Speedy Gambling

The 2005 Victory Hammer blows away every competitor on the manufacturing side with a 250mm rear tire for the Victory Hammer. The Victory Hammer has the fattest ever fitted rear tire to be attached to a mass produced motorcycle. It is at least 50mm wider than the competition. It will turn heads.

The Victory Hammer is no doubt an undeniably a motorcycle with attitude. The Victory’s Hammer debuts Victory’s new 100cubic inch 6-speed power train. When you ride the Victory Hammer, you will never mistake it for its smaller Victory siblings: Kingpin, 8-Ball, Vegas. By smaller, I mean smaller engine displacement. I own a Kingpin with the 92 cubic inch engine. I could use the extra boost in power the Hammer provides when hauling a passenger. After all, it’s all about the horsepower.

The Victory Hammer definitely feels different from a traditional cruiser. The Victory Hammer is very balanced and predictable. The Victory Hammer also feels lighter and more balanced than its smaller Victory siblings: Kingpin, 8-Ball, Vegas.

Even if The Victory Hammer’s disposition steers towards the straight-line dragster, there is still enough handling for the twisty turns and high-speed cornering. You won’t keep up with the sport bikes that you once rode, but you won’t lose site of them either.

The Victory Hammer has seen spiked interest at the various motorcycle shows. While other manufacturers are offering more of the same, Victory comes out with a motorcycle that gets everyone saying, “Wow, what is that and when can I get one.” Now that The Victory Hammer is arriving at your local Victory dealership, hurry up and see one because they are selling faster than imagined. There are not even any bikes in the shops for demo rides.

You may be looking at the fat 250mm rear tire and wonder, “For whom did Victory build the Hammer?” What was their target consumer? Was it the chopper show watchers? Maybe? It is my opinion that the target consumer for the badass Victory Hammer is the experienced rider, someone that owns, or has owned, sport bikes. These are riders that have reached the stage where they do not require going quite so fast or having the desire to be stuck in the racer’s crouch position.

Some basic Hammer specifications: The Hammer has a 5-gallon fuel tank. Cruising at approximately 70mph, this bike averages 40MPG. 100 cubic inch displacement, 50-degree V-Twin, 76 rear-whell hp and 86 foot-pounds torque. Frame has been narrowed for cornering clearance. Six-speed transmission, with the sixth gear being for overdrive. The Hammer has new primary gears, pump drive, and a new cam drive.

Someone at Victory should get a raise, because the concept to production of the Victory Hammer is a real winner.

Impressions from new Victory Hammer owners:
I will say the Hammer is, in my opinion, one of the coolest looking production bikes on the market. As far as the rear tire being the largest in the production industry, I believe it is. But the Rocket III comes close with a 240mm. The Hammer is not the best handling bike made, but it does handle well. It’s not the fastest, but it is fast. It’s not the most comfortable, but it is comfortable. But after riding for 75 miles today, and having to head home because of the incoming rains, I just can’t get the grin off my face. It’s just plain cool. It’s like a super-sexy woman. It has great curves, big jugs, a nice a$$, and real attitude.

Contributing author to Cycle Solutions. http://www.CycleSolutions.net
http://www.CycleSolutions.net

Today’s applications – either for the Web or standalone – are starting to focus more and more on the user interface. The time when you had to write lines and lines of commands or go through several menus to execute a certain task has passed. Developers have now implemented simple wizards, with on-screen help near each important element of the application, which will make even the most complicated task look like a walk in the park. And the easiest and most efficient way to create user-friendly interfaces is to add self-explanatory icons. These small images that take a couple dozens of pixels will most of the times have more meaning than a full paragraph of text. It’s more comfortable and efficient to insert an icon than it is to write some text explaining a certain function.
Icons are very important to the user-interface. People want to use an application’s features to the maximum, and don’t like to it when they can’t find how to complete a specific task. This is why developers should always create shortcuts to the main tasks that can be accomplished using their application. These shortcut items must catch the user’s attention, so adding icons will do the trick in most of the cases. The icons must be related to that certain task, so, for example, a disk icon would be a great visual enhancement for a “Save” button, as a printer icon would fit perfectly inside a “Print” button. A good set of icons in the interface will greatly improve the communication between the user and the application. Icons are colorful and, in most cases, larger than the description text of the application feature they relate to; this way, they are a lot easier to be spotted.

Most of today’s applications use icons, even though pretty much all developers don’t bother to implement custom designed icons into their applications. Actually, settling with the operating system’s default stock icons is not such a bad thing as some people might think. Computer users might sometimes have some problems adapting to new applications, especially if they have different interfaces than the applications already installed on the users’ computers. What happens if you want to save and you’re looking for a disk icon, but you can’t find it because the developer decided to use a star icon? If so, there will be a poor communication between the user and the application, because the interface’s icons are different from the ones the user is used to. Application developers should not fall into this trap just because they like some other icons and they don’t want to use the same old default system icons, because it would do more bad than good. The default system icons are preferred because most applications use them, so users will learn to use your application a lot faster. The functions and commands will be easier to understand, because users will be able to faster identify the iconic symbols.

If a developer wants to give their application a distinct look, they should use professional, custom-made icons, especially designed for their application. Today, such services are affordable, and you will be able to tell the designer how you want the icons to look like. In most cases, you shouldn’t go with a completely different look than the system’s icons (for the reasons described above), but you should try to give them a unique, personal touch; the application will stand out from the crowd and will look a lot better than the other ones, thus attracting more users. Changing colors, for example, is the easiest way to get new, yet similar icons.

To have a good communication between the user and the application, developers must predict all the possible problems that the interface could cause its users. Are the buttons too small? Are they too big? Can the toolbars be moved around the screen? How about the menus, can users add new items to them? Also, can they replace the icons and other graphics with some of their own? How about users with special needs?

Unfortunately, there are a lot of developers that disregard such problems, and create rigid interfaces, which cannot be changed by the users to better suit them. A simple answer to this problem is to create multiple skins, with different colors and different icons. The application should have a “standard” skin to start with, and then a few different skins, for example a minimalistic skin with only a few main buttons and large icons, or an “expanded” skin with many toolbars and buttons, each with their own small icon. Also, a skin with high contrast colors and icons will be very appreciated by the users with eye problems. Apart from all these, developers should also allow users to create their own custom skin and use different icons.

There are multiple benefits from using icons in an application interface. No matter whether an application uses the operating system’s default icons or has custom-made icons designed especially for it, there must be some form of graphics in it, otherwise people might find it harder to use. This may happen because most of today’s application use icons to ease the learning of the application. Because most applications use similar icons in certain tasks – for example a printer icon for printing or a disk button for saving files – it’s a lot faster for users to click on those buttons, therefore they will remember it next time they use that application, or any other application for that matter. Even if later on advanced users will choose to use shortcut keys on the keyboard instead of clicking with the mouse on buttons in the toolbars, it’s really important that for starters they will use the toolbar, so icons will be very important in the communication with the application.

We are a leading company dedicated to professional icons development
for use in software graphic interfaces and web design. Our
hyper-realistic icons are fully inspired on the new Windows Vista and
Mac OS X.

www.iconshock.com – Professional Icons

Your lens is an essential element to good photographs. It’s not just your camera. People spend thousands of dollars on a good camera and neglect the lens.

Change that around! Make sure you buy a good camera lens when purchasing a camera. Buy a good camera as well, but don’t neglect a good camera lens.

Why? Your camera is just the ‘holder’ for the photograph. The lens is what your camera sees all your shots through. A good lens is essential to clear and sharp photos.

With most compact digital cameras, you can’t change the lens. So in that case, don’t just buy a good camera, ensure it also has a good lens.

Avoid a plastic digital camera lens because it doesn’t have the clarity of a glass lens.

What model of lens?

Stick with camera lenses from well known manufacturers like Nikon, Canon and Pentax. Ensure you purchase a lens that works with your camera too. A Nikon camera lens usually won’t work well with a Canon camera.

There are specialty lens manufacturers like Carl Zeiss, Leica and Leupold. If you’re a beginner, don’t worry about these lenses until you are more advanced as they come with very high prices and it’s hard to justify the price for the small increase in quality.

Types of Camera Lens

The most common lenses are : Wide Angle, Normal and Telephoto. The type of lens is determined by the Focal Length of the lens. See below. A Zoom Lens is simply a lens that can change Focal Length from a Wide Angle to a Telephoto (or somewhere inbetween).

There are a number of things to look for when purchasing a camera lens.

Lens Focal Length

The Focal Length of a lens determines the amount of magnification and angle of vuew the lens can see. The Focal Length is measured in mm. It’s the Focal Length that determines if the lens is a:

- Wide Angle; small magnification, wide angle of view. 20mm to 35mm

- Traditional, or Normal; 50mm

- Telephoto; high magnification, narrow angle of view; 105mm to 300mm.

- Zoom; A Zoom lens can change it’s focal length to zoom in. A Zoom lens might have a Focal Length of between 50mm and 150mm.

Some lenses are interchangeable between film cameras and digital cameras, but you need to be aware that the effective focal length CHANGES between film and digital. The focal lengths I describe above are for FILM cameras and need to be multiplied by 1.6 to get the effective focal length on a digital camera. So using a film 35mm lens on a digital camera has an effective focal length of 56mm.

What does this mean for you? It means that you won’t get as wide angle on a digital camera as you would on a film camera using the same lens. A 35mm lens which gives a medium wide angle on a film camera acts as a traditional lens on a digital camera

This is a complex subject, so I can’t go into too much detail here. If you need more help, the best person to speak to would be your local camera store’s resident expert.

Lens Speed

The ’speed’ of a digital camera lens also defines a lens. The speed is determined in f-stops and is similar to the f-stop aperture setting on your camera. Faster lenses are more expensive and usually heavier.

Focusing Distance

This is the minimum distance from the camera lens that a subject must be to be in focus. Don’t worry about getting a camera with a close focusing distance. Concentrate on a telephoto instead.

More Advanced Features

More expensive lenses have more advanced features.

- Vibration Reduction. A feature called ‘vibration reduction’ keeps images sharper when shooting in low light. They help to counter any vibration in the camera. Try to find a digital camera lens with this feature.

- USM USM stands for Ultrasonic Motor. This feature of Canon lenses gives you a high speed auto focus but the main benefit is the ‘motor’ is almost silent, so you don’t disturb people around you when your camera is focussing.

- Filter Thread. When purchasing a half-decent lens, it should have a filter thread. This is a thread that allows you to screw on a filter (such as a polariser) to help when photographing difficult situations. Even if you don’t need filters right now. it’s handy to purchase a lens with a thread so you can add a filter later.

You get what you pay for

Generally the more expensive the lens, the better it is. More expensive lenses usually have a higher number of glass elements in the lens, which also makes them heavier.

Final Notes

While it is important to choose good quality camera lens, for beginners it isn’t as important as good composition. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can only take a great picture with an expensive top-of-the-line lens. A badly composed picture won’t look great with a great camera lens.

I don’t mean to discount the importance of a good quality lens. A good rule is to only add to your lens collection only when you have a specific need for a particular digital camera lens.

Do your research and your homework first, and find the lens that suits both you and your camera.

David Peterson has a great love of photography and has created a series of free tips at http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/ to help digital photography users everywhere take better photos.

DoubleClick’s recent survey indicated that over 88% of online consumers have made a purchase as a result of receiving permission-based email.

The most common forms of permission-based emails are ezines or email newsletters. Currently there are hundreds of thousands of ezines available on the internet.

Ezines are excellent tools for generating new and follow-up sales, driving more pageviews, building customer loyalty, and improving sales credibility and brand awareness.

Even though ezines are vital to the success of every online business, there are some marketers who unknowingly kill their ezines with not-so-wise marketing methods. I have highlighted some of the killer mistakes below.

Killer #1 .. Who needs permission? Just mail ‘em!

A recent study of permission email recipients by IMT Strategies revealed the following:

48% were curious to read the permission email 13% were eager to read
30% were indifferent
7% open it somewhat annoyed 2% deleted it without reading

When it came to unsolicited email or spam:

77% deleted it without reading 16% said they were annoyed but opened it 3% were indifferent to it
4% were curious to read spam email 1% percent were eager to read it

In the above results, we can see that 9 in 10 recipients of permission email were fine with reading the messages, with a near half curious to read!

But for spam, 9 in 10 didn’t even read the email or were seriously unhappy about opening it.

We can clearly see a remarkable difference in the response to permission-based emails and unsolicited emails. Always ask for permission!

Only add subscribers who have consciously chosen to receive your ezine. You’ll reap the rewards of having a highly targeted and loyal audience that are interested in reading what you send them.

There have been many times when I received issues of ezines that I don’t ever recalled subscribing to. These ezine owners had taken their own ‘initiative’ to add me their list. Such spamming antics only seriously piss me off!

Never try to buy a list of email addresses and then send them your ezine issue telling them to remove themselves if they don’t wish to get further mailings. That’s spamming.

Killer #2 .. Don’t let ‘em unsubscribe

Since it is so difficult to acquire new subscribers, let’s prevent them from un-subscribing at all costs. Heck .. just don’t provide them with an unsubscribe option in the newsletter. Then they won’t unsubscribe!

Nothing pisses me off more than newsletters that I cannot unsubscribe from. There are no unsubscribe instruction nor any email address to send an unsubscribe request to.

Such practices are totally unethical and unprofessional. If your subscribers can’t even trust you over something so minor, how would they feel secure doing business with you?

They may even complain you for spamming and tell people about your unethical conduct. Bad news spread very fast on the internet.

When your subscribers decide to leave your ezine, promptly unsubscribe them. Make sure you never email them again unless they decide to re-join your ezine.

Killer #3 .. Let’s blast them with tons of mailings

Recently I had to unsubscribe from several ezines that were sending me a solo mailing every alternate day!

In the beginning I didn’t mind those mailings. But after some 14 days of getting tons of advertisements, I bailed out. The DoubleClick survey revealed that the average online consumer receives 36 permission email messages weekly.

With that number of emails waiting to be read, excluding personal messages and spam, you wouldn’t want to be guilty of clogging your subscriber’s inbox.

Strike a good balance between your profit line and your subscribers’ interest. The lifetime value of a subscriber can be worth thousands of dollars. Why kill the golden goose when it can lay golden eggs year after year?

Killer #4 .. Forget about content, I got no time for that

With an intensely fierce competition for ezine eyeballs, your subscribers may unsubscribe after a few issues if they don’t enjoy your ezine.

You need to publish real content that appeal to their interest. One of the best ways to discover what your subscribers want to read is to check out the ezines of top players in your industry or related ezines with large subscriber bases.

If they are at the top, they must be doing some things right! It will be an eye opening experience to analyze the kind of content successful ezine publishers offer to their subscribers.

Never fill your ezine with advertisements that are disguised as editorials. Quality content is king!

Killer #5 .. The ezine that never came

Some ezine owners produce a few issues and skip the next few. Or they are perpetually late in mailing out new issues.

If you tell your subscribers that you publish your ezine weekly, make sure it arrives in their mailbox weekly. You lose your subscribers’ loyalty and trust when you fail to deliver. How can they then trust you with their credit card numbers?

Publishing an ezine requires time and effort. Writing up the editorial, proofreading and amending the copy (many times), testing the final copy and maintaining the subscriber list can easily take a day or more.

If you can’t afford to publish your ezine weekly, do it fortnightly. I don’t recommend monthly because the time lapse in between issues are too wide. Try preparing future issues 2 weeks in advance. Have available backup editorial content that you can always fill your ezine with at the last minute.

There you’ve it .. 5 guaranteed ways to kill your ezine. Well, I hope you’ll never need to use them

Michael Low is a professional PR Strategist. He provides top- notch PR services at highly affordable rates. Check out his full range of PR packages at http://www.prbuilder.com/pr.cgi?a006

Copyright 2004 Priya Shah

A while ago I made it a point to watch the movie “Legally Blonde.”

Not just for the bright, chirpy and eminently watchable Reese Witherspoon, but also because I loved the message it sent out.

If you didn’t see the movie, all you need to know is that it’s about a smart, fashion-conscious blonde who’s told time and again, by her family and friends, that it’simpossible for someone like her to go to Harvard law school.

That she’s just not smart enough and doesn’t have what it takes.

In the movie, the character played by Witherspoon not only goes to Harvard law, but also through sheer determination and intuition, graduates at the top of her class.

Its just the sort of movie people love. Because it makes us believe that we too are capable of achieving anything we want to.

It reminds us how we often let ourselves, and others, underestimate our own potential.

And how we undermine our own sense of self, because of what we look like or where we came from.

But why just let it remain a movie, when it can be the story of your life…

Have you ever asked yourself what it is that keeps you from reaching your full potential?

From doing what you are inherently capable of?

For many of us, it’s a lack of belief in ourselves. A lack of confidence in our own ability to succeed.

And because we believe we will fail, we usually do.

But there are people who have succeeded beyond all expectation – no matter what they look like, or where they come from.

One of my favourite role models who comes to mind is another Hollywood celebrity, Barbra Streisand.

Indeed, one of my favourite films of all time is her movie, “Yentl,” about a courageous, intelligent woman trying to fulfill her capabilities, in the face of overwhelming odds.

“Yentl” was also the movie in which Streisand became the first woman ever to produce, direct, write and star in a major motion picture.

Streisand carved her own path, and broke the mould.

She showed how a woman with unconventional looks can make it in a field where beauty is more important than brains.

So, if you believe that you are less than someone, because of your lack of education, looks, talent, background or ability, take courage from her achievements.

They are an inspiration not only for women, but for everyone.

Because all it take is a belief. The belief that you can do what it takes.

Don’t wait for someone else to give you an opportunity to prove yourself. Stop depending on others for handouts.

Don’t wait for the right opportunity to fall in your lap. Because it never will.

All you need to carve your own path, is the confidence and the belief that you can succeed at anything you set out to do, no matter what the odds.

So start today. Choose a mentor.

Learn from the masters. Re-invent yourself.

Create your own opportunities and forge your own future.

Your belief in yourself, coupled with the courage to see it through, is what will carry you from a life of mediocrity and under-achievement, into a world where you can be the winner you aspire to be.

Priya Shah is the editor of the newsletters Be a Whiz at eBiz! and The Glutathione Report She shows you how to truly build multiple sources of income online with the Brilliant Team Home Business Opportunity

Being careful when submitting to directories.

Directories as we know can be used to increase link popularity and get your site indexed . But directory submmission can also hurt .

Here are a few things to remember when submitting to directories.

1. The number of directories you are submitting to .

If it is Over 50 , then it may create suspicion that you are using some sort of software to boost your link popularity .

“Sites with high PR” are on a regular visit by search engines than “others”.

Their text , links etc. are all taken into account faster. The higher the PR , the more it is noted.

Submission to many at the same time triggers this . Even if you submitted to 100 and only 20 approved and displayed your link in one day , 20 the second day and 20 again on third day , 60 links in three days could trigger this . Plus the second day you will submit to another 100 . Calculate it.

I personally seek and prefer submitting to new directories because they are “gradually” indexed and your link is not crowded between another 40 links. Today or tomorrow the page will pick a PR.

2. The text displayed in link .

Even if you are getting 20 links everyday let’s say naturally , then it is sure that people are using different text in their links. When submitting to directories , have a set of titles like “html editor” , “SSS12 html editor”, “html editor with features”, “Feature rich html editor”, etc.

Each is different but each has your keywords. This reduces chances of penalty.

On a side note that is a very tough keyword and I am not in SERP’s for that.

3. Submit to only directories which you think do not use BH tech.

If you hire a firm to manage directory submission for you , then most have a list of quality directories . Softwares are only collection of any found .

May be when a directory was added to a software , it was good but you don’t know what happenned later .Couldn’t say if it linked to a bad site and dropped it’s PR or got penalised.

Fine if penalised because now you know it is linking to a bad neighbour but if it dropped PR , you will still think that this a good directory. You don’t know it was better but now suffers a penalty. You will only see a PR. ( Google PR : A reflection of a good site ).

Good Directory submmission firms I think would know that because they are on a regular visit to directories and would note the drop in PR.

No problem submitting to a directory like this but what if you are asked to have a reciprocal link ???

And most old directories ask for that. New ones don’t because they want to have a database first.

New sites of people who know a little seo will pick PR anyway and the link is one way!

4. Are you asked to place a reciprocal link ?

Should I explain it ?

Best wishes for your site.

Read more informative articles at article site http://www.ad4business.com/sss/ or get free stuff at website designer site http://www.website-design-software-india.com

Feel that? The crisp tingle in the air? It’s fall. Fall ushers in the promise of eating,
seeing, and getting. It’s my favorite time of year. By now, kids are settled into
school, sweaters set free from mothballs, and it’s an amazing time to… BUY.

I don’t know about you; but for some reason this time of year lowers my normal
customer resistance to retail and turns up my desire to buy, buy, buy. And not just
anything. Products I’ve come to know have reliable value to me. You too?

Think about it. It starts with buying Halloween candy. Do you reach for the no-name
orange cellophane wrappers of chocolate dots, or do you buy the mini packages of
M&M’s? I know! Me too! Why is that? It’s the same thing! But, the brand of M&M’s
represents a certain quality that we have come to know as valuable. And left with
candy at the end of the evening, that’s what I want to be gobbling on. It doesn’t
matter how long the product has been on a shelf, an M&M is still an M&M.

A favorite thing I like to do in fall is cruise through the stores and see what “they”
think “we’ll” buy. This past weekend, I stepped into Crate & Barrel (a personal
favorite) and went weak in the knees!

I walked from beautiful table setting to even more beautiful table setting and I
thought about the perception that Crate & Barrel had created in me. As I drooled
over the dishes, I imagined how the quality of my life would change if I brought
them home. (A little bubble appeared to the side of my head. I saw an image of me
overhearing holiday guests comment about how beautiful my table was, and
subsequently how great I was.) The bubble faded as I dissected how Crate & Barrel
created that impression in me. How did they get me to think that?

I passed through living room settings that I would give my left pinkie toe to own (it’s
okay, I’m right footed). I ran my hand over the fabrics and textures. Rich leathers.
Deep colors. Luxuriant fabrics. All things I’d spend my money on to give my 10-year
old living room a facelift. They established in me a certain quality! And somehow
they knew what areas I needed to fix up… my boring dining room dishes, my tired
living room. Hmmm… Hmmm… a specific quality and knowledge of my problem.

At each display was a sign that had a certain look. A color. A typeface. Even the way
it was laid out on the page! It all matched the quality I got from the home décor
items I so desperately wanted. (By the way, I never knew I wanted an orange pear-
shaped leather vase before.) I picked up their holiday catalog. Lo and behold, not
only did it show the picture of the coveted pear-shaped leather vase, but the
typefaces and colors matched the signs in the store. Hmmm… consistent
communication and imaging. I started to tingle.

As I passed the jewel-toned velvet pillows, I thought, “Crate & Barrel is no different
from the companies and small business owners that we help.” They are no different
from YOU. Or are they? Let’s see…

You have:

• A product or service that is every bit as good and valuable as Crate & Barrel.

• You fix a problem or change the quality of life for your clients as much if not more
than Crate & Barrel.

After that, it can break down for small businesses and solo-preneurs.

You may not have:

• Consistent imaging (e.g., business card, website, brochures, leave-behind,
product packaging, etc.)

• The deep understanding of how to communicate “the brand” of your business that
can translate to your entire support team/staff. (This is easy and affordable to do
with BrandU. That’s why it was created.)

And most importantly, what most entrepreneurs tend to forget or, sadly, never
deeply establish:

• A huge, non-wavering belief in what you are bringing to people.

You have just as much of this as the people who created Crate & Barrel. They just
have more practice at it and had enough vision to bring in partners to help them
grow and communicate it.

The last three points are crucial to your business success and easier to address than
you think. Simply:

• keep up the value of your service and product AND,

• adopt a brand mindset!

It’s where EVERY brand starts BEFORE they’re a brand. In our upcoming book, Why
BrandU, we go into the reasons why it’s imperative for entrepreneurs to gain the
power of branding. You CAN have large business success, no matter what size you
are.

This holiday season, I share with you these TWO simple brand mindset tips:

• As you’re out (or online) shopping, pause a moment and think about the reasons
you buy the things you buy and,

• See how you can apply those reasons to your business.

After strolling around Crate & Barrel for over an hour (which flew by like 5 minutes),
I joyfully left with the most amazing vase for my table AND I was filled with a great
sense of delight and excitement; knowing YOU can be just as big!

© 2003 Castle Montone, Limited All Rights Reserved.

Written by Kim Castle, the Co-founder of BrandU the home of only step-by-
step process for developing your business as a brand from the inside out!

To get information on upcoming BrandU one-day workshops: http://
www.whybrandu.com/Public/events/workshop/index.cfm?semID=13

Get your Why You?!(sm) monthly ezine for easy-to-read tips and informative
insights on branding. To subscribe: http://www.whybrandu.com/

“BrandU Big Business Success No Matter Your Size”

Creativity is your birthright – but can often be hidden in the everyday. To facilitate your personal development and self growth, here are some creativity tips you can use to resurrect, refresh and enhance your creative faculties.

1. Look after yourself.

Sleep well/Eat well/meditate/do what you enjoy and do it more often (if it is life enhancing!). Creativity is reduced when your senses are dulled.

2. Do something different.

We do so much on auto – the route we take to work, newspaper we read, TV programmes we routinely watch. Vary one element of your regular routine for a while. If feasible, take a different route to work, read a different newspaper (especially one you would never read!).

3. Be curious about your world around you.

It always amazes me when people don’t see what’s around them. See the area you live/work in as a tourist would. How would you explore it if you were a tourist?

4. Read a book on something you previously had no interest in.

…and see if you can create interest whilst reading it. It is my belief that no topic is boring or uninteresting if it is enthusiastically and creatively presented. You know what you like – or you like what you know?

5. Do something childlike once in a while.

…and you don’t have to have the children there as an ‘excuse’ to do it. Sit and play on swings/draw/paint ’silly’ pictures – have fun. Children are incredibly creative and as adults we could learn a lot about how they view the world.

6. Create/prepare quiet time for yourself every day.

Not to do anything (unless it relaxes you), but just to clear and refresh your mind. We are human beings, not doings. There are times when our crowded schedule and minds don’t allow space and time for the creative to be welcomed in. Einstein liked to go sailing in the afternoons after working in the morning. Okay, most of us don’t have this opportunity, but you get the point.

7. Ask ‘what if’ questions.

Just for fun and see where the answers take you. What if that building could talk, what would it say, what stories would it tell?

8. We often make assumptions.

…about the people we work with (especially if we don’t like them!) Try treating someone you don’t particularly like at work as if you liked them (yeah I know…………….:.) What would you say, how would you act towards them?

9. Write and storyboard your life.

…as if it were a script you had to sell to a film company.

10. Talk to people you routinely ignore or dismiss.

Imagine their lives from their point of view, they often have viewpoints which you may never have considered before and ………………………… carry a small notebook with you to jot down new ideas / sensations / feelings as they come to mind.

Do one, some or all of these and you’ll soon notice a rise in your creativity, personal development and self growth.

Julie Plenty is a Personal and Business Coach, who helps writers, artists and photographers prosper in their business by helping them build a strong personal foundation, because they ARE their business. For more self growth and personal development articles, and to sign up for her Life Design newsletter, visit: http://www.self-help-personal-development.com.

Very guarded notes unleashed through the Bank of England yesterday led without hesitation to the contemporary Pound recuperation we have seen being muffled. The surprising assessment by the Central Bank was undisputed for interest rates to stay on hold and to keep the present level of quantitative lessening. Nevertheless, the notable members of the Monetary Policy Committee or MPC for short, nodded in the direction that UK Stirling’s latest appreciation was certainly not without doubt the ‘green shoot of recovery’ abounding people are anticipating and may in reality cause determent to business trade and so obstruct the British economies renewal.

These unpredicted remarks saw the United Kingdom pound fall a cent against both the Dollar and the European Single Currency and more that one sent and a 1/2 against the Swiss Franc.

On this day British retail sales figures and also publically available financial data can afford further indications on the wellbeing of the United Kingdom economy and additionally could possibly set off persisting volatility in the money markets. Consequently, make doubly certain you are in close communication with your foreign currency trading account handler so that they may keep you knowledgeable regarding currency market activities. Current exchange rates may not be the most favourable – depending on which currency you are buying.

News made known not particularly long ago through the Office of National Statistics or ONS for short, established that unemployment in the United Kingdom has risen significantly to over two point two million the peak quantity since Nov two thousand and six Despite rise the figure was certainly not as bad as some had forecast then again, with the unemployment rate still over 0.07 it was seen as unconstructive for the sterling. This reality, on top of the cautious comments from the Monetary Policy Committee just went to raise UK Stirling’s woes. David Kern, the chief economist employed at the British Chambers of Commerce, stated: “These jobless figures are slightly better than feared, but the overall situation remains grim… It is much too early to talk about the end of recession”

The worry currently is that the above statistics might worsen as school as well as university graduates go into the careers arena at the most terrible conceivable instant which is probably going to place even more difficulty on the pound. For that reason, if you have planned an upcoming currency exchange natter to a devoted money broker who will probably be able to describe every one of the possible alternatives open to you including fixing your exchange rate for a pre-determined period of time in the future for merely a negligible deposit on a forward contract just the thing to help you budget.

As well as being beneficial to vision, eyewear comprise part of your appearance and are therefore of greater or lesser fashionability. They are also a necessity you don’t want to replace regularly or wear when ]they cause discomfort. Picking out the right glasses becomes much easier with an awareness of the varied merits and flaws of rimless, rimmed and even semi-rimless glasses. This way, you can find the right pair on the first try with no stress!

Teenagers and those who require hard wearing wardrobe will appreciate the sturdiness offered by spectacles featuring fully rimmed frames. Another big advantage of rimmed spectacles resides in the arena of esthetics. The look of your glasses can show greater creativity, using stronger styles and broader frames, when it relies on the continuity of design in a full rim. You can choose from either polycarbonate or glass lenses in line with your desired price. You’ll find that these seem to be the most affordable kind of frames and the majority feel more at ease wearing them. Semi-rimless frames are commonly associated with an upmarket impression. Having a frame covering the upper side or the lower only, they are a wonderful choice for anyone with slim faces. You’ll have the strength and stability of a full frame but also the lighter feel of rimless styles. They can be very noteworthy and chic when worn by the right person. An important point is these frames render the edge of the lens fully visible, and therefore if you have a thicker prescription you may prefer to go with a full rim. The lack of protection for lens edges means in addition that polycarbonate lenses will be the better choice in these frames. If you take a light lens you find a great selection in rimless glasses. Blending in superbly with your face and boasting an unlimited variety of lens shapes, they’re comfortable and incredibly lightweight. Such comfort is not had without a price, as these are both costly and the least resilient of the choices available. No matter, if you happen to be looking for eyewear that isn’t going to stand out, they remain your best choice. It should be noted that polycarbonate lenses are typical with these glasses. Look, feel, and even the price tag of the assembled spectacles are decided in no small part by your selection of glasses frames, leaving it a important decision. Personal desires and wallet can be compared with the merits and flaws of the three major designs to determine where to look to find the perfect pair of eyeglasses.