Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Money Making Affiliate Ode


How to Make Money as an Affiliate

When it comes to making money online nowadays many people have no clue where to start. In fact when I started, it took long hours and tons of research to find out how all these so called internet guru’s earn thousands per month. Through my many ups and downs I did manage to learn how to make money as an affiliate with multiple programs.

Basically an affiliate marketer is someone who sells a product or service and in return for each program or service the affiliate sells, they are cut a commission. This sounds like a simple process, however it’s not always so cut and dry. To make money as an affiliate takes discipline, a few hours solely dedicated to the process and a bit of internet marketing know how.

There are many different ways to earn money online as an affiliate. Too many people think that making money online is just that, “selling products.” An affiliate can make money in Google adsense, investment programs, Google arbitrage and reselling just to name a few. By far the most popular is reselling other peoples products.

So how does one go about becoming an affiliate and capitalizing on the many methods of internet marketing and earning a true income online? A lot of affiliate programs usually pay 50% commissions or more on each sale. Some programs will convert into sales and others will not, so how do you know which ones work and which ones do not? The answer to that question is in order to find an effective affiliate program; one must test the waters and try a few different selling strategies as well as a few different affiliate programs first. Finding a program that converts your traffic into a sale 1 out of every 50 visitors is a decent conversion rate and has the potential to earn big money.

That’s great, but now that I have the program I wish to start with, how do I bring in the traffic I need to make affiliate sales? Many people buy a program and read through all of the material without ever applying one strategy mentioned. This is the number one reason most people fail when it comes to starting an internet business. In order to run a successful home business you will need to train yourself in the internet marketing arena. Many programs offer excellent information on the subject matter and what usually happens is you end up purchasing the program itself use and use what you have learned to resell the program.

To earn money as an affiliate, one will need to first educate themselves on the tricks of the trade when it comes to internet marketing and building an internet business. There are some really good courses available that expose many secrets the so called internet guru’s have been hiding for years and believe me most of them don’t like to let the cat out of the bag. Stay persistent and follow a concrete plan and eventually you will become among the many who earn a living from home with the internet.

Author, Timothy Rohrer, is an established author and home business owner. To learn more about affiliate programs, visit http://www.1step-profits.com.

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Teen Fitness Serenade


A Guide To Help You Teach Your Children Positive Self-Image Through Fitness

Raising a pre-teen or teenage daughter (or son) is not easy and can cause any parent a lot of stress. There’s so much to worry about – dating, drugs, alcohol, sex, school grades, just to name a few. But one crucial element often gets overlooked until it manifests itself in extreme ways (like through an eating disorder). I’m talking about self-image. It’s extremely important that parents ensure that their children have a positive self-image, especially in relation to their body.

The key to ensuring strong self-esteem and a positive body image starts with the parent. If you don’t feel positive about your self-image, then how can you expect your children to? While this is important for both genders, it is especially critical for raising a healthy daughter. And beginning the lessons when a girl is young is imperative, so don’t wait until it’s too late – teaching your daughter to feel good about her body needs to start at a very young age.

Eating disorder experts say girls are developing eating disorders as young as 5 and 6 years old. And a recent study indicated that 70% of the sixth-grade girls they surveyed said they began worrying about their weight between ages 9 and 11. Why are so many young girls thinking that they are fat? Many are obsessing about their weight because they have parents who are preoccupied with their own poor body images.

While the statistics are disheartening, the good news is that there’s a lot that can be done to help our children have positive self-images. And, even small changes that parents make can help. Here are few tips to help your children avoid warped and negative body images:
* Establish a “no diet talk” rule. When your children are nearby, DON’T talk about dieting or how fat you feel! This is extremely important. Remember, kids are listening all the time (even when you think that they aren’t – especially then). So, even though asking your spouse or friend “do I look fat in this?” may seem innocent, it can have a life-altering effect on your kids when they repeatedly hear it.
* Parents aren’t the only adults that influence their children. Set the “no diet talk” rule mentioned above for all adults that are around your children. This means you shouldn’t allow your friends, parents, siblings, neighbors, or anyone else to talk about being fat or being on a diet when they are around your children.
* Set a good example. If your children never see you engage in fitness or if they hear you complain about working out, then they are going to have a negative image of exercise. Let them know that you workout to stay healthy, to be strong and to have more energy and stamina (so you can keep up with them)!
* Get your kids involved in sports. Experts say that playing sports really helps build confidence and improves self-esteem (especially for girls).
* Teach your children to include physical activity as part of their daily routine. But don’t force them to exercise. Make sure that the physical activity is seen as something fun to do rather than teaching them to think of exercise as a necessary evil. Good activities include taking a nightly family walk, turning off the t.v. and instead turning music on that you all can dance to, or taking a weekend family bike ride.
* Try to prepare (or if you are short are time purchase) healthy meals. And teach them the importance of good nutrition. Don’t let them have the misconception that there are “good” and “bad” foods. If a kid thinks that candy is a “bad” food, then naturally they will just want it more. Just try to encourage your kids to eat a balanced diet each day and to eat sugary and/or fatty foods in moderation.

Remember that something as small as talking about losing weight in front of your kids can have very detrimental effects on their self-image as they age. Damaging behavior learned from a parent at a young age can take years for a child to overcome. So, the sooner you start incorporating the tips above into your life, the better for you child. But don’t forget that it has to start with you – make sure that you are incorporating healthy fitness and eating rituals into your daily routine and that you have a positive body image (no matter what your size or shape is)!

Author, Lynn Bode, is dedicated to helping people get fit. Through her website company, http://www.workoutsforyou.com, she offers affordable online exercise programs to help you lose weight, tone-up, build muscles, increase stamina and more. Custom programs for all fitness levels. Visit the site for a Free sample workout.

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Money Spending Opus


Saving Money By Spending Wisely

Why is it that the older and richer people become, the more conservative they are with their money? Have you ever done or know someone who has made an investment that promised a 10% interest or profit per month? Everyone wants to make above average profits. It is amazing how many people will send their very hard earned money across the world to Nigeria or to Boca Rattan, Florida on the promise of a telephone acquaintance to make them much richer. People give their money to complete strangers in hopes of making more money.

All good investment advisers will tell their clients “If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is.” Professionals only make very high returns in areas they personally know very well. This, for them, is a business investment, not a passive investment like stocks, bonds or mutual funds. Real estate and business investments are considered active investments. People who are employed by others do not usually make active investments, because they just do not have the time to watch a business investment, where big profits are always possible (as well as big losses.)

People with small amounts of money come to me all the time and ask: “What can I do with $1,000 that will give me a big return?” Here is the answer. When I was a 21-year-old lad working for my father, I had money in the bank, I owed securities (stocks) and my income was a fixed salary. I saw many opportunities to make money all around me, in the business. My father, like so many employers, wasn’t interested. Besides I was trying to figure out how I could make money for me.

At the time, 1971, we had high inflation and prices were going up on many things. My father used metal rings to seal containers, nuts and bolts, paint, and other industrial supplies. I watched prices starting to go up and it appeared that they might even double on finished products that were made from steel. Since the company used these products all the time, buying bigger orders meant buying much more then you needed and having to store it so it didn’t get stolen. I used to buy 2 years supply of bolts at a time. Knowing the price was going up, I bought a 4-year supply. Rings took a lot of space so we would buy 3 months at a time. The problem with new rings, being bought and laying around, in storage, was that the workers, taking the easy way out, would take new rings out of the warehouse, instead of cleaning the old rings, which saved the company a lot of money.

My father didn’t want to have a years worth of rings around, even though we both knew the price was going to continue going up. We came up with an idea. I would buy, with my own money, the extra inventory, the amount above the companies normal order size. My investment inventory would be stored in a separate locked area in the warehouse. When the company needed more rings or bolts, it would buy them from me at the then current market price. I made $1,500 on my $5,000 investment in just six months. That was a 30%, no risk profit in just half a year. Now I was hot.

When I got married, and I used more toilet paper and toothpaste than I did before, I decided that I should repeat the process that I learned as a boy. When I was a boy toilet paper was 10 cents a role. If you do not know what it is now, take a look. I bought 5 cases of toilet paper and put it in the garage. I knew that paper prices were going up. I not only got the increase in price, I got close out quantity discounts by the case. Do you know that dog and cat food by the case is 10% off? Then if you wait for when Friskies has a sale or close out, then buy large cases; you cannot believe what you will save. If you can get a distributor or wholesaler to sell direct to you, another 20-33% is possible. You might check the price at Costco. It may be cheaper than what the wholesaler will sell it to you for.

You only buy items that you know you will use yourself, personally. You are not buying for resale. You are buying a two-year supply of things you know you will use, for sure. Toilet paper is one of them. (Make sure you try the brand out, to see that you will like it.) Smart and Final has many things in bulk. Compare prices at Costco, Smart and Final, the 99-cent store, and if you can find the distributor that the 99-cent store buys from in Downtown LA, you will really be buying cheap.

First step. Make a list of everything you buy on a regular bases. List non-food items, bathroom items and dry or canned food items. Do not buy food the rats can get into. Grains must be in steel drum with bags. You will be shocked at how much 20 lbs of rice will cost you compared to a one pound bag, about a quarter of the cost or less. Do not buy clothing, because of change of styles and weight. You can buy men’s socks and underclothing when you see a real close out at 80% off. Men wear the same style all their lives and their weight tends to be constant. Do not do this for children or woman. Things change too fast.

Second step. Price shop so you will know what are the good prices and bad prices. Do not buy yet, just price shop.

Third Step. Decide how much inventory you want to have, how much money do you have to spend and how long it will take you to use it all up. Where are you going to put it so that it will be safe and dry? Not a public storage place, please. The rent will eat up your volume buying profits, real fast.

Fourth Step. Look for close outs so you can buy cheaper than the best price you planned on and then have fun buying.

Hidden Bonus: There are also non-profit advantages to this program that you should be aware of. In case of an economic depression you have food. That means if you loose your job, you still eat. Your unemployment check can then go towards the rent, gas in the car, car payments, and fresh food. You will already have most of the toilet items and other things you will need, until you get a job.

In case of a natural disaster or a teamster strike you will have your well-stocked private supermarket with those needed items. The IRS closed down Howard Ruff, a newsletter writer in the 1970’s. They attached all of his bank accounts, and locked the front door of his store. Howard had 12 children, no income and no money in his pocket. He did have big food storage, which fed his family while he took a month to decide what his next move was going to be. He was able to think his problem out without panicking because his family was fed, and he could postpone his mortgage, utilities and other bills for a few months, before he had big troubles.

So be smart. Invest in a food storage program. Only buy what you will use, and do use. Buy in quantities that you will use up in 2 years. Do not buy a 5-year supply of anything. Shop for the best price, and then wait for a better deal than that. Then you have made a safe and profitable investment, while at the same protecting your family from emergencies.

Author, Willard Michlin, is a real estate and financial distress consultant. He can be contacted at his Ventura, California office by calling 805-529-9854 or by e-mail at kismetrei@earthlink.net. See other article by Willard at http://www.kismetgroup.com.

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Painless Relocation Verse


Scaling Down (Almost) Painlessly

Moving to a smaller house or apartment in a retirement community almost always involves a certain degree of trauma, both for the elder who's moving and for family members. However, by planning ahead you can reduce the discomfort involved and turn what might well become a nightmare into a pleasant event.

Begin by Planning for the Move

Where is the elder moving? Go to the actual house or apartment with tape measure, pad and pencil and write down measurements. Floor space is important, but don't forget about ceilings. Many elders own large pieces of furniture that may not fit into rooms with low ceilings. Your work here will determine which pieces can move with your elder.

And while you're at the actual location, talk to several other elders who already live there. What is their life style? Do they go outside the property on frequent trips? How do they dress? Casual lifestyles will require an entirely different style of dress than more formal ones.

Gather Supplies and Contact Helpers

Having all the supplies you will need in one place will speed your task. You'll want a number of storage bins; five or six should be sufficient to hold sorted items. Plastic bags can be used for discarded belongings and as a container for articles to be donated to charities. Packing boxes and supplies such as padding materials and wide sealing tape are must-haves. Labels and dark marking pens are essential to ensure that boxes go to their intended location.

While you're in the gathering stage, begin to contact helpers you'll need. Among these may be:
* estate sale professionals
* ertified appraisers
* moving companies
* house cleaners
* repair specialists (electricians, plumbers, carpenters, painters)

Ask friends, relatives, and senior real estate specialists for recommendations. Also, check with the Better Business Bureau to ascertain whether problems have been reported about particular companies or individuals.

Approach Your Task One Room at a Time

Who should help? The elder and one family member should assume responsibility for sorting all items and some packing. Do not include everyone in the family if you want to make the job quick and easy because distractions increase in geometric proportion to the number of persons doing the sorting.

Sort all the items in one single room at once, beginning and ending in the kitchen. Why start there? Because kitchens in small houses and apartments typically are short on storage space, and the elder needs time and experience to determine which items are true necessities, and which may never be used. If you reduce kitchen items to a bare minimum at the beginning, your elder can determine what's needed and what's not by living with them ahead of time. After living with fewer items, your elder may find that items once thought essential may not be needed. Complete work in the kitchen at the very end of your tasks.

Even though you intend to stay in only one room, distractions will occur. Resist them by stacking items that belong in another room at the door. A bin or box placed just inside the door can contain all the items that have homes elsewhere.

Make your motto One Thing at a Time; One Time for each Thing. Once you've picked up an item, decide then and there what its fate should be. Place it in one of the bins you've labeled:
* Discards
* Donations
* Distribution to Relatives
* Keepers
* Uncertainties

Large collections of books may require their own bins. You might have bins for Collectors' editions, books to be stored, books to be sold to book dealers.

When you have finished categorizing all the items in the room, start the packing process. Items in the Uncertainties bin can be packed for storage.

If an unbreakable item is to be moved only a short distance, don't waste time on elaborate packing and padding. Items like crystal and china, however, require excellent packing, regardless of the distance they will be moved. If you can't do a great job, leave packing fragile items to professionals.

Mark boxes as you go.
Mark boxes as you go!
Mark boxes as you go!!!

Nothing is more frustrating than finding that you've shipped your elder's bed linens to Aunt Minnie and kept a silver salver you meant to send your nephew.

Don't try to do everything at once. Do only one room on any given day, and take the time to enjoy reminiscing as you sort items.

This is also the perfect time to have a certified appraiser come in to appraise items that may be of significant value. Very expensive items may be auctioned at an auction house such as Christy's or Sotheby's. Less expensive items can be sold to local antiques dealers. By having an idea of their value before going to dealers, you reduce the chance that dealers can scam you.

You could also consider selling items through an on-line auction. If you do so, remember that you will be responsible for shipping items and ensuring their condition to successful bidders.

Distribute Items to the Intended Recipients

Schedule a single day for distribution of items. In-town relatives can come to pick up items intended for them; they may also be helpful by taking bags to charities, books to resellers, boxes to storage, and trash to dumps.

Use this day for shipping as well. Small items can be shipped via UPS or FedEx; large pieces of furniture and antiques may require special handling by movers. Once you've finished distribution, you should have a considerably reduced pile of boxes and furniture. These boxes should contain only items to be moved to the elder's new residence or to storage. Remaining items should be those to be sold in an estate sale.

Move the Elder to His New Residence

Will the mover actually show up on time? Will the mover actually show up at all? Increase the probability of a good outcome for the move by contacting the mover to confirm arrangement a week ahead and the day before the actual move is scheduled. Of course, missed appointments may still occur, but if you've checked out the company with the Better Business Bureau and reminded the company of your appointment, the chances are good that the move will go as planned.

Accompany your elder to his new residence and help him with the moving-in process. Even if not all boxes can be emptied in a single day, he will feel more comfortable if a few items that are meaningful to him are unpacked and placed where he can find them.

Hold an Estate Sale

Once the movers have left the premises, the estate sale professionals should come in to evaluate and price items for the estate sale. Give them a key to the house, and then get out of their way. If you have chosen well, these professionals can do a great job of pricing items to sell and clearing the house of whatever remains. They will take a percentage of the sale receipts as compensation.

The days of the sale are good days to keep your elder busy elsewhere. A tearful elder does nothing to help sales.

Schedule a professional cleaning service to clean the house once the estate sale is over. When that has been completed to your satisfaction, turn the keys over to your senior real estate professional and give yourself a big pat on the back. You're done!

Here is a checklist to help you through this process. Or copy this address into your browser address bar.
http://www.thebestisyet.net/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/pando19/start.cgi/movechecklist.htm

Author, Phyllis Staff, Ph.D. Phyllis Staff is an experimental psychologist and the CEO of The Best Is Yet.Net, an internet company that helps seniors and caregivers find trustworthy residential care. She is the author of How to Find Great Senior Housing: A Roadmap for Elders and Those Who Love Them. She is also the daughter of a victim of Alzheimer's disease. Visit the author's web site at http://www.thebestisyet.net.

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Prostate Cancer Killing Ode


Preventing Prostate Cancer

It is increasingly recognized that diet plays a role in prostate cancer, a disease that affects one in eight men. For optimal health, it's important to exercise regularly and eat according to Canada's Food Guide, which recommends lots of fruits and vegetables, many of which contain the antioxidant selenium.

"Antioxidants help neutralize the influence of free-radical oxygen molecules which can cause cell damage that can lead to prostate cancer," said John Blanchard, President of the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada. "Our bodies need a diet rich in vitamins and minerals to help prevent the disease."

Recent studies suggest that selenium and vitamin E may reduce a man's risk of developing prostate cancer. One study showed that the incidence of prostate cancer was markedly lower in those who supplemented their diets with selenium, while another found that the occurrence of prostate cancer and the risk of death from prostate cancer was significantly less in those who supplemented their diet with vitamin E.

Because of these positive findings, a large study called the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT) was recently launched to specifically determine whether selenium and vitamin E, individually and together, can help prevent prostate cancer.

Foods that contain selenium include seafood, meat, grains, and certain types of nuts. It is very difficult to get the recommended amount of vitamin E through diet alone, however it can be found in vegetable oil, nuts, whole grains and wheat germ. As it's not always easy to eat well, consider taking a daily multivitamin such as Centrum® to ensure an adequate intake of selenium and vitamin E on a regular basis.

News Canada provides a wide selection of current, ready-to-use copyright free news stories and ideas for Television, Print, Radio, and the Web.

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CCTV Camera Is a Poem


How To Choose A Camera System

There are many reasons to install a camera system. If you own a business, you may want to be able to identify or avoid theft or keep vandalism from your property. Or you may just want to be able to keep an eye on things without actually being there physically. As a homeowner there are a bunch of other reasons to have a camera system. You may be having trouble with a neighbor, trespassers, vandals, or perhaps you have kids and want to be able to keep an eye on them but you can’t be there every minute of every day.

Whatever your reason for wanting a camera system if you don’t get the right kind of equipment based on your needs, you will just waste your money. So if you are thinking of getting a camera system, you will need to look at your situation in order to get the right system.

Some questions to ask yourself:

1. Is what you want to see indoors or outdoors?

2. How many areas do you want to see at your location?

3. Is there a lot of light available throughout the day and night?

4. Do you want to see a wide area, such as a parking lot, or a specific location, like the front door?

5. Is it important to see the small details or is a general idea good enough?

6. Do you need to see the picture only on sight or is off sight viewing necessary?

7. Do you need record what the camera sees?

8. Do you need to record for a long or short period of time?

Okay, now that you have an idea of what you are trying to view, we can take a closer look at the equipment.

Camera

First let’s look at the camera itself. There a hundreds of cameras to choose from. There are even fake cameras that you can use if you only want to give the illusion of having a system. Of course there are different prices ranging from cheap (poor quality) to the ridiculously expensive but does everything. If you don’t know what to ask for, you could be disappointed in what you get.

Do you want color or black/white? If you need to see the details clearly and you have good lighting throughout the time you need to keep watch, then a color camera is probably going to be the way to go. Color cameras are typically more expensive than black/white and they don’t see very will in the dark.

If you only need to have a general idea of what is going on in the area then you can go with black and white. Don’t misunderstand me, you can get a nice clear picture with a black/white camera but if you are looking to be able to identify someone and not have there be any question, then color is for you. If the lighting in the area is bad then color may not be the best camera for the job. If you only have lighting issues at night then you can get a day/night camera. That will get you a color picture in the daytime and a black/white picture at night.

Lens

Now let’s focus on the lens for a while. The type of lens you want will depend on what you want to see, how far away it is, and how wide of an area you want to see. For most applications you can get a lens that is adjustable to fit just about all your needs. There are some cases where only a very specific lens will work, but those usually only occur in high end jobs. If money is real tight, then you can get a camera that has the lens built in. I would like to caution you here and say that once you get a camera like this, you can’t just go and adjust it to get the picture you originally wanted. So, make sure you get a camera with the right lens.

Quads/Multiplexers

A quad processor will give you the ability to view more than one camera on one screen or one at a time. If you have a system with four cameras you can see all of them on one television screen or if you see something going on one camera you can choose to see only that location. Caution – the recorder you put on a quad will only record what the quad is allowing you to see.

A multiplexer is a step up from that. You can view your cameras any way you want. You can see each camera individually and multi cameras on the screen, in intervals. The playback, allows viewing the cameras in any form you like.

Recording devices

First you must decide how long you want to record. If you have a business and you are closed on the weekends and holidays, you may want to record for at least 72 hours. If it’s for your house and you go out of town for long periods of time you may want to consider a longer recording time. There is a time lapse recorder (very reasonably priced) that can record for 960 hours. That’s 40 days and a whole lot of video to watch if you are looking for something that happened a week ago.

Something that has been on the market for a while and is finally coming down in price to something that is almost reasonable is the Digital Video Recorder (DVR). The DVR comes with so many features it’s a little scary. First the picture quality is improved because you aren’t viewing it from a tape that has been recorded over again and again and again. Second, it has a built in multiplexer that will let you view more than one camera at a time on the same screen. Third, it’s easy to upgrade so that you can view your cameras remotely. So if you want to go on vacation and still keep an eye on things you can. Forth, the video is stored internally and it’s a whole lot easier to view video without having to rewind and fast forward. Plus there is no need for a tape library. There are probably a few more things a DVR can do but these would be the most popular.

Monitors

What do you want to see the picture on? Monitors can vary in size and picture quality depending on your budget and how much space you have. You can view cameras on your existing television or you can view them on your computer screen or over the Internet.

Wireless Systems

A word about wireless systems. Wireless technology has come a long way. It’s more reliable and the picture quality has improved greatly. I also like the idea that you can easily move the system. There is a system that just came out that has an awesome price. I have no idea how long the system will last, what the range is or if there are some environmental factors that can interfere with the picture. But if you are on a serious budget, this could be the answer for you.

I would like to thank you for reading this report. I hope this report has helped you learn a little more about camera systems. It’s not easy to make an informed decision when you know very little about the subject. I hope now that you have read this report you have gained some insight into what kind of system would work best for you. If your system is driven only by cost, then please don’t expect to get a great quality picture. If your system is driven only by features, then you had better open you wallet a little. I would highly recommend that whatever you are looking for, that you talk to a security consultant and discuss what is available for you in your price range.

Listen I have only scratched the surface when it comes to cameras. There are so many varieties available today it can be a little overwhelming for someone who doesn’t know what they are doing. There are cameras that can Pan-Tilt-Zoom. There are covert cameras that would make James Bond proud. You just have to know what you want and how much you can spend. I’m sure you wouldn’t go shopping for a car or a house and not know what your budget is or have an idea of what you wanted. Take this information and use it wisely.

Author, Amy Howard, has been in the security industry for more than 13 years. She understands the frustrations that people can go through when trying to find a camera system that will fit their needs and not break the bank in the process. She has created a website for people to get more information on camera systems and camera equipment. You can visit her website at http://www.cctvhomeonline.com.

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Wireless Plan Serenade


AT&T Wireless - What Have They To Offer

In the confusing world of cell phone carriers, finding the right carrier and the right plan to fill your needs can be a daunting task. One carrier that stands out, and has nationwide name recognition is AT&T Wireless. A major problem for cell phone users is poor coverage outside of major urban areas like Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans or Washington D.C. However AT&T uses a new Technology Time Division Access (TDMA is also used by Cingular). Analog roaming services are available almost everywhere in the U.S.

Calling plans with AT&T start as low as $39.95 s month. This plan allows 450 daytime minutes and unlimited night and weekend minutes. What AT&T customers really seem to enjoy are such features as the AT&T Connect or Teleconcierge. Operators quickly find numbers for anyplace, anywhere in the U.S., make reservations for you, get local movie times, and call back to confirm your dinner reservations. Other unique services include stock quotes, event listings, weather reports, and daily horoscopes.

One increasingly popular type of cell phone plan is pre-paid calling plans. AT&T offers the Go Phone with pre-paid plans, free unlimited night and weekend minutes, no contracts to sign, no credit check or activation fee, or deposit. They also offer Free 2 Go Wireless Solutions, also pre-paid with no contracts or credit checks. However the Go Phone plan gives you the unlimited free off prime minutes, lower per minute prices, wider choice of AT&T cell phones, and more choices of AT&T ring tones, and choices in payment options. For instance you can even set up a plan to have your credit or debit card to automatically add to your account when the minutes get low. The AT&T Go Phone plan also offers lower international dialing rates to its Go Phone customers.

Recently AT&T began to offer a new type of digital phone service known as GSM/GPRS, which provides a true 56 kilobyte per second internet connection speed for lap top computers hooked up to the GSM phone line or that use a GSM plug in cord. Remember though that the rates for this service is high with 400 voice minutes and one megabyte of data transmission can add $50.00 to your regular monthly bill. AT&T's numerous plans, versatile payment options and TDMA and GSM technology have helped placed AT&T near the top of successful cellular phone carriers.

Author, Martin Smith, is a successful freelance writer providing advice on purchasing a variety of Cell phone plans and more! His numerous articles are a resource of interesting and relevant information: http://www.mobile-n-cell-phone.com.

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Cell Phoned Wireless Opus


Alltel Wireless Cell Phones - At The Cutting Edge

Unlike many other cell phone companies that have several calling plans, Alltel Wireless offers only three plans. The Total Freedom Plan is ideal for those who travel extensively on business and need to keep in touch with clients and the home office, as well as family. It provides coast to coast coverage within the United States with no long distance or roaming charges.

You can get between 200 and 3000 anytime minutes, 1000 night and weekend minutes and 1000 mobile to mobile home minutes. The cost for this Alltel plan ranges between $39.99 and $299.99 a month depending on the amount of anytime minutes you choose. The cost per minute for calls over your plan minutes is between $.40 and $.20, again depending on the level of anytime minutes chosen.

Alltel relies on its National Freedom Plan to provide subscribers in most medium to large cities with coverage. However subscribers in smaller cities and rural areas or making calls to these places may incur unexpected charges. The benefit, however, is more anytime minutes in the same price range as in the Total Freedom Plan. For instance the National Freedom Plan gives 450 minutes for $39.95, while “Total Freedom” gives only 200 for the same amount.

The “Greater Freedom” plan is Alltel's offering to the casual user who doesn't do a lot of traveling or who is considering replacing their standard home phone with an Alltel cell phone. For under $30.00 a month you can get 300 anytime minutes. At $39.99 a month you get 700 anytime minutes, 1000 night and weekend minutes and 1000 mobile to mobile home minutes. Alltel's mobile to mobile home minutes refers to calls placed from one Alltel cell phone to another Alltel user.

Alltel cell phone plans all offer the same basic features such as voice mail, caller ID, 3-way calling, call waiting, call forwarding and 411 information. Be cautious about these features, some of them are not covered by all levels of the plans and these charges can add up quickly. Recent research by Consumer Reports show that these seemingly minor add ons can add significant charges to your monthly bill. You need to make sure you know what your coverage area is, what is considered roaming and what the charges for these services are.

If you go prepared, know what type of service you need, make sure you understand all of the features you want and the associated charges, you will be sure to get an Alltel plan that is right for you. Alltel's corporate philosophy is that simplicity or ease of understanding, means sales. This has allowed them to become and remain a viable contender in the confusing world of cell phone carriers.

With approximately 12 million customers and an estimated 8 billion dollars in annual revenues, Alltel has fine tuned their calling plans to insure that they are easy to understand. This simplicity has been a strong catalyst for the sales and longevity of this company.

Phones offered by Alltel are among the best on the market. Alltel cell phones are made by Nokia, Kyocera, and Audiovox. They have one of the largest selections of cell phones available today. You can get all the new “bells and whistles.” Do you want web access while on the road? Alltel can provide you with a phone that has that capability. Interested in voice dialing? They can give you that. You can also get speaker phones, color displays, stock reports, picture phones, cell phones that can be used as walkie talkies, advanced graphics and a collection of Alltel ring tones including hip hop, country, classical, movie theme songs, and fight songs. Before signing any cell phone contract you should investigate the available plans thoroughly to make sure that the Alltel cell phone plan you choose will suit your needs.

Author, Martin Smith, is a successful freelance writer providing advice on purchasing a variety of Cell phone plans and more! His numerous articles are a resource of interesting and relevant information: http://www.mobile-n-cell-phone.com.

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Satellite Radio Verse


Satellite Radio For Those Who Spend Time In The Outback!

Satellite radio has been a godsend to people in remote locations, or even just those who travel long distances. In the past while on a long car trip, every hour or so you'd have to start fiddling with the radio, as the station you were listening to turned to static after up to an hour of fading in and out. Then just as you'd find a new one, it, too would go to static, and so it would go on. Now with the advent of satellite radio, that static and fiddling will be a thing of the past.

Conventional radio signals can only travel 30 or 40 miles from their source, so the further away you travel from the radio transmitter, the fainter and weaker these traditional signals will become. Satellite radio waves travel from space - 22,000 miles away, yet you will be able to travel across the country without having to change radio stations and quite possibly without having to endure endless commercials about things that you are not really interested in.

Cars, with satellite radios, have been coming for many years now. But as the service takes off many more drivers will be making use of the new technology and be grateful for the flexibility it provides. At present there are only three space-based radio broadcasters, but many more are in the pipeline, as the Federal Communications Commission sanctioned a sum of $80 million to give licenses to companies to make use of the specified radio band for digital satellite radio transmission.

These three different satellite companies have done research and development in different areas and this has led to the offering of different services by them. No doubt the VHS Vs Beta type of battle would continue to intensify in the time to come as the technology progresses. Only time and sponsorship would decide who the winner of this battle would be. But whatever happens, it would only be good news for travelers as more and more companies are waiting to join this exciting field.

Two of the companies, XM Radio and Worldspace, already have an agreement with each other to share new technological developments and to continue to work together to create further innovations in this expanding field. This can only be good for consumers, particularly those who frequent remote locations on a regular basis.

Distanza Betrachtung is the owner and operator of Rob Satellite, Inc., a leading Internet portal for satellite information. For more satellite information and resources, be sure to visit http://www.robsatellite.com.

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Anger Control Ode


The Iron Mask - The Common Sources of Personality Disorders

Do all personality disorders have a common psychodynamic source?

To what stage of personal development can we attribute this common source?

Can the paths leading from that common source to each of these disorders be charted?

Will positive answers to the above endow us with a new understanding of these pernicious conditions?

Acute Anger

Anger is a compounded phenomenon. It has dispositional properties, expressive and motivational components, situational and individual variations, cognitive and excitatory interdependent manifestations and psychophysiological (especially neuroendocrine) aspects. From the psychobiological point of view, it probably had its survival utility in early evolution, but it seems to have lost a lot of it in modern societies. Actually, in most cases it is counterproductive, even dangerous. Dysfunctional anger is known to have pathogenic effects (mostly cardiovascular).

Most personality disordered people are prone to be angry. Their anger is always sudden, raging, frightening and without an apparent provocation by an outside agent. It would seem that people suffering from personality disorders are in a CONSTANT state of anger, which is effectively suppressed most of the time. It manifests itself only when the person's defences are down, incapacitated, or adversely affected by circumstances, inner or external. We have pointed at the psychodynamic source of this permanent, bottled-up anger, elsewhere in this book. In a nutshell, the patient was, usually, unable to express anger and direct it at "forbidden" targets in his early, formative years (his parents, in most cases). The anger, however, was a justified reaction to abuses and mistreatment. The patient was, therefore, left to nurture a sense of profound injustice and frustrated rage. Healthy people experience anger, but as a transitory state. This is what sets the personality disordered apart: their anger is always acute, permanently present, often suppressed or repressed. Healthy anger has an external inducing agent (a reason). It is directed at this agent (coherence).

Pathological anger is neither coherent, not externally induced. It emanates from the inside and it is diffuse, directed at the "world" and at "injustice" in general. The patient does identify the IMMEDIATE cause of the anger. Still, upon closer scrutiny, the cause is likely to be found lacking and the anger excessive, disproportionate, incoherent. To refine the point: it might be more accurate to say that the personality disordered is expressing (and experiencing) TWO layers of anger, simultaneously and always. The first layer, the superficial anger, is indeed directed at an identified target, the alleged cause of the eruption. The second layer, however, is anger directed at himself. The patient is angry at himself for being unable to vent off normal anger, normally. He feels like a miscreant. He hates himself. This second layer of anger also comprises strong and easily identifiable elements of frustration, irritation and annoyance.

While normal anger is connected to some action regarding its source (or to the planning or contemplation of such action) – pathological anger is mostly directed at oneself or even lacks direction altogether. The personality disordered are afraid to show that they are angry to meaningful others because they are afraid to lose them. The Borderline Personality Disordered is terrified of being abandoned, the narcissist (NPD) needs his Narcissistic Supply Sources, the Paranoid – his persecutors and so on. These people prefer to direct their anger at people who are meaningless to them, people whose withdrawal will not constitute a threat to their precariously balanced personality. They yell at a waitress, berate a taxi driver, or explode at an underling. Alternatively, they sulk, feel anhedonic or pathologically bored, drink or do drugs – all forms of self-directed aggression. From time to time, no longer able to pretend and to suppress, they have it out with the real source of their anger. They rage and, generally, behave like lunatics. They shout incoherently, make absurd accusations, distort facts, pronounce allegations and suspicions. These episodes are followed by periods of saccharine sentimentality and excessive flattering and submissiveness towards the victim of the latest rage attack. Driven by the mortal fear of being abandoned or ignored, the personality disordered debases and demeans himself to the point of provoking repulsion in the beholder. These pendulum-like emotional swings make life with the personality disordered difficult.

Anger in healthy persons is diminished through action. It is an aversive, unpleasant emotion. It is intended to generate action in order to eradicate this uncomfortable sensation. It is coupled with physiological arousal. But it is not clear whether action diminishes anger or anger is used up in action. Similarly, it is not clear whether the consciousness of anger is dependent on a stream of cognition expressed in words? Do we become angry because we say that we are angry (=we identify the anger and capture it) – or do we say that we are angry because we are angry to start with?

Anger is induced by numerous factors. It is almost a universal reaction. Any threat to one's welfare (physical, emotional, social, financial, or mental) is met with anger. But so are threats to one's affiliates, nearest, dearest, nation, favourite football club, pet and so on. The territory of anger is enlarged to include not only the person – but all his real and perceived environment, human and non-human. This does not sound like a very adaptative strategy. Threats are not the only situations to be met with anger. Anger is the reaction to injustice (perceived or real), to disagreements, to inconvenience. But the two main sources of anger are threat (a disagreement is potentially threatening) and injustice (inconvenience is injustice inflicted on the angry person by the world).

These are also the two sources of personality disorders. The personality disordered is moulded by recurrent and frequent injustice and he is constantly threatened both by his internal and by his external universes. No wonder that there is a close affinity between the personality disordered and the acutely angry person.

And, as opposed to common opinion, the angry person becomes angry whether he believes that what was done to him was deliberate or not. If we lose a precious manuscript, even unintentionally, we are bound to become angry at ourselves. If his home is devastated by an earthquake – the owner will surely rage, though no conscious, deliberating mind was at work. When we perceive an injustice in the distribution of wealth or love – we become angry because of moral reasoning, whether the injustice was deliberate or not. We retaliate and we punish as a result of our ability to morally reason and to get even. Sometimes even moral reasoning is lacking, as in when we simply wish to alleviate a diffuse anger.

What the personality disordered does is: he suppresses the anger, but he has no effective mechanisms of redirecting it in order to correct the inducing conditions. His hostile expressions are not constructive – they are destructive because they are diffuse, excessive and, therefore, unclear. He does not lash out at people in order to restore his lost self-esteem, his prestige, his sense of power and control over his life, to recover emotionally, or to restore his well being. He rages because he cannot help it and is in a self-destructive and self-loathing mode. His anger does not contain a signal, which could alter his environment in general and the behaviour of those around him, in particular. His anger is primitive, maladaptive, pent up.

Anger is a primitive, limbic emotion. Its excitatory components and patterns are shared with sexual excitation and with fear. It is cognition that guides our behaviour, aimed at avoiding harm and aversion or at minimising them. Our cognition is in charge of attaining certain kinds of mental gratification. An analysis of future values of the relief-gratification versus repercussions (reward to risk) ratio – can be obtained only through cognitive tools. Anger is provoked by aversive treatment, deliberately or unintentionally inflicted. Such treatment must violate either prevailing conventions regarding social interactions or some otherwise deeply ingrained sense of what is fair and what is just. The judgement of fairness or justice (namely, the appraisal of the extent of compliance with conventions of social exchange) – is also cognitive.

The angry person and the personality disordered both suffer from a cognitive deficit. They are unable to conceptualise, to design effective strategies and to execute them. They dedicate all their attention to the immediate and ignore the future consequences of their actions. In other words, their attention and information processing faculties are distorted, skewed in favour of the here and now, biased on both the intake and the output. Time is "relativistically dilated" – the present feels more protracted, "longer" than any future. Immediate facts and actions are judged more relevant and weighted more heavily than any remote aversive conditions. Anger impairs cognition.

The angry person is a worried person. The personality disordered is also excessively preoccupied with himself. Worry and anger are the cornerstones of the edifice of anxiety. This is where it all converges: people become angry because they are excessively concerned with bad things which might happen to them. Anger is a result of anxiety (or, when the anger is not acute, of fear).

The striking similarity between anger and personality disorders is the deterioration of the faculty of empathy. Angry people cannot empathise. Actually, "counter-empathy" develops in a state of acute anger. All mitigating circumstances related to the source of the anger – are taken as meaning to devalue and belittle the suffering of the angry person. His anger thus increases the more mitigating circumstances are brought to his attention. Judgement is altered by anger. Later provocative acts are judged to be more serious – just by "virtue" of their chronological position. All this is very typical of the personality disordered. An impairment of the empathic sensitivities is a prime symptom in many of them (in the Narcissistic, Antisocial, Schizoid and Schizotypal Personality Disordered, to mention but four).

Moreover, the aforementioned impairment of judgement (=impairment of the proper functioning of the mechanism of risk assessment) appears in both acute anger and in many personality disorders. The illusion of omnipotence (power) and invulnerability, the partiality of judgement – are typical of both states. Acute anger (rage attacks in personality disorders) is always incommensurate with the magnitude of the source of the emotion and is fuelled by extraneous experiences. An acutely angry person usually reacts to an ACCUMULATION, an amalgamation of aversive experiences, all enhancing each other in vicious feedback loops, many of them not directly related to the cause of the specific anger episode. The angry person may be reacting to stress, agitation, disturbance, drugs, violence or aggression witnessed by him, to social or to national conflict, to elation and even to sexual excitation. The same is true of the personality disordered. His inner world is fraught with unpleasant, ego-dystonic, discomfiting, unsettling, worrisome experiences. His external environment – influenced and moulded by his distorted personality – is also transformed into a source of aversive, repulsive, or plainly unpleasant experiences. The personality disordered explodes in rage – because he implodes AND reacts to outside stimuli, simultaneously. Because he is a slave to magical thinking and, therefore, regards himself as omnipotent, omniscient and protected from the consequences of his own acts (immune) – the personality disordered often acts in a self-destructive and self-defeating manner. The similarities are so numerous and so striking that it seems safe to say that the personality disordered is in a constant state of acute anger.

Finally, acutely angry people perceive anger to have been the result of intentional (or circumstantial) provocation with a hostile purpose (by the target of their anger). Their targets, on the other hand, invariably regard them as incoherent people, acting arbitrarily, in an unjustified manner.

Replace the words "acutely angry" with the words "personality disordered" and the sentence would still remain largely valid

Sam Vaknin is the author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited" and "After the Rain - How the West Lost the East". He is a columnist in "Central Europe Review", United Press International (UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com. Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia. His web site: http://samvak.tripod.com.


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