As such, it is not unusual to find that the Journey to the Mentor takes place at night and in haste.
Even though the Hero may want to embark on the adventure, it is not unusual that there is resistance to it (expanded upon in the Refusal). Therefore, the Hero is often pulled into the adventure. The Pull can be the result of a number of factors – a death, an event, the lead of an ally and so on.
The Hero will know that the Journey to the Mentor is dangerous and will be wary. There may be natural or man-made obstacles and dangers. Thus this is also a reason for haste.
The Hero may undergo a near death experience on the way, and may be saved by the Mentor – who may use his own magical powers. This demonstrates the superior nature of the Mentor and the status relationship between them.
The Mentor will seem to know the Hero, as if privy to some insight.
Wary of danger, the Mentor will take the Hero to a Safe Place, where a meeting between then will take place. This is a Sacred Meeting and others will recognise this and make themselves absent.
The Hero will relate the Call to Adventure and the Mentor will intuitively understand it (and may have had previous experience of it) and likely encourage the Hero to embark on it.
The Mentor will be familiar with the Hero’s history and relate it to him, which up to now has been a mystery to him. It will seem as if the Hero is destined for the adventure and following in the footsteps of ancestors or blood relatives.
The Mentor will provide Magical Potions, Gifts and Spiritual Guidance to aid the Hero on his adventure. These will have limitations – he will be warned not to misuse them.
There is much more…
The Hero’s Journey is your step-outline. The 106 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.managing-creativity.com/
You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.
Kal Bishop, MBA
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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.
Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com/
March 6, 2009 at 7:02 am · Filed under Uncategorized
SERVICE EDITORS=GET MORE WORK=MAKE MORE MONEY
By David Geer
When editors consider you a bonified service, they’ll use you more. The more work, the more money. How do you become a service to editors? With rare exception, contact them only for the following four reasons. These were the reasons behind contacts where editors most often felt I was serving them, judging by their reactions and the continued work.
1) Targeted Queries – Instead of sending tons of queries that have that seemingly justifiable 60/40 chance of being on target, take time to give them that 90% guarantee, through careful research and preparation.
A) Know the publication. It works. You might still hit the target without reading the publication. Might doesn’t pay the bills and it doesn’t serve your editor when might turns into probably not. B) Research their archives to make sure they haven’t covered the topic.
C) Research the topic to make sure it hasn’t been done to death or at least not done the way you want to do it.
D) Follow the publication’s writer guidelines thoroughly.
E) Queries must include all the elements the editor requires (see guidelines). Where they aren’t specific about that, read up on great queries. My best source of great query writing tips is from “Magazine Writing That Sells” By Don McKinney (Writers Digest, 1994).
2) Great Submissions Ahead of Deadline- Once you’ve written the query that is better than the article will probably be (that’s the one that gets the work and no, I’m not kidding), then you have to turn around and write the article better than the query was, while adhering to what you both agreed to. You’ve got the assignment; research and write it well. Edit and proof it three times yourself. Go over it with the writer guidelines you promised to adhere to. Compare it to the best articles in the magazine itself. Finish up to a week in advance or more when possible and submit ahead of schedule.
3) Quick Responses to Requests for Rewrites and Fact Checking- When an editor asks you to rewrite, know what they need and get it done immediately, likewise with fact checking. You be sure so they can be sure. Them counting on you is the sell here. Know how soon they want it back and deliver it before then if humanly possible.
4) Praising and Promoting Them and Their Publications-If you get the opportunity to write about media, include your editors and their publications in the story where possible. Offer to link to their sites from yours. Thank them for the work they give you. Let them know they are appreciated.
These four things save the editor time, take up their time only with things that are a service to them, and associate your name with adjectives like “helpful”, “useful”, “available”, “reliable” and “handy”.
What else can you do?
5) Find out when they’re on deadline themselves so you can consider waiting until they get a break before you send your next query.
6) Earn a great reputation with each editor individually so you can do so with all editors as a group.
7) Realize that editors are busy people. Some editors may hope that you will (quite logically) come to the conclusion that their lack of response to one query means they aren’t interested and perhaps it’s time to send the next one. You’ll be remembered fondly as the one writer among many who didn’t require a response except when the answer was yes.
Become a name writer. Add value to their publication by being an expert, an authority, or just someone who is published a lot or who does great work – or all of the above!
Now how do you manage #8? Do everything #’s 1-7. In so doing, you’ll not only save your editors a lot of time but yourself as well. Great queries that are rejected by one publication can easily be tweaked for another. Bad queries just plain won’t be good anywhere. You have saved yourself time by doing the work right the first time.
Great work ahead of schedule means you can move more quickly to the next several assignments or queries, getting more work published in the same amount of time. Being fast, and good, and prolific, which is what all this will make you, will certainly lead to becoming somewhat of a name writer as well, as will the other steps as well.
March 5, 2009 at 1:36 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
California Insurance Minimums
- Bodily Injury Liability: $15,000/$30,000 Limit
- Property Damage Liability (PDL): $5,000 Limit
*For automobile assigned risk plan drivers, the requirements are $10,000/$20,000/$3,000 Limits
The state of CA follows a Tort system implying someone must be found to be responsible for being involved in the accident, and that man or woman and their insurer is responsible for all costs. Be mindful that the specific points of a tort system vary from state to state.
You can get underinsured motorist coverage added to your california auto insurance in order to compensate bodily injury caused by an underinsured driver (depending on the state). California does not require drivers to purchase this coverage, but you should consider purchasing this valuable coverage.
The average auto insurance premium for residents in CA was $950 in 2003; the national average was $914. There are many people that think the state of California and auto insurers set a fixed rate for insurance, so they never compare current quotes for better rates. Insurance Underwriters have different rate segmentation standards so everyone’s rate will be different with each insurance agency. To save money on auto insurance, you need to compare current quotes. You can visit several sites to compare quotes and less epensive rates available in California, so average Californians can get a less expensive rate on their auto insurance.
2007 had the first reduction of rates since 1999. 2007 had a .5% to 1% decrease in auto insurance rates from 2006. In 2009, average costs are expected to slowly rise once again! Insurance sites recognize that the only way to save is to compare rates. These types of sites use advanced technology to let you find the lowest available rates
In a large state like California, changing demographics cause rates to change over the years. If you don’t keep an eye on your rates and don’t compare current insurance rates, you could see your auto insurance rates rise like they did from 2000-2002. In those 3 years, the average insurance costs became less affordable by almost 24%!
March 5, 2009 at 2:50 am · Filed under Uncategorized
You most likely already know how beneficial uploading your organisations Web video is. For a company’s owner, online video is a creditable way that can easily capture your customers’ attention and considerably improve the overall number of users to your businesses site. Short format videos are very successful in getting the target customers’ relatively short attention. Moreover, if codes are included & online video sharing is encouraged, promotional videos can be a wonderful way to get one-way incoming links & thereby positively affect your web site’s position on Google.
In reality, Web videos have become a valuable source for business or self promotion. The following are a few tips to distributing your own Web videos.
Firstly, you can post your promotional videos on your own site; however this would require you to find your own video hosting arrangements. Instead, ask your web hosting solutions contractor if video downloading or video streaming options are supported.
Video downloading is where your business visitors have to download your Web video clip to their laptops hard disk. They need to store the short format professional video to their own workstation before they can play it using their computer’s video player or a downloadable video player application. There are lots of video downloading service contractors that cost not much. There’s also a progressive downloading mechanism where your Internet visitors can play the short format video commercials whilst downloading them. Increase your companies online ROI with professional video production from Vidify.
Whereas video streaming on the other hand completely does away with the requirement to download the Web videos & allows instantaneous playback so it gives the most worth to your viewers. For sure, getting a video hosting contractor that supports video streaming can cost you a pretty penny.
And finally, the more popular way to circulate Web videos is posting your sites to video distribution websites which have their own video hosting infrastructure. These sites cost you nothing at all to join & will even sometimes pay you to upload video content. They also have a large audience base and grasp; for instance, YouTube acquires about fourteen million Web visits each month.
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