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Added for You - Protecting Your Collection From The Bad-Guys
How to Create Stories that Sizzle
How to Start Your Story with a BangThe purpose of creating a story is to create a world that will draw the reader away from their own. In order to do this one must create suspense, drama and mystery. Your reader must absolutely need to get from page to page, to find out what happens.There are several simple techniques to get your story going and draw the reader in. Here are just a few:1) Start in the middle of a problem.Ex. A lover’s quarrel, a murder, a personal dilemma2) Start with an unusual environmentEx. Alice in Wonderland, the beginning of the final frontier, a journey to a new world3) Start with actionEx. A gun has just been fired, A woman is deciding whether to jump or not, A hospital ER being mobilized4) Start with a feelingEx. The soft silk slid across her skin, as she finally slid into his bed.Hot coals burned his stomach as the bullet tore through him.The rich velvety feel of chocolate on her tongue was the perfect end to a dreadful day.Don’t spend the first day bogged down on details, unless they are absolutely crucial to understanding your story. Even then, save descriptions for later in your story, if you can. Get the reader hooked first, then you can describe the rich incandescence of his eyes or the exact color of her house. Remember your story should be like life, fast paced, even at a standstill, and utterly surprising.
earance that someone's always home and prevents burglars from backing a van into the drive for easy loading.
How to Start Your Story with a BangThe purpose of creating a story is to create a world that will draw the reader away from their own. In order to do this one must create suspense, drama and mystery. Your reader must absolutely need to get from page to page, to find out what happens.There are several simple techniques to get your story going and draw the reader in. Here are just a few:1) Start in the middle of a problem.Ex. A lover’s quarrel, a murder, a personal dilemma2) Start with an unusual environmentEx. Alice in Wonderland, the beginning of the final frontier, a journey to a new world3) Start with actionEx. A gun has just been fired, A woman is deciding whether to jump or not, A hospital ER being mobilized4) Start with a feelingEx. The soft silk slid across her skin, as she finally slid into his bed.Hot coals burned his stomach as the bullet tore through him.The rich velvety feel of chocolate on her tongue was the perfect end to a dreadful day.Don’t spend the first day bogged down on details, unless they are absolutely crucial to understanding your story. Even then, save descriptions for later in your story, if you can. Get the reader hooked first, then you can describe the rich incandescence of his eyes or the exact color of her house. Remember your story should be like life, fast paced, even at a standstill, and utterly surprising.
If you leave a spare key outside, hide it creatively. Burglars routinely check under flowerpots and welcome mats and on window ledges.
Ask a neighbor to collect newspapers and mail when you're away. If you'll be gone for an extended period, hire someone to take care of your lawn or even to house sit.
Team up with your neighbors and form a crime watch program. Your local police can help you get started.
ADVICE SPECIFIC to COLLECTORS:
While all of the above home-protection
Flying Fish Have Good Eyesight
Flying fish can see very well outside of water and many probably have not thought about this but it does make sense because there is 750 times less dense than water. If fish can see underwater through the density and murkiness then they ought to be a will see pretty good outside of water except maybe the sun glare in their eyes.Nevertheless on an overcast day flying fish when they jump out of water would be able to see very well. It has also been noted that flying fish often will glide to make sure they land on the declining side of an ocean wave rather than crashing into the front of the wave. This makes sense because it would be a softer landing for them. But how are they able to do this?Well, flying fish use their fins as wings to glide and they can steer with them just like they would in the water to maneuver themselves where they wish to land. Yet they would not be able to know where they wish to land unless they had very good eyesight. So therefore flying fish have good eyesight outside of the water and this is an interesting point and that when you have a cross between a bird in a fish, you have something of a hybrid species.Many evolutionary biologists believe that all life came from the sea and perhaps the fish had good enough eyes to see what was on the land and decided to stay there more often. Please consider all this in 2006.
OBLIGATORY STATISTICS: Articles such as this are all but required to start out with crime statistics. You may well have heard or read these before, but they are worth repeating:
Flying fish can see very well outside of water and many probably have not thought about this but it does make sense because there is 750 times less dense than water. If fish can see underwater through the density and murkiness then they ought to be a will see pretty good outside of water except maybe the sun glare in their eyes.Nevertheless on an overcast day flying fish when they jump out of water would be able to see very well. It has also been noted that flying fish often will glide to make sure they land on the declining side of an ocean wave rather than crashing into the front of the wave. This makes sense because it would be a softer landing for them. But how are they able to do this?Well, flying fish use their fins as wings to glide and they can steer with them just like they would in the water to maneuver themselves where they wish to land. Yet they would not be able to know where they wish to land unless they had very good eyesight. So therefore flying fish have good eyesight outside of the water and this is an interesting point and that when you have a cross between a bird in a fish, you have something of a hybrid species.Many evolutionary biologists believe that all life came from the sea and perhaps the fish had good enough eyes to see what was on the land and decided to stay there more often. Please consider all this in 2006.
• The FBI reports a burglary occurs every 15 seconds.
• Only about 13% of all reported burglaries are ‘cleared’ and the police very rarely catch the thief in the act.
• A home without a security system is 2 to 3 times more likely to be burglarized.
• 90% of police believe home monitored alarms help deter burglary attempts.
• Over 1.3 million home invasions occurred in 2004.
• 61.4% of all burglaries involve forcible entry, and over half (62%) occur during daylight hours.
• The value of property stolen during burglaries in 2004 was an estimated 3.5 billion dollars.
GENERAL ADVICE:
So what to do? Basically it comes down to sending the bad-guys to your neighbor’s house because your house is too hard to get into. Not impossible, just harder. You know the story of the two guys walking in the forest and talking about bears? One said he would run away but he doubted he could out-run a bear. The other guy said he had similar doubts, but noted he didn’t have to out-run a bear –he only had to out-run the other guy. I’m not at all sure about the morality of either outrunning the other guy, nor contributing –in some small way- to your neighbor’s house being burgled, but nor am I going to lose any sleep over it.
Here is the advice –from Brinks Home Security no less:
Leave your outside lights on at night. If your neighborhood is dimly lit, ask your municipal authorities to add streetlights or replace existing bulbs with higher watt bulbs. Leave one or two lamps on inside your house when you're not at home.
Lock up with reliable dead-bolt door locks and sturdy window latches help prevent break-ins.
Tall hedges provide hiding places for potential burglars. Trim the hedges so that they're no higher than your windowsills.
Peepholes with magnifying lenses let you see who's at your door – without opening it.
Never leave notes on your door, even when you're at home.
Tune the stereo or TV to your favorite station when you leave the house. To a burglar, noise means that someone's home.
Close and lock garage doors to protect valuables stored there and to prevent access to your house.
Park an additional car in your driveway or ask a neighbor to park there. It gives the appearance that someone's always home and prevents burglars from backing a van into the drive for easy loading.
If you leave a spare key outside, hide it creatively. Burglars routinely check under flowerpots and welcome mats and on window ledges.
Ask a neighbor to collect newspapers and mail when you're away. If you'll be gone for an extended period, hire someone to take care of your lawn or even to house sit.
Team up with your neighbors and form a crime watch program. Your local police can help you get started.
ADVICE SPECIFIC to COLLECTORS:
While all of the above home-protection
If Your Sales Strategy Is Not Clear Sales Will Suffer
Ask any of your sales managers to define sales strategy and you might get a myriad of responses. Some right, some wrong and many just vague. Ask them to define operational effectiveness and you will tend to get more accurate answers depending on the level of the manager.Strategy is the what – direction of the organization. Organizational effectiveness is the how – how you are getting there. The problem is that if your strategy is unclear, vague or downright wrong it doesn’t matter in the long term how effective you are as an organization – sooner or later you will fail due to any number of outside forces:- competition - the economy - technology - consumer changes in attitudes - the global market place - an aging populationThink of it as a matrix; Draw a four quadrant box. Along the top put Strategy down the left side put operational effectiveness. Therefore;The lower left hand box is low operational effectiveness and a vague or no strategy. The upper left hand box is high operational effectiveness but poor or no strategy. The lower right hand box is low operational effectiveness but clear and focused strategy. The upper right hand box is clear and focused strategy and operational effectiveness.We could go on for pages discussing the various consequences and outcomes depending on which your organization is function in. Let’s instead summarize a critical factor in this illustration, which is not the quadrant you are currently in but the direction you are moving. In other words if you are in the lower right (your strategy is clear but you lack operational effectiveness) but because of your clear strategy you are becomin
urglaries involve forcible entry, and over half (62%) occur during daylight hours.
Ask any of your sales managers to define sales strategy and you might get a myriad of responses. Some right, some wrong and many just vague. Ask them to define operational effectiveness and you will tend to get more accurate answers depending on the level of the manager.Strategy is the what – direction of the organization. Organizational effectiveness is the how – how you are getting there. The problem is that if your strategy is unclear, vague or downright wrong it doesn’t matter in the long term how effective you are as an organization – sooner or later you will fail due to any number of outside forces:- competition - the economy - technology - consumer changes in attitudes - the global market place - an aging populationThink of it as a matrix; Draw a four quadrant box. Along the top put Strategy down the left side put operational effectiveness. Therefore;The lower left hand box is low operational effectiveness and a vague or no strategy. The upper left hand box is high operational effectiveness but poor or no strategy. The lower right hand box is low operational effectiveness but clear and focused strategy. The upper right hand box is clear and focused strategy and operational effectiveness.We could go on for pages discussing the various consequences and outcomes depending on which your organization is function in. Let’s instead summarize a critical factor in this illustration, which is not the quadrant you are currently in but the direction you are moving. In other words if you are in the lower right (your strategy is clear but you lack operational effectiveness) but because of your clear strategy you are becomin
• The value of property stolen during burglaries in 2004 was an estimated 3.5 billion dollars.
GENERAL ADVICE:
So what to do? Basically it comes down to sending the bad-guys to your neighbor’s house because your house is too hard to get into. Not impossible, just harder. You know the story of the two guys walking in the forest and talking about bears? One said he would run away but he doubted he could out-run a bear. The other guy said he had similar doubts, but noted he didn’t have to out-run a bear –he only had to out-run the other guy. I’m not at all sure about the morality of either outrunning the other guy, nor contributing –in some small way- to your neighbor’s house being burgled, but nor am I going to lose any sleep over it.
Here is the advice –from Brinks Home Security no less:
Leave your outside lights on at night. If your neighborhood is dimly lit, ask your municipal authorities to add streetlights or replace existing bulbs with higher watt bulbs. Leave one or two lamps on inside your house when you're not at home.
Lock up with reliable dead-bolt door locks and sturdy window latches help prevent break-ins.
Tall hedges provide hiding places for potential burglars. Trim the hedges so that they're no higher than your windowsills.
Peepholes with magnifying lenses let you see who's at your door – without opening it.
Never leave notes on your door, even when you're at home.
Tune the stereo or TV to your favorite station when you leave the house. To a burglar, noise means that someone's home.
Close and lock garage doors to protect valuables stored there and to prevent access to your house.
Park an additional car in your driveway or ask a neighbor to park there. It gives the appearance that someone's always home and prevents burglars from backing a van into the drive for easy loading.
If you leave a spare key outside, hide it creatively. Burglars routinely check under flowerpots and welcome mats and on window ledges.
Ask a neighbor to collect newspapers and mail when you're away. If you'll be gone for an extended period, hire someone to take care of your lawn or even to house sit.
Team up with your neighbors and form a crime watch program. Your local police can help you get started.
ADVICE SPECIFIC to COLLECTORS:
While all of the above home-protection
Create Residual Income with Little Effort
Going into business is an exciting venture that lets you be the boss. When you are your own boss, you get to decide what the company’s priorities are.You get to let yourself go home in time to see your kids play soccer or to help do homework at night. When you are the boss and things are not going well, you can implement your own new ideas. Going into business can be an exciting time for you and your family, as you try new things and watch your risk pay off in increased expendable income and increased time during which to enjoy it. Why not optimize your new venture to create residual income with little effort. The strategy is simple and the pay off is large.Residual income is income you can count on long term. Usually monthly, this money comes in with little effort from you once the payments are secured. When you are first considering going into business for yourself, lend thought to residual income and how you can create the most opportunities to bring in this kind of easy cash flow. Online network marketing businesses offer two-fold opportunities for residual income. The first, people will pay you monthly for the services you offer.Take, for example, web hosting as a perfect illustration. With a web hosting service, people will pay you every month to host their web site and to provide them with technical support and answers. This money requires your attention for billing purposes, but is yours once the contract is achieved. When you offer any service people need and want already, you increase the likely hood that these people will bring their business to you. Selling products people want and need is the best way to ensure people will buy your products.Another
about the morality of either outrunning the other guy, nor contributing –in some small way- to your neighbor’s house being burgled, but nor am I going to lose any sleep over it.
Going into business is an exciting venture that lets you be the boss. When you are your own boss, you get to decide what the company’s priorities are.You get to let yourself go home in time to see your kids play soccer or to help do homework at night. When you are the boss and things are not going well, you can implement your own new ideas. Going into business can be an exciting time for you and your family, as you try new things and watch your risk pay off in increased expendable income and increased time during which to enjoy it. Why not optimize your new venture to create residual income with little effort. The strategy is simple and the pay off is large.Residual income is income you can count on long term. Usually monthly, this money comes in with little effort from you once the payments are secured. When you are first considering going into business for yourself, lend thought to residual income and how you can create the most opportunities to bring in this kind of easy cash flow. Online network marketing businesses offer two-fold opportunities for residual income. The first, people will pay you monthly for the services you offer.Take, for example, web hosting as a perfect illustration. With a web hosting service, people will pay you every month to host their web site and to provide them with technical support and answers. This money requires your attention for billing purposes, but is yours once the contract is achieved. When you offer any service people need and want already, you increase the likely hood that these people will bring their business to you. Selling products people want and need is the best way to ensure people will buy your products.Another
Here is the advice –from Brinks Home Security no less:
Leave your outside lights on at night. If your neighborhood is dimly lit, ask your municipal authorities to add streetlights or replace existing bulbs with higher watt bulbs. Leave one or two lamps on inside your house when you're not at home.
Lock up with reliable dead-bolt door locks and sturdy window latches help prevent break-ins.
Tall hedges provide hiding places for potential burglars. Trim the hedges so that they're no higher than your windowsills.
Peepholes with magnifying lenses let you see who's at your door – without opening it.
Never leave notes on your door, even when you're at home.
Tune the stereo or TV to your favorite station when you leave the house. To a burglar, noise means that someone's home.
Close and lock garage doors to protect valuables stored there and to prevent access to your house.
Park an additional car in your driveway or ask a neighbor to park there. It gives the appearance that someone's always home and prevents burglars from backing a van into the drive for easy loading.
If you leave a spare key outside, hide it creatively. Burglars routinely check under flowerpots and welcome mats and on window ledges.
Ask a neighbor to collect newspapers and mail when you're away. If you'll be gone for an extended period, hire someone to take care of your lawn or even to house sit.
Team up with your neighbors and form a crime watch program. Your local police can help you get started.
ADVICE SPECIFIC to COLLECTORS:
While all of the above home-protection
Passport Identity Theft
A common form of character identity theft is the illegal take over of someone’s passport. Although, passports are typically stolen, they could also be sold or given as a gift to a family member or a friend to help them out. In all cases, the purpose remains the same which is to allow for fake identification and travel to places where such passports are allowed to take their rightful owners. But especially, if they are stolen, passports could be used for acts of terrorism in the world. We take our passports for granted but it is a privilege to have the passport of a country especially if that country and its passport are well respected in the world. We must maintain the respect and trust of the country which granted us the privilege to own its passport and remember, that privilege can be taken away from us if we betray the trust.Minor and professional alterations to the picture, name and other personal description in the passports make them appear as if they belong to the identity thieves. Some passports are more valuable than others and provide more access to places in the world and therefore are in high demand. If you ever lose your passport or have it stolen, make sure you take the appropriate actions to protect yourself. And, never ever sell or share it with others, because once you lose control of a piece of your identity, you might as well say good bye to your whole identity.Please learn more about lost or stolen passports in this article.
tial burglars. Trim the hedges so that they're no higher than your windowsills.
A common form of character identity theft is the illegal take over of someone’s passport. Although, passports are typically stolen, they could also be sold or given as a gift to a family member or a friend to help them out. In all cases, the purpose remains the same which is to allow for fake identification and travel to places where such passports are allowed to take their rightful owners. But especially, if they are stolen, passports could be used for acts of terrorism in the world. We take our passports for granted but it is a privilege to have the passport of a country especially if that country and its passport are well respected in the world. We must maintain the respect and trust of the country which granted us the privilege to own its passport and remember, that privilege can be taken away from us if we betray the trust.Minor and professional alterations to the picture, name and other personal description in the passports make them appear as if they belong to the identity thieves. Some passports are more valuable than others and provide more access to places in the world and therefore are in high demand. If you ever lose your passport or have it stolen, make sure you take the appropriate actions to protect yourself. And, never ever sell or share it with others, because once you lose control of a piece of your identity, you might as well say good bye to your whole identity.Please learn more about lost or stolen passports in this article.
Peepholes with magnifying lenses let you see who's at your door – without opening it.
Never leave notes on your door, even when you're at home.
Tune the stereo or TV to your favorite station when you leave the house. To a burglar, noise means that someone's home.
Close and lock garage doors to protect valuables stored there and to prevent access to your house.
Park an additional car in your driveway or ask a neighbor to park there. It gives the appearance that someone's always home and prevents burglars from backing a van into the drive for easy loading.
If you leave a spare key outside, hide it creatively. Burglars routinely check under flowerpots and welcome mats and on window ledges.
Ask a neighbor to collect newspapers and mail when you're away. If you'll be gone for an extended period, hire someone to take care of your lawn or even to house sit.
Team up with your neighbors and form a crime watch program. Your local police can help you get started.
ADVICE SPECIFIC to COLLECTORS:
While all of the above home-protection
Sexual Function & Impotence
A healthy sexual relationship breeds a healthy conjugal life. Unfulfilled sexual desires often leads to the break-up of many intimate relationship and results in heartbreak and pain. Sexual dysfunction of any form is often a result of a complex mix of psychological and physical incompetence. Impotence or Erectile Dysfunction (ED) is one of the most prevalent forms of sexual dysfunction suffered by millions of men worldwide. Erection is a natural process which occurs after a chain of events. The first event in this chain is psychosexual stimulation. This is promoted by the male sex drive, also known as libido. The mind then sends impulses down the nerve pathways to the penis. These nerve impulses relax the smooth muscles of the arteries which supply the penis with blood. This muscle relaxation leads to engorgement and erection of the penis. After orgasm, the blood is returned to the general circulation and the penis returns to a soft state. As men age, it results in the slowing down of many physical functions. These changes may be caused by a decreased production of testosterone, decreased blood flow or other diseases that are more common in men of old age. Diabetes, a very common disease of our time can also interfere with erections in a number of ways, and erectile problems tend to get worse if it’s present for a longer period in a man. Men with diabetes often experience decreased quality or number of erections. Healthy blood vessels are needed for the engorgement of penile tissue that leads to erection. ED can be caused by hypertension as well. It can affect erections either by the changes it causes in the blood vessels, or by the medications used for its treat
earance that someone's always home and prevents burglars from backing a van into the drive for easy loading.
A healthy sexual relationship breeds a healthy conjugal life. Unfulfilled sexual desires often leads to the break-up of many intimate relationship and results in heartbreak and pain. Sexual dysfunction of any form is often a result of a complex mix of psychological and physical incompetence. Impotence or Erectile Dysfunction (ED) is one of the most prevalent forms of sexual dysfunction suffered by millions of men worldwide. Erection is a natural process which occurs after a chain of events. The first event in this chain is psychosexual stimulation. This is promoted by the male sex drive, also known as libido. The mind then sends impulses down the nerve pathways to the penis. These nerve impulses relax the smooth muscles of the arteries which supply the penis with blood. This muscle relaxation leads to engorgement and erection of the penis. After orgasm, the blood is returned to the general circulation and the penis returns to a soft state. As men age, it results in the slowing down of many physical functions. These changes may be caused by a decreased production of testosterone, decreased blood flow or other diseases that are more common in men of old age. Diabetes, a very common disease of our time can also interfere with erections in a number of ways, and erectile problems tend to get worse if it’s present for a longer period in a man. Men with diabetes often experience decreased quality or number of erections. Healthy blood vessels are needed for the engorgement of penile tissue that leads to erection. ED can be caused by hypertension as well. It can affect erections either by the changes it causes in the blood vessels, or by the medications used for its treat
If you leave a spare key outside, hide it creatively. Burglars routinely check under flowerpots and welcome mats and on window ledges.
Ask a neighbor to collect newspapers and mail when you're away. If you'll be gone for an extended period, hire someone to take care of your lawn or even to house sit.
Team up with your neighbors and form a crime watch program. Your local police can help you get started.
ADVICE SPECIFIC to COLLECTORS:
While all of the above home-protection ideas are useful to collectors, there is one DON’T and one very important DO:
DON’T engrave your driver’s license number on every item in your collection. (Duh !?1)
DO photograph & log every item in your collection. This is no more then what a serious collector does just for the fun of it. Or he or she does it to keep track of what needs to be added to complete the collection. Store the list in your workplace or somewhere away from your home in case of fire. Update it every quarter or so. If it is a sufficiently large collection, update it every month. There is actually software for some collectibles (coins and stamps for example) that makes this easy. It’s is also essential when filing insurance claims. More on insurance in anon.
The one statistic I couldn’t find was a portion of how many thefts are committed by people the victim knows. I suspect it’s higher then we might expect. You protect your home from the bad guys –the burglars and drug addicts, but what about the people who would never think to break into your home and steal your plasma TV? Not your kids surely, but what about their little friends? Your housekeeper? Perhaps not her –she’s been with you for years, right? But her boy-friend drops her off & picks her up -and waits around if she isn’t quite done? What about the guy who also collects X and was referred to you by that guy who knew the other guy who you met at the last show. You going to get together and talk about your mutual interest in X? You going to show him you best items? What if the phone rings while you have your X’s proudly spread all out? Is your mom-in-law is a kook? Your roommate besotted in love with the wrong person? And so it goes. If you were to think about it for awhile, you undoubtedly could come up with you own list of doubtful visitors.
If any of these people were to take a single item from the back of the bottom drawer, how long would it be before you were to notice it was missing? And even if you did notice it right away, how would you go about getting it back? The police? You had best have a good friend either on the police force or the town council, ‘cause the police are too busy writing tickets for wrong left turns. (That portion of municipality’s budgets coming from traffic tickets has –on average- doubled in the last 20 years while the portion of crimes against citizens that are solved –or are even investigated- has dropped by more then half!) So what to do about “friendly” theft? Lock it up! As I have said elsewhere in my site, locks may only keep the honest people out, but it is a good start. Someone from the list above who steals from you is not honest –but nor are they habitual criminals like the guy who breaks into y
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