The Gridiron Chefs with TP Tymless and James Greenwood break down the weeks games in the NFL, the pressing topics around the league and listener questions.
If you want to know who the ?real? Mitt Romney is, tune in this Saturday at Noon ET to hear from Dr. Dane Bryant, a lifelong friend of the GOP candidate.
This week Tim and Jill will finish the discussion on LGBT and Marriage Equality, this is a hot topic that has been trending on social networks and is an important issue for voters as we near election time.
At only 20 years old, J. Anton Boykin is already affectionately known as the "Sax Sensation." Since the age of eight he has been mastering the craft of music. Come listen to him talk about what inspires him.
EGH Media presents Rowan Galagher who is The Mad Pride. A singer, songwriter and instrumentalist who doesn't read music and also successfully controls Tourette?s syndrome.
Helen Yoest, award winning lifestyle writer and stylist whose work has appeared in Better Homes & Gardens, Traditional Home, Martha Stewart Living & Fine Gardening magazines joins us to discuss her new book "Gardening With Confidence"
MGN Radio welcomes Author Ngozi Achebe to discuss her new book, Onaedo - The Blacksmith's Daughter on our show. Her debut novel has already been nominated for several literary awards.
Francy and Friends will be LIVE from The Days of Terror Convention, be sure to tune in as they will be meeting some of the biggest names in horror films. You never know who you might run into.
Michelle Materre's professional background spans more than 25 years in television, film and video with a concentration on independent film. She has worked in a myriad capacities and is here to discuss how she got her start.
It's open-wheel racing and NASCAR on this episode, as Dustin Parks will be joined by guest co-host Glenn Locke. These two always bring great conversation, and this will be no different.
Grab your Saturday morning coffee and tune into "Those Diner and Motorcycle Guys" hosted by those eggs over easy riders Garrison Leykam and Scot Doane. "Those Diner and Motorcycle Guys"...talk radio was never like this!
The Bad Seed and Nadine Michel welcome Krayz Drayz of the legendary hip hop group; Das Efx, to the show. Krayz Drayz stops by to discuss the origon of the "iggedy" style that blew up all over the world.
BGE Radio welcomes Playboy Model Crissy Henderson to the show. Crissy is an actress, model and philanthropist. Tune in as she speaks about her life and upcoming work.
Over objections of Central Coast residents and environmental groups, Pacific Gas & Electric plans to map earthquake fault zones near its Diablo Canyon nuclear plant by blasting high-decibel air cannons under the surface of the ocean.
PG&E's plan calls for towing a quarter-mile-wide array of underwater "air cannons" that emit 250-decibel blasts into the ocean every 15 seconds for 12 straight days. The sonic reflections would be picked up by underwater receivers and analyzed to provide detailed 3-D images of the geometry, relationships and ground motions of several fault zones near the Diablo facility, which generates enough energy to meet the needs of more than 3 million Northern and Central Californians.
"What we're after with this survey is the geophysical equivalent of a CT scan ? a combination of imagery and information that we could slice and dice and scrutinize in great detail," said Jearl Strickland, director of nuclear projects for PG&E. "These kinds of surveys are being performed right now around the world with no problems."
Opponents say the method threatens sea creatures from Central Coast rockfish to whales, and they dispute PG&E's claims that there are no alternative, less harmful technologies available for the job.
"We're not saying seismic testing isn't needed," said Andrew Christie, director of the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club. "We want them to take the time to explore potential alternatives that could do less environmental harm and provide better data."
Of particular concern are potential effects at the Point Buchon State Marine Reserve, a protected sanctuary, as well as on a population of about 2,000 harbor porpoises that reside in and around scenic Morro Bay. Harbor porpoises are acutely sensitive to manmade sounds, which makes them especially vulnerable to hearing loss and injury during the survey.
PG&E says environmentalists' fears are unfounded. The utility acknowledges that environmental effects will be significant and likely to include temporary displacement of most of Morro Bay's harbor porpoise population. But PG&E says it believes the survey's benefits outweigh the environmental costs. The California Public Utilities Commission ordered PG&E to conduct the risk assessment.
The utility initially planned to survey 90 square miles of coastline for 30 days beginning Nov. 1. But facing questions from state permitting agencies about potential environmental effects, PG&E on Thursday scaled back the scope and duration of the project's first phase to demonstrate its safety and effectiveness.
The modified proposal would survey 51 square miles, stretch over 12 days and focus on portions of the Hosgi, Los Osos and newly discovered Shoreline fault zones in the Estero Bay area. It would not reach into the Point Buchon area.
If all goes according to plan, the project will be expanded next year to include two other areas targeted for surveys near Diablo Canyon, including a portion ofPoint Buchon.
The California Coastal Commission plans to vote Nov. 10 on PG&E's request for a coastal development permit needed to begin work offshore. Later, the California Department of Fish and Game must accept or reject PG&E's request for permits to harass, but not injure or kill, protected fish and marine mammals in the survey area.
In a recent letter to the Coastal Commission, the Natural Resources Defense Council warned that approval of the permits would "set a harmful and legally dubious precedent of allowing adverse impacts to the biologically significant habitats and species in California's marine protected areas in the absence of compelling public need to do so."
The organization also argued that the survey is not essential to assessing earthquake risks and is not likely to result in improvement in the nuclear plant's safety. In a separate letter to the commission, the Surfrider Foundation suggested that in-depth analysis of existing seismic data and "worst-case-scenario models" would provide equally effective emergency preparedness and response strategies.
Other critics have suggested that PG&E use a larger vessel capable of towing longer lines attached to 10, instead of four, geophone receivers to record the echoes of the blasts. That way, researchers could cover a wider area in a shorter period.
PG&E dismissed that idea because a larger vessel would not be able to traverse relatively shallow waters, which it says is essential to the study.
The survey was scheduled for November and December to avoid the peak breeding seasons of harbor porpoises and southern sea otters, as well the highest densities of migrating blue, fin and humpback whales. Certified "protected species observers" will be onboard vessels at sea and in airplanes, on the lookout for injured animals and carcasses. High-intensity blasts will be preceded by low-frequency sound waves aimed at scaring off fish and marine mammals.
If a sea otter were observed in the vessel's path, or a whale were spotted within a mile of the operation, the air cannons would be shut down within seconds, PG&E said. The number of southern sea otters in the proposed study area is 352, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The death or injury of an endangered species would trigger an investigation that could potentially result in prosecution, according to Christine Patrick, spokeswoman for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
"All those precautions might help animals that can swim away," said environmental activist Julie Tacker of Los Osos. "But what about those that can't, such as abalone, clams and starfish?"
Those kinds of animals tend to congregate near shore and are not expected to be affected by the air cannons, which would be pointed straight down in water more than 75 feet deep, PG&E officials said.
Similar high-energy seismic surveys are planned for 2013 in coastal waters off Southern California Edison's San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in northern San Diego County.
Consistency is the key to clear thinking. Aristotle described the principles of logical reasoning already in the year 345 B.C. Twenty four centuries later, his conclusions remain applicable. Entities should be defined on the basis of their essential characteristics. Actions lead to consequences. Today's events are the result of previous occurrences. Those few principles govern reality. How to formulate your long-term objectives
When a man formulates his long-term objectives, he should strive to write them clearly and break them down into simple steps. A comprehensive philosophy that cannot be summarized into a few sentences is of little practical use.
Ambitious goals require sustained effort, often over a period of decades. Reducing complex strategies to simple formulas motivates us to attain intermediate targets. Happiness is the result of preceding actions that generate slow incremental progress. Sharp thinkers look, at the same time, far into the future and close into the present. You cannot escape the requirement of clarity
There is no way of escaping the requirement of clarity. Talking about forthcoming achievements becomes irrelevant if we are unable to define what we need to do today. The feasibility of long-term ambitions depends on man's ability to reduce them to sequential steps.
Mistakes arise from the temptation to move too fast towards our objectives. Disorganized ventures fall prey to their own chaos. Without a well-designed plan, self-reliance turns into doubt and convictions into prejudice. Without a method to filter out irrelevancies, man gets lost in secondary roads that lead him away from his goals. Unclear expectations undermine reason
Lack of thoughtfulness leads to exaggerate problems and blow inconveniences out of proportion. Unclear expectations undermine reason. Confusion renders tasks heavier than they have to be. Contradictory values bring about unbridled emotions. Inconsistent criteria waste energy in endless discussions and destroys the ability to perform well.
In the kitchen, only detailed recipes give consistent results. Eating well is the overall objective, but actual cooking relies on specific ingredients, temperature, seasoning, and a formula that combines them. Failing to identify concrete elements of action makes impossible to implement plans and deprives man of confidence on his own abilities.
Imprecise plans and performance criteria blind our eyes. Today's random actions destroy yesterday's creations. Self-inflicted contradictions lead to failure, anger, and anxiety. A company whose employees render erratic, unpredictable services is doomed. Never trust individuals who are long on philosophical talk and short on implementation details. Condense your strategy into a simple formula
Quality controls are useless if people don't know what they are doing. Quality requires clear objectives, purposeful thinking, and continuous action. If you want to be taken seriously, break down your twenty-year goals into monthly steps. The workable approach to happiness is a rational connection between our present actions and our life objectives.
Manufacturers follow a production formula to ensure that they are using the right materials. Check-lists permit managers to assess if a worker is sufficiently trained to do his job. A company's compensation plan aligns the interests of employees with the corporate goals.
Nobody can figure out all right answers all the time, but if you condense your strategy into a formula, mistakes will be self-correcting. Chaos leads to more chaos, but a recipe can be improved from experience. Breaking down long-term goals into detailed steps is of critical importance in business and private life.
For more information about rational living and personal growth, I refer you to my book about how to be rational? "The 10 Principles of Rational Living" [Text: http://johnvespasian.blogspot.com]
[Image by EDD07 under Creative Commons Attribution License. See the license terms under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us]
Obesity is one of the most serious threats to societies across the world. Poor eating habits and lack of regular physical activity are the major contributors of obesity. Millions of people are looking for a safe and effective way to lose weight. Weight loss supplements are great alternatives to costly, painful surgeries, strict and yet unproductive diets and back breaking exercises. With so many supplements for weight loss available on the market today and their advertisements promising their effectiveness in burning unwanted gat, getting to pick the best weight loss supplement is not an easy task. Choosing a wrong supplement will lead to disappointments and even worse it could cause some unpleasant side effects. Hence, it is crucial to choose the best weight loss supplements that help you reach your weight loss goals.
Before choosing any diet pills, you need to decide what factors lead you to gain excess body weight. Many obese and overweight people are emotional eaters. They eat more calories than they actually need as a kind of defense mechanism to overcome negative emotions. If you are an emotional eater, the best weight loss supplements for you are the ones that suppress the appetite. The slimming pills that contain effective herbal extracts curb your hunger pangs and make you feel full, even if you eat less. Taking these pills along with your low calorie diet can help enhance the results. You can also find weight loss pills that contain ingredients to strip off fat deposits in your body. They encourage your body to store less fat and increase body?s metabolic rate. Choosing such diet pills can help you get rid of ugly fat deposits and improve your body shape as well as tone.
Once you have identified the best weight loss supplement that could work for you, you need to check whether there are any side effects associated with the use of that supplement. Many supplements cause mild to severe side effects, like nausea, drowsiness, headache, heart palpitations and high blood pressure. It is always advisable to pick safe weight loss pills that contain natural herbal extracts. Safe and effectual weight loss supplements encourage healthy eating plan and routine workout. They assure weight loss, without making you feel weak and tired. They give you a track for healthy living. Moreover, they offer a convenient way to shed excessive pounds quickly.
While buying weight loss supplements, ensure that they are manufactured by reliable and reputable companies. The best weight loss products are the ones that have a record of proving safe weight loss. A good company provides eating guide and exercise guide to help you get fast results. They do not use any addictives or preservatives, so you can use them without fearing about addiction or other allergic problems.
It is always advisable to consult your doctor, before using the supplements for weight loss. This is especially important, if you are a pregnant or nursing mother or have any health complications like hyperthyroidism, renal disease, blood pressure, spasms, asthma and heart problems. You should consult your doctor, if you are taking any prescription, over-the-counter drugs or nutritional supplements.
About the Author
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]The San Diego County Water Authority announced a tentative agreement Thursday to buy all of the output of what will be the Western Hemisphere?s largest seawater desalination plant.
(Reuters) - Abbott Laboratories for years misstated that the executive handpicked to head its pending pharmaceutical spinoff held both bachelor's and master's degrees, and on Thursday called the misinformation "an administrative error."
Richard Gonzalez, named last October as the future chief executive of AbbVie once the company splits its drugs and medical devices businesses, did not complete his college education or receive a college degree, Abbott said on Thursday.
His company biography had stated that Gonzalez, Abbott's head of global pharmaceuticals, received degrees from the University of Houston and the University of Miami.
The credentials flap follows the resignation in May of Yahoo Inc Chief Executive Scott Thompson after a controversy over a fake computer science college degree on his biography.
Crain's Chicago Healthcare first reported the Abbott discrepancy on Thursday, saying the company's regulatory filings from 2002 through 2007 stated that Gonzalez had a bachelor's degree from Houston and a master's from Miami, both in biochemistry.
Abbott has since corrected the educational credits in Gonzalez's biography on its website, which now states that he was a research biochemist at the University of Miami School of Medicine and attended the University of Houston, majoring in biochemistry.
"It was an administrative error when the bio was written many years ago. It wasn't identified right away," Abbott spokeswoman Melisa Brotz said in a telephone interview.
"The information on the website is correct. When we became aware of it we corrected it promptly," Brotz said, adding that the changes were made "quite a while ago."
The company is firmly standing behind Gonzalez, and said there was no deliberate attempt to overstate his educational credentials.
"There is no issue with respect to Mr. Gonzalez's educational background or his ability to lead AbbVie as evidenced by his distinguished 30-year career in which he has reached the highest levels of the company," Brotz said.
Shares of Abbott, which rose 13 cents to close at $69.32 in regular trading, were slightly lower at $69.06 after hours.
Abbott Chief Executive Miles White selected the 58-year-old Gonzalez to head up the new company after the spinoff, which is set for January 1.
White will remain in charge of Abbott, which will retain the medical devices, diagnostics, nutritionals and branded generics businesses. AbbVie, with Gonzalez at the helm, will be a pharmaceutical company with nearly $18 billion in annual revenue, nearly half coming from the blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira.
(Reporting by Bill Berkrot, additional reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Leslie Adler and Ryan Woo)
Home ? Building a Nest, Featured Builder, Headline, Highlighted Home, Overstreet Builders
28 September 2012No Comment
Not only did The Richmond by Overstreet Custom Homebuilders recently receive more finishing touches, but the price has been reduced to $434,900! Located in the Graystone neighborhood of Highland Woods in Elgin, IL, the Richmond is perfect for families, and formal or informal entertaining.
This 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath home spans 3,342 sq. ft., and is filled with $25,000 worth of fabulous finishes at no extra cost to you including:
Hardwood floors in foyer, dining room, breakfast room, and kitchen
Crown molding details in the living room and dining room
Wainscoting and chair rail details in the dining room and study
Beautiful fireplace detailing in the family room
Gorgeous tiled backsplash in the kitchen with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances
Lovely custom decorator paint colors throughout
Enjoy some pictures of this beautiful home!
Schedule an appointment to make this home yours today!
Food ? Big brands says their mid-calorie goodies cut down on what?s bad for you.
New York ? Nonfat cheese that tastes like plastic. Low-calorie soda that leaves a bitter aftertaste. Sugar-free brownies that crumble like Styrofoam.
Dieters have learned an important lesson. When you take the fat and calories out of your favorite treats, you sometimes have to say goodbye to the taste, too.
But snack brands such as Dreyer?s/Edy?s ice cream, Hershey?s chocolate and Lay?s potato chips are trying to solve this age-old dieter?s dilemma by rolling out mid-calorie goodies that have more fat and calories than the snacks of earlier diet crazes but less than the original versions. They?re following the lead of soda companies such as Pepsi and Dr Pepper that introduced mid-calorie drinks last year.
It?s hard to isolate sales of mid-calorie snacks because they also usually have reduced fat, or other healthy attributes such as reduced sodium. But sales of all foods and drinks in which the amount of things such as fat, sugar, salt, carbohydrates have been actively reduced during production have risen 16 percent to $51.72 billion since 2006, according to research firm Euromonitor International.
The mid-calorie trend is hitting at a time when companies that make sugary and salty treats are being blamed for the country?s expanding waistlines. The problem is that the same things that make snacks taste good ? sugar, salt, calories ? also make them fattening. And many Americans don?t want to sacrifice taste at snack time. Shaving a few calories enables companies to market their cakes, cookies and chips as healthier without the stigma of bad taste that goes along with some low-fat products.
The mid-calorie trend is a toned-down version of the "light" craze that started in the 1990s. Back then, "low fat" or "no fat" was all the rage. But the products often fizzled.
For instance, McDonald?s rolled out the McLean Deluxe, a low-fat burger, in 1991. But the burger, which was made with seaweed, had dismal sales. It disappeared from restaurants within five years.
Similarly, Lay?s in 1998 introduced Wow fat-free potato chips that use fat substitute Olestra. But the ick factor trumped healthiness when the Food and Drug Administration said the chips had to come with a warning that Olestra may cause abdominal cramping, loose stools, and that it inhibits the absorption of some vitamins and other nutrients.
The FDA dropped the requirement for the label in 2004 after studying the matter. The chips were renamed "Light," but sales have not recovered.
The new era of diet food started in the past decade. In 2007, companies began offering 100-calorie packs of popular snacks like Oreos cookies and Twinkies cakes. That?s when brands started putting their focus on reducing calories ? without any flavor change.
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Reducing a nominal number of calories in your diet each day ? even from that morning coffee run or afternoon visit to the vending machine for chips ? is an effective way to battle obesity, says David Levitsky, professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell University.
But in order for that to work you have to eat the snacks in moderation. "If consumption of ice cream and potato chips does not increase and people eat somewhat better versions, the outcome will be good," Brownell says.
First, companies have to convince dieters that their mid-calorie snacks are not only healthy, but tasty, too.
With that in mind, Hershey?s in June introduced Simple Pleasures, chocolate with 30 percent less fat. A serving size of six pieces equals 180 calories and 8 grams of fat ? that?s 30 calories and 5 grams of fat less than the original Hershey?s chocolate bar. The company is hoping the deficit is enough to lure chocolate lovers who want to eat healthier.
Similarly, Lay?s in July rolled out two new flavors of its Kettle Cooked potato chips with 40 percent less fat. The brand, which fries chips in small batches so as to use less oil than the continuous frying process for regular chips, introduced "Applewood Smoked BBQ" and "Sun-Dried Tomato and Parmesan."
The company says it was able to lower the calories and fat without sacrificing taste. Regular Kettle Cooked chips have 160 calories and 9 grams of fat, while the reduced-fat versions have 130 calories and 6 grams of fat.
Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told MyanmarPresident Thein Sein on Wednesday that the United States would take steps to ease the U.S. ban on imports from the country, a major boon to the Southeast Asian nation as it emerges from years of political and economic isolation.
"In recognition of the continued progress toward reform and in response to requests from both the government and the opposition, the United States is taking the next step in normalizing our commercial relationship," Clinton told Thein Sein in a meeting on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
"We will begin the process of easing restrictions on imports of Burmese goods into the United States. We hope this will provide more opportunities for your people to sell their goods into our market," Clinton said.
Clinton's announcement marks a further step in the U.S. rapprochement with Myanmar, which offers economic and strategic benefits to both sides.
"We now have diplomatic relations at the ambassador level and the people of Myanmar are very pleased with the easing of economic sanctions by the United States," Thein Sein said at the meeting, which took place at a New York hotel.
"We are very grateful for the actions of the United States," he said.
The U.S. Treasury Department last week removed individual sanctions against Thein Sein, a 67-year-old former general who emerged as the unlikely catalyst for a wave of reforms that were unthinkable a year ago. The next step will remove more of the restrictions that isolated his country for two decades, squeezed its tattered economy and pushed it closer into China's orbit.
Congress has approved a bill that would allow President Barack Obama to waive a ban on U.S. participation in providing development loans from international financial institutions like the World Bank to the former British colony also known as Burma.
But the move to end the U.S. import ban promises far larger benefits, paving the way for greater foreign investment that could create urgently needed jobs.
The European Union set the pace this month by agreeing to grant Myanmar access to its Generalised System of Preferences, a plan that allows poorer countries access to European markets without quotas or duties.
Thein Sein's reformist, quasi-civilian government took office in March 2011, ending five decades of military rule. It has started overhauling Myanmar's economy, easing media censorship, legalizing trade unions and protests and freeing political prisoners.
The United States has responded with diplomatic and economic gestures, sending Clinton to Myanmar last year as the first U.S. secretary of state to visit in more than 50 years, as well as tentatively easing sanctions this year.
(Reporting By Andrew Quinn; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Windows Live Photo Gallery's name has become less of a mouthful, now that Microsoft has ditched the "Live" branding. Aside from the name change, Windows Photo Gallery adds a new collage feature and the ability to upload slideshows directly to the Vimeo video sharing site. These join the program's several standout features, such as panorama joining, photo fuse, face recognition, and all the basic photo fixes you'd expect?crop, straighten, retouch, red-eye, along with exposure, noise, and color correction. All of this comes in a very clear, usable interface that makes it easy to share your work. It remains a full-fledged consumer photo editing tool/organizer on a par with the Apple's iPhoto ($15 Direct, 4 stars), Google's Picasa (Free, 4 stars), or ACDSee ($50, 3 stars).
But Photo Gallery still lacks a couple things you'll get in those competitors, including built in maps to show photo geo-location and the ability to edit camera raw files. I also had trouble using it with Apple iCloud's Photo Stream, and the app isn't aware of the EXIF orientation info, so photos display upside down. And like a lot of Microsoft software these days, Photo Gallery only runs in Windows 7 or Windows 8. But luckily, XP and Vista users can still download earlier versions of the program that run on their systems (from the Microsoft's Windows Essentials 2012 help page).
Interface Windows Photo Gallery feels like a full-blown image editing application, yet manages to maintain its ease of use for general consumers. The main window is adorned with an Office-like ribbon toolbar across the top; and the new Find tab lets you filter by keyword, rating, date, face, and more. Below the ribbon is a three-panel interface, showing your folders on the left, the images in the middle, and actions like tagging and editing in a right pane.
As in more advanced photo apps like Lightroom, double-clicking an image in Windows Photo Gallery brings it up, and doing so again returns you to gallery view. At the bottom right, there are rotate image arrows, next and previous buttons, and a zoom slider that lets you size both thumbnails and single image view to whatever zoom level you want (the mouse wheel can also be used for zooming). Holding the left mouse button lets you pan around the photo, which I found to be a very fluid way of navigating images.
I do wish the left panel offered a Last Import option the way iPhoto does. The Find tab, however, can fill this role; it lets you limit the gallery view by date, month, or year taken, as well as by the people in the pictures, star ratings, and flagged status. You can also click the binocular icon to search within those results. If the default interface doesn't suit you, you can customize it by adding or subtracting options from a quick access toolbar located either below the ribbon or up in the window border to save viewing space.
Photo Importing The import experience is just what you'd want. As you import, you can group photos by date and time, add tags, add the date to filenames, and now set a base file name. Raw camera files are supported, but only if you've installed your camera manufacturer's codec in Windows. Fortunately, gallery tells you if you need to do this, and it even takes you to the camera manufacturer's download site. As with most photo editors these days, any edits you make don't affect the original imported image, but rather a copy is saved with the edits.
I found working with large raw files slower in Windows Photo Gallery than in pro-level apps like Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 ($299 Street, ), and unlike iPhoto and Picasa image adjustments didn't work with raw images. As I mentioned above, iCloud Photo Stream images shot with an iPhone 4S presented problems for me: I wasn't able to save changes, and the photos displayed upside down.
Photo Editing All the expected photo adjustments are on offer: cropping, red-eye fixing, straightening, exposure, color correction, and even noise reduction. Buttons let you apply fixes automatically, but a "Fine tune" button offers deeper control (such as an adjustable histogram, highlights, shadows, sharpness, and color temperature). This version adds a new tool: Blemish removal, which worked excellently in my testing, as did the red-eye fix.
An Auto-adjust option lets you configure what you want fixed?any combination of exposure, color, NR, and straightening. It did a mostly good job on my test images, never drastically exaggerating brightness or other factors, as some editors occasionally do. The editing is non-destructive, so, at any point, you can revert to the original. A new batch edit lets you apply fixes to a bunch of selected images at once, but it only works with the auto-fixes?color, exposure, straightening, and noise reduction?not with the fine-tuning.
Face Tagging and Geo-Tagging Face recognition takes an important role in Photo Gallery. The ribbon bar has a prominent People tag button, and your friends' faces stare up at you from the bar's Quick find area, offering to show all photos featuring them. You get a dropdown showing your contacts (any of which you can assign to the face) when you select an image and choose "Tag as." The face-recognition software becomes increasingly accurate as you identify more people's faces. A "Batch people tag" option opens its own tab and proposes faces of folks you've already tagged. A simple Confirm or Ignore button completes the action, and if there are more pictures the program thinks are of that person, it will keep displaying them till there aren't any more. It's very similar to the way Picasa's face recognition works.
Geotagging works with cameras' built in GPS (such as the iPhone's), or you can manually enter locations. You can sort all geo-tagged photos grouped by location. You can right-click on a geo-tag to see the location in Bing after the browser launches, but there are no maps inside the app, as there are in Picasa and iPhoto. Of course, if you upload geo-tagged photos to Flickr, you can see them placed on a map online.
Nexon and NCsoft, two major Asian online game companies, are reportedly in talks with U.S. gamemaker Valve to buy the company for more than $893 million, according to a major Korean publication.
Joongang News reported that the companies recently met together on Sept. 26 in Hawaii to discuss a possible merger. Valve is a major publisher of games such as Portal 2 (pictured) and Left 4 Dead, and it also operates the Steam digital distribution service with tens of millions of customers.
Nexon spokesman Mike Crouch declined to comment. Valve?s spokesman hasn?t commented yet. If the talks are true, it shows the increasingly global nature of the video game business. China?s Tencent recently made an investment in U.S.-based Epic Games, the maker of the Unreal game engine and The Gears of War game series. Valve is another extremely influential game company, originally founded in 1996 by former Microsoft veterans Gabe Newell and Mike Harrington. They started out with a mega-hit, Half-Life, and have grown the company to more than 300 employees.
Valve is so interesting that the New York Times recently profiled the company and its attempts to create a wearable gaming computer, a version of Steam for TVs, and its dispute with Microsoft over the launch of Windows 8, which will have an app store that may shut Valve?s Steam out of the picture. Valve also has a nontraditional management structure, where no employees have formal titles and projects tend to self-assemble. Some of the ideas at Valve may seem crazy, but Steam was once such a silly idea. Now it has given Valve control of maybe 70 percent of the game-downloading business on PCs.
Nexon is a pioneer in free-to-play games such as MapleStory, in which users play for free and pay real money for virtual goods. Over the past decade, Nexon?s model has caught hold in the industry. Meanwhile, it has propelled Nexon to great heights. The company moved its headquarters from Seoul to Tokyo last year and then raised $1 billion in an initial public offering. It spent $688 million to buy majority control of NCsoft, a massively multiplayer online game publisher of titles such as Lineage. The transactions show that Asian online game companies are becoming big players on the global stage, and they may be in a position to buy a lot of U.S. companies.
Valve and Nexon are partnering on an upcoming version of Counter-Strike, and they likely met in Hawaii at Nexon?s developer summit, reported Joongang News.
[Update: Several observers, including analyst Michael Pachter at Wedbush Securities, said that Valve is likely worth a lot more than the $893 million, or 1 trillion Korean won, mentioned by Joongang News. A Valve spokesman dismissed the story as "rumor." Others said that Valve is likely worth twice the stated price.]
[Update 2: Korean gaming website?GameChosun has reported that both NCSoft and Nexon have denied rumors of a joint acquisition.]
BRANSON, Mo. (AP) ? Emmy-winning TV host and "Moon River" crooner Andy Williams has died at age 84.
Williams' publicist, Paul Shefrin, said Wednesday that the silky-voiced singer died Tuesday night at his home in Branson, Mo., following a yearlong battle with bladder cancer.
Williams said in November 2011 that he was diagnosed with bladder cancer but planned to continue performing at the namesake theater he built in Branson in 1992.
The clean-cut Iowa native began singing with his brothers as a child, and his easy style and mellow voice led President Ronald Reagan to call Williams a "national treasure." Though his version of "Moon River" made him world famous, it was among his many hits, including "Butterfly" and "Can't Get Used to Losing You."
Amber Portwood, seen her in a Madison County Sherrif's Department booking photo, will soon appear in her own MTV special.
By Courtney Hazlett, TODAY
Fans of MTV's "Teen Mom" who recently tuned in to the season-four finale special noticed a significant absence: Amber Portwood was not in attendance. Instead of joining fellow cast mates Maci Bookout, Farrah Abraham and Catelynn Lowell in New York for an interview with host Dr. Drew Pinsky, Portwood was continuing to serve out her 5-year jail term inside the Rockville Correctional Facility in her home state of Indiana.
That doesn't mean we won't get to hear from Portwood -- MTV on Monday announced that it will premiere "Amber Behind Bars: An MTV Special" on Tuesday, Oct. 9. The special will consist of a half-hour interview with Pinsky and Portwood from the correctional facility where the two discuss what life has been like behind bars, her relationship with daughter Leah and ex-boyfriend Gary Shirley, and her hopes for the future. A press release from the network described it as an "honest look inside the intense ups and downs she's faced during this journey.
At the earlier reunion special, Pinsky read a statement from Portwood that read in part, "Right now I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing with my life. I guess I just got lost. I went to jail because I had an addiction to opiates. You live and you learn, and that's real. It's time for me to stop partying and realize that even though I'm 21, I'm not a normal 21-year-old -- I'm a mother. Which means I have to grow up quicker and start acting like a mother?. Right now my number one priority in life is dedicating my life to being sober, to being a sober person ? I want to show everybody that I can do it, I can start living a straight life and getting my family back in order."
Portwood, 22, voluntarily chose in May to serve out her five-year jail sentence instead of complying with the terms of her court-ordered drug program after violating her probation stemming from a December 2011 arrest for drug possession.
Do you think getting her side of the story out while she's serving out her prison sentence is a good idea for Amber, or should she just quietly complete her term, staying out of the public eye completely? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.
FILE- In this Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, file photo, Warren Meyers, center, works with fellow traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. A quiet day on Wall Street turned Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012, into the worst sell-off in three months after a Federal Reserve official said he doubted the bank's effort to boost economic growth would work. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE- In this Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, file photo, Warren Meyers, center, works with fellow traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. A quiet day on Wall Street turned Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012, into the worst sell-off in three months after a Federal Reserve official said he doubted the bank's effort to boost economic growth would work. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
A mixed report about the housing market and unrest in Europe on Wednesday extended the longest losing streak for the Standard & Poor's 500 index since mid-July. Other risky assets, like European stocks and oil, fell more sharply.
The median price of new homes sold in August rose by a record amount, while sales of new homes dipped slightly. Sales in August were up 27.7 percent from a year earlier, but remain at about half the pace economists consider healthy.
Stronger data on the U.S. housing market have insulated stocks in recent weeks from a slackening global economy. Stocks' other main source of support has been the Federal Reserve's program to boost the economy by pumping money in. That idea lost some luster Tuesday after a key Fed official said he doubted it will do much good.
"There was some optimism coming into the market, and that's usually when you're most vulnerable to sell-offs when there are negative headlines" like the Fed official's comments, unrest in Europe and weaker data about the U.S. economy, said Todd Salamone, director of research at Schaeffer's Investment Research.
Indexes had risen to levels they hadn't beat for months or years, Salamone said, creating "an almost perfect storm in terms of the vulnerability to short-term impacts."
The dip in home sales hurt homebuilder stocks. PulteGroup Inc. fell 76 cents, or 4.7 percent, to $15.30; KB Home 51 cents, or 3.5 percent, to $13.90 and Beazer Homes USA Inc. 14 cents, or 3.9 percent, to $3.50.
European stocks had their worst day in months as unrest threatened to boil over in Greece, where deep budget cuts have eroded people's living standards, and Spain, where citizens are resisting a likely bailout from international lenders. Earlier, Asian stocks closed lower.
The euro fell sharply against the dollar, and the price of oil closed below $90 per barrel for the first time since early August.
Rising demand for lower-risk investments fed strong bids for U.S. Treasury debt. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.62 percent from 1.67 percent late Tuesday. A bond's yield falls as its price increases.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 44.04 points, or 0.3 percent, to 13,413.51. The S&P 500 index fell 8.27, or 0.6 percent, to 1,433.32. The only category that rose was utilities, relatively safe stocks that tend to hold their value when the economy is weak.
The Nasdaq composite average fell 24.03 points, or 0.8 percent, to 3,093.70.
The declines came a day after the worst sell-off for the S&P 500 in three months. Charles Plosser, president of the Fed's Philadelphia branch, told an audience Tuesday that the Fed's effort to support the economy would likely fall short of its goals.
Stocks rallied this month on bold moves by central bankers. They had one of their biggest gains of the year Sept. 6 after Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, said the ECB would buy unlimited amounts of government bonds to lower borrowing costs for Europe's debt-burdened countries.
A week later, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the Fed will buy $40 billion of mortgage bonds each month until the economy strengthens. It also plans to hold interest rates at super-low levels into 2015.
The S&P soared to a nearly five-year closing high of 1,465 the next day, Sept. 14. Since then, as doubts emerge about the effectiveness of the central banks' actions, it has drifted back to where it was before Bernanke's announcement.
In Europe, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Athens and Madrid, where they clashed with riot police ahead of new rounds of spending cuts and tax hikes. The Bank of Spain warned that the country is in a deep recession, a day after protests in Madrid led to at dozens of arrests and injuries.
Spain's IBEX index fell the most, closing down 3.9 percent. Italy's FTSE MIB fell 3.3 percent, Germany's DAX 2 percent and France's CAC-40 2.8 percent.
The developments in Europe blunted any optimism about the U.S. housing market. Wednesday's report, while mixed, appeared to confirm that the market has hit bottom. Other recent data showed that sales of previously occupied homes jumped in August to the highest level since May 2010. Builder confidence is at a six-year high, and construction of single-family homes rose last month to the fastest annual rate in more than two years.
The fear is that a broader recession in Europe could stall whatever economic recovery is occurring in the U.S., where the housing market has been a major drag for five years.
In corporate news, American Greetings Corp. shares jumped $2.48, or 17.3 percent, to $16.82 after the greeting card company said that a group led by its CEO and chief operating officer wants to take it private in a deal that values it at about $581 million.
Automobile auctioneer Copart hit an all-time high and closed up 43 cents, or 1.6 percent, at $27.82 after a strong fourth quarter that topped Wall Street expectations.
___
Daniel Wagner can be reached at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports .
Merchant products are promoted on 3rd party (affiliate) websites. When visitors click through from the affiliate site to the merchant site and make a purchase then an agreed fee is paid to the affiliate.
If you advertise your products Online, affiliate marketing is an efficient way to generate additional business. It is a cost effective form of advertising for merchants, and a simple way for affiliates to earn revenue from their website.
B ? Banner Advertising
Banner advertising generally has a low response rate, often yielding about 2 visitors per thousand banner impressions. Despite the relatively poor value of banners for driving traffic, banner advertising can be particular useful in certain circumstances such as raising brand awareness.
C ? Categorise
Structuring your site well can be worth its weight in gold, not just to
users of your site, but also to search engines. A well structured site
in terms of infrastructure (i.e. directory structure, page naming
convention) will not only tell your visitor what the page is about
quickly, but also provide the search engines with an idea of what the
page is about before it is indexed.
D ? Differentiation
A unique Marketing Campaign that allows a company and/or its products and services to stand out from its competitors. Having a niche product or service makes the job of marketing your product or service much easier. If your service is not unique, it is often possible to identify a ?unique selling point? of your product or service.
Focus on your unique selling points, those products or services that differentiate you from your competitors, and ensure you portray these to your potential customers.
There are many aspects that can make you similar to your competitors, so ensure your unique selling point is clear to your customers. This can make a significant difference between success and failure.
E ? E-Mail Marketing
Using e-mail as a means of communicating commercial messages to an audience (Direct Marketing) can be a profitable addition to your marketing strategy.
This could take many forms:
Targeting your existing client base with additional services or products.
Targeting your existing client base with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a client with its current or old customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.
Targeting your existing client base with the purpose of selling 3rd party products for a fee.
Purchasing a list of client email addresses for the purpose of marketing your products to a new client audience.
Adding your advertisements to e-mails sent by other companies to their client base and marketing your products to a new audience.
Direct marketing is popular with companies online as it is:
LOW COST : Compared to direct mailing or printed newsletters the costs are negligible. The advertiser does not need to pay for production, paper, printing or postage.
IMMEDIATE : It is instant, as opposed to a mailed advertisement, an e-mail arrives in a few seconds or minutes.
TRACKABLE : It is easy to track. An advertiser can track hits, conversions and rise in sales. Real-time.
FAR REACHING: Direct marketing can reach substantial numbers of e-mail subscribers who have opted-in (consented) to receive e-mail communications on subjects of interest to them.
F ? Focus
Keep it relevant! There is no point spending hundreds or thousands of pounds on advertising on your site, and then sending a potential customer to a non-related ?landing page?. There are two scenarios as regards online marketing where this is especially true, namely
PPC advertising ? Send your customers through to a targeted page. Many companies send clients through to the homepage, or worse, a non related page to what the term is. By sending potential customers through to a relevant page, you reduce the number of clicks required to find the product, at the same time reducing the number of exit points, which have the effect of making the money spent on sending the client to the site redundant.
Affiliate Marketing ? These days may clients are using companies such as Tradedoubler and Miva to drive traffic to their site. However, the number of times I have seen companies use the extra functionality such as product feeds that these Affiliate Marketing companies provide, and then under utilise them is staggering. By again targeting the users directly to the product/service they are searching for you are reducing the chances of the customer leaving the site before he/she has even
viewed your product.
G ? Gift Vouchers
Gift vouchers can be a good way of influencing users to your site to buy a product/service. Gift vouchers can be a very good way of building up customer loyalty to both your products and your brand, ensuring long term those customers keep coming back to your site and purchasing your products/services
H ? High earners vs Low returners
Differentiating what products/services offer the highest return on
investment is often one of the best ways of Increasing your bottom line, and as a result your return on investment (ROI). This may sound like common sense, however many companies overlook this, and continue offering products or services that never make any positive ROI.
The same applies to search engine marketing as a whole. For example, If you have a pay-per-click campaign, and are using very generic terms, you may find by tweaking the terms, and making these more specific, you decrease the amount you are spending on your PPC campaign, and increase your ROI as a result.
I ? Informative
Having a site that is informative, interesting and unique is one of the
best ways of keeping visitors coming back to your site, whether they be human or robots. Visitor loyalty is invaluable. This can be achieved via a number of ways whether it be a niche product, well written technical articles, your companies own PR or even just something that is just unique, funny or controversial.
J ? Just keep it simple
Over complicating the conversion process is often the biggest barrier to obtaining a successful sale. Many companies place barriers in the way, giving customers more reasons to pull out of a sale before completion, whether it is up-selling, over zealous data capture, or an inaccessible website.
A recent client?s buying process involved 10 clicks from site entry to sale completion. By reducing the number of clicks required to complete the sale from 10 to 6, sales increased by 400%. This involved streamlining the buying process, ensuring that the customer completed in as little time as possible.
In the modern era, time is money. Therefore time can be expensive so keep the time required to make a purchase to a minimum.
K ? Keywords
Research thoroughly the keywords that your website can realistically be ranked for. If you have a new website in a highly competitive market then ranking naturally for the major terms will be close to impossible, so consider less competitive and more targeted terms.
Higher levels of visitors do not necessarily mean an increase in sales. A more focused set of keywords may mean lower traffic but the quality of the traffic can lead to a better ROI.
L ? Landing Pages
This is another asset of search engine marketers that is either
over-optimised for search engines or under-utilised for visitors. Both can
have a detrimental effect on sales conversions and ultimately your ROI.
If you are using landing pages for any of your online
advertising/marketing, it is highly advisable to keep these landing
pages tailored to their requirement. You will find that by sending
potential customers directly to the area/product they are looking for,
you will significantly increase your sales as a result, and ultimately
your ROI.
M ? Mod Rewrite
A Mod Rewrite engine is a piece of web server software used to modify URLs, for the purpose of making your dynamic URLs more user friendly to customers and search engines.
A rewritten URL is easier to use if it is short but descriptive. The URL should have some text describing the content, but should not be too long.
N ? Navigation
Good navigation structure is an essential ingredient for any successful web site. If visitors find your navigation confusing or overly complicated then they will simply give up and look for another website offering the same products or service. E-Gain New Media work on the basis of a three click rule. In other words, try to keep any customer focussed page within three clicks of your homepage.
Navigation on a page should be clear, concise and relevant. Many a potential client has been put off a sale by entering a page and then exiting the site completely once they find out the page is not relevant to what they are looking for.
O ? Online Marketing
Online marketing is a term that encompasses several methods to raise awareness of your web site and increase sales. These methods can include either, or a combination of banner advertising, e-mail marketing, search engine optimisation or Pay-Per-Click. These technologies used together or alone, can, if thoroughly researched and implemented signicantly increase relevant traffic, customers and ROI.
P ? Press Releases
Press Releases as a medium for generating new traffic and customers are
often overlooked in favour of other aspects of search engine marketing
such as SEO and Affiliate Marketing. However press releases are an
excellent way of building up an online brand, whilst at the same time
generating both significant traffic, linkage and custom to your
website.
Developing your press releases should be the first step, ensuring that your content is clear, concise and unique. Branding your article is nearly as important as the content, make sure you get your sales message across in the article, and use the various sources of syndication available on the web (such as PRWeb, Newsisfree, http://www.press-release-writing.com) to target your article to the applicable sources.
Q ? Questionnaire
Questionnaires can be a good way of gauging customer perception.
Customers are often the biggest critics and the best testers. Involve
Customer?s views of your website, and harness both
suggestions and criticisms of the site. Integration of the best of
these into your website, can be a good way of evolving your website,
into a user friendly and ultimately profitable website. One of the best
examples of this is Amazon, once known as the biggest online retailer
to not make a profit, and now turning over millions of pounds profit as
well as being one of the brand leaders in e-tailing.
R ? Customer Retention
Many companies overlook the value of customer loyalty when selling on
the Internet, focusing on new customer acquisition instead, and trying
to extract every last cent from that client. This however can be
detrimental to a business long term, as the cost of acquiring a new
customer is often much higher than keeping an existing customer.
There is a saying ? ?It is seven times harder to get a new customer
than it is to retain a current customer?. This is especially true when it
comes to E-Commerce/E-Services, when many avenues of customer
acquisition such as PPC, Affiliate Marketing and the like may involve
significant effort and funding in order to generate new customers.
This is not to say that new customer acquisition should be ignored, just
that by focusing on what you already have, you can increase your profits
significantly.
S ? Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
A set of marketing methods aimed at increasing the visibility of a website in search engine results pages (SERPs). The three main methods are:
Search engine optimization ? Improving rankings for relevant keywords in search results by changing the website structure, and content so that the website can be better understood by the search engines.
Search engine advertising ? Paying the search engines for a guaranteed high ranking or for an advert to be displayed prominently beside the natural results (commonly known as pay per click advertising).
Paid inclusion ? Paying the search engines for a guarantee that the website is included in their natural search index.
Search engine marketing companies are experts who explore the weaknesses and strengths in the methods and individual products to find the best way to promote a particular website on the search engines.
T ? Targeting
A set of methods such as content matching or profiling aimed at delivering a marketing campaign that targets the individual interests of a specific user base. By targeting your campaign you can increase the quality of leads and increase your return on investment.
This is particular useful when planning your affiliate marketing, pay-per-click strategies or email marketing campaigns, as knowing your demographics means you are more likely to convert a higher percentage of your targeted audience.
U ? User tracking
Do you know where customers drop out during the conversion process? You would be surprised at how many companies are not aware of exactly where they are losing customers, and therefore they do not fix a problem that is potentially the difference between success and failure. Knowledge is Power, no decision can be made without sound knowledge, and as such the more knowledge you have of your customers and their behaviour, the better armed you are to ensure that these customers convert to sales.
There are various log analysis software packages available such as Clicktracks and Google Analytics that will perform these functions. Use the tools at your disposal, and ensure that the path from entry to conversion is a quick, sleek and ultimately easy process for your customer to make.
V ? Value for Money
You don?t have to have the lowest prices or the next ?must have? item, however, providing there is a reasonable compromise between the two, then you have a potentially saleable product. Generally customers purchasing products will pay a premium for that little extra service such as better, quicker delivery arrangements or extended product guarantees.
It is therefore possible to tip the balance towards your product, by including these types of ?value-adds? as part of your product. If visitors think they are getting a better priced deal in comparison with your competitors, then they are more likely to buy.
At the end of the day, everyone likes a bargain. If a customer feels like they are getting a good quality product at a good price, then they are more likely to choose you over your competitors and thus increase your return on investment as a direct result.
W ? Word of Mouth
Propagation of a brand, through human interaction. This can include personal emails, forums, blogs and personal web pages. Referrals from a third party are often far more likely to convert than referrals from any other type of referral.
In terms of Online Marketing, conversions from ?online word of mouth sources? are invaluable, due to the limited effort and cost required in order to generate new business.
X ? XML Feeds
If you sell products online then XML Feeds are a must. By creating an XML feed of your products you can market your goods using services such as Froogle, Google Base, Yahoo shopping, Shopzilla and more. Other feed marketing services such as RSS and podcasting are becoming more and more popular, and these markets are expected to grow significantly over the next couple of years as the use of RSS as a medium for advertising increases.
Y ? Yes, Yes, Yes
Imagine going to a holiday site and seeing the description
?Surrounded by golden white beaches? or ?set in an acre of dense forest woodland?. Straight away your customer can imagine themself there.
By putting a positive focus on the products or services you sell, you
can create a positive impression.. By portraying a positive impression of your wares, you are already creating a favourable impression with your customers, and as a result, you may find a significant increase in conversions.
Z ? Zine or E-Zine
A part-promotional, part-informational newsletter or magazine distributed over the Internet via E-mail, or a web site that contains regularly updated articles, advertising and other components of a magazine.
More How Do I lose weight Quickly Yahoo Articles
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By Daniels College of Business University of Denver on September 25, 2012
Charles Schwab & Co, Inc. is a Daniels Corporate Partner, and has long supported Daniels students through collaborative projects, sponsorship of the Daniels Inclusive Excellence Case Competition and in other ways.
In spring 2012, Charles Schwab had a project that needed creative thinking and a fresh perspective and turned to the Daniels Consulting Firm (DCF), the consulting arm of the Daniels Strategy and Consulting Group. DCF is a student-run organization that strives to prepare its members for success in the business consulting industry.
?We value the insights that the Daniels Consulting team brought to one of our recent marketing projects,? said JP Snow, VP, client experience, who was part of the Charles Schwab team that worked with DCF. ?They were able to quickly understand the key issue. Then they delivered exactly what you expect from a consulting engagement: outside perspective that is still relevant and practical. We?re using their product as we develop the next steps in our business plan.?
Jessica Gu (MBA 2012), past president of DCF?who worked on the project and was recently hired by Charles Schwab?says that the DCF-Schwab project dramatically enhanced students? skill sets and understanding of the business world. ?Throughout a 10-week project, we worked closely with our client to help them solve the business problem they faced,? Gu said. ?We increased our business acumen and are better prepared for career-growth opportunities. I really appreciate Charles Schwab, DCF and the Daniels College of Business for giving me this great opportunity.?
?Working with Schwab was a fabulous test of the skills we acquired in the Daniels MBA program,? said Emalee Sugano (MBA 2012, BA 2010), the DCF project manager for the Charles Schwab project. ?The client was wonderful, gave helpful feedback along the way and was open to our final recommendations. This was one of the biggest projects DCF has tackled thus far, and we hope for continued challenges like this in the future.?
Posted in Business Pulse| Tagged charles schwab, Colorado, corporate partners program, Daniels College Business, daniels consulting firm, DENVER, DU, MBA |
Traditionally, couples who have a wedding anniversary coming up, plan to spend it together, alone. They go to dinner and dancing, or maybe take a romantic vacation. It?s a time to celebrate their marriage and that can only be a very personal thing. They exchange gifts with each other. Their family and friends wish the couple a happy anniversary or send them a card, but most anniversaries are not party occasions.
Some anniversaries, though, are treated as special occasions. The 1st or maybe the 5th, but particularly the 25th and up in five year increments. That?s when families and friends want to do something to honor the couple and plan parties to celebrate their commitment and tenacity in honoring their vows. These parties are usually gift giving occasions.
This article is about a new idea for gift giving that you may not have considered before. You may have considered it for a child?s party but not an adult party, especially older adults. Why not make a portion of your celebration a ?Treasure Hunt.? I can tell you that it works, because I?ve done it.
My brothers and sister and I had a 25th anniversary Treasure Hunt party for our parents. We weren?t sure what to get them and wanted them to have something they really wanted. We decided to give them a monetary gift. There were five of us so we all kicked in $200.00 each. We made a treasure chest out of cardboard and covered it in aluminum foil. We put the $1000.00 in twenties and fives in the treasure chest and made them find it with clues. Their anniversary is in the summer, so we had the party outside at a pavilion in a park. It was so unbelievably fun! We hid clues in trees with stuffed animals, had them do charades, and even hid one clue on one of their grandchildren (who didn?t know they had it) and they had to chase each one down and search them until they found it. Of course the grand finale was finding the treasure chest that we had hidden in the hollow bottom of a tree. They loved it, and we all still talk about it from time to time.
You may be thinking that a Treasure Hunt would be too difficult to set up. It?s a lot of work writing clues, hiding gifts, and having a plan that takes you from beginning to end smoothly. I can tell you from experience that it?s worth the time you spend to make your special event memorable.
All throughout history, people have been looking for ways to make their parties different by incorporating hunts to add an aspect of action. Easter egg hunts and scavenger hunts are just two successful examples of turning an occasion into something more appealing and adding a sense of anticipation for the final result.
A Treasure Hunt can be for any occasion, or no occasion at all. Maybe you have a teenager, spouse, or co-worker that is always leaving things where they don?t belong. You can hide anything, anytime, from anyone and make a point by making them find their things with clues. This is what memories are made of, and your friends and family will be talking about it for years to come. Make sure to videotape your party. You won?t regret it!
Author Bio: Nancy Kruse is the exciting new author of: Treasure Hunt-A Book of Clues for Parties. Are you looking for new ways to spice up your Birthday, Anniversary, or Christmas parties? A Wedding or Baby shower? Then this is the book for you! For more information, please visit: Treasure Hunt Clues to plan a party you won?t soon forget.
Not only did The Richmond by Overstreet Custom Homebuilders recently receive more finishing touches, but the price has been reduced to $434,900! Located in the Graystone neighborhood of Highland Woods in Elgin, IL, the Richmond is perfect for families, and formal or informal entertaining.
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Charles Schwab & Co, Inc. is a Daniels Corporate Partner, and has long supported Daniels students through collaborative projects, sponsorship of the Daniels Inclusive Excellence Case Competition and in other ways.